Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

I have a Totally Tomatoes catalog right in front of me....ARGH! I want to look at it, but I just can't yet. I can't even harvest a stoopid tomato around here unless I have a way to keep the stink bugs offa it... I hate 'em. I will defeat 'em this year - somehow, someway.

Guess what???? It's raining, just like it rained yesterday and just like it's gonna rain tomorrow! And, then.... supposed to clear up Monday and be sunny almost all week - just when I have to go back to work, lol. Why did I expect different? Oh well...the ground water supplies are being replenished, the pond is overflowing and it'll be a really green spring! (that's me - being optimistic)

Well - day two of the new year and I've been on the treadmill two times! That's me - being optimistic, lol. Stay tuned to see how long it lasts! But, since my DD will be getting married at the end of April that's a pretty good incentive to stick with it!

Stay tuned!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

And....it rained all night last night. I can officially say that in the 27 years I've lived in this house it is the worst that it's ever been....ugh... Ok - enough said.

Day three of this year and day three on the treadmill.

My DD went wedding dress shopping today and now I have considerably less moola than I had this morning, lol. But, it is truly a beautiful dress!

Wish I had more exciting stuff.... OH WAIT... I DO! That big shiny thing that is sometimes in the sky made an appearance late this afternoon! Woo Hoo!

Tomorrow is the last day of my winter break Oh well, there's always spring break to look forward to!

 

[Denim Deb]

I'd love to see that big shiny thing as well! I had to get a new solar charger for my fence, and can't charge it up since it's cloudy out.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It's a beautiful morning! Woo Hoo! Seems like all I've been doing is complaining about the rain/mud/mess that we've got going on - but today is a new day. It's still icky outside but at least it seems better if you're working in the sunshine! It's s'posed to get pretty cold later....it's 47 now and the temp is gonna FALL all day. We'll get a freeze tonight, and later this week we'll be in the 20's....Brrrrrrr! I want to spend today pulling damp bedding out of critter houses and replacing it with anything dry that I can find. I'm really glad I got a lot of extra hay this year because I'm being forced to use it as bedding...ugh.

Sill have a bunch of roo's I need to process but just can't make myself do it right now. I need dry ground to stand on, lol. My plan is to make as much broth out of 'em as I can, but if I come across a couple of plump ones I'll prolly put 'em in the freezer.

Still hoarding the seed catalogs. Still trying not to get too excited about 'em just yet. I'm planning to move my garden area this year so can't even get started. I do have some raised beds in the back yard that are producing very well right now. DH and I have decided that we LOVE broccolini! I sautéed some in olive oil with just a touch of bacon drippings (cuz bacon is da bomb!) and it was soooo good!

Need to get suited up and get busy...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

What a day, what a day... Stayed home from work to get ready for the 'big freeze.' Nothing compared to what most of you folks are getting, but 20's in this part of Texas is a big deal!

So far today I've shored up a couple goat houses that had a little too much ventilation, lol. I've reconfigured the big bucks pen and they oughta be nice and snuggy tonight. I've stuffed every hay feeder as full of hay as I can get 'em. I've still got to do hay for the pasture critters, but the barnyard ones are done. I added hay to the quail pens so they can hunker down without their little feet freezing off. I've unhooked almost all of the auto waterers and drained the lines going to 'em. I almost forgot a couple of 'em, so I'll get those last two when I go back outside. The dogs are fed. Little dogs will come in tonight, and the LGD will stay with the herd. She's dang near impervious to the cold anyway with all that hair, lol. Guess I still need to cover a couple plants out front - don't want to lose my Bird of Paradise! If I have time I'll cover my few little spindly cabbage and broccoli plants. We've been eating off of 'em for quite awhile now so it won't be too terrible if they bite the dust anyway, lol. Not very SS of me, huh? But, I'm tired! I just wanna hope in the hot tub with a glass of wine. No wait... wine not allowed in this stoopid diet... grrrrrr!

 

[Denim Deb]

I just want warmer weather!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Ditto that!

Boiled some shrimp and steamed some broccoli for din-din. Todays eating plan was low-fat, high-protein and lotsa veggies. Okay - I can do that! I scarfed mine down, but DH isn't home yet. He better get here soon or I'll throw this diet out the window and devour his portion too, lol.

I'm ready for bed... but determined to at least stay awake until 7pm!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

More sad times for our little town. Wednesday afternoon a daughter asked her mom to use the mom's car to take a friend and her friend's boyfriend to the bank. Mom tossed her daughter the keys and off she and her friends went. Somewhere along the trip the girl let her friend's boyfriend drive. It seems like he did what a lot of teenage boys do and started driving too fast. He lost control of the car, they spun out into a ditch, the rear end of the car hit a culvert and it burst into flames. All three kids were killed and burned beyond recognition. Even before the fire, the car was terribly damaged and it is believed (thank God) that they were all killed upon impact.

The mom that tossed the keys to her daughter is a co-worker of mine.

The mom of the other female killed is a student at our college...

Our entire college, our entire town is in mourning. My co-worker actually heard that her daughter had died from a reporter. Every news station in Houston ran the story...showed the car...talked about how badly burned the kids were...It is the saddest thing I've ever experienced....

All three kids were seniors, accepted at colleges and were going to graduate having already earned an Associates Degree.

So senseless, so tragic, so incredibly sad...

 

[Denim Deb]

My heart goes out to those parents.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Service is Friday...it's been a long, hard week...

We had a meeting with our lawyer yesterday. He's going to start the process of trying to settle a suit on DH's behalf. There are a few more steps to take before we reach the finish line. We've got to find a doc who will actually try to do something about the slipping rib. From the research we've done it looks like surgery to remove the rib is the treatment with almost a guaranteed positive outcome. Remove the rib and it can't be popping around in there anymore. There are a couple other options that are not nearly as well-proven, but I'm actually for trying those first. I just hate to see DH go through any surgery...he's been in pain long enough. I don't want him to start all over.

First step is to find a doc who will actually try to treat this. The other two we've seen have told us they don't really know what to do with him. Both of these docs have been general ortho guys. We're going to be seeing a thoracic specialist next. So, the case probably won't resolve until we've got some resolution or at least a plan for treatment.

Critters are as sick of this mud and muck as I am. I'm kind of surprised that we don't have hooves rotting off already. I'm going through hay a lot more quickly than I wanted to. But, I'm pretty sure I'll have enough. I've still got two big round bales that I haven't put out yet. The square bales are a better quality so they prefer them.

Got some more pallets the other day. Feed store loaded them up with a fork lift. Got home and went to unload them and noticed a big ol' scratch on my truck - the width of the fork on the forklift. GRRRRRRR! I went back a couple days later and showed the manager and he was very nice about it. He asked me if I wanted to have the tailgate repainted and I told him I'd try to get some touch up paint and see if I could do a decent job with that. I told him the touch up paint and maybe a good wash/wax job would hopefully be all the money he's out. I don't want to 'gouge' them, but geeze, it was their fault. Silly boy driving the forklift slid the forks under the tailgate instead of going above the tailgate....gee whiz!

Is it Friday yet????