WHATCHA DOING TODAY?

[Guest Amber Actually]

I thought currants were little bitty grapes.  

[Mt_Rider]

Well, I've had some dark purple wild grapes that were fairly sour but.....I really don't think currants are grapes at all.  They are closely related to gooseberries.  I hear some are thornless....but that would not be the wild varieties that grow up here.  As I mentioned, one of the very FEW wild offerings at these altitudes.  Thorns and very tart!  Wild up here, they are on average, as big around as a pencil eraser.  Some a bit bigger.  Many much smaller even when ripe....tho I usually leave the tiny ones for the birds.  I wouldn't make a pie from the wild ones....the domesticated varieties look to have loads more berries than the wild ones.  This pic would represent a very full branch on my bushes.

 

https://planttalk.colostate.edu/topics/fruits/1214-currants/

 

MtRider  ... You can see the 'flower' end that has to be pinched off....plus the stem.   Not difficult...tedious, one by one.

 

[Jeepers]

That's the way I remember it too Amber. I was in my early 30's and had an elementary student son and a college student for a husband.

 

Those were the times my MIL passed around the laundry basket to the family and told them to fill it up. She took it around to all of the family on her side. She waited for them to go gather up the canned goods. LOL. She was a force to be reckoned with. MIL and FIL bought us a medium size freezer and we filled it up with mostly fruit that we picked free. Strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches, pears, raspberries etc. No meat. We canned green beans (gasp...water bath) and pickles. 

 

Sugar prices went sky high because people were making a lot of jams and jelly to have on bread for lunches. We made grape jelly and apple butter. No jar lids were wasted on jelly. We used a layer of Gulf wax. 

 

Husbands grandmother even gave us her block of government cheese. That was sacrifice! My family helped us out also. My granny was gathering canned food too. 

 

Now that I think about it. No one (in our families) was concerned with money. It was food. Hummm.

[Guest Amber Actually]

I am not at all familiar with that fruit.

 

Yes, Gulf Wax.  We went through block after block of it. 

 

Did you put two or three baby potatoes in with your green beans too?

 

[The WE2's]

On 8/9/2019 at 8:41 PM, The WE2's said:

making my own yogurt

 

Not sure what I'm not doing this time but the last two batches have been failures.  Back to square one I guess!

[The WE2's]

Drove out to our friends farm (the one with the recent back surgery) to haul their water inside and they sent us home with more produce.  I may have already mentioned this before?  Anyway, this haul was more tomatoes, two egg plant, 2 zucchini, a bucket of green bell peppers, a sack full of sweet banana-like peppers and some more cucumbers.  Diced up a bunch of the green bell peppers, froze them and then put them in a baggy in the freezer.  Also a small bag of sliced ones for our sandwiches (we prefer them to lettuce) when we have sandwiches for our lunch.  I'll be making some more pickles "my" way.  Also will be canning the sweet peppers.  Wanna see?  No, the red ones are not hot.

[Jeepers]

Looks beautiful We2!

 

We didn't can green beans with potatoes but I do now. Pressure can them. I also buy those little sausage links and can them with green beans and potatoes. The sausage is good but the texture is different. And they make a great seasoning for the beans and potatoes. 

[Annarchy]

Well,  I woke up yesterday with another toothache.  Tried to eat a cup of soup, ouch!  Couldn’t eat dinner. What a way to loose weight. Lol.  Kept waking up all night, trying to go back to sleep.  This morning the whole side of my face was swollen.  Dentist got me in, pulled 2.  A molar & the wisdom tooth, that had fallen into the gap left by the last molar they pulled. Mainly because, the infection incorporated both teeth.  I’m such a baby, I cried, and was shaking like a leaf, by the time he was done, one tooth was broken at the base of the root, causing the infection.  He had to dig it out.  Prepping, maybe, 6 front teeth & I can get my full upper denture. TMI, I know.  All my relatives lost all their teeth, both sides of my family .... heredity sucks.  He said it will take about 3 days for the swelling in my face to go down.  Silly DH, said, “your wrinkles don’t show on that side.”  Ha ha ha, yeah right.  I’m still trying to figure out how I am going to eat. 

 

Other than that, it was a beautiful orange sunrise, and didn’t pass 100* today. I didn’t do much of anything with the massive headache I had.  Thank God, it’ much better now!

[Ambergris]

Toothache is just the worst!  

[The WE2's]

Lots of rain, storms and thunder throughout the day.  We just ignored our fur baby and let her roam the house.  I gave hubby strict order "don't baby her...and I think it made a difference.  Of course it was daylight and I kept moving about the house, cooking and washing lunch dishes so that may have helped too??  So all three of us just "hung out" and did some reading and watch youtube etc.  Coulda did some laundry but I didn't want to have a load of wet clothes in the washer or dryer if we had a power interruption. Didn't even want to start water bathing the sweet peppers or make some pickles for the same reason.  Go to all the trouble of preparing them and then have the power stop everything mid-way.  It's started to rain again but I think the severe stuff is a ways from us so no thunder? 

[Mt_Rider]

Awwww, Annarchy.  OW!   Clove oil works to numb dental issues but...it's so very strong and ya might not want to get it into raw areas.  Wow, sounds horrible.  My nervous system would absolutely overload on that much stimulation.  {shudder}  Hope you don't have to do that again, with the infection and all.  Hope you had enough novacane!  Can you drink protein shakes?  

 

Prayer Request:  DH has a lump on his collar bone that I've been watching for a few weeks.  The past few days it's doubled in size.    Finally got him to really LOOK at it and ...... he finally agreed that he has to get into doc.  Tomorrow afternoon.  Begin the process to see what's going on.  It's not painful....probably why he thot to ignore it.  But fast growth....not a good thing.    These past 3 yrs it's just one thing after two more!  And he put in a 2 wk notice.  Being on his feet and rushing for 8+ hours ....sometimes with NO break....no lunch.  He's too old to do that.  If they were compliant with Federal Mandates.....  His ankles/legs are more swelled than I've seen them in 2 yrs since taking the diuretic.  Well, even working a few weeks has given us a fresh supply of $......so we can pay MORE medical bills.    Have no idea what God's up to but....we'll be watching for some purpose in all this hooha.  

 

MtRider   

[Jeepers]

Ignoring them then they are stressed over thunder etc. Is the best thing to do. Kind of hard though. They are too cute for their own good. It doesn't help when I hear a big clap of thunder and about jump out of my skin. Setting a bad example. I am. 

 

Sorry you had a rough day Annarchy! I'm so afraid of dentists. Don't drink from a straw or slurp anything. You can get a dry socket. Those things hurt as bad as a toothache. BTDT.

 

I'm sorry your sweet DH is going through all of this too. Mt. Rider. I know he tries so hard. You guys have had your hands full for so long. How are your parents doing? Are your horses still there? 

 

[Homesteader]

So sorry to hear about your tooth woes, Anny. I went through a tooth pull and a root canal this past year. I thought I was able to save one, which I did for almost a year, but out it came. The other one was damaged from a recent filling. Something wasn't right and cracked that tooth. It was already crowned.  Got a root canal in the city and never had any more problems with it. The swelling, pain, and infections were awful, and yes, I lost quite a bit of weight over those two teeth.    

 

As I age, I'm slowly changing how much hard foods I eat. Have pretty much given up on almonds and hard candy. It's OK, though. I HATE toothaches!  And the dentist reminded me that infections can eat away at jaw bone. That got me to the specialist the next week. Be blessed!!  

[Annarchy]

  Praise God!

 

What a difference one day makes!  A heavy dose of penicillin and almost no pain!  Soreness, yeah, but not that mind bending pain, confusion and dizziness.  

 

Plus, my new glasses came in yesterday and I can see clearly again!  

 

Thank you all for the well wishes.  Sorry you’ve had to deal with it too.  DH made me laugh... he said the side of my face that’s swollen, doesn’t have any wrinkles. Ha ha ha.  Doc said it will be a few days before the swelling goes down. I’m good with that, as long as it doesn’t hurt anymore. Got a great nights sleep too.

 

Made me think about being prepped for tooth issues.  Imagine how hard it would be, to extract the broken root?  Yikes!  Very grateful for an honest dentist, who also gave a discount, on the 2nd extraction, “because it would hold the infection and I’d probably be back in a couple of months, to have it removed also”.  Also, with as deep as the infection was, it could have been deadly, if it hadn’t been taken care of it when I did.  That tooth had been tender off and on, but, I figured I’d chomped down on something wrong, I kept brushing the snot out of it and it would feel better the next day.  I hope never to have to deal with that again, God willing.

 

I hope all all goes well with your specialist, Homesteader.  I wouldn’t wish tooth issues on my worst enemy.  That’s what nightmares are made of.

 

Beautiful day today, sun is shining, birds are singing, and I feel better than I have in quite some time. 

 

Praying for your DH, Mt_Rider...

 

[Jeepers]

So glad your tooth is feeling better! Tooth aches hurt so bad. I have some clove oil stashed away for an emergency. My granny used to chew on whole cloves (not the bud part) when her tooth hurt. That sort of helps because it has a numbing effect. Next time you have a whole clove close by try chewing on it. You get sort of a dry tingle. And fresh breath. OTC toothache meds don't do a thing for me. 

 

Remember the old throat lozenges called Sucrets. They had the same effect. Wonder if they still make those.

 

Dr. office called. I need more blood work in three months. My kidneys aren't functioning correctly. Hopefully it's just the infection. I'm low in vitamin D. I forgot to ask about my adrenal glands. I'm going for a full written report next time I go over. They usually give one anyway. I still need to do my back x-ray. It's walk in so I keep forgetting about it until evening. 

 

She is going to put me on Cipro for the UTI. Yuck. I'm allergic to every antibiotic I've ever taken. I told her the only thing I haven't tried is the Z-Pack and Cipro. Z-Pack wouldn't work for an infection so Cipro it is. This has been going on for over a month. Time to get the big boys out. 

 

I had a kidney probe last year and they were within the normal range so if anything serious is going on I'm probably catching it early. 

 

I'm going to have my mammogram done this year too. I'm due but not over due. One good thing about this date is it's going to be easy to remember.  2020.

 

I'm going to make a list of everything I can get done before years end so I can remember when I had it. Shingle Shot, Tetanus Shot, Blood Work, Back Answers, Mammogram, I already got my eyes checked and I'm too old for any more pneumonia shots. Dentist...we'll see. I'd LOVE to have a colonoscopy but I don't have a ride to and from. Whew...a close one. 

[Ambergris]

https://www.rareseeds.com/toothache-plant-bullseye/

[Mt_Rider]

OK....went to doc and then to get X-ray.  DH got to see it and it is not a bone growth.  It's so hard, we thot it was.  But there is visible separation so that's good news.  But still could be some unwanted things.  It's thankfully looking to probably be just a cyst of some kind.  The rapid growth was scary.  Not sure what next step is....other than wait for official radiology report to get to doctor Nurse Practitioner.  [yet another CHANGE at our clinic....  ] 

 

 

 

MtRider       

[Ambergris]

Separation is good.  But he was working too hard anyway.  Got to be another way.  Can they needle aspirate it?  Did they try?

[Jeepers]

Awesome news for Mr. Mt. Rider. Maybe they can just drain it?

 

I had to make a quick trip to the store. Sigh. I went to the pharmacy and asked about shots. There are over 100 people on the waiting list for the shingle shot. I've been asking about it for over a year. I'm going to ask at one of the big Walgreens instead of my little grocery store pharmacy. But they did have the tetanus. She wiped my arm with alcohol and the next thing I knew she was putting the sharp in the safety box. I never felt a thing. Not even a little stick or sting. I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow. But wow. I made my arm go as limp as I could so that might have helped too

 

Then I came home all proud of myself so I could record it in my medical folder...immunization page. I'm getting all my medical stuff done now so it can all be in 2020 so I can remember it. I looked at the calendar so I could record the date. 

 

Am I the only one on the planet who thought this was already 2020?! Crimony. I've probably had checks bouncing all over the place for months. I can't believe I'm doing all of this a year early. Well, actually I suppose I can. First I was thinking I'm 66 for the last few years and come to find out I'm 68. Now I think it's 2020. But wait. If it's 2019 - 1952 (got the calculator out) Then I'm really 67. I feel so stupid.

[kappydell]

Today was "payday" or what passes for it on social security.  Paid bills, went grocery shopping with what was left.  We did run into a couple good scores at Walmart.  One was beach towels for $2 each.  Told M we need towels anyway, so we bought 6 and got out of there because the cart with the towels was attracting quite a mob.  Nothin' like a surprise good buy to get folks excited.  The other was those long pillows for laying on your side.  Mary wanted one, I told her to get a 2nd for our guest room - at $5  they were worth the money.  Then back to business.  Bought some groceries, filled the truck, two gas cans (for the generators just in case the hurricane gives us tree-felling-power-line-damaging winds) and got a carton of smokes for M.  

Found out when we got home there are steak sales at the two grocery stores we buy meat from....Krogers had NY strip halves for $5.99/lb and Ingles has T bones for $7.98.  Low for around here so tomorrow we will go get some for the freezer.  Don't mind cutting our own steaks from the NY strips for that price.  

 

The garden is still producing peppers, okra and sweet potatoes.  Everything else was winding down so we removed & tilled in fertilizer for the winter garden.  Transplants are starting to show up.  I kidded Mary about buying a pack of 50 collard plants for $5.95 (she has not tried collards yet).  Oh!  The LOOK!  I guess I can only have 6 or 12 of those for a row or two.  (Sigh).  

More things coming over the next 2 weeks for winter gardens.  I LOVE all the different greens, can hardly wait to eat/dehydrate/can/freeze as many as I can.  The few beans that are trying to produce we will let make seeds for next year.

 

Last night had to call the sheriff's dept as the neighbors were having a fight.  We don't mind the yelling, cursing, screaming type of fights, and didn't hear any blows or injury noises, but when we hear one beating on the car and the other threatening to shoot them, we figure we had better call to prevent lead flying.  Sheesh. I doubt if those two could have hit what they aimed at  3 feet as mad as they were but didn't need stray rounds coming our way.   All is calm since.  

 

I think our hot weather is starting to make folks crabbier than usual.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by kappydell

[Ambergris]

The hot weather that draws in a storm pumps up fights.

[Mt_Rider]

Y'know Jeepers....I wondered when you were saying you were doing all this vaccination in 2020...easy to remember.    No wonder you got confused about age.  You missed something somewhere along the line and it perpetuated.    That's why we get the "big bucks" on Soc Security, right?  So we don't have to try to get hired to work and be brilliant?   

 

Speaking of SS and working, DH is counting down the days til he is NOT working at this job.  His BP was 185-over-something yesterday at the docs.  Not normal for him.  I've been on him to increase his diuretics cuz every time he comes home, his ankles/feet are swollen.  Don't even want to know his blood sugar numbers since half the days he cannot stop to eat after he gets there.  So that's 9+ hours since he eats breakfast.  [yes, that's OBVIOUSLY ILLEGAL and no one cares]  NONE of the aspects of this job has been healthy except to get his cardio-vascular exercise.  It's done that but....it's not a healthy way to do it.  It's also been a good flood of money in a short period of time.  So that will pay some bills.

 

As for "Mount Vesuvius" on his shoulder....we haven't heard anything back yet.  If it was bone, she would have referred to an orthopedic doc.  Not sure with this...     Aspiration....mebbe?  Notice we're getting MORE medical bills to pay?   

 

MtRider   

Edited August 29, 2019 by Mt_Rider

[Annarchy]

Good Morning Everyone,

 

It’s going to be another hot day, here in the desert.  Forecast is calling for an excessive heat warning of 110F*+ for the next two days.  I’m sure, Phoenix is going to be terrible, because that ‘storm’ dropped buckets of rain on them, increasing their humidity.  

 

The sky is barely lighting up on the edges.  My agenda is to make sure the birds have water, soak the garden, and get a load of laundry done, before it gets too hot.  Then, come in and stay in the cool house.  

 

Picked the first butternut squash yesterday, we might get a couple more, I hope.  

 

Update on that accident, where the car went through the brick wall, DH said he saw the report, it said she fell asleep.  The road is only about an half a mile long, with a stop sign in the middle, two block before the end of the road.  Yikes.

 

Time to get motivated.  

 

 

[Jeepers]

Am I the only one who has stuff happen  ALL. THE. TIME. or am I just the only one who complains about it continually? 

 

Well, I finally went to pick up my meds last night. Somehow the doctors office called in two scripts of the same med but in two different strengths. Sigh. The pharmacist was not amused. I wasn't exactly whistling Dixie. He went ahead and gave me both scripts but told me not to take any until I called the doctor. I know which one I need to take because she upped the dosage but I need to be 100% sure. She phoned in the lower dosage after she told me she was upping the dosage. He was nice about it and didn't think I was messing with the meds. It's for cholesterol. Not like it is some street drug. 

 

So now I have a bazillion errands to run but I'm stuck here at home waiting for them to call me back. Then I have to call the pharmacist to get the correct one in their computer so I can get refills. It isn't earth shattering but the little things keep piling up and it makes ya weary. Bet they don't call back until the end of the day either and I wanted to go get my back X-Ray done today. Pfffft. 

 

Oh well. You know where the fresh extra meds will go.  

 

On the Cipro, I only got 6 pills. I take 2 a day for 3 days. Must be strong. Good to know the dosage for a UTI in case my fishies get the itchies. 

 

[kappydell]

today was "sort of"  a slow day after bringing home 50 lb of meat bought on sale.  So this morning I sat & processed it - breaking down the bulk packs, packing in single meal size bags & freezing it.  The pork ribs are bony, of course, so more lbs needed for a meal....the ground chuck I put in 1 lb units; chicken things were packed  6 pieces per bag, steaks were 2 per bag...you all know the drill.  M helped me schlep it all out to the freezers when I was done. The sale steaks were beautiful so we bought for our 

frozen "Food Bank".  I'm re-locating where we packed all the food storage stuff (mylar bags, sealers, and the like).  Prices are starting to climb, so time to stow some stuff while we can.  We've eaten down our rotation stuff, time to replenish.  

 

When going back to the house discovered a 12 week old kitten hiding in our flower bed.  A friendly little thing she scarfed the food we brought her, ditto for the fresh water.  We suspect she was dumped.  (Lots of that around here.)  She was obviously an inside cat (did not panic when we brought her in & set her down to see what would happen) and she tolerates the multiple doggies.  So unless we find her owner, she stays.  Neither one of us want to put her out with this hurricane promising storms and her being so little.  She seems grateful, for such a tiny thing she has a HUGE purr, and is quite the cuddler.  They euthanize cats like crazy around here, and THAT we deplore.  We'll get her fixed & she can stay as long as need be.    

 

THE WINTER VEGGIE TRANSPLANTS ARE IN!!!!  Got collards, kale, cabbages, and broccoli, and seeds for radishes, carrots, and white egg turnips (my doc said she likes the white ones, so I guess those are it....I wouldn't know, never grew turnips down here yet.)  Our local garden center has bulk veggie seeds for the truck farmers & sells them for 50 cents an ounce, so I check there first for seeds.  I also dropped by the local feed store, and they had bundles of colllards for planting for $5 per 100 plants.  Nice price, but waaaay too many for the two of us, LOL.  But he was a nice fella, did not bat an eye when I asked about buying dry corn because it is "hominy making/canning season" (unlike city and norther folks who just cant seem to understand that feed corn is FOOD corn, too!   When I explain that if I grew it I'd have to wash it anyway, and then ask them what they think cornmeal is....they are flummoxed.  

 

It kinda reminds me of the post i saw today about someone who bought chicken legs at Walmart.  They asked the meat clerk if they were front legs, or back legs.  The clerk assiduously scrutinized the label but could not tell.  They said they had to ask the manager.  After they  came back, the reply was  "Not. Funny", 

The writer thought it was, and the person behind them in line thought it was....that makes three of us!