Rusty Raven

u/RustyRaven@aussie.zone
129 posts · 5.9k comments

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I managed to trigger my bank's fraud detection last night by transferring some money to myself. Apparently not having a description/reference can be a red flag, so from now on I'll be putting in reference notes for the benefit of the fraud dept. 😁

Breakfast muffin assembly went well. I bought some 'muffin top' tins that are perfect for cooking eggs in the oven, and I can fit a dozen eggs and a tray of bacon in the oven at once. Assembly and wrapping is still a bit tedious, but I've now got a dozen breakfast muffins in the freezer with a lot less mess and effort than cooking in the pan took.

Now I just need to clean everything up, then vacuum pack all the meat I bought for the freezer.

Hopefully your weather is a bit better than mine then, it's freezing cold and raining this afternoon. I took out the compost bucket earlier and that's as close to gardening as I'm coming today.

I was a bit disappointed that the ham I ordered was not available and they refunded me instead of giving me a different type of ham. But then the ham was in the order anyway, so now I'm very happy because I got free ham. It's a total rollercoaster of emotions this morning!

It has been surprisingly sunny considering the forecast. The morning dog walk was surprisingly pleasant, it was 4 degrees and felt like -2, but there was sun which makes it much more acceptable.

I'm very glad to have an indoor day planned today. Grocery delivery is being dropped off this morning, so I'll be doing some packing of things for the freezer and making another batch of breakfast muffins.

The top temp here (Ballarat) is only expected to be 10 degrees. The whole week ahead looks pretty miserable - the highest expected temp is 13 on Friday, and tomorrow is only expected to get to 9. Plus rain and possible hail.

My induction hotplate that I do most of my cooking on is dying, so I've ordered a new one. I bought a bit more expensive model this time, hopefully it is worth the extra. It has a built in temperature probe, so you are supposed to be able to set it to cook to a specific temperature and can use it to sous vide if you want to. It also had real dials and buttons instead of touch screen, so I shouldn't have any further issues like accidental water drips changing the settings on me.

Why is it that my plans for a 'couple of vegetables on the side' always turn into a massive serving that turns into the main part of the meal and make fitting everything onto the plate challenging?

I followed up mowing the back yard with a pressure wash of the concrete paving areas. It looks so much better now - I knew there was a bit of algae starting to be a problem, but I hadn't realised how much ground in dirt there also was. I do like this cool but sunny weather for getting things done outside, it's really pleasant being able to work outside without overheating.

I have covered up the citrus trees and sage against the predicted frost overnight. They are already struggling a bit after a few lighter frosts this year, hopefully this will keep them going. I gave them an encouraging pep talk to try to keep their spirits up until spring gets here too. I'm not sure they believed me.

It's perfect weather for working outside. Cold enough you don't overheat doing heavy work, but not so cold you freeze. Even a bit of sun if you catch it at the right time. I've swept some paths, done a bit of weeding and a bit of cutting back. It should be the same type of weather all weekend too, so I might be able to do a bit of mulching and another trim of the grass as well before the weather turns.