Over the Fence Chat Jan. 5th--11th

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

I've tried to enter this OTF chat a couple of times but...no go!!! What's going on?? Have I been "black-balled" 'cause I've been MIA for so long??!!

Anyways...I'm so so sorry for not being here! Long story and too boring for you folks. I know we all have our problems and mine aren't any more important than yours!! One thing for sure is that I've finally found out why Christmas has always been so depressing for me :-)!

I had a much longer OTF chat already entered, but when I got the "ouch" response...I lost it! So, til I'm sure that this one will be entered, I guess I wont write too much here...but I'll be back!!!!

And...it's sure good to be "back"!!

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2003

Answers

It's wonderful to have you back, Marcia! Please do 'bore' us with your story........very snoopy people like me want to know!

And by the by, what's with this "I don't deserve it" stuff on that other thread?! You most certainly do deserve our attention! You are a dear sweet woman, and we missed you lots!

Isnt that new "ouch" thing annoying??

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003


Yeah, you have to put in "long" posts in several installments. Pain in the posterior! I could try editing posts and consolidating the several posts into one. Does anyone think that's a good idea?

We got a little over an inch of snow last night. First sticking snow since early in December. Another weird winter in Wisconsin!

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003


Joy...do ya think that this site is trying to tell us that we're all just big bags of hot air and that we shouldn't "talk" so much :-)??!!

Hey, we've had two wonderful snowfalls over the past couple of weeks! On Christmas day we got about a foot of snow and then last Sat. we got another 8 inches. Both storms were beautifully fluffy snow...very easy to shovel! Watching my horse and the goats playing and rolling in it just makes ya feel like a kid again. Harry had fun plowing paths for the chickens and the barn cats!!

My does are due in four weeks!! Can't wait to bottle-feed the goat kids again...plus having all that fresh milk, cream and butter.

Better enter this before it gets too long and I get "ouched"!!

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003


We still have no snow in the Twin Cities; doesnt bother me a bit. If I wasnt sad about global warming, I'd let myself be positively giddy about the fact that its supposed to be 48 friggin degrees tomorrow!

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003

It's really been snowing here. First we had about 8 inches, then an ice storm, then more snow 15 inches, and it's snowing now. Well, we are definitely out of the drought here!!

I was thinking (smell the smoke?) Do you think if we erase the archives we would have more room for posts? I know I'm starting to get frustrated when I write my ideas, dreams, whatever down and poof...

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003



Joy...maybe you could explain to someone who is totally out of the loop when it comes to computers (me!), why does this "ouch" thing happen?? I mean BTS isn't a very big forum and the archives aren't that huge either. Shouldn't there be tons of "space"? If I sound like I don't know what I'm talking about...I don't :-)!!

Passed a big milestone for me today! Something I'd been dreading for the past month or so. I had to go down and renew my driver's license before my birthday and this time I was required to take a vision test 'cause I'm getting OLD!! I actually passed!!! I don't need glasses to drive...yet! I got my new license and I'm in the clear for another six years :-)! Can you all hear my big sigh of relief??!!

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2003


I'm out of the loop, too, Marcia. I have no idea why the ouch thingie happens. It does say something about not being able to compress the message, but I don't know what that's all about.

-- Anonymous, January 07, 2003

Hello hello!!! Miss me at all? I have missed you alll a lot. Its busy days here at the homestead which isn't very homesteady now. :o( I miss my girls a lot especially the does. sigh. What with Ben and his school, work, the house blah blah blah I had to get rid of something and the animals were the only "non essential". Which sucks. They are at a smashing new home and doing fantastically well though (I have visited)and I kept the pultry so I still need to get out to the barn now and again. Still its kinda lonely with out the baaaa s. The store is doing ok. All else is fine and dandy. How about you all?

-- Anonymous, January 10, 2003

Hi Alison! I'm glad you checked in. I was wondering where you had gone off to. I'm glad everthing is going well.

-- Anonymous, January 10, 2003

Hey all! Golly gee but it’s good to get things back to normal! I helped Pop with his bath this morning, then fixed him some breakfast and set out his meds before I started buzzing around trying to obliterate the scene of the crime. What crime, did I hear you ask? Well, I’ll tell you, it’s just plumb criminal what a man left to batch it for 11 days can do to a house! Poor, poor Hubs! Ah well, the dishwasher is running, the clothes are carried down to the laundry room and the kitchen floor is freshly mopped - effectively trapping me in the computer room. Darn. (heeheehee - I’m getting my fix!)

From where I’m sitting, I can see snow falling gently outside the window; and the birds flocking to the freshly filled feeders. I couldn’t find the suet blocks that I bought (ran out of the homemade ones) so I sliced up some oranges and cracked some hickory nuts that we had gathered and stuck them in the suet baskets on the ends of the feeders instead. I took a pumpkin out of the store room and split it for the chickens, and took an apple and an ear of corn to Bun - I really missed my critters! And I think they missed us - poor old Boo- Boo Kitty is acting as though we abandoned him - he’s even trying to sleep on the foot of Pop’s bed, though he’s long known that that bed is off limits to cats.

-- Anonymous, January 10, 2003



Part 2 -

Pop is napping now; and I think I’m going to plop down on my bed with a book here soon and see how long I can keep my eyes open - not too long I bet! Sure feels funny to sleep horizontally! After Pop wakes up, he’s going to help me sort our garden seeds so that I can make a list of them - that way we can decide what to order for this year’s garden. More herbs (may get lazy and buy plants!) and more flowers (ditto); but I think I’ll cut back on the tomato varieties. The Daisy Farms catalog came today - where we buy our strawberry plants from - so we spent lunch time trying to figure out what we needed from there. So far: 500 each Jewel and Guardian strawberries, Purple Passion asparagus (still arguing over how many) and raspberries (still arguing over what kind!) Hubs, Uncle Ivan and Uncle Roger were sitting around Pop’s room up at St. John’s, mentally sorting through their junk…er, umm…stock piles of spare parts, I mean - figuring out how to build Pop some sort of a contraption to pick strawberries from. I was laughing too hard by the time they got to the one where he was suspended from a sling in front of the tractor to hear all the rest of it, but I think it’s given Pop the impetus to get better soon - BEFORE they get to building it!

-- Anonymous, January 10, 2003


The End...

Neighbor Mike stopped by this morning to aggravate Pop a bit (his Dad passed away a few years back and he’s adopted Pop for someone to grump at him). He’s thinking about getting back into hogs in a small way - very small, a dozen or so feeder pigs. Poor guy, grew up farming with his folks; but gave it up several years back - before he went broke, wisely enough. Now he’s just got a bit of land, like us; and is trying to figure out what to do with it. The Cooperative Extension Service is holding an Alternative Ag workshop near us in February - think maybe I’ll drag Mike along with us. Missouri sure does have what sounds like a good program - grants to try alternative ideas - some of the folks gave reports over at that farm show Hubs and I went to in November. Wonder if Illinois has anything like that? That would be one government sponsored (with my money) ag program I wouldn’t mind being a part of. I think I’d like to go with pastured beef, rotationally grazed and followed by hogs and chickens, maybe. Or fish in a hoop house. Bees - again. Oh dear - the bug is biting me again!! Which reminds me - Ali dear, I’m so glad to see you back again - missed you bunches! Glad to hear the store is doing okay - did you put a coffee bar in? - I can’t remember! I’m sorry that you miss your girls; but it seems to me that these things cycle. I did some homesteady stuff before Jes was born and for a bit after, then lived in town for 4 years with just a garden, then back to the country with a bigger garden, and now some critters, and plans for more…so hold fast, sweetie; you’re undoubtedly where you’re supposed to be for right now!

Well, darn; if I want that nap (and I do, I do!) I had probably better get to taking it now. You folks all take care, stay warm…

-- Anonymous, January 10, 2003


Welcome back, Alison!!! I sure missed my fellow "Northeasterner"! Is that a word :-)??

Polly...get some sleep! You most definitely deserve it!!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, January 10, 2003


Hi all,

I can't believe how busy everything has been for so long. I'm fatigued. It's nice to sit down and read these posts and get caught up on all your adventures. I'm just getting started...I figure I have at least a month's worth of posts to view!

We have a new inside-only kitty (12 y/o boy we adopted from a local vet clinic). He's great. Mr. S. had to put down our old rooster a week or so ago. Guess our critter count nets out to the same.

Saw LOR 2 Towers. WOW!!!!!!! I see there's a post I'll have to visit here.

Hope everyone is healthy, safe, and warm. Pretty dry winter here...not too cold, not much rain. We're healthy, even if tired.

-- Anonymous, January 11, 2003


Welcome back to the wanderers -- Sheepish and Allison.

Three days ago, we had weather in the 50's, now we're topping in the teens. What fun!

I got my Jung's catalog recently. I'm trying to come up with a garden plan without going overboard. I'm going to try to only grow a few tomatoes this year. I couldn't use them all up fast enough. I gave away lots of Juliets (the most prolific), but I will probably grow them any way because I loved them, and the recipients of the excess really liked them too.

I'm eating lots of yellow crookneck squash on my new way of eating. I really like it, better than zucchini. Does anyone have any experience growing it and any recommendations? I think Jung's has a bush variety, which is probably better for my purposes. With a bush squash, do you need to use support, like a tomato cage?

-- Anonymous, January 11, 2003



Moderation questions? read the FAQ