Tomato Anxiety? Problem Solved

 

For years I assumed the tomato Tardis was a myth

There’s a time of year when tomatoes haunt my dreams. I have nothing against homegrown tomatoes, I love them. It feels good to saunter through the greenhouse and pluck and eat a ripe tomato.

But how swiftly that relaxed saunter morphs into a jungle expedition, where they all clamour for attention. We’re ripe! We’re ready to be picked! Ready for storage! Don’t delay!

Then it’s tomato frenzy. Tomatoes of some sort with every meal (or else). The surplus is frozen or stored until every corner of everywhere fills up. Things get fraught:

Where will the apples go?

Get some tomato sauce on those cornflakes!

Why did you plant so many?

Let’s make chutney. We’ll give away the surplus.

Yeah, right. We’re still eating 5-year old chutney and people send us Christmas cards that say: Happy Christmas, no more chutney thanks.

This can’t go on. Solutions are needed.

1. Grow fewer tomatoes — seems obvious but I try this every year and fail. I wrote about it here.
2. Find a tomato Tardis that can store a million tomatoes in a matchbox. I thought this was pie-in-the-sky, then … Bingo! I found one.

Our saviour is a fruit dryer. It removes all the liquid — that’s a lot. Pro tip: if you’re at a posh dinner and wish to come across as a sophisticated dainty eater, treat whole tomatoes as live grenades and steer clear.

A few days ago, I was fighting my way through this little lot with a machete. I’m now on the way to reducing a whole greenhouse to a single jar.

Happy days.

***

Originally published in The Haven

Frolicking Dog, Weather For All Seasons, And A Drooping Dino

 

Lightning About-Face

Despite a cold snap that brought snow showers, the Caped Crusader has been full of the joys of Spring. In the above shot, she was facing me as I took the picture and managed a lightning 180 just for the fun of it. I got her front view a few seconds later, but she leapt in the air, so I didn’t get her head. I settled for rear view rather than headless.

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE.

An Alternative Workout For A Cold October Morning

 

All you need is one short sharp length of metal, such as a bent nail

It’s the school run. We’re on our way — me, the daughter-in-law, and Miniature Person — when I feel that slump of a car that’s not happy on its wheels. It’s a single-track road, barely room to pull to one side. A back tyre is flat as a tack, in body and spirit.

I’ve not changed a wheel in decades, and it’s a first for daughter-in-law, but Miniature Person is enthusiastic about “helping”, which slows things down.

The workout begins:

1. Weight-lifting to excavate the boot. We find one temporary wheel covered in warnings about speed, and a vast medley of tools including several wheel braces and two jacks, both tiny.
2. Gymnastic contortions to see under the car and figure out which is the jacking point — there are several contenders.
3. A bonus stage against the clock: clear everything away to let a car go past; set it all out again.
4. A precision and dexterity session to extract the covers off the tops of the bolts. We might have a vast medley of tools, but there’s nothing that’ll touch these embedded little blighters, and it takes handbag ingenuity, but we get there in the end.
5. Leap aside as a van clambers past, scattering bolt covers far and wide. I put them on the roof for safety.
6. A test of strength and balance jumping up and down on the wheel brace to loosen bolts apparently tightened by someone with a grudge.
7. Some serious aerobic work with the jack handle on a jack the size of a postage stamp.
8. More aerobics with the wheel brace to get the bolts out. We could have churned a lot of butter if we’d done this with a different set of equipment.
9. A medley of weights and balance; off with the old wheel and on with the temporary one. And we’re done.

We’re no sooner back on the road than an unearthly scream alarms us to the edge of cardiac arrest. But it’s just the old wheel in the boot losing the rest of its air. We deliver Miniature Person only 15 minutes late for school and are pretty pleased with ourselves. We reckon we could give one of those Formula 1 pitstop teams a run for its money.

At the garage, we watch enviously as they deploy a hydraulic jack and electric gizmos to sort the bolts, and wonder at the ease with which they circumvent those pesky bolt covers. In fact… damn… what bolt covers?

We drove off with the bolt covers still on the roof.

Anyway, it was a good workout, but once every few decades is as regular as we’re planning to make it.

***

Originally published in The Haven

A Weird Weather Week

 

Early Start

It was a week of unusual weather and not just on the planet. The sun spat a billion-tonne fireball at us which promised a stunning light show in the upper atmosphere.

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE.

It’s Not A Question — It’s A Command

 

We’re going for a walk

“Sorry, Caped Crusader, I have to go into town.” And I find myself doing that thing of explaining the trip, promising we’ll go for a walk later.

I once saw a psychologist on a Problem Pets programme, berating people for reasoning with their dogs. I knew at the time I was a lost cause. I’ve caught myself reasoning with the car.

On which, I set off down the drive, giving the car a cheery greeting.

Some unholy alliance had been struck behind my back. The car was going nowhere other than onto the back of a tow truck.

Some flimsy excuse about a clutch.

“Come on then, Caped Crusader. You were right. We’re going for a walk.”

***

Originally published in The Haven

Prison Life, A Rogue Brick, And Signs Of Spring

 

The Caped Crusader

Every week I go on trips out with the Caped Crusader — I would be in trouble if I didn’t— and this week was no exception, but it was also a busy week in ways that kept me indoors more than usual.

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE.

Writer's Journey Through Covid - Days 6-10

 

Covid Day Six— Neglected Seedlings

Covid Day Seven— How To Avoid A Nasty Shock

Covid Day Eight— The Little Things Get Neglected

Covid Day Nine — Contradictory Quarantine

Covid Day Ten — Journey’s End

Days 1-5