I went and got my haircut Saturday morning. I had a text from Margaret asking me where I was. Huh? Apparently I was supposed to get my massage today, not next weekend as I thought. Dammit!
I rescheduled it for next week, but I felt bad.
Then I went to Kroger’s and resupplied. I saw they has some
stewing beef in the discounted pile, so I bought it. It will come in handy this
winter.
When I got home, my neighbor and his buddy were hard at
work, installing my fence!
He was having his electrical service upgraded from 100 amps
to 200 amps. So, he needed to plug into my house for the Sawzall. They hit some
major tree roots digging the holes next to the large maple on the south side.
I put away the groceries and left to get some money from the
bank. Unfortunately, I didn’t get enough.
They filled each hole with concrete. So, when they started
working on the north side (after Rick rototilled the Tiger lilies), I lugged
out water. I put two gallons of water on the concrete in each hole.
Then I started making an early dinner. I was making the Salisbury
steak I’ve been putting off all week. I combined one pound of ground sirloin
with 1/4 cup of grated onion, two minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper.
I made that mixture into four patties and fried them on
medium high heat for about three minutes on each side.
I took them out of the pan and added a tablespoon of butter.
I added eight ounces of cremini mushrooms I had quartered. I sautéed those for
about four minutes. Then I added 1/3 cup of dry red wine and the remaining
grated onions.
I mixed a tablespoon of A/P flour with 1 1/4 cups of beef
broth. I added that in and brought it to a boil. I cooked it until it was thick
(about five minutes). Then I put the patties back in and one teaspoon of red
wine vinegar. I was supposed to let them cook another two minutes.
But, the doorbell rang. It was Rick, letting me know they were done. I
paid him what I had and said I’d bring the rest tomorrow. He showed me how they
cut one section down on the south side to make it look right.
By the time they finished, the electrician was done and
gone. I asked Rick what he was going to do with his old fuse box. I told him I’d
buy it off him, but he said I could have it for free! I said I’d get the name
of his electrician on Sunday, when I pay him the rest of the money I owe him.
Maybe I can upgrade this stupid “Push-o-matic” fuse box in my house. I carried
the fuse box back to my garage.
But, that all took a while and when I came back in, my beautiful
gravy had boiled away. Damn! I didn’t have any more beef broth to start again.
So, I made some Uncle Ben’s wild rice and ate one patty with the rice as a
side.
Not at all what I planned…
I’ll make some more gravy tomorrow after I got shopping,
again.
It was after 6:00 so I watched some news (hard to find as all
my usual stations were showing college football). Then I moved to the living
room and checked out the magazines that have been piling up. I went to bed at
9:00 p.m.
There goes "no fences, no badges"... Looks good. What else is left to complete your vision?
ReplyDeleteJust for the plants to grow and fill in. Oh, I'd also like to put a flagstone walk in between the two gardens but that will have to wait until next year.
ReplyDeleteBack to the arbor? What's the starting point?
ReplyDeleteYou did the driveway side too?
ReplyDeleteLooks good
@ Jake: Yes, back to the arbor.The start would be where each garden curves in.
ReplyDelete@ GPF: Yeah, I thought it would look more balanced that way. Thanks
Oh, yeah, one other thing is to dig out the old 4x 4's that line the driveway and replace them with landscape timbers.