10/26/08

The boys came up today and did some stuff around the house. They worked on my studio. It's gradually taking shape, and the floor is gradually getting finished. I REALLY like the part that's done. So much easier to keep clean.

We moved Lukas' computer out of his bedroom and into the living room now that that's all tiled. He wanted the stuff out of his bedroom, and it will certainly be warmer in the living room now with the wood stove going. The only problem is, he likes to talk, and talk, and talk, and I have to respond. Right now I'm trying to watch the history channel, and he's sitting over there burping and watching wrestling. Oh well, at least he's polite about it and excuses himself.

Got some new photos. The first one is Whiskers beating up on Bandit. Whiskers just had surgery on his ear. He had a hematoma and the ear flap was filled with blood, so the vet had to drain and stitch it. We had him fixed while he was there, too. $300 later...

Then there's Squeak protecting Lukas from Pip. Not very comfortable for Lukas, though.


OK, Elaine, here's photos of my flower garden. This is a picture of the pink hollyhock.

Now here are a couple of photos of what I thought was hollyhocks, but notice the different seed pods on the swcond photo.

10/22/08

OK, too tired to do much of anything besides sit on the computer, so I'll post some things I've been thinking about writing instead of just letting it sit inside of my head.

Let me see, there was last week when Christian and I went down to Fleet Farm to pick up feed, nipples and bottles. On the way back I drove, and we stopped at Burger King for some lunch. So I'm driving along (city streets and not the freeway, thank goodness), and see something moving on the windshield, look up and there's a big spider on the inside of the windshield! I HATE spiders!!!!! So I quick pull over into a parking lot and at the same time I'm yelling 'Christian, Christian!!' After we got stopped and I jumped out, I told him what I saw. He came around and got in and saw it and tried killing it with a napkin. There's a freaking space between the windshield and the ceiling of the car!!!! And guess where the spider went!! So I stuffed some napkins up in there the whole way across my side of the windshield.

OK, so there we are driving down the road again, and the spider comes out on Christian's side of the windshield! He grabs a napkin and tries to kill it, it slides down a web (and where the heck did that web come from or can they spin that fast?). He breaks the web trying to kill it and it falls into the Burger King bag into the fries! He gets it out of the fries and finally kills it, and then eats the fries!!!! EEEWWWWWW!

Well, at least the spider is dead.

And then there's the calves. They have the scours (the runs), and today is their first day on antibiotics. They're about a week and a half old, at least, and I've been introducing them to grain. The way you do that is when they've finished their bottle, you take some grain in your hand and stick your fingers in their mouth (they're looking for more milk, so that's not hard to get them to do that). OK, now Burger is the only one who has gotten to like the grain so far, but the other two don't much care for it, so you have to try to pry open their mouth and dribble a few grains in there (Calves have SHARP teeth, and it doesn't help that I have a cut on my left index finger and a scrape on the right index finger).

So there I am, dribbling grain as fast as I can into Burger's mouth, who is bumping and pushing me for more, and also trying to get some grain into Fries and Shake, who would rather suck on Burger's or each other's, how do I say this, male reproductive organ! They know that there should be an udder somewhere between the front and back legs of a four legged creature, and if there's something hanging down, they'll try sucking on it. So it gets to be quite a fiasco, trying to feed Burger, pry open the other two mouths to get grain in them, and detaching them from things they shouldn't be sucking on, and at the same time trying to stay away from their rear ends, because when something comes out from that end right now, it comes out! Yuck!

What a zoo...

Today I went down to Walmart to pick some stuff up. I don't get out much anymore, because Christian does the weekly shopping. Twenty years ago I was making $20 an hour doing house drawings for builders and was by default the computer tech at work, and now I'm feeling positively giddy browsing the tea isle at Walmart. Pathetic!

I'm not complaining, though. I've got it as good as it can get in this system, fairly healthy, a regular income, a roof over my head, land of my own (and the bank's).

Wait a minute, I can too complain! It was sleeting today! Winter is coming! NO, NO, NO!!! Oh well, I'm not going to think about it...

10/17/08

Shame on me for not keeping up with my blog, but it's been busy and on top of that I've been battling my natural tendency to eat and hibernate because winter is coming (and have been giving in to both way too often!)

First off, our government at work just sometimes leaving you shaking your head and wondering why. In Minnesota there is something called Green Acres. For someone with more than 10 acres you can get a break on your real estate taxes if you are involved in agriculture or wood harvesting. Well, several weeks ago I received a letter informing me of changes in the law. So last week I went to an informational meeting in Big Lake where they tried to explain the new law.

This was just a laugh and a half. They were talking about 'this seems to be the legislature's intent' and 'we're getting a new bulletin every week further explaining the new laws.' It seems the state auditor, sitting in his cozy little office down at the state capitol, decided the law needed changing. I doubt the man has ever been on a farm. What it comes down to is that anything not plowed, pastured or mowed is considered unproductive land and is taxed at the full rate. You can't have an electric fences; they're not considered permanent. Wood lots can be enrolled in a new category of Forest Management (after getting the DNR to come out and set up a forest management plan, which you then have to follow), and even then it's a higher tax rate than regular Green Acres. I'm glad I don't have any swamp or slough land, as it's considered unproductive and is therefore taxed at full rate.

And get this, this bill was added in an 'omnibus bill' at the last moment, the legislators were told it was to make things more fair (?), and didn't go through any kind of committees or public hearing. So the way the law reads right now, I have to get the rest of my land fenced in this year yet (right now I've only got about 30 out of 45 fenced with barbed wire). There's no way, not with still paying on Lukas' dental bill, and having had to pay $800 to have a new well pump put in. Fence posts are $5 a piece, barbed wire is $60 a spool, and just the work involved. I hate working with barbed wire; I always walk away bloody. But it's the only thing that will keep cattle in. Oh, another good one from our government. They are in the process of trying to decide how many cattle you have to have to qualify. Right now they can't tell me if two is enough or not. This is just a hoot!

So anyway, Wednesday Christian and I went up to Mora to pick up a calf. Sally still hasn't come into heat, and it's getting pretty late to have her bred. We ended up with 3 Jersey bull calves. They were really cheap, $17.50 each. I have got to get the clutch on the truck replaced next year (another $1200 I don't have) and have the boys build a livestock box for it. They had a half grown Angus calf at the sales barn, 400-450 lbs., would have been perfect for butchering next fall, and it went for $86.

So here's the new additions:
Burger, Fries and Shake (Christian named them. We don't name our butcher animals human names, if you're wondering about the names)



Yes, they're very cute, and it's sometimes hard to think about where they're going, but I'm NOT ready to turn vegetarian, and by raising my own meat, I'm making sure they have a good life up until that last ride, and also I know it's good healthy hormone and drug free grass raised meat.

So many things to do this time of the year... I still have bulbs to get dug up, apples and grapes to get picked (I'm going to try to make grape jelly), wood to get in and get cut up, barn to get cleaned one last time, and so on and so forth. At least the weather is cooperating.

A couple of more photos, my nephew Mark not watching his cigarette but Squeak is, and Scottie on the old Farmall tractor.

9/24/08

Life just shouldn't be so complicated.

I bought a coffee/expresso machine several months ago, figuring to cut down on clutter on the counter (I like expresso, David likes his coffee weak). Last week it started blowing the circuit, and finally a couple of days ago it quit. My self cleaning litter box (less than a year old) quit working, so I figured I'd save the $100 and just clean the box myself. That lasted 2 days before I decided the $100 was well worth it. I've been having ongoing problems with my satellite receiver (signal dropping, etc.) and the tech has been out twice in the last month to try to fix it. My lawnmower deck has been making awful noises (my own fault, I know, for trying to mow a pasture with it). What else? Oh, Lukas got a cold, and now he's complaining about his good ear being clogged up. Why, please tell me, does he have all the problems on the good side, and not the deaf side. The deaf side produces almost no earwax, whereas the good side produces it overtime. I've done the peroxide soak twice in the last week, and I'll do it again when I get him up. Oh, and there's Tynha. She's the loveliest dog, but she's 13 and has hip dysplasia, and has started leaking. And she always insists on sleeping in my bedroom. Last night she tried getting up and fell down, which woke me up (besides the howling cold front that came in last night), but she tried again and got up and went to my door, which had blown shut, so I had to get up to let her out of the bedroom, and then had to go wash the pee off my leg where she brushed up against me.

I know it's just about time to put her down, but it's not quite yet. Not when she lays on the floor and puts her paw up to her face and whines/barks to come play with her. Not quite yet.

Oh, and yesterday I went and bought a new expresso machine (NOT a combo), got it home and was going to make a cup of coffee, and discovered the coffee filter for it was missing! ARRRRGGGGGG!!! Life just shouldn't be this complicated!

9/9/08

What a gorgeous fall day (although my garden got frosted last night, grrr!)

Went out mowing last night. We live on a 40 acre square with a 5 acre strip going out to the county road. I've been on that strip maybe twice in the past 18 yrs., so I'm making it a goal to get a path mowed and disced to that strip, with the intention of going and getting dead wood out of the woods there. Come to find out, someone has made their own path out there, with ATVs. So now I've got to get a couple of signs posted banning ATVs.

No new pictures to post, so I'm going to post one of my all time favorites. It's when Scott, Scottie & I made our first trip out west with the RV, and it's at Mount Rainier National Park. You can't see Scott's expression, but it's just pure bliss.

9/4/08

Just some photos to share today:
A bee in a morning glory, Mark grouting with Pip supervising, and a couple of pictures of Whiskers relaxing on the hammock. Goofy cat! And last, the woodstove installed in the living room. This is the stove that my mother's family used to heat their house when she was a child. I'm going to tile the Durock on the walls.

8/26/08

I really hate the medical community. Not only are they vastly overpriced, but they're arrogant. Yesterday we had an appointment at 8:15 a.m. for Lukas to get his wisdom teeth pulled. The dentist finally showed up at 9:05. I had decided that if he wasn't there by 9:15 I was pulling Lukas out of there, and was going to tell them I didn't trust a doctor who was an hour late at that time of the morning. Who knows what he was doing the night before. Almost $1400. With the original diagnosis and the consultation, it'll be over $1700. It is so disgusting!

Well, at least it's over and he's doing OK so far. The pain med and ibuprophen is keeping the pain under control. Here's a photo of him after we got home yesterday. He fell asleep in the recliner, and Squeak is keeping him company.

I miss my laptop. It's at the Apple Store getting a new fan put in. They said it would take about a week. I'm using the old iBook, and it is SLOW!

8/19/08

OK, I'm off on a tirade!! Health care! Lukas' epilepsy medication just doubled in price. This time a year ago it was under $70. Now it's $138. We pay almost $1500 a month in health insurance, which wouldn't be so bad if it covered our health care, but it doesn't. Our deductibles run over $4000, and then it covers 80% of our doctor bills.

This is just insane. And depressing.

8/18/08

Been having another heat wave. That's put an end to my pasture mowing for a while, which is probably for the best because that last patch of poison ivy got onto my arms.

Not much to write about, pumpkins and squash are looking good, gophers killed the cukes in one of my raised beds (next year I'm buying some hardware cloth and put that down in it), got a plague of grasshoppers. When I'm mowing in the pasture I have to pluck them off me and out of my clothes. It sure is fun to watch the chickens chase them though.

I've got some photos to share. First are pool pictures:
First is Mark catching the football, then Christian throwing Scottie into the water, then Mark/Nick and Christian/Scottie having a pool fight.



Then there's a hummer on my feeder:

Then there's Whiskers trying to take a nap.

But Squeak feels like playing...

We just can't let a sleeping cat lay there... Let's tease it!

OK, lay off already!! Now I'm REALLY annoyed!


OK, stand off.

Now Leave Me Alone!

8/4/08

It has been just too hot to do much of anything here. I admit it, I am a wimp concerning the heat. My comfort zone is 50° to 70°, and with it in the 80s every day, and black gnats, deer flies and horse flies outside, nothing much gets done.

Elaine and I went to our family's reunion yesterday. We got to see our cousins and my aunt and uncle, and got to look at some old photos. There was sadness in acknowledging the passing of time and the growing thinness of our ranks. Here's a photo of us with our cousins and aunt and uncle:

OK, let's lighten the mood a bit. Here's Fang trying very hard to get out of my studio. She's gotten out a couple of times, so she knows there's a way. The other day she tried climbing on a Rubbermaid shoebox that was on the floor, and tried jumping up and grabbing the edge of the table. Of course, she didn't make it. Belly flop on the floor! So here she is wanting to get out.

And checking out the situation from a stack of books.

That didn't look good, so let's try it from the tube roll,

Getting ready for takeoff!


Success! Or at least it would have been if I hadn't been there to grab her.

Here's a photo of Scott and his dog Vana.

And Scott and Vana discussing the state of the world,

And Vana trying to play with Whiskers. Whiskers isn't too crazy about playing with a dog he doesn't know.

Here's Whiskers playing with Squeak,


And here's Pip, sprawled out on the back of the recliner, at the end of another hot day,

7/24/08

Haven't been accomplishing too much lately with my beads. Too hot (bad excuse, since anything over 70° is too hot). But my lilies are blooming. Here's a couple of photos:


Worked on Teddy's feet last night (my pony, who has hypergrowth in his feet, and won't stand still for a farrier. The last farrier took an hour and a half to do him, and was supposed to come back to do my horse. He never showed and never called). I picked up a Small Farmer's Journal last time I was at Borders, and it had some drawings of stands for holding horses for farrier work.

I got to thinking and picked up some railroad ties and 2x10s and had the boys make a stand for me. I use an old hammock with a foam piece to hold him up so he can't go down on this knees. It works pretty nifty! Where before a tenth of the time was actually spent clipping him, now once I get him in there I can clip and file away. Much easier on him and on me.

We've got a load of hay coming in Saturday. That will be nice to have that done with. I'm still looking for a calf to pick up for next year's freezer (Sally had a heifer calf this year, so we'll keep her for breeding stock), and it's time to start watching Sally a bit closer to catch her in heat so I can get the AI guy out here. That's one thing that was really nice about her mother, Suzy. She was really easy to catch in heat. She'd start looking at Teddy with a certain gleam in her eye, and would take the first opportunity to mount him.

OK, that's been my day so far...

7/22/08

Quite nice weather this morning. It's in the 60s and a nice breeze. Perfect weather!!!!

The boys were up last weekend to work on the living room/library. We got it all cleaned out and they laid the cement board. Next weekend they're going to tile it. It's going to have marble tile in the corner where the chimney is. I have Mom's wood burning stove that they used when she was growing up, and that's where it's going to go. The rest of the room is going to be tiled in a creamy tan 16" tile. When they're done with that I'm going to have them help build floor to ceiling enclosed bookshelves and that's going to be my library.

7/15/08

Blah!! 88° and just oppressive out there. I sure am glad we have AC, even though it can't keep up with the heat. The good news is that my cherries are ripening and the lilies are starting to bloom, and the roof is done!!!!!

And here's a sandhill crane that was checking out the barnyard last weekend while the guys were working on the roof.

And here's Scott discussing the matter with Pip,


And here's my flower garden,

And a copper and brass capped bead I worked on a couple of days ago, when it was still cooler :). It still needs some more polishing.

7/3/08

It's 51° at 6 a.m. and VERY comfortable. That 91° on Tuesday was a trial. We were supposed to get rain when this cold front rolled through, but we haven't gotten a drop. We really need the rain. Things are starting to dry up, and that doesn't bode well for getting hay.

Went down to my ex-work yesterday. After the last manager was let go last spring, I began to regret retiring (couldn't handle the atmosphere anymore. Gosh, when the department you're in is told to not laugh at work, you begin to question the benefits of staying), but not anymore. The new manager has been lying to the employees, among other things, and moral isn't just in the toilet, it's in the septic tank. It's too bad. Our newspaper used to be an award winning paper, and we used to have pride in the fact that we worked there. When Elmer Andersen had control of it, it was a GOOD place to work. Now it's a board of directors in charge, and they have run it into the ground.

Enough said. Such is the way of the world when money is the only thing that counts.

I finished some silver cored beads.


The dark orange one took forever to do because it's capped besides cored. Hopefully it'll get easier as I make more of them like that.