What's everybody doing today?

[Amish Heart]

Spent the morning waiting with little granddaughter at the clinic in the bigger town. Thought it was an ear infection. Bummer it's covid. So she'll be home from school this week. But she's got lots of craft stuff, and a paint by number farm scene to work on.

 

[LadyLocust]

Left Friday morning - got to see some new roads. I was a little apprehensive about the weekend. August is a difficult time to leave let alone 2 weekends in a row. The weekend turned out better than I anticipated which was nice but now have so much to do and am so far behind. Returned yesterday about 3pm. Got home and didn't even go in the house but began watering everything. Had dinner with friends who are in town for doctors to go to at 6. This morning: 2 loads of laundry, a cabbage on the dehydrator, took HB out for dinner tonight, getting things put away from the trailer, trying to find the kitchen, got dishes done, I'm tired.
Ordered the plastic sheeting things for on my big dehydrator so I can dice onions. USPS at its finest: left Ohio, made it to WA, then a different city in WA farther away, then Luxenberg, KY, then back to WA and supposedly now out for delivery. We shall see.
At work now - getting things ready for month's end which makes that go smoother (more efficiently) since it's a holiday weekend.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

I just dump the diced onions on the screens. I find they stay put well enough.

I looked into the solid sheets but enough sheets for two dehydrators with shipping would have been around $400.00 here. I ended up buying some 14"pizza pans for $4.00 each and dry my eggs on those.

 

[Neb]

It was very hot today so I opted to avoid it and as much inside as I could. Did harvest more elderberries dirt.

We had a deal that I could get a greenhouse if I finished The Hobbit hole for The Princess. She switched the order so I spent the day doing work related to The Hobbit hole.

One issue that I need to address is the water heater.

It got red tagged by the gas company claiming not enough draft. Rather spend a lot of time and money on it I am going to install an electric water heater so I don't need a flue. So I put together a plan to get it done. Rhen started reading the install directions.

Kept me out of the heat.

Ben

 

[DrJenner]

Spent yesterday finishing up grinding down stumps then went to a friends for dinner.
Today we have been building a pen for the dogs, pounding down metal poles. One was propped up on a tree and fell over hitting my back and slicing my skin open.
Bleeding pretty good but we have stuff to clean and I’ll have my hubs suture it if it’s that bad. Thankfully tetanus is up to date.

Tomorrow I need to do laundry and go grocery shopping. Hopefully Wednesday will be a down day where I can just relax. I start an 8 day work stretch on Thursday over Labor Day weekend. Those are always interesting

 

[Peanut]

Busy day, took a hydraulic line off the tractor that was leaking. I had a new one made at my cousins shop, only $30, not bad. I bought some logging chain and got lunch. Picked up 50gallons of fuel for the shop.

When I got home the county road engineer was here. I’d called last week about water draining issue at the end of the driveway. Water off the hill from the shop is supposed to go east through the culvert under my drive. Instead it had punched a hole under the highway and was draining south… a highway collapse is just waiting to happen. He said he’d be back with a crew by the end of the week. They are going to pump the hole under the road full of some kind of special mud. Supposed to fill and seal the hole. They are also going to dig out the culvert under my driveway and replace it if needed, at least clean it out.

He also talked about bring several loads of red clay to dump on the other side of the highway. I happen to need a load of red clay to stop a leaky basement wall. He’s going to bring me a load. This is alabama, red clay is everywhere but it’s nice if someone dumps it in a pile for me.

Next I got the hydraulic hose put back on the tractor. Checked the fluid levels, all good. I saw the leak within a couple seconds of it starting and shut off the engine. No measurable loss of hydraulic oil.

Dad had got the old tractor out of the shed for some reason while I was gone. It promptly ran out of fuel (diesel). I got that fixed. When dad changed the fuel filter recently he didn’t get both rubber sealing rings on correctly, only one. The other one allowed all the fuel in the tank to drip out slowly. So now no more leak and the tank is full of fuel.

This next one… looking for opinions. A few months ago a young man stopped one evening about dark. He had his son with him. He was offering handy man services. He didn’t seem to be a drunk or a druggie but who knows these days. Frankly I lost his number, looked for it not long ago for a little project I have in mind.

Last night he ran out of gas in front of my house, he and his wife in a little Subaru car. Get this… somewhere he’d gotten a small funny shaped trailer. It was an old trailer used by funeral homes. The one with a boom for lowering a vault lid onto the grave.

Here this young man is… 9 oclock at night, out of gas and a couple small logs he’d gotten somewhere. He was using the funeral home trailer to pick up logs and haul them to the sawmill. Ingenious! It works perfectly for logging. Anyway, he gave me his number again and I had a 1/2 gallon of lawnmower gas I gave him.

I’ve posted recently about skidding out some trees for burning. I mentioned them to this young man. He said he’d cut them up, pile the brush, haul them to the sawmill 2 miles down the road AND split the money with me, price of the logs.

I’m thinking of giving him the logs just for cleaning up all the brush… thoughts. I was going to burn them...

Normally I wouldn't trust a stranger no matter the age. But this young man is trying so hard to earn honest money… the logs he had last night were 2 year old oak. One had mushrooms growing on the bark. Garbage wood but still worth a couple bucks, not the sort of thing a thief or druggie would steal.

Anyway, this kid has impressed me. I’ve seen this guy twice, both times he was out working after hours to feed his family.

 

[Patchouli]

Sorry you got hurt, @DrJenner That sounds like it hurt really bad.
I'm tired from our little get away. Learned a lot, did not care for the new tent, hope I can find my old one under all that cracken in the garage. I'm not used to being out in the middle of nowhere and hearing coyotes approaching and yipping, so # me chicken.
Have you ever heard pow wow drums all night? Yeah, apparently me neither. Thought it was, but no, it was pump jacks in different areas and the sound travels for miles.

I kept thinking they are definitely on the warpath, begging for rain, or hoping I leave soon.

 

[Patchouli]

@Peanut if you're feeling prompted to give him what you're calling garbage wood and to help him out in other ways, you do it. It does sound like he is trying to progress without being a slacker.

 

[snappy1]

I just dump the diced onions on the screens. I find they stay put well enough.

I looked into the solid sheets but enough sheets for two dehydrators with shipping would have been around $400.00 here. I ended up buying some 14"pizza pans for $4.00 each and dry my eggs on those.

I just use parchment paper on top of the normal rack in my Excalibur.

 

[Tommyice]

@Peanut seems to me that God has presented this young man to you not once, but twice. Both times you were given a glimpse into what he is risking and working for--a wife and child. Isn't this drive, ingenuity and willingness to work something we all long see return to our country en masse?

Perhaps maybe he's not being presented to you but you are being presented to him for some reason.

I would never want to completely advise someone what to do--that's a choice we all need to make for ourselves. What does your gut say? Has your intuition steered you wrongly in the past?

If you are inclined to hire him, keep a mindful eye out.

 

[FarmOR]

@Wingnut I like your enticing gym workout substitute. I've had similar fantasy to attract help with my pocket gopher problem: "they are not gophers. They are pokemons! Gotta catch em all!"

 

[sonya123]

Peanut: glad you got your tractor fixed vehicle problems are really annoying
About the young man: be careful, in my experience no good deed goes unpunished....
Hashbrown: nice buds! Mine are about ready for harvesting too
Amish heart: hope you got everything brushhogged. Our property looked like that when we got it. It had waist high cockleburs in all the pastures and trash everywhere, and the barns had 2 feet of muck in it
We paid one of our neighbors to brushhog and he got rash all over himself from the weeds

Yesterday I processed food stuff again. I prepared and froze some green beans, tomatoes, rhubarb, and more zucchini.
Also pulled more weeds out of the garden and transplanted lone plants that volunteered in odd places into areas where there is already stuff growing so I can water them together.
No rain for almost a week! Wow. I am enjoying the dry weather even if I have to water the garden
Today we are picking up meat from the processor, I hope they did what I told them on the phone, usually we fill out a form there but nobody was there to deal with paperwork when we dropped them off. I totally forgot to tell them to put in the organ meats for the dogs.

 

[Magpie]

@Peanut I presume everyone is on the level until they prove otherwise. If he's fit and able, maybe you can barter a bit in small ways, until you build up a bit of trust. Maybe he needs you?

Getting back into an autumn routine here- actually getting some writing done, and sort of settled on what my final projects should be. Also trying to fit a walk in every morning while the weather is good; this resulted in blackberry picking. Youngest two to the dentist this morning, then college registration, and off to the library for research this afternoon, son cooking dinner. I've a week left of visitors, so lists are being made of what's still to be done for the winter.

 

[Weedygarden]

I don't know how to link it on here, but if anyone has facebook, I just saw that Carriage Crossing Restaurant posted photos of our amish parade on their facebook under "posts".
Even saw little granddaughter on the grade school "float".
We went back for music and fireworks and the biggest rainstorm we've seen in forever happened. We all went under the pavillion and waited it out. A few fireworks still went off when it slowed down. Boy, we've really needed this rain

https://www.facebook.com/ccryoder
Looks like there was a large group of people there.

 

[Peanut]

This kitchen is clean… I didn’t finish until after 10pm last night. Finally! it took me 3 nights to wash all the dirty dishes and clean every item in the kitchen… The last 2 weeks were difficult, should have taken 4 days to get those trees dropped and new chicken pen fence done. I’m still not finished. All those wasp stings slowed my work to a crawl. Then I got hit by a nasty little flu for 3days. In the middle of all this a friend insisted I harvest the Usnea from her apple tree. A complicated tincture that used lots of bowls and pans.

My kitchen was a disaster… a 2 week disaster. Everything was dirty. I know it’s bad when the silverware drawer doesn’t even have a clean butter knife. Thank goodness for paper plates! Anyway, my kitchen is functional again.

I made some calls last night about that young guy and the trees. I have friends and kinfolk who live within a mile of him. Better than a fbi background check, those busy bodies will have a complete dossier in a couple days…

Also, he’ll be here after lunch. I have 2 nice pine logs and 2 not so nice ones ready to be cut and pulled out. The tractor is ready and I have a new logging chain. We’ll get the 2 trees by the chicken pen and I’ll let him pile up that brush, should take a couple hours. I’ll see how badly he wants to work, August heat in Alabama tends to weed out fakers. Want to pile brush? Lets see how badly...

 

[Grimm]

Was planning to breed the does this week but with the temperatures hitting triple digits I will wait. I don't want to put my girls through being pregnant and mating in this yucky heat!

I hope the temps cool down by the weekend. I plan to get back out to the garage to do some more heavy purging and cleaning. I really want the garage done and massively cleared out so I can move the rabbits in there during the fall and winter.
I need to make a run to the feed store for more pellets and another bale of hay.

 

[LadyLocust]

Have peaches ready to process when I get home after work & cabbage on the dehydrator. One more round of cabbage and it's finished. Then moving on to onions.
I'm getting tired.

 

[DrJenner]

At the laundromat, got here just in time before the crowd hit.
Need to go grocery shopping afterwards.
I’m really missing having a garden; can’t wait for that for next year! I’m jealous of all of you processing your homegrown food

 

[Mel]

I got my lab results back. I take more of a blended approach to my Hashimoto's. So I do take levothyroxine but I also take herbs, vitamins and minerals and watch what I eat. T4 is now high and she wants me back in 4 weeks to see if it's a fluke. She may change my medicine.

I discovered I like kombucha.

 

[snappy1]

and minerals

Do you take selenium? It's supposed to help the levothyroxine work better.

Walked first.
Went to shell station for gas. Sigh.
Picked up my friend and went to local grocery for sale.
Hit one thrift shop and Dollar General on the way home.
Walked dogs.
Picked okra and figs.
Still have to get dehydrated okra out of dehydrator.
Rest!

 

[Wingnut]

Kombucha drinks are good for ya... all about the gut health. Me beloved & dear departed mum had Hashimoto's, some sort of thyroid-related problem? I don't believe it's hereditary.

Second Goathead War sitrep for the rest of y'all: I waged total war on goathead vines this morning, using hand-pulling techniques, the propane flamethrower, and the Vibram soles of my boots. Pulled or destroyed HUNDREDS of the goldurned weeds, including rafts of young puncturevines just coming up in broad carpets. Best time to torch 'em, you don't use as much propane and the smaller vines quickly shrivel up and die... I filled several Walmart sacks with mature vines, including some colossal numbers in the dirt alley, I must have missed 'em the last time. These things were PRODUCERS, just LOADED with goathead fruit (each fruit turns into 5 actual goatheads), but again, I caught 'em in time.

Now I've showered and I'm enjoying a cold beer, I drank plenty of fluids earlier while waging goathead war... I'm pretty beat from the weeding lately, I didn't even get to pulling more of the other stuff (non-goathead weeds), but there's always tomorrow! As long as I carry on this weeding program and also wage war on goatheads, I will eventually prevail. In fact, I was happy to note that there were less vines to be found throughout my yard, not counting the rafts or carpeted areas of young vines which I burned off. There were enough medium-sized & mature vines to focus upon goatheads today, and I pulled quite a few, which means heaps of future goathead vines were aborted, lol. These miserable goatheads are literally mind-blowing, the way they multiply... one day they will rule the world!

Man, my feet are tired, I'm gonna chill out for the rest of the day and enjoy some cold beer & good food! Probably watch more 'HELL ON WHEELS' episodes later, unless I see something better on the Roku Streaming Stick. Cheers!!!

 

[Mel]

Do you take selenium? It's supposed to help the levothyroxine work better.

Walked first.
Went to shell station for gas. Sigh.
Picked up my friend and went to local grocery for sale.
Hit one thrift shop and Dollar General on the way home.
Walked dogs.
Picked okra and figs.
Still have to get dehydrated okra out of dehydrator.
Rest!

Actually my endocrinologist recommends selenium for all her Hashimoto's patients with a few exceptions. It helps with brain fog too.

 

[Mel]

Kombucha drinks are good for ya... all about the gut health. Me beloved & dear departed mum had Hashimoto's, some sort of thyroid-related problem? I don't believe it's hereditary.

Second Goathead War sitrep for the rest of y'all: I waged total war on goathead vines this morning, using hand-pulling techniques, the propane flamethrower, and the Vibram soles of my boots. Pulled or destroyed HUNDREDS of the goldurned weeds, including rafts of young puncturevines just coming up in broad carpets. Best time to torch 'em, you don't use as much propane and the smaller vines quickly shrivel up and die... I filled several Walmart sacks with mature vines, including some colossal numbers in the dirt alley, I must have missed 'em the last time. These things were PRODUCERS, just LOADED with goathead fruit (each fruit turns into 5 actual goatheads), but again, I caught 'em in time.

Now I've showered and I'm enjoying a cold beer, I drank plenty of fluids earlier while waging goathead war... I'm pretty beat from the weeding lately, I didn't even get to pulling more of the other stuff (non-goathead weeds), but there's always tomorrow! As long as I carry on this weeding program and also wage war on goatheads, I will eventually prevail. In fact, I was happy to note that there were less vines to be found throughout my yard, not counting the rafts or carpeted areas of young vines which I burned off. There were enough medium-sized & mature vines to focus upon goatheads today, and I pulled quite a few, which means heaps of future goathead vines were aborted, lol. These miserable goatheads are literally mind-blowing, the way they multiply... one day they will rule the world!

Man, my feet are tired, I'm gonna chill out for the rest of the day and enjoy some cold beer & good food! Probably watch more 'HELL ON WHEELS' episodes later, unless I see something better on the Roku Streaming Stick. Cheers!!!

I've seen some studies where it could be hereditary, but there are other studies that indicate other things that cause it. In my case, one aunt on Mom's side has it and one aunt on my dad's side has never been tested (that we know of) but shows symptoms. Mom and dad don't have it. My sister shows some symptoms but again has never been tested.

 

[TeeJ]

PT is going well, I can balance on one foot on a 1/2 deflated soccer ball for a full minute which is apparently great progress

Have some family dynamic changes potentially happening that might necessitate selling our home and until recently thought I could probably locate anywhere I wanted and telecommute. Ideally would love somewhere with an extended growing period, low taxes & cheap land. My search has been for 5+ acres (ideally 20+ with infrastructure in place like a re-habable home, barn, well, etc) for under $350K. I've been looking at KY & TN as my middle son & daughter in law have been talking about re-locating there (and are my only hope for grandbabies in the short-term ), TX as my company has a couple of plants there and I could meet bigwigs there, HI because living there is on my bucket list and there is some cheap land to be had, and OR/WA because company HQ is there. Also haven't ruled out selling/storing everything and doing a year or so in a RV seeing the country. Boss called out of the blue last week and indicated they would really love me to relocate to HQ (Vancouver, WA) and indicated there might be a sizeable raise for doing so. It's one of the few places where land's more expensive than Utah so - finding even an acre within an hour drive is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I'm looking at it like an adventure, and like having a lot of options open to me.

Been enjoying the cooler weather this week, although another heat wave is supposed to be coming our way. Been spending a lot of time outside talking to the scrub jays as they harvest my sunflower seeds for me. As noisy as they are, they are really good listeners

 

[Neb]

Trip to Lowes to research the electric water heater. I was concerned because i didn't find a clear picture of the sacrificial anode. I don't have much ceiling clearance and wasn't sure if there was room to replace the anode. Runs out the anode is composed of 6" segments connected with cable. No floor model on display so I will have to wait until I purchase the heater and check the boiler plate to get the proper circuit breaker. Grabbed 10 more buckets for The Princess.

I collected mire grape vine cuttings and stuffed them in pot. The cuttings in the cloning station are looking good. I have had better results starting with hard wood dormant cuttings.

The fig cutting are looking good putting on new growth.

I may be getting the water heater tomorrow.

Ben

 

[Spikedriver]

I had a heart stopping moment after work today.

I had just gotten back to the hotel and sat down when my ex wife called me. That would be the first tip that something isn't right. But when I answered her first words were, "Before I say anything else, just know that she's ok".

I hate when the conversation starts like that. Just tell me what happened!

My daughter, who turned 16 in July and has had her driver's license for less than 3 weeks, was in an accident. She is shook up but ok. She was driving my Equinox to give her friend a ride home from school. Apparently she did all the right things, slowed down for a yield sign and proceeded with caution to the intersection of two city streets. But there was an old man driving his 1999 S-10 pickup across her path, who didn't have to stop. Neither my daughter or her friend saw him. She hit him behind his rear tire. It was a low speed collision and the bags didn't blow. It took the lower front fascia off my Equinox, pushed the upper fascia into the hood, and shoved the left front fender back into the driver's door. The car is perfectly drivable for now, all the lights and signals weren't damaged. But she can't get in through the driver's door. We'll have to see if it's totaled or not. I'm guessing it will be.

The responding officer did not give her a ticket and didn't assign fault. It appears that the old man driving the pickup was speeding. Whatever happened, I've got to prepare for a hike in my insurance rates now and maybe have to get a different car. But, my little girl is ok and the other guy is fine too. That's the most important thing. Now I have to convince her I'm not going to hate her for wrecking the car. She's afraid to talk to me...

 

[Bacpacker]

Hate to hear that. But does have good news in it. Glad she's ok.

 

[Peanut]

I had a heart stopping moment after work today.

My daughter, who turned 16 in July and has had her driver's license for less than 3 weeks, was in an accident. She is shook up but ok.

I understand, my teenagers are 86 & 88, worry every time they get behind the wheel. They've had 5 little fender benders in 4 years, 3 in the wal mrt parking lot. Last summer dad came over upset. Wanted me to find him reasonable insurance, he didn't understand why his rates had doubled. That was also when I found out about the fender benders.

 

[Amish Heart]

^

 

[Wingnut]

Wound up reading a Western and taking an unexpected nap... these weeding sessions have been kicking my @ss, lol. In fact, I may take a break tomorrow, since I have to run into town; I knocked the goatheads down today and the other weeds will surely await my return, lol. I'm gonna start using the loppers and Corona pruning saw on the larger non-goathead weeds, I've been wrasslin' with the things and they're often tough to pull... better to start using my brain, rather than my back, and it won't hurt anything to simply leave the roots in the ground to rot.

Don't really feel like watching TV tonight, I'll probably just crack another Western and read till I crash...