Here we are, the last three days of August 2020. Here at our home we are a mixture of 2020 and the old days.
August, September and November we truly test our preparations for keeping ourselves comfortable and as ready as we hoped to be. We live close enough to the gulf coast to be caught in the inland storms that come with hurricanes. Sometimes the hurricanes are too close and some are far away but the feeder bands can be far out and away from the eye of the storm and cause us problems.
Living the old way with our feet still in the current time keeps us more settled when the power goes out.
I love early morning just before the sun rises. The candle light or oil lamps have more gentle light for eyes that are just adjusting from a nights sleep.
The house is still sitting as it was before I went to bed and my evening chores still sit as I left them.
We make our life this way, we choose this way of life.
Our doggies are still sleeping in their beds, our little bird Belle is still sleeping in her cage. They understand the routine we have and that early morning is our time as they wait for the sun to come up and start peeking through the windows.
Charles is doing his desk work and writing in his journals.
We use electricity when needed and then we use candles and oil lamps when we want to or needed. This way when the power goes out we just continue on the old way. The electricity is helpful when we have it but we can function okay without it because we have made our home this way.
Do you have the items you need to live comfortable without electricity? Is it easy to get to? Can you just flow into it without making a stressful situation out of a power outage. It does not need to be stressful.
As the light starts showing through the windows we see the laundry and dishes have dried overnight and so the day begins.
I have been finding new ways to organize and to get those packed drawers and linen cabinets in better order. I changed the way I fold the pillow cases to make them fit in the space that I have for them.
I cleared the counter and put painters tape to make squares to sort and organize the desk drawers. This has taken awhile to do but much needed as clutter can accumulate in drawers quickly and I wanted to sort all the things that were alike.
There were items in the desk drawers that did not belong there and there were items that belong in the desk that were in other places. So I decided that this time the sorting would be different and everything would come out of both desks and sorted and gone through before anything went back in them.
I just could not take pictures of this, it was too personal. Just use your imagination of what it would look like if you dumped everything out and over flowed your dinning room table into surrounding chairs and then into empty boxes.
But sometimes some things take a bit more work and need to be done. The paper work is still on going and hope to finish this as a weekend project. Charles has committed to help. Thank you Charles!
Many of the vegetables are finishing up just in time to do fall planting. This is looking from up on the back porch at the top of a bean and tomato trellis.
There are some veggies that will keep producing into fall...
The turmeric seems to be doing well this year...
And of course the lemons. They still have a couple months before harvest.
The greenhouses have been readied for planting, I am just waiting for September to begin since August is such a hot month here.
Charles finished up putting in a pipe and spout from the rain barrels to the wash house.
Meals have been simple home cooking. A breakfast biscuit with egg and bacon inside...
Oven fried chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and zucchini... To make the chicken fingers , they are seasoned, floured and sauteed in oil ( about 5 tablespoons oil, more or less) in a skillet just to give them a little color and brown off the flour. Then put them in the oven at 385 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. But about 15 minutes in that 30 minutes take the skillet out and flip them over.
So actually I should have said, put in oven, after 15 minutes, remove and flip the chicken fingers and put back in the over for another 10 to 15 minutes. Then if you like, you can make brown gravy with the left over drippings. :)
I made meat loaf and cooked some buttered egg noodles and peas..
I made a big bowl of the egg noodles with butter and milk/cream so I could have some leftover to make a casserole later.
I put fresh parsley and just a few leaves of fresh oregano in the meat loaf for some extra seasoning..
A meat loaf goes a long way for extra meals...
We do not have or use a microwave and I normally reheat food using a skillet and a bit of water or broth. I was relieved when we got rid of our microwave several years ago. I have never missed it. One less kitchen appliance on the counter and one less thing to clean.
I realize that many of you reading my blog post eat differently than we do. Everyone lives in different places and have different diets. Some do not eat meat, some do not eat carbs and I can see on this plate that the rice is too large of a serving. But it was very good. :)
So was the peach cobbler that is above waiting to go into the oven. Seems to be the month for peach cobblers. :)
Our homes are what we make it. They are our space to do with what we want. We do not need to look like someone else. What a boring world we would have if we did all look alike.
The pandemic has gone on so long that I have had to replace the elastic ear pieces that go in the masks. Charles has been putting these masks to a lot of use. So I used a knitting needle to hold the fold out and put some new elastic on the end of a large safety pin and pushed it through.
Here at our home, and depending on weather, we often see masks and shirts hanging somewhere to dry.
I made Charles a pair of pajamas last week and I made them knickers. :) They go below the knee/shin length. I think he likes them a lot because he wore them four nights in a row even though they are flannel. :) I did not have a pattern, I just laid a older pair over the fabric and allowed for the seam allowance. I made sure to make them loose so they are comfortable to sleep in.
Tomorrow is Saturday and that means Charles will be up before dawn grinding coffee. I love it when he is home for the weekend... I hope you are doing well. Grandma Donna
