One Thing Led to Another

A dear neighbor stopped by on Wednesday evening and asked if we'd like some corn. Since corn didn't get planted in the garden this year, of course we would! I was expecting enough for a couple meals, but he gave us plenty to freeze. Weldon thought I'd work it up on Thursday, but I said, "No way! I work tomorrow and I won't be doing corn before or after work."

So then came the task of making enough room in the fridge for all that corn. In the process, I was reminded how desperately the fridge needed cleaning. Oh, well. This wasn't the time to worry about that!


After Weldon came in from chores this morning (Friday) and we'd had breakfast, I asked him if he'd cut the woody stalk off the cobs of corn. Of course he would! I got all the corn out of the fridge and onto the porch where he started working. When I got out there to husk the corn, he asked if I just meant that he should cut off the woody stalk or if he should husk the whole thing. "All I asked is that you cut that hard end off, but if you want to husk them, have at it!" And he did! And I did! And we finished the job in record time.

Too late I realized working up corn would make a good blog post. I didn't get a picture of Weldon doing his thing, but here are the husks. :)

The next step was to boil the corn on the cobs for about 2 minutes. Getting the water to the boiling point in this canner took a while, of course. And then I had to do it again for the second batch.

While cooling down the corn cobs in plastic dish pans, I thought I'd add a little ice to make the job go faster. What adding ice really did was make me see how the underside and bottom inside of the ice maker was totally covered with ice ... where it didn't belong! So, another job to do.

Weldon washed the frosty icy crystals away before I could take a picture. It's nice and clean now, back in the freezer, and making lots of new ice.

It was already 11:00 and near 90° but I knew I didn't want to mess with corn in the kitchen. I got my tools together and went outside to a shady spot.

Weldon hadn't headed out to his farmer-ly duties yet, so I asked him to take a couple pictures.

Nibbling the nubbins on the ends of the cob. Lunch!

How did I ever "do" corn without the Pampered Chef Kernel Cutter?

Bagging it up and ready for the freezer.

I mentioned how gross the lower drawers of the refrigerator were. I had a pretty good excuse for letting it get to such a deplorable state: The fridge door has to be opened ALL the way in order to get the shelves and drawers out. But where the refrigerator sits, the door doesn't have room to open ALL the way out. I couldn't move the fridge by myself, so ... no move, no clean. Since all the drawers had been emptied on Wednesday night to hold the corn, and now all the corn had been moved out, I took the next brave step. "Weldon, would you please move the fridge out far enough so I can fully open the door?" He did.

Yup. Dead gnats, bugs, and icky stuff under the bottom shelf. I knew they were there, but I couldn't get at them ... until I asked Weldon to move the fridge. It only took a year or two for me to ask.

Here are the cleaned-up shelves and drawers. Yay!

All clean and pretty and in their rightful place.

Now I just have to ask Weldon to move the refrigerator back into its corner, snug against the kitchen cabinet. I'll give him the evening off and ask him to do it tomorrow morning.

So, how to wrap up this busy day? I went to Zaxby's to pick up some chicken strips and French fries for supper. I still had to boil a couple ears of corn and make a salad for Weldon, but I kept it as simple as possible.

And now I'm going to do my Friday Night Nothing! Yay, Me!