Water Restrictions
4:56 p.m. - 2015-04-16


Our water agency is going to require water restrictions this summer. I was worried that they would use our billing this year to determine how much water we get to use, which wouldn't be fair at all since we have already cut our water use by 50%, so cutting it back another 25% would be ghastly. I read today, though, that they are using 2013 as the baseline, so we are safe. I was worried that they would be stupid enough to punish the people who have done the most because politicians are what they are.

Now that tax season is over, the spouse will have time to get the garden into shape so that I can plant the seeds and seedlings. He has already built a small brick wall around my little herb garden (which is an oasis in the brick paving around the deck) so the water won't run out so easily. There wasn't much room in the herb bed because the rosemary bush had grown into a godzilla of a plant, but I went out there and wrapped the plant with a concrete reinforcing wire cage and it is now upright. Then I planted thyme and basil and sage all around it. Hopefully, it will soon be a tasty jungle.

I have been sewing some knit tops for myself using some possibly ugly printed knits I got at the craft thrift shop. One has a blue/gray background splashed with fuchsia tulips, the other has a seed-packet/sunflower thing going on. They amuse me and I enjoy wearing them, though my daughter has other opinions on their fashion worthiness. I have a few more shirts cut out that are waiting to be sewn.

I have been trying out new recipes lately with varied success. Last Sunday I tried two vegetable recipes I got off the internet. The green bean casserole was very blah, but the corn mixture was really good. It was the first time I have seen parmesan cheese added to a corn dish, but it was excellent (http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2013/02/easy-addicting-corn-recipe). Last night I tried an America's Test Kitchen recipe for a chicken dish with a sauce made of cranberry sauce, and I just didn't like it at all. I fished the chicken out of the offending sauce and quickly made up some of my BBQ sauce, and you couldn't even tell what the chicken tasted like before. The spouse ate it and liked it.

I finished cleaning out and organizing the freezer, but I have been cooking stuff to fill it up again, mostly soups.

I had some thrifting luck today and found a Salton yogurt maker at the thrift store for $2. It came in a filthy box so I made the clerk keep the box and put the appliance in a clean bag, then I cleaned it up when I got home. It looks brand new and works fine. It looks like it was never used but just got stuck in a shed somewhere. It had a completely random manual in the box for some soybean appliance, but I threw that out and looked online for a copy of the instructions. I'm going to try making yogurt tomorrow. I already have a yogurt maker that uses little jars, but this one makes a quart at a time.

Time to cook dinner.