Monday, March 8, 2010

Freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw - that's what's needed to keep the sap running. Thank goodness it froze last night, but warm weather is predicted so we may have a very short season. It's hard to believe that it's been two years since our barn burned.

My little buddy Maddie MacDoogle won't be here this morning. The last time I saw her I had my running stuff on and she cried because she didn't recognize me.

Afternoon update*********
I did a ton of decluttering in the kitchen. I also put away all of my snowmen and the last of my winter decorations. I made a batch of Maple Syrup Festival scented candles. I mixed lye water and am melting the base oils for a batch of soap. I decided to take a break. I was browsing through some soapmaking videos on Youtube and found this one.



The first thing that struck me was that she wasn't wearing gloves or goggles. I was very nervous as she used the stick blender on that full container of raw soap. I will admit that sometimes I don't wear goggles, but most times I do. She was multi-tasking while bringing the soap to trace. Not a good idea. She didn't measure the fragrance oil - just used "half a bottle." All ingredients should be weighed! And all of that measuring should be done ahead of time, not when the lye water has already been added. Then, when she picked up that container to pour the soap in the mold I almost gasped out loud! She was using a pliable ice cream bucket to hold the raw soap. One wrong move and that woman would have been covered with raw, caustic soap. As a soapmaker, I know that there are times we don't take all of the security measures that we should, but this video was being watched by people who wanted to learn how to make soap. I thought this woman was way too casual in the way she handled such a caustic substance. I think it was irresponsible to post something like this and make no mention of the precautions that should be taken.
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Word of the day:
Monday of the Third week of Lent
Today the Church celebrates : St. John of God, religious (1495-1550)
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 4:24-30.

And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.