The storm blew off my garden house roof just the teensiest tiniest bit. I really am impressed how much is still left standing after THAT storm. Um… but we’ve got to fix it.

I will need to get the big ladder to get a better look. Luckily, I still have materials in the garden house. So, hopefully, this will be a quick non-temporary fix… a quick permanent fix. Let’s hope.

It really wasn’t much. I’d done a decent job, and two of the three layers were still intact. But with more severe storm warnings on the horizon, it would be a weak spot if I didn’t fix it. So, I got the materials from the hut, and got it done.

I am probably too proud that there was only one day between noticing the damage and fixing it. I am still surprised how little damage there was.

We came home to this after a concert Thursday night. We’d missed the worst of the storm surrounded by singing people, thundering instruments, and flashing stage lights. There were signs of damage everywhere on the way home. I was so scared when I went to check on the garden in the morning.

At first, I thought there’d been no damage at all. And then I spotted the single missing tile. We’d been lucky. Again.

We have had an unusually wet, stormy, and dark year here. With a summer bad enough to kick off my winter depression, and multiple storms severe enough to make the national news, I am surprised this is the first time I’m fixing something.

Even the forgotten strawberries are standing strong. Impressive.

With a few adjustments, the tiles were in shortly after, and I was cleaning up.

Okay, I think the roof is fixed for now. That second side still looks completely fine. And, on the other side where I had the hole… It is looking good again. I mean, I will have more of those black spots or brown spots on the roof, but honestly I don’t care as long as it is water-tight. So, yeah. All fixed.

As it was barely past noon, I decided to tackle a second urgent project: mulching the garden bed. It was still raining but I’d made it this far, so I was already wet.

A garden neighbor has been stacking up leaves in a corner of the garden plot. If we get garlic out of this bed next year, I’ll have to thank him. It made things so much easier. I put a thick layer of leaves everywhere I’d planted garlic or onions a few weeks earlier.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this and add more as needed. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to keep things balanced. The first layer was straw. This second layer is leaves. For now, this will keep out the grass–I hope.

Some final touches, and it was done. Time to head home.

I had to throw out two cucumbers because I forgot them in the fridge. Intent to not repeat such waste, I chopped up this one to make a salad for dinner. I’d be able to use parts of the lunch pasta sauce as dressing. Efficient 😉

Did you know you can turn off pasta boiling water after two or three minutes, and just add a bit to the total time? Stove off, lid on. Energy saved 🙂

I chopped some olives for the salad–and somehow managed not to eat them all. I added some of the cream to the salad, then used the rest for my carbonara-inspired lunch. I grew up on a lot of Italian food that probably had little to do with how Italians cook it. This was even more improvised, but it worked out.

Cream, an egg, salt, pepper, and some local ham. Certainly not real Carbonara but who cares. It fed my tiny family, and that’s all that matters. But this was also one of my husband’s favorites in a long time. And dinner was prepped–or so I thought–so I joined my husband in the living room, and forgot about dinner.

The wind has calmed enough that I dare go into the forest at least a little bit. But the sun has already set, so we only have a few minutes before it gets really dark. We’ve had yet another severe-storm warning, and they just don’t stop anymore. But it’s such a beautiful day today. And, there’s a beautiful moon out.

We didn’t stay outside long, as the light was falling fast even with the almost-full moon above. When I returned home, I realized what I’d forgotten.

I tried to just bake the bread anyway, but… “um… Houston?!”

I’ve messed up a lot of bread over the last year. This one clearly takes the cake. With no larger oven to change to, I had to make the bread smaller after starting to bake it. Fun! I had no clue how to solve this, so I just did… well… something… anything?!

I was convinced I’d have to figure out a different dinner than planned. This didn’t look even remotely edible.

While the bread continued to bake, I continued sorting through the kitchen. I am almost done, but I’ll show you all of that next time. For now, let’s return to my bread or whatever that is.

Thankfully, sourdough bread is more than just forgiving. It wasn’t pretty but it felt promising. So, I turned it, and back in the oven it went.

When the bread had cooled (always let sourdough cool or it will get soggy!), I cut it open. To my utter surprise, this ugly mess was a completely functional, edible bread. The crust was pretty soft–unsurprising, as I’d taken off the crust to make room in the air fryer. But the bread was fine!

For such a massive fail, this was a pretty great result. Dinner was saved. I added some lettuce to the salad, and fried up some eggs. An almost ruined dinner turned into a great meal while another storm was picking up outside.

So long, and thanks for being here.