Stormy Friday

It has been raining non-stop since last night!  Heavy rains and strong gusty winds all day today, too.  I've been looking at the eucalyptus tree, anxiously; I hope it doesn't fall down!  My electricity and internet connection has been going off from time to time, too, this evening, due to the winds, I think.

I kept the heater on last night and used my microwavable rice filled heating pad to help a stiff shoulder; it helped to keep me warm, too.  I've had the heater on all day, today, too, set at 65F.  I will deal with the heating bill when it comes.

Speaking of heating bills, I received this month's natural gas bill, today.  It covers the billing period from January 20 to February 17, which is 28 days.  This is the bill they originally estimated would be $607.99. when I had a $130.28 bill after 6 days into the billing period, with 22 days remaining.

That's when I turned the thermostat down.  The following week, they estimated the bill would be $550.56 after 13 days had elapsed and I had a $255.61 bill.

The following week's bill tracker notification estimated that the bill would be $443.88; it was 20 days into the billing period and I had a $289/80 bill with 8 days remaining in the billing period.

Well, I received that bill, today, and for the period covering 1/20/23 - 2/17/23, my bill is for $337.74.  That is with the $50 state climate credit which is applied to the bill (an annual credit given to each customer; usually given out in the March/April bill, but the state required the gas company to give the credit in this month's bill to offset the higher gas costs).

The previous month's bill for almost $700 was for a 32 days billing period; the bill I received this week is for a 28 days billing period.  But, I brought down the number of therms I used from 160 to 104 by not using the heater as much and by lowering the thermostat when I did use it.  Of course, I used the electric heater when I was not using the gas heater and I'll  probably have a big electricity bill to pay, next month!  Even so, I am pleased to have saved nearly $270 from the first bill estimate!    

I received the weekly bill tracker notification, for the first 6 days of this current billing period, too, and it is $21.91 and assuming I use the same amount of gas over the remaining 26 days in the billing period, my projected next bill will be $208.22.

That seems to be more reasonable, doesn't it?  Although, I have been using the heater more, yesterday and today, having it on all night, last night, and all day, today, because it has been so cold.  Hopefully, we will warm up, in March and I won't need to have the heater on as much!

I have spent a fairly relaxed day, today.  M called to say he will be bringing the additional bags of pea gravel this evening in lieu of working in the garden as it was pouring with rain; I told him not to worry but he said he was already out and about as he had to pick up some other things as well.  I gave him a container of my turkey/ham/vegetable soup and some of the cornbread I baked last night.  

Breakfast was a piece of cornbread and two mandarins, lunch was a bowl of my turkey and vegetable soup, followed by half an apple.  I had another piece of cornbread with my evening cup of tea.  For dinner, I sliced the two Italian sausages leftover from the sausages and mash I had made earlier, added them to a packet of pasta sauce I had in the freezer, along with a handful of green peas, and had some of it with some spaghetti I cooked.  There's enough spaghetti and sauce leftover for at least one more serving, if not two.  

Later in the evening, friend R called and I video chatted with my daughter, keeping the chat relatively short because the internet connection kept going off!  

Today, I am grateful for:

- More rain for the garden (my rain water buckets are full and overflowing!)
- A working heater and a more reasonable gas bill!

- Electricity and internet connections

- A good roof overhead to keep the rain out!
- M getting the bags of pea gravel for me

Today's joyful activity was chatting with my daughter.

It is supposed to rain practically all night and all day tomorrow, too!  I'll probably do a little cleaning and maybe knitting.  

How was your Friday?  What are your plans for the weekend?  

Rainy and Cold on Thursday

Aloe Vera Flower Stalk

The aloe vera plant is flowering for the first time.  Aloe vera is the type of aloe with the gel that can be applied to the skin to soothe burns or added to drinks.  The other aloe plants that I have growing in the front garden are not edible and I would not apply the juice from their leaves to my skin.  They are grown purely because they are drought tolerant and the hummingbirds enjoy their nectar.

Last night (or should I say very early this morning?) just before I went to bed, I put the gas heater on for about 15 minutes or so and I put the heating pad on my bed to warm up the bed while I said my nightly prayers.  Then, I switched the heater and the heating pad off and went to bed feeling nice and warm. 

When I woke up this morning, however, it was around 51F inside the house and 45F outside and raining!  Even though I was bundled up, I was still feeling chilled, so, I put the gas heater on, with the thermostat set at 65F.  It took over four hours for the house to warm up to that temperature and the heater to turn itself off!  After which, I switched it off and haven't switched it back on, yet.  

The forecast called for a high of 52F, but, we only went up to 50F for a very brief period of time, around 3:00 p.m.  It was 45F when I checked at 1:40 p.m. and it is 47F at 5:20 p.m. when I am typing this.  I have just switched on the small electric heater and set it up right next to me.  But, I think I'll put the gas heater on a bit later this evening.  

It rained most of the morning; not a heavy rain, but enough to give the plants a drink and I managed to collect about two inches of rain in my buckets!  The sediments might be from the bags of mulch up on the patio roof!  

Rain Water Collection

The rain ceased in the afternoon and we had a bit of sunshine.  I started the car (it started without any problem) and walked around the garden, checking on things.  The mail carrier was training a new person, showing him how things are done, and he greeted me, but, said I had no mail, today.  

I made a pot of turkey and vegetable soup, in the afternoon.  There was a little bit of ham languishing in the fridge and I chopped that up and added it to the soup, along with onions, celery, bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and potato.  All the vegetables, other than the carrots and potatoes, were from the freezer, with the bell peppers, zucchini, and broccoli being what I grew.  A fairly frugal soup, I think, since the stock was made from part of the Thanksgiving turkey carcass and vegetables I had on hand.  I wanted to add some tomato, too, but, I only have a small package of tomatoes in the freezer and I want to keep that for a mackerel curry, next week.  That package is the last of the bumper crop of tomatoes I harvested in 2021.  Last year, I was able to pick only five tomatoes from the garden.  I hope I will have another good crop, this year.   I called neighbor S to ask if she'd like a bowl of soup, but, she declined saying that her daughter N had made chicken soup.  I guess with the cold temperatures we are having, everyone is thinking of warming bowls of soup!

Turkey/Ham/Vegetable Soup

Brunch had been two banana nut muffins; dinner was a bowl of soup.  It was an early dinner for me (before 7:00 p.m.); most probably, I'll be looking for something else a bit later in the evening.  There are several more servings of the soup left and I will offer some to M if he tends to the garden, tomorrow (all depends on the weather; more rain is in the forecast for tomorrow and if it rains, M will not be tending to the garden).

Today, I am grateful for:

- Rain for the garden
- The car started 
- A working heater
- Sunshine in the afternoon
- Warm clothes

Today's joyful activities included walking around the garden and chatting with my daughter.

Plans for tomorrow include doing a load of laundry and cleaning the kitchen.

How was your Thursday?  What are your plans for Friday?  Hope the weather is good where you are and you are keeping warm and safe, especially if there are winter storms and snow.

Hail and Camellias on Wednesday

Camellias from M

Tuesday night was so cold (38F was our low) that I added yet another blanket - one I knitted - on the bed!  But, I didn't put the heater on.

It was 54F inside the house when I woke up and 53F outside!  It was partly sunny outside and, after my morning cup of tea and prayers, etc., I went outside to stroll around the garden, thinking it might be warmer in the sunshine than inside the house.  It felt a bit warmer in the sunshine, but, there was a cold wind blowing, so I came inside.  I was wearing four layers and still feeling cold, so I put the heater on.  A little later, clouds moved in and the temperature outside dropped to 49F and it rained a little bit.  

M showed up a little later, to tend to the garden.  He brought me some camellia flowers from his garden.  He grows them for showing and he said he won 1st place, a 2nd place, and a 3rd place in a flower show last weekend.  He told me the names of the flowers, but, I only remember one of them - the white one with pink flecks (lower right when looking at the photo) is named Princess Masako.  He said it was for my daughter who loves all things Japanese (yes, he knows she's gone back to Berkeley); I sent her a picture of it!  LOL.

We chatted a bit and I served him some of the banana muffins I had baked.  Then, he started to work on the garden, weed whacking some of the overgrown patches of grass.  Not five minutes later, there was a clap of thunder and it rained and hailed!  M took shelter under the patio and I told him to just call it a day and go home.  There wasn't a lot of hail, fortunately, and I don't think it affected any of the plants.

Later in the afternoon, there was sunshine.  I spent the afternoon watching some videos and sewing.  I also took out a turkey carcass from the freezer and simmered it to make some stock for soup.  The forecast calls for rain and colder temperatures over the next three days and I thought that soup would be good for meals, along with leftover sausages.  

Brunch was leftover pancakes from yesterday; I had two of them with jarred seeni sambol and one with pancake syrup.  Dinner was leftover sausages, vegetables, and mashed potatoes.  That's the end of the mashed potatoes, but, there are two more sausages left.  I might boil some pasta to go with them.  

In the evening, I watched news, darned the heels of two more knitted socks, chatted with friend R, video chatted with my daughter, and did the dishes.  

Plans for tomorrow include making the soup and doing some paperwork.

Today, I am grateful for:

- A gift of flowers
- The hail didn't damage any of the plants
- M's help with the garden
- Working heaters and other appliances
- Chats and emails with friends

Today's joyful activities included video chatting with my daughter and walking in the garden.

How was your Wednesday?  What are your plans for Thursday?  

The Garden in February

The Front Garden in February

Welcome to the front garden!  The cold night time temperatures we've been having, going down to 36F some nights, have damaged the lantana flowers, but, the plants themselves are doing OK.

Succulents Along the Side Wall

Looking Along the Side Wall from the Sidewalk

Aloe Flower Cluster

Euryops Bushes Under the Eucalyptus Tree

A Different Perspective
(Sorry for the glare; it was a sunny day!)

Meanwhile in the back garden:

The Back Garden

The peach tree is leafing out:

The Peach Tree in February

The citrus trees are starting to flower:

Lemon Tree with Buds and Flowers

Orange Flowers and Buds

More Orange Flowers

The blueberry bushes are full of flowers, too:

Blueberry Flowers

And the plum tree is starting to show the tiniest of buds:

Plum Flower Buds

Yes, those are osteospermum plants you see in the background, behind the plum tree.  The plum tree is planted near the orange tree and the osteospermum plants are growing under the orange tree and flowering!

Osteospermum Flowers

If M has his way, he'd uproot all the osteospermum plants from under the orange tree, but, I like them!

Thank you for visiting my garden!  I hope you enjoyed it, blurry pictures and all!  LOL.  

I am grateful for:

- Having a garden to enjoy, especially during the lockdown and the pandemic
- M's help with the garden

- Water for the garden
- Flowers

- Bees and other insects to help pollinate the flowers

My joyful activity was walking around the garden and sharing it with my blog readers.

Warm on Monday

Crocosmia Flower Stalk

It was a beautiful sunny spring-like day on Monday with an afternoon high of 75F!  I was so happy!  

Of course, the house was cold when I woke up (I didn't put the heater on last night).  I debated putting the heater on when I woke up, but, then, decided not to.  Instead, I opened the doors and windows to try and warm up the house and sat outside in the sunshine to warm up!  After my morning cup of tea, I walked around the garden to check on things and I took some photos for my monthly garden post.  I was going to do that post, today, but, it will have to wait until tomorrow.  I'm posting the picture of the crocosmia as a preview!  LOL.  

Mama Cat's New Water Dish!

I filled Mama Cat's water dish this morning with fresh water, but, apparently, drinking water from the bowl is too easy and not as much fun as jumping on to the empty litter bucket that I've set out to collect rain water and then, balancing on the tall vase to drink the water from the smaller vase; I've some moringa stems kept to root in some water in that smaller vase.  Silly cat!  

Today, I watered the front garden and the back garden.  We are supposed to get some rain later in the week, but, the newly transplanted seedlings and some of the other plants looked like they could do with a little watering before the rains come.

Afterwards, I did a load of laundry (in cold water) and hung everything up to dry.  

I spent the afternoon repairing the quilt and watching videos. 

Some of the original quilt pieces are still good, but faded after many years of use and washing, like this piece which had a black background; it is from a dress with a tiered skirt that my mother had made for me:

Original Piece of Fabric

Same Fabric Remnant 

The funny thing is, I still had a remnant piece of the original fabric in my fabric stash!  I cut out and sewed a new patch near the old, faded piece as a contrast!  I found it very amusing to see that I still had fabric that was bought in the late 1970s/early 1980s in my fabric stash!  Not just this fabric, but another one, too:

Old Faded Piece and Unfaded Remnant

In the evening, I watched news and a couple of other TV programs, spoke with friend R, cleaned the litter box, and took the trash can to the end of the driveway for trash pick up, tomorrow.  Guess who came to visit, this evening?

Racoon!

It was by itself, today, and I've no idea if it is a he or a she, but, I think I'll call it "Bandit"!  It was helping itself to the cat food I had left out for Mama Cat!

Brunch had been two banana muffins.  Dinner was inspired by what Lyssa had served as Sunday dinner, sausages and mash.  As soon as I read that, I thought to myself, "I have sausages; OK, they are the store brand version of hot Italian-style sausages, not the typical British sausages, but nevertheless, they are sausages, and I have potatoes that need to be used up as they are starting to sprout".  I thought I could make a salad to go with it or cook some broccoli or something.  Lyssa said that sausages and mash are typically served with fried onions and thin, brown, British-style gravy, although a salad would be goodm too.  Well, I didn't make the salad, after all, but, I added some vegetables to the sausages, because I have to sneak in my vegetables when I can!

Bless' Sausages and Mash Potatoes with Vegetables!

I browned the Italian sausages and added some sliced onions, celery cut in very thin strips, bell pepper strips, tomatoes, and, at the very end, a handful of snow pea pods from last summer's garden (all the vegetables, except for the onions, were what I had in the freezer; I sliced and froze the rest of the onion, too).  The sausages (there were five sausages in the pack) and the vegetables created their own gravy as they cooked.  

But, first, before I cooked the sausages, I peeled and cut my potatoes into small pieces, covered them with cold water in a pot, covered the pot, and brought it to a boil.  Once the water came to a boil, I turned off the heat and left the pan sit, covered, until I finished cooking the sausages.  I was experimenting and the experiment worked!  The potatoes were cooked all the way through when I tested them with a fork!   Woo hoo!

I enjoyed my dinner; thank you Lyssa for the inspiration!  There's leftover mashed potatoes and four more sausages for future meals!  This week's meal plan will feature sausages (with leftover mashed potatoes, with pasta, etc.) and some sort of soup (for the cold, rainy days in the forecast for the latter part of this week). 

Today, I am grateful for:
- A lovely, sunny, warm day
- Garden flowers
- My fabric stash
- Water for the garden
- Urban wild life!

My joyful activities today included spending time in the garden and video chatting with my daughter.

Plans for tomorrow include doing a bit of tidying up and continuing to repair the quilt.

How was your Monday?  What are your plans for Tuesday?  Are you planning to make pancakes for Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday?

Anybody else has 40+ year old fabric in their stash?

Sunny Sunday

Dancer Enjoys an Afternoon Nap!

Sunday lived up to its name and was sunny!  The house was cold when I woke up and I put the heater on until it warmed up the house to 65F.  Then, I turned the heater off.  By the time I started to feel cold, again, it had warmed up outside, so I was able to open the front door and some of the windows at the back to create some air flow and draw in the warmer air.  It was a three layer day, today - two sweatshirts and a fleece jacket!  I wore my knitted neck warmer instead of a scarf.

I folded and put away the laundry I did yesterday, replied to blog comments, chatted with my daughter, continued to repair the quilt, and watched videos.  One was a video about the spending habits of retirees and how to reduce that spending.  According to the video, which cited figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the five biggest expenses, which added up to 80% of the funds spent by the average retired household, were housing (included mortgage, insurance, maintenance, utilities, etc.), medical (included copays, medications, supplemental medical insurance, etc.), food, transportation (included car payments, insurance, maintenance, fuel, etc.), and entertainment.  The premise of the video was, if you can reduce spending in any of these five areas, it would have the biggest impact.  I took notes while I watched that video!  Another video was a sort of documentary done by one of the public television stations about various retirement funds, but, it was a program that had originally aired in 2013 and it is now nearly 10 years later, so, I don't know how applicable it is now.    

Later, I watched news, called friend R and left her a message, video chatted with my daughter, and baked some banana nut muffins with the last two bananas that I didn't eat:

Banana Nut Muffins

While they baked, I stayed in the warm kitchen and did the dishes and wiped down the counters, etc.  

Brunch had been French toast.  Dinner was pasta with the last of the spaghetti sauce I had kept in the fridge (there's more in the freezer).  Afterwards, I ate two of the muffins.  

Today, I am grateful for:
- A sunny and mild day (high was 67F)
- Working appliances
- Passive solar heating in the afternoons
- Internet access
- Freshly baked muffins warm from the oven

Today's joyful activity was baking.  There is something almost magical about taking two riper than I like bananas and mixing them with some flour, sugar, baking powder, oil, milk, and an egg, putting it in the oven, and coming up with some delicious muffins!  

Tomorrow (Monday) is Presidents Day and a holiday.  It is supposed to be another warmer day with a high of 71F.  I don't have any specific plans other than doing a meal plan and maybe some cooking.  Soup will be on the menu this week as it is supposed to be cold and rainy mid week.  

How was your Sunday?  What are your plans for Monday?

Saturday

Saturday morning was cloudy and overcast, but, there was some sunshine in the afternoon and we reached a high of 64F.

But, I hadn't put the heater on during Friday night and when I woke up on Saturday morning, it was 54F inside the house and I felt chilled, even though I was dressed in four layers on the top (blouse, sweatshirt, wool handknitted sweater, wool handknitted cardigan) plus a scarf, sweatpants, and wool handknitted socks!  So I put the heater on with the thermostat set at 65F and once it warmed up the house, I turned it off.  Later in the evening, I switched on the small electric heater and that has kept me warm.

I did a load of laundry (the old sheets I put on the family room sofas to keep Dancer's fur off the upholstery) in the afternoon; in an attempt to keep the gas bill low, I washed them in cold water, not warm, and hung everything up to dry.  I covered the sofas with the second set of sheets I keep for the purpose.  

I spent most of the afternoon repairing the quilt and watching some online videos.  I also texted cousin P's daughter and later, I spoke with cousin P.  Later in the evening, I called friend R to check on her and video chatted with my daughter.  

I walked a bit in the garden in the early evening, to enjoy the sunset and the scent of lemon and orange blossoms.

Dinner was more fried rice, with leftover rice and the last of the ground beef mixture I had kept in the fridge.  

Today, I am grateful for:

- Working appliances
- Electricity and gas to run them
- Being able to walk in the garden
- Phone chats with family and friends
- Dancer keeping me company

Today's joyful activity was repairing the quilt.  So many of the torn pieces of fabric I am replacing came from clothing my mother sewed; she'd give me the leftover bits and pieces for my patchwork and seeing them brings me memories of her and the garments she sewed.  She had a dress made with that fabric, she sewed me a skirt with this fabric, that other piece was from a shirt my step-father wore.  We lived in a studio apartment at the time when I pieced this quilt and we had furnished it with other people's cast-offs, either given to us by family and friends or picked up from the side of the road, because we hadn't enough money to buy furniture.  I still have one of the side tables we picked up.  It's still serving a purpose in my hallway.  Ah, yes, the "good old days"!  Such nostalgia!