I was up at 6:30 AM and took goofy Scout out for his morning lawn-wetting activity. The lawn wetting was already going on; the sprinklers were doing their thing. Of course, he had to go to his favorite spot and proceeded to do so. He ran back to the patio, slightly damp, and asked to come inside.
Today we opted to go shopping at the Home Depot as we need to prepare the beds for the first week in March. We are going to Tomatomania at Roger’s Gardens the first week in March to see over 225 fantastic tomato choices. This year we can order ahead and pick our favorites up like the Juliet.
Our garden has 500 square feet of room, meaning we have to get started to ready for this summer’s crop!
It’s fun to see and collect many different types of tomatoes.
First things first, Mary’s PT! I dropped her off and went down the street to a family-owned burger joint to get my morning coffee. On the way back, I pulled up right next to the door and made some phone calls, including to SunRun, who now owns our solar system. I want to change the system to new higher-grade cells, install enough to run a solar-powered electric pool heater, and buy instead of lease.
Since the girls were still at the house cleaning, we went VFR to Home Depot, where we got a few bags of manure, some fertilizer, and some veggies. The basket was loaded, but everything fit in with space to spare. Next time, we will bring the van.
While inside, a customer asked me, “Is this spray good for wasps?” I had to answer truthfully, so I replied, “No, it kills them.”
All of this fit into The Silver Fox’s tummy!
Home Depot is pretty intelligent. Last year, Home Depot sold Christmas decorations in the second aisle of the housewares section. It was easy for me to remember Aisle B, Home for Christmas.
On the way home, we stopped at Ralph’s market to get goodies for this afternoon!
When we got home, the outside temperature was 57 degrees, so working in the yard in this wind was not an option we selected. I emptied the truck using the trusty new two-wheeled wheelbarrow and delivered the goodies to the backyard 200 feet away!
It was blowing in the wind!
When you can’t garden, you must cook. So Mary did stuffed peppers, and I did Beef Bourguignon.
I chopped the meat into one-inch squares before browning. The recipe called for bacon to prepare the pot for browning the meat, but we don’t use bacon. I used Crisco and a few pieces of pure fat from the meat trimmings and got the pot ready.
Start with good meat!
We selected “choice which was about $15/pound! It was worth it in the end.
I was a real cut-up! Into the bowl with kosher salt and ground black pepper. I used three pounds of beef in the stew even though the recipe called for only two pounds! Recipes are only guidelines. Mary and I modify them all the time.
Mary said, “Chop Chop,” I thought she was hurrying me along!
The browning was done in three separate groups so the meat would not pile up on each other. Into the browning process, I threw minced garlic. We turned up the heat and added onions when all the meat was browned, mushrooms, and carrots. I noticed the recipe did not have potatoes, so I added a bag of multi-colored fingerling potatoes; what the heck!
It already smelled good!
My supervisor was on duty! I had to get his approval for each step, and he only supervised me; Mary was on her own.
He gave me a nod; it was time to set the stew on simmer for two hours.
I was so busy that I didn’t pay attention to Mary and her cooking endeavor. When I finally slowed down, Scout and I looked at Mary’s creation. Scout put his paw over his eyes, and I had to depart the room in a fit of laughter. Scout suggested Mary lose her kitchen privileges for at least two days (except for preparing his meals).
Mary did stuff the bell peppers!
Perfect! We were expecting business/company at 4:00 PM. My insurance guy, a friend of Mary’s for two decades, was coming by so I could change medical insurance companies. My doctors were dropping my Anthem Blue Cross, so now I have UnitedCare.
We took Brian for a tour of the yard (he was here for our wedding celebration), and he was amazed at the transformation.
He had planned to have dinner with us, and Mary prepared stuffed peppers. When she plated the food, she added a bowl of beef stew (which I had not tasted yet). I had my fingers crossed, but it tasted wonderful. The three of us had a wonderful dinner. Brian departed at about 5:45 PM as he had another appointment.
It came out perfectly!
We had food, which meant a trip to Jan’s, so Mary prepared containers of beef and peppers, and off we flew. We visited Jan for quite a while, and towards the end, her doorbell rang. She thought this was odd, So I stood behind her when she opened the door; it was the OC Sherriff. I quickly pointed to Mary and said, “She did it.”
A prowler was reported in the hood, and the police were checking out the local homes. Jan’s backyard is on a main artery into Villa Park. All was clear, and we thanked the officers for doing their job!
Always thinking ahead!
We departed for home at about 8:30 PM and promptly crashed. We worked all day! Since Valentine’s is over, I brought up the green lights. We can change the lights to any of 64,000,000 colors via our phone!
Green is in!
We are done for the day!
