Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Today I *FINALLY* got the basement finished at Lisa's work. I filled a construction sized dumpster just over halfway with all of the junk, garbage, empty boxes and broken furniture that was down there. One of the girls took an old copy machine for her church, along with some of the toys and an older 20" bike. Little "pixiestix" over at Heart of the Dragon took some of the old electronics and a small drawing table. Everything else came here for a giant yard sale. You want a 1973 Brady Bunch reject red & neon green plaid leisure suit? I have one! What about some Jimmy Buffet yard sale hawaiian shirts? Yep, got a few of those too. LOL. Along with the other things I hauled out was a whole load of lumber. Five 16 foot pieces of 3" wide cedar trim, three 1/2 sheets of 3/4" plywood, 3 or 4 six foot 2x4's, two 8 foot 4x4's and 2 other pieces of 3/4 plywood at 3x6 feet. I love free lumber lol I'm always making something or another around here, and scraps are just fine by me.

Some of this scrap wood will be used with a 3x3 foot steel top table I also got out of the basement. When I butchered the roosters early this year, I had a bucket, a hose, and a piece of plywood on top of my sawhorses. I am *NOT* doing that again, so I am building my "Chicken killin' station. (though Lisa prefers Chicken Prep Station lol) I'll use that tabletop as a counter, attach the single basin slop sink next to it, rig the faucet to accept a garden hose for cold water, and I'm toying with the idea of a 5 gallon bucket painted flat black and converted to a solar water heater as an experiment. I'll put it at the front-side of the left garage door, use the freebie 4x4's for posts, and get one length of 6 or 8 foot privacy fence to keep me under cover. (remember that it's illegal in this rediculous township to butcher animals at home) I'll have a spot for a 30 gallon trash can, my turkey frier converted to a scalder, and the 55 gallon bucket I toss the birds in after they meet Mr. Hatchet. It will be handy for chickens, the rabbits, any wild game, and also for washing any vegetables outside rather than bring them in the house to do the same thing. I'm always giving myself new projects!!!!

The garden is looking great! We're already eating onions, greens, turnips and parsnips. There are a few scattered hungarian peppers that I could actually pick, the tomatos are starting well, the beans have tiny 1-1/2" long beans on them, and well....rather than go through it all, I'll say it's just doing fine so far. Yesterday I walked across the orchard to check the wild grapes that we used for jelly last year. I had pruned them back a little last year when I was done, and WOW, those things are EVERYWHERE now with clusters of small green grapes everywhere I could see. It looks like this year will be even better. I checked the "blackberries" that the neighbor told me about too, and discovered that they are red raspberries and not blackberries, lol. Ah well, this is the same guy who asked me when that tassle at the top of his corn turned to an ear, hahahaha.

Speaking of the neighbor.......I have told nearly everyone I know about this wedding, and it looks like my "birthday picnic" will have around 10 guests to come eat, chat, and watch the train wreck of a wedding. And..................ready for this?........................... I dun went an' gussied up 'ma tractor for that ther weddin'!!!! Yup.....5 cans of yellow impliment paint, 2 cans of off-white, 1 can of black engine paint, and a few squirts of chrome paint, and the old Loboy looks fantastic. I just de-greased the old thing and sprayed away with impliment paint. It stuck just fine, after all, thats what it's made for. I did the engine black because the golf course that origionally owned it had painted the whole thing yellow, motor and all. To me it was just ugly. Yea yea I know, it's a tractor, but it was plain 'ole butt ugly and I figured I'd take care of that when I did the rest. The can of chrome was in the stuff to be tossed out, so I figured what the hell.....and now the Lowboy has a chrome carb, air intake, governor rod, starter/generator, distributor, and fan/pulley assembly. She sho' does look purdy!!!! I'll get pics posted when I remember to take some, hahaha. C'mon now, I couldn't let those fine folks next door take their weddin' pitures on some daggone old dirty tractor!

Now the reason for the title of this post........................Today I had a traumatic experience that Lisa seemed to take very lightly, which I still find upsetting.

After I got her from work and ran some errands, we came home to once again, a non-stop barking Hank.(the bassett) Now I dont know why, but a barking dog in the house just annoys me to death. I yell out to tell him to be quiet, which of course works for about 4 seconds. He starts barking again, and I walk to the front window to tell him when he can see me. I totally forgot about the new-forming hornets nest under the awning, and no sooner than I tap on the window, I get attacked by a whole SWARM of angry hornets. (ok maybe not a swarm, it was 5) I take off running across the yard, just to save my lovely wife from the attacking angry swarm, figuring that flying groceries and a 6 pack of cold Birch Beer would distract them. Of course, while my efforts sort-of worked, and she recieved no harm, I was stung repeatidly by the attacking marauders from the nest. ( ok ok again, it was five) I screamed at her when I got the first burning sting, "Lisa be calm and walk away, it appears I am getting stung by hornets!" ( ok ok ok! So I ran and screamed like a girl, geeeez) After I realized that the vicious attack was over, I was dealing with the gut wrenching pain of my numerous hornet stings. (all five!) She suggested I rub some yarrow on the stings, which I did, and it worked wonders. The pain/burn was gone in seconds. (write that one down folks!) After all was said and done, and we picked up the groceries, the birch beer, my hat,and found my glasses, we came inside to make some sandwiches since it was just too damned hot to cook. Apparanly my trauma was humorous to my lovely bride, and she laughed over and over, imitiating my scream. Of course now her daughter knows the "funny" story, and she has written her version of it on her blog. I'm so glad that my pain and embarrasment can be some writing material for her.........ah what the hell, it WAS funny, I'm writing about it aren't I??? LOL