My Saturday

Hasn't been all that momentous, really.  But, progress has been made.

After my angry rant yesterday I said to hell with the diet, I needed a treat, and for me, that generally means food.  I hied myself off to El Nopal, a lovely Mexican restaurant at the other end of town I'd yet to visit.  A nice dinner, some good chips and salsa all washed down by a Dos Equis, and I felt a lot better.  After that, I slept well and woke up this morning determined to do something fun -- a ride on the Silver Comet Trail.  Turned out to be a short one, just under an hour because my legs and overall energy were not interested in doing more, but that was enough.  I felt much, much better afterwards.  I need to start more mornings like this.

My neighbor really doesn't want to clean out under my house, according to his wife this morning.  All that fiberglas is itchy and it's a hot job.  Duh.  I just went outside and checked it out for myself, pulled out what I could from the small entry.  Aside from the crawlspace being tight, which it is, I didn't find it all that onerous, personally.  Raked out all kinds of stuff aside from insulation:  clay flower pots, plastic flower pots, what looks like a small oven grill.  I can do this entire job myself, really.  It's not so bad under there and once my eyes became accustomed to the light, I could see just fine.  I need to get a long hook for the entry door so it doesn't keep falling shut, and of course equip myself with long sleeves, long pants, eye protection and something to cover the nose and mouth, to keep the glas out of my body.  Wonder where I could get a surgical mask?  I have some of those foam masks, but they're hot and miserably uncomfortable.  A bandanna would probably work better.

Disposal is a more difficult issue.  Normally around here, people just put unwanted stuff like this out on the curb and the city hauls it away.  This comes away in pieces, smallish pieces, and tends to blow away.  The environmentalist in me doesn't want this stuff blowing all over the place.  I put what I took out today into my garbage can, but it's not likely to hold everything I take out, even in small increments.  Of course, the environmentalist in me decries the whole idea of this stuff entering a landfill, but I sure don't know what else to do with it.  Sad.

So, I have a project before me, and one I can get into.  Save myself a few $$, make sure the job is done the way I want it done.  I've crawled around such areas before, in my Atlanta house, although with far more space to work in for the most part.  I insulated both floor and attic of that house myself, so this is not a new concept to me.  Maybe I'll end up putting it all back in place myself, too.  Why not?  That should be the easy part!  Paying for it is what's going to be tough.  I'll definitely go with Johns Manville brand, which is formaldehyde free.  They have one version that is completely encased in plastic, very easy to use, but it's all pricey.

Aside from errands, and feeding the plants with some Garrett Juice, I think that's been my day.  Oh -- I spent a good bit of time on both the Comcast and Charter websites, spoke to a delightful young man at Comcast.  Turns out I should be able to get their internet service plus basic cable TV for less than I'm paying ATT for just internet.  He seemed to be unable to determine if there is service in this neighborhood and will call me back next week to confirm.  There is cable here -- in the living room.  Don't know if it's Comcast or Charter, but I'm hoping Comcast. From the website, at least, Charter didn't seem to offer the basic services I want, just bundles that are expensive (or, cheap for awhile then expensive after the initial time period).  I don't want that.  The Comcast telephone is a bit higher than my basic ATT service, so I may be forced to keep that for the time being.  And yes, it's worth paying them for the balance of the modem cost simply to get rid of them.  I may end up with a cell phone, although that may also be too pricey.  Will check that part out after I get the internet squared away.

I had the bright idea the other day to make use of all the basil in the garden, rather than tossing the trimmings into the compost pile.  Years ago back in Atlanta, an Italian friend of mine who was also a fabulous cook told me I could freeze pesto, as long as I put a layer of olive oil on top of it.  At least, I think it was freezing -- maybe it would just hold indefinitely in the refrigerator that way.  Since I already had all the ingredients, I made three batches of pesto today and froze them individually, then put a layer of olive oil on them. We'll see how it works.  Then, I made a batch of vanilla ice cream (no, I really am not going to go hog wild off the diet, because I've recently lost almost 10 pounds and don't want to put them back on).  Still, a little treat here and there -- why not?

Yet to come this 'holiday' weekend is turning the compost piles.  I think perhaps another ride or two on the bike may be in order, also.