As of this afternoon, I am unemployed.  

The day started - or, rather, should have started - with The Boss's last hearing at 9 a.m.  The attorneys wanted to have a pow-wow before the hearing, and they ended up agreeing on whatever it was they were arguing about.  (I don't know why lawyers can't have their pow-wows BEFORE the day of the hearing; it would have the court so much time and effort.)  Another judge came in to be sworn in.  The Boss had a pile of orders to sign.

I took a picture of The Boss signing the final order, and another of The Boss handing that final order to a clerk to be stamped.

After that, The Boss and I waved for a camera from the courthouse porch, then the clerks all gathered on the porch and waved back at us.  Then it hit us that the picture would make more sense if it showed us waving AT EACH OTHER.  So we nabbed the next guy who came out of the courthouse and asked him to take the picture.  

We all went back inside.  The Boss and I gathered our purses, gave each other a hug, and made a standing lunch date for the second Tuesday of every month.

I choked up a little.  

Crazy Day - August 29, 2022

What a crazy day this has been.

The Boss swore in the new judge this morning.  A couple of hours later, the State computer geeks came for our computers, phones, fax machine, etc.  At the same time, the new judge's crew came to get our (state-owned) furniture.  

I have been talking with the County Executive about a job with the county.  We've met a couple of times, and "rumor" has it that I will have a job with the county.  The thing is that no one has told me when to report, where I'll be working, or how much the county intends to pay me - little things like that.

Tomorrow afternoon, the local bar association is hosting a reception for The Boss. 

Wednesday morning, The Boss has one final hearing to do.  

Then we're done.  

I don't quite know what to do with myself.

Partying - August 27, 2022

The Boss's retirement party was a hum-dinger.  Hundreds of people came.  There was good food, a rockin' band, and fireworks at the end of the evening.  

* * * * * * * * 

I saw a post on Facebook that said yesterday (Saturday) was "Play Music on the Porch Day."  Since The Husband and our sons are all "musical," we invited the family to come hang out and play music on the back porch.  All of our kids and grandkids were here, plus a few more relatives.  We had a big time!

Still Picking Peas - August 26, 2020

Yesterday was The Boss's last day in court.  After the final case was over, the court clerks and the bailiffs gathered behind The Boss on the bench for a picture.  It was kind of bittersweet.

The Boss turned me loose when we got back to town.  I ran a few errands, came home, changed clothes, and went to the garden to see what needed picking.  The purple hull peas should've been picked last weekend, but it rained, and we did not do any work in the garden.  Yesterday, when I finally got to it and saw all the grass and weeds I'd have to wade through, I thought I could hear the chiggers celebrating my approach.

About half of the peas on the vines were dried up, but there were enough good ones to make about a quart of shelled peas.  (I gave that job to Nanny.)  

This year's tomato crop has been pitiful.  We've had so much rain this month that many of the tomato skins have split.  And the garden critter - whatever it is - squirrel, raccoon, or groundhog - gnawed the bottoms out of half of the crop.  

While the rain kept us out of the garden, the squash grew into baseball bats.  I hauled two 5-gallon buckets of over-sized squash to the gulley behind the garden.  I don't know why the garden critter(s) don't eat squash.  Wonder if they know something we don't know?

Tonight is The Boss's retirement party, something she has been planning for years.  Five hundred guests are expected.  A local barbeque restaurant is cooking 26 pork shoulders and side-dishes to go with them.  There'll be a band and beverages.  It should be fun.  

Nine More Days - August 23, 2022

Whew...yesterday 'bout wore me out.

When we left the office last Friday, there was a huge pile of bagged-up and boxed-up garbage in the front room.  Yesterday morning we added a considerable amount to the pile.  When all of the drawers and shelves were finally empty, I said to The Boss, "Give me your car key.  I'm going to back it up to the door, and we're hauling this stuff to the dumpster."  She drives a Yukon.  We laid the back seat down and filled the cargo space with garbage bags - TWICE - and drove up the hill to the dumpster.  She held the lid open while I heaved the bags into the dumpster.  We were both dripping sweat by the time we finished.  

Having finished that chore, there's not much left for us to do.  This weekend or early next week, The Boss's kids are coming to get her personal furniture and boxed-up belongings.  The new judge's crew will come for our desks and the remaining state-supplied furniture.  I've got two boxes of pictures and books to bring home.

We have an old microwave that is so gross I won't use it.  We'll leave it for somebody else to toss.  We also have a dorm-sized refrigerator that's been running non-stop for 25+ years.  The freezer compartment was frozen shut, so I unplugged the refrigerator and aimed a space heater at the iceberg.  I'll take it to Granddaughter #1, who will be going away to college this fall, if it runs again when it's plugged back in.

We'll have court tomorrow and Thursday, then the official work will be done, except for wrapping up whatever paperwork is generated in those hearings.

I still do not know anything about my new job.  It appears to be a "done deal," but there's been no word on a start date or any other details, such as where my office will be.  Hopefully, someone will be in touch in a few days.

I like surprises, but damn . . . . 

Ten Days and Counting - August 21, 2022

Starting tomorrow, it's ten days and counting until we close up shop at the office and the new judge takes over.  There will be two more days of court next week, then we're done with the cases, but we still have some cleaning-out to do at the office.  There's one box that probably has a tarantula in it; I don't know how we're going to get that out of the office.  I ain't touching it.

Friday is The Boss's big retirement party.  

Monday morning, The Boss will swear in the new judge.  Later that afternoon, the techies will be coming for our computers and telephones Monday the 29th, and then we will be lame ducks.  The furniture will go away during the following two days.  We'll be like flies without a place to land.  Tuesday afternoon, the county Bar Association will be throwing one more retirement party for The Boss.  After that, I suppose we will truly be done.

* * * * * * * * * *

Last weekend, we picked all of the tomatoes that had even a hint of color on them and set them on the sill on the back porch.  Today, they were ripe enough for canning, but there weren't quite enough, so I put on my clogs and went to the garden to see if the squirrel had left any ripe ones.  We've had rain showers for the past few days, and I marred up in the mud, nearly face-planted once.  About half of the ripe tomatoes on the vines had been gnawed.  I got the ripe ones, and any that were starting to turn.  Nanny said she would like to have the ripe tomatoes to can, so I came home and got the ones from the porch, sorted out the ripest ones for Nanny to can, and put the rest of them on the porch sill.  Sent the ripe ones to Nanny via The Husband, who was about to make a trip to the Dollar General.  

I had also picked jalapeno and pimento peppers today to use for pepper jelly.  I knew I did not have enough sugar - a batch takes THIRTEEN cups of sugar! - so I asked The Husband to pick up two bags of sugar and two boxes of fruit pectin while he was at the dollar store.  As expected, the dollar store didn't have any fruit pectin, but I found two boxes among my canning supplies that were not out of date.  Then, when I started measuring out the apple cider vinegar, I discovered I was a cup short.  But there was a bottle of red wine vinegar in the pantry, and it was the right acidity, so I finished out the recipe with it.  My pepper jelly usually comes out a pretty gold color.  This time, it's more like "antique gold."  But it's still pretty.  

Here's a trick I learned about chopping hot peppers.  I have tried wearing plastic/rubber gloves to seed and chop the peppers, but it was awkward, and my hands still burned.  Last year, I tried rubbing olive oil on my hands before I started messing with the peppers, and IT WORKED.  I guess the pepper juice stuck to the olive oil instead of my skin.

Here's a pepper jelly trick to keep the peppers from floating to the top of the jar:  after the jars are out of the canner, while the jelly is a little warm but not set, swirl the jar.  It will help distribute the pepper pieces.

Morning Gardening - August 14, 2022

Friday afternoon, when I went to the garden for cucumbers and tomatoes for dinner, I glanced at the purple hull pea rows and saw they needed picking.  After dinner, I said to The Husband, "We ought to go pick the peas."  

He said, "Let's pick them tomorrow morning."  

I sort of rolled my eyes at him and gave him a doubtful look.  He hates gardening, and he hates mornings.  The odds of us picking peas in the morning seemed pretty slim.  

But, to my amazement, he did not complain when I reminded him of the peas after breakfast.  We picked another 5-gallon bucket full.

We also picked all of the tomatoes that had even a hint of orange on them, trying to beat the squirrels to the harvest.  We brought them home and lined them up on the porch sill.  A few tomatoes were ripe enough to eat, but there weren't enough to fool with canning.  To keep them from going to waste, I scalded the skins off of them, chopped them up, and put them in the freezer.