View of the New Roof from the Ridge

Word of the Day

Haluv - To love and hate at the same time.

The roofers returned with the big truck this morning at 7 AM and ripped off the last of the old shingles and re-shingled the last three sections of my roof. They were done by 1 PM. Yeah! Well...almost yeah. Apparently, although it "looks" like they're done, they still need to put the ridge vents along a few of the peaks. He ran out of the roof venting material and had to order it. However, once that comes, he can finish up really quickly. They packed up all their gear and all the debris and drove away. Blessed quiet! I've got some cleaning up to do outside, adjusting solar lights, maybe buying some decorative mulch to spread in the front but...all the big stuff is done and my life is, once again, my own....well...almost.

I drove to the city this morning to join T-Square for an hour of yoga. More errands in the city were accomplished. And just now, it looks like I'll be driving to the city again tomorrow. The assisted living apartment complex where my folks are living is having big doings tomorrow from 1 PM to 4 PM. It's their 10th anniversary out there.

The guy that mows my lawn came, now that the roofers are all gone, and mowed the lawn. It NEEDED it. We've had a lot of rain this summer so far and the grass is LOVING it. After he finished, I went out and sprayed all the patches of poison ivy that I've been seeing with poison ivy killer. I'm hoping that it doesn't rain now. I'm not sensitive to poison ivy...well...I'm not going to go out and roll in the stuff...but I don't want wandering grandchildren to test their own immunity to the stuff. Sadly, the poison ivy is doing quite well this summer. I've never seen so much of it out here before. I'll have to be more diligent about spraying it or drowning it with salt water.

USPS brought my new dish clothes to me...well...they left them in my green mailbox out at the road. They need to be washed before I can use them. FedEx brought my new drawer divider that I bought online. My other one broke. I'd always fought with my old one so all my stainless steel dinnerware along with my serving pieces would fit. This new one is a LOT better made and, JOY, everything fits. I re-cycled the old divider, discarding the part that had broken, and am using it to hold plastic-ware, wooden skewers, chopsticks and my some silver-plate serving pieces. As I was re-organizing two of my drawers in the kitchen with the old drawer divider AND the new drawer divider, it dawned on me that I had plenty of room in the knife (sharps) drawer to store my steak knives...and so mote it be.

I left my kefir milk on the counter too long...I was just too tired to deal with it yesterday...so, I drained the grains, discarding the "milk" and started again. After that, I added flavors to the kefir cheese (kefir-leban). This time, I took half of the batch and mixed it with curry powder. I mixed chopped up "craisins" with the rest of the kefir cheese. Do I need to mention that I ALWAYS add fresh ground sea salt to the kefir cheese? I didn't mix the two half batches together but I put them, side by side, in a tub. I won't know until the flavors blend how this new experimental flavor(s) will turn out. The kefir cheese that I made with the curry on half and the dried apricot on the other half turned out really nice but...if I do that one again, I'd add more chopped apricots. However, I'm told that as right now, everyone's BEST favorite is the one I made with chives, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil....equal to the one with ramp greens, sun-dried tomatoes and basil. I'm conflicted. I really loved the one with lemon zest and basil. It got a really good review but... I may try that one again but add more basil. The lemon zest overwhelmed the flavor of the basil.

It's Big Bang Theory night. I know that it's going to be a re-run but I'm looking forward to watching a re-run in front of the TV while eating the two slices of pizza that I'm allowing myself along with a glass or two of wine. I'd go down to the dock and do some fishing but I noted while spraying weedkiller on the poison ivy that the mosquitoes are HORRIBLE today.

Random Quote of the Day

Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin.

- Kathleen Norris