Great Day in the Evening

This has been the best weekend in a LOOOOOOONG time.

Yesterday started out with a trip to Duplin Winery for their christmas in july sale.  They previewed some of their new ornaments.  I ended up buying a christmas stopper that is like a snow globe and it lights up with different colors.  20% off.  I also got a free bottle of the Christmas Eve wine for being the first one through the door that day.  I went ahead and got a case of wine to bring home.

When I got home, I got a phone call from Silver Coast Winery, where I am also a member.  They informed me that I won the whining for wine contest!!  The rules were, in 50 words or less, explain why your life is so bad that you deserve a case of wine.  Well, I sent in a poem and I won!!!  A case of wine!!!!  The girl who called told me that all three author judges put my entry at the top of the list.  She told me that they couldn't stop laughing.  I won't reproduce it here, but after they publish it in their newsletter, I will release it.  So I guess I will pick up my free case some time next week.  It's the first time in my life that I won anything.

Then, this afternoon/evening this:

You pray, God will answer, in His time.

It's still raining slowly.  I'll check the rain gauge tomorrow.

And IAATC:

bak bak

I Done Stuff

I have events!!!!

Last Friday, two of my aunties and I took a trip to New Bern (pronounced NUburn, one word, accent on the NU) to look at an original land grant for some of our family land.  The document was housed on the grounds of the Tryon Palace complex.  It was old and somewhat water-stained, so you couldn't make out the exact location, but it was given to an Alexander Colvin (200 acres) and the document was signed by governor Martin in 1773.  I'm not sure when the land and the document came into our family.  The visit actually created more questions than it answered.  But it was good to get out.  New Bern is like a little Williamsburg and I want to go back to spend the day sometime.  Maybe when my sister comes to visit.

It was very hot last weekend, we reached 105 in the shade for a couple of days.  My cockers are really suffering with all of those feathers.  I keep them in water, but mostly they hang out under the porch where the AC discharge is, cause the water there is cool all the time.  I am fighting a battle with one of the girls the last couple of days.  She keeps getting on the front porch and keeps digging in one of my big flower pots.  Today I found out why.

I've heard of dirty eggs, but this?

Our pond is now a big puddle.

even the frogs are leaving

We had a little drizzle yesterday and today, enough to keep it from being too hot, but not much more.  It didn't register on the rain gauge.  We keep praying.

Yesterday, one of my Mom's sisters visited with two of her girls.  It was her birthday and we had a nice lunch and a good 5 hour visit.  Mom can't make it to the reunions anymore so this was a substitute, kinda.  They put me in charge of the theme and the invite for next year's Wagoner reunion.  So I am trying to find a simple photoshop app for my apple computer.  Photoshopping seems so complicated.

I made some pesto from my liquorish basil and froze it and made some from my lemon basil for yesterday and the both turned out yummy.  I ate all the left over lemon basil today.  BAD ME.  My goal is to do all of the flavors and freeze it, but it is so time consuming piking off all the leaves.  I'm still getting okra and cucumbers out of the garden and some of the volunteer tomatoes are producing, but the rest is mostly weeds.

Well, not quite, I took a break to get cukes and also got more green beans, yellow beans, cow peas and a few bell peppers and pablanos.  I guess I shouldn't write things off just yet.  Looks like more freezing for the winter, said the ant in me.  Grab a beer said the grasshopper in ditto. (I like beer more than wine in hot hot weather).

The new baybays are now firmly in the skekesis stage.

Shard?  What Shard?

They were out and about in the larger compound today.  Minion is preping them slowly for the wide wide world.  They seem to be adapting well.

Today's Flock Film

bak bak

Farmer Ann Cestry Dot Com

Well, I finally bit the bullet and subscribed to Ancestry.com.  They had a 6 month introductory rate, and I had come to a dead end on one branch of my family.  So I have spent the last couple of days searching and re-searching.  I made one key connection and ran up against another one.  I have lost a generation, I think, but when you are talking about the early 1700's, the records get blurry and contradictory.

So I started playing around with my family tree from my end using the ancestry software.  I am still learning how to populate within their site.  It's a bit cumbersome at times, but it keeps me indoors.

Our heat wave is back.  108 degree heat indexes and no rain in sight, again.  It never gets cool at night, so we start out hot at dawn.  I did manage to put up some more pickled okra and some spiced bread and butter pickles.  Sometime I am going to have to force myself out, vertigo and all, and finish harvesting my soy to freeze (fresh) and to bag (dried).  Also, the weeds are taking over again.  Sigh.  And the harvest of Japanese beetles is getting thin, so to tide Minion and baybays over, til I can let them out to forrage, I ordered some mealworms.

I do so much online shopping that I have started tipping my UPS guy with food.  Yesterday, he got a 1/2 dozen eggs for delivering my foodsaver bags.  Apparently, food is better than money.  With so much crop failure due to drought or flooding (pick a part of the nation), any produce is going to be at a premium.  Who knew?  Rockin the barter system in the country.

A few days ago, we did walkies in the early morning and I got more bug art!

put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Initials Jb, maybe the bug artist?

not sure about this one.

Lastly, no chick flick this time, but a duet.  I caught this bird on walkies and we spoke.  The picture quality is poor, since I had my camera zoomed, but the bird is on the dead branch in the middle of the frame.

bak bak

Twirly Twirly, All Fall Down

I'm now going on my second week of on again off again vertigo.  It's not as intense but lasts longer.  I got misplaced crystals in my ears and it takes a while to get them back to the right place, so it will be a few more weeks til it stops.  But I REFUSE to take any more medicine.  The old doc wanted me on staten as well, and I refused that.  I refuse mammograms and pap smears.  I refuse colonoscopy.  Nothing invasive thank you.  My new doc, Ms. Keven (her dad wanted a boy) just looked at me and said, "K".  I love her.

Anyhoo, I am having trouble staying on my feet for very long so have to do my chores in spurts.  Let the chickens out, sit down.  Turn the water on the garden, sit down.  Collect bugs for Minion and baybays, sit down.  Cut cucumbers and toms up for the buppies and girls, sit down.  Make food for church, sit down.  Go to church, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down (thank God the Presbyterians don't kneel).
Eat at church, sitting down.  Come home and water the chickens, sit down.  Go get some pint jars from my friendly neighborhood farmer, come home, unload jars, sit down. It's getting old.   I need the pints for pickled okra.  That's pretty much what is left of my garden, except cukes, amaranth, soy and herbs.

On another front, it looks like our hot weather is coming back this week.  I'm going to miss the 66 degree mornings of the last 3 days.  So no more rain for a while, but our well seems to be holding out ok for now.

I tried out a new recipe for church today cause I was getting tired of the same old okra dishes.  I made Bhindi Masala (spicy okra) on a bed of quinoa.  It turned out really well and I've got the recipe in my Demy now.  I thought it was kinda funny that Indians would cook with okra, until I read that okra originally came from Africa, so close to India.

I am desperately trying to figure what I am going to do with my week, since it is tough to drive while (physically) dizzy and there are no crops to speak of at the moment.  I've ordered some new books which should arrive tomorrow, so that should keep me out of trouble.

Here's today's chick flick

bak bak

Happy Bastille Day

For all you Francophiles out there, yes today is  Bastille Day, when the brave french people stormed the fortress and released a handful of old people.  So I am not a Francophile.

And tomorrow is Saint Swithin's Day, of which is said:

St. Swithin's Day if thou dost rain, 
For 40 days it will remain.

Don't really want 40 days all in a row.  I have no ark, just a canoe and a kayak, and where would I put the chickens?  It wouldn't be a kayak, it would be a bagak.

On a completely different note.  I just have to share the birthday card I got Jim this year.  If I searched the world over for the rest of my days, I will never find a more perfect card.  Those of you who know Jim will understand.

Well, it finally happened.  I called my friendly neighborhood organic farmer for picking orders, and he didn't need me!  I guess I'll be forced to use the time to do chores around here, like cleaning chicken houses (up to 3 now), harvesting seeds from the garden, picking soy, pulling weeds, etc.  

It's really sad when you will pick someone else's garden just to get out.

I love the country, but need to see more of it.

On a lighter note, I am back in the goat cheese business.  Got my first liter of goat milk and processed it and flavored with savory basil and dill.  I'll see how it tastes tomorrow.  I am still toying with the idea of goat milk soap, but have to figure out where I can make it.  That's on the back burner for now.

and lastly, IAATC

bak bak

Over the century mark

Well, our rain is long gone.  It reached 102 in the shade today.  This is the first day of the year that topped 100 and probably tomorrow also.   With the humidity, it's like 110.  My poor chickens really wished they had no feathers.  They stay in the shade all the time.  Momma and baybays are doing OK, but they are not happy.  I feed them japanese beetles and watermelon and grass, but I can't let them out to forrage yet.

The pond is so low that Buddy can walk across without having to swim.  I'm still watering the garden from the well.  I'm getting okra and cucumbers and am still drying herbs, but that's about all.  The volunteer toms are starting to get ripe, but the others are done.  Next year, I am definitely doing the toms in pots.

Needless to say, I don't do walkies in this heat.  I pretty much stay indoors.  I did try to hang out some wash yesterday and one of my poles collapsed on me.  I think the termites ate it through.  Of course, this didn't happen til all the laundry was on the line.  I wired it the best I could to keep the clothes off the dirt.  I need a new pole but can't stand the thought of using a PHD in this heat.

sad laundry pole

We finished the two mile stretch of trash pickup on Sunday.  We ended up with 12 bags of recycle and 12 bags of trash.  It should never be that bad again, I hope.  When we emptied the recycle at our trash center, we half filled their big wire bin.  

trashy mctrash pile

What a world, what a world.  I'm melting so it's time for a glass of cool white wine, but NOT on the porch.

That's all for now.

bak bak

Hey Boss, It's (ding ding ding) Z Rain, Z Rain

Like patient little believers, we has finally been rewarded. Over the past two days we have gotten about 1/2 inch of slow, steady rain.  More is predicted for today.  What a blessing.

Did walkies yesterday before the rain.  Muskett and I are getting fat again.  I found a track about 100 yards down the cove road.

bear foot?

The coffee cup is 4 inch diameter for reference.  I believe it's a black bear print.  Pretty awesome.

I spent yesterday morning picking cherry tomatoes for my friendly neighborhood organic farmer.  Man were those rows long.  I would pick for a while then look up and the row was longer!  I guess it's just human nature to look ahead instead of focusing on the now.  I also am minded on how the slaves must have felt having to pick cotton or tobacco all day long.  At least I could quit if I wanted to.  I finished just as the rain started to fall.  In return, I got a watermelon and some more lovely, but not market quality, toms, which I will ripen and turn into something canned.

I started harvesting my soy as well.  The green ones will be frozen and the dried ones will be put in the pantry for making tofu, except the seeds for next year.  My new squash burned up so I am done with them for the year.  I harvested some dill seed and some cilantro seed for next year as well.  My volunteer toms are just starting to ripen.  I use these for sauce.  They are most like romas so are very sweet.  The okra is really kicking in.  I have to cut it every other day.  I think the beans are done, unless they refresh from the rain.  The cukes are steady.  I made cold cucumber soup yesterday.

And, lastly, AATC (all about the chickens)

bak bak

Thank You (NOT) Tennessee Williams

I don't have the cat but I most definitely have the hot tin roof.  And if I had a slip, I would most certainly go around in it, but not to the same effect as The Liz.

So I did a little research, cause I miss it and I can, and found out that all this drought, flooding, drought in the nation is caused by...... la nada.   NOTHING?  We all know about El nino, and La nina and the trouble they cause, but this year the pacific is neither too hot or too cold but just right.  Except there is no just right. Apparently, having normal (??) temperatures of the water in the Pacific causes the jet stream to go where it wants, ergo creating havoc with flooding in areas and drought in some areas, and tornados in many areas.  So it doesn't matter if the porridge is too hot or too cold or just right.  Goldilocks still gets eaten by the bears.

La Nada

Ain't science wonderful?

I check doppler everyday and it is always raining on the other side of the I 95 corridor, but nothing to the east.  Isolated thunderstorms are predicted here but it must be so isolated that they are raining over someone's head.

unfortunately, not me

*******************************

Finally, after about 2 hours of hearing thunder all around, we got some rain yesterday evening

About an eighth of an inch, but I'm not complaining.  It was nice just to hear the sound of rain.

Rain, Rain, Stay Stay Stay
And come again another day
To make my garden pay pay pay

And, remember, all about the chickens.

Here's the teens, or as I now call them, the buppies.

bak bak

A Wail of a Tale

My chicken count is now as follows:

9 hens
1 rooster
4 teens (at least one rooster and 1 hen, not sure about the other two)
and
2 baybays.

Yes, folks, the hen that went missing on the 9th turned up at dawn two weeks later in the back yard.  At first I thought that I had left one out all night, but I always count at least twice.  So I watched her and followed her back to a rogue nest that was VERY well hidden at the base of a tree in some bushes and brambles.  She had been out for TWO weeks with the foxes, owls, bobcats, yoders, bears and all and never got eaten.  Plus, she was sitting on 7 eggs.  Well, it was too far along to quit, but I couldn't leave her out anymore, so I stuck her eggs under another broody hen, emergency ordered ANOTHER brooder house/hutch (since my first is still inhabited by the teens) and waited.  The next day the hutch arrived and I tried to train her to this new nest.  She was having none of it and wouldn't sit on the eggs.  So, I stuck them under a third broody and tried to train the first surrogate.  She was willing but very peckish, so she got the eggs.

Well, I needed to check the progress.  One egg had a dead baybay, so I discarded that one, getting pecked the whole time.  Two days later she had a baybay.  I wanted to train it to the water so took it out, getting pecked the whole time, watered the baybay and went to put it back in and she pecked the baybay.   She was so out of there.  So I went to surrogate number two, which happens to be Minion.  She accepted the first baybay, hatched another and is now happily a mother to baybays she didn't work for, but cares for.  The rest of the eggs were duds so I buried them.

Now I have another broody hen in a rogue nest in the carport, but at least I know where it is and can drag her in at night.

What can I say.  Sit happens.

bak bak

It's All About the Chickens

So.

Here I am again.

It's been a while.

I'm not going to talk about the fact that we have had no rain and that Buddy can touch bottom all across the pond.

I'm not going to talk about how I am trying to keep my garden alive and how my corn didn't make and my potatoes didn't make and my tomatoes didn't make but my weeds made all over the place.

I am not going to talk about how Jim and I had our 28th anniversary and went to the blueberry festival and the Wilmington front street farmers market, had lunch at the local microbrewery and then spent 5 hours on the USS North Carolina.

not showing this picture of the USS North Carolina

I am not going to talk about the tomatoes and eggplant and cabbage I got from my friendly organic farmer and how I pick for him 4 hours every Friday Morning.

Not showing this picture of toms ripening

I am not going to talk about how my blueberry wine and strawberry wine are now in the aging process.

I'm not going to talk about how I have my dehydrator going 24/7 trying to dry all of the herbs that I have gotten from my garden.

I am not going to talk about how my asthma has been flaring due to the three huge fires burning around us and how there are days where the mornings are hazy with particulates.

I'm not going to talk about getting hippy again cause I can't walk in the heat and smoke and that depresses me so I eat too much.

I'm going to talk about

CHICKENS!!!

after all, that is what started the whole blog thing.

OOPS, I ran out of time.

Chickens tomorrow

(yeah, it's a cliff hanger...stay tooned)

OK, here is a teaser:

eating corn on the cob

bak bak