Week 21 at the Suburban Steader Homestead was a busy one.  The Mrs had to travel to Nashville for a few days this week.  It’s always an adventure when she’s gone for a few days.  I can handle things on the homefront; it’s more how the routine gets skewed so badly.  And, if I’m anything, I am a creature of habit.  But, the girls and I persevered!  Come check out what happened around the homestead during Week 21 of 2017!

This Week’s Milestones

Homeownership Strikes Again!

Wasn’t I just complaining about leaks in my ceiling back in Week 15?  Well, it happened again!  Last Thursday was quite warm here – I believe it hit 90F!  Last year, when we were doing the basement remodel, we sucked it up and installed central air as well.  And 90F temperatures is exactly why.  So, without hesitation, I turned it on Friday afternoon so everyone could sleep well that night.

My daughters told me their ceiling looked “gross” the next morning and this is what we found!

It hadn’t rained, so it was quite obvious that the air conditioning equipment was leaking.  The brand-freaking-new air conditioning equipment! The brand-freaking-new air conditioning equipment that hadn’t been used yet!

The company that installed the brand-freaking-new air conditioning equipment sent a tech out and this is what he found:

Needless to say that the Mrs and I are not happy in the least.  The tech, while initially rude to my wife (I was on my way home from work), fixed the problems he found and the unit is running fine.  We have a GC which the AC company providing stopping by to assess the situation and set up any fixes.  At a minimum, I would assume that some of the ceiling needs to be replaced and some of the insulation in the attic needs to be ripped out and replaced.  I’m concerned about mold, to be honest.

Ahhhh, the joys of homeownership!

Sometimes It’s Good To Be The Suburban Steader!

I was contacted by a company called Legacy Food Storage to test out some of their camping food under the Bannock Outdoors brand.  Of course, I had to oblige.  I mean, how could I pass up the chance to get back out into the woods and have some (hopefully) good grub to go along with it!  They were nice enough to send me this variety pack:

I’m not a huge peaches or berries person, so I’m not sure how much I’ll like the breakfasts.  But the rest of it looks great.  I can only hope it tastes as good as the packaging looks.  I’ll let you know!

I Got Skills, Baby!

Spring is in full swing here on Long Island.  Hell, the unofficial start to summer is upon us this weekend.  That all means that grilling season is going full blast!  I have been grilling a lot lately, but this week I freestyled some pork chops.

Free-styled? What does that mean?

It’s probably not a real term but it’s what I refer to grilling something without a plan.  I came home from work and season the pork chops with a mix of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika.  A tiny dash of Chef Keith Snow’s Harvest Eating Steak Seasoning was also added.

I know that steak seasoning doesn’t sound right on pork chops, but believe me when I tell you that a touch of this stuff on pork chops is magic.  I think it’s the dried orange peel.

I can guarantee that the end results tasted as good, if not better than they looked!

Next Week’s Goals

Gardening

The gardening goals for next week are the same as last week.  I didn’t get around to getting much planted (my furry guests are still here) and I need to get the stuff out of my basement seed-starting area.  Cukes, cilantro, and basil are all going to be moved outside this weekend and the trestles are going in for the snap peas.

Workshop

The toolbox is still sitting on my workbench and I’m still contemplating my next move.  This decision is a big one and I want to make sure I think it through.  If I strip it, I’ll never get that “patina” back that took my grandfather decades to put on it.  On the flip side, I could have this thing look terrific with a sanding and proper finish.  Decisions, decision, decisions.

I’ve had a few pocket knife kits from KnifeKits.com that I wanted to make for my daughters.  I even have pink and purple G-10 for the handles.  I might put the toolbox to the side and jump onto the knives while I contemplate the toolbox’s future.

The Mrs isn’t as keen on the idea of me building a desk for my daughter as I am.  It’s not so much because she doesn’t think I can do it but that it would cause a problem since we only have room for one desk and we have two daughters.  This whole project may require setting each girl up in their own room before I get started.  And I’m not sure we’re all ready for that yet.

That’s it folks – Week 21 is in the books!  How was your week?

Thanks for reading!

Dan

Founder/Owner at Suburban Steader

I am a middle-age guy with a wife, two young kids and a crazy dog. We live on Long Island, NY and had an interesting experience with Hurricane Sandy. That experience led me towards the self-sufficiency movement and eventually led to the founding of SuburbanSteader.com. I aim to provide suburbanites with the confidence and know-how to become more self-reliant by providing content on topics such as gardening, personal health, financial responsibility, cooking, self-preparedness and self-protection.