Daily Blogzone

We have a new firm rule for the farm, until the infrastructure to look after an animal is in place, we don't get that animal. And we are talking about permanent infrastructure, not stuff like temporary hot wire fence. We have learned to be more careful. Actually, we knew we needed this rule long ago, but when I was fighting cancer, I need a lot of 100% grass fed raw milk, so we bought a dairy cow. No stanchion, no proper fences, and it has been a real challenge.

Years ago when we brought home the Dexters, we relied on electric fences. And in recent years we have relied on them, but the results have not been good. This last week was a real headache with the cows. Part of it had to do with the fact that I pulled a muscle in my back on Saturday and it is still bothering me. So, Monday morning when I checked on my cows, I just stood at the back door and looked for the appropriate size and color of animals in the proper pasture. Ooops. I didn't know the neighbors had put three new horses in the pasture just behind where...

Yesterday was a wasted day. On Sunday, I was hoping that if I walked out the knots in my back I would be better on Monday. This theory did not work. Instead, I had charlie horses in my upper back and in my thighs, making the rest of my back act up and my hips. Ooops. So, I spent a boring day lying on the couch. I did a little needle work, but not much as I couldn't find a comfortable position. At times like this, I find it very annoying that I am allergic to ibuprophen.

On a bright note, tomorrow is my birthday! Now, I know many people my age don't celebrate their birthdays anymore, but I do. Too many times have I faced medical problems that could have easily killed me. I have lived on a diabetic diet for 40 years now. Except for my stupidity in hurting my back, I am in great health. This is something to celebrate. I know, that in my youth, there was doubt about me living to adulthood. So, every year is a achievement. And, Garth has two days off. So this will be fun, even if I am hurting.

I...

I hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend, regardless of which holiday you celebrate. Ours was slightly spoiled by me. On Saturday, in order to make hot cross buns I needed more Spelt wheat out. So I grabbed a pail of wheat and filled the day to day container. I am not sure what I did wrong, but I pulled a muscle in my lower back, big time. This has been rather painful and makes doing anything a real chore.

I am not sure what I forgot to put in the hot cross buns, but they were dry and not real good. Still edible, but not what they should have been. A real shame as they were Randa and Zack's introduction to our favorite tradition for Easter Weekend. Next year will be better.

When we got home from church in the park, Garth and I went for a walk out to visit the cows. Dusty accompanied us out, but not back. She decided to go walk about and even when I walked all the way back out again, she wouldn't come to me when I called. This really scared both Garth and I as it is not normal behavior...

Last night we attended the Seder Supper at our church, as always, it was inspirational. One comment that I really appreciated was an acknowledgment that we could not do this if the Jews had not preserved the ritual for us. And comment wondering if when Jesus said do this and remember me, was he talking about the Seder or Communion? Gotta love a church that is willing to question and be grateful to others, not of their religion.

Garth was home in time for a late lunch, then he slept all afternoon. This made doing anything noisy a challenge. I need to install the new AC unit in our bedroom then that will block out most noise and I can continue to work in the house, and around the house while he sleeps. It will also be more comfortable than sleeping in the outrageous humidity we are suffering from this year. I do have several projects in front of it, but I need to get to it, soon.

Too many projects all yelling for attention, now. I wish I was triplets, but that seems to be a spring thing. My rules are it is okay for my tummy to be...

Last night we finally started a community garden in Huntsville. Well, we cleaned up the garbage from the site and took a good look at what we have to work with. It has a long way to go, but all projects do at the beginning. One step at a time and I do believe we will have a wonderful secret garden growing in downtown Huntsville. It is well hidden, with three walls around it, so it is a challenge to plan.

On the home front, Garth came home yesterday from being on course all week. And he has the crud back full force again. Being in AC all week, with a room full of sick people didn't help. I wish he could have stayed home today, I mean it is Good Friday, but they have a mandatory safety meeting today, so he had to go. That usually means drug testing or that there was a major safety violation recently. Since we haven't heard of any accidents, it is probably a piss test again. The days of the oil field being tolerant of alcohol and drug abuse are long gone, they are really careful about such things these days.

While he...

Well, I woke up to a wet world again. Zach had greased my tractor for me on Tuesday, so I could cut the grass. But now it is too wet again. Looks like more rain on Tuesday next week, so hopefully I can do some cutting on Monday. I love the rain, but it would be nice to get the grass cut down. It is too hard to work in the long grass.

Also, it will be hard to build a new road if it never dries out. Billy says he needs it dry to do the work, so we will be waiting a while. But, this is Texas, mud pit season always comes to an end, sooner or later. Then we miss it. Four months in the summer with almost no rain is normal, so we have learned to love tropical storms. Not hurricanes, but tropical storms. The kind that dump ten plus inches of rain in a day, or more. Amazing how much that brings the pastures back.

I am running late today, I slept in. I have been trying to put a full days work in, each day. It is tiring, but I will eventually get used...

I am a bit sore today, I really worked yesterday, then went to Zumba. We started hauling urbanite home from next door. Urbanite is old broken concrete and rather useful stuff. Instead of pouring pure, new concrete, we use urbanite to take up most of the space, then we fill in the voids with concrete for a smooth surface. That is how we could afford a concrete sidewalk and many other projects. It keeps urbanite out of the landfills and saves on the use of concrete, so a win win situation for the environment. But, it does take work to collect it and put it where you want it.

The urbanite had been sitting there for a long time, so with all the rain we have had, the first thing we had to do was clear all the vetch that had grown over it. But, we hauled that vetch home and fed the rabbits with it, so clearing was also feeding. I like it when my energy does two jobs at once, I can get more done that way. As I get older, I really do try to work smarter, not harder. There is plenty of hard work to do,...

Funny thing, as soon as you clear an area in your home of stuff you don't need, new stuff comes home. Have you ever noticed? Well, they say Nature abhors a vacuum, so I guess houses do too. The new addition is a dining room table with a leaf, so it will sit four adults and three kids easily. It will be nice to have. My little dining room set I bought back in February of 1979 sits five, in a squeeze as long as they are skinny. And taking my craft table apart and putting on the other legs is a pain to do too often. So, I will enjoy this table, and it is in bad enough shape to not worry about. We are a construction zone right now, so a really nice table would be a problem.

I also discovered yesterday, that having a young boy bring you a bouquet of wild flowers he had picked for you is special. I can see them sitting on the table as I write this, it gives me warm fuzzies. It is rather wonderful to have children in my life again. Moving three thousand miles away from our families robbed...

Good Morning, I know, I missed another day yesterday, but Garth was home until late afternoon, so I just didn't get my computer time. Besides, I happen to know my one faithful reader was not home to read. I hope I have more than one, but I have no idea.

It was another pretty day yesterday for living. However, the season is shaping up to be a lousy tomato year. Let me explain. How much fruit the tomatoes produce is directly related to overnight lows. When the overnight lows are above 70F, most tomato plants don't set fruit. Unfortunately, we are hitting those temperatures already this year. We are only in the 80s in the daytime, but the humidity is so high it is keeping the night time temperatures very high. Last year we had too little rain, looks like this year will be too much humidity. This also means that blights will be a problem. We have been very calm on the wind as well, which can cause blight problems. I do believe we will be planting in a spread pattern this year because of this. With carrots, basil and marigolds in between the plants trying to protect them...

I got a surprise, Garth is off today. So, this will be short. He will be gone on a course over his scheduled days off, so he got today off instead. Or at least it is off until they call. I wish his hours would be cut, I hate he has to work this hard.

But, I am grateful he has a job. So many people are loosing their jobs, are finding that money just doesn't buy what it did. The last thirty years, our governments have protected us from real world market forces, have run up a debt that can't be paid. I am afraid the piper is about to call for his money.

The up side of what is coming is that community and friends are going to mean more. People will have to work together to survive. Entertainment will go back to being home made, as will many things. The keeping up with the Jones' mentality will finally be seen for the sham it is. Working long hours, to buy stuff you don't really want or need, to impress people whom you don't really care about, will go away. Pretty silly way to waste life.

Instead, time...