Thursday night dinner

I made pinto beans in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I soaked the beans last night, rinsed them this morning, and then chopped an onion, tossed in some garlic, a few dashes of salt, a couple of cubes of veg bullion and turned it on high for the day. When I got home 10 hours later, the house smelled of beans, onions and garlic.
I had planned to make cornbread to go with the beans, but remembered that corn cakes were easier for everyone to handle, and didn't require heating the oven, either. So I made a double batch of corn cakes to go with the beans. A very yummy dinner for when my darling wife gets home from her grad school, and slog through the evening traffic.

The twins are planning a part for Saturday night, so I will need to go shopping tomorrow for the supplies. It should be a good time.

Mary is HOME!

Long weekend

One of the joys of life is living it. Taking the time to just settle in, pick up a good book and enjoy. This is what I've done today. Keeping it simple.

This week has also been a time of rest, relaxation and healing. Recharging mental batteries so to speak.

Mary and I had a quiet Thanksgiving day. She spent the day curled up reading, and I made several delicious vegan dishes. I made dressing balls, mashed potatoes and gravy, baked sweet potatoes with pineapple and cloves and just a hint of brown sugar, green bean casserole, butternut squash, acorn squash, and vegan brownies for dessert. Ok, so some of those things weren't around for the original Thanksgiving meal, but it was plenty to fill our plates (and our bellies.) And no, I didn't miss the fake turkey this year. It simply wasn't needed. We ate well, and were satisfied. And we are still eating the leftovers!

I got my stitches out yesterday, and the doctor said I was a very fast healer. Yeah! That really comes in handy for someone who has fast and powerful reflexes like mine!

I built Kit T Kat a cat tree on Friday. It has 4 levels, and is carpeted in a dark green to go with our current furniture color scheme. It also has sisal rope wound around 2 of the legs for Kit to scratch her nails on. There was some wood that wasn't covered by the carpeting, so Mary and I glued (and tacked) some of the rope down in those spots to cover the wood. Very nice effect. You can just see the top of the cat tree in the lower left-hand side of the picture.

Today I built 4 Cat-shelves, and covered them in carpet also. I hung 3 of them on the wall using banister mounting hardware. The fourth will get mounted later. I found the idea on the internet. The trouble is, our cat hasn't figured out how cool these things are yet. Give her time. I may make enough of these shelves for the cat to get all around the living room. They are pretty easy to make. Our house is on it's way to being extremely cat accessible! (Mary has been having good fun watching me work to build things for the cat... Laughs and says that I amuse her. Whatever could she mean? Me!?! Amusing? Bah!)

Mary said I may get another kitten to play on the cat toys and be a playmate for Kit. I'm not sure about that one... I may get another kitty for Kit to play with in the spring. If so, it will be a cat, not a kitten. Preferably a cat that is at the shelter and needs adopting. I'm not sure I want to deal with the kitten stage of training.

The best thing about these projects is that I built them out of scrap wood, and only had to find the carpet, rope, and banister hangers to make them. I also used screws and staples I had on hand. So I really saved money. Frugality rocks. I checked the prices of the cat trees online, and found ones comparable to the one I built selling for over $150 US. Wow. And the cat shelves? $34 US a piece online. I love being handy with tools.

Here is a picture of the house sign that I built several weeks ago, and finally uploaded so that I could post the picture. Ok, so this picture was in the camera with these others... but anyway, here it is.

You can click on the images for a larger closeup of these photos.

Thanksgiving

I usually give thanks every day for the joys in my life, but today I'll write about some of them. I try to make it a practice to recognize 3 joys to be thankful for every day.

I'm thankful for the health of my family and friends.
For a fantastic relationship that my wife and built over the last 5 years since we met.
For the nephew's 3 brain surgeries that went so well, and have (fingers crossed) halted his seizures forever.
For the beautiful colors of the trees at this time of year.
For enough to feed, clothe and sustain my family.
For our plant-based whole-foods diet, which has improved all of our health.
For the knowledge that we have and are able to share on this wondrous thing called the internet.
For the ability to be able to turn off the TV, change radio stations, and choose not to read advertisements in whatever form they try to get to us. And the right not to fill our house with stuff that does not make us happy.
For the library, so we don't have to pay for all of those books that we like to read.
For the simple joys of living in a world that is basically neutral, it is the people who sometimes aren't.
For being able to choose the best path for me, and the support I have from family and friends in those decisions.
For the simple life.
For living below our means, so that we can save money for what we dream of doing.
For living.
For simple meditation time.
For slow walks around the neighborhood with Mary.
For the loving and gentle teasing and play that Mary and I have together.
For hugs from my 14 year-old twins. (Still!)

You gotta be careful...

Cooking dinner. Stoves are HOT! I accidentally touched a hot burner with my left hand, and my reflexes took over. My arm shot almost straight up and banged really hard on the range hood. Those things are not dull. I have a cut about a half inch long on the back of my hand, right along the tendon/vein, just before the knuckle. So every time I went to grasp something, the wound comes open. Mary called the Navy clinic, and the doctor called me back, authorized me to go to an urgent care clinic up in Pasadena, since the Navy clinic had already closed for the afternoon. I'm patiently waiting for my appointment time to come up (9:10 pm) so that I can get this thing either glued, or sewn shut. Really shouldn't take long, but serious enough that I need to be seen.

So I wait.

Oh, update on Evan's surgery. The tuber removal went well, but there are still some seizures happening, so another surgery may be in the works, to remove just a bit more of the area, and hopefully stop those seizures for good. We are all thinking well for you Evan.

(EDIT) - About 10:30 pm. I've returned from the clinic with 2 stitches in the back of my left hand. I really am thankful for modern pain meds. The Novocaine used on my wound made the whole procedure painless. And the PA did quite a bit of scrubbing to clean it out, then showed another technician what my nicked tendon looked like, and finally sutured me up. All in all, not a bad visit to the clinic. I will have to take antibiotics because the wound was so deep. Just a precautionary measure, since I did damage the sheath on the tendon too. And an infection in that could really turn ugly fast.

Thank you Mary for driving me to the clinic, and waiting on me to get doctored up! I love you!

Speaking of Ginger...

It was harvesting time, since our temperatures are getting down to frost/Hard frost. I pulled all of the ginger roots out of the ground, and left the leaves for the hungry worms. I washed the dirt off the roots with rainwater, and watered the kale at the same time. I wound up with about a cookie sheet full of fresh, fragrant, delicious, ginger roots. Wow! These taste so good in oriental cooking! I may slice up some this weekend for making ginger candy.

I also pulled all of the sweet potatoes out. I would say that I was disappointed with the harvest there. I blame the drought we had, and general shady conditions in the yard. I think they would have done much better had we had steady rain all summer. We did get enough for a few meals, though.

I also found 2 more small acorn squashes as I was harvesting the sweet potatoes. That brings our acorn squash count up to 6! I plan to cook them this weekend. That should be yummy!

I haven't had much time, due to taking an intensive computer training course. I work all day on the computer at the course, then come home and surf the 'net and play with the family. Wednesday is different, as Mary is still at grad school, and the twins are over at their dad's house. And I'm here in the house by myself. James time.

I haven't heard from Kyle for quite some time. I drove down to see his high-school band perform at the end of October, but Kyle ignored me as he walked by. I guess it wasn't "cool" for him to acknowledge his dad while surrounded by his marching band friends. I had enjoyed the performance, based on the "Orient Express". They had a cute steam engine train on the field, that moved from "station" to "station" as the music changed. The marching was excellent, and they sounded great. Overall I think they were the best band there that day. I don't usually lament on how much I miss the kid Kyle used to be, now that his 16th birthday is approaching, it gets harder and harder. I just keep on loving the son he was, and hope that I will get to know the young man he has become. It is very hard not hearing from him though. Very hard.

Lastly, but definitely not leastly... My nephew Evan goes in for the first of 3 brain surgeries tomorrow. All of us here are pulling for him! The surgeries are supposed to correct his epileptic seizures, by removing a tuber that has grown and seems to be setting off the seizures. That seems to be the plan anyway. So if you would care to check out the progress, Lisa, Evan's mom, has this blog going to get the word out. Medical Maze. Best of luck and a very speedy recovery, Evan!

What I've been up to...

Not much especially. I've been reading blogs, Orchid forums (yep, got swept up in learning again!) and generally enjoying life.

Fall has finally arrived here in Maryland, and I'm getting the garden shut down. I've been wanting to mulch in the whole place, but have been waiting for the leaves to fall. Did I mention that I've been waiting for the leaves to fall? Some have due to the warm weather and the drought Maryland has had this summer. But the majority of the leaves are still up on the trees, green and quite well attached! How am I supposed to mulch them under all the straw if they are still on the trees? Wait and do it next month. You know, holiday time. Times when I will have a slightly more busy schedule to deal with.

I found a new grocery store today. I like to cook Asian style food, and this store had "Asian Grocery" on the sign, so I was expecting Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. But no! INDIAN! I found a place to buy basmati rice close to home, lentils, and all the spices that I used to make a special trip about 45 minutes out of my way to acquire. I really try to keep those trips to a minimum, but now that I know that the store is there, I will definitely do my staple shopping there! They have tons of vegetarian ingredients that are difficult to find in the big grocery stores. A good source of curry leaves is worth a celebration anyway. Tamarind sauce, many varieties of chutneys, papadams, paratha bread, and on and on and on. Anyway, I chatted with the owner of the store, who was also manning the register, and he told me he is from Nepal, and they eat a very similar diet to the Northern Indians. Wow! I'm psyched!

I scored some more "free wood" from the wood flooring manufacturing place on Tuesday. They leave rejects out on a big palette for anyone who wants it. It never stays long. I just happened to get there just ahead of a fellow with a pick-up truck who took all of what I couldn't fit in the trunk of my car. I had to pick up the Wonder Twins from school so I didn't get all that my car could hold. Anyway, I stacked it up out back with the rest of the wood. This stuff is red oak, maple, and some pine, but sawn, cured and cut to about 3 foot lengths. There is some really bad looking stuff, and that gets cut for firewood, the rest waits for various projects that I will undertake in my spare time.
Right now I have a solar wax melter to build, a honey comb press and a Sockinator (My name for a device used to hang socks and other small pieces of clothing on the clothesline easily.)

The new glasses have worked out really well. I am not getting headaches from them anymore, and I think I've got the trick down to being able to see using them. So I think I'll survive with them even better now! I love modern technology and learning! Now if we can use that technology for the forces of good, and feed the world, cool the place off a little, and generally help each other up, the Human race might actually win!

Short arms...

So I've been complaining that my arms are getting shorter, that words are getting fuzzy up close, and all that. Well, I made an appointment to get my eyes examined. The great news is that I'm relatively normal. No glaucoma signs, which is good. The doctor did say that I have a slightly greater than normal loss of epiphilial cells on my cornea than someone my age should have, but nothing to really do about that. And the good news, I need new glasses! Bifocals! I haven't gone to the glasses store yet, but will soon. I'm not looking forward to adjusting for them, but I am looking forward to being able to see print without having to stretch out my arms.