Wednesday

I woke up WAY too early on my day off (3:30 AM). Unfortunately, I started thinking about work. If I think of the old days, or my kids or whatever, I can fall back asleep. But, when I think of work, I get wound up and can’t. So, I didn’t.

This happens all the time with the damn sleep apnea, but at least I can take a nap today. I gave up at 5:00 AM and got out of bed. I posted the Blog and made a pot of coffee. I watched the morning news until 7:00 AM and then got busy on the Shitake mushroom garden.

I rearranged the back room to make room for my construction step. I covered the heat blocker Jake built years ago with a little rug (the garden is supposed to NOT be anywhere near direct heat). I topped my step with a sheet of tin foil, to reflect the diffused sunlight upwards instead of sucking it up with the deep blue of the step.

I got cleaned up and dressed and went out back to get two patio pavers (at the very rear of the yard). It was chilly out there! It also was snowing lightly.

I took the pavers in the house and ran hot water over them to try and get them up to room temperature. I let them sit for a couple of hours, and then I drained the bag with the mushroom “log”. I pulled off the three mushrooms that had grown since I got this and set the “log” on the pavers in the storage container. I put the container on the tinfoil covering the step stool (see photos). I rinsed out the bag and hung it up to dry (I’ll need it for the second and third harvest) and covered the “log” with the “hot-house” bag (a tent of plastic with holes in it).

That done, I went in to take a nice, long (three hours) nap. I told you I didn’t get much sleep last night!

My daughter Melissa called around 5:00 PM. We talked about the holidays and then she told me she was making chicken soup for the first time, at the request of her husband Dave. Her approach was a little unique, rather than traditional. I hope she lets me know how it turned out.

I had bought one of those “family” packs to country spare ribs the last time I was grocery shopping, so tonight I opened it. I put four big, meaty ribs in the freezer and made the other four for dinner. I did a simple seasoning of Lawry’s seasoned salt and some garlic powder and baked them in the oven for an hour. I flipped them over and baked them another hour, then I brushed them with barbeque sauce and let them caramelize for another 10 minutes. I warmed up some potatoes, carrots and onions from the corned beef and cabbage as my side.

The meat was way over-cooked. I think I had the oven temperature too high (400 degrees F.) Low and slow would have been better. I guess Melissa can laugh at me, now!

I watched TV until bedtime and then went to sleep.