Week 40 - Sunflowers and Squash

With the new month came new weather (it was in the mid 90's the last week of September - crazy!) and with that came yard work. To some that's drudgery but i get great satisfaction from it.

I still had the AC on on Monday but I was able to turn it off and open windows on Tuesday. Yay! We had big storms that evening and I couldn't find Pixel after the thunder and lightening stopped. I went to bed worried and got up several times - calling her, checking the yard and street (thinking of Gansey), in my nightie of course. After a couple of hours of this, I found her happily sleeping in her favorite chair in the front room. Huge relief but sheesh! It took a dose of benadryl to get me to sleep after all that adrenalin. 

I was exhausted on Wednesday morning and it was a campus day. I was getting ready on auto pilot and while not thinking, I opened the damaged hatch of my car. Immediate panic set in but when I was able to get it shut easily, I was super happy. With the ability to use my trunk, I could now use my car as a pick up truck and take stuff to the city's burn pile. I was ridiculously excited about this.

After a full day of F&A at work and a reprieve for going in on Friday (I flat out asked my boss if I could work from home and he said yes!), I was ready for the weekend.

First up was cutting down sunflowers, which volunteered a few years ago and are all over my yard. I started in the parking and it looked SO much better with those huge stalks gone (the flowers had already faded) and that filled the back of my car. I drove the first load with my hatch open and stalks hanging 10 feet behind the car. When I got done with that load, I started cutting the ones by my driveway and garage then went to the east side of the house. I finished that load with prickers stuck all over my clothes but powered through and got it done. I also found a some ready to pick squash by the garage, which was a bonus. I went in for a much needed shower and called my work day done. 

I spent Sunday inside and cleaned out my fridge, making a batch of applesauce with the random apples in my crisper then made applesauce bread. I ended the day making an old fave from my college days - chicken a la king over ramen. Yum! It was a nice ending to a productive weekend and the cool weather was a balm for my soul. Next up for a cool weekend will be cooking one of the huge cushaw squashes I found.