My Attempt At A Vlog

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day.  Sunny and warm, but not too hot, and a good breeze blowing to boot.  It was a good day to put my raised bed outside, and that's exactly what I did. 

As you can see, I ended up putting in inside the fence anyway, and as you can also see, my first plant is pussy willows.  Heh...I'll see myself out...

No, but seriously, my biggest concern in putting it inside the fence was getting it far enough way from the eave of the house that the runoff from the rain won't pound my plants into mush.  If you look carefully, you can see the slight trench said runoff has dug into the ground.  I've marked it with a flag to make it easier to see. 

I'm hoping the planter is far enough away that it won't interfere with anything planted in it. 

Once I got it situated and leveled -- yes, I really did get my level out and check it -- I filled it up with my garden soil and we are off to the races. 

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you.  That dirt is two different colors.  I'd bought two bags of Expert Gardener brand, and it wasn't quite enough to fill the whole bed, so I topped it off with a little bit of Miracle Gro that I had laying around.  I'm not sure if it's so much darker because it was wet or what, but it is what it is, and what it is is dirt. 

The first two things I planted in it are a couple of wild onions and some wood sorrel. 

My wood sorrel isn't looking too good.  I'm hoping it's just a bit of transplant shock, and it'll perk up after a day or two.  I'm not too worried about the onions, as they'll probably get eaten before too much longer anyway.    

As you can see, I've got lots of room left for other herbs and such. 

I'm leaning towards rosemary, lavender, and thyme.  But nothing is set in stone just yet.  Heck, I might even plant some flowers in it -- edible ones, of course.  Or maybe even some vegetables.  I don't know, but you'll be here with me every step of the way. 

And finally, here is another attempt at doing a vlog.  It's just raw video, as I don't have any editing software, and probably wouldn't know how to use it if I did.  Kindly ignore the quiet parts.  I forgot I was supposed to be speaking. 

Let me know what you think, and if you want to see more stuff like this, or even if you don't.  Feedback and constructive criticism is always welcome. 

I Did It

I did it!  I finally figured out how to hook everything up to my phone's hot spot, including my computer.  So, now I am internet free -- for the time being, that is.  I'm going to test it for a few days to see how much strain it puts on my hotspot before I take the router back and cut it off completely, but so far so good.  I'm able to watch a video on my ROKU and browse Facebook on my computer with no problems, so that's a positive sign. 

It should do OK, though, because my hotspot is what my internet used to be when I first moved into this house.  I had to upgrade it when Cody stayed with me a few days while he was moving from Texas to Memphis.  He played one of those massive multi-player online games and blew through my entire bandwidth in about two hours.  I don't do anything like that, plus I have that adapter that I can watch videos using my phone's data without even going through the hotspot.  The downside to that is, I can't use my phone while I'm watching videos, but hey, we've become too dependent on technology anyway. 

All that to say, I think I'm ready to cut the cord.  I just have to convince myself I can do it.  

In anticipation of all the money I'm going to save by cutting off my internet, I splurged and bought myself a little something that I've been wanting for quite some time.  And that something is a raised garden bed.

This one was a bit higher in price than some other brands, but it's very sturdy and according to the seller's page, it's rated to hold 500 lbs. I shook it pretty good, and there isn't any wobble at all.  It was really easy to put together as well, even with me doing it by myself. 

It's got a nice deep bed which holds 5 cubic feet of soil, with a liner that keeps your soil from washing out from between the slats in the base when you water it. 

I'm still debating where to put it, but right on the other side of this fence is the leading candidate right now. 

I originally wanted to put it inside the fence, but that spot where I had my plumbing repaired still isn't that stable -- especially because the cat keeps digging it up.  Or it may be the voles.  Either way, the ground is much more solid just outside the fence, so that's where it is going. 

As soon as I got it put together, off to Walmart I trotted to get some dirt.  OK, I drove, but you get the gist.  I'd gotten really excited because I was looking on the Lowe's app, and saw they had soil specially blended for raised beds and ooh, boy!  It said delivery available!  I immediately added it to my shopping cart, but when I went to check out, delivery wasn't an option.  That app lied to me!  The only options were curbside pickup and in-store pick up.  If I'd have wanted to drive all the way to Batesville, I wouldn't have been trying to order through the app. 

Be that as it may, I trotted on in to Walmart and picked up some garden soil.  Except that I drove.  Alas, right when I got there, it started raining and as of this writing it has not stopped yet.  Maybe tomorrow I can get the bed outside and filled, then comes the fun part:  figuring out what I want to put into it.  I'm definitely leaning towards rosemary and lavender, but there is lots of room for other stuff as well.   I'll probably pull up some of my wood sorrel and put it in there, too, and maybe some violets -- which are also edible, in case you didn't know.

Since it was still raining, I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting a new hat, watching documentaries on ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, and the ancient Celts, and waking up the cat. 

Hey, she insisted on waking me up at 4:30 on my day off.  I was just returning the favor. 

In other news, the dress I ordered for Cody's wedding arrived. Fun fact, I didn't know it was going to ship from China.  Funner fact, it took longer to get from Smyrna, Tennessee to Grenada, Mississippi than it did to get from China to Tennessee.   I don't know what goes on up in Smyrna, but this isn't the first package that decided to take a vacation there.  Vacation aside, it finally got here, and this is it. 

It doesn't look nearly as much like a flour sack when I'm wearing it, and it comes with a little jacket to wear over it. 

Honestly, I loved it on the website (which was Walmart), and I still like it, but it looks a bit cheaply made.  I might need to find something else for the wedding.  I might even get something out of the back of my closet to wear.  I mean, I'm just the mother of the groom.  It's not like I need to buy something brand new....is it?  Inquiring minds want to know. 

No, I will not model it for you.  Since some of you seem to think me wearing a dress is something akin to a me being carnival sideshow freak, if you want to see me wearing it, I'm going to charge admission.  Send me $20 by either Paypal or Zelle, and I will message you a photo. And I'm dead serious about that. 

And finally, I'm not exactly sure what kind of wild parties my cat throws while I'm at work, but here is what I came home to yesterday. 

And I thought she just slept all day...

Sometimes Plans Change

There I was at work this morning, just a working away, when one of my coworkers called to me, "Hey Becky,"  

She told me she'd gone to her doctor and had just gotten her test results back.  She said the doctor had said her cholesterol was high, and she needed to change her diet and exercise more.  Then she said -- because I'd talked incessantly about my own cholesterol levels since January -- "She said mine was 163.  What's yours?"  

I nearly choked when she told me that.  I replied, "That's not high!  Mine is 170, and that's with medication!"  We chatted a bit more, and I told her that below 200 is considered good.  It had to have been a mistake or something.  Either way, I hope she gets it figured out soon. 

Yesterday, I had planned to come home and record a little vlog for you, but it was raining when I got off work, so those plans had to change.  I was also going to mow, but alas, it was raining when I got off work, so I got to change those plans, too.  Then I was going to show you something I'd ordered which was supposed to get here yesterday but has been stuck in Smyrna Tennessee for three days...

So I just rented Jesus Revolution instead.  And you didn't get a blog post.  Oh, well, c'est la vie. 

By the way, if you  haven't seen Jesus Revolution, I highly recommend it.  I'm barely old enough to remember that whole thing with the Jesus Freaks and the hippies and all, I mean, vaguely.  I was still pretty young, but I remember hearing people talk about them.  

While I was watching the movie, I finished yes, another hat. 

That's about it for today.  Maybe something exciting will happen soon and you'll have an interesting blog post for a change, but for now, this is all you get. 

And Now For Some Good News

I took today off of work to get stuff done, and what did I get done? Not much -- other than laying in bed bed past 4:30 AM, I mean.  Other than that...

Really, I took the day off for my follow up doctor appointment to see if the Crestor was working, and ...we'll get to that in a moment.  First, a little background for those of you who may be new here, or those of you with memories like mine.  If you already know the story, you can skip these next few paragraphs.  

For the last 15 years or so, out at work we've had to do health screenings for our insurance.  They an optional, but if you do them, you get to pay a lower premium on you insurance.  One of the things they checked was cholesterol levels.  Mine have always been high, but I was kind of getting mixed messages about it. 

The nurse doing the screening would tell me I needed to be on medication, but when I went in for my next physical, my doctor would just say, "It's a little high.  Let's just keep an eye on it."  The next year when I did my screening at work, the nurse would tell me I needed to be on medication, and I'd reply, "Well, my doctor doesn't seem that concerned about it."  

That's part of what prompted me to choose a different doctor when I decided to get proactive about my health back in January. 

It was after my brother had his heart attack in 2018 that I decided I needed to start taking this stuff seriously.  I wanted to try to lower it naturally, so I tried all the stuff.  I cut back on sugar, tried to exercise more, even lost a bit of weight (most of which I've gained back) -- all the stuff you can read about on the internet.  I mean, changes in diet.  Eating more oatmeal and walnuts, and healthy fats like in avocadoes, and the like.  None of this kookoo bird stuff.  

I'd go in for a screening and my numbers would have improved and I'd think, "Yay!  I'm doing well!" But then the next year, they'd have gotten worse.  It was last fall I finally decided I just couldn't do it on my own.  It was time to go to the doctor.  

I waited until after the holidays, then made my appointment.  It was during that appointment, he prescribed Crestor.  And today was the day I went back in for my follow up.  

I must step a bit outside my story right now to tell you he did fuss at me for canceling my colonoscopy, and said if I didn't get one before my next follow up in October, he'd really fuss.  

And now back to the main event.  I did mention about how sore my hands are getting, and he said that's pretty normal.  He recommended the CoQ-10, and said it seems to help.  He also said he'd do a test when they did my blood work to see if the Crestor was causing muscle damage.  That one came back normal, so the soreness is just something I'm going to have to live with.  Although it does seem to be lessening as time goes on, so maybe it'll get better eventually. 

OK, OK, I know you've all been waiting with baited breath to see my numbers.  *insert eye-roll here* So, without further ado, here you go.

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty chuffed about that.  Especially my triglycerides.  Those were the numbers I never could seem to get ahold of.

The plan was after my doctor appointment, I would run by Walmart and pick up some plants for my front flower bed, and though I did go browse a bit, I ended up not getting any.  Maybe I'll pick up some Vincas or something when I go in for my regular shopping trip on Friday.  Today, I was so hungry by the time I got there -- fasting for my blood work, you know -- all I wanted to do is come home and eat something.  And that, Gentle Reader, is exactly what I did.  

I'd made some chicken salad yesterday evening, and used some of the wild onion from my back yard to season it.  I'd originally dug four, but only used two, because they seemed to be quite a bit stronger than the ones you buy in the store.  It was quite delicious, that chicken salad was.  

What I didn't do was boil down the carcass and make broth.  I've got so much chicken broth anyway, plus two more carcasses in the freezer that I need to use up, I just didn't feel like fooling with it, so I tossed that one. 

Despite having the rest of the day to myself, the only thing I really got done was to move these 4 X 4s back into the old chicken coops. 

I'd put them beside the shed to stack my firewood on, but since my firewood guy ghosted me, I figured I didn't need them any more.  I'm probably going to cut that blackberry bush down, and I don't know what else I'm going to do here.  Maybe I'll just let the clover spread to fill it up. 

I spent the rest of the day watching documentaries and Time Team episodes and knitting.  I got this far on my latest hat

before I ran out of yarn.  As luck would have it, the skein I joined just happened to also be in a stretch of black, so the join was pretty seamless. 

I guess that's about it for today.  I think I'll go take a quick shower then find a movie to watch or something.  Oh, speaking of movies, I watched The Book Thief last weekend.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  

You'll need tissues.  

Consider yourself warned. 

Lazy Sunday

 Man, let me tell you, after a week of tossing and turning and sleeping fitfully, I slept good last night.  And it was wonderful!

I wish I knew what I did, because I'd for sure do it every night.  It might have helped that it got cold again -- down into the mid 40s.  It would have been a good morning for a fire, if only my firewood guy hadn't ghosted me. 

Seriously, I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  I'm not trying to stalk him or anything.  I just want some firewood.  I'm sure it's me, too, because this has happened way too often with contractors, plumbers, lawn care people, other firewood guys...even the guy who was supposed to fix the ruts in my front yard caused by a school bus (?).  He said he'd come fix them.  He just never showed up.  

All that to say, I had no firewood, so I had no fire.  I supposed I could have scraped up enough twigs and stuff to have a small fire, I just didn't feel like going through all that.  

Well, now we come to that part of a Sunday afternoon where I wonder where in the heck my weekend went, and what did I even do?  Did I get anything accomplished?  Fortunately, this time, I can say, yes I did.  I finished a hat, 

then I cast on another one. 

For this one, I decided to use up a partial ball of yarn I had originally put into the donation bag.  I knew it wouldn't be enough for a whole hat, but I plan on joining the skein when I get to the end.   Heh, now that I'm knitting for my Seaman's Church Ministry instead of selfish coworkers, I'm actually enjoying it again.  

The only downside is that the Crestor I'm taking makes me get sore so much more easily than I used to.  My follow up doctor appointment is Tuesday, and I'm definitely going to bring it up to him and see what he thinks, and if there is something he can do about it -- maybe lower my dose or something.  I don't know.  I'll have to see what he says. 

I think after my appointment, I might run by Walmart and pick up some plants to put into the skinny little flower bed right in front of my porch, and maybe some vincas for the big bed.  Speaking of, I suppose my big accomplishment of the weekend was to get my back yard mowed.  Woo Hoo!

It was a lot of work, but I managed to skirt the bigger of my patches of clover and two big patches of fleabane daisy -- for the bees and butterflies, you know.  

I also left my patch of yellow flowers, though I didn't get a photo.  I thought I did, but apparently not.  Honestly, I wouldn't mind if those things took over my whole back yard, I love them so much.  

By the way, I think I figured out what this thing is.  

I think it might be a species of millet or something that was in the bags of birdseed I buy.  I found a whole bunch more over by the fence, near where the bird feeder used to be.  Some of them even had grain heads developing, but I was merciless and mowed them down anyway.  All but that one above, which is near my shed.  

Oh, and look at this!  My mock strawberries are making fruit!

I mean, they always had, but I'd just assumed they were ornamental, like the ornamental peppers my grandma used to plant in her flower beds.   I ate one of them, and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either.  I also tasted a bit of my dollar weed, and it was pretty good.  It tasted like something I'd put into a salad, whereas the ground ivy is way too strong to eat plain like that.  And I pulled up some good sized wild onions that I'm going to chop up and put into some chicken salad that I will probably make tomorrow afternoon after work. 

I may even boil down the chicken carcass and add some ground ivy to give it some flavor.  We'll see. 

Earth Day 2023

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Woo Hoo!

I did it.  I returned my foraging book, and the way that happened is as follows.  

I was looking through said book last night, but was still unable to make up my mind as to whether to keep it or not.  I mean, it's got good information, but it really wasn't what I was looking for. Then, this morning when I woke up, I said to myself, "Self, if you're still hemming and hawing over that book after all this time, you don't really want it."  And I didn't, I guess.  I mean, the other book I'd bought at the same time, I knew as soon as I thumbed through it that I wanted to keep it, and have never wavered in that conviction.  With this one...not so much. 

Once I'd made up my mind, I started the return process on my phone, and right after work, ran into town and dropped it off at the UPS store.  Then I ran in to Walmart for something pretty exciting.  Well, exciting to me, I suppose.  

I'd known almost from the day I moved in to this house that my shower head would need replacing sooner rather than later.  It was obviously old, and appeared to have already been repaired at least once.  It was one of those hand held things, but I didn't think to take a before photo.  I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.  

Anyway, I'd known it would eventually need replacing, and I'd even looked at some when I was in the store in the days of yore.  I'd just never gone through with buying one.  As it happens, I noticed a few days ago the part where the hose connects to the head had started to drip.  Still, the drip wasn't that bad until last night, when I guess it finally rusted through completely.  I was trying to take a shower, only there was more water coming out of the hose than the actual shower head.  I knew then I couldn't procrastinate any longer.  

I briefly thought about just taking tub baths until my regular shopping day on Friday, but since I had to return that book anyway, and the UPS store is just down the road from Walmart, I went on and bought a new shower head this afternoon. 

However, instead of a hand held shower head, I got this:

Kindly ignore my un-scrubbed grout.  That's the one chore I hate even worse than scooping the litter pan.  Which also needs to be done.  But I digress...

I also got a new shower arm to replace this old one, 

but when I started trying to take the old one off, I saw that the previous owners had really mucked things up when they installed it.  Seriously, it looks like they spread a layer of mortar or something over the entire connection.  I'm going to wait until the weekend to dig into all that when I have more time.  I've also put my plumber on speed dial, just in case I have to holler for help.    

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go try out that new shower head.  I'm so excited!

It's the little things...

Patriot's Day 2023

 

Stand your ground

Don't fire unless fired upon

But if they mean to have a war

Let it begin here. 

Concord Hymn 

 RALPH WALDO EMERSON

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

   Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

   And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;

   Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;

And Time the ruined bridge has swept

   Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,

   We set today a votive stone;

That memory may their deed redeem,

   When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare

   To die, and leave their children free,

Bid Time and Nature gently spare

   The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Almost Late Again

I was almost late to work again today, but not because I wasn't watching the clock this time.  See, I'd bought some sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits to eat for breakfast.  I thought that if I had some fuel in my body, I'd feel a bit better in the morning time, instead of being so run down and draggy feeling. 

Yesterday, I completely forgot about them, but this morning, I was on my game.  About 3 minutes before time to go, I got a frozen biscuit out and put it into the microwave....then left for work.  With my biscuit still in the microwave. 

I got half way there, when I remembered.  I started to keep on going, but then thought, "By golly, I'm going back home to get that biscuit!"  And that's exactly what I did.  In the interest of full disclosure, I only live 5 minutes from the plant, so it wasn't that big of a deal to go back home.  

Anyway, I ran back to the house, tripped over the cat, grabbed my biscuit from the microwave and headed back to work -- where I surreptitiously ate said biscuit and went on about my day.  

Funny thing about work, we've all been saying it, so it's not just me.  I feel more tired working 8 hours than I did working 10.  I don't know why.  As the day went on, I began feeling worse and worse, so much so I worried I was getting sick.  I kept feeling my face to see if I had fever, but no.  I was fine temperature wise.  Suddenly, about 30 minutes ago, it hit me. 

I did the ol' forehead smack and said, "You are such a doofus!"  And what doofusy thing did I do this time?    

I had a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit for breakfast.  A sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit.  I'd been in the throes of an allergic reaction all day.  Sigh...I guess it's back to cereal bars for me, at least on work days.  I'll save the biscuits for my days off, when I can sit huddled in the recliner until the reaction wears off. 

By the way, for my coworkers who may not have heard yet, Miss Anne -- the little crooked lady who worked on the Feldman -- passed away this morning.  She was always so nice.  I was just thinking about her a few days ago, wondering how she was doing.  

The good news is, you don't have to hear anything about foraging today.  Because I thought I was getting sick, I didn't do anything but finish this hat.

This one is going into the charity drawer, to be sent to the Seaman's Church Ministry.  I need to look at that site and see when I'll need to ship the hats by -- I mean so they'll be in time for this Christmas.  They accept them all year round, but I want to see how long I can put it off so I can get as many hats done as possible. 

And finally, one benefit of using an HDMI cable to connect my TV to my computer:  fewer ads on YouTube!  On the apps, the ads really work you over, but on the website, not so much.  So there is that. 

Almost Late

I was almost late to work this morning, because I forgot what time I had to be there.

In my defense, though, they’ve changed our hours so much these last few weeks, it’s no wonder I got confused.  I didn't even know what time it was, much less what time I had to be at work.  

So, there I was in my kitchen tidying up, when I said to myself, “Let me go practice my piano a few minutes before I have to leave.” 

I put on my glasses and looked at the clock to see how much practice time I had, and it was already past time I’d normally leave the house.  I hurriedly got my things together and left for work, looking at the clock all the while, thinking, "5:30?  It's 5:30?  What time is 5:30?  What time am I supposed to be there?  6:00...yeah, that's it.  6:00." 

All confusion aside, I made it to work on time and the day passed without incident.  Except for the parts I had which did not spark joy.  

Speaking of confusion, I go through this thing every weekend.  What it is is, I'm sitting there along about 4:30 PM on Sunday afternoon and I suddenly realize my weekend is almost over, and what have I done all weekend?  Did I get anything accomplished?  What did I do?  I don't even remember what I did all weekend, so how did it go by so fast?  

Well, for this weekend, the answer is pretty much no, I didn't really get anything accomplished.  I mowed Friday and I'm getting too old for this nonsense because I spent the rest of the weekend so sore I could hardly move.   I spent a lot of time watching TV, and oh, by the way, I got Prime to work using my little adapter thingy.  All I've got left to do now is to drag the entertainment center out from the wall and get the router unplugged so I can take it back to the cable company, then I'll be done with cable internet.  Probably for good.  

If I get it again, I'll see if I can get one of those hot spot things from the phone company.  Heh, remember when you had to go down to the phone company and get the disc to get onto the internet?  Then you had to wait for it to dial up and it made that noise?  Remember Dixie-net?  That was my first internet.  Man, that seems so long ago.    

I suppose the big news is -- regarding what I did over the weekend, I mean -- I splurged and bought the last book of my series I've been reading, Silver On The Tree. 

This is one of those series you just can't put down, but at the same time hate to see it end.   I don't particularly care for that cover art, though.  The original was so much better.  The original hardbacks also had illustrations, which the Kindle versions don't include.  I wish they did.  They were simple line drawings, but added so much charm to the books. 

I also spent a bit more time looking through this book.

I'm really liking this one, and it's definitely a keeper.  I like the way it's got a little map on each photo showing the range of that particular plant. 

Then beside the description of the plant, it's got these handy symbols so you can see at a glance what that plant can be used for.

 

For example, this one can be used as a seasoning, hot tea, cold beverage, salad ingredient, a thickener for soups, and jelly.  Pretty cool, huh?  

While we're on the subject of foraging, I got brave over the weekend and tasted a bit of my ground ivy.  I didn't particularly care for the taste just as it is, but it will be great used as a seasoning in soups or even on potatoes or something.  One of the websites describe the taste as a blend of mint and sage, and I'd say that's pretty accurate.  It's a very strong flavor, so it should be used sparingly.  

The only other wild edible I've fooled with -- other than my wood sorrel, I mean -- are these onions I pulled this afternoon.

I've got a couple more big patches that I want to dig up, but that's all I'm going to get for now until I figure out what I want to do with them.  No point in pulling them if I'm just going to let them rot in the crisper drawer.  I can buy store bought onions for that.   

But enough of that.  Here is a nice surprise I found in my front bed this afternoon. 

It's a bachelor's button that seeded from one I'd planted last year.  I've got a couple more with buds on them.  It would be great if I could get them established and re-seeding every year.  

And I found this in the back yard.  It looks like grass, but has a grain head.  

It actually looks like a wheat plant, only short.  It's maybe 2 ft tall.  There is only one, but I'm going to let it grow and see what comes of it.  

Last but certainly not least, I want a raised garden bed.  Not the ones that are like a foot off the ground, but one like this:

Maybe not exactly like that, but similar.  I want to grow a small herb garden, but I'm getting too old to be getting down on the ground and all.  I'm not sure yet what I want to put into my herb garden, but I'm definitely leaning towards rosemary and lavender. 

I'm wanting herbs I can make tea with, since I don't really cook that much.  Maybe I'll put my wood sorrel into it, so I don't have to worry about mowing it down.  

Eh, I'll figure it out later.  Right now, I need to go practice the piano, since I didn't get to this morning. 

Laters. 

Well, That Was Convenient

 Well, that was convenient.  And just what was so convenient, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell you. 

Those of you with better memories than mine may remember that I've been debating on cutting off my internet and just using my phone data to stream stuff.  I have unlimited data, plus a 5 G?...Meg?  I don't remember, but whatever, it's a hot spot.  It feels like I'm paying for internet twice, so I've been figuring out how I can cut my cable internet off and still have the same functionality.  I know that if I go over my data limit on my hot spot, they don't cut me off, but they do slow things way down.  To avoid this, I've been looking for an adapter where I can connect an HDMI cable directly to my phone and use the data without having to employ my hotspot.  

So, I got onto Amazon and ordered one.  It just happened to arrive today.

Which was very convenient, as the internet was out for about 5-6 hours today.  I don't know what was going on.  I do know Entergy has been replacing utility poles and other various equipment, but I don't know if their work affected the internet or not.  My power was out for about 1.5 hours, but it had come back on long before the internet dropped.  

I took advantage of the power outage to pry my hiney out of the chair and go outside to plant my new Echinacea roots. 

I'm not quite sure why I took a picture, because all you can see are the two flags marking where I'd planted them.  And since the picture offers no perspective, I will have to tell you they're about 3' apart.  I hope that these will grow.  I've seen no sign of the wildflower seeds I scattered back behind the fence earlier this spring.  I keep hoping, but so far...nothing.  They're wildflowers, for pete's sake!  They should grow wherever!  

I still haven't mowed my back yard, either.  I've found that since I quit trying to kill all my weeds, I've become rather fond of them.  Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.  (AA Milne) I've got a nice little patch of these, but I don't know what they are. 

Neither Google Lens nor Seek have been able to give me a definitive species.  Seek tells me they believe it's a member of the sunflower, daisies, asters, and allies family, but that's the closest they got. Google lens gives me a different answer every time I try a search. Even Plantnet gives me about five different options, but say it's most likely a Krigia Dandelion.  If that is correct, it is a member of the aster family, and therefore edible. 

But even if they aren't, I like them, and they get to stay.  So does the white clover, for the bees, and the wood sorrel, because I like to snack on it. 

  

Speaking of edible plants, I know I said I wasn't going to buy any more books, but since I was ordering that adapter thing anyway, I went ahead and tossed these two into the shopping cart. 

I'm definitely going to keep the one on the right, but am considering returning the Backyard Foraging book.  It's got lots of good information in it on harvesting and even cooking the plants, but it seems to focus more on plants you can plant, like daylilies such as is picture in the lower right of the cover, rather than wildflowers and such.  Furthermore, a lot of them aren't native to this area, either.  I'll look through it a bit more before I decide, as I'll have until May 15 to return it.  

Anyway, back to my story....after I'd piddled in the yard a bit, I came back inside and settled in to watch TV and knit all day.  I hadn't planned on doing much anyway.  I'm sore as heck from mowing and wrestling with bad parts at work all week.   Alas, it was not to be.

Shortly after I sat down an started watching an episode of Vienna Blood on PBS, that's when the internet dropped.  I didn't expect it to be down long, but in the meantime, I opened the PBS app on my phone and continued watching.  That's when it hit me...

I'd just gotten my fancy new adapter gadget.  Might as well use it.  I hooked it up, then had to go get my phone charger out of the car, because I don't seem to have an extra one in the house.  Once I got everything plugged in and all, I finished my episode, then watched the next one.  After that, I opened my Hulu app and watched Next Level Chef and an episode of Masterchef Junior.   I'd been a bit concerned, because some of the reviews said it didn't work with apps like Hulu and Netflix, but as you can see, I had no problem with it.

That big bright spot is from my flash.  After making sure Hulu worked, I also checked my Chosen app, Angel studios, and YouTube.  All of them worked like a charm.  I still haven't checked Prime Video, because by that time, the internet had finally come back up, but so far the only one I've found that won't work on it is FreeVee -- ironically enough.  Still, once I figure out how to connect my ROKU device to my hot spot, that shouldn't be a problem. 

I guess I'll work on that tomorrow. 

Oh, and I should probably mention, knitting did get accomplished. 

That's about it for today.  I'm going to go lay down a bit before the severe weather gets here.  

Laters.

Noodles

 That's what I have for arms.  Noodles.  

And why do I have noodle arms, you may ask.  Well, I'll tell you. 

I have noodle arms because I came home after work, followed by a trip to the store, and mowed. I got my front and side yards mowed, and the part behind the fence.  I didn't mow my back yard, because I've gotten rather fond of my weeds, and didn't want to cut them all down. 

In fact, when I was mowing the front, I was bidding them all goodbye as I slaughtered them...not to be melodramatic or anything.  

"Goodbye, henbit....goodbye creeping buttercup....goodbye, fleabane..."  

I blame sleep deprivation.  

You know what they say the definition of insanity is, right?  Yep, I've bought more of these purple coneflowers. 

I've tried growing them before, both from roots and from plants that have already been started, but without any luck.  I mean, they'd grow fine the first year, but would never come back.  I haven't planted any since I've moved into this house, so I'm going to try one last time.  I'm going to put these out behind the fence, and hope they get established and spread.  Plus, they're good for the bees.  

They're going to have to wait until tomorrow, though.  Tonight, I'm taking my noodly arms to bed. 

Good night. 

Hold On

 Remember a few weeks ago when I told you to hold on to your butts?  Yeah, I'm about to tell you again. 

Hold. On. To. Your. Butts. 

It's about to get rough out there.  

Rougher, even.   Today they had a big meeting at work and announced that sales haven't increased as much as they'd anticipated. We are producing way more product than we are selling, so they made the decision to have a layoff.  

By the time all the dust had settled, they'd laid off 95 people -- the remaining 28 temps plus 67 full time ADP personnel. When he said how many people they'd let go, my jaw dropped and I said, "Wow!"  Even during the last recession, they didn't lay off but 49, and that was after several years of 32 hour work weeks.

The good news...if you can call it that... is that the shutdown over spring break counts as the state mandated 5 day waiting period, so those who were smart enough to apply back then will start drawing benefits right away.  I know some people who said they weren't going to apply.  I bet they wish they had now.  

Oh, and no, your humble blogger was not one of the ones laid off.  I think if it comes to that, I might just go ahead and file my retirement papers and move back home.  They did get two of the brazers, though.  

I guess my weekend project will be to go ahead and disconnect my internet.  I'm dreading having to drag that entertainment center out from the wall to unhook my router, but it's got to be done.  Really, it's something I've been thinking about for a while anyway, at least ever since I upgraded my phone plan to unlimited data.  I mean, I feel like I'm paying for the same thing twice.  Might as well drop one of them.  

On a completely unrelated note, if you decide to nosh on some wood sorrel, pick the small, new leaves.  They taste so much better.  On another completely unrelated note, white clover is a bit of an acquired taste, but it's one you can acquire pretty quickly.   I haven't gotten brave enough to nibble on anything else -- well, except the mint I planted myself, which I've been eating for years.  I have to be absolutely certain of the plant's identity before I go chowing down on it.  I wonder if the Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp group will have a foraging workshop this year.  I know they had one on mushrooms last year -- which I didn't go to because I was working. 

On another another completely unrelated note, I saw my new next door neighbor outside mowing this afternoon with a push mower.  He's got a big  yard, too.  I'm thinking I'd have to invest in a riding mower for that yard.  I still need to mow mine.  Maybe Saturday the road construction crew will be off and I can go get some gas.  Or maybe I'll have to go to that annoying station where the card readers never work right...

Well, I'm sitting here trying to think of a witty and clever way to end this post, but witty and clever just aren't happening today.  So I'll just end it with this:

Three years ago today, this happened:

For you non-weather geeks, here's a clue.  When your radar looks like a Tide Pod, you've got a tornado on the ground.  This monster here was 2.25 miles wide and was on the ground for 67 miles.  

It was the Easter storm.  

Monday's Ugly Sister

Even with all its problems -- parts messed up, shorthandedness, etcetera -- yesterday went by pretty quickly.  Today was a much better day, but ironically enough it just seemed to drag.   Plus it was hot again, so that just made things all the worse. 

It wasn't just me, either.  I had several coworkers looking repeatedly at the clock throughout this interminable day.  But at long last, the interminable day terminated and 

I got stuck in road construction...again.  They've been working on the highway near my house for nearly two weeks now, and unfortunately there is no other way to get to my road.  After work, I just want to get home, but no.  I have to sit in road construction.  Not for long, mind you -- maybe 5 minutes, but still.  

I just want to get home. 

I'll be so glad when they're done. 

Once I got home, I had the bright idea that I'd mow at least the side and back yards before the next round of rain came through.  Alas, it was not to be.  Turns out I didn't have any gas, either in the mower or in the gas can, and I wasn't about to go fight my way through road construction just to mow.  

Oh well, I didn't really want to mow anyway.  

OK, how's about a knitting update.  This is the hat I'm working on now.  

It'll be going to the Seaman's church ministry when I'm finished with it.  I think I might have enough of this yarn to knit at least one more, too.  

By the way, I watched a really good movie over the weekend called Mrs. Palfrey At The Claremont.  I watched it on Prime/FreeVee, but it may be available on other platforms, I don't know.  I highly recommend it.  Fair warning, you will need tissues.  Yeah verily, even your stony hearted blogger needed a tissue or two before it was all over. 

Speaking of tissues, I'm watching Diane Sawyer's interview with Jeremy Renner about his horrific accident back in January.  It's an absolute miracle he lived through that.  Hawkeye was my favorite Avenger as it is, so there were moments in there that I teared up ...just a bit. 

And finally, Google Lens wasn't much help in identifying this plant, so can any of my faithful readers help me out?  

It's a bushy type of plant, and it's got tiny purple flowers on it, and I'm talking maybe 1/4" wide, if that.  Maybe when a few more have opened up, it'll be easier to identify.   I'm thinking it might be a Cut - Leaved Crane's bill, but I'm not 100% sure on that.  If it is, it's a medicinal plant, so it can stay.  

I'll have to mark it somehow, so I don't accidentally mow it down.  Whenever I get around to mowing, that is...if it ever stops raining, I mean...

My Monday

 "Before you even ask",  I told my supervisor as he came around to pick up our paperwork at the end of the work day, " I'm going home and eating ice cream straight from the carton."

Which was a lie, but only because I don't have any ice cream.  If I did, that's absolutely what I'd have done. 

And no I did not come home and eat an entire dozen snickerdoodles, either.  

"Aw," he replied, "it can't have been that bad."  It can and it was.  Shorthanded, bad parts, incomplete orders all day long...We were so shorthanded they put one of the parts stagers on a machine.  I guess every one wanted a long weekend -- and just decided to take one.  

The day is not a total loss, though.  During one of the storms the other week, I had some branches fall in my yard.  I've been saying ever since that I was going to get out and get them up, after I sit down for a minute.  But you know, once I sit, I don't get back up.  This afternoon, I finally got them moved out of the middle of the yard.  I'd intended to cut some of the larger branches up for firewood, but I didn't get that far.  

What I did do is use Google Lens and positively identify another plant.  This one is Mock Strawberry. 

It is still edible, but not as tasty as real strawberries.  

You know, I'm so tired I can't even think, so I'm just going to end this right here and go take a shower.  

Good night, all. 

What On Earth?

 What on earth is that?  

You see it up there?  That blue stuff?  What is that?

The sky?   No, skies are supposed to be gray, with water falling everywhere.  Just kidding!  No really, I'm only half joking.  It's rained so much these last two weeks I'd almost forgotten what a blue sky looks like.  The ground is so saturated, the water won't even soak in any more.  It just sits there, turning stagnant and growing mosquitoes.

But, according to the forecast, we aren't supposed to get any more rain until Thursday, so maybe my yard will finally dry out enough that I can mow.  It badly needs it.  I'm not overly concerned about mowing down my edible weeds, because... well, they're weeds.  They'll grow back.  Indeed, I can't seem to get rid of them no matter how hard I try.  Scott's Turf Builder Weed & Feed every six months has had absolutely no effect on them, so I figure I might as well put them to use.  And what with the economy the way it is, I'll take all the free food I can get.  

Speaking of, I found a recipe on line for dandelion jelly, so I've started picking dandelion flowers for that.  That may just be what everyone gets for Christmas this year.  I also wanted to make some violet syrup, but I think I waited too late in the year to start picking violets, as the blooms are starting to get a bit thin.  As in, not many left.  I may have to store what I have and collect more next spring.  I'll have to research the best way to do that.  Right now, I've got them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  That ought to keep them for now at least. 

I've also found a couple of recipes to make jelly out of all the clover I've got growing in my yard.  It's all white clover, but I want some red clover as well.  There's plenty of that growing up by the interstate, but I can't very well go and just pick that, now can I?  

FYI, if you see a shadowy figure plucking red clover, I was never there...

By the way, I finally figured out how to use Google Lens, which has helped me identify some of the stuff growing in my yard.  I want to make absolutely sure of what I'm putting into my mouth, lest I accidentally poison myself.  We don't want that...

In knitting news, I finished the hat I've been working on, and cast on another, but haven't taken a photo of that one yet. 

Sharp eyed readers might notice I've got the aforementioned hat in a different chair for this photo.  That's because the cat wouldn't get out of the one I normally use.   I said, "Fine!  I'll just put it on top of you!" 

But she didn't like that and began clawing at the hat.  Nope, I've worked too hard on that hat to allow you to snag it all up with your stupid claws!  So, to another chair we went.  That'll show her. 

Since it is mid April now, and all the meteorologists agree that there will be no more frosts until Autumn, I took a chance and moved my indoor plants outdoors. 

I lost one of my Whatever cacti.  I don't know what went wrong.  It was growing just fine, then all of the sudden, it wilted and died.  Bummer, as it was the one with the pale yellowish blooms that I took from one James had.  

One I'd gotten all the plants back outside, I moved the cat's steps back in front of the door, so she can lay there and look out the window. 

I guess that's about all I have for today, so for the three of you who still read my drivel, I hope you had a very happy and blessed Easter.