But will it make toast?

We bought the weights bench from a good friend of ours, Bill Sutherland, who was happy to unload all this stuff for a twenty dollar bill and the promise of a good beer down the line.

After stopping paddling, we had noticed over the year or so that our upper body strength was falling apart, so we both need to do something about it, and pottering about in the garden isn't enough.

The middle bedroom is converted into a miniature gym, all we need to do now is use it....

Progress

A couple of weeks on, progress in the front garden :

There would have been more progress yesterday, but I ended up breaking our sixteen year old lawnmower height adjustment lever, so the rest of the afternoon was spent salvaging a part from the recycling depot and then modifying it to fit.

Lawnmower fixed, digging will resume at some point in the near future.

Planting - Part Two

The very real threat of drought again this year has encouraged the pair of us to replace our useless grass with some shrubs and drought-tolerant plants.

While Karen was planting her seedlings yesterday, I was out wrecking my elbows and knees in the rock ridden front yard, stripping the turf and weeds away to start fresh.

More joint deterioration planned for today...

Planting - Part One

A year ago we were just starting to build the greenhouse.

Yesterday, the first home produced seedlings, carrots and parsnips, went in. Today we plan to obtain some tomatoes and peppers and maybe something else we've not thought of yet.

Let the growing begin!

Bagels, first attempt

We're realising that almost everything can be made from scratch, a thing I am sure that our parents knew fifty years ago, everyday life back then when convenience food wasn't available.

The bagels are basic whole wheat bread flour, same salt, same sugar and just a tiny bit more work. The breadmaker has a dough setting, so the dough was made while we carried on our lives, then divided into 8 pieces, formed and then one last rise before an egg wash and application of seeds and stuff.

Sixteen minutes bake at 450 degrees.

And yes, there are only seven in the photo. I wonder why...

Six years on exactly....

Same place, same day, same boots, same coat, same me.