We couldn't really afford it. Bit of a splurge, really. But it was so hot. We were just going to get out of the heat so off we went to the chinese buffet.
I have my preferences. I always start with crab rangoon and the hot and sour soup. Then try to find the hottest dishes. Though there are never hot dishes on small town chinese buffets. Actually, I don't think there are hot dishes on a large town chinese buffet either. I digress.... I usually settle for the pork with mushroom. Then finish with tapioca and the fried donut, which isn't really a donut, is it? It's a fried tube biscuit. Besides some family always comes in and the kids clean out the fried donuts and I end up with just tapioca, which isn't really chinese. Hmm, interesting.
As you know the best part, my favorite part, is the fortune cookie. And this time the fortune cookie said, "You are vigorous in words and action". Not exactly a glimpse into the future, is it? But, I think it is true. Now what do I do with it? How could I make this work for me?
Suggestions will be accepted.
Louie
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Hot!!
It has been so stinking hot lately!! Late after noons are the worse as temps climax and your body says ,"I've taken as much as I can stand and still stay pleasant". Crankiness does loom. I think it's time to live off salads and ice cream.... Mac thinks he needs real food. He THINKS that he gets hungry. How can anybody be hungry in this heat?
If only I had my outdoor kitchen....... oh well.
The horses have their own personal woods. A copse of trees with a small drainage ravine that runs though it. Even when water isn't trickling away , it is still cooler there, in the damp, under the trees. To make sure that all is well, I'll take back some fresh water and scrub out there tank. It seems to be the cure all for making them drink more, especially when Pip is known for putting her big feet in the tank when it gets down to about six inches. Can't really blame her. Lately I've been thinking that it would be a good thing to get a kiddie pool to lay in at around 4:30-5:00.
My gosh it's hot!
Today is suppose to be the last day of the heat wave. We have been exceeding the predicted temperatures. Hope we don't exceed the number of days this is suppose to last.
Too hot to think... just too hot.... too hot.
Louie
If only I had my outdoor kitchen....... oh well.
The horses have their own personal woods. A copse of trees with a small drainage ravine that runs though it. Even when water isn't trickling away , it is still cooler there, in the damp, under the trees. To make sure that all is well, I'll take back some fresh water and scrub out there tank. It seems to be the cure all for making them drink more, especially when Pip is known for putting her big feet in the tank when it gets down to about six inches. Can't really blame her. Lately I've been thinking that it would be a good thing to get a kiddie pool to lay in at around 4:30-5:00.
My gosh it's hot!
Today is suppose to be the last day of the heat wave. We have been exceeding the predicted temperatures. Hope we don't exceed the number of days this is suppose to last.
Too hot to think... just too hot.... too hot.
Louie
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The Search for the Perfect Farm
Everything that I try.....every idea I research.... every dream I chase, results in one thing... the perfect farm. A harmonious blend, an example of permaculture and animal husbandry that doesn't have to be wrenched from the ground, like traditional agriculture, but rather, gently nudged.
It can't be too labor intensive, because I am the labor force ( aka chief cook and bottle washer) It can't be too dependent on equipment. And for my own well-being it must also be as peaceful and joyful as it is productive.
I keep looking at livestock. I've been researching. I THINK I know what I want. I keep getting drawn in by Olde English Babydoll Southdown sheep. They are placid and they clump well when moving them to the point that you really don't need to even have a dog for them. They are the darlings of the vineyard owner as they do not eat the vines. Their wool is a far better grade then most sheeps' wool putting it into the same range as cashmere. They are easy lambers. They are small, which does not make them attractive to big producers, but it means that I should be able to grab them and tip them up on their butts when I need to.
Whatever I choose, it will have to fit in to this place.... this perfect place. I have had people come for a visit and inevitably they stand in the drive. They turn and face the trees and feel the breeze on their faces and say, "This is so nice here." I think that is my true commodity... that feeling of peace that pervades this land.
I suppose I don't have to search for the perfect farm. I just have to keep this one perfect.
Louie
It can't be too labor intensive, because I am the labor force ( aka chief cook and bottle washer) It can't be too dependent on equipment. And for my own well-being it must also be as peaceful and joyful as it is productive.
I keep looking at livestock. I've been researching. I THINK I know what I want. I keep getting drawn in by Olde English Babydoll Southdown sheep. They are placid and they clump well when moving them to the point that you really don't need to even have a dog for them. They are the darlings of the vineyard owner as they do not eat the vines. Their wool is a far better grade then most sheeps' wool putting it into the same range as cashmere. They are easy lambers. They are small, which does not make them attractive to big producers, but it means that I should be able to grab them and tip them up on their butts when I need to.
Whatever I choose, it will have to fit in to this place.... this perfect place. I have had people come for a visit and inevitably they stand in the drive. They turn and face the trees and feel the breeze on their faces and say, "This is so nice here." I think that is my true commodity... that feeling of peace that pervades this land.
I suppose I don't have to search for the perfect farm. I just have to keep this one perfect.
Louie
Monday, June 6, 2011
I Soooo Screwed Up!
This weekend I made a gamble. Two of my daughters and I went to a small town festival to have a sales booth for craft items. We are in a recession so we were very mindful of prices. We were trying very hard to be mindful of the marketplace. The girls make recycled items..... notebooks, journals sketchbooks etc out of old Golden books or textbooks. Some turn out really cool. I had home made craft patterns and kits. The girls ended up with about five sales and I had none.
Now the real problem is that I spent about seventy dollars on supplies after I had ran out of what I needed. I could live with the life lesson if it hadn't cost me seventy hard won dollars. Crap!!
In order to make myself feel better... which took about a day and a half... I bought myself a solar clothes dryer, also known as a clothes line rope. I had been stewing over buying and setting proper clothes line posts. But with my current loses, decided to just use the posts that I had up for fencing. There is no fence and it is mostly tee posts but there is now a clothes line running through the tee post covers. We'll try to not use the electric dryer for the summer.
We are also trying to not use the air conditioner. The temptation is certainly there. It will be ninety degrees F. today. We'll see how long we hold out.
We look at the outdoor kitchen with renewed ambition. It will just make the house too hot to cook inside. We are back to the dilemma of needing money for some concrete to make solid bases and footings.... I so screwed up.
My thoughts also turn again to the outdoors solar shower.
In a little while I will get the push mower and start mowing under the trees. That is the one place where it stays cool. So I shall make it a pleasant place to retreat to for when the day gets too hot to bear.
Then I shall put on my thinking cap and try to figure out what else I can do to make up for squandering the much needed money. The part that makes me feel the worse is that we were told at Dr. Hiatt's office that they may choose to not see Mac if money doesn't get sent toward that bill. If I had sold out at the craft sale, I could have put a couple of hundred on that debt.
So, I gambled and I lost. Now I have to find ways to make up for it.
Louie
P.S. You can look at the girls' stuff if you go to etsy... an online marketplace and then do a search for a shop called potterabout
Now the real problem is that I spent about seventy dollars on supplies after I had ran out of what I needed. I could live with the life lesson if it hadn't cost me seventy hard won dollars. Crap!!
In order to make myself feel better... which took about a day and a half... I bought myself a solar clothes dryer, also known as a clothes line rope. I had been stewing over buying and setting proper clothes line posts. But with my current loses, decided to just use the posts that I had up for fencing. There is no fence and it is mostly tee posts but there is now a clothes line running through the tee post covers. We'll try to not use the electric dryer for the summer.
We are also trying to not use the air conditioner. The temptation is certainly there. It will be ninety degrees F. today. We'll see how long we hold out.
We look at the outdoor kitchen with renewed ambition. It will just make the house too hot to cook inside. We are back to the dilemma of needing money for some concrete to make solid bases and footings.... I so screwed up.
My thoughts also turn again to the outdoors solar shower.
In a little while I will get the push mower and start mowing under the trees. That is the one place where it stays cool. So I shall make it a pleasant place to retreat to for when the day gets too hot to bear.
Then I shall put on my thinking cap and try to figure out what else I can do to make up for squandering the much needed money. The part that makes me feel the worse is that we were told at Dr. Hiatt's office that they may choose to not see Mac if money doesn't get sent toward that bill. If I had sold out at the craft sale, I could have put a couple of hundred on that debt.
So, I gambled and I lost. Now I have to find ways to make up for it.
Louie
P.S. You can look at the girls' stuff if you go to etsy... an online marketplace and then do a search for a shop called potterabout
Friday, June 3, 2011
I'm nice, right?
Okay, it's like this ....I think I'm a nice person. I try to be a pleasant person... a fun person.... an interesting person, and when Mac and I go to bed at night, sometimes, after a bad day, I ask him to tell me something nice about me.
He thinks. Sometimes he thinks so long that he just falls asleep. For a long time he just fell into the habit of saying, "I love you". beause he figured it was nice enough and would get him off the hook.
Well, it's not enough.
On that terrible, horrible day, for a few minutes, I want it to be about me... just me, and that I didn't deserve to have that terrible, horrible day. I don't expect compliments. If I were to be compared to a movie star... I'd be compared to Kathy Bates, not Angelina Jolie, but that doesn't change that I want to hear something nice once in awhile. It would be nice to be told that I am kind or thoughtful or even to be told that I plant tomatoes in a competent manner.
I've decided that it isn't going to happen. This is a hurdle that Mac can't jump. The approval department is going to have to be self contained. I suppose this is just another one of those "man" things.
I can do this though.....'cause, I'm nice, right?
Louie
He thinks. Sometimes he thinks so long that he just falls asleep. For a long time he just fell into the habit of saying, "I love you". beause he figured it was nice enough and would get him off the hook.
Well, it's not enough.
On that terrible, horrible day, for a few minutes, I want it to be about me... just me, and that I didn't deserve to have that terrible, horrible day. I don't expect compliments. If I were to be compared to a movie star... I'd be compared to Kathy Bates, not Angelina Jolie, but that doesn't change that I want to hear something nice once in awhile. It would be nice to be told that I am kind or thoughtful or even to be told that I plant tomatoes in a competent manner.
I've decided that it isn't going to happen. This is a hurdle that Mac can't jump. The approval department is going to have to be self contained. I suppose this is just another one of those "man" things.
I can do this though.....'cause, I'm nice, right?
Louie
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Little Farm
Now that we are released from the government conservation program, I am free to start the journey of creating the little farm. While the program could be an asset for larger farmers, it really was too one size fits all to work here.
So, we begin....
Today I call a neighbor that cuts hay on shares. With luck we have a five day window of clear weather. Later this week I could possibly have my first cash crop. This in turn should help fund the next thing. The next thing is a few chickens and some morel mushroom spore. If I do this right then next spring my first flush of morels will sell for around $30-$35 per pound. That will give me cash crop number two.
The second cutting of hay will pay for my hazelnuts to be planted next spring. I won't see a return on this crop for about five years, but it should give me a return for thirty to fifty years depending on how well the trees are maintained. That will be cash crop number three.
I don't know if the third cutting will be sufficient to pay for the wine grapes. That may have to wait until next spring. They will be cash crop number four.
On the livestock front... there will be some chickens. Some for eggs and some for the freezer. Perhaps we will raise a couple of feeder pigs, also for the freezer. We have talked about beef but I don't know if I am ready for that yet. I'm also looking into having some of the Old English Babydoll Southdown sheep. They are suppose to be better tasting. They are suppose to have a wool that rivals cashmere and they are suppose to keep vineyards clean without eating on the vines themselves.
And it starts today. Today I call a neighbor that cuts hay on shares.
Louie
So, we begin....
Today I call a neighbor that cuts hay on shares. With luck we have a five day window of clear weather. Later this week I could possibly have my first cash crop. This in turn should help fund the next thing. The next thing is a few chickens and some morel mushroom spore. If I do this right then next spring my first flush of morels will sell for around $30-$35 per pound. That will give me cash crop number two.
The second cutting of hay will pay for my hazelnuts to be planted next spring. I won't see a return on this crop for about five years, but it should give me a return for thirty to fifty years depending on how well the trees are maintained. That will be cash crop number three.
I don't know if the third cutting will be sufficient to pay for the wine grapes. That may have to wait until next spring. They will be cash crop number four.
On the livestock front... there will be some chickens. Some for eggs and some for the freezer. Perhaps we will raise a couple of feeder pigs, also for the freezer. We have talked about beef but I don't know if I am ready for that yet. I'm also looking into having some of the Old English Babydoll Southdown sheep. They are suppose to be better tasting. They are suppose to have a wool that rivals cashmere and they are suppose to keep vineyards clean without eating on the vines themselves.
And it starts today. Today I call a neighbor that cuts hay on shares.
Louie
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Introspection
Last night I was poking around in the garden. Inspecting plants. Pulling grass and weeds from the beds. For some reason, I kind of flashed back to Mac's hospital room. The small triangular space that felt so gray. That looked out onto another gray wall and down on a gray courtyard. That medicinal prison cell.
It caused me to flinch and shrink back.. a shiver passing across my back and down my spine. I had to look around quick and try to pass out of that feeling of claustrophobia. I had to absorb all the green around me... the blue sky.... the swallows darting and weaving overhead. A lone vulture over the tree line.
It occurred to me that the little farm isn't big enough. Thirty-eight and a half acres. I wondered if I would ever have enough space around me again.
I have stuff I need to do today, but I think I'll run into town and get some gas and I think I'll just mow. I'll stay out in the open today. Take my work outside possibly. Shake that feeling hopefully.
Louie
It caused me to flinch and shrink back.. a shiver passing across my back and down my spine. I had to look around quick and try to pass out of that feeling of claustrophobia. I had to absorb all the green around me... the blue sky.... the swallows darting and weaving overhead. A lone vulture over the tree line.
It occurred to me that the little farm isn't big enough. Thirty-eight and a half acres. I wondered if I would ever have enough space around me again.
I have stuff I need to do today, but I think I'll run into town and get some gas and I think I'll just mow. I'll stay out in the open today. Take my work outside possibly. Shake that feeling hopefully.
Louie
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