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Post by hobbitlady on Oct 25, 2020 9:41:09 GMT -6
The power Co left an early am message on our phone(people in about 100 sq miles) that the power may be off for 12 hrs or so today. High winds and dry dry conditions.With so many trees in our region they don't want to risk a crash on a powerline causing another big fire. So we're heating up the house,all battery stuff is fully charged, and I have water everywhere.haha I saw the hazard warning online and cooked an extra dinner yesterday too. One day doesn't really bother us. We had a 4 day outage a few months ago and I sure missed this darn computer that time! (rolling eyes at self).
First overnight frost in the garden;so I got my last tomatoes and a few long skinny "Italian" peppers. My winter squash are under cover but I'll get them tomorrow or soon. They are said to be best after "kissed by frost" and that's pretty much what's happening now,haha. The stems are dry enough but the leaves are not dead yet...most years I can wait for that too. If the power Does go out I'll go pick the apples finally. I got 2 yrs worth of dust off my Victorio peeler and that'll be a good job for no elec.
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Post by feather on Oct 25, 2020 11:06:37 GMT -6
hobbitlady, YOU are well prepared. Water, food for in case, batteries charged.
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Post by mogal on Oct 25, 2020 12:41:34 GMT -6
Another popcorn thing: I use chopsticks to eat popcorn. That makes me eat more slowly so I'm "satisfied" with eating less.
Years ago, my stuffy ever so proper aunt invited me to spend 2 weeks with her and her husband in Colorado. I hadn't met DH then, still lived in the South. One night we went out to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. After we'd ordered, our beautiful little racially authentic waitress asked if we'd prefer chopsticks or Occidental type flatware. Now she and Uncle Bill had been career military, serving in Japan, Taiwan, Okinawa but she never mastered chopsticks. Uncle Bill asked for chopsticks. Auntie said she would prefer flatware then with a very supercilious, condescending tone, she told our waitress that I would use them too. I didn't hesitate a nanosecond in amending that request to ask for chopsticks. I promise you, she almost looked me up and down as though I were soiled somehow. "Where did YOU learn to use chopsticks?" Aunt G, I learned to use them from some first generation Chinese friends, thank you very much. I thought Uncle B would choke to keep from laughing. I don't think it was often that he got to see someone ONE UP my aunt. No more was said about the chopsticks vs. flatware question and she more or less ate her dinner in silence while I had a nice time visiting with Uncle. Aunt G was my mother's sister. (I realized some years back that the only aunt I really liked on that side of the family was my mother's only brother's wife. Her own sisters were a contentious, backbiting, vindictive bunch that I preferred to avoid once I was an adult.
So, I use chopsticks to eat popcorn.
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Post by feather on Oct 25, 2020 13:16:29 GMT -6
mogal, Interesting story you tell. I am not very good with chopsticks but I can't live without them. I have a set of 12 plastic chopsticks, from years ago, decorated ones. I have them in my wooden spoon/spatula/spider canister to the left of the stove. I use them every day, to loosen beans out of jars, or anything needs loosening in the bottom of a quart jar, or to stir a tall glass of tea (usually cold tea), or mix fruit in my water. There's no need for me to mess up a spatula or spoon with my handy chopsticks. When I used to freeze ground beef flat in a gallon zip lock bag, I'd use a chop stick to press into it in the middle of the pack both horizontally and vertically to divide it, so that 1/4th the mixture would come out when I only needed a quarter lb of it. When funneling herbs/spices into kitchen sized jars with funnels, the spices sometimes clog the funnel, the chopstick fits neatly through the funnel, easing the spices/herbs into the jar. It can also be used to push herbs/spices into the funnel tube at the top of the funnel. There are many more uses for them, in my kitchen.
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Post by adinwnc on Oct 25, 2020 15:56:56 GMT -6
I changed jobs after I had lived in Hawaii for about a year and went to work in the office of a t-shirt factory on the North Shore. I had been at that job about a week when they offered to include me in the lunch order. Great - food that I didn't have to cook. When lunch arrived chopsticks were the only eating implements. One of the ladies said they hoped that I knew how to use them, because everyone who couldn't use them just kept forks in their desks. I told them I could manage and proceeded to split the bamboo sticks in two and roll them together to remove any splinters. I made sure that my coworkers saw me eating one grain of rice at a time. They left me alone after that. (One of the missionaries from church had taught us about Japanese culture including how their kindergartners had to pick up individual grains of rice with chopsticks to pass the grade, so I was warned.) I still have a few pairs of enameled chopsticks. I like them better than the raw wood ones.
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Post by useless on Oct 25, 2020 17:51:50 GMT -6
adinwc, That reminds me! When I was a teenager, my Nana & I took the bus to downtown Pittsburgh to window shop. We went to a little Chinese restaurant she liked, for lunch. My Dad's assistant was Japanese; I learned to use chopsticks from him. The waitress said they didn't have any disposable ones: no one asked for them. The owner heard, though, and pulled his fancy carry-case out of his suit pocket. First he brought me an ice cube, and then he put down a dime, both of which I picked up. He washed the chopsticks off, and very formally handed them to me to use.
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Post by midtnmama on Oct 25, 2020 19:57:05 GMT -6
Tim Horton, I planted a rose that makes hips mainly for that purpose. I'll try to remember which kind it was. But I was surprised that my extremely common knockout roses have put out some hips. I didn't catch them in time so some are dried (I may propagate more with those).
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Post by midtnmama on Oct 25, 2020 19:58:11 GMT -6
Has anyone heard from manygoatsnomore ? I hope that she is doing well on her meds and will soon be back to her usual athletic self. mogal Love the comment about knowing where your willow tree is! Certainly hard to lose something that big.😉 adinwnc , I haven't heard from her for quite a while. Sent her a package that arrived yesterday, emailed her, PMed her, haven't heard anything back, so worried about her. I am worried as well. I hope we hear something soon. She was under the weather and I hope she is better soon and back here!
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Oct 26, 2020 11:33:09 GMT -6
For a weekend that we had no plans for, a lot got done, lol. Pulled the tomato plants, have a lot of green cherry tomatoes to deal with. I don't like green tomato relish, so looking for something else. Saw a recipe for a green tomato pie, tried it.....not to our taste. Needs ALLOT more sugar if I make it again...1/2 c wasn't near enough. And with all the cinnamon, it needs to be sweet. Put up Camp Chicky Icky. That's what we dubbed the cattle panel tent we put up in winter so our chicken have a spot that isn't snow covered. All treats will go in there through the winter. 5 wheelbarrow loads of wood chips when in to make sure they have something to dig in and keep them higher so as precipitation falls they don't get puddles in the tent. Come spring, Camp Chicky Icky can be found on the shores of Lake Chicky Icky, LOL. DH took his dad's mower back down to that property. He blew the leaves down there, too, so it looks like people are around. Sucked up the leaves here, too. All added to the garden beds. Ran to the salvage yard to see if we could find towers for and antenna. Not that trip, but did come home with 2 pieces of metal roofing. I want to use it to raise my raised beds....to standing height. Roofing is $1 a foot.....and they have tons! Might be able to get a better deal if we buy a big lot at once. But just enough for one 4x4 bed this time. I want to "perfect" how we are doing it before we start stacking up materials. We have lots of rotting wood to add to fill the beds with.....will hold moisture, fill the space, and break down into really great soil Picked up 2 huge cabbages today ($1.50 ea). Going to try making "real" sauerkraut (verses the mock sauerkraut I normally make then can). We watched a few videos and DH wants to help. SO I'll set them aside till he is free....likely this weekend. I was going to get them yesterday and do it, but time ran out. I'm thinking fermented food might be good....for gut health.....and knowledge.
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Post by useless on Oct 26, 2020 11:50:59 GMT -6
Ohio Dreamer, my sister makes a dill pickle of green tomatoes that's pretty good. I've made mincemeat, both with and w-o suet. The former I canned. The latter I froze since I didn't have a pressure-canner.
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Post by midtnmama on Oct 27, 2020 7:56:35 GMT -6
Ohio Dreamer, Lake Chicky-Icky. I love it!!! Can't wait to tell dh and think of a name for our outside chicken run (which we finished last weekend--a lot of work for a 15 x 10 space. Now I will fill with wood chips and make a tower around one of the supporting beams to grow greens for hte chickens. I'll throw in all the prunings as well. Although I use prunings to hold down the leaves in the garden. Then in spring, I use what is left of them to: 1. Mark rows 2. make twigs shoved next to tender seedlings to protect them 3. hold up flopping pepper or eggplants My goal is to prune nearly every day (yes, I AM behind) and haul to garden and chicken run. They goal is to have worms under all that organic matter that the chickens can eat. All my windows are holding newspaper or envelopes with seeds on them drying. I like to dry on the labeled recycled envelopes so I can pop them in and save for next season or for trading. I cut the envelope in half and staple the two packages of seeds. I have beautiful mounds of marigolds in my garden. They took up too much space and didn't bloom early enough to be of help with pollinators. So I'm saving seed for other areas. AND--They are edible and I use the pretty flowers in my salads and vietnamese summer rolls (hand salads). Very decorative. Does anyone know if the seed can be left on the ground now and have them grow in the spring?
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Post by mogal on Oct 27, 2020 9:53:52 GMT -6
I've had marigold seed sprout the next spring that was inadvertently left over winter but not reliably. I'm in Zone 5B if that's any help.
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Post by adinwnc on Oct 29, 2020 16:26:42 GMT -6
I have gotten some small prepping done this week that I wanted to share: 1. Flu and shingles shot before my insurance expires. Boy did the shingles shot make my arm sore. 2. Made appointment to get my eyes examined. It's been 3 or 4 years since I had my eyes checked and I need a new prescription for my glasses. 3. Took advantage of a grant that my rural electric company received and had FIBER internet installed for free. It is twice as fast as my 5G cable internet at the other house. I can now work from home at either house. 4. Consolidated 'stuff' and now have an additional empty cabinet in the kitchen. Yay! more space to store my stash. 5. Emptied 5 boxes that were living quietly in a corner of the living room. Recycled the packing materials. Still have 4 boxes to empty before the corner is clear. 6. Hurricane Zeta blew through NC today. We got 2-3 inches of rain and a few hours of 30+ mph winds. No flooding or trees down, so I am counting that as a win for being prepared for storms. 7. I used that last bit of my Health Savings account to supplement the first aid kit for our woodworking area. The box came in this week. I still need more things, but I got some bigger items at really good prices. 8. Cleaned out a few more canning jars where the jam had not set-up right. I checked my supply of lids and I have enough for 6+ months. I'll get more lids early in the Spring. 9. Finally decided where to put the garden beds at the new house. Since it doesn't get bitterly cold here, I will do some stone work this winter. I am thinking about three raised beds and two 8*8 patios, if all goes well. Makes my arms sore just thinking about moving the stone.
Hopefully, next week will be as productive.
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Post by useless on Oct 29, 2020 16:38:46 GMT -6
adinwc, wish my list of chores looked as productive and hopeful...
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Post by feather on Oct 29, 2020 16:43:52 GMT -6
adinwc, wish my list of chores looked as productive and hopeful... adinwnc, yes what useless , said, and awesome job getting so much done.
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Post by adinwnc on Oct 29, 2020 17:09:46 GMT -6
useless and feather Thank you both for the kind words!! Hopeful is exactly what I was going for - I am trying to choose to look forward to a Covid free, flu-free post election world.
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Oct 30, 2020 13:42:47 GMT -6
Just popped in for second....love the color scheme change!!! It feels kind of homey, lol. Been wet, so the leaves are still on the ground. I really want to get them up and into the garden, but I can't get them up wet. Maybe this weekend, I think we have a few dry days coming. Tried something new to me today, baked raised doughnuts. I'm not completely impressed....tastes like iced buns to me, lol. DS likes them....we'll see what DH and DD think. I just wanted something different for breakfast tomorrow. DH has been working 12 hr days this week....inventory. He comes in. eats, goes to bed. If I understood him right, they counted 2 million different parts! He's use to desk work, not crawling all over the stacks and getting up and down off the floor. He's feeling his age! Anyone else tired of this election cycle?? I'm tired of it being on the news....I'm tired of the name calling and lack of policy information. At this point I don't care who wins.....I just want them to stop! I voted 3rd party, so I know my candidate won't win, lol. But I couldn't waste my vote on either of the mainstream buffoons!! My faith keeps me for worrying about the outcome, but the fighting up to the election is really making me mad. RANT over I need to work on roosts for the coops. Baby coop has no roosts, and they are ready. I'm thinking 6" legs with a 2x4 topper should be enough. I don't want to attach it to the coop so I can move it when I move them in with the older girls in Dec. So I'm trying to think of a way to stabilize it. Maybe I'll have to attach it. I need more roost space in adult coop, too. I only have 5 that roost of the 13 in there, and there is room for more to roost. But if I get the babies use to roosting, once they move maybe the older ones will start roosting too.
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Post by mogal on Oct 30, 2020 14:06:30 GMT -6
Anyone else tired of this election cycle?? I'm tired of it being on the news....I'm tired of the name calling and lack of policy information. At this point I don't care who wins.....I just want them to stop! I voted 3rd party, so I know my candidate won't win, lol. But I couldn't waste my vote on either of the mainstream buffoons!! My faith keeps me for worrying about the outcome, but the fighting up to the election is really making me mad. RANT over I don't know which is more tedious--the ads for the various candidates or the Medicare advertising. Glad someone has heard from MGM.
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Oct 31, 2020 15:29:38 GMT -6
Glad someone has heard from MGM. Missed that someone heard from her. Is she Ok?? I went cruising forums looks for any updates on her.
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Post by feather on Oct 31, 2020 15:53:32 GMT -6
Glad someone has heard from MGM. Missed that someone heard from her. Is she Ok?? I went cruising forums looks for any updates on her. Ohio dreamer, she had been sick, clots lungs, before she took a break from the forum. She said she is recovering slowly, and OKAY. She didn't say GREAT. She said she misses everyone and eventually will be back.
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Post by Ohio Dreamer on Nov 1, 2020 6:43:19 GMT -6
Missed that someone heard from her. Is she Ok?? I went cruising forums looks for any updates on her. Ohio dreamer, she had been sick, clots lungs, before she took a break from the forum. She said she is recovering slowly, and OKAY. She didn't say GREAT. She said she misses everyone and eventually will be back. Thank you....anyone have a "card shower" started for her?
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