Over the Fence Chat -- Sept. 8-14, 2002

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

Okay, where the heck are all of you? Sheepish has an excuse, she's gone on vacation. If you never even post: "Yes, I am still alive and checking this board once in awhile", we don't KNOW that, do we?

As I said on the last chat thread, I am busy with my Best Woman duties through this week. I still have to hem her gown, which will be (one of) my project(s) for today. I also have bird food baking to do and there is always a ton of housework that I've been trying to ignore.

We're going to hit 90*F here today and only a couple of degrees cooler tomorrow. Unusual, but not impossible, for September. I just hope a cold front doesn't come and slam into it, because that's when we seem to get the tornadoes. Right now it is "only" 84*F. The light definitely makes you think of fall though, and why not, the Fall Equinox is just around the corner.

My tomatoes continue to burgeon. I've been giving them away like crazy, and eating lots myself. Yum!

Hmmm. Guess that's all for now. Someone else post something!

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2002

Answers

I'm back. Talking to myself, no doubt! :-)

After I posted the message, I got an "inspiration" to go look at last year's thread for this week. Probably because of the 9/11 factor. Anyway, it was interesting to read what we were doing last year. I was surprised that Sherri had just begun her massage therapy training -- I thought it was longer ago than that. And it was 20-25* cooler here.

Then, of course, Tuesday the 11th arrived . . . . :-(

Well, it still was interesting to go back and read from a year ago.

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2002


I'm here, I'm here.

I ripped off the front of that goat feeder and put a new face on it. It is working really well. I lucked out Sheepish, only two times. Oh, by the way, if a hammer falls off the roof of a feeder and hits you on the side of your head, it hurts!

I had a new vet come and check out my goats. He thinks that the crusty nose is natural, allergies and stuff. He doesn't feel there is anything wrong with them that I cannot sell them as breeders which I wouldn't do if they had problems. Any babies would have gone for meat and that is that. He did think they had worms though. I still have the babies because the holiday isn't right to sell them now. The one buckling likes me so I keep getting peed on. I wish I neutered and dehorned him, he would have been a great pet.

I started working on the back landscaping again. The path to the pond is ALMOST done. The digging and retaining walls are in, now all I have to do is place the flagstone so it looks good and fill it in with gavel. I haven't gotten to the retaining walls for levels in the back for two years now. Spring and Fall go by too fast and Summer is too hot and Winter too frozen.

I have quite a few bags of mulch that I was going to put around the house and make a rock garden by the pond since nothing really grows there because of the shade. Anyway, the weed guard I put in a few years ago, really didn't work because the weeds just grew right through it. It didn't help that the chicken dug up alot of it too. So, now I'm gonna put down plastic but I'm not sure whether to do it now or just wait until the Spring. Which would be better? Any suggestions?

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2002


Nah, you're not talking to yourself - we're listening, even if we aren't talking back! Me, I got busy reading last years OTFCs and barely made it back to the present!

As we were heading home through Missouri Friday, I kept seeing vinyards and signs that said "Grapes for Sale"; so managed to talk Hubs into pulling off I-44 and on to a little back road so that I could buy some. $20 worth of Concords - $5 of which we probably ate during that last 200 miles of the trip home! They smelled heavenly; that rich, heavy, purple, end of summer fragrance - sheesh, my mouth is watering, just thinking about it! Anyhow, we piddled around yesterday after lunch getting them canned into juice - I do it the easy way: 1 generous cup of grapes to a quart jar or 1/2 generous cup to a pint; then fill with boiling water, cap and can. Ended up with 18 quarts and 41 pints; not too bad of a deal, I thought. I'll make some of the juice into jelly later this fall or winter when I need a dose of that late summer smell to keep me sane! Ahhh...fresh grape jelly on a hot biscut right out of the oven...slobber, slurp - dang! Drool on the keyboard again!

I'm wondering if it isn't going to be an early winter; and a hard one to boot. Dumb idea maybe, after reading what the weather was last year, and comparing it to the heat we're having now; but I was sitting on the couch last evening, looking out the windows - the cottonwood and walnut trees are losing their leaves, tho the others don't seem to be changing color yet. I saw several flocks of geese flying over, headed south; and the hummingbirds are hitting the feeders hard and heavy - over a half gallon of nectar going through the feeders a day. They usually start to swarm like this nearer my birthday - still over a week away. We've had to put out honey and sugar water in the back yard for the bees, to keep them away from the hummingbird feeders in the front yard. The squirrels are busy in the walnuts and hickory trees and all the wooley worms I've seen are sporting a dark black stripe. Brrrr!! 92 degrees today, but now I'm ready to go digging in the store room for my sweaters! Think I'll go check out the pantry again; and make a list of things I need to stock up on - coffee and tea and hot chocolate fixin's for sure! (Am I nuts, or what?!)

I'm ready to get out and clean up the garden, but Pop has promised me a cold front later in the week so I guess I'll wait a day or two. Can't clean it all up anyway - still got tomatoes coming out our ears, especially the cherry ones (whose idea was it to plant 20+ cherry tomatoes, anyway?! OH NO - I ain't taking the blame for this one - it was Pop, I swear!) My late beans that I planted - back in July, wasn't it? - are ready to pick and can also. Tomorrow will be spent doing up laundry from the trip and taking the truck to visit the insurance adjuster and the body shops for estimates. The car needs new tires, so since I'll have to follow Hubs in to town anyway, we'll see about them tomorrow as well. (After I stock up on the hot drinks!) Guess the garden will have to wait for Tuesday anyway! I know that I want to plant some spinach and chard and maybe some other greens for late season use, which reminds me - I want to go by the Sallies while I'm in town and look for some more curtains to make row covers from. All you gotta do is just thread PVC water pipe through the hems and casing, stick the ends in the ground, and POOF! - You got row covers. You can stitch casings in them if you need more support; and they stitch together end to end easily too, if you need longer ones. If you use a pair on the PVC, you can pin 'em together at the top and then unpin them and pull down the south side, or for that matter; push them up, to let some sun shine in during the day. Semi sheers seem to work the best for me when all I need is a bit of season extension, but I'm thinking about looking for some heavier ones, maybe with that white coating on the back (reflect light, y'think?) to use on the north sides and pull completely over at night. Stuff seems to do better in colder weather when it's crowded, so I don't need much room under cover; but I might cover a couple of tomato plants this year, just to see how long they'll last. Contemplating maybe putting a couple of peppers in 5 gallon buckets as well... Just ain't got the garden out of my system yet, this year! And then there's a fairly new forum over at garden web called "Winter Sowing" that is pretty interesting, but I haven't had much time to spend there yet...

May hold off on the Sallies for a day or so. Pop and Hubs have decided to build me a heavy duty pantry type storage area down basement in the store room slash storm shelter (my jars have outgrown the regular pantry, in spite of the extra shelf they just put in!) so that means I need to make some room for maneuvering around with boards and suchlike. And I've got several storage tubs of outgrown (both Jes's and mine - sigh) winter wear that I ought to load up and take in when I go. Which gives me something ELSE to do this week while I'm still on vacation. Sheesh, whatever made me think I had time enough to go gallivanting off across the countryside!?!

Well, I've about worn myself out with just thinking about my plans for the coming week, so I'm going to go plop my fanny on the couch with Slurp (the cat, who has been attached to one or the other of us since we got back home - poor lonely little abandoned kitty is sitting on my lap as I type!) and a comfy quilt, and stick my snout in one of the books I bought to read on vacation. You folks all take care out there, and have a great week..

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2002


I was surprised that Sherri had just begun her massage therapy training -- I thought it was longer ago than that.

No, I just talk about it so much that it seems that way! hehehe It seems like a long time ago to me too. Now that I'm going to be putting all this knowledge to use I alternate between feeling somewhat competent and totally clueless. :)

Not a whole lot to report here. I went to my friend Crystal's football game on Saturday night. By halftime our team was ahead 58-0 and had put 2 of the opposing team's players out of the games with injuries. Both teams thought it was pretty senseless to play the 2nd half but the league rules don't allow for forfits so they had to play. The final score was 61-0. Still no coverage by our local news media so I sent yet another letter of complaint to the sports editor of the newspaper.

It's still hot and dry here, but they're predicting a cold front to move through on Wednesday and temps down in the 70's. I hope so. We've been wanting to reseed the yard but the ground is so dry and hard right now it would be pretty pointless.

I finally finished off the roll of film with the before and after haircut photos so I'll get them developed this week and try to figure out how to post them.

Are any of you planning on doing anything special on Wednesday to commemorate 9/11? The shop were I'll be working is having a vigil from 9:11 am to 9:11 pm. I'll probably stop by for a little while. Other than that I'll probably just try to avoid the news and TV as much as possible that day. I have a lot of mixed feelings about all the hoopla planned for that day. It just seems like so much manipulation to keep everyone in the "Rah Rah USA" mindset. Does anyone else feel this way? It's not exactly the most popular opinion to hold right now is it?

-- Anonymous, September 09, 2002


I've thought about it, Sherri. I don't want to watch any TV programs. It was horrifying enough at the time, I don't want to see retrospectives. I don't know, maybe five years after the fact I'll be able to watch footage of the second plane hitting and of the towers collapsing. Maybe it'll take longer. Right now, I just don't want to see it. I don't need to -- I can see it if I close my eyes and remember. If I had lived through it at close range, even if I wasn't injured or lost someone there, I still don't think I'd want to see television programs. Who are they for? Who wants to wallow in the pain?

I will probably not even turn on the TV that day. Lighting a candle and some quiet meditation seem more appropriate to my sensibilities. I wish some of our leaders would spend the day minus their rose- colored glasses, meditating about whether they've REALLY accomplished anything.

And taking a slight turn, but still sticking with politics, I saw a bumper snicker the other day: Re-elect Gore in 2004. Catchy! ;-)

-- Anonymous, September 09, 2002



"Re-elect Gore in 2004", boy thay sounds so far away, doesn't it? But I guess it is not really THAT far off! If our poor planet can actually survive another couple of years of Dubuya's "leadership" that is!!!

It is just too damn hot hereabouts, hot in August is one thing, this hot after Labor Day, is awful (cry and whine loudly)!

Hey, don't miss the quarter moon and Venus in the evening sky tonight, it was truely stunning last night at sunset, simply beautiful. Won't be like this again till November 2003.

I think we all need to do a collective rain dance, is it possible to do that somehow in cyberspace all together, perhaps naked??? Anything, to make it rain ;-)!!!

-- Anonymous, September 09, 2002


At the county fair they had a traveling tribute to the NYC firefighters. They also had some pieces of wreckage there. I couldn't stay in there. I started crying. I used to be able to see the towers from where I lived. My husband actually saw the towers fall from where he was working. Aw gee, even after a year, I'm still getting choked up thinking about it now...

-- Anonymous, September 09, 2002

No, Sherri, we don't have plans for any special observations on the 11th. I'm all for patriotism, but not much for commercialization of patriotism; and I feel inside me that our heros should be recognized daily - all of our heros. Sometimes the stuff that gets done in the memory of 9/11 makes me feel worse, somehow.

My week got reoganized again, in a sad way, tho not really a bad way. I came home from town yesterday to a crying child - Jes's Dad had just called; his grandfather, her Poppa Melvin, had passed away near noon. He was 91, and the best pinochle partner that I ever had. He was a farmer all his life, he took great joy in coming out to the farm and seeing our livestock and gardens. I can still see the big grin on his face as he pulled in the drive one Monday afternoon - he'd been to auction and brought us home a crate of chickens. He then spent the afternoon out in the barn with John (the 1st), helping him to put up roosts and make feeders and patch fence. After he retired from farming, he started a business of sewing machine repair; he was delighted that I sewed, and would always check to see if my machines needed cleaned or oiled when he came over. I remember them coming over for supper one night; and he was almost as proud as we were when we mentioned that everything on the table had been produced on the farm - Grandma thought we were all nuts! He loved the auctions, and I loved going with him - he never griped when I filled his truck bed with boxes of jars or this and that. But he was old and tired and ready to go, and he left us peacefully in his sleep. I guess that being missed is the best eulogy of all, eh?

So I'm waiting for a call from Jes, she'll need to go shopping for a dress or suit, I'm sure. We'll go to Decatur to look for one, and while we're there I'll stop at Menards and pick up some canning jars that they've got on closeout - he'd drive 10 miles to save a nickle on milk, so I'm sure that he would approve! I need to put out a turkey breast to thaw, and I'll make up some noodles, and hot rolls and cinnamon rolls to take over to the house tomorrow as well. May need to go out and squeeze a chicken to make the noodles, since I just sent all my eggs to town with Pop yesterday to give to his friends! There will be more this afternoon, I'm sure. Hope so, because I promised Hubs roast beef tonight and beef and noodles from the leftovers! Gosh, I love my pressure cooker - dinner in a hour, no problem!

In the meantime, I need to get the ring bands off of all my jars of grape juice and get the jars washed up and boxed for the trip to the basement; so that I've got some counter space to work on. Gotta run the dishwasher and toss the clothes that didn't get quite dry on the line yesterday into the dryer and get them dry and put away. I got the yellow beans picked last night, but I need to let the foliage dry on the green ones before I go out to pick them this morning - I don't remember this much bug damage on late beans in the past; seems I'm shaking dozens of grasshoppers out of the bushes as I pick the beans. Bun and the chickens will appreciate the discards, I reckon. Come to think of it, the chickens would probably appreciate the grasshoppers too! Might be able to talk Hubs into helping me snap the beans tonight, then I'll be able to get them canned tomorrow. My silly thoughts of the upcomining winter - encouraged by reports of a cold front coming through this afternoon - have got me anxiously counting jars in the pantry - what a dork I am! Must be hereditary tho, as Pop is in "ant mode" too - scurrying around getting things mowed and cleaned up for winter. He's going to help a neighbor (that I really can't stand, but, damnit - a neighbor is a neighbor, after all. Geez, I hate it when I do the right thing!) haul corn as soon as they start picking, so he's got his list made as well: replace the top that blew off the grape arbor, help clean up the garden, till the strawberries north to south, weed-whack, help clean the porch and under the shed canopy....yep, it's definately in the blood!

So, instead of piddling around here on the computer, I guess I'd better get at it, no? Take care,

Oh - and WELCOME, Shannon! What you been up to?

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2002


Happy Friday the 13th everyone! :) I'm actually having a pretty good day here at my "real" job. I got two FDA clearance letters today so that means I only have one product left before the Agency and it's pretty much a done deal. The submission I'm writing today is pretty easy but it has to go to the division that has the reviewer I call the Dragon Lady, I hope she doesn't get this one. I've been doing this job for a year and a half and I've only had one submission fail so far, that's how the Dragon Lady got her name. :)

The cold front came through and temperatures have been quite comfortable this week, but still no rain. I wanted to reseed the back yard this fall but I don't think it's going to happen. There's an Irish Festival going on downtown but I don't know if I'm going to go or not. Sunday we are going to the Colt's home opener. Normally we don't go to the games but one of my coworkers has season tickets and is out of town this weekend so we bought her tickets.

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2002


OK, Friday the 13th is now officially my favorite day! I just got a memo from our HR department saying that they just completed a pay equity survey and decided that I'm underpaid compared to other Regulatory Affairs Consultants in the state. So they're giving me a $4K raise, effective with today's check!

I'm going shopping for massage stones! :)

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2002



Wow, congratulations, Sherri!

-- Anonymous, September 13, 2002

I haven't been on the computer much lately, been too busy with the Guinea Pig Round-up (okay, the Relocation. Fitting them all behind protective dog-barriers), and treating them all for LICE, which is sort of an endemic problem with GPs, but also one has an ear infection and an abscess to boot, so she's on BID antibiotics (liver flavoured! Yummie!!! I put black cherry syrup in it to hide the taste).

Interestingly, the night before 09/11, the Aurora Borealis was shining very brightly, and across more than half the night sky. It seemed a rather significant event, and lasted for several hours locally.

I turned over the compost bins the other day, and put the undigested bits into one bin, which left me with approximately a cubic yard of next-to-ready compost, which I am having a great time using up around the garden. Of course, I could probably use three times as much with no problem. I tried a lasagna bed alongside the garage this spring and summer, and it is now ready for planting (ferns, which the deer won't eat. Something to hide an ugly spot.) Next project for lasagna bed is to fill in the area over the replaced septic tank with something else deer resistant, but for full sun. Yarrow, catmint, and such, I think. Maybe some mints. Can anyone think of other useful and colorful herb-y things that deer won't eat that like sun?

Over Labor Day I went to Foster & Smith's annual garage sale -- they clean out their warehouses and put evertything out under huge circus tents in their parking lot. I got a very slightly damaged dog crate for less than half price (they had about 200 to choose from), bags and bags of closed out critter litter at a dollar a bag, tons of bird toys that I donated to a bird rescue sanctuary at prices that were marked as low as 1/6th of retail, and all manner of other interesting things. The best deal I got was a fitted polar fleece dog jacket with velcro closure up the back (easy to get on) in Blossom's size (since she's larger than any of the previous dogs) for 25 cents! Wow -- what fun to get such bargains.

I'm making chili tonight in the crock pot to use up some of the tomato population. I gave in to temptation and advertising and planted some other kinds of tomatoes I probably shouldn't have bothered with. I should have just given the space over to my three standbys and let them have more space. Well, there's always next year to make up for mistakes. The potato crop doesn't show any sign of slacking off and dying back, despite having flowered profusely at least 6 weeks ago, if not longer. All I can figure is that they are growing bigger and bigger, and more and more of them down there, and let them be.

I got some truly spectacular heads of cauliflower this year. I've never grown it before, and everyone on GardenWeb says how picky it is about growing conditions to make a decent head -- well~ I must have had optimum conditions and not known it. I planted them for the leaves for the critters to eat since they are so nutritious and don't have the troubles that cabbage does, but I've been cutting enormous, creamy white heads and trying to eat them all. I'm not a great fan of cauliflower, but I can't stand to see it wasted. The hamster is helping to eat it, but considering the volume I've got, it would probably take a hundred hamsters to keep ahead of it. I don't think I want a hundred hamsters.

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2002


Ah, fall is in the air in north central Pa.,Forties at night, 60's & 70's days. Foliage is starting to take on colors. Took a walk to the garden today to see if anything new is going on, what with the drought and all. Hey!!! found a great harvest of butter cup squash ready for putting in the basement. Got the wheelbarrow and went to work! Dug a few onions (small, but still fairly sweet), carrots, (same story), and a row of red potatoes (more small). Oh well, not every year can bare a banner crop. Our garden this year was pretty much a dismal failure. Got word that the game commission trapped the black bear hanging around my camp and moved him to another part of the county. ON their way out with him they drove past another bear watching them. These rascal bears can be a nuisance, and dangerous when they loose their fear of man. Hey Wildman, you haven't left me here by myself, have you? All for now, I'm getting cramps in my typing finger!

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2002

I'm going to quit reading post from Joy, Dee, Polly, Sherri, Annie, and Julie. Ya'll make me feel bad! It seems like ya'll get more done in a day that I can in a week and that depresses me. However, the last four days have been so cool and comfortable that I've been able to work outside all day. Loved it. I think I got a few things accomplished and really feel good until I read ya'lls posts.

Woodsbilly, when you gave a description of yourself, I thought that was me writing about myself so I didn't post anything. Being senile isn't all bad but it sure can get confusing sometimes.

Think I must have wore myself out the first two days of the good weather because yesterday and today I've felt a little puny. I'll be back in a couple of days.

Wildman, (getting up again)

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2002


ME!? Accomplish a lot!?!?! Not hardly! POLLY wears me out, that's true. I accomplish little unless there is a (figurative) gun to my head. And that's what I've had. Today was my best friend's wedding, and I was working feverishly on her dress for several weeks. I got it done by last Monday evening. Turned out well, but OOF, what a lot of work!

The party is over, sure proof that we're all gettin' old. I'm home, I've walked the dog, fed the cats, and now I'm sogging a bit before going to bed. I'm not in the least sorry it's over! And I didn't even have to do the most work . . . The wedding was in a park, at one of the shelters on the shores of Lake Waubesa. The ceremony was planned for outdoors, but it rained, so we rearranged the tables in the dining tent and had the ceremony in there. The rain wasn't too bad -- too wet to be out in it, but we didn't get washed away in a flood, and the threatened thunderstorms didn't materialize, so no one got fried (by lightning, anyway).

Tomorrow I plan to be a major slug. Except I spotted a garage sale today on my way home from getting my hair done, and ended up buying a pair of chairs. I didn't have enough cash, so I left a deposit and I have to go get them tomorrow. They're Eastlake style, which is the style of my bedroom furniture. The fabric on the seats is not the original, and not very accurate to the period. Anyone know where I can get upholstery weight fabric in William Morris patterns? I've found lighter weight, but not upholstery. Maybe I'll just cover them in a plain color and throw a couple of Wm. Morris pillows on them.

Well, that's enough from me. My bed is calling me . . . Owoooooooo . . . hear it? ;-)

-- Anonymous, September 14, 2002



Yeah, Polly is the winner in the Over-Achievers Anonymous award!!! She wears me out just reading the things she's been up to.

Tonight is the first fall night that is getting down close to frost. They said tomorrow was going to be, but it got here early. So I've been hauling things indoors. Happily, I started hauling in the house plants a few days ago, so I didn't have so much to do, but I'm sure I'll find things I forgot about that got frosted by tomorrow morning.

I'm glad that I also started setting up my cold frames and starting the fall crops in them under some row covers (to keep out bugs as it happens, but it'll help against the low temps too)! Maybe I will be digging potatoes in the next few days tho, if it finally kills the vines. It's been unseasonably warm and comfy out this September, which of course makes me feel that I can put off all those things that are hanging over my head as true fall weather (and the inevitable aftermath) approaches.

Time to dig holes faster! I've got shrubs and vines that I need to get into the ground before much longer. I know it's not the optimal time to be planting them , but the Juneberries seem to be very forgiving sorts (give them compost and they forget all about it), as does the grapevine, rather surprisingly! I have hopes that it'll survive my mistreatments.

It was cold and rainy here today too, so I was slug-a-bed to catch up on lost sleep. It's really hard to get motivated on low pressure days like that. I suppose I should just lie there in bed and think 'What Would Polly Do?'. That should get me up and on my feet!

(I also noticed that in just the last two days, the horses suddenly started to 'hair up'. They're not sleek like they were, it's rougher and standing on end. Guess what THAT means!!! Oh well, it's a full two weeks late anyway. But spring was three weeks late. I think I still got rooked out of a week in there, somewhere...)

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002


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