Le Weekend
Sep. 16th, 2007 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithCubs took 3 of 4 from the Cards. They're still in 1st place. The number of ways that this can end badly are too numerous to count.
Weather was lovely, sunny and temps in the 60s, and has been like that for the past 4-5 days. This is the weather that energizes me. This isn't always a good thing. Two days ago, I dug up a forsythia that had morphed into an overgrown green ball. Roots and all, I excavated it, in about 45 minutes. This success went straight to my head, and I decided to attack the shrub-of-unknown-variety. My dad had cut it down to the ground 10-11 years ago, but made the mistake of not removing the roots. Thus did it grow back, all hale and semi-hearty, a burst of weedy branches about 5-6 feet high. But the forsythia only took me 45 minutes to dig up completely, and it was healthy and over six feet high, so Weedy Bush would be a snap, right?
WB had been around for well over 20 years. WB didn't want to die. The roots proved to be a mass of gnarled dead wood what was about 2 feet across and a foot deep, anchored by offshoot roots some of which were one inch in diameter. A root that is one inch in diameter is essentially an anchor rope that is one inch in diameter, whether it's dead or alive.
I worked on it a little bit on Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Tried an axe, a sledgehammer and wood-splitting chisel, and finally settled for the tried-and-true-but-slow method of digging around the root mass, cutting through roots as I came to them and levering/prying with the shovel. Managed not to trepan myself via a snapped shovel handle or anything. Finally, late yesterday, I cut the last root and pulled the mass free. Then came the fun part, cutting up the branches and bagging them. Got that done today, as the pups sat in the backyard and watched and whimpered and bewailed the injustice of having to sit outdoors in the shade in 60-degree temps when they could be inside, sleeping on the finest polyester cushions in between munching on each other's food.
Hosed the dirt out of the roots. I'll soon drag the masses to the curb, to await either tomorrow's yard waste pickup or the capricious visits of the chipper truck. In any case, I now have a nice open area in between one of the pines and the honey locust instead of a couple of overgrown bushes that were crammed where they didn't belong. That should do it for excavations for the year. Now we only have to rake the leaves as they fall, sow grass seed, and pull weeds.
Dinner was chicken marinated in olive oil salad dressing, then baked with kalamata olives and herbed diced tomatoes. The chicken itself came out juicy, but disappointingly bland--is poultry ever anything other than a vehicle for other flavors, unlike beef and game, which can be enjoyed for themselves?
Anyway, the broth was wonderful. I think the fate of the leftovers is to be cut up with some more tomatoes and served over pasta.
Wine hint of the day--a couple of weeks ago, the Trib ran an article about "Bubble Gum Wines," light, fruity wines that went well with summery foods. Well, one of the wines, 2006 Yellow Tail Merlot, earned a rating a three corkscrews, or pretty darned good. Not a bubble gum wine at all, but a nice wine, period. Yellow Tail wines were on sale at a local store for $2 off three bottles, and the merlot in question was already on sale for $6.99 a bottle. I bought three, and will continue to get a bottle or two every time I see it because it is a darned nice wine. No watery-ness or herbal astringency, two qualities I've often tasted in cheaper merlots. This is good.
From the article:
Anyone who wonders why Yellow Tail is such a success story need only taste this smooth Australian red. It was ripe with fruity berries and cherries, seasoned with a little black pepper and oak and smelled sweetly of raspberries or plum. Soft but not sappy, approachable but nuanced. Serve with grilled duck breast, steak.
On the writing front, yes, I have been grappling with the Gideon proposal. I'm the the midst of chapter two, still in the early 19th century, and a transition scene that was only supposed to last a page or two has grown to fill all known space. I've had to kick the Dreaded Internal Editor to the curb a couple of times, and tell myself that it's all exploratory at this stage, the stuff that's emerging is relevant, and I should just write the damned thing.
Goal is end of September to get this in the mail to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arcaedia. I am stating it here and now, so you can keep track and mock me if I fail to deliver.
Weather was lovely, sunny and temps in the 60s, and has been like that for the past 4-5 days. This is the weather that energizes me. This isn't always a good thing. Two days ago, I dug up a forsythia that had morphed into an overgrown green ball. Roots and all, I excavated it, in about 45 minutes. This success went straight to my head, and I decided to attack the shrub-of-unknown-variety. My dad had cut it down to the ground 10-11 years ago, but made the mistake of not removing the roots. Thus did it grow back, all hale and semi-hearty, a burst of weedy branches about 5-6 feet high. But the forsythia only took me 45 minutes to dig up completely, and it was healthy and over six feet high, so Weedy Bush would be a snap, right?
WB had been around for well over 20 years. WB didn't want to die. The roots proved to be a mass of gnarled dead wood what was about 2 feet across and a foot deep, anchored by offshoot roots some of which were one inch in diameter. A root that is one inch in diameter is essentially an anchor rope that is one inch in diameter, whether it's dead or alive.
I worked on it a little bit on Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Tried an axe, a sledgehammer and wood-splitting chisel, and finally settled for the tried-and-true-but-slow method of digging around the root mass, cutting through roots as I came to them and levering/prying with the shovel. Managed not to trepan myself via a snapped shovel handle or anything. Finally, late yesterday, I cut the last root and pulled the mass free. Then came the fun part, cutting up the branches and bagging them. Got that done today, as the pups sat in the backyard and watched and whimpered and bewailed the injustice of having to sit outdoors in the shade in 60-degree temps when they could be inside, sleeping on the finest polyester cushions in between munching on each other's food.
Hosed the dirt out of the roots. I'll soon drag the masses to the curb, to await either tomorrow's yard waste pickup or the capricious visits of the chipper truck. In any case, I now have a nice open area in between one of the pines and the honey locust instead of a couple of overgrown bushes that were crammed where they didn't belong. That should do it for excavations for the year. Now we only have to rake the leaves as they fall, sow grass seed, and pull weeds.
Dinner was chicken marinated in olive oil salad dressing, then baked with kalamata olives and herbed diced tomatoes. The chicken itself came out juicy, but disappointingly bland--is poultry ever anything other than a vehicle for other flavors, unlike beef and game, which can be enjoyed for themselves?
Anyway, the broth was wonderful. I think the fate of the leftovers is to be cut up with some more tomatoes and served over pasta.
Wine hint of the day--a couple of weeks ago, the Trib ran an article about "Bubble Gum Wines," light, fruity wines that went well with summery foods. Well, one of the wines, 2006 Yellow Tail Merlot, earned a rating a three corkscrews, or pretty darned good. Not a bubble gum wine at all, but a nice wine, period. Yellow Tail wines were on sale at a local store for $2 off three bottles, and the merlot in question was already on sale for $6.99 a bottle. I bought three, and will continue to get a bottle or two every time I see it because it is a darned nice wine. No watery-ness or herbal astringency, two qualities I've often tasted in cheaper merlots. This is good.
From the article:
Anyone who wonders why Yellow Tail is such a success story need only taste this smooth Australian red. It was ripe with fruity berries and cherries, seasoned with a little black pepper and oak and smelled sweetly of raspberries or plum. Soft but not sappy, approachable but nuanced. Serve with grilled duck breast, steak.
On the writing front, yes, I have been grappling with the Gideon proposal. I'm the the midst of chapter two, still in the early 19th century, and a transition scene that was only supposed to last a page or two has grown to fill all known space. I've had to kick the Dreaded Internal Editor to the curb a couple of times, and tell myself that it's all exploratory at this stage, the stuff that's emerging is relevant, and I should just write the damned thing.
Goal is end of September to get this in the mail to
arcaedia. I am stating it here and now, so you can keep track and mock me if I fail to deliver.
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-16 11:27 pm (UTC)Their blackberry wine is lovely stuff over vanilla ice cream, with some fresh blackberries, too...
no subject
Date: 2007-09-16 11:33 pm (UTC)