The WE2's

Hubby finished up step mum's job and came home...just in time to run into a terrific storm.  Only lasted a few minutes though.  Here...Abby-girl went directly to her "hide" place.  She's doing really very well since we realized that placing a thin mattress over some of her human daddy's shoes gives her the "safe" place that she seeks.  Wonderful for all three of us!

I had towels hanging on my lines when it started storming here, so had to make a dash to get them in my basket and back in the house.  They're just damp so I'll take them to the homestead in the morning and dry them in the dryer.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow so hanging them out will be a waste of time.

Really got a blessing for the poison ivy on hubby's arms etc.  Dr. Axe has an anti-itch potion for all types of skin problems, especially poison ivy, and it certainly works!  I mixed some up this morning, put the paste on the spots and by the time he got home there was a MAJOR difference!  I think he'll be over this stupid stuff very soon.  He's been using all kinds of creams, sprays and even prescription stuff...and it helps...a little.  But this is almost a miracle! 

I used 1 tsp. Baking Soda, 2 tps. Bentonite Clay, 1 Tblsp. Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 Tbsp.Witch Hazel,  10 drops Lavender Essential oil, 5 drops of Peppermint Essential oil, 2 drops of T-Tree Oil and I added some Aloe gel.  Just be aware that when the Apple Cider Vinegar hits the Baking Soda it will fizz! LOL  I did have to add a bit more Witch Hazel to thin the paste down a bit.  If yours is too thin just add more Bentonite Clay.

Happy Anniversary Micki!

Went with hubby to run some errands and then picked up our "free lunch" of turkey casserole, green beans, fruit medley and a sweet bread.  The "tv" dinner was chicken nuggets, corn, and fruit.  Having this "Kitchen" serving hot meals etc., is so wonderful.  We see a lot of other's enjoying the service as well.  I don't feel badly.  We work hard and when I don't have to cook or clean up it's an EZ on the cook day...and let's our local restaurants know we're enjoying their donations of GOOD food...especially Panera!  LOL

After lunch hubby went to finish up the drywall work at his customer's toy shed and then finished the mowing at the homestead.

I did a couple of loads of laundry and hung them up on my "under the carport" clothes lines (I now have 4) to dry.  

Hubby's still fighting with the poison ivy, but we may have found a prescription strength medication (that we had and keep stored) and he says it's really made a difference.  Because it's prescription strength and only available by prescription I can't mention it here. 

Would you all believe we have another kitty that's showed up on our front porch here?  Seems to be fairly young and looked awfully scrubby and gaunt, so yes...I fed it and it let me give it some lovin!  Really enjoyed my petting and couldn't pry itself away from my leg! LOL  It can stay, but I won't feed it on a regular basis.  If it stays it has to hunt.

Dremeled Abby's toe nails tonight and gave her monthly heart worm pill and then put the liquid flea and tick down her back so she's doing a "mohawk".  The chewable pills for flea and tick are absolutely riduculously priced!  Twice the price of the heart worm pill!

Guess this weekend we'll clean up the van and get ready for our "mini vacation" toward the end of this month.

On 6/15/2020 at 9:01 PM, Jeepers said:

I saw that video too

Watched another video today from another gardener that doesn't even live near Danny...and his garden plants began to shrivel up and die also...from the same issue.  Using the hay and straw from fields sprayed with GrazOn, but also mentioned two other's that are well known...just can't remember which two now.

11 hours ago, Annarchy said:

taxes

But does anybody that is receiving "unemployment" check(s) pay taxes on the monies they're receiving?  Just thinking out loud.

Put down the ground cover this morning and moved the patio table and chairs over on it.  We put one side of it right up to side of the raised beds with the potato plants.  That way there's no mowing there!  We'll lay down another strip maybe two and leave just a "mower" width that runs in front of our rain catchment barrels.  So not much mowing in that whole area.  I plan to also run a strip down between the two rows of tubs so there will be no mowing there either...just a bit of weed eating around the outer perimeters of the tubs, on three sides. 

It doesn't look like we'll get any pole beans or Okra in this year.  Just two many irons in the fire. June is about the last month we'd want to plant the beans and Okra for them to make.

Watched an almost awful video from Deep South Homestead on what he's found out about a chemical nearly all farmers spray on their fields for hay etc.  I think he called it "Graze-On"...anyway...when you feed it to your farm animals, then then use their manure in your compost piles...your plants die out for no reason.  He is really spreading the word...and says that "grass fed beef" is a joke and pretty much a lie because they use this stuff on the "grass" the animals eat.  So friends...it may not be your seeds or plants at all!  It may be the compost or manure you're using in your gardens!

We're planning to take a couple of days off the last part of this month to go spend some time with a friend.  Our 11th anniversary is coming up in July but we'll celebrate it early because his cousin is going to be in that area for their vacation and we seldom get to see them...they live in Texas.  So coming to our state is a treat for them and for us...IF we can get things together with them.  We're pretty flexible but haven't heard back from them on any specific day or time we might be able to share a meal and then continue on our way to our friends place where we can park our Miss B.  When we're there we only sleep in Miss B because she and I cook the meals (we take food) inside etc. and visit etc.

9 hours ago, Homesteader said:

Why doesn't life slow down after retirement

We work harder now than we ever have!  I think it's because we are governors of our time! LOL

On 6/13/2020 at 7:58 PM, The WE2's said:

Fiesta Salad

Forgot that she also had cherry tomatoes in the salad!

Accomplished our goal!  Moved the microwave cabinet upstairs into that kitchen area.  I use it to store my essential oil etc.  They were on a plastic shelving unit...this will be so much nicer.

Then moved the pantry we bought a couple of years ago, into the main kitchen.  It's 8' tall and has lots of shelves with doors.  I'm gonna love it!  Paid 35$ for it.  Very nice wood.  Probably pine but me no care!  It's purty!  I'll clean it up with some Murphy's oil soap (?) and it should look quite nice.  Hubby's going to add more shelves to the lower part so that I can have two shelves (in each one that's currently there) to put my EZ reach canned goods and the other shelves I'll put my half gallon jars of granola, pasta etc. on them.  The very top shelf will be for the "booze".  

Gave the garden tub tubes a good fill.  I've got a bloom on my Zuchinni! The Canteloupe and Yellow Squash are looking great also.  I put tomato cages around them to train them upward.  The little sparkly spin wheels seem to be helping keep moths away as well as having mint growing in the tub also, and fermented comfrey leaves laying on top.  

Some how or another my little plant stand that holds my flower starts etc., got blown over.  Not sure how?  Anyway...I set it in another place and guess whatever lives will live.  Gave each pot a good watering.

The two potato beds are flourishing and some have blooms.  I think the blooms are so pretty.  When the plants dies back I'll start hand digging for potatoes.

Our state is to be officially "open" Tuesday.  We noticed Golden Corral was now open as well as Denny's and several other restaurants in town.  We're glad to see them opening up...especially Golden Corral.  It's one of our favorite places when we do eat out.

Guess sister in law got some negative feed back from both friends and family about "deactivating" her facebook account...so she's still there.  Can't figure it out though...why is she posting a lot of her stuff if she doesn't want anybody commenting?  I just read and scroll on by.

Hubby's still treating the poison ivy.  I told him "listen to me" and he started washing the areas on his arms with pine tar soup and then we went to CVS and got a spray that soothes and stops the itching.  

Gotta go...time to change the bed sheets and grab my book.  This body looks forward to laying down and reading after a hard days work.

9 hours ago, snapshotmiki said:

dental treat

Minties...small/medium size...we buy them at Menards.

21 hours ago, Jeepers said:

still think of her as a puppy

We do too!

23 hours ago, The WE2's said:

Fiesta Salad

Forgot the cherry tomatoes!

Took care of step mum's "list" today...except he didn't have the right size of 2x that he needed to put on the bottom edge of her garage door.  So...he'll need to go back again...later.  But she's got her electricity sockets and her motion sensor lights on her screened in deck are all working now.  The ones who are going to re-screen her deck are to be there tomorrow.  That was a job she wanted hubby to do but he really doesn't have the time to do it, plus driving back and forth for his "wage" doesn't make him much, so he's not sad at all.

She and I admired her little garden (sooo glad she planted something!) and then talked about a few things she might want to invest in (since she's feeling like most of us) mainly a solar oven (my preference is the All American Sun Oven...we love ours), a portable butane burner to cook on as well as the cylinders for it.  Watched a video and she was astounded...had never heard of them!  She lives on a lake so in my opinion a Berkey would be high on her list since she wouldn't have to store water like most of us do.

She fixed us an absolutely wonderful "Fiesta Salad" before we left.  So very tasty!  Then sent us home with the "remains" and we had another meal of it for our supper.

Recipe:  Shopped up Romaine lettuce, red beans, black beans, shredded cheese, Frito's and Classic Catalina dressing...a long with toasted garlic bread and...brownies w/walnuts!

I think we're both still in the recovery mode from all the mowing yesterday though.  I've already spruced up for the night and in my night dress! Will read a bit and scoot off to sleep.

Tomorrow we had planned to start re-arranging things in the kitchens at the homestead...did I say "planned"?  Hubby has a bit of a headache (which he never has!) so he took some Ibuprofen and is relaxing.  Took his blood pressure to make sure that was decent. 

Abby-girl is waiting patiently for her "bone" treat...a mint chewy! LOL  Called the vet to get her heart worm meds for 3 months and was told it would take a few hours because they were so backed up!  Give me a break! Told them we were headed out of town and I'd call them next week.  If they weren't so good we'd just go to PetSmart here in town for it.  May end up doing that anyway.  They're into this "dollar you death" mode I'm afraid.  Hundreds of dollars for teeth cleaning, biopsy's on every little bump (which we know are fatty tumors...and small) ... and we already had them biopsied!  

She's too old to be putting to sleep for teeth cleaning...in our opinion.  We're heard of too many people losing their pets when they're put to sleep/anestia when they're aged.  We give her the dental chewy every evening for her treat, and brush her teeth when she'll let us...talk about a jaw clencher! LOL

Hubby mowed the front half of the yard at the homestead and I mowed the garden area.  Told him "the longer I mowed, the bigger the yard seemed to get!"  But...it's done.  He'll finish up the east half of the property.

He managed to get a dose of poison ivy on the lower part of his arms so he's using the clear calamine on it. A friend of ours got into it and was having a tough time getting rid of it.  Her family told her to use Zantel (?) it's an OTC wash and she says it's getting better. I may have to make a paste out of my pine tar soap for him to use if the calamine stuff doesn't work.  

He thinks his yard work shirt (and his jeans?) had it on them and he came in contact with it.  He wears long sleeves etc., when he's pulling brush and mowing (we both do) so it stands to reason that he came into contact with it that way because his arms were covered.

Going to step mums tomorrow so he can do her odd jobs.  I'll go along and visit for a couple of hours.

Hubby seems a lot happier knowing he'll be keeping his truck...and I'm a lot happier knowing I'll be keeping my "home on wheels"!  Too old to be making all these drastic changes! 

Worked in the garden area while hubby pulled more brush from the "neglected" corner...boy does it look different.  The city came by and picked up all that he got to the street so he had to pile the rest on the little trailer.  We'll just have to take it to the re-cyclers.  All the tubs are looking good.  I staked the tomato plants up, they're getting tall enough to want to bend and did a bit of pruning.  Pulled one that was looking a bit "limpy".  I still have 5 nice looking plants left.  Also put supports around the zuchinni, yellow squash and canteloupe and plan to train them to grow up and over the "trellis" wires.  Pulled Polk from the potato beds...that stuff if merciless in our area and it's been a constant battle every year to keep it from taking over everything.  We pull it before it goes to sees so it does seem to be getting less and less.  Did pour about a gallon of water in the tub tubes, even though it's rained the temps have been very hot.  Stuck some additional mint starts in some of the squash tubs...and then crushed some leaves and spread them round the edges.  Really want to try to keep insects away without having to spray.  

Our blackberries are beginning to turn a bit pinkish so it won't be long before we'll need to fight for them...grrrr!  The raspberries are just "there"...this is their first year so we don't expect anything out of them.  Hubby cut out all the "old" canes to make room for these new ones.  He may have gotten a bit energetic...LOL

After lunch he went to work and I did a little bit of mowing so he only has a little bit more to do as well as do some weed eating.  Tomorrow we'll try to get most of the homestead mowed.  He got a replacement wheel for the small mower that I use in the garden area and he uses the biggin for all the rest.  Both are self propelled...the one here...not.  The propel broke and it's one heavy mower so I only do bits at a time.  "Someday" we'll get the riding mower fixed and it will be much easier.  The repair shops here seem to be booked solid and we're not crazy about leaving our mower with them for weeks on end.  Hopefully the one we like to go to will get caught up now that he's open.  The other one is in the town where the Roost property is and we'd have to haul it on the trailer to get it there and then back when fixed.  

Sister in law notified everybody that she's de-activating FB and if anybody wants to know about my brother they can call her cell number.  Went through something very similar when my other brother passed.  His wife cut everybody off except her family.  I expect she'll be having only their "party" friends around.  She loves the liquor bottle.  I'm sure sure he doesn't really mind right now because before hand he was a party animal too, and now he's drugged on the really strong stuff.  She said the MRI showed that the tumor in his long was larger and pressing against his heart, moving it to where it really shouldn't be.  Guess it causes a lot of pain when that happens.  

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we called to go see him and were told "no" for whatever reason she comes up with.  Last time (and only time) we went we took a meal and she spent the whole time at her computer "working"...then apologized online for not being better company.  It is what it is.

Not sure if I mentioned it earlier, but we had thought about selling the truck "as is" and selling the travel trailer.  We've decided to just fix the truck and keep the trailer,  We'll keep Miss B for the time being also.  They all make wonderful bug out vehicles, and we would still like to find a few acres "somewhere" that we could go to if we needed to.  We could live in the trailer very easily if we had to.

Got one of the totes filled with vacuum sealed bags of some of my winter clothes.  We'll take it with us in the morning.  Sunday will be a humongus work day for us.  We need to clear out the upstairs "kitchen" and make room for the downstairs kitchen's microwave cabinet.  We're taking it upstairs and will use it for storage as well as putting one of our other microwaves in as a backup.  The other microwave we'll probably just store since it's a very small one.  THEN into the kitchen comes my pantry shelf! Looking forward to that...but not the work.  Wish we could find another day, but hubby's working and about all we have for our projects is evenings and weekends.  After he gets step mum taken care of Saturday, then we'll have Saturdays to do a lot of things.

Sometimes we're so far behind we think we're ahead!

21 hours ago, Mt_Rider said:

WICK tub method and don't have to poke holes in the bottom.

Our tubs are doing great...but with Leon's method we did drill a small hole three inches up from the bottoms.  We're calling them "P" holes!  When the tub P's ... we know it's got a reservoir of water that's at least 3 inches deep...LOL

21 hours ago, Mt_Rider said:

its the year for experiments

Our whole garden this year is just exactly that!  So far...so good.

I loafed!  Took care of most of my household things and then some Mon and Tues.  Surprised hubby by taking all the trash to the dumpster and then the dumpster to the street.  Then I changed the furnace filter...yesterday! LOL

Hubby hauled brush to the street at the homestead this morning until it began to rain.  The city is picking up debri from the storm that came through.  We didn't have anything here and only a few small limbs at the homestead so he got really busy yesterday and pulled most of the vines out of the "neglected" corner and took it to the street. After lunch he worked for his customer and I loafed.  Listened to some christian music and listened to Alexander Skouby read scriptures and then got my new bath of yogurt into the frig for tomorrow's breakfast. 

We went to Menards and picked up 10 heavy duty totes and then $Tree for some storage bags.  I'll be packing up some "unnecessary" items to take to the homestead.  We'll move stuff gradually so we won't have to do it all at once when he finishes the bathroom.

1 hour ago, Littlesister said:

I had to help him

I used a weight distribution belt when I had to assist my late husband.  He was a very heavy man and I couldn't have done it without that belt!

Hubby got all the brush and limbs from the Roost loaded and taken to their maintenance site.  Now that they have it, they'll be open during the week for people to bring their stuff that needs to be disposed of.  GOOD!

Me?  Just did laundry and tried to stay cool.  In the 90'ish with plenty of humidity, so even washing dishes washes up a sweat. Wearing my summer dresses helps a lot!  I don't wear them outside the house, but they're sure comfy and cool inside!  We bought them (I have 8 or 9) when I had the hysterectomy surgery several years ago...and they were wonderful both in the hospital and when I came home.  Now they're working inside to keep me cool!  I'd do my chores "naked" but hubby's not here when I do them!  LOL

21 hours ago, Homesteader said:

little demi-gods

There appears to be more than enough to go around for each and every state!

Hubby worked on step mum's honey do list, but didn't get it finished. Will have to go back another day.  Can't tomorrow...he's got to make a trip to the Roost and load up all the brush/trees/limbs he cut and take it to their maintenance barn for disposal.

Me?  Made a bit of a mop around in the bathroom and washed a load of denims and hung them on my lines.

Called most of my close friends to check on them and say hello since we haven't been able to "see" each other.  One had to go the hospital, spent 5 days without her husband at her side, before they figured out she need heart medicine to keep her heart rhythm in good time.  She's about 15 years younger than myself, so that's very scary for her.  Other friend gave up her car when it went capoot, and doesn't plan to fix it.  She'll save her money and just buy another one.  Said saying home (she very high risk) really didn't change anything for her.  Her neice does her shopping for her. Everyone else seemed to be doing ok.  One is supposed to call me back later...probably tomorrow or ??? She's the one that moved to Mississippi not long ago...just in time for the virus!

Supper?  Breaded fish patty, steamed potato and carrots.  Dessert? Jello.

1 hour ago, Jeepers said:

stocked up on sheets

We did that several years ago...via garage sales.  I only bought the nice ones (didn't care about colors) and lots of extra pillow cases and blankets, as well as comforters.  Just in case one would be caught in a cold spell without any source of heat.

2 hours ago, Jeepers said:

I turned 68 today

Happy birthday girl!

21 hours ago, Jeepers said:

Having a tub full of water sitting in the sun all day

Kiddy pool time!