Chilly until the fusion fire warms the air. 54F when I went to bed. Probably about the same when I get up. It was clear and gorgeous when I got here yesterday, and I expect the same today. High of 80F would be nice.
Before I left Houston I loaded the truck. Since I had room, I decided to move a bunch of stuff I’d stacked at the beginning of the lockdown. Kinda disappointed by the condition. Granted stuff was stored in bad conditions, hot, cold, etc. some stuff failed long before it should have.
EVERY can of Hill Country Fair (our HEB grocery cheap house brand) fruit failed dramatically. EZ pull lids popped. EVERY CAN. That is less than 3 years to complete failure. None of the veg or soup popped. A couple of flats of cans failed due to rust though. When the fruit got everything beneath it wet…. FWIW, I have other brands of canned fruit stored under similar conditions and while they often fail early, none has failed so completely in such a short time. No more HCF fruit in my long term storage.
Also, no more cardboard flats. While they do help organize, the cardboard holds moisture and leads to rust on the bottom edge of the cans. It’s ok indoors, in the proverbial cool dark place, but no where else.
There was also some spoilage due to animals. Something chewed the plastic bottles, and ruined 3 gallons of cooking oil. It was fine for a couple of years, but I’m guessing once the fruit was everywhere it attracted the possum. Wasn’t rats because they’d have eaten all the oil too, and left the bottles empty, while these were still half full.
Oh, and in the fridge both bottles of heavy cream from Costco were swollen up and ready to pop even though they were still in their sell by time. I’ve had issues with their milk this year but the cream thing is new. No more milk products from Costco. Too much dairy has failed early. That joins my boycott of bagged veg from Costco too. It never lasts as long as it should.
This seems to be my week for bad luck with food. When I got here, I found the freezer door on the garage fridge ever so slightly ajar. Everything was still firm, and had frost on it, but I’ll be cooking it all when I get home. Since I was up here last week, it basically slowly thawed until today. Glad I caught it in time.
Today will be attic work to connect the last sink and shower. If I have time, I will also connect at least one hose bib. I’m pretty sure we’re past risk of a deep and prolonged freeze.
Check your stacks people. I let some things go, and lost extra stuff I shouldn’t have. Also rotate your stored food. It’s hard if you store more than you eat, and I know that and accept that I’ll have losses, but it’s still worth trying to rotate as much as possible.
Stack it up. But monitor it too.
nick