A Good Work Day @ Home

Riley and I slept until almost 10 am this morning.  I was tired from a week of work and he was tired from getting a bath at doggie day care.

I finally had time to make the Atkins Breakfast Casserole.  10 eggs.  1/2 pound of cheese. Pint of heavy cream.  Pound of Jimmy Dean Sausage, browned with an onion and some green peppers.  It gets "layered" and then baked.  25 to 30 minutes at 350.  Mine baked for an hour and still wasn't firm enough for my tastes.  I ate some.  I think my oven is thinking about dying.  I left it on overnight a month ago--must have been too much.  Now, I turn around and drive back home to check that all the burners are off.  And get up in the middle of the night to see if the oven light is on.

While waiting for the casserole to bake, I washed the coffee machine, made coffee  and read blogs.  Then I had a small square of casserole with sautéed kale.  I give it a 5 out of 10.  It was better ice cold.  Maybe a 6.5.

Then Riley and I went outside.  To clean up some of the eight raised beds (4 feet by 16) and then haul the lovely chopped leaves a work customer is bringing to me (instead of the Town dump).  I planned to haul leaves in an empty 30 gallon garbage can.  I hope Santa brings me one with wheels this year.  Wheels would have made things easier.

I cleaned out the bean, corn and squash bed first.  Three cans of leaves.  Then the green pepper bed.  Three cans of leaves.  Then the zucchini and cucumber bed.  Three more cans of leaves.  Then I got my digging tool and removed all the strawberry plants and runners from the strawberry bed.  I had decided I am not a person who enjoys growing strawberries.  And what berries there were; the crows ate.  Or the chipmunks.  Three more cans of leaves.

I half cleaned the fifth bed.  Just the side where the eggplant and brandywine tomatoes had been.  The other side is still busy growing baby kale and tiny carrots.  I also cleaned the rhubarb portion of the sixth bed.  And covered both of those places with an additional two cans of leaves.

The leaf pile is already warming up (composting) so it was wonderful to see steam coming out of the leaf pile while I was digging. all three of my compost bins in the garden are full to overflowing.  The raspberries (fall bearing) had enough berries for Riley and I to share.  Then G arrived home from work and I came inside.  Riley is chewing his new bone.  I'm having a nice cup of coffee.  And I think a good hot shower and some Aleve would be just the ticket right now.  I tried NOT using my left arm for any of the garbage can lifting and dragging.  It already is hurt enough.  I really HAVE to work on building up my upper body strength.  Weight lifting like a guy.

It's now 5:20.