Category Archives: garden

Downtown Portland on Snow Day. We’re on Fifth looking south towards Morrison.

The weather people were all in a lather last night about this late winter snow sweeping in from the north today and tomorrow. They said we might get up to four (4!) inches maybe more the two days put together. One forecast I read said, “This is 100% happening, people.”

When we walked back from lunch this afternoon I said, “I’d like to point out that not only is it not snowing. It’s not even raining.” A few seconds later it started raining and it was suggested that I shut up.

*Now* they’re saying the snow is going to start after we go to bed but we probably won’t get more than two inches of accumulations. And it would help if your house is on a hill.

I understand that because of the various mountain ranges and the ocean and the gorge that it’s tough to predict weather with any sort of accuracy around here but I also think that commerce thrives when people are worked up about something.

We’ll see. I brought some work that I can do at home if the morning commute is farked up but I expect to be at my station tomorrow.

Lunch at Karam. After they brought the food we remembered that we ordered this last time and thought it was too much. Plus this time we ordered extra falafels. No problem. That’s what leftover boxes are for.

I spent a few minutes trying to artfully take a photo of my new mouthpiece. Now that I’m ancient I finally have a retainer. But it looks gross so I’m not posting a photo.

I got it for a teeth grinding issue and I already think it’s great. I talked about it for a long time with my old dentist but I kept putting it off. I really like my new dentist so I finally went for it. Plus I think I got the impression that this was going to be a magic mouthpiece that would rejuvenate my entire head. I might end up disappointed further down the road.

I haven’t even worn it two weeks yet and already I’ve had two dreams where the mouthpiece was crumbling and I had to spit out the pieces and put them on the nightstand. Then I wake up and it’s fine.

Tomato sproutlets keep growing. I’m going to have to thin down to one sprout per container. I never thought they’d all do so well.

I’ve been putting off my garden stuff. Last weekend we had some clear but cold weather. I kept thinking I should get out and do something but now I have the excuse of the coming freezing weather. That stuff has to wait until after all the freezing is past.

I can’t remember if I already posted this but last fall I learned about a kind of pumpkin called a Baby Pam which obviously I am growing this year. I’ve been thinking of trying some other news things, too. I’m always so ambitious until the work starts and then my attention span shrinks.

This weekend is supposed to stay cold so I have a little more time with excuses.

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.

Look!

Yesterday while I was watering I decided to get rid of this chard plant that I intended to harvest when I was going to eat it. Then I never got around to eating it and it was almost big enough to be a shade tree.

When I pulled it out I found this hiding out.

Best moment of August so far.