I usually just google wildflowers in whatever state I am looking at plants in.
Only about a 30 minute wait at BB early this morning, and they scrubbed the Interstate so clean that it squeaks when I touch it.
One of the best deals on the road.
So we’re scrubbed shiny clean, tanks have been emptied and low point drains opened.
Home and unloaded.
Going to do some detailing and deep cleaning out there while we have beautiful and hospitable weather, then winterize with the fluid I bought yesterday and put her to bed for the next few months.
I have discovered that the “universal silver” touch up paint from Rustoleum matches the silver on the Interstate perfectly.
Small and easy to carry, great for dabbing on tiny rock chips and other small garfs.
It was great to have a little road trip, but it was not long enough.
I really like having a great camping spot and also some signal , but actually what I needed, really, was to have so little signal that I couldn’t even read the news.
My brain is still on overload.
But, we’re home.
Maggie
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
My youngest (daughter) is totally unafraid of them. She once accidentally brought a full egg case into her bedroom and it started hatching on a warm spring day.
It took her hours to carefully collect dozens of them, by hand, and put them outside. She’s known as the Praying Mantis Wrangler around here. They will stay on her hand and let her pet them.
She’s off to medical school nowadays.
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Rich, KE4GNK/AE, Overkill Engineering Dept.
'The Silver HamShack' ('07 International 22FB CCD 75th Anniversary)
Multiple Yaesu Ham Radios inside and many antennae sprouting from roof, ProPride hitch, Prodigy P2 controller.
2012 shortbed CrewMax 4x4 Toyota Tacoma TV with more antennae on it.
I have just finished this book, which is billed as a “psychological thriller”, and it was, but also a complicated and rather sad commentary on this fictional, dysfunctional, multi-generational family.
The writer didn’t try to paint a rosy picture, nor provide a happy ending, but it held my attention and I saw families I know and am close to in it.
Art imitating life, I think they call it.
A very good read, and you may see yourself or someone you know in there.
My son texted me this picture last night, of the hot dog cooker which was one of the pie irons I gave to them a few weeks back.
They are apparently really, really enjoying their new fire pit, also the pie irons Grandma sent over.
Three teenagers in that household now, and two of them boys, so they cooked two packages of hot dogs over the fire in about 10 minutes with this cooker.
Kids of all ages love fires, and they love cooking over them.
A good thing, and a good “family time” thing.
Late yesterday afternoon I headed toward the laundry area by my back door, and saw not one but two PIT BULLS inside my fenced yard and ON MY BACK PORCH!
A full grown and a puppy, just hanging out and looking around, like hmmm, wonder if there’s anything to eat here, and how do we get back out???.
I got shoes on and went outside...fortunately, I saw them before Lily did or she would have been berserk to see them in her yard...they were very friendly, came up sniffing my hands like I might have treats, and I quickly figured out they belonged to my neighbors to the north.
How did I know for certain, you might ask???
Because of the broken slats in my northern section of fence, and the hole dug out beneath it.
This is the second time recently that a dog has come thru the fence, a few months ago the little dog in the house to the south of me did the exact same thing.
Lily, however, has never tried to dig a hole to escape out of her back yard, I might add. She was once a “left behind” dog, and she ain’t goin’ far from her mama, ever.
She did once find herself free because the gate had not latched, but instead of running off she came to the front door and looked in...like, hey, look what I did.
So I walked them over to my neighbor, who had no idea his dogs had escaped.
Sigh.
The city has finished repairing not only the section of sidewalk I photographed and complained about, but two other but less decrepit sections of sidewalk on this little street.
It’s a start.
Temps have cooled off overall, and we are due for unseasonably cool weather next week.
I need to pull a few freezables out of the Interstate, then run winterization fluid thru, and it can be put to bed in storage.
On my list of things to do in the next couple of days is to clean out the wood stove and add a coat of stove paint before I start having morning fires.
Fall...my favorite time of year.
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
42 degrees here this morning, and highs will not reach even 60 today...time for a morning fire.
The Interstate has been emptied and winterized, and is spending a little time at an independent autobody place near me that was recommended by another independent shop that I trust.
They’re going to paint the sun damaged strip over my windshield, which I tried to treat myself and could not do so successfully.
Son was willing to get on a ladder and help me do it in my driveway, perhaps enlist the aid of middle grandson who seems to be part mountain goat , but we need good timing outside of school/work, and calm winds as well as optimal temperatures.
With falling leaves and cold weather closing in, hiring it out seemed the best route. I just can’t stand the appearance of this strip.
Then, out to storage until early January, when we will hopefully be able to head south for our usual, winter-month wander around favorite southern states.
We’ll see what Covid is doing by then, but I have to say I feel much more confident in my ability to keep myself safe on the road...as I’ve had two careful trips in the midst, where I was able to do just that.
The benefits of carrying ones’ full-service accommodations on your back.
Have over seeded my yard and finished most of the outdoor choring...until the leaves are down, but they’re just starting to turn so unless we get a real cold snap and they come down green, there are a few weeks yet before I will need to start diving into that.
It’s October 1st, so instead of putting my contacts in first thing this morning, I reached for my eyeglasses...required for the run-up to cataract surgery next month.
Had these made for the overnight flight to Paris in 2012, when Doug and I went there for our 20th wedding anniversary.
The correction could be a bit stronger, 8 years later, but they’ll do.
Wearing these, I feel a bit like the dogs and cats who wear a funnel over their heads to keep them from scratching at whatever...only my funnel is over my eyes.
Being legally blind without the contacts, I have no functional peripheral vision in eyeglasses.
Very strange, and I plan to keep my driving to a minimum.
Years ago, one just went blind.
I’m about ready to pull my Pandemic Sourdough Starter out of my freezer and find a new recipe to try.
A good time of year for baking almost anything.
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
Thawed out my starter and gave it two feeds over a couple of days to increase the volume, then baked a triple batch of this Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Bread this morning...using 2 1/4 cups starter.
I substituted 2 cups whole wheat flour for 2 of the 6 cups unbleached flour needed for a triple recipe, and used brown sugar instead of white.
I also skipped the raisins and used two full cups chopped walnuts.
This is not a very sweet bread, and the reviews note that molasses is the dominant flavor, so be aware of that if you decide to make it but are not a molasses fan.
I used blackstrap molasses, because that’s what I had, but may try light molasses the next time.
Tho I like my sweets, I have successfully cut those way back in recent years, and like that this bread can be a reasonably nutritious and relatively guilt free breakfast.
I’ve had this 3-loaf pan for years, meant to have brownie batter baked in it, but I believe I have always only used it for banana breads, sourdough applesauce spice cake, etc.
It’s my favorite pan...non stick, and the more narrow loaves bake clear thru in less time. I like.
Still working on fall choring, with something always seeming needing to be added to my to-do list.
I did so much yesterday that I was achey and feeling a little puny when I sat down early afternoon to have some tea, and I was thinking...HAVE I CAUGHT COVID?
I have not.
This morning have stripped my bed down to the mattress and washed everything while I can still use the outdoors for some of the drying.
Going to flip my mattress before I remake it, and without calling for help.
I remember early in the after, when my son would come by to help me do that, and other things I have for years now done by myself.
I think some of the not wanting initially to do alone many of the things Doug and I did together is the necessity of simultaneously completing the task while pushing thru the wave of emotion and feelings that surface.
We want help sometimes because we need to be nurtured and tended to a bit, I think...but less so over time seems the logical order of things.
At least, that’s the way it has been for me.
Still...every.single.time...I do certain things, he is there in my head.
Peaceful coexistence with the past, regardless what it is, while carving out a new life...is the goal.
For me, anyway. 6 1/2 years out.
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
"I think some of the not wanting initially to do alone many of the things Doug and I did together is the necessity of simultaneously completing the task while pushing thru the wave of emotion and feelings that surface.
We want help sometimes because we need to be nurtured and tended to a bit, I think...but less so over time seems the logical order of things.
At least, that’s the way it has been for me.
Still...every.single.time...I do certain things, he is there in my head.
Peaceful coexistence with the past, regardless what it is, while carving out a new life...is the goal.
For me, anyway. 6 1/2 years out."
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Maggie, your personal trailblazing down the road of loss, grief and reconciliation has been a wonderful inspiration for me. Thank you so much.
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Tim
2015 Interstate Grand Tour
WBCCI Member #5506
I have to say, once when gets a bit dulled to the unsparing assault to ones senses on multiple fronts , it is really rather enthralling and very enjoyable.
Historical re-enaction, love, loss, hardship, regal opulence, Indiana Jones-style acts of derring do by dashing heroes, time travel, etc...what’s not to like?
Raw, graphic, and not for the faint of heart, it is a welcome distraction and diversion from news of the day.
I highly recommend it.
Maggie
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
I bought a couple of big bags of spinach on sale at the grocery store the other day, but haven’t really felt like eating it...so yesterday I made pesto.
A little stirred into pasta and topped with fresh Parmesan cheese = a balanced meal.
Back when I had bumper crops of basil in my garden, I made pesto a lot and froze it in small containers and ice cube trays.
I’m going to freeze most of this, too, just not yet sure in what.
I just whirred the spinach up in my food processor, added a couple big cloves of garlic, salt & pepper, and a good handful of fresh Parmesan, then drizzled in olive oil til it emulsified.
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
My to-do list is empty, but for getting the Toyota serviced and putting a spray of paint on my patio table...tho I’ve put the latter off so long it may make more sense now to wait til spring.
Took my entertainment center apart last week and cleaned it thoroughly, also my pot rack when my son was here for lunch and could manhandle it down and back up for me.
Standing on a step stool with nothing to hold onto, and lifting something over my head....ummm, no.
He doesn’t even need a stool.
The water heater in the little house has been acting up, with the pilot light going out every few days...I have mastered relighting it in widowed life, just have to do it at least once a week, it seems.
Troubleshooting this issue online, everything mentions a “screen” underneath, which may get lint or dust in it and need to be cleaned out, but darned if I could see or feel a screen (as I knew it) under there.
Having to relight it again this morning, I went thru the ordeal of getting an actual human on the phone at Whirlpool, and she insisted there is a screen under there.
So while I had her on the phone, I got a flashlight and magnifying mirror to slide under the WH, got on the floor and there is no “screen” as I would call it but minuscule perforations that just feel like texture when you can’t actually see the under surface of your hot water heater.
That’s not a screen...no wonder I couldn’t feel it.
“Clean the screen with a long handled, soft brush”, she instructed me.
No such animal exists at my house, but I do keep an old child’s toothbrush in my kitchen drawer for small cleaning chores, so I laid on the floor by the WH and was able onky because I have very long fingers to get to the “screen” and brush it off.
Nothing discernible came off, but it will hopefully resolve the problem. Yikes.
It’s relit, so we’ll see.
I am working my way in the evenings thru the 900+ pages of “The Reacher Experiment” series, so have my buddy Jack to distract my mind from the never-ending pandemic and political/civil unrest which fill the news.
A good thing.
And watched “The Free State of Jones” over the weekend, which got very lukewarm reviews but is based on a trues story with real events, and which I found very good.
Matthew McConaughey plays Newton McNight, who led a rebellion band of defectors and escaped slaves against the Confederacy in southeast Mississippi during the Civil War.
Lots of historical detail, a big part of its appeal to me, also the Mississippi connection, given my Mississippi roots.
We’re having a few warmish days in central Illinois, but very cool nights, and temps are due to drop into the 20’s later this week.
Leaves here are just starting to turn, and winter is just around the corner,
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🏡 🚐 Cherish and appreciate those you love. This moment could be your last.🌹🐚
Hi, Maggie...reading your often-daily scribes is like getting a regular update from Garrison Keilor's Lake Wobegone...very calming, reassuring and welcome. Thank you for sharing the simple things of life!
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Tim
2015 Interstate Grand Tour
WBCCI Member #5506
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