10/29/19
Active Summary: This morning began with a pleasant beef pasture checkup followed by more than an hour’s worth of creative writing. These two productive tasks were ensued by internet research whereupon I found that not only had Netbuddy (the service I intended to use) ceased taking on customers, Xfinity was also nonexistent in this area.
Desiring to accomplish something productive, I departed for the outdoors where I began to break up the garden lot’s earth. It was hot, sweaty work on account of the warm and very humid weather, but I enjoyed working at that far more than the prior internet-service related tasks. By the morning’s completion, I had churned up half of the garden-lot’s soil.
(7:16 PM Update): It was a light afternoon at the farm today, consisting solely of checking the calves in both barn and field. Afterward, I made a couple calls to the same number of potential internet companies. Neither call ended in a satisfactory fashion, so I decided to head over to the garden and continue with tilling. It was during this tilling that I realized my internet searches over the past week had wasted hours of time – far more waste than the speed was costing me. So, I’ve decided that for now (until something obvious presents itself), I shall adapt to my meager megabit allowance. After having arrived at this decision, I finished tilling the garden plot.
TIL: Today I learned that I should reduce the flames of a gas grill when opening the lid and flipping the food* within. This allows me to position the morsels with more accuracy, to exchange less-cooked pieces with more-cooked pieces, and to conserve propane for the times that matter (when the lid is closed).
Commentary: Though the hours I worked on the garden today were not long, they were certainly not the easiest – consisting of jabbing a spade repeatedly into grass, tree roots, and packed soil that did not want any such thing jabbed into it. The toes of my shoveling-foot are a little bit sore, but as is often the case, slight discomfort is only a small price to pay for progress. Planting draws nearer with every day.
Final Note: This afternoon I will continue working the garden’s soil, and tomorrow morning I intend to do the same after completing some schoolwork. At some point in the near future, I also plan to take a video tour of the outside / inside of Jacobhouse.
*I likely would not turn the grill down for a steak or burger where it needs to be cooked as quickly as possible for minimal juice-loss. However, in the case of vegetables, this new method really does work well, and whether it was because of the better positioning or because of the intermittent heat reductions whenever I opened the lid / turned down the burners, the zucchini and summer squash came out especially well today (firm skin, yet juicy interiors).