just dial direct

i tend to have dreams
not in the martin luther king jr sense.....( although i do have those type as well but we are talking about sleeping dreams)

anyway, i tend to have dreams that either are real, happen or furnish me with some sort of information i need

this morning i was woken up three seperate times by dreams from a person i haven't heard from in 4 years
the last dream was disturbing, as it involved one of the kids

so i tried to call. the number has been changed
ok
i emailed

i am waiting to see if daemon mailer kicks it back
i wouldn't be surprised


this all leads me to thinking about just how interconnected and yet unaware we all really are

and about that old attribute called 'the sight'

yes i do have 'the sight' and i have always had it
although at times through my life it's been a bit ragged and perhaps needed glasses
i think everyone has it
cops use it daily
as do successful buisness people
and a million other living things

but now while i try and brush the aftermath of the last very disturbing dream from my mind, i can't help but wonder about this attribute

i can see the use, but also why can i not use it like the tool it is obviously ment to be
why do i not have more control over it
my sister in law thinks we aren't ment to have that sort of control over it
but i think we should
like any other tool no?

ok anyone else out there have the use of this attribute?

please by all means let me hear from you all


vi

the search for ancestors

Apparently every late winter to late spring I get the urge to find my past
Last year I found my paternal grandmother, her family, my paternal grandfather and part of his family and my dad’s siblings
I found a few of mom’s side

This year is apparently the year of the maternal grandfathers

I went looking for my mom’s mom, and her father…….. and I found HIM and HIS father
As well as a couple of his siblings
I don’t know my mother’s mom’s maiden name……BUT I have the information to get her death certificate as well as my mom’s birth certificate
I am still looking for her fathers mother……whom, apparently I am named after as was she…… but there is some confusion about HER mothers name….i could also be named after her but I am not sure

I keep talking to my ancestors while I do this
Asking them to cut me a break here………….. let me find SOMETHING of you all
I also ask them to send me 3 million dollars in a winning lotto ticket but that is besides the point…….

( well it IS the least they can all do no?)

meanwhile, I have cousins and such out there……..from both sides……
first cousins on my mom’s side
my cousin stevie romano and his sister anita romano…….. their other sister marie may still be alive as well….
I don’t know if my uncle jack had kids……. Or my uncle carlos but I think they both did……
They would be covino…. Carlos’ would be in California
Uncle jack’s would I imagine be in NY state

It’s sort of addicting
I almost have enough to start searching in italy if I wish to
But the garden is about to be opened for spring…….
Canning season started more or less….( ok so it never really ends does it…..canning season or gardening I mean)

I will be getting too busy to search through websites for ancestors…….
I am I realize one of the lucky ones……my people came through ellis island and rather recently at that…… I can find a lot of them
(except my mother’s paternal grandmother and my maternal grandmother….for some reason the gramma’s aren’t ready to be found yet)
anyway…… I am happy I am back on the net…… Bernie said a new computer is soooooooo in my future……. When I see it…..i will believe it
if I get a new one…….DSL is also in my future….
How about THAT?

Ok till next time

vi

What a nightmare
It all started a few months ago, my internet service provider overcharged me by a month and a half
Without thinking I paid it.
Then they told me……
‘you don’t have to pay us, we’re paid up’
ok
I didn’t pay them for the months of the overage
Then without warning they shut me off!
At the pole, not even at the office!

Huh?
Wait I paid you, I paid you too much……….
I went to a friend’s house got online, and paid them
Apparently I STILL paid them too much as now they owe me money!

I tried to call them, the customer service people I got on the phone were……to be polite, complete and total idiots

And didn’t CARE that I had over paid, that they had told me not to pay them

And my emails…….my accounts were all wiped out!

Without a word to me…no warning

She said to me ‘we called you’

I said…….i NEVER got a call

Well we called you

Ok……………………………………( you do NOT want to know what I was thinking at that point……let’s just say, it wasn’t anywhere near polite nor politically correct)

And since I pay my bills on line and you wiped out my account……how could I even try to see what was going on?

Now Bernie said to me…….just pay them or whatever and get the internet back……..

Ahhhhhhhhhh……………
No

I wouldn’t have minded the snaffoo if the customer service wasn’t so freeken flippant about it all
But I have had it with this isp
The email box has been messed up for two years now……it’s on their end……
Finally one tech said……’try changing your password, as it’s on our end’

Next began my adventures in outsourced customer service to foreign countries.
After speaking to goodness only knows how many Indian from India accented people……who did not apparently know how to deal with a computer with Win98SE, nor could they understand WALL phone filters,
NO NIC card…..i have firewire……
Rest assured they were mostly very polite
and tried really really HARD to give me 'american' names
the funniest one was 'ummmmmmUNDY'

i asked him to spell that...... ANDY
hahahahahaha

his accent was so damn thick i KNEW that if ANDY was his real name.....he was a total gonner

and btw, he didn't know what the hell he was talking about as i had been given a test access number/username and password to see if i could use thier system.... ( aol.... shame on aol)
and it didn't work.
UMUNDY told me that they didn't do that kind of thing.....

the guy right before him did

oye

Well except the sleezy from peoplepc, who kept telling me without the code he couldn’t give me the discount.
And kept having to ask his manager…….

I was put on hold for I swear three weeks……

Ok I found an American based company……local even
They aren’t as cheap as the foreign based companies
However, they spoke ENGLISH, and they HELPED ME
And we are now connected, even though it’s dial up….it’s faster dial up
They helped me over a glitch in my system too
Lovely woman that had me laughing, ( ok so I tried to give her a duckling too)
And in approximately 10 minutes, I had internet service….. with a SMILE and a person who actually understood English AND was helpful AND polite AND did what she said she was going to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


What a concept


vi

we soooooooooo have to stop the foreign outsourcing

so i am paying a bit more for my internet......i think it's worth actually having service that i can understand and that is helpful

happy tax day

April 14, 2008

A few random thoughts

My lettuce is up…..i can’t wait for the first of our salads
( I think I posted how I make them prior to this)
I want to expand the garden which I have often spoke of on this blog
Over and over I think

I also want to move
So the sheepies and goatie can come home…….

Now I put in a bunch of different lettuces and other green salad type plants, I go out daily and speak to the seedlings in the buckets on the deck.
I remember my momma going in the yard in the spring and harvesting dandelion greens, and I am doing that too……but I am giving them to Serafina……after all she is expecting………sorta

Bernie is late tonight,
I am having a sort of menstrual period, not a totally normal one….but all the symptoms and none of the red blood
It confused the hell out of me for a while….. I was all weepy again…..which isn’t really like me, unless my heart is broken ( I still cry over trish, damn I miss her)
I am a bit depressed as well. It’s probably just a reaction to the past few months, and the loss of my friend.
And I am very very tired.

You would think that this would be covered in the owners manual….or at least in a service pack or something…..ANYTHING…. damn thing sneaks up on you and whomps you over the head like bricks

We paid our taxes today, all year I worry and sweat over paying them. For 2008 I will only have to worry about local…….not state and local anymore…..
That will help me a lot

I have to decide on firewood, I think we ended up using 5 cords give or take….
I suppose that is what I will replace.

I want my grain mill already…… oye
I got my wheat and barley and hopefully soon my oats. I got rice put in, ( I have to put the second sack in the freezer this week, then dry can it)
I am hoping for a goodly amount of meats to can soon, and I hope as always for an abundant harvest
Plus that hoop house to grow and harvest veggies through the winter…that will help me a LOT
With that and the root cellar, and the canning shelves….. not to mention the stuff I dry, we should be in good shape…..
YES I am thinking of NEXT winter already……
I also need to find the time to make soap in the next few weeks
Right now however, the garden has me totally absorbed. We put manure and compost on two beds, and covered one with tarps and one with black plastic.
I have 5 more beds to do like that yet…..
Possibly 6
I am going to put some mini hoops with clear plastic over some beds to get a bit of a jump on the tomatoes and peppers, as well as some pumpkins and zucchini I think…. I wonder if the eggplant would be happy like that early?
I can do that over a couple of beds actually…..not the beans and cucumbers……or the broccoli’s, cauliflowers or cabbages of course…..

Thankfully……. While surfing the net over the years……I downloaded a LOT of information to cd’s
I have been taking this no internet time to quietly go mad……. To spend my time going through all this information. There is a considerable amount
But I am enjoying it to a point….. I will be really happy when I have full time internet back however

Thaddeaus has gained back all the weight he lost while sick…… he is now again a solid hefty little boy. You can feel almost three vertebrae in his back, and he’s got a nice covering over his ribs
My boy is solid again AND still has fur! Thousands of curlies…….
What a good boy he’s been too, ok…….so he really hasn’t been a good boy…..i mean he is THADDEAUS PEABODY….. but he tries
Sorta………..
Occasionally……………..
When he’s hungry…………..
And I got fancy feast………

Oh ok so he’s really a bad boy…….but we love him
He’s happy tonight as I got the woodstove on again, it’s to go down past 30 overnight

Well that is the most of the news……

Til next time

vi

some posts while i was gone

Blog post for april 5 08

I am,

Without internet

It is a long story, but hopefully in 5-10 days I will be again with internet
I will be on dsl.

So I am typing this in word……which keeps capitalizing things for me.
I just type and it inserts capitals!

Now while I am waiting for internet, I am planning on moving my seedlings on to larger quarters, hardening some off, adding more little starter pots ( mainly cottage garden flowers now)

As you all know if you saw my previous post with the pictures of the 3 week old seedlings, I have a green thumb.
And I got a bit heavy handed with the bachelor buttons, as well as the columbines, but hey, I CAN tuck a plant here and there if I need to……. After I plant the main cottage garden bed
Or I can nursery them over on the deck
OR I can even sell some if need be

I so wish for a greenhouse
And a cold frame hoop house

I discovered little finches eating my freshly sown lettuce and mache seeds…..one of the down sides of having bird feeders up and full of seed

Now back to the vegetable garden in the making,
As I repot the tomatoes into larger containers, I bury them deeper…..and put them into the windows.

There is no longer room under my lights I use to start the seeds and grow the seedlings with.
Very soon EVERY window will be crammed full of pots of tomatoes, cabbages, hollyhocks, marigolds, peppers and leeks………….
Very soon I will be rigging my sort of greenhouse/cold frame hardening off thing out on the deck
I use saw horses and narrow poles to drape plastic drop clothes on…..and nightly bring in the more tender plants

I had hoped for a hoop house and cold frame this spring so all the work and fuss of doing the sifting of the plants wouldn’t be happening but that is life

And I have finally come to a decision of what to plant on the fence that is a problem……..STINGING NETTLE….. an extremely useful plant
Although it is also an extremely defensive plant as well.
I could use the nettle, it’s excellent as a pot herb as well as a wash for hair and skin
It will make good fodder for the poultry well wilted.
And the attraction against the fence is that any one stupid enough to trespass where it grows will get stung and a nasty rash………no trespassing……no rash it is as simple as that, yet it is a very nutritious green….. so nettle it is

On to other news
Calpurrnia was sick again……. 24 hours of vomiting. I used that probotic paste last night on her that the vet gave us last time, and sure enough no vomiting over night….none so far today.
I made her ‘fancy feast’ soup. Which is exactly what it sounds like… a smallish quantity of fancy feast in a larger quantity of water, warm……….
It is good to keep them hydrated when they are like this.
The vet and I can not figure out what this is exactly but they seem to be susceptible to it when the seasons change.
Thaddeaus remains furred! We are so unused to seeing him with a full coat on…..he reminds me of those weird Victorian supernatural people that look all wooly like sheep…..
So far he is still relatively short haired, but it looks like it will grow in long, and it is very very CURLY fur…….
Ah…….. what a laperm should be…..

Now one last thing, today ( actually tonight at I think 11pm) is new moon….
And a good time to plant things that grow under the ground such as onions and potatoes, beets, turnips, parsnips, and carrots.
It’s been dampish and raining off and on…… very good for the peas I planted the other day, as well as any of the lettuce or other greens that the finches may have left to me

I still need to get the spinach in…the first sowing didn’t take for whatever the reason.

I think in two weeks I will be getting three more large barrels for the deck….. and get the small planters and such out of there, cleaned up and replanted with rosemary, lemon grass, vanilla grass, and maybe another patchouli, ( I miss my patchouli) I also have a packet of cat grass seeds so I will plant that.

The cat NIP bucket is alive….i checked the other day, the cat nip is coming up, and I need to remember to move it on and divide it, as this year is a year for drying herbs.
A LOT of herbs
I have four or five sages to set out, which I like to dry whole leaves from, and also make kitchen wreaths. ( Trish you really should have stayed with us longer….you would have loved some of this stuff I do)

Well that is more or less the state of my herb garden, my life, and my furry family at the moment. BTW, bernie’s birthday is Tuesday. I doubt I will be on the net by then but you never know.

I will tell you all, I miss the internet, I miss my friends, I miss the unlimited wealth of knowledge that is found there at the stroke of a key.
And while I am not too fond of modern life. The internet I have to say…..even with it’s faults, makes it all worthwhile

Til next time

vi



April 6, 2008
We have a little visitor………..

Life is such an amazing experience.
And it is brutal in it’s down from our point of view.
This morning, Bernie came down to find a tiny baby squirrel dead on the front lawn. From the looks of him, it looks like he fell out of the tree looking for his momma, as he is a bit too little to be out of the nest.
I went out to see if the little guy was indeed dead.
He was
I turned him over, to see if there were puncture wounds or something……. Nope
And he was stiff. ( and a boy too)

While I was out there I heard a racket up in the tree above….. in the squirrel nests that has been there as long as I think we’ve lived here.

An even tinier baby was trying to come down the tree.
I was a wreck watching this baby, sure at any moment he would slip and fall to his death as well…..
He came down the tree
He climbed back up part way.
It was a lot of effort for a little guy like him
He rested a while and started back down.
I called Bernie out

When the baby got to the bottom of the tree he went around to the back and sat there for a few moments.

I called him to come to me as I was so worried about him
No parents around
The baby started to wobble over to me
And climbed my pants leg
Looking for food
I sent Bernie for a towel and the baby gratefully burrowed into it
We fed him he was starving
We got to the pet store for milk replacer
We kept feeding him
We warmed him up
He is very thin but he is a fighter, he’s now out in his little birdcage with his warm towel to burrow in.
I go and feed him often
He likes the heavy cream much better then the milk replacer mix
( goats are like that too…..can’t say I blame them huh?)

I hope he makes it
I think he’s about 6 weeks….
Marilyn went on line for me, ( as we have no internet until the dsl thing comes)
And from what I told her………… we figured 6-8 weeks…. As his eyes are open and his tail isn’t a rat tail…it’s starting to bush out.
But he is definitely tiny and not eating on his own yet……
He maybe will think of a seed but believe me….he’s looking for a teat most of the time

Meanwhile, it is bernie’s birthday observed.
As Tuesday is his real birthday, we are observing it today sort of
The celebration food got side tracked while I was feeding the baby
And Bernie is such a guy that he ran up to the pet store and spent $20.00 that we could NOT afford for the replacer milk

I am still laughing about that baby coming right over to me and climbing my leg

If my folks could talk to you all right now…..they would say
“of COURSE the baby climbed HER leg…….every sick, homeless or hurt animal for 100 miles finds their way to her door….’

( mom said that about Bernie too when I was going out with him……’ the dogs are getting bigger….this one is over 6’ tall’)

but this little baby was determined…….. my leg was going to bring him to a place where he was warm, fed, and safe………and so it did huh?

Wish this little one luck please…… I hope he grows big and strong….and becomes a happy and WILD squirrel out back

Vi

Updated, we lost the little guy which broke my heart


April 13 2008

Ducks, ducks everywhere.

Serafina the sly little duck……….. has hidden her nest

I had been asking Bernie if he could see eggs in the duck house….
Nope

I sort of poked around….nope

Well the other day, I found the nest…….
A gagillion eggs in there too!

Damn duck

I went into the pen Friday morning, with food for the ducks, water and my egg gathering basket.

I went around the back of the duck house where I had found that nest full of eggs…….
Serafina peeked around the side of the duck house…..she looked up at me
She looked down at her nest
She looked back up at me

I went out with an empty basket
BUT
I told that duck……….

She can’t KEEP them after they hatch…… in a 9 X 19 pen…… two ducks are more then enough

Oh man

We are going to be over freeken run with ducks

She is a sly little duck

vi

cream, white, pale peach and violets

i have spring fever

BAD

really BAD

i am about to go to town and get a gallon of cream paint, some white paint and a quart of pale peach and start painting anything dark in the house

such as the mahogany teir table, old frames

old wooden dressers

chairs

piecrust tables

bernie

my workbench in the studio.....

and then grab a brush and paint violets........... all over EVERYTHING

you can never have too many violets you know

( and violet china makes me weak in the knees.... royal albert, lefton, hammersly, oh my)

i want to replace my over sink light with something cream, and covered with violets as well.....

can you tell they are my favorite flower?

i don't know WHY people think roses are the epitomy of flowers....

it's really the violet....

so fleeting

so quaint

and so modern all at once

they are refreshing in a way roses can never be

but then

i am bias

i heard there were chickens that didn't lay eggs

i was down talking to my ladies today,
they are still on vacation from laying, as is serafina

at one point, i heard henrietta announcing...... that normally means there is an egg for me to get
i went down
all four chickens lined up and looked at me
i felt like i should hang numbers around each of their necks
they looked like dangerous and wanted chickens

all frozen in the line up.......
just looking at me

hello chickens, i said to them
.............

they beep beep beeped at me, then boop boop booped at me
and started to come see if i brought them any pumpkin or cat food
or something they could eat.....

i petted each one of them
including surprisingly SHARON
who is very standoffish

their combs and wattles are nicely red....
they crouch like they are supposed to

but still no eggs

i think they may be on strike


next we will be known as

the home of the striking chicken

wonderful

just what we all needed

vi

postscript:
i was sort of futzing around in the living room today......
and i found a birthday card from last year.... from our trish
i didn't expect that and it caught at my heart
i am still reaching for the phone to call her
and today would be 4 weeks

i still can't quite get my mind around this
but as you all can see
i am getting on with it

planting snow peas

and mixed greens, along with a few lettuces.....

it's warm out, and raining

on and off.

i had to replant the greens and spinaches as the last planting got frozen on me

so today i went out and did snow peas and the mixed greens

i still need to plant the spinaches

in the house i continued to plant seeds, these are for a cottage garden

hollyhocks in shades of apricot, peach, pale rose, pale gold, and creams

foxglove in apricots

bachelor buttons,

dianthus-cottage pinks

columbine mixed shades

some of my seeds were old but had been kept in the fridge so we'll see

i am about to start transplanting to larger pots for the veggies

and to start to move the little guys outside for a while each day to harden off

i wish i had a greenhouse and a cold frame so bad

i am also thinking of putting in a climbing rose on an arbor that will frame the front windows

as well as espaliered fruit trees against the stone walls of the house

now is the time i really could use help, someone to help me move the seedlings out and in

someone to help put an arbor together, someone to help me dig the holes

but it's just me, and occationally bernie

the fruit trees i am thinking of to espalier are as follows:

peaches and apricots against the south side of the house

cherries on the north side of the house

i am considering a hedge of blueberries as well possibly.....

and cranberries for ground cover

i have a feeling that even though we are wanting to move, with the market such as it is

it will be a while...

may as well do what i have to do just in case we do have to stay here longer then i would like

also, i figure the person that would buy this little cottage in the woods, probably thinks similar to me......

and would WANT the cottage garden as well........

so cottage garden it is

now i want to point out an anomoly......

see that picture of my birthday card from bernie?

see the purple line in it?

i took the picture of my sheep card, and then that one.....that one was RIGHT NEXT to my sheep card, then i went on to take pictures of the little plants i am growing for the garden

in NO other picture is there a purple line...........

and when i checked the picture later under photoshop......i saw a LOT of 'noise' on both edges....

i have no explaination.....

so i will leave you all with that little mystery

and i will keep my opinions on it to myself.....

however

you all feel free to comment if you would.....on what YOU think that is

til next time

vi

ps: not a bad birthday either btw, no presents but that's ok i got the cats gifts, and it was a nice day