Well, I guess it was a Tropical Storm by the time it hit us - although I wouldn't be surprised at all if the winds hit us at elevation at hurricane strength. It's been surprisingly hard to deal with the aftermath in our area. People are still without power, reliable phone, cell, or internet. I feel really fortunate to have power, but my cell and internet come and go, seemingly randomly. (I haven't shared my deep loathing for Verizon Wireless, but let me just share that they went down for over a week - and still charged me for using data. For the 8th month in a row, I have had to argue it out with Customer Service. Tiring - and therefore, they are losing our business).
Our school held a hurricane drive - various necessities like canned goods, toilet paper, heavy duty garbage bags (for ice), drinking water, flashlights, batteries (hard to find commodity here).... Several teachers and lots of kids were affected. It's been a long week and a half.
The district got some attention because two precincts couldn't vote in the primary. One hotly contested Democrat US Senate race was down to the wire - they needed those two precincts to determine the outcome. Both candidates showed up to visibly help and garnered some ill will doing so - doubt they would have been here unless without an election to win. Now the election is over, and they're out of here, and Puna is once again out of the limelight. It still stinks in lots of the deep rural areas of Puna, though.
I didn't have it at all as bad as some of our staff and students, but I am still so tired - like a hurricane hangover. I even have hives, but I kind of think that might be from eating almonds every day of last week - I've never been allergic to anything, but maybe I overdid it. It could be from stress, though - having a big storm and starting school at the same time was pretty stressful, to be honest. I am really grateful my husband got that part-time teaching job, but even good change is stressful.
We still have lots of trees down, but we're just leaving them for now. Too many other projects to get done. I won't be planting a fall garden, because three big pines are covering that spot - killed my struggling laua'e ferns, sadly.
Hopefully, the big storms that our out in the Pacific stay far away from us (we're having an active year), and people get back their power, and the electric company and the state highways people decide that cutting all the trees that surround (and grow around) all the phone and power lines is a good idea and they upgrade our fairly antiquated phone system (in rural areas, anyway) - in other words, we learn from this.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
Hurricane Update
So, we were without power for 36 hours, which is much better than many of my neighbors, as well as phone, cell phone, internet, running water (for the most part). We did have a wind up radio, but our Civil Defense was light on news on both Thursday and Friday. In the aftermath, they are quite diligent about announcing shelters and ice and water pick-up sites, but it was maddening during the storm and the immediate aftermath not knowing - especially with Julio right on the heels of Iselle. At one point, about 8 pm on Thursday night, the wind was so strong and we could see that big trees had fallen and the roof on part of the barn was off, and we had heard that the worst was yet to come. It was so hard to have NO information about the track of the storm once the tv was out. There was nothing on the radio, except people calling in with what was going on in their area. I thought, "If it gets worse than this, we are in big trouble."
I live in the area hardest hit by the Hurricane, but we were remarkably blessed. My son said, "I prayed for the us, the house, and the water tanks." I prayed for those, too, and for the animals. It appears those prayers worked - all our animals made it through. We left the chickens out of the coop and fed them in the horse stall which has two strong hollow tile walls. The sheep have an enclosure that is built like Fort Knox. The only thing that would have gotten them was if a tree fell on them - which, thankfully, didn't happen. Several very large trees and clumps of waiawi fell across our driveway, but they didn't hit the water tank. The greenhouse and even the papayas (which are very fragile trees) were protected by the house, but the barn carport roof fell down. The roof fell across the cars, resting on the two (not running, project cars) convertible Spitfire windshields - they didn't even crack: the only damage was a very small dent in the kids' Volvo. That felt miraculous, to be honest.
Our house got power-washed by the storm - all the mold and ick that built up over our very wet summer just got scrubbed off. One big pine snapped in half - if it had uprooted like most of the other pines that went down, it would have smashed our roof.
My family (my husband, in particular) were amazing. We had to chain saw and haul off all the trees blocking the driveway, which took about 8 hours, just to get off our property. We drove to town, because I knew my family would want to know we were okay. Once we were in town, we had internet and cell phone, so I was able to tell my parents and sister we were alive. The next day, our friends came and helped us dismantle the car port and chop trees that were going to go down. There are two really big trees I am worried about - if they go, we could have damage to our house and water tanks, after all. They are at least 100 feet tall, and I keep looking at them, because they are leaning just a bit more than they used to. In the afternoon, my two sons and my husband put the car port back up!
I used to grumble all the time, because my husband keeps putting 1 liter bottles of water in my freezers - they take a lot of space, but they really helped during the storm. We didn't lose any freezer food at all. My husband also keeps a 12 volt battery for the water pump - it isn't strong, but our basement bathroom had a flushable toilet and a little bit of water for the shower - it wasn't that warm because there wasn't a lot of sun for the solar, but at least after working very hard for 8 hours we could clean up a little. Our generator froze up, so that's something we'll need to replace.
He really tied down every thing so well, my husband, and he has worked tirelessly for the last 4 days to get us back to some normalcy.
The freaky, spooky horse has gotten a lot friendlier over the last two days. Every time I go outside he runs over to get close - not quite close enough to touch, but just right there. He must have been scared. The chickens and the sheep seem basically unaffected - although the sheep hung around up front near people for most of the day after.
There are neighborhoods that will be without power (some of them on my road, which is weird to me - I have power, how come some of my neighbors don't?) for a week or more. Some of the lower areas in our district look like a bomb went off. Some of the people in the remote areas (we're on a county road) on the private roads could still be in real trouble, and no one would know. I hear the news casters say, "People's cell phones are running out of batteries," but the real issues is that there is no cell service. Every time the power goes out, even our wall phones go out, and cell is spotty in our area anyway, and now it is completely down. That scares me. I don't remember the land lines going down in power outages when I was young. I think we may be hearing of deaths as people get more into these remote areas. My daughter's friend's garage was smashed flat - I mean the car is about a foot thick now - if the tree had fallen a little to the left, that family would be gone, and there are many houses like that.
I'm still praying for our community. The primary election here kind of knocked it out of the news to some extent - although that might change because the last two districts couldn't vote - and we have one really close US race. It will bring a lot more attention to our hardest hit areas.
I'll put pictures up later; they are just taking a long while to load from my mobile device.
I live in the area hardest hit by the Hurricane, but we were remarkably blessed. My son said, "I prayed for the us, the house, and the water tanks." I prayed for those, too, and for the animals. It appears those prayers worked - all our animals made it through. We left the chickens out of the coop and fed them in the horse stall which has two strong hollow tile walls. The sheep have an enclosure that is built like Fort Knox. The only thing that would have gotten them was if a tree fell on them - which, thankfully, didn't happen. Several very large trees and clumps of waiawi fell across our driveway, but they didn't hit the water tank. The greenhouse and even the papayas (which are very fragile trees) were protected by the house, but the barn carport roof fell down. The roof fell across the cars, resting on the two (not running, project cars) convertible Spitfire windshields - they didn't even crack: the only damage was a very small dent in the kids' Volvo. That felt miraculous, to be honest.
Our house got power-washed by the storm - all the mold and ick that built up over our very wet summer just got scrubbed off. One big pine snapped in half - if it had uprooted like most of the other pines that went down, it would have smashed our roof.
My family (my husband, in particular) were amazing. We had to chain saw and haul off all the trees blocking the driveway, which took about 8 hours, just to get off our property. We drove to town, because I knew my family would want to know we were okay. Once we were in town, we had internet and cell phone, so I was able to tell my parents and sister we were alive. The next day, our friends came and helped us dismantle the car port and chop trees that were going to go down. There are two really big trees I am worried about - if they go, we could have damage to our house and water tanks, after all. They are at least 100 feet tall, and I keep looking at them, because they are leaning just a bit more than they used to. In the afternoon, my two sons and my husband put the car port back up!
I used to grumble all the time, because my husband keeps putting 1 liter bottles of water in my freezers - they take a lot of space, but they really helped during the storm. We didn't lose any freezer food at all. My husband also keeps a 12 volt battery for the water pump - it isn't strong, but our basement bathroom had a flushable toilet and a little bit of water for the shower - it wasn't that warm because there wasn't a lot of sun for the solar, but at least after working very hard for 8 hours we could clean up a little. Our generator froze up, so that's something we'll need to replace.
He really tied down every thing so well, my husband, and he has worked tirelessly for the last 4 days to get us back to some normalcy.
The freaky, spooky horse has gotten a lot friendlier over the last two days. Every time I go outside he runs over to get close - not quite close enough to touch, but just right there. He must have been scared. The chickens and the sheep seem basically unaffected - although the sheep hung around up front near people for most of the day after.
There are neighborhoods that will be without power (some of them on my road, which is weird to me - I have power, how come some of my neighbors don't?) for a week or more. Some of the lower areas in our district look like a bomb went off. Some of the people in the remote areas (we're on a county road) on the private roads could still be in real trouble, and no one would know. I hear the news casters say, "People's cell phones are running out of batteries," but the real issues is that there is no cell service. Every time the power goes out, even our wall phones go out, and cell is spotty in our area anyway, and now it is completely down. That scares me. I don't remember the land lines going down in power outages when I was young. I think we may be hearing of deaths as people get more into these remote areas. My daughter's friend's garage was smashed flat - I mean the car is about a foot thick now - if the tree had fallen a little to the left, that family would be gone, and there are many houses like that.
I'm still praying for our community. The primary election here kind of knocked it out of the news to some extent - although that might change because the last two districts couldn't vote - and we have one really close US race. It will bring a lot more attention to our hardest hit areas.
I'll put pictures up later; they are just taking a long while to load from my mobile device.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Hurricane(s)
It's been awhile, but I thought it might be noteworthy to mention the two hurricanes on their way before the power goes out. You might think we'd be used to hurricanes here in Hawaii, but, in reality, we don't have them very frequently. The last three that had impact were in 1959 (Dot), 1982 (ʻIwa), and 1992 (ʻIniki). I was alive and around for the the 1982 and 1992 versions.
ʻIniki was very destructive at the north end of the state, and that's the one that comes up in the media. I saw one Reuters article, written by a woman who grew up here, that referenced that one and said the only hurricane of note before 1992 was in 1959. I can't figure out how she conveniently forgot the 6 days without power (and in some cases, county water) in 1982. Barbecuing the turkey for Thanksgiving is certainly engraved in my memory. We had a close shave in 2007, but it turned out to be nothing. I think people (like me) are simultaneously thinking that this will be the same thing and that it's going to be bad. Maybe if you are as old as I am you have the second thought, and if you are young like my kids, you think only the first thought.
School was supposed to start today, but has been canceled for both today and tomorrow. Most of the students came to campus yesterday to pick up their school computers and some were helping to prepare the garden area for the storm (taking down tarps, putting away implements). When the call went out (the school has a system that pushes recorded messages to our phones), I heard a boy whoop with joy over the news that school was canceled. I actually feel a bit sad, even though I am relieved we're all off the roads and safe - some of our kids commute from hours and hours away.
Anyway, this is what we have to think about:
The barn roof is perfectly situated for our regular winds, but it is like a big wing for the direction of the hurricane winds. If we do get the 60 mph winds with gusts to 90, we could lose the barn roof. The chicken coup is not wind proof, so the chickens need to go in the tack room, which is fine if the roof stays put, but it means I need to take all the feed out and the tack out and clean out a LOT of chicken poop tomorrow. The overabundance of classic, semi-working cars and kids' cars need to be accounted for. I think, if we move things around, we can fit 2 spitfires, the Chevy, and the small hatchback in the main garage. One more Spitfire could probably squeeze in with the tractor. I don't know what is going to happen to my greenhouse, but I will have to hope that since it is close to the house and in a low area that it will be okay. All the tarps we have up (over the trampoline, etc) need to be taken down. The barn carports and the old sheep stall next to the horse stalls have old roofing. I'm worried about those. We'll put the sheep in the new stall, which my husband built like Fort Knox.
I really wish we'd figured out a pond liner. With all the rain we'll be having, the pond will be pretty full for a few days - it would be nice if it stayed that way. We have 10,000 gallons of catchment. That's awesome - unless a tree branch crashes into the fiberglass tanks. We've had really strong winds before, so I am relatively confident that will be fine, but if it's not, it would be nice to have the pond, too.
There are lots of things that need to be stowed away - like the cement mixer and wheelbarrow we had out to work on the new chicken coop, some fencing materials, a few odds and ends. I am kind of wondering about the building materials for the cottage, but probably we can just move those in closer to the barn.
So today is Iselle - and she appears to be heading, basically, right for my house. However, we do have these two massive mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, that have always steered hurricanes around the Big Island. They keep talking about 10-12 inches of rain - and that's just a bad day, not a disaster, in a rainforest. We had this one storm where we had 24 inches of rain in 24 hours, and it didn't even register at my house - although when I went out a few days later there were bridges and whole chunks of our highway washed away. We've even had 80 mile an hour winds when we lived in the shack and not even the waiawi and cheap fiberglass barn blew over - it did fall over later when we had a big muddy long period and the horse rubbed up against it (an embarrassing, early moment in homesteading) My husband was out on the roof, putting in all the screws he never got around to in the middle of it, but nothing happened. In town, people lost roofs, but nothing up here.
So, again, I have this "Well, we'll see." attitude. On the other hand, here I am in a Hurricane Warning and I am thinking about making cookies, and my daughter on Oahu is only on Tropical Storm warning, and I am flipping out about her. She's one of those who is saying, "They always say it's going to be bad, and it never is, ho hum," and she may be right in this case, but if not, she's there, and I am here, and even those she's 22, she is still my baby.
In a couple of days, Julio will be close to the islands. That one, so far looks like it will go a bit north of us, so I am not even thinking about it.
ʻIniki was very destructive at the north end of the state, and that's the one that comes up in the media. I saw one Reuters article, written by a woman who grew up here, that referenced that one and said the only hurricane of note before 1992 was in 1959. I can't figure out how she conveniently forgot the 6 days without power (and in some cases, county water) in 1982. Barbecuing the turkey for Thanksgiving is certainly engraved in my memory. We had a close shave in 2007, but it turned out to be nothing. I think people (like me) are simultaneously thinking that this will be the same thing and that it's going to be bad. Maybe if you are as old as I am you have the second thought, and if you are young like my kids, you think only the first thought.
School was supposed to start today, but has been canceled for both today and tomorrow. Most of the students came to campus yesterday to pick up their school computers and some were helping to prepare the garden area for the storm (taking down tarps, putting away implements). When the call went out (the school has a system that pushes recorded messages to our phones), I heard a boy whoop with joy over the news that school was canceled. I actually feel a bit sad, even though I am relieved we're all off the roads and safe - some of our kids commute from hours and hours away.
Anyway, this is what we have to think about:
The barn roof is perfectly situated for our regular winds, but it is like a big wing for the direction of the hurricane winds. If we do get the 60 mph winds with gusts to 90, we could lose the barn roof. The chicken coup is not wind proof, so the chickens need to go in the tack room, which is fine if the roof stays put, but it means I need to take all the feed out and the tack out and clean out a LOT of chicken poop tomorrow. The overabundance of classic, semi-working cars and kids' cars need to be accounted for. I think, if we move things around, we can fit 2 spitfires, the Chevy, and the small hatchback in the main garage. One more Spitfire could probably squeeze in with the tractor. I don't know what is going to happen to my greenhouse, but I will have to hope that since it is close to the house and in a low area that it will be okay. All the tarps we have up (over the trampoline, etc) need to be taken down. The barn carports and the old sheep stall next to the horse stalls have old roofing. I'm worried about those. We'll put the sheep in the new stall, which my husband built like Fort Knox.
I really wish we'd figured out a pond liner. With all the rain we'll be having, the pond will be pretty full for a few days - it would be nice if it stayed that way. We have 10,000 gallons of catchment. That's awesome - unless a tree branch crashes into the fiberglass tanks. We've had really strong winds before, so I am relatively confident that will be fine, but if it's not, it would be nice to have the pond, too.
There are lots of things that need to be stowed away - like the cement mixer and wheelbarrow we had out to work on the new chicken coop, some fencing materials, a few odds and ends. I am kind of wondering about the building materials for the cottage, but probably we can just move those in closer to the barn.
So today is Iselle - and she appears to be heading, basically, right for my house. However, we do have these two massive mountains, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, that have always steered hurricanes around the Big Island. They keep talking about 10-12 inches of rain - and that's just a bad day, not a disaster, in a rainforest. We had this one storm where we had 24 inches of rain in 24 hours, and it didn't even register at my house - although when I went out a few days later there were bridges and whole chunks of our highway washed away. We've even had 80 mile an hour winds when we lived in the shack and not even the waiawi and cheap fiberglass barn blew over - it did fall over later when we had a big muddy long period and the horse rubbed up against it (an embarrassing, early moment in homesteading) My husband was out on the roof, putting in all the screws he never got around to in the middle of it, but nothing happened. In town, people lost roofs, but nothing up here.
So, again, I have this "Well, we'll see." attitude. On the other hand, here I am in a Hurricane Warning and I am thinking about making cookies, and my daughter on Oahu is only on Tropical Storm warning, and I am flipping out about her. She's one of those who is saying, "They always say it's going to be bad, and it never is, ho hum," and she may be right in this case, but if not, she's there, and I am here, and even those she's 22, she is still my baby.
In a couple of days, Julio will be close to the islands. That one, so far looks like it will go a bit north of us, so I am not even thinking about it.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Trying a New Web Tool.
I chose not to go to ISTE, but I can follow it on Twitter and learn some new tricks. Here is a web tool called AnswerGarden. I am going to try it in my classroom (although it just looks like an uglier Padlet, frankly) It's easier to share on Blogger, though.
AnswerGarden: What is your favorite project around your home? ...
AnswerGarden: What is your favorite project around your home? ...
Friday, June 27, 2014
Not at ISTE
Okay, when the invitation to apply to ISTE for this year came out back in November, I kind of had this moment of dread. I just didn't want to fly all the way to Atlanta. San Antonio just about killed me last year - plus, I was all excited about the possibility of teaching Summer School.
Now, I am half way through Summer School, and the folks all left yesterday for ISTE, and I am watching Twitter and feeling mildly sorry for myself for not being there. On the other hand, they met at the airport at noon yesterday and only landed a few hours ago, so yeah, getting there sounds like my own personal vision of hell. But...all that excitement, all that new stuff to learn, being in the same state with my 3rd child and making sure he's okay.... (I do admit reason three is lame, and the umbilical cord was cut 16 years ago!). Also, I always put off a certain kind of session, because there is so much to do - and now I wish I experienced and Ignite session. I feel in need of some "passion igniting" right about now.
I come home from work earlier than I ever can during the regular school year, but I am about 10 times more exhausted. I think it is because each day is like 2 and a half regular days worth of lesson planning and work. I want to do so much with these kids, but there is only so much a human brain can get at a time. I'll have to re-think some concepts next year - especially if I leave this open to 10th graders, again. They really aren't ready for it, in general. Not all of them, I have some super 10th graders in the morning session and a couple in the second session, but most of them need an essay writing class first - which is how we did it at my old school.
No gardening or even cleaning is getting done (by me, at least). My husband did an incredible amount of laundry over the last few days. He took the opportunity to clean out the son's room while he was gone. I can't believe how many clothes that kid has - he got some from his brother, some from his cousins, some from me, and apparently, he hasn't had to do laundry for something like 3 months. I am barely exaggerating, and yes, I know that is disgusting. Oh my goodness. Piles and piles of folding. (I helped with that.). He's coming home to a reduced wardrobe.
Two weeks left and then I can do at least one project before the real school year starts!
Now, I am half way through Summer School, and the folks all left yesterday for ISTE, and I am watching Twitter and feeling mildly sorry for myself for not being there. On the other hand, they met at the airport at noon yesterday and only landed a few hours ago, so yeah, getting there sounds like my own personal vision of hell. But...all that excitement, all that new stuff to learn, being in the same state with my 3rd child and making sure he's okay.... (I do admit reason three is lame, and the umbilical cord was cut 16 years ago!). Also, I always put off a certain kind of session, because there is so much to do - and now I wish I experienced and Ignite session. I feel in need of some "passion igniting" right about now.
I come home from work earlier than I ever can during the regular school year, but I am about 10 times more exhausted. I think it is because each day is like 2 and a half regular days worth of lesson planning and work. I want to do so much with these kids, but there is only so much a human brain can get at a time. I'll have to re-think some concepts next year - especially if I leave this open to 10th graders, again. They really aren't ready for it, in general. Not all of them, I have some super 10th graders in the morning session and a couple in the second session, but most of them need an essay writing class first - which is how we did it at my old school.
No gardening or even cleaning is getting done (by me, at least). My husband did an incredible amount of laundry over the last few days. He took the opportunity to clean out the son's room while he was gone. I can't believe how many clothes that kid has - he got some from his brother, some from his cousins, some from me, and apparently, he hasn't had to do laundry for something like 3 months. I am barely exaggerating, and yes, I know that is disgusting. Oh my goodness. Piles and piles of folding. (I helped with that.). He's coming home to a reduced wardrobe.
Two weeks left and then I can do at least one project before the real school year starts!
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Griddle Done!
I am so happy with how the cast iron turned out. I had to spray the griddle three times with oven cleaner, but it looks great, now. What a satisfying project.
In the process, I have also discovered coconut oil. I like it! I bought it because my daughter wanted it for her hair, but it worked wonderfully for the cast iron. I cooked eggs with it, and ham, and it didn't taste coconut-y at all. Even though I bought it, it is nice to think that if I were so inclined, it is something that I could make from locally grown plants.
I have two and a half weeks left in Summer School, and I have all these dreams of finishing my quilt and getting my house in order in what's left of summer. The reality is that I really only have a couple of weeks left, and some of them are extra volunteer work days for technology in-services and SAT prep in-services. So, maybe I can do part of one project. I want to ride my horse (a project all on his own, since he's so skittish) and get a few blocks done on the quilt - but I really should do those big household projects that get put off to major breaks. The other reality is that even though this Summer School class is a blast, the schedule is exhausting. I am plum worn out, to be honest. I haven't figured out how to teach without making myself so worn out by the end of term that I need to sleep for 3 days.
Part of the tiredness is that the youngest daughter came up with huge post auricular lymph nodes, which necessitated various doctor's trips and blood tests (I really don't like driving into town much and worrying is tiring all on its own) and resulted in a rather amusing incident where I asked to feel her spleen and we got the giggles. It is probably Cat Scratch disease, but I am also wondering about leptospirosis, because of a family expedition to a waterfall. Both of those are scary, but she just seems mildly ill - like a cold, although if she runs, her abdomen hurts a bit (hence the spleen request). Her running coach is probably irritated, but I am not risking a ruptured spleen for June conditioning.
At least I got the cast iron project done.
In the process, I have also discovered coconut oil. I like it! I bought it because my daughter wanted it for her hair, but it worked wonderfully for the cast iron. I cooked eggs with it, and ham, and it didn't taste coconut-y at all. Even though I bought it, it is nice to think that if I were so inclined, it is something that I could make from locally grown plants.
I have two and a half weeks left in Summer School, and I have all these dreams of finishing my quilt and getting my house in order in what's left of summer. The reality is that I really only have a couple of weeks left, and some of them are extra volunteer work days for technology in-services and SAT prep in-services. So, maybe I can do part of one project. I want to ride my horse (a project all on his own, since he's so skittish) and get a few blocks done on the quilt - but I really should do those big household projects that get put off to major breaks. The other reality is that even though this Summer School class is a blast, the schedule is exhausting. I am plum worn out, to be honest. I haven't figured out how to teach without making myself so worn out by the end of term that I need to sleep for 3 days.
Part of the tiredness is that the youngest daughter came up with huge post auricular lymph nodes, which necessitated various doctor's trips and blood tests (I really don't like driving into town much and worrying is tiring all on its own) and resulted in a rather amusing incident where I asked to feel her spleen and we got the giggles. It is probably Cat Scratch disease, but I am also wondering about leptospirosis, because of a family expedition to a waterfall. Both of those are scary, but she just seems mildly ill - like a cold, although if she runs, her abdomen hurts a bit (hence the spleen request). Her running coach is probably irritated, but I am not risking a ruptured spleen for June conditioning.
At least I got the cast iron project done.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Restoring Old Cast Iron
I was inspired to go out into the old cabin and find the cast iron we had. It was in pretty bad shape, and I was wondering if I could fix it. A bit of googling, and I decided I could try.
I sprayed both pieces liberally with oven cleaner. I do have a self-cleaning oven, but the last time I used the function, the oven box developed holes. I don't want to make the problem worse, so I am stuck with the oven cleaner and trash bag method.
This did work very well with the Griswold small frying pan which only had surface rust and not much gunk. The skillet is much more gunky and I had to re-apply the oven cleaner several times. I am considering a wire brush if I can't remove the gunk with a rag this evening.
For the frying pan, I sprayed it twice and let it sit for about 24 hours. I rinsed it off and then let it soak for about an hour in a vinegar and water solution and scrubbed it with Hawaiian salt to remove the rusty bits. I heated the pan over the stove and then rubbed it with coconut oil and popped it in the oven. I had two different directions open - one said 450 degree oven, and the other said use the smoke point of the oil. I went with the later, which meant an oven at 350 for 45 minutes, with an additional couple of hours in the oven with the heating element off, but still warm.
The pan came out black and the scrambled eggs I made for dinner didn't stick at all! I am pretty proud of my self, and I hope I can have a similar success with the skillet.
I did a little research on my pan, and I am figuring it was made somewhere between 1920 and 1950, which is pretty darned cool. I haven't braved the thick coating of oven cleaner on the skillet to find its providence, but we'll see tonight.
I feel guilty that I let them sit out there for 10 years (!) without a second thought. I never had good results with cast iron - thing stuck to the pan and I didn't quite know how to clean them properly, but after research, I kind of got excited about the whole subject. I do have a Dutch oven made of cast iron that I really like, but I have been having mixed results with taking care of it. I live in a rain forest and there is a lot of environmental moisture, which complicates matters. I am looking forward to reseasoning it with coconut oil rather than olive oil (it kind of stays tacky and sticky) and seeing if I have better results.
I sprayed both pieces liberally with oven cleaner. I do have a self-cleaning oven, but the last time I used the function, the oven box developed holes. I don't want to make the problem worse, so I am stuck with the oven cleaner and trash bag method.
This did work very well with the Griswold small frying pan which only had surface rust and not much gunk. The skillet is much more gunky and I had to re-apply the oven cleaner several times. I am considering a wire brush if I can't remove the gunk with a rag this evening.
For the frying pan, I sprayed it twice and let it sit for about 24 hours. I rinsed it off and then let it soak for about an hour in a vinegar and water solution and scrubbed it with Hawaiian salt to remove the rusty bits. I heated the pan over the stove and then rubbed it with coconut oil and popped it in the oven. I had two different directions open - one said 450 degree oven, and the other said use the smoke point of the oil. I went with the later, which meant an oven at 350 for 45 minutes, with an additional couple of hours in the oven with the heating element off, but still warm.
The pan came out black and the scrambled eggs I made for dinner didn't stick at all! I am pretty proud of my self, and I hope I can have a similar success with the skillet.
I did a little research on my pan, and I am figuring it was made somewhere between 1920 and 1950, which is pretty darned cool. I haven't braved the thick coating of oven cleaner on the skillet to find its providence, but we'll see tonight.
I feel guilty that I let them sit out there for 10 years (!) without a second thought. I never had good results with cast iron - thing stuck to the pan and I didn't quite know how to clean them properly, but after research, I kind of got excited about the whole subject. I do have a Dutch oven made of cast iron that I really like, but I have been having mixed results with taking care of it. I live in a rain forest and there is a lot of environmental moisture, which complicates matters. I am looking forward to reseasoning it with coconut oil rather than olive oil (it kind of stays tacky and sticky) and seeing if I have better results.
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