Just need to talk to my friends (197)

Lorita

It's a Ninja, pretty big but not as big I don't think as some. Somewhere I have the smaller containers but have misplaced the blades for it. Went to he mailbox and now running fresh water for GL and topping off the water tank. The girls had gotten part of a cattle panel.out of the stall door so had to put that back while I was out. Everyone has gone down to graze. Still hot out there.

Got the sprinkler going on the Caledonia and transplanted violets. Think I need to another length of hose. Darwin called and said he has to go back for follow-up tomorrow. One of his daughters will take him.He dreads going.

Sandy, I think it was the phone charger. Used the new one I had and it charged in about an hour. Than kks for the suggestion.

Sleep well and stay cool.

Mint

good morning everyone,

JeriLynn I drove the tractor when my dad made hay. I could not lift the bales of hay without pulling the strings too high. So he taught me to drive the tractor.

Hope your testing went well yesterday, Iris.

Beth I just put a little bacon, grease or avocado oil in my green beans. That’s the way I was raised. I do not eat almonds and spinach at all anymore because both of them are very high in oxalates. Spinach is the highest food in oxalates I think. Oxalates are one of the causes of kidney stones. I also quit eating beets. They’re also very high and I really miss my pickled beets, those are the only three things I cut out of my diet after my kidney stone. I eat things that are just high in oxalates, but I try to be aware of what I’m eating and control the portion size of those things and always have a dairy product with them . Calcium if I understand correctly helps absorb the oxalate and then instead of them going out through your urine they leave out through your bowel.

i’ve used different fruits in smoothies in the past. Here lately, I’ve mainly been using pineapple and banana. But blueberries are coming on and I have quite a few frozen strawberries .

the deer ate my day lily buds last night almost every one of them, and they ate off one of my sunflowers while they were at it. I have a plan though that I just thought of this morning for next time. Cause I’m not going to spray I I have all the work to do I can handle. When the buds start forming I’m going to take tulle and spread over the top of them and I’ll have a few little bamboo stakes around and I’ll take clothes pins and clip them together at night. They always eat them at night and they just eat the buds. All the rest of the stem is standing there, so that’ll be pretty easy to do. I used to fence them in when I first moved here but I just don’t have time to mess with that morning and night anymore. I just have two daylilies and they’re together At another house where my daylilies were back from the house what I actually did was I put up stakes and I ran fish line around the stakes. They could not see the fish line and they know it’s there though cause they feel it and they will not bother your lily. that worked great when I did that . But I’m not messing with that anymore either.

my mom is being accepting so far of the things my sister and I are doing to try and keep the bed from getting wet. Now my sister and I’ve just got to get smart enough to make it work. It was better yesterday morning. We did not have to wash the bed protector only the sheets. We have worked the Pee pad up to the top though for last night. so hopefully my sister will only have to wash the pads.. I also just found a pad on Amazon with quite a few reviews that had close to a five star rating. I’m going to order one of them I think whenever I place an order next. it will just fit on the top of the bed. Sister has ordered some pads that also help cover the side of the bed.

hope everyone has a nice day and not too hot

JeriLynn66

Good morning. We are driving up past Knoxville for some car parts for DH's 1963 Chevy Super Sport II that he found on a FB car restoration page today. 4 hours up and back. I may take my laptop. I could use that time to be home working on Estate matters, but I don't like for DH to go to these private homes to get these parts. I think it's risky. But he puts a pistol in his pocket and I stay in the truck with mine in my hand.

Mint, we have a keeper for bacon grease by the stove. It goes in green beans, cornbread, almost anything tastes better with bacon grease, lol. I hate that the deer are getting your lillies. We have deer in the back and they use the back pond but they don't venture to the yard. They would have to cross lots of open, planted fields and pasture to get to my flowers and vegetables. I'm glad they don't take the risk.

Lorita, yogurt is to smoothies as ice cream is to a milkshake. I use about 3 oz almond milk, ice, then 3 big dollops of Greek vanilla yogurt, my fresh and frozen fruit, coconut, maybe something green, a dollop of local honey, a splash of vanilla flavoring then another drizzle of milk in a 14 oz off brand Ninja. The bird goes NUTS when I'm blending.

Time for me to go get dressed. Car parts await. As does Chattanooga traffic. 😕 BBL

jfkoc

here…

Mint…I used a waterproof crib pad under Dick

David1946

Hello all, just went food shopping and for the first time in a long time on the way home it felt like car was closing on me my wife said take some deep breath I did it helped some.But I couldn't Wait to get out of the car and get some fresh air. It took awhile for me to stand up my legs felt like rubber. I came in the house and sat in my chair now I feel a lot better.I also have had Vertigo In the past I am wondering if I had a small attack??

Lorita

Hi, could be, DAVID, or a panic attack. I had one of those years ago and my legs felt !ike they wouldn't hold me up. It passed within ten minutes. Glad you're feeling better.

I slept until 7:30i this morning and I'm thinking about a nap now. Went out and gave GL fresh water and her feed. I'm cutting her rations but keep giving her some so she will come up. I emptied the big water tank after it got low enough last njght. Dirt blows in so brushed it so they have good, clean water. Didn't go out in the pastures but got some sort of allergen while I was out.

Tried to see the new baby using binoculars but couldn't locate him or his mom. Lots of good shade trees at the MH so guess all of isit them will be there. Excessive heat warning begins about five miles south of us today.

cher woukdher I have found that I can watch many shows on my tablet. Just watched QVC Denim & Co. Live and I can get local news and our 3 hr. Morning show. Watched an old episode of All in the Family last night so for now I'm good to go.The quiet is kind of to wash the dig. If the tV is here it's on all day. This way I get a break. I will have it fixed soon.no just proof read and I had typed. Binoculars and it printed. Icy pillars. What's going on?

JeiLynn, hope you have a safe, successful trip. When I drove back and forth to work I always carried a pistol. Maybe should start doing it again. You're really not safe anywhere anymore. Thanks for the smoothie recipe.

Bacon grease -when I was growing up we also kept a container of it on the stove. We cooked a lot of potatoes with the jacket on. I remember seeing daddy peel his, cut it up and go into the kitchen to put some bacon grease on it. Charles and I kept a little container of it, too. When his mother would come to visit, the first thing she would do was put the grease in something else and clean the container. Next thing was to wash the dog dish. Funny how those things stick in your mind.

Back later

Mint

JeriLynn my aunt gave me her aluminum grease canister. I don’t keep grease in it. Lol I keep it in a mason jar but I appreciate her giving it to me and I was surprised. I found out that one of my sister saw it and said oh Sara would love that so when they came up a few years ago, she brought it to me, I don’t use bacon grease a lot. About the only time I ever use it is for green beans and pinto beans but I don’t even always use it then, but they do taste so much better with it.

Judith pthank you for that suggestion today. I appreciate any thoughts from anybody. I haven’t talked to my sister yet today I probably won’t talk to her till this evening because I have mom the next two days so we sort of like report off. I’m hoping that she only had to wash pads this morning and not sheets and especially mattress protector but we’ll see.

David that would definitely be something to talk with your physician about. I don’t know, but I am guessing that there could be various things that could cause that

it’s raining here now just started maybe 30 or 45 minutes ago. I knew they’re giving rain for the next probably day and a half or so. It’s been thundering but the rain is gentle and so far no strong wind. I got my flowerbeds all weeded. I try to do that once a week. so siding on the back of my house has had the spots on it probably since I lived here which is six years. And I keep wanting to see if I could wash it off so today I finally thought Sara you would do better if you did this in small increments instead of at one time. So I had about a half an hour and I just put Dawn dish soap in some water and I can use the scrub brush and it comes off really pretty easy And so I got a section done. It’ll look so much better. That always bothers me every time I walk by there. It’ll take me a while. I have a lot of projects at my house and my mom‘s house that just have to be done in pieces and parts because that’s how it is now .

I picked some oregano, time, basil, and parsley. Hopefully this afternoon, I’ll get them in the dehydrator.

I made some popcorn while I was cooking my lunch and I put Ghee on it. I really like Ghee for popcorn. It’s a game changer.I made my sister some more last weekend. I think it’s the third time I’ve made it for her now. This time I got it a little more brown or I haven’t been doing so good with that. Definitely had a more nutty smell. my sister said she’s never really had any that tasted nutty that she’s bought so it’s going to be interesting to see him if it also has a little nutty flavor or not . The only thing that I’m disliking about making the ghee is it splatters all over my oven even though I only do a pound at a time and I do it in the 8 quart Pyrex bowl. I told my sister that, she goes I have the answer for you for that. so I ordered a metal colander with very fine holes all over it and she said if I do it with that turned upside down over it it’s still gets all the air it needs, but that you won’t have near the splattering all over your stove, so I’m trying it next time. That will be great if it works.

OK lunch is over. I guess I better get back to work. Talk to you guys later.

jfkoc

Mint…I do not have 'splatter" when making Ghee. I use a pot on the stove.

melt 1 lb good unsalted butter on low> turn up a bit> skim off the whey> cook until golden brown> strain through cheese cloth.

I think the shape of the pyrex bowl would at best slow the browning of the butter.

'

Mint

Judith, you are right the pyrex bowl does slow down the browning process, it takes longer. I don’t have to stand and tend to it though. I can do other things while it’s doing its thing. Straining it is another thing I have issues with. I skim off the way then I use several layers of cheese cloth to strain the rest. it just went straight through all of it including the stuff on the bottom. So then I read some people had that issue but they had better luck with a non-disposable cheesecloth. So I ordered a non-disposable cheesecloth, but the very same thing happened so I actually have been ladling off the ghee, and I’ve gotten pretty good at that. I can get most of it and waste very little. What type of cheesecloth do you use? Maybe someday I’ll try it on top of the stove.

Lorita

What is the advantage of having ghee? Is it strictly for the taste and is it that much better than butter?

BethL

I've never made ghee, nor have I tried it. The nuttiness sounds delicious. Do you use it on anything that you would use butter on? Last time we bought groceries, I got some Kerry Gold butter. As far as taste, I really didn't think it was any better than the butter I usually purchase.

NW Iowa is having flooding now. We are kind of dry here and needing rain. However, the drought monitor shows that our area is no longer in drought. Heat index here 106, actual temp went up to 95. Off and on thunder but no rain yet. We are expecting thunderstorms tonight and overnight. Hopefully not damaging storms.

HB, a 'Jane' magnolia is beautiful. I have only had one magnolia. It may have been called 'Rose Marie,' not sure. Unfortunately it didn't live long, maybe because I had it planted in clay soil - which is common here. I have a friend who probably has 20 magnolias. He lives on an acreage and has amazing gardens.

Jo, hope you are improving and that your son David is as well.

Photos of my very favorite daylily. I have around 100 of them. The name of this one is 'Carnival in Mexico.' Also pictured 'Bold Stripe.' 'Bold Stripe' has special meaning to me. It was given to me by my dad's cousin.

jfkoc

I think it is for the "nutty" taste. It is also a good choice for people with a lactose problem.

Mint…are you cooking in the microwave?? How can the stuff brown w/o a flat bottom on heat? I have regular cheese cloth.. NO way am I going to wash cheesecloth…lol

Lorita

Beth your daylillies are so.pretty. I bet it's glorious when all.of them.bloom. What are the tiny white flowers in the picture.Sort.of cloudy here but so hot and humid. There may be some rain or storms NW of Tulsa later.

Mint

my understanding is you can use ghee for anything you use butter for except baking. What I read was that you can’t use it for baking because all the moisture has been removed from the butter. Whether that’s true or not I’m not sure. It is quite expensive if you buy it. My sister likes ghee, she has a lot of food intolerances, so mainly I’ve been making it for her. I’ve just been using mine on popcorn, and my sister is the one who told me about how good Ghee is on popcorn and it is. Because the water has been removed, it does not make your popcorn soft at all yet you have the good butter flavor. I kind of enjoy making it and I really will if I can get a couple of the kinks worked out.

Beth, your flowers are beautiful as always. I like the flowering tobacco. I’m assuming yours is probably a perennial type? I’ve had those in the past. This year I have an annual type one is pink and one is white. I don’t know whether the ones I have will be fragrant or not. In the past I have had colored ones that were very fragrant and they were annuals. They were not perennials, but I started those myself from seed. These I bought at a nursery.

Judith i bake it in the oven on either 250 or 300. The Pyrex bowl I use has a flat bottom. And it does brown but the more butter you melt at one time of course the longer it’s gonna take for it to brown so that’s why I only do 1 pound at a time. The reason most people gave for using the oven is simply what I said because you don’t have to babysit it. I can put it in there and I can go ahead and do all my other work. It usually takes about an hour and a half for it to start browning. I’ve tried pans such as 8 x 8 9 x 13 which do brown quicker but due to the larger area the ghee has the layer of ghee more spread out. And since I’ve not had luck with any cheesecloth I’ve tried using and I ladle, it’s easier to ladle from a deep layer than a thin layer. I will be satisfied if I can get the butter to keep from splattering all over the stove. I don’t have any problem with ladling the ghee. There are other people who do that instead of using cheese cloth.. That’s where I got the idea.

jfkoc

mint…here is a good oven made Ghee recipe, I like the use of an old tee shirt.

BethL

Mint and Lorita, The white flowers are Nicotiana, also known as flowering tobacco. I have some that are about 3 feet tall and some shorter. The only ones blooming now are white. They are annuals that I planted from seed. A friend of mine said hers have re-seeded from year to year. I hope that will happen here.

Sleep well tonight.

Hugs, Beth

Lorita

Good night, everyone. I hear thunder north of us. Keep your fingers crossed that we get some rain.

BethL

Kind of a violent storm going on right now. I woke up and came downstairs because it was scary, with lots of wind plus hail. It is beginning to calm down. We are getting heavy rain for which I am thankful. I saw quite a few pics of funnel clouds in Iowa online - none touched down, as far as I know.

Mint

good morning everyone,

Judith I’ve seen other people say they use T-shirts. I’m going to try to remember when I make it next time to try a T-shirt. Thank you for the suggestion..

beth if I like my flowering tobacco this year, I’ll try to remember to let some of it go to seed in the fall. I know the perennial will recede itself. Good to know that the annual will too. You said you started yours from seed this year. Did you sell it direct. If you did, I’m going to try to remember that too because I really like sewing seeds direct. It’s kind of a pain right at first due to slugs, etc. but once you get past that it’s great it’s so much easier.

beth hope you got a good rain. We’ve got a fourth of an inch to days in a row now. And they’re giving more rain today and we’re getting the possibility of some strong thunderstorms this afternoon.

Hope each one has a peaceful day

JeriLynn66

Good morning. We made it up and back safely, though it turned out to be a longer drive due to several accidents in Chattanooga. The guy with the parts was really nice. He lived in the country and showed us his roosters, hens and goats and they all had names. He went in the pen and picked up several to show us. All the roosters were a Silkie mix and are used for meat. They were huge! But, I could not name my animal and then sell it knowing it was going to be supper for someone. But that's country life.

So we had a 12 hour day. Another long day today with cooking, driving food up to Scottsboro, 2 banking stops, 1 Staples run for printer ink and deliver the car parts to the guys working on the car body.

But I slept a long time last night. All the animals are fine. Supposed to storm here today. We need the rain. The grass crunches as you walk across it.

Hope everyone has a good day.

BethL

Mint, I direct sowed my flowering tobacco. I got the seeds from Park Seed. The seeds are pelleted (since they are so tiny). My germination rates were not good, but I put a lot of seeds down so I have several plants growing.

We got 1.5" of rain overnight.

JeriLynn, sounds like you had a good day, but a busy and tiring day! Try to get rested up. How about an air mattress in the pool? Nothing more relaxing.

Lorita

It's raining! Probably won't get much but it's nice. Storms north if here but not sure if they'll make it down here. Glad you had a safe trip, JetiLynn. I'm the same way about selling cows. We sold some to a neighbor once and that was okay. Once we sent some to the sale in Tulsa, had regrets so I called before they sold and had a trucker bring them home. When they got home, they hit the ground running when he opened the trailer doors. Never again.

harshedbuzz

Good morning all.

Lorita— one advantage to ghee is its higher smoke point. It's about 100F higher than butter so better for sauteing.

Beth— I'm sorry about your magnolia. I lost the sister to this one after the deer got it. In retrospect, I planted it too close to my flowering cherry, so it wasn't entirely a bad thing after all. My soil has a lot of clay— enough that plants which require good drainage are on my no-fly list. It's fairly acidic as well.

Jerilynn— I hear you on the crunchy grass. I have a few areas in my lawn that are quite crispy at the moment. It's not unusual to have the lawns go brown and dormant here in late July/August but June is unusual.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We're supposed to get some thunderstorms this evening. It's DS's "cheat day" so we're planning to go out for pizza for dinner rather than heat up the house.

We're having the driveway recapped, hopefully next week. This will limit access to the garage and walk to the front door. I need to transplant some perennials so we can get to the front door without wading through a jungle of plants. Perhaps this will be the impetuous to finally move/split the peonies which are out-of-control. One of mom's didn't make it so I could plant at her place if I run out of room here— she loves a freebie. It's ironic as I have been working on the front bed to fill in the gaps the last couple of years and now that I have achieved it, I have to go in another direction. Boo.

I took mom to the pool yesterday. She hasn't any appointments until the middle of July so I figured it might be nice to do something fun for a change. Since dad died, she's been verbally processing her life. TBH, I would rather not hear some of what I am hearing although it does provide context to things I wondered about as a kid into adulthood. Yesterday was one of those days. She was going on about a former friend who was the alpha wife in the social circle that unceremoniously dropped them during that time when dad was grieving my sister's death/lost his social filter. She said the wife had a baby after the husband was diagnosed with cancer and retired— while this would be possible using assisted reproductive technology the mom would have been in her mid-50s at the time. Then she's telling me all about this kid who would be an adult now claiming to hear about this from a friend who doesn't quite line up- she said the husband gave dad a riding mower but I know the mower came from some other friend. Then she went into some crazy story about writing a story in junior high in which she coincidentally gave her protagonist dad's name. So weird— I mean if she had done this, I would have expected it to have been an oft told story rather than a revelation at the age of 86.

I'll see her again on Saturday when I take her to my niece's house for a BBQ. I'll stay for an hour or so and then duck out to visit my friend who will be in the hospital after her surgery Friday.

TL;DR I think she may be confabulating. It's odd, dad's WKS came with some world-class conflating, but given my very guarded relationship with him I always found the behavior fascinating and even entertaining once I understood it. With my mom, who I like as well as love as a human being, it triggers a real flight response. I sort of nodded and went along but I need to work on this for my own sanity.

These are my daylilies. The yellow "Hyperion"; I dug her up at my old house after the flood and transplanted it here. I have no idea what the purple are called; they were $3.98 impulse buys at Walmart about 10 years ago. I think the pale peach are also transplants from my old house; this is the first time I've actually seen it bloom. It was slow to get started when I put in the mixed bed from White Flower Farm at the old house and the deer have gotten to them every spring since they've been here.

Wishing all a pleasant day.

HB

jfkoc

Wicked storm last night…Wind gusts up to 85mph…deafening hail…I may need to have my shake roof repaired…have not checked my car yet…so humid right now you could cut the air with a knife.

ronald71111

1 month today and it's no easier! Lou, I miss you so much!

Ron

David1946

Hello,90 right now and low humidity maybe heavy down pours later.

Just came back from COA and had an excellent lunch also played bingo now don't laugh I had to split one pot with 3 people and we each received get this a whopping one dollar and twenty five cents. I go for the fun not the money.

jfkoc

Ron… one can explain how very hard the death of a spouse can be. The acute pain will lessen but I don't think it leaves.

Add to that that you have lost your 'job" and you are worn out.

It is rough, you will be forever changed but the day will come when you will answer "I am fine". It is a term that we in stage 8 understand all too well.

Please keep posting or at least reading.

-Judith

Mint

Ron nice to hear from you and know that you’re quietly still sitting on the porch with us.

We are getting a nice, gentle rain so far this afternoon. We got a little over 3/10 of an inch so far.

I cleaned mom’s house today and that went pretty well. My sister told me about a product Brona that can be used almost on any type of floor. So I got some and used it on the kitchen and the bathroom tiles and that’s working good. I’ve not mentioned it and she’s not fussed at me about it. Her complaint was, she didn’t want to fall which I understand and believe me, I don’t want her to fall either. With this, the floor is not slippery at all because I spray it on, dry mop it and when I walk on it, it is not slippery whatsoever, so should work I think. It’s not that warm here today, but it was hot in that house. I think more humidity than anything I was sweating and she said to me your cheeks are Rosie.

Since we’ve had good rains three days in a row now, I will not have to water even my containers tomorrow, so I’m going to try to sweep her basement again tomorrow if nothing happens. I did it a few months ago but I noticed it’s needing it again. The bed was dry this morning. Yay. Got my first tomato yesterday from the plants I planted. It was a cherry tomato. They’re always first, Sungold.

Judith today I was watching somebody make tzatziki sauce. They used a kitchen towel for draining the cucumbers that might work to, but I hope to try the old T-shirt first because someone I know has success with that. Thank you.

HB have you ever made tzatziki sauce? I found a recipe by a guy on a Greek channel so hopefully I will find the time to try it and I hope it’s good. I really like tzatziki sauce. I noticed he said to use a a good Greek olive oil now that is out of my league. I have no idea what a good Greek olive oil is, but maybe you know that HB too. The girl, my nephew just married her dad is Greek. She went on vacation with my sister’s family last summer and my sister had mentioned that she seem to be interested in olive oil’s. She noticed her looking at them and I guess buying some, so if you don’t know HB, I think I might message her and try to get her to give me an education. I did ask her a while back if she made tzatziki sauce. But she said her grandmother made it and I think it may be the one that passed away fairly recently. So I took it that she did not really know how to make it.

I’m sitting out on the porch, eating my supper and it seems like the Cardinals are really enjoying the rain. They’re just flying and playing all around. I seen some down in my new flower bed. Hope they’re not the ones that gave it such a hard time this spring. I do have some survivors and a few overcomers of it all. There are a few bare spots also.

Hope each one gets a good nights rest

Lorita

Judith, we just had a terrible storm. WInd, not gusts were at least 70 mph, no hail.but torrential rain. Mike and Sidney came by about 7:30, before the storm, and he said our gauge had an inch of rain. I.checked after the storm and it had 2.5". We really needed it but I imagine farmers had hay down but it will dry- pastures really needed it. I had asked him about ear mite medicine for Stormy and he brought that. They were close by checking bulls and had to stop when it rained a little earlier.

. I lost one of my four Royal Empress trees. It was six feet tall, taller than the others.The trunk was already woody- it split just above the ground. It didn't have any shelter and had lots of huge leaves. It was close to the new maple but still hate to lose it. Another wss partially blown over but I straightened and staked it.

I drove up to check on the new baby and others. They were fine. Charles always said they had a good bath after we had a rain . probably felt good after the hot.day.

Darwin brought vegetables yesterday and Mike brought some this morning. I have yel!ow squash, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, corn and spinach. Looks like I need to cook. So nice of them. They've done this for several years now. Guess they're taking care of the old lady.

It's nice and cool now but supposed to.be.really and humid this afternoon. Still cloury and I wish it would stay that way. My daylillies are the old fashioned kind, orange ones we dug up at an old house place and transplanted but they bloomed well this year and were pretty. Many years ago we had a big bed of all kinds of daylillies at our VA Hospital that were beautiful. Wonder if it is still there. Back later.

Lorita

The above post was written about 10 this morning. For some reason it didn't get posted.

Ron, it's good to hear from you. We all know how hard this is for you. There will be times when you feel better and times when you have a hard time. I think I was busy during the first month doing all the paperwork and taking care of the cattle in wintet. That was a good thing no time to think. It's still hard sometimes and probably the same for others. You were a wonderful husband to Lou and a non failing caregiver for her.

The first thing I did on my way home from the funeral was to get some pictures of Charles printed. I put one on the bathroom mirror and a framed 8x10 on the table between our chairs. It made me feel sort of like he was here. I still have a 5x8 there.

Take your time to heal , rest and remember the good years you two had. Post when you want to. Someone is always here and glad to hear from you.

Called Directv and a repairman will be here between 12 and 4 tomorrow. I can get a lot of things I normally watch on the tablet except, Zetta, I can't find Wagon Train. It's hot with a heat index of 101 and very humid.

Mint, glad your day went well.