a loud Wednesday night

I was woken up a few times in the night. One to loud people walking down park street. I don't know why they were so loud. Then some time later I was awoken by 2 dogs. It sounded like a small yappy one and a very large one from the sounds of their barks. I am not sure if they were barking at each other or if they had surprised a skunk or raccoon and that set them off. But they certainly were set off.

My parents are visiting today so I made a stew that is now cooking in the slow cooker:

Because we don't eat potatoes too often I thought I would only buy 2 large ones rather than a bag (they were the same price) and it would be less for me to carry. But the 2 I picked were both half bad: