Pics of My New Babies!

Baby Bovines! I LOVE farm babies. These pics are of my latest babies. They are 5 weeks old and just being weaned off of milk. I'll grain them. Next year I'll get 2 more and then butcher 1 and sell the other. I want to get a little heifer calf too, so we have our own calf production organization as well as all the milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, cream and ice cream we'd ever need.




My farm is sooo cool!




Here are pics of the new chicken coop Hubby is building for me. It is approx. 8x12 and will include nesting boxes, a grain storage area, and a roosting area. The floor will be tin to hose it out easier. I'm excited about that too. Sometimes we wonder if there's something wrong with me to be so excited about having a chicken coop as an anniversary present. Hmmmm, one year when I only had one horse I got a shed full of hay for my anniversary.

Anniversary is Saturday.

Last night my Wings lost. It was almost bound to happen, we did, after all, playing in Penguins territory and only game 3. The NHL does, after all, have to make it's money. We'll win the next one.

Baby Bovines!

I got new babies! Hubby did a motor in exchange for a couple of bull calves. They are 5 weeks old. One is almost all white and we named him Pepper. The other is almost all black and we named him Salt. CUTE!!!! And, I was gonna take pictures but I couldn't find the Awesome Camera That I Bought Myself For My Birthday Last Year so you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see them. And.... instead of going fishing.... you might have to sit down here..... are you ready? Are you sure?

Instead of going fishing yesterday, Hubby build me a chicken coop!!!! Not just any chicken coop, this one has LOTS O Room! It's not done yet, but should be tonight and I'll get pics of that too.

He's feeling guilty I think. Next weekend is our anniversary and he's going up north to our cabin. My "Project For The Weekend When Hubby Is Away" is to put in my new sink and faucet. The countertop will have to wait, being as how I had to spend money on milk replacer and calf food. That's ok, I love new farm babies!

Didn't get much gardening in, we're still having frosts and freezes regularly, it's just not a good idea yet. I did have to go and buy a bunch of tomato and pepper plants, this was the weekend to do that and if it's not done now, they are pretty well picked over. So I'll just cover them and keep them well watered for another week or so.

Got the pool almost all cleaned out. After feeding calves and other chores, being in the cool water feels pretty good, plus pretty much eliminates the need for a shower, at least until morning. It works, get my water fix, get halfway clean, get my pool cleaned all in one fell swoop.

Life is good!

My brother and I had another Ride of a Lifetime on Sunday. He rides Hubby's bike when he's here. It was beautiful, about 70, bright sun and of course the scenery is beautiful. Any time of year, the scenery just rocks around here. And you always notice a lot more wildlife, scents, sounds... when you're on a bike. There's no beating it!

Almost got the baby booties done, just finishing up, so they'll be done for the baby shower this weekend. Got a lot of knitting done while my Red Wings tromped the Penguins again last night. Best 4 out of 7 series and we're so far 2 and 0. Tomorrow night is game three, this one is in Penguin territory, so there will be a home ice advantage for those boys. Will be another good game.

That's all for today, feeling very tired, like I tried to accomplish a lot this weekend.

Life Is Good! Life Is Great!! Life Rocks!! And, it's better than the alternative!!

I'm so excited! My brother from Colorado will be here today. He'll be here until Wednesday. There is lots of garden, home improvement, critter enhancement... projects scheduled. But... the most important is the obligatory day long bike ride. Last fall we did this on a day that was gorgeous, he rode Hubby's bike and I, of course, rode mine. It was Mid-October, the leaves were in full color and flying all around, and it was around 80. Unseasonably warm for October, but the day was just perfect. We both still talk about that day, so this Holiday weekend we plan to redo it.
Maybe we'll ride over to the Big Lake for lunch.

No, the chickens and turkeys did not get put outside. They stink, they smell and they're flying and running and &$%^-ing all over the bathroom, but last night was knit night so, we do have our priorities. Besides, it's really something that's a two person job and hubby was out playing too. He likes to do the go kart thing and last night he and his buds were playing go karts. So, chix and turks are still inside. Tonight doesn't look good either, I'll probably be with my brother, and hubby will be go-karting again.

Look at this yarn!!! This is my latest score from Yarn Of The Month Club. It's the bamboo ribbon yarn that I hated but couldn't live without. It's soooo soft and when it knits up the drape is just perfect. I don't know what this yarn wants to be when it grows up, it hasn't told me yet, but someday it will make me a real nice something or other.

Update on the Blueberry Issue. I've filed a claim with paypal. I hate to do that, but it's been almost 3 weeks since I've sent my money or even heard from the guy. I'd still rather have the blueberries than my 30 bucks back, but we'll see. I really don't hold out much hope for either. The picture above is the spot hubby cleared for them, guess they'll be for the strawberries now. Next week, probably, we can start putting stuff outside, so I'll get those planted right away.

Our youngest called from Iraq yesterday, he's doing well, things are quiet for now where he is. I'm still pretty scared about the whole ordeal, but with the addition of N and her Monkey to our household, I've been even more distracted than I normally would be. And that's bad. In a good way.

Tomorrow night, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. I'll be there! Go Wings!!

The Zoo Expands!

This afternoon this (see left) is going outside!

As is this:


It's warm enough with lights that they can go outside. They can go and stink out there! It's time! The time has come! No More! Baby birds that aren't really all that small anymore can live outside (with lights). The Condo will be moved to the side yard in a fenced in area, complete with old truck topper and the windows in my bathroom will be opened, at least for long enough to air it out. It's getting bad, you walk into the house and you can smell them all across the whole house. You can smell them upstairs. They are smelly in the basement. My house smells like chicken poo! Yuck! It's time.

I don't think I'm going to restain this desk. Of course, that means that I won't get my workroom cleaned up, the walls torn down between the workroom and laundry room, the washer and dryer relocated and the whole she-bang painted. Guess that sequence will have to wait until my next pseudo-project (which will come soon, as Ace (future son-in-law) scored a DEEP DEEP sink at a Habitat For Humanity store for only 10.00. Along with the new sink, I have a new faucet, well, it was new when I bought it, not so much anymore, but it even has one of those fancy sprayer thingees! I love sprayer thingees! And a spot for a lotion or soap dispenser. How cool is that??? But, before that, I have to get a new counter, cause, well, you can't put in a new sink and new faucet and not update the counter, can you? Ok, maybe it's do-able. It's been about 17 yrs since I put in a sink and faucet, maybe that will be a good Next Time Hubby's Gone For A Few Days project.
And, I have help now!

My Monkey LOVES PaPa's slippers, she is soooo cute. It's so much fun to have a youngun' in the house again. Last night she helped me collect eggs when I did chores, put them in a basket and had to run out to the garage to show PaPa. Didn't realize an 18 mo old Monkey could run that fast. Yeah, the eggs never made it to the house, but that's ok, it was too much fun watching her!

This is my latest project. After firmly promising myself, making myself pinky swear (that was fun to watch), threatening myself with eye injury and generally telling everyone in the world (just to keep myself on track) that I would start NO OTHER project until my pretty yellow cable sweater was done, I started another project. Before the pretty yellow cable sweater was done.
But there's a good reason here. They are baby booties, ie.. simple to knit, fast to complete and I need them next Saturday (10 days or so). These are so cute. They use suede yarn (I'm using Lion Brand) because that's what our LYS (aka Walmart) had and although they're supposed to be for a little girl, the "girliest" color they had was kind of an eggplant purple. I also got a cactus green color, maybe I can get 2 pair made. If not, I'll make the other ones for my Monkey.
They use short row shaping, not hard although they call for a size 4 needle on a bulky weight yarn.

My Wings advance to the final round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The first game of that round is Sat. night in Detroit. Go Wings!!

STILL don't have my garden tilled up, but I got a bit more inspiration today. And it will happen this weekend, our frost date is June 1 anyway so still have time. I have a spot in my yard that is very shady and needs a lot of help. I found a wildflower mix for shady areas, so after I get my garden tilled up and hopefully get some seeds and plants in, I'll plant my wildflowers. That will pretty up that little area. Also have to fix the faucet on that side of the house, either that or get a longer hose. The only outside faucet I have that works is down by the barn.
The forcast calls for close to 80 this weekend! woo hoooo!! I'll get lots of stuff done outside, plus some nice bike riding with my brother who's coming in from Colorado for the long weekend.

Found an article on Mother Earth News the other day on a water pump that is hooked up to a bicycle frame. Apparantly 15 mins on the bike will pump enough water for a family of 4 for 2 days. That's pretty cool. Also found an idea for chickens in the garden there.

Soooooo many projects, not enough time! Indoor projects that are against a deadline: get the baby booties done. Outdoor projects: those stinky yucky baby chix and turks that are currently in my bathroom HAVE GOT to be put outside. Today it's about 35 deg. Just haven't had time, nor has the weather really cooperated to get that little project finished. And the kicker? I've spent more time trying to figure out how and when to do this than it will actually take. Also got to get the rototiller running and get the garden tilled up. I really want to get stuff planted this weekend while it's so warm, and get my pool cleaned out, and make my strawberry beds, and paint the barn, and, and, and......

Life's not boring, that's for sure!

Learning a New Language.

Bu-Dawgh here:
When a baby comes into your house, they come with their own personality (this has been proven, however we've not yet been able to break them of it), their own tastes and their own language.

Our recent addition is no exception. And if you take the time to analyze their language, it really does make sense, most of the time.

Monkey points at a chicken and says "buk, buk". Of course, what else would it be? That's the noise it makes, so why would you call it a chicken? And I am "ruff". Makes sense! Blotchaboos are vegetables, yup, I get that, now here's one:
Pockies and Ebo. (for the uninitiated, pancakes and syrup). That one will take some figuring out, but they're still good to lick up off the floor when she drops them. Eggs are eggs, house is house, cat is cat and I, The Bu-Dawgh, want to know why Monkey can play with the "buk, buks" but I can't. And why is she sleeping in my room? And why have I been demoted to the mudroom. And why at night does the monkey get to climb up in mom's lap, that's supposed to be my spot.
I had it good! I was the baby, the only child, for my whole life, and now all of a sudden.....
But, the Monkey is fun to play with, she's more my size than mom is, and she giggles at the weirdest things. She thinks it's hilarious when I yowl at her, and when I pounce on the stuff she drops.

But it's not funny when mom plays with her. She'll grab her and hoist her up in the air and bite at her toes and tummy and she giggles and laughs, but it's not fun for me. Mom used to play with me. I don't remember her ever biting at my tummy or toes, but she would play with me and now she doesn't seem to even notice when I go into my new spot and pout. At least before when I would pout, she would come and talk to me. I'd give her the big brown eyes and I'd pretty much get anything I wanted, but no more. I don't understand why this has changed. I'm a good bu-dawgh, hardly ever chase the buk buks anymore (well, except for this morning when monkey opened the door and I scooted out). I always eat all my dinner, and I help clean off the monkey when she's done with dinner. I supervise when the monkey is in the bathtub, which is huge considering the history that the bathtub and I have, and considering that the baby buk buks are in the bathroom still, that's a bit of a distraction, me being a baby too.

I'm hoping that with time, the attraction of the monkey wears off and I'll once again, be top dog in mom's lap.

What I Was Gonna Do!!

This was my list for this weekend:
laundry, work, pen up chicks, start on stove, plant more seeds, work up garden, game, workroom cleaned, workout room set up........

This is what I did. 2 loads of laundry (as opposed to the 200 I should have done, but hey, it was windy and rainy, so... there's my out!). I worked on Saturday, and Sunday, rather than the 5 hrs on Saturday I was supposed to be here, it was pretty much all day Sat. and all day Sun. I didn't start on the stove, well, because see above about working all weekend. I didn't plant anymore seeds, because of the above, but also because it was windy and rainy, same for the garden, plus hubby didn't get the rototiller running for me. I didn't get the workroom cleaned or set up either, and you can pick any excuse you want, but pretty much it's hard to work on stuff at home when you're not there.

Gonna back up about 10 yrs or so here. Back when my youngest 2 girls were still in high school, we had a neighbor girl, about the same age who was real close to all of us. So much so, in fact, that one time she called and asked if she could spend the night cause she'd had a fight with her step father and wanted to get out of there for the night. 18 months later, after she graduated from high school, she moved out. It was all good, there were 5 teenage girls in the house at once with one bathroom. Hubby and Son pretty much didn't show up, and I don't blame them. But, what was one more eh?

So fast forward 10 or so years. This gal who is not a girl anymore, but a young woman with a small child has left her husband and moved north. She moved in with her mother and step father. Had an argument with her step father, and can you see what's happening here? Yeah, she moved back in with us. This isn't a problem, at all, actually, I've always thought of her as just another one of our girls, just another daughter, and yikes, just another granddaughter. In our house. When we were just getting used to having no kids again. But it's all good, neither of us would have told her she couldn't have come back, even with her little monkey daughter (who is adorable, and soooo much fun, btw). I finally have a playmate again.

This reminds me of a summer about 8 or so years ago when our oldest was having some problems and dropped her 18 mo. old twin girls off so she could go do some errands. She picked them up 6 weeks later. But it was good, the girls were so much fun to have around, I got to bond with them and it was good for all involved. She's grown up now and straightened stuff out but I still have that bond with the girls, who are now 10.

Anyway, that was what I got done this weekend, listened, hugged, held, talked, dried tears, played with the monkey baby, helped childproof the house.
It feels good to have a little one in the house again.

There is seriously something wrong with me!

Blueberries... To Be Or Not To Be??

Well, it appears that the guy I ordered my blueberry seedlings from has seen fit to take my money and be gone with it. I will file a complaint with PayPal today, if I don't hear from him by noon. I've given him plenty of opportunities, including 4 emails to ask about the order. I've been burned before by the ebay/paypal experience, but for the most part it works out. And I guess it bothers me more that I am out 50 blueberry seedlings than that I am out 30 bucks. I really wanted blueberries, and so does my yard where hubby took the bulldozer and made a "spot" for them. (still have to get the chainsaw out and clean that up a bit!)



Yeah, hubby and his toys can make a mess, usually he's not allowed on my side of the driveway, unless I specifically tell him what to do, what not to do, where not to go, what he can wreck, what to stay away from (hollyhocks, horse fencing, trees...), and have him sign 3 copies of it. Then and only then will I let him cross the driveway with his destructiveness.

I remember the day he tore the deck off the back of the house. All the required paperwork (3 copies) had been signed, x's drawn on what could go, string wrapped around what stayed (mainly the house and pool) and explicit directions. And I left him to his destruction. I can't usually bear to watch, he has way too much fun, it can't be good. When I came back the deck was off the side of the house indeed. The house itself had not been touched, nor had the pool. Everything that was specified to be done was done and nothing was wrecked that wasn't supposed to be... except..... the deck was in pieces, scattered all throughout the back yard. Claimed it was too soft back there and he couldn't get the timbers... out of there without messing up the lawn.




Cough... cough.....

Excuse me? What lawn? We do not have a lawn, we have a mixture of grasses, natural wildflowers, raspberry and blackberry brambles, ferns and weeds that loosely resemble a bare spot in the woods at best. At no time, ever has it ever resembled a lawn, would be hard to wreck, but it's his story and he stuck to it. Again, to his defense, the house and pool remained untouched, intact, and undamaged.

All this could be avoided if it didn't take a raindance and an act of God to get the skid steer started. I'm not even sure I could go through all the steps. You have to hook up the battery, wire up the fuel pump while choking and turning the key. At just the right spot in all of this you have to real quick turn around and put your other hand on the intake to choke it even more. Several of our tractors start the same way, so this one I pretty much have down. By this time you're standing on one foot and have your tongue hanging out and usually 3 or more fingers are crossed. I've been upside down a time or two, and that's just helping him. I don't know how I'd ever do it by myself. But it's always entertaining. Don't get me started on the crane or hydrahoe. These are important skills, I know someday these abilities will become useful, like maybe at some point I'll hire on at a gravel pit and they'll ask me if I know how to run a crane. Well, I do, but not one that actually works like it's supposed to. Turn the key and it starts??? What's that about?? Where's the challenge there?

Give me a raindance any day!

This Squirt's For You, Jim

2 years ago today, one of my brothers and one of my best friends succombed to cancer. Skin Cancer, aka Melanoma, the black ribbon one. Although he fought it bravely he eventually lost his battle. And my heart broke.
He was 38.
He left behind his other half and their critters. He was an architect in San Diego, and the life of every party. A Jimmy Buffett fan til the end.

If you've never been able to claim that any or all of your siblings have been among your best friends, I truly feel bad for you.
I was almost 10 when he was born, we didn't grow up together, but after college, I got the priviledge of getting to know the real Jim.

We still sing: "Come Monday, It'll Be Alright" because it was on Monday, May 15th, 2006 that if was finally alright and he was freed of the pain and disease that he fought with for the last year of his life.

It still hurts, but time really does fade the feelings. It will always hurt, but I see him all the time now, rather than just once or twice a year at family gatherings.

I see him in the snow and pines in the winter up here snowboarding down a mountain, in the lilac blossoms in the spring, grilling a steak or splashing in the big lakes in the summer, and in the scarlets, reds, oranges, yellows, burgandies.. and all of the other colors we are so blessed to experience here in N. Mich in fall.

I see him in my dreams, and I can conjure him up almost on demand.

I see him in my garden (telling me my rows aren't straight - he was such a architect!) and up in my hayloft and feeding my animals. I see him in the walls in my cabin, that he designed for me. Of course I see him in the many pictures around that commemorate his awesome 38 yr existence on this planet.





He's with us when we have our reunions, right in the middle of all the nonsense.

What will I do today to honor him? I will remind everyone I know to get their checkups, I'll make a donation to the skin cancer foundation (the name escapes me at this moment), and I'll take my Dad over to the big lake to the East, have a nice lunch and maybe walk on the beach a bit if it's nice, while we reminisce.

I will celebrate the lives of my kids, husband and other family members and friends and take comfort in knowing that he will never be forgotten, he'll always be with me, in the wind, water, earth and air.

I love you Jim, this Squirt's for you!

Yeah, Mr. Mail Guy!!

Something amazing happened yesterday! We get our mail picked up at work, so if I have to mail something that won't fit in the box, well it doesn't make sense to make a trip to the post office, we'll just put it in the Pile 'O Stuff To Go Out" at work.

My son is currently stationed in Iraq and I had his trunk almost ready to go, just needed to finish taping it up, fill out the customs forms, address it, weigh it (about 60 lbs!).....

When the postal carrier showed up to collect our outgoing mail, he asked if the box was to go, and I told him no, I'd take it because I had to go fill out forms... have it weighed.... so I'd just take it. He then asked if I could have it addressed and taped in 1/2 hour, he would make a special trip back to pick it up for me and bring the forms I needed. And anytime I had a package ready to go to my son in Iraq, just call him and he'd make a special trip out to get it. And to be sure and tell my son that he and his family appreciate the sacrifices our troops are making.

Now that's just nice! Still get choked up thinking about it. You get to feeling like you're kind of in this boat alone, although I know there are thousands and thousands of families like mine, with a member overseas in not-so-great circumstances, it's real easy to feel alone, until someone comes along and outwardly recognizes the efforts being made, and it doesn't matter how they feel about us being over there, it's the personal twist that boosts you up.

Yeah, it's a real small town, where about 90% of the county is related, but still, this went above and beyond in my book.
Just sayin......

Ok, I'm done being all tear-jerkery and philosophical now on to the fun stuff.

I'm mentioned before our oldest daughter owns and runs a resale shop. Guess what she scored yesterday???

Hang on.....

Sit down......

A Log Desk! You can't imagine how great this is, not only do I now have a log desk to match my log cabin and growing log furniture collection, but I have to refinish it (stained dark), get my workshop cleaned up so I can refinish it, tear down the wall between my laundry room and work room so I can start cleaning, relocate the washer and dryer so I can tear down the wall, which will probably eventually lead to new paint. Now that's scary, all because she called and told me she had this desk come into her store. Has anyone read Pat McManus' treatise on "Sequences"? Think I've got him beat with this one!

Hubby was not allowed to make the decision as to whether or not he would bring this home, this is an ongoing joke. He's nothing if not a packrat, and has been known to drag home treasures from her store. So she and I have a pact. NO FURNITURE PURCHASES WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION FROM ME FIRST! This was too funny, everyone involved just knew I'd have to have this desk, but they wouldn't let him just bring it home, nope, they had to have my ok. And not only that, he wasn't allowed to carry my ok, she had to call and verify that I actually did say ok. Too funny! Gotta love kids, they're fairly trainable even when they're grown.

And yes, we did get good kids. Specially when they score us some useful treasures!

As soon as it stops raining, and he brings it home (back of his truck, will get wet if it's raining.....), I'll take pictures, too cool!! This purchase alone motivated me to get all of our coats, hats, boots, snow suits, scarves, parkas, mittens, snow pants,shawls, mukluks, ice fishing suits (zoot-soots) and other assorted winter gear hung up, washed and put away. (Don't even ask where the link is that would supposedly connect these two events, it's there, you'll just have to trust me on this one.)

All of this is a bit confusing to The Bu-Dawgh as his bedroom is where all of this stuff gets hung up in the off season. He was a bit concerned with the filling of his bedroom with snow gear and boots and we had a bit of a panic attack, but we assured him all was ok, there would still be room for his bed. He then went out to chase a turkey. So next time someone asks, "What is the link between a log desk and a bu-dawgh", you can give them an intelligent answer. It's ok, you can keep this post to reference back if you forget, or go into brain spasms, or otherwise have a problem with my thought processes.

My Wings play game 4 of the Western Conference Finals tonight. Against the Dallas Stars. I'm sure it will be a good game, just ask me!

Fell Off The Wagon!

Remember my recent post about hating ribbon yarns? And the bamboo yarn that I knitted a swatch from, and really liked the drape and softness? Remember? I didn't remember to remind myself that I didn't like it, and I fell off the wagon labeled "I HATE RIBBON YARN AND WILL NEVER BUY ANY MORE OF THE WRETCHED STUFF!" I had already decided not to buy the bamboo, already justified the non-purchase, chalked it up to self control, patted myself on the back, threw out my shoulder, and then it happened. One of the gals had 11 more balls of it, for 4.00 a ball and my fingers that control the paypal "send money" button conspired with Little Brain just enough to do the damage. Follow along with me:

T:But I really don't like ribbon yarn.

LB: Think of it as branching out. Everyone needs to branch out.

T: We don't do change let alone branching out.

LB: It's not change. It's an addition. Kind of like a new son-in-law or a new grandkid. One more person to knit for, one more yarn variety to knit it with.

T: That's ridiculous, noone in their right mind is gonna buy that. I fell off the wagon that's what I did and now thanks to you I have to go 2 whole weeks without my favorite chocolate cappicino.

LB: You're the one being irrational. How long has it been since you bought any yarn, especially this kind of yarn. You know you really wanted it. And besides it will last lots longer than the cappacino.

T: You do have a point, but how will I justify this to my budget?

LB: Just let me take care of that, you know how creative I can be in the funding juggling dept.

T: Yeah, your "funding juggling" has gotten me into trouble before.

LB: And as I recall you blamed it on me, so there's your out. Just blame it on me!

T: Dude! I'm all serious and stuff here! No More Yarn!!

LB: Whatever! Let's go online and look for a cool pattern to use this yarn with.

Yesterday I took a trip into town with my Dad, he needed to go to the automotive store and I needed to go to none other than my favorite store in the whole world: Tractor Supply Company.
There's just no end to the coolness of that store, and there's nothing they don't have! (I've even seen ribbon yarn there!)and.....
Tootsie Rolls! By the bagful!
On the way we passed Dairy Queen. My Egg, being of questionable mind and virtually no body commanded that we stop. I fought it, really I did, but once a command is issued, I had no choice but to comply, so I promised The Egg that on the way back we'd stop. Well, since we'd scored big on the bag of tootsie rolls at TSC we got off the hook on that one. (The tootsie rolls jumped into the cart as I wheeled by. I tried to put them back on the shelf, but they were too strong for me, it was just meant to be). But as the ongoing battle ensued, I'm afraid we scared a couple of elderly ladies waiting in the checkout line. Once they figure out what was happening though, they were all better and they agreed you can go to long lengths to justify chocolate. It's almost as good as bamboo ribbon yarn that I hate!

Red Wings won again last night, 5-2. Was a really fast paced, fun game to watch. Wednesday night, if
when we win, then we're off to the finals!

Herding Chickens

The Bu-Dawgh needs a job. He's totally entranced by the chickens and turkeys that terrorize him all day. Why can't he play with them? Well, he's a bit rough, being a puppy and all. Ok, how about the barn kitties, they are fuzzy and like to play. They just don't like to play with him. That's no fun. The only thing left is the baby chix and turks we have in a box in our bathroom. Yeah, our bathroom. Up here it's still too cold to put them outside, they're just feathered out so I can leave the lights off for awhile now and then, but it's still too cold to store them outside. This gets to be a creative way to see how many boxes you can tape together to give them the space they need, without taking over the house.
Another couple of weeks, then they will go outside, under lights. It's just too cold yet.
So, the Bu-Dawgh still needs a job. Or maybe a pet. That's it, I can get him a pet. When he comes to work with me, he plays with the Puff-a-Fluff all day, those are good days. But when I ride my bike, (and hubby has yet to build me a sidecar for him) he has to stay home all by his little self, and he's bored. If he had a pet, he could have someone to play with when he has to stay home.
Actually one of the remedies for mild depression is to get a pet. Since he's the Poster Puppy For Separation Anxiety, that would classify as depression wouldn't it? So there, medical research that practically shouts: GET THE BU-DAWGH A PET!!
Well we discussed it, he and I and he would pretty much be happy with anything, anything except a porcupine, he tried to play with one of them once and didn't win that little game, so no porcupines. Besides, when it's bring your pet to work day, and he brings his porcupine, and The Puff-A-Fluff wants to play, how in the world would we tell which was porcupine quills and what was just more hair?


Got lots of tomatoes and some peppers coming up, they really sprouted this weekend. The asparagus is all weeded and the rhubarb is just about ready for picking. Haven't gotten my blueberry seedlings yet, hmmmm, strange, the first time I got them almost immediately, now it's been 1-1.5 weeks. Hubby cleared a space for them, and I'm anxious to get them going.

We're still about 2 -3 weeks away from our frost date, although the weather has been so weird this year, it's hard to tell what is gonna happen.

Tonight? Gotta work with the Bu-Dawgh on the shock collar thing, the Red Wings play game 3 against the Dallas Stars and so it goes without saying that there will be lots of knitting accomplished, and well, all the other stuff that a homestead/farm/home requires. Like sweeping the floors now and then. And taping boxes together to make elaborate condos for the baby birdies.

I love baby birdies, but they don't love the Bu-Dawgh!

Cardboard Is Your Friend

We all get spam. We all get all this fun email that encourages you to lose weight, become the man you can be, clean out your colon, finish your degree, save on your life insurance.... you know the stuff, the reason the delete key was invented. Well, this morning I got a different kind of email. It was titled "Cardboard Is Your Friend". Well then! This I have to read!



But before I go into that, allow me to vent a bit. I have collected about 3 tons of turkey eggs this spring, none of which has hatched. All have been put in the incubator and appropriately marked. Nothing! They've been humidified and heated. Nothing! Twisted, turned and otherwise encouraged into production. Still nothing!
Apparantly Tom Tom has been gobbling the gobble but not strutting the strut, as it were. Either that or he's shooting blanks. I can't really blame the hens, he is one UGLY creature. He gets all puffed out, and purple headed and struts around like he's God's gift to... well... hens. A kind of Look At Me, Look At Me farce that can't be anything but hilarious! And he spits. Seriously, who would be attracted to that? And he shoots blanks! Lets give a rundown here, he's conceited, thinks he's gorgeous, and God's gift to the poultry race, spits, is ugly and has a purple head, not to mention he has feathers missing (not really his fault) and this long thing that hangs off his nose, er, uh, beak.
Yeah, spells attraction to me! (maybe he needs a few of those Be The Man You Can Be spams!)

Now, Mr. Rooster on the other end of the spectrum is a very pretty bird, and I already have proof that he knows how to do his job. But the next time he spurs me, he's gonna get kicked into next week (again!)

About the Cardboard is Your Friend email? Oh, yeah it was just a reminder from J. at work that she had a pile of cardboard ready to go to the Recycle Place Behind The Old Cleaners. My memory is so bad that my co-workers have to email me to remind me of such simple tasks!

We won! We won! We won!! I know you know that when I say We Won, I mean my Red Wings. Really good game, and in the end, the Stars got trompled 4-1.

Oh yeah! Life Is Good!!

Regular Wednesday Night Stuff (technical term)

So, it being Wednesday, and night and all, and taco night at the Local Watering Hole and a Michigan team was playing (Tigers) and the drinks were on sale because of it, guess where I could be found? Ding, ding, ding.... yup, you guessed it!

I'm not a people person. At all. Mostly ever. Unless there's alcohol involved. Would much rather commune with my critters, and plants and stuff. Wander around the blueberry patch and have an intellegent conversation with the green stuff which produces leaves and which needs to be mowed, and stuff.

But last night at the Local Watering Hole, there were people, and alcohol, and even though I'm soooo not a Tigers fan, a good time was had by all. The Mouth even showed up for awhile and harassed some of the local clientelle. She's entertaining if nothing else.

My yummy, yummy Yarn Of The Month shipment came in the mail yesterday. It was all ribbon yarn. I don't like trendy yarns, give me wool, or cotton or silk any day, and I make enough slubby stuff when I spin that we really have more than enough of that too. But the ribbon yarn came, and one, in particular, a Bamboo ribbon yarn in heathered blues, and teals and beiges, and browns.... all variagated... kind of attracted my attention. It was sooo soft and nice to knit with, if I liked ribbon yarns, which I don't. It had beautiful drape, just the right amount of stretch and was very enjoyable to knit with, if I liked ribbon yarns, which I don't. So, now we have a conundrum, in which we are knitting with a yarn we don't like, that we actually like. Gonna have to think about that one. Not sure which path to travel down now, my world is all mixed up and everything. Might even have to procure a special box to put that one in. But then we get into all the other special boxes that stuff is shoved into up in Little Brain and we have another whole issue.

Have to get a package ready to ship to The Youngest, who is currently in An Old Nuclear Facility In The Middle Of Nowhere In Iraq. Not sure if this is a good thing or not. Don't nuclear facilities just shout RADIATION??? But it is in the middle of nowhere, which is good, even if it is in Iraq, which is not good. Ugh, another conundrum. You can see how it is that I end up wandering in circles out talking to my blueberries can't you?

Hey, guess what? The woodstove has not been started in over a week! That's got to be good, eh? Course there's been a few nights when we've gone to bed in sweats and wrapped up in extra blankets, but hey, the woodstove appears to be retired for the summer. And now that I've said that.... well, you know. Coupled with the fact that I have my tomatoes and peppers started and currently parked out in the sun on our patio table should be more than enough to invoke the Gods of Frost and Snow. But nope, the woodstove shall not be started again, at least until Sept.

LIG enjoyed another beautiful ride to work today, bundled up of course, with gloves and leather coat, and even socks! That's a biggie, I normally don't do socks, but the toes get cold when I ride LIG in 37 deg. temps. It's a nice enough ride to take most of the sting out of the frostbite, but after a few miles you can't feel anything anyway so it's all good.

Tonight I have knit night, but also the Red Wings are playing game 1 of the 3rd round. Another conundrum. Do I stay or do I go.... isn't there a song like that? Guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear of my decision!

Happy wandering!

In Which Ter Gets Blonded!

So, I thought it would be fun to go "Sun Kissed" with my mousy brown hair. Now that the sun is starting to make an appearance in N. Mich, and being as how my daughters are all (well 3 out of 4)are blonde, just thought it would be fun.

Enter The Mouth.

And her Frosting Kit.

And her "If Someone Else Can Do It So Can I" attitude. Hmmmm, wonder where she got that? She's an ologist, I've mentioned that before, however "Cosmet" doesn't fit in front of the ologist in her world.

So we blonded, Mother and Mouth, in our special kind of way. It was special. Very special. And fun, I always have fun with my kids (like the Snow Day incidents, where.... never mind, another day for that one). 3 out of 5 of them are blonde, and well, of the three, three of them are, well, blonde. The other two, dark, dark brown, I tell you, it's all or nothing with this group. But come to think of it the dark brown 2 are blonde also.

I got sidetracked again, imagine that!

So, back to the blonding, The Mouth cut foil, parted hair, pasted frosting, and repeated for the better part of a half hour. When it was all said and done, we waited the appropriate time and rinsed, and shampooed, and did the conditioning rinse thing. Then she combed and towel dried and NEVER SAID A WORD!!! Well, then, must not be too bad. Until I looked! And saw

PATCHES!!!

PATCHES!!! Of Blonde. Along with some really cool streaks, but PATCHES!! O.M.G! Part of me was streaky and part was chunky. It was actually kind of cool except for the patch over my bald spot that made it look, well, a lot bigger.

But with some "creative" blow drying and combing, she made it all better. Apparantly she's experienced with this type of hair-tastrophe, a little tidbit she neglected to reveal before she started with the cutting of foil, parting of hair, and pasting of frosting. It's all good, until it rained this morning. Oh well, I've got no-where to go except work so.....

You're still waiting for the Snow Day Incident to be told aren't you? Ok, just a quick one. I like to play with my kids, they are fun little creatures, it's all what you make it actually, Back when I was working part time, and my schedule was very very flexible, like if I didn't want to work that day it was all good (good job if you can get it), there was a time

a few times

Ok, it happened about once a month or so, when it would snow, really hard. Us hardy types up here are used to that, we expect it, and are dissapointed when The Snows Do Not Come". Well, one such morning, or maybe more than one, it snowed really hard. Not hard enough to call off school but a lot, and little creatures, being fairly trusting that their mother would only have their best interest in mind, believed me when I told them they had a snow day, and I stayed home from work, and we played out in the snow all day. That actually went on for quite awhile, probably 3 or 4 times a winter, until they started to catch on. They're blonde, it took them awhile, and in the meantime, education isn't all about sitting in a classroom, it's also watching snow fall, studying snowflakes, making snow angels, studying the logistics of a toboggon whipping along behind a truck in the fields, stuff like that. And it was fun. And it was good. And it was a long time ago, and I've grown up now, so no fair sending the truant officers after me! Besides, they'd have to find me, and my driver's lisence picture shows an old brown hair lady, not a sun streaked kid! They'll never find me!

Busy Weekend!

So this past weekend, I went and created even more work for myself. I never learn.

We got all of our asparagus planted. Got a spot cleared for blueberry seedlings, pushed over a dead tree. Seriously, this was not gonna happen. This tree was part of my clothesline, but it had this branch that would attack me every time I went to hang clothes. So, while hubby had his bulldozer out clearing spots for me, he decided to take the branch off of the old dead tree that was part of my clothesline. As soon as he barely touched that branch, the whole tree cracked and started falling. Can you imagine if I had hung just one too many towels from that clothesline? There was no warning, I could have been under that tree when it decided to go down. We were both very surprised, it was a huge old oak, very sturdy stump (or so we thought). Whew, that was a close one!

So now we have asparagus out by the rhubarb, that must be weeded, and soon we'll have 50 highbush blueberry plants that will have to be weeded (and watered), and, and, and....

Was gonna do the annual clean up the yard/barn/pasture bonfire so I could get all that garbage out of the way, and wanted to move the firepit, but it was too windy to burn. So.... the annual yard/barn/pasture bonfire must be postponed.

Started to clean out the pool, this is a multi step process, involving a wetsuit, tolerance to cold water and the ability to create suction from a huge sump hose. Suction as many leaves, water bugs, spiders, asphalt from the shingles... out as is possible, and then do a whirlpool (walk around in a circle really fast to get the water moving so all the "stuff" will go to the middle). Then after all the debris is settled, we start all over again. Some would use a filter system. Where's the fun in that?

Rode my bike several times and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Blondie came up this weekend, so we got to visit with her a bit. She found a deep old sink at a sale and got it for me. Now to remember all the steps involved in counter/faucet/sink replacement. My faucet needs a new handle, and hubby came up with a way cool idea! Use an antler for the handle. It would look really neat, so now to figure out how to make that work. Blondie also brought back the 120 days ago sweater, she doesn't like it, it makes her look like a big fat fuzzy pink cloud. Sigh! Oh well, The Mouth does like it, so at least someone will wear it.

We also went to the mud bogs at a friend's house, those are always fun too. Big boys driving big toys through a big mud puddle. Doesn't sound like much when you look at it like that, but it was fun.

Wow! That was a busy weekend. Today we need to start more tomato seeds, jalapeno pepper seeds, water the asparagus, clean out the horse trough..... ugh. I'm sooooo good at creating work for myself!

And, being close to the first of the month, I can expect my Yarn Of The Month shipment any day now, it's like Christmas!

One Thought Only

Go Wings!

On To the Finals.....

Wednesday Night Nothing-ness!

I got nothing for you today. So let's take a wander around the Little Brain and see what pieces we can pick up, shall we? After all, leaving pieces around for Little Brain to trip over is not exactly the recipe for anything good to happen. At all.

First of all, the sweater picture you see is a project that is definitely on my to do list. I actually got to pet the sweater, I tried not to drool over it, and the shop owner, Peg, from Tawas Bay Yarn Company graciously allowed me to photograph it. Not saying it will be the next project, just that it will definitely be on the list.

Let's see, here's another piece: Little Brain and I went to our favorite store last night after work, Tractor Supply, to aquire little buddies for our sole hatchling. They didn't have any meat birds, have to special order those, but they did have lots and lots of cute bronze turkeys and "miscellaneous straight run chickens". So of course, we had to buy our daily supply of cute and picked up 9 "miscellaneous straight run chickens" and 3 bronze turkeys. Just because. I didn't really need them, didn't really want them, but Little Brain won out on this one, they had to come home with us just to keep the sole hatchling company.

Awhile back, on ebay, I bid on and won 25 blueberry seedlings, which arrived in perfect health and as soon as I planted them, died. This was my fault, totally, as it was too cold to plant them outside so I stuck them in a few buckets of compost, and didn't water them enough. I wrote back to the original seller to ask if I could purchase more and he very very kindly offered to replace them for the cost of shipping. I won't do this, it was my fault, totally, not his, so I will send him what I originally sent him for the 25 plus shipping and expect in return another batch of gorgeous blueberry seedlings. How great is that? I've had a lot of good stuff happen with ebay and a lot of bad stuff too, but this guy went above and beyond and deserves an A+++++++++++++ rating. Here is a link to his "stuff". Seriously, this guy rocks! http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZjohnnynoseQQssPageNameZMERCQ5fVICQ5fRCRXQ5fPr4Q5fPcNQ5fQ5fSI

Along the same lines, kind of, in a berry kind of way, Tractor Supply was clearancing out some strawberry plants and I scored 30 of them for 15.00! I also got more tomato seeds that need to be started, jalapeno seeds (finally found them), and cilantro seeds. Can you say yummy salsa? Got to get some onion sets too.

Tonight is knit night, and I'll continue to work on granddaughter's sweater. I really have made some progress on it, tonight being knit night AND my Red Wings play a late game I should get a good 4 or 5 hours to knit. That ought to be good for a couple of rows anyway! Then tomorrow I'll post pics of both the sweater and my new birdies. I love baby birdies!

Go Wings! Take that Colorado Brother! (cause they are playing the Colorado Avalanche, in case you're just tuning in and are, GASP, not a hockey fan!)