Fact: Squirrels cause approximately 10-20% of US power outages. Squirrels cause about 10-20% of US power outages. Harmless and cute as they seem, these fuzzy little creatures aren’t as innocent as you think! Squirrels tend to chew things, but combine this with power lines, and there will be a problem.
The calendar notified me today that I have been retired for 5,000 days!
Guests are coming, so we have a list of things to do before they get here. PLUS, we have twenty folks over for Easter egg coloring on Saturday. Needless to say, we were up and moving by 7:00 AM.
Mary tackled two more boxes in the office while I worked in the garage, putting rollers/casters on the storage racks! We had a small lunch and after that serious work began.
Just as I thought things were normal, Scout comes crawling up to me wearing a parabolic dish on his head! Where in the world did that crazy dog get the idea?
I wondered how Scout got the idea to wear a dish on his head!
After lunch, Dr. Mary headed for the stove, and then her hand was a package of green split peas. I like that she’s very thrifty, but broken pieces of peas seem a little odd to save a few cents. I asked what she was up to, and she said, “I’m gonna make split pea soup” I offered to go out to the market and get full-sized peas that would not be broken, but she insisted.
Dr. Cook-em-up hard at work!
At 3:00 PM, we headed to the gym for our hour work-out! Today I pushed a little harder and I could feel it on our way home.
After arriving home, I when to the backyard to adjust the sprinklers ensuring that the zucchini had proper water. I heard this bloodcurdling scream from the kitchen. Needless to say, I dropped everything and ran full speed for the kitchen arriving just in time to hear Mary say, “I need a chopper.”
Well, I responded by reaching for the phone and calling the local airport, but she grabbed my hand just before I was going to answer the question from the helicopter man, “what can I do for you today?”
I did ask Mary if she was going to put alphabet pasta in the soup. The doctor said, “If you have the alphabet soup, you will have great vowel movement.” She decided not to use alphabet pasta because if you spill it, it could spell disaster”.
Mary wanted me to use my culinary skills with the knife to lay waste to several different vegetables she planned to use, and here I thought I was going to go for a helicopter ride!
Sliced and diced and chopped and shredded; the sound could be heard throughout the neighborhood. The results of my effort were put into this large pan, and Mary simmered it for the next half hour. I swear I saw a couple of bat wings in the concoction.
It looked delicious, and the aroma wafted throughout the house.
I prepared the artichokes for dinner tonight. They were beautiful; the best chokes I have seen all year! I was going to ask Mary to make potato-leek soup next time, but I had this vision appear before me!
My next task was plucking the artichokes. I removed all the feathers and then proceeded to trim the leaves. Into a pot of hot water for forty minutes, and they will be ready.
Artichokes are my department.
The brew had to simmer for a while before we could eat; it was difficult to smell the aroma and not grab a spoon and dig in!
The final step!
When we had dinner, it was a banquet, no, a feast! That soup was to die for! We had two bowls, and we were so full that we didn’t even eat the artichokes.
I mentioned to Mary that she might sell this magnificent broth. She could become a bouillonaire.
We decided to go to Jan’s and bring her some soup, apple sauce, and artichoke. We had a glass of wine with Jan, and she tasted the soup; she raved about it.
We hit the sack early, and later on that evening, we got a call from Jan. She said, “Hello, I would like to place an order for 3 quarts of your soup plus four artichokes”. We had a good laugh!
