We visited Ron’s oldest friends this past week and got to attend a hearth cooking session at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture and a splendid art show at the Jaffrey Civic Center.  We also picked up a dinnerware set at the Jaffrey Transfer Station swap shop and were the first to see Betsy and David’s new shed!

We were lucky enough to get several minutes of great advice from James at Mahoney’s yesterday on feeding and watering the hibiscus.  He assured us it is normal for it to look sad in the winter.  Suggested 14 hours of grow light and feeding once a month with Jack’s.

Ron has been ferrying Peter back and forth to Wareham for warranty work on Bonnie’s car.

The other day, Dear One was fretting about a dentist bill, which we found out had been paid by his insurance, and “not being able to afford to have work done on (his) van.”

Turns out, the “work” was a $25 charge for putting on a tire, which has been in the basement for months, and an oil change.  I paid for the oil at Walmart yesterday and gave him an $8 coupon for JiffyLube, to which hied he a short time ago.

I was able to gather and clean enough rocks to create a “vapor curtain” for the hibiscus before the rain started a short while ago.

Also dug up and repotted the non-perennial herbs: sage, parsley, rosemary.  Washed and bleached the containers and put in new potting soil.  They are getting rained on now.

Having been on a few house tours, I’ve tried to approximate some of the features of the well-to-do homes opened for gawking.

I/we’ve done a few things to improve our environment, but now that I’m no longer an employee, plans to finish the basement have been put aside.

Wasted too many hours today on a FB thread that proved I can handle myself with a trio of malevolent harpies and very little else.

Made waffles. Turned out nicely in spite of some technical problems with the top iron.

We changed the sheets and punted on transfer station until tomorrow.

Ron put the portable fans in the attic, closed the windows and put the cover on the whole house fan.

I ordered a remote tune-up for my HP laptop, a fabulous anti-Trump/anti-Bernie poster and a Bissell floor steamer.

Paid Matt Mitko the $100 that we didn’t need to restore the lawn at Edgewater.

Worked until 11:30 on Warranty, cleaned up the kitchen, made coffee, showered.

Deep freeze last night.  Nasturtiums did not survive.  Kale did.

Went to 3 store samplings:  Roche, Windfall and Whole Foods.  Windfall was the best.  Came home with some nice treats.

Alpha came with me to Hyannis.  We stopped at the mall after Whole Foods.  Their tasting ended early, at 2:15 or so, not 4 as advertised, so good that we went first.

Egg, kale and avocado sandwiches for supper.  Plenty of ice cream and cookies for dessert!  We ate ourselves into happy oblivion last night on 50% off Halloween chocolate from Roche.

Pipe burst in the outdoor shower; bad weld?  Turned the water to all the outdoor faucets off.

Finished the rose bed cleanup yesterday with Ron’s help; he loaded everything into the truck.  Brought it to the transfer station along with recyclables.

Enjoyed a talk at LL Bean on winter hiking survival tips.

Ron changed the water filter.

Ron brought me back and forth to Cormier’s so I could leave the truck for an oil change.

Mulched the rose bed and with Ron’s help, moved the giant mulch pile to the new garden in back.  Opened up the old bags of mulch to fill in and level the plot.  Put the rebar away.

Hibiscus is losing tons of leaves.

Scrambled eggs for supper last night.  Ravioli and salad tonight.  Freeze predicted for overnight.

Started cleanup of vegetable gardens and the rose bed.  Cut down all the roses.

Did the CSA run and stopped at Jack in the Beanstalk.

We stopped eating meat, poultry and fish at the beginning of July.

Not having grown up in a vegetarian household, this has been a learning experience for me, particularly around seasonings.

Last night, I made a ratatouille with carrot greens, high in Vitamin C but bitter.  The base recipe calls for white vinegar which brought the acidity “over the top”, so I dissolved some brown sugar to make a sweet/sour, Eastern European-style stew.

Many cuisines make heavy use of vegetables, and I’ve tried different combinations of seasonings: Japanese, Southwestern, Middle Eastern, Italian, Indian.

I set the clocks back this morning, including the cryptic touchscreen ones.

Didn’t get outside at all except to water the sod this morning and fetch the paper.

Made a sweet/sour ratatouille with onion, garlic, eggplant, carrots, potatoes, parsnips, carrot greens and kale.  Roasted kale and acorn squash.  Mainly wanted to clear the counter of the poor vegetables that have been sitting on it for days.

I finished a little JSON programming challenge for a job application.

We did the laundry and changed the sheets.  Ron did the transfer station run and cleaned up after supper.