Hang On

So, just to let ya'll know I'm still here and things are okay.  It's all good.  Everyone just needs to vent occasionally and I had mine.  I appreciate all the kind comments and the fact so many of you still hang here.

I'm actually feeling just a tad bit better but I'll tell ya'll about that later and if it keeps up.  I may have made a great discovery and break-through but I can't say for sure right now.

 Health issues can be SO frustrating, as I know many of you can understand.  Especially when you basically just have to figure it all out yourself. 

I think everyone eventually has a day or situations like this.  If you don't you're lying.  But I will pick myself up again and get back on with it.  It's the only thing to do.

Because I really think I'm on the verge of figuring this one out and when I do it's had it!

Mystery To Me

I have a little bit of a different post for all you dear readers today.  A bit of a Pabloesque mystery to help me solve.  Now, in my daydream world, if I were to decide not to be a counterfeiter, my next choice would be a detective or private investigator.  In fact, if it were not for the fact that you have to go all through police academy and actually work for a time on patrol, I might have seriously considered being a detective in real life.  I'm not much on reading most fiction, preferring technical or how-to books, but I love whodunits and any sort of unexplained phenomena.
So, here is my little mystery....Nothing earth-shattering for sure but a bit curious, to me anyway.  At the road end of my drive, near my mailbox, is one of the largest sycamore trees I have ever seen.  It towers well above the surrounding trees in the canopy and the circumference of it's trunk must be 10-12 feet.  A smaller red maple grows under it and both are a favorite of the local squirrels.  Chigger and I were out for our daily stroll to get the mail and as we approached the gate near the mailbox I noticed something seemed amiss.  Looking over underneath the giant sycamore I saw this:  (you may need to enlarge the photo to really see)

The bright green maple leaves from a newly broken limb caught my eye first.  We had not had any recent winds strong enough to blow that down and the leaves were quite crisp and fresh.  It had to have been very recent.  Patches of a blackish, powdery substances were splattered all about and blending into the gravel just a bit was the fresh body a young squirrel.  It looked as though he had fallen from a considerable height.

My first thought when I saw the blackish stuff was that some passing redneck had spit out his dip but as I looked around I realized it was a very, very large amount.  I seriously doubt that even the big-mouthed knuckle-draggers I know could hold that much Skoal.  Plus, there was no Skoal odor.  Perhaps some type of tree rust or mold?

Upon inspecting the small limb it appeared that the broken end had actually been gnawed.  The marking were very similar to the large teeth marks that beavers make when cutting trees.  It was like that but in miniature.  So, gnawed branch, flat squirrel, black junk.  My brain tumbled it all around for a few minutes while Chigger proceeded to sniff everything but she was careful not to disturb the evidence.
I returned to the house to get my camera. I concluded it had to be one of a couple of scenarios.  A. the little squirrel was being pursued by one of the local hawks and had broken a weak limb in it's scrambling to get away, falling to it's doom anyway.  But that didn't really explain why the end looked chewed or gnawed....And wouldn't a hawk have returned for it's prize?  Surely it would have seen the little squirrel laying there.  B. the little squirrel, lacking worldly wisdom, was simply on the wrong side of the limb it was chewing and essentially sawed itself into freefall.  But why would a squirrel gnaw on a tree limb?  Nuts I can see... and what about the black stuff?  I looked all around the large sycamore for any other sign of this black grunge but could not find any.  No other old decaying limbs anywhere that it might could have fallen out of.  After collecting my photos and evidence, and not wanting to see the hapless squirrel become anymore "messy" shall we say, I conveyed it's small body to a peaceful area of the forest to let nature finish it's process.
So, what do you think?  What was that black stuff and why was it splattered everywhere?

Double brownie points to any who can also tell me, off the top of your head, the band that the post title refers to.  One hint; this title is an album and not a specific song.

You Got That Right

Or mention that you do or do not believe in God. lol!

I stumbled across this tonight and thought it was funny.  Not a commentary on my blog or anything.  lol!

Every Time I Itch I Wind Up Scratching You

So today I was helping Allen pack up and move some merchandise from a booth in a flea market/ antique mall type thing and I ran across a very old Glen Campbell LP.  It must have been one of his first albums and out of curiosity I went down the list of song titles, which you all know I use as titles to my blog posts.  As I read the very last one I heard the angles sing and the light shone 'round about me.  Or maybe it was just Allen telling me to hurry up packing....at any rate, as I read those words...Every Time I Itch I Wind Up Scratching You...there could not have been a more clear sign from Above.  It was the title for my next glorious post. You know, the one where I explain why I'm so looney lately and hopefully propels me back into constructive musings and actions. 
All of you that have read my blog for very long know that I am a restless spirit.  Always have been.  I love my place here in the valley and the people and creatures I share it with, but it still thrills my soul to pull out of that driveway and be on my own.  The itch is overwhelming at times and I had laid around here so long feeling like crap that I could sense the moss starting to creep up on me.  (And yes, if you're wondering, the Rolling Stones are a favorite of mine.)  But it's not just the lack of travel; it was the frustration of not being able to do some things for myself and the inability to explain to anybody why.  Other than the Klippel-Feil, I have no official name to put on what this is that has made me hurt and feel so bad this past year.  And you might say, well, what does that matter?  Well, I guess only folks that were raised like I was or have been diagnosed with something unheard of would understand.  I was repeatedly told growing up that I'd either need to stay around home my whole life or have someone else look after me.  'Don't go far because you can't make it'.  But I did make it, and I've got out there pretty damn far, and I've never asked anybody for anything.  I've been given a lot but I didn't beg for it.  So, yeah, to be able to explain to folks that are just waiting for you to stumble or looking for an excuse to say, 'well, you never should have done that to begin with!  Look at the shape you're in now!'  It does make a difference and I wanted to write about the frustrations that people in my scenario face, because I know there are lots of us out there, but it all came out wrong.  It just sounded like me whining or I was just making stuff up. So, I figured I needed a little time off.  A time to indulge me and get my head together..  I had to scratch and God knows I love a good scratch.

Now, before any of you give me a big lecture on not caring what judgmental people think..I get that and I don't really, but some of the eye-rolling and snickering can be a little trying.  If any of you out there have fibromyalgia or something similar you know what I'm talkin' about.  What was more upsetting to me was trying to explain to people that I used to work for, why I can't do some of that work anymore or why it's taking me so long.  Businesses don't care, they need their product.  And most of them are understanding but after a time, and you don't hear from them anymore, you begin to wonder or you just know you've lost another client.  Our health care system is also very frustrating.  I was SO fortunate to get to see Dr. Nabors (who shall hereafter be referred to as the BFD), something I'm truly grateful for, but then I feel like an idiot because he can't find anything and I can imagine he's wondering if I'm making all this up.  According to the tests, I'm the healthiest sick person you've ever seen!

So, long story...the frustration got the best of me.  I had to get away for a while.  I didn't actually go on any road trip but I did go out on my own some.  The sunny days have helped and I've been making more pottery.  After a while I think you just learn to work with certain limitations, if you have them.  I throw for about 30 minutes; that's about all my hips and back can stand.  Then I just get up and do something else for a while.  Then, when I feel like I can, I throw some more.  In 3 weeks I've been able to come out with 2 good firings and have delivered new work to Birmingham.  The universe also knew what I needed and I've been able to visit with several good friends lately.  I even had 2 lunches in one day with two separate friends!  These are other artists too, so it was especially nice.  I even saw some people from my old construction company.  It was, unfortunately, a funeral for one of the ladies from the office, but we all agreed she would have been thrilled at our little reunion and we talked for a long time.
One of the best things this past week though, was I got to visit with a dear friend who I have really missed the past few years.  We email occasionally but I really haven't seen him much.  He is the Guru of Grump.  The King of Crabby.  He put the 'Cur' in Curmudgeon.  He is the BFA, the Big Fancy Architect and it did me good to get to see him.  A few of you very long time readers may know he is the architect that designed this house.  He might deny that because I have had to change a few things he drew, but I think of it as his design and I'm very proud of it.  We tease each other relentlessly and that's one reason why I call him the BFA.  I've met very, very few architects of his station that would dare stoop to be friends with a lowly construction worker so we like to rag each other.  Of course, I've also done a crap load of work for him too but I wouldn't have traded a bit of it for even a shiny, new, straight-claw Estwing.  Well, all except that time I had to climb up in his attic in the summer and block some holes the squirrels in getting in through.  That sucked! *ahem*.  Anyway...

So, I hope to be posting some useful info soon.  I'm trying hard to get back to my old self.  I'm gettin' the itch really bad to finish this portion of the house too, so hopefully I'll have something to show on that before long.!
The spring garden is planted but it's still so cool here it's not doing much.  Well, other than the rhubarb!  That might take over the house this year at the rate it's going. 

Pipe Dreams

So, nobody was able to guess what the object was in the last post!  I kinda figured that might stump ya'll.  Many, many years ago (another lifetime almost) I used to work on pipe organs and the object is one of the larger wooden pipes from one of the organs we took care of.  (If you enlarge the photo in my last post you can see the stopper in the top and the mouth of the pipe down near the plants) You can see smaller versions in the photo above.  For each key on the keyboard there is a corresponding pipe and they descend in size according to the note.  Each set of pipes is called a "rank" and they each are tuned and voiced to a certain sound, such as the 8' trumpet, viola, etc.  And, the largest pipe of, say, the 8' trumpet, really is 8' tall.  Now, some ranks go all the way up to 32' but those pipes are normally not really 32'.  They will use electronics or other techniques to get that sound out of a smaller pipe.  As I said though, the pipe in my house is about 10' long, which was actually one of the smaller pipes in that rank we took out.  If I remember correctly the largest pipe in that rank was about 18'.  The pipes go from this size all the way down to teeny, weeny ranks where the pipes are about the size of a pencil.  Most of the pipes are lead or zinc or a combination of the two but about 1/3 of an organ will be wood pipes.  You occasionally see copper pipes but not often.

The pipe came out of this very church in Birmingham, although the pipes you see there are part of a new organ that was installed last year.  The guy I worked for maintained this organ and we had to restore it after a large fire destroyed everything but the sanctuary.  Supposedly, the large wooden pipes had cracked after being soaked by the fire hoses and so were replaced.  Unfortunately, the rank was replaced electronically, not with real wooden pipes.  The pipes are somewhere around 75 years old and of such beautiful wood a number of us saved all we could.  I only ended up with one but I guess that's better than none.  Of course, it's a challenge to come up with room for them.  Anyway, back then the pipe organ was valued at over $1 million: I'm not sure what this new one goes for.
The job didn't pay too well but it was interesting for sure and we had a lot of fun.  The guy I worked for was a good friend, and a unique fellow to say the least.  Sadly, he passed away a number of years ago at only 49.  A bad heart and drug use will do that sometimes.  He was a good guy though and I miss Howard.  But, as I said, that was a lifetime ago.

And did you know where the old saying, "pulling out all the stops" comes from?  Well, from pipe organs of course!  Each of those white knobs you see on the sides of the keyboards controls one rank of pipes and is referred to as a "stop".  When you pull a knob out it activates power to the air and valves of that rank, allowing it to speak and the organist can thus control the sound and fullness of the music.  So, if you pull out all the stops, the whole organ is playing and that is usually an astounding sound! 

See, ya'll just learn all kinds of interesting crap on my blog.  And, as ol' Howard used to say, you know what's better than roses on your piano?..........tulips on your organ of course!


Another update:  all my bloodwork has come back at this point and of course..it is all perfectly normal.  According to the numbers, not a damn thing wrong with me.

Word Play

Well, it seems I have descended, yet again, into the pit of writer's block.  Hhhm, maybe that's not quite accurate.  I can think of subjects to write about, I suppose.  I just can't muster the enthusiasm to write anything about those subjects.  Well, okay, so maybe that is writer's block also.  I know after 6+ years of publishing a blog that's hardly anything unusual but it's a bit interesting to me because I have felt slightly more enthusiastic about several other endeavors lately.  Maybe those things are drawing my attention way from here.  I guess it's just a combination of things going on with and around me.  I still go to the Doc twice a week for treatment and I often feel like poo afterwards, sometimes the next day also if he does new stuff.  I'm hoping that side effect becomes less and less noticeable.  Many world or U.S. events have had me quite bummed out lately.  Seems there is so much bad going on; it's hard not to get discouraged at times.  Seems to be less and less interest in the self-sufficiency/ DIY ideals these days.  I think a lot of people read such subjects just out of curiosity, not real interest in doing.  Maybe I'm wrong?  What do you think?
My physical diagnosis seems to have added yet another layer of why I'm weird, etc etc.  'Ah yes, you're that odd, opinionated woman that advocates for other women to do stupid things (like weld), grow food, not spend their life shopping and now you claim to have a condition that can't be seen and no one's ever heard of...M'kaaay, right.  We'll get back to you on that'.  Not.
And yesyesyesyes I know the mantra..Don't pay attention to other folks.  They're the ones who are crazy.  Live your own life.  And I do..but sometimes it's lonely.
So, any words for the not-so-wise?  I thought we might play a game also since I think most of ya'll like my blog and enjoy coming here.  You give me one word and I write a post from it.  And not something like "chicken" or "garden" either!!  Something a tad more removed or abstract from my normal subjects.  Your call will be answered in the order in which it is received so please remain patient.  Exclusions may vary.

Baby Got Back

 So, to continue along the line of posts that leave you at a loss for words, I give you now a giant, cast iron Butt.  Oh, the possibilities for titles of this post were just mind boggling.  Now, many of you know that all of my post titles are also song titles, so I started to go with the old hip-hop mantra, "Take Yo Big Azz Outside"; I mean, how apropos!  But, I was afraid that might be a bit too much and went with the more sublime Sir Mix-a-lot classic, "Baby Got Back" and back he does have! I mean, look at that tush!  He could crack pecans with those buns. 
Now, just in case you are not sure what you are looking at, this is the back side of Birmingham's most famous resident, Vulcan.  And no, this butt is not an editorial comment from me to you!  I've been meaning to post about this little adventure I had back in February but, just had not gotten around to it until now.  The website highlighted above gives you a very extensive history of Vulcan and all about the surrounding park, which I am proud to say, my former company completely renovated in 2002-03 and in which Vulcan was restored.  I didn't get to work on that job, as I was involved in another restoration, and had never visited the park so I took a day to go see Sweet Cheeks.  Seriously though, it is a very cool site and the accompanying museum is nice.

Vulcan was cast in 1904 (I believe) as Birmingham's entry into the St.Louis World Fair to highlight the city's rich steel and iron industry.  He was designed and built by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti in 6 months! and is the largest cast iron statue in the whole world.  They have an extensive exhibit inside the museum that shows just how Vulcan was built and it is very interesting.
The concrete structure (which my company built), that sits beside Vulcan's pedestal, is an elevator that takes you up to an observation platform.  Or you can actually climb the old original stairs inside the pedestal.  It was fairly cold and windy that day so we didn't stay up there long.  It's a wonderful park in warm weather though.  Vulcan sits atop Red Mountain so that adds considerably to his height, and the cold.

 This in the view from the observation platform of downtown Birmingham.  If you enlarge the photo you may be able to see much of the UAB complex, one of the leading medical institutes of the country.  Yes, I'm proud of Alabama.  We have lots of good things here, big butts and all.

 The view looking down, obviously.  I thought the map was cool.  If you don't like heights this may be a bit of a challenge.  The platform that you stand on here is actually a stainless steel grate, so you can see straight down beneath your feet.  I am quite used to heights from working construction for so many years but I must say, it did make me just a tad uneasy.!

 I thought this was a pretty cool Louise Nevelson inspired sculpture.  The guys told me that they uncovered a number of mining artifacts during the construction and many of these went into this and other exhibits in the museum.  See, Vulcan actually sits above a large iron ore mine and many of the old tunnels and shafts are still there.

 We had fun and if you are ever in the Magic City I would suggest a visit to Mr. Vulcan.  He'll be glad to see you.

Plant That Seed

Well, that last post got such an overwhelming response I thought I'd immediately post another dry-as-cracker juice essay on gardening!  Haha!  Oh, I'm just joking and being my normal pain in the butt self.  Don't worry, I'm not going to turn into one of those dreary, redneck doomers living in woodsy seclusion that hordes 50 cases of Spam and saves my underarm hair to stuff pillows with.
No, I just thought I'd try to do a few more cohesive posts about my planting methods, what we grow etc.  I've read several posts lately where the people were talking about how horrible gardening was and Oh!! the misery and disappointment when everything just failed miserably.  Year after year even!  Well, gardening can be frustrating sometimes, especially if you're trying to really make a dent in the amount of food you buy, but it's not that bad.  Most of my crops are fairly successful and I live in humidity/ fungus heaven.
 Nothing much bothers okra.  I had tried different methods of drying the okra seeds and nothing seemed to work very well though.  I had tried cutting off large pods and air drying and then cutting off large pods and heat drying.  Every time the seeds would be shrively and puny.  Not good.  This year I let them grow as big as they would but leave them ON the plant.  Just leave them until they dry themselves right there in the field.

Worked great!  These seeds are all very robust and healthy.  No shrively, black things!  Yea!!  Now we just wrench open the pods and store the seeds in plastic pouches.  You can put them in the freezer but I just store mine all in a box in a cool, dark place.

The garden is doing well and I finally got it all mulched.  I made a great discovery on what to use for the walking paths in the garden.  I had one roll of silt fence left over from when we built the driveway, so I took that and pulled all the wooden stakes off of it and then split the roll in half longways.  This took a while as the rolls are about 100 feet long.  Silt fence is just that black plastic looking stuff you see there.  It's pretty sturdy but allows water to flow through it easily.  They sell a similar material at gardening shops for A LOT.  It's basically silt fence.  I got Steve to bring me some more off a job so mine was free but I don't think it costs too much if you buy it from a construction supply.  Plus, you get some wooden stakes you can pull off to use elsewhere!
Anyway, my strips were about 18" wide, so they fit right between rows and I mulch over the edges.  I did make some little pins out of some scrap wire to kinda peg it in place. 

We mulch the plants with wheat straw that comes out of the chicken coop, so it's got poop and all built right in!  Now, I usually let it set for a week or so to kinda mellow a little, then just distribute around the plants.  The rain washes the poopy into the soil and then later it all gets tilled in and the soil gets richer.  I hand dug my garlic area the other day to get it ready for planting and man!!  there was some big ol' wormies jumping everywhere!  I think that was the most earthworms I've ever dug up in this garden.  That makes me so happy because that's a sure fire way to tell the soil is improving.  It has been raining, thankfully, the past couple of days so that project is on hold but that's great!  We really needed the rain.
Well, off to bed because I've got to get a good start on pottery making tomorrow.  Got to throw it into mega production mode!

The Night Before Christmas

 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the kitchen

Not a creature was stirring, not even Basement Chicken.

 The stockings were hung by the fireplace with screws

In hopes that Jack would notice the cues.

 The chickens were nestled all snug in their coop

 And I was trying hard not to step in their poop.

 And Jack in his T-shirt and I in my slip

Had just settled down for some nog and some lip

When out in the woods I heard such a ruckus

I fell off the couch and landed on my tuckus!

Away to the door I hobbled kinda quick

Flung open the same and stepped on a stick.

When what to my blurry eyes should appear

but a big goofy bloodhound and eight giant deer!

With a yip and a yalp and a howl so loony

I knew in a moment, it must be stupid Ernie!

More thunderous than cattle, here they all came

I cursed and shouted and called him such names

You dumbass, you stupid, you lousy ol' cur!

I'll beat you, I'll choke you (just joking)

if you don't get outta hur!!  (that's redneck vernacular)

So up through the valley they all did run

With Chigger in hot pursuit

If only I'd had my gun.

But I did hear him yelp as he ran out of sight

and I laughed at the thought of how Chigger can bite!

 

So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Ten Green Bottles

The other evening I spent a bit of time putting up and organizing many of the herbs I have grown over the summer and had drying.  Wooo!  the excitement of my life is just too much sometimes I know!  I take it a little at a time so I won't be overwhelmed with it, you know? lol!  Anyway,  I have been working from the beginning here to grow as many medicinal and culinary plants as I can and have a fair collection going now.  Most of them are perennial, so once established I really don't have to worry about them anymore.  Just make sure I harvest and dry plenty before winter to make it through.  I ran through my clear jar collection before I ran out of herbs, so I must go searching for some more jars.  Ooh, and I made some way cool labels for the jars on Word and printed them out on individual stickers. You can kinda see if you enlarge the photo.  If you have any available dirt it just makes so much sense to grow your own, rather than buy all these herbs.  Most are super easy to grow and of course, fresher if they are just outside your door, therefore the taste is always superior.  As of now I grow or wild harvest peppermint, catmint, catnip, lemonbalm, passionflower, feverfew, echinacea, dill, parsley, vitex, oregano, basil, chives, sage, mountain mint, beebalm, lavender, red clover, thyme and probably a few more.  I use these for cooking and teas, usually medicinal or just relaxing.  For example, sage tea is a great cough suppressant.  I hope to add many more herbs to my collection in years to come.
I thought it would be funny to label a few jars Eye Of Newt, Bat Wings or some such because it never fails that when newcomers see my pantry they say, "wow, are you some kind of witch?"  At least, I think that's what they're saying......witch?  b......?  Anyway!  It cracks me up that so many people think that if you use stuff like this you're like, "really out there"!  woooowoooo and all that.  Pfft!  Of course, I guess in all fairness, the animal skulls laying around don't really help my rep but they are just decorations.  Seriously.

Hey!! We are supposed to get snow tonight!  Snow!!  in November in Alabama?  Must be that global warming... Really, I don't believe I ever remember it snowing this early in my time.   Hey, I think I said that last year around the first week of December??  Hhhhmmm.

In The Meantime...

Lots of pottery making going on! Not that I have a tremendous amount of orders but there is a reason behind it all.


Lots of corn harvesting going on too! I think I have picked around 50-60 ears so far. This is astounding to me because I have never had a successful corn crop until this year. We have been enjoying fresh corn on the cob and creamed corn but I have been trying to freeze a good amount also.

And all the ears are so pretty with NO worms!! without a drop of even an organic spray. They are not huge ears but they are decent and very tasty! This is Silver Queen, my favorite! Nomnom!!

And this is Chigger Queen!! She has been so hot lately, poor thing. All her hair is falling out. I have been brushing her, to help her shed. Maybe it offers some relief. She is always such a happy dog with such a good attitude. She is happy to be with you no matter what you're doing, although she really enjoys going on walkabouts. But she's a young dog; happy, happy, happy. Just wait 'til she hits menopause! Then she'll be crabby, crabby, crabby!! Haha!! maybe not.

I have to tell ya'll about this! The other day I was starting to work on the last little bit of siding on the gable end over the door. There were two small boards tacked up in the high part of the gable (for some reason) that I needed to pull down. We must have been using them for a temporary support or something. Anyway, so I get the ladder and climb up there and I'm starting to pry this board off the wall. I'm about 16 feet above the deck on this extension ladder also and they are really not my favorite thing to work off of. So, as I jiggle the board a little prying on it, this creature runs out from behind!! Now, how a spider as fat as my fingers could squeeze it's self into a crack that you would have trouble slipping a piece of paper into, I don't know but it freaked me out. All I could imagine was this spider, as I popped the board loose, would sense it's secure hiding place leaving and fling itself through the air onto anything it sensed was a stationary object; that being my head, neck or shoulders. If any of you remember, perchance, the caulking gun incident, you can imagine where my thoughts are going on this. It was not going to be pretty. I mean, look at that thing! It has HAIR!! Nothing that can be classified as 'bug', spider, what have you, should have hair!! It's not right! Let me also remind you that that is a 2 x 6 board that it is pictured on also, so you can see the proportions there. That scene from "Aliens" kept playing over and over in my head. Jack would come home to find me sprawled on the deck with Mr. Hairy suctioned to my face. I finally summoned all my courage and with one mighty swipe sent the board flying through the air while the octopod hairball fell straight down, thumping on the deck like a sack of flour. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. But you know what's even creepier? That thing fell near the front door. I kept an eye on it every time I would go in and out but after several times I came out and noticed it was gone...Had it jumped through the open door as I passed? Or just slipped through the deck boards to go under the house? Hhhm. Hey, where's Grendal? She was just here a minute ago...

Funny How Time Flys (When You're Having Fun)

Take us to your leader!

Grandpa, from The Munsters, I swear.

"Boy, Ah say Boy, you 'bout as sharp as a bowling ball..."

Lots of eggs...

Natural fireworks

Dig It!!

"Heyyyy, braaaawkk.....uh, hey, ya'll, I don't think we're supposed to go near those vine thingies!! Braaaaaawwwk! I got in trouble for ransacking that one on the other end of the garden! Hey!! get out of there before she comes out h......!! Oh crap! here she comes! Braaaaawk! Henny!! Henny! get your head outta there!! you two are on your own!! I'm going to stay back here in the oats and mind my own business!! Braaaaaawkkk!! don't say I didn't warn you!


I let the gals out into the main garden today since things have grown fairly stout in size. I thought they might enjoy the much wider range and variety of bugs, and they seemed to. They were a little hesitant to go in there at first but soon overcame their fear, once they discovered the apparent lotto of bugs under mulch! They really didn't do much damage but I did have to put a little wire cage around my cantaloupes. They got a little over enthusiastic with the scratching around them due to the heaving mulching. They seemed to really like the outing and ran up and down the rows of corn and potatoes especially, pecking and talking. Bertha even forged her way through the giant zucchini forest. I hope she found the squash bugs! I haven't seen but a few of them this year though; thank goodness. After a while they took a break under the largest fig tree to rest and dig a small dust bath. I tried to dig them a few grubs but it has become so dry here I couldn't find any. They were disappointed at that.
We are hearing thunder in the distance and it rained a little a few minutes ago. Hopefully we will get a heavier downpour later. We really need it. I have been watering regularly but there is just nothing like actual rain.

Pretty Legs And Great Big Knockers

I'll spare ya'll from any more chicken posts; for awhile anyway. Well, I did want to do one more on the runs we have built for them, but I thought I'd take a break from that and give a little status update on the garden. Okay, Chigger wanted her picture taken one day too and posed for me and everything. Not sure about the sprawled legs but anyway....she has lost her little cute puppy looks but she's still a sweetie.

It has been pretty hot this past week and everybody is trying to acclimate to it. She pretty much does this during the day but is all wired and ready to go early in the morning and late in the afternoon. We bought her a pretty grown-up dog collar for her tags.

Oh, I said this was a garden update, didn't I? Things are going along well there. One of my zucchini plants has become so large Allen has taken to calling it Audry. I'll get some photos of that soon. Seems the cow manure is a big help. These are the first carrots I've ever grown!! They are "Little Finger" variety: I believe an old French heirloom type. I did pull some of them a bit small, as you can see, but they needed thinning anyway. Very tasty.

I have actually harvested all the cabbage now. This was taken a couple of weeks ago. That area behind me is now sprouting corn, green beans, okra and potatoes. This batch of cabbage did real well.



In fact, I got some really nice heads! They were all quite firm and robust. Allen kept wanting to mess with them though and squeeze them. I had to make him stop before he bruised them. Ugh!
I took two of the heads and made sauerkraut. Well, I'm making sauerkraut now. We'll see in a few weeks how it comes out and I will post the results, good or bad.
So, if the rest of the garden doesn't get beaten to death tomorrow in a hail storm I'll post some more about what's going on there. They are predicting some storms for us but maybe it won't get rough. We could use the rain though.


Oh...that really is an old song by Bette Midler.

You Plant Your Fields

My little seedlings are finally starting to get a move on in the growth department. These are mostly varieties that I ordered from Southern Exposure. I am very impressed with their seed quality. These just busted forth quite exuberantly only a few days after I planted them and soon outgrew the smaller starter holes in the tray below. My seeds from Baker Creek and a few others have sprouted but took much longer and just haven't shown the life, I guess you'd say, of these others. Now, some of these other seeds are from a couple of years ago and a couple I messed up by planting too deep but the Southern Exposure seeds just seem much more robust.
We are still getting a few frosts now and again and our traditional planting dates for hot weather crops are not until mid-April. Many of the older folks here plant right after Good Friday. So, knowing these would never make it in the teeny starter slots I transferred these to individual peat pots until I can get them in the ground. I have started zucchini, crookneck yellow squash, 2 types of cucumber, Amish Paste, Black Cherry, Moneymaker and Yellow Pear tomatoes, Black Diamond watermelons, Edisto 57 melons (cantaloupe), a Santa Claus melon, eggplant and pepperocini peppers. I also started some dill and some little mini, decorative pumpkins, just for fun. I will direct sow green beans, corn, okra, purple hull peas and probably some other stuff that escapes my memory at the time.

I hope I did not sound presumptuous or holier-than-thou in that last post/rant. I don't mean to appear to think I'm all that and a bag of chips too. Compared to some other folks doing 'green', I'm a horrible slacker. I know I have a long way to go but I'm working on it. What bothers me is not that people don't live like I do. Everybody is different and everybody has the right to live as they choose. What pains me is when I see friends and family, or even people that are not close friends, who are obviously unhappy and unhealthy but do not seem to realize the source of their trouble. They work long hours on sometimes 2 jobs to uphold a standard of living that basically amounts to eating, sleeping, watching TV and shopping for worthless crap on their few off days. Or, they work long hours to avoid their spouse. They feel bad physically and bad about themselves because they can't seem to lose weight but they don't seem to realize that melted cheese is not a vegetable and that cases of diet soda won't cancel out all the other crap you eat. In fact, many studies done have shown they will actually make you gain weight, not to mention wreck your blood sugar levels. They complain about having to take so many prescription meds and will believe anything a doctor tells them but make fun of me because I use baking soda instead of chemical laden toothpaste. And what astounds me most of all is they will question me and see how I live, that I don't take drugs, that I don't need to lose 50-60 lbs. or more (although I admit I could lose 10), that I'm not burdened by untold amounts of debt and then STILL smugly scoff at me for planting my own food or not having the latest Crackberry or Ipod or whatever the shit they have.
And most painful of all is that they are teaching their children the exact same habits and lifestyles, almost guaranteeing their future unhappiness also. They claim they have no time for outdoors or planting or anything of that sort and I suppose if they are at the mall all the time or chauffeuring their children to way too many activities, they don't. I don't buy that however. When I was a kid we grew a large garden and raised much of our own meat and we, the kids, had to do a lot of the work. But we still had time for extracurricular activities and fun time with friends. In high school my sister was in the band and my two brothers and I were all the annual staff photographer. I got to go swimming at the fancy city pool with girlfriends. However, I had to finish weeding and watering sometimes before I could go. But we were not secluded farm children that never socialized with society. Hell, we even dated some! Well, my siblings did; for the most part I couldn't buy a date in high school. But anyway...the idea of not having time or kids not having any other life is ridiculous, but I guess what it boils down to is that people make time for what they want.
On the rare occasions that I see my family they all look tired and wore out. Other people and friends seem stressed and upset and it just makes me feel bad for them. To live a more simple life is just that,... simple. It's not rocket science. But I guess the lure and habit of rampant consumerism is more than a lot of people can avoid. And, as some of you pointed out, most people just don't stop and think. They don't realize they don't have to live that way. As one of the boys I worked with told me once, 'it's not debt unless you can't make the payment'. That is their way of thinking. But you can't really say anything to people about stuff like that. It's their choice. But I do feel bad knowing that people I care about are going to continue to suffer ill health, work related stress and rising debt and they won't look around and see what is going on.
But ya'll don't worry about me, seriously. I like being different; always have. In fact, I have a overwhelming urge to dread my hair or pierce my nose in defiance of normalcy and to proclaim my hippidom!!. Tattoos are cliche' now but I could come up with something different. Wear bones in my hair? lol!!!

I Won't Crap Out

Yes, that is a shit load of crap. Cow crap to be specific. So, we won't be crapping out or out of crap for some time. Not unless the shit hits the fan anyway and then we are probably going to be in deep shit or up shit creek, however you want to look at it. Actually, I prefer not to look at it or smell it either but it is good for the garden. Anyway, I finally got my shit together today and went over to the cow neighbor, who said they didn't give a shit if we got it, and loaded poor ol' Blue down (twice) with well, cow shit, for the garden. I am usually full of shit but today the truck was too. Afterward, I was really pooped.
Hehehee, okay, have ya'll had enough?

I'm pretty good at spreading shit, so I got this honor. As soon as the rain stops we are going to till this in and it will sit and compost some more for about 4 to 6 weeks. By planting time the shit should be straightened out. Hopefully, I will be able to grow a shit load of veggies now.

Chigger says, 'I'm staying out here; I'm not getting involved in that shit!' Actually, Chigger the Dog  knows that the garden is off limits to her. Her mole chasing habits would destroy my plantings.

I also spread this kelp meal over the garden to be tilled in with the other crap. I have used this stuff before and it really helps to add many nutrients to the soil. It is supposed to be sustainably harvested from areas of the sea that do not suffer from contamination. I try to use only natural fertilizers and make my own compost etc. but this soil here is very lean and I'm just trying to get it up to the point it will grow stuff halfway decently. After testing the soil last year I was actually not so surprised to see it was basically dirty colored sand.
I finally have my handy-dandy, homemade composter working and I will be showing that to you soon and hopefully, adding much needed 'black gold' of my own making.

Well, rain is coming in tonight and looks to be here for a couple of days, so my projects have moved inside. I hope to get the pantry floor installed this weekend and will be showing that to you soon also. I'll be very excited to be finished with that; thrilled shitless I guess you'd say.