While I’m posting worthless chatter, I wanted to tell you that tomorrow is the day our internet is scheduled to be switched to the new provider.  Out here, that means a little mini tower has to go up tall enough to see the internet tower on Bangs Hill and I’m not sure what else has to happen. The weather may not allow them to work on it at all but just in case I disappear for a few days/weeks (hopefully NOT), you’ll know what happened to me.

Good news for this week:

• All the parts to the loom were found, which is amazing, and it’s put together.
• Bad weather was predicted for us, all the way across half the country, including where Chad & Nicole live.  We got nothing . . barely any rain, and it looks like southwestern MO didn’t get anything severe.  Looks like the area around St. Louis had a few tornadoes — sorry for the folks in that area.
• We had temps predicted to drop to the mid 30′s but the Abilene station had said our temps could possibly drop into the high 20′s.  That would have ruined our fruit trees, and damaged our potatoes . . for a second time.  Our low last night was about 41.5 so . . no damage to the fruit trees, no damage to the potatoes and today . . I’m starting to plant tomatoes and peppers . . finally!

Every now and then, very briefly, a little thought runs through my head that I wish I could be the one who goes to the grocery store every day and buys just what we need for dinner, or maybe go out to eat 3 or 4 times a week, and maybe live on a small lot in a small house in town.  Maybe have a yard man who comes and weeds and cuts the grass and prunes.  And for good measure, I’d have myself a housekeeper come in at least once a week.  I’ve never been that person and I never will be but life has to be easier for that person.

I know it works nicely for some but I don’t see myself ever having a housekeeper or a gardener.  No matter how bad I am at either job, they’re my jobs and I don’t want anyone else doing them.

This morning we went to Home Depot twice.  Had to make up for having not gone yesterday I suppose.  I told Vince that if I lived my life the way he does, I’d have to make two trips to the grocery store before every meal.   I suggested he make a list and he said “I never know what I need!”  Huh?  I guess that explains walking up and down every aisle twice.

We came home and got busy!

Beginning of Pad

He’s building the pad for the water tank.

I’ve been busy in the kitchen.

Kitchen Activity

In the little pot on the left, I’m boiling some tasso for cooking the cabbage.  In the back pot, the corned beef was about to start cooking.  Turkey broth is in the canner.  Beef ribs are in the crockpot.

Beef Ribs

Beef ribs, carrots, onions, garlic, seasoning.

Beef Ribs

Bay leaves, beef broth, wine and prunes were added.  That’s dinner for tomorrow night!

I keep checking the weather.   I had wanted to get the tomatoes planted this weekend but we still have some nights next weekend in the lower 30′s so I’m going to have to wait.  It’s so hard to wait when we’re already having 80 and 90 degree days but . . the nights matter too, right?

If I didn’t know better, I’d think of myself as a total failure.  I had two good intentions yesterday:

1. I would not buy yarn;
2. I would cut back on what I’m eating.

Which one do you think I failed at first?

Shalimar Yarns had an update at noon eastern time.  That’s 11:00 a.m. my time.  I figured if I left the hotel at about 9:30 a.m., I’d be in Wichita Falls at 11:00 there’s an easy to get to McDonald’s there.  Then I said . . NO!  I will not have my day ruled by ordering yarn.  I woke up and left the hotel a little after 8 a.m.  The closer it got to 11:00, the more determined I was to get that DK yarn I’ve been wanting.

If you’ve ever driven across the back roads of Texas, you know there are many places with “no service” and when you do have service, it’s often one or two bars and rarely 4G.  See the tower in the picture?  It’s not an AT&T tower!  Every tower I saw in the distance, I hoped it was an AT&T tower but . . no such luck.

Little Town

Cisco, Texas!  A little town with no McDonald’s.  No hotels . . I looked at my phone to see which wifi connections might show up.  Maybe I would go running into the local insurance agency and ask to use their internet.  Surely the Catholic church has internet.

The Dairy Queen in Cisco is where I stop for a bathroom break, grab a small order of chicken strips, get gas and continue on my trek halfway across Texas.  Do you think the Dairy Queen has wifi?  No!

If you open the car door and look down at the street . . it’s brick.  I was back in the 40′s in Cisco, Texas.  Forget finding internet there!  Charming little town . . so long as you’re not desperate for wifi.

Brick Street

Yes, it’s an obsession when I was looking at the houses along the highway and thinking “That looks like a nice house and maybe nice people live there and maybe they would let me use their internet!”  I even considered calling Vince, giving him the web page and telling him which colors I wanted and asking him to place the order for me.  That’s desperation, right?

When I finally got closer to Brown County, I was getting 4G and got on Shalimar’s website but on the phone, I couldn’t get Paypal to come up and I didn’t have my “yarn” credit card.  I had our family credit card and there was no way I was going to have a yarn purchase show up on that bill because “you know who” pays that one and sees all the charges.

On the way home, I stopped at Kroger and wouldn’t you know it . . I got home, got the computer booted up and the two colors of  yarn I wanted were still there.  I got them both!

And on the issue of cutting back and eating healthier . . I went out in hte garden and watered and cut chard and lettuce or dinner.  I had chicken to grill and broccoli to seam.  Vince came home and said “Let’s go get a steak!”  OK!

That steak is as big as it looks.  I didn’t make much of a dent in it but . . just for the record  . . I bought yarn when I said I wasn’t and I ate too much when I said I wasn’t.

Where do I go from here?  Where do I get a big old dose of will power?  Thank you!