Slap on the Pontoons, Honey! The Creek's Rising!

I checked my egg diary (yes, I have one and have kept it religiously for 11 years) and it has rained for almost 14 days straight.  This is not conducive to gardening.  Or about anything else except duck-watching.  Even the ducks seem tired of it.  All that greyness has ratcheted my energy level to 1.


Last Thursday I reached the end of my tether and went straight out after work and cleaned out the small coop.  I ran the power out and set up a nice fluffy layer of shavings.  At 5:30 the next morning, I was hooking up the light, putting out water and food, and trotting the Nuggets out in the cat carrier.  I then trotted back in, had a nice latte and wallowed in the chick-less-ness of my laundry room.


Saturday was supposed to rain all day, but we were in luck and it didn't start until 3:15.  I gave myself a pep talk, had three large lattes, and threw myself into action!  That break from the downpours let me run to the food pantry, pick up feed, go to the post office and library, and make it back to tackle the raised beds.  I got five beds rough-hoed, three of those ready for planting, put the hoops up over my (please god) pepper and eggplant bed, adjusted the framework over the blueberry and currant bushes, and made it in before it poured.  And boy, did it!  I think we must have gotten well over 5 inches of rain since mid-April.  It's crazy.  And cold.  I also muscled my Meyers Lemon tree out onto the deck (where the pergola has not been built, sigh), with fervent apologies.  It is not supposed to drop to frost levels, but it did get down to 38*.  I'm keeping a close eye on it.  I need to get the giant fig tree out, but that is a two-person job.  Maybe three.  Everything deck-wise is hinging on the building of the pergola.  But, until we get some dry weather, that's not happening.

All the powdered sugar sank into the buttery
surface.

I baked a new variety of cookie for the Barn Guys - Mexican Chocolate Crinkles.  I can't tell you if they were tasty, as this was not a GF recipe, but they were fighting over the last one, so I take that as a good sign.  It may have been the stick-and-a-half of butter....  Mine did not have a nice, white, powdery sugar surface, but they seemed very moist and chewy.  A keeper.  I also baked a strawberry rhubarb crisp for Mother's Day Dinner on Sunday.  It was a new recipe and, while I did like the topping, the fruit was very liquid-y.  The person who wrote the recipe that I 'based' my crisp on was very adamant about not adding cornstarch or any other filler.  She must have 'special, precious' fruit.  LOL.  It tasted fine, though, and my sister made an amazing dinner of sautéed shrimp and mushrooms with cheesy grits.  OMG.  Everyone was moaning around the table! 

Isn't she something?  And at 93!

This falls under the category of DUH.  For quite some time, I have had a lot of trouble with my lower back, hips, knees - you name it.  I wrote it off to age and abuse.  However, the weekend my sisters were over, as I was putting fresh sheets on my bed, I noticed that my mattress had a definite swayback look to it.  I then stood and tried to figure out how old it was.  Good lawd.  It has to be close to 30 years old.  As an experiment, I have been sleeping in the guest room - on the new mattress (less than 10 years old).  The first morning I woke up, tentatively put feet on the ground and...it was a miracle!  Yesterday, I took a deep, shaky breath and bought a new mattress.  What the heck are they stuffing these things with?  Fifty-dollar bills?  Geezlouise.  I tried to convince myself that it was an important investment in my overall health.  But, what I gain in physical health I may lose in emotional trauma.   It arrives in all its glory on Saturday.  It will be nice to be back in my own room - The Pepperoni is so confused.