Meet "Ruby" the Roomba!

This is 'Ruby,' our new staff member!

She's short, round and terribly functional: like me, save the functional part.

Ruby, is a Roomba Vacuum Robot-Pet Series 562. She's fairly quiet, roams the house on command (7-day programming) and cleans up all the crud our pets drag in, along will all the other little goodies that end up on the floor and carpet. She doesn't care whether the floor is bare, tiled, or well carpeted... she crawls all over and cleans it! When she's done, she heads home to her docking station to recharge; to return to her duties first thing in the morning... 8:00 a.m., to be exact.

Ruby comes with an extra-large bin to collect the extra goodies found on the carpet that are a part of having pets; especially a cat who is shedding due to the arrival of spring. As I said, she is programmable for all 7 days of the week. At the moment I have her scheduled to get to work promptly at 8:00 a.m. She comes with little tools to clean hair and crud out of her brushes... and she does collect crud... lots of crud! Unlike a vacuum cleaner that uses filter bags and you can't really see what's been collected, Ruby has a nice little drawer-type bin and you can see exactly what she's been doing for the past 1 to 2 hours.

I still need a regular vacuum to take care of the stairs and the few places she cannot get to. The rest of the house is Ruby's domain and she takes care of it well. Take a look at some of the videos that are posted on YouTube and you'll see her in action. To appreciate what she does each day... get a Roomba... you won't be sorry.

I didn't vacuum every day... I hate housework... but Ruby... Ruby vacuums every single day. Ruby doesn't get tired or have mood swings or just doesn't feel like vacuuming... she just does it. It's all she does, save entertaining me and the pets.

The only thing bad about getting Ruby, is that I didn't get her sooner. Maintenance is a snap. Each day when she is done, I pull the dirt bin and empty it. Depending on the amount of hair that she picks up, she needs to have her brushes removed and the hair pulled out that gets wrapped around her rollers. I also give her a nice going over with a dry cloth to make sure her sensors are clear, and she can "see" the dirt, as well as recognize when she's near the stairs. If those sensors get covered with dirt and dust, she'll take a high dive down the stairs. I assure you, that is very bad. Think how 'Rosie' on the Jetsens' would have felt taking such a tumble!

If you don't want to vacuum anymore, or just want a fairly decent respite... get a Rooma!

A Fantastic Spinach Quiche!

What a quiche! My oh my!

I had half a bag of spinach that just wasn't going to last another day... so I made a quiche using basic ingredients I keep most of the time e.g. eggs, cheese(s), cream, onions, bacon, mushrooms, and pie crust makings. You could say "It was a piece of cake..." but it was indeed a pie! (See image to the right: that is all that was left, and was saved for my husband's lunch.)

If you've made a quiche before... the ingredients follow... use your own method to create and bake.

For those of you who have never made a quiche before... it's easy-peasy and don't be afraid to jump right in. If you've got the ingredients and have a deep-dish pie plate and an oven... you're ready to go.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

Single pie crust recipe (see below) or just buy one if you're not into making your own

1 cup flour
1/3 cup Crisco (cut into flour mixture, one half at a time)
dash of salt
water to bind (I just hold the bowl under the tap and dribble cold water into the dry mixture while stirring with a fork until the flour starts to turn into a ball.... then stop!' That's all the water you need.

Pat into a hocky-puck sort of shape, and then roll on a floured surface. Flop the crust into a quiche dish, or a deep-dish pie plate and finish the edges so it looks good.

Quiche

6 - 10 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups of cream
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
2 cups of chopped, fresh spinach
2 cups of chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup of chopped onions
1 cup of shredded Swiss Cheese
1 cup of shredded Cheddar Cheese (or use a mix of cheeses that suit you to equal 2 cups of shredded cheese. I like to mix parmesean, mozzarella and cheddar together, although any mix will do.)

Put crumbled bacon in bottom of pie

Mix all the chopped ingredients in a bowl

Stir together eggs and cream in a smaller bowl and add salt, pepper and nutmeg; and then stir in the cheese

Pour egg and cheese mixture into bowl of chopped ingredients; stir well

Pop the quiche into a 400 degree oven for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until it is set nicely and is a lovely golden brown (or at 375 or 380 in a convection oven)

Remove from oven and let cool about 20 minutes before serving.

I will warn you right now... if the whole thing isn't eaten and there are leftovers... the leftovers become dangerous... it becomes "finger food," as it stands up nicely to being cut into slivers and popped into the mouth... and, you won't be able to stop at one sliver!

Be very, very careful! Eating over half the pie by yourself will make your hips and thighs grow to enormous proportions!

So, to nip this right in the bud, invite over several people when serving quiche for brunch or dinner, if only to ensure it is all consumed, leaving no leftovers.

You've been warned!

Garage Door Woes.... No more!

Well... the garage doors guys did it up right!

The manufacturers of said door are the ones who screwed up. They failed to ship the door at the proper time. So... the garage doors guys fired up their own truck, drove all too many miles to the manufacturer... collected the door and installed it the next day!

The door is magnificent! These guys installed the door in a rather 'trapizoidal' space that this old house provided and made it look fantastic. It was rather a puzzle to make this beautifully squared door fit in the dumb opening and managed to make the opening look square as well.

The door runs smoothly, quietly and is perfect.

I am a happy person!

Why Are Our Young People Dying

I am so sad. I just learned some old and dear friends of mine have recently lost their son to diabetes. That young man has been bed-ridden now for some 3 years, losing both his legs over the past few years. He was 38 and died on February 27, 2010.

On February 10, 2010, my eldest sister lost her son to a heart attack; he was only 37.

Just a few years ago, my workmate and friend lost her son to heart failure; he was 34 or 35, I just don’t remember.

The same happened to my friend and co-worker David, who died in his late 30’s of a similar malady.

I nearly lost my own son to cancer just 5 years ago, we didn’t think he was going to make it to his 25th birthday, but he survived.

My best friend who lives in Rhode Island nearly lost her son to cancer last year, he is nearing 30 years of age.

I hear constantly of my son’s generation and their children having nothing but sickness after sickness… ear infections, allergic reaction, diabetes, cancer… the list just goes on.

We are of the Crest generation and most of us drank mother’s milk, or evaporated milk mixed with corn syrup. We are now in our late 50’s and up… but we’re hanging in there.

Our children are of the baby formula and junk food generation… is there a connection? I think there is.

What are your thoughts? I am so upset by this.

Garage Door Woes

Heavy sigh!

Our ancient garage door came crashing down, nearly on our heads, three weeks ago. The bolted on mechanism which was attached to the opener had pulled out and through the old steel. That's how old it was.

In any case, instead of running to a "big box" store, we chose to go to a local business... keeping the dollars in our county, and all that. Their representative was out here in cracker-jack time the next morning. We put down a deposit and placed our order the following day, and were told that the door would be here and installed, in two weeks time.

As of this past Friday, well over two weeks later, we had heard nothing from the business as to the date of install, so we called them. On Saturday, although they were open, we were not able to speak to anyone, merely leaving a message. At least good on them, I received a call just an hour ago.

Sadly, the door hadn’t even been shipped from the manufacturer and looking at another two weeks before the door was delivered. I voiced my displeasure at the prospect, but said fine, and wrote down the installation date as they 'expected' it to be... two weeks from now.

After hanging up the phone, I wandered around a bit with much disappointment running around my thoughts. I decided that this serious change in dates was not good enough. The door had been ordered in good faith with a showing of approximately $1,500.00 down.

I called the business back up and let them know that I was not very happy with the situation and asked if the door had even been built. It had. Had it not, I was going to cancel the order and go to another business. The old door, as it is, fairly holds me prisoner as I am not strong enough to open it. Should my husband not leave the door open in the morning when he leaves for work, I am not able to get my car out.

In the meantime, the business owner was very concerned at this change of date, and learning from his representative of my disappointment, had called the manufacturer. Apparently, his call initiated action and the door will be picked up by said local business this coming Thursday, after dispatching their truck. We now have a promise that said door will be installed this Friday.

I'd like to think that had I not called back, I would have received a call letting me know that they had taken the situation in hand. Sadly, I think my calling back and stating my dissatisfaction is what truly made the change.

I am so tired of shoddy workmanship and lack of good business practices that seem to show themselves so often. No pride in workmanship, ownership or honor. We have our children to distress us, disappoint us and break our hearts; we surely do not need strangers to do this.

So, if promises are kept this round, a door, opener etc. will all be installed to our satisfaction, by Friday afternoon. We shall see.

I will follow up on this posting with the results.

Urban Chickens for Bremerton - Now on

Today the Bremerton Sun posted an article about Urban Chickens and skirting the Bremerton Council via putting it to a vote! Yeeha!

Here is a link to the article by Steven Gardner: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/mar/08/chickens-charter-changes-could-be-on-future/

Do check it out if you are interested information having to do with chickens in Bremerton. They are making it very clear that roosters will not be allowed. The noise of roosters seems to be the greatest concern. There are many people that think a rooster is necessary for a hen to lay eggs: this is wrong, wrong, wrong.

If you can help in any way, please go to the Facebook page "We Want Urban Chickens in Bremerton"

Urban Chickens

Urban chickens have been up for discussion in our little burg; Bremerton, WA. As of this past week, our Town Council voted having urban chickens down; without any real discussion or input by those of us who live here. For whom are these council members working?... certainly not us... save one, and that would be Roy Runyon.

As far as the council goes, they feel the issue is dead. Wrong. We can put this issue on the ballot. Let our citizens know about the issue and have the opportunity to vote on said issue.

There are many cities in this great country of ours, including Seattle, that allow residents within city limits to have chickens. So what is the problem with our council members? Here is a link that lists cities that allow chickens by state... and what the restrictions are. http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/chickenlaws.html

Check it out.

I would like to hear from as many people as I can, who live in the City of Bremerton, and how they feel about having chickens (no roosters). I'd also like to hear from folks from other cities that allow urban chickens.

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