My Tireless Retirement – Week 173

 

Hi folks!  So backing up a bit to the week prior to this past one, I told you I had done something that I was super excited about and that was to procure a tree to plant near where the maple tree used to be.  I went to Home Depot to see if they had put any of their trees on clearance yet and as it turned out all of the fruit trees were 50% OFF!  Yes!  I went through them and found the perfect tree for me.  A Santa Rosa Plum.

 

I am so excited to add this plum tree to my mini orchard.  I am even more excited to see something planted there instead of a bare spot.  With the new tree planted I am now reinvigorated to do something in that area of my garden and I think I have some really good ideas to work with.  Now I just have to make it happen.

 

This past week I slowed my pace a bit, sort of, as I was feeling a little tuckered after two extremely busy and fun packed weeks.  We got a nice reprieve from the heat, at least as far as the overnight temperatures dropping down, so Saturday morning I was able to open the windows and doors, set up a couple box fans and blow in a bunch of fresh cool air.  The box fans circulated the air throughout the whole downstairs and it felt wonderful.

 

I took advantage of this by clearing out all of the partial bags of frozen vegetables, sliced up a couple of carrots and chopped up the last of the onion to make a sheet pan of roasted vegetables to have as my side dish over the weekend.  I drizzled it with olive oil and sprinkled it with garlic powder, salt and pepper.  It turned out delicious and I was able to use up a lot of things from the freezer so nothing would go to waste.

 

Since I had the oven on I also grabbed the last bag of 2024 rhubarb I had in the freezer and a partial bag of frozen strawberries and made a strawberry rhubarb crisp to enjoy over the weekend as well.  I was able to bake the crisp at the same time the vegetables were in the oven.  My house smelled so good!  The crisp was wonderful too.

 

I took advantage of a cooler evening on Saturday and was able to get outside with the vacuum cleaner to vacuum out the car and truck.  I pulled the cabin air filter in the car and that was a mess so I vacuumed the filter and the cleaned out where it the compartment where it sits, then added a new filter to my Amazon cart.  I wiped down the interior of the Subaru and then checked all of the fluids and I’m happy to report they are all as they were when I did the oil change so she is not using or losing anything.  That makes me quite happy.

 

Monday I took the Subaru in for a U joint repair, which was a known issue when I purchased the car.  Because the previous owner had driven the car from New York to Idaho with bad U joints (no way would I have done that) I was expecting it to be more than just that and it was.  She needs a whole new driveshaft too and will be getting all of that done next week when the parts come in.  Fortunately those parts and the labor to have them installed are not overly expensive.

 

While waiting for the car to get repaired I used my time to take the hazardous waste items I had collected when I decluttered and reorganized the garage to the drop site.  When I got home it was still cool enough to do some yard work so I grabbed my empty trash wheelie and filled it up with yard debris, weeds and a lot of vinca vines.  This time I only cut it back rather than pulled it out.  After blowing everything off with the leaf blower I thought it looked pretty darn good.

 

Getting my yard work completed and keeping everything watered consumed the remainder of the week.  I was able to fit in a visit with one of my gal pals and we chatted over coffee.  I even worked a few hours on Thursday.  It was a very full week to say the least.

 

On a sad note, one of my two senior hens, Phoebe, passed away this past week.  She was six years old and laid the green eggs.  It was so hot outside that day and evening that I brought her inside with me and I was able to hold her in my arms while she left us.  On a happier note, one of my little hens is laying eggs already!  I wasn’t expecting them to start laying for another month or so.  Now I have a carton of small brown eggs in the refrigerator.  They are so cute!

 

Each day they get a little bigger

I cannot believe we are hitting the end of July already and August is right around the corner.  Is your summer turning out to be everything you were hoping for?  Mine has been better than I was expecting so I have no complaints!  I’m getting a ton of stuff done and off the “To-Do” list which feels great.  

I hope all of you are doing well.  And thank you so much to all of you that commented and have sent me emails regarding Wednesday's post.  I truly appreciate your input.  Have a great weekend!