CAN YOU SPIT? - PRESERVING FRESH GREEN PEPPERS - NEW TOOL - JIBBER JABBER

 

Our back yard will never win any awards. This yard started the season a "lushness" of east Texas green. I kept it mowed high. This part of our yard serves as a buffer between the house and an invading forest. 

After the flooding rains washed through these past weeks, what grows is greenery that loves some shade, lots of water, being left alone and on/off heat. It has been close to a month now since I have been able to get back here. Running the zero-turn in mud solves nothing. 

Having two days of sun and warmth behind us, I was able to knock down the growth. I still call it mowing, and the zero-turn is built tough for mowing/chopping small trees. A hedge trimmer was needed to cut back the overhanging advance from the treeline. Long story short, "good enough. 

I was also able to get in a high cut on the front yard and back yard. Grass was not necessarily mowed as much it was topped and leveled. It is still wet. 

After an hour working the yards, I see my wife walking down the drive way with a bottle of water in hand. She has my back in so many ways and she knows me well enough now that it is just easier for her to provide preventative health maintenance.  

I stopped and downed a whole bottle of water, thanked her and went back into the sun mowing. After a few minutes I tried spitting and realized that I could not. I know about this being a primary notice to self that I am dehydrated. If I cannot spit, the body needs fluids. And the body gives me no other early indication that I am dehydrated. I feel fine as if I could go on for hours.

I tried spitting again and laughed at myself in that I could not. I stopped the mower, idled down and headed towards her. In getting her attention, I said, "I cannot spit." She knew what this means and disappeared into the house. A few minutes later, an ice filled drink with electrolytes mixed in, was handed to me. 

An over grown path for the past 6 months cleared with a few passes of the zero-turn lawn mower set to 4".

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FRESH GREEN PEPPERS VACUUM PACKED

We are trying to keep all of the green peppers as fresh as we can. Keeping in the fridge for awhile and some in the freezer. We eat these with lunchs and dinners and still cannot keep up with the garden. Super food.

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NEVER TOO OLD FOR A NEW TOOL

I cannot "dodge, dip, dive, duck and dodge" (Dodgeball Movie) as easily as I used to so an impact hammer tool will help.

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JIBBER JABBER

The weather has changed. Days now forecast to be in the nineties and the nights in the seventies. No rain. Hotter, humid and officially summer. The sun has peaked and days officially getting shorter. I will not be able to help myself in the next few months to blog of triple-digit temperatures and soaking humidity. And that any work we need to do outside needs to be completed NLT ten in the morning. We head into all of this with lakes and ponds full to the brim. 

The 4th of July is just around the corner we have decided to pull out one of the remaining prime ribs in the freezer and give it to The Pit Boss. I have been looking at this particular prime rib for a few months now wanting an excuse to bring it out. I envision that first slice. I need more to do than just think about it.  

I long for an excuse to write of worldly things, absurdities and what appear to me to be most all things sideways or upside being promoted as normal and insisting they be more widely accepted by the masses.  I peer down this rabbit hole wanting to jump in with both feet. I know better and common sense tells me to get on with the day and to tackle a hands-on project that I have control over, understand and can check off a to-do list. The head shaking, though, has become a learned habit. My wife watches this body language and simply responds, "yeah."

Huh? 

The speed BUMP was first introduced in 1906 in New Jersey.( Google AI) It is a "traffic calming device," used to slow down traffic. Who knew?

But why call it a speed hump now? Right there! Did you see it? Uncontrolled head shaking.

 

The bride "called an audible" Friday after a doctor's appointment. It was lunch time and she offered up "Onion Rings at Big Smiths."? We have talked of lunching there for a couple months now but had not acted on it. Within 15 minutes, we had an order of their onion rings sitting in front of us. And we did not have to pass over any speed humps. Win win. 

Pictured above is half of the original order. And yes, the onion rings alone are reason enough to go out of your way if you are passing by Sulpher Springs, Texas. Also yes, one order is more than enough for 4.

Thanks for the visit this week.