Over the fence chat for 8/5/01 to 8/11/01

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Beyond the Sidewalks : One Thread

Good morning everyone!!!

I'm opening this chat this week with a plea for help! Could someone please take over starting this for me for the next couple of months at least? I still plan to be here - no hiatus or anything, but the fact is - I don't know where I'm going to be on Sundays for a while!! I'm already into the "month from overtime hell" at work - looking at working 3 - 12 hours day, one off, then 3 more 12's in this next week. The rest of the month, I've at least got two days in a row off; but I'm still thinking it was a good thing I got my garden out so late this year. Hopefully nothing will need canned while I'm working so much! Hubby has taken over the chickens for me with very little complaining - such a sweeie he is!! Seems like everyone at work is taking vacation before the kids go back to school - reckon I don't blame them! Especially since I am taking 18 days off in September!! We sure do need more nurses though....

And Thank-You all very much for listening to me whine!!

On an up note: Sis just got offered a new job - not sure how she will fit it into her schedule; but the DON says she will works around school and cheerleading, and it's just two or three days a week sooo.... She will be working as an aide on an Alzheimer's unit at a local nursing home. Since she plans to go on to nursing school, she can do co-op at school and work from 2 to 10 pm, or just work weekends. She likes the money part of it - $8/hr!! (Me too!) And she doesn't have to wear uniforms! In some ways, I'm a little scared!! I'm afraid she'll decide she doesn't like it and change her mind about going to nursing school!! If she likes them and they like her, it will help her get into nursing school easier next year; and they will help her out with tuition and etc...

The spring bulb catalogs have started coming in the mail - and here I had my birthday wish list all made out for this year. Well, guess we're just going to have to change some things around!! It sure feels strange not to get a Michigan Bulb or Stark Bros. catalog. I don't know where I'm going to get my fruit trees next year - anyone got any suggestions (zone 5-6)? Does anyone know aht all companies were affected by that - I think i heard Gurney's and Henry Field's too?

I've been snipping off the cleome seed heads as they form - is that stuff a perennial or just reseeds itself each year? Love the way it looks, but man is it ever stinky!! Sharon has me scared silly about it's invasivness...I just can't see myself sitting at the porch table next summer eating dinner with that skunky odor multiplied 100 times!! I've been watching the balsam and four-o-clocks for seed pods to save; and have pulled some of the seed pods off of the double hollyhocks already.

Uncle Ivan and I have been walking around the farm making plans for next year. He is going in for knee surgery this week, so we have to get our walking done now! I'm not sure who is going to run our ancient combine to cut the corn this year - might have to bribe neighbor Mike to come over... Who, by the way, just mentioned the other day that he has on old PTO driven hamermill sitting in his back shed; in case I happened to want to save some of our corn and grind it up for scratch feed this winter! Anyway - back to the farm!! The deer took quite a toll on the sweetcorn farthest from the house -(reckon we'll have us some nice, fat, corn fed deer to hunt this fall, by golly!!) - so next year, we decided to plant a double row of pumpkins around the corn field; going on the idea that deer don't like to walk through pumpkin vines. My luck, we will have weird deer that love to frolic in the pumpkin patch; but hey - it's worth a try! The sunflowers will go closest to the road next year (well, maybe some pumpkins first) so that I can see them as I drive in from work in the mornings. We're planning for a couple of semi-permanent paths - wide enough for the pickup, on each side of the berries and in between each planting of corn, and on each side of and in between the 'maters. We're all getting too old to be fighting the tomato jungle or hacking our way through the old sweet corn to get to the new! Pop thnks we're getting ahead of ourselves with our planning; but it's pretty nice to sit in the shade and envisions next year's beautifully organized and weed free farm - you can almost believe yourself while you're talking!!

And speaking of sitting around talking...I'd better quit it and get my fanny in gear and get some work done around here! Hope everyone has a great week!

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001

Answers

Resting my back from running around trying to get things done so I can go visit Julie.

Polly, I won't be around EVERY Sunday either, in fact, I'll be gone about every other one. However, unless someone WANTS to do it, I think that whoever comes on Sunday a.m. could go ahead and start a thread, like Sherri did a week or so ago.

Here are some fruit tree sources, though somewhat out of date no doubt:

http://www.penpages.psu.edu/penpages_reference/29401/2940113.html

http://www.millernurseries.com/ Says a family-owned business!

Here is another that looked good: http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/ I can't get it to come up right now, but it's St. Lawrence Nurseries, and they have TONS of good information.

Both Miller's and St. Lawrence are in New York, but I think they're in the more temperate Finger Lakes region. In any event, I doubt that fruit trees that are hardy to Zones 3-4 will suffer in Zones 5-6!

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001


Polly... tho I have gotten my fruit trees from Bailey's Nursery out of Minnesota... I would highly recommend St. Lawrence nursery... I met those folks years ago.. and they know their stuff... and I agree with Joy... the St. Lawrence nursery does have their trees adapted to zone 3... which would be great for your zone...

happy fruit tree hunting!!!!

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001


Nurseries are great and so is my local discount store that offers fruit trees in early spring for about $12 at 3-5 feet high. They go down to as low as $8 when discounted. These have ALWAYS out performed those I have ordered from Miller Nursery for a higher cost. Just wanted to say that you shouldn't rule out the sales close to you. I have gotten some good variety at the discount store as well.

Got a fellow to put a new roof on the whole house with those 40 year shingles. He'll be coming in Sept. Hope everything holds out till then.

The new outbuilding (12 x 18 feet) arrives this week should all go well. Can't wait to empty that "end of a truck" we've been using.

Hope everyone is well and staying cool.

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001


I don't have occasion to buy a large number of fruit trees, but the ones that I have bought from Jung's, here in Wisconsin have done very well for me. They don't have an amazing number of apple cultivars, maybe 4 dozen? Some are old cultivars (where I got my Duchess of Oldenburg from), some are new. They have them noted by hardiness, altho I think all that they offer would be fine for your zone. I have to watch out for ripening dates as well as hardiness. I think they're at www.jungs.com or something complicated like that. Their catalogue is very nice too, they send out about 4 a year (and also have a houseplant edition, or HAVE had). They also have a limited selection of hardy cherries, plums, pears, and I THINK some apricots and peaches, but I ignore those, we're too far north. They also have small fruits, like currants, jostaberries, gooseberries, some elderberries, blueberries, strawberries (where I got my plants, and they are doing great. They always give over-count in their bundles), lingonberries, and some exotics like the ones coming out of Siberia.

I've been seeing a darling little cotton tail rabbit hanging around. I hope that I continue to think that it's darling. Even tho it has gotten under the gates into the fenced yard (whence the vegetable garden grows), there is so much clover everywhere, that the rabbit is ignoring my vegetables entirely. I've also got protective gnaw- guards around my apple trees, and so far, so good.

Man, it is HOT here today, 90 F and humid. There is a breeze blowing, but it only feels like it's off a blast furnace. I keep going and looking at the tomatoes and castigating them "WHAT!? You're SUPPOSED to LIKE hot weather!!?!? Where's the tomatoes already?!?" Even tho I have been feeding them with Tomatoes Alive and seaweed emulsion that is low in nitrogen and high in P & K, they're being stingy about giving me any fruit. Next year I've GOT to remember to plant them further apart!! They keep turning into small trees and elbowing each other quite vigorously. Well, since I added 4 more beds this year, that MIGHT help. Maybe. You notice I'm being very cautious. Once I start seeing tomato sets for sale, exotic things like Fourth of July, Tigerella, and such, I start to get a gleam of avarice in my eye, and end up with too many.

The Tigerellas are new to me. Are they a dwarf? The biggest one has only gotten about 2 feet high and isn't setting much fruit. By comparison, others such as the cluster tomatoes, Juliet, Sweet Million, Sun Gold, and Oregon Spring are topping 6 feet in height. And they're planted in the same soil.

The carrots are coming along slowly. Must not like this heat. The second potato patch is really starting to hit it's stride, and the first one has the vines dying back and it should be ready soon for digging. I'm always excited digging potatoes, must appeal to my romantic streak of digging for buried treasure.

Speaking of which, there's the shallots. They've started falling over and dying back. The ones that are most died back are crowded by a zucchini that is getting unruly and I pulled one experimentally and it was tiny. The ones furthest out look big, they're almost climbing out of the soil. Do you wait for them all to have died back to pull, or do you pull them as happens. I'm going to peel the tiny ones and freeze them in jars for this winter's use (they don't go moldy that way and are ready to use), but I'm wondering about trying to save some for next year's crop or not. I got them pretty cheap (dollar a bag for about 2 dozen, or was it 3?) at Fleet Farm this year. Now I'm starting to think that I need better root cellaring facilities... Gramma had one in the basement of this house that was actually a pit in the floor with boards over it where they stored the potatoes, but my brother got rid of that, and with the new concrete slab down, likely I won't be hacking through it.

I've been letting our cleome seed...but then, as stated earlier, it doesn't seem to come back well for us here. A few straggling little plants, but they don't even seem to get to blooming stage. I've had corn poppies and cosmos come back from seed this year and bloom, but not the cleome. Maybe if you WANT it for next year you need to cut it off and save it somewhere that it won't get a hard freeze like we get...or maybe if it doesn't have that hard winter that is what allows it to proliferate. I guess next year we'll find out from Jim what happened with his garden and mine and anyone else involved in cleome watching.

My lovage has set a lot of seed this year if someone wants some.



-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001


Big duh here, forgot about Jungs: http://www.jungseed.com/

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001


Hey Polly, I am usually on here pretty early on Sunday morning and if I see it isn't started i will start it. We almost never go away what with the livestock and all but I will be gone at least one weekend this fall, October I think.

We are just digging our first potatoes and pulling some really huge onions. I kept mounding up the dirt as they tryed to come up out of the soil and it really made for some big onions. I never knew that you should do that until this year. Ate our first sweetcorn the other night. I keep think I am going to go out there and the coons will have gotten it since we have moved our garden and it is closer to the woods. Still no sign of a ripening tomato. Can't figure out if it was the slow start this spring or what but I want a tomato!!! My kitchen is looking like a canning factory with jars draining after washing, jars being filled and jars just out of the canner. I love this time of year when the shelves and freezers are filling.

We bought a cider press...........talked about building one for ten years now and finally just broke down and bought one. Made two gallons of cider with the grandson today and he sure thought that was the neatest thing. Tasted really good too, we have probably 20 different kind of apples scattered around on our property and the first ones are just starting to ripen. I canned it up, what we didn't drink and it should be good juice all winter.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. hugs

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001


Well here I am dragging in on Monday morning. I made some killer spaghetti sauce out of my viva italian tomatoes Saturday, I saved out enough for supper that night and I do believe it's the best I've ever made. It was only a small batch so I did something different, I didn't peel my tomatoes, I cut bot ends of and put them in the food processor chopped them until they were liquid and cooked them down all afternoon with onion and garlic then added oregono and basil the last hour. Talk about good , I'll make more next week. Things are going better with my mama, I've hired help and my husband set me up a video camara to watch her at night sure saves alot of steps. She is really going down hill fast . she is having TIA's or brain attacks whatever you want to call it. I've talked with the doctor and he says aspiren therapy is about all we can do and she's been on that all along. She has an appointment Friday with a nurologist maybe he'll tell us something. On a lighter note, my husband Brian and i are going to a casino in Mississippi this week, they send us cards for free rooms so we,re driving down for one night with another couple. Brian doesn't care that much about gambling but I like the slots and it's like being in another world, hope i can get mama off my mind for a few hours and win apocket full of money. As far as gardening is concerned we don't have much going on , to HOT, we've got beans planted for harvest in September and am looking forward to our fall garden. Seems weird to read about yal not having ripe tomatoes yet when my determinet vines are almost gone. I quess we're starting tomatoes when yal still have snow on the ground. Hope everyone has a nice week . Sherry

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Well, Sherry, it seems weird to US when you southern folk are planting in late March and early April! ;-)

I'm still at home. Not going to visit Julie. [pout] It's too dang hot -- half the point of going north is to cool off, not get more of the same! And now I don't have to worry about how the critters at home are doing. So, maybe September I'll get up there.

Okay, I know that it doesn't get as hot here as further south -- but I don't do WELL with heat and especially, humidity. It got as "low" as 75 overnight, but we're topping in the 90's, with heat indicises in the 105-110*F range. Besides all the other reasons to worry about it, I don't like global warming on a very PERSONAL level! I guess I am a northern girl. Ya know, we have cousins who live in Hawaii -- it's COOLER there than here right now, and this is their hot season. Ugh.

I've gotten a few ripe Tumbler tomatoes so far, the cherry tom's are ripening (not the yellow pear yet, but there are tons of green ones), some over in the garden are showing "color" too. I have a Green Zebra tomato -- not sure how I am going to tell when to pick those.

Also not sure when to pick the acorn squashes . . . . I bet a couple of them are ready to go. Now that the flood waters have receded, I should get in there and check on them. They get "punky" if they get too big, don't they?

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001


When it comes to hot weather, I totally agree with you, Joy. Seems like in the middle of winter when it is 10 degrees (or colder!) I can always warm up by working harder. In fact, cold weather invigorates me!! Hot weather poops me out :-)!

Like many of you folks...I'm still waiting for a influx of ripe tomatoes. I have sooo many green Viva Italia and Early Girl tomatoes. My cherry tomatoes are ripening just fine. Maybe it's been too hot and dry. Temps here have been 85+ and high humidity. I hate night temps of 60+. Can't sleep well unless it's below 50 degrees! I've been canning and freezing tons of beans, tho'....and they're still coming! Good thing the pigs we have this year are quite fond of veggies. They've been dining on extra peas, chard and summer squash. Been pulling our onions, too. They look very good this year. I tried a recipe for Onion Soup and sure is delicious especially with French bread (maybe some pea pod wine!!?). Also have been canning our smaller red Pontiac potatoes.

Started milking my does just once per day now. Too hot for them to expect them to produce much over a gal. a day. Plus it frees up my schedual somewhat! They don't seem to mind...except for Myrtle. She starts hollarin' for the afternoon grain by 4 p.m. then gets very irate when all I get them is some fresh hay! Myrtle is a Alpine/Nubian cross, and she has the "voice" to prove it. She's 75% Alpine. Anyone know how many generations it takes to breed the Nubian "mouthiness" out :-)??

We lost another family member last Sunday. Hubby's uncle passed away. My MIL is really taking it hard. She's lost three good friends and four family members in the last year. We are trying so hard to keep her motivated, but it has to be awful for her to see everyone around her dying. Guess we'll get though this one, too!

The good news is that I did my first eBay "thing"!! Hubby does it quite often (looking for muscle car parts), but I'd never tried it. My granddaughter's 4th b'day is coming up on the 19th and I found the perfect "Furby" for her. She loves those things! I was some surprised to be the high bidder!!

Well, gotta go and pray to the Great Tomato God for some ripe ones. Have a good week everyone!!

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001


Joy I am embarrassed to say that I have become AC dependent, I dream of fall and winter so I can go out side and play more. Can I come live with the person that has the coolest weather? Please Sherry

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001


Ah, my sister northerners! Sure Sherry, you can go live with whoever is in the coolest climate. Easy for me to say, since it isn't ME! LOL! I think it must be Julie or Marcia, thought lately, I think Julie would dispute that! Or maybe Sheepish, if you can stand rain instead of snow in winter! ;-)

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

you northern sisters really need to visit haiti........after two visits there I think this hot summer is a piece of cake. Was there the better part of August and September last year and was sure that I would die of the heat. Some nights there it cools down into the 80's and almost feels tolerable. We just kept doing what we had to do and I survived, so this summer I am accomplishing way more than I usually do. We don't use the air because it ruins us for being outside and Gary is outside for his work and me with the animals and gardens. I must admit that fall is starting to look really good, but then it always has been my favorite time of year.

-- Anonymous, August 06, 2001

Well, it's not just me...tonight the horses were covered in sweat, just standing around and looking miserable. Really -- from neck to knees. I got out the hose and washed them all off (second day in a row, probably have to do it again tomorrow -- heat indisces of 100- 120 and no shade in that pasture). Then I put RefreshMint on them (they didn't like that much, too bad) and fly sprayed against the little blood sucking monsters.

Then I came home and hosed myself off.

Joy's right that I'd dispute it at the moment. It's supposed to be in the 80's as overnight LOW. It's been so miserable I haven't been doing anything I don't have to, and in the heat and humidity, of course there are now green torpedoes under the zucchini leaves! Stuffed zucchini it is...unless I decide to make it into a mock apple pie.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001


Polly, Honey are you OK. I'm so glad to hear that you have those days in September to look forwards to . That sounds good! Demand ! That those hospitals hire more help and stop over working our nurses! Polly, you guys should go on strike! I know you won't tho. because you really care.

I know what you mean about the Clomes, now that Sharon had such a strong reaction to them , I can never look on them as innocent creatures again! Ha!

It's so hard to believe that the Goldenrod is blooming allready. My Unckle Kenny told me yesterday that I sure was getting grey!

Do I have permission to kick him! Humhp! We went down to his 40 acres down in the Hocking Hills, so pretty down there, took him some tomatoes,took Lea out to see his baby mules and his colt. Did you know that you breed a donkey to a horse to get a mule. And that mule's are always sterile and cannot reproduce. Is that just wild or what. And the horse's don't like the mules or the donkeys that are in the field with them. I asked Kenny what happens when that mommy horse, sees that she has given birth to a mule, guess maternal instincts are stonger.

Uncle Kennys gonna build little cabins in his woods where people can ride the mules and horses, and take them down to the cave area's. I know it is going to be one of my Lea, and me's favorite places,at this time it is all brush, and woods ,and Ken is clearing with a bull dozer, Jim and I are going to leave Lea at grandmas and go camp out on some weekends and help when he starts post hole digging for the fences. After it is up and going, I am going to use it as one of Lea's homeschool classes, she will learn so much off of my wild and wholly, frontier man, Unkle Kenny and his Indian princess wife Loraine

Maybe when it's ready, some of us could get together there, sometime. would you like to camp in a little cabin and have frointer man, show you the secrets in the hills on mules over ruggled hills during the day?

I agreements with everyone who is not liking the hot weather! Amen! Take it away!

I am being a very lazy preserver this summer and am giving produce away to whoever wants it so's that I don't have to can it!!!!!!!!!! I think that our wanting to support ourselves on our own little farm, dream, happened so that we could better see, that life is what you make it! We made it happen, we know that we could do it now, we could live off of what we produce, and barter for. Now, it's like well, Ok, I can do it but do I really want to keep up the pace? NO, I don't really want to can tomatoes in 90 degree heat. In smaller portains, maybe, I aim now, to put my homestead skills in smaller proportions, so that it will not always be a chore, but a pleasent addition to our life. So, on a 90 degree day, don'be surprized to find me reading and watering by the bird bath, and my tomatoes delivered to neighbors, egg customers, and family! Want some?

Stay in the shade. Love Tren

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001


Well Tren, MOST mules are sterile. About 1 in 10,000 (or was that 100,000? Well, a lot anyway.) is actually fertile. It's rare, but it does happen. I saw a picture of a mule mare with her foal that was sired by a stallion (horse, that is) and it looked mostly like a little horse foal, rather than a donkey foal, and was chestnut whereas mom was typical dark-brown-mule colour (with mealy muzzle).

Our horses never cared much for the donkey that was pastured with them. For one thing, he wasn't gelded and was always trying to mount the mares -- he did that with the mare I was leading in from the pasture one time, and at the time I thought "Oh my gosh, NOW what do I do?" (I wasn't very experienced with horses then).

The mare took care of that problem for herself and kicked him quite soundly. Getting the mare bred by the donkey is usually harder than the mare accepting the baby. A couple years ago at the Horse Fair there was an appaloosa mare there who kept interposing her body between any viewers and her new baby. I wanted to see it, since I could see by the little legs that the baby had quite a wild leopard pattern all over, and when I DID see the baby, I got a surprise as well when I saw the long ears!! Appaloosa mules are quite the novel item at the moment and well pretty fast, so I imagine we'll be seeing more of them before the market bottoms out.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001



Doin' fine Trennie - just tired, hot and crabby! Wish we COULD find some nurses to hire - there just aren't any! We (personally) get a big bonus for every one we recruit, plus they (the recruit) get a sign on bonus. We actively recruit nursing students as aides in the hospital; and our aides that would seem to be good nurse material get encouraged to go to school, plus they get tuition help! Problem is, we've gone to an all RN set up (with few exceptions). Where you can graduate from LPN (LVN) school in 18 months; you're looking at 3 years of hell for your RN - and only about 1/2 of the people that started my RN class with me made it through the three years to the liscensing exam. I would encourage anyone who thinks they have the talent for nursing to go to school though - it's a wonderful way to serve others; and it don't pay half bad neither!! I talk to the health occupation classes and the new students at my alma mater and encourage them all I can.

And on to Uncle Kenny....I'm ready, which way to my cabin?! Heck, I'll bring my own post-hole digger! Somebody else is gonna have to saddle my mule though....ooooohhh Julie.....!!

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001


Mules... did someone say mules... for about 10 years we had a full brother and sister team of Beligan mules... we had them from birth...

personally after using and having several breeds of draft horses... I'd take those mules any day...

they were sensitive and smart... better than most humans I knew...

the mules knew how to bring the ice in the winter to get to the water... my cows just stood there...

however, $$ dictated where they went... an Penn. amish man... Lancaster County, PA... has tons of Beligan mules...

oh, my memories of Sam and Sue.. yes they were broke to ride and drive and work in the garden and woods..

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001


wow, Julie that is interesting. so if you have a Mule that gives birth is it worth alot of money? All I know is that when Uncle Kenny leads us through the ruggled ups and downs and over cliffs, I'm awfully glad to be on a mule, when I see the horses, slipping and slideing, I give my little mule a pat of appreciation.

-- Anonymous, August 07, 2001

I"ve been doing a lot of canning and freezing this week. My first experience with the pressure canner was pretty much a comedy of errors but at least I didn't blow up the kitchen and I think that I learned from my mistakes. So far I've canned some blueberries, tomatoes, and blueberry jam, and froze more blueberries, zucchini, and carrots.

Keith's family reunion was this past Sunday. His BIL Tim is an electrician and the King of Bartering. He got an upright freezer a couple of weeks ago for free because the lady said it frosted up too much. He just replaced the seal around the door and now it works fine. He'd already promised it to Keith's youngest sister, but he's going to keep an eye out for one for me.

We also found out at the reunion that Keith's mom is buying a house for his youngest sister in the same area that we've been thinking about moving to. This is the sister who has 4 kids by 3 different men, can't hold a job, drinks, does drugs, etc. His mom thinks that buying her a house out of the city will help straighten her out. I hope it does, for her kid's sake. His mom did say that she'd help us buy a house too, as soon as we got married and gave her a grandchild. Since I can't have kids (don't want any either), I guess we won't be moving for a while! I'm trying my best not to be jealous. Besides, borrowing money from family usually turns out to be more trouble than it's worth.

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001


Sherri, it's too bad you don't want any kids because I feel like giving a couple of mine away today! :D I committed to taking my teen daughter and her friend to the zoo every day this week for a class. It's about an hour each way from our house. What was I thinking???? And since it's during the day I have to pack up the other 3 much younger kids and tote them along in a van with the AC not working. I wonder if you can imagine what that's like?? Well I've already gone down there today to drop them off and then I'll have to go back again in a few hours. Oh I forgot to mention they're doing highway construction downtown and I already gotten turned around 2-3 times in my travels. Talk about being out of your element! We tried staying at the zoo one day and then going to a nearby park another but it's just too hot. So today we came back home for the interim. I only missed my exit this time because I didn't get over fast enough! So, other than that everything is fine! Only 2 more days of this and counting :D Thanks for reading. I'll try to be more positive next time.

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001

Sherri--is it that your mil isn't giving your sil the house but lending her the money? And it wouldn't be a gift to you either? Well, then I can truly appreciate why you wouldn't want to mix borrowing money with family. I'm sorry she seems to be expecting you to have a child when you aren't able to. Kind of annoying that she would push that fact when you aren't able to have them isn't it? We have no children either, but I love being an aunt and consider that a calling of its own. Someone has to provide a space for kids away from the folks so they all can get a break!

I feel so lazy, but have been way to busy to spend any time canning. With 93 degrees and over 95% humidity, I'll stick to the inside work, thank you!

-- Anonymous, August 08, 2001


Really it's not that bad, I guess I was just thowing myself a little self-pity party yesterday. My understanding of the financial situation is that MIL is buying the house and letting SIL live there. It does appear that SIL has seen the light with the birth of her latest child and is trying to get herself cleaned up and her life in order. And it should be a very good situation for her other kids. The public school system where they live now is so big and so bad that they don't have any control over the kids. When the oldest girl went to enroll at the high school where they are moving too, the principal took her into his office and told her that being absent for 26 days in a row might be OK in the big city but that it wasn't going to fly in his school. I was just feeling frustrated because they get to instantly move to the country and we've still got at least a couple of years of hard work before we can make the move. I'd rather do it without any "help", but I have a really hard time being patient! :)

My not wanting to have children is so well known that in our families saying "When Sherri has babies" is the equivalent of saying "When pigs fly."! I knew that I didn't want children long before I found out that I couldn't have them. Even when the doctor said it was extremely unlikely that I'd ever get pregnant, I still got my tubes tied just to be sure. I really haven't told a lot of people that I can't have kids because to me that would be like I was trying to justify my decision to not have them, and I don't feel like I have to justify my decision to anyone. I love being an aunt, but I love being able to send them home when they're bad! :)

Denise, when we would take trips to the zoo when I was a kid, my dad used to tease us that if we weren't good he was going to leave us at the monkey house and take home a couple of chimps instead!

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001


Sherri...no woman should ever have to explain why or justify her decision to not have kids. Men don't ever have to...right!!?

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Well, it probably would be a good idea to at least discuss it with your partner. :-) I was already "snipped" by the time I met Keith, so he knew what he was getting into.

I'm just glad that there's devoted moms and dads doing a good job of raising their children so I don't have to!

Oh, I just had the funniest thought! I'll have to buy some of Diane's goats someday, just so I can see the look on MIL's face when I say "I have to drive up to Michigan and pick up the kids that I just bought." hehehehehe

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001


Sherri: How about this one for the MIL..........my friend decided she has too many kids so she is giving me a couple?? ;>)

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Ooh, that's even better! :-)

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Yeah, that's a good one! I am seeing these threads all backwards, with oldest replies at the bottom. Anyone else?

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Oh good, it's not just me then. I thought I was really losing it! I'm seeing all the replies reversed too.

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Except I don't know how to fix it. I've sent Cindy an email to see if she knows why it's doing this. I noticed that A Village Commons has the same problem, but NOT CS! That doesn't make sense, because they have their threads listed with newest first too. Well, if Cindy doesn't know, I guess I'll try a couple of things to fix it . . .

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

Is it just me? I'm NOT seeing these posts reversed. They're normal to me!!

-- Anonymous, August 09, 2001

We are finally getting back to something like normal around here. I got most of the serious weeding done (the vegetables and my perennials did quite well; however, they were eclipsed by the weed performance!) Someone ate all the cherries (birds? neighbors?) while we were gone, but I guess that means that I don't have to worry about what to do with them. I still have blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and rhubarb to pick and put up. My corn is tasseling. Beans have topped out on the poles and should start blossoming soon. My kale, cabbage, b. sprouts, brocolli, spinach, chard, and new carrots are getting up and running (although I really wonder if they'll make enough production before the light wanes this fall!)

The sheep have one section of the pasture loaded with lush green grass and clover (gotta be careful to only open that snack bar for a few hours a day!) They look so happy out there in the cool shade of evening (almost Biblical!)

It's a beautiful day...looking to be warm and summery. Days we long for here in the maritime climate of the Pac. N.W.

Hope you all have a good day, and that you aren't too warm. I hear it's supposed to start cooling down in other parts of the country maybe starting this weekend. I sure hope so.

btw, it's been hot enough here to slow egg production quite a bit for us. Anyone else have that problem?

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001


My barred rocks and araucanas have really slowed in production. From 18 birds I'm only getting 6 to 8 eggs a day. And no one is moulting!! Oh well, it's a well known fact the most types of animals will slow in production and growth when the temps get much above 75 degrees. It's easier and cheaper to keep animals warm and producing in the winter than it is to keep them cool and producing in the summer heat. Just like me :-)!!!

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001

Well, the cool-off has reached my locale -- gorgeous day, was nice and cool over night. We were supposed to get a rain storm with the cool air following behind. The rain was really paltry, so I still have to go water the garden.

I used porous black plastic over some of the beds this year (experimenting). I thought that darn stuff would last a couple of years, but it's degrading already. I'm going to have to be VERY careful in removing it, or it'll fracture all over the garden. Next year, I'm trying newspaper (with some straw on top) instead!

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001


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