What's everybody doing today?

[sonya123]

Well the results of my in-person work last week has been interesting. I met with a lot of people I work with virtually on a daily basis. This week I am getting reports that a large number of the people who I met with came down with COVID over the weekend. So far only the people who were not wearing masks have come down with it, fingers crossed.

hmmmm... that makes me wonder if I did have covid after all...I haven't worn a mask since 2020 plus have made no effort to not get it othewise either. we have been around a lot of people last week also

 

[sonya123]

View attachment 88719This is Bear!! What a sweet, loving boy!!! He met Burberry the deer already and liked her. Also likes the kitties! Never been in a house before, hubby carried him in after 40 minutes in the back yard. Once inside he made himself at home! Already learned "sit", and "shake"! Can't believe he is here!!

Nice looking dog, but lol not a puppy....I am getting an actual puppy 8 weeks old so there will have to be lots of training . Good luck with yours!

 

[Morgan101]

and he told me that he just lost 100K (on paper) with his 401k being hit hard

Thank you all for all your kind thoughts. This is my concern as well. You watch what it has taken you 50 years to save get wiped out in a few months, and you have no way to get it back, and you don't have the time to make more.

 

[Tommyice]

So I have just gotten over my first real cold in about 5 years. Pretty sure it was not covid felt like a regular cold for me, very runny nose, sore throat, dripping eyes, sneezing, tired , headache before it started
I tried to ignore it and work anyway but felt like crap Sunday and spent half a day in bed sleeping . Did not take anything for it and felt better yesterday, so far ok today

I wanted to pick up my new puppy, German Shepherd, this week but now it will wait until next .

been watching something I think is really awesome on youtube, this video of this old couple in Azerbajan ( former Soviet country) homesteading and cooking things.

I am going to clean the house today if I feel up to it, plus laundry . Husband is getting more hay

A cold is just how I would describe the covid I had at the beginning of May. I would not have known it was covid if I didn't have to do a test because of an exposure at my job. Tested my dad because I'm always around him. He had it but swore it was allergies.

I joked at work I would like to travel back in time about 3 years with one of those q-tip tests with me and see what the results of cold back then would say.

 

[Tommyice]

Thank you all for all your kind thoughts. This is my concern as well. You watch what is has taken you 50 years to save get wiped out in a few months, and you have no way to get it back, and you don't have the time to make more.

Congratulations on the retirement! I'm pea-green with envy. 2,215 more days for me.

Maybe now is the time to talk to an advisor about how to move things around to make it more safe.

 

[Morgan101]

Maybe now is the time to talk to an advisor about how to move things around to make it more safe.

I would strongly recommend finding a good financial advisor. We use Morgan Stanley, and have been very happy, but there are many others. They should begin with a questionnaire to determine your investment strategy/philosophy. You will get a rating somewhere between aggressive and conservative. Your age and retirement plans will all be part of it. The financial advisor should design a balanced portfolio to accomplish your goals. I really like the guy I have and wish I had found him five years sooner. My portfolio has grown very nicely under his guidance. IMHO you still have time to be a little more aggressive rather than pruning things into more conservative vehicles, which usually means lower returns, but by all means, discuss it thoroughly with an advisor.

 

[sonya123]

here is one of the episodes of the homesteaders , I love the end where they cook for the animals too but the chicken dish looks good

laundry done, house about to be cleaned

 

[snappy1]

what a great looking pup!!

Sure looks sweet, Pearl!

I am going to clean the house today if I feel up to it, plus laundry .

Hope you don't over do it, Sonya. and I look forward to seeing your pup!
Hi! @Spikedriver ! Hope you get some rest and have a nice few days off!

Already walked, fed dogs and voted in run off this morning.
Harvested in garden.
Now have 6 quarts of squash PCing.
Next will go pick blueberries.
Cut up watermelon.
Make Zucchini roll ups- like lasagna roll ups and freeze for this weekend.
Have to give Oreo pills tonight to sedate him for tomorrow's vet trip. We are truly hoping it goes better than last time. Please pray for him and us!

 

[Plainflatlander]

It was a great day to work on The Ridge garden. What I found was disappointing. Not the lush garden I was hoping for.

View attachment 88732

Broccoli torn up by cabbage worms. Should have covered the chicken wire with deer netting.

View attachment 88733

All of the sunflowers topped by deer.

View attachment 88734

Bambi also nibbed the tops of the potatoes

View attachment 88736

And the wild turkey get into the devastation with their nests. See the turkey feathers.

View attachment 88737

And if the feathers are not enough evidence the young turkey skeleton confirms they are nesting in my garden boxes.

View attachment 88738

So what survived the wild life?

Potatoes walking onions and pumpkins.

So I weeded what was left using the chop and drop to mulch the beds.

One more note.
Fruit trees have few fruits. May be due to scarse rain.

But even with all of that stuff any day working on The Ridge is a great day.

Ben

Interesting you should say few fruits on fruit trees. Same here, our pears and peaches were loaded last year, this year minimal fruit

 

[Spikedriver]

Interesting you should say few fruits on fruit trees. Same here, our pears and peaches were loaded last year, this year minimal fruit

We were so dry last year that the apples and pears didn't do so well but we're heading into July with good soil moisture this year. If we get any kind of decent rains through July and August the corn, soybeans, and fall fruits should do exceptionally well this year..

 

[Tommyice]

Interesting you should say few fruits on fruit trees. Same here, our pears and peaches were loaded last year, this year minimal fruit

Two of my fruit trees are very new and have nothing (nothing is what I expected), two are a couple of years old and there is 1 apple. The older apple (maybe 7 years) had a total of 8. Now there are only 4. Squirrels thought it was time to pick. Boy were they ever wrong.

My berry bushes, on the other hand, have and are very productive. Strawberries, blueberries and red raspberries.

 

[Amish Heart]

Did animal chores, then into the bigger town with husband and sat and waited for his allergy shots. Then to the park in the town to meet up with little granddaughter's mom and the boyfriend for her visit. Brought a picnic, too, and ate that in the truck. Sat for two hours. Brought my mending and forgot to bring a needle. Cooked up hamburger patties to put in the freeze dryer. Need to go water the garden, but am having a cup of coffee first. Wiped out from too much sitting.

 

[Neb]

I weeded the raspberry patch today. We talked last night about completely replacing all of the soil next year. The Johnson grass is taking too much time to keep under control. That Paypal was never planned and just sorta happened.

The elderberries are the best they have ever been.

Last year they were smaller and the deer got at them. The question is if the birds will eat the berries.

Can anyone advise if I should cover them with deer netting?

Ben

 

[Grimm]

Grrrrrrrr!

So K got a promotion at work (back up to where he was before they started making cuts during the 'scandemic' but with a pay raise). We had talked a while ago about if this happened how this would effect our move. K said we would move on schedule in November.

"Yeaaaaaah. I'm going to need an extra year to pull my own weight helping get ready for the move."

So it looks like we are staying until November 2023. Not what I want. So I am still plugging along getting rid of junk and pairing down our stuff.

I am also working on our rabbitry. I did keep one of the kits. Not one I mentioned before as 2 of the three on my short list turned out to be bucks and the third was a runt of epic proportions. I kept the doe with the sweetest personality and was the fastest to grow out. I am working at getting some bigger grow out runs since we have another doe and I can only guess how many kits she could have.

 

[Neb]

Grrrrrrrr!

So K got a promotion at work (back up to where he was before they started making cuts during the 'scandemic' but with a pay raise). We had talked a while ago about if this happened how this would effect our move. K said we would move on schedule in November.

"Yeaaaaaah. I'm going to need an extra year to pull my own weight helping get ready for the move."

So it looks like we are staying until November 2023. Not what I want. So I am still plugging along getting rid of junk and pairing down our stuff.

I am also working on our rabbitry. I did keep one of the kits. Not one I mentioned before as 2 of the three on my short list turned out to be bucks and the third was a runt of epic proportions. I kept the doe with the sweetest personality and was the fastest to grow out. I am working at getting some bigger grow out runs since we have another doe and I can only guess how many kits she could have.

View attachment 88782

Take the money and run.

Take advantage and create a schedule of action items to achieve the move with minimal disruption.

Moving is rated up there with death of a loved one and divorce as stressful life events. Take advantage and thrive and just not survive the path ahead.

What say you?

Ben

 

[Grimm]

Take the money and run.

Take advantage and create a schedule of action items to achieve the move with minimal disruption.

Moving is rated up there with death of a loved one and divorce as stressful life events. Take advantage and thrive and just not survive the path ahead.

What say you?

Ben

If I can get the bulk of the moving prep done I think K will jump on the bandwagon. We are use to moving. Since marrying in 2006 we have moved 9 times. I think K is scared of moving out of state since he does next to nothing related to transferring his book to the new union or getting the info to do so.

I know we can't keep surviving here as everything is next to unaffordable. I told K we should just bite the bullet and buy a motorhome. Rent would be cheaper for a space and when we move we could just move to a park and pay space rent until we can buy some land.

 

[Bacpacker]

Well the results of my in-person work last week has been interesting. I met with a lot of people I work with virtually on a daily basis. This week I am getting reports that a large number of the people who I met with came down with COVID over the weekend. So far only the people who were not wearing masks have come down with it, fingers crossed. The other thing I find interesting is that the cases are not being reported as part of the organizations COVID-19 tracking. I think organizationally they want to push in-person work and they can't do that if all their in-person meetings result in a COVID outbreak...

The politics of today are "be transparent" but don't report any bad news.

My perspectives have changes some: masks do help a little, the government is in full cover up mode, and it there is a future emergency the government will not admit it until it is completely out of control....

We've been at work mostly right thru the entire thing at the lab, our department anyway. Things had been very quite, but the last 2 weeks have seen an increase in cases. Friday guy in the office next to mine called in with the vid. This week 3 others have hit, one of them my boss that worked yesterday coughing his head off. As of 3pm we may have at least 1 more that had just got tested. Things are getting tight at other buildings too. I have a big meeting off site tomorrow that I am going to try and get them to let me do on Teams. Last time I met with this group there was about 15 folks in the room.

 

[Amish Heart]

Feeling for you, Grimm. My husband put me off for three years about moving. And we had our move to place already. He just didn't want to retire. Then our daughter wanted to go for her MD, and there was that expense. But basically he was worried about retiring, complained about the lack of diversity and culture. Ha. Where we lived was becoming a nightmare. He is healthier now that we've moved, he gets outside more. Not much crime where we live, and crime has gone up so much where we were. Our son still lives there and has had his second catalytic converter stolen. Once was in his work parking lot, this time at home. He now admits how much better it is for the grandkids, but getting him to move was ridiculous.

 

[Pearl]

Good to see you Grimm!!

 

[Peanut]

That was easy! Somehow dad knocked the bull pen gate off it’s hinges. He called at 9pm to tell me. I was curious as to why he was out there after dark. Oh! He did it this afternoon and thought he’d got it back on the pins. They went out, came home at 9pm the gate had fallen over.

I did rehang the gate, needs tweaking though. Shame, I’d just put it up a month ago, 240 degrees of travel and it’d stay at any position you put it. I have no idea how dad knocked it off the hinge pins.

Of course the bull calf was gone, no where to be found. I came back inside, knew he’d turn up. 15 minuets later I heard Sam barking, he'd found the calf. I walked up to the calf talking to him then walked right past him. I didn’t have a bucket or feed but he began following me.

Anyway, Sam brought up the rear. made sure the calf kept moving. I walked the calf right in the corral and shut that gate.

The calf is solid black, hard to see at night. He must have been in the garden. Sam heard or saw him. Knew he wasn’t where he’s supposed to be and told the world about it. Sam’s got really good herding instincts, he’s helped me out before. He is a german shepherd after all.

That was the evenings entertainment…

Today I went to town for a few items and lunch. Went plant hunting on the way home, a good day.

 

[zannej]

Inresponse, I'm glad you figured out what happened. I'm guessing that when the cover was secured it must have pushed the wires back up against that sharp screw. I'm very glad the breaker tripped. An electrical fire would have been very bad. Are the charred wires able to be salvaged?
Bird/critter proofing is a good idea!

My brain is not wanting to cooperate with me. Been tired still. Will need to see what my thyroid levels are soon.

Dogs are out (in my room) because its cooler at night and I was hoping they would go outside but they don't like being outdoors much. In the morning I need to go to Samsclub but they say they are out of the water and out of the cat food I get. Can't even have it shipped.

 

[UrbanHunter]

We've been at work mostly right thru the entire thing at the lab, our department anyway. Things had been very quite, but the last 2 weeks have seen an increase in cases. Friday guy in the office next to mine called in with the vid. This week 3 others have hit, one of them my boss that worked yesterday coughing his head off. As of 3pm we may have at least 1 more that had just got tested. Things are getting tight at other buildings too. I have a big meeting off site tomorrow that I am going to try and get them to let me do on Teams. Last time I met with this group there was about 15 folks in the room.

Yep, my folks down there are reporting about 50% that were at my meetings went back to TN and tested positive this week. Trouble is we had people in from all 4 corners of the nation and many of them had other conferences planned for this week. With all of them flying in and out I could see how this could quickly snowball. Stay safe and well my friend. FYI - I woke up with what feels like a sinus headache. They are not tracking the cases back to the event because that would put the brakes on in-person conferences. I had a required work trip to the EU for September, but I was able to get them to switch it to a teams/hybrid meeting this week.

 

[Plainflatlander]

Two of my fruit trees are very new and have nothing (nothing is what I expected), two are a couple of years old and there is 1 apple. The older apple (maybe 7 years) had a total of 8. Now there are only 4. Squirrels thought it was time to pick. Boy were they ever wrong.

My berry bushes, on the other hand, have and are very productive. Strawberries, blueberries and red raspberries.

our blueberries and blackberries and raspberries all look great also. Will be picking raspberries after work today.

 

[Pearl]

Trying to get my schedule back on track after the unforseen new addition (Bear). Need to get my truck (cleaning supplies) in order. Got everybody fed except the donkey, heading that way in a minute. Going to be home today, doing some laundry and a little house cleaning. Got Bear a pool for his yard near my pool, so hoping to catch a little float time, been missing that the past couple of days!

 

[joel]

Staying in out of the rain, may harvest vegetables after lunch.

 

[sonya123]

cleaned the house and did all the laundry yesterday. I also picked a bucket of peaches and sorted out the sort of bad ones ( bird pecked mostly) and made peach preserves out of it. Didn't can them it was only 2 jars. Roasted some peanuts to try and make peanut butter. ANyone try this?

Husband lost his keys getting hay , no idea where they went. He said he looked all around the truck and no keys. Good thing he had a spare in the truck . So no extra keys, mine where on there also. This is going to be yet another expensive hassle he caused by being careless.......*sigh*
Going to look for the keys again today ( with me) and then starting the process to get them replaced. I wished once again we were still in the 80s where you could go to the home depot and get an extra set of car keys made!!!!!
Also going to do some shopping
Planted pumpkin seeds this morning, plus collards, hope it's not too late already.

 

[goshengirl]

The elderberries are the best they have ever been.

The elderberries (wild) are amazing in my area this year - more blooms than I've ever seen.
Kinda makes me wonder if it's nature's way of saying "You're going to need me."
I'm thinking I should plan to make a lot of elderberry syrup for the fall....

 

[snappy1]

Walked early this morning.
Fed dogs and finished sedating Oreo.
Took him to the vet. Everyone survived with no injuries (not for lack of trying) DH took Oreo home.
I went to Walmart and Thrift stores.
Home and cut up jalapenos to make candied jalapenos tomorrow.
Have Bible study later. Getting a little rain today.

 

[INresponse]

Inresponse, I'm glad you figured out what happened. I'm guessing that when the cover was secured it must have pushed the wires back up against that sharp screw. I'm very glad the breaker tripped. An electrical fire would have been very bad. Are the charred wires able to be salvaged?
Bird/critter proofing is a good idea!

You are correct, snugging everything in with the cover caused the short. I had to drop the section of plywood and remove the staple I had holding the wire to the truss and that gave me enough extra to cut off the bad and made a good connection. Technically the inspector wanted a staple within 6 inches of the box but the wires are stapled to the truss farther up just inside the house enclosure so they are not going anywhere. I thought long and hard, for a good 3 or 4 minutes of installing a box and splicing the wire but decided against it. The wire is up and away from the plywood about 3 inches and when I get around to installing some sort of decorative cover over the plywood it wont be with any fasteners longer than 1 inch at most. It's closed up now, my final electrical inspection was a long time ago, and no one will know of this minor adjustment but me. Oh, and all of you. Shhhhh, it's a secret.

 

[INresponse]

Just watched the older-ish movie Last Of The Dogmen. It has been years since I watched it so decided to check for a DVD. Scored one for $10 on Amazon, along with the movie Purgatory. I have looked for both of those DVD's many times and finally found them available.
The company we buy our horse feed pellets from called and offered to deliver our order today because he was coming this way with another order so we moved the last of what we had out of the storage area and got the new tote delivered and set in place. I asked about their hay supply and he said they just received many truck loads of hay and their storage yard is completely full. That is a good thing considering the shortage of hay in many areas and the drought that is causing problems in the west/southwest.
Weather morons are guessing a 20% chance of rain for us this evening, but I have serious doubts. Monsoon season has started but there is very little moisture in the air and even less moisture on the ground. For the desert southwest if there is no moisture in the air the sun has to evaporate moisture from the ground during the heat of the day in order for it to build up into clouds and allow a chance of rain. We just don't have the moisture in this area. Some small clouds form up and may spit out a bit of water in isolated areas but unless some moisture blows in from the coast we are literally sitting high and dry. Our only hope that I can see in the future is a couple storms growing off the western shore of Mexico. They need to build and turn north and then east towards San Diego and then pushed up towards northern Arizona and southern Utah. One can hope. I wont hold my breath.