Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[flowerbug]

Whew... just got finished filing my tax protest. What a PIA. They're trying to tell me my house is worth 77K more than it was last year. What is wrong with these people? Haven't they ever heard of depreciation, lol!

I took a bunch of pictures, neighbors wonky fence, neighbors junk pile, hole in the barn door, my crumbling pump house...all those things that you're always gonna getaroundto...but haven't yet. Kinda glad we haven't if it helps to lower the ridiculous tax appraisal.

Picked more Purple Dove beans,

i'm not sure if you've said somewhere else yet or not if you've eaten any fresh steamed or not and what you thought of them?

picked 2 golden zucchini's that somehow hid for a couple days, got another trellis up. Have fence posts in the ground for a couple more trellises. And - I've got squash borers. ARGH! I don't use chemicals so I wonder if it would help to put some ducks in the garden? I've got some small ones that aren't really big enough to trample anything. I dunno... I'm not ready to lose my Jumbo Banana Squash bush/vines when they've just started blooming. Always something...

can you bury some vine nodes with some dirt to encourage them to root from those nodes instead? often the vining squashes can survive a lot of damage. i've had some vines that have held on even with bare threads of the first stem still functioning because they've rooted out elsewhere.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

i'm not sure if you've said somewhere else yet or not if you've eaten any fresh steamed or not and what you thought of them?

Can't remember if I said - but I had some steamed a few days ago with a little butter and a little salt - really, really good. Some are going in the pot today with some bacon and garlic. Can't wait to try that!

can you bury some vine nodes with some dirt to encourage them to root from those nodes instead?

I'm going to check that plant today. It was the biggest of the ones I've planted and has some nice vines, so I hope so. Thanks for that suggestion.

Already miserable outside. I found another fence post for the trellis project but I'll probably wait until this evening to work on it. Not just hot this morning, but really humid.

 

[Mini Horses]

Re taxes aren't bad here. The county has been good...a lot of farming in the county. Maybe they're jacking the tract housing area more. However, my insurance company was an issue! An auto increase each year and sq footage larger than I built. I told him to check the build permit at zoning!! It was at a point that I told kids to let it burn a while before calling fire department, we could build 3 new houses with the $$$. . I did get the agents attention and the policy dropped by $120 for the year. It had raised over $300 the prior year . Yeah, rates but also house value increase.

I also get a senior allowance for county RE tx of $1k a year. That helps!! it's there if you apply, which I discovered by accident.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ours have been 'reasonable' or a long time - but started a couple years ago going UP. I didn't protest last year but I couldn't overlook an appraisal jump of that magnitude! No idea how it'll go - I mean the tax man always gets his - some way or another, lol!

 

[flowerbug]

Can't remember if I said - but I had some steamed a few days ago with a little butter and a little salt - really, really good. Some are going in the pot today with some bacon and garlic. Can't wait to try that!

yay! i know they're not a super thick bean and i don't know how they'll work for canning, but for fresh steamed eating or standing there in the garden they are our favorite bean. also as shelly or dry beans they're good eating. so i'm glad they are working out for you. plus, well, purple flowers and pretty plant!

I'm going to check that plant today. It was the biggest of the ones I've planted and has some nice vines, so I hope so. Thanks for that suggestion.

i hope it helps!

Already miserable outside. I found another fence post for the trellis project but I'll probably wait until this evening to work on it. Not just hot this morning, but really humid.

yeah, that gets tough on us here too. we start early and get done what we can and then it is siesta time for the midday until later. if it is really crunch time we can get a few more hours in each day. if it isn't crunch time then we can do other things inside.

 

[flowerbug]

Ours have been 'reasonable' or a long time - but started a couple years ago going UP. I didn't protest last year but I couldn't overlook an appraisal jump of that magnitude! No idea how it'll go - I mean the tax man always gets his - some way or another, lol!

the property tax credit really helps out here for us. Mom being a senior and low enough income means we get a fair amount back. it would be much nicer if they didn't take it to begin with but oh well. the house insurance isn't too bad, car insurance is much worse. way too many deer around. between the two of us we've done our share of using cars to control the deer population... probably $15-20k in damage to the cars through the years from deer.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Well, pooh! I spent a good bit of time yesterday slicing up and seasoning zucchini to make zucchini chips. Got them all sliced up and onto the dehydrator trays. I've been running the dehydrator in the garage so it doesn't heat up the house. I went out this morning to check on 'em and the stupid thing was dead. This is the 3rd (cheap) Nesco dehydrator I've had and the third one that's died. Just ordered an Excalibur. Tired of messing around and I neeeeed a dehydrator during garden season. So annoyed. But, ya get what ya pay for... Lesson learned.

Walked by the duck pen this morning which is way overgrown just to give the birds better shade. Three females have been on nests and I definitely heard peeps. Snuck closer and saw that two of the mamas have at least one duckling apiece. More to come? I dunno - but likely.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ordered an Excalibur dehydrator yesterday to replace the one that decided to give it up. Ugh! I need another vacuum sealer too...argh! No more cheapies from Walmart.

I have 7 baby duckies. One mama had 5 with her yesterday and two other mamas had 1 each. I think the two singleton babies were lonely because it looks like they joined up with the 5 other babies. Now one mama is doing all the mama-ing.

Decided to move them out of their overgrown pen this morning cuz the babies were having trouble following mama. Oh my - the drama! Catching an angry mama who runs from you one second and tries to kill you the next second wasn't a whole lotta fun. THEN - I had to catch the babies in thigh high vegetation - argh! The things I do, lol. But, it's done and I think they'll be better off where I put 'em. Not sure if any other babies will show up but that's enough for now. These go along with the other 4 that I hatched in the incubator. Thank goodness DS wants a couple of 'em. They're so cute right now that I hate to think of butchering 'em. But yep - that's their fate. They taste too good!

DH has a follow-up doc appt this morning. Nothing serious - just a recheck on his ears that were full of fluid and making him extremely dizzy a few weeks ago. Maybe lunch out afterwards then off to the health clinic for a covid booster. Yep - we're still covid wussies - but we haven't been sick so I'm not gonna knock it. I don't have time to be sick, lol.

Better go de-stink myself and find some decent clothes.

 

[Mini Horses]

My Nesco, habitat buy for $8 a couple yrs back, is still working -- knocking on wood! Dread the purchase day that's bound to come for a new unit. Certain I'll go with bigger then. Just another $$$ drop! Hope I'm nearing the end of supplies for all this SS life. .

Are the ducks Muscovy? They seem to be ones most raised for meat from what I read.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Hope I'm nearing the end of supplies for all this SS life. .

LOL - I sometimes tell DH that we have enough to last forever - or the rest of our lives anyway. Not totally true, but storage - it can be a challenge and I REFUSE to expand upstairs to the totally empty garage apartment. Nope - not gonna do it. I'd have to pay to run air conditioning up there and I refuse. (even though I could put a helluvalot up there) More than I'd ever use for sure - plus who wants to trudge up and down very steep stairs carrying cases of canned goods? Not me, lol!

The ducks are Pekin - the frankenbird of ducks. They can be ready to butcher at 6 weeks. Kinda crazy how fast they grow. (and how good they taste) I only use the breast. I've done legs and thighs a couple times, but they're not large - and the breast is. It keeps me from having to pluck the whole bird and the pig doesn't mind duck dinner either!

DH asked me the other day if the pig had a name. I said no - but we could always call her Delicious. He said no - he'd rather call her garbage disposal, lol! He's right though. What would we do without her to dispose of all manner of leftover stuff?!