What's everybody doing today?

[Pearl]

Nothing exciting! Going to work, getting hay, unloading hay! Heavy rain tomorrow, so I'll get any outside jobs done today. Bring firewood in the house. Yeeha!

 

[Magpie]

Out with two of the dogs this morning, then cleaned the car inside and out-you'd swear I lived in it, it was so bad. The first photo is of gorse, they call them 'wims' or something locally, then the view from the top of the hill behind us. Have mislaid a months worth of husband's receipts, so on the hunt for them now. We had visitors staying all summer, hope I didn't toss them.

 

[TeeJ]

Was going to have a lazy weekend, but decided to clean the kitchen counters really well before making a batch of sauerkraut (last batch got contaminated and ruined) and the next thing you know I was deep cleaning the entire kitchen. Steam cleaned the floor, cleaned & oiled the stainless appliances, the whole 9 yards. Kitchen looks amazing and it's actually really peaceful to be in it with all the clutter gone. Now I just need to do that to every other room in my house Never did get the kraut made though

 

[Amish Heart]

Animal chores were a piece of cake this morning, no frozen water or hoses. We left the house this morning to bring the girls to school, and one of the barncats (Todd) was dead on the porch. So little granddaughter was very shocked. Not sure why he was dead, but we had a burial in the cat cemetary near the phone shack after she got back from school. Fluffy the cat came and watched. Was busy around the house today and outside. The armadillo is still rummaging around the yard. Stopped in at the amish grocery to do some shopping, and the post office.

 

[Grimm]

I haven't bought the new freezer seal yet. I decided to look at the one on the freezer first. Nothing wrong with it. K noticed the freezer door was being pushed open by a jug of frozen milk he put on the door. Once he moved it the freezer sealed! Saved $200!

Ran errands this morning and stopped at the tractor supply to browse. I bought a j-feeder for the rabbits to test it out with the grow outs. They keep sitting in their food crocks and pooping in them! I figure the j-feeder will keep their fat fluffy butts out of the food!

Trying to work up the motivation to start working on the school/sewing room. We stacked boxes and odd things in there to clear the house for the holidays. Now I need to go through it all to get rid of junk and pack things up!

 

[Peanut]

Got the last of the cd’s I ordered a few weeks ago, 7 came today. I’ve been kicking myself for not putting a rush on one of them… “Radio John” is the album name. The song Radio John has been playing on bluegrass radio lately, my new favorite song to play. Some songs are just fun to play, this is one of them. Been wishing I'd gotten it first.

The whole album is good, it’s by Sam Bush, one of the greatest mandolin players of my generation. He plays all the instruments on this album. It’s dedicated to his life long friend and mentor “John Hartford”. As a young man John used the moniker “Radio John” on a radio show he used to DJ.

Just took a break, gonna rip a few more cd’s tonight and process them, figure out the key each song is played in and put notes in the metadata of each.

 

[Heartbroken]

Sorted and folded tons of laundry, began the task of going through Husband's clothes but didn't get far, hard to see what you're doing with the tears in the way.
Did'ya know old holey cotton socks make good tinder? Sorting through the baskets I wondered why I keep washing and wearing the old worn socks that never stay up - had the fireplace going so just chucked them in there. Whoosh! Gone in an instant!
Dealt with a lot of crazy stuff at work today, extra meetings, lots of angst and drama. Made the day go quickly but wore me out. Heard a noisy thump thump at one point and came down to check, yep, UPS delivered the water testing kits - made of glass - by standing at the foot of the steps and tossing the boxes on to the porch. Haven't checked to see if any are broken but joke's on him if they are, I'll just have to order more.
The nice snow is withering quickly with temps up to 35 today. Have to laugh at the weather apps; one says "gale warning", another says "high wind advisory" while the third says "eh, it's gonna be windy". I can hear it cranking up out there and starting to thrash the birdfeeders, guess it's just as well I didn't get them filled today, this sort of thing knocks the seed out anyways. Just hope it says somewhere around "windy" and below "gale", I don't want to lose anymore trees.
Also, did'ya know snowblowers don't have oil filters? I have an old blower that I bought used, so been scrolling youtube for how to videos on doing some maintenance. No one ever mentions any filters and the online parts pages don't mention one either. Just strikes me as odd for some reason. But I did find a place to order shear bolts, just to have some on hand.

 

[Patchouli]

@Heartbroken it was all I could do to complete little tiny projects like that (going through the clothing). Saved some flannel shirts and pj's to make Christmas stuff out of and also some of our daughters have asked to have the flannel shirts to wear, just to wear over tee shirts n stuff. I thought I had gotten rid of his ties, but nope, in a different closet. And it is okay for it to be like that. Nobody gets to say when you have to get rid of his things. I got rid of most of my husband's clothing within the first couple of months. Gave it to those who needed it too. It hurts, but then it doesn't.
Hope your UPS delivery arrived in decent shape.
Did some running around today. I'm seeing prices doubling on almost everything from within the last 6 months. But a few things had come down.

 

[Spikedriver]

Had an uneventful flight from Des Moines to Houston and made my connection from Houston to Vegas. Picked up the rental car - it's a Chrysler 300 with only 8,000 miles on it. It only cost $1 a day more than the little car I was going to get, so why not get the big ol' luxury car, right? Then I had In 'N' Out and got checked in at The Orleans Casino & Resort. My employer is having a big safety meeting meeting here tomorrow in the conference center and attendance is mandatory. After the meeting, I'll probably wander the casino for a bit, see if they've got a $5 Blackjack table, and count the hookers out on the casino floor...

 

[snappy1]

I will walk first.
Walk dogs.
I made lists of areas to purge in office and my bathroom. Did that while watching shows with DH last night. Will do one area this afternoon.
Sweep house.

 

[Patchouli]

>>> @Heartbroken i don’t mean going through the clothing was a tiny project. I meant I had to make it tiny, I would only do small amounts of that kind of stuff at a time, just minutes. Other times I could barrel on through it. It is hard, sometimes it’s not.

 

[Amish Heart]

It's in the mid 40's and not much wind, so a beautiful day today. Animal chores are done, lunch is done. So now I'm going to take husband into the bigger town for his allergy shot, fill the tank in the truck, and he wants it washed, too.

 

[The Lazy L]

Go a call just before noon today for help. Ceiling mounted electric heater is not working. Their heating guy says there is no power to the heater. Owner asked if I could take a look at it. Sure no problem.

Pull the utility trailer out from winter storage with the mule.

Put 8' step ladder in the the trailer and strap it down.

Put the hitch back on the truck.

Volt meter, power detector (with fresh batteries), wire nuts of different sizes and screw drivers.

Hitch the trail to the truck and after lunch off I go.

ON/OFF power switch mounted up by the heater has power in and out. Ain't the switch.

Thermostat has one wire to the heater and a second wire up and over to a standby generator. No power in the thermostat box.

I didn't bring sockets with me so I can't take the side panel off the generator to see why the thermostat terminates in the generator. Guessing it's some sort of cutoff switch, when the generator is running the heater stays off?

For grins and giggles I pull the fronts off of 4 electric circuit breaker panels. A few breakers were turned off but their color code doesn't match the colors in the thermostat conduit box.

Told the owner it's beyond me, time to call a professional.

Home and put tools away, ladder and trailer back in it's winter storage spot.

As I type this I notice 4 keys on the computer has what looks like brown chocolate on them. I lick my finger to wipe one of the keys clean. When I came home I noticed a partial eaten chocolate bar laying on the kitchen counter. "Honey was you eating chocolate when you used the computer today?" Long pause before the wife says she doesn't think she's been in the den today. I show the keyboard to her as I wet my finger again and clean another key and repeat until the last key with brown whatever is cleaned off.

"Honey are we out of toilet paper?" "No", she answers, "Why?" Just making sure it's not something else I'm cleaning off the keyboard. Did get a "ha ha" out of her.

 

[sonya123]

It's beautiful outside, sunny , no rain, not much clouds and about 55 degrees
We went shopping and got propane tanks refilled. I am always happy when that is done. No time to cook a real meal today so I am now making Cuban sandwiches
We still have the barn to finish and animals to put up but it's staying light longer so we have some time
Daughter is going to have her baby any day now....hope all goes well

 

[Neb]

I rearranged the greenhouse.

The onions were growing too much and too fast on the heat mat so they are now on an unheated shelf.

The seedless grapevine clones are looking good.

If our land purchase goes through they may be the first things that get planted there.

Fot good news that Olivia's pre-algebra grade has moved up from 30 or 40 to 79! She was also excited 5o report ahe had worked a package and only made 2-3 mistakes. She is also not crying when I run up for Tutor Time.

I have been trying to tutor ahead of what ahe is learning in school. They are learning linear equations, slopes and intercepts for

Y = mx + b

To motivate her to understand why this is important we did some exercises along the lines of " one train leaves the station going 100mph four hours after a slower train... is there a train wreck". Technically simultaneous linear equations but she worked ok. Then some "how long until the pool fills" and how long until she has enough to buy VR goggles. Good stuff.

The Princess has to work at the main library on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I worked to clear the run between the water meter and the new water heater and central manifold because it involved making noise that would get me in trouble.

So now I can run pipes and wire.

Moving along a bit at a time.

Ben

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today was a nice day, so after work I went out and repaired the lid on one of my raised beds and put a tub of turnips in it. The temperatures are not expected to get much below freezing for the next few weeks and they should be fine.

The wife watched a show indicating that the banking system could be becoming unstable and was wondering what to do with respect to money in the bank vs cash under the bed, or paying off the mortgage early... With tax season coming it seems like a good time to plan it out...

 

[backlash]

Went to my friends house that broke his pelvis and supervised the guys installing a ramp for him to get in his house.
Supervised is maybe over stating my involvement. They unloaded it from a trailer and sat it down on the steps, job done.
Next I went to my Aunt and Uncles and put grab bars in their shower.
Tomorrow I'm going back to the friends house and put grab bars in his shower, mount and wire in his new ring flood light camera unit.
I found some brackets that allow a grab bar in a fiberglass shower to be bolted to the studs so they will hold.
Since he fell I have became more aware of the need to prevent people from falling so I'm trying to help them out.

 

[Pearl]

Went to my friends house that broke his pelvis and supervised the guys installing a ramp for him to get in his house.
Supervised is maybe over stating my involvement. They unloaded it from a trailer and sat it down on the steps, job done.
Next I went to my Aunt and Uncles and put grab bars in their shower.
Tomorrow I'm going back to the friends house and put grab bars in his shower, mount and wire in his new ring flood light camera unit.
I found some brackets that allow a grab bar in a fiberglass shower to be bolted to the studs so they will hold.
Since he fell I have became more aware of the need to prevent people from falling so I'm trying to help them out.

I clean for many older folks, it has really taught me a lot over the years! Hubby and I try to do as much as we can for them! Things like driving them to Dr. appts and knowing how to handle wheelchairs and oxygen are so helpful!! We also learned a lot taking care of my mom!! What you are doing backlash is SO important!! Hope your friend gets home soon!!

 

[INresponse]

Today I received my package of Egyptian Walking Onions from The-Clayton-Farm.com on Amazon, but they have their own website as well.
https://www.the-clayton-farm.com/Anyways, the package arrived in 4 days even though the predicted a later shipping date. The bundles of onions (think large scallions) were green and lush and the plastic bag to keep the roots moist was well wrapped in news paper inside the box, very well packaged. The onions were already starting to sprout their new seed bulbs on some of the plant tops, which when mature will fall over and WALK across your garden. Unless you choose to pick the new bulbs and plant them where you desire.
I am very impressed by this first order and I will be searching their website and their Amazon page to see what else I want to buy. Just wanted to share for those who may be interested in a good supplier of veggies, herbs, plants, bushes, trees and more.

 

[Pearl]

Today I received my package of Egyptian Walking Onions from The-Clayton-Farm.com on Amazon, but they have their own website as well.
https://www.the-clayton-farm.com/Anyways, the package arrived in 4 days even though the predicted a later shipping date. The bundles of onions (think large scallions) were green and lush and the plastic bag to keep the roots moist was well wrapped in news paper inside the box, very well packaged. The onions were already starting to sprout their new seed bulbs on some of the plant tops, which when mature will fall over and WALK across your garden. Unless you choose to pick the new bulbs and plant them where you desire.
I am very impressed by this first order and I will be searching their website and their Amazon page to see what else I want to buy. Just wanted to share for those who may be interested in a good supplier of veggies, herbs, plants, bushes, trees and more.

Thanks for posting this, gonna check them out!!

 

[LadyLocust]

I rearranged the greenhouse.

View attachment 103660

The onions were growing too much and too fast on the heat mat so they are now on an unheated shelf.

View attachment 103661

The seedless grapevine clones are looking good.

View attachment 103662

If our land purchase goes through they may be the first things that get planted there.

Fot good news that Olivia's pre-algebra grade has moved up from 30 or 40 to 79! She was also excited 5o report ahe had worked a package and only made 2-3 mistakes. She is also not crying when I run up for Tutor Time.

I have been trying to tutor ahead of what ahe is learning in school. They are learning linear equations, slopes and intercepts for

Y = mx + b

To motivate her to understand why this is important we did some exercises along the lines of " one train leaves the station going 100mph four hours after a slower train... is there a train wreck". Technically simultaneous linear equations but she worked ok. Then some "how long until the pool fills" and how long until she has enough to buy VR goggles. Good stuff.

The Princess has to work at the main library on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I worked to clear the run between the water meter and the new water heater and central manifold because it involved making noise that would get me in trouble.

View attachment 103663

View attachment 103664

View attachment 103665

So now I can run pipes and wire.

Moving along a bit at a time.

Ben

Uh hem, I beg to differ - that is not a green room it's a pink room

 

[Peanut]

The bulk of the work on my music files is done. I purchased 197 new songs on 16cds, some great bluegrass. Through the years, like most people, I’ve purchased cd’s but not very many, 2 or 3 a year. Many times it was just for a couple songs or just a song someone wanted me to learn. I’d load only those songs on my computer. Some have been backed up and reloaded a dozen times.

Mp3 files degrade over time, so I decided to reload some of them, a fresh start for my computer music files. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve reloaded another 20 older cd’s and processed all of those songs for a grand total of 445 songs.

I’ll end up with about 250 songs in my picking folders with another 100 in reserve. This should keep me busy for the rest of the year. I can play for 17hours without repeating the same song. Given the lack of musicians in my area and the price of gas… cd’s were the cheapest alternative.

I have to add… When I was a kid I played music every Friday/Saturday night. Each week community centers for miles around opened their doors. That was the entertainment for rural alabama, bluegrass. They’d have hotdogs or popcorn, every community center had 4-6 bands. We’d play music into the wee hours.

Singing songs with friends and family were a part of culture then. Church going folks still get some of it but the rest of us… not so much. Discount the car radio and how many of us have real music in our lives?

We’ve lost live music in favor of a circus with a light show. A circus which most of us can’t attend anyway. Bad trade if you ask me. We’ve lost something important… which was intended, another form of isolation. Want to kill the culture? kill the music in the home.

 

[havasu]

Installed a new battery in the Cad today, picked up 9 cases of water for my neighbor, who broke his back from a heavy handed chiropractor, mowed the lawn, took the trash cans to the curb, and returned the battery core back to the store to get $25 refunded back to me. It's busy being retired!

 

[Spikedriver]

Left Vegas and headed down the road to Primm. Got checked into the hotel at Buffalo Bill's Casino Resort for 7 days. Hopefully it's the last time we'll have to stay here because this place kind of sucks. When I got to the room, there were no towels and room service won't come in to pick up the trash until we check out.

Otherwise, all is good.

 

[Grimm]

Spent 30 minutes in the school room starting to go through things. I need to make some hard calls on the things in there so I grabbed a box for donations and a trash bag. I filled both the box and the bag. It doesn't look like much was done so far but it is day one.

 

[backlash]

Uh hem, I beg to differ - that is not a green room it's a pink room

Looks purple to me.

 

[LadyLocust]

Looks purple to me.

We’ll compromise- Magenta

Our neighbors across the way have the same light(s). The intensity of it gets to me a little but I have crazy sensory levels.

 

[LadyLocust]

The bulk of the work on my music files is done. I purchased 197 new songs on 16cds, some great bluegrass. Through the years, like most people, I’ve purchased cd’s but not very many, 2 or 3 a year. Many times it was just for a couple songs or just a song someone wanted me to learn. I’d load only those songs on my computer. Some have been backed up and reloaded a dozen times.

Mp3 files degrade over time, so I decided to reload some of them, a fresh start for my computer music files. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve reloaded another 20 older cd’s and processed all of those songs for a grand total of 445 songs.

I’ll end up with about 250 songs in my picking folders with another 100 in reserve. This should keep me busy for the rest of the year. I can play for 17hours without repeating the same song. Given the lack of musicians in my area and the price of gas… cd’s were the cheapest alternative.

I have to add… When I was a kid I played music every Friday/Saturday night. Each week community centers for miles around opened their doors. That was the entertainment for rural alabama, bluegrass. They’d have hotdogs or popcorn, every community center had 4-6 bands. We’d play music into the wee hours.

Singing songs with friends and family were a part of culture then. Church going folks still get some of it but the rest of us… not so much. Discount the car radio and how many of us have real music in our lives?

We’ve lost live music in favor of a circus with a light show. A circus which most of us can’t attend anyway. Bad trade if you ask me. We’ve lost something important… which was intended, another form of isolation. Want to kill the culture? kill the music in the home.

Will expect a concert soon

 

[TeeJ]

Found out I didn't get the promotion I threw my hat in the ring for at work, and I'm honestly a bit relieved to be honest. The position would have come with pressure to relocate to the Portland area, and that's not on my top 10 list to settle down at, especially because of the cost of land and some of the social issues in that neck of the woods. Also in hindsight I'm happy to not be taking on more responsibility and to keep free time to be able to live more providently. I've had a bunch of questions about the future and I can feel God's hand on the rudder with this situation.

I've also been trying to lure the neighborhood jays back to my yard - about a month ago they started spending most of their time elsewhere and I've been missing them. I've started putting raw peanuts out for them, which are disappearing - but I haven't been able to see who's taking them. I've been putting out a pint container full every morning, and they are all gone by afternoon. I'm intrigued, because that seems like a lot of peanuts for birds to make off with. I can't imagine what else could be taking them though?

 

[Peanut]

We’ll compromise- Magenta

Our neighbors across the way have the same light(s). The intensity of it gets to me a little but I have crazy sensory levels.

Is hurl a color?