Catch up time

Today was a long hard day in the garden. This weather has been so cool and wet, I have let it sit with little attention. I was always told not to be in the garden when anything is wet, and I still follow that. So......yesterday and today have been big time catch up since the sun finally decided to show itself for 2 days in a row.

The dew hung around late again today, actually till after 10, so I had some other business to take care of. The buff orpington we bought as a chick 4 months ago didn't exactly grow up to be hen, so... off to the freezer with ya buddy. (I mean the happy chicken farm, Holly) He was just as big as the last one I cleaned, (I mean sent off to the happy chicken ranch), so it was a pretty good addition to the freezer. ( I mean addition to the happy chicken ranch where he can frolic in the sun with the other roosters we had) I did this one a little different, skinning rather than plucking, and I gotta say it was a LOT easier. ( I meant I took off his little chicken jacket, Holly)

After he was all finished, I headed for the garden to finish the weeding I started yesterday. Geeeez what a job that turned out to be. I did a bit more weeding in the 2 rows of potatos, and decided to pull a few to put in the house. I found a few good sized ones, then found this giant deformed monster 'tater. That thing weighed 3 pounds! I think if jabba the hut had a rubber ducky, it would look like this:

I pulled the last of the onions and set them out to dry, then re-sowed the last of the ones I had. Even if we just get some decent sized ones by the time cold weather gets here, I'll be happy. Tomorrow I am going to slice some and try them in the solar dehydrator.

I started in the green beans, working on the first double-row. There weren't many on them, so I pulled the plants as I picked beans. I got that row finished, and about halfway through the second row, and had another two 5 gallon buckets full. For now they are in a cool spot in the basement, until Lisa is able to can them tomorrow afternoon. I'll finish the rest of the 2nd row tomorrow, then we'll be pretty much done with beans for ourselves. The rest we'll give to friends or family....or save 'em for 2 weeks till the weddin'. Mmmmmmm green beans and groundhog gravy! hahahahahahahahahaha just kidding.

I got 5 more yellow squash, 6 more green peppers, 5 HUGE heads of broccoli, about 18 little roma tomatos, and 40 ears of sweet corn. Not a bad haul for a day, eh???

Of course, Austin can smell fresh potatos and tomatos a mile away, so here he is making some oh-so-ever subtle hints that he wants a yummy, lol. (remember Lisa's entry about the eyeballs?????)

Rune on the other hand, didn't care for corn silk, but the husk was a surprisingly fun toy.

The thornless blackberries are finally starting to ripen, so I managed to pick a small container full. We'll freeze some till we have enough to make jam......IF Lisa manages to save any. ( dont you dare ever say anything about me and strawberries again! LOL) These things grow HUGE. After 2 years working with them, I really recommend the Doyles berries you see in the back of magazines.

Tomorrow I'll finish weeding, finish picking beans, then anything else I manage to find. There are quite a bit of beets out there, so I'll bring in those red-death dirt tasting things for Lisa to can for herself. Sorry lol to me they taste like dirt. We did plant parsnips, but not a one came up. We've had turnips too, and there are more in the small greens bed that will be ready soon. That area needs another picking, then I'll probably pull whatever is left and re-sow fresh greens for some good fall salads.

I've pulled most of our friends row since he hasn't came back to do anything with it but once since he planted. Let me tell ya, I am totally amazed at the stalk/plant that comes off of a radish. Those things were well over 6 feet tall with little seed pods hanging all over them. I'll dry them in the sun and toss em on the burn pile rather than put them in the compost. I really dont want a few hundred radish seeds out there to spring up next season like the tomato's did this year. Which of course, we didn't pull, so there are around 20 rogue tomato plants mixed in with the potatos and beans. So now whenever they decide to all ripen, we'll have more tomatos than the local produce store. Ah well, we planned on more sauces this year anyway. The cabbages are heading pretty well, so it won't be long till I can start my first try at homemade saurkraut, yay!

Sometimes it still amazes me how much a 45x65 garden can produce. Every year we do a bit more, change a few things, and try something new. We plant more of what we both eat on a regular basis, and less of things that only one of us eats. Lisa has her compost flavored beets, and I have my hot peppers. We can more each year, and this year will definitly be a record setter. As of now, the canned count is:

40 quarts green beans

18 pints bread and butter pickles

10 pints hot peppers

This weekend there will be that much more in beans, more hungarian hot peppers, jalepeno peppers, beets, and dill pickles to can, along with freezing sweet corn and broccoli. (maybe Lisa will sing "choppin' brocc-o-lee" lol) I'll have to keep a good eye on the jar stock, since we'll be using quite a bit this weekend, more over the next few weeks, then even more when we're ready for grape jelly and more applesauce. My mom got us a small boxfull at a yardsale, and she's watching for more. We plan on starting to can more meat products like meatballs, chili, meatloaf, and a few others,so we'll need all the jars we can get. (preferably widemouth but we'll take what we can get) It's going to be a busy, busy year for canning

Civil War reinactment

Today I took my uncle to the Civil War reinactment at Hale Farm and Village, the same one we went to last year. As I said yesterday, the weather ruined the plans to go yesterday, so we headed out today around 11:30. While the reinacment and all was fun, it was miserable outside. VERY hot and humid. The outdoor temp reading in the car when we left read 104. That is incredibly high for Ohio. Insane my hats stickint to my head hot.

There are always lots of people set up to talk, to show off their collectables, to get people involved in groups and other reinactments, and of course plenty of vendors to visit. We walked around most of it, though we didn't visit the main part of the village and the church we intended to, it was just too hot to walk all of it. Butch got himself a cavalry hat that he wanted, and I got Lisa an old reproduction cookbook. We watched part of a small scurmish near the village and the main battle before leaving. I can imagine those guys in full dress were roasting out there in the field.

This Gatlin gun was built by a gunsmith in southern Ohio. (thats him in the suspenders with his head cut off, lol oops) It's built entirely on the origional plans and fully functional. The first picture is of it at his booth with some other origional rifles, and the second is when they actually fired it. He actually got the one from the old John Wayne movie "Rooster Cogburn" and completely restored it, since anyone that has seen the movie knows it fell off a boat and into a fast running river. The restored rifle was also the one that was in "The Last Samuri". What a great story, and piece of not only American history, but also Hollywood. Apparantly there is only one known origional Gatlin left in working order and it sets in a museum, but I forget where he said it was. This guy restores Civil War era rifles, and also occasionaly sells a few that he manages to get his hand on. Butch wants to give him one to restore and also wants to buy one. Soooo........it looks like one of these days I will be taking him on a ride.......a 3 hour ride to this guys shop.

In between talking to a vendor and going to watch the battle, we were stopped by some ladies to visit their tent. Low and behold, something that wasn't there last year....a brothel! Now of course we didn't get the usual brothel treatment, but we got cold towels on our necks, a cold glass of lemonade, and a back massage. It was fun, relaxing, and the tips go to the reinactors. I *HAD* to get a picture of this, lol. (No idea who the guy is on my left, he was just someone else who sat down for the treatment)

Below I'll just post some random pictures of the small skurmish and main battle. Enjoy!

Work, economy, preps, pickles, and gunpowder

Today marks 6 months to the day that I got layed off from work. I search every single day on every job listing website that I know of, and there is nothing. I have seen ONE ad for work in my trade in this whole time, and it was from a guy I know who started his own business. This particlar person couldn't pay me enough to work for him. He's a liar, a thief, and always looking for a lawsuit to get rich quick. I'm sure his only reasons behind starting his own business were 1-so he didn't have to do the physical labor, and 2-to make more money. I wouldn't trust this guy any further than I could throw him.
I look through each and every ad, looking for something in my trade or something that I can and would do. One today was for a job packaging and shipping horse tack. Loading and unloading trucks, sorting and listing merchandise, keeping inventory, ordering, taking orders, etc.........all for $8 an hour. I talked to someone months ago about a job listing for a horse ranch. Feeding, cleaning stalls, building maintenance, mowing, fence repair, etc; for $9 an hour. I don't expect to make my usual over $20 an hour doing this kind of work, but what quality of employee are they going to get for that money, plus, how is anyone expected to live on that? I can flip burgers for that measly amount at the local BK.
TOday I got a call from an old co-worker that I keep in touch with from time to time. He was a field supervisor for a fairly large company that did not only sprinkler work, but plumbing, mechanical and HVAC. The company wasn't making the profit margin that they had in past years, so of course, being greedy owners as they all are, they took it out on the employees. Cornbread ( I gave him that nickname lol) had a $7 pay cut, and they took away his company van. This is the guy who has taken no more than 4 vacation days in the past 2 years. He was one of those gung-ho company men, but that didn't matter. He was salary and gladly worked 60 hours, getting paid for 40, with no complaints at all. Now he is at home recovering from a knee surgery, one that he held off on for 6 months because of work schedule even though he was told to do it ASAP. He's no longer the smiling faced company man that he was, he is unhappy and left feeling used and abused. Now that he isn't the star child of the company anymore, he's worried that he too may face the chopping block of a layoff that many of his co-workers have in the past 6-8 months. Add greedy people to the rotten economy and lack of construction work, and this is what happens. The little guy loses.
Everyone I know in the same trade is layed off now but a handfull of guys at the last company I worked for and one guy and the one I left last year. Everyone else that I know of chooses between out of state work or a layoff. The material houses are barely making it, and the fabrication places are down to skeleton crews. Fitters, welders, office people, and drivers are all in the same boat now. It's awful out there, and shows no sign of getting better anytime soon. Even buildings I have installed pipe in over the last 5 years are now sitting vacant. One large auto thermostat company lost their major contract to a chinese company not 2 years after we did a large warehouse and production facility addition. A large appliance company moved their plant to Mexico. A small freight expediting company that was booming not 2 years ago is now selling the building that I worked on that is not quite a year and a half old. A major book distributor lost their main contract to a foreign company, forcing them to close a 3 year old warehouse. A shopping mall that I did many retro-fits in is now closed. A big, giant, vacant 2 story shopping mall. It's not just us guys in construction, it's everywhere. The only places I know of that I have worked on that are doing well are the big ugly china-marts, but I won't go there in this blog. I wish I knew what to do, but I have no idea.

I've decided on a few things to try for extra income though. First I want to make a chicken coop and a chicken tractor and see if they sell. Those things are rediculously priced through catalogs and websites, and more and more I see people starting their own flocks of chickens around here. It's worth a try, and if by chance they don't sell, well...we can always use it as an excuse to get more birds or put some at my uncles or my folks place. Second, I'm going to make a few walking staffs and wands to try selling at the local pagan stores. It's not like I don't have an ample supply of wood, lol. The orchard next door is always losing something, plus I have some trees that need trimmed. Those staffs are selling for $40 and up, and the wands for $10 and up. They're flippin' sticks with some leather and pretty stones for gods sake! I can do that in my sleep. No I'm not going to make my fortune selling chicken houses or walking staffs, but any extra income would be beneficial, even *IF* I manage to find work. I have no problems taking someones money that wants to pay big bucks for a purdy stick, lol.
In other happenings, Lisa has been doing a lot of canning the past 2 days. Last night she canned another 21 quarts of green beans, taking the total so far to 40, and today she canned 18 pints of bread and butter pickles. There will be more to do tomorrow when we get more pickling spice, and I'm sure more later in the week when this sunny weather arrives. (make that IF it arrives) The pantry is starting to look full again, and in fact so full that I am going to have to convert the closet in the spare room to another pantry. We do have storage open downstairs in the prep supply room, but we'd both rather keep as much up here as possible. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes, we may have no choice. That room will be getting a major cleaning and overhaul this week, and I'll have to check some items that we have neglected keeping track of. (strike anywhere matches, propane fuel,batteries, etc) I did have a nice inventory sheet for all of those items, but I just got lazy and didn't mark off items as they were used. It's time to get re-organized in a big way. Winter is fast approaching, and I want everything ready for that always just-in-case cold weather power outage. I do have most things ready that I want, though I still haven't gotten that camp toilet that I wanted to. It's not a real necessity in our preps, but I would like to have one handy in case of emergency so I don't have to worry about using stored water for flushing a toilet. Plus, I still want to do some primitive camping sometime again, and that would be a bonus to have.
Tomrrow I am going to that civil war reinactment again with my uncle. We planned on today but the forecast called for storms, so we decided to try for tomorrow instead. We never got the storms, but it did rain off an on all day. Both of us want to see the people and the battle reinactment again, but not bad enough that we would stand in the rain to watch. Umbrella are out of the question because...well...its a guy thing. Umbrellas are teste shrinkers like golf clubs, mini vans and deck shoes where I come from. We'll just go tomorrow lol. I'll actually remember the camera this time and get some pics of the battle and the buildings, especially the church that I talked about in a post long ago.(the one my same uncle helped move to this location in the 60's) For now I am sitting in the scent of pickles, but tomorrow it's the scent of black powder.........oh yea!

So much for helping the needy

Last week I mentioned another 4-5 carloads of stuff I got to haul out. 99% of this was baby items, clothes (LOTS!), strollers, toys, carseats, etc. I set up a yard sale on Friday and Saturday and made a grand total of $40. Again, not worth the effort.

I decided to do something good with all of this, and started looking up phone numbers to shelters. Battered women, homeless, all of them.........and not a single one had a way to come get them, and the battered womens shelter only wanted NEW clothing in the packages. I tried explaining that this stuff all looked like new,and some even still had the tags on them. Nope, no can do. "We don't want used", "We can't pick them up", " Just bring them here" is what I got. I told them ALL that this was a 4x8 trailer stacked 3 feet tall FULL of things, and I had no way to get it there. We share one vehicle now and Lisa has it to work. Of course, after she gets off work at 5, all of their donation windows or areas are closed. How is someone that actually works supposed to get it there anyway?????


I didn't know what to expect, but this wasn't it. I don't expect these places to all have big box trucks to spend gas and time picking things up, but maybe a volunteer with a pickup truck. I didn't expect to me made to feel like a nuicance because I had no way of delivering them free stuff. The one homeless shelter in Akron is the size of a large high school, yet has no way of picking up donations. I'm angry, dissapointed, and pretty disgusted with the way these places work. If it weren't for the internet and Freecycle, this stuff would probably end up at the street for the garbage man. Apparantly it's only charity if I take it to you.

Freecycle has become just as dissapointing. I posted this all yesterday morning and got over 40 responses. I handed out my address like it was candy, and FIVE have shown up, FIVE. Some have asked what brands they were,(are you serious???) some asked me to sort out all the certain sizes, one asked if I could hang onto everything till the weekend, and one (sorry but I found this funny) asked if I could hold everything till after 5 when her husband got off work. Not because she didn't have a car, not because she was watching the kids, but because she couldn't leave the house with the house-arrest ankle bracelet on. WHY would you tell a stranger that???? Was it some ploy to make me feel sorry for her???? I have no idea, but found it rather humorous.

After this dealing, I'll probably drop out of Freecycle. The no-shows are a pain in the ass, and the constant questions are annoying. I don't want to sit here all day and sort this stuff and make arrangements in my schedule so it's convienent for you, just come get the stuff, it's FREE. Their wanted posts get more rediculous by the day, I have seen them for cars, big screen tv's, laptops, newer furniture, lawnmowers...all kinds of things. Maybe it's the area, I dunno, but all of this just gives me more reason to lose faith in people in general. People, groups, charities, all of them.

LONG post of my views of hunting!!

FarmerGeek's last post on hunting inspired me to write one of my own on the same subject, as I have a lot to say on the subject.

I have hunted my entire life. I started out by following dad around as long as I could without getting bored, then later recived my first .22 rifle and 20 guage shotgun, and I never stopped. We hunted for sport, we hunted just because thats what guys did then, but mostly we hunted out of necessity. Many days hunting were for the sole reason of putting something on the table during the winter when dad was usually layed off, and as I said in a post long ago, I remember a few Thanksgiving mornings when we set off hoping for a pheasant for dinner because we couldn't afford a turkey.

Hunting in engrained in my brain. It is something we ALL always did in the fall and winter; nearly everyone around us did. Hunting was a sport, and hunting was a necessity, plain and simple. My television/sport hero's were Kurt Gowdy, Fred Bair, Bill Dance, and Jerry McKinnis, (the last 2 guys did fishing shows). There was no big golf star, there was no big bicycling star, there was no big swimmer; there were guys like dad and me that loved the outdoors and showed us their adventures and good times. Watching someone hunt pheasants on the western plains or catch 9 pound bass in the south was dream fodder for dad and I. We watched in awe, and learned something from nearly every episode.

Today, hunting is frowned upon by many people in this country. We have the animal rights people, we have the tree huggers, and we have the plain old anti-hunters. I have dealt with many of them over the years, and their logic still makes me shake my head and at times, laugh. I'll give you a few examples:

The HUGE local state park has had a deer population problem for years. I believe the last stats I saw showed 22 deer per square mile. Deer were starving, deer were being hit by vehicles, and deer were eating peoples flowers and gardens. After years of court battles and suits by the anti's, the state got the ok to thin the herd with sharpshooters. ALL shots were to be head shots, guaranteeing an instant kill. They would then have a second person run to the deer and tie a bag over the head, strictly to control blood that some hiker may find. Now......with that being said, here comes the logic of an anti. When this was happening a few years ago, one of the anti's got an interview on the local news. She told the reporter that men were chasing down these poor deer, tying a bag over their head, and suffocating them. Think about that one folks, think hard. Do YOU know anyone that can chase down a whitetail deer and catch it? Ummm yea, thought so. Anti logic-rediculoud, Anti common sense-not a drop.

Example 2: My ex-wife never understood why I hunted. Her login was that I didn't HAVE to now, I could just go buy what I wanted. We were arguing one day while I was on the porch cleaning geese, and this is how it went, pretty much word for word:
Her-But you shoot bambi, thumper, rocky the squirrel, etc etc ect
Me-Umm you know those are cartoon characters, right?
Her-I don't know why you want to shoot a deer when you can just go buy beef from the store
Me-What's the difference? I kill a deer and someone else kills the cow?
Her-Because cows are different
Me-Umm....you DO know that at one time, cows roamed the fields just like deer and buffalo?
Her-nu-uh
Me-Yea (insert ex-moron name here), Adam and Eve were in the garden and god dropped down a cow....."MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO eat me!"

Now believe it or not, that answer of "nu-uh" was from a college educated resperitory therapist. I have to admit, that answer was one of the many times I questioned my choice in a bride at the time, lol. Educated? yes. Common sense? No more than a tree stump.

Example 3-Cliff Notes version-A group of guys at a Coon Dog Trial in Pa get a visit from people claiming to be from a large dog food company, and hand out bowls full with big smiles on their faces. Unknown to the hunters, these were animal rights people, and the food they handed out was laced with ground glass. Evidently DOGS don't count as much as raccoon's do, cause, well you know, they were evil hunting dogs that wouldn't eat their tofu and wheat germ dog food from the natural market......bastard dogs anyway.

Example 4-When I was at the gun shop, we got a letter from an angry anti, whining about us being listed under "sporting goods" in the phone book,and that hunting was NOT a sport. She said hunting was state approved murder. Well........me being me....hehehe. Silly anti was simple enough to have a return address on the envelope. She promptly recieved 4 pieces of deer jerky with an apology letter. hehehe I can't imagine why we never heard back from her. She's probably still crying over that one.

These kinds of people don't understand, they never will. The majority of them have never been in the woods, other than a paved bicycle path in a park. They've never gone without a meal. They can't get anything through their heads besides seeing cartoon characters like my ex wife. As I said in response to FarmerGeek's post, what if it was reversed? What if we went to the store and bought deer, rabbit, squirrel, and pheasant while cows, pigs, and chickens roamed the woods? Would we get the same reactions from these people?

This part may annoy some people who are actually hunters, but it's something I want to say. I *DESPISE* trophy hunters. If you happen to be out and spot a nice 14 point buck, then fine. If you happen to be out and bag a record weight turkey, then fine. But some people plant food plots, set up feeders, set out salt licks and the like, just to get the deer to grow bigger antlers. I don't agree with this at all. A buck who grows large with a giant rack is a beauty of nature. One fed all these things by these guys is no different than a giant hybrid squash. By their logic, we have a record sized beagle from sneaking him table scraps. Hunt nature guys, don't mess with it, don't push it, don't mold it into something. Don't hunt for something to hang on the wall and claim bragging rights over. Hunt for the food, hunt for the enjoyment, and if you get lucky and get that record buck, then wonderful.

My last bit in this post will refer to the guy I used to work for. He saved for years and went on an African Safari. For the mere price of TWENTY TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS, he flew to Africa to shoot a cape buffalo, a gazelle, and a zebra. In my eyes, he killed nothing more than a bull, a goat, and a pony, plain and simple. I know, I know, a cape buffalo is a big mean s.o.b. that will hunt you down and kill you....heard it a hundred times. But why????? None of these animals were edible. He killed them strictly to hang on the wall and talk about how he used his dad's old rifle on them. Take the price of the trip itself, add in the cost of clothing, ammunition, the bazillion vaccinations he had to get, the airfare, food, lost work, gear, and it easily comes to close to $30,000. I for one can't wrap my simple brain around that figure. Imagine what one could do with $30k. This is the same guy who paid to hunt some rare type of angora goat from far across the sea.........right here in Ohio. Yep. Ran outta the cage about 50 yards, BANG! That's not hunting, thats shooting fish in a barrel. Oh wait, did I mention he got a price break on it because they knew it couldn't survive an Ohio winter outdoors???? Of course, it hangs on the wall next to the 3 I mentioned before.

These guys aren't me at all. I don't hunt for the wall, I don't hunt for the bragging rights. I hunt because I enjoy it. I hunt for the table and the freezer. Other than varmints in the garden or something I feel may harm the chickens, I eat EVERYTHING I shoot. Deer, rabbit, squirrel, pheasant, duck, goose....all regular meals to me my entire life. They always will be.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! (do I sould like that monster truck show announcer guy? huh? huh?)

First I'll talk a bit about yesterday, then continue on to the monster truck rally story. (ok so it's just garden stuff)

A friend of mine got married yesterday. We attended the wedding with doubts of the weather holding off, (it was an outdoor wedding), which it did....at least till everyone in the wedding party got under shelter of the gazebo by the lake. The rest of us? Not so lucky. It wasn't a heavy rain, but was enough of a steady shower to pretty much soak everyone else. As soon as the newlyweds walked down the stairs after the ceremony, Lisa and I high-tailed it to the car, where we sat until everyone left. (we didn't want to be the first at the reception) The reception was also outdoors, in the backyard of the grooms mother. Things were wet when we got there, but the rain stayed away other than a few random drizzles, so all went well. Luckily they set up several canopies with the tables underneath. The food was good, the music-well......typical wedding reception music, lol. Yanno.....a little disco, a little 80's, a few 60's tunes, and of course, with the groom being a HUGE fan and collector-Star Wars themes. All in all it was a good time, and we got home around 7:00 after the couple left for their honeymoon in an amish bed & breakfast. Congratulations Mike & Chris!

This morning I slept in late yet again, but after 2 big 'ole cups of motivational coffee, I headed outside. The rabbits and chickens got fed, and I went to look about the garden. A few days of rain has done wonders, and I saw that we had green beans to pick, FINALLY. I started and got about halfway down the one double row when Lisa came out to help. We ended up with two 5 gallon buckets full, which ended up being 27 pounds. As I sit here typing, they're in quart jars in the pressure canner. We also got the first 4 green peppers, 3 1/2 pounds of hungarian hot peppers, and 5 more turnips, bringing the turnip total to 3 pounds so far. There will be more beans to pick later this week, as well as more peppers. We also pulled a few potato's to put in the pantry, so they're about ready too. I can't wait to see what the yield will be off of two 45 foot rows.

Last week I had the new herb bed staked out and marked with string, and today I started digging it out. My initial plan was to shovel the sod into the soil sifter I made several years ago from 2x4's and 1/2 square fencing, but that was just too much to do by myself. Shovel, sift, pile, shovel out.....nope, that didn't last long. Instead I just dug up the sod and used it to fill in the old gravel areas around the outdoor stove and fire pit. Right now it looks pretty awful, but after a rain or two, and several passes with the lawn roller (loboy rear tires) it should lay out pretty flat. I managed to get one whole side done, and the top square of the second side before I called it quits for the day. Thanks to a bad back injury at work several years ago, my back aches like mad with constant shoveling, and tells me when to quit.....and I listen! Otherwise I'd be on the couch for 2 days with ice and a bowl full of ibuprophen like m&m's. It talked, I heard, I stopped. There is no real hurry on this project anyway since most of it won't be planted till next spring, but I wanted it out of the way. I think I'll go introduce myself to the people 4 doors away that have horses and see if they have any aged manure they want rid of, and spread it on the new bed to sit till spring. I've never met them before, though I have been meaning to. This might be a good opportunity to make new friends....and freinds with animals and farm equiptment wouldn't be a bad thing to have.

Before I started the new bed, I took another walk across the old orchard to check on the grapes and berries. I managed to get a handfull of red raspberries to munch on, though the grapes aren't ready yet. I stood there looking at all of these berry plants that no one uses, and started thinking I should transplant some over at the house. I talked to Lisa about it, and she agree's that red raspberries would be a good edition to the ever growing produce around here. I stood in the front yard a few times this afternoon, trying to decide on an area to put them, and of course I still haven't made up my mind. I can put them pretty much anywhere since raspberries aren't all that picky. Though they do prefer full sun, they can also do well in partial sun. Decisions, decisions, decisions.....hmmmmm.

Both of us love doing all these things here. Tearing up worthless grass and planting something edible. In the 10 years here, we have planted more and more each year, almost running out of backyard and now moving to the front with fruits. This work and this choice of a yard isn't for everyone, and that has come up in conversation. Lisa first brought it up, it was something I never really thought about. What if, when years down the road, the time comes for us to take over my uncles place and have to sell this one? What if none of the buyers want or appreciate a yard full of fruit? What if they tear it all out and replant the grass? Lisa said it would break her heart, and I have to agree with her on this one. For us, it would be the eqivelant of watching someone tear down the house that we have loved for all these years. It would be like watching your favorite old car go into the crushing machine. Though it will mean opening a whole new chapter in our lives with an 8x larger canvas to make our mark on, it means leaving this one behind. I gotta say, that is going to be really hard.

Free groceries and other worlds

Today I got a call from someone who stopped and looked at the sailboat a few days ago. I didn't really expect to hear from this guy, since i refused to write something up saying he could return the boat for a refund if it didn't float. (do I look like walmart to you????) He told me he has a friend with a truck and would be over after 4:00. Sure enough, he calls later and comes to get it, cash in hand. No whining, no questions, no asking for a freakin' return policy. I got cash, he got a boat, and that was that.

Now, anyone who regularly reads this knows I have been off work for over 5 months. Money is tight, and our food stock is getting low. We decided to take this entire $250 and head to the store. Other than some fruit and cheese, everything we purchased was to return some to the shrinking pantry stock. 25lb bags of flour, 2 gallons of oil, 4 gallons of vinegar, etc. It didn't return the pantry stock to what it was 6 months ago, but it sure helped. So, thanks for Lisa's work for telling me to take that old sailboat and toss it in a dumpster, you just restocked my pantry. (almost)


Now for the "other worlds" part of this entry. Lisa works for an orthodontist office ran by three brothers. For the sake of privacy, I won't mention the name, or the 3 doctors (who are also brothers) names. To keep it simple, I'll call them Dr cool huntin' guy, Dr fashion, and Dr jackasss. These little names describe each one to a T. Dr c.h.g. goes out west pheasant hunting, lives in a large cabin home, and even got chickens after Lisa talked about ours so much. Dr Fashion has to have the latest in mens trendy wear, and the latest cool convertable sports car. Dr jackass....well....thats him in a nutshell. This is the guy who tells Lisa "things are tough all over" when she asked for a few hours of overtime when I was layed off....of course it isn't tough in HIS world, since he's taken 2 vacations already this year to Florida and golfs every Thursday at some uptight snooty country club. Yep doc, tough all over....jackass.

Anywhoooooo........while cleaning a bit more out of their office basement today, I found a misc box of books and papers that they wanted thrown away. Lisa and I are kinda picking through it all to see if there is anything worth keeping, (or selling), and she finds this little journal. It was written by the sister of one of the doctors in 1979. She was a senior in college at the time, and her little journal tells the trials and tribulations of their family life.

Oh........did I mention that these trials and tribulations were while they were on a family vacation to Europe? Yea...England, Scotland, and Ireland. The way she talks (or should I say writes) makes her sound like the long lost sister of Frasure and Niles. Uptight, snooty, and so articulate it's annoying. She details every part of the trip in outrageous detail, and describes every single meal as if she were a food critic for the NY Times. WOW.

This is what I meant by "other worlds" in the title of this post. Not a one of these people ever had to do without. Every one of them had their college education paid for by mom and dad. The 3 that I know are so used to having what they want, they have no idea what it's like for the rest of us. In her vacation journal, Dr Jackass was one of the family members that went along. She talks about him visiting numerous Irish pubs, and all of these things most of us will never see.

This guy has no idead what the rest of deal with on a daily basis. Late bills, shutoff notices, juggling bills like you're in the Barnum & Bailey Circus, trying to decide between milk and that prescription, things we have all dealt with at some point in time, he is clueless about. At times it sickens me.

Now before anyone thinks I am jealous, or just plain hate rich people, I have to explain this little rant. His statement of "things are tough all over" was a big slap in the face to Lisa, and to myself. He gave the same speech to another co-worker not long ago, nearly word for word. (hiya fidget) Now, I don't expect them to pay Lisa some outrageous amount of money just because they can, but I expect a little understanding from time to time . She didn't ask for a handout, she asked for some extra hours. 4-6 hours a week would be a big help,but Dr Jackass said no, of course as he is listing out his beachwear list for Florida vacation #2. There was no understanding at all, and I assume in his head, that few extra hours a week for Lisa might just cut into his golf budget.

Get real doc. If it weren't for employees like Lisa and little Viagra Pixiestix you wouldn't have that fancy car or that country club membership. Sure, you're the one who spent years in college to learn this career, but you wouldn't have it without all of those around you. Without an office manager, assistants, lab techs, financial people, and the rest, it would be you in a building full of shiney-mouthed teenagers all by yourself. Think about it. Try looking over that nose of yours instead of down it. We all didn't take treks across Europe with mommy and daddy. Some of us went to Kmart and A&W.