A not so busy week

A word about Wednesday's photo; the potatoes are from two plants. I still have six more to dig up! We really don't have anywhere to store them for long, as they need a cool, dry place. The basement tends to be too humid and the pantry too warm. So I plan to dig a hill or two over the next few weeks...at least until there is a threat of frost. I grew up eating potatoes every day, and could do so again. We picked up a machine to cut French fries and will bag and freeze a fair amount as well. 

Garden update: The tomatoes were coming faster than I could eat them, so I picked several and took them to one of the thrist store volunteers. Her tomatoes did nothing this year. D also took some, along with a cucumber to the librarian. She was thrilled to get them, as she's only grown cherry tomatoes this year and exclaimed how excited to eat a tomato sandwich. 

Speaking of the tomatoes, a second volunteer has popped up in the perennial bed. The first one has flowers now, and maybe, just maybe we'll see a wee bit of fruit from it.

The long range forecast doesn't indicate any potential for frost until well into September. My corn cobs are growing and I'm hopeful we'll get a feed from those yet. 

This photo is simply to illustrate how much the oxalis has escaped the perennial bed and is filling in the rock area in front of the gazebo. Too, the lamium is also setting up outside the rock borders. I dug up a piece of lamium and put it in the new perennial bed. Oh, and my lilac bush is slightly confused and blooming!

I did shifts at the thrift store on Monday and Tuesday. Monday was our last "August" cleaning day, but we came into an pile in the sorting room and a full bin to boot. There wasn't a whole lot of cleaning completed that day as several of us spent the time sorting. When we left, there were just a few bags left...something for the Tuesday crew to manage. I got a call that afternoon from M, the team leader for Tuesday's volunteers asking if I could come in for a few hours. I agreed, and when I arrived just shortly before 1 p.m., the store was busy (we're open 11-4 on Tuesdays and Thursday's), and a few volunteers were busy in the sorting room as well.

Why, you might wonder, since we'd left so little the day prior? Well, the donation bin was full on arrival that morning, and more donations kept coming in during the day. My first task was to take the large cart to the bin area and bring another round in - several boxes and a number of bags. Again, I spent the three hours I was there assisting with the sorting. As busy as we were, the store continued to do so as well, so we didn't run out hangers or racks. At 3:55 p.m. an announcement was made in-store that we were closing in 5 minutes...didn't slow some shoppers down. The store has late hours on Thursday, until 8 p.m. so I told every one I came across they were welcome to come back. It took until nearly 4:15 to clear the store!

I got a call as I was leaving from SaskEnergy (our natural gas provider). I'd been in touch with them the week prior because we hadn't received a utility bill from them for mid-August...very unusual. While I was told to expect the worker last Friday, he didn't arrive until this week. Apparently there was issue with a battery in the equipment, though I don't quite understand how that would impact the issuance of a bill, as they just estimate our useage. In any event, the part was replaced and I should see the next bill by the 15th of the month. To avoid a big surprise, I paid the same amount we'd paid the month previous.

Wednesday was Eli's first day of Grade 4. This is his last year at the junior school. How can that be? His mom took photos of him and I stole from her. He's certainly growing! It won't be long before he's as tall as I am. 5'2" and shrinking. :)

Thursday morning, the plumber arrived to install the new range hood. The old one was likely put in 20 years ago, and the fan didn't work well. He wasn't able to hook up the electrical based on a conversation with his employer (though he assured us he could have). The electrician arrived a few hours later to finish the job and to install a Google Nest thermostat. They left shortly before I headed over to the library for Knit and Natter. G was there and as we haven't seen each other for awhile, it was a good opportunity to catch up. One of the librarians visited with us for awhile...lots of garden talk!

When I returned home, we went to the thrift store to do a bit of shopping. I had talked to one of the other volunteers earlier in the week, and she had suggested I might be needed for the late afternoon shift. She wasn't there but I checked with one of the board members but she said they figured they had enough volunteers. We spent $30 on two baskets and went home with at least three dozen pieces. Many were for Eli, I had four but will be returning two, my daughter found a number for herself and for her friends children. My two purchases were a pair of jeans and a light jacket. D has a couple of pieces I may just steal or at least borrow from time to time - one is sleeveless t-shirt and the other is a black dress.

The roof guys were back on Friday to finish the shingling next door. It was odd because the previous tenant who hasn't been seen for nearly a week arrived shortly before they did. He brought in the recycling bin (put out on Monday) and was seen carrying a small bag into the house. No one seems to living in the house any more and we've seen no potential buyers though we could have missed someone coming in and out. In any event it appears the roof is finished.

I'm not certain if it will help sell the house or not. There have been at least three other houses of similar size listed here in town. One of them is listed at $5K below LND's asking price and the other two are between $30-40K lower.  I won't be surprised if we don't end up with more tenants.

Meanwhile D and I tackled a few things in the kitchen. I had purchased a pork loin and cut it into a roast, a few pork chops, and cubes for stew. While she sealed these into freezer bags, I cut up the rest of the potatoes into fries and hash brown cubes. The machine we'd bought to cut the fries was actually broken - D had found it at a garage sale so no significant loss. After blanching the potatoes, I set them out to dry on cookie sheets, and she sealed them into bags. The hash browns were for breakfast bowls that evening.

The rest of the day was quiet, as D hadn't slept well the night before. Eli was home mid-day so he played and I watched some television and worked on my cross stitching. 

Today will be another quiet day, no real plans on the horizon. I like those kind of days.

Have a great week ahead everyone!