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!!

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.

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.

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!

Insomnia, Bulldogs and Turkey Eggs!

Insomnia sucks. Menopause sucks! I've come to deal with the hot flashes, mood swings and assorted other fun things associated with this, but now we have insomnia. We're not one to deal well with lack of sleep. At all. We get cranky. At everyone. So night before last, I spent a good deal of time watching the clock. Ok, when the word "insomnia" rears it's ugly head, normal people think of no sleep at all. My version is waking up and looking at the clock 4 or 5 times a night. Part of my bedtime ritual is trying to make it to the top of the stairs before I fall asleep, so you can imagine how distressful this is.

Distressful is a fun word don't you think?

Another thing that is distressful at times is The Bu-Dawgh. Being part Shar-pei (wrinkles included) he is afflicted with allergies. He is allergic to anything that even thought about being made out of corn at anytime during it's lifetime. Corn, corn oil, corn syrup, corn flakes, stories about corn, foot corns, and probably the whole state of Iowa.

These allergies are manifested by vigorous ear shaking and pawing at the skin. Vigorous. Shaking. Of. The. Head. At. 2:15 AM!

This is distressful to Hubby who doesn't care for dogs anyway and cares even less when they disturb his sleep. We won't go into his snoring disturbing my sleep. That's another dollar for another day, or up a tree without a paddle or something like that. You get the idea.

So at 2:15 AM during a night when insomnia has decided NOT to visit me, I get out of bed to take care of my critter. He gets benedryl. Before someone sics PETA on me, remember that I have 1. a distressed 60 lb puppy, 2. An already irritated (further distressed) hubby, and 3. A houseful of guns. Way more humane (and less distressful) to get up and get the benedryl than it is to let hubby take care of it. 1/2 hr later we are both soundly asleep, me on the floor rubbing his ears, and him (puppy, not hubby) on my pillow, snoring!
They are so much alike, that at times it's well, distressful!

But.....

I found another turkey egg, so life is good! 3 and counting now, all marked and in the incubator. I've decided to hatch out 24 RIR eggs (rhode island red), and as many turk eggs as I can get.
Yes, turkey eggs can aleve a lot of distressful!

No pics today, other than the standard. Sorry about that, lack of sleep and all, I was able to sleep in a bit this morning.

Daffodils For My Mom!

Another "wintry mix" has been entrusted to us. This is the new catch phrase of The Weather People. Wintry Mix shows up in purple on our TV screen and usually contains The Entire Viewing Area. Duh! Again, N. Michigan in March. Supposedly this Wintry Mix consists of 2-4" of snow followed by sleet and freezing rain. That pretty much covers any kind of precipitation that could occur here this time of year. That also explains where my mother's daffodils went!

My parents winter in AZ. Clearly they are out of touch with our Michigan winters, but she wanted a picture of her daffodils. So, this one's for you mom! Yup, it's what you wanted. A picture of your daffodils, or rather where they will be when our Wintry Mix goes away.



Youngest child is currently stationed in Germany, on active duty. He's going to Iraq in a few weeks. This will be his second time there, he tells me not to worry, actually, he tells me what he thinks I want to hear. Like "Where we're going is in a good area, most of the people there like us". The word "most" is what worries me. It only takes one of the "not most" to change his world forever. 15 months is what they're telling them to tell us, at least now they have cell phones and computers. I can't imagine being a mother to a son in combat 30 years ago, and just having to wonder when and if you'll ever hear from them again.
I know I'm not alone in this, lots of parents (and grandparents, and sisters, and brothers, aunts, uncles...) are in the same boat, it's a bit easier to lean on someone when they can understand what you're feeling. Enough of that!




On another note, The Egg has come home to roost, or hatch, or whatever. This is the vehicle that will supposedly buy me 45-50 mpg. But first, hubby has to make it run. I still have some time before I won't need the 4WD anymore.

Another Day, Another Clump!

If someone had told me, a few years ago, that one of the reasons I would look forward to spring is so I could de-clump the PAF (aka... Puff-A-Fluff... aka... Siberian Husky) I would have called the White Coat Guys. Now, I live for it. I pull the clumps out much the same way I used to when I had the Angora Rabbits, every spring as he sheds. Someday I will spin this into yarn. I'm not good enough yet to spin dog fur, I'm really not good enough to spin roving, but I'm working on it.


If someone had told me, a few years ago that the most exciting part of my day would be going out to the barn and discovering my First Ever Turkey Egg, I would have called the White Coat Guys myself. But here we are.

Now I bet you're wondering what the most exciting thing I did yesterday was. Well, I dug out the incubator, when I say "dug" that's not far from the truth. I had to dig for it, it's been a few years since I used it, but the First Ever Turkey Egg demanded to be hatched. So I will try. I hatched out a bunch of wild turkeys once (a nest we found while haying) and they all flew away. Hmm. Funny how I didn't see that coming. My turkeys are left overs from last year, domestic big white dumb things. But this will truly be exciting if I can hatch my own. I also gathered a few Rhode Island Red eggs. As long as I have the incubator going (on my kitchen counter, which The Mouth had a comment for) I may as well fill it up. Right? I thought so too.


I missed Knit Nite last night, we went to cut wood again. It's a good time of year to cut wood, not so hot that you want to curl up and die and not so cold that you don't want to be out. So another pick up load for next winter. I won't do another picture, look at yesterday's post. Same truck, same parking spot, different load of wood. We'll go do that again tonight, and tomorrow, and the next day and as much as we can while the weather and wood holds out.

If someone had told me that the very cute, very adorable puppy (Bu-Dawgh - part Shar Pei, part I'm not sure what else) that I got for Christmas last year, well year before last actually, he's 1.5 yrs old now, would have the Ears That Itch And Drive Him Nuts, I may have thought twice. Probably not, but maybe. By the time he became mine, he was already pretty much part of me. He started out being Blondie's puppy and as is so often the case, became mine when she moved out. To make it official, she put a ribbon around his neck and "gave" him to me for Christmas. Never saw that one coming either. Hmm.


Today is Oldest Grand Kid's birthday. He's 12. I'm pretty sure. I should know this, but I have trouble keeping track of how old I am. Happy Birthday Oldest Grand Kid!