Oh, most definitely! I have no doubt that having other people in on the action and keeping tabs on me had a huge impact on how fast I got the job "done" (and the fact that I got anything "done" at all).
After this year's nightmare, I am seriously toying with the idea of not making a designated cutting garden next year. Hahaha! Nor a veg garden, for that matter. I think I will just stick to planting flowers in front of the chicken coop and between the rock walls in front of the house, and maybe plopping some veggies and melons here and there in among the beds. Keep it "small", as it were. Then I can have more water available for pumpkins and hopefully have plenty of time for FINISHING the painting throughout the summer, rather than running some crazy painting marathon again at the end of the season and once again not finishing. Eek. |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Monday, December 03, 2007 - 08:45 am: |   |
ha! I say that every year, but when I see everyone else's flowers blooming I start the "I wish I had" thing!
hahaha! I laugh, but I know this is true. You know me, I'd say the same thing, but would not "keep it small" and then regret it later. lol
Oh, I tried Russian Tea this weekend. Delicious. I thought I had tasted that before though. (You know when you think a place looks familiar like you've been there before or when something you experience today gives you a feeling you've experienced it before or had the similar circumstances?)After thinking & thinking, I remembered years & years ago when one of my aunts gave my mom a jar of homemade tea of some sort. My mom never drank it so I tried it one day...at least I think it was the same thing! [OoGBoO] (Yes, I ended up using all of the tea mixture myself). Oink, oink! |
That is funny because I just did a trial run through my tree order. I managed to eliminate 8 trees and shrubs that I had decided that I wanted as I was filling my cart with the things I have to have. LOL. Now when January rolls around (or whenever I finally place my order), we'll see if I actually stick with the simplified list.
I am glad you liked it. I wouldn't be surprised if you've had it before. It's too good to not share. LOL. I had some this morning and only have enough for one or two more cups before I need to make another batch. I ought to buy stock in certain products at certain times of the year and then ditch the stock when I am done consuming the products for the season. |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Monday, December 03, 2007 - 12:49 pm: | |
It is funny b/c N the back of my mind, I have always wondered what that tea mixture was my aunt gave my mom...guess now I know or have an idea :)
haha, that is what I did last week when I ordered more bulbs. Hope they get here soon; I'll need 2 get them N the ground asap & I am sure I'll B yelling at myself wondering why N the world I ever ordered more!
Or U could do like my sister does. Once she finds something she likes, she'll order about 20 of that item (then she gets tired of them & gives them away--usually to the trash queen [OoGBoO]!) |
That's weird, Lisa... I don't think I saw your post until just now. Sorry! I hope you didn't think I was ignoring you! I like your sister's idea of buying 20 of something and then giving them away when she gets tired of them. I have been tempted to double up on things that I can't live without because invariably they quit making them just moments before mine break. LOL.
November 27, 2007 (Tuesday)
I backed-up and deleted some things from my computer to free up some disk space. Then I made some pancakes and sausage. As I was sitting here just now listening to the chimney workers cut bricks for the top three feet or so of the chimney, I found myself wondering (once again) where everyone on GB had gone off to and what they were doing. My mind sort of drifted to someplace far away (probably Derek's house and/or Steve's beach) and I found myself staring at some very bright green foliage against the rock wall beside the driveway and wondered what it was. I am guessing it must be some Greater Celandine that I have overlooked repeatedly on my weeding rounds. I suddenly thought that it would be funny to have my husband stand along the rock wall in positions that I can see from my desk so that I could mark the spots for planting interesting shrubbery, bulbs, perennials, or annuals next year. Then it struck me as a rather good idea and not quite as funny as I had first thought. Hmmm, what to plant in the bake zone....
December 3, 2007 (Monday)
What a nice day. It is grey outside and there is a light dusting of snow. A completely peaceful morning. ..... The recent winds blew my Lime Fizz Iris mulch (mainly twiggy weeds) around the yard, so I will have to find something else to put over them. I guess I could just rob the chicken coop of a lump of hay. Today's coating of ice should keep everything happy enough, though. ..... Speaking of chickens, I lubed them yesterday and a hen fight broke out. What mayhem. I think their thinking was something along the lines that, "That doesn't belong there, so I'm going to peck it off you." Which was followed by, "Momma lubed you first. She should have lubed me first." Then it just seemed to devolve from there. And there I had expected Roo to scream like a little girl when I lubed him, but he had been very good. I'm sure things would have been quite different if I had done him after I did the girls. ..... I doubt the chimney guys will be here today, even though one of them has left his wallet here since Thursday. My husband and I do not like the chimney cap that we saw sitting in the garage alongside the chimney liner, so I need to ask if we can upgrade to something attractive. I cannot imagine what they were thinking, wanting to put that hideous thing on the house. It's just a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but it really pushes my buttons anyway. ..... I guess that 8.5" forecast was way off the mark. I'm surprised it snowed at all, but amusingly enough, it is just like I said... Every channel had a different forecast for our area yesterday and I had said, "The funny thing is that they can't all be right, and yet they can all be wrong." Sure enough, they were all wrong. ..... I went into a favorite shoppe Saturday and bought some silicone star covers for string lights. I bought a set of medium gold and a set of dark amber. I also bought a string of white lights on a brown cord and a long faux pine garland. I put the star covers on the light strand, leaving 1/3 of the lights uncovered, hung the garland from one end of my living room tapestry, then decorated it with the lights and my old feathery ornaments... quails, an unknown bird, and pheasant tail feathers. It looks so Colonial. The perfect primitive decor for my house. I put up my two artificial trees on Thursday and decorated them on Friday. I was looking at a shrinky dink ornament I had made back in the '70s. It looks like a little cabin in the woods and it makes me think of this house. I think I couldn't have escaped buying this property if I had wanted to. ..... This morning I have decided, at least for the moment, that I will plant next year's pumpkin crop between the rock walls where I wanted to put my new yard. I think I will run them along either one or both walls and plant the grass in the remaining space. Then when the fall sales come around next year, I can buy another few hundred flower bulbs (UGH!) and put those in the spaces that will be the flower beds the following year. What a concept... planning two years ahead... the weeds should be under control in the new flower beds after a season of weeding pumpkins, and I will have the bulbs in place BEFORE the perennials get planted. My husband won't like it, but it will be easy for me to water, easy for people to peruse; geez, I won't even have to pick and lug pumpkins for once. Well, except to people's cars, but that will be a far cry better than the system I've had to use in the past. That will free up plenty of time for painting the house. For once, I think I am excited again about growing and selling pumpkins. I can even plant the middle of the yard with annuals, especially fall-flowering annuals. ..... Now on to my big plan: I want some Tamaracks and something related to Red Sentinel Crabapples. I want to plant the crabs along the rock wall nearest the house and I suppose the Tamaracks in the background by what looks to be a line of old Christmas trees. I want to take cuttings of Virginia Creeper (oh, boy, did I just say that?) and plant it along the rock wall for its purple-blue berries and burgundy late season foliage. I want to collect some berries from the Bittersweet along the driveway and see if I can get that to grow along the wall, too. If I can get the Dutchman's Pipe Vine for the front of the house, this place will be awesome to see in a few years. ..... My truck battery is dead and I need to remember to buy hose so that I can put the heater back in my truck. Joy. ..... I need to get the pumpkins off the rock wall and toss them in the compost pile. ..... I called the chimney guys and asked about upgrading the chimney cap. Hopefully they'll remember that, and hopefully they will also remember to bring a catalog of fireplace screens. If not, I'll hold the wallet hostage. Hahaha! In the meantime, I think I will order the trees and vines. I've already decided that the crabs are probably going to have to live on the far side of the far rock wall. Oh, well, maybe I will put them someplace else entirely. After looking at them again, maybe not. I can always move them later. Yes, I can see now that I cut down trees so that I could plant more trees in their place. ....... That was fun. I did a trial ordering and managed to axe three apple trees, one mulberry tree, one cherry tree, and three winterberries that I wanted. I didn't know I wanted them until I started looking through the catalog, of course. Well, that's not exactly true. I've come close to buying them in previous years. They just weren't part of my original plans for this buying round. At any rate, now I can wait until January to place my trimmed down order instead of ordering now. I am sure I will be even happier about the smaller order come April. ..... Now that I have read Moira's latest journal post, I am thinking I should get the winterberries after all. I like making wreaths, garlands, and bouquets. But no, I will buy some if my favorite nursery has some next year; otherwise, I will wait until 2009. Whew! That was close. I will console myself with some Molasses Cookies. Maybe even wash them down with some Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies.
I forgot to mention that I hung my garlands on the porch yesterday and put up the three wreaths on the front windows. I thought my hands were going to snap off from the cold even though I wore gloves. I came up with the idea of adding more lights to my giant wreath and hanging it on the chimney instead of above the picture window on the outside of the living room. That way people coming from town will really notice the house. Now if only the chimney guys would get their equipment out of the way so that I could do that.
There is a two- or three-hour delay in receiving GB posts via email these days. I imagine that has something to do with GB not emailing posts until the posters have had ample opportunity to edit them and/or delete them now. Now that the site also seems to be very slow-loading, and appears to be down altogether at the moment, I have little to do but eat more cookies. I have managed to eat only ten so far and maybe if I restrain myself long enough, my son will devour what is left. Now what to do... maybe go drill some holes and hang my signs. ..... I finished that job, plus I hammered in a nail so that I can hang my big mirror. It took forever to find a stud. There must be something very interesting behind that wall because whatever I ended up nailing into (I ditched the stud-finder and just used my knuckles) was more like masonry. Once I buy some heavy-duty wire to hang the mirror, it won't be going anywhere. My son finished the cookies, so now there is even less to do unless I decide to put some more ornaments on one of the trees, or bake the rest of the choc chip cookies. Aha! Time to order a puzzle.
It is a quarter after two and it is snowing, despite the fact that the forecasters had said it would rain this morning and then quit. I knew they were going to be wrong about the rain. I should have known they would be wrong about the afternoon having no precipitation, but I hadn't thought beyond their first few mistakes to consider what would be next. ..... Great, so now the puzzle site is down, too. ..... Well, it continues to be intermittently available, unlike GB which seems to be just flat out down. ..... Now that GB is back up, I think I will go shovel the driveway. Haha!
December 4, 2007 (Tuesday)
I shovelled the driveway last night, but parts of where I shovelled are sheets of ice now. No big surprise. The chimney guys are here today. Of course they forgot to bring a quote for a different chimney cap and don't seem to have a firescreen catalog with them. I shouldn't be surprised because the one guy hasn't even mentioned anything about wanting his wallet back. How does anyone live without their wallet? ..... I am out of cookie dough, finally, but my husband found a whole bag of cornmeal in the refrigerator yesterday so now I can make cornbread. YEAH!
December 5, 2007 (Wednesday)
The chimney guys came to take down their scaffolding and drop off a couple of catalogs, so that job is finished. They said they broke my multi-hose manifold and will replace it. One of them said they drove all over the place trying to find a replacement, but all of the stores have put away their garden supplies for the year. Hahaha, I could have told them that.
December 6, 2007 (Thursday)
It is fourteen or so degrees right now. The chicken coop thermometer says it was about 8 degrees last night. No wonder their water was frozen solid when I exchanged it for the fresh one.
December 8, 2007 (Saturday)
It made it up to about 40 degrees today. I waited until the last hour or so of sun (the warmest part of the day) to move the chicken lean-tos over to the coop. I propped some of the storm windows against them. Now I just need some heavy duty clear plastic to run around the other sides and they will have their winter sunrooms. One of the girls will not stay out of the boys' room. Naughty, naughty. I made a lemon meringue pie this morning, if it could even be called that. I had to have one, but I had no lemons and no way to get to the store. So, I used some of the lemon drink mix left over from the Russian Tea. I also didn't have any actual eggs -- I needed actual yolks and actual whites -- so I had to use Eggbeaters in the filling and ended up not making a meringue. Still, I guess it's not too bad, considering that I have already eaten 2/3rds of the pie. |
| Growit Posted on Sunday, December 09, 2007 - 05:18 am: | |
DJ my favourite part of the morning is reading your journal when you add to it. You really should start to blog I think you would get quite a following.
From the above I have come to the conclusion that you must now be as big as a house LOL!!!!! |
You would think so, but I eat very little most of the time, so I can get away with eating rubbish once in a while. The last couple of times I've been weighed at the doctor's office, she looks at my BMI and says, "You are underweight. I am required to ask you about your eating habits." I guess she is content with it in the end since I don't purge and this is what I weighed in high school. That reminds me, when I got my mammo results back (which were fine), there was an informational insert that said that a baseline is performed between 35 and 40 years of age, and that the test is then performed annually after 40 years of age. That is nuts. I think that all the smushing and contorting is apt to cause more damage than just leaving me alone and unexamined for a couple of years at a time. BTW, my husband went in for his follow-up. The tests say he is anemic and has some sort of liver problem. The doctor has no idea if that is because of the tick or something else and he has another follow-up in six weeks. I don't know why. It's not like they are doing anything to address the problem in the meantime. |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 06:39 pm: | |
I cannot answer this question. When I was younger, I had to hide my wallet from my siblings. Not that I ever had any money (99.9%of the time there was nothing in it!). We were getting ready to leave for vacation (just to a campground an hour away). My mom yelled & yelled for me. I told her I was looking for my (empty!) wallet. I couldn't remember where I hid it b/c I changed the hiding spot so many times. I refused to leave without finding it. It was either my mom or brother who finally said they'd give me like $1 or $5 if I would just "forget it & come on". Stupid me. I am so stubborn. I had no money and they were going to pay me to forget looking for my wallet and I said no!
Oh gosh! That does not sound good....6 weeks??! I would be a nervous wreck. I do hope he is ok and that they finally figure out what it is and are able to treat him.
I was thinking the same thing! I wish I could eat like that & not gain weight! I quit playing basketball, soccer & volleyball but did not quit eating and it is showing 
I was going to go running tonight, but I choose to sit on my fat butt and type away at this keyboard! It is far more fun and much much warmer inside!
LOL, at least you tried! Your story reminds me of a time many moons ago when I had a friend over and we decided to use my sister's Easy Bake Oven. We got so far into the recipe & it called for milk. We NEVER ran out of milk at my mom's...except for that night (go figure). I decided to just use water! I think my options were that or apple juice. The cake didn't turn out, nor did it look like cake. It looked like glop. I'm pretty sure I/we ate it anyway!! lol |
ROFL! You need help! 
Oh, yarp! Too funny. Well, you do what ya gotta do! |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 08:53 am: | |
Do you know how many times I have been told this? I am way beyond help now!!
A couple of months ago, I started to get back into working on my recipe books. (I collect recipes that interest me. I get them from friends, books, newspapers, etc. I then cut them, sort them into big categories, then from there I break them down again & put them in smaller categories.)
Last week, I finally finished my first one. (I've only been working on them for over a year now). I went to show my brother my first book (binder). It was for "cakes". For the front cover, I made up a sheet that read "CAKES" and had a pretty color picture of a cake on the front with it. Inside the binder there is an index as the first page. It is number & color coded & I had the different "cakes" under each number/color code. (For example: Pound, white, chocolate, bundt, cheesecake, cupcakes, etc.)
Now to the point of this boring story...When I showed my brother he just looked at me, put his head in his hand & very seriously said to me, "You need help". lol |
Yep, you need help. LOL! |
December 9, 2007 (Sunday)
It has been nice having the men out of the house for the weekend. Lots and lots of me time. I turned on all of the Christmas lights last night and just sat around browsing GB. I was up until 10 PM and had a hot cup of Ovaltine (it should have been hot cocoa as I had suggested to Tammy (Starzgarden), but I make hot cocoa from scratch and I was feeling lazy). Maybe I will make up for that with a real cup of hot cocoa this morning. At any rate, it is quite a change from just wanting to escape everything by going to bed by 7:30 PM or even earlier as I have been doing lately. I cannot wait for the winter solstice. Come on sunshine. ........ My plants seem to be surviving under their lamps. The Hot Peppers and Cardoon dry out and get droopy rather frequently, but with any luck I will become more attentive and they will survive. The Heliotrope that I whacked back looks as though it is developing very nice leaves along its stems. The Moon Vine looks dead. I will give it time. The Chilean Jasmine is putting out all sorts of wispy new sprouts along its length. I need to do something about that, but have no idea what. The other plants are hanging in there. Only five months to go, more or less. ........ Now for breakfast - left over pie. And cocoa. I can justify that combo because the pie was in the fridge overnight and if I eat it without consuming something warm in addition to it, I will freeze to death. ........ Thanks to rereading my journal (since Moira said she likes to read it, I had to read through it once again), I have ordered the hose for my truck. I also brought in my non-fatal mouse trap so that I could try to catch a mouse I saw running through my office this morning. It is a very dark mouse, not like the others I've seen around here in the past. (The mouse trap doesn't have anything to do with being reminded by a previous entry in my journal; it just happened to be next to a piece of my old hose.) I also brought in my box of nylon string, so I will see if I can hang my mirror from that with confidence rather than buying some heavy gauge wire. I will have to braid the nylon. I wonder if there is any good heavy wire in the barn. I know there are nails for Africa in there. It was quite the expedition trying to locate the rectangular-to-circular hose adaptor for my heater. I found the old hose next to the mouse trap in the garage without even looking, but it wasn't attached to the adaptor. I knew it wasn't attached to the heater because that is in the kitchen and I had already checked there. Then I searched the shelves in the garage. Then I rummaged under the heaps of construction debris. Then I searched the floor of the truck, swept some leaves out of it -- the water is gone! yeah! -- then looked under the seats. No luck. Then I noticed it hanging from the dashboard. It is dangling from the coiled wire that controls the vent flaps. Duh. Maybe there really is something to the idea of tying bows of string around one's finger in order to remember something, or to having one's head screwed on tight so as not to misplace it. ........ I have finished the next to last piece of pie and am down to the dregs of my hot cocoa. Time to go hang that mirror, then on to some curtain shopping. I feel better already knowing that I finally ordered that hose. I just hope it gets here and that it is the right stuff. ........ Hooray, the mirror is hung! ........ Hmm, no curtains to be had, despite all of the sales. ........ I was inspired by Claudia (Nanny56) to hang my bird feeders. My niger feeder turned out to be out of commission, so I rigged up an oh-so-classy feeder out of a rectangular blueberry juice jug and mugged the old feeder of four of its acrylic perches. I can't wait to see if it meets avian quality control standards. I even made sure to arrange the perches so that the birds won't pooh on each other while they eat. That's already a step up from the old feeder, although I did love that one for its vast feeding and seating capacity. I seem to get so much more done when I am alone and left to my own devices. ........ It is a quarter 'til two and the men are still not home. It has looked all day as though it should start snowing at any moment. I am getting cold, so hopefully the heater will kick on shortly. Meanwhile, I will drink some hot tea in what could possibly be my last few moments of peace and quiet. ..... Half an hour later, I have finished the dishes, tended to the parrots, and tidied up a few things. I saw bits of my 'Jubilee Gem' Cornflowers scattered across the counter. I had carried them in my coat pocket, so proud of having remembered to pick the last ones for my potpourri bowl, only to forget about them. I had jammed my hand into my pocket a couple of times, remembering each time to be more careful the next time, but then of course didn't consider the damage a seatbelt would do to dried flowers. So much for that. Did I mention the other day that I had remembered to collect some Bittersweet berries? Hopefully the mouse will not carry them away (as the berries spend the days and nights drying out in the open on my desk) and I will get them planted before they dry out beyond hope of propagation, as the others remaining outdoors will surely have disappeared forever beneath the decaying leaves and snow and I will be left with naught. ........ What?! New snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 5"? Well, naturally! That's only because I will be expecting UPS deliveries over the next few days and it is impossible for the delivery trucks to climb the driveway under such conditions.
December 10, 2007 (Monday)
The boys got home a little before 4 PM yesterday and I was in bed by 5:30. I woke up to a scene outdoors that looks exactly the way I left it. So much for any accumulation, and there isn't supposed to be any today, either.
December 11, 2007 (Tuesday)
I ordered the hose for my heater and woke up to an email saying that my order had been cancelled. Out of stock. What I want is so obscure and hard to find, and there were 4 in stock when I ordered, so how are they now out of stock? Well, I have ordered from someplace else. We shall see how that goes. ........ Rabbit loves getting his daily scritches and scratches between the ears. He (she?) is such a sweetie. Just wants love, and who doesn't? ........ Ho, hum. Must be laundry day. ........ Well, who knew that 1/3 of the Crabapple tree was going to fall off today? Will the pear be next? Or the Catalpa? At least the ice is pretty. Not so much fun to walk on, though. I cannot wait to see what happens after tonight's rain. Maybe the ice will all go away.
December 12, 2007 (Wednesday)
I went out to the chickens around 8 AM this morning and it was 45 degrees. It's tropical out there! Most of the snow and ice is gone. If we have a refreeze, it's going to be a disaster and I will be skating to and from the coop. Last night I heard something like a gunshot and asked my son what he thought it was. He thought it sounded like another tree falling. It sort of did, like a big thud. I will have to remember to look around and see if I see one down somewhere. Now it's just getting spooky around here. I heard a noise and thought it was my son, but it couldn't have been because that's not where the noise came from. He jumped up and asked what the noise was, so that clenches it. Maybe a raccoon in the basement? My son thought it was outside, though. I don't see any raccoons there. Creepy. I can't imagine what it was. ........ This morning when I was watching the weather forecast, they said 3 to 6" of snow Thursday night and then a Nor'easter over the weekend. They then went to the news desk where the anchor said, "I like the sound of that." What? Did he just listen to the same report I did? Maybe he says that knowing full well that the forecasters are never anywhere close to accurate. Hmmm, now that I have read about it, I am getting a little excited myself. I thought he was just being a ditz and not really thinking about what he heard, but now that I think about it, we could be sledding this week. Woohoo! Yeah! ........ Oh, well, I guess if that storm is really on its way, then I'd better start that laundry now. HAHA! Well, maybe I'll catch the noon weather report first. LOL! ... Ah, the storm will start after tomorrow night's commute, so plenty of time to get the laundry done. ........ Apparently it rained last night. I guess I slept through that. ........ I noticed that the windows had blown down from the girls' lean-to, so I went out to take care of that. One of the windows was broken. I started putting the pieces of glass in a box, but the wind carried the box away. I chased it down and reloaded it. My fingers were painfully frozen. It's still not that cold out there -- I was out without a coat -- but the wind was hideous. Just as well. I wouldn't have wanted to feel it if I had slit myself open on a piece of glass. I brought the broken window back to the garage, but left the others propped against the coop. I'll deal with them tomorrow if it is warm enough, or at least if it is not windy. As I looked out the window, washing my frozen hands in the kitchen sink and feeling the burning thaw set in, I saw a bird in the Japanese Maple. Then I saw another bird along the rock wall. No takers at the feeders until the second bird swooped down to the downed feeder and grabbed a bite for takeout. Which reminded me that the feeder was downed overnight, presumably because of the rain thawing the ground. I need to address that problem, too, before Puss Puss (or the ghost of Puss Puss) returns. What a funny thought. To think that I had thought I would hang my feeders in the Crabapple if I hadn't been able to jam my shepherd's hooks into the frozen ground the other day. That would have really looked like the straw that broke the camel's back. Haha! It adds more sadness to the destruction, though, to just now realize that it was my bird feeder branch that broke off. ........ It is 5 'til 3 PM and the baby has been asleep in his laundry basket tent for quite some time already. This is even earlier than he fell asleep yesterday. The trip to the in-laws for the weekend must have really knocked him for a loop. I wonder when he will recover. This is three days in a row now... ........ The rabbit is so cute dozing in his toilet. Pfft! Boy, it just isn't any fun around here when there isn't anyone to play with. I wonder when baby will wake up. Aah, goodie, the next load of laundry is ready to fold. Entertainment is on the way! ........ Wow, it's a veritable occupational bonanza around here. The baby is awake now and there is another load of laundry just about ready to go to the dryer. Oops, maybe not, baby just crawled back into the laundry basket.
December 13, 2007 (Thursday)
It is about 28 degrees this morning and it feels fabulous because there is zero wind. I filled up the chicken feed bin, uprighted the downed bird feeder, gathered two stalks of wild bird food that grew over the summer (looks like sorghum), took down a bag of trash, and brought the last lawn chair back to the garage. All set for the big snow. They say (5-8") or (6-10" with local 10"+ possible in our zone), depending on who says it. I'd say they at least agree that we are going to get something. ........ Finally, some Titmice and Black-capped Chickadees have come to the feeder that I uprighted this morning. How cute. My son said he saw a Blue Jay this morning, but I missed that. Now it's shower time, then laundry time. I'll see how much I can get done before the power goes out. LOL. ........ Aaah, that's much better. Thought for a moment that I was going to have to boil some water and draw a bath. I suppose I should fix the basement window by the water heater today. ........ It started snowing around 11:20 AM or 11:30 AM, right on time as I gauged it. I taped up a window to stop the draft, then went out and taped my thermometer to the window so that the dog couldn't knock it down again. I went to close up the coop and found the boys in the girls' room. I wonder how that happened. That never happens. I saw three doves roaming around the feeders, and some Juncos. Then a male Cardinal showed up. That was really my whole reason for putting up the feeders, but I was just as happy to see that the doves had apparently been hanging around despite the lack of feeders. Just a moment ago, my son had been curled up in a blanket, lying on the living room floor, gazing up through the window at the snowflakes coming down. The picture of contentment. The laundry is finally going, so I guess that aside from the basement window, everything is on track now. As I was taping up the window, I was thinking about how classy it is to have the windows taped up. A touch of class. And then I thought, "Hey, Touch of Class!" That's the web site I couldn't remember. ........ Well, that was short and sweet. I seem to have changed home planets. I wanted to see the updated forecast now that it is snowing and since I missed the noon weather report on TV, but I clicked on my usual weather button and the web site tells me, "Latitude is out of range. Exiting the script!" It would have been more helpful if they'd just told the truth and said, "We have no clue!" ........ My husband ran a load of laundry last night and left it in the dryer overnight (again). I just pulled it out so that I could put mine in there and I could feel quite a cold draft coming through the lint trap. I've never noticed that before. I'll have to see if the flap is stuck open outside.
December 14, 2007 (Friday)
We got 9" of snow yesterday. It took my husband 4.5 hours to get home. It usually takes about an hour. ........ My son and I went sledding on the driveway for about an hour this morning. Then I spent the next hour cleaning the snow off the tractor and plowing the driveway while he played with his toy tractors in the snow. It didn't seem like it took an hour to do that, so I must have had a pretty good time. It is 40 degrees today and not windy, so that is very nice. ........ GB was down, so I scraped the paint off the window in the Polly Parlor after removing the plastic that was keeping the draft out. The plastic was not particularly transparent, so now they have some new transparent vinyl up to keep the draft out. Now they get real sunshine and a decent view, plus the window looks a thousand times better from the outside now that the interior green trim isn't all over the window panes. That took a little over an hour to complete. Hard to believe it'll be at least another 5 months before I'll actually do any more work like that on that window. I also took down the sheer curtain so that they don't have to try to peer through that to see what's happening outside. I draped it over the stuff in the closet to keep the 'Too powder out of there until we can get the closet door back on. Should have done that sooner. ........ My son is asleep now. I guess the tromp through the snow was a lot of work, even for him. My husband is leaving work at 2 PM today. He said we will go to CT this weekend to get our Christmas tree. Too bad my truck won't be up and running for that trip. I was so looking forward to everyone riding in the truck to get the tree. Probably wouldn't be able to get it up or down the driveway anyway. Oh, well, maybe next year.
December 15, 2007 (Saturday)
We ran a lot of errands this morning in preparation for tomorrow's big storm. One of the chores was to get some more hay for the chickens. I packed some along the walls inside the chicken coop -- around their roosts and across their popholes -- to help keep it warmer in there. After we did our errands, we drove down to CT to pick out a Christmas tree. It was an [OoGBoO] sort of trip. We pulled in and the guy who ran the Christmas tree farm said he was all out of twine. I had mentioned needing to take twine and scissors because you just never know if you'll need it. I cannot be held responsible for not remembering to actually do it. So, back we came to get the twine and scissors, then back we went. My husband cut down the tree. I had no idea how to tie a tree to the top of the car, but apparently I did it just fine.
December 16, 2007 (Sunday)
I think we have about 5" of new snow today. When I went to change the chicken water this morning, the chickens didn't even come out of their insulated tents to greet me. I guess I must have done a good job of padding with the hay. I decorated the Christmas tree much later in the morning. It had spent the night in the dog room, melting the snow off its branches. It still had some snow on it when we brought it into the living room, but not too bad. When I was done decorating, I decided that the tree was very lopsided. After staring at it for a while, I decided that it was leaning, not lopsided. We messed around trying to stand it up straight for a while. Then I just felt like ripping all of the decorations off and throwing the tree outside. I shoved the tree into the corner, and even though it wasn't propped against the wall, or even touching it, it at least decided to stand up straight. Must be a "sit in the corner and behave yourself" sort of phenomena. ........ While I decorated the tree, my husband put a handle/latch on the kitchen door, sort of like the old ones that we have throughout the house, but not nearly as hefty and I don't like the look as much. It is nice to no longer have to use a folded up piece of cardboard or a 2x4 to wedge the door shut now. ........ I plowed the top of the driveway after the storm was over. It started to sort of sprinkle just as I was finishing up, but it never did rain like they said it would.
December 17, 2007 (Monday)
It is about 24 degrees and windy, windy, windy (30-40 mph). I thought for a moment that it had finally stopped, so I went out and took some pictures of the big icicles hanging from the front gutter. The wind has started back up again, though. ........ One of the horrors I've noticed, probably too late, is that I forgot to dig up the Gladioli. Aargh! Oh, well. This will give me an excuse to get a better variety next time, if there ever is a next time. Aside from that, a post in the cooking forum has reminded me that I still haven't put my Christmas CDs in the CD player. I'm way behind with that, so I will go do that now and get some music going around here. I shall wear my coat and hat and... well, I was going to say gloves, but I bet it's hard to open a CD with gloves on, so I will just have to step back into the kitchen to warm up every now and then. This should get the dog and parrots really worked up. ........ That didn't take very long. 45 CDs and room for 5 more. I wonder how that happened. I must have ditched some. The music is on random shuffle and was a bit loud for the first song, which sounded rather country (and therefore not to my liking), so I turned it down and of course the next song was a different CD and too quiet and something I really wanted to hear. *sigh*
Here are my son's brothers, brother Blue Bayou (a Blue and Gold Macaw) and brother Tekla (an Umbrella Cockatoo). Tekla is a plucker, so no full body pics. Wouldn't want to embarrass him. Brother Blue Bayou is free-range. His food, water, and toys are on his rollie (a perch with wheels), but he likes to hang out on Tekla's travel cage. He seems to think it is a playground. Tekla has to be kept in a cage to keep fights from breaking out and to keep him from turning the house into a box of toothpicks. He likes Blue's company, but if they get too close, they both scream bloody murder.
Now I have room for yet another Christmas CD. I just had to get rid of one. It drives me nuts every year. ........ I was making a bowl of fruit for my son to munch on when he came in and said something about eating a candy cane. I thought I saw something red by the corner of his mouth, so I asked him if he had eaten one. He said maybe, so I asked if he had unwrapped it and he said he wasn't sure. I went to see for myself. I didn't see any wrappers lying around, so I asked where the candy cane wrapper was and he didn't seem to know. I asked if he had eaten the whole thing and he didn't seem to think so. I asked where the candy cane was and he said something about it being on the tree. I didn't understand that, so I took a look. Sure enough, he had taken a candy cane off the Christmas tree, unwrapped one end, sucked the color off, then hung it back on the tree, still partially wrapped. Hahaha!
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| Flowerfreak Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 02:17 pm: | |
Unlike me, at least you know that they are supposed to be dug up! I just found out this year that you are supposed to dig them up each year 
Sounds like he takes after his [OoGBoO] mother! lol ;-)
That is hilarious 
You lucky kids! We were supposed to get a few inches of snow on Sunday, but instead got none. My nieces & nephews were looking forward to me taking them sledding. Hopefully we'll get another chance :)
It is so good to know I am not the only person that does things like this! lol
-your tree is beautiful
-your house picture looks like it should be on the cover of a book...love it! |
| Growit Posted on Monday, December 17, 2007 - 04:47 pm: | |
DJ The story of your son and his candy cane wrapper was so funny. Kids logic is so confusing LOL!
Nice to see your macaw and cockatoo. Why do they pull feathers? We had 2 macaws that lived in a large outdoor cage at the nursery I managed and one of them kept pulling his feathers out. Does the cockatoo talk at all?
I second those comments and the tree looks perfectly straight to me too. As lovely as the house looks with the stalagtites do you never worry one might dislodge as you open the door, drop down in a dagger like fashion and cause you bodily damage?! We never, ever get icicles like that! |
He was definitely stalling to avoid the moment I discovered the candy cane. At least I outsmarted him and found it, despite the obvious attempts at misdirection. Hahaha!
Oh, bummer! Luckily the season is still young. January was our lucky month last winter, so hopefully you won't have to wait too much longer.
And these are just the incidents that I actually remember to write down. LOL!
Thank you! |
| Malgorzata Posted on Thursday, December 20, 2007 - 04:49 pm: | |
DJ,in case you didn't see, check out Pauline's birthday thread in Social forum...  |
Sorry about not replying sooner, Moira. You must have posted while I was writing and I just didn't catch your post after I posted. LOL.
I have read that birds only pluck in captivity. Could be boredom, food allergies, poor humidity, all sorts of reasons. Our 'Too plucks for a mix of reasons. He is an ultra male - big, full bonnet and really full of himself. Leader of the flock sort of thing. He used to be a really good bird, but when I got pregnant with my son, he KNEW that and turned on me. Everything went downhill from there. Then a couple of years later, his male buddy - the sweetest little rag doll of a bird ever - died. His name was Tiki. Tiki was Tekla's greatest friend and would preen him. Tekla misses him. I'd like to get Tekla a female friend because I think that's about the only thing that would make him happy now, but I just really don't want another bird (too loud and too heartbreaking when they die), unless it is a Roller Canary or a batch of finches.
He says a few things, like "Tekla's a good bird", "Hello", "Better shut up". Real classy vocab. Tekla and Blue have screaming fits where they tell each other to shut up, then scream louder, then tell each other to shut up again, then scream even louder... That is part of why they live in their own room. Haha!
HAHAHA! Just a little. I refuse to walk under the gutter, for obvious reasons, and I listen for falling icicles when I get ready to step off the front porch. I break off all the icicles that hang from the roof over the side door. But if you think those are big, they got twice as long before the bottom halves started breaking off. I'll see if I can find a pic of the biggest icicle we've had here... it's probably from our first winter here.
Oh, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for directing me there. I hadn't revisited her thread lately, so I had missed her latest posts. Oops! LOL.
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| Growit Posted on Monday, December 24, 2007 - 07:43 am: | |
DJ just wanted to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas. It has been lovely getting to know you. I hope your hubby is on the mend too.
love Moira xx |
Thank you, Moira! |
| Flowerfreak Posted on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 - 07:36 pm: | |
Merry Christmas to you & your family, [OoGBoO] DJ
[OoGBoO] |
