Nelda

Oh, Busymommyto4, as a busy mom to four girls, I know how you feel. There are many days where I want to rip my hair out. We didn't sign up for it but we sure would miss it. Even when I get some quiet, I miss the sounds of their feet in the hallway, their voices coming from their room and the little tugs on my pant legs. Besides who else other than your little ones will give you a big hug and resounding welcome when all you did was step out of the room for the moment to go to the bathroom? The day that I finally get to shower alone will be a lonely one. Just remember all us moms, are pulling for you on the good days and the bad. All for now. My three year old just peed on the floor in front of the bathroom. Guess she didn't make it in time.

Today's the day. I am going to start Christmas shopping. For the older two girls at least. I have a plan. I am going to get stuff to decorate their room, like new bedding, lamp, memo board and the like. Found some cute stuff online at Target, now will go see how much of it I can find in the store. Check out WalMart too. Then,if I can talk DH into it, on Christmas Eve after they are asleep I want to go in and put everything up in their room so they wake up in a whole new place. My parents did it when I was about their age. I went to sleep and woke up in a new canopy bed that I had wanted so badly. I told Hayley and Alisa about it and they thought it sounded neat. Otherwise I really don't know what else to do. Maybe I'm just crazy. Neither have asked for any toys or anything, they just keep saying I don't know. So I thought about how many times I'd watched them pour over all the old IKEA catalogs kids bedroom stuff and said why not? We've talked about doing it enough times. I might as well do it now, while they can still have a little girl's room. Meghann and PJ the little ones are easy for Christmas. PJ will probably be happy just with wrapping paper and ripping all the ornaments off the tree. Something else that needs doing! I hope you all have a great day! Take care out in the cold weather, have some cocoa with a little peppermint. I think I'll put on some Christmas music in the car and sing away with it. Welcome MissyTTT, good to have you. Ann aka MOM

Hello all! Well, it's the holiday season and once again I feel like Typhoid Mary since everyone decides to get sick at Christmas. Today am taking oldest DD to doctor, she has a sore throat. DD number two is taking the day to go to work with Dad. They all love to get a chance to that. Except PJ but she is not yet two years old. It is cloudy here on the island. Looks as if it can't decide if it wants to rain or not. I vote for no rain. DH did alot of bulldozing this past weekend and rain would mean mud tracked into the house along with all the pine needles. I know some are not having the best of times with weather these past few days what with storms and flooding, etc. But I love to read about all the snow that some of you get. It does not snow much in my part of Washington state. It's funny around here it might barely be snowing but as soon as its mentioned everyone runs to the windows or door to look outside and get all excited. Even me. On Sunday we went to a pancake breakfast for all the volunteer firefighters and someone said it was trying to snow and a room full of adults ran to the door to see it. What is it about snow? Especially afterwards you go outside and the air is so clean and crisp and everything is quiet. And then you decide to tow the sleds behind the riding lawnmower. What fun that was! My back end was so numb afterwards I could hardly walk!

No, I didn't. We saw 70+ head, only a few bulls, and nothing legal. Got in right close and personal with a lead cow that was at least 900-1000# on the hoof. She was big enough that I chased them through the brush just to get a real good look at them to be sure she wasn't a legal (3point or better) bull. She was a beauty, though. If I had a cow tag, I'd be looking to buy another freezer right now, cause I wouldn't have had the room. Great trip, though. Saw a lot more sign and animals than we've seen in the past 5 years combined (went to new area, closer to motherearth's stompin' grounds). Where we'd been hunting has gotten so grown up with underbrush since they stopped logging and thinning that it's just not possible to hunt effectively anymore. We'd been going there mostly because we know the area better than we know our own names. This new area looked promising, and I plan on putting in for a cow tag next year & hunting it again. (where we'd been hunting, there haven't been cow tags issued in allmost 10 years). Right out on the coast, if you get far enough into the big timber, you can hear the sea-lions barking. I loved it. You don't have to take an animal to have a good hunt, it certainly HELPS, but... I could have taken several fine looking deer, too, but they weren't in season. One doe I could have taken with a framing hammer, she passed literally within arm's reach of me. Dad

Yeah, Turkey day went fine. I was out for Elk, and the kids brought some bug home & got Mom sick, and they all got it, then I got home, and I picked it up. But everyone's well, and getting geared up for Santa's return (I gotta get that [censored] motheaten red suit out again...sheesh). I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was full of family and happiness, though I know those two terms are often mutually exclusive. Dad

God speed, Motherearth. Mom & I are here should you need anything. Dad

Georgene- A little advice... let your hens have the winter off. Put them on some all-purpose, a quarter-cup of scratch grains (per biddie), and all the water they want each day. If you want your hens to be productive layers, you need to let them recouperate during the winter, if not they'll be wore-out before thier third laying season. We get (with mostly brown layers) an egg a day, and the occasional double egg day per bird. They're all mammoth eggs that are frequently double and triple yolkers. The curtain will help with the egg eating. What will help more is building nest boxes that will allow the eggs to roll out to a protected area so's they can't be eaten until you get there. making the boxes narrow will help prevent them from being eaten as they're coming out, but you need to make the egg inaccessible to the other hens. That means a new type of nestbox. Sheck out the Storey series on poultry for ideas. I believe that there's a nice-looking box in "Raising chickens the modern way" I hope this helps you... don't lose hope. Dad

It's the end of the world... There's a guy sitting on top of a mountain, looking out at all around him, and it's nothing but black wastelands as far as the eye can see. He's thinking "great, everyone's gone, and I'm left all alone" Suddenly, he feels a tap on his shoulder, turns and sees another guy standing near him. The guy whispers "hey" "hey, you the last one" he whispers in reply. "yeah, I guess we're the last two men on earth" says the new guy. the first guy says "THEN WHY ARE WE WHISPERIN?!!" Enjoy... Dad It's not the bullet with my name on it that worries me...it's the one marked "to whom it may concern...."

good morning everyone!!! It's raining off and on here. My husband is off to Quilcene to go elk hunting for the week. Season opener is today. Hopefully he will do well. We are both looking forward to the days when all the girls are older and we can go together...right now he sometimes goes on his own and he says he just gets lonely. That and the darndest things happen when he if off on his own. I told him that this is definitely his year for and elk. MommyofFive, I am going to go look for those vick's thingys. I love vapor rub when I have a cold. My DH thinks I am crazy but the stuff works! Buttercup, I do hope you start to feel better. I don't know about you but I am much more patient when taking care of someone else who is sick and not myself. Well, I suppose I had better go. With the halloween being over and no longer having to worry about putting together the carnival at school, I am going to go through every room in the house and clean from top to bottom this week. We heat with the pellet stove (yes, I miss our old wood stove more than I can tell you) but it doesn't get to the back of the house now that we took out the wall btw the kitchen and living room and no longer have a working fan; so the logs in the back bedrooms get water beading up on them and it's easier to just move things away from the outside wall in winter rather than everything getting wet. Someday we'll have the problem licked. Our little log house definitely has it's work cut out for it but we love it all the same. I have rambled enough. Time to start cleaning. Oh, and feed all the animals. MOM Have a great day everyone!

Darlene, Just a quick fyi. You should have the guage checked on your pressure canner. Especially if its new. They sometimes get out of whack. If you have a county extension office they will check it for you for free. I wouldn't want the pressures to be off and risk spoiling all your hard and delicious work. I am impressed and jealous of all your canning. I did not do to much this year, was to busy with all the kids. MOM

The leftovers and small pieces are good for us menfolk for cleaning guns, tool, etc. I get the towels when they've got so many holes that you can't really use them for anything else. I use 'em like no tomorrow. Great for cleaning your hands after working hard outside. Dad

Homey... I'm not patient enough to sit in the treestand. I'm a brush-buster. Then again, we have such an understory out here that you can be in the brush and not even see the sky above you. For Elk, I'm out in the rain forest, where you are able to take a nap against a 5-600year old tree & wake up to the sound of elk nearby. (it's like a freight train running over a pile of spilled lumber) You've got a lot of whitetails out there, though, and I understand that they're serious creatures of habit. That can be useful. I've been within 20yd of a small herd of elk, and couldn't shoot simply because I could not see them. The brush is that thick. I couldn't get any closer without scaring them off, and when I tried to swim my way through the brush, they bolted. We have a restriction on the West side of the state that only allows 3pt or better (on one side, so a 6pt to those of you who count every antler point, not just one side) , so if you can't see `em, you can't shoot `em. Makes for some seriously big animals taken, though. Elk on the west side (Roosevelt Elk) can top 1000# on the hoof. There's a picture in the Chevron station in Forks where a guy was skinning his monster, they had it in an auto shop, and had it head-down, lying on the floor. The hind legs were supported by the car-lift and were toughing the ceiling. Beautiful animal. Dad.

Good Morning all! Buttercup, Don't worry. Things have a way of working themselves out. I am always surprised at how flexible people can be. However, I will come over and help with the house work. Maybe we should all send you Thanksgiving dinner? I was an NAC for a long time, worked in a nursing home and before I had children I really didn't mind having to work weekends and the holidays. After I started having children, I started taking my vacation over Christmas so I could have some time at home. I hear your cry. It's frustrating to work with people who you always seem to have to go behind them and pick up the slack, especially if they never thank you. Okay, now who's getting on their soap box? I miss working in the nursing home even now after alomost 6 years, I always broke all the rules, told them all about myself and my family and all that was going on. So many of them are so lonely. Someday I think I will go back. But then someday I'm supposed to finish nursing school, learn to play the piano, apprentice in a bakery and write a book. I have lots of plans for when all the girls are finally in school.

Deck the hall with boughs of rolly...fa ra ra ra...ra ra ra ra..No! No! It's fa la la la..la la la...lol I love that part. Our favorite is always green beans with bacon, even though I cook it all the time. Fresh baked bread with lots of seeds and a little salt on top. Then for the turkey, I like to rub it all over with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and a touch of poultry seasoning. Then cook it at a higher temp. until the skin is brown and crisp, then turn down the heat and let it roast until done. I think I'll try some squash casserole. I LOVE squash. Savanahh bowties and scalloped corn, another fav., sound good too. Love MOM

Quote: Dad of My4girls - Depending on your rifle and ammo, you will always have minimal lead with a full-stride deer. My DH, a former cop and bullseye hitter, said to keep the rifle level and never lead in front of the deer. A standard 1/10 sec delay at 100 yds. isn't enough to take the crosshairs off the front of the chest. btw - DH now sits for both jobs. It’s not the speed of the running deer, but their bounding nature. With a bear or Elk at a dead-out run, I’m not worried about it because they just run. And true, 1/10sec at 100 with a modern rifle with 2800fps MV would be negligible in time to target (approx 0.107 seconds to target, not accounting for human reaction time). However a deer (supposing it can move at 25mph (which I believe to be close to accurate) can move 3.67 feet per 1/10th of a second. Therefore you have to lead the deer 3½ feet at 100yards, and 7 feet at 200yds. 132000ft/hour (25 *5280) 2200Ft/min (13200/60min per hour) 36.666ft/sec (2200/60 sec per min) 3.67 ft each 1/10second That’s just my manly analytical/engineering side showing. Sorry, it’s hard to suppress, just like my urge to be standing when nature calls. Anyways, wether they bound, or run, they’re still mighty tasty. Also… should anyone desire to make summer sausage, most decent butcher (not the ones in the supermarket, the ones who make their own sausage and jerky etc) shops carry a seasoning kit that has the nitrates you need to cure the meat. I buy it in a big bag that’ll do 100lb of sausage. You can buy paper casings and a proper stuffer from most outdoors shops. I buy my casings from WallMart. They’re cheap, and you get a lot of them. Dad

Have three make your own receipes. Two are from Everyday Food Magazine (yeah, I know Martha Stewart) and one I found on a website called recipezaar. It has a ton of stuff on it. Sometimes a daunting task to look through them all. If you want what I have I will gladly post them all. Otherwise we genrally will go to the asian foods market and pick up the sauce in a jar. Some are more a marinade (thinner) with an average size jar doing five pounds of beef. While some are thicker more like regular american bbq sauce that you just stir fry the meat in. We never remember which ones we buy just usually end up with the first one we can read the label. It is very tasty. It is best we've found to use it with beef chuck cut for sukiyaki. It's like wafer thin cut beef. Cooks fast. I've seen that at the asian market or I recently found out that I can ask my local supermarket butcher. i.e. Safeway said they do it all the time just got to ask. Awesome as they are much closer. Anyway I will post recipes tommorrow after my meeting at school with PTA pres. She wants to know where all the Fall Harvest Fest. games are going. Love, MOM

Quote: There's something I've always wanted to know ...... How can the guys drop a deer at full stride from 200 yards away, and still miss the toilet at 2 feet away?? Actually, the sad fact is that there's a great many men who miss on both instances. The only proven solution to the indoor lack of accuracy is to *BUY ACREAGE*, and insist that them thar men-folk do it outside. Personally, I've never shot at any animal at full stride. I can't predict the future enough to say that animal A will occupy space B when bullet C arrives in order to provide a lethal hit. I don't want to hurt `em, I just want to eat `em. If you have an expedient formula for finding where ABand C intersect in the .08seconds I have for decision making, then tell me. Dad

That's a rather sexist thing to have said. The only reply I can come up with is "WOO WOO!" That's pretty close to the truth, Wicca. I had to add to it. Aint got time to redo the man’s shower, but will in the future… How to Shower Like a Woman 1. Take off clothing and place it in sectioned laundry hamper according to lights and darks. 2. Walk to bathroom wearing long dressing gown. If you see boyfriend along the way, cover up any exposed areas. 3. Look at your womanly physique in the mirror make mental note to do more sit-ups-oldest child opens door, and says "I need to go potty" 4. Get in the shower. Use face cloth, arm cloth, leg cloth, long loofah, wide loofah, and pumice stone. 5. Wash your hair once with cucumber and sage shampoo with 43 added vitamins. When you've lathered up well, the 3 year old pulls back the shower curtain and says "Hi!" and begins playing "I see you", moving the curtain back and forth. 6. Wash your hair again to make sure it's clean. 7. Condition your hair with grapefruit mint conditioner enhanced with natural avocado oil. Leave on hair for 15 minutes. 8. Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red. While scrubbing, you hear the toilet flush, then the baby (19 mos) giggling madly, splashing in toilet. 9. Baby gets to shower with mom. 10. Go to wash entire rest of body with ginger nut and jaffa cake body wash. Find that cake body wash was being used by baby while splashing in toilet. 11. Rinse conditioner off hair. 12. Shave armpits and legs. You hear Husband having meltdown, trying to get 3 year old to put pants on. Oldest children’s laughter intensifies as DH moves from “accidental release” to “Chernobyl” 13. Turn off shower. 14. Squeegee off all wet surfaces in shower. Spray mold spots with Tilex. 15. Get out of shower. Dry with towel the size of a small country. Wrap hair in super absorbent towel. 16. Check entire body for blemishes, tweeze hairs. 17. Return to bedroom wearing long dressing gown and towel on head. 18. If you see boyfriend along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

True, Mom made up a nice bolkogi. The person below me has ridden on an exotic animal.

Theyd... There's quite a few options out there... if you're just going to smoke foods now and then, I'd suggest one of the commerically-built electric smokers available, like the Luhr-Jensen (little chief and big chief) or the Totem food products. I have two little chiefs, a big chief, and a totem. I also built a small smokehouse for hang-smoking salmon over 15-20lbs. I can smoke 11 or 12 fish in there if I stack em right. The little electric ones work really well, and will get you up and going without having to find the sweet spot for heating and smoke volume. I routinely use my larger two electrics for everyday use. Dad

Since we’re talking about living off the land here, how many people here (or their families) hunt and fish around here? Do you all preserve the meat? Canning? Drying? I’m an avid outdoorsman, and I hunt and fish just as often as I can get the time to do. (although the first Saturday of November is a recognized holiday in our house…opening day of Elk season) For big game, I’ll make summer sausages out of some of the grinder, but mostly I cut & wrap then freeze the meat. For fish, I salt cure then smoke it. Oily fishes such as salmon and trout work best. Here’s how I do it. Prepare your fish, clean and fillet it so you have pieces that will fit easily into your smoker. Leave the skin on!!! The skin will help keep the fish together when removing the fish from the smoker. If you have a very thick fillet (greater than 1½-2” thick) cut it so you have a bunch of smaller pieces rather than one big thick one. Find yourself a plastic tub, I use one that’ll handle entire sides of 20lb salmon (I smoke them & give them out for X-mas, an entire side of a decent sized salmon makes an impressive gift) but any tub that’ll accommodate fish sized to fit your smoker will do. Okay, pour some *Canning & Pickling Salt* to make a layer of salt, approx ¾” deep, then lay your fish on the salt, skin side down. Keep ¾ to 1” clear between the fish pieces all around. Pour more salt in to cover the fish & fill in spaces between pieces, Make sure you’ve got at least ½” cover of salt over the fish. If needed, you can continue layering fish and salt. Let the fish sit in the salt at room temperature for 2½ to 3 hours, then remove the fish from the salt, keeping as much of the salt in the tub as possible for the next batch (only if you’re curing multiple batches today… don’t try to save the salt over extended periods) wash the fish in *cold* water so ALL SALT has been removed. Then set the fish out on the counter/table/etc and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle a small amount of brown sugar onto the fish as it sits. When the fish has sat for 3 hours, move it to the smoker. Smoke it for a minimum of 12 hours. I use a mix of wood chips and smoke it heavily (new pan every 45min to an hour), I smoke it as much as 3 days sometimes but I like a really dry cure. You’ll do well with just alder chips, a pan every 2 hours or so. This method is a dry-cure, everybody and their brother has their own “secret” brine to use for wet-curing. I don’t do that, so I’ve got bubkas to give you for brining fish for smoking. Let me know how you cure your meats, where you hunt, and what you hunt for. Dad

CPO 1C James Parker, USN EOD God speed him home to his family safely. He's my hunting partner's youngest. Dad

When all the shots are gone, what will I do? I'll just have to drive back down to the liquor store... Seriously, I've been in EMS for almost 5 years now, and I've been up-close and personal with some *very* sick patients, I've never yet caucht so much as a sniffle from one. I've also never taken an influenza shot. If you're in generally good health, are active, and eat a pretty sensible diet, and you're not in one of the high-risk populations (...and you're not off licking other people's hands after they cough...) you will probably miss the flu season. That's not to say that you won't get sick... you well may. And what most people think of as the flu is actually a whole cocophony of different bugs you pick up. Influenza is a pretty nasty bug, and will knock you silly for two weeks or more. If you pick up a book on communicable diseases or disorders, you'll notice that 60-80% of the maladies they have in there present with "flu like symptoms" Which is to say having; fever, nausea, headache/bodyaches, lethargy, general feeling of unwellness. Well folks that covers everything from chicken pox to the initial stages of Ebola infection and all manner of little nasties in-between. Reality, the best thing you can do to avoid flu-season colds is to keep yourself healthy. Trim off the extra weight(you'll feel better, and you'll feel better about yourself). Get plenty of sleep - 8 hours nightly is ideal, but however much you can manage. Eat sensibly, (I'm a big eater, okay... I scoff at the 2500kCal diets, I'm well above that, but I am a very active guy, chasing four daughters around.... you do the math)I mean, don't pig out on any one item, and make sure you're eating a fairly balanced diet, vitamins and minerals do help a lot, which you'll already be getting from the balanced diet. Extra vitamin C is a good thing too. Have an orange, strawberries, cantaloupe, or my favorite- red chilli peppers! (sorry, gals, there's no Vitamin C in bonbons... I had to check) Laugh and Love each day... Just be sensible and live fully... Be well Dad

sorry...but I almost forgot..my husband and I have both loved reading the Harry Potter series...even though we are both adults...mom

For all you Maeve Bichy fans out there..Of which I am one. She has a new book out called Nights of Rain and Stars. I've only just started it but it looks good. My favorite books to read over and over again are: The glass lake, The lilac bus, London Transports, Jewels of the sun and Tears of the Moon (both Nora Roberts when I want some romance). I love Erma Bombeck. She always makes me laugh even if I've read it a hundred times. Laura Ingalls Wilder books, I have been reading them aloud to my girls and it was amazing to see how much more I picked up on as an adult. I like reading classics - books I probablly groaned aloud in high school about reading - but I enjoy them now. mom