My second-ever attempt at making meringue came out noticeably better. Not tall peaks, but peaks that nicely browned in the oven. The tip that I should have taken more advantage of was to get the eggs up to room temperature before I started, but I didn't remember until it was Too Late.

I love your yardwork posts. You clearly needed a yard in your life (burrs and ants and all.) That said, I'm perfectly happy with my small plots that struggle along valiantly under my benign neglect. It's all I can manage to rake up leaves and keep the back under control. But I have other things taking up my time (and I don't get that much from yardwork. I like potted gardening.)

I hope I am as into the yard once I get it to the point of just maintenance. As it now, it is driven a lot because I have ideas in my head of what I want it to look like.

The tip that I should have taken more advantage of was to get the eggs up to room temperature before I started,

It's all about egg chemistry!

msbelle, would it help to rent something like a rototiller to grind up your yard a little?

Too bad you're not in Berkeley (for many reasons) - they've got a tool library and you could just check one out.

the ground is actually super soft and easy to dig, it's just that it didn't get any care aside from water and cutting for like 2 years. It didn't help that for the last 6 month my dad was cutting and mulching the cut back onto the yard. That helps spread things like burrs.

Since I am planning on expanding and adding flower beds in the front area where all the burrs are, I should be able to transplant grass into the now large dirt patches.

You are in the peak weed season right now, so if you get the most of it, next year should be better.

Loki has been CRYING to go out. It is raining. I open the deck door and he practically did a roadrunner vs coyote-esque backpedal. He's very amusing.

I'm pleased to note that despite the fact that we're having a stinkbug invasion from hell, I have very few in the house, despite the open vent in the bathroom and house fan. I credit the new windows. Given the horror stories I'm hearing, I am getting off lucky (and possibly lucky due to being in a very urban area.)

We've got stink bugs everywhere, sara. It's horrible. They hadn't made their way as far north as we were in New York State, so this is all new to me. GROSS. Very few have gotten in the house, though.

You people talk about things in nature I've never heard of!

You don't want to know about stink bugs, believe me.

Apparently they're not native and made their way here ... somehow. Freighter? No clue. But they have no natural predators, and if you find one in the house, you have to take it out, not kill it, because you kill it and they STINK. And with no natural predators here, they multiply like mad.

I see them mostly swarming outside at work. Which lead to a fun smoke break in which we watched a juvenile preying mantis stalk the stinkbugs. God, I love preying mantises. It had everyone from someone in the directorate to a cafe cashier rapt, and even helping it when it couldn't get traction on the metal window frames.