If the Devil is in the Details, You Just Got Your Ass Pitchforked
I think I'm over-cooking (slightly, but noticeably) my omelets. To investigate.
Most of last week I didn't realize Labor Day was pending. Fortunately I was scheduled off work. Sue drove up to hang with a homie and we went to a nearby apple orchard I'd caught wind of (when I bought their apples at the Nellysford Farmer's Market 9 days ago). It was a great drive (scenic, curvy, hilly, then flat with lots of eye candy both majestic and world-weary) and once we arrived and parked at the orchard my mood was like a 6 year old who just can't believe his luck and is so excited he can barely move anything but his mouth, talking a mile a minute, eyes wide, Oh. My. God.
Now that I'm an old pro, I'll be totally cool and chillaxed next time I go. Book a trip. I'll take you. We'll apple-ize. Now I gotta find that recipe for the apple thingy I'd been wanting to bake since early July.
I have more eggs. I could eat again. I may try my hand at omelet #2. I'll have to do something different, though. I've been consulting the cookbook (thanks for that. it is getting used and is appreciated), but something I'm doing isn't giving me the result I think I should be getting even though there is a possibility that the result I'm getting is the proper one.
Nah...I can do better. I know it.
Though not overtly boastful, I do find occasion to regale my powers of observation. I like the details. I like to inform you I've noticed some detail, whether it be something to do with you or with our external world. I like to invite you into mine, dream a little with me. I have an ego, I like it to be noticed. Sometimes I help the process along. We all do. Any of you following my photography via my flickr site know that a couple times a week I spend a nice chunk of time mulling around my front & back yards pruning plants and terrorizing the insect life with my digital camera, getting as close as my camera's macro setting will allow. Oh, I love the details.
It is with karmic justice that I must confess in the 4 months I've lived here, it wasn't until today, when my friend Sue pointed it out to me, that I have a compost tumbler.
A. Really. Freakin'. Nice. One.
It must be said it's entirely possible my friend Melissa might've mentioned it too a bit ago, though if she did, I'm really lame for not having noticed it and taken action. So props to both of you.
Anyway, I've recently been increasingly interested in composting, doing the whole deal with worms and getting the worm juice / castings and organic soil action. There is a fenced-off compost pile in the garden and that's where I've been throwing all my organic food waste, though the neighborhood squirrels are making things a bit messy despite the chicken-wire.
"I need a pitchfork so I can mix up the compost pile. I really would like to get one of those tumblers w/ the worms and everything. Your sister was telling me about some guy locally who has the whole thing set up & built and you just buy it from him for like, a hundred (ed. note: "like, a HUNDRED") dollars, but I don't have a hundred dollars of disposable income."
"Wait, don't you already have a compost tumbler? On the side of the house?"
"No. You mean where the gardener's work bench is? No. There's trash cans over there."
"I thought I saw a tumbler, one of those nice ones..."
We go outside to investigate and there's this tall green *ahem* trash can-looking thing with holes in it and for the very first time I really notice it. Then I notice it's being held on either side by two triangular rails.
Allowing it to rotate 360 degrees. The top, which at first seemed not to be the proper size was checked. Susan looked in and found an active wasp's nest. She put the top on and rotated it. It locked. A perfect fit. I spun the tumbler (if it were standing free of the triangle rotator things, it'd be about 4.5 - 5 feet tall). Lo and behold it work. The dirt inside was all dried out (of course) and once I gave it a good spin a couple of the wasps came out of one of the holes to see what was going on for fuck's sake. I was really surprised because I had no idea wasps used that kind of language. We moved away, to the safety of indoors, me with the stunned realization that my powers of observation had failed me terribly (or I, them) and I could've been well on my way to some major nice compost dirt. Maybe Wednesday (my next day off) will be a day to see if I can safely evict the wasps and start getting serious about composting. Thanks Sue. I feel a fool. But happy I have a compost tumbler that'd easily cost the same as the one I was considering. So now I can prolly buy some worms off that guy and get some good know-how from him & online sources.
I've missed the live performance of Accordion Death Squad yet again. This last one couldn't be helped, I was working. But damn, that's 4 shows! They were one of the musical performers at Shentai and I really dig them. We shall converge.
Nearing midnight. I've gone off my idea of another omelet, but not of a late night smoothy or snack.
I had an excellent day today, the evening was a bit mellower than I'd prolly like it, wanting some company, even though I was keeping active, cooking eating, looking (in vain) for two remote controls, this blog, a couple of eMails, this, that and other.
I hope your Labor Day was as good and / or better than mine. And for those of you overseas reading this, I hope your Monday was soopa cool.
Most of last week I didn't realize Labor Day was pending. Fortunately I was scheduled off work. Sue drove up to hang with a homie and we went to a nearby apple orchard I'd caught wind of (when I bought their apples at the Nellysford Farmer's Market 9 days ago). It was a great drive (scenic, curvy, hilly, then flat with lots of eye candy both majestic and world-weary) and once we arrived and parked at the orchard my mood was like a 6 year old who just can't believe his luck and is so excited he can barely move anything but his mouth, talking a mile a minute, eyes wide, Oh. My. God.
Now that I'm an old pro, I'll be totally cool and chillaxed next time I go. Book a trip. I'll take you. We'll apple-ize. Now I gotta find that recipe for the apple thingy I'd been wanting to bake since early July.
I have more eggs. I could eat again. I may try my hand at omelet #2. I'll have to do something different, though. I've been consulting the cookbook (thanks for that. it is getting used and is appreciated), but something I'm doing isn't giving me the result I think I should be getting even though there is a possibility that the result I'm getting is the proper one.
Nah...I can do better. I know it.
Though not overtly boastful, I do find occasion to regale my powers of observation. I like the details. I like to inform you I've noticed some detail, whether it be something to do with you or with our external world. I like to invite you into mine, dream a little with me. I have an ego, I like it to be noticed. Sometimes I help the process along. We all do. Any of you following my photography via my flickr site know that a couple times a week I spend a nice chunk of time mulling around my front & back yards pruning plants and terrorizing the insect life with my digital camera, getting as close as my camera's macro setting will allow. Oh, I love the details.
It is with karmic justice that I must confess in the 4 months I've lived here, it wasn't until today, when my friend Sue pointed it out to me, that I have a compost tumbler.
A. Really. Freakin'. Nice. One.
It must be said it's entirely possible my friend Melissa might've mentioned it too a bit ago, though if she did, I'm really lame for not having noticed it and taken action. So props to both of you.
Anyway, I've recently been increasingly interested in composting, doing the whole deal with worms and getting the worm juice / castings and organic soil action. There is a fenced-off compost pile in the garden and that's where I've been throwing all my organic food waste, though the neighborhood squirrels are making things a bit messy despite the chicken-wire.
"I need a pitchfork so I can mix up the compost pile. I really would like to get one of those tumblers w/ the worms and everything. Your sister was telling me about some guy locally who has the whole thing set up & built and you just buy it from him for like, a hundred (ed. note: "like, a HUNDRED") dollars, but I don't have a hundred dollars of disposable income."
"Wait, don't you already have a compost tumbler? On the side of the house?"
"No. You mean where the gardener's work bench is? No. There's trash cans over there."
"I thought I saw a tumbler, one of those nice ones..."
We go outside to investigate and there's this tall green *ahem* trash can-looking thing with holes in it and for the very first time I really notice it. Then I notice it's being held on either side by two triangular rails.
Allowing it to rotate 360 degrees. The top, which at first seemed not to be the proper size was checked. Susan looked in and found an active wasp's nest. She put the top on and rotated it. It locked. A perfect fit. I spun the tumbler (if it were standing free of the triangle rotator things, it'd be about 4.5 - 5 feet tall). Lo and behold it work. The dirt inside was all dried out (of course) and once I gave it a good spin a couple of the wasps came out of one of the holes to see what was going on for fuck's sake. I was really surprised because I had no idea wasps used that kind of language. We moved away, to the safety of indoors, me with the stunned realization that my powers of observation had failed me terribly (or I, them) and I could've been well on my way to some major nice compost dirt. Maybe Wednesday (my next day off) will be a day to see if I can safely evict the wasps and start getting serious about composting. Thanks Sue. I feel a fool. But happy I have a compost tumbler that'd easily cost the same as the one I was considering. So now I can prolly buy some worms off that guy and get some good know-how from him & online sources.
I've missed the live performance of Accordion Death Squad yet again. This last one couldn't be helped, I was working. But damn, that's 4 shows! They were one of the musical performers at Shentai and I really dig them. We shall converge.
Nearing midnight. I've gone off my idea of another omelet, but not of a late night smoothy or snack.
I had an excellent day today, the evening was a bit mellower than I'd prolly like it, wanting some company, even though I was keeping active, cooking eating, looking (in vain) for two remote controls, this blog, a couple of eMails, this, that and other.
I hope your Labor Day was as good and / or better than mine. And for those of you overseas reading this, I hope your Monday was soopa cool.