Gettiing Some Stuff Done

It is so nice to be done with having taxes hanging over my head like The Sword Of Damocles!  I'm back to regular stuff.

1.  I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my handcart tire was flat.  Actually, both of them were but I didn't realize that at the time.  "Unknown" suggested that I use a winch strap to tighten the tire to the wheel (always appreciate good advice).  I've done that before on other garden equipment tires though and those long straps can be tedious to tighten.  

So I had the cart propped upside down and clamped against my workbench and happened to glance at my other bar clamps.

Well, maybe that would work.  I clamped 2 across the tire.  It worked!  And much easier than the strap.  Yay!

2.  Last March, I bought a 5'X8'x18" trailerload of topsoil/compost mix for filling 10 gallon pots for planting tomatoes, beans, and corn (My regular garden needs some renovation).  I got the containers filled but then my right hip went all bad in April. 

This gets all complicated, but I'll try to keep it short.  I went to bed April 15 feeling fine.  I woke up April 16 and fell to the floor when I tried to get up.   And I screamed in pain.  The x-ray technicians said it was bone marrow cancer.  My Dr said I had a liver problem and suggested further tests with specialist Drs (who were booked for 3-4 months).

I had to buy 2 roller/walkers (one in the car, the other for in the house) just to get around.  But before those appointments,I suddenly could walk normally again after 2 months.  It was obviously "just" a very badly torn groin muscle.  

But I still had a half trailerload of topsoil/compost mix leftover (I miscalculated how much I needed for the containers).  So half the stuff has been sitting in the trailer for 7 months.  And I need the trailer for other reasons.

So most is going on a front yard island around a tree and boulder.

I have 500 Spring bulbs arriving in November.  Many daffodils will be planted there (the deer won't eat them).  Along with a couple dozen Japanese Painted Ferns I will transplant and a few remaining 'Snow-On-The-Mountain' plants which I hope will spread (which also the deer won't eat).  And no tulips; the deer love to eat them!

The hyancinths and some random daffodils will go the space around the birdfeeder for more color.  I made it too uniform originally.  Large clumps of identical bulbs.  Boring...

The crocuses will go in the lawn.  In vole-proof cages.  I planted a few hundred in the back and front lawn 10 years ago, and there are barely any left.  If deer love tulips, voles love every bulb but daffodils.

That should keep me busy for a week!

3.  Bought 40 pansies yesterday.  Lowe's has great prices on 8-packs.  In some past years, I have planted a 100 in one spot in the back.

But I want to cover that area this Winter/Spring in brown packing paper to smother encroaching weedy grasses.  So this year I will be just planting them in the deck pots and around the mailbox post.  I think that will be more visible and cheery during the Winter anyway.

4.  Bought a mop-wringer recently.  Which sounds a dirty and janitorial, but a damp mop is easier on the wood floors than a sponge-mop.  And a wringer will help.  Dipping a dirty mop in the toilet and then squeezing it clean get tiring.

So I started declutterring the floors the past couple days.  I can't mop the floors when they are covered with cat toys, turbotracks, tunnels, and my own odd junk!  And even then, I will have to move and/or lift all the furniture.  But a wringer seems "cleaner" to use.

And then, I'll drag out the carpet water-cleaner machine.  It will probably go into shock since I haven't used it for 10 years.  And the dirty water it sucks up will be depressing (and leave a bad smell for 2 days).  But both the wood floors and carpets need some serious cleaning.    So declutterring the floors was a start.

5.  Cooking,,,  I found 2 interesting ideas in both a cooking magazine and the Washington Post newspaper recently.  The first was that adding some salt to eggs you are scrambling makes them smoother (by relaxing the whites).  Tried that yesterday and I agree.

The second idea was adding sugar to the salt and pepper in cubed beef (in any recipe).   The sugar promotes browning and adds some flavor.  And making a slurry of beef stock, cornstarch, soy sauce and steak sauce seriously enhances the flavor (I add minced fresh garlic separately) .  

Add the sugar, salt, and pepper an hour beforehand to relax the meat proteins.  I overdid it though.  Too much salt (I don't normally use much salt on my food, so the recipe was a bit more than I wanted).  But it did brown better with the sugar and the salt kept the meat moister.  

Which when tossed back into a skillet of shallots, and red bell peppers heated with the slurry, actually came out very well.  But less salt next time.

6.  Went to Petsmart Monday for "Marley-food".  By which I mean his kidney-care diet stuff.  Usually, there is just Hills Tuna&Vegetable flavor or Royal Canin T (Royal Canin just uses initials).  But this time, they had Royal Canin E and D.  There is no ingredient list on the cans.  So I asked a clerk if they knew what the letters meant.  He didn't but looked it up (which took some time because apparently Royal Canin doesn't want you to know).

But he found out that one is chicken, one is chicken liver and pork liver, and one is chicken liver, pork liver, and salmon.  Pork liver ans salmon seem gross together.  I didn't buy that.  But I'm not a cat, maybe Marley would love it.  I have to go back to get a few cans of it as a taste-test for him.  

That's enough for today...