Sunday Was a Really Good Day - Photos, Patio, Food and TV

Sunday was lovely. DH wanted me to cut some mats for some artwork, so he got a bit of an idea of what goes into cutting a piece. He's not as precise as I am, and will probably stick with some very basic stuff for the time being. But he's capable of cutting, if he's careful. The minute he isn't taking care of my equipment, however, is the minute he'll be banned from using it. 

We have a LOT of Hopi Katchina sculptures at 
the shop. They don't ship well - if we decide to consign 
these, we'll have to drive them down to Santa Fe. 
Still, we need photos of all of them anyway, so 
he's started in on that task. He brought three boxes 
of them home with him on Saturday night. 

DH spent at least an hour photographing katchina sculptures from the shop. We're going to probably consign a lot of them, but need photos before offering them to the auction house. They're so fragile, however, it's one of those things we'd have to physically drive down to them, rather than ship. 

This particular meal is turning into one of my favorite 
things to cook. It's really minimal work until the final 
30 minutes where you're basting every five minutes. Except 
for that, it's about as easy as it comes. 

Last night's dinner was one of my newer favorites - "Balsamic Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Roast in the Slow Cooker". Of course, many of you know that sugar isn't one of my things, but there's a lovely coconut brown sugar that I use often in my recipes, and it's great in this one as well. It's about as easy as possible - the slow cooker does most of the work. Then you heat the oven super hot (450 F) and start basting the pork roast with a sauce of brown sugar, water, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. It's the perfect meld of flavors, and ends up making a sticky crust that's simply delicious. I give it 5 stars. 

DH and I both really enjoy watching "Patience" on 
PBS - a new series this year featuring an autistic 
main character who works in the records department 
of the police department but ends up working with 
a detective there whose son also is (possibly) on the 
spectrum. Although the show has been criticized as 
not showing autism correctly, I think it actually does 
a great job at showing just one person on the spectrum. 
Everyone is different, however. This is only a single 
character who is autistic. 

We ended the night watching two of our favorites on PBS - "Grantchester" and "Patience" (our newest favorite show). It topped off an almost perfect day. We didn't get quite as much done with the mat cutter as he wanted, but he has a better idea of what goes into it as well, so that was a win. Plus we had patio time to watch our hawk watch us - LOL. I hope all of you had a great weekend as well. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Window Replacement - A Photo Blog for Today

Yesterday was window day. We pulled out both the extension ladder and my adjustable ladder from the garage and set them up on opposite sides of the window. DH had gotten a new glass sheet cut at the hardware store (they did a CRAPPY job), and we were reusing the aluminum framing from the old window on the new pane. 

This is a photo blog post today - pictures and descriptions only. Easy, peasy - LOL. 

#1 - The wood panel has been removed 
and as he removed it, he started putting in 
some new plastic tabs for the new window 
pane. My ladder is on the right, you 
can see the top of the extension ladder on the 
left. If you recall, this is the upper section of 
the house, so ladders were essential. There's 
a large bush directly in front of the window 
which made reaching to where we needed to 
work challenging in some cases. 

Here we've put the new glass panel into place. 
It fit fine (a little short, but fine) from top to 
bottom, but was a total PITA to get in from left 
to right. It took a LOT of pushing to get 
everything positioned correctly, and DH fully 
admits, after working on it, that we NEED new 
windows. THAT will be expensive! 

Here we're almost finished. This time I'm on 
the extension ladder and he's on mine. You 
can see that there's a rather large gap at 
the top. We ended up cutting some clear 
plexiglass tabs and using those instead of 
the white plastic tabs. The window won't 
be going anywhere now. You can also see 
how VERY bad the window frames are - they 
really need replacement. 

This Grandmother Dragonfly was watching us 
from the new fencing for more than an hour. She 
was perfectly content to just sit in the sun and 
bask. She was quite large - we get very big 
dragonflies up here. I'd estimate her length at 
about three inches and her wingspan at 
about three inches as well. She was perfectly 
contented to let the "stupid hoomans" do their 
thing on the house. LOL

Just to the right of my ladder is the drop down 
to the lower patio area. The windows to the left 
are the computer room windows, and then everything 
takes a steep drop down to the den windows 
and back patio door. See the green cage in 
the center front? That's where my pea trellis is. 
We've been having a big problem with critters 
digging up our peas, so DH finally broke down 
on Friday and put a cage around them. Hopefully 
they'll get a chance to grow, now. 

So, that was our Sunday. Originally we were going to clean the gutters from the patio side too (since we had the extension ladder out) but, our one-hour window replacement turned into a three-hour major chore, and we decided to skip the gutter cleaning. We'll probably regret that decision, but it seemed wise at the time - LOL. 

Here's hoping you have a fantastic Monday. We're in the middle of thunderstorms, so I suspect people are swimming indoors today and everyone will be disappointed - at least until noon or so. I'm grateful that I don't swim on Mondays, so I missed getting caught by the rain and lightning this time around. Have a glorious day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was a Day of Plants and Planting - Look at Our New Blooms!

DH and I skipped our usual Sunday morning routine and were on the road to be at Gerten's by their opening time of 8:00 am. It was time to buy plants for the garden, and our day was totally mapped out for us. (1) Buy plants. (2) Plant plants. (3) Collapse with a drink (4) Call it an early night. And that's pretty much exactly what we did. We were going to split a Chipotle Burrito Bowl for dinner, but decided to just eat whatever we already had in the fridge or freezer. No energy to spare. 

Here's some of what we chose for our cart. Lots of 
wonderful flowers to make the garden bright and 
happy. While we were planting, I already saw bees 
taking an interest. Whoot! 

We were afraid there wouldn't be any Dahlia plants 
available - they weren't on the website. But we were 
pleasantly surprised. They had a LOT of Dahlias, and we got 
several for the garden, including this lovely one. 

We bought a LOT of plants. DH had his list, and knew what he wanted. I don't really have any say in what goes into the yard, it's DH's playground and interest, not mine. His is to plant, mine is to enjoy - LOL. So, he had his list and we dove into that as soon as the gates were open and we had our two-level cart. By the time we finished, an hour or 90 minutes later, the cart was totally filled on both levels. He had a mental budget of no more than $250, and we ended up slightly below that, so SCORE! LOL. 

He also got my Lantanas (four different kinds) and some 
Begonias in a bright and happy orange shade. So pretty! 

And here they are - our varied purchases all tucked 
into Minion's back hatch. We spent all afternoon getting 
these into the ground, and still have a few odds 
and ends that DH will get planted over the next few 
days when he's figured out exactly where he wants them. 

All in all, it was a very successful trip. And because of the EXCELLENT map that Chickie  drew for me, I didn't miss my turnoff on the return trip, and all occurred without any excess drama. Getting all of these beautiful flowers more than made up for skipping breakfast and getting totally exhausted in the hot weather we had yesterday while getting all of these beauties into their new, permanent homes. I hope you had a productive weekend, as well as one filled with beauty. I'm already looking forward to a summer of color and vibrancy. The garden is planted ... now it's time to enjoy it! Slava Ukraini and 

חיים למען ישראל. 

It Was a Good Sunday - One Step for Improved Palestinian/Jewish Relations

DH and I awakened, dressed in appropriate clothing, and started working on collecting and piling wood for the county compost yard fairly quickly after breakfast on Sunday. We were shortly joined by Laura, and as soon as we had our own stuff collected and ready to put into the pickup truck bed, we started work on taking her small pile. And then I looked over to my right, and saw a HUGE collection of brush and limbs that also needed to go. Suddenly what had looked like a small job was turning into a huge one. 

The piles of brush they had were quite large. We made a 
good sized dent in them with our two loads taken to the 
compost, but there's still more there for them to deal with 
at a later date. 

We dove right in, and were shortly joined by Laura's husband, Fakhri, as well as their two young sons. The kids, of course wandered off to play, but Fakhri stuck around and helped pull things from the pile, cut things down to a manageable size, and generally be quite helpful. In talking with him, he's originally from Palestine, but has lived in the USA for 30 years now. He'll be returning to Palestine, bringing the two boys with him to meet their grandparents and other relations who still live over there. They'll be gone for most of the summer. Laura will go with them for a short time, but then have to return because she has a job, and can only be gone from it for a while. I figure I did my part for improved Jewish/Palestinian relations with yesterday's loads - LOL. 

Fakhri was telling me that he still owns their old house in 
Minneapolis, and will fix it up and rent it out. He also mentioned
that when the University of Minnesota spoke with all of the 
different Jewish groups on campus about the Palestinian 
issues and unrest, they spoke with every group EXCEPT 
Jewish Students for Peace. If this is true, then SHAME 
on them! 

Fakhri and Laura are really delightful people, and it was a pleasure helping them get rid of some stuff. With the truck, we could haul a lot more than they could in their smaller SUV. We'll let them take care of the rest, but we did take two full truck loads over for them. Deed well done. 

The mitre saw is actually mine - I purchased it when I was 
doing picture framing for the shop and for customers who 
purchased unframed artwork from us. He's getting a lot 
of use from it, though, so I'm pleased about that (I just 
wish he would clean the saw off more frequently and take 
a bit better care of his equipment). 

Then DH set up the mitre saw on the patio and we cut lengths from some of the old fence posts from the fallen fencing. DH is going to build us a new 3-compartment compost bin - we had one at the old house that we used a lot, and we've got the ability to put one up here now - we know where we want to put it, and we have all of this lumber from the broken fence that we can use for construction. It's like a gift - a rather expensive gift - since we're getting a new fence installed later this summer - LOL. 

We're building a compost system similar to this one. We had 
one like this at our old house that DH had built, and we loved 
it and used it a lot. I'm not sure we'll put the lids on it, but the 
structure and the fencing grids along the sides and back works 
really well. We have all of the old lumber from the fence that 
we can use, so we're set on the necessary parts, without having 
to put in a lot of extra funds. 

So all in all, it was a good Sunday. Lots of physical activity, and the pork shoulder recipe once again worked beautifully - it was delicious, and we have lots of leftovers for tonight, and maybe Tuesday's dinners. I hope all of you had an equally lovely weekend. I'm going to wrap this up, have breakfast, and head over to the shop. It's a Monday, and I'm sure to be busy with a bunch of stuff. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל. 

Sunday - It Was An Excellent Day and An Excellent Game!

I hope those of you who love American football had a chance to see the Super Bowl last night. It was an excellent game - very well played by both teams, and totally down to the last few plays to achieve a winner at all. In fact, the game went into overtime, a rarity in Super Bowl history. I was hoping that San Francisco would pull it out. As a Denver Broncos fan, I find it impossible to cheer for Kansas City, despite their playing superb football over the years. DH, on the other hand, was cheering for Kansas City since San Francisco is a rival for his beloved Minnesota Vikings. So, we were a "house divided". One of us was bound to be disappointed. 

Both teams played really well and it was a totally entertaining 
game that went into Overtime for the win. That's the way I 
love to have my Super Bowl games. Two well-matched teams 
that play up to their abilities until the final whistle. 

Still, even though I'm disappointed in the final score, I'm far from disappointed in the game itself. It was outstanding, and I was glued to the TV, for the ads and for the game play. I didn't even mind the few gratuitous TV shots of Taylor Swift in her box, and Usher ... OMG, Usher was fantastic! Total entertainment from step one onward, so many guests appearing with him, and so much awesome music. DH was left totally cold - he doesn't care for Usher's musical style. I was enthralled, and several of my nieces and nephews were also commenting about how much they enjoyed the half-time show. 

Usher was the half-time headliner, and he totally brought 
it! His guests included Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and Lil Jon, 
along with cameos from will.i.am, Jermaine Dupri, and 
H.E.R. You could easily tell that Usher has been performing 
in Las Vegas for a while (I think he's been headlining 
there for more than a year now). That Vegas gleam and 
swag were everywhere, and it was a finely tuned 
machine. A truly well-done show. DH doesn't much care 
for Usher's style of music, but my nieces and nephews 
were totally over-the-moon at the show, as was I . 

So, all in all, it was a fantastic Sunday filled with football, food, music and minor arguments about whether a play was a good one or not (depending on which team we were supporting). I'm without football for many months now, so will have to concentrate on ice hockey instead - LOL. Certainly not a tragedy since I adore my Minnesota Wild ice hockey team. 

This is going to be a fun repair. Now that I have it 
totally disassembled and cleaned, I have to graph 
out the design and then start reweaving it. I'll have to 
pull out two vertical rows to give me enough beads 
to reweave the center element correctly, but I don't 
think that will be a problem for the total look. It's 
the best I can do, since the missing beads can't be 
replaced. I'll make a careful count before making the 
final decision, however. If I can avoid pulling rows 
out of the pattern, I'd prefer it. 

I started on an interesting project during the afternoon, A customer dropped the piece off on Friday for a total reweave. It's old - I'd guess mid-1950's, maybe even earlier. It's using beads that haven't been made for decades, and I have no good replacements, so I'll have to pull two rows out of the piece to make up for the few missing beads. It won't affect the end result by much. It's a fun challenge. I spent much of the pre-game chat pulling it apart, separating the beads by color, and washing them thoroughly. They were a bit of a mess, and I might wash them once more just to make sure I got all of the gunk off. I then tried a trial run with the thread that DH thought would be a good size. That didn't work - that thread was too thick for the project. So he took the spool back to his workshop and brought me one that was the dimension I asked for (1 mm instead of 2 mm thick), and that works much better. I started graphing out the pattern, but then the game started and I got involved in the game instead - LOL. 

So, that was my Sunday - football, beading, a load of laundry, a thorough kitchen clean (including washing the floor - it desperately needed it), and a relaxed day of food, beads, and football. A perfect day all around. I have movies coming up that I HAVE to see ("Despicable Me 4" and "Kung Fu Panda 4", and I loved the Budweiser Clydesdale horses (and the dog) appearing once again during the "Big Game" commercials. What a great Sunday. Now it'w back to reality once again. Sigh. Enjoy your Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. 

A Rare Sunday Post - "Things I Am Not Allowed to do On the Dig" for Randy (and all of you)

This is a rare Sunday post. I came across this in a friend's FaceBook feed this morning, and had to share it with Randy, in particular, and the rest of you also, because we all love Indiana Jones, don't we? So .. here we go - what Indiana Jones should be forced to sign before his next dig. I don't know who came up with the list, but it's brilliant! Enjoy and I'll be back tomorrow for my regular post. 

THINGS I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DO ON THE DIG

 

1          I am not allowed to carry a whip.

2          Imitating Indiana Jones in any way is forbidden.

3          "For fun-sies" is not an acceptable synonym for "ritual purposes".

4          I am not allowed to use my trowel as a knife.

5          I am not allowed to use a skull to recite Hamlet. (It's insulting to the skull.)

6          I am not a general in the skeleton war.

7          I am not allowed to claim that I can raise the dead.

8          I am not allowed to sing "Hi-ho" while using a mattock.

9          If I am bit by an insect, I must report for treatment, not insist that I will become    Spiderman.

10        I am not "king of the spoil heat" nor do I "rule over the mighty clods".

11        Our university funding is for equipment, not alcohol.

12        I am not allowed to kick someone into the trench and yell "This. Is. Sparta."

13        I am not allowed to play "the floor is lava" in the trenches.

14        If jewelry is found, I am not to call it "my precious" nor horde it like Sméagol.

15        No artefact we find appoints me as the chosen one.

16        I am not allowed to start a gang.

17        I am not allowed to play baseball with shovels.

18        I will not switch the decaf with regular nor the regular with expresso, no matter how         efficient it would be.

19        I am not allowed to call the crew "gold diggers".

20        Or "grave diggers", however accurate that may be.

21        I am not allowed to have flashbacks to wars I was never in.

22        I am not allowed to act like I am possessed by the spirits of those we exhume.

23        I am not allowed to taunt the paleontologists.

24        Machetes are tools, not toys.

25        When someone asks, "Can I have a hand?" I am not going to give them a bag of hand       bones.

26        I am not allowed to talk about good places to bury a body to the public.

27        We do not perform virgin sacrifices.

28        We do not perform blood sacrifices either.

29        I am not allowed to act like a flamboyant fashion photographer while taking situ photos.

30        The drone is a tool, not a toy.

31        There are several tests to determine if it is a bone aside from licking it.

32        I am not allowed to be drinking when I should be working.

33        I am not allowed to refer to spilled drinks as "libations to the Gods".

34        The GIS is not my "wizard staff".

35        I am not allowed to insist that any inscription is a curse. It's probably graffiti.

36        Especially if I cannot actually read said language.

37        Take that hat off.

38        I am not to address supervisors as "master" or insinuate I am their minion.

39        I am not allowed to prescribe any medication to the undergrads. I have a doctorate, but I am not a medical doctor.

40        Doing any form of illicit substance is not considered experimental archaeology, even if I   write the results down.

41        A rain-filled trench is not a pool.

42        I am not allowed to talk like a pirate.

43        I am not allowed to join the local gang either.

 

Football and Football - It Was an Excellent Sunday

Yesterday was a rather lazy day (after we set our clocks back for Standard Time) - a lot of football (some REALLY good games), a nice almost no-work meal and an episode of "Inspector Lewis" to end the day. We got an order placed for some smaller pieces of jewelry for the holiday season, and DH will be monopolizing the store computer today (and most of the week) getting the larger and smaller shipments of jewelry entered into the data base. There are a few items we're not 100% sure about (we realized after-the-fact that the finalized order wouldn't have photos of what the items were *sigh*). We were able to grab descriptions of most of the items, but there are still a few that will be a mystery until we open the box. 

The Philadelphia Eagles squeaked out a victory over 
the Dallas Cowboys in a great game. Very fun to watch 
and to flap my arms cheering the Eagles onward. 

We're gearing up for the Holiday Season now. It's our last one, and we've been really cleaned out of the low and mid-range jewelry items, so that's why we're bringing in some things. The cupboards are bare, so to speak. So we're trying to get things stocked up in time for a good holiday, and we're running really tight on time. 

The Minnesota Vikings pulled out a victory with our 
brand new (been with the team for 3 days) quarterback! 
Astounding! Our main quarterback is out for the season 
with a torn Achilles tendon. Our backup QB was injured 
early in the game, and that meant our new guy, who had 
arrived less than a week ago, was pulled in to play. And 
 he pulled it off! Vikings won 31-28 over the Falcons. 
Hurrah for Joshua Dobbs! 

As for my own holiday cards - I arranged the interior and tried a sample, but I don't really like what I've got. My main supplier for my stamps, however, just sent through an e-flyer, and viola! There was the perfect stamp. So I quickly got on-line and ordered it. I should have it by mid-week, and then I can start the interior of this year's cards for everyone. I'm running quite late this year, but time is as it will be. No choices. Hopefully next year will run smoother, but no guarantees since next year will be the first year I won't be in the shop for their manufacture. That will be both good and bad, so new challenges to be faced. 

Every day is another challenge to be overcome. I'm getting 
a bit tired of the constant ebb and flow, however. Our 
tempers are getting pushed and DH and I rarely get along 
for long in the best of times. Add the stresses we're dealing 
with now, it's becoming very challenging to not lash 
out at each other and start arguments. 

I hope all of you had a lovely weekend. I'm ready to dive into the week. DH said he may be at the shop every day this week (growl on my part because I like my solo times without him around). He needs to get both jewelry shipments checked in as much as possible, and we have beads and beading supplies coming in from both of our major suppliers too. It'll be a very busy computer this week, and our computers at the shop are complaining about their age and becoming more and more quirky. I'm crossing my fingers that they will survive the next 6-8 months without blowing up. 

Our shop computers (inventory, registers, sales history, 
etc) all run on a Windows 95 operating system off 
two computers - a main computer and a separate 
cash register computer. When we had looked into upgrading 
several years ago after I closed my Mall of America 
store, they quoted me a cost of $12,000 for a new 
system. I said a firm "No" and we've relied upon the 
old system since there. There are quirks, and things 
don't operate as well as they used to, but Dale has 
kept things running for me. Now we just have to make 
it for less than one more year. I'm crossing my fingers 
that the computers make it through. 

On that hopeful note, I'm going to wish you a lovely day. I'm already looking forward to getting back into the swimming pool tomorrow. I need to work off some of this tension - LOL. Enjoy your day, be kind to those you interact with, and smile. A smile can heal a world of hurt. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Sunday Was a Day of Sports - It Was Grey and Gloomy and Cold Outside

It was almost a perfect sports day, yesterday. The weather was colder and gloomy and not at all comfortable for sitting in the garden, and DH is already mourning the fact that he won't have a garden to check on for several months. Although I've suggested grow lights and indoor gardening, he's actually correct when he says we have no room for that. I can think of a couple of places where it would work, but basically, we've been in this house since the mid-1980's and have set every room up the way we wanted. Putting in something new like a grow light wouldn't be an easy thing to do. I can think of a couple of places that would work, but it wouldn't be easy. 

I wouldn't mind buying something similar to 
this - an AeroGrow system, and I even know 
where I would want to put it. But that area is 
cold, and I'm not sure it would enjoy the temp, 
and I'd have to check where the closest electrical 
outlet is. So this may not be a perfect solution, but 
it's certainly a thought. 

So, at least sports was a good thing. My Denver Broncos beat their divisional rivals the Kansas City Chiefs by a huge store 24-9! We were playing in Denver, which always helps. There's a definite altitude adjustment that visiting teams have to deal with when playing a mile high. It also was cold, with snow threatening. I didn't see snow when I watched the game, but they were expecting quite a bit, even if it wasn't in the stadium. 

Denver won decisively over the Kansas City Chiefs, which 
made me very happy indeed! 

DH's Vikings succeeded in a win over their divisional rivals, the Green Bay Packers with a store of 24-10. It's amusing me right now that both our teams scored 24 points on Sunday. LOL Of course, the Packers no longer are headed by Brett Favre, and their new quarterback is still finding his balance, but we'll take a win over the Pack anytime we can get one. 

The Vikings traveled to Green Bay and beat the Packers 
on their own turf. That was fabulous! I'm quite pleased. 

Finally, we did have one failure, although it was a hotly contested game. In hockey, the Wild fell to the New Jersey Devils 3-4. It was a well-played game, for the most part, and very fast, as hockey is. They just got one more puck past the goaltender. But hockey is a very long season. I'm not happy with how we're starting, we've lost 6 and won 3, but there's still a LOT of hockey to play this season. 

The MN Wild, unfortunately, lost a closely-fought 
game to the New Jersey Devils. It was a disappointment. 
Now they return home for a few days. Next game is 
Thursday, then another on Saturday before they're on 
the road again. 

So, I'm bundling up and heading over to the shop. Mondays are always hard days because I work with DH, who is not always available if I need help on the sales floor or need a quick bathroom break. Working with him is always a challenge, and not necessarily a good one. *sigh* I hope all of you have a wonderful start to your week and enjoy your Halloween Eve. Tomorrow it's time for ghosts and ghouls, and candy for tots. I'll be back then. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

A Day of Cooking, Sports and Miscommunication - An Almost Perfect Sunday

Happy Monday, all. DH and I had a weekend of miscommunication, which always makes for a rather tense Sunday and a bad taste in my mouth on Monday morning. Still, there's nothing to be done about it. Hopefully today won't be horrid at the shop. It's the one day when we work together, and sometimes it can be a tough one. 

Sunday was a day of miscommunication and 
that made for a frustrating day. I'm hoping that's 
behind us as we start the work week. 

The MN Wild lost their game on Saturday, and are now 9th in the NHL, putting them just below the cut in the Stanley Cup standings. The season is new, there are a LOT of games still to play, but it's been a disappointing start. The team just hasn't jelled together yet, and they're still playing with eyes instead of instinct for where the player will be to pass the puck to. Their next game is tomorrow, so here's hoping they'll get one in the Win column tomorrow night. 

I love watching the Wild, but when they aren't playing 
up to their skill level and potential, it's frustrating to 
watch them. Still, it's a very long season, moving through 
until mid-April with several games a week, average. It's 
early enough that they can pull themselves back out 
of the garbage and get on track. But GRRRR. 

In football, the Vikings play tonight, but the Broncos pulled out a squeak win over Green Bay, winning 19-17 with the last play of the game. It was one of those OMG games ... the OMG I can't believe they pulled that off, vs the OMG what do they thing they're doing! Another ten minutes, maybe even another five minutes, might well have seen the entire score reverse. 

The Broncos pulled out a win over Green Bay, in a rather 
sloppy game. But still, a win is a win. So I'm quite pleased 
with this game's result. The Minnesota Vikings play tonight, 
and we've NEVER done well on Monday Night Football. 

My task, yesterday, was to cook a pork tenderloin. I put the marinade on it Saturday night, and started baking it early yesterday morning. It was done earlier than I had planned for - but it was incredibly tasty and yes, it's one of my favorite recipes. It takes minimal work, and gives maximal enjoyment. The recipe is for a 6 pound roast and mine was about three pounds, so that probably accounts for the time differential. I'll have to make a note on the recipe that the cooking time is reduced for a smaller roast. Thank goodness for remote thermometers. Without that, I would have overcooked the meat and it would have been awful. 

We ended up eating dinner an hour or two earlier 
than planned because the pork was done sooner. 
All I can figure is that since it was a three pound 
roast instead of a six pound, it cooked faster. Makes 
sense to me, and I'll make a notation on the recipe 
for the future. I've only made the recipe a couple 
of times before, so it's not instinctive to me yet. 
But it was DELICIOUS. 

So, I'm ready to start another week. I guess - LOL. I could just as easily go back upstairs and grab another few hours of sleep ... but I really can't indulge. Time moves on and I've got to get going on my day. I hope your Monday is spectacular, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slave Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

It Was a Lovely Sunday - Yard Cleanup, Football and Television

Happy Monday, everyone. We're in the middle to end of Autumn now, up here in the Frozen Northlands. The trees still have leaves, but the glorious colors of one or two weeks ago are fading to brown and the leaves are getting ready to leave the trees and mess up my yard - LOL. It's getting colder. Although I still have my hummingbird feeder up, it's almost untouched - the amazing birds are on their way south to Costa Rica, or at least to a warmer climate. 

Just a few of the more than 100 different types of hummingbirds 
in nature. We don't see any of these up here, I think, but aren't 
they just amazingly beautiful? 

The grass is still green, but it won't be for much longer. Halloween is on the horizon, and I'm already thinking about what I want to wear to the shop on that date. It's a Tuesday, so we'll be open for business. It's usually cold, and sometimes we've already had snow, or have snow on the actual date. My thoughts of a short skirt and my spider blouse may be superseded by my long, black velvet "Morticia" dress, simply because the dress is warmer. But those are decisions for almost three weeks from now - I have time. 

I have a form-fitting stretch velvet black floor-length 
gown that I absolutely love. I've owned it for decades. 
It doesn't have the drooping sleeves, but it's a perfect 
Morticia Addams gown, and I love wearing it. It's one 
possibility for Halloween's work garb. 

DH and I took a load of branches to the composting center yesterday. They open at 11:00, and there have been plenty of times over the summer when we've been able to be first in line, or to go right in. Not yesterday. There were three vehicles in front of us, and at least eight behind us. Not everyone was there to deposit brush, some were there to dump grass clippings, or deposit organics for recycling. But more than half were there to dump brush, so we got in, dumped our load, and left, as the gate guardian was letting the next truck in to take our space. 

We're quite fortunate because our local recycling center 
for yard waste is actually quite close to our house. It 
makes things a bit easier when we have a large load that's 
not hanging on well under the bungee cords and tarps. It 
also accepts food waste, which is well used by many people. 

Returning home, we relaxed and watched hockey pre-season, and then switched to football. Both Minnesota and Denver lost their games yesterday, so that was a disappointment. But so it goes in football sometimes. We capped the day off by watching the final episode of "Unforgotten" and "Van der Valk" and the next episode of  "Professor T". I end up having to stay up an extra hour for "Van der Valk", but it's worth it. 

I wasn't that fond of "Van der Valk" in the first season I 
watched, but I've gotten to really enjoy the show. It makes 
me think, which is never a bad thing - LOL. 

So, all in all it was a good Sunday and a good day off. I'm diving back into the fray today, and we'll see how things go at the shop. It's a day for DH and I to work together, and sometimes those days aren't the smoothest. Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Sunday - A Day of Brunch and Dirt

Brunch was wonderful. I chose carefully, but still allowed myself to indulge. I went heavily into protein - bacon (yum!), sausages (some type I've never seen before - probably made for them), and salmon - warm and cold. I also had some things that are NOT WildFit advised - 1/2 piece of French Toast with this crazy cinnamon flavoring. I added a few tater tots, because I adore them and haven't eaten any for more than two years. I skipped the cheesy potatoes, and also skipped the salad (it was just shredded lettuce - meh. I actually had a single cup of very lovely coffee, two slices of wonderfully cooked Prime Rib, and topped everything off with one small piece of flourless chocolate mousse cake and a chocolate and vanilla cheesecake slice. 

I love going to Baldamar, but it's a very rare treat. DH 
wasn't happy with our breakfast buffet. He was a bit 
sick to his stomach for the rest of the day. (Of course, 
the fact that he probably over-ate has nothing to do 
with that, right?) 

So yeah - I wasn't perfect with my food choices, but everything was very tasty, and I didn't regret a single choice I made. DH went back to the buffet a couple of times, and had several dessert choices. He skipped the prime rib (I thought that was a poor decision - the meat was wonderfully cooked). He had several cups of coffee, and then we paid our bill, went home, changed clothes, and headed to Home Depot to get black dirt for the garden, and any plants that might catch our eye. 

We got four of these bags so that DH could 
re-seed the eastern bank leading from the front 
yard down to the back. It's the area we have 
the hardest time with - it's shade for most of 
the day, and the gradient is fairly steep. 

Plants that caught our eye were none, but we ended up with four bags of dirt and several non-flower choices of plants. DH wandered off to check something else out before we left the parking lot, so I put everything else into the back of Minnion, then headed over to put our cart in the cart corral. On my way back to my car I saw a young lady having a difficult time getting her bags of dirt into her car, so I stopped and gave her a hand. Why not? I'd already put four of them into Minnion - LOL. She was very grateful. I hope she was able to get them out of the car all right on her own. 

We got a couple of different grass 
seeds for shade. I think this was one, but 
I can't be sure - we looked at a bunch 
of different types. Still, I know we got two 
different kinds and that he seeded the bank. 
I'm sure he'll be out there watering before 
heading in to work today. 

After DH spread out our four bags of dirt and seeded them with grass seed, he watered them, then joined me under the patio umbrella for a beer. We relaxed a bit and went inside. After DH slept for a while, we watched the hockey game. We were both still too full from brunch to eat dinner, so it made for a really relaxed day for me. All in all, a successful Sunday. This week will be fairly low-key, I do have an appointment to get my car looked at (and probably get new tires) on Wednesday, so that will be a rushed day, but I'm allowed back in the pool this week, so tomorrow I'll be swimming again. I should be able to get seven swims in before my next eye surgery. So, Yippee! Have an excellent day. Slava Ukraini.