It's not yet 7:30 am and the dog is very eager for me to go outside with her to toss a toy. She loves chasing things. I'm still drinking coffee, having just organized the kitchen and put away laundry I'd dried yesterday.
Weird thing with the laundry - I followed the instructions on the tag for the couch pillows I'd gotten at Ikea, and it nearly broke my washing machine. I put them in with the bedding setting, but it ran for hours and finally I overrode it and took them out. They're down and the exterior isn't really water permeable. So weird they said it was machine washable. So I put them outside to hang dry yesterday when it was hot and the feathers were still so waterlogged. Just weird and very stinky. Maybe they'd be ok in an old style washer but it tripped out my fancy washer. Hopefully no permanent damage done. I left them outside overnight (on racks in the patio). I'll probably need to run them in the dryer. Anyway, just weird to me that the care instructions could be so wrong.
Last night I picked more cucumbers and got my first quart of pickles fermenting. I saw lots of little cucs so I should have plenty to eat for salads soon, I just really wanted some fermented pickles. Picked more zucchini, of course. Made blackberry muffins that are ok. I"m just about out of leftovers so need to plan the next meals. Probably zucchini black beans and rice to start.
Once I get the dog's ya-yas out sufficiently I want to do some exterior house cleaning in the front yard while I'm watering some things. I'd really like to finish this project. It's just exhausting to me to go up and down the ladder and scrub and all that, so I have to break it into chunks and I have to be motivated. A shoe store has a sale that I want to check out, and I have a library book to pick up. I'm going to take Friend to the recycling place and the dump - she has an old swing that is mildewy and bothers me every time I see it. She thinks the recycling place will take it and maybe they will, and I have some old lights to drop off there. But I'm also prepared to go to the dump with it.
I cleaned out my bathroom sink drain last night - it has been gurgling and I'm concerned about the vent, but maybe it's just a wee clog so I'll start with the easy thing first.
One thing I need to better figure out is how to clean my windows. I mean really really clean them. I keep thinking they're clean and then the light comes in - it's quite harsh - and I see every little spot amplified. I'm going to make myself crazy with this but I'm sure it can be better without going overboard.
I probably need to check the jalapeno bush again and see how urgently I need to harvest. I have peppers in my fridge to deal with soon - probably need to freeze some. But I could also pickle jalapenos this weekend. I may have things in the fridge I've forgotten about, need to go through it thoroughly.
Well, the dog is getting more demanding that we need to go outside and she's not entirely wrong.
**
Oof, finished washing down the gutters on the front of the house, yay. Still need to scrub down the siding and windows, and I still have sections in the back, but I think I'm halfway done now. The longer I go, the easier it gets. I'm stinky but just taking a break before scrubbing bathroom and showering.
I've been wearing the same shirt almost every summer day since last summer. I went on a roadtrip last year a few hours away and went to a cool national monument and enjoyed it a lot, and I picked up a tshirt there. Every time I look at the shirt I'm reminded of the cool trip and that I need to do more trips like that. I'll wear the damn shirt out and that's ok too.
Have some rice cooking to add to a pot of beans and zucchini and peppers and a tomato and whatever else I find in my fridge. It's not something I like to eat a ton, but if I make enough for two or three meals I'm good. So I'm just cooking 1/2 cup of rice. I probably also want to start shredding and freezing zucchini to use throughout the year. I expect I'll get to more good months of heavy zucchini, but you never know. Pest or disease challenges could arise and knock them out, stranger things have happened. Oh but my freezer is full, I just learned when putting more blackberries in. Maybe I'll be up for making blackberry jam soon.
It's mostly cloudy out there which is great for everything except laundry but that's ok. I'm drying the pillows in the dryer and it smells so bad because they're feathers. And they still won't get totally dry so I'll keep hanging them as well.
**
Oy vey, I'm schvitzing from labor and humidity. I'm very pleased with myself: I finally caulked my windows and did pretty good and built and installed a window screen and it's ok. I'll need to trim up the screen with a razor blade, and it seems the springs are pushing in the screen perhaps so there's a little gap around the edge, but it's better than the one I broke. HOpefully I don't break any more when I finish the last window screen cleaning (I have five more or so) - I better understand how they fit in than before, so I can finesse it better.
So now I need to change clothes and head out shortly for the errands, and then I intend to come home and collapse with exhaustion.
Spending more time than usual in the front of my house makes me realize that I will never be able to stay on top of the spider webs and it will always look like an old abandoned property in some ways. I have SO MANY spiders inside and outside my house, and we live in peace and harmony. I just don't like so many webs.
**
When I was at the library, I picked up the book I'd requested and waited for, and then I noticed there were some shelves of popular books that I scanned. An older woman was doing the same, and as we turned the corners, I said to her, "Are you looking for something good? This [The True True Story of Raja the Gullible] is incredible, so so good. Highly recommend." She thanked me and picked it up to look at it. It's even more poignant now with Lebanon under attack.
**
Scale says I'm back up the 1.4 pounds that it said I lost last week. No surprise as I ate too much bread and potato chips.
Something I eat a lot of that surprises me is oats. I guess i shouldn't be surprised, but it seems like I'm always having to buy more - at least a quart a month. I don't eat oatmeal for breakfast as it spikes my blood sugar (I discovered this decades ago, that I'm always hungry after eating it), though I've been known to eat it for dinner from time to time (with apples and cinnamon). But I'm much more likely to bake with it. Making zucchini muffins now with it. I can grind it up to make oat flour which can work in a lot of things.
I think I'm going to go back to buying my flour in large bags at the mill. I've been getting it in bulk, the same flour for about the same price. But it is in a bin at floor level which is awkward to feel and also doesn't feel super sanitary. I like the bulk bins that customers don't dig into, just pull the level and it opens up to pour. I've seen the scoops for bottom goods land on the floor - I always grab them and take them to the cashier, and they're nice about it, but ... not encouraging for sanitariness. And they're also not sealed bins like the containers I have at home.
I wonder if the use of oats instead of wheat flour is why my baked goods don't rise. I also don't use sugar, cut the fat, and use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose. Yes, they are still tasty - for these, the zucchini makes them moist, and the oats give a nice texture (for me, not everyone would like it), and the dates sweeten it enough.
I've turned to free TV through my library and have started Trom (and Nordic mystery, one of my favorite genres) but about every three minutes I get up and go do another task. Dishes are washed, tofu is pressing. I'll bake that and saute the garden green beans and peas to go with it. I'm making another batch of date paste so that I have it on hand. I use deglet noor dates which aren't nearly as sweet as medjool and they're also drier usually. I may get some medjool again. Last time I got them, I ate too many so told my self no more. I'm also making zucchini pancake batter - even though I probably won't cook them until tomorrow, it's nice to have things totally prepped. They're savory not sweet, mostly zucchini held together with some eggs and a bit of flour, and some nice flavors (herbs, cheese). If I'm really feeling industrious, I'll cook a bag of blackberries and then put them through the food mill to have the juice and pulp prepped for seedless jam. I may also roast some anaheims to can or freeze. I picked quite a few recently. I shared with Friend but still have quite a bit. I'd like to see how it goes to process them - are they like the little roasted chilis in the store? I like those, use them a lot.
We tried picking pears today but they were reluctant so maybe they need more time. Then I will be drowning in pears, so it's best to take care of other things before that. I still haven't quite learned how to know when pears are ready - I've already handled probably 100 that had fallen already - some clearly eaten by animals, others not great and maybe just windfall, but others seem good and ready - but by the time I pick them up, they've been bruised and battered and not so good anymore (though the ants love them). Grapes have also started to fall even though they mostly aren't ripe quite yet - i keep catching the dog eating them. They're toxic but she won't listen and there's no way to stop her. She's such a cute little farm dog. When we went for our walk today, an off-leash dog came running towards us, no person around. I roared, "NOOOO! GET YOUR DOG! LEASH YOUR DOG!" The acoustics were just right and I scared the bejeezus out of the dog, sounding like a thundering god, and it scurried away. My dog's tantrum was pretty mild after I let the rage roar. Unfortunately, I have been holding my dog's leash when a dog has rushed us and she has quick reflexes. One particularly horrifying moment was a little white dog that just would not leave us and my dog snatched it up and shook it like a toy. Finally that person reached us and together we pried open my dog's jaws to get the white dog out. It was so horrible. Unleashed out of control dogs aren't ok but the consequence shouldn't be death. So yeah, I have a lot of feelings about unleashed dogs rushing us. I'm certain that this dog today was friendly, but my dog is a loose cannon. She wants to be friendly but she doesn't know how.
this is the most productive weekend I've had in ages, it's been fabulous. The temperature being below 80 probably helps. It will be nice when chores are more manageable and I'm open to more leisure. I definitely enjoy all the food preparation and canning and such, and I very much like the result of the work, but I also feel a little trapped by it all. I always feel this way in summer here - we push through the nice weather, and the gardening season is short. By August I start looking forward to winter again, for some sitting still time. I have a feeling it will be a cold winter and I am very ready with the firewood. The dog hates fire heat but she'll survive.
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