What's everybody doing today?

[MoBookworm1957]

So nice to see you!

Walked first thing, this morning.
Had a fellow come over to discuss redoing our driveway.
Walked dogs.
Gave bigger dog a bath. Glad that is done.
Washing sheets, comforters and dog blankets.
I am done and it is about to start storming, so will be shutting down lap top soon!

Thank you.

 

[LadyLocust]

Went for a little walk (~2 miles) yesterday in new boots... Then sat quietly in a tree for a few hours till after sunset. Last night I was up all night with charlie horses from (the deeep south) in both legs (thighs and calf's). OMG! I was squirming like a worm on a hook! First time the dang things came on was around mid-night, then again about 02:00. This morning I'm tired, achy, and walking like Grandpa McCoy.

I was planning on going for another walk today, but I don't think its a good idea as we are expecting snow switching over to cold rain.. I think I will help the wife make potato leek soup instead...

Did you drink pickle juice to relieve them? Both dehydration and/ or low potassium can cause them. How did the boots do?

 

[LadyLocust]

Uncle Melvin came down with the flu, so his 100th birthday party has been postponed. Poor guy. Not sure what I'm doing today...suspect I'm driving back into the bigger town to see if the pharmacist showed up to work at Walgreens today. I have a couple of dehydrators to fill with beans, and a bunch of dry beans that need to be repackaged. Today is Epiphany

Prayers for UM and Happy Birthday to him also.
What was it (not sure which thread) that you ask for at the pharmacy to get a discount? My MIL uses eye drops that are $125 per little bottle.

 

[LadyLocust]

Up at 430 to go to work. Raining all morning. Looks like a break for while now.
No idea when I get home

You should go meet Morgan at the cigar bar.

 

[Heartbroken]

Big doings here today. Had my young helpers come lift and tote and do the stairs and they cleared out my garage. I can now, after ten weeks living here, actually park my truck in the garage. Of course that also means that the big mess has largely been transferred to the basement, but I can deal with that over time. I've never had a garage before so this is a fun new experience. I'm hoping it snows so that I can experience not having to clear off the truck before going anywhere! Also finally got the reverse osmosis unit hooked up, no more buying drinking water! The well water here is high in arsenic and I boil water for tea every day. Boiling it concentrates the arsenic, so I've been buying water.
Hope Uncle Melvin feels better soon! You too Patch!

Going back to the school and discipline thread, here's my story: a high schooler was picking on my little brother on the bus and wouldn't leave off when I told him to. So I whacked him over the head with my lunchbox. My metal lunchbox. I was in fourth or fifth grade, so quite a bit smaller than the boy, but I've always been strong. Laid his scalp open and of course he started to bleed all over the place. When the bus stopped at our house, the driver told me to go get my mom. She told my mom what had happened, and my mom had the boy get off the bus, took him in the house, cleaned and bandaged his wound, them drove him home and explained to his parents what happened. He never bullied my brother again. I received the lecture about violence not being an answer, but I didn't get in trouble.

That was in the early-mid 70s. I can only imagine how that would go down nowadays; I'd probably be banned from the bus for life, my brother would be told not to aggravate people as though it had been his fault, and my mom would be in jail for taking the boy off the bus. And looking back, here's my thoughts: my mom was home and took the matter seriously, the boy's mom was home and also took it seriously, the bus driver knew the boy had been tormenting my brother and told my mom so, everyone settled it with common sense and that was the end of it. No excuses made for the boy, and no punishment for me for taking on the bully to protect my brother. Family, discipline, and responsibility were all important back then, and they do not seem to be in today's society.

 

[LadyLocust]

Had a good time playing Jokers and Pegs with Mom and Pops. Then my daughter "took" me to a new shopping area in Ames on the way home. An old shopping center that used to be anchored by a Kmart, has been remodeled into several stores for younger people with TJ Maxx, Old Navy, Skechers shoes, Five Below, and a Pet Smart. She got some nail polish but resisted the urge to buy clothes.

She does need some new dress clothes. Her senior class trip will take her to D.C. and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. She is the class secretary and at the Tomb, she and the other class officers will lay the wreath. She needs to be dressed appropriately for such a solemn honor.

A navy blue dress.

 

[Spikedriver]

A navy blue dress.

I agree, or another dark color. She has a black dress that might be appropriate but it is sleeveless and looks a bit more like a Saturday night dress. Plus, it will be in April so it may be a bit chilly. I think dark slacks and a nice shirt or sweater are also an option.

 

[Peanut]

Big doings here today. Had my young helpers come lift and tote and do the stairs and they cleared out my garage. I can now, after ten weeks living here, actually park my truck in the garage. Of course that also means that the big mess has largely been transferred to the basement, but I can deal with that over time. I've never had a garage before so this is a fun new experience. I'm hoping it snows so that I can experience not having to clear off the truck before going anywhere! Also finally got the reverse osmosis unit hooked up, no more buying drinking water! The well water here is high in arsenic and I boil water for tea every day. Boiling it concentrates the arsenic, so I've been buying water.
Hope Uncle Melvin feels better soon! You too Patch!

Going back to the school and discipline thread, here's my story: a high schooler was picking on my little brother on the bus and wouldn't leave off when I told him to. So I whacked him over the head with my lunchbox. My metal lunchbox. I was in fourth or fifth grade, so quite a bit smaller than the boy, but I've always been strong. Laid his scalp open and of course he started to bleed all over the place. When the bus stopped at our house, the driver told me to go get my mom. She told my mom what had happened, and my mom had the boy get off the bus, took him in the house, cleaned and bandaged his wound, them drove him home and explained to his parents what happened. He never bullied my brother again. I received the lecture about violence not being an answer, but I didn't get in trouble.

That was in the early-mid 70s. I can only imagine how that would go down nowadays; I'd probably be banned from the bus for life, my brother would be told not to aggravate people as though it had been his fault, and my mom would be in jail for taking the boy off the bus. And looking back, here's my thoughts: my mom was home and took the matter seriously, the boy's mom was home and also took it seriously, the bus driver knew the boy had been tormenting my brother and told my mom so, everyone settled it with common sense and that was the end of it. No excuses made for the boy, and no punishment for me for taking on the bully to protect my brother. Family, discipline, and responsibility were all important back then, and they do not seem to be in today's society.

You’ll love that garage!!! Second time I lived in Buffalo my house had an attached garage. In december it snows almost everyday. Saved lots time by not having to clean off my truck and ice off the windshield, especially the ice. Had to keep the snow shoveled away from the door though. A roll up type, needed WD40 in the tracks every week, big help!

My garage wasn’t heated but I kept heat lamps under my truck so it was warmer than outside. This caused ice build up at the bottom of the garage door. Snow would melt, it tended to freeze over night. Sometimes it took a minute or 2 to bust the ice up. Kept a hammer and 3ft crowbar by the side door just for that.

But I’ll take the trade any day though!!! My service calls were for broken catscans. I had to be ready to roll at all times. A garage made winter in buffalo much more livable! Oh, i got some sting and a tennis ball and hung it from the roof/rafter of the garage. Makes parking a breeze, just pull forward until the ball bumps your windshield! Anyway, just a few things I learned about buffalo, winter and garages, hope it helps.

----------------------

A quiet day, just one person with the folks most of the day. I did all their laundry this afternoon. Rainy and 40 degrees outside all day. Nothing outside got done. A little tv tonight.

 

[winds-of-change]

What I see is children being neglected emotionally by parents who use the excuse I am to busy
If you are too busy then where do you find the time to face book or. Talk on forums such as this one? No because being to busy is an excuse for not being a parent
If a child is raised by the village then that child is not being home trained is not being taught values let’s be real here. When a neighborhood kid is being an ass I do not teach them anything . I run them off simple because that kid is not my responsibility and I am not going deal with it.
Same as a teacher. They are underpaid to teach they are not paid to be your nanny
A teacher sees your kid for only one or 2 hours a day (7-12 grade). How the hell are they going to teach your kid anything?
A kid in grade school is in a class of 30 how in hell do you expect that teacher to teach above and beyond the curriculum to 30 damn kids every day. Welcome back kotter was not real life it was a tv show
Parents not accepting responsibility frustrates me.

My Hubby’s daughter and husband are always too busy to raise their kids. His grandkids are totally undisciplined. Her house is like a hoarders house and the kids scatter clothes, food and dishes everywhere. The parents are too busy following their dreams to raise their kids. It’s pretty sad.

when I was a kid, I beat up the bullies. Now, I would probably get in trouble for that. Bullies liked to pick on my then "little" brother , I had to beat up a few. Then there was one that would run around during recess and just smack the girls. I tipped his chair over in class afterwards and hit his head on the wall...oh my, good thing he didn't have a concussion....

My son also kept the bullies in check. He’d been in the office a few times and knew where the cameras were pointed. He always knew to approach the bulky where the cameras wouldn’t see them.

Went for a little walk (~2 miles) yesterday in new boots... Then sat quietly in a tree for a few hours till after sunset. Last night I was up all night with charlie horses from (the deeep south) in both legs (thighs and calf's). OMG! I was squirming like a worm on a hook! First time the dang things came on was around mid-night, then again about 02:00. This morning I'm tired, achy, and walking like Grandpa McCoy.

I was planning on going for another walk today, but I don't think its a good idea as we are expecting snow switching over to cold rain.. I think I will help the wife make potato leek soup instead...

Did you drink pickle juice to relieve them? Both dehydration and/ or low potassium can cause them. How did the boots do?

I agree with LadyLocust. Pickle juice will stop those leg cramps with a minute or two. It works for me every time.

 

[zannej]

It rained all day Friday.
Today I woke up with the runs and a lot of coughing. Generally feel cruddy. My brother was throwing up yesterday. I nearly threw up from all the mucus. Mom refused to let me check her sugar and then refused to get up until after 7pm. That means she'll likely be up all night and be hungry in the middle of the night. She got mad at me for eating during the day because I needed something to eat and got tired of waiting for her. I'll have to check her blood sugar in a bit. We've all been feeling cruddy. She took insulin with her food but I don't know how much. I really wish the woman who put in the RX for the CGM would hurry up or just ask Walmart or one of the online pharmacies Mom usually uses if they can send it because I'm tired of the constant battle of her not wanting me to check her sugar.

I need to go to the store tomorrow. Meant to go today but felt too cruddy.

 

[winds-of-change]

Today Hubby had an IDPA match. So I brought some homemade soup to a friend who has COVID then went to a neighborhood WalMart to pick up a few things. Got home, carried groceries in, put them away, got the mail. When Hubby got home, we took a nap. Woke up and made him a grilled ham and cheese and heated up soup for us. I think tomorrow I’ll make chili.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Sipping coffee, knitting a baby blanket.
Hope to finish this baby blanket for Estelle's new baby brother at her Mom's house.
She calls this baby brother her little "Sugar Plum".
He was born the week before Christmas.
Her baby brother at her Dad's house she calls Her little "Sweet Potato".
She calls her big sister"Crabby".
I don't ask.
There is six months difference between her brothers.
12 years between her and her big sister.
She has graduated Baby Reign(age 3) to toddler Reign.
And now Nyx's is baby Nyx.

 

[Morgan101]

The day was an overwhelming success. We figured out the solar panel/generator connection in about 45 minutes. This is really a unit that is designed for RV type camping, and I am thrilled we have it. Very portable. A very manageable, carryable size with significant power Great for the home and well suited for bugging out if we ever had to. I will add a link. The one final step will be finding a small backpack or satchel to store all the cables, which won't take five minutes. I know I have one I am not using. The generator can be charged by normal electric current, solar panels, or a car charger and has all the necessary cables. The make and model:

Ecoflow DELTA Max 2000 With Solar Panel​

Then off to a nice lunch and a couple of Cohibas and a couple of Arturo Fuentes. For the next four hours we solved all the problems of the world. Why doesn't anybody listen to us?

 

[Magpie]

Sneezing. Alot.
Yesterday I cleaned out my wardrobe, including 'nice' clothes I had put away when I left work. I have two bags for thrift store and one for recycling, delighted with myself. Visitors came then, so I didn't get dinner going and we ended up getting a takeaway as yesterday was 'Womens Christmas' so Mothers are normally treated. Husband was to cook but by the time they left we said forget it. I wasn't feeling great beforehand, splitting headache that escalated so I went to bed early. At 3.20 am I was still awake. I could have cried
Anyway, I've woken up with a cold, husband has gone shooting and everyone else is having a lie-in as it is technically the last day of the Christmas hols. On the good side, we have frosts all this week, so no rain!

 

[Mountain trapper]

Last time I used the snowblower I hit something and bent the intake chute almost to the point of hitting the auger. I need to get that straightened out otherwise it won't track straight while blowing snow. We got a few more inches of snow overnight but still not enough.

 

[Mountain trapper]

At 5am our power went out. So I grab a flashlight and walked up to the generator shed to see what was wrong. The battery bank was down to 22 volts. The generator is supposed to automatically start at 23.9 volts. The generator had a "low voltage" fault so it shut itself down. I restarted the engine and pumped some fuel through the engine. It seems to be running fine now. We haven't had any cold weather yet for the fuel to gel. We run 50/50 stove oil and diesel for winter time. I'll check it out after it gets light out.

 

[sonya123]

They are definitely clever about escaping and breaking in. That pregnancy almost killed my doe. She had 3 kids n one was stuck..I couldn't get it out n the vet barely did. Then it was a few weeks of major TLC and feeding those babies. She tried to feed her kids somewhat but standing was tough ..they did manage to feed from her as she layed down on her side.
I'm surprised she recovered actually and didnt bloat or get mastitis.
She is happily retired from breeding. Her and her first kid she had 9 years ago now are my field harvest technicians now. I kept her first kid , made him a wether and they will die here together.
I might get goats again ..but not now. I'm focusing on retiring in a few years without a bunch of critters at first so I can go adventure..if that works out..

glad she recovered! I love my goats. We did our traveling before getting the farm and the animals so it's only a problem occasionally ( like this year when I want to visit my relatives in Europe)
But we have around 100 animals, which is a lot of animals to take care of. We are going to downsize eventually and only have a few. As long as we can physically do it we will.
I don't name the ones we plan on sending to the meat processor. You do get attached to them.

 

[sonya123]

more bad weather, just like yesterday , sleet , rain and snow, so everyone is staying in again. We are going through our hay and firewood at an alarming rate like every year

No plans for anything today. I wished it was summer
I will try to take Otto for a hike , the dogs are starting to play rough in the house knocking stuff over because excess energy
No sense in cleaning the floor either, muddy paws all over

Maybe I will motivate and finally organize the kitchen cabinet

 

[sonya123]

It rained all day Friday.
Today I woke up with the runs and a lot of coughing. Generally feel cruddy. My brother was throwing up yesterday. I nearly threw up from all the mucus. Mom refused to let me check her sugar and then refused to get up until after 7pm. That means she'll likely be up all night and be hungry in the middle of the night. She got mad at me for eating during the day because I needed something to eat and got tired of waiting for her. I'll have to check her blood sugar in a bit. We've all been feeling cruddy. She took insulin with her food but I don't know how much. I really wish the woman who put in the RX for the CGM would hurry up or just ask Walmart or one of the online pharmacies Mom usually uses if they can send it because I'm tired of the constant battle of her not wanting me to check her sugar.

I need to go to the store tomorrow. Meant to go today but felt too cruddy.

you guys sure get sick a lot is there anything you can do to improve health? Vitamines? Hand sanitizer when you go out? More veggies? Exercise? Just trying to help....I feel bad for you to get sick so much

 

[Bacpacker]

You should go meet Morgan at the cigar bar.

I would love that. I'm sure we'd have large fun.
I ended up going to my own cigar bar, basement. It was too windy for the front porch.

 

[FarmOR]

Fresh snow overnight. The cattle are gone that have been grazing the hay fields for the past four weeks. I've been able to graze my sheep's almost every day this fall. Saved a lot of hay. Guess that will make up for the dip in lambs quantity this year?

Speaking of lambs: the creeps are ready for the auction coming in two weeks. I checked prices locally have been about $2.20. Last year I got $2.09, the year before $3.15! It seems that prices are normalizing for most farm related goods -locally anyway?

I filled my diesel tank for the farm year. $3.10/ gallon. About the same when I filled last year in February. Do I predict oil prices to escalate? Bull's case is more pointed than the bears case IMHO?

I'm still waiting for my clutch kit. Should arrive any day now. Then it's a couple days work to split the tractor and install if all goes well and I don't have to wait for a machine shop to resurface the flywheel?

 

[Morgan101]

I would love that. I'm sure we'd have large fun.
I ended up going to my own cigar bar, basement. It was too windy for the front porch.

I would love to have you, and you are always welcome if you come this direction.

 

[Hooch]

got about 3 inches yesterday..today's looks like it will be the last sunny day for awhile, so winter is here.
I'm going to walk the pups, shower n get to church. Then home n get stovie going. Clear skys in January means super cold temps.
I didnt get to work on my rug..got busy organizing. Maybe I'll do that today too.
Oh..the garlic lemon torture juice I've been doing does help lower my bp if I take it daily. I only drink half a cup tho, empty stomach in am. I add a tiny bit of cranberry juice to get it down better..then brush teeth real good since lemon is very acidic.

 

[winds-of-change]

Stayed home from church and will watch the service in live stream. Too much respiratory illnesses going around. Pastor is sick so Hubby will be doing the sermon.

I’m making chili for dinner tonight. Not much else going on here. We do have a couple loads of laundry to fold and put away.

 

[Mountain trapper]

You should go meet Morgan at the cigar bar.

Can I go too?

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Sipping on coffee, knitting on "Sugar Plum's" blanket.
Will be cleaning off the kitchen table completely.
Estelle wants to help or hinder her Granny make noodles for the freezer.
She wants to know if I have any Cherry pie filling left in the pantry?
And I don't as of yet.
I have cherries in the chest freezer, but not made up into pie filling.
Wasn't planning on making fruit pie fillings this week.
Nor am I making jams or jellies this week.
She wants to know what kind of candy we are making for Valentine's Day?
Wasn't planning on that either.
Already working on this year's Christmas gifts: Granny's Favorite Recipes Cookbooks.
Estelle tried and tested, complete with pictures.
Reign tried and tested, complete with pictures
Nyx and Charlie(Sweet Potato) just covered in flour.
Takes this Granny a couple of days to recover from each cooking session..
Making homemade lemon extract today.
Got to shake my homemade vanilla extract and orange extract today.
Next week will be bottling them in to smaller brown bottles and labeling, dating them.

 

[Bluedanube]

Making a batch of lemon blackberry scones for breakfast. I have a few gallons of blackberries in the freezer, and it’s nice to be able to get a little summer on such a white chilly morning! I expect the menfolk to start moving through the kitchen like zombies in about ten minutes when they are almost done and the smell waifs into their caves… We will probably do church online today since the roads are more than a bit sketchy for early travel over the hill. Dinner with my folks and grandma this afternoon if the roads are better. Probably do a bit of reorganizing in the basement pantry since I finally got two more rolling shelves.

 

[sonya123]

Fresh snow overnight. The cattle are gone that have been grazing the hay fields for the past four weeks. I've been able to graze my sheep's almost every day this fall. Saved a lot of hay. Guess that will make up for the dip in lambs quantity this year?

Speaking of lambs: the creeps are ready for the auction coming in two weeks. I checked prices locally have been about $2.20. Last year I got $2.09, the year before $3.15! It seems that prices are normalizing for most farm related goods -locally anyway?

we just got $183 for a 80 lb ram lamb. So $2.28 a pound. Goats do much better. 2 bucks sold for $390 each and they weren't huge. Last year we got more for the goat bucks but they were bigger. ( goats sell per head not weight)
But this was the New years auction in New Holland, everything halfway decent sells well there

 

[Pearl]

Cleaned my building, cleaned the carpet in the empty upstairs office! It was an awful mess, looks great now!! Worked with the mini Aussie I'm training! She's doing SUPER, and the owners finally got with the program!! Had a sandwich for lunch, taking a short nap, then working on my outside list!!

 

[Mountain trapper]

Got a fire going in the fur shed and its up to 46 degs in here right now. I'm smoking a decent cigar too. Going to start grinding up some mice and chipmunks to make coyote and fox bait.