WHATCHA DOING TODAY?

[Cowgirl]

Zucchini. Those big leaves can hide monsters. I missed one. Size of a softball bat. Wowzers. 

 

I will be shredding it for muffins. Many, MANY muffins in our breakfasts. ?

[Annarchy]

2 hours ago, TheCG said:

The joys of I-10 in the middle of nowhere.

 

Indeed!  Hours of desert landscapes and mountains. 

[Annarchy]

Sounds wonderful Cowgirl. My zucchini quit producing when our temperature exceeded 100. 

 

I did a walk around Mom’s yard, and planned my yard work for the rest of the week. I don’t feel up to it today, plus, Mom has that doctor appointment. Bushes need trimming and the weeds are liking the sprinkler system. I might add a string to the Queens wreath lattice, maybe. 

 

 

[snapshotmiki]

11 hours ago, Annarchy said:

Here’s a couple pics of the drive. 

 

 

I miss that view!  I do love the greens of Mississippi, but the desert has it's own beauty!

 

I have a little housecleaning to do today and them I may have to go to Walmart for a few items.  I've had zero energy or ambition for the last week.  Not sure if it's the weather or the company aftermath that's the problem.

[Jeepers]

 Sending up prayers for your mother-in law Annarchy! 

[Cowgirl]

I hope all goes well with your mom, @Annarchy.

 

I ended up cutting up the zucchini and I am cooking it over low heat. Once it is soft, I will mash it. Shredding that much zucchini is more than I want to tackle. I will be freezing most of it.

 

While I am waiting for them to cook down, I am looking up sourdough muffin recipes. Hmm. Another use for my starter!

 

Our zucchini plants are going great guns right now. Hard to keep up with them. Zucchini finds its way into every dinner lately.

 

I need to harvest cherries and process too. Eep.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Cowgirl

[Cowgirl]

So, I cooked down the zucchini in a big stockpot and got it nice and soft. The idea of mashing it all by hand was not appealing. I pulled out the blender and began blending it, one load at a time. The blender made short work of it. It came out looking like a green smoothie. I put up some in the freezer in 2 cup amounts for future muffins, and 2 cups into a bowl for immediate muffins. Then, looking at the rest of that warm green smoothie, I thought of soup. I have never processed zucchini this way before. But it looks like soup — very creamy. I tasted it. Nice. I imagined it herbed up, a bit of salt and pepper, with some other veggies added for interest. Oh wow. It was a EUREKA moment. I know what I am making for dinner soon! Creamy zucchini soup!

[Cowgirl]

Grrrrr. Second time this month to lose power due to a storm. We have plenty of preps for it. But really -- this power grid is so unreliable! In a real emergency it is a certainty that we will not have power.

[Jeepers]

Son and DIL went to look at the house. They really liked it. It's smaller than what I'm used to but that will be a good thing for me. Less to clean and less on utilities. I'm going to make an offer tomorrow. Ugh...scary. They'll decline and I'll counter and it either will or it won't.

 

Bank over there already said yes to them so that step is taken care of.

 

Prayers greatly appreciated!   

[Annarchy]

Our power used to be like that. They replaced much of our system, poles, transformers and wires, so now it seems mostly stable. 

 

Mom doesn’t have cancer.   She knew the doc from her college and work experience. They chatted about his kids, etc.  He checked her out and said nope.  

 

We went to Home Depot for her air filter and had Golden Corral for dinner. Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune, then I hope to find a movie for the evening. 

 

 

[Annarchy]

3 minutes ago, Jeepers said:

Prayers greatly appreciated!   

[Cowgirl]

@Jeepers you are in my prayers. May you find a new home where you can really feel at HOME. We downsized on the house 5 years ago. I really like it. Big enough for the 2 of us and occasional guests. Easier to clean, cheaper to heat and cool. Small is good and cute.

 

@Annarchy that is wonderful news! WOOT!!

[Jeepers]

Woo-Hoo for Ms. Annarchy!  Wonderful news.  

[Annarchy]

Thanks, I could see relief on MIL’s face when he said it’s very common for older people. A few other things she mentioned have put a couple things on my ToDo list, like look for ants. Specially, little sugar ants that like to use the garden hoses as a highway. They do it at our house, we brush them off every time we use the hoses. 

 

Our movie was Paddington 2, on the FireStick. Then, we browsed MegaBox HD for all the animated movies and put a few on the favorites list for tomorrow and Saturday. Sherlock Gnomes and Gnome Alone are at the top. By next month, Incredibles 2 should be on it in 1080. She made the comment that it would take months to watch just all the animated ones, let alone the other genre movies, and TV shows that you can watch in order. It might take a few months, but she might “borrow” the Stick. Lol

 

We don’t have anything planned, no meeting to go to, so I will focus on yard work in the mornings, before the excessive heat kicks in. 105-110*F for a few days. 

 

Time me to get some sleep.  ?  

[Mt_Rider]

      .....was praying for Annarchy's MIL today.  Glad to hear it's not cancer again.  

 

Now praying for Jeepers new house.....which ever one it turns out to be.  Sounds like this could be IT! 

 

Unreliable electric....experienced that growing up on the farm.....our time on Maui....and early years up here in the Rockies.  These past years, we rarely go more than 10 seconds before it comes back on.  They replaced the lines in some places.  Same with the phone lines......yes, we're still a No Cell Service zone. 

 

Miki I can relate to having low/zero energy days.  But you're so busy all the time, isn't it unusual for you?  Is there a medical issue?  I know mine is MS/aging.    That you'll feel better or figure it out.

 

I'm remembering the days when my garden produced zucchini.....  Whooooeeee!  But now I'd love to have a garden producing some of them.  We got used to having it in EVERYthing while they were in season.    Soup sounds like a good option.

 

MtRider 

 

 

[kappydell]

Had a slow day today.  Mary was at our friends house, helping him with some carpentry chores.  I stayed home, wrangled the dogs, did laundry, etc.  

Garden today had cherry tomatoes, a couple big ones, cucumbers, a couple beans.  The okra is zooming up - it loves this hot weather.  It has been in the mid to high 90s all week.  

Working shorter spurts, with ample water, AND a big sun hat!  We find we can work 1-2 hours prior to noon; then we knock off the physical stuff for the day  (like logging).

We started taking the aussie, Jack, down to the lake with us when we swim.  He loves his wading pool - he loves the lake too.  We gave him a summer haircut, too. 

[snapshotmiki]

9 hours ago, Mt_Rider said:

isn't it unusual for you?  Is there a medical issue?

 

 

I hope not.  I'm off to Walmart for a couple of things this morning.  DH is going with so we will probably stop at a thrift store.  I want to check out a hospice that opened up really close to us (to volunteer at).  This afternoon, I will roast a chicken and sweet potatoes and make some creamed squash.  Yesterday, I did get the house cleaning finished and did a little eBay so I think I'm coming back to myself.  Just so tired after entertaining and cooking so much for a two week plus time period.  Took a while to recover.

 

I'm taking advantage of the slower times now.

[Cowgirl]

Unreliable electricity, crazy winters, tornado season — these are all reasons why I originally got interested in prepping. It is difficult to live in rural Illinois and not prep, at least on some level. 

[TheCG]

Confession: I don't have anything stored for preps right now.  The only bottles of water are the ones in the fridge and the next flat.  The only food is what we're actively eating.  I have maybe 3 meals worth of food in the house, and 2 of them hubby won't eat.

 

Been trying to get me healthy and sane.  As of yesterday, I'm officially no longer overweight as my BMI is below 25.  It'll probably go back up when I start working on gaining muscle some more, but for now the government thinks I'm not overweight.  Now I need to figure out how to jump start my brain.  'Spose licking a 9volt would do it?

[Jeepers]

Aw, the TheCG. I think we have all been where you are now. Stuff happens and things get in the way. I've eaten through my preps before and I'm about to do it again. 

 

Congrats on losing the weight! Very important prep step too. Now get your skinny butt out there and buy a two pack of 9 volt batteries and lick that sucker raw! Send the other battery to me. 

 

 

Picture it...TheCG and Jeepers sitting on the front porch sipping tea and licking batteries. Every now and then one of them jumps up with a 10 second jolt of energy. Then nothing. Hummm. Jeepers suggests a car battery. TheCG isn't sure. Suggests we ask on Mrs. Survival first.

[Jeepers]

Dang...they accepted my offer on the house! 

 

Hard part is going to figure out how to get all of my crap from here to there and how to get this house ready to go on the market. I thought I had more time. Confession: this place is a dump.

 

About the new house:

It's about 20 minutes from grandbaby. It's in a country subdivision so I won't be isolated. It's all on one floor...yes!  It's on a corner lot so I'll only have neighbors on 2 sides. It's one square acre. It is on a well and septic. It has one large, one medium and two small bedrooms so one of the small bedrooms will be a pantry. The best part is right beside the attached garage is another one car garage/work shop. I can store my non-food prep stuff out there plus my mower etc. I could also can out there if I had one of those little propane stoves. There isn't much growing in the yard so it's pretty much a blank slate. They do have a little area fenced in for a garden though. Next year I'll need either a privacy fence or chain link fence with tall shrubs for some privacy...and to keep the grand baby in. Also a play ground and maybe an above ground pool (water supply) put in. And water barrels under the eaves of the second garage. And...and...and.

 

The bad:

No basement but a nice big dry crawl space. No fireplace. Really small laundry area.

[Cowgirl]

@TheCG most of us have been there. I have used up preps before (one reason we have them, right?). But you have an advantage in knowing what to do, and as a member of this site you have great resources. But wow, congrats on the weight loss! That’s wonderful!

 

@Jeepers CONGRATS!!!!!!! How exciting!

 

 

[The WE2's]

On 6/12/2018 at 2:05 PM, Jeepers said:

Hope your finger heals quickly! I've used that coal tar drawing salve (ich - thee something) before but it never hurt. Maybe it was different stuff. Last time I tried to buy it the pharmacist said it was taken off the market. I took that to mean it actually worked. My grandmother used to use it.  

 

We buy our drawing salve from the Mennonite store a couple of towns away from us.  Also found it at a store that sells Native American stuff.  I checked on line some time ago about making your own, and the main ingredient is pine tar...which is usually available at farm stores like Tractor Supply.

[snapshotmiki]

5 hours ago, Jeepers said:

Dang...they accepted my offer on the house! 

 

 

Congratulations, Jeepers!!!    I'm so happy for you!  And being near the grandchild!!!  I look forward to seeing how life progresses for you!

[The WE2's]

On 6/21/2018 at 7:00 AM, Cowgirl said:

Zucchini. Those big leaves can hide monsters. I missed one. Size of a softball bat. Wowzers. 

 

I will be shredding it for muffins. Many, MANY muffins in our breakfasts. ?

 

Don't overlook making Zoodles...