Yo! It's been a minute since I've done a random Leaky life update. If you're not familiar it's where I bore everyone by discussing the most mundane stuff happening in my life. To be honest it usually begins when I do something that I think I can make a Hive post about so I take a picture or two but then at some point along the way (usually immediately) I realize that it's actually a super boring topic that no one would be interested in. So I pivot to just smashing all of those random instances together into one giant super post about the mundane. That being said, lets take a look at the boring things that I've been up to lately, starting with some books that I've read.
I'm currently on a survival/adventure kick and recently read two books within that genre. Adrift is a true story about a sailor that was stranded at sea for 76 days in a rubber raft after his sailboat sunk in the Atlantic. The man fought hard for his survival against the elements, dehydration and starvation, sharks and a rubber raft that was constantly under threat of deflating. It was a good read for the genre.
In the Heart of the Sea was another true story survivor tale about the whale ship Essex. The ship sunk after being attacked by a giant sperm whale. The crew had to survive at sea, split up among three small whaling boats. The story was a harrowing tale of starvation with elements of cannibalism discussed. The event was also the inspiration for the classic book Moby Dick, which I have not read so cannot compare. I liked this book a little less than the first but it was still pretty good. It included a lot of information about the history of the whaling industry in Nantucket, which was quite interesting but at times was a little more information than I cared to read about. Decent read overall.
The God of the woods was very different than the last two books mentioned. This was a fictional story written in a murder mystery like fashion. It was actually about two missing persons but it had that murder mystery vibe about it. It was an easy read and was engaging. It is a New York Times best seller and definitely has that feel to it - a page turner, easy and entertaining while you're reading it but also somewhat forgetable once completed. I would describe it as well written factory fiction. In a word - popcorn!
A mini project that I took on a while back was to dye a couple of pairs of my shorts. This was back in May before we went on our trip to the Azores. I noticed how faded and sun bleached my shorts were and decided to give a go at dying them myself instead of buying new ones. The shorts were fine other than the color so what the hell, lets try the dye and see what happens.
I told a coworker what I was doing and they said to make sure that I wear gloves. It seems obvious but a part of me wonders if I would have thought of that myself or if I would have went into work the next day with blue colored hands??
$12 and 30 minutes of soaking and sloshing and they actually came out looking pretty good. Almost like new. Before Photo above and after photo below.
Heres a life hack real quick. Did you know that you don't need to purchase expensive and trendy stained glass windows if you just simply ignore your garden? Untamed shrubs becomes...
Jungle vibes!!!
The heat where I'm from has been off and on crazy this summer. It's broke now but for a while we were getting days and days of consistent 38-40°C heat. That with high humidity on top of it all made going outside pretty unbearable. You can't cool down naturally when its humid because the airs too wet to allow your sweat to dry so it effectively shuts off your natural cooling system and you just keep getting hotter and hotter. Your sweat sticks to you and makes you feel sticky and gross on top of that. There was a point where I just hunkered inside and barely went out for more than a few minutes. The cat loved it though.
On one of the days I actually got on my roof to trim some trees and clean the gutters. It was so freaking hot up there my feet were burning - I took my shoes off to get better traction 😅. The roof is steep on one side and the house is built on a small hill so the front is incredibly high - or at least it feels that way when you're up there. I spent as little time as possible on the roof and left part of the gutters full of debris because it was too dangerous to get at them. I'll have to try from a ladder from the ground to reach them at some point.
In the backyard we have some wild garlic (green garlic? or maybe they are scallions?). Anyway, we don't normally eat them but this year I decided to pick the scapes.
I waited a little too long so they weren't very tender but when I chopped them really thin they made a great garnish with a nice garlic/onion taste. I used them on potatoes like one would chives and on pasta and on other dishes as well. Next year I'll make sure to pick them earlier. They can be eaten like sauted green beans when they are still tender or be blended into a garlic pesto.
The last thing to mention is that my wife made mini oreo cheese cakes one day for a family event. They have a full size oreo inside that acts as the crust layer at the bottom. They were quite delicious and looked great in how she decorated them.
