It’s A Start

Today is one of those days, I just don't know where to start, so I'm just going to jump right in there.  

As you all know, I've been getting this herb garden going so I'll have something to do when I'm retired.   Since I don't really cook, I'm thinking I might start selling stuff at the Farmer's Market.  This isn't news to anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time.  

If I'm going to sell the stuff, I figured I'd need some fancy jars to put it into.  I've been looking at some on Amazon, and finally broke down and bought a set.  That is what arrived on my doorstep today.  They're really nice.  Heavyweight glass, square shape, with fancy wood -look lids.  

And they've got sprinkle lids inside.  They also come with pre-printed labels, and the little green thing is a collapsable funnel. 

The other thing I ordered was some desiccant packs.  

I won't put those into the bottles to sell, but I'll put on into each jar just to make sure there's no errant moisture that would cause the herbs to mold.  Eh, it's a start. 

In other news, I've been meaning to clean out my shed for ages now, but I haven't.  I walk in, look around, get overwhelmed, then walk right back out. Today, I decided I'd do just one thing, and that one thing was to move this blue shelf from the shed to the back near my potting bench. 

I got it cleaned off and moved, and now I need to get the stuff that was on it organized and put back on to it.  It was all gardening stuff anyway.  I've still got a long way to go before that shed is clean, but it's a start.  

Speaking of starts, look at this!  All four of my cells have a tomato seedling germinating.   

I put them straight out into the sun as soon as I got home from work, and will bring it back inside before I go to bed.  I think that putting them outside as soon as the break ground, they'll be hardened from the get go.  It worked with the zinnias, so I'm hoping it'll work with tomatoes.  

Also, I'm finally getting some bachelor's button blooms!  

And finally, I managed to get a picture of another toad.  

 I bought that little pond to put into my toad garden when I finally get it going.   It's not very deep, plus it has a ramp so even tiny frogs should have no problem getting out. 

I guess that's about all I have for today.  Oh, I should probably mention that I started my Alfred's All-In-One Piano level 3 book yesterday.  I've only just started learning the first song, so there's really not much to report. 

When I do have something to report, I'll be sure to let you know. 

The Rumors

Turns out, the rumors were true.  I found out this morning that they did indeed shut down second shift Friday afternoon.  They didn't even work their shift that night.  I'm sure they laid some of them off, but a lot came back to day shift.  And suddenly, we have two more sub brazers competing for what little work we do have. 

I have no idea what's going on out there, if it's just a few slow weeks or what.  They never tell us anything anymore.  At one point today, seven of the twelve brazers were down waiting on work from tubing.   Heh, I had walked over to get a broom from where we keep them under the stairs to the production office, and I just stood there for a moment, heaving a great sigh. 

One of the other brazers saw me and asked, "You hiding under the stairs, Becky?"  I replied, "Yep.  I was hiding in the jig racks, but I got bored, so now I'm hiding under the stairs."  I needed a change of scenery.

We finally got some work, and the day finally ended.  Alas, I came home to a heat index of  103°.  Happy first day of Meteorological Summer.  By the time I'd scattered some corn for the wild critters that eat corn and deadheaded the marigolds, I was fair dripping with sweat. 

I kind of want to water them when the sun gets a little lower, but we are expecting storms tonight.  Therein lies the conundrum.  If I water, we'll get buckets of rain, but if I don't, we'll barely get a drop.  Oh well, I filled the drip waterers by my tomatoes, and the rest will survive one more day until I see what the weather is going to do.  

My poor zinnias are so droopy from the heat, I found an old trellis to prop them up with. 

Next year, I'll know to put trellises up when I plant them, and put my fairy garden in another bed.  One where the plants don't grow quite so thick and tall.   Then again, as I said, I've never had zinnias grow this big before.  

The good news is, this next round of storms is supposed to cool things off just a bit.  The bad news is, it's just a bit.  I'm talking down into the upper 80s instead of the low 90s.  I'm already ready for fall.  

By the way, I was chatting with one of the supervisors while we were waiting -- he for an order, and I to use the computer. Now, this supervisor, his dad, and his son all grow huge gardens every year.  You may remember the son.  I called him Supervisor Greenjeans, because of the way he was always talking about his garden, before he took a job at another facility here in town. 

All that to say, the supervisor I was chatting with told me his wife had made squash pickles.  He didn't think they'd been any good, but they were.  Now I have to look up a recipe for squash pickles and next year plant squash.  If I can perfect the recipe, that'll be something else I can make and sell at the farmer's market when I've retired. 

Well, I stayed up way too late last night watching gardening videos, so I'm going to head for bed soon.  Before I go, I wanted to show you scarf progress.  I've passed the halfway point, and I know this because I've joined the second ball of yarn.  

Yarn:  Life DK by Stylecraft

Colorway:  Teal

Pattern:  Trekking Is For Necking

Needles:  US 6 / 4mm

I think I'll go work on it a bit before bed.

Goodnight, all. 

A Day Of Rest

Remember how yesterday I was saying I need to get used to slowing down and taking it easy?  Yep, that didn't happen today, even though it is the day of rest.  I guess when you've spent so many years with Sunday being the only day to get things done around the house, you have a hard time just resting.  

All that to say, I was up bright and early this morning out in the garden harvesting some herbs to dry.  Lemon balm, French Tarragon, Greek Oregano, and peppermint are what I got done today, even though my Greek Oregano didn't really need it.   It had all these little springs growing from the bottom, and one big, long one so I cut the long one mostly to give it a better shape.  

Yes, I broke down and put some diatomaceous earth on a few of my plants, as well.  Mostly the marigolds.  I've got one that's about down to bare twigs.  I haven't seen any signs of ladybugs for a while, and I tried to keep the earth contained, so maybe it won't hurt too many of my beneficial insects.  

On a similar note, I managed to catch a photo of a toad while I was out mowing yesterday evening.  

They're everywhere, but that's the first time I've been able to take a picture of one.  This morning, I had to rescue one from the old deer trough -- you know, the one that was leaking then suddenly stopped leaking as soon as I bought a replacement.  I don't know how it got in there, but I turned the whole thing upside down so it wouldn't happen again.   I'm thinking, if they can get inside that, surely they can get into my raised beds and eat the slugs that are there.  

The last thing I did before I started resting was to empty this old compost bag out.  

Truth is, I wasn't really that pleased with how it worked.  The black plastic was supposed to raise the temperature inside so the stuff would break down faster, but there really wasn't any way for the compost to dry out.  You don't want it completely dry, but you also don't want a soggy, muddy mess, either.  That's what I had in the bottom.  It was so heavy, I couldn't even pick up the bag to move it.  I ended up reaching into it with my hands and pulling the stuff out manually. 

Even so, I did get some pretty nice compost out of it. 

I set it over next to my other compost pile, but I really want to get one of those three bin systems going.  

For you composting muggles out there, that's a system where you have three bins...hence the name.  You put fresh stuff in one, the second has partially broken down compost, and the third is ready to use.  That way, you always have compost for your garden. 

In piano news, I finished my Faber level 1 book this morning.  Truthfully, I just kind of skimmed the last unit, but it was pretty easy stuff to learn.  I'm not going to get his level 2 book, though.  There are some things he did that I just didn't like.  I'll give you an example, way back at the beginning of the book, when you had only learned five notes, he's telling you to transpose some songs into a different key.  If you only know five notes, and not even an entire scale or what a key is, you don't need to worry about transposing.  Even Mr. Let's Play Piano Methods called him out on that one.  So, I'm going to put that book into the Little Free Library next time I go into town and let someone else enjoy it.  

And finally, this popped up in one of the veteran's groups I'm in, and I sure would love to know the story behind this sign...

 Oh, one more thing.  I fried up some bacon in that cast iron skillet and it did just fine.  

And now I have some bacon.  I wonder how a grilled bacon and cheddar sandwich would taste...

Only one way to find out!  

Laters.

Round Two

Oh, it's been such a lovely day this Saturday.  I was thinking just this morning that my problem is I need to get used to a slower pace of life before I retire.  Ever since I got out of the Navy, it's been go go go all the time, working long shifts 6 days a week, raising a child by myself, and all that goes with that...and I'm going to have to get used to just taking it easy again.  

I spent most of the day doing exactly that.  Taking it easy, I mean.  My biggest project was to get this poor neglected cast iron cleaned up and re-seasoned.  

Step one was to put it into the sink and give it a good scrubbing with steel wool.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the rust came off just doing that.  

I didn't take a before photo of the bottom, but it was as bad as the top, if not worse.  Here it is after a good scrubbing. 

The next step was to make up a baking soda paste and rub it down with that to get the rest of the rust off.  It worked pretty well, except that I ran out of baking soda before I got it as clean as I'd like.  One of the videos I watched said to rub the cast iron down with vinegar to get the old seasoning off, so I did that next, but couldn't really tell that it made much of a difference.  

Then I rubbed the whole thing down with vegetable oil, because I forgot to buy lard, and put it into the oven at 500° for an hour.  I wish I'd taken a photo before seasoning it, but I didn't.  Anyway, one video said to pull the pan out every 20 minutes and rub it down with more oil, so I did that, and as you can see, it looks so much better than it did.  

It's still got some rough spots, but I think it's useable now.  In fact, I'm going to go in in a little bit and fry up some bacon just to see how it does.  And because it's bacon...

While I was patiently waiting for my cast iron to come out of the oven, I was watching a few gardening videos.  I want to do a whole post about some of my favorite channels, but I'll save that for another day.  

Anyway, one of the gardeners I was watching lives in North Carolina, and she mentioned that because of the long growing season we have here in the South, we can do a second round of some plants.  I hadn't even thought of doing that!  

The tomatoes I'm growing are Romas, which are determinate tomatoes.  For you gardening muggles, a determinate tomato means it only grows so high, and tends to produce all of its fruit at once, then dies.  The lady I was watching said at the beginning of June, plant you a second set of seeds, and by the time the first plants die, these will be ready to put into the garden.  

"Oooooo, I'm going to do that!" I said, and I did.  

I have them on the heat mat, but I'm not going to use the humidity dome this time.  It's June -- almost-- and we've got enough humidity as it is.  Something kept telling me to plant six of them, in case one doesn't germinate -- remember the trouble I had with the first batch?-- but I'm not going to do that.  If one of them doesn't make, I'll just have fewer plants this go around.  

I finally broke down and put my tickseed into a pot. 

The original plan was to dig all of the red clay out of this spot between the two raised beds, and put a toad garden here. 

It's not quite big enough to put another raised bed, so I thought it would be a good spot for toads and things.  I've already got a pond, and a couple of toad abodes.  

That one on the left is actually an old aquarium cave I've repurposed for this.  And I have three terra cotta flower pots, as well. 

When I get around to digging this out and planting it, I'm going to take the largest one out and replace it with a smaller one, probably the same size as the one on the right, which is just a few inches across.  

All that to say, at this point, I'm probably going to wait until it cools off some in the fall before I do all of that digging.  Right now, it's just too hot, and it's only going to get hotter from here on out.  I might dig a little bit here an there, but anything major needs to wait until it's cooler.  I can't handle the heat like I used to. 

Heh, my sister and I had a bit of a chat this morning, and she is itching to get out into her garden and raised beds, but where she lives, there is still a danger of frost.  Fairbanks, Alaska, by the way.  That's where she lives.  Funny thing is, when I was a kid, I read too many Jack London novels, and dreamed of living in Alaska -- above the Arctic Circle.  I'm so thankful that's one prayer God said "NO" to.  

She showed me photos of all of her starts, still in the house and on window sills.  I showed her photos of my tomatoes, basil, and peppers.    It won't be long before I can harvest my Sweet Banana Peppers, but I think I might wait until they fully ripen this year instead of harvesting them when they're yellow.  

The last thing I did in the garden this morning was to tie up my zinnias with some garden twine. 

My friend Marcy said that she'd heard zinnias needed support, and I said, "They never have before."  But later on I realized I'd never had any grow this big before.   They seem to do OK, except when we have heavy rains like we did yesterday.  I figured a little help wouldn't go amiss.  

The good news is, the butterflies have found them and are there in abundance.  I managed to snap a couple of pictures of this one before he fluttered on by. 

It was meant to be this week's Eye Candy Friday post, but I never got around to posting yesterday. 

I'm not sure what's going on at work, but yesterday an unnamed coworker said, "If you've been here a minute like I have, you see the signs.  We haven't had a business update, but the signs are there.  If you've got vacation days left, save them.  That's all I can tell you."  

And with that, that's all I can tell you in this post. I'm going to go make me a sandwich.  

Laters

Brain Is Not Braining

I don't know what's going on.  I guess I'm just tired.  Or hormonal.  Or menopausal.  Or something.  Whatever, my brain is simply not braining these last few days.  Heh, Group Leader Shark was laughing at me yesterday because she caught me telling my brain to wake up and get its act together, only it didn't.  I've been making dumb -- and I do mean dumb -- mistakes all week long.  

So, basically, that means you aren't going to get the long, detailed, well thought out post I'd mentally composed for you, because right now, I can't for the life of me get the words to work.  

Instead, you get...more garden pictures!  Yay!  I know you're thrilled. 

This afternoon, I decide it was time for this little guy to come out of his cloche, 

and get his big boy tomato cage.   It's not even summer yet, but we're already getting heat indices up into the low 90s, and by the time I was done, I was drenched in sweat.  But here we are.  All four tomatoes in their cages and rearing to go. 

One of them even has flowers on it.  

My basil is growing like a bad weed.  At this rate, I think I'm going to have to invest in a dehydrator, because I can't keep up with the growth hang drying it.  I've looked at some on Amazon, and you can get a decent one for not too much money -- around $100-150.  Let me check my finances once I get bills paid, and we'll see. 

Right now, I'm doing the chop and drop thing--cutting the stuff that looks like it's about to flower, then letting it compost in the bed.  It seems a waste, though, but I don't know what to do with all that basil.  

My peppers are also doing well.  These ones are, at least.  

The three smaller ones I planted in the other beds aren't.  They're hanging in there, but aren't flowering or fruiting yet.  

On a similar note, something has found my lemon balm to be quite tasty.  Yesterday I mixed up some diluted dishwashing liquid and sprayed it down really well.  I'm a bit leery of using my diatomaceous earth because it will harm the beneficial insects as well as the bad ones.  I've spotted ladybugs a few times, and certainly don't want to hurt those. 

Or the butterflies I've spotted in my zinnia bed.   

They're really starting to open up now.  In a week or two, they'll be covered in flowers. 

Well, it appears my brain has decided to stop braining again, so I'll stop boring you with my brainless drivel and go eat some popcorn.  

Or something...

Why, Oh Why??

When that alarm went off at 3:30 this morning, my first thought was, “why didn’t I get a job that works normal human being hours?”

It's not the first time I've asked myself this, and likely won't be the last...

By the way, rumors are going around the plant that they're going to be shutting second shift back down soon.  Most days, they're letting them go home by 5:00 anyway, so might as well.  I don't know what's going on.  I don't know if there is no work, or if they just aren't producing or what.  I guess we'll find out. 

OK, moving right along...

Just to prove that I do still knit, here is the latest hat.  I cast on Sunday and have gotten this far since. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Crayon Box

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8/ 5mm

I also got a few more pattern repeats done on this scarf.  

Yarn:  Life DK by Stylecraft

Colorway:  Teal

Pattern:  Trekking is for Necking

Needles:  US 6 / 4 mm

I'm almost halfway done with this one.  I know this because I'm almost at the end of the first skein of yarn.  Sound logic, eh?  

But look at this!!!  

I got featured on their Facebook page!  I'm famous! 

Speaking of Facebook, have you noticed the new thing they're doing?  I'm sure you have, but just in case you haven't been there in a while, they're suddenly sending you notifications to "revisit this moment with so and so" and it will take you to a comment so and so left on one of my posts from fourteen years ago.  

And yet, they can't show me what so and so posted this morning.  This is why Facebook is a dying platform.   I remember -- as I'm sure you do-- when Facebook was about being sociable.  In my mind, it was kind of like an online coffee shop where we'd all meet and talk about our day, what happened at work, what we had for dinner...you know, the kind of things people chatted about in real life. 

Now, all you see are ads and influencers.  I'm not kidding you, one morning I counted and there were 57 ads before I got to something one of my friends had actually posted.  A lot of my old friends don't even post any more, and I'm counting myself amongst them.  I rarely post except for links to the blog.  

Even in the blogosphere we don't have conversations any more.  Most of you reading this won't leave a comment, either here or on Facebook.  Not that I'm whinging about it, really.  The older I get, the crankier I get.  

Also, get off my lawn.  

Actually, I don't really care.  You can come onto my lawn, just not with an ATV or something that will leave ruts.  

OK, change of subject.  That little sandwich maker I brought home from Cody and Brennan's has become my new favorite appliance.  I've made a sandwich every single day, but I won't tomorrow because I'm out of bread.  Unless I go to the store...

We'll see...

And finally, I guess I've bored you all enough.  Indeed, I've put the Incarnation of Evil right to sleep, in her new cat bed no less.  

Speaking of beds, I reckon I ought to go practice my piano before I get into mine.

Laters.

Memorial Day

Never Forget

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

 "Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I.  Send me!"  

Isaiah 6:8

A Monster

I think I've created a monster.  

My lemon balm keeps swallowing up the two little marigolds I planted next to it like some kind of cannibalistic monster.  

Life!  Life!  Give my creation life!!  

I have no idea where that came from....Sheesh. 

Anyway, I keep having to cut it back so the little marigolds can get some sunlight.  I've got to find something to do with it.  Besides drying it and giving it to Cody, I mean.  I already have an 8 oz jar full of the stuff, and it's still a long time until the first frost.  I know the stuff has tons of medicinal uses, too.  I just need to do a little research into that.  

Well, at least next year I'll know not to plant marigolds under it. 

While I was out there, I noticed that one of my zinnias had flopped over. 

It's the only one that did that, and I'm not entirely sure why.  Maybe all of the rain we've had this week softened the soil, but I would have thought they'd all be flopping over if that were the case.  No matter, I ran and got some of my extra tomato cage parts -- being thankful I sprung for the six pack-- and made a bit of a trellis for it. 

It hasn't actually rained any today, so I was able to get my garden flag hung.  

That one will stay up at least until Fall, when I start hanging seasonal flags.  The last thing I did today was to get my missing man place set up. 

 Now it's time for the National Memorial Day Concert, which I never miss.  

I'll catch you later. 

Almost Christmas

Late last night, Cody texted me a cry for help.  Oh, nothing's wrong.  They just have to be out of their house by Monday, and he needed help cleaning.   Early this morning, but not too early, I got up and drove down to Jackson and spent the day doing what I've wanted to do ever since they moved in to that house.  I thoroughly cleaned up that nasty kitchen of theirs. 

They aren't either of them very good house keepers.  

Anyway, I got there and instead of constantly asking "Do you want to keep this?  Do you want to keep that?", I told Cody I'd clean up the kitchen, but I needed some cleaning supplies.  He brought me a container of those Clorox wipes -- only the Great Value brand-- and half a roll of paper towels.  

I tried.  I really did, but I said, "I can't clean like this.  I need some proper cleaning supplies" and made him go to Walmart and get some.  Actually, I went with them, and after we'd dropped Brennan off at work, we went to Raisin' Cane's for lunch.  Then we went to their new apartment to drop some things off there and eat.  Their apartment is really nice.  Tiny, but nice and in a much nicer neighborhood than their old house.    

After we ate, we went back to their house and many garbage bags and much sweat later, the kitchen was finally clean except for the floors.  Cody said, "I ought to pay you for saving me the fees they would have hit me with."  Instead, they let me take my pick of everything they were going to get rid of.  What you are about to see is my loot.  

Four rolls of Christmas paper.  They were going to toss it, but I said, "I'll have that!"  

Plus, this advent calendar I'd given them last year.  They mostly finished it, and I said I'd like to play it, so Cody told me to take it. 

Then there were these two craft kits I'd bought Bren for Christmas one year, that hadn't even been opened.  "Oooh, I'll have those!"  I said. 

And a cat bed that their cat had suddenly developed a phobia of for some reason. 

And this whole pile of loot:  A clipboard case; some body butter (that I'd given Bren for Christmas one year.  I told Cody, "I thought she'd like that,"  and he said "Oh, she does, but with Brennan it's a bit 'out of sight, out of mind'");  a little sandwich maker, which I also gave them and I've already used; some pillow spray (which I also gave her); a lunch box; some coco bedding stuff that I thought I might be able to mix with potting soil to make a seed starting mix next year; and a couple more wax stamps. 

I managed to snag these four drinking vessels from the donation box.  I gave them all of this stuff.  

Cody said these were things he hated to get rid of, but they simply had no room in their new apartment.  They had two of those You Are Mine mugs, but I guess one made it into the donation box before I got there.  

Brennan said she wanted me to have these diamond dot kits.  I told Cody I'd put about five diamonds in the last one and said I understood why she quit.  

I don't know if I'll do these, but maybe I will.  I don't know.  We'll see.  

Look at this!  One of those 6 foot long folding tables.  That will come in handy at Christmas time.  

Another something that I'd given them.  

I'm not sure what you'd do with it.  I think it came with a cookie mix or something, because I can't see actually cooking anything in it.  Pancakes, maybe, but how would you flip them?  I guess into a regular flat pan or something.  Maybe I'll try that. 

"What on Earth did you do to your cast iron???"  I exclaimed when I saw this in their sink.   It looks like I have a project of my own now.  I'll have to look up how to de-rust cast iron on Youtube.   I'm sure there's a video somewhere. 

Once I get all of that rust off, I can re-season it and it'll be as good as new.   

So, I got the kitchen and guest bathroom all nice and clean, and just as I was about to leave, Cody's friend Dejuan arrived to take the second shift.  By that time, it was raining and I had to drive all the way home in it.  It wasn't heavy rain, though, until I got about five miles from home, then the bottom dropped out.  It didn't take long until I drove out from under it, and just as I'd gotten all my stuff into the house, it hit here.  

I came home with so much stuff, it almost felt like Christmas.  For the cat, too.  She found this bed and claimed it right away, but I still plan on giving it a good washing tomorrow. 

 That was how my Saturday went.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to look up how to de-rust cast iron. 

Laters