Stormy Weather Inside and Out - It'll Be a Hectic Weekend

It's been raining like crazy - at least Friday was a lot of rain with more than 2 inches in the morning, and another 2 inches or more after sundown. It'll be a mudfest for Renaissance Festival, but tomorrow is the final day of this year's Renaissance Festival, and it's a MUST ATTEND for us so that we can get our discounted price on tickets for next year. Himself says he doesn't care about going next year, but I do, and I am insisting. I know if we didn't have tickets to Fest and go to other things, he'd be even MORE housebound. He's turning into his Mother in that respect, and that's NOT a very good thing at all. 

I keep waiting for DH to decide to fence in everything and 
set guards in the corner towers *sigh*. His mother was 
housebound by choice, and later by necessity, and he's 
turning into his mother in many respects. He doesn't enjoy 
going anywhere because he can't hear, but he also won't 
explore the many options for outside the ear hearing aids 
that exist these days. He's vain - he doesn't want to appear 
needy in any way. *sigh* It's a battle I can't win. 

So, we'll be there, we'll stay for a couple of hours, and then we'll go back home again. He'll miss the beginning of Sunday's Ryder Cup broadcast, and he'll just have to deal. Life is rough. Maybe the USA can pull something out of the mess they've made in Europe so far, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope. Ryder Cup is golf done differently, it's fun, and it's challenging, and it's kinda weird. I don't really understand it all that well, but DH goes ga-ga over it. *sigh* 

The Ryder Cup golf tournament only happens 
every four years, and it is rather fun. It's not your 
standard 72-hole tournament. It's a challenge 
unlike any other with a lot of strange challenges 
for the golfers. It's actually a hoot sometimes, but 
I can't miss the final day of Ren Fest either, so 
he'll have to join the Ryder Cup late. I'm not 
allowed to purchase his season ticket, or I'd tell 
him to stay home. 

Yesterday I did get a lot done, and I'm pretty happy about that. I made a batch of Ogre Juice, of course, and also cubed up some fresh pears and baked them with apple-pie spice for a very tasty treat. So easy and so good. I motivated and beat out the two carpets I have inside my doorways - one leading to the garage, the other at the front door. I also swept and washed the entire kitchen/breakfast floor and the slate stonework of the entryway. It looks wonderful now, and I had a good feeling of accomplishment. 

Usually when I bake pears, I just cut them in half 
and stuff the pit area with spices and nuts. Yesterday 
I decided to cube the pears and then mix them with 
the spices. They turned out lovely and very tasty, so 
I'll probably use both methods while pears are 
available. 

I returned my new watch to Amazon late yesterday afternoon. I finally had a chance to sit down with the directions, and realized it was exactly the same as the watch I had bought in February, just a different brand name. What a bunch of BS! I didn't want another watch that would last for less than a year and was impossible to set the time on. I packed it up and returned it to Kohl's for shipment back to Amazon, then searched the internet for a watch that was closer (and distinctly different) to what I wanted. It cost me more, but I think I'll be happier. 

I ended up ordering a watch similar to this one. I've 
had a watch like this in the past and really liked 
it. I won't be able to tell if I like it or not until I 
actually have it, but it works for swimming, and 
that's my main criteria. Hopefully the time setting 
on this one won't be beyond my capabilities. 

I'm watching my garden move into Autumn and closer to the end of harvest season. My jalapeno peppers are pushing out new ones and they're turning beautifully red. My Tabasco peppers are also flourishing, and I even have some new banana peppers that will be able to be pickled for DH, so I'm declaring the peppers a total WIN for this year's garden and am already looking forward to next year's plants. I also got just the right amount of tomatoes from my tomato plants this year, and the couple of weeks I was overloaded dried beautifully in the dehydrator. I'll be adding those to sauces for that fresh tomato flavor. 

This is DH's new garden feature that he's been working on. It's 
a low-wall area which will get more sun, so he'll be able to 
plant different things. I know he'd like to cap it cleanly, but 
to do that he'd have to cut a bunch of stones to fit, and his 
blade isn't up to that. He'll probably leave it like this over the 
winter, and consider capping it in the spring. 

So, I'm off and running. This weekend will be hectic at best, and I'll start it out running between the rain storms (which have been heavy and quite hard over the past 12 hours). I hope you have a lovely weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini.