Kev's sick again. The demon in his tonsil is back. I decided to take measures against the unholy flesh with soup, heavily laden with garlic.
Kev's "Cast That Excrescence From Your Throat, Get Well Soon" Soup
4 cups chicken stock
8 large cloves of garlic
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 cup cup butternut squash
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
6 green onions
4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 T. butter
1/2 cup milk
Combine all ingredients into the pot, except for the butter and milk. Boil all the vegetables are done. Blend the soup until it's smooth. Add the butter and milk.
I actually used butternut squash from my stash in the freezer from Pioneer Woman's site. Pioneer Woman totally redid her site (AGAIN) and now it appears the previous links are dead. Drat it. Agh. And it looks like you can't just link to the one recipe. OH well. Here's the page you can find it on: Pioneer Woman's Butternut Squash Puree: Try It or I’ll Deck Ya.
I hope you feel better soon, Kev.
Until next time.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Kev's "Cast That Excrescence From Your Throat, Get Well Soon" Soup
Labels: recipes
Friday, March 28, 2008
Last Monday My Son Became a Man
It was bound to happen sooner or later. The introspective, insightful young man who seemed to "get it" turned into a real man.
The first thing that clued me in was he got lost and when I tried to tell him to pull over for a minute so I could look up where he was on Google Maps, he decided he'd just try the way he was going for a while.
I tried to tell him you can't go northbound on Union, because it runs east and west.
Ten minutes later he calls to tell me he thinks he's gone the wrong way.
He had to go because the light turned green. I'm sitting at work, chewing my nails, wondering where he's at and about 15 minutes he calls to tell me he's at my job with the paperwork I'd left at home.
Then he was on his way to church to be the Best Man for one of our brethen who was getting married. Small ceremony, attended by the Bride and Groom, Pastor Raw Justice and my son, the real man, Best Man.
The final thing that happened to prove to me he became a man that day, was this song he sang to the Bride and Groom.
My son, the next he-man rock star.
Until next time.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Baby Chicks
Labels: chickens
We went in on a shipment of baby chicks with a friend of mine and the chicks are due to arrive this coming week.
Dh decided to put some eggs into our incubator just about three weeks ago and has been turning the eggs faithfully each day.
I heard one cheeping yesterday, but dh didn't believe me until he turned the eggs again and found one is just starting to poke through its shell.
This morning the little guy still hasn't made much progress, and we will be leaving for church in an hour, so I won't be able to check in on him for a few more hours.
It's very important to let the little chick get out of the shell on his own. It's the way nature works. If the chick is not strong enough to get out of his own shell, he might not be healthy enough to make it in the big world.
I thought that I would post these pictures from 2005, when we hatched eggs one of the first times. Note the time on each photo so you can see how long it took for this one to break free from his egg.
Whew. It's hard work getting born!!
Until next time.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Fire Season is Coming
Labels: Self-Sufficiency, Things You Don't See In The City
We've had a lot of rain in our area and the desert is greening up nicely. The mountains in the distance look green, fields which were formerly brown dirt are green with desert grasses, weeds are springing up all over. Our neighbor who is vacationing (from Illinois) in their winter home said he was tempted to just let the weeds keep growing, they look so pretty and green. I told him he'd better rethink that and drag his property while the weeds are babies. We've lived here for six summers and when the preceding seasons bring lots of rain, we have a terrible fire season.
It's a big thing out here in the country, where most of us haul our water from the community well. Some people do have their own wells. Out in this area, you're looking at $20,000+ to dig a well that will have to go down at least 400 feet or more.
Since we don't technically have running water out here, we also don't have fire hydrants every few blocks. Actually, we have NO fire hydrants whatsoever.
The nearest fire fighting vehicle is 8 miles away and it belongs to a grain processing company. It sits there in the event that they has a fire. Its tank holds only 500 gallons. That's all our portable tank holds, but we have access to the community well, while they don't.
The next nearest fire engine is in the small city north of us. They are 15 miles away, but apparently they don't like to come out and help fight fires since that would leave their city in danger. There is a station on the Indian reservation about 15 miles away. The next closest station is to the east about 20 miles away.
On Sunday, on the way home from church, Kev received a phone call from one of our neighbors. The one for whom he hauls water, we call him "The Thirsty Wolf". The call went like this:
Thirsty Wolf: "Hey, uh, Kev, this is Alfredo, uh, could you bring some water? (his first language is Spanish and his accent is very heavy).
Kev: "Who is this?"
Thirsty Wolf: "This is Alfredo, you, uh, haul my water? I'm your neighbor?"
Kev: "Oh, hi, you need some water today?"
Thirsty Wolf: "Yeah, my house is on fire." (During the entire conversation he was very calm)
Kev: "WHAT?!"
Thirsty Wolf: "My house is on fire. I need some water, and so does another guy."
Kev: "YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE!?"
Thirsty Wolf: "Yeah."
Kev: "Okay, I'll be right over. We'll hammer out the details later."
The details meaning he wasn't sure what the Wolf meant by someone else needing water, too.
Since we weren't home, Kev called his dad who ran to the front door, looked out and saw the neighbor's roof bursting into flames only five acres away. He stopped making cheese and ran out to take our tank to the well and get water. That's what we do out here. When there's a fire, everyone gets their tank, goes to the well, fills up with water and heads for the smoke. Bring your shovels, too!! No telling what's on fire. Is it someone's house? A car? Barn? Just a field of desert grass traveling toward property that holds someone's home and life?
Kev and I were on our way home, we'd stopped to get gasoline when he received the call. We saw the smoke from miles away.
I felt relieved, seeing the smoke was white because that usually means they almost have the fire out.
Unfortunately, the first engine there ran out of water not too long after arriving. My dh arrived right when they ran out of water, but we didn't have any way to pump water into the fire fighting truck! They don't either! I couldn't believe that someone hasn't had the foresight to think since we don't have hydrants out here, but 80% of us have 500-1500 gallon portable water tanks, and we store our water in underground tanks of 1000 and bigger (ours is 2500), and in fact, Thirsty Wolf probably had 500-600 gallons in his own underground tank, that the fire trucks aren't equipped with pumps to move water from an outside source into their tanks!
So when we got there the fire was really moving all over the Wolf's house. Dh told us a guy had come by not too long ago that had a pump on his truck and was able to pump water into the fire engine. But the Indian reservation fire truck arrived and now the guys were being told to stop helping.
The fire fighters worked on fighting the fire for a couple more hours, and then I guess they just left. Now the fire fighters that we knew growing up (dh's uncle was a fire chief) would never have left a fire without making sure it was out. Especially not with the way the wind has been blowing!
At 9pm, Kev and I looked over toward the Wolf's house and it was still glowing with fire.
The next morning as I was leaving for work (I was late on Monday morning, usually it's pitch black when I leave) I saw a thin trail of smoke coming from the Wolf's house.
I went over to have a look, and it had burned to this point, and was still smoldering.
Later in the day, the smoldering embers finally ignited the rest of the place and it went up in flames again. Here's how it looks now.
On Sunday evening, dh started talking about getting a water pump, so we'll be better prepared for fire season.
On Monday night, when he saw that the house was STILL smoldering, he decided to fill up the tank and go over and dump some water on the embers, to see if he could have any effect on extinguishing them. With the wind blowing, there was still the chance that fire could ignite the weed filled properties to the east of the Wolf's and move to our property.
While at the well, he saw a sign with two water pumps for sale. He called the guy and went over to check them out after dumping the 500 gallons onto the smoldering embers.
Actually, they are small engines that hook up to go-carts and one had a water pump hooked up to it. Here's the 5HP engine, with the water pump hooked up.
If you look at the larger version of this next image, you can see how the water is just dribbling out by gravity feed.
Whoooo!! Here it is pump driven!!
Kev's trying to get the nozzle onto the hose while it's running. Doesn't he know the nozzle is too big to fit onto the hose? ;-)
And here he is all soaked.
So now we'll be much better prepared for fire season.
Until next time.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Natural Cures I Use
Over the years I've learned of some things to do that help my body cope. Just simple things, and they are hard to remember sometimes, but if I can, I am always helped.
My cure: First, stop rubbing my eyes. Next, wash my hands with soap and water, and then rinse my face and eyes with water. Dry with a clean towel. If you can't get to a sink to do this, stop rubbing your eyes and use eye drops to irrigate the eyes and dab with a tissue.
I think what happens is pollen or bacteria gets on my eyelids and around the rims of my eyes and gets into my eyes, causing them to water. My hands and fingers are probably also pollen and germ-laden when I start rubbing. So cleaning face and hands seems to help tremendously.
My cure: I learned my cure back in, oh it must have been about 1995 or so, around the time I first got onto the Internet. I was getting a sore throat. I was in email correspondence with a woman who suggested that I gargle with strong salt water at the first sign of a sore throat. 1 cup of warm water, 1 teaspoon salt. Gargle several times. She told me if the salt water was strong enough, it could kill off strep germs.
I began immediately, and I have been able to stave off the severe infections I had as a young woman. I have had one incident where one tonsil was infected, swollen with white patches, but it happened because I swallowed a piece of pork that was not properly chewed, which had a jagged edge and scratched my tonsil going down. Since using the gargle, I have not experienced infected tonsils.
My mother-in-law has persuaded me to add a new twist to my salt water gargle. She says to add in just a pinch of cayenne pepper, and just the other day, she also suggested some apple cider vinegar. She says to use a straw to suck up the salted cayenne water so that the cayenne doesn't touch your lips. I didn't think I needed to use the straw because I'm not afraid of cayenne pepper, but what ends up happening is apparently the cayenne dust is swirling around in the cup, and when I'd try to draw in a sip of water to gargle, I would get cayenne in my lungs and it would cause me to cough right away. I tried and tried not to breath at the same time, but it kept happening, so finally I succumbed to using the straw and it works very nicely. The apple cider vinegar adds a new twist, I think I might be adding too much as it is pretty sour. I am adding about one teaspoon, so I should try adding less (1/2 teaspoon works perfectly).
What usually ends up happening is the cayenne actually gets down into my Eustachian tubes, I can feel it burning momentarily. My nose starts to run, which I think is a great side effect as I feel I'm moving out toxins.
I always feel much better after gargling with salted cayenne water. If I wake up in the middle of the night and I'm sick, I'll go into the kitchen and make up a cup for myself, as it really helps to clear me out so I can sleep more peacefully.
Oh, and you can also sip tiny amounts of the salted cayenne water. Cayenne heats everything up and helps healing to take place.
My cure: One of the books I had at the time about natural healing (still own it in fact) said L-Lysine was needed. Gradually I learned over the years to be in tune with what it felt like for a cold sore to come on. I missed the signs a few times, and suffered with a crusty, oozing, painful embarrassing scabby sore on my lip that took days to heal. I learned to be aware of the tingling feeling of a bit of a swollen lump on my lip. If I took the L-Lysine in time, the tingling went away and never manifested into a cold sore. If I didn't notice it, or decided not to bother with it, I would have a cold sore shortly. Sometimes I'd catch it a little bit late, and would only get a small sore. Other times I'd get a really bad one. They are VERY painful. What happens is the nerve ganglia are involved; nerves are very sensitive around the mouth.
Carrots/Vitamin A: My mom swears by fresh steamed carrots dabbed with real butter. She says the vitamin A in the carrots will help a person get over a cold sooner. I love steamed carrots, so I will usually have some when I'm sick. Personally, I think a better source of Vitamin A is cod liver oil. Our favorite is Green Pasture's Blue Ice. If you can imagine, the cinnamint actually tastes delicious!
Garlic: Nothing like fresh garlic to aid one's immune system. I will make egg noodles with butter and squeeze in a whole clove of garlic (not a head, silly!), or I'll have garlic bread.
My cure: Tea tree oil. You can get a two ounce bottle of it from Walmart for around five dollars. As soon as possible after getting bit, or having an itchy spot crop up, I'll rub on some tea tree oil. I think the way it works is it numbs the skin down through a few layers. It stops the itching immediately. One of my coworkers had an itchy spot on his leg and he kept scratching it again and again. Finally I offered some tea tree oil and after applying it, and seeing how well it worked, he was very grateful. I could see he was about to do just what I do, and scratch the skin right off the area. I think what must be happening is when we scratch and scratch, it numbs the skin for a while, then as it gradually begins to feel again, we start feeling the itchiness.
Did you ever have a sore that was healing and itchy? Use tea tree oil for those, too.
That's all I can think of for now.
Until next time.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Mocha's Surprise
Labels: goats
I hand breed my does - well, that's what it's called, okay? What that means is I watch to see when each doe goes into heat and then I take the doe over to visit with the buck. I wait while he covers her, then I take her back to the doe pen.
I took Mocha over to visit with our Nubian buck on the 15th of October. Just a few days prior to our wedding.
I wrote down on my barn records that I'd bred her to the Nubian buck and when I counted 150 days I knew her due date was Wednesday the 12th.
I came home from work last Monday the 11th and having received some particularly disturbing mail, went straight inside.
I stayed inside for a while, then went out to look for Kev, who I thought had gone out the back door. As it turns out, he had gone out the front door. But I went out the back door and glanced over at the maternity ward. I could see Starburst and her kids, but I couldn't see Mocha. I thought she'd looked like she was in early labor when I left for work - basically what happened was I was driving past the maternity ward in the dark and in the headlights I could see that her tail was held high and her rump was curved. Classic positioning for impending birth, but it could also have been that she had just stood up and was stretching. I mentioned to dh that she looked "interesting" that morning.
So while I was standing there on the porch, I heard kids crying. Newborn baby kids. I walked over to the maternity ward barn to see what was going on, and there was Mocha with her two newborn kids, all dried off and nursing. She hadn't passed her placenta yet, so they probably hadn't been born too much earlier.
I checked them immediately to see if they were bucklings or doelings, and was pleased that they were both bucklings. We don't need any more girl goats to have to figure out what to do with. "Can't keep them all" - as you know is my motto.
I also noticed, while checking bottoms, that the one looked a bit odd, and had *waddles*.
Hmmm... that was weird. I thought to myself, I certainly would have *remembered* if I'd chosen to breed Mocha to our Nigerian Dwarf buck. But our Nubian buck is new, so I thought maybe, just maybe he had waddles in his background.
I brought some molasses water out for Mocha and dipped the baby's navels with iodine.
I kept thinking, her kids sure were *tiny* for being full term Nubians. And that one sure did have funny airplane-looking, puppy dog ears.
Finally I tracked down my barn records for October and discovered that the day after I bred Mocha to the Nubian buck, both bucks had managed to break into the doe pen. We've used our Nigerian Dwarf buck in the past, but he is so short he has an extremely difficult time "reaching" if you know what I mean. We actually bred him to Mocha's mother several years ago, and she got pregnant, but was head butted in the side about three weeks prior to delivery and miscarried all three of the kids she was carrying. It was very difficult for him to reach the full sized Nubian doe, he ended up having to stand on the 4x4 leg of a table that was turned on its side, balancing himself on one back foot and hopping up and down trying to reach.
Until next time.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
It's Time To Nurse, Children...
Labels: goats
I've mused before about how the momma goat trains her babies to only nurse when she gives them the signal, whatever that signal might be. Tonight I managed to catch them running over to nurse in photos. In the first photo you see the babies wandering around, and momma looking to the side. I've put the time into each photo, including the seconds.
Kids still wandering around, momma still looking to the side.
Momma looking the other direction, but notice how both kids have turned their attention to her.
She said or did something to attract their attention, and see how fast they dive underneath to latch on.
Momma sniffs each bottom to make sure the babies nursing are her own.
You can't see it very well in this next photo, but she's hawked up a cud and is chewing it. They usually hawk up a cud and chew while the kids nurse.
Starburst and Mocha still see something very interesting to the side of their pen.
They've been nursing about 22 seconds. I wish I'd though to take a photo when they stopped nursing so we could see exactly how many seconds she let them nurse. I seriously doubt it's ever over one minute.
Until next time.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Tough Times
Labels: Busy Times, Sick
It's been over a week since my last post; I thought Blogger forgot about me when I tried to log in this morning and got the above screenshot instead.
But no, it turns out I just mistyped my password.
I'm not doing so good. I seem to be in a funk, and can't seem to find my way out of it. It's busy, as usual, and my job is even more stressful than normal. Everyone here is sick with some throat thing and I always panic when ds1 gets sick because his Down Syndrome prevents him from thinking rationally about his asthma. He thinks I'm being mean when I make him do more than one breathing treatment a day. He doesn't realize if he just bears with the discomfort of not being able to breathe properly it could lead to him needing to be hospitalized. I've been using my rescue inhaler 3 or more times a day, so I know he needs to be doing his breathing treatments.
I'm convinced my biggest problem is hypothyroidism, which has yet to be confirmed by the medical establishment. But my very low basal (waking) temperatures are a strong indication that my thyroid is low functioning. We're talking as low as 96.3°F. Temps under 97.5°F all but 5-10 days out of each month. I don't feel like I have the energy it takes to find a doctor who will take me seriously, and make the call for the appointment.
It is very common to go in to your primary care physician who sends you to the lab to have your blood drawn, and then your results come back normal. This happened to me. My doctor at the time suggested medication for depression. Okay, I'm experiencing some depression. Hello? Do you realize depression is a symptom of hypothyroidism, doc? Typical reaction from a doctor.
The Barnes Basal Temperature System
Thyroid Disease Information with your About.com host Mary Shomon
Better Body Care - Low Thyroid
What Your Basal Temps Reveal About Your Thyroid by Marilyn Shannon
Doctor's Nutrition
Mayo Clinic: Hypothyroidism Signs and Symptoms
Here are some symptoms of hypothyroidism. I certainly don't have all of them, but I can count more than twenty symptoms that I experience regularly, if not daily.
- muscles stiff in morning, need to limber up
- fail to feel rested, even after sleeping long hours
- feel "creaky" after sitting still for some time
- heart seems to miss beats or "flip-flops"
- nauseated in morning
- start slow in morning, gain speed in afternoon
- motion sickness when traveling
- dizzy in morning or when moving up and down
- cold hands or feet
- hair scanty, dry, brittle, dull, lusterless, lifeless
- hair loss from outer third of eyebrow
- flaky, dry, rough skin
- sleeplessness, restlessness, sleep disturbances
- poor short term memory, forgetfulness
- impaired cognitive function (brain fog)
- poor response to exercising
- hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
- high cholesterol, cholesterol deposits on eyelids
- constipation, less than one bowel movement daily
- "go to pieces" easily, cry easily
- dislike working under pressure, dislike being watched
- low libido
- gain weight easily, fail to lose on diets
- difficulty concentrating, easily distracted
- yellowish tint to skin on hands or feet
- cracks in bottom of heels
- clogged sinuses
- low pulse rate
- low body temperature, especially at bed rest
- recurrent infections
- headaches
- puffiness of face or eyes
- swelling of hands or ankles
- irritability, mood swings
- multiple food allergies/sensitivities
- lumpy breasts, cystic breasts
- menstrual irregularity, excess flow, PMS
- these worse at night: coughing, hoarseness, muscle cramps
- slowed speech and a hoarse, breaking voice (Deepening of the voice can also be noticed)
- hives
- increased sensitivity to heat and cold
- sluggish reflexes
- dry puffy skin, especially on the face, and hair loss, especially thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows
- depression (especially in the elderly)
- anemia caused by impaired intestinal iron and folate absorption or B12 deficiency from pernicious anemia
- slowed metabolism
- fatigue
- anxiety/panic attacks
- Choking sensation or difficulty swallowing
- shortness of breath with a shallow and slow respiratory pattern.
- muscle cramps and joint pain
- brittle fingernails
- osteoporosis
- paleness
- irritability
- yellowing of the skin due to impaired conversion of beta-carotene to vitamin A
- abnormal menstrual cycles
- impaired kidney function
- thin, fragile or absent cuticles
- infertility or difficulty becoming pregnant
- elevated serum cholesterol
- acute psychosis
- poor muscle tone
Until next time.
Monday, March 03, 2008
My Accidental Blood Sister
Labels: goats
On Saturday Kev helped me with hoof trims for the goats. It has been a long time and it takes longer when we wait for months, rather than weeks. I usually note on my blog when that gets done, let's see if I can find when we did them last... ugh, it looks like November 15th. Kev did them for me. So three and a half months. Too long.
I bought more collars, so we could put some on the wethers so they will be easier to catch. We did hoof trims on everyone, except the Nigerian Dwarf buck who never needs hoof trims and his son who inherited his type of hoof.
We have twenty goats now, by the way. Once Mocha kids, well I'm going to say she will have two kids, so then we'll have twenty-two goats.
Kev also helped me by holding heads secure while I did blood draws on two does. Starburst was one - we usually test them for CAE before their kids are born, because the virus passes through the colostrum and milk. We have never had a goat test positive for CAE yet, and we have a closed herd. But I like to have proof, in case we ever want to sell a goat.
Many goat breeders would never consider allowing the kids to be raised by the dams, even if their herd is closed and all have tested negative for CAE. They fear that CAE can crop up anywhere, anytime. If you are constantly buying and selling goats, there is that risk, but when your herd is closed, it's less likely. CAE doesn't just materialize out of the thin air. Although some say it is a disease that can mask itself; for years and years your herd is clean and then suddenly you've got CAE. In other countries, it is claimed that the doe's body suppresses CAE during pregnancy, and most people test in the months prior to kidding, while the doe is pregnant. So it's really hard to know what is the right thing to do.
I belonged to La Leche League for many years, and have strong feelings about nursing and breastfeeding, and I believe baby goats should be raised by their mamas.
So on with the blood draw... I shave the neck area with our hair clippers, clean with a wipe and then clean the area with alcohol. Next hold my hand to the neck area so the large vein there fills with blood. Jab and pull back on the syringe. I actually got both does done without having a nervous breakdown. It is a very stressful procedure for me, as I am not very good at it.
After I finished with Starburst I had the lid to the syringe in the side of my mouth. I was holding the vial of blood in my left hand and I placed the lid onto the syringe while holding the needle in my right hand. Then I raised up my right thumb and clamped firmly down on... the tip of the needle! OW! That hurt and not to mention I had just drawn blood from a goat, so I hope she doesn't have any communicable diseases because I just exposed myself to them. I really don't think that's possible. I hope I'm not wrong about that.
So now I'm blood sisters with a goat.
Until next time.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
The Night the Lights Went Out
Today is Snack Sunday for us. We provided snacks about three weeks ago, and took pictures, but I never got a post made. Yesterday Kev made Pioneer Woman's Chex Party Mix, Pioneer Woman's The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. and I made goat cheese.
We've been getting more milk lately, and it's not just because of the new baby goats, because we aren't even taking that mama's milk for two-leg consumption. Since the days are warmer, and daylight is increasing, the milk supply starts going back up. Plus, when I get extra tired, I don't tend to the milk as diligently as I should - meaning it sits in the fridge sometimes for so many days that we run out of milk jars. Not fun. When you milk, you want clean, air-dried milk jars to filter the day's milk into, you don't want to have to spend time cleaning jars. Okay, and "so many days" is 3 or 4 days worth of milk. Usually I'm on the ball, bagging and freezing yesterday's half gallon within 24 hours. I was surprised to find a jar from the 18th and I'm REAL picky about milk that's gone goaty-tasting and this jar tasted sweet and delicious. So into the pot it went.
Several days old milk is PERFECT for making cheese. And making cheese uses up a lot of milk at one time. And the whey is nutritious and can be fed to the chickens, who love it. No waste!
I made vinegar cheese. It is a soft, bland, white cheese which is best for crumbling onto salads, or eating with crackers. It doesn't melt.
I heated two gallons of milk slowly in a big pot, stirring constantly so it wouldn't scorch. I had to let the temperature rise to 185°F. It took over 30 minutes of constant stirring! After it reaches the correct temperature, I turned off the heat and slowly mixed in 1 cup of apple cider vinegar. The milk began to coagulate and curds started forming and floating to the top. I used the spider (a wide strainer) to skim off the curds and moved them into a strainer sitting over a big glass bowl.
I got the garlic and jalapeño made. Next I started mixing the kosher salt into the plain.
And then the lights went out. Complete darkness.
Now when the lights go out, people know they can't cook because there's no power to the microwave or range top. Unless they have a gas stove, then they're okay. And you can't watch television, or play on the computer. But you could wash your hands, or take a shower. That's all taken for granted.
But when you live in the country and you haul your own water, our family has learned that you don't turn on the water. If you do, you run the risk of emptying your water lines and then you'd have to prime everything. See, we haul our own water and bring it home to our underground tank. We have a pump that sucks the water from the underground tank into our pipes, pressurizing our water lines.
Don't flush the toilet, don't wash your hands, don't get a drink of water. Luckily we always bring our well water with us for drinking wherever we go, so we always have containers of water around.
So dh fumbled around in the dark to where he faithfully keeps the flashlights, and I found a candle. I finished up the plain cheese, and then made the basil and onion.
Kev got his geetar, oh wait, that's guitar, to entertain the family with his strumming. Soon Pa was singing a song about going to get water.
See that's what newbies do in our neighborhood. We live so close to the well we can see it from our porch, and when the electricity goes out, trucks with water tanks start coming to the well.
Apparently people are sitting around, bored out of their minds, and they start wondering what they could do, "Oh, I know, let's go get a load of water. That'll be something to do."
Because when you live in the city, water always works when the electricity goes out. But not in the country. The well also runs on electricity.
So truck after truck comes by the well, and they unlock the box, and put in their key and then they realize, no electricity, no water. Quite a few of them peel out in disgust and embarrassment.
So Pa was singing a rambling off-key song about getting water, "Let's take a shower, flush the toilet, go ahead wife, take a long bath by candlelight while we're out getting a load of water, see ya later, honey, oh no, the well doesn't work, we're total newbies, oh husband I couldn't take a bath, the water doesn't work, something's wrong, maybe the pump is broken, let's go to Home Depot and get a new one."
It wasn't storming out, and I'd called the electricity company already. They didn't know what was going on, but said they were getting a lot of calls. Our electric company shares the wires with a local company, so it can take them some time to figure out whose job it is to fix whatever is wrong. The representative pointed that out, and said it would be at least one hour.
It was stuffy in the house, so we went outside. While out there, we came up with a new home renovation, we're going to remove all the insulation from within the walls. We have never run the heater since we've lived here, and it was so nice outside, chilly almost. And it was hot and stuffy inside.
We stayed outside for a while, the stars were so bright. Kev counted them and said there were 215.
Actually it's so dark out here, we can see the Milky Way and millions upon millions of stars. That was one of the best things about moving out of the city, where you're lucky if you can see 215 stars in the dead of night.
Finally I started getting cold, so I got a flannel out of the car. It was close to 10pm and dh said he was going inside. Ds1 was relieved, as he had been standing on the porch the entire time as he doesn't like the dark.
We'd been inside for less than a minute, when the lights dimly came on. I've never seen anything like that in all my forty-four years. It was like they were working at half power. Even the fridge lights were dim. Dh said it's because they only had one "leg" hooked up at that point. Soon the lights blared up to full brightness, we turned them out and we all went to bed. I was so happy because I can't sleep without my fan blowing on me when it's so warm in the house. We're trying really hard to lower our electricity bill. It gets really high when you run the air conditioner all winter long. Not to mention it's hard on the unit to try to make cold air to cool down the house when it's sitting out in the freezing cold.
Home renovation, here we come!
Until next time.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Miss Z's Udder Shots
Labels: goats
This is Miss Z's udder from 2006, at one month into her first freshening.
Last night I separated Miss Z and her doeling, Wild Thang. I plan to begin harvesting the nighttime milk, instead of letting the doeling have it. Many people wean baby goats at 8 weeks of age. But we like to leave the doelings on the dam until 6 months of age, which is about when the dam would wean the kid herself. One of my favorite goat mentors offers this advice, "It's really important for the doe kids to lay down plenty of calcium in their skeletons if they are to produce well into their teens, which is what I expect of my goats."
As you can see, her udder is uniform on both sides. Now as you will see with her current udder, in the photo below, the right side is larger. That was her buckling kid's side. Bucklings are normally bigger than the doelings and so they would almost certainly use up more milk than a doeling would. I would say that is the reason her udder is bigger on the buckling's side.
I took all of her milk this morning, as she will continue to produce more for her doeling throughout the day. She gave me 4.1 pounds.
Until next time.
Planting List - March
Labels: Gardening
New blogger idea. Posting the things that can be planted at this time of year in the desert of Arizona. Actually my schedule will be slightly different than folks who live 50 miles north of us, in the big city.
March 1st (T=Transplant)
- Artichokes, Globe T
- Artichokes, Jerusalem T
- Beets
- Carrots
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant T
- Melons, Cantaloupe
- Melons, Muskmelon
- Melons, Watermelon
- Onions, Green
- Peppers T
- Pumpkin
- Radishes
- Squash, Summer
- Squash, Winter
- Sunflower
- Tomatoes T
- Artichokes, Globe T
- Artichokes, Jerusalem T
- Beans, Lima
- Beans, Snap
- Carrots
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant T
- Melons, Cantaloupe
- Melons, Muskmelon
- Melons, Watermelon
- Okra
- Onions, Green
- Peppers T
- Pumpkin
- Radishes
- Squash, Summer
- Squash, Winter
- Sunflower
- Tomatoes T
Here are some of my garden photos from 2005.
Until next time.
