Actually, I'm trying to inject some humor here...

We just got back from the West Coast Kayaking Symposium....been gone since Thursday afternoon. Boy, was it weird to be away from home and away from teevee! I'll post some details at some point.

Foggy a lot around here.

Hey, anyone know how to tell when a Hubbard Squash is ripe? I've never grown them before. Do you wait until they are completely green to pick? I have some big orange ones on the vine...

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

Answers

Well Sheepish I've already forgiven you for the hate post! Thats cause I'm so highly evolved!!! Anyway What do you say we go down to Kim's thread and try to convince her that people can actually smoke basil!! Think her and David would fall for it??? Hee hee hee......Kirk

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2001

Oh yea I almost forgot! 3 interesting things I've seen recently. first I saw an albino deer in my field. I thought it was a goat by sure enough a pure white deer!

Today I saw a lizard with a tick stuck to its side. Hey isn't that interesting? Also why do they do those push-ups anyway?

Last when I was looking at these big moths on the outside of my window I noticed some had glowing red eyes!! I swear check em out and see if they don't!!! Is it Satan looking in???.....Kirk

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Kirk, what interesting signs you are having!

Finaly all the apples are done here! I'm so glad ! I was so tired of doing apples everyday, but guess I won't be complaining because we don't have enough apple sause this year as I did last. Our old apple tree only bears every other year, so perhaps there will be enough applesause to make it through next winter too.

It was a very very bad year for our grapes which is Ok, as I am tired of preserving and we have some still left from our big grape year of last. Am harvesting fall raspberries everyday and freezing, perhaps one day I will take them out and make jam.the fall spinish and lettuce is coming up nicely and I think there will be enough to make salads soon. We have put cold frames on our late tomatoe and pepper plants as the nights have turned cool.

The girls have wanted a playhouse for a long time, so finally I came up with the idea of turning the smoke house into one, so we cleaned it out finding other places for the pots, and jars and recycling the newpapers that had gathered there. The girls worked hard, and Jim put in windows complete with screens and we added a loft with a ladder and they are ready to set up house keeping.It is so very nice out there with the pine wood walls and floors and a view of the garden. don't be surprized if you stop by and find me out there having tea!

Someone has droped us off another kitten, we get sooo many drop offs here, I try not to waste time getting mad about it. But it is so hard as the girls fall in love with every one of them, and I have to be the mean guy and say No and quote the prices of vet bills ,and getting them fixed bills and food costs. We already have our two cats, Midnight and Blackie and our dog Laddy and a Cockateil and a Paraket and our chickens, it is complicated enough, don't you think!

I went to see my Poetry leader Clarrisa ,who is in a nursing home now,the other day. I sure do love her. I read some of her poems to her and we discussed them and other things. One of her poems is about when she lost her husband and we were talking about that when she said to me, Trendle I am going to tell you this because I know that you will understand, most people don't you know, and she proceded to tell me that her husband had returned to her and he was with her now.

Clarrisa has always had a deep love for nature which I think is what drew us together, she has always had special birds in her life and will tell the stroy of a cardinal who's mate she saved when it flew into her window, and when she carressed the breath back into the female, the male did a special little dance, and sang a special song to Clarrisa in Thanks. she told me the other day that that little cardinal came to her window when she was in the hospital, and comes to her window at the nursing home to check on her and to let her know that he hasn't forgotton. some people might think that Clarrisa has turned senile but I believe that she is between two worlds now, the one that she will soon be leaving and the one that she will be retruning to. How I will miss her, she is so special to me.

Sheepish, thanks for trying to lighten things up. The movie The Father of the Bride came on yesterday and I got sucked in to watching Tv. But I am glad that I did, that STeve Martin just cracks me up, When he was in the super market and got mad because he bought a pack of eight hot dogs and there were 12 buns in a bag of buns, he was taking the extra buns out of the bag and saying that he wasn't going to pay for buns that he didn't need, well he ended up in jail. I got to laughing so hard over that, that I got hysterical, the girls couldn';t understand what was so funny about it, and my dog Laddy thought something was wrong with me and was nudging me with worry. I could just so relate! We go through life being brave and putting up with the big things and then it is something little and dumb that breaks us down, like having to pay for buns that we don't need. It cracked me up because that was just like something I would do. I have a temper that pops out in very strange ways, at strange times and is ver y unpredictible. God , he made me laugh.

Ya all have a good week, and find something to laugh at even if your kids don't understand and it causes your dog to worry about you. And don't forget that there is another diminsion . Just ask Clarrisa.

Love Love TREn

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Tren, what do you do with the kittens that show up ? I have to keep them and let them add to the eight barn cats that we aready have. Our rural vet is very reasonable with his fees, so I can't use that as a reason to turn them away, or not care for them, and I couldn't not care and love any critter that turned up in the farm yard, despite having lots already!

Of course, we need many cats, we have seven outbuildings that could be over-run with mice, moles and rats, but now we don't have that problem!!! They are all excellent hunters despite being extremely well fed.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Annie, we try to find homes for them usually by putting an add in the paper, then I have to screen the calls as there has been some real weird do's. I wish we knew a vet like yours as there are no discounts anywheres that I know of. It's really mean of people to drop them off. There was one old dog dropped off not too long ago, that everyone was afraid of, the dog had obviously been abused and was scared to death. I finally persuaded him to come to me, to eat and drink and I tied him up to try to fatten him up to give to someone. He was an excape artist and got away three times.Well he was scared of everyone but me and ended up biting my husband and was too dangerous to have around with kids. I finally called the dog pound for that poor thing as nobody would take him. I cried about that .

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Yes, thanks guys for your making us smile.....we needed it......

Well, since I don't have any food preserving to do this year, I think I'm getting desperate cuz I've been thinking about looking up uses for acorn flour! We are surrounded by oak trees here, the acorns are contstantly falling on the roof, freaked us out the first time it happened. One windy day the sound of falling acorns was so loud, my Pyr was barking at them, and when I went outside to investigate, it sounded like hail out there!

Bren drove out to Oregon to pick up the girls from camp; we were't interested in risking them sitting around delayed train or bus stations in far-off cities, and the car seemed the best bet, so off she went. They should all be home tomorrow afternoon and I cant wait to hold them in my arms.

I like your smoking basil idea, Kirk, and I think the albino deer is sooooo cool!! We have an albino squirrel arouind here, also cool,but I've never seen a deer that way. I dont know much about satanic moths, but I seem to remember someone telling me that lizards do push- ups cuz they hafta stay buff for all the naked sun-bathing they do.....

I was freakin out yesterday morning cuz I left my daughter's cockatiel outside all night, and it was like 50 degrees out, and he's like a member of the family, and like if he got a cold or something and died I'd hafta like shoot myself ya know? So I kept feeding him special treats, (he didnt seem hungry......OMG.....) and talkin and singin to him (kinda ignored me, which isnt like him.....yikes!)....and runnin around in circles, reading everything I could get my hands on about cockatiels, and crying and praying and begging him to be ok........well he perked up in a couple hours, started eating and yelling at me and then singing and talking, so I think he's back to normal.......thank goddess........

Keep your chins up everybody....

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Oh Annie You must just love the critter's! They are lucky to have been dropped off at your place! Now, if people would drop off plants.

I don't know how many times I have been in a store, and it has been late in the planting season and I have seen some little plant with it's green fingers pressing out and over it s box searching for light . I couldn't stand it, I had to buy it even if it wasn't marked down as it should have been , I had to take that little plant and give it the soil, the sun and the water that it was looking for.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

We went to the Ohio Renaissance Festival on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, but now I have a case of "bodice-burn". I do that every year, you'd think that I'd eventually wise up and slap some sunscreen on those puppies! The mud show was missing one actor because he went to visit his family and couldn't get back in time. The jousting seemed a bit 'off' as well, I only recognized one of the four knights (one of them was just a squire) and the events were greatly simplified so I'm wondering if they were missing people as well. I was good and resisted buying anything, and it was fun to get all dressed up. Keith and our friends Oz and Mike all have matching cavelier hats with big feathers in them, a little boy asked them if they were the three musketeers. :)

Today is Keith's birthday, so for the next 2 months he's the same age that I am. Tonight is D&D night (actually it's our Star Wars/Star Trek/Fifth Element hybrid game using the d20 system) so I got some cupcakes for us to celebrate. Usually I get his birthday present at the ren fair but he couldn't find the specific sword that he wanted so now I don't know what to get him. Maybe I'll just wrap myself up in a big bow (avoiding the sunburn)! :)

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Oh Sherri, "bodice burn", oh my!!! What a place to get sunburned, ouch!!!

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2001

Earth Mama is your little Cocketiel still doing Ok, They are such dears, they are.Our Pariket is off in a world of his own, but the Cocketiel loves attention and kisses, and likes to sit on my chest while I read, where he pulls my hair.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

So, anyone care to comment on how to tell whether or not my Hubbard Squash is ripe?

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Hmmmmm.......orange ones? You sure they're Hubbards? I don't remember any orange on em......I always left em in the garden until the vines died, but course here thats after the first frost, which won't help YOU much, cuz you aint got any frost. Actually, a little frost helps make squash taste sweeter, so they say, so there are advantages to this hellish climate up here!

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Well....I bought them as starts and they were labeled Hubbard. Hmm. Maybe they're really pumpkins!!!

They are about the size of two footballs put together. The blossoms have been big and yellow (squash-like) and these things are orange, with the non-stem end kind of dark green. The vines are still going strong; in fact I still have blossoms.

Weird, eh?

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Are they real warty?

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

yes, are they warty.......that's how my hubbards look.....pale green and warty.

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Haven't done a full exam on them yet. But when it gets light out, I'll check it out! Warty and green. Sounds like something I wouldn't ordinarily want to eat (unless of course, it's a pickle or a cuke!)

-- Anonymous, September 18, 2001

Sheri... I'm interested in your game (Star wars/star trek/fifth element)... does it come with a title???

Cuz, my kids just love watching the Fifth Element.... and not because of Bruce Willis either... they love the story line ... and the wind, earth, rain, fire plus love.... ah.... the tape will wear out long before they get to play it again, and again...

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

It's a game that we made up on our own, we call it BattleStar Enterprise, or BSE for short. :) Have you heard of Dungeons and Dragons? The company that makes the rulebooks for D&D also has another set of books that uses the same rules but set in the Star Wars universe. We took both sets of books, plus several sci-fi books, movies, and TV shows, mixed them all up and ended up with BSE. My character is half Scottish and half Bajoran, she is a pilot in the Starfleet Reserves. Keith plays a Jedi apprentice who's master was killed by the Romulans, our friend Paul plays a Priest of the Five Elements who has a data port in his head like Jonny Mnemonic. Mike and Crystal are Space Marines like in "Starship Troopers". Right now were are investigating the disappearance of the entire crew of Deep Space 5. We're kind of like an interstellar Scooby Gang. :)

It one of those things that makes a lot more sense if you can see it rather than trying to explain it! :)

I love the movie The Fifth Element too. There is so much going on in the background, I think that I see something new every time I watch it. I'm a big Bruce Willis fan too, so that helps. :)

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

I just got some very happy news. The newest member of our tribe, Molly Malinda McDaniels, arrived via C-section this morning at 8:16am. She weighs 9lbs 10oz and is 22 inches long. She, her mommy Crystal, and her daddy Paul are all doing fine.

It's so nice to hear good news for a change. :)

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

Yes, good news is so welcome. Best wishes to all Sherri.

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

Big welcome to MMMc!

Hope all are doing well!

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

I'm back home from the Minnesota Renaissance Faire -- also went up north on Monday and returned to the south of Wisconsin just tonight. I have no idea what you are all talking about and I know nothing about Hubbard squash. I grew acorn squash, and I still don't know when it's ready to pick. I used the criteria of when the stem easily snapped off. If it didn't want to come, I figure it wasn't ready. I haven't opened any yet, so I can't tell you if that was the right criteria or not.

I have to get caught up here so I know what you're all talking about, and whether Kirk's "happenings" are scary or funny! Sherri, we had such cool, cloudy weather that I did not WISH to expose anything, and I don't believe I would have burned anyway. Actually, the weather was pretty comfortable -- beats roasting and burning. I didn't buy much either, but I did buy a cape in an unusual shade of moss (?) green. At least I can wear that in the mundane world as well!

-- Anonymous, September 19, 2001

Okay, there's a Golden Hubbard. That must be what these yellow beasties are. They are sure getting big!! I guess I'll leave them out there until just before frost...kind of like a pumpkin. This is pretty fun for me, as I've never grown them before. They could easily take over the garden if I let them!

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2001

watched this morning as our dear boys took off for Operation Infinite Justice, they held their babies and kissed their wife's goodby. Now I cannot stop crying. OH life why must you be so sad!

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2001

Welcome back joy...........tren.......stop watching and listen to NPR. I am for once terribly grateful we put the t.v. away several years ago. I could not possibly function if I were watching all this. Just seeing that second plane go into that building live about finished me off. I certainly can not imagine what it has to be doing to everyone to watch all this. hugs tren..........you need to protect your sensitive spirit.

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2001

One thing I've noticed about you Trennie is your ability to feel so deeply about things. When you feel joy it shows, almost right thru the puter screen, and when your down or upset it also really comes across. You seem quick to be upset and as quick to say your sorry! Some people would say to master your emotions you need to control em. I think you have the right idea. Feel them.....love Kirk

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2001

dIANE and Kirk, Hey thanks for reaching out to me guys, I felt your warmth,

boy I crashed there for awhile, felt overwelmed, fearsome,confused, abandaned by God. My little Lea gave me a message, I told her that I felt as if I couldn't hear God anymore, and she told me that maybe I was trying too hard, and that I just had to rest. God love her, she is right, I get so mad at God, why can't he just write it all down in plain sight and stop playing guessing games. But I just have to rest, to watch as the breeze blows through the trees and know that God is there and he knows so much more then me.

-- Anonymous, September 21, 2001