Who Needs A Gym?
I didn't go to the gym Friday. My hip was bothering me again at wake up time. I got twinges from it off and on during the morning at work too. I briefly debated going to the gym today, but jumped straight into yardwork instead. I'm still trying to figure out why I took a shower this morning before getting all dirty and sweaty, but it's to late to go back now. I'll just take another shower later. I suspect most of the "tan" on my arms is dirt. I know the "tan" on my feet is all dirt.
Today's accomplishments include weed whackitating the lawn edges, which always makes things look nice, then raking up the miscellaneous bits of stuff laying in the front yard, which also makes things look nice. The next four hours were spent raking leaves and hauling them to either the burn pile (for the loads with brush in them) or to the garden. Yes, that's correct. Four *hours* of raking leaves. I dumped about 4 wheelbarrow loads onto the burn pile and another 14 into the garden. I estimate there are about 10 more loads waiting to be raked up. My shoulders and abs will be pleasantly achey in the morning. Rather than continuing the yardwork by digging up some of the badly neglected flower beds, I'm stopping for the day. I want to be able to get back at it tomorrow without the copious use of pain medication. I've got quite a bit of work to get done in anticipation of peat moss and mulch delivery on Monday night.
Lest we think that spring has really, truly arrived, Mother Nature will be giving us a lovely cold front on Monday with freezing temperatures (low- to mid-20s) expected Sunday night and Monday night. Monday's high temp will be 45 degrees. It's 70 degrees and sunny today. I have all the windows open in the house and I have started to drain the water off the pool cover. This is similar weather to what we experienced a couple years ago when a hard freeze happened on Easter weekend and killed off all the fruit buds on my peach tree. I sincerely hope that won't happen this year. I'm determined to have home-grown fresh peaches this summer. A nice peach cobbler and peach shortcake sound really good, don't they?
The good news about the "late" hard freeze is that there will probably be cold-damaged plants on sale at the home improvement stores next week. I picked up a bunch of perennials 2 years ago that way. I'm definitely glad I didn't purchase any flowering annuals or veggie plants yet this year. I debated picking up some Friday afternoon, but decided against it in the end.
It's Not *Really* Watching TV, Is It?
Not if I'm watching it on the computer, right? You see, I've discovered Hulu. I couldn't resist the goofy commercials calling the TV watching public a bunch of idiots any longer. What I found was a nice assortment of TV shows that I can stream over the internet. There are quite a few science fiction and horror/suspense shows, like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dark Shadows, Serenity and Babylon5. This is going to come in very handy when I'm working on fiber stuff and the regular cable TV lineup lets me down. I've got several seasons of Bab5 to watch and I never did watch Serenity when it was on. I could probably get several months worth of viewing goodness out of Hulu before I lose interest or find some other thing to capture my attention.
Dinner Tonight
I completely forgot to eat lunch today. That seems to happen on big yardwork days. I get started about mid-morning and stop just in time to cook dinner. My intention was to make meatless loaf for dinner, along with some sort of colorful veggie and mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. I ended up making red beans with quinoa and kale. I don't know that I've ever cooked kale before. I know I've eaten it plenty of times and find it very tasty. Anyway, for this recipe, canned kidney beans are simmered with some sauteed onion, garlic and green peppers. The quinoa and kale are cooked separately. I'll serve it by piling beans and kale on top of the quinoa and letting the bean broth soak into the grain. The recipe claims to make 2 to 4 servings, but their stomachs must be much larger than mine. I think I'll get closer to 4-6 or even eight servings out of the recipe. The meatless loaf may end up waiting until next week.
Oranges have become my favorite snack of late. A pair of them makes for a nice filling bit of sweetness in the afternoon or for dessert. I used to avoid eating them because they were a nuisance to peel. Either I'm getting better at peeling, the oranges are shedding their skins more easily or I'm a whole lot more patient about getting good food. I've also had a lot of luck in picking out tasty bags of oranges too which always helps. Nothing like a mealy tasteless orange (or any other fruit) to put you off.
Today's accomplishments include weed whackitating the lawn edges, which always makes things look nice, then raking up the miscellaneous bits of stuff laying in the front yard, which also makes things look nice. The next four hours were spent raking leaves and hauling them to either the burn pile (for the loads with brush in them) or to the garden. Yes, that's correct. Four *hours* of raking leaves. I dumped about 4 wheelbarrow loads onto the burn pile and another 14 into the garden. I estimate there are about 10 more loads waiting to be raked up. My shoulders and abs will be pleasantly achey in the morning. Rather than continuing the yardwork by digging up some of the badly neglected flower beds, I'm stopping for the day. I want to be able to get back at it tomorrow without the copious use of pain medication. I've got quite a bit of work to get done in anticipation of peat moss and mulch delivery on Monday night.Lest we think that spring has really, truly arrived, Mother Nature will be giving us a lovely cold front on Monday with freezing temperatures (low- to mid-20s) expected Sunday night and Monday night. Monday's high temp will be 45 degrees. It's 70 degrees and sunny today. I have all the windows open in the house and I have started to drain the water off the pool cover. This is similar weather to what we experienced a couple years ago when a hard freeze happened on Easter weekend and killed off all the fruit buds on my peach tree. I sincerely hope that won't happen this year. I'm determined to have home-grown fresh peaches this summer. A nice peach cobbler and peach shortcake sound really good, don't they?
The good news about the "late" hard freeze is that there will probably be cold-damaged plants on sale at the home improvement stores next week. I picked up a bunch of perennials 2 years ago that way. I'm definitely glad I didn't purchase any flowering annuals or veggie plants yet this year. I debated picking up some Friday afternoon, but decided against it in the end.
It's Not *Really* Watching TV, Is It?
Not if I'm watching it on the computer, right? You see, I've discovered Hulu. I couldn't resist the goofy commercials calling the TV watching public a bunch of idiots any longer. What I found was a nice assortment of TV shows that I can stream over the internet. There are quite a few science fiction and horror/suspense shows, like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dark Shadows, Serenity and Babylon5. This is going to come in very handy when I'm working on fiber stuff and the regular cable TV lineup lets me down. I've got several seasons of Bab5 to watch and I never did watch Serenity when it was on. I could probably get several months worth of viewing goodness out of Hulu before I lose interest or find some other thing to capture my attention.
Dinner Tonight
I completely forgot to eat lunch today. That seems to happen on big yardwork days. I get started about mid-morning and stop just in time to cook dinner. My intention was to make meatless loaf for dinner, along with some sort of colorful veggie and mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. I ended up making red beans with quinoa and kale. I don't know that I've ever cooked kale before. I know I've eaten it plenty of times and find it very tasty. Anyway, for this recipe, canned kidney beans are simmered with some sauteed onion, garlic and green peppers. The quinoa and kale are cooked separately. I'll serve it by piling beans and kale on top of the quinoa and letting the bean broth soak into the grain. The recipe claims to make 2 to 4 servings, but their stomachs must be much larger than mine. I think I'll get closer to 4-6 or even eight servings out of the recipe. The meatless loaf may end up waiting until next week.
Oranges have become my favorite snack of late. A pair of them makes for a nice filling bit of sweetness in the afternoon or for dessert. I used to avoid eating them because they were a nuisance to peel. Either I'm getting better at peeling, the oranges are shedding their skins more easily or I'm a whole lot more patient about getting good food. I've also had a lot of luck in picking out tasty bags of oranges too which always helps. Nothing like a mealy tasteless orange (or any other fruit) to put you off.
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