It is cold and rainy here! It was 70 when I got up and I went to the hardware
store without a sweater: I *DO* know better this time of year! I half froze when
I got out of the pickup! It was 45 degrees out when I got back with the pear
tree that I got on sale: It cost just $15! I will have one of the kids plant it
this weekend. The ground should be nice and soft after the rain.
I always
go over my budget during the fall sales: This week I also got some half-priced
daffodil bulbs. I got 250 bulbs for perhaps $20, and who can resist a deal like
that??????? Most of them are yellow but about 1/5 of them are white. I have a
weakness for that color scheme! Which is good because most of what was left was
yellow. That is fine: as I have said I am very fond of the color scheme! I am
VERY pleased!
The dog is sleeping next to me on the sofa on my sweater:
he has spent most of the last 3 days outside but it is too cold and wet for him
today! He does hate the rain!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Food is really expensive!
As a middle aged woman, I have ways to reduce my food bill. Not everybody can, and I think about paying full price and I shudder!
Every Tuesday bananas at my favorite store are on sale, and since I decided to shop today I bought a fair amount! And, because I have apples from my own tree I decided to make fruit salad tonight and so I bought a bag of little oranges: 3 pounds for $4! And, the peels were thick which means that the oranges were really quite SMALL!
The dish was affordable because I had the apples from the tree and the bananas were on sale: it would have been terribly expensive otherwise!
Speaking of apples, while I only put the best-looking apples in the fridge there is no guarentee that there will not be worms. in them: not every worm hole shows! Home raised apples are best sliced before eating! Of course that is no problem if making fruit salad as the apples are sliced anyways! But, that was not a problem today as the three apples that I cut up used showed no sign of having anything in them excepting good, healthy apple.
An apple still warm from the sun tastes far better than supermarket apples! Though, if you look at the BOTTOM of the supermarket apples they will soon reveal which are fresh and which are not! If the tendrils at the bottom, where the core is, are still green then the apple is VERY fresh! It will be juicy and aromatic! If, however, the tendrils are brown then it will be just another dull supermarket apple, possibly soft and mealy, and in my opinion better for cooking than for eating fresh!!!!!!!
I still have better than 5 pounds of apples from my tree: the fridge will keep them good for months but they will be eaten before too long. Last year I did not have apples on the trees because of a late frost, and so I bought a LOT! of apples from the supermarket at 88 cents pound. I was lucky: some of those apples had totally green tendrils at the bottom of the core so I knew they had just been picked! I bought those, and they lasted us well into February. They were soft, of course, by then instead of crackling and juicy. They were still excellent for cooking, though! If properly stored apples will last for a very long time..
Every Tuesday bananas at my favorite store are on sale, and since I decided to shop today I bought a fair amount! And, because I have apples from my own tree I decided to make fruit salad tonight and so I bought a bag of little oranges: 3 pounds for $4! And, the peels were thick which means that the oranges were really quite SMALL!
The dish was affordable because I had the apples from the tree and the bananas were on sale: it would have been terribly expensive otherwise!
Speaking of apples, while I only put the best-looking apples in the fridge there is no guarentee that there will not be worms. in them: not every worm hole shows! Home raised apples are best sliced before eating! Of course that is no problem if making fruit salad as the apples are sliced anyways! But, that was not a problem today as the three apples that I cut up used showed no sign of having anything in them excepting good, healthy apple.
An apple still warm from the sun tastes far better than supermarket apples! Though, if you look at the BOTTOM of the supermarket apples they will soon reveal which are fresh and which are not! If the tendrils at the bottom, where the core is, are still green then the apple is VERY fresh! It will be juicy and aromatic! If, however, the tendrils are brown then it will be just another dull supermarket apple, possibly soft and mealy, and in my opinion better for cooking than for eating fresh!!!!!!!
I still have better than 5 pounds of apples from my tree: the fridge will keep them good for months but they will be eaten before too long. Last year I did not have apples on the trees because of a late frost, and so I bought a LOT! of apples from the supermarket at 88 cents pound. I was lucky: some of those apples had totally green tendrils at the bottom of the core so I knew they had just been picked! I bought those, and they lasted us well into February. They were soft, of course, by then instead of crackling and juicy. They were still excellent for cooking, though! If properly stored apples will last for a very long time..
Friday, September 28, 2012
The summer heat has broken, and I am BUSY-BUSY-BUSY!
I am pretty much doing what I can outside, before the winter weather hits!
The new grass is up, and it might not ned watering any onger! I will watch the weather.
DS and I planted 8 peonys in the back yard, and we laid a strip of weed barrier down so that nobody has to keep it weeded. I planted a Barzilla (Yellow), Henry Sass (white), Shawnee Chief (red), Gay Paree ((2-toned pink), Katharine (white), and a pink and a white from a local nursery:I forget those names!
And, in the front yard we planted 2 small peonies called "Merry Sunshine" next to the mail box.
Also, DD burned the dead limbs this week, so now the yard will soon be tidy. She left a couple of charcol logs, which I will get to shortly.
AND, I saw a neater way to fasten weed barrier down with: the local nursery is using heavy metal stakes with washers! So today I bought 25 spikes with washers: soon the wood that I weigh te weed barrier down with will be back on the weed pile!
And, tomorrow we plan on putting the skin on the greenhouse.
BUSY-BUSY-BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!
The new grass is up, and it might not ned watering any onger! I will watch the weather.
DS and I planted 8 peonys in the back yard, and we laid a strip of weed barrier down so that nobody has to keep it weeded. I planted a Barzilla (Yellow), Henry Sass (white), Shawnee Chief (red), Gay Paree ((2-toned pink), Katharine (white), and a pink and a white from a local nursery:I forget those names!
And, in the front yard we planted 2 small peonies called "Merry Sunshine" next to the mail box.
Also, DD burned the dead limbs this week, so now the yard will soon be tidy. She left a couple of charcol logs, which I will get to shortly.
AND, I saw a neater way to fasten weed barrier down with: the local nursery is using heavy metal stakes with washers! So today I bought 25 spikes with washers: soon the wood that I weigh te weed barrier down with will be back on the weed pile!
And, tomorrow we plan on putting the skin on the greenhouse.
BUSY-BUSY-BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
To live like you were dying.
No, I am *NOT* dying, but now might be the only time for the fun that DH and I had always planned on doing. We had a pretty good time, just the two of us, before we adopted the kids and we always figured on having fun when they had moved out also.
So, I tagged along when DH was sent to a conferance in California. We ate out in restaurants, and when the conferance was over we went to Disneyland and then we drove up the coast. A hotel with a view of Morro rock, Clam chowder on a deck overlooking the beach...... it was fun! DH says he does not want to go back to work!
Meanwhile, the kids were dealing with life without Mom to help. The cat got bit and so DD took him in to the vets and they treated him, DD then got sick, and so forth. Since they are 18 and 19 this might have been a good dry run for adulthood.
Speaking of adulthood, DD is working fewer hours for me, is only taking one college class, and has not turned in a job application in weeks that I know of. Now that we are back from the trip, I have given her *DIRE WARNINGS* of charging her $35 a week room and board if she does not get a job. She is 19: she does not get to kick back! She has a car to save up for, an apartment to pick out, and an adult life to live. She does not get to act like a kid!
And, lastly, I am having an MS day. Every now and then the MS flares up and BITES be, and it is doing so today! I had been meaning to give gluten-free, milk- free, and egg-free a try: perhaps today is when I should do it. Half of the anti-inflamatory diet is eating more greens and the other hald is cutting out the above foods: I have done the adding foods part-seaweed and all- perhaps now would be the time to stop eating the foods that I am not supposed to be eating.
So, I tagged along when DH was sent to a conferance in California. We ate out in restaurants, and when the conferance was over we went to Disneyland and then we drove up the coast. A hotel with a view of Morro rock, Clam chowder on a deck overlooking the beach...... it was fun! DH says he does not want to go back to work!
Meanwhile, the kids were dealing with life without Mom to help. The cat got bit and so DD took him in to the vets and they treated him, DD then got sick, and so forth. Since they are 18 and 19 this might have been a good dry run for adulthood.
Speaking of adulthood, DD is working fewer hours for me, is only taking one college class, and has not turned in a job application in weeks that I know of. Now that we are back from the trip, I have given her *DIRE WARNINGS* of charging her $35 a week room and board if she does not get a job. She is 19: she does not get to kick back! She has a car to save up for, an apartment to pick out, and an adult life to live. She does not get to act like a kid!
And, lastly, I am having an MS day. Every now and then the MS flares up and BITES be, and it is doing so today! I had been meaning to give gluten-free, milk- free, and egg-free a try: perhaps today is when I should do it. Half of the anti-inflamatory diet is eating more greens and the other hald is cutting out the above foods: I have done the adding foods part-seaweed and all- perhaps now would be the time to stop eating the foods that I am not supposed to be eating.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
No-work onions: how they turned out.
I had mixed results with the onions, but I noticed something. Last Fall I missed a couple of tiny onions, and this spring they grew early and gave me nice fat onions. But, the onion sets that I planted this spring stayed small and hot. So, I think that I have only gotten little onions because I have been planting them too late in the year.
This is a problem because in my area onion sets are not available until March, and that is apparently just too late.
So, this fall, instead of harvesting my little onions to put in a stew or a stir-fry I will leave them alone and harvest them next year. Hopefully they will be nice and big and mild!!!!!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the onions are being grown in perlite in a shallow raised bed. There is weed barrier below the onions. They were origionally grown with strawberries but it was so hot that I could not keep everything watered: the onions responded by bulbing up but the strawberries they were planted with did die.
This is a problem because in my area onion sets are not available until March, and that is apparently just too late.
So, this fall, instead of harvesting my little onions to put in a stew or a stir-fry I will leave them alone and harvest them next year. Hopefully they will be nice and big and mild!!!!!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the onions are being grown in perlite in a shallow raised bed. There is weed barrier below the onions. They were origionally grown with strawberries but it was so hot that I could not keep everything watered: the onions responded by bulbing up but the strawberries they were planted with did die.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Water Company Wants Hundreds of Dollars to Just Give an Estimate!!!!!!
Not for the house, of course! We HAVE water for the house! I was wanting an estimate for the 5 acres of land that we own outside of town. It was SUPPOSED to be my farm, but I got sick before we could do anything with it. But, I have never had the heart to sell it: it is not that easy to sell a dream! Alter it, maybe......
I am thinking of growing perrenials. I have a few established right now, but for a really cool set-up I need to be able to water. Back before I got sick I had intended to use the creek, but the darnned thing is 25 feet below where I intend to plant! There was a time when I would have bought a foot pump and used it to fill a holding tank, but, now I lack the strength. So, City water is probably what we need. DH would like city water anyways, as he looks on the land as an investment instead of as a farm, and the water would make the land worth more. So, perhaps half of the cost from the household account, and the other half from me?
At any rate, I explained to the lady at the Water Company that I was not intending to have water put in any time soon: I was just looking for a savings account to aim for before I asked for an estimate. She said she just COULDN'T give even a rough estimate over the phone, but when I asked if my savings account should be closer to $1,000 or $10,000, she allowed that often $6,000 would be safer than $1,000. You have to really love helpfull phone operators: she both avoided giving an estimate while simultaneously giving me an idea of what the cost was going to be! She did me a favor, and I am well aware of it!
Over the last few years I have managed to save up $2000. Some of it was from having my blood drawn at an MS research place, some of it was from selling a few articles, and some of it was from any unspent pocket money: the kids got allowances and I eventually figured out that I should also! So, I set aside anything I did not spend on sodas and such when I was in town.
I would not spend that money this year regardless, because I do not know which way the economy is going to bounce. Right now that money is only for emergencies: I can pay the mortgage and feed us for 2 months of time with that money, and, regardless of what Washington intends to do I intend to feed us! But, hopefully, in 2-3 years time things will have settled down enough for me to turn that land into a hobby farm. That is actually what that money was always intended to do when I started the account: I was going use it to turn that land into a berry and honey farm! Well, if my DH can hold his job in these troubling times, perhaps it can be turned into something beautifull instead. At any rate I would never spend it while the economy is so uncertain, but I am hoping to know what the economy will be doing in a couple of years.
In the mean time, I can get serious about saving for water. If I can put $50 per month into savings for 2.5 years then I should have added about $1300 to that account. DH is willing to spend some household money on getting water in it as it will make the value of the land appreciate.
I have been doing on-line surveys and playing computer games at Swagbucks during the time that I have to sit down and rest, and I am clearing about $28 dollars a month from that. And, if I put half of my pocket money into the kitty as well instead of spending it on sodas and such....... I can DO! it!
And, if I try and fail, then the account will have more money in it, and money is always usefull!
I think that I would like a line of daffodils along side of the road: I can get those in before the irrigation goes in as they do not need watering. Behind that, safely outside of the right-of-way for the road, I would like a row of peonys. I lADMIRE peonys, and they come in all sorts of colors! They would have to wait until the irrigation water was in, though. They are not as tough as daffodils are.
Behind that I am not sure: I have NEVER had an eye for form and color! I would like more bulbs, including some lilys, some field corn for my chickens, and I would like to expand the existing asparagus patch near the creek. To the east of this would be my fruit trees, which would be grown in a rough-looking thicket. That area of land is too steep for me to mow and I refuse to try! However, I can pop in a few more trees.
That will pretty much fill in the open land between the road and the creek.
There is a good deal of land on the far side of the creek, but I rarely go there now as I only have a foot bridge of a few pressure-treated planks. It has gotten hard for me to walk on that bridge, and it needs to be ajusted a couple of times a year as high water shifts it. The planks cannot be washed away because I drilled holes in the boards, ran a chain through them, and chained them to two trees but high water does shift it some. And, the bank is steep on the other side. To be totally safe from high water the bridge would have to be 30 feet long and I cannot DO that, so, I make do with planks that stay ALMOST always dry! I did use that bridge for maybe 3 years but it is getting harder for me, now.
It is lovely to have a goal again!
I am thinking of growing perrenials. I have a few established right now, but for a really cool set-up I need to be able to water. Back before I got sick I had intended to use the creek, but the darnned thing is 25 feet below where I intend to plant! There was a time when I would have bought a foot pump and used it to fill a holding tank, but, now I lack the strength. So, City water is probably what we need. DH would like city water anyways, as he looks on the land as an investment instead of as a farm, and the water would make the land worth more. So, perhaps half of the cost from the household account, and the other half from me?
At any rate, I explained to the lady at the Water Company that I was not intending to have water put in any time soon: I was just looking for a savings account to aim for before I asked for an estimate. She said she just COULDN'T give even a rough estimate over the phone, but when I asked if my savings account should be closer to $1,000 or $10,000, she allowed that often $6,000 would be safer than $1,000. You have to really love helpfull phone operators: she both avoided giving an estimate while simultaneously giving me an idea of what the cost was going to be! She did me a favor, and I am well aware of it!
Over the last few years I have managed to save up $2000. Some of it was from having my blood drawn at an MS research place, some of it was from selling a few articles, and some of it was from any unspent pocket money: the kids got allowances and I eventually figured out that I should also! So, I set aside anything I did not spend on sodas and such when I was in town.
I would not spend that money this year regardless, because I do not know which way the economy is going to bounce. Right now that money is only for emergencies: I can pay the mortgage and feed us for 2 months of time with that money, and, regardless of what Washington intends to do I intend to feed us! But, hopefully, in 2-3 years time things will have settled down enough for me to turn that land into a hobby farm. That is actually what that money was always intended to do when I started the account: I was going use it to turn that land into a berry and honey farm! Well, if my DH can hold his job in these troubling times, perhaps it can be turned into something beautifull instead. At any rate I would never spend it while the economy is so uncertain, but I am hoping to know what the economy will be doing in a couple of years.
In the mean time, I can get serious about saving for water. If I can put $50 per month into savings for 2.5 years then I should have added about $1300 to that account. DH is willing to spend some household money on getting water in it as it will make the value of the land appreciate.
I have been doing on-line surveys and playing computer games at Swagbucks during the time that I have to sit down and rest, and I am clearing about $28 dollars a month from that. And, if I put half of my pocket money into the kitty as well instead of spending it on sodas and such....... I can DO! it!
And, if I try and fail, then the account will have more money in it, and money is always usefull!
I think that I would like a line of daffodils along side of the road: I can get those in before the irrigation goes in as they do not need watering. Behind that, safely outside of the right-of-way for the road, I would like a row of peonys. I lADMIRE peonys, and they come in all sorts of colors! They would have to wait until the irrigation water was in, though. They are not as tough as daffodils are.
Behind that I am not sure: I have NEVER had an eye for form and color! I would like more bulbs, including some lilys, some field corn for my chickens, and I would like to expand the existing asparagus patch near the creek. To the east of this would be my fruit trees, which would be grown in a rough-looking thicket. That area of land is too steep for me to mow and I refuse to try! However, I can pop in a few more trees.
That will pretty much fill in the open land between the road and the creek.
There is a good deal of land on the far side of the creek, but I rarely go there now as I only have a foot bridge of a few pressure-treated planks. It has gotten hard for me to walk on that bridge, and it needs to be ajusted a couple of times a year as high water shifts it. The planks cannot be washed away because I drilled holes in the boards, ran a chain through them, and chained them to two trees but high water does shift it some. And, the bank is steep on the other side. To be totally safe from high water the bridge would have to be 30 feet long and I cannot DO that, so, I make do with planks that stay ALMOST always dry! I did use that bridge for maybe 3 years but it is getting harder for me, now.
It is lovely to have a goal again!
Friday, August 10, 2012
Today my daughter leaves with her boyfriend to go on vacation in Arkansas for the weekend.
She told me a few months ago that she was glad that I was OK with her sleeping with her boyfriend. She said that it meant a lot to her. I replied calmly "Oh, I am not, but you are an adult and you will make your own decisions". Not being blind I had already guessed that they were "together", if you know what I mean!
Her boyfriend is a fine young man. I could tell when she was 16 which way the wind was blowing, but we just reminded her that she was not allowed to date adults. He is somewhat older than she is. They both accepted that they could not date at that time. It might have helped that they did not live in the same city: they met at an anime' convention and mostly talked on the phone and on-line.
Then she turned 18 and they started dating, because then they were both adults.
She is now 19, and if they are still an item next year I suspect that they will get married. I am just guessing, of course, but then again I am not blind. She is not ready to get married yet: she only got her first real job! But, give it a bit. Young women do grow up!
He is a fine young man, and a couple of years ago he warned us that she was having mood swings but covering them up. She was indeed, and we got her medications changed. There is a fair amount of common sense in that young man!
(I do not recall if I had mentioned this, but my daughter is bipolar. A lot of criminals CLAIM to be biplar to get lighter sentences, but they lie. My daughter has never been in trouble with the law: is the real thing. She gets large mood swings, and if they are neglected she CAN hallucinate. So, the LAST things she should be doing is to "tough out" any major mood swings. Because he was an adult he realized this: because she was only 16 she convinced herself that she could tough it out and hid the symptoms from us, but not from her peer group. So, he called us.)
Oh, about my daughters new job! She has been doing a good deal of the housework around here, because she needed the money and I needed the help, and she wangled that into a housekeeping job! It is only part time, but in a recession jobs first-time are hard to get, and she is very excited about it! She will work with a team, and she very much enjoyed her first few days at work!
So, now I am teaching my son the ropes: he is 18 and unemployed. He is, as I write this, carrying the laundry down the stairs to put into the washing machine. After both kids move out, I think that I will need a small washer and dryer upstairs, but for now my son is doing the laundry as part of his housekeeping job. And, DD is giving me 2 hours of work a week to cover her room and board.
I have told them both that adults work for their livings, and they both have accepted this. So, they both pitch in a couple of hours a week because they are adults, and they work more (at $5 an hour) for their pocket money.
When DD applied for the housekeeping job, she said that she was working for 12 hours a week at $5 an hour as a housekeeper for her handicapped Mother, which was accurate enough! When the lady asked if her getting a different job would put her Mother in a bind, she replied "No, now my brother is being taught how". Yes, young women *DO* grow up!
Well, enough for now! This is not a very homesteady (letter? writing? article?), but, I have not had time to homestead this week. Last night I picked 3 tomatos and another small melon: that has been about it for homesteading this week!
Her boyfriend is a fine young man. I could tell when she was 16 which way the wind was blowing, but we just reminded her that she was not allowed to date adults. He is somewhat older than she is. They both accepted that they could not date at that time. It might have helped that they did not live in the same city: they met at an anime' convention and mostly talked on the phone and on-line.
Then she turned 18 and they started dating, because then they were both adults.
She is now 19, and if they are still an item next year I suspect that they will get married. I am just guessing, of course, but then again I am not blind. She is not ready to get married yet: she only got her first real job! But, give it a bit. Young women do grow up!
He is a fine young man, and a couple of years ago he warned us that she was having mood swings but covering them up. She was indeed, and we got her medications changed. There is a fair amount of common sense in that young man!
(I do not recall if I had mentioned this, but my daughter is bipolar. A lot of criminals CLAIM to be biplar to get lighter sentences, but they lie. My daughter has never been in trouble with the law: is the real thing. She gets large mood swings, and if they are neglected she CAN hallucinate. So, the LAST things she should be doing is to "tough out" any major mood swings. Because he was an adult he realized this: because she was only 16 she convinced herself that she could tough it out and hid the symptoms from us, but not from her peer group. So, he called us.)
Oh, about my daughters new job! She has been doing a good deal of the housework around here, because she needed the money and I needed the help, and she wangled that into a housekeeping job! It is only part time, but in a recession jobs first-time are hard to get, and she is very excited about it! She will work with a team, and she very much enjoyed her first few days at work!
So, now I am teaching my son the ropes: he is 18 and unemployed. He is, as I write this, carrying the laundry down the stairs to put into the washing machine. After both kids move out, I think that I will need a small washer and dryer upstairs, but for now my son is doing the laundry as part of his housekeeping job. And, DD is giving me 2 hours of work a week to cover her room and board.
I have told them both that adults work for their livings, and they both have accepted this. So, they both pitch in a couple of hours a week because they are adults, and they work more (at $5 an hour) for their pocket money.
When DD applied for the housekeeping job, she said that she was working for 12 hours a week at $5 an hour as a housekeeper for her handicapped Mother, which was accurate enough! When the lady asked if her getting a different job would put her Mother in a bind, she replied "No, now my brother is being taught how". Yes, young women *DO* grow up!
Well, enough for now! This is not a very homesteady (letter? writing? article?), but, I have not had time to homestead this week. Last night I picked 3 tomatos and another small melon: that has been about it for homesteading this week!
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