hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[hqueen13]

Alright... keeping up with my accomplishments this morning.

Cleaned out the fridge (it is depressing to me how much food we waste ), got the dishwasher loaded with the half million containers that were taken up in the fridge, got the rest that wouldn't fit in the dish washer washed, ran the dish washer and then opened it up and let it finish air drying, washed all six plastic deck chairs, the table and two small side tables, rinsed off the 10 tiki torches that go on the deck rail, washed off the camp chair that had been sitting in the hay barn out of its bag for probably a good 9 months or something stupid like that (It was ), dug around in the storage bench and got out the umbrella (still have to clean it) and as a bonus found the end of a jug of tiki oil that we never used, washed the humming bird feeder so I can get it back outside again, cleaned the trash can of the gunk and put a bag back in it, got most of the kitchen table cleaned up.

Still need to finish putting the (hopefully dry!) dishes away, get the kitchen floor swept, vacuum the kitchen and living room, organize the outside stuff so that it is usable, try to set up the umbrella in a place that will actually shade us from the late sun, fill the tikis, straighten a few more things in the living room, prep for dinner (need to make up the salad and make up some dip, plus make sure I have things organized to be able to take outside), and then get showers so we're all clean for the evening!

Also just got word that I am getting some bearded Iris from another freecycler! I am so excited to be able to add something pretty to the yard that is low maintenance the deer don't eat AND the trees can't grow through! Its PERFECT!! She recommended to not "plant" them, but pointed out that they only need to be laid on the surface of the soil, or just below. I was thinking I'll rake back the mulch, and then sit them on the dirt, and then put a little mulch back over them. Do I need to water them well or anything? I've never planted Iris to really know what I should be doing with them. They were already here in the yard, at least the mini ones were. Once they finish blooming (I am gathering they're later bloomers than most Iris) I'll split them and spread them out in the yard for operation Iris takeover I look forward to less maintenance and weeds!

He also responded to an ad on his shooting forum to get a conversion kit for the M4 that will allow us to shoot 22 cal with it rather than the 5.56 which is MUCH cheaper! If he bought this kit new, it would take about 4 trips to the range in order for the kit to pay for itself. However, he's getting it (plus two mags, which are about $15.00 each!) for about $50.00 less than he would have to buy it retail (and that doesn't even include shipping or the mags!), so it will have paid for itself in about two trips to the range! Wahoo!

Oh, and just made plans with another set of friends to get together for dinner tomorrow! Yay!

Alright, lunch break is over, gotta get back to work!

 

[hqueen13]

Alright: Chores are DONE! Whew!! AND we've got two hours of time to spare to get our showers and cleaned up! Wahooo!

Now to relax for a while!

 

[Denim Deb]

Wanna come over here and do some more chores?

 

[hqueen13]

LOL, People ask me that all the time, Deb I don't mind doing chores, and frankly I wish I could keep up with them better because it gets annoying when I have to put so much effort into getting it clean again.

So it goes....

On today's list:
Check the gutter, clean it out if needed (only one spot, thankfully!!)
Work the horse on the ground for a while
Work on the weeds in the yard
Decide where to put the freecycle Irises that I am picking up today and prepare a spot, then hopefully get them planted when we get home
Dinner with other friends later this afternoon again, wahoo!!

 

[Denim Deb]

If I could just get everything all cleaned at once, it wouldn't be bad to do chores. But it seems like I can never have everything done at once. I get an area cleaned and go and work on something else. By the time I finally get that all done, the first area is messed up.

 

[hqueen13]

Story of my life Deb! I still have un-done things on my to do list from this weekend.

Yesterday, I did manage to get the gutter cleaned, which was easier than I expected. The tree-poop (little pollen tassels) had made a sludge in one end of the gutter on the front of the house, so we actually pulled the hose up over the roof and I laid it in the gutter and used a piece of wood to encourage everything to head down to the end. It was sort of amusing, really, though being up on the roof was HOT. I trimmed back a few branches so they weren't overhanging the roof, nothing big but I thought that it was a good idea. Of course later in the afternoon when I discovered more sun coming through the skylight in the bathroom I wasn't so sure! I swept off the corner of the roof where all the tree-poops hadn't come off yet so that they won't clog the gutter again, and hopefully I won't have to deal with it until later in the fall.

He went to get the tractor so we could load the cut wood and move it from one side of the yard to another. That thing sure is handy! We were able to get all the cut wood into the bucket of the tractor so that it took only one trip over so he could dump it and it could be stacked under the edge of the deck. He stopped and collected all the cut branches and went and dumped them in the woods before putting the tractor away. I stacked the wood and then he helped me to cut back the hydrangeas away from the a/c unit. They're lovely, but they're growing TOO close!

About that time he firmed up plans with the guy that was selling the .22 conversion kit, and so we hustled into the house to grab some things so that we could run down to pick up the Iris I got off of freecycle and then drive up in the other direction to meet the guy to pick up the kit.

Drove home and had just enough time to plant the Iris and jump into the shower before our friends arrived. We had a blast meeting her new other half, and just catching up. They are VERY much on the same track that we are with our goals of being SS and so we had a great time trading ideas and plans. She's got a good garden growing and is going to do a canning party, so I am hoping I'll be able to make it to work with her in the future so I can get some learning time with other people that know what the heck they're doing!

Today we caught up on a few more things around here, and I managed to work the horse in the morning. He was not in the greatest mood (but then when you weigh 1900 lbs and it is 75 degrees with a humidity of 85% wearing a fur coat, who would be pleasant!?), but he complied with my requests and tried hard. I didn't have the energy to ride him so we just worked on the ground. The bugs were TERRIBLE, and so I finally couldn't stand it anymore, and we called it quits. I gave him a good sponge bath to get the sweat out of his coat (they've been sweaty just standing around the past few days, poor things!) and just spent some time hanging out with him. I played around with the start of clicker training (still not quite sure I have the best technique, but it is a start...), and then put him away. I left him in the pasture at the water trough and he turned and purposefully headed out to the grass.

I came in and we decided to paint the yard signs for the upcoming Bull Roast, and then left them out in the yard to dry and came in and cleaned out the 'adult toys cabinet' and organized all the gun stuff. Since it isn't an official storage space, the other half kept pushing everything else out of the way to make room for the acquired gun stuff (he's only gotten back into guns in the last year and a half, and now we're up to 5 plus all the STUFF that goes with them!). We found several things to sell, probably not for a whole lot of money, but any money is better than the junk sitting in our drawers! And got things better organized so they are more functional and he and I both know what is where. It was a big help.

As we were finishing up, his stomach got really upset, and so he's been doing nothing but making trips to the toilet all afternoon. I grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the used book store to turn in some books and see what I could find in their wedding section and cruise through our usual favored subjects of books. They had several books that seem useful for the wedding, so I'll flip through those and then return them after they've outlived their usefulness with me The advantage is the library will make me give them back after 2 weeks! I'll just resell these to the book store when I am finished with them. Probably won't get much back, but something is better than nothing. Also picked up a few other books, including one by Michael Pollan which is something I'm always on the lookout for. Didn't find as much as I wanted to, but I'll keep looking.

Headed from there to the Alexander Technique lesson, and had a great time with her, though it was a bummer that the other half couldn't be there too. It was really good to reconnect, and I hope that I can maintain some of what she worked on with me to help me release the tension that I hang on to so tightly, and feel better in my own skin.

Came home and grabbed a bite to eat and am just chilling. I think I'll soak in the tub for a while and then try to catch up with my mom. If not I certainly have enough books to keep me busy for a while!

 

[Denim Deb]

I know I'm planning on leaving tomorrow real early so I can hopefully work a couple of horses B4 it does get too hot! Don't know if I'll get to it this week, but in the not to distant future, they'll all be getting a bath. Plus, I have to clean Stormy's sheath. Not my most favorite chore in the world.

 

[hqueen13]

On that note we were chatting with the friends that were over on Saturday evening and they had the vet out for something and had to sedate one of their geldings, and while he was happy go lucky they went ahead and cleaned his sheath, and ended up getting out a bean bigger than an olive, poor boy! That got me thinking that I've never bothered with Storm since I got him, and that was 4 years ago... So now I've started messing with him when I'm giving him a sponge bath, and he doesn't seem to mind. Course I also figured out that both times I was bugging him was after we finished pretty serious workouts and he apparently also had to pee, so he kept dropping (which is why I was messing with him! LOL), but it was convenient! He never really seemed to mind all that much, he can be good like that sometimes, but other than that, I've never done anything more. Thankfully he seems to stay fairly clean, unlike some boys I've seen, LOL, so I am not too concerned. Of course it is better to mess with him when he's not THAT dirty than for it to become a necessity, or have an emergency and have a crash course in just how tolerant he will be

 

[Denim Deb]

Don't feel bad. I had never done it B4 last year. I didn't have a clue how to do it. I kept having people tell me they'd teach me, but never follow thru. I finally had someone show me. He did NOT want to drop on me. So, I'm not sure how clean I actually got him. I'm sure it won't be as much of a chore this time around.

 

[hqueen13]

In my whopping one semester of equine studies that was one of the things we HAD to do
The only thing that is really tricky that I know of is making sure you really get the bean out for them. That can get really uncomfortable, poor boys. Otherwise, just being sure you really "get up in there" and boy can you get up in there, haha! I suppose, like anything else, the more you do it, the easier it is...
I have also heard you can use some type of oil, like baby oil, rather than soap/water, and that will soften all the gunk/dirt, and help it flake off. I'm not all that positive that I feel super comfortable doing any of them, but I suppose I should do more than just poke at him, LOL He looks pretty clean when he drops, which is part of why I am not all that worried.