Rain is What Happens...

... when you make grilling out plans.  You know I have pork tenderloins marinating in the fridge and plans to make a zucchini and onion pie to accompany it for tonight's supper.  What did it look like when I got to the patio door this morning?  Rain--and they're talking about it storming off and on all day.  Gah!  Maybe we'll have the second half of the spaghetti and meatballs we cobbled together for last night's supper and hold the pork and pie until tomorrow night, but maybe I'll lose patience and just grill anyway, especially if it's just drizzling.  The meat only has to cook 20-30 minutes; I can probably keep the fire going that long.  That does it, I'm grilling out tonight unless it's raining pitchforks and... well, you get the idea.  I have been drooling over this meal for three days.  I'm making it.



I got a little cocky, ankle wise, yesterday and stood on the hill in the backyard filling in a chipmunk hole with the hose and a trowel, never thinking that my left foot was my downhill foot and I was in the wrong shoes for hill standing, so the muscles of my left foot and ankle weren't happy.  Yes, I iced it, more than once, but I also changed into better shoes, grabbed a cane, and carefully and consciously made my way up to the raspberries to pick the first tiny handful of ripe ones for Durwood.  His neuropathy has been kicking up, he deserved a special treat.


Oh, I meant to show you.  When I went to the library to pick up the DVDs I'd reserved, I also borrowed an actual, paper book.  Really.  Audible or Amazon had recommended this series to me so I got the first book from Audible (since neither Overdrive nor OneClick Digital had it for borrowing through the library system), downloaded it, and started to listen to it at work on Thursday.  I barely made it through the first chapter before I had to turn it off and return the book.  The narrator was so horrible I couldn't bear listening.  He was even worse than Scott Brick who narrates the Clive Cussler books I like and can barely stand to listen to because he's got a note in his voice that tells you how absolutely fabulous he thinks he is.  ANYway, this narrator sounded like he's taken pains to make his voice as monotonous and dry as possible--and it wasn't a monotonous and dry story, even in the first chapter.  So to give the author another chance I checked the library's website to discover that the branch where my movies were waiting also had a hardcover copy of the book, so I borrowed it.  We'll see how I do reading a book old school.  The only problem I foresee is that I'll be unable to knit while reading it.  Hmm, Durwood got me a book holder a while back, maybe I'll unearth that and give it a try.  I wonder where I put it...

In the knitting department, while icing my foot a couple times, I added rounds to the July Seamen's Cowl and cast on July Preemie Hat #3.  I am very cleverly knitting the four sizes of preemie hats in this pattern from biggest to littlest so, as the month goes on and my enthusiasm wanes, each succeeding hat takes less time to make.  I am determined to keep up my resolution to make 4 preemie hats and one cowl a month this year.



July 17--Daniel Forster, #9.  Jane awoke to the sound of the tradewinds rattling the palm fronds outside her beach hut.  She tried to swing her legs out of bed but got tangled in the mosquito netting.  She stopped, took a breath, and found the edge of the netting to let herself out.  On her way to the bathroom she saw that her suitcase had been unpacked, a thin cotton robe lay over the vanity chair, and there was a carafe of coffee on the small table with a hibiscus flower nestled alongside.  Coffee.  Oh, it smelled like heaven.  She brushed her teeth and ran a quick brush through her hair before pouring a mug of the coffee, then going out to look at the island since it had been dark when she arrived the night before.

Well, it's getting dark again, darned windy too.  Maybe it'll rain enough to water in the bag of lawn patch grass seed I tossed around out there earlier.  The place where the plumbers filled in the hole they made last fall and then flung some seed and straw over has some grass on it, some weeds too, but it needed another seeding.  I had a bag with seed, mulch, and fertilizer mixed in the garage so I took out the garden rake, roughed up the area, and sprinkled the whole bag over it.  I'm counting on the rain to water it in so I don't have to drag the hose over there and do it myself.  Once it's done that it can stop raining so I can grill out.  I'll let you know how well Mother Nature cooperates with my plans for the day.
--Barbara