Wednesday was one of those quiet days as our guests left the day before. The morning started out with a sleep in until 7:30 after getting to bed before midnight for a change. We did our usual routine with our hot drinks and then our respective quiet times before a lite breakfast of oatmeal, fruit and honey. The sunlight was in the tree tops but the temps had dropped down into the low 50's overnight so we were chilled as I quickly closed the cabin windows which were open during the night.
Nancy put sheets and blankets in the laundry and I ventured out to check on the gardens and yard for deer damage. It seems they only had a midnight snack a couple times at the hydrangeas. I headed down to the lower garden with the mattock to loosen up the soil around those plants. The ground is still holding a little moisture but as it dries out it become hard as concrete. That kept me busy until it was time to head out to the top of the mountain for our daily hike. We saw Norm briefly and took him his mail and headed across the top to the Browning's and left them a couple of Dee's tomatoes hanging on the door knob. They were gone so we headed on back down the mountain to a salad for lunch.
Afterwards I worked the packed soil in the herb gardens and the upper patch. It seems since I cut off the dying leaves on the cucumber plant it looking a whole better and I've noticed new blooms and even a few nubbins coming on. The cayenne peppers are really starting to form and I'm hoping to get enough to dry and take back to Florida this winter. I picked a nice mess of sugar peas which are delicious in a stir fry and in salads.
The air was perfect for working outside in the shaded part of the woods below the gardens as I cleaned up fallen branches and made a nice brush pile for burning on a damp day. I headed up into the back woods looking for lighter knots which is petrified pine. Joe Browning calls it hot wood and its used for starting fires much like kindling is used, but all you need is a match as the wood burns quickly. I found several areas with old pine trees that were cut many years ago and the lighter knot was present under the leaves and debris. I piled up several areas for later use and then Nancy joined me in the woods as well and we walked throughout our 7 acres in the woods looking for the stuff. We also found lots of deer signs and even where they bed down at night. We had a fun time tramping around in the woods and exploring the different deer paths.
We sat on the porch cooling off from our adventure in the woods and read until it was time to start supper. My fishin' buddy Caleb had blessed us with a pack of frozen bass fillets a couple weeks ago so we had it thawing most of the day. I cleaned and chopped up some Swiss chard Karin brought us a few days ago from her garden and got it ready to stir fry with garlic and olive oil. Nancy had a pot of rice pilaf cooking and I had the bass fillets frying outside on the grille; wow did we ever have us feast. We both love fried bass and the greens and rice just complimented each other.
After the clean up I headed out to water the garden by hand and then we took off on the golf cart to the mailbox. Afterwards we decided to ride to the top of the mountain to check on the Browning's and low and behold the sack with the 'maters were still hanging on their door knob so we brought them back with us in case they were going to be gone for an extended period. Jetta called later in the evening to say they took a day trip and were back so we will take them a couple 'maters tomorrow.
Well I received my portable pickle ball net from Taiwan delivered by UPS today and I'm trying to set up a time we can make our inside debut pickle ball ministry at our Cornerstone church facility. I think right now its set for 1 PM on Saturday with all but one of our regular players attending and I hope to pick up a few more players as this gets started. Several have voiced their interest in the game.
We watched the show about the 911 tragedy on Fox News channel last evening and what a tribute to those who were needlessly killed by Muslim terrorist and who are still reeking havoc in the world. Well it was shower time after a busy day and not long afterwards the sandman came calling. We had the extra quilt on the bed as the temps were falling once again and Thursday morning it's down in the 40's, Yeow winter weather for us Florida thin blooded folks, LATER
