Apple
Sunday dinner: Sous vide Arm Roast followed by Boston Cream Pie.
Slowly preparing the backyard garden rows over the past few months 😅 Almost time to plant the peppers, tomatoes, and direct sow the herbs. No more lawn!!!!!! Tilling is amazing at removing thatch and dead lawn. 🌱
Easiest way to deal with (perhaps) hundreds of mandarins once ripe: juice them. These have brightened to very red-orange I wonder if they are closer to tangerines?
I’m experimenting with HomeKit Automations converted to Shortcuts. This one, when a Home member arrives, will turn on a welcome light if the Logitech doorbell reads < 200 Lux. Otherwise it’ll flash the living room lamp to indicate an arrival.
This morning: the most symmetrical Dutch baby we’ve ever had.
The Fantasia nectarine (planted Jan 2020) is still in swollen bud stage. Has been for days. It’s sooo close to blooming. Here’s hoping it’ll produce fruit for the first time this year!
Look, I put a pressure gauge on the new hose bibb! I must be an erudite of irrigation systems. 🙃
Korean cheese buldak for dinner tonight. Chicken in a hot chili sauce covered with mozzarella 🌶🌶🌶🌶 😋
I pressure checked the new hose bibb this morning; it had a slow leak at the valve threads & PVC adapter. Tightening made it worse, so after redoing the pipe thread tape with more layers, the new hose bib seems to be fine at full water pressure.
Front yard update: the manzanitas are in full bloom! The poppies are trying to take over. Waiting on the Ceanothus (California lilac) to bloom… they’re the most showy.
I installed a new hose spigot on an old PVC waterline today. I’m trying to have the patience to give the PVC joints lots of time to cure before pressure testing 😬
Someday we’ll figure out how to make rice noodles right. Did a bunch of experiments today and almost got there. We just want perfect Drunken Noodles and Pad See Ew.
Got to make the rock rings around the citrus trees larger so drip emitters can be moved back for better root growth. Also may help with frost as the ground can now radiate heat up into the trees rather than be insulated by wood chips. Here’s before and after.
Energy makes growing peppers & tomatoes in the winter possible. Got lots of jalapeños, serranos, santa fe, and a variety of tomatoe. We’ll transplant outdoors in mid to late March 🌱
I finished City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab ★★★★ 📚
Mud Creek, CA south of Mt. Shasta after a pretty intense debris flow in 2014. The deposits are muddy and full of variously sized rocks and other debris (such as entire trees).
We’re craving Manzanita flower blooms in the front yard. Almost there… 🌱
Apple Photos thinks eating campfire roasted marshmallows off a metal stick is a sport. I agree.
Cats are pros at comfort.
Currently reading: City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab 📚