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Post by maryaz on May 3, 2019 10:54:37 GMT -5
maryaz - go to it! I've given up so many things I love doing to get this house in order. I'm just beginning to think about gardening, composting, growing vegetables, etc. Sanity First is one of my mantras  The thing is the garden and chickens are the reason I get out of bed in the morning. Without them I'm sure I'd be wallowing in the darkest depths. Besides that they feed me physically and hopefully in the future will feed me financially.
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Post by larataylor on May 3, 2019 21:49:56 GMT -5
maryaz - go to it! I've given up so many things I love doing to get this house in order. I'm just beginning to think about gardening, composting, growing vegetables, etc. Sanity First is one of my mantras The thing is the garden and chickens are the reason I get out of bed in the morning. Without them I'm sure I'd be wallowing in the darkest depths. Besides that they feed me physically and hopefully in the future will feed me financially. Well definitely don't stop then! One summer I tried to raise vegetables at the community garden to feed us ... the time spent wasn't worth the money saved. But I learned that working outside makes me happy, and that was good to know. Now I just want to start small with a few veggies in containers here in the yard.
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Post by maryaz on May 4, 2019 7:21:24 GMT -5
The thing is the garden and chickens are the reason I get out of bed in the morning. Without them I'm sure I'd be wallowing in the darkest depths. Besides that they feed me physically and hopefully in the future will feed me financially. Well definitely don't stop then! One summer I tried to raise vegetables at the community garden to feed us ... the time spent wasn't worth the money saved. But I learned that working outside makes me happy, and that was good to know. Now I just want to start small with a few veggies in containers here in the yard. Getting out in the fresh air and sunshine is always good for you. AND they have discovered that having your hands in good soil is the best anti-depressant! The bacteria in good soil and compost make things you absorb through your skin that help your brain chemistry! I have always felt so much better when I keep a garden. I grow all kinds of things, veg, flowers, herbs, trying to increase fruit but that is really hard here because there are so many birds. I watch the big box stores at the end of season and get big tubs on clearance. At one point there was a thing to have a huge plastic tub to put your beer in at parties, I bought several for about $5 each. Drilled some holes in the bottom. I've grown a lot of cherry tomatoes, eggplant and potatoes in them in the past. With are sun they are starting to fall apart but now I have more beds in the gardens. I've also used old ice chests and for several years made Australian wicking beds from rubbermaid tubs. Look that up on Youtube, easy and do very well.
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Post by maryaz on May 4, 2019 7:24:03 GMT -5
Sat 5/4
I have farmers market this morning so a short list today
Breakfast
chores
pick flowers
fix water line
mix potting soil
afternoon chores
for sure brush my teeth
shower
I call for a do over for today~! When I woke up I realized I hadn't turned the big incubator back on after I put water in it last night and it was only 73 degrees. Should be 99.5 turned it on and when I left for market was up to 88. It was still at 88 when I got home. I turned the dial up some more and checked the various plugs and bits. It didn't seem to have any heat coming from the heating element. My extra thermometer needed a battery so I ran to get one, so I could set up one of my table top units in case this one really is on the fritz. Came back and it's up to 94. Wondering if there is a loose wire and I jiggled it when I checked things....
Also came home to discover that the toilet flap didn't seat right when I flushed and it'd been running for 5 hours or so.
On my way down the street my son's friend stopped me in front of his moms house to tell me that his mom had passed away (very sudden and unexpected; he didn't seem to have any idea what had happened and I just saw her a week or so ago and she was fine) Anyhoo she was breeding rabbits for meat and has a good number of them plus cages and supplies. I told him I would come this evening to look and see what there is and help him find them new homes. Poor kid looked pretty rough. I think he was in shock.
Then when I got to market I realized I didn't get the duck eggs that were special request from customer even tho I looked at them at least 3 times and thought to my self "don't forget the duck eggs" I also realized that while I had on clean clothes and my new shoes and had remembered to get change, I had forgotten to brush my teeth
blech. so I'm going to start over right now. With some ice tea, cuz it's too hot for hot tea and just veg a few min before I work on anything else!
I did manage to do two 15s in the kitchen! I cleared a counter that has been cleaned up (recently) but was accumulating things that need to go into drawers. But those drawers still have rodent poop in them from when the house was empty and a recent batch of mice. So I got a box and put those things in it until I can be fairly sure the rodents are gone and the drawers are all cleaned up. Threw away some trash and washed the dishes. Past bedtime and I'm too tired for a shower but I AM going to brush my teeth!
My son's friend had gone back home to pack a few things and won't be back until later tonight so I'll meet with him in the morning. Poor kid doesn't have any idea what to do in the situation. He's only about 35. I'm sure this was not even on his radar. So I will help him as much as I can. He does have 2 older sisters, one I don't think I ever met, the other I haven't seen in about 25 years, probably wouldn't recognize her. But that meant I had a little extra time before dark and I did get the water line done. I need to round up a hose tomorrow and try it out. Eventually I'm hoping I'll be able to put a float valve on a big tub so that the birds and the dog never run out of water.
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Post by larataylor on May 4, 2019 7:39:09 GMT -5
maryaz - that all sounds wonderful! I usually wear gloves ... I try to wear gloves! If I could get the poison ivy eradicated, I wouldn't need to as much. The property is also very shady, and also needs to be attractive to roommates. So I'm restricted to a tidy little veggie garden in the sunny spot, which is out front and visible. My major "crop" at this point is tree branches!
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Post by maryaz on May 4, 2019 17:33:48 GMT -5
maryaz - that all sounds wonderful! I usually wear gloves ... I try to wear gloves! If I could get the poison ivy eradicated, I wouldn't need to as much. The property is also very shady, and also needs to be attractive to roommates. So I'm restricted to a tidy little veggie garden in the sunny spot, which is out front and visible. My major "crop" at this point is tree branches! well at least take your gloves off when you are working a spot without poison ivy (I too am extemly allergic, once my hands swelled up so bad with it that I couldn't cook, cut up my own meat or anything. Could barely pick up the fork, with my fingers spread wide they were still touching). Ah yes you have to consider others, well don't forget some flowers! Violets, calendua or both edible, so are nasturtiums and most herb flowers taste like their leaves. Any way to get the tree branches shredded up to use as mulch? I know one person piles them in the back of their property and rents a heavy duty shredder for a weekend once a year. Another has her own shredder and just does it as she has time. I have an electric shredder which will only do smaller branches, but it helps reduce the pile, bigger stuff goes in the wood stove anyway, and it makes some mulch.
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Post by larataylor on May 4, 2019 18:53:30 GMT -5
I would love to have a wood stove! We have a chipper in the garage ... if I could get it out of there, it would save me A LOT of work, and make mulch for gardens, too.
So yeah, I'm aiming for a small, tidy, pretty vegetable garden, but I have a way to go
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Post by maryaz on May 4, 2019 22:56:34 GMT -5
I would love to have a wood stove! We have a chipper in the garage ... if I could get it out of there, it would save me A LOT of work, and make mulch for gardens, too. So yeah, I'm aiming for a small, tidy, pretty vegetable garden, but I have a way to go oooh lucky you to have a chipper! Perhaps you could work on breaking a trail to it ;-)
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Post by maryaz on May 5, 2019 6:58:25 GMT -5
So it's Sunday and usually I sleep in but here I am up earlier than I would be if I had set the alarm. OK roll with it.
So todays agenda
Breakfast
Chores
kitchen oops just didn't get there today
desk dealt with the mail I picked up on Friday
laundry dry folded and wet hung and another load in and hung to dry
water plants
mix potting soil
plant
beets 1 tray
basil 1 tray regular, 1 tray lemon
marigolds 3 trays
I also seeded a tray of parsley, a tray of sunflowers
squash
tomatoes
herb plants
1 thing LR got out some trash, emptied a box, found a thing to sell; my friend that does consignment stopped by so I gave her a couple things to sell for me.
1 thing car: didn't get there today either
put out grit & oystershell
brush my teeth!
take a shower!
Today has been a bit of a crazy day. My son's grade school friend's mother passed away suddenly and unexpectedly so I have been visiting with him and his sisters. Their mom had some rabbits so helped find a 4H leader to take them in and find homes for them. The same friend came to my house to help me look in my dog's ear; at 95 pounds sometimes he's a handful and I couldn't get a good enough look to see what was going on in there. I was worried about infection or a foxtail or something like that but we think probably an ant or other bug bit him and he's irritated it with scratching. We did get it cleaned out pretty good and no sign of infection. So that is a relief as the local vet is not taking new patients and the nearest is 45 min to an hour away.
Si didn't get everything on the list done, but made some progress.
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Post by larataylor on May 5, 2019 7:51:13 GMT -5
oooh lucky you to have a chipper! Perhaps you could work on breaking a trail to it ;-) I *am* working on that! I was chipping away at the mountain weeks ago before I turned to outdoor work. But working so hard when I know there's a chipper in there is a little crazy-making. I'm getting a dumpster next week, and a guy to lend some extra muscles to pull everything out, get a dumpster load out of here, categorize things, and find the chipper! But DH got angry when he saw people here discussing our stuff. He doesn't want people touching his things. So that's the real roadblock ... always has been!
I love your list! Pretty ambitious! But I love when I wake up early and feel ready to do things. Go go go!
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Post by maryaz on May 5, 2019 11:19:50 GMT -5
oooh lucky you to have a chipper! Perhaps you could work on breaking a trail to it ;-) I *am* working on that! I was chipping away at the mountain weeks ago before I turned to outdoor work. But working so hard when I know there's a chipper in there is a little crazy-making. I'm getting a dumpster next week, and a guy to lend some extra muscles to pull everything out, get a dumpster load out of here, categorize things, and find the chipper! But DH got angry when he saw people here discussing our stuff. He doesn't want people touching his things. So that's the real roadblock ... always has been!
I love your list! Pretty ambitious! But I love when I wake up early and feel ready to do things. Go go go!
Oh my how is DH going to handle a guy and a dumpster!? Will he maybe help some? At least do things with his own stuff? I feel for you, I know we all have our own issues that we are working on but man to have someone else put up road blocks to progress, that would make me really angry!
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Post by maryaz on May 5, 2019 23:00:07 GMT -5
FUTURE VISION Here are my front steps, freshly swept with pretty potted plants leading up a clear pathway to the front door. Here in my foyer is my computer desk and filing, clean, tidy and organized. *There are my plant shelves where I start seedlings for the garden.* From there they go to the lovely new greenhouse until they are ready to go outside. Those shelves have chicken supplies like chick waterers, medicines, vitamins and leg bands. There are the books I'm listing on ebay to sell. Come into the LR; on this side is my library, where my favorite books are with a comfy chair and floor lamp. and on this side my couch, stereo, TV for playing movies, my spinning wheel and fiber supplies, all ready to work on projects. Here is the guest room which also houses my sewing table and my weaving loom. Here is my paint studio with lots of shelves to store paint, brushes, canvas and craft supplies and books. And here is my kitchen, clean and tidy, ready to cook, can, dry or otherwise process the garden bounty. And back over here is my bedroom with my *wonderful vintage iron bedstead topped with a good mattress and a feather bed. In winter I have quilts and down comforters to keep warm*. No bugs or rodents here. Nor spider webs and not too much dust. No long lost receipts falling off the dresser top, there is a system in place for dealing with them, the mail and the bills on a daily and weekly basis. Now that everything is thinned down and organized I can find everything I need instantly. I keep a running list on the fridge or in my phone for those things I have actually run out of, ready for a trip to the store, along with my coupons. I have an outdoor storage area where I can safely put boxes of winter clothes during the summer, where all my tools live now along with a workbench to work on fixing or making things. There is also space for extra canning jars and other such supplies. There is space for safe storage of nice bits of wood and such things that I will need when I am building, fixing or making things. So that is part of what my future holds  Some parts may take a good long time to come about, but the part between ** I already have ;=) |
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Post by larataylor on May 6, 2019 9:40:27 GMT -5
Lovely vision! |
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Post by maryaz on May 6, 2019 9:45:05 GMT -5
Quick list, on my way to work for half a day:
Beakfast
Chores
put out grit
pick up trees from friends house
water plants
afternoon chores
brush teeth
Well I ended up working the whole day then spent the evening with the kids down the street. They are trying to clear out their mom's hoard and find her will. I think they are still in shock over the situation. I had arranged for another friend to come pick up the rabbits and they gave her all the rabbits, cages and equipment. These were all on the front porch. I picked up the collected manure for my garden and helped get the porch swept up so they had a place to put things as they got them out of the house. I sat and sorted through some boxes of paperwork for them which freed them up to keep digging and looking in other places.
I am resolved to get my place in order so that my kids don't have to go through something like this.
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Post by def6 on May 6, 2019 12:43:07 GMT -5
" Doing the best I can, where I am and with what I have." That's a great attitude maryaz I don't think you can ask much more than that out of a person.  |
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