NoobieChickenLady's Journal - SS Score and Mah Kitteh is HOME!! Yay!

[noobiechickenlady]

DH & DKs have been bearing the brunt of it, I'm in a nice AC'ed office for most of the day. They are real troupers. Thats why I left it to them. The kids said they'd rather play outside & in the pool and have more money to buy nifty pool toys. We put a fabric gazebo we bought a couple of years ago over our pool, so its nice and cool there, and shady. The kids practically live there, they did even when the house was cooled. Once their rooms are picked up & the dishes washed (along with any other periodic chores they get) they have free reign to their summer days, until the skeeters come out. They're gonna grow gills & fins if we're not careful. Although, I came home from the store late yesterday afternoon and a little painted up squaw & brave popped out of the tall grass, hollered, then shot me with spears. THAT was something else!

They had stuck the shed chicken feathers onto stiff grass stalks and tossed them. They've been reading The Indian in the Cupboard at night. Got tired of the wordyness of Narnia, so we'll go back to it later. Its so hot inside our metal box that the No-Electronic entertainment is spreading of its own accord. Its simply too hot to sit inside & play video games. COOL!

The heat & lack of AC made me rethink the placement of our future semi-dwarf fruit trees & plum trees. Instead of putting them on the perimeter of our yard, they are going in as semi-shade trees closer to the house. They'll be smaller, so I won't worry as much over them falling onto the house when those twisters come.

 

[Beekissed]

noobie, my boy is doing boot camp at Ft. Leonard Wood right now and he says the heat is pretty intense!

This weekend we had temps in the 50s and it rained all weekend. I huddled under a down comforter all weekend long!

Its so odd to me to hear of your heat wave while we are freezing our buns off. I had every window closed!

My son says they are in a heat warning of 5, whatever that means, but he says it is the highest one. They are still doing PT, however.

 

[FarmerChick]

I can't believe you have been without AC during this awful heat spell. I would have died. But I do like the sound of your power bill.

DH and I were just talking about this very issue over the weekend.
We are spoiled rotten. So many people do not even have the option of AC and for years it was not available and people survived it. But right now I am saying - ummmm as long as I can pay - I will be cool. For years we had window units and the power bills were outragous. We had central air install 4 years ago and I could not believe how much it dropped. Our last bill was 165.00. 4 years ago it would have been close to 380.00 and that would have been not running the window units all the time.

AC is a matter of how hot you can take it....LOL-LOL

ME---I have it at 78 during the day, drop it to 76 late at night just to sleep....gotta have it cooler to sleep. House is 2000 sq ft and it cost me $132 last month.....that was with AC on all the time but I watch it carefully!!!!


And I run my ceiling fan. that helps a ton to keep the air moving.

When AC is off and I can open windows and survive, yup, I have the $75 a month power bill and I love it!!!! But for a few months, I can pay the higher bill, since I do so well on power the other months. And I got the pool filter running so I was still happy with $132.

I don't see it as spoiled rotten, I see it as Southern survival..HA HA HA



But anywhere we can save money is the best!!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

UGH, PT in this??? I'd die. No really. Those men (and women!) are harder than we will ever know. GI Jane didn't have crap on them. We bought some of those military backpack water containers for excursions into the woods, they've come in real handy for gardening.

On the weekends (and I assume while I'm at work during the week) we tend to become sluggish around 2 o'clock, naps or pool with the kids or a nice shade tree & some lemonade are in order. We are getting up earlier so things can get done before we start sweating terribly. If it gets dangerously hot, index of around 115 or higher, the AC will be turned on. The ladies have dicovered the fringe forest at our fenceline and head straight there in the mornings when I let them out. Much cooler on the forest floor under those trees than it is out in the yard.

I flipped the reversal switch on the ceiling fans after I thought about it, and that has made a huge difference in the amount of air that is moving.

I think I killed the fermenting pickles I was trying to make. Oh well, free cucumbers. The pickling spice was all I bought. The heat got to be too much for them and they stopped fermenting. Now there's sediment in the bottom of the jar. Nothing growing on them though. I dunno

 

[FarmerChick]

LOL--when in doubt don't eat them. Nothing will make you sicker so fast than bad canning times...LOL---I know!!

yea good point, everyone needs to use that fan to the fullest potential. use the reverse switch each season!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

But they still smell sooo gooood. Like, well, pickles! But yeah, I think I'll boil the crap out of em, toss em and try again in the fall.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

*Playing Taps*
The pickles are officially dead. Its just too hot. There was some moldy stuff growing on one of them. I didn't want it to start smelling, so I pulled them out, boiled em and tossed em on the compost pile. Better luck this fall. Live & learn, right?

I've got corn almost ready to pick!! The peppers are budding, the eggplants & okra have blooms, the okra actually has some small fruit on it. I really should have planted more okra, we love it. The one potato plant that we got to come up is blooming over the top of the double buckets, the carrots are coming along nicely. I think my onions are gone completely. The slugs are eating them faster than I can pick slugs off and the beer traps don't seem to be doing much good. The beans are halfway up the corn stalks.

I'm trying to convince DH that Carpet Fresh, Lysol & Windex need to go the way of the dodo. I bought a bottle of amonia last year sometime, it never got opened until just recently, when I cleaned all the mirrors in the house. I just can't stand the smell of the chemicals. He always seems to mop or vacuum right before I get home and it almost knocks me out the door.

I know, who am I to complain about the smells when he's actually doing the housework, but they really do make it hard to breathe. I pried the top off the carpet fresh canister & filled it to the top with baking soda. He never knew the difference. The windex, I waited until it was almost empty, then rinsed it & refilled it with amonia & water, plus a drop of blue food coloring for effect. The lysol I'm still working on, and its the worst, hands down. I won't even come in the house right after he's mopped. But, after seeing the effectiveness of the homemade laundry detergent (which I'm also using watered down in the dishwasher) well, he's coming around. Once he learns that the carpet fresh isn't & the windex too, he'll be another convert. Does that make me sneaky? I want these chemicals OUT!! And talking never did any good, you have to PROVE things to my DH.

We did have a good time at the laundrymat (weird, yes I know) but the kids were with my mom & we were the only 2 people in there, no TV, radio, nothing. So we talked, we raced the carts around, we threw socks at each other, like we were kids. It was fun

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I've been reading the fermenting thread and Free's food journal. I'd been introduced to fermented foods before, like sourdough and pickles, kombucha tea & ACV, but I'd never really learned all the health benefits of them. Since reading those 2 posts I've been doing a little research. I'd really like to learn more, so hopefully, Free will do her distance learning class this fall/winter and I'll learn even more. My crunch granolo friend from Little Rock, AR is a big kombucha tea & ACV proponant, so he should be proud of me. Maybe I can even teach him a little something afterwards. And, i was in GNC the other day and they have unprocessed ACV with the mother! I can make my own vinegar! I'll prob have to ferment it at my mom's, as my house is very hot at present and killed my fermenting pickles I put the thermometer where I had the pickles and it was a lot cooler than the rest of the house, but I've learned 85-90 is too hot to safely ferment.

I've been trying to get away from the processed foods for some time now, but DH is the chef now that he's a stay-at-home-daddy. Meaning that he shops for it, plans it, cooks it and serves it about 80% of the time. I'll usually cook the side dishes for his entrees, or toss something in the crock pot as a main dish. Anyways, the end result of that is we end up eating more boxed stuff than I really want to. I try not to complain, after all he's doing the cooking, but the crud just does not taste right to me. Also, I see no point in using a box of "alfredo" pasta when it only takes about 10 minutes to have a homemade white sauce done, that tastes WAAAAY better than Betty's version, is seasoned exactly the way we like it and of course doesn't contain all the crud that Betty's does. Now, this doesn't mean that we eat boxed dinners every night, maybe 2-3 times a week. And the rest of time we eat very healthy, salads made with homegrown greens or bagged spring mix, homemade chili, spaghetti, quiche with fresh veggies, my fresh salsa rocks too! But still, I'd like that junk out of our cabinets altogether. One thing that helps is when I get stuff almost ready for him, chopped & diced & marinating, so all he has to do is cook it. He'll actually use it. But for some reason, instead of waiting until I get home to let me make the white sauce, he'll have the boxed dish almost ready when I walk in the door. Then its just a waste of "food"...

Another reason is that DH has reflux. Doesn't flare up often, thankfully, but he does wake up in the middle of night occasionally and has to go sleep in the recliner so he can rest without feeling I've noticed that when we are lower on money, and have to scrounge for fresh veggies or go dig in mom's garden, he doesn't get it nearly as bad.

I have an eggplant fruit! Its tiny now, but it will be joined by others soon, 3 more blossoms have spent themselves and have small swellings developing! Eggplant parmesan mmmm.

I've been debating pulling some money out of my 401k plan to finance some of the endevors we want to accomplish this year, like the solar panels. We have no net metering policy here in ms, (which is the height of ignorance to me) nor are there any programs offering rebates, incentives, etc. Only loans are available, except through a few of the smaller energy companies. Tennessee Valley Authority is one of the best in the state by a long shot, but they ae way out of our region. We don't have any good credit built up, and have had a few dings to our credit, so of course, our # is very low thus our chances of even qualifying for a loan are very low. We don't want a full system just yet, we want to start small & add to it over time. With starting small & utilizing the federal tax credit, we'd be able to reduce our bill & save more money to buy more pieces. I'm only allowed to take out 50% of my total balance, and I've only been contributing for 8 years, sometimes very little at time. Still, roughly 2500 bucks would go a long way. We are definitely going to use our christmas club money to work on our SS fund. And I'm in a very good position as far as job cuts would go. Advertising is one of the worst things to cut when sales are down, and our work would cost double what our budget is if it were outsourced. Plus there are only three people in my department, including myself & the boss and we do the work of a 6 person design team. The other chick would be the one to get cut. I know, thats terrible to think about, but ya gotta be realistic. Plus her hubby is employed, so it wouldn't be as much of a drop for her as it would me...

This year, folks are getting canned goods, thrift store finds & jarred gifts, specific to the person. 1 cousin luuuvs my homemade tomato soup, another is diabetic but wants to drink sweet hot cocoa, another wants books for whatever the occasion, any kind of book. There's three I can do quite easily & cheaply too!

The oldest cousin & I have tried to talk everyone into contributing a set amount to a charity or food bank instead of gifts to each other, maybe drawing names or at least only buying for the actual kids, but that never gets agreed to. It'd ruin the fuuuun of it. I'm sorry, I thought Christmas was about sacrifice for yourself & giving to others, not fuuuun. Bleh... And don't get me started on the food...

Wow, this got long...

 

[noobiechickenlady]

No whining!
This is the sign hanging on my office door. I'm gonna try to not whine, but I really feel like having a pity party. Poor me, poor pitiful me and all other semi-crunchy mississippians. There I feel better
But seriously, it seems like there is no interest in anything self sufficient around here unless its farming. If you wanna raise some cows, go for it. But you wanna buy a solar panel? Nah, forget that. You'd have to pay for someone to come in from out-of-state to install it. The only thing I've got going for me in my town is that there is a very liberal building code. As long as people aren't living in it full time, you can build it however, wherever you like. Yes, that does have downsides, but its much easier to build a recycled chicken coop that way, too

So I'm reading everything I can about solar installation at the moment. I'm hoping that I can install a small, completely independent station by myself. We've determined that the shed at my 'rents is capable of being moved, now we just have to get it done. We'll move the deep freeze out to it and have it completely separate from the house system. That way we won't be breaking the law by being hooked up to solar & grid at the same time. Yes, grid tied systems are illegal here, thank you, Entergy...

I have been unsucessful at convincing my mom that we need a pond (rainwater catchement). She is the landholder, so I have to respect her wishes. I'm grateful, she gave me land to put a house on, so I can't complain too much. She did say a cistern would be okay. More $$$ bleh...

Good news is that in the past week, I've put up 8 pints of shredded deer meat, 5 of broth, 5 of cream of mushroom, 4 of peach preserves, 6 of blueberry/blackberry jam (to use up the last of the blackberries & some blueberries I was given). I'm doubtful that I can can the racoon, as it is fairly tough meat. I'll leave it in the freezer for now. I've scrounged an old frito-lay wire rack that is pretty sturdy to put my canned goods on. It will have pride of place right beside the light switch in the kitchen. Think I'm gonna edge it with some material to hide the goods & protect them from light invasion. Plus, it will fit perfectly where my deep freeze is now, so when I move it, I'll have more space to store food!

Also, I was given a Soapmakers guide from the 70s, that has complete instructions for soaps of all kinds, from lye & lard to olive oil & coffee there are several different base soaps, and then bunches & bunches of hand milled soap types for each of the base soaps. I bought a kitchen scale the other day that measures up to 7 lbs, so there's my first bit of equipment. I already have an enameled steel pot to cook it in. Just a few more pieces and I'm ready to cook some soap!

I still don't have more than a few ripe tomatoes. I wish I knew what was going on. The ones that haven't produced yet are covered in blooms, but no tomatoes. The ones that have started producing did in dribs & drabs, but no explosion like I was hoping for, based on the amount of blooms. Corn is good though, havested several ears already. Plump, beautiful & tasty! I planted more just in time to get some beans around it. I pulled up a basil plant that was going to flower, & pulled all the leaves off it. Got em in the fridge now to make tomato pesto for dinner tonight.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Pictures!

My backyard (Amber waves of grass)

Go past the fence & into the woods, you get to this

Huge oak tree with wild grapes growing up the side

The grape vines at ground level have no grapes left. Darn deer...

The 5 original ladies when they were little

The ladies now

Babygirl & Staley

Staley & one of the ladies on the roost. She just shook dust out of her feathers, pardon the specks

Where they normally hang out during the day. Shady & cool

One of my yogurt jars

A weekend's canning

Huuuuuge tomato. This puppy is 6 feet in diameter & stands 3 feet tall. Pardon the grass, thats only a weeks growth...

Baby eggplant. Eating this one tonight

Corn, about ready to pick

Here kitty kitty kitty. Dropshadow is the gray, Catsumodo is the orange.