Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[Wannabefree]

Sounds like my idea of a fun day....NOT! But....I did pretty much the same thing today Weather is too poopy to get outside :/

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It's kinda funny - I'd rather work my behindness off outside any day than to spend an entire day inside...ugh. Hopefully tomorrow will be an outside kinda day.

I forgot to mention that I started/seeded about 66 tomato plants. I know I'm kinda late and I'll only get a little bit of a head start. But - I' ve been know to direrect sow tomato seeds in the garden , so even if these are just tiny seedlings - they'll be ok when I set 'em out. That's 11 different varieties! It'll be a miracle if I can keep track of 'em when I get 'em planted!

 

[Wannabefree]

You sound like me I do direct sow tomatoes here too, for the second plantings to hold out until Fall.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It's been a weird, kinda lazy - kinda not, kinda day! Again, I spent most of the day inside - ugh. But, I did get something done that I've been threatening to do for about a week or so. I had a big, beautiful head of napa cabbage in the garden just begging to be turned into Kimchee. So, I granted it's wish! I've made KImchee once before, but do you think I could find my original recipe? Heck no - so I had to improvise and combine a couple recipes to try and get what I want. Ask me in a couple days how it turned out.

I planted some scallions and cippolini onions today too. They should do ok since they're not bulbing onions.... well, the cippolini onions might be, but I'll bet I pull 'em before they get the chance. I'm so ready to get more of this garden in the ground, but I'm still skeered it's too early for most stuff-despite our temps lately.

I started cajeta yesterday but I needed to go to bed before it got finished, so I refrigerated it overnight and intended to finish it today. Something didn't work so well, so I decided to strain it and turn it into caramel ice cream. And again, something didn't work so well - it didn't freeze up like it should have. I'm still scratching my head as to why it didn't work. It was milk and sugar.... isn't that what ice cream is? The only thing I can think of is that when making cajeta you have to add some baking soda. What for? I dunno, but maybe that's why the ice cream didn't work so well? Where's a chemist when I need one?

I still need to milk and finish dinner. I'm gonna grill some pork chops to go with the greens I've got on the stove already. I sauteed some bacon, onions and garlic and then threw in a big ol' batch of greens to saute with 'em. Dang, I'm making myself hungry, lol

Guess I need to get out there and finish up - so I can get back in here and finish up. Later taters!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

OMG - I'm such a dork - or maybe DH is such a dork, lol. I told him earlier that since I 'worked' all day that he could grill the porkchops. So he proceeds to tell me that he 'worked' all day too. Now, granted - he did. He worked from home which meant he took a few phone calls, sent a few emails, and.... and.., I'm sure he did summpin else too...

I made Kimchee, I picked, cleaned, and cooked collards, I planted two different kind of onions, I fed, I milked... ya'll know how it goes, lol

So, when he said he 'worked' too and maybe he didn't wanna cook porkchops - I said "don't worry about it"! We're both tired so, let's just eat the greens that I already cooked and call it a day.

AS IF!!! He's so funny! "I was just kidding" he says. "Really, that's okay" I say. "I'm ok, I don't need anything else for dinner. I'll just have an bite of greens and I'll be ok."

Guess what DH is doing right now???????

I love that man - he takes cues so well!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Happy Sunday! Got up early-ish this morning. Was gonna have my coffee on the back porch, but it's a tad bit nippy out there. Not nippy by some folks standards, but a bit nippy for this ol' gal. And, just heard a weather forecast - sposed to be cool-ish next week. We'll have highs in the 50's. Guess I'm not gonna plant my beans today after all. I want to plant! I'm all ready to plant, rows are made and I've even got a little mulching done. But, I think planting true warm weather veggies wouldn't be prudent just yet. I did however, plant some scallions the other day. I guess I'll put some pepper seeds in some pots and get my gardening fix that way. Oh, and I can finish filling up the last bed that I'm working on.

I went out to the pasture yesterday and picked up some horse poop to mix in the beds. I looked around and got some that was a tiny little bit aged since I'm (hopefully) about to plant within the next couple weeks. Somehow I don't think the bags of stuff they call "topsoil" from Wally World are gonna have much plant nutrition in them at all. Even the bags labeled 'humus and manure' looked like sand with a little bit of tree bark mixed in.... geeze louise! Looks like I'll be working on the soil quality in those beds for awhile. This year I predict lots of manure tea and compost. Just wished I hadn't used all my compost last fall. I think I need to go shovel a layer outta the barn!

We had a little visit with the step-son yesterday. We had a washer and dryer stored in our garage for him, so we delivered them to his new house. I was worried about the visit because the last time I was around him, it wasn't good. H's not a horrible person, but he treats his dad (my DH) horribly. I've tried for years to just keep my mouth shut because it's their relationship....but last summer just couldn't do it anymore. We were at the grandkids baseball game and were taking them out to lunch afterwards. Step-son was moody and un-friendly the entire lunch. Towards the end of our meal my DH asked his son a question and his son just went off on his dad (right in front of our grandson). He told my DH, in a horribly mean voice - What's your problem dad? Are you getting so dam old you can't remember anything I told you? You asked me this last week and I already told you, so don't ask me that $hit again." My jaw is hanging open, our grandson is about to cry seeing his dad go off on his granddad..... I'm afraid I rather forcibly put my glass on the table, looked at step-son and through my clenched teeth requested that this conversation be held at another time and with the proper respect for his father. Then I removed myself to the ladies room before I jumped over that table and ripped the eyeballs right out of his head. When I came out of the rest room they were out in the parking lot saying goodbye... I went straight to our car and my grandson came to say good bye to me... I did NOT even look at or talk to Mr. Evil.

DH was so sad, and honestly he was a little bit ticked at me for saying something. I told him that I would never accept that kind of behavior from my own children and for his 30 year old son to do that in front of our grandson was inexcuseable behavior. What kind of example was he setting for his own son?

A few days went by and lo and behold, DH gets a phone call from his son apologizing for his behavior. Miracle! He's never apologizedto his father for anything, so this was historic. And, he's been more respectful ever since that day. But, he and I had not been around each other since then, so I was a little nervous to see how the visit would go yesterday. AND, it went well. He was open and friendly and I was so relieved!

The moral of that story: (It's a shame, but...) Sometimes you've got to teach people how to treat you.

Gotta get some laundry done today along with about a billion other chores that just keep popping up.

 

[Wannabefree]

Yes you do have to teach people how to treat you! I agree wholeheartedly it was right for you to say something to him, and GOOD FOR YOU! I think you handled it well Maybe your DH will see how good the relationship can be without the son being snippy and unbearable and he won't tolerate it himself if there is ever another episode.

On the Walmart soil....yeah it's not the greatest. TSC has some decent soils, at a minimum better than Walmarts stuff, and if I remember correctly, not as expensive to boot! I have to go collect poopies soon to put on my garden too

 

[Denim Deb]

Good for you for standing up to him. I've had to stand up to my family for the same reason-lack of respect.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks ya'll...sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do!

Good day today! We didn't run any marathons, but we did make progress. DH cleaned out the pump house so we can work on some repairs needed in there. Actually, we're hoping that the young neighbor guy will want to earn some extra money and do the repair work for us, lol. He's such a great guy and he and his young family can use an extra dollar or two, so I always ask him when I need something done that requires someone with good skills. My student helper is good for just plain ol hard work, but the neighbor is very skilled in building/repairing things.

While DH was cleaning the pump house I was slapping together a fence around the new raised bed garden. My sweet little terriers are born diggers - so I wanted to get this done before it became an issue with them. Now they don't have to get in trouble for something they just can't control themselves over.

Then we tackled another project that has been driving us both crazy. One of my goat shelters needed some work. My first husband was really skilled at building and he built the coolest shelters for my goats... in the years since they have fallen on disrepair and I acually lost all but one of them in Hurricane Ike. The shelters were raised about 4 foot off the ground with ramps going up to them. They would use the 'lower story' to get out of the sun, and the upper story as their sleeping quarters. Goats loved 'em and they were a great conversation piece for visitors. Oh, and every child that ever saw one wanted to climb the ramp and hide/play in the goat house, lol. So, this last remaining goat house had kinda sunk in the mud and was leaning at a pretty severe angle. It depressed me. So, we got out the jack today and jacked it up out of the mud and leveled it again. It looks so much better and the bucks are so excited that their digs are looking so hot again. They're no longer embarrassed to have does over to their pad.

After that it was just feeding, egg collecting, milking and a quick din-din. Speaking of egg-collecting - I got 30 eggs today! I'm feeding them to the dogs, the chicks, the pigs, the neighbors and us. Still need to 'do' some roos. Just can't seem to get aroundtoit...ugh.

Other than all that, I never got around to laundry, but I washed and boiled up about 5 dozen eggs for the next few days. Guess I better go toss a load in the washer so I'll hae summpin to wear to work tomorrow.

Dang, I'm ready to retire.....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I spent allllll day yesterday in a workshop. I didn't wanna go! But, I went anyway, cuz it was kinda, sorta required. Now - I love my job and the people I work with, but I don't really socialize with anybody at work other than my direct co-workers. Yesterday I was forced to sit at a table with other folks who work at the same college as I do. Part of the activities included asking questions about each other's off-campus lives. Soooo, a lot of folks found out about all my critters. How did that work out? Might have some egg customers!

One of the gals said she'd trade me some deer sausage for a dozen eggs. OMG - I feel so bad about taking advantage of a co-worker. I really feel like I got the better end of that deal! I took her a dozen eggs today and I got a lb of sausage in return! I prolly should 'splain that sausage is DH's absolutely favorite meal in the world. We had it for dinner tonight and it was pretty darn good. Kinda spicy, but I like spice and DH loooooooves spice! So, I think this deal is gonna work out for all of us.

I bought my very last couple of bags of pig food today. I refuse to buy anymore. The pigs only have a couple weeks left... Neighbor guy and I have decided to do at least one of them around mid-March..and the other one shortly thereafter. Im gonna miss them pigs, lol... NOT! I do enjoy them, but I look forward to NOT having to deal with 'em anmore. I need a reduction in my chore list.

Probably won't get much done this weekend. I have to work and DH is going on a motorcycle ride with his buddy. I need/want to do some outside projects, but it doesn't look like it'll happen. Sigh... always the following weekend I guess.....