blue moon (2)

Saturday, August 04, 2007

DONE!!!!!!!! ©

Done, done done done done done done alllllllllllll done.

My parent’s house is officially finished.
There is still the issue about getting someone to change the panel box but all the work is finished and that includes the painting.

So I don’t have to work next door tomorrow and there are no wedding, engagements or baptisms I have to go to either.
It’s a good thing to because I am broke now.
I went out the other day and spent a couple of hundred on the stuff I will need for my Bbq on the 18th of this month.

As it stands right now I have in my freezer

120 souvlaki

, dolmathes, lokaniko and two large trays of spanakopites.
There will also be pastitsio, tzatziki, various salads and different cheeses.

For dessert there will be galaktobouriko, theples, baklava, and kourabiethes.
Every year I like to make a punch for everyone to drink while I cook and this year I came up with a good one I think.I am going to make a margarita punch; it’s what I call it any way.

I tried this out and it wasn’t so bad or I was to drunk to tell by the end but this is what I will be putting into it if anyone out there cares to try.

1 can of frozen lime drink with three cans of water.
A half-gallon of lime sorbet.
26 ounces of tequila
Stir it all up in the punch bowl and serve it.
Keep the punch bowl sitting in ice to keep it cold
Now how hard is that?
I plan on salting the punch glasses before hand also.

I don’t know how many people are going to be coming but a rough guess would put it at 40.
I think I will have enough food for that and more because rumour has it that the neighbours are crashing this year.
But enough of that, you will be hearing plenty as the days go by.

The other day I went out and got a new pot for my large cactus.
It was getting so big when I walk by it and the floor shifted it rocked like it was going to tip over and fall and this is one plant I don’t want falling on me because its got pain written all over it.
Plus I like it and I wouldn’t want to see it damaged.

I went over to Home Depot with my mother to pick up some electrical wire for my house so when the time comes for them to start it I will have everything there and ready to go, so while I was there I decided it was time to get a new pot.

There are times when I wish there wasn’t a thing as variety because I was having a hell of a time choosing what I wanted.
I wanted it to be big but not too big and it had to match the decor of the room.
The most important thing was it had to be clay and heavy to keep from falling over.

My mother was pushing her shopping cart around watching me trying to pick one and commenting on some of my choices like.
That’s too big, the house will fall down.
The house won’t fall down.
Clay is no good, plastic is lighter.
I need it to be heavy.
The one with the pink flowers is nice.
I don’t like pink.
You should get rid of that big killer plant.
That’s the plant I am looking for a pot for.
I have to go for a pee
Again

For 45 minutes this is the way it went until under threat of getting hosed by my mother I picked one.
It was a sandy brown in color that weighed about twenty pounds.
When I got it home I brought it to the living room where the plant was and I stood there thinking how I was going to do this.
When I first given this plant it had five years ago, it was a little over three feet tall with 6 arms.
Today it’s over six feet tall with the pot its in and has 73 arms filled with sharp thorns.
I bend down to pick it up to get the feel of it and it’s heavy.
It’s also awkward to hold because it’s so tall compared to the pot and sways around like a mace trying to knock my block off.

After thinking about it for a bit, I picked up the phone and called Mike to see what he was up to, he said he was busy but would show up the next day to help me with it.
That’s fine I could wait a day but I stood there for another ten minutes trying to see if there was ANY way for me to do this now on my own but after touching one of the big arms and getting stabbed in the hand I decided what another day.

The next day at around 3 pm Mike stopped by to give me a hand with it.
I took the plant slowly off the bench I built for it and put it on the floor infront of Mike.
Mike is not that big, about 5 foot 4, about 135 pounds.
The plant is about 5 foot 10 and about 2 feet wide at the top with a gazillion sharp thorns.
Mike looked like he was standing next to Godzilla.
Hmmm, I like that name, from now on the large cactus is called Godzilla.
I could see the Mike’s brain working when I looked in his eyes.
He was thinking the same thing I was the day before, “I hope this fucken thing doesn’t fall on me”.

He asked me what the plan was, I told him I had been thinking about it and I had an idea that would be safe for us and the plant.
We will turn the coffee table sideways then put the put on top and lower it on its side with the plant over the side resting on my arms and the pot on the table.
Then he could putt the pot off and we could slide the plant off of the table and into the awaiting pot on the floor.

Mike thought it was a good idea then he asked me if we were going to wear suits of armour and as he was laughing I told him I was he wasn’t.
I picked up the pot with Mike holding the arms so they wouldn’t sway and put it on the coffee table, then I left the living room for 2 minutes and came back wearing my leather jacket and thick work gloves, the ones Mike brought me back from the mines, almost nothing can penetrate these gloves.
Did I mention it was 35c that day and the leather jacket was one of the one’s they made in the eighties out of thick leather, not like the cheap crap they sell now?

Now fully protected I told Mike to start tilting it with me until; I was on my knees next to the coffee table with the cactus plant resting on my forearms while Mike tugged on the pot.
After some effort the pot came off and we slipped into the new pot.
I though that the new pot was the same size as the old on but I was wrong because it needed 2 more bags of soil.
With Mikes help we packed it in tight and put it back on the bench.
The fucken thing was really heavy now and after I watered it a bit, it must have weighed about 200 pounds.
I am not re-potting Godzilla again I tell you.
I read up on this particular cactus and it said out in the dessert it can grow to 18 feet tall and up to 10 in the house.
I will be buying an axe before I let this thing get that big.


This is Godzilla on the right and there is my banana tree to its left, it's come a long way from 3 inches in 3 months. To get a feel for the size of the cactus plant, the window behind it is 6 feet high.

It’s now Saturday and I am sitting here drinking my coke and I don’t have to go work next door. How sweet is that, so I guess I might as well sit here and write part ten, how’s that?

Have a nice weekend

Walker

8 comments:

nachtwache said...

Wow, good looking food, too bad you're so far away. Nice to get your parents' house all done, I bet they're glad too. It's so expensive to renovate and you always need more than you think. We are paying the neighbour $ 400 for a chain link fence between his yard and ours. He already had the material, we just supplied some of the cement. The posts are in, now it's only the chain link that needs to get put up. We think it's a really good deal for us, I'm sure he got it all for a good price, he's getting his whole property fenced in. At least it won't rot.
That size cactus would cost lots of money to buy in a store. It's a beautiful monster :)

Karen said...

First of all, HUGE congrats on finishing your parents house. Second, even bigger congrats on getting Godzilla into a new pot, he is a big boy isn't he? Thirdly, get those fingers typing madly for Part 10. Isn't that the final part????

Enjoy your weekend, you thoroughly deserve it.

Jenny said...

ahhh, there's nothing like having a big project completed. Congrats.

And now a little "me" time for Walker, yes? Like a big party.

Right on.

Peter said...

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? I can't remember who said that but it fits... Reno finished, Godzilla re-potted, Barby plans all made, Chapter 10 on the way.

GAB said...

My cactus is a baby compared to yours. I sure hope mine dont get that big but if it does ok.
Im coming to crash your BBQ.
The only thing on your list that I have ever eaten is the Baklava. I used to work as a cashier in a greek restaruant once long ago. I now like eating gyro's. I never did get the chance to eat any of the other stuff because once I tried their BBQ ribs and BBQ chicken I was in love. The it became a hazard to work there because I was always bring dinner home. lol It was great until one night the place blew up. Yeap you read right it blew to smitherines. Story was the guy who owned it was kinda like a mobster type guy who was running shady dealing upstairs. All I know was none of us was ever allowed upstairs and when he left at night there where 5 locks on the door...seems someone already tried to break in to see what was what.

Joanna Cake said...

LMAO. What a great story! You do realise that by giving it a bigger pot you've encouraged Godzilla to grow more?
Ruf and I repotted the three tiny cacti he had bought a couple of months ago. The little buggers are only about two inches tall but man are those spikes still lethal and when they scratch, they leave something behind that really irritates the skin so you and Mike have my hugest admiration for working out a plan that not only succeeded but pretty painlessly also. Well done!

Monogram Queen said...

Congrats on your parents house being finished!
Mmmm that food sounds so good! I can't wait to hear all about the bbq this year.
Nice you have a Saturday to yourself.
I am not big fan of houseplants, I like mine to be outside but you have done an awesome job with Godzilla!

BlazngScarlet said...

YAY! the house is done!
WHOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!

That food looks DELICIOUS!
I am so crashing THAT party! lol

I'd say get to work on part 10, but it's currently above this post, which I am now off to read.