Welp, it didn’t take long to discover I was hopelessly out of my league with the auction stuff. Those four rare coins I bid on – I went as high as $100 on one of them, the rest I held firm at $65 apiece – currently have bids ranging from $420 to $1,112.
Yeah, no. I need to put food on the table and figure out how to pay for an $8,600 heating/cooling system. And I’m going to have to settle for good ol’ fashioned hard work, as this appears to be yet another scheme missing the crucial get-rich-quick part.
Story of my life.
But, it was fun while it lasted, and there are multiple auctions taking place all the time. I just need to set my sights lower. Instead of rare coins and silver bars, I should focus on used electronics. A second monitor for my home office would come in handy, and wouldn’t break the bank.
Either that or a dump truck with snow removal equipment!
Somebody stop me before I get carried away…
Right before our first freeze, Tara picked everything that wasn’t dead from the garden. There were a ton of tomatillos, which she turned into chili verde sauce using my go-to recipe (onions, garlic, blistered Anaheim peppers, chicken broth) and canned.
I was a little leery about this, just because I’ve always made the sauce fresh from scratch. It’s not that I thought I’d die or anything using the water bath canned verde sauce…just maybe become violently ill.
I’m happy to report this was not the case. I made a batch of chili verde last week; it turned out fantastic, and neither of us found ourselves hunched over the toilet later, so: win-win.
Good thing, ’cause we have a few more jars left. I suspect we’ll be eating lots of chili verde between now and next summer.
Yesterday, I took a drive up to Baraboo to stock up at Ski-Hi Fruit Farm. This being autumn and all, I was in the mood for apples.
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but when we first moved here, I assumed Ski-Hi was a ski resort. The “Fruit Farm” part of their name does not appear on any signage – and, well, it is kind of a hilly area. Excuse my Wiscons-ignorance.
It’s actually a gorgeous setting, surrounded by acres of maple-dotted hillsides as far as the eye can see. Had I gone a week earlier, the fall colors would have been at their peak. Even still, it was awfully scenic, wandering through the apple orchards and the trails that bisect the farm, the air cool and crisp.
And of course, I came back with stuff.
Apple cider donuts might just be the best thing about autumn, and Ski Hi’s are excellent. Never had their turnovers before, but my coworker Randy swears by them. Naturally sweetened sugar-free apple butter (surprisingly good!) and a couple of bags of apples rounded out my purchase.
It was a great way to spend the morning. I don’t get out there very often because it’s about a three-hour round trip from home, but well worth the drive once in awhile.
I’m planning to spend a good chunk of today raking leaves, as the trees in our front yard are suddenly mostly bare. Never mind the fact that it’s going to hit 80° this week (what?!) before cooling off just in time for Halloween.
Speaking of, in my town, trick-or-treating takes place this afternoon, from 1 – 4 p.m. Which is just weird, right? I’ve never lived anyplace where that doesn’t happen on Halloween night. Our house looks great after dark, with all the lighted decor. Middle of the day, in the bright sunshine, you don’t get the same effect. I certainly can’t break out the strobe light fog machine.
It’s probably a moot point anyway, since we didn’t get any trick-or-treaters last year. Being outside of the city limits, we’re a bit off the beaten path, other than the few kids who live in our ‘hood.
We didn’t buy a single bag of candy, so watch, we’ll be inundated this year.
Mark My Words 
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