Woke up at 4:38 this morning for some reason; perhaps it’s because I dragged myself to bed too early. I was absolutely exhausted. Still feeling it this AM and it has gotten no better as the day slowly went on. Tomorrow I need to get in gear and do some things around here.

But, I had a triple espresso to start off my day and it was so awesome and delicious I nearly wept years of joy. Nearly. It’s good to have that part of the morning routine again after about six months of no coffee. I guess once doesn’t make a routine, but it will be a routine once again. Definitely “perked” me up but still dragging a bit and my stomach has been a little queasy after that jolt. Maybe I should back off to a double tomorrow.

The phrase “perk” made me think and it was just as I suspected – it’s a shortened version of “percolate”, which is how coffee is made (by pouring water through the ground beans it percolates through and into a cup). So yes, coffee would perk one up. You may have learned something new just now!

It’s pretty strange having two dogs again. Rumor, or “Roomba” as Meghan calls her, is so different than Rider. He’s a little more high-strung while she just kinda wiggles around shaking her back half. Two of the happiest dogs ever. But, when it comes to playing ball or Frisbee, it’s on and she is right up there with him playing hard and running those little legs off.

Yesterday I picked up a “French Bistro Café Folding Table” at an outlet store.

It was a good deal and since I’m in there often the lady who owns the place knocked another $5 off of it for me. I need a couple of chairs that fit it so I’ll be on the lookout for some of those in a thrift or outlet store. I told her that it’s perfect for morning coffee on the porch or wine in the evening…or even wine in the morning!

I’m also looking for some porcelain plates (oblong & round ones) and some bowls like they used in old-school diners. They are heavy and just have a “certain something” that I really like. They are just cool. Plus, they stand up to use. The modern set I use have, amazingly, made it through all my moving fairly well but have sustained some chips and I think one piece got broken.

I’m getting an abundance of tomatoes, basil and parsley. I am thinking about getting a dehydrator so I can use that instead of wasting energy on drying in an oven. I want to dry tomatoes and make tomato flakes for cooking and spice mixes. I already have a lot of basil I dried but the plant just keeps growing like it’s on steroids. Even after I trimmed it it has grown back and is waist-high. I cannot cook with it fast enough to use it.

It’s been a nice day but the breeze isn’t making it feel in the upper 70s. It’s the time of year where you open up the windows & turn the furnace off during the day and turn it back on at night. It’s supposed to get in the mid 30s next weekend so my peppers and tomatoes need to get with it soon.

Unfortunately one of my heirloom tomatoes rotted on the bottom. I discovered that when I picked it. It was small but a nice tomato. Oh well. There’s more.

I was researching earlier and I may need to dig my hot pepper plants up and transplant into pots. Apparently they don’t like it much below 70° F so they may be slow to ripen. There’s a lot of them so I’d hate to lose them. I certainly don’t want to lose my bell and sweet peppers before they are done. I use those for pasta.

I also have some bhut jolokia peppers and those bad boys are really hot. I’ve never had one so I don’t know much about them other than the pain and suffering I have seen on YouTube. Then there are some other hot ones coming on that I don’t know what they are.

I’m still planning on making salsa after I roast the hot ones but honestly I don’t know how much of that heat I can take. I am out of practice and, frankly, with my heart issues I’m not sure I should go too crazy with the heat.

Yesterday after I got my flu shot at Wally World I took a stroll to grab one or two things. Amazingly, it actually DID end up only being two things this time.

But, on the day-old bread rack was something I had not seen before: a Gouda pastry.

With Gouda being quite possibly my favorite cheese I just had to know how delicious that pastry was. In my shopping bag it went. Holy 💩. That thing was so delicious. It actually tasted like a decent cheese wrapped in croissant pastry then baked. It was smoky & creamy and was perfect in the pastry. It would be awesome at breakfast with an egg. I gotta get those again. If you find one of these you will not be disappointed. It was a little splurge for lunch so I cut back the rest of the day.

Hoping to get out again for another adventure. I’m sure the dogs would love a hike. Going to try to find a new place when we do.

That’s it for this episode. Thanks for stopping and reading my blog!