Monthly Archives: September 2010

Here’s My 10 Second Check-In

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Pamela

I thought I would make an apple pie for dessert because I had some fantastic apples last week but when we got to the farmer’s market there were still so many peaches and berries I changed my mind. I made a peach-blueberry-strawberry pie. I very highly recommend this combination. I used lemon zest and nutmeg with the filling.

Mom came up last Thursday to see Ursula Le Guin interview Margaret Atwood for our first lecture of this year’s season. It was really good and supposedly will be broadcast on Oregon Public Radio but it’s not up there yet. They talked about writing and spec/sci fi writing and went off-topic and cracked each other up. Highly recommended for fans of these writers.

I wanted Mom to meet the nextdoor cat Toes since she is a friend of cats. We went outside to putter around and he ran right over and the minute she sat down he jumped into her lap.

We’ve spent the last couple of days running around doing all kinds of stuff but mostly book and food/kitchen oriented things. When we got home on Friday Bob asked what we’d been doing and I said it would be easier to tell him what we hadn’t been doing.

We took her to a couple more fun stores this morning before feeding her lunch and sending her on her way.

I took a better photo of the pumpkin patch and have helpfully made arrows so you can see all the loot. There’s one more big one in back that you can’t see in the photo.

I’ve got a long day tomorrow and Tuesday I’m off to Atlanta to visit Kira and maybe fix her blog so she can post what’s been happening since February.

Posted in doing it wrong | Tagged | 3 Comments

Busy Breakfast Morning Should Be The Name of A Band

Posted on September 18, 2010 by Pamela

Klamath River rocks

Last week I got a survey in the mail addressed to Mr. Pam Hughes. It’s some sort of marketing thing and the questions make me wonder whether I have any business being on this planet.

I didn’t even have to do the first 4 pages because I don’t have pets or a busy breakfast morning.

What is a busy breakfast morning?

It asked me if I bought bacon strips in the last week. Is that the same as bacon? Or are bacon strips a separate type of product? I did buy bacon but the package says thick bacon slices and I didn’t buy it for breakfast I bought it for some collard greens I made for dinner. I said yes so I could check off at least one box in the busy breakfast morning section.

There was a whole page asking about tires. When I choose tires do I want them to make me feel sporty? I don’t even know what that means. Do I choose tires because I like the way they corner? Do I choose tires because something about getting soft and gripping the pavement? I learned more about tires during that survey than I’ve learned driving cars for the last 30 years. It also asked if I do a lot of research before I buy tires. No. I go to Les Schwab and buy whatever they recommend. They could show me tractor tires and I’d get out my credit card and say, “Okay, if that’s what you think.” I think there’s marketing information in that last statement but I don’t think the survey captured it.

Then it asked me a million questions about Facebook and do I rely on customer comments about products I’m considering and do I admire people with lots of friends and do I trust what corporations post. Ugh. Facebook.

They gave me five bucks and gave me another form to fill out so I could be entered into a drawing for more fabulous cash and prizes and no doubt more pointless marketing research.

Posted in doing it wrong | 3 Comments

Typed with Shaky Hands

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Pamela

The window project is finally finished. I don’t remember if I ever explained that the blinds were broken, too. They’ve been sorta broken for probably a couple of years but I rigged something so I could still open them and then that thing broke, too. So then I had to leave them closed for about 6 months. It just seemed like too much trouble to figure out how to take them down.

But in order to paint the windowsill I had to take them down anyway and I found a guy a couple of neighborhoods over who repairs blinds. I picked them up this morning and wrestled them back up this afternoon.

I’m now sated on home improvement for another five years.

New dahlia blooming this week.

I drank a different tea blend than I normally drink this afternoon and now I feel like I’m having a heart attack. Not in a good way. I’m worried this means I won’t be able to fall asleep tonight.

Luckily I’m about 4 episodes behind on Being Human so I can catch up on that instead of staring at the ceiling.

I can see 6 pumpkins from the window at the kitchen sink. I should have taken the photo from that angle instead of this one but now I don’t want to go back out there. Besides those six there are two that are already orange plus about 3 more yellow ones. I’m sure there will be at least another 25 posts about it before harvest.

Posted in garden, home improvement | 2 Comments

My Point is Ruined

Posted on September 15, 2010 by Pamela

Around the neighborhood.

I’ve been sitting on this half-drafted post for a day and a half for lack of time and now that I finally have time my point is ruined.

It’s been just warm enough to make the house stuffy in the evenings so I like to keep a bedroom window open at night.

A couple nights ago I woke up at 3am to the sound of a loud vehicle like a big truck idling in the street. After several minutes the noise was still there so I got up and looked and there was the new next-door neighbor’s moving truck which I guess must have just arrived after a long drive from California.

The noise when on for half an hour. I could hear voices. Insomnia issues aside, I’m not super precious when I sleep and can generally handle a little noise or some light or a flopping around spouse and barely notice. But this made me mad because it was loud, it went on and on and it was THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING. What is wrong with people?

After a half hour I finally got up again and shut the window and the noisy truck eventually drove away. But I never fell back to sleep so I was completely brain dead the next day and couldn’t stop thinking really mean thoughts about my new neighbors whoever they are.

Bob went home this afternoon to let the dryer fix-it man in (don’t have the final word yet, but seems to be simple and not spendy fix – fingers crossed.) On his way out the new neighbor ran over to introduce herself. He said she is super nice and grew up in the neighborhood and is glad to be back in the area. He said she apologized for the other night but their moving van broke down and they had to be towed 50 miles to get home and that’s why they didn’t get there until the middle of the night.

What a bummer. I hereby take back all those mean thoughts.

Posted in doing it wrong | 3 Comments

Your Appliance Dies Today

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Pamela

Today’s harvest.

Did you hear it was kill your appliance day?

We didn’t either but both our dryer and our garbage disposal died late this afternoon. The dryer has given plenty of warning, it’s amazing it’s worked this long. It was a bargain model and we bought it almost 15 years ago but I think we can squeeze a little more life out of it.

The garbage disposal was a surprise. My tea infuser fell down in there but I didn’t notice until it was way too late.

Some lucky appliance repair guy gets a hunk of our money. Hopefully soon. Not hopefully about parting with our money but hopefully about having working stuff again.

The pumpkin patch out back is exploding. Normally my front yard patch is the enthusiastic one and the backyard produces one or two tiny dented treats. I should end up with at least two or three decent sized pumpkins this year.

This is a new dahlia. The photo doesn’t really capture the dazzling color.

I have a half-assed recipe system. I keep most of the stuff I like to make and the stuff I want to make in a binder. But I also have “recently clipped” folder. I had about 4 recipes that I really liked that I wanted to use again that I couldn’t find. I took the binder apart and threw away some of the stuff I clipped years ago and still haven’t made or stuff I’ve tried and was lukewarm about.

Then I made a few categories. I have tons of recipes in the category of: macaroni and cheese (wow, it’s amazing how many of these I have and I rarely make it because even though it’s a huge favorite, I put a big priority on being able to button my pants), risotto, paella, pasta (zillions of pasta recipes), dips and sauces and vegetables. I have other categories but I can’t explain my whole system in a blogpost.

Now my binder is organized but I only found one of the recipes I was looking for and had to go online and find replacement recipes. Looking for recipes online is a crapshoot. There are so many sploggy, stupid, terrible recipe sites online. I found a collard green recipe which is on the stove right now.

I need to go wash my dirty feet from the yard work.

Posted in doing it wrong, garden | 3 Comments

This Is How I Do It

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Pamela

This is an ancient device I found when I moved computer cart for home improvement. I used it back in the olden days when I had a computer and telephone that had to be plugged into the wall.

I don’t have any knack for home improvement. I can see how a lot of it is just getting some practice but I hate doing it so much I don’t want to invest any more time into it than I have to. I was having a tough time wrapping my mind around how awful the windowsill looked after the first coat. I went online and looked up: Tips so your paint job doesn’t look like total crap.

I suspect it had something to do with drinking a couple of glasses of wine and then slapping on the paint as quickly as humanly possible. I didn’t find any tips that covered that precise set of facts.

In addition to the windowsill I had this small area on the wall where the paint looked wrinkled. I thought I could just sand it a little and then dab a little paint on it and it would look good as new. I sanded and it looked weird so I sanded more and then paint started peeling off in big strips. Obviously, that was the point when I opened the bottle of wine.

Then I got that patching stuff out and my putty knife and frosted the wall with it. There was more sanding but by the time I got the paint on it, it looked okay. I did a couple more coats on the windowsill and it looked less terrible.

By Monday the project was finished and I cleaned up the dust and put everything away. It doesn’t look too bad as long as you’re on the other side of the room and don’t put your glasses on.

Once I get the windowshade back on it, it will be good enough and at least it’s crossed off my “to do” list.

Here’s the basil from the seeds in my cracker box that I wrote about here.

The house next door to us turned into a rental about 8 years ago. The first tenants I barely ever saw. The next set were the ones with all the surly twenty-somethings coming and going and a mean barky dog and possible pathological lying. I can’t find the post to link to it. Ever since I had to move my blog I can never find anything.

Then we had the woman who just moved out.

A sign went up last week and a couple of days later was already gone. All I know so far is a Subaru with California plates and a loud child in the backyard.

This is everything I harvested today.

There has been no more sign of the mouse or mice and the traps remain empty. Good? Has he moved on? Gotten sneakier? Ran off to find his friends and bring them back? I thought maybe we could borrow the cat next door if it shows up again. Since he leaves his cat turds around the yard, he should at least do some work for me.

Posted in doing it wrong, garden, home improvement | Tagged | 2 Comments

Update

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Pamela

Home improvement: just as odious as I remember.

Posted in home improvement | 2 Comments

It’s Already Started

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Pamela

Another photo from Seattle trip.

I was out in the world gathering provisions at 10am and already the “it’s the end of the summer holiday weekend” crowd was out in full force, shoveling hot dog buns and giant boxes of beer into their carts. Trader Joe’s had a huge crowd of retirement aged ladies with sunglasses roaming through the aisles as if they were enjoying an art show. Also, TJs rearranged the wine aisle AGAIN. Normally I can stock my cart blind-folded. I don’t like to have to search around.

I’m working on my windowsill this weekend and that involves sanding so my computer needs to be moved out of here. I’m not sure if I’m going to set it up in another room or not. I have the laptop but my presence will be spotty.

Enjoy your weekend.

Posted in doing it wrong | 2 Comments