Because the Alternative is Unthinkable

August

2011-09-05T16:08:00.001-04:00

August is over… Where, oh where, did the summer go????

I set the trap for a couple more weekends and haven’t had any takers, so I think that any raccoons that have been visiting me are gone. For now anyway.

Doctors can be very testy when you haven’t gone to see them for a while.

Tetanus shots hurt just as much as I remember. I just don’t remember them making me feel sick before.

After much blood, sweat and tears (literally), I finally have my tractor fixed. And I got it done for under $50 – which is a far cry from the $150 the shop wanted to charge me just to get the tractor to the garage. You have no idea how relieved I am that it’s done and I feel as though a lot of stress has been lifted off my shoulders. I have the property cleaned up and now I can work on some other projects.

I forgot how much bee stings hurt. And itch.

I’m happy to say that the Guineas are still around and the babies are getting big! It was funny watching them actually jump to reach branches over their head. I don’t know what it was they were eating, but they wanted them pretty badly

I was very excited to find a way to put the stuff on my DVR onto a DVD.

I’ve become addicted to vanilla malted milkshakes.

I hate whoever makes the decisions of what goes on TV. A good show like Eureka is cancelled, but they put on crap like Whisker Wars. Bah.

In the world of yard care, Weed B Gon and Spectracide Weed and Grass Killer are the best products on the market. I couldn’t believe what a good job the Weed B Gon did on my very neglected lawn. And the Spectracide works leaps and bounds better than Roundup.

Out of all the things I wanted to accomplish this Labor Day weekend, I didn’t get very many done. I am so lazy.

This Week

2011-08-10T21:48:00.001-04:00

I caught two raccoons over the weekend. I had to start setting out the trap because they aren’t being the friendly neighbors that I want. They destroyed some stuff in my shed, but the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was when one knocked down Robin #'1’s nest and ate all the babies. I have no idea how he got up high enough, but he did – I caught him in the aftermath. Now I am on the warpath. I plan on setting the trap every weekend until I stop catching any more raccoons

I got my first red tomatoes! And a couple beautiful cucumbers… I am so happy

And the other good news is - I *am* getting peppers! It’s weird how they are growing… it’s like all the flowers were on the underside of the plant, so I didn’t see any of them. The peppers are still teeny-tiny, but at least I know I’ll be getting some

I had my first (veggie) BLT of the season. I can’t even begin to describe how good it was. I’ll be eating these at least twice a day until the frost kills off all my tomatoes… I wait all year for these

That all being said, I threw three baby bunnies out of my (fenced in) garden

Back for a Visit

2011-07-31T17:23:00.001-04:00

I’m so tired at the end of the day lately, I just don’t have the energy to write any posts… it’s been so long, I doubt anyone reads this anymore (not that many did to begin with!). This update is (obviously) pretty much for me.

The heat has been awful this summer, but it’s not any worse than summers I remember as a kid. I remember all the summers being hot and humid in July and August. Maybe we’ll have an old-fashioned winter this year too.

I’ve been seeing a *lot* of young deer with antlers. I never see deer with antlers, so deer sightings have been a whole lot more interesting.

Two of The Ladies can’t decide if they want to sleep in the coop at night or not. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. On the nights they don’t, I have to wander around the yard to collect them and lock them up

I’m still getting baby robins… Robin #2 produced three fledglings while Robin #1 is currently raising #’s 7, 8 and 9… she’s a busy mom!

I cat-sat a week for a friend. One of the few pets I never had growing up was a cat. I can definitely say that I am a dog person and I wouldn’t ever get a pet cat. I think that dogs are way easier to take care of and definitely cleaner around the house!

…and speaking of dogs, my sister’s dog is growing up so fast. She is going to be such a great dog when she’s all grown up.

I was stunned last week when the guy I work next to asked me what the new guy’s name was. The ‘New Guy’ has been working with us for over three months and works within 20 feet of us

I went on a field trip with my Mom and sisters to Lily Dale. My Mom and one of my sisters had a reading – I wish I had had the $$$ to have one too… it was pretty interesting to hear what the mediums had to say – they were on the mark with a lot of stuff.

Just about every street I take going to work has a car counter on it. I just know that construction on every one of those streets is going to start on the same day. And it’s going to take forever to get to work when it does. And it’s going to go on for months. Ugh.

There has been a family of Guinea fowl hanging around my house – they are so cool. I hope they make it through the winter, but I’m not too optimistic as they aren’t native to cold climates I wish my camera had a better zoom.

I’m not very excited about my garden this year. Because the spring was so wet, everything had too much of a late start. The only thing that is looking OK is my tomatoes – everything else is either super small or non-existent. Corn, beans and peas never happened. Maybe we’ll have a mild fall and I’ll get something from the rest of what I planted. We’ll see.

I can’t believe that tomorrow is the first day of August. Ugh.

Babies!

2011-06-20T23:06:00.001-04:00

The robin’s nest that is in my stairway to my basement finally has had some action. This nest is way better than the one in my outbuilding… this one is almost at eye level, so I can see up close and personal what’s going on. Of course I wait until Mommy and Daddy Robin aren’t around when I peek, so I don’t stress them out

So yesterday, I glanced in the next on my way to the basement to make sure the eggs were still there and instead of three eggs, there was two eggs and a teeny tiny squirming little pink thing – one of the eggs had hatched! Today I saw that all three eggs hatched - the babies are soooo teeny.

Here is a picture of two baby robins that are only a couple of hours old…one is kind of sitting on the other and you can see the third egg in the back.

And then here you can see one looking for something to eat - it was hard to get a picture of all three with their mouths open at the same time… I didn’t want to hang around too long and upset Mom and Dad.

I’m going to have to come up with names for them… Any ideas?

Update…

2011-06-13T23:19:00.001-04:00

I have been so bad about posting, but in my defense, there hasn’t been a whole lot to write about. If you’re reading this at 2 o’clock in the morning because you can’t fall asleep, this just might be your ticket to some rest…

My back is back to normal – well, as normal as it can be for me. And for that, I am very grateful.

My garden isn’t any near being done. All I have in is lettuce (which is doing well!), some tomatoes and peppers. I do have corn seed and cabbage seed in the ground, but they haven’t come up yet. My peas never came up. I still have a lot of stuff I want to get into the ground yet…

Mrs. Robin #1 had already raised three babies, but it looks like she hatched some more. I can only see one beak (if you click on the picture, you should get a bigger version), but I’m guessing there are probably more in the nest…

I now have a Mrs. Robin #2, who built a nest in my back hallway. She flies away every time I go in or out of the house, but she’s sticking to her guns and staying with her nest. If the eggs hatch, I should be able to get a really good view of the babies…

All my chickens lay brown eggs, except for my Polish chicken, who gives me white eggs. She is a very reliable layer – I can count on an egg a day from her. Which is why I was wondering why they stopped all of a sudden. Until I found the nest she had made out back…

The Polish chicken is pretty skittish – for which I don’t blame her, because she gets picked on a lot. But it makes it really hard to get a decent picture of her…

…and then I have another Lady who doesn’t think the nesting boxes are good enough for her either. She’s been laying her eggs every day on top of the old brooder I have put away… I really don’t understand how she thinks this is better.

My car broke down this past week. It cost me a week-and-a-half’s pay to get it fixed

Our town farmers’ market opened two weeks ago. It’s been a lot of work the past few months and it’s not showing any signs of stopping. We are hoping for a great season this year, even with the bad growing weather we’ve had this spring.

I’ve really had the itching for a road trip. I don’t know where, but I would love to go away somewhere for a few days. Unfortunately, I just don’t see that happening for a long time…

….Ummm. Yeah. I think that’s about it, besides working a lot. If you made this far without falling asleep, congratulations!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-05-18T21:13:00.001-04:00

Again

2011-05-16T22:11:00.001-04:00

Last Sunday for Mother’s Day, we had a busy day. The first part was spent with Thomas the Tank at the Medina Railroad Museum. I’m really glad we went last weekend – we had beautiful weather, not the ark-building weather we’ve had this weekend… This spring has been sooooo wet. I really hope this isn’t a sign of how the summer is going to go

The event was really well run and we all had a lot of fun. That night, the kids were asking my sister for their train tickets so they could go again

The museum was pretty cool too. I’ve been at the railroad station before, but I hadn’t been inside – the model railroad display they have set up is HUGE!!!! I highly recommend visiting there if you ever get the chance

However, the whole day wasn’t all fun and games…

I thought I broke my camera. I had banged it pretty hard accidently and wasn’t able to take any pictures after that. Fortunately when I got home, after futzing around with it for a while, I managed to get it working again. Thank goodness. I love my camera.

After the afternoon in Medina, we went to my sister’s house for Mother’s Day dinner and picnicking – again, we couldn’t have asked for better weather… but in our horsing around, Casey put a hole in my favorite pair of jeans.

And I messed up my back.

Again.

Except this time it’s my upper back, not my lower back from before.

It’s a week later and my back is still killing me.

I’ve never had upper back pain before and this is just as bad as lower back back, except with different issues.

I really hope this is a fluke thing and my back works itself out and gets back to normal soon – well, as much as normal as it can get…

Spirit

2011-05-06T22:11:00.001-04:00

My Mittsy was a black lab. She was the best dog in the world.

I think she has come back reincarnated…

Yep. That’s Mittsy’s spirit in another dog

Royal Wedding

2011-05-01T14:55:00.001-04:00

I watched the Royal Wedding – not live, because of work, but one of the endless repeats being shown on a dozen different stations.

I consider it to be a historical event and it was fun to watch…

I haven’t really followed much about William and Kate, but they look good together.

I was fascinated by the hats of the guests. I guess that if you are a rich or prominent lady in England, a hat is a necessary accessory – and the odder, the better. There were a few I thought were very pretty and flattering, but most of them made me laugh…

I loved the carriage ride at the end – that was so romantic

…and I couldn’t believe how old Charles looked!

Best wishes to the new couple

At Least…

2011-04-29T18:19:00.001-04:00

So tell me – what’s the first thing that pops into your mind when I tell you that I hit a bunny rabbit on the way into work?

I know… I feel horrible about it. Poor thing

So what did my co-worker say when I mentioned it?

“…At least it was after Easter.”

Was I wrong to laugh?

Ugh

2011-04-22T21:53:00.001-04:00

Holiday weekend.

I’m sick.

Need I say more?

I could be accomplishing so much.

It’s not fair.

Ugh.

Sunday Bullets

2011-04-17T19:49:00.001-04:00

This weather is making me very crabby and grumpy. I’m sick of rain. I’m sick of mud. I’m REALLY sick of cold, cold wind. Right now it’s snowing. Hard. This is the total opposite of last year’s most wonderful spring. That being said, my grass needs cutting already.

We’ve had two family birthdays this month already and one more coming at the end of the month… April is a happy, but expensive month around here!

I’ve been feeling hopelessly lazy lately. I have so many things that I want to get done, but when I have the time, I just don’t feel like doing any of them.

Most of The Ladies are laying every day now, which is a good thing. One of the adopted ladies is still eating some of the eggs tho’ – I caught her again today. They all seem to be getting on OK now, except for the Polish chicken - she is still getting picked on badly. I have the stuff to build her own private place, but I would like to have some nice weather to get it put together…

It cost me over $65 to fill my gas tank today. Do you know how many hours I have to work for that? A lot

I love OK GO – they are especially creative with their videos… they never fail to disappoint me!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-04-13T20:32:00.001-04:00

Casey

2011-04-03T19:39:00.001-04:00

Last week my sister got a new puppy.

This weekend I’m “baby” sitting her already

I miss having a dog around since Mittsy left me. Casey is soooo cute – but because she’s so little, she needs a lot of watching… If I were to get my own dog again, I think I’d have to get one that’s a little older and already house-trained. I feel like I’m taking her outside every hour, just to make sure that she doesn’t make a mess in the house I think for now, just having a part-time dog is perfect for me.

She still has that irresistible puppy-breath and those oh-so-cute puppy-paws…

I found out that she’s afraid of The Ladies, but even tho’ they are three times her size and ten times her number, The Ladies are even more afraid of her Of course that made it impossible to get any good chicken-and-dog pictures

…and she can fall asleep anywhere

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-30T20:21:00.001-04:00

Extra

2011-03-25T21:47:00.001-04:00

My normal routine every night is to wait until dark and all The Ladies are in for the night before heading out to lock up. If I go out before they are settled in, they tend to take longer to turn in because they think they are going to miss out on treats or something if I’m there Anyway, after I do a head-count, everything is all locked up for the night.

Tonight was a little different. There was an extra head in the head count…

That’s not how I found him… he (she?) was actually huddled in with the other chickens. My initial reaction was to try and get him out as quickly as possible, and in that attempt, he tried climbing as far up as he could (which really wasn’t much) to get away from me.

None of the chickens seemed to mind that he was there, but still didn’t make me feel any better.

I didn’t have gloves on or anything, so I ran to the house to grab gloves, a towel and my live animal trap (and of course my camera). My plan was to put the towel on the guy, put him in the trap and then relocate him somewhere far enough away that I wouldn’t have to worry about him again.

As all my well-laid plans go, it didn’t work out that way.

I got him out – and wow! Raccoons sure can have a strong grip on a whole lot of nothing I was surprised (and relieved) that he didn’t try to bite me… but I wasn’t quick enough to get him in the trap, so he got away.

I now have to be vigilant to see what’s going to happen next. Is he going to be so traumatized that he won’t come back? Or did he make friends with The Ladies, and nothing will prevent him from visiting again? Will he bring friends? Will they be hungry?

I think that I am going to try and set the trap and see if I can catch him anyway. I would feel a whole lot better if I knew he was gone…

Neglectful

2011-03-24T22:54:00.001-04:00

Yes.

I know.

I have been very neglectful of my blog.

And of all the blogs sitting in my reader.

I’ve been busy, but not with anything worth writing about… I will try to catch up and be more attentive

I do have to say that I saw something today that amazed me. Something I haven’t seen in probably at least ten years… probably more. I saw not just one, but two school buses drop off kids at the corner of their street.

Yes, that’s right.

The buses stopped at the corner of a street and a group of children got off and walked towards their homes. I thought all buses were required by law or something to stop in front of the house of every child on a school bus.

Go figure.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-02T17:21:00.001-05:00

Nothing

2011-02-24T21:51:00.001-05:00

There hasn’t been much happening around here worth writing about lately…

My back went out on me, so I was miserable for a while until it started working again. It’s still a little tight, but it’s nice to be able to put my shoes on in less than ten minutes.

Give me snow and cold temperatures over rain and mud any day of the week. Except if it’s windy. I don’t like cold and wind.

It’s amazing how someone who wears an iPod all day can’t hear you calling him twenty times trying to get his attention, but can somehow magically hear a private conversation you’re having with someone else twenty feet away.

The snowplow took out my mailbox, which I find very annoying. I mail a lot of packages, so I had made a larger mailbox that would accommodate my needs… the town had replaced it with a standard mailbox. So until I can make and install a replacement, I have to make a lot of extra trips to the Post Office. Meh.

This season of Survivor is going to be most awesome.

My car now has the back door/hatch that swings open. The last time I went grocery shopping, I made sure to park so that I would have no problem loading my groceries in the back…

So when I returned to my car, this is what I saw…

Really?

I upgraded my email program. It now allows me to access email accounts that it wouldn’t before – pretty much accounts I use for things that I’m know I’m going to get spam with. I wasn’t thinking when I hit that last ‘enter’ button… I had to wait quite a bit while I waited for the 877 emails to download. That’s when I learned that the upgrade eliminated the ‘stop’ button.

So as you can see, not a whole lot has been going on… I guess no news is good news

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-02T22:02:00.001-05:00

Tuesday Bullets

2011-02-01T22:30:00.001-05:00

All set for the storm when it comes… it’s just a matter of how bad it’s really going to be. Will I be going to work in the morning or not? – that is the question. Nothing is happening around here yet, so I guess we’ll see…

Have you seen Carrie Fisher in the latest Jenny Craig commercial? I didn’t recognize her… Yikes.

I went cross country skiing this past weekend for the first time in a looong time – I had a blast. No pictures tho’ – my camera is too big to carry around for something like that. My next phone is going to have a camera.

Other that, it’s been a busy week – nothing earth-shattering, but I’ve been getting a lot of little stuff done. And that makes me happy

Change

2011-01-24T20:40:00.001-05:00

The Found Change count for 2010 is……. (drum roll please!)…….

$1.19

.25 = 1

.10 = 7

.01 = 24

This is down 86¢ from last year. Could it be that because the economy is so bad that people are more careful with their change? Or maybe more people are bothering to pick up change from the ground? Or maybe I just wasn’t as lucky this past year?

The world may never know

I can only hope to find more in 2011

Optical

2011-01-23T20:58:00.001-05:00

It’s been a bit chilly around here the past few days – I think the high temperature today was 5° F and it’s down to -5° F now… So to get your mind off the weather, here is a cool video (Get it? Cool? ) . There was no video editing or special effects here…

If you liked this – check out the guy’s website…

*Update* – the high was actually 14° F, but that’s still cold

Guards

2011-01-22T23:45:00.001-05:00

For the first time in a loooong while, I went to the Galleria Mall.

None of the stores I went to had what I was looking for, but that’s besides the point – I couldn’t believe all the security guards that were all over! What’s going on there that I missed?

I will say that they all looked very professional and had the mall very well covered.

Whatever trouble they had or are anticipating, it looks like it’s taken care of.

I’m not sure if I should be happy or sad about this.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-19T21:58:00.001-05:00

Longer

2011-01-17T22:14:00.001-05:00

You can tell the days are getting longer again.

I love it!

Trust

2011-01-16T20:34:00.001-05:00

It can be hard sometimes not having anyone around that you can trust 100%.

Still Scorpio

2011-01-15T22:42:00.001-05:00

I’m not super-deep into astrology and horoscopes, but I do find them fun and entertaining. I was born under the sign Scorpio, which I was very happy with.

Even tho’ I don’t see logically how a description of a an astrological sign could possibly apply to everyone born under that sign, when I read about Scorpios or a daily horoscope, I tend to look at the similarities that apply to me and feel comfortable with the way they seem to fit.

That all changed this week, when it was announced that the dates for the zodiac signs had changed a bit - including a new one added to the lot. I had changed from Scorpio to Libra. Ugh. Scorpio was fun… a scorpion has personality – I don’t think the same could be said of a set of scales… except maybe bor-ing. I was happy being a Scorpio, notsomuch a Libra.

Fortunately, I’m a Scorpio again! Not that I really believe in horoscopes

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-13T19:52:00.001-05:00

Future Mess

2011-01-12T22:00:00.001-05:00

When I woke up this morning, there was about a foot of snow on the ground.

When I got home from work, it was was up to almost two feet.

My tractor did an admiral job of clearing it out of my driveway

The patches on the hoses are leaking a bit, but they held good enough to get the job done. (hopefully they will hold for the season!)

I’m dreading to see what my yard is going to look like come springtime… With the blade on the tractor, you can’t let it “ride” on top of the driveway – that is going up and down over the grade of the ground… you have to set a height and go with it. Unfortunately, either my driveway is very uneven or the three-point hitch isn’t level – either way, I’ve been digging up a lot of dirt, stone and grass.

Whatever mess there is tho’, it will be worth cleaning up as long as I don’t have to shovel for the rest of the winter

When the weather gets warmer, I’ll have to see if there is a way to adjust the level-ness of the blade. Until then, I’m going to try to minimize the mess as much as I can…

Top Gear

2011-01-10T22:54:00.001-05:00

When it comes to cars, I am by no means a gearhead. I don’t understand people who spend their evenings at car shows, wandering from car to car looking at engines and fenders and the like. Boooooooring

That being said, I enjoy watching Top Gear. I don’t watch it regularly, but when I do, it has never failed to make me laugh. And of course I’m talking about the original BBC version, not the crappy US remake. I tried watching the new version on the History Channel and it was pretty awful. The cast just doesn’t have the charisma of the BBC guys… they weren’t very entertaining to me.

It amazes me sometimes (most of the time?) how remakes can totally ruin something really good.

I would love the chance to have a go around their track and see where I would rate on their board. I have a bit of a lead foot and I’d like to think that I would end up at least somewhere in the middle of their ranking board. I guess we’ll never know, tho’

This is the first part of one of my favorite episodes. If you get the chance to watch the whole thing – do it… the last part is soooo funny

Unfortunately, the only place I can find the whole episode is on iTunes… but it’s totally worth the 99¢ – just search for Top Gear US Road Trip.

New Ride

2011-01-08T23:20:00.001-05:00

So before Christmas, I finally bit the bullet and traded in the Jillmobile.

It needed to be done – I was getting tired of taking her into the shop every few weeks… Not to mention, the cost.

I think I would have liked to get another pickup, but when I saw the price of used ones, I knew that was out of the question. I went with my next best option: an SUV. They can haul pretty much what I need from Home Depot, they can pull a trailer and are priced much more reasonably. After much research, I had narrowed down what I would have preferred, but discovered that what looks good in reviews doesn’t necessarily match real life.

I ended up getting a Jeep Liberty. It’s still old, but it has a lot less miles than my Dakota had. It had a few issues, but the place I bought it from is being good about taking care of them. All-in-all, I am pretty happy with it so far. There’s not as much room in the back as I had with my pickup, but I love the way it handles in the snow. The inside is really well laid out – it’s very roomy and comfortable. And the engine looks pretty accessible, so I’m hoping I won’t have too hard of a time taking care of a lot of the maintenance myself. I think my biggest complaint is the gas mileage – it’s pretty awful… I think it’s worse than I got with the Dakota. I’m going to keep track of the gas and mileage for another few weeks, just to see if my first mpg results are the same. I’m really hoping I made a mistake somewhere

I hate having a car payment now, too.

Here’s hoping that I get many good years out of the new Jillmobile!

Thursday Bullets

2011-01-06T22:12:00.001-05:00

So the holidays are over - routine will hopefully fall back into place and I will start posting more regularly…

I don’t know if it’s just the stress from the holidays or it’s just my turn, but I’m getting whatever it is that’s going around. I hope it comes and goes quickly

What is it with the guys that have the plows on the front of their trucks – why do they have to ride the center line all the time? I always feel when one is coming from the opposite direction that I have to move over until I’m practically in the ditch or it’s going to take out the side of my truck…

What don’t guys understand about ‘No’ when you don’t want to go out with them? If I’m not interested, I don’t want to waste my time and energy playing games. Don’t try to pressure me – it makes me not want to go out with you even more.

As I alluded to a couple of weeks ago – I’m getting my garden catalogs already… I am itching for spring to get here already I can’t wait to get my garden growing again.

So I had the chance to work on my tractor. I found the damaged hoses, but there was absolutely no way I could access them to get them out and replace them. The hoses were cut by one of the fan belt pulleys that was rubbing against them. Why would anyone design an engine like that? I managed to temporarily patch them up until the warmer weather, when it will be easier to take the radiator off to get in there and properly make the repair. They still leak a bit, but I think (hope) that I will be able to get through the winter, barring any other disasters.

Someone did something for me that I did not need and did not want. I (thought I) was gracious and a few days later sent over a thank you card and a some cookies. Is it wrong for me to be aggravated that I was reprimanded for not calling that same day to say ‘thank you’? Do me a favor and don’t try to be nice if have expectations.

If you haven’t seen this yet, they did a great job as usual… but what’s even more interesting is seeing how the clip was made – so creative!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T17:14:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T22:54:00.001-05:00

We hope everyone out there has a healthy and prosperous 2011

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-29T21:26:00.001-05:00

Hosed

2010-12-26T17:33:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone had a really nice Christmas. I felt very lucky this year – I have a job, I’m relatively healthy and I got to spend the holiday with my family and friends. It was perfect.

It’s funny how priorities change as we get older

On a not-so-wonderful note - last year my snowblower died. When I took it in to get it fixed, I was told that it would basically cost as much to get it fixed as it would to buy a brand new one. I opted not to get it fixed. Instead I went for a cheaper solution – I decided to get a blade for my tractor, which not only saved me a lot of money, but it also gives me more use out my tractor than just brush-hogging. It is working out great for clearing out my driveway - once I figured out a good pattern. Plus I’m practically able to make a five-lane highway out to the chicken coop – no shoveling or lifting involved! There was a bit of a learning curve to get the blade at the right height where I wasn’t tearing up all the gravel in the driveway, but still removing as much snow as possible – but I think I have it figured out.
In theory, I had the perfect plan.

In reality, something always goes wrong for me.

The power-steering hose broke, so until I fix it, I have to hope that we don’t have any significant snowfall. I was hoping it would have warmed up a bit this weekend – I don’t have a garage, so I have to wait for the weather to cooperate before I can work on it. My fingers are crossed that I will get the tractor fixed before the next big snowfall – I really don’t want to have to shovel if I can help it…

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T13:46:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Much

2010-12-19T22:56:00.001-05:00

There has much been going on around here the past few weeks – I wish I could say it’s all good, but it seems for every one thing that goes right, two go wrong. Oh well, what can you do?

I’m not even close to being ready for Christmas, but I think I should be set by Friday if everything goes smoothly for me this week… I hope.

Instead of trying to put everything into one post, I’m going to break it up into pieces. So to start…

…as I alluded on Wednesday – I have acquired a few more chickens. Five more to be exact. I now have a Black Star, three Rhode Island Reds and a Polish chicken added to the clan.

I’ve never had to integrate chicken ‘families’ before and I have to say, it is an interesting process. My biggest worry was that there would be an all-out war between them. As it turns out, they pretty much don’t want anything to do with each other. It’s been over a week now since they’ve arrived and a couple are beginning to mingle – but only a little bit.

The Newcomers are definitely a bunch of wimps when it comes to the snow. My gals are practically trying to break down the door to get out when they see me – despite their hesitancy when the snow first came, they have no problem now going out in it to explore. But even before they discovered the joys of snow, they would still play out in their pen - the new Ladies don’t even want to leave the coop. I guess they didn’t at their old place, either. I’m starting to see a couple of them venture out now and again, but for the most part, they like to stay inside. Wimps.

The one I really feel bad for is the Polish chicken. Her name is Polska. She had a friend named Polski, but she was killed by a fox Anyway, she gets soooo picked on by her old coop-mates. She arrived missing a lot of feathers and doesn’t look very pretty from the backside. She is very skittish around the other hens – and understandably so. I’m hoping in her new environment and with some potentially new allies, she will be able to recover from her injuries and calm down a bit. I can’t do much while I’m at work, but I’ve been trying to monitor the situation as much as I can while I’m at home…

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-15T22:03:00.001-05:00

Christmas Can-Can!

2010-12-09T17:12:00.001-05:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-08T22:13:00.001-05:00

Nothing

2010-12-02T22:11:00.001-05:00

Nothing is as soft as the new feathers growing in from a molting chicken…

Nothing makes one back up their computer faster than the sound of loud clunking coming from their hard drive…

Nothing makes you clean your house more than the threat of company coming over…

Nothing tastes better than Thanksgiving leftovers…

Nothing is so depressing as the sun setting at 4:42 pm…

Nothing makes driving suckier than having a pickup truck with no 4-wheel drive and the roads covered in snow…

Nothing is prettier than freshly fallen snow when you have nowhere to go…

Wordless Wednesday

2010-12-01T20:42:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T21:07:00.001-05:00

Due to various family members’ schedules and circumstances, we celebrated our Thanksgiving yesterday. At my house. Quite an interesting proposition, considering I don’t cook and there are presently a lot of remodeling projects going on in my house…

I am happy to report that despite it being very cold and windy, the day was a success. It was a really wonderful day…it was so nice to have all the family together at my house for a good meal and fun.

There was plenty of room and everyone chipped in with dishes to serve, but the Pièce de Résistance was the Garbage Can Turkey

If you remember, we tried this over the summer at my sister’s house and it turned out great… but there is a little more pressure to have a good turkey on Thanksgiving…

The first hurdle was the fact that my fire pit was filled with water from all the rain we’ve had lately, so I had to come up with an alternate location for the event. I chose the entrance of a three-sided shed I have on my property. It was very cold and windy with a peppering of snow yesterday, which added to the challenge, but I used a piece of plywood for a windbreak which helped a lot…

It turned out perfect! There wasn’t much left at all at the end of the night.

That’s bad for people who like leftover turkey

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-24T23:38:00.001-05:00

Molt

2010-11-23T23:25:00.001-05:00

Well, The Ladies are definitely molting - there are feathers everywhere! Watching The Ladies walk around is almost like a cartoon – they literally leave a trail of feathers in their wake. The brown chickens look pretty much the same except for white patches here and there. Nugget looks like she lost a few pounds of feathers... I tried taking pictures, but none came out any good

Along with the molting, egg production has dropped way down. Instead of getting four to five eggs a day, I’ve been getting one or two – and one of the two has been crushed most of the time. I think that either someone needs to lose some weight or they need to be a bit more careful when maneuvering around in the nesting box. I’m going to add another F5 bar and add some more padding in there… hopefully that will help

On a side note… when I watch TV, I like to leave the closed caption on. It helps me catch a lot of stuff I’m sure I didn’t hear right. It is also pretty entertaining on it’s own. When watching this week’s episode of Chuck, there was a scene where the good guys were taking down the bad guys and one of the bad guys was having his neck broken by a good guy (that sounds a lot more violent than it was ) – the caption at that moment read “sudden squishy crack'”.

Hmmm…. I guess that fits.

I suppose when you really think about it, it could be kind of hard to describe sounds of what’s going on to people who can’t hear

Scare

2010-11-18T23:43:00.001-05:00

I am normally not a fan of Holiday Creep, but today I didn’t mind it – Thanksgiving stuff is half price already! Thanksgiving dinner is at my house this year, so I saved a bunch of money today

I felt so bad for my chickens yesterday… when I went outside to lock up the coop for the night, I was surprised to hear the ‘coo’ of one of my Ladies when I walked out the door. It was already dark out and normally they are all tucked in for the night just after the sun goes down, so I wasn’t sure what was going on…

I picked up my wayward Lady , who was nestled under my back stairs and carried her back to the coop - the whole way, wondering/worried if a fox or raccoon had gotten into the coop and got to the ‘flock’. When I got to the coop, I saw that the wind had blown the door to the pen shut (and it was windy yesterday!). Poor Granola had gotten locked out before she got inside for the night When I put her in the coop, I only saw three other Ladies inside… Pumpkin got locked out too.

In a way, this totally make sense – Pumpkin and Granola, my Red Stars, are the two rugged chickens out of the group… they will milk every last second of daylight before heading in for the night, so it makes sense that if the door closed at the end of the day, they would be ones locked out.

So next was the task of locating Pumpkin in the dark. I was kind of surprised that both displaced chickens didn’t stick together if they thought that they were going to be stuck outside for the night. I checked every place in the yard that I thought a chicken would roost for the night – I had my flashlight and called and called my normal “Heeeeey - my chick-chick-chick-chick-chickens!” call, listening hard for an answer. As time went on and I was running out of places to look, I was starting to panic. What if something had gotten her? So I did a second sweep of likely places and lo and behold – I found her sound asleep on my lawnmower

I was very happy to reunite her with her coop-mates.

I am now being much more careful to make sure the door to their pen is propped open very securely when I let them out.

Science Fiction?

2010-11-13T00:45:00.001-05:00

When I think of science fiction, I think of outer space, aliens, monsters, horror movies, evil scientists, the paranormal – that kind of stuff. I love science fiction

We have a SyFy channel that one would assume is dedicated to just that – science fiction shows.

What does wrestling have to do with science fiction? I know it’s fiction, but it’s not science fiction. It’s like the way BBC America has been featuring Star Trek: The Next Generation… that show isn’t British at all. Who decides this stuff?

Anyway, I don’t think that SyFy should carry wrestling

…And while we are on the topic of TV, I have another favorite commercial to add to my list…

Happy Veterans’ Day!

2010-11-11T19:43:00.001-05:00

Thank you to all who have served or are serving in our military

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-10T22:49:00.001-05:00

Saturday Bullets

2010-11-06T23:12:00.001-04:00

An update on The Ladies' sleeping arrangements… it seems to be changing every night now. They are all over the place – sometimes all on the nesting boxes, sometimes all on the roosting shelf sometimes they are split. Cocoa seems to be the Problem Child. To me it looks like she’s the one next to one other Lady while the rest are somewhere else. And it looks like a different Lady draws the short straw each night. We’ll see how it long it takes for them to fall into a pattern again…

So we decided not to go to Rolling Hills for the tours that they were offering during October. It sounded like the tours were more of a haunted house type thing, so we are going to try and get ten people together for the minimum required and go on one of their regular historical tours.

Elections were pretty much a bust for me. Mostly everyone I voted for lost. Everyone complains about how high taxes are and how New York politics don’t do anything to help the average citizen or move the area ahead at all… and yet all the same people are voted into office year after year. How can we expect things to change for the better when we don’t put people into office who want to try and fix things?

You know how life has it’s peaks and valleys? I feel like I’m in a valley right now. A lot of things aren’t going right and the rest are a big struggle. I’ve had tough times before for sure, but this feels different. Worse. I sure hope that things turn around soon.

Tonight the clocks get set back to Standard Time. Why is it when we gain that extra hour of sleep, we don’t notice it all – but when we lose it in the spring, it feels like we lost six or seven hours of sleep? Ugh.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T22:08:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T22:09:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween!

Voting

2010-10-28T23:05:00.001-04:00

So someone at work asked me who I was voting for next week and I told him.

“Why are you voting for xxxx? They are going to lose!”

…Do people really vote like that? They vote for someone only because they think that they are going to win????? If so, that could explain a lot when it comes to the world of politics.

Whether my guy is ahead or behind in the polls, I vote for him or her because I think that they would be the best person for the job and that’s who I would like to see in office. I can’t believe that anyone would do otherwise…

Oh – and the guy that asked the question? Yeah… he doesn’t vote

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-26T22:26:00.001-04:00

Miss You

2010-10-25T23:31:00.001-04:00

Today is my Dad’s birthday.

He would have been 72 today.

Happy Birthday Dad, I miss you…

Ridiculous

2010-10-24T20:50:00.001-04:00

I had to leave - I was laughing so hard, they never would have settled down for the night

(to understand why this is so funny, see the two posts before this one)

Trying to Make Up?

2010-10-23T19:56:00.001-04:00

So continuing from yesterday’s post – this is what I saw when locking up The Ladies for the night today…

This was very comical in real life… the top of the two nesting boxes measures approximately 12” wide by 20” long and seeing five chickens all crammed in that small space when the whole roosting shelf, which measures about 12” wide by 4’ long, is totally empty was really funny

I guess we’ll see tomorrow if Cocoa has returned to the good graces of the others…

Chicken Spat?

2010-10-22T23:42:00.001-04:00

It’s interesting to see that chickens can be like people in many ways... They have favorite foods. They have favorite places they like to hang out. They have friends that they prefer to hang with and others that they can take or leave. They have routines that they like to follow.

Sleeping arrangements also fall under the heading of routines.

For a bit of background information… here is a side view of the inside of their coop:

…and here is a bird’s eye view: This is the normal sleeping arrangements of The Ladies:

But the last couple of nights things have changed up a bit….

I kind of feel bad for Cocoa, but I think that she really must have done something bad to be shunned by the others at night – I don’t think that Nugget moved to be warm because she has more feathers than the other four put together... Then again, Cocoa might be happy by herself… we all need our own space sometimes When they are out of their pen, I haven’t noticed any difference in their behavior towards one another, so maybe Cocoa snores or something and Nugget can’t take it anymore - I guess time will tell if they will work it out or not…

And for Nic…

Thursday Bullets

2010-10-21T22:15:00.001-04:00

I finally caught whatever it is going around. It’s not too horrible yet… it started with the sore throat thing and has progressed to the whole stuffy head thing. Hopefully it will start the going-away thing instead of the getting-worse thing

I had my six-month checkup at the dentist today. No cavities, but I need a filling replaced. Pretty much the same thing in my book

After the dentist, I had some extra running around to do, which led me to take the Expressway home during rush hour. I got on at Union near Genesee and thought it quite interesting that the overhead electronic board at that entrance gave the minutes to the 198 and the 190. That’s the first time I’ve seen that and I think it’s a good idea – especially if you travel that route daily… it’s nice to know how heavy traffic is.

I’m sick of the rain.

Why is it that all day long I think of things that I want to blog about, but when I sit down at the computer at night, I can’t remember most of them?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-13T22:08:00.001-04:00

Controversy

2010-10-11T21:52:00.003-04:00

How true this is! I wish that politicians would just talk about real issues
Courtesy of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T21:50:00.001-04:00

The Grass is Greener…

2010-10-05T21:10:00.001-04:00

When I bought my house, the area behind my house was an overgrown field full of weeds and shrubs.

I had cut a path to the back forty to give me a place to dump weeds, food scraps, grass cuttings, etc.

I’ve done nothing special to the path except to keep it mown.

Why does that path (that no one can see except me) look nicer than my front lawn which I cut and use weed-and-feed on (and the whole world can see)?

Frustration Is…

2010-10-04T22:44:00.001-04:00

…Going to the Clarence Post Office and being the *only* person in line with three people behind the counter, each at their own register and having to wait a full minute before being recognized. Just stop reading and look at the clock for a full minute – go ahead, I’ll wait. Back? Yeah. That’s a long time to be ignored by three people.

…Having to work all day next to someone with ADD.

…Having plans with an out-of-town friend to hike down to the Eternal Flame rained out.

… Always seeming to get stuck driving behind really slow people or people that can’t keep a constant speed.

…Taking a ride down to Zoar Valley to get pictures of the autumn leaves changing only to get there and find that they haven’t started yet.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-29T21:39:00.001-04:00

TV

2010-09-28T21:43:00.001-04:00

Whenever I’m in the house, no matter what I’m doing, I like to have the TV on. Some people like the radio on for background noise, I like the TV. The show that I had on last night was Thintervention with Jackie Warner.

I’m not overweight and I don’t have the discipline or ambition to work out. I don’t even really like Jackie. Especially after the one scene where she is all sniffly and is proclaiming how invested she is on everyone losing weight… come on - big, strong Jackie does not pull of crocodile tears very well What keeps me interested is Joe and Bryan – they are hysterically funny!

“Good morning Frau Warner.”

“I hope this isn’t a park with a snack stand because we’re going to have a hard time keeping Nikki, Stacy and Shay on task.”

“Inner warrior? Really? I’ve named my Ethel.”

“The rain started coming down. It’s hard for fat people to run in the rain."”

It seems like every time they open their mouths, something funny comes out

I think the group as a whole is a hot mess and they will never lose the weight they want – if they do, they’ll never keep it off. That being said, I’ll still probably put the show on for it’s comedic value

I also started watching The Event… I’m not totally sure yet, but I think I’m going to like it. It’s got aliens and government conspiracies and Jason Ritter – what’s not to like?

Rolling Hills

2010-09-26T22:10:00.001-04:00

I guess Ghost Adventures aired an episode from Rolling Hills Asylum this week. My sister is a big fan of Ghost Adventures – me, not so much… I like Ghost Hunters better (they were there in 2005). Anyway, I was out in Batavia celebrating my nephew’s third birthday (is he three years old already?????), when we decided to take a ride out to Rolling Hills to see what we could see.

After looking it up on MapQuest, we found out that it is only eight minutes from my sister’s house.

So we get there only to find out that my sister had driven past there bunches of times and never realized what the place was - she thought it was an old school house I guess in all fairness, the banner out front wasn’t out before AND it looks like they will be offering tours in October…

We are soooo going!

It looked pretty dilapidated and creepy in the day, so I’m sure it’s a whole lot worse at night – I can’t wait to find out

(This looks distorted because I stitched together
a few pictures to make a big one)

New Favorite

2010-09-24T22:36:00.001-04:00

I have a new favorite commercial

Work

2010-09-23T22:42:00.001-04:00

I’ve usually been very good at whatever job I’ve had. I was the consistent one, the detail-oriented one, the one that people came to for answers, the one that trained other people. I’ve always enjoyed that role.

Ever since I hurt my back, it’s not like that anymore. I’ve since worked jobs that I’ve had no previous experience in, and while I’ve held my own (except for one job that I totally hated), I’m not that exceptional person anymore. I hate being mediocre.

But being good always came easy – it doesn’t seem to any more.

It’s kind of depressing.

Is this what happens when you get old?

I need to either get really good at what I do now or find something that I can excel at again.

But I guess that’s easier said than done…

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T21:11:00.001-04:00

Visitor Center

2010-09-21T22:37:00.001-04:00

I haven’t been Geocaching much lately. I love to cache, but with all the projects I’ve been working on this summer, I just haven’t had much time for it.

I recently learned that there is a Geotrail along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail and it has piqued my interest – just the thing to get me back into caching!

The place to pick up a logbook in our area is at the Niagara Visitor Center.

I found out when I wanted to pick one up, that the Niagara Visitor Center is *not* open on weekends.

Am I the only one who thinks this is weird?

Usually when I go somewhere to visit, I’m there on the weekend. I’ve stopped at numerous visitor centers around the country and don’t ever remember one being closed on the weekends.

Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm isn’t exactly friendly hours for people who work – locals and visitors alike (especially if someone is here for business and is working normal working hours).

I sent them an email expressing my disappointment in not being able to pick up a logbook for myself and a friend… to their credit, they responded the next morning and they did mail me two logbooks.

I still think it’s weird that a Visitor’s Center isn’t open on weekends.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-15T22:00:00.001-04:00

Primaries Conspiracy?

2010-09-14T22:54:00.001-04:00

I did my duty today as an American citizen and went out to vote for the Primaries

It’s kind of an exciting election because we have a shot of getting someone to represent Upstate New York as governor instead of someone catering to New York City and ignoring the rest of the state as usual.

Up here in Niagara county, we are now using the new electronic voting machines. (IMO there was nothing wrong with the old voting booths, but I guess that’s a moot point now…).

When I arrived at my voting location I saw a huge line of people through the window. “Cool!”, I thought, “There’s a high voter turnout – that’s going to make for a good election…”

And then I got inside. One of the election ladies was announcing that they ran out of Republican ballots.

Are you kidding me???

They said that they sent out for some more and as long as you were in the building before 9:00, you could still vote – even if the ballots didn’t get there until 10:30.

Right. Who would want to wait around for hours waiting for the ballots to come? What’s more – why should anyone *have* to wait? (That never would have have happened with the old voting booths. I’m just saying….)

People were *not* happy. Dozens of phones were open with people calling the Board of Elections and all the news channels.

Some people left, but there was at least fifty people who decided to wait and see what would happen. When I left (I’m a registered Conservative, so I could vote), there were still more people showing up.

It will be interesting to see if the news is going to say anything about it. I wonder if anywhere else had the same problem and how much a problem like this will affect the outcome…

*Update*

Well, from I’ve read, it looks like mine wasn’t the only polling place that ran out of ballots – but in the grand scheme of things it didn’t really matter… the election ended in a landslide!

Zoar Valley

2010-09-12T23:08:00.001-04:00

I had a nice day yesterday exploring Zoar Valley. I had been there before with my cousin, but we stayed along the rim. Yesterday my sister and I did a lot of exploring in the gorge itself and it was a lot of fun. We got to do a little Geocaching, but my sister doesn’t enjoy it as much as I do, so we only found one cache… Next time I go, I want to find more – a lot more

The place is really magnificent.

Blah.

2010-09-09T22:32:00.001-04:00

I should be feeling happy.

My truck finally passed inspection.

My lawnmower is fixed.

My tractor is fixed.

My trailer is fixed.

I’ve been accomplishing projects around the house.

I met up with a friend I haven’t seen in forever and had a great time.

My travel bug going out to Nic finally got picked up and is on it’s way.

I actually have a watermelon in my garden ready to be picked.

You’d think I’d be in seven heaven…. but I’m not.

I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling very ‘blah’ lately.

I hate this feeling of just going through the motions.

I hope I get out of this funk soon.

And F-you to the old people in the beige Silverado who threw their garbage out the window driving down Salt Road this morning .

Who does that anymore????

Idiots.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-08T20:48:00.001-04:00

Bent

2010-09-02T20:27:00.001-04:00

To put it mildly, my property has quite a few obstacles on it (read: rocks, stumps, etc.). Every year since I’ve lived here, I’ve gone through at least two or three sets of lawn mower blades each season (read: bent the @#$! out of them).

I swore that this year was going to be different. With the gorgeous spring we had, I took advantage and cleaned up as much as I could, making every effort to remove any and all obstacles I could find.

I did great! Mowing season started in April this year and I didn’t have to replace a mower blade at all this year!

Until today.

Yeah. I wrecked a blade on a stump that must have grown when I wasn’t looking.

I almost made it the whole season. Almost.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-01T22:36:00.001-04:00

Smut

2010-08-31T22:16:00.001-04:00

For anyone who may have noticed my absence – I’m back

There have been…. issues… plaguing me as of late. By the end of the day I’ve been just too tired for computers and blogging. I have a LOT of catching up to do!

The one good thing I do want to mention was the fact that I went to a good friend’s wedding a couple of weeks ago. The wedding was held at the Meridian International Center – if any of you watch Top Chef, you’ll recognize the place from a few of episodes ago – how cool is that? The place was beautiful and the whole day was perfect for everyone – I wish I could have stayed in DC a bit longer…

So, not dwelling on any of the crap I’ve been dealing with, let’s talk about smut.

I’ve never had much luck growing corn in my garden. I usually get a few good ears and the rest are small or some kind of wormy thing gets into them, making them un-eatable. It usually doesn’t bother me tho’, because I still have the stalks for fall-time decorations, so it’s all good.

But this year I came across something new…

I’ve been pulling the infected ears off the stalks and burning them.

Evidently it’s called Corn Smut. When I looked it up to find out more about it and how to get rid of it, I found out that it’s actually a delicacy for some people!

If you want to get the low-down on this morsel, check out this edition of Steve, Don’t Eat It! from The Sneeze. Just make sure that you have a barf-bag nearby before you start reading.

So maybe I should try to sell this stuff instead of chucking it in the fire pit?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-18T22:14:00.001-04:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-11T22:04:00.001-04:00

Stuck With Extra Zucchini?

2010-08-06T23:19:00.001-04:00

Keep August 8th open - it's the official Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night!

Plan ahead! The more imagination you have, the more fun it can be

Oops!

2010-08-05T23:00:00.001-04:00

I forgot yesterday was Wednesday… not so wordless, was it?

I also forget to mention yesterday that I had stopped in the Dollar Store this past week. They were tearing down all the back-to-school stuff and putting up the Christmas merchandise. I swear, it gets worse and worse every year…

I picked up my truck from the shop today. If the Check Engine light stays off until Monday, I can get my new inspection sticker. If it goes back on, then the real fun begins My prediction: the light will go back on either tomorrow on my way home from work or Sunday on my way home from church. We’ll see…

A lady at work brought in a picture of an insect that she had in her yard that she wanted help identifying. It looked like this:

Pretty distinctive, isn’t it? The only difference was that bug in her picture didn’t have wings, but still, pretty hard to mix up with something else…

I have a bunch of the Peterson Field Guides, which I use a lot and for the most part, I really love the series. Except for the insect book. I haven’t found it to be very useful most times I try to use it. This wasp – or it’s entire family – wasn’t even mentioned, which is very frustrating. It’s hard to find something that isn’t there!

Many entries that are there aren’t very helpful, like this example:

“Some stink bugs are rather plain-colored, brownish or grayish, but many are brightly colored. Although most of them are plant feeders, some are predaceous.”

Gee, that really narrows things down, doesn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I do love the Peterson books – I have a whole bookshelf full of them, most of them very well-worn – I just don’t recommend the insect book!

Oh – BTW, the insect is an Ichneumon wasp, which is a wood boring wasp. Here’s a video of a live one – sound and everything! She’s depositing her eggs, but the focus is kind of lost at the end…

I Need a Money Tree

2010-08-04T22:03:00.001-04:00

News sure has been slow around here and what there is, isn’t great…

It looks like The Ladies are starting to molt… I’m finding more and more feathers all over the place. And Nugget has a big one hanging from her butt, but it won’t fall off yet. I tried getting a good picture, but I think it would be easier nailing jello to a tree… The Ladies aren’t really looking any different yet, but I’ve seen pictures of chickens that have gone through some really ugly molts. We’ll see how nasty-looking my Ladies will get

The Jillmobile is in the shop. So far, it’s costing me three weeks pay to get it fixed. I can’t wait to see the total bill tomorrow If it’s even ready tomorrow. I guess it’s time to start thinking about looking for a new vehicle. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to manage a car payment every month…

My tractor is broken, too. It steers left, but not right and there’s a whole lot of fluid leaking. I was able to replace the starter myself, but I don’t think that this is something that I can fix. I need to find a reasonable tractor repair person somewhere - So far I haven’t had any luck…

My chainsaw is starting to act up, too – I’m hoping it’s just a bad fuel mixture

Boy, it’s hot out

Here’s an interesting observation from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

This ‘n That Saturday

2010-07-31T23:31:00.003-04:00

Not a whole lot going on this week at all. I’ve been mostly working outside, taking advantage of our gorgeous summer this year - I only have boring things to blog about…

I’ve been enjoying some nice bonfires…

Cocoa is definitely over her broodiness and is back to laying eggs

I came home one day this week to find a couple of Mama turkeys and their broods hanging around the chicken coop. I wish they weren’t so shy and had waited around until I could get my camera and take some pictures…

I am sooo happy with my garden this year. Right now seems to be cucumber season – I’ve been picking tons of the beauties. I’ve given away over a dozen and I still have bunches…

I’ve made a bunch of bread and butter pickles and have been eating a lot of creamed cucumber slices. I was going to make some cucumber sandwiches, but when I found the cream cheese in the back of the drawer in my refrigerator was dated November 2009, I put that idea on hold until I go grocery shopping…

I’m glad I didn’t tear out my green bean plants – they put out a ton of new flowers and I’ve been picking beans left and right. I’ve frozen a ton for the winter and hope to freeze a whole bunch more. What a difference when there aren’t any Evil Baby Bunny Rabbits eating the stuff in my garden!

I’m trying something new – someone told me that Brussels sprouts are easy to grow… my Mom likes Brussels sprouts, so I put in some seeds in some of the bare areas I have around my strawberry plants and around my watermelon plants. We’ll see what happens…

I don’t know why I didn’t notice earlier, but I had a pumpkin plant mixed in where I put my watermelons…

Pretty obvious, huh? They’ve pretty much filled in the bed since this picture was taken. They aren’t producing anything, but they are keeping the weeds down in the bed,so I’m happy with that.

The inspection for the Jillmobile is due. I have an appointment to get it done this week, but who knows how far it will get. I’m having ‘Check Engine’ light issues, which are always a pain and expensive, plus my ‘Service 4-Wheel Drive’ light went on. I am not anxious to find out how much this is going to cost me and how long it’s going to take to fix. Not having a second vehicle, I have to rent a car every day my truck is in the shop

On the brighter side of things - I’m not a huge fan of Geico, but I do enjoy some of their commercials. I like Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel and couldn’t help but laugh at these – I thought they were great!

And then there was this one that I couldn’t embed – it’s short and definitely funny! I’ll bet the Hillstrands never saw insurance commercials in their future when they signed on to their TV show

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-28T21:29:00.001-04:00

Socks

2010-07-22T22:36:00.001-04:00

As I may have mentioned before, I am not a big fan of shopping. It might even be said that I ~~dislike~~ ~~despise~~ hate shopping (except for Home Depot – LOVE Home Depot )

Out of all the kinds of shopping that one can do, I think that clothes shopping is my least favorite. The whole process of finding something I like and then hoping I can find it in my size… and even if they have it in my size, there is still only a 50/50 chance that it really fits. And when it doesn’t, then you have to look some more and try on some more. Ugh. I’m tired just writing about it. And even when I do find something I like and it fits, I don’t get any huge thrill out of wearing new clothes - not like getting a pile of 2 x 4’s or a new drill… now that’s fun!

But as with most rules, there are exceptions and there is an exception to my dislike of clothes shopping: Socks.

Nothing feels so nice as putting on a brand new pair of clean, fluffy socks.

I wish I could afford to wear new socks every day.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-21T21:21:00.001-04:00

Broodiness Update

2010-07-18T22:45:00.001-04:00

For those who aren’t up to speed, I’m dealing with my first broody chicken…

Well my hopes are up. It looks like 40 hours of solitary confinement may have done the trick for our little Cocoa. I let her outside today and she did not head straight for the coop. She was not all puffy and clucky. She actually played nicely with the other Ladies all day (it was really nice seeing all five Ladies together again) And as far as I can tell, she doesn’t have any hard feelings towards me. And when she turned in for the night, she perched on top of a nesting box – not in one

Now we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Hopefully she’s given up any ideas of trying to hatch ~~the nothing she was sitting on~~ and she’ll start laying again this week!

This ‘n That Friday

2010-07-16T23:13:00.008-04:00

Well, Cocoa was a bit put-out when I wouldn’t let her back in the coop at the end of the night. It will be interesting to see what kind of mood she’s going to be in tomorrow

As I mentioned earlier, I am really liking this season of Eureka. After watching tonight’s episode, I was trying to place where I’ve seen the guy playing Dr. Trevor Grant… He seemed so familiar, but yet not – I just couldn’t put my finger on it, so I looked it up. It’s James Callis – the same guy that played Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica! It’s so weird hearing someone talk in an accent that you aren’t used to hearing them with He’s a great addition to the show.

So I never got around to mentioning it, but a couple of weeks ago I made another trip to the Buffalo ReUse store to pick up some used brick for another project around the house. The same brick that cost 65¢ a piece at Home Depot, I got for 25¢ each – quite a savings when getting 100 bricks! While I was in the area, I decided to check out the Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore. It’s along the same lines as Buffalo ReUse, but it is definitely smaller and I didn’t see any outside/yard stuff there. I did score on a set of hinges I’ve been looking for tho’!

Who do you write like? If you paste a sample of your writing to the ‘I Write Like’ site, it will analyze your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers. I tried it three times, submitting three different blog entries - I got this answer twice…

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

and this answer once…

I write like
Douglas Adams

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I can live with that! (ht to Jennifer)

Broody Chicken

2010-07-15T22:47:00.001-04:00

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m dealing with a broody chicken. It’s been tougher than I thought it would be.

One of the things that is supposed to break a broody hen is dunking her bottom in water. It’s supposed to make her uncomfortable and not want to sit in the nesting box. Wrong. The expression ‘wetter than a mad hen’ has no meaning to Cocoa. I think that she kind of liked being soaking wet. I tried this several times a day for a couple of days. It didn’t phase her at all.

Another thing that is supposed to work is ice cubes. You’re supposed to put ice cubes under her while she’s in the nesting box. So I did. Every 45 minutes for three hours. She happily sat on them until I gave up. Yeah - I gave up before she did…

The other thing that is supposed to work is to put the chicken in a wire cage and suspend it for a few days. I’m not going to do this because 1) I don’t have a wire cage big enough for a chicken and 2) That seems really mean.

The only option left that I can find is to separate her from everyone else and keep her where there isn’t any nesting materials for a few days. I’m not sure if the baby chick brooder is big enough for her. If it is, then that will be her new home for a while. If it isn’t, I’ll have to make something… that’s going to be plan starting tomorrow. (well, this is not the only other option – there is always the route of turning her into a chicken dinner, but I could never do that!)

For now, I’ve been throwing her out of the nesting box when I get home from work and locking up the coop so she can’t get back in until night time. (It’s actually kind of funny now, because when she sees me in the afternoon, she knows what’s coming – she does the cartoon character thing and sticks her feet out and braces them on the sides of the nesting box so I have a hard time pulling her out) Of course when I open it up again for everyone to go in for the night, she heads straight for the nesting box. When I lock up for the night, I take her out again and make her sleep on the roost. But the whole day she sits in the nesting box. Not laying any eggs.

She has gotten very clucky when she’s outside, but she hasn’t tried to peck me at all and I know that she’s eating and drinking at least during the second half of the day, so I guess that’s a plus. Except I have a couple people buying eggs from me now, and having lost one chicken, having a broody hen doesn’t help me out any…

Stay tuned!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-14T23:11:00.001-04:00

Eureka and Co.

2010-07-10T23:10:00.002-04:00

With the weather being so great so far this spring/summer, I haven’t been watching as much TV as I usually do – I’ve been more selective about what I’ve been watching…

I’ve always like Eureka – I like the cast a lot (although I think that Jordan Hinson (Zoe) made a big mistake leaving the show) and I think that the story line is different from anything else that is out there. I caught the season premier of Eureka last night and thought it was great – I think that this season is going to be the best one yet.

A new series started yesterday – Haven. It’s airing on SyFy, Bravo and USA, which I found kind of odd. Maybe other shows do that too, but I just never noticed… The previews looked really good, but the pilot didn’t impress me. I love Stephen King-type stuff, so I thought this would be really good. I’ll give it a couple more episodes, but if it doesn’t pick up, I’m going to leave this one by the wayside.

I’m behind on the Doctor Who episodes, but I’ve watched enough to know that Matt Smith can’t touch David Tennant with a ten-foot pole as The Doctor. I think Matt Smith is trying too hard or something… he’s just “off” to me somehow I do like Amy Pond tho’ - she makes a good companion for The Doctor – and not annoying like Donna Noble was… she was like nails on a chalkboard to me…

Ice Road Truckers is always entertaining. Living near the perceived Snow-Capital of the world, it’s fun watching these guys – and lady – driving under less-than-ideal road conditions Since they moved to trucking in Alaska, I can’t say that I can count any of the new people in with my favorites Alex (he looks sooo different without his beard!) and Hugh, except for Lisa – I want to see her do good…

This is a very sad season for Deadliest Catch. I’m going to miss Phil – he was my favorite

That’s about it for my must-watch TV, at least until the weather won’t let me work outside anymore… Other shows I’ll watch if I do have the time are Top Chef, Warehouse 13 and whatever Housewives of ______ County is on (Except Atlanta – that is the worst out of the bunch. Way too much much in-your-face yelling and arguing for me).

I think this is officially my post with the most number of hyperlinks in it.

Garden Update

2010-07-09T23:45:00.000-04:00

I have to say that I’m pretty happy with the way my garden is progressing, despite the trials and tribulations it’s endured…

I am very happy with my tomatoes so far. This year I tried a different kind – I normally went with Early Girl and bought the plants already started from the nursery… This year, after reading some reviews, decided to try Celebrity tomatoes – and I started them from seed… the first time I’ve tried that The plants are looking great and this year I did not procrastinate staking and tying them. Usually I wait until the plants are too big and I never get them to stand up right… this year I put in stakes while they were still small and I’ve been diligent about tying them as they grow – yay me! I’m seeing some fruit , but they are small so I think it will be quite a while before I starting eating any fresh tomatoes and review the difference between Early Girl and Celebrity tomatoes…

My corn is doing well too - they say it should be ‘knee-high by 4th of July’… I think I’m right on track so far

Growing the cucumbers with the corn seems to be working well, too. The cukes are definitely keeping the weeds down in the bed. I think that once the corn gets a little taller, it will be easier to see what’s going on at the ‘ground level’. I did find a perfect cucumber already!

The cukes are starting to spread outside the bed, but so far I’m OK with it. We’ll see what happens as the season progresses…

The green peppers don’t seem to be doing that great, but I think that it’s because they are right next to all the dill and the dill is blocking a lot of the afternoon sun for them. Next year I’ll have to keep that in mind…

The beets I replanted are coming up nicely, and I think that barring any unfortunate circumstances, I just may get some beets this year!

I’m getting a ton of sweet peas. The plants are huge and have broken some of the strings that I had put up to hold them upright. I’ll probably harvest most of them this weekend and they will be done. I think I’m going to try and replant some more in the fall when things cool down again and see what happens.

I definitely planted too many cabbage plants the inside of the pea bed and they are way too close together. I’m going to let them do their thing , but I’ll know better for next year…

I didn’t get many green beans because the evil baby bunnies ate the flowers, but the rutabagas did great. I’ve been pulling about a half dozen every week for the past few weeks. My Mom said that they were really good. I’m going to pull the last ten or so that are left, along with the green bean plants. I’m going to replant the bed again with more rutabagas and green beans and see if I can get another crop before the end of the growing season…

I don’t have much hope for the watermelons – they got started way too late. I don’t think that there will be enough of a growing season left for anything to ripen. If the plants even get that far.

But, I do have high hopes for my pumpkins… I tried growing giant pumpkins a few years ago with limited success, but this year I seem to be doing good with them. I suspect that the abundance of chicken fertilizer they’ve been getting has a lot to do with this So far I count at least ten pumpkins in the making. I really hope to get a whole ton of pumpkins – I have plans for them (rubbing my hands together here with an evil laugh)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-07T22:15:00.001-04:00

Dear Paper Delivery Person…

2010-07-06T22:28:00.001-04:00

Just because you are driving with your hazard lights on, it doesn’t mean that you can swerve all over the road willy-nilly going from mailbox to mailbox, cutting in front of me in the process. And then after you cut in front of me, you proceeded to drive 10 mph in a 45mph zone. During morning rush hour.

Helloooo McFly!

Who taught you how to drive?

Don’t you use your mirrors to look behind you before pulling away from a mailbox?

If you know that you are going to be driving well below the speed limit – either wait for traffic to pass or drive on the shoulder.

Use common sense!

Use common courtesy!

Sincerely,

Someone who thinks you drive like an ass

Bandit

2010-07-05T21:09:00.001-04:00

For the past few weeks I’ve had something messing with the stuff in my hallway.

As I may or may have mentioned before with my (solved!) starling problem, my hallway is open and there really isn’t a practical way of closing it off at all..

I had a couple of suspects in minds, but I was pretty sure what the culprit was. I set out a trap Saturday night to see if I could catch the bugger… this morning this is what I woke up to:

I was right.

Raccoons are not good to have around when you have chickens. Raccoons like to kill chickens just for fun.

I reset the trap to see if there are any more hanging around. I really hope not.

Oh – and for the record, this guy got relocated to a nature park about ten miles from my house. Hopefully he will be happy there and not try to come back. And he (she?) was HEAVY!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T23:28:00.001-04:00

Our Independence Day celebration was yesterday at my sister’s house – she always throws a great 4th of July party (but to be fair, it’s also a celebration for my brother-in-law’s birthday which was on the 1rst…)

My contribution to the festivities was a yummy fruit basket…

This year we didn’t have an inferno fire, but I did learn about Sobe bombs!

Happy Birthday America!

* No one was harmed in the making of the above photographs **

** Well, except for a bit of a burn on the leg when someone was putting a Sobe bomb in the fire – but the burn was from actually stepping into the fire, not the result of any explosion or explosive device