pot roast, humidity

Finally finished the pot roast....well, it made five suppers and one lunch....and it's twin is in the freezer, for some other day.....I guess if there were a family of five eating, it would have made one dinner? And it's twin was free, on the two for one deal? Whatever, it's done.....and, looking at the local weather thing online, the temp is 93 degrees F, but the humidity is only 37%, instead of the 97% it was for like nine weeks or something.....this is much more comfortable, even though the thermometer is up there, it's pleasant inside with windows open, and no AC running for days now.....but what will the hurricane bring over the Labor Day Weekend? I can remember in Escondido in the Fall with the Santa Ana blowing and they would say the humidity was 7% or something like that? Scary.....things just burst into flame at a mere thought.....but it's a dry heat! Football is starting this weekend, it should be getting cooler pretty quick?

today is forecast to be

nearly the same.....as yesterday......the weather service shows a clear insight into my life situation....last night I utilized some frozen product to fix sweet-and-sour chicken chow mein.....wasn't too bad.....I've still got more of that pot roast to eat up, and it's almost grocery day again.....just heard the mailbox, so there should be the Tuesday ads there, including the weekly sales flyer for Bi-Lo.....sometimes I can get an idea or two from that.....the rest of the ads are the same every week.....2 things for life insurance, two things for TV services, pizza coupons, and pay-day loan offers.....and maybe something about hearing aids.....I used the last egg this morning, and opened a new carton of orange juice.....I hear a train a'comin'......

63

this morning....so I got out and cut the grass, front and back.....took 'til ten.....there are more tree limbs that need pruning out back, along the fence....if the mornings remain nice and cool, I'll work on that some this week.....the Sunday paper yesterday had a ton of Labor Day ads.....so what? Who has discretionary dollars? But I guess the ad volume is a good sign for the newspapers.....though they continue to struggle....the silly Greenville News wants you to buy an online subscription if you want to read their website .....who's going to do that?

mostly cloudy

lazy Sunday morning....well, every day is lazy at this address I guess....the Padres lost last night, the first time I caught one of their games in months....well, since some time in July maybe, when they were at Atlanta and they showed a game on SportsSouth I think.....Clinton High won their season opener football game, which had been delayed by a thunder storm from Friday to Saturday.....I didn't feel like cooking yesterday at supper time, so I just had a cold pot roast sandwich on half a wheat roll, with the last of my Fritos, and the merlot. Pot roast sandwich is a good thing.....rye bread french toast for Sunday breakfast, with the batter of apple juice and egg.....

Chargers and Saints

last night.....first half was pretty interesting, but I went to bed at half-time.....just as well, the Chargers lost.....the Red Devils opener got rained out, they will play tonight instead, at Newberry....Laurens lost in double overtime to BHP, Belton -Honea Path.....looks like there's a Padres game on TV this afternoon, maybe I'll watch some of that.....already done my walking today, and considered doing some yard work because it's nice out, but said to heck with it....did start some laundry.....the AAA magazine came this morning, and it had an article about Folly Beach, where Cindy and Matt (and Addie and Edson) went for vacation.....sounds like a nice place.....of course the AAA magazine has lots of stuff about the local mountains too, the NC mountains.....there's like casinos and full-blown amusement parks and etc....but I'd have to work up the energy and justify the money before I go anywhere....it's so easy just staying here and sitting on the front porch....and this way I know I'll have a comfortable bed and a good breakfast....

pleasant weather continues

don't even need the ceiling fans today, so far....after the park walk I mopped the kitchen and then took a shower and then went to the drugstore because I forgot to get the low-dose aspirin the other day at the grocery store. CVS is cheaper on the aspirin.....for lunch I'm going to fix a half a wurst on half a whole wheat sandwich roll, with grilled kraut and some deli honey mustard, and a pickle and a pepper and a glass of merlot....how about that? The pot roast came out beyond perfect....and that will be supper again today I guess.....breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and half-and-half, OJ, and black tea.....Saturday breakfast will be poached egg on rye toast with OJ and black french roast......our eggs are NOT from Ohio....to the best of my knowledge, they are from the next county over.....

lunch report

grilled swiss on rye with a little cole slaw, and a glass of merlot imported from Chile....the climate in southern Chile is a lot like the climate in northern California, good for vineyards.....clouds and breeze coming and going enough this morning to keep things comfortable....pot roast aroma towards the rear of the house.....

pot roast

with sweet onion, clove of garlic, sliced carrots, broken mushrooms, butter beans, can of cream of mushroom soup, packet of onion soup mix.....started around 7:40.....right before suppertime, I'll put the biscuits in the convection oven.....foggy and cool for the early walk, about to go for the park walk now before it starts warming up too much....

one hour rain delay

was raining hard at 7:30 when I usually go for the paper....so I didn't do that walk until it let up at 8:30.....then read the paper, and then went grocery shopping. They had two for one chuck roast, so I put one in the freezer, and I'll put one in the crock-pot tomorrow with the fixings for pot roast. Took a second walk after grocery shopping, so now I can sit down and read the Clinton Chronicle, which I always get at the store on Wednesday, the day it comes out. It looks like California is getting hotter than Carolina now, and, of course, burning in places.....

N.E. winds

really help to keep it cool....walked to the Post Office and around downtown some.....mailed the check for my license plate tag, so I should get that back in the mail before the old one expires....the Pharmacy School looks like it's up and running, lots of cars parked around there this morning.....I think sometime later today is the Freshman Block Party.....they close Musgrove or something and the merchants welcome the new students, with an eye towards getting their business for four years I guess.....there might be a band, I don't remember....."everyone is welcome" but I don't think I'll go......

wrong time of year

to look for a weedeater I guess, Tractor Supply and Wal*Mart both had slim stock, and the sales-girls just said "That's all we have of those this time of year." So I didn't get the Weedeater model I had looked at online, just got something about the same specs as my old one that broke. But this one is a Weedeater brand, so the stores stock the common parts. Plus it is not a bump-feed, and it's the bump-head that usually breaks first, in my experience. Anyway, got it home and clicked it together and finished the edging I had started last week out front.....so now the yard looks decent, for the moment.....got my electric bill, and it was a little less than the previous, so that's going in the right direction, what with needing the AC less lately.....got to pay my vehicle tags too, $60....but that's not due until the end of September....paid AT&T online this morning, for TV and DSL.....talked some to Caroline, Cory, and Colton yesterday on the birthday, and since it was a Sunday, my Verizon usage was not much at all, a couple of bucks for talking to Oregon...it has been cool enough today to do the yard-work without getting dizzy and dehydrated.....and the forecast doesn't look bad heat-wave-wise......

lunch

turned out to be a slice of wheat toast with peanut butter and swiss cheese, some Fritos, and a glass of ruby port. Sharp cheddar is better with peanut butter, but swiss is all I have on hand right now.....some time soon I'll call Coos Bay, seeing as it's Colton's birthday.....

play the 12-string like a big mandolin

with one of those triangle Fender plectrums, the large kind.....take up an hour or so on a nice Sunday morning that way....not cloudy today, but not too hot either, some breeze......usual french toast for Sunday breakfast....don't know what's for lunch yet.....I was taking the trash out of the kitchen, but I had to get the lopers and hack my way through the crazy mimosa to get on the back steps and reach the trash can....it's a jungle out there.....

new toy

well, the chain saw I got a couple of weeks ago....this time I attached the telescoping handle to it, and sawed a couple of branches off this one tree, trying to get rid of some obstruction to the TV dish.....got some more signal strength when I ran the diagnostics, but one satellite out of three still isn't up to par.....I can watch the movies if the weather is calm, but if there's lots of wind, the top of that tree moving around starts breaking things up. The saw is powerful enough to lop the top off that tree, but I'm not crazy enough to get up on a ladder and try to do it right now. Maybe in the Fall, after the leaves are gone, I'll be crazy enough....no, maybe when the leaves are off I'll be able to see what I'm doing, and there won't be the weight of the foliage there to make things more dangerous.....anyway, I made another big pile at the curb for the City to pick up on Tuesday, and, once again, I didn't cut myself working the chain saw, or fall down dragging stuff to the street....and it was cool enough to work this morning....

whew

a real change in the weather at last, "cold front" passing through.....not terribly cold, but clouds and a north wind keeping it cooler than lately, so far today anyway....so I got out and cut the grass in the back.....if it's cool again Saturday morning, I might put the pole-saw together and see if I can clear up some of those branches that interfere with the higher channels when the wind blows hard.....and sometime I'm going to go to Tractor Supply again and this time get a real Weedeater brand line trimmer, twice the amps of the thing that burned out.....and another project....put in a new "bake element" in the Kenmore stove...."broil" still works, but the bake thing is actually broken, so it's obvious it can't be making a circuit....there's an appliance store I've dealt with before, hopefully they have the part....always something....something that costs money! Had a pork chop, hash browns, and cole slaw last night....watched some of the Falcon preseason game, but gave up on that and went to bed....

a little light rain

going to get the paper, didn't really get very wet.....later I tried to trim up the edges out front, but that weed-eater is useless.....I got maybe 3/4 done with what I wanted to do, and it started smoking, and running at half-speed. Bought it about 2 years ago....with a 2 year warranty, of course. But it was only around $40 best I can recall.....oh well, the front looks somewhat better, have to do for right now.....had some of that store-bought pizza last night, and it was strangely tasteless, not full of flavor exactly.....won't buy that again.... what's left will make for a few easy lunches.....I'll add some oregano maybe when I heat it up.....it's been raining once or twice a day all week so far.....the "wake-up weather" in the paper said "tropical"....good a description as any....

in search of the blue goo

Dave had said when I talked to him on the phone that he bought some of the real Blue Emu before his hike because they were all out of the cheap Blu Goo.....I usually buy it at Wal*Mart.....but when I went there this morning, I didn't see it at first....they've changed the bottle....it's not in the emu style jar anymore, it's in a thing sort of like a shampoo bottle, and it's two more oz. than the old package, and two more $. I didn't find anything else to buy over there...I thought tonic water might be cheaper, but it's .20 more than at Bi-Lo. While at Bi-Lo, I got the groceries, but forgot the box of tissues for the living room. I got a take-and-bake pizza from their deli section.....haven't had pizza in ages....looked at ice cream sandwiches, did not buy any.....

started to walk

to get the paper, but it started to rain.....so I drove instead. Lots of rain the last few days....I think they said there was 4" at the airport over the weekend.....making up some of the rain deficit looks like....about a 50% chance for the rest of today too.....I was thinking of going to Wal*Mart..... ....maybe if it stops raining....had taco salad for lunch Monday, and cold chicken for supper.....

the first day of school

brings with it the return of morning traffic....have to be careful crossing Elizabeth St. Looks it it won't be one of those sweltering first weeks of school, at least not so far....a lot of rain Sunday really cooled things off, and it's still foggy and cool this morning. Went to the library.....that's all the excitement for today I guess....

that one hummingbird

is still around....there is a shrub with purple flowers at the back fence, and the mimosa by the porch door.....rained a little late this morning, while I was fixing some lunch.....and it poured last night again....helps cool things off, good for the crops.....I'm trying to finish this one library book that's due tomorrow, but I might just take a nap.....

chicken wings and beans and rice

and a cheap CA white table wine, that says it's from Cutler....a little tiny place near Tulare? Have not turned on the AC, enough clouds and near missies by thunderstorms to keep it sort of cool.....watching preseason football.....

thunderstorm, lots of rain

last night.....cloudy and some good breeze this morning, so I cut the weeds out front, but didn't do any of the back yet....another day.....it should be cooler this coming week they say, so some other cool morning I can do something with the backyard.....I'm going to go to the market and get some white wine, and some tonic water....two things that won't wait 'til the Wednesday shopping.....taco salad last night, and I should cook those chicken wings today....with something or other.....feels nice inside now, with some windows open and a couple of the ceiling fans moving some air to aid the wind going through.....

ham and beans and a biscuit

so the ham is about used up.....some left to flavor the black-eyed peas when I get around to that....today I need to use of some of that head of lettuce, so I'm thinking of a taco salad kind of thing.....got sweated up on the second walk, around 90 and 90% a little after 9.....the college crowd is coming back over next week.....one guy in the paper said that he figured about a third of his business was from the college, so it's good to get school back in swing for the bottom line....

wrinkled up hands

instead of taking the park walk, I decided to clean house some for exercise..... did the carpet, changed the linens, washed down the kitchen and bathroom, started some laundry, wiped down the woodwork where I leave hand prints staggering through the house.....worked up a sweat, sat down and started noticing things that still needed doing or doing over.....how did my brand new stuff get so dirty? Hmmm, I guess this stuff is couple of years old at least....time flies when you're having fun?

cold ham and potato salad

and some olives....that was Tuesday evening....didn't feel like cooking anything hot....today I bought stuff for tacos, and frijoles, and spanish rice....and some chicken wings, and black-eyed peas, and cornbread mix......enough things for a week I guess, along with some ham still leftover....got bread, eggs, orange juice....hot weather continues....

the City truck

came around, like it does on Tuesdays, and picked up that big pile of leafy branches and log chunks I'd left at the curb....so much for that mess! Getting hot here this afternoon, heat index of 105, so at 3 in the afternoon I'm running the AC.....used the last of a loaf of bread this morning for my poached egg breakfast....last egg too....but Wednesday is grocery day, and the ad says eggs are .88 a dozen, large. Lunch was a cold ham and swiss biscuit, with a pickle slice....and a little potato salad, with chili powder garnish, mainly just for looks.....I guess supper will be the same as last night, ham and pintos with biscuit? Or maybe I can figure something different.....

things actually worked

according to plan....it said to check the chain tension after first use, so I looked at the illustration and decided the chain was loose, so I reached into my tool box and picked up a 7/8 box-end wrench out of that chaos on the first grab, which is what you need to slack off the bar bolts....and I found a screwdriver that worked on the tension screw.....better luck that I've been having with tools for a few years it seems.....anyway, got the chain adjusted, and cut the eight foot log out back into manageable chunks, drove the Jeep around there, tossed the chunks in, and tossed them out again at the curb, where the City picks them up.....did it all without cutting myself or getting splinters or tripping over tangled branches....amazing....

Tractor Supply

had one in stock....a Poulan electric pole saw with a 10" bar and a handle that extends to 10'.....you don't have to use the handle, so you get a neat little chain saw too.....I decided to go ahead and do my own yard work.....$100 for the gadget locally, same price as Amazon.....so I got a lot of that fallen branch out of the back, but by 11:30 it was getting hot, and I was pooping out, so I knocked off for today. One of these days I'll trim for the DISH too, this thing will reach the branch that looks like it's causing the problem, I think.....I put the half picnic ham in the slow cooker with onion and pintos....I don't have cornbread mix, but I do have a tube of biscuits...that'll work....

relatively cooler still

this Sunday morning, some breeze blowing through the house....not as muggy.....ham and swiss on wheat with pickles and mayo for lunch, french toast was for breakfast.....ate a plum too a while ago.....I can hear church bells, from across the tracks probably.....some of the cousins are just finishing a week at Folly Beach, near Charleston, and another batch are just starting a week at Myrtle Beach.....I'm too lazy to go anywhere like that.....Myrtle Beach does have tent-camping, not exactly on the beach, but on lagoons where some river reaches the ocean it looks like.....but the way my back gets in the morning sometimes, I don't know if I'd be able to even stand up after crawling out of a tent ......they do have cabins ......cheaper in the off season, like after school starts....

large pecan limb

it probably cracked in that storm last night, and then fell the rest of the way this afternoon....I heard a cracking noise, and looked out the kitchen window, and this big branch was resting on the power line from the pole to my house, pulling it down sharply. So I went ahead and called the City, even though it's Saturday.....and they had a couple of guys on call who came out and used a hook on a long pole to pull the power line out from under the broken branch, and when they did that, the branch broke the rest of the way off from the tree.....so now I've got this very large piece of foliage and wood on the back lawn.....I'm going to have to rent a chain saw, or hire somebody....probably try to get ahold of that Danny Tucker the tree trimmer I used a couple of years ago, when I moved in.....there are some trees starting to block my DISH reception too, I need some work done for sure......

Jeep morning

I had a coupon for a $20 oil and filter change at the local Jeep dealer, so I went and did that and walked around the car lot for a while.....and then I went and spent a buck-fifty at the coin wash and got the vehicle pretty clean, and then I went and put 10 gallons in the tank. Looking back in my check book, it had been 2 months since the last time I put 10 gallons in it....I paid $2.31 for middle grade, with my Bi-Lo card......good morning for going out, nice and cool and overcast.....a cold front is coming down this weekend they say, with drier air and some degree of heat relief.....pretty good storm went through last night, they say a tree blew across the road somewhere around here.....Easy Road, it says.....in the country, you can't live on Easy Street I guess, so Easy Road is the best you can do.....

cool breeze

right now through the window.....maybe won't get as hot today, though the forecast is for stagnant hot air over the region for several more weeks.....school starts around here in a couple of weeks I think.....the new high school will open, and the pharmacy school a couple of blocks away....the newspaper walk will become more dangerous.....

tender and juicy

that was one nice little piece of steak....cooked to perfection....well, I did the cooking, so what do you expect? Had to turn on the AC in the middle of the afternoon, pretty dang hot and muggy....some thunderstorms wandering around the Upstate, but none have hit here yet....

sweating buckets

because I decided to cut the grass this morning.....got it done without falling over, came in and took a cool shower, and am now sitting under the ceiling fan, still sweating.....high humidity again today with a "feels like" temp in the paper of 102 for this afternoon....hmm, a piece of steak and some potato salad sounds like a light summer supper.....yesterday was leftover black beans and rice, one of those things that seems to taste better reheated for some reason....it ages in the pot or something....like pease porridge nine- days- old?

burned off

pretty much a little after nine, while I was out walking the park....started heating up....went to the grocery store per usual Wednesday....didn't spend too much....they had those $4, 8 oz. New York strip steaks again, so I got one of those....I cook that 4 oz. per meal, in the iron skillet with olive oil and oregano....also got some smoked picnic ham, and southern-style potato salad....and they had plums that looked good, got a few of those....while in the kitchen putting away the groceries, I decided that the kitchen floor was filthy, so I mopped that down, and turned the kitchen ceiling fan on full blast to dry it up.....

much like yesterday

more heavy rain in the night, and then overcast and cool in the morning.....it's plenty humid, but not so hot that you need to run the AC.....sat out on the front porch late Monday evening, it was pleasant out then.....mosquitos don't seem to be much of a problem, maybe the bats are eating them up.....

around four in the morning

there was a pretty good spell of heavy rain, so today is nice and cool so far, with overcast and breeze....so it has been a good morning for walks....I also drove over to the store and got wine and ice, two things I was out of. And then for lunch I had a sausage and pickle sandwich on wheat berry toast, with a little mayo, and Fritos, and a glass of wine....

confusing to me

in the Sunday Greenville paper, Skins Hotdogs was voted best hot dog.....but they don't have wieners in them? I went to their website, and watched the video, and what they sell is a hot-dog bun with a pork and beef hash in it.....and condiments like onion or relish, etc.....I guess it's sort of like Wilson's Snack Bar here, where the chili dog comes with chili meat in a bun, no wiener unless you ask for it extra.....

Sunday fog

went walking through the deserted downtown in cool breezy overcast conditions......should be 80's this afternoon, not 90's or higher like all but two days of July.....there was an article in the throw-away paper you find on the lawn on Sunday morning that said that the long range forecast for August was that the high would stick over the mountains, putting the Upstate in a "pressure cooker" most of the month.....the slow-cooked ribs came out tasty, and half are left for another day....today I think I'll do the black beans and rice with hot italian turkey sausage....and there will be leftovers from that too.....I guess there's some small chance of rain this afternoon.....