Look what I “found”
I was going through some old pictures to see what I had duplicates of and what should be weeded out… and found this. It is the picture I saved off the shelter website when I’d committed to adopting Gypsy. She was called “Lulu” then and we kind of kept it for her “middle name” … she’s formally (and when she’s in trouble) Gypsy Lou, and sometimes Gypsy Lulu (but only when we’re playing). She also answers to dachsie, dachshund, schnoxie, SNOTzie, little-legs, long and low, and stubby.
Ginger ultimately came from the same shelter (Brownwood) but she was fostered before I adopted her. Seems the humane society shelter (Dallas) wouldn’t accept her because of a chewed on ear. Ridiculous. She was going to be put to sleep instead of even given a chance so the rescue took her in and then she came to us.
The rest, as they say, is history. I cannot advocate more for shelter adoptions… and for adopting an adult. Everybody wants the puppies, nobody cares about the adult dogs, or so it seems. I set out to adopt adult dogs, and don’t regret it at all. If I had the room, I would definitely do it again.
Cheyenne’s Horribly Neglected Flowers Bloom Again
Amazing isn’t it? I thought for sure they’d be dead. LOL
We’re still talking over the plans for a garden in the backyard. Right now, it’s a matter of deciding whether we want to do raised beds or just till up what’s there. The problem with just tilling and planting, is that the area I’ve chosen (the only area that gets really decent sun) is also where all of the utilities enter the house. So, we have to worry about the gas line, electric, and the phone. Actually, we don’t REALLY have to worry about the phone any more, since it’s being disconnected.
Once I decide whether to hook us up with a VOIP phone or just rely on the cellphones, I will make a final decision concerning the phone. It’s not that important to me, since we have plenty of cellphone minutes. I would, however, prefer to have a more traditional-type phone at home, without having to worry about minutes for stuff like calling customer service numbers, since I could easily wipe out my cellphone’s minutes in one or two calls to TXU. If that is the case, then I get to play with the phone box, and while the incoming line will be useless (disconnected) I can still play with it and activate our VOIP line on all the jacks/wiring in the house. That’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. In our old house, in Dallas, I wanted to do this when we first signed up for Vonage (way back when) and was unable to since our landlord at the time decided to put the house’s siding over the damned phone box. He was kind of odd. The only challenge would be combining the jacks on the same circuit, since there were originally two phone lines in this house. One (right now) is active and the other has been disconnected for years. There’s also the possibility of a third line lurking in there, since I had one as a teenager, but I *THINK* when they installed the second line in 2007 for me to work from home, they used that circuit. Not sure on that, and won’t be until I get to that box.
One reason why I want to go the VOIP route, is I want to play with Asterix again. I found a way to make a PAP2 run a slim version of Asterix that I can play with, and that was so much fun when we had Vonage in Dallas. ALTHOUGH, I did have a dedicated computer at the time that ran all that – nothing like slimming down and getting it running on something that TECHNICALLY isn’t supposed to LOL. I just wonder if my brain can handle it all, as frustrating as some of it got back then. My mind doesn’t work like it used to.
Back to the garden: One thing we don’t REALLY have to worry much about anymore, is meter readers. Since they installed these new meters, we haven’t had anyone need to get around back there in almost a year. Let me tell you, I originally bought into the fear mongering over these new smart meters, but it’s really been a blessing. I like that I have so much data coming from it, and can estimate my bill by the week. Now if I could just get TXU to send the usage reports to the correct email address. I’ve changed it REPEATEDLY over the past several months and it (at first) kept changing back and now although it shows the correct address it still goes to the old one – which will be deactivated by the end of this week. We’ll see if that calls for a support call. Not looking forward to it. At all.
I know some of the things we intend to grow. We use a lot of potatoes and onions. We want to grow different types of lettuce and salad greens. I want to grow some cabbage (love that cabbage and corned beef!) and some fruits like strawberries and watermelons especially. Grapes are another necessity. We want carrots, beans and peas. It’s not a large area but if we use it right we don’t need that large a space. Tomatoes are another need. Ryan loves to eat them right off the vine, and they’re getting too expensive in the store. It’s all getting too expensive. When it costs less to feed your family junk than the good stuff, and you’re budget is extremely limited, you do what you have to do. I hate that we basically live on crap. That’s gotta change.
What we REALLY want to do is move. We want a place out in the country with about 5-10 acres, so we can raise our own chickens, goats and a couple of miniature cows. (I had originally insisted that I wanted turkeys too, but it’s not really feasible.) We also want to raise rabbits, both angoras for their hair and meat rabbits. I’m a little wary of that idea, but my mother says it’s good meat… OK then.
My goats were basically going to be for the fiber. I was going to learn to spin and make my own yarn. Yaknow since I love to knit so much (even though I cannot do it for any real stretch of time anymore). We were going to keep (most) of the girls for milk and sell or butcher the boys for meat. We’d also talked about making our own dog food, which is something I already do from time to time, but in this case we would know from start to finish EXACTLY what was going into it. I used to make my own dog food from ground meat I’d bought at the store, rice and veggies, and baby food. I’ll post more about that later.
Our guardians were going to be a pair of Great Pyrenees and a donkey named Xote. Say it out loud. LOL That whole plan is still in the backs of our minds, but there are more pressing items on the ol’ plate at the moment. We’ve successfully staved off tax foreclosure and all is well in that department, and we’ve just got to figure out how to get the hell out of here. Not only do I want to leave this house, but also this town and preferably this county completely. I’d much rather live somewhere that DOESN’T think it’s a municipal HOA and I’d much rather find a place to go where I can have my animals as I wish. Unfortunately, Texas isn’t the best place for farmers, either. So it might mean leaving the state as well. I do like the rules otherwise. It’s much easier in Texas to homeschool than lots of other places, but the agricultural rules are downright oppressive. And this from the state that claims to be business friendly? Yeah as long as you have LOTS of money to pay your congressmen and local officials off huh? Even here in rinky dinky little Corsicana, the rules are ridiculous. (I love how the city says sure you can have chickens … but you can’t have them within 250 feet of any neighbor … and there’s nowhere that conforms to that standard.) Well, I dream of being able to get out of here.
Now to listen to them tear up my street, for some unknown reason, so they can put it back just like it was. No idea why. Must need to justify some budget somewhere.
I made a few more insulin protectors
I’ve decided I may just go ahead and start putting some of these things online. Opened a store on wepay, thinking about possibly ebay, but with the current climate at etsy not really interested. Ha. Decided to go ahead and make a sample one for each type of yarn, and color scheme, and go from there. This is all of them to date. There’s still more yarn to sample.
Haven’t quite decided on the specifics yet, but I did find out tonight that I have a huge selection of books I don’t have room for anymore. *Quietly mulling over putting them online* I’m also thinking about making glucometer cases, and possibly pump sleeves. That’s kinda far out in the future, though.
Looking through old stuff and found this…
I did this as part of a class when I was in school. Got a decent grade on it I guess – I did keep it after all. :-D Was thinking about sharing out some of the things I’ve made, even created a category for them… Oh well, here it is. Creatively named “space1″ LOL
So I’m thinking … I know, scary, right?
Well I’m sitting here bored out of my mind, thinking about how badly I want out of here. I know that’s not an option any time in the near future. So I decided it’s about time to get it together and make this place better for the time being, anyway. So we’re making plans to start a garden in the smallish portion of the backyard that actually gets some sun. We’re going to clean up the backyard and make it habitable. I think the dogs will enjoy getting to run and play out there when we’re done. Going to make a privacy screen, kinda like this grill screen on Lowe’s Creative Ideas website. I fully intend to get the doggies one of those little kiddie pools with a slide. Of course, Ginger will not care one bit for it, and will most likely make a wide path around it, Gypsy – I think – will play in it if Cheyenne gets in with her. The way she does in the bathtub.
I AM NOT however, going to mess with the front or side yard… We NEVER use the front or side yard. At all… Well except for crossing it to get the mail or put out the garbage. It’s not there for me, it’s there for the neighbors. And, well, the neighbors are raging assholes. I worry about the prospects of having a garden out there. I don’t trust the moron next door enough to believe he will not sabotage it in some way. Remember, this is the guy who has destroyed two fences. To his credit he has fixed the last couple problems with it himself – nevermind he CREATED those problems in the first place, but at least he didn’t call in the P&Z to harass us for him, this time. I took the time to personally read the entire municipal code and to my credit I NOW know the rules as they stand. So I can refuse to allow my son to break the rules to satisfy an asshole on a power trip. I can simply ask “Oh, So you’re insisting we break one of your rules … in front of you … why? So you can write us a ticket?” I’d love to see his reaction to that LOL.
Also, we’re in real tax trouble. I can’t believe that it is ok for them to take your house over one year’s taxes. That doesn’t make sense to me. I think it is legalized theft. I understand if I had many years of back taxes, but to take a house that the county laughingly asserts is worth 82 thousand dollars over less than 2 thousand in taxes is ridiculous. They’re getting a “supposedly” 80 thousand dollar “gift” from me in that case. We’ve gotta try to work this out … nowhere else to go. And besides it would be a serious shame to lose the house I’ve lived in all my life over this. I have a strong feeling this is not going to be easy at all. I don’t have any doubt they’ll work with us on a solution. It would be ridiculous not to. Although, this IS Navarro County. Greed Greed Greed. So I’m worried but not excessively so, yet.
So, right now, I’m unable to sleep. Watching a documentary about this guy who is treating AIDS with probiotics and says that it is not caused by a virus but instead is caused by intestinal microflora. I can’t imagine thinking this way. So dangerous, and I’m surprised … very surprised … that in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence this sort of thinking is being promoted. Thinking about switching the channel, and hope nobody in their right mind is taking him seriously. That’s such a dangerous and irresponsible way to deal with it. They’re comparing his denialism now to the climate change denialists. I’ve yet to determine if they’re calling both of them idiots or not. I keep catching myself fussing at the TV. Makes me feel silly.
To these sort of people, I ask “How’s the weather there on your planet? Is it pleasant?”
I did find something tonight that got me a little bit giddy. Very rarely do I see coupons for diabetes items. Yeah, the occasional free meter offer, and such – usually through a service such as Liberty Medical or something like that – but tonight I found out that Dex4 offers coupons and special offers on their glucose products. Reli-on glucose gel, drink and tablets at Wal-Mart are some of the products I’m talking about here. On the Dex4 website, if you join the “community” you will get coupons like the one I scored tonight – B1G1 glucose tablets. I love the watermelon.
Speaking of watermelon, I really miss REAL watermelon. My mom and I were talking about this today. The watermelon in the stores is this seedless, tasteless, bitter mush that thinks it’s watermelon. It’s disgusting. And the last couple grossly overpriced packages of strawberries I’ve bought have been especially disgusting. This brings me right back ’round to my original topic of our garden, and my main motivation for wanting a garden. Produce doesn’t taste like it did when I was a kid. Nothing tastes right anymore, and the stuff that does taste right – stuff that HASN’T been molested by the likes of Monsanto and their evil – has been priced out of the reach of the typical consumer. It’s terrible. I have to wonder if the genes they’re tampering with that take the taste out of our foods are also taking vitamins or nutrients out as well. And I, for one, happen to LOVE watermelon. I miss watermelon! It seems when you take the seeds out you also take the taste out. Sickening that we spend so much on what is supposed to be healthy for our families and you’re left wondering just what the hell we’ve bought. Because the watermelon doesn’t taste like watermelon. Sometimes it doesn’t even LOOK like watermelon or smell like watermelon. Strawberries are merely strawberries in appearance and smell. They certainly have no taste. Every once in a while I’ll get a rare GOOD bunch of grapes but not in a LONG time have I gotten a really great bunch of grapes. I miss the grapes my Memaw used to have in her backyard. They were wild, and there was more flavor in one of them than an entire bag of the seedless Franken-Grapes you get at the store now. In case you can’t tell I’m a huge fan of fresh fruits and veggies. This is good. This is healthy. When it’s not molested. For the longest time I thought it was just me. Diabetes has tampered with my senses something horrible. Sometimes everything tastes like you would imagine (by smell) a dirty sweatsock would taste. When that happens I shrug and deal with it. But when my kids, who have never really had home grown produce, comment that the strawberries don’t taste right anymore … it’s a real problem. We’ve got the location and everything planned out, we just have to clean out the neck high weeds. LOL Between grandparents who in their failing health could not longer manage the yard the way they used to, and my illness(es) forbidding most of what *I* wanted to do – not much has been done with the yard, or house, in years. Or quite possibly a decade in some cases (the backyard area earmarked for this garden and backyard deck that has rotted out and must be dealt with). But now that I have able-bodied teenagers available to get most of the heavy lifting done, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I think the hardest part is going to be installing a stretch of rain gutter. For some reason I cannot figure out, the gutters on the front end at the southwest corner of the house, and the ones on the back end at the northwest corner. There’s no gutter along the west-facing side of the house, and it makes no sense at all. At least in this situation, we can install the right gutters and everything to put a rain barrel over there. Hopefully the city won’t decide that rain barrels are against code (there’s nothing in the code right now forbidding them, but with the way the water department is run, I can definitely see this happening). I could see it being like some western states like Utah who call it “theft” and outlaw the collection of rainwater, which is so irrational… Keep in mind we’re talking about the city who levies extra fees for the privilege of paying your water bill, and also charged trash collection and sewer usage on my grandparents’ sprinkler meter, thus charging them twice for trash collection and sewer usage on a system that had no sewer usage, since the only water usage soaked into the lawn. Makes sense to me … *eyeroll*
Regarding the fence, I intend to fix it a panel or two at a time – which is perfectly acceptable according to the municipal code, and also DOESN’T require a permit, provided I re-set no more than 25% at any given time. So that’s what I plan to do. It shouldn’t take too long, especially since the only stretch of fence there’s any problems with are along our property border with azzhole alkie redneck neighbor. AND if he’d leave the damned thing ALONE in the first goddamned place, there would be no problem. IN FACT the original fence would probably still be standing – and we likely would have just needed to do the minor repairs. BUT since he cannot seem to stay off our fence, it now needs total replacement for the second time in three years. BUT ONLY ALONG THAT SIDE. The rest of the fence around our backyard, INCLUDING a stretch from the original fence (which I hit in my big-ass Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight – BIG EFFIN CAR – way back when I was learning to drive) is still standing perfectly, with no hint of any sort of trouble. AT ALL. Funny isn’t it, how fences magically fall over on that side of the yard alone. Hmm.
I’m also on the lookout for bird netting. If we’re going to be growing ANYTHING, we’ve a very real need to keep the feckin’ birds out of it. Last time we tried to grow strawberries the little feckers would eat them and then shit them all over my car, as if they were really rubbin’ it in. Since this is not an option:
we have to net the garden to keep them out. Watch the P&Z IzaN come by and say “no you can’t have that” … Yeah we’ll have to just lose every bit of the garden to those damn birds. :-(
It’s late, I’m tired, and this has taken far too much of my time. And besides it’s very difficult to type AROUND a needy little schnoxie.
