Ice Cream

Weekends are for many things. Some weekends are for cleaning, but not this one.

We took a long walk through the woods, walked on an ocean pier, drank some wine, ate at a new restaurant, and grilled burgers and corn.

Of course, I made some beer. But the new thing was ice cream.


In 1972, the first pocket scientific calculators got into the hands of people who had previously only had a slide rule. Don't get me wrong, I did not exist yet, but like slide rules, the hand crank ice cream maker was doomed from the beginning. Electric versions of both became the standard.

Enter me, 36 years later, at a local flea market purchasing a 1972 Waring Ice Cream Parlor for $2.50. I got a simple, quick recipe and got to making some home-made ice cream!

2 cups heavy cream (1 pint)

2 cups milk

3/4 - 1 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

I added the ice and salt to the outer-ring of the mixer and set the timer for 20 minutes.


Now it's time to reap the rewards...

I am baking an enchilada casserole right now. The house is smelling yummy about now.

Last week at work, I have been working hard. I dug a ditch, did some plumbing, trouble shooting a new system we use for thickening wasted solids, and computed rates we would waste solids. I climbed down a 20 foot ladder into a water tank and cleaned "muck" out of it. I got dirty! I loved it too.

The weekend was great! The weather was perfect...California perfect.

Sarah and I attended graduation for her friends at Cal Poly. After, we went to a reception at Edna Valley Vineyard. With appetizers and bottomless wine glasses, I had more Chardonnay than I should have in a day.

Saturday evening, some friends visited from Sacramento and they stayed overnight.

Sunday was a great day. We ate breakfast at a cafe here in Nipomo. Our friends drove back north towards Sacramento. Sarah and I now had the house to ourselves. We played with the cats then, like the cats, took an afternoon nap.

When the evening cam, we headed to Shell Beach, just north of Pismo Beach. We went to look for migrating whales off the coast. We sat on a cliff, looked out onto the Pacific and watched a pod of about a dozen whale mothers and their calves swim past.

Most likely we saw grey whales as they migrated north. We had binoculars and got a good look at some. We watched to group swim off as the sun set.

Box Shopping

I made an error. I know what your thinking. "Not him, Tom's too cautious and thinks before he acts." Well...I had to slip sometime.

I was playing with one of our cats, Blackberry. She has a tunnel made from a cardboard box. I cut too many holes in it and now she doesn't want to play in it (That's what my wife told me). Apparently she "feels" unsafe in it now. So, I felt very, very bad about having my cat mad at me for ruining her favorite tunnel. So I kept that in mind the next time I went shopping.

I was feeling like an adventure today, so, I went to Walmart in search of vacuum cleaner filters and belt. I have one of those bagless Hoovers. The belt is starting to slip and the main filter has a hole in it. It says to change the filters every few months. I chose every few years. I checked the inventory at Walmart and found the filters and belt. I checked out the latest in vacuum cleaners as well. Holy crap, I found a standard vacuum for $46. I added up the cost of the main filter, the final HEPA filter, and belt...$42! So, I did the same thing I did when I went to buy ink for my printer...I bought a whole new vacuum instead of parts for the old one.

It wasn't easy however. I had to look at every feature of every vacuum cleaner they had. I wanted an easy to empty bagless"dirt" compartment. The Bissel Powerforce had that. It was $46, the cheapest one that was normal size for an upright. The selling point for me was the washable filters. I had gone all this way to buy filters, so naturally I liked the idea of washing the filters, just like the air filter in my Jeep. It saves you money and trouble in the long run.

Also included with this vacuum was a perfect size box for the cat to play in. She now has a tunnel that she can go in and hide...when the vacuum scares her.