#10. Back to the Grind.

I'd forgotten how much working can interfere with "real life".  My current schedule is 9:00 to 5:30, Monday to Friday while I go through training for a new project at work.  I have been accustomed to working in the afternoons and evenings for the last 10 years, and this schedule is playing hob with my sleep schedule.  Plus, I have no time to do anything!  Used to be, I could wake up at 8:00 or so (no alarm clock, thank you very much), and do errands, clean, cook and whatever in the morning before going to work.  Now, just getting up an hour earlier (to the raucous holler of the alarm clock), rushing around and leaving for work an hour or so later, and the day is spoiled before it gets started.

Hubby is grumbling and growling because his back hurts.  His sister got in a load of wood, and asked him to help stack it.  Turns out she's been thinking in terms of "just in case" too, and got her fireplace fitted out for heating (an insert).  Hubby declares that if the SHTF, he doesn't expect to live too long, so he sees no point in preparing.  Sis pointed out that was pretty selfish on his part, and they had an argument, which he proceeded to tell me all about when I got home from work.  Guess whose side I was on!

I still haven't had a chance to get a replacement weight set for the pressure canner I found second-hand at the Salvation Army store.  I found that they have them at the hardware store, but it will cost more than I paid for the canner.  I am undecided at the moment, but I think I might just wait a bit until I have been back at work a spell, and save for a new canner.  I have been eyeing up the Mirro 22-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canner.  It's just like the one my sister-in-law loaned away into the nether.  I like that you don't have to worry about calibrating the dial every year.  After all, there might come a time when there is no place to get that calibration done.

We had a week of rain, during which a new crop came up in the garden: mushrooms.  I have tentatively identified it as Shaggy Inkcap (Coprinus comatus).  Apparently, it's supposed to be edible when young.

More research is required.