Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Campouts, Honey Oatmeal Bread, Life on the Prairie
Busy couple of days…Lots of activity with plumbers and backhoes and noise…oh MY! lol Today was a little better, but I am still tired.
Visited a friend this morning who has had cervical disk surgery…you know–that yucky one where they slit your throat to fix the vertebrae ? Well, if that’s not bad enough… now they GLUE the incision shut instead of stitching it (less of a scar, or something). It’s pretty gross looking, a week out. But she says it feels better already, and all the pressure and pain is gone. So…I guess there you have it. It hurt me just looking at it. lol
Gloomy and overcast all day here. Those kinds of days where the color of the sky is depressing and the air hangs thick with humidity that won’t quite fall out of the sky. As a result, I have been sleepy all day. I was on the road by 8AM…and got home around noon. I read a while, warmed up leftovers for lunch, and dozed off in my chair. Later I made buttermilk waffles for supper and we attended a speaker at the birthday of one of our friends. It was a good evening, all the way around. The only reason I’m still up is that I forgot to stop and buy bread, so decided I would get out the bread machine and make some bread tonight. It should be getting close to done…I started it round 10. Oops, wrong again. Just checked it and still has an hour and 29 minutes to go….sheesh….I made a honey oatmeal bread with flaxseed in it…hope it turns out good. Part whole wheat, part white flour. Yumm….
Got a letter from the water company today, saying that everything is a go. So Monday, after the plumbers come, we will have running water (assuming there are no unforeseen catastrophies). I cannot wait.
Tomorrow we are going to spend the day up at a camp site at Pere Marquette Park, where there is an AA campout. On Saturdays they have a biog bbq and a speaker meeting later on. It’s always fun and this year will be no different. In the morning I have to throw some kind of dish together to take up there. Food, fun and fellowship. Yeehaw.
I have been reading some absolutely delightful blogs lately. One in particular that feels like it’s being written by my twin. lol What fun!!
Out of here for the night, and maybe for tomorrow too…we’ll see.
Namaste.
It’s Change the World Wednesday again!!! Yippeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This weeks challenge is about putting your computer to sleep when you’re not using it. I almost always leave my computer off when I’m not on it…(Which really isn’t that often, lol). Going to hibernate or standby is another way to reduce the energy consumption of this little gobbler. I have a screen saver that reads One Day At A Time, and floats around as it sits. Buut I turn the bad boy off if I’m going to be away from it for any time at all.
I’ve also started unplugging every appliance that doesn’t need to be running (fridge,water heater) and leaving things unplugged. I was shocked to find out that even when not in use, things like microwaves, coffeemakers, etc. still pull energy from your electrical system all the time. Less than when they’re in use, but still. I have gotten pretty good at this…cell phone chargers, hair dryers, fans…all of them. I have my computer on a power strip. I turn it off too. I’m not sure if that helps, but it must. Anybody know for sure?
As a result of being conscious of these things, my power bill has gone down about 40 dollars a month. I belong to a rural cooperative, and our bills are kind of high anyway. I do have aquariums that run constantly, and I’ll bet if I hooked them up to the Kill-a-Watt machine, I’d faint. lol
That’s another thing–do you know about these?? It’s a little gizmo that you plug appliances and things into, and it plugs into the wall. It measures how much power any particular thing is using…it can be a real eye-opener. I trhink you can get them at Lowe’s for about 35 bucks. The one I used briefly was loaned to me by a friend. Maybe you could buy one and then let other folks in your circle try it out. Lots of people don’t care so much about the environment…but almost ALL of them care about their sky-high electric bills. Any port in a storm, I always say. If you have to hit ‘em in their wallets to make people change the way they use resources, then anything’s fair game. lol
All the little things, done with great love….this is what any of us can do.
When we have a love for the Mother Earth, we do whatever we can to nurture her. It’s not rocket science…
Gotta go wash my reusable water bottle now. And put my reusable cloth bags back in the car from my shopping yesterday.
It’s ALL good….
Namaste.
Oh. My. God. Will you take a look at this!!!
It’s my front yard. All dug up (and they missed the red maple AND the wisteria!!)
I am ecstatic. The guys doing all this have been so nice and considerate, and asking questions all along the way, will this be alright? do you want us to do this? … I’m watching out the office window right now, as Eric (of course we’re on a first name basis! lol) replaces the dirt he dug out with the backhoe, using one of the little front loaders that he pirouettes around like a a metallic ballerina. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. When I was a little girl, I told my dad I wanted to be a heavy equipment operator. He laughed and patted my head, saying Oh, honey….little girls don’t operate heavy equipment…. Unfortunately, back in 1959, they didn’t. lol At 6 years old, I was learning some pretty hard lessons.
I have to make juice today. I have to fix hummingbird nectar.
[The guys just told me that they will actually come back and clean up the yard and re-sow any grass seed that needs replacing! Wow.]
I know this must sound silly, to be so giddy over this process. But if you have never lived without running water, you have no idea. Most of us, especially in this country, haven’t had to experience it. And it isn’t life and death, but it sure can make life a lot more difficult than it needs to be. And as we all think, life is hard enough, sometimes.
I have just finished chatting with my dear friend who is out of the country at the moment. She’s pissed because she can’t get Cool Whip. Cool Whip. LOL…..I find that to be hysterical. I told her it was shit anyway–whip some cream.
The sun is shining and it is an extremely moderate 77 degrees today. I swept down all the front porch and some of the garage…removing more traces of Fred the Dog. man, that guy was shedding!! Bucketloads of old blond and grey hair, everywhere. Felt good to tidy up out there. Had a moment (only a moment) of melancholy at his being gone. He’s safe and in a good place and for that I am extremely grateful.
I’m gonna do a little dusting today as well as the regular daily stuff. The juice , the hummers food, and then figure out what to fix for vegetarian night supper. I have some quinoa in the pantry…maybe a stir-fry kind of thing, with quinoa instead of rice. Mmmm…that does sound good.
Grateful to be here today. Grateful that I have my life and not wanting somebody else’s life today.
Namaste.
It’s unseasonably cool the past few days. Whoever heard of August in the midwest having nighttime temperatures of middle 50’s? No one, that’s who. lol Yesterday never hit 75, I don’t think. It was gorgeous. Sunny and clear days, brilliantly blue skies that you only see here in the midwest, (or maybe not, lol) stretching into the horizon forever. Gigantic white fluffy clouds. Ahhh….God’s country.
I printed out some recipes for some green cleaning compounds yesterday, that use vinegar and baking soda and hydrogen peroxide mostly. I’m going to make them and try them and see what I think. Although I have to tell you,. last night I used baking soda to clean my iced tea pitcher and was heard to mutter that splashing bleach in there is a LOT less work! lol It has a white lid and it gets so stained….The one I am really anxious to try is the laundry detergent. It costs about 8 dollars to make and washes a thousand loads. And is all natural ingredients. SO…I am going to buy the stuff today and try to make it. I’ll let you know…
I have used baking soda as a cleanser for years. I have seen it take out stains from old bathtubs that nothing else would remove. I always use it for brushing my teeth too. I also pour it down drains, to sweeten them. Somebody (my grandmother??) told me about that a long time ago. When you conserve water, you tend to not flush as often or pour copious amounts of water down your drains. SO, from time to time, you need to freshen them up a little. Baking soda is the bomb, dudes!
I’m a little melancholy, watching the gardens start to fade. I’m still picking okra and tomatoes and very few beans. I have been very disappointed by the garden this year. We have eaten quite a bit out of it, but have done no canning. Of course, that’s partly the water situation, but there really hasn’t been enough of hardly anything fit to can. It looked so good in the beginning…it breaks my heart. There is a good amount of squash out there, finishing its growing and curing. And lots of potatoes, which I need to start digging. The volunteer pumpkins are looking good too. But it doesn’t make for a harvest that will get us through the winter. Some tomatoes…the lack of rainfall took care of that. Someone has been eating cantaloupe…I think must be a deer, because it looks like one big bit that takes off the top of the almost ready fruit. I hope they are loving the sweet nectar running down their chins. (I suppose deer have chins??? hmmm…)
As for me, I shall saunter off into this fine morning. Say some prayers and do some dancing out among the withering cornstalks. I have already been out to sing to the chickens and get my feet good and wet in the heavy dew.
And again, turning my eyes toward the heavens, I shall be grateful for the Island of Nibbana.
Namaste.
A busy Saturday here…on the run from about 9AM until 9 PM. I really should be getting to bed, and getting some sleep as tomorrow is another busy day. Spent over an hour IM’ing with my friend who is in Puerto Rico for 2 and a half months. Missing her alot…and it was good chatting.
Spent a good part of the morning travelling up the river road to a big flea market today. Stopped and picked up a friend and we had a good time. Then went back to her house, in the little historic village of Elsah (google it–adorable ! ) and waited for the menfolk to show up. Had a dinner of chili and then fresh white peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert. All I got at the flea market was a nice blue and green tablecloth for 2 dollars. And I met some women who had a booth selling these neat necklaces. I stopped and chatted them up a bit. Found out they were both school teachers and these neat necklaces were an art project they often used in their classes. They make the beads from rolled up pieces of magazine pages of all colors. You cut them, into a long triangle shaped piece and then roll the strip onto a bamboo skewer. After about the first third of it is rolled, you start gluing it down and complete each piece. They’re really beautiful… I’m going to make some and then I’ll photograph them, and show you. What a wonderful way to recycle magazines!!!! Then they string them and separate them with pearls or little silver beads, or anything you want. I’m thinking that you could take apart old pieces of jewelery and use whatever you had. It was really neat…
Got the word that next week the water company will begin putting the water lines up to the houses !!!!!!! OMG! There may soon be water flowing from our faucets!
Okay…life is good and water is on its way, how cool is that?
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Little things mean a lot, Save the earth, Wonderful Wednesdays
As usual, lol, I’m a day late and a dollar short. I wanted to post the Change the World Wednesday challenge from Reduce Footprints about shrinking your garbage and here it is Thursday. But I will get better about this–I promise!! Maybe. lol
Every Wednesday, they post a challenge to make the world a better place. This blog is full of wonderful stuff to help us care for and nurture Mother Earth. I’ve just been reading…and well, you know how it goes….first I checked out one blog and then another and then it lead to yet another…and now it’s about 2 hours later and I’m finally here to post in my own blog. lol But it was an exciting adventure this morning and I found all kinds of stuff to bookmark. I also found a recipe for making laundry soap that I’m going to try. About 8 dollars for a thousand loads of laundry!!!!
So…in order to shrink my garbage (that goes into landfills) I have several tricks, not the least of which is this great barrel composter. I also have 3 compost bins that sit alongside the far edge of that greenhouse. They are built from salvaged pallets from a local lumber yard that would put them out on the curb for people to take. Any and everything that is food related and some paper too, goes into the compost. I keep a small lidded bucket next to my sink in the kitchen and throw everything in there. I empty it as often as necessary and scrub it out good between fillings. Anything the chickens can eat, they get first. And then their manure and straw from the coop all goes into a compost bin too. So really, nothing is wasted…they just speed the process. lol.
The other thing I do is recycle everything that is possibly recyclable. One way or another. I can find it a new home, maybe. Or I can reuse it, making it into something else. Or I can take it to the local recycling center.
As a result of these 2 simple things, I barely have one 13 gallon garbage bag a week. And it’s mostly bags of smelly used cat litter! lol I haven’t figured out yet if I can do something else with that, since I use the scented scoopable stuff. Any ideas?? I’d be glad to hear them!! There are approximately 10 cats here at any given time…(I know, I know….) and it seems necessary to me to use the stuff I use. I’m open to suggestions though…
I live out in the country, so I can burn some paper, but not much of it winds up there. I don’t like the idea of the emissions, so…I also try to buy things in bulk, which saves on excess packaging. I use reuseable shopping bags ALMOST every time I shop. I use a few more plastic food bags (Ziplock) than I care to, but I also use a lot of reuseable plastic containers with lids.
All these little things add up to some big things.
Check out Brighter Planet.com You might be surprised.
Namaste.
I really miss Fred the Dog. Crazy, eh? He was only here for about 3-4 weeks… and I REALLY missed him last night, when apparently while the rest of us were sleeping snugly in our beds, something (Deer?? Racoon??Possum??) went into the garden and ate the side out of the cantaloupe I’ve been watching that was almost ripe!!!!! Big bites. They would never have gotten away with that if Fred the Dog was still here…
Tonight we have the potluck for the last class of the Sustainable choices session. It will be fun, we are having it at the ballet teachers house, in a yard full of trees loaded and draped in twinkle lights. It’s always great food, always mostly vegetarian, and V- is making homemade ice cream too. Can’t wait.
This morning I could hear the sounds opf big machinery moving yet more dirt. Yippee!! Hope they finish soon. I’m going to my sisters to take a real shower in a bit and take her to get her hair cut. She has very long hair and it’s really thick and beautiful. She’s sick to death of it and it’s hot and she wants a change. So…I’ll be her partner in crime. Her hair is long enough that she is donating it to Locks of Love. It has to be at least 10 inches, I think.
Did a few housey things, like make beds and vacuum and feed critters. Talked with a few women, and picked green beans. That’s what I’m taking to the potluck…green beans with garlic and black pepper and sea salt, all flash cooked in olive oil.
I’m tired. Feel like I could sleep for 3 days…
Life is good, and the Prairie is moving into the countdown to fall. I’m ready for winter….I need the rest. lol
Namaste.
A noonday display of lightning and thunder, followed by massive rainstorms. Flooded some parts of the area, beat the hell out of the rest. There are limbs and branches down everywhere…it looked like a monsoon out there!
Had the grandson this weekend. He’s a delight, and when we went to the bbq on Sunday, he shot bows and arrows and was quite good for a first timer. He really liked doing it…but this morning when he woke up, his arms were very sore. lol He also played with the 2 little girls there, both of whom are the same age as his only cousin. We had a good time, good food and great fellowship.
I unplugged everything all day while the storms were going on. They seem to have died down for the most part, I don’t think it’s even sprinkling out there now. Ever since I turned the computer back on, it’s been a little goofy. And I hope it’s only the satellite signal out of whack a bit. It rained and stormed last night too, and the power went out while we were gone. We didn’t even get home until almost 10 PM.
My son came today to get the young Prince at about 1 o’clock and stayed til almost 3:30. We had a great time chatting while YP watched the last part of the Harry Potter movie we were watching. He brought a couple of big glass panels that are for building a solar panel…not sure if that will ever happen, but it was material he salvaged form a work site. Said they were getting ready to throw it in the dumpster and smash it, when he offered to take it off their hands. Apparently he got about n6 of the big pieces, which he says are worth about $300.oo apiece ! I told him about the homesteading magazines we get and how there are people who build entire houses out of salvaged materials, and then showed him an article I had bookmarked for him about solar stuff. He was pretty interested in the magazines. Anyway, it was nice, all the way around.
After they left, I realized I had only about 2 gallons of water left, and figuired I’d better load the crates up and go to the springs. While I was there, it started clouding up and getting really dark. By the time I was headed down Detour Road, it looked like 9 o’clock at night out there. I got home just in time to dash in between baseball sized raindrops. Got a little wet, but not much. I left the water in the car for when “You-Know-Who” got home. I lifted ‘em once–that was enough. lol When I got in the car to go, Fred the dog jumped in and I couldn’t get him out. lol He rode to the springs with me, like he’s ridden in a car every day of his life. When we got there, he jumped out the window, and went exploring, but kept coming back around to see that I was okay. While I was filling water jugs, an old man in a pickup stopped and asked if that was my dog. I told him the saga of Fred, and he said, well, …”Our old dog died, and me and the wife were thinking about getting another old dog. ” I told him what a great watchdog Fred was and how he was the sweetest old dog, but we already have 3 and have been trying to find his family to no avail. He offered to take him, if he would get in the truck with him. He had very kind eyes and an old farmer face….so I said yes. Fred jumped up in the seat of the pickup and they sallied down the road. So…today, Fred got a new home. I kinda miss him…but am glad that he’ll have his own place and not have to share it with 3 other dogs who weren’t crazy about him, and about 10 cats that didn’t like him at all.
Made a cheese ravioli dish for supper with a side of fresh green beans sauteed in olive oil with fresh garlic and ground black pepper. A little garlic bread, and VOILA! supper.
Going to lunch tomorrow with my sister, and then a potluck for supper at the last Sustainable Choices class. We’re going to the home of one of the women in the class, and that’ll be fun. The next class is Deep Ecology…time and day to be decided upon at the potluck.
Getting sleepy….so closes another day on the Prairie. Life in the country is never boring, that’s for sure.
Namaste.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Chai Tea, Mother Earth, St Louis Bread Company
Fridays are always a sigh of relief at the end of a week, aren’t they? I always have this sense of Ahhhhh….right around noon on Fridays. I haven’t worked now for over 8 years, but I still have a feeling of Fridays no matter what. lol My husband works a 4 day, 40 hour week and is off on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. How great is that? This has been a buisy Friday, as they get sometimes, and I’m trying to fit in a little too much, I’m afraid.
The day started at 7:30 AM, and I was off and running as soon as my feet hit the floor. I had a 9 AM meeting to attend, a new women’s meeting starting up. Very first time for it, and I said I would be there…lol. Then I went to lunch with 2 friends and then over to one’s home to see her new animals. Then it was home again, where I had about 5 gallons of green beans waiting for me to pick in the garden. I should have picked them yesterday, but it didn’t happen. I have been very busy this week with a sponsling in crisis, staying at my house. My house is a mess, as I have foregone all manner of housekeeping while she was here. There have been other people in my life having problems too this past week–was it the moon????- and so my attention and my energies have been all over the place. I feel scattered and not grounded at all. I don’t like feeling like this, and though it really is mild, it’s uncomfortable. So, things appear to be settling down for now. Working out in the garden helped me today…I picked okra and tomatoes as well as green beans. I walked around and looked at stuff….noted the total lack of rain lately and how flowers, trees and vegetables are faring. It felt good to kick off my flip flops and feel the ground under my feet. Like I was reconnecting to the Mother Earth.
Early this evening I met a sponsling and mother for a quick supper at the St Louis Bread Company. Had a marvelous chopped cobb salad and an iced Chai tea latte. We had a great time, mother is a doll, and then she left us and the 3 of us headed out to an 8 PM meeting. The topic tonight was Expectations, and the discussion was really timely and wonderful.
It’s late. My doggies are all snuggled in for the night and I’m about to do the same. Kittens, of course, are in various stages of kittendom….lying here and there, knocking things off tables, and generally being the destructive little devils thet so like to be.
Was supposed to go to a bbq tomorrow. It’s been postponed til Sunday now, and that’s another busy day, with stuff to do. Sigh…oh well. One of the little towns near us is having their annual homecoming (fair) , and we may go there for fish. (These things always have gigantic fish frys…it’s the LAW apparently). lol Grandson is coming sometime tomorrow to spend some time, probably until Monday night.
Life is good….and I am grateful!
Namaste.
I woke up this morning from the strangest dreams… I was shopping in a giant thrift store. It had more than 18 rooms, but they wouldn’t tell me how many more. lol Every room had something I wanted, but there was some sort of drama going on in each room..something that kept me from getting to whatever it was that I wanted. And I kept leaving each room, thinking I’ll go to the other rooms, and come back to this one later. But as I went from room to room, it was always the same scenario.
Sigh… I never got what I wanted.
That was my thought when I opened my eyes. I never got what I wanted. Ever. LMAO…I may need a Freudian dream Interpretation book.
I have had company here the past 3 days. She’ll be going home tomorrow morning. It’s been fun, and good for her (she’s napping just now)…a little respite from her life of chaos. I’m glad to be able to offer this to her, and it’s been fun, really. But I’m looking around at my home and thinking –my schedule is off, and I’ll have to spend most of tomorrow getting things back on track. This happens when there is change in the routines, and that’s okay. The best part is that I get to feel generous, and that’s part of my prosperity plan. *wink* Even if I don’t have much $$ or material stuff, I get to FEEL generous, and that means a lot. I have love and comfort and a bed to share with someone who needs it. And that can be a pretty big deal.
I have some beautiful big thick country pork ribs simmering away in the electric skillet. They’re seasoned with a little salt and black pepper and garlic, and I think I’ll spread them with a little teriyaki sauce for dinner. Alongside some nice red potatoes and a small salad or something-maybe green beans- and it will make a nice supper. Hubby’s due home in about an hour and a half…
Heading out to a meeting tonight that starts at 8. Have to pick up another “Scout”…returning to the fort with arrows sticking out of her back. ah, they live and they learn…sometimes. Sometimes they die. It’s hard to find that line sometimes, between thinking I could have done more, or should have said something different, or….the truth is this: We (they) do what we do, until we can no longer bear to do it, or we wind up in an institution, or we die. Sometimes we make it back, sometimes we don’t. All I can ever do, is offer my experiences, my strengths, my hope. It’s really all I have.
I’m feeling particularly grateful for my life today.
Blaze, the black and white kitty, squeezed his dumb ass through the fence into the chicken yard this afternoon. When I found him out there, Birdzilla was eyeballing him, and getting ready to pounce. As you know, Birdzilla is the meanest rooster in Amerika. I had to go into the run armed with a hoe…which I used to keep him away from me so I could pick up the terrified kitten and carry him to safety. I feel like a hero(ine).
Life is good out here. Y’all should come visit sometime….
Namaste.
