pickled

 We made refrigerator pickles today

    That is exactly what they are.  You cook some juice, cut up cucumbers, sick stuff in a jar and add the juice.   Allow the pickles to cool ,then put them in the refrigerator.  After 4 hours, flip them upside down for the rest of the night.

    Feel free to follow my recipe.

    Yes, the kitchen was a mess,  Yes, I cleaned it up before I cooked supper.  Yes, I cleaned after I cooked supper.

    Here is a funny thing.  

    I went to take a nap in my porch chair today and actually was chilly!!!  In the shade, with the breeze,  I thought about getting a blanket, but my nap time was up.

    On to my bird feeder saga.

    Julia was over Saturday and we tried to put the new feeder up, but were missing a part.

    I looked for it, but could not find what we were missing.  But I did find the directions and guess what?   The missing part is not listed in the directions as a part!

    So I will try tomorrow to finish the installation.

    I do have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon.  My eyes will be dilated and vision will be an issue.  Julia is taking me so I won't be a risk on the road.

    I just dropped off 3 bags of yard waste at SK's house.  I thought I would ask another friend to take 2 bags tomorrow night for Tuesday pick up, but realized I may not be able to drive into town.

    There is always next week.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

aww shucks

 Baseball is a fickle sport

    Two nights in a row the Cubs have had a win in their back pocket.  Last night a .130 hitter bloops a 2 out single into center to score Seattle's winning run.  Tonight with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs leading 4-2.....double, single, home run.

    Dang that is frustrating.

    I took a vacation tonight.

    I spent the evening at a small lake, watching the flames from a little campfire.  I would hear the laughter of children playing on the beach.

    It was all very relaxing.

    Trouble is, I was on my front porch just imagining all of it.

    As I was imagining, I got bit twice by I assume mosquitoes.  Damn, that does itch!

    We had 1 inch in our rain gauge.  That is a lot of rain at one time.  In Rochelle a friend of Julia's had 2.5 inches, plus hail.  I did not see or hear hail.  

    I washed out Beth's new dog food container.  It is insect proof.  It holds 25 pounds of dog food.  I buy 25 pound bags.  Explain to me why there was a couple of pounds of dog food on the floor as I filled the container.

    And yes, I did try to stop but things did not go well.  Now I have dog food in 3 containers.

    The Chicago area last year had a record 273 warnings for severe storms or tornadoes.  This year there have been 330 warnings....and there is still time for more.  Records are made to be broken, I guess.

    And somewhere I read that Illinois leads the nation in the number of tornadoes this year.  Go figure.

    Politicians should be paying better attention.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

it was a dark and stormy night

 Snoopy got it right about tonight

    At least I think it was Snoopy.  If not, tell me so I know the truth!

    Fake news.

    I bought a half gallon of milk Wednesday.

    I drank some last night and it did not taste as good as it usually does.

    This morning I drank some of a small glass, and it did not taste right.  It did not smell right.  I did not drink a lot, just a couple of swallows.  

    That may explain my numerous trips to the bathroom and the  general feeling of nausea I have been experiencing today.  Or it may be something else., like my poor dietary choices.  In any case, I decided to toss it.  The milk.

    Unfortunately I did not buy milk on my daily trip to Wally World, so I had to go back this evening.  That was ok because we ordered take out from a local Mexican restaurant.  I had planned to order a take out margarita, but didn't want to take the chance of further upsetting the tummy.

    On my first trip, I bought a single onion.

    I put it on the self check out scale and it rang up $2.42 with a weight of 2 pounds.

    I hit the cancel button and did it again.  Same result.

    I called the help person over and asked how that could be correct.  She re-entered it and said I should be ok.  It registered $2.42 again.

    I called her over and again said that can't be right because this one onion does not weigh 2 pounds.  I told her I wasn't buying it, so we canceled the onion.

    I went back to the onions and found one with a zebra code. I scanned it and it came up 81 cents.  

    I went back to the lady and said there is something wrong with the store's system.  I am sure she took care of it right away.

    That's why you have to pay close attention!

    Gosh.....first high school football game of the season in Rochelle tonight.  It is thundering and lightning and I have no idea if they finished or not.

    It seems crazy to me for high school football to start so early.  I bet really good teams can play up to 15 games this year, counting the HS championship.  That to me is just way too many games for young people to endure.

    But what do I know.

    Not much.  You?

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

no zest

 Sometimes I can't find what I beed

    We have been making lemon cookies recently.  The recipe says they are Panera lemon cookies.  We loved those cookies, but they stopped making them.

    Jackie found a recipe and I follow the recipe.

    But, and there is always a big butt, the recipe calls for lemon zest.

    I have been using a McCormick spice called lemon peel, which should be the same as lemon zest.

    But I am out of the lemon peel.

    I bought a lemon and scraped the rind to get the teaspoon of zest.  But I tossed the rest of the lemon.  Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could have gotten a tablespoon of lemon juice from the lemon, because the recipe calls for that too.

    Anyway....went to Walmart, Hy-Vee and no lemon peel.  Last time I I found it at Woodman's in Rockford, but I don't want to drive up there just for. that.

    Maybe I will try squeezing the lemon and zesting it for the next batch.

    And that is all I have.

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace

eh

 Today was kind of an eh day

    I did laundry, watched the Cubs, made supper, and walked Beth.

    We did not walk very far.  I got halfway down the block and realized I I did not have my phone.  If Jackie needed anything I would not be able to skedaddlee home.

    Of course, at my age I don't really skedaddle anymore. 

      We met a neighbor walking his little dog and while we talked the 2 dogs happily sniffed each other.  I was proud of Beth for not growling and barking.  Their dog is a King Charles Cavalier, I do believe. 

    For supper I made mini meat  loaves.  I cook them in muffin pan.  We eat 2 and I freeze 2 for those nights when we need a quick meal.

    I realized I like beef.  Hamburger, especially.

    Considering what is happening with the beef herd in this country, my liking it could get pretty expensive.

    Tyson closed a couple of plants, including one near the Quad Cities, because they can't get enough cattle to keep the plants operating.

    That's a little scary.

    Beef up, chicken up.......and being a vegetarian now is dangerous.  Who wants exploding diarrhea?

    Not me, for sure.

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace

oops

I sometimes do irrational things 

    Like taking my evening meds in the morning.

    For the most part that is no big deal.  After all, I take several of the same drugs morning and night.

    But at night I take 2 nighttime Tylenol.  And I take a sleep inducing drug to help me, well,  sleep.

    So this morning I took a lot of sleep inducers.  That explains my 90 minute nap.

    It also may explain my on and off confusion during the day.

    But I persevered.

    Went to PT, stopped at the bank, went to Walmart, and met one of my favorite authors.

    The mistaken doses may explain the bank issue.

    When I went in, there was only 1 other customer and there were 2 tellers.  When I finally stopped gabbing, I looked behind me and there were 3 people in line!  And they are all thinking, "When is the old man gonna shut up?"  So I did,

    I stopped at Cypress House and had a caffeine free drink off the kids menu.  Then I waddled to the back of the store and The Rochelle Hub book store, where Molly Fader was signing her new release.

    I purposely shorted my PT time to get here early, but after only 20 minutes they were out of her book.  I am on the wait list.

    It was great to talk with Molly.  She was never a student and I think I got to know her through theater activity.

    In case you don't know, she has written dozens of books, a lot of romance novels, and has won several awards.  I don't read the romance novels. Jackie does.

    But the non romance novels are pretty darn good!  

    If you want romance, look for Molly O'Keefe.  If you want good fiction, look for Molly Fader

    Also ran into friend Dianne at the book signing and she was singing Hi Lili, Hi Lili, Hi Lo.  Seems my ear worm was catching.

    I finished running my lawn sweeper over the back yard.  Now I have 4 huge piles of grass behind the native plants.  I can't see them from the house and I am hoping they go away.

    If not......??

Peace and love

    Especially Peace

My eighth grade teacher  taught me a valuable lesson:  Rain has to start and stop someplace.  I think this is an example of his wisdom.

A butterfly!!!!

Molly and me

argh! ear worm!!!!

 Sometimes I don't understand me

    I was working on the beans yesterday and a tune came into my head.

    I could not get rid of it!

    I could not remember r all of it, just part: Hi Lili Hi Lilli Hi Lo, Hi Lo....a song of love is a sad song.....

    I kept singing that part, and the Hi Lili refrain and it was driving me crazy

    So before I went to bed I Googled it.  The song is a simple little tune from a movie  called, strangely enough, Lili.

    Then I Googled the lyrics and was shocked that they were so familiar to me!  It was like I knew the song, but forgot it.

    The movie came out in 1953 and the song has been performed by a variety of artists.   Guess at some point I had heard the song and really liked it.

    As a. matter  of fact, I still do.

    Julia came over today to help me install my new bird feeder.

    Trouble is, I seem to have misplaced a key part.....the one that holds the feeder on the pole.  My task tomorrow is to hunt in the garage, den, closet, mud room and ant other place I might have wandered with it.

    I almost finished mowing the lawn, again.

    I just don't seem to have enough time to get the last bit done.

    I do have to pick up garden debris before I mow, but that should not take long.

    And I have to trim.  Grass is a little long around the gardens and house.

    While I am working I will probably sing Hi Lili.

    And now I know all the words.

Peace and Love

    Especially Peace