Gardening 101

Tuesday night is the evening before trash day, and hence the time when I take out the garbage. I also like to weed my lawn around this time - technically it's usually around 12-1am on Wednesday morning. When you weed the lawn when the trash can is already at the curb, you can avoid the decomposing yard waste stinking up your garage. It would be better to use those paper yard waste bags, I suppose, but I never seem to have those on hand, and I definitely wouldn't fill one up with just weeds. Even though I have a lot of weeds.

I have a wide variety of weeds, too. There are a few growing in the back that get to be almost two feet high in just a couple of weeks. When I pull them, it smells vaguely like something vegetable-y I've eaten in the past. Though, given what I like to eat, that doesn't mean what I'm remembering was a quality ingredient.

This is where my first rule of weeding comes in: Nothing worthwhile grows that quickly. If it's taller than the (living) grass after a week of growing, it gets pulled. Maybe these aromatic weeds are actually wonderful delicacies, but I doubt it. I would have taken pictures so someone out there could enlighten me as to their culinary uses, if any, but as I mentioned, I weed late at night. I think a flash would produce bad pictures and maybe even disturb the sleep of a neighbor or two. And my camera is locked in my car and is therefore too much of a hassle to get.

Trimming Expenses

After my friend Brian's post about trimming expenses, I've been thinking about my own complete lack of doing so. It's a bit of a problem, potentially.

I've been eating out a lot more than usual, lately. I've been driving more than usual, too, partially as a result of eating out more. I'll need to make repairs to my car pretty soon, and I'm not sure how much those will be yet. Speaking of repairs, I also repaired my file server, to an extent. I bought a couple 2TB hard drives for $99.99 each. I was able to save most of my files, and all of my important files, so that was good. Still, $200.

I'm also thinking of buying things that I really don't need at all. For example, I want to buy another digital camera. Why? Because I keep one in the car to take pictures of personalized license plates. Why does that mean I need two? Because I never have one with me when the cats are doing cute things, and taking videos of cute cats is the quickest way to youtube stardom! I fully recognize that this is not the best investment, but I'll probably end up doing it before too long.

Then there's utilities. The hot weather of late has skyrocketed my power bill along with everyone else's. I've also tried watering my lawn to get some grass seed to grow. That didn't really work, but I'm sure my next water bill will be higher than I've ever seen it. I also bought that new grass seed, some starter fertilizer, and a small spreader at The Home Depot using gift cards. And for the little remaining grass I have combined with the small amount of new grass that came up, I'll need a new lawnmower soon. I'd like a nice quiet electric one, which apparently means $300 or so. I'd also like to avoid the battery problems people have reported, which means $200 or so instead, but having to use an extension cord. So far, I'm leaning toward this cordless 36V mower. We'll see.

Finally, I've been donating (or pledging to donate) more to charity. If that isn't a stupid use of money, I don't know what is! Seriously, though, I'm going to try eating at home more often again. When I do, it tends to be really cheap. Hopefully the fall brings more reasonableness to my power bill, and whatever lawn mower I buy is reliable and durable. You all can hope that I don't buy that extra camera so that you're not flooded with videos of my cats. And you can also thank me for keeping the economy going these past few months!

I Think I Could Learn Something From Paige Worthy

It's hard for me to call my writing inspired, but this post was inspired by the wonderful writing of the always lovely Paige Worthy. The stories she tells have a way of making me feel like my life is lacking something, though. For example, compare a recent meal of hers with a recent eating experience of mine:

For the fourth meal in a row, I prepare to make a box of Great Value macaroni and cheese. During a commercial break in Modern Marvels, I pre-scrub my macaroni and cheese pot (its only purpose), a black plate, and a small spoon until they are all but clean. I carefully add two small drops of dish soap into the pot and clean and rinse the three required dishes. I let them dry until the next commercial break, when I fill the pot with water and turn the burner on high.

The busiest part of the meal has begun. As quickly as possible, the box of macaroni is opened, the cheese packed down into the bottom of its packet, and a sausage and a stick of butter extracted from the fridge.

A long slice down the length and another to complete the cut, and the sausage is perfectly halved on the plate. Three quick strokes cause two chunks to fall off the end, each pair not quite exactly a quarter of an inch thick - just to prove I don't have OCD. The sausage chunks enter the warming water. A lick of each side of the knife ensures no flavor goes to waste, and makes the blade clean of all sausage pieces before cutting the butter - two and two thirds tablespoons that will rest on the cheese packet.

Soon, the water reaches a boil and the macaroni cascades from the box. I stir in clockwise circles, counterclockwise circles, and then a nice grid pattern. This is repeated every couple of minutes: nary a noodle can stick to the bottom. At long last, it's time to drain the macaroni. Thus the plate returns as a pot lid, and the last of the water is shaken out.

The appropriate amount of milk is splashed over the noodles after the butter and cheese have been added. Stirring until the butter is melted hurts as the small spoon digs into my index finger, but I persevere! I place the pot on a couple of cork trivets I've had since college and eat on the couch. As I sit down and see today's wondrous engineering topic on the TV, I have a moment of pride in my own efficiency in cooking. However, I savor the Modern Marvels and barely notice when I reach the end of the macaroni and cheese.

And for dinner, four grilled cheese sandwiches consisting of nothing but eight pieces of bread and four slices of American cheese. All cooked with minimal entropy. And minimal spontaneity.

Deep Sea Fishing

I've also never been a huge fan of fishing. Unlike my day at the beach, my day fishing didn't really change that. We got up and were on the road by 4am. We arrived at the check-in building at 4:45, left dock at 5:30, left the bait barge by 6, and were on our way. It was cold. I was cold. But the sun was coming up, and by the time we started fishing at about 7, I wasn't too cold anymore. The first place we stopped, my older brother, Brian, and I dropped our bait fish into the water and they were almost immediately snatched up. I found myself wrestling a yellow-tail tuna, and he struggled with a barracuda. We reeled them in and each thought to ourselves (at this rate, we'll each catch like 10 fish!).

I didn't catch anything else worth keeping, but Brian caught one other fish, I think. Aimee, Brian's fiancée (congratulations!), caught a bass near the end. My little brother, Jake, was the big winner, catching a tuna, two barracuda, and a bass.

Overall, I was a bit bored moving from location to location, hooking bait fish after bait fish, throwing back 8-inch mackerels, and in general just standing around. Perhaps it would have been better if there was a nice sink that I could wash my hands in, so I could cleanly eat my lunch and snack food. Or if I used a lure instead of having to sacrifice tens of tiny sardines and anchovies. It was slimy, wet, hot, and boring. But I'm glad I went.

One lesson learned was to fish early in the week, rather than at the very end. Having caught so many fish (and I have the feeling the average day probably results in a better haul), Friday was spent eating fish. Fish for lunch, fish for dinner, and Brian even ate fish for breakfast on Saturday morning. Now, I've never been a huge fan of eating fish, but this was downright tasty. Perhaps it was the freshness, perhaps it was the bread crumbs and frying, perhaps it was just my taste buds changing since childhood, but I like fish! Not enough to go out and buy it on my own, but enough so that I won't be upset when I have to eat it.

Not a bad trip, all in all.