(Above: Throughout the past week, there have been frequent ‘mistings’. I usually associate such rain with tropical storms, but no such systems have passed near enough to be the actual cause. The rainbow in this image occurred late one afternoon after a couple bouts of this light precipitation.)
11/15/2020 :
A pleasant way to begin the week.
Dawn of 11/15/2020: Bovines graze beneath a lightly clouded sky. The Papayas survived the storm and are presently shedding the leaves that were previously affected by the mini-drought (they were quite droopy last time i checked) while adding a significant amount of central growth. Aneta’s Bistro, plate #1 (left to right0: Meatloaf with egg in the middle, a root & cucumber salad, aspic (pigs foot jelly), and a piece of roasted porkbutt atop a bread dumpling. The aspic was the most unique item on this plate by a long shot while the porkbutt & dumpling were the most delicious. Aneta’s Bistro Plate #2 (Clockwise starting from the top): A seasoned ground beef patty coated with a sour cream based sauce, potato noodles topped with pork belly, potato cake (also imbued with pork belly), a couple chicken livers resting in Cossack mustard, and beef & potato ‘lasagna’. The lattermost was my favorite, but absolutely everything on this plate bore excellent flavors and textures. Plate #3 at Aneta’s Bistro: an apple crumb cake accompanied by a blue-berry & chocolate ‘crunch’ bar. I’m not sure what the second dessert was actually named, but it was very tasty. Crazy ants exhibiting the unique behavior of helping their comrades (after those comrades emitted a ‘help me’ pheromone). Unfortunately, in this case, they were attempting to help those comrades escape an electric fence – something that only trapped more and more of the diminutive creatures. A late-afternoon rainbow to be seen in the eastern sky.
Dusk of 11/15/2020. The sun’s peachy glow radiated off of the eastern cloudfront.
11/16/2020
Dawn of 11/16/2020: A number of Angus Bovines enjoying the morning mists. Lunch: Smoked ham hocks (reheated for 45 minutes in a shallow bath of olive oil, water, and black pepper) along with homemade BBQ sauce and homegrown arugula. Delectable. A Goodyear blimp can be seen to the background of this image. It may also be noted that the mud from last week’s rain is finally beginning to dry. This is the result of my modifying the air-conditioner opening in the office portion of the Master Blend Freezer Room building. One of these holes shall be utilized for portable AC’s air outlet while the other shall be used for the air intake hose. (Left) A slice of cheddar & mozzarella bearing garlic butter sauce.
(Center) A mound of arugula.
(Top) A piece of Padre-pizza topped with beef and sweet purple onion.
This was a very satisfying meal.
11/17/2020:
Dawn of 11/17/2020: A fine and slightly chilly morning made right by a sun rising in a nigh cloudless sky. I wondered why the arugula on the east side of the Hugelkultur was growing more swiftly that the arugula on the west side. It turns out that that the eastern half gets an extra hour of sunlight first thing in the morning. Malabar Summer Spinach still thriving at the southeast corner of the Jacobhouse garden. Dusk of 11/17/2020. A truly cloudless day (and a distinctly autumnal sky).
11/18/2020:
Dawn of 11/18/2020. Yet another cool autumnal morning. Bovines reveling in the fine weather. Master Blend freezer room with midday’s light shining in through the south window. This is me helping Madre cut wood for her office project. The under-oak cutting station meibe my favorite thus far. Madre blowing off the sawdust. Only one slat of floor (less than a third of a plank of plywood) remains to be dropped in place. Then, the entire eastern room’s floor space will be covered. A first person POV of IV’ing another calf as the sun goes down and the world becomes colder. Dusk of 11/18/2020.
11/19/2020 :
Dawn of 11/19/2020: Somehow, it seemed as the morning grew chillier as Padre and I performed the morningly beef pasture inspection. One animal in this picture is experiencing significant gastric distress. Lunch today: Pan-fried ham, garden-fresh arugula, sweet zucchini bread, and a plenitude of cooked collard greens imbued with bacon. The latter two portions of the meal were cooked and sent to us by our neighbors (those who now inhabit Old-house). An Indo-Pacific gecko posing quite nicely for a picture. Most of Madre-office’s floor is now fastened to the 2×4 planks beneath. As can be seen, we used chalk-lines yesterday to mark the location of self-tapping screws and support boards. Dinner: A hefty pan pizza topped with Gruyere, cheddar, and fresh mozzarella cheese.
These passed by as I was performing the morning writing.
11/20/2020:
Dawn of 11/20/2020: Mists fall gently on a landscape gilt by the morning sun. The garden as seen from the office of Jacobhouse (post cleaning). A busy kitchen environment. I had to bring some of my blankets in a tad early because of the aforementioned mists. Shamrocks displaying their blossoms of vivid purple. Later on in the day, I had to bring another blanket in because a green shield-bug was laying eggs on it. A young Wagyu I found amidst the African honeysuckles at the beef pasture’s southernmost side. This is the result of my beginning to wire the front portion of Madre’s office container. The bottom right box is going to be used for a bathroom light switch and outlet. The top right box is going to be an outlet for the air conditioner, and the leftmost box is going to hold switches for the indoor and outdoor entry lights. Sunset of 11/20/2020.
11/21/2020:
Dawn of 11/21/2020.
For some reason this strange lady was smiling quite widely at me as I walked down a street near the Ocala square. A young Wagyu calf I found drinking from a stagnant puddle out in the field. It’s mouth was covered with green algae. Padre rectifying the stagnant mud puddles by filling them in with absorbent wood shavings. The completely ‘ply-wooded’ eastern portion of Madre’s residence. A small flowering plant I found in the middle of the south-east beef pasture during the day’s final inspection. They almost looked like miniature snapdragons.
Final Note: The journey to Walden is taxing one, but I believe I am getting closer.