16 July 2023
Fried cockroach for breakfast. More on that later.
I waked at 1:30 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I think it’s because I slept so much yesterday. Around 2:30 I started to read a little and by 3:30 I was hungry. I mean really hungry. Waffle time!
I made blueberry waffles from scratch. As I was warming up the waffle iron, I started the bacon in a nonstick skillet. I kept noticing a strange aroma and I thought it must be coming from the waffle iron. I thought I had previously “cooked” the foreign smell out of it on a previous occasion. Oh well, on with the process of making waffles and frying bacon.
As you can see, the waffles turned out well. I ad libbed on the recipe by adding an extra tablespoon of sugar and a splash of vanilla extract. The blueberries provided a nice finishing touch.
As I took up the bacon, I drained the grease into a container and as I went to place the skillet on the stove, I noticed something on the eye. I thought a piece of bacon may have broken off. Upon closer examination, it was a flattened, fried cockroach. I can only assume he was on the bottom of the skillet and when I picked it up to place on the eye, I squashed him against the eye and the skillet. That was the peculiar smell. I’d just as soon not smell that again.
So what do you do after cleaning up, turning on the dishwasher and cleaning the bacon skillet and stove within an inches of their lives? I go for a walk at 5:30 am. The temperature was 80°F but the “feels like” temperature was 86°F. Combine that with 87% humidity and it was not a refreshing walk. It’s hard to believe it was so hot and humid and the sun wasn’t even up.
I don’t normally walk that early but it was nice to get out in the neighborhood and see who was up and about on a Sunday morning. I passed one walker and one guy was getting into his car to go somewhere. I also find it interesting as to who has their lights on and are actually up and those who just leave interior lights on during the night. For some reason, like me, most people leave portions of their windows open for viewing in. Anyone passing my house can look into my living room. If you time it right, you can see me running through the living room naked to get to the kitchen hoping no one sees me pass the windows.
For some reason, I’m not terribly sore from the surgery. The only real thing that bugs me is the bandage they placed over the drain which seems to irritate my arm pit. It’s the tape that is used to attach the bandage that bothers me. I’ll probably ask someone to come by today and change the dressing and allow me to get a good look at the area around the drain. I want to make sure it doesn’t get infected.
I must also feel pretty good to get up at 3:30 am and make a huge breakfast. I only walked 1.2 miles this morning but that was because of the humidity and temperature. After posting the blog, I may go back to sleep for a while. The only thing on my “To Do” list is grocery shop sometime today.
Today’s plant is jatropa.
This plant is a native of Cuba so it’s altogether fitting it should be found in south Florida. It’s a member of the euphorb family (Euphorbiaceae) and as such it produces a white latex when you break of a stem or leaf. It caused me great consternation when I first saw it in the neighborhood and actually had to ask my friend Joe what it was. It’s a pretty common shrub/tree in the landscape of south Florida.
Plant Care Today suggests it attracts monarchs, swallowtails and zebra longwing butterflies. I’ve never seen them on the plant but monarchs are attracted to milkweeds which produce a latex-like secretion which makes monarchs taste bad to birds. Some of the leaves are tri-lobed.
Stay tuned!