themartianchick

CAT!!!!!!😸

Thank you all for the kind thoughts and prayers! Mom is doing well and she is at home. As predicted, an antibiotic was required. The hospital diversion was irritating, but they treated her well and I stayed with her all day. We keep a bag packed for occasions like this and always have a change of clothes, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, spare masks, a sweater, several snacks, a bottle of water, 2 juice boxes, straws, and plastic utensils. I did manage to forget my cell phone charger and something for me to eat. Due to COVID, The hospital won't let anyone leave to get food and then return in the same day. Fortunately, hubby brought me a sandwich and I was allowed to meet him at the door.

This evening, I am working on laundry. The plan is for me to go to work tomorrow. Of course, that had been the plan for today, too! It reminds me of a saying:

Man plans...God laughs!

1 hour ago, euphrasyne said:

Slipped and fell this morning.  Broke my right wrist badly.  Spent all day at ER.  I will need surgery as it is a bad break.

Oh, noooo! I hope that you feel better soon and heal quickly, Euphrasyne.

This is good information to have,  My mom had a very mild stroke in her 70s. She immediately recognized the symptoms and was trying to direct my dad to the FAST list on the front of the fridge. He didn't really understand what she was getting at, but did call the paramedics. It is important for everyone in the household to be able to recognize the signs and act quickly. Later, dad admitted that he had never actually read the sheet on the fridge.

I am at the hospital with mom this morning, instead of at work. She is basically fine and probably just in need of an antibiotic. I hope that they send her home today. I had an interesting conversation with the EMTs from the ambulance crew. They told me not to believe that the COVID numbers are going down. I questioned the heck out of them because they couldn't take mom to her preferred hospital. (She used to work in administration at a NY State University hospital and she is quite particular about the quality of care ratings!) The local hospitals are still diverting patients to whatever one has availability. We have 4 hospitals and three are diverting patients to facility #4. Based upon what I saw in the emergency room...they are correct. I am double-masked because I refused to remove my high-quality one to put on a cheap blue, pleated one. 

There will be no homesteading activities for me today. 

10 minutes ago, Mother said:

I grew meal worms for my caged birds when raising them for pet shop sales.  I’ve fed tons to our chickens and ducks as well.  They grow in grain extremely easily.  
 

I like the cage.  I’m guessing that’s not a double decker but a headache barrier.  We used them with our button quail so they didn’t pop out of the cage. 

It was a double-decker! There were two smaller cages on the bottom and one larger one on the top. It allowed me to keep some of the birds segregated from the others. I had another tiny quail cage on the back of my potting table, too. I only kept two birds in that one, as it was made from a bookcase style headboard.

My mom's apartment has an electric stove. It was a real adjustment for me, as I've always had a gas stove. One thing that I do there is turn of the burner before food has finished cooking. The burner stays hot for A LONG TIME. I also pack the oven with several dishes when baking. Sweet potatoes are my favorite filler items. Like the stovetop, the oven also stays hot for a while after it has been turned off.

3 hours ago, Mother said:

 

Something I did a long time ago and still today is to use my Vitamix blender to make soup. My old Vitamix can be toggled from backwards to forward.  I put the raw ingredients into the container, add some water or broth, and blend until smooth.  Then I toggle it backwards and forward until the ingredients begin to heat from centrifugal force. I’m not sure if all high powered blenders will do this but it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. 

 

WAIT!!!! WHAT????

I had no idea that this could be done! 

Welcome back, Wychwood!

6 hours ago, Jeepers said:

I would like to find a pad/tablet about the size of my Kindle Fire. It's 10 inches. I do a lot of planning, note taking and list making so I need one with a USB port so I can transfer data from that into my computer. Kindle Fire would be perfect but it doesn't have a port. The computer is just too heavy and bulky to carry around. I'd even be satisfied with a cheapy from Wal-Mart. I haven't really seriously looked around. The last time I went looking, nearly everything was out of stock. It probably hasn't gotten much better.

I have a little tiny laptop that can also fold back and be used as a tablet. It was really inexpensive a couple of years ago. It is the computer that I travel with because it fits into an ordinary purse. I will see if I can find it.I thought that it was an HP, but it is a Dell. It was on sale a few years back right after Thanksgiving for $130. It is handy, though it is a little slow. Here is the model info:

Dell™ Inspiron i3185 2-In-1 Laptop, 11.6" Touch Screen, AMD A6, 4GB Memory, 64GB eMMC Storage, Windows® 10, i3185-A626RED-PUS
Quantity Shipped: 1
Item # 8790314

I assume that they have a newer model/version of this now. It is just so darned convenient!

I spent today in my own home, as I had the day off from work. Hubby and I went to 2 stores this morning when they weren't very busy. We bit the bullet and purchased a lot of meat at a locally owned grocery store. Mostly beef for hubby and then I added a few large packs of chicken thighs @ $1.19/lb. The beef ribs were $3.99/lb but they had to be cut apart before freezing. Hubby also picked out a couple of packs of beef bacon at the astronomical price of $7.99/lb. We paid a total of $80 and it all fit into a single reusable grocery bag!   I repackaged everything and reorganized the freezer to ensure that I could make it all fit. I forgot to mention that I have been doing a no-spend month for March. Groceries are exempt from that. I will continue to get the households stocked up for whatever may come.

This afternoon, hubby and I went birdwatching in a nearby nature preserve that we had never visited before. Then we picked up some lunch using a gift card. Restaurants are against the rules for a no-spend month.

2 hours ago, Mother said:

I had planned on meal worms and fly larva to supplement feed. These idea are great.  Thanks.  

When I had livestock, I also had a mealworm farm in a small plastic aquarium. It was very easy to maintain and I fed them to my chickens and quail. One day, I was cleaning and raking out the space on the ground (beneath the quail cage) and found that there was a whole colony of mealworms living there. I also cleaned out the indoor chicken run for the stealth chickens and found more living beneath the straw, dried leaves and wood chips. That was when I realized that I didn't need to cultivate mealworms at all. I believe that a few had gotten away from my birds and decided to live in the feed-strewn litter. They tended to live in places that were inaccessible to the birds but still gave them access to overlooked or spilled food. From then on, I simply grabbed a shovel full of the discarded litter and gave it to the birds to scratch through.

I found this old photo of my quail cage with my first hatched flock. We eventually had it resting on 2 pallets to allow it to sit up higher. This made it easy to slip a narrow garden rake under it and pull out old bedding and mealworms. I used to use the roof of the cage to grow potted herbs and salad greens. The second photo is my original mealworm farm.

16 minutes ago, Jeepers said:

 

 

I can't offer any thing more except, I've been reading where people are using a lot of zucchini in their bread making. Not traditional moist zucchini bread but they make flour from them. They are supposed to be used with, or instead of, regular wheat flour and, supposedly, you can't tell the difference. I've been all over the internet and there is tons on info about it. We all know how prolific Zucchinis are. Can't hardly give them away by the end of summer. It seems like I'm probably the last one to know. But I'm putting it out there incase I'm not. It could be an option in our grain deficient world. 

I have never heard of this, Jeepers! I can imagine that you dehydrate some zuke chips and then powder them. That could be very helpful. I don't have a lot of space for growing grains but I can grow a million zucchini on a couple of plants. If I am not mistaken, I lent my dehydrator to my daughter in 2020. I should probably ask for it back! 

I also took a moment to check on my waterbath canner... My daughter borrowed that in 2020, too. I am a homesteader in need of the most basic tools!

My new computer still uses Windows 10 and I am grateful for that,

11 hours ago, Mother said:

As for rabbit, squirrel, birds, and other critters known as food they won’t last long.  The neighborhood will be bare in a very short time but pets might be in plentiful supply, not to mention become dangerous as they form packs.  

Mom and I don't eat a lot of meat, but my husband is liable to become dangerous if he doesn't get some kind of meat to eat!

26 minutes ago, Midnightmom said:

 The information about each edible was so separated from the picture of each plant by ADVERTISEMENTS that it was difficult (at first) to match the name to the food!

 

OTOH, I see that same annoying trend on other websites - including NEWS articles! It is extremely frustrating - especially when my browser decides take a snooze or goes on strike altogether. 

That drives me crazy, too!

You can sometimes find bread machines in thrift stores...especially after the holidays. People receive them as gifts and either use them once or not at all. 

21 minutes ago, Dee said:

I have always wanted a bread machine BUT I have enough trouble with my weight and know if I bought something that worked so simply, in comparison to making it by hand, I'd make way too much of it. 

 

There is nothing better than homemade bread, warm right out of the oven and slathered with butter. With that kind of attitude, it's best I stay away from bread machines!! 

Oh, I didn't say that I SHOULD be using one...just that I have one! Bread and pasta are two of my downfalls. I haven't gotten enough exercise in recent years and the scale is not my friend. I brought my bread machine to mom's apartment when COVID hit in our area (March 2020). We were already seeing grocery shortages and I wanted to ensure that we had access to bread. I think that I only made it twice. The machine is now in the closet that I am supposed to be cleaning today. That still might happen today... 🙄

Good morning!

It is a chilly 43 degrees in NY, today! I am hoping to get the storage closet organized. That is where I keep a lot of miscellaneous stuff and it is a bit of a hot mess! Reorganizing the freezer is definitely in the plan. If I manage to get anything else done, then that is just a bonus. I have tomorrow off from work and I'm hoping to get some stuff done in my own home. I may even look over my garden beds to see if there is anything that I want to grow in pots. My old potting table is still out in the main garden, but it looks a little worse for wear. If nothing else, maybe I can grow some herbs in pots. I love fresh herbs and they are so expensive at the store!

Have a great day, everyone!

12 hours ago, Littlesister said:

She couldn't believe they managed to get a linen closet in a cracker box. 

🤣🤣🤣🤣

10 hours ago, Mother said:

Jeepers DH can not write legibly because of tremors and the lawyer told him he could sign anything with an X if he had a witness, even his will. 

My mom has Parkinson's and the tremor is particularly strong in her dominant hand. She tried to learn to write with the other hand but it  also shakes and the handwriting is still illegible. She has had to sign a few important documents in front of a notary. It is still hard for her to accept because she used to write in shorthand to take meeting minutes and could type 90 words per minute.

Welcome back, Spider! My condolences on the loss of your mom. It sounds as though you have had a difficult time in recent years. Many of us have commented that Darlene's email touched on something deeply emotional and spiritual. It is so much nicer to share our troubles and triumphs here. The more people who return, the lighter the burdens feel.

Hi, Nana! It is so nice to see so many of the old personalities here.

With so many folks coming back, it feels really good to be back HOME again! 

This is really interesting... I don't think that I've ever used a really old recipe.

We used to have chickens, quail, and a dog. Today, we have no critters at all. When our last dog died, we were too heartbroken to get another. When we were finally ready, we decided that it would be a bad idea because hubby was retiring and we wanted to be able to travel. So, I made do with my stealth chickens until a raccoon killed most of them. When those last few hens died, I didn't replace them because Hubby was really close to retirement. After hubby retired, our youngest daughter took care of the quail for us when we traveled because she was still living at home. I didn't bother to hatch any more chicks after that batch died. The Quail Jail (as we called their backyard cage) was dismantled last summer. I miss spending time with my critters, especially the chickens. I am in need of chicken therapy! 🐣🐥🐤🐔

We feed the birds, squirrels and rabbits at mom's apartment. I guess that they'd be on the menu, if things got really bad around here.