wyodreamer - we're not in Wyo any more

[wyoDreamer]

I had my 6-month mammogram check on the lumpectomy site. There was no cancer evident and it has healed well. So that is all good news.
I will go back in 6-months for a mammogram on both. Then alternate between my radiologist and oncologist every 6-months for the next 5 years.

Still trying to get tomatoes canned. I have decided that I am afraid to can tomatoes, which makes me procrastinate and not get it done. I will pick some more tomarrow morning and can them right away, no excuses. I also plan to pick a bunch, wash them up, slice and dehydrate them.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

o that is all good news.

Congrats!

Good luck on the tomatoes - I'm jealous! I got quite a few earlier in the year - but no more...

 

[Britesea]

glad to hear about the clear mammogram

good luck getting those tomatoes done!

 

[sumi]

I had my 6-month mammogram check on the lumpectomy site. There was no cancer evident and it has healed well. So that is all good news.

That's great news!!

 

[wyoDreamer]

My sister brought us a barn cat on Sunday.
Backstory: They live in a rural, wooded, residential area and have had this cat hanging around their place all summer. They found out that a neighbor actually owns the cat. But the cat refused to live in the house with 4 young children and various other house pets, so the owner left it outside to fend for itself. After 3 months of feeding this cat, my sister got worried about it surviving the winter as they have a lot of fox and coyote around their place. Bringing it to our place was her answer - she was afraid to take it to the pound, in case the neighbor saw it there for adoption. We are fine with getting a barn cat, DH and I have had that conversation a time or two. With 7 outbuildings and 10 acres of fallow fields around the place, it will be nice to have a barn cat or 2 hanging around.

Kitty is really friendly and demands to have her tummy rubbed. However, I believe she is pregger's. I will be taking her to the vet to be checked out, vaccinated and eventually have her spayed. My question right now is:

Anybody have any good ideas on making a place in the barn for cats to sleep?
What size box would be good for a cat to have her kittens in?
I was thinking of making a wooden box with a flip top lid that I can fill with straw, and tuck in her blanket that she has slept on all summer. We have some horse mats that we will place on the concrete floor of the barn, to give her a place to hang out without sitting on the cold concrete. I will put the food and water dish there also.

 

[sumi]

I think about 2-3 sq ft would be big enough for a cat and litter. My only experience with those were some friends of ours' cats and they went and had their babies in the clothes cupboard, on top of the clothes cupboard in a bag and in the clothes cupboard respectively.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I got my 13 cornish X chickens butchered about 2 weeks ago. They were 10 weeks old. DH bought a plucker, which helped alot! I got all 13 done in 5 hours. He helped with the last 4. I did the kill in the cone, he dipped and plucked, and I took care of the rest of it. I cut 4 of them in half and froze them like that, they will be great for roast chicken. The rest of them were pieced out, vacuum sealed in packages for 2, and in the freezer. The 1/2 chickens weighed about 3.5 pounds, and 2 boneless/skinless breast (=1 chicken) was about 1/5 pounds. So pretty good, just the size I wanted them to be. They were just about perfect on fat level also, I saved the fat and rendered it down and it filled a pint and 1/2 pint jar. I broiled a couple of chicken breasts for supper last night, the meat is juicy and tender and delicious. I have the broth made and just need to can that up.
Yay!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Congrats on the plucker - they really make it soooo much easier! Sounds like ya'll work like me and my DH work. We share the killing, but he scalds and plucks and I gut and cut up if we're not leaving them whole. You did good doing 13 in a day. I usually burn out after about 6 - so we tend to spread things out.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I did the first 8 all by myself, but it was dark out and starting to get cold out in the barns so I was going to quit. He brought his Torpedo heater and set that up at the butchering table. Then he took over the plucking just to keep me working and get them all done and over with. lol!

 

[wyoDreamer]

I made a box of "Hamburger Helper: Lasagna" the other day. I worked late, we were hungry and is was something quick that we both will eat. I used a jar of my home canned tomato juice for the water called for in the directions. It made that the best hamburger helper I have ever had. The home canned tomatoes are so much better than the canned ones from the store.