The better-half left for Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon. He’s scheduled to be back on Friday. I thought I’d write something every day that he’s gone and then publish on Friday. If you are reading this, then I decided to go on with it, obviously.
Monday started off drizzly and I decided to weed whack and began cutting the grass. I usually cut with the push mower around the house and in certain spots around the yard that need a more delicate hand than the riding mower. I was cutting the area around the porch when I got stung by a yellow jacket. I am not fond of that feeling. I slowly backed away from the nest and then took the lawn mower back to the shed. It started raining and so I quit worrying with that chore. I poured some bleach down the nest hole and covered it up. There were still a lot of yellow jackets hanging around so I went in to shower and take an antihistamine for the bite. I slept for two hours in the middle of the day thanks to that pill. At least the bite on my leg is hardly noticeable. But I suspect itching in my future. I uncovered the nest later in the day so the remaining hornets could come home. Then I dosed the nest again with bleach and covered it back up. I know…all god’s creatures blah, blah, blah. I am going Keyser Söze on them and that’s just the way it is.
I finished cutting the grass on Tuesday morning. I also put the mega-smackdown on the yellow jackets since some survived the night. I covered the nest again and will check on their death progress Wednesday. I can tell you the spot on my leg is red, itchy and hot to the touch. I really hope those damn bees are dead.
I went by the library before I met my mother for lunch. There was a kid event going on and parking was pretty limited. I wonder if when the library was designed if they had any idea it would be so popular because the size of the parking lot makes me think they thought no one was interested in reading. I checked out two books by authors I was interested in, but I didn’t get the books I went in for-does that make sense? I’ve been making a list and the library didn’t have either of the books I wanted so I checked out other titles by the same authors. As an aside, I’m pretty disappointed in their e-book selection. Either they just don’t have much outside of the bodice ripper in their portfolio or I just don’t know how to find what I’m looking for. I did read Alice in Zombieland as an e-book. It was pretty well done considering the subject.
After having lunch with my mother, I bought several cans of spray paint because in addition to painting the porch and refinishing the floor, I decided our table set needed updating. I think we’ve owned that set for 10 years and it had taken on some rust. The chairs look great and my feet are a very dark shade of green. That’s what I get for wearing my pool shoes while painting. I guess it was a better choice than using the “chores” sneakers. At any rate, the table will have to wait until the better-half gets home and can help me pull the table out into the yard for a round of spraying.
Wednesday morning started at 4 am because Jim finally woke up and jumped off the blanket chest in the bedroom. The chest is old and creaky so it’s very obvious when a cat jumps off it. Jim came in Tuesday night around 10:30 and immediately got into his bed. I’m not sure where he went after he jumped off the blanket chest, but I got up and took an antihistamine because the damn bee sting was driving me crazy. So the pill, naturally, made me very dopey at 7am when Jim jumped on the bed and demanded that I get up to let him out. Lucy and Simon were both on the bed and behaving so it was a real shame that someone had demands.
Wednesday morning I googled yellow jacket stings and as I clicked the go find it button I said a little prayer that I wouldn’t see gross sting pictures. Whatever you do, don’t look up spider bites. Consider yourself warned. Anyway, what I found on the intertubes is that basically I’m not going to die (duh) and that my leg should start feeling better a few days after the bite (hello, it’s a full 2 days since the raid on my leg). My delicate constitution is apparently more delicate than I thought because by Wednesday afternoon I was resting a cold pack on the bite. Wha! Make it stop itching and burning. At least the yellow jackets are well and truly dead.
I found Niece 2 a birthday present that I think she’ll like. Can you believe she’s going to be six later this month? Seems like yesterday that I flew her through the airport like a mini-airplane when I first met her.
Just a couple of more random items for Wednesday: the porch ceiling paint job is complete. I threw away the roller without cleaning it. So there. Also, when I let Lucy in from the porch around 9:45pm she immediately went to a corner of the family room and licked the wall. No idea what that was all about, but I decided to fill up the water bowl with fresh water in case she needed to get the taste of dusty baseboard out of her mouth.
Thursday morning I walked into the kitchen and realized all the downstairs windows were fogged up because of how ungodly high the humidity was outside. The news says we’re in a heat wave, but it’s just summer in Virginia. A few nice days sprinkled in and the rest of the season full of just miserable, humid, hot and ozone-warning days.
The better-half turned forty-five today. I left him a voicemail message early my time and he called around 8 EST to talk. He’s in the middle of BFE, Oklahoma and so we mostly talked about how much the food sucks and how he needs to find something nice for dinner because he’s sick of crap. We looked over a BBQ menu and I think that’s the plan for his birthday dinner.
I have plans for his return home dinner and will be working on the okra, hot pepper and corn meal cakes tonight from this book. I’m also going to make the green beans with peaches recipe assuming I can find fresh peaches tomorrow when I go out. Seems like a strange combination but the recipe is more green bean salad than cooked-to-death green bean casserole.
Speaking of green beans, the beans in our garden do not please the better-half. They seem too tough to him so I’m going to let them dry and they’ll go back to being small red beans from whence they came. It’s interesting when you open the pod, there’s a tiny bit of pink at the top of the bean. I suppose, and we’ll see, that the rest of the bean will turn red as they age. The mystery squash in the compost continues to work on its fruit. I watered it yesterday (so weird watering the compost pile) and there are lots of whatever it is on the vine. I hope they survive.
The cornmeal cakes push all of my happy buttons. I hope they’ll reheat well and that the better-half will like them. QA says they are pretty tasty:
And, to wrap up the day–the organization that I volunteered my time to in May has finally gotten back to me. I’ll be working on an online training module and I get to work with two people I know. One person I know personally and the other I know virtually. Is it still virtually if you’ve Skype’d each other and exchanged email? We’ve never met in person is what I’m saying.
This morning (Friday) I woke up with Lucy getting nuts on the bed. I’m a side sleeper so allow me to explain how uncomfortable it is to have Simon stand on my ribs and poke his feet into my bones. Very uncomfortable. Lucy’s stick toy was laying where the better-half should be. By the time I actually got out of bed, Lucy was rolled up like a burrito in the little rug at the foot of the bed. I need breakfast, perhaps a quick stint on the treadmill, and then I’m off to gather ingredients for the welcome home dinner.
Update to Friday: thanks to hella storm the better-half’s plane had to land elsewhere. He’s stranded until the weather clears up and I’m going to go cook the mussels since we have plans tomorrow night. No idea when he’ll get home. Fuxored.
Movies watched:
Hugo
Kick-Ass
Killer Elite
Big Night (the last scene was remarkably shot)
Cowboys & Aliens (big stupid movie but it has Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, M-E-O-W)
Began the series Survivors (BBC production, cancelled after 2 seasons)
