I was on lunch duty today. Yesterday I dealt with some spare ribs and cooked them overnight in the slow cooker. I love my slow cooker and I try to use it for every meal I cook. I bought a slow cooker in Cambodia but I was fooled - it was something entirely different. It cooks by placing food in ceramic pots and then filling the container with water which heats and cooks the food. I suppose it's healthy but trying to take the lid off is deadly because of the steam coming from the water. It's mostly on show and I rarely use it. Jenny said, "This meat is tender." I said, "It should be; it's been cooking for 9 hours!" It fell off the bone, which is a bit disappointing for me as I love chomping on bones. On the other hand, the folks have false teeth and they like their food soft.
After lunch I went with Jenny to visit a friend in hospital. She'd had shoulder surgery but then infection had set in. The doctors plan on making an incision in her left arm, putting in a tube which would go to her heart and then on to her right shoulder to send antibiotics to the infection. Modern medicine is amazing. We were enjoying our chat when suddenly Jenny said, "I forgot to put money in the meter!" It was a good excuse to go. We couldn't run, and in any case it was too late to worry about it. We arrived at the car and found no ticket. It's so annoying having to pay to park at a hospital - I understand the hospital doesn't even get the parking fees; they go to the parking company.
From there I drove to Canadian Tire to buy seeds for the garden. I always get carried away and so they cost a fortune. It was a good job I was with Jenny as she has a points card with this particular company and so we got the seeds absolutely free. Now we just have to hope that they germinate.
After that it was off to Trail Tire to collect my car that went in for an oil change. It cost me $71, which I'm told was cheap. Earlier, we at the farm had gone to a Honda dealership but we decided they were ripping us off so we've all moved to this smaller company. I really don't understand oil changing. I've been told that a car can run for up to a year without an oil change, or 10,000km, whichever comes first. I noticed the sticker on my windshield saying I have to take the car in for another oil change in September, or when the mileage is 220,000 which is only 5,000km away. Something is wrong.
I went for my walk when I got back to the farm. The two Pyrenean dogs tried to follow me but they were nervous about being near me. Last year I used to chase them away from the house area because they are supposed to be guarding the sheep and goats from the coyotes. They really wanted to come with me but they don't know what to make of me. Now that Sheba's no longer at the farm I need an animal to join me on the walk so I have to work on Marco and his sister, whatever her name is. On a funny note, Rachel wrote and said she'd be out on Sunday and maybe we could go for a walk with Marco and his sister. I replied saying that the paths were muddy so I hoped Marco and his sister had wellies - I'd no idea she was talking about the dogs.
Another funny thing happened at lunch. Jenny was asking Bill about the birds she'd seen around the house this spring. She described a bird to him and asked what it was. Bill mumbled, "How big is it?" Jenny said, "That's interesting; I've never heard a bird called that." Heaven only knows what she heard.
It's 7pm and my relaxing time. I'm in the basement, on my trusty sofa, and I'm going to find something to watch on YouTube.
