Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[SSDreamin]

Hey Pink, if you decide you want to take a leisurely (12 hour) drive, you are more than welcome to come up here (after the snow clears - I can't even think about planting things until late April at the earliest!) and help me decide what to do with my front walk/front yard! I am completely landscaping inept!! I wish I could upload pictures (my satellite TV & satellite internet are fighting, making uploading photos impossible ) I would show you my latest attempt. Friends came by and asked why I 'stuck those sticks in that pit right there' - referring to my latest attempt at a flowerbed!

Animal poo is still pretty easy to get here, as we are nowhere near planting time but, as the time grows close, people get stingy with their poo! I have a pretty good pile of Ice Cream and chicken poo building up, so hopefully I won't have to go poo begging this year Boy, that was a lot of poo in one paragraph!!

 

[pinkfox]

poo, poop, poopity poop poop...

Just wanted to make sure we had enough poop! lol.

 

[SSDreamin]

 

[pinkfox]

well then.

trying to get through to walmarts garden dept to see if thye have and how much thier big bles of peat moss are is like trying to grow a money tree, aparently impossible...

all i want to know is do you have peat bales yet and how much...not hard! infact since you use computer inventory system its soemthing anyone in the store with acess to the inventory list should be able to tell me!

i also dropped e-fowl an email to see what shipping times look like and how they seperate sexed and straight run birds, tried calling but didnt get anyone so i figure i should get a responce tomorrow.

i did get a present today, the friend i barely know...he sent me a twist tiller...you know those little garden claw thingies
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/garden-cultivator.html

yup and a cutting board that realy made me laugh...
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice..._home_office&gclid=CN6d0rSyiq4CFQ2R7QodVXcu5g

its adorable and made me giggle...dont know if he paid that much it came drect from amazon and im not going to look it up cause thats just rude...
its also realy funny cause yesterday i was chopping something and i remmbered from watching "worst chef in america" that getting your veggies uniform sized is a must if you want to cook things properly and im HORRIBLE at that, i just dont chop well lol! so mabe this can help.
hes such a nice guy. the twist tiller will come in real handy for preppign that fornt bed, which my lazy tushy didnt get done today (did some stuff inside instead) and for mixing my peat/compost mix when i finally get an answer lol.

doh...walmart only has the scotts mircale gro peatmoss (you know the 2cuft bags of losely packed junk for $10..yeah nope...lol) lets check out other places...lol.

 

[pinkfox]

well this morning i placed my duck order.

i placed an add on craigslist, and with WBF's imput too imanaged to hit the minimum order size to avoid any small order charges.
ive got an order of 6 sexed black runners, coming for me...
i was initially thinking of doing runners and khakis, but i figure for now ill go with my 6 runners becaue thats what i already planned.
then next spring i can bring in 1/2 a dozen khakis if i need more duck egg production, im planning muscovy too

the rest of the order is some khaki cambells along with fawn/white and chocolate runners.

so yeah itll be 3-5 days before i get a delivery date. ive alredy got a big tupper tote to use as a brooder, along with a chick feed and waterer and heat lamps with bulbs so i shouldnt need to worry about anything other than a bag of starter feed untill april time.
right now because of the availablity on the runners being 3-5 weeks estimate im expecting end of february beginning of march which is good, gives me till april then to get the fencing project done so they can safely go outside.
i think instead of doing planting beds this year im just going to rake the area, give it a top dressing with some peat and manure tea and spread a mixed perenial clover and mabe a shade tolerant grass over the enitre area, theres clover already established in that area so it should take nicely, the ducks will have fun grazing on it, i can pick it fresh for the buns and im hoping my kitchen garden produces enough to supliment the buns feed as well as my own so it shouldnt be too much trouble to not do the extra beds this year.

so ducks are ordered. next step on the homesteading front is a trip to lowes who aparently DO have the bales of peat so i can slowly start filling my planting beds...i cant afford to do them all this month...so im planning on doing a couple this month and a couple next month...

my ssiter dropped me a facebook message that she realy misses me...
shes having a hard time right now, she gave up an annoying but stable ob at goodwill (she was having issues with the managment and they were giving her the run around screwing her on he rpaycheck ect) for a ob that "guarenteed 25hours a week and a higher pay scale as a shift supervisor...well unfortunatly that "guarenteed" 25 hours wasnt in writing and now shes lucky to be getting 10 a week...so im going to have a chat with her and see whats going on in her brain...she says shes looking for a new job, and i cant blame her, but she also needs to put some serious thought about getting into college and getting her degree (she wants to be a psycologist)
Mabe this will be the kick in the pants she needs...
unfortunatly what she realy needs is to get out of connecticut, away form the freinds shes had since middleschool, not one of which has any ambition, none of them have gone off to college, none of them have stated community college and most dont actually have jobs or nay kind of ambition either...there the kind of kids that will probably be jumping from mcdonalds to taco bell to burgerking their entire lives and when she snot working her few hours shes with them...i have a sinking feeling that there holding her back ya know...she likes hanigng out with them and she wouldnt be able to do that if she was working and going to college...right now its easier to work 10 hours and fool aorund with friends than it is to realy move forward...she says no college because she cant afford it right now and doesnt want school loans, but at this rate shell NEVER get it moving...and there certainly not helping encorage her to start the process...
id love for her to ust come out here, get a handle on things and get her butt into college and moving foraward...shes too smart a kid to be letting epopel with no ambition hold her back. and too nice/easy going a person to worry that she woudlnt make new friends.
shes going to get a swift kick soon if mum and dad do decide to move, at her current rate theres no chance in hell she can stay in Connecticut, shes not making enough money to even remotly survive...so if she doesnt make the desicions soon...ive got a feeling mum and dad will be making them for her.
*sigh*

oh well just dropped her a call, its 11:30 her time so not sure if shes working or still asleep (yup you heard that right, and yes shes 20 years old in may) as she wants to skype today...i cant sit around all day waiting for her though, ive got some stuff i want to get done in the front yard...like finally trying to get my stupid mailbox stable (i couldnt dig deep enough with the shovel so im hoping now i can dig the hole and then use my new little twist tiller to break up once i hit rock)...
and i need to get the front bed started so i can get the bulbs i have that are currently trying to grow through their bags into the ground...

i think im going to get sorted and dressed get that all done then try catching her later...i need to feed and check on the buns which i havent done yet, feed ack jack and fill the catfood and such...so i should get moving.

 

[hqueen13]

I sort of went stagnant after I got out of high school, too, and eventually found my way. It was rather unconventional, but I'm working a good job making good money with no college degree right now. It is possible. I finally got a job that was sort of ok after I was 21, and then eventually found this job after one thing led to another when I was 24. Just love her, and hopefully she'll find her way. It is rather scary to be an fledgling adult in this world, things are so unclear and strange, and frankly, there are too many choices! That sounds funny, but I think its the truth.
for her and you! I hope that she finds the right door open soon!

 

[pinkfox]

thanks, i know shell get there...i just hate to see her letting other people hold her back.
if she could find something she loved wihtout college im all for it...lol
but shes gone on and on about doing abnormal psych since middleschool and its one of those feilds they kinda dont let you into wihtout some kind of additional schooling. shes a good kid...but i think thats the problem shes an almsot 20yr old KID.
shes the baby of the group and is still very much a teenager
she gets frustrated that shes not moving ahead with life, but then does all the teenager stuff that keeps her back...gets frustrated and upset and then of course "nothings going my way" lol
but i love her and were very close so sometimes i just wish i could hand her a road map hit her over the head with a flashlight put a compas in her poket and tell her to GO! lol

in other news....i got my productivity meater going again today...
started on that front flower bed...
the 3 hostas i wasnt planning on doing naything with yet...well there trying to spout so i decided nows a good time to divide (just as there starting to send up new growth) and im glad i did, these poor things had been planted in plastic pots, thier root systems had decimated the pots and found escape roots (their root reach that i salvaged were almost 2ft across...but all rhiozome was all squished into the mangle of plastic its no wonder they looked so sorry for themselves, jusding by the root reach and the eyes on them these are about 5-7 years old and have NEVER been divided...
under good circumstances these should have been BIG beautiful plants given the nuber of eyes i could see wihtout washing them...but instead when i got here last year they looked seriously sorry for themselves...now i know why. so i freed them from thier plastic prison, divided them and got 12 nice side clumps of Hosta. then i expanded and reshaped the bed and hit it with my twisty tiller, which works quite well
i "threw" in my daf and tulip bulbs in the prosess too, i wont get any flowrs from them this year but they should otherwise be fine so in the next month or so i should start seeing some nice shoots
ive got a better ida of what i want for plantings right now in that front bed too...
ive still got some more digigng and work to do with the front section of it (im planning on expanding it out infront of the concret slap "porch" so that il be able to see flowers out my frnt window too but right now ive just done and expended the section already in place.)

I also managed to redig the hole my mailbox post currently resided in...my mailbox is not and has never been "stable" i just simply couldnt dig deep enough with the shovel so today i plled it, redug and used my twisty tiller to loosen up the deep clay, managed to get it anothe 4" deeper and now it seems ALOT more stable...so that makes me happy too.
im trying now to decide exactly what i want to plant along the propertyline where the box is so that i can disguise the veiw of my across the street neighbor from my front window ect (and to keep ruby and jasper form haing a hissy fit when were outside because heaven forbid ANYONE else enjoy thier yard within visual range LOL
right now im thinking a rugosa rose hedge...itll be pretty and i can use the rose hips...the area gets enough sun that it shoudlnt be an issue growing a hedge rose there. and as long as i keep them trimmed back around the mialbox it shouldnt pose more than an average bee risk to the mail carrier...then i could plant bulbs all infront of the hedge row for cutting each year

so yeah, feeling good about what i got done today, but i did do sillynes and whent out without my gardening gloves...guess who has at least 3 forming blisters to document the "early days" LOL, wont take long to build up some good callus, but still OWWW *pouts* lol.

 

[SSDreamin]

It's funny, isn't it? If our siblings (and, in my case, children) would just listen to us and do as we say, they would be so much better off!! I gave up years ago trying. I have a wonderful, smart baby brother (if you describe baby as 6' 4" 40+ and almost bald!) who, despite my best efforts, dropped out of college with JUST ONE SEMESTER to go! Never went back!!! He was working 32 hours a week, 3rd shift, and going to school full time, and GF (now wife) said she was fed up and he needed to get a 'real' job immediately, so he did. Life, kids and a mortgage have all came along, and he busts his butt working 50 hours a week, making less than half what he would have. It's sad, but I realized long ago it was his life and his choice. I guarantee that, if you talk to him, he'd be extremely disappointed in quite a few of the choices I've made in my life. I think unconditional love, encouragement and advice when asked and an ear to vent to when needed is the best we can give in any relationship. But, that's just my option.

 

[hqueen13]

I have to say that I was more mature for my age at 20, but at the same time I just had no idea how much I didn't know. At 20 the world was too big to really know what the heck I wanted to do. Heck, its taken us 10 years to figure out that a farm and our own property is really what we want, LOL. Sometimes the not knowing is paralyzing.
Sometimes I wish that I could just hope doors for people and kick them through. But then it wouldn't be their journey.... Just gotta keep on loving them!

Way to go on your hostas! I've GOT to get the deer fence up to protect my hostas this year otherwise there won't BE any hostas! UGH. With as warm as the winter has been I am worried about what summer will bring, if it doesn't bring much rain then the deer will be anxious to eat again this year. At least they haven't gone after the azaleas in the winter... just the Rhodies
What kind of hostas do you have? I have the giant dark green ones and the green/white striped ones. I really enjoy them and wish the deer didn't too!

 

[snapshot]

I've tried a few times to help younger friends and relatives. They always wanted to come stay with me and get away from the people around them. Sounded good but they would come here and meet the same people with different names. Go hang out at the same bars with different names. We all have to find our own way but we did show them an alternative to what they were used to.