Picking and pruning...

I was a bit shell-shocked after the appliance repairman left my house, but still managed to catch him still sitting in his truck asking him to hold off ordering parts.  I paid the $68 diagnostic fee and made my way back inside to freak out on the phone with my friend Mary.

All in all, fee included, it will be $440 to repair the broken bits on my refrigerator, primarily with the ice maker.  I miss ice. FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY DOLLARS!  Mary helped me immensely get past the upsettedness over that financial obstacle.  Later, when talking to Becky, my friend suggested that I only pay for the labor and part for the ice maker itself, rather than the dispenser.  After all, who really needs ice in her door?  BRILLIANT IDEA.  Labor and part will be an additional $188.  Still an incredible obstacle, but nearly as insurmountable as FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY DOLLARS!

When Becky called, I had already harvested the sage and thyme and was working on turning the soil. Well, first I dug up the herb plant remnants and then worked at turning the soil.  Those green sprouts at the end are garlic ... I hope.

I hope.
I hope.
I hope.

These are my dismal squash plants.  Zucchini and summer squash.  I just don't know what happened to them, because according to the packet, there was plenty of time for them to bear fruit.  I got tons and tons and tons of blossoms, but ...

This is the only microscopic vegetable sprouted from the plants.  I doubt, given the weather turn, that it will grow.  I have thought about just ripping these out, so that I can finish turning the soil (and digging out any weeds).

In all my turning of the rest of the raised bed, I only encountered a single worm.  I put hundreds and hundreds and hundreds in there.  SIGH.  It had grown nice and big, though.

I did so enjoy turning the soil.  I admit that I am rather proud of its richness, a lovely mix of potting soil, compost manure, and peat.  It has held up rather well over the past three growing seasons.  And, whilst I used a trowel for most of the work, I am wont to just dig in with my hands.

I brought the herbs upstairs and worked on bundling and them hanging them.  This year, instead of using clothespins (using up most of my stash for a couple of months), I decided to cut the string pieces longer and tie them (using a bow so as to easily untie them) to the rack itself.  I decided to make this change because I was tying up (pun intended) both the drying rack and the clothespins (which I would use on a laundry line) until the herbs dry out.  This way, I still have the clothespins to use when it gets too cold to hang my laundry outside (I have a line I use in the basement).

Afterwards, I tackled the very, very, very overgrown begonia in the solarium.  Being rather tired, I was, perhaps, a bit too hasty in my pruning, but it was so very large!  I left one tall branch and cut another one a bit, but staked it so that it could grow alongside the tall bit ... complement it shape wise.  Then I pruned all the WIDE branches, so the entire plant fits much better into the room, into the space, and into the pot.

If you look on the far side of the table, you will see the baby string of pearls I am gestating.  It has been a long, long, long start, but after two years, it looks like it is doing its stringy thing!

Late this evening, I poached some more chicken.  Since I am using the forgotten method most, I thought I would try the chef's suggestion for aromatics: green onion, star anise, ginger, and sesame oil.  I will admit that I do not much care for that combination.  I will be interested to see how it tastes in a salad on the morrow.  I think it is a good thing that aromatics in poaching chicken are a subtle flavoring.

Anyway, whilst I started my day shellshocked, I ended it with some good productivity ... crossing things of my list that I had been procrastinating a bit.

On the morrow, Electrician Man is coming to service the HVAC unit for the winter, as well as to replace the HEPA filter.  We also talked about having him either move the plug that was by the table to where the table is now or running a new plug to that location.  I am not sure which he'll be doing.  I am not sure I really have a preference, though moving the existing one is less money.

Also, tomorrow, Firewood Man is coming to mulch.
And bring me fresh eggs.
And admire the work I did in my beds.