Saturday, September 18, 2010

This and That

As usual our lives are full of adventures, can never understand the people who complain about
being bored. I don't have time to be bored!! Let's see Jim's job hunt continues, we are still
resiting moving and sending up lots of prayers for an answer. He is still working around here fixing things and winterizing. The attic is two steps closer to being weather proof, he replaced
the two smaller windows in the front. Amazing how good windows make a difference, you can raise and lower these with 2 fingers. A couple of weeks after those were installed the next set of windows arrived. Now the North side of the attic has a wonderful pair o
f crank out windows in place of the jury rigged non working windows. When Jim removed the old windows he found no insulation and lots of gaps. He also found that the solution previous owners had used was to take two old windows and screw them together. We now have one reason for the attic being so uncomfortable. The new windows are energy efficient and tinted, it is wonderful to be able to open them and get fresh air flowing through. There was a persistent musty air which made time spent up there less then lovely.

Which bring me to another development, I will be spend more time in the attic at my desk working!! I finally made it through all the classes and certification, what a stressy time all that was. I received the news yesterday that I had passed and am now officially a member of the AAA team. I even worked one half hour shift last night, now that is a whole other story!!
The very first call I took was an accident! The lady was naturally upset, but also very impatient and cursing all of which made the call a challenge. We need to gather a certain amount of information for dispatch so they know what equipment to send and to locate the member. I made it throug
h mostly intact , at 3:00 am while mentally reviewing the call there were some gaps but none major. The next 2 calls were pretty routine and then my shift was over and boy was I relieved. I work another 2 hours tonight and will spend today going over notes and trying to be more prepared.

The weather is v
ery cool, more so then usual so I am a bit worried about my garden. I am going to dig up a couple of my basil plants to bring in. I read a good article on Basil , both growing inside and ways to preserve. I also have bushels of green tomatoes which I am hoping will get to ripen. I have a nice variety of pumpkins and if we can avoid a frost I should make a few dollars selling them. One picture shows a larger specimen and the second picture shows our pumpkin tree. A few of the vines took off and climbed some of the smaller trees,lol.

Speaking of selling, we are
doing well with the eggs, the chickens are self supporting. Jim and I are discussing making a new larger coop with additional nesting boxes. The current coop would then become home for new chickens that we will purchase in the Spring. Our chickens lay only brown eggs which are in demand. For next year the plan is to take them up into MN closer to larger cities where the brown eggs sell for around $4.00 per dozen. We now gather a little over two and a half dozen a day and have calls from people buying 10 and 12 dozen at a time.

So life at the homestead continues, learning new things all the time and finding new adventures. I planted Heirloom roses last Fall and have been enjoying them all Summer, was so grateful I found a spot where they would thrive. Most of what I plant is for zone 4 but some of roses are a 5 which puts them on the edge. The first year over here I planted lots of roses and lost nearly all of them. So bit by bit I have learned the secret of protecting them over the winter.

Be well my friends and enjoy life!!

Barbara

3 comments:

violetlady said...

So glad to hear how full and successful your life is becoming. I think you are the kind of person who, when given lemons, says "Let's make lemonade!" Continued good luck to you and Jim. We have never met, but I am very proud of you.

Edie Marie's Attic said...

Hi Barb! Happy to hear you made it through class and starting to work at your new job... we were all new at a job at sometime, before you know it you will feel like a pro! Glad to hear Jim is "buttoning up" the attic for you. Have you tried boxes of baking soda up there to try to draw out some of the must? It can be a challenge.
Sure wish I was there to buy some of your brown eggs! They are so great. Much love to you and Jim!!

Big hugs, Sherry & Wes

Carole Burant said...

I had to giggle when I saw your "pumpkin tree"! hehe How neat is that!! I knew this one man who had pumpkins growing in his garden and this one year he had one climb up onto his shed and grew to be huge! It was just so funny driving by and seeing such a huge pumpkin on top of a shed roof:-)

When Corey was little, we had gone over to my sister in law's farm and one morning she came in with brown eggs that she had just gathered from her chickens. Corey had always only eaten white eggs so when he saw the brown ones he asked why they were brown. My SIL said "oh that's because they're fresh eggs", just as a little joke. Well that always stayed with him and after that, anytime we'd be at the grocery store and he'd see brown eggs he'd say "those are fresh eggs, aren't they mom?!" lol

It certainly does sound like you've been very busy! Good for you for passing your class and starting on your new job!!!! All the best of luck to you:-) xoxo