23 June 2011

PHD VC Y ...I [heart] mnemonics.

 I love mnemonics. I couldn't function without them. I make lists while driving - hardly ever drive anywhere without coming up with lists, and if I try to jot them down without pulling over it drives Bob crazy. So I rely on acronyms and mnemonics.

Coming home from the pool a to-do list went spinning through my head: make juice for the hummingbird feeders, all of which took a dramatic increase in traffic over the last three days... cut up and sugar the peaches I bought a week ago, for Bowle (before they rot in the fridge)... put my two pool towels in the dryer... cook some lunch... hook up the trailer to the mower and pick up the limbs I cut and weeds I pulled yesterday.

Peaches, Hummingbirds, Dryer, ..., Cook, Yarden WHAT WAS 'V'??? PHD VC Y. I hate when this happens. What was V? Something Vvvvvital, I'm sure. Now it's gonna bug me the rest of the day.

So... even with the mysterious V, that reads like a short list, doesn't it?

Ran in the house, stopping to let the dog off her chain (she's tied when I'm not home, to keep her from wandering the neighborhood, killing little dogs), but she wouldn't stop barking so I didn't turn her loose. She is a smart dog, and learns phrases quickly. Her most recent phrase is "quit yelling at me." What she doesn't learn quickly is that when something means something, it means it all the time! ("Get in the yard" does NOT mean, "go jump the fence into the yard, and then come right back.") We were too lenient with her for a too long time.

So into the house, towels into the dryer, which necessitated throw rugs coming out of the dryer (may as well put them where they go, there's a few more steps), take off swim suit and hang to dry, listen to messages on answering machine, return calls (hey, that wasn't on my list).

*what was V? Vicoden? Violence? Am I channeling Eminem now?*

*Valerie? Was I going to contact her about the sock pattern?*

So then to make hummerfeederjuice I had to free up the blue pitcher, which was in the fridge, full of chicken broth. May as well reheat & simmer that, skim off the last of the fat for suet cakes (that container is fulllllll - I need to put suet cake making on my next list). So now there are dishes to wash before I can use the pitcher. Just a couple left over from breakfast / catfood. Quick swipe of the counters. Heat 4-cup pyrex of water in the micro, while broth simmers on stove, get pot of overcooked green peas out of fridge, add two ladles of de-fatted chicken broth, heat on medium... 3 cups sugar in pitcher, 4 cups hot micro-water, a glug of red food coloring, 4-cup pyrex full of ice (love that ice maker), topped off with water, stir into hot red sugar water, add 3 more cups of water - a little sweet, but that's fine...

Turn broth down to med-low, stir peas and turn to med-low, wash pyrex and other stuff, fill one empty hummerfeeder (four more are below the two-inch mark, probably get to fill them tomorrow)...

--Phone rings!-- "This is an automated code-red weather warning... tornado warning for your area..." Oh, great. There's a lovely garden rain falling, straight down and gentle, no wind low, but fast clouds high, blue sky peeking. I should have stayed in the pool, LOL.

Go around house closing curtains (for broken glass, don't know what good it would do - maybe slow down sharp shards?) and counting tails. Wish Roadie would move back in. I'm sure he's living in the barn. I saw him leaving the kitchen when I woke up at 5AM (3 hours sleep). I know Boog misses him too - he sits on the back porch glider and gazes out at the barn.

Considered gathering cats and squatting in the hallway till the "tornado" passed, but no, sat at the computer and looked at the weather news while eating my soup.

Still don't know what the damn V was. Shit. But I've done PHD and C. Now the rain's stopped I can do Y, and then back to the pool.

4 comments:

meowmom said...

V is for visor. I realized this as soon as I sat back down in the blazing sun with my new bifocals and tried to read a book.

billkemp86 said...

I mix my hummingbird fuel with 1 part sugar to 2 parts water, then bring to a boil for around 30 sec.
1 1/2 C. water mixed with 3/4 C. sugar fills my feeder and lasts about 5 days for my little friends,whose vocabulary seems to consist of mostly swear words.

meowmom said...

Wow, that's stout juice! I go 3 or 4 parts water to sugar, depending on the weather. If it's colder I make it stronger. Boil 1/2 the water, stir in sugar, add coloring, fill with ice. Done. I keep 4 or more feeders filled on the front porch and 2 or 3 on the back porch.

billkemp86 said...

I tried today's batch with 3 parts water to 1 part sugar. They like it as much, it seems, and they may be swearing at one another a little less. Less hyp'ed up, I suppose. Tnx