Inside The Perimeter

With new LED lightbulbs in the house you’d think I’d be on a tear to replace my old incandescent ones. Not so fast, my friend! I have put a bulb into the “broken” fixture, but I have yet to take the next step of enclosing the bulb with the fixture’s glass enclosure. I do intend to replace the other two overhead bulbs in the kitchen so that all three have the same color temperature.

Last night I made a fairly delicious vegetarian jambalaya to bring to Betsy’s. It was not my best jambalaya, but it was quite edible. And, I kept the bottoms of the green onions to plant out into WLF! As I surmised, Betsy didn’t get into “The Great Canadian Bake Off”, even though she enjoys “The Great British Bake Off”.

With all of the talk of Omicron I decided to start my day like it is April 2020 by baking a loaf of pumpkin bread. Perhaps my decision was swayed by watching “Bread Week” of a season of “The Great Canadian Bake Off” when I returned from Betsy’s. Or perhaps it was swayed by the discovery of four cans of pumpkin purée living in my cupboard? ???????? Goddammit, I just realized that I forgot to fold in to rolled oats into my batter! This is what I get for not laying out all of the ingredients prior to starting the preparation, even though I thought that I had done so. Shame, shame, shame. ???????????

Today is a reccying day! At some point later this morning, early this afternoon, Bonnie will make our first pass at Saturday’s trail.

I’m not sure what the rest of my day holds.

Hope all is good in your world.

Well poop. Yesterday didn’t go as I hoped, that’s for sure. Thankfully nothing catastrophic occurred.

I mentioned that I did some yard cleanup yesterday, cutting up a bunch of tree trunks, as well as filling a yard bag with English Ivy. So that was good.

Yesterday afternoon I received an email alerting me that my paid survey was cancelled. This means that I am not receiving the $60 I was expecting to earn today. To add frustration to losing out on the money I also anticipated driving to Sandy Springs / Dunwoody so I placed an order for LED light bulbs at the Buckhead Home Depot. I will have to drive up there today to claim my order. Perhaps I will make the trip worth it by also stopping into the Target that is near the Home Depot.

After that I found out that neither Bonnie nor I won the free concert tickets to a concert at The Eastern at the end of the month. I want to go to the show, the band playing is called Pinegrove, and I was hoping Life would smile upon me by letting me go for free.

And finally a $2 rebate on a bottle of wine that I sent in online last month was declined because supposedly the receipt I submitted did not have a valid date. I’m calling bullshit, but for $2 I am going to let it drop and think twice before buying Josh Cellars wine again. Their decision will most likely cost them more than $2 of lost revenue from me in the future.

By the time you read this I am hoping that I have my daily exercise knocked out by putting in 45 minutes on the trainer. And if all is going to today’s new plan I am currently doing (or have done) some coding prior to driving to Buckhead too.

Tonight is Betsy dinner night. It’s my turn to cook and I have decided that I am going to make a vegetarian jambalaya for dinner. I don’t think Betsy was sold on “The Great Canadian Bake Off” last week, so I have no clue what we will watch tonight.

Hope that your day was less of a disappointment for you, and that today doesn’t disappoint at all.

HBD ITP-Reader Bob!

Yesterday I stayed off the internet to avoid hearing about the game, today I must to the sale to avoid it hearing all of the boasting from UGA fans. Forty-one years ago doesn’t seem long enough in my world, back then I didn’t give a shit about college football at all. Braves won the World Series, UGA the National Football Championship. It doesn’t get much worse for a Mets fan and UF alumnus. Thanks, Life. It’s a good thing that I don’t value my happiness based on sports any longer. 🙄😂

Whoops, stepped away from the blog and forgot to return. Where was I…

Yesterday was all right. Apparently this country has entered another toilet paper shortage, at least that’s what I gathered from the emptiness of the shelves at Kroger and Publix yesterday. While I didn’t do the greatest job of constraining my purchasing, I did manage to buy products for which I had coupons and/or rebates or were BOGOs/clearance, so I was able to recoup some of the costs.

I mentioned going on an impromptu walk with Betsy yesterday and picking up a Christmas tree, well, this was to be repeated later in the afternoon, only this time with Bonnie. And the Christmas tree I picked up yesterday afternoon came with a free ornament! Woot! My two walks accomplished my exercise goals for the day, so I was clear to skip hashing last night.

With the purchases I made at grocery stores I knuckled down at home and did an inventory and reorganization of my cupboards. In the process I pulled out five items that went into last night’s dinner. I essentially made a fake baked ziti, using pasta, pasta sauce, mushrooms, fake ground beef, and some cheese. The dish could have benefited by having a bolder flavor, but it was quite edible and the 13″x”9″ casserole dish’s worth will feed me for days.

The cupboard organizing also inspired me to reorganize my seeds as well. Next step in that process is to make a 2022 WLF plan and ensure that I have everything at hand (dollars to donuts says I do).

Today? It’s cold again! I was planning to go into WLF with Wee Little Chainsaw to cut up tree trunks and larger branches, but I might want to stay in for awhile. There is discussion of trail reccying today, so I should bundle up and do that with Bonnie. And tonight I’ll be bunkering down at home, eating leftovers, staying warm, and trying to convince myself to do something more productive than watching videos.

Hope that you are warm, healthy, and happy.

Tuesday Tale of the Tape: 187.4 pounds (-1.2 from last week’s weight-in); progress, slow progress, but progress nonetheless.

I am struggling to get motivated this morning, neither breakfast nor coffee has helped thus far.

Due to weather and my own malaise it was a fairly uneventful weekend.

On Friday night I brought beers over to Bonnie’s and she cooked us a chili dinner. It was nice and relaxing.

Saturday morning saw me bundling up to walk with Betsy and Bella in the freezing temperatures. After making our rounds I returned home and bunkered for many hours, uninspired to do little more than read and nap. Along my walk home I was going to claim a discarded Christmas tree. As I approached the house I saw the homeowner outside clearing gutters, so I thought rather than just take the tree, I’d ask permission. After all who’d say “No.”? He did. Well, to be fair he said yes, and then quickly retracted that telling me that they had promised the tree to the Boy Scouts. Fair. Fucking olive drab do-gooders… On Saturday evening Bonnie and I walked up to East Atlanta Village and had a few beers with my buddy Shelby and his girlfriend at Hippin Hops and Sabbath Brewing.

Yesterday’s weather threw me for a loop. It’s going to rain all day. No, it’s going to rain late afternoon. No, it’s going to start raining, stop raining, and then rain with a vengeance! Because of this I spent 45 minutes on the trainer, only to see sunshine when I was done. 🤔 A check of the weather convinced me to ask Bonnie if she wanted to walk, which we did, 4.5 miles worth! 🙌🏻 However, along the way it started to spit rain. We stopped at 3 Taverns Imaginarium for a beer but when I saw the storm front headed our way we made the quick decision to buy beer to go and walk to her house prior to the deluge; it was a wise decision. We drank beer and ate more of her delicious chili.

Today? Unsure. I doubt I will be hashing tonight. My goal is to put my head in the sand while all of the testosterone of Alabama and Georgia fans swells. I should probably swing down to Home Depot to pick up some LED light bulbs, and perhaps stop at a grocery store to pick up two items needed for Wednesday night’s meal at Betsy’s.

I should also spend a lot of time writing/studying code. Now that we are in 2022 I really need to step up my game.

Hope that you had a healthy and happy weekend.

If you know one thing about me, it’s that I hate waiting in lines. This might be the biggest reason that I like to get to stores early in the morning and get in and out before everyone else arrives. That is unless it’s below freezing outside; it’s 28°F outside as I type this.

My hope for today was to get out to Home Depot and Target, the former to buy LED lightbulbs rated for enclosed fixtures, the latter to pick up the order I placed yesterday. Of course the Midtown Home Depot doesn’t have the bulbs I want in stock, but the Jonesboro Road one does. I’m trying to build up the gumption to make a Target run after I wash yesterday’s dishes and take a shower.

This cold weather, along with the below freezing temperatures predicted over the next few days has me questioning the efforts I am making to grow plants outdoors in WLF. I might let the ones currently in the plot plod along, harvesting those that don’t literally freeze to death, and waiting a few months before I start planning 2022’s crop in earnest.

Because I had to,wait around for the electrician to arrive yesterday, my day was spent at home. The visit was done by 2pm, and by that time I was done with the idea of getting out to do anything.

When the rain arrived, admittedly not much, and the temperatures started to fall, my desire to go to the SLUT hash waned. Instead, I stayed at home, making a dinner of a baked melange of boxed stuffing mix, vegetarian sausages, the last of some green beans in the refrigerator, and a can of Rotel tomatoes. The concoction was good, and the oven provided some extra heat for the house as the temperatures continued dropping.

Today? Unsure except for what I have mentioned above. Sadly it might actually be too cold for my meager fire pit to provide sufficient warmth to sit around it drinking beer.

Tomorrow and Sunday hold worlds of options, as long as the temperatures and clothing selections are wise.

Here’s hoping you have a happy and healthy weekend.

With the exception of the bizarre situation with my kitchen light, yesterday was pretty good. I have an electrician scheduled today in the window of 8:00am-12:00pm EST to look at the situation. Hopefully this won’t be an involved project, or be the starting point for a major repair.

I spent a few hours out in WLF cleaning the grounds of some downed limbs by starting a fire whose ashes will be added to my compost bins today. I also tried cutting up a stubborn privet stump in the front yard, but only had minor success.

My Peach Pass was finally charged for my Thanksgiving trip where I tried it out to ensure it works. Now that I know it is active, I can use it judiciously.

In order to close my exercise rings I went for a thirty minute walk yesterday. While out and about I ran into an old hasher named “Face on Balls” who was out walking with his son. He used to live down the street from me, and apparently still lives in the area.

In an effort to make a scant amount of money I tried and failed to get into a $40 paid survey which will take place in John’s Creek on MLK Jr Day (January 17th). Rats! However, late in the afternoon I was able to get into a Jackson Associates survey on next Wednesday to earn $60. Woot!

While I did manage to schedule a physical, April was the earliest opening but I put myself on the cancellation waitlist, I did not make a cardiologist appointment. Shame, shame, shame.

Betsy’s was nice. She made fried rice with hot and sour soup, and steamed up some pak choi that she asked me to bring over. We started watching season 2 of “The Great Canadian Bake Off” which is somehow available on YouTube.

I’m trying to make today a “finish day” during which I finish the little projects that are half-done around the house. If I can also make it a “Finnish day” that would also be enjoyable.

Hope that you are remaining healthy, and that your week has been uneventful. Tomorrow is Friday? Wowza this week is going quickly.

Again, after a Tuesday spent home alone I don’t have much to say today.

I spent my day doing various chores. I mentioned getting and delimbing Christmas trees. I packed up my scant Christmas decorations. I spent 45 minutes on the trainer yesterday afternoon. I read for pleasure and for professional training. I baked some of the potatoes Bonnie and I scored over the weekend, and ate two while watching YouTube videos. I was in bed by 9:00pm.

A winding road of internet links informed me of the death of one of my high school contemporaries; her name was Lari White. I was not friends with Lari, acquaintances at best. Lari went on to have a singing career in Nashville. I discovered this by seeing her sing on TV about 25 years ago, it may have been a New Years Eve performance now that I think about it, proving that I knew who she was to my friends by correctly identifying her malformed pinky prior to it being shown on the screen. She apparently died of cancer nearly four years ago.

I am not feeling my best these days which, along with the removal of a large amount of money for health care, reminds me that I need to schedule a physical as well as a follow up with a cardiologist.

I intend on doing some coding practice this morning while the temperatures are cold, and venturing out for a little physical exercise in WLF and the front yard this afternoon. One of the WLF chores I need to suss out is now to keep the squirrels from eating my produce. I saw one sitting on the “protective” netting yesterday, gnawing away at the lettuce through it. 🤬

Whether or not I work up a good sweat today, I will shower this afternoon, put on some clean clothes, and head over to Betsy’s for dinner. It may not be a “Top Chef” dinner however as we have finally caught up on the franchise. What to watch next? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Hopefully things are going swimmingly in your world.

HBD ITP-Reader Steve!

The other day I read an interesting article, The Lake and the Landfill: In Search of Atlanta’s Lake Charlotte, which talks about an area which has been hashed a lot over the past thirty or so years, the Lake Charlotte Nature Preserve in southwest Atlanta. I can’t recall if David (aka Lurker) has mentioned this article in the past, but I decided to include this link anyway. Speaking of hashing, no I did no go last night, but rather Bonnie and I are laying an Atlanta trail on January 15th; I guess we should reccy a wee little bit.

Talk about bad timing. Over the weekend I watched a YouTube video about the Santa and Rudolph puppets used in parts of the Rankin-Bass show “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. The video talked about their rediscovery and rehabilitation, and at the end of this video it mentioned that these puppets were on loan to Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts. What?!?! How cool! And then on Saturday evening I discovered that the exhibit in which they were displayed ran from November 11, 2021 through January 2, 2022 meaning that I had found out too late… Dangen! Here’s to hoping they will return later this year.

Yesterday was too cold for me to get out and look around WLF. I know, I am a pussy. I figured there was little I could do to save any of the plants that may have been damaged by the storm. And as it turned out, it froze last night so today will be a better indicator.

While I considered getting on the trainer yesterday, I talked myself out of it. Today I will have to get on the trainer if my knee feels okay.

I just completed a chore I wasn’t sure would happen today, I walked down the street in freezing temperatures and dragged home three discarded Christmas trees. I swear that there was one more out there yesterday, but it wasn’t there this morning. That’s fine, three will be plenty. Later today I will drag them into WLF and delimb them so the trunks will dry out for future burns.

Hope your week and new year are off to a happy and healthy start.

Tuesday Tale of the Tape: 188.6 pounds (0.0 from last week’s weigh-in); darn, I was hoping to be lighter this week after exercising a lot and eating less.

Happy New Year!

Well, today’s weather is certainly different than yesterday’s; by my rough calculations we dropped about 35°F overnight. Rain and high winds make for a terrible night of sleeping for yours truly. Even though I slept late (for me) I have to get a leg shaking this morning to get to my 10:30am eye appointment at Colony Square on time.

I stayed at home along on New Year’s Eve. I was in bed by 10:00pm, only to be awakened a few time by fireworks, and my neighbors singing “Piano Man” some time after 3:00am.

The rest of the weekend was good.

With Cheddarhead canceled I sought out other fun on Saturday. It was strange, because it being New Year’s Day meant that both coffee shops I hit on my morning walk with Betsy and Bella were closed. Undaunted, Bonnie’s Coffee House pop up shop opened for us. As I normally do I picked up trash as I wandered to the village, waving at my doppelgänger out doing the same before dropping my bag into a City trash can and continuing on to Bonnie’s. After coffee Bonnie, Betsy, Bella, and I went for a little stroll and go rained upon in the process.

Not knowing there was a “Plan B” hash to replace Cheddarhead, Bonnie and I walked to the ITP Estate where I made us some veggie burgers and we share some beers. Our time together ended with a walk up to the village, no litter pickup this time, to have a couple of beers outside at Hippin Hops.

With the weather gods smiling upon us yesterday I drove out to Lithonia for Black Sheep. Out there we strutted around the old quarry before returning to the start for circle.

I got home and intended to watch the football game last night, but passed out hard on the futon, and slept for almost three hours. Perhaps that’s another reason I slept so poorly after midnight…

Today, after my eye appointment, I will most like look around WLF to see if the wind/rain/cold has done any damage other than scattering things about, and then get in the house to do some coding. I doubt you will find me at the Moonlite Hash tonight.

Hope you had a good weekend and are remaining healthy.

December Summary

12/01 – ?, V, yard work 😐
12/02 – ?, M, yard work, hashing 😁
12/03 – ?, V, yard work 😅😁
12/04 – ?, V, walking, hashing 😁
12/05 – ?, V, yard work, hashing 😁
12/06 – ?, V, yard work, hashing 😁
12/07 – 187.0, V, 💉nothing 😐
12/08 – ?, M, nothing 😢
12/09 – ?, V, hiking 😁
12/10 – ?, V, nothing 😐
12/11 – ?, V, walking 🙂
12/12 – ?, V, cycling 😐
12/13 – ?, V, walking 😐
12/14 – 189.6, V, nothing 😢
12/15 – ?, V, yard work 🙂
12/16 – ?, V, yard work 😐
12/17 – ?, V, yard work 😐
12/18 – ?, V, walking 🙂
12/19 – ?, V, hashing 🙂
12/20 – ?, V, nothing 😢
12/21 – 186.8, V, nothing 😢
12/22 – ?, M, trainer (30:00) 😐
12/23 – ?, V, walking 😐
12/24 – ?, V, yard work 😐
12/25 – ?, V, nothing 😢
12/26 – ?, V, nothing 😢
12/27 – ?, V, yard work, walking 😀
12/28 – 188.6, V, walking 🙂
12/29 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😁
12/30 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😁
12/31 – ?, V, trainer (50:00) 😀

Since I am ignoring any of the issues the massive amount of rain yesterday caused, it was a decent day. The unofficial rain amount to hit WLF was 4″, at least that’s how much water was in the rain gauge when I finally made it outside late in the afternoon.

Because of the weather I also managed to get down into the basement and put in a strenuous 45 minutes on the trainer. To pass the time I watched an episode of “The Great Kiwi Bake Off” on YouTube. Yes, it’s “The Great British Bake Off”, done in New Zealand.

I feel guilty killing slugs, after all I am not killing the squirrels who are also doing the same thing. That being said, I did find two slugs munching some plants and decided that their time had come.

I should not have been so surprised when I arrived at the ghetto laundromat at 5:30am this morning since there were many more people there than in trips past. Friday? New Year’s Eve? Who knows…

After laundry I will make a quick run across Moreland to Kroger before heading home for a day of chores.

This weekend is up in the air thanks to Cheddarhead’s cancellation. Sunday is a hashing day, by the lowering of temperatures is lowering my enthusiasm for being outside. [edit: just looked at the forecast and the weather on Sunday is looking less dire.] I will most likely be there however, as I March toward my 200th Black Sheep in 2022.

Hope you are having a great week. If you go out tonight be safe.

See you in 2022.