Wednesday, October 13, 2021

I Didn't Die Trying


Well, sorry to have to say this but my advice about buttermilk-brined chicken is to save your buttermilk to make biscuits with. It was okay but it didn't rock my world. Sometimes the simplest things- like a roast chicken- should just be what they are in their simplest forms. 
Take a chicken. Salt it. Put it in an iron skillet or other baking dish. Put it in a 425 degree oven and cook it until it's done. 
You can do a lot of other fancy things to it but it's hard to improve on that. 

I have not been feeling that well. I don't know what's wrong with me. I just haven't had any energy and part of me wonders if it's because I've just let myself stagnate. I haven't been taking my walks or really working outside, mostly because of the heat but then there was the appendectomy and the less I do, the less I want to do. 
Big surprise there, eh?

So today I was determined to get outside and get some shit done. And I did. I picked all those peas and peppers you see and I weeded and pulled all the pea plants. I cleaned out maybe a quarter to a third of the garden but the rest of it isn't going to be that difficult. It's still hot and is going to be hotter the next two days but by Sunday it's supposed to cool down some. 

I did laundry and hung it on the line, folded it when it was dry and brought it in and put it away. 

I also swept and mopped the kitchen, pantry, and a bathroom which requires moving chairs and bins and baskets and so forth into the hallway so I can get underneath things. 

And now I can hardly walk. 
That was NOT that much work and don't try to convince me it was. I do, however, feel as if I've accomplished something for the first time in quite awhile. I have got to get moving more, and more regularly, too. 

Mr. Moon went to town again to work on a contract so he's been gone most of the day. I hope that when he gets home he'll recognize the smell of Fabuloso and vinegar and realize that I haven't been sitting on my fat ass ALL day long. It was so much easier when he was gone to simply say, "Well, I'm on vacation too and I don't give a damn about the cleanliness of the kitchen floor." And it's not that he's ever ONCE in all of our years suggested that perhaps I should mop a floor, there's a part of me (the part marinated in guilt and shame my entire childhood) that remembers he grew up in a house with a mother who did very much care about the cleanliness of her house, along with two older sisters whose every Saturday was spent in ensuring that the house was indeed very, very clean. 

Ah well. Obviously he's learned to accept the fact that his wife will always cook him good meals, make sure his clothes are cleaned and sometimes his shirts are ironed, and that the house is, well, at least tidy to a degree even if you wouldn't dare to eat off my floors.
Which leads me to ask- why would anyone want to eat off their floors? 

Okay. Here's a picture of a Georgia Thumper, aka Eastern Lubber Grasshopper.


See the knife there in the background? I know I've posted pictures of these insects before but here's another just in case you missed those. These motherfuckers will tear UP a garden and a yard. They love ornamental foliage and your collard greens too. They are, as we say around here, a damn mess. The most zen, kind, loving woman I know will smash one of those monsters in a heartbeat when she finds them on her beloved plants. When I saw this one though, I just didn't have the energy or the heart to smush him. I should have though. 
I remember the first time I saw one as a child and it scared the daylights out of me. All these years later they still sort of shock me with their size and alien-warrior armor. 

I hope I can get out of bed in the morning. There is plenty more to do around here.

Love...Ms. Moon





27 comments:

  1. I tried making buttermilk-marinated fried chicken once, too, and was also underwhelmed with the results. Mind you, any time I fry chicken it should be considered some sort of national holiday because I almost never fry food. Too much trouble and WAY too much mess.

    It's funny, but I feel bad if I'm off and my husband has been at work and I don't get much housework done. Just this small voice within that lays on the guilt. Like Mr. Moon, he's never once expected me to do anything around here, it's just my inner crazy coming out, I suppose. Like I'm failing him and us and our marriage, like I should constantly be trying harder and doing better. That's all inside me and has nothing to do with him. And just like Mr. Moon, Gregg always raves about anything I cook for him (even cheese toast!) and acts like even the smallest thing I do for him or our household is a thing of beauty. I honestly don't know how I got so lucky.

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    1. You and I are the luckiest ones. We are loved for who we are, not what we do. Isn't that a miracle? I think so.
      Will we ever learn to accept that?
      I don't know.
      I haven't fried a chicken in forever and ever and ever. I occasionally fry fish or okra but rarely and never chicken. It's a HUGE mess.

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  2. Sorry, I AM going to try to convince you that what you accomplished today WAS quite a lot, and don't downplay it for ANY reason. It was enough, and more than enough! As we age (and I'm fighting and resisting this in myself) we tend to ebb and flow with energy or lack thereof.....and chide ourselves....relating it to what we always *used* to do. We cannot do that to ourselves any longer. Goals....yes.....but perhaps smaller ones. Your firespike lillies (I think) are lovely, but that Georgia Thumper would cause me to shriek loudly! Yuck! We have tarantula's this time of year here in Calif.......and I barely shrug anymore when I see one.....but those Thumpers? YUCK! I would scream bloody murder!
    Susan M

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    1. You're right- I do have to stop comparing what I can do now to what I used to be able to do. It's not fair to me but I see these women who run marathons are my age or, oh, I don't know what- just do amazing things and I compare myself to them, too, and it's stupid.
      Those are pinecone lilies. Aren't they gorgeous?
      The Georgia Thumper is NOT gorgeous. Although, in a very objective way, he sort of is.

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  3. Just a gentle reminder: YOU JUST HAD MAJOR SURGERY, MARY. YOUR SYSTEM IS WORKING AROUND IT. OF COURSE YOU'RE TIRED.

    Aside from that, you've had some emotional adventures. So there's that. Tain't nothin'.

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    1. AMEN, Boud!
      Susan M

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    2. Oh, dear Liz. You are right. I know. I know. Thank you for reminding me. You too, Susan.

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  4. That was a lot of work for one day! You are doing enough and shouldn't worry about it. You need rest after surgery - didn't the doctor tell you to rest for 4 to 6 weeks! Your system has to adjust and your body is healing on the inside.
    So if you have to relax, just relax! You don't have to eat off of the kitchen floor! :)

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    1. No- the doctor told me that all restrictions are lifted. Done! I said, "Oh now. Now I have to catch up on all the yardwork!" He said "yardwork" at the same time I did and laughed.
      Trust me. I will never eat off a kitchen floor unless I have to.

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  5. It takes an entire year until the last cell damaged in surgery exits your body. You worked your butt off this morning, like a pregnant lady the week before, and you didn't flush one extra damaged cell away. Take it easy.
    If I encountered a grasshopper as ugly as that one, he'd feel at least one of my Japanese beetle bricks over his head in a NY minute.

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    1. Ugh. Damaged cells? I hadn't thought of it that way.
      Thank you, dear Joanne.
      If you ever do see a Georgia Thumper, you have my permission to smash him with whatever you want. As if you needed my permission.

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  6. Mary, slow down! Didn't you just have an organ removed? Holy cow- if I even so much as blow my nose I have to take a few days off.
    The grasshopper- NO! I generally love all creatures great and small but THAT one, NO. Gives me the heebs- like a potato bug.

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    1. Linda Sue- you are so damn funny. You do NOT have to take a few days off after you sneeze.
      And that grasshopper is as big as very large man's thumb. They are huge. I've read that they have to molt five times to achieve that size.

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  7. Ms. Moon, what’s the flower in your last photo? It’s beautiful.

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  8. Good gracious, that cricket is big!! So glad that we don't get them here. The worst "insects" that I come across are house spiders,( tegenaria) but since my husband had the attic converted to his office many years ago, I haven't seen one...I will now of course having "tempted fate"!!!

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    1. Spiders do not bother me, generally. I admire them. Also, I am loathe to get rid of their webs but sometimes I do have to.

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    2. I don't think that our "house spiders" make webs...I have never seen one....they just dash across the floor and frighten the life out of people!

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  9. I take back yesterday's comment about Florida being a wonderland. That grasshopper has changed my mind. Ai yi yi. He's a humdinger. Fierce looking. And anything that ruins a garden...nobody has time for that.

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    1. Well, Florida is a wacky wonderland. Let's face it. And parts of it are horrifying. And some can ever kill you. But the humans who live here are the most horrifying of all for the most part. Not all of them, of course, but some. Like the governor.

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  10. I haven't accomplished much lately either. taking my grandgirl to work and back every day takes a chunk out of the day and it's been hot here too so no working in the yard. cool front, maybe even cold front this weekend, possibly down to 48! and I have red cones too! but I need to move them somewhere I can see them better.

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    1. Ellen, I bet that does take a chunk out of your day!
      I'm glad your lilies have coned-up. They are easily moved. Just note for sure where they are because when winter comes, they totally disappear.

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  11. Okay, I'll pretend you didn't do sh!t yesterday and were just barely functional. Of course, that makes me a liar. Will you please stop being so bloody hard on yourself! As Boud points out, you had major surgery barely three weeks ago. Enough said. Be as kind to yourself as you are to others...

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    1. But surgery is not like it used to be, you know. Just those little snips. Honestly, I think I had more energy on the day after I got home than I've had since. It's hard to figure out.

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  12. Ah, Mary, it is fascinating to me that your response to not feeling so well is to get outside and do hard things and then mop your kitchen floor. Rest up, woman. You might have three little laser dots on your midriff but you did have major surgery and your body is still doing its knitting, possibly putting the finishing touches on its masterwork, but still. I know you will simply ignore this well meaning suggestions, your work ethic does not quit. I love you dearly.

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    1. All I can say to you is that I adore you. I thank you, also, for the reminder.

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  13. Love the pine cone lilies. Yes, the lubber grasshoppers are scary and grotesque, but also weirdly beautiful. I've always loved how colorful they are. It sounds to me like you did a lot in a day!

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.