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Took today off. Woke up to go to work and was still hurting all over, head pounding. Called in and went back to bed. Finally got up and went to the couch. Head still hurting, but my joints aren't as bad now. Gonna go out and mow here in a bit

Edit never made it to the mower. Just sitting on the porch with the wife
 
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Slept great last night until I woke up after a dream that got me thinking about my two reloading machines my soon to be EX sold to her cousin. 5am lying in bed pissed off, it took me quite a while to calm down and fall back to sleep Grrrrrr. In the near future she will need me to sign off on paperwork to sell the home so I think I will hold off on that until she gets me my stuff back.
Slept in a bit then time for another haircut, my GF is getting pretty good cutting a flat top so that is good as I think the flat top looks better than a 1/4" buzz cut.
I am taking it easy today, I am still occasionally feeling drained due to the appendix surgery last month. Actually I think it more likely from the long term infection of the appendix that was wearing me down for many months. Post surgery several long term but relatively minor health problems have eased up or completely gone away, such as dry flaking skin on my lower legs, excessively dry and cracking skin on the bottom of my feet, hemorrhoid problem (never had that problem before), chronic tiredness, uneasy stomach feeling, itchy scalp, and several other problems. I never had any stomach pain or other symptoms normally associated with an inflamed appendix but now that things are healing I think it was my body reacting to the infection.
Turned in the paperwork the hospital gave me to apply for Medicaid, I don't know how I will qualify at only 53 years old but the hospital insurance lady told me to apply and she thinks I will get accepted due to my income, since work put me on a leave of absence due to their covid mask requirement. ( I can wear a mask but if I work while wearing the mask I get light headed and my blood pressure goes up) Other businesses around here allow their employees to wear the clear plastic face shield but Home Depot wont allow it, must be a cloth mask over the mouth and nose.
GF is battling a sinus and ear infection so we are going to relax in the sunshine in the yard this afternoon.
 
Slept great last night until I woke up after a dream that got me thinking about my two reloading machines my soon to be EX sold to her cousin. 5am lying in bed pissed off, it took me quite a while to calm down and fall back to sleep Grrrrrr. In the near future she will need me to sign off on paperwork to sell the home so I think I will hold off on that until she gets me my stuff back.

Don't feel too bad. Unless you bought a lifetime supply of components before 2019 a reloading machine is about the most useless piece of hardware to have currently. I'd sell off all four of mine if I could find a sucker willing to pay what I bought them for.
 
Don't listen to her! I too, have a little digging project. Fried chicken and peaches for lunch and a nice long restful road trip before and after.

Y'all will have to schedule my digging with @ThePrincess . I suspect the earliest will be next spring if we finish the remodeling project.

Today The Princess was on vacation so we teamed up to take care of projects at the rental property.

My job was to clean up the wash out left over from Ida. After all it was a digging project.
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I changed things up a bit to channel storm run off away from the deck. There is a french drain there that should catch most of the water. I will have to wait for another Ida to see if the changes work.

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The Princess worked on weeding the Pachasandra. This is a long time investment to come up with a long term solution to keeping the steep hillside maintained.

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That hillside is just outside the bay window of the rental. The view from the window is a big sell for the rental.

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We took our breaks sitting next to the pond. Spring #2 was flowing nicely but #1 was just a trickle. The 2 spring production varies over the year. I have measured as much as 5000 gallons a day in the spring. This time of year it slows down. In winter they keep the pond from freezing over even in February.

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I will try to finish off the weeding tomorrow but we had a good time with perfect conditions for the work.

God has smiled on us.

Ben
 
Slept great last night until I woke up after a dream that got me thinking about my two reloading machines my soon to be EX sold to her cousin. 5am lying in bed pissed off, it took me quite a while to calm down and fall back to sleep Grrrrrr. In the near future she will need me to sign off on paperwork to sell the home so I think I will hold off on that until she gets me my stuff back.
Slept in a bit then time for another haircut, my GF is getting pretty good cutting a flat top so that is good as I think the flat top looks better than a 1/4" buzz cut.
I am taking it easy today, I am still occasionally feeling drained due to the appendix surgery last month. Actually I think it more likely from the long term infection of the appendix that was wearing me down for many months. Post surgery several long term but relatively minor health problems have eased up or completely gone away, such as dry flaking skin on my lower legs, excessively dry and cracking skin on the bottom of my feet, hemorrhoid problem (never had that problem before), chronic tiredness, uneasy stomach feeling, itchy scalp, and several other problems. I never had any stomach pain or other symptoms normally associated with an inflamed appendix but now that things are healing I think it was my body reacting to the infection.
Turned in the paperwork the hospital gave me to apply for Medicaid, I don't know how I will qualify at only 53 years old but the hospital insurance lady told me to apply and she thinks I will get accepted due to my income, since work put me on a leave of absence due to their covid mask requirement. ( I can wear a mask but if I work while wearing the mask I get light headed and my blood pressure goes up) Other businesses around here allow their employees to wear the clear plastic face shield but Home Depot wont allow it, must be a cloth mask over the mouth and nose.
GF is battling a sinus and ear infection so we are going to relax in the sunshine in the yard this afternoon.
And words to ex are “I just want to keep things tidy. It’s best not to leave loose ends.” For some reason people like the word tidy.
 
Just got off the phone with my daughter. She was getting ready to go to her first homecoming dance and she was cleaning up a pair of heels to go with her dress. She's going with her two best friends, not a boy. That means I don't have to drive home from Minnesota tomorrow to shoot a boy for bringing her home late...😉
 
A quiet day, needed it. Two trips to town this week and both were extra long. When I finally got moving I filled up all the livestock feed drums and got water for the chickens. Later I finished up a couple small metal projects. Both needed rust spots cleaned and painted, used a wire wheel on my drill. I had to paint them with high heat oven paint, they’re old roasting racks. I use them across my sink as extra dish drying racks but just in case I need them in an oven...

Tonight I pulled out my knot rope, keep one by my chair sometimes for practicing knots. It’s definitely a perishable skill for me. I use a short piece of climbing rope and practice a few knots while watching tv.

Wasn’t there a knot thread.. Practical Knots
 
Our dear neighbors brought over their 30 ton firewood splitter and took care of a large pile of ash and oak. Hopefully I can get it stacked and tarped tomorrow as we are supposed to have some rain on the way.
 
We are going to our local fire company Fall picnic this afternoon. I have a cake to make and then go help with set-up. It is a small community fire company and will be very enjoyable. I have a recipe for Apple Syrup for pancakes and waffles to try tomorrow. If it's any good, I'll can a batch. I get tired of just maple syrup sometimes.
 
Hanging with the grandkids in a little bit so their parents can go to the funeral of a friend who died of the dreaded virus or whatever the hell it's called.
Putting up homemade signs to keep people away from my front door. I have a dog who likes to bark and it is very annoying. Yesterday a young woman asked if my mom was home. Really? She needs glasses. It is against city ordinance to knock on my door. I put that on the new sign. ha. haha.
Not worried about LDS missionaries and JW.
Thinking about getting stuff planted late as usual, cooler season stuff.
 
Did the animals, did some garden picking. Cousin came over with his sons and collected the young cows he's had fattening up in our pasture. One of his sons brought out a saddled horse from the horse trailer when he arrived...he wanted to round them up cowboy style. Unusual for an amish, but it was entertaining. They brought over 10 lbs of fresh ground beef. They have a Jersey who is sterile, and asked if I'd pay for half the butchering, he'll half the jersey. Sounds good to me. Got the last of our beets cooked and cleaned, sliced up jalapenos and filled with cream cheese to have later. Got a bunch of nuts dry canned and realized I need more pecans. Husband and I took a drive, mostly to run our old truck, stopped for an ice cream cone.
 
Today we canned green beans, I had a can not seal and we seem to be seeing this a lot more than we did in years gone by... Mostly with the regular mouth jars... When we started inspecting the lids we noticed that some of the lids appear to have been slanted when the sealant was added, narrow on 1 side wide on the other. We check 2 of the new boxes and about 2 out of each box had this problem. I also pulled some older boxes and noticed that there was almost twice as much sealant on those lids as we saw on the new ones... Wife said someone isn't doing their job, I said that there is a machine that has been calibrated to minimize the amount of sealant... Company cutting corners... Not happy....
 
Today we canned green beans, I had a can not seal and we seem to be seeing this a lot more than we did in years gone by... Mostly with the regular mouth jars... When we started inspecting the lids we noticed that some of the lids appear to have been slanted when the sealant was added, narrow on 1 side wide on the other. We check 2 of the new boxes and about 2 out of each box had this problem. I also pulled some older boxes and noticed that there was almost twice as much sealant on those lids as we saw on the new ones... Wife said someone isn't doing their job, I said that there is a machine that has been calibrated to minimize the amount of sealant... Company cutting corners... Not happy....
The quality of lids has really gone down hill, Ball lids used to the best, my wife used to use them many times, now days the sealing compound looks like junk, thankfully she saved a lot of the older lids, we don't trust the new ones all that much.
 
Yesterday I took my truck to the dealership for all points inspection/diagnosis maintenance and transmission fluid change. Took about 4 hours. Discovered my phone is missing. No idea where it was. I thought it was on my desk charging. Looked all around and it's not there. Not in my pouch, not on my bed, not on the floor, not in the hallway, bathroom, living room, etc. Checked in the truck, driveway, etc too. Checked my pants pockets. Ugh. I've never lost a phone before.

Dealership didn't actually do the inspection but claimed it would cost $500 to fix the tailgate handle. I think it just has mud in it and needs to be greased. They charged $115 to claim I needed a new tailgate handle (but I can see they didn't touch the screws to take it apart to look & they did not diagnose error messages of check VSA, emissions, and ABS.

Got home and cats had pulled my keyboard out from under its cover and puked into the keyboard. It was full of saliva, wet fur, and chewed cat food. It was unplugged so I started cleaning it out and left it unplugged face down all day & night. Used tissues & toothpicks (as well as picks with bristles to clean it out). Was afraid to plug it in and cause a short. Took it to my friend's house today. He took it apart and fortunately nothing got through to the circuits. But my L key is not working properly. I have to mash it extra hard more than once to get it to work. Need to see if cleaning will fix that.

Still no sign of my missing cat. :-(
 
I worked on the pad for our covered bbq gazebo thingy. I don't even know what to call it. I had the neighbors kid helping. In the afternoon it was really hot. I was only compacting in the shady part to see what he would say or do. If he noticed he didn't say anything. I thought it was amusing. We still have several layers to do tomorrow. I am tired and pretty over it. Still to cheap to pay for a contractor though.
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Don't try to use the Tattler ring with a regular lid, the ring will slide in and not seal. Tattler rings have a step on them to keep them in position.
 
Cascadian, what materials are you using in the pad? Is that a tool you own or rent that you use to pack down the soil? Looks like something we need to do around here for when we get a new barn (hoping we can get one).

On the upside, I watched a short video that explained how to remove the keys with a fat zip tie (I used a metal barrette that I ninjad from Mom's room instead (I misplaced it so I need to find a new one or buy her another one). The N key went flying but I found it. I don't have hair ties, barrettes, etc. My brother has more hair care products than I do.

I was setting keys on the tray and my cat Itsy spilled them but I remembered the order. I only took a few keys off at a time. I would have done the whole thing if I could do it in the living room with no pets but the lights don't work and I lost daylight. I might take it apart in there tomorrow morning or afternoon inside of a plastic bin. I can lay all of the keys out in order inside the bin and worst case, before I do it, I will get a piece of paper and draw the keyboard and write down the key order. I'm feeling a bit better now that the keyboard is working properly again.
 
Got all the mowing done except for bushhogging which will come in the next 2-3 weeks. Ran the disc through most of the lower gardens, gonna try and pull cultivator plow thru it tomorrow and plant a late run of buckwheat. Picked 20 squash, 3 were bad but the others are solid. 2 of my late mater plants are done, only got 4 maters off them. Still got 2 other late plants and they have a few green ones on and 1 thats nearly ripe. Gonna pick peppers tomorrow, got 3 huge green bells for sure. Pulled the rest of my drip system and got it drained.
 
Gonna chill for today, I was on my feet for a large portion of the day yesterday and now my feet and ankles are arguing with me, lol. I'll show a little love to a couple of my firearms this afternoon, as they need a good scrubbing after yesterday's training exercises. On the plus side, I got some much needed trigger time, soooo relaxing.
 
Mom woke me up at midnight wanting food but I could barely move so she asked my brother to nuke something in the microwave for her. I will have to make stroganoff sometime this week though. Still no sign of my phone. I keep trying to remember the last time I saw it & where it was. I wonder if memory boosting vitamins would work and if it would help.

My brother wants to go into town to buy "ball washing supplies" and take a shower at our friend's house since we don't have hot water in the shower. (I take cold showers which is not going to be fun with weather getting colder.

I need to get another hooded cardigan to wear while my regular ones are drying. I need to wash some more laundry. I'm tempted to see if the washing machine will run on cold if it doesn't detect any hot water. I've been sink-washing stuff but need to do bedding and that can't be done in the sink.
 
Floors dusted.
Dishes done.
I had at least one hot meal today.
Fried green tomato sandwich, chips.
Got 15 beans soaking for 15 bean soup with ham hock going in the crock pot later.
So I will have several hot meals in the coming days.
Dad had a rough day today.
I've been sitting here this evening crying cause I know it's going to get worse.
My brother called today.
He wants me to think about moving closer to one of my sons sooner than later.
Or move closer to him instead of being 45 minutes away from my younger siblings.
My dad is worried about me being alone after her passes too.
Youngest son is 3 hours away north of me.
Oldest son is 25 minutes away from me south of me across the Missouri River.
I told my brother I would weight out my options then make my decision.
I have a half a**ed support system somewhat where I am.
Decisions, decisions.........
My sons got out a map of Missouri to look to see where I could live exactly in the middle between them.
I just laughed till I cried when I saw where it was.
Now all quilters know this little Missouri town.
Hometown of JC Penney.
Hamilton, Missouri- home of Missouri Star Quilt Company.
12-14 fabric shops. 2 yarn shops. several resturants,bed and breakfast etc.
I appreciate the thoughts of my sons.
But I can't live there unless they gave me an allowance of $500 each monthly.
 
I'm facing many of the same ones you are, not easy...

Went shopping in the big town today... my list of odd stuff. I keep a list of odd items that don't fit my regular shopping, stores I rarely go in etc. When I get enough odd items on the list it gets it's on shopping trip. Which is overly long because I have to actually shop, check two or three businesses before I find something or compare prices. I detest real shopping....
Me too.
 
I have a few prospects on a second doe for our rabbitry. K made me promise no more rabbits until I have a cage/hutch ready to go for them. I have 2 more coming on Thursday. I also finally spoke to someone about the damaged parts for the hutch. I have a parts order number but am now waiting for them to ship it! I am bordering on selling the damn hutch and going with a different setup if I can't get the parts in a week. I got the hutch for a really good price and I know I can sell it NEW for the going higher price or more.

I sealed 50lbs of wheat in mylar and buckets. I have tons of wheat now and a decent grinder. I might add another 50lbs to my next Azure order for sh*ts and giggles. Oats and corn meal are next to be sealed up. I have to run out for buckets and lids at Tractor supply first.

I am going to send K this weekend to see about getting firewood. We have some but I want to have plenty for the coming season. I need to finish up some paper bricks too. I have been thinking of putting a folding pruning saw and a bow saw in my wagon for the random branches/wood left out for trash collection that I see when running errands. I also figure they would come in handy for cutting dead wood on public property along the sides of the highway in the middle of the night...!

I need to double check my in house pantry for shelf stable foods and their expiration dates. The stores have bad dates on their products and I want to make sure my stock is good for a bit longer so I can find fresh supplies at the stores or can order fresh online.
In some parts of Missouri it against the law to cut down "dead" limbs, trees in the middle of the night on public domain{side of highway, forest}. You might ought to check hate to see you get ticket, fined and thrown in jail for wood.
 

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