Ladies and Gents,

I'm back and well rested! Although at the moment, I find myself in want of a nap. :)

I was lucky and saw a couple of you on chat once or twice last week, but now am back full time.

Spring is in the air, and in the ground around me. I planted my summer bulbs last weekend. My lettuce and carrots are up, as are my onions. The other veggies are going great. I just purchased some tomato plants, and a couple of unique pepper plants which will find their way into the ground tonight.

My new hubby and I have a new hobby now as well. Making Wine.... oh my oh my oh my... (Chuck - I remember now that I must send you the directions for coffee wine and will when I get to my book to type them in. )

Talks to you later... Mrs. Sheeple

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 27, 2000

Answers

Boy, Sheeple, you make me feel so out of it. So far this spring I've cleared away some dead leaves I didn't bother with last fall.

Heh,..but I did think about what I'd LIKE to do.

I guess I'm waiting on the stores to put out their flats of flowers and herbs. Growing something from seed never works for me. At least some of the things I planted last year have come back again this year, which is an improvement over the year before..heh.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), March 27, 2000.

Between gardening and taxes (weeds and IRS being the only real guarantees in life), I haven't been on line much, but your nuptials last week brought a smile to my face whenever I thought about them. And that smashing dress! The forum family moves on! Congratulations, Sheeple, may the best years of your life still be ahead of you!

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), March 28, 2000.

Brooks,

Thank you. They brought a smile to our lips as well. When I get a little time (or bad weather) I'll scan in a few pictures of us from the wedding (and the dress).

I'm beginning to feel that dress is becoming as famous as the "blue dress with the stain"... lol... NOT!

Did you have to mention Taxes? I haven't even started mine this year, even though I know that I'll get a hefty refund. I hate tax time.

Due to demands of being a mom, and some wine that needed to be racked, I didn't get my tomato plants in the ground last night. I am hoping that I get them in tonight, but it may be tight as I have some items which I must do for a party at work tomorrow. I love this time of year, but love the benefits of the hard work later when the produce starts to pour in. There is something about getting out and working with the earth that gets to my very core. Oh well, and I'm stuck inside my office for the rest of the day. I guess I could spend the rest of my lunch hour outside. :)

Donna

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 28, 2000.

Welcome back, Donna.

I agree with a little bit of everything on this thread. I'm famous for procrastinating on taxes, bill paying, domestic chores, and anything else in life that doesn't bring home the bacon.

I'm planting seeds in containers this year, Kritter. Forget all the weeding involved with a huge garden. I threw about 8 seeds of each species into each container with the hopes that one will grow. I needed all those tomatoes last year like I needed another hole in my head.

Your endless energy amazes me, Donna.

I've also spent a great deal of time THINKING of what I will do, Kritter. [grin] My favorite is to plan a new exercise program when I'm too sick to move.

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), March 28, 2000.

Anita,

While on the brief visit to the old home, everyone kept asking (telling) me to 'sit and rest a while'. Well, last weekend, we had a little party at the house, and some of my guests suggested that I need to be tied down just to get me to sit still for more than five minutes. Maybe I do have more energy than I should.

Waiting on the minute her body says relax..... Donna

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 28, 2000.

I did manage to plant a flat of Pansys and a six pack of Parsley today. I'm hoping it rains a little each evening so I don't have to remember to water these little green fellers.

I also cleaned out my fireplace today,...which involves shoving all the ashes down through the trap door. Messy work!! But now it looks so nice,..no one is allowed to use it again till next winter! Even used windex on the glass enclosure. And vacuumed in front of it. Then...I took a nap :-)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), March 28, 2000.

Mrs. Sheeple:

-- Jean Schenker (jps@linkfast.net), March 28, 2000.

Mrs. Sheeple: Sounds as if you will have enough veggies to start your own curb market. I am especially interested in the coffee wine recipe. If you don't mind, I would appreciate your sharing that recipe with me. Thanks.

Jean Schenker

-- Jean Schenker (jps@linkfast.net), March 28, 2000.

Jean,

If you e-mail address is real, it'll be on the way in a few.

Donna

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), March 29, 2000.

Donna, my address is real and I got it. May have some questions since I really am a novice at wine making. We live in a German town where some of the residents make wine, but I am just beginning to learn. Bill planted us plenty of grape vines, so am going to be doing grape and muskadine (sp ?). Never heard of coffee wine, so am anxious to see what it is like. Thanks.

Jean

-- Jean Schenker (jps@linkfast.net), March 29, 2000.

Kritter:

I would have spent about an hour admiring the fireplace before I took the nap. There was a comic strip many years ago that described the situation. I'm sure you can relate. The mom had spent the entire morning re-organizing the linen closet. Of course while she was doing that, the small children were busy turning the REST of the house upside down. When the father came home from work, he asked the kids "Where's mom?" The kids said, "I think she's admiring the linen closet."

Donna:

You remind me of a friend I had once in Chicago. She worked full- time, raised two kids, had an immaculate house, sewed her own clothes, made new chair-covers for her dining room table twice/year, spent lots of time at a boat-club with her husband, drank LOTS of alcohol [martinis were her favorite], kept horses, chickens, geese, ducks, a huge garden, etc. etc. I asked "How do you do it all?" She said, "If you have 75 things to do in a day, you do 75 things. If you have 1 thing to do in a day, you do 1 thing."

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), April 01, 2000.

Donna, the pictures were great! Thanks for sharing them and Congratulations! :-)

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), April 01, 2000.

Hey..I didn't get to see no Donna pictures!?! Whassup wit dat? How about it, when do I get to see the famous dress?

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), April 03, 2000.

Anita,

How I would like to meet your friend in Chicago. I might learn a thing or two! :)

All serious now, it was a dreary Saturday, and I did (almost) nothing all day long. For some strange reason, the weather got me down and all I wanted to do was sleep. I didn't manage to sleep, but did lay around most of the day, and let me tell you it felt strange for me to sit around and do (basically) nothing.

Donna

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), April 03, 2000.

Newly wedded types making wine?.....Not likely.....

Making out...that I'd believe.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), April 16, 2000.

Robert.... oh Robert,

Why can't you believe that newly weds would be making wine? Sure we make out a lot, but sometimes... hum, er... you have to have time to recharge the internal batteries. So, while we are letting ourselves be recharged for another round of making out, we rack 5 gallons of wine.

Oh, we racked it all on Sunday evening. The apple is wonderful, the coffee is interesting but very good, and the raspberry is dry but I'll sweeten it when I go to bottle it.

Cheers! Sheeple

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), April 18, 2000.

Coffee?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), April 18, 2000.

Robert,

Yes Coffee wine. Of that, I'm only making a gallon as a test run, but it was more as a gift to a family friend who drinks coffee 24x7. We'll share a couple of bottles with him, and keep one bottle for ourselves. Who knows, we may make more.

Sheeple

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), April 18, 2000.

Okay .... lettuce see here if she gets the "hint".....

"Making a gallon"... implies that the lovely Lady lady in question is making more wine than can fit in a single liter bottle...

"Making (wine) for a friend" implies that a (single) gift is intended,

A bottle is one liter.

"A friend" implies only one person (currently) would receive (one) gift, which would imply only one bottle is needed as the one gift.

This indicates that there might be a liittle bit (3 bottles worth) "left over" after the "Friend" receives his gift.

Now, none of us would want anybody to have to keep an extra three bottles left in the wine cellar....an extra three bottles is absolutely too much work for newly-type wedded people to have to clean, sort, keep track of, rotate, etc.

So obviously, certain kind-hearted coffee-drinkers elsewhere would certainly be willing to recyle the excess coffeed wine that is not needed for the previously mentioned gift.......

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), April 18, 2000.

Robert, Robert... what am I going to do with you?

There are 5 gallons of the apple wine working, 1 gallon of the raspberry. Dang, come to think of it, I think that I'm going to have to go to my supplier and start making purchases of the empty bottles. When I think about the 28 bottles of wine that will be ready to bottle in June, my mind almost goes faint.

Then again, there is the 5 gallons of plum that I want to make, oh and 5 gallons of regular grape, and some white grape/pear...

I guess I better plan on making plenty of gifts, or someone just might think that I have a drinking problem. Oh No....

Sheeple

-- (Sheeple@Greener.Pastures), April 18, 2000.