What's everybody doing today?

[sonya123]

Growing up in South Florida, I wore flip flops most everywhere except school or work, into my mid-30’s.
Either that or barefoot.

So did I most of the time

 

[sonya123]

I wear shoes I can run in, always be prepared!!

I used to be able to run in flip flops LOL
I have seen people hike mountains in flip flops, kid you not! Had a nice conversation with an old Indian lady that was hiking to a water fall in NC once that was wearing flip flops the entire 12 miles ( 6 there and then back). She told me when she was growing up they didn't have shoes....
Our son walks around here barefoot all the time,even if I tell him not do, so do the Amish kids....

 

[sonya123]

The weather here is crazy too this year, warm and sunny one day, freezing , blowing snow and howling wind the next.
I better get to the barn to see new lambs arrived. Nothing yesterday and it was nice out. Not warm but sunny
Starting to worry about daughter, due date is tomorrow and nothing yet. I wished I could be there for her but I have to be here for the sheep
Plus I would have too much anxiety driving that far by myself, so husband would have to come also. Oh well, it is what it is. We will go in May or June

Hope everyone has a good day. I am at the moment just happy if no disaster happens. Instead of becoming better farmers we seem to be going to opposite way and have more problems with the livestock . Or maybe we had "beginners luck" at first.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I'm glad it's Sunday... Yesterday I did 2 loads of dishes, 7 loads of laundry, and made repairs to 2 of my raised beds. I need to add about a foot of soil to one of the raised beds, it has subsided over the years. Today, we will do church and then I have some work work (reviewing applications) to do.

 

[Magpie]

An interesting day here...got back yesterday from my gig (yes, excellent) and was woken at 2 am by a dog, not mine, barking up the road. I knew it as the one that's been tormenting the neighbourhood. An hour later, my dogs, who are locked in the backyard, go nuts because he's landed in to our place. He only comes to fight. Husband ran out (jocks, t-shirt and wellies - you'd think that would scare anyone!) and dog took off. Come 11am, we hear cars beeping up the road as this **** of a dog just walks out in front of everyone like he owns the place. We closed our main gate let one of my dogs, who's blind, out into our front garden. I heard the odd barking, look out later to see my dog covered in blood. He's a good bit of white on him as he's half border collie. I realise quickly it's his ear, because they bleed like hell. The other was at him through the hedge. Husband has had enough, tears up the road after the dog, and a minute later the dog goes tearing down the road howling. I now have a back door that is decorated for Halloween, a dog that looked like he's been on the inside of a dead animal and a husband that's mad as hell. The other dog btw, has gone home two miles away and is sitting on the doorstep. Ah life in the countryside...
On the productive side I've made two apple strudel cakes and baked pork chops for dinner

 

[Mountain trapper]

Toady is going to be an easy day for me around here. I pulled all my traps out yesterday so I don't need to make that 200 mile round trip every other day, at least for a couple of weeks anyway. I'll unload my Jeep later and clean everything up and put the traps away. I've got a lot of little projects around here to work on that will keep me out of trouble.
We had a little snow last night, maybe an inch or so. We're supposed to get snow everyday for the next week.

 

[Hooch]

I was going to go to church today.
I got up n going early and made krispie treats for everyone, made a health tonic for myself n my friends I knew I'd see at church n now its 11 , church starts at 11:15 . I still need to shower, feed the birds, walk the dogs n drive the 10 - 15 minutes it takes to get there.
I will have to manage my time better next sunday.
I finished a rug last night n started a new one. I'm going to do a how to do thread on the new one today n update it as I go.
Today I'll finish some laundry I started n I'm heading to the hot springs tonight for a soak.

 

[Amish Heart]

Well, you're going to have to eat the krispie treats by yourself, Hooch
Our weather is decent today, so I've gotten a fair amount of outside stuff done. It's mid 50's and no wind. Now it's time to mop, vacuum, and dust. We have that stupid abuse investigation here tomorrow morning at 8:30.

 

[ABR]

Well my stomach bug last week turned into a cold and now apparently it decided to turn into bronchitis Still need to go to town for dog food and have a curbside order in for extra meds. Also need to run few other errands while I'm there. All I really want to do is curl up in bed and sleep all day.

 

[Wingnut]

Livin' the old fogey life at home today, no more race action, lol... I saw & experienced enough yesterday to tide me over for a while. It started to rain but then stopped, however it looks like we may be in for more, which would suit me just fine. No big plans today, I'm actually drinking a cold beer for breakfast, lol. I'll make some real breakfast or brunch in a bit, now I'm just sharing quality time with the cats. Gotta check the web later and see about running an ad to swap my KLR 650 for a lighter and more nimble bike... I've had fun on that old KLR, but I think it's time to move on, bike-wise, lol.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Good luck Amish,

hold the line

 

[Amish Heart]

I'll do my best. The best that can happen is that the therapist will say that they should be able to move somewhere else. Then I'll change the locks and that'll be that. Any stuff they leave will go in the dumpster. The worst thing is formal charges filed, and court. It was stupid court last time. It's only 112 days left and it'd be great if we don't have to have them for it's entirety. Granddaughter is behind this, and wants to trash and burn before she leaves. I have to act like none of this bothers me, but it really does. So, since there's no school tomorrow, the family room is set up for the meeting in the event the twins are already left for the day. And if they're still upstairs, I cleaned our bedroom top to bottom and set up a folding conference table and set out chairs, so we can talk without being listened to. It's an adults only meeting. Husband says to just ask to hear all the allegations, and write them down. Not to address anything until all are said. Then comment. Then ask the therapist what she wants to see happen. I have no idea what emotional abuse allegations will be said, except maybe my counting number of days paper. Which I don't have any problem admitting to. So that's our strategy. It'll be just a matter of time when they leave and they start in on someone else, and I almost feel sorry for that someone else. Except that the someone else is probably believing all their BS and encouraging them right now.

 

[Heartbroken]

Stay strong Amish.
Nothing much here today. Dragged myself around to wash the dishes and take a shower, haven't tackled anything else.
Browsing the internet motorcycle shopping, thinking about getting a newer, more reliable bike. There's a 2016 Vulcan S I might go look at this week.

 

[LadyLocust]

I'll do my best. The best that can happen is that the therapist will say that they should be able to move somewhere else. Then I'll change the locks and that'll be that. Any stuff they leave will go in the dumpster. The worst thing is formal charges filed, and court. It was stupid court last time. It's only 112 days left and it'd be great if we don't have to have them for it's entirety. Granddaughter is behind this, and wants to trash and burn before she leaves. I have to act like none of this bothers me, but it really does. So, since there's no school tomorrow, the family room is set up for the meeting in the event the twins are already left for the day. And if they're still upstairs, I cleaned our bedroom top to bottom and set up a folding conference table and set out chairs, so we can talk without being listened to. It's an adults only meeting. Husband says to just ask to hear all the allegations, and write them down. Not to address anything until all are said. Then comment. Then ask the therapist what she wants to see happen. I have no idea what emotional abuse allegations will be said, except maybe my counting number of days paper. Which I don't have any problem admitting to. So that's our strategy. It'll be just a matter of time when they leave and they start in on someone else, and I almost feel sorry for that someone else. Except that the someone else is probably believing all their BS and encouraging them right now.

I would think it would be really difficult to abuse them on any level when they aren’t there and the fact that they are making false accusations about you is actually emotional abuse in the other direction. If I said anything it would be that any healthy relationship requires consideration of the other by both parties. (No guru is going to argue with that and you would be establishing a note of compassion and understanding without directly naming names so to speak). I’m sorry you have to be in that situation. Praying for peaceful resolution

 

[LadyLocust]

Went to church. Hubby is working on smoking some bacon trying 2 different methods.
We have crazy winds here and supposed to get snow this week.

 

[Weedygarden]

Prayers, Amish, for you and hubby! Wishing you the best.

Church this morning. It was my team's turn to provide food and coffee. Well, Ash Wednesday is in 3 days and that means that Mardi Gras is in full swing in places like New Orleans. We decided to do a Mardi Gras theme today. There are 3 of us on this team, and one woman has been going to church there for years, while the other two of us have about 2 years in. Original woman has been bringing meatballs for a long time, while many others bring cookies or sweet rolls. Other new person and I try to augment the meatballs. I decided to make red beans and rice, in line with Mardi Gras, and other new person made two king cakes. Tables were decorated with purple, green and gold, masks and there were bead necklaces. We, the team, had fun with this whole thing. The recipe for the beans and rice calls for 2 pounds of beans, so there were plenty of them. Several people took some home, including me.
One of my clients dropped her dog off around 8:30 this morning. She'll be gone for a week and her dog will be here. She is a sweet and active dog.
I had a dog staying with me since Thursday, while his owner was getting married. The man is Punjabi, Indian, and he had lots of family in town. His new wife is a European American, but their wedding and reception were Indian style. I saw videos of the reception, dancing to Indian music, in ethnic clothing. These weddings can take a few days. I took the dog back to his home today, where his parents are staying. Then I picked up another dog who will be staying with me until Wednesday.

Busy day. Now sitting on the couch!

 

[Bacpacker]

Prayers going up for you guys Amish.

Pruned all my blueberry bushes. Some don't have many buds starting, but they have a decent amount of new growth coming up. Kinda replacement limbs if you will.
Also planted 2 rows of shallots. And filled in all 4 types of my garlic. A bunch of it got hammered during a single digit temps around Christmas. We still have a decent amount we are eating on, so I pulled out some nice bulbs. I still had them seperated by type, so that was easy. Used my hand made dibble my dad made me. That thing works great and was pretty simple to build. I'll put up a pic in the tools thread.

 

[montanabill]

Good luck amish, we finally don't have our teenager we raised for10 years around anymore. Change the locks and make sure no phone accounts or bank accounts have been corupted. I just found out he had probably sold or traded for drugs the last two phones we got him that he said were "lost". So monday it is time to shut off the phone and pay it off which will be cheap compared to the other stuff he has pulled.

Hopefully they can move in with someone else and like you mentioned wear out their welcome there.
My wife worked in mental health and it can be very tricky working with sociopathic people.....We delt with this kids wacko birth mom and when she tried to attack us in court. I just brought the conversation back to "what is best for the child". The system wants to find a bad person (You) that they can blame. Our teenager ran away once with a couple of months to go to be 18 and the cop who found him basicly made us take him back. After he was 18 he tried to blame me for the micro aggresion language line of wokism but I just repeated that I was making normal and customary statements.
In your meeting just remember anything you say can and will be used against you. Let the investigator suggest an answer and say as little as possible.
If things go badly for you be prepared to get some proffesional help with the system.

On a lighter note I filled a whole freeze dryer with aloe vera. We have a number of plants and some are trying to take over as well as sprout new plants so I am processing them for medicinal use in the future.

 

[zannej]

Good luck, Amish!

I've never liked flip flops. I always found them uncomfortable. I liked regular sandals that I wore a lot in Guam, but never flip flops. I like my footwear secured to my foot better.

LadyLocust, I suppose the supply run slowing things down part happened when we went to go get my curbside pickup orders. Took an hour to get there and then had to go inside bc my stupid phone can't get the apps to work properly for either store. Plus my phone number they want to text is a landline. I'll have to set something up with them for the texting but I never check my text messages. Also stopped to grab my friend some food. But, once we got out to my house we had everything we needed because I was actually better prepared this time.

We didn't get as much as I hoped done today because picking up supplies took so long, but still made good progress. I'll update in my thread later. Right now I'm resting and got a heating/massage pad on my back.

 

[Grimm]

The current litter of kits turned 8 weeks this weekend. So on Saturday 3 of them were sold. I only have 3 bucklings left. They are in their own cage away from mom and she is not taking being away from her babies well. I have been giving her rosemary to help with the depression and it is helping her eat. I also have given her toys so she has something to do.

One of my other does is nesting. I gave her the nesting box today and she has started building her nest for her coming kits. She is due this coming weekend. She hasn't had a litter since Katie, the mom whose babies just turned 8 weeks, was born last March!

Hopefully the third doe took when I bred her on Valentine's day. No fall offs but that means nothing. She lifted.

I got some new grates made for litter boxes and started going through my supplies to get rid of junk before the big spring clean of the hutches.

There is a storm coming this week so K and the girls hauled a large load of hardwood into the house and I filled the kindling tub. The storm is due late Tuesday and should bring rain/snow and very cold weather. The forecast says it will last the rest of the week through the next weekend. I figure the girls will want to play in the snow so I started making sure their snow wear was clean and ready.

 

[sonya123]

Amish, good luck in court. Can you turn it around on them and say they abuse you , which would be more the truth?

Magpie, hope your dog is ok

I need to go shopping and we need to go the farm store to get some grain, but we have 3 ewes left to go. One looks like she is not anywhere near ready, the other 2 probably soon. I want to be here if there are any more problems, plus I signed up for a free webseminar on Katahdin sheep this afternoon. Maybe it will help but I can't imagine anything we could do better. We can't live in the barn and watch them 24\7

I suppose I can go to the nearest crappy walmart and shop by myself, and husband can drive to the farm store and get the grain. It is supposed to rain today so sheep stay in

 

[Pearl]

Regular Monday workday!! It's Hubby's birthday, the big 60! It's also my non-official first day of summer!! Topping the pool off and getting the pump and filter started. Will be in the 80's the next few days. The Ash trees are putting leaves on already, the bullfrogs are singing non-stop, and the bluebirds are checking out the martin house! It's 60° out this morning, so nice not to mess with the woodstove this morning! Watching 33 years of weather patterns I am hoping mother nature holds true and spring is here! Yes, there will be some cold weather, but I'm trusting the bluebirds!

 

[Hooch]

I admit...
I wore my flip flops to the hot spring last night. I'm a flip flopper..but only occasionally to the springs or catching some warm rays out back.
As usual..after my soak I hit the hay entirely relaxed n slept great.
Today, I will go for another long walk with the pups. Yesterday I did almost 5 miles.
I will probably start my rug thread after.

 

[snappy1]

Yesterday was Church first.
Somebody dumped 4 "large" puppies across the street from us. They are living in a culvert under the road. I believe they will get run over, but we simply cannot take care of any extra dogs. I did leave food and water at the mouth of the culvert, but they wouldn't come any where near me to catch them. I have a big crate and could take them to a local rescue if we could catch them. Sigh Some people are jerks!
Walked dogs yesterday- away from puppies.
Purged two totes of old purchases of jeans for ebay. Will donate to a Church rummage sale. Also went through some books and office items to donate. Have one more cabinet in office to go through and then will be done with that room for now.

Today, will walk first.
Do laundry.
Cook red beans and (cauliflower) rice.
My car back to mechanic for them to put in "blower motor resistor".
Bags of purged jeans to lady with rummage sale.
Maybe finally take ebay photos of items with drafts already done.
We will see.

@Amish Heart I surely agree with LL and Montana bill! I also wish you could somehow video the meeting!

 

[FarmOR]

Today is my personal emancipation day! Ten years ago today, I began my financial independence from the man. Put to end a long corporate career as industrial electrician. And never looked back.

To the people that are still struggling for the dream. Keep hope! "the harder the battle, the more glorious the triumph!" J.P. Jones

 

[FarmOR]

Amish, good luck in court. Can you turn it around on them and say they abuse you , which would be more the truth?

Magpie, hope your dog is ok

I need to go shopping and we need to go the farm store to get some grain, but we have 3 ewes left to go. One looks like she is not anywhere near ready, the other 2 probably soon. I want to be here if there are any more problems, plus I signed up for a free webseminar on Katahdin sheep this afternoon. Maybe it will help but I can't imagine anything we could do better. We can't live in the barn and watch them 24\7

I suppose I can go to the nearest crappy walmart and shop by myself, and husband can drive to the farm store and get the grain. It is supposed to rain today so sheep stay in

There's always room for improvement?

One thing that I learned about livestock from growing up on a cattle ranch: calf-ease bulls. They are merely bulls that throw slightly premature born calves. Their calves routinely don't go full term.

With some record keeping of observations, you can apply this to your ram. My main ram lambs are pretty consistent born two weeks early of the full five months gestation period typical for sheep. This year, I only assisted 2/20 ewes with birthing. And I'm not sure they really needed any help? Contrast that with the first batch of lambs from a loaner ram, three years ago, I had to pull almost half...

 

[UrbanHunter]

I'm off today, not working either! Went to the store, wife gave me a list.... Note to self, don't grocery shop on Monday mornings, all the shelves were empty... I picked up some lumber to do my next project. I am now 1 year away from my KMA date and 2 years away from full retirement! I have been focused on getting my major bills paid off, now I need to focus on learning to live on less. I would like to be in a position where the only thing that changes when I retire is I don't have to be on the electronic leash...

 

[Bacpacker]

I'm off today, not working either! Went to the store, wife gave me a list.... Note to self, don't grocery shop on Monday mornings, all the shelves were empty... I picked up some lumber to do my next project. I am now 1 year away from my KMA date and 2 years away from full retirement! I have been focused on getting my major bills paid off, now I need to focus on learning to live on less. I would like to be in a position where the only thing that changes when I retire is I don't have to be on the electronic leash...

Congrats Urban, you are a year ahead of me.. KMA, love it. Bet many don't know the term. I'm going hard at dropping all our debt possible prior to that time.
Today just saw my endocrinologist and got a great report. A1C was down 1.2 points, best in years. Still got a ways to go. New med is working and going to a lower dose has helped with the stomach distress. Next appt in June to track it and see about going back up in dosage. Dropped 18 lbs as well. Kidney and liver function improved, cholesterol and BP as well.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I'm with you there @Bacpacker, I need to get the old body in better working order, but I still do okay for my age. I was walking 4 miles a day, but that dropped a lot with the VID.

Every time I get my home gem in working order something comes up and I have to stack stuff all over the bench and bike and I'm back to being a TV jockey.... My A1C was up, then I started working out and it dropped, I'll bet it's back up now. The wife wants me to see a doctor more often, but I see one every time I take her in for her appointments... I still need to drop that 25 pounds I needed to drop 25 years ago, but I haven't added anything to it.

 

[Hooch]

Mill called, heading up to stack out the sorter..
Hopefully its thawed out...lol