Friday, January 21, 2011

Round 2 snow maker

Good Morning everyone,

Thank you for your kind comments about Miss Nubbins.  She is my little star and one of my favorites, though I love my kitties equally, she has a very special place in my heart.
I had some questions about how she got to that point, and to tell you the truth, Doc and I weren't real sure.  Doc had an general idea, as when she was brought in, she smelled heavily of diesel fuel, and had dirty motor oil all over her coat.  She also came off of a ranch around the area, and when Doc did an inspection of the legs that were sliced, there was some metal filings on the bone, and he was piecing a theory that the trucks were brought in from the ranch, put in the barn, the engines were hot and this happened in Dec of 2000 and if I remember it was running -30 below wind chills so she went up into the engines to get warm.  This happens quite a bit, more than people want to know.
I will assure you she was a mess when I got her, and she was very, very tiny, which is why she survived, Doc said, she was bounced around in the engine  block like a ping pong ball when the engine was started up. Doc's guess was she was up on the radiator on the top of the engine and she bounced from the top to the fan. It was also very cold and the cold stopped the blood from flowing and helped until she was placed with Doc.   I think I will stop there.

Well, sounds like snow again here.   And for my readers in the south, it sounds like it will migrate down your way like the last batch we had here Wednesday.  Only this time, we are to get the 30+ mph winds which make it cold and miserable, and more like a blizzard.  So more cabin fever this weekend.  I have some of my seed order made out,  I am trying to try a few new tomatoes, and some peppers, what I am dealing with is the fact of time and my physically able to do all of this.  I don't want to give up gardening, I would be a complete stark raving idiot, but I do know that this year, I am having much more back pain and I now have a hip that is really giving me fits, and doctor mentioned that I am way too young to have a hip surgery,  and it wouldn't even be attempted unless I fell and broke the hip which would put me out of commission.  But I want to be able to garden and handle things.  That is why I am working on the idea of a more accessible raised beds using stair stringers to elevate some of the beds up so I can get to them without bending.  I do know that I can only afford to build a few, so these I am planning will be for greens and spinach and will be designed as to make a simple cold frame or hoop house and be able to cover them with greenhouse plastic.  Then next year I will tackle more and a little different for tomato and peppers and other sturdy garden plants.  My plan is simply to built with comfort in mind and more efficient with water, possibly able to hook up a type of drip irrigation system so I just have to have a hose hook up and then just turn on the hose. I also want to build them so they can be taken apart if I ever move this trailer someday.   Ah, best laid plans of mice and men.

Really other than the snow and cold going on, there really isn't much.   I have some people that moved into the trailer to the south of me, and I don't think that they will stay very long.   They were moved in only 2 days and on Sunday, I could hear them fighting clear through my house, though we are very close, so I knew that this would end up doing something later and I was right.  Sunday evening about 5 pm, they were outside screaming with several other people, and I do not put up with any of that at all,  I'm not going to listen to the words and screaming that I heard. So, I called the cops and it didn't take very long for a unit to get over there, and after that, they don't even make a sound.  They are in and out and gone in very short order.  We'll see how this goes.  We have 3 new bunches and they are all kids, so, that should tell you how that will go.  Usually not very good, especially when it gets warm and the party weather gets going. Time will tell, and I will give them the benefit of a doubt.

Well, I guess I had better get going, Need to run some errands before it SNOWS again.  Need to put some gas in the car, which I have heart failure when I do.  I only put  in about $20 worth, as I don't drive too much.  And sometimes I just use the Handi-bus if I don't have too much to do.
I wish everyone a wonderful weekend, enjoy and we will talk to all later.

6 comments:

  1. I wish I could build things like you do. I would love to see pics of your cold frames sometime.

    Sorry to hear about the neighbors. I really admire the way you make such a nice home for yourself and the kitties despite what goes on around you. I have a lot to learn from you.

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  2. Reading the story of your kitty and the warm place atop the diesel engine I now understand, having lived on a farm.
    Like you, I don't want to go into too much of the gory details.
    I am so glad she made it.
    I may be at the point where raised beds should be the option. After living in WY for 12 years where gardening was nearly impossible, it was alarming this past summer in KY to find out just how much physical energy needs and pain go along with it now that I am older.
    Noisy neighbors are horrible--we've had it happen a few times even though we have always lived in the country.
    Cold here just now, but nothing like your weather. I was able to be outside well layered in woolies.
    I'd be interested to learn what tomato varieties you intend to try.
    I'm going to order some that I used years ago and experiment with a few more new to me.

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  3. I like your stair stringer idea. I've seen tomatoes grown upside down, hanging from a canvas sack with a hole poked in the bottom. You hang them up high, and the vine grows down. Great way to utilize space. I wonder if this would work for zucinni or small squash? You might keep your eye out for some kind of chair or stool with casters on that you could sit in and roll from place to place while you garden. Might take a load off your hip and back.

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  4. I don't blame you for persevering with your gardening (the results are well worth it). The raised beds DO help so you don't have to bend so much. The tomatoes could be grown in tall pots (or do you do that already?) and the tumbling sort of cherry tomatoes can be grown in hanging planters. I read something the other day which said, about perseverence and the body wanting to give up on work - if my body could do it yesterday, then it can do it today, and it will do it tomorrow . . . OK until you get laid up with a bug!

    Hope the new neighbours soon move on somewhere else. How awful for you to have to live next door to such dreadful peopole.

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  5. Yes, your weather is headed our way. More snow by the weekend. We need the moisture so I won't complain.

    Good luck with the new neighbors. Be careful and don't let anyone know who called it in. I don't trust people in today's world.

    I am sorry you are having back troubles and hip problems. Mine was sacroiliac, not hip like I thought. So no surgery for me!

    Stay in our of the cold with your kitties.

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  6. I just love your blog! That's all I have to say!

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