Whiskey Sipping, Kiss My Asko, Home Grown Tomatoes

A busy weekend it has been around my household. On Friday, my husband invited a couple of co-workers and my daughter invited a co-worker and we had a little whiskey/bourbon sipping party. We had recently, on the recommendation of our son, purchased a bottle of Eagle Rare Single Barrel Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey and already had Powers Irish Whiskey, Redbreast Pure Pot Still Irish Whiskey and Knob Creek Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey. We each had several samples followed by a beer/Guinness or two. The Eagle Rare is without a doubt the smoothest; however, my favorite is the Redbreast. Of course comparing Kentucky Bourbon and Irish Whiskey is like comparing Scotch Whisky and Irish Whiskey they are very different.

On Saturday, our Asko washing machine (made in Sweden where there must not be coins the size of dimes) broke again. The problem is that someone living in this house does not/will not/can not/ check pockets for coins, lighters, beer bottle caps, you name it. What happens is the washing machine has this little trap that is supposed to catch all of these things that are left in clothes pockets; however, when all these foreign objects get sent down to the trap and the water is pumped out; dimes get sucked into the out going drain. The dimes are the exact size of the drain opening and become lodged and then the washer will not drain. The last three times this has happened each repair has cost $90. So with this current problem I thought I would open the bottom panel of the washer and try to fix it. Well the washer and dryer are stackables and there are 2 screws that have to be removed from the bottom of the washer to release the panel. The problem is the screws are about ½” off the floor and it’s impossible to get a screw driver in the correct position so the washer has to be lifted…really stupid design. After my attempt to repair the washer was unsuccessful, my daughter (the Engineer) came to the rescue. She used a coat hanger and tweezers and successfully removed the stuck dime. So if you live here and read this post please check all your pockets, always!

Yesterday my husband and I (mainly my husband) worked on getting a stump out of our backyard so we could plant a small garden. The stump was from a diseased fruit tree that my husband had cut down a few weeks ago. It was a real bitch to get out. It took about 5 hours of a lot of digging and root cutting/chopping with a bow saw and ax to remove the stump. Once it was out and the dirt was leveled I planted a small garden of herbs, heirloom tomatoes and various peppers. A couple of weeks ago we went to a small town south of us called Picolata to Maggie’s Herb Farm and bought about a dozen herbs and several heirloom tomato plants. This is what Singer/Songwriter Guy Clark has to say about homegrown tomatoes:

"Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes"

r.m.