kappydell

there are quite a few virologists who fear just as giving out antibiotics when not necessary creates "super bugs" that the covid shots will create bigger and badder super-covids. if you go to website americasfrontlinedoctors.org you can get hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin thru their docs. no insurance will pay of course. doc televisit $90 then they can prescribe and you can order. if interested i wouldnt wait too long incase TPTB outlaw telemedicine or pull their licenses or some such skulduggery. you need not have symptoms to get prescribed...these are preventative and early treatment options

LOL! Have you decided what kind of cow to get? Some are far too high producing for a homestead (just my opinion, maybe you can make lots of cheese). But the Jersey cow was bred to be a homestead breed, smaller, and tolerates wearing a halter and being tethered out to eat if you do not have much pasturage. They give around 3 gallons milk a day. Another "mini" breed is the Irish Dexter with a milk yield of 1 1/2 to 2 gallons. The Dexters are also reported to be a more hardy breed. Holsteins (the black and white ones) give 10-12 gallons a day!

WOW. I do have to get here more often. Catching up now tho. We took 2 weeks off to lose our vacation weight (mostly water from all that SALTY restaurant food. No cooking allowed in rooms where we stayed, so we packed my electric skillet for naught. They did have a micro & a fridge, so we did try to warm stuff up, but....not much unsalty stuff available when you have to nuke everything. We ate out and I ate a lot of omelets & salads. Went back to PT yesterday and gave them a pecan kringle for their coffee break room, and one therapist got some cheese curds. They have never heard of either onoe here so they are in for a treat. We are starting to clean out the summer garden for tilling and preparing for fall and winter plantings. Today we pulled out the enormous walking stick collards, and although we had plenty of (we thought) bug damage, I wanted to cut as much good stuff out and dehydrate it. Wast not want not. Well....we finally discovered why the insecticide we used (Sevin powder, usually reliable) did not stop the collards from being eaten up. Unbeknown to us, we apparently have an escargot ranch. I did trim off some good collard leaves, but pound for pound we had more "locally farmed" escargots, had I wanted to purge them and cook them, LOL. Nice to know we have another food source if things go goofy on us. We got plenty of thanks from our friends in wisconsin that we were able to take meat to. We had a marine cooler (the HUGE one from Walmart....the entire width of the pickup bed long). In May when meat sales were on we bought plenty - jam packed all 3 freezers) and delivered them. Some went to one of Marys relatives, some went to a friend living in a halfway house (he did buy a freezer for his room) on food stamps. I will never forget the look on his face when we offloaded all the chicken, pork loin roasts, pork loin chops and ribeye steaks. Then we took him out to get some chewing tobacco and some diet pepsi since he was at the last part of the month and his money was all gone. It was WORTH all the blood, sweat and tears to make that delivery. ) Busted the budget too, but it aint the first time and wont be the last I reckon. Prices here have almost doubled on meat since we bought all that so Im thanking God daily for those blessed freezers! BTW....if anybody knows how to can escargots...??? LOL...Mary ate them in Germany and said they were delicious.)

Well we made it b ack from Wisconsin. Marys reunion was fun. We saw the water ski show 3 times (they took world championship again this year). We got to our favorite stores (that are not available down south), ie, Menards (Where we bought a drip irrigation system for our two greenhouses, ans solar lights, neither of which they carry at Lowes); Woodmans (where we got lots of racine kringles (to freeze), wisconsin cheeses, Eileens candy (Made in Green Bay Wis...they make excellent bridge mix, better than Brachs who has gotten cheap lately) Franks sauerkraut, Milwaukee dill pickles, and mung beans for $1.18/lb for sprouting.) We also went to a local health food store and got several packages of alfalfa seeds for sproutintg too. (Down here, they keep telling me "alfalfa is for horses" LOL.) Oh yes, rye flour. In short supply in Wisconsin but nowhere to be found in my neck of Georgia. Then we revisited the Basilica of Mary Hope of Christians in Hubertus Wisconsin. Loved it. The basilica is beautiful! Brought home numerous souveniers. We hadnt been there since the last century (1997, LOL) We were not going to stay more than a week but the another hurricane hit the exact areas we had to travel to ge home so we waited till the waters receeded, running between hurricanes going up and coming back. At home we discovered that the cats had torn out the plastic accordian curtain next to the air consitioner to get into the house. We sealed things up. Then we discovered a litter of new kittens in my bedroom 48 hours later! That explained mama cats insistence in getting into the house,. So I went outside in my jammies and called the kitties and carried mama in to reunite her with the little ones. We did not know she was pregnant! (The reunion made me teary eyed.) I have to admit, that is one smart mama cat and determined too. I have seen her scale a 7 foot chain link fence like a ladder, so I have no doubt she found her way in thru the AC wing curtain. I dont begrudge her that, in light of being pregnant; in fact I kinda admire her for her resourcefulness. To paraphrase the outdoor sportswear ad from years ago, "She is one tough mother" ! Needless to say nobody is going back outside anytime soon, til the "littles" get some size and the weather turns cooler and less rambunctious. Little Claudette (saved from drowning during the hurricane of the same name) turned out to be a Claude instead. He's doing very well eating regular kitty food, zooming around the house, and growing like a weed.

I just picked a head of cabbage for more keto friendly eats. Mary is getting irritated at eating different food than I do, she says it makes her feel guilty. No matter what I say, it does not seem to help. I am hoping she will come to terms with my adjusted dietary instead of looking on it as a "crackpot" diet. If I ate like her I would have to cut back to portions so teensy it would not even be worth eating. I keep telling her I do not mind her eating homemade bread and the other goodies I make for her to eat alone. Even those goodies I used to relish, I am losing my cravings for. But one bite of high carb foods, and, as I have learned from experience, all the cravinge return with a vengeance. So I cant - won't - go there. I wish I had something I could say to reassure her that I still enjoy eating with her, but I cant eat the same goodies. Our bodies are different. Just as she cannot eat high fat foods, or spicy foods, because she has a finicky stomach, I cannot eat many carbs at all because of my hypoglycemia and weight gain issues. I am FRUSTRATED!

OY! MtRider, that must have upped your heartbeat...after it started back up,k that is. I went to my doc today, and she is NOT AMUSED that the ortopedic surgeons office is passing the buck on why I cant stand straight after hip surgery. Glad she agrees with me, I was beginning to feel like the lone ranger saying there is something wrong that needs correction. I did get more PT tho. I will go for X Rays because she wants to see a set, and maybe send me back to the neuro surgeon that did my back. If I need correction because the hip was botched, I know a good paralegal who will help me thru the paperwork. I think somebody screwed up somewhere, just cant prove it. But I dont think I should feel things shifting and hear a klunk occasionally in my lower back area on that side. I was getting a little discouraged and down thinking I was doomed to live with the pain and wobbliness and bent over (again) but my doc gave me some hope. Our latest kitten, Claudette, we named after the hurricane storm when we found her desperately trying not to dreown under our front steps (since boarded up TIGHT so nobody else gets under there. She has teeth now, but not eating solids yet, just chewing on me when she gets hungry. We had another little one get under our car and ride 40 miles before we spotted her hobbling away at a gas station where we had stopped. We named her Bounce, because although she had a limp, the vet said she had nothing broken and would heal up from the tumble she took jumping out of the truck. "Keep her inside for a week or so until she walks normally again." We are grateful that we spotted her limping away, she would probably have been hit by another car coming into or leaving the gas station. She is inside with Claudette, showing that little chit hot to handle soft mushy cat food, and licking the formula off that gets on Claudie when I feed her - she is very messy. A wet washrag is nowhere near as good as a mama kittie's tongue, but we are not sure where/who Mom was so she is a bottle babie for now. She is growing, so I must be doing something right. Our garden is kidking out tomatoes, yellow snap beans, okra, collards, and tonight Mary had creamed new potatoes. One of the potato vines was dead and she pulled it, delightedly finding 8 or 10 good sized spuds underneath. So tonight she had her favorite veggies for dinner, wax beans and creamed new potatoes. I had roast pork and beans, declined the spuds (very reluctantly but they are too many carbs). Yesterday I apologized to her for the "boring" dinner of steak and tomatoes. We both laughed at that one, because it is a favorite quickie summer dinner at our house. If that is boring, lets have more of it! Mmmmmm.

No on street parking for this thing.....

Tonight I made "keto friendly" refrigerator slaw (keeps for weeks in fridge)....with shredded collards! I can hardly wait to see how nicely they marinate and mellow as the sweet-sour oil and vinegar dressing (sugar free of course) is assertive enough to compliment the greens. LONG KEEPER SLAW (modifications in parentheses) Slaw veggies: 2 lb cabbage, chopped (2 qts chopped collard greens - chopped fine in blender with 2 c chopped cabbage) 1/2 c chopped green pepper (substituted carrot) 1 c chopped onion 3/4 c sugar (sugar substitute) Dressing: 1 c white vinegar 1 tsp sugar (substitute) 1 tsp salt 3/4 c oil 1 tsp dry mustard 1 tsp celery seeds Combine slaw veggies of your choice. Mix until evenly mixed. Stir in the sugar/substitute. Boil dressing ingredients, leaving out sugar substitute if it is not heat stable (sweet & low). Mix into vegetables. Add sweetener and mix in. Refrigerate, covered. Stays good in fridge for weeks IF you can keep from noshing on it. About 18 cups. Per cup = 90 calories, 8 g fat, 4.5 g carbs, 2.3 g fiber (net carbs 2.2 grams!) sodium 124 g, calcium 72 mg, potassium 110 mg. Such a deep green!

we are desperados, fer shure! jeepers you are as cray-cray as any of us! m\Midnight Mom thsat aint a bad idea...wish I had a metal roof.....

Went to my doctor on Monday. She was pleased with my weight loss. She also still does not like my gait and sent me back to the orthpedic surgeon to ask why I still limp, stagger, and hurt after months of healing and physical therapy. I was not pleased with the result of the visit. Basically I was told...we did nothing wrong, the x rays look good, everything is fine. They suggested I go back to my back surgeon, blaming the back for the issues I am having. When pressed, the physicians assistant suddenly remembered an article that had been sent to them which said that if someone had back surgery prior to the hip surgery it increased failure rate for the hip surgery. In short...we were told "It aint our fault,"...then "you aint gonna get any better"....."how about a cortisone shot?" I took the shot. It was all they had to offer along with pain pills. I was rather upset at being what I felt was "dumped" by them. They did authorize yet more PT. No problem there, the PT people are the only ones that seem to be even trying to help. I was rather upset for a couple of days, but have come to terms with the fact that I am on my own as far as getting back as much function as I can. OK, I accept that and will take as much PT as I can get, then switch over to the gym menmbership I can get from my insurance. I refuse to just give up and hobble around being miserable. If I must be sore, let it be from exercising. If I must be crooked, well, I will be as straight as I can get and go on from there. But I am NOT going to just quit and go away and be a nice, quiet cripple. I have too much to do. Adapting will be my way of life if needed. I will prove them wrong. What hurts is that Mary too is starting to give up hope. She supports my efforts and helps me keep going, but I do wish I was not the only one believing in the fight. Oh well. Now that I have vented, the good news. Our rescured kitten (from under the porch) was taken to the vet for a quick check (she has a cough). She is about 3 weeks old. She eats, poops, and sleeps, much like any baby. We bought a baby bottle and formula, which she thankfully is big enough to drink from, and she just guzzles at meal time. We are optomistic about her survival. Dont know her daddy tho...she is a tabby striped kitty, the only one we have. Surprise!! The garden has been suffering with the sudden summer. Vine borers killed out summer squashes. Using the newspaper mulch did not help, so we will have to do a drench next time we prepare the beds. The tomatoes are having blossom end rot issues, but we are getting some good ones (for gifting) and fall back on our childhood-learned habits of "just cut the bad parts away" for the impergect fruits. So we are enjoying those vine ripened, dead ripe tomatoes. I even went off my diet, ONCE, to enjoy our few ears of sweet corn (we did not plant much) and they were deeeeee-licious! I cut some off the cob for Mary since she cant do the on-cob dining. She was delighted as well and we both agree we need to plant more next time. The watermelons & cantelopes have baby fruits growing on them. The collards are HUGE....6 or 7 leaves make an entire armload for me. I tried out a collard slaw idea I read about and my-oh-my it was delicious. I liked it cut about 30% with regular eabbage so it does not overpower the low carb mayo dressing I use. Next time I go grocery shopping I will get some bacon and try the full collard slaw with a hot bacon dressing instead. We are eating and gifting cabbages right now as the spring planted ones are mature and ready to go. Broccoli was delicious, but all gone now, and it is not regrowing heads due to the heat, it is bolting. So I will cook up some of the long sprouts like broccoli-raab and then the plants will come out to make room for the rampant sweet potato vines. The okra is starting now too. I have to pick it daily or the pods get too big, but it does not take long to get enough for me to eat....Mary does not like the texture of it. I have a pork rind shake and bake that is low carb and I toss it in that, then bake. Not too shabby. I am already planning what to put into the empty spots... All in all things are progressing nicely here and we are anticipating a fine blow out for the 4th of July. Lots and lots of fireworks! Looking forward to it.

FINALLY THE RAIN WENT AWAY! The rains were not kind to us. Outdoor kitties were miserable. We made extra rain shelters around the yard so they could run for cover. And we found out where new mama hid her little ones...under the front -porch...where it FLOODS. Rescued kitties several times (she was persistent in going there). What fun...face down in mud, fishing in a down-pour thru the hole where we pulled up the boards on our front steps, for kitties we hear screaming for help. The stuff nightmares are made of (if you like kitties). Only a couple did not survive. We have one survivor inside, bottle feeding her - she was bone-cold after we found her. Now she is doing well, fortunately big enough to drink (guzzle) replacement formula out of the mini bottle. We dont trust mama not to stick her in a bad spot again, so she stays inside till she gets bigger. We named her Claudette, after the storm. The male cat who was attacked by the owl (according to our vet) with the throat woulds is healing nicely, too. From what the vet said, his wounds were caused by talons of a large predatory bird. We do have owls here. He was too big to fly away with and he fought himself free, and came home with a scary looking throat wound. The vet stitched him up nicely. He too is inside, where we try to keep him from scratching his stitches. He does take his antibiotics nicely though. We just hide them in his food. I cringe now when I hear the owl hooting at night. Then I go grab a spotlight and shine the trees until I drive it away. He can go hunt elsewhere. They are proteted so I am loathe to shoot it. Maybe I'll start throwing firecrackers at it to harass it. We busted the budget again. Usually it is food, this time it was...fireworks. Mary especially enjoys doing a fireworks show (she was licensed up in WIS to do shows, and loved every minute). I still remember the night the finale put the street lights out, and rocked the fire trucks (fire dept on scene in case of sparks setting a fire). We could feel the concussions in the air pounding on us as the ground shook. Whew! However, I digress. Down here in GA fireworks are legal (!!!) so we go early when the selection is good. They only sell a couple weeks before the 4th. While Mary bought 3, 4, 5, and 6 inch shells, and multiple firework "cakes" I nosed around. My purchases were a little more "survivalist"....string pull activated smoke grenades in several colors...strobe light fireworks....large military smoke pots....pull-firecrackers of low power (aptly named "booby tyraps" ) to make perimeter alarms. Strobes to create distraction, ruin a lurkers night mision and light up the hot zone. Smoke is for hiding in and creating view obstructions for lurkers as well. And...of course some M-120s, nice and LOUD to startle. Between us we spent...brace yourself...1200 dollars. It will be a great show, though, with leftovers for Haloween, Christmas, etc. We saved half the year for it. Now we start saving for Christmas decorations! So chainsaw Mary is sitting in her easy chair making multiple-shot sky-rockets from singles (a trick she learned shooting professionally) and putting longer fuses on the larger fireworks giving us more time to get further away after firing them. We work together well after all this time, and have a good rythym. We are expecting lots of applause from the boaters who travel around the lake at night to watch others shoot fireworks over the lake. Our prep-friends live on the lake, we do the "show". A good time is had all around, and Mary grins for a month afterward. Her favorite holidays are 4th of July and Chrostmas. On the personal side, I am disgusted with going to the doctors. Every time I do they find some new issue that needs addressing. Went to the eye doc and he found cataracts. Now taking eye drops to bring pressure down in eyes so I can get cataract surgery done. Then saw my primary doc. She was pleased with the 25 pound weight loss, after making certain that it was intentional. She adjusted my blood pressure meds down because with the weight loss, the blood pressure dropped too. Too low. Then she asked me to walk. Uh oh, she did not like my gait (again) and said that I should be walking well after all this PT work. Not to mention the ongoing pain, which I just assumed was arthritis. She got me in to go see the ortho doc who did my hip in two days flat (we go tomorrow at 9:00 AM). I don't know what she told them, but she expects correction to both my gait and pains. OK by me, Im tired of hurting. I have no idea what they will do though. No surgery allowed during August...we go to WI that month. I could stand some boredom for a bit....nice, restful boredom. No such luck...the garden is starting to produce summer squash and tomatoes a-plenty, all of which will need processing. Okra and collards are going crazy. (BTW, collard slaw is delicious!) All of which attract pests.....we do tomato hornworm picking at least once a week. Then our trip. Then we return to get transplants started for the autumn garden. The wierd weather just adds to the excitement. I'll never complain about being bored again, LOL.

ELMOLINO MILLS BRAN MUFFINS (from el molino mills cookbook, recipe #125) 1 c El Molino Whole Wheat Pastry Flour 1 c El Molino Bran Flakes 4 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 3 TB Honey 3 TB Oil 1 Egg 1 c Milk Sift then measure flour; add baking powder, salt and Bran Flakes. Beat egg, add honey, oil, and milk. Stir in dry ingredients, stiring only enough to mix. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 125 degrees for 15 minutes. (For variation a cup of raisins may be added.) Is this the one? LOL I had to edit out the typos...for some reason typing the word "honey" created the most amazing mutations.....

She forgot to add (buy a bull) and make more cows, LOL. I thought this was succinct.

Today I finally got all the meat from the freezer canned up. I ALWAYS underestimate how long it will take. However I did 2 canner loads today - it this was my major kind of food processing I would have to get another canner to speed things up filling them alternately. I got 6 qts chicken pieces, 3 qts "steak bites", 1 quart from a ham tenderloin, and 1 quart of cured ham bites. Finally one more quart of all the extra pieces- a mixed meats quart with beef, ham and pork tenderloin. It would make a good Brunswick stew or Booya. Mary was quite patient with all the sputtering (from both the canner, and ME). I hate it when every critter in the house insists on getting as close as they can, just in case a might drop a tidbit. Makes it hard to move around, LOL. Cats, dogs, even the parrot came walking over to see what was going on. I just figured out what the drawback of an open concept kitchen is....you cant shut the door to keep critters & children out while working. Frankly I always thought a kitchen with a dutch door would be the coolest thing ever....I would leave the top open for ventilation, and keep the bottom closed for critter control. All I heard on the news today was stuff about Fauci and covid's origins. I have my own opinions on that, but this is not the forum for speculating. But something is rotten in Denmark, "fer shur". Had an extra diet pepsi today to celebrate my first 20 lbs weight loss. More to go, but its starting to show, which is fun. Another 20 and I'll have to start taking in clothing, LOL.

I laughed out loud...and promptly sent the link to my older sister....

Bless you LittleSoster for being such a help to your friend. Her son should not be such a stinker about not shopping where she wants and needs to go unless he is willing to subsidize her going to the fancier/pricier store. So many children nowdays just assume their parents are well fixed when they are NOT and it aggravates me no end. I have to keep telling myself "they are their children, do NOT make trouble between them" and bite my tongue. I guess the part that really pops my cork is that when they visit they immediately demand the steaks (that we gave them) for dinner and NEVER pay or bring anything to help load the pantry back up. GRRRR. I was raised different. When my husband and I visited his mother we would always take her anywhere she wanted to shop (on our dime) with dinner afterward at her favorite diner. Plus we always brought things to restock her cupboards "just in case, look what we found on sale!" None of her other children would do that and they were considerably better off than we were at that time. Oh well...sigh...cant change the world I guess, just my little assigned corner of it. Today I started cutting up meat, as it thaws in the cooler, and when I get enough to run the canner I will brown it in the electric skillet (keeps the house cooler) and can it up. Its kind of a hodgepodeg of chicken-bee-pork but they all can in the same time and pressure so its all good. I also have to pot up the herbs I picked up at the garden center. Thyme and savory. Im always looking for perennial herbs so I can grow my own fresh seasonings each season. Savory is the summer kind, an annual, but nobody seems to carry winter savory (perennial) any more and my favorite herb sources over the years shut down when their owners retired. Still looking for a good source for some of the perennial herbs I like. Oh well. At least I have found some wild patches of a few of them. Otherwise I am having a quiet day, enjoying all the various kitten litters as they tumble aroujnd playing (and watching where I step! LOL). Fresh yellow snap beans for dinner, creamed and served over potatoes (Marys favorite) with that pork roast we took out to make room in the freezer.

Yesterday we cut meat. LOTS OF MEAT. Mary talked to her friends up in Wis that we are going to visit in August about the meat sale. They were shocked. So we bought more to cut up and take up to wisconsin when we go. Since we are taking the pickup truck, whats a cooler or two. However, 12 whole rib eye primal cuts later (10-12 pounds each), all the freezers (yes all three) are packed to the top with meat...some for us, some for others. We have steaks and pork cuts for one friend; another asked if there were T-bones on sale (there were, about half the price she had been paying) so she gets rib eye steaks and T bones. Then Mary's cousin who is going to the class reunion with her (50th for both of them) mentioned that she was cooking a lot of chicken trying to save money, but chicken is getting expensive up there, too. Down here it ALSO was on sale for $1 a pound, be it drumsticks, thighs, or breasts. So she is getting steak and chicken pieces. Im starting to feel like we own a meat locker, LOL. (Do they even have those anymore?? Ive not been able to find one, or we might have rented one for a while.) We figure after Memorial day prices will skyrocket and sales will become scarcer. So last night we cut jmeat, today we went out and re-arranged the freezer, removing older cuts of pork, beef and chicken to a wheeled cooler, to make room for the other wheeled cooler full of those fresh cut steaks. We cant fit another thing in there, LOL. Tomorrow, if it is thawed enough to start cutting, I will cut it up then can it up. We found canning jars at our local Walmart for $10 a dozen so I got three dozen quarts, which should hold all that stuff. It is quite a bit of work but very satisfying to me, even if we have to break down the job over longer time because our energy is more finite lately. Today after arranging the freezers we went back to Walmart to pick up some of my meds. Tonight I cut up the rest of the trimmings. Rib eye steak in the primal cut has a "tail" of fat and lean mixed together. It is a bit fiddley, but I gleaned 4 pounds of stir fry beef from those trimmings. I almost wish I still made soap. That beef tallow was beautiful, white and flinty hard. It makes very long lasting soap. But I have so much stuff on my to do list Im not starting soap, too. And I cant freeze it for later, because those freezers are PACKED and we both refuse to buy yet another one! Once all the canning is done I start on the sewing. We bought some new scrub pants for summer. They need to be shortened, but we do like that they are roomy and lightweight for summer activities. While I am at it I will probably take the leg shortening cuts and make the pockets deeper if then are the loose pouch kind. If they are sewn down forget it. We will just have to wear fanny packs for those necessities we would normally pocket. Now picking yellow squash, broccoli, scallions, cabbage and collards. Lots of collards, as they are low carb diet friendly and VERY high in fiber. Kills two birds with one stone. Did you ladies ever try collard coleslaw? I was intrigued, as I have been slipping shreds of it into mixed salads quite a bit. But I re-visited using the blender to shred the slaw ingredients and it works extremely well for collard slaw. I had mine straight, but the mayo was too wimpy a dressing. Next time Im going to try the hot bacon & vinegar dressing over the usual hand cut strips. Those flavors should complement the collards very well. I also will try the collard wraps I saw...You shave down the mid rib and cut off the protruding part of the stem. Then blanch until flexible, just a few minutes supposedly do it. Then use in place of tortillas to wrap burritos, salads, what have you. I do love to play with my food! Im also quite pleased to report my first 20 pounds weight loss...took 6 weeks. No hunger...I am using a low carb diet, helps with my reactive hypoglycemia. I do watch the fat though choosing lower fat proteins (except on steak night, LOL)

What IS going on with chicken prices? Mary was talking with a friend back in Wisconsin and happened to mention that chicken was on sale here this week, (thighs, drunsticks, and breasts) all parts for $1 a pound. Her friend asked us to bring some up when we came. She also wanted one of the whole rib-eyes selling for $6.50 a pound cut up for her, too. I know the rib eye is a good price (heck we bought the limit, two apiece, and are going back tomorrow. For a $3 a pound savings, I will gladly cut it up myself. Mary likes them trimmed with no fat, I hate to see the bits of meat going to waste, so I glean them for stir fry. Our freezers were getting about half empty, these sales (plus the one for ground chuck) should fill the bill nicely. I expect after Memorial day prices will rise sharply. But chicken?? That has always been my budgets best buy. Oh, well....

We have water! On Monday after coffee, we headed to Lowes and bought what we thought we would need to repair our spigot....pvc pipe, primer, glue, stuff like that. Came home, made our first cut, and....headed back to Lowes for things we discovered we needed and did not get the first time. By this time it is high noobm 93 degrees. Made lunch then we agreed to wait until the sun dropped a bit behind the trees to finish the job. About 5 PM we were in the front yard, digging around our target site a bit more, when one of our neighbors stopped, and called to us, laughing, that we are too old for mud pies. We laughed, then told him we were working on getting our water back on,, and told him "the dog did it" which was true, of course. Lo and behold! Our new friendly neighbor was a plumber, and volunteered to go get his tools to help us, saying it would go much easier with proiper plumbing tools. We all got muddy again, but in an hour we had a new water pipe spigot, cover, and foam insulation on the inside (just like the original broken one). We learned a few things from him. Needless to say, we delivered fresh vegetables today. Broccoli, cab bage, collards, some little yellow summer squash, and scallions. The best we had. It is sure nice to have a nice neighbor. Now we have two we have bartered with...the ones that gave us 2 dozen eggs saying they could not eat against their chicken's egg laying production, and now this fellow. Still going to see that sewing machine too, so make that three in our growing barter network. I told Mary today that that clinched it, I would not be getting chickens (she heaved a sigh of relief) because why duplicate someone else's work....I would consider honey bees my lead choice, because NOBODY has those in this neighborhood (but there is a beekeeper in the next town who sells bees, equipment, and the like). And Mary made me a very happy gal when she bought me some muscadine grapes! We planted them a couple days ago. My parents had an orchard, and I loved working in it and selling the surplus. Now we are up to two apple trees, a ponmegranate (a gift from a neighbor who was thinning hers), and two muscadines. Together with the wild raspberries in our wild area (very prickery though) we have a nice jam and jelly ingredient selection coming along. And applesauce,,,apple pie filling...apple crisp (marys favorite)...our trees are semi dwarfs not dwarfs so there will be apples aplenty in 5 years or so.

bout time. i wont be taking the vaccine either, because something is definitely rotten in denmark and stinking to high heaven. just WHY are they so anxious to force vaccines upon us after they wont stand on their own merits? Adding children who are not at risk to their guinea pig population is just vile.

CRISIS OF THE DAY is getting to be a normal thing around here! I could use a little boredome right now, LOL. Yesterday afternoon our boisterous young pup wrapped his tie out around the yard water spigot. Mary was talking to a heighbor walking her dog down the road (yes, it is so rural here that everybody walks down the middle of the road, stepping around the basking animals). Donbrae was doing his usual jumping up and down and barking for her attention. He BROKE OFF THE WATER SPIGOT! We had an immediate fountain of water, but worse yet outdoor mama kitty had moved her little ones under the front porch, which floods when it rains. So after doing the belly flop in the nice fresh mud (the red clay stuff - nice and slippery) to dig out the water turn off, we heard the cat babies screaming in fear under the lowest front step. Fortunately I knew where the crowbar was and it was close. We grabbed the crowbar, pried off the step and Mary scooped out the hysterical kittens while I made sure air ways were clear, and put them on a dry spot. Once all six were out, we dried them off and put them back in the covered cage where Mom had insisted on having them - it was warm and dry with a carpet pad we had laid down. So today we get to repair the broken pipes, refit the yard spigot, and build a box around that thing staking it down so NOTHING will move it. (I guess I can add plumbing repair to my list of skills, LOL) This morning we are both sore as hell and crabby from no water. Fortunately we had water stored, so it was a hot water basin wash up - we were both muddy after all that "mud wrestling" and early to bed last night in anticipation of a busy day (once we get our coffee, LOL).

Thank you for th encourgement, ladies. Some days I wonder if I will ever stand for any length of time again. But I am hanging in there. I have lost 12 pounds now, not bad for 4 weeks I guess. At least thats what my docs say. Today we went to a town meeting where the sheriff and the local district rep. talked with us and answered questions. Both Mary and I had to hide smiles when one fellow kept demanding to know why the sheriff said he would be arrested for "only a little" marijuana. (Well, because it is illegal in Georgia.) Then he started up "but in other states..." and the sheriff calmly told him that it did not matter what other states did, its still illegal here. Then he asked what about epilepsy? The sheriff told him if someone had a prescription for medical marijuana, then it would be honored. Then the part where we had to stifle our giggles...."Im not going to the bother of going to the doctor for a prescription". Sounds like someone likes his weed and wants a free pass. The sheriff suggested he write to his state legislators and ask them to change the law, because he has to enforce the law the way it is written. I don't think he will get very far. The fellow that held the meeting said he had a Singer treadle machine and did I want it. Oh yes, i would be interested. He said it still works, but if I don't take he will junk it. (NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I love treadles and want one here badly.) Before moving from the old farmhouse (2 moves ago) I had three but could not take any of them along. I found them new homes, and have regretted losing them ever since. Fingers crossed. So back I went to the website "treadleon.net" to dig up all the "how to clean/repair/operate your new old singer" info. Plus the site that matches serial numbers with the year of manufacture. He said it had a cabinet and folded down into it when not in use...Im thinking 1930s or 1940s. Both fingers and toes crossed!

Wednesday already?! Sunday we had a busy planting day. Made more wicking pots, some from kitty litter pails this time for smaller stuff (herbs). Much easier to deposit as needed in the yard for more or less sun, etc. Moved several large pots. Our newest dog is 18 mo old, a black lab, full of energy. Donnebrae gets tangled up in the pots, then panics and pulls! He has wrecked several potted plants already so we moved more things out of his tie-out range. Hoping he will calm down in a few months. Then we mixed potting soil by the wheelbarrow full. Planted/potted up azaelias, and the aforementioned herbs: sage, catnip, lemon balm, mint, and basil. I already am picking celery leaves and stalks to dry for seasoning. The parsley in the garden is also ready. I'm drying that, too. I gotta prune my huge rosemary potted bush, so i will have plenty of that as well. I wish Mary liked rosemary, I think it is nice with chicken, but she does not care for it. Oh well. Maybe I'll slip some into my low carb breading mix (she does not eat that, she uses the home made shake and bake made in the normal way, with crumbs). Monday I went outside to feed the cats and found one, Scruffy, dragging his hind legs. Looked like he was hit by a car. Off to the vet, fortunately no bones broken, but he got smacked and when he hit the road, the vet said, he pinched some hind leg nerves. So we were to keep him inside, and let the nerves wake up again, and he would recover. Dang! Im glad came equipped with 9 lives, he has accounted for 3 already. And he is an affectionate little guy, too. Glad he is going to be OK. He is starting to walk again, for short distances, Tuesday I had PT and wow, those tough exercises I am doing now remind me of my weight lifting days. But the harder they are to do the more it shows that I NEED TO DO THEM. The therapists like to work with me because I am willing to try anything and everything they suggest. I figure that I won't get better without a fight, so I told one therapist that when old man trouble comes around I want to spit in his eye....not talk to his belt buckle. It's working, too. I am about 75% upright now, and have lost about 10 pounds watching my carbs strictly. Tonight Mary had pizza, I had a "pizza salad"....she feels bad when I cant eat old favorites with her, so I scraped off the pizza fixings and plopped them on a bed of fresh romaine I picked today. Surprisingly good! I guess pizza salad can give a taco salad some competition. Today we delivered vegetables around to our town friends. My doc told Mary "I want to examine your thumbs to see how green they are!" The collard leaves are huge, but everyone says there ius no such thing as too big when it comes to collards. Doc got collards and a cabbage. Then off to see our friend at the car lot. Delivered yellow squash, scallions, and collards to her. She was delighted, said she was cooking those scallions to caramelise then with the fresh yellow squash slices. We picked them about 6 inches long, and she said that was perfect for sauteing. Since I picked lettuce and cabbage yesterday, I didn't need more vegetables just yet. Then we went to the garden center to see if they had more cabbage plants left to put in where we are picking....nope. But Mary got a bouganvallia plant (I did not know anything about them, especially that they have thorns!) The garden center owner said when he was in Mexico he saw them used as border hedges, all thorny like they are, and blooming all the time. They were, of course, much larger, 4 feet tall. He said down there they are perennials and just get bigger and bigger. Here they do not survive the winters he said. (We will see about that....maybe the greenhouse will be enough shelter to keep them over the winter). Then Mary shocked me, and bought some muscadine grapes for me! She does not like them, but knows I do. Now to decide where to plant them.....

Nobody seems to care about that until it is THEIR home endangered. You dont want to know what I would do if I caught someone causing something like this...coroporal punishment if they are stupid...worse if they are intentional. No reason for that at ALL. We did little bits of this and that around the place today. I hunted up a source to replace my obsolete pressure cooker rack. Fortunately I can get one the right size. Then sourced steamer racks and inserts. I have a 5 quart waterless cooker pot which would be perfect for steaming whole meals. I was reading about steaming ones meals in an old WW2 reprint from England about saving fuel. Might be handy to have that know how to save fuel, electricity, what have you. The carport kitties are starting to eat big kitty food and goof around out in the open as they get braver, LOL. Some of the half grown kittens love to jump up in my lap as soon as I sit down outside, and there is something so NICE about being greeted with lots of purring. I could sit with them all day! Mary tried to pose "Ginger" for a pic but all Ginger is thinking about is escape. One of the smaller bunch is a long hair, very cute, but hisses at us every time we try to handle him. I guess I will have to start bribing it with morsels of soft food until it learns that it is not in danger, but after a few pets will be released. I see now that Ginger still has a smear of food on her nose, LOL...