What I forgot to mention about Wednesday night is: since mippies couldn't go out to play, they made up for that by playing during the night! And, of course, I'm included in all their favourite activities ... so I woke up with one of those hook-claw beetles crawling onto my arm in an attempt to escape excited mippies!
The lack of sleep, of course, caught up with me Thursday afternoon ... I had difficulty staying awake, and, also a result: I didn't do much at home that evening!
On Friday I got a chance to go shopping. Since I didn't really need much, I decided to treat myself to some Sushi! Yummy! I LOVE Sushi! I decided to get only meat and no fruit and/or veggies so that I wouldn't have too much to process this weekend. I still have plenty of banana, strawberry and blueberry frozen, as well as papaya, spanspek, grapes, etc. I did, however, get myself a few energy boosters of the fruit variety. Special mix smoothies. They're expensive, but quite delicious! And then I also took a strawberry juice and an aloe juice - meant to be mixers for the frozen veggies which don't mix so well with milk.
I think those energy booster thingies work, because I was very busy Friday afternoon! When I got home, I offloaded everything, baked myself some bread rolls - ooh! They turned out absolutely divine! I used some fresh basil in the dough and wrapped it around some bacon and cheese cocktail sausages! The sausages were not as nice as their price indicated - I will make a plan to go to the German Butchery and get some sausages which deserve to be wrapped in my delicious bread!
And then I got busy in the garden! I started clearing the grass next to the bench ... and then it started to rain, driving me inside. That rain turned out to be almost torrential, with some added hail! My mippies were complaining that they couldn't go outside ... only Ziva was missing! Oh, gosh - last I saw of her was on her way out!? Poor girl must be caught outside somewhere in all that rain - and there is just no place that will be dry. Every flat surface had turned into either pool or river - it was coming down that hard!
Since there was nothing I could do outside, I started washing the dishes - and high time, too! With all those power outages, they had piled up quite a bit. By the time I was done, it had stopped raining and mippies could spend some more time outside. Ziva turned up dry as houses! Not even wet paws!?
I later discovered that Ziva is afraid of the thunder and lightning and hides under the sleeper couch. Nothing will coax her out from there, while the weather is making such noise! It rained hard again Saturday evening and that time I knew they were all inside - I went to look for Ziva and found her under the sleeper couch. I never knew she was frightened of thunder and lightning - but then, we don't get that in PE. Poor girl!
Anyway, I looked at the time - I use my phone for that - and saw a message. Rose had received her surprise! Finally! I was beginning to worry. Turns out, though, that she refused to accept the delivery as she hadn't ordered anything ... until they called her and told her it was a gift! I should have thought of that - I'm also wary of gift horses!
I called her and we had a lovely chat! I'm just sorry she didn't get the Peanut Cups, as they were still out of stock. I'm also told that there's just about nothing left of 'my' garden in PE ... ah, well. The path is totally overgrown, ditto the rockery - but what we did plant is in full bloom! Oh, and Rose now has a gooseberry bush in her garden! No idea how it started growing - must have been some bird crapping out seeds! That birdbath of hers is turning out to be quite fruitful! She's got cherry tomatoes growing happily and now gooseberry!
Sigh, in my case, putting up a bird bath would be pure cruelty - with Ziva, Tynx and Janey around ...
I had bought several packets of chicken hearts for my mippies and on Friday night, after their treat, I gave them more and more and more until they couldn't eat any more! They all loved it! And I enjoyed seeing my mippies so happy! Especially the little one - boy, she just eats and eats and eats!
I figured that, having filled their tummies so full of yummies that I would be able to eat my own dinner in peace! Ha Ha Ha! Would you believe that they ate about half my steak - after all those chicken hearts? I could hardly believe they had room for more! All four tummies were big and fat and looked like they could burst!
Mine was well filled as well, by the way.
Saturday I seemed to have huge amounts of energy again! As if last weekend I had to store up to receive it this weekend. I did the laundry, washed the floors and then spent most of the day in the garden. I'm clearing areas which are still overgrown - between the red flowering succulents, where I hadn't managed to get to last time it rained. The garden is coming along very nicely! I counted some 16 bulbs poking through and I even have a Zucchini growing!
I did, however, burn my back again. Sigh. It had just finished peeling and here I go again ... not a smart thing to do!
I did have a good laugh at Mewthos, though! He thought it would be a good idea to try and catch one of those noisy birds in the garden. I'm not sure what they are, I think Crowned Plover? Anyway, they shriek whenever danger approaches and they are NOT scared of any of my mippies! I've seen my mippies watch them, but never go after them ... until Mewthos! First I knew of it, he came running home at top speed pursued by two of those birds - running, not flying! And they were shrieking at the top of their voice!
Of course, once home, he started to nonchalantly wash himself! Cats are so dignified, it's just too funny when things go wrong, their pronounced nonchalance right afterwards! Rose and I have seen it quite a few times, like when Shadow tried to claw up a post and didn't quite make it to the top.
Some time during the night, the power went out again. Sigh! It came back some time later - I don't know the times, as I just surfaced from sleep without fully waking up.
Since all the chores had been done Saturday, I could start Sunday morning with gardening - all I still needed to do was bake a loaf for work and wash the dishes ... that could wait.
I had decided to sow my flower seeds into the bed - as it is. It is in the full sun and the only times I could safely work there is after five - if it doesn't rain. And I'm up to it. Since I'm only sowing flowers there, I decided not to be thorough. So I turned the soil again, mixed in some compost and then ...
First I sorted through all those seed packets. I sorted them by size, since I wanted the taller ones at the back, so I could see the shorter ones from my chair. And then I went through them again and took out all the semi-shade one's (as in, those who would be okay in semi-shade, though they prefer sun). I was still left with quite a heap needing full sun only ... so, I separated them some more and took out the tallest ones. I decided I would rather sow those next to the cosmos, where my bulbs are growing.
That left me with a manageable number of packets. Yeah, I know - what 'manage'? I don't manage, I just empty packets of seeds and hope! Ha ha! Well, I've been so neat and organised with my vegetables, I decided to go back to my old messy habit of a 'wonder garden' as Rose calls it, as in "I wonder what's growing here?" So, I emptied quite a few packets of seeds and then added a layer of potting soil.
That's mostly where I burned my back! Even though I took breaks, and went into the sun as little as possible ...
Which got me to wondering whether they mean 'African Sun' when they say 'full sun' on the seed packets? Because I've watched plants wilt in a single day, which the packet - made in South Africa - claims will do best in full sun!
Anyway, I was already looking like a creature from the mud pool ... when the power went out! Yikes! No shower? Grrrr ....
Well, I carried on regardless. I sowed more flowers with the bulbs, then some more between the Cosmos and the Watermelons - I first turned that bed as well, cleaned out some big roots, added compost ...
Then I made another bed next to the Basil, were I sowed some pansies and lobelia - short plants, about 15 cm. I would be able to see them from my chair without them blocking my view of my watermelons!
I'm thinking carefully about each bed and flower where I should sow them so I can get the most pleasure from them! Oh, I love walking through my garden, but I do spend a lot of time sitting in my chair, watching mippies ... and looking around my garden. So, I don't want tall flowers blocking my view.
Lastly, I made a new patch next to the bench, where I sowed the seeds preferring semi-shade to shade.
Then I sat down and wrote down where I had sown what. I planted the last bulb and sowed every last packet of flowers! That garden had better be awash with colours in three months time!
Then I continued arranging my seed packets, grouping them as makes sense to me, re-sowing what doesn't seem to be making the effort - like celery, parsley, sage, oregano, chamomile ... only to discover that I have no more rosemary, thyme nor marjoram seeds! Gosh! See why I need to organise my seed packets?
Sigh and then ... as I'm sitting with my seed packets ... Ziva starts gagging! She threw up on my car roof! Lovely! Shame, she feels bad about it - they always do! They always feel ashamed after they've thrown up somewhere. That's why I clean it up quickly, so we can all forget about it.
I also took out some more Basil and added it to the bed - one of the plants didn't like it, I'm afraid. The only one, so far - all the others are doing very well! Now the peas, broad bean and mielie have room to grow in that pot!
My gooseberry seeds seem to be sprouting! Finally! I was beginning to wonder!
Around five my landlord tells me that they estimate the power outage to last till about eleven tonight ... Argh! I'm muddy, sweaty and really want a shower ... now I have to hang over the wash basin to splash the bits I can reach, again?
Sigh ... I washed my hands, my feet and part of my arms, and the water is black! I'll need another bucket full to wash the rest ... for now, though, wet wipes will have to do.
My mippies seem to be quite happy this weekend, getting such a lot of cuddles! I watched Mewthos and Tynx curled up side by side on the towel I had put by the front door - I must get another door mat one day; I just haven't seen one I like.
Some time later, I'm watching Ziva, Mewly and Janey curled up side by side on the sleeper couch! They are such darlings!
Well, with still no power and nothing else to do ... I'm back in the garden. Clearing ground, burning some more. It's quite a large plot of land for one old lady to clear! I'm not complaining, though - once the worst of it is done, it will be awesome! It's just hard work to get things going - but if it wasn't, it wouldn't be worth it, either!
I had a bit of a laugh at Ziva. She was nonchalantly strolling in the doggies garden, when doggie came running and barking! Shame, there were two doggies - and both wary of her claws, from experience! Still, she retreated into the tree and sat there for quite some time after the doggies had left.
I did mention that time when one of the dogs thought it would be fun to chase Mewthos? And Ziva got up and chased the doggie who ran, yelping, back home?
Fortunately the power came back on sometime before seven! What a relief! Okay, so it's too late for anything - but at least I can shower! What bliss!
I had to laugh at myself, though. I'm standing in the shower and look down ... to see my feet! I wear shoes in the garden, because of all the thorns. My feet are nice and tan - except the toes and a strip behind the toes! Those are almost glow-in-the-dark white!
Fortunately I had packed the meat into the freezer on Saturday, all I still need to freeze are the chicken hearts. And I had enough sausage rolls to take two to work as well - I also have two more for Tuesday. But I'll need to set a loaf to bake on Tuesday ... only, first I'll need to wash the dishes ... Sigh.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed my weekend as much as I did! Just don't ask me where I got all that energy from ... maybe the power went out and into me? Ha Ha!
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