"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Sunday Buffet

 *Sunday Buffet is my smorgasbord of random thoughts and observations.

*Last night's dinner was provided to us 100% from our garden.  How I've waited for this day!  We had new potatoes, boiled with salt and pepper, steamed zucchini and summer squash, and salad.  We actually harvested another round of lettuce from the garden.  I'm so pleased.



This is my future goal of course.  To be able to provide our fruit and vegetables from my own backyard is a very liberating feeling.  I know I'll never be able to walk completely away from the farmers markets and the groceries stores but still, every little bit helps!

*Our neighbors are filling their pool with water this weekend.  The kids are already in it and having a ball.  SM was talking to Heath, our neighbor.  They put in an in-ground "lined" pool.  The cost...21K.  Coincidentally, our neighbor catty corner to us is also putting in an in-ground pool.  Cement.  Rumor in the "hood" has it out that it's costing 50K.  More power to em.  Actually this family is an extended family success story.  Mom and Dad owned the house.  About 5 years ago Dad died (He'd been ill for a long time) and their only daughter and family sold their house and "bought" Mom and Dads place.  They built a Mother-In-Law apartment suite that's attached to the garage.  3 adults with 2 children.  You don't see that arrangement too much these days with everybody going their separate ways.

Don't get any ideas Mom

*We drive old cars.  The Jeep is 11 years old with 225K mile on it.  The truck needs mystery repairs.  (Fix one thing and another thing goes.  It's dead in the driveway.)  SM has been driving the Buick around busted up (from the accident back in February) while he argued with the insurance company.  SM finally settled his claim this week.  It dragged out this long because they would not give replacement value on the Buick.  The Buick is 8 years old and has close to 200k miles on it.  SM felt that they were short-changing him on the settlement by $1,500.  He went around and around with them.  He threatened to go to court.  About this time, the Jeep stopped working.  We were down to one vehicle and THAT car was iffy.  I threatened to go out and buy a new car.

Which threat did SM take seriously?  (Never piss your woman off, that's all I got to say...&:)

*We also had a thunderstorm move through last night as we were having our "garden" dinner.  We got some rain but had at least 10 minutes of the worst wind.  After the storm had passed we went out and all the tomatoes in the raised bed were flattened.  The cages pulled right up.  I'm not a big fan of tomatoes cages, staking is better IMHO but the beds weren't deep enough to support stakes.  They just wobbled.  So we had to go with the cages.  All the tomatoes that were staked did just fine.  Of course the corn was all flattened out but they'll bounce back.

*I like naps.  I'm liking them even more lately and I've noticed SM is too.  We both get "blinky" on the weekends between 1 and 3:00.  Just a part of getting older I guess.  It feels naughty though, like you're supposed to keep going all day long.  I never get sleepy at work though.  Just at home.  Must be because my time is my own.

*It's been two months since we suspended our Direct TV account for the summer.  Yesterday afternoon when SM turned the TV on to watch the local feed for the US Open (golf), he said "Do you realize we haven't had the TV at all today?"  Shocker!  I asked him if he could live without his sports options so we could just unplug satellite completely.  SM knows he can watch whatever the local channels offer, but he really wants the ESPN feeds and the Big Ten Network (Go Bucks).  So we'll be picking DTV back up again in mid August.  I think from here on out we'll always suspend service over the summer to save a few bucks.

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on being able to feast on your own bounty!
    I think the idea of the extended family living together is great. Hmmm, maybe you could trade some veggies for some pool time with the neighbors?

    Naps are also known as charge boosters. Get 'em while you can!

    Sorry about that wind, but at least you got some rain. We had a toad-strangler the other night. Got over 1/2 inch of the wet stuff! Whoo-hoo!

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  2. Sometimes a good nap recharges you better than a full nights sleep. So more power to ya! Sorry to hear the wind layed stuff down on ya, but it should be fine.

    Aren't insurance companies grand? errrrr

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  3. Don't hurry and make that MIL apartment. I have my home on wheels and can always pull into your driveway. Oh! there isn't room because of all the junk cars.

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  4. it looks sooo yummy!!

    Happy Gardening,
    -Kristina K.
    Urban Farm Wife

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