Big warehouse stores don’t do it for me. While I have a huge house, I’ve never found it convenient to buy massive quantities to keep the price a bit down. (With the exception of toilet paper, of course.)
However there is one thing that I use a lot of: postage stamps. Most months I send out 10-12 birthday cards and then there are the anniversary cards, get well cards, sympathy cards, thank you cards and then all the other things that I feel the need to note. At least one card a month goes overseas.
So when I noticed a news story about postage going up (it increased yesterday), I thought maybe stamps was one thing I would load up on. Apparently I’m not the only one to think this…. a couple of the stamps that I like were out of stock at my local post office. So I chose some others and then came home and ordered a bunch more online. I figure I won’t have to buy stamps until August!
We got a good 6 to 8 inches Wednesday night into Thursday. They were predicting that, so I unhooked the rear blade and hooked the snowblower on the tractor on Tuesday. I hadn’t used the blower this year, so I had to put the hydraulic cylinder on it to rotate the spout, check the oil, grease the power takeoff shaft, and I was fairly impressed with myself that I could get in amongst the linkage and frame and get the power takeoff shift connected to the tractor. I would not have been able to do that last summer. BULLY FOR ME!
It was kind of fun to blow snow again, I do things a little different with the blower than I do with the blade and it’s just been the last few years that I started using a blade for snow, so the skills for this came back pretty quick. I remembered it would be slower, but I forgot how much it makes my neck hurt because I’m looking over my right shoulder to do it. The seat swivels a bit, and I sit as sideways as I can, but it’s still looking over my shoulder. My next tractor will have heated mirrors so they stay clean. Or maybe my next tractor will have a blower on the front!
Kelly took some video of me, and I put my first video on YouTube.
One day I had to stop at Fleet Farm as I was looking for insulated winter boots. I found them over in the ice fishing section. You all know I’m not much of a sportsman so I don’t think I’ve ever walked through that area before. It was a little bit fascinating!
I found some boots; they’re keeping my feet much warmer than the plain rubber boots I had been wearing.
Then I went to Menards and walked around there for a while. After that, I had a meeting on the far end of the college campus, and by the time I got home I was pooped out. Nothing hurt! Just pooped out.
Kelly counted 17 pheasants in the yard one morning. The most we’ve ever had, and I love seeing them. I have one neighbor that always asks if he can pheasant hunt and I always tell him no.
My chickens from last spring are just coming into their peak. It’s not unusual to get 16 or 20 eggs a day lately. If anybody was up for a road trip again for eggs, this would be a good time. Although we should wait for the driveway to get better than glare ice.
After that rain we got on Monday, our yard and driveway became pretty slick. It’s been packed snow all winter, not thick, just a half-inch maybe, but that’s what rain does to it. I went to a meeting Monday night. I was impressed that I was even able to get out. Years of practice I told Kelly. After I got home, I used the loader and tried to scrape the ice on the hills and corners on the driveway. It didn’t do much, but it did rough it up a bit and that helps.
I went out to do chores while it was raining on Monday, I tried Kelly‘s yak traks, but they didn’t fit my boots, and I lost them on about the third step. Again, I’ve been doing this for years, I know how to aim for the gravel or bare ground or walk through the snow. Once I got to the feed room, I threw out a bunch of corn, and that gives some traction. Then I carried a bucket with me and scattered corn in front of me to make a path to walk on. A win for the crows and chickens and ducks, and a win for me.
I remember an old movie called Angel In My Pocket, Andy Griffith and a host of character actors that you would recognize. It came out in 1969, and a gentleman playing the church caretaker, Parker Fennelly, reminds me of my grandfather Hain. That was the only movie I was able to watch this week. I couldn’t find it online anywhere so I ordered the movie off eBay and it came from Australia. Spent a week in customs in Chicago. It a long way for some entertainment, but I really enjoy this movie and it makes me think of Grandpa.
I was filling the birdfeeders one day, and I love the fact that the chickadees don’t even wait for me to finish, and they don’t appear to be very scared. I was standing right there filling things and they just come and sit on the birdfeeder.
And here’s Humphrey breaking the corn cob into bits. PHOTOS
This weekend Husband and I plan to order our seeds for the garden. Husband has picked out three varieties of zinnia seeds. We will have our usual San Marzano 2 and Brandy Boy tomatoes which we will start in March. I found a source for the Doux D’Espana red sweet peppers. They are unavailable from our usual suppliers, so I hope the new source is reliable. I have no idea why they are in such short supply. We will also grow New Mexico Joe Parker Anaheim peppers.
Husband wants to plant turnips this year instead of kohlrabi. He will have them all to himself, as I don’t like turnips. I don’t like kohlrabi, either. He also wants to grow 12 heads of Alcosa savoy cabbage. We agreed on growing more Hamburg turnip-rooted parsley, as it is so good in soup and stock. We will grow our regular peas, Italian giant winter spinach, chard, Hidatsa pole beans and green beans, Italian parsley, and butternut squash. I am feeling tired already!
What are your summer garden plans? Any travel plans? What flowers do you like to grow? Any opinions about turnips?
As you all know, I adore being retired. It’s been six months and the novelty has not worn off. And my boss knows as well. When she called me last week, the first words out of her mouth were “don’t hang up on me”. Two new programs for the first week of May have just sold, an unusual happenstance for this late in the fiscal year. They are warehouse programs, of which I was the undisputed queen, and nobody else has any wiggle room in their workload to fit these in. Could I pretty please with a cherry on top come out of retirement on a temporary, part time basis and run these two programs?
I thought about it over the weekend and got input from several friends (all of whom said “go for it’ – I need new friends). When I told my boss I would do it, I gave her a long list of requirements, all of which she agreed to. Rats. I also told her that this was a big favor and it was the only one she was going to get. If these programs re-up next year, I won’t do them. And she can’t apply the favor to a non-warehouse program. It’s these two and no others.
I’m not all that excited about this development, but all my former team-mates are ecstatic. Not so much because I’m coming back temporarily but because now they know they don’t have to try to squeeze either of these programs into their calendar!
Tell me about a huge favor you’ve done for someone. Or a huge favor they’ve done for you!
I’m not sure what I looked at online in November that caused “Build Your Own Stonehenge” to start popping up as side ads on my pc. It looked cute and I already have a “Build Your Own Carcasonne” from a trip years ago. Then I made the ultimate mistake – I clicked on the ad. It was smaller than I thought and cheaper. Both good things.
I put it on my list for the holidays, not expecting to get it; YA doesn’t always humor my eccentricities. When I unwrapped it on Solstice, I’d kind of forgotten about it, to tell the truth. It was much easier to put together than I had expected; all the standing stones and bluestones had numbers on the bottom that corresponded to marks on the earthwork piece. (I had a layout of Stonehenge pulled up on the internet in case I had to figure it out myself.) After I laid it out once, I hot glued everything down. I think it’s adorable; YA isn’t impressed. It’s living in my studio now, next to my miniature castle. I wonder what other “build your own” project will attract my attention next.
Normally I don’t pick up the BookPage supplement that the library sets out every month. More ideas about what to read are NOT necessary in my life. I have lists and lists. People suggest books to me all the time. This isn’t a problem, it just means I don’t need to go looking.
Last week, while the kitchen project was happening, I spend all day every day sitting on the sofa, so that I could be available if needed. I wrote blogs for the trail, looked at Facebook, read a lot. When I picked up a couple of books from the library, I grabbed not just the regular supplement but also a “Looking Forward to 2023” special edition as well. Seemed like a good project for a week of sofa-surfing.
It was surprising to come across a page devoted to “Cozy Mysteries”. Believe it or not, I have never heard this phrase before, although in reading through the blurbs, I knew immediately what they were talking about. Protagonist (99.9% women), mostly small town settings, a murder that only the protagonist can solve. I spent over a year reading tons and tons of cozy mysteries; I couldn’t get enough. I’m not sure what was driving this but after about a year, the desire to read more of them simply vanished. But I never realized that these stories had garnered a genre all to themselves.
When I was in the bookstore, it was pretty straightforward. Fiction, nonfiction, children’s. Fiction was split into fiction, science fiction, romance and mystery. Non-fiction was historical, self-help, cooking, biography/memoir.
Now we have debut fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, dystopian fiction, mystery, cozy mystery, horror, thriller, literary fiction (this one slays me), young adult, graphic novels, biography, autobiography, memoir, true crime. I could actually keep going but….
I guess all this micro-categorization can be helpful to folks when they are looking for something to read but since I tend to read across a lot of genres, it doesn’t matter so much to me. I do still read an occasional cozy mystery; I can’t stay away from Susan Wittig Albert. Knowing that this kind of work now has a name of its own name seems charming.
Anything in your life that you like to micro-manage?
YA and I have a disagreement about one thing at the State Fair. She loves to go through the Home Improvement Building, see all the vendors, ask questions, take brochures and cards. I do not. Honestly, on days when I go by myself, I skip the building altogether. But when we go together, I always trail after her.
This is how we ended up with cabinet refinishers sitting in our dining room in mid-October. Contract signed, cabinet fronts selected, countertop material chosen, knobs and pulls picked out. The original date they suggested was the first week of December. I pushed it to January – between our Hawaii adventure, the Great Gift Exchange and the holidays, I couldn’t face having no kitchen during any of those times.
All the time we waited and made preparations, I was anxious. Seems like nobody has ever had a big home improvement project go smoothly. When they said it would take a week, I expected it would take longer. In fact, Occasional Caroline and I worked out that if the remodel didn’t go as planned, we would do Blevins at her place instead of mine. I set up the plumber and the electrician for a week after the project was supposed to be finished. Weird, anxiety-ridden dreams filled my nights for a week before they showed up. And we can’t even get into how long it took to get everything out of my kitchen and breakfast room. The photo above is the front porch… the dining room looked similar. It took me 6 days.
Turns out this project was the exception to the rule. Jake showed up on time every morning and was finished by 10 a.m. on Friday. 4½ days. No surprises, no unexpected issues. Of course since my anxiety had scheduled the plumber so far out, I had a great looking kitchen but no water. And no point in moving the fridge back until there was water. Luckily I was able to reschedule the plumber for Saturday morning and the electrician is coming this morning. (Electrician is just to provide better wiring for the hood over the stove.)
I’ve started putting everything back – I expect to be all done in the next day or so. It still seems unreal to me that all my low-level worry came to naught. Of course, I’ve been to the hardware store seven times now for this 4½ day project (s hooks, little can of white paint, contact paper, electric face plate, wire, cleaning stuff, etc.)
Middle of January now, gray days, average temperatures, and we must persevere. A couple more weeks, we’ll start to see some change in the daylight, and hope will return.
I’ve been able to do more chores again. Feeding the chickens and ducks and collecting eggs. One day there was 7 male pheasants came from the East, while the 5 females come from the North to eat the corn we throw out.
I watched a flock of 12 ducks fly figure 8’s over the yard one day. Four finally landed in the pond. Not sure where the rest went.
Bailey played King Of the Hill all by herself.
I’m back to work half days now for a couple of weeks. Then I’ll go full time. The knee is still doing fantastic. Now it’s just getting all those muscles stretched out again and used to walking and retraining those left leg muscles to walk straight instead of bowlegged.
Movies this week were Judgement at Neurenberg, Glass Onion, and Passing Strange (A little known Rock Musical that I really like.
Other movies during various recoveries this year have included Men Who Stare At Goats Animal House, Kill Bill 1 & 2, Django Unchained. (Boy…those Tarantino movies. Kelly won’t watch them. If you don’t know, there’s a lot of blood, and a lot of language).
Obviously having a job is cutting into my movie viewing time so still on my ‘To View’ list is Citizen Kane (for the 8th time) Bridge on River Kiwi, Blazing Saddles (For the umpth time) The Terminal, and the Original The Producers (For the 3rd time).
I’ve got everything locked in now for spring of 23. Oat seed has been reserved and paid for, soybean Seed ordered and paid for, and corn seed ordered and charged. Oats is $11.70 per bushel and I plant three bushels per acre. Soybeans are planted at 55 pounds per acre and a 50lb bag is either $50 for non-treated or $60 for treated. (Treated for insects and rot if the ground is wet when planted.) Corn prices vary depending on the variety and things, but my average cost is $269 per bag. A bag will do a little over 2 1/2 acres and a bag is 80,000 kernals. I order a little extra in case I don’t have rates’ quite right or I over plant on the corners or heck, might even spill half a bag on the ground. And we can always return to the dealer what we don’t use. There’s nothing worse than being almost done and it’s 6 o’clock at night and there’s rain on the horizon and I need one more bag of seed. Been there done that.
I had a cement contractor to the farm the other day, looking at pouring some cement either inside the shed and ideally, I would build a wall and insulate and get my warm shop. But of course, a slab outside would be nice to so that I have a place to work on things without lying on the gravel. We will see what the prices are. Like everything, last year the price of concrete increased at a rate no one had seen before. Until this year when it increased again an unheard-of amount. Ballpark around here is $190 per yard just for the concrete not counting site prep work and labor.
I’ve mentioned a few times in the past about remodeling at a local theater and now some HVAC work. The HVAC work was begun in August, new ductwork was installed, and some old things removed, hopefully the rooftop unit will arrive in March. This past week, they installed a ships ladder, and cut a hole in the roof so we have roof access from inside rather than an extension ladder outside the building. It’s really fun; I’ve been on the roof several times this week. Also, couple of supports and steel beams were placed on the roof to support the rooftop unit whenever it gets here. I had a good time talking with both the sheet-metal workers and the ironworkers. The first day, I wanted to get up on the roof to see what was going on, but I didn’t think I should be climbing the outside extension ladder quite yet. It took me a few, tries to find the person that owned and operated the boom lift, and I played the “new knee card“and he took me on the roof.
It’s surprising the things you can do if you just ask. I got above the ceiling of the chapel at the local nuns home, Assisi Heights, because I happen to be there one day, putting up some stage lights for a show and their maintenance crew said they were going to replace some house lights so I asked if I could come along. That was an adventure. In high school I always heard about the large ventilation pipes under the building and so we asked Milo the head maintenance guy. On the last day of school, he took my best friend Pete and I down to the basement and opened the door and said here you go, I’ll meet you over in the gym. it was just a big metal tunnel, but it was still kind of cool. You just gotta ask.
Driving one day and the song ‘Open the Door Richard’ by Count Basie was on XM Radio. Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon with Yosemite Sam chasing Bugs and Sam pounds on the door and yells “OPEN THIS DOOR!” then turns to the camera and says, “Notice I didn’t say Richard?”
Makes me laugh every time.
I returned a box to Acme Tools last week. The clerk asked me if there was an anvil in there.
Husband drives to Bismarck for work every Tuesday night, and returns home Wednesday night. He is usually pretty tired on both drives, and cranks up music on the radio to keep himself awake.
The other night he listened to the Sinatra station, and heard what he thought was one of the oddest duets he ever heard. It featured Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin singing What Now, My Love.
I have to agree with husband that this is quite weird. I can’t imagine what possessed the Queen of Soul to sing that with Ol’ Blue Eyes. Their styles are so different and not really compatible. Sort of like Ozzy Osbourne singing gospel music with Amy Grant.
What music keeps you awake when you drive? What are your favorite duets? What are some duets you wouldn’t want to hear?
YA and I can’t go anywhere without seeking out the closest zoo or animal park (or both). We were both actually surprised that there is a zoo in Honolulu. When we were deciding on a hotel, we had several places marked on a map and while we didn’t choose Waikiki due to its proximity to the zoo, it certainly didn’t hurt that it was walking distance from our hotel.
It was bigger than I was expecting considering its prime location right off the beach and had a bigger variety of animals that I was expecting as well. It was a quiet day when we were there so no jostling and every docent was all ours.
There were three giraffes and one zebra together in a large savannah-like enclosure. I asked the docent whey the two breeds were together; zebras have a reputation for not getting along with anybody else, including members of their own species and troop. The docent told me that the larger/older giraffe was named Squirt and the zebra was named Mr. Z. Apparently they had been housed together for many years until just recently when the two younger giraffes were introduced. Mr. Z has access to his own space and sleeping area at all time but he prefers to hang out with Squirt and even sleeps with him. The docent also told me that although Squirt seems to enjoy having the two younger giraffes arounds, he still prefers the company of his zebra pal. The zoo considers them a bonded pair.
I love hearing stories like this so it was great to have the docent all to myself for a bit. Of course, I got a rare YA photo that morning as well so it turned out to be a fabulous morning.
Do you have any “must dos” when you travel or when you have out of town visitors?
Trail Baboon 