Kentucky Hollers

Happy New Year!!!

2011-12-31T22:37:00.001-05:00

Here's hoping 2012 turns out to be a great year!

We're Married!!

2011-12-30T12:50:00.002-05:00

Danny and I had been tossing dates around to get married before May. Turns out that December 27th is the Saint's Day of John the Apostle, who happens to be the patron saint of writers and friends. We both thought that was the most auspicious date (since we're both writers and each others' best friend), so...We got married on the 27th here in Flagstaff!!!

(The pictures are in Danny's camera, so when he gets off work, I'll see if we can get some posted!)

Pitter-Stomps

2011-12-07T21:54:00.002-05:00

One of the hardest things about getting used to living in the city, in an apartment, is the Pitter-Stomps.

That's our name for the family living in the apartment above us. I've never actually met them, but I feel I've come to know them fairly well from the variations in their routine (as heard from below.) One time, we didn't hear them for several days and I started worrying that they were okay. I envision Mr. Pitter-Stomp as about 6 foot and 500#, Mrs. Pitter-Stomp as about 5'6" and about 300#, and the two Pitter-Stomp children, who must weigh at least 200# a piece and have leather lungs.

On the farm, if you hear water running down inside the walls, it's a bad thing. Here, it means the Pitter-Stomps are showering. On the farm, if you hear loud noises above you, it means you have BIG rats or a tree limb has impacted the roof. Here, it means that the Pitter-Stomps have taken up clog dancing, or caber-tossing, or something. On the farm, if we heard mysterious noises coming from empty rooms, we would assume we had a ghost. Here, it means the younger Pitter-Stomps are practicing their demolition skills. On the farm, the most common noises were goats, chickens, the wind, and the rain. Here, the common noises are thumps, shrieks, vaccuum cleaners, and sirens.

I miss my goats' complaints...I never thought I'd say that.

Wait...What? I thought this was a farm blog?!?

2011-11-19T18:46:00.004-05:00

OK, I'm back now. Lots of changes over the last 6 months since my last post. Just to keep everyone on the same page, here is what has been happening:

1: We're not in Kentucky anymore, Toto

...At least, temporarily not in Kentucky anymore. At the end of October, we closed up the farm for the winter, hauled the majority of the livestock (and one killer rabbit) to Smallfarmgirl, and packed up clothes, dogs and indoor plants. Then on the first of November, the girls and I u-hauled our way out to an apartment in Flagstaff, Arizona. Why, do you ask? Because...

2: I've met the love of my life

...and he lives in Flagstaff. Yup, remember when I gave up on men altogether? Not long after that I started talking to a fellow writer/blogger/bookworm/prepper I met on the internet. After e-mailing each other constantly, then talking on the phone incessantly, we ended up best friends who were falling madly in love with one another. So we decided to go on a date. In a car. All of us. For a week. I figured if we could survive that and still like one another, we might just have a chance.

Our first date consisted of: Seven states, Six days, Five major "Tourist" attractions (Shanksville 9/11 site, Gettysburg, Statue of Liberty, Philadelphia, and Manhattan,) Four travelers laughing hysterically most of the time, Three Kutztown, PA, graveyards looking for dead relatives of mine (we kept having to differentiate between "fresh Biebers" (those who had died in the last 100 years or so) and "Crunchy Biebers" (my immigrant ancestors from the 1700's. Kutztown has lots of dead Biebers.), Two bookstores, and One tin can rental car with an electrical short that kept turning the radio on at odd moments. Giselle came up with the saying, "Cuter'n a possum's butt" and Arabella invented Frisbee Halos. The car was impounded during dinner in NJ by Guido. (New Jersey has always been my least favorite state. This trip just reinforced that.) We looked up an old friend of mine in Pennsylvania, toured a cave, and generally had the time of our lives. Turned out a one-week-long date was nowhere near long enough.

For our second date, the girls and I flew out to Arizona--the girls to their father's place in Phoenix, me to Flagstaff to spend the week with Dan. Most of our second date consisted of us driving from Flagstaff to Tucson and back (three times!) to take care of Dan's son (a broken hand and $1500 worth of car repairs.) I had an allergic reaction, Dan had a cadaver lab for work, and Arabella turned 11 while we were in AZ, so Dan got the full Chuckie Cheese Birthday Party Experience (tm), complete with screaming children, dancing rats, and the ex-husband. When Dan didn't run shrieking into the distance after all that, I knew we were onto a good thing.

Our third date consisted of him flying out to help me close up the farm for the winter. So I guess spending the winter in Flagstaff constitutes our fourth (and final) date. Because...

3: We're getting engaged!

He's already bought the ring; we're just waiting to get it back from the jeweler to make it "official".

So, lots of changes, lots more to come. I'll be posting about our (non-farm) life here in Arizona for a while. But don't worry, we haven't abandoned Kentucky forever. Because as Dorothy and Toto found out, there is no place like home.

Garden Woes

2011-05-15T21:27:00.003-04:00

(This is my 300th post! Who would have thought?)

I have decided to give up on a corn crop this year. The ground is completely saturated, and rain is forecast for most of the next two weeks (which is as far as accuweather.com goes.) By the time it dries out enough to plant corn, it will be too hot for it to grow well.

The potatoes are struggling with the field so wet; I've lost about 1/5 of my crop to rot. All my melon, cucumber, and squash seedlings were pounded flat in the last thunderstorm. I'm going to try re-seeding those (and re-growing the Ginger Pride melons and the Royal Golden watermelons inside. They don't do well direct-seeded.) At least I still have my tomato seedlings, since I don't have their bed ready yet. And the onions and garlic are doing fantastic.

So this year will be the 'Year of the Bean'. I'm going to plant the entire corn field in beans. Left-over room will be filled in by squash. We'll freeze beans, can beans, dry beans and string leatherbritches. And the animals will have to get used to the fact that there won't be much corn this winter--they'll have to eat squashes instead. Oh, well, at least they'll eat...and so will we.

I Almost Expect This Now

2011-04-23T08:19:00.004-04:00

Life has been a bit on the busy side lately. The tax year is finally over, the franchise had their big end-of-year office party, I've been working on getting projects finished up around here, and Thursday night, the bathroom faucet exploded.

At this point, I've almost come to expect things like this to happen around here. Victor had come over for dinner (I was trading a home-cooked dinner for him tapping out a broken bolt on my stove.) Dinner was over, Giselle was in her room, Victor and I were talking at the dining table, and Arabella was in the bathroom, brushing her teeth.

Suddenly, I could hear the water running, like Arabella had just turned the water on full blast. About then, she came tearing around the corner of the dining room doorway. "The faucet exploded!" she cried.

Victor ran for the bathroom and Giselle and I ran for the main shut-off in the basement. By the time I got into the basement, water from the bathroom was pouring through the subflooring and onto the basement floor. I could hear Victor and Arabella struggling with the sink upstairs as I turned the valve shut.

By the time I got back upstairs, the bathroom was a total disaster. Water dripped from the ceiling. Water pooled on the floor. Water ran down the pictures on the walls. Giselle took a critical look at the mess, picked up a towel to start mopping the water up with, and addressing no one in particular, said, "Well, that's one way to get the bathroom clean, but I wouldn't recommend it!"

We mopped up, while Victor attempted to figure out what had happened to the faucet. Apparently the screw ring that holds the valve in place had come loose, and when Arabella turned on the hot water, the whole hot-water-side handle assembly had shot off the sink from the pressure of the water. We managed to find all the parts except for the small spring that seats at the very bottom of the valve. For that, I had to do an emergency run to Lowe's to buy a replacement.

For the record, never in my 44 years have I had a faucet explode like that. I didn't even know it was possible, outside of TV sit-coms. But after dealing fried modems, I suppose an exploding bath faucet really isn't that big of a deal.

Sickness and Health

2011-04-20T15:29:00.002-04:00

Well, Arabella is over the flu, and now Giselle has it. But once she's better, we'll be done with the flu for this year (hopefully!) And with any luck, we'll get through summer healthy...

Other things going on around here:

All the goats have had their babies--5 girls, 1 boy this time. I'm planning on checking out the local auction this weekend and then selling some of my goats the following weekend.

It has been so wet here that everyone is having trouble getting their gardens in. The potatoes I planted are being slow in coming up. I thought maybe it was because I had planted in the wrong moon sign, but found out that everyone else is having the same trouble, so I guess it is the weather. I'm going to get my cold frame box planted this week (beets, carrots, Malabar spinach) but the garden is far too wet to till right now.

I FINALLY finished the bookcase that is part of the island between the kitchen and the dining room. Now I can get the encyclopedias off my dining table and onto shelves. And I can start working towards a functional kitchen. I still haven't finished the bathroom...I need to do the finish work on the floor and install the baseboards...and I just keep procrastinating. Sigh. I have to get to it soon, though. Summer will be here before I know it and washtub baths won't cut it then.

Corn has gone up again. Six months ago, 50# of cracked corn sold for right at $6. Two or three months ago, the feed mill raised the price to $8.70 per 50# cracked. Two days ago, I went to buy corn and it was up to $9.10. That's 50% inflation in just 6 months. I'm hoping I get a good corn crop in this year, because otherwise I don't know how I'm going to be able to over-winter all my goats.

Other than that, not much to tell. Just keep your eyes on the news; things are going to start get interesting quickly, now.

Feels Good to be Free

2011-04-12T10:52:00.006-04:00

I may have just set a record for the world's shortest engagement.

Did another attempt at discussing the issues that were bothering me last night. He refused to give me a time-frame for getting a divorce (said he had one in mind but he wasn't going to tell me.) Which I interpreted as there is no time-frame. I tried to discuss a couple other issues, and he went into round-about mode. You know, where they discuss everything but the issue at hand to try to distract you. Then he just flat refused to discuss things any further. From there the conversation deteriorated and he ended by hanging up on me.

So it's back to just me and the girls. Although I expect things to get "interesting" for a while. He told me stories of getting cut off in traffic, copying the car's license, tracing it, and then harassing the driver. I expect him to do the same (or worse) to me. Sigh. Time to update my will and put the Sheriff on speed-dial.

I think I'm going to give up on men altogether. The chances of me finding a decent, non-violent, rational man who wants to live in a fixer-upper on a small farm in the backwoods of Kentucky, loves kids and animals, and is UNmarried to someone else, are somewhere between me hitting the big lottery and Congress actually balancing the budget. Besides, anything they can do, we can do better. Right, girls?

Not Quite Sure WHAT is Happening...

2011-04-08T17:00:00.003-04:00

Almost two months without an update (shakes head in disbelief). Bet you've been wondering what happened to me. Besides being sicker-n-a-dog for the last couple of weeks (flu+UTI. WAY bad juju. I'm still achy), here's what's been happening...

We went to Lehman's as I said in my last post. And met the internet friend. And that's where everything went...odd? crazy? weird? Anyway, whatever synonym your particular thesaurus favors, that's what it went.

I'd been talking to said internet friend for several months. He was into prepping, didn't watch TV, wanted to move to the country and live on a farm, loved animals, had a son that he had custody of that was slightly older than my two girls: Basically, he sounded perfect. I REALLY wanted to meet him.

Met him at Lehman's. Went to dinner with him, his son, and my girls. He was good looking, well-spoken, fairly educated, didn't give off any "serial killer" vibes. I talked to him about Victor and that disaster. He told me about his wife who had left him over a year ago. We ended up spending the weekend in Ohio with him. By the end of the weekend, he had declared he wanted to marry me and intended to buy me a ring asap. And we had made arrangements for me to come back down a week and a half later and spend his birthday with him. Complete whirlwind.

I spent the next week+ running up my phone bill talking to him, internet shopping for a ring, and being all giggly in luv. Settled between three different rings, but wanted to see them in person before I made a decision. Decided on a gorgeous 2 1/2 carat diamond engagement ring. He asked me to marry him on bended knee. We started making plans to get married sometime in the summer.

It was then the niggles started (You knew this part was coming, didn't you?) Turns out he CAN'T marry me this summer. He and his wife have been separated for over a year, but no papers at all have been filed. None. When I asked WHEN papers were going to filed, he came up with excuses (he wanted to read a couple books on divorce he had bought and he wanted to talk to a friend about how to file. I don't know why he couldn't have read the books or talked to his friend during the last 15 months that his wife was gone. I'm being pissy about this issue because I've been down this road before, and it ended badly. And it is beginning to look badly again: he wants to keep custody of his son, his wife wants son to stay in Ohio, he's making noises about living in OH until son turns 18, THEN moving to KY. I say, "No way, no sir. That dog don't hunt.") He spent the morning of his birthday at his wife's apartment, eating the birthday breakfast she had made him. He has a decent job, but his house is in foreclosure, his car is slated for repossession, and all his bills are past due (he tried to talk me into putting his gas bill into my name so he didn't have to pay the past due amount. I said I wasn't comfortable with that. He wasn't happy with that response.) He gave me thousands of dollars in preps to move down to my house, then came down to do an inventory and got pissy when I asked, "Why?" Now he's started asking for some of the preps back to take to another friend's place. Things are just enough "off" to make me go, "Hmmmm" and step back slightly. Attempted discussions never seem to go well...at least, I never feel like the issues have been resolved. One of my friends thinks he's a con artist (and I'm the 'desperate middle-aged female.' [snark]Thanx, JG) and another friend thinks he's trying to hide assets from his wife. I don't know WHAT to think.

So that is where things stand right now. I'm engaged to a man who can't marry me, and alarm bells are going off in my head loud enough to give me a headache. Basically, I'm not sure WHAT is going on, but whatever happens, I will be taking things v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y from here on out.

What an Absolutely Beautiful Day

2011-02-16T21:10:00.002-05:00

The weather has been perfect the last few days. We actually hit 70 today! I've finally thawed out and am starting to work on the house again. Tomorrow I'm going to run into town early and get supplies to work more on the house (drywall/switch covers/lumber).

The ground is drying out a bit, but it still is a far way from being able to be tilled for planting. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to the potatoes in on time this year because of the wet soil. We'll see.

The goats are heavily pregnant, which is good. I'm going to call the slaughter house tomorrow and schedule the wethers for slaughter. Gotta make room for the new batch of babies. Goat chili, here we come.

This weekend, the girls and I are going to Lehman's in Kidron, OH. We're going to leave here way early to get there about lunch-time. I'm hoping to meet up with an internet friend who lives in Cleveland in Kidron for lunch. Then I'm going to go hog-wild shopping! Dietz lanterns, here I come. Oooo, and a butter churn. And...and...and...(Most women go nuts over shoes; I go nuts over Tractor Supply and Lehman's. Sigh.) I'll take pictures to post for all those who haven't been able to go on the Lehman's Pilgrimage.

Blond Brain Strikes Again

2011-02-15T14:56:00.002-05:00

I had it all together this morning; honest I did. Then I got out of the truck at work and proceeded to lock the doors with my keys still in the ignition. Talk about a bone-head move. A friend of mine is driving out to the house to pick up the spare key and bring it back to me so I can leave work. Thank God for CC! She's the greatest.

All-in-all, I'm ready for this day to be over. Maybe tomorrow I'll be smarter...LoL

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T07:47:00.002-05:00

Overwhelmed

2011-02-12T16:58:00.002-05:00

I made it through my History test. That's about all I accomplished this week.

On the farm front: We're completely out of wood and I am having no end of trouble getting more. Everyone I called was out, except one man...who has failed to show up for three delivery appointments. Explains why he still has wood. I'm trying again for Monday...which means I'm going to have to cut my first class that day, just in case he shows up. We're on a propane back-up heater right now. Expensive stuff, that propane.

Spent all Friday at work being cussed out by everyone and their brother/sister/aunt/uncle. Not fun. Seems that the direct deposits were between banks, but everyone wanted their money NOW. And we were the convenient scapegoats for everyone's frustration and anger. After work, I picked up some coolers, went home, and watched "Mr and Mrs Smith." Watching things blow up when you're mad makes you feel better. And then I slept in.

It's supposed to be warmer the next several days. Maybe I'll thaw out and start feeling like doing something. Maybe I'll even be able to get some of the house cleaned! Right now, I'm on my way into the bathroom to glue rocks. Then I have to write two poems for Creative Writing class on Monday. Sigh.

Falling Down on the Job

2011-02-08T13:52:00.002-05:00

Wow, where has the time gone?!

We have been busier than ever the last couple of weeks. I'm STILL not finished with the bathroom floor; I just haven't been home enough to work on it. I'm trying desperately to keep my head above water in college--I have no time to study, so I've taken to getting up in the middle of the night and studying while I stoke up the fire. If I can make it through to next week, I will finally be able to breathe. Hours are being cut back because the initial rush of tax filers is over. I'll be able get stuff done at the house until it all hits again in April.

Next week I'm going to concentrate on the bathroom. I'm MAJORLY tired of wash-tub baths with an occasional "borrowed" shower. My goal is to get the tub in sometime in the next 2 weeks. Then I can move on to working on the kitchen.

So all you out there who have wondered if I fell off the face of the earth, don't worry--I'll be back next week! See you then!

The Saga of the Hill

2011-01-26T17:05:00.002-05:00

As most of you know, I own one acre of deviating-from-the-vertical land (what passes as flatland around here) and 8-9 not-deviating-from-the-vertical land (euphemistically know as a hill). And as I've posted before, I'm kinda, sorta interested in having above said hill cleared. And one thing that has been bouncing around in my head looking for brain cells to interpret it, is a comment that my neighbor to the east made when the neighborhood turned out to see the hill across the street fall down.

I mentioned to him that I was going to clear my hill up to the drainage flume in the hollow and he began insisting that HE owned the drainage flume...AND the hollow. This being Kentucky, and him being a neighbor, I didn't voice my opinion of his parentage and intellectual ability, but instead began mulling over his statement.

When I was done mulling, I pulled out my deed and had a look-see. Now, when I bought this place, I read over my deed and thought it looked a bit...informal...but this IS Kentucky, after all, so I figured it was all normal here. HAH!!

This is the description of my property on my deed (I've redacted some names to avoid giving too much away on the internet):

A tract of land lying on the (name of creek) beginning at a culvert under the (name of road) in a westerly direction; to (neighbor #1's name) property line to a marked stone in a southerly direction to (creek); to a marked stone in a westerly direction with property lines of (neighbors #1 & #2) to or about a large sycamore tree on the south bank of (creek); in a southerly direction with the (neighbor #3's)property following a old barbed wire fence to the top of (point name) in a south westerly direction to the top of (ridge name); in a north easterly direction to an outcrop of rock on (other ridge name) were as a hollow begins following a north direction separating (neighbor #4's father's name) and property of this deed; to (creek) to (neighbors #5 and #6's) property to the hollow on the north side of (creek); following hollow north to the beginning.

So I hied myself and a photocopy of said property description to someone who could tell me what all I had (Professor who teaches surveying at my college). And he said, you have a receipt. If you want more than that, you have to go down to the county court house records and back search all the deeds until you come to a deed for your property that has numbers, then you have to forward search each portion of the property that was sold to neighbors #1-6 until you have final numbers, THEN you need to have it professionally surveyed and corner markers put in...'cause if I go clearing property to plant a vineyard on and neighbors #1-6 get testy, they can take me to court.

Thus opens the Saga of the Hill. I'm busy with H&R Block/college/homeschooling until May, then planting/working on house/harvest until late August/September, so clearing the hill has been put off until I can spend next Fall/Winter researching my deed and paying for corner markers. I'm thinking I'm going to have to skip a year of college to get this done in a reasonable time frame.

Pray for me; I'm gonna need it.

Fra-gee-lee...It Must Be Italian!

2011-01-25T19:51:00.002-05:00

I won! I won! Hot damn, I won! (with apologies to "A Christmas Story")

The college announced the winners of the literary contest today. I won first place in the non-fiction category!! Got a certificate and a check for $50!! Might even get my picture in the local paper! OK, so it's not a leg lamp--I think I'll live. And the judges wrote LOTS of notes about my writing--more than any of the other winners (poetry and fiction). They said they hoped I continued writing, that I was really good!!

I'll be back when I get this smile wiped off my face...and like any other red-blooded American girl, I'm spending my $50 prize on a shiny red cast iron water pump to replace the green one that is too tall to work. I love country life!!

Where has this week gone?!

2011-01-23T18:09:00.002-05:00

Somehow I have lost track of an entire week. I could have sworn that I posted just a day or so ago. I looked at the date on the blog and dang it if it hasn't been a week!

Let me think, here. The girls are in Arizona with their father. They are having a grand ol' time--swimming, shopping, eating out, swimming some more, visiting, and swimming. It's in the 20s here. Sometimes life's not fair (sulk).

I haven't been home much lately; too busy killing electronics at work. Tuesday at work our main printer decided it hated us and went on strike. So the boss hooked up the back-up printer. It lasted until almost closing time. Wednesday, the back-up back-up printer was pressed into service and promptly died. By Thursday, we were on our fourth printer of the week. And printer #4 is s-l-o-w. Boss swears up and down that we will have a new printer by Monday...or I'm afraid all of us in the office will have one, huge collective nervous breakdown over the printer situation. Me, I've taken to dancing in front of the printer while it wheezes through another return, singing "Tequila". I figure if that doesn't convince the company to replace it, nothing will!

Having left you with that disturbing mental image, I will now end this post...time to rock the bathroom some more (that just sounds wrong!)

Bathroom Floor

2011-01-17T11:59:00.006-05:00

Lots of pictures today. Just a warning...

It all started with this (Lowe's Creative Ideas should come with warnings, don'tcha think?)

And I thought, Hmmm, what if instead of a river rock bathmat I did the whole floor! And it would be CHEAP!!!(To get the full effect, insert maniacal laughter here.)

But then I started thinking about balancing things (like toilets--ewww) on the rocks, and other problems, so I decided to go with the best of both worlds:

Start with rocks:

(They are landscaping river rocks, bought at Lowe's, for about $4 per .5 cu.ft. bag--around 40#. I'm guessing my 6x10 bathroom will use 1 1/2 bags.) I had to wash them first, so I only did a few to start.

Next in my arsenal:
Landscape adhesive! This stuff will glue anything! Rock, wood, plastic, no problem. Only a couple of bucks per tube (one tube seems to do about 5-6 7" squares) And it is waterproof. Can't beat that.

And to eliminate the unbalanced rock problem, insert one grid:

(The oak strips are the 2 1/2" wide, 3/4" hardwood I'm flooring the rest of the house in. There are always strips that can't be used for one reason or another. I'm using the rejects in the bathroom. The squares are 7"x7")

First, squeeze the adhesive onto the (clean) floor.

Then, spread it out to make an even coating. Just don't get it on anything...it's worse than superglue.

I picked out large-ish rocks to put into the corners to get started.

Then, just take the larger of the river rocks and start spreading them in a single layer on the adhesive. Kinda smoosh them onto the glue and shove them around--gently--so they cover the glue and floor:

Keep adding large-ish rocks:

Then pick out the smallest rocks and scatter them over the top of the larger rocks. Work them into any gaps in between the big rocks.

And this is what it looks like. I've finished the one 4-square row (all I have time for today.) My goal is to get the rest of the floor done by next week, an hour at a time. That way I can coat the rocks with clear polyurethane, let it dry and then get my tub in!!!

Stay tuned...

R.I.P.

2011-01-11T13:55:00.002-05:00

Ronald Jack Spurlock died 1/10/11 at 22:50. He was 74 years old. Rest in Peace, Daddy.

Ups and Downs

2011-01-10T19:24:00.002-05:00

First day of school today. My last three classes before I transfer over to a 4-year college.

About 11 o'clock this morning, right after my first class, the hospital called me. At 10 my time/7 their time, my father had suddenly stopped breathing. They finally got him back after 10 minutes. He's now in ICU with a machine assisting his breathing. They're not sure he'll sustain breathing on his own. He's sedated but responding to stimuli. In 24 hours they'll try letting him breathe on his own and see what happens. If he can't breathe on his own, the nurse said they'll do another 24 hours and try again. After that, they want me to OK continuing life support.

I don't want to have to tell them to let my Daddy die. But I don't want him to suffer, either.

It was so sudden, too. Friday, the Social Worker was talking about releasing him once the Dr. consulted today. That's how well he was doing. The plan was to send him to rehab, not ICU. Sometimes Life can be a b****.

Update and Promised Photo

2011-01-06T15:23:00.003-05:00

Thank you, everyone out there in blogger-land who left caring messages about my daddy. Today I FINALLY got someone at the hospital in CA to speak to me about him (What IS it with those stupid HIPPA laws?!) Basic diagnosis is that he is malnourished and dehydrated. When he was found, there was no food at all in his apartment and he hadn't been taking care of himself (bathing and the like). He has sores from falling down that haven't healed because of his run-down condition, and he's a bit confused. Dr. says that is probably because of the dehydration, too. He's improving enough that the hospital is beginning to make noises about discharging him in a couple of days to a skilled nursing facility to fatten up and heal for a week or so. So it looks like my trip to CA is going to be delayed for about 2 weeks--the end of January, best I can figure.

Here's the progress on the bathroom:

The plaster on the one wall has now been finished and textured since this picture was taken. Tomorrow I hope to get it primered and painted, and the rest of the tin on. (It's not really tin; it's aluminum flashing that comes in rolls. 20" wide by 50' long for like $40. The walls used to have that glued-on fake fiberboard tile stuff, so it was either re-drywall the whole bathroom or cover up the fiberboard tile. Option #2 was cheaper.)

More updates as they happen...

What a Difference a Phone Call Makes

2011-01-05T14:11:00.002-05:00

Got a call today at noon. My daddy is in the hospital in CA. Don't know what-all is wrong yet, just that he isn't doing well. He's been there since Sunday, but couldn't remember my last name to have anyone call me. I spoke with the son of his next-door neighbor, who is with him at the hospital, and he told me the hospital says that my father is no longer capable of caring for himself. If and when he is released, he'll need to be cared for. And since I wouldn't put a dog in most of the indigent nursing homes in CA, he'll be coming home with me.

As of right now, the basic plan is to head out to Cali on the 11th and be back here by the 18th with him. Of course, plans may change at a moment's notice.

For anyone who wants to pray/hold in the light/light a candle/think healing thoughts for him, his name is Ron Spurlock.

(pictures promised yesterday may be here tonight, or tomorrow.)

Put Me in a Blender and Push Puree

2011-01-04T19:53:00.003-05:00

The holidays are over and real life is starting to ramp back up. Between now and May I'm going to be going to school full time, working full time, homeschooling the girls (with all the mom-taxiing that goes along with it), and trying to keep up with the farm.

The bath tub still isn't in place. The drywalling is done, the plumbing is all moved, half the tin is up (you'll understand that statement when I get the pictures uploaded and posted--hopefully tomorrow), and the baseboards and furring strips are all painted.

As it stands right now, tomorrow's schedule is to sort out the pieces of oak flooring I'm using as spacers between the pebble dash on the floor and getting them onto the floor, texturing and primering the walls, washing the rocks for the pebble dash, and getting Giselle to her music lesson and Arabella to her dance registration. Don't worry--I'll post pictures and it'll all make sense. Basically it is "How to re-do a bathroom on the cheap."

On the plus side, I've finished all the mandatory training for the 2010 tax year. That means I've earned my $175 training bonus. Woohoo! I can really use the money right now.

It's time to call it a night...8 o'clock and I'm bushed. That means I'm officially an old fart, huh?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011-01-01T01:48:00.000-05:00

(that's all I wanted to say)

Why There are Flashing Lights Outside my House

2010-12-30T20:08:00.004-05:00

It all started with my bathroom.

See, I've had this antique clawfoot tub in my living room for going on 4 years now. And I'm just a little tired of having the aforementioned tub in my aforementioned living room. And what with this being the new year, I decided I was FINALLY, NO EXCUSES going to do something about it.

This is my bathroom with the old tub:

This is my bathroom without the old tub:

(...now do you understand when I say I WANT THIS HOUSE DONE!!!?)

And this is what I saw when I went outside about 2 p.m. to get in the truck to drive to Lowe's to get plumbing supplies:

Seems the whole side of the hill decided to go walk-about, along with all the trees and the brush. And in its travels, it took out the phone and internet lines, as well as completely blocking the road just beyond our house. No one can go in, no one can get out (well, we can, but everyone beyond us can't. As they've been finding out to their dismay as they try to drive home from work). The county and the telephone company have been doing what they can, but the faster they cut the trees to clear them, the faster the hill comes down. Really, there is not too much they can do until the hill stops sliding, but they're trying. The county will be working night and day until they manage to open the road back up. And the phone company has a mobile center out in the road right now (complete with spotlights and a strobe), and has strung the phone lines from the ash tree in my front yard so the houses on this side of the slide can have service.

And that is why there are flashing lights outside my house right now.

The Ubiquitous New Year's Eve Resolutions

2010-12-29T16:26:00.002-05:00

For the last many, many years I have determinedly NOT made New Year's Eve resolutions...mainly because I promptly forget, break them, and then kick myself for not keeping my New Year's resolutions. Starting the new year off with a good mental dressing-down never really sat well with me.

But this year is going to be different. {wait, where have I heard that before...?} No, really. OK, you can stop the derisive laughter any time now. This year I wrote my resolutions out on the back of a bank envelope while sitting at a McDonald's, which anyone will tell you means that you will have super-human self-discipline in keeping them (I just made that up, but it works for me.)

So here are my resolutions for the year 2011:

I WILL FINISH THIS HOUSE...or die trying. Well, maybe not die trying. But you get the main idea. I am sick and tired of sub-flooring, bare drywall, parti-colored walls, and constant construction dust. I want a workable bathroom. I want a hygienic kitchen. I want a back porch that isn't held up by floor jacks. Even if I don't get to the house-paint-and-rain-gutter stage, I want the interior done. Otherwise, to quote Delia in "Beetlejuice": "A couple gallons of gas, a match, no problem."

I WILL WRITE MORE. I've loved writing since I was itsy-bitsy...which anyone who knows me can tell you was a loooong time ago. But I always put everything else higher on the To-Do list than writing. This year, I am going to change that.

I WILL DO MY UTMOST TO FIND A LOGGER INSANE ENOUGH TO WANT TO TACKLE CLEARING 6 ACRES OF MY HILL. Hmmmm. Maybe that's not the best way to phrase that particular resolution. How about: I WILL DO MY UTMOST TO FIND A LOGGER WHO WILL SACRIFICE MY CARBON EXCHANGES FOR INCREASED ATF INCOME FOR OUR BELOVED LEADERS, WHILE GOING INTO DEBT MYSELF. Yeah, that sounds about right.

And then, the most ubiquitous of ubiquitous New Year's Eve resolutions:

I WILL LOSE WEIGHT THIS YEAR.

OK, you can laugh now.

Doors

2010-12-26T18:55:00.005-05:00

Christmas went well: enough presents to keep the girls happy but not so many that I'll be paying for them for years to come, lots o' food, a warm fire, and SNOW! Lots and LOTS of snow. I'm seriously thinking that the snow that fell in Nov. is going to still be on the ground come May. Global warming, my patootie.

With all the snow and cold, the one thing that I am extremely thankful for {that I didn't blog about then, so you get the whole story now} is my new doors. In October I replaced both the front and back doors to the house. And therein lies a story. {this is your last chance to click on one of the wonderful blogs on my sidebar and avoid reading this. It's OK, I won't hold it against you.}

This story mainly deals with the front door of our house. Yeah, the back door was bad, too, what with it not latching anymore, and the panels falling apart regularly, and it leaking cold air like a sieve, but at least it was semi-solid. The front door, however, was another story. It was a mass-produced, hollow-core, plywood-type door with three small inset windows. So to start with, it was ugly. But worse, the door frame had split at some time in the distant past. So the door latch had nothing to really hold it, which let the door pop open at odd times. During the winter, we had to wedge a chair under the knob to keep it pushed against the frame so we didn't end up warming all Kentucky. I swear, the door had its own personality...and it wasn't pleasant. Because the door itself was falling apart, the screws that held the doorknob on regularly worked their way out of the door and jammed the door shut. At those times, it took a flat prybar to convince it to open again. We used a hook-and-eye latch to hold it closed at night, but during the day we were at its mercy. It might shut. It might not. It might change its mind halfway through the day. It shed strips of laminate when it was really upset with us. It had to go.

I picked out its replacement at Lowe's. It was beautiful. A steel-clad, full-light (craftsman style) insulated front door, 36" wide, pre-painted, pre-hung, weather-stripped, and ON SALE. I didn't like the placement of the old door (it was only 32" wide, so I'd have to cut a new opening anyway), so I decided to install the new door 3 feet to the left of the old door.

Then the fun began.

See, this is a boxed house. Which means that the walls--siding, boxing, stud, boxing, drywall--measure about 7 to 8 inches thick. The door was framed for a bit over 6 inches. But I figured with enough initiative, that small problem could be overcome.

The larger problem was the height of our front porch roof. The family who built this house was firmly of the "Looks good. Nail 'er there, Clem!" genre. And they were measuring-tape impaired. My interior ceilings all are in the 7 to 7 1/2' range (depending on which section of the house you happen to be measuring. Or which corner of said section.) But when it came time to ceil the front porch, they outdid themselves. It is 81" tall. Yup, from concrete slab to board ceiling is 81" (or 80" or 81 1/2", depending on the aforementioned 'which corner'). 6' 9" for the mathematically impaired. The door required a rough opening of 82 1/2". 6' 10.5".

So not only were my walls too thick and crooked, but my ceilings were too low. But the old door's reign of terror had to end. And my beautiful new door was waiting for me to install it in its rightful place. I figured I had come too far to let some pipsqueak of an obnoxious door foil my plans. I would MAKE the new door work.

I started with the nailer frame. Cut through the drywall and boxing and found the studs. Borrowed the neighbor's sawzall and cut through the outside boxing and siding. Removed one stud. (yeah, a 48" span, three studs; one on each side [both crooked], one at 20". Guess Clem was distracted when it came to the "nail 'er there!" part.) Built a 2x6 frame and header wide enough to accommodate the brick molding around the door. Took most of the first day, but in all it was Easy-peasy. Nailed up a tarp, called it a day.

The only way to install the door was from the inside of the house, since it was too tall to stand straight up outside the house. The brick molding around the outside edge of the door was supposed to overlap the exterior siding. Wasn't gonna happen. The brick mold was going to have to be even with the siding. (In other words, installed inside the nailer framing. Remember the wall was an inch and a half too thick for the door. I plan on installing fancy trim over it when I paint the house next year.) But the brick molding stood out from the side of the pre-hung door frame by 1 1/4". I needed somehow to frame those 1 1/4", AFTER the door was in place, to give me something to nail the pre-hung door frame to, to square it up.

The second day was spent wrestling the door into place, staring at it, wrestling it out of place, measuring the walls, wrestling the door back into place, lather, rinse, repeat. Lots of "Hmmm-ing". Lots of swearing. Some gratuitous pounding on the walls (made me feel better). Many, many fervent prayers. Through it all, the old door smirked and gloated. IT was still firmly in place. IT was behaving perfectly. IT was getting on my nerves. Finally decided the only way to make the new door work was to build the actual frame ON THE DOOR, then slide door-and-frame into place from inside the house, and somehow square it up. Back up went the tarp, and I sulked myself to bed.

Day three. Sawed 2x6's into 1 1/4x5's. Screwed them to the door's pre-hung frame. Wrestled the door into place. Mind you, this left all of about 1/4 of an inch TOTAL wiggle room to square the door. Pulled out the square and level and started in on the "leveling". Hah. Hahah. HAHAHAHAHAHA. (<--maniacal laughter with hysterical overtones)

It wouldn't friggin' LEVEL!!! I could level it up and down, OR side to side, but NOT both. (Got it perfect once. Door wouldn't open.) Pulled the door back out and stared at the walls. Nailer-frame studs were square. Header was square. Which left...yup, the freaking, friggin', blankety-blank FLOOR wasn't square. Shoved the door back into place. Shimmed the snot out of it at floor level. Door opened, but the pre-drilled latch and pre-drilled latch hole didn't line up. Lined those up; door wouldn't open. Screamed, kicked, swore. Old door smirked at me even harder and shed a big strip of laminate.

To add to the stress, AccuWeather was advising we had 3 days before the first big storm of the season was supposed to move in. And all I had was a Tarp over a gaping hole in my front wall and a snooty ugly front door that didn't seal.

Finally discovered that the brick molding was catching on the inside edge of the porch roof, keeping it from lining up properly. Squared it up farther back, drew a line where it needed to be trimmed (the line was crooked--went from 1/8" at one end to 1/2" at the other end, all 1/4" deep), pulled door out of place, dismantled 1-1/4" frame attached to it, trimmed the brick molding, re-assembled the frame, shoved the door back into place for the millionth time...and it squared up. OK, it squared up enough that everything opened, lined up, and looked OK. The bubbles were just a smidge off-plumb, but then, who am I to complain about THAT. I'm sure a professional door-installer would be appalled, but I didn't see their fuzzy butts out helping me, so they can just suffer.

Day four was spent screwing everything into place, installing the doorknob, drilling out the deadbolt holes, and marveling over our new, bright, beautiful front door. Then I ripped the old door off its hinges, removed the glass panes for safety, and stacked cordwood on top of it. Take THAT! A fitting end to a truly ugly door.

Isn't she beautiful!

So This is Christmas and What Have You Done

2010-12-24T20:57:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone out there in blogger-land! And a very Happy New Year! I hope all of you are doing well. I've tried to keep up on your blogs (your lives are so very much more interesting than mine!), even while neglecting my own blog. I'll be updating Kentucky Hollers this week, so watch for changes!

I haven't been here in a while, so I thought I'd do a quick update on what is going on in our lives.

On the school front: Graduated the semester with 3 A's and one B. I'm enrolled in 3 more classes next semester and then I'll have my AA and will transfer on to a four-year college, probably Morehead U. I have a short story entered in a school competition and will find out in January if I won or not ($50 prize and publication!) Here's hoping!
The girls are still being homeschooled. In fact, they helped me with one of my college classes (Intro to Communication) and learned about communication styles at the same time! Giselle is actively working on her writing again (a story called "The Moonstone"), continues to do well in mandolin and guitar, and we've finally found an art teacher for her! Arabella is still dancing (Blue Christmas was the recital this semester in ballet), still learning (she's so far ahead in math that she's in the same book as her sister), and is one of the most caring, loving people I've had the privilege to know.

On the work front: Graduated from the H&R Block course with a 94%. Started work three weeks ago. So far, so good. Just got my first paycheck in I don't know how many years and used it to pay the car insurance. Sigh.

On the farm front: Here's where it gets a bit more interesting...at least in my mind, twisted as it is.
We've been adopted by a black Lab. Someone dumped her just before this hard winter hit, and by the time she stumbled across us, she was skin and bones, literally. Her hip bones stuck out and you could count her ribs, her back hock had been broken at some point and healed badly, and she had lost half of her tail. I didn't think she would make it through the storms, so we gave her some food and a blanket on the front porch. She interpreted that as a gold-plated invite to move in permanently. The girls named her Alice and she now is firmly an inside dog. Turns out she is well mannered, potty trained, shakes paws, sits, and get along with absolutely everyone...even Indy, who tried desperately to pick a fight. Alice just sat down and kept looking at me as if to say, "I refuse to fight. Period." Good Quaker dog (grin).
In other critter news, the goats have all been bred for spring, the chickens have been decimated by the neighbor's dogs, Arabella got a hamster for her birthday (just what we need; more rats!), and Giselle turned the albino rabbit into an indoor pet (the rest of the bunnies kicked the chickens out of the coop for the winter. The chickens prefer the goat stalls, anyway.) And I'm looking into getting a pony-and-cart in spring/summer 2011. Note I said "looking into", as in "maybe", as in "the girls are going to talk me into this, too, aren't they?".
I've been looking into having 5 or 6 acres of my hill cleared. If I can find someone who is willing to log it for me (a big IF, as access isn't the best in the world), I intend to plant a (very small/postage stamp) vineyard. Yup, the California girl moved to Kentucky and wants to plant grapes. What can I say? The Napa Valley is SO last season! (LOL...snort) If it all works out, you can join me in learning the vinter's craft. Stay tuned and I'll let you know what happens.

Haven't Felt Like Blogging Lately

2010-09-20T09:35:00.002-04:00

Lots of stress and upheavals here for the last month.

Victor and I have separated. Won't go into reasons why, but even our pastor was advocating separating. Victor's living in an apartment in town now. He says he's unhappy there in town, but he was loud and vocal about being unhappy here in the country. Don't know what to think there. He's supposed to start counseling, so we'll see where we go from there.

School is going well, but just the stress of keeping everyone's schedule going is wearing. I'm enjoying learning again, and it's fun making good grades (had the highest test score in my history class--98%! Yay, me!). Now that I'm not responsible for getting Victor to and from school, the school stress should ease quite a bit. At least I'll be able to sleep in later...

Other than that, I've been focusing on getting things rolling again here on the farm. My goal this week is to finish the corn crib base and dig the post holes for the wood shed uprights. We'll see how it goes.

I (heart) Tea

2010-08-18T17:40:00.003-04:00

This week kicked off our new school schedule. I'm not sure I'm ready for this.

Monday: Victor has a college class from 9:30-12:30. Since I have to drive him to and from, and we live 1/2 hour from town, and my Durango loooooves the gasoline, the girls and I go to town, too. I drop him off, and we go to the library for school. After Victor's class, we eat lunch. I drink as much tea as I can hold, trying to stay awake. Then Giselle has music from 2:30-3:30, and Arabella has ballet from 5-6. Then we drive home, feed everyone dinner (my crock pot is saving my backside), do baths, and go to bed.

Tuesday: I have college from 9:30-3:00. Drink tea, more tea, a couple of throwback Pepsis, more tea. Caffeine is our friend. First day of class, have 2 books to read and a paper due on Thursday. Once I get home, I check the girls' school work, do my homework, do dinner, etc. Head to bed when the tea jitters stop.

Today: rerun of Monday, until lunch. Lunch is at the McD's across from the college, which has a TV tuned to the news. Drink LOTS of $1/free refill McD's tea. After lunch, we go to the Planetarium for the astronomy show-of-the-week. Then home, crockpot dinner, and the girls catch the van to the local Wednesday night kids' church. When they get back, baths, etc.

Thursday: Trash day, so we have to get up extra early. Then college and the normal routine PLUS I have to re-wire the bunny cages, because the Lab pup, Indy, has chewed her way into 2 of the cages, and is trying for more. She killed one bunny, we got the second one away from her in time. And somewhere in there, I have to find time to pay the bills and drink tea until my eyes float.

If I'm still alive on Friday (no college for us, but test day for girls), I need to frame in a couple more steps and get the concrete poured, so I can get them finished before the weather changes. And I need to call the guy again about clearing our hill. And five million other basic to-dos. I'm beginning to think there is not enough tea in the world to get me through this.

This Was Too Good to Pass Up.

2010-08-14T10:58:00.002-04:00

So have you heard the one about the Muslims building the mosque at Ground Zero, with Obama's blessing? Yes, I know, that sounds like the start to a bad joke, and in many ways, it is. But this is America, people, where freedom reigns. If the Muslims are free to build a Mosque at Ground Zero, then We the People should have the freedom to do this:

So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it's all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque - after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law - who can stop them?

Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I've decided to do the same thing.

I'm announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I've already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

As you know, the Muslim faith doesn't look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I'm building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world.

The goal, however, is not simply to open a typical gay bar, but one friendly to men of Islamic faith. An entire floor, for example, will feature non-alcoholic drinks, since booze is forbidden by the faith. The bar will be open all day and night, to accommodate men who would rather keep their sexuality under wraps - but still want to dance.

Bottom line: I hope that the mosque owners will be as open to the bar, as I am to the new mosque. After all, the belief driving them to open up their center near Ground Zero, is no different than mine.

My place, however, will have better music.

For investment information, contact me at dailygut.com

If you think this sounds like a fantastic idea, pass it on. You can find the original link at The Daily Gut. Be sure to read the comments; they're almost as good as the original post.

HOT!!

2010-08-04T19:21:00.002-04:00

Today's temperature, according to the thermometer in the Durango, topped out at 101*. The humidity was somewhere in the mid-60's, which meant that, for all intents and purposes, it was 110* today. Weather services were posting heat advisories all over the place. And I had an unconfirmed report that Pikeville got hail the size of small golf balls.

I'm sorry, this is Arizona weather, not Kentucky weather. Is this hot of weather here in Kentucky really necessary? Hey, San Diego, we'll send you nice, hot beach weather if you send us some of your coldest-summer-on-record weather!

Quick Update, or Why I haven't been Posting

2010-07-31T23:39:00.001-04:00

Giselle's surgery on the 26th went well. They removed her tonsils and adenoids. Her father flew in from AZ to be with her, and stayed with us for a week. It'll probably be at least another week before she is out of pain and back to her old self.

The Hoosier Cabinet is painted and in use. No doors yet. Pictures later.

The garden is producing like crazy. And it is getting ahead of me. Oh, and did you know that patty pan squash are a hard-shelled, storage type squash? I didn't know, either...until I let the squash go for a bit too long. I might just try storing some, now that I know this. (They taste better small, but busy lazy beggars can't be choosers)

Victor's unemployment extension finally came through--YAY!!--so Monday we go catch up all the bills that are about to go to collections. Fun times. And don't worry, Con-gress, we'll remember what y'all did this coming November..

Bought 1000# of concrete to do the steps down the side of the house, hopefully before winter gets here. Slip-sliding down the hill in the snow, on frozen mud, isn't my idea of fun. Concrete steps are God's way of telling us He loves us and wants us to walk upright and keep our shoes clean. Now, if it would just quit raining so I can pour the stuff...

So, long story short, sick kid, visitors, house rehab, garden; that's why I've been AWOL lately. Be back when things calm down a bit.

Problem? or Predicament?

2010-07-07T18:59:00.004-04:00

Do you ever go web-surfing and stumble on some absolutely WONDERFUL site, thought-provoking, insightful, one that makes you sit up and go, "Aha!"? And then you catch another web wave, surfing on. But that one website sticks in your mind, so you go back to find it...and you can't!?

I did exactly that this morning. I was so struck by what I read at this one site, that I copied one whole paragraph, figuring I could paste it later on somewhere I could retrieve it easily. But the whole post niggled in my brain, so I went to my History to find and copy the whole thing...and I couldn't find it! So I entered the WHOLE copy/paste quote in Google...and STILL couldn't find it.

But, I did find another site, with the same excerpt. Apparently, it is from a book called "The Long Decent" by John Michael Greer. I'm going to copy it here. Tell me what you think:

Imagine that some ancestor of mine shows up in a prosperous farming village in the English Midlands on a bright autumn day around 1700. It’s a peaceful scene perched on the edge of catastrophic change, courtesy of the imminent arrival of the industrial revolution. Within a century, every building in the village will be torn down, its fields turned into pasture for sheep, the farmers and cottagers driven off their land by enclosure acts passed by a distant Parliament in order to provide wool for England’s cloth industry and profits for a new class of industrial magnates. For the young men of the village, England’s transformation into a worldwide empire constantly warring with its European rivals prophesies a future of press gangs, military service, and death on battlefields around the globe. For a majority of the others, the future offers a forced choice between a life of factory labor at starvation wages in the appalling urban slums of 18th-century England, and emigration to an uncertain fate in the American colonies. A lucky few will prosper beyond their wildest dreams by betting on ways of making a living that nobody on that autumn day has even imagined yet.

Imagine that, improbably enough, my ancestor has figured all this out in advance, and has come to warn the villagers of what is in store for them. There on the village green in the shade of an old oak, with everyone from the squire and the parson to the swineherds and day laborers gathered around him, he tells them that their way of life will be utterly destroyed, and tries to sketch out for them how the coming of industrial society will impact them, their children, and the land and life they love. Imagine that, even more improbably, they take the warning seriously. As the afternoon passes, the villagers agree that this is a serious problem indeed. What, they ask my imaginary ancestor, does he think they should do about it? What solutions does he have to offer?

If the question were put that way, what could he say in response? From today’s perspective, it’s clear that nothing the villagers could have done would have deflected the course of the industrial revolution even slightly. Causes far beyond their control – geological events millions of years in the past that laid down huge coal deposits in the shallow seas that would someday become England, economic patterns going back most of the way to the fall of Rome, political shifts that had been shaking all of Europe for two centuries – drove England toward its industrial transformation. If by a solution, his listeners meant a way to change the whole situation for the better, my imaginary ancestor would have had to say that there was none.

At most, he might be able to give the villagers advice on how to cope with the torrent of changes about to break over their heads, and it would have to be general advice. The consequences of the industrial revolution were just as complex as its causes. The destruction of England’s traditional rural economy and the society that depended on it drove waves of change that moved out in all directions. Successful responses to it followed the same divergent paths. Some prospered by abandoning their old lives completely and making the crossing to a new continent or a new economy, some by digging in their heels and maintaining their old way of life as long as possible, others by staying flexible and keeping their options open. At the same time, others found that one or another of these strategies led only to impoverishment and an early death.

(This next part is the part I really liked...)

The question itself, of course, is the difficulty. What those English villagers faced in the years after 1700 was a predicament, not a problem.

The difference is that a problem calls for a solution; the only question is whether one can be found and made to work, and once this is done, the problem is solved.

A predicament, by contrast, has no solution. Faced with a predicament, people come up with responses. Those responses may succeed, they may fail, or they may fall somewhere in between, but none of them “solves” the predicament, in the sense that none of them makes it go away.

So, what do you think? Does America have a problem, or are we in a predicament?

Cigna Suuuucks...and Other Random Tidbits

2010-07-03T09:30:00.005-04:00

When we last left our intrepid family, living in the backyard-of-beyond, KY, Giselle had 5 stitches in her foot, both she and Arabella were fighting Strep throat, and I was attempting to build the Taj Mahal in my kitchen (no, wait, that should read: "I was attempting to build a Hoosier Cabinet in the walls of my kitchen". Sorry).

As we take up the on-going saga:

The stitches came out of Giselle's foot, with much screaming and yelling. The skin of her foot had partially grown over the stitches, which meant that the Dr. had trouble getting ahold of them to pull them out. Final tally was: 2 Drs. tag-teaming the stitches, 1 assistant...um...assisting, 1 mom trying to reassure, 1 vastly entertained younger sister, and at the end, 5 ugly little snips of stitches on a sterile pad. Then, the fun REALLY began.

The girls' father carries their insurance through his work. In May, the company did the standard yearly "insurance shuffle", where reps from all the different companies do their best to confuse the hapless employees into signing up with THEIR insurance plan. Cigna's sales troll reassured him that their network would cover the girls in Kentucky, AND their primary care pediatrician was in-network. On that evil day, he made the decision to switch the girls from Humana to Cigna.

Since June 1st, we have already fought with Cigna over 1: the girls' names on their cards (Cigna couldn't figure out that their middle names were NOT their last names), 2: whether the girls were covered or not (HR said Yes, Cigna said No), and 3: what was covered and from what date. After 5 hours of constant phone calls between me, the girls' father, the company's HR director, and Cigna's trolls, while I herded 2 sick children through WalMart trying to get their prescriptions filled, we thought we had it fairly well worked out.

Remember the little aside about both girls having Strep throat? Well, 2 courses of antibiotics cleared up Arabella's case, but Giselle's bugs proved to be made of sterner stuff. SHE still had strep. So the Dr. decided to throw the big guns at it, before admitting defeat. She prescribed easily the most nasty tasting antibiotic on the face of the planet. Just the taste of it should have killed anything living (Giselle described it as a cross between vomit and hot sauce). Be that as it may, the big-gun antibiotic didn't work. Giselle officially has "Drug-Resistant Strep" and has to have her tonsils out, the sooner the better.

The Dr's front office set about referring Giselle to an Ear,Nose,Throat specialist, who would be able to schedule the surgery. The appointment came with the standard "double-check with your insurance company to make sure the ENT Dr is in network". So I dutifully called Cigna (I should have known better).

The conversation went something like this (after we exchanged the standard info):

Me: I'm calling to make sure the Dr. my daughter has been referred to is in network.
Cigna: What's the name of the Dr.
Me: Dr. Baker, out of Ashland, KY. The hospital will be King's Daughter's.
Cigna: Kentucky?
Me: Ashland, KY.
Cigna: Where does the insured live?
Me: My ex-husband lives in Arizona, but Giselle lives in Kentucky.
Cigna: Are you her parent?
Me: Yes.
Cigna: And you live in Kentucky?
Me: Yes.
Cigna: Who lives in Arizona?
Me: (resisting the urge to start an Abbott and Costello/Who's on First routine) The girls' father lives in Arizona.
Cigna: But Giselle lives in Kentucky?
Me: Yeeeesss.
Cigna: But the primary insured lives in Arizona
Me: (rolling my eyes) Yes.
Cigna: But you are not the insured?
Me: (in that voice we reserve for small children and idiots) No, my ex-husband is the insured, and he carries the insurance on our daughters, who live with me in Kentucky.
Cigna: (long pause) The insured will have to call to change the policy.

So I call the girls' father, he calls Cigna, Cigna gives him the run-around, he goes up to HR, HR calls Cigna, Cigna gives HR the run-around, the girls' father threatens to sue Cigna, lather, rinse, repeat. Apparently, in the history of Cigna insurance, no divorced father has ever insured his children, who live in another state. Wow, I didn't know we were so unusual.

Final upshot: For the last week, the girls' father has gotten next to no work done, because he has been fighting with Cigna. HR can't switch the insurance until next May. BUT, Cigna (who actually has NO, repeat, NO, in-network Drs in Eastern Kentucky) pulled some special policy out of its collective bum, and agreed to cover Giselle's tonsillectomy, and pay for her Dr visits also (so big of them, don'tcha think?) But, they bumped the deductible waaay up. Gotta love 'em. Oh, well, just wait until the GOVERNMENT gets ahold of our insurance. Sigh.

On to happier subjects: The Taj Mahal in my kitchen.

The two center stud are covered, and shelf installation has begun. Note the sleeping cat in the lower left shelf. Cats are God's way of reminding us that we are not in charge.

The big guy with the hammer...he's not actually part of the Hoosier cabinet.

Test-fitting my jars. Spices on the left, baking ingredients in the middle (B. powder, B. soda, salt, pepper, brown sugar), other ingredients on the open shelves to the right (flour, sugar, tea, popcorn, rice, beans). I bought all the jars at WalMart an age ago. All the rest of the shelves are in place. It's hard to see, but the narrow space in the middle at the bottom, I fitted to hold rolls of tin foil/wax paper/saran wrap. There are 3 oak dowels across the opening to keep them upright and in place. The shelf just above there is for the Ziploc bags' boxes (does that make sense?).

I still have to sand all the wood fill spots (wood filler is an amateur carpenter's best friend), primer and paint it, and then build the doors. The long narrow cabinet to the left is going to have 3 tin-punch panels in the door, and there will be 3 doors covering the bottom shelves. I'll get pictures up when it's closer to finished. (No, wait; if I don't publish them, SmallFarmGirl will come visit us. Hmmmm. Nah, just kidding.)

Until then, same Bat-place, same Bat-channel...

First Day of Harvest!!

2010-06-17T20:19:00.003-04:00

Finally was able to get into the garden without being rained out, and boy, are the veggies rollin' in.

Dug about 8' of one potato row. Brought in probably 20# of fingerlings from just that small area. We put in LOTS of rows. I don't think we will be hurting for potatoes this year! Yay!! I have the baby ones boiling right now for potato salad.

The beans are coming in well. Picked one basket full off of two rows. Tomorrow I'll pick over the rest of the rows and start blanching/freezing most of them. As we harvest the potatoes, I'll be planting beans into the empty rows, so we should have beaucoup beans this year, also.

Picked about 1/3 of the beet row. I'm going to cube them and can them (the ones I don't eat fresh). And I'm going to try beet greens as people food. I've never eaten a beet green in my life, so it should be interesting.

The lettuce is still producing, which surprises me, considering the heat we've had lately. The squash are going strong and I expect to harvest a mess of squash this weekend. The corn is tasseling nicely, and I expect milk ears in a week or so. No tomatoes yet...but we're workin' on it.

I love it when we can start eating out of the garden!

News; Good, Bad, and Indifferent

2010-06-14T13:20:00.002-04:00

First, the good news:

Arabella's ballet recital "Cinderella" went very well. She was a horse, one of the clock numbers, and danced with Victor in the ballroom scene. Yeah, you read that correctly; Victor danced in the Cinderella ballet (all the fathers danced, actually). The evidence is all on DVD, which we can pick up in a week or two. If I can figure out how to post that part of the DVD, I will. I'll warn you ahead of time, so you can put your coffee down. I wouldn't want you spewing hot liquid out your nose!

Two of the baby goats (Mud, otherwise known as Cocoa...a much better, much nicer name...and Sunny) have gone to their new home with SmallFarmGirl. They have an entire pasture to themselves with lots and lots of weeds. Yum. And it is always nice to see a fellow blogger. (Besides, they brought us gifts of grass-fed beef chuck roasts. As I said, it is ALWAYS nice to see a fellow blogger!)

Next, the "maybe, kinda, sorta" news:

...which goes like this. I am re-doing the kitchen. I have pulled down all the overhead wall cabinets, partly because there is really no room for them, but mainly because I don't like the closed-in, cabinets-everywhere feel in a small kitchen. However, I still need some sort of cabinets. What I'd REALLY like is a Hoosier cabinet. Unfortunately for me, Hoosier cabinets in good condition are insanely expensive, and in the "sucks to be me" sub-category, there isn't room in my kitchen for a real Hoosier cabinet, anyway. But I reeeaaallly want a Hoosier cabinet (insert annoying, whiny sound effects here. Add fake tears if not effective.)

So I am building myself a "Hoosier cabinet". Remember the whole "no room" problem? Yeah, well, I am building the cabinet between the studs of one of the kitchen walls, which makes the whole space thing workable. SmallFarmGirl thinks I should blog about building it. I think it is just one more illustration of how "life with goats, on a farm, in Kentucky" will unbalance your average person. But because SmallFarmGirl is still normal, having just picked up her goats (bwahahaha {evil laugh}), I will bow to her superior sanity and take a couple of pictures to document just how nuts this place has driven me. So, first picture of work-in-progress, hole-in-kitchen-wall, otherwise known as Hoosier-cabinet-wannabe-in-progress:

Lovely, no? All that is done is the beadboard covering the boxing at the rear of the hole-in-the-wall, the bottom supports, and the shelf in the middle. The dark in the middle is the wall stud(s). Measurements: left side, 17 1/4" wide, then two studs that span 7" give or take (the studs are not straight), and then the right side is 22 3/4" wide. Obviously, standard measurements did not occur to the original builders. This house is staunchly of the, "Looks good! Nail 'er there, Clem!" genre. And did I mention that the studs are not straight...

So tune in again, to track the progress of our latest hole-in-the-wall. Now on to...

The bad news:

Giselle has 5 stitches in her left foot. She jumped into our creek, barefoot, and landed on a piece of rusty metal. She has spent the last 10 days hopping around on one foot. Stitches come out tomorrow.

We have been having the most gawd-awful weather lately. Thunderstorms daily; muggy, hot, sticky, miserable. The ground is reverting to swamp. The weeds are taking over the garden, because every time I have time to weed, it starts storming. Bah, humbug.

(Disclaimer: This next entry in the "Bad News" category is from the latest report from the WebBots (see: UrbanSurvival link on my sidebar, or search "Clif High, webbots, Half past human). It may or may not be news. So, on with the woowoo bad news...)

I shelled out $10 for the latest "Shape of things to Come" report a couple three weeks ago, because UrbanSurvival kept referencing it, and I was morbidly curious. Clif and his WebBots have a decent accuracy rate (I'd say somewhere in the 70-80% rate), so I figured it was worth the Federal reserve notes. Here's a bit of what is forecast for June (my notes, not quoting the report directly):

Around the 21st of June, there will be some sort of public discourse on a National level, possibly on TV, with concern over "words allowed", associated with an escalation of "ill winds" in the Gulf of Mexico. The report says to WATCH FOR: the emergence of some sort of Acadian/Louisiana personality, associated with hands somehow (possibly slapping someone?). After the 21st, the Main Stream Media will start talking up food shortages, and people will start talking revolution and diaspora.

And, lo and behold, today's news has the first hurricane of the season forming in the Atlantic. "Alex" is slated to head south of Cuba and hit the gulf...sometime in the next week or so. Ill Wind, indeed. Keep an eye out for the slapping Louisianan, and after the 21st, we'll meet back here and see whether or not I wasted my 10 bucks. (The next report is coming out later this week, but I want to see a solid "hit" before I fork over more moola.)

Farm Observations

2010-05-30T21:06:00.002-04:00

A couple of things I noticed so far this season that might be of use to other farmer-types out there.

1: This year we planted red Pontiac and Fingerling potatoes. We have noticed that the Colorado Potato Beetles are not as heavy on the Fingerlings. (We are farming without using chemicals...although I will be buying an organic spray for the Red Pontiacs.)

2: I also planted Royal Burgundy bush beans. Last year's Tendergreen bush beans were eaten to stalks by the bugs. They also ate a large amount of the beans. The bugs (so far) seem to dislike the Royal Burgundy beans. I'm not even going to bother trying to spray them for preventative maintenance.

3: It is hotter-n-snot right now, and my Mignonette Bronze lettuce STILL hasn't bolted! It's pretty and a nice, sweet lettuce.

So if you are trying to avoid using chemicals, I can recommend Fingerling potatoes and Royal Burgundy bush beans. And if you are looking for a good warm-season lettuce, give the Bronze Mignonette a try. I'll let you know how the corn, squashes, and cukes come out.

Oh, and before I forget! Friday, Devil Twin Windy had her baby! I had decided that she was just fat, not pregnant, since I had expected her to have her baby over a month ago. Surprise on me. She had a little black-and-white boy. This is Stuart's first offspring (...that lived. Willow's baby was his, but it died), and I am very pleased with his offspring. Baby boy has a rounder jaw than Batman's offspring, which I think is much prettier.

Windy had her baby at a perfect time! Wish has dried up, and we were down to just Wanda for milk. Now we'll have two milkers again. Still not enough, but better than nothing.

And if that wasn't enough, one of the bunnies had a litter on Friday, also. I had no idea that she was pregnant, either. I guess I'm not too good on this whole pregnancy/breeding thing. Hmmmm...that might explain a few things!!! ;D

Yeah, it's just a coincidence.

2010-05-27T21:35:00.003-04:00

Saw this, thought I would share:

Halliburton to buy Boots & Coots

Did you see the date on the news release? About a week or so before the Deepwater Horizon blew, Halliburton bought an EMERGENCY OIL SPILL CLEAN-UP COMPANY!!!

What are the odds??!! What do they have, a freaking crystal ball??!! If they saw THIS coming, why didn't they try to STOP it, instead!! (most of the rest of what I would post is either incoherent or long strings of swear words, so I'll end this now.)

Musings...of the uncomfortable sort

2010-05-21T09:26:00.003-04:00

[Still semi-sick. Going to Chinese Herbalist Dr. in Lexington on Monday to get better once and for all (sometimes western medicine isn't all it's cracked up to be).] But this is what has been on my mind:

Don't know if anyone out there noticed that little, tiny, insignificant oil leak going on out there in the Gulf. Yeah, the one where (official story) BP stuck a 4" tube down the 21" pipe to collect 4,000 barrels per day, which is less than 40% of the 5,000 barrels they'll admit to being leaked each day. {It's OK, don't try to make the math work or have reality intrude. You'll give yourself a headache} In case you missed it, this might bring you up to speed:

Gulf Oil Event Primer Videos

So I'm looking at the catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf, and the main thought in my mind is "Who is responsible for this?" And I keep coming back to "Me". You, Us, Me.

The Gulf is dying because I like being able to get in my Durango and drive to town. I could ride my bike, but I don't like the heat/cold/rain/whatever, and no one else is doing it so why should I. The Gulf is dying because cloth grocery bags are a nuisance that I always forget to bring with me and plastic bags are soooo much more convenient. The Gulf is dying because I like McDonald's Frappes, and having fresh veggies in the dead of winter. The Gulf is dying because I am spoiled, I am selfish, and I am lazy.

Stark honesty here: I could ride a bike for trips to town, albeit with an electric assist because I'm a wussy about the hills here (read: Old and Fat). I could make a better effort to use cloth bags. I could eat locally and in season (and avoid the Frappes...but they're so goooood!) and most likely be much healthier (read: Old, but not so Fat). The fact that I am more than willing to look the other way while big business does things I would think are reprehensible...if they didn't make me so comfortable...doesn't make my conscience feel comfortable at all.

Since the very beginning, Quakers have always struggled to make this world a better place. They have always been willing to give up everything--money, position, possessions, esteem, even their lives--in their efforts to do what is right, not what is expedient. For example, Quakers believe treating people unequally is wrong, so they were arrested, driven from their homes, thrown out of positions in government, beaten, burned, ridiculed, and impoverished living up to that belief. Yet, 300 years later, I'm not even willing to risk getting rained on while riding my bike.

And now, in the Gulf, fishermen and their families are out of work and stand to lose everything they own. The people who work at the tourist spots along the Gulf coast are out of work for the foreseeable future. There is speculation about poisoned water, and poisoned air, and oil in the soil, poisoning the plants and trees where these people live. Entire states are facing disaster. And why? So that I can drive to town in comfort.

Slavery was all about inequality, putting the majority of the burden on one group of people, in order for another group of people to live more comfortably. How is that so different from having the Gulf residents' lives destroyed so that I can live more comfortably? Americans are slaves to oil, and are treating people unequally to make ourselves comfortable. I, as a Quaker, need to first change myself and my actions if I want to see this changed in the rest of the world.

If all of us--me, you, us--changed our lives just a bit, to reduce the demand for oil, so we're not forced to drill a 25,000' deep well a mile under water to feed our addiction, we could let the people in the Gulf States carry less of the burden.

That is where my thoughts have been recently. I'm at the stage of knowing what needs to be done, but still whining, fighting, and trying to weasel my way around it. Pathetic, I know. I'll let you know what I decide to do. What would you do?

Blah

2010-05-16T19:15:00.002-04:00

Had about 2 days of decent health, and then got sick again. Dang creeping crud. Don't really want to do another course of antibiotics, but this "having-no-energy/no-voice/hacking-cough" thing has got to go. This makes 3 weeks I've been sick. Boo, me.

Time to Piss Everyone Off

2010-05-12T19:47:00.005-04:00

OK, I'm going to throw my opinion of the AZ anti-illegal immigration law out into the ring. Anyone who doesn't like non-PC rants, please visit one of the lovely blogs linked on my side-bar.

(whistling)

Still here? OK, hold on, here goes:

I moved from central California to Phoenix, AZ when I was 20. Phoenix is HUGE! It had over 5 million people and the metro area measured roughly 175 miles by 100 miles...and it has gotten bigger since I left. I lived there for 18 years. 18 years of 115* heat, no shade, third-degree burns from my seatbelt. 18 years of the best ethnic food anywhere, new ways of seeing and doing things, and some of the greatest people to be found anywhere. 18 years of green spray-painted rocks masquerading as lawn. And 18 years of living among immigrants (both legal and illegal) from all over the globe.

Having lived in Arizona for 18 years, I fully understand why AZ passed this law. It has nothing to do with legal immigration. To immigrate legally, a person has to show that they don't have a criminal record where they come from, that they can support themselves financially, and that they have a decent grasp of American laws and history. I really don't know many people in AZ (or anywhere, really) who disagree with legal immigrants. After all, the majority of our ancestors (or even us) were immigrants at one point or another.

It really is a good idea to know just who is coming into your country, from where, and why they are here. That is why we have manned border crossings. The border guards stop you as you come across the border and ask you those exact questions. The problems begin when people ILLEGALLY cross the borders so as not to answer those questions.

Arizona is #2 in kidnappings (only Bogota, Colombia is worse.) Drugs are a major problem. Girls are brought over illegally and held hostage as sex slaves. Insurance rates are high because most illegals don't carry insurance (either car or health) and so when they either get sick or are involved in an accident, the citizens of Arizona have to step in and pay for it. Some sections of Phoenix (Maryvale/Tolleson/South Phoenix) are so dangerous that residents sleep on the floors because it is too dangerous to sleep in a bed that may be in the line of fire from gunshots from the gang wars that illegal immigrants have brought across our borders.

America is a nation of laws. There are FEDERAL LAWS that say if you cross the border without permission, you have broken the law and must be sent back to the country you are from. The Federal Government has repeatedly refused to enforce the laws that the voters of the NATION voted into law. So Arizona voters said enough is enough and voted to enforce the federal laws themselves (which is perfectly legal for them to do). Most legal immigrants automatically carry their green card with them, anyway. Asking to see ID during any contact with police is just routine. The police stop you in traffic, you show your driver's license. The police come to your home for whatever reason, you have to show an ID of some sort. All this law means is that if the police have contact with someone for whatever reason, they can ask for them to show that they are in the country legally. And in Arizona, most of the illegal immigrants are Mexican or South/Central American. (In Alaska, most of the illegal immigrants are Russian. In Wisconsin, they are probably Canadians. In New York, they could be any nationality. Not just Mexicans are illegally in the country. But in Arizona, the vast majority of illegals are Hispanic. It isn't "racial profiling". It is just reality.)

My Godparents live in Glendale (a suburb of Phoenix). They are THRILLED that the law passed. Gangs have been moving into their neighborhood and they are hoping that the Sheriff can put a stop to it now. They are hoping that the Governor doesn't bow to pressure and cancel the law. Although I'm sure she would be happy to repeal it tomorrow if the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WOULD JUST ENFORCE THEIR OWN LAWS. And when I see news report of students in Seattle sent home for wearing the American Flag, and Mexicans burning the American flag, and Mexicans in L.A. calling for a revolt against the Government, I really feel that Arizona has it right.

And to the other States/Cities/Businesses who are screaming about boycotting Arizona because they don't agree with the law...it really isn't any of your bid'ness. You have the right to boycott anyone for any reason you want, according to American law. And I have the right to do the same. It is called "free speech". And frankly, if you hate the anti-illegal immigration law that much, work on repealing the FEDERAL LAW (which IS your business) instead of wasting time calling for economic boycotts of Arizona for enforcing that SAME law (which tactic smacks of bullying).

OK, the end. I'll be back to being PC tomorrow. See you then.

(I promised I would let you know how my yogurt came out. It came out GREAT. I'll post more (including links) in the next day or so.)

Sicker 'n a Dog

2010-05-10T13:38:00.004-04:00

(Why are dogs supposed to be sick? They look pretty healthy to me...)

On the other hand, we humans all have been sicker than sick. It started with the girls getting strep throat from one of the (public schooled) neighbor kids. Being generous, they then shared it with me. I, in turn, lovingly shared it with Victor.

The girls got well fairly quickly. Victor was very sick for about 3 days, and then bounced right back. My case devolved into bronchial Pneumonia. Wheezing, coughing, flat on my back; all the lovely things that go with being sick. I'd drag myself out of bed to do a bit of work around the house and end up collapsing. I'm over the main part of it now, thank goodness.

After last week's flood (which didn't affect us here), I planted out all my tomato seedlings. They aren't doing too well. For the last two nights we have had frosts. The first frost, I didn't pay attention, and so didn't cover the seedlings. They froze around the edges. I covered them last night, but I think the majority of the damage is done. I'm going to fertilize them and hope for the best. Luckily I ran out of energy before I could get my mints and melons planted, so they should have a better chance at survival...once I get them outside.

In other news:

The black and white baby wether goat, the one who was my favorite, failed to thrive. He just wasn't getting any bigger, while his brother and sister were growing like weeds. We took him out of the big pen and put him in the front yard so he didn't have to fight for his food. The girls hand fed him and he was eating, but he just wasn't growing. Last night he finally died. Giselle is very upset. She had become fairly attached to him.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going back to school. Yay, me! I decided that the girls are big enough now to leave for a couple of hours alone, so I decided to go ahead and finish up my English degree. I suppose it is an exercise in futility, because no one wants to hire anyone with an English degree. Who knows, maybe I'll go for my Masters and become a College Professor. Wouldn't THAT be a laugh!

A month or so back, Victor fell through the living room floor, where the fireplace used to be. Wait, let me clarify...he fell through the concrete pad that used to be the hearth for the fireplace! After a bit of exploration, we discovered that the joist that runs along side the fireplace support had been completely eaten by termites. So we now have a 3'x2' hole in the floor, and Victor is under the house splicing the joist. Things like this make me SO mad! I had this house inspected before I bought it, and I was told that all the termite damage had been fixed. Grrrr! And if I sue in a small town, where I'm not from here, and the inspector is one of the good ol' boys, I'll either lose, or be made a pariah. Sometimes small town life has its bad points.

And then, just to put everything in perspective, and to remind me not to complain, I have a prayer request for whoever wants to pray/hold in the light/think well of/light a candle for. A friend of mine, who I've known for waaay too many years to mention, has a 13 yr old son. His son, Christopher, was riding bikes with a couple of his friends, trying to see how fast they could go (boys being boys, they were not wearing helmets). He lost control, went over the handlebars, and landed on his face. He has been in a coma over a week now, and the Doctors won't know the extent of the damage until he comes to. We are all praying that Christopher recovers completely and goes on to do other stupid boy stuff (preferably the type of stupid boy stuff that doesn't involve Drs, though).

Next post, I'll let you know how my yogurt came out (the first batch was a total flop. We'll see how this one goes...)

Hey, Who Turned Out the Lights!

2010-04-25T15:09:00.004-04:00

We get our electricity through Kentucky Power/American Electric Power. Let me re-phrase that: We occasionally get our power from Kentucky Power. Because, for a service provider/power company, they seem to have issues with exactly what they are supposed to provide. They seem to think that sending out inflated electricity bills (and arguing for rate increases) is the service they are supposed to provide. I can tell you one thing; what they provide certainly ain't reliable power.

Case in point: Yesterday it started to rain in the afternoon. The rain came, the rain went. The creek didn't even rise more than a few inches. Kinda a fair-to-middlin' rain. But it was too much for KY Power to deal with...again. Power in our county and the county next to ours went off. Power stayed off. From 4 this morning until 1 this afternoon, we had no power. Two cities and various small towns had no power. For us, no power means no water. No water means nothing gets done; dishes, laundry, animals, nothing. Bah. And cooking meals on the propane cook stove leaves something to be desired. (OK, rant is over. I'll stop complaining now.)

At least most of yesterday was fun. Early in the morning (OK, OK, it was 9:30. It was the weekend...) the girls and I drove out to Jenny Wiley Convention Center to go to a workshop about making money on the farm. Wasn't as in-depth as I had hoped, but got a couple of good ideas. SmallFarmGirl and her Hubby joined us. Between me and the workshop, I think she's just about won over to getting goats to pretty up her farm...every speaker at the workshop said goat milk/cheese was the wave of the future. Now she just has to convince her Hubby. (What is it with men and goats??!! Victor hates the goats. I think they're adorable.) SmallFarmGirl followed us back home from the workshop and I gave her fresh goat's milk to drink. And some to take home. And some tomato seedlings. All of which didn't make up for the Cisco free lunch at the workshop (blech), but I think it was a start. I'm looking forward to getting up her way to see her place. She has a real farm.

Today's plan is to finish up the laundry before it rains again tonight and the power goes out again. Victor is working on the bedroom floor...still. (I'm not going to say anything, I'm not going to say anything,I'm not...) And I'm going to move the bookcase/kitchen pantry to the opposite wall so I can start on the built-in, permanent kitchen pantry. Someday, this house will be done. I hope.

Another Good Reason to Eat Locally

2010-04-16T21:09:00.001-04:00

Not sure how many of you out there are following the eruption of the Icelandic volcano and the resultant shut-down of most of Europe's air travel, but if you are not, you might want to take a look:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1266568/Volcanic-ash-cloud-100-000-Britons-stranded-Europe-air-traffic-chiefs-extend-lockdown-7am.html (lost my cheat sheet so you'll have to cut-and-paste. sorry.)

Did you notice the part about the food shortages?

Fruit and vegetables including lettuce, grapes, spring onions and asparagus may be missing from many supermarket shelves next week and firms specialising in flying in produce from overseas are also warning of higher prices.

The transport giant Norbert Dentressangle said activity at its perishable air freight handling centre at Heathrow, the UK's largest, was at a standstill. The result will be a three-day shortfall in the supply of products including prepacked fruit salads and flowers.

It said that while there are enough products on shelves and in warehouses to see stores through the weekend, supermarkets will be 'severely impacted' next week.

This is a good reason to plan your diet around locally and seasonally available food. No one could have foreseen this volcano erupting this way. But it did erupt, and now anyone in Britain who hasn't prepared for shortages is possibly going to go hungry. And hungry people tend to be irrational people. So here is your object lesson of the day: Eat Locally, and Stock Up.

End of public service announcement. Changing the subject:

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are this month's "best days" for planting according to the moon and zodiac signs. I'm a bit nervous, because it is so far to the last frost date (which is May 5th or thereabouts around here). But the oak tree leaves are bigger than a squirrel's ear, which means that you're supposed to plant corn. And the next set of "best days" is the third week of May, so this weekend is it.

This morning, Victor started tilling the planting rows into the lower field. I followed behind him and planted Lemon cucumbers, patty pan squash, Rouge D'etampes pumpkins, Indian Flour corn and Royal Purple bush beans. All that is left to be planted is the tomatoes, peppers and herbs (and I'm going to wait until May for those. Just call me chicken.)

Mountain Home Place is hosting a Civil War reenactment this weekend. It's their first time, so I expect that it will be a little rough around the edges, but what they have planned sounds like fun (and educational...I'm going to count it as a history field trip for school.) They're supposed to have story times and demonstrations, as well as battle reenactments. We're going to drop by tomrrow morning and I plan to stay most of the day. I'll let you know how it goes.

I started my first batch of hard cheese this evening. Last year I made lots of quick cheese, but I want to start making cheese that can be stored for extended periods of time. Hopefully it will turn out well.

Well, Blogspot is having issues right now, so I'm going to try to post this and get myself off to bed. Talk at y'all later!

Taxes, IRS, and other Nightmares

2010-04-12T20:53:00.003-04:00

I finished my taxes last month, and, since I needed to run down to the local IRS office on another matter, I decided to take my 1040 along with me and save a 44c stamp by handing it in instead of mailing it.

So after taking a number and waiting my turn, I handed my 1040 to IRS Agent #1. She took a quick look at it and informed me that I had filled it out incorrectly. I had my 1099 on the wrong line, and was missing the supplemental form for the child tax credit. She took my return (which I had worked on for about two hours the previous day, until I spitting mad and my blood pressure had spiked) and proceded to completely re-fill it out for me. I figured this beat H&R Block all hollow, since Agent #1 was doing my taxes for free, so I just sat there meekly and let her have fun. She then asked if I wanted to e-file it. Sure, I said. That meant making another appointment for the following week with IRS Agent #2, who was in charge of the e-filing.

The following week, I was at the IRS office nice and early. For almost 3 hours, Agent #2 worked on my taxes. She completely re-did them from the 1040 form that Agent #1 had done the previous week. Apparently Agent #1 had mis-filed my status, etc, which affected all the other amounts, so the whole thing was wrong. Agent #2 finally finished my taxes and e-filed them for me from the IRS office.

Foolish me, I thought that I was dne with taxes until next year...

Today, I got a letter from the IRS. In government legalese, I was informed that the IRS had found errors in my tax return and they had corrected the errors that had been made.

Now I'll admit I am not a rocket scientist, but I'm not the dimmest bulb in the box, either. I spent two hours on my own trying to make sense of the 1040 (non)instruction book (and failed). IRS Agent #1 spent about two hours completely re-doing my 1040, a job at which one assumes she has been trained at least minimally. IRS Agent #2 spent THREE hours completely re-doing the 1040 that IRS Agent #1 had done, using the IRS's own computer e-file program, and even SHE did it wrong, according to the trolls at the main IRS cave in Tennessee.

You know, when it gets to the point that the IRS can't even fill out its own forms, the forms its agents are trained to fill out, something is dreadfully wrong with our system of taxation. And these are the people who are going to be in charge of determining if we are following the Health Care law. All I keep thinking is, Lord, help us all. We're gonna need it.

I am Thoroughly Confused

2010-04-10T17:18:00.002-04:00

What season is it? I'm confused. We had frost on the ground this morning, and now it is in the 70s. It's kinda like spring went AWOL and winter and summer are trying to cover for her. They may think that no one is noticing, but all they are managing to do is confuse the snot out of me. My brain (which isn't too reliable to begin with), keeps talking to itself: "Do I plant? Do I not plant? Should I take the panels off the barn? Or is it still too cold? But the barn is getting too hot during the day with them on; I should take them off. No, the babies might get cold"...and so on.

Willow is getting better. It's been almost a week since her surgery, and she is finally coming out of her funk. I have never seen such a depressed goat in all my life. She just lay in her pen (set up carefully next to the porch, on the best of the front yard grass, with her own private kennel to sleep in, and all the best feed/hay) and cried. She cried actual tears. It was so sad. I was really afraid she had just decided to not live anymore. I felt so bad every time we had to give her a shot, because it was just more pain for her to go through. I had her sister in with her to keep her company, but even that didn't cheer her up. But last night she seemed a bit perkier, so we took her back down to the barnyard and put her with Reeses (since he's so small there is no chance of him hurting her). She's laying in the doorway of the barn, chewing her cud, so I think she is coming around.

The goat-lets are still in the bouncing stage, which makes them a solid 10 on the cuteness scale. They are starting to show a bit of interest in the grain and hay...not that they are thinking of giving up on Mommy yet! Sunny's nose is still all pink, and I don't think it's going to darken up. I didn't know that goats could have pink noses, but I guess they can. It's actually kinda cute, but I worry about her getting sunburned this summer. Sigh. I may end up keeping her, just because I don't want her to end up with someone who won't protect her nose. Sally's ears finally stiffened up. I knew they would but the floppy look was so cute I had hopes. Still haven't thought of a good name for the Mud Goat.

On the 24th, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth are putting on a series of FREE workshops at the Jenny Wiley Convention Center. There are two groups of workshops: Agriculture, and Renewable Energy. I've signed up for the Agriculture workshops. SmallFarmGirl and her Hubby are going, too. The classes are: Starting a Small Mountain Farm, New Markets for Small Farmers, Growing in the Forest, and Forest Management for Carbon Credit income. All this AND there is supposed to be free food! Should be fun.

While the sun is still shining, I probably should get out there and start assembling the hand pump on the well. (Installing the well pump got put off while we fixed the electric pump. We got the well cover finished, though.) Everyone out there have a good weekend, and if you can figure out which season this is, please let me know.

The more things change...

2010-04-08T18:38:00.002-04:00

...the more they stay the same.

If you haven't read this speech since your Junior High History teacher forced you to read it, here it is again. And, funny enough, with just a couple of small changes, it could be spoken on the floor of the House today (if only our Representatives had the cojones to do so):

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

[Although history may not exactly repeat itself, it does tend to rhyme.]

Bad Monday! No Biscuit!

2010-04-05T10:43:00.004-04:00

OK, what else can go wrong today?!?! (Don't answer that...)

Devil Twin #1 (who now has red nail polish on her horns and is officially "Willow" now), is at the Vet's office. She went into labor yesterday morning...and labored...and labored...and of course, it was Easter, so NOTHING was open. Got up this morning at daybreak, and she was still laboring and absolutely exhausted. Drove her to the vet. Long story short, she had one HUGE boy stuck in the birth canal and needed a c-section. Dead baby (which was to be expected) and now Willow is going to be a resident of my kitchen and front porch until her stitches heal. And sick animals in the kitchen make Victor bitchy; he prefers any animals in the kitchen to be dead and ready to eat. And since we're still in hock to the Vet for trying to save Gus, this will mean an even BIGGER Vet bill, which makes me bitchy.

As if one Doctor per day isn't enough, Giselle has to go to the people Dr. at 2:30 to treat a nasty case of poison ivy she picked up this weekend. She's miserable and itchy, which makes three of us who aren't in the best of moods. {For the next few days, Arabella's going to be the only cheerful one in the house.}

And, to top everything off, we had a dead hen this morning in the goat pasture; apparently it just keeled over in the night. It's one of the rogue Cornish X left over from the group we slaughtered last year. I know they're not really bred to live for very long, so it was no great loss, but I still don't like waking up to dead animals/sick animals/sick kids/general chaos.

All of which means that we had to cancel a visit from our pastor who wanted to see the baby goats. We'll have to rush through school today to get as much done as possible before we go back to the people Dr. and the Vet. And since the day will be spent running back and forth to town, nothing will get done on the farm. In my opinion, Tuesday can't get here quick enough.

It's a cold and wintry day.

2010-04-01T13:02:00.004-04:00

April Fool's!!

Actually, it's bright, it's sunny, it's warm...it is a perfect spring day out here!! The mud is starting to dry up, there are leaf sprouts on the trees and rose bushes, and the pasture is finally starting to show a haze of green (this winter killed our pasture; it was boggy mud). And here's what we're up to today:

Victor is cutting a "For Sale" sign frame for me out of 4x4s. We are drowning in eggs right now, and I want a sign out to try to sell our surplus...and I want to be able to use it to advertise other crops as we harvest them, so I wanted a permanent sign.

I'm painting the grow-light support and the "eggs for sale" sign. So far today I've cleaned and organized the kitchen, done laundry, and just about gassed myself with bathroom chemicals. I love it when it is warm; I thaw out and want to get stuff DONE!

Giselle and Arabella have finished their school work and are out cuddling the baby goats. The devil twins are still holding up the works; no babies from them, yet. But it is their first kidding, I bred them to Stuart (clueless boy of the century) instead of Batman (who actually knows which end goes where), and I don't think they were quite ready when I put them all together. Which is a long way of saying, the devil twins are late, but not late. (It makes sense, really. Just squint your eyes and tilt your head.)

Tonight's plans: Eat dinner (roast chicken, scalloped potatoes, salad, and strawberries for dessert) and then drive to Pikeville and see "Alice in Wonderland". I'm lovin' it.

[We got back not too long ago from the movie...decent movie; not fantastic, but decent...but Tim Burton really, really needs psychiatric counseling and psychotropic drugs.]

Baby Pictures, etc.

2010-03-27T10:13:00.010-04:00

(Hey, what do you think of quote I posted at the top of my side-bar?)

OK, enough blog-sidebar sightseeing. As promised, here are photos of our newest additions to the family:

We've named this on Sally...after Sally Field in The Flying Nun. Her ears both flop like a nun's habit. I'm sure within the next couple of days her ears will stiffen up, but right now I think she's the cutest. She's one of Wanda's, born yesterday afternoon. Oh, and since you'll notice it sooner or later, I'll 'fess up now: I counted one of Wish's babies twice yesterday, so Wanda only had three babies, not four. Public school edukashun...what can I say.

This little girl doesn't have a name yet. She's the second of Wanda's babies. We're still trying to think of an "S" name for her.

This is Sunny, Wanda's third girl. Her markings are grey instead of black. Kinda looks like someone added bleach to her wash.

Now we're into Wish's batch. This little boy has been christened "Willy" by the girls. (Now do you forgive me for counting him twice? I mean, he's identical to Wanda's kids!!) He'll be wethered and go on to a life of eating. Ah, the life of a goat.

Here's Wish's only girl. She's hard to see in the mud...because she's mud colored. Not chocolate, not even just brown; she exactly matches the mud in the barnyard. Sigh. I'm hoping she improves with age, because form-wise she's an adorable goat, she's just...plain. Oh, and she doesn't have a name yet, either. I'm trying to think of a name that doesn't mean "mud".

And now we're to my favorite (I know moms aren't supposed to have favorites: I'm a bad momma). Ignore the fat chicken for a moment: This little black and white boy of Wish's is absolutely adorable. When we first saw him, he was bouncing around the goat stall, cute as could be. And he's been the most adventurous (so far) of all the babies. I'm going to keep my eye on this one; if he turns out to be a great goat, I may not wether him, but try to find him a breeding home.

So that's the count right now: 2 boys, 4 girls. I'll sell the girls for $50 (they're purebred Nigerian Dwarf goats, but I didn't send in any papers because of NAIS), and if anyone wants little black boy unwethered, let me know soon. All we have left now are babies from

Devil Twin #1 and:
Devil Twin #2.

New Babies! part Deux

2010-03-26T20:34:00.002-04:00

Wanda had her babies--4!--this afternoon. We noticed them as we were leaving for a birthday party in town. It was too dark by the time we got home to get pictures...so check back here tomorrow! I'll post here on how many boys and girls, and pictures, too (and hopefully better pictures of the first three babies). Just the Devil Twins to go...

[P.S. Found a home for all the boy babies, once they're wethered, with one of the Librarians in town. She needs something to eat her hill (that sounds rude, but hey, that's how SHE said it).]

New Babies! Part 1

2010-03-25T14:08:00.003-04:00

Spring is definitely here. This morning Wish had her babies!! There are 2 boys and 1 girl...

They weren't being all that photogenic, and I really didn't want to disturb them, so I'll try to get better pictures later.

Wanda and the Devil Twins are all pregnant, too, and due this week. So watch for updates 2, 3, and 4 in the New Babies category.

Spring has Sprung...and I'm having Fun!

2010-03-21T18:35:00.002-04:00

Spring is now officially here!! It has actually been warm lately, warm enough that we haven't had the stove going for over a week now. The chickens are cranking out the eggs (we got 2 dozen today! The "Eggs For Sale" sign goes up Thursday!), the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the crocuses and daffodils are blooming, and I've FINALLY thawed out enough to start accomplishing things again.

The window frame is painted, knick-knack shelf is back in place, and after one more coat of paint, the plant shelf will be done. I'm hoping to get it hung tomorrow. Then I have to make paper pots for my seedlings, so that I can get the seeds planted Tuesday and Wednesday (the two best planting days this month for above ground crops). We got the potatoes all in Thursday and Friday. We missed their "proper" planting day by 3 days. But it was too wet to work the ground on Monday and Tuesday, so if we don't get a good potato crop this year, the fault will lie not in the stars, but in ourselves. But two days of planting out potatoes definitely kicked my hiney.

Yesterday, both girls had birthday parties to go to, and both parties were sleep-overs. Giselle went to her friend's party first, so Arabella went with me to the party I had been invited to: a Quilting Bee and Tea party. I learned foundation paper piecing, tied two baby quilts, and talked a blue streak. Arabella played with a couple other girls who had come with their mother. After my party, I took Arabella to her friend's party, had cake and ice cream, and got home about 7 pm.

Victor spent a goodly portion of Saturday chain-sawing the remaining chunks from the pine that went down in the ice storm into usable pieces. It was in a pile in the back yard, and I want to get the back fence up ASAP, so it had to go. By the time I got home, on the first evening in a looooong time without the girls, he was so tired from chainsawing and the potato planting, and I was so tired from partying and potato planting, that we just went to sleep early. I think this means we're old.

This morning, we got up at 7 am to make Baked Spaghetti (don't ask; I think it's a regional dish. I'd never heard of it, either) and Brownies for today's Haiti Mission fund raising dinner after church. We raised almost $200!! This weekend we're having a yard sale, and we have a car wash planned for mid-April. Hopefully we'll be able to raise enough to take lots more supplies over with us.

My plans tonight? Sleep, sleep, and more sleep. While dreaming of Spring.

Obnoxiously Productive Day

2010-03-17T23:02:00.002-04:00

Have you ever had one of those days where, at the end of the day you look back and realize that you accomplished alot, but the total exhaustion really makes it not worth the effort you expended?

Today was one of those days. I took down the knick-knack shelf above the south-facing dining room window, washed all the knick-knacks, primered the window frame, washed the windows, and primered the new plant shelf and supports that I'm going to install this week (once I get everything coated with high-gloss white paint), all the while also overseeing the girls' schooling. Then I handed the girls over to Victor, and went outside to plant spinach and lettuce in the new cold frame I built along the south side of the house (16'x2'; I am sooo happy to finally have one!! I scavenged some old glass shower doors for the tops). Then I came in, washed up, and got everyone into the car to go to town.

Wednesday is Giselle's mandolin and guitar lessons, Arabella's dance, church dinner, and bible study. It is ALSO the day I do the bill paying/running around/etc. So we dropped Giselle off, hit the bank, got gas, sent out the remaining seed orders for this year, picked up an Avon order that had been waiting for me over a week, picked up Giselle, dropped of Arabella at dance, dropped Giselle and Victor to go to the Library, sent out my passport renewal (more on that later...), bought hay, got more gas, Picked up Arabella, Giselle, and Victor, and headed to church for dinner.

After dinner, went to bible study, then packed everyone up to go to WalMart to buy groceries and gifts/cards for 5, count 'em, 5, birthdays this week. Finally got home about 10:30, wrapped presents, got kids into bed, and collapsed. I'm too tired to even feel good about getting so much done today. And my feet hurt. Just another obnoxiously productive day.

{About the passport thing: Giselle and I are going to be going to Haiti this May with a mission team from our church (Arabella is going to have a week-long sleepover with one of her friends from church, so she doesn't feel left out). I'm excited but apprehensive, too. I'm trying to find a doctor for the typhoid/cholera/hepatitis shots, but not having much luck right now. Apparently those aren't the shots that local doctors stock up on...who'da thunk?! Gonna try the health department tomorrow.}

Gus

2010-03-13T17:43:00.001-05:00

Gus died at 2 this morning at the Vet's office.

Poison

2010-03-11T14:48:00.003-05:00

One of our neighbors has put out antifreeze mixed with people food. We lost two of the barn cats yesterday, and Gus is at the vet's right now. We'll find out in an hour if he can be saved, but the vet didn't sound promising. Gus isn't even a year old yet. There is a special place in hell for people who intentionally poison other people's pets.

Update: Gus is still at the vet's; he'll be there until Monday. He's on IVs. Good news, though, is he's walking a little and his liver and kidney functions are good, so I have hope. Vet says 80% chance he can pull through this. The last two barn cats are now house cats.

My Bad

2010-03-09T12:26:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday, just before shutting the computer down, I got the bright idea to check my yahoo account and clean up some of the many, many hundreds of back e-mails I've managed to accumulate. And, bright girl that I am, I started with the SPAM folder. And in the SPAM folder were two e-mails from (purportedly) UPS, notifying me that the package I had sent hadn't been delivered and I needed to print off the invoice and come to the nearest office to reclaim my package.

Two problems: First, I hadn't sent any packages via UPS in a coon's age, and Second, the e-mails were addressed to northskyFILM, not northskyLIGHT. But they were in MY e-mail box. So, stupid me, I clicked on the invoice download to see what was what...

And my computer lit up like a pinball game. Virus warnings all over the place. Tried to cancel the download, but the computer wouldn't let me. Tried to get AVG up, but it wouldn't open. Finally got SpyBot running, but it didn't find anything. Meanwhile, my computer was having a serious case of the willies. And besides yahoo, the only other window I had open was this blog, which promptly started acting up. Couldn't sign out. Couldn't update. Finally gave up and went home.

So today, during homeschool meeting, I tried again. KentuckyHollers was frozen at mid-day Saturday. None of my links were updated, and all the news sites were pulling up Saturday's news. AND I was still "signed in", but the top bar still refused to load, so I couldn't access blogspot. And as soon as I tried to access any current, updated sites, the computer got dumped off the internet.

I've been at it now for just over 2 hours and I think I finally have it straightened out. if anyone out there ran into trouble after accessing my site, I do humbly apologize. The moral of this story is: Beware UPS e-mails in your SPAM box. Hit Delete, and just say NO to downloads.

Why Appalachia?

2010-03-06T12:34:00.005-05:00

Eastkentuckygal over at the Mountain Mama blog, is being interviewed by a photojournalist from Western Kentucky University. To quote from her blog:

"So many people come into Appalachia to photograph, video, create the people. I’m not sure what the draw is. Debunking stereotype maybe, or in some cases perpetuating it. This woman however is interested in more than just the whole Appalachian thing,which is good. She is interested in our lifestyle choices of homesteading, homeschooling, and our career choices."

And since I wasn't asked, I'm going to jump right in here with my two cent's worth and try to answer her question, or at least give an outsider's not-so-humble opinion.

In many ways, the draw of Appalachia is the draw of the Amish. They are both portrayed in the media as hard-working, family-oriented, and possessing a culture that gives them a solid place in the world (but seriously, how many people out there will ever personally know an Amish family? Media's view is accepted as "the real thing"). And so many people now-a-days are looking at their lives and basically saying to themselves, "Is this all there is? Where's the purpose in this?" They have the toys, but no time to enjoy them. They have a family they never see. Their kids are taught by strangers in prison-like buildings. They live in a neighborhood and don't know more than a handful of their neighbors by name. They live out of their cars, eat out of a box, and live vicariously through their TV. The mega-mortgage and credit card bills from trying to keep up appearances are eating them alive. There is no "American" culture to keep them grounded. Men, women and children are rootless, dying of loneliness, and feel that their lives just don't count.

Appalachia is one of the few mostly-homogeneous areas left in the US, which means that it has kept a good part of its original culture intact (kinda like the Amish). In many ways, because most of the rest of America has lost its culture, Appalachia has become a foreign country set right in the middle of the US (OK, it's more to the right of the middle, geographically...not only politically!). As such, it offers things both good and bad, that draw the attention of the rest of America.

Appalachia has its own music, instruments, cooking, accent, geography, history, and moral code. It offers the last bastion of the America our grandparents knew. McMansions are few and far between, most families have at least a garden, children are immensely important, everyone knows one another (depending on what you are doing, this could be a good thing or a bad thing), and "keeping up with the Jones'" is a bad thing, known as "gettin' above your raisin'". In the hollers, you know who you are, where you belong, and where you came from. Whether you are a church leader, a coal miner, or a moonshiner, you know what your niche is and where you fit in. This sense of place has been lost in most of the rest of America.

I read a statistic years ago that said (IIRC) that, on average, Americans move every 5 years. Most American families are in pieces, with Mom in one state, Dad in another, Grandma and Grandpa in still another, and don't even get started with locations of cousins, aunt, uncles, and black sheep (every family has at least one). Appalachian family ties tend to still be strong, with 3, 4, sometimes 5 generations living within walking distance of one another, on land that has been in their family for 100s of years. They still possess the knowledge most of the rest of America has lost in its headlong rush for bigger-better-newer-NOW. In some cases, they are only one generation past the self-sufficient farms of American myth. That myth is what draws attention to Appalachia (and also to the Amish), but the real people, the strong, resilient, resourceful men and women who make up the people of Appalachia get lost in the media portrayals, and become caricatures. Appalachia is not Billy Joe Bob and Brenda Sue Lee living in a single-wide with 10 kids and a pig. Appalachia is poet Wendell Berry, actor Johnny Depp, the singing Judds (and the acting Judd), writer Charles Frazier, a goodly portion of the Webb clan (Loretta, Crystal, Patty Loveless, et al), master musician Dr. Ralph Stanley, and presidents Lincoln, Johnson and Davis (if you said, "Who?", look it up, Yankee). Appalachia is men doing what it takes to provide for their family and women doing their best to raise their children right. Appalachia is America done right, not the America of right now.

Yes, there are problems, bad problems, here. This is not Utopia, never has been. After all, Appalachia gave the world the Hatfields and McCoys. There are drug problems, environmental problems, and lack of jobs or advancement opportunities. There is serious poverty. There are corrupt politicians. There are those who have just plain lost their way. But honestly, these problems are found throughout America, not just here. (Frankly, Detroit, Chicago, or California beat us hands down in this area.) But when portraying Appalachia, the media plays these problems up. I guess that lets the rest of America sit back and feel good about itself, despite that they've lost of so much of what Appalachia still has. But "bigger-better-newer-NOW" is starting to lose its luster (not a moment too soon), and it's a good bet that what finally pulls America's head out of its (bleep) is found right here in Appalachia.

Bunnies, Bunnies, Everywhere

2010-03-03T16:34:00.002-05:00

Last week, while I was forking over my folding money to restock hay for the spoiled goats, the owners of the feed store/tanning parlor (Hey, this is back-woods Kentucky. Buy feed, get tanned: One stop shopping.) and I started talking about easter bunnies, specifically if they were going to be selling them.

They said, No, the guy who had been supplying them with bunnies had decided he could make more money selling them at the swap meet/livestock auction on Saturdays. But they were VERY interested in finding someone else to supply them with some bunnies.

Well, it's too late to breed our Jersey Woollies for easter this year, but next year should be no problem. I told them that next year I'd be happy to supply them with cute, fluffy bunnies.

And then I started thinking (I usually operate in the "engage mouth, then put brain in gear" mode). Why not turn the bunnies over to the girls as part of school?! They can draw up a business plan, care for the bunnies, breed the bunnies, market the bunnies, and keep the books to show profit/loss. Hands-on learning, and they'll actually be applying what they are learning out of their books. I'm going to try to get into the local farmer's market this year, and I may let them practice marketing bunnies there. Beats having a Lemonade stand.

Future entrepreneurs of America, watch out! Here come the Bunny Sisters!

It's Snowing, Part 5,000

2010-02-24T14:13:00.002-05:00

Did I mention I'm sick of snow? And did I mention it's supposed to snow here until sometime this weekend? Bah Humbug.

Snow, Snow, go away, come again another day (preferably in the 22nd century...I'll be long gone by then)

Ponderings

2010-02-23T16:14:00.002-05:00

A week or so ago, one of the random blogs out there, that I read whenever I get a chance to wander over, posted a link to some guy in Moab, UT who lives in a cave and has not used money since 2000. No money at all. Which intrigued me (It was a boring day, I guess) so I wandered over to his website (zerocurrency.blogspot) to check him out.

OK, I'm not going to say he's completely crazy (I understand how he got from point A to point B), although I WILL say his views are a bit...out there. That said, I do think he has a point regarding our "consumer" society. And he got me to thinking, which I am assuming is one purpose behind the whole "cave living/no money/dumpster diving" thing he does.

How much money (or rather, how little money) do we really need to live on? I know, I know, it's different for everyone. But for me (and the rest of the crew), the truthful answer is: Not much.

In the "I have to have money for this" category, I have property taxes, stuff I can't produce on the farm (olive oil, salt, pepper, kerosene, shampoo, etc.), and clothing/shoes (although by buying used, this category really doesn't require much in the way of actual cash). We're on a well, so we don't have a water bill. If we're willing to haul our water in from the pump and use our kerosene lamps more than just when the power company drops the ball, we really wouldn't have an electric bill (just enough to run the fridge. I'm not to the point of getting rid of that yet.) The bunnies need rabbit chow, but then, are they really a necessity? I could probably off-load the whole lot of them with no big loss. The dogs need dog food, but really, up until about 50-odd years ago, dogs ate our leftovers, so that's not a necessity, either. Telephone would have to stay so the girls could talk to their father. But that's about it.

Really, our biggest monthly expense (when I added it all up) is the truck. We spend about $500/month (not including the yearly "give us cash" tax from the state--gotta support our bureau-rats). That's $6000/yr to be able to get from place to place. Ouch. But is the truck truly a necessity?

I've been looking at the feasibility of building a quadracycle bike car with an electric assist, and doing away with the truck expense. Since it would legally be a bicycle, there would be no insurance, no tags/title/license, no yearly tax. There would be no oil changes, $125 tires, or $3/gallon gas (at 12 mpg, but let's not go THERE). A quadracycle would be capable of going 30-40 mph (Disclaimer: I said 'capable', not that I would actually GO that fast, since I wouldn't be supposed to go over 20 mph...and I would NEVER speed.{cough}) And if I needed to haul something, I could rent a car/truck for the day/weekend/whatever. And the idea of having $6000 or so each year to spend on something besides a truck sounds good to me. Trip to Europe, maybe?

So, that's where my brain (no jokes, people) is right now. Lots of ponderings swirling around, making me go, "Hmmmm". What-all do you think? Comments/suggestions?

Warning: Rant Ahead

2010-02-19T16:34:00.004-05:00

The news lately has been filled with the financial problems everyone--Gub'ment to po' folks and all in between--are currently having. Yeah, America's borrowing money like there's no tomorrow, jobs are scarce, people are homeless. But the one phrase I keep seeing in the News that really sticks in my craw is "we will have a substantially lower standard of living".

Unfortunately, the reality is that we haven't been able to afford our artificially "high" standard of living for quite some time. Somehow, we swallowed the line that "the one who dies with the most stuff, wins". So we've evolved into a culture that lives to spend money like the proverbial drunken sailor. Instead of spending our time on the things that really matter in the long run, we've spent all our time and money trying to live the "good life". So what if you have a McMansion, drive a Hummer, own all the latest electronic gadgets, and possess a trophy spouse? All that may make you happy for a time, but depending on "stuff" to make you happy is like being hooked on drugs--you always need more, more, more. Enough is never enough.

Excuse me, but how the bleep is having piles of stuff and mountains of debt to buy those things we don't really need a "high standard of living"??!!! What was wrong with our Grandparents' life style? My Grandparents both came of age during the Depression. They lived in a decent sized house, paid cash for what they wanted, and if they couldn't afford something, they made due or got creative and improvised. In 30 years, they had 2--count 'em, 2--cars. My grandmother stayed home, raised her children (and a goodly portion of the neighborhood kids, too), tended a garden, canned the veggies she raised, cooked almost every meal her family ate, sewed most of her family's clothes, made her own soap, and was in church every Sunday, rain or shine. And she did it all without an electric dishwasher. Is that what is considered a "substantially lower standard of living"??!! B***S***. America was great then. Now that our "standard of living" is so high, we're crashing and burning.

A crash is coming and coming soon. It's probably going to be painful (most change is). But honestly, it might just be the best thing for America. We need to kick the "stuff" addiction. We haven't been willing to do it by ourselves, so it looks like God/the Universe/Karma/(fill in the blank) is doing an intervention to try and save us from ourselves. I"m kinda looking forward to a "substantially lower standard of living".

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T14:28:00.002-05:00

Today is bright and sunny, perfect for Valentine's Day. We're not doing anything special (Victor got me a sapphire ring...it's purty), just church, Wendy's, community group, and home for the evening. Which brings me to tomorrow's forecast:

SNOW, continuing snow, with snow flurries and snow. We're supposed to get 3-6", starting tonight and continuing until Thursday, then starting Saturday we're supposed to get another storm coming through. Sigh. I have all these big plans of running goat fencing on the hill before spring...and it won't stop snowing long enough to do more than let us re-group for the next snow storm. I'm beginning to wonder how on earth I'm going to get my potatoes planted, 'cause I can't till the potato patch until the ground thaws and dries out, which I estimate to be happening sometime in 2012 (just in time for the end of the world{snort}).

Giselle is supposed to start guitar lessons this Wednesday...if we can get out of the driveway and into town. Last week's storm shut down our town, so neither girl got to go to their music/dance classes. We even missed the homeschool meeting, so Giselle didn't get to dissect her frog. I'm hoping she can make it up in March while everyone else is doing their owl pellets (she did owl pellets last year at science camp) Oh, and in answer to the question of where we get frogs/sharks/owl pellets for the class: beats me. We paid $2 per class and someone else supplies the dead animals and owl puke. I thought that sounded like a good trade-off. And I really don't want to know where they get them, either.

Last week I met a fellow blogger!! Smallfarmgirl (I've misplaced my link cheat sheet, but she's on my sidebar) and her husband came out and visited us!! They are great people. They didn't even blink twice at our disaster of a house...although I think they DID blink when Victor fell down the hill upside-down.{giggle} I'm looking forward to getting together with them again. Jam sessions, here we come!!

Until the next time we can get up the driveway and into town, stay warm and enjoy(?) the snow.

Snow, Snow, Everywhere is Snow

2010-01-31T13:57:00.002-05:00

Once again, we've been hit by a snowstorm that brought about 10" of snow, according to our trusty ruler (I haven't heard the official amount yet). The miracle of this storm is that we didn't lose power, not even a flicker. And the new stove kept the house toasty warm, so I actually enjoyed this storm. Hunh, who'da thought?! There's supposed to be "Snowstorm, the Sequel" coming next weekend. We'll see how that one goes.

Other than lots of cold white stuff coating everything, what else is happening around here? Well, Giselle had a birthday!! She's now 12. For her birthday, I took her and two of her friends (and her sister, of course) to dinner and a movie. They saw "Toothfairy" with The Rock. I've been telling them and telling them that I'm not the tooth fairy (wink) and now there is big-screen proof that I'm not...since I look nothing like Dwayne Johnson, and if he says HE'S the tooth fairy, I'm not going to argue with him! Victor and I went to see "The Book of Eli" while the girls were watching an ex-wrestler in a Tutu. "Eli" was...interesting, thought-provoking, gory. Kinda "Mad Max" meets the Bible.

Gus-Gus is limping badly on one of his back legs. We're taking him to the Vet's this week. We're really hoping it's not dysplasia. Putting that dog down would break Victor's heart.

In other animal news, for the last several months or so, we've been hearing scratching in the attic and walls. We put out traps baited with cheese, peanut butter, poison, etc, but caught nothing. Turns out we're trying to trap the wrong species. We don't have rats, we have BATS. They're apparently getting in through the attic vents. Furry, flying free-loaders. Oh, well, they DO eat insects, and I've noticed we haven't been harassed by those nasty ladybugs this year, so maybe the bats aren't really free-loaders, after all. And they have enough bad press to fight against, so I figure if they really want to move into my attic, I won't stand in their way. (Maybe they lost their Castle in foreclosure?) Besides, it gives credence to all those people who say I have bats in my belfry.

Well, that's about all the news from this part of the world. Things should start picking up in a couple of weeks, and I'll have more to say then (hopefully...or not.)

Possum Living

2010-01-23T13:38:00.004-05:00

Dolly has a Blog!!! Her book "Possum Living" has been re-issued, and the publisher talked her into starting a blog. If you read the previous issue of her book (either in book form or during the short time it was available on the web), I know you'll want to follow her on her blog. Link is on my side-bar. (I also added a couple other places I frequent...hopefully you'll like them, too. And there are always the great blogs that were already there {if you don't see yours, leave me a link!})

Quick updates from Painted Mountain Farm (that is so much FUN, finally having a name for this place!):

Home-school meetings have started up for the new semester. Giselle gets to dissect a frog, a shark, and an owl pellet for Science class, and has to write a presentation on the Shakers for History. She finally got to give her speech from last semester (we couldn't make it to the last meeting) and she got a high A. Yay, Giselle! Her speech was actually the first chapter of a children's book she is writing. Arabella has Kentucky History and basic Geography.

4-H also had it's first meeting this month, right after the home-school meeting. Arabella is doing Rabbits as her project and Giselle is doing Drawing. They're all excited about being able to go to camp this summer with 4-H, which wasn't the main reason I signed them up, but seems to be the thing I'm getting the most kudos for, so I'll take it.

Tonight is movie night at Arabella's dance studio. "Cinderella, the Ballet" is showing, since the Spring recital is going to be...wait for it...Cinderella, the Ballet! (how did you guess?!) Frankly, I'm getting a bit Cinderella-ed out. Maybe next year Arabella's teacher will come up with something not-so-sweet. "Madagascar's Penguins: the Ballet". Sounds good to me...how 'bout you?

New Stove, Pellet Guns, and Other Random Stuff

2010-01-17T13:50:00.002-05:00

New Stove:
The DutchWest stove we picked up for cheap a few months back (and then used to decorate the front porch forever!) is FINALLY in the house and functional. Hooray!!!! It's purty. It has the glass front door so you can watch the fire. I tried to get Victor to see the romantic possibilities, but he didn't quite get it. Sigh. Men.

(P.S. Stephanie/100acrewood, get ahold of me and we'll get the coal/woodburner back to you. And THANK YOU for keeping us warm all this time! See you soon.)

Pellet Guns:
Thursday, Arabella and Gus were walking down our road to see if the girl down the street could play. The new neighbor boy, who lives in the new trailer they just hauled onto a relative's property a couple doors down, was out playing with his pellet gun. Neighbor boy started calling Gus. Gus started toward neighbor boy. Neighbor boy pointed the gun at him. At that, Arabella started screaming for Gus to come back. And neighbor boy POINTED THE PELLET GUN AT ARABELLA AND PULLED THE TRIGGER.

Arabella came home, told me what had happened, I told Victor, and Victor came UNGLUED. He stormed over to the kid's house (he is 12 and was home alone; his grandmother (who he lives with) was at work) and yelled at neighbor boy so loudly we could hear him 4 houses away. Victor told neighbor boy that if he EVER pointed that gun at the girls again, Victor would take it and wrap it around the nearest tree. About that time, the grandmother got home, and Victor told her to get that boy under control before someone got hurt or killed.

Neighbor boy was crying, because Victor yelled at him, so Grandmother called the sheriff because big, mean neighbor man was yelling at her widdle sweetie. Sheriff came out and did the tough sheriff routine...until Victor told him that neighbor boy had fired his pellet gun at my daughter. Seems neighbor boy and Grandmother had kinda failed to mention that fact. We also told the sheriff about the kid setting leg traps in his yard and then inviting kids over to "play", about him snapping off the end of one of the barn cat's tail with a mouse trap, about him throwing bricks at our house, about him coming over while we were gone and chopping random things with our double-bitted axe,...and the list went on. Haven't heard anything from the sheriff since, but he's now on speed-dial. We hadn't gotten the authorities involved before, instead trying to get the kid's family to get him under control, but no more. Neighbor boy does anything else, ANYTHING, we're calling the sheriff from now on.

and Other Random Stuff:
I'm sure most of you have been following the horrors over in Haiti. It may just be me, but it reminds me so much of Katrina and the horrors then. It sobers me to see how quickly civilization falls apart when disasters happen. We know people at one of the Missions in Haiti (he and his wife are safe, but her brother lost his wife. She was in the hospital that collapsed) and we had plans to take the girls on a mission trip there next summer. They're about 6 miles from Port-au-Prince. They've gone through 100# of rice in 3 days, trying to feed the people around them who lost their homes. Pray for them. There, but for the grace of God, go we.

On a better, happier note, I was filling out this year's seed order forms, and one of them asked for the name of the farm. Which got me thinking, what IS the name of our farm. We bandied names about for a couple of days, and we finally came up with "Painted Mountain Farm". So, whaddaya think? Yea or Nay?

Gus & Marley & Me

2010-01-10T13:13:00.002-05:00

When the book 'Marley & Me' was released, I picked up a copy, because I'm a sucker for a good dog book. And I was not disappointed! 'Marley & Me' is a fantastic book! I think I gave away five or six copies to fellow animal lovers, with the standard admonition, "You HAVE to read this book!" But for one reason or another we didn't go to see the movie when it came out. (Oh, I remember now. Someone told me that the scene where the Grogans lose their baby wasn't suitable for small children, and the scene where Marley is put to sleep was wrenching, too.)

Anyhow...a couple of days ago, I was standing in line at the local grocery store, browsing through the "cheap DVD" bin, when I found a copy of "Marley & Me: The Movie". And I figured that since the girls were a bit older now, and we had Gus (the Anti-Marley), I'd go ahead and buy it.

So after dinner, for the evening's movie, I pulled out the DVD and popped it into the computer (no TV, remember?). We were at the dining room table (no Living Room furniture, remember?), with all the dogs snoozing at our feet. The movie started. Marley was picked up from the breeder and brought home (so we're in the very beginning of the movie, right?). Marley is put in a bed in the utility room for his first night. Marley starts crying.

And ALL the dogs came unglued! Gus came off the floor, barking and whining. The Cavaliers stared wailing. Sadie went into herding/hunter mode, trying to find the puppy she so clearly heard. And (once the shock of instant cacophony wore off), we all burst out laughing. Our poor dogs! Apparently, the movie Marley was doing some serious complaining, and our motley crew was going to save the day!

We paused the movie, calmed down the dogs (read: let them outside to play. All except for Gus. Our mistake.), and hit "play". A few frames later, more crying. Gus went crazy, trying to find the puppy. I was afraid he was going to hurt himself, he was so distraught.

Laughing fit to bust a gut, we dragged Gus to the back door and pushed him outside. Hit "play". More movie Marley moaning. And Gus tried to take the back door down.

So it turns out, I really didn't need to worry about trying to explain the 'Marley & Me' movie to the girls. I just need to figure out how to explain it to the dogs!

Goals for 2010

2010-01-03T15:41:00.002-05:00

Here we go:

By August, I want this stupid house DONE!!! I am sick of sub-flooring, paint cans, construction materials everywhere. I want a functional house that will stay clean longer than about 5 minutes. (OK, OK, yeah, I know I have small children and dogs...I'm talking about construction dust. I swear, I wipe off the stove and two minutes later, there is a visible layer of dust on it. ICK.)

This month, I'm going to get the water handpump hooked up, so that the next time the power goes out, we have the option of staying home, and don't have to refugee to the Ramada. Nice hotel, not-so-nice prices.

This growing season, I want to decide which varieties of plants work best here, and work towards offering a CSA in 2011. I also want to be able to offer fresh eggs for sale this summer.

(Quick garden list: I'm planning on planting (all OP heirlooms):
Royal Burgundy purple bush beans,
Lemon cukes,
Bantam corn (Stowell's has too long of a growing season, and I'm losing it to weather, so I'm switching)
Fingerling and Red potatoes
Egyptian Walking onions (already in)
Softneck garlic (already in)
carrots (purple haze if I can afford the seed, basic Lowe's brand if I can't. I left some of last year's crop to go to seed this year, so I should have my own seed starting next year. Yay!)
Scallop squash (I can't remember the name right now, but it is an old heirloom type from the 1600s, IIRC)
Tomatoes (I saved Opalka seed last year, and I'm wanting to add either mortgage lifter or Beefsteak, for canning and drying. I may plant yellow pear, too, but we'll see.)
Watermelon (not sure of which variety. Moon and Stars has refused to grow for 3 seasons now, so I am going to try either Charleston Grey or Georgia Rattlesnake.)
Rouge Vif D'etampes pumpkins (Spelling?)
Bloomsdale Spinach
various hot peppers (I really haven't had good luck getting my peppers to ripen, so I'm still trying to find a short season, cold weather, damp loving, hot pepper. Good luck with that, right?!)
and I'm hoping to start my herb garden this year.)

This summer, I will start making all the cheese we use from our goat milk, and will make all our butter, too.

Once the house is done (by August, no matter what, or I'm going to be tempted by every gallon of gas and stray match I see!), I want to start sewing our clothes again. And I want to start using my knitting machine again. I'm looking forward to spinning the rabbit wool this summer. They have the most beautiful, silky fur I've ever seen. I'm just itching to get started working with it!

And, finally, in 2010 I want to get to the point that we can live on $150/wk and start saving up some money. Right now, the house rehab is eating us alive. That, and the gas expense of going into town all the time for stupid reasons. Our fixed bills are about $400/month, and I'd like to keep the gas/food we can't produce/entertainment/clothes/etc. costs down to $200/month. It's a goal...we'll see how it goes.

(Off-Topic: FREE SEED! I have lots of Kentucky Wonder Pole bean seed, and tons of Stowell's seed from 2008 that should still be good. If anyone is interested in some or all of it, e-mail me (give me several days to respond; we're still doing the Wendy's shuffle) and I'll ship it out to you.)

Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year

2009-12-24T14:48:00.001-05:00

From us to you.

Refugee-ing at the Ramada

2009-12-21T11:10:00.002-05:00

Once again, we have a weather-induced state of emergency. According to our trusty wooden ruler, we got somewhere in the vicinity of 6 inches of snow. Big, wet, heavy snow. Which, of course, took out trees and power lines. (Didn't we do this last January? Isn't once a year enough??!) No power, no water, no phone, no nuthin'. The scuttlebutt is that either the power will be on by 6 this evening, or it will be on after Christmas. Bah Humbug.

The girls' father is visiting until the 31st, so he could attend Giselle's mandolin recital and Arabella's ballet recital and spend Christmas with the girls. I don't think he was quite expecting to have to deal with a snow emergency. He and the girls spent last night at the Ramada Inn, so we all could get a bath before Arabella's performance at the MAC.

So to everyone out there who got hit by this storm, you have my heart-felt sympathy. Stay warm, and keep safe. And to Al Gore: WE NEED THAT GLOBAL WARMING YOU KEEP PROMISING!!

Hi, Y'all!!

2009-12-03T15:22:00.003-05:00

First things first: I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Giselle is still sick...or should I say, sick again. She got sick, then Arabella got sick, then Victor got sick, then Arabella again, now Giselle again. I haven't caught it yet, thank the Lord. I'm hoping "sick time" ends soon.

Other happenings:

We found Violet dead one morning last week. She had been fine, and we have no idea what happened. I had pretty much written it off to fate, when this morning, one of the wethers in the same pasture as the one Violet was in, died. Again, nothing had been wrong with him. So I have to shift the goats around ASAP and empty out that pasture to see if there is something poisonous in it. I'm hoping we don't lose any more goats before I discover what killed Violet and Oreo.

I donated my hair! I went in to get a trim, and the stylist said, "Ya know, if you cut 10" off, you can donate it to Locks of Love." And I thought, Why not!!! So I now have shoulder-length hair! And someone out there who needs hair can have mine! (I'm still trying to get used to not having waist-length hair. But at least I'll save on shampoo!) Pictures as soon as I get them taken!

Arabella has her performance photos taken today, so this post has to stay kinda short, so I have enough time to get her dressed, etc. If I can figure out how to get a copy onto the computer, I will.

Iris is pregnant--for the last time ever. After this litter, she's off to the Vet to be fixed. George will be, too. I'm hoping for lots of really cute Cavaliers here soon.

We found someone at church who can do welding/fabrication and is willing to try to make us a 3-hole well cap. If all goes well, we may have the pump ready to go before we lose electricity this winter...(just like we do every winter. sigh.)

OK, time to get going. Hi to everyone out there, and as soon as I have the time and internet connection, I'll be back!

Giselle is Sick

2009-11-18T16:15:00.002-05:00

so it might be a week or so before I'm back.

Concrete vs Us

2009-11-10T17:04:00.003-05:00

(we lost)

The concrete is all poured. Twenty-one 80# bags of quikcrete later, we finally have a front porch. Victor did all the mixing (you know men; macho and all that) and it kicked his hiney. I did the spreading and smoothing (I'm sure it has another, accepted name, but that's what I did so that's what I'm gonna name that job). It kicked my knees (but not my hiney, so I made out better than Victor). So I guess that means the concrete won.

I found out that one of the houses just up the way is for sale. 32 acres, and a 2 bedroom house for $149.9K. The house is a tear-down. 12 monkeys with hammers built that house. The land is good, though. Which really makes me happy with what I paid for my house. And the neatest part is I finally found out what they call our holler. We are the "Long Fork area of Shelby Valley". Who'da thunk? I always thought a long fork was something you used when grilling steaks. Now it turns out I live there. But I like the "Shelby Valley" thing...it's pretty. Although "Shelby Holler" would be more accurate. But that probably wouldn't sell real estate quite as well.

We took Victor to the Unemployment office today for his regularly scheduled meeting. The unemployment situation here is so bad that they are no longer seeing each person individually. They now take them in groups of 45-50 at a time. And the guy checking them through told the group that 60% of their jobs were gone for good. And the only thing he could suggest was to lower their sights (i.e. minimum wage job) or go back to school to train for a new career. So tomorrow, Victor is going over to the college to see what-all he can do.

I see no way that with unemployment at 17-18% (U6), if 60% of those jobs are not coming back, you can have a "recovery". How are the people whose jobs don't come back supposed to live? Eventually, most will end up on welfare, just to survive. And America can't afford keep taxing the people who have jobs to feed and house the people who don't. Some quick figuring here: call it 150,000,000 working adults. 17% is 25.5 million. Just to be generous, let's take away the 5% that were unemployed at the begining of this fiasco. So we're left with 18 million people who had jobs a year ago who don't have jobs now. 60% of those jobs makes +/- 11 million people who will have no job or any income at all once the unemployment runs out, added to the 7.5 million who didn't have jobs before. 18.5 million people with no job or income. And if we're a 70% consumer driven society, and you remove those 18.5 million unemployed adults, and their families, from the pool of consumers, tell me; how exactly is our economy supposed to recover? What exactly do they mean by a "jobless recovery"?? And all indications are that the unemployment numbers are just going to get worse.

Well, enough Doom and Gloom. I have to run down the street and talk to Arabella's dance teacher. She wants to move Arabella up to the next level ballet class!! Yay, Arabella!! I'll let everyone know how it all turns out, next week.

I (heart) Wendy's

2009-11-04T16:01:00.002-05:00

Today, we had a second town day with a purpose: I was going to find a wifi hot spot in this town (that actually works) if it killed me. Well, that, and Victor needed to exchange his new boots for some that hadn't lost their soles yet (there is a joke in there somewhere, but I'll spare you the search...), and we picked up 1,600# of concrete mix from Lowe's (more on that later...)

McDonald's was first. Yes, they had WiFi. If we wanted the esteemed privilege of using their WiFi connection, we could pony up $5--per hour or per day, the girl at the counter wasn't sure. Forget that, on to Fasoli's. Strike 1.

Fasoli's didn't register WiFi at all. Strike 2.

Wendy's was next on the list. And since you are reading this post, and to post I need an internet connection, I'm sure that you've already figured out that...

Wendy's Has Free WiFi!!!

They even have a plug-in at the corner table, so we get free electric with the free wifi. Thank You, Wendy's!!

As for the obnoxiously large amount of concrete in the back of the Durango; it's supposed to get warmer starting tomorrow (read: not freezing at night.) And my porch in missing a foot-wide strip running the length of the house, where the previous owner replaced the front sill beam (read: the infamous "repaired termite damage". Hah, hah, snort.) They replaced the beam, but kinda left the replacing of the concrete for the poor shmuck that bought the house (read: me). So starting tomorrow, Victor and I get to mix up 20-80# bags of Quikcrete. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Concrete work ranks somewhere south of mucking out goat stalls in my ranking o' chores.

Before it gets dark tonight, we're going to close in the barn for the winter, so I guess it is time to go back home...now that I've found a Wifi source. Looks like Wendy's on Tuesdays from now on. And maybe Sundays. And alternate Fridays, and...

I have 15 minutes 'til the bell rings

2009-11-03T12:08:00.004-05:00

Did I mention that the library's WiFi isn't quite...um...usable? I started our computer loading exactly 50 minutes ago...and it STILL hasn't brought up the first site yet. Just sits there and spins. So I signed onto the library's computer, and I get to see how much I can post in 15 minutes. Ready, GO:

The well cover is all done, just in time for 30* weather tonite. We picked up the new hand pump on Friday, but in order to hook it up, we have to replace the well cap, all the well pipes and either replace the electric pump OR pipe the kitchen for a cistern pump. All of the above translates as: Project Requires Money. And shock, surprise...we won't have enough to finish the well project until a week from Friday. Sigh. And that is why we live in a half-done house.

Victor has re-started the flooring project in the bedroom. Yeah, the one I started in on TWO YEARS AGO! We have been on subflooring in the bedroom since then. But Sunday, he took one of his long-sleeved winter shirts out of the closet and it smelled like mildew. Well, DUH. Nothing between house and basement. House is gonna be damp. So now he is actually DOING something about it, long after I gave up trying to get him motivated. If I had known all it would take was a moldy shirt, I could have sloved that little problem long ago.

The day after we got home from Mammoth Cave, we separated the goats into their breeding groups for this summer. Batman and Wish were put together to breed, and the Devil Twins were going with Stuart. Rose, Wanda, and Violet were to have the summer off. Well, Stuart didn't like this idea, and decided that HE should ALL the girl goats for himself. First, he beat the fence down between his pasture and Batman/Wish's pasture. So now I won't know if Wish's babies are Bat's or Stuart's. THEN he somehow got into the girl goat's pasture for a full morning before we caught him. So right now I have no idea how many of my goats are bred, or to whom. If Stuart keeps this up, he's going to find himself in the freezer.

And there's the bell. Talk at ya later...

I didn't kill him, so I'm doing well

2009-10-27T16:31:00.002-04:00

Mammoth Cave was lots of fun. We went on the Historic Tour, because it had parts of most of the rest of the tours, so I figured it had the best bang for the buck. Then we got in the car and drove...
and drove...
and drove...

And about 11:30pm, we drive up our road towards our house. And I'm REALLY looking forwards to getting OUT of the car, and I slow down to turn into the drive...

AND OUR FRONT DOOR IS STANDING WIDE OPEN, WITH THE LIVING ROOM LIGHT ON.

Instant panic. We've been robbed. Everything is gone. (Thank heavens I took all the good jewelry with us!!) I park the car and BOOK up the hill to the house. Everything is there, as far as I can tell. Nothing missing, nothing disturbed, and at least the glass storm door was shut, so it wasn't totally open to the elements, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the stupid door is open...and our neighbor steps out, to let us know that he had noticed the open door yesterday and had been watching the house since, because he didn't want to mess anything up by shutting the door if the house had been burgled.

The punchline is: Victor was the last one out of the house before we left. And he walked right out of the house and not only did he not LOCK the door, he didn't SHUT the door. AARRRRGGHH!!! (and I was jumping up and down yelling, "Kill, kill, kill")

But sanity prevailed, so Victor is still alive, (since nothing is missing after the house spent THREE DAYS standing wide open), and I'm once again reminded why I moved here. Where else in America, in 2009, could you leave a house un-locked, un-attended, with the front door wide open, and not have a thing bothered. No where else I've found. Just KentuckyHollers.

Pictures!

2009-10-25T11:38:00.010-04:00

The girls are coloring their souvenir T-shirts right now, and Victor got the pictures uploaded, so here goes the slideshow!!

First things first: The obligatory face-thru-the-picture picture. Giselle is on the right, Arabella on the left.

Here is our campsite. The big tent was bought by my grandparents on July 1, 1976 from Sears (we have the original papers for it). Giselle and Arabella make the fourth generation to use it for camping trips. I like it 'cause it's unusual. When was the last time you saw a tent with a fringe on the canopy??!!

The Hey, Hey, Hey ride to plant the "magic pumpkin seeds"...

...complete with a singing Yogi Bear.

And the girls with their properly painted results of the "magic pumpkin seeds"!

Giselle and her new friend Sydney as entrants in the Hallowe'en costume contest. Giselle is a Fairy, Sidney is an Indian Princess. Arabella didn't want to do the contest.

Some of the other costumes:
Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, Thing 2, and Cindy Lou Who.

The Wizard of Oz group (They had the whole set, but I couldn't get a good picture of them. They won Best Group)

Hamburger, Hot Dog, Ice cream cone, and Hannah Montana

Right after the contest, the girls went trick-or-treating. The campsites were all decorated for Hallowe'en, and some of them really went all-out!! (I didn't get any pictures...sorry!) The girls filled their bags in an hour and met us back at the clubhouse, where they did the required trade-the-candy ritual, and then we called it a night. (We ended up skipping the Haunted Forest, because I didn't want to scare Arabella. It sounded like fun, from the screams we heard!!!)

In about half an hour, we leave for Mammoth Cave, and then for home. If you are looking for a place for a fantastic vacation with the kids, definitely consider Jellystone. This is one of the best campgrounds we've been to. Their website is Jellystone Camp-Resort. Check them out!!

I Don't Know That I'll Ever Go Back Home

2009-10-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

We're here at Jellystone Campground...and as Victor says, I'm happy as a cat in a roomful of Grandma laps.

Yesterday, the girls rode a hay ride (complete with a singing Yogi Bear) to plant their "magic pumpkin seeds". Right now, they're on the hay ride back to the "magic pumpkin patch" to pick out their Magic Pumpkins to paint for Hallowe'en. Victor has the camera with them, so no pictures yet.

We had planned to go to Mammoth Cave this morning, and Kentucky Down Under on Sunday, but there is so much going on here, the girls voted to forget KY Down Under and go to Mammoth Cave tomorrow...after we leave the campground! Once they finish painting their pumpkins, there is a scavenger hunt, quarter Bingo, a costume contest, trick-or-treating, and a Haunted Forest. And tomorrow morning, before we leave, they are going to color a Jellystone T-shirt for a souvenir. This place is a kid's paradise...and there is free WiFi, the staff is friendly and helpful, and the grounds are neat and clean. They even have cabins for rent at a price that won't break the bank. If anyone is looking for a kid-friendly vacation spot, this is it!!

I'm going to see if Victor can get some of the pictures downloaded this evening, so everyone out there can see how great this place is!!

Happy Birthday, Arabella!!

2009-10-20T12:22:00.003-04:00

This is going to have to be a fairly short post, because the library's computers are having fits (half-hour page loads...gotta love it!!)

Anyhoo, tomorrow is Arabella's 9th birthday!!! (I was going to put up pictures, but right now that doesn't seem to be such a good idea). We'll do the cake,-candle,-and-a-couple-of-presents for her on her actual birthday. But instead of a kid party for her birthday, we're taking her to Mammoth Cave and Kentucky Down Under, and staying at Jellystone Park. If the computer is loading faster next week, I'll do pictures. I think the campsite has WiFi, so if we get a chance, I may try to do a quick picture post while we're away. Just in case, check in Saturday or Sunday.

The well concrete is 2/3 poured. We didn't get the snow we were expecting, but it did get COLD here...which made concrete pouring out of the question. Today it is supposed to get into the 70s, and tomorrow is supposed to be the same, so I'm "assuming" that all the concrete will be poured by Thursday. I'm aiming for having the well covered before we leave for Mammoth Cave. Then we can get into the disaster of re-piping the silly thing after we get back home. Off-grid is looking better and better.

Other than that, it's pretty much the same ol', same ol'. And I'm not going to press my luck any farther with the internet today. See ya next week!!

Better Late Than....

2009-10-16T21:58:00.002-04:00

Last Tuesday's post just...didn't happen.

We started out the morning early, dropping off the last of Camille's possessions to the Social Worker's office. Someone had apparently told Camille that if she came up with things we had of hers, and filed a complaint with the court (instead of simply asking for the things), she would be able to have us escorted out of our house by the police, so she could have free rein to get her "stuff". I wasn't too fond of this particular plan (Ya think!?) so we were out at 9am dropping off everything of hers that we could find.

Then we headed to the Library, to copy off pioneer pictures for Arabella's history assignment. We only had a few minutes, so I didn't have time to post.

After making the copies, it was time for the monthly Homeschooler's Meeting!! We dropped off the girls, ran to the bank, grabbed lunch for them, and got back to the meeting just in time for them to finish off their first class. We ate together, talked about what they had learned so far, and then I handed them over to one of the other mothers there...because Victor and I had to head over to the court to attend to Camille's "complaint".

Two hours of sitting in the hallway at the courthouse...just to go in front of the judge for all of two minutes and have her dismiss the complaint. Basically ran out of the courthouse to meet up with the girls at Arabella's dance class, grab Giselle for her mandolin class, and scoot back to pick Arabella up after class. By that time I was tired, cranky, and cold...and the Library didn't sound like a good idea. So we went home early. Sigh.

OK, enough of the complaint/rant/whatever!! Cool things happened this week!!

At the homeschool meeting, Giselle picked up two art instruction books that someone had brought in to trade. She has been drawing non-stop since then...and she is GOOD! I'd love to find an art teacher for her, but so far, no luck.

Tuesday we saw a rainbow that ended IN OUR BACK YARD!!! By the time I grabbed the camera, it was gone, but it was so COOL to see. No pot of gold yet, but I'm still lookin'!

We finally found the well casing! Yay, us! Victor dug down, we poured the concrete bottom for the well access, and one of the sides,...and then it started raining, and hasn't stopped for the last 3-4 days. We even lost power for a day (tree fell on a transformer up the way). And tonight and tomorrow it is supposed to snow, so concrete work is out until it warms up/dries out for at least a day. We have our fingers crossed for Sunday.

The whole well pump/defective house/no electricity thing got Victor thinking. We have to repipe the well (after doing the whole house two+ years ago) and I think he's beginning to get a bit jaded about "modern conveniences". And when the power went off and we lost water (for the umpteenth time this year), he brought up just chucking the electric pump and going strictly with a well pump outside and a cistern pump in the kitchen. I pointed out that meant no hot or running water...and he said Fine with him. I then pushed my luck by suggesting we start working towards going completely off-grid by mid-next-year. And he thought that sounded GREAT!! I've done a quick survey of the electric box, and if we eliminate the well pump, the hot water heater, the washer, and the overhead lights, all that will be left on are 4 breakers: the kitchen stove, the refrigerator, the computer/desk outlet, and the dryer. And the dryer and kitchen stove would be fairly easy to eliminate. I'm a bit leery about doing away with the fridge, but I'm reading about pot-in-pot coolers (in the root cellar/basement floor) that are supposed to keep things 50* or so. We'll see on that...but hey, two breakers can't use that much electricity anyway!

I picked up the 2010 Almanacs today and planned out the planting-by-the-signs for next year's garden. Lots of work, but it DOES make a difference, so it's worth it.

I'll post again on Tuesday...when I'll let you in on a secret. Wednesday is going to be a big day for one little girl! And we're going to go on a trip!! I'll tell you where; same Bat-time, same Bat-channel. See you then!!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2009-10-06T21:33:00.002-04:00

OK, time to look back at what I accomplished this summer:

I've pressure canned 44 quarts of broth and 32 pints of chicken meat so far, and I still have three chickens left to slaughter and two ready to go in the fridge (I know...we move at the speed of snail around here). Once all is said and done, I will have 59 jars of broth and 42 jars of meat. I also have put up 6 pint jars of jalapenos and carrots, and I have enough pepperoncinis to put up 3 pint jars. I have procrastinated on the whole "pressure canning" thing for years because I was scared of exploding canners. So far, so good...and I'm a bit disappointed in myself for putting it off this long. Oh well, better late than never, I say.

We also got 8 wood-slat bean boxes full of potatoes and three 5# bags of seed potatoes, enough garlic for seed next year, all our onion sets for next year, and there are still enough onions growing to keep me in onions for a goodly portion of the winter. We would have gotten more potatoes, but we didn't hill 2/3 of the plants, because of the constant rain.

Our corn crop was a complete and utter failure this year. It was so wet, the corn that I left on the stalks in the field to dry, sprouted on the stalk. Sprouted!! What didn't sprout, rotted. Even the stalks rotted. The second crop fell over and was fed to the goats. However, on the plus side of failure, I DID finally discover WHY my corn was falling over. Seems we were following the directions on the packet (plant 1-2" deep) when it turns out the old field corns need to be planted 6-8" deep to develop proper roots TO HOLD THEM UP. Huhn, who'da thunk. Next year's crop will (hopefully) be better.

Our tomatoes were pretty much a bust, also. I got enough tomatoes to collect seed for next year...and that was about it. Next year I hope to harvest enough tomatoes to can some, dry some, and have enough left over for eating and giving away.

The first crop of beans I planted did great...lots of green beans and enough seed to plant next year. The second planting, though, failed utterly. Victor WILL NOT help with weeding. If he can't weed-whack it or roto-till it, he's not interested. And I was too busy with everything else to do the weeding...so the beans were overrun (as were the peppers and most of the rest of the garden). I lost most of the second crop, and got no seed whatsoever. So next year, I have to buy more bean seed to have enough for both crops. And I need to get Victor to help in the garden, because I can't do all the weeding myself.

The blackberries put out a beautiful crop this year, which the birds in the area deeply appreciated. Next year, I'm putting netting over my berries. OK, so I don't want to feed my entire berry crop to the birds...sue me. I want a blackberry cobbler next year, and I mean to have it...one way or another!

Despite the gardening set-backs, I'm pretty confident that we will have enough stored down cellar to get all the way through winter and maybe part of the way through spring next year. Of course, I'm supplementing what we harvested with dried beans, rice, etc, bought from the store. Next year, my goal is to grow, can, and preserve enough to feed us until next harvest, without the supplementing.

We had a great year for bunnies (to the point we were over-run and had to segregate the boys from the girls). It's been a so-so year for chickens (only lost 2 of our replacement flock so far, but none of the eggs our broody hen has set have hatched. Either she's not the best of mothers or Jack isn't doing his job.) And it has been a horrendous, heartbreaking year for the goats. We lost all but four of our babies (5 dead at birth or shortly afterward) and two of our boy goats gorged themselves on the chicken corn and died of urinary stones. We still have our 6 girls (Rose, Wish, Wanda, Violet, and the Devil Twins) and our two boys (Batman and Stuart), as well as four wethers (Frankie, Reeses, Oreo, and Hershey). And we got plenty of milk, but losing so many goats this summer was horrible.

As far as the house is concerned, the brick walkway out front is finally finished, the swing is up in the arbor, the hallway and laundry room are done, and the bunnies have their own bunny town of hutches. The stove is a grinder, 6 bolts, a trip to Lowe's and about 8 hours away from being done. The other thing on our list was "install the well pump". To bring you up-to-date, let me tell you ALL about WHY we didn't install the well pump...

Victor started digging out the well, in preparation for pouring the concrete for the well pump. We expected to find the well head cover just a bit under the dirt. He dug, and he dug, and he dug...and about 3 feet down, he finally uncovered the pipes coming from the well that go to the electric pump in the basement. And where the pipes come out of the ground, they were wrapped in what looks like an old car-tire inner tube. No well head cover. No visible casing. Just a breather pipe, two water pipes, and a mess of rubber tubing. Sigh. I wish the people who built this house had at least done ONE thing the sane, rational, RIGHT way. Once this storm that is supposed to hit us this week is over, we have to go out, dig up the well (I'm praying it is cased somewhere!) and try to put it right. And to add insult to injury, the electric pump sprang a leak while all this was going on. We discovered it was installed using something resembling black roofing tar to seal the pipes. We attempted to fix it properly, but honestly, the best solution will be to completely re-pipe it, using proper well pipe, and replace the electric pump. They used God alone knows what type of pipe and automobile clamps, and the pump dates from the 70s. But I'm not up to re-piping the well right now, what with winter coming on. It will have to wait for the time being. The leak isn't gone, but it is small enough to ignore...for a while.

So there you have it. What I did for my summer vacation. Nothing earth-shaking, just small steps. But we will get there...eventually.

How did YOUR summer vacation go??

It's COLD!

2009-09-29T20:25:00.003-04:00

What happened to summer this year? We ended up with 5 months of spring and now it's fall already. It barely cracked 60 today, and tonight is supposed to be down to 40. We built the first fire of the season tonight in our old wood stove (the new one isn't quite ready yet. Stove rope, stove cement, and new bolts are being bought this coming weekend, and then we will hopefully be good to go.) I thought we were supposed to be getting warmer, not colder!

Miracles of miracles, I am actually writing this on MY computer!!! I got it going (kinda) last Tuesday. Managed to iron out the main problems Wednesday (once SpyBot managed to do its thing, everything cleared right up). Then, Thursday, I lost the top row of my keyboard. Q thru P disappeared. Which was really bad, because that meant I couldn't sign onto anything, because no__hsk_ligh_ didn't work. Yesterday, I bought a can of compressed air and a bottle of alcohol gel, and cleaned the computer from top to bottom (it's all shiny and pretty now.) There is still some hesitation on a couple of the letters, and my backspace is balky, but, hey, it's working and I'm happy.

The first writer's group meeting was supposed to be tonight...but no one came. Sigh. Well, maybe next week.

We're supposed to stay home through Friday, so I'm hoping to get something done around here. We need to chop the corn stalks for the goats, I need to get the ceiling in the Living Room plastered, and I'm working towards finally finishing the front walkway. Saturday is the town's 47th Apple Day Festival, so we'll be in town most of the day. I'll try to take some pictures to post. (I haven't gotten to downloading my pictures again, yet)

Other than that, not much is going on around here. I hope everyone out there in blogger-land is doing well, and with any luck, next week I'll have pretty pictures and more news to share.

It's Fall!!

2009-09-22T20:43:00.004-04:00

Today is the Autumn equinox! Fall is here! Winter is just around the corner!! Is it time to panic yet?!?

Not much was accomplished around here this week. We didn't get the well pump installed, we still have 8 chickens to kill, the stove still isn't ready to install...it was one of those weeks that just kinda go by and suddenly it's a week later and you're going, "What happened??!!" Most of the problem (I believe) was that we ended up having to go to town Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Whenever we go to town more than twice a week, it really seems that nothing gets done around here.

Today was our Official Town Day. We took the girls swimming at the lake (I figure the weather won't be nice too much longer, and they only will have a couple more chances to swim this year...so why not?), did our usual dollar-ice-cream-day at the local ice cream shop, did music for Giselle, did dance for Arabella, bought a couple of shirts for Arabella at Salvation Army, and hit the library. I'm still struggling to get my computer back in usable condition, so that's what I worked on during library time. Or, rather, that's what the librarian/computer geek/all-around nice guy worked on. I just sat there and tried to keep from beating the thing into submission with an Oprah magazine (3 hours to download Mozilla! I ask you!). We think it's working now, though; it's finally sped up, Victor actually has AVG done and is working on SpyBot right now. WhooHoo!! After 7 1/2 months, I may FINALLY have a working computer again. We're not quite to the picture stage yet, but SOON!!

I've been having A LOT of trouble with the allergy thing. No NutraSweet, no Yellow 5 or 6, no Red 40...those I have pretty much down (except for the Red 40 thing; I loooove raspberry sorbet!) But this No Wheat/No Corn Syrup thing is kickin' my hiney. I WANT a hamburger (Wheat in the bun/ corn syrup in the ketchup). I WANT some ice cream (corn syrup). I REALLY WANT a Papa John's pizza!! And some Little Debbie cakes!! And a soda!! I am sulking up a storm over here, and it's not doing me much good. And all my lapses have done nothing but make me sick 3 days out of 4.

So the church we've been going to started a 40-day fast for those who wanted to participate. It doesn't have to be a food fast; some people are fasting from the internet, some from the news, some from dating...as for me, I'm fasting from ALL my allergens. For the next forty days, I am fasting from, "Well, I know it's bad for me, and I know it'll make me sick, but I WANT IT, so I'm gonna eat it anyway." Pray for Victor. He'll need your prayers to get through the next 38 days. Oh, and pray for me, too. I need all the help I can get.

Oh, what a week...

2009-09-15T21:44:00.013-04:00

Wow. Lots happening, here and around the country this week.

Did you see the 9/12 rally in Washington D.C.?!?!?! Amazing!! I never thought I would see a united protest of that magnitude in my lifetime. Methinks the people are a wee bit pissed...Wish I could have been there, but didn't find out about it until that day. (I need better connections, I guess)

Also on 9/12, we took the girls to the Wolfpen Woods pioneer re-enactment.

We serendipitously met up with one of the home school families in the parking lot, and got free tix (Thanks again, Jennifer and John!!) This was Victor's first visit, and he enjoyed it. It is held in a holler owned by one family.

(The Meade Cabin. The first floor is made of Tulip Poplar logs, and was built in the 1780s. The second floor is made of oak and was added later)

They have rescued several log cabins slated for destruction and moved them to their holler. One of the cabins dates from the 1780s, one from the 1790s, and a couple from the early 1800s.

(The Bolt cabin, from the early 1800s)

They have a walking trail depicting the stories of several local pioneer families and persons, and also depict the local Indian tribes.

(Chinguay the Indian trader, and Mr. Charles Polk, fur trader, on the front porch of the Meade cabin. Giselle is standing in front of the porch with her friend from the home school meeting, who is in period clothes.)
(a recently-landed Irish immigrant, trying to make it in Appalachia, circa 1800.)
(Mrs. Benjamin Eulen, awaiting her husband's return from his latest absence, out hunting...so he claims. The cabin dates from the 1790s)
(Jennie Wiley)
(An Indian Chief, heading out to petition for peace, and to try to enforce the treaty with the US government. Couldn't trust the government, even back then.)
(Daniel Boone, in front of his cabin. This cabin was built last year by these actors, and they were just finishing it up last year when I went to Wolfpen. Took them 9 days to build and shingle. Impressive, I think.)

I spoke at length with one of the teachers manning an exhibit on foods the Indians and early settlers ate. He has his class tap local maples every year, boil down the sap and bottle it as part of their curriculum. I didn't know you could do that this far south, so he told me what trees to look for, and how and when to tap them. Next week, I'm hoping to get up on the hill and start scouting for maples. I wouldn't mind some maple syrup. Yum.
At lunchtime, there was an "Indian raid" on the "settlement", with lots of black powder guns making LOTS of noise, and then there was a retaliatory "raid" on the "Indian village" to rescue the hostages the Indians had taken. Didn't get any good pictures of this part of it. However, after two large iced teas and a bottle of water, this was the part of the tour I liked the best:
It was quite an experience.

In other news...

Also this week, I made the mistake of asking the head librarian if there was a writers group meeting anywhere. One thing led to another, and somehow I was tapped to start a writers group, beginning the 29th of this month. I've never led a group of anything in my life!! I'm just hoping that someone competent will show up at the first meeting and be willing to take over and do it right. (Please, God...Please, God...Please)

I finally got my pressure canner!!! I had been holding out for an All American, but their info said that they weren't suitable for a smooth-top range...and I have a smooth-top range. So I went with a Presto canner, instead, since they said smooth-top ranges were fine by them. Hasn't exploded so far, so I guess it'll be OK. For the next week or so, we're killing chickens and I'm cooking them and canning the broth and meat, to store for the winter. If all goes well, I'm hoping to do some grape juice and green beans, too.

The Cavaliers, wanting to run free with the other neighborhood dogs, decided to do a "jail break" from the back yard and, being the highly intelligent animals they are, (insert wild, hysterical laughter here) they managed to dig their way under the foundation of the house...and into the basement. Beautiful, loving dogs, but they are as dumb as dirt. Correction; dumber.

The beans are wrapping it up (I have about 1/3 of the beans left to harvest) and the late corn is still going to it. (We're growing it for the stalks, not for grain.) I'm making a concerted effort to organize my recipes. And Friday, we're picking up the water pump, pipe, and concrete. I really want it in place before the next ice storm decides to hit. Also on the shopping list is asbestos rope and stove cement for the new stove, bricks for the new stove pad, and 60 more canning jars. On the agenda for next week: Finish the chickens, install the well pump, install the stove, and try not to go crazy while doing so. Personally, I don't give us a chance in heck...

See ya next Tuesday!!

When will I learn??!!

2009-09-08T21:03:00.002-04:00

The older I get, the more allergies I develop. The most recent one to rear its ugly head is an allergy to corn syrup. It usually isn't too bad, but it seems to be getting worse, instead of better, the less I eat corn syrup. At dinner today, I kept sneaking drinks out of Giselle's Coke...and now my voice is gone, I have a pounding headache, my eyes itch, and my nose is running. I know better than to drink the stuff, but I was being stupid. I wonder if the reaction will go away quicker if I promise never to touch the stuff again...

(Didn't get my computer back yet. Now that it is mechanically working right, it turns out the back-up disk was corrupted, so my computer needs to be wiped clean again and started from the beginning. So maybe I'll get it back Friday. Or next Tuesday. Gahh!!)

Interesting Experience

2009-08-27T18:28:00.003-04:00

One tidbit of info I forgot to include in the last post is that we had the Kangaroo court hearing on the 12th. (My favorite part was when my Lawyer was trying to get the Social Worker to clarify her "point system" to decide how "bad" our case was, to decide what to charge us with. She had ranked our case equal to us raping, beating, and killing Camille. Gotta luv Gub'ment logic, eh?) At the end of the hearing, THEIR Attorney pulled my Lawyer aside and told him that the case should have never been filed against me and Victor. A week later, we got the paperwork/"Finding of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Recommended Order"/nonsense, essentially saying, "Oopsie, our bad". And we foolishly thought it was all over.

[My Lawyer actually said he learned something from my case. He says that every time he handles one of these cases from now on, he's going to INSIST on an evidentiary hearing, even if the Cabinet agrees to dismiss charges, so they can't pull this nonsense on another one of his clients. He thinks the Judges will think he's nuts...until he explains it to them. Then he thinks they'll be just a tad bit angry. How often do you get to teach a Lawyer and the Judges a thing or two?]

So today, we're reading about Massachusetts passing a law legislating a $1000/day fine and 30 days in jail, if you are ordered to take the flu shot and you refuse. And we had a nice family discussion going about what the girls should do in case someone shows up at the door and we need them to make themselves scarce for a while. And while we were thinking up scenarios and talking about why this all was necessary, Victor went out to get the mail. When he came back in the door, he said, "There's a Social Worker here." I thought it was still part of our little talk/exercise we had going on and basically sat there, confused. The kids were like, "OK, do we run and hide for Social Workers?" Because, of course, we had the paperwork saying all the Social Work nonsense was over. He was running an impromptu test, right? Because there WAS no Social Worker, right? Right?

No, not right. On our front walk was standing a Social Worker. She had no idea that we had;
1: had the hearing,
2: gotten the findings back,
3: were no longer "horrible, evil, bad parents" in the eyes of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and so
4: no longer needed her to bother us.
(Inter-office memo, people, inter-office memo. Saves lots of time and trouble.)

I located the paperwork ("I've never seen one of these before," she said. "Wow, they're long.") She flipped through it. And she asked if we had any questions. Both Victor and I came up with one question-

"HOW DO WE TURN YOU PEOPLE OFF AND MAKE YOU LEAVE US ALONE??!!"

Pictures, Updates, and Changes

2009-08-24T08:18:00.010-04:00

Camera and Computer are finally on speaking terms, so I'm going to take advantage of it before their next dispute...

Presenting, Gus-Gus

A boy and his dog....

That's Gus-Gus peeking out from behind Victor's neck. We had just picked him up, so he is 6 weeks in this picture. He's about 10-11 weeks right now, and if he sat on Victor's neck now, some lucky Chiropractor would be able to retire to the Bahamas.

Me and the girls, all dressed up and nowhere to go...

One more of me and the girls

The Infamous Cinderella show:

The Thee-AY-tah

Giselle is the first big mouse to the right, and Arabella is the next mouse, with her back to the camera (and her back to the audience...that lesson didn't really sink in with most of the kids.)

Giselle is the horse behind the Fairy Godmother.

Two mice, after the show.

Well, enough pictures for now. I don't want to press my luck (I've already had two error messages uploading this bunch). In other news around the farm, The mission season is over (the last group was a Boy Scout troop from Long Island...yeah, LOTS of Noo Yawk jokes made the rounds), so pretty soon here Victor will be able to help get this place ready for winter. This week, though, he and the Head Honcho are frantically trying to finish up the last house that was being worked on. There were some unexpected delays on this house, and instead of 5 groups going through and fixing it up, only two groups were left once the house was ready to be worked on. And since no one wants this family to freeze this winter in a half-done house, Victor and Jason get to do three groups worth of repairs...by themselves, in the next week. Pray for them...they'll need it.

Home School has started again. The Home School group has really gotten their act together this year, and are giving classes in Speech/Debate and KY History. There is also going to be a Field trip each month planned to compliment the current month's lessons. This year should be good.

Other than that, it's pretty much same ol', same ol'. We got a letter last month, saying our internet and phone rates would be going up in September, so on the 5th I'll be discontinuing the internet here (I'm sorry, but dial-up at 3c/minute is a BIT ridiculous! But it is either that or sign up for cable internet at $100+/month...and we don't have a TV!) So after the 5th, I'll be taking my computer with me to town on Tuesdays and updating the blog at the Library...for free. Free is good. So starting next month, remember to check in here every Tuesday afternoon.

Sheer Stupidity

2009-07-19T09:34:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, we had to go to town a couple hours before the girls needed to be at Cinderella, to run errands. Drove to WalMart to get bread/cereal/etc., and there, at the corner of the parking lot, was a small truck with a big sign:

LAB PUPPIES FREE TO GOOD HOME

The girls immediately started the, "Puppies! I want to see!" chorus, and since we were early and had time to kill, I made the stupid mistake of pulling over, thinking that just looking at the puppies couldn't hurt.

I'm sure you've already figured out the punch line. A 6-wk-old yellow Lab has joined our family...like we needed another dog! But Victor would kinda like to hunt next year, and Labs make good hunting dogs, and the puppy was wagging his tail, and, and, and...sigh.

I think we have decided to call him "Gus-Gus".

Opening Night

2009-07-18T07:45:00.002-04:00

Last night's play went fairly smoothly for an opening night. All the kids knew their lines, only one or two cues were forgotten (and were well covered), the rainstorm passed before the performance began, and the control board for the mikes didn't fritz until the second act, and the kids shouted to make up for it, so it worked out. Hopefully it will be fixed by tonight's performance. Giselle did well with her one line, and Arabella was the quintessential mouse.

I got pictures, but camera and computer are still not talking, and I put that particular chore on the back burner and forgot about it, so that's my bad.

Pastures of Plenty

2009-07-15T23:45:00.002-04:00

I was born and raised in the central valley of California. When I was growing up, there were miles of vineyards, fruit trees, nut trees, every type of crop imaginable. Anything and everything grew there. The stores were crammed full of locally grown produce. We were proud to be the breadbasket of California. So news reports like this break my heart:

Despair flows as fields go dry and unemployment rises

I read somewhere on the web, a comment by some financial prognosticator, who said that the difference between a Recession and a Depression was a Dust Bowl. It seems bitterly ironic that the Land of Plenty in the last Depression has become the Dust Bowl of this one.

Schedules

2009-07-14T09:21:00.002-04:00

So here is the Cinderella schedule for the next two weeks, tentative...could be more.

7/14 rehearsal from 5 to 10
7/15 rehearsal from 3 to 10
7/16 rehearsal from 3 to 10
7/17 rehearsal from 3 to 6
Opening performance at 8
7/18 rehearsal from 3 to 6
Performance at 8
7/19 rehearsal from 3 to 6
Performance at 8
7/20 rehearsal from 6 to 10
7/23 rehearsal from 6 to 10
7/24 performance at 8
7/25 performance at 8
cast party from 10 to 12
7/26 performance at 8
strike set after

And mind you, science camp for Giselle is 7/21 and 7/22 from 9 to 3. And somewhere in there, I have to make time to have two of my tires changed out before the trip to Ohio to pick up the new stove on the 1st. As well as fitting in work on the house and farm. This is a classic case of "It sounded like a good idea at the time." Don't ever let me do this to us again!

((Giselle is already talking about auditioning for Beauty and the Beast next year. AAAGGGGHHH!))

Booty Call

2009-07-12T05:08:00.012-04:00

OK, first we had The MOAB. Which, of course, led to the Package Stimulus...oops, um...Stimulus Package. (OK, same difference.) And with all the "Too Big To Fail" stimulating going on, AIG and Wells Fargo have our tax dollars working it hard...for everyone but the taxpayers.

All of this is one more reason why a Continental Congress has become the only logical thing left to do.

Happenin's on the Farm

2009-07-10T09:14:00.003-04:00

I have a minute to do a quick post, just to keep everyone up to date.

Sophie's kittens are growing. They're coming up on 1 month old. There are 3 girls and 1 boy, all solid black. We will probably keep the boy, since the best cat I every had was a solid black cat named Jaguar. And guess what we're going to name this one...?

...and speaking of boys on the farm, Wish's three boys were elastrated last night. That means we have 4 wethers to slaughter for food this winter.

The potatoes are all ready to be harvested, the corn is tasseling, the beans are on their third round of production (and this weekend I might, maybe, pull them up.) My onions are doing well, the Blackberries (the fruit, not the phone) are starting to ripen, and the tomatoes are still green. I wish they'd get with the program, but at least everything else is finally growing, despite the cold weather!

I bought a new stove off e-bay this week. I got a DutchWest #2461 (made by Vermont Castings) for $100! The listing came up while I was browsing, and I bought it before the listing was 2 hours old. It has a glass front door, and a flat top for cooking. I had been going back and forth on whether I wanted to buy a "cookstove" or a "heat stove", since I plan to do most of our winter cooking on the thing, but it will be in the Living Room, just a couple steps from the Kitchen. Basically, the question was, did I want "Pretty" (heater stove with glass door, no oven) or "Practical" (cook stove, with oven)? Practical was winning. UNTIL, while I was searching for info on the DutchWest, I ran across an off-grid blog, called Powell River Books. She had the same problem (heat stove/no oven) and solved it in an ingenious and inexpensive way! Which was all the push I needed to go ahead and buy the "Pretty" stove!! It's in Springfield, OH, about 4-5 hours away. We are going to go pick it up after the "Cinderella" show.

Stephanie and Tim at Adventures in the 100 acre wood generously gave us our current stove a couple years ago, when we were freezing our patoots off using a tiny stove, and had no money to buy a bigger stove. So it seems only right that we do the same for someone else. It is still a good stove, and heats well. We have about 1200 sq.ft. and it kept us nice and warm. If there is anyone out there reading this who needs a good wood/coal stove and wants to come pick it up, e-mail me and I'll tell you more about it!

"Cinderella" opens a week from today, and (in my uneducated opinion) I don't think the cast is anywhere near ready. The Duke doesn't know his lines, the mice aren't sure about the words to some of the songs, and cues keep getting dropped. Watching "Cinderella" unfold, I have decided that the Director/Producer is insanely optimistic, or (quite possibly) just insane, to be producing a play with the entire cast under 14. (I begin to think W.C. Fields was on to something.) It will be good experience for the kids, undoubtedly, but the sanity of the grow-ups involved is questionable...and I include myself in that group!

The next 2 weeks are going to be catch-up/preparation for the great Bathroom Removal Event. I decided to put off gutting the bathroom until AFTER Cinderella. But I'm hoping to have everything ready by then, so the re-do goes smoothly. When you stop laughing hysterically at that last statement, pray for us!

Time to start the day's work. The creatures are stirring, so I need to, also.

Who is With Me?

2009-07-04T15:28:00.004-04:00

Happy Independence Day!! Remember all that our Founding Fathers risked to declare to King George that We, the people are a free and independent nation. And always remember,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Depotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their their former Systems of Government.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES...And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Where's my Global Warming???

2009-07-02T11:17:00.002-04:00

It is July 2nd. And the thermometer in the barn says it is 60 degrees. It is cloudy and cold. My plants are growing, but nothing like normal. Usually by this time they are growing like the proverbial weeds. Even the weeds aren't growing as fast as they usually do. Heck, we haven't even gotten any squash or tomatoes yet! And they're pretty much indestructible. We got our chicks a week ago, and I'm worried about losing them to the cold. Crazy!!!

Apparently, the wet, cold summer is affecting the potato crop in the northeast. Blight (what caused the potato famine in Ireland) has shown up in Maine and New York. Our early potatoes came in fine, if a little on the small side. We still have 2/3 of the crop to go, though. Hopefully the blight doesn't move south too quickly.

The weather reminds me of the story in Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Farmer Boy", where it froze in Malone on the 4th of July. I'm hoping the cold summer means a warm winter. Last winter was a bear, and I'm not looking forward to a repeat.

We all have this week off, so we're working hard to catch up on the farm. I've been weeding the corn field, digging potatoes, and picking and processing green beans. I also have finished matching the plaster pattern on the hall ceiling (where I fell through during the great re-wiring adventure) and the laundry area ceiling. Victor has been busy cutting firewood from the tree that fell a week or so ago, and has taken over stripping the paint off the swing. We're up to 12 layers of paint. But now that he's gotten down to the wood, it turns out that the swing is made out of oak, not pine. So it's not going anywhere anytime soon, and should last forever...or at least another 12 coats of paint. Still on the agenda for the weekend: texture the laundry area walls, install the laundry area shelves, primer everything and paint. I'm hoping against hope to get the hall/laundry finished this weekend so that next week we can start ripping out the bathroom...and I can FINALLY get the tub out of my living room!

Monday re-starts the "go-everywhere, do-everything" mode we've been in for the last two months, and will be in until the beginning of August. It got so bad that we were eating 2 to 3 meals in the truck while running around! I've been catching cat-naps in the truck when I can, because I hadn't been able to get to bed until after 12 and had to be up at 6 to get breakfast/milking done. So this week has been a treat, and has convinced me that next year, I am not scheduling anything during the summer. I'm going to stay home, tend the garden, play with the girls, and sip iced tea while swinging on my swing!

24 Hours

2009-06-19T20:47:00.002-04:00

In the last 24 hours:

Wish had her babies! Three of the cutest boys I ever saw. All healthy. But she retained her placenta, so today I had to do a run to the vet for Oxytocin and Penicillin. We now have 13 goats. The 4 wethers will probably go to the slaughterhouse next spring to make room for the new babies. If I can't sell them, that is.

Giselle had science camp yesterday and today. The subject was "CSI: Prestonsburg" and they had to solve the murder of Elmo. They played with fingerprints, hair samples, blood types, and different reagents. She had fun...but she didn't pick the killer. She thought Animal had done it. Turns out Elmo was offed by the Cookie Monster.

The girls had Cinderella rehearsals yesterday. I was bored, so I walked the 1.5 mile nature trail that skirts the lake. I had been wanting to do that for a while, and finally said, what the hay. I'm glad I did, 'cause it was beautiful and peaceful. I now plan on going on the walk every rehearsal until Cinderella is over.

And since I mentioned Cinderella, in the last 24 hours, we sold 4 more tickets and an ad for the program. That means that we have sold our required allotment of tickets (20; 10 per girl) and have only one more ad to sell.

I started stripping the old paint off the swing and discovered that I need LOTS more paint remover than I thought I did.

The storm knocked down a whole section of our corn plants. I'm going to shock them and chop them for fodder this weekend.

And did I mention we've been getting rain? And the ground is saturated? And the hills are somewhat steep? And I was sitting at the dining room table at 2:09 this afternoon, watching The Daily Show on the computer, when I hear pop, Pop, POP, POP, CRASH!! At the first pop, I looked out the back window to see what was making the noise, and saw the tree tops moving right behind the barn. By the second Pop, I was out of my seat, headed for the door. By the CRASH, I was on the porch and rounding the corner of the house. I was afraid a tree was going to land square on the barn and kill the goats! A huge tree came down but it missed our barn by about 6". It took out the back fence on the boy's side, though. Victor had to chainsaw it off the fence this evening so we could wire-tie the fence back together for a temporary fix. I have to thank God for saving the barn, though. Because looking at where the roots pulled out of the hill and how it should have fallen, there is no reason it should have missed the barn.

And that is what I've been doing for the last 24 hours. Here's hoping your lives are a bit calmer!

Busy, Busy

2009-06-17T22:08:00.003-04:00

Summer has kicked off in earnest. And we are busier than a one-legged man in an...well, you know the rest of the saying.

I found the perfect swing for the grape arbor at a local antique shop this week, structurally in great shape, for only $50 . It was originally painted white, then green, then red, then blue-grey, and is currently a half-hearted yellow, with all of the above showing through. But other than the retched paint job, it is perfect! This weekend I plan to strip the old paint off, primer it, and then paint it white to match the arbor. Hopefully by next week it will be hanging on its new chains in its place of honor among the grape vines.

Life is running me ragged this summer. There's Cinderella rehearsals 3x per week until late July, Science camp a couple times per week for one or the other girl for the next 5 weeks, and reading group on Wednesdays. Add to that the standard Library-on-Thursday trip, and the Wednesday evening Spaghetti dinner for the week's Mission group. We're up at 6 a.m. to milk, home at 8 p.m. to milk, but between those times, it seems like we're never home anymore.

The garden is beginning to show the neglect it's getting. My pepper plants are drowning in weeds, the tomatoes are fighting the creeping grass, and the beans have some sort of tall, woody type weed trying to take over. The potatoes are stressed from all the rain we've been getting. I have to get time for the garden soon, because the beans are almost ready to pick, and the new potatoes need to be dug. If only it would stop raining for a few minutes!

Sophie the cat had her litter of kittens Monday. It was an oops pregnancy: we had put turned her into an outside kitty because she couldn't figure out the function of a litter box and insisted on "doing her business" on our beds (Ewww!) and I has thought she was too young to breed yet. I had planned to take her in and have her fixed, but she got pregnant before I got her in. So for the last month, she has lived in our bathroom while we waited for the kittens to be born. She had 4 solid black babies. Haven't sexed them yet; don't want to stress her. They are too cute!

I've been working on my Feta lately. I've finally mastered basic vinegar cheese, and have moved on to brine-aging it. The first batch, I added too much salt to the brine (1/4 cup for 2 cups of boiled water). Had to throw that batch out. The next batch I added too little salt (1 TBSP for 2 cups of water), and the cheese kinda fell apart in the brine. Tonight I'm starting another batch, and hopefully I will get the brine right this time. I'm going with 2 TBSP salt for 2 cups water this time. If I get the proportions right, it'll be on to taste testing it, and seeing how well it ages. My goal is to be able to put up enough Feta next year that I don't have to buy any cheese from the stores at all. I'll know if I got it right by next week. If I get it right, I'm moving on to butter-making.

Speaking of which, the curds have almost cooled enough to drain, so I'm going to get them hanging and go to bed. Until next time...

This is a joke, right?

2009-06-12T09:57:00.006-04:00

I have been running my patoot off lately, between Cinderella rehearsals, feeding visiting Mission groups, Dr. visits, and Lawyers.

Lawyers? you say. Again? you say. What kind of social deviant is this Kentucky Hollers person? you say. Social deviant tendencies aside, I do believe I am going to enjoy this particular round of Lawyerism, because I have caught the State of Kentucky with its proverbial pants down. Hahahaha! I love the smell of Constitutional challenges in the morning.

It seems that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in the state of Kentucky has decided that it is outside of the court's jurisdiction. And that is a direct quote. From their Lawyer to my Lawyer. "We are outside the court's jurisdiction." Excuse me, but this being America, last I checked NO ONE was outside of the court's jurisdiction (I'm purposefully ignoring Dick Cheney). And the last thing you want to tell a Lawyer is that you are outside the court's jurisdiction. Makes their eyes bug out and turns their face red. Not pretty, kinda scary, but humorous in a sick, twisted way.

See, the CHFS filed that abuse/neglect charge against Victor and me. And the Judge said, No, this is just a dependency case. No abuse. Final judgment, smack the gavel, everyone goes home, life goes on...

...except that CHFS doesn't work that way. None of that namby-pamby legal appeal stuff for them, no siree. They have decided, bless their pointy little heads, that they can disregard the Judge's final verdict if they don't like it, and RETRY abuse charges with their OWN judge to get the result THEY want. Or they put your name on a statewide registry as a child abuser. Because they say so. And if you ever need a background check for, oh, say, volunteering at your child's school, or teaching Sunday School, or working in a daycare, or adopting, etc., your name pops up as a child abuser and you are DENIED. Doesn't matter what the Judge ruled, because CHFS is "outside the court's jurisdiction."

My Lawyer had never heard of this. I did some calling. He did some calling. Turns out that if you have EVER been accused of child abuse, even if you were innocent, even if the judge dismissed the case, even if no one took your child, YOU ARE OFFICIALLY REGISTERED AS A CHILD ABUSER. You are on the list. Which means that to keep your name off the list, you have to be re-tried, on the SAME charges, represented by a Lawyer (the same one, in my case), in front of a Judge approved by CHFS, by a CHFS-paid prosecuting Attorney. Can you say "Kangaroo Court", boys and girls? I knew you could!

I know they don't teach the Constitution in schools anymore, but everyone who has ever watched one of those legal-type shows on TV has heard of the term "Double Jeopardy." In civil cases, double jeopardy is called "Res Judicata". In America, according to the 5th amendment to our Constitution, you can not be tried TWICE for the SAME offense, once a final judgment has been entered in a case. But the State of Kentucky, in the form of the Kentucky State Cabinet for Health and Family Services, has decided that they don't have to follow the Constitution. They don't have to pay attention to silly things like verdicts and Rule of Law if they don't want to, because they are "outside of the court's jurisdiction".

If anyone reading this lives in Kentucky, and knows anyone who has ever been charged with abuse/neglect that has been found innocent by a Judge or has had the charges dismissed, you may want to notify them of this, and tell them to talk to a Lawyer. Or call any Lawyers you know and let them know about this (but see if you can be present when they call to check, 'cause the eye-bug-out thing is too funny!) And Yes, I have called State Representative Ben Chandler, State Senator Hubert Collins, and the ACLU (talk about getting into bed with the Devil, but we won't go there right now) and am awaiting paperwork/call-backs. I am hoping the ACLU takes the case, since it affects all defendants in CHFS lawsuits in KY for who knows how long (Disclaimer: I'm not praying for them to take this case, since I don't think the ACLU allows that...OK, I am praying, but don't tell them)

So if you're bored, and you want an interesting conversation, call the Cabinet of Health and Family Services in Frankfort 502-564-6621 (talk to Trisha; she's funny when she says things like, "We're outside of the court's jurisdiction" and "County court decisions don't apply to State agencies". I laughed, anyway) or their Attorney David Adams 606-788-7108 (he's the one who made my Lawyer's eyes bug out). And just for giggles, if you're in another state, you may want to check and make sure this applies only to Kentucky by calling your state's version of CHFS. 'Cause you never know, you might have made the list, too, just like me, that social deviant, Kentucky Hollers.

Lives, Fortune, and Sacred Honor

2009-06-05T12:10:00.003-04:00

It's been raining here. And raining. And some more rain. And it's cold. Which is my whiny way of saying I haven't been doing much around the farm here (when it's cold, damp, and dark, I kinda go into hibernation mode by default). So instead of relating what I've been doing lately, I'm going to relate what I've been thinking.

You may want to skip this post. It's kinda political.

Still with me? OK, here goes. The 4th of July, Independence Day, is coming up soon. This is one holiday that I fully agree with. My ancestors came over here looking for freedom, and were willing to fight in order that their descendants would remain free. They fought to give this country to us. My Great-great-great-great-grandfather fought in the Revolution. My Great-great grandfather fought in the War between the States. My Great-grandfather fought in WWI. My Grand-father fought in WWII. My uncle fought in Vietnam. They were all ready to defend this country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And even though (for the most part) Quakers have not "lived by the sword", we are still willing to risk everything to fight for freedom and equality for all.

Which brings me to what I've been thinking and what I have decided to do. The current flag of these Unites States represents a Federal Government that is skirting the edge of being a "domestic enemy" (and sometimes I think they've actually gone over the cliff, but that's just me). Now, I'm not picking on any one politician in particular, so don't go gettin' your Irish up. I'm talking about the Government as an entity. And flying Old Glory seems a bit too much to me like condoning the Government's actions. But I want to recognize those who fought to free us, who pledged their "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor" to declare us free. I want to celebrate We, the People. And I didn't know how to resolve my dilemma.

And then the girls' father sent an old book of Civil War songs to us that he picked up at a Goodwill. I had heard of these songs, but had never actually heard them before. And one of the songs in it was The Bonnie Blue Flag.

Me being me, I, of course, Googled it. I listened to it, and then looked up it's history. anyflag.com had this to say:

The first recorded use of the lone star flag dates to 1810. On September 11, 1810 a troop of West Florida dragoons set out for the provincial capitol at Baton Rouge under this flag. They were joined by other republican forces and captured Baton Rouge, imprisoned the Governor and on September 23, 1810 raised their Bonnie Blue flag over the Fort of Baton Rouge. Three days later the president of the West Florida Convention, signed a Declaration of Independence and the flag became the emblem of a new republic. By December 10, the flag of the United States replaced the Bonnie Blue after President Madison issued a proclamation declaring West Florida under the jurisdiction of the Governor of the Louisiana Territory. With this rebellion in mind, this flag was used by the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1839. On January 9, 1861 the convention of the People of Mississippi adopted an Ordinance of Secession. With this announcement the Bonnie Blue flag was raised over the capitol building in Jackson. Harry McCarthy was so inspired that he wrote a song entitled "The Bonnie Blue Flag" which became the second most popular patriotic song of the Confederacy. The Confederate government did not adopt this flag but the people did and the lone star flags were adopted in some form in five of the southern States that adopted new flags in 1861.

I was amused by the fact that General Butler of New Orleans was so threatened by this song (and one assumes, the flag also) that he arrested and fined the publisher of the song, destroyed all copies of the music and fined anyone caught singing or even whistling the tune. And I especially like the first verse of the song:

We are a band of brothers and native to the soil
Fighting for our Liberty, With treasure, blood and toil
And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!

The Bonnie Blue Flag was the People's flag. The South risked their "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor" to fight for what they felt was right, just as the Patriots did in the Revolution. So, even though Southern rights are no longer necessarily what all the fussing is about (which statement will be respectfully disagreed with by most Southerners), currently the rights of the Individual States are under attack, and We, the People of these United States, need to stand up and defend them. And so, this Independence Day, at my house we will be flying The Bonnie Blue Flag.

Then here's to our Confederacy, strong we are and brave,
like patriots of old we'll fight, our heritage to save;
And rather than submit to shame, to die we would prefer,
So cheer for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.