GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 It's been a beautiful weekend.  Perfect weather.  Yesterday was a good day and today will be even better.  As this posts, 2nd Man and I are off to the farm to check on things and run some errands.

Recently, we had this for dinner.  Some skinless BBQ chicken legs, roasted in the oven, asparagus and then mustard potato salad that didn't use cream.  We used mustard and greek yogurt for a true fat free side.

It was all low sodium of course and delicious as always!

Here is Hobart...we always like to see him like this.  He lays there in the sun and may only be recharging, but we like to think he's deep in thought.  Because...

#notspoiled

MOWING DAY

 We've finally had an entire week of no rain and warm temps.  Things need to be mowed.  Still hard to mow around the construction and maneuver the new driveway but I'll figure it out.

So as this posts, I'll be at the farm.  2nd Man and I will go out together again on Sunday because...

We just might have a surprise waiting for Monday's post.  Just sayin'

As you can see, the skies are clear and blue, the temperature is nice and there are good things on the horizon!  Hope you all are having a great start to your weekend!

HANGING PRODUCE STORAGE

I have some of the best coworkers.  They always find gifts that are uniquely me.  They know I like different and unusual with a cool usability.

For my birthday recently, I was gifted this (also kind of a dual purpose gift for 2nd Man too):

It is a set of three woven bags.  I wasn't sure what they were at first.  A bag of some sort obviously, but what were they used for?

But wait...

There is one large and two medium.  I still wasn't sure what they were, but when she explained it, I was all "OMG I can't wait to hang these up".

They are vegetable bags (or baskets of a sort)!  They are used to keep produce that needs air circulation while being kept up and out of the way.

                            

Here is the large one, holding seven sweet potatoes.

They are made of a crocheted type material that is soft and breathable.

We can't wait to get some hooks put up in the pantry at the new house and use it to hold onions, potatoes, etc.  We have our orchard rack (not sure where that is going to go) but might use this more for overflow or veggies that need this treatment and have them nearby and handy for cooking.

We love a well thought out gift!

Thank you "S"!

CONCRETE POUR READY NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Well, we are on the schedule again for the concrete pour, possibly at the end of this week, we shall see (and you all will know as soon as it happens).  

I went to the farm Saturday, it was rainy, windy, cold and just generally yucky.  

This was the view when I pulled in; about to rain and already wet.

Water on the side, flowing under the driveway as they wanted but we have to figure out somewhere for this water to go.  That will probably be an "after we move in problem".  It's not a problem per se but it will make mowing next to impossible after a rain for a few days.

They did get more done, in fact, for all practical purposes, it is done and ready for the concrete.

They finished the plumbing stub ups and they added the vertical pieces of wood throughout.  These pieces of wood within the interior footprint of the slab will support the rebar grid, holding it at the correct height so it can be embedded in the slab once poured. This is to make sure that the rebar can reinforce the slab, preventing cracking and, of course, increasing its strength.

But there is water...this is the fill trench for the concrete.  They will drain it and additionally, they have sprinkled lime all around the area.  We learned that the lime mixes with the water and heats up slightly to aid in the evaporation process.  It also helps with clay soils.

There is some water in the footings, but they are hoping for evaporation and then they'll stick a pump in there and pull out as much as they can.

Oh and they added this: the form for the concrete pad where the A/C unit will sit. We're going to ask if they can make it a little bigger just because they are easier to work on when there is space around them plus it will keep plants and weeds from encroaching.

I certainly didn't need to water, ha.  I also couldn't mow because it was just too wet.  I drove the truck to keep everything running smoothly but even that, as you can see above, was risky with the wet ground.

But our driveway is awesome, bone dry and sturdy.  I guess in the end that's what matters most!

Barring anything major with the weather, the next "new home update" will involve a concrete slab!

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

Yesterday was kind of a washout, ugh.  Today is overcast and a bit chilly (a rare Spring cold front pushed through).  Good time for something hearty.

A reworked healthier meal.  We started with a salad, as usual, and then this is whole wheat pasta with turkey meatballs (using 98% fat free turkey) and a wonderful homemade tomato sauce.  We had to have some garlic bread on the side and this batch started life as multigrain bread.

Hobart can't jump up on the bed anymore (and we have stairs at the end for him but he can't take those any longer either) so we put him up there while we are in the room either at the desk, or doing some cleaning and he likes to lay there and remember the good old days. Because...

#notspoiled

OFF TO THE FARM

It's a bit overcast and some bigger storms on the radar farther North.  "J" said it sprinkled a bit out there but so far, the big rain has stayed away and we're 100% OK with that because the concrete pour is now on the schedule for next week!

I'm going out today to check on the plants, take some things to put in the barn and just check the updated driveway, drive the truck, etc.  Not sure I'll mow today.  We'll see how it looks when I'm there.  I could always mow around the barn/shed and the backyard area.

Hope your weekend is off to a good start!

AUTUMN WREATH TRASH TO TREASURE

Regular readers know that I have a favorite place to look for bargains...our downstairs trash area!  Our building has trash chutes on every floor, and they feed into a separate room, but for boxes and other things that people can't put in the chute, there is an area (indoor) near the loading dock where people can put the things they don't want.  I've found quite a few cool items over the last few years.

This has to be one of my favorite finds.  Went down there to throw some stuff away and do my normal reconnaissance run and didn't have a chance to miss this!!  A decorative wreath wrapped in some plastic and just tossed into the top of the dumpster.  I snatched it up in the blink of an eye.  I checked it over, expecting to find it broken or missing some flowers...

Nope!  It is in perfect shape!  It incredibly detailed with lots of color all around it.  Greenery with reds, oranges, yellows, rusts and even little white flowers.

Here it is, temporarily hanging on the door so I could get a picture.  Seeing it hanging up, it's definitely an Autumn/Fall wreath.  Our only guess is that someone had it for the Fall, they moved and decided not to take it with them?  Oh well, their loss and our win!

We can't WAIT to have it on the new front door at the farm next October/November!  One less thing to buy for future decorating needs, ha.

RAIN DELAY NEW HOUSE UPDATE

Not an April Fool's joke, ha.

Last week, we were supposed to have a surprise...our foundation pour.  It was on the schedule but tentative because of the chance of rain.

Well it rained.

A lot.

The driveway held up BUT the side was just too flooded.  The concrete company was worried that if they had a driveway issue or a truck stopped and they had to drive off to the side, they would get stuck.

Yeah, see the above, that was a fair point.  As the builder said, this was the first rain since they put it in, so they needed to figure out and find any problem areas/soft spots that might still exist.

The culverts did their job by flowing water under the driveway instead of over it but, as the building superintendent said, "it's just as flat as flat gets".

All this digging is going to change my mowing pathways but we're looking into a lot of clearing later on so I won't worry too much about that right now.

On the plus side...

...we got an upgrade on the driveway/road!

They decided to improve on what they had already done.  So, they added more lime, more soil to build it up a bit more and make it even more firm and then they topped it with crushed concrete and gravel.  It looks even better now than it did before.  They are not worried about the driveway though...on the day of the pour, there will be 14-15 trucks each weighing 85,000 lbs plus the pump truck which is another 60,000-80,000 lbs.  That means there will be a total of 1,145,000 lbs on the driveway!

It's not going anywhere now!

We asked if there was an option we had and he said that maybe after we move in, we might want to run a ditch alongside the driveway all the way to the front of the property/road.  Our house sits at the high end of the entire property.

Now fingers crossed for dry weather.

As the old saying goes:

"You can't rush forever"

GOOD 1ST MAN BIRTHDAY FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY

 My birthday was earlier in the week but we celebrated this weekend. 

One of my most favorites meals he makes for us; roast pork loin with herbs de Provence (love the lavender) and then mashed roasted sweet potatoes with garlic and fresh spring peas. Yummy!

We had some Pinot Grigio as it goes so well with the pork loin.

When we discussed cakes, we decided on an Angel food cake.  It's completely fat free (only egg whites, no oil, no butter, no milk) which means we could have as much as we want!  It came out amazing.

I made a mixed berry compote (blueberries, raspberries and strawberries) to drizzle over it and we found some wonderful fat free whipped cream to top it with.  It was the absolute perfect birthday cake and is SO good.

Hobart, as usual was unimpressed by all the festivities.  Side note, we have noticed that when the light hits his fur just right, we see more gray than we used to.  He's coming up on 19 1/2!   Anyway, we let him sleep.  Because...

#notspoiled

AND THE OTHER COLOR IS

There were two miniature roses that I rescued from the trash and repotted them.  Last week, one finally bloomed and it was bright yellow.

This week the other one bloomed and the color is...

WHITE!  Or maybe cream?  Either way, it's really pretty.  So glad we have two colors.  At some point, I'll repot them individually and let them get even bigger.  Not sure how big a miniature rose gets, but it'll be fun to watch them do their thing.

We have a few clay pots at the farm that we saved from the house here in town and took out there for future use...well this will be perfect future use, ha.

We love that we saved these two plants from the trash and will give them a second chance at the farm.  2nd Man said they would be really pretty on the covered porch, but not sure if the would have enough sun.

Anyway have any tried and true tips for growing miniature roses?