Two new ways to make cheese

Thursday

I woke up in the dark. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't and my hands hurt. I kept thinking about the sad state of affairs in the furniture room. Chris was already up. So I got up, too. I went into my sewing room to finish slicing up a piano score into a bass clef page for Saronna and a treble clef page for me. I heard Chris leave for work.

I jotted notes for my blog. I checked e-mail. I came across cheese and whey recipes. I took some notes. I uncovered plants and watered the outdoor ones, as well as flower beds. I watered gopher holes. I got out a hose for the shady side of the house. But for some reason, I could not screw it on tightly.

I put on clean flip flops and went to Bible Study. We chatted until Ginger arrived. Then she led us in a study of Matthew. Afterward, we talked some more. Finally I left. I went to the library to get an 8.5 by 14 copy made of the staffs I taped together. But neither Melissa nor Keli could get the copy machine to do it. Finally they made two regular size copies that I could tape together to make the larger one.

I went home. I made and ate breakfast. Chris came home for lunch. I watched The Highwire. I put half a gallon of goat milk in a pan, heated to 100, then poured it into a bowl and put that inside the dehydrator to keep at 100. I poured another half gallon of goat milk

I laid in the sun. I came in and stirred the pot on the stove. I dissolve rennet in water, then stirred it into the bowl in the dehydrator. While that sat, I stirred the pot and turned it off to cool down. I jotted notes for my blog. I read messages. I stirred some more, turned the heat back on.

Both batches were ready to collect, but it was time for the Splash into Summer event. So I changed clothes and headed over. First, there was a ceremony to commemorate Kurt Fortie, who worked here until his death. The new pavillion and pickleball courts now bear his name. After the ribbon cutting, the pool was officially declared open. Chris (wearing his suit) and the colonel climbed the tall blow-up slide and slid down, totally drenched. And THEN, they went to the pool and jumped off the diving board!

I walked around and talked to some people. I talked to the colonel and he suggested he could take a load of furniture to Tooele tomorrow morning. So I talked to Summer about helping me choose which furniture should go. Then I went to the swap shop and took pics of stuff that needs to leave. I went home and posted them to the Facebook pages, saying this was their last chance before being carted off.

Then I collected curds from both batches. I also collected the whey separately because the vinegar cheese made an acidic whey. People contacted me about items they wanted. Then I washed my feet and wrapped a towel around my bathing suit. I went back to the pool area. Isadora was there and she held my towel and keys while I climbed the tall slide. It was steep and slippery. If not for the hand straps, I would have slid backwards. When I got to the top, it looked really scary. But I knew it would only be scary for a few seconds. Then, I was landing in cold water at the bottom and Isadora was laughing, said it was epic. A few other people commented too.

It was time to get in the pool to get away from the wind and warm up. The water seemed warm at first, but I discovered that I had to keep moving to stay warm. There were songs playing on the speaker, so I treaded water to the beat. It was fun. And tiring. Then my left foot cramped. I had to hobble from the deep end to the steps. Walking on it helped. I wrapped up in the towel (which was wet from the slide) and went home.

Jamie was working on my yard and it was looking good. But she was in quite a state. She told me about the things that were bothering her and we hugged. Then she went back to work and I went inside, thoroughly cold. But, Chris warmed me up. No, we just snuggled. Then I got up to check Facebook to see if I had more messages to respond to.

I wrote my blog post, and made tea. We watched two episodes of WTR. Then Chris went to bed. I was tired and knew I would be paying for it tomorrow. But I stayed up to cover the plants and read e-mail before going to bed.