errr, anybody know what day it is?
I can barely even keep up these days. I started an update while working this past weekend, but it never got near to finished. You'll find it under the first cut. Under the second cut is a more current update.
Technically it's only been about 2 1/2 weeks since I last had a day off, but since I spent that day having a root canal done I tend to not count that as a day off at all. That means it's closing in on 4 weeks since I've had a day off. It's not making me quite as crazy as you'd think, but days and weeks are starting to run together like a watercolor in the rain. It looks like it will be at least another week and a half before I do get another day off, and that one will be spent running Paul to the other side of town for a doctor's appointment.
To Teh Bullets
- I haven't gotten the pictures for this week uploaded yet (no time), but things are going gangbusters in the garden. In the past couple weeks I've been harvesting herbs for fresh use, parsley, thyme, chives, all my happy little basil thinnings, and there has been lettuce for salad a couple of times. This week, though, we should really start reaping the rewards of all our work with lots of lettuce, the first of our broccoli (OMGs! I can grow broccoli!) and my highly anticipated snap peas. I'm so excited about those I just can't stand it. Paul is convinced he won't even get to taste one, because I'll stand in the garden and eat them as I pick them. I keep eying those thickening pods. He might not be so far off. They're as addictive as potato chips to me. When I was planting the garden I questioned whether two parsley plants were going to be adequate, and considered adding more. Those fears were unfounded. Seriously unfounded. I need to cut them back in a big way. I should end up with plenty to both make a big batch of tabbouleh and still have some to freeze (I don't like to dry parsley, basil or cilantro).
- There are some baby beans on the plants, but it's going to be a while yet before we get enough to eat----if we get enough to eat. There's a bit of a deer problem at the community garden---partly because there's a bit of a gardener problem at the community garden. I made a quick stop at the garden on early Thursday morning to see if anything needed attention before Friday only to find the gate standing wide open. While I know it is possible that the deer came over the fence and not through the gate, but I doubt it. An adult deer could possibly clear the fence (and you can see where they have tried). There were at least two sets of hoofprints going through my squash beds and headed for the beans, an adult set, and a little teeny set of fawn hoofprints. A fawn could not make it over the fence. On Friday morning there was evidence that they'd gotten in again on Thursday night. I'm hoping that we can soon get some signage reminding people about closing the gate.
- I've become privy to some of the community garden gossip after talking to a couple long time gardeners. I think we're going to make plenty of unexpected late evening (dusk) stops at the garden as things mature, and I'm glad I almost always have my camera with me when I head to the garden. Not gonna say anything else. Listening to gossip is evil enough.
- I've had fun cooking with the bits that I've harvested this past week. I stuck basil thinnings in my mini chopper with sundried tomatoes, garlic, a bit of parsley, some parmesan and olive oil for a pesto that I spread on pounded chicken breasts. I rolled the breasts up, breaded them, browned them in the skillet then finished them in the oven. I cut a handful of cilantro to go into a corn and black bean salad as a side for some chili lime chicken burgers we picked up at Trader Joe's. It was so yummy scooped up with tortilla chips. I may make a big bowl of that for the big potluck that they want to do on the Friday of Farmfest to celebrate the big band visiting from France as part of the Blue Lakes Fine Arts exchange program. You don't get any more American than corn and beans.
- Speaking of Farmfest, Ashley and the baby are going to be joining us. I'm not sure of the details and logistics yet, because I'm not sure when we are headed up north ourselves, and I'm just a tad nervous of her making that long drive on her own alone with little Morgan.
The uninterrupted line of workdays will end on Saturday. I had originally scheduled to take that day off at the gatehouse so that I could tend the frameshop while the boss went to Chicago for his sister's wedding. I had joked with Paul a couple days ago that it wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit if Jerry decided to just shut the shop down for that day. Surprise! That's exactly what he decided on Monday. Way to put it out there in the universe, Girl!
I don't plan on wasting that precious day off. This weekend is the Ragtime Street Fair at Greenfield Village. It was such a fun time last year that I'm glad I won't have to miss it this year. Hopefully I can get Paul to sit still long enough to watch the Lah-De-Dahs game. I haven't gotten to watch a single one this year. We'll top off the evening at the Henry Ford's IMAX theater to see "The Dark Knight". Our tickets are already bought. Squeee! Only pancakes and sex could make the day any more complete.
With me working all weekend every weekend, our Henry Ford membership has not gotten nearly the workout this year that it usually gets. Paul did go down by himself on Sunday to see the chocolate exhibit, and he decided to practice one of those random acts of kindness that he does so well while there. We pay for a membership level that includes 2 guests, plus kids and grandkids under 18, so Mr. Man scavenged up a likely looking family, told them, "today you're my guests", escorted them through the gates and bid them have a wonderful visit.
This would be a good time to remind you all that if you ever want to take a trip to the Henry Ford, please, do impose upon us. Seriously. That's why we buy the +guests membership. And Paul is almost always up for another visit. He adores the place. We both do.
The winds over the weekend beat the hell out of the garden. Okay, so it only beat the hell out of the tomatoes and the peas, and just roughed up the jalapenos a bit.
The peas had grown to at least 1 1/2 feet above the little fence I had them climbing on. The wind didn't even find that challenging. It just bowled them right over. The stems on more than half the vines were crushed, but they still seem to be doing okay. It might not even be a totally bad thing. The bent over peas now provide some shelter for the lettuce, which isn't too crazy about the heat that will be coming later this week.
We had to go out and add additional support to the tomatoes by attaching their cages to 5-foot stakes we strategically pounded into the ground. We had to do something similar to the jalapenos.
The harvest has truly begun now. We took our first head of broccoli the other day. This is where it gets kind of funny. I don't actually like broccoli very much. I can think of better than a half dozen members of the cabbage family I'd rather eat with Brussels sprouts being a draw. Having broccoli fresh out of the garden hasn't done much to improve my opinion of it---the florets, anyway. The stem, on the other hand, is something I do like (broccoli slaw, anyone?). Fresh out of the garden the stem is even better, sweet with that little cabbage bite in the background. Now I'm strangely curious about the greens. Has anyone ever had broccoli greens?
If I want any kind of greens that may have to be it. While I've come across a couple Japanese beetles (one of the devils was feasting on my basil!) there hasn't been much of a pest problem in the garden, except for one thing. Something is eating the mustard spinach like there is no tomorrow. Whatever it is must be nocturnal, as I don't ever see anything on the plants.
Just one last thing on the garden, and then it's on to some other topic. My tabouleh rocked! It was so bright and refreshing for dinner tonight. I served it along with some very tasty chicken kabobs (will have to post the marinade recipe) and Indian Chapati bread (because we forgot to stop at the middle eastern bakery for fresh pitas, and the Indian grocery is right on the way home from the garden).
And one more foodie thing. Those Debbie Meyer Green Bags? They seem to be working, which is going to be more important as the season goes on.
On Saturday evening (it was Saturday, wasn't it? The days all just run together.), Paul and I got the itch to be Culverized, and headed down to Westland to scratch that itch. It dawned on my as we pulled into the parking lot that we weren't far from Ashley, so I gave her a quick call and invited her to join us for dinner. I just wish I'd thought of it before we left the house. I could have taken the things I have for her. I've got a photo of her in my Beltane flowers that she wanted a copy of (it's a family favorite photo), and a wooden salad bowl set that I came across the last time we were in Birch Run that I thought she might like.
We went to see her new apartment after dinner. It's small, but bigger than my first apartment was, and has a nice little layout. It's quite strange to me that she always refers to "living in my husband's apartment". I wonder why she feels that she either has no claim to it or possibly wants no claim to it. Curious.
Sales have finally started picking up at the frame shop the last several weeks, not nearly enough, but it has me working 4 half days a week recently. It made the boss a very happy guy when he came back from Rotary on Monday only to find I'd made an $1150 sale in his absence, AND had taken full advance payment on it.
I predicted it would be less than a year after the last property manager left before the recycling bins would be gone. They disappeared a week and a half ago. Boy, did I hear about it in the gatehouse, and I didn't have a single answer to give all the inquiring residents. Today the bins have come back. NOT! They have been replaced with bins from another company that claims they do recycling. They do. Sort of. They separate cardboard, paper, wood and metal for recycling. Everthing else goes to the incinerator! HEY IDIOTS! GET A CLUE! INCINERATION IS NOT RECYCLING!!!!!!
Mystery Rash is back again. Some of the symptoms seem like they might indicate photoallergic eruption, but in other ways it doesn't add up. The rash is only on my left arm. Granted, my left arm gets more sun than any other part of my body (I'm too bloody cheap to fix the AC in an 11-year old mini van with 182,000 miles on it.), but it's definitely not the only part. It also doesn't appear to be an immediate reaction, but gets noticed hours after sun exposure. Pinning down the other part of the cause for photoallergic eruption is also puzzling. Medications, including my necessary daily ibuprofin, can cause the sensitivity. I don't know how I'd make it through a day without ibuprofin to check that, though, AND we're back to why and how a local reaction comes from a systemic medication. Same thing with my sunscreen. Some ingredients in sunscreens can actually cause photoallergic eruption in some poor unlucky schmucks, but Mystery Rash has been popping up for more than 4 years now. I've only used this particular sunscreen for about 2 1/2 years AND I use it everywhere, not just on my left arm. I just don't get it. I know I should see a specialist, but I'm not even sure which kind to see, an allergist or a dermatologist.
Oh, and did I mention that apparently Lupus can cause similar rashes? I have got to quite looking this shit up on the web. In the meantime, pass the calamine, please.
I've got other gripes and bitches, but you know what? I'd just as soon not even think about them right now. It's warm and sticky in the house tonight. We're sticking it out until morning and the return of the oppressive heat and humidity to turn the air back on. I just want to go get naked and sleep in front of the fan.
Hope everyone is having a great week. I'll try to catch up on the comments I owe you all soon.