What to Do Today?

I finished canning tomatoes at 3 A.M. this morning.

I planned to tackle the remaining tomatoes after breakfast today, but a look at them last evening showed that

I would have even more going to waste in a few hours.

The Roma tomatoes were of good quality, but the large round ones had woody green cores and  like the ones from our own garden they had cracks in the tops which allowed rot to set in before the fruit was fully ripened.

I was over canning tomatoes a good hour before I had them all steamed and chunked into the kettles for a preliminary quick stewing. [I've found the partially cooked tomatoes "settle" into the jars with less wasted head room than if they are "cold-packed."]

I was getting clumsy and dull-witted--managing to slop juice, seeds, peels down the cabinet door and onto the floor when I lifted the refuse bucket for a final trip to my scrap heap.

My feet slid through dew-soaked grass as I trudged beyond the circle of the garage light.

The night air was cool on my sweaty face and nipped through the damp patches where I had dripped water down the front of my jeans.

A few cicadas scraped in the maple tree, coyotes bayed from somewhere comfortingly removed from the civilization of the dooryard.

I started tearing off wallpaper in the bathroom, thinking it would be possible to have the little room primed and ready for a top coat of paint by evening.

[Some of you may understand that it is easier to tackle a project such as this while the man of the house is out and about!]

The wallpaper, a good quality vinyl, was obviously applied to the walls when the house was finished 30 years ago.  The wall cubbies were framed and the wood trim  put in place on top of the paper.

ARRRGH!

It is not removing nicely. I have wiped it down with a hot wet towel--still the thin paper coating on the wall board is tearing off in untidy patches.

I daresay a light coating of "mud" is needed before a paint job can look good.

J. tore up the vile carpet in the bathroom and replaced it with a tile board flooring. He was not as pleased with the product as he hoped to be, but it is clean and fresh.

The sink basin and the vanity ought to be replaced, the light fixtures are very dated, but those are not replacement priorities.

Methinks I am running out of steam--with patchy  moulting walls in the bathroom and a still grubby floor in the kitchen.

Time was that will power and enthusiam carried me through such self-assigned projects.

I could make a mug of green tea and take it with me to visit the kittens.

I could sit down with my current read--or wander outside with the camera.

There are 51 quarts of bottled tomatoes to be safely conveyed down the basement stairs and stowed on the shelves built by Mr. Rogers 30 years ago.

Oh, Groan!

Chester the Cat suggests that a little rest might be in order.

Tomorrow I may decide to whine and be a bit out-of-sorts!