![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I am very tired and achy, but I have accomplished many things today. Unfortunately, I also have the Mom Tan, which she refers to as the Grandma Tan, because it was the sort of thing that tended to happen to her grandmother. Her grandmother, see, had a way of bending over-- she never squatted down, but always bent over with her ass in the air. My mother began doing this as well as she matured, and now I've realized I do it too. Squatting own just isn't as comfortable-- my legs are too muscular or bulky, and I lose circulation, and I am always very dizzy and headachey when I stand up.
But that means that I get the sunburn just at the top of my pants in the back, the little halfmoon on the tender white flesh. Very embarrassing. I have a photo, of course. I will reveal all, if I ever do that photo post I've been promising.
So Next-Door Cuntbag has gone through the entire phonebook and called every possible agency or office that could possibly have any jurisdiction in the matter of our compost heap. Having the Erie Co. Dep't of Health sign off on it was not enough for her, no sir, and so she finally got the building inspector to come out and look.
On the good side, he was impressed by how well-constructed the thing is.
On the bad side, code specifies that it must be three feet from buildings and property lines.
So. We moved it. It's now in the driveway in front of the garage, precisely three feet from the garage and three feet from the fence. It's now much closer to her house than it was. It's also much more prominent in our yard, but y'know, what you gonna do? There's absolutely nowhere else to put it. It's much more convenient now, of course, so I'm being much better about using it.
I'm going to decorate it. We think we ought to name it Marjory after the All-Knowing Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock (thanks to Z's cousin Kevin for remembering that). The Trash Heap was, Wikipedia informs us, actually a compost heap, after all, and her wisdom was derived from having been around the life cycle a few times. So I think she needs a really cheerful sign. And also, perhaps, a planting of morning glories in a pot in front of her to climb up the mesh on the side. I want to make her a decorative element in my driveway, after all.
I've filled the space between her and the garage with the garbage can and recycle bin-- I think they might as well sit there up next to Mrs. Bob's precious fucking fence. And then I'll let that section of formerly herb garden just go to weeds, because who the fuck cares? Only she can see it, and she doesn't deserve to see nice things.
Meanwhile I finished the front yard today. The brick walkway is now the front border of a wide garden bed, and the sod from the bed has been moved to form a kidney-shaped raised bed that has the walkway as its upper border and also encompasses the sewer drain, which used to just stick up awkwardly and look dumb. The front beds are primarily filled with purple flowers-- a purple coneflower, a purple delphinium, a blue lupine, some purple petunias, and a few other things I bought for their colors and don't remember the names of. I also got a white shasta daisy and some cream petunias to throw in there. The beds are big, and in future years I may put more perennials in them, as I am very bad at planting annuals, I discovered. (Not that it's hard, it's just that I have to go and choose them and buy them and lay them out and, you know, bleargh.)
I have only one quick photo of the finished product, as the Bobs were out front shooting me venomous looks and I was expecting company anyway. Percy who owns the scooter shop came over with a new tire for Z's Stella, and Mrs. Bob spent the entire time he was here standing in her front yard trying to figure out what he was up to.
But she'd gone inside for the night by the time we moved the compost heap. I'm surprised she didn't come back out. Maybe she thought it best not to involve herself. You never know when Z's Sarcasm Bombs will explode.
Oh-- harvested and ate a bunch of radishes today. Radishes are tasty! Also I made Awesome Mojitos because I was weeding and pulled something and said, "That looks like mint. Oh shit." I smelled it and indeed it was. Which is a problem, as mint is an aggressive spreader and I've no idea where it came from.
But I took the mint, uprooted it, and made mojitos.
DL7's Improved Mojito Recipe
7-8 leaves fresh mint
2-3 squirts lime juice (buy the little plastic lime-shaped container at the store. Easier than trying to keep limes, in this climate.)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 oz light rum
Combine above in glass. Mush around with a spoon to crush mint and dissolve sugar.
Add a splash of club soda if you have it, or plain water if you don't. (I used some old, flat tonic, just to keep it from being too sweet. Alternately you could probably leave out the sugar.)
Fill glass with Sprite/7-up/whatever.
Garnish with the top of the mint stalk. A wedge of lime is nice if you have it, but I didn't and was fine.
This is the first mojito I've made from scratch that I didn't think was ass-nasty.
But that means that I get the sunburn just at the top of my pants in the back, the little halfmoon on the tender white flesh. Very embarrassing. I have a photo, of course. I will reveal all, if I ever do that photo post I've been promising.
So Next-Door Cuntbag has gone through the entire phonebook and called every possible agency or office that could possibly have any jurisdiction in the matter of our compost heap. Having the Erie Co. Dep't of Health sign off on it was not enough for her, no sir, and so she finally got the building inspector to come out and look.
On the good side, he was impressed by how well-constructed the thing is.
On the bad side, code specifies that it must be three feet from buildings and property lines.
So. We moved it. It's now in the driveway in front of the garage, precisely three feet from the garage and three feet from the fence. It's now much closer to her house than it was. It's also much more prominent in our yard, but y'know, what you gonna do? There's absolutely nowhere else to put it. It's much more convenient now, of course, so I'm being much better about using it.
I'm going to decorate it. We think we ought to name it Marjory after the All-Knowing Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock (thanks to Z's cousin Kevin for remembering that). The Trash Heap was, Wikipedia informs us, actually a compost heap, after all, and her wisdom was derived from having been around the life cycle a few times. So I think she needs a really cheerful sign. And also, perhaps, a planting of morning glories in a pot in front of her to climb up the mesh on the side. I want to make her a decorative element in my driveway, after all.
I've filled the space between her and the garage with the garbage can and recycle bin-- I think they might as well sit there up next to Mrs. Bob's precious fucking fence. And then I'll let that section of formerly herb garden just go to weeds, because who the fuck cares? Only she can see it, and she doesn't deserve to see nice things.
Meanwhile I finished the front yard today. The brick walkway is now the front border of a wide garden bed, and the sod from the bed has been moved to form a kidney-shaped raised bed that has the walkway as its upper border and also encompasses the sewer drain, which used to just stick up awkwardly and look dumb. The front beds are primarily filled with purple flowers-- a purple coneflower, a purple delphinium, a blue lupine, some purple petunias, and a few other things I bought for their colors and don't remember the names of. I also got a white shasta daisy and some cream petunias to throw in there. The beds are big, and in future years I may put more perennials in them, as I am very bad at planting annuals, I discovered. (Not that it's hard, it's just that I have to go and choose them and buy them and lay them out and, you know, bleargh.)
I have only one quick photo of the finished product, as the Bobs were out front shooting me venomous looks and I was expecting company anyway. Percy who owns the scooter shop came over with a new tire for Z's Stella, and Mrs. Bob spent the entire time he was here standing in her front yard trying to figure out what he was up to.
But she'd gone inside for the night by the time we moved the compost heap. I'm surprised she didn't come back out. Maybe she thought it best not to involve herself. You never know when Z's Sarcasm Bombs will explode.
Oh-- harvested and ate a bunch of radishes today. Radishes are tasty! Also I made Awesome Mojitos because I was weeding and pulled something and said, "That looks like mint. Oh shit." I smelled it and indeed it was. Which is a problem, as mint is an aggressive spreader and I've no idea where it came from.
But I took the mint, uprooted it, and made mojitos.
DL7's Improved Mojito Recipe
7-8 leaves fresh mint
2-3 squirts lime juice (buy the little plastic lime-shaped container at the store. Easier than trying to keep limes, in this climate.)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 oz light rum
Combine above in glass. Mush around with a spoon to crush mint and dissolve sugar.
Add a splash of club soda if you have it, or plain water if you don't. (I used some old, flat tonic, just to keep it from being too sweet. Alternately you could probably leave out the sugar.)
Fill glass with Sprite/7-up/whatever.
Garnish with the top of the mint stalk. A wedge of lime is nice if you have it, but I didn't and was fine.
This is the first mojito I've made from scratch that I didn't think was ass-nasty.
