Autumn Joy

Upside Down Pizza

When there are not enough leftovers from the previous day's meals to supply lunch for myself and the kiddos, we sometimes have a frozen pizza to accompany the leftovers that are around.

Today is one of those days, but a complication has arisen. Either the lower element in my electric oven has broken, or the thermostat has quit, or both. The broiler element on the top of the oven works, but the lower element remains cold to the touch. Unless the broiler is on, I cannot raise the oven temperature about 275 ºF.

This makes baking a frozen pizza a bit of a challenge. I tried to warm the top first, then flip it like a big pancake and bake the crust on the bottom a little. Good in theory, not so good in practice. The pizzza looks a mess and lots of the toppings stuck to the baking sheet. Combined with a little half bowl of leftover pumpkin soup for each of us, we will have enough, but this is one I hope we never have to repeat!

The appliance repair man is coming over tomorrow. We're most fervently hoping this is something that can be fixed. Receiving a death notice on the oven tomorrow would be bad news.

Three Projects

This post represents three projects in various stages of completeness. The first is mine. This is the piano we bought from as estate several years ago. The finish is uneven, sun damaged, and completely worn in some spots. I've recently learned about a product called Restor-a-Finish. It sounds like a magic bullet for the very problem our piano has. I'd like to try it out, but first I'd like to know if you have had any experience with this product. The last thing I'd like to do is make this piece of furniture that makes its home in my dining room look worse!

Are you wondering what the Engineer is doing? He is examining the way the hammers strike the strings. The Quipper has opened up the piano for one of his projects. He is recording some music, and has the best success with the computer's microphone right in there by the strings.

The Engineer, as always, is fascinated with the way things work. Finally, way back in April, the Artist began work on a little stuffed bunny.

Sunday evening she finally completed it, and now it has a home on Honey's (her doll's) bed. Unfortunately in this photo you cannot see the cute little i-cord tail she fashioned for the bunny.

For the Birds

This is a cat who much prefers to groom herself, thank you very much. Here she is "fixing" the mess I just made of her hairdo. But every spring she must do something to contribute to the household that cares for her. We make her suffer through a grooming with a cat brush. This, so I can collect several tufts of her hair.

And why?

For the birds, in a manner of speaking.

Among the kitchen appliances we have this exhaust fan.

And on the outside, the fan masquerades as a nice shelter for sparrow nests.

Having no desire for a family to be raised in my fan vent; having less desire for a bird to make its way into the house; and if it is imaginable, even less desire for a bird to meet its demise at the blades of the fan, every spring I take a preventive action.

You may have noticed the satchel drooping from the exterior fan vent. That is last years coffee filter full of cat hair duct taped to the inside of the vent. When I get the step ladder out of the garage it will be replaced by this year's fresh cat-hair satchel.