It has rained, drizzled, sleeted, and/or dripped for days. I believe we have had an hour and a half of sun in the past three weeks. It can get a girl down.
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Sun or rain, I love my linen
sheep transparency |
All was not dreary!
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| Ain't it loverly? |
For Administrative Assistant Week (that used to be Secretary Week - but we have become way more inclusive since those PI days), I got these absolutely gorgeous flowers. That are on a living plant. Halleluiah! I can take it home and plant it. I also got a lovely wrappy type of bracelet that seems to be all the rage. My supervisor does her level best to make me stylish. She got me a beautiful cashmere wrap for Christmas - I'm afraid to wear it! Oddly, the bracelet was very musty-smelling and I am wondering if it had been dormant in someone's drawer before being passed on. This is not a big deal with me at all (although I could live without the musty-smelling bit), as I am a firm believer in secondhand, regifting and generally not perpetuating the gluttony that is this country. If anyone has some tips on how to rid it of its 'aroma', I would be very grateful. It is made up of thin leather straps (which, I believe, is the problem) and other loops of ersatz jewelry-type materials.
I had half of Friday off because of some tests that were scheduled pretty much smack-dab in the middle of the day. It started raining early that morning and did. not. stop. Saturday? Wash, rinse, repeat, plus snow. Sunday? A hopefully bright start to the day that rapidly went downhill into...rain. I did manage to get out to a Cornell extension to pick up some bare root trees and a flat of sedums that I got at rock-bottom prices. The only downside was that it was not a local extension and I had to drive over an hour each way. I am trying to plant more flowering things to make my little plot a haven for bees, birds and all things pollinators.
While whizzing by Marianne's to say a quick hello on Friday, she gave me a bag of greens. And shiitakes!
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| Bag o' greens |
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| Sorrel |
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| Shiitakes |
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| Mixed greens |
Given my glut of eggs, I made a Sorrel/Spinach/Mushroom Quiche for dinner - and a week's worth of lunches.
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| In its GF pie crust (pre-made) |
Aside - I often buy frozen, pre-made gluten free pie shells, as I have had mixed luck with GF pie crust mixes and they entail the use of a LOT of butter. The crust for the quiche was fine, but I learned the hard way that you cannot blind bake this crust - no matter what the maker says. I had to blind bake the crust for my coconut custard pie and it was totally, completely, without-a-doubt inedible. Luckily, I don't mind having coconut cream pudding. Not one bit.
I did manage to rebuild one raised bed - in spite of the constant interruption by a neighbor who, having seen me working on it, decided he must step in and "help" poor, pitiful woman me. I do appreciate help, believe me. But when I need it. I was doing perfectly fine on my own. Pfft. Ah, well. I will take a picture of it when it stops raining. Sometime in June. One down, three more to go~! I also have to fix my coldframe and the chickens have ravaged my downspout. Because, obviously, I don't have enough to do. WAY too much downtime on my hands.
I have yet to stencil my quail egg boxes, but thought I would share just how darn cute they are with you:
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Thought using $ to give you
and idea of size was appropriate. |
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| Squee! |
Marianne and I have decided on a price and I will be finishing the stencil and decorating the boxes this weekend. They hit the market the second Saturday of May. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, things have settled down in the quail colony, thank goodness.
In an effort to try and keep my couch cover ON the couch, I purchased a special bed for the Burrower, aka The Pat. The jury is still out. He seems to like it more if there is an additional fleece blankie inside the pouch.
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| The bed within a bed. |
And, it's official. Slimmie is a dog in mink fur. I have found that the easiest way to administer the dogs' daily allergy meds is with the liberal application of cheese spread. Slimmie decided that he, too, was in need of a twice-daily administration of cheese.
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| Waiting for cheezies. |
After a lot of trial and error, we seemed to have fixed the morning cat-vomit trend. I had fixed the 'stinking to high heaven in the litter box' problem with a new cat kibble, but we were still faced with breakfast in/breakfast out. I got a variety of tinned wet food and, not surprisingly, the most expensive of the lot went in and stayed there. (Why is it that, in essence, a tiny tin of canned cat tuna costs five times the amount charged for the human variety?)
I'm hoping for at least one afternoon of non-rain this coming weekend. I need to get at least two more raised beds finished and installed, along with prep for coop cleaning. Can't wait.
24 comments:
Oh, my dear, the challenges you face! So glad for the bright spots (flowering gifts! fresh greens and fungi! quail eggs! cheezie beggars!); hope the tests show all is well. (((HUGS)))
On the bracelet, I'm wondering if you put it in a sealed container with some vinegar in its own little dish for a few days, then in a baggy of rice to dry it out well. I'd suggest letting it sit in strong sunshine, but you'd have to ship it out here for that, I'm afraid. 🙄
the hydrangea is a gorgeous color. i just saw our summer weather prediction.....humid and hot..lovely! you would think i live in the tropics. those quail eggs are awesome!
I'd rather ship myself out there! I will def try the vinegar treatment. And, yes, the test results were what I had hoped for. Nothing like more stress, right? xo
Isn't it? I have not seen such a deep, vibrant purple in a hydrangea before. I hope I can get it to flourish in my stony, sandy ground. I don't even want to know what the summer will be. The rose colored glasses are going on and staying on, so help me.
I have always used baking soda as an odor absorbent. It really helps with a funky refrigerator. I would put the bracelet in a box with a dish of that for a few days.
I am a man and I definitely have to agree the quail egg cartons are cute. What is going to be the going rate?
that is a gorgeous hydrangea. I can't grow them. not sure if it's because they just don't like me or our climate. speaking of which the rain thing...that was my winter and early spring. I thought it would never stop but when it did, it stopped and disconnected the sky hose. now I'm wishing it would rain. typical human, never satisfied. and yeah, I'm with you on our gluttony of American culture. passing along a perfectly good unwanted item is best. and I gave up on my veg garden this year. I got 12 tomato plants in and that's it.
Since I switched to Instinct Chicken canned cat food no more vomit or much poo in large quantities in litter box. Costs more but I get it on Amazon Subscribe and save.
I love the play of your words: "not perpetuating the gluttony that is this country." It is so true and that is one of the reasons we are not loved as a nation any more.
Love the pic of your animals!!
I'm having the same weather you are. Barely any sun, all rain and wind, and it can drag a girl down. Love the living plant you got, too bad about the musty smelling bracelet. I am so far behind and have to build a new raised bed. I don't even have mine cleaned out yet and the rhubarb is coming up.
That quiche sounds absolutely delicious!!!!! I love the flower sooooo very much!!! Hydranga's are my very favorite! Annster's Domain
That is a good idea, Ed. I will give that a try first. We are going with $6/doz but it is entirely flexible. She nixed my first choice of $500/doz...
I'm so-so with hydrangeas, so we will see. I don't know what the summer will hold - at least my rain barrels are filled on a daily basis. 12 tomato plants is a whole lotta tomatoes!
I will have to look into that. I'm trying an assortment to see if anything works better than the rest. What we won't do...I feel obliged, though, as I am sure their inability to digest food is linked to our total destruction of the natural earth. And that's on a good day.
I often wonder what it would be like, if the world's wealth was not based on money, but on ability and compassion. Pipe dream, but it keeps me sane. Thanks - they are a riot!
Come on out, girlfriend; we'd have a blast!
There is always more to do than there is time to do it in. You can't wait for spring, and then you'd prefer if it came in a little slower (just not with snow, thank you)!
Yep, Ed's idea is def. better than mine. Let us know if it works! As for your pricing, I think $1/egg would be acceptable, especially if someone is going to blow them out and make decorations with them!
I think that quiche is my go-to dish for any meal. I'll eat it cold, warm and hot, for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
The hydrangea is so pretty. There one of my favorite plants. I have them all over my yard. I grow them from cuttings. Just love the picture of your animals. They look so precious. That quail eggs and box are so tiny. I didn't realize you could order them. Keep up your good work!!
Your bracelet sounds lovely. I received a leather purse for a gift that had a musty smell and put it in a sealed white plastic garbage bag with scrunched up newspaper. It took a couple of weeks but the odor was gone, absorbed by the paper.
I can hardly believe it but summer, aka drought season, has arrived 6 weeks early. Ironic because I'm required to be on the other side of the Atlantic and was hoping Mother Nature would do the watering for me. I'm so frazzled I could crawl into the Pat's new bed right now. Do they make human sizes?
My sister and I were camping one time, and the fella next door kept coming by offering to help. "No thanks, we can do it!" was our constant answer. After his umpteenth offer, we heard his wife say, "They said they can do it themselves!" The end of him.
I hope it dries up, for all of us. It rained every day last week, and the same is forecast this week.
Yes, the quail egg box is adorable!
Busy! Our cat kept vomiting, and we went to half wet half dry problem solved. She's 11 and I think her tummy got sensitive. Begging for cheese, been there! You might bury the bracelet in baking soda???
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