Inside The Perimeter

It’s kind of ironic that I planned to stay indoors for my afternoon activities because of the rain predicted, but no rain arrived until after dark. And it doesn’t appear that much fell then either. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Last night was the last scheduled German class, so I paid for a quarter and attended no classes. 🥴 I haven’t signed up for next quarter, so I have official given up for now.

Not too much happened in my world yesterday. I read my new offer letter, and while sufficient, I still don’t think I will be an employee for a long time.

Last night I used some of the zucchini and squash I’ve harvested recently in an improvised casserole that I ate as a side dish with dinner. It was a fairly successful experiment, and I will be interested to taste the leftovers. With the possible exception of last Saturday I have successfully incorporated something from WLF into at least one meal each day this month. Woot!

I’m not 100% sure what my weekend holds yet. As of now I expect to be riding Sunday Wheelhopper hash. It’s not supposed to rain (much?) in Atlanta for the next handful of days, which probably means that it will rain, so my options for today and tomorrow are abundant. Maybe I’ll work WLF? Maybe I’ll drink beer? Maybe, maybe, maybe…
What is not your agenda?

Hope you have a happy and healthy weekend.

While I did play hooky for awhile yesterday I got almost all of my chores done in one fell swoop! I ate breakfast out at Homegrown, then picked up a purchase at Target, got some wood shavings for WLF at Petco, stopped into Publix for water and some BOGO pasta, and then finally got a haircut. All that was missing from my punchlist was a stop at Lowe’s and/or Home Depot.

My day was certainly better than the person who drove into the light pole on Ponce by Murder Kroger. I rolled through not long after the accident to see the vehicle on the sidewalk, people administering to the people in the vehicle, and the traffic light at Murder Kroger out.

Upon getting to work I had meetings including a benefits session. It’s a real shame that I don’t seem to fit in with the new company, their benefits seem to be top notch. My departure is most likely “when”, not “if”.

I completed the sale of my Prague registration yesterday as well. I’m regretting my decision, but also know that I am not going to attend.

We must have gotten more rain overnight, my water-catching trays are nearly full. Yesterday I calculated that for a half-inch of rain, each tray catches a half-gallon of water. Nice. I will use this water for crops, first, and when it runs out return to using the hose.

Morning run to Lowe’s for compost done! After posting this blog I shall be choring by transplanting a couple more squash and zucchini plants. I have more tomato plants to transplant, but may give up on the, as I have many plants which hopefully will produce fruit in the near future. I keep watching YouTube videos where they are now harvesting tomatoes and peppers, so clearly I missed the mark this year.

More rain is predicted for tonight so I better get at it.

Hope you are happy and healthy.

The metaphorical ball is firmly in my court. Soon I must make a decision about my profession/financial future.

Yesterday I made another financial decision by agreeing to sell my Prague Hash registration to Sanitary Not. I have come to realize that my life has changed drastically since December 2019, in addition to the work and family drama that has arisen in the last few weeks. So for now I will recoup my registration fee, not spend any more money to fly to and travel around Europe, and focus on WLF as well as start to prepare myself as best that I can for my future.

On a brighter note, that deluge that hit East Atlanta at 2:00pm proved to be comical. When I opened the door and saw water streaming over the gutter into a small bucket I tried to position the newly-acquired rain barrel in its place to capture the gushing water. No sooner after getting drenched by moving the rain barrel into place, the rain stopped and thus the water stopped gushing over the gutter. Oy! At least I had eight trays in place on the deck that managed to capture about five gallons. And then later in the evening we got another 0.5″ of rain!

This morning I am playing hooky and will work late instead. I’ve already been out in the farm transplanting a few squash plants, and am about to head out to eat breakfast somewhere before running a few errands including getting a haircut. Even though I need some more compost I shan’t be visiting Lowe’s today because the rain last night will make their garden center a mess.

Tonight is Top Chef night with Betsy. Fortunately it is her turn to provide food, so I won’t have that as an interruption later.

Time to get my day moving onward toward a brighter future.

Hope you are healthy and happy.

Oh, and happy “National 69 Day“ here’s an article from Women’s Health magazine in case you need a fresher. 😮😂😂😂

Not a great day yesterday, certainly could have been a lot worse of course. Even Apple’s WWDC Keynote bored me.

It was warm and humid yesterday which neither led to a desire to work in WLF, nor go to the Moonlight hash. I did get some transplanting done and realized that I am going to have to make yet another Lowe’s run for compost. Holy shit, I’m starting to wonder how much money I’ve spent on compost during the past year — probably a lot more than the value of the vegetables I’ve yielded thus far. At least the compost can be used continually, as long as I keep amending it with nutrients.

Today finds me starting my day early at the laundromat near my ‘hood. I was hoping my 5:20am arrival (this place is open 24/7) would allow me the run of the joint, but I was wrong. I then thought I could escape the noise of the two unmasked customers in the laundromat by crossing the street and going to Kroger, but apparently it doesn’t open at 5:00am as I thought.

Huh, good thing I checked my dryers, one of them was working as effectively as the one in the ITP Estate. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Since the load in the ineffective dryer was workout clothes, I just combined that load with another so I didn’t have to spend more money; the attendant on duty seemed uninspired to take care of the customer as well as the dryer.

I might be having a difficult conversation with my boss today. I don’t expect to resign in June, but today we are going to discuss my future contributions.

How your week is going better.

Tuesday Tale of the Tape: 179.0 pounds (-1.8 from last week’s weigh-in); at least I’ve got that going for me…

It was a different sort of weekend, that’s for sure.

On Friday I spent a lovely evening at Bonnie’s. We sat outside on her patio and ate some veggie burgers and drank a few beers. Thanks to the vaccine I was able to spend a few minutes petting one of her cats, my buddy Nigel, in the house as well.

Because Bonnie’s friend was unavailable to hash, and the weather looked suspect, the two of us opted out of the road trip to Newnan. Of course I was up early to walk with Betsy and Bella, and we had a guest walker in the form of Bonnie as well! 🎉 With the walk done and the world at our feet we decided to stay local and attend a housewarming barbecue for a hasher who has just moved into a house down by Martha Screw It’s. Originally we were going to pop in and stay for only a little while, but it was a small gathering and the weather kept threatening to rain, so we stayed longer than expected and wound up with an early nightcap at the ITP Estate.

Sunday started with a little puttering around WLF and having to deal with some family drama. It wasn’t a very productive morning, but I was able to make a lunch which incorporated turnip, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, and peas, all from WLF!

Hmm, something just made an unidentifiable thump. I will have to check things out when it’s not dark outside…

Anyway, after lunch Bonnie and I drove up to Suwannee for Black Sheep. It was a warm and humid day for a roughly six-mile trail filled with swamp and railroad tracks. I’m proud to say that I didn’t have to sit on the ice for being DFL, but was not spared from doing so because Bonnie and I wore matching T-shirts. 😂

Upon returning to the ITP Estate I baked a $2.75 Aldi pizza, ate half, and the promptly fell asleep.

Today is Apple’s WWDC Keynote Day! For an iOS developer, as I hope to be again soon, it’s like Christmas Day!

Hope you had a healthy and happy weekend.

It’s been some time since Fat Paulie has emerged, but emerge he did last night. I joined my German classmates and their partners at Kurt’s Euro Bistro in Duluth. As you would imagine the traffic wasn’t great but after picking up my buddy Shelby we managed to make it to the restaurant just a few minutes after our reservation time. It’s been many, many years since my only other meal eaten at Kurt’s, and I was reminded that they have moved to their current location since. I had eaten a small lunch in anticipation of a large dinner consisting of German food. I snacked on a giant pretzel ordered by someone else at the table; I ordered a “schnitzel burger” because it was served with red cabbage and fries, and to that I also ordered an appetizer of Black Forest spätzle. Last night I discovered that my super power — attempting to order beer that is not in stock — is still in fine fettle because I accomplished that feat twice. Between the amount of food consumed and the long drive home all I did when I arrived back at the ITP Estate was plop onto the futon and fall asleep.

I mentioned yesterday that I am 3-for-3 on my June meal journey. My small lunch was a cob of corn, and a salad to which I added some lettuce and radish from WLF. Today? Turnips!!!

Depending on the weather, this weekend could be rather busy. Today I hope to spend some time puttering around WLF; I need to do some clean up and sowing of seeds. After walking with Betsy and Bella tomorrow may find me in Newnan for the Atlanta hash, and Sunday will most likely find me in Suwannee for Black Sheep.

What are you getting up to this weekend? Whatever it is I hope it’s enjoyable.

This must be good sleeping weather because it’s 6:40am and I’ve just awoken. So much for getting to Lowe’s by 6am today. Lurker has probably put in thirty miles on the bike by now!

Mostly a boring day yesterday. The highlight of the day was bringing food over to Betsy’s for Top Chef. At her house I cooked up some veggie burgers and a medley of vegetables. The meal incorporated some lettuce, zucchini, and green beans from WLF. Woot!

Today should be another boring one until joining my former German classmates for dinner at Kurt’s, a longtime German restaurant in Duluth.

Since I’ve started late I’ll cut this short. Hope you are happy and remaining healthy.

My desire to arise early and go to Lowe’s today has been bested by a desire to be lazy and remain under the covers. To let some of the night’s cooler air into the house I slept with the window and deck door open, so naturally I awoke to a roach in the house. Ugh.

My laziness was also encouraged by a less than stellar day at the ITP Estate and WLF. I am a bit disheartened by the trashing of my garlic and the fact that some of my other crops are remaining dwarf size and not producing vegetables. It seems like for every positive I have is bested by at least one bad thing these days. I’m hoping that it’s just a temporary phase…

I forgot to mention yesterday that my June goal is to try to incorporate something from WLF into a least one meal every day. I’ll cut myself some slack by omitting days away from home, and allowing leftovers to count.

I started the month making a dinner one would only make for themselves. I combined an onion, red bell pepper, jalapeño pepper, zucchini (WLF), handful of marble-sized potatoes (WLF), vegetarian meatballs, a can of Rotel, and a bag of croutons and baked the whole thing for about an hour. Surprisingly the result was pretty tasty.

Last night I watched the first episode of an eight-episode documentary called “1971” on AppleTV+. From the name you might rightly guess that it’s about the year 1971 and how music and the United States changed drastically during that year. For the vintage footage alone it was worthy of watching and I will continue to watch the next seven episodes.

I am scheduled to watch Top Chef at Betsy’s tonight and it’s my turn to provide food. I’m still on the fence as to what I will make/bring, and of course I want to use something from WLF.

Hope your week has started well.

It feels like Monday, mostly because I never got around to posting yesterday. No one seemed to notice…

It was a fantastic looong weekend for me. On Friday and Saturday I spent time at home working in and around WLF. Things in the farm are looking okay, and now that it’s June 1st I need to make a final push to get this year’s summer crop going. My potato harvesting continues to underwhelm; I think I gave them soil which was too rich in nutrition and created wonderful plants that don’t generate tubers. 🙁

On Saturday I found out that my across-the-street neighbors, who were my inspiration for WLF, are moving; they are escaping the city to move near Asheville.

On Sunday Bonnie and I drove up to Dawson Forest to wander around the trails up there with Davey, Deposit, and Oops. The hike was a non-technical wander through the woods, not a whole lot of interesting scenery, but a comfortable eight miles were covered. Post-hike we visited NoFo brewing in Dawsonville. After a long day out Bonnie and I returned to the ITP Estate, ate some food and drank more beers while sitting around a small fire.

Yesterday was a whirlwind front-loaded day. Early in the morning I joined Bonnie in watering a friend’s plants before we tried out the doughnut shop in Summerhill called Hero Doughnuts. 😋 From the Braves’ old stadium we drove to the shadow of the new one to join Davey and a larger group, this one included Barb, on another hike. This hike was mostly paved path/street and shorter than Sunday’s. After the hike we ate lunch at a place called Mambo, which had good Italian food (think “pizza”). A much-needed nap was taken before attending my 22nd hash analversary Moonlite trail which started at Oakland Cemetery and ending at the new DAS BBQ on Memorial. Note to Gentle Reader: don’t take vegetarians to DAS BBQ, unless you are trying to starve them.

It’s back to a “normal” day for me today, I’ll be laboring for The Man for eight hours and then spend the rest of the day/night puttering in WLF and relaxing.

Hope things are happy and healthy in your world.

Tuesday Tale of the Tape: 181.8 pounds (+0.6 from last week’s weigh-in); time to get back at it…

May Summary

05/01 – ?, V, hashing 😀
05/02 – ?, V, walking 😀
05/03 – ?, V, nothing 😢
05/04 – 180.2, V, nothing 😢
05/05 – ?, V, yard work 😀
05/06 – ?, V, nothing 😢
05/07 – ?, V, nothing 😢
05/08 – ?, V, hiking 😁
05/09 – ?, V, nothing 😢
05/10 – ?, V, walking 😁
05/11 – 180.2, V, yard work 🙂
05/12 – ?, V, nothing 😐
05/13 – ?, V, yard work 😁
05/14 – ?, V, yard work 🙂
05/15 – ?, V, walking 🙂
05/16 – ?, V, cycling 🙄
05/17 – ?, V, walking, yard work 🙂
05/18 – 179.4, V, yard work 😁
05/19 – ?, M, nothing 😢
05/20 – ?, V, nothing 😢
05/21 – ?, V, yard work 😐
05/22 – ?, V, walking, yard work 😁
05/23 – ?, V, hashing 😁
05/24 – ?, V, hashing 😁
05/25 – 181.2, V, nothing 😢
05/26 – ?, V, walking 😀
05/27 – ?, V, nothing 😢
05/28 – ?, V, yard work 😀
05/29 – ?, V, walking 😁
05/30 – ?, V, hiking 😁
05/31 – ?, M, hiking, hashing 😁

It’s Friday! And because I am a slacker I have taken the day off from work to make this a four-day weekend! It’s not like I will be lounging around the house all day however, no, I have a long list of chores to start tackling.

Last night I joined Bonnie and her husband for dinner at Red’s Beer Garden. My oh my that area of town is turning quickly. Gone are the apartments that stood across the street, as well as the weird screened-in porch that used to be attached to the former bodega next door to Red’s. And of course the abandoned car wash and stand of bamboo are on the endangered list as they will become housing later this year. I hope that Red’s has a long-term lease otherwise I fear that they will be priced out of business and I will lose one of my favorite hangouts.

Other than the list of chores I am not 100% sure what I will get into this weekend.

Yes, many hours will be spent in WLF even though it may not appear that I spent much time back there. My biggest goal for WLF this weekend is to plan the configuration changes and improvements that I have kicking around in my head.

Tomorrow morning I will most likely get a walk in with Betsy.

On Sunday I may spin the legs on my bicycle, maybe checking out the southern extension to the South River Trail.

Of course I will be back on Monday morning to tell you all about it.

Have a happy and healthy Memorial Day weekend.