New start ...

I've had a lot of stuff happen in the last year, therefore I took a break from blogging.  I think I'm now ready to start again, possibly only on a limited basis, but I'm still around ... 😊 ... and will try to keep up.

I've recently adopted 2 little dogs who's owner had died.  As best I can figure they are a Maltese-Poodle mix (Rudy) and a Yorkie- Wire haired terrier mix (Rascal).  Both cute as the dickens but so different. Rudy is pretty happy go lucky but Rascal has to know where I am at all times.  I had a larger dog 2 years ago, SueAnn, but am learning to be a Dog Mom all over again and loving it!! 

I am also trying to craft as much as possible, knit, paint, sew, etc., as I am doing a large Craft Fair in November.  My girlfriend and I were vendors there last year and enjoyed it sooo much, that we definitely wanted to do it again this year.  We sold quite a bit and definitely made our money back plus a lot more.  A couple of months ago we pulled out everything we had made that wasn't sold and realized that we really needed to get busy for this year!  I've painted rocks, tin buckets and signs.  I'm also knitting more dish cloths as they sold very well. This year I'm adding a free scrubby for every 2 dish cloths sold and hopefully they go over well so I can make bunches more and sell them next year as a stand alone item, maybe in 3's for whatever I decide on.

I raise chickens for fun and eggs, but a, or some critters have decimated my flock so that I only have 2 left out of 7.  One of the survivors had been loose for 4 days and did not want to be caught, but I think hunger and thirst finally got her to go into the pen and as I was out there, I got the gate closed before she could escape again ... Phew!!  Have you ever tried catching a chicken that didn't want to be caught ... not a game or exercise program I would recommend ... LOL ... for a few days I was very sore from trying to chase her down.  The two ladies are now confined to the pen which is a 6 x 12' old dog kennel attached to a coop.  I feel so bad about this as all 7 were free range in my back yard, but if I turn them loose now they will both disappear.  They are very scared of the dogs as they are probably the same size as our night critter, that the girls go into the coop. They went through a terrible trauma as 5 of their kind were slaughtered in 4 days ... I feel for them.

I need to finish a couple of crafts today, and hopefully I can figure out how to get the pictures from my phone to this blog ... anyone know an easy way?? ... LOL ...

See you all later ... 😘😘😘

WOW - Didn't realize it's been THIS long ...

I read other blogs, but then forget about my own ... that age thing again ... LOL  The summer was pretty normal, a week or two of our hot weather (Oregon style)  in the mid to upper 90's.  We only got together for camping 5 times instead of the usual 6-7.  Time conflicts for one member of the group, but the times we did go out, we has a GREAT time as usual.

My friend & I signed up for a craft fair on the second weekend of Oct.  This was the second time we joined the craft fair, but I doubt we will do this one again - just not run or managed well.  We now have one on Dec. 3, and are super looking forward to it even though we've never joined this one before, but have heard really good things about it.  I then received a call yesterday inviting us to join another on Dec. 10 ... one week after our Senior Center Craft Fair ... not sure we have enough products to do another one so close ... I will return the call and say "No, sorry, not this year"  If that group decides to have another Craft Fair next year we may consider it because my friend & I have decided that we need to craft all year long.

There just doesn't seem to be a lot of news on my end as the days are just running together ...

I had intestinal problems for about 4-5 months from March on, and I never really found out what the problem was as all my tests came back either negative (good) or that I'm very, very healthy (Extra Good!!).  I like that kind of news, but would really have liked to know what was causing the problem ... But it's great to know at my age that I'm very healthy!!

I lost my beautiful Hound 3 days after her 15th birthday (9/11)... it still hurts.  I still think I need to walk the dog, or that she can come to the PO to pick up the mail ... It's a very empty feeling when a split second later it again hits you that shes not here anymore.  I probably will get another dog, but not until after the new year.

I'm heading to my 'paint' table to finish some more items for the Craft Fair ... I need a kick in the butt so that I don't neglect my posting ... another sticky note?  A reminder on the calendar?  I'm not sure what will remind me BIG TIME ... Any ideas???

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Time flies ...

Time sure flies when you're having fun ... NOT!  I've hit the "bored beyond comprehension" state.  I'm beginning to hate the computer!  I upgraded to Windows 10 and changed my browser to Chrome.  Boy do I miss Windows XP!!  It was easy to use, and things were called what they were ...  I needed to clear all the cookies I'd been accumulating for a while and couldn't find anything that said "cookies" ... anywhere!  I had to do a search to find out it was under a tab called "content settings"  - what a moronic name ... there are many, many more things I'm really beginning to hate!!  I'll go into them as they pop up on me, besides when they do, I really need to vent, so stay tuned ... I know they're coming ... LOL!

I also think cabin fever has set in ... we've had a bit of snow the last couple of days, not enough to get excited about.  The snow rarely lasts more than a day ... little skiff that is more annoying than useful.  It has been cold and windy though.  It's hard to sometimes even go out to feed the chickens and let them out.  They also take a while to come out of the coop.  They eat and if they can find some sunshine they run for it or if it's overcast they scoot back into the coop - I have a heat lamp in there ...

The roller coaster ride that is the election is one of the most frightening things I've seen ever since I sort-of started paying attentions to elections ... I'm a Ted Cruz supporter.  Trump scares the hell out of me and Rubio is wishy washy.  He does something and then denies it ... sorry Marco, you are not much better than Trump.  Trump is out for himself ... if he didn't think he could get something out of being President he wouldn't be running ...

There was a surprise in my mail box today ... the March/April 2016 issue of Grit magazine!  I'm going to go through it as soon as I crawl into my bed in my warm fuzzies (pj's)  I usually watch TV while playing games on my tablet, but tonight after all the votes are counted, Grit will be gone through with a fine tuned comb.  I even read the ads ... LOL  I also go to some of the web sites just to see what they're all about.

Sure wish I had more open, sunlit ground on my property, but it's covered with trees ... not a bad thing, but I'd like to rearrange the trees a bit ... that way I can have a flat garden area and a greenhouse that both get sun!  The only place for a greenhouse is in the front of the house ... and that spot is used for the snow piles in winter ... I want a permanent greenhouse ... I've been trying to get seeds to grow for many years, but I've resigned myself to getting seedlings for whatever I want to grow ... I just don't have that darn green thumb for seeds.  I try to start them indoors, but my house is really dark and the way the house is laid out I don't have good window placement for seeds ...

I had a nice vacation last year to see my daughter, son-in-law and grandson.  We met in Seattle - the grandson is in the Navy and son-in-law had a big meeting with Microsoft, so my daughter went and talked me into going ... I loved every minute of it.  And my bestest friend and her daughter met us for an afternoon of lunch and some shopping.  Bestest friend and daughter live on Widbey Island, so it was a bit of a trip, but we all agreed it was worth it.  I need another trip away from the house!!!

There are quite a few dozens of eggs in the fridge so tomorrow I'll dehydrate some more raw eggs.  I also have celery that needs to be dried too.  That'll keep me busy for a couple of days ... then what?

I'm running out of things to 'talk' about besides being more pissy, so I'll let you all go for now.  Hope things are working out well for everyone.

Ta ta

I'm still around ...

Things have been very blah and so so since my last post.  The weather has been real cold with a day or two of 'nice'.  No snow to speak of which makes me sad.  I've been following the things going on in the world, but I really have nothing to say since I think the govt is as crooked as a winding mountain road!  The attacks in Paris makes me worry about when it will come to the US ...

My animals are healthy and a lot of fun to watch - crazy chickens.  Of course the dog and cat are equally fun, but the chicks are the best!  The cat, Joey, will hang on the living room screen when he wants in, and will keep it up until you open the door.  PIA, but at least I know what he wants.  If I don't pay attention to his antics they will get worse and worse when he wants out - he'll terrorize the other cats or knock things down just to be let out.

My Social Security was increased by 1.7% this year ... that gives me $16 more a month.  I promise I won't spend it all in one place ... LOL  It's wonderful to get a raise, but when every thing else, car ins., cable, phone bill goes up more than the raise ... I want to say  "what good is it", but it is an increase even if it doesn't cover the bills.  I DO appreciate it, but to call it great is a really bad joke.  I now make $5.79 an hour using the formula of annual pay divided by 2080 (the number of hours we normally work during a year) and I just can't make it stretch ...

Tim, my grandson, enlisted in the Navy at the end of last year - I'm sooo proud!!  I'm also a bit scared.

The two granddaughters are doing fine, I just can't believe how grown they've become; K will be 27 at the beginning of March and A will be 25 at the end of March ... WOW, makes me feel OLD!!

I've been knitting quite a bit this last 6 months or so, now I just need to finish those projects ... LOL.  I have to finish binding off a cowl for myself, but the yarn is hard to work with - homegrown (not me) alpaca with quite a bit of fuzz and size 5 needles. I can only do so many stitches at a time since the yarn splits really bad.  I will get it done this week sometime which means I will start something new.  Never mind that I already have a half dozen other projects to finish.  I love my knitting!!

Even though it's only January, I'm starting to think gardening and what I'll plant this year.  I need to plant a ton more of each veggie and learn how to can for long term storage ... I got tons of bell peppers last year, but instead of puting it by, I ate them almost faster than they ripened!   I hope I can get this down before harvest this year ... I also need better soil; that would help too!!  LOL

I think I've run out of nonsense to talk about, but this is pretty much how it is on a daily basis here on my little patch of earth.  I have to post more often - 3 months is NOT acceptable to me!!

Bless you all, and Happy New Year!

If it ain't one thing it's another ...

I feel like I'm loosing the battle of the dollar.  I just paid my vehicle registration on my Jeep - only $86 ... it is for 2 years but next month I have $86 to pay on my GMC, also for 2 years.  Then in July '15 I will have to lay out $118.75 for my truck camper.  It's nice that they're all for two years, but I'd really like for the GMC truck to be during in between years from the Jeep ...

I also have, for the next 2 months a vet payment of $175 for the surgery on my "baby" SueAnn. 

I have one bit of good news for me ... I received confirmation that my property taxes have been deferred until I sell the house, or die (do NOT plan that for a long time).  This will save me $150 a month in Nov, Feb and May. 

Enough of the money stuff .. it just gets more and more depressing ...

I've been getting 'going into winter' chores done a little at a time, but I was told that we are suppose to have SNOW on Saturday, so I need to really get the butt in gear.  I still have to drain an roll up all the hoses and shut off the water to the outdoor spigot.  I need to figure out where to park my truck for the season, and, oh yes, suspend the insurance.

Note to self for tomorrow - "Suspend Insurance"

A good friend just (Saturday) unloaded a truck bed full of bags of cans and bottles!  It's messy and dirty to return cans, but boy can we get a nice bunch of dollars for our effort - I like that part.  It pays for cat food, cat litter and a few other things our Snap card doesn't cover.  Nice help!

I've sent emails to some of our elected officials challenging them to come live in my house for a month on what I make from SS and Snap.  I know there are people worse off than me, an I pray for them, but each month that comes, I feel like I'm sinking.  I know, get over myself and deal with it ... yup, somehow that's just what I'll do.

The weather really feels like late Fall; a lot of rain lately with the promise of snow.  I hope we have a really, really snowy winter.  We haven't had a good snow pack in the mountains for quite a lot of years and need it.  It's also fun to play in when you feel like you could sink to your waist ... LOL.  I'm also one of those people who likes to shovel ... every one says I'm nuts, but I don't care.  It's refreshing and exercise is good for me!

Gee, I didn't mean for this post to sound so down, but hopefully I now have it out of my system.

Have a great rest of October and Happy Halloween ... God Bless

More stuff, not all of it nice ...

We had good weather out at Deer Camp.  We filled 3 out of 4 tags.  Ron did not get his deer.  The guys are now out at Elk Camp - it ends fri the 24th, so we'll see if any Elk are brought home.

There are several groups of campers that come to our campground every year and we are like one big family out there.  There are jokes played and they can go back and forth between camps during the whole time.  Lots of laughs.  I left camp 5 days before the end of the season - a week is just about what I can take camping ... they say I'm getting old ... What????  Old ... who me?  67 is not old!!!

There were a total of 200+ croppy caught!  After Elk is over we're going to have a really BIG fish fry!!!  Love those croppy!!

The weather has dropped since then and we've had several nights of rain lately.  We still need rain ... and lots of it ... then we need a good hard freeze to prepare us for snow.  Every where I look for weather says that the Pacific Northwest will have above average temperatures this winter.  Just not a good thing!  If the weather goes no lower than 26 deg we could still get a load of snow.  I pray for SNOW!!  Several friends plow during the winter to make a bit of extra money.  I love winter as long as I can stay WARM ... LOL

It seems that I gather orphans.  I have a girlfriend from Boston staying with me since her husband passed away and now very good friends from So. Cal are looking to come up and stay until they can get back on their feet.  I've already scoped out where they can park the camper and get hooked up here.  M will find a job while she's going to (online) school to learn Medical Transcription.  I'm sooo pulling for her.  Her husband (B) is medically retired but is willing to help out with things that need to get done around the property.  Looking forward to seeing them again.  Things are definitely in the works, they would like to be here in 2-3 months.  I can keep the ground clear of snow until they arrive ... I know I'm nuts, but I really like to shovel snow ... really!

I got bad news today ... SueAnn, my 13 yr old dog had a growth removed last week; the biopsy on the lump was cancerous.  There was a small part of the lump left, but in the location the lump was, I can see how a bit could be missed.  For now I will watch her.  She is the love of my life and I will take care of her until she can't any more.  It is just heartbreaking for me ... I'll let this topic drop for now ...

Fall chores are slowly getting done, the hoses being put away, the camper being winterized too.  The garden (LOL, LOL, LOL) needs to be cleaned up.  I have to find a place to put my compost pile before I start cleaning the garden ... but I need a container of some sort ... or build one out of pallets ... no matter what, I needed it last week ... LOL - this too will get done ... or not.  Then a big messy inside winter job - cleaning the wood stove (that should have been done a couple of weeks ago) and the wood box on the front porch ... and loading it up.  By the time I'm done with those chores, I don't need the stove ... LOL.  I've been picking up pine cones to use as fire starters - they work really well.  I should have enough wood for the winter months ... surely hope so!  Next year we will have to get wood for 4-5 cords for next winter.  I do use a lot of wood - I hate being cold!!!  Besides, the stove is so old that it's hard to set the damper, so it usually ends up being warmer in here than I really like, but I crack windows to help.

I'm going to let this post sink in ... I need to get back to my knitting ... LOL.

Blessed Be ya'll !

A few unexpected things ... LOL

The night before last we had a thunderstorms.  Not that unusual for here in August ... BUT this one was something else.  My poor dog spent at least 3 hours in the kennel flipping out.  Poor SueAnn ... It started with some rumbles off in the distance on and off, by this time I was watching the dog and the tail was starting to curl under her body ... time for the kennel ...  The thunder got louder and more frequent, then the rain started - very hard and very fast!  I had to run around the house closing windows as there was a little bit of a breeze, but not really any wind.  About 5 minutes after that the HAIL started and kept going for about 40 minutes ... I was beginning to wonder what was going to be the first thing to break that would wreak havoc with my house, or camper or the chicken coop. 

The chickens had all run inside the coop and not one stuck her head out the door to see what was happening!  The coop has a wooden top, but above that there is metal that slopes from the wood shed down to the edge of the coop.  It had to sound like war in that coop - poor girls!

Last night about 10 - 10:30 Susan heard a horrible ruckus out by the chickens ... we charged out to see what was there ... all we could see at first was 3 of the girls running around flapping their wings, hanging in the chain link surround, but then I saw a small skunk come out of the coop ... OMG, skunks kill chickens!!!  I ran in and got the broom with the long handle ... opened the gate to the pen and tried shooing the damn thing out.  Nope, not working ... now remember during all this time I had one eye on the skunks tail ... as long as the skunk was looking at me, I wasn't that scared, but if the thing had turned and put tail towards me or Susan, we would have run like bats out of hell ... I think I'm painting a picture of a 3-ring circus ... I kept thinking of my rifle and just shooting the damn thing, but I'm half blind and it's pitch dark out there - I just didn't want to add a crazy woman and her rifle to the comedy act!  After opening the gate on the pen trying to scare the skunk out, three of my girls flew out squawking loudly over and over.  They disappeared into the brush & grasses - I was more intent on the skunk at that time ... we got 2 hens in, but the third was no where to be found.  I looked and looked using a small flashlite - no chicken. 

This morning when Susan got up to feed her cats she looked outside and there was our wayward girl pacing outside the pen wondering why she was out and the others were inside ... Susan let her in and we have a happy ending.

Dale stopped by this afternoon and I showed him where I thought the little bugger got in - nope, skunks don't climb ... it got in right where the hinges on the gate are, way down at the bottom ... hmmm, baby skunk, squeeze through a small opening ... OMG there is a Momma around and she probably has more than one baby ... I put a rock on the inside of the pen and some screening in the opening by the hinges.  Hopefully that will work.  I will leave the kitchen window mostly open tonight so I can hear if anything else goes on ... no more crazy women in their fancy sleep ware ... over sized sleep shirt on one and t-shirt bottoms and a camisole on the other, both of us in slippers ... 

I think I'll stop the story and let you all catch your breath from laughing ... (I'm still laughing!)
Many hugs to you all

A little more got done ...

I got a bit more done on the Hugel garden this weekend.  Yesterday Dale stopped by with his chain saw and we cut up some more wood (I loaded some, but he did the work) ... woohoo!! ... the pieces are anywhere from 1 1/2  foot to 4 feet. It is just cut to be able to stack nicely and fit into spaces that are open.  We (he) then put some dirt on it, and today I brought 2 wheelbarrows full of chicken pen 'stuff' and covered it.  Two loads is about all my back will handle at one time ... I'm posting here and after resting up a bit will 'reload' the chicken coop with new straw.  Over time they manage to pretty much scratch it all out into the pen ... that's why I have such good 'stuff' ... LOL  I have onions that need to be planted, but have no where to put them just yet.  I need a good sized container ... maybe I'll go help myself at Dale's house ... if he has any left that he will turn loose of.

I've had one of those pounding headaches for at least 24 hrs.  It is slowly going away, but it sure does drain the energy.  Yesterday I was sooo woozy that I had trouble doing anything halfway well, but there are things that need to get done no matter what comes along ... and I do rest in between chores ...

Welllll ... I just took a 3 hour break from writing this post ... LOL   I dragged my trash can to the street; talked to Dale, when he came down with his, about the size of the garden ... we both think it has enough logs, so now it's more trips with chicken 'stuff' and then a heavy layer of dirt!!  We will have to bring in a tractor with a large front bucket so we can dig up more dirt from my south 40 ... LOL  Then I need to find a fence so all the deer can't get to the produce!  If I get this done quickly, I can put the onions in there ... hmmm ... tomorrow is another day!

I also had a huge salad for dinner and now I'm ready to crawl into my warm fuzzies and watch some TV in bed ... and knit.
(((Hugs)))

and time marches on ... slowly

It seems like my life is moving in slow motion ... nothing happens on a daily basis, well feeding the animals moves at regular speed, but the rest - Nahhh.

The weather has turned cool again and yes we had a skiff of snow the other night and it has been COLD!  The day after the snow the temperature didn't get above 42 for the whole day.  It is warming up and I hope it gets back to normal as we are going camping in a week.

I drove up to the campground earlier because I had a bag of children's goodies to give to the camp hosts to hand out.  I told them to look through the bag and put aside any that they didn't think were appropriate.  They have a week to go through the stuff and I will take the rest and get rid of it.  The camp hosts have been so good to our group over the many years that we've been going there, that they deserve donations.  I have a friend that picks up coloring books and crayons for the hosts.

Of course I took my dog with me for the drive and sure enough, while I was talking to the host, she laid a landmine ... I grabbed a bag to pick it up and the host told me "Thank You" ... I would never leave a pile like that in their yard, or anyone else's for that matter!  But I know how a lot of people are - not very courteous but they will be the first to scream if some dog left a pile in their yard ...

I got a trailer load of dirt last weekend, and then we had rain and snow so it's still piled where it was placed.  I sure can tell the difference between that dirt and my own ... one is gray the other a nice chocolate brown.  I'm also putting chicken manure in the garden hole so that should help a lot. I've brought 2 wheelbarrow loads to the 'garden' and you really can't tell by looking at the coop that I've removed any thing at all. I need to get some calcium for the girls as their eggs are beginning to have very thin shells.  I stuck my finger through one egg yesterday ... I've been keeping my 'used' eggshells to feed back to the girls, but if there isn't enough calcium for them to make strong shells, how much calcium can there be in the shells I'm giving back to them ... I need to get some calcium!

As mentioned above, we are going camping next weekend for my birthday.  The weather is too cold to enjoy going over Memorial Day.  It seems like its been that way for the last 4-5 years.  Global warming my butt!!!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!  Teach the children what it's all about.
(((Hugs))) 

Is it flea time at your house yet?

I just read an article about flea control.  The article is a bit long, but it gives a LOT of information!  Once you get into it, there are snippets that made me laugh.

http://www.richsoil.com/flea-control.jsp

It is a down-to-earth site that uses language like the common person does ... a few "not nice" comments, but NEVER vulgar.  I hope you read the article and look around the site - it is full of great back to basic information.  I've been studying the HugelKultur sections.  It is raised bed gardening, but in a way that I don't remember hearing about, but I'm starting to build my bed.

Aside from this, I've become wrapped up in what is going on in the government with terrorists and such - bad, bad, bad!!!  I'm leaving for a Black Powder Shoot next week and will not get near a radio during the 3 day trip.  I need to break this addiction and get on with my life of gardening, crafting, sewing and knitting as I love to do these things.  I feel like I've been walking under a black cloud and my mood hasn't been the best, but at least I know what the problem is, and I'm working to get away from it.

I think that this is the year to replace batteries ... I need a new one for my truck and the Jeep is now looking like it could use one also ... and a possibility of a new altenator ...  Saving my pennies and cashing in cans and bottles.  I do need to do crafts so I can sell some things to help pay for this barrage of vehicle expenses - doesn't seem to end, does it?

I also think I'm loosing my memory!  I can go into a room to get something and can't remember what ... sometimes it can take hours before I remember.  I try to say something and can't for the life of me remember the next word.  When I leave to run some errands I forget the car keys until I'm ready to start the car ... oops and the shopping list ... and on hot days, i forget my water bottle ... small stuff like that happens ALL the time ... maybe a doctor's appointment is order ... Phew, getting old is a bear!!!

Hope you all have a great day, week, month and year ... LOL

(((Hugs)))

I'm reading up a bit on how to ...

do a variety of garden things in a new and different way from what I'm use to seeing and/or doing.  Raised garden beds using hugelkultur http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/ - something that really makes sense and the hardest work is the first and maybe the second year.  I have tons of pine trees here, but the site says that there is too much tannin in pines.  I'm looking for 'other' than pines and firs, so on my drives to and from town I keep my eye out for downed stuff that maybe I can bring home.  I really have a great spot in the middle of my front yard that would work - and less lawn to mow ... LOL  Take a look at the site I mentioned earlier in my post.  You may laugh at me if you need to, but I really want to try this method instead of the planks and top soil squares ... so go ahead, laugh!

I also like the idea of growing potatoes in a barrel.  Evidently I have to watch which variety I get in order to grow 100 lbs of potatoes, but I will look around at that too!  Now I'm beginning to look at various containers I have around here, or raid my friends' yards ... LOL  The site I'm looking at for this is  http://greenupgrader.com/11708/4-simple-steps-to-grow-a-hundred-pounds-of-potatoes-in-a-barrel/#.TvxFLgXIzvg.facebook  - I know there will be more sites, like both the above, that I find and maybe list in a post for you.

Last Wednesday I took SueAnn, my dog, into a vaccination clinic for a couple of her shots.  I sort of guessed which ones she needed, I guessed right, but I forgot to order her thyroid pills.  I have them ordered now for pick up tomorrow.  I also forgot to stop and get her "stress" pills.  I had to give her only one pill per day for the last three days, and boy could I see that she HAS to have 2.  I went to town yesterday to get them ... I need to get my act together so I don't have to go to town so often - it is about 30 miles round trip and at 18 miles to the gallon in my Jeep that adds up fast!

I fill follow up on the "garden" things as I run across more interesting stuff.  Have a great day.
(((Hugs)))

April really is here ...

because April showers bring May flowers.  We have had lots of showers, I'm trying to start tomato seeds indoors, but the light isn't that good even right in front of the window.  Well, while trying to get the seed to germinate they need heat not light, but as soon as those little suckers show their heads I will need bright light . . . I might have to break down and buy one of those 'grow lights' unless someone can help me figure out how to make one cheaply ... any takers?  I planted Beefsteaks and Romas, both are heirloom seeds, so I can harvest seeds for next year - if the darn things do what they are suppose to do ... LOL.  When it's time for them to move outside in about 5 weeks they will go in to a tire planter.  I have another tire that I'm not sure what to plant.  No Zucchini!!!!  It will take over my small garden enclosure in nothing flat, but I have friends that plant zucchini, so I know I'll get some.  I mostly grate and freeze the Zucchini and use it as filler in soups and stews.  What do you do with your zucchini?

Last Wednesday my Vet had an "Immunization Day" at the local pet store and I took SueAnn.  I still had to pay for the shots, but saved the money charged for an office visit - saving money is a good thing!  My daughter lost her dog, Sunny, the other day ... a few months after having to put Honey to sleep.  It is hard loosing a pet, but two in such a short span of time is doubly hard.  My heart goes out to her and the whole family ... wish I could personally hug them all, but they live sooo far away from me - Texas!

I did replace the straw in the chicken coop on Wednesday, and about 1/3 of it is now outside in the pen ... go figure ... Pretty soon they will have 80% outside - Thank goodness that the weather is warming up a bit.  When it's COLD and WINDY they roost inside with the warming lamp, but now they have taken up roosting outside during the night.

Today it is a bit windy and we are promised rain showers on and off for a couple of days ... Yes, the pine needle piles are still sitting there waiting to be moved to the burn pile ... it would soak me, if I tried to move them now.

I should have posted yesterday, but I went to town for groceries and then up the hill to Ron's house for the weekly Friday get together, so time was limited.  I'm using the reminder feature of my email program to keep me posting, but I know I'll miss a day here and there, but that's better than missing a couple of months ... LOL

Have a great weekend no matter what the weather is in your area.
(((Hugs)))
 

Babies that Baa and Cheep!

The pictures were taken at Dale's (goats) and baby chicks at my house. The goats are growing like crazy - these pictures were taken, maybe a week after the "infant" goat pics. It is hard to get a picture - they never hold still!! LOL.   By now they are 5-6 weeks old and have been put outside in their own pen, but they are still bottle fed - 3 bottles each; I don't know how many times during the day.  Thank goodness it isn't my milk bill!!!

I wish I could have gotten both their little faces, but all I got was one face and a butt!!!

Then there was the sale at our local Grange Co-op, buy one fifty pound bag of chick starter and get 3 chicks for free.  How do I pass that up when I know several (3) of my older girls have slowed wayyyy down on the egg production.  The two Ameraucana's lay green eggs and I haven't seen one in about three weeks now.  I do realize that the cold weather cuts down on the production, but these girls seem to have been on strike.  The oldest, Cinnamon, a RI Red, is about 7 years old and I think she has has enough of this laying thing.   The Ameraucana's, Cloud and Frazzle are also up there in age and I think it's their time now too.   Now I have my own new little babies, which I never thought I'd do - I wanted pullets that were ready to lay so I didn't have to go through this.  They are living in my craft studio for now - got to keep the cats and dog away from them.  Now to the mystery box - -

Here are my three little baby Barred Rock chicks in their new home.  I have a regular 60w light bulb hanging in there to keep them warm.  The associate that helped me said that they like it around 90 deg., and we are right on the mark.  It stays that warm because of the towel.  They bundle up to sleep, but they are also very active.  That tells me the temp is right on!  In about a week I can lower the temp to about 85, and slowly go down as their permanent feathers grow in.  The already have som wing feathers starting ... I love this ...

Now I just hope that all of them are girls ... no roosters allowed here!  I've cleaned the water dish after the mess they made (see above pic), I've also checked their little butts to make sure there isn't any dried "stuff" - I don't want them to plug up ...

How'd I do? - I might even like this Taking care of Baby thing ... hmmm??  I'll see if I'm willing to try it again next year.  Hope you all like the baby pictures.

Have a great day!!

Babies and socks

I've been gone a while; it's hard to post when one day is pretty much like the next, but I've got news ...

My friends' goat had babies on the 30 of Jan. Twins, a boy and girl. The Mama has produced healthy babies for about 4 years now, and we all think she is getting tired. The first two years there were twins, last year she had triplets and this year twins again. She has always been a good Mama, but last year she kicked one baby away and this year both. The little ones are being bottle fed in the house ... dog kennels work wonders. I only got a picture of the little girl with Mama, but it shows how little and cute they are.  The baby is looking for the boob between Mama's front legs ... she finally learned ...

The red glow is from the heat lamp, and Dale is trying to get the baby in the right place to eat. This one was pushed away a day or two later and is now in the house with her brother. They are doing very, very well.

I've also been working on knitting some socks from the toe up. My first socks!!! Only the first one is done, but I think I need to redo the cast off, it is a bit loose. I used a pattern for short socks, so I knit all the way up for knee socks and then realized that it was too tight on the calf ... rip out about 8-9 inches, figure out how to increase gradually and then bind off. Phew! Now I need to fix the bind off.

This was before it was completely finished, but even though I can see mistakes I need to fix on future socks, but I'm very happy with it overall.

Here is the first sock finished and the second one started. Can you see how the first sock is ruffled at the top - that is what I still need to fix.

I've been reading all about knitting socks from the toe up for about 2 months on and off. I finally found a combination of patterns and made up stuff that suited me. I wanted the easiest cast on possible - I used the figure 8. Then I went with the short row tow and heel. Boy was it a challenge to find the right instructions that made sense to me. Those wraps really gave me fits for about 3-4 tries - I have to look at the instructions each step of the way, but i made it through. The plain knitting for the foot went very smoothly. Once I started the heel and got several rows into it, I realized I have, to me, giant holes where the instep stitches were put on a holder. You know, I had ripped so much on this sock, I left the holes. These socks will be worn, and then put away as a first sock project that I can refer to so I can see how much I've progressed with additional socks!! LOL ...

If anyone has any suggestions for the holes, I'd love to hear about it.

Hugs

The skunk saga ...

Yesterday was the BIG stinky day! I really, really wanted to show you some pictures but the incident had me running around getting bucket, rifle and keeping the dog in the house.

About a week ago I borrowed a trap for the furry little critter .. I placed it by an opening that leads under the house. I had hoped to catch the little 'kitty' and have a friend of a friend come and take it away. I left the trap there for 2 nights with eggs in it. I caught my cat! Nosy Cat. OK, no skunk ...

I moved the trap over by the chicken pen. Set it up with another egg, and waited. Two or three nights went by, no skunk, also no more Cat. I finally just moved the trap over a bit next to the outside wall of the wood shed figuring that the 'kitty' had moved on since it couldn't get into the pen.

Yesterday morning I went out to let the girls out for the day, threw some feed down for them, gave them fresh water and went back to the house. I turned in the doorway to call the dog to come back in - she was "pointing", sort of, towards the wood shed. I took a good look, and the 'kitty' moved! I just about came out of my skin realizing how close - 5 to 6 feet - I had come to the trap ...

I called my friend so he could call the guy that (has no sense of smell) would come and get it live. He sells the scent to the companies that make perfume - makes me look at perfume in a whole new light - ick!!! Any way, this is elk season out here and of course the guy was out in the woods hunting. Hmmm, now what? My friend came down to see if I had taken care of the little problem - no I hadn't, I was still on my first cup of coffee for the day and needed my whits about me. I got my rifle for him and he took care of it, WONDERFUL friend. After the 'kitty' had stopped moving, we dumped it in a bucket and away it went.

Now, when you shoot a skunk, it sprays! My property STUNK to high heaven. I had it embedded in my nose - Oh ick!!! This morning there is still a lingering aroma, but it will fade as days go by. Not fast enough for me, but it will fade.

The trap has to be rinsed down with bleach so it doesn't smell like skunk, evidently even skunks don't like the scent of other skunks. I still have the trap and am waiting to get close to it to see if the smell has left.

I was just a wonderful day yesterday, cough, cough, gag!!!

Hope your day was better. Dang, I wish I had pictures to show...

Oh ... the animals have their day!

We have had some terrific weather the last 3-4 days, and it is suppose to last for another 3-4 days. Temps in the 80's ... makes for a bad hunting season.

About 3 weeks ago SueAnn needed to go out around 2 in the morning ... what else is new? Well, I saw a shadow over by the chicken pen, but I really thought it was just my eyes after being dragged out there at that hour. But nooooo! There is a neighborhood black with white stripe type animal trying to make a dinner date with my chickens. Well .... do I need to say more? At 2 in the morning I'm trying to remember what takes the smell down about 300 degrees, but bleary brained me, just stood there staring straight ahead. I woke up when the dog wiped her cute, stinky face on my jammies! I grabbed the feminine internal cleanser and doused her good. It did help a lot, but didn't quite get it all. I woke up the next day with a headache, and knew exactly why!

Just laugh, go ahead ... last evening the cat wanted in, he lets me know by hanging up on the screen and yowling. I opened the door, and OH NO NOT AGAIN!!!! Joey evidently got too close and reeked with black and white striped type animal scent!! Have you ever tried giving a cat a bath? I did once about 40 years ago - never to try again. Until last evening! At least I was awake even if my eyes were a bit teary. Grabbed said cat, headed for the bathroom, closed the door, dumped some female stuff on him and realized I didn't have a scruffy towel handy, oh my beautiful bath towel ... Joey didn't mind the wiping down, but he felt like he needed some loving and kept jumping up in my lap - I again had a headache! Ummm, like we did that for about 5 minutes and I finally just let him jump up - - and stay, for about 10 minutes.

My whole back yard looks like this picture!  All my cute little ladies look like I tried to fleece them, but they are doing it all by themselves!  I have 5 ladies, and am getting 1 maybe 2 eggs a day.  The biggest girl is the worst 'shedder'!  I'm just going with the flow for now.  I don't care too much about the chickens, but I certainly DON'T want a repeat of my 2 legged critters.  Maybe I will just have to camp on the back steps with my .22 to prevent that ... if I don't gag first ...

I sure hope you all have had a better time lately.

The time just flies

I'm still crafting for the fair in Boston, and when I take a breath, I'm outside cleaning things up to get ready for winter. I started packing the crafts as I finished them, but I think I'll have to take some of them out again to show you pictures - I did promise after all!

This past week it was cold and rainy, but now the temperatures are heading back up to the 70' and 80's. I have a cold with this roller coaster ride - and that roller coaster has been running for over a year now. There wasn't much of a winter last year, and then almost no summer, and as today is the first day of Fall, I sure hope the coaster stops and lets us get off. I've heard from The Farmers Almanac that we are to have a 'normal' winter - and that means 4-5 feet of snow, maybe more. Last year we had 11-14 inches all total, so I can hardly wait. I'm also anxious to see how well my new weatherization will do.

I'm going to be buying the lumber and stuff to get a new chicken coop built. If we have 4-5 feet of snow the old tattered tarp covered dog kennel will not hold up too well. I also have a night visitor that is hell bent on getting in to my chickens. I think it's a possum, but am not totally sure. It is trying to dig under the pavers that are in there. I have chicken wire under all the pavers, except maybe where the gate is, and that's where the varmint is trying to get in. If I put a trap out there, I'm not sure what to do with him ... I also think I'd be afraid to get near it. I'm not too critter wise, but I do have a friend that will take care of it!!

I'm going to forgo hunting season this year. Usually I look forward to the camping part of it, but this year it has loomed on the horizon as a pain in the butt! Maybe because I'm not feeling that good with this cold, who knows. My friend will take my truck camper out this year as his wife and daughter won't be going either. He will also be able to tow the quad trailer loaded with extra water, generator, maybe the air compressor, and extra fuel. It will be tight quarters after his 24' 5th wheel, but all he'll do in it is sleep and maybe some cooking.

When I fed the cats this morning I noticed that there was 1/2 cup food left, so I'd better get going to town to replenish that! The cats won't like it if they have no dinner!

Hugs to all

Someone turned on the heat!

Earlier when I looked at the thermometer it said 90 deg. It is a bit above my comfort zone and evidently Joey doesn't doesn't think much of it either!





Now I think this is where I'd like to be right now. Not sure about the cats but I know the dog would love it.



This picture was taken in Crescent City in May 2007 from our motel deck, when the tall ships were there. They had a mock battle which is hard to see, but I'm sure you get the idea. It was a marvelous weekend, nice, warm (like 70 or so) with slight breezes blowing ... aaahhh, I wish. I could sooo enjoy stepping out for a walk on the beach with the dog ... too bad they don't allow dogs at that motel - poor SueAnn.

Have a nice day and don't forget to turn down the heat.
Hugs

As normal as it gets and other tidbits

Well, I have still been putting stuff away, one little piece at a time. I mean that literally. I find a stray something, and I will walk it to where the other 'somethings' are and put it away. Wow, I have a lot of 'somethings'!!! It is mostly craft stuff that has been scattered about, and now I can really see the Crafters Motto, "If one is good, three is better" in action!! WOW! Even my nice large craft studio is getting cramped. And the super large craft table is covered with stuff!

I did craft a pair of earrings during this clean up time. My friend J asked me for two sets, and these, if you can see them, are what came out of that request. There are three little white beads on the end of all four legs, end of the tail and at the top as eyes. I guess I need a real good contrasting background to have them show up better ... either that or a closer up picture. They are about 1 1/4 inches long, not counting the hook


I also wandered around the front yard taking random pics of the flowers ... these two pictures are of wildflowers just growing where they want ... I don't care if they are weeds, they look pretty!




The next two are of 'real' flowers that I know names of - what a concept for this girl ... LOL My beautiful Purple Iris (don't look at the weeds!)


I don't know the actual name of this rose, but I know it grows wild where it is planted. I don't do much to it but throw a bit of water on it once in a while ...


Right after I took the flower pictures, the camera told me to put new batteries in or I wouldn't get any more pictures ... so, into the house I went, looking for AA batteries and found ONE. The camera takes TWO. I put the camera on the kitchen counter while I searched for another battery, and all of a sudden there was a huge thump, everyone jumped, even me. OK, one of the cats did SOMETHING NOT GOOD ... Yup, after looking around the kitchen, I found my camera in the pet water bowl ... Ooooh, not good...!!!! Maggie had evidently slowly pushed it off the counter, and it happened to be right above where the water bowl sat on the floor. Talk about upset! I pulled it out and drained it over the sink - I didn't know cameras could hold so much water. I was just heartbroken - there was no way I could replace my dear old Kodak ... I dried the outside and as best I could, stuck rag corners and edges into the openings ... all the time wondering what the H*LL I was going to do now ...

I checked the Kodak website to see what they had to say - ummm, nothing about wet cameras ... so I googled wet cameras and fortunately found a couple of sites that told little except to thoroughly dry the camera - DUH!!!! - and use a hair dryer on air only. It took me 4 days to do all this - and the camera now WORKS!!! I'm now very careful where I place the camera, and never again will it be on the kitchen counter.

I guess since it's been a while since I last posted, I had a lot to say!!! I keep trying to not let so much time pass, but I guess the only way to do that is to put reminders up ...

We, friends and I, are now getting ready for another camping trip to the lake, so hopefully I will have a bit to say about that when we get back ... I can only hope ... LOL.

You all have a great summer, now that it's here in force!!
Hugs

Where did the time go?

The weather has been very nice lately and I've been outside - starved for some sunshine and warmth! It is only a bit warm directly in the sun or if you are really working out there, but I don't turn into a popsicle in just 5 minutes, so outside a bit everyday to absorb some vitamin D...

Dale and his daughter came down and stacked ALL the wood. He want to get another trailer load for me and then he'll be happy! Yeah, me too...

I will be beading hat bands for the next Black Powder Shoot on April 23, 24 and 25. I have been perusing the internet for patterns, whole or in pieces parts that I can put together to make my own, or just ideas to make my own. I have two patterns, one head band and working on my second.



The beading is finished on the one above, but I need the leather ends and ties. This will be good for young girl or teenager with the purple-ish beads. The pattern will be made again in rust, charcoal, gray and white - I think that would appeal to a rough mountain man a lot better!

The next pattern is put together from pieces-parts of many patterns. The background color on the pattern is blue and the beads used are a turquoise.



I am much further along than what the picture shows. I'd like to get it done in the next 2 days, but we'll see how my back handles sitting hunched over for long periods of time. The beading process is meditative as long as I don't have to let a cat in or let a cat out or the dog, or a cat/cat fight or a dog/cat chase ... it does give my back a break when I have to get up, but I don't want to get up every five minutes - 1/2 to 1 hour is good!!



You can see the beginning of the pattern above and compare it to the pic of the beaded work. I make my patterns using an excel spreadsheet with the color fill function! I make the cells 1 pixel wide by 10 pixels high - makes a near perfect square. I then use the fill function to get the colors in place - much easier than graph paper and colored pencils!!!

There are 15 beads (length) to the inch, so that tells you how many beads I'm using to get 18-10 inches of hat band!

The pattern making / "putting pattern together" takes quite a bit of time. I'm never sure I have things just where I want them, or should this go there, or maybe change colors there ... I can drive myself nuts with this "maybe" and "what-if" thing. I need to just do what comes up first. I want my work to be very nice and professional, but do I really need to agonize over the placement of every bead when I'm dealing with 3,300 beads!!!!

Back to beading, I need inventory ... and I need it now!!! I will keep you posted as I progress with more hat bands or whatever else I do.

Hugs