Holy moley

The moles are back. Not in great numbers, but there are two areas where fresh hills are appearing. This one is in the north forty, the other is in the west. They're not a big problem, but the hills are unsightly.

They kind of look like cow patties. They're just dirt.

Yesterday I did some trimming, cutting off most of the low-hanging branches on the apple trees. They tend to slap me in the face when I run under them with the mower. And the apples are getting big enough to hurt when they bump my head. So, off they went!

Armagnac

I treated myself to a shot of armagnac on Saturday after lunch. Armagnac is a brandy made by distilling white wine and aging the result in oak barrels, much like its cousin, cognac. Often, brandies are served in a bowl-like glass called a snifter. I guess that helps to develop and capture the brandy's aroma, particularly the smokiness of the oak. I served this one in a shot glass. But don't gulp it down in one go. Brandy is meant to be sipped and savored slowly, and especially after a meal. Brandies are often referred to as digestifs. That is, they are believed to help with digestion. Works for me!

A nice shot of armagnac on the deck after lunch.

Burger buns, sort of

These didn't rise quite the way I wanted them to, but they were delicious. And they held together when we sliced them and made barbecue (slow-cooked pulled turkey) and slaw sandwiches. Ken makes a kind of mock cole slaw with chopped iceberg lettuce (in the place of cabbage) dressed in a tangy sauce. Along side we ate black-eye peas with mixed vegetables.

Blurry photo of hamburger buns.

Next time, I'm going to try using my pizza dough recipe to make buns. That should be interesting.

The storms and rain predicted for overnight kind of fizzled. It's raining gently this morning, but we were spared the predicted deluge. Other regions weren't so lucky. Roof-wise, it's so far, so good. The external leaks we had (holes in the gutters) seem to be gone. In one spot, the patch is temporary. We'll probably ask the roofer for the permanent fix (replacing a section of gutter) in the fall.

I don't give a fig

This is our famous fig tree this year. It's bigger than it's ever been. It's full of figs. Or rocks posing as figs. They hard as concrete. Maybe the title of this post should be, "I don't get a fig."

Fig.

It took me about two hours yesterday to cut all the grass (and that included stopping to cut blackberry vines out of the hedge. They attacked me as I mowed close to them). Sure, there's edge work to be done with the smaller mower, but that's not urgent. Most of the yard is neatly cut. We're still expecting rain over night.

Filler

I'm out of fresh photos. I don't feel the need to show more of the roof work. Between Ken's blog and mine, I think we've done it all. That said, here's a close up of one of the two garage windows with it's freshly painted sill. Now I've got to wash those windows. Ken washed the garage door yesterday and it looks great.

Garage window.

The weekend is still expected to be a wet one, so we're waiting to see if this roof job fixed our leak problems. Fingers crossed.

My plan for the day: get the grass cut before it rains.

All is calm

The roof work is done now. The guys spent about two hours on Wednesday morning putting on the finishing touches and cleaning up. Now we wait for rain. Storms and rain are predicted as we move into the weekend. So, we shall see.

The garage window sills and the underside of the deck are looking pretty spiffy now!

Today's errands include a stop at the vet's office to pick up an order of dental chews and a supply of flea & tick medicine for Tasha. Then I'll likely make quick stops at the recycle center and the grocery store with a final stop at the filling station (do people say that any more?) for gas for the lawnmower. Then I'd like to cut the grass before the rain moves in.

Almost done

Here's some of the roof work in progress. You can see one of the two dormer valleys with it's new metal flashing. The tiles are back on now (but not in this photo). You can also see the underside of the deck. In this shot, it's been power washed, but not yet prepared for paint. That is actually done now. The work should wrap up today. I will post "after" photos soon.

Tasha's on the deck supervising the roofing crew. The yellow spots are made by the sun shining through a leafy tree.

Meanwhile, the heat is holding, but not for long. I think a cool-down is expected for the weekend. Boy, were we lucky!