Wednesday Evening.
I finished work today and immediately cut open a bag of potting soil. Teagan and I started loading my seed trays with soil. I took a bit of dark delight in the fact that I was doing this on the work bench in my office. The spills would clean up easily with a broom and a dust pan.
Our acorns had waited patiently for this. A couple had begun to sprout in the humidity of the baggie. This is a good sign for viable acorns. We dropped them into the seed trays and had a nice time covering them up with soil. Teagan started to get a little bored at this point because she did not want to get her hands dirty. Meanwhile. I am thoroughly enjoying dipping my hands into the rich soil.
She helped me strip two trays worth of maple seeds. I ended up assembling the last two on my own. Teagan joined back in the reindeer games when it was time to moisten the soil. Since I am not flush with gardening gear I have no watering can. I do have plastic trays so a quick spray under the faucet gets me the soil consistency I want. Teagan laughs at me for using the shower head for this purpose.
The trays will winter out of doors. As I understand it these seeds will thrive with a fall planting. The next process of turning into the seedlings I want happens as a result of changing temperatures. Basically, I drop on loose plastic lids and let the trays hang outside for a year. Fall next year I should have up to twenty oaks and a few hundred maples.
We position the trays on the front lawn. They are in direct sight of the window in my office though I make no point of mentioning this to anyone else. I stare out that window a lot. I will enjoy thinking about the trees I hope this little project will produce. I am enjoying this strange version of planting and have spent a little bit of free time looking at trees that I can grow in the house. There are options. I suspect my house will soon have ample foliage. I like trees. I love the idea of fruit bearing trees. I might have my eyes on a small nursery operation in the future. Even going this far gave me an excuse to purchase a hori hori knife. I now need excuses to use it more.
Teagan plays outside. I sit on the porch enjoying the fall air. The sun is starting to set, but the temperature is pleasant. After a cold day Tuesday, this is a nice day. I prefer cooler weather. I sit thinking about what plants, like me, thrive in cooler weather and wonder if my latest obsession is more or less productive than any of the others. Trees are nice. I have contemplated the operation involved in growing broccoli. I wonder if I will end up growing marijuana when it is legal to do so simply because I think I have a green thumb. When my watch beeps the hour I am reminded it is time for another cooking experiment.
I come inside and get myself set up to slice up potatoes. I drop my Surface on the table next to my cutting board and cast iron skillet. The potatoes look nice. I could grow my own but it would involve making raised beds. The soil here is too rocky and not sandy enough for good potatoes. I would have to cultivate my own soil mix and build a bed. I can do this with time, research, and money. For now, I am slicing up store bought and layering them in my cast iron skillet while iTunes shuffles.
The meal is simple. Over baked cheesy skillet potatoes with a hamburger patty. At some point along the way everyone here quit eating hamburger buns when I fry up homemade patties. This isn't a health based decision just a natural evolution I find interesting. I make no pretense that I am going to give up bread. I enjoy baking it rather frequently. I have plans for a batch of Focaccia and a skillet of corn bread this weekend with a super secret meal experiment I am doing. If I am honest about it, I have planned the meal as an excuse to experiment with my bread making skills. Still, the main course isn't something I have tried before and this is good too.
I get the sauce over the potatoes. They slide into the oven to bake. I kill a little time doing dishes and thinking about this blog post while I try to time out making the hamburger patties. Burgers fry up quick. I don't quite get the timing right. Sorry. Spoiler alert.
I pat out the patties. I always always mix my burgers with onion soup mix. Makes a great, flavorful patty. I get the frying pan oiled up and drop it on the eye. This go round I am going to attempt seasoning the outside of the patty with Dano's seasoning rather than salt and pepper. I spend a bit of time thinking that I should buy a pound of ground beef instead of two. The larger package works out to seven smallish patties. I could likely make four with a pound and save a few bucks. I always cook too much food. It bugs me if I end up throwing out leftovers.
As I mentioned the burgers are done before the potatoes. Still, the skillet looks amazing as I pull it out and top it with cheese. I am hopeful for the meal even if the burgers are resting on low heat while the potatoes finish their bake. I am doubtful that they will dry out, but it is possible.
In the wait, I start this blog post. I have been neglecting this Surface Pro 7 in favor of experimenting with the more portable but less capable Surface Go 3. My battery lasts almost until the potatoes are finished with iTunes shuffling, me writing, and the computer updating. I get a bit of a chuckle at the silliness of the fact that I have the Amazon app store installed on this machine. One of the first updates it does is to the Kindle App that I will likely never use. I experiment a lot with my devices too. I want one machine to rule them all, but until graphics cards get much more compact my preference for tablet computing will keep me in at least three machines.
We all sit down at the table and eat. The potatoes do not disappoint. The Dano's seasoning on the burgers makes no discernible difference that I can taste. It doesn't hurt anything either. I enjoy my burgers with a drizzle of mustard and a thin slice of pickle. The potatoes don't need any topping. They aren't perfect, but they are tasty.
Supper gives way to a round of bowling and tennis on Switch Sports. I still cannot manage to break 300 on bowling. I do pull off a Turkey before getting a few spares in a row. Teagan is distracted playing with the cats with the laser pointer. She quits Sports when I win at Tennis. That normally is what ends our gaming sessions. I doubt I liked losing at age seven. The kid is getting better about it. She doesn't scold me like she used to. She quits playing but there are no tears.
We get home work done. This week's spelling words are not much of a challenge to the kid. She isn't enjoying her word reading list nearly as much. Part of this is the return from Fall break. Part of it is the words are a bit harder in this unit. I am not worried. The kid is bright. She will get there.
I like my life. It is simple. It might be boring to someone looking on from the outside. The dreams are simple these days. I do a few things for the pleasure of it like cooking, planting trees, and a bit of writing. I spent most of last weekend organizing and cleaning up my music collection. I pared down my iTunes library from 8500 songs down to a little over 300 songs. I fixed a lot of misnamed, mislabeled, and duplicate files. It shrank the digital foot print on my hard drive. I find this organization pleasant and the time feels well spent.
I worry a little bit about the cooking thing. I do enjoy the creative part of it. I learn new techniques and master new recipes and I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. That part feels healthy. I have to be careful not to hang too much need of approval on what I prepare. I enjoy when people like my food. It is a win when Teagan will try something new. At the same time I don't want to feel like my ego is caught up in it. I probably should skip the social media food photo shares.
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