We be jammin' over here. I've never seen so many strawberries in my life! (okay, I'm slightly exaggerating!). I'm actually burning out on making jam...

I will be back soon (can't believe how busy I am these days) and hope to hear from y'all too.

Remember, even if it seems boring to you NOW, it won't be to all those folks who read our history (in the making) in a hundred years or so! So please do your part! 8-) Make this website required reading for our great-great-grandkids!!

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2002

Answers

Well, I just got home from the hospital. Found out the hard way that my son is allergic to macadamein nuts. He started out with a little burning in his throat, then turned red, had hives. I would have ridden it out but he said his throat was funny. I was afraid it would close on him. The doctors wanted to pump drugs into him (IV, Benadryl, Tagament and Steriods) and I wanted to hold out until a nurse walked by and said, "Boy, is that poor kid having a reaction" He is better but they want him to continue taking the steriods and tagament for 5 days. I'm not trilled about the steriods. I'll see what my regular doctor (who I'm not trilled with either) says tomorrow. Why, oh why, can't we have some more new thinking doctors around here? And why did mine have to move away?

We just came back from the shore yesterday. Nice weather all week until the last day which is strange since it ALWAYS rains on our vacation.

That goat feeder we worked so hard on before we left turned out to be a bust. The babies walk through the keyhole and sleep in the feeder, which wouldn't be bad except they pee and poo in there too. And you should see how much hay they wasted!!! (My friend was on vacation herself so I couldn't walk her through the feeding so she didn't know to put the stuff back in until they ate it or give it to the horse. It's a mess now) I'm gonna have to rip off the whole front and redo it and one of the levels will have to go. Too bad we made it so well, it's gonna be a b**** to repair. My sister suggested we burn this one and start new but I'll do it when hubby's not home.

Last month, I picked up some hay but couldn't get in touch with the owner to see how much it was (the worker said it was $2 or was it $2.25 and the alfalfa was $3.25 or $3.50) Anyway, the hay was growing good when I picked it up but now that it's a drought, when I finally got in touch with him, he quoted me a price of $2.50 for first cut grass hay. It should have been $2. He says he's gonna be able to get a second cut but I wonder now what he'll charge me for it since I usually pay $2.50 for the second cut. We really could use more rain.

My weeds are growing great. At least they kept my veggies shaded so they didn't burn while I was away. Told my son I would pay him if he did some chores for me. He was interested until I told him weed the garden and clean out the goats. City boy...

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2002

Aww, bummer Dee. I hope your son feels better soon . . . don't feel too bad; how could you have known that macadamiuns would have brought that kind of reaction?

We baptized Felicia yesterday. She has just turned five months old, and is already beginning to crawl; though she mainly rocks back and forth and will only go a foot before losing her balance and rolling on her side or collapsing down. She's getting REAL sassy; she is grabbing any objects coming near her, is very attracted to sounds and is gabbing constantly. If my son gets nearby while Yvette is feeding her, she'll take a lazy kick at him; I already see sibling rivalry rearing its ugly head. Oh boy.

My son's 4th birthday is this Friday. We're going to have two small parties; one at his day care (pizza, cookies, chips, juice) and one at our home - which takes a lot of planning. The menu is a 4 foot sandwich, soft drinks, chips, and potato salad, along with the cake for desert. This coming weekend is going to be hard - labor day comes for us on Saturday.

My cousin Rod is flying down tonight, along with his two daughters, I haven't seen my favorite cousin in about five years. Though this visit might be a little strained. He and his wife were divorced last year and I'm still a little pissed about it - it was one of those stupid errors you pay for the rest of your life. His daughters are in their young teens now, a time when a father really needs to be THERE at home. I hope it all goes well for them.

That's about it on this side. Supposed to hit 107 today - oh joy.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2002

Dee...so glad that your son is okay!! Harry and I were lucky that our son was not allergic to anything, never broke any bones AND never had any car accidents after he got his license!!! Now that he's 29 yrs. old it seems that he's allergic to paying his bills! Where oh where did we go wrong :-)!!??

What an absolutely fantastic weekend we had! Went to the Nat. Folk Festival in Bangor on Saturday and LOVED it!!! So much, in fact, that we went back on Sunday! The food was great. Loved the Korean and Indian food (although my tummy is not too sure about it!). There were five different music stages set up and still we were not able to see all the bands that were playing. There was an excellent Tibetan group (Chaksam Pa)...and I cannot believe the vocal range of the young girl that was singing!! My favorite group was "La Bottine Souriante". You just could not help but move to their music!! They're a group from Canada....so maybe, Alison, could you tell me where to get their music?? I've checked out some websites, but they're all in French!! The "Papantla Flyers" were amazing also! They're a Mexican group that does a religeous ritual and prayer dance honoring Mother Earth from the top of a 90 ft. pole. This festival was quite a hit here in Maine. Bangor was the smallest city the festival had ever been held in (in 64 yrs.) and the opening night attendance was the highest in history! All totalled the attendance was well over 70,000 for 3 days. And the festival was funded entirely by local sponsers! It's the first time ever that only local money was used to fund such an event!!! It will be held here in Maine for the next two years...I can't wait til next year!!

Around the homestead here...we're busy freezing and canning beans. The tomatoes are just starting to turn red, BUT I'm sure that they'll turn almost overnight when they're ready!! I've been butchering my meat birds also. It always amazes me how fast they grow. At 10 weeks they're dressing out at an average of 5 lbs.!!

My new horse was a BIG hit with my granddaughter Morgan!! Problem is that she has NO fear of him. Even though this horse would not knowingly hurt Morgan, I keep telling her that he doesn't pay attention where his feet are most of the time!! Oh well, when I was her age, (here comes one of those "ole fuddy-duddy stories"!) I used to sit in an apple tree in a pasture and wait for a horse to pass underneath...when I would magically land on the horses's back...well, MOST of the time!!

That's about it for now...from Maine!! Have a great week, everyone!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2002

Watch him closely with other nuts for a while, Dee. Food allergies scare me, since they can set up a reaction in the respiratory tract and close the airway. I'm not a pill person - I don't take any daily meds and will try other things before even taking an aspirin for a headache; but I do use Benadryl. Good stuff. Oral (capsule) Benadryl (diphenhydramine) can be given at the first sign of any reaction - I keep it on hand all the time since I am allergic to bee stings and hope like heck it will buy me time to get to the hospital (25-30 minutes) if I get stung in a strategic location. I use it for other allergic reactions/rashes as well - like I get from tomato vines. I don't like continued steroid use; but it does help. Jes got poison ivy for the 1st time ever this year - used to be able to roll around in it when she was a kid - and she got it bad. She cleared up in less than a day with the steroids. Bet she looks before she leaks, next time!!

I'm still trying to get things together for vacation. My, oh my; but our plans change around! We're heading to Iowa on Day 1; to the Old Thresher's Reunion; then on across Iowa on Day 2; to Nebraska, to visit the Strategic Air Command Museum and Harold Warp's Pioneer Village on Day 3. Staying over for day 4 at the PV until about 3 pm; then dropping down through Kansas for a stop by Dodge City and Boot Hill Cemetary during Day 5; on the way to Colorado. Day 6 - Pagosa Springs and a soak in the hot springs is a definite overnight stay - chose it over Durango and the Silverton train r/t the fire damage. Day 7 will be Mesa Verde and Cortez; Day 8 will be spent heading toward the Grand Canyon. Day 9 has Flagstaff, the Meteor Crater and the Wigwam Motel on the adgenda; with enough time after check in to drive out and go on the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert scenic loop. Day 10 will see us in Roswell; assuming the Mother Ship doesn't stop by to pick us up; we will then head for Amarillo and the Cadillac Ranch on Day 11. Day 12 will find us heading through Oklahoma with short stops here and there; and Friday the 13th will find us pulling in the drive at home. That still allows us a couple of days extra in case we find something else we want to see or do; or want to stay longer somewhere. I'm really excited to be going to see all the places I went when I was a kid and too young to appreciate it! Now, we're planning next year's trip!! Maybe taking Pop back up to Washington while he is still able to go and enjoy himself; or....

I've been ignoring the garden for most of the last week. I may go out and look at it tomorrow. Then again; I may not! Pop has been working pretty hard out there on the strawberries and late beans, so I do need to go out and oooh and ahhh and give him some validation - I sure don't know what I would do without him!

Tomorrow is laundry day and get ready to pack day and figure out what I'm going to wear to work for the next three days day because everything will be ready to be packed! Jes wants to go buy a sweater tomorrow afternoon in between her day and evening classes - also a small tape recorder; as she's discovered that the college instructors talk fast! So, I'll go along with her, since I want to buy a pair of brown pants - I'm so glad that brown in back in fashion; it's a good color for me and I like it as well! Jes gave me a pair of brown clog type shoes that she had bought and barely worn - they look strangely modern on my feet! Now, I just need to find a pair of comfortable walking shoes and I'll be set!

Pop and Hubs and I are still talking next year's garden - I'm glad to see Pop showing an interest in the farm again; as he'd kind of had the blues for a bit this summer. Saw some ornamental grass over to Rural King this morning (where I went to buy Fang - Pardon Me; Monroe aka Slurp the Cat - some bowls that he can hopefully not tip over; the little weasel!) anyway, back to the grass; it turns red in the fall. Pretty good size clumps - I figure I can divide them so I would only need two; and plant them in the outside corners of my first set of raised beds. Then I could lift and divide the Pampas grass next spring and move it to the corners of the inside beds. Saw some interesting yellow and green striped grasses in a display over at the greenhouse...Dang!! Pop just might be getting his wish about the front part of the garden being ornamentals after all! Might just mention those grasses to him; what with my birthday coming up and all...

And speaking of birthday (and probably Christmas, Anniversary, Valentines Day and any other holiday for the next year!) Hubs believes that he has bought me a farm truck - a one ton pickup with dump bed and stock racks - WOO! WOO! I am stylin' now! $400 and it runs, even! Says he won't paint it pink for me tho - durn! I was picturing a nice bright pink cab with dark green stock rails with like morning glories painted on them. I got the one-raised-eyebrow look over that idea - from BOTH the fellas! Maybe yellow with sunflowers on the racks...whatya think?! Gotta paint my name on the door too - "Polly's Pea Patch"? "Polly's Poultry and Produce Patch"? Hee hee hee... I think that I'm sure going to enjoy it - no matter what color it is! Oh yeah - manure, leaves, manure, wood chips, manure, grass clippings, manure....oh yeah!!

The new Old Farmer's Almanacs are supposed to be out on Tuesday, so I will be sure to look for one so that I can plan garden some more. Must be silly - here I've still got tomatoes coming out my ears and I can't wait for the seed catalog deluge! I think because it signifies fall. I'm looking forward to walking across the yard in the crisp fall air and crunchy leaves; then sitting out in Hub's shop in the old creaky rocking chair in front of the woodstove; propping my feet up on a weathered apple crate to toast my toes by the fire, smelling the woodsmoke and maybe a pot of veggie soup on the stove, crunching on a crisp yellow apple and poring over seed catalogs - with freqent peeks out the window to watch the geese circling to land and glean in the field. We'll run the walnuts through the corn sheller to take off the husks and lay them up in the attic of the shed to dry. Later on, Pop and Hubs will be cracking black walnuts in the vise; and then we'll sit around the table in the kitchen that smells of apples and bread baking to pick out the meats for muffins and cookies this winter. Can't tell that fall is my favorite time of year, can you?! I can make myself plumb giddy just thinking about it! The golds and browns of the leaves, the orange pumpkins, red and yellow apples, tan corn shocks, fat 'n sassy red and grey squirrels beating me to the hickory nuts, fingers stained yellow from picking the seeds out of the persimmon pulp to fortell the coming winter weather, warm and cozy sweaters to go along with cold noses, weenie roasts and hay rides, hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick to stir, fat sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins and ghosts and turkeys, got to find the pumpkin costume for Bailey-boo - the one Jessie wore when she was 3...Welcome fall!! (Think I'll put in for another week of vacation in October!)

Well, it's bed time; and since Slurp didn't let me sleep this afternoon (kept howling at my door until I hauled a quilt out to the couch and flopped down there; whereupon the mangy critter curled up right next to my ear and purred so loud I thought the garbage truck was in the living room with me!) I'm tired! You folks take care; have a wonderful week. Me, I think I'll catch a grasshopper for Bailey tomorrow night so she can get a close up look. Maybe we can find a praying mantis out in the garden, as well! 'Night, all!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2002

Coming up for air....

Glad the allergies haven't won. I also keep benadryl-type stuff around. I'm allergic to spider bites. Sheesh. Think I get any around here?! Um, daily...

We have rebuilt our sheep feeders THREE times now. I'm hoping the third time is the charm. Sheep love to scratch their necks on the slats while pulling their (expensive) hay back out!

Been working shorter days at the office (thank God for some small favors)and have been getting up earlier in the a.m. to water; pick vegetables; fill duck pools; feed/water the neighbors horses, dog, cat, rabbits, plants; make jam; hang laundry; rake up poop in the barnyard to compost, etc. Oh, did I mention try to keep Mr. S's spirits up as he attempts (yet again) major Ferguson tractor repair? (At least he's found a local source for parts for the old thing).

We're getting ready for vacation, too. I wish there was some time for cleaning house, but it's not to be, I guess! Oh well, we'll make a mess when we get back anyway...

Beans coming on; lots of chard, kale, carrots, berries (including Bluecrop blueberries), apples, lettuces. Had our first broccoli (planted LAST year at this time!) last night. Very good, surprisingly.

Not much more to blab, but I'll try to stop by before we go...

Take care!

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2002

Thank you all so much for your concern. Yes, Gary is much better but he is tired from the Benedryl he has to take (they want him to take it for 8 days because they are afraid of a relaspe) And the other pill (my doctor gave a lighter dose steriod/tagament combo that tapers off) makes him cranky and hungry. I told him to go outside today and sweat off some of the poisons but he didn't and since I was at work (which it turned out I didn't have to be) I couldn't make him.

He says the garden scared him. Guess I'll have to weed myself.

The doctor did suggest getting checked for other nuts. I know that Poppy seeds bother him and he got sick from chocolate cover hazelnuts (maybe it's only the chocolate covered nuts) but is fine with peanuts, thank goodness since they are around more then the macadamea.

-- Anonymous, August 27, 2002

That sounds very scary, Dee! I'm no expert on nut allergies, but everyone I've known to be allergic to one was allergic to all of them. Now, peaNUTS are not really a nut. They're a legume, and grow under ground. So, though some people are allergic to peanuts/peanut oil, it's not usually the same ones that are allergic to tree nuts. But you have to be careful, nuts are in LOTS of things.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2002

Haven't had much time these days for forums. Been really busy. Garden is a disaster. Weeds took over. Will get lotsa maters, squash, sunflowers and a buncha flowers but not alot of anything else.

Was interviewed on camera today for channel 9 and 55 for the local news. I've been quietly getting ready for a white dove release business for the last coupla years. I finally have a bunch of birds trained out to the Wausau area. I'm hoping that'll kick the business off to a good start with free TV advertising. I ain't ready to go public on the other forums, in fact I probably won't at all, because one of these services can handle up to a 50 mile radius and I'm not too keen on giving the potential competition any ideas. The business is still very vulnerable with only about 20 birds trained so I got my fingers crossed it'll go well. I figure 2 paid releases/week will buy me out of my full time job so then I'll have time for weeding!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

White Dove release business?? I know nothing of this, John.......do tell us more please!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

EM: White Dove Release business. I use white rock doves, aka homing pigeons. I saw it on the tube once, thot it was cool, so I looked into it.

Basically what it amounts to is training the birds for releases at weddings, funerals, memorials, anniversaries and just about any special event. Releases can be configured for as few birds as one, as is sometimes the case for funerals, or as many as 100 or more. People pay for these releases and they ad a dramatic and thrilling special touch to any occasion.

When the birds are released they will return home to fly again another day. My birds were home before I was today.

Typically a release service will serve a 50-60 mile radius. People with established businesses might do as many as 4 releases in a day so the service area radius is an important consideration.

E-mail me for more info if you want.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

That is so cool!! What a wondeful sight that must be!

When I was a kid I had an uncle and aunt who lived outside Chicago whom we used to visit every couple of years. They never had any children, and used their nuturing energy on animals, had a Weimaraner who they had trained to do hundreds of tricks...she was amazing. Also had a parakeet with a several hundred word vocabulary. In the backyard my uncle had homing pigeons, so I had seen them in action but it was a hundred years ago. Thanks for the memory!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

SOOOO COOOOL! I just saw the news story. It turned out great and I've already had one call for a wedding a year from now! Let the fun begin!

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Good luck John!!!

Oh, Polly, I forgot to mention that I think you will need a vacation from your vacation when you get back. That's alot of traveling.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

John, that's great and sounds like a neat business. Kinda like the butterfly lady. Oh. Uhm, hers didn't come back.

Wildman, (off track again)

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002