Fire in the Fireplace Day

Word of the Day

Aeroma - The odor emanating from an exercise room after an aerobics workout.

Woodtick Count - 3

I started the morning with a five mile Walk Away the Pounds routine....a 90 minute aerobic workout. I WILL be taking a bath tonight. Since I haven't had the chance to strip and remake the bed since I've been here and I actually requested that #1 Son and #1 DIL DID NOT PLEASE wash the sheets on the bed before I got here (the last time they did this, I found damp and mildew smelling sheets in the dryer plus no sheets on my bed...and despite being thoroughly tired from unpacking etc. I had to wash and dry the sheets AND make my bed before crawling into it), I stripped the bed and put everything in the washer.

While I waited for the sheets etc. to wash, I decided to prep the pots on the lower deck. The sun was shining and my morning workout gave me a boost of energy. Besides, I knew that rain was in the forecast for the afternoon hours. It's been raining since noon, but that's besides the point. I got all off the pots on my lower deck prepared for planting or...whatever. It feels so good to have them ready to use that I may even consider planting other stuff in the pots that I'd planned to drag into the garage for storage. I read an article about planting peas in pots and using tomato cages to hold them. Interesting.

I saved the indoor work until after lunch. I finished making the Kefir goat cheese. It worked out lots better than the regular Kefir-Leban cheese. I added some ramp greens and basil along with sea salt...to both cheeses. Then...I started another batch of the Kefir-Leban cheese (made with 1% milk). I'm going to let it drain for 48 hours like I did with the Kefir-Leban I made with goat milk. Next time I go shopping...probably on Wednesday....I plan to buy some sun-dried tomatoes and some fresh basil. I think a flavor combination of sun-dried tomatoes, basil and ramp greens would be good in the cheese. I'll need to add milk to my shopping list too. I'm having fun with my cheese-making. I'll need to buy some crackers too.

The bed is all made with clean sheets. Tomorrow is my real laundry day so I'll finish up laundry again tomorrow. I hope it stops raining before I need to take the garbage out to the road. I promised HTP that I'd take some pictures of the logging operation. I'd rather take the pictures on a sunny day. I WILL have to make it into town to pick up my mail. Tomorrow.

I haven't heard back from the roofer since I left a message on his answering machine last night. It's really raining quite hard outside right now...with thunder and the wind is really tossing my wind-chimes around, making a thwacking noise as they hit the side of the house. I feel sorry for the poor birds sitting on my feeders. But, I'm glad I got all my outdoor chores done early and can now enjoy my fireplace fire. I'm thinking of comfort food tonight for dinner. Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans and I've got peeled potatoes in the steamer as I write this.

....And, at 4:30 PM, the roofer finally returned my call. He's going to stop over on Wednesday night with all the papers and I'll hand him a check for half. Done and did...except the mess. Hope he can get started on this as soon as possible. I'm not looking forward to the noise and the mess.

Random Quote of the Day

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

- John Howard Payne (1791 - 1852)