Lock-down Day 306

Mippies were busy last night! They opened the lid on their flower fountain and half the water splashed outside! The towel, on which I place it, was dripping wet. I carried it through to the laundry room, then had to mop up the drip trail! Put a new towel down, re-filled their fountain ... happy mippies!

Left a little late for work ... arrived about half an hour late. Although it's still overcast, I didn't see any rainfall in my gauge. 

Another mission accomplished! I've just got back from shopping! The plan was to just quickly go through DisChem, then to Cell C for a phone, so I can join WhatsApp ... only ... well, I saw a Cape Union Mart on the way to DisChem. And figured that it can't do any harm to look ... 

Well, guess what? They had shoes I liked AND fit perfectly AND are comfortable! That's a rare thing! Remember how many stores I wandered through last time I went looking for shoes? And today, I wasn't looking - serendipitous!

I've been wearing my 'gardening' shoes since the start of lock-down ... I'm not wearing my safety boots at work anymore. And they were never meant to be worn this much - they look it, AND I'm beginning to walk through them. Now I can keep them just for gardening and wear my new shoes to work!

And then I also saw some nice shorts! I tried a pair - I always start with their largest size, and usually that turns out too small. Today, again, I got lucky! They fit AND they're comfortable! They had only 2 pairs in that size - one navy blue and one duck-egg. Yeah ... when I took a look at the receipt later, and saw 'Duck-egg' I was puzzled, too! It's a light blue.

Next, I saw a straw wide-brim sun hat! Exactly what I've been looking for! That'll keep my neck and shoulders from burning every time I DON'T put up the gazebo!

Yes, I spent more money than I had planned - planned today, that is. It WAS on my budget for the year, just not this month. I'm very happy about it, though! I'll be looking really stunning next time I'm gardening! Ha Ha! I hope my mippies will appreciate that!

I got really lucky finding items I've needed for a while! All fit comfortably!

Next, the dreaded DisChem. The queue at the self-medication counter wasn't very long - but with only half the counters manned, it was a quarter hour wait ... got almost everything, though. Then a few items off the shelves ... and then we get to the most important item: Starch! I need that for my cookies. Cornstarch, potato starch - doesn't matter, which. I haven't found it online, nor at any store I've been to - and I've been looking for months! I last bought a packet of potato starch at DisChem, so ... well ... I'm walking up and down their 'gluten free' and 'all natural' food items ... nobody there to help, and I've read every label twice, by now. A security guard walks past, so I ask HIM if he knows anyone who can help me ... a minute or two later, he brings someone ... who works at the store, but doesn't know. The lady who DOES know, has better things to do than help customers (that was her attitude when she was asked by the guy trying to help me). Nice! So, now there's two of us wandering up and down the shelves reading every label. Suddenly he points: Tapioca Starch! Sigh ... it's the ONLY starch they have, so ... not like I have a choice, eh? But seriously, the enthusiasm to help a customer? I'm glad I won't have to go back for at least another year!

Anyway, I'm stocked (mostly ingredients for my migraine cocktail) and even got some happy purchases! I can't wait to wash and wear my new shorts, hat & shoes! Though, of course, I won't be washing the hat & shoes!

The weather is still a roller-coaster ride: sunshine, rain, drizzle ... never know what's next. Fortunately, we're only experiencing the outlying, mild effects of Eloise.

At home, Smeagol is impatiently calling, as soon as I get out of the car to open the garage! Yes, boy! I'm coming! I offload everything, park the car, go inside, and feed Smeagol! While he's eating - and mippies are outside - I carry everything inside and unpack. I take the bread dough out of the fridge to let it rise before I bake it later.

I put my new shoes on and take a walk to the rain gauge - just one measly mm of rain! But, as it's overcast, the ground has neither dried nor baked! I go back inside, put on my gardening shoes (I'm about to enter muddy grounds) then first have a look whether any seeds are poking through? Indeed! I can see some sweet peas coming up and a few other sprouts here and there, though I can't tell what's what, yet!

Then I get my things and settle down to carry on weeding the succulent bed. I didn't cover a lot of ground - but I did clear the little ground I covered, very thoroughly! Absolutely covered in sprouting weeds! Half the 'easy' bright green weeds, that grow tall so quickly, and half the dark green ones, which blend so cleverly with any ground that they're often overlooked. Also, they start growing flat along the ground, rather than up, tall. So they really are easy to overlook. With the ground as soaked and soft, I'm able to pull a lot of them out without even breaking the hairline roots! Some of those dark green things, with only one or two teeny tiny leaves - barely visible - yet their roots are already an inch or longer! And the are growing so thick together, at times I think I'm picking one single plant, but three come out! Well, I've got fingers, not tweezers, you know?

Smeagol didn't seem to want lovies tonight - although he did hang around and meow, he wasn't keen on being touched. I was allowed a few strokes, but then he meandered off. 

I came in, not too late, treated mippies, had a bath, baked bread rolls, fried and ate my steak - shared generously with mippies ... now it's past nine, and I'd like to watch the episode I started last night ...