I have no artistic ability whatsoever, and I am amazed by those who do. Husband can draw quite well, and his mother painted landscapes. Our daughter also has some nice artistic abilities.
I don’t think Daughter really liked art projects very much in the early grades, but seemed to really like an art class she took as an elective in High School. One of her projects was to weave a basket. It seemed to start out ok, but just didn’t work out as she wanted it to, and thought she had failed the project. The art teacher, however, saw something more in her failed basket.
He noticed that instead of a basket she had created a lovely Flamenco dancer. You can see her head thrown back, with her orange hair, and the outlines of her body under her dress. Daughter was surprised I still had the dancer. It reminds me that lovely things can come out of what we think are failures.
What kind of art are you best at? What kind of art do you like to have around you and look at? When have you made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?
When I graduated from high school my parents gave me luggage as a graduation gift. Matching luggage. This was a few years before all black luggage became all the rage. Two suitcases, one over the shoulder tote and a make-up case (although very in-aptly name in my case, since I wore next to no make-up, even back then). I doubt my folks were predicting my eventual career in travel; back then luggage was a common gift at graduation or wedding – something you needed as you were launching yourself out into the world. My mother also bought me a sewing machine and a few lessons to go with it.
Obviously after all these years, none of that luggage has survived. I now have a rag-tag assortment of suitcases and bags, many of which I got as gifts from clients (leftovers from programs). Mostly black.
YA has purchased two suitcases since she started traveling for work – and black is apparently not the color or choice these days. Her big bag, which she uses the most, is a blue pattern thing with wheels that go in all directions, a handle and a plug in for charging her phone. Fancy dancy. I don’t have any problem with her suitcase EXCEPT when she gets home from a trip. She empties it out fast enough, but then she tends to roll it out into the hallway. Where it sits.
Now I’m not the fastest “put your bag back in the attic” gal, so I tend to be lenient. I also know that YA doesn’t tend to drop anything to attend to a request from her mother. But after the last trip, the suitcase sat in the hallway for two weeks and at least three requests to put it away. Being raised by the Queen of Passive/Aggressive, three days ago I pushed the suitcase right into the middle of YA’s doorway. It was in the attic within an hour.
Passive/Aggressive isn’t my favorite mode but sometimes it’s better than nagging. At least that’s what I’m telling myself at this point!
Do you prefer hard-sided or soft-sided luggage? Check or carry-on?
On the way home from Fawn-Doe-Rosa last week, YA and I decided to take a detour to go to the Dairy Queen in Osceola. While we were waiting to have our order handed to us, an SUV full of nuns turned into the parking lot. They pulled to the other side of the building so we didn’t get to see if they all got out of the car, but it was a funny sight.
Of course nuns can go to Dairy Queen if they wish, you just don’t think of soft-serve as a religious habit.
Have you seen anything that struck you as funny recently?
I have always considered myself fortunate to have a partner who believes that household chores and childcare are the responsibility of both adults in a relationship. I wash and dry the clothes. He folds it and puts it away. We both vacuum. I dust. He mows the lawn and runs the snow blower. I do household repairs. He walks the dog three times a day. I make the bed and change the sheets. We both cook and clean the kitchen. He unloads the dishwasher and I reload it. We do grocery shopping together. We both work in the garden and pull weeds. I clean up outside after the dog. He cleans the cat litter. We clean our own respective bathrooms.
I noticed just how much he does around the house since he had carpal tunnel surgery last Friday. He still has been able to walk the dog and unload the dishwasher, but he can only do most other things one handed until next week. He can do some kitchen tasks and cooking, but not as much as he wants. He feels as though he isn’t pulling his weight as he should. This makes him anxious and irritable. I try to reassure him that I don’t mind having to fold the laundry and clean the cat litter for a while. I sure don’t want him to do too much with his right hand until it is healed.
How did your parents divide up the labor at home? Have you had roommates or partners who didn’t do their fair share of tasks?
2 trips to Menards
2 trips to the hardware store
9 stones from the original “patio”
16 new stones
7 bags of sand
2 Carter women
9 hours of labor
2 rounds of ibuprofen
1 new patio big enough for our table AND chairs
Once again YA was the impetus behind this project. The initial little patio used the blocks that I had saved when we got our new sidewalk two years ago, but it wasn’t quite big enough to accommodate the chairs around the table.
And YA was very thorough. She insisted that we dig up the initial stones, lay down a layer of sand underneath everything and was scrupulous about making sure all the stones were level as we laid them down and then she spent considerable time sweeping sand into all the spaces between the stones.
Phew… hopefully no more major projects by ourselves this summer!
What do you like to have when you’re dining al fresco?
YA and I took a trek to Wisconsin last Friday to visit Fawn Doe Rosa. We go at least once a year but on Friday, we got a bucket list moment.
Just by the luck of the draw, we rounded the corner to the llama, mini horse and donkey paddocks to find a donkey mama on her side, just about to give birth. It took only about five more minutes and there was a baby donkey out and breathing. The staff said that the baby would probably stand in about 25 minutes. YA and I had animal food in hand, so we hung around feeding the various critters in that part of the park. The baby stood up almost exactly at the 25-minute mark. Both YA and I have seen an animal being born before (Miracle of Birth at the State Fair) but neither of us had actually seen a new baby take its first steps into the world. Amazing.
Even without seeing the new foal entering the world, it was a wonderful day at Fawn Doe Rosa. We even had a female peacock keep us company during our picnic lunch. We did try to give her some of the corn that we had in our animal food buckets, but I think she was hoping for something from our picnic basket.
There was a new design of sweatshirt in the gift shop. Why settle for the three FDR sweatshirts you already have at home when there is a new one!?!
I saw one field of peas that had been harvested, and I saw two fields that were pretty yellow. They got harvested and then hog manure was applied to them. Most likely the farmer will plant soybeans on it. (That’s about the only crop that can mature quickly enough when planting in July). Will the manure provide enough moisture to get the plants going? We shall wait and see.
The peas were pretty short and the farmers get paid by the ton for the harvested peas. Won’t be much profit there this year.
Fourth of July coming up and the corn has made knee high.
The short corn is knee high; the taller corn is up to my waist. The taller was planted May 5, then it rained for 10 days. The shorter stuff I planted May 18th.
I’ve heard a lot of farmers say the genetics for the seed has improved so much that 20 or 30 years ago, the crop never would’ve survived a drought like this. I know drought tolerance is something the dealer’s market in the seed, I just hadn’t really seen it like this.
I did have the soybeans sprayed. The fields are still pretty bare, but the weeds would have taken over, so they needed to be stopped if I wanted any hope for a crop.
I’ve been surprised at the quantity of the second crop of alfalfa that I’ve seen. No rain, and yet the yield was almost as good as first. The roots of alfalfa can be pretty deep. They’re finding water.
Weeds too; deep roots. I took some close-up photos of the corn leaves curling up compared with how it should look.
The agronomists say we’re having a lot of potassium deficiency, which makes the edges of the leaves turn yellow. The dry weather inhibits potassium uptake, and limits stalk strength, which could be an issue later this fall.
This week I hauled two loads of junk to the recycling center and two loads out to the scrap iron place.
I had two electric motors that are sold by the pound and the price was $.20 / lb for that, 5 pounds of copper at three dollars a pound, three old batteries totaling 58 pounds $0.10 / lb, and some bulk aluminum from a TV antenna, and some other odds and ends, That went for $0.15 / lb. I took out this old metal chopper box, which weighed 2120 lbs and they subtracted 250 pounds for the wood floor and beams under it which sounds reasonable. The price for scrap was down from the last time. It was $130 a ton which is better than the $90 something it was in December but not as good as the $200 something in March.
The farm is really shaping up. I’ve cleaned out a lot of random corners and I have a wagon full of stuff to put back when I’m done. I’m almost done with the ‘demo’ part of my shop remodeling; 99% of stuff is moved out, and what’s left to do is removing and moving some electrical wires. I’ve had an electrician out and we’ll be running a new buried line from the pole 300’ over to the shop. Currently the power goes overhead to an old fuse box in the old corn crib, which is the chicken pen now. Then it’s buried 200’ from there to the old shed and another old fuse box. And from there, buried to the new shop and another old fuse box. Old fuse boxes with the 60 Amp cartridge fuses in the block to pull out. I remember dad digging in the line between the two sheds. And I remember him somehow finding a break in the old line between crib and shed and splicing a wire back together. It’s time to abandon that line and upgrade.
I’ve got steel and lumber ordered for the ceiling, I’ve got some of the windows framed in and I finally got the hydraulic hoses replaced on the loader and added the new plumbing that I needed for the grapple. (It took several trips back to the John Deere dealer, but we got it!)
We had trees trimmed, and I got branches laying all over. Three maple trees that had a lot of dead wood in them. One tree I was worried about falling on the wellhouse, one I was worried about falling on some electric lines to the barn, and one tree in the front yard more dead than alive. It’s the swing tree so had to save that part of it. There are pictures of that tree from 50 years ago and the tree seems like it was the same size then.
The baby chicks and guineas are doing well. Here’s a picture of the big chickens too.
We gave Bailey a haircut the other day. She looks like a totally different dog. And we think she really likes it. She doesn’t have nearly so much hair to get cockleburs or burdocks stuck in. I think she just liked the attention. I kept her distracted and amused, while Kelly used scissors and trimmed her up. At one point she lay down on her back and almost went to sleep, so I think she was enjoying the attention.
Humphrey and Bailey sure do play well together; they have such a good time. Humphrey is twice as big as Bailey and he spins in circles and takes her whole head in his mouth, and she just lays there and waits for him to stop. Then she goes after him. It’s fun to watch them play.
Humphrey has three pillows in the house, one in the living room, one in the office, and one in our bedroom. Although in the bedroom, he alternates between the pillow on my side of the bed, or the floor on Kelly’s side of the bed, or sometimes at the foot of the bed. Ever have one of those nights you just can’t get comfortable?
I find it fascinating how he knows the subtleties of our schedule. If I get up and go to the bathroom, he doesn’t move, but it seems like if I put deodorant on, then he knows I’m going out. And he will be up and moving before I get to the bedroom door. Same thing if he’s lying in the living room. If I get up to go to the kitchen he doesn’t move, if I get up to go outside, he knows and he’s down the steps before me. What subtle clues is he picking up?
Remember back when you were dating? I was never very good at subtleties then.
CAN YOU TAKE A HINT? HOW ARE YOU AT GETTING SUBTLETY?
I realized yesterday morning watching our Cesky Terrier shake, tug, and try to destroy his various toys that he is a frustrated scent hunter who wants to find, shake, and kill vermin. His play was very serious. When he insists we tug with him, he tugs as if his life depends on it, with all the accompanying growls and snarls. I wished we lived closer to places that had barn hunts for Kyrill to use his scent skills and have fun working.
We have had terriers for about 35 years, and their one defining characteristic is their turning work into play, as well as games.
Kyrill has turned getting taken for a walk into a game. He sees the leash taken out, and immediately runs twice around the dining room table, evading all efforts to catch him, and then dives under a living room lamp table and waits for Husband to grab him by the collar, attach the leash and go for the walk. Sorting laundry is also a game, as he waits for any opportunity to steal a sock or bra and chew it up. He is on tiptoes the minute he hears the dryer or washer open, follows us, and creeps up stealthily as though the clothing is vermin.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how we have behaviorally reinforced these things. We are psychologists, you know, and we ought to know this. Terriers can outsmart anyone!
What animal has outsmarted you? How do your pets turn things into games? How do you turn the everyday into games?
About two years ago, I found a great deal on King Arthur artisan flour. It is called Sir Galahad flour. I got it from a wholesale restaurant supply company. We got 50 lbs for $18.00. I thought I was buying King Arthur artisan bread flour, which has ascorbic acid as well as a little white whole wheat flour in the mix. I was mistaken, as it was a general flour with ascorbic acid but no white whole wheat. No matter. It turned out to be a great all round flour for bread and pastries. We have maybe 8 lbs left. We also have every kind of rye flour, graham flour, and other esoteric flours you can imagine. That is Husband’s doing.
We bake a lot, and it worked really well for a long time in all our breads along with Swany White flour from the mill in Freeport, MN. I think we got 40 lbs of that at the same time we got Sir Galahad. We have large bins to store it in next to our freezers.
As time has passed my French bread has become inexplicably denser and less springy. The loaves are smaller. The recipe has remained the same. I make four loaves at a time with 6 cups of King Arthur and 5 cups of Swany, adding a little gluten, and using bread salt and the same brand of fresh yeast.
We ran out of Swany earlier this month, and I ordered 20 lbs from Freeport. I love the Swany White mill. Gary, the owner, only takes cheques, but he shipped our flour so fast this month it arrived the next day after I placed the order by Speedee Delivery before I could get the cheque in the mail. The last time I ordered I gave all the information to his wife, who said Gary was down with a bad flare up of gout. I love the trust and community feel of this.
I baked French bread this weekend using the old Sir Galahad and the new Swany, and the loaves were big and puffy and wonderful. All the other ingredients were the same. In the past I have ignored comments from Master bakers who say that flour ages poorly, and you should only bake with flour that is less than 6 months old. Well, I believe them now. I plan to pep up the remaining Sir Galahad with 5 lbs of a new bag of King Arthur regular bread flour and pound of white whole wheat. Who knew? I am grateful for the Scientific Method! We will only order flour in 20 lbs bags now.
How old is your flour? What are your favorite kinds of flour? When have you used the Scientific Method lately?
We’ve got the 5 little guineas in the entry way yet, but one of them jumped to the top of the water bottle, and it’s only one more hop out of the box, so we’ll need to get them in the big tank down in the crib soon. (In fact, an hour after I wrote that, it was out) One of them has a bad leg; seems like it’s up at the hip, and it’s out sideways. We’ve tried to make splints for it, and we tried wrapping the leg up to the body. That was something; the chick sure didn’t like any part of this. Didn’t like being picked up in the first place, didn’t like being manipulated, and didn’t like the wrapping job. I got the wrap to stay on for about 3 minutes. Course I was holding onto it for 3 minutes… once I set it down the wrap was off.
Google has lot of suggestions on this. We need to try it again.
We’ve been watching a red headed woodpecker mom and dad feed their family. A maple tree with one large dead limb full of holes and the woodpeckers climb halfway into this hole and we can hear the babies chirping.
And one morning, I saw a heron flying away. It was right by the barn and it wasn’t very high yet; not sure where he came from. They’re always fun to see.
I was mowing some grass the other day down behind the barn and knocking down some tall grass that had been too wet to mow earlier this year, and one of the roosters killed a large mouse. He was pecking at something and backing off, then going in again. I’ve heard of chickens getting mice before, yet I’d never seen one. They didn’t eat it.
The lightning bugs are back. It’s fun to watch them at night over the corn fields. There’s an article in this month’s Smithsonian Magazine about a guy studying fireflies. Did you know they’re classified as beetles? They’re not “bugs”.
Bailey has finally started to shed and she loves being brushed. Except back on her hips; she doesn’t like that. Humphrey loves being brushed too and he’s got a bit of undercoat coming off, but not as much as Bailey.
The auction is happening this week where I took the fertilizer wagon. It runs through next Tuesday. I’m bidding on a few things too. With any luck, I’ll come out ahead on this deal and not in the hole. Normally it’s the last hour the bidding frenzy happens so we’ll see.
Crops:
I talked with crop insurance last week. Soybeans can be replanted, and still covered by insurance, until July 5th. Of course the shorter season varieties produce less too. And unless it rains, there’s no point planting anything. The co-op is ready to spray for weeds, which is the only thing making the fields look green right now, lambs quarter and velvet leave. Stupid weeds. The wild turkeys are out there digging up soybean seeds, and the deer are eating the tops off the corn. Stupid turkeys, stupid deer.
I’m at a point, I’d almost rather it didn’t rain until mid-July. By then, we could skip the expense of spraying the beans, declare them a loss and plow it up. Just be done with it. If we do get rains this weekend, Then I will need the co-op to spray so I’ll have that expense, and we’ll see what kind of stand I get going. Replanting in July is tougher as it all depends on the weather this fall. PHOTO
I just read an article from the University of MN Extension service, saying you can tell how stressed the corn is by what time of day the leaves curl up. The sooner they curl, the more stressed it is. Here’s my corn at 10:00 AM.
Here it is at 4:00 in the afternoon.
I noticed on Friday, the corn was curled up at 11AM.
The oats is all headed out and we’ll see how that does. I haven’t heard much from the food oats people since spring.
My shop project progresses. I sure do have a hard time focusing on any one project and getting it done. I have my weekly ‘to do’ list, plus a general ‘do this summer’ list. And something like ‘replace tractor light’ gets more involved because the connector isn’t the same between tractor and the new light and I ordered some connectors which fit the tractor, but not the light, and so I had John Deere find the right ones and I’ll pick up. And the tractor cab roof light bezel I did get replaced. Took me about 6 trips climbing up on top of the hood as I had the wrong wrenches the first 4 times. (brain fart) then one of the wires had come loose inside. They work now.
When I write down an item like ‘Install window’ it is a lot more complicated than that. I have built all three rough opening frames. But now I need to mount them on the wall, cut out the steel, frame up the opening, and then figure out how we’re going to get this 250 lb. window up there outside. I need some strong young men or women. 🙂
I also need to remove a lot more stuff in the middle. I move something every day and it’s getting cleaner. I predict the first snow storm in December and I’ll be scrambling to finish some part of this to get machinery in the shed. I’m telling you right now, that’s what’s going to happen.
I reserved a scissor lift this morning to pick up on July 7. There, now I have a deadline to work towards; I need the floor area mostly clear, I need the walls mostly clear and with the lift I can install ceiling joists and steel and seal off one rafter, and then I can call for insulation on the walls and above the ceiling.
I made sure I dressed the part before I went into the rental place. Sometimes when I take daughter into her programming I just wear my crocs. It’s a rule, you can’t wear crocs into an industrial place like this and order big boy toys. I made sure I was wearing my boots, and a dirty enough hat, my sleeveless shirt, and I dropped enough names so they know I know what I’m doing.
I haven’t had to buy any new tools for this project. Yet. I may pick up something at this auction, but that’s not directly related to this project. I’m still using the worm drive circular saw Kelly gave me for my Birthday back in about 1992. It’s a great saw!
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE BLIND MAN THAT PICKED UP HIS HAMMER AND SAW?
Trail Baboon 