Bad News

Well, the tree guy came today to trim my tree, but his truck was too big to fit into my back yard.  I was wondering how big his truck is that it can't fit, even after I told him he could pull this bit of fence up if he needed to. 

Still, he was decent enough to text me and let me know, and he is supposed to come by Saturday morning to discuss our options.  I don't know what options there could be, since there isn't any other way to get into my back yard at the moment.  

I'll see what he has to say, but I'm thinking we may have to pivot and put the tree off until later.  When he was here the last time, I'd asked him if he could dig up and haul off the remnants of this old dog kennel, 

and this old bit of fence wire that a tree grew up and completely engulfed. 

For those of you who haven't heard, or don't remember, ten years ago I had a huge old oak tree cut down.  I hated to do it, but it was leaning over so far I was afraid it would fall onto the house.  Even the man who cut it down said it could have gone over any minute.  

About two years ago, I noticed this old bit of fence wire starting to emerge from the rotting trunk.  It must have been put there at least 100 years ago, judging by how deeply embedded it was.  I've been trying to dig it up, but so far, haven't been successful.  I talked to the tree guy, and he's got an excavator that he says he can get it out with.  

At least if he can't get to the tree, he'll at least have a little bit of a payday and I won't have completely wasted his time. 

Speaking of time, I guess the plant got over their panic about the empty warehouse pretty quickly, because everyone is back to getting off at 2:00 PM.  I came home that first day and had so much time, I didn't quite know what to do with myself.  I know I watched some TV, but other than Halloween Wars and In The Eye Of The Storm, I don't even remember what shows I saw.  

By the way, there's a new show on called Sweet Deceit.  There are three contestants who have to choose which item is cake by biting into it.  It's OK, but kind of meh.  The episodes are only 30 minutes, so I'll probably keep watching for now. 

There isn't much else to talk about, other than to show you my new garden flag.  

Oh, and we have a tropical storm in the Gulf which is projected to strengthen into a hurricane before it makes landfall.  A good news/bad news type of thing, the track has shifted east, and we are no longer in the cone.  That's good, but we sure could have used the rain it would have brought.  Maybe we'll get a little bit from the outer rain bands, so I'm not completely giving up hope. 

If you're not following the Weather Channel on X or whatever it is now, you really ought to. 

And finally, I forgot what else I was going to tell you, so I'll just stop now. 

Goodnight.  Or whatever time it is when you read this. 

Fruit Basket Turnover

We had to go through a bit of fruit basket turnover at work this morning in the sub-brazing department.  What happened was that the one brazer who comes in late every single day but still miraculously hasn't pointed out came in late yet again yesterday only to discover that someone else had set up on "her" stand.  

For that to make sense, I have to explain that we normally have 12 brazing stations.  When they moved us all around, they'd taken four of them out for the time being.  The brazers who normally work on those four stands had to find another stand.  Alas, one of them got on Prissy Butt's stand, and she had to get on a different stand. 

She pitched an absolute wall eyed hissy fit all day long claiming that everybody else was able to get on their "right" stand but her.  This wasn't at all true, by the way.  Only three of us had gotten on the same stands we'd had before, and the other five were on different stands. None of that mattered to her, and somehow in the conversation the other brazers agreed to swap stands to mollify her. 

This morning, four different brazers -- five if you count Prissy Butt -- swip swapped stands so she could have her "right" stand back.  I was kind of glad, to be honest, because she's farther away from me.  I swan, when we get moved back to the lines, I don't know what's going to happen to her, because she's one of those people who can't even wipe her own butt unless someone holds the toilet paper for her.  I feel sorry for whoever ends up having to work with her.  I only hope it's not me. 

On the bright side, I was able to come home and watch new seasons of Halloween Wars and Halloween Baking Championship! Oh, and Heartland is back on Hulu, so I picked right back up where I left off. 

On the not so bright side, still no word from the clean up man.  I think I'm going to wait until this heat breaks then try calling him back.  If he doesn't come then, I'll just find someone else who wants my money. 

In the meantime, I emptied two more boxes out and bagged up some stuff to donate-- mostly stuffed animals, Beanie Babies, and Micropets, plus the fish tank ornaments I've decided not to use in my toad garden.  There are three thrift shops here in town, Another Man's Treasure, The Broken Pot, and Huckleberry Finds.  Surely one of them will take this stuff.   

These two guys, however, I'm finding I'm having a hard time putting them into the donation box.  Their names are Joshua David and Gregory Jason. 

I've had them for forever, but I'm not quite ready to part with them.  

In garden news, not much is really going on with the garden.  While I was waiting for the clean up man yesterday, I tore up a few cardboard boxes and added them to my hot compost bin.  It still needs some more, but I've got plenty.  Maybe I'll get up early Friday and tear some more up before it gets too hot.  

And finally, a little football humor for you. 

IYKYK

Stuff

I said I wasn't going to sit around on my day off watching TV all day.  I said I was going to get stuff done.  And I did get stuff done.  Some stuff, that is.  The first stuff I got done was to take the Incarnation of Evil in to the vet for her shots and stuff.  

She did not like that, and she let everyone in that vet's office know just how much she didn't like it.  I almost felt sorry for the poor vet when the cat started hissing at her.  I told the vet that it was the cat's previous owner who'd named her Cutie, and I'd taken her in after he had died.  I left her name the same on her vet records, because I figured it'd be easier like that.  The vet said, "I've found that these animals named things like Cutie, Precious, Sweetie and the like are absolute monsters.  It's the ones named Killer and stuff that are the real sweethearts."  

Anyway, the cat is updated for the next year, and the vet escaped any bodily injury.  Me, on the other hand, I got bitten while trying to stuff the aforementioned Incarnation of Evil back into the cat carrier.  By the cat, not the vet.  Just wanted to make that clear.

I thought about going out to the lake and walking after I took the cat home, but by then, it was already starting to get hot, so I just piddled around the house and yard a bit.  I had a bit of a disappointment when I discovered another of my banana pepper plants had died. 

I don't get it.  It was fine yesterday, and this morning it was suddenly dead.  I went ahead and harvested all the peppers from it, and got a good deal of them. 

Then I pulled the whole plant up, just in case there is any disease it might be spreading.  My first thought was root knot nematodes, but I didn't see any sign of that.  The root ball looked perfectly healthy.  The only thing I saw on the entire plant was a bit of what looked like mold right at the base of the stem where it meets the soil.  I'd seen the same thing on that first one which had died, too, but at the time I didn't think anything of it.  After seeing it on this second plant, maybe there is something to it after all. 

My second thought was that there was something on the cardboard I'd used to mulch, but they were all Amazon boxes.  They are printed with soy based ink, and even the tape is all natural and 100% recyclable, so they should be fine to use in the garden in that aspect.  The only other thing I could think was that maybe some of the cardboard had shifted over time --I'd made sure that they weren't touching the stems when I put them down, but maybe they'd moved and were trapping moisture at the base of the stem causing mold to grow and somehow damage the plant.  I don't know, but I went back out and made sure there was plenty of space around the remaining plants in that bed. 

For good measure, I also checked the plants in the newest bed and pulled all the mulch away from those stems, too. 

I hope that helps.  I'd planned on trying to overwinter my pepper plants, but if they keep on dying, I won't be able to.  I do know one thing, though, next year I definitely need to rig up some sort of shade cloth for my garden area.  Also, I had a clever idea for my drip system -- not the soaker hose, but the bottles.  I'd been using 1 liter water bottles, like the one in the photo above.  This morning, I emptied out one of my coffee creamer bottles and thought, "Hmmm, these have a flip top.  That would make them so much easier to fill than having to unscrew that top."  So I washed the first one out, and will save those from here on out.  

Now that the pumpkin spice creamer is out, I ought to have plenty of them.  😊

It looks like I'll need them, because all of these storms that have rolled through have completely missed my part of the county.  State.  Country.  It's so dry, my grass is brown and crunchy and even the weeds are dying.  If we don't get some rain soon, I'm going to run out of the rain water I've collected for my Venus Fly Trap.  Speaking of, I do want to eventually get some gutters installed with a couple of rain barrel collection systems.  That ought to help a bit with my water bill. 

Let's wrap this segment up with a bit of good news, I haven't found any more hornworms in the last two days, so maybe I got them all.  

In other news, you would be proud of me.  Why?  I made another phone call!  Yep, I called the eye doctor and made an appointment.   She said the first available appointment is Friday, October 9, which works out perfectly because I already have that day off.  Better yet, I was able to finally mark something off of my list. 

Alas, I had to add calling the electrician, so I'm still at 8, but I'm counting it as progress. 

Better yet, I might finally be able to see again.  

And finally, a bit of humor to top off this Friday. 

IYKYK

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.  

Success!

I guess it's true what they say, the seventh time is a charm.  

Yes, someone messaged me late last night saying she wanted the kitten, and unlike the first six who'd done so but didn't follow through, she actually took him!  

In all fairness, two of the first six were in Michigan, so I probably shouldn't count them.  One of my old schoolmates had shared my post, but neglected to specify where the kitten was. 

I met them -- her, her daughter, and a handful of grandkids -- at Walmart, and they just oohed and cooed over how cute he was.  They thanked me profusely, saying they'd been looking for a kitten, and I thanked them for giving him a home, because I did not want to take that sweet baby to the pound.   I feel like a tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. 

For what it's worth, there is a rescue here in town, but it is full to the brim and not taking any more animals.

Other than that, it's been a very quiet day.  I've spent most of it watching Cranford on the Roku channel.  I love period dramas, and that is one I can watch over and over again.  That being said, there really isn't much else to say, so I'll just leave you with this. 

My Viking ancestors crossed the Altantic in an open boat, using a makeshift compass. 

Today, things have come to this...

Word is, they've confiscated so much ranch from carry-ons, they could restock an H.E.B.  Oh, it's been so much fun watching them discover the real America, not the false image they've been fed by the media.  

And with that, my post for today is done.   Back to watching Cranford...

Laters.

No Market Again

I did it.  This morning, I actually got dressed and drove down to the farmer's market on the square.  Alas, I had forgotten about the BBQ cookoff they have during Thunder On Water weekend.  Oh, they still had the farmer's market, but their booths tend to get pushed off to the side.  Not only that, they had the entire street leading to the square blocked off, so I couldn't even drive down there.  

Yes, I could have driven around and parked on the South side, but I didn't want to.  I turned around and drove right back to the Lee Tartt Nature Preserve and walked the Bottomland trail.  I'd made it almost to the .8 mile marker when I saw stretched across the trail the most perfect little spider web I ever did see, with a teensy little spider sitting right in the middle.   

The web was so perfect, and the spider was so tiny I just couldn't blow through it.  And with that, my walk came to a screeching halt.   Except I still had to turn around and walk back to the car, so I didn't quite screech.  

But there is one cool thing on that trail.  You can put your phone into a bracket thing and take a photo, 

then email that photo to the address on the sign, 

and it will add it to their photo stream of that location.  Maybe if I start walking that trail more often, I can record the change of seasons.  

It wasn't that hot out yet, but it was so humid that by the time I got back to the car, I was still drenched in sweat, so I didn't do much else the rest of the day.  I had done most of the laundry yesterday, and had to set up my clothes horse in the kids' room because it was raining. 

I'd said I was going to tear into that dryer and see if I could see what the problem was, but truth is I didn't really feel like it, so I left that for another day.  Instead, I told the cat we were going to take it easy today.  I did the rest of the laundry.  I piddled in the garden a bit.  I mended the garden hose -- telling it that this was the last time and if it broke again, it was going into the trash.  I tore up some more cardboard boxes and added them to my black compost bag.  I separated the little tomato seedlings and put each one into its own cell in the tray. 

After I took the photo, I brought them inside and put them under the grow light just to give them a minute to recover from the transplant shock.  I'll put them back outside in the morning. 

In other news, I watched the episode of House Hunters last night, and they actually did show the town.  There were a couple of drone shots of the downtown area, and I could clearly see the gazebo on the square.  Somehow, they miraculously managed to hide that falling down building.  Maybe because they were so high in the air, it wasn't that noticeable.  They showed a couple of shots of the lake, and the husband was very excited about the fishing prospects here. 

The realtors showed them three houses, one of which was in the nearby town of Carrollton.  As you can imagine, I was shouting at the TV, "Oh, come on!  Don't put them in Carrollton!"  Local folks will understand.  

They chose a house in Grenada, and it's funny because I'd been looking at that very house on Zillow.  No, I'm not looking to buy another house.  I can't even afford the one I have, much less a new one.  I just like looking at houses and dreaming.  

Now for something I have done in a while -- a meme debunkeration.  This one is so stupid, I can't even believe I'm having to debunk it. 

It's common sense, really.  Ticks are everywhere, just like fleas and mosquitoes.  They don't need to be "delivered" anywhere, because they're already here.  True they crawl slower than a snail, so how do they get around?  I'll give you a hint:  They bark.  They meow.   They moo.  They neigh.  They cheep, cluck, or screech.  Yes, ticks hitch rides on animals and birds.  I can't believe I even have to say that.  

The reason we're seeing "outbreaks" is because the weather is warming up and the ticks beginning to move.  Or if you're in the south, they're already moving.   It happens every spring.   Seriously, people.  Not everything is some deep dark plot to get you.  Sometimes nature is just nature being nature.  

And finally, your humor for the day. 

I feel this to the depths of my soul.  I miss the days when you turned something on and it worked.  No app.  No account.  No signing in.  You turned it on and it just did what it was supposed to do. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to sign in to my TV so I can sign in to my Pluto account, so I can watch reruns of Digging For The Truth. 

Laters...

Sigh…Again

My new lunch box isn't waterproof.  

To be fair, the tag never said it was.  I just assumed since it was a cooler -- as in, meant to hold ice -- that it would be.  But it isn't, and the way I found out is that when I picked it up to go to the break area at lunch, I discovered that it was sitting in a literal puddle of ice melt inside my brazing table.  

That's a bummer, because I liked it otherwise.  Oh well, on to plan B.  

I do have a hard sided cooler that I think once belonged to Cody, but it doesn't have all of the little pockets and things my old lunch box had.  And yes, I do need ice out there, especially in the summer.  Today, for example, it got up to 87° in my work area, and it isn't even full on summer yet.  I'll keep the new bag, though, and maybe use it for road trips.  

Like I ever take road trips...but hey, you never know.  I could get a wild hair one of these days and just take off somewhere.

Speaking of plan B, I talked myself off of the ledge in regards to my garden hose.  I'm still going to get another mender thing and mend it, but in the meantime, I dragged my front yard hose around to the back and got my spare hose from the shed -- which had nothing wrong with it, it was just too short for my back yard -- and connected the two together. It's plenty long enough to reach my garden spot, so I'm going to use it for now.  

As for the gray hose, I rolled it up, and it will now be the spare until it breaks again.  Three strikes and it's out.    

On a similar note, my new clothes horse arrived Monday, but I didn't even take it out of the box until today.  Once I got it set up in the back yard, 

I washed my sheets and hung them up to dry in the fresh air and sunshine. 

I had to use the small clothes horse to get both sheets hung up, but that's OK.  For regular loads of laundry, it'll do just fine.  By the way, it does come with clips to hang clothes hangers on, so a lot of shirts will fit.  

In other news, the baby tomatoes are getting their first sets of true leaves.  I finally bit the bullet and started putting them outside before I leave for work so they can get a full day of sun.  

It was hard to do, but I've got to let them grow up sometime.  I'm still a bit nervous about leaving them out overnight, but that may change soon, since I have to go in at 4:00 tomorrow morning.   If I'm putting them out at 3:30 ish before I leave, I might as well leave them out all night, right? 

Oh, and this time, I used a potting mix instead of the hydroponic sponges, so when I thin them here in another week or so, I'm going to try to tease the seedlings out and re-plant them into their own cells instead of just chopping them off.   I don't know what I'm going to do with them if they all survive, but I'll figure out something.  I mean, I don't know where I'm going to plant them.  My bed has room for four right now.  If these all survive, I'll have seven --  provided no more seeds germinate.  I could end up with 12!  

The last thing I did before I ran inside into the air conditioning was to move this compost bag into the garden spot so that it would be in full sun most of the day.  

That ought to get that compost cooking.   I think I'll move my bingo tumbler composter over there too...

For your laugh of the day, it looks like Louisiana man might be giving Florida man a run for his money. 

 Seriously, who didn't see that coming? 

And finally, I finished watching Lark Rise To Candleford yesterday, and I'm not quite sure what to do with myself at the moment.   Is it weird to go through something like mourning when finishing a beloved series?

Because that's exactly what this feels like...

Every Saturday

Every Saturday, I say I'm going to get up and go to the farmer's market, and every Saturday I don't get up and go to the farmer's market...Maybe if they carried it over into the afternoon I'd go, but it ends at 11:00.  

Take yesterday morning, for example.  I wanted to get the weedeating done before it go too hot, so I did the weedeating.  I couldn't move my arms for the rest of the day, but the weedeating is done.  

Then I wanted to start a new compost pile in the black bag I emptied last week, so I tore up some cardboard for the browns, and pulled up some weeds for the greens, and got that done.  And I harvested a bunch of herbs, washed them, and hung them up to dry.  

While all of this was going on, I did a load of laundry and hung it on my clothes horse to dry.  

By the time I was finished, it was nearly 11:00 and the farmer's market was over for the week, so I just piddled around the house for the rest of the day.  And of course, you may be wondering why I'm telling you about yesterday today instead of yesterday.  Simple,  yesterday was D-Day.  It's important we remember those important dates, so I'll keep on posting about them, even though most of you skip those. 

OK, on to today.  I'm mostly rested my hands since weedeating seems to have seriously irritated my trigger finger, so much so I can't even comfortably knit.   Instead, I just watched TV.  I found a new to me show on Prime called Royal Autopsy.  A professor and forensic pathologist do an autopsy on a prosthetic body from an old English king or queen and try to determine the cause of death with the knowledge we have today.  It's pretty interesting if you're into those sorts of shows.  Unfortunately, there are only six episodes, so I've already finished bingeing it.   Now I'm re-watching Time Team, Digging For The Truth, and Lark Rise to Candleford on Prime, Pluto, and Roku Channel respectively.  

Anyway, just so this post isn't a complete waste of your time, here are some garden photos. 

My zinnia bed.

A bachelor's button.

My pepper bed.

My tomato and basil bed.

It looks like I'm going to have plenty of peppers to harvest.   Every one of my plants looks like this. 

While I was cleaning out the shed, I found this old thing.  

I'd bought it from a thrift shop ages ago, thinking I could use it as a planter.  Alas, as it has absolutely no drainage whatsoever, that didn't work out too well.  I think it was some sort of candle, since it's got what looks like wax in the bottom.  I'm going to clean it out, but I don't really know what I'm going to do with it after that.   I don't want to get rid of it, because I still like it.  I guess I'll use it for decoration or something. 

And finally, your bit of humor for the day. 

Florida never fails...

When It Rains

When it rains, it pours.  

I finished a long, tiring day of work, then ran into town to drop off the piano book in the Little Free Library and see if there was anything in there that I wanted to read.  There wasn't, so I got back into my little car and drove down to Walmart. 

My shopping done, I came home and as is my custom, started a load of laundry.  The trouble started when I put them into the dryer.  Only a short time later, the breaker tripped.  What?  

I reset the breaker and re-started the dryer.  About ten minutes later, it tripped again.  Once more, I reset the breaker and re-started the dryer.  Same thing...By that time, though, the first load of jeans was dry.  I folded them and put them away, but since I didn't know what was causing the dryer to trip, I dragged out the old clothes horse and put the second load of jeans and shorts onto it, and set it out into the sunlight.  

I started a load of shirts, then did a little Googling.  Basically, what I came up with is that my dryer is old.  The most likely culprits are either that the drum rollers and bearings are worn out, or the wiring is worn out.  I can try to replace the drum bearings and rollers and see if that helps, but I don't feel confident enough to fool with the wiring.  In the mean time, I hopped onto Amazon and ordered a larger clothes horse to use for now.   

I'm considering getting a set of full sized clothesline poles as well.  Truth is, I've wanted one for a long time, even after I do fix or replace my dryer.  I love the freshness of line dried clothes. 

By the time I did all of that, the shirts were done, so I gave the dryer one more chance.  Sure enough, about ten minutes in, the breaker tripped one last time.  I gave up, put the shirts on clothes hangers, and hung them on the shower curtain rack.   I'll save the rest of the laundry for tomorrow.  Hopefully, the shorts and jeans will be dry by then, and I can use the clothes horse for the next load.  

If all else fails, I can haul it into town and dry it at a laundry mat.  Or a laundromat, if you want to use the correct spelling.  Or washateria, if you're from Texas.  

By the way, I glanced quickly through some old blog posts to try and see when I bought that dryer, but didn't see anything.  It's probably at least 20 years old, if not more.  I honestly don't remember if I've ever had to replace my dryer.  My washer, I know I've replaced twice, but not my dryer.  If that's the case, it's 30 years old.  And if that's the case, it's time to treat myself to a new one.  Alas, that will mean that my garden expansion might have to wait a bit longer.  

Speaking of my garden, while all of this was going on, my little baby 'maters were just chillin' in the sun. 

I wish I had some way of protecting them so I could leave them outside all the time.  Once they get big enough to up-pot, I can put the little cloches over them, but for now, I'm bringing them back inside every night. 

And finally, what this day needs is a little funky music...

White boy. 

Guess Who

Guess who decided to mow after work today.  Yep, this girl. 

Why?  Well, because the grass in the front yard was getting close to knee high.  I'd done the back yard Saturday, but the front was still too mushy from the recent rains.  You know, that's what I hired the landscammer to do.  To fill in the low spots and improve the drainage so it wouldn't be like that.  We all know how that went.  

Anyway, I was looking at the forecast and saw that we were supposed to be getting more rain on Saturday, so I figured it would be best to get that chore out of the way before the yard got mushy again.   Wouldn't you know it, I checked again after I'd finished, and they've pushed the rain back to Sunday.  Oh well, at least it's done and I won't have to worry about it.  

The only problem is that now I can't see.  Because I'm allergic to grass and all...

Fortunately, it wasn't that hot out, so I got it done with only a little bit of sweating.  The weedeating will have to wait until tomorrow or Saturday, though, because I'm plumb tuckered. 

In fact, I'm so tuckered I'm going to bed.  After I practice my piano that is.  Which ought to be fun, seeing as I can't see...

Goodnight.

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.