I’m a bit of a summer holdout. I know the warm weather is clearly behind us, but I can’t seem to let it go just yet. That’s why we had one more cookout last weekend. Sure, it was cold, rainy, and downright dismal, but if you ask me, nothing says “summer” like a hot-off-the-grill hamburger with all the fixin’s. So Saturday, I fired up the ol’ barbecue and flame broiled some burgers. Unfortunately, I got careless while slicing a thick slab of tomato, and I nicked my finger with the knife. No problem-o. I gave the cut a good rinse, and sprinkled some powdered cloves over it before topping with a bandage. The cloves stopped the pain in time for dinner.
The more I thought about it later, the more I figured that my cookout mishap was Mother Nature’s way of telling me to pack it in for the season. So I decided that it was time to give my lawn its final fall feeding. I mixed 3 lbs. of Epsom salts, 1 cup of mild dry laundry soap, and 1 bag of dry lawn food (enough for 2,500 sq. ft.), and applied it to my lawn at half of the recommended rate with my broadcast spreader. Then on Monday, I oversprayed my lawn with 1 can of beer and 1 cup of dishwashing liquid in my 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, filling the balance of the sprayer jar with ammonia. I tell you—my lawn will sail right through the rapidly approaching winter weather.
And speaking of rapidly approaching, Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away! That means holiday preparations are in high gear at the Baker house. Last weekend’s job was to shine the tarnished silverware. Normally, it’s be a pretty big job, but I had a new trick up my sleeve. I lined the bottom of a big ol’ cooking pot with aluminum foil and set the silverware in it. Then I filled a second pot with 1 gallon of water, and heated it on the stove. Once it was boiling, I set it in the sink, and added 1 cup of baking soda. I finished up by pouring the soda solution into the first pan, and the dinnerware was sparkling like new in just a few minutes!