Today the forecast calls for sunny and warm, a nice break from the wet and cloudy weather we've had off and on the the last week. I plan to spend most of the day outside, catching up a bit and generally cleaning up. I need to finish tilling the new herb bed, mow, weed the garden a bit, do some laundry, clean the chickenhouse,and just pick up things kinda laying around. I'm horrible for leaving garden tools out! lol Not a really busy day, and nothing really labor intensive, just a lot of little things that need done.
Yesterday we decided to take a day away from the house and go out shopping a bit. One of Lisa's co-workers told her about a store in a mall an hour away that had some bellydance skirts, so she wanted to just go look. For those that don't read Lisa's blog, she has been taking lessons once a week and working with a dvd every night. She's always loved to watch bellydancing, and finally decided to try it. The lessons are only $10 a week, so it's not really much of anything off the budget. She's feeling better, her knees aren't aching as much as they used to, and she is losing weight. She's happy about all of it, plus loving to learn something that has always intrigued her. I'm very proud of her.
Anywhoo.......we drove to this mall yesterday and found two stores that had some outfits. (did I mention that I *HATE* shopping malls?? I'd rather take a beating than go to a mall lol) We walked the whole place, and only one store caught my interest. It was just a t-shirt store, and I do love concert/band shirts. I looked around, saw a few I liked, but decided I didn't really need a $20 t-shirt right now. I decided that instead, I would look for a new hunting vest since squirrel season is right around the corner, and my old one finally fell apart. Dicks Sports carries huntin' stuff right? Well...at this particular one, their hunting clothes section consisted of camo raingear and a couple hats. There was also a chinamart attached to the mall, so I tried there as well. That was actually a joke. I have more in the basement than their entire outdoor section had. I suppose I shouldn't have expected to find much being in the Cleveland area, but I was still disappointed and kinda ticked off. We left the mall and headed for home.
Lisa decided she didn't want to go home yet since we haven't been out much since the layoff. We stopped on the way to this really big health/natural market that my sister worked at for years. That place was PACKED! We had no intenetions on buying anything, we just wanted to look at produce prices and at some of the more natural cleaners and such. Ummm...."organic" tomatos, 2 for $1??? I don't think so. "free range organic" ground beef for $8 a pound? You gotta be kidding me! All natural/eco friendly dish liquid for $7 a bottle????? Not a chance in .... There are some great products there, but the prices are just insane. But.....that doesn't stop the customers. I saw baskets and carts full of produce and other groceries, all smiling at the checkout line like they themselves are saving the planet from doom and destruction. I just had to laugh a bit, knowing that most of the same people have manicured lawns and flowerbeds that could easily grow the same produce for a fraction of the cost. I just can't imagine spending $100 a week on groceries there, it just boggles my mind. I guess that right now it's just the "trendy" thing to do. Lisa picked out a box of cereal to try, we got drinks, and the latest copy of Mother Earth News (our subscription ran out),and got the hell outta dodge.
Foolishly, I ran across the street and tried yet another Dicks and Chinamart, and both of course didn't have any vests. Dicks of course, had racks and racks of camo clothes for the upcoming deer season. Leafy camo, 3-D camo, scentblocker camo, fall camo, green camo....a sea of neverending camo. Not a one thing out for the average joe small game hunter at all.UGH!! I again got disgruntled and left. I finally decided to go past the house to a Gander Mountain store, surely THEY would have a vest. Well....they did. I wanted a plain old Carrhart hunting vest. No frills, no fancy camo, just a canvas vest with pockets and a game pouch. Of course, there weren't any. I did get one that was similar with some hunter orange on it, figuring I wouldn't find any others unless we headed further south or went to a store I knew of an hour and a half away. This one will do just fine. I got my vest, Lisa found 2 pair of jeans (buy1 get 2nd at 1/2 price) since she needed new ones, (down 2 sizes! Great job hun!) and we finally headed for home.
I wanted the vest because I plan on doing more small game hunting this year. I miss hunting as much as I used to,and I want something else to suppliment the freezer. I have no problem at all filling it with squirrel and rabbit, and *possibly* the occasional pheasant. I grew up on all of these as regular meals, so there is no reason not to now. I need to call my uncle and see if I can sight in my 22 rifle at his place, and go get a box of 20ga shells since somehow I don't have anything but 12's laying around. I WON'T use a 12ga for squirrel, thats just insane. That's like using a 30.06 to keep chipmunks out of the garden, lol. I remember the days back at the gunshop when guys would come in for shells to go Squirrel hunting...Winchester 3"XX copper plated 4 shot!! Their excuse was "them tall tree's". Funny, I didn't know Ohio had any 100 foot tall sicimore trees, hahaha. I can't imagine what was left of those squirrels after being blasted with those, wow. I never used anything beyond 20ga 6 shot for ANYTHING. Guess it takes all kinds....Hey! Maybe those guys were after that squirrel on the top of my page! hahahahahahahaha
At the request of someone who commented on my last entry,later tonight I'm going to work on a post of recipes. Not food recipes, but some for homemade cleaners. We haven't bought any cleaners or laundry detergent for quite some time, and all have worked well except for the latest one. It was for dishwashing liquid, and we're just not happy with it at all. We'll look for another recipe, but in the meantime, I'll post the ones we do use on a regular basis.