conversations with a duck (or two)

we got a mouse in the duck pen
lilli didn't catch it, instead she looked up me and cried for me to pick her sorry feathered butt up.
so we switched ducks
phoebe is in there
the conversation went something like this:

'mom, i don't wanna be in the chicken pen, it's nasty'

phoebe YOU'RE the one that tossed the chickens out two weeks ago
(maybe three)

'BUT MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM' (duck whining)

but phoebe, you fought with lilli so you two are now separated (sibling rivalry)

'but mom, i'm lonely and all i got is them nasty old chickens...and a mouse'

phoebe you're in here to EAT THE MOUSE......you love mouse, so eat the mouse and we'll take you out during the day, even though you hate the snow

'grumble mumble grumble' (phoebe having a smart ass remark under her breath)

oye......... you folks haven't lived until you've lived with ducks

now the other thing i was trying to remember to post about is lack of energy......
i got started with a lot of plans, and somehow ran out of steam!
you folks know me, have i been slowing down?
i can't seem to get much done lately and it's really starting to piss me off
and the hell of it is, some stuff is really easy!
most days i feel like i am drifting through
anyone feel like that?

what do you all do about it?

new (OLD) toaster

i got bernie a vintage sunbean t-20a automatic radiant toaster which was made approximately 1950- 52.
not only does it still work, but it works better then his BRAND NEW EXPENSIVE 4 slice toaster
AND the cool thing is, if you put a slice of bread in it...... the TOASTER lowers the bread into itself!
cool huh?
you don't do a damn thing
i may even have toast!
(i am not supposed to though)

i came down this morning around 7 or 8
i stoked up the stove, and folded dry laundry then hung wet laundry up on the line over the woodstove
took me a while, but when i was finished i went up to see if bernie was getting up
fawn and calpurrnia were down with me.......thaddeaus was not
when i went up to wake bernie i leaned over to hug him and noticed that thaddeaus was still in bed with him
hahahaha
thaddeaus woke up when i said good morning to bernie
he was unmistakably startled to find me STANDING up, and not in bed
even bernie could tell that thaddeaus was shocked!
thaddeaus stared at me trying to comprehend what was going on while he continued to wake up
as soon as it really sunk in that mom was NOT in bed and that thaddeaus hadn't been following mom around....he jumped out of bed........
we laughed our asses off
it was so obvious that he'd thought i was still asleep
and that he may have missed the hot fancy feast for the morning (he didn't- i wait for all of them for their hot breakfast)
we are still laughing about it
(what? you all know we have no life)
meanwhile i got the stove hot enough to dry the laundry
i got the wet laundry hung and bernie is starting to make sunday breakfast
i wish you all a delightful sunday morning

sleep wonderful sleep beautiful sleep

and i am not getting enough of it, even when i am
sleeping seems to have become irresistible to me lately
the more i get the more i want it would seem
tucked under the huge pile of covers with or without bernie
but with all the cats
thaddeaus under the covers in my arms, fawn on my head and calpurrnia on my ankles
just drifting off into dreams

it is so not like me
but i am really craving sleep now
if there was someone to stoke the stove and care for the animals i most likely wouldn't get up for a few days
except to use the bathroom and maybe eat something

this is a new thing for me, as i've always been the one that woke up at 5am and woke everyone in the house up as well.
not lately
even when i'm up, i'm not really up

this winter is a normal sort of wintery winter
the only difference is the stove having to be tended often due to poor insulation in this house
if i could afford oil, along with the stove i could sleep
or if we replace the oil furnace with something that was cheaper to burn as well as a longer burn time then the woodstove i could sleep

hmmmm

ahem

i've really had enough of the cold now
thank you
oh and the ducks and chickens have too
i can't keep the house warm and the poultry from boredom........
did i mention the whole 'can't keep the house warm enough' thing?

waiting for the arctic blast

and other odds & ends
i went for the evaluation post surgery/cleaning at the periodontist
i did well for the most part
2-3 on all my teeth except two
i need gum surgery on two
we are going to try and save them so that i have something to chew with
meanwhile i was told not to floss quite so vigorously......OOPS
i do floss a lot
an awful lot
so over all i am doing ok there

now to this weekend with the sub zero temps.....i am going to do the plastic over the back door
and a sheet or something over the front door
keep the ducks in
i wish i had window quilts but until now i've never been able to afford to make them
i have 16 windows in the studio
i would need to make 16 quilts that are 36X64 inches......
16 quilts
just for the studio
in the main house there are ....now let's see
2 in the hall
4 in the living room
1 in the dining room
1 in the staircase
1 in the bathroom
1 in the 'soap' room
2 in the front bedroom
1 in the kitchen
for a total of 13, plus the 16 .....shit !!!!!
29 window quilts
and they are all HUGE
i really think i need to just have something like 4 HUGE windows (4ft x 8ft) in the studio.....and be done with it
at least then the window quilts will be big but not a million (OK 29 isn't a million) of them

in knitting, i have tried and tried to turn that amazing sunna yarn from spirit trail into the socks for jen
i have ripped and reknit
that yarn does NOT WANT to be socks
it is begging and pleading to be a shawl, in textured lace with tiny flecks of crystal beads .......
you know like the galaxy
like stars in the night sky
it is begging me
and every time i get past the heel turn and into the instep the pattern screws up
i try
i do
it wants to be the starry night sky

oye
i need to talk to her
the yarn is begging me

i made bernie yogurt since he's now over the zpac, he's better but started smoking again..... i won't tell you all what i think
me-, i may need a zpac too
i got up with a horrific sinus headache yesterday which had me in a hot steamy shower alone at 5am
not as much fun as you may think.

now today i am thinking either chili, roast chicken or a soup of some sort
with us having all sorts of illnesses lately, i am leaning to chili
possibly with homemade bread, now the question i have to ask myself is....
do i really want to be trapped in the house with arctic conditions outside
with a man i just fed BEANS TO?
yeah that's what i thought...........roast chicken it is then
chili maybe sunday so he can go to work monday and gas them out of the shop

i know i've been a bit neglectful of you all lately
i don't know what's gotten into me (oh yeah......old age)

oye

when it's this cold out

i often think about the peasants of the northern european areas,
scandinavian folk, russians, the baltics.......
from about 250 years or so ago.......maybe 400
did they stand in front of their stoves (beautiful tiled stoves) adding wood and basking in the warmth as it (the fire) started to take off?
i can also see the wisdom of multiple petticoats and warm woolen shawls

i came down at 2am
it was 67 in the studio
below zero outside but not too windy (which means we are warmer)
i started stoking the stove
raking up, then evening up the coal bed. letting air flow over the coals to heat them up prior to the next log being put on top of the
watching the log catch
realizing that this ritual has been going on for as long as man has tamed the fire enough to let him (her?) live where the snows get deep and the night is cold
can i reach across the centuries?
was there a village woman hundreds of years ago up at 2am
stoking the stove and dreaming of the future as i think of the past?
the flames and need for warmth unite us
even though her bones are long stripped of flesh
watching the flames
feeling the warmth
surviving the cold and dark yet another night

i can't keep the house warm enough!

it was some ungodly low temperature this morning-
the sun is up now and i still can't get warmed up
even with the stove going like crazy
meanwhile in my cold and weakened state i ordered (ONLINE)
two pairs of fleece socks, custom made on etsy.....it wasn't a bad price, under 18. and that included shipping......we'll see how well made they are and how warm
i know i could make them myself but i was cold, it was early before coffee, dark and did i mention i was cold?
i was (and still am) cold
bernie seems to be getting better but not as dramatically as he should have be with a zpac
and yes i came down this morning when the furnace kicked on
he didn't want me to but i did
i kept thinking 'all that oil we can't afford and all that DUST he doesn't need right now'
so i came down
tomorrow i have errands
oh boy do i have errands
oye
i am hoping to also set up a savings account to transfer money into twice a month........we don't have short term savings, only long term
meanwhile, i am liking this digital phone now......everyone says i'm much clearer.
too bad i couldn't have a digital 'much clearer' brain

i think i would like to break out the sewing machine (actually i am long over due for that)

ok the sun's up, or at least it's light out now
the cats all have their hot fancy feast with olive oil
the birds are chopping down on some cooked food
the chickens and ducks will get oatmeal with bacon grease and i have hot coffee with milk
but damn it's still cold here
hope you all are staying warm

(and to the folks down under, i hope you all are safe)

a mouse in the toaster

i doubt that could happen to anyone else....
i was cleaning the kitchen yesterday....
i moved the coffeepot only to gasp as i saw a long brown tail disappear into a slot of the toaster
oye
bernie found him in there later when he got home, but we couldn't get the mouse out
it sat and blinked at us
it's still upside down on the counter top

does anyone else have days like this?

meanwhile it's pretty cold here, ok so it's really cold here
i stoked the stove, then went back to bed for about 3 hours
i slept that time
now today there isn't too much to do
ducks, cleaning the kitchen, removing mouse from toaster (takes real talent that)
possibly some drawing i hope
and i have to shovel ash.
i don't know what it is but i'm very tired again
oh and bernie is slowly S   L   O   W   L   Y getting better

now the new digital cable phone.....i am liking it very very much
screw verizon and their lack of customer service
and their insistence that i won't be happy elsewhere
i am thinking 55.00 a month for internet and phone.... as opposed to 101 a month.... and clearer phone service, with just as good if not better internet........hmmmmm
verizon if this gets out you all are out of business
and i wouldn't be at all upset

ok day's started and i got to go
ttyl

today bernie goes to the doctor

good thing too as he forgot (despite my frequent and annoying reminders) to buy his robitussin dm
he coughed like crazy
sooooo he's going
he isn't happy but oh well
meanwhile we're to get snow
well duh 'tis the season
it IS winter.......what better time to GET snow right?
it's also 12 degrees out
i have a ton of stuff to do after goofing off for a bit reading 'the lovely bones'
i couldn't put it down!
and i am not a fiction reader, but this hooked me good, i got it used for 2.34..........
now as to the snow........we're to get about 6''
now that is starting to be SNOW
and i have a ton to do but first i desperately need a shower...in this weather i can't take one daily, as i would dry up and blow away (even with my homemade soap) but i have to take one today
i dreamt about it!
i also dreamt i was naked walking around trying to hide my bits and pieces........ and i had to walk out of a crowded house (i was using someone else's shower in the dream)
that most likely is cause i got the cable guy coming and a stranger will be in the house
meanwhile i would just like to climb back into bed with the cats where it's warm
oye
anyone else feel that way?

the mouse in the attic

kept me up last night
chewing and chewing and chewing
now i know that the mouse needs a warm home too
with food and safe from ducks intent on making meals of them
but my attic?
all night long?
couldn't the mouse find a home in the woods out back, i see them running across the drive to get there
couldn't the mouse find a place in the pile of brush and branches?
home to chipmunks and such?
after all it is a vast rodent apartment complex
what food is there in the attic?

i need to stop being up all night with the stove and the mice

it's snowing

bernie was on a road call last night to philly and this morning after he'd gone down to his base, had to come back up here to a road call not even 5 minutes from home...just on the other side of town
and it's still snowing
he's pretty sick still i think broncitus
we don't have the new insurance cards so i can't make an appointment for him yet
he keeps telling me that the person isn't in that knows about it
i am almost ready to call myself
just for the number cause i can download them online

amelia caught her first mouse yesterday, and killed it!!!
yeah amelia!!!
apparently prudence had caught one sunday
bernie told me about it when i told him about amelia
and she carried it outside IN HER MOUTH to the duck pen to eat
have i told you all how much i love my ducks!
they are the best dogs in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

today after ducks and dishes, i need to start to take down the tree
little christmas was yesterday so it's officially all over
i am going to miss the lights in the windows though
the lights are my very favorite part of the holidays even though really i dislike the holidays
(this year wasn't too bad as these things go)

i hope you folks all had a good time
and are all cozy in your houses
til next time

weird dreams again

this time i dreamt of my dad, this was a really weird dream cause i dreamt that i was in his house (but it was up here) and that i was trying to get him to come up to wait out a bad storm..... that had already started.
it was so weird on so many levels
first off dad's dead
been dead for YEARS more then a decade
in the dream some woman named 'lee' called me and started yelling at me about my dad.....
again dad is dead but in the dream 'lee' was dad's new girlfriend ( i was awake in the dream that mom is dead) and bernie and i were involved in stuff that it's been a while since we've done......but he had to leave to go down to jersey (he also works up here now) to work!
i kept telling dad, 'come up here it's safe here, we got enough of everything........ down there is flooding and it's not safe.........'
it woke me up at 3am
now it's after 5am and i think i got the stove to the point where i can go back up

bernie has i think now got broncitus
i have his plague but seem to be sort of keeping it at bay a little
i am coughing a lot though and achy

i also have to remember to clear out my computer table as in less then 6 days i get new service
it's over a week and verizon still hasn't called back!
other then that it's pretty quiet
the new neighbors are pretty quiet too
let's hope that continues
and let's hope it isn't because they are dumping out back over my fence

the other news is that i think i got prudence about over the brood, now lilli is pissy but that is from the last of the molt
or something
she hates mommy lately, (i did wings on her, so that settled her a bit...but just a bit)

and i am still wondering about that dream..................

well into the first few days of the PLAGUE

i want to thank bernie for so thoughtfully sharing this with me.
after i was just sick about two weeks ago.
and for being in a grumpy mood along with it

this one is worst then the last one
a bernie plague is nothing to screw around with, so i am going to hope for NO asthmatic bronchitis.
and this is all with the weather warming UP!
yup up into the 50's yesterday, but raw so still with the woodstove

now we got HUGE news.....
new neighbors
in jackass' old house
we'll reserve judgement at the moment
parking their truck with the headlights facing down our entire house didn't endear them to us........
but later they parked normally
they were pretty quiet in spite of moving in (all night new years eve)
we'll see
all i ask is leave us alone......don't dump over our fence, don't screw around with our trees
and don't be annoyingly loud
now if they want to garden and keep chickens and ducks........well that would be a miracle and will make us remove the st joseph that is still buried facing that house ( we weren't taking any chances)
bernie's comment 'i hope they realize that she's still got the keys to that house, and they change the locks'
oh man we watched her 'replace' the brand new appliances that her father put in with her old crap ones several times.......
she'd come and take a fridge leaving an old one
next thing, the 'contractor' cousin would take her old one and bring a brand new one
fridge
stove
washer
dryer
water heater
stove
(yup two that we saw)
freezer
must be nice huh?

and in a tiny bit of fiber news, i got a few 'blocking' matts cleverly disguised as 'inter-locking exercise matts' 6 of them for 19.99 at kmart, in a solid gray
i got them for me, some tarps and weather proofing plastic for the ducks,  along with workboots (FINALLY) for bernie.
and i got a book
i am partly through this book and i can tell you.....i am not the only insane animal person around
it's called 'enslaved by ducks'
and their FIRST DUCK IS A FEMALE MUSCOVY!!!!!!!!
oh yeah they're hooked
big time
hahahahaahahahaahaha
ok now chicklets i gotta go...
my pile of tissues is getting huge and the woodstove needs another log
i am falling over too
(and i just got up.......damn this plague)