[gardeners] Friday in the garden of love
Shirley,George (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 08 Dec 2000 19:54:20 -0600
Oh yeah, I love that old woman or I wouldn't do all the housework I did today.
It was cold and foggy this morning so I figured, hey, do the housework. Wouldn't
you know it, it was mid-seventies by noon. Had already started all the
honey-do's so went ahead and finished them. Here's my day:
Started washing clothes at 0600. At 0630 put a turkey in the
microwave/convection oven - a 13.5 pound bird. Cooked in 95 minutes on High/Mix,
that's a combination of nuke and convection. Came out just right. Still washing
clothes while turkey cooled enough to cut up for bagging and freezing. Vacuumed
the house while I took a "break" from washing clothes and waiting for turkey to
cool. Cleaned the bathrooms thoroughly but had to wait on the kitchen.
Washing clothes still at 1000, turkey cooled so cut it up and tossed the carcass
in the 8 quart stainless stock pot I bought a few weeks ago. Put some bay
leaves, some peppercorns, a carrot, an onion, some parsley, and a little garlic
in with the carcass. Simmered until 1600 and then turned off to cool.
Finished the clothes at 1100 and did some dusting. Went into the office and
answered a couple of phone messages and loaded some more software onto the new
computer. Brought the books up to date. Fixed myself a cheese sammich with swiss
cheese on homemade wheat bread and a little taste of turkey on the side. Sleepy
enjoyed her mooching of that. Also went out to the garden, oh joy, oh bliss, and
picked the last of the radishes and sowed another package of seed as
replacement. I really only wanted a few radishes for lunch but figured what the
hey. Back to the kitchen to check on coolth of stock, still too hot.
1200 to 1300 folded clothes as they came out of the dryer and put them away.
Hung up the permanent press shirts and dresses, put the stuff to be ironed in
the stuff to be ironed place. Check turkey stock again. Forgot to mention that I
vacuum bagged the turkey meat and put it in the freezer. Discovered ham in there
that was bought before Thanksgiving, drug it out and put in refrigerator to thaw
for later cooking and bagging. (Stops to dramtically wipe sweat from brow. Go
outside to enjoy the sunshine and to pick a few kumquats for a snack, Sleepy
begged for a bite so I gave her one. Darned if she didn't chew it up, skin and
all, and swallow it. Gotta watch that dog, she'll be harvesting her own kumquats
like she does blueberries and raspberries.
All of this wound down to a finish about 1700 so I sat down with a fresh glass
of water to watch the news. Fell asleep in the easy chair with the dog on my lap
and nearly got emasculated by the dog leaping up when Miz Anne got home from
work about 1800. Made cheese sammiches again for both of us as I didn't feel
like cooking something and didn't want any turkey. Fell back asleep in the easy
chair but made sure the dog was elsewhere. Now that I'm awake again I think I'll
take my shower and go get in the real bed as the life of a house husband starts
again tomorrow early.
George