I Made It

I did it, y'all!  

Yes, my friends, I finally made it up to Batesville, and more importantly to Hobby Lobby!  

I was good.  I resisted temptation and only bought four skeins of yarn for my sailor hats.  That's pretty much the whole reason I went up there anyway.  They are from left to right:  Day Dreamery, Songbird Stripe, Rainbow Galaxy, and Dakota.  

Now I need to finish the hat I already have OTN so I can cast on with one of these.  That's pretty much what I spent the rest of the day doing, catching up on my TV shows and knitting.  

I'm almost to the point I can start the crown decreases, so it won't be much longer now. 

By the way, they had...this!  

Sit down and be quiet, Scrooge!  This makes me happy.  It means that the end of the relentless summer heat is on the horizon.  We still have to make it through August, but there is hope... Besides, people who make handcrafts to sell at Christmas need to start now, or they won't have any in November.  Nobody seems to understand this.  

Funny story, I was wearing a t-shirt with the company logo on it, and the cashier at HL asked me if I worked there now.  I said yes, and she told me she'd worked there a long time ago, but had to quit because the fiberglass insulation was tearing her skin up and they wouldn't move her. 

This is the weird part, I remembered her!  I didn't say so out loud, because I didn't want to get drawn into a long conversation, but I did remember her.  Even her name.  I don't remember half the people that work out there now, but I remember someone from 20 years ago.  Go figure.

Of course, before I went to Hobby Lobby, I had to stop by Lowe's first.  I browsed new stoves, and dishwashers, and vinyl flooring, and circuit breakers, and bathroom vanities.  No, I don't need a new stove, but I want one.  All the appliances in this house are black, and to me, it makes the kitchen look so gloomy -- not to mention that every teeny tiny speck of dust glows like a light in the pitch black night.  I want to switch everything to white, but the tightwad in me doesn't want to spend money on new appliances when the old ones still work. 

I would love to completely remodel this house, but money is an issue and so is finding an honest contractor.  Or maybe it's just me.  I don't seem to have any better luck choosing contractors than I do choosing husbands.  Even when the red flags are there, I convince myself everything will work out in the end, but it never does.  

After daydreaming a while, I wandered into the garden center and look what I found!  

A customizable soaker hose system!  I've been wanting a soaker system for my raised beds, but Walmart only had pre-cut hoses.  This way, I can customize one, and if I need more connectors, they are available on Amazon.  I already checked.

I also picked up a new pack of landscape pins, because the ones I bought last year rust so quickly.  

I'm going to give these a try and hope they work better.  

Alas, it's all going to have to wait.  By the time I got home, the heat index was already up into the triple digits.  That's also why I didn't go to the Mounds.  I'll wait until it's cooler -- like October -- to do that.  Oh, and then it started storming, so I had to run outside and bring the clothes horse back inside.  Fortunately, I'd already gotten most of the clothes off and folded before, so no harm done.  That's also when I remembered I'd forgotten to look for clothesline poles while up at Lowe's.  

I'm thinking I could build some out of PVC pipe, then just pay someone to dig the holes and set the poles into quickcrete.  It should work, and won't rust like a metal pole will.  

And finally, here is your bit of humor for the day. 

 Heh, just look at that smirk!

Full disclosure, I didn't research to see if this was legit or satire, but it's still funny.  

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a hat to finish.  

It Feels Weird

It feels weird not to be rushing off to bed at 7:00...but here I sit, nearly two hours later, still up.  Knowing I don't have to get up before the sun tomorrow morning.  I was thinking I'd get up and go to Batesville, to the Lowe's and to Hobby Lobby.  I've been saying that for ages, I know, but maybe this time, I'll actually make it. 

I was wanting to look for a harvest basket so I don't have to use Cody's old Easter basket.  Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I wanted one I could fold the handles down out of the way.  My friend Marcy had suggested one from Fiskar's but apparently it's no longer being made.  

I looked on Amazon and the cheapest I found it was $72.  Nope, not going to happen.  

So, I found a similar basket and ordered it, but it never arrived.  It was shipped by a carrier I'd never heard of -- Jcex-- and had no tracking number or any other information.  I got a notification that it had been delivered July 22, but it hadn't, and there was no delivery confirmation photo.  I went to Amazon customer service and got the message that sometimes packages are marked delivered before they are delivered and I should give it a few more days.  

Um...what?  Why would you mark it delivered when it hadn't been delivered?  I went to leave the seller feedback and saw that I wasn't alone in this.  

Funny how Amazon left the little note that the fulfillment issues were not due to the seller.  Well, then, just what exactly are they due to?  When you have five total ratings and every single one says the same thing, then yes, the problem is with the seller.  Even if the shipper was unreliable, then the seller should find another shipper.  At least I managed to get my money back...

Anyway, I found the Fiskar's basket online in several places, but they were pretty expensive.  I saw some on Ebay going for $100.  Even the ones that were less expensive, they wanted like $25 for shipping.  Heck, I found one on the Ace Hardware website, but they wanted $45 to ship it!  Again, not happening.  

I finally found one on a site called Zoro, and they were only asking $5.99 shipping.  The basket was $33, so I went ahead and ordered it.  So much for cutting back on spending, huh?  But if I'm going to garden, I need a proper gardening basket.  Don't I?

In other news, I did a little research on why my dryer keeps tripping the circuit breaker.  I went to an appliance parts website and they had a diagnostic guide thing.  The first thing they suggested was to get the breaker itself checked, because it may be weak or old.  Now I guess I have to find an electrician to come out to check --and maybe replace -- my circuit breaker.  

Great, another phone call I'll likely never make...

And finally, I had a visitor in the house this evening. 

 I tried to shoo it back out the door, but it went under my cabinet.  I hope it found its way outside.  

At least now I know what the cat has been chasing.

And We're There

We knew it was coming, but I didn't really expect it until sometime next month.  But we're there already.  Yep, they put the notice up this morning. We’re going to be off on Friday.  

I don't know if it's a one off, or if we're on four day weeks from here on out, but still...I guess we'll find out.  

I had to laugh at the newbs freaking out about it.  They were saying, "I ain’t never seen it like this before!" Us old school folks were just smiling and saying:

Because we have seen it this bad before.  Our work is heavily dependent on the housing market, which has always been a bit up and down.  Here lately, it's down.  Really down.  But those of us who've been out there for a while have been though this a time or two -- which is why I got into the habit of saving my vacation days for the end of the year.  I reckon I'm going to have to wait a bit on that dump cart.  

Now, I'm wondering if there is also going to be a layoff. I don't think there are even any temps out there right now, though.  I haven't heard anything about a layoff, but I see the signs.    

In other news, if you haven't seen the documentary on Pompeii hosted by Tom Hiddleston, it's really good.  And of course, I've been watching Shark Week.  Not much else going on, so here is some hat progress, just so this post won't be a total waste of your time. 

Called It!

I just said yesterday that I need to slow down my spending, and sure enough, this afternoon Group Leader Shark came around and told us all to start coming in at 6:00.  No more overtime.  This is why I work so much when it's available, because you never know when they're going to yank it away.  

As much as I hated waking up at 2:30, there were advantages to coming in at 4:00.  Not having to walk through that ridiculous metal detector for one.  Knowing there will be ice in the ice machines for another.  Oh well, it probably won't last long before they have us coming back in early.  We're barely keeping up with the lines as it is. 

Now for some bad news, I came home yesterday and found one of my pepper plants all wilted. 

 I don't know what happened.  It was fine Sunday.  Now it's dead or dying.  My first thought was that it needed watering, but all of the other plants in that bed are fine and they all get watered the same. My next thought was the heat, but again, wouldn't that affect all of the plants, not just this one?  

I'm not going to pull it up just yet, though.  Maybe by some miracle I'll find out what's wrong and save the plant. 

Out The Wazoo

Man alive, I've got peppers out the wazoo!  

And that's not even counting the four pints I put into the refrigerator because I didn't trust the seal on them.  Well, three of them.  One I didn't have enough brine, so I made refrigerator pickles out of them.  This evening, I took some time to label and date them before I forget what they are and when I made them. 

I still plan on making at least one more batch of pepper jelly next weekend, but the rest of the year's harvest will most likely be frozen for cooking with, or eaten fresh in salad or on sandwiches or something.    

In other news, I'm not sure what's going on out at work.  Usually this is our busiest time of year, but today they shut down some of the lines and started sending people home at 9:00.  They even let some of the brazers go home at lunch.  Not me.  She didn't even ask me.  I guess she knew I wouldn't go unless they made me.  I'm saving money for a dump cart for my garden needs. 

I've got to slow down on my spending a bit, but on the bright side, I'm almost completely done with Christmas shopping for Brennan.  I might get her a few more stocking stuffers, but the majority of her stuff is done.  She's pretty easy to shop for.  Cody is the difficult one.  I have no idea what to get him, other than some new clothes.  I'll have to nag him pretty hard to get some idea of what he wants. 

And finally, the new season 6 teaser dropped last night.   

I'm Sure You're Tired

I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about my poor little garden, so here is some knitting for you...to be tired of hearing about.  Yes, last night while I was going back and forth between Knight Rider and Emergency!, I cast on a new sailor hat. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Supersaver Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Rainbow

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  U.S. 8 / 5 mm

Then, on a friend's recommendation, I switched over to Prime and watched The Sheep Detectives.  That's one of those I'd seen the previews for, but was kind of reluctant to watch it because I thought it would be stupid or childish.  You know, typical Disney-esque slop.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. 

I also switched over and worked on this hat for a bit. 

Yarn:  Forbidden Fiber Co. Fortitude Sock

Colorway:  Starfall

Pattern:  Sockhead

Needles:  U.S. 2.5 / 3.00 mm

I'm really liking the way this yarn is knitting up, but then, everything Leann dyes is absolutely gorgeous.  

I also forgot to mention yesterday the new book I've started reading -- In The Hall Of The Dragon King, by Stephen R. Lawhead.  This is another one I bought a couple of years ago and forgot I had.  I'm pretty sure I've read this one before, especially now that I'm a few chapters in.  I keep getting flashbacks to the book store on the Navy base in Naples, so I must have read it when I was there.  If I did, it's been so long ago that I don't remember anything that happened, so it's almost like I'm reading it for the first time.  

This morning, I got up and made 8 more half-pints of pickled peppers. 

I had to laugh at myself, because I worried that I wouldn't have enough peppers for even 4 half-pints, which is what the recipe I use makes.  I ended up making twice that many, plus I had this whole bowl of peppers left over. 

I put those into a Ziploc and put them into the freezer.  I'm done with pickled peppers, but I think I might make some more pepper jelly next time.  When I do, I'm going to chop the peppers in the food processor.  It will probably work out better that way. 

By the way, I ate the little bit of the jelly that I made last time -- the small amount that didn't fit into my jars and I put into the fridge. I'd softened about half a block of cream cheese and put the jelly on top of that.  I don't know if I was doing something wrong, because my jelly kept sliding off and on to the plate.  Oh well, I just scooped it all up and ate it on the Great Value version of Wheat Thin crackers.  It still tasted good. 

I'm thinking next year, I need to plant fewer peppers and more actual food. Maybe some yellow squash and pattypan, if I can find it. Zucchini, and okra...too bad I don't really like corn.  Oh, I could do sweet potatoes.  I loves me some sweet potatoes.   Well, I'll have all winter to plan, and of course, I'm going to drag you all along with me.  

I haven't done much else this weekend, other than the necessary stuff like laundry, I mean.  I've been feeling really run down here lately, and felt I needed a weekend to rest.  I didn't even go to the farmer's market.  I had time, I just didn't want to.  I keep saying I'm going to go up to Batesville, too, but I haven't.  It's that whole "need to do my yard work before it gets too hot" thing.  

Then I have some sort of mental block about going anywhere after noon.  If I'm not on the road by 9:00 AM or so, there's no point in going so late in the day.  At least that's how my brain works.  But then, when you get up at 2:30, 9:00 feels a lot like mid day.  

One bright spot is that Shark Week starts today!  Woo Hoo!  The down side is that when you get up ridiculously early, you also have to go to bed ridiculously early, so I have to DVR everything and watch it the next day. 

On that note, I reckon I'd better get off of here and start getting ready for bed. 

Goodnight...

Not From Here

The plant had its annual book bag drive this morning. They do it every year, fill up book bags with school supplies and hand them out for free -- part of their community outreach program.  Earlier this week at the morning meeting, Group Leader Shark was announcing it, but she didn't know where it was going to be held.  I told her it's at the Kirk Truck Center, and she replied, "Which one is that?"  

The Kirk family owns several car dealerships here in town, so you have to be specific.  

I said, “It’s the one over there near where the old bread store used to be.”  Then I had to laugh at myself, because I'm not even from here, but I'm giving directions like one of the old timers.  And that bread store hasn't been there in years.  On the other hand, I have lived here longer than I lived in my hometown.  I moved here in '94, when I was 30, and I've lived here for 32 years.  

On a similar note, school starts next week.  Yes, in July!  I overheard a couple of my coworkers talking about it, and was looking at them like

They saw me and both of them started laughing.  I just couldn't believe school starts so early these days!

We always used to start at the end of August, but then, they get a lot more days off than we did back then.  One of the others told me they are getting a Fall Break starting this year, in addition to Thanksgiving week, and two weeks at Christmas, and Spring Break, and Good Friday and Easter Monday.  Sheesh, no wonder they have to start so early!

By the way, we got chewed out once again by Uncle Supervisor because we aren't brazing enough for them.  He said, "Explain to me why I'm not getting my 2000 headers per day!"  I replied, "I would, but you don't listen." 

Before I explain anything to him, maybe he should explain to me why upper management doesn't consider my department a priority, or why the only time we see our supervisor is when he's yelling at us.  Or why when we need him, we have to watch and see when he goes to the bathroom, then wait outside the door so we can catch him before he dashes back to his beloved sheet metal department. 

Inspector Gadget may have been annoying as heck, but I'll have to hand one thing to him.  He was always there when we needed him.  And he eventually realized where the problem was -- and it's not that we're all standing around doing nothing all day.  But he's on the lines now, and we're with someone who acts like he'd rather forget we exist at all. 

Maybe he should explain to me why I had a 8 piece order that only had 7 headers in it, or why I'm have to beat my adapter tubes into place with a hammer because they don't fit into the jig, or why I spent 10 minutes hunting for a jig that we don't even have.  And why are they having us braze assemblies that they won't buy us jigs for in the first place?  Or why one day last week I got an order of 16 adapter tubes and 7 of them had been smashed flat in the machine but the operator sent them on down the line anyway instead of scrapping and replacing them.  Or why I'm having to re-round the ends of adapter tubes because they're sending then over oval shaped.  Or why I'm having to open up the holes in the ends of the headers when you have people paid to do that.  And why did I have three orders last week that had FOUR milestones ...each?  

Then explain to me why you're doing absolutely nothing to resolve those issues, and we'll talk. 

That last one is rhetorical.  I know why.  It's because if they acknowledge the problem, they'd have to solve the problem and it's so much easier just to make your brazers into scapegoats.  

On to more pleasant topics, like my garden.  This week's harvest is a bit smaller, but that's OK.  I figure it's because I harvested so heavily last week and the week before. 

The heat might have something to do with it, too.  Maybe when it cools off a bit - like in mid-September -- they'll pick up again.  I'm not worried, though.   I've already got more peppers than I can eat anyway.  Between these and what I have left from last week, I should have enough for two or three jars of pickled peppers, especially since I got the half pint instead of the pint jars.  

A bit of good news, my zinnias are putting out new growth lower down on the stems. 

That's exactly what I was hoping would happen, and maybe now that I've thinned them out, they won't get so leggy.  I've put the stuff I cut off into the newest raised bed.  I'll let it compost over winter, then it should be ready to finish filling by spring. 

In some not so good news, something has been chomping the heck out of this little tomato plant.  

None of the others in that bed have been affected, but this one is nearly stripped bare.  I think it's because it's the only one that isn't next to either a basil or marigold plant.  

I keep running out there to see if I can catch the critter in the act so I can kill it, but so far, no luck.  Instead, I gave it a good spray with Neem oil, and moved another of the spare basil plants into the bed next to it.  

Hopefully, that will repel whatever it is that's eating it.  Funny thing, I bought some more Neem oil at Walmart yesterday because I'm running low, and the cashier said, "I didn't know we had Neem oil back there!"  I said, "Yes, ma'am, this is concentrate, and they also have it ready to use."  She also gardens, and seemed really excited to find that out. 

The last thing I did before the day's heat set in was to sift some more red clay and get back to filling in those ruts the landscammer left in my front yard.  

I'd really like to find someone who can completely re-do my front yard and find out why it stays so spongy all the time.  Even without the ruts, it's so hard to mow because of that.  But at this point, I don't trust anyone any more, so I'm kind of stuck in a rut.  

HA HA HA HA HA!  

OK, I'll stop now. 

And finally, I finished reading that book A Single Captive Spark.  I'd actually finished it last week, but it was so awful I forgot to tell you about it.  I was right.  It definitely won't become a classic. On the other hand, as someone who grew up in Middle Earth, in Narnia, and on Pern, I realize I wasn't the target audience for a book like this. 

Simple, shallow, and the "big twist" was pretty obvious from the beginning.  

The funny thing is, I kept imagining the antagonist Helio as some sort of Krampus like creature, because the author kept describing his appearance as terrifying, and I couldn't figure out what was so terrifying about him as a man. 

He was tall...not frightening.  He had red hair.  Again, not frightening.  He had heterochromia.  Unusual, but again, hardly terrifying.  Oh, he had a battle scar on his face.  Maybe a bit unsettling, but you would think in a country that has been at war for hundreds of years, that shouldn't be all that ...terrifying.  

There is a sequel, but I won't be buying it.  In fact, I'm glad I got this one for free, because I would have hated to waste my money on such a book. 

I guess that's it for today as far as news goes.  I found Knight Rider on the ROKU channel, so I'm going to settle in for an afternoon of knitting and Knighting.  

Laters.  

Rough

It's rough, I'm telling you.  When you've been able to sleep in until 6:00 for two days, getting up at 2:30 again is rough.  Then work started off much the same as it was last week, work trickling down ever so slowly...then around 8:30 or so, all heck breaks loose. 

All of the sudden, we've got assembly line supervisors all over the place because their lines are down waiting on orders tubing hasn't even made the parts for.  I lucked out, in that I didn't end up getting one of the orders they were waiting on, so I didn't have anyone standing over me, but still...It beats the heck out of me why they don't have anyone on the adapter tube side coming in early.  

In other news, I think I figured out what is going on with my zinnias.  Short answer is, I put too many into that one bed, and now they're having to compete for sunlight.  Basically, I've made the grown up version of leggy seedlings.  So, this afternoon I made the difficult decision to thin them.  I got my loppers and cut seven of them out, which leaves me with 8 in the bed.  

It was tough to do, but I think the ones left will definitely benefit from better light and air flow.  As I dead head them, I'm going to cut them way back, and I hope they branch out down towards the bottoms like this one has done. 

Next year, I'll know not to put so many of them into a single bed.  I should have known 15 was too many, but again, I never expected them to get so big.  

While I was out there, I harvested a few more tomatoes.  

I've also discovered that you can freeze tomatoes.  I mean, I'd done it before, but didn't know it was OK to do so.  It does affect the texture, so you should only freeze tomatoes you plan to cook with.  Nothing that requires crisp fruit.  

That sentence went totally off the rails, didn't it?  

All that to say, I'm already looking forward to hot tomato soup and grilled cheese on a cold winter night. 

On a similar note, I tasted the pepper jelly I'd put into the fridge.  You remember, the little bit I had left over that didn't fit into the jars.  It was pretty good.  A little sweet.  A little hot.  I think I'll get some cream cheese and crackers to put it onto.  I was thinking about cutting up a cayenne pepper or two to add to the next batch.  

That ought to give it a nice little kick.  

Pepper Jelly!

I have made jelly!  

Banana pepper jelly, to be exact.   I don't think I chopped my peppers finely enough because they're all floating at the top.  I think next time, I'll puree them in the food processor instead of chopping them by hand.  I thought about straining them out, but none of the recipes I saw said to do that.  Most of them showed jars filled with chunky jelly, so I left them.  

From what I understand, this isn't the same as...say grape jelly that you spread on toast.  This kind, you can spread over cream cheese, or put it into a bowl and serve it like salsa according to the serving suggestions I saw.  I expect you stir it before serving it.  Oh well, it's all a learning experience. 

The only issue I had with the process is that one of the jars didn't ping.  When I went to check it, I had cross threaded the ring, so the lid was slightly open.  I very carefully unscrewed and replaced the lid, and about 15 minutes later, it finally pinged.  It had only been maybe 30 minutes, and the jelly was still very hot -- so hot I had to use an oven mitt --so it should be OK.  I'll put that one into the fridge and eat it up first anyway, just to be on the safe side. 

I have enough peppers to do at least one more batch, but I'll have to get some more jars.  The recipe said it made six, but I had enough to fill seven, plus a bit more that I put into a container in the refrigerator.  

Other than that, I took it pretty easy today.  I've been battling some sort of minor bug.  I've been just sick enough to feel lousy, but not sick enough to feel sick.  Just dragging and a bit feverish.  I spent most of the day watching The Mentalist and Emergency! reruns.  Since season six of The Chosen is coming out in November, I've been wanting to watch through the first five seasons again, but let me tell you, their app leaves a lot to be desired.  I can watch it on Prime, but if I do that, I'll have to deal with ads.  

While I was doing all of that, I cast on a new sock yarn hat.  

Yarn:  Forbidden Fiber Co. Fortitude

Colorway:  Starfall

Pattern: Sockhead

Needles:  U.S. 2.5 / 3.00 mm

I bought this one at the most recent Fiber Fun In The 'Sip back in February.  It's the only thing I bought this time around.  I love sock yarn, but what with these steel toe boots I have to wear now, they wear out too fast.  Maybe after I retire, I can get back to wearing hand knit socks.  

Right now, it's just not worth it. 

And finally, Marcy has a new garden journal up.  If you listen closely, around 14:20, you might just hear a familiar name.   

Thanks for the shout out Marcy!  I might just have to start video journaling my garden more often, too.  

Later, though.  After it cools off some. Right now, I'll be huddling in the air conditioning for the foreseeable future. 

I Needed That

I must have needed a good nap, because I slept in until 6:00 this morning.  It was glorious, I tell you.  Plumb glorious!    

I know, I know, some of you are out there saying, "6:00 AM???  That's not sleeping in!"  Well, when you're used to getting up at 2:30, it is.  And after this last week, yeah....  It's been such a rough week at work, and it's not just the heat or the early hours.  It's the mental stress more than anything. 

Orders have been coming down the line so slowly -- like a single 4 piece order every 15-ish minutes, so there really isn't that much for us to do.  But that doesn't stop them from standing over us hollering that we aren't getting our numbers.  "Us" being the brazers.  Not tubing.  Never tubing...

I'd fully intended to blog during the week, but in the end, I was just too mentally worn out to form coherent sentences much less put together anything that would be even remotely interesting.  When nothing happens but work, sleep, work, sleep...there isn't much to talk about.  

Probably the most exciting thing that happened this week was that I saw a dust devil in a cotton field on the way to Walmart.  Or The Mart of Wal, as my friend Marcy says.  And the automatic brazer caught on fire, but that happens all the time.  The funniest part about that was that the new brazers were freaking out, while us old school folks were going, "Oooh, pretty!"

Oh Fireworks Lovely Ha GIFfrom Oh Fireworks Lovely Ha GIFs

Even so, life goes on, garden life that is.  I had gotten a little worried about my baby tomatoes.  Their leaves had started yellowing and they'd gotten some brown spots on them.  I did a bit of research and decided they'd picked up some sort of fungus or something.  Add that to the heavy rains we'd gotten...when was it?  Monday?  

They were still in the tray and spent quite a while sitting in water before I could empty it out.  I picked off the spotty leaves and gave them a good spray with Neem oil, then moved them into a shady spot to recover.  By last night, they'd picked up enough that the five biggest ones went into their new homes.  Then I rigged up a bit of shade cloth with some tuille I'd bought at Walmart. 

This morning, I put in their drip irrigation bottles.  

After a break to cool off -- because I was already drenched in sweat -- I cut up some boxes to use as mulch.  While I was out there, I decided I didn't like the way the shade cloth was pulling the stakes over, so I re-did it.  

I like that much better.  It still lets plenty of sunlight through, but takes just a bit of the edge off.  I'm hoping by the time the tomatoes get too tall for this rig, it'll be past the hottest part of the summer. 

The last thing I did before coming in to sit in the air conditioning was to move another marigold into this bed.  It was being smothered where it was.  I'm hoping putting it into direct sunlight will perk it up. 

Of the first two I moved, one died completely, and the other one is struggling, but hanging in there. 

Adding the mulch should help keep the roots cool and the soil consistently moist, so maybe it'll survive.  I also moved a basil plant from the spares in the planter to serve as a companion to the tomatoes. 

Just the one this time.  I learned my lesson with the last bed!  I hope it survives, but if it doesn't, there are plenty more where that came from.   

Before I even started doing all of that, behold today's harvest. 

I went ahead and picked the banana peppers while they were still yellow, just to have a different flavor to them.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with all of those cayenne peppers.  Some will be strung to dry, then I'll grind them into a powder and give it to the kids.  The rest I guess I'll freeze.  One good thing about growing your own, you don't have to worry about explosive diarrhea.  

You just have to figure out what to do with it all.  The homegrown produce, I mean.  Not the diarrhea.  

Needless to say, I didn't make it up to the Farmer's Market on the square again.  That's the problem.  I want to get out and work in my own garden before it gets too hot, and usually by the time I'm done, the market is over.  It's only from 7:00 -- 11:00.  Maybe next week...

In knitting news, I finally finished the sock yarn hat I've been working on for what seems like forever. 

Yarn:  Euphoria Knits

Colorway:  The label is illegible

Pattern:  Sockhead

Needles:  U.S. 2.5 / 3.00 mm

I've mostly stopped doing that labeling thing in my blog, except for the cast on and the finished object.  It all got a bit tedious, if you must know. 

And finally...well, it needs no caption.  Other than to say my morale needs improving...

That's one thing I miss about living over near the airport.  We got to see the National Guard practicing all their maneuvers, because we're not too far from a training center.  Every so often, they come over the house where I live now -- we had some Chinooks fly over not too long ago-- but usually I can't see them for all of the trees.  

It doesn't stop me from running outside to try, though.  

Rise

I got a Rise!

Remember him?  He was the zero gravity indicator for the Artemis II mission back in April.  He was so cute, and so many people were asking where they could get one that the NASA Exchange started selling them.  

Mine arrived yesterday.  Yes, he was a bit pricy, but hey, what's the point of working all of this overtime if I can't spoil myself a bit every now and again?

What The?

First it was Bonnie Tyler.  Then Randolph Mantooth.  

Now, I wake up this morning and find out Sam Neill has also died. 

It's been a rough week for celebrities, and that's not even counting Senator Lindsey Graham.  

Somehow, it just doesn't seem right to blather on about peppers and tomatoes, so I'll just leave you with this.  My friend Brian posted it on a social media site.  It's the photo that finally broke me. 

The Los Angeles County Fire Museum set up a memorial for Randolph Mantooth.  

I know this is short, but I hope you'll understand.  I just don't have it in me today. 

Pickling Day

At long last, today was the day.  Pickle making day.  

I found the recipe I'd used year before last and got to work.  Quite frankly, I don't know why I was so nervous about it, but I was shaking the whole time.  I guess I have an unreasonable expectation that the jars will explode when I put the hot brine into them.  It's never happened before, but still...And yes, I do warm the jars in hot water before adding the stuff to them.  

The spices vary from recipe to recipe, so there is some wiggle room there, but I use celery seed, mustard seed, peppercorns, and turmeric.  There were three jars that I cut up some cayenne and put those in there, too, just for a little added kick.  There isn't much kick to sweet banana peppers anyway, especially since I let them ripen a little more than normal. 

The only hitch -- well one of the only hitches -- was that I didn't have quite enough brine for the eighth jar, so I put in what I could and just made refrigerator pickles out of that jar.  The other hitch was that like a dummy, I forgot to wipe the rims before I put the lids on.  I didn't remember until they were already out of the water bath and cooling on the counter.  

Only two of them didn't ping, so I'll just put them into the refrigerator and give them to Cody and Brennan when they come through at the end of the month.  They'll eat them up before they go bad.

The second batch went much more smoothly, and after 12 jars of pickled banana peppers,  

I still have this many peppers left. 

I might take some to work and see if anyone there wants some.  Now comes the hard part -- cleaning up the kitchen.  

And finally, Dear USPS, 

This is why you're broke.  My package should have come from Ohio straight to Jackson, but no...

you had to send it on a sightseeing trip all the way to North Carolina, then to Memphis, then finally to Jackson.  

Stamps are nearly a dollar apiece because you want to send packages on vacation.  

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go get that kitchen cleaned up so I can enjoy the rest of my day of rest. 

Oh!  I keep forgetting!  All of my snakes had a birthday this month.  Since Onyx is the only one I have an actual hatch date -- July 24, 2004 -- I've given them all a defacto July 1 birthday.  Onyx, Sunset, and Slider are 22, and Blaze is 21.  

Happy birthday, my slithery friends. 

Harvest Time

This has been such a long week, but it's finally over.  I'd actually started a post last night, but after I heard about losing Randolph Mantooth, I didn't have the heart to finish it.  I just mowed the yard and went to bed.  

What I was going to talk about was that Group Leader Shark went on a tear yesterday morning, yelling at all of us.  She said, "You brazers, when Cuz asks why you didn't get your numbers, do not tell him because there was no work ready.  That's no excuse for not getting your work done!"  

And we're all wondering just what exactly they expect us to do?  If tubing doesn't have any parts ready, are we supposed to pull orders out of our behinds?  Or maybe we can pretend braze pretend header assemblies.  Do those count?  I mean, if there's no work, we can't do any work.

I suspect she only said that because it makes her look bad--not having work ready for us-- but sometimes it's not her fault.  If the front office isn't adding orders to the schedule, tubing can't make the parts we need.  Yet, we're still supposed to somehow braze 2100 headers...go figure. 

I was going to get out last night and plant the baby tomatoes, but after a long day at work, then enduring the madhouse that is Walmart on a Friday afternoon, doing two loads of laundry, and mowing the yard, I just didn't have it in me.  

So I got up this morning and gave all the garden beds a good watering, then set out to harvest my banana peppers.  They sorely needed it, too.  Some of my plants were so loaded down they were falling over, even with being staked.  I even got some of the yellow ones, just to give the plants a break.  

I was thinking when I get around to making pickled peppers, I could mix the colors for variety. I've also heard that the redder they get, the sweeter they get and lose some of that peppery tang.  At least one of them went into the chicken salad I made this afternoon.  

I had a leftover rotisserie chicken that I'd put into the freezer, which I'd gotten out a few days ago.  The day I made the Spam salad.  I'd had a hankering for chicken salad, but it wasn't thawed yet, thus the Spam.  But I think I told you that already.  Anyway, it was thawed by today, so I cut it up and made the chicken salad I'd been wanting for nearly a week.  Then I boiled down the carcass and made chicken broth for the tomato soup I'm going to make.  Some of the recipes I saw called for vegetable stock, others for chicken stock.  All that to say, 2 1/2 quarts of chicken broth are now safely tucked into the freezer.  

After I harvested the banana peppers, I went back and harvested quite a few of the cayenne peppers. 

Most of these will get hung up to dry, but I'm thinking about slicing some and putting them in with a couple of the jars of pickled banana peppers, just to give them a little kick.  

And look, the first three of my Roma tomatoes!  

They're not as red in real life as they are in the photo.  I'll give the a couple of days, then they'll be just right for a sandwich.  

The last thing I did before it got too hot was to really give my basil a good whacking.  

Unfortunately, most of this went into the compost, but I did pick off a few leaves and dry them in the microwave.  I put them into an old mayonnaise jar with one of my silicone packs until I'm ready to use them.  Next year, I'll know to plant two basil plants.  Not six.  Two.  

I hated to waste so much basil, but at least it's opened up that bed a bit so more air can flow around my tomatoes. 

By the way, can anyone tell me what type of plant this is on the bottom shelf?  

It doesn't look the same as the other cacti.

I pretty much spent the rest of the day watching Emergency! reruns, and avoiding slicing up all of those banana peppers.  

I remember when it first came on.  I was...almost 8, and my brother was almost 10.  Our next door neighbor was staying with us while his parents went somewhere and he wanted to watch this new show about firemen who go out and rescue people.  Of course, since he was company, we let him watch what he wanted and that's all it took.  One episode and we were hooked.  

The funny thing to me was that what was considered cutting edge equipment in 1972 looks positively stone age these days. 

Speaking of, I noticed that every time I tried to dry my sheets outside, the slightest wind would tump over the whole clothes horse.  Naturally, I did what any red necked American would do.  I bought some tie downs for it. 

Worked like a charm.  Fresh, line dried sheets are now back on my bed, ready for me to crawl into it.  Which, this being the weekend, I don't have to do that quite yet.  I think I will go fix me some supper and watch more Emergency! on Roku channel. 

Laters...