Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[thistlebloom]

I sure don't envy you moving cross country with all of that stuff. We moved 1500 miles and it all had to fit into the biggest UHaul truck they make. I didn't have livestock and all that goes with that at the time so for us it was much simpler. But I sure got a lot less sentimental about the things I said I'd never leave behind. We have accumulated a lot of stuff again since then. Where does it all come from? The boys are out on their own and we have taken over their rooms, and have managed to fill them too. It's like stuff just breeds and multiplies!

Have you ever seen a chiropractor for your sciatica? I had severe sciatica pain that a doctor prescribed Vicodin for, I could take it every 6 hours and at 5 hours and 45 minutes I was watching the clock for my next dose. It was horrible, the pain made me cry and I'm not a wimp with pain.

I finally found a great chiro through a friend, he told me to quit taking the Vicodin, and got me pain free. I haven't had a problem since, but when I start to get those beginning twinges I do the exercises he recommended and it takes care of it.

I hope you find relief from the sciatic pain, and the heat.

 

[Bruce]

As of this posting, they are still in the back seat of the truck.

It will get way too hot in there too! Just hang them at your house and appreciate them until DD is ready.

 

[Baymule]

It will get way too hot in there too! Just hang them at your house and appreciate them until DD is ready.

I'm going to unload the truck tomorrow, between cooking and canning pickles. LOL LOL

 

[Ridgetop]

Rent the smallest climate controlled storage unit you can find and send the bill to your daughter. Store the family paintings there until your daughter is ready for them. Also any other good family furniture, antiques, etc. Heat and cold makes the wood swell and contract loosening furniture joints. You can usually find a very small unit not too expensive and they often give the first couple months free if you rent for a year.

You can store all your home canned goods there too since you don't have a basement! Heat is bad for them too, and if you feel so inclined, you can split the storage bill with her.

If you are not ready for a greenhouse yet, how about "cold frames". Using lumber, you make raised boxes the size of the windows. Then hinge the windows onto the back of the box. During the winter they act as mini greenhouses, as the weather warms you can lift the tops (the windows) and prop them open during the day. Gardeners used to use them all the time in cold climates to grow vegetables in the winter, start seedlings, etc. Especially good for lettuce since you have to grow it in the winter so it won't bolt, but it is too cold without protection.

 

[Baymule]

I finally unloaded the back seat of the truck yesterday-while the pressure canner was doing it's thing. It wasn't a lot, so it went into a closet where I usually start my garden plants with the help of two shop lights. BJ has his truck back. The windows are stacked up against a tree.

 

[Ridgetop]

I bet BJ was happy.

My tomatoes are 7' tall - almost to the eaves. No tomatoes except tiny green ones here and there.
Very disappointing. I may have used too much blood meal resulting in too much plant growth. Oh well.
DH's corn plants have actually bloomed and he has one little tiny cute corn ear tasselling. He feels like an new daddy! DH is pointing at the tassel which is blonde like DS1! You will have to enlarge the picture to see it but he is very proud and happy that we might actually get at least 1 ear of corn. LOL
This used to be a zucchini plant. I have ever seen anything that ate zucchini plants like this before. I wonder if we have a vegetarian chupracabra around. The LGDs have been barking and howling at night lately . . . .

 

[chickens really]

Holy smokes! I had no idea a tomato plant could grow that tall..

 

[Bruce]

Depends on the variety. I doubt this is what Ridgetop is growing but a Matt's Wild Cherry will go 10' or more. VERY small cherry tomatoes. My Sungold cherry tomato plants always get at least 7' tall. The Early Girl and whatever "heritage" type MIL gave me barely make the top of the cattle panels.

 

[Ridgetop]

The indeterminate variety keep growing which is why they give tomatoes all season long. Those varieties are best for home gardens. Determinate varieties set fruit and stop growing. Those varieties are the ones used in commercial production so they can all be harvested within a month and the ground turned over ready for replanting. Mine don't sprawl because I am using the cages Daddy made for me over 40 years ago our of old fashioned concrete wire. The role of wire (slightly thinner gauge than stock panels) was 5' wide and he cut it in lengths which he wired together. The resulting cages were 5' tall and about 4-5' in diameter. My tomato plants have been grown in these for 40 years. Unfortunately some of them have become damaged and have been cut to a smaller diameter, but I still have 3 out of the original 6 still functional. This year I had DS1 buy more concrete wire. Sadly it is now sold in sections, and is not as sturdy. However, this year I made 2 more tomato cages out of it as well as a couple of teepee trellises. The traditional tomato cages are not large enough for tomatoes unless you are growing for competition and are pruning the bush to produce just a few exceptional competition tomatoes. I like production so I don't prune, but this year I really think I used too much nitrogen which produces more foliage and less fruit. I couldn't find my bone meal which is high in phosphorus but found the blood meal which is higher in nitrogen. This is also the first year when I did not plant 6 wooden matchsticks round each tomato. This is a trick I was taught years ago by someone of my grandmother's generation and when I do this I always get great tomatoes. Possibly superstition but maybe the combination of sulphur and phosphorus. Who knows? But no tomatoes yet. Of course, we planted in May instead of March, and the scourges of ground squirrels, rabbits, and bugs? (although I haven't found any white fly or bugs) At any rate, if we have to rely on our garden we could starve. On the other hand, we are carnivores and have sheep and ammunition. The sheep have eaten all the nettles, but maybe we could boil alfalfa? . . . .

I posted this on STA's website and am posting it here in case anyone who has not seen it has any ideas.
My DD1 is having her highly gifted child tested because he fools around dong his school work. Of course, since he was 2 she has pushed him, buying workbooks that he had to complete in addition to his homework, and workbooks and teaching all summer long. She has done that with her other 2 children as well and now has decided that the eldest has some sort of learning disability because he doesn't gleefully do all his homework and extra workbooks immediately. This is a child that is in the highly gifted program and consistently gets top grades. DD1 makes them do their homework over and over until the neatness meets her standards of handwriting. I have told her to let them hand it in as they do it and let the teacher reprimand them and give them a lower grade if it merits one but she is very OCD.

I told her a long time ago that the children needed to have outside playtime without constant work books but she wouldn't listen. I told her she would burn them out on learning and that is what I think is happening. Now since the 6 year old is mimicking her almost 13 year old brother's behavior over lessons she has decided that that child has the same problem. My opinion is that DGD1 sees her brother getting attention (although it is unpleasant attention of the punishment kind) and is trying that behavior for herself.

My daughter does not think I know anything. I raised 3 boys with learning disabilities, 1 adopted child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and terrible emotional issues from abuse, as well as having my Early Childhood Education Certificate. Because of my boys I researched learning disabilities heavily. Their disabilities were all language related and with special schooling they all graduated from high school and college. During my time teaching preschool I diagnosed several cases of learning problems which were diagnosed ranging from Autism, Tourettes, and slow mental delay. My preschool director told me I was like Typhoid Mary and shouldn't tell the parents their kids needed testing, but the parents were very grateful to find out that someone had noticed behavior that was puzzling them. They were able to get their children into special education classes early enough to make a difference.

I do not have a college degree however, and my DD1 and SIL1 apparently think I am not bright enough for advice, consequently I have not continued with any advice since the last time she brought up testing and I told her she needed to let the children have some unstructured free time to play. Since my DD1 refused to even acknowledge that I might be correct and try this, she has decided that there is something wrong with the child. they had his tested, however, my SIL did not want to pay for the extended testing instead wanted to immediately put DGS1 on medication. Her Dad and I both were very upset to hear that but we are not the parents so . . . .

 

[Ridgetop]

I couldn't get my regular variety of Better Boy which zi have used for 40 years with great success. I bought some Early Girl, and 2 Beefsteak varieties. Huge bushes no tomatoes. The Better Boys I finally got and planted in May/June are small but actually had 3 ripening tomatoes which disappeared mysteriously during one night. Chupacabras or Anatolians? The mystery is unsolved, but plans are being drawn up for a completely fenced garden area next year, including rabbit and ground squirrel proofing. Possibly a night scope . . . .