low and behold, i give you SHEEP

we have SHEEPIES~

yes we surely do
two sheepies
count em
edmund and bonnie
two gen-U-ine TUNIS sheepies
oh man..................
I am still pinching myself

I love my sheepies
bonnie is bred........so really we got 4 sheepies
just two aren't around yet
hahahahaha
vi
on a sheepie cloud of joy

teaching is a wonderful thing

some folks may know that I teach knitting
here and there
every once in a while I get a student that makes it a wonderful experience

( actually I have been getting some great students lately....... more and more great ones)

well I was teaching beginners lace and my student is doing me proud ( she makes me look like a genious teacher too)

I don't know who was more proud when she 'got it'
and finished the first repeat of a lace pattern perfectly.........

now I have another class with new students on saturday........ sort of a introduction to lace
I can't wait as I am hoping that they are also a joy to teach......

while I am teaching bernie is going for apples......
I need a couple of bushels of cooking apples

I need more applesauce, and apple pie filling and spiced apple rings put by

meanwhile I am knitting me a fast pair of mittens before saturday..... as it is supposed to get cold and I want my fingers warm.

hahahahaha

life is indeed very very good



vi
who is to look at SHEEPIES on the 11................

perhaps to take home!

counting blessings

since this week is the holiday to be thankful and to count blessings
I have been thinking of just how blessed bernie and I really are.........

we have each other...... 30 years in feb.
lots of folks are unhappy with their partners.........
and there are times I swear that an alien climbed inside bernie.......but for the most part
we are truly happy together.
we enjoy each others company, we enjoy doing things together and he can always ( if he wants to) make me laugh until I cry.........
( he also makes me weak in the knees........the man STILL has got it!)

our little furry and feathered family.........we love them so........they entertain us.......feed us and make us laugh.

one of them is always there to lend a paw or a beak to us.

Our little house........ it's tiny and cluttered and a bit cramped.......but it has a roof that doesn't leak ( hahahah took us long enough) and it is very very cute.........
everyone loves this little stone cottage and I will miss it when we leave.. ( but it is time to go)

we are so lucky to have wonderful friends
and family that are also friends........
I can't tell you all how much I love you guys.........
from my friends that are always at the other end of the phone..no matter HOW far away you all are............ to my farmer friends here who helped me harvest their surplus for the pantry.........

I bless my woodstove and my wood pile every day

as well as my now sizeable load of filled canning jars..........
bernie and i were sort of taking stock of our pantry and it is a very satisfying and FULL pantry.
it really makes for some security............. LET IT SNOW..........
hahahahahah

I am also grateful for our tiny corner of the world......... even though it does have that jackass neighbor.......it also has 250 year old sugar maples, deer, bear, and is just a tiny bit of my beloved eastern woodlands

I even like our house ghost................... he cracks me up with his occationally 'talking' to folks on the phone or when they are in the house.


and to my friends who are no longer in the physcial............... I don't go a day without missing you all but you know that

and I know you folks are ok...........



well guys.. so what are you thankful for?????


vi

double point blues

I am knitting a hat
a color knit hat
from the zilboorg book
( see the last post)
I got it almost finished
and I need my size 6 dp's
which naturally I can not find
hmmmmmmmmmmmm
so in rummaging through my needles
I realized I am seriously low on my different dps

SO LOW that I am contemplating the purchase of large amounts of bamboo to make needles
( which actually may be a good idea in a way)

I was on ebay
I bid on a couple of sets
I would like to get dp's from size 0 up to a 10........in different lengths
I would like 5 inches long up to 8 inches
and also a few sets of 4 inches in size 0 up to 7

and multiples on the 0 for socks..........
needless to say I am a bit frustrated
meanwhile bernie is arguing the foreclosure activity of the people next door while cooking eggs
I am singing every time he comes in here
cause he kepts telling me that he wants to buy that house and wants them out prior to the foreclosure sale
after I stopped laughing at him...............( a second house that isn't a farm? and another mortgage not to mention a TRASHED foreclosure house.... yup I am going to be listening really closely)

anyway..
today I have knitting needle dilemma

busy busy, hurry hurry

filling orders
filling a LOT of orders
and I am getting confused!
( yeah so like THAT is a NEW thing huh?)
I also discovered that my fingers don't like me much lately
they don't want to knit!
they want to HURT when I knit
naughty fingers
so I am giving them a rest of sorts
but it's got me OUT of sorts

I am teaching tuesday morning
a beginners lace class
I really need to reknit the sample cause I love that scarf and wish I could WEAR the damn thing but it's always at the yarn store!
hahahahaha
it did come out nice however.

I am currently knitting a two handed fair isle hat....... loosely following a chart out of a Zilboorg book
45 Fine and fanciful hats to knit
( see if that works for you)

it is so slow cause I can't knit for long
everyone is telling me to stop knitting for a couple days so I am trying to

meanwhile back at the farm
little violet is getting HUGE
she is the SWEETIEST goat in the world
the other kids in the kid pen push you and try and eat your hands or shirt
not my baby girl
she just sits there and waits for you to pet her
and as long as you pet her
she will stand there

and lean her head gently on your side
what a goat!

unlike THADDEAUS the monster curly cat from hell................
he's been doing BAD BAD things
ok
I have to tell you about them later as I am off to the bank

vi

not bad for a weekend

Today I canned 18 pints of chicken,
Batter dipped and breaded 20 pounds of chicken breasts
Froze 10 pounds of pork chops
And lusted for a mitten kit
and a hat kit in the variegated color
as well as this book here

Not bad for a weekend huh???

We cut the cats claws…..( every other week we do this)
We moved and stacked wood
Took care of a broody couple of chickens
And cooked
Oh and bought 230 pounds of potatoes, yellow, red, white and russet bakers.
Really not bad huh?
I plan on canning a bunch of potatoes so we have fast sides for dinner when we are tired or don’t have electric………. Which is happening a LOT lately
Also freezing mashed and twice baked and some scalloped……
We have some for baking too….

We have some news on the moron neighbor front
He is scheduled for a foreclosure sale on his house on January 27, 2007…………….
Isn’t that special…………?

Meanwhile they’ve still been throwing rocks……….. in my garden, at cars on the road…..at the uphill neighbors

Don’t you love it???

While Bernie was out stacking and moving wood, the kids were screaming at him….. cursing and berating him…..he naturally ignored them
They did finally get tired of their game


Now tomorrow I have to get to the bank
And then I got some huge soap orders to fill

Btw, if anyone has an order in please drop me a line to remind me
With Bernie sick I am not all there or here…..( not that I am ever mind you……)
Ok now on the fiber front I am working out some Latvian mitten knitting bits and pieces from all over
I started with Latvian braid then cartridge ribbing…..
I think after that I will do a bit more braids then do some color knitting
This so far is in two shades of gray…..which will go with my favorite boiled wool jacket….
And I am going to attempt to actually write down the pattern
Hahahaha
At least I hope I will
I have to tell Bernie we need to move my sewing machine as well……… next weekend he is working so it will be after that

Oh and court against moron neighbor is November 22
Yup the day BEFORE thanksgiving
How the hell are the witnesses and I supposed to bake for the holiday?
Did that judge even think of that?

I need another jacket for my dress too…..I have one dress and I wear it for everything official and legal….
I did go looking for another dress but didn’t like anything!
Oye

And btw, I lost thirty pounds now……. I been tying my pants on with string~~~!!!
Just a couple more pounds and I have a retro returning wardrobe……
( that’s code for ‘I will be fitting in my SKINNY clothes again’)

oye
til next time

vi
who now is a SHRINKING violet…….

Momma vi's little book of instructions

first off........DO NOT try and hike rhinebeck in clogs

do not do it
or if you want to attempt it.......... do yourself a favor and cut your legs off at the hips NOW and avoid the rush.

do not attempt to feed the chickens tomato slices..... make them eat chunks....

DO knit brightly colored hats and keep them by every door, in every coat pocket.....
and also keep at least two in each vehicle at all times

when you are almost 50 facial hair happens.............
suck up and deal with it.. you really THINK I like having my hair migrate south?

homemade chicken soup is a very good thing... make sure you use a STEWING CHICKEN and eat it at least twice a month during the winter

children and cats will make you old fast...................

so will bad men

the way to keep a good man good is keep him thinking you are the most brilliant, intelligent etc since einstein.. and do NOT allow him to get new eyeglasses regularly........
and if you must let him get new eyeglasses...........pay the dog to smudge the lenses daily.............

( and watch that dog for extortion, give her just ONE carrot........no matter what she says.....she lies I tell you)

the second you have resigned yourself to wearing a 2X shirt................
you WILL lose weight............
when you break down and get a large.... you will gain it all back with interest..................

but at least you won't have wrinkles huh?????


if you heat with wood, you will get bugs in the house........... do not let the cats play with the wasps or the spiders......

if you ask for a new kitchen........DEMAND the counters to go with it........

don't fall for that ' maybe' crap................ get it all in writing with witnesses.......... signed in BLOOD
and make him put up a bond or something.

make cheddar cheese sauce for steamed cauliflower... never mind how I know this............... just do it

drink at least two cups of coffee every day........... tell folks it is to prevent colon cancer.........
being wired is a good thing...............


and do not eat chocolate.... do not believe the hype from the candy companies......
coffee is much better then chocolate could ever be




til next time or when I figure more

vi

transylvanian garlic, & sheep manure

you know...... the GOOD things in life

ok we planted garlic....
transylvanian, silverskin and a red garlic
I got a plot of garlic that is about 5 feet long by about 3 feet wide...
hopefully garlic likes sheep shit cause THAT is what it is planted in.....
worms BIGGER then my FINGERS....
fisherfolks eat your heart out.

we took the dead plants out of the garden.... mulched a bit
brought in firewood
bernie took hoses out etc
I helped for a while until moron neighbor was outside screaming at those poor little boys.....
I don't know which kid he was yelling at but one of the boys was crying.....
since the oldest just turned 9.......
they are not big boys at all
he was yelling at the boy for crying.

he was yelling so loud that EVERYONE could hear him if they were outside

that idiot makes me sick.

ok on to better things
I made carole's sloppy joes last night
I even bought worchestershire sauce AND hot sauce to make them.. that is how GOOD it is.
we had them last night on multigrain rolls and today we also will have them..........

ok in other news, I am plotting to get me a green house......
nothing too big mind......but maybe a way to grow some lettuce etc over the winter.
since all the e-coli scares with the fresh produce.......
it's better if we grow our own no?

I got brussels sprouts I am babying out on the deck right now....
I want to rig a cold frame for them so they will actually GROW
btw, the one seed i planted in a barrel of manure is 6 times the size of the ones I planted in regular garden soil......
so the moral is boys and girls.. have the sheep shit in your garden..........
or...........

no matter how deep the doo doo....... it is fodder for SOMETHING no?
hahahahahahaa
ok
meanwhile now........
I am off to the kitchen I also have a bushel of apples to sauce today...
hmmmmmmmmmmmm

cinnamon spiced applesauce anyone?


vi
til next time

I found the studio floor! AND fawn caught a mouse!

ok I came back to interupt this post with a news flash.....
Fawn caught her very first mouse........!

she killed it as well......and did NOT growl at me when I took it away from her.....( unlike her grand children who sound like a bunch of pitbulls when we try to take the living mice from them)
pretty good for a cat that spent her first 5 years in a cage huh?
with no momma cat to show her how to hunt!

I am so proud of her.......
she got a BIG bunch of catnip


ok now on to the regular blog post

amazing huh?
on saturday, ( today's monday)
we reorganized the studio
ha
now the studio is a big open room of 18X23
we sort of made 4 little 'ells' with storage units to have seperate areas for my workbenchs ( I get two ells)
bernie's workbench and models
and my computer/office area

there is a big open center area now for the wood stove to heat through the house.

we didn't even fight much
!!!!

sunday was corn maze, and back to carole's

my little violet the goatie is HUGE now
she is going to be bigger then her momma rosie........

and they sold rosie........sniff... not to me...... but to Shawn and Tara........ which is ok as if there is anyone else I would want rosie to live with it's them
they are a nice family.

they will be good to rosie
I will miss rosie and need to get visitation rights

ok
anyway........ til next time

vi

ANNIVERSARY'S some need to be forgotten

ok yup yup I admit it
I got counter top envy.....( considering I don't have ANY countertops yet..... well....... you can all understand why right?)


let me tell you a story......

once upon a time, a wonderful ( and TALL, SKINNY, HEY it's MY story...I can be tall and skinny) person with a woefully inadequate kitchen.... was trying to make soap while also cooking dinner...
She fell over a box and a chair that were serving as a temporary cupboard as her's were falling off the walls.....

and she spoketh thusly....... ( that is a good one ......watch now)

'WHY do I have to have the worlds WORST kitchen...( seriously I have british friends that tell me they come from the land of horrific kitchens and mine gave THEM nightmares)

WHEN I am the one that is ALWAYS in the kitchen, as I cook from scratch, freeze ( now can) dry food..... I make soap, I bake, I dye fiber and fabrics.....I FELT......... I am ALWAYS in this kitchen....

ALL my friends have decent to grand kitchens..... (***note all the friends with the 50K kitchens normally all just eat takeout.... but I digress)

WHY shouldn't I have a wonderful kitchen...... a beautiful white cottage kitchen????? arranged in a better design..'

well apparently SOMEONE was listening as that night bernie came home and asked if I would like a white kitchen............
duh.......?
how long now I been talking about a white cottage kitchen....???????????????
well that very next saturday one was carried into my living room

( now the more astute among you will realize what is wrong with that sentence... and if you don't..... well that is because you probably wouldn't imagine someone as dumb as I apparently am)

where it sat........
and sat
and time past-eded
and past-eded
years in fact


''Bern, when you going to INSTALL that kitchen?????'

see our little heroine was really getting sick of falling over kitchen cabinets in the living room......

finally bern couldn't stand the nagging anymore and one weekend.... emptied the old kitchen and pull all the cabinets out....
with time some new cabinets actually made it into the new kitchen...and the peasants rejoiced....

after a few more years....( in which our heroine almost grew a beard....but couldn't sleep long enough)
st carole of the goatie dairy came over and ripped the kitchen out and rearranged it into a more pleasing whole.....

( that would be a year today actually)

now the little kitchen's path was clear....... the bones were there.... occationally bernie would do one or two more little things to give our very hopeful little person a glimpse of the glory that would be this kitchen if it EVER gets done.....

a hood was put up AND Wired..... let there be light!

outlets.... 2 out of the three work!!!
amazing.....
but still not countertops....

and the moral of this story is......


WHEN you ask for something from the universe............ first trust that someone WILL hear you....
and don't forget to ask for the countertops....as they do have a wicked sense of humor.....

( they once sent me a REAL bat for a halloween decoration when I said out loud, I wish we had some halloween decorations....oye don't ask)

vi
and now my friends you know WHY I got countertop envy.............

oh and I have been informed that until the sink gets moved and the dishwasher installed permanently...... there will BE no talk of COUNTER TOPS

sniff


and another quick rant
( I send these originally to my canning group on yahoo.. but I thought you all would laugh so I posted them here~ vi)


I think now it is time to not only can the last of seasonal veggies
but to can things like chili etc...
so we got actual MEALS in the pantry in the jars....

now you all do realize that since I did this.....( this whole can a years almost worth of food)

I have single handedly assured my area of a light and open winter......
with low gas and heating costs

since it never seems to fail....
please be so kind as to examine the following evidence

we got a troy-bilt snowblower in 94, with a 7 year warrenty...... we were able to use it ONCE in 7 years.....in the snow belt no less....... multiple ski resorts went bankrupt

the year that the warrenty was up ( more or less)......our 5 year old furnace became terminally ill
and we replaced it..... of course it happened on september 7 of 2001, and while I was attempting to find a company to replace our furnace..... 9/11 happened...
after the stock market reopened...... we found out that our funds that were earmarked for this......were not there basically...

ok we figured another way around.....

and managed to get an olsen put in......5 year warrenty............. ( do the math)

that year pansies bloomed on our deck at christmas.....

and in january I was in a teeshirt......

ok fast forward to last fall.... 2005, we put in a wood stove..........

ha
again an 'open' winter....
naturally my chimeny is way too short
so the 'draw' only works well at 30 degrees and below....
needless to say.......it was very very warm last winter......


now
this winter......we got 7 cords of wood
a full pantry
we will have new stove pipe and a longer chimney......( the new stove pipe is coming October 12)
I bet you I should give up and start planting peas RIGHT NOW
cause I am sure it is a question of....... 'you call THAT WINTER'

PALM trees are going to migrate NORTH........


want the gas crisis solved???
seriously

all we need to do to solve it
is for bernie and i to buy a hybrid

then the gas crisis will be solved....... the day we sign on the dotted line

happy birthday dear chickens!!!

today is the very first birthday of my older chickens
henrietta
dulcette
sharon
moe moe
curly
and larry......the holy ghost.......

I sang to my girls.......
monica sang to my boys

the girls got shrimp with lobster sauce and rice and peas.....

the boys are getting salmon and white fish on friday

I love my chickens
I kissed all the girls and played with their little beaks......and petted their wattles........

they in turn talked in soft chickens warbles back to me

everyone needs chickens

marguerite laid her first egg since breaking this brood........and I brought it up all warm........


happy birthday dear chickie booms.........

momma loves you all

I really am still here

wow I haven't said ANYTHING in such a long time

ok I been canning
( yup and knitting and gardening as well)

peaches came on........
so I got more of the
I was given green, and yellow beans.........boom in the jars

and carrots
so they also are in the jars

I am still disorganized

I haven't done a 'real' shopping in about a year!
just shopping the specials and the sales
so we are out of things like oatmeal.............. and bullion
stuff like that
and sadly bernie hasn't had a really really great meal (he's had some pretty darn good ones though) in a while

I finished up canning peach butter at 9 pm last night
today I am scheduled to teach, but I don't know if I have a full class or not......

the garden is late......the tomatoes and the beans are starting to come on however......
so I hope we get enough for the winter......
I topped my tomatoes off last night.. pinching the growin tips and the suckers so that maybe they would ripen the fruits

moron neighbor is throwing rocks about 6 inches long into our garden now
especially at the green beans.

I weeded some of the garden and found just how MUCH rocks he's been throwing.....
he keeps this up he is going to need to buy more rocks and gravel.......

Bernie is looking for a new job

he is a mechanic....... an auto tech.......
he is paid flat rate

please google 'flat rate mechanic'

he can work a 60 hour week and get paid for 24, and he has.......many many times..........
since he is an honest mechanic, takes pride in his work and has less then 1% comeback rate.....he fixes it right the first time.

so I am looking for a new job for him OUTSIDE the auto industry.

something that pays hourly or salary.


send him lots of good luck vibs please
and me too as we have got to move from here with these crazy neighbors

vi

my best friend thea

has been gone over 10 years.
we lost her to inflamatory breast cancer

she came to see me last night.

I know she is ok and all.......but still I worry.

she said 'being dead is not bad at all, actually it's pretty cool, you float around......no body......total freedom'

she told me ' I don't want you to be afraid of death'

I told her I was not afraid of being dead.......but of dieing.

she looked pretty good for a dead woman..........

I miss her so very much,
not a day goes by, ( as she will tell you if you run across her in heaven)
that I do not talk to her......
Or my mom and dad....
or evelyn........or gramma rad............

I was so happy to see thea, to me that was a great great gift.

OVER 50% off!!!

one pound of assorted soap ( about three bars)

NO choice of color or scent12.00 a pound plus shippingorder 4 pounds and deduct 10% off the total ( before shipping)
( I am going to float that sale announcement until the stock is gone )

quick soapie update

the goat milk soaps are being made.....

peach

almond

grapefruit lily are all in the curing room now...... look for them in about 6 weeks

there will also be a blackberry goat milk.. coming soon

apple spice

pumpkin spice are due to be made this week...........so they will be ready for fall.....

and btw, fall is in the air.........

vi

canning season and summer rain

OVER 50% off!!!
one pound of assorted soap ( about three bars)
NO choice of color or scent
12.00 a pound plus shipping
order 4 pounds and deduct 10% off the total ( before shipping)

( I am going to float that sale announcement until the stock is gone )

ok

sooooooooooo

it's raining today

I canned over 100 pounds of food last week......

the work for that alone should have made me DROP 100 pounds off my fat behind no?

ha

if I lost an ounce it's because I cut my finger

anyway

something is eating my potatoes

we think it's thumper not bambi

we aren't sure if it's a gopher or a bunny

MY potatoes

do you understand the magnatude of that???

MY YUKON GOLD potatoes

YUKON GOLD

my very favorite potatoes

oye

the rat dies.......................

ok

anyway

we are going out to the potato farm in about two weeks

I am going to get about 50 pounds of hopefully bakers and boilers.......

and go back and get another 50 of bakers and mashers in the fall......

our winter pantry is starting to fill up

tomorrow I am going to easton........it's carole's birthday

we are taking her to lunch and then to the yarn store...

then I make soap the rest of the week

oye

vi

end of summer soap sale

ok we are clearing out

and making new

we have many scents we only have one bar of......

or the color is off

or I just plain do NOT like the scent ( that happens a lot....YOU however may love it)

so

here is the deal

OVER 50% off!!!

one pound of assorted soap ( about three bars)

NO choice of color or scent

12.00 a pound plus shipping

order 4 pounds and deduct 10% off the total ( before shipping)

this is a great way to get small stocking stuffer gifts that really are afordable.

ok drop me an email folks

vi

21 pints of necterines....it's a very good thing

ohohoh
spiced necterines......
to DIE FOR

2 cups of cidar vinegar
3 cups sugar
spice bag of 2 cinnamon sticks, 1/4 teaspoon cloves and 1/4 teaspoon ginger

drop the necterines into boiling water for 3o seconds
drop into ice water
peel
( skins should just slip off)
cut in half and remove pit
put the halves in the syrup
simmer for about 10 minutes

to can,
do a boiling water bath 20 minutes for pints
pack the jars full!

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

we are having four halves that I saved out tonight with chicken breast.
and corn
but I am thinking.....pork and necterines
turkey and necterines
cottage CHEESE and necterines
necterines...........plain

hmmmmmmmmmm

ok so now I got to get psyched up for the 25 pounds of peaches
I am doing something LIKE applesause
only with peaches
chunky peach sauce
with ginger and cinnamon...............
doesn't that sound GOOD?????


vi
just a knittin, a canning, and a soapin away

and damn I am tired today

a thought for the day

good morning folks

it's not too early here......about 9:15am
which as most of you know is pretty late for me
but be that as it may
here I am
drinking my coffee and sort of waking up

i need to go out into the garden
I got flying or falling from the sky ROCKS to investigate
and here I thought rocks were subject to the same laws of gravity my fat ass is........cause I fall down the stairs regularly......
as I am NOT a clutz........
I personally blame GRAVITY

but apparently the rocks are immune to GRAVITY.


ok
I weeded yesterday.......which while it SOUNDS boring I will tell you it was exciting what with the HUGE worms i got out there
and apparently there is viagra in them there manures.....
cause them worms were all doing the wild thang...........

seriously I could not pull one freeken weed without a couple of copulating worms coming out
and they ain't no skinny worms
any fisherman's eyes would glaze OVER at the sight of these guys.......
thems some big ass worms............

so here I am dodging GRAVITY defying rocks and giant horny worms.......

all in the effort to bring in the harvest......
which brings me to BAMBI

apparently i HAVE thwarted bambi in my quest to keep the monster tomato vines upright........

I tied the stakes to the fence........ except the tomato vines are about 6 feet away from the fence so there are lines to cross under all over the garden

the lines to cross UNDER are about throat high on bambi............
the lines to cross under do not bother me..........
I am short
walla...
deer proofing of sorts!!!

I am such a genious

hey never mind, I am a genious.........I am
just ask my chickens


til next time

vi

hihi it's me vi again

I'm back for a second
I forgot to tell you all
the ghosts here apparently pulled out the little thing that makes bernie's watch stop
they did it on the 4th of august at 1am
we all were sleeping
upstairs with the door closed and the air on.........
bernie, me and the cats
the chickens were down in the basement
soooooooooooooooooooooo
say hihi to our resident ghosts..
they were having a party in the studio

Buy a man a weedwhacker.......... I KNEW IT

I just knew if Bernie got that weed whacker my garden would never be the same

you guessed it
he decided to WEEDWHACK everything in sight

and I did mention that he is 'plant impaired'

yup
I could send him to the garden for parsley and he would bring back nightshade or worse...

(now you know why I keep a years worth of toilet paper........ I figure with our luck the leaves he would try and use would be poision ivy)

ok soooooooooooooooooooooo
what whacky adventures did bernie have

lets see.......

1) he decapitated a lily, a poppy, some spider wart, and a small oak tree..........
( not bad for an amatur huh?)
2) then he stepped UP his pace, and got the jewelweed...........
3) approuching the garden.......... he warmed up by whacking the outside of the fence........
so far no major problems........ one leaf off a potatoe plant


however the CROWNING glory....................

he whacked my soaker hose............
RIGHT where it comes out of the faucet

you know the one............ that is laid out UNDER the mulch in all the veggie beds...
that I rely on to keep the tomatoes etc hydrated while we are in this heat wave/dog days.........

oh man...........

can I send him somewheres?
can someone send me a hose repair kit..............TODAY?

suggestions anyone?

I can't kill him, he didn't finish the endless kitchen remodel from hell yet


til next time
vi

off to philly

Ok folks.....I am off to the big city
tomorrow ( probably when you all read this it will be today....... )
I am off to philly
I was to come home baring meat.....( imagine the hits I am going to get with THAT phrase)
I was to stop at the packing plant down there and get beef.........
( oh yeah....I am going to get hits......... dirty old men and horny teenage boys huh?)

I was going to get a hundred pounds of beef and a hundred pounds of chicken......
and if the pork was on sale....... a hundred pounds of that

yes you read that right..........hundred pounds
it is for a YEAR you know
anyway, I didn't get enough canning done out of the freezer and I don't have the space to park this while It waits it's turn in the aluminum jaccuzzi (aka my pressure canner)

so that brings me to my NEXT bright idea
I want a second freezer.......
oh and a generator to run it in the event of black out
( that generator would also power the well pump long enough to flush the toilet in the event of a black out...........if not the hot water for the shower..........)

I want a chest freezer

I am 5' tall........and almost 1" if you will give it to me.

bernie says I will fall in the chest freezer and the lid will come down and I will be trapped........
frozen alive
hahahaha
or frozen dead
a vi cycle........ could I be grape flavored???


oh........... well anyway
you all better miss me

vi

bambi's got to die

for eating all my bush beans.

my poor little baby bush beans

they were so happy with their little heads in the sun
stretching up their leafs and soaking up the clean air, soft breezes and soothing rains....

then big bad BAMBI came along and decapitated them
ALL OF THEM

freeken deer didn't leave ONE standing

I piled twiggy branches over the bent and battered leafless little stems......
hoping that maybe a few made it through the gluttony..........

I will find out today


meanwhile another very LARGE fence is on my shopping list........along with a gun,
ammo, pea shooter, poision darts,
stun gun,
and a mobile processing unit
I think we are all fed up with bambi now,

I mean......I leave them tons of food
apples, my roses........ the raspberries......

do they HAVE to eat my garden.........
that's MY space.....
oh and the garlic/hot pepper spray???

well lets just say the deer knocked on the door and asked for MORE.........

damn deer
oh and they ate the bushes on the front porch as well......
what they can't eat the wisteria that took over our house?
or the poision ivy?
nooooooooooooooooooooo

and what does eat the poision ivy......?????

GOATS!!!

and what are we NOT allowed to have due to ZONING?????????????'

GOATS..........

I ask you
does this make any sense to you?
or is it me?

if we are going to have something that resembles mammilian napalm........could it at LEAST
take OUT the poision ivy?


vi

I am ready for my coffee now mr DeVille..

Dearly Beloved.......

we have gathered here today, to discuss the ravages of GRAVITY
and it is with great GRAVITY that I must call your attention to this problem.......

( listen up cause there will be a test afterwards)

I was watching tv last night ..............( ok so I was sort of LISTENING to tv last night as it was behind me..... so don't all faint now... as because of GRAVITY you will hurt yourself)
Nova.
which had a show on quantum physics and quantum mechanics.

now don't go all glazed over...........
I won't subject you all to the fascination of quantum physics......( but really it is FASCINATING, and I truly do love it)
BUT

there was a discussion as part of this show about GRAVITY

the smart scientists have decided it is a WEAK force.......
ha
WHAT THE HELL do they know?????


I am sitting here dealing with the ravishes of GRAVITY and I am asking you all.......

WEAK????

are they F***ing Nuts?

Ok lest you think I am nuts.......
allow me to go DOWN the list........

ready now???


boobs,
well really due to GRAVITY they should be on the BOTTOM of the list,
since
as you all KNOW
they have descended...and are now footstools.
I swear I am getting bunions on my nipples.

WRINKLES
again, a function of GRAVITY as I could NOT frown that much nor look that tired without extraneous help.
not after a night's sleep, and a pretty decent nights sleep at that

BLADDER function:
I am pretty sure that all my organs have dropped on top of this poor long suffering organ, which has naturally caused it to tell me to empty it once every freeken hour...........
but only at night...........
and to pay particular attention to 2am.......
which as we know is the 'bladder witching hour'

Staircases
they seem to catch and HOLD GRAVITY
just waiting for me to attempt to decend them........ where they loosen their hold on GRAVITY and cause me to go tumbling down.
thank GOODNESS I like purple and magenta as I am wearing enough of those colors after my latest encounter with the staircase GRAVITY.

TIRED LEGS
from standing over the canner or the garden or the soapkettle
AGAIN all this is GRAVITY's fault..........because without GRAVITY
I would be FLOATING over the above tasks.......
and my legs would not have the entire map of the Chicago metro area etched on it in multi colors...
or so I hear, as I haven't actually SEEN my legs in quite a while

which brings me to something GRAVITY seems to have missed...........

my STOMACH

how big CAN it get without me actually BEING pregnant?
and why?

Did Larry, Moe and Curly get tired of playing with our elected officals and decide to do reverse Lyposuction on my stomach?
and just WHERE is all that girth coming from??

but I digress............
back to GRAVITY

It causes the tottering pile of books and papers to come tumbling DOWN whenever a fly lands on them
It causes me to drop stuff constantly, as I could not POSSIBLY be that clumsy right?

Ok ok
so GRAVITY does have it's good points..

due to GRAVITY,
pee tends to occasionally find it's way into the actual toilet.( if you are a man, woman strangely do not have that problem)

due to GRAVITY,
Drool slips DOWN your chin instead of UP your nose, although in certain sleeping positions that may not work

due to GRAVITY,
the contents of the cat box are NOT floating around the ceiling, only the actual CATS are................

And

most importantly to me right this minute

due to GRAVITY

my coffee is sitting happily in my cup and waiting for me to swill it properly

there by waking me up

but not before I ran around with the inner workings of my demented brain on view for all the world to see..........
til next time

vi

ps: THERE will be a test

oh and pss:
coffee kitchen
blackberry sage
freesia
cucumber
is the list of soaps that will be waiting for you all in september........

the rose is already sold ( I told you all that this stuff goes pretty fast, half the coffee soap is gone as well)
I will update this list every day I make soap guys

to those who garden

we have a pretty big veggie garden this year.....
we finally gave into the lure of the one open treeless area of our property and put in the tomatoes.

laboriously turned over the scant 2" of top soil
pitched manure for a day....
( a very hot day...... little preview of hell there... shoveling manure on the hottest day of the year.....even the BUGS were too hot to bite)

pounded fence posts into the ground......
sweated, pleaded and conjoled all the little seeds
battled endless rain, grasshoppers, boils and pestilance

and what do we have now??????
VERY tall lush tomatoes.....
hundreds of full vigorious potates
bean plants
cucumber plants


AND DEER

very well FED deer apparently

even with the fence!

you see deer can JUMP
and they apparently do not KNOW that the tomatoe leaves are supposed to kill them.......
and that the fence is a polite way of informing them that

'please do not come in here, Thank you Bambi'

they LAUGHED at my fence
and sail over it with ease and grace.......

the uphill neighbor said...........'something is coming OUT of my garden, either vegetables or venison but something eatable is going to be coming out of there'

now we don't eat venision
but I am thinking........maybe
we can SELL that venision and BUY the damn vegetables


I know that the deer, well fed and burping
are gathering in lawn chairs out there afterwards
watching us through the windows like deer tv
and laughing

Just know that........

vi

soapie notice

ok folks, I started the soaping for the late summer and the fall....( and winter too I suppose)

today I put cucumber
and rose in the molds
soooooooooooooo
those two will be ready September 24!!!

I will be soaping for quite a while until I get the stock back up to par
any requests let me know now.....or wait to next season...

I have to say the kitchen smells like a summer garden!
I really would have liked to do some big 50 pound batches but right now I am doing some of the soaps that while they do have a following.....it's a smaller following
but the fall and holiday soaps as well as the popular ones will have pretty big batches
but I do have to warn you all....... Get your orders in as soon as you can..

hahaha
I can't WAIT to do the pumpkin spice and the apple harvest soaps..........
woo hoo......

( ok so I don't have much of a life........)

vi

The Creator has a sense of Humor

do you need proof?
other then my life of course.....

well let us start with this

reproduction

ahhhhhhhhhh ooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww

ok
so here is the lowdown

in humans for the most part
we insert tab A into slot B
and wiggle all about

which produces part C

and here you thought it was all sacred & beautiful

HA.......

turns out the Creator is THE same engineer who makes toys that frantic parents try at assemble on Christmas eve!

( I see you all nodding your heads remembering all the cursing and fumbling around and hushed whispers on Christmas eves past)

only humans do not come with the instruction sheet that is written in four languages and has all the diagrams and parts labeled

NO WONDER the species has problems.............

we are all still fumbling around!

now folks that possess the tab A's are always running around looking for slots to fit their tabs into
they sometimes don't care if it is slot b, c, d, e, f or xyz............
it makes for interesting experiences I would imagine.

and the folks that possess the slot B are sometimes trying to keep the tab A's out.......
after all not everyone is ready for a part C
and this is a good thing.

I am pretty sure that a lot of the confusion that folks that possess the differently engineered areas stems from the fact that they can not really understand the opposite folks..........
I mean it does stand to reason..no?


anway

that is just my observation while waiting for my canner timer to go off..............

til next time

vi

Today will be a VERY CLEAN day

soap beautiful soap.........

I am making soap today
I don't know how much yet or all of the kinds
but I do know cucumber is on the list
as I got a FRESH CUCUMBER just begging to be made into soap

so folks..... soapies are being made......... they will be ready in two months...... ( September 21)
I have goats milk in the freezer from violet's momma........ so goat milk soap is very likely to be made as well.
I will post what was made later .....you know AFTER I actually make it.

in neighborhood news........the folks up the hill got a PAVED driveway.........
oh my it is soooooooooooooo pretty

we used to be the only house on this hill with a paved drive......and our's is been paved for 35 years......so could use a new paving job no?..........I mean now most of our drive needs the lawnmower


speaking of which, bernie's new thing seems to be.................. better living through weed camouflage.
I am not saying that he has neglected his manly duties.......namely mowing the lawn.....

( can we all get an amen GRUNT here.......................thank you)

however
I can cut the heads off the weeds out front with a scissors...without bending over.........
I know I am very short....but STILL.........
and I know my weeds are my FRIENDS ........
however even the WEEDS would like........ 'a little off the top please'

trust me.........they told me so!

I would do it but I can figure out the semi hot wired job that it takes to turn on the lawnmower....
and actually I am not even sure WHICH lawn mower he uses........
although I am almost certain that the one with the flat tires probably isn't the one he uses.........

( remember, he is a MECHANIC......... so I got to expect flat tires and such)

I swear............I need to bring the goat home and a few sheepies.....
they would mow and fertilize in one easy pass..........
no polution
no flat tires
no trying to figure which wire goes where..............
and they work for sheep cookies and WEEDS..................

hmm

til next time

vi

48 pints of blueberries on the wall

48 pints of blues
you take one down and pass it around......

ah......
wait ok I canned it and froze it all
and made jam
I made spiced blueberry lavender jam
and plain blueberry jam

but this isn't about blueberries.....
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhnoooooooooooooooooooooooo

this is about SPICE
( not the girl band............ get your head outta the gutter)

this is about SPICE......... you know....... exotic pods and seeds from far off lands..

yup

now this is just between you and me right......we won't tell bernie ok?
he doesn't need to know I got something like 24 pounds of spice ok????

24 POUNDS of spice you say........

thud.......


yup yup
you read that right........

you see I buy spices from this place online.......
and it is by the pound, which you get pretty good prices on.......
( ok so actually REALLY good prices on)
and i know I will need it all
and when I saw this little pissass jar of mace in the supermarket for almost 6.00
and a whole POUND of mace is 9.............................

well
yup yup had to buy the pound
you all understand right?

just need buckets of the stuff lieing around.......... makes me feel all exotic and that crap.

ok the real deal is.....
I am on a pickling kick......
making the pickles to keep me happy over the winter

I got me some doozie spices too
cardamon
and allspice
star anise
cloves
cinnamon,
tumeric ( it's very oily btw)

yup got them all
I really went to hell and got both BROWN and YELLOW mustard seed........but they they do have other uses........I mean I could actually MAKE mustard......you know from SCRATCH!!!!

amazing you know.....it's actually made WITH mustard seeds ground up and doesn't just ooze out of a yellow squeeze bottle.

( the things you learn huh? stick with me kid.........you never know where we are going)

now I figure I may just forget to mention this to bernie.... at least until after he is in a pickle induced coma brought on the the shear magnificence of my pickled endeavors........ no?

but then again............ how often does someone get to buy all those spices.......
medieval despots would have WORSHIPED me........

hahahhaha

vi
now wanting a camel and some silks............ maybe a tent no???


and I came back to add......
that agent tanked me
do you think it was something the chickens said????

they can be rather ah.........flighty at times..........

well you know they ARE chickens.......

ok but I am still going.......
oh

I was thinking of adding ADSENSE to the blog....
what do you folks think??? let me know yea or nay...

Another day...... another pint of jersey devil berries...

well, we are again having a blue blue blueberry day....
I did jam yesterday, and today I am flash freezing individual berries..
( tomorrow the world....no?) NOOOOOOOOOO not one by one.....
but seperately on a try.....not all lumpied together in a bag......at least not until AFTER they are frozen.......
I got over a gallon bag full now and more happening even as we speak....( ah......... you read?)

I also got two piddly cucumbers in the brine to be pickles...
sandwich slicers.....
that's ok....
I am going to put in a LOT more cuc plants.....watch
oye
( cause at a future date if I do that.....you all are going to hear me ranting about 97 gallons of pickles fermenting in the basement....)
by the way in case some of you folks don't know this..... cucumbers that are destined to be pickles BITE......yup like cactus....they got them some wicked spines.....



it is very dark out.....
we are getting 'thunderstorms, possible heavy rain, hail, locust, the 7 plagues of Egypt, boils and pestilence'.......... or something like that

I am debating on if it is wise to defrost a ham that is admittedly almost as big as my ass.......( that's alotta ham, as my ass could crush a small army if I fell on it.......... the army and the ass)

I was thinking of canning it

I am thinking of canning any thing and everything that doesn't move fast enough.......


hmmmmmmmmm watch out cat........... you could be gulash tomorrow...........

sooooooooooooooooooooooo
I haven't heard from that agent yet
well I was really trying hard for a 'professional query letter' and somehow.......... chickens crept into the letter.....
I SWEAR I don't know how

I really don't
next thing you know the chickens were dancing all over the letter.....

( vi is hanging her head in shame now)

and you folks are all stiffling your laughter, I know you are
hey don't laugh!
IT could happen to YOU
you know it could

no?
ok maybe it could only happen to me...........

oye

til next time

vi

jersey devil berries

I had a BRILLIANT idea.......

notice it is capitalized.......

ok my BRILLIANT idea was this.......
blueberries are on sale for LESS then 1.00 a pint..

( are you drooling yet???)

I would get them and dry them........ and we would have muffins ALL WINTER

see
BRILLIANT

a few berries would find their way into jams and such....
( ask me about my spiced blueberry lavender jam......)

simple plan right?
blueberries that gift from the Indians..... with NO technology at the time....I should add that huh?

you know that the Indians dried their blueberries right???
well no one apparently TOLD my blueberries....

cause even with my fancy dehydrator............. they are NOT drying
not a bit not a smidge......
they are not

I check them every day.....they been drying since MONDAY
I poke them

nope

soft pillowy little berries..... but not hard anymore and firm
literally pillowy

I get a bit suspicious last night and poked a few with a pin.....

AH HA

it is as I thought.......

They have inflated themselves.....

somehow MY blueberries puffed themselves up with pride.......
and defiance..............

and started to link arms and chant

NO NO WE WON'T GO..............

ha

today in addition to the jam I am making more of..
I intend to deflate blueberries

and you think YOU got problems???


vi

BLUUUUUUUUUUUUUE Berries

I got 24 pints of blueberries
for 5.99 a six pint pack......
so doing the math....they are just barely less then $1.00 per pint

ok
I followed directions for drying blues....... I kept them in the dryer thingie all night
this morning did I awake to shriveled and tiny nuggets of concentrated blueberrie goodness???

nope still bloated and soft from the blanching....

ok so on to plan B
freezing the whole berries on a tray in the freezer.......THEN they are to be dumped into the dehyrdrator..... ( the dryer thingie)

we'll see how this tactic works
meanwhile I have about 18 pints reproachfully sitting in coolers.......

and I said I was going to go and get 24 more pints.........
ah......
only when I get these processed huh?
I don't have fridge space and my cooler space is seriously lacking....

WHAT??
you can NOT relate........??
hey what sort of life do you lead?

for punishment write 1000 times......... I will explore saving food for the winter like my ancestors

there will be a test on thursday btw.


ok
so what do I do with the over abundance of these blues?

why jam of course......no?
ok so some will be jam but really the most need to be dried for winter muffins.....

I envision jars full of shriveled nuggets of pure blueberrie goodness......

now if only the berries would cooperate.......they don't seem to see the same visions....


vi

the further adventures.......

http://notashyviolet.blogspot.com/2005/08/for-our-beloved-la-bella-mengele.html

ok that is the link for the funny stuff......


on saturday, ( or was it friday)
I was asked by two seperate people to write.........
they didn't mean letters to them....
they meant articles for publication.....

now I have done that before and it did pay well...........
but I have only done how to articles.......
I am really not sure about anything else......
I mean I do write for this blog I suppose......
occationally now, when I have something to say.......
( which today is that my pickling cucumbers are taking FOREVER to ripen.......and only are ripening one or TWO at a time......how can I pickle THAT?)

anyway, I said I would take it under serious consideration..........
and I am
I am seriously thinking about it
sooooooo
anyone have any thoughts please email me..........( and I hope that thingie works to an email pop up.......... replace the appropriate words with the actual symbols)


so anyway....... that is what is going on in my little world
that and I have to run to town to the bank



vi

canning canning canning and a wristlet

I have been canning a LOT lately
tonight..... while i type......I am waiting for 15 jars of beef cubes to come to pressure so i can time it
I canned this with red wine, onions, mushrooms and garlic.....
I will be canning the chicken breasts tomorrow the same way....
and also making some jars of meatballs and meat loaf
as well as watermelon pickles

we also have to clean the chicken coop and I am knitting wristlets with beads for a class I am giving at the yarn store

btw,
the yarn store wants me to knit a bunch of different things for october classes
and I am out of ideas
I am currently teaching mittens.... ( saturday is one of the first mitten classes)
and the beaded wristlets along with my sock classes and two beginner lace.....
now
a couple people do hats
so I don't need to....
how about one of those little caplet thingies?
in lace?
hmmmmmmmm
I don't know
so any suggestions would be welcome

I have been sick again....... the glucaphage gets me really ill.....it's like doing chemo!
I get THAT sick....
so I stopped taking it.....now before I get the lecture......the doc knows

ok well gotta go check the canner.....
vi

thursday morning and the knitting ain't easy

I ripped it a few times
and figured what I wanted
now the mitten should be done today

ditto the wristlet for the classes I am teaching in the fall
I got to finish the scarf off too


now
the soapies are in the mold
but the stick blender broke in the middle.....
it is brand new........ I got it first of may when colleen was here
so I can't return it
damn I hate walmart

they discountinued the brand I normally use
( I think it was a ge)

ok so I got to get yet another stick blender cause I am making all the soap to stock the web site
you folks want anything in particular.........or plan to order for the holidays
let me know NOW................

I made coffee soap yesterday......I will see how it looks when I turn it out of the mold later

lets see
the ladies and the cats are all doing well
I made and canned strawberry jam

Pieheart and I are to go blueberry picking this coming week..............
I am planning on drying them

I got the garden a bit more in
and got a tick AND got eatten by mosquitos

and got a gallon of deep woods off to go out there with on a daily basis.......

at least when they bite me, I can bite BACK
DIE YOU INGRATES..

ah...... but I am not bitter


ok
lets see ........the girls are not yet out in the chicken palace
I SWEAR they are going to go on strike.........AND IT'S ALL BERNIE's FAULT


yup yup

the gate is still too big......there's no roost
and NO chicken friendly and SAFE coop out there
he thinks they will willing go into a stuffy non ventilated dog house
ha
sure bernie.....

ok
anyone want to take a ride with me to philly after 1.16 a pound boneless skinless chicken breast?

let me know ok???


til next time

vi

you know who your friends are when......

you get a tick on your ass just past where you can reach to get it out yourself.....


and yes that happened to me in the past

this memory brought to you by the deer tick on my leg saturday
ewwwwwwwww
I am still phobic
stay tuned for other words of wisdom.......

vi

can we can chicken???

chicken has been on sale.
.39 a pound legs
1.30-1.79 a pound boneless breasts
1.29 a pound bone in breasts
soooooooooo
naturally I can't resist and I keep buying them
and they are going into jars
they will feed us through the winter
but I tell you...... they look a bit odd
and I am beginning to look alot like my girls.....

I made strawberry jam yesterday
I hate strawberries but bernie loves them and he loves strawberrie jam so I did it
and it turned out perfect

I can't wait for beef to be on sale....... I will be canning that like crazy as well.

now in garden news
we are getting there....slowly
don't ask

and in fiber news
I am doing my mitten sample for my mitten class.
then I will be doing the beaded wristlet

I have soap orders coming in
so I am also making soap in between

( note if you want to order soapies........better get it in NOW...... I am doing the fall scents like apple spice and pumpkin now.......as well as the coffee kitchen soap and a few other 'flavors)

now.........
have you all missed me???
hahahahaha

well you'd all better!!!

vi
submerged in canned chickens

worm barns.....and rainy days

it's been raining here.........a LOT
in fact the rhodo leaves are so moist that when the sun comes out they WILT!!!
so the last of the garden isn't in.....
but I am going to put in a worm barn

now
before you think I have completely lost it.....
( ok before you confirm that I have completely lost it)

I just want a place where the kitchen scraps are composted up faster then in the general heap....
so a worm barn it is

I need a lidded bottomless something or other......so the worms can come and go......
and I will add some shredded newspaper and some soil and kitchen scraps.....
and feed the wormies....

in turn they will feed my garden

and everyone will think I am totally nutso.....
hahahaha

well that's ok

me and my wormies understand.......
meanwhile it's raining
I go tomorrow to jersey to see a friend of mine
she's got canning jars for me
woo hoo
another 5 dozen

I am TRIPPING over them but that's ok
I am also filling them

in fiber news...........
I have to knit wristlets and mittens......
I am going to knit baby mittens as I don't have time for the others
these are for two new classes I am going to teach.......
cool huh?
hahhahaha

ok I got to go
I have to start my day

ttyl

vi

this and that

well my chicken palace is up..........
but are my girls in there NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
and where are the little princesses of chickendom????
where indeed you might ask
why still in the daylight basement!!!
and it is apparently agreeing with them as they all laid eggies today!
yeah for eggies from all 4 hens!!!
and they were all loud and proud about it
ever HEAR a loud and proud chicken after she laid an egg........
well lets put it this way..............
it scared the hell out of my soap customer today........and her son
hahahahaha
I know that one was dulcette................ she is ALWAYS the loudest!

( and they had salad for breakfast this morning........and a kiss on each beak!!!)

now I am so thankful for small things.......... in this heat thaddeaus is NOT tormenting the girls
the tables have turned actually
with the girls ganging up and beating the crap out of him last night
hahahaha
I shouldn't laugh but you should have SEEN the look on his face.............
I told him

'son, this is payback,.............. and payback is a bitch AND you been pretty rough on your sister and great grammie'

he had no comment but he was sucking his tail again

yup my rough tough little boy cat sucks his tail...................
oye
guess we will hold off on the tattoo and leather vest for him huh?

do NOT believe him when he tells you how tough and rough he is........... and remember no matter how macho that cat thinks he is.............. he is just a little boy when the girls gang up on him

( them girls take no prisions you see)

now I can't say I blame them
he is a PITA

he has to inspect their litter box out put....while they are still outputting it.......

they don't like that
( hell no one would like that)

he jumps on them while they are sleeping and starts to bite their toes.........
damn.........
someone bite MY toes when I am asleep I think I would have to just shoot them
( iffen I had a gun......... that is the little flaw in my plan........we don't own a gun.....I am afraid of them!)

our mornings are a stream of
"thaddeaus no............. thaddeaus stop that, ............... thaddeaus get OFFA there.......
thaddeaus leave her alone................ thaddeaus no............ thaddeaus stop that........."
well you get the picture
for a solid hour mostly every morning

I love that little guy but I think his sister and grammie are plotting his demise.................

oye
vi

Morning everyone

yes,sweetie, I AM making jam and preserves....... strawberrie is first.... want to come help pick?
I need 8-10 quarts! Pieheart and I have been talking about going together..we'll have a blast!
I am going to dry, can and root cellar as much as I can......
( SO SEND ME used CANNING JARS GUYS.....I need over 1500 of them! email me ok?)

Kim dear, I am probably going to get the vacuum sealer..
but maybe not for using with the freezer, as I am trying to get more food into 'not electric' dependant storage.

Last winter I accidently left the freezer door unlatched and it partly defrosted.
it scared me as we had our quarterly stock up of food in there.
so this year I am determined to make sure something like that, if it does happen, won't threaten what we stored.

now that bernie has been down at this new job over a year......I found their slow time is from the end of january to ( actually it is still slow) probably august

so I need to change the way we stock food
normally we restock 4 times a year.
that is the amount the freezer will hold ( which is why for all these years I did it that way)

now that we are going to have slow times for 8 months....... I have to make sure that I am stocking about a year or so worth.

it is a bit mind boggling

( yea that is an understatement)

do you know how much FOOD bernie can eat in a year?
oh man................

ok I learned to pressure can..... from the people on a great yahoo group that is for canning

And as an aside.. The Mormon's really do know what they are doing, if you need to learn to stock a years worth......... go and read their information. And they are nice folks

so this is where I'm at now.

I have put together a sort of rough plan that is an adaptation of how I normally stock our pantry.
I am adapting as much as possible to the whole canning thing.
which means figuring how certain parts of recipes we eat are silimar to other things.....
ie: I usually make and freeze about 20 pounds of mini meatballs to use later in a couple different ways.....
well I am going to can them..........with a slight variation.....
some will be in tomato sauce
some in red wine with mushrooms, garlic and onion....
that takes care of the two 'bases' for meatballs
and I will use them in at least 7 different ways........

I am doing the same with chicken

then as I make other things such as ham........I will can parts of that just like I would ordinarily freeze it

the garden is either going to be dried, root cellared or canned..
and in some cases all three
I intend on drying potatoes as well as root cellaring them and CANNING THEM

I will still use the freezer but not be as dependent on it for the bulk of my pantry anymore.

Ok today,
I have a customer coming for soap
and I have to go to town to the po and the pharmacy........
I teach tomorrow
( great class in beginners lace knitting)

I am hoping for some time out in the garden today...... but it looks like the rains aren't going to let me.
I wanted to get some beds fixed
I would also like to put in a small worm farm out there.
to directly compost the kitchen scraps. Kittchen scraps are taking alot of time out in the regular compost to decompose, as I don't have much green matter to put in there yet but the worms will have a blast getting to it in their own seperate sunk in the ground bin.

in house and trying to move news
well again the kitchen remodel is stalled.................. as is the siding and windows for the studio.
i know we will take a huge loss on the house if we try and sell like that
(it's also a buyers market right now..........so we wait)
I expect that if I am still here next year there is going to be a good reason that I am
sort of like the universe wants me to be here cause I am so ready to move

the chickens are well..................
I wish they could be out in their chicken palace.
the cats are well......... although thaddeaus was sneezing a bit this morning..........he does that in the rain.
The roos' are doing great and I do have pictures to post
little violet is growing well and sturdy

I am feeling better...... ( that damn fall down the stairs didn't help things however)
I am also due my period.......... so I hope I can say that in a few days......

I did learn a few things........
I need to eat yogurt EVERY day.......and take fiber with it...............( SO we've reached THAT stage have we..? where prunes are our friends?????)
I also learned that I need to take my thyroid meds daily................. amazing huh!
here I thought I could take them weekly .........( gees...................)
hahahahahah
oye
til next time

vi

how doth your garden grow?

my potatoes are up
last week frosts this week harvest
(of lettuce and spinach)
we are almost into the real gardening season here
I know other folks have thiers already going gangbusters
but we had to break new space and since I need actually help this year....I had to wait on bernie

ok what's new here is I learned to can
I never did that before
so I am canning everything in sight

I also went back to drying food again...now we will have a lot of dried veggies put by

the cats and the 'ladies' are all fine
bernie's fine
I pitched manure all day memorial day..... ( the things i do for the garden)
now
I need to decide
I am going to make at least one major appliance purchase this summer

should it be
a larger dehydrator? ( about 200. 00)
a vaccuum sealer? ( about 150 or so)
or a grain mill? (about 275)

what do you folks think?
any opinions?

in fiber news.......I just taught a class in beginning lace to some very nice ladies......
I hope they are knitting lace and enjoying it

I am also going to do a dyeing demo for my spin group


and we are to go strawberry picking........... I need at least 8 quarts


oh and I need canning jars folks.........USED are fine........ pints and quarts and half pints ...
( I figured out what I am going to need and it is more then impressive.......about 1500 assorted )

ohohoh

til next time

vi

the dead can WRITE too!

My sister in law came out on May 4......
we went to the sheep and wool down in maryland.......
I owe you all pictures I know I know

bernie and colleen ( his sister and my sister in law) put up the chicken pen but didn't finish the varmint proofing so the ladies are STILL in the house with us.

my sister in law left on may 13 from philly airport
we broke down on the way home three times
limping in.............the van died in the driveway........... and refused to be revived without very EXPENSIVE parts

then that monday I fell down the front stairs........

I am ok
but still in pain here and there
( aspirin and tylanol are my best friends)

Margeruite went all broody on me........
so here I am........ truck on blocks in the driveway and a chicken in the living room..........
can you say red neck????

yesterday I canned my first chicken.......... NO not my girls......... 1.30 a pound chicken on sale.

the garden still isn't in..
( anyone feel like coming to help.........we got CHICKEN for dinner)

we are having a few other 'interesting' things going on.

so all in all not much funny stuff to write about.

now bernie finally did get the van running again
ouch on the parts prices......but if I had to pay labor above that.........well let's just say little violet the goat would be pulling a cart..........

today I am to clean the canner and do it all again
( chicken now on sale 1.47 a pound for boneless skinless.................. are we going to stock up? can you spell HELL YEAH????? so we cluck and feather out.......... at least the girls will know they belong here..............vi-the woman with 100+ pounds of chicken in the freezer......and still is buying more)

I can also tell you
falling down the stairs at this age...............
well I don't bounce anymore
I sort of go splat and then......................... try to wait til my breath comes back
and that hitting your back on a stair is NOT something I recommend.
nor is hitting your ass on a stair

make a note
stairs are hard
don't try this at home


and mengele will cry if she saw my shoulders now.........
that bone she replaced sort of got knocked out again......
( and don't think THAT didn't hurt like hell)
imagine my surprise!

and actually I was so surprised, I didn't actually know what had happened to me
it was a bit surreal like a dream.......
then it hurt
like hell
oye
scared the shit out of bernie
who was trying to then pick me up
yeah right.. that worked REAL WELL

anyway that explains the garden STILL not being done

oye


til next time
vi

ps: the canning thing is way cool
and I did NOT blow up the house
but bernie had to open the canner and lift it
I can't

Thank you to everyone who commented and wrote

as everyone is now pointing out....my little amber is gone over a week now.
I miss her so fundamentally I can't even tell you all
it's almost like half the foundation of the house is gone
it hasn't been a good week sorry folks.

I keep trying to find something to say...but there isn't anything
which I suppose is a first.

maybe in a few days


vi

in loving memory of amber

we lost our amber today
at 10:45 am
I had petted her little head, and told her I was going up to the bathroom and I would be right back.
when I got back she'd gone
amber was born sometime in 87 or 88 I do remember it was spring however
and today.... april 23, 2006 she left us in the spring.

she was every inch herself and every inch a diva

when we had her home...... a tiny ball of fluff with merry her little fluffy sister.......
I was musing out loud 'what should YOUR name be??? autumn?..........september?

she sat at my feet, barely 6inches high, and meowed up at me......I know she understand me
and I SWEAR that I heard her say........'my name is AMBER.....A M B E R'

I was startled and look at her.......
'your name is amber?'
she meowed again
I said..........ok amber it is.....

damn I am going to miss her............

when thaddeaus was still a baby....only 5 months old, he was sleeping at the top of the stairs.
in front of the bathroom doorway, I was sad to say on the 'goddess'
amber had been down in the studio and killed a white footed deer mouse.
BIGGER then her head

she had a funny kind of rabbit hop to climb the stairs but she did....with that mouse in her mouth....
she slamed it down next to the sleeping thaddeaus....
let out a CAUTERWAWL to wake the dead........and swatted him across his sleeping face....
then I SWEAR she curled her lips in discust turn her BACK on him and rabbit hopped back down the stairs
I swear she was letting him have and telling him.....'hey KID, THIS is what you are supposed to be doing.........i'm old you know....it's YOUR turn'

that cat had real attitude

I am going to miss her terribly......

vi

Long ago and far away

When I was growing up........
I remember that the people in my family and neighborhood were very interconnected.
Uncle John Langfinger used to come over for coffee in the morning....
at night during warm weather the neighbors would take turns gathering on someone's porch talking and laughing from after supper until after dark.......
My relatives visited every weekend and sometimes during the week as well.

If someone needed help........they ALL rushed to help, family and friends.
I called neighbors Aunt and Uncle and there was very little difference between the two.

Everyone talked at least daily, over the fence........ on the stoop....... while drinking coffee at the kitchen table.

I remember when our well ran dry......... Weezie and Uncle John dropped a hose to our house.....then Uncle John helped dad sink a new well.

EVERYONE was like this..

so my sense of family, friends and community means a LOT of contact.
Now I am sort of far geographically from whomever is left so instead of setting on the stoop
I call.

recently I was criticized for this by one person I know.
As I will call her the same time every day and have coffee with her on the phone.

She implied that this is a fault somehow on my part......
I disagree.

I am more and more seeing people disconnected, families not close...people not knowing their neighbors.
I see society tumbling apart
Folks don't care about other folks............ giving the excuse that 'is none of my business'

I also think we as humans are much poorer for this mind set.

Even when we lived in the apartment before moving up here to pa, neighbors regularly gathered on someones stoop.........
we had communal picnics in the center green of the apartment complex.

folks helped each other.

I am being told I am 'co-dependant'

no
I am old fashioned and human.

I believe that people need the daily connection to build a sense of communitee.......
I believe that only by helping each other, and sharing day to day life will people keep their humaness.

I don't believe that it always has to be in person............
I do however think it is very important to spend the time with the people you care about.
even if it is just over the phone........


let me ask you all...........
you know what I think.........
what do you think?


til next time

vi

birthday pictures

The penny thief

a story about a tiny little person.


When I was young, my neices lived with us.
I had the bedroom upstairs....... ( mine all mine..............)
I always had a habit of leaving my loose change around...... I would empty my pockets and toss it.
I trusted EVERYONE in those days

my baby neice who couldn't have been more then 3 at the time had a real thing for pennies......
she would grab them in her chubby little hand and scream 'my money' in delight.

we would tease her by offering her a quarter and three pennies........ she would ALWAYS take the pennies.

this particular day..
I was upstairs in late afternoon/early evening.
I was taking a nap as I had just gotten my period
I remember being so tired
my Bed was also right by the door.........

this little baby neice thought she was sneaking up on her aunt..............
but stumbled over a pile of change!
she couldn't resist it
( if you all could see me giggling while I type this)

she GRABBED the change.............. oh my
she got SO excited
she forgot she was to be sneaking up on me and screamed 'MY MONEY!!!!!!'
and started running out of the room
she was so excited that she never noticed that I reached out and grabbed her by the collar and took the money out of her hand.............
it was like a cartoon

she got downstairs and ran to grampa........my dad

she went to show him 'her' money
and looked down in her hand to find it empty!
the poor kid started to cry!

my dad was trying not to laugh, cause he realized by then what had happened..
plus I was standing at the foot of the stairs now with the handful of change

we let her pick all the pennies out of the change and I tried hard to remember not to leave it laying around

but I still laugh when I think of her doing that.

hahahahaha
til next time
vi
who has some good news to tell you all
and is going to the tunis farm tomorrow for a lamb cause it is my birthday!

ok fast updates!!!

MARGUERITE laid her very first EGG!!!!
yeah

I am so proud of her
she is a sweetie now that she can't fly onto my head


the doctor
I have a slight reprieve
I have to use a nitroglycerine cream 4X a day
and we are putting off the surgery for a while
meanwhile I am going to look for a second opinion
as I don't like this doctor
I was in a lot of pain
he kept telling me that I was NOT in pain

I am thinking I need a new doctor no?

oye

meanwhile I am home
and so happy to BE home
but I got to make up my mind what I am going to do within four weeks

oye

vi

MARCH 24 update

I have an appointment with a colo-rectal surgeon down here in easton tuesday
then thursday if I feel well enough................
Kris and Carole are going to take me to see about my tunis!!!

( now I am worried I can't afford my tunis....... )

meanwhile
today is not a good day.........
I don't feel great but I am hoping that this second opinion will figure something out for me

oye

vi
it isn't my head I am concerned about exploding...............................

ok so how does a person prepare for surgery?

1. last Harry potter book
   
2. all the Harry potter movies on dvd
3. sock yarn
4. more sock yarn
5. some comfy sort of non binding clothes?
6. icecream
7. yogurt
8. cashews
9. did I mention sock yarn?

I am going to the surgeon tomorrow the meds didn't work so it is time for this.

oye talk about an ass in a sling

I am hoping to have a bit of time and some less painful days to get the freezer stocked with meals for at least a month.

this is the time of the year we defrost the freezer and restock for spring, so I better get that done before anything happens

now about my chickens........ I really wish I had gotten the chicken diapers for them

so I could have them come up and visit me while I am convalescing......

well anyway bernie is taking off to take me to the surgeon tomorrow to start this whole thing.....

oye

and I am teaching saturday , I hope I can anyway.

soooooooo I will keep you all posted

vi

Thaddeaus Peabody goes to town

Mommy and Daddy were going to town, for the mail and chicken bedding.
Thaddeaus Peabody who'd been a very good boy, wanted to go with them.
Thaddeaus stretched up to the doorknob and tried to open the door himself...... Always being a gentlecat, who knew his manners.......

but mommy and daddy told him NONO Thaddeaus you can't go
Thaddeaus stepped away from the door
but refused to leave the hallway
he was so disappointed
But mommy was watching Thaddeaus and asked him if he'd like to go to town with them......
Thaddeaus looked up in confusion, mommy NEVER asked if he's like to go with them, she always told him he had to stay home.

"Thaddeaus dear, you have been such a good boy lately....... you haven't beaten up your sister or great grammie too awfully bad...... and you did get your full curly coat in, plus you did so well with your bath....you can come with us.....Daddy please get his harness and leash"


So Daddy got Thaddeaus' leash and harness and held him while Mommy put it on him.

He loved riding in the front seat looking out the window
he saw a red truck and a horse, he saw the feed store.
A nice young man asked what Thaddeaus was......... as he'd never seen a cat on a leash.......
Thaddeaus let the young man pet him and purred for him to show how much he was enjoying himself.

When everyone got home, Thaddeaus retreated to his cat tree to rest after his big adventure.

And Mommy and Daddy decided that Thaddeaus can go to town regularly.

pix and fawn news!

Fawn is finally come around....
she likes to be held all of a sudden..........!!!
she sits on my chest and purrs for hours now!
we are sooooooooooo thrilled
it is almost a year that it took








I have tons of goatie and sheepie pictures to upload for you all but haven't had a chance.

I had a dream of my father........ which I have to post later

we did taxes today, our accountant came here..... he found out that he is allergic to chickens!
the girls meanwhile buried their eggs yet again......


ok I have to run but will post more later.......


ok back
Trish

said I gotta tell you the five things I keep in the fridge......
ok we got eggs.........
oh and we got eggs

and we got eggs
and did I mention we got EGGS

get the feeling we are overrun with eggies huh?

what else

milk....... 100% whole milk
we alway got sour cream too
and bernie and his 50 mustards
( I got to dump them damn............ no one needs 50 different mustards)

orzo
there is also always a red cabbage in there
and celery
and whole garlic
oh and real butter......none of that crap margerine stuff

( we don't have high cholesteral......his is like 172 and mine is 153..... and the ratios are perfect)

everything else changes in the fridge
but we always have that stuff
( hey I LIKE red cabbage.....)

what else now??

Oh that dream

I dreamt that I was home in my childhood house............. something was wrong in the basement and it scared me so I went to the kitchen...............
on the table was a phone book with my dad's phone number on it
I called dad and told him to come home
he told me no
I told him 'but dad, I am really scared'

and Dad got all upset with me and again told me 'no I am NOT coming home anymore........I live here now.'

needless to say I had a fight with my father ........

( see I keep telling you all........ just cause they are dead......that means NOTHING in my family..........)

naturally I got a bit pissy about it all

ok

in other news
we washed Thaddeaus today
he is soooooooooooooooooo cute, cream colored and curly now
he really was getting a bit dingy looking
my boy is so curly now I have got to get a good picture of him for you all


til next time

vi

Little violet today!

oh my goodness she is sooooooooooooooo cute
hahahaha
I love my little goatie

Goatie updates, and general goings on

Violet the goat is doing very well, she is strong and sturdy.
she is eating well and growing steadily.
I am going to try and get out to the farm this week to see her adorable little goatie face.




All three of the big hens, Dulcette, Henrietta and Sharon are all laying.
Henrietta not as often as Dulcette and Sharon
Sharon averages every other day
Dulcette 7 out of 8 days
and Henietta has laid two so far....
Dulcette is laying jumbo eggs now
a warm brown color
Henrietta is laying the Lilac colored eggs
and Sharon goes back and forth in color

they tell me when they've laid, as they get cherrios for a treat!
Margerite should start laying in may or june.....

Dulcette has taken to hopping out of the pen when I go down
she is very funny running around in the basement.
I call her and she runs right back over to me........
Even her little chickeny brain understand that she needs to be IN the PEN to get the cherrios for her treat!
she just doesn't know how to get back in the pen.......
so I pick her up
she waits for me to pick her up, which makes me laugh.
All the chickens take turns coming out for a petting and cuddling session they love it
they fluff up their feathers and settle down and sort of talk under their beaks so to speak.......very softly....
I tell them how beautiful they are and how much I love them
they LOOK at me...hahahahaha



In Curly Cat news
THADDEAUS is no longer bald!!!
while we weren't paying attention he grew in a wonderful curly/wavey long hair la perm coat.
Since he is so light colored it is hard to see in photos but he has TIGHT little ringlets at the surface of his skin and then the fur sort of softly waves out from that
He needs a Bath....

Fawn is doing exceptionally well........she will be here 1 year on March 31.........
she is a little tank I swear......she charges around the house getting into everything
if she were human, she would be the little girl with the baseball cap, freckles and slingshot....she is a tom boy!

Calpurrnia is my sweet little blue eyed feminine baby girl.......SHE would be dressed in pink with ruffles and bows......if she were human.......
SHE would insist!
She sits patiently when I am dishing out the can food......... Thaddeaus gets his first......then Fawn who is telling me all about it ..........
and my sweet little lady calpurrnia is just waiting........
she knows hers is coming.......

Amber the 4009 year old cat is STILL with us
STILL a bit felted....
I work on her matts as often as she lets me
she never cleans herself anymore, letting me do it
it's been I think three years since she groomed herself.....
but she is still healthy, eating and happy as a senile cat should be

Ivan the fish..........remember him?
he is still with us!
I do partial water changes twice a week and total water changes every two weeks
today was his total water change........
the plants and IVAN are very happy.
I use Ivan's old water to water all the house plants.

on the 19th, I get the results of the spin contest put on by my spin group
I understand that the judges didn't believe I was a novice after looking on my hand spindle spun singles ( say that three times fast)
but I spun them on a toy wheel spindle that I made, when I was spinning only about 3 months
they also liked my novelty yarn........remember the peacock roving?
well I added some icycle dyed blue and some beads..............
I want to knit that into a scarf.
I am thinking of spinning some solid blue to go with it........... maybe solid blue and a bit more of the icycle
and knitting up the main part of the scarf using the novelty for the ends........

I am not actually a blue person, but that mix of blues in that roving was not too bad.

I am still waiting to hear from the shepherd about the tunis lamb
oh and lambing starts this week out at lilac corners

I have kid pictures to load for you all which I will do later this week

til then

vi