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City Biddy
Poor hubby! I am glad he is going to a specialist.
Rebecca's journal-may be time to restart this
- Thread starter rebecca100
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Poor hubby! I am glad he is going to a specialist.
- Thread starter
- #553
rebecca100
Almost Self-Reliant
Well tonight is Dhs first night back and he is on light duty. He was not happy about the light duty. I just laughed at him. He gets to sit in the office with the boss and watch movies and run light errands all night. Lucky dog. I never got paid for anything that easy.
Well this morning I gave each of the tomato plants a good thump and a lecture about my lack of tomatoes especially on the brandywines. My funky curly tomato plants are actually producing, but with the heat none of the others are. But they got to watch while I ripped the squash plants out of the ground because they were covered in squash bugs. I then worked some more compost into the area the squash has been in and threw in a few turnip seeds. I was imagining pickled turnips. Besides I had nearly a half pound of turnip seeds that I was going to plant this fall. I could spare a few. Hopefully with the thumping and the cooler weather yesterday maybe I'll get some brandywines to set fruit. It just got hot too fast for 'em. Dippy me didn't know that tomatoes won't set fruit in hot temperatures. So the thumping helps the flowers to pollinate which gives more of a chance of fruit set. Then I harnessed the mule and just kinda ground worked her some. Then the donkey and I worked on his feet handling. He kicked out everytime I handled his back feet. Of course I couldn't let him get away with that so we ended up going through an entire foot handling lesson which ended with him letting me clean out all four feet while he stood. It wasnt too bad though. He learns quickly, but I need to have dh look at his hooves because I got the feeling from the way he was acting that he may have been sore. Either way tomorrow I need to file his and the mules hooves down some. I want dh with me when I do the mules since I don't know how she will take it. Her feet are pretty grown out. I've picked them all up, but there is a difference between picking up and actually doing something to them. I am also planning on hitting the plant stand one more time before they sell out. They had a fuyu persimmon tree I had my eye on. I may get a few more herbs and daylilies if they have any left.
Well this morning I gave each of the tomato plants a good thump and a lecture about my lack of tomatoes especially on the brandywines. My funky curly tomato plants are actually producing, but with the heat none of the others are. But they got to watch while I ripped the squash plants out of the ground because they were covered in squash bugs. I then worked some more compost into the area the squash has been in and threw in a few turnip seeds. I was imagining pickled turnips. Besides I had nearly a half pound of turnip seeds that I was going to plant this fall. I could spare a few. Hopefully with the thumping and the cooler weather yesterday maybe I'll get some brandywines to set fruit. It just got hot too fast for 'em. Dippy me didn't know that tomatoes won't set fruit in hot temperatures. So the thumping helps the flowers to pollinate which gives more of a chance of fruit set. Then I harnessed the mule and just kinda ground worked her some. Then the donkey and I worked on his feet handling. He kicked out everytime I handled his back feet. Of course I couldn't let him get away with that so we ended up going through an entire foot handling lesson which ended with him letting me clean out all four feet while he stood. It wasnt too bad though. He learns quickly, but I need to have dh look at his hooves because I got the feeling from the way he was acting that he may have been sore. Either way tomorrow I need to file his and the mules hooves down some. I want dh with me when I do the mules since I don't know how she will take it. Her feet are pretty grown out. I've picked them all up, but there is a difference between picking up and actually doing something to them. I am also planning on hitting the plant stand one more time before they sell out. They had a fuyu persimmon tree I had my eye on. I may get a few more herbs and daylilies if they have any left.
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- #554
rebecca100
Almost Self-Reliant
Oh yeah, and I worked on sumac tanning some hides today and made the kids some fresh mint tea! It was really good chocolate mint with a sprig of apple mint thrown in. I think that was about it.
Dawn419
Almost Self-Reliant
I would love to hear more about your sumac tanning. I've got 3 deer hides that have been salted that I need to get tanned. We priced alum at WalMart, what they had in the spice aisle was too much for too little and their pharmacy price for 12 oz. was just as ridiculous. We found a place over in Oxford (between Salem and Melbourne) AR we can get it for a great price, we've just not had the free time to get over there.
Dawn
Dawn
- Thread starter
- #556
rebecca100
Almost Self-Reliant
Sumac tanning is easy and free. If I remember right alum tanning doesn't hold up as well if it gets wet. Could be wrong though. Sumac grows all around here in Arkansas. You use the leaves and bark and tan like you would with oak bark. Weaker solution working up to full strength. I did one in oak and one in sumac and the sumac tanned hide was much softer. But it will dye the hair light brown if you do a pelt that is white. I will post a pic of this one when it is done.
Dawn419
Almost Self-Reliant
Thanks for your reply, Rebecca. Between our place, my moms and my aunts I can definately get ahold of plenty of sumac and try that method. I like that I'll be able to tackle the project by myself as hubby is working 12 hour shifts and it doesn't leave him a lot of time working around here right now. I do my best to take care of what I can by myself so that when he has time off the honey-do list is reasonably a short one.
Hope you and your family have a good weekend!
Dawn
Hope you and your family have a good weekend!
Dawn
- Thread starter
- #558
rebecca100
Almost Self-Reliant
My dh is working 12s too. 5 days a week. Good for the bank but not much else. Well yesterday I made some homemade laundry detergent and some odd gardening. The cabbage are still under full attack and now so are the tomatoes. I got the mule a new collar so that I didn't have to use the one off the other harness set. Well I got home tried it on her and it fit so I harnessed her up and hooked a heavy rope to the traces with some rattley things attached to let her get used to banging and rattling behind her. Well we hung it on a rock and amazingly one of the hames snapped. Stinkin solid metal hames and it broke! How does that happen? Fortunately it was an old set but now we have to repace that. Other than that she did great and had a good attitude through the whole thing. There are a couple of areas we still need to work on but overall she is going along excellent. Of course the people we got her from said that they had been told that she already pulled, so that may have something to do with it. She may have been worked with before, but she is definatley NOT experienced.
Well while I was working with her dh brothers kids called. We havent seen them in forever. Dhs brother cant stay out of trouble and when he and his wife divorced it was bad. We live just a couple of miles from them and she until recently refused to let them come over. No fault of ours. We had thought we were still on good terms with her and had loned her money the last time we saw her right before the divorce. Well anyway dh went to go get them and they stayed several hours. They mostly played in the pool. At dark we went to our old place and shot fireworks. They all had fun. Then this morning they called again. Well dh talked to them a few minutes and then gave the phone to the kids. Well........ the phone ended up being given to me. Now before I go on I have to tell that ex-sil has been letting these kids go wild. I know they have been doing drugs and OTHER things that a 15 year old kid should NOT DO. SHe has stolen from us and lied even when we have tried to help her(which was usually giving her money without expectation of being paid back and making her car payment for her to keep it from being repossessed). Anyway I take the phone thinking it is one of the kids and its not. It is her. I was polite and spoke to her even though I didn't want to. I didn't tell her what I thought of her even though I wanted to. I am so afraid that she is going to want to be part of our lives again and I dont know what to do. Maybe I should politely NOT be friendly and that will be the end of it. What I think is going on is that needs money so is going to try to get back on friendly terms knowing we have helped her in the past when she and dh brother were married. What was really bad is that I thought that she and I were friends before all this happened. I thought I had forgiven her,but now I am not sure. Does forgiving mean that I have to forget and/or allow her back into our lives?
Well while I was working with her dh brothers kids called. We havent seen them in forever. Dhs brother cant stay out of trouble and when he and his wife divorced it was bad. We live just a couple of miles from them and she until recently refused to let them come over. No fault of ours. We had thought we were still on good terms with her and had loned her money the last time we saw her right before the divorce. Well anyway dh went to go get them and they stayed several hours. They mostly played in the pool. At dark we went to our old place and shot fireworks. They all had fun. Then this morning they called again. Well dh talked to them a few minutes and then gave the phone to the kids. Well........ the phone ended up being given to me. Now before I go on I have to tell that ex-sil has been letting these kids go wild. I know they have been doing drugs and OTHER things that a 15 year old kid should NOT DO. SHe has stolen from us and lied even when we have tried to help her(which was usually giving her money without expectation of being paid back and making her car payment for her to keep it from being repossessed). Anyway I take the phone thinking it is one of the kids and its not. It is her. I was polite and spoke to her even though I didn't want to. I didn't tell her what I thought of her even though I wanted to. I am so afraid that she is going to want to be part of our lives again and I dont know what to do. Maybe I should politely NOT be friendly and that will be the end of it. What I think is going on is that needs money so is going to try to get back on friendly terms knowing we have helped her in the past when she and dh brother were married. What was really bad is that I thought that she and I were friends before all this happened. I thought I had forgiven her,but now I am not sure. Does forgiving mean that I have to forget and/or allow her back into our lives?
framing fowl
On a mission
Forgiving her is different than establishing how you will interact with her in the future. If she is going to continue on her current path and you don't want to be a part of it, don't. You don't have to enable her in her lifestyle or decisions or be her doormat to be walked upon.
- Thread starter
- #560
rebecca100
Almost Self-Reliant
We finally went to Beebe today!!!! I went specifically looking for meat rabbits and bamboo plants. I only found 2 rabbits that I liked. It was a pair of large young mixed breeds that came with a feeder and waterer for $15. It was an okay deal. Everything had really gotten more expensive than last time I was there two years ago. This time they didn't have any bamboo. 
I was really hoping to find some. Ds went looking for Indian Runner ducks. He saw some in a homestead book of mine last year and has wanted some ever since. There was one vender there that had some purebred half grown duckling. $10 each I thought that was kinda high, but ds and the people who had them picked out what we think is a male and female. I only let him get two because imho that was just too much for a duckling of just about any breed. We went to make one last round around the livestock area when dh spotted feeder pigs. Hampshire and hampshire/ yorkshire cross for $30 each. So we got two. Some people there also had mini spotted potbelly pigs for $50. They were soooo cute sitting on their little rear ends looking up at me from the box like they couldnt wait to be picked up. The seller was holding one in one hand playing with it. They were SO TINY!!! I didn't do it though. I wanted to. I knew if I picked one up that it would come home with me. It was hard to do, but I walked away. I also walked away from silkies, turkeys, goats........ I just had to keep telling myself "I DO NOT NEED MORE!!! I DO NOT NEED MORE!!!! I MAY BE GETTING A GOAT TOMORROW SO DON'T GET ONE NOW!!!" They were also getting ready for the horse auction. I was proud of myself today. I didn't come home with a herd of horses or un-ss critters that I didn't need. There were horse and donkey rides there. Littlest dd rode a mini donkey. There was a beautiful gray horse at the auction in a pen seperated from the rest in the back of the barn. Dh and I walked past it. he asked if I had seen it. I tolde him that I had and it was pretty. As we came around the barn and walked up close I saw its front legs. Both front legs were deformed and touched at the knees and turned out and its hooves pointed striaght out. Its knees were twisted. it broke my heart for that pretty horse. It looked as if it had been born that way. It could walk and was in pretty good shape. I guess it was the shock of such a pretty horse and then when it turns the deformed legs.
I also found a spotted nubian doe with a buckling by her side for $100 on CL yesterday. Actually she had advertised an Alpine and her doeling for $85, but it was already sold. She emailed back that she had the nubian too. We emailed back several times. She sent me pics. The doe is beautiful and so is the buckling. However we emailed back and forth several times and everytime I asked the does age. She never answered. She lives about 2 hours away and will only be home tomorrow evening. Dh works nights and will have to be at work by seven, plus take 4 hours out of his sleep to drive over there. I would get her, but I have a magical ability to get lost after the second turn, plus I am a coward and traffic panics me. So anyway driving there to see her is out of the question. I have to know she is what we are looking for before we go. I am starting to wonder if it is an old doe and she just dosen't want to tell me. Anyway I also gave her my phone number so we could talk on the phone instead or playing the email game, but she just kept e mailing me. I just may not be meant to get her, but I really hope not. She was really pretty and looked exactly like what I expect out of a nubian.
Whoo HOOOO!!!!!!! She called while I was typing this!! The doe and buckling are registered!!!!! And she said she will have to look it up to make sure but she is fairly sure that the doe is under 5 years old!!!!!!! We can meet sometime after noon tomorrow!!!!!!
:bun
I was really hoping to find some. Ds went looking for Indian Runner ducks. He saw some in a homestead book of mine last year and has wanted some ever since. There was one vender there that had some purebred half grown duckling. $10 each I thought that was kinda high, but ds and the people who had them picked out what we think is a male and female. I only let him get two because imho that was just too much for a duckling of just about any breed. We went to make one last round around the livestock area when dh spotted feeder pigs. Hampshire and hampshire/ yorkshire cross for $30 each. So we got two. Some people there also had mini spotted potbelly pigs for $50. They were soooo cute sitting on their little rear ends looking up at me from the box like they couldnt wait to be picked up. The seller was holding one in one hand playing with it. They were SO TINY!!! I didn't do it though. I wanted to. I knew if I picked one up that it would come home with me. It was hard to do, but I walked away. I also walked away from silkies, turkeys, goats........ I just had to keep telling myself "I DO NOT NEED MORE!!! I DO NOT NEED MORE!!!! I MAY BE GETTING A GOAT TOMORROW SO DON'T GET ONE NOW!!!" They were also getting ready for the horse auction. I was proud of myself today. I didn't come home with a herd of horses or un-ss critters that I didn't need. There were horse and donkey rides there. Littlest dd rode a mini donkey. There was a beautiful gray horse at the auction in a pen seperated from the rest in the back of the barn. Dh and I walked past it. he asked if I had seen it. I tolde him that I had and it was pretty. As we came around the barn and walked up close I saw its front legs. Both front legs were deformed and touched at the knees and turned out and its hooves pointed striaght out. Its knees were twisted. it broke my heart for that pretty horse. It looked as if it had been born that way. It could walk and was in pretty good shape. I guess it was the shock of such a pretty horse and then when it turns the deformed legs. I also found a spotted nubian doe with a buckling by her side for $100 on CL yesterday. Actually she had advertised an Alpine and her doeling for $85, but it was already sold. She emailed back that she had the nubian too. We emailed back several times. She sent me pics. The doe is beautiful and so is the buckling. However we emailed back and forth several times and everytime I asked the does age. She never answered. She lives about 2 hours away and will only be home tomorrow evening. Dh works nights and will have to be at work by seven, plus take 4 hours out of his sleep to drive over there. I would get her, but I have a magical ability to get lost after the second turn, plus I am a coward and traffic panics me. So anyway driving there to see her is out of the question. I have to know she is what we are looking for before we go. I am starting to wonder if it is an old doe and she just dosen't want to tell me. Anyway I also gave her my phone number so we could talk on the phone instead or playing the email game, but she just kept e mailing me. I just may not be meant to get her, but I really hope not. She was really pretty and looked exactly like what I expect out of a nubian.
Whoo HOOOO!!!!!!! She called while I was typing this!! The doe and buckling are registered!!!!! And she said she will have to look it up to make sure but she is fairly sure that the doe is under 5 years old!!!!!!! We can meet sometime after noon tomorrow!!!!!!
:bun 
