Not having had dinner, I came in from canasta feeling rather peckish. Toast was definitely in order.

I eat quite a lot of toast. It’s usually in the form of English muffins, which I like because one English muffin equals a slice of bread, but you get two pieces, plus the texture is just divine. I’ve been having an English muffin for breakfast at least 15 days out of 30 for the past 20 years or so.

When I am plugged into power, I use my toaster to cook my English muffins. I might even replace the toaster if it ever goes out. What’s nice about it is I’ve found the perfect setting on it for my English muffins, so I can just put one down and go do something else until it pops.

Not so when I’m boondocking. Like when I’m stuck cooking rice on the stove, making toast while boondocking means I have to stay in the kitchen and watch my cast iron pan very closely. It doesn’t taking long to go from delicious to charred beyond salvation. This muffin is not quite done, but oh, so close.

I prefer the taste of my toast made in the cast iron pan, although the texture isn’t quite as crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, as you get with the toaster. So both methods have their pluses and minuses. I don’t care as much for toast made in any other sort of pan.

For those wanting to try toasting their bread in a cast iron pan, heat the pan until very hot and then put the bread on it. My pan is well seasoned, so I do not add any fat to it. If the pan is hot enough, the bread won’t stick. I let it get brown on one side, flip it, let the other side get brown, and then repeat the exercise to get a little charring on both sides, but that’s optional.

End result, with a little peanut butter and some of Laura’s jam:

I’m off to bed. Laura and I are hitting the Willow Bunch community garage sale tomorrow. I’m only going to window shop and to get a change of scenery. 🙂

I got 11 gallons of water at C&C’s this afternoon and used 5 to wash my work and around the house skirts. I am just so tired of wearing jeans! I think pants are unnatural and they are soooo uncomfortable. Fine for the odd night out, but for doing actual physical work? YUCK.

For all the trees I have, none work particularly well for a clothes line, so I’m using a rather pliable sapling branch and the RV’s ladder. Good enough for an emergency wash session! I can’t wait to up a proper clothes line once I find the perfect place for it. There’s a lot of shade on this lot and the line would be in the way in most of the sunny spots. I’m sure the perfect spot will make itself apparent once I get Miranda moved.

When I had my house, I frequently scavenged for goodies to add to it, using what I found as inspiration rather than letting inspiration dictate what I’d use. I’ve done the same thing with my renos in Miranda, for example making good use of the Campbell River Home Depot’s dumpster.

This afternoon, I went treasure hunting in Hiram’s back yard. As a reminder, he’s the guy who thought he owns my property. He has piles and piles and piles of junk in his backyard and I was given permission to take absolutely anything I want.

Now, most of the stuff in the yard is absolute junk and not worth the trouble it would take to do anything with it, but I still found quite a few diamonds.

The first item in this photo is some chicken coop-type wiring. Not sure yet what I’ll do with it, but it could come in handy to protect a garden from the resident bunny. Next to that are a few bricks. I’m going to keep my eyes out for bricks to use as edging and paths. Finally, the battered rusty round metal ring is a fire pit! I need to check what the rules are for fire pits here, but everyone seems to have one, so I’m hoping I’ll get to use it. I also found a bucket of good coals to go with it.

Next to the fire pit are a few sheets of tin roofing material. Not much there, but could be useful to cover my future compost bin.

Next to the roofing is my big pile o’ leaves. I am not making progress, believe it or not.

Next up is the start of my pallet pile. If anything, they will be good kindling for the fire pit! Most of the other pallets are too heavy to carry, so I’ll have to borrow a dolly.

I plan to use some pallets to make a porch. This piece of plywood is in great shape and will make a good topping for the pallets so that I don’t risk going through the slats. An outdoor carpet will be in order as well. Behind that is the bucket of coals.

Finally, I found a ground plane for my high gain antenna! Just need to find some tin snips to cut it to size, then bang it flat and glue it to my roof.

There is tons of lumber to go through on that lot. All of it has been outside for eons, so it’s in dubious shape, but I think I could build some rough temporary structures with quite a bit of it. For example, I’m thinking of combining some pallets with fencing panels,  2x4s, and the tin roofing to make a temporary shed.