Friday bullets, July 21, 2017

Here we are at Friday again.

• We've had quite a few thunderstorms pass through this week. Poor Kenzie is missing his basement and pantry. He seems to have decided the first floor bathroom is the safest place in the house during storms, so that's where he huddles and shivers. No amount of coaxing can get him to leave. This means that some people are forced to share the bathroom with him when nature calls, and some people are none too thrilled about that.
• The 'broil' function on this rotten range we inherited does not seem to work. Does this surprise anyone? I'm not sure I will make it to the time we actually do the kitchen remodel with this [insert pejorative of choice here] piece of equipment. You truly cannot cook anything on it. I nearly ruined rice on it the other day. Rice is very, very difficult to ruin.
• D. has become rather proficient on using the riding mower.
• D. and TM informed me that if when we get horses, they are NOT mucking out the stalls. P. and I will have to take care of that. I guess it was a little hot and sticky in the stable next door yesterday as they were mucking out 20.
• Oh my goodness. The stable where P. rode yesterday is more than a little swanky. It looks like a movie stable. You know, the kind I had convinced myself as a child only existed in movies because it was too unbearable to think someone, somewhere had a stable like that. I will admit to a rather strong bout of extreme envy there for a bit.
• We still really like our new bed.
• I think J. and I will be spending some significant time tomorrow hanging shelves, hooks, and pictures. I can tell you, J. is so excited he can barely contain himself.
• Does anyone have any really good advice about getting rid of poison ivy? We have a couple of sections of yard that is full of the stuff. Do goats eat poison ivy? It might be worth getting a goat. 
• Tonight some of us are going to a local community theater production of Beauty and the Beast. Most of us are going for fun, D. is doing reconnaissance to see if it is a theater he would like to audition for.
• I've done pretty well finding a home for everything. Well, everything except the printer. I hate seeing electronics like that just sitting out, so am trying to find a more hidden spot for it. But a hidden spot where it is still accessible. This is not an easy task. But it is kind of a moot problem for the moment, since I still cannot find the cords that go with it. This is a little concerning since we have very few unpacked boxes these days.
• I'm about to head for the grocery store, with Fridays becoming my shopping day. If anything has convinced me of the wisdom of doing weekly planning and shopping, this past month or so has. Our food costs have been out the roof, and it's not because there has been a significant change in food costs. It's been because I pared down the pantry a bit, so had to do some restocking, but more because I would only plan a meal or two at a time, and was always going to the store. This is a recipe for high grocery bills. I'm hoping to rein these back in with an actual schedule.
• There is so much summer produce available now, I was thinking it might be fun to play a game in August. What would you think of seeing how many different fruits and vegetables we can eat in a month? I could keep track and also share some recipes if I happen to find good ones for some odder vegetables. I've seen 30 vegetables in 30 days challenges, but could we go higher? I have no idea what do you think? You know, if you hit that little 'comment' button on the bottom of the post, you could share your thoughts. Hint. Hint.

And with that, I really do need to go to the store.