Over the Fence Chat for June 29th to July 5th, 2003

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Hey all! Another week, gone already - WOW! I'm not even sure that I remember last week...

I'm off to work at the nursing home on Monday and Tuesday, then the hospital on Wednesday and Thursday, have Friday the 4th off, and back to the hospital on Saturday. For holiday purposes, the night of the 3rd or Thursday is considered to be my 4th of July, so since I'm scheduled to work the "holiday", I ended up with the night of the actual 4th off - Yippee!! (And get paid double time for the night of the 3rd, too!) Jessie and Hubs are off work as well, so Jes and I plan to hit the parade in the morning; and then she will spend the evening with her friends (sitting on the roof of her apartment, watching the fireworks) while Hubs and I tootle up the road to another small town, and walk through the carnival set up in the park to pick me up a cotton candy on our way to the lagoon to watch the fireworks. With Aunt Loretta so sick this year, no one wants to try to have a big family get together, so we won't be having a fish fry like we did last year.

Pop went up to sit with Aunt Loretta again today; he's been going up most days for either the morning or afternoon. Somehow, he still finds time to mow the lawn and keep the hummingbirds fed; those little critters are just about a full time job! I stopped by Aldi's Saturday night while Hubs and I were in town and picked up another 8 bags of sugar; hope that will get them through a couple of months anyway! Don't know why I'm griping, $10 isn't much compared to the amount of entertainment they provide for us!

Uncle Ivan came down and cultivated the corn, soybeans and critter plots - and watched the guineas, since we turned them out for the first time today. They are so neat; they just walk around all together in a little herd, almost like a covey of quail. They imprinted on one of our old black hens, and she must have decided they were her chicks as well - they were following her around and she was scratching up the straw and showing them how to find bugs! So far, the dogs are leaving them alone; I don't know how it will be when they start flying.

I did the laundry - which seems to be an every-day-off thing nowadays! I'm still really enjoying being able to do it at home and being able to run in and out of the house and do other things while it's sloshing. Hubs drew kitched duty this am, so he cooked up ground beef and Italian sausage for tacos, spaghetti and pizza; and then we collaborated on Italian beef (in the crock pot), potato salad, summer salad, green beans, and beanie-weenies. I still need to make some corn bread, a fruit salad and maybe some brownies; plus put the pizza together tomorrow when I get off work - wanted to wait and do all the oven work at once!

After a late lunch, Hubs and I went out and did some work in the garden; he tilled while I planted late crops; then he planted late bush beans with the push planter. He had loaded a 50 gallon tub into the little trailer, so we dumped all the laundry water into it; then he hauled it out to the garden with the 4 wheeler so that I could water my plants. The weatherman promised us rain on Saturday, but we only saw a few drops, so the plants could surely use the drink. My Wave petunias in the hanging buckets are really starting to spread out - and up, as well! My pansies are still blooming away, and my hens-and-chicks are trying their darnedest to spread out of their old enamel dishpan. The Shasta daisies that I planted in the perennial bed last year are 4' tall and loaded with daisies; combined with the pink bee balm, asters and cone flower, the blue salvia, bellflower and liatris, and the purple of the butterly bush and the magenta petunias hanging down - it's quite a sight to see! Now, if I can just get the hollyhocks to come up in that east bed....and maybe plant a few sweet peas for scent....and I've still got that bed to do around the blue spruce....

Enough thinking about work for next year - I've got more than enough to keep me busy right now without borrowing work for later!! And speaking of work; I need to update my worksheets for the nursing home before I go in tomorrow, so I reckon I'd better get to it - 5 am will come pretty darn early! You folks all take care this week,

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2003

Answers

Gorgeous day here today; perfect for the Gay Pride celebration, which was of course especially meaningful this year. What a beautiful sight to see all those thousands of happy folks celebrating who they are!

We're still looking for a food space; we actually have found a USDA kitchen space we can lease (five years!), at a very good price comparatively speaking, but are negotiating on who gets what and when. The other thing we may end up doing is buying a building. I found a 4800 square foot building with a 2100 sq ft USDA kitchen in a ghetto area of Mpls; have called the agent for a tour. It would be great to actually own the building, to be an investment instead of handing all that rent money over to a landlord every month. But we'll see, it may not even be available anymore. I did drive by it, and it looks to be in good shape from the outside.

I've been busy developing new recipes for my low-carb, gluten free stuff; have come up with several muffin varieties, working on cakes now. The pizzas were declared delicious by a crowd of tastetesters we had here a few weeks ago.And so it goes.........

Lotus had a special guest at her gig on Saturday; Prince's drummer, Chase something, who also works as a talent promoter/agent/booker. We've met him before when investigating booking companies. He stayed the whole show; claims he leaves after a few numbers 90% of the time, and stayed about an hour afterward to talk with her. He was brutally honest, but gave her some excellent advice, said she undeniably has "it", which is pretty obvious to anyone who sees her perform. He asked her many many philosophical questions, trying to understand what her values where, who she really is, and just how dedicated she is to her music.( She still amazes me every time she's on stage. some kind of magic takes over, its very weird.) She still has lots of rough edges, he hated the tone on her equipment, but then she agrees with that; she's been trying to get that elusive perfect tone for as long as I can remember. He asked her to call him Tuesday; hopefully he can be a wonderfully helpful advisor to get her to the next level.

The summer is wonderful; I am so happy to be outside and listen to the birds and skeeters and look at all the incredible greenery and blue water and smell the flowers and feel the warmth. Oh what a lucky woman I am!

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2003


EM, that's cool that Lotus may have found a mentor. It sounds like a lot of new and exciting things are opening up for both of you.

We're in the final few days of countdown until we take possession of the farm. We're supposed to take possesion on the 3rd. However since this transaction started Mrs Brandon found a lump in her breast and she's having surgery on the 1st, so we're letting them leave some things behind in the garage to pick up later in the month. They are really nice people. I mentioned that I wanted to have a big garden and that I do a lot of canning and freezing, so they are leaving behind a chest freezer and all of their canning jars for me. :)

I sort of met someone from the Homesteading Today forum on Sunday. It was strange, I don't quite know what to make of it. I purchased some items that she had for sale on the board. She was going to mail them to me but I asked her if she would mind me picking them up instead. I know that she has a large dairy goat herd and I told her that I was interested in getting started in goats and would she mind if I came up and took a look at her setup. We agreed that I'd be there Sunday at 2pm, I even emailed her on Friday to make sure it was still OK. So come Sunday I drive an hour north up to her farm. She meets me at the driveway with the box of stuff and I paid her for it. We chatted for a couple of minutes and then she says that it's been nice to meet me but she has to take her daughter to riding lessons, and they get into her van and drive off. So basically I drove 2 hours round trip for a 5 minute meeting! To top it off, when I got home I took a look at the stuff she gave me and it's not as advertised. Oh well, at least I had a nice drive in the country.

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2003


Sherri I hate that you had a bad experience with the seller of stuff on Homesteading Today. And I hope I don't ever deal with that person. I do buy stuff from the barter board and so far I've been very satisfied!!

I'm looking for a job and hope and pray I get one that I like!! I still have the school bus job but I would love to get something full time but weekdays only, which is hard for someone that doesn't have a lot of special education. I sure wished my parents would have pushed me into going to college. No one in my father's family ever graduated from high school so that's all he wanted and pushed for..."I want you to be the 1st Fisher to graduate from high school" so being the stupid little teenager I just pushed myself to get threw H.S.

It's been so hot and muggy around here. I have to water thepigs at least 4-5 times a day not including when Mike gets home and does it. They keep pushing their water bucket over and lay around in the mud!!! We've even buried it but that still doesn't matter they root it up with their nose!!!LOL My brother has my Dad's hog water and so when he butchers his last pig we will get it back. I have no clue why Daddy let him borrow it knowing we had pigs coming.

So what is everyone doing on the 4th?? We are going to my brothers new house. He moved about a 45-55 minute drive from us way out in the country (it's nice but the reason he moved out there was a stupid one, has really bothered my Dad).He butchered one of his hogs and is cooking it over a big pit. Should be interesting!!We are coming home to do "fireworks" with Mike's best friend. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful 4th of July!!!

Sandy

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003


Hey folks! I'm chillin' here in front of the computer - in more ways than one! Air conditioning - I love air conditioning! It's up to 94* here now, and sultry, cloudy and hazy - like the plants are all losing moisture to the air and it's just hanging there. Ick. I've just crawled out of the shower - I spent the morning doing garden work and laundry (Pop thinks I'm liking laundry waaaay too much). I didn't want to have to do it on the 4th, and I'll need my scrubs again on Sunday; and besides that, all my garden clothes were too icky sweaty to even consider wearing twice. And if I'm going to do one load, then I'm going to do everything that needs done, so that I don't waste the water. I did a little hoeing and weeding out in the garden while the clothes were washing, but not much; it was just too darn hot out there!

After I got done washing, I carried part of the wash water out to the garden on the golf cart and hoed up little dams around my raspberries and gave them each a half gallon drink. I'll ask Hubs to water the roses with the rest tonight when he gets home. He took all my hanging buckets of petunias down for me before he left for work, so I carried them all out to the stock tank and gave them a good soaking - I've been threatening to drill holes in the guttering right above each bucket so that they get watered when it rains, but Hubs says no. Men! Ya try to save a little time...

A friend brought back a ladder he'd borrowed the other day; and with it he brought an ice cream bucket full of apricots - pitted even!! So when I came in the house about 11 am today, I made a batch of apricot freezer jam, and then cooked the others up into pie filling - I'll put it in the fridge as soon as it cools, then make a couple of pies on the 4th. I might check with him to see if he has any going to waste - they are picking them up off the ground - I about swooned when I tasted the jam, sooo good!! I wouldn't mind making a few more batches.

I pulled some sweet corn out of the freezer and heated it up to go with my lunch - our sweet corn out in the field is tassling, so that is a sign that it's time to clear out the freezer to get ready for this year's batch! The tomatoes are coming on as well, and part of the green beans have almost reached the tops of the strings. A couple of volunteer pumpkins have come up out by the chicken pen, and I noticed some blossoms setting on - might be having punkin' blossoms for lunch here soon! Oh, I do so love this time of year!

I got home from the nursing home yesterday afternoon and just pooped out - flopped on my fanny on the couch and didn't move again except to turn the pages in my book and refill my coffee cup until 7 pm. Then, I went outside to pull my quilt off the clothesline, but got distracted weeding in the garden instead. Hubs ended up having to carry the quilt in - my hands were too messy to touch it! I got all the back beds done, and then went out and hoed around my raspberries. I finished up by weeding one of the big berry beds - every time I get them all done, it's time to start on the first one again! My sweet 'taters need weeding, as do the strawberry rows....I'm getting overwhelmed with weeds!! I've decided that my 4x4 beds are the perfect size - easy to plant, easy to weed and not so darned overwhelming as my other ones! If I expand the garden again, I think I'll do so 4x4!

Well, I'm about cooled off, my ice tea glass is empty, and I need to put that pie filling away before I head for bed and a nap, before I go in to the hospital tonight. I'm up to 1997 on my Gene Logsdon books, "The Contrary Farmer's Invitation to Gardening", so I might read a page or two before I nod off - I don't know tho, I'm yawning pretty big! You folks all take care, have a safe and happy 4th of July!

-- Anonymous, July 02, 2003


Well, I'm sitting at work, totally bummed. Hubs called just a while ago to tell me that Aunt 'Retta passed away about 12:30 this morning. I can't leave the hospital to be with my family right now, so I'm venting to y'all. Thanks for being here.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003


Aw crap. :^(.

Our condolences to you and your family Polly. I hope the family bounces back quickly. Take care.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003


Polly so sorry to hear about your Aunt. I know how hard it is to lose an aunt. My favorite aunt(hey I only have 10)past away 6 years ago. I still find myself calling her number! My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Sandy

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003


Bummer Polly. Big hugs to you and your family. {{{{{{Polly}}}}}}

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003

Thanks guys - the support was much needed; especially since I had to go over to the nursing home and tell Jessie this morning. That really sucked. Poor little girl was just bawling her eyes out. I hate it when my baby cries - and it doesn't get any better as they get older, in fact, I think it's worse, 'cause it almost never happens so you know they're really hurtin'. Pop is headed up to the house now, with a load of plates and cups and sandwich stuff I picked up in town. I'm waiting for him to call me with the wake and funeral info, so that I can call the jobs and Hubs and the flower shop.

Today is Uncle Ralphie and Aunt Judy's birthdays - they are 80 and 59, respectively. I feel kinda bad for them, since Aunt 'Retta passed on their birthdays. They're Pop oldest and youngest siblings; then there's Uncle Alvie, Uncle Ivan and Aunt Velma in between - 6 kids left out of the 10. Uncle Harry died in WWII at age 19, Aunt Lorene in a car wreck at age 21, and Aunt Geri of a massive MI on Christmas Eve the year she was 64.

Pop's family is pretty close - we get together at the drop of a hat - so it's always hard for us to lose someone. Jessie wrote a poem one year for school that demonstrated how close we all were; and I remember that one part of it spoke about "Loretta's fried chicken...." I will always remember that she talked even more "down home" than I do, that she learned to cuss from Granny (who wasn't no slouch at it!) and perfected her cussing during her time as a coal miner, and that she's the one who taught me that it's okay for you to tell your kids they're acting like idiots, but nobody else better say it! I've got lots of other happy memories besides, so I will be trying to focus on those in the next few weeks.

Reckon I'd better get off here - enough gloom and doom; and besides, Pop might be trying to call! Take care, and Thank-you...

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2003


I'll sell anything on our website for half price plus shipping.....just let me know your order is coming........

wisespirit store

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2003



I don't know why the &^^%%#%^!! links arent working on this site anymore........cut and paste www.wisespirit.com sigh.........

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2003

Polly, I'm so sorry! You have had a hard share of it this year, for sure. I hope things get better, and I hope that your family is holding up okay. Take care.

love,

-- Anonymous, July 07, 2003


Hugs to you from me too, Polly, in your time of sadness.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2003

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