170 - A Nothing Day

I didn't walk to the creek today. Got busy doing other things and saw a few people headed that way late this afternoon so I decided to skip it. I'm going to try my Total Gym out instead. I haven't used it since we've been here and I keep seeing it as I walk by the room. I still need to fix one of the handles, and the padding needs to be replaced, but it should work... I may not be able to do much anymore, but I used to love using it and I've missed it.

This afternoon I repotted the pepper and tomato plants. I ran out of soil the first time around so they've been on the porch in their original containers until I could get more. They have perked up considerably. The parsley and cilantro I had inside have now been combined into one pot outdoors, if they don't do any better out there I don't know what to do except try to put them in the ground. If they don't die first.

The lettuce isn't doing much, but it's still early in the game. And just in case, I planted some arugula and a red leaf lettuce variety this evening. It's going to be a while before anything happens in any case, but I hope to eventually harvest my own lettuce instead of having to go to the store. I'm pretty well stocked up on everything except produce at the moment.

So my Sears card was apparently cancelled in December. I've been waiting all this time for it to show up so we could get a mower, and just ended up wasting time. I'm going to have to buy a push mower at Walmart, something cheap that I can push around the front yard since it's getting pretty high out there. If I can't see the dirt I worry about snakes. I figure I'll take it in stages, depending on how hot it is outside. The area in front of the house. The area in back of the house. By the propane tank, and then the other side. By the time I'm done I'm sure that rotation will start over again. Eventually we will need a riding mower. And I found some cheap raised bed kits, so I am hoping to accomplish a few things... not having to wait to till up some dirt in order to start a garden... replacing three 3-1/2 ft x 3-1/2 ft grassy/weedy areas with a garden plot... and growing my own food so that I don't have keep making trips to the store.

If it works, I save money and time and I can grow a wider variety of food. They don't have arugula or mache at the stores here. If you don't go to Walmart, you don't get anything but iceberg, which is weird given the number of farms here... but all anyone seems to grow is corn. Probably GMO corn. Arugula and mache are just the tip of the iceberg though, no pun intended. I've got a whole bunch of seeds I bought in anticipation of this very thing and I need to research which ones I can start putting into the ground. Unlike my old self, who would throw seeds into the ground and see what happened, I want to be smarter about it and learn the best conditions for the plant to thrive. Tomorrow I need to pay more attention to the sun and where it is throughout the day, for example, and then see what can be planted at this point in the year. I figure greens are a safe bet. Probably too late for tomatoes, but I have two plants to get me by this year. Radishes? Carrots? Don't worry, I'll google it.

It's chilly out tonight. You can hear crickets and frogs and all kinds of noises out there now. It's actually a little loud. For not having a central a/c unit, it's been nice in here for the past few days. Speaking of a/c... I keep hoping my house will sell soon... really, really hoping. There was a day this week where we had three showings, but I haven't heard back so I guess no offers yet. Not sure what to do about it. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by everything. Things are going to get better... I keep telling myself that... but I'm not seeing results yet so it's hard to maintain the optimism. Today was *that* kind of day.