What's everybody doing today?

[Meerkat]

My youngest sister and all three of her daughters are vegan.
But all four of them eat lots of junk food.
I take my weight off bit at a time.
But the difference I still get to eat meat.
I also eat lots fresh items, not much processed foods.
They eat bunch grab and go stuff.

Most centerians eat meat. Of course exceptions like Japan a few decades aago.But those in Siberia I think it is whole diet consist of meat, and they are some of the longest living on earth too.

 

[Meerkat]

Another trip to the big town hospital for wife's pre-op.
Hope the weather don't get too bad.
Suppose to get ice tomorrow.
Fun.

Y'all stay safe.

Jim

Yall too and hope all goes well for the wife.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Internet has gone off 3 times in 25 minutes.
You all be safe, warm,dry.
I'll be back when Internet comes back on.
Time to take my splint off for awhile anyhow.

 

[The Lazy L]

Shoveled the snow off the concrete driveway and sidewalk.
Fire up the mule and the plowed out the driveways.
County Highway came through and knocked off the neighbors mailbox from its post.
Fired up the mini-motorhomes' chassis engine.
Excised the motorhome's generator under load.
Got a bungee strap from the shop. Used it to hold the neighbor's mailbox back on the box.
Fixed my a sandwich for lunch.

 

[dademoss]

Shoveled the snow off our driveway and sidewalk, and cleared the neighbors driveway. Nice hot shower, and ready to stay inside.

 

[GrannyG]

Yes, hubby is a country boy...had a biopsy done yesterday on his shoulder when he saw the dermatologist....The Dr. asked him if he was using the cream he suggested, hubby told him sometimes...told him he did not like how it felt on his skin...told him it felt like a calf that had just been born and never been licked !!! Oh Lord, the Dr. lost it....LOL

 

[Neb]

The Princess borrowed my jeep for the funeral this morning. She said the slick road indicator was on for the drive to fetch her sister. My brother called off our work today since the roads were in bad shape.

That gave me chance to deal with 4-5 inches of global warming. Cleared path for deliveries to the front door and a path for The Princess to get her car out.

I am currently live streaming the reimpeachment and watching neighbors shovel.

Stay warm and behave.

Ben

 

[Amish Heart]

I'm on dog walking duty today since the kids are in school. So, every couple of hours. and it's now a balmy 13 degrees out. Not fun. So they've been fed and put back in and I am thawing out. The kids will be home soon enough and then it's their turn. Took out the Mr Buddy heaters to look at them, and probably will put them on for the dogs in the garage tonight. Even with their blankets and covered dog kennels it's getting too cold at night.
We went to Wichita, the highway was cleared pretty well. Shopped at Menards for more seed (just in case) and then to Sams for gas and a big haul of stuff. Most of it is still in the back seat of the truck, waiting for the kids to get home to help unload. Just been bringing in a little at a time and putting it away. Ha.

 

[INresponse]

Waxing is something new we are trying today. Ducks pluck easy but tend to have more tiny feathers and stubs that are difficult to remove compared to chickens. The GF studied up and learned that you melt some hard wax into hot water and dunk the duck a few times to get a good layer of wax to pull out the feathers. We shall see how that works. I will report back later.

Sooo, the 3 older ducks plucked fairly easy, as expected, but the 3 younger ducks still had a large amount of pin feathers even though they were at an age where pin feathers should have been gone. We are guessing they were a little behind since they were growing up from ducklings in colder temperatures, or nature just played a trick on us.
The wax worked great on the older ducks, the few feathers they couldn't grab by hand came out easy with the wax. Simple process, we used the large kettle for turkey frying and filled it half way with water, then added the wax blocks and heated the water until the wax melted. The melted wax was about 2" thick floating on top of the water. Dunk the plucked bird then dunk into cold water to harden the wax, and repeat a few times to build a 1/4" layer of wax on the bird. Place the bird on the table and pull the wax taking the feathers with it. The wax is then placed back into the hot water to melt and be used again. However the wax didn't work well with the pin feathers. We were planning to do more but only processed 6 once they discovered the pin feathers on the youngin's.

 

[SheepDog]

I don't pluck birds any more. I skin them so no feathers to worry about.
There is less fat that way too.

 

[Amish Heart]

That is a unique way to do it, Inresponse. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Aerindel]

Not a whole lot.

I have about five projects that are on hold because I need a small amount of something to finish them but I haven't been able to bring myself to drive to town. Its cold, its snowing, its 2021, it just doesn't seem worth mounting an expedition for supplies.

 

[backlash]

I replaced the fan motor in the bathroom exhaust. Sent a package back to Amazon. I bought 2 air guns from Amazon and both leak air. Have to return those also. I think I'm going to just buy 2 from Harbor Freight.
Filled up my pickup so I don't have to think about that when it turns cold this week.
Going to the gun club's monthly meeting tonight and that's about it for today.
I spent most of Sunday cleaning and straightening up my shop. Now I can't find anything.

 

[phideaux]

Well , I got my labs done for my appointment Monday at kidney specialist ..... While, wife was getting her pre-op done.
Two different hospitals , about 4 miles apart.
That worked out very good.
She was done about 10 minutes after I returned to pick her up.

We had a good lunch.

Surgery tomorrow.

Ice storm starting tonight.
So I put down a good layer of ice melt on my hillside driveway. I gotta get her to hospital by 10 am.

Gonna get really cold here over next 8 days. Brrrrrr

Jim

 

[Peanut]

Ice storm starting tonight.
Jim

Stay safe JIm... weatherman said it'd stay north of me. Temp supposed to be 75 tomorrow, was 70 today...

Internet has gone off 3 times in 25 minutes.

Parts of the internet has been flakey all day...



Getting ready, leave on a short trip tomorrow, VA in the big city... oh goody!

 

[Duncan]

The past two days have been busy and rewarding ... at least to the landscaping folks who started work Monday at 0800. We wanted a lot of work done in both the front and back yards, and five guys with three Bobcats (loader, backhoe and trencher) dug a trench about 50 yards from my hose-bib, teed up to it, and ran the pipe down to the east side of the pasture, and put in another hose-bib. It's one of those boogers you see in campgrounds with a single handle that raises up to get the water. Dawn keeps calling it a "water pump" because it sort of looks like one of the old hand-operated farm water pumps.


They also ran about 100 yards of trench and buried conduit for the electrical wiring out to the north side of the pasture. I have one line running out there, but it is rated at 15 amps (!!). If I tried to do anything more than run a night-light for the chickens and power for two heated bowls, it'd pop the circuit breaker. When the electrician comes out next week (assuming we're not bankrupt by then) he's going to run at least a 50-amp line out there. You can't have too much current!!

Meanwhile, the other half of the crew was trenching the front yard for the underground sprinklers. My biggest regret about this property was seeing how lovely and green the front yard was and somehow not realizing that it would require four or five different hoses and me getting up ll night to move the sprinklers. This is the same guy who trenched a hose-bib from the well to the garden and helped me with the drip irrigation system. When he came by Monday morning, he told me to come outside where he showed me his brand-new "Duncan and Dawn Kunz Memorial Ford F-350" We might not have bought his stupid truck, but we probably spent enough (especially with the work they're doing today) for a good down-payment for the damn thing.

But at my age, I am rapidly becoming bored with carrying a couple of 5-gallon buckets of water twice a day (usually when it's around 20°) to water the animals, and not being all that enthusiastic about stumbling around out there with no electricity. I believe it's worth it for both of us, but I also know that she-who-must-be-obeyed will never let me buy another guitar or musical instrument again.

I was so happy at the work being done that I helped Dawn clean out and defrost the freezer, and set up a bunch of multi-hose manifolds for the new hose-bib, and coiled up most of my hoses and put them in the shed. Just watching all those guys work has really worn me out. Maybe I ought to take a nap before I go to bed....

One of the nice things about living in a small farm town is that you can always get one of your neighbors to recommend someone who had done work for him and know that the guys he recommends are good folks to know. Pedro Garcia -- the landscaping king -- has been a great person to contract with. His rates are reasonable, he's always on time, and does a great job. We know his family and some of his long-term employees, and we have no problem whatsoever telling him that we'll be out of town, but we'll leave the garage open so he can do his work. I never had that kind of a relationship when I was living in the city!

 

[Bacpacker]

We just finished up a 4 day trip to mid Michigan to visit her sister. I'm beat and gotta go to work tomorrow. But the truck is unloaded and dinner has been ate. Got my shower too, just need to go lay down.
We saw a low of 4 degrees Sunday night. High was 18. We didn't get above freezing until we were about halfway between Cincinati and Lexington. We got a dusting of snow every night, but nothing more than powder. Coming home the roads were in good shape until we got inside I-275 around Cinci. Roads went from good to crap in less than a mile. Cars had spun out all over the place and in the ditch, had to be 12-15 in less than 5 miles. The mess wasn't deep, but it was slick. Soon as we crossed the Ohio River roads went back to fine shape all at once. There was around 6" of snow there, within 30 miles there was none. We didn't see any Saturday when we went up till we got a ways into Michigan.

 

[Neb]

The past two days have been busy and rewarding ... at least to the landscaping folks who started work Monday at 0800. We wanted a lot of work done in both the front and back yards, and five guys with three Bobcats (loader, backhoe and trencher) dug a trench about 50 yards from my hose-bib, teed up to it, and ran the pipe down to the east side of the pasture, and put in another hose-bib. It's one of those boogers you see in campgrounds with a single handle that raises up to get the water. Dawn keeps calling it a "water pump" because it sort of looks like one of the old hand-operated farm water pumps.

They also ran about 100 yards of trench and buried conduit for the electrical wiring out to the north side of the pasture. I have one line running out there, but it is rated at 15 amps (!!). If I tried to do anything more than run a night-light for the chickens and power for two heated bowls, it'd pop the circuit breaker. When the electrician comes out next week (assuming we're not bankrupt by then) he's going to run at least a 50-amp line out there. You can't have too much current!!

Meanwhile, the other half of the crew was trenching the front yard for the underground sprinklers. My biggest regret about this property was seeing how lovely and green the front yard was and somehow not realizing that it would require four or five different hoses and me getting up ll night to move the sprinklers. This is the same guy who trenched a hose-bib from the well to the garden and helped me with the drip irrigation system. When he came by Monday morning, he told me to come outside where he showed me his brand-new "Duncan and Dawn Kunz Memorial Ford F-350" We might not have bought his stupid truck, but we probably spent enough (especially with the work they're doing today) for a good down-payment for the damn thing.

But at my age, I am rapidly becoming bored with carrying a couple of 5-gallon buckets of water twice a day (usually when it's around 20°) to water the animals, and not being all that enthusiastic about stumbling around out there with no electricity. I believe it's worth it for both of us, but I also know that she-who-must-be-obeyed will never let me buy another guitar or musical instrument again.

I was so happy at the work being done that I helped Dawn clean out and defrost the freezer, and set up a bunch of multi-hose manifolds for the new hose-bib, and coiled up most of my hoses and put them in the shed. Just watching all those guys work has really worn me out. Maybe I ought to take a nap before I go to bed....

One of the nice things about living in a small farm town is that you can always get one of your neighbors to recommend someone who had done work for him and know that the guys he recommends are good folks to know. Pedro Garcia -- the landscaping king -- has been a great person to contract with. His rates are reasonable, he's always on time, and does a great job. We know his family and some of his long-term employees, and we have no problem whatsoever telling him that we'll be out of town, but we'll leave the garage open so he can do his work. I never had that kind of a relationship when I was living in the city!

You can do a lot with 50 amps. Is is 220V?

When I bought my place the electrical wiring was a disaster. It had an old 60 fuse box with the service drop coming down through the structure to the house!

I replaced the fuse box with circuit breaker panel rated for 200 amps but down graded the main breaker to 50 amps. I went 15 years before I had the service entrance replaced to code and upgraded to 200 amp.

So you can do a lot with 50 amp.

Ben

 

[Duncan]

You can do a lot with 50 amps. Is is 220V?
When I bought my place the electrical wiring was a disaster. It had an old 60 fuse box with the service drop coming down through the structure to the house!
I replaced the fuse box with circuit breaker panel rated for 200 amps but down graded the main breaker to 50 amps. I went 15 years before I had the service entrance replaced to code and upgraded to 200 amp.
So you can do a lot with 50 amp.
Ben

We have (I think) 100 Amps into the house, most of the circuits being 110v, except for the kitchen (oven), laundry room (dryer), and garage (space heater and previous owners' pottery kiln).

50 Amps to the pasture/barnyard is probably more than I'll ever need, but better to have too much than not enough. Right now, we have two electrical lights in the two chicken coops, and two or the heated water-bowls for the hens. But we do have a couple larger heated buckets and space for a couple of 500-W heat lamps in the goat-barn that we don't need now but probably will when we get our next generation of goats (a pregnant Alpine and her soon-to-be-here twin kids). Everything so far will be 110 volts, which should be more than enough for what we've chosen.

 

[INresponse]

I don't pluck birds any more. I skin them so no feathers to worry about.
There is less fat that way too.

We eat the skin and the fat for the health benefits. The fat is a much better energy source than sugar and carbs. We actually took the skin off the neck and the but end, and simmered it down to render off the fat to use in other meals. Jars of shortening for duck, beef, and for bacon grease sit on the counter, just like gramma used to have.

 

[Amish Heart]

Great idea. We did some skinning on some of the 40 plus roosters we just did, and it really just makes the leg quarters too dry to bake. I ended up using the skinned leg quarters for dog and cat food. Not so much on the boneless breasts I cut, but I cook them different. Great use of the animal to use all the fat. Duck fat is great.

 

[INresponse]

I suggested skinning the young ducks with the pin feathers, saying we could use them for soup because I know baking them skinless would dry them out, but I was overruled.
We processed a year old duck a few weeks ago that had a few pin feathers, but nothing like todays young ducks. We gave it to a neighbor because we were cooking the turkey we processed. Neighbor said after baking the duck the remaining feathers pulled out with ease. She didn't mind one bit and was thankful for the duck dinner.

 

[phideaux]

Local tv is saying stay off the roads . Some ice. Temp is 28 deg.

Wife is fussing about it , but I'm determined to get her to the hospital for surgery.

I've driven on this crap for years.
I just hope everybody else stays home.

Got to be there at 10 am.

Hope y'all stay safe and warm today.
The big ice storm is coming tonight.

Jim

 

[Amish Heart]

Hope it all goes well today, Phideaux. We're at somewhere around 5 degrees and just took little granddaughter to school. Let us know! We'll look for waiting room photos!

Thinking about packing a truck lunch and taking a drive with husband this afternoon to someplace around here that we haven't seen.

 

[Weedygarden]

Local tv is saying stay off the roads . Some ice. Temp is 28 deg.

Wife is fussing about it , but I'm determined to get her to the hospital for surgery.

I've driven on this crap for years.
I just hope everybody else stays home.

Got to be there at 10 am.

Hope y'all stay safe and warm today.
The big ice storm is coming tonight.

Jim

Wishing you and your wife the best today. Prayers!

 

[phideaux]

We made it , no problems , the interstate was brined yesterday.

Getting registered.

Jim

 

[phideaux]

Guess where I'm at .

Pre-op for next 2 hrs.
It's better we be waiting that the doctor.

Jim

 

[Peanut]

A few last odds n ends... critters are all fed, bag is packed. Leaving for the big city around noon. My VA appointment is around noon tomorrow. I'll leave before rush hour traffic starts in the afternoon and be home before dark.

 

[Curmudgeon]

We didn't see any Saturday when we went up till we got a ways into Michigan.

You could have taken this crap home with ya, and the cold. We wouldn't have complained, lol.

 

[hashbrown]

Got up early and slapped a set of chains on my pickup. The roads were horrendous, solid ice. I made it back home and made myself a hot chocolate with a big shot of Fireball in it that should put me to sleep for a couple of hours.