WARNING picture heavy, books, purple bean flowers & VIDEO

if blogger will allow me a video of the chickens

now let's see where we are- chickens..... and the sweet peppers that i canned the other day. then we have the bush beans see the pretty flowers!!! pink and purple right now..... other colors to follow- the variegated round leaves are nasturtium --- then there are the pole beans starting up the trellis, then there are the second half ( i think) of the books from the book sale with thaddeaus inspecting them for quality.. oye---now i can't find a place to load video on this blog so i am going to post this and see what i can do about the video

mosquitos got me good

we put the ac on about 3am, it was really hot and thaddeaus had decided he didn't want to sleep on my pillow anymore

bernie finally got a bit more sleep
(he thinks he didn't sleep but he snored all night.....how do i know?? well damn I DIDN'T SLEEP cause of his SNORING)
when i got up this morning i was all bitten up
even my face ( showered before bed and no sunscreen reapplied)
i am very sick of this
it' seems that they come in through the AC somehow and then when it's rainy out they are much worse then when it's dry
hot and humid makes them bite me

yesterday i read memiors of a geisha, i started it in the morning and finished it yesterday......
i really need to lock up my books
weather like this makes me stick my nose in a book and once i do....i don't seem to take it out until i'm finished with that book
i'm a very fast reader but still.......i got work to do and no time to stick my nose in a book on a rainy gloomy overcast day (which is of course the perfect day for summer reading)

oye

today i need to put all the chickens out.......
and do gardening work
and then do the living room, i have some boxes in there that need to go out to the garden for mulching under beds
i also need to get to the post office......... but will most likely send bernie
i need to get ready for ducklings!!! they ship tuesday i believe!!!
6 ducklings is going to be a lot easier then the 10 i had last time..........i just hope i only have one drake........i really don't want to have to send any up the hill
anyway
today looks sunny....... (i can see some sun out back on the tree leaves........i need to take the camera with me i suppose, i owe you folks a ton of photos)

btw, i am thinking of calling the little blue easter budgie 'emma'
i still need a name for the lemon colored one....(don't think i didn't think of lemon but she bites already- i didn't want to sour her)

i really should not have taken yesterday off to read again...... i am behind to begin with, now i am even more behind..........oye

ok well i'm off
i have to start my day.....
you all have a nice day today, and i hope it's not too hot or cold where you all are

stock making for catherine

ok normally i start with a stewing hen, if you buy one it may be called a hen or a stewing fowl
or a 'fowl for stewing' or fowl for fricassee

i try to get a big one 6-7 pounds at least
if you are using carcuss, it's a bit different so i'll start with fowl and end with carcuss

i use a 20 or 25 quart stock pot
fill it about 3/4 of the way up with cold water
i add a carrot or two, an onion ( a BIG ONE) two stalks of celery
and about 4 garlic cloves....try to make sure they are BIG ones as well
it they are tiny, i may use the whole head
a bit of freshly ground pepper corns
some fresh italian parsley (dried if you don't have fresh)
sometimes dill..not much though

add your chicken and a bit of kosher salt and set it to simmer
i skim off the foamy protein and feed that to the cats
i simmer for at least 3 hours.....but i prefer 5 or 6
and i add water as needed

when it's done i set it in the cold......either on the deck (during the winter-during the day)
or in the fridge
i do sometimes defat it
but my dad said always keep some of the fat and he was right as there are soluble vitamins in it

i either can or freeze it

you can puree the veggies with some of the broth for a 'cream' soup
i pick over the chicken well as the meat makes the BEST salad and sandwitches

now for some stocks i will roast the veggies ahead and then put them in and do the stock that way

as to a carcuss
you can brown them first, sometimes i do put the carcuss back in the roasting pan and brown them then deglaze them with water
sometimes i just toss it in the water as if it was a fresh whole fowl

it all depends on what i have on hand and what i have time for

some times i will simmer off the stock when it's done until it condenses and i will can that
or use that condensed stock with saute'd mushrooms as a concentrate.......canning it in 4oz jars for soups and sauces and gravies

does this help?

some folks add a teaspoon of vinegar to the stock as it's simmering to get some of the calcium out of the bones
you can do that.....it wont' taste any different

usually 3 quarts make a supper soup for us
the basic stock can be used for almost anything after..... all sorts of soups and such

is it to rain........or isn't it?

that is the question (to paraphrase the bard)
it's sort of darkish, and it's after 8am
yesterday was a sort of quiet day,
chickens (henrietta declined to go out) however dulcette happily was running around with the others
ducks (lilli got multiple baths)
dishes
gardening -i put tin foil squares around the squash plants and one around a bush bean to see if that made a difference and now i have to tie up the 'bush' beans as they apparently didn't get the memo that they were supposed to be BUSH beans.....not semi runners
pantry organizing..... oye
i took something like 12 boxes of pasta down to the freezer..this is the new stock that i got for .67 a pound ( i would have preferred 37 a pound but what can you do)
i ordered co2 absorbers to put the new pasta up in canning jars.......eventually i will get mylar bags to put it all up with.
i also make sausage sandwitches for supper that i really really REALLY liked...... with fresh onions and dried sweet peppers.....(love them dried sweet peppers you know...... i use them all the time)

i have pork chops for tonight...... but i am also going to hard boil some eggs i think....

bernie took the old gauge off my canner, as it's registering 5 pounds just sitting on the desk.... no good
there is a new one that will take it's place and that one registers 0 so that's good

canning season is off to a very delayed start due to my gauge but i am determined so it will be much better then last years almost none exhistant
and i have two turkey in the freezer i am going to roast, and process
that will give me stock as well for the canner..... loves me some stock in the canner
loves me some stock on the SHELVES
the more stock the more secure i feel...... i don't know why
but winter means a lot of soup around here so i like a LOT of stock in the pantry.
i used to do a stewing chicken monthly, for the 5 gallons of stock i go through a month during the winter (stock is not just for soup anymore, it's the basis for gravy and sauces too)
anyway, stock is coming up too

now in bean news!!!!!! i got a FLOWER and it's PURPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
shouldn't be long now huh?
i also found my BT so that will be mixed up for the weekly spay on the cucubits
the cucumbers don't looks as vigorous as i would have liked so they will be getting a mulch of compost and manure from the chickens

and the new brussels sprout plants will be transplanted to larger pots prior to going into the garden
i have to start new zukes and patty pans in the house as well.... to plant out in case of vine borer invasion
i have spaghetti squash out there and two patty pan, along with a few butternut plus a climbing zuchinni
i didn't put a pumpkin in (next year pumpkin and spaghetti, pattypan, ***i want to get an orange pattypan*** and assorted sweet squashes)
i am going to replant more bush beans and some more squash later in the season

i also need to get the fridge cleaned out
and the bathroom plus the living room and bedroom oye

i am not getting there

has anyone noticed that?

ok i am going now
cause i am distracted

the life of fawn

our oldest cat fawn who is also the great gramma to our other two cats, thaddeaus and calpurrnia, has been with us for 5 years now.....
she was 5 when she came
the first 5 years of her life were vastly different from what these past 5 have been

i wonder if the past 5 have made up for the first?

she was born in a cage, and except for a few instances.........lived all her first 5 years in a cage.
well cared for, cleaned, fed, brushed......but in a cage.
she went from the cattery cage to the carrier
from the carrier to the show cage, or the breeding cage, or the queening cage
then she came here

now the reason i have these cats is because of her.
i saw her face online

it was love at first site

she lives here now

now her days are filled with her grandchildren, with birds, and bugs and mice (she likes to eat them when she catches them)
with dust and dirt on the floors
feathers on her nose
sprawling among the african violets on my craft desk behind my drafting table while i draw
or 'sharing' my drafting stool with me.
she lols around on the cat tree, sleep with me on the bed
follows everyone around the house
and gets hugs and kisses and pets and rubs almost constantly
but it took us 5 long years to get to this point where fawn is a normal cat

i was thinking about her this morning, as i got up and there she was....laying on the side of the bed waiting for me to open my eyes.

i love you so much fawnie, and i am so lucky that you are you, that because of your sacrifice we have thaddeaus and calpurrnia, and now.....you
to which fawn replys......

'is there fancy feast'?

COULD there be fancy feast???

hahahahahaha

then she runs off to play with thaddeaus

the last two ducks pictures side by side

5 am --- we meet again

bernie had a very restless leg night
he kicked me
he kicked the cats
he kicked himself

i didn't sleep
he did sorta

so i am up
i was actually up before 5am but there you go

now over the weekend between being sick and the faucet explosion, we also managed two nice stock up shopping trips
so today is mushroom drying
and sweet pepper roasting and canning.........
i am so excited about canning season starting
i do have to do more of an inventory and i have to clean out the canning pantries in the cellar
that will be in between the getting ready for colleen stuff

we also put dulcette in with the other chickens overnight
i am hoping that they will not fight this morning.......... i hope
cause it would sure help me out if they would behave

i need a good sale on coffee....... the small cans for like 1.79 would be good...... 1.35 would be better but i will stock at 1.79
the BIG cans at 4-5 would be good too.......i would also stock on them....... 12 of them would last me the year until a harvest is good for coffee

i am also going to be cleaning the freezer soon, all frost damaged stuff is going to become animal food.
and i am going to order new vacuum sealer bags.
frozen veggies that are freezer burnt will be chicken and duck treats during hot weather
all the meat will be canned as cat food
meanwhile the weather here is very hot
very humid
lots of rain
i hope the garden is happy
oye
i broke down and picked up organic plant fertilizer for veggies due to all the rain
i am thinking that the soil will be leaching bad so i need to add
i also need some bone meal and cat hair to persuade some small rodents that they are not welcome.
more of my brussel sprouts ..........sprouted
now i want to move them on to bigger pots before putting them out in the garden
oye
meanwhile i am still recovering not only from my fall in april but from what appears to be a bad bout of IBS
which means i am not eating right (yup that is very true)
again with the oye

ok now with the list for today
dishes,
ducks and chickens (naturally)
fertilize the garden
wash (AGAIN as bernie heaped dirty stuff on top of the clean ones) the dehydrator trays
dry the mushrooms
roast and peel the peppers (and i dry and powder the peels.....add the powder to soups and stews and salad dressings and breads, and pilaf and meat loaf......and and and........ well you get the picture)
can the peppers
woohoo!!!
i still need to make the inventory needed and inventory have chart
i think i need like 3 cases of pints for the sweet pepper sauce........we do eat a lot of it
so i can make it in batches i suppose
but i would sooooooo like to get a bushel of sweet red peppers and half a bushel each of orange and yellow

i told bernie we need to still do the cold frame...slowly but it needs to be finished by september
even if i have to buy one board a week to do it
that will give us winter salads and spinach
hopefully we will also have brussel sprouts......(this will be the 4th time i try and grow them damn things i hope this year to be sucessful)
between the canned tomatoes
frozen beans
fresh in the garden overwintered
and the cold cellar for potatoes we should be ok no?
i hope
i will try and dry carrots, and eggplants and zucs like i usually do
i am going to see about drying 100 # of potatos this winter, 50 of yukons and 50 of russets
some of my dried russets seem to have gone bad, i think because it was pretty humid when i dried them ( early summer- to save the bag) but they will go on the compost so it won't be a total loss...
i have a few jars of flat sour beans to go there too...... or to the chickens if they want them
i am not sure if those beans are actually flat sour or if they are just bad cause the neighbor had given them to me (they laid around in a bag on her kitchen floor for a week...and they smoke like crazy there)
i canned the ones not molded

i think that is pretty much it today, except some time today i need to get change of a 20.......
oh man that means i have to go out

have i mentioned i hate to go to town
no????????????????
hahahaha
oye
ttyl

it's terrible humid out.....and hot and raining and generally rain forest-ish

and we got the adaptor so i think the dishwasher will be ok
we also did some stocking up... dish soap etc..
i feel better when we have the pantry stocked for a year.....it just makes me more secure
i got sweet peppers, so i am going to roast and can them
i got peaches.....i want peach grilling sauce, so i will can that too
meanwhile i am trying to cool off
i got the AC blasting trying to dry the place out
oye
bernie is going to grill chicken..... smart of him as i am pissy now from hearing him bitch and the heat
i am also a lovely shade of aubergine from the heat

however i think i can go on in the kitchen shortly......so the sooner i get going the happier i will be
in a while i am also going to check on what could be drowned chickens...(the back of their pen should be dry) and some more beans i hope popped up.
i know that the cuc's are about tall enough to train to the trellis, as are the beans

oye
anyway, it would appear i have a faucet AND the dishwasher again........ maybe after i feed bernie he won't be the beast from hell either?
oye again

new faucet

and here it is....... we had an emergency yesterday, i was sick most of the day (IBS) and had gone out on the deck to try and warm up with my wool hat on my head (it was 80 degrees) when i heard the smoke alarm go off. now before i'd gone out i hooked up the dishwasher to do a load of canning jars..... i went into the kitchen and saw a FOUNTAIN of hot water spewing out of where the faucet used to be!.....not to mention the entire kitchen flooded....i couldn't get the smoke alarm off.. i couldn't get bernie is
oh man
well i did get the water off and got a bit burnt...
finally got bernie in, he took the battery out of the alarm and then he got pissed...... and more pissed and more pissed...... we got the new faucet.... naturally he didn't like it... cause i told him i wanted a single lever....he told me that was stupid.  I DID NOT HIT HIM, but boy did i come close.  after all it's MY kitchen and i spend the most time in it......not to mention that i do most of the cooking, all of the canning, freezing and preserving, and most of the dishes etc.
well it's in...... but not after a million tantrums on his part.
i don't have a hook up for the dishwasher now.... and i don't have the bottom part of the faucet either...... but i have sink water and a sprayer that works
(my old sprayer kept breaking and he wouldn't replace it)
 meanwhile i was at shoprite for the ronzoni sale..... .67 a pound.....i got i think 30 pounds, which should do me until the next 67 cent sale.......
unfortunately the pastina wasn't on sale.... but at least the angel hair WAS.......
i also got some expensive sweet peppers to roast peel and can...... red, yellow and orange......i think i'll do them in layers
now today i have a massive sinus headache..... but i think if i can get it to drain, i'll be ok
i do need to finish the kitchen .....(excuse me while i have manical hysterical tinged bitter laughter..... i am to the point that i am thinking i have to do the kitchen myself)

right now however, bernie seems to be taking birds out.....
i am going to have another cuppa and see if i can feel a bit better.....
then i will get dressed...... go back to home depot and try to get an adaptor for the hookup
and finish the kitchen

bernie's doppledanger

after i wrote what was supposed to be todays only post, i heard the front door open, and bernie come in, walk upstairs and close the bathroom door.
the cats heard it to.....
i went to talk to him
the bathroom door was open
(the cats followed me but didn't go up)
i called him
no answer
i looked out the window
no bernie truck

when he finally got home i asked him if he really really REALLY wanted to get home and he said yes......then i said, 'did you have to pee' and he said YES REALLY BAD
hahahaha
oye
life is never dull around here

shhhh this is really friday but it's saturday's post

fair enough?

today was dulcette's day in the outside pen.... meanwhile i had 5 very annoyed chickens in the house.. bouncing out of the house pen and running all over the basement
tomorrow the chickens will all get together.....and who ever survives will be our chickens
(JUST KIDDING no one will die, i hope...! ......we'll referee them so no blood will be drawn but they have to reestablish pecking order)
ok today i got part of the kitchen done.... i would stand and work for 10 minutes then sit for 20 .....it seemed to work ok
i also ordered some art supplies.... some of the paint i still needed, a brush.. odds and ends
what else?
paid bills......
washed two dirty duckies...... and hosed down a drake......(his libido was a bit, ahem... warm shall we say.... i cooled his ass off, literally......... hahahaha oye)

since the kitchen is now offically pulled completely apart...... we are having pizza.... the dishes are all cleaned but the kitchen is all apart
(not that i have COUNTER TOPS OR ANYTHING)

i got evidence from behind the dehydrator that we had mouse dances......
hmm

something needs to be done with this house and this kitchen NOW

ok let's see what else........ i am still popping handfuls of vitamin d
i never seem to get my levels up, they have tested me over the years and even if i take extra i'm ususally really low on it
so i figured no matter what i took it wouldn't hurt
as even when they did the 50,000 units i tested low after
maybe it's helping the tiredness?
although i could go right up to sleep NOW

ok since i typed that i realized.....i really can't keep my eyeballs open
sooooooooo night all
i will try and update you folks tomorrow afternoon

i swear i have nothing to write about! let's see if that stops me at all?

i boiled a dozen pullet eggs last night, for egg salad. bernie peeled and mashed them while i took my shower. we had enough egg salad for a sandwitch for me, and two for him plus a bit left over. i am so glad that the pullet eggs are getting bigger, as normally 6 of my chicken eggs will give us that plus lunches

to continue on with the chicken theme, i tried to see if dulcette and colette would get on....... nope they fought.......so i am going to have to figure this out again......
oye
meanwhile poor dulcette is by herself and i think a bit lonely.....she's never been away from her sister and now her sister henrietta wants to kill her
meanwhile the pullets are giving me 4 eggs a day...thank goodness, as i was really needing eggs
i got confirmation that the ducklings are being set for me.........so they will be coming soon, now i don't know if their eggs are just starting to set or they are setting X amount of eggs a day so then out of the X amount .....six have my name on them.......?
but either way i hope for 5 ducks and a drake.
that is perfect for what i need
i am so sorry that i gave away two ducks from lilli and phoebe's nest....the people didn't take care of them , and one supposedly flew away (i asked if they wanted me to come up and clip one wing) and the other died supposedly the next day...meanwhile when i asked the wife how they were she told me 'fine'
so now i'll never trust her or them again

in budgie news.... we are slated to move them closer together, we were to have done that over the weekend and did NOT.
bernie continues to be home after 9 so nothing is really getting done....... sorta.... if he would get home at a more normal time .......even 7pm, we could get 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there.....it would all add up you know

now today i know, i SHOULD go and get the shower curtains for the bathroom, and one or two other little things i need for colleen........(we also have mold on the bathroom ceiling and i really need to scrape, sand and prime that with mildew resistant stuff)

i been trying to take extra vitamin d lately..... i am hoping that will give me a bit more energy. i always test way too low on vitamin d..... and since it's not actually a vitamin but a pre-hormone, i figured i better at least try and help it out a bit
my legs are hurting lately too..... bad.
i am actually hobbling around!
this getting old thing sucks i think....... so does the messed up insurance without diagnostics
huh?
so i can go to the doctor but can't get any of my tests done or the RX filled on the outcome of those tests...... cause i can't afford diagnostics!

and we'll take a sharp left into the garden ok?  i now have 18 pole beans up, i am hoping that the rest come up shortly. Stortino di Trento.(curved from Trent) Pole anellino is the one that is slower to be sprouting. even the climbing zucchini is up and started well...(i'll grow that on the fence)
i also put some wire fence sections in the cucumber bed, 'hinged' at the top with zip ties for a half ass trellis, but i think it will work... it's been a bit cooler so the garden is sort of suspended in slow motion right now. after the rain the other night however a had massive sprouting of the beans so maybe it's just i haven't seen some of the stuff break ground yet?
oh and i am feeding slugs to ducks and chickens....... yeah for ducks and chickens
here's hoping for a good harvest this year......
and here is me trying to figure out the absolute minimum i need in sweet red peppers to do the canning for the winter....i am thinking at least 80 of them, 40 just to make the roasted sweet red pepper sauce.
oye
i better start trying to either find a good deal on them or start buying two or three a week at horrible prices.... even though i got pepper plants in........i am thinking they won't do much this year.. NEXT year i am going to do an entire bed of nothing but peppers.....(and maybe also that 56 foot wall with peppers)
i use peppers for drying, and canning in that roasted sweet pepper sauce, fresh eatting, and stuffing......plus the tapenade (with eggplant)

you know....... the more i think about it....the more i realize that if we put a bed in down that section of privacy fence.... two feet wide.. i most likely CAN get enough peppers next year IF there is enough sun there)... and as we rotate crops that can give me enough room for broccoli for the freezer OR green beans or whatever....... IF there is enough sunlight there.......hmmmmm
there are a few trees grew up there...... a couple sumac and a couple of maples... we can cut most of them down........ one has my clothes line on it but we could always put up a pole or just top that tree off a few feet above my clothes line...
fence the rest in against the ground hog and chickens........... hmmmm

ok well as visions of gardening dance in my head.....i will leave you all to your thoughts this friday
me, i have to start my day.....i should go to the PO and then to town....
but i most likely won't..instead i may just put the birds out and then do the kitchen or something

wow for someone with nothing to say, i sure took a long time with it

and yesterday i read

all day

gee i really AM lazy

it was dark and overcast and rainy, i put out poor little dulcette all by herself
and then came in and read an entire marion zimmer bradley book (one of her avalon series) then started on 'the legend of sleepy hollow and other tales' by washington irving...illustrated by ARTHUR RACKHAM (for 3BUCKS) i love washington irving.......and i adore sleep hollow
as well as the entire tarrytown area.......that's where rhinebeck is every fall.
that whole area ( well also pretty much all of rural new york state) sings to my soul.....
i could so well imagine having lived there in a former live about 200 or more years ago
and my mother's side of the family had farms upstate........ how i wish i did as well

so now today, if i prove to be awake.....which may not be as i got up at 8am surrounded by furry bodies
i should do chickens, then clean house
hahahah that is so not getting done
i can't seem to really get anywhere

i had a slight 'discussion' with bernie...... he's got these 5 fleets....so he runs AFTER work to one or another...... and doesn't get home until after 9....our home life is not functioning well because of this
and he is the walking dead most of the time
i fear for his health

in garden sorta news, i got my order from heirloom arces but not after going through paypal and threatening them, they shipped the very next day
these seeds better be good
i won't ever use them again though, i'll use holmes or fedco, pinetree, baker creek rare seeds .........anyone else but heirloom acres
i am going to sucession plant the green beans and put in the turkey gizzards maybe on the deck as i want to save seeds from them (turkey gizzard or turkey craw beans are fantastic green beans, i haven't tried them dried yet but as snaps they are wonderful.... they are an old heirloom variety, i recommend them and the white seeded marvel of venice as two fantastic varieties that are productive, taste wonderful and are open pollinated
the curved green pole beans i put in haven't broken ground yet but the marvel of venice are all up i think
i may have to replant them curved beans...

i would love to have a garden that is about 100' by 150' and do rows, cause i would love to have a hundred or two hundred feet of 'green' beans. as well as space for all the tomatoes, and peppers etc i would love to grow
meanwhile i keep making dirt and trying to raise the beds out back, while plotting to fence down the line (over 300 feet on one side) to put in alternating years worth of stuff...hahahaha
at least 100 feet of the line should be planted to green beans next year don't you think... then maybe peppers the year after?
i think that the current back garden eventually should be a winter garden and put the summer garden more to the front of the house.....bernie may not agree

ok i have to start my day, as i am sitting here in my sleep shirt and still on my first cup of coffee
i am so damn behind that i am beginning to really think bernie is right....i must be lazy

ok ttyl

i am so tired lately

and not getting nearly as much done as i need to be.
i don't know if it is the weather changes or if it's something going south in my old lady body....or lack of sleep

anyway, today i woke up at 5am and stayed in bed with the cats reading a while.......we'll see how the day goes today

yesterday i got 4 pullet eggs, i had to wait a LONG time for fudgie to lay her egg....fudgie is truly a nervous chicken......she is chicken little i think. she darts here and there.... colette is a most satisfying chicken, she is the smallest, but she is the epitome of a happy busy chicken, industrious, busily scratching for tiny bugs and seeds that will be turned into eggs. not much bothers her, she is agreeable, and is the first to be picked up .... i really like that chicken
babette and goldie are loud...... they are i suppose average as chickens go

in duck news, we got a confirmation in the mail of the ducklings i ordered, they will be setting the eggs they said
i think that they should be here by at least when colleen gets here i hope, it takes 35 days to hatch muscovy and then whatever shipping is... 2 days?

i sat in the half finished garden yesterday, watching the chickens and trying to figure out what bed needs to be put in next.......along with what would be planted next, and i realized that if i am to settle on two years worth of harvest with rotating crops i need not only more space, but a lot of help from mother nature
oye
i think the next beds will be the cold frames, so i know that i have them  when i need them

i am hoping for one more open bed in time for late cabbage and some turnips and such........i hope
anyway, that's today

my dream house.....what i wouldn't do for this house

http://www.earlynewenglandhomes.com/pages/TourINDEXgallery.html
oh my
i would build the cape, with the kitchen wing and attach a studio to the end.....
one of the pictures in the gallery shows a covered screened porch that leads to the garage, i would add that too
i would paint it a purpley red almost a maroon red, with self colored trim and a dark reddish brown roof......or maybe just a dark brown with the same color roof.....
i would love it on 10 acres.....with a barn to match

oh man........ i would LOVE this house.....
i would never leave it...(and i rarely go out now....i would never go out......wow)

it's got a nice sized kitchen and the bathroom nearest the back stairs i would convert into a pantry room (keep the plumbing roughed in) the other bathroom i would put a washer/dryer in..... there seems to be enough room
i love that house
oye

part two is going to wait

cause i misplaced the camera
sorry about that

we had a decent weekend, i hope all you folks did too
we did have a bad storm yesterday afternoon, for about 45 minutes......bernie missed it as he was in the shower
the chickens hid
the ducks lamented

it cooled everything off

later when it was a bit dryer, we went out to bring in the chickens, we put the actual trellis netting on the wood framing so the latest bed is finished, tonight i will plant out the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers that have been waiting
and i believe also a butternut or three, and some patty pan
i want a spaghetti squash or two as well

now part of todays work is putting up cucumber thingies......i think i am going to make sorta ladders for them to grow on sections of fencing and zip tied tops
i also have to continue on the kitchen, i am washing my stash of canning rings, and setting up the dehydrator ( i have an excalibur 9 shelf, in case anyone wants to know, i also have an excalibur 5 shelf..... and a round american harvester...... go for the excalibur 9 shelf if you possibly can)
there weren't any vidalia onions cheap this year like normally...... i normally get about 5 of the 'ten' pound boxes for 4.99 a box (boxes usually weight about 12-14 pounds) and i slice and dry ALL of them...do it outside...trust me, do dried onions OUTSIDE or you will be very sorry.
so i don't have the dried vidalias on the shelf this year yet...... i will be drying things like celery, peppers ( love dried sweet peppers, cut them in recipe sizes first- diced for soups, stews, pilafs, sauces and dips....sliced for other uses but mainly i dice them..they dry faster that way too)
btw, i love dried peach slices i eat them like candy
i also dry cabbage sliced, asparagus ends which are powdered for soup, broccoli stalks also powdered for adding to EVERYTHING, potato slices, leek slices, garlic ( powdered it makes garlic powder !!! but wear gloves to handle this much garlic or it'll burn your hands)
i have dried and love to use, zucchini slices, eggplant chunks, mushroom slices and dices, lemon, lime and orange slices ( get them when their cheap and slice thin and dry)
i dry small italian drying tomatoes and also some cherry and paste tomatos
dried foods save space, and electricity not to mention the harvest is ready
i dry alot in dices so that i add a variety to soups (yes i dry beans too, and i tried cauliflower, but it's only good for soups)
i like carrot slices dried btw, to add to soup too
and if the kids (or your partner) won't eat their veggies.... grind the dried ones up and add them to stuff for poultry
or bread crumb coatings
or meat loaf
add them also to stews and pilafs....
they won't realize it.............. and bernie loves it....never fails when i do that he tells me it's soooooooooo very good and eats two or three or more plates
SHHHHHHH that's our secret right?
ok and after they are dried....... store in air tight
i use canning jars, and i use that vacuum sealing jar attachment thingie.... i also use the used canning lids that i save, washed and dried for the vacuum sealing thingie
and try to pick a less humid day to pull the dried stuff out of the dehydrator...
you know how we always get the bunch of celery and half goes bad? dice it into the dehydrator and you've saved it

so that is what i have doing today
i have a few books on drying foods, including drying full meals for reconsituting later.... mostly for hiking etc.....
i haven't done that yet
i would like to have a couple of dried meals on the shelf for emergencies
one of my friends, kacey down in texas does 'instant soup' dried and powdered veggies and even tiny diced cooked and dried meats! she vacuum seals them in the vacuum bags though.... she's told me several times how to do it and i can't remember if she uses commerical bullion or dried her own stock

let's see..... what else?
well i should deal with the mildew problem on the ceiling of the bathroom
oye
and on the front door
oye
but right now i am going to finish my coffee, finish getting dressed and then get going on my day
i hope you all have had a restful and productive weekend..
and i hope you all have a lot of fun today

books from the book sale part one

now there is another whole box but this is out of the first box, (minus bernie's books, dvd's and vhs tapes)
there are some amazing prizes here, the 'real good food' by unger, i highly recommend, it's a fantastic book, no nonsense in the battery de cusine (the tools of the chef- loosely translated) and in what is real food on a serious budget
that corned beef hash thing has saved our poor broke sorry asses more times then i care to admit
and substitue chopped ham, onions and cheddar cheese in with the white sauce and the potatoes and you (for a bit more money) can eat really well
now i adore washington irving and of course dickens.....how could i resist?
and a cookbook from 1924....... WITH a hand writen recipe added.......
that picnic book is something i been wanting to have around which i didn't know exhisted
if i hadn't found it i may have had to make one for myself
larousse gastronomique is of course the prize of the day as i have wanted that book for forever and could NOT afford it
and that book despereaux, well i already started reading it and it's charming

memorias of a geisha was the last book evelyn (notthemomma) was reading when she passed away, she liked it and so i wanted to read it
and anyway i like history and i like biography so that's a no brainer ditto the shakespear book and queen anne

and country living....well if you know me, you don't have to ask
now tomorrow i have some others to post, i figured this was enough of a photo load for the day
meanwhile it's overcast, and threatening here
so we will spend a quiet day puttering around the house....maybe not doing that garden bed which i desperately need done but what can you do with weather this threatening
maybe it will cool off
?

PICTURE INTENSIVE ***WARNING

ok here we go.....phoebe is in terrible molt....she's miserable... she was not beating the crap out of lilli in this picture thank goodness but we have to keep them seperate now

also here are the the girls... minus dulcette of course who is still recovering..... her and henrietta are trying to kill each other........i have poultry woes you know

we picked up a 50# bag of duckling crumble today, and some new shavings for bedding i expect ducklings next week

colette refuses to stay in the night pen, she jumps out to be petted. she needs to stop that. as she can and WILL get hurt running around the basement

we got me deep woods off, as the bites are totally out of hand, i look like i have leprosy or something- i hate it and i hate the smell.

i scored big time at the book sale
Larousse Gastronomique for 10 BUCKS!!!! oh man! i got hemmingway's farewell to arms, madam Bovary, i got a book on picnic recipes, a country living book, a beatrix potter (with a padded hard cover...way cool)
i got memoirs of a geisha, a biography of shakespear, a few antique cookbooks, oh man i better take pictures tomorrow and post them for you all
all this for 56.00!! bernie got a few tapes and a few dvd's and some ww2 books.....

we were to have gone to vicki's sale but didn't get there
i did however get to kmart and got the sheets, pillows, bathmat, etc that i needed for colleen's visit. i also got that deep woods off.....and the light bulbs for the hood over the stove
oye
meanwhile today only dulcette went out  and the others stayed in for a change........... the big news in the garden is that the second leaves of the cucumbers are out now
so i can't WAIT for my cuc's to come on......... here come kosher dills

po, feed store, library book sale......& midol for ducks?

bernie is off to the po for the mail while i am to be getting dressed for town.
he'll also go to the feed store
(we need shavings and duckling chow, as i did order ducklings, which ironically will be here by june 11 i think...... which was momma duck's duckling hatch date)

the annual library book sale is on and i would like to go there as well.
plus then vicki's house

tonight after the worst of the day's heat, we'll go to town again, this time for bug repellent for me, deep woods off. i am getting again bit up something terrible
we figured that last year and this year were the first two years i didn't use 'off' daily....... and i am a mess of bites........ so as much as we don't really want me to have more crap in my body...i have to use it
excessive amounts of garlic didn't work....apparently we have italian mosquitoes

in chicken news....dulcette continues to recover but also the feud between her and henrietta continues as well.
phoebe, poor thing is in a vile and totally crazed mood.....i will try and get a good picture of her in the full horror of her extreme molt....... this one was brought on by the heat/cold cycle we had
lilli is ok though
i wish there was midol for ducks...... seriously, she is a mess and totally upset.
she is so bad FALSTAFF is terrified of her.
that's bad
it takes a lot to terrify falstaff when there is a female around

meanwhile i am starting to do a lot around the house...bless my new balance tie shoes
i started washing rings for canning and putting them back on their strings
i toss them on the side of the sink and then do a mass wash up
next is the dehydrator
then the boards that are covering the bottom useless now broken cabinets.. (coffee ruined the boards..... don't ask..i HATE THIS KITCHEN)
*** you know, if i EVER got my dream house and dream kitchen......i think the shock would totally kill me***

so that is part of what i started yesterday, that and trying to fill the big planters with fresh soil on the deck ........
i want bernie to help me finish filling the next raised bed in the garden so i can put in some more eggplant and peppers and tomatoes ....maybe more beans or a squash or two
and then we start the fight against squash vine borers....
i would love to have spaghetti, zucchini, pattypan, and also pumpkin..... but the borers killed the vines and i don't think i got them fast enough so i got a real problem out there
i am planning on a trap and destroy approach this year......cause the bt while it sort of worked.......didn't work enough
now for next year, i think fresh beds....... fresh soil, and totally covered with insect cloth......
i may have to hand pollinate..
wonderful........ i have to assist plants to reproduce......
oye

now i know i owe you all pictures..... but that will have to be later.
i have to get a shower and some townie clothes on
so i will no doubt talk to you all later

i got more done in the garden

i got my pole beans in, and my swiss chard, plus got three eggplants and a pepper plant in that same bed.
weeded a bit more
dealt with chickens
apparently my pullets are trying to lay in dulcette's crate! they hop out of the night pen and run to the crate and lay! oh man
phoebe continues in the molt......it's a bad one poor little thing

i started a garden journal of sorts,
i decoupaged a bunch of fruits, veggie and flowers on the cover of a note book
i intend to fill it with sections like

1. veggie varieties for canning and freezing
2. what goes into the cold frame
3. rotation planning for the garden
4. fruits that will be added here and there (ie: eatable landscaping)
5. succession planting
6. deck gardens
7. saving my own seeds
8. the two year crop plan (cause it always seems to be two years between bumper crops)

this year i am hoping for cucumbers (pickles) and green beans (wax beans too) as a bumper crop that hopefully will last two years.
i am hoping that brussels sprouts, spinach, winter salad greens, cabbage and some root veggies will supplement that over the winter

this year also the blueberry bushes will go in the ground, they are still on the deck but they have BERRIES!!!!
i also planted a bit of pink begonias, the ones with the light green foliage. (and did dishes, took the ducks and chickens out.......etc..you know about lilli in the garden with me)

i have one big bed left right now to plant but i need more soil, as it is a tomato bed with a pole bean here and there as well.  maybe a squash too
damn i forgot to put the spaghetti squash in
i have vine borer issues (squash bugs in general) one of my friends said to also try wood stove ashes around the plants ....normally i use BT, which i may need to get again
i also should have gotten a floating row cover for them......... oye
every one else has zuk's out the wazzoo....... me i got issues
it's them damn bugs

ok for a while tonight the chickens were out......i fed colette a bug.....some sort of grub i found in my pepper plant.. took her a bit but she ate it
i really like colette, her and fudgie seem to be the friendliest of the new chickens.
babette and goldie are ok....... i think they may get friendlier as time goes on
they are all afraid of the hose cause i been misting them in this heat
i worry you know

my legs are a bit less painful today
i been wearing my GOOD new balance tie shoes out there
i couldn't wear my muck boots any more as they HURT bad
and i was having trouble walking
today i realized that i brought all the chickens up in 4 trips (two chickens on the first trip)
and i was ok....... a bit sore but not crying crippling burning screaming pain
with my muck boots i can do one or possibly two trips out
that's it
with the new balance i can go in and out (that is a bit of a haul too....... as it's up a hill)

now bernie just called he'll be home in about an hour
i need a shower
and to start supper
then i want to knit....... i really would like to settle in with that sock for jen
(depends on how late bernie really is)

so this is actually friday's post
i may update it a bit tomorrow evening but i am going to post it now
ok?

i still find myself looking for momma duck...... i think it's going to take a LONG while

BAD sellers of seeds

Heirloom Acres Seeds DO NOT USE THEM
it is unfortunate but they are terrible with shipping, terrible with customer service.
the ONLY way to get an order out of them is to turn them in to paypal or your CC company
(and if you are stupid enough to use them as i was, pay with either paypal or the cc....do not send a check or money order)

it's a shame as they have some great seeds
but the company is a nightmare to do business with

there ARE other heirloom seed companies i like, territorial, felcor, bakers creek rare seeds, heirloom seeds/victory seeds, southern seed exchange....... to name a few and ALL of them ship in a timely manner, plus understand customer service

i use seeds from italy/grow italian a LOT for the italian veggies i grew up on, i highly recommend these folks

now on to normal news.

i still miss momma duck really bad. here is the last picture i have of her.....she's setting her eggs on the nest in the little crate, which is where we moved her after she almost abandoned her eggs
i can't tell you all how very much i miss that very gentle soul. the ducks seems so incomplete without her.

today phoebe is got the molt bad bad, so as she beat the crap out of lilli, i took lilli with me to the garden while i planted pole beans and chard
 i put in my very favorite beans, 'marvel of venise' and a new to me bean called Stortino di Trento  which an interesting curved bean that i think we will like very much. i put in the Fordhook Giant swiss chard behind so that it will stay cooler (i hope as it's terribly hot out)
and a few climbing zuchinni seeds, later i will put in some marigolds, eggplant, peppers, a few radishes and a couple of carrots. maybe a cuc on the end again too
if these beds are half as productive as i hope they will be, i will be an extremely happy gardener.
lilli was wonderful company in the garden, eating slugs while i put up the trellis netting and planted the seeds....... making me take a break to pet her when she was upset that the chickens were in HER day pen.
when i told her it was time to go up to the house, she wagged her tail (it's a muscovy thing i think) and followed me out of the garden. she waited while i put the gate up, and then wandered in front of me up the hill to the house. i put her in the pond for a quick cooling off rinse
i am still amazed when they listen to me.... 'come on lilli, it's time to go' and here she comes ......actually they are all pretty good like that most of the time, even falstaff.
i did order 6 more white muscovy ducklings, which i will raise like i raised lilli and phoebe


today, bernie has a corporate inspection, the BOD and large investors are out to his fleets- he has 5 fleets now. tomorrow he has managers school....'it's ok to be the boss' is his first class.
he called me before, as i was out in the garden for a long time yesterday and had a touch of heat exhaustion. i was weeding and cutting the scapes off the garlic. feeding the chickens etc.
i was also planning todays planting


WARNING GRAPHIC PICTURES OF DULCETTE'S INJURY

dulcette, her injury is healing well but looks a bit gruesome. although she also looks a bit punk and a bit goth......... she's doing well. however she is still not out with the other chickens as henrietta tried to kill her
so she's in the house .......my poor girl. but she seems happy. half of her lovely wonderful red comb is gone
we had no choice as it was torn off her head and flapping which would have been her death with the other chickens.

now you all are caught up with me, really it's the overriding missing momma duck that's not allowing me to sleep (i haven't really slept since saturday) i took tylanol pm last night but didn't sleep anywhere near well... a hair better then without but not good
i keep asking myself why momma duck........ if i hadn't allowed her to nest...would she still be with us?
she was so sweet and trusting, although when we got her she was so very wild...... and now she's gone all gone..... and it's all so empty here without her