Inside The Perimeter

I’m giving up on my dreams to grow pawpaw trees in Wee Little Farm. It appears that the four trees that I planted in WLF are dead/dying, this after one earlier planting bit the dust. Apparently my soil is just not what these trees want.

Programming Notice: Next week will be Silent Week. I will post my Wordle starter word and score, but nothing else. I will probably not check comments either. I need a break. This will be your chance to go wild and comment whatever the hell you want, just as long as it doesn’t go into moderation and need to be approved by me, because that’s not going to happen.

Wordle: four, my starter was NAKED

One of the pumpkins that I retrieved last week from Barb’s neighborhood had an unusual characteristic. When I cracked it open, it has strands inside which were the thickness and consistency of cooked spaghetti. Shame on me for not being adventurous enough to taste it, nor to think that I should save the seeds in case it proved to be a beneficial crossbreed.

Last night’s dinner was really good. Because I’d eaten a lot of chicken at lunch, I ate bibimbap instead of the renowned fried chicken.

Wordle: FAIL, my starter was AFOUL

After I decided to quit my job in 2021 my healthcare premium was about $600/month. Last night I looked at the Georgia Healthcare Marketplace, and for the same coverage that I have this year (for which I pay $795/month for my premium), I will have to pay $1100/month. This. Is. Fucked. Up.

I can’t afford to pay for healthcare; I can’t afford not to pay for healthcare.

Wordle: four, my starter was SURGE

YAAAAAAHOOOOOO!!! I do not have to report for jury duty selection today.

My week has not been upturned, so I’m taking care of more chores today.

Yesterday I did some outdoor chores including spreading some mushroom spawn, transplanting lettuce plant starts, and trying out my new “bar bike”. I also made pizza for dinner last night with homemade dough; I used bread flour for my dough and had a humongous bubble appear in the center of the pie, otherwise it was pretty decent.

Wordle: four, my starter was SNACK

Spent more time in WLF Saturday morning. I transplanted my leek starts, a fig tree, and a paw paw tree. I also chopped the field peas which I was growing as ground cover. In one bed of field peas I also found a rather nice hole which probably housed the critter which was eating the pea plants. Given that it appears rain has become as rare as common sense in Washington DC, I’m glad that I have only a few things in the garden this winter.

It was a bad weekend for my fermentation experiments. I had to discard my Jerusalem artichoke fermentation experiment. After a week in the basement the jar appeared cloudy and I will never be confident enough to eat what is in the jar. Pity that my large crop of Jerusalem artichokes all went to waste. Almost conversely, I had to discard the levain (think “sourdough starter”) that I had been trying to bring to life for five days because it was showing no signs of life, perhaps because my kitchen was too cold this week to promote fermentation. With no Jerusalem artichokes in stock I’m SOL with that experiment, and I will have to wait until I have eight consecutive days at home in order to start another levain.

Wordle: three, my starter was GRAPE

Because you are reading this I am confident that my first mushroom foraging was successful. I brought home a flush of oyster mushrooms, as identified by me using books and a cheat sheet, cleaned them, and have eaten them three times this week. I did not get sick, and I live to tell the tale!

This morning I am volunteering with Trees Atlanta. Today’s shift will be my sixth this calendar year, thus earning me a new Trees Atlanta t-shirt to replace the one I earned 25 years ago.

Wordle: three, my starter was RISKY. Today’s solution was yet another from my starter list that I didn’t pick on the correct day!

What a busy day yesterday…
I drove to Marietta at 9:30am and returned home after dinner at Betsy’s at 8:30pm.

What I accomplished:
– shopped at a Total Wine store
– shopped at a Dollar Tree store
– shopped at two different Goodwill stores
– had a dental checkup (which turned out well)
– ate Chinese food for lunch
– picked up seven pumpkins from the church across the street from Barb’s (thanks for the tip, Barb)
– shopped at two different Nam Dae Mun grocery stores (and couldn’t find the item I wanted in either, so I will have to return to the location in Morrow)
– bought an iPad Air at the Cumberland Apple Store

What I didn’t accomplish:
– get a haircut
– drink beer at Schoolhouse Brewing

Frustrations:
– traffic driving home fucking suuuuuuuuucked
– the lid on the dish washing liquid opened and some of the liquid oozed into its shopping bag and onto some of the items in the bag

Wordle: two, my starter was STAGE

I have made it to Day #800 in Duolingo. However, I have to admit that my lust for using the app has waned over the past six weeks, and I have no intention of renewing my Super Duolingo subscription at year’s end.

Wordle: three, my starter was COUPE

I’ve become pretty good at making one specific loaf of bread following the recipe and baking instructions that came with the Average Joe Artisan Bread Kit that I bought a long time ago. I know it’s been a long time ago because apparently the company was voluntarily dissolved in 2015.

Yesterday was a fairly non-productive day because I wasn’t feeling especially energetic.

Wordle: four, my starter was BLIND

Well, my weather apps certainly failed me this weekend. Neither of the two apps I consulted mentioned rain in Rutledge, especially the downpours which occurred overnight on Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say, I was inappropriately prepared for this. Thankfully my tent was up to the task, so nothing got wet, but there was plenty of mud with which to be dealt. I managed to hang dry the tent’s rain fly upon getting home yesterday, bringing it inside again so that it wouldn’t freeze this morning.

Overall the weekend was fun. We all had a lot of laughs, swapped some old stories, and drank a lot of beer.

Wordle: six, my starter was ENTRY. My third consecutive six because I keep getting into Wordle Battles (having multiple options but choosing the wrong ones) and playing on Hard Mode.