It's only 10:50 pm this time!

A lovely Saturday in the country...

I'm resting, watching a pre-recorded episode of Scorpion. I like the characters; i like the story line. But... the episodes have become predictable. Oh, they're always a different situation, but they follow the same not-too-believable pattern. 1. The team gets asked to do an almost-impossible task, that often borders on the illegal. 2. They think up a scheme that only geniuses could create or understand (and include a generous amount of hooey). 3.....

Guess I fell asleep, or became interested in Scorpion. I'll finish my Scorpion analysis and post, so I can move on to the next post...

3. All the team members fall in love in pairs but it never works out (of course not), for stupid reasons, none of which are that they don't love or like one another.

Sheesh... Dysfunctional communicators. I've got lots of that real-life at home.

What am I doing at 1:45 AM?

Blogging! what a shock! Well, being of post-retirement age (does that even make sense? what comes after retirement? I dread to think...wouldn't it just be retirement age?), I require biological relief several times during the night. *sigh* Some of you may relate.... Tonight, I couldn't sleep.

My neighbors sometimes complain that our roosters crow several times per night. We always wonder... why do they do that?

Finally, I am starting to formulate a theory. One that makes a little more sense that what people usually tell me. (which is, "Roosters can't tell what time it is; they're dumb." They've been doing this for many thousands of years; you'd think they'd get it by now!) I think that when I get up, to do my business, the roosters hear me, see the little bathroom light, and think, "Oh my gosh, it's morning already, the aunties are already getting up!" and start crowing. Only the young, inexperienced ones do this. And they quickly see their error. It's not getting light, and the air doesn't feel right for morning.

I usually check the time when I get up. Midnight or so. And 3 am. Those are my normal times. And the rooster(s) (sometimes one, sometimes more) is(are) crowing. We even jokingly called them our midnight roosters and our 3 o'clock roosters! I was thinking they woke me up, making me roll around and want to go to the bathroom. Now, with this new theory, I wake up (and get up), and then they wake up and crow. This is supported by this evening's incident. I couldn't sleep, and after trying for a few hours, I got up at 1:30 am (NOT a normal rooster crowing time by the original theory), and the roosters were crowing.

Well, it's quiet in the country. That's all I hear. Now the rooster has stopped and it is absolutely quiet. I guess I'll try to sleep again.

Shhhhh... don't wake the roosters!

We're on the butt!

We're on the butt!

Yes, here we are, our second excursion in Gary's cabin cruiser, the Blue Laser. (The title is a reference from "Finding Nemo"; if you haven't seen it, go borrow a copy. It's worth the time.)

That is Gary. And those are our fishing lines. Although we hope for big, yummy fish, we already have enjoyed watching numerous whales, beautiful weather, lovely flat seas, and good company. Just what a day in Hawai'i should be! 

Why am I taking the time to blog during this wonderful adventure? I find after a few hours on the deck in the sun, I need a  refresh below decks. During this brief respite, I decided to blog my joy!

A Slow Sunday

My Sunday.... Typical dull day for a retiree, guess...

I woke up early, to the sound of our roosters, got up to take care of the necessary, and jumped back into bed. Dozed a little. Then I heard our tenant in the kitchen, and I went out and helped her prepare the chicken feed. We talk a little about the day, and plan what we're doing (I was pleased to have negotiated her into cleaning the fish our friends gave us, . a1-lb Ono.) 

When she left, I was still feeling the morning cold, So jumped back in bed.

Next thing you know, blink! It's 10:30! I feel a momentary pang of guilt, having wasted the morning (well, the first quarter of the typical workday) by sleeping. Then I gratefully remembered I am retired. I don't have a schedule. What doesn't get done today can be done tomorrow!

But I did want to get going. I had a long list..

I got up, made coffee and started. I planned to process some of the pig we butchered yesterday. There are several cuts that I would like to process some before storing (hams, ground pork, sausage, liverwurst, dog food cuts, stir fry). They are now piled in the outdoor fridge in freezer bags awaiting their fate. 

I looked at the kitchen and sighed. The first job changed to cleaning the kitchen and reclaiming the full working counter space. I can get by for most things with a clean section of the counter, mail and do-dads pushed to the side. But when I'm doing something potentially messy, yes, like grinding 10 lbs of pork (!), I like to have plenty of space.

Digging in, I hand-washed three large rice cookers (daily job), three large lidded casseroles and a slow-cooker (I had cleaned out our fridge for the chickens earlier), filled and ran the dishwasher. At any rate, it was after noon before that was done.

Meanwhile, I made breakfast for two and ate half (ham, farm fresh eggs from that chicken right there, half grapefruit from a friend's tree sprinkled with date sugar gifted by another friend and fresh ground and brewed coffee from this year's freshly roasted crop of another friend's coffee farm. We are truly blessed to live in a place where there is so much bounty and so much Aloha to share it. 

I baked a pie, froze the stir fry hunks into entree sizes to be chopped frozen if necessary and made half the airline reservations I need to (hey, it's a start).

By then my my fish was miraculously cleaned, and my tenant was just in time to cash in on some pie for her trouble! And it was great pie! From Holy's. Buttered Pear Pie. Warm. With vanilla bean ice cream. Yum.

Then the most delicious Ono, sprinkled with Hawaiian sea salt, rolled in flour, and sauteed in lots of butter. Pat takes hers with a dollop of my homemade tartar sauce. I prefer to dip my bites in a local sauce (shoyu, vinegar, and a chopped Hawaiian red chili). Delicate, sweet, and flaky. Caught yesterday.

Finally, I got the meat grinder out. Washed the pieces, laid them out on a towel to dry. Looked at the clock. It was already 9:30 pm.  Hmm.... I will start making sausage first thing tomorrow morning. And it's ok. We ate well today. I am ready to grind pig tomorrow morning, oh yes, and attack all those other things on my list. I'm just glad glad that none of them are mandatory or have much of of a due date 😁.

I'm a sub-par caregiver

A poor excuse for a caregiver....

I am not a very sympathetic caregiver. I admit it. I do my best. But I always have the feeling that it's sub-par on the caregiver quality scale. My wife has been having severe arthritic back pain combined with fibromyalgia for the last few years; currently she's going through a pretty bad stretch. 

Well, some days I manage okay. (Notice how this is immediately all about me?) I'll watch a movie with her, bring her healthy food to munch on, and be generally encouraging.

Other days, however, I may get grouchy, or go somewhere so she can sleep in peace.

Here's an example. The other day, she was bedridden, icing her back, and I was leaving with a friend to drive the hour and a half to Costco. My friend was waiting, I was in a hurry. I took a pee, and used the last little bit of tp. The new rolls were in the shed in the carport. No, I am not so evil that I left her with no tp, and forced her to hobble out to the shed! But, I really did the minimum. I grabbed a big pack of tp from the shed, threw it across the hall into the bathroom and sailed out the door! She had what she needed while I was gone, but no frills. Hehe. 

When I got home, she even thanked me for bringing it in from the shed.

The circle of life continues....

The circle of life continues....

Life in the country is wonderful, simple, but also sometimes difficult and  heart-breaking.

We just received a new batch of chicks from Honolulu - week-old meat birds. They are all cute, happy, healthy, and eating as if that were their sole purpose in life. Oh, wait, it IS their primary purpose and obsession for their entire 8-week life! And, well, to be honest, I don't know if they are happy; I just assume they are happy because they are chirping and running from one side of the brooder box to the other. I interpret that as happy chick behavior.

Then, the next afternoon, a small pack of dogs came into our yard and mauled our tenant's prize rooster (yes, to death...). There were tears, sadness, and rage. Our tenant was so angry, he drove down the street, followed the dogs home, and confronted the owner. The owner had forgotten to tie his dogs up in the morning, and was super apologetic. Paid for the rooster (generously), and came by later with a truckload of avocados. He said, "I'm bringing this many avocados every week until I feel I've done enough." 

The real Aloha that lives in a small town on the island of Hawai'i.... 

Crazy Cake

I made this cake again, which reminded me that one of my friends asked me to share the recipe. She reads my blog, so here it is:

Crazy Cake (that's what we always called it at my house - I've heard others call it Chocolate Road Oil Cake - when I make desserts for others, aka catering, I call it Vegan Chocolate Cake because it is)

Ingredients:

3 c flour

2 c sugar

1/2 c powdered cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tbl vinegar

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 c cooking oil

2 c cold water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix and bake in one 9" x 13" pan. Add all dry ingredients and mix with a whisk or a fork until well-mixed. Sprinkle the vinegar, vanilla and oil over the dry ingredients. Pour the water into the pan. Mix carefully until well-mixed and almost smooth. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Eat... Hot... Warm... Cold... With ice cream... With whipped cream.... By itself... Small pieces stolen from the pan every time you walk through the kitchen... Guaranteed it won't last long!