SECOND POST: I GOT AN AWARD!!! WOOHOOO

I can't tell you how cool I think it is that I can create and maintain a blog where other people can read about what I am doing, give me hints and advice, let alone people from all around the world.

I keep track of many blogs and one of them is Peggy's blog. Peggy lives in Ireland!!! which is what makes it all the more cool. Peggy thank you so much for the award but also for following my blog. I love yours too and it is at the top of my blog list.

Sunday Chores and Slow Sourdough

Well, my sourdough starter has done nothing. I am convinced that I can salvage it. So I fed it and I poured it back and forth from one container to another for oxygen. If this doesn't work I will go online and resort for purchasing a dry starter.

Ok tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. As of 3pm or so I will be at my sisters house watching all the pre game hype. Oh Come On. You all know I am an avid Cowboy fan. But who can not watch the Super Bowl? You know most women watch it for the commercials.

But before I can even think about going over I have farm chores to do and also I have to get ready and pack for my trip to NC to see my son and his wife; sooooo you all guessed it. I am posting my to do list for tomorrow.

1 (the hardest one) don't touch the computer
2 start laundry (STARTED)
3 wash the seed starting tray (DONE)
4 move the failed winter garden frame out to the garden area. I will use this as a support for another climbing veggie. (DONE)
5 pick up trash in the front yard and fill the bird feeders (DONE)
6. ! take the lids off of all the latex paint cans. This will dry the insides so the paint can be peeled off. As an alternative cook plan, i am keeping 4 empty paint cans and will put holes along the top and bottom. These will hold fire and a pan can be placed on top to cook. (DECIDED THIS COULD WAIT)
7 move brush from around the wild plums to the burn pile (DONE!)
8 rake up the comost into one large pile. or move it to another location (DONE)
9 drill holes in the lid of the new seed tray (DONE)
10 clean the chicken house
11 clear out the area under the shelves by the chicken house.
12. move one set of shelves there.
13 load all actual tools into my new tool box and move that out onto those shelves
14 box remaining firewood and place on the front porch
15 make celery sticks/cream cheese for the party
16 water the pine trees (DECIDED THIS COULD WAIT)
17 pack my suit case (DELAYED UNTIL MONDAY PM)
18 clean out car, my purse and my wallet (DELAYED UNTIL MONDAY PM)
19 pay the bills (WILL DO THIS ON MY LUNCH BREAK ON MONDAY)

Well the very first thing of course is homemade pancakes for the grand kids with warm honey butter, and a side dish of spam and eggs. Cold orange juice and cold milk.

Yes it is a lot and you all know I won't complete the full list. But you know what? Most of this is outside and it is going to be a beautiful day tomorrow and while I am doing this.....I will be listening to the sound of my grand kids laughing running and playing.

THE WISDOM OF GRANDKIDS

JAYDEN: NANNA YOU HAVE A SPIDER IN YOUR HAIR

NANNA: THAT SPIDER BETTER GET OUT OF MY HAIR OR I WILL SPANK HIM

JAYDEN: YOU CAN'T SPANK A SPIDER

NANNA: WHY?

JAYDEN: HIS HINEY IS TOO SMALL

gotta love grand kids

BURGERS AND WINGS

All I can say is I wish you were all here for dinner.

I don't know if it is because I am so hungry, or if this beef is just that good.

I had to work til 8:45. Got home at 9:45 (yuk) and I was starving.

I didn't feel like cooking anything complicated. So I decided on burgers. Not the kind on the grill...that would have taken too much time getting the charcoal ready. The fried in the pan kind. With a slice of cheese on top. Not served on a bun but with a bed of brown rice and soy sauce. Holy Cow I wish you were here!

This is the next to the last package of Rehoboth Ranch meat. Time to place an order.

Now on to the wings.....

When I left for work I peeked out back and what did I see? My beautiful white chicken walking around the back yard trying to figure out how to get back in the hen house. Well I knew she needed her family and there was no way this old girl is up to chasing a young chicken around so I simply opened the hen house. Stud Muffin came running out, went straight to her...scolding her madly for being such a wild woman and then his growls instantly turned to coooing as he found her some tiny greens growing in front of the hen house.

Her sisters came running out right after trying to find out what the hoopla was all about. So you know what time it is....time to clip the wings.

ha ha....you thought I meant the eatin kind didn't ya???

Anyway, just before I cooked dinner I got my gear together. Flash light...check Candy Striped scissors that I got from Pea in Peggy's stocking swap this Christmas....check

I went to the hen house and found everybody safe and sound...shut the door front and back cause it was down right chilly. Then I turned off the hen house light. Turned on the flash light and hid it under the nest boxes. Stud Muffin began to softly growl at me. A tiny mousie ran from his hiding place under the nests and down his hole. I started with my white beauty and softly picked them up one by one. They hardly made a noise...just a slightly offended sound at being picked up in their sleep...then little sleepy sounds as I carefully spread out one wing and clipped the flight feathers. Just one wing remember. If you cut both they can still fly.

The last one was fat lazy (smart) Oreo...who had decided to sleep in the nest box on top of her egg....hmmmm...I will have to watch that. Then I gathered my one egg....turned the light back on and left. My job was done without so much as a squak; Stud Muffin however crowed twice as I walked away...then he realized it was too early to wake up the sun and went back to sleep.

Cool night. The house is mine but dirty. Not sure if I have enough energy to wash dishes and clean the living room. When I came home there were newspapers scattered all over the floor. They had been stacked neatly when I left and I wondered what had happened.

About half way through dinner Flash came tearing into the kitchen with his ears back, his tail poofed and his "I am the lion king" look on his face. He reversed and tore into the living room (scattering the newspapers) up on to the couch, along the back, down my recliner and back down the hall....question answered.

Have a blessed day

NEW PROJECT; POTATOS

I got out my Irish Eyes seed catalog and on page 13 are plans for something I already knew but I like step by step instructions.

Grow 100 lb of potatos in 4 SQ FT!

You will need: 6 2"x6"x8' boards
1 2"x2"x10' boards
96 2.5" wood screws
2-4# of seed potatos per box
1 soaker hose
NOTE: you can use pine, cedar, redwood or pressure treated lumber that has been treated with copper sulfate which is non toxic.

Step#1--Cut the 2x2 into 4 lenths of 30"
Cut the 2x6's into 12 lengths of 21" AND 12 lenghts of 24"

Step 2 would work better if I could show you the pic; I would suggest ordering a free catalog from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds but here it goes;
assemble 4 of the 2x6's and the 4 2x2's with the 2x6 on the outside...it will look like an upside down table with the legs sticking up. You fill the inside with dirt and plant the potatos seeds. Coil the soaker hose and let the potatos grow until the plant is 12 inches over the top of the board.
Then add 4 more 2x6 boards on the outside....fill with dirt up to 1/3 of the height of the plant. Leave it grow the same as before.
There will be 6 layers. The instruction say to harvest from the bottom but that sounds like a pain. I say take out all the screws, dig through the dirt with your hands to harvest the potatos, and salvage the dirt, mix with compost and start again.

In TX it gets pretty hot. I say stack bales of straw around the outside to insulate and keep cool. Fire Ants might be a problem as they will see this a airconditioned condo. Treat around the outside to make entry unfavorable.

Storage is the next thing. Nothing stays cool at my house in TX. I don't run my a/c unless I am having a heat stroke.

COLD MORNING--YUMMY BREAKFAST (more pics added)

Wow we were really in a deep freeze here this morning. Ok for all of you under sub-zero temps elsewhere in the world....deep freeze TX style is in the 20's. We had freezing rain from 5pm yesterday mixed with sleet until 3am or so.

I know it causes accidents because people don't get smart and stay home but it really is beautiful. I know it can't be seen clearly in the photos but the trees look like they are made out of glass.

It was so cold and gross out that we brought the outside kitty inside. Her name is Fat Girl and she is a very wonderful kitty. She kills rats by the dozens and brings them to you as whole gifts...not in pieces. She purrs and happy feets if you just look at her. She has "lovey eyes" when you look at her. And she was soooo appreciative of being in the warm house.

Got the fire going easily this morning because of a wonderful bed of hot coals. Made coffee, emailed my boss to let him know that I could not make it in, checked emails and then made a great breakfast.

I know I shouldn't love this breakfast. But I do. Spam and Eggs. It is one of my favorites so I only have it about twice a year. You know that that kind of canned meat can not be that good for you. But mixing it with organic farm fresh eggs makes it better right???

Oh and take a good look at the eggs in the bowl. Note two things. The color of the yolk is light yellow instead of orange. This is because I have re-penned my free ranging hens until I get the garden fence put up. Next....look at the yolk on the right. It is not round but oblong. I just thought it was cool.

Ok so it doesn't take much to keep me entertained.

***Here are more pics from my walk about****

No Ice on the pond.

FINALLY FIRE!

Ok so as the rain started coming down harder, and the temps continue to drop, I realized I had unwinterized the back faucet and had to go out in the dark, cold and try to fix that. Too late! In the pouring wintery mix of rain, snow and sleet, I found that the hose was frozen onto the faucet. I could not find my channle locks to break it loose so all I could do was duct tape a thick towel around it to try and protect it.

During that I realized that ice was freezing in layers on everything. In this type of situation I could very well lose power from tree limbs falling onto power lines. I had to get that fire started.

I took 3 dry pieces of wood and put them in a bucket and poured kerosene on them and let them soak. During this I took ashes and scattered them on the front steps hopefully to keep them clear of ice. 15 min later I brought in the wood and voila! As I am getting ready to post, the wind is kicking up bad. Wind and frozen branches just don't mix.

Let there be fire!


Always having a fire makes me want to bake bread. Well instead I started a sourdough starter. My daughter will have to feed it to keep it alive while I am gone....and feed the chickens too. I am sure she will.




Thanks to Distinctly Different Homestead: FORGOTTEN COUSIN SOURDOUGH BREAD

FREEZING RAIN WARNING

Well they closed work today at 2pm. I expected it since we have ice storm warnings for N TX. I was scared to drive home but didn't encounter anything iced over...not even the High 5 at 75 and 635! I got home in 45 minutes but found that I had forgotten to bring in the starter wood and pine cones I use to start the fire in the stove. I have tried everything I can and can't get the fire started.

Last resort...I went to the garage to get kerosene and found that my can was missing.

So I am bundled up in sweats and socks and waiting for the starter wood to dry out.

In the mean time....dinner is a bowl of HOT home made lintel veggie soup with corn, okra, garlic, tomatoes, and lintels. And with that two pieces of hot home made corn bread.

Later I will make a pot of hot Mexican cocoa, and will watch the two movies I just got from Netflix....No Country for Old men, and In Pursuit of Happyness.

Outside it is still misting and drippy but the temp is at 33 degrees. It will start freezing soon I think...or snowing.

Great Battles; Great Courage

I am sitting watching the great final battle scene of Lord of the Rings; Return of the King and am thinking of mankind. No we never had monsters to battle of this sort, but mighty battles there have been in human history.

I am not debating the right or the wrong of them, simply the courage of men.

Have you ever thought how we came to be here? How many great battles have been fought. How many times have courageous men and women, filled with unmeasurable fear and terror, pushed that fear down inside themselves and pressed on?

We, the people of the United States of America stand "free" (as free as we allow ourselves to be) on the shoulders of those who fought and died in just such battles as these?

I really marvel at how we are made, the courage we have been built with. Not many of us will be called upon these days (at least those of us blessed to live in civilized countries) to have such courage.

Or will we?

How many single women out there battle fear each day as you step out into the world to make a living? We are after all built to be taken care of...yet we press on. We find ways to save money, buy little farms, or even just keep a job and pay the rent! Add to that the courage to attempt to raise a garden or a few chickens.....or if only to raise a few veggies in pots on the terrace.

What of the single mother of a disabled child who has found that she has cancer and wonders what of her child should she succomb?

How many men face the deep fears as they battle the corporate world so that their family can live in relative comfort? What fear they feel battling to keep their jobs so their loved ones at home do not have to live in fear?

What courage it must take, for those who are elderly and alone just to get up each day and wonder if anyone even remembers they are alive. Or to lay their heads down at night after their loved ones forgot to call them....and still praying for their well being and safety.

Please God don't ever let me forget.

COMFORT FOOD

As I sit here sick and bored and feeling sorry for myself, I got an email from my dad saying that he had cocoa for breakfast. Well my little "feel good" light bulb went off and I knew I would feel better with some homemade hot cocoa. Here is what I did. I found a recipe for Mexican Hot Cocoa and altered it.

3 sq of unsweetened baking chocolate
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t powdered ginger
1/2 t all spice
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cans water

heat until the chocolate melts and the whisk until steaming. Do not boil.

Make a pot of coffee while the cocoa is heating. Fill each cup with half coffee and half cocoa. Add a little evap milk if you want and enjoy.

I have got to say...this is the best comfort food I have ever made.

1/2 SICK DAY

Ok anyone who has read this blog for any amount of time knows how I feel about getting sick. It is a waste of time!! But here I am, home for a 1/2 sick day. That means I need to go to work this weekend and make up the hours. Did I tell you I have new neighbors? 2 moo and one whinneys.

Anyway, as soon as I pulled in the driveway I took two Tylenol Severe Congestion (for the cold part) 2 other pills for the other part. Then figured I had about an hour before I was either feeling better or half asleep from all the drugs.

So to keep myself busy I worked on cleaning out the garage. How does that thing get so dirty? Well I had never organized the left over shelves etc that came from my rental house. so I did that.

Then I cleaned out the turkey pen and added one of the salvaged windows in it so that the little chickens can look out. Everyone needs a picture window!

Then I found the missing shelves for the cabinets I put up in the chicken entry. Cleaned the chicken house, filled food and water.

One thing I found was this long box. Perfect for the LED grow box. I will price potting soil this weekend and drill the holes and add the lights to get ready to start tomatoes etc. I think I will have to re-arrange the kitchen counter.

I found a warming pad that I used for my snake. I will put that under the box to warm the dirt along with my heating pad. (don't know if that will work but I will try).

Now I am seriously regretting sweeping out the garage. I am coughing like crazy even with the cold meds. Think I will take a nap.

THE MEANING OF DREAMS

Some dreams just need to be immortalized.

Mine:

It was time for family reunion. Someone in our family had chosen the beach....during Hurricane Season. This was in bits and pieces.

I was floating in clear blue water...no land in sight..the most beautiful water I have ever seen. I was swimming with Heather (daughter) and Michelle Obama...(family?). I started swirling around..not sure what was causing that....and I could see that Heather was laughing because there was a school of barracuda's coming for her. She thought that was neat. More swirling....now I could see that a school of huge jelly fish was rubbing up against Michelle Obama as she floated clueless and smiling.
Scene change--
I was in the tiki bar for the hotel we were staying in....the hotel was at least 20 stories tall on a white sand beach. I was talking to Ron Wangler (family?) I was asking him why he only brough Lucie (his pooch) and not Pete (other pooch). He looked at me with a funny look and said, "Do you think I should go get him? The house is only 15 minutes away." Ok I have no clue how Ron came to live near the beach but I am soooo jealous!
Scene change....
I was standing on the beach looking out over the ocean at black clouds roiling in and thinking...oh this can't be good. From behind me an old man said, "It's only a CAT 2...don't worry." I turned to look at him and standing next to him was a boy about 10 yrs old (family?)
Scene change...
I was in the lounge where many people were partying to beat all with a huge big screen on the wall showing the radar of a very large hurricane heading for our hotel...how I could see our hotel on a radar I have no clue...but there it was.
Scene change....
I was in my room with the 10 yr old boy. His (grandfather?) was waiting for us in the stair well. We were there to get something...must have been something very important because outside all the bare (no curtains) windows the sky was roiling and black. The room was high up...maybe the top floor. I thought it funny that the boy could not keep his balance..then I saw why. The hurricane had hit and the building was severely swaying...back and forth like a twig in the wind. All the boy and I could think to do was get pillows, lay on the ground...because there was no furniture in the hotel room....and pray. I found that I had forgotten how or who I should pray to.
Scene change...
In the stairwell...standing in front of the (grandfather?) old man. Then I got a text message from my daughter in law in NC and woke up.

Eggs and Oranges

Tonight felt weird coming home. There have been many nights where I came home to an empty house, but tonight just felt different. Good and weird. I went to the hen house to check for eggs and the door had blown shut to the run and there was an egg on the floor instead of in the nest box.

Just kinda weird.

All the birds seemed ok though.

The house was still fairly clean from the mad cleaning it got yesterday. I put on a pot of water to boil two eggs and while they cooked I picked up, folded the last of the clean clothes and put them away, found my lost shoes and put them where they belonged and got my jammies on.

Now the eggs are done, going to have them with Mandarine oranges and water. Check my emails and go to bed early and catch up on some reading.

It is sooooo quiet. Wow. Kind of nice.

New Storage: For Stock Up and Homemade Laundry Detergent

Today I completed one of my "To Do's". I painted the shelves I had salvaged from my rental house and moved them into the kitchen. Pray that there is still room for the freezer. Once I am sure I have room for both, I will secure the shelf to a stud and it will be ready to start filling up. I am so happy about this. Not that I will be able to fill up quickly. Lately it seems we are living off the supplies and they are dwindling faster than I can re-stock.

Friday afternoon I went shopping with the help of The Thrifty Florida Mama as well as other bloggers who help co-ordinate coupons and sales, I saved 19.99 at Walgreens with bogo plus duplicate coupons and store coupons on cleaning items, also sales on some canned meat (which I won't eat but others will). Then I used some coupons at Kroger and shopped only sale items and saved another 9.99 there. I spent less and brought home more than I usually do.

After the grandboys went home, I got out the ingredients to make Powdered Laundry Detergent:

1.5 c grated ivory or fels naptha soap-finely grated

3/4 c washing soda

3/4 c borax

I use 2 T per load. 1 T if it is a light load.

This costs about $1.10 per recipe. That is about 24 loads + .05 per load.

CHICKS ARE ORDERED!!!

After reading Patrice's blog and learning how prices are going up I decided not to wait to order my chicks. So I ordered 50 instead of 100. I ordered the Fry Pan Special from Cackle Hatchery.

So I have a lot to get done and I better stop playing on the computer. I have to paint the shelves that are going to go into the kitchen and are currently in front of the door to the old turkey pen.

Then I have to put up a temp wall protecting the babies from the outside cold. Put up the heat lamps, bedding and sterilize the water and food containers.

I will also have to make sure all the chicken wire is secured. The babies will arrive on Feb 13.

Butcher date will be May 15 or 16. If I am going to order Mini White Turkeys I will have to order them in March with a delivery date of after the butcher date. That will put the butcher date or sale date of the turkeys right before Thanksgiving.

Famous French Toast and Checkers

I love weekends with the grandkids. This was a rough one though. Everyone is getting sick. We still had enough energy to play a few games.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat this morning. I am going to battle with this because I leave for NC to see my son in 3 weeks.

So, I figure I am going to do this right. I have had Heather's famous french toast. From this point I am going to eat broth. I made and froze a lot of broth from the soup bones I bought from Rehoboth Farm. The broth is rich and wonderful.

I will also take Airborne and drink lots of juice. If that doesn't work then I will resort to Niquil and Dayquil.

I hate being sick! It is such a waste of time.

2am With a really sick child and farm naming

I am sitting hear posting while listening to my daughter talk softly to her youngest son who is running a fever and coughing sharply. I haven't heard the sound of croup in a long time. Poor baby feels very bad. He will need lots of home made organic broth tomorrow.

As I sit hear, looking at the embers of the dying fire, marveling at how warm the livingroom still is, I am thinking that I need to give my farm an official name.

I would love to hear your ideas on this. Peggy has Hidden Haven, Jenna has Cold Antler, so I want my farm to have it's own unique name.

Maybe I need to wait until it naturally develops, but I would rather choose it based on my dreams.

I am not very inventive. I need ideas!

My First Egg Gift From The Farm

I gave my parents a dozen eggs this morning. They are so excited. They are eating eggs, biscuts and gravy in the morning for breakfast.

A Beaten Child

Dallas Morning News
* Texas Judge gives 7 year old right to decide custody.*
Dallas , TX , January 14, 2008
A seven year old boy was at the center of a county courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy had a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Dallas Cowboys, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

NO WAY TO SHARE THIS...

I am sitting at my computer, the moon is bright and yellow. And in the tree right outside my window is a hoot owl. I wish I could share a night picture and an audio. This is very cool.

How many of you begin your day with a quiet time? I stopped and I believe that it is time to start that back up. I am not sure what it will look like, but a focus on the positive, a focus on the blessings I have been handed. Banishing the guilt that will come along with that for not doing the most with my blessings.

Tomorrow will be a long day at work. I think tomorrow is a good day to start my quiet time. It means setting the alarm for 5am. Not turning on the computer or the tv. Coffee will be ok though. Even God doesn't want to be around me without coffee.

I miss having a friend who brough me coffee every day.

Late for work but had to share!

The clothes are taking a long time drying. So I had to share the sunrise with you.

CHICKEN UPDATE!

Just a quick update. I went out to check on the chickens and found that Vanilla, my mutt chicken is very red in the face! woohoo she will be laying soon.

I don't think the others will be far behind because they are all showing some blush but it is hard to say how much because they have more feathers on their faces.

Soon we will be rolling in eggs and I can offer barter for some of the farm work I need done around here!

BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY

Well this morning I made a run and got about 200#+ rabbit poo and put them on the raised garden beds. Then I mixed the last bag with the last ring of compost. Mousies went scurrying in all directions. Flash loves it when I mix up the compost.

Filled the oyster shell container in the hen house. Today I made a hard decision. I decided that I will leave the chickens up from now on. They are digging huge holes in the front flower beds and have dug holes in the garlic bed. Since this garden is more of a need instead of a want, I need to protect it and them. So they will stay up for now.

After I got the outside stuff that I wanted to get done...done, I started a fire in the stove. I could have done without it but I needed it to help the bread to rise.

New Recipe. This is french. And oh man is the crust hard and will be very crunchy when we cut it. I am baking for the whole week. I won't bake again until next weekend. I think this will be a weekend thing.

Now summer is coming. I have to figure out how to use a solar oven to bake bread.

FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES OF WILLIAMS VISIT!

William is Peggy's husband. He is a truck driver and some of you are familiar with them. Peggy emailed me and said that William was going to be driving through my area and he may be able to get my old beast of a tiller working!

So we found a local truck stop for him to park at, I went and got him but it was almost too dark to work on the tiller. I cooked him homemade chili, cornbread and a carrot walnut cake, let him take a shower so he wouldn't have to use the truck stop shower, but he said he would need to work on the tiller the next time he came through! (Hmmmmm I think William just likes homemade chili!!!! lol)

I got to show him the chicken house and the garden area, the future orchard. I really love that he was able to stop through this time. And next time the beast will be running and I might just put him to work tilling the garden!

Peggy says he knows how to fix just about everything. With a honey do list like I have, I hope he has a lot of Dallas runs!!!

Well time to do dishes, and sit by the fire and drink hot cocoa. It is going to be 24 degrees tonight. I imagine I will use up the rest of my firewood.

Thank you again William and Peggy!

WARM FIRE--CHILI COOKIN

The cold wind is howling around the house. I have watered the baby trees, cleaned the chicken house and filled food and water, re-mixed the compost with the chicken house cleanings, dumped the last two bags of rabbit poo into a raised bed in preparation to pick up more tomorrow, cleaned the living room and the kitchen, took a shower and picked up the bathroom.

Also I baked a carrot walnut cake....

Started a pot of home made chili...

And got out my recipe for homemade cornbread.

I have done enough outside. I know 38 is not that cold, but with a 30 mph wind I could not feel my ears. There is so much to do it is hard to just enjoy being stuck inside, but I don't feel like getting sick again. That is a bigger waste of time.

Stud muffin is crowing up a storm right outside the window. He is a beautiful boy. I will try to get good pics.

TWO EGGS!!!

Well I guess Red decided she had enough of taking a backseat to Oreo. I got two eggs today!!!

This is totally cool.

To do for the weekend:

Friday night:

Clean house

Laundry

Saturday:

early...clean out the car

meet Tom at the air port to say good bye

pick up a load of rabbit poo

hopefully meet William (Peggys husband) and have coffee and give him the priviledge of working on an ancient tiller

dig some post holes

trade 3 dozen fresh eggs (ok 9 plus the promise of the rest) for moving a freezer

cut up more starter brush and bundle it

drag the extra brush to the burn pile

clean out the chicken house

combine the compost

water the baby pine trees

catch up on reading the paper (then recycle it)

THE BEAST

This is my old beast. I don't know if it is running. It has been almost 2 years since I started it. I have been trying to find someone to service it in my area without charging me an arm and a leg. I have been attempting to prepare raised beds by layering on rabbit manure and I know this will work, and soon I will possibly be no till, but until then the ground must be broken up.

My garden area is covered with Bermuda. I know this will be a problem until I can get it all tilled up. The prior owner seeded this area about a week before we closed. I wish they had told me!

But I have basically an unlimited supply of rabbit manure coming in and will be able to fill the raised bed areas deep and eventually it will be rotted and ready to plant.

I am needing a perm. border for the raised beds that I don't spend money on. I keep looking for give away cinder blocks and large landscape rocks.

I also must install a perm fence to fence off the garden area from the chickens. They already dug up some of my garlic. They just knew there was something yummy under the garlic.

I get to see my son again tonight. woohoo!

Then tomorrow, when I get home, I am going to dump the old plant pots out into the wheel barrow and mix the old dirt with compost and mulch the little pine trees. Then I will pick up the big chunks of dirt from digging those holes and throw those into the compost pile and remix the two piles into one. It is beginning to reduce in size.

Since I have the sharp shooter still, I may mark and begin to dig my post holes for the garden fence so I am ready.

In January I am supposed to plant peas. I hardly ever have luck with peas because in Texas it goes from cold to scorching but I will really try this year. I need to run water out to the garden so I don't have to run a hose.

That brings up a subject that is really on my mind as far as sustainability. WATER! I spoke to a person who had a 2000 gallon water tank with gutters running to it from the barn and the home. This is a very smart idea. I wonder how they keep it from freezing though. Not so much the 2000 gallons of water but the spigot that drains it.

I must put in the fence first and then activly start planning my alternative water. In TX we can count on a water shortage often. Planned correctly and mulched the garden doesn't take much but it still takes water. If the SHTF I will be out of luck with water at least until I can dig out the pond and make it bigger, and even then i would want an alternative.

VISIT FROM MY BOY

MY SON CAME INTO TOWN JUST PASSING THROUGH TODAY. WE HAD A BIG DINNER WITH A BUNCH OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY. IT SURE WAS GOOD TO SEE HIM.

GOOD THINGS IN A COLD DAY

Ok so not everything on a cold day is bad. With a fire in the fireplace, bread rises really fast.

And when it is cold outside, kitties curl up in tight little balls. don't you wish you were a kitty?

Well the weather is calling for ice tomorrow morning right when I leave for work. I don't do ice at all. So I am going to be proactive and here in a little while I am going to work. I am going to get caught up on my files so that if I can't get there until late tomorrow I will have already made up my time.

ps...my son is coming in from the army tomorrow just passing through. I will get to have dinner with him!

TURNING WEATHER

Well just like everything else in TX, after being 80 degrees for 2 days, we woke this morning to roaring N winds and dropping temps. Clouds are racing across the sky in an attempt to flee. This will not be a good day for my protectors to play outside.

They seem to know this. As they woke, they brought their blankets quietly into the living room and sat in front of the fireplace. The room is quiet as they eat orange slices. Just the sound of the wind and the pinging of the warming fireplace.

Jayden quietly asks how Santa comes down the chimney. I advice him that, although I have tried many times to catch him, I never have, so I don't know. That seems to satisfy him for now.

I can remember no better memories than sitting in front of a fire at my Granny Browning's house. I am so glad I can provide these memories for my grand boys.

NEW CABINETS IN THE CHICKEN HOUSE

Well Santa came today and I helped him put up cabinets in the front of the chicken house. These are salvaged cabinets that came from my old house that I sold and that was going to be bulldozed.


I will be able to keep chicken meds, first aid kit, and assorted stuff in there.


The rest of the cabinets will go into the garage part of the shed for garage stuff.


I painted one wall in the kitchen in preparation to receive my dad's freezer that he is giving me. I will also be pulling in a book shelf (also salvaged from the old house) and put it on the same wall if it will fit. This shelf will hold all of my jars of canned produce from my garden. (optimistic aren't it?) or all of the things I am stocking up on in preparation for the disaster our economy will become in the next year.


Tonight I am stressing badly about money. Why didn't I pay off all of my credit cards instead of going to the movies, eating out, etc. I could have done much better with my money last spring and summer.


Thank goodness I love cabbage and ham.

HOME MADE BREAKFAST

MY PROTECTORS DESERVE A REALLY GOOD BREAKFAST AFTER PROTECTING THEIR NANNA ALL NIGHT, WORKING IN THE DARK IN THE YARD TO TAKE THE TRASH OUT,GET THE POTS TO THE GARAGE, ETC.

SO I MADE HOME MADE PANCAKES IN MY CAST IRON SKILLET. THEN I COOKED OREO'S EGGS THAT I HAVE BEEN SAVING ALL WEEK FOR TODAY. PANCAKES AND EGGS.

JAYDEN ONLY LIKES THE WHITES, DAKOTA LIKES THE YELLOW AND THE WHITES.

JAYDEN LIKES TONS OF SYRUP AND BUTTER ON HIS PANCAKES, DAKOTA LIKES NO BUTTER AND ONLY JELLY....OH NO! NO JELLY! LAST NIGHT I REALIZED I WAS GETTING READY TO LOSE MY "GREATEST NANNA IN THE WORLD" TITLE.

HOW CAN I NOT HAVE JELLY FOR ONE OF MY PROTECTORS?

I'M THINKING I'M THINKING.....

I HAVE ORANGES....

I HAVE PINEAPPLES.....

I HAVE SUGAR.....

I HAVE PECTIN....

HERE IT IS AT THE BEGINNING OF COOKING...

HERE IT IS AT THE END OF COOKING....

AND NOW I HAVE ORANGE/PINEAPPLE JAM/MARMALADE FOR MY LITTLEST PROTECTOR.
YUM YUM...