Bummed

I'm bummed.  

Why?  Because I finished watching Heartland today.  Well, the 18 seasons available on Hulu, that is.  I didn't realize I was so close to the end, or I'd have slowed down a bit.  Maybe they'll get seasons 19 and 20 up soon.  In the meantime, I need to find something else to watch.  I'm open to suggestions, but bear in mind, I've already watched quite a bit, so please don't take it personally if I've already seen your suggestion.  If it helps, I have Hulu, Prime, and all the free streaming services -- that I know of, that is.  No Netflix, no Paramount +, no Max, and no Peacock.  

In other news, today was one of those totally beautiful days that made it nearly impossible to stay inside. 

So I didn't.  I got up early this morning, and piled some red clay over the hornet's nest, hoping that would inspire them to move on. 

Then I got dressed and went to walk out at the lake.  This time I walked the lake circle on the south side of the spillway.  I almost went to the fitness trail again, but thought I needed a little variety.  When I got back home, I checked the nest and there were still a few hornets buzzing around, so I zapped them with some ant spray.

The thing about wasp spray is that it shoots in such a tiny little stream that you waste most of it missing the wasp.  Ant and roach spray covers a much larger area, and it still kills the wasp.  Maybe not as quickly, but if they get any on them, they'll eventually die.  

Anyway, I decided that I'd killed enough of them that I could work safely in that area, so I got out my mini chainsaw-- wearing proper protective gear of course -- and started cutting up some of those branches.  I made a pretty good start before I remembered I'm not 25 any more and should probably take it easy.  

I also really need to get it through my head that I don't have to do it all in one day.  Which is why I put off starting to dig the clay out of that last 4' x 4' bed, like I had planned to do.  I don't want to overdo things, especially since I've just started walking again.  I want to be able to move tomorrow.

Instead, I had to come up with a way to keep this thing out of my clover and pansy bed. 

She can't dig anything up because I have that plastic stuff down, but she still gets in there and naps.  Or just sits.  Even so, I believe that's why my clover isn't growing, so I pulled some chicken wire off the old coops the previous homeowner had built and covered the bed with three layers of that. 

Maybe that'll keep her out long enough for the clover to get a foot hold.  Or would that be a root hold?  I'm probably going to have to adjust it a bit to get it out from over the pansies, if the cat doesn't get the idea to stay out of that bed. 

My other plan for the day was to get my squash casserole and squash pie made, but that didn't happen. I got to poking around in my pantry, and do you know what all of this is?  

This is all canned goods that are past their Best By date.  Why I have six cans of pork and beans I do not know.  I don't even like pork and beans that much.  I guess I thought it's easy to heat up in a power outage and can be eaten directly from the can if need be.  I went through a bit of a prepper phase a few years back.  It was in 2020 when the Easter storms knocked my power out for 4 days.  I said I wasn't going to get caught out like that again, so I bought a camp stove and a bunch of canned goods.  The funny thing is, I didn't even use that camp stove during the ice storm, because I could heat stuff up on the top of my wood stove.  

But I digress...

You know, Americans waste so much food by throwing away so much food because of that Best By date.  It's not like your food turns instantaneously rotten the very next day.  If the ends of the can aren't pooched out, it's still likely safe to eat.  I'm going to eat up all of this stuff -- providing it passes the sniff test followed by the taste test.  If it doesn't smell or taste off, it's going into my stomach. 

I guess I'm going to be eating quite a bit of beans on toast in the near future.  Hey, we laugh at it, but it actually tastes pretty good. 

Speaking of food, my friend posted this, which has been going around socials here lately.  

The thing about it is, it's as phony as a $3 bill.  For one thing, who hangs on to a receipt for 24 years?  And as one of my other friends pointed out, the ink would have faded long ago.  It might still be legible, but it sure wouldn't be that sharp and clear.  

Secondly, the prices on the 2026 receipt are absolutely fabricated.  In an amazing coincidence, I had been at Walmart the same day my friend posted that meme, and I had actually taken a photo of the price of a dozen eggs. 

I'd taken it with the intention of reminding people that a mere 2 years ago, eggs were $9 a dozen and if you don't want to go back to that, you better get out and vote -- and not for the party that gave us $9 eggs.  But the point is, this is the price of an actual dozen eggs, not what the phony receipt has listed.  In fact, even the fancy schmancy organic free range brown eggs aren't but $5.96.  The rest of the stuff on that phony receipt can be easily price checked on the Walmart app.  The only one that is accurate is that price of the coffee.  

And that brings us to my third point:  The items on the receipts are not listed like they would be on a real receipt.  Those eggs would appear on the receipt the same way they appear on the shelf label:  GV 12 LRG A EGG.  I didn't buy eggs, but you can see on my actual receipt from yesterday how bread and milk are listed. 

For those of you with old eyes like mine and can't see it, the milk is listed as GV FF GAL and the price is $4.32.  The bread is listed as GV SWICH WHT and it cost me $1.52.  

That's your meme debunkeration for the day.  

And in case you're wondering why I spent $245, the biggest expense was this indoor safe propane heater, just in case.  

I guess I haven't completely gotten over that prepper phase after all. 

Inventory

Once again it was time for annual inventory out at the plant, and once again it was the same old … we had a word for this when I was in the Navy which I will not utter here. 

I want to maintain my PG rating on the blog, you know.  

In other words, everything went as it usually does.  I keep saying people might not hate inventory so much if they would at least pretend to be organized, but they can't even do that.  And I desperately wish they'd give these counters some training!  But no, they just throw them out there and we card writers end up having to train them.  

The poor counter I ended up with...we were inventorying stacks of metal parts.  The way we normally do it is to measure the stack, then multiply by how many parts per inch.  Very simple, very easy, and it's always the same because all of the parts are the same thickness.  The counter I had said she didn't feel comfortable doing it that way, so she was hand counting every single stack of parts...and bear in mind, some of these stacks had 400-500 parts in them.  It took her like 30 minutes just to count the first stack.  By that time, I'd counted three stacks myself and had written up the cards for them.   

Eventually, Uncle Supervisor went over and had a talk with the counter, and things picked up after that.  We eventually got everything done, then I noticed Uncle Supervisor over replacing some of the cards I had written with the green Do Not Inventory cards.  I walked over and said, "You'd think they'd have a way for us to tell which ones we don't inventory before we write the cards.  I asked about it last year, and they said there's no way to know until the computer kicks the cards out.  To me, that's just..."

"Asinine," Uncle Supervisor interrupted. 

Laughing, I replied, "I was going to say unorganized, but that works, too!"  But that's how it is out there.  It's like they try to do things in the most chaotic way possible. 

I think the worst part about inventory is that you can't leave when you're done.  You have to stand around waiting for hours and hours.  I don't know about everyone else, but I definitely felt like I was being watched. 

That is a real photo I took.  I'm not exactly sure what was making that reflection, but it sure looked like a face to me. 

I thought it was funny.  

Good News!

But first, a bit of bad news.  I got stung again this morning...in my kitchen. 

I'd gone out pretty early while it was still too cold for the hornets to be stirring and raked more stuff away from the spot where I'd seen them hovering.  The plan was to see if I could locate the hole so I could eliminate the threat.  

I was back inside washing out my coffee cup -- I know, I know, but I didn't start drinking coffee until after I'd gotten out of the Navy -- when I felt something like a sting on my side.  Huh?  I went and looked in the mirror in my bedroom and saw something that looked like a sting.  "There must be something inside my shirt!"  I said, taking said shirt off and shaking it out. 

Sure enough, one of the little demons flew out of my shirt, but this time it would be different.  "You're in my territory now, son!"  I exclaimed, running into the kitchen and grabbing my ant and roach spray.  It does work on wasps, too, even better than wasp spray in my opinion.  I gave the thing a good soaking -- probably overkill, but I wanted to make sure he was dead, then scraped him up with the fly swatter and flushed him. 

Now for the good news, I'd taken a 24-hour Claritin before I went to bed last night, so hopefully enough of that was still in my system to prevent a breakout from the venom.  So far, it seems to be working. 

A bit of bad news, I did not sleep at all last night.  Seriously, it was after 3:00 AM before I even fell asleep, and was back awake by 5:30.  I believe it was from the steroid ointment I'd been putting on my wasp stings, and steroids have wicked side effects.  Sleeplessness is one of them, and it would also explain why I couldn't seem to stop eating yesterday.  

Despite feeling terrible, or maybe because of it, I decided I wanted to go for a walk this morning.  I haven't been able to do that at all this week.  Monday I had to deal with the tree guy, Tuesday was the dentist, and tomorrow I have to go in to work to do inventory, so today was the day.  First I drove down to the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve, but they were out there getting ready for the Enchanted Forest thing they are doing this weekend. If you're local, it would be a great thing to take the kids to.  Starts at 4:00 PM, according to their Facebook page. 

I didn't want to get in the way, so I drove on down to the lake and walked the fitness trail by the tennis courts, for you local folks.  

(This is not the trail by the lake.  It's a photo I took on the Bottomland trail several weeks ago, but I didn't take any today, and I needed a thumbnail for the link.)

About halfway through the trail, I realized I'd worn the wrong shoes.  Out of sheer habit, I had put on my work boots instead of my hiking boots.  Oh well, nothing could be done about it but to finish the trail. 

The only thing wrong with that is that I tend to buy my work boots a size too big, because my feet tend to swell when I'm standing on them all day, especially in the summer.  

I had to laugh a bit when I passed a guy out on the trail.  He was jogging one direction and I was walking the other direction, and as we passed each other we both said, "Morning" as you do.  Here in America, I mean.  I watch some European channels on YouTube and they all say they don't do that over there.  

And now, the best news of all!  When I finished my walk and came home, I walked out into the back yard while I was still wearing my jeans and hoodie, and glory be!  I found the hornet's nest!!  I immediately ran -- and I do use that term very loosely-- back to the house and grabbed my can of wasp spray, then ran back --again, using that term very very loosely -- and emptied the entire can into the hole where they were nesting.  I followed that up with two -- yes TWO-- cans of ant and roach spray, then dumped a bunch of diatomaceous earth into and around the hole.  That should take care of any who managed to survive the first two assaults.  

Even better, I think I managed to kill the queen.  There was one hornet that was much bigger than all the rest, which I believe must have been the queen.  Once she's dead, that's the end of the colony.  

I hope.  

The last step was to pour some vinegar down the hole to keep any hornets from coming back.  They supposedly don't like the smell, from what I've read.  I'll give it a couple of days, then I'll take some of the red clay and fill the thing in.  

Once that is all done, I can finally start cleaning up all of that mess back there.  

I really didn't do much else today.  That sleepless night finally caught up to me and I spent most of the day watching TV.  Hopefully, all of the steroids have cleared my system and I can get a much better night of sleep tonight.  But for now, I'm going to go take a quick shower -- even though it's still pretty early, I feel like I need to be under some hot water.  

And I'll catch you on the flip side. 

Dreaded Dentist

I didn't cook a thing today.  Not one single thing.  Unless you count the microwave macaroni I made for lunch, I mean.  But no soup.  No casseroles.  No nothing.  I've cooked so much over the last few weeks, I needed to be done for a while. 

What I did instead was go to the dreaded dentist.  Who isn't really all that dreaded, but that's not as exciting to say, is it?  He got my tooth prepped for the crown, and I'm telling you he pumped me so full of Novocain that even my eyelid was numb.   The good news is, I didn't feel a thing.   For about six hours...

But the tooth is all ready and my crown will be here in about 10 days.  

By sheer coincidence, while I was waiting for the numbing to take effect, I thought to myself, "I probably ought to silence my phone, just in case."  So I did.  Good thing, because I actually got a call from the eye doctor telling me my safety glasses had come in.  Even more of a coincidence, the eye doctor just happens to be between the dentist office and Walmart.  

I swung by and picked them up, then went to Walmart and got two more bags of garden soil.  All of that done before 10:00 and I was able to come home and spend the entire rest of the day for myself.  It actually almost felt like a vacation.  A working vacation, but the weather was so nice, I opened the doors and windows, put in a cheesy Christmas movie and knit on some -- surprise surprise -- more hats. 

Yarn:  Red Heart Super Saver

Colorway:  Hunter Green

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

I also wanted to give you an update on this one, since I've been working on it off and on.  

Yarn:  Forbidden Fiber Co. Fortitude

Colorway:  Star Fall

Pattern:  Sockhead

Needles:  US 2.5/ 3 mm

Once the cheesy Christmas move I'd been watching while knitting was over, I stepped outside and worked in the garden a bit.  I'd managed to go outside before the sun came up this morning and rake up some of the leaves from behind the fence before the hornets woke up.  I collected enough to put a thick layer in the bottom of each wooden bed -- after I'd dug out the red clay, of course, 

and before I added the garden soil.  The last thing I did was to add the protective plastic to keep these beds from being used as a litter pan. 

And those beds are now ready to plant.  All four of the ones alongside that fence will be for my pollinator gardens.  I've already got Bachelor's Buttons planted in one, but they haven't shown any signs of life yet.  I'll probably put zinnias in one, since I still have plenty of seeds left.  For now, I might just sow some more of my crimson clover seeds, until I decide what to do...or spring comes.  Whichever comes first. 

Anyway, I still have to finish filling this bed, which I won't do any time soon.  I want to let all of this compost break down a bit before adding soil. 

Now, I only have this one and one more of my 4' x 4' beds to fill and my little garden spot will be done for now.   

Kind of like this day is done for now, at least as far as I'm concerned.   I'm going to bed.

Goodnight. 

Time To Recover

How in the world are my days off going by so quickly?  It feels like I just got up, and now it's evening already.  Time needs to slow down a bit, and now that I've got one more thing accomplished, maybe it will.  

Well, the tree guy got something accomplished, that is.  He came by this morning and removed all of the dead and broken branches from the tree, and I'm glad someone actually showed up.  I don't have a good track record for hiring people who actually show up, you know.  

But he did, and the job is finally done, and at least I don't have to worry about dead limbs falling on my head any more. 

He also trimmed up a few of the lower hanging branches, especially the one hitting the house, so that's much better.  Some of those made the back yard feel...ominous, if you know what I mean.  I kind of miss the shade they cast, but that's better than them snapping off in a storm, I guess. 

I'd told him to pile the trimmings by the back fence, but I guess I should have been more specific because I meant inside the fence. 

You know, on my property.  Which ends at the back fence.  Not that it matters, because I've never seen anyone back there  -- not that close to the house at least.  And I'll still be the one cleaning it all up no matter where it's piled.  

Speaking of fences, he pulled out this whole section so he could get his truck into the back yard.  

He asked if I wanted him to put it back, but I told him not to worry about that since the plan is to get all of that fence pulled out anyway.  And when I start offering that red clay up for grabs, it'll be a lot easier to get it out this way.  

As soon as they left, I went out there and started cleaning all that mess up.  I got this much into my compost bin,

And started putting some of the bigger stuff into the raised bed, 

before the hornets found me.  I'm not sure if they were in the tree or in the ground where I was raking stuff up, but I quit after I'd gotten stung twice.  One of the tree guy's employees told me she had also gotten stung, so they might have been in the tree.  Do hornets nest in trees?  I've only ever seen this kind in holes in the ground.  She may have blown leaves over their hole since she was using a leaf blower.  I swan I think she was trying to blow every single leaf out of my yard.  

I finally told the tree guy that it wasn't necessary, just to get her to stop with the noise.  Plus, I like leaving my leaves over the winter for the bugs and things that hide under them during the cold weather, not to mention it's free mulch for my lawn.  

But I digress...where was I?  Oh yes, hornets...

At least I had long pants on, so maybe these won't be as bad as the last time.   Maybe after my dentist appointment in the morning, I'll go out while I still have jeans on and see if I can find a hole or something and pour vinegar down it. 

It worked before, and I have plenty of vinegar...because I forgot I had already bought some, so I bought some more.  Twice.  

I don't want to talk about that.  Let's just say, I won't run out of vinegar any time soon...

Anyway, when all is said and done, that's one more thing I can mark off my to do list.  

Which now looks like this:  

I think I'm going to take a break before I have to deal with someone else -- which I suppose should be the handyman/contractor to get the rotten wood in my soffit and fascia replaced.  Hopefully, I can find one who is also a licensed electrician and can check that breaker for me.  Then I'll know which direction I need to go as far as getting my dryer working again.  But first, I need some time to recover from all of this human interaction.  

While I was nursing my wasp stings, I made some sweet potato soup, which will be the last batch of soup I'm going to make for a while.  I'm all souped out.  

I still have to make the squash casserole to put back for Thanksgiving.  And squash pie, which will likely not be put back for anything.   I'll likely eat it right away.  It doesn't even have that much sugar in it, so that's good.    

I'm also done with this scarf, finally. 

I've already cast on the matching hat, but that's as far as I've gotten.  It was too pretty of a day to stay inside, so I went out and sat by the fire pit for a while.  Sans fire, of course.  We are still under a burn ban because of how extremely dry it is. 

Oh, I should probably mention that I finished the book I was reading, The Baker Of Lost Memories.  It was pretty good.  I was so smug thinking I had figured out the twist, but as it happens, I did not in fact figure out the twist.  And that's all I have to say about that.  

Now I'm reading Lady Of Uncanny Charms, which is the fifth and final book in the Whimbrel House series.  I've enjoyed this whole series, and if you like Victorian fantasy, I highly recommend it. 

Now if you will excuse me, Halloween Baking Championship is about to come on, and I need to go watch.  And knit on this hat.  

And wonder where my day went...

Laters

Quiet Sunday

After spending the last three days working my tail off -- at least it felt like that -- I decided to take an actual day of rest on this day of rest.  Well, except for changing the sheets, doing a bit of laundry, and bringing the hummingbird feeder in and cleaning it up to store it away for the winter, that is. 

But I didn't do any heavy lifting, so to speak.  No cooking or working in the garden, other than watering, I mean.  What I did do was to catch up on my cheesy Hallmark movies and my Great American Christmas movies that are almost as cheesy.  I kind of lost track of the days and didn't realize they'd already started showing them, so I had four to watch.  

I must be getting soft in my old age, because I didn't used to cry at those things.  

While I was crying over cheesy movies, I pulled out this scarf and worked on it some more, which made me cry even more. 

I am not enjoying knitting this, but at this point, I'm determined to finish.  I've only got a few more inches, then I'm going to knit a matching hat and I will be done with this project.  I've seen other photos on the SCI's Facebook page of people knitting matching hats and cowl sets, so I may do that next.  I don't think I'll do another scarf.  

In a bit of good news, I heard from the tree guy and he's going to come do my job tomorrow, so maybe I'll finally get to cross that one thing off my list.  Better yet, once he's done I'll feel like I have my house to myself again, at least for a little while.  And maybe I can finally shake this feeling of waiting...waiting for him to get done so I can get on with my life.

Does anyone else feel like that, or is it just me?  

I Made It

I woke up to a beautiful Fall day this morning.  It was sunny and a nice, chilly 48°.  The only issue with the day was that I woke up at 3:00 again.  I lay there until about 4:30, but could not get back to sleep for anything.  I finally gave up and got up.  

After a nice, leisurely cup of coffee, I got dressed and drove down to the Farmer's Market.  Yes, I really did.  This late in the year, there aren't that many booths left, but Bost Farms still had his up, and I was able to pick up plenty of fresh squash.  

The plan is to go ahead and make my squash casserole for Thanksgiving and put it into the freezer.  With that in mind, I left the Farmer's Market and drove down to Walmart where I picked up a new set of baking dishes. 

These are the first new baking pans I've bought in probably 25 or 30 years -- other than cake pans, I mean.  I got a few of those for Christmas a couple of years ago.   

I figure that largest one will be just right for my squash casserole.  It's pretty deep, so it might even be too big.  I guess we'll see. 

I also picked up some pattypan at the market. 

My aunt used to make a really good squash pie with these, but they are so hard to find.  Next spring, I want to get some seeds and try to grow my own.  But for now, I'm hoping three are enough for a pie.  The recipe only calls for 1 cup of mashed squash, so maybe it is.    

Today's projects were to make some red beans and rice  

and chicken noodle soup.  

I didn't make the beans and rice from scratch, though.  I used a boxed mix, which is pretty good.  Just make sure you stir all the spices thoroughly or you'll end up with a glob of them in your mouth at once.  Ask me how I know.  Funny thing is, I never ate beans and rice until I was grown.  I don't remember my mother ever making it.  Now I love the stuff.  

I already have a butt load of soup in my freezer, but I still want to make a batch of sweet potato soup, and probably one more batch of tomato soup provided my tomatoes ripen before first frost.  Then I'll be done for the year and will have enough soup to feed an army.  

In other news, I picked up two more bags of garden soil, but didn't really work in the garden any.  The only thing I did was to scatter my Bachelor's Button seeds in one of the empty beds.  I planted all of the ones I had, because they're a few years old and I don't know how many are still viable.  I'm hoping at least a few of them will grow, then re-seed themselves year after year.  

Well, I can't think of anything else to talk about right now, so I'll close this and go to bed.  Maybe something interesting will happen tomorrow. 

Itching To Work

This has been a rough week at work.  Oh, not the work itself, that's the same old same old.  Same old complaints.  Same old problems that they refuse to solve.  Same old blaming the brazers instead of solving those problems...same old everything.  

No, the problem has been that I just didn't want to be there.  I knew we had this cool down coming this weekend, and I was itching to get out and work in the garden and start getting my beds prepped for next spring.   And once the seemingly interminable work week was done, that's exactly what I did. 

Well, this morning I did.  Yesterday I went to the store and they finally had some rotisserie chickens out, so I got one with the intention of making soup one day this week.  I'm planning on making sweet potato soup and some red beans and rice also, and once I'm done, I'll have plenty of stuff in the freezer.  I'm wanting to eat healthier, but man, those Michelina's Microwavable Macaroni are so easy to toss into the microwave.    I was hoping that tossing a container of homemade soup into the microwave would be just as easy, but so far it isn't working.  Sigh...

Speaking of, I had to order some more food containers seeing as how I've made so much soup lately, I've used up all the ones I have.  And soup has to be in a round container because soup is round.  

IYKYK

The ones I ordered were supposed to arrive last Sunday, but they sat at the place Amazon sends local deliveries for 5 days without anyone picking them up.  Stuff I'd ordered after I ordered those had already arrived, but my containers were supposedly still at the warehouse.  Or whatever it is.  Someone said it's behind the Chamber Of Commerce, so apparently it's just a storage building.  I'm actually thinking about signing up to be a delivery driver myself after I retire.  It'll give me something to do, a little extra pocket money, and I'll be able to go get my own packages.  

Anyway, I ordered the same containers from a different seller, and as I type this, they're currently out for delivery so we shall see.  

But I digress...

Back to this morning.  The first thing that happened was that I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep for anything.  I guess that's better than waking up at 2:30, but still.  I enjoyed a nice, leisurely cup of coffee, turned on the drip system -- remembering to set my timer this time-- and watched some TV until the sun came up enough for me to see.

And the first thing I saw had me seeing red.

Yes, that...some cat who shall remain nameless decided to use my clover bed as a litter pan.  All my poor little seedlings were totally dug up.  I could have cried.  But I didn't.  No sense crying over spilled, um, clover.  Instead I smoothed the soil back out, scattered some more clover seeds, then covered the bed with the plastic chicken wire I bought for just such an occasion. 

Once that was done, and the cat's existence sufficiently threatened, I turned my attention to leveling and lining up these beds. 

I think they are about as good as they are going to get.  

I can live with this, at least until they've rotted beyond usability and I replace them with metal beds.  I tried something different this time, and I hope I didn't mess up.  When I dug the clay out of the bottom of the bed, I piled it between the bed and the fence.  I'm hoping that help keep the soil from leaking out of the bottom of the beds.  Eh, if it doesn't work, I'll remove it when I replace these beds.  

Next step was to add the soil, but before I did that, I chopped up my dead rosemary 

and put it into the bottom for some organic matter to offset the little bit of red clay I couldn't get out.  Hopefully the worms will find it and mix all that clay into the native soil so it isn't that big of a deal.  Then I added the soil.  

And of course, having learned my lesson, I added the plastic protection layer.  

I'm debating on whether to plant some crimson clover in this one, too, or just leave it.  Or I may scatter some Bachelor's Button seeds that I'd saved a couple of years ago.  I don't know if they're still viable, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.  Since these are going to be pollinator beds anyway, those will be a good choice, since they volunteer readily.  

Unfortunately, I only had enough soil for those two beds, so I didn't even bother to start digging the clay out of the other two.  I want to go to the Farmer's Market tomorrow for probably the last time this season, so maybe after that I can run by Walmart and pick up some more soil.  Or maybe I can go after my dentist appointment Tuesday.  I don't know...Heck, maybe I'll just pay the delivery fee and have them bring it to the house.  

After a bite of lunch and a bit of rest, I started filling the other metal raised bed.  I started with a few log from the firewood pile in the very bottom, using sort of an abbreviated version of hügelkultur.  

I was going to put a few more logs in the bottom, but I couldn't quite bring myself to put my firewood into the garden bed.  What I did instead was when the power company trimmed the branches back from the power lines last week, I snuck out and picked up the trimmings.  

I started cutting those up and putting them on top of the logs until I got tired and decided to call it a day.  

I'll fill this bed the same way I filled the last one -- with stuff like this, and when it breaks down, I'll add compost on top of that, then finish filling it with garden soil.  Maybe by spring, it'll be ready to plant, too.  At least I hope so.  

Now for a bit of good news -- while I was writing this post, my containers have been delivered!  Let the soup making begin.  Oh, and I bought this little thing on clearance last year because it was cute and on sale, but I don't know what to do with it.  

I know the big ones are used for cooking, similar to a Dutch oven, but this one is so small.  I was thinking about using it as a serving dish at Thanksgiving.  

Except I don't even know what we're doing for Thanksgiving.  I don't know what the kids' work schedules are, or if they'll be able to come or what, and knowing them, they won't tell me until the last minute. 

I don't like finding things out at the last minute.  I usually start planning Thanksgiving in July or August.  Normally, I just do what I want, and if they show up, they show up.  If not, I have a good meal and watch the Parade and football with the cat.  

And the bad news, it's been a week and I haven't heard back from the tree guy.  I'm beginning to suspect I've been ghosted again.  I'm going to give him a few more days, but if he doesn't show this next week, I'll have to try to call someone else. 

This is why I don't cross things off the list until after the job has been completed.  

Look!

Look what I have!  

What is that?  In case you can't see it, it's my crimson clover seedlings!  They're germinating!  These are the ones I planted in my raised bed, not the ones I scattered in the yard.  I haven't seen any sign of life from those, but that might be because I keep forgetting to water them.  Oops.  

On the other hand, I turned on my drip system yesterday and forgot to set my alarm, so my tomatoes got a real good soaking -- so much so, I didn't even water them today.   I checked, and they were still plenty moist. 

On a similar note, I'm so glad I didn't pull these basil plants up like I'd started to do last weekend, because they are absolutely covered in bees. I tried to take a short video, but I don't know how well you can see them.  

If you can't see the bees, at least enjoy the bird concert.  I did manage to snap a couple of photos, though. 

And finally, why?  Just why?  

You'd never catch me with something like that on my feet!  That's for sure. 

Completely Forgot

I completely forgot I had a dentist appointment this afternoon.  It's a good thing they send out those text reminders because I might have blown this one off.  But I didn't.  I went in right after work, and the hygienist and I only see each other every six months, so we had a lot of catching up to do.  It wouldn't be so bad if she could talk and clean at the same time, but it doesn't seem like she can.  Still, we eventually got the cleaning done, then the dentist came in and oh boy I have to get another crown.  

Good thing we have that shutdown next week, so I can get right on that.  As far as I know we're still having it, but I told the receptionist that if for some reason they made us work, I'd call and reschedule.  Hopefully, they won't, because I know a lot of my coworkers have already made appointments and things like that.  Now I have, too.  

In other news, this was another one of those baking and cooking weekends, with a bit of knitting thrown in for good measure.  

Yarn:  Red Heart Bitty Stripes

Colorway:  Pink Lemonade

Pattern:  Basic Beanie

Needles:  US 8 / 5 mm

My hat drawer is getting pretty full, and it looks like I'm going to have to send another batch of them off to the Seaman's Church Institute pretty soon.   They're talking about us getting our first real cold front next weekend -- lows in the 40s -- so that may be a good time to get them all packed up and ready.  

As for the baking, I had a moment of panic when I couldn't find my mini loaf pans.  I thought I had some of the foil pans, but apparently I'd used all of those up.  No matter, I had my regular ones, and the pumpkin break got made. 

I was going to vacuum seal them since my sealer has a gentle mode, but even that squished the first one to about half the size it had been.  It puffed back up as soon as I cut the bag, but still.  I wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them into the freezer like that, figuring that they won't compress as much once they're frozen.  I was going to vacuum seal them this afternoon, but then remembered I had to go to the dentist and by the time I got home, I was too tired to fool with them.  They'll keep until tomorrow. 

The second project was to make another batch of pumpkin soup.  

This is the recipe I used. 

The only thing I did differently was to add 1 tsp of maple extract and 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  I didn't even add the sugar free syrup, because I didn't think it needed any more sweetness.  I don't want it tasting like pie, after all.  It was quite tasty just the way it was. 

So, between the tomato soup I made last weekend, two batches of pumpkin soup, and a pot of jambalaya I made Friday, I've got a freezer full of meals.  And yet, I'm still reaching for the Banquet Microwave meals...they're just so quick and easy.  

The last thing I did was to make a few of my candies using melted chocolate chips. 

I melted the chips in the microwave, which is a bit of a pain because you have to heat in short bursts and stir, then heat some more and stir.   Rinse and repeat until the chocolate is smooth, then hurry up and slap it into the molds before it cools and hardens.  Ugh. 

Next time, I'm going to use the double boiler.  

But for now, I need to go get into the shower and head for bed kinda early tonight since I didn't sleep well last night.

Laters.