Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Well, That's Done



Damn, I'm tired. Today has been a long hard slog of it for me and I have been slapped in the face with the fact that the old gray Mary, she ain't what she used to be.

It all started out with a note from my husband saying that he was taking my jewelry and moving to Buenos Aires to be with his fabulous South American mistress.
No, no. Not really.
The note said that the freezer wasn't working and he'd call me after he got out of the gym.
I'd almost rather have heard about a mistress in Buenos Aires.
Again- and most definitely- not really.

So. Yes. Last night I had realized that the ice maker was not dispensing ice and that the freezer had taken on a spell of sweating. I told Mr. Moon and we did what humans do and rationalized all the symptoms to mean nothing, nothing at all! Just, this adjustment, that possibility.
You know.
But this morning when he went to make the smoothie and reached for the supposed frozen bananas in the freezer he discovered only a bag of mush and the ice maker still wasn't making ice.
So...
What's a woman to do but to haul everything in the freezer out to the freezer in the garage in her laundry basket?
So I did that and almost killed myself because I'm so damn lazy I decided to carry it all in one go rather than make two trips.

And then I got to work in the garden. There was just a bit of weeding to get done before the tilling can happen and then the planting can happen and I'm way overdue on the planting.
So. That little bit of weeding took about three hours and although it was overcast and only in the low eighties, I sweated like a beast and my knees took the brunt of it all but that garden is cleared except for the sweet potatoes, the basil, and two very short, straggly rows of arugula.
See above. Try not to get dizzy.
I was too weakened by my efforts to hold the phone straight.

Oh! While I was out there weeding away, I heard the huge CRACKING noise that I now realize immediately is the sound of a very, very large oak tree or a very, very large oak tree branch breaking. Then the thud, although not a great thud.
The chickens next door who live right near where I heard the crack and thud went crazy and cackled and called and made their panic noises and I walked over to see what was what and indeed, a very large branch on a very large and extremely old oak had fallen but wedged into a fork of the tree.
I went back to weeding and the chickens regained their composure.
I swear- it would not be surprising if I died due to a falling tree branch. It's got to be at least a possibility in this yard. It would not be the worst way to go if it happened instantly. I'd hear the thud, look up, and BOOM! Done.

Anyway. I finished up the weeding, crawled into the house and took a shower because I was filthy. The kind of filthy that is going to require more than one shower to truly deal with. And then, and THEN, I set up the ironing board and ironed three episodes of an old Ricky Gervais series on Netflix worth of shirts.
I was talking to Jessie about needing to do ironing the other day and she said, "You never used to iron shirts," and I said, "That phase of my life is over."
It just makes the man feel so loved and like I've said a hundred times before- it gives me an excuse to watch TV in the daytime.
It's not really that strenuous. And it does give me a temporary sense of accomplishment.

Then I realized that the freezer was working fine again. The ice was being made and dispensed and so forth. So I went out and got all of my freezer stuff from the garage and brought it back in although this time I took two trips. I simply could not have carried it all in one load. I hope this was not a premature act.

The bed is going to feel very, very good tonight.

I feel the need to do a bit of bragging here. The bread I made yesterday turned out beautifully. Look at the way the Lloyd yeast rises the bread:


Isn't that pretty? 
We were watching the Great British Bake Off last night as we ate our soup and bread and it was bread week, coincidentally. For the very first time while watching this show I felt as if Paul Hollywood might have said, "Good job!" on something I've baked. 
Or, he might have said, "Bit chewy, isn't it?" and then looked directly into my eyes with those preternaturally piercing blue eyes of his (who doesn't have a bit of the hots for Paul Hollywood?) and I would have said, "Bite my ass, Paul Hollywood! I captured my own yeast to bake this bread. Use your damn teeth for what god gave them to you for."
And I would have won Star Baker. 

Sure. 

I just turned on the air conditioner. It's 78 degrees in my house. Tomorrow night, it's going to get down in the forties and I will probably turn on the heat because to us, that's like Frozen Tundra temps. 

This is just one of the many reasons we're so crazy here in Florida. 

Love...Ms. Moon








12 comments:

  1. I so enjoy the tales of your weeding! I remember once this past summer you posted a pic after you "weeded," and it was a huge wheelbarrow just totally mounded over with weeds...I was stunned/horrified/shocked/awed. A northerner's word for that would be "harvesting."

    Here in Minnesota it takes 15 minutes to weed and it might fill 1/2 of an ice cream bucket. Alas, it's 21*F and snowing at the moment, so there'll be no more weeds until June. Florida's looking pretty good to me right now! ;)

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  2. I wish we'd have a dip in heat here. It was 83 an hour ago...your bread looks lovely but what is up with your refrigerator? Sweet dreams!

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  3. My great uncle Buster really DID die of a falling oak branch! He was driving down the main street of my little hometown and a huge limb fell on his car just as it passed under it. And he was on his way to the store to buy a pack of cigarettes. So I guess the moral of the story is....one way or another, smoking kills. ;)

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  4. Paul Hollywood, He could shake your hand. Your bread looks perfect.

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  5. From one ole gray Mary to another, I think you did amazingly well to manage all that work. Yesterday, I spent three hours running, playing and wrestling with my two-year old grandson and that pretty well did me in for the rest of the day.

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  6. And so, may we deduce that Mr Moon did not go to Canada on a hunting trip after all? He was in Buenos Aires with Juanita, his thirty something tango-dancing magazine-cover mistress. The old dawg!

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  7. freezer must have gone on an extended defrost cycle. not doing a fall garden again this year. it's either been too hot out there and now it's too damn cold. I haven't even pulled out my tomato plants from spring. it's just such a mess over there. I never really recovered the raised beds after the flood.

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  8. Ellen may be right. There is a device buried in your freezer called a defrost timer. They stick. When they do the thing stays on permanent defrost. Sometimes they un-stick themselves, then everything starts working again.

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  9. It's going down into the 40s in Tucson and we are freezing. Apparently I have lost all of my cold adaptation I had in Seattle, and now I am a creature of the desert. We'll be running the furnace very soon. The electric blanket is coming out today for sure.

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  10. I was tired just reading about all your hard work. The bread looks amazing. Bread is my weakness, especially slathered with butter and jam.
    We have had some severe cold here. Even by Montana standards. They are saying it has broken all records, and I believe it.

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  11. your bread is gorgeous, glad freezer functioning again after all the hard work of hauling contents to and fro . ;-/........did that help? I guess so. Hot, cold, hot, cold........ lordy. We are finally cooling a bit here where we are in Calif. (78 is cool by Florida standards?).......but nights chill enough to turn on welcomed electric blanket. Even if the rest of the state is burning up, sadly......... we have been lucky here....and hope it continues. Carry on, Ms. Moon! I relish reading about your daily adventures
    Susan M

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  12. I have to laugh as I often fantasize about being felled/deaded, etc. by a falling Palm frond. Those things are huge and when the wind blows -- well, damn. It would probably be quick.

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