MINOR QUANDRIES

In the course of owning our home in the mountains we've come across all kinds of obstacles, none of them that serious but, in the course of a day, annoying. 

During covid, we had a "covid bird" who visited us regularly. He looked at his image in our front windows and pressed his beak against all of them to try to get in. It was a regular rat a tat tat. We tried everything......covering up the windows with blankets, placing a fake owl statue on the window ledge. We called the wildlife people and they suggested more hints. Finally after a few harassing months, Mr. Covid Bird decided to disappear.

Then there was the moth problem. That came about a year ago now when it seems all my cashmere sweaters suddenly had holes in them. I quickly ordered mothproof hanging bags and sweater bags from Amazon and sweater replacements. With the help of our exterminator who visits us monthly, we hung some lights to attract the little critters. We still see them but not as frequently anymore.

And alas, there's the wine cellar saga brought on by our older son's constant complaint that he kept hearing a ringing noise every time he walked into the kitchen. We discovered it was the wine cellar and, after several attempts to fix it, had to order a new one. My son has now had to find something else to complain about.

We have said to ourselves that we own a thirty year old house and we know there will be problems. That's just part of the deal.

Aside from the latest that our hot tub turned green while we were hosting a weekend for our grandson and his friends,  our latest quandary was what to do about hardened brown sugar that my husband purchased at the grocery store.  This is definitely a problem since very frequently I make my traditional recipe of panocha squares. (blonde brownies with chocolate chips). 

I went to my friend, the internet, and he/she prescribed three solutions: (1) Put apples on top of the brown sugar in a bag. We didn't have any apples. (2) If you have time, place it in the oven at a 300 degree temperature and then let it cool. I'm always impatient. (3) THE ONE. Open the wrapping and place a piece of bread on top of it. Then place in a Ziploc bag. 

Voila! We now have softened brown sugar.

Thank you, Google. We'll take a breath and wait for the next surprise.