Crafty Jim

I'm not the only one that's crafty, Jim is crafty too, but his craftiness is on a larger scale - a much larger scale. He is an avid diesel engine fan. He has several of them and he likes to get them (free in this case), fix them up and either keep or sell them.  

Left - a huge generator, Right - a marine engine 

This is Gregory and Patricia. The engines were from Patricia's late husband, he was an avid boatman and they lived asea for 18 years. Patricia's late husband built a boat from scratch and had this generator and engine in it. Patricia's husband died suddenly and she was left with several large engines and this large generator. 

Several years ago, Jim worked at an auto mechanic shop 15 miles out of town and Patricia was one of the customers for the business. Patricia had these two 2,600 pound engines that she wanted to be rid of and this was right up Jim's alley and he took them - he hired a towing company to load them on his truck. Jim had his fun with these 2 engines and have since moved on to other projects.

Last week, Jim's former boss called leaving a message about this engine and generator that Patricia had - she had forgotten Jim's name, but remember where he worked so that's how the re-connection was made. We ended up going to look at these the day before Easter, to see if this was something Jim wanted to deal with. Turns out, the engine and generator were entombed in this shed, they literally built the shed around the engines and forgot about them for 14 years. Redoing the roof was what reminded Patricia and Gregory of these engines and they wanted them out. The front side of the shop had a sloping roof and the backside had trees - this was not going to be an easy task, but Jim and Patricia decided on doing it the next Saturday. As the day went on, Patricia and Jim were in phone contact and because of unsure weather, they decided to tackle this project the next day, Easter Sunday.  

On Sunday, we got there just before 10:30am in the morning and tackled the small engine. The plan was to drag it straight out, avoiding the posts holding up the sloping roof, and Jim would use the crane on his truck to pick up the engine and place it on his truck. There were also issues with a well and septic pipes, so it was a definite challenge.

Jim and Patricia discussing the best way to remove these engines.

This is the smaller one that was being dragged straight out.

There was oil in the pan, so Jim had to drain it to avoid any spillage.

Engine hooked up to chains, that post on the right was a slight problem. It was at this time that someone else needed to drive the truck so Jim could keep an eye on the engine. I can't drive it and Gregory has a bad back, so Patricia manned the steering wheel (she did an awesome job!).

Ok, cleared the post. 

See the sloping roof? That was a challenge for Jim, 

but between him and Patricia, they got that sucker out.

Oops - fall down!

Jim's getting everything hooked up to be craned onto the truck.

Here we go!

Almost there.

After some minor adjustments, it finally seated where Jim wanted it.

All tied up, it's not going anywhere. By this time, about an hour has passed - it's about 11:30am.

Ok, this big boy is next. The plan was to pull it out of the shed 

and pivot right, then pull it out thru the side.

Throughout the entire process, Jim used a small jack and blocks of wood to get things stablized - it was just like moving a house. It was jack up - block, jack down - block over and over again, it was very tedious. Under the skid is a metal piece in each corner (like a shoe). Jim tried to remove it, but it wouldn't come off so it made things a lot tricker.

This heavy duty dolly was going to be placed under the generator so it could be pulled out. Not easy with the skid in the way. It took a lot jacking and blocking - we're lucky Patricia had all those blocks of wood and the plywood.

Not quite there, just a couple more inches.

Got it!

Getting ready to be pulled out.

Nice and easy. Patricia's behind that steering wheel again and 

Gregory is relaying Jim's instructions to her.

Plywood was laid down on top of the dirt. We all thought the dirt was hard, but it wasn't, the dolly sunk right in. The top of the generator managed to clear the beams of the sloping roof by a couple of inches.

Alright, it's out!

Positioning the car trailer so the generator could be pivoted and winched up.

More jacking and blocking.

Nice and easy. Now, I am manning the controls for the winch.

Getting the ramps situated properly.

It's coming along slow and easy.

Almost there.

Woo Hoo! We did it!!

Removing the dolly and tying down.

The shed is empty - waiting for new things to be stored in it.

View of the snow covered Olympics.
We were very lucky - the weather held out and was rather nice. 

The generator took about 2 hours to get seated on the trailer, it took a lot of jacking, blocking and winching to get it on the trailer. We finally broke for lunch around 1:30pm - Jim was beat. After the clean up, we got home around 3pm. Jim just parked everything, covered them up and came in to rest. 

The tentative plan is to see if these even work - if they work, he might pretty them up to put them in the county fair. Patricia is going to do a write up of these engines so people will know it's history.

It had been a very long and tiring day - it surely was not a lazy Easter Sunday for us, but Jim now has 2 new toys to play with.

Thanks for reading!! 

Comments or questions are always welcomed. I would love to hear what you think of this post or any of my other posts. Thanks!

Pizza Sauce Sauce Recipe

The odd name for this recipe comes from the leftover pizza sauce in it. About 4 days ago, we had make-your-own pizza. I bought Pillsbury pizza dough for Jim and Heather and I made a 6" one of this recipe. I used cooked quinoa flakes instead of hummus so the flavor would be on the plain side. I made my own pizza sauce using this recipe as my inspiration - I used Italian seasoning and a regular can of tomato sauce.

I had bought some really good ground turkey from a natural food store. I asked Jim what he would like, meatballs or patties - he decided on patties. In planning out what I was going to make, I remembered the leftover pizza sauce and thought about making a sauce from it. Here is what I did:

I cut up some onions, maybe 1/3 of a cup. I chopped 4 crimini mushrooms and I chopped some leftover turkey pepperoni.

I sprayed a non stick pan with oil and sauteed the 3 ingredients, I also added some garlic granules and pepper. After it all softened, I added about 1 tablespoon of arrowroot to thicken the sauce and stirred it in. I poured in about 1/3 of a cup of unsalted chicken stock and cook till thickened scraping the bottom of the pan - I just wanted to loosen everything up and get the good stuff off the bottom of the pan. I added about 1/2 of a cup of the leftover pizza sauce and cooked it to the consistency I liked (doesn't take long).

It came out pretty good, tho I had put in too much red pepper flakes in the pizza sauce and this sauce was a little on the spicy side. It was interesting to have chunks of pepper in the sauce, it really added great texture and flavor. It was wonderful on top of the turkey patties.

Quinoa, mac salad, a turkey patty and a lot of sauce

So, next time you have leftover pizza sauce, don't let it sit in the frig, make a sauce out of it, I bet you'll like it too.

Happy Cooking!!

Comments or questions are always welcomed. I would love to hear what you think of this post or any of my other posts. Thanks!

My New Bag

For several years now, when spring arrives, I make myself a new bag. I do this because I love to make bags and the best way to show what I do is to carry what I make. When people ask me what I do, I just show them my bag and say, "I make stuff like this," and that usually impresses them.

Year ago, I designed this bag. I don't remember where the inspiration came from, but this is what I made. This was probably the bag that launched my designing process. The front and back was a fabric placemat or napkin and the solid pieces came from a woman's gaucho pants, I found both pieces for real cheap at a thrift store.

I used velcro for a closure.

The strap is narrower than the side piece.

Doesn't look good.

In deciding what my new bag for this year would be, I came across this old one and I realized that I really liked this design. It's very simple and I even made a zippered pocket in the front. I decided to replicate this and really like how it turned out.

I used red for the lining and usually, my pockets are the same color as the main fabric, but in this case, I wanted the lining all red so it would stand out. I also made a large inner pocket to hold stuff, I didn't make an inner pocket for the old bag.  

I put in hidden magnets at the top to hold everything secure.

This time, I made the straps the same size as the side pieces, so it looks more cohesive. The rectangle metal piece really adds a nice touch.

Well, in using the bag for a couple of weeks, I realized that the hidden magnet was a bother. This magnet is strong, and every time I let go, it shut automatically. Every time I needed to open the bag, I needed 2 hands - I like to have easy access to my stuff. So, I took the bag apart and put in heavy duty snaps. I used a black sharpie to color the silver snap in the back and need to get a red sharpie to color the snaps on the inside. Also, I fixed the pockets - I sewed part of it so my cell phone would have its own place (the front pocket was too big for it). I also added a pen pocket to one side.

Much better!

I also made a matching purse - this is my Pursellet, something I designed years ago. It holds everything, coins, bills, and cards. I like to be matchy matchy.

So, this is my new bag for 2012.  My only problem is that the black fabric is attracting a lot of lint (not very pleasant to look at). I've tried rubbing a dryer sheet on the bag and even dampened the bag and threw it in the dryer - neither worked. Anyone know how to handle lint on black fabric? 

I really like this design so much that I've decided to make more to sell. I like the contrast of the solid and print fabric, I think others will like it too. 

Thanks for reading!!

Comments or questions are always welcomed. I would love to hear what you think of this post or any of my other posts. Thanks!

Hydraulic Press for Herbs

I've been making herbal products from medicinal herbs for years. I have always struggled in trying to extract the oil from infused herbs. I've gone from using my hands to using cookie presses, a potato ricer and most recently, I did buy a press, but it still was a lot of effort to extract the oil from the herbs. Each time after I was finished, I would go to Jim and express my frustration. Well, he recently bought me a hydraulic press. He was either being really nice or he was tired of hearing me complain - I'm kidding, he was very nice to do this and it was totally unexpected. He always talked about maybe using a hydraulic press for my herbs and saw this as an opportunity to get one.

This is usually used in mechanical practices, but in my case, this is going to be my new herb press. It's basically a bottle jack that jacks down instead of up and using springs and a metal rod, it presses whatever you want it to. It is extremely heavy, I can't lift it let alone carry it - the only thing I can do is slide it back and forth, which is all that I'm planning to do with it other than pressing with it. Let me show you how it works.

These are what I will be using:

A metal bowl, coffee filter, pressing plate, and the bucket 

from a potato ricer.

This is some lavender I infused yesterday.

I put the coffee filter in the ricer bucket then place that into the metal bowl 

and poured out some of the lavender - not more than 3/4 full.

Next, I put the pressing plate on top and start jacking - the black center 

rod comes down and starts pressing.

See all that luscious lavender oil oozing out? (It smells heavenly in here) 

I strain it with a fine tea strainer and there it is. 

The white shadow is the plastic bag covering the press - I should've moved the bowl. 

I got this much lavender oil from 2 ounces of dried lavender and 8 ounces of oil - it's a little more than when I used my old press and the process was a lot easier and less messier.

The bowl I used didn't have a flat bottom, so you can see that I really 

pressed the heck out of the lavender.

Well, that's my new herb press - I plan to use it a lot now that I got the hang of it. Stay tuned for more herby goodness to come!

Thanks for reading!!

Comments or questions are always welcomed. I would love to hear what you think of this post or any of my other posts. Thanks!