Too much month and not enough Money

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I have been down for about a week and a half.  I just did not have enough money to pay my utility bill and my Internet, so I had to choose the utility bill, which is a no brainer, seeing that we are having 100* temps daily and no rain.  It is just getting too much and it is showing in everyone face, and I am sure that all of you are see and dealing with the same heat.

I will do a better post here in a few days, I have just been dealing with the heat and the garden and a few other things and just trying to survive.

D and I pulled up a lot of the garden, the heat did in my large heirloom tomatoes, they were vining but absolutely no tomatoes and I should of had large tomatoes by now.The heat causedevery one's tomatoes to not pollinate, we have had temps in the high 70's and some 80's at night and it was too much for our tomatoes around our area.  My Roma tomatoes are doing well and my smaller patio tomatoes, and my cukes have gone insane, but the rest of the garden was a bust.  I will not get a lot of tomato sauces and salsas but I will do what I can.  This year is pretty much a waste of time for gardens, and for those who depend on these gardens.  No matter how much water you can put on some garden plants, it just will not help when you factor in heat and day and night temperatures which some plants need cooler air to pollinate than others.  I am very disappointed with this years gardening, but there is nothing I can do about it, so I will appreciate and be blessed with what I can get and be happy, that is all I can do.

When I do my next post, I will fill in why our utility bills have been so high.  This is from the new EPA taxes being assessed upon the coal burning electrical plants and it is now being filtered down to the consumer.  Everyone in town and around the state are complaining and waging word wars upon our state government, and I am sure they are tired of hearing from angry voters.  Maybe enough words of anger are reaped upon them, maybe we will get a response, I doubt it but maybe...we can only hope.  If all of these taxes are reaped upon everyone in the country, there is no way anyone can afford their utility bills, I can't afford mine, and I made choices as to what I could afford.  It did not matter how careful I was with my budget, I still could not swing everything.  I am now only hoping I can get through August and September and then my bill will be much lower because I will not be using the air conditioner.  That is the only hope I have to hang on to.

Well, I thought I would jump in to tell all of you I did not drop off the planet.  It has just been very, very tight and I just had to let some things go.
As I mentioned, I will do a better, more happy post.  Maybe the heat will subside a little this weekend and we can get a little relief.  I can only hope.

Hugs to All

Garden pics and Hades

Good Morning Everyone,

Just a quick pics of the garden.  Please forgive the photos as my camera is not the best. It is a cheap, poor quality one, but it gets the job done until I can afford a better one.

The garden where I have the cukes and Roma tomatoes and the Super Sweet 100's cherry has gone insane.  I do not know why as the heat here is relentless but when we put this side in, D dug a trench and mulched both sides and we water about twice a week and it is doing great.  I have not seen bugs either, but we do powder down some things and just hope for the best.  The cukes we are getting are very sweet, crunchy and no bitterness.  The cukes I planted were Tasty Green's and a greenhouse cuke called an "Isnik" from the garden catalog.  These are smaller, but very crunchy and this is the second year I had these and they have performed well, even in this intense heat we are having with the drought.  But again, we have trenched and mulched.

This year, my heart just is not into gardening.  I think its the combination of heat, and of too much going on and me doing to much for too many.  So, for canning, I am just going to process tomatoes and cukes as is, and when I need sauce, or salsa, I can just add my ingredients as I need them.  When peppers start coming, I will do the same, just pickle and put up.  There will be no way that I can do more with the amount of time and be more selective in making salsa, or tomato sauce or ketchup.  I am just in the mood to  cheat or make it more simple to put everything up and then when I have more time, and hopefully more cooler, I will be able to make my salsa, and sauces at a later date.  I would like to freeze, but I have no room for anything in the freezer at the moment either, so I will have to just cut corners and make things easier.
To make things quicker, and I put this question out to my readers who have canned forever, can I cheat and just put tomatoes in a roaster pan or crock pot and heat through and then just peel the skins?  There will be no way I can boil water, then dunk tomatoes then peel  time wise, I just can't, but I see if I heat  them up and then peel and then process, I see no difference?  Any suggestions?   I was planning on putting the tomatoes in my large Hamilton Beach roaster pan and putting this outside on my table on the porch and do it this way to keep the heat out of the kitchen. 

Other than the relentless heat, which it is running at or over 100* daily, not too much going on.  The kittens are growing and are now exploring their room I have them in.  They are now using the box, even little tiny grey girl, and she is now eating solid food and getting things figured out.  I did not think that I would see her or Dexter doing this, not after the way they came to me in the shape they were in. I am still amazed and also thankful beyond prayers.

Well, not much is going on.  I still want to do my post that I mentioned several weeks ago about discussion as of what is going on in the country, and the Supreme court's decisions.  I have some things on my mind but then I had the kitten emergency and I got side tracked.  I will work on something and get this out.

Until then, I wish all a wonderful week, stay cool, and try to get through life in general.

Hugs to All.

New babies

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I thought I would just quickly post pictures of the two kittens.  Dexter is the little boy who D saved a week ago today.  He did not look like this when we got him, but now he is a pure boy, and getting into everything.
Little grey girl will be 6 weeks this week. I got her 4  weeks ago today. I am trying to find a special name for her and her fight to survive.  She is very special.
I will post pics of the garden.  It is doing very well, considering the heat,  D trenched and mulched the tomatoes and cukes and they are really producing.  The cuke vines are about 7 feet tall now. and the cherry tomato to the back and corner, is over 7 feet.
I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend, and I will post later.
Hugs

Thank you sir, may I have another....

Good Morning Everyone,

Well, you know the old saying, about Murphy's Law, or best laid plans of mice and men, well, I have ended up with another older kitten as of Sunday evening.
D was working on the back of the trailer Sunday, and finishing up. He has been wiring for security lights for the back of the trailer and the back lot as we are now having major problems with trespassing, and stealing things, right off of the renter's porches and under the carports.
He was finishing up when all of the sudden the people who live in a cruddy trailer to the back, (where everything is disappearing) starting hollering at their dogs, which they do let run around.  One of them, a Jack Russell terrier cornered something under a brush pile clear in the back and D climbed down the ladder and ran over to see what what going on.  He thought it may be a possum, but no, it was a very small, about 7-8 week old kitten and the terrier mauled this little guy.  D grabbed hold of the dog and threw it about 10 feet, and that gave him a moment to grab this kitten before the dog had a chance to finish the job and then ran in the house with this tiny one and I was shocked.  Then I kicked myself into doctor gear and started the fluids, and heating pad and then stayed up all night, hoping I could save this little guy.  He was bruised, and passed a very dark stool, which is a sign of internal bleeding, and I was horrified, as I can do little until morning to get this little guy to my vet.  So I just did sub-Q fluids, and kept warmth on him for the shock and prayed, that is all I could do....
By morning, I had fallen asleep on the couch for about an hour and a half, I was exhausted.  I jumped up and went into the small bathroom where I had him in the bathtub on warm blankets and the heating pad  and to my shock, he was up and was hungry...you do not know how happy I was to see this little man up, after seeing him limp and in distress.  I called the humane society that I work with, and they gladly paid for him to see the my vet and get some meds for him for pain and a very bad case of worms, the dark stool was worms and not blood. But he did receive a good mauling but thankfully the bites did not pinch or rip up his internal workings or he would not be with us.   This little guy is bruised but is improving every day.  He is very alert now and eating well.  I am so very glad, I am also glad I keep a medical kit ready for anything, people or critter.
So now, I have two kittens, the small grey girl is doing very well, and thriving, and now this little man.  Yep, I have a sign outside the door...
I will post pictures of the two for you.
Other than that, I have just been buried with work, between the kittens, my parents, the garden, and whatever else, I feel like a ping-pong ball only worse.  We have cooled off quite a bit here, have gotten some rain, and just am doing general work around the house.  Boy, it never ends.  And I think that I have said I live a boring life... Yeah, RIGHT.
So, I will post pictures, and keep you all posted.

Hugs to all

Happy 4th Of July Everyone

Busy, Busy Week. 
Please remember what our 4th of July is all about, especially with all that is going on in our government and states. Do not forget those who have served and died for our country so we can celebrate this day.
I will try to post later this week of what has been going on.  Just heat, and lots of bottle feeding of the newest member, who is doing well as far as I can see.
While I am here, I have read several of the blogs that I follow, and some have had some tragic things happen.  I am praying, and meditating healing thoughts, to those who need it, and thoughts to all who just need cyber-hugs.
Please take care all and we will get back soon.
Hugs.

I have been busy

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing well and surviving the heat.  The heat is on here.  It has been in the 100's here. A few days ago, it hit 107*F, and was very humid for us here.  Its going to be this kind of year I quess.

I apoligise for not getting to my discussion post going, but I have had a life interuption and I will explain later.  I received three very tiny, malnourished kittens late Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunatly, I lost two, with the second passing just  an hour or so ago.  I just could not save them, no matter what I have in my arsenal of meds and skill...but I am happy to say, this little female is pulling and screaming her way back from Mr. Dead's grip.  She is just a little over two weeks old, and is so far, showing me she will survive, which I am happy about, I am very,very  sad about losing her two brothers, though.

I will post later this week, as I have had several things happen, and I just have been exhausted feeding these little ones and up most of this week trying to save them.

I will keep you posted and I will get to the discussion as it pertains to the Supreme court hearing and what has been going on in the country.

Until then, a wonderful end of the week to all and I will see everyone later.

Hugs

Living deliberately - How to approach simplification by Carla Harbour from the November/December, 2005 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal

Living deliberately - How to approach simplification by Carla Harbour from the November/December, 2005 issue of Countryside & Small Stock Journal