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So, one of the cats got into Mom's room a couple weeks ago & pulled her curtains down. Bc she has her room piled up with boxes and stuff piled on the other side of her bed (to fill in where my Dad used to sleep) I can't get over to put it back up. Starting at 8am a pair of cardinals were perching on a small branch close to the window and kept flying at the window and thunking in to it. Around 7pm, my brother told me about the cardinals because he saw them when he was leaving the bathroom & he mentioned it to Mom who said they woke her up & had been doing it all day. I went in there a few minutes later in time to see it. Although, the male was learning not to crash into the window so hard, but he kept jumping at it like he could land on it. He only made a loud thunk once when his beak hit the window.
 
Last night I went bowling for the first time in about 7 years. I am not a bowler, used to just roll the ball with just a little spin to aim for the pocket behind the head pin, but since it had been so long and was just for fun I was just throwing the ball straight. Except for one time on the 7th frame I thought I would give it a try, but I felt it through my whole body on the release, and ended up in the gutter, so switched back to just a straight throw. This morning I woke up with bad stomach pain, decided I pulled a stomach muscle somehow last night. Ended up on my back all day, but it was good as I caught up on some much needed rest.
I did pay the water bills though, so I did do something productive.
 
I worked last night until 10PM on a presentation that I was asked to give with 3 (work) days notice. No problem it's only 30 minutes plus questions and.... Woke up at 04:00 with revisions in my head, made them and went to Mickey D's for breakfast and then opened up HD to pick up some mulch and some soil, home by 06:30.

Today I should be done with work by 16:00 and then I can put the finishing touches on the new raised bed. The nice thing about this time of the year is it doesn't get dark until after 19:00 so lots of extra time to work outside before being pushed back in by the dark. :)
 
well, we have babies living in the house again. One lamb got injured ( one of the bottle ones) pretty bad. Looks like a goat got her. She is going to the vet today to be stitched up, which is not something I want to do. She needs pain medicine also which I don't have. The other one got injured in their stall with just her and the doe plus little brother. Not sure how she did it. ( goat kid) . But she is just limping a little so probably not going to the vet. They are both in the house in the dog crate and I just fed them. The little goat really didn't want a bottle at first but finally drank it.

Husband got vaccine yesterday, no reaction other than sore arm ( same as me). Our friends are not coming so I washed the stupid bed stuff for nothing. They are visiting their son in the next State over and thought we would be a quick side trip but didn't realize how far and how much traffic and decided it was just too much driving for them.

It is supposed to freeze tomorrow night, so I will need to cover all the stuff I already planted. Fruit trees are once again going to have problems.

So I am already sort of in a bad mood today. I was not planning on a vet trip today but looks like not avoidable. Plus once again we are going to spend more on the vet most likely than the animal is worth if she survives. But one of my goals here is to treat all livestock as good as possible. It's more of a goal of mine than anything else we do. I absolutely hate factory farming and people that treat animals bad.
 
Posted the scores for last weekend's competition.

Meeting with our Church Treasurer. Church is in my district and they have a history of paying the monthly assessment late. Penalties add up fast. Meeting to find out if it's the USPS, new Treasurer learning, church finances or what...is there anything I can do to help?

Big Box store to look at powered hand grinders. Cordless (battery) or corded?

Bank to pay property taxes.
 
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Will be going to funeral home for visitation of nieces motherinlaw at noon.
Then on to Walmart to grab a few items.

Will have lunch somewhere ...never fast food, as we have several home cooked Cafe's.

Then home and start getting covers out to cover my peppers , and (don't want to take a chance) strawberries , which are loaded with tiny strawberries. My pear trees are loaded with tiny pears , I just don't know how they will do.
Frost for sure and possible freeze tonight and tomorrow night.

Hope to pick up the new little car I bought, from shop , getting new fuel pump.

Feeling better and more energy and motivation..

Thanks for your prayers.

Bless you all.

Jim
 
I was at O'Reilley's at 7:15 to pick up headlight assemblies for my jeep.
Then Walmart for some dairy and produce.
Then veterinarian to schedule Peanut Butter's dental visit.
Got home, fed dogs.
Took my walk and then walked dogs.
Ordered shipping supplies from usps.
Next, will use food processor to slice carrots for dog treats and then sweet potatoes to dehydrate in oven for dog treats.
I need to cook some turkey sausage for my breakfasts and hope that's it!
 
Zannej,we have had a male cardinal too acting odd. Second year now, he ‘attacks’ the vehicle closest to the cedar tree. He spends a lot of time looking at himself in the side mirror. We think he’s being territorial and sees his reflection as a threat. A mirror placed in the tree seems to have cut back on him picking on the car and leaving presents. Maybe if you put paper in the window or stickers, he might move on?
 
Spikedriver said:
@LadyLocust Maid-Rite is a sandwich chain that is in Iowa. Instead of burger patties, it's finely crumbled loose meat with chopped onion and seasoning. Think of a Sloppy Joe without all the sauce in it.

It's pretty simple to make your own at home, there's not many ingredients. All ya gotta do is brown and crumble some ground beef, season how you want, and slap it on a bun.
Click to expand...
@sonya123
 
phideaux said:
Spike , I had Maidrite at a little hole in the wall , in Altoona. Is it still there?
Had a shingle hanging out front that said MAIDRITE.

Also went to amusement park Adventureland.
I was friends with owner .
Got in free😊

Jim
Click to expand...
You know, Jim, I'm not sure if it's still there or not. I'd have to Google it. I know a bunch of them have closed, but the original site in Marshalltown Iowa is still going strong. There was still one in a big truck stop on I-80 out towards Omaha too.

Edit: that Altoona Maid Rite went out of business, but Maid Rite still has around 32 other locations across 6 midwestern states...

Adventureland is a good time. Haven't taken my daughter there for a couple years. Might have to do that this summer if the Covid gets settled down...
 
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Spent the day weeding. The Princess wanted the raised bed with persimmons and service berries cleared out because she was convinced the persimmons were being choked out by the radishes I had let go to seed to save the seeds for this year. Turns out most of them were fine. It is still early in our growing season and had buds.

Next up were the fingerling potatoes. There are a zillion of them up and about an inch tall now. It was tedious but tedious is my middle name. They will get bit tomorrow when we may get some snow. They usually come back pretty quick.

The Purple Vikings potatoes only had 3 above ground. I may have over harvested them last year. Note: I don't harvest all of my potatoes at the end of the season. They keep just fine in the garden. When I want potatoes fot dinner I just reach in and feel around for what we need at that time. There are always some that go unfound and they start next years crop.

The russets had nothing above ground. I did find an intact spud that was just starting to chit. They are historically the last to come up.

The other noteworthy event for the family is my sister was all giddy when she called to tell me my brother had a hole in one today. Personally I am not a golf fan having been a caddie in my youth but good for him!

Behave

Ben
 
Neb said:
The railroad museum there is facinating. When steam was king that was the center of the tech universe.

Ben
Click to expand...
Altoona, Iowa? I think it is in Altoona, Pennsylvania. I should have been more clear, but I was just commenting in the conversation about Altoona, Iowa, where my aunt and uncle lived for many years.
 
INresponse said:
Last night I went bowling for the first time in about 7 years.
Click to expand...
A flashback... last time I went bowling was on a small Italian navy base on the small island of La Madalena just north of the much larger island of Sardinia Italy. The bowling ally only had 3 lanes. The beer was horrible and the food wasn't much better. It was cold, raining... no wonder the Italians have gone around starting wars for the last 2500 years, living in a place like that would make anyone grumpy. :rolleyes:

A quiet day, late afternoon I connected the hay spike to the tractor then pushed up all the brush I've cut around the corral the last few days. Pushed it into the woods at the end of the garden. Next I gave the lawn mower a work out. Mowed around my elderberry bushes, the bee hive and the front side of the chicken pen, pole barn and lane by the corral. The new motor ran great.

Have to take dad on a road trip tomorrow. His new hearing aids are ready. He has an appointment for fitting and adjustment. That's use up most of the day.
 
Tootsie said:
Zannej,we have had a male cardinal too acting odd. Second year now, he ‘attacks’ the vehicle closest to the cedar tree. He spends a lot of time looking at himself in the side mirror. We think he’s being territorial and sees his reflection as a threat. A mirror placed in the tree seems to have cut back on him picking on the car and leaving presents. Maybe if you put paper in the window or stickers, he might move on?
Click to expand...
I've seen birds do that before & it's funny but sad at the same time. In this case, both a male and female cardinal keep flying at the window. I think they are trying to get inside but are too stupid to realize the glass isn't going to disappear. They do it for hours every day. They take a break and then come back at it again. They keep waking Mom up in the morning. If I could get to her window I'd put the curtain back up.
Arm is only slightly sore from the vaccine. I had fatigue & mild headache so I slept it off. Got up and cooked for Mom (microwave meal sadly) and assembled a rolling cart for her. It's been sitting in a box for awhile & I finally got the motivation to assemble it. Now she can move some stuff off of her desk on to it.
Was up until after 3am working on drawings in Sketchup. It's now officially my mother's 71st birthday. I need to set my alarm so I can wake up at a decent hour to take her out somewhere.
Here's a screenshot of some of the hardware for my platform bed plans. I made the 3D models for everything but the joist hanger & the screw heads (I found those online but had to modify them to fit). I really wish I could figure out how to divide up the leg to make it look like the real legs I plan to use (black up top with a little gold near the bottom).
sketchupbedaccessories.jpg
Angled leg is supposed to look like this:
1618998853245.png
 
Hoping it warms up a little more today so I can uncover everything .
Gotta cover up again tonight.

Grilling pork tenderloin for lunch.

Kids can't have indoor HS graduation (covid) so they will have a parade again this year for the graduates. Gotta go see my granddaughter. Starts at 4pm.

Then cover up plants , one last time, I hope.

Jim
 
The Princess woke me up to let me know it was snowing. Way too cold to work in the garden. Instead I took a quick drive to get the actual measurement if the kitchen area of our ouse remodel project.

I started to use the kitchen design tool available on the Lowes website. Did get vry fat when an old friend came to visit. We talked for a bit.

Didn't do much more.

Ben
 
Mom decided she wanted to stay home today so I cooked for her. Birdbrains woke her up at 7am. She counted the male cardinal slamming in to her window 170 times in 4 hours. Female did it 30 times but would hit the window more than once per jump-- about 3 times as she scaled up the window. They were still at it when I went in there a few minutes ago.
She had me dump a kale salad into the soup so it is probably ruined. I didn't want to do it, but she insisted. My brother is supposed to cook beef stew but he's too busy playing computer games. He was supposed to help me clean today but he treats computer games like they area job.
 
Spikedriver said:
You know, Jim, I'm not sure if it's still there or not. I'd have to Google it. I know a bunch of them have closed, but the original site in Marshalltown Iowa is still going strong. There was still one in a big truck stop on I-80 out towards Omaha too.

Edit: that Altoona Maid Rite went out of business, but Maid Rite still has around 32 other locations across 6 midwestern states...

Adventureland is a good time. Haven't taken my daughter there for a couple years. Might have to do that this summer if the Covid gets settled down...
Click to expand...
We have Maid Rite across the Missouri River.
 
Not much today.
My left arm is tender and sore today.
Especially where the stitches are.
Go figure.
Made meatloaf for several meals.
Must have been good.
Ate it all today.
So will have to cook tomorrow.
Got ice on arm now.
Worked on Strawberry's dog sweater today on the knitting machine for awhile.
About half way through, noticed I had dropped a stitch.
So will take it apart tomorrow after I get home from Doctor's appointment.
 
I have been visiting my son. I cleaned the chicken bedding out of his little barn, that I had stored my chickens in, while looking for a place to buy last fall. Got that all bagged up.

Calked all the holes and replaced all the roof screws that were not holding or sealing any more in his barn roof. Then went to a local sawmill and I found some good cedar planks after a bit of rooting in the scrap pile.

Got back to my son's place and loaded up three sets of summer tires and my Dr.'s buggy that I had also stored there, along with the cedar planks and all the chicken crap.

Will be heading home 6 am. Its about a nine hour drive. Will stop in small town no where to pick up my new 2hp meat grinder at the PO, a fruit tree and berry order that just arrived in town at purolator and 100 meat chicks and ten turkey chick's that will arrive at the feed store at 2:30 pm. Then, one more hour to get home.
 
Rototilled the mini wheat field and seeded it.

Set some of the burn piles on fire.

Did a load of laundry.

Put new tires on the dune buggy, the hard way, as in, by hand, myself with two screwdrivers as tools.

Something I've always 'wanted' to do, just to see if I could. Its a miserable job that way, especially until you figure out the geometry to pry and stretch on, but doable. Good to know its something I can do without a machine.
 
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