The Road Home

The Road Home
There is no place like home.

Monday, March 30, 2015

I Don't Have a Clue What to Write

I really don't. It's late. I'm tired and I can't think of anything interesting to share with you. Frank and I have been very busy. We made the unplanned trip to look at the goats. Very informative, and the ride gave us time to reflect on our decision to come home with an empty trailer. We're still glad we did. We've contacted a few other folks about a new buck. We'll just have to see how that works out.


Frank has spent a couple of day working on a new CB installation in the vehicles that we will share with you sometime in another post.

Cabbage seedlings the rabbits are chewing on.

The seedlings are doing well now that we got a few days of sunshine. The part of the garden that is planted is growing. The turnip seeds I sprinkled in the front of the herb bed are coming up very well. I look forward to picking the greens for man and beast alike. With all of the cloudy cool weather we had this month, our seedlings grew very, very slowly. The small cabbage and broccoli we planted are finally starting to take off and grow. We did buy some spinach, lettuce and a few cabbage plants to provide some food a little earlier than our small seedlings will.


I also ordered more plants for the herb bed this year. They are getting acclimated, and will be planted in the next few days. I will do an article on how the herb bed is coming along in the next few weeks. I'm excited about the number of plants that are established and have been coming back year after year.

We are getting ready for more baby goats this week. Tomorrow we will be working on the barn making sure everything is in order. Cricket and Lady Bug will hit 150 days of gestation on Thursday, and Penny will do the same on Saturday. Since they are all first fresheners, I may not get much sleep after Tuesday night, with trips to the barn at all times of the day and night checking for babies, then checking on babies. You'll be hearing all about them as well.

I tried a new low carb fried chicken dinner last night that was really good. After I do a little more research and put it all together, I'll fill you in on that one. It was one of those experiments that I just didn't know if it would taste good or yucky. Good thing for us it turned out very good.

We bought some seat cushions for our dinning room chairs. There comes a time in life when a little cushion can make a difference. They came in today so we haven't had much time to try them out. I also ordered a roll of high density foam to put in the cushions on my chair. This is where I sit with my laptop and write these articles, and the cushion needs a little more umph. And, yes, that's a heating pad. My back's been acting up again, so during breaks from planting the garden and such, I fire it up.

 













We all know there is a drought going on out in California, and there is a drought going on in western Oklahoma, but there is not a drought in my neighborhood. It seems like just a few weeks back we had snow on the ground, then we had ice on the ground, then we had snow again.
Every now and then we'd have a pretty day or two, then we'd either have cloudy days with rain or rainy days with clouds. Once we had about three or four days of sunny weather, and Frank got the garden tilled. But, down deep it was just too wet and everything clodded up. So, when we needed to do some planting, we took some hard rakes and broke it down. Then in rained for four or five more days, then we had about three days off from the rain and actually had some pretty weather. So, Frank tilled the garden again, still too wet, but the clods were a little smaller this time. Then, you guessed it. It rained for three or four more days. 

Now, I have to say, the last three days have been beautiful. Sunny skies, light to moderate breeze. So when we got home today from running errands, Frank tilled the garden again. And, yes, it's still too wet, but it's getting better. Because you know what's forecast late tonight and for the next five days? Liquid precipitation. If it could hold off for a little while tomorrow morning, then we can get the barn cleaned out without changing the corral into soup. Our weather men continue to tell us that we are running short on precipitation for the year, and I'm sure they're right. 

 The folks we talked to at church Sunday mentioned that they haven't planted a garden yet. It's just too wet. Two Sundays ago at a potluck, I asked a lady if she had brought her famous turnip green dish. She said no, to do that she would need to build an ark. Somebody else made reference that to get to their garden they would need a canoe. I sure did miss those turnip greens. Well, that's what the weather's been doing lately.

See, I told you I didn't have anything to write about..... I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Feel free to share what you've been up to.

Until next time - Fern
 

20 comments:

  1. Hello Fern & Frank, For having nothing to say that was an interesting read. This is N.W. Illinois again, been a while. It's too cold to plant anything in the ground here. A week ago the ground was covered in snow! Yuck. The weather has improved this week, 65 deg. on Mon. 3/30/15. On the note of something to write, how about telling us why you picked Oklahoma to retire in, what's the advantages over say N.W. Illinois. Other than the fact our growing season is three months shorter or we have more snow.

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  2. We worked the garden plot well last fall as we expected to be gone and it had to be ready to seed back to lawn...so we seem to have done in the normal volunteer greens from turnip and a few other things we broadcast seeded for cover crop three years ago...I miss the greens too! Our chives are starting to come along and the thyme looks and smells great. [They are bucket plants]. I liked this post...its a good example of normal goings on in a well satisfied life!

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    1. Thanks, Fiona. Frank laughed while I was typing. I went to him and said, "I don't have a clue what to write on the blog today." He said, "That's it." Me, "What's it?" Frank, "Write a post called 'I Don't Have a Clue What to Write", then just tell everyone what we've been doing." I guess it worked, because it gave me something to say. He was laughing at me because I just kept typing and typing. It took a while to say nothing. (-: Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  3. Fern,

    Storms are starting to brew again in Oklahoma today and tomorrow, please be careful.
    Were hoping if there's tornadoes they stay away from homes and stay outside in open fields. I found your blog on Kymbers blog Framboise Manor and decided to check you out.

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    1. Hi Sandy. We are forecast stormy weather today and tomorrow here in southeast Oklahoma. We pray all will be well in the paths of the storms.

      I'm glad you found us and hope you find something useful here. Thank you for your comment.

      Fern

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  4. I know eastern OK has been spared much of the drought. Here in Norman it is dry- Lake Thunderbird is down 3 or so feet- but just a few miles west of here it is much worse. We are under mandatory odd-even watering and will be probably from now on. Wish you could send some of that precipitation this way, just without the tornadoes!
    Jeff

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    1. I hope you get some much needed rain out of the weather that keeps coming through, Jeff. If we could just shift things a little farther west, you could get rain and we might dry out a little. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  5. Hi Fern. Within the last two weeks we have had 13 inches of rain. This year we decided to make raised beds because the drainage here is kind of hit and miss. We did get some tomatoes, potatoes, onions, broccoli, and cauliflower planted. Of course we had mud up to our ankles. This past week we got pole beans, zucchini and cucumbers planted. We checked today and they have germinated and coming up! Our asparagus bed is producing and our garlic is looking good. I hope y'all get to where you can plant. Jim and Donna in Texas

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    1. 13 inches of rain, Donna? You must be walking in mud soup! Sounds like your garden is happy, though. Did your tomato and pepper seedlings do well? Ours are up, but still in tubs. I won't plant them in the garden until about April 15th to make sure we don't have another frost. It doesn't look like it, since it has been so warm. Yesterday it was 90*. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  6. That's a very informative blog post I'd say! And I really love your photography! Very nice!
    My two favorite pictures are the American flag flying in the wind and the fried chicken and the cats in the square bucket! Okay, ok, that's three, can u tell I really like them?! ;)

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    1. Thank you very much, Emmy. It's funny how much I wrote for not having anything to say. I always have an assortment of pictures I like that haven't worked their way into any of the articles. I thought this would be a good time to use some of them. I really like the one of the cats in the tub, too. The day I took that picture I was walking by and initially only saw one cat. When I bent down to pet her, I saw the other two and it made me laugh. So, I went back in and got the camera. I was glad they hadn't moved by the time I got back. Thank you for your comment.

      Fern

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  7. Hello Frank and Fern. Just wanted to say - keep using this title. I love your posts. I love peeking into life on your land and homestead. Ditto for the pictures. And I always learn something and/or have a big smile on my face from something you've posted. I currently don't have any cats so seeing pictures of yours is very fun. Hope all goes well with your first time goat-mamas. Cheers, SJ in Vancouver BC Canada

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    1. SJ, thank you for your comment. Please come back and read anytime, and comment any time you feel comfortable. Fern and I try to share a small part of the life we live. Some folks read for mild entertainment, others read to see how different folks do things. Again, thank you.

      Frank

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  8. i entered a comment hope this goes through look up
    cornell small farms program
    they have webinars
    deb harvey

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    1. I've been to their site, Deb. There are some other agricultural type colleges that have their research translated into layman's terms. University of Mississippi comes to mind. There is a lot of free information out there. It just takes a little bit of research. Thank you for sharing.

      Frank

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    2. thnks. will look up u of miss. deb h.

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  9. You did a great job of filling in readers on what you don't have any idea of writing about. Just imagine how long your post would be of you did (!). I will read anything you post...

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    1. LTL, well actually, I write quite frequently about subjects I know nothing about. It just seems to be a propensity of mine. These natural inclinations occur at the most formidable times. Time being relative to all of us, means we are all secure with our future.

      LTL, you see, I can write about things that I know nothing about. April Fools! (a few days late). Ta-ta.

      Frank

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  10. I just thought I would share this: We are planning on getting chickens for the first time this spring, and as I share that with people they assume we must have a rooster to get eggs. No, I say, we live in the city proper, we cannot have a rooster. The chickens will lay unfertilized eggs. They just stare at me. "But the rooster has to make the chicken pregnant so she can lay eggs." No. The chicken lays eggs either way. With a rooster the eggs can hatch into chicks, with no rooster they never will. "I'm going to be thinking about that all day" said one of my friends in wonder. Thought you would get a chuckle out of that.

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    1. Eileen, I've had to explain that to people before. It just reminds us how far some people are removed from the source of food. On a more technical nature, a woman produces an egg every month whether or not there is a rooster around. Same concept. Try sharing that one with your buddies. Thank you for the laugh.

      Frank

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