Isaias

What good does it do to have a day off if you wake up at 2:30 anyway? Sigh…But my fasting glucose was 97. I wonder, is that “under control” enough for that eye doctor?

OK, moving right along, I was so hoping we'd get a halfway decent rain out of this hurricane, but as you can see, most of it passed to the East of us. 

All we got here at the house was an hour or so of light drizzle, not nearly enough to make a dent in the drought conditions.  Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have lit that candle after all.  Oh well.  The flag is back on the house and Pumpkin Kitty is plugged in and all is right in my world.  Except for that whole drought thing, I mean.  

On the bright side, it has been very chilly all day.  Well, chilly for us.  The high today was only 72, and it felt wonderful!  In fact, I had to put on a jacket when I went outside to work in the garden.  It's been so nice not to have to sweat all day!  

As far a yard work goes, I decided to go ahead and pull up the two little basil plants that were trying to grow in this planter, because they weren't doing well at all.  It's really too late in the year, and they wouldn't have amounted to anything anyway.   

I emptied the soil out and moved the planter up to the West side of the house.  Where it was, back by my white shed, was never where I'd meant to put it anyway.  I only moved it there because that landscammer piled up so much red clay around it.  I'm serious, that clay went about 4" up the legs of the planter.  Then he tried to gaslight me by saying that's what I'd told him to do.  Seriously, if I'd wanted red clay there, wouldn't I have moved the planter first?  

I'm going to level it before I do anything else with it -- or rather, level the ground underneath it.  I don't think I'll even put more dirt into it given how quickly it's rotting.  I may just use it to hold potted plants or something.  That will allow the wood to stay mostly dry, and it might last longer that way. 

I moved the soil I took out of it into this metal bed, and decided it was full enough to plant my pansies there.  

I also planted some of my crimson clover seeds in the back half, and consider them both to be cover crops.  I'm not sure pansies work as a cover crop, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I'm sure the soil will settle some over the winter, but I can top it up before I plant in the spring.  

Once that was done, I recorded a new garden journal, which you can watch here:  Garden Journal.  I think I rambled a bit, but I chalk it up to that whole getting up at 2:30 thing.  I tried to go back to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come back to me, so I went ahead and got up around 4:00ish.  

I should probably mention that the tree guy came by and said it was my sewer line that was the problem with him getting into my back yard.  He would have run right over the cleanout and that would have been very not good indeed.  After some discussion, we decided he'd remove a section of this back fence -- that I'm going to get replaced eventually anyway -- and come through here. 

I was concerned about that dirt pile being in the way, but he said he could work around it.  So he's going to come sometime next week and that will be one more thing I can mark off my list.

OK, I need to finish up here because I need my computer to watch football. 

I'll talk to you later. 

Ready

This morning, I finally went to see the eye doctor.  It's funny, because when I went to get the form from the safety person at work, she asked me where I was going.  I told her, and she said, "Ugh, I hate that place!"  Then I told another brazer about that conversation, and she said, "I hate that place, too!"  

I told both of them -- but not at the same time -- about how I'd tried and tried to call the other place behind KFC, but they wouldn't answer the phone.  I also mentioned how I'd gone to their website twice and filled out the form but never heard back from them, so I kind of had no choice.  Still, I understand what they mean now. 

First up, my appointment was at 8:10, and they didn't get me in until nearly 9:00.   Then, I got a lady doctor who was just a bit weird, not to put too fine a point on it.  I mean, she was an OK doctor, but she just seemed fake to me.  A little too bouncy and bubbly, if you will. 

Anyway, she was remarking about how much my prescription had changed since I got my last pair of glasses, and she said, "This just screams diabetes to me."  I said, "Yeah, I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes two years ago, but I've made some changes to my diet and started exercising more and have my sugar under control now." 

I guess I'm just one of those folks that people never listen to, because she then told me I needed to call my doctor and get my sugar under control -- right after I'd told her my sugar was under control.  I was good, I kept my mouth shut, but I was thinking, "Who do you think diagnosed me?  And didn't I just tell you I had it under control?"   I'd even told her my fasting glucose usually runs between 95 and 100, but she kept telling me to call my doctor and get my sugar under control.  

I guess I should have asked her what she considers "under control" to be, because my doctor thinks it's fine.  Heck, I'd even told her I'd just had my annual physical in May, but she just wouldn't listen.  I think next time, I'm going to try that other place again, because I sure didn't like this one. 

One good thing, I asked her about my dry eyes, and she checked something and said I have some membrane something...I don't know, but she said it's pretty common in post menopausal women.  She recommended I start taking a supplement called Blink and gave me a seven day sample pack.  She was a bit frustrated because she couldn't figure out why she couldn't get my right eye corrected to 20/20.  The best she could do was 20/30.  Other than that, she said my eyes looked healthy and disease free, so that's good. 

Eventually, the appointment ended and I went and ordered my safety glasses.  Then, when I was checking out, the receptionist filled out me another appointment card for two months.  Huh?  Nobody had said anything to me about coming back, so I asked, "Why am I coming back?"   The receptionist said, "Diabetic prescription check."  And just what exactly does she think is going to change in two months?  I guess she's expecting me to go to my doctor and "get my sugar under control." 

Because she didn't listen when I told her it already was under control.  

Tell me, what do y'all do to get people to listen to you?  I'm starting to wonder if sound is even coming out of my mouth when I talk.

I'd planned on going up to Batesville after my appointment, but they dilated my eyes.  I asked if I could still drive, and the nurse said I could.  She lied.  I could barely see well enough to drive home, and truth be told, I probably shouldn't have driven in that state, even with the little sunglasses things they gave me.  

Well, at least I could still work in the yard...after my eyes finally un-dilated.  That took about 3 hours, but I watched A Heartland Christmas movie and started re-watching season 5 of The Chosen before season 6 comes out next month.  

Once I could see again, I went ahead and pulled up those sad, pathetic looking zinnias and emptied that bed out. 

I moved the soil into one of my big, metal raised beds and I don't know why the side of it looks like that in the photo.  It doesn't look like that in real life. 

See?  

Once the wooden bed was empty, I moved it down a bit and lined up the two metal beds, 

then did the same to the wooden beds.  

I'll probably tweak them a bit and definitely level them before I add soil and plant them.  If it ever cools off, that is.   And of course, I want to see how much the rain from Hurricane Isaias will settle them.  Hopefully we'll get some.  My poor spider lilies are sparse this year from the dryness. 

Speaking of, I'm about as ready for this storm as I'm going to be.  I've filled up my gas tank in my car, brought the flags inside, charged up the power banks and made sure I have the correct number of batteries for my Harvey lantern this time.  Before I go to bed tonight, I'll bring in the plants, and unplug Pumpkin Kitty.  That'll be it for my hurricane prep.  We're far enough inland that we won't get the worst of the storm, but they're saying we might still get quite a bit of wind out of it.  All I want is for the power not to go out. 

In other news, I bought the stuff I needed to make that pumpkin bread and the other recipe of pumpkin soup I found.  Guess what I forgot.  The maple syrup.  

I'm thinking of using my sugar free syrup and maple extract instead.  I wonder if that will work.  I know the purists will have a stroke just reading that, but I think I might mix it up, then taste it and see.  It only calls for 1/4 cup, so ...maybe I won't need the syrup after all.  Maybe just the extract to give it that flavor.   I'll try that and see.  Since I'm the one who is going to eat it, it shouldn't matter too much. 

I guess that's about all for today.  If you'll excuse me, my Chicago shows are back on and I'm going to go watch them before the hurricane gets here.  I prolly ought to light that candle again, too.  

Just to be on the safe side.  

A Hurricane

Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you probably already know that Isaias strengthened to a hurricane during the night last night.  That means for the first time in a long, long time, the ol' Jim Cantore Repellent candle finally got lit. 

As of this writing, Isaias is a category 2, and is expected to make landfall somewhere between Mobile and Pascagoula late tomorrow night/early Saturday morning. I'm far enough inland to avoid the worst of the flooding -- it's not the wind, it's the water -- but we're still expecting some wind and rainfall.  I do hope we get some rain.  My poor grass is downright crunchy.  They dropped our chances from 100% to 95%, but those are still pretty good odds...although our chance of rain last Sunday was 80% and we didn't get a drop.  

Other than that, I'm about as ready as I'm going to get.  I don't really expect the power to go out, but I've got plenty of batteries this time, and I'm going to make sure all of my power banks are charged up tomorrow.    Plus, I've got plenty of Vienna sausages and a camp stove -- just in case.  

Anyway, I went in to town to do my shopping after work today to avoid the rush tomorrow and discovered something quite different in my Walmart app.  I'd opened it to try to find where they'd moved a certain product I was looking for, and look at this:  

The app tracks your location in the store now.  I suppose it's helpful to see where you are in relation to where the item you're looking for is, but I find it's just a bit creepy.  

You know what's not creepy?  Pansies.  

I don't usually plant cool weather flowers, but I think I'm going to go ahead and put these into the planter where my now quite dead rosemary is.  I'll put these around the edges and put a new rosemary into the center -- once Walmart gets some back in stock.  

And finally, I tossed some of my crimson clover seed into a bare spot in the back yard.  I haven't seen any signs of germination yet, but it's still early.  Maybe I'll get some.  

If I don't, I've still got plenty of seeds. 

Bad News

Well, the tree guy came today to trim my tree, but his truck was too big to fit into my back yard.  I was wondering how big his truck is that it can't fit, even after I told him he could pull this bit of fence up if he needed to. 

Still, he was decent enough to text me and let me know, and he is supposed to come by Saturday morning to discuss our options.  I don't know what options there could be, since there isn't any other way to get into my back yard at the moment.  

I'll see what he has to say, but I'm thinking we may have to pivot and put the tree off until later.  When he was here the last time, I'd asked him if he could dig up and haul off the remnants of this old dog kennel, 

and this old bit of fence wire that a tree grew up and completely engulfed. 

For those of you who haven't heard, or don't remember, ten years ago I had a huge old oak tree cut down.  I hated to do it, but it was leaning over so far I was afraid it would fall onto the house.  Even the man who cut it down said it could have gone over any minute.  

About two years ago, I noticed this old bit of fence wire starting to emerge from the rotting trunk.  It must have been put there at least 100 years ago, judging by how deeply embedded it was.  I've been trying to dig it up, but so far, haven't been successful.  I talked to the tree guy, and he's got an excavator that he says he can get it out with.  

At least if he can't get to the tree, he'll at least have a little bit of a payday and I won't have completely wasted his time. 

Speaking of time, I guess the plant got over their panic about the empty warehouse pretty quickly, because everyone is back to getting off at 2:00 PM.  I came home that first day and had so much time, I didn't quite know what to do with myself.  I know I watched some TV, but other than Halloween Wars and In The Eye Of The Storm, I don't even remember what shows I saw.  

By the way, there's a new show on called Sweet Deceit.  There are three contestants who have to choose which item is cake by biting into it.  It's OK, but kind of meh.  The episodes are only 30 minutes, so I'll probably keep watching for now. 

There isn't much else to talk about, other than to show you my new garden flag.  

Oh, and we have a tropical storm in the Gulf which is projected to strengthen into a hurricane before it makes landfall.  A good news/bad news type of thing, the track has shifted east, and we are no longer in the cone.  That's good, but we sure could have used the rain it would have brought.  Maybe we'll get a little bit from the outer rain bands, so I'm not completely giving up hope. 

If you're not following the Weather Channel on X or whatever it is now, you really ought to. 

And finally, I forgot what else I was going to tell you, so I'll just stop now. 

Goodnight.  Or whatever time it is when you read this. 

Dear Coworker

 If you claim that you can't find the brazing jig you need, but I walk over and find it within literally 5 seconds, all that tells me is that you didn't really look. 

The irony is that you are the main one who never puts jigs back where they belong -- if you put them back at all. 

So maybe next time, put the jig back.  And put it back in the right place, or don't stand there and whine that you can't find it. 

Thank you.

That is all. 

Screech!

And just like that, my cooking and baking weekend has come to a screeching halt. 

I'd bought this pumpkin break kit off of the clearance rack back in January, and decided it was time to make it. 

I was going to make the mini loaves and freeze them for later.  And eat one, of course, but most would go into the freezer.  But when I looked at the back of the box, in the "You will add" section...

You will add four large eggs.  Alas, I have zero large eggs in my refrigerator.  Being allergic, I don't eat them very often, so I don't usually buy them unless I need them for something specific.  Such as pumpkin bread.  Except that making this kit was kind of a last minute decision -- one I'd made after I did my weekly shopping.  Thus, no eggs. 

If that isn't a metaphor for my life, I don't know what is.  

Back into the pantry went the bread kit, and onto my shopping list went the eggs, and I sat down and watched TV all day.  I'd bought some chocolate chips, thinking I could make some pumpkin shaped candy with my one remaining candy mold, but I just didn't feel like it. 

I've been so tired all day.  This will sound weird, but I think it's from my meeting with the tree guy yesterday.  I don't communicate well, especially with people I don't really know, and using so much energy trying to make sure I wasn't saying something that would make him mad enough that he doesn't come back and do the job is exhausting.  It's happened before.  

Heck, even when I sent him the first message, I read it, then re-read it and asked myself, "Is there anything in this message that would offend him?"   I hope I didn't, and that he does come back and do the job, but for today, I'm wiped out from trying to be what comes so easily to everyone else.   

That's all part of being an introvert, I suppose.  

All that moaning to say, I didn't do anything but sit and knit today.  

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Pink Lemonade

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8

By the way, I was looking through my Facebook memories and found this.  

I wonder why I didn't write down any measurements except for the broth and cream.  I did a little research and think 1/4 cup of maple syrup and 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice might do.  Probably 1/4 cup of brown sugar, too.  

This one would taste more like pie, I would think, since it doesn't call for onion or garlic.  I might try it next weekend.   Or I might not.  I don't know.  We'll see. 

Look!

My weekend of baking and cooking continues, and today I made pumpkin soup. 

I was a bit disappointed, though, because I was sure I had two cans of pumpkin in my pantry but I could only find one, so I couldn't double the recipe like I'd wanted to.  Oh well, it's enough for me, and I can always make more later on.  The only thing about pumpkin soup is that my mind tends to want it to taste like pumpkin pie, but it doesn't.  I suppose it could, if I added sugar to it.  I know some recipes call for maple syrup, but I didn't use one of those.  I think it might be good with just a touch of brown sugar in it.  I might try that next time I have a bowl.  

On a similar note, look at this!  

I found a baby tomato from my second planting!  I might end up with a late harvest after all.  I'd thought about making salsa, but I don't know if I would have the patience to chop all of those tomatoes so finely.  I didn't even chop my tomatoes for my soup very finely.  I just used my immersion blender after I'd cooked it. 

Wonderful tool, that immersion blender...but somehow I don't think it would work for salsa.  

Before we go on, I wanted to show you a photo of my spare room. 

It's a mess, isn't it?  Full disclosure, not all of that stuff is stuff I want to donate.  I've got my paint sprayer and several cans of the stain I'm using on my fence in that pile.  I had thought about getting some of that staining done this weekend, but we've got the chance of showers off and on for the next several days.  You know how that goes.  If I paint, it'll rain, but if I don't, it won't.  

There are also several bags of aspen shavings, which I will need when I change the bedding in my snake tanks, and my soaker hose system is somewhere in there.  I'll take care of that in the spring, before I plant my beds, then move the rest of the hose out to the shed.  

I was going to try to box up a bunch of stuff to take to the thrift shop, but I ended up being a bit disappointed, because several of my Subscribe And Save items arrived from Amazon.  I was hoping they'd be in a bigger box.  Not this time.  Oh well...I'll have to make multiple trips.  

Now for a bit of good news, the tree guy showed up!  He looked at the tree, gave me a quote, and when I asked him if he'd leave the limbs so I could cut them up for firewood, he knocked $100 off the quote.  I'm not mad about that. And he didn't get mad when he said he'd call me before he started, and I told him I wasn't allowed to have a phone at work.   

Hey, it's happened before.  

He asked if I could get texts, and laughed when I said it's easier to sneak my phone out to check a text than it would be to try to answer a call.  Anyway, he's going to come back not this coming week, but probably next week, and if he does, that'll be one more thing I can cross off my to-do list.  

The rest of the day was spent watching football and knitting.  

I had a little fun with AI while I was watching Navy vs Air Force and asked the three I have on my phone -- Chat GPT, Grok, and Gemini -- all to create a graphic which reads Go Navy Beat Air Force.  This is what they came up with.  This is what ChatGPT gave me:  

This was Grok's offering:  

This time, I think Gemini beat them all.  

Alas, Navy is in a rebuilding year and did not in fact beat Air Force.  More's the pity, but they lost a lot of good players to graduation last year, including most of the offense.  At least, it seems that way.  

I also finished another sailor hat while watching.  

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Rainbow

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

That's about all I did today, other than laundry, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about that.  But now, I reckon I'd better go get my kitchen cleaned up before the next ball game comes on.  

Laters.

It’s October

It's finally October, and you know what that means?  It means it's time for Pumpkin Kitty to make his debut.  

And look at me here saying, "Finally October"  when just two days ago at work, I muttered to no one in particular, "It's the last day of September already.  Where has this year gone?"

My coworker overheard me and said, "I know, right?"  

Nevertheless it is October, and Pumpkin Kitty is in the yard, and behind him I've got a second bluebonnet opening up.   

Crazy, right?  I'm not complaining.  I'm just glad I've finally found a place where they'll grow.  

Speaking of growing, look!   My green onions are coming back!  

I thought they'd died, but I guess I was wrong.  I don't know what I'm going to do with them, though.  I've still got so many onions in the freezer from last year.  I guess I need to start cooking more, but tossing a Michelina's Microwaveable Macaroni into the nuke is so much easier, especially after a 12 hour shift in the factory.  

Speaking of cooking, I decided this would be a cooking and baking weekend, and the first thing I was going to make would be my tomato soup.  Funny thing is, I looked in my old faithful Better Homes and Betty Crocker cookbooks, and they didn't have a recipe for tomato soup that called for fresh tomatoes. 

They both called for canned tomatoes or canned tomato sauce.  Then I looked in my Little House cookbook, but I guess they didn't like tomatoes or something, because they didn't have a recipe for soup. 

Internet to the rescue and soon I had a nice pot of tomato soup bubbling on the stove. 

I wanted to make tomato basil soup, but this recipe didn't call for basil.  No worries, I was going to add it anyway.  Guess who forgot the basil?  

Yep... I remembered about the time it was done.  Eh, I added some anyway and simmered it another five minutes.  Maybe it wasn't long enough for the flavor to infuse, because I couldn't really taste the basil when I had a bowl for lunch -- along with a grilled cheese sandwich.  It was still good, though.  

I made a right proper mess of my kitchen, but I have six pints of soup tucked away in the freezer, all ready for a chilly winter day.  Tomorrow I want to make pumpkin soup, if I can find that good recipe I'd used last time...and the garlic I have in the freezer.   Because I planted the leftover garlic I'd bought for the tomato soup.  Right here where the rosemary used to be. 

I know they say not to plant grocery store garlic, but the bulbs I'd looked at on line were too expensive for my blood.  Burpee wanted $17 for four bulbs!  I had seven cloves left after I made the soup, so I planted them and we shall see.  

On a similar note, I think I may have messed up when I moved the rosemary.  It's looking worse and worse by the day. 

I've done some research, but haven't come up with any specific reason it could be dying.  It's getting almost the same amount of sunlight, is in the same type of soil, and if anything, it's got better drainage than it had before.  But it's not too dry.  I checked.  I'm going to keep on trying and hope it recovers, but if it doesn't, I'll buy a new one in the spring.  I am bummed, though, that I might have killed this one.  I don't like to kill anything.  

Except fire ants.  I'd wipe those suckers off the face of the earth if I could.  

The lemon balm, on the other hand, seems to be recovering nicely.  

It still looks a bit ragged, but it is late in the year after all.  I'll trim all the dead stuff off once first frost hits and it'll be fine next spring.  

The only other thing I did was to clean that massive pile of junk off my couch.  To be honest, I stuffed most of it into the spare room to be dealt with later.  Which I really need to do soon because that room is so cluttered I can hardly walk into it now.  I did take the aquarium ornaments and put them into what will eventually be my toad garden.  

I'd started to dig it up and get it prepped for spring, but the clay is still too hard.  We're supposed to get a good amount of rain over the weekend, and had a nice shower this afternoon, so maybe that'll soften things up a bit.  

And finally, be proud of me.  I messaged a tree guy, and he's supposed to come tomorrow to look at my tree.  If he shows up, and if he actually comes back to do the job, that's one more thing I can cross off my list.  After being ghosted so many times, I don't cross anything off until the job is finished.  

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a pumpkin soup recipe to find.

Laters. 

Crazy

So, I get to work bright and early yesterday morning, and one of my coworkers came up to me and said, "We're staying until 4:00 and it's mandatory now."  But I guess it's only mandatory for some people...but I'm not here to grumble.  Except that's exactly what I'm doing. 

I was so tired when I got home, I didn't do anything.  I went to bed at 6:30, and was practically shivering from exhaustion.  I didn't go to sleep right away, though.  I read a chapter in my book first.  

I keep forgetting to tell you that I finished reading The Oxford Detective Society.  It was pretty good if you like detective stories.  Now I'm reading one called The Baker Of Lost Memories. It's very compelling, and I'm having a hard time putting it down.  

But I was still asleep by 7:00.  Even after reading, and falling asleep watching a gardening video on my tablet...

All that to say, expect blogging to be sparse until common sense returns to the plant.  

Oh, wait...you'd never get a post then!  

In the meantime, look at this.  It absolutely sums up how crazy things have been this year.  I've got a bluebonnet blooming.

In September.  

 Silly thing doesn't realize it's supposed to bloom in March.  

Anyway, I'm almost as tired tonight as I was last night, so I'm going to bed.  Goodnight. 

I Missed The Moon

I missed the moon last night.

It's been a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember that we'd go outside and watch the Harvest Moon rise.  I kind of got away from it for a while, but once I made day shift out at the plant, I picked it back up with my son.  

We'd go out and watch the moon rise, then come back inside and drink hot chocolate and eat Harvest Moon cookies -- usually large sugar cookies or white chocolate macadamia cookies from Walmart if I was too tired to bake them myself.  

Alas, last night it was too cloudy.  I stepped outside several times and occasionally managed to glimpse the moon through the clouds, but for the most part, I missed it. 

I still came back inside and drank hot chocolate, because it's tradition. 

I even thought about digging some cookies out from the bottom of the deep freeze, but I didn't. I kind of let that part of the tradition go once Cody was grown and gone.  

Still, while I was outside, I took a quick snap of my fairy garden house.  

I'm thinking about not even putting my fairy garden back into one of the big raised beds.  I'm thinking about getting one of those large planters that kind of looks like half of a barrel and setting it up in there with a few annuals.  I might even go ahead and get one and put pansies or something into it.  

Speaking of, I finally got around to putting some mulch into these planters.  

The lemon balm has perked right back up, but the rosemary seems to be still struggling a bit.  Maybe it just needs a little more time.  But if it doesn't, I'll buy a new one in the spring and start over.  

By the way, The Mart of Wal has mulch on clearance right now for $2 per bag, so I've been picking up a bag every time I go in.  They also have the bags of garden soil marked down to $4, but I'm considering trying to see if I can find somewhere locally that I can buy it in bulk, especially now that I have my dump cart.  Alas, that will likely require a phone call, and we all know how I feel about those. 

In other news, I got my act in gear and sorted those last two boxes out while watching football this afternoon.  Once I got started, it really didn't take all that long.  I still have this pile of stuff to go through, but it isn't that much.  

The fake logs will go into my toad garden, and the two bags will become project bags.  The red ratchet straps I'll put into my cabinet out in the shed, just in case I need to ratchet strap something.  The rest will likely go into the garbage or the donation box.  Then I'll be all finished with sorting things for a while.  Except I still plan on at least trying to clean out the snake/craft room.  There is a lot of stuff to donate that I just tossed in there to "deal with later."  It really needs to be taken care of.  

Maybe now that I have the shed mostly cleaned out, I can finally get around to it. 

Finally Fall

It is finally Fall, folks.  For reals.  We've passed meteorological fall, traditional fall, the autumnal equinox, the Harvest Moon rises tonight, candy corn is in the stores, football is on the TV, and it was in the 60s when I got up this morning.  In fact, it felt so much like fall that I finally put out my fall decorations. 

I won't show you a bunch of photos because I always put everything in the same place.  It looks the same as it did last year.  Mostly.  This year, I left this painting where it is. 

For those of you who don't know, there was a teacher at my elementary school named Mrs. Matthews.  I never had her as a teacher, but she also went to the church I started going to after I graduated.  When she retired from teaching, she took up painting as a hobby.  Before she passed away, she gave this painting to my cousin with the specific instruction that it was to come to me.   

Normally, I take it down and put this wreath there, 

but for some reason, this year I just didn't want to.  I couldn't stand the idea of putting it away for three months out of the year.  So I didn't.  

Before I did all of that, I recorded a new garden vlog, which if you're so inclined you can watch here:  Garden Vlog.  

Once I'd finished and got that to uploading, I washed and strung the peppers I'd harvested, which I didn't take a photo of, but you can see them in the vlog.  Then I ground up some of the cayenne peppers I'd already dried.  I got enough to completely fill one jar and start a second. 

I'll most likely be able to fill that second jar, because I've got plenty of peppers already drying and plenty more still on the plants.

In fact, the plants have done so well in these beds - - much better than the ones I'd put into the other bed, I might put whichever peppers I grow next year into them as well.  I don't know if I'll plant more cayennes, though.  I'm thinking I might do chili or tabasco peppers next time around.  Or maybe jalapeños.  Or maybe some of each.  I don't know.  I'll have to ask Cody which ones he wants me to grow.  He's the cook in the family.  

In football news, Navy played yesterday -- on Friday.  I don't like that.  Friday is for high school.  Saturday is for college and Sunday is for NFL.  All that to say, I finished my latest sailor hat while watching them play.  

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Rainbow Galaxy

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

That's the last of the Hobby Lobby yarn.  Now I'm back to using Red Heart, at least until I can get back up to Batesville.  Maybe I'll go up there next weekend. 

Or maybe not.  I don't know.  

We'll see.