Announcing our New Bouncing Baby.....

This baby started pecking his way into world last night around 11. Here are some pics.





There is only the one chick so far so tonite after work I'll go to the farm store and get my meat chix. This one is an egg layer, a Rhode Island Red.

It's kind of discourging in a way. All of these seeds get started and all of these eggs get collected and put in the incubators and you wait. And start more seeds and collect more eggs and wait. Finally you hear the tiniest of chirps coming from inside one of the eggs, or a seedling pops through the soil and all the wait has been worth it.. So tonight I will go to the farm store and get my meat chickens and hubby wil roll his eyes cause I'm the farmer, not him. And I'll set up shop in the guest bedroom with the feeders and waterers and heat lamps cause its still too cold for them outside and hubby will shake his head but I love this life and he knows it so its all good..

In a few weeks i'll start pestering him cause it's time to get the garden worked up and last years compost moved to wherever I need it to be. With the cost of food skyrocketing, my garden will be at least 4 times the size it was last year with every available flower bed turned into spots for asparagus, strawberries, grapes and blueberries along with the staples of beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, corn, squash, punkins ...

I will be a busy gal this summer, with all the canning, freezing and processing but I love this life. Then comes haying season, with the 18 hour days on the tractors, wagons and up in the dusty loft. The exhaustion is overwhelming but it's such a good, satisfying exhaustion. The next day starts all over again. So tonight after work I'll go to the farm store and maybe come home to find that another chick has pecked his way into my life! I love this life! Spring on the farm is the best place to be.

And, to top it all off, my Red Wings won again last night. One more win against the Avalanche will launch them into the finals. Tomorrow night! Go Wings!!

Things That Go Bump In The Night

My life is not boring. There's always something going on. I'm not saying that it's all that exciting, I mean, we don't ride bulls, wait I've done that. I've never been in the water and seen a shark, wait, did that too. Never fallen out of a 2 story hayloft. No, that's bad example too. Here's one, I've never single handedly fought a fire unless chimney fires or brush fires count.

So, Saturday night, I'm asleep in bed and the phone rings. This is about the only thing that will jar me instantly awake and shake me into alert-dom-ness. 99% of the time it's meaningless, like come bail me out of jail, or someone stole my car, or "Guess what mom? I joined the army!". You know, everyday stuff. Saturday night as I was instantly transformed fom my peaceful dream into fight mode by the ringing of the phone, this is what I heard from The Mouth on the other end.

(The following is a family friendly exerpt of the conversation that ensued)

TM: (The Mouth): I have a bat.
T: (Ter) You have what?
TM: I have a bat. (diversion needed for an explanation - TM lives with my mom and dad and their house has a history of bats).
T: What do you want me to do?
TM: Come get it.
T: But I don't want it.
TM: "Mommy, (seriously, she's 23)it's huge!"
T: It's a bat how huge can it be.
TM: It's at least as big as a Pteradactyl.
T: I'm not gonna come rescue you from what could be one of the smallest mammals on earth at 10:30 at night. (did I mention I go to bed fairly early?). I'll come over in the morning.

So like a good mommy who's only interest is to protect her offspring from huge extinct birds/mammals (She's an ologist. Have to make sure the speces are correct..)I arrived bright and early Sunday Morning. This poor creature didn't stand a chance with the bat fighting arsenol she had assembled. Tennis rackets, brooms, tennis shoe? What in the ...... Never mind.

Despite the professional version of her Bat Fighting Kit (no doubt purchased from Things That Go Bump In The Night R Us), the bat was alive and well, if not severely exhausted probably from laughing all night. To make a long story short, The As Big As A Pteradactyl was caught and released into the wild. No I didn't kill it.

I'm not an ologist but I do know the value of an A-1 mosquito eating mchine in the woods of Northern Mich. About 1/2 hour later I saw the same bat flying around and disappear back into its hole in the side of the house. How do I know it was the same bat? Come on! How many bats do you see flying around in the daylight? Let's not tell TM k?

One Of These Things Just Doesn't Belong Here....

Everybody say hi to Bu-Dawgh!
What do fish hooks and motorcycle keys have in common? As it happened they were both in hubby's pocket. Last night. When he decided to go fishing. And had my bike keys with him. And my car. Grrrr.
Back up....it really is an interesting story, bear with me here.

Yesterday I was working at our oldest's resale shop when Grandson #1 called from school and was sick. Since I had ridden my bike to the store, I went to the back of the store where hubby has his machine shop and get my car keys. And gave him my motorcycle key so he wouldn't be stranded without a ride if I didn't get back in time for him to go home. Went to pick up grandson, took him home, gave him excedrin and put him to bed. (he's plenty old enough to be by himself, all is good). Well, I got back to hubby's shop, parked the car.... told him I was back... and went back to work (up front in the same building, logistics are important in this story). An hour or so later he came up and told me he'd be late as he was going fishing. I could just as well blame him for the fact that my bike key remained in his pocket, but to be fair I didn't think about it either.

As it is in one or another of my stories, A+B=C and I was left with transportation, but without a key to make transportation go. So daughter gave me a ride home, which is huge, as she lives 25 miles in the opposite direction of which I live about 10 miles. But I got home, got chores done and had a very nice evening watching my Red Wings clobber Li'l Bro #2's Avalanche! hee heee. I was a nice sister, I didn't rub it in at all very much ok, I rubbed it in, you'd have done the same thing. That's what he gets for deserting the home team!

So, early this morning, I'm riding to work with hubby, so I can get my bike and we are happening to have the first real thunderstorm of the season. This should be fun. Oh well, I've ridden in the rain before, never on the outside of a metallic object, but hey, what's life if you can't count a near death experience once in awhile.
This is LIG in the sun, when it's raining she looks a little shinier, or wetter, or something, and as a backdrop, my awesome farm truck that gets 11 mpg. On a good day. Going downhill. With the wind. And empty.



The rain pretty much held off until I drove into the driveway and parked LIG. Then it downpoured, so I had to do my chores in the pouring down rain. And the horses were all standing in the barn wondering why I was putting their hay out in the rain. Who's the smart one here?
Never mind!

Black Dog, Revisited

Today I need to vent, just a bit, so if you're not in the mood to listen to me whine, feel free to leave. I've had a few people ask me about reference to The Black Dog. Depression has been referred to as The Black Dog. That's all, The Black Dog = depression. I fight with it pretty much daily. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, that's just the way it is.

Everyday, I have to watch the strongest man in the world, fight to try to do the little things that most of us take for granted. And every day, the strongest man in the world fails (in his eyes, never in mine) to do most of these things. And he knows it. You can see it in his eyes, and he knows it. He knows that he should be able to figure out the little things, he knows he used to be able to do it, and he knows he can't. And he knows that we consider it necessary that someone be with him all the time, and it surely burns away at his pride and ego to know that we consider him to be "incapable".

Yet, he still fights. Every day. To be the man he used to be. To be the man who is not confused by little things, like where to put the leaves he just finished raking. Stuff like that. Any why can't he get the lawnmower started, or which terminal to put the battery charger on.

And every day, we watch as he gives up the fight just a bit more, and falls into his hole. And every day, we have to figure out new ways to hold him up, to help him fight. To keep him going. To be the person he would want to be if he could.

And the next day it starts all over again. Some days are good, some are bad. I used to think it was the weather, it doesn't seem to matter. I used to think it was whether or not people were around, but that doesn't seem to matter either. We all have good days and bad days, that's just the way it is.

And every day I thank God for the incredible support system we (my mother, daughter, and I) have. For the phone calls from other family members, checking not only on the strongest man in the world but also on us. For the endless doctors who take our questions and treat us like we're the only patients in the world. For a husband who always asks how my day was, and if it was crappy, I can tell him that, and he listens. He knows he can't fix it, all he can do is listen, and he does. Even when I forget to ask him how his day went. For the friends and co-workers who hold us up in their own way, to give us a bit more strength so that in turn, we can give it back to him. And especially, I thank God for the strongest man in the world, who has taught me so much about living, loving, and life. There's still so much to learn, I will soak up every little bit I can while I can. And I sincerely hope, that if it's ever my turn to face this kind of insurmountable struggle, that I can do it with the same amount of dignity and grace and strength.

I love you Dad, but I hate Parkinson's.

New Stove!!!

OMG! I am soooo geeked! Ok slow down and breathe. A bit of history first. When we first built our cabin, I looked and looked for an old cast iron wood cook stove/oven that had been converted to electric for my kitchen. Couldn't find anything affordable, for some reason the people who come up with these ridiculous county codes thought a roof was more important!
Anyway, couldn't find anything that I could afford!

Yesterday, our oldest, who owns and operates a resale shop called me and told me she got one come in to the store and I could have it for 75.00!! I was sooooo all over it. Gave her the money immediately, and loaded it right from the truck it came in on to hubbys truck.

So, last night I went on the internet to find out what I could find out about this particular model (Hasty Baker 1864) and found a picture of one that had been restored. This picture could have been taken in my kitchen. There were vertical log beams, the light fixtures were the same as mine and even my dish pattern decorated the kitchen. It was meant to be! (in my kitchen!) Starting this weekend, I'll tear it apart. Needs to be sandblasted and repainted. Electrical needs to be fixed. We can do all of that! See - self sufficiency does save money! Can't even imagine what it would cost to have someone else restore it.

I'm so excited I can't even think! That, by the way, is why I DON'T like to go into her store, she has soooo many cool things. Our cabin is like a rustic up north hunting cabin, and stuff that people drag to a resale shop is just the kind of stuff I decorate with! You know, pine cones, antlers, old rusty light fixtures, homemade stuff..... Aaaaaaaaaaaa (scream)!! I am soooo excited. Did you get that? Should I say it again? I'm sooooo excited!

(obligatory picture:)



Ok, I'm better, I promise.

As promised I took a new picture for this blog, as well as pictures of LIG, my Bu-Dawgh, Mystery (one of the barn cats), a turkey and of course my newest aquisition MY STOVE!!!
So here are some of them, I won't label them, cause if you don't know the difference between a Bu-Dawgh and barn cat and turkey, labels won't help!

Pics of Eggs Hatching and Other Stuff

Today, a short introduction into my seriously whacked out family!
This is too cool. Li'l Brother #4, who is a "chicken farmer" in the middle of the city in California recently sent me this video of one of his eggs hatching.
http://132.239.50.242/Chicky/Chicky
If and when any of my turkey eggs ever hatch, I'll upload those too.


Another Li'l Brother (#3) who lives in another city in CA, has started his own website called Demand95.com in which he calls everyone to demand that at least 95% of their charity intake goes to the intended recipient. He sponsors orphanages in Thailand, Africa, and Togo, eye surgeries in Viet Nam and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff that he hasn't gotten on his site yet. Be sure to check it out, it's the greatest thing I've ever seen.
This brother also won the Name Ter's Bike contest, in which the only rule was that the acronym must be LIG. "Losing It to Gravity" will be the official name, a nickname will ensue naturally, they always do, just like my critters, they name themselves!

Another Li'l Brother (#1) lives in Alaska of all places. Never will my feet touch the soil, or snow or ice in Alaska. Never! I'm sure it's beautiful, but I'll never find out for sure. Why??? Because it would surely be a one way ticket. On the off chance that my body and mind (which often travel together, much to the surprise of, well, everyone)ever end up there, surely they will not return, together or separately. A one way ticket. So it's just safer to stay in the lower 48. Talk about a logistical nightmare, we can't even imagine moving all of my farm stuff and all of hubby's construction and mechanical toys that far. One day my person will possess a pilot's licence and one day hubby will build me a plane and one day, we will take air trips to lots of different places. This is a for sure thing. The only unsurity is the date when it will happen, but it will happen.

The Mouth has already declared that she will not ride with us. Makes it easier, only have to build a two seater! Well, 3 actually, have to have room for The Bu-Dawgh! Because he can't be left alone. He's a baby, the poster puppy for separation anxiety.

One more brother (#2), and he lives in Colorado. There, I capitalized it, are you happy?

No sisters, never wanted them, never got them (until my brothers married). I was the oldest and only and happy about it. I was Daddy's girl. I ruled. I still do, ask any of them, they're afraid of my 5'3" mightiness, as rightly they should be.

Delivered a couple more hay bales to a neighbor who ran out and then rode LIG to work. The ride to work this morning was nothing short of GLORIOUS!! Warm enough for just a sweatshirt, the morning mist was in the air as was the smell of the dairy farms. My ride to work very rarely passes anyone else on the roads, I pass through no cities, villages or towns, just 4 miles of 4 season splendidness. Each season has it's own sensory nuances, this is clearly spring. My Mother's daffodils are blooming, and things are turning green. The trees are budding out, it's just waaaay too nice to spend time inside.

Unless the playoffs are on, then all bets are off.
Hey, Li'l Bro #2, your Avs made the 2nd round! So depending on who wins tonight, we'll either play you or the Flames.
Go Wings!! We will seriously spank you!!

Why Bagels Will Someday Rule The World!

I had a bagel for breakfast this morning. This is different as the usual breakfast consists of something I like to call slop. My slop takes a bit of yogurt, fresh or frozen fruit, juice and raw oatmeal and gets blended in the blender, thus becoming slop! Good for me, I'm sure of it, keeps the old gal regular, lots of the fruit category and grain category, and also keeps the hunger away until about 2 or so.

But not this morning.

This morning we discovered in the cream cheese isle, Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese!

Say it with me, "Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese"! This is huge! Well actually the container was rather small for the 1 arm and 3 toes I had to pay for it, but it was Garden Vegetable! But Garden Vegetable, in all it's glory, still needs a vehicle, well not really, but it should have a vehicle, to help it attach itself to the artery walls, so in comes the Bagel! Of the onion variety. More vegies. Can't have enough vegies. So Bagel and Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese it is! Yum. Might have to have another one. One can't have too many vegies!

Well, that's about enough of that nonsense!

Officially myself and hubby, yesterday afternoon, became Those Old People Who Drive 50 mph Down The Highway On A Sunday Afternoon And Irritate Everyone Who Tries To Drive The Normal Speed on said highway. I used to be someone who hated highly disregarded Those Old People Who Drive 50 mph Down The Highway On A Sunday Afternoon And Irritate Everyone Who Tries To Drive The Normal Speed and now it seems that we have become one, or two, depending on how you look at it. Being of the same brain and all. Never mind. That's a whole 'nother subject for a whole 'nother day.

My Wings won last night! Yay!! Round 2 here we come! We'll play either Calgary Flames or the colorado avalanche. (and the lack of capital letters for colorado has nothing to do with disrespect for the team and everything to do with the Younger Than Me But Still Old brother who resides there.
Have to check the schedule to see when this 2nd round of nonsense commences.



Got almost all of my seeds started yesterday, and actually fired up the gas grill to cook home growed pork chops. BBQ on mine but none on hubbys, TYVM. And potato salad for the first time every spring/summer just tastes really good.

And on our drive where we were Those Old People Who Drive 50 mph Down The Highway On A Sunday Afternoon And Irritate Everyone Who Tries To Drive The Normal Speed I got a lot of knitting on Granddaughter's sweater, I should be able to finish it by Christmas. Geez!

Yes, it was a beautiful weekend, and I didn't get a lot of my list done, but I did some of the important stuff and that's what matters. Cause The Important Stuff has to get done. It just does. It matters! Among the important stuff was taking several LONG rides on my bike. Oh yeah! My bike rocks. Speaking of which. My Bike still doesn't have a name. Do we need a picture? Ok, I'll try to remember. In the meantime, here are some specs. Black (but soon to be a dark sage/cactus green with black accents and possibly some gold striping. Honda Magna V30 500. Ok, send me names. My Bike doesn't like not having a name. Send me names soon, or it will end up being named Leticia or something just as fun!

What Was I Going To Say? Or The Memory Is Really Getting Bad!

So, last night I'm on my way to the barn to get the curry comb. Maybe that will help the Fluffy Puffy shed out faster. When I got there, I decided to rake more of the hay off the ice so it could melt. Noticed that the horses water trough needed to be topped off, decided to throw a couple of bales down from the hay loft so they'd be ready for me in the morning, and give the chix and turks an extra helping of scratch grains. And went back in the house. 1/2 hour or so later I remembered that I had forgotten to get the curry comb when I was out there, so I immediately went back out to the barn. You can guess where this is going. I noticed one of the turkeys wandering around out in the dark, so put it back in its pen and went back to the house. About 1/2 hour later.... yeah you guessed it. So I reminded myself all the way out to the barn that I needed the curry comb and actually got back to the house with curry comb in hand, only to lay it down to take off my muddy boots and forget that I needed it at all.

Aye-ya!

Brain Fog! It's a technical term. I'm convinced it's related to menopause, or too many pans on the stove, or the wheels on my bike are dirty, or there's too many bales of hay not stacked properly, or the fences need to be fixed, or having too much to do, or something, or maybe, since my brothers seem to suffer from it too, it's an ADHD type of thing. Ok, sorry, John, MOST of my brothers suffer from it, is that better? (he's actually about as bad as the rest of us, but he loves his world of denial, so we won't tell him, k?)

Geez!
Brothers! Yeah, I need a few more of them!

Kind of like the time I was headed up the stairs to get something (or maybe I was headed down, I really don't remember) and got stopped or distracted (I really don't remember) halfway down (or up, I really don't remember). Then I didn't remember what I was after let alone if I was going up or down. Yup! You want to live in this confusion? Spend a day in my brain! Of course the happy pills help LOTS, when I remember to take them. But then I have a whole SLEW of people who are more than glad to remind me to take them.

I really need a new picture for this blog, it's not snowy anymore. One of these days I'll remember to take a new picture. Maybe this one will feature Bu-Dawgh. Or maybe not, it will probably depend on what I'm looking at when I have my camera with fresh batteries all at the same time when I remember to actually use it and take a picture! It's kind of like a suspense thing, you never know what you're gonna get until it's decided at the last moment.

I will ride my bike to work again today, it will be an awesome day. When I went out to do chores as I was climbing up the ladder into the hay loft (because I forgot that I threw down extra bales last night)and the sun was shining and it was probably 45-50 deg with no breeze to speak of, I knew it would be a bike day. My turkeys were barking and gobbling (yes, they really do bark) and were being answered by some wild and unseen turkeys (which was kinda cool - I'll have to remember to tell hubby tonight what direction they were answering from, if I can remember).

It's getting bad!

Tonight my Wings play again I know they will rise victoriously tonight. They have to, it's coming down to the line boys, are you reading this? You Must Win Tonight! There, I sealed it. It's a sure thing now.
There's a cold one in the fridge, so that's good. I have to remember to get something out for dinner before I leave. Yeah, that will happen, like I forget to bring lunch now almost every day for the last 17 years. Yeah, it's a fun trip inside this brain! If I start to argue with myself and there's not a clear winner in sight, please just return me to my rightful owner. He'll be ever so glad you did!

The Evil Curling Iron Strikes Again!

About a year and a half ago, I cut my hair, well, actually, had it cut for me, since I know nothing at all about cutting hair other than that it involves cutting and scissors and stuff. Turns out I was wrong about that too, but.... let's start again. A year and a half ago, the hair was cut. For the first time since 5th grade. That's a long time. It was technically down to my waist, 10 or so strands of it, the other 60 or so strands were anywhere between my shoulder length and the waist. Not that it was supposed to be layered like that, but it was close to 40 yrs old, the longest hair, and very thin, and kind of straggly. So one day I decided that enough was enough and went to get it cut. Since then I've been introduced to the world of hair spray, blow dryers and even a curling iron of all things.

These things are evil, but necessary to maintain The Short Cute Cut that was imposed on me. Who'da thunk it? Long hair was much much easier to maintain than The Short Cute Cut. The only stipulation was that The Short Cute Cut was still long enough to pull back into a ponytail, for barn and haying purposes. Also it had to still look like The Short Cute Cut when I pulled off my motorcycle helmet. Again, enter the curling iron from hell!

This implement of torture is capable of curling as well as straightening! Who knew?? It could also deliver a neck or forehead burn in short order. It also shuts itself off, but mostly when I don't want it to, like when I plug it in, go out to the barn while it's heating up, forget about it and then 3 hours later remember that I wanted to use it. Took me awhile to figure out that one, like, why when I plug it in, it gets hot enough to boil water in 2 minutes flat, yet cold in 3 hours, hmmm, that one took some figuring out. Actually, that one took reading the destructions that plainly stated "safety auto shut off feature".

Safety Auto Shut Off Feature aside, after about a year and a half, I'm starting to get kind of good with the thing, while still maintaining a healthy respect for it's ability to deliver a 5th degree burn if it even suspects that I'm not paying attention.

We won't even go into the heat settings and cool vs hot features. That will take another year or so. Then we'll start to figure out the blow dryer! And hair spray. And gel. And Mud? What's that about? Mud for hair? I'm afraid my daughters and nieces are gonna have to bail me out on this one! Lisa? Alex? Samm? Erin? Where are you when I need you?????

I'm expecting full out lessons when we hit the family reunion this year! And just so you know what to expect? I plan to spend lots of time in the water, so we're either gonna have to come up with a way to maintain The Short Cute Cut while wet, or get some of that mud stuff.

My Wings lost last night, so the series is tied at 2 and 2. Come on boys, I know you can play better than that. Friday night, watch out Nashville!
hee heeeee, I love hockey, almost as much as baby birdies, which are also eluding me this year. Keep layin' them eggs girls, and I'll keep sticking them in the incubator, eventually, the weather will be warm enough and we'll get baby birdies!



Tonight is Knit Night, still working on Granddaughter's cable sweater, I'll take a picture and post it when I find my camera and have batteries that are charged, both at the same time and in the same place.

Go Wings. Go Baby Birdies! Go Mud!

From Point A To Point B

Going from point a to point b in style. Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about. Beautiful morning, The Bike started right up, ride to work was wonderful! Early morning haze from the dew and the woodsmoke, I saw deer, turkeys, even a coyote. Stuff I see everyday anyway, but on a bike it's more noticeable. (Reading between the lines.... you need to watch out for this stuff, it hurts a lot more to hit such a critter on a bike than it would in my truck, or even probably in my egg).

Went for a ride last night when I got home and hubby ditched his (well, it's really my old bike). Hee heeee. Seems there was still some ice under the hay in front of the barn and when he rode across it, well, lets just say that the old bike isn't well suited to riding on ice. (The new Bike has already been snow and ice tested, we don't ride on ice anymore) He's alright, no problems, he's good that way, an inborn survival instinct as it was. So he's got that out of the way for the year.

The Bike still doesn't have a name although I've got some in mind, one that's working it's way to the front especially after my totally awesome ride to work this morning. But I'll leave you hanging on that one, until after I decide. Submissions are still welcome, so let me have them!

2 more turkey eggs last night, the count is now 30. I had to throw one away, it was clearly not good. They take 28 days to incubate so quite soon, I should have baby gobblers. It's also chick days at the local Tractor Supply store, and although I told myself I wouldn't need to buy any, I probably still will, just cause. I love baby birdies! And one of the gals at work gave me a coupon for a free chick waterer if I buy 6 birdies. So, I'll have to buy at least 6.

Last night was Bu-Dawgh's first night without any roommates. The Mouth and her Puffy (Puff-a-Fluff... aka.. Dawson... aka... Fins) moved out yesterday. Everyone together, "Awwwwww, poor Bu-Dawgh". See he used to sleep in The Mouth's room with her and Puffy but he was alone. It was traumatic, and then leaving him alone all day by himself today, with no one to entertain him but the chickens, turkeys and barn cats, and a big old bone. Again... "Awwwwww, poor Bu-Dawgh"!

As I posted before, the 120 days ago sweater is done, actually has been for awhile now, and this morning will be delivered to it's rightful recipient. Blondie has been after me to get this done for at least 120 days so she better like it and it better fit. I had some minor modifications to do on it but it fit The Mouth, so it should fit Blondie.

No, I didn't get the deck cleaned off last night, nor did I get any more seeds started, it's all about The Bike this time of year, and when I got home and went to the barn to do chores, there it was all hooked up to the battery charger and everything taunting at me. Seriously, it was being such a pest that I decided to take it out for a ride just to shut it up! Yeah, that's it, I did it for The Bike. And again, The Bike needs a name. So The Bike got it's annual First Ride Of The Season out of the way and is much happier, and then The Mouth decided it was time to move over to her other residence, so not much else happened. Tonight I expect that The Bike will have some say over my schedule again, although it being Taco Night at the Local Watering Hole, and also game 4 of the playoffs, The Bike might have to settle for what it gets tonight. Oh, yeah, Local Watering Hole has a big screen TV and if you remember from a previous post, drinks are on sale when a local team is playing. All this combines to make for taking The Bike to the bar not such a good idea, being of the age when Designated Drivers were first invented and all, a semi responsible sort to boot.

My Wings will rise victoriously tonigh, I know it, I can feel it, I'll be watching on a big screen tv with other Wing-Nuts and the beer is on sale. How could they lose???

Go Wings!!

A Whole Gob of Randomness!

Guess I'm gonna need a new picture pretty soon!

This post will be fairly random, kind of in a random mood today. This is never good as usually it ends up being fairly unproductive.

Why is that? Because today is the day that the folks come home. They winter in Arizona. This just isn't fair. Who ever thunk up the idea about leaving this Winter Wonderland Where The Snow Keeps Coming and Coming and spending their hibernation months in greener pastures should be shot had a pretty good idea. Why stay and fight the snow when someone will do it for you, you know, keep your driveway plowed, keep the roof shoveled off, deal with frozen water and sewer lines.... stuff like that.

There's ALMOST no snow left, just in spots where it was banked up and my Mother's daffs are starting to peek up. They are on the north side of the house so it takes a bit longer for them to creep out of the ground. She'll be glad to see them.

I found a turkey nest full of eggs yesterday. Don't know how long they've been there or if they've frozen or not but I marked and put them in the incubator anyway. The egg count is up to 28. Maybe I won't need to buy birds this year after all!

Still making ice at night. The waters are all clear of ice but there's a skim of ice on our farm pond as well as any puddles every morning. Usually gone by midmorning, the sun is bright and warm (warm is a relative term up here, we realize that, just like cold is relative down south) yet you still see the glare of ice for a few hours in the morning..

Hubby hooked up the battery charger to my bike last night. Watching the weather but I'm thinking tonight might have to be the first ride of the season. I'd love to start riding to work tomorrow, we'll see.

My Wings lost last night to Nashville. Hubby says the games are fixed. He's a bit of a pessimist but it does make sense. The organization would make a ton more money if eaach round went the full 7 games. Next game is Wed. nite. We'll win I just know it. It's a best 4 out of 7 series, and we've already won 2 of the 3 played. The stash busting is a logo from a group I joined, a whole bunch of us hockey fanatics (Wing-Nuts) who are using the playoffs as an excuse to finish up some knitting projects.



Friday I will be without my Bu-Dawgh for the first time. I'm sure I'll survive, not sure he will. How can you be the Poster Puppy For Separation Anxiety if you don't have your mommy to hold you at night? But this is a necessary separation. He's going to visit the Nice Lady Down The Road who will take care of our little territorial issues. I don't have a problem with him marking outside, but I kinda think the house is my territory, I already know that. I don't have to mark it but for some reason he feels the need. Again it's my house, the cats have the barn. And Bu-Dawgh is just gonna have to adjust!

Tonight if I have time I'll try to finish cleaning off the deck. Get the firewood piles consolidated, sweep it off nice, and get out the deck chairs. Also get more seeds started. It's too cold to leave them out yet so I have to bring them in at night. I have an old black plastic tarp that I put them on during the day if it's sunny so they stay plenty warm.

What Is That Smell???

Turkey egg count is at 18!! So far no baby chicks.

So, last week, I came home from work to find that the house smelled AWFUL!! Like something crawled in back of a cupboard and died awful! So immediately I bagged up all the trash and took it outside and opened the windows, it was a balmy 50 degrees and the sun was out, so what the heck.
That was a bit better, but the stench lingered. Pulled out the stove to look and see if something fell behind and was trying to crawl off, checked cupboards to see if something was dead, even took all the shoes and boots outside. Nothing.
So the next day, as I was sitting on the steps to put my boots on, I noticed that the odor was particularly strong right there, looked to my left, and right by the door was a small package of DEAD bait! Took the cover off, and yup! That's what it was. The cat got a treat. Hubby, not so much!

The fact that this surprised me in itself surprised me. Can you be surprised at yourself for being surprised by something you shouldn't have been surprised by?

Every other year we take an extensive family reunion. 5 or 6 years back we took a cruise, went to the Caribbean, did the snorkeling and diving thing. Laid on the beach and cooked, drank B52's at night at the piano bar and generally hung loose while the kids took over the ship. Seriously, there were 22 of us, but it was a blast!

One of our activities was to feed the stingrays in Grand Cayman. What do they eat? Bait! Or to be more specific, pieces of dead squid.

Hubby, being the fisherman that he is, decided to save his for fishing on whatever island we would be on the next day. In his tacklebox. In our cabin. Under the bed. And forgot about it. Do you see where I'm going with this?

After about day 3 the cabin STUNK!! I had no idea why, so I took valuable laying in the sun time and valuable B52 quarters and washed everything in the cabin. Shoes, clothes, bathing suits, the only thing that didn't get washed was the clothes we were wearing. Everything got washed and still the cabin just smelled. Well, they're kind of closed off and don't get a lot of circulation so I figured give it a day or so to air out, left the door open and endured the looks of passerbys who surely wondered what we were cooking in there that smelled so bad.

A few days later the cabin smelled a bit better probably because we had left the door open so much, it was time to pack up and move on. Hubby grabbed his tacklebox, opened it and just started laughing. When he showed me the dead squid from a week before I was not happy. I wasn't laughing, at the time it wasn't laughable. Now it is, but at the time.... not so much.

So last week when I found the package of minnows waiting to be released into the compost I just had to shake my head and laugh. Next time, it just may end up in his truck!!

On another note, the Red Wings won last night 3-1 against the Predators. Sorry, lady in resale shop who was a Preds fan. GREAT GAME. Very entertaining, fast paced and everything I've come to expect from my Wings. Next game is on Saturday. Gotta pull off best 4 out of 7 to advance to the next round. Go Wings!!

The Egg Is Hatched!

With the demise of both trucks, repairs on The Egg (Geo Metro) were hastened along. I suppose at some time, in someone's warped frame of mind, it may have been considered cute. Attractive. The ugliest thing on earth. Sorry I got nothin fer ya. While it appears to be a reliable mode of transport and proposes to get 45-50 mpg, it's not much to look at. Seriously, it's ugly. But don't tell it I said that! It's soooo not a truck. I've driven a truck forever, even going so far as to consider myself a truck kind of gal, give me a full size 4x4 over this any day. Except for the gas mileage thing and that it runs when my other truck doesn't has to be considered I guess.

So here we find ourselves with a dilemma. My mode of transportation has always been a 4x4 in the winter and as of last year, a motorcycle in spring, summer and fall.

I'm all about the image here. A Gretchen Wilson kind of bad girl who spends off hours "slingin, a little mud in her 4 wheel drive." It's hard to maintain that image in The Egg.

But it runs, and my truck doesn't, and its still a bit early to ride my bike. Still makin' ice at night so mornings are a bit chilly. And the rainy season and mud and all.... But next week! the Honda Magna 500 will ride again (seriously needs a better name than that - anyone?). And I'll be able to once again boast 50 mpg, this time in style.

First game of the playoffs tonight, if you wanna stop by, the beer is chilled and ready. I even rescheduled knit nite so I could watch. I'd hate to be the reason my Red Wings lost the first game! Maybe I can get M to bring her world famous Make Your Ears Water Salsa. Yum!

Go Wings!

Stupid War!

Our youngest called last night, he's going to Iraq tomorrow. Please keep him in your prayers.

In Which The Mouth Is Roused Out Of Bed At The Crack Of 6:15 AM!

13 turkey eggs so far. And no chickie babies. Broke open the two eggs dated for the 5th and nothing. I know that Tom Tom and Mr. Rooster are doing their jobs so it just must have been too early, and too cold.

I think I live in a reverse universe. Well, those of you who know me would pretty much bet on it. Take cups for example. The kind that you drink out of, dip chili with, scoop out dog food or chicken scratch....you know, cups. There exists in this house a finite number of cups, usually scattered all over but they all fit in one cupboard. When they're all clean. At the same time.

I know they fit, I personally fitted them. It's a tight fit but doable. So when one breaks, or moves to the barn or gets relegated to the truck, the others breathe a sigh of relief. We can spread out now, not so cramped, handle room, and other stuff that cups are capable of rationalizing. But no matter how many cups are removed there isn't any more room. I used to think that when the kids were all gone (which hasn't happened yet, btw) that I could get rid of all those ugly plastic cups and keep the pretty glass and stoneware items. Well the ugly plastic is gone but there isn't any more room up there than there ever was. One of the great mysteries if this reverse universe.

Probably has something to do with The Oldest, who owns and operates a resale shop and who regularly aquires more and more items in my stoneware pattern. I have a nice little collection now, but I can't stop. It's an addiction. Garage sales are bad too, my stoneware pattern (Pfaltzgraff, Yorktowne) was very popular in the day and now seems to be turning up at more and more auctions, garage sales, and resale shops. Just enough at a time to keep fueling my addiction.

So on the knitting shelf, we're still working on the Granddaughter's sweater. This is a birthday present, she was 10, 2 days ago. The sweater is an easy knit, just a simple cable design, pretty much mindless, and the color is good, and the yarn is ok too, but time has been playing hide and seek with me. Hockey season, also known as knitting season is almost over. Longer days mean more time in the homesteading realm. I really need to find a job that pays just as well, or better, but doesn't require a 8 hour commitment every day.

In the homesteading realm, tonight we are fixing fences, cleaning out the pasture, and grooming all of the winter out of the horses. Fences need to be fixed. We had a rodeo yesterday, in which The Mouth and I participated in rounding up our horses from all over the neighborhood (square miles...) early in the morning. It was a beautiful morning, really, at 6:15 AM, a cup of coffee would have topped it off nicely, but it was not to be. One doesn't waste time when one discovers that the horses have escaped. Not even for coffee. There is one plus though, The Mouth doesn't object in the slightest to being roused out of bed at the crack of 6:15 to go chase horses. I have to figure out how to apply this to waking her up for school, or work.... she's ahead of me on this one. There's probably that tone of voice again that says, "Now, Horses, Out" verses "Now, school, work, out of bed".

I'll work on it.

No babies yet, this isn't unusual, after all, we did end up w 5 kids so counting dates doesn't appear to be one of my strengths. I candled the 4 that were to have hatched on the 4th and none of them were good. I 'spect freezing temps before I found them. Tonight I'll look at the 4.5 dated eggs, at least the dogs are eating good!

I did have a bit of a 'venture' as my 10 y/o granddaughter used to say. We planned to go to the lys on Saturday morning. So put gas in The Truck (always a fun thing to spend money on gas when you'd rather spend money on yarn.) Picked up J who at the time, unconsciencely agreed to be my sidekick in this little 'venture'. After a stop at the coffee shop to get all properly sugared and caffieneated, We happily trekked down the road.

Allow me set the scene. It was a beautiful day, bright sun, we had our sugar and caffeine, and of course we had our knitting, because seriously, who goes anywhere with out at least a week's worth of knitting to keep them busy? Got to LYS (local yarn store), hung out there and shopped and knitted most of the day, went to KFC for a late lunch and headed home. Now when I say local, this LYS is actually in a town or two away anywhere from 40 to 1000 miles depending on how well The Truck was running. Which it did fine, until about 10 miles from home. Happily chatting away, J was knitting and I was driving when it occured to us that The Truck seemed to have joined the conversation. Happily chattering and clanking while we were chatting.

Noone invited the truck into the conversation, but there he/she was, being all boisterous and everything, clearly trying to be the life of the party. What was in that gas anyway? When it became apparant that The Truck was seriously trying to get someone's attention, we decided to pull over and give it the talking to that it deserved. Trying to interfere with our party and all. After all, as far as I know, The Truck doesn't even know how to knit! The Truck was not pleased at all with my tone as it immediately began to spew steam/smoke from under the hood. Clearly a temper tantrum, anyone could see that. Oh yeah, it banged really loud too. Just like a 3 yr old. This might seem like a catastrophe but it wasn't and I refer you back to the beautiful day... thing above. And we had enough knitting to last at least a week.

Made a few calls, and sat back to knit, enjoy the sun and balmy breeze and wait to be rescued. Sometimes being female does have its advantages. As does living in a small town and knowing every wrecker driver in said small town.

So to make a long story short..what's that? Too late? Oh, yeah sorry, but I'm almost done.

Now where was I? O yeah, flatbed came, The Truck got loaded on the back of the flatbed, with us and all of our knitting necessities loaded into the front of the flatbed.

Dropped J off and took me and the truck home. I'm blaming this whole fiasco on J because as she was laughing and telling me about all the problems she's had with blue vehicles, I looked out the windshield at the hood of The Truck and noticed it happened to be blue. It also happened to match the rest of the truck. Thank goodness the wrecker was green!

Follow up: The Truck is ok. Radiator plug fell out and it got hot but hubby (who is actually qualified to make these statements) said I didn't blow it up. Very good thing as its not really my Truck but belongs to the youngest child.

On the up side: I scored the pattern I had been searching for. The Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations. Yay!!

Counseling of the Snowbanks has Been Postponed!

And we won! Touch and go until about the last 11 seconds, but they pulled it off! Go Wings!! One more game until the playoffs start. Of course it goes without saying that I'll have to totally clear my schedule so the whole playoffs can be monitered. I mean, who could live with the fact that a favorite team lost solely because I wasn't there to watch?


And the 120 Days Ago Sweater is DONE. Wait, let me repeat that for the benefit of all of you who have been following this saga since before 120 days ago. The 120 Days Ago Sweater is DONE!!! Not blocked yet, but here it is in all its unblocked glory! Complete with Bu-Dawgh, who of course insisits on being in almost every picture, as cute as he is, who could resist??

When I got home from work last night, I found that the Counseling of the Snowbanks could be postponed, hopefully indefinitely. No doubt it was my threats that spurred them on to further melting. The 52 deg. on the bank clock may have had something to do with it, but I'm going with that they are just flat out in aweful respect of my counseling abilities. So when do we start riding? Well.... while the road is clear, there is still the matter of the snow and ice from the barn to the driveway, so either I wait until that melts (I'm nothing if not teachable, and I did learn this one the hard way) or ask hubby to get the bike out (he's not teachable, and that's all I'm saying on that issue!)

Dirt! That's the word of the day! I found dirt in my pasture. And a picture has been posted for your viewing satisfaction, or to prove that we really don't live in snow and ice 12 months out of the year. It's only the tip of my compost pile, but it's there, so this weekend seeds will be started! I'm so excited! Yeah, there's nothing like a bit of dirt to get me all ready for spring and everything. And today it's supposed to rain, so I will find more dirt tomorrow to start seeds with. There have been seed starting supplies on my front porch for almost a month now, how's that for optimism?


Turkey egg count is at 11, nothing has hatched yet, but anytime now!

Good Intentions

I really did intend to get out of bed early. I really did intend to go to bed AFTER the game. It was a good game, really, what I saw of it. See this is what happened. After it was apparant that The Project That Must Be Completed Today was not gonna happen in the normal 9-5 time span, I put the petal to the metal, such that it was, and got it done, but not in the normal time span. This put me behind in everything else that happens in its own normal time span. Barn chores were not completed on time, household stuff really didn't happen at all and dinner was not to be. So hubby, being of the sweet and understanding variety (once in awhile) decided to take care of dinner. At the Local Watering Hole. Wednesday being Wednesday and also being Taco Night at said Local Watering Hole.

Before I continue, a digression is a must in that the Local Watering Hole offers a discount on drinks when a local team is playing and I refer you back to the above mentioned game. A discount on drinks takes priority above household chores, especially when you combine Taco Night and a big screen TV to view the game on.

Game not going quite as well as one would hope. Goalie pulled and another put in, game switches around and by the time we left the discount drink place, I forgot about the game, forgot about my later to bed intentions and forgot about my early to rise intentions. (we lost btw)

The Mouth made some sort of comment about whether or not this was gonna be a regular Wednesday night thing - apparantly this has happened before, and then also saw fit to make a comment on yesterday's blog about my talking to snowbanks.

Talking to snowbanks is an art form, and also requires a vigorous imagination. But, that didn't get done either. There is still but about a 60' swath of snow and ice that remains to melt before I dare ride my bike. Did I mention what happened last time I rode in the snow? Well, suffice to say I found out that I could indeed pick up my bike all by myself. Tonight, the Counseling of the Snowbanks will take place! It will! I promise. Anyone who wants to drop by to watch can come by after the game.

So, to summarize, major project did get done, chores were late, household chores and dinner went undone, drinking ensued as did burning holes in my esophagus with hot sauce and tacos, snowbanks went un-counseled and the game went unwatched, which we lost, most likely because I didn't watch past the first period and cheer them on. However, I'll redeem myself tonight and watch the next game.

1st round of baby birds are scheduled to hatch on or around tomorrow, then a steady hatching should take place every day or so from tomorrow (on or about) on. Turkey egg count is at 10! Yay!

2 Black Dogs

Yeah, my titles need some work. Anyone want to apply for the job?

I was here yesterday, but not here really. I tend to suffer from depression (black dog #1)and yesterday was one of those days that I could have gotten out of bed and crawled back in. Seriously, I was awake for 12 hours before I went back to bed. But enough of that!

On the bike front, the road is almost clear! There's still a patch that has so far resisted my mental orders to melt. I'm going to go up there tonight and have a talk with it. I want to ride my bike! I must ride my bike. Plus, there's the fact that my bike gets 50-60 mpg, as opposed to my farm truck that tops out at 11. There's also the path from the barn where the bike lives during the winter to the driveway. That's not clear either, but soon.

I woke up to a balmy 18 degrees this morning. Not condusive to path clearing, but the sun has returned once again and I expect a high of above freezing (dare I hope?) that IS condusive to path clearing. What's that you say? Why would you consider riding a bike when the temps are 18 degrees? It's really no different than riding my snowmobile. Put on my Carhartt overalls, heavy gloves, helmet liner and sunglasses and start her up. Look on the bright side, with temps in the high teens, the occurance of bug dots is pretty much eliminated!

So Earth Hour came and went. I want to personally request an email stating when Earth Hour starts and ends. Oh, sure, we read about it in blogs, and other emails and I get all excited and think, we can outdo this. An hour? Please, we'll do the whole day. A whole day w/o electricity, and gas and stuff, I can do it, just go ahead and tell me I can't! The mind boggles with the possibilities, maybe we can make it a week! Maybe this will really catch on and zoom! It's gone!

Next thing I know, I'm reading blogs and emails about all the things others did for Earth Hour. And I missed it. I kind of like to participate in these things, kind of as a thank you to Mother Earth for things like berries, leaves and stuff, and I missed it. So in honor of the earth hour/day/week that I didn't participate in, I'd like to request that special email please.

That's out of the way now.

The turkey egg count is currently at 9!! Maybe, just maybe I won't have to buy turkey babies at 6.67 a piece. Maybe I can make enough turkey babies to keep my flock going, plus, stock the freezer.

I love turkey babies.

The first Chickens that are scheduled to hatch should be on the 4th. on or about. Everyone who knows about these things say 21 days to incubate a chicken egg. It's personally been my experience that on or about 21 days is more accurate. So anytime now, provided that Mr Rooster has been doing his job, I'll have chicken babies.

I love chicken babies.

The Wings play again tonight, against Chickago Blackhawks. Should be another awesome game, and I'll be parked in front of the TV from 8:30 ET until ??? (or until it's clear that they're either going to win or lose and I'm falling asleep). Note to dd: this is NOT a good time to call me! I'll get another fair amount of knitting done, either that or Mommy/Bu-Dawgh time, in which the baby Bu-Dawgh (black dog #2) climbs up on my lap and cuddles. Hard to knit with him on my lap.

When I say Baby, he's pretty much 18 months old now and at about 60 lbs. But he's still my baby. And being of the Shar-Pei variety, and since he gets left alone most of every day, well not really alone, he's with the Siberian, he's the poster puppy of separation anxiety. And I since during the 3 or 4 hour window of opportunity for such things, I forgot to tell him that he was in fact really of the canine variety, like all of our 4 footed babies, he thinks he's human.

Go Wings! Go Baby Turkeys and Baby Chickens! And since the sun is out in full force today, maybe I'll actually get some work done!