TanksHill...Roll on!!

[punkin]

Sorry about your hens. Maybe some target practice is in your future. We have a few coyotes around here, but never seen one on our property.

That's funny about your dog eating carrots. Mine eats blueberries. Go figure.

 

[modern_pioneer]

Although we do have yoties around here, I have only seen one alive.

Few years ago I started carry one of my weapons with me, just for the reason punkin said.

How is your garden with your water restrictions? My rain barrel went almost dry last week, not having rain for almost two weeks, plus watering the young plants everyday. They seem to be starting to root in now for the looks of the plants today. I think pepper plants are slower to root in than some of the other plants.

Sorry about your chickens, just more of a reason to get some more...

Are you selling your eggs??

 

[TanksHill]

Thanks for the encouragement on the chickens. I am working on some means of defense. My friend who lives about 1/2 mile up the street has chickens as well. She actually came home to find a raccoon on her porch last night. You never know.

Garden is doing well. Our water restrictions don't actually start until 1st of June. Not sure what I'll do then. I am thinking of calling water Co. and asking if they have a baseline usage amount. Based on home and property size. Kinda like the electric company. I really don't think I use all that much to start with. I water the veggie garden by hand daily with my hose. If I have to do it after 6 pm no biggie. But the three times a week thing kinda bugs me. I guess I just water really well on my assigned days.

Now for my fruit trees I use another hose. My in ground sprinklers got ripped out by accident last year. So I have a really long hose with a twirly sprinkler on it. This way I can adjust diameter of sprinkling to fit size of tree. I usually move it from tree to tree . I sometimes turn it on in the afternoon and off at dusk when I collect my eggs. I will have to think of a new plan.

We don't have any landscaping. I stopped planting anything that did not give me food back about two years ago. The lawn died in the last two months. Planing on some hard scape there so no loss.

I saw a ginormous water tank advertised on Craigslist. It was a fiberglass insulated 2000 gallons. I e mailed the guy and asked for the dimensions. Maybe I could shove it under my porch. Probably more rain than I'll ever see. Maybe I could fill it on my assigned days and gravity feed my plants. Ha that's a way around the rules.

We had a really wet winter 3 years ago. I would really like to have some gutters on and barrels ready for the next one. Around here El Nino rolls through every 7 years so maybe I have time.

Well, on a good note I think were going to Yellowstone this year. We went to No. Ca last year and saw the redwoods and did some camping and salmon fishing. We traveled over 1000 miles and never left Ca. This year we wanted to see more of the country. We originally were going to go to Missouri to visit my dh aunt. She and my dh cousin have a couple 60 acre farms near Springfield. But since we won't need to cut and run just yet. And the you know what has not hit the fan. We think were good for another year.

So this year it will be Buffalo and Trout fishing. I have so much to do to get ready for the trip. Not to mention finding a reliable friend to tend my garden and hens.

We have two weeks of school left, the kids are getting restless.

Uggg!!!! I need to check my lists.

Have a good night, gina

 

[Blackbird]

If there was just a few feathers, but multiple hens were missing then it would either be a couple of coyotes, foxes or a whole slew of coons.

If it was a dog they would have probably would have just eaten a couple bites, and killed as many for fun, unless the dogs were starved and really hungry.

Coyotes usually tend to leave more feathers around than foxes and coons, but all three could be a possibility.

 

[TanksHill]

Saturday May 30th,

Well it's still foggy and overcast here. The weather is staying in the mid 60's and at night we have fog feet.. Well the fog and the marine layer are so low that it kinda drizzles. Closest thing I have had to rain in a long time.

I have been pretty productive today. House chores most of the morning. I quick soaked some black beans and canned them in the pressure canner. I did not want them to turn out mushy so I did not really cook them before hand. I only put 1 C of beans and then added boiling liquid to top. I kinda figured the beans would swell so I wanted to be careful. I will see how they turned out in a bit.

I cooked a couple of quiche with my surplus of eggs. Not really a good way to use up eggs it only takes 3 per quiche. I made them a bit different today. I made a quart of the really good powered milk I have and used that instead of fresh. Pantry cooking at it's best again.

Ok so I made a bit of cash this morning. I think it's kinda a funny story so I will share. Yesterday I talked my girlfriend into going to the Good Will. We were there right at 9am when they opened so there was very few people. They had one of those Italian wood easel kits. Brand new with just an opened box, never removed it was still in styrofoam. It comes with 36 tubes of paint, canvases etc.. Anyways it was priced at 14.00 bucks Yes 14.00 bucks. I know from seeing this thing around the holidays it sells for more like 80.00 so I grabbed it. I thought my mom or kids might like to use it. Well when I got home I re-listed it on craigslist for 50 bucks just to see if I could sell it. Well, it sold about an hour ago. The guy came and picked it up with cash. That's 36.00 in less than 24 hours. I am elated and feel kinda sneaky.

I know it's not a lot of money but not being employed for 8 years, when I earn money on my own it feels really good.

I think I will go out to the veggie patch for a while, my potatoes are taking off and I can't seem to keep them covered. Also working on a sewing project. Apron for dd teacher. Only two weeks of school left.

Have a great day. G


(edited, I wrote pot in stead of potatoes, I would not want you all to think I was growing funny stuff)

 

[punkin]

Great way to turn a quick buck. I've found new things before at Goodwill and then turned around and sold it on ebay for a profit.

Nuthin' sneaky about it, just smart investments.

 

[2dream]

Saturday May 30th,
(edited, I wrote pot in stead of potatoes, I would not want you all to think I was growing funny stuff)

:

I think I have been here way to long. It took me a few minutes to figure out what you were talking about. Pot in my head would have equaled potatos. Yep, I guess I am now an official farmer.

 

[TanksHill]

2 dream,
I worked in restaurants for a very long time. Like way back when you used to write the food orders on tickets and turn them into the cooks. Heck I don't know maybe some restaurants still do. Anyways I abbreviate all food just by habit. zucs, cucs, pot, that and my typing usually is not as fast as my brain speaks.

 

[2dream]

Well, at least you have a reason. I just abbreviate because I don't know how to spell the whole word most of the time. Especailly that zuc word. LOL

 

[TanksHill]

So today was a pretty regular day. Shuffled kids back and forth to school.. Watered the garden. Today is one of my assigned water days. We also had a pretty cool lightening and thunder display. Rained a couple times for about 1 min. Big fat wet drops. But not quite enough.

Found a really great bargain on craigslist. Bought a couple huge black really tough plastic work boxes. Designed to go in the bed of a work truck. The lady sold me both for 15.00. She was worried she had charged me to much. I assured her it was fine and said thank you and drove away as fast as I could. I intend to use them for our trip to Yellowstone. Fill them up with all kinds of stuff I need to take. My neighbor was teasing me that I would probably re list them and sell to someone else for more. Not a bad idea but I need them. I'll get a picture later.

Oh, and guess who I saw today?????? Dacs. Yes, the Old Curmudgeon himself. Don't let the name fool you he is actually very nice. I bought him an ice cream at one of his old child hood haunts and he tolerated all 3 of my kids for about 1/2 hour. It was nice to meet him in person.

My DS 8 year old took this picture.