Mopping the ceiling.

10/7/19

(Above: This is the uncovered LED kitchen light. [Finally removed the cover to clean away debris that had collected during the building process.])

Building Summary: This morning’s Jacobhouse activities consisted of wiping down the bathroom walls, procuring a Swiffer mop from Madre, and then mopping the entire ceiling of Jacobhouse (going over the entire abode three times to ensure full coverage). After I had finished this task, I accepted Madre’s aid in measuring the various nook and crannies of the dwelling where various storage receptacles shall be placed. During that time, we made a few interesting decisions/discoveries:

• The under-bed area will be hidden by a curtain that extends from behind the two decorative support ‘cow-wood boards’; this will allow for a large amount of flexibly sized storage.
• The region under the sub-counter will make an excellent place for a small set of drawers within which eating utensils may be kept.
• For hanging towels in the bathroom, I will be testing out magnetic hooks; they are able to hang quite readily on the galvalume paneling.

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(7:48 PM Update): Went down to the office near Oldhouse and gathered up quite a lot of supplies for Jacobhouse. Aside from those objects in the image below, I procured one additional blanket, an accordion/accordion case, and a toilet-paper holder.

TIL: I concluded the Ketchup Making process this morning, and have modified and added a few more steps to this recipe. Also, even though I did not adjust the 6 teaspoons of salt, I would recommend adding more – possibly 7 or 8  instead of 6.

Ketchup Ingredients:

• 100 oz. ( a hair over 12 cups) of diced then hand-smashed tomatoes
• 3 cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 ½ cups white sugar
• 6 teaspoons fresh-ground Himalayan Pink Salt (or more to taste… this equates to about 12 teaspoons Kosher Salt)
• 4 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• ¼ heaping teaspoon curing salt as additional preservative
• ¼ heaping teaspoon mustard powder
• 3 whole cloves

Method:

1. Mix everything up in what should be an extremely full crockpot.
2. Set the crockpot to high and place a foil teepee over the top (something that will allow moisture out whilst preventing the very rare eruptions of tomato juice from spattering the surrounding area).
3. Simmer the concoction for between 10 – 12 hours; the amount will vary per tomato juiciness.
4. As soon as proper thickness has been attained, turn the cooker down to as low a setting as possible and cover it. I did this for an entire night, but it probably does not need to be that long; I simply wished for the moisture to saturate the lines of dried tomato goodness along the pot’s edges.
5. After cooking covered for an hour or more, use a spatula of some sort to scrape the crusted tomato from the sides and allow the mixture to cook a tad longer (until the scraped-off chucks become softened).
6. Allow mixture to cool to a point where it is able to be handled, and then pour into a blender.
7. Blend on medium or high for 1 minute or until desired ‘grit’ is achieved.
8. Remove mixture and cool completely in the fridge before using.

Commentary: The weather this day has been tepid – cool, even – with infrequent bouts of rain. These showers, however, are not composed of summer’s massive droplets. Instead, today’s precipitation has taken the form of a very light mist. It can still be heard on the roof of Jacobhouse, creating a barely audible buzz very reminiscent of white noise. Despite much of the morning’s hours being spent cleaning, I enjoyed my time doing so… listening to an American History book while infrequent bouts of rain and sunshine expressed themselves outside.

Final Note: Tomorrow’s primary activity will be a supply expedition to Ocala. From the looks of it, the trip shall be quite lengthy (maybe I’ll be surprised!), but in regard to fully supplying Jacobhouse with life-materials, it should only have to occur once.