Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[farmerjan]

So sorry for the loss of "mom". Really tough but at least you got to spend those last few days with her. It isn't any consolation but with that amount of pain she is in a better place now and not suffering.

 

[Ridgetop]

Thank you for your sympathy, everyone. Have known it was coming for the past year but it is still sorrowful. With the amount of pain she was in and no prospect of improvement, just constant decline and increase in pain, she is at peace now. She is with her daughter and husband, both of whom died about 15 years ago.

Doofus half brother was a drug addict and was discovered in a park dead of an overdose. He was 18 and they were not close. In fact at one point he had threatened both DD2 and Doofus. Doofus upset DD2 because he was going to his mother's house with that family and getting drunk every day for a couple of days. (For a while it looked like we would have DD2 moving to TX with us!) He finally straightened up, sobered up, and came home. The problem as she saw it was that he had cut off all contact with that side of his family because the mother and other half siblings were so toxic. Then he got sucked back into the drinking etc. For a while they wanted to have a massive expensive funeral but of course the family has no money. Doofus volunteered to pay for all the flowers at one point which had DD2 fuming since they don't have the money for that. Finally the family opted for cremation (which DH and I had suggested as the least expensive option) and scattering the ashes. We were prepared to refuse to pay for the funeral if Doofus approached us for $$. So much drama! All I had to do was listen and make soothing sounds though. LOL Things are back to normal now.

I should have gone to Costco, Walmart, and Hobby Lobby this am for returns. I need to pick up some stuff at Costco, laundry detergent, etc., and just return something at Hobby Lobby. I was ready to go. this morning but couldn't make my legs get up and go out to the car. I am exhausted after all the shopping and decorating. I will go tomorrow. DS1 needs to go to Walmart to order new glasses, and while he is doing that I will shop for Barbie clothes, etc. DGD1 gets her first Barbie this Christmas. Next summer she gets a Barbie house that I will make with Ikea shelving units. DD1 has all the handmade Barbie furniture I made and bought years ago. She and I will furnish it for DGD1. It is a lot easier these days that when I made one for DD1. With scrapbooking, the scrapbooking pages are the right side prints for wallpaper, and you can get miniatures stuff that looks like tile and hardwood. I have some of my grandmothers tatted lace doilies for table cloths and bedspreads. It will be a lot of fun to make. We need to remove the old kitchen set up from her room to make room for the wall units.

I also had really nice patio furniture, Barbie horses and a stable, etc. along with a garage and car that I have collected over the years. I pick up things that I see that will make god Barbie furniture and accessories. In case you were wondering I had a great doll house when I was a child. There were 2, made for my mother and aunt by my great grandfather who was a German immigrant master cabinet maker. He also made beautiful furniture for them. I made Barbie furniture too when I was selling at church boutiques. Enough for DD1's 10 room mansion! LOL I used to rearrange the furniture in my doll house more than i played with the dolls. I didn't like to play with the dolls in the dollhouse because it would get messy. Foretelling of things to come? My dolls spent a lot of time away from their house! LOL

DD1's Barbie had several children (using her little sister Skipper and little brother or cousin Ricky. But instead of wimpy Ken for her husband she had a buff GI Joe! I have 2 new GI Joes that I picked up a number of years ago for this purpose. They are good NRA members and come with weapons. Barbie and her family will be safe from liberal crazies!
Maybe we can mount the grenade launcher on the roof . . . .

Guess I need to go to Costco this am and get it over. Sigh.

 

[Baymule]

GI Joe, armed and ready! LOL LOL You are one awesome Grandma! Making the doll house and furniture is outstanding.

 

[HomeOnTheRange]

BTW I will post a fabulous banana cream pudding recipe I got

 

[farmerjan]

waiting on banana cream recipes.....

 

[Baymule]

Y'all can have it, I hate bananas. Blech.

 

[Ridgetop]

Back again. Not a banana person either but the recipe I got from DDIL is fabulous! It has cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and Cool Whip. Lots of calories, but aren't they what God puts in food to make it taste good?

I talked to Mitch again today about my dear friend. I have offered to help him in any way I can and he wants me to help with clearing her closets and bagging the clothes for donations. I told him I would help him with that and any other stuff he needs. His wife has a bad back - several surgeries - so is not terrible able. The funeral is set for December 27 at 9:00 at the graveside.

Finished all the Christmas shopping and now just have to make pickled peaches (promised DGS1) but can't make any Cinnamon Rings since they take 2 weeks and very large cucumbers. I'll have to make several batches this summer. DD1 and family are flying to Pittsburg after Christmas for 4 days to see family. I will send some jam to Cindy (DSIL1's mom) along with candied ginger, and a few items she can't get there. She is very sweet and I really love her. She s not in very good health so they want to go back and see her this year. She is not really well enough to come out for a visit any more. Apparently we are to have the company of a well behaved guinea pig and lab puppy for several days. LOL

The 2 babies are about 8 months now and are pulling up and standing. Both are crawling well. When they are together Robert continues to take all the toys from Annabel. At first he seemed afraid of her since she wanted to be near him, now he has decided she is an interloper in HIS jumperoo, HIS baby jail play yard, HIS high chair, etc. Yesterday he pushed her over and proceeded to try to eat her head. DDIL2 has video evidence of this hysterical event. Since Annabel has a big sister who plays with her she just takes all this for granted. He doesn't sleep long unless sleeping with his mother and has a disconcerting way of looking asleep only topop his eyes open and stare long and hard at you It reminds me of Bela Lugosi in Dracula. The scene when the vampire hunters find the coffin at dusk and open it to drive the stake into his heart, Dracula's eyes pop open and he attacks them. I told DDIL2 it is possible that he is a cross between a vampire and a zombie since he won't sleep and apparently wants to suck Annabel's brains out. Annabel seems to love him anyway but maybe she is just under some sort of spell! Anyway both babies are adorable and growing fast. They will be walking in another few months. They could be twins since both have dark hair and brown eyes. So adorable.

Saturday DD2 brought Annabel over for us to babysit. Both she and DSIL2 were working. Maysie was with her to be dropped off at DD1's for the day. DS1 was cooking breakfast, DDIL2 was feeding Robert, DS2 was on the couch reading ad both DH and I were sitting un the family room with everyone listening to Christmas music. DS1 threw another couple eggs in the pan for Maysie and DD2. I told DH that this was what I would miss the most when we move to Texas - the family just dropping in and all being together frequently without any given reason like holidays. He agreed that we need to enjoy this now while we have the chance.

I bought a lot of baby toys at Ross. They have tremendous buys on Infantino, Baby Trends, and other good baby brands. The prices are only about 25-30% of what you would pay even at Walmart. I bought quite a few for Christmas then changed my mind. Instead of having a bunch of new items all at once at Christmas, I have been pulling out a new toy every week or so and putting it in the play yard for both babies to enjoy. I gave a new toy to Annabel the other day. She was at the other side of the play yard. When she saw it her eyes got very big and she made these funny squeaky breaths of excitement then crawled super fast to get it. Sooo funny! DD2's birthday next Thursday. Just doing a cake. She always not to bother but having your birthday close to Christmas is no fun anyway so at least we like to do a cake.

DD2 took DGS1 to the doctor for a referral to a plastic surgeon. When he was 18 months old he put his hand on a glass fireplace screen with a fire in the fireplace and seared his hand badly. Two of his fingers won't straighten completely because of scarring. It should have been done several years ago but she put it off and has now decided it needs to be addressed. She was annoyed with the doctor who asked 14 year old DGS1 if it bothered him and if HE wanted the surgery. He said No and No. So then the doctor asked DD1 if she didn't think he should be allowed to make his own mind up about this!??!!
DD1 said "Well, he has some acne and won't wash his face properly or use the medicine he should use, nor does he think he should shower daily or use other good hygiene, so NO, I DON'T THINK HE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO MAKE UP HIS MIND ON THIS!"
The doctor looked a bit taken aback, then thought a minute and said "Actually, you have a point." Then the doctor turned to DGS1 who had been smirking at his mother and embarked a a 20 minute lecture on hygiene! Score one for a parent who doesn't subscribe to the liberal thought that children should be allowed to make health decisions before they turn 18! DD1 said that she wants to fix his fingers now since "he was perfect when we got him and we broke him so we need to fix him." LOL

The weather was in the 90's a week or so ago but now had dropped to the 60's and 70's. This is when everyone in California gets sick because of these drastically fluctuating temps.

The truck was fixed but is now pulling to the left again when hitting the trailer brakes. DH took the triuck with the trailer down to the shop AGAIN and he and the diagnostic mechanic took it out on the freeway and around surface streets to demonstrate how it pulls. Now it is back to the shop next week since they now think they "know what the problem is". Right! I told DH that they should give us a discount since he has now replaced and repaired all the other things that were not the problems but DH just snarled. He is getting really annoyed at the dealership. We need it repaired before we leave for Texas in mid-January. We may have to drive out in the little car and rent a truck to help Bay get her fencing panels to her new place! DH is optimistic that this new $1000+ repair will fix the problem. He got the Visa bill and started yelping about all the charges I had put on it. When we got to looking closely most of the $$ were repairs on the truck, trailer, trailer brakes, etc. Very little (comparatively) was Christmas shopping. Oh well, Twinkles is a good truck and deserves to be repaired properly.

Trying to schedule our trip to Texas to get the work on the farm done. I need to call back there and talk to the septic people again, and also email the electrician. I think it will be mid January since we have an eye doctor appointment around Jan 8, Since it take several months to get an appointment we don't want to reschedule. Not to worry, I have long underwear, wool sweaters, wool socks, sweatshirts, winter boots and muck boots. I need to buy a couple of pairs of overalls when I move back though so I can wear long underwear under my pants in the winter to work in the barn. At least with all the animals, the barn will warm up in the winter. I will put doors on each end of the long narrow lambing barn area so we can work out there in really cold wet weather. DH is going to run underground electricity to the barn as well so we will have lights out there. Before we electrified our barn we used to use lanterns. Quaint and picturesque but I do prefer my electric lights and outlets.

Well the ewe with the HUGE - literally tennis ball size - abscess on her cheek finally had it ripen. DH and I went down 2-3 days ago and I used the scalpel to open it. A huge stream of green pus shot out. Must have been half a cup in there. Once it was flushed out with iodine the skin looked like an empty bag on her face. When you get that size abscess on the cheek, there are other pockets of pus around the original one. Then you have to wait for those to drain into the original abscess site. Checked her tonight and it is filling up again. Tomorrow DS1 and I will see if it is ready to drain again. We had one on another ewe a year or so ago like this. It is from dry stalky hay that pokes a hole in the skin. Especially in the mouth there are lots of bacteria and they cause these Actinobacillus abscesses. It is also called Cruelz disease. I had it cultured and it is NOT CL. Thank heavens. Several sheep breeders have said they get it as well. Some drain and doctor the abscesses, others don't bother. We prefer to drain them since it helps to contain the bacteria if it doesn't rupture on its own in the pasture. But very YUKKY! DGD1 went down with us to play with Snowflake's twin ewe lambs and said it was very gross. Then she named the wooly lamb Betty. Apparently she is enough of a farm girl now to see gross stuff and take it as it comes. Proud of her.

BTW, DD1 said that she had to hand out behavior pamphlets to the students. The pamphlets were about how to behave at school and had a chapter about "Gus in the Home". One of the students said in a shocked voice "Who would even have a gun in their home?" Another female student turned around and said "We have guns. It is our American right!" I told my daughter that I would give her a $5 tip for that kid who supports the 2nd amendment! LOL DD1 did elaborate to the class that you must keep your guns, if you have any, under lock and key.

Well got to go look for some of the postings that I haven't been getting notices about in my email. Sometimes my computer stops notifying me of the postings I have been following and then I have to search for them.

 

[Baymule]

I feel ya’ on the truck problems. I pulled a trailer to Groveton several weeks ago. Fuel line cracked and spewed diesel. Son had to load it on a trailer and bring us home. Repair bill was $490. Took sheep to auction Saturday, when I got home, dropped trailer, there was diesel blow back on the trailer. Taking truck to shop this morning. AND this happens just when I need to go north of Dallas to pick up a registered ewe, 10 months old!

Car is chugging and either needs a tune up or fuel filter/ fuel pump. After I take truck this morning, I’m taking the car for them to hook it up to a code reader, take her temperature, check her heartbeat, pulse, blood pressure and will to live.

Now the stupid heating and AC unit won’t come on. I’m getting annoyed. All of this costs money and Social Security has been depositing BJ’s check in the account, then jerking it back out since September. I finally had a PHONE appointment last week. Can’t go to the SS office to actually TALK to anybody because they are drawing hardship pay for working from home! At least now I know how much SS will let me have from the goodness of their shriveled heart. But I don’t know just WHEN that will be! Maybe next month, maybe the end of this month. Maybe not.

I got good prices for the 4 sheep I took to auction Saturday. @Devonviolet and her husband met me there and we watched the auction together. Maybe I can pay for the registered ewe and the truck out of that.

Gonna be in the 30’s this weekend, guess I got to call AC/heat repair.

I chronicled my hitching the trailer adventures on my journal, go check it out.

 

[Ridgetop]

Found your journal and will be watching it now.

The ewe with the abscess filled up her cheek again so after a couple days DS1 and I drained it again. Very little pus but lots of thick stringy blood clots! Drained those and now it will just reabsorb any blood. I gave her a whack of Penicillin and although there is still some swelling, she looks better today. It looks like there is another abscess forming behind this one on her face which is what happened on the other ewe with the ginormous cheek abscess last year so we will watch her closely. DS1 says possible auction candidate. Too bad since she was an expensive ewe but a tendency to abscess means a low resistance to Actinobacillus. Constantly having to doctor abscesses is time consuming any gross!

I pulled the 5 cards for the yearling ewes that needed to be bred and DS1 went out this am to sort them in with the ram. He came back and said that he couldn't find one of them. After looking in the pedigree book, we realized that was the yearling ewe I sent to auction because she was such a b****h to handle! I usually pull the registrations when I sell them, but we were in a rush before Thanksgiving and with "Mom" I forgot. 2 of the ewes we moved down to Lewis are his daughters from last November and October. They were overlooked when we moved the other Lewis sired ewelings in with Smalley. Decided to get them bred now since I wouldn't be changing rams till January, so put them in with their sire. If these inbred ewe lambs look really nice I will keep them - one generation of inbreeding won't hurt. If I don't like them that much they will go to the auction but at least the ewes will get bred NOW instead of waiting another 2 months till they are 14+ months old. Wasteful to keep ewes too long before breeding them. They should already be pregnant for March lambs! There are some January through March Axtell sired lambs coming along to be bred in January/February. Might just keep Lewis in the breeding pen for them as well. Lewis will be 6 in May and I really like him so might as well get as many ewe lambs out of him as possible now while he is in his prime. His lambs are very fast growing.

Truck is back in the shop. The 5th wheel is due to go in too for something. Not sure what. DH is on a hay buying binge right now. Connex is full, barn is full, shed is full, and he is bringing home another trailer load. Went down yesterday but no hay till today. Went down early this afternoon and already sold out! No hay now till Friday. Everyone must have the same idea to stock up. It rained a Monday night and is supposed to be a large storm tomorrow. Hope it rains hard since we are in a drought again.

The last hay DH got looks like older hay. It is very dry, but is tightly baled and is peeling off in 1" flakes. DS1 went out with DH this morning to see how he was feeding because the sheep seem extremely hungry. DS1 discovered why the ewes are trying to break out of their jugs and acting like they are starving. They are starving! Apparently when we said to feed half a flake per sheep we did not explain we meant half of a 4" flake not a 1" flake. DH was happily feeding a 1" thick flake for every 2 sheep and congratulating himself on how long he could make a bale last! No wonder the sheep were screaming all day! Now he has adjusted the amounts. The new hay looks pretty brown in the middle of the bales instead of a nice green alfalfa. I told DH and DS1 that we will have to get some barleycorn to supplement the pregnant and lactating ewes. Next year DH plans to buy a whole field in June/July when prices are low. Maybe we can have it analyzed for protein content so we can feed more exactly.

This week DS1 and I have to dock 3 ewe lambs, vaccinate all the lambs and their mamas. Then we will turn the two older lambs in the creep onto the field with the main flock and run the ewes and older new lambs into the creep. We may move the new lambs in this weekend since DS1 wants to rake out and clean the creep a bit. That will give us time to clean the jugs again and me before the end of December when 3 other ewes are due.

I started to do some cross referencing on my flock to cross check the ewes and their progeny. It started to get too complicated though. I will need to have several card file boxes to do it properly. I will ask DD1 to tell the children that I would like 3x5 file boxes in different colors for Christmas since they always get individual gifts for us. They should be able to get card file boxes for under $10.00. Also will need a lot of index cards! Maybe I should just stick with the different colored ear tags. That reminds me that I need to order green and blue ear tags for the lambs in the barn.

There is something else that I need to order from Jeffers but can't remember what it is. I bought some Focus Factor which is supposed to help my brain. the drawback is that yu have to take 4 horse pill size capsules daily! I will check out Prevagen and Neurowhatsit as well to see if there is another brand that you don't have to swallow so many giant pills. I find myself forgetting words and it is very annoying when doing my crossword puzzles! We did see on the news that Viagra is being tested as a preventative for Alzheimers. DH was very excited about that.

Well, got to go. Making strawberry sauce tomorrow with the frozen strawberries in the freezer. Freeing up freezer space. No need to make jam - still have cases of jam and jelly in the laundry room. Instead I figure I will make strawberry sauce for French Toast and ice cream. I can always thin down a jar of jam and convert it to sauce or syrup too, but since I want to get these berries out of the freezer might as well make sauce now. I made 4 quarts of pickled peaches the other day Did it the easy way like Gammy taught me - use canned peaches and just put them up in the vinegar syrup. When I have access to fresh peaches I do them with fresh peaches but this way I can just do it a couple weeks before Christmas and voila! Pickled peaches for my grandchildren! They think I am magic and I do nothing to dispel that belief.

 

[Baymule]

I just park a round bale for my sheep. Surround with Half cow panels and they stick their heads through. Only drawback is they eat in so far, then can't reach any more, so I have to pull hay and put it up close enough for them to reach it. Ringo can't stick his big head through the holes at all, so I make sure he has plenty up close enough to stick his nose in and eat. When I design the perfect system of round bale feeding, I'll let everybody know. LOL

Ringo is with 4 of his daughters right now. I'm waiting for results! 3 of them are Miranda's triplets, 1 is a granddaughter of Miranda's. Kinda heavy on the Miranda lines, but oh well. Brought in 3, registered girls for Ringo, that ought to tip the scales and balance things out.

I have 4 heavy bred ewes, Ewenique (hope she has ewe lambs-she always seems to have more boys) Eve and Lucy-both daughters of Miranda and a Dorper ram and Frimplepants-Ewenique's granddaughter. Frimplepants is out of Ringo, bred back to him. Excited to see what I get.