Paradise ponders...

Paradise ponders...  Debbie canned 6 pints of green tomato pasta sauce yesterday afternoon.  I have no idea what that stuff will taste like, but I can tell you that it certainly looks weird, and smells ... different.  Could be good, could be bad :)  If it turns out to be something we like, we've got plenty!

I finished off the last of Debbie's beef stew last night for my supper.  Today we're having ribeye steak (I picked up a couple of beautiful slabs of meat a few days ago).  Debbie's going to make fried green tomatoes to go with them; I'll make some rice.  I'm going to have to starve myself to get ready for that!

When it warms up this morning, probably around 10, I'm going to go for a walk with the dogs – the first one in over a week.  It's supposed to get up to 51°F today, with clear skies – it just might be my last pleasant walk before winter sets in.  I'm going to take advantage of the “heat wave” to get some outside things ready for winter.  That means turning off the hose bibs, putting away the hoses and sprinklers, dismounting the backhoe from the tractor, attaching the rear weight (and filling it with gravel), and attaching the snow plow.  If I have enough energy (and time), I may also move all the yard equipment (mower, sprayer, etc.) over to the outbuilding to free up space in our garage.  Not exactly an exciting or fun set of chores, but it will be good to have all that done before the serious cold sets in.

I have a bunch of stuff arriving next week, adding to my list of projects.  There's a set of “janitorial” cabinets coming, to add some space in the cattery for storing cleanup supplies.  These are IKEA-style, knocked-down kits – the kind where the instruction manual says 30 minutes for assembly, but it really takes 4 hours :)  There's a project!  Then I've got some tool chests coming.  Every horizontal surface in my shop is currently covered with tools, as I have zero storage for them now.  The tool chests will solve that problem, with (if I've calculated correctly) plenty of leftover space for tools I acquire in the future.  Finally, after Elray's welding lesson last week I decided to add a stick welder and a plasma cutter to my shop (both from Lincoln Electric).  They should be arriving late next week.  Once they're wired up (I'll have to pull a 220V outlet for them), I'll pick up some rods and some stock (or scrap if I can get some), and do some practice welding – especially on square tubing.  I think that's going to be my “go to” raw material for metal work; nearly everything I can think of that I'd like to have could be made out of that...