Cross Rubicon, check, Misfits and more

Thursday morning I cut yet another final bouquet. Each cut stimulates more flowers and Wednesday night's heavy rain seems to have woken them up.

And the orchid against an early morning backdrop, is still blooming.

The print information about the heatpump arrived. I'd squinted at it online on a little screen, so now I was able to see better what was what.

Scary total. Rubicon sized.

I made my choice after finding out about all kinds of stuff such as SEER ratings, which are not about second sight, and what units the heating and cooling power is counted in.

Then I called the heatpump people, and Marty, the HVAC man, and I had a nice chat, and I learned more things. He thinks he can get it installed next week, meanwhile I have to do some e-signing. 

This timing is good, because the weather is still mild so it's  good to get the installation done.  One working day will do it. 

Then I needed to get out and walk before Misfits arrived.

Self portrait, looking surprisingly tall 

These shrubs are full of fruit probably for the birds and squirrels 

Right across the pond there's a whole congregation of turtles shining in the sun 

And Fergus Frog is sitting in the shallows under a branch, observing me

Look at these wild shapes overhead

Goldenrod is really at peak now, pollinators are happy to note. 

Eventually Misfits arrived, on the regular van but evidently it's being repainted, not yet its usual pink 

Canned goods to share with the food pantry, raisins for snacks and baking, honey because it's ages since I had any, cod pieces (!) with various plans, tofu for a Yeung Man Cooking recipe tomorrow, blueberries and strawberries for desserts with yogurt, which will also feature in the Yeung Man recipe, when I find it again. Baby Bella mushrooms, maybe omelette, maybe recipe.  Tuna for tuna cheese melt, beautiful brown eggs for omelettes and baking,  cannellini beans I think also will be in the same YMC recipe, it's carrying a lot of freight.

Is this fruit a thing of beauty or what? American fruit in American pottery bowls.

Today's resistance was a message to ABC-TV condemning the sidelining of the Kimmel show over a mild comment. 

I note that Disney executives were in on the decision, since D is the corporate owner.  I can't boycott something I don't use, but I'm just sayin, there's other things to watch and other places to go.

Happy day everyone, here's the continuing sock, the heel turned, and soon to bust out in stripes, mainly because I'm seriously short on sock yarn and I'm eking it out.  

That means I'll get to one and a half socks before shrieking "Eek!"

Thar she blows, sez Ted and Big Ursy 

And we remember trans women are women

 

Misfits and frogs

Thursday morning I walked to the pond and visited with a little frog who studied me, see him there?  while the turtles swam away and the other excitable frogs screamed and leapt into the water.

Home to find that the last few sunny days have woken up the zinnias again and given me a few more

And since Jeff was scheduled to deliver my Misfits late morning I put out the returns 

Catch up this week, oils because I was out of both, chocolate because, a lovely cauliflower with a cheese sauce in its future, potatoes for parboiling then roasting, cans for the food pantry, spaghetti because I forgot I had plenty, panko which is becoming a staple, apples and blueberries likewise also yogurt, bread until I get back to baking now the weather's cooler, beautiful lemons free of charge, redeemed some points, which will be slices and zest.

After this came the bit I don't like,  washing the produce. Then slicing and chopping and wrapping and zesting and draining and fridging and freezing up a storm. But I'm always glad I did the prep when I come to cook. The cooking is the fun part. The poor old sous-chef does the dull bits.

On the step is the fall pumpkin from the box. Its a sugar pumpkin so it will come in as soon as the squirrels take a bite, to be cooked into something I haven't decided yet 

Meanwhile look at the beauty of this food 

The smell of organic produce delivered quickly after picking, and the textures, all different, all lovely. These yellow potatoes make the best roast dice.

I did a meditation online Thursday evening as a good way to mark the day, and I think I'll resume my practice. I hope it will help me cope with anxiety. 

I got the news about the new heat pump, and it will be well into five figures, pretty much as expected. So I'll have to get that $$ ($$$) organized. 

I have choices of what level of quality I can go for. Partly it's a choice of what I can afford, partly it's about what level is warranted in that old and mediocre building. No point sewing diamond buttons on ragged pants.

But my main concern is that Handsome Son have a reliable heat source in winter now that the fireplace is sealed.

Aside from that, Mrs Lincoln..

Happy day everyone. Meditate. Let's remember we're not helpless. Fight back. Don't give in ahead of time, sez Ted and Big Ursy.

One thing leading to another all day

Wednesday was full of things leading to another.

I wasn't in the mood to walk, but wanted some physical exertion, all that fish creating energy, so I decided to rake the future patio area, and find the rest of my river stone collection. It's been buried by weather, renovations and boneheads driving cars over it.

Less flinging and more arranging. I'm happy with the result. One of the neighbors fancies doing something similar.

Then since today I was meeting with the HVAC man to get an estimate for the heat pump at the condo, I alerted Handsome Son to make sure the upstairs storage unit was cleared enough to let him in to see the upstairs part of the pump.

And I asked if it was stuff he was ready to part with. It was, so since he was home today, day off, I went over early and we picked out what I could rehome for him. He lugged it down to my car 

Two views. Tomorrow I'll unload and take pictures for Freecycle purposes. A couple of things are useful for me, such as that black metal chair, for my future patio. 

Aside from waiting in some trepidation for the upcoming email with Larry's estimates on the new heat pump, this worked fine.

And the nights are getting much cooler so I brought in one of the coleus plants to hang in the kitchen. It was huge, so I pruned quite a bit off it and put the prunings into a bucket of water on the deck.  

Two neighbors want to share them.   The resulting plant now hanging in the kitchen looks shaggy from pruning, but will revive soon and I need to shape it better.

And while I was in and out, I noticed an offshoot of the lavender plant which I kicked over and uprooted, now living thankfully out of traffic on the deck. I pulled out the offshoot complete with root and gave it to a neighbor who has envied my lavender for years. 

All good, I'd say. Plenty of exertion including a bunch of sit to stand exercises this morning. I think I'm keeping up.

Happy day everyone, keep up. Or don't, nobody's counting.