WWPD? Just doesn't have the same catchiness, does it?! Well, Julie, what I would do on a day like that is curl up in bed (couch, lazy boy - your choice) with a stack of books, a pot of coffee, a comfy quilt, a bowl of bon-bons and the cat; and read trash fiction 'til my eyes glazed over. Those days are there for a reason! Heck, it ain't even been raining here (til today), and I've been doing those things anyway!

FWIW - Pop and Hubs think I'm a slug sometimes. Yesterday was probably one of those days. I did the chores, then vegged on the net. I cleaned out 5 of the 4x4 beds and hauled the residue to the chickens, then vegged on the couch with a book. I did a bunch of dishes (What the heck is wrong with the dishwasher now? Oh. A spoon was keeping the twirly thing from twirling. Ooops. Dishes all done now, anyway.), then took a nap with the cat. I sat in a lawn chair and stared at the garden. Went back inside, cleaned the cat box, and read some more and read the net. Got disgusted with myself and went back out and stacked up 2 of the extra 4x4 boxes over a cleared bed and then pulled the straw from around the 3 beds of taters and dumped it in the stacked boxes to be used to cover the strawberries later. Pulled the taters - good thing we aren't counting on them to keep from going hungry! Stacked another box on an empty bed and dumped the tater greens on top; then a bag of grass clipping and one of leaves. Operated the wheelbarrow and rake, while Hubs shoveled wood chips into the barrow; filled in some low spots in the garden paths. Looked at the tomatoes. Said "Don't think so." and came in the house and read the net some more. Played a bunch of solitare, then went to bed with a book. Worked maybe 10 minutes for every hour that I was awake. Slug. Big fat slug.

Today, I've been worse. Did the chores, surfed the net. Walked out and looked at the rain gauge with Pop. 1/10th of an inch. Got depressed, came in, surfed the net. Helped Hubs wrestle a turkey breast on to the rotisseri prongs, surfed the net. Made a pan of ol'rotten (au gratin) potatoes and one of apples to bake and put them in the oven. Put carrots in a pan to cook. Now, I'm back surfing the net. After lunch, Hubs and I are going to head to town to look for Mama Gano a birthday present; and then over to their house for a birthday dinner for her and I (She and me? Whatever!) I'm going to be lazy and just stop by the deli for some broccoli salad to take with. Hubs is going to drive me by to see my new farm truck - they couldn't get it over to our farm in time for my birthday, so I have to look at it over there. It's a 1964 Chevy one ton with stock rails, grain rails and a dump bed. Hubs has finally agreed to painting the cab yellow and the rails grass green, with sunflowers. I need to decide what to name her (yes, it's a her!) and what to put on the doors. We no longer have to have the owners name on the door, but I kind of like the idea. Then on to Mama G's and then a stop by the store and home - to veg some more. Don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow yet - probably more of the same!

Well, just heard a ding from the kitchen, so better go see what it is. You folks take care,

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

Answers

Polly!!! You ARE NOT helping my depression!

If you accomplished all of that, while thinking that you were a slug, and Pops and Hubs thought you were sluffing (?) maybe I don't need you but I do need Pops and Hubs. I'd be more than happy to hire the three of you for a weekend. And you can lay on the couch and work. About all I can give is lodging and food but I'll guarantee that there will be plenty of work and that each of you will gain a few pounds.

I'm beginning to get a complex and when I go outside, I think to myself, "What would Polly do?" I can't even take a nap anymore. It's really scaring me!

If I can't hire ya'll for a weekend, then do you think maybe you could find another board where the members need a good depressing? You are sharing this with others, aren't you?

Wildman, (looking for his pills)

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

AAAKK!! - I'm trying to tell you that I'm being lazy! I took a nap! I didn't do the tomatoes! I sat in a lawn chair and just looked at the garden! Chores - 15 minutes, tops! Cleaning out beds - maybe 1/2 an hour, including the chicken yard run. Nap - 2 hours. Book - 3 hours. Veg on web - hours on end. I never do anything work related for more than 45 minutes at a time - and usually not that long - before I go take a rest break.

I'd be happy to come down to Arkansas, but it wouldn't be safe, especially this time of year. It's so nice and so pretty down there that I'd be looking around for a farm to buy - you don't want me for a neighbor, now, do you!? Heck, you don't even want me HERE to depress you.

I know how to cheer you up - here you go: I've got a counter stacked full of jars that need to go to the basement on the shelf that isn't built yet. There are four pair of sneakers and ten boxes of canning jars and three bags of non-perishable groceries sitting in my living room that I haven't put away. (crumble, crumble) I've got a dress cut out and draped over the sewing machine chair that's been there since before I went on vacation. My bed isn't made. (creaak, groan) The garden is loaded with rotten tomatoes. I can't find the gladiolas for the foxtail. (craaack, snap) The cat knocked over a bowl of coneflower seed heads that I hadn't separted and bagged; they're still on the shelf. I have fruit flies hovering over my chicken swill pail. (CRASH! THUD! - the idol has fallen!)

Sheesh - now I'M depressed! Pass the dope, please.

You just need to change your focus - it ain't what needs to be done, or what you don't get done - it's what you DO get done that counts. How the hell do you think I stay so disgustingly perky all the time?! Go ahead, write a list of what you did today or yesterday - bet it'll surprize you what all you got done. Make sure you include all the steps. Fer instance: In order to flop in the lazy boy and read trash, I had to do the following - go into kitchen and empty grounds out of coffee pot, put in new filter and fresh grounds. Fill water receptical, replace, turn on pot. Get out cup. Get out spoon. Cream. Sugar. Go to guest room, get quilt out of closet and take to living room. Go down to basement and choose books - move 5 boxes of books that still haven't been put on the shelf to look through them. Back upstairs, set books on table by lazy-boy. Fix coffee, set on table by lazy-boy. Find bowl. Find bon-bons. Put bon-bons in bowl, take to table. Catch cat with head in coffee cup. Make new cup of coffee, take to table. Climb in chair, spread out quilt, adjust recline. Get out of chair, get pillow. Move cat, get back in chair, spread out quilt, adjust recline, adjust cat. Heck - it's a wonder I had enough energy left to even lift my book when I put it like that!!

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

Oh Polly, thank you so very much for your wonderful 'have-to-do' list!! You're right, it did cheer ME up anyway! (How bout you Wildman?) I feel much much better now!

I like your idea of mentioning everything one does, since you tell us it will sound just as busy as you are. Let's see, let me try.

It's 2:30 on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. Was awakened at 8:00 by a Pug who needed to go outside, which she tells me by climbing up under the covers to lick my face. After a stop at the bathroom, I go downstairs to let her out, switch on the puter on the way to the kitchen to prepare my morning 'tonic', which tastes like punishment.Sit down with Bren to watch CBS Sunday Morning, which btw, had a delightful story on how suburbanites keeping a small flock of chickens has become a huge and growing trend ,with credit given to Martha Stuart. The whole thing made me weepy, cuz its a wonderful thing to see regular folks appreciating chickens, and cuz I miss my chickens and cuz I think its a travesty what "they" are doing to Martha.

Grabbed some of yesterday morning's leftovers for breakfast (restaurant food, was too much to eat at once......stopped in early morning on way home from train station where picked up daughter number two from her trip to Oregon), ate while sitting at computer for 3 hours.

Went upstairs for a half hour to do daily meditation and reading of new book,STILL HERE, bought yesterday after seeing movie Friday night at University about Ram Dass and what he has learned from his stroke).

Felt the need to ride motorcycle so went down to ask Bren if she was interested and had an arguement, first in a long time....took my book outside by the pool to continue reading. That's it. The end. Still in my jammies.

How's that for sluggy? In my defense, I am now going to go put a few batches of green beans in the freezer, and maybe even get dressed first. Then I'll make dinner tonite, like usual. Steaks on the Barbie, salad, not much work involved. Perhaps go take that ride this evening.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

Happy Birthday, Polly!!

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

Happy B-day Polly!! We *just* got back. Guess AZ needed the rain, so we brought TONS with us (flash flooding like you wouldn't believe all through AZ and UT...did you see it?!). I almost have the mud out of my pores and corneas (after about 5 showers). More later. The Colorado River through the Grand Canyon at flash flood stage is just UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a river trip....like the end (or beginning) of the planet! Thousands of 1000-foot red water falls on all sides of us, with lightening flashing overhead and thunder booming and echoing...meanwhile our rafts trying to make it through the river in a sea of debris...anyway, as I said: more later.

Hope y'all are well!!

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

I finally finished my path to the pond! Did it before the rain started but I didn't get the grass seed down. I could do that in the rain but the path is done.

I asked the excavator who was working on the house next door to stop by to give me a price on expanding my barn. I have to take out part of a hill then have the machine pick up and slide the half over about 6 feet (good thing I didn't connect it to the orginal barn and made it free standing) They never showed up. Sigh. I would save delivery fees if they would do it while here.

My husband complains that the house is a mess all the time but he never understands how much I do outside. I tried to point out the stuff he doesn't put away that makes it look messy but I don't think men see things that way. He will have 4/5 pairs of shoes around the house. Some would be right in front of the closet that I keep shoes in. (What do you say Jay and Wildman? Am I right?) I thought once the dog was gone, the kitchen floor would stay cleaner but I was wrong. It still gets barn dirty.

Tomorrow is son's birthday. 15 years, going on 40. I asked him what kind of cake he likes, figuring I'd make him one and he says he likes pie better. Chocolate mousse sounds good to me.

Happy Birthday Polly! What book are you reading?

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

Yep EM, since she put it that way, I feel a lot better. Made me just as tired as the rest of her post. If I had to do all that before I sat down to read, I'd be so exhausted that I'd have to go to bed. But, I do understand the concept because when someone asks what I did, I say that I painted some of the cabinet doors. That doesn't convey all the work that went into painting them, such as going to the store to buy the paint, taking the doors off the cabinets, removing the hardware, sanding them down, cleaning them, priming, painting and then cleaning the brushes, reinstalling the hardware and rehanging the doors. Of course, when I say it, it doesn't sound nearly as busy as Polly or nearly as exhausting. Somehow, I feel that Polly would have cooked supper while waiting for the primer to dry, weeded the garden while waiting for the paint to dry and instead of cleaning the brush would have painted the house before rehanging the doors. And probably fixed coffee and read a book! I'm beginning to not like her a whole lot! '

Gee Polly, Happy Birthday. What are you going to do on your special day? Rest? Sorry, foolish question.

Dee, I wouldn't say that you're wrong but we have a kinda unwritten rule around here. If it's mine, leave it. And she does! Always has. I don't complain about the condition of the house cleaning and she doesn't complain about my junk. When my stuff gets bad enough, I'll clean it up. Or go get it, if she'll tell me where it is. Around here if one of us sees something that needs to be done, then we do it. I think I need to take her to the eye doctor! The thing is, we live in our house. It's not a show case and will never be a special on Martha Stewart or in Better Homes and Gardens. I've been in those houses and wasn't comfortable; I'm comfortable here and so is anyone who comes over.

Wildman, (too tired to continue)

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2002

No, Polly would have put "Paint cabinet doors" on her honey-do list and forgot about them! Then I could take my cup of coffee and go weed the garden, with freqent breaks in the hammock to read my book! I don't do intricate jobs like that; I simply haven't the patience. Yank weeds, flinging dirt everywhere; you betcha! Try to keep screws and hinges and handles collected and remember where they go; fill and sand (I hate to sand - worked in a cabinet factory one time - wanna guess what my job was?!); then, the primer - careful, no drips or .......FORGET IT!! I could have 15 zillion little things done in the time it would take me to paint cabinet doors - 'cause I DON'T LIKE TO! Glad someone does, Wildman; otherwise we'd be running around looking at a bunch of ugly cabinets! I don't even want to think about taking care of a bunch of goats like Dee and Marcia do - too much work! I'm too lazy to tax my brain with political stuff, like EM; and too contrary to be as social as Sheepish; and forget about paddling down a flooded river! I don't have birds and rodents like Julie and Joy, because I'm too lazy to do the cleanup (I'd offer to come shovel horse hockey with Julie, but I know she wants it all to herself!), and the thought of trying to train birds the way that John did - whew, too much work! Maybe I have adult ADD, y'think ?! Quite frankly - it's a rare day when I do something that I don't want to do (except maybe go to work) - if I didn't like what I was doing, I wouldn't do it!

Dee, I had to smile about your son asking for a pie for his birthday. My Mama always made me an apple pie for mine; she knew it was my favorite. They never taste quite as good as they do when someone who loves you makes them! Another person with the same birthday as me - neat! Give him an extra hug for me - we Virgos act standoffish, but we really aren't! On another note: I found that a large, covered basket saved my sanity when Jes was home more. I simply picked her stuff up and deposited it in the basket - willy, nilly. When it got full, I dumped it on her bed. Maybe you need one for your Hubs! I'm the "stuff" culprit at our house tho - quilt blocks here, garden seeds there, books everywhere! Maybe I need to go find that basket for me! I bought a stack of trash fiction at the UBS to take on vacation, right now I'm finishing up A Woman Betrayed, by Barbara Delinsky and getting ready to start Shaker Run, by Karen Harper. I've also been taking peeks at my Gene Logsdon books - Wildlife in the Garden, and Two Acre Eden.

Wildman, I don't know for sure what I'm going to do today. I did go out and do the chores, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to take a shower; but beyond that - no plans. It's a beautiful, cool day - might go do some laundry and hang it on the line - I actually enjoy doing that; hearing the birds and the bugs, smelling the fall air, losing myself for a minute watching the spiraling fall of the leaves and thinking of how nice the air dried sheets will smell and feel when I slide onto them. Then again, I might work at cleaning up the front part of the garden for a while; gather seeds from the zinnias while imagining next years flowers and butterflies, or gather up Bun and take her out to the garden with me and watch her hop from chard to carrots, or sit her on my lap and riffle my fingers through sun warmed fur. I might walk down to the edge of the lake and see if the beavers are back - water level is so low that I might be able to see their old dam anyway; and then stop by the fencerow on the way back to see how much effort I think it's going to take to pull the old horse drawn cultivator out and bring it up to the front yard for display - and wonder how much heck I'm going to catch from Pop for wanting to do it! I might go out to lunch with Jessie, or a friend; or I might make a pot of veggie soup from the leftover roast beast - tangy tomatoes and rich broth, golden corn and bright orange carrots and purple striped yellow beans - and serve it up to Pop and myself with steaming hot cornbread drizzled with honey. I could set the table with my red checkered cloth and my blue enamelware plates and a cream pitcher of pink forget-me-nots and blue salvia - and I probably wouldn't even notice that the floor needs swept and the mail is stacked high on the counter. I might take old Slurp and a book out to the glider on the porch with me, and watch him balance on the porch railing and race across the yard to climb the maple tree in between pages. Heck, there's just all kinds of things that I could do to celebrate!

Sheepish, the vacation was a bust. Got hit by a lady pulling out of a parking lot in Dodge City; truck was mangled and I was sore, so we ended up turning around and coming home. Oh well - always next year! I may go to Kentucky yet this week; or maybe take a week in October or November to go. I've got at least 50 hours of TOP time (time off paid) that I can take; and, thanks to my weird work schedule, I can take 24 hours (Thurs and Fri) off, added to my regular days off (Mon, Tue, Wed and then Sat, Sun, Mon) and end up with a total of 8 days in a row off. Almost makes the overtime worth it, y'know?! It was best that we were home this past week, anyway. Gotta look on the bright side! (Don't you just HATE perky people!)

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

I dehydrated 4 tomatoes, 6 okra pods, 18 hot peppers and 2 luffa to add to my stores, put shop shelf together for the pantry, filled a 20 cup bait order, watched two video tapes, drove six anchors for my greenhouse project and rolled 30 feet of yard grass for the worms. Since my retirement and divorce, thats a full days work. Slow ,Steady, Always Forward, Always Enjoyable. Sure glad I plotted my career to be here before I was 50 :>)

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Oh Polly...I feel sooo bad! I must have gotten my dates mixed up. I was getting ready to post a Happy Birthday to you 'cause I thought TODAY was your b'day and I happened to read this OTF chat first! YESTERDAY was your b'day!! So happy belated birthday from the queen of CRS!!! I like your present...the '64 Chevy. I'm not a fan of Chevrolet, but anything pre-1970 is a "real" vehicle :-)! I have a '64 Dodge custom sedan myself. Runs like a charm and gets 22 mpg. with a 318 motor. Was the truck you had the accident in the '64?? Thank goodness you're okay!!!!! Did you hollar at that lady to "get out of Dodge" :-)!!?

I haven't been online much at all lately and most definitely not typing much! Had to wear a brace on my left hand/wrist for awhile after my graceful tumble with the water bucket. Milking with one hand is a pain in the you-know-where!! Things seem to working better now although I still can't flex the first joint in my thumb. But I don't seem to miss that too much!

We've been canning tons of tomatoes and making pickles the past week or so. We're only two people...who the heck is gonna eat all this food!!?? But when the garden is producing so well I just feel that I HAVE to do something with the veggies. The pigs are getting lots of squash and green beans now. I've froze all I need...I think! We picked up our side of beef for this year last weekend. It weighed 305 lbs. 70 lbs. of that was hamburg!! Seemed like alot of ground beef to me, but we also got lots of steaks, roasts and stew meat. Today I cut up and froze 10 lbs. of beef suet for the birds this winter. I also have a 10 lb. beef brisket that I will be corning tomorrow. All totalled up, our beef costs us $1.95 a pound this year...up about 13 cents from last year!! We still have a pig (which will dress out about 170 lbs.) and six turkeys to put in the freezer. Our 23 cu. ft. chest is full so today we're headed out to buy another...probably a 15 cu. ft. chest.

Days are starting to cool off here...finally! Leaves are just starting to change, especially on the poplars and the virginia creeper. Everyone says leaves will be changing earlier and faster this year because of the drought! I think winter will be early this year...I noticed that my goats are growing their winter coats already!! BTW...I've seen several wooly bear catapillars this year that have NO black on them. They're just all brown! What does that mean???

Both my does came into heat last week and my buck did his "job"! At least, I HOPE he got the job done :-)! I'll know in another 18 days or so. February kids for me next year, but I like early babies. Cold weather never seems to bother goat kids and I can hit the meat market right. I'll be sending my nubian buck to the market this fall, also. I just can't seem to get the case of founder cleared up with him. He spends most of his time on his knees! But it sure didn't affect his "performance"! I know this is not foot rot since my other goats never have a problem, but I'm tired of fighting it!!

Sheepish...sounds like your trip was fantastic!! I'd love to see the Grand Canyon someday. I don't know about rafting down the Colorado, though! We have some friends here that are STILL trying to talk us into rafting the Allagash wilderness in northern Maine...no thanks :-)!!

Well, I guess I'd better get off my a** and get some work done!! Where to begin is the question. I'll probably go downstairs, look around and think to myself "Hmmm..now where would Polly begin?"

Have a good week!!!

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Nah, Marcia - you're correct, it's today. Gettin' old! Lessee - only, only, ummm... 23 more years, to retirement! We were driving John's brand new (okay - 2 month old) 2002 Dodge Dakota when we got hit - and, wonder of wonders - he took it much better than I did. Trust me - I was ready to get the he** outa Dodge, nobody had to tell me to go! It's supposed to be fixed by Wednesday - thankfully, she had the same auto insurance that we do, so everything was covered.

I like the older vehicles too - I still lust after a 1960's era Rambler myself! Maybe someday, when Hubs retires and needs something to do! Can't wait to get my hands on my new old truck - don't believe that I've ever had a Chevy before, tho I did have a little GMC truck for a few years. It's a bit bigger than anything I've driven before, excepting neighbor Mike's farm truck; and that scared me silly a couple of times - something to do with the stabilizers. Since it's been sitting for a few years, it needs a good scrubbing and some seat covers, but it still looks pretty solid and it's old enough that Hubs feels confident working on it. I'm just going to be thrilled to have a dump bed - I may still have to shovel sh** into it, but at least I won't have to shovel it out!! The sale barn, a local harness racing stable and my friend with horses all have loaders, so I may just get snooty about where I go to get it! Gotta do something in deference to my old age, y'see...

Things are really coming together farm-wise. The guys have finally said they will give up their GMO corn and Round-up ready beans, so we're going to go to a rotation. Wheat this fall (Oh Boy! Straw!), followed by either alfalfa or mixed hay (Oh Boy! Hay!) on the big field; open pollinated field corn in the tiny one. Unc says he'll keep an eye out for some bottle calves next spring (he lives up among the Amish), so we'll feed some to them, and some for the chickens. Haven't decided whether to use the combine or look for an ear corn picker yet. I'm gonna get me that barn yet!

Well, me and Slurp are off for a nap on the porch - Jessie and I had turkey for lunch and the trytophan is working on me; I'm about to doze off at the keyboard! Y'all take care,

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Happy birthday Polly. Sorry, my eyes arn't what they used to be.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Hmmm...so the old Ramblers are your "thing", Polly! What a coincidence!! Harry had a 1961 Rambler station wagon (really ugly car) back when we met in high school. But it sure was dependable and once the back seat was folded down...well, it was quite "comfortable" also!!!! I can remember one night after a party, we stopped at a 5 and 10 cent store (anyone remember those...with the lunch counters?) and Harry pulled up just a little too close to a concrete barrier and knocked the R off the front of the car. From then on the Rambler was an Ambler!! Guess that's enough of the "down memory lane" stories :-)!!

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

hey Wildman, I like your philosophy. I feel REALLY comfortable in this house.

We actually have a counter that everything gets put on. If it's on the table, it gets moved to the counter. I do have a basket on this counter for important papers but I have to separate them from the junk before it gets put there. Funny thing is, I had them make the island into the counter so we could eat off of it. HA!!

Polly, I think if I wasn't afraid of killing the family with bacteria, I would have a larger garden and spend more time there then with the goats. Now that the feeder is done, it's a breeze to care for them. Okay, I'm now planning on enlarging the barn but...

Marcia, are you sure your buck doesn't have CAE? Effects front knees first. Just a thought.

Oh, I want a puppy. I stopped pushing for the little pickup truck. I figured if I can get a good amount for these goat babies, I could buy it without my husband saying too much. Also, I've been hinting and haven't really gotten a totally negative response from him. He was upset the most when Crystal died which surprised me since I didn't think he even liked her. He wasn't raised with animals and said no more dogs when she went. I've always had dogs and birds and fish and hamsters; guinea pigs; rabbits; horse... city boy.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Happy Birthday Polly!

Welcome back, Sheepish! We do want to hear the details of your trip!

Well, as I posted at the very end of the last chat thread, I bought two old chairs this weekend, and I ended up getting a seatless chair for my mom too (needs re-caning, anyone want to do that?). On the way to pay for and pick up my chairs, I spotted another yardsale, so I went back there after getting the chairs. I ended up with an old wooden medicine chest (to hang on the wall), with a towel bar underneath, and an unusual wooden file cabinet. It has two file drawers at the bottom, but then another drawer above, same width but only half as deep; and above that, there are two small drawers on the left side and 3 even smaller on the right side (about the size for index cards). It's really cool and will go next to my desk -- I need the storage.

I took my dog to the dog park yesterday evening. She did SO well -- didn't start any fights, even played with several other dogs -- so she got to run off leash. Which is great, because it exercises her far more than I can do walking her on a leash (even when she tries to chase the bunnies). She stayed in my vicinity, stopped and waited for me when she got too far ahead, came when I called her, etc. WOW! What an improvement over how she was just six months ago. My life may become more normal now.

Her digestion is doing better now too. I am ordering a "fermented" food, it's meat, veggies, and fruit (and some supplements) -- NO GRAIN! I'm convinced that the grain was causing her all sorts of problems. She loves the food, looks great, and I am wondering if this is contributing to her more mellow attitude. Of course, it isn't cheap, but it really isn't that much more than the "premium" food I was feeding her before. And boy, is it worth it, no more diarrhea and vomiting, no stinky farts -- we're both very happy.

Now I just have to get her integrated with the cats. They are probably going to be harder to convinvce than the dog!

I think fall arrived this past weekend. Although today hit the mid- 70's (lovely weather all around my friends' wedding, but it HAD to rain that day -- sheesh!).

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Dee...I never thought about the CAE possibility! I do know that I have trimmed...and trimmed and dug around in his feet looking for any sign of infection or abcess. I sure must look pretty funny out there in my barn with his feet right up to my nose while I try to "smell" out a rotten odor :-)!! I've also soaked them in a weak bleach/water solution. Haven't tried the antibiotic route yet. That's always my last resort!! This buck was given to me when he was 6 wks. old. He's now 2½ yrs. and a real sweetheart! I had a doe several years ago that was CAE positive from the time I had her first tested at 1½ yrs. I finally sold her at 10 and she still exhibited NO symptoms. Guess that's why I hadn't given CAE a thought!! Too bad he can't talk and tell me where it hurts :-)!!

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2002

Thanks for the birthday wishes!! They just get better every year! There for a while (in my 20's), I was about ready to quit having them - got married on my birthday, had a miscarriage on my birthday, got divorced on my birthday, got pregnant on my birthday, house got broken in to on my birthday....things are much better now!

So, anyone want to know what all I did yesterday?! BWHAHAHAHHA!!

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2002

Happy Belated Birthday Polly! Was your birthday on Monday or Tuesday? Keith's birthday was yesterday, the 17th, must be a good week. Now he gets to be the same age as me for 2 months, then in November I go back to being the older woman. :)

My kitchen floor is being replaced today. Keith is at home supervising and I'm at work stressing. The builder is replacing the vinyl in the kitchen, hall, half bath, and utility room because it was defective. But in order to get the old vinyl out and the new vinyl in they're having to take out our water heater, washer, dryer, toilet, stove, fridge, and dishwasher. Now you know why I'm stressing! I'm just sure that something is going to go wrong somewhere in the process.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2002

No Polly, you STILL wear me out. But that may be because I've got a cough like no one's business, one of those tearing bronchial things. I'm currently drinking anything I can put hot water into to see if I can kill it. I'm heating water for Gypsy Cold Cure at the moment.

So, since we're leaving the summer season and heading into the cold season, anyone have any favourite surefire cures? This is one of those awful bronchial things, altho now it's starting to stuff my head up a bit since I think that the Sambucol is maybe helping kill it. I've been chuffing down the Yin Qiao, slurping a chinese herbal cough syrup, drinking liquid vitamin C, as well as dosing with Benzonatate caps from the allopathic doctor, and taking hits off the albuterol.

But a Happy Belated Birthday to Polly just the same!

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2002

Homemade chicken soup and an old-fashioned warm air vaporizer always work for us, Julie!! Seems to help with all types of colds and sinus problems. I still have a vaporizer (I don't think they even call them that anymore!) that Harry's mom gave me from when he was a kid...many moons ago :-)!! Sure hope ya feel better soon!!!!!

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2002

julie, yikes. Your condition sounds nasty. I only know of the two- hat trick, and that usually makes one feel worse the day after! (1) Nail a hat to the wall opposite your sick bed; (2) Take a bottle of whiskey to bed with you and drink until you see two hats... (I suppose any "germs" theoretically must be killed by all the alcohol!)

I'm slammed getting caught up at work, getting Mr. S. "ready" to go back to school (i.e., getting chores done for me!), and getting my own stuff done. Why did we invite company for the next two weekends, too? Hmm... still have strawberries, beans, squash, etc, etc, etc,...

I miss you folks and will probably drop in over the weekend. Hi to all.

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2002

Julie, sounds like you could have an infection, which would require something to kill it. As you know, lung infections can be serious. I personally dont use antibiotics, and anyway colloidal silver has always worked just as well for us, without killing all beneficial bacteria.

I would also use olive leaf; almost as good as silver, and doesn't seem to freak people out as much, although I've never understood why it scares people in the first place.

-- Anonymous, September 21, 2002