Lock-down Day 620

Monday, 6th December

Very early morning. Power went off around twenty past six and came back at eight. Not too bad.

Mewthos has defined his cuddle space: he likes to roll around the arch scratcher, while I scratch whatever I can reach - back, sides, head ... and, although he LIKES to have his tummy scratched, he gets quite over enthusiastic. I've got the scratch mark to show for it - as soon as he hurt me, he lay still, not wanting to risk hurting me more.

That's everybody covered. Ziva loves her cuddle cave, Janey my lap and shoulder, Mini loves brushies ... and Mewthos roly polies with his arch!

With all 'musts' done and dusted, I'm free to do anything I want, today. There are a lot of 'musts' in the garden, so I'm staying inside, ha ha! Oh, I'll go outside later - can't have a whole day indoors! The grass is still wet - dew or rain, I'm not sure - so I can't mow. Sigh, yes, it has grown so much these past two days that it could do with mowing already!

So, apart from cuddling mippies, what am I doing today? First, I washed the dishes - kitchen is now mostly clean. I should still wash the floors ... not a 'must', though. Then, I've cleaned that 'free' litter out of the box. It was horrid stuff! Very coarse and hard, and when it's wet, it bonds like cement! I had to scrape it out with a spatula - the building type, not kitchen spatula! I've finally washed my new towels - hung them outside to dry, and now the new bed covers are washing.

And then, for the 'big project', I'm trying to create a better kind of protective cover for the stove. I don't use the stove. But the stove is also the only platform that isn't under a hanging cupboard! So, I've place my Induction Plate on top of the stove. And when I fry meat, grease splatters. Over the stove & oven controls - which can't just be wiped off. It gets behind the knobs, as you know, yourself. So, for now, I've been putting cardboard behind and under the Induction plate, which has absorbed the grease. Absorbed. There's the issue! It's become greasy through and through. I need a surface, which blocks the grease - and preferably one I can wipe off, occasionally. Oh, and a one-piece, rather than 3 separate boards, would make it easier to put aside, when I use the oven.

I've taken mippies treat boxes. Measured the length, made a cut for the fold, and glued them together. I considered painting the surface - later, though, as I don't have time to wait for the paint to dry, today. And then I thought of aluminium foil. That would look almost professional, wouldn't it? And for the final surface, I planned all along to use the vacuum sealer bags - they won't simply melt through, every time hot grease splatters on them.

Good idea, right? It works, does the job - but it looks awful, doesn't it?

Ah! Mippies final food delivery has arrived! Just had to call someone to open up & take the delivery!

Dang! We just had a power ... dip? It went off for just a few seconds - but long enough for the washing machine to wipe its memory. It's like: 'huh? What happened? What am I doing here? My door is closed, so I must have been busy, but with what? How far had I got? Better hold on to that door, though!' And I have to wait until it goes back to sleep, so that I can open the door. And hope the laundry isn't soaking wet!

I've taken a chance and hung it outside - though it looks like it could either clear up, or start raining any minute ... 

Not finished, but doesn't that look a LOT better? Unfortunately, the foil is discoloured along the center, seemingly from end to end. It's the way it was packaged. That's why there are those milky striped in the center.

Sadly, the brown packing tape spoils it - quite badly, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, I don't have clear tape - and I couldn't avoid taping in that one spot.

I've deliberately made it wider.

The fan for the induction plat is underneath, not at the back, so the cover can be held in place by the plate.

It would still be a fire hazard if the stove, or even the oven, were turned on - that's why I always turn it off at the mains. So that I can't even turn up the heat accidentally. I always remove everything, before I turn on the main switch. The induction plate is also always unplugged - since it has a touch interface. A mippie paw or nose could switch it on by accident. I think, I'm not sure, but I'm not taking any chances. It has a safety feature, in that it won't work, unless there is an induction pan or pot on top - still, I see no reason to take any chances.

This is how I sometimes feel about work. Anyway ...

Next, I should probably make the base cover. Only ... I've had about enough, ha ha!

Okay, I'm kind of working on the base cover. I put two pieces together, glue them, and while I'm giving the glue time to dry, I do something else.

For starters, I've planted lemon trees! I had some seeds from the lemon I juiced last weekend. This also gives me the opportunity to finally test my soldering iron! It works like a bomb! Once it's hot, it goes through the thick bottle bottoms like a hot knife through butter! A lot less effort than cutting through that! And, of course, instead of a slit, I have an actual hole!

Sir Fruit have changed their label. I mean the label they put on the 1.5L bottles. It's more environment friendly - as it seems to be more paper, than the previous plastic - but it means that it no longer comes off in one piece.

Next, I'm planting Kiwi! As a food source, the one's I got are extremely disappointing! They cost a fortune, and if there is as much as one bite per fruit - that's a lot! The center ... what-cha-ma-callit (yeah, I failed biology) ... well, that takes up more than half the fruit. Then the seeds around that ... and between seeds and skin there's a layer of edible. Less than a finger thick! Good thing I didn't buy them for their edibility, eh? Plenty of seeds, though!

What I've neglected so far, is: what am I going to eat tonight! I ALWAYS forget about that! Until it is either too late - or, I get lucky, like today, and remember in time.

I'm making a pasta concoction. I have tomatoes and avo's. Speaking of Avocados, obviously I'll be planting them! I've decided to try something different with the Avo pits. Instead of poking toothpicks into the slippery pit, I'm hanging them into a water bottle. I use the seal from the bottle lid, tie garden wire around that and hang it into the bottle. So the pit can 'rest' atop the ring.

That seal is somewhat tricky to get off the bottle top - but it's only for Avo's

See? The Avo pit is held up by the seal. And the seal is held in place by wire, which I've slipped into slits cut into the bottle

Right. It's almost five, time to call it a day.

Only, I didn't. I had still wanted to plant Almonds ... and since I still had 3 bottles ready, I decided to go ahead and plant 3! Even though they are small bottles - 300ml & 500ml. And Almonds are trees. But they're in soil and watered. Since I have no clue which way is up, i.e. which end the roots sprout and which end the leaves - I placed them sideways. Let them sort themselves out!

Dinner is also ready - I added heaps of basil leaves! That's my gardening for the day: clearing out bottom leaves from the Basil bush!

Well, by half six I went to sit outside for a bit of quality time with my mippies before coming inside ... only ... at that time, there's a whole hour of daylight left! Hmm ... should I start pulling weeds at the back, by the Jacaranda? I noticed some of those are already shoulder high! But I don't want mippies to come there ... so I tackled the tomato plants, instead!

Boy, have I got some decent sized tomatoes growing already! They are still green, but as big as my hand! Only, they aren't getting any sun ... so I started cutting. It's almost impossible to see what I'm doing, everything has grown so dense ... I lift, I tie, I cut, I lift and tie some more and cut, cut, cut. I've cut quite a lot - there are quite a few small tomato plants trying to grow, as well ... it's as if every single seed has decided to make the effort!

Well, I've done my best. I just hope I didn't cut too much! Oh, and while I was at it, I trimmed the cherry tomatoes I got from my neighbour as well.

I'm working on myself to focus on what I did manage to do, and not what still needs to be done.