I had big plans for today. I wasn't going to be detered. I was going to get that pond done....

Well, the kitchen floor looks dirty. It will only take a little while to clean. Okay, it still doesn't look clean. I have all the furniture moved, I could try this new wax stripper. Lets see... Lay a thin layer and scrub with brush, pick up with mop, clean with fresh water. I can do this, I have two mops and three buckets, a scrub brush....

WHAT WAS I THINKING?????

Hubby came in and helped. He scrubbed while I picked up and cleaned. Took half the time. Followed with Future shield. Second coat in 8 hours (guess what I'm gonna be doing before going to bed tonight?)

Pond? What pond?

Hey, I did clean up the area in my front pond. I had put down weed guard but weeds grew anyway. My husband suggested that we use the rubber that we used for the pond. I put it down and then put chips over. Looks great. Will get more rubber to finish the rest of the bed in front of the house tomorrow. (hubby gets scrapes for free from a roofing company) Nothing is going to grow through that stuff.

I am only going to be working on day a week through the summer so hopefully I'll be able to get more stuff done. Still want to seperate my goat area into three pens, an acre each. I have to move the one side of the horse's fence since it is on the neighbors property. I want to add a 10x10 section onto my barn. I want to clean out the chicken coop and put supplies in there. I want to landscape the backyard....

And I want to relax and read in my hammock...

So, what did you do today?

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2003

Answers

Harvested 1000 cups of bait, picked the garden and mowed an acre of worm hay for the outside beds. Now to go soak in the jacuzzi with my chicken, steak strip , steamed vegetables and muscodine wine goblet floating on the tray with the G I Joe commando dingy glued to the bottom of it and watch a DVD.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2003

Two of our duck hens decided to nest at our neighbor's a while back. Yesterday, the two hens bravely led their little combined flock across the big open pasture, past at least 6 or 7 cats, crows, rams, and nasty drakes, and brought them home. I spent a good part of the morning herding them (slowly) back into the poultry yard where they could at least have a little more safety. I filled up the plastic pool and secured the bottoms of the fences. I had a little trouble counting (those little ones move fast), but I think we have 21 new ducklings!!!

Mr. S. and I then spent most of the rest of the day at/in our friends' wedding and party afterwards. They live on Puget Sound, so we had a nice ceremony on her deck beside the water. It was cloudy and a bit cool, but since the temperatures have been in the high 80s consistently lately, it was a nice change. After missing our ferry and getting stuck behind a horrendous traffic jam from an accident on the freeway, we got home around midnight. I'm still too full to even think about a meal. We had lamb with Rainier cherry sauce; salmon with herbs, potato salad with chevre and basil (yum); good fresh greens and dressing; lots of other stuff, including golden watermelon (which I had never seen). Anyway, I'm pretty boggy and draggy this morning. Should be a real fireball at work today (yeah, right).

Got tons of strawberries to pick/put up. Also cherries. My fall root crops are starting to come up; corn is at least 3' high; gotta pull up the garlic in the next couple of days. Getting dry out here...

Have a good week all.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2003

Sat around and did a lot of thinking/meditating yesterday. Was quite a treat, to have nothing I HAD to get done, and enjoyed the heavenly sunshine. Last evening Lotus and I went to see "Pirates" and had a good time, drooling over Johnny Depp.......pant pant........... Had to sit a bit too close to the screen cuz the place was packed, so couldn't make out some of the action stuff.

Today I'm going to check out a Tuesday grocery store auction preview near here; have several things I could use in my new place. We have signed a purchase agreement, have the loan in the works (banker said it looked like a pretty straightforward deal), and we are on our way!! Terrifying and exciting and insane! But what the hell, we could be dead tomorrow; why not have a blast today! I'm over my years of conservatism (relatively anyway) that felt right while parenting, and back to my old crazy self. I LOVE it when people's eyes widen when we tell them the location of our building!

It will be interesting to see if I can get my mom to come help out once in awhile; after all she's an excellent baker, and can even be fun to work with as long she behaves herself (!), but I have my doubts she will venture over to my colorful neighborhood. There is a gay Christian church at the other end of our block too! Very cosmic! I reminded her on the phone the other day that one of her favorite stores, a Scandinavian deli/gift store, is only blocks away, and has remained where it is all these years, through the turmoil this neighborhood has experienced though the 90's, and she had no retort. The neighborhood is actually on its way up, unless the GW cabal gets re-elected in which case we all could be in deep economic doo-doo, and in the midst of a renewal, so combined with the piddly interest rates is an excellent time to buy. Even if the business turned out to be a bust, we're still making a good real estate investment, so the business is just gravy, and I'm convinced we can take it as far as we want.

Since we are making pizzas and baked goods for the gluten-intolerant and low-carbers, we are basically a bakery who uses no flour! We have appropriately named our company "Madwoman Foods", which is interesting also because Bren and I originally met while both being members of a long-defunct collective in Seattle named "Madwoman Bookstore." Cosmic!

My brother-in-law, of whom I am very fond, has started a new business as well, but I think he's lost his mind! He has always been interested in food and cooking; I've had lots of good times with him in the kitchen, and he always threatened to start a catering company or somesuch. He's in data processing like my sister and Bren, hates it even more than they do. Well he has been working at Pillsbury for quite some time, making lots of money but hating his job, when he got layed off this spring, with a severance package of SIX MONTHS FULL PAY! It was like a gift from heaven; he can play all summer and get paid big time! So does he start his dream business? Nope, he's trying to market some goofy ass invention that you put in your shoe to keep your feet cool!! Totally off the wall to me anyway. He gets hot feet all the time, which is probably curable nutritionally, so he thinks lots of other people have the same problem! It's difficult not to burst into hysterics when listening to him talk about this thing cuz he sounds so sincere. It's got like a tiny fan in it or something!

Well I must "to the shower"; the big dog is drivin me crazy hangin on me cuz she senses a storm coming. Like I can do something about it! Bye all!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2003

Work 'n sleep 'n work and sleep....I gotta learn me a new song one of these days! One day a week!! Whimper, moan, snivel....

Em, sounds exciting!!

Jay, what do you package your bait in for sale, the flattish round styro cups? Don't ask me why I need to know this, it's just one of those things that popped into my head and won't go away! I dropped my card into a raffle thingy at a worm booth at a sustainable farming thing, and the gentleman has called several times; right now, I just don't have the time to get into it in a big way, or even to research it to see if it would be feasible in this area. I would like to resurrect the worm bin under the sink tho - altho I'd have to make a new bin, since the original has blackberries growing in it right now... So, how did your "instant raised bed garden" thing you were doing work out? That sounded like such a neat idea, too!

We made it through Aunt Loretta's funeral last week; the preacher mentioned her name maybe twice in an hour long (ack!) service and the rest of the time was a "call for salvation" - annoyed us enough that we forgot to be sad, at least right then! The family is getting along okay; and many thanks to you all for thinking of us - it really helps!

Tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, just one here and there; and I expect the sweet corn that I got out early will be ready by the weekend. Unc thinks he will probably pick the oats sometime late this week or early next week; he has spent all week working on the old red combine to get it ready to go. We are selling the oats to Joe, an Amish friend of Unc's, for feed for his horses; and Joe is going to loan us his baler to bale the straw if we can't find a local person, since the guy that was supposed to bale it (heh heh heh) bailed on us. Now I've just got to clear out space under the canopy to stack the straw - Unc says we might not have much of an oat crop, but as tall as they are, we're sure to have a pretty good straw crop! I don't care if we sell any of it - I have visons of 2'deep mulch everywhere next garden year!

We got 2 2/10ths inches of rain last Wednesday; filled up all the tanks and got things looking green again. I don't think that I'll plant pole beans and corn together again, as neither one of them looks nearly as good as the beds where they are planted separately. The squash in the centers of the bean beds are looking a bit spindly right now as well, since the beans are starting to shade them quite a bit. My sweet peas are still blooming, but have set on a lot of seed pods and some of them are beginning to dry - anybody want some mixed purple/pink/white, 4' tall, fragrant, sweet pea seeds when they are ready?!

We have a gentleman coming out next week (Neighbor Mike's boss) to give us an estimate on a pond. Our poor old well has just about had it - not that the water was very good in any case! I had been harping on putting in a cistern, but Hubs pointed out that we could probably build a fairly nice pond for the same amount of $$$ ($7,500 for a cistern, sans guttering, pump and water lines) and that it would hold a heck of a lot more water, improve our property values, allow us to harvest fish and turtle, and maybe even provide a nice place to swim or paddleboat. I didn't take much convincing! So, we'll see what Randy has to say, and take it from there. I have been carrying in water from the tank and heating it on the stove to take my baths - Pop calls them "helmet baths". I had a brand new small pump up sprayer that is now my rinse device....I think Hubs is getting ready to design me one that uses a larger pump up sprayer with some flexible tubing .... Pop is griping about it being old fashioned and make do, but at least my skin and head have quit itching from the build up of chemicals in the well water! And this is the same guy who said he'd just keep doing his laundry in well water, but carries it downstairs each wash day for me to run through the wringer washer....

Well shoot, this isn't nearly as yackety as my normal posts, but I'm pretty well zonked; and have to get up at 5am for a day shift at the hospital tomorrow (how the hell did THAT happen?!), so I reckon I'd better close for now. You folks all take care this week,

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2003

I'M NEVER MOVING HOUSE AGAIN!!!! Oh my Gods, what a week! There were no major disasters but everything we've done has had some sort of glitch to it. My little control-freak self has been severely stressed.

Polly, 2 2/10ths inches of rain is nothing. In the 6 days from July 4th-9th we got 12 inches of rain! And it's raining again right now! On Wednesday I went up to the new house to finish stripping wallpaper and sanding cabinet doors and found 4" of water in the basement. Of course, the basement was where I doing the sanding so all of the newly-sanded cabinet doors and Keith's dad's random-orbit sander were soaked. The waterproofing company had been scheduled to start work on Thursday but they got behind schedule due to the rain, so they rescheduled to start on Monday. Yesterday they show up, work for about an hour before deciding they need a different type of jackhammer to bust up the concrete, leave to go get it and never come back. Before they left they did inform me that they're going to have to rip out a foot-tall section of drywall all around the perimeter of the room, something the guy who did the estimate forgot to mention. I think I'm going to have to watch "The Money Pit" again. :)

Did I mention that U-Haul didn't have a truck available for us on Saturday, even though I had reserved it with my credit card a month in advance......Grrr!

But the land is incredible, and overwhelming! :)

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2003

Hi everyone! Gosh...I've been awol so long it feels like I should re-introduce myself :-)!! I'm not going to bother explaining, too involved. All I can say is why does all this "stuff" have to drop like a bomb into a person's life when that person happens to be going through a rather difficult physical time??!!

After reading several of the older OTF chats (trying to catch up on everyone's news!), I want to say how sorry I am for you, Sandy, on the loss of your baby!!! It's a very difficult thing to get through. I lost a baby myself on Apr. 19, 1990 (our anniversary). I was 9 wks. along and the doctor had no explanation for it. Just one of those things, I guess. And Polly, my condolences to you on the loss of your aunt. It's so hard to lose a close family member...I truly envy the closeness your family shares!!

j.r., I hope the hurricane hasn't washed you out to sea!!!! And Sherri...you must be in the process of moving right now! Good luck :-)!

My MIL has finally decided to have a well drilled. She's always had a hand-dug well which has almost dried up on her several times. We've had a very dry summer. Now with an artesian well she wont have to worry about that anymore!! And my mom is still going through stress tests to find out if she can handle hip replacement surgery. What I don't understand is that one of her doctor's says that, on a scale of 1 to 10, her "risk" is #3 (10 being the worst) for general anesthesia. I don't think that's a bad risk! But I guess the final decision is up to the surgeon. Why?? He's getting paid no matter what happens!! And of course, all my mom can say to me is "why can't you come down and stay with me?!!" I think, in my next life, I'm not gonna have any parents or kids :-)!!

We're really enjoying our new boat...a real bright spot in our lives! It's very comfortable and cruises along nicely. The furthest we've been is to Vinalhaven (a large island off the coast here). But, ya know, we've been catching ALL our fish (mackeral) right on our mooring!! The crabbing has been good, too. Our fish finder tells us that there are lots of BIG fish down deep, and just when we get into them, along come the dolphins and they chase them away!! I know those big fish are either stripers or blues!!! Frustrating!

The gardening here has been good...so far. I've had to water religeously, but now I'm planting second crops of peas and beans. My watermelon, canteloupe and eggplant really love the weather we've been having. I think I'm gonna have a bumper crop of eggplant, and since I can't freeze it, I think I'll make several batches of eggplant parmesean and freeze that. Anybody else have a good eggplant recipe that will freeze well??

Gotta go, I guess. We have an elderly customer's car that we have to deliver. And, dang it, I have more to "gab" about!! Oh well...have a good week, everyone! And it's sure nice to be back here and communicating again :-)!!

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2003

I use the pint size plastic deli cups and code them to indicate the day of week they're packaged by using 7 different container colors.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2003

gee it's nice to see you back, Maricia! Missed you!! Gab away!

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2003

Thanks E.M....both to you AND Polly!!!

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2003

Just peeking in . . .

Well, that hurricane / tropical storm forced me to postpone the vacation until next week . . . every plan I came up with bumped with Claudettes route. We were scheduled to be in Victoria, Texas the morning of the day Claudette did her thing to it. And get plenty of competition with hotels from evacuees.

So we just wised up, and postponed until next week. Hardly a drop of rain down here too.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2003

j.r...as I was watching the national news last night about Claudette, I was wondering if any of the people they interviewed was you :-)!! Did anyone see the news segment where the wind blew that garage away??

Glad you weren't in harm's way!

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2003

JR, lucky for you you had the option of postponing! Would have been a serious bummer if the dang storm would have taken your only chance of a vacation week! So glad to hear y'all are ok.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2003

Glad to hear that everything is okay with you folks, JR. I've been watching the weather news and hoping for news that you all were safe. Thanks for letting us know!

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2003

Anyone alive out there??

Calling all sheep/goat folks (or those who know some). I have a doohinghy for restraining sheep that I found in a box today. Anyone need one? I'll slip it in an envelope for anyone who wants it! They work great for an extra hand with uncooperative sheep. Looks like this:

http://www.ascott-shop.co.uk/item52.htm

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2003

I'm here. Just got back from the San Juan Islands. Just in time to water and weed, and plant and pick, and on and on.

Hi everyone. Hope all is well.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2003