SSDreamin Blessings and curses

[Denim Deb]

ETA: There's a couple of us on here that suffer from vertigo, so we share your pain. SD and I both suffer from Meniere's disease, though she's worse than I.

 

[SSDreamin]

Thanks FC, I have been a survey answering fool, haven't I?!

Denim Deb - I used to take meds for Meniere's, but hated the side effects and quit. It has since lessened to a level I can deal with. Thought I was having some weird seizure the first time I experienced vertigo. Felt dizzy & sick the whole way up the mountain, then - when I went to get out of the car - I fell down! The whole time we were up there, I couldn't tell up from down and needed help walking! That was my first, and last, trip up the mountain!!

 

[SSDreamin]

Have managed to do, then redo, because I missed a very important step :/, 20 pints of extremely hot taco sauce for my husband. Glad I only have to do that once a year! He is sooooo picky: It can't be salsa, it must be blended, then blended again, until smooth. Last years batch wasn't quite up to snuff, heat wise, so I bumped it up a notch this year. Last year I just used habanero's I'd grown. This year, I used 6 of the habanero's (I dried the bounty - still have 2/3 of a quart full left), 7 minced jalapeno's with seeds, and five packages of Mrs. Wage's hot salsa mix! My tongue tingled when I tested it! Once it's sat for a while, the fire is going to peel his throat He's going to be a very happy man!

On to experiments in pasta sauce and ketchup.

 

[snapshot]

Welcome!!! I just started journaling also. You are doing a great job. Very interesting life!

 

[SSDreamin]

Thank you Snapshot! I seem to not know when to quit talking (typing), and rarely edit, but so far I enjoy writing things down.

Today I will tell you about my next door neighbors. We have corn field on our other side, so they are our only one's.

They are very sweet people, in their 60's I'm guessing. He (who will be referred to as K) retired 9 years ago and she (Now referred to as A) just retired from teaching fifth grade math. She wanted to keep teaching, but she's been battling cancer.

We have lived next to them for three years now and, other than pleasantries or small things or brief visits on our porch or theirs, we haven't gotten to know them much. Well, since we've been increasing our animal herd lau ) they have began dropping by with things to help us out: Hay, fencing, more hay. I take them over a couple dozen eggs every other week, as a thank you for helping us newbies. Last night I dropped by 2 more dozen and asked if their pears were ripe (they offered me all their pears on an old tree they have - just had to come pick them when they were ready). We went to look at the pears and walked by their 'project house'.

The land they live on has been in K's family for a while, and he grew up in the project house - a gorgeous 1800's farmhouse. I happened to mention that someone on here was fixing up an old farmhouse and she had a kitchen that I was quite envious of: Open, cathedral ceilings with exposed beams, etc. K got a big smile on his face when I said that, and A told him to show me the house. I spent 1 1/2 hours touring the farmhouse. It is, for the most part, stripped down to the studs, but it is an amazing example of repurposing/recycling and ingenuity! A huge, bright family room is where we entered - all windows were other peoples cast offs. K made a beautiful transom about 16 feet long, from narrow windows somebody gave him, turned on their side. One wall was a series of cast off windows from a friends farm. Stepping into the kitchen, it is open, cathedral ceiling, with the original mortice and tendon (sp?) beams running across! Absolutely stunning! I noticed a leaded glass window over where the sink will be and A told me K made that himself, from an old nine pane window that had broken panes - it looked original to the house!
K had found an old wooden door. missing the glass in it's oval opening and far too narrow for the front door opening he had. He added to it, so seamlessly matching it that I hadn't realized until he told me, and said he just slapped in some plexiglass into the opening until he finds a big enough piece of 'old glass' to replace it.
The master bath had so many neat features too! Shower doors, made from cast off parlor doors (half wood/half glass). I asked how he'd keep them from rotting away, and he said there's some 'new fangled' polymer-type paint that will seal them up. The dresser, which was given to them because it was missing a drawer, is breath taking. K found the sink that he'll drop in it out in the woods ( A wire wheel, a new coat of that fancy paint, and they will have an amazing vanity). Of course, the claw foot tub that was already there is in place!

I was stunned by all the great use of other people's throw away's! A had several items sitting around that they were going to use for display hit ) A butter churn, an old wringer-washer, etc. I know I prattle on, but the list of awesome ideas K had for re-purposing things could fill three pages!

As we walked outside, A said she wanted to show me her 'pride & joy', then led me over to an outhouse! An outhouse? She opened the door, and I swear I heard angels singing! It was the coolest outhouse I've ever seen! It had an actual toilet, and a sink, and even a tiled floor! K said he and his engineer son designed it: it drains into a dry well, and is fed by a garden hose. When I told DH about it, he thought you could mount a stand/rainwater system to 'feed' it! I WANT ONE!!!

The sad part of this story is that we are moving, and we lived right next door to two people we could've learned SO much from these past three years.
A even cans all sorts of stuff and K grows a beautiful garden every year (he has shared their bounty with us this year). K even shares my passion for stained glass (though he prefers 'old school' methods, I don't mind 'cheating' with a saw and grinder).

 

[snapshot]

Think I'll take my cue from you and get to know what few neighbors there are out where our house is. I really wish I had enough sense as a teenager to get to know my grandparents better. I missed out on so much there also!

 

[SSDreamin]

My 1 1/2 year old German Shepard pesters 5 month old Ice Cream while she tries to eat.

The dog nips at Ice Creams ear to get her to play

Ice Cream tolerated it, for about two seconds!

 

[snapshot]

What a little darling!!!!!!

 

[SSDreamin]

Thanks Snapshot, I see lots of coddling in Ice Creams future and, I wish I'd paid a lot closer attention as a teen too!

This weekend, I canned up the remainder of my tomatoes. I was terribly disappointed in the ratio of raw tomatoes in, compared to finished product! Seemed worse than years past. Roughly 40 pounds of tomatoes resulted in 5 pints of ketchup and 6 pints of spaghetti sauce. I've made more off my garden leftovers in the past???

Waiting for the heat of the day to pass, so DS and I can go gather pears at the neighbors. Had plans to dry what apples we got off our tree too, but it appears raccoons have enjoyed the fruits of our labor these past two nights. Only got enough to make sweet & sour cabbage with last night. Found out I'm not a fan of sweet & sour cabbage

Things must be coming together the way I hoped: DH came home Saturday night and said "This place smells like a farm!"

 

[SSDreamin]

Got what pears were left off neighbor's tree. Noticed lots of grapes going to waste on the vines beside the tree. May need to pester them about those

Finishing up tomato work today with a batch of tomato paste. Never done it before, so we'll see how it goes. I've already fudged part of the recipe, which is never a good sign for me!

For some reason, my sugar pumpkin vine has begun to die off. Cuke and cantalope already died off from our colder night temps, but thought the pumpkin was hardier :/

Called on the results of the bench test on the well pump I dropped off last Tuesday. They haven't gotten to it yet! Told them I needed it by this Friday, so lets hope that lights a fire under their buns. Should've told them they'll have to deal with DH if they don't get moving. Of course, that threat only works for people who have seen/met DH before. He is one scary looking tattooed man

Need to start getting all my trees and plantings dug up and moved to the new house. I wasn't sure I wanted to over-winter them there, especially if it takes us a while to get moved in, but I like the idea of heeling things in here then having to come back in Spring to get everything and move it even less. I think, if I give it a couple more weeks, they'll all be headed for dormancy anyway, so they won't need much coddling when transplanted. Problem with the trees is, I need to get up there and find somebody to work the area they'll be going in. The property at that house is very weird: the front yard was tended, so it's lush and green. The back chunk is nothing but moss and tuft's of prairie grass here and there. I'm no agricultural savant, but it seems almost burnt out/over worked. Need to get somebody in to turn it, put in some rye, then turn that and dump the compost to it, but have no time now. Upsetting, because part of that was to be Ice Cream's pasture.

Half the problem seems to be the distance between this house and that one. The majority of the work is on me, and a seven hour round trip, on top of keeping up with things here, leaves almost no time to accomplish things. I suppose I shouldn't complain. I picked the house, and knew what I was in for.

Saw a seven year old Belgien(sp?) gelding on CL this past week. He was a rescue, from an Amish farm (which strikes me as very odd), harness broke and able to do anything we'd need of him, for $200. I wanted him so bad, but DH pointed out that any feed Ice Cream saves us that horse would make up for, and then some! Bummer. I love those big horses. It does seem a little foolish, to buy a cow that has a lower food cost, to turn around and get a horse that eats twice as much as a standard horse. Oh well. I can dream.

Also saw a five month old jersey steer on CL. Trouble is, you have to call for price. Don't like that. Post the price!

Have revamped our home schooling program, again. Realized I was overloading DS, in an attempt to 'provide a diverse study plan'. I guess 15 different subjects per week WAS a bit much for a sixth grader! Read some good advice over on BWH: Said to focus on the three or four important subjects (for us, that is spelling, math, writing and language arts) every day, and leave the rest up to him. It also suggested unit studies, which I think would work well for DS. Yesterday he asked if we could count learning how to pick pears as school

DH 'surprised' me this past weekend by taking the money I've been setting aside and buying DS a crossbow, so he could hunt this year. They spent a big part of Sunday practicing. I took a break from canning to watch for a minute (and yes, to smoke a cig), and DS asked if I wanted to try it. They were trying to get the scope zeroed in, and it was shooting low & right. I made adjustments for that, and got one right on the edge of the bullseye This was my first time ever firing a crossbow, and both my guys were kind of hacked at my results! This led to several more hours of shooting, to show Mom/wife up. Boys.