Over the fence chat for October 6 thru October 12, 2002

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Mornin' all! Well, the Weatherunderground.com lied - sunny, it ain't! Grey and chilly (51*) and what looks like rain moving in from the west. No matter - I didn't want to do laundry today anyway! I am going to try to beat the rain out to the pepper patch and pick all the bell and gypsy peppers - I'll leave the hot peppers until I can find some gloves (where DID I put those darn things!) I need to get the mild ones chopped and packed for the freezer (now, where did I put those pint bags?! Can't find anything in this house!)

A bit later, after the orchard open, I'll make a run over there after another bushel of Golden Delicious - Pop threatened me with death and destruction if I brought home more than one bushel - d'ya think maybe he didn't want to get stuck on the business end of the apple peeler again?! I only got 12 (stuffed!) quart freezer bags of sliced apples, 9 pint jars of cinnamon apples, and a pan of apple crisp out of the first bushel; so I figure that I'm going to need a couple more bushels at least. Need to stop by the Dollar Store for a few more bags of Red Hot candies as well, so I can make at least one more canner load of cinnamon apples - we like them better than applesauce, and they go so well with pork.

Speaking of pork...:o) I've got a pork roast thawing that I think I'm going to cook in the oven instead of on the rotisserie this time - I think I'll cook it in apple cider and see how it turns out - haven't done that for a long time. Got beans on to soak, as well - navy beans with some kidney beans thrown in to keep them from being so boring! I'll cook them up with some ham and onion in the pressure cooker, and mix up a batch of corn bread to go with - can't decide between honey corn bread, or making up a batch with some cream style corn and some bits of red peppers mixed in..hmmm...

Got a turkey breast thawing out, too; for Hubs to cook on the rotisserie. I'm in a cooking frenzy 'cause I got another one of "those" work weeks coming up starting Tuesday - 3-12's, one off, then 3 more 12's. Why do I let them do this to me?! That wasn't the only time I got hosed on the October schedule, either - I got stuck working Halloween night, when I was supposed to be off. The boss said "We didn't think you'd mind working so that the ones with little kids could take them trick or treating"; to which I replied "Didja ever consider that I might have had plans for dancing nekkid around a bonfire that night?!" Utter silence. Even the psychiatrist didn't come up with anything to say! Bet that word picture will give the boss nightmares for weeks - hee hee hee!! He'll be asking before he changes my schedule around again, I bet!

Whoops! There's the rain, hitting on the windows - guess I won't get those peppers picked this morning after all. Well, durn. Rats. Shucks, even! I'm thoroughly distraught. Guess I'll just have to find something else to do; maybe sort through my seeds and make a list of what all I've got - now there's a horrible chore - NOT! Or, maybe I could go sort through my fabric and look for some different colors for my quilt; lay out the blocks that I've got done on top of my bed to see what colors I think I'm missing. Or I could just make a pan of muffins and another pot of coffee and plop down on the couch with a book - now that's a winner of an idea!

You folks all take care - enjoy this wonderful fall weather!

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2002

Answers

Polly, reading your post makes me hungry (and I just ate a big breakfast, too!)

Big news this past week is that I bought a campervan...actually it's a fairly decent sized Class B motorhome (well, okay, it's only 17'!!). I've been thinking about this for a couple of years (see old CS archives!), and some friends of ours in AZ bought a Class C beater, and after seeing theirs, that did it for me. I have been looking ardently since returning from AZ. I love camping, but this last stretch of sleeping on the ground for 2 weeks just about killed me. Anyway, this rig has a bed over the cab that extends to 6'7" (long enough for Mr. S. to actually stretch out his 6'5" frame), as well as the requisite dinette bed conversion thing. Supposedly sleeps 4, but 3's stretching it! It also has a microwave, hot/cold water, two- burner stove top, 4 cu. fridge with a freezer, A/C in the roof and dash, furnace, AM/FM/cassette, and (a hoot) a CB radio....oh, and a portapotty...no bathroom or shower.

So now, in addition to long hours at work, critters, veg. garden, perennial garden, bunkhouse, spinning (ha!), etc., I can have yet another project: provisioning the motorhome! And then camping in the motorhome!

I'm looking forward to camping with Mom this winter (Mr. S. wants to stay home and study/watch livestock)...mostly at state parks around Puget Sound. I'm not going to be depressed and sit around in the dark this year...no sireee..! Just hope I can afford to buy gas...

Weather still okay here. We finally got rain, so things are greening up a bit. Picked the last spaghetti squash, but still have lots of greens, beets, a couple more strawberries (this has been the oddest year), even some brussels sprouts. Weird.

Have a good week, good buddies...Ten-four...

-- Anonymous, October 06, 2002


I'M BAAAAAACCCCCKK!! I had them take the X-block off. Seems they are having trouble with the server and my problem may be a part of the problem. They will try to put it back on as soon as possible. Now I just have to make sure I don't mention it's off to my 15 yr old son or if I do, I'll have to say I'll be checking what sites he visits.

On some of the older posts I missed:

*Marcia, I bet you were dehydrated.

*I started using activated charcoal for my motion sickness and haven't had any more problems.

*I get drunk before I get onto an airplane so if I have a problem, I don't care.

*My house would probably sell in the low $300,000. No, I'm not rich by any means, it's where I'm located. New Jersey is one of the highest real estate places. (My taxes are over $4800) I think because we are so close to New York. I'd make out if I move out of state but if I stay in NJ, I won't get much for the dollar.

Back to present. My goats have ringworm. Yep, all six of them (at least the babies are seperate and were spared) It started with one and I was treating it with Tea Tree Oil but I guess I wasn't aggressive enough. On the Dairygoat post, they suggested using bleach. They seem to like it (scratching all the itches)but my vet finally called back and said it will not work and isn't good for them to keep breathing in (I also get depressed from the smell of bleach so I've been feeling down) I keep looking at every itch on myself though....eeewwww

Well, good to be back. Missed you all.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2002


Glad to see you back, Dee! Can't you trust your son?

Last night Bren and Lotus went to Famous Dave's for the Sunday night jam (she was auditioning for a new drummer too; the one she is using has attitude problems). As the approached they noticed the place was crawling outside and in with 'suits'. Turns out guess who was having dinner inside? His eeewwwnesss John Ashcroft!! Hes in town for some police chiefs conference. Good thing I wasnt there; I probably would have said something stupid and ended up in Guantanamo.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2002


Hey there, Dee!! It wasn't me that was dehydrated!!! Like you, I'd have to get drunk before I'd get on a airplane :-)!

What a hectic month we've been having here. At this moment Harry and I are truly feeling like we are definitely part of the "sandwich" generation. My mom in N.C. is dealing with her husband...who has been fitted with a leg bracelet thingy so that they know when he escapes from the nursing home...and she calls me and my sis (in Mass.) constantly wondering why we can't all move down there to help her out. She has another son just 70 miles away and yet she wants me to move 900 miles closer??!! Get real!! And then there's our son who wants to go to Disneyworld in February with his family and yet they have soooo many bill collectors calling them. They want US to help them financially??!! I give up!!!!!!

The good news is that Harry and I have bought another boat. We're selling our 22 ft. Bayliner and have bought a 1990 26 ft. Bayliner with a command bridge. Really cool boat!! It's got all the comforts of home...sleeps six, electric/gas stove, running hot and cold water, flush potty with a shower, electric 'fridge, plus all the electronics necessary to travel over the ocean almost any distance!! All we want to do is spend several nights on the mooring or travel as far south as Boston...or maybe Cape Cod. Far enough to just GET AWAY!!!!!

BTW...Polly, we still have our little 12 ft. boat for hauling lobster traps for when you come up :-)!!

Sheepish...you're gonna love your camper! There's nothing like getting away from the stress of everyday life. Ya know...years ago Harry and I never would have thought that we'd have to "get away" from our homestead here to relax, but with all of life's changes...well, ya never know what's in the "cards" for you!! Enjoy it!

I've got an ad coming out in next week's Uncle Henry's (a New England swap/sell guide) for my Nubian buck. Both my does are definitely bred since they've passed over what should have been the next heat. Even though he's registered, I'm giving him away...since he was given to me at six weeks. He's such a sweetheart...I hate to give him up, but I just want to get back into purebred alpines again!!

We're finally getting some nice fall weather here. Day temps have been in the mid-fifties to mid-sixties. Nights have been in the forties. Nice sleeping weather!! We've gotten some much needed rain from remnants of the last couple of hurricanes, too. That's helped local wells alot!! All we have left to harvest from the garden is the Brussels sprouts. This coming Saturday is pig-butchering day!! Then Sunday...we bring our new boat home!! Too bad we have to wait til next May to enjoy it...or maybe we could bring a couple extra comforters out and spent the night on it in the front yard??? Good thing we have no neighbors :-)!!

That's all for now....!!

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2002


Glad to see that you're back, Dee! EM, don'tcha think maybe your comment was kind of rude? I don't think it's a trust issue; I think it's more acknowledgement of the fact that, with adolescents, sometimes hormones overpower good judgement. There's so much stuff on the net that is just so disgusting - it's far beyond sneaking out to the garage for a peek at Daddy's Playboy mag. We blocked some stuff from this computer when Jes was younger, after I found myself clicking on something inocuous sounding and getting an eyeful before I really knew what I was looking at.

I woke up at 2:30 this afternoon - even I couldn't ignore 6 phone calls in a 20 minute span! So, I've been wandering the net - and baking muffins! Jessie and beau Chad came out Monday and begged for cookies while they were putting together a jigsaw puzzle; so I made up a batch of my sour cream spice cookies - 6 1/2 dozen. The kids each took a dozen home with them. When I got up this afternoon, there was one half cookie in the tin. Where in the heck did 4 1/2 dozen cookies go in less than 48 hours? And what kind of person leaves half a cookie?! Pop is working some pretty long hours right now, doing custom harvesting for some Amish friends of Uncle Ivan's, so I figured I'd better fix him somehting else to take in his lunch for a snack; thus the muffins. Cranberry orange, blueberry and corn - oughta hold us for a while! I've still got tonight and tomorrow night to work on this stretch, so I doubt if I get energetic enough to cook anything else 'til Saturday!

Hey Sheepish, too bad we're so far apart - my new farm truck came with a CB too! The ex and I used to go camping all the time - and I required a floor, a ceiling and a bathroom before I would go! I tried to talk Hubs into taking along a tent and one of those inflatable beds with us on vacation this year - no deal! I think that I've got the man hooked on B&B's now!

Marcia, the new boat sounds great - I'd be taking my blankies and heading out to the yard! Not quite the same, I know! I love boats and campers - all cozy and the neat built in storage! A 12' boat - on the ocean?! Urk! Don't know if I'll be able to pull in lobster pots in a "Mae West", but I'd sure give it a shot!

Well, I'd better hit the shower and see if I can find some pants (UGH!) to wear to work. It's been cooling off pretty well at night, and the hospital has been kind of chilly; so until I get that flannel petticoat made, I guess I'm stuck with pants. You all take care; hope some more folks check in soon - I want to know how John's dove business is working out; and where the heck is Julie?

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002



No, Polly, I don't think my "comment was rude." Dee and I are friends, in any case, and knows better than to take anything I would say to her as rude. She and I are discussing the issue of her son privately and no time did she infer that there was anything rude in what I said.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002

Hey there Polly...Just wanted to let ya know that our "lobstah" traps are within 200 ft. of the dock. In fact, if either Harry or I were into scuba diving we could get our lobsters that way :-)! Our traps are in only about 60 ft. of water. We do go out fishing in water 200+ ft. (ALWAYS within sight of land!) but the 12 ft. boat is no problem where we have our traps.

BTW...sour cream/spice cookies sound really delicious. Is there anyway I could persuade ya to post the recipe???? Thanx!

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002


Yea Polly, everything is always fine with EM and me. I had e-mailed her private to talk about the topic because I didn't want to bore everyone else but you had no way of knowing that. But thank you for trying to defend me.

I'm trying to talk my husband into (not the puppy now but still working on that one) us renting an RV and traveling around Florida to see if there is a place we would like to settle when we retire. For some reason, he doesn't like to drive long distances but says he doesn't mind when he has to drive all day in work. Go figure.

Good news! When I went to work on the goats' ringworm, I peeled off one of the scabs and found a hole in the middle on the skin. Huh? Looked closer and sure enough, ticks. I do have some ringworm but it's not as bad as I had thought.

Went to Back to School night for my son. He's in an accelerated Charter School located in a Vocational School. All the teachers kept mentioning how smart all the kids in this class are (there are only 6 of them) Some of his teachers were really funny but they made sure they let us know they were strict. I'm so glad we found this school.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002


My apologies, EM.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

Hi everyone...are you guys as busy as I am? I have been working later in the evenings, and then when I get home, it's dark! (gee, happens every year at this same time...hmmm). All I wanna do is eat, and go to bed!!

I'm going to meet a friend from Seattle tonight after work. She's got a huge perennial garden, and she's going to give me some of her "discards". This is such a good time of year to work in the garden. I hope I can remember to go dig up peonies from my mom's garden this year, too. I've been planning to do this for, oh, two years now...think it'll happen?

Going to go to thrift shops this weekend, too...need to get stuff for the motorhome....this rig is 12 years old but in good shape. Unfortunately, it has MAUVE carpeting...just the right color for the wet climate (and mud) of the Pac. N.W.)...think I'll be getting some rugs!

later,

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002



Dee if it's any consolation when I told Keith about your son he said that if the internet had been around when he was that age he would have been looking at porn too. Let me know when you decide to go wandering around Florida and I'll give you my parent's phone number. They camp each winter in Clearmont, it's near Orlando. My dad is one of those guys who's never met a stranger so I'm sure you'd get along just fine. Plus, if you would have any sort of mechanical problems down there you'd have someone to call.

It's been a week of ups and downs here. Saturday I drove to Dayton, OH for a newborn massage instructor certification class. It was a lot of fun. There were two other students in the class besides me, so for our practice teaching sessions one person would be the teacher, one would be the mother, and the third would be the baby! I'm getting settled into the office space, no clients yet but I have a couple of people interested in buying gift certificates. This week is customer service appreciation week here at work so I donated 2 gift certificates to give out as prizes.

The down part of this week is that another one of my friends lost his job yesterday. He and his wife did have a romantic getaway planned for this weekend to start working on getting pregnant, now those plans are on hold. Fortunately she has a job so they do have some income and health insurance. Both Keith and I feel like our jobs are still secure but in this economy you can never be sure. I"m glad that our freezer and pantry are full.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002


Yep, very busy. Glad to see you made it back, Dee!

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

Here's the cookie recipe, Marcia (Sorry - I still don't know how to do html)

Sour Cream Spice Cookies

Mix 1 cup of Sour Cream and 1 tsp of Basking soda together in a bowl - mixture will expand; so use at least a 3 cup bowl. In a large bowl (I use my bread bowl - regular mixing bowl isn't big enough) Cream together 1 cup of butter or shortning, 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar. Then mix in 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and the sour cream mixture. Add the following dry ingredients, and mix well: 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 teasoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (I use apple pie seasoning), 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder. then stir in 1/2 to 1 cup of walnuts and 1 cup of golden raisins. Bake at 350* on greased or non stick cookie sheets until lightly browned. Store loosely covered, with wax paper between layers. These are a soft cookie, but will crisp somewhat if left to sit out. I don't recall that I've ever tried freezing these ones.

Yeah, Sheepish - this is another one of those times that I'm glad that I work night shift - at least I get to see SOME daylight! I don't think the day shift crew ever see it, unless they manange to sneak outside on their lunch break (and if they do, I want to learn their trick for getting out the door!) It's still light enough to start my drive to work (6:15 pm) without headlights; but it's dark by the time I hit the parking lot at 7 pm. I find myself peering out the windows into the darkness as I'm doing the 0600 vital signs - hoping for a glimps of dawn. I'll be getting up in the dark in a couple of weeks. This is the scary time of year to be driving to work; with the crops cut and the days shorter, the deer are out in force during my evening drive. Pop hit one a couple of weeks or so ago, and Jessie has night classes three days a week, so I am concerned about both of them being out on the roads at night. Ahh - the sandwich generation! Wonder what my filling is?!

We've been trimming the budget out here - cutting out the superfluous junk. Dropped the extra phone line, cut the cell phone programs down to a realistic level - I don't even LIKE the phone, so those were easy cuts to make! Now we're looking at other areas to trim. It's so easy to make cuts in the food budget, but that is the place that I most hate to scrimp - I like my grub! I need to keep a list of where the $$ actually goes...yeah, yeah; that's really gonna happen!

Well, better go get myself organized; it's gonna be a while before I see bed again - Jes is coming out in the morning when I get off work, and we're going shopping for a homecoming dress for Saturday - last minute invite. Then I'll make her stop by the used book store for a minute or two...budget? What budget?! But THEN, we're going on out to the college and order some books through the library - I'm getting interested in Permaculture again, but I think I'd rather borrow than buy - especially since one of the ones I want to read is $199 - on half.com! Gotta make out the grocery list too - trying to get stocked up before winter so I don't have to lug stuff home on the snow and ice. We've been running out of the darnedest stuff lately - chilli beans and brown sugar! - so I need to work out an inventory system of some kind! Maybe I can dream one...

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002


Thanks for the recipe, Polly. Just one question...what is "basking" soda???? I've been baking for quite a few years now and I don't believe that I've ever heard of it :-)!!! Should I go out and "bask" in the sun and see what happens?? Just jokin'! I'm assuming that you meant baking soda!?! Thanks again!

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002

LOL! Guess my fingers were still asleep! Yup, baking soda. Think I'll make some oatmeal ones on Saturday; or maybe peanut butter.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2002


I have my first real client in my new office tomorrow! Yippee!

Today I have to spend all day at a very boring conference. There aren't any topics that apply to my job but since the VP of my division is one of the featured speakers we're all required to go. At least the food is usually good. :) The strange thing is that last year this conference was held on Sept. 11th. This year they moved it back a month so it wouldn't be on the anniversary of the attacks. Now on the news last night they were saying that there's warnings of new attacks on US financial centers. If anything happens today it would be a very bizarre coincidence. Perhaps the real target of these attacks is the Indiana Medical Device Manufacturers Council. :)

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2002


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