Are we living our dream?

[flowerbug]

^^ I agree 100%. It worked on my XDH. When he started yelling on the phone I said "goodbye" hung up, and turned my ringer off for an hour. He hasn't yelled on the phone (or in person) in years. Boundaries work!

it's not easy and getting people to break out of habits can be tough too, especially if there are other things like addictions involved. and simply put, some people will not change or have mental issues that won't adapt. i'm not on this planet to be miserable or abused. i won't fight unless pushed to do it, and i'm capable of defending myself but in the end i really do prefer to just be out in the gardens and talking to people who want to solve problems and grow food and enjoy what they are doing. helping others too if they are willing to learn.

 

[tortoise]

Well most of my life I have been fine with storms but I guess Ida affected me because during the storm I was just praying and DD and DH were asking me if I was okay. I just told them it was good to pray.
Just last night DD question me about how to make a storm shelter. I told her I guess we’d have to frame something up and then bury it. PTSD is not nice.

Very relatable. I have not been the same since a tornado passed a couple miles from my house. Can't imagine what it's like for those who experienced a direct hit!

Storm shelter sounds good! I will always live in a house with a basement - just for storm shelter if nothing else.

 

[farmerjan]

Don't count your piglets either. I have never had pot bellies, but in the big - normal - breeds of hogs, a litter of 10 was good sized. I strove for 10-12... never kept a sow that raised less than 8. Most pot belly pigs that I have heard of/read about have about 6 and them getting laid on is common due to the fat/flab the sows have. Here you cannot barely give away pot belly pigs... no one likes to eat them because they are so fatty.... My sows also had to be concerned mothers and not lay on their pigs... had one that would just flop down with the piglets screaming and she didn't care... after going out and getting her up to move everytime I heard them, she went in a house with a "farrowing shelf" around the outside so the piglets could get under it if she was laying down and crowding them up against the sides... and she got done raising the 5 or 6 out of a litter of 11 and went down the road...

 

[Mini Horses]

Yeah, potbellies are pretty much give aways here....more of a beg you to take them!! 😁

Our TSCs have "swap days"...used to be once a month or so. No certificates or anything. Just show up, set up, clean up as you leave. An animal yard sale, so to speak. You could bring anything animal, garden or farm related.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Happy Easter. I am just getting up from night shift. I don’t think DH sleeps well without me. He is in bed now. He should probably just farm with a bulleye lamp. From what I understand some of his medicine dictates not to work in sunlight anyway 🤷‍♀️
I took one of the full time positions and put in for the spot that didn’t require flipping units. Let someone younger do that. Had a code and it’s been a while and we don’t wear white anymore so I was confused for a second. The actual nurse in charge of the lady was present but God help me…I didn’t even recognize she was the nurse and I began CPR the old way and looked at her and said,”Get me the crash cart!!” and she left and I kept going. By the time she got back I really wanted the ambubag and I told her to help me….still not knowing exactly who her nurse was but grateful for her. It seemed like a long time before the paramedics arrived and did their stuff but she is alive but I feel for her when she wakes up because of what all we did to her. So it’s been a while and I guess soon I will start getting deposits in my account and all and eventually I will get off nights and maybe actually do some farming. I think DH is afraid due to his health and is acting out at times. The 25th can’t come fast enough for me. I am off that night anyway and I will take the following night off as well just to be safe and be with him for the ablation. God willing that will at least fix one of his problems….the worst one.
I think I need to remind DH to make a few rabbit nests. I can’t remember the dates but he finally got some action going and wrote it down somewhere. He was supposed to bring that buck to my place and to where we are currently staying and get lots of babies. Good heart healthy meat. Lean….cheap etc….
I am waiting for a man with certain mechanical skills to fix my vehicles and some of my equipment to clean up….a lawnmower and a wood chipper. I might be in the market for a woman friendly chainsaw to do some Ida cleaning. Wonder what I can find that runs by battery. Don’t guess it would work for long 🤷‍♀️
More and more I just want to set up the camper in the orchard off grid. My cousin ordered himself a solar kit for $2500 and I have been waiting for him to give me his review on it.
Ukraine is about to be getting a bunch of stuff to help take back their country but the rest of the details I don’t know because DS said he has to be quiet because ‘they’ are watching. But it’s no secret that help is coming and if my boy is losing all his equipment for Ukraine I can tell y’all….watch the news and pray. If it wasn’t for this he would be with me. A lot of military is on call. These men feel connected to their equipment like as if it was their personal property but he said the soldiers that have been reporting to him with equipment, waiting for the plane were glad to present it for the people of Ukraine. Can y’all imagine what it must be like over there? Oh…I would be baking poison pies too. I would cook a big gumbo outside and make it smell delicious and then when I see who all shows up I would drop in
Oleander instead of Bay Leaves and then smile and take a walk. There is a monster in me I know. I can save your life…it’s true.. and I will fight the Grim Reaper for you but come here and start killing my people and see what I would do. Is this self sufficient?? I am afraid it is. I don’t think any of us should assume we are ever 100% safe. Well I think tonight is my last night of work followed by one night off then 4 straight nights or something. I got some compression socks and used a pair last night. Seems like I have less pain today. You old geezers…get y’all some compression socks!!

 

[Medicine Woman]

Monday DH had a cardiac ablation. I just felt his pulse. About every 27 beats I feel an abnormality but it’s much better than before. He played in the garden today. Maybe he shouldn’t have but it had been bothering him. I cooked a gumbo today with a chicken and duck he had slaughtered before the surgery. It’s really good because I added oyster water and a few oysters. I missed a few nights of work because of the surgery but I have been offered a $150 bonus to go in Saturday night…tomorrow. I interviewed Wednesday morning for a bridge tender position and I am just waiting to see if I am selected. Trouble attacked Snoopy again and I shoved her in a crate after fussing her. I don’t think she did it to injure because she would have and I don’t see any sign of injury. I really think she is just being a bully. But I told DH one day she will hurt someone else’s pet and he will have no choice but to put her down. I let Trouble see Snoopy having full range of the house and hanging out with us while she was crated. She is a time bomb. I swear after these animals go to Heaven I only want a rat terrier…maybe a miniature. Night shift messes with my sleep schedule bad.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Maybe next time I go in the garden I bring a bucket for the grass for free animal food

I do that! The goats line up at the fenceline and wait....they're no dummies.

 

[Medicine Woman]

It’s morning for me. I wake up and DH is peeling shrimp. I join him and he adds ice from the freezer to the ice chest. He said we have 70 pounds to peel. I am not as fast as him.
I sometimes lose track of my nights at work. I think I am half over my current hitch. You ever hear no such thing as a mistake? Well it’s true. I have to prepare the whole day with their assignments for vitals and charting and I put it out for the morning shift to start. Well yesterday, for whatever reason, morning shift didn’t do vitals…at least none that I saw. And I was told a certain lady was tired and slept the whole day. So I come to work at 11:00PM and only afternoon shifts vitals are there. So my aide shows up and is flustered cuz she is gonna have to work by herself and she starts getting vitals…. Morning vitals. If she had done her own vitals I never would have seen Tired Ladies vitals and how dangerously low her blood pressure was. I rechecked her manually and yeah… pretty low so check her orders and she is due to receive 3 meds to lower her blood pressure further. I had a very serious conversation with my relief. Basically if my aide hadn’t accidentally checked Tired Lady, my relief would have medicated her and 5 people would have lost their mom today. No such thing as a mistake.
I got some depressing inspiration to head to my house and start ripping last night. In the course of talking to my coworkers one of them talk about cast iron clothes irons and I grab my face and say “Oh my God!” She didn’t know what she said to do that to me. I told her I have 8 irons surrounding my potbelly stove IN MY HOUSE!! And I just SMH. She then explain to our part-time coworker that Ida ripped my house apart. The irons were for my grandmother. Oh well it might be depressing but whatever it takes to get it done.
Well I best get back to peeling.

 

[Mini Horses]

He stopped by my farm and went into the orchard before dark and something was scaring Trouble enough that she was afraid to get away from the truck. He sent me a video. I suggested he get out of there now. If Trouble is scared it’s probably not nice.

. That would be MY call....leave!! Especially at dusk. Critters come out.

 

[Medicine Woman]

DH is attempting to assemble my tricycle!!