Inside The Perimeter

On Sunday I took a trip down to Fayetteville. I wanted to buy something at Harbor Freight, and visit Awkward Brewing as well. As I have done many times I drove past the Fun Spot America amusement park, only this time was different. I found out afterward that this park closed permanently on August 2nd. This location had been open for 36 years. Dangen!

Yesterday’s brutal heat fried my otherwise good looking, and just getting ready to flower, green beans. In the morning the plants were okay. In the late afternoon the plants were desiccated. At Wee Little Farm it rained 0.5” overnight, so at least that will help a little.

My frustration with the group politics at UFO continues. I understood why no one showed up for the Work Day I led last Saturday, in fact I couldn’t have cared less. However, when I asked for a compost order I was told someone needed to be around for delivery; I volunteered three days to be that person. No order was placed. When someone asked to place an order last week, the response was essentially “Consider it done!”.

Wordle: five, my starter was SCALP. I talked myself out a much better starter today, another disappointment…

I given them shit for losing, so kudos to Atlanta United for winning Saturday. That being said, they remain in last place.

I checked on my fermenting pickles on Friday and was aghast. There is a white coating on the top of the fluid. Now I have to figure out if it is Kahm yeast, which is non-toxic and can be washed off, or mold, which is not desired and will render the entire batch as inedible and needing to be discarded. Obviously I’m hoping for the former, and it being white instead of blue, red, or black is good, but it’s scary looking in any case.

The ITP Estate’s HVAC worked overtime this weekend pulling about three gallons of moisture out of the air on Saturday, and another three gallons on Sunday. Considering I used eleven gallons last week to water parts of Wee Little Farm, this collection is beneficial even if it requires electricity to generate it.

On Saturday morning I awoke with a hurting big left toe. I didn’t kick anything, nor did I stub my toe, so I don’t think it’s fractured/broken. I don’t think that I was bitten/stung by anything overnight. Gout? Other than eating ice cream I purchased on Friday it’s not like I’ve changed my diet recently. Who knows? I do know that it hurt all day Saturday, to the point where I left my volunteer shift at UFO early. It also helped me decide to not see any live music Saturday night since I didn’t want to be on my feet. I was hoping my toe would return to normal by yesterday morning, but since you are reading this sentence you know that it didn’t. In fact it has gotten more swollen.

At least I made waffles for breakfast yesterday, this time using the recipe from the book “When Southern Women Cook”.

Here are the cookbook recipes that I have prepared this year, in the order in which they were prepared:

• “Beefy Noodle Skillet” from “Ramen Noodle Recipes”
• “Hoisin-Glazed Baby Back Ribs” from “Milk Street Instant Pot” by Christopher Kimball
• “Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo” from “Louisiana Real & Rustic” by Emeril Lagasse
• “Drunken Noodles with Chicken” from “The Complete Cooking for Two” by America’s Test Kitchen
• “Ham and Bean Soup” from “‘I Love My Instant Pot’ Affordable Meals” by Aileen Clark
• “Crisp-Crusted, Feather Light-Raised Waffles” from “CookWise” by Shirley O. Corriher
• “Cheesy Italian Noodle Bake” from “Ramen Noodle Recipes”
• “Basic Yeast Bread” from “Irish Food & Cooking” by Bidet White Lennon & Georgina Campbell
• “Cajun Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya” from “The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook” by Coco Morante
• “Red Beans and Rice” from “Louisiana Real & Rustic” by Emeril Lagasse
• “Andouille and Chicken Jambalaya” from “Louisiana Real & Rustic” by Emeril Lagasse
• “Shrimp and Ham Jambalaya” from “Louisiana Real & Rustic” by Emeril Lagasse
• “Quick Yeasted Waffles” from “When Southern Women Cook” by America’s Test Kitchen

My only failure has been to not make tasting notes for each recipe.

Wordle: three, my starter was SWEAR

Happy Friday all.

Not much happened at the ITP Estate yesterday. The only chore I managed to accomplish was yet another re-sowing of Fall seeds; this time is sowed cabbage, kale, and kohlrabi.

Tomorrow I will be leading a work day at UFO. However, there is nothing major on which to work, so I don’t know what we will do. The powers that be have failed to order the compost they promised, and there has been no chip drop in months. I have decided that if I don’t get awarded at least one large plot next season that I will be one-and-done there. The raised bed section gets the least amount of sun, only about an half day’s worth, and I am recalling how bad I am at group politics.

There is a possibility that I will be seeing music tomorrow night, either Ted Leo + The Pharmacists at The EARL, or Puddles Pity Party in L5P.

Wordle: five, my starter was PECAN

Yesterday I re-sowed two trays of fall seeds — lettuce, kale, cabbage. If this round of seed sowing fails I think that I will take the Fall off from growing.

Last night I continued to hone my pizza making skills. I’m getting closer to making a really good pizza.

I’m tired of the oppressive heat, as well as the higher water and electricity bills that come with it. I’m ready for Fall.

Wordle: FAIL, my starter was TRADE.

Today’s solution was a word in my starter list, and I used it as a starter as recently as two weeks ago. After playing I looked up the five words I used after TRADE, and they all had been previous solutions. Dangen!

Yesterday I rode a tough, dirty, 50-mile ride with Stan and Stan’s nephew on the Silver Comet. After the ride we at an expensive Mexican lunch and then had a few beers at Schoolhouse.

On my way home I stopped at my local Kroger to fill up my car with gas. I was certain my 60¢/gallon discount was not applied when I saw the price I was going to pay was $3.49/gallon. To my surprise I saw the sign telling me that gas was $4.09/gallon! $45 later, my tank was filled. I don’t know how much longer we can afford all this winning…

Wordle: three, my starter was AFOUL

On Sunday I got tired of killing Mexican Bean Beetles, so I took out all of my bean plants at WLF@UFO. In my meager bed I sowed some beet, turnip, and kohlrabi seeds just to see what happens.

Yesterday I started taking out all of the tomato plants in WLF because I’m tired of feeding the critters. They have helped themselves to almost all the tomatoes out there.

I am not sure why, but this year I have become an expert at killing plant seedlings. I watered my plants, from the bottom, prior to skipping town on Friday and when I checked on them yesterday morning almost all had withered and died. I’ve not had this problem in previous years, so I am completely stumped and dismayed.

So many of the nuisance plants have been thriving while the plants I put in have suffered. I almost ready for winter to kill everything so that I can prepare for next year.

Wordle: five, my starter was USAGE

Well, I found out how the sausage is made… by making sausage. I’ve added another “trad” skill to my arsenal.

On Friday I drove down to Americus, GA to stay overnight in order to shorten my morning drive to White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA on Saturday. In Americus I tried to eat dinner at a dive bar called “Pat’s Place” but couldn’t score one of the seven parking spaces it has. Instead I spent too much money for a burger, fries, and two beers at Icehouse Beer Garden. Since the hotel in which I spent specialized in mediocrity, I didn’t trust their $3.98 breakfast and ate breakfast at the Waffle House which was next door. While paying for my meal I saw an overhead security video of someone who looked a lot like me except for the balding patch on the top of the head. I asked the cashier what sort of filter their camera was using, but she didn’t seem to understand my question.

At the farm we eleven watched videos about how they slaughter their cows, prior to making some pork sausages by hand. The process is so straightforward that I think the YouTube videos I’ve watched previously would have been sufficient training. We were served lunch, which honestly was the most disappointing part of my day; I ordered the day’s special of brisket with macaroni and cheese. Whoever cooked the brisket did a real disservice to the cow whose life was ended to supply the beef because it was dry and tough. The workshop concluded an hour early, at 1pm, so I put my handmade sausages into the cooler I had brought with me and headed up the road, stopping only to buy some ice since the hotel room had no freezer and the its ice machine dispensed no ice.

While I wouldn’t want to move to south Georgia, I drove through some lovely countryside over the weekend.

Wordle: four, my starter was SHACK

I almost forgot that I had signed up to volunteer at Trees Atlanta yesterday. Fortunately I remembered, and the rain held off so that I could ride the Barcycle on the Beltline.

To Ted Lasso, or not to Ted Lasso, that is the question! The fourth season of Ted Lasso has come to AppleTV. I was such a fan of the show, and thought that it wrapped so brilliantly, that I am conflicted about whether or not I will watch this season that we were told would never be created.

Wordle: five, my starter was CLAIM

There are productive days, and unproductive days. Yesterday was the latter…

I made a pretty incredible, and incredibly sloppy, pizza last night. I made the dough on Tuesday, keeping it in the refrigerator until about an hour before baking. The pie was sloppy because I used “real” mozzarella, ham, and pepperoni.

Wordle: four, my starter was STRUM

I’ve been watching a lot of videos from this year’s Rush tour, and it got me to consider buying a ticket for one of the Charlotte shows in November; the Atlanta shows are Thanksgiving week and I won’t be here. My desire to buy a ticket waned when I saw that the cheapest ticket I could purchase was $237. I will just have dig deep into my memory banks to remember when I saw them on the Signals tour in 1982.

Wordle: four, my starter was COUGH