Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Well, heck - I don't even got no stinkin' greenhouse. But, it's 'on the list' of things I want - so maybe someday... Actually, I don't really need a real greenhouse - what I need is a screenhouse to keep the stinkin' stink bugs off of my tomatoes. I musta set out about 40 tomato plants this spring and you wanna know how many tomatoes I harvested - ZERO - a big fat goose egg - NADA, ZILCH, nuttin' honey! That's how bad the stinkin' stink bugs are. So, unless I can have a screen house - I'm not even gonna plant any this year. Nope - that's a lie - I know I'll plant 'em and then I'll try something to keep the bugs off and then I'll complain that it doesn't work...ugh.

I hate myself for this - but I'm praying for a couple good hard freezes. Seems like in the spring after a hard winter we have less bugs. AND, just in case it helps - I've got some chickens and guineas who are spending the winter in the garden area - so maybe, just maybe if there's any creepy-crawlies that are hiding and trying to make it to next year - they'll serve as little snackies for the poultry assassination crew!

Hey, WBF - I finally decided to cut a hole in the top of my ice cream cartons ...uh... quail feeders. That way I can pour feed through the little hole and I don't have to take the tops off and lose 'em! And, finally... I have enough quail feeders so I'm not buyin' no more ice cream - I think I gained at least 5 lbs cleaning those things out. It was fun while it lasted - but NO MORE. (what am I talkin' about - I set 168 eggs this morning!) YIKES!

Kiddos do get less gifts as they get older, but seems like even less gifts get more expensive... sigh. My kids stopped wanting goodies and started wanting cash when they growed up - makes shopping easier, lol. But, they still getcha because then they start having grandbabies and you spend even MORE on them. It's a conspiracy I tell ya! But, them grandbabies are worth it!

Got DH a new coat yesterday... debated on the awesome styles of "pleather" that were available. Shorter 'bomber' style jacket or more tailored executive style....well I went with the more tailored one cuz you know he's a big ol' executive - HA! And, this morning he tells me he really likes the bomber jacket style... GRRRRRRRRRRR. He's gonna get what he gets cuz I'm not exchanging it now.

Today the three of us office-mates are gonna go out for our Christmas lunch. I'm excited! We go to the best steak house in town (cuz they're pretty darn reasonable for lunch) and we live it up. "Live it up" means we have dessert - not booze...dessert is better than booze anyway. We'll spend a couple hours away from the office and come back and moan about how we ate too much. And I'm sure that at least one of us will use our break for a quick nap, lol! I even skipped breakfast in preparation.

Brrrr....forgot my illegal heater that I planned to bring to my office today. They tell us "no heaters allowed" and then they remind us to unplug 'em over the break - HA HA! It really is ridiculous that I had to spend all day yesterday - IN MY OFFICE - with my coat on.... UGH.

Stay warm folks!

 

[Wannabefree]

I may have to cut holes in the top of the next ones. That way my lazy child won't go losing them again I don't look forward to the experience of getting a hard freeze, but I sure do love the idea of less bugs!!! We had stink bugs, wasps, and yellow jackets like crazy this year, they were awful!!! I want em dead!!!!

Could you do floating row covers on your tomatoes? They are light permeable, and it may keep your plants from burning up in the heat as well. Just a thought...may not work, but it'd surely keep them stupid bugs out!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm a sittin' here waitin' on a phone call to tell me my new truck is ready to be picked up! Only one small catch....they gotta pull my ticket outta the raffle bucket, lol. And they will - I have faith. I always expect to win - just like I"m gonna win the big fat lottery tonight too - whooo, that's a lot of winnings for one day, huh? But, it is Friday the 13th - everybody's lucky day right!!!??!! Now - do I win often.... uh... not so much, but it's a good cause and by golly I'm gonna support it. The raffle that is...not so sure the Lottery is a good cause, but eh...whatcha gonna do?

I've kinda tried floating row cover before...but I tried draping it over a framework to create a 'screen house' but them little stinkers could get in there anyway. They go under, over, through... they are unstinkinstoppable I tell ya. But, I'm gonna win - I'll keep up the battle.

I'll post a pic of my new truck as soon as I get the call to go pick it up!

 

[Wannabefree]

Good luck on the truck. Maybe I should play the lotto? Not like I have anything to lose at this point

 

[Denim Deb]

And you have $5000 to spend on it.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Welllll, those crazy folks from the truck raffle still haven't called me to come get my truck... In fact, I think they gave MY truck to somebody else! However, I did have a bit of good luck at our Christmas luncheon yesterday. They had a raffle and so I bought 6 tickets for $20.00. (It was for a good cause) AND - I won! It was a great investment - I spent $20 and I won $25! LOL - it's better than losing.

Sooooo - today is the first official day of Winter Break. I don't go back to work until January 6th. Woo hoo - I use this time to TRY to get a bunch of stuff done. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. But, I always go into it with a huuuuuuuge list that I never finish. That's what Spring Break is for, right? I'm sure this year will be the same - but I fully intend to get lots done anyway.

My quail are disappearing gradually. I don't know how the heck they do that - but occasionaly, I find less birds in a pen than I started out with. Some of them sneaky little critters sneak must sneak out when I'm changing feed or water and I don't even notice. How do I know this? Other day I was reaching in to a cage to get a couple eggs and all of a sudden there was a commotion around my feet. I looked down and there he was - the male from that pen was on the ground. Luckily for me (not so much for the quail) the rooster in that pen had him down, lol. Not much of a fight between a quail and a roo - but it gave me the opportunity to grab the little bugger up and throw him back into his pen. I've learned now to keep a 'catch pen on the ground around their cages and occasionally I find a refugee returned to the fold, lol. It's a good thing I've got a bunch of eggs in the incubator.

I need to use some of this time off of work to cull some birds and and maybe a goat or two. EXCEPT - my freezer is full. All of them, lol. I might just run an ad and try to sell a couple of extra goats and butcher from the next batch...

Next order of business is to find a place for the geese. They'll be nesting in the next month or two and I need to put them somewhere safe. The only thing I'm worried about is that the dog will eat their eggs - BUT - with 5 geese and one dog - she might lose that fight. I've got three males and two females - a little lopsided I know. I'm wondering if that will make for a giant war - or a well-behaved litle commune? Time will tell I guess - but maybe I could put at least one fo the males on the 'goodbye' list.

One more cup of coffee - and I needa get outside and make good use of this wonderful weather!!!! I'm so excited - we're supposed to be quite balmy today with a high today just shy of 70.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Second day of Winter Break!

Lucky me! I was gifted about 50 lbs of fresh, organic limes. Now - even I can't drink that many margaritas, so I'm squeezing limes like crazy! I'm putting the juice into ice cube trays and freezing them for future use. DH and I love a big tangy/sweet glass of limeade about 12 or so times a day. Makes getting those 8 ounce glasses of liquid a little easier to get down.

I've been piddling around outside this morning. I'm trying to separate some of my chicken breeds so I can start doing a little hatching in a month or so - maybe two months or so - maybe sometime around March, lol! I'm not so excited about the prospect, but I neeeeds some new baby chicks. It's an addiction! But, them stinking chickens are NOT loving the idea of segregation. As quick as I can put 'em in a pen, them stinkers fly out. Sooooo, it's catch 'em again and this time I'll be clipping wings. That'll show 'em, by golly by gosh.

Cooked up a big ol pot of greens with a sausage link chopped up in 'em and a batch of garlicy biscuits last night - think I'll have another little bit for lunch. Sounds sooo good! Then I gotta figger out what to fix for dinner tonight.

DH got a little unwelcome surprise on his last batch of labwork, so we're altering our diet a little bit again. He's got excess protein in his urine - which could mean the start of kidney problems, so we're cutting down on protein in our diets. They caught it early, so no real kidney damage yet.... Poor feller... sigh. (Diabetes is a horrible disease!) And, for that reason, I've listed 4 wethers on Craigslist cuz I won't be butchering 'em. Freezer's full anyway and so now maybe these guys got a chance to go to a 'pet' home - or not... who knows?

Break is over - gotta get back out there.

 

[Denim Deb]

Glad they caught that early.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Me too, Deb, me too!

It has lit a fire under him for sure. He's been a terrible diabetic for most of the years I've known him. If I *itch and moan he does better but that gets old after awhile...gotta grow up and take responsibility for his own health. And he seems to be on a roll right now. He's been on the treadmill twice a day since then and is eating better too. AND - guess what? His blood sugar has been darn near normal for a few days now. The only problem is that he seems to have more hypoglycemic episodes when he's being compliant - but that is a learning process. He needs to learn not to take his 'normal' dose of insulin when he's eating much better quality food at a much lower volume. I'm just glad he's finally taking it seriously!

On my third day of Winter Break! Yesterday I moved some chickens around - didn't get all of 'em, but working on it. I cleaned out the feed room and removed at least 10,000 empty feed sacks! Okay, maybe not quite that many, but it seemed like it. DH will take some of those to the metal recycling center this weekend - they use them for something and are always glad to get them.

I spent a lot of time outside yesterday and noticed that the Queen of the goat herd seemed to be in heat. She's always been sneaky about being in season. She was standing at the fence and looking toward the bucks pen so I let her in and she went straight over to flirt. I turned the buck out and VOILA! Wouldn't you know it - another doe (that I really wasn't looking to breed) sneaked through the gate - and oops - voila there too! I wanted to get the herd queen bred at least one more time. I've got a new buck and I think this will be an incredible cross. This doe has thrown multiple champions in her life and she's getting up there in age now (almost 12) but she still looks incredible and could walk in a show ring today and probably still kick major bootie! So, I'm hoping she conceives and that she produces a replacement for herself!

I've got a huge squash cut up and roasting in the oven. I gave seeds to the neighbors this spring and they grew awesome squash from them and were generous enough to share. I planted the same squash and got nothing, nada... I promised to have them for dinner when I used it - so probably have dinner guests tomorrow night.

I need to go pick a big ol' Napa cabbage and make another batch of Kimchee. I looooove that stuff and I want to take some to my daughter when we visit for Christmas. She loves it too!

Next project is to pickle some quail eggs. That's something I've never tried making before - but I'm gonna give it a shot. Ya'll wish me luck on that one...

Maybe one more cup of coffee and then I needa get outside and get busy before running to town for last minute stuff before next week. I refuse to go to town after today - it'll be CRAZY - and I don't do crazy if I can help it..... on the other hand I might BE crazy and I've got no problem with that, lol!

Have a good one folks!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Long day... but got some good things done. I moved some chickens around - got some breeds separated and some put together. I also spent TWO hours - yep 2 hours - peeling hard-boiled quail eggs to try to pickle some. Never done it - hope it turns out..

Moved some goats around too after breeding a couple of does yesterday. I finally counted my goats today. I've refused to do it cuz I really didn't wanna know, lol. BUT - it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I've got 30 goats. Six bucks, 4 wethers, a 20 does.... That would explain the feed bill, lol.

In all reality though - chickens eat more than goats. Needa sell/butcher/give away/feed to the dogs about half of 'em.

Tired and headed to the bed real soon. G'nite folks!