A Red-Letter Day - November 28, 2022

It started with a phone call from the office mid-morning.  We won a grant that we applied for last month - the first one I worked on.  Batting 1,000, so far. :)  

Not an hour later, The Husband came onto the back porch and said, "There's an armadillo in the trap."  He had kinda fixed the trap that was mangled by the last armadillo that was caught in it and had set it where he thought the armadillo might be coming out.  Sure 'nuff, there he was.  

R.I.P., Armadillo.

The buzzards are probably already enjoying his crunchy ass.

Thanksgiving - November 26,, 2022

We had a really nice Thanksgiving Day.  My brother invited us to his house for a mid-day meal.  Both of his children and their offspring were there, as was my sister and her daughter.  We had a lot of good food, and after the meal, my brother wanted to show his wife how to play "Pitch," a card came that my parents and their friends used to enjoy.  It had been years since we'd played, and we weren't exactly certain of the rules.  Several years ago, both my brother and I searched the internet for Pitch rules but could not find any.  Eventually, we simply agreed on what rules we remembered and played a few hands.  I'm not sure our rules were "regulation," but we had fun. On the way home, I googled the game and found rules on different variations of the game.  I don't think our rules fit any of the variations!

Later in the evening, we went to Son #2's house for dinner.  His wife's family was there, too, so they had a houseful, but it was nice.  All of our grandchildren and step-grandchildren (except for one) were there.  It was good to have them all under the same roof for a while.

Yesterday, I was a slug.  Spent part of the day working on lessons for some classes I am taking, and the rest of the day I read in my recliner.  Didn't leave the property all day - no Black Friday shopping for me!  Ain't leaving it today, either.  ;)

Happy Thanksgiving - November 24, 2022

The Husband and will be going to my brother's house for a mid-day Thanksgiving meal.  My cooking assignment this year was dressing, gravy, and ham, but because my brother loves spinach dip, I made some of that, too.  My brother once said that Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday; no present-giving, nothing but eating.  My response to him was, "That's because YOU aren't responsible for the 2-3 days of shopping/cooking/cleaning before the holiday."

Son #2 and his family are having everybody over for dinner at 6 tonight.  Our assignment for that meal was green bean casserole.  We probably won't be very hungry by then, but we can have an extra helping of sweet grandchild smooches on the Little Rotten Baby and her sisters.  

After that - or maybe between the two meals - we'll put in an appearance at Nanny's.  One of the out-of-town nieces has come down for the holiday, and she brought her new beau.  We'll have to go if for no other reason than to check him out.  ;)

Everything is ready, except the dressing and the casserole need to be baked.  I'll pop those in the oven in a few minutes.  The ham bone is boiling on the stove.  We'll make beans or potato soup with the broth and ham bits tomorrow.  (Reminder: add beans and/or potatoes to tomorrow's shopping list.)

We have no beans or potatoes in the house because we've been on a low carb diet for a little over six months.  Since June, The Husband has lost 20 pounds and has had to buy new pants.  I've lost somewhere between 30 and 40 pounds - not sure what I weighed when we started - but am still wearing the same old clothes because I HATE TO SHOP.  I guess I'll keep wearing them till they fall off.  Now that I'm working from home most days, who's gonna know?

Winterizing - November 21, 2022

Our weekend was both enjoyable and productive.  

Friday night, we met up with The Sister-and-Brother-in-Law for dinner at our favorite restaurant.  

Saturday morning, The Grandson texted me to ask if we had any plans for the day.  As it happened, we'd planned to winterize the back porch.  The Grandson said he'd be glad to help, so I went to get him mid-morning.  We went to work as soon as we got back to the house.  It was COLD, but we bundled up and got 'er done.  We stapled clear vinyl all around the exterior of the porch.  While we were working, I tripped over a mole trail, then a few minutes later I fell off a ladder (wasn't very far up it, thank goodness).  By evening, I was kinda stiff, but didn't sustain any serious damage.

The Grandson asked if he could spend the night.  We said "yes," of course!  Once upon a time, he spent almost every weekend with us, but now, at age 15, we're not on the top of his social list.  It was good to have him here.  He used to love to eat breakfast here; the boy could eat his weight in biscuits and gravy.  We cooked a big breakfast Sunday morning, but the lazy kid slept until well after noon.  I took him home mid-afternoon and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the porch.

New Job, Chapter 2 - November 15, 2022

During negotiations for my new grant-writing job, The New Boss said it would be fine with him for me to work from home.  Although I probably would have taken the job even if he hadn't agreed on the work-from-home part, it was a fairly important factor to me.  I was okay with his suggestion that I work in the office for a while to see how things run and get to know people.  But two months into working in the office, my frustration was growing.  I had no office, nor even a desk that I could call my own; I was working in The New Boss's office, at his conference table, while he worked in the big conference room (n the rare occasions when he was actually in the office.  (Do not take that "rare occasions" comment as a disparagement of TNB; there are big deals afoot, and he is traveling a lot.)  

Yesterday, I had made up my mind that I was going to stop going to the office every day, at least for a while.  I'd signed up for some online grant-writing classes, which I intended to pursue on office time; there was no reason why I should drive to the office every day just to do the classes when I have all the equipment I need at home.  When The New Boss came in, I was locked and loaded, ready to have the discussion with him.  But as he walked past his office, he called my name as he strode toward the conference room, and when I joined him, he announced that I could start working from home.

Hallelujah!

So, here I sit.  My shift starts in 15 minutes.  :)

* * * * * * * * 

It's cold on the back porch.  Forty-one degrees, according to my computer.  I intend to work out here for as long as I can stand it.  Hopefully, we're going to do something to extend that time, for we have ordered some clear vinyl with which to enclose the porch.  It should be here by the weekend.  And yesterday when I got home, there was a honkin' big electric heater on the front porch.  

The Husband and I have had a years-long battle over enclosing the porch for the winter.  The first winter, we enclosed it with thick plastic that claimed to be "clear" but was actually opaque. The Husband didn't like that he couldn't see through it.  It kept the porch warm, though; there were days when we opened the doors to admit cooler air.  The next year, we didn't enclose the porch at all and froze our asses off when we came out to smoke.  I don't remember what we did for the next year or two, but our attic is full of every kind of space heater imaginable, none of which made porch time bearable.  Last year, we bought a big white wedding tent (with clear windows to satisfy The Husband).  Because it wasn't tall enough, I had to sew paper-backed vinyl all around the bottom, a huge pain in the butt.  We velcroed it to the outside of the porch, thinking that it would be easy to re-install this winter.  Since the tent was made of tarp-like material, it did very little to keep out the cold.  When we took it down in the spring, the velcro came un-stuck from the house.  And there were HUNDREDS of dead ladybug and stinkbug carcasses stuck to the velcro.  It's no wonder that the back porch was over-run with stinkbugs this past summer!

I am hoping that this year's clear vinyl will do a better job of insulating the porch.  It's going to be a pain to install it because we'll have to splice it together somehow.  Sewing vinyl is a certifiable mess; it wants to stick to the sewing machine.  And I don't really want to perforate it with stitches.  This conundrum may take trial and error.

* * * * * * * * 

A friend suggested a way to trap the armadillos that have been destroying our yard.  He said to figure out where they're coming out of their hole, and make a V-shaped barricade that will funnel them right into a trap placed at the end of the V.  I tried this Saturday night.  No critter the next morning.  We moved the trap Sunday afternoon, and Sunday night when I went out to the porch, I heard a terrible commotion in the vicinity of the trap.  I ran inside and told The Husband, "I think we caught one!"  He grabbed a flashlight and went out to look.  The trap had been MANGLED, and the armadillo was gone.

I now have a greater respect for armadillos.

  

Veteran's Day - November 11, 2022

I have the day off from work today.  Thanks to the Veterans for that, and for many other privileges.

It is wonderful to have the day off.  My job is the pits, so far.  The wheels of government turn slowly, and the work I've been hired to do can't be done until a mountain of other things get done.  Thus, my days are full of a lot of thumb-twiddling and trying to look busy.  It's not much fun.  :(

I promised myself that I'd sleep late this morning, but my eyes popped open at 5:45, and I got up, turned the coffee pot on, and read for a while.  I'm reading another "Lanny Budd" book - maybe the 4th in the series, with a couple more to go.  In light of all of the political turmoil going on in this country right now, these books are a little scary.

* * * * * * * * 

Granddaughter #1 sent her school jacket over here yesterday, asking me to sew on some patches she's acquired over the years - band competitions, school letters, etc.  Her school's football team is undefeated this year and is in the playoffs, playing at home tonight.  Since the band will be there, and since it will be cold, I figured I'd better get those patches sewn on so that she can have her jacket tonight.  I'll run it over to her later today, and maybe pick up two of her little sisters to keep while their parents go to the ballgame.

Our yard and sidewalks and driveway are absolutely carpeted with leaves.  When it warms up later today, you'll find me leaf-blowing the sidewalks and driveway, but I am saving the leaves in the yard for one more day.

You see, we have this armadillo problem.  Every night at dark, it comes out.  I can hear him rustling through the leaves.  The Husband doesn't like to shoot at night, so we have tried to trap it, but he has evaded us so far.  He has a regular path through the yard.  A friend has suggested that we make a V-shaped barricade that will funnel the critter right into the trap.  I'm going to try that tonight, and if the set-up works, we'll leave it in place, for I'm pretty sure there's more than one armadillo roaming the property.

  

Hydrangea Cuttings - November 4, 2022

In early September, during my 8 days of retirement, I cut some hydrangea limbs away from our HVAC unit.  I chopped the limbs into sections, 2 leaf nodes per section, and planted them (one leaf node under the dirt, one above) in Solo cups.  I put the Solo cups in clear plastic bins that would hold water so I didn't have to tend the cuttings every day and set the bins in the back yard near the house where I could see them and remember to tend them.  

In theory, the bins were a good idea.  But one day it rained a gully-washer, and the next time I checked on the cuttings, some of the cups were floating sideways in the bins and most of the cuttings had come out of the dirt.  I replanted them and brought a couple of bins onto the back porch so that I could keep a better watch on them.  (They're not currently looking so great).

I worried what to do with them this winter.  Their root systems aren't very developed.  Would they be better off in the ground before winter?  Should I leave them in the cups?  Put them in bigger pots?  Bring them inside before temps drop below freezing?

A Facebook gardening group gave me an answer that seems logical to me.  They said to set the cups on the ground and cover them with leaves.  

I did that this afternoon.  Piled the leaves high.

Now I'm worried that the #(!)@! armadillo will dig them up.