New Year Plans not Resolutions

Here we are heading into the second week of the new year all ready.  Many have made up their resolution list and have set their teeth in a grim posture to make this the year for them to be accomplished.  I gave up on resolutions and goals long ago.  There’s always tomorrow or next year …. or the year after.  Instead of the normal resolutions I have a plan.  See, now plans can be changed, put on hold, or even canceled.  My plan or this year is to finish projects that have been started in days past …. or years.  The first one I’ve tackled is the food storage area.  In the last post I showed the bones of the wall being constructed.  I happened to find a Habitat for Humanity ReStore only a couple miles from the Urban Ranch (where I live).  It’s a store that takes items from houses that are being remodeled or torn down and resells them.  I needed a door for my storage area and found a great door for only $10.  That’s incredibly cheaper than a new door from the home improvement store.

A little shimming up, some door hinges, and a door knob just laying around my basement and yeah, the door is in.  Now comes the insulation and the drywall and this project will be completed after three years.  I’m really pleased with how it turned out since I’ve never tried any thing like this before.  The finishing touch would be to slap on some trim paint and nail some trim pieces around the door fame and Holy Cow it just might like I knew what I was doing.   Shssssssh, don’t tell anyone that I was just flying by the seat of my pants.  Now I won’t have any excuse to not fill it full of garden harvest this year, huh. 

I just finished reading a very disturbing blog entry from the Baker Creek website.  On January 10th, a court hearing will come before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal District about OSGATA vs Monsanto.  The case is about GMO patented seed.  It seems that if Monsanto has a field that was planted with their patented seed and it happens to cross pollinate the organic field across the fence.  The organic grower can not replant the seed due to infringement upon patented seed rights.  Monsanto has actually been suing those that have replanted their seed that has been harvested from their own property.  It’s a sad day when you can be sued by a big company for planting seed that was cross pollinated by plants that you didn’t want pollinated from their plants in the first place.  A group of organic growers launched a law suit in 2011 that a lower court already dismissed in early 2012.  Hopefully, the Federal Court of Appeals will have a different view and stop this harassment. 

The forty eight year old faucet in my kitchen has been nursing a very slow drip for nearly a decade and by positioning water control level just right it could be persuaded to stop dripping.  A couple weeks ago this faucet decided to see how far it could push the limit and began dripping and couldn’t be stopped.  Then a few days ago it increased the irritation level and started dribbling which turned into a steady stream.  Sheeesh, what a sticker shock when I looked at kitchen faucets.  Oh, yeah, they have $35 plastic ones that might last a while but I want another one that will last another 48 years.  I don’t need fancy, just durable.  I settled on a $100 Delta faucet.  Hopefully, that will be a good choice.  I’ll let you know how the battle goes this time around.  Those that have read my blog for awhile can remember that last time I set out to replace a faucet,  I ended up replacing the sink, the cabinet, and chiseling out a rusted pipe before actually getting the project done.  Oh, yeah, and auguring out the blocked drain.  Yeah, I love old plumbing and just can’t wait to get started on this replacement.  I’ll let you know how it turns out in the next post.