Monkey Off My Back

Finally!  I am so happy I got this monkey off my back.  I'm speaking, of course, of the Demeter Fade hat I've been working on for the last few weeks. 

I finished the thing...well, except for weaving all of those ends in, I mean.  I still have to do that.  Overall, I'm ok with how it turned out, but if I had it to do all over again, I don't think I'd do it the same way.  I didn't like knitting it with two strands, even though it made the color changes less obvious.  It still looks a little stripey to me, but I guess that can't really be avoided unless the yarn is specifically dyed to fade seamlessly.  

I bought the set to make a hat for my sister in law, but now I'm not even sure I want to send it to her.  I'm sure she'll like it, but I've sent her so many hats over the years that she may have hat overload by now.

The next monkey on my back will be to get my Christmas cards ready and mailed.  I want to send them, but I'm just not feeling it this year.  I'm going to greatly reduce the number of cards I send out for one thing.  Now, I don't expect to get a card back from every single person I send one to, but last year, I sent 40 cards and received three.  That was it.  It's discouraging.  

I know part of the problem is that stamps have gotten so high these days, which is why some of you will get American Flag stamps on your Christmas cards.  I bought two rolls back when they were still .55.  They're up to .78 now, and I can understand why people don't want to pay that much.  Unfortunately, USPS is a monopoly, and they can charge whatever they want because there is no competition and no other option.  

In other news, I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know my little candles turned on just when they were supposed to.  I'd gone outside yesterday evening and turned them on right around 5:00, then I walked out and took a picture of the outside lights. 

I was going to go take another photo once it got a bit darker, but it started raining and didn't stop until sometime after I'd gone to bed.   According to Raindrop, we got .6 of an inch.  Still doesn't completely relieve the drought conditions, but at this point, every little bit helps. 

Part of the reason is that we haven't had any hurricanes or tropical storms in the Gulf this year.  Not a single hurricane made landfall in the U.S, which is highly unusual.  A lot of the storm chasers say that this is the reason why our Fall tornado season is expected to be especially sporty, because we haven't had any tropical systems to churn the heat out of the water.  So yay...Today is the last official day of hurricane season, by the way.  

Back to what I was saying...it was raining last night after it got dark, so I went out and took a photo tonight. 

My new neighbors and my been here longer than me neighbors both have their houses all decorated, too.  Even my across the street neighbors who don't usually decorate have bows up on their porch posts.  The neighborhood is looking really pretty. 

You know what else is looking pretty?  My biggest Christmas cactus.  

I don't know exactly what I'm doing with this one that is so right, but I'm not going to mess with success.   I need to prune some of the longer branches, but that's all I'm going to do to it. 

Well, Thanksgiving week is over, and I have to go back to work tomorrow.  I'm plumb sick about it.  Ole Miss fans are plumb sick because Lane Kiffin is now the new head coach at LSU.  I need to go to X and see what the former players are saying about that.  They had some pretty harsh words about the culture Brian Kelly had developed -- saying it's a culture of softness instead of competitiveness.  We'll have to see if Kiffin can re-build both the culture and the team. 

And finally, your meme of the day:

 Yeah, go ahead and judge.  Most of you are going to do it anyway. 

And I'm OK with that, because if it weren't for people judging me, I'd have never realized how obnoxious and unlikeable I used to be.  Hopefully, I'm a much better person now.  

But I still don't like the new kick off rules in the NFL.  

All Done

Just like that, I am all done with my Christmas decorations for the year.  

I got up this morning and drove into town to do my weekly shopping, stopping by the town square on the way to see the big Christmas tree they put up a few days ago.  They didn't put it up last year, but I don't know why.  I think the city council had something to do with it.

You know, we were in the running to get an Academy Sporting Goods store here, but half of the council members didn't even show up to the meeting to discuss the matter.   Batesville has one.  Batesville is growing and thriving and their city council has forward vision, unlike ours.  For the entire 30 odd years I've lived here, I thought Batesville was bigger than Grenada, but it's not.  They're about half the size of our town, but you wouldn't know it to look at their downtown and business districts.  

Oh well, it is what it is, and Grenada will never grow and prosper until we get it through people's heads that they can't keep voting for the same old same old and expect things to change. 

Wow, that was quite the tangent I got off onto, so let's get back on track.  I went into the store and sure enough, they had two more boxes of the large lights I needed to finish my house.  

I bristled a bit at the thought of paying full price, because I normally buy this kind of stuff on clearance after Christmas.  But I wanted to finish my house more than I wanted to keep that $3.00 and change, so I bought them, and it didn't take but a minute to string them along the rest of my house. 

I'm telling ya, having a taller ladder made it so much easier to do.  With my old ladder, I had to stretch to reach the hooks, but this was a breeze.  

Then I got the three strings of smaller lights and looped them along my fence.  

I'm thinking next year, I might try looping a little outdoor safe garland along that fence as well.  That ought to give it a nice festive look.  The last piece of the puzzle was these little light up candles. 

I'd been looking at them in the store for a few weeks, debating whether to get them or not, and I finally gave in.  I was bummed when I opened them to discover that they are strung together with wires that lead to an external battery pack.  The photo on the box doesn't show any wires, so I thought each one had it's own internal battery compartment.  That was a bit of a disappointment, but not enough to take them back....So, what are you supposed to do with that battery pack?  I've got mine just sitting on the porch for now.  

It's supposed to be waterproof, so I may just tuck it into the grass beside the first candle.  Now, as of this writing, I'm just waiting for it to get dark so I can turn them on.  They're supposed to be on a timer -- six hours on and 18 hours off.  

In other news, I slept pretty good last night.  In fact, I fell asleep at half time in the Texas vs Texas A&M game.  I woke up just in time to see the last five minutes of the game, so I knew who won.  Even so, I watched the second half this morning before I went into town, and now, the debate is raging over whether Texas should have a spot in the playoff picture.  

Some are saying they should, other are saying a three loss team shouldn't be in the playoffs.  If won/loss record is the criterion, then Navy is sitting there at 9-2, and they aren't even ranked.  Others are saying you have to look at strength of schedule, and if Texas had scheduled a cupcake for their first game like most teams do instead of playing the defending national champion, they'd already be in, and Arch would be a Heisman contender.  His stats are almost identical to Julian Sayin, yet Sayin is the favorite, and Arch is considered a flop.  

Meanwhile, we're still waiting to see what Lane Kiffin is going to do...

But I digress....again...

I did not sleep well at Cody and Brennan's house, and not just because it's a strange bed.  They live right down the street from a fire station, so there were sirens going off all night long.  Not to mention that they keep later hours than I do.  They started -- STARTED -- a movie at 9:45.  I guess they aren't used to having guests in the house, because they didn't even try to be quiet.  

All that to say, I was plumb tuckered when I got home yesterday.  I guess it's a good thing my new case of coffee pods arrived.  

You know what?  I really wish they'd sell that hot chocolate separately, because that chocolate cherry is good.  Really good.  I'd buy a case just of that.  If they sold it that way.  But they don't.  Pity.  Oh, and my new advent calendar arrived, too.   

Just a plain chocolate one.  I'd bought Cody and Brennan an escape room advent game on clearance last year.  I thought it would be a fun thing for them to do together, instead of just getting a piece of candy.  Brennan seemed pretty excited about it when I showed her, so I hope they enjoy it.  

And finally, I said I was going to slow down my spending, but I keep finding things I need.  For years, I'd had a blanket hung between my kitchen and laundry room, because the previous owners had taken the door down.  

They had a thing about doors.  I'd wanted to put one back up, but my washing machine made that very difficult, especially after I got the new one a few years back.  It's too big to allow a door to close.  The only realistic option would be to block this door off, then use the one in the car port to enter and exit the laundry room, but I like not having to go outside, especially since I'm also using it as a pantry.  Thus, the blanket. 

So, I was on Amazon and saw one of those suggested for you things showing privacy curtain used for a door.  

Hmmm, that's a good idea, I thought right before adding to my cart.  Now I have a curtain for a laundry room door.  It's a lot better than that blanket, because I can push it open instead of having to fight my way through a blanket. 

And when I'm done, I pull it across the door, and it blocks the sunlight and keeps the heat from the dryer out of the main part of the house. 

It's the little things...

Whee Doggies

Whee doggies, as old Jed Clampett used to say.  I've got a lot to catch up on, so let's just dive right in.   As most of you know, I drove down to Jackson and spent Thanksgiving with Cody and Brennan, and because I didn't want to rush to get down there in time for the parade, I drove down Wednesday and spent the night.  

Heh, I was sitting in my chair along about noonish on Wednesday, watching TV and watching the clock, when I said to myself, "Self, you can watch TV at Cody's house.  Might as well drive on down there."  And that's just what I did.  

I had a couple of bumps in the road --so to speak-- on the drive down.  The first one happened when I was trying to adjust the  volume on my phone, and my phone holder decided to fall apart right in my hand.  The good news is I was only about 1/4 mile from a rest stop, so I pulled on and put it back together and continued on my merry way. 

Then I unintentionally got off at the wrong exit, because I got over too soon and got stuck in an exit only lane.  Again, not a problem.  I turned around and got back onto the highway, but you'd think by now I'd know which lane to be in.  

On the other hand, I don't really go to Jackson that often, so maybe I don't know. When I go shopping, I usually go north.  Not all the way to Memphis, though.  But I digress...

I get to Cody's house with no problem after that, and text him to let him know I was there.  No answer.  I wait a few minutes, then call him and say, "I'm here."  He replied, "Oh, I didn't know when you were coming"  which was weird, because I'd set my GPS to share updates with him.  I guess it didn't do it right or something because it apparently didn't work.   He wasn't getting the updates I'd thought he was, so I surprised him.  On the other hand, they never let me know when they're going to come, so turnabout is fair play.  

As soon as he got off work, he drove us to Costco and we got something to eat at the food court.  We were about halfway back to the house when I noticed the road looked a bit dark, so I asked him, "Are the headlights on?"  He was so used to driving with the lights set to automatic that he didn't even think to turn them on manually.  Even so, we made it back to his house safely and enjoyed our dinner.  Cody got a hot dog and I got a turkey provolone sandwich.  

When Brennan got got off work at 8:00, they had them a little bite of supper, but I was still full from the sandwich, and declined.  While they were eating, I introduced Brennan the Harry Potter:  Wizards Of Baking show, which she seemed to enjoy, being a big Harry Potter fan herself.   

We got up bright and early the next morning to watch the parade, and I almost missed it because I was thinking it used to start later.  Didn't it used to start around 10:00?  Because I seem to remember it always ending right at noon central.  So, there I was watching The Squid Game Challenge when Cody came in and said, "It's time for the parade."  Good thing, or I'd have missed it.  Still, I m

got it turned on it in time to see Tom Turkey, 

and they always replay it anyway.  Even if I had missed the beginning, I could have watched the replay.  And as old as I am, I still choked up a bit when Santa Claus made his appearance. 

After the parade, we watched the National Dog Show, and Miracle on 34th Street-- while I was watching the Lions/Packers game on my Kindle.  Brennan isn't a football person, but we did watch the Cowboys beat the Chiefs on the big TV.  We really did more than just watch TV, I mean.  We did a lot of visiting while the shows were on, too. 

Thanksgiving dinner was pretty late, because they'd bought one of those big hams from Costco, and Cody greatly underestimated how long it would take to thaw.  When he put his probe in, the center was still reading frozen, so he had to put it into the microwave for a bit, but it was finally done, and tasted really good.  Brennan had made macaroni and cheese with three different cheeses, and focaccia bread from scratch. 

 We also had my broccoli casserole and the sweet potatoes I'd made.  I don't know what I did differently, but the potatoes turned out really soupy. They still tasted fine, so no big deal. 

We did not have any stuffing, because Cody didn't even think about getting some.  I said if I'd known, I could have brought one of the two boxes in the cabinet at home.  No matter, we had plenty of food, and it was all so good.  They'd bought a pumpkin pie from Costco -- I get the impression they do a lot of shopping there -- so I didn't even bother to take a pie, even though I made two of them. 

Oh well, more for me.   

Brennan has been trying to learn to crochet, so I told her about Fiber Fun In The 'Sip, and said to watch the website and see if they have a beginning crochet class she could take.  You know, there aren't any yarn stores left in Jackson.  The one I used to go to ... not very often because it was one of those high dollar stores -- has closed, and there was one in Ridgeland, but last I heard it was up for sale.  I don't know if it's still open.  

OK, I asked GROK, and it says the shop in Ridgeland is still open, so I sent the link to Cody.  I know she could watch videos on YouTube or TikTok, but sometimes it's better to have someone to teach you one on one.  I kind of wish I still knew how to crochet, so I could help her.  I stopped because it was so hard to keep correct yarn tension with my left hand.  She's got one of those rings that you thread the yarn through to tension it.  I've thought about getting one, but haven't.  No excuse.  I just haven't done it. 

I also told her, "Did you know there's a park up near Tupelo where you can go hunt for fossils?" and her face did this:

(Image is AI, not really Brennan)

Once she could breathe again, I told her the name of the place, she looked it up, then turned to Cody and asked, "Can we go?"  He kind of grunted, so I reckon they'll be going to the Browning Cretaceous Fossil Park in Baldwyn, MS pretty soon.  I keep saying I'm going to go one day, but I haven't made it up there yet. 

On a completely unrelated note, Navy beat Memphis, and I was totally not expecting that, since Memphis was projected to win the conference.  Navy now has a 9-2 record, but are still unranked.  Go figure. 

OK, moving right along, Cody and Brennan both had to go back to work today, so I got up and came home pretty early hoping to miss the worst of the traffic, which I did.  I got home in plenty of time to watch the Egg Bowl while eating a plate of leftovers, along with a box of that Stove Top that I made for myself.   

And of course there was a fight.  I said, "It wouldn't be the Egg Bowl without a fight!" 

The only other thing I did today was to put up some lights across the porch.  

I decided to go with the string of bigger bulbs, even though I didn't have enough to do the whole house.  I'll look when I go to the store tomorrow morning to see if they have any more of them, and if they do, I'll pick up two more strings and do the rest of the house.  I might get the other strings -- the ones with the smaller bulbs -- and put them across my fence.  We'll have to see how that goes. 

In knitting news, I finished another sailor hat.  I actually finished it down in Jackson, but wouldn't you know the one thing I forget to pack is a tapestry needle, so I had to wait until I got home to weave in the ends. 

Yarn:  Knit Picks I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Plums

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8/ 5 mm

Naturally, once I'd finished, I cast on another one.  

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Green/Turquoise/Red

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8/5mm

And finally, it looks like something tried to climb up my woodpile while I was gone. 

I guess I'm going to have to hurry up and empty my wheelbarrow, so I can move some of it back into my new rack. 

That's about all I'm going to talk about today.   I've still got more to tell you, but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow.  This post is long enough already.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and Hook 'Em.

A Good Day

Today has been a good, good day.  Why?  Because we finally got some rain last night!  

See my bucket?  

This is a five gallon, and it was slap empty yesterday.  And my little 2 gallon was completely full. 

I found some empty peanut butter jars and stored as much as I could for the dry season next summer.  Why?  Because a Venus Fly Trap is very sensitive to minerals and they must have either rain water or distilled water.  The more rain water I can collect and save, the less distilled water I have to buy.  

Anyway...I also checked my garden spot, and it seems to have settled very well.  There are still a few high spots I can shave down and scoot the dirt over into the lower spots, but overall, I'm pleased.  By the way, the little anti scratch cat spray didn't work.  I'll have to put the plastic stuff down in the rest of the beds, hopefully I can get to that after Thanksgiving and before I have to go back to work.   It doesn't take long, and the stuff is very easy to cut.  

In more good news, someone came and picked up all the stuff I was trying to give away -- even the stadium seats I've been trying to give away since September.  You'd think with it being football season,  someone would want them, but apparently they didn't.  

This guy, I think he runs a thrift store or something, because he's come and gotten junk from me before.  Some people would get all bent out of shape over this, but I'm OK with it.  This guy works as a security guard at a local factory, and they don't make any kind of money.  Whatever I can do to help someone out, and it helps me out as well by decluttering my house.  

In other news, I've been trying to figure out how to decorate my new baker's rack for Christmas, but couldn't come up with anything.  Everything I tried interfered with actually using said rack.  The best I could come up with was to hang some Christmas mugs on the hooks.  

Looking at this photo now, it looks like I have room for a couple more mugs.  I don't know why they included six hooks, when there isn't room in that space for six mugs.  The most I have been able to fit is five -- and that is really cramming them in there.

I've got the rest of the house decorated, except the outside lights.  

  

I noticed this year that several of my strings of lights are dim and flickering.  I don't know how fast they are supposed to wear out, but I do know that as much as I paid for this tree, they should have lasted longer than just five years.  That's not even counting the ones that were chewed up a couple of years ago by mice or whatever it was.

There is a customer service number you can call to order replacement parts, but I'm wondering if it's even worth it.  ON the other hand, if the mouse or rat or whatever damaged the strings that are dim and flickering, maybe I should get some new strings.  Oh, and I discovered my heavy plastic box I bought to store it in has a place to put a lock.  I won't need a lock, but I can put an s-hook in there just to make sure nothing can get the lid open. 

Abrupt change of subject.  Apparently when I repotted my Christmas cacti, I got a sprig of the red mixed in with the pink. 

It's going to stay that way until I repot them again, too.  

And finally, I've spent pretty much all day cooking the stuff I'm going to take down to Jackson tomorrow.  I even made two pies -- which I'm not taking down there.  Cody said they'd buy a pumpkin pie at...Costco, I think he said, so we don't really need mine.  I made them anyway...for me.  

All of that cooking has gotten the house pretty warm, but don't touch my thermostat. 

It's Sunday!

I woke up bright and early this morning, and my first thought was, "It's Sunday, and I don't have to turn my alarm back on!"  At least, not for a few more days -- which will go by way too quickly.   But for now, the good thing is I was able to get stuff done without feeling like I have to rush to get it completed by today...or not wanting to start stuff because I won't be able to finish it. 

I spent most of the day taking down and putting away my Fall/Thanksgiving stuff and starting to put out my Christmas decorations.  I'm a bit flustered because of my new baker's rack.  I usually hang a Santa and some elves on that wall, but with the baker's rack covering up most of that wall, I don't know where to put them now.  

I'll have to come up with something .... different.  I know.  Try to contain your horror.  I'm the kind of person that has to put everything in the same place year after year.  I even take photos to make sure I remember where it all goes.  

Not only that, I've got me a little problem with my outside lights.  I had four strings of this kind, 

and a couple of years ago, one of them went bad.  Try as I might, I could not get that string to work again, so that year, I only ran two strings across the porch.  Last year, I bought another box of those lights on Christmas...or so I thought.  

Turns out they weren't the same lights after all. 

Now I don't know what to do.  I don't have enough of either to do the whole front of the house.  I kind of want to use the bigger ones, and just run them along the front porch.  Or maybe use smaller lights, because I've got a butt load of these -- bought on clearance over the years. 

I also still have the white icicle lights that I put up a few years ago, but didn't really like.  I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll come up with something.  

In other news, I forgot something yesterday.  The websites I was looking at said to put a baggie over my rosemary cutting to make a sort of greenhouse.  

After I posted, I ran in and did that.  It's kind of a pain taking it off to water the cutting, so it's a good thing I don't need to water it that often.  

This morning, I opened up my barrier stuff and put it down in the bed with my oregano and tarragon. 

It was plastic, so it was very easy to cut with regular scissors.  Right now I have bricks holding it in place, but in the spring, I'll get some of those stake things to hold it down, then I'll put mulch on top of it.  That ought to keep any and all critters out of the bed. 

And finally, all of my life -- since I was about 12 or 13, I guess-- I've heard that Giant Pandas aren't true bears.  I mean, as a small child, we always called them Panda Bears, but I remember somewhere along the way, I'd read or heard that they aren't true bears at all, and were more closely related to raccoons than bears.  I was sure I remembered reading articles in magazines about it, and all.    

Just a few weeks ago, I found out that Giant Pandas are indeed bears, in the family Ursidae, and suddenly my whole life was a lie. 

That was one heck of a Mandela effect.

Or so I thought...

Because I'm not the kind of person who can let something like this go, I dug into it a bit deeper and discovered that I wasn't as wrong as I suspected.  As it happens, for many years, there was confusion about the taxonomy of Giant Pandas.  As per Wikipedia:

For many decades, the precise taxonomic classification of the giant panda was under debate because it shares characteristics with both bears and raccoons.^[12] In 1985, molecular studies indicated that the giant panda is a true bear, part of the family Ursidae.^[13][14] These studies show it diverged about 19 million years ago from the common ancestor of the Ursidae;^[15] it is the most basal member of this family and equidistant from all other extant bear species.^[15][16]

Apparently, I missed that memo, but even so it wasn't as Mandelaic as I believed. 

Oh, and one more thing.  The person who wanted those glasses I was giving away never showed up.  Typical.  I guess I'll post them in the local groups again and hope someone else wants them.  Usually, it's the third or fourth person to claim an item that actually shows up to get it.  

One More Thing

Today was one of those days where there isn't a word in the English language that adequately describes how beautiful it was.  Breezy, sunny, and a perfect 75°.  I call them Robert Spaulding's Wife days.   I was able to keep the doors and windows open all day and get some much needed fresh air into this house. 

Before I get into today's news, I wanted to show you this:  

I joined the third color into my Demeter Fade hat last night, and am plugging away at it.  I really wish I'd taken a photo of her sample, just to have a reference.  Even so, I think mine is looking pretty good. 

Yarn:  Jem Luxe Fibers

Colorway:  Demeter Fade Minis 

Pattern:  I'm making it up as I go

Needles:  US 5/3.75 mm

OK, moving right along.  I got up this morning and went to the store to get my weekly shopping done.  I'm telling you, early Saturday morning is the best time to go.  There is hardly anyone up in that Walmart.  

As is my custom, the first place I went was into the garden center, and as I expected, they didn't have any flower pots, so I was unable to get a smaller pot for Gloria.  I thought about putting her into one of the temporary pots that you get when you buy plants, but I decided to wait until after Christmas to try to repot her. when they start putting the gardening stuff back out.  That's the recommended time frame anyway, so it'll be for the best.  

They actually had a couple of Christmas cacti with the pale cream blooms, and I thought about buying one, but didn't.  Maybe if Gloria finally succumbs to my ill treatment of her, I'll get one next year.  What they didn't have was any more rosemary plants.  They'd had some last week, and I started to get one, but didn't.  Now, I wish I had, because they apparently sold them, or they died.  

No matter.  After asking Grok, I discovered that you can in fact, propagate rosemary from a cutting.  As soon as I got home, that's exactly what I did.   I took a cutting and put it into a seed starting pot.  

I plan on keeping it inside the house over the winter, and if it works, by spring it ought to have enough root structure that I can plant it in my outside bed, right along side the plant from which I took the cutting.   

The last thing I bought -- from the garden center, I mean -- was a couple more bags of dirt, which was enough to fill up the last of my raised beds. 

They've taken the freeze out of our forecast, at least for the time being.  They were predicting upper 20s by Thanksgiving.  Now they're saying mid 30s.  That being said, I took a chance and planted my French Tarragon into that spot.  

I was able to get it out of its pot in a solid chunk of soil, with minimal disturbance to the roots, so hopefully it'll do OK.  I think I'll probably cover it with a bucket anyway before that frost, just to be on the safe side.   I'll also have to remember to bring my plants in from the back porch before I go to Cody and Brennan's house.  

Heh, I was just thinking that one nice thing about not hosting Thanksgiving is not having to get the house company clean.  I can leave it everyday clean all the way up until Christmas now. 

Speaking of predictions, that five straight days of rain they were talking about has all gone around us.  It's rained to the north.  It's rained to the south, but we haven't gotten anything but a drizzle.  I checked my bucket this morning, and the bottom wasn't even damp.  I only know it rained at all because I heard it hitting the leaves when I shut the door before going to bed.  They're still saying we'll have a better chance for rain Monday night into Tuesday.  I hope it comes through this time.  We're still in drought conditions and desperately need it. 

But I digress...

I'm going to try to get the plastic barrier stuff I bought put into the oregano/tarragon bed sometime soon, but in the meantime, I remembered I had this stuff. 

  

It's supposed to be to spray on your furniture to discourage cats from scratching, so I thought heck, maybe it'll also discourage her from peeing in my garden beds.  It's made from water, lemon oil, and eucalyptus oil so it ought to be safe for my plants.  Even so, I tried to avoid spraying them directly, and sprayed the dirt around them.  I also sprayed the edges of the beds pretty heavily.  I'm hoping that'll be enough to keep her out of them until I can figure something else out. 

The only other thing I had planned on doing today was to start putting out my Christmas decorations, but I'm just not feeling it.   I dragged all of my boxes into the house, except for the tree, and there they sit. 

While I was in the shed, I got my new ladder out, climbed up onto the roof, and ran that chimney brush up and down my chimney a few times.  That's one more thing I can cross off of my list, which now looks like this. 

They say you only have to clean chimneys every 3-5 years, so next time, I think I'll make Cody do it.  I'm getting just a bit too old to be climbing up and down those ladders.  

By the way, I had my phone in my pocket, and if I had fallen and broken my neck, Edna, I was going to call you to come rescue me!  Fortunately, nothing untoward happened, though getting back onto the ladder was where I was the shakiest.  

Somehow, your brain knows when your body is getting too old for this. 

The trick is to listen to it.  

Just So’s You Know

Just so's you know I am not in the habit of murdering Christmas cacti, my other three are doing very well.   Here is the proof of life:  

That's partly why I don't understand why this one is struggling so much. 

I think one thing I'm going to try is to move it back into a smaller pot.  Most of the websites I've researched say they like to be just a bit root restricted, though not completely root bound.  It may be that her pot is too big.  I'm going to go look here in a little bit to see if I have a pot.  If not, I'll get one next time I go into town.  I may have to go to Lowe's, as Walmart probably won't have any this time of year.  

Ideally, I would wait until late spring early summer to move her, but given how much she is struggling, I want to give her the best possible shot at surviving, so I'm going to go ahead and re-pot as soon as I can. 

Speaking of, do you remember the bit I pulled up that looked like it was dying?  I had put it into a vase with water, but it didn't look like it was improving any.  I know people who can root Christmas cactus cuttings in water, but I've never been successful at doing that, so I took it out and put it into a pot.   

I've rooted multiple cuttings this way, so I'm a bit more hopeful that this will work.  If not, it will end up in the compost  -- which is where it would have gone anyway.   

While we're on the subject of plants, look at this!  Do you see?  The little green bits are my garlic coming up. 

I didn't expect them to grow so quickly.  I've got three, even though you only see two in the photo.  Full disclosure, these are the ones which had the most growth even before I planted them, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. 

And it looks like my celery is taking off, too.  It's definitely improved since I cut the wilted parts off.  

In other news, my big project for the day was to move all of my old firewood up closer to the house.  

There wasn't as much left as I thought there would be, but I also moved some of it over to this side.   

Most of this is smaller pieces, which I want to save for the fire pit, but that's neither here nor there.  The point is, I finally had the right side of this shed cleaned out

 and ready for my new firewood rack.   

Even though I took a couple of breaks to watch Special Forces: 

The World's Toughest Test, it didn't take long at all to put the rack together, and here it is:  

I even started putting a little firewood into it. 

That was all I did, because by that time my legs were aching from squatting down to put the thing together, and of course, this thing didn't even offer to help. She just sat there and looked disapprovingly at me.    Kind of like Inspector Gadget does.  

Once I get the dirt emptied out of my wheelbarrow, I'll start moving wood in earnest.  

Well, the rain they promised us didn't arrive, though it's looked all day like the bottom could drop out at any point.  They're still saying we have a chance of scattered showers, but most of it has gone to the south of us.  We have a much better chance of rain on Tuesday, then it's going to get cold again.  If I had known we wouldn't get any rain, I'd have put a little fire in the fire pit and sat outside for a bit.  

As it is, I sat inside and finished this hat.  

Yarn:  Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Colorway:  Plums

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8

And finally, the lady who wanted the glasses hasn't showed up yet, either.  I'm not too worried about it just yet, because if she planned to come by after work, it's still too early for that.  I'll give her until Monday, and if she hasn't come by then, I'll post them into the group again.  

Keep your fingers crossed.  

Oh, I almost forgot.  Spoiler alert, Jusse Smollett was one of the first people to get DQed from the Special Forces show.  Not surprising, all he did while he was there was moan about how nobody believed him when he faked that hate crime against himself. 

"I got attacked, and they all said I was lying!"  

Yeah, because the two guys you paid with a check to attack you said you paid them to attack you.  And the hardware store where you bought the rope and bleach -- which you paid for with a check -- said you bought the rope and bleach yourself.  Not only that, do you really expect anyone in deep blue Chicago would be claiming that it was MAGA country?  

Son, your story has more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese and if you hadn't been pardoned by the Autopen, you'd still be in prison.  

I'm also getting tickled at Kody Brown getting a reality check.  He's running up against people he can't push around, and it's hilarious to me to watch those DIs stand up to him while he pees his pants.  

In fact, I think I'll go watch the last episode and see if he survives.  

Laters.