Coffee and...part 9 :-D

Hello again. Last night was a little more normal as far as the lamb birth rate goes, but not one of those nights I care to repeat. First I found a ewe with one lamb standing next to her, so brought them into the barn. Next trip I found a dead lamb between where the first one was and a ewe with 2 standing babies. No way to know if it was a twin or a triplet. On the third trip I found a very nervous and flighty ewe and 3 dead lambs.They might have died of exposure since it was a cold windy night. Since that ewe has a good track record about having and raising lambs she is now in the barn in a stancion pen with a surrogate lamb. In a few days we will release her head and by then the lamb should smell like her milk and we hope she loves him. We now have 2 ewes getting lambs that needed a mother.

Today was sunny and a little bit windy but nothing like yesterday. Another endurance rider came over with her horse and we took about a 3 hour ride out in the hills. We plan to do this again next weekend.

Time for bed to get about 5 hours of sleep before barn duty. See you later.

Thanks, Julie. Have fun with that little 'grand'! They grow up faster than their parents did, I think. :)

darius - looks just great! so fresh and appealing! Does your sister have a small table and 2 chairs? It'd look like a bistro!

Sorry you lost some lambs, Mary. That's a bummer, nothing you can do about it. Hope the foster moms keep their adoptees. I remember going with a friend and her dad to the sale barn to get a couple of orphan lambs to raise. Loved going to the sale barn! Dad never bought orphans, I guess we had enough calves to pail feed already. :)

Darius,
It looks great .... nice to leave the new owners a chance to make it feel like "theirs". Nice neat lines - just the way I like 'em.
D

Thanks for the "approvals" everyone. Kooger, we did buy that rattan set at a yard sale but have it staged on the screened porch where it is protected from rain. There is a park bench just to the right of the big pots, though.

Looks very inviting with the door ajar, walk right in and buy buy buy!! Now about those weeds coming up between the flagstones.............. LOL Never met a gardener yet who could resist yanking out those pesky things, gimme my gloves!!

What? Still cookies left on the counter? Sarv, you can pick out the ones with the fewest chips, I'll take the ones that are loaded...As Mae West once said, Tooo much of a good thing is ....wonderful! That must be why we collect so many plants...... Dragged my DH off to look at carpeting again, why I ever thought beige would be a good idea .............well, you get the picture. Anyway, we had gone to Home Depot and you can buy a decent nylon short pile for around $3 with free installation but they insist on you buying padding as well, which runs another $5, now we're not talking competitive pricing anymore. And this pad is only 4 yrs old, so forget that. If we buy the carpeting, and get someone else to install, they want $6 or$7 per yd. for installation, grrrrrrrrrr. They get you coming and going. So, it looks like I'm keeping my puked on beige for a while and then maybe I'll look at installing oak hardwood. I have it in the kitchen and dinette and love it, soooo easy to keep up.

Blooms, if I could knit, I could have knitted myself another dozen cats already! I did the vac thing again twice and got MORE if you can believe it. I think this machine is sucking up past deposits that the Hoover missed. Told DH I'm going to vac every day until I don't get enough to bother emptying the holder.

Lambs lambs lambs, it like it's raining lambs! And Mary still find time to ride! Superwoman!

Julie don't worry about what to feed your little Angel, if it can fall on the floor or make a mess, she'll love it. We'll hear from you when you're off duty, in the meantime, enjoy those baby hugs and kisses! I'm off to make breakfast, toasted English Muffin Bread and a grapefruit ...Have you seen the price on them these days? Talk about sticker shock!

M5, we sprayed the weeds in the flagstone with Roundup and they will get pulled this week, LOL. (We already filled 3 lawn garbage bags with weeds and roots.) Next is to finish the left front bed to match the right front bed (without the big pots) and then rent a pressure washer to clean the sidewalk, flagstone and driveway. Supposed to get to 83º today so I'm glad that the bed is in partial shade.

That park bench will do the 'inviting look' trick. Good job! yikes! I guess you DID play in the dirt a lot!! It's sure gonna look spiffy when you're all done! Should sell no problem.

Oh my...what a grand day I'm having so far. LOL Angel (that's her name, not what I call her. ;-) is finally taking a nap. I think G'ma is ready to pull up the next 'bankie' and piddo right next to her. :-D I'll tell ya, for a 16 month old that little gal is 'something else.' Everything has to be in its place and man is she good at straightening the area rugs (I'm serious!). Not a wrinkle can stay in one. hehehe Wish she was here to straighten up after the dog (and my DH...LOL)

Darius, I think the garden looks terrific...and great idea using stain on those pots. I have a couple that I think I'll do the same thing with...and a couple more that I hope to use the "Make it stone" paint stuff on.

Mary, I remember how hard it was for me when I lost a few kid goats...but I guess it goes with the territory. Sound like you've been a busy girl the past few days.

Don't have time to go through for personal responses...want to get a few done while the baby is sleeping.

Take care...and TTYL

~julie~

I posted it somewhere, I received a country ham and other foods package as a gift for Valentines Day. I tried some of the ham straight, and it was too salty for "stand-alone" consumption.

This morning I got up and made some Navy Bean soup with the rest of the ham. There's carrots and onions in there along with some fennel, garlic chives, and spicey globe basil (fresh from my herb garden). I'll be putting together some cornbread in a little while. I don't brag about my cooking, because I try to stay away from doing it as much as possible, but my homemade soups are pretty good. Please pull up a chair and have some with the cornbread.

I have a door stripping and refinishing project waiting for me out in the gym. The door is open, the radio is on, and darn it, don't I keep getting distracted by things in the garden.

I have 2 hibiscus liners blooming today, 3 of the 10 hyacinths are popping up and trying to figure out how to bloom, the succulents garden needs weeding. There's only about 15 steps from my patio door to the gym, but by george, there are so many things distracting me.

I have wasted away 11 days on this "paying door project" which is expected in 10 days. I have had a lot of work lately, so it's hard to get to the paying project being worked on at the house. But, before the day is out, I will be getting burned by stripping solvent.

Have a great day everyone!!
Molly

Morning all. How's the Angel this morning? Did grandma recover? lol

I'll just have coffee this morning. Everyone must be busy today, 10 am and no new posts. I just reviewed my Bible lesson this am. I have to lead tonight and it makes me so nervous, but I'm stubborn and determined to take my turn, even tho I don't think I do the best job.

No paperwork to FedEx anywhere today until the birth certificates show up this aft. from Des Moines and Pierre with the apostille on them. Tomorrow I will FedEx them to Wash., DC for the federal apostille. I think we're going to get everything done in time, altho FedEx is getting rich off me. :) Wash., DC has a turn-around of 3 days, then a day back to me and I should have them before the 25th. Whew! It's gonna be close!

I'm gonna get domestic and wash the dishes and try to finish the family room curtains.
Laura

Hi Molly, guess we were waxing poetic at the same time. Have a good day to you!

Morning... I'll just have herbal tea. Tummy is a little tender this morning, probably from my sister's Sloppy Joe's last night. I don't know what all she added but the acidy-tomato taste was strong.

I'm making chicken and dumplings in the crock pot for supper tonight, a new way for me since my sister has no pots. (I threw them all out, cracked and peeling teflon.) Browned the chicken yesterday (she did buy a new skillet) and cooked it down so I could bone it, and de-fat it overnight. I just hope the crockpot will be hot enough to do drop dumplings (just Bisquick) and that I can make a roux with bisquick (no flour here)!

Molly, your project with the doors sounds tough.

Kooger, crossing fingers that Time is on your side!

Stinkin, nasty cold and snowy here along with gloomy skies...Just had to go shopping to get out of it. Went to a new place for lunch called Zoup - can sample a ton of soups and then order one. By the time I was done sampling, I was full, but felt so guilty, that I ordered a cup of it anyhow. When I left I noticed that I had dribbled a load down my front!! How does this happen???

We went to several stores, but nothing caught my eye except a new pot for some flowers. Since it was 40% off I didn't feel too guilty about buying it!

Then went to the local plant store and I picked up a seed pkg of cilantro. Got in line behind a woman who had a huge bag loaded to the brim of scrapbooking stuff. As the cashier took each piece out and scanned it, then had to talk about what she would use it for - took foreverrrrrr. I sighed several times, then left the line and put the seeds back. By the time Ieft the store, the line was backed up considerably... grrrr one of my pet peeves - open up another line for heavens sake!!!!

Just went and had a new battery put in my watch and it still doesn't work. Man, this just isn't my day....

Good to see everyone is still hanging out here. Had a busy day yesterday, (not as busy as Kooger and her new relationship with FedEx) running errands in the most efficient least gas comsumptive route, got a lot done but Man-o-man did my feet hurt! Found some lovely little (sorry Mary) lambchops at Sam's so we had those for dinner.

That soup sounded so good, Molly, I'm inspired to make a pot for dinner. Not ham, though, I don't have a scrap in the freezer. I do have lots of cabbage left from using the outer leaves for cabbage rolls, so maybe just a nice thick beef vegetable. DH claims not to like cabbage, but if I toss it in soup he doesn't even notice it's there. The rest will turn into slaw. hopefully before the cabbage becomes compost.

Darius, next time your sis makes sloppy joe's, toss a half tsp or less of baking soda in the pot, depending on the pot size) it will foam up temporarily but then settle down and eliminate some of the acidity. Ya, I know it's extra salt, but sometimes that's better than suffering the after effects of too much acid.

Brace yourselves, I'm gonna whine. I want SPRING! I want sunshine and a warm breeze, I want to be inspired to make potato salad, and throw sausages on the grill, I want the cats chattering at the birds through the screen, I want the doors and windows open, I want to smell the dirt warming up, I would even settle for a WEED springing up somewhere.

Whew!! I'm done. I feel better.

Here's a little St. Paddy's Day card I got from another member.....enjoy!

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=VB20614814

Just popping in to say 'good morning'. DS decided to sleep in so I'm off to deliver him to school. I'm going to deliver some clothes to a cousin and some quart and pint jars to another cousin while I'm out and about. They're both just a few miles farther than the school and I'll be glad to get the stuff out of the house. Spring must be on it's way, *smile*, she's cleaning out 'stuff'!!

Cya.........

Spring/summer has arrived. I went out and bought my summer clothes. I was so sick of all the junk I wore the last few years that I thought it was time for a bunch of something new. Three new capris and 7 new tops. Now I don't have to waste nice weather time to shop!! Sure looked funny trying on capris with socks!! (I was down a size so that even made me happier!!!)

Finished off two bags of choco chips and I'm NOT gonna open another one. Munching on a poppyseed salad as I type. Yum

Didn't even wear a coat - wasn't too bad. I had a heavy sweater on and in the stores I was dripping wet. Why don't they cut the heat down and save some $$?

Gotta go for a bit and watch the noon news (I am a new freak - never miss it!!) Take care all

Can somebody point me at the post with the guy standing on a ladder in the back of a truck.? wanted to show it to someone & can't find it.

Gak! It looks like more snow tonight. Our spring is usually early. I think my roses have tried to leaf out twice already and gotten killed back.

Someone help me...... I just got back from eating a Fried Snicker Sundae - two big snicker bars deep fried, with two huge scoops of ice cream, topped with caramel and hot fudge - with a load of whip cream. I ate the whole thing and now feel terribleeeeee. What in the world was I thinking!!!!!

Gonna go lay on the couch and moan and groan....Hope everyone else had a wonderful day!!!

Hi again. Our computer monitor croaked after giving me wiggly vertical lines for about a week, shrinking margins and waves through things, then it got the shakes and was a blank screen yesterday morning. I didn't know what the problem was, so took the computer tower to the fixit shop, then this morning DH took the monitor in. Tests revealed it was dead. We had our old small one in the basement so hooked it up and while the quality and size is not good at least I am back online.

Lambs and more lambs! They are still popping out, large (19 1/2 pounds down to about 3). The big one is Goliath, haven't named the little one (Peanut?). He is smaller than Teeny lamb. His brother was normal size but this poor little guy must have had a clog or a kink in his umbilical cord. We tend to think sheep are dumb, but the mother of this little bitty guy followed the cart to the barn door, got worried because she couldn't see him (he was lieing down in the cart and the other lamb was standing) and ran out to where she had delivered, sniffed around and looked for him, then came back and looked at her normal size lamb who was just inside the barn door as "bait". She would not come inside until we put the cold little bitty one out there with the first one. The lambs were then moved about 20 feet at a time and she would run away and come back to them, finally got the whole family into a pen, then we took the little lamb back to the warming barrel and the ewe didn't worry at all, she knew he was in the barn. Yep, sheep seem to be able to count.

Lamb chops, yes, delicious! It doesn't bother me a bit. Most of these lambs will be sold for meat, a few, about 30, will be kept as replacements. The flock is from one to about 6 or 7 years old, and a certain number of them just get too old to raise good lambs, die of something, get mastitis or get killed by coyotes. Some are lousy mothers and they don't last long either, are either butchered or more likely taken to the sale barn. People buy these ewes and start a flock or add to their existing flock, and they find out why they were sold. Auctions are a case of buyer beware.

Ok, gotta go get some sleep now. Mornings come really early~~~~~ 12:30. Yawn.

It looks like everyone is busy today.

HAPPY St. PADDY's DAY to ALL!

Can't really stick around too long. I'm up to my ears in 'stuff' that *has* to be done. Angel is THE most....well...she's *wonderful*! And I never thought I'd say that about *any* child. hehehe I ended up having her until about 7:00 last night. Mom & Pop decided that the 2 days on 2 days off wasn't such a great idea after all...(WHEW! am I ever glad!) At least this way I have 4 days of the 7 to do my own thing.

I'm still planting seeds (More tomatoes, and two kinds of peppers this morning) and marveling at the wonderful successes I'm getting so far. I guess I'd better go and move those trays of sweet potato and coleus cuttings to the upstairs light units. I need the heat mats for germinating MORE seeds. :-D :-D

I think I'll swipe a bowl of bean soup on my way out the door...Thanks...can't remember who brought it and am typing too fast to look up. hehehe

~julie~

My seed germination has come to a stand still. Those that sprouted are doing great, but the others are just pots of dirt - most discouraging!! Took everything off the heating pad/cookie sheet thing - DH said it was too dangerous. Guess I need to take a trip to the local seed store and pick up some fresh seeds.

Has gas gone out of sight by you? Today it was 2.13 and when I was leaving they were changing it to 2.25!! Man is that high!!! Something needs to be done about that. My kids drive over 40 mi one way to work. 80m times 2 is 160 miles a day. Their gas bill is astronomical!!

We've had three deaths the month of March - hopefully no one else will croak. My funeral garb never gets a chance to air out!! Tired of all the ham bun things too. Gosh does that sound bad. Seems like that is all we do - funeral home and funerals.

Tomorrow it is lunch with the 'girls' (retired friends) Two of them made quilts and they are bringing them to show. I cannot do hand work, my fingers just cramp up. I'd rather play in the dirt!!

Well, not much more of news here. Hope all those lambs are getting around and eating good. Take care all!

Sarv...are you using a regular heating pad (you know, like we use on our backs) or a heat mat made for starting seedlings? At first I'd thought that I was reading where people were using regular kind but when I asked my DH about that idea he told me "NO way!" :-D I think he thought I'd burn the house down if I tried that. I was only trying to *save* money. hehehehe

I got my mats from Gardener's Supply or Park's...I can't remember now (and I'm too lazy to look it up. hehe) I also got several of those fancy schmancy seed starting greenhouse type of things. But I'm finding out that unless the seed has special needs (like bottom heat and/or consistent moisture) that I'm having fantastic luck using plastic cookie containers that you buy "homemade" cookies in at the grocery store. Coffee cake containers work great too (~grin~).

For "soil" I'm really impressed with what the Jiffy Pellets do...and I don't have to transplant the seedlings into anything larger, unless I want to.

See...my problem is that I tend to either over water...OR...drown my seedlings trying to 'love' them to death. Using the plastic containers or the gh units AND a little squeeze bottle filled with chamomile tea...AND keeping the cover on the container until the seeds have germinated, things are a lot better for *me* than ever before.

I guess identifying what *my* problems with starting seeds have been in the past, I've been able to fix them...and pretty cheaply, I might add.
:-D

Oh, in case you might try the Jiffy pellets, you might want to soak them with a weak solution of the chamomile tea to get them expanded. It's sure worked wonders for me.

And would you *please* stop talking about all the great places you go to eat, ad what you have there??? :-D I'm *starving*!! hehehehe

~julie~

Just dropped in to say Hi, didn't accomlish a thing today except to buy a couple of color ink cartridges for the printer. Last one went pretty fast, was printing pictures and that eats them up quickly. Got a good buy at Sam's, 2 for under $60 but the bank account was looking pretty slim by the time I left there. They are selling bare root stock roses and other plants....apparently nobody has looked at the calendar or the forecast!

Too bad I wasn't there with you Sarv, I could have eaten up half of that sunday and saved you from collapsing on the couch! Ice cream is my big temptation too. Along with any kind of pasta, chocolate, my accursed tobacco addiction....It's too late to die young, but by golly I'm going out with a smile on my face.

While I was taking groceries and books out of my trunk, Oskar decided he needed an outside adventure, so he snuck out while I wasn't looking. It's rain/snow/blow out there. I whistled him in but he must have been having a good time because he wouldn't come. So, I shut the door and waited, about 2o minutes later, in he came, looking guilty but rather pleased with himself, and his tail all poofed out. Big Doofus.

Better start something for dinner..........hope I don't get frostbite rummaging in the freezer.

Checking in this eve. Better pass on coffee, but tea would hit the spot! Did a fair bit of running today. Started with some groceries for MIL, then a doctor visit, 30 miles south, home again, then another FedEx run to Sioux Falls, 30 miles NW and it started snowing and is accumulating quite nicely! I'm rather thrilled to see it. :) sorry, I know you guys east of us have been totally dumped on this year, but we've had so little, I really am happy to see it. (And I'll be even happier when DS gets home from the play performance at school.)

Found out this morning that the oldest 3 cannot apply for Dutch citizenship. Up until '85, only father's could apply for their children. An equal rights law changed that in '85 but was not made retroactive so only our youngest is eligible. Sure would have been nice if they told me that a month ago, before I paid for birth certificates, and the kids took 2 days off work to go to Chicago. *sigh* Also was informed that they have decided to be closed Easter Monday, so that means we have to back up our trip to Fri, 26th, one less day for documents to arrive. grrrr! She did tell me it would be okay if our passports were not here by then. That's a given, haven't ordered the last two yet. :) Fun, fun! I met a gal at the FedEx office who's hubby is in the US citizenship process and having lots of 'fun'! So we commiserated with each other. lol

And I got Samantha overnight again!! Her daycare is closed tomorrow. I'm supposed to take her to pre-school - they're having a bowling party tomorrow. It's 8 miles away, so if the roads are icy, I'm staying home. We'll play lots of games and bake something yummy! :D

Have a good sleep everyone! (DS is home safe, said he had fun sliding.... help!)

Well, GOB's, I've been remiss in posting regularly for several weeks now but hope to be home in about a week and then participate fully again... and even bring goodies to the table. Thanks for putting up with my part-time visit.

Love you ALL!

M5, got frostbite myself, thanks be for microwave - no thought involved other than which package and what veggie to add. Usually green beans, seems like I never get tired of them.

I didn't do much of anything today other than read a book and fell asleep even doing that... maybe tomorrow.

Kooger, I always told my kids I don't need to KNOW about such things. Have to admit to having a coupla good slides myself and I was no kid. Always glad to know they're all home safe and sound. And they are all grown years ago.

And on what's in stock in the stores, they decided that six months ago. Kinda early for roses in Wisc in any year I'd have thought. ;-) ~Blooms

We'll be happy to see you back "full time" Darius. You've done such a good job for your sister, but I'm sure you'll be happy to be home with your own things, and a little time to relax. I ended up making a stir fry for dinner and I had quite a bit of rice left over so I made rice pudding...one of the few things I like with cooked raisins in it. I put the rest over on the counter so you can help yourselves. We did put a dollop of ice cream on ours but you can be virtuous and pass on that part.

Yup way too early for Roses in Wisconsin. I was looking at my climber when I came home and wondering how much of it to prune before the weather starts warming up. It's just a baby, only two years old, but it reached the roof last year so it needs to be cut back. (I know, go to the pruning forum.....I was being lazy and thought I could ask here....lol) This is how it looked the first year...

Kooger it seems every bureaucracy has the means to make you insane...between the "oh, you dont need that" 'Oh, yes you do " and the goofy deadlines, there's an endless list of items to dredge up or scavenge for. DH is in the process of building an unattached garage and although it doesn't compare in consequences to your paper war, it's been one problem after another.

First, the local guy (who only works part time for the township) doesn't answer phone calls, is seldom in the office and is extremely disorganized when you do track him down. He gave us bad information at the beginning when we needed the building permit, which resulted in another visit to track him down. Then, when DH went to the county to get their approval they neglected to mention another requirement and ...now they want an additional $350 for THEIR approval for the zoning conformation because of what they didn't tell us about at the time of the first application. And we pay the salaries for these incompetents....!! Now DH has gotten a contractor to put the shingles on the roof and when I commented that he didn't have all the paperwork approved he said "What are they gonna make me do, tear it down?" I just rolled my eyes and said, "I hope not. "

Marcia, any luck househunting?

Pruning suggestions welcome............! Even though we had snow last night, I'm getting antsy to get outside......

M5...you have a beautiful home. I love the way the door and shutters echo the greens of the plant...such a gorgeous entryway.

Kooger...there's *always* some kind of 'hitch' in the process. Makes no difference which branch of the gov you're working with. I always think that the more they mess up, the better their job security. LOL (Wish it was that way for the rest of us!)

Oh...and as I read your comment about how nice it wa to see this snow, I kinda had to agree with you. As anxious as I am (and M5, too! :-D) for spring, I have to admit this one is pretty. Probably because I know it can't last too long...and that way not as many people can get hurt. LOL (Mainly ME! hahaha) We've gotten over 6" so far and more on the way.

Darius...yep! We'll all be glad when you get back home and into our kitchen. I know you've enjoyed your time with your sister...and heaven knows you've done a LOT of work. I think you might need a *rest* now. LOL

Well, GOB's...it's time to check on the seedlings. Hope everyone has a GREAT day!

~julie~

Well, I'm enjoying a 'snowday'. Our first this year! So far about 4" on the ground and 4-6" more predicted. Just east of us and all the way to the Mnpls. area, they have about double that and are predicted to get 15" or more! DH called, they loaded his deliveries in our pickup, small order today, and he's glad not to be in the semi in this mess. He's in SW MN and it's worse there - met a semi on a bridge on an unplowed 2-lane road and almost got wiped out. He'll be glad to get home!!

I'd love some of that rice with raisins. One of my favourite meals as a child. My family doesn't like the raisins in it, boo hoo! I should have fed it to them every other day when they were little. :)

Time to go play 'Chutes/Snakes and Ladders', Dominoes, Jenga, Cootie and whatever else the darlin' dreams up! :D

Kooger! Sounds like you're having a terrific time with the little one. Has the second batch of snow hit you yet? I think DH told me we weren't supposed to get any more until this evening...but then we're in for the 4-6" range (or more) if it doesn't all go north of us.

The schools in the area are closed today so all the other 5 grands are traipsing in and out at g'ma's house. Some to do the shoveling, and another one to talk 'boys' and the 'prom'. (Gee...I'm glad I got through that stage. hehehe)

Later...
~julie~

Well, it snowed heavily for awhile and now it's just been light snow for the past 3-4 hours. Gotta run, 'Aladdin' is calling my name! LOL

Hello, ummm, rice pudding! It's good with the tea.

Darius, it will be good to have you home again and with us oftener. Thanks for giving us updates of the progress on your sister's house repair and spruce up. When you get home I hope it is warm enough to open up the doors and windows and air the place out. You haven't mentioned your health since you have been in Fla, so I hope it has been better and will continue to be so. Did you do any hunting for a place yet, or is it too soon for that?

The lambs just keep comming without any sign of slowing down. That's ok as long as we can keep enough pens empty. Last night I repaired the only available pen to put a ewe into that I knew was lambing out in the field. It is much easier to bring a ewe in when she already has a lamb than before she delivers. They usually pick a spot that seems just right and are reluctant to leave it. I could have brought the whole flock into the barn and sorted them, but there was already a ewe in labor in the barn who was not in a pen. When I went out to pick up the ones that were outside one of the lambs had died with the birth sack over it's head. Darn! Gusss maybe I should have brought the flock inside after all and then I might have seen it in time to remove the sack. This morning at daylight there was another set of twins and another ewe who followed the lambmobile in, she was so close to delivery that the lamb's feet were sticking out. How can they walk like that?

I saw the amublance go by early this morning with lights flashing, so now I am wondering who on our back country road with only 6 houses would have needed it. So far we have eliminated 3 households but still don't know what happened. Things like that are a big event out here in the country.

Yesterday I went riding for about 2 1/2 hours, covered about 12 miles up and down lots of hills mostly at a trot. The day was very nice but the wind got a bit cold on the way home. Horses travel faster going toward home and seem to have a built in compass, they can tell which is the "right" direction as soon as we turn that way. We walk for the last mile so the horse is fairly cool by the time we get home, but some days that is chill time for me. I need to ride a different one today, same route but the day is cooler and I can see it is snowing in the mountains to the northwest of us, that is very good, we really need it. The forest service is already bracing for a bad fire season.

My hubby has had that flu bug, he has quit running a fever but still is having problems laying down to sleep. Even sitting up most of the night trying to snooze in a chair produced a lot of coughing spells. His doctor told him he is seeing about 50 cases of this per day!

Have a great day everyone. Here is a picture of some of the lambs and their mothers out in the field, it is getting a real population explosion. This is where they go from the barn, so the youngest here would be 4 days old and the oldest not quite 3 weeks.

Mary, my breathing seemed better after the first 2 weeks I was here. Almost hate to go home to the un-vented propane heat but the weather there is warming so maybe it won't be too bad or too long. Thanks for asking. : )

Some of the parameters for a house when my sister and I start looking include heat source and carpeting; my doc suggests hardwood floors (or vinyl).

Now the kid again doesn't want to move with us, wants to finish her senior year here. She seems to think she can get a part-time job and rent the house next door ($800 rent plus utilities) and get a couple of friends to share it with her. I'm encouraging her to get a job NOW and see how it goes, how much she can make and save, and what it does to her social life and her school grades.

Pass the rice pudding = I love it (but I don't eat the raisins!!)

Weather man just said another storm is coming tonight - snow, ice and rain. I can't tell you now depressing this all is. What in the world is going on with this weather!!

Darius, I think I need you up here with a spell - I need some painting done and windows replaced! As far as your neice staying alone - DON"T LET HER!! Do you know how many parties there will be (left mine alone for one week and did we ever return to a gosh awful mess...) I can understand her feelings of wanting to finish school where she is tho...

I am SO mad at myself. I decided to repot a ton of seedlings today and did it at my kitchen bar area (we don't use that part of the house - we use our lower level kitchen ) Anyhow, got dirt all over the bar, on the floor and it was a royal mess. Plus I had just hauled all of the brugs out of their winter quarters and they were all over the family room (on the couch even!!! - ) I had a lunch date with friends, so I left the mess. When I came home from a four hour lunch, I was too tired to deal with it, so went downstairs and made another mess = eating crackers and cheese and leaving that all on the bar along with the dirty plates etc. Sat down and decided to brush the cat - removed a ton of hair - which I put on the arm of the chair I was in. Then decided to go out and get the mail - former neighbors were driving by and stopped to say HI. I said, 'come on in - havent' seen you for months' - well THEY DID!!! I kept apologizing for all the mess (she is a neat nick and never has a thing out of place and doesn't like gardening at all) I could have died!!!! Never again....I am going to clean up my messes after I make them. I hadn't even made the beds!!!! Oh woe is me.....

meezers - pretty house - love the roses

kooger- first snow day!! Man we've had a ton here!! And they usually have several delays when the fog comes in the spring!! I used to love getting that call (former teacher....)

Mary, hope everyone is ok in your neck of the woods- ambulances always scare me. Just like getting a call after midnight - always worry that someone has been hurt...

Well, I want a pizza for din din - gotta go work on DH (he will want to stay home and cook - never wants to go out)

Darius, I've been working on the notion that "no news is good news" but I'm sure glad to hear that you've been doing better. I'm really looking forward to spening some more time with you at the "table."

Mary...you sure got your hands full with all those lamb-i-kins. Cute as a bug's ear. You reminded me of how the ambulances effect people in this area. A week or so ago a police car must have been chasing some stupid kid through the woods here and decided to turn on the siren right in front of our house. Both my kids (they live right behind my house) called first thing the next morning to see if I had had a heart attack. Now wouldn't you think they'd have called when they *heard* the siren? LOL (It was really late when it happened. But I know from experience the kind of 'event' you're talking about. Hope everyone is fine and it was nothing more than a false alarm.

Sarv...guess what we're having for supper? :-D Yep! Pizza! (The homemade variety crust and all) When it's done, I'll leave some on the counter for anyone who'd like to try it.

Oh Yeah! I forgot. M5 aside from you having a lovely house that rose is WONDERFUL...! I wish I could find one that would grow like that for me. And yes...Wallyworld *is* a bit early with their roses. Honestly! No wonder the ones I bought last year croaked. They were probably out in the snow and ice, too.

Well...I got all but three packs of seeds (for the middle of March) planted today. After I plant the salvias tomorrow, it's all finished but the marigolds and other quick growing annuals...and that won't happen for another two to three weeks. I can BREATH!!! :-D It feels really good to have all that stuff growing and getting ready to...uh....oh yeah...then comes the PLANTING. LOL

DH is putting the toppings on the Pizza...I'm going to make myself a glass of iced tea to go with mine. There's more in the container if you'd like some. Help yourself.

~julie~

Mary, my intention, in encouraging the kid to get a job, is for her to see how tough it really is to make ends meet with only a little education. I'm hoping she will "convince" herself to move with her mother instead of being coerced.

We are sitting right smack in the middle of the big snow. Hard to tell because of all the drifting, but we are in the 15" to 20" path. We plowed the yard this afternoon so it wouldn't get to deep. we have some huge piles. At least this time of the year it won't be around long.
Bernie

Good Morning GOBs! It's a beautiful snowy one here in Wisconsin. Bernie that 15-18" of the white stuff is a bit much. We have winter weather warnings here until mid-morning...I haven't heard how much we're supposed to get. Maybe it will all stay in your area. ;-)

Not much on the agenda today...been up since a few minutes past 4 this a.m. working on filling in the blanks in my personal plant database. Is anyone else in our group frustrated with the new Plant Files system? What a shock it was for me when I couldn't find the plain old general kind of search! I'm *not* an expert...and I don't know which 'blank' to fill in to get the info I need. ARGHHHHHH!

Oh well...like I said in the thread on the subject...I have house work that needed to be done anyway.

See ya later, when I calm down. :-D

~julie~

Julie,

If you click on the "Search and Browse Tools" tab, then click on the first option "search" you can have that simple "one liner" search again.

I just discovered in nosing around the new changes that have been made. I have a problem due to my lack of knowledge (and my "laziness" to learn, in differentiating the meaning of genus, cultivar, species etc. I tend to use common names a lot, all the time. I thought "Daylily" was a species. I moved it all over until I discoved it's a common name. And I sure can't spell hemer....something.

What I did discover, if you get the words in the right places, you don't get 5000 things to sort through.

Even with the common name like "mother of thousands" it brings up 2.

I am being truly sincere when I say I feel for yall up north in this continuing cold you are having. It's 56 down here right now. March has been unusually cold this year. We are usually getting ready for boating weather by now. Not this year.....

Molly