All's quiet on the western front, (hopefully)

Well, good afternoon everyone, I still here, didn't get blown away.

We had a very rough evening, and finally around 8pm, it started quieting down and then this morning, the rain is coming down in buckets.  My back lot looks like Lake Mead, all I need now are fish, and I would have it made.

It is just going to be a quiet day here.  Amazing, from all of the things and little sleep , I was able to get 2 loaves of bread done, and its on the rise, and 2 and 1/2 qt of strawberry yogurt done. I amaze myself.   I am digging through the freezer and found some minute steaks, so that is what is on the menu for tonight.  Baked minute steaks, in beefy mushroom sauce, and fresh asparagus from the neighbor's garden and mashed potatoes. Not too sure about dessert, maybe an apple pie from the freezer too.

Thank you for your comments, it really helped last night.  I was on the computer watching the storms roll in, our weather warnings here aren't great, so it is easier for me to keep track of storms movements through the computer and our local weather bureau at the airport.  The last photo of the low cloud you see was the start of rotation of a tornado that was just 1 mile from me.  Though it did not look like the classic storm, it was wrapping really fast and moving at about 50 mph.  The tornadoes are an awesome and mesmerizing part of nature, but when you are in the middle of its fury, its not a beach party. The hail did a little damage in the garden, but I did manage to cover most of it, and so it will be fine.  West of me had hail from baseball to golf ball size hail.  We just had the smaller stuff I posted, but even that does damage.

I am getting some items ready, and I will soon do a post on dehydrating a veggie soup base.  I have been collecting leftover veggies and then I will dehydrate and then grind it up for a base.  I just need to order nutritional yeast and some lovage.  I am planning on growing lovage in my herb garden to have on hand, and I love its flavor.  I will see if I can pull this off.   I have all of the other ingredients I need to finish, except these two.

Well, I just thought I'd pop in and tell you I am still here, not in Toto land with Dorothy. I hope that my readers are and will be ok, because these storms were marching to the east like Sherman marching on Georgia. Please take care all.

Hugs

Tornadoes

We are in tornado warnings as I post this.  I ran out to cover my garden and got pelted with hail.  We have had several sightings and tornadoes on the ground in different parts of town.
I just ran out to take these photos.  They are not too good.
Its going to be one of those nights, no sleep.
I will post after all of this simmers down. 

Update: We had another 3 more storms come through. Tornadoes were on the ground, but they are as I post, dissipating.  We may have more storms bloom up later tonight, but for now,  it has quieted down.  I have not be out to the garden, but I covered what I could.  All I can do is hope for the best.
Hugs

Guest Posting

 Good Afternoon Everyone!

Well its the weekend.  And I am playing in the garden department a little and then tackling the some house work later.  I needed to get some tomatoes started, its the date for my zone for tomatoes and a few other hot weather plants.  But what I thought I would do, since my dull life and garden isn't doing too much at the time, is share some articles with a magazine I subscribe to and would like to share it with others.  I can do this and I thought that over the weekends, if I can find a good article or two to share from the magazine, I would for all of you to enjoy.  Again, like I have posted before, I lead a dull, and uneventful life, and currently, my bucket garden is just starting and since I am in zone 5, my weather here is fickle, it was in the high 80's and now it back to its typical Spring pattern and unpredictable nature.
The magazine is called Countryside & Small Stock Journal www.countrysidemag.com
, and I love some of the old fashioned articles and discussions.  I also like Mother Earth News and take that magazine also, but this magazine allows you to share the magazine with others, which I like to do. So to try to give you all something to read over the weekend  while I try to find something interesting for you, I love to share this with all of you.
So please enjoy the articles, and visit the magazine online.  I just got my new May/June 2012 magazine in the mail yesterday, and I am sure later this month, they will post the May/June issue online.
I wish everyone a wonderful weekend, and hopefully life won't take us by the throat and choke all of us. Maybe it will  be merciful a little.
Hugs to all.

The $2 garden by Kat Reiff from the September/October, 2008 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal

The $2 garden by Kat Reiff from the September/October, 2008 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal

"Never Worked a Day in Her Life" and other BS

Good Morning Everyone,

Well to start off with here.  It is raining...yeah! It started thundering and lightening very early this morning, around 5 am. I WAS sleeping pretty good, the first time in about a week, with my back and allergies giving me insomnia really bad, and then the flashes of lightening and KA-BOOM,...rattle, rattle, the house until you think that its going to come off its frame. But we need the rain desperately, as its so dry here, as well as other areas of the country, we just didn't have winter like we normally do, and March was a total almost summer heat wave and really dried things out even worse and made pollen and allergies worse that normal also and has made our farm fields here very dry and the winter wheat, which needed snow cover to help it along, really dry it out.  I am not sure about yields this year, though our farm bureau is talking that it may be a good year, and one thing they were hoping for, was a decrease in grasshoppers, which I am not sure I am knowledgeable, but with the dry winter, and other variables, they did not think that hoppers would be a problem, but I was under the thought that heat and dryness triggered hoppers?  If someone knows, please inform me, its just for my brain bank.

Well, what I wanted to talk about is something that falls on all of us who read blogs, especially about slow living, frugal,  sustainable, low key, lifestyles, lifestyles not filled with consumerism, and the mentality of "buy, buy, buy" and then "buy some more", go into debt, work, work, work, yada, yada, yada....etc.
I also, before I go on this post, do not like to get real political, on both parties, and this post is not about the sides of politics, but it in a way,  includes politics. so I will begin with this....

I see that the Democratic Strategist, Hilary Rosen, made a very derogatory and degrading comment about Mrs. Romney that she, and I quote, "never worked a day in her life".  Well, what do you call it when you are a stay at home mom and raise 5 children?, Huh, Ms. Rosen?  I would like you to define the word and comment of "work".  I find this quite alarming and to be blunt, one of the  biggest gaffes I have ever heard.  If a woman chooses to stay at home and is able to, if her husband is able to work and give this gift to the wife, then this IS the family's choice in the matter, NOT YOURS.  Now, many women, HAVE to work to support families, either by choice or by necessity, but NOT YOURS, MS ROSEN.  Since when do you decide that staying home to handle the HOME. CHILDREN, BUDGET, TRANSPORTATION, ENERGY, FOOD PRODUCTION, and EVERY OTHER EMERGENCY that comes up in a home of someone YOU DO NOT EVEN KNOW!!!!!
How dare you state that home moms (and dads) DON"T WORK!!!! PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME.
I seem to recall that your present administration is UNABLE to handle the home, budget, transportation, energy, food production and emergencies that come up in YOUR HOUSE...need I say more.

If people choose to stay at home, this isn't your call, Ms, Rosen, not even in the least bit.  I am personally shocked, and quite sure that this comment will come back to bite you in the ass, and when it does, it sure will leave a big chunk hanging out, which is what your tongue in doing now, hanging out and wagging.
I would like to know how YOU handle your home, Ms. Rosen,  Please, I am all ears.  How do you handle your home, children, budget, and all other things in between.  I take care of two elderly parents, and another disabled adult, handle budgets for two households, and all of the other in-between that come up, plus there's me too, and I am disabled also,  and I am sometimes in a whirl and a tail spin as to get it all done.  But if is isn't called work, I don't what it is.. playtime?, vacation? Please fill me in or did I miss something or did not get a memo on that at the last meeting....

I am just livid at this, people, this is not a comment directed at Republicans, it is directed at all who stay home, who work and come home and work at the home job, and everything in between.   It stabs at the very heart of family, home and life in general, our way of life.  This comment has taken the family to a new low, something between dirt and worms.  Need I say more.
Again, I do not want to get political, but please people, remember this comment when you get to the polls in November, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE.....VOTE, VOTE  VOTE!!!!!

I now will try to calm down and start some seeds for the garden.  Oh I forget, I don't work.....

Have a great rest of the week all. Hope some of you get some of this rain coming through.
Will try to post later in the week.

Hugs to All

Happy Easter Season to All

Good Morning,

I just wanted to stop to wish everyone a Blessed Easter.  I am working in the garden today, and will try to take photos of what I am doing.
I have a few more heads of lettuce to put in, and then I am going to re-start some tomatoes, and peppers. See if I have any luck with that.
Please enjoy the holiday, and remember what it is all about. If you are of other spiritual disciplines, please remember compassion, humility, and  sharing in this world that so desperately needs it.

Hugs to All

End of March fix-em's and other going-on's

Good Afternoon Everyone,
March 31st
I thought I had better post something, even if its wrong.  I will post later, as I have had a few things going on around the house, fix it problems and then general errands, running after two households.  I also have been somewhat under the weather, with sinus and congestion with the pollen, so I get winded, and everything takes longer.  And yes, its age too.

There really isn't much going on in the garden yet,  I have walking onions up and my lettuces and spinach are up and going and are doing well.  My tomatoes I started are wilting, I did something wrong, so I am going to wait to start a second batch.  I just don't have the light source to keep seedlings going.  I have heat mats but that is just part of the solution to seedlings.  My Jalapenos are doing very well.  I hope that I can at least keep peppers going.  Tomorrow is payday for me, and D and I will be off and running errands and I am going to our Menards store to look for some more seeds for the garden.  The seeds they have are 20% off and that is pretty good around here.  I want to start some more lettuces and greens.

April 5th.
I am sorry I have been away for a while.  I have had lots going on, in my daily life and in the garden.
I have been keeping a running post going. It has been chilly and cool here.  The last few weeks its been in the 80's.  My lettuces are doing well.  I have been keeping them covered with greenhouse plastic.  We have been issued hard freeze warnings for Saturday night and early Sunday morning, so I will cover my greens with an old blanket and maybe place a couple of milk jugs under the plastic to help ward off the freeze.  I usually have pretty good luck with greens under plastic.
I mentioned  in the above that D and I were going to Menards, which we did.  I got a few more seeds, and I will start some more greens.  I adore salads in springs, after a cold winter, I crave salads and fresh foods.  But since the prices in the grocery stores are unbelievable, (they are off the charts here, I'm not sure elsewhere), I am now in hyper-mode to grow as much as I can out of this tiny garden.   I am going to re-start tomatoes in about a week.  I need to go and get a grow light and a chicken heat lamp and at least between the light and the heat mats, I should be able to keep tomatoes going.  I have such a problem as I do not have a dedicated room for seedlings with light and heat.  My peppers are doing very well, which surprises me, so I think if I change and tweak a few things, I should be able to get the tomatoes going.  I am going to order a few seeds from a catalog.   I want to try some kale and a few new things and see how they do. 

Over this last weekend, D and I cleaned under the  front porch.  It was loaded with old aluminium windows and junk  that were the basis of a plan to build a greenhouse, but that went out the backdoor and I no longer needed the windows. So I called someone on Craigslist who was looking for metal to pick up and he was very happy to pick up the windows.  Now I have space for my mushroom bed, which I have been wanting for about as long as the greenhouse.  I am planning on two beds for mushrooms.  These mushrooms I am planning for are Winecaps, Morels, (blacks and whites), and Shiitakes.  These require wood chips, and compost and protection and where I want to put them under the porch, they will be protected, and get light but not cooked.  When the weather warms up here again, I will post how we do the bed, and how I come out.  I will be placing spawn in these beds about June, so we'll see how we come out.  I have been getting more and more interested in mushroom cultivation, and these I want to grow are the easier ones to do.  Some of the others are more difficult and require logs, which I just do not have room for, so the more adaptable ones that require wood chips and compost will work for me better and then maybe I can find some small stumps and start some of the more difficult mushrooms and see how I come out. Maybe a fall project?

Really other than that, there hasn't been much going on.  We have to wait until D's payday to get fencing so I can fence off my south side for my garden..We also put a security light with motion detectors on the south side.  The renters  have been having issues with theft of stereo speakers and other stuff from cars and the yards  that seems to be plaguing this already third world trailer park anyway.  Its just getting more worse, so we have put lights up around our home, and then the renters get mad because the owners will not do anything for them.  I do not give answers to the renters, except that you have to be responsible for yourself, and keep things locked up, or inside or in the sheds, the owners will not do anything, nor do they care about you, your family or your personal belongings, it generally comes back around to me anyway that its my fault so I just go on and keep my nose in my own backyard. We are also going to call my electrician, and have him wire for a security light on the back of the trailer to light up the back which  has no light what so ever.  If I can keep my house lit up, it seems to teeter problems with people wandering around.  As far as the renters are concerned, I don't care about their problems. I am not the guardian here.

Well, I had better get off my fanny.  I have a few things to do.  We have Easter holiday coming up and I will be doing a small dinner for the folks and D and I. Not too much else going on.  Maybe if the day is fairly nice, I will get in the garden and work a little on the mushroom beds.

I wish everyone a Blessed Easter, and for those who are of other spiritual disciplines, a wonderful Spring Break.

Hugs to All