Thought it might be time for a new thread since it's been so long.
We came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1276462/
This message was edited Nov 12, 2012 8:00 AM
This message was edited Nov 12, 2012 8:15 AM
ORVG #196 Getting ready for winter
Thanks for the new thread Janet.
I need to finish getting ready to head to Louisville. A wet and nasty day, but will soldier on through it.
I guess I'm going to have to move this laptop off the kitchen table when I type because once again I'd typed out a nice little post and poof! it's gone.
Anyway, I can't get in the mood to bake this morning. Pans are greased and the batches measured out and sifted. I think I'll just put that off until tomorrow. I guess that's what retirement does for you. Makes you procrastinate.
Lou, hate to hear that about Cummins. My nephew is an engineer up there for them. I haven't seen him for about a month so I hadn't heard that. We're hoping that they don't up and send him off somewhere far away in the future.
Sue, the price of feed has gone up tremendously to the point I don't see how anyone is making profit on anything. People think it's great to be in the cow business but if they'd see the feed bills that come in here every month they'd wonder just exactly why we do this. I don't see how people can keep 10-15 horses in the field or bunches of pet goats or pot belly pigs, all the animals that eat but don't pay their way, and manage to keep afloat.
Bonnie, the 15th sounds perfect to me. I've got to go tomorrow and have my crown put on so I should be eating just fine by then. Chinese on the west side? How about 11:30?
Herman, the iris is beautiful. Especially this time of year. I used to have some like that but they would usually send up a bloom stalk and it would get froze before it bloomed. I think the iris borers finally did away with it.
Pat, that was smart picking the alcohol free eatery. Everyone had a lovely time, especially you. And there's no wrong in helping to insure that a good time happens by planning ahead a little.
Chele, I do wish you all were down here close. There are folks looking for farm workers and can't find reliable ones. I know the pay wouldn't be the best but a couple that I know, (especially me) would tell you to bring Nolan along with you and would work out. But what is, is.
Think I'd better get over to the farm and at least pretend to be productive today. I'll check in later to see if anyone found the thread.
Here's the reason Cummins is cutting back. Fiat bought Case-IH & is putting their Fiat engines in the tractors & combines instead of Cummins engines.
Hrm. Had no idea Fiat bought them. Because Fiats are ultra-reliable?
Sue, don't forget those 2 gals. of cider for my SIL!!
Hi everyone....made a batch of hypertufa mushrooms yesterday and today they HAVE to come out of the forms...it's POURING here and COLD!!!! Whine, whine, whine!!!!
I am so grateful for the warm weekend! I got help from a couple of thehalfway house guys on Saturday, so my porches are clean, pots dumped and cleaned out, they moved some rocks for me and tidied up the yard in general. I forgot to have them bring the storm windows for the screen doors upstairs, but I can get that done eventually. Yesterday I planted some daffs, tulips, and alliums: molly, unifolium, and cerulean. Not sure if I spelled any of that correctly. Then I started worked on edging my little temporary bed so that if we got a huge rain it wouldn't get washed away. It got so dark I could hardly see what I was doing, but it looks OK in the daylight.
Bonnie, I think that you should do whatever necessary to preserve your health and sanity! Seriously, it's your home, and you've certainly had plenty to deal with lately. Son's SO isn't living in an alley somewhere, is she? All of you living together might be just too much of a strain at this point. How long is DS staying? Maybe you should revisit the issue with your husband in a month or so, but be careful so that you have a window of peace for yourself. I'm not sure how Jesus feels about that, but as someone who grew up in a home where everybody dropped by and stayed-- and stayed, and stayed-- sometimes you need your place to yourself. I've let homeless friends stay with me. A friend who was looking for a pastorate stayed with Josh & I at seminary for about 6 months. She didn't have any money but she cooked and cleaned and kept Josh so happy that I was almost sorry when she did get a job! But then another friend who had open heart surgery came for two weeks and stayed for almost a year, and that was too much.
I even let one of Josh's girlfriends move in when he was in college. And I did it quite purposefully so that I could keep an eye on them and so that he wouldn't get talked into getting married before he was ready.
She stayed for quite some time, but they finally broke up, and I think my instincts were right.
I got a fun book for my birthday. It's a question for each day, for 5 years, so you can compare your answers over a period of time. I'm going to wait for January 1st to start, but I keep peeking at the questions. Today it's, "What song could be your self portrait?" Oh dear, I've already come up with about 10!
What a beautiful iris, Herman. I had one blooming at Thanksgiving a couple years ago so we had it to admire at the table. It could have been 3 dozen roses and it still would not have garnered as much attention as the turkey and the homemade rolls, tho, LOL.
Sue, I love the picture of your sweet pup, contemplating the universe. Maybe you should do a Lucy calendar?
Chele, do your kids have school today? Cincinnati public is off for a 3 day weekend.
Better go and start folding laundry and other exciting pursuits.
CHeers to everyone,
Pat
did essay work wth the kids .
savannah is doing Virginia Hamiliton. I am going to get the book Zeely. sounds like a good book
austin is doing John quincy adams ward. not a lot of info on this person. so i m goingto track down the gravesite and take a picture . They also need to do a poster.
let me ask you this
they got their rough drafts back and all it had was a stamp " check grammar " ....... ummm isn't that what the teacher does ? needless to say i m a bit irked about this teacher.
These teachers ( at our school ) have such attitudes . austin's grades have gone down. He is afraid to speak up in class for fear of getting a smart A$$ remark from the teacher and or yelled at ,These teachers seem to just have such tones in the class , i don't get it ?
we got a 15 min snow shower today. brrr its cold out.
Sue, I was truly glad when my kids got into high school so they wouldn't have so many stupid projects that I usually ended up having to help them do--like a model of the Titanic and pronoun and noun books. Just crap that they got nothing out of. And I'll be equally glad when the last one gets out of high school. Most of the time they had fairly decent teachers but there were a few. One in particular was an honors geometry class. The teacher was, plain and simple, an ape. Looked like one and was the south end of the north bound mule. Did absolutely nothing to help the kid and even when we went down there was an AH. She ended up getting help from two other teachers every morning before class. Now those two were teachers.
Pat, the weekend was a blessing to be thankful for for sure. Not many of them going to come our way between now and sping. Today was miserably cold and damp.
Joyce, I have a recipe for hypertufa but I've never gotten around to making any. Even bought the materials. I think the bag of concrete is still out there in the barn somewhere. Probably harder than a rock. I'd love to have some "stone" troughs. I think they're so neat.
Bernie, I hadn't heard that sale had been made. That should explain some things. How's the cabinet business? I got the Dixondale catalog yesterday so I guess spring will get here before I'm ready.
Bonnie, what'd the MD say? Hopefully you're released for just annual check ups. Funny we think we've sent our kids out into the world and they keep coming back. Mine haven't come back....a couple have never left. Not complaining...they're, most of the time reasonable adults. I just wish they'd help a little with the cleaning and picking up without having to be introduced to it each time. Hitting the laundry basket with the dirty socks would be nice.
Got some green tomatoes chopped up for three batches of relish. I think I'm down to 5 crates in the cooler. I'm also trying to get some pumpkins cooked down and in the freezer. Got them draining in the fridge so I can sack them up tomorrow. Bake some more tomorrow.
I think it's time to quit for tonight. I think I hear a book calling my name....
Well, it was a very miserable day today, especially since I was driving in it and heading to Louisville. We have a new SUV and I had never driven it to Louisville, and had the task of parking in a parking garage. It looks wide, but I do love the back up camera to help with figuring out how close I am to something. It goes wacko when it thinks you are not stopping when you should. I have done that 2 times, and it is just beeping it's little warning beeper really fast. Went to Sam's and stocked up on paper products and got a very nice looking ham for church Thanksgiving dinner this coming Sunday.
Any way, no I was not released. She says that there are 2 places that are 99 % healed, but I am to continue with the sitz baths and return in 3 weeks, and in all probability she will release me then.
Pat, thanks for your perspective on my situation. DS and his SO are not getting along, and DS says that he wants it to be over. Losing their place came at a good time for that, as he thought he could come here, and then it would be a good excuse to just stay. I think he needs to do lots of talking and leveling with her. Although, I have gotten along with her well, but have lately become quite put out with her on some decisions that she has made. I think she just automatically assumed that if he came here to stay then she was welcome too. I think that I need to sit down with her and just tell her that I certainly am sympathetic to the situation, but with the holidays coming, and DGD being out of school and will probably be here part of the time, that I just don't think my nerves will take that extra stress. Besides, she has family and until she can get another place, she needs to be with some of them.
Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment, and will get groceries while I am out, so that I can stay home on Wednesday. Will buy the church's turkey and start thawing and brining it for our dinner on Sunday.
Janet, you have dmail.
We have work for most of the winter, plus another job I have bid that I should hear back from soon.
Got most of the garden items on hand that we need next spring. Just have to order seeds. Might wait a bit with that.
Baby chicks coming Nov 29 from Ohio, Mt. Healthy Hatchery.
Bernie, is most of these jobs remodels or new construction? There seems to be very few new houses going up down here. Most folks are redoing what they have or maybe adding on. I saw two 12 X 90 greenhouse frames go up on Craigslist. They want $500 each. I'm thinking about calling on them. That sounds pretty reasonable.
Got to go to the dentist this morning and get a crown put on a tooth. I hope this one last longer than the other one. I swear, I've probably bought that dentist a very expensive car over the past few years with what I've paid them.
On kids and SO's. My parents let my brother and his whatever-you-want-to-call-her, (my parents got to calling her something I can't print here and never thought I'd hear them say) and it got to the point that she didn't do anything. Holed up in the back bedroom with her laptop, wouldn't lift a finger to do anything, would come in the kitchen after a meal and get something to eat and leave a mess, never cleaned the room. All she was good at was stirring up trouble, of which she did plenty. A lot of complicated mess there and my father wouldn't throw them both out because it upset my mother but thankfully about a month or go ago the computer broke and my brother said he wasn't going to fix it and she packed her bags and left. Apparently a week or go ago she called wanting to come back and my mother told them that she wasn't welcome back and my brother didn't push the issue. At least that's one stress that they don't have anymore. And one less mouth to feed.
Bonnie, we'll hope that the next time you go back they'll say they don't need to see you for a year.
Better get the kitchen cleaned up. Another thankless job....
Not really remodeling, just new kitchens. Then some have us put on new door & window trim to match cabinets.
Next job, people got a price on a new house, $260,000. Decided to redo their present house instead of going that far in debt. Our price to completely change their first floor will be around $18,000. That's new cabinets everywhere, new doors & trim to match. They are going with Alder wood, beautiful hardwood.
This is an Alder door.
Good afternoon.
Janet did we go to the same dentist? I went for a cleaning and on the xrays it showed an abscess on the roots of a tooth that has had a root canal done on it. Gonna have to have it fixed, but first a round of antibiotics. Said they would drill a nole in the tooth and put antibiotics around the root, then see what happens after that. Geez, I will be paying for that tooth 2 times. I go to Buecker & Long there in Shelbyville.
Went to Walmart, the pharmacy, and the grocery So that frees my day for tomorrow, all except I have to be present here at home for a telephone conference call at 1:00.
Bernie, makes more sense to remodel than to spend all that money building a new house. even adding another bedroom, and bath would be lots cheaper than doing that. Wish you were here, I am having laminate laid in all of my house. So tired of trying to deal with carpet and trying to keep it clean.
Actually Bonnie, that's who I'm thinking about switching to at the first of the year. Buecker did a root canal and a cap on one of my teeth before I got married, over 32 years ago and I've not had a bit of trouble with that tooth since. I'm going to Burch in Frankfort and I've had several crowned in the back and two of them got cavities underneath and I had to have them redone. And all their help in the front office are real itches. The crown set me back well over $800. Just outrageous.
Bernie is alder the same as birch? That wood has a really nice look to it. I'm not big on a lot of grain running through my wood. I guess that's why I tend to move towards maple and walnut. It good to hear you're going to have plenty of work to keep everyone busy for the year. I'm supposed to be having one of the fellows that worked on the house that I'm STILL not in come by and see about leveling it up. I think when we went in there and drywalled the old girl it's caused her to settle some more. It originally had what my husband called beaver board on it and this drywall has really weighed it down.
Sue, I hope your FIL has as uncomplicated path to recovery as he possibly can. It sounds like he has his share of physical problems.
Went to look at a Jersey heifer this evening. I think I might buy her if the seller will have her preg checked. I don't need an open heifer to carry another nine months when she's coming up on 2 years old right now. I'm probably crazy but I wouldn't mind milking a few cows again. I know AnnaZ would say I'm crazy as a June bug but there ya go.
Well, Janet, let me just save Annaz the trouble. You are crazy as a june bug!
The crown that I am having trouble with was done by a dentist in Taylorsville, and for the life of me can't remember his name. Supposedly he was so much cheaper and I went and had that tooth done. Yep, he was lots cheaper, but guess you get what you pay for!
Sue, I am so sorry to hear about your DFIL. DH's DB who was killed in the accident had bladder cancer, and in a way, I think that he was spared some pain and suffering by being killed, instead of having to deal with the bladder cancer. They removed one testicle about 3 months before he was killed, so that told us that it wasn't confined to the bladder.
I am praying that your DFIL will remain pain free and that his problems that cause him to need oxygen will take him before the cancer gets that bad. ((Sending hugs and sincere thoughts and prayers))
Bernie, nice looking door. I guess I had never seen Alder finished. When I was looking for my dining room table and hutch, we were at a cabinet shop in Logootee, Indiana and we saw a table that was made from Hackberry. It was pretty, and had a hint of green to the color. We didn't buy that one, but just saying different trees sure do give a variety of finishes.
Have the church's turkey in brining. Bought it today, and it is so big that it will take it several days to thaw. I have it in the fridge in the garage. That is one thing that spare refrigerators are good for, keeping the kitchen one uncluttered around the holidays.
Alder takes stain where birch will not.
We did a Knotty Alder kitchen in a condo on Mille Lacs lake in northern MN.
Last picture is part of a kitchen in town near us.
Sue, I designed mine too, and I should have left it to the professionals. I have virtually no counter space, and the island is just a catch all for anything that comes in the front door.
I've heard people say that you have to build at least 3 houses for yourself before you figure out what works for you best for you. I suspect I'm going to wish I'd moved the fridge down the wall at the other house to give me more counter space between it and the stove if I ever get up there. Right now it looks like a fairly dark corner. If the fellow that was selling me the cabinets would have just made a few gentle suggestions it'd sure been nice. He knew I didn't know what I was doing. I'm sure he could have sold some more extras if he'd just pointed them out or asked if I wanted them.
Bonnie, I wonder if that dentist in Taylorsville was the same one that several people in my office used to go to. Said he was really cheap. I was never one to jump from one to the other so I never tried him.
Bernie, those cabinets are all beautiful. It's clear you and your helpers have a way with wood. And changing the subject, I want to order some onions that will store for more than a couple of months. Have you gotten any from Dixondale that fit the bill? Are you doing chicks for fryers or layers?
Bonnie, I don't know how many onions you use but if you want to order some bundles they'll be pretty good onion as a good price. No sales tax and free shipping.
Anybody else up and moving this morning?
Chicks are for layers.
We've planted Red Zepplin last couple years. It is a nice onion & supposed to keep 6-8 months.
Otherwise for intermediate day onions, there not many that keep over a few months.
Janet, I am up and moving. Trying to get accomplished in one day what I put off for an entire 2 weeks! Ain't working.
At the time I went to that dentist in Taylorsville, I didn't have a regular dentist, so tried him, and honestly even with the lower prices, wasn't impressed. The waiting room floors were dusty, and never seemed to have had the opportunity to become acquainted with a dust mop. Maybe not hiring a cleaning crew was his secret to lower prices.
I got Dixondales catalog the other day too. DH says that our onions aren't keeping well in the crawl space under the house either. So I may not be ordering any onion plants from them or anybody else, and just depending on our onion sets to produce what we will use.
On the subject of kitchen design: When we moved into this house, I got a gas line installed and bought a gas cooktop (which I love). The orginal 1955 electric wall oven worked for the first couple years. Then I had to replace it, and I haven't been happy with it since. It's a small oven, and I'm always cussing because I can't get enough room for things to cook properly. Then the fridge died and I got a new fridge & not really happy with that, either. Should have torn that whole wall out so I could have gotten a french door fridge, and a regular sized wall oven. I have just enough space, but only if I tore it all out and replaced everything. I'm in the same fix as almost everyone else: too much money invested in this house to move, but still want improvements to make it really loveable. And remodeling costs seem a lot higher than in MN, Bernie!
SInce DS gave me his old i-phone for my birthday, it's been stubborn about sending texts, so I need to take it to the phone store & see if it's a fixable problem. I've decided that as much as I depend on it, all this technology is taking up too much of my life. Not sure how I'm going to cut down, but I'm going to start it one way or another. I've spent too much time already this week on trying to salvage the info I put up on the old Webshots site. Webshots got sold and the new owners decided they didn't want to preserve it as it was. They came up with anew desktop application for photos, but it has none of the old webshots features.Now you can't get your pictures out in the same format that you put them in---GRRRRRR. My advice: don't get SMILE. It will not leave you smiling.
Pat
Gosh, guess everybody was busy today.
Pat, I am assuming that SMILE is a web hosting site where you can post your pictures? I wondered when you said you had/have a wall oven, do you like it? I always thought I would, but now I don't have any room for one. I have a hood over my stove, and wanted to take it out and put in a microwave over the stove, but I had a professional chef say that I wouldn't like it. So on his advice I didn't do it, but still wish I could have an opportunity to cook in a kitchen with one like that and see how I like it. I think that sometimes our kitchen designs don't meet our expectations because we are usually seeing it on paper and not having the opportunity to actually witness working in one with that design. Since I am limited in what I can do to upgrade my kitchen, I am thinking about getting my cabinets updated by having the large pantry cabinet retrofitted with the pull out shelves. As it is now, the shelves are so deep, that anything that gets pushed to the back is "lost", unless you are brave enough to take everything out of the front and really look in the back.
Janet and I had lunch out today. We both enjoy a Chinese Buffet, and I think we got caught up on all our family doings and her retirement etc that has happened since the spring when we last got together.
The kitchen we are starting on now will have a pantry 32" deep. Shelves roll out nearly all the way.
This is one we did years ago.
Bernie, that is what I have in mind. My pantry cabinet is 36", I think. Will measure that one tomorrow.
Second set of trays for Invisalign, much more intense than the first one. As in, don't even THINK about biting into an apple. lol
Ouch Celene. I had braces for about a year about 2 years ago, and dreaded the appointments that tightened them. So sore that it was difficult to eat for a few days.
i can't believe i need braces again ! hope you can get some relief soon Celene.
well apple cider jelly turned out pretty good. its not a clear jelly so i m wondering if it looks appetizing enough ?
second batch added some red hot candies.
got my garlic in the ground finely LOL only 1 month behind scheduale LOL
Looks like there wasn't much going on here this weekend.
The Louisville market was extremely good Saturday for this time of year. Lexington about average and Frankfort, well, let's just say I'm glad it was the last week there. Now we're down to 2 markets. Money's going to start getting tight around here. We've sold every animal that's not carrying a calf, nursing a calf, eligible to be a bred heifer or to be used for market beef. I guess you can say we've pruned all the dead wood around here.
Went down to the cooler Saturday morning and had got concerned real fast. It was sitting on 29 degrees. We pulled out all the potatoes and got them to the basement. I'm praying that they didn't have time to freeze. That's the problem with having an outdoor cooler. When it gets cold outside it gets cold inside too. But now I have to find a place to put about 900 pounds of potatoes. The apples will be fine at that temp as long as it doesn't get any colder. I guess I'll take them to the basement at Harrisonville but I hate carting them up there. They'll have to go though because they can't stay in the farm basement once the wood stove gets going. Always something around here.
Bought a pressure washer and tried it out yesterday. Cleans market crates really well. The yard is full of clean crates to put up today after the frost dries off. Now I'm going to try it out on the porch and siding at Harrisonville. Kate now wants to try it out on her car. As long as she puts it away after she finishes, I don't care.
Went and picked up a fresh turkey yesterday at Erlanger. Miranda has a customer that has a turkey/chicken farm up there and she wanted to try one. He gave her a huge one last year but when we cooked it I told her to take it out of the over at 12 and she thought I said 2 so it was drier than a desert. We made dry turkey salad out of it. We got to watch them on the kill line. You know, I guess that's my farm raising because watching them work hasn't turned me off a good turkey dinner one bit! His wife told us that 75% or more of the farm's income will come in these last two months of the year. They'll be killing turkeys daily all day long until Christmas. I think I'll keep the cows and sheep thank you.
Better get moving. I got some pumpkin I cooked last night to scoop out of the shell and come relish to get in the jars and it ain't gettin' there by itself.
Hope you all have a good day.
Thought I'd best drop in and wish everyone a great Thanksgiving, before everybody gets on the road or gets crazy at the grocery. Baby sis is cooking for the nig day, so all I have to do is show up and make fruit salad and dressing. Friday I'm planning on heading to the craft fair in Covington. Plus I want to see the Lincoln movie before too long.
Concrete guy came to finish smoothing out the sides of the porch & ramp he put in well over a month ago. I asked him about the surface of the porch, whixh is so rough I don't think I could sit on it in the summer (my plan) because I think it would tear up any bathing suit. He claimed that the original porch had been rough troweled but it had worn down. I find that VERY hard to believe. He said it would be dangerous if it were not roughed up. I allowed that I had not yet slipped on the smooth part of the porch yet, so why should I expect to on the new part. He mumbled and grumbled and I think I'm going to have to look for a solution on my own. He did bring me a beautiful load of dirt, with not a lump in it, so it does look nicer out there. Maybe I'll have to find an old fashioned pair of roller skates to wear down the concrete!
Pat
Happy Turkey day from me, too. I know I've a lot to be thankful for, and you my friends are definitely part of my thanks!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy the day and enjoy being with family. I will enjoy being with family and eating a great meal, and enjoy leaving after a couple more hours. My family all get along pretty good as long as nobody is together too long. LOL Lou
Tim is stopping by the hospital. Al has not been able to keep food down. But they are giving him real food ? not jello and or broth ? . They won't let him go until he has a ... well.... you know....... don't make me say it ...... poop
I do think one more day in the hosp is a good idea . We can delay our dinner plans or what ever the need is. Grace is doing good. Honestly i thought she would drop dead from worry yesterday . It made me nervous wreck to watch her. I had to go in the nurses station several times to explain . THey were nice and understood . So they came out every 30 min or so to give an update.
Sue, I'm surprised too that they're giving him regular food. Especially if he's not keeping anything down. Personally the hospital is where he needs to be until he's doing all the necessary things.
Pat, I would think a somewhat slick finish would be a must for a porch. The only time we wanted a rough surface on concrete was when we were pouring concrete in the barns where cattle would be walking. Go figure.
I got a few things done today. We worked heifers with the vet and found that 2 were bred that weren't supposed to be. 4 months along. That went over well. But hey, if they'd gotten weaned on time they wouldn't have been near a bull and wouldn't have been bred. I think DH's going to let them go to term and hope for the best. Got some more green tomato relish salted down and some chopped tomatoes in the freezer for some jam. Me and my helper got a bunch of fabric mat pulled up out of the garden, folded up and in the barn. Also got the last of the daylilies planted. I was planning to plant a little of the garlic Bonnie sent home with me but got home and there it was still on the console of the SUV. Guess it'll have to wait until next time. Got some maple apple butter going right now. That should just about close the kitchen for tonight.
Sounds like everyone had their plans for Thanksgiving. We're going to my parents for lunch and then Sunday we'll do my MIL's. I think I'm going to end up cooking there since SIL had some plans already made for the day. Which is fine since I'm the one that chose the day so it wouldn't interfere with market.
Anyone who's traveling for Thanksgiving , have a safe trip. Enjoy your family and have a fine day tomorrow.