Time, Time, Time

  

Today, I may have too much free time.  I should be outside getting the last few plants in the ground (since the back porch is finished, I know where the rest go), but . . . nope not doing that.  Tomorrow. 

I should be moving the rest of my plants onto the now finished back porch, but . . . nope not doing that either.  Tomorrow. 

I should be repotting a few things, taking down my sister’s canopy, moving my work table to its new location, and so on and so forth blah, blah, blah.  But I'm not doing any of that.  Tomorrow.

Today, I am being the computer equivalent of a couch potato. 

And, I found a very cool site.

Back in the days before Siri and Google Maps, we used paper maps. 

I actually got quite good at using maps because I have a terrible, awful, bad sense of direction!  But, give me a map and I can usually figure out where I am in regard to where I am supposed to be. 

Now, to be honest, my preference of maps is something like this –

It involves imagination, fears, warnings and I feel certain that somewhere there is a similar road map to this as there are monsters, dragons, pirates, potholes, and other things on the highways as well.

The site I found is full of maps with all sorts of odd and interesting information.  For instance, this is the world map many of us grew up with.

However, this is how the world map should look.

Wonder or worry about population?  Well, here’s the population density around the world.  (My part of the world doesn’t look too bad.)

Closer to home, the population of middle America = both coasts.  And that tells you why property along the East and West coasts is sooooo expensive.  I’ll just stick to my gulf coast area.

I thought this was interesting – Land Use here in the US.

There were others that caught my attention but this is probably enough.  Don't want to wear out my welcome.

Think I’ll get up and walk all the way to the sofa and sit down with my book.  Tomorrow will be busy.

 19 Nov 2021

Wednesday

  

My new back porch is almost finished!  And, it is beautiful!  They maybe finished today and I’ll start moving things around tomorrow. 

 

The Demon Duo have been watching out the window and are very interested in what-ever-the-hell-that-is.  I plan to let them out there - as close to outside as they'll get.

Also, the front walk if done!  I got three more bags of pebbles and put them out.  I suspect it will be an ongoing process of adding more pebbles as needs arrive but, right now . . . . ta da!

And just so it’s not completely boring –

There are shells and beach glass sprinkled around.

Interesting rocks and critters.

Fossils, plants, and sculptures (in case you can’t tell, the big statue is a pelican – he’s very old but stands strong).

Plus, a lion guards the front of the walkway.

I owe a big thank you to two friends – one who said – would you be interested in these landscaping rocks?  I don’t want them anymore.  And one that said – would you be interested in these bags of gravel?  I don’t need them.  My answer to both was obviously YES!  So, THANK YOU!

Inside the house I’ve done “catch-up” stuff. 

Found and hung drapes in the living room. 

Decided on and put up a door cover for the bathroom.  The door into the master bathroom was positioned so it opened on top of the toilet.  Which means, you’d have to close the door to get to said toilet.  Fine if the need arises BUT, I am a little old lady and if I have to get up in the middle of the night, in the dark, all I could see was running into the door, one way or the other.  I took the door off.  Instead I’ve hung a linen drape that is the same color as the wall and will slide back completely out of the way.  Or, slide across the door if required.

I put a bulletin board over my desk.  I think I must be a dying breed of human that wants a place to pin various little things I might need quickly.  Of course the drawback is after a year I have to clean it off as things get pinned over things, over other things.  But, it works for me.

I also finished the ornaments I made earlier (well, I have one more to do).  Several are pretty much okay-not-spectacular and I don’t know what I’ll do with them.  However these three (and the fourth one to be finished) I really like.

They are a combination of needlework and beading. 

The pattern didn’t call them out as ornaments (coasters, actually) but I liked the design.  So I changed the colors, added the beadwork and completely filled in the entire design (no empty fabric showing).  Also, I don’t like ornaments that have to face one direction because the back is - - - well, obviously the back so, I reworked the finishing so the backs look like this

I think they turned out nice.  Don’t know what I’ll do with them either but they were fun and challenging to make.

What else???

Today is Homemade Bread Day.

The origins of this particular Day are shrouded in mystery, but the history of bread obviously follows along with the history of humanity itself. Bread has been an important part of diet and culture and has appeared in pretty much every corner of the world in some form or another. It is estimated that grains and cereals became an important part of the human diet long before bread came along. Bread, itself, is believed to have entered the scene perhaps as long as 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic period in Europe. Some loaves of bread even from that long ago used the concept of retaining a piece of the previous day’s bread as a ‘starter’ in the fashion of sourdough bread. In 79 AD, the tragic volcano eruption of Pompeii preserved the city’s ovens so that archeologists would later find them. It was discovered that the people from that time had access to bread that was baked in at least 33 different bakeries.

Now, here’s a couple of Did You Know?

1  Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented a machine to slice bread in 1928.
2 Red Skelton first coined the phrase “It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread” during a newspaper interview in 1952.
3  Bread is the staff of life and in the breadbasket of the nation the breadwinner of the family cashes his paycheck and hopefully has enough bread to purchase bread for the family.
4 Pan de Campo (aka. Cowboy Bread) is the Official Bread of Texas.
5  In 1890 women baking at home produced more than 80% of the bread eaten in the United States.
6 On January 18, 1943 the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture banned the sale of sliced bread .  The Reason: Sliced bread went stale faster; therefore, Americans used more wheat, needed to feed soldiers.
7  Most of the bread marketed in the U.S. as “wheat” is actually white bread dyed brown with caramel food coloring.
8 The distinction of “upper crust” comes from the 1600s. When the bread was made in stone ovens the bottoms would become dirty from ash and soot. If you were wealthy you cut the bottom crust off and just ate the “upper crust” part of the bread.

Hmmm – think I’ll make some English Toasting Bread.  It’s a wonderful bread, easy and tasty.

Today is also my second granddaughter’s birthday, so . . . .

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!

And, I think that’s all I know today.

17 Nov 2021

 

Not Much

  

exciting – not much exciting going on around here. 

 Although, first of all - - -

I have a carport! 

Yay!  In case you’re wondering why, the front panel is longer than the others, it’s because the front faces west.  And, with no big trees (yet) to break up the very hot sun rays, it gets to be somewhere between “pretty damn hot” and “ohmigod I think I have 2^nd degree burns on my derriere” in the car. 

I would like to say it went in without a hiccup.  That was (of course) not the case.  But, in order to not have any more heart burn, all I’ll say is DO NOT EVER use a company called Star Buildings and Carports out of Nacogdoches, TX.

The shims finally arrived and I spent Monday and Tuesday working on the walkway up to the stairs.  I still need a couple 3 more bags of pebbles but you get the idea.

It was hard work and I spent several hours lifting 500 lb stepping stones, moving 300 lb landscaping rocks, and putting out 150 lbs of pebbles, but I’m happy with the look.  Possibly I exaggerated the weight – possibly not.  I came inside after crawling around outside with a single thought

I am too old to do this sort of work! 

At 74 aren’t I supposed to be in the “golden” part? 

Honestly – my back, shoulders, wrists, and knees still hurt!  Oh well, as my aunt that lived well into her 90’s said – the secret to long life is never slow down. 

And, another good thing.

The screened-in back porch is under way.  Maybe finished by the weekend or early next week.  Everybody – keep you fingers crossed for me!!

What else?  Well, I moved the plumerias into one of the bays of my sister shop.  Come November, plumerias go dormant, lose their leaves, and need little water or light.  And, while we haven’t had any cold weather, I know from experience, those sneaky cold fronts can arrive with minimal notice.  I do not want to try moving said plumerias in the cold, rain, and dark (which I have done too many times when I was younger). 

Uhmmm, let see -  – I noticed my Devil’s Trumpet is blooming.  Datura, also known as thornapple, jimsonweed, or devil’s trumpet, is a member of the Solanaceae family (which includes nightshade, tomatoes, potatoes, and chili peppers).  Personally, I’d put the chili peppers with datura and nightshade as being dangerous to your health and well-being, however that’s just me.  If you do grow this plant, be sure to remember it can cause respiratory depression, arrhythmias, fever, delirium, hallucinations, psychosis, and even death if taken internally.  So, don't eat this.  Don't pick the flowers.  Just enjoy its beauty outside.

I got my covid booster yesterday.  No negative reactions or it could be that all my muscles and bones still hurt from carrying very heavy rocks, etc and I just am not noticing anything else.  But I am, I hope, as immune as possible.

Daryl, the teleporting cat, managed to teleport himself from the living room out the back door the other day.  Honestly, for a fat cat he is fast and can get through small openings.  Anyway, he got out and headed for the canopy under which sit all my shade loving plants.  I was right behind him.  However, the two big dogs next door saw him through the fence and barked.  Daryl skidded to a halt, looked over there and saw dogs AND a male human person (my neighbor), turned tail and was back up the stairs to the door (lemme in, lemme in). 

He hasn’t tried to get out again.

Well – that’s all I know so far today. 

 

10 Nov 21

Hmmmmm . . . .

  

Well, it’s nearly 11am and nothing's happening.  Something is supposed to be happening.  But not yet.

Several weeks ago, I ordered a carport. 

It’s going to look like this – white with black trim.

Finally, last week I got a call that they were ready for the installation.  TODAY!  Yay!  They would be here early.  I obviously have a different understanding of ‘early’ than they have.

This is early.

Currently, it’s mid-morning, heading quickly toward noon-ish.  Nothing happening.  Of course, they are coming from East Texas so . . . . .  I will call if nothing is happening by noon.  I may not be nice.  ps: I just call (and I was nice) no one seems to know exactly where the truck is.  I am not encouraged. 

I’m still working on the walkway up to the house.  Still waiting on the shims that were supposed to be here Saturday.

Currently the package is at a post office carrier facility in Huntsville, TX.  102 miles, 163 km, 88 nautical miles (though I’m pretty sure there’s no waterway between here and there).  Depending on how it gets here (truck, bicycle, donkey), I might get the shims by Thursday or Friday.  I’m about to be annoyed.

I have to get out and vote today.  Usually I vote early but for some reason just didn’t get myself together enough to do it so I have to go today.  Not voting for people – voting for amendments to TX constitution.  I’m ready!

Wow – it’s November already.  And, we go off DST this weekend.  That’s fine.  I like it to be light in the morning when I get up.

The materials for my back porch are here. 

Construction is supposed to start next Monday.

One final thing –

Happy Birthday Cookie Monster!

I shall have some chocolate chip cookies to celebrate.

And, that’s all I know right now.

 

ain’t it the truth!

 

2 Nov 2021