Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[Mini Horses]

Your mom -- this is not the "worser" hang on & hang in there.

Losing a job, sometimes is best that can happen. For me it was. You work and he can do something elsewhere. Plus he may do some farm chores for you.

Seems the bindweed is your problem! Turn goaties in there!!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Unfortunately, I know the 'worser' will turn into the 'worst' at some point in the future... and I fully expect that there will be lots of 'worsts' yet to come....sigh.

I'll bet the goats could make short work of the bindweed, but there are still producing plants in the garden area that the goats might enjoy as much as the weeds, lol! They probably wouldn't decimate the habanero peppers - but they might enjoy the green bean vines that have JUST NOW started producing. I don't even get that. The vines were big and beautiful all year, loaded with blossoms but not one of those blossoms turned into a bean. WTH? Maybe it was too hot - maybe there were no pollinators - maybe who knows? The eggplant bushes are finally loaded with eggplants. There's one or two little cantaloupes left on the vine and my spring tomatoes are re-blooming. I don't think I'll even bother with a spring garden next year.... I'll go straight to the fall garden and save myself a lot of trouble.

DH and I have talked about the possibility of his unemployment and we both are not really concerned. I can cover the basics and there's savings for the long run. The pantry is stocked, the chickens and goats are producing. If needed I can sell some goats, the mini-horses, eggs, chickens, chicks... We are truly not concerned and can live at our current level for at least 6 months and if we're careful we could go a year or more without his income. If that doesn't work we are at the age where we can start drawing from our investments if we need to.

Challenges like this are what we have worked so hard for. It's a "just in case" scenario that might just come true. This incident is going to end up in the court system and I'm sure they'll keep him around through the depositions and the probable trial. I don't think the ax will fall until after this whole thing plays out. Whatever happens I don't think it will happen quickly.

It's kind of funny.. there are so many challenges in our lives right now that we can't focus on just one. Kind of spreads out the stress, lol.

Almost forgot (because the wheels are turning so slowly) but we'll be heading for a different trial in reference to DH's auto accident. I feel like we'll get a decent settlement out of that. Not life changing, but a solid sum that will be nice to tuck away for the future.

We're focusing on counting our blessings instead of focusing on the negatives.

 

[Denim Deb]

If more people would do that, this world would be a better place.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

yes!

Okay, here's another observation about the fermented feed. Over a year ago I ordered lavender Ameraucana eggs and hatched ONE chick. This one chick turned out to be a pullet and I waited and waited for that first green egg. It never happened. Welllll....drum roll please.... For the last two days I've found a green egg in a community nest. I do have other Ameraucana's but they are in another pen totally separate from my regular layers. It has to be this hen's egg! Woo hoo! I can't swear she's never laid an egg in the last year or so - but I've never found one and had accepted that she was probably barren. She didn't even know it but she was slated to be in the pot real soon.... and now... she's got a reprieve! Guess I better find some more lavenders and try to get her a fella! They are beautiful birds and I'd love to have a bunch of em.... (but I'd want them to be better layers then she has been)

 

[Mini Horses]

Woo Hoo! Nothing else changed so we will assume it's the feed. I began giving mine lightly fermented grains yesterday, so then and tonight they gobbled that up like they hadn't been fed in a week......they have feed 24/7 !! Much of it is that which I am fermenting but, seems they like this better.

You know they say presentation is everything in cooking. Guess I've been a poor chicken mom. LOL. I can tell them all this, if they don't get with the program I have a HUGE stew pot!

 

[Mini Horses]

Woo Hoo! Nothing else changed so we will assume it's the feed. I began giving mine lightly fermented grains yesterday, so then and tonight they gobbled that up like they hadn't been fed in a week......they have feed 24/7 !! Much of it is that which I am fermenting but, seems they like this better.

You know they say presentation is everything in cooking. Guess I've been a poor chicken mom. LOL. I can tell them all this, if they don't get with the program I have a HUGE stew pot!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yep - all free loaders will be eaten! I know I've been singing the praises of the fermented feed, but there is one thing that I've noticed that may be...just may be - not sure...but might be a negative.

My totally separate pen of Ameraucana's have slowed down on their laying. But in their defense, I moved them from one pen to another so this could all be a result of the move. They were in a pen that the escaped from regularly - so I moved them - and now they are in a secure pen. I started the fermented feed the same time that I moved them. Can't really say the fermented feed caused their slow down - more likely it was the move - but no way to know for sure.

In other news---DH's boss is coming to town Thursday. He's thinking it will be his final day. Who knows? But at this point neither of us care, lol! We're already planning all the things that he might get caught up on around here.

Oh.. and one of our ceiling fans burnt out tonight. GRRRRRR! It made a big ol' spark and stank to high heaven. Always something, huh? We'll need to replace it because it is the light source for that end of the room. Can't be living in the dark, now can we? The trouble will be matching it to the ceiling fan at the other end of the room. Maybe we'll get lucky - maybe not. If not - I guess I could just buy a lamp and call it all good!

Need to inventory the freezers and see what should be tossed to the dogs and what needs to be cooked. I've been needing to do this for awhile. Hey - maybe that is a chore for DH if he gets cannned. Speaking of 'canned' I guess I need to teach him how. Some of the 'stuff' n the freezer could be canned to make room for other stuff.

Stay tuned folks... might get interesting around here!

 

[Denim Deb]

My hubby does some canning and drives me nuts when he does it. Hope yours does better.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wellll.....it's official. DH is unemployed. First thing we did - went out to dinner to celebrate, lol! He's getting a decent severance package which is nice. His severance is more than he could get for months of unemployment. That's a good thing.

He's already got resume's out and thinks he'll have an interview maybe next week. The one thing he/we will do this job hunt is to be very picky. Sounds funny to say that because you'd think he'd be ready to take anything that comes along but that's not the best idea under these circumstances. We've got time to be selective. He does NOT want to manage people anymore. He's so over it and tired of it and it's what led to the end of this job. Being in charge of 5 offices, each employing around 300 people is just too much. One of his nurses made a mistake, (the patient was fine) and the whole thing got blown up. There will be a trial and his company is doing a CYA move by ending his employment. It was kind of funny because he knew it was coming. HIs boss started crying when she was telling him so he was comforting HER! But, it still pi$$es me off. It's kind of like having someone be mean to your kid on the playground, ya know?

So, we will be doing an accounting of our income, outlay and expenses. There are always ways to be more economical and cut costs. This will be THE best opportunity to clean out the freezers. You don't know how long I've needed to do that. I'm pretty well stocked up on staples so all is well in that area.

The one thing I will be doing is being brutal with my farm management from this point forward. Any and all freeloaders will get the ax, or be sold. I've got victim number one, a mixed breed rooster caught up and will be dispatched today, weather permitting.

We're supposed to get LOTS of rain between now and Monday, so I'm hoping that it doesn't get out of hand! They're predicting street flooding already and it hasn't even started raining yet.

I've got some plants that I need to get in the ground. I'll do as much of that as I can this morning. Next trip to town I'll see if I can find some onion plants. Some years they do great, but other years are too wet and they rot in place. I'll see about putting them in a raised bed this year.

I put a Craigslist ad out to see how well chicks would sell. I got ZERO responses so it doesn't look like that will be a source of possible income, lol. But, it'll increase my layer flock and ALL roo's will be processed young, before I have too much feed into them.

I'm off today so I need to make good use of my time before the rain starts. Gotta get outside and get busy. Happy Friday ya'll!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Stoopid double post...ugh.