My Day

Stayed up a little late last night with good company, conversation and laughter along with a bit of sipping of lovely liquid libation.  (Dare I say more than a bit of sipping of said libation?)

'Twas a slow start this morning, but I did manage to get our first batch of my mom's holiday fruitcake baked.

After lunch, Papa Pea begged and begged and begged (he's so pathetic) for a slice, so I cut into one loaf even though I knew it would be crumbly.  The fruitcake needs to be wrapped in foil and stowed in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before it "firms up" enough to slice easily.

Then it was out into the garden for the continued clean-up operation.  Because of our warmer-than-usual weather (no killing frost yet even), I've let things out there go much longer than I should have.  Of a normal year at this time, the garden would already be put to bed for the winter, and I would no longer have to give it a thought.

My experimental fall plantings were mostly a bust.  The edible podded peas and shell peas put forth lovely green vines, but not much else.  The edible podded peas blossomed scantily but formed only one or two (that I could find) pods that failed to grow any longer than about 1".  The shell peas made pods but very few plumped up.  I taste tested the few that did and although the peas inside looked normal, they had an old, stale flavor.  Yuck.

The cauliflower started from seed in a raised bed in July never even came close to forming heads.  I gave up on it and threw it to the poultry.  They said thank you very much and gobbled it right up.

 A lovely head of lettuce

A "bouquet" of arugula

The fall planted bed of salad greens did do well, I'm happy to report.

We had an end of the season plethora of fresh, crispy Swiss chard, spinach, mizuna mustard, arugula and several kinds of lettuce.

So today I picked one last big bowlful of the assorted greens then yoinked out all the plants and spread them out in the poultry pasture.  The ducks, geese and chickens came as a group for lunch, they all dined at the salad bar (hold the dressing, please) and said it was yummy.

Then I started pulling the sad looking pumpkin vines (all stronger, longer and tougher than one would think), but had to quit to make a run to town for a few errands.  One errand was to drop off at our second hand furniture store a lamp we no longer wanted or needed.  While there, I spotted a lovely swivel desk chair they had recently gotten in.  Since I've been kinda sorta looking for another chair to replace this one . . . 

. . . that I've had for so long I have no memory of where or when I got it, I decided to bring this new one home with me.

It has an adjustable height feature, and I think I'm going to like it very much.

I got a little more done in the garden after returning home from my other errands at the hardware store, recycling center, and library.  Popped some chicken turnovers in the oven which were waiting in the freezer for just such an occasion, heated up some left over gravy and served them with frozen (cooked, of course) green beans from the garden.

That was my day.  Just another slow one on ye ol' homestead.