Testing..testing..1 2 3......

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

Answers

Alrighty then! The weekend was sunny but cool..glorious weather for a change and really brightened my spirit. Got the piglets Saturday and was teased sweetly by the farmer I get them from about last years transport of the weaners..in my mini van. He's still laughing and telling the tale. Isn't it nice to bring a smile to someone's life? His boar was the biggest pig I ever saw!! Easily 4 feet tall. He's gotten too long in the legs so Kenny (farmer) is replacing him with a shorter legged boar. I really enjoyed the visit this year since I had no kids with me I didn't have to rush. I brought Cocoa the doeling home on Friday so now I have 2 Nubian doelings (Marigold and now Cocoa who is a lovely brown, tan, and white). I am a happy girl. Discovered lice on Cocoa last night so I dusted her with DE and sulfur. And the big news of the week! Hubby told me Saturday night that he had spoken to his dad and his late grandfather's estate is sending out the money for the smaller bequeathments so I will soon be able to purchase my spinning wheel and cards, and the thingy that I forget its name but it winds your yarn into a skein. Dang..what is that thing.. You know I will be in the middle of some mundane chore when the name will pop into my head! DOH! Hugs to all and look forward to reading your goings on. It was truly nice to see EM and Wildman back. I have missed them so.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

We sure had a beautiful day yesterday, sunny and warm!!! Today it is threatening rain, but it will be a warm one and bring on the morels, so I am not complaining :>).

Saturday we got our weaner pig finally and he sure is loving the goat's milk. I also got the thing that measures the weight pressure on my cheese press (having trouble with names of things also Alison) and I am anxious to try that.

Hope all are having a wonderful Monday and that the weekend was good. hugs..............oh..........for those who don't participate on any of the other boards and are interested in a strictly journaling site, I have started one on this board. It is not a discussion board, just each person has their own thread to keep journals on. We can all read each others but not comment on anyone's thread. There is a category to chit-chat and ask each other questions or offer encouragements, but it is not particularly ment for anything but journaling. It is called Homestead Heartbeats, and is password protected. It was just something I have been thinking on for a long time and finally just decided to try and create it myself. :>)

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

I'm beginning to sense a pattern here but it was nevertheless a nice weekend at DunHagan.

Saturday morning my wife and I split up to run our respective errands. Needed to stop by the dump on the way to the other end of the county to go to Tractor Supply. On the way to the landfill passed a sign advertising a yard sale which said "tools, tools, tools" so being a guy I had to stop! Just missed a nice radial arm saw by minutes but they did have an old Sears Kenmore cabinet sewing machine. The machine itself is in excellent mechanical condition and the cabinet is flaking a bit in the veneer but it's heavy wood and still quite solid. Can't rightly tell how old it is but I suspect late fifties to early sixties since the electric motor looks like it was added as an afterthought rather than being designed into the machine. Since I wasn't out to go yardsaling I didn't have the money on me to pay for it so I gave the lady ten bucks to hold it for me until I could go to the dump, then find an ATM to get the necessary cash. Got the cash and as I was pulling out saw a big, regularly occurring multi-family yardsale and the fellow with the cast iron farm bell was there so I had to stop for *that* too. My grandmother and an aunt had given me money on my birthday specifically to buy that bell. Lo and behold he's got another type that has better casting for just five bucks more so I got that one instead. Who knows whether it was really cast in the U.S. or not but it's a nice looking bell and has a nice tone for iron. It'll look great on a big post in front of the house.

Between the empty trash barrel, the sewing machine and the bell I had too much stuff in the back now to put a load of T-posts back there too so I had to go all the way back to the house. My wife was still out on her errands so I decided to surprise her with the sewing machine by setting it up in the living room with the cabinet open and the machine in the sewing position. Set the bell next to it and headed out for Tractor Supply. I knew I was running late but it was do it then or wait another week. We'd planned on taking the baby down to Wild Waters at Silver Springs at one o'clock but the unexpected trip back to the house and still having to go to the other end of the county to get my fence supplies ran me an hour late getting home. I'd left a Mother's Day surprise for my wife and she gave me mine when I got home and she bit my head off for "leaving an attractive nusiance in the living room" and for being an hour late getting home! Yeah, buddy, so we had a nice fight on the way down to Silver Springs but after the both of us soaked our heads for a while we cooled off and returned to our usual more-or-less good humor. Sigh…

Sunday my wife took the baby off to meet some friend who wanted to go to the springs and then up to High Springs for their Pioneer Days celebration. Having essentially lost all of Saturday to being away from home I elected to stay home and get some work done. Fertilized everything doggone thing on the place except for the lawn and pasture for which I need to buy a fertilizer spreader. Don't have a tractor, riding lawnmower or 4-wheeler so for now it'll have to be a lawn type spreader. We got off to a nice start on rain in March but it's been a month now without any real rain so it's back into drought conditions for us. Until it does start raining regularly I don't see any point in fertilizing anything that I can't water regularly which means the vast majority of the lawn and pasture will have to wait until June, July, or whenever it finally decides to rain again. Did some weeding and was finishing the watering in of what I had fertilized when my wife came home with my brother and his wife and plans for a cook out.

For a change a nice breeze came up, the temperature dropped below 90 and the !@#$! gnats abated enough for us to have a nice time sitting under the trees conversing with the hens foraging all around. My brother's wife hates chickens so naturally the adventurous Buff Orpingtons came up and foraged all around her chair and we all got a laugh out of it (except her, of course). She doesn't like chickens but she loves the eggs they lay and made a nice homemade key lime pie with some of them which we had with supper.

Our guests went home and we got to bed a little later than usual but that was OK. Naturally, at 1:30 this morning the baby woke up crying from what proved to be an ear ache. OK, she's been swimming two days running and she's got some congestion so is it an outer ear problem or a middle ear problem? I'm still not sure but I think it was a middle ear congestion problem because after mama held her and she cried with it about a half-hour it seemed to subside. Got some Tylenol and a big drink of water into her, decided against dosing her with Sudafed, and put her into our bed she went right to sleep about 2:30 or so. Unfortunately, I couldn't get back to sleep until nearly four. I mentally planned, dug up, planted, fertilized, weeded, mulched and harvested the entire garden and was working on the fruit trees and pasture by the time I finally drifted off so once again it's Monday morning and I'm yawning.

Why can't children get sick during the daylight hours?

………..Alan.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

Allison, is it a skeiner? Or a soldier winder? That's what I have. I'm excited because I found someone local to card my wool (with as many sheep as I have, carding on my drum carder would take a lifetime, I've discovered). Hopefully, I can start spinning again, especially if the weather is going to keep me inside!

Last night it was 37* here at 10. I wonder how cold it got in the wee hours. We got nearly 2" of rain yesterday, too. I half expected snow. This time of year, we often have days in the high 70s. This is really spooky weather. I'm not at all sure what to make of it...nor my plants, all blanketed up or back in the garage. Guess it's a good reason to consider the greenhouse construction again.

Off to another week of work (and 15 more hours of commuting...3 hours a day). My, I'm whiney this morning!

Y'all have a good week.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

Diane, can I get a password? Or?

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

sheepish, I sent it to this address you are using here. If you don't get it let me know. Happy Journaling

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

Well, the heat index here should be near 115, actual air temperture just over the century mark. Humid? my butt actually makes a sucking sound rising off my Suburban seat; it is too durn hot hot hot. Glad to see everyone has better outdoor temperatures to get around in. Talk to you later.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

Slosh, slosh, slosh...

Left work this morning in a torrential rainstorm; wipers could barely keep up, roads flooded...by the time I got home, it was merely a downpour - much nicer for doing chores! It cleared for a bit (or so they tell me - I was zzzz'd out) then hit again in the early afternoon - for a total of 2". I do believe that I am developing gills to go along with my web feet!

I had to work the weekend, but managed to get some gardening done before I had to go in on Saturday night - tho I had to stop early to go take photos of Jes and date in prom attire. Final prom, sob...tho my checkbook will be delighted, I'm sure! She has less than 2 weeks of school to go; three weeks to graduation - guess I'd better be getting those grad announcements addressed and mailed out!

Anyway, back to the garden - I'm able to work in my raised beds fairly soon after most rains - tho not this one! - so my garden isn't too far behind, in spite of all our wet weather. After 3 or 4 days of dry weather last week, we were even able to till a spot out in the field to put in the tomatoes that survived the disaster with the wind storm, cold frame and frost. Jes got me up about noon on Sunday to take some photos for a school project (had to get them to the 1 hour developer before they closed!); got back in bed about 1:30; then Pop woke me up at 3:30 to go plant the tomatoes because the forecast was calling for rain. Yep, tired night at work, last night! Other than pulling weeds, cleaning house and piddling in the garden, I haven't done a thing lately! We have rain forcast for every day for the next week except Friday. Of course, I have to work Thurday night, then go back in on Friday night as well. Bummer. Guess I won't be getting much of anything done this week either. Not that I couldn't be working INside the house...stacks and stacks of books to put on the shelves, summer clothes to put out, winter clothes to put away, mending, sewing, seed starting stuff to put away.....

Hubs says that I've been an old crab (like to see HIM after 48 hours with only 4 hours of sleep, but that's another story!) so maybe it's been a good thing that I've been mostly off line!

Just found out about a new winery about 30 miles from here, so I may go down and check it out one of these days - before Father's Day, anyway! Doesn't seem like there is much else fun TO do; tho I've got a friend that keeps wanting to give me a load of sh## - errr - horse manure; but we have to load it by hand, and if she's not working, I'm working; or it thinks it has to rain every time we have a chance. I'm getting too old to hoist wet manure up into a truck by hand! We also can't load it on Mondays, because that is the day that the ice cream shop that her Hubby runs is closed - and we want ice cream when we are done!! Tho, after loading horse manure; he might prefer that we not come in when he's open to the public! He makes the most fabulous peach ice cream; and another one with swirls of caramel and pecans and little chunks of chocolate......I practically swoon with each bite!

Hmmmm...wonder why I had to go buy new shorts for this summer?!

This is national nurses week; the hospital served us breakfast this morning; and our boss gave us each a gift consisting of a candle and candle holder, a bottle of bubble bath and one of aromatherapy spray and a little toy boat to float in the bathtub! My aromatherapy spray was touted to relieve stress. Wonder if he's trying to tell me something?! Maybe I should listen, d'ya think?! (Resounding YES!! heard from the living room - thhhbbbbttt! to you too, Honey-bun!) Off to the tub I go...

You folks have a great week!

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

Okay, now I'm really scared! Is it the end of the world? It's 37* now (at 7:37 pee-em, Pacific Daylight Time). It snowed today in some places in the Puget Sound *lowlands* (snowed like crazy in the mountains, too!). Is Somebody trying to tell me something? This is serious record-breaking stuff here!!! I keep thinking that since it's shaping up to be an El Nino year, we're just getting the reservoirs filled (or something). While the rest of the country gets extra rain during El Nino years, we get drought. (Polly, it doesn't sound like it's started in a neighborhood near you just yet!)

Happy Nurses Week! It's Medical Transcriptionists Week in a week or two, also. I forget which week, but I have a big poster up at work that I got from AAMT. Not that anyone (especially at work) would care...

Diane, thanks. I'll check it out. I always forget to check Hotmail. Duh.

Stay warm (or cool, depending on geography!)

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

I finally started planting my garden (still had frost last week), started to clean out the fish pond, tied up some old rotton wood and didn't finish any of the projects I started. The fence is almost finished and so is the basement. Not sure when we'll get to them. I should do the fence now before all the brush grows over again.

I lost my favorite rabbit, Pookie. She was a grey, mini lop that was the sweetest thing. I don't know what happened to her, she was only 5 years old. The only thing I can think of is her hutch blew over in a storm a few weeks back and maybe she was hurt. Never acted it though. My son asked me if we move what animals would I bring and Pookie was the only one I really wanted.

My DH is fixing up the GMC to sell I think and talking about fixing an old pickup someone gave us but he won't trust it to go on the street. But he won't put a hitch on our new (1998) Ford Explorer for the trailer, so where does that leave me? I never wanted him to buy the GMC in the first place...we need a pick-up truck. Ahh, I feel better now...

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2002

It's getting closer! The septic systems in and the electrician will be here the end of this week or beginning of next week. Hopefully we will be in our new place by the end of the month.

All of our chicks are growing like weeds. Mike and Dad are planning a "condo" for them, The old chicken pen was over 30 years old and has no wire over the top to keep out cats etc.. It will take them several weekends to finish so the are planning it now and getting the materials this weekend.

We are getting a pig from a cousin and have to get it this weekend also. We are wanting to have a big fall festival type party for all that helped with the mobile home, so gotta get the pig growing!!!!

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2002

Time to start building the ark! It started storming about midnight and it's still raining. There are flash flood warnings out for pretty much the entire state. At one point last night the thunder was so loud it set off several car alarms in the neighborhood. I started a new schedule at work so I have to be in an hour earlier in the morning. If we lose power my alarm clock resets everything to flashing 12:00, so I kept waking up to check it because I was nervous about oversleeping. Between the noise of the storm and worrying about the alarm clock I hardly got any sleep last night.

Diane, I think that I need to hire you. One of my class assignments for massage school is to keep a journal documenting my "growth as a massage therapist". I'm not much of a journalist to start, and knowing that someone else is going to be reading it makes it even worse.

The chives, sage, and Italian parsley that I planted last year survived the mild winter and are really doing well. I was able to divide them up and give several good starts to my friends at our Beltaine celebration on Saturday. The rest of my cold-weather crops are doing well except that a squirrel thought my raised beds would make a nifty nut storage spot and he wiped out most of my swiss chard with his digging. No great loss, I got the packet of seeds for free and I don't even know if I like swiss chard. The last frost date here is May 10th so I guess I'd better get the warm-weather bed weeded and ready to go. I didn't have time to get any tomatoes started this year so I'm going to have to buy plants. I liked the Amish Paste tomatoes that I planted last year but I doubt if I'll be able to find them at the garden center. Hopefully they'll have some sort of canning tomato available.

Early Happy Mother's Day to all the moms on the list. A special Mother's Day hug to Teri and her little angel. {{{{hugs}}}}

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2002

Sherri, we had to do that in our Psych nurse rotation when I was in school. Now that was NOT FUN!!!

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2002

diane, I didn't get the message...8-(

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

Wonder why there's so many Psych nurses on this forum? Past couple days I've had, I think I could use one. :)

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

Saw a post from 'Aunty EM' on Countryside (UN-Soy Sauce thread). Sorry that she isn't posting here like she use to. Could it be she has lost the address due to computer crash? I would directly e-mail inquiry, but I won't presume to make an unsolicited 'call'.

Would any especially good friend of hers want to try and make a concilliatory (if warranted; I don't know why she stopped posting here)call? I miss her posts.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

sheepish..........e-mail me so I can send it in a reply. I got one of those Mail Damion or what ever the heck it is from both you and Sandy's server......weird cause I am assuming there is only one RedNeck girl?? I have been getting all sorts of weird stuff in my isp box..........stan has that address and I think he is really mad at me. Sure glad I got a good virus scanner!!!

j.r. she just has been posting here again lately. Look at the pioneer t.v. thread.

Sherri.......no psych nurse here.......all student nurses have to have a psych rotation. I thought I had every form of craziness we studied!!!

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

Oh Sherri, thanks so much for the thoughtful Mother's Day greeting!

Garsh, its already Wednesday and I have NO idea what I am going to do for my Mom! Arrghh.....I thought about inviting her for dinner......but that involves CONVERSATION (there are precious few subjects we can discuss) and listening to a verbal analysis of her INSPECTION of our house for our housekeeping skills, and my Dad searching for flaws in our new construction in the basement (the apt. we built for Lotus, and I can guaran-damn-tee he will find flaws!),so when I sit and think too long, it quickly loses it appeal. I could have invited them OUT for dinner, but its so late most probably my sister has already done something similar anyhow.........so I guess it will have to amount to sending something, like flowers, or a card and gift certificate, which never quite seems original enough.

"Wonder why there's so many Psych nurses on this forum?" (Sherri) Oh garsh Sherri,I didn't actually notice, but are those nurses psych nurses or psycho nurses? Ah.....Spring.........:)

To J.R., sweet man: congrats on your new little one......how wonderful a time of life this is for you! (My Lotus might need to come down to Texas this summer for Blues lessons....can we come visit you?) And speaking for only myself, you need never worry that I would consider you contacting me directly to my personal email as any kind of intrusion, or, as some might term it, a kind of "spam." I have always welcomed and encourage with open arms personal emails from my friends, and I have been recently blessed with countless numbers of them.

Stepping lightly,

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

I vote for psycho, myself! Don't know why the heck else I would do this job, somedays...;o) 'Course, other days I don't understand why everyone doesn't want to be a nurse! Heck, I haven't even had anyone pee in my shoe this week!! (It is only Wednesday, though!) We had three student nurses on the floor today; they were a real joy to talk to - and YIPPEE! - 2 of them will be coming to work with us next year! Not on psych, darn it; but at least we'll have them in the hospital! The funny thing is; I absolutely hated my psych rotation in nursing school. Swore I would never work there. (Also swore I would never work OB; but I've stuck with that one!) Thought I wanted to work CCU; but I got sent down there to work a couple of nights and positively hated it! I keep looking with longing at an ad in the paper for a Public Health WIC nurse, but I can't afford a $20,000 a year pay cut! Hard to believe that there is that much difference in pay; but there is! I probably wouldn't be working nearly as many hours though; no night shift, no weekends or holidays....nah, still can't talk myself into it!

Sherri, I've been looking and looking, but I can't find a river for you to float your ark down to pick me up! Five inches so far; and it's only Wednesday. More coming tonight, they say. Sigh.

Missed you, EM; and I'm very glad you're back among us. Hugs and more hugs to you and the girls.

I worked another day shift today; only an 8 hour one this time. Got home and unloaded and loaded the dishwasher; then cooked up a storm! Made baked custard and a pineapple upside down cake; augratin potatoes for tomorrow's supper (with ham) and twice baked potatoes for tonight's; macaroni salad, green salad, and my favorite grape tomato/cucumber/onion with Italian dressing salad. Oh, and three bean salad - which, as usual, turned into 6 bean salad! The ham for tomorrow is about ready to come out of the oven - I can't believe that I could possibly drool after all I ate for supper; but I am! I talked Hubs into grilling a sirloin for supper; and I think I had at least one bite of everything with it! I have to work the next two days, so at least all of us will have something good to munch on!

Now, if I could only get up enough energy to pack away all these winter clothes that are sitting folded on the guest room bed....

Hubs and I walked out to the garden after supper tonight; I weeded 2 - 16 sq ft beds, plus all around the tomatoes, walking onions (Thanks again, John Leake!), rhubarb and some empty beds. Love my raised beds!! The tomatoes out in the field are just totally waterlogged; as are the few crops that the farmers got planted. Wheat fields are totally beaten down as well. Everything looks a healthy dark green in the garden. I'm hoping to get the rest of the wood chips down in the first section - I estimate 10 more wheelbarrow loads. It takes one barrow load per linear foot of 3' wide pathway - did y'all hear Pop hollering at me for making the paths so darn wide?! I still need to order one more load of chips; then it's time to start hauling compost from the sale barn again! I've made a real believer out of Pop - can't grab a handful of that soil without grabbing up a handful of worms as well! Now, all I have to do is keep ahead of the weeds so I can keep him out of there with the weed killer, and I'll have it made! He and Uncle Ivan are of the old chemical school - "If a little is good; then a lot is better!" Not in my garden, it ain't, Buckos!!

Thunder is rumbling in the west again; I reckon I'd better go...

You all take care,

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

I second Polly's vote....psycho works for me when I try to describe my last couple of years of nursing...............don't think I ever fully recovered ;>). I DID the OB thing Polly, and you made an excellent decision to avoid it.........I have stories no one would ever believe. Are you saying psych nursing is NOT like the psych rotation?? NOW I find that out!!!

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

Thank you guys so much for being so nice and normal and happy...just for being you! I'm having a hell of a week and after wading through all the crap in my inbox it's so nice to come here and restore my faith in people once again.

I belong to a local alternative religion education and networking group called IMPAC. I used to be the president but I decided to step down when I got too busy with school. We sponsor a series of educational workshops on alternative religions, a monthly "Pagans Night Out" social event, and assist with a yearly event called International Pagan Pride Day. There is a long history of bad feelings between some of the pagan groups in our community which we are working very hard to overcome. Unfortunately there are a few people who are determined to keep the "Witch Wars" brewing and are doing everything they can to destroy IMPAC. This week they've started up a new round of attacks against IMPAC in general and me in particular. The various wars over at CS Forum are a picnic compared to this! Everything that I say to try to explain the situation has been twisted to suit their own agenda. Two emails which I sent in private to an individual were forwarded on to 20 different public email lists with an accompanying commmentary totally misrepresenting the facts. I"ve had my name and reputation smeared from one end of the country to the other this week and there's nothing I can do to stop it. I"ve been accused of being a liar, a cheat, and a fraud. If I try to defend myself he twists my words to suit his purpose, and if I don't say anthing then he says that my silence proves my guilt. I've thought about giving up, quitting IMPAC, and withdrawing from the pagan community in general, but I don't want to let him win. If IMPAC folds this will be the 4th pagan networking group that this individual has destroyed and once again the community will suffer. I'm extremely frustrated right now. Thanks for letting me vent.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Oh Sherri! :( That's awful. I hope you don't give up. This will surely all work out in the end.

OBTW I read the Village Herbalist. I found it very informative. Let me know of any other suggestions you may have. OK? I can't imagine anyone as helpful or knowledgeageable as you being treated this way. Or maybe that is exactly why you are being treated this way? Seems to me this person may be feeling threatened in some way. He must not be very secure.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Glad to hear from you, Earthmama. If you come to visit us down here in south Texas, bring water; we are in terminal drought down here. Until furthur notice, all visiters to the area must bring all their bathing / drinking water with them. I'm kidding. I think.

Many farmers have used up their YEARS allotment, trying to keep their fields alive. Treaty violations with Mexico are serious; I think they owe us a million and a half acre feet (Acre feet = the amount of water needed to cover one acre with a foot of water.) Farmers here are talking of blockading the ports of entry with vehicles, until Mexico at least makes some efforts to release water into Rio Grande.

This Monday would be good time to visit us; we are expecting a COLD FRONT down here. At least that is what I heard the weather dude say; maybe he ate some bad mushrooms or something. Can't wait for those cool mid 90's to hit my skin. LOL.

Just finished a 10 day colon cleaning diet, complete with pills / and a "citrussy" tasting drink that wasn't too bad. Tasted like orange juice with sand mixed in. When left in refrigerator, it became like pudding. Can't say I feel like going bowling or anything out of character for me, but if the package sez I'm clean, who am I to argue? Going to eat a little lighter, then go on diet, attempting to ease off flab gained during my wife's pregnancy. Oh, those pounds are stubborn little mothers . . .

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Diane sent another e-mail to you to get password. If it doesn't work contact me on here or on country families.LOL I've gotten some weird e-mails also.

Eathmama so very glad to see you back!!!!!

Sheri keep up your fight!! You have strong beliefs so go forth.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002