NOW I wish I Tweeted!!!!

My baby is laying her first egg!!!!


{squeal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}



How CUTE is this?????? It's so tiny!

When I showed it to her, she tried to peck at it! Silly Girl

Baby Chick's, Little Bit's, Frick's (or Frack's...) and Ginger's

Good Example vs Terrible Warning

I tend to accumulate clutter. Don't we all? But you want to know when it's bad?

When you have 420 photographs on your camera chip and want to drop a few pictures on your blog. It takes me 25 minutes to weed thru the entire lot every time I take shots of the garden and DL the ones I want to the computer. I KNOW I really MUST stop this madness and download them all, delete the files from the camera and cull my way thru the ones on the computer.

I was tempted to just buy a new cheap camera in an effort to bypass this necessity but that would only mean that I have yet another camera taking up valuable real estate in a drawer or closet which is, again, more clutter.

(I have 538 message in my email Inbox. I'm not bragging here! This is more of the clutter of which I speak.) (You should see the fabric room)(maybe not)

Clutter clutter clutter. "Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions" and ain't THAT the truth. Even the WORD clutter takes up space!

I have so much to do, I can hardly think of it and yet... I must stop spinning out of control and take the camera in hand to DEclutter the beast.

I am doing this because the insurance adjuster is here and I just heard that the wood floors may have to be entirely replaced and I am trying not to swoon.

I find I have this overwhelming need to control something that is "out of control": ah yes the camera. I didn't think the battery would hold out long enough to download and remove all the photos and movies I have stowed away on that massive data chip. But it did!

And now it is empty save for the photo I just took of John eating the first plum from our tree. (happiness!)

And I am going thru all the photos, one by one and either placing them in the appropriate folder on the C drive or tossing it out in the Bin. Really.

Control what you can and try to stay in control. It's the second half that is my constant downfall.

Now, about that INBOX.......

I Keep Saying, "It Could Be Worse!"

and then it is.

Servpro is back and finding more baseboards that hide water seepage. Out they go. And the fun continues.

Yea me

Like It Never Even Happened

Have you seen the animated ads where disaster strikes in a house, be it a fire or flood, and these two characters jump out of a green van or parachute in, get to work hoovering up the mess and slam the van-door shut when they leave?

Yesterday morning, crack of way before dawn, I am out in the kitchen slicing cherry tomatoes for drying in the oven and boiling the vinegar mix to can all the jalapenos I had sliced up the night before. We are in full-swing with harvest/canning/freezing around here. I pause to wonder why the water pressure seemed a little low..... hmmmm.. what's up with that?

Around 6 am I hear John screaming from the bedroom and go racing in find the foyer, hallway, bedroom and bathroom with over an inch of water and what sounds like the shower blasting away! There is water POURING out of the ceiling above the loo and John racing out the door to shut off the water supply.

I am in shock. What the heck happened?

We are sucking up the water as fast as we can with our ShopVac, THANK GOD we had one and I am thinking all the while, "Like it never even happened. I wonder how early I can call Servpro."

I dial at 6:30. This is after we have sucked out and poured away at least 6 vacs full of water and the carpet is making that splishsplish sound as I mince my way to and from the bathroom.

"I wonder if the wood floors will survive this.... I wonder if I should cancel the Sunday BBQ. I wonder what happened......... I wonder if the water heater is going to come crashing thru the ceiling any minute now. I wonder if I can get Linda Kay to cover my shift. I wonder if I should stop a minute and let the chickens out. I wonder if I turned the vinegar off the boil."

"I wonder if that nice plumber from Metairie is willing to hightail it up to the boonies... I trust him."

"I wonder if my insurance agent gets to work by 8:00am. I call. 8:30 is the opening bell so I call the 800 number and file a claim. I tell him I have contacted both a plumber and the Servpro people and am told I have done everything right. Well can I tell you how calming that statement can be? I am this close to panic.

I empty the rooms of anything I can lift out and the living room is looking like it did a year ago when we moved in! This is BEFORE I realize the closet is saturated as well.

My portfolios of artworks going back 30 years are soaking up the water and I pull all the papers out and litter the flat surfaces around the house with them. Great great great. This is so wonderful to see........ wow remember that one? Oh look, pastels from Alaska and Sweden.

"I wonder if the water has gone as far as the back wall...... yes. Of course it has....... I wonder if I can pick up the filing cabinet without emptying it first. Don't be a ninny.. you don't need a trip to the hospital now......."

The Servpro crew is here by 8:15am and get busy. Amazing equipment they have. Once they get the water we missed sucking out the door, they begin tearing out the baseboards and drilling 2" holes to get the moisture from the walls. The sheetrock has wicked some water way down low thru the presswood baseboards so good thing they did that. Meanwhile I am shaking my head. I know there is no earthly way ANY equipment is going to get the water out from the concrete slab beneath the padding beneath the carpet. This is a mess and I think the carpet is going to come out. So I start unloading the bookshelves and wonder where I am going to drag the dresser and the bed and the list goes on.........

Meanwhile John and Mitchell (Servpro tech) have located the source of the problem. We had already determined the waterheater was NOT the source. It's pan is bonedry so what in the world did this? A 1/2" pipe leading to the bathroom is severed and did the damage but why? Why did it break?

The plumber extraordinaire arrives and solves the mystery and here is where I begin to lose composure.

We have a well. We live in a high acidic water table. The lower pH causes a chemical reaction with the brass in the fittings of the plastic PEX pipes and over time causes them to erode. The pressure from the water severed the corroded fittings and BAM. The fittings gave way. The water pump should have a filter that raises the pH...... but we don't have this filter apparently. (really?)

"I wonder why NOBODY EVER TOLD US ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!" I am beginning to panic. I feel the pressure rising in my heart

So off he went to buy supplies up the road and John went off with a sample of our water for testing and sure enough 5.5 when it should be 6.8. (that company will be here today to install the filter)

While he is gone the plumber returns and repairs the fittings after warning me that this is not the end of the problem. IF what he suspects is the case, the whole HOUSE may have to be replumbed. (yea me!!!!)

His assistant turns on the water and I hear screaming coming from the bathroom! Another pipe has burst!!!!! This one leading to the toilet itself from the wall and that water is flowing thru the bathroom into the bedroom.

Now can I panic? No. It does no good to lose composure in the face of crisis so I tear out of the house to turn off the water source and go back to see the look on the faces of the Servpro guys looking back at me in wonder. "What happened?" They start hoovering again.

John calls and I tell him what has occurred.

You know what I did? I went back to slicing tomatoes, boiling and peeling tomatoes. Canning jalapenos. Cleaning the eating area. I went back to working on stuff I could "control". Mail, bills.

I looked in now and then and found baseboards lied up outside, the Servpro owner arrived and asked if the adjuster had been there. No , no call from him yet. What did we want to do about the saturated carpet. Tear it out please. Regardless what the insurance does for us, out it goes. I know from experience there is no way to dry concrete with the carpet down.

They haul the carpet and pad out the door and I see that was the right decision. Now there are more holes around the foot of the floor. HUGE dehumidifiers and fans everywhere. NOISE like I wish my hearing was still gone.

At around 4:20 we head over to the carpet store to take home some samples. Still no sign of the adjuster but at this point I don't really care. I just keep telling myself, "like it never even happened..... like it never even happened."

At 6 John says, "What the he....?" and I look over at Shasta.



She found the pastels.
So how was YOUR day?

Black-Eyed Peas

are delicious and I don't need to tell any southerner that. I don't know why they aren't more popular up north but nevermind..... more for me.

I used to see them fresh every year around New Years but I haven't for the past few. I wonder what is up with that.....

I have never grown them before but thought I'd give it a go and I am so impressed! First, we managed to stagger the plantings successfully (for once) and the first row is coming ripe now. I have been watching them with eagle-eyes and as the long pods are starting to go yellow, I decided to pick a large handful this morning and shell them.

I have learned this much about black-eyed peas.

1. You can pick them too soon. Even if the pods are long and thick (like your little finger) they are not quite ready to harvest.
2. Shelled too soon and the eyes are pinkish. You want them black.

Unready Ready

3. The yellower the pod, the easier to shell.

Unready Ready

At some point in ripeness, the outer skin becomes rather thin. I was able to pull them apart and reveal the peas within in a long row. Cute.

4. Fresh black-eyed peas are a good source of calcium. But nevermind that. They're delish!

More musings: If I leave them on the vine to dry, I can shell them and store for winter but they freeze nicely when fresh. But, what is the point of drying something I can buy fairly cheaply anytime at the grocer? Like a pound of dried peas for >$1.25

Fresh black-eyed peas, on the other hand, sell for $4 a cup! (that's gotta be California prices, right?) But again, I haven't seen FRESH black-eyes for a long time. (So imagine what they would cost.) Til now that is, Now I see LOTS of them.

Whoo=hoo!!!

Those Were The Days

"Boy, the way Glen Miller played.
Songs that made the Hit Parade.
Guys like us, we had it made.
Those were the days!

Didn't need no welfare state.
Everybody pulled his weight
Gee, our old LaSalle (a car) ran great.
Those were the days!

And you knew where you were then!
Girls were girls and men were men.
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again.

People seemed to be content.
Fifty dollars paid the rent.'
Freaks were in a circus tent.
Those were the days!

Take a little Sunday spin, go to watch the Dodgers win.
Have yourself a dandy day that cost you under a fin (five dollar bill).

Hair was short and skirts were long.
Kate Smith really sold a song.
I don't know just what went wrong!
Those Were the Days!"

From "All in the Family" I get it now.

Two-thirds of British women 'completely bored with their lives'

I don't even know what this means.

I saw this on the Daily Mail frontpage and, intrigued, I read the article. What a load of rubbish.
First, it is from a survey of 3000 women in England. Is that the BEST you can do, DM? Presumably the questioners sat in one location........

TOP TEN THINGS THAT BORE WOMEN THE MOST

1. Routine (yeah it's a real grind, that)

2. Lack of social life (would YOU want to hang out with these women?)

3. Job

4. Lack of holidays (what!?)

5. Housework

6. Appearance

7. Depressing news (really? so now you're depressed AND bored. "Hey Suzie, you're boring and depressed. Let's go out!")

8. Eating the same things all the time (WHAT!!!???? Who is in charge of your mouth!?)

9. The house

10. Responsibilities (again.... it sucks to be a grown-up)

TOP TEN THINGS WOMEN WISH THEY COULD DO

1. Go to an airport and get the next available flight to anywhere (do it!)

2. Emigrate (go!)

3. Tell people what they really think (you just did. how's that working out?)

4. Hand in their notice without another job to go to (and head back to the house you hate and all those chores!)

5. Have a dramatic hair cut (cut it!)

6. Put the house up for sale and buy a new one (not without a job! shoulda thought that one thru a little farther)

7. Try something new in the bedroom (with the new dramatic haircut?)

8. Go back to school (good idea!)

9. Book in for a boob job (Before or after the dramatic haircut?)

10. Sing in public (AFTER. Definitely after the boob job and haircut)

But 34 per cent of women don't have the confidence to make the necessary changes to their life to make them happy, while 29 per cent claim not to have the time.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see the actual survey. I believe the questions were written in a manner slanted to coax these results. Ridiculous.

I don't know why I just wasted 8 minutes on this. But one thing is for certain. I wasn't bored at all. I found it entertaining.

I wish the geniuses at Aardman would do an animation of this. Ok, you've sat through this drivel: now here is your reward and believe me, it's a better spent 8 minutes of YOUR life.