GOOD DAY (29)

IMagine my surprise to walk outside and find the guys there with 11,000 pounds of firewood....it covers th whole side of my house half way up the fence...I can see my kitty cats jumpingover it playing "jungle cat" tomarrow.

Cathyml, I sat down an bit today an made out your card and wrote you an short note...hope things are better for you now. I'll try to get it sent early next week sometime...have an few more cards to do yet.

Diana..what's your new address...send it to me snail mail..you still have mine?

I shall look forward to that Shirley, thank you so much.

Hi everyone, we have had a rough few days - no electricity for 10 hours one day and blow me if the very next morning we had no water - it was off for over 30 hours, because some bl,,,,y crooks stole the equipment from the pumping station/water tower, whatever.  It is just trickling back into the pipes now - I wonder how long it will take to get some pressure again! 

Meanwhile - its packing and boxes and rubbish bags and - oh dear - I've had enough!! So now I am playing hooky on POE - but not for too long - too much still to do.  

cathyml...living in an all electric house I guess you know is what makes and person driven...in preparing for winter. First year we lived here...without everything....6th month old baby...secon year we lived here winter....we had bought our big ole wood stove and had it inserted downstairs fireplace..closed off the downstairs from the upstairs....was without services for several days...we went upstiars to see everything "iced" over inside our house. I was buying water...cooking on the Propane BBQ outside under the patio...by the next year I would have the patio "encased" and weatherproofed....and we slept and functioned downstairs...our project while down there was installing one wall in cedar strips. It's between the woodstove and across from it is an wall mural in an autumn forrest setting with lights that highlight it all...and in the corner an TV set and above it an hanging silk fern....beside the woodstove is and corner of mirrors with an silk tree in the corner...the an sofa spans from the woodstove to the other side of the wall.  Next ot the Tv is my hubby's computer desk. thsi  leaves me the other side of the room for an table and The air blow up air mattress. The air mattress sits in from of an wall length unit of bookcases...which was an inhiertance from by grandfather through my mother. I bought the matching two end tables and cofffe table as the same time...they will be split up someday and given to my grandchildren hopefully. In the corner sits an small L shaped bar and dresser on both ends...with microwave and old phongraph/radio and records on the other end. The patio encasement turned out to be an spare kind of sitting room...had to have something for the little kids to go if I wasn't for some reason here when they came home from school.  It's kind of all purpose area also. It hold my roll-aay bed also, anothe rlong dresser, my backpack, freezer, an an other desk for craft work, etc. I got tired of running into the mice here recently...so I took the food out of it for this winter....at one time is also was where my dogs stayed over night and my cats. But not any more. I'm cutting down on the pets hopefully. But I heated thier cages and the dogs beds with either hot pads under thick towels, or an twin electric blanket under an comforter on top of an wooden pallet, with another sheet of wood on top of it...then we had an doggie door, it's now closed off. they came in during the days and were put out there to bed nightly. It's all changed now. The cat cages were three tiered...they were rabbit cages originally....I'd cut out the bottom wiremesh screen so they could get to the slide out pan and we used that for the cat littler area, the second teir was for their food...and we cut one side hole from top to bottom on the same side, and the top was thier bed...and we covered to tops and side of the cages with plastic sheeting and all three cages faced out front with doors so I could reach in any tier and pick them up if needed. If we were on vacation any of the kids we paid to feed them could do so by going through the fence and into the back of the house and patio. It was easy to keep them cooler in the summer also, as dad helped me put in and old patio door he had and it has an sliding screen door to it. So if it was raining  they never got wet. Each one of the cages cost me $30 per teir to make them...or total about $100 each. But there was no scooping nasty litter, I simply pulled out the pan and we dumped it into an trash bag, rinsed off the pan with disinfectant and it was the end of it all for an while. I tell you this because back then I had more people ask me how I was able to keep so many pets without problems...it took me an while to figure all this hour the hard way...but when I did, it worked out perfect. My rabbits were out in covered cages, with thier pans below them not there...they sat over and dug out trench on top of wood. railroad ties. They were in teh shade under trees up against the fence, covered with tarps. When thier droppings gathered high enough....they were moved, the old place limed and sat for an bit and then rotilled over and grass planted.

Rabbit droppings can be used green you know...though we never did, but sometimes we'd put them next ot the garden area and at the end of the season, we'd scoop up the droppings for spreading ont he garden with lime over winter. Then come spring, I make raised garden beds. The pond at the other end of the yard, was made to sit slightly higher and to over flow into the garden...and between the rows of the raised beds...then I'd lay down old newspapers to keep the weeds down and let my duck roam through the area keeping the slugs and bugs under control. They also sat on the pond and at times were in cages also...but seldom over winter. They were an Spring to fall type thing. One time I did winter them inside our garage though in these huge shipping cartons for shipping out tree hubby brought home. I filled them 1/3 way with straw, and bi tat an time to keep them clean, hauled them out back when they got to where the ducks could jump out and we'd backyard burn them. Old stra and all. I came out here as an true "city" gal an learned the easier way to do  things the hard way through the years. The duck droppings attracted the "fish" I had in the pond...it was two layered also...wihtthe bottom layer covered with screening...to keep the duck from eating the fish...the worms would float to the top for the ducks.  When I let the pond overflowweekly...it went down an small trench between my flower beds and the yard grass...duck would get worms after wards from it also..but then it flowed into the garden and I covered it with the newspaper. Iwas very concerned we had these animals and my yard was somewhat "Landscaped" to look at...and easy to maintain. As I also had an above ground swimming pool, swing set and sand box for the kids also in my yard. And an grass pathway between two rows of fruit trees and flowers...to an picnic table and my back patio area. So what did I do with all these "animals"...well, the boys learned to play football so well from chasing down the rabbits when we let them loose for an bit of excerise...When I got my gold neck ringed Quail...these little guys were about the size of an soda pop bottle top. They peeped right through all my fencing one night and we saw them that fall come flying back into the blackberries....with green and red and gold on their neck to head with mmottled brown feathers..they were beautiful. The ducks laid eggs...but we never had an little ones because an possom or raccon got them one night, but they like the rabbits learned how to care for the animals and the responisbilty of having animals. At one time I had my dad's sister in IN Nebraska asking about if the baby rabbits had been born...before even asking about the family...as she too got caught up in all this. Iam glad that I don't have them now. It helped to wear me out in ways.But my house was one of maybe about 10 kids side by side with their feet "touching" babysitting the babies. That is how we had our neighborhood "congregations" together.  That's when we were not building an fire in teh middle of the sand box and sitting around it and singing the latest bible school songs in the evening and everyone talking about how they did at Vacation Bible School that week. this is why it surprised some teachers when I wen tto school one day and as I went through the halls...everyone was saying "Hi Mom!" ...and they asked me why they were calling me "mom" and I said...because they are growing up at my house most the time. I can not think of to many times it wasn't anywhere from 5 to 8 kids around here...besides my son and the little girl I watched "Kasey"...while her mother worked. When I didn't have her, she was living at her grandmothers house, whom I knew when I was in school....as I use to walk to school with her duaghters and sons. An bonefide capped and pinned Registered Nurse in her days...she also held the keys to our local grange hall out here...and was deeply into 4-H and 4-F with her kids and grandkids as well as "church" affairs. I't sher receipe for Zuccinni BRead I make every year. I best go for now...long enough?.