New Years Day Fun

For Christmas TJ and I spent the day at his Family's house. Yep, I met his side of the family. I did meet his family in November when we went to his nephews wedding but the family was busy with wedding things. His family is very nice. They all welcomed me. And then we got a invite to go to his 2nd cousins house for New Years Eve Day fun.

They had some friends that had horses and set up some wagon rides. If there had been snow then it would have been sleigh rides. This was my first time for a wagon ride. It was fun and it made me very grateful that I was not born a pioneer women that traveled west in/on a covered wagon. Talk about a bone shaker!
This is me standing in front of the horses. (Duh)

TJ and I waiting for everyone else to load up. The horses were very gentle and patient.

We had a great time. About 20 family members showed up and next door neighbors and we all brought dishes to share. There was good food and good times. The 2nd cousin also had a big bon- fire going and later on that evening we sat around that and just talked.

Of course, I forgot to bring my camera so all the pics are what his sister took and sent to me. Thanks MJ!

Yippy Skippy!

I'm going back up to Alaska in Dec for a little vacation! We have the tickets, now we just need to find a house sitter or a critter sitter or someone to come by once a day to make sure the two cats and the 15 chickens are doing okay. And maybe give them food and water.

Yep, T.J. is coming up with me. He gets to meet my family. A few weeks ago he was in a wedding and I went with him. I met his Dad and Stepmother, brother and SIL, half brother and half sister and a bunch of kids. His family seems very nice and they were all kind to me. His dad made sure that I sat with them in the family pew during the wedding. Oh, and the bride fainted before the wedding, during picture taking. That was the first time I saw that ever happen.

T.J. gets to meet three of my sisters and their husbands. My Dad and Mom won't be in AK while we are there. he has met my mom already.

This Saturday we are going to his sisters house for a birthday party for her kid. Then watch the big Packer/Viking game. Hum, I wonder, should I wear my Viking shirt and be brave in the sea of green and yellow? Wouldn't a splash of purple look nice?

Busy Busy

My mom is here. She came down from Alaska on Saturday June 4th (With my Aunt Donna) and goes back to Alaska on June 11. My Aunt Donna leaves today, she just lives over in the Twin Cities.

It's been lots of fun with them here. They spend money on me! But that's not why it's fun. It's just great to have time together.

While they have been here the temp got up to 100! My mom went to the cool basement as my A/C does not work. I'm calling the A/C repair man to come by and get that fixed. TJ took a look at it and says that the mice have chewed up lots and lots of wires. Bad bad mice!

Today the high is 83. Much cooler.

I forgot

I feel that I don't have much to say lately. Really, I have a boring life right now. It's work and school. Work is fine, school is fine. I do have to say that online school is harder then going to a class room style of school. It's a lot more work. More reading. more testing and more papers to write. I am surprised that I'm getting good grades on my papers as writing is not a really big skill I have, oh I can write, just not in a proper manor, lots of goofs (As you all should know if you have read this blog) I still get my too and to mixed up sometimes. I have all those little tricks to help remind me when to use what to/too but sometimes they don't really help. (For me)

But what I forgot to tell you was that on Thursday I was an hour late for work! At 4.30pm I went to start my truck and she wouldn't start, I tried for an hour and then gave up, called my friend T.J, and asked him if he could come over and take a look, and if it still wouldn't start to give me a ride to work? He did, it didn't, so he gave me a ride to and from work. Very nice of him. Later that night, before I went to bed, I tried the truck one more time. She started right up, and I have not had a problem since then. Who knows what was wrong?

Mom and Dad? I have been trying to reach you for a few days but your cell phone goes right to voice mail. Call me? No, I'm not asking for money! Just want to chat.

Almost

I have debated about telling this story off and on. But today, February 14th will be the 10 year anniversary for me.

On December 31, 2001 I was asked to be married. I said yes, and on February 14th I called off the engagement. Yes, I do regret that I did that on that day, but the other part of me says that it was a good day, it was the best day, as that was the day I had the courage to call it off.

Just need to say up front, I was engaged to a very good man, he did nothing wrong. And now your asking, if he was a good man, why did she call it off? Well, I knew him for a long time, he moved back to Alaska and we worked together and became good friends, we would joke about how we should get married and that led to being asked. Also there is an unspoken pressure in the church that women should be married and if not married, you might should think about going to China and doing mission work, (I'm being a little sarcastic there) and I don't speak Chinese.

When I said yes, part of me at the same time was screaming at me "Self! Not a good idea!" but he has asked me in front of my family and I did not was to embarrass him, and I thought that I would adjust to it, you know, get on board with the program. But as time went by, I was becoming more and more unhappy, but also thinking that maybe this was just the jitters, the cold feet syndrome.

About six months before he asked me, we both worked for the same company but in different stations in Alaska and we both got transferred back to Anchorage, we decided to share an apartment (As friends, not anything else) as Anchorage is an expensive place to live. When we were just friends sharing a place, I had no problems, it was when we got engaged, that the problems started to rear their ugly heads.

I was 36 at the time, and very independent. One thing that I did not like was that he would tell me that I should not walk my dog in the dark at 5.30am by myself, it was dangerous, but I worked a morning shift, when was I going to walk her? And if you're that worried, get up and come with me.

Another thing, before engagement, we both did our own food shopping and most often did our own cooking as we worked different hours but each of us were more then welcomed to eat what we had made. After engagement, I would come home from work, he would be on his off days and ask "Whats for dinner?" Then the laundry problem, and the grocery shopping problem, the ugly heads just kept popping up and I was becoming more and more unhappy, and little things became big things in my eyes.

I know, the two examples are very mild, but it was all the little things that started to eat at me. To get married in the church that we went too, we had to have counseling, each of us our own, and then as couples. When I went to my very first meeting I broke down and just sobbed, I told her all the little things that were bugging me and she mentioned that for me, they might be red flags, was I sure that I loved him? Like a wife should love her husband? That's when it hit me, no, I did not love him. I did love him, but in a platonic friendship way, not a wife way.

A few weeks go by, it's getting closer to Valentines day and I'm in the card aisle looking at cards, crying cause I know I need to call it off, but how? All these cards are big fat liar cards! They are sweet mushy cards, I needed a card that said " Don't want to get married!" I did not buy a card.

The big day comes, I get up and take Abby for her walk at 5.30am and when I got back home, he had a large, homemade mushy card on the coffee table. I started to cry, he was in the shower and when he came out he wanted to know if I liked the card, but by that time, I was crying so hard that I started to gag, then I started to vomit. Yep, and while I was throwing up, that's when I told him that I did not want to get married. All he said was "lets talk when I get back from work"

It was a amicable break up. I gave up everything that we had bought together (he paid me for my half) and I moved out of the apartment and into my own place. And was happy.

Now I say "Better to be unmarried and wish you were married, then to be married and wish you were single"

Last Day

Well, today I take my sister back to the airport so she can go home. It sure was fun having her here with me for the past week. I wont miss the wash clothes left on the tub floor! In fact this morning when I went to take my shower, I told her that I was sad, that this would be the last wash cloth that I picked up from the tub floor. Then we both started laughing! I wont miss following her around turning off lights! I have so turned into my Dad! I asked her if I was hard to live with, she said no, but I think that she rolled her eyes at me a few times.

Her flight doesn't leave till this evening so we will do some last minute running around, seeing the sights and stuff. Maybe go look at cows, cause this is Wisconsin ya know.

Before

This is my very ugly bedroom. It's a bit more ugly then normal as Abby messed up the bed today. She likes to be under the covers so she always un-makes my bed for me after I make it. (Love her!)

Alicia and I went out and about today and got paint, window stuff and other painting stuff. Tomorrow I have class in the morning and then I work till 5pm. Alica is going to hang out and fix my bedroom. Tomorrow I will post the after picture. This way she for sure will have to get it done.Also my sister pretty much killed me with all the shopping that we did today.

We went to two craft stores in ONE DAY!

Almost here

My twin sister will be here soon! I go to the cities on Sunday to pick her up. From there we will visit our Aunt that lives there and then come home to my place. I think that I will have her collect the chicken eggs when we get home. It will be good for her.

On Monday I have school but not work so we will hang out in Eau Claire to do some shopping and have lunch at the Olive Garden.

While my sister is her she is going to re-paint my bedroom. I'm going to go with a light shade of green. Also get some window treatments and new bed stuff to match. I'm tired of my ugly bedroom.

I wonder if she can put in a ceiling fan?

Work work work.

I finally got it done! I have been putting off weeding the garden as I had a really big weed patch growing.

I pulled 12 wheel barrow full like this one to clear out the garden

Here is the garden all weeded. Took about two hours of back bending to get them all yanked out. Now, do I put a load of poop on it, cover it up so that it cooks a bit to kill the seeds and more weeds or do I just cover it up?



After church my friend T.J. came by, and with his chain saw cut that one long log into four smaller logs. That way I can move them when I put the tarp on the garden. I also had him limb some trees for me. I have some trees with low hanging branches that literally were a pain in my face as that where they hit me while I mowed. I have had to stop and de-tangle my hair from the branches a time or two. So that's more work now. I have about 10 branches to haul off and four logs to move. But these logs will be easy peasy!

You all will note that I have a new header picture? I was talking to my dad and he said that whenever he went to my blog and would see the picture of the mama hen and the four little chicks all he could think was that the poor little guys got killed by that big bad coyote. (Huh? Who knew my dad was such a softie?) Okay, that's not really what he said, more along the lines "that they are dead and take the picture down and it takes to long to upload your blog with that big picture."

Mom.

My Mom cracks me up! I was talking with her on the phone the other day. I was telling her about how I had a coyote come on to my yard and chase my chickens and now I'm missing four of my youngest chickens.

I told mom that I was thinking about peeing on the edge of my land to mark my territory. Then I said, "Better then that, I will just pee on my chickens, that will mark them and tell that coyote not to mess with them." Mom said "Better pee in a cup and sprinkle it on them, if you try and pee on a chicken, you're just going to get your socks wet!"

Then we both started to giggle, as we imagined trying to hold a flapping, squawking chicken and peeing on it! But I think that it might work. I will let you know if I give it a try!

Here's a picture of my new and old chickens. I now have 13 hens and two roosters.

For more then 24 hours!

My twin sister e-mailed me. She has vacation time and she will come and visit me if I can get her to Wisconsin! Can I get her here? You bet! I have miles on Alaska Airlines just burning a hole in my pocket.

I called her up and asked her window seat or aisle? I got her booked. She will be here Oct 17 and will go back Oct 24. For fun, she is going to paint my bedroom. My twin is crazy that way. She loves to paint and re-do rooms. I told her that she could pick the colors and maybe even buy matching bed stuff so that it goes together. I think that I'm going to try and put in a ceiling fan in the bedroom while she is hear.

And to top of the deal, she can go shopping while I'm in school. Yep, she likes to shop, I hate to shop, this way I wont be holding her back with my whining. I will only be in class a few hours each morning so it will all work out.

I might have her bring me five boxes of pilot bread and also a two pound block of extra sharp white cheddar cheese that so far, I have only found in Alaska. I have tried other extra sharp white cheddar cheese and it's not what I'm looking for. Not sharp enough.

I think that it's the least that she can do as I bought the ticket right?

The visit.

My sister Kathy, and her son Jojo checking out how tall

the corn is.

Jojo in a tree (Duh!)

Jojo being a cowboy.

With all the goat "stuff" going on I did not talk about my sister's visit.

I picked her and family up at 6am, Wednesday morning (Last week)

and then took them back to the airport the next day at 7am. So I had a little bit more then 24 hours with them! That is one thing you can say about my family, we sure don't wear out a welcome.

When we got home from the airport they watched me do chores and then they all took a two hour nap. After nap time we drove to the town that I work in and showed them the library. Kathy thought that the library was so cute, because it was so small. Then off to the Farmers Market.

We got some veggies and also ate lunch there then off to Walmart. They could hardly believe how low the prices were on some things. Then back home where they all took naps again.

Dinner and then bed.

It was short and sweet, I just wish that a family member would visit and stay for more then one day!

I swear that I shower daily!

Juju update

One of the three blood test came back. It came back negative. This was the test for CAEV. Which stands for Caprine Arthritis-Encephalitis virus. Still waiting for two more test results to come back.

No change in Juju. She does seem to be eating better, but then sometimes she shows no interest in food after a few bites. She always like to eat fresh browse. But I think that she (all of us) is getting tired of the high heat and humidity. We all want to just sit still and not move.

I got the results via the mail so tomorrow I will call up the vet and talk to him about Juju, maybe I should do a Nurti Drench on her? Maybe that would pick up her appetite?

I sill have not seen her poop! Pee, yes, poop no! I think she knows that I'm watching her and is being "shy" on purpose!

Also, looks like my sister will be here tomorrow morning! Flights are looking good right now. She ended up going to Fairbanks to get a flight to the Twin Cities. Those flight have more seats available.
If I don't hear from her by 2am (My time) I will pick her up at 6.15am at the airport.

I better go put the critters to bed, we are starting to have some big boom booms and lighting, gonna rain soon.

This and That

So far the little chicks are still alive. I moved them from the nest box that was up high to the cat carrier that I set on the ground. The mama hen has abandoned the last three eggs in the nest and now has made a nest on the floor of the chicken coop. She has had the chicks out eating and drinking and I watched the other hens and the one rooster come in and out of the coop. They pay no attention to the babies. (So far)

One of the Cochin hens stopped being broody and has abandoned her nest that she is sharing with the other Cochin hen and had moved back into the coop. I removed the last egg in the nest. The egg was very light, no nothing in it.

I am still trying to think of a way to remove the mama hen and her babies to make sure that they stay safe. I have a kiddy swimming pool that I could put them in, and leave that in the garage. But then they would be exposed to the cats, and to Abby, and to whatever creatures can get into the garage at night. I have some fencing that maybe I could put around the pool, but still they would not have as much protection as they have in the coop.

I got off the phone with my sister that's coming down. If all goes well, I will pick her up (and her family) at 7am Wednesday morning. They plan on leaving Thursday. That's one thing about my family, we sure don't wear out our welcome as we don't stay long!

Farmers Market

It was a good day at the market. I sold 18 bars of soap. It did seem to be a little slower the normal, maybe because it was raining this early morning and was very cloudy and high humidity.

When I got up this morning to take care of the girls I looked at the weather for my area. 94% humidity, now I know why I am growing gills behind my ears! It also explains why my hand railings of the front steps have a green mold growing.

It's almost 10pm right now and just so you know, the frogs are very loud right now. Or maybe they are toads? Not really sure. But I see them at night on the sidewalk so that's how I know it's frogs/toads and not crickets.

My sister Kathy, her husband, and kid are supposed to be coming down to see me next week. I am getting a little excited but I am holding back as this sister has made plans many times to come, and has not done it yet. When I get the call that they are on the non stop flight from Anchorage to Minneapolis then I will believe that they are on the way! They will only be staying a few days. My BIL is from the Virgin Islands and they are going there to visit his kids and folks. It will be nice to see them as it's been two years.

I think that tomorrow I will clean out the truck ( I have spilled dried beet pulp in the back seats) and then go for a Sunday drive. I have not taken a road trip for a long time and I feel the urge to put some miles on. Not sure if I will go South, North East or West.

Dad

Today is my dad's birthday. I'm missing family today. I called up my folks to wish my dad a happy birthday and mom told me that my sisters were probably coming over later on to have cake and ice cream. I know that they will have angle food cake with green frosting, and Breyers vanilla ice cream. Mom might make homemade hot fudge sauce for my sisters.

A few days ago I was talking to dad and he sang me a song over the phone. This was the song

Bill Gorden's goat (Bill Gorden's goat) was feeling fine (Was feeling fine)
ate three red shirts (Ate three red shirts) from off the line (From off the line)
Bill took a stick (Bill took a stick) and gave him a whack (Gave him a whack)
and tied him to (And tied him to) the railroad track (The railroad track)
The whistle blew (The whistle blew) the train drew neigh (The train drew neigh)
Bill Gorden's goat (Bill Gorden's goat) was doomed to die (Was doomed to die)
He gave three groans (He gave three groans) of mortal pain (Of mortal pain)
and coughed up the shirts (And coughed up the shirts ) and flagged the train (And flagged the train)

My dad cracks me up. Now I have had that song stuck in my head for a few days now.

Love you dad.

Catch up.

My oldest sister made it to my house late Friday night, when I say late, it was after 11:30pm when she pulled into my driveway. The friend that she is helping drive up to AK is 80 years old. He stayed up for about one hour and then went to bed. My sister and I stayed up till about 1.30am and by that time, both of us were yawing so big that we were in danger of sucking in the curtains! We all got up around 7am, they needed to repack the van so they did and they were on the road by 8.45am. I told my sister that next time maybe she could stay a little longer then 10 hours! I was glad that they were able to stop but I sure wish she could have stayed longer. Maybe next time.

I am going to have to look back in the blog and see when the hen went broody. If the eggs are fertilized they should be hatching soon I think. That's why I need to check.

The babies playing with their food. That's Meg on the left
Basil in the back, looking at Meg. Sage in the front also looking at Meg.

Maggie, I'm getting ready to milk her. We are doing much better.

I leave her on the stand when I'm done. I make her stay up there while I feed the chickens.

When done, I give her some dried carrots. Both Juju and Maggie would sell their souls to the devil for carrot chips!

Okay, I got the cookies in the oven baking. My sister that is swinging by to see my on her way back up to AK asked me to make peanut butter cookies. She didn't have time and that's her friends favorite cookie. I also found out that this person that she is helping drive back to AK used to play for the Detroit Red Wings back in the 60's. ( He's the dad of a friend of hers in AK) I think that's neat.

This morning we had a nice thunder/lighting storm. There was a lighting strike that lit up the inside of the house like a strobe light had gone off! I quickly yanked the power cord out of the laptop, I thought that maybe the house got struck. I started counting, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, and started to think that I was really wrong, that the bolt was a long way off. CRACK! BOOM! The house actually rattled a bit and the cats jumped off the couch and ran to the bedroom and Abby started to shake. We had a few more lighting strikes but nothing like the big one.

Got to go get the cookies out of the oven.

Yippy Skippy!

I got a phone call yesterday from my oldest sister. She flew from AK to TN to help a friend drive a car up to AK. They are coming through WI and will be here Friday night. I'm so excited! I have not seen this sister in three years!

The bad part is that they wont be staying long. They will leave Saturday morning as they want/need to get back up to AK. They plan on doing the alcan in three days. One will drive while the other sleeps and trade off and on like that for the whole way. They only plan on stopping for gas and potty breaks. My sister has the cooler packed full of food to eat on the road so they don't have to stop for that or pay the high prices.

I will see if I can get her to milk a goat!

This and That

Mom and Dad just called up. They are on the border between Iowa and Missouri. They will start heading South/West and end up in AZ. It was good that they left when they did. This morning it was only 12 at the house.



My dad is really into flying. You know how you can't remember your first time in a car? Well I can't remember my first time in an airplane. Well, Dad just bought another plane. But this is an ultra light. Just think of a hang glider with a engine. I think my dad wants to really be a bird! One time we were talking about dreams and I told him that I can fly in my dreams. He didn't think that, that was that big of a deal as he does too. Until I told him that I didn't need an airplane to fly! I just had to lean forward and I was off and in the air. That kind of bummed him out as he has to be in a airplane to fly in his dreams.



I went to Stout University today and talked to some guy. Stout is not going to work out for me and what I want to do. That's OK. I will go back to Chippewa Valley School and talk some more to them. While at Stout I saw lots and lots of cars that were pro Obama. I don't think I would have fit in with the young liberal crowd. I was thinking that I need to duct tape all them bumper stickers just to make it through the parking lot. I think that I'm getting to be a old fuddy duddy.

My friend Kellie called up today so we could talk about who was making what for Thanksgiving dinner. I am going to make the Watergate salad, the green bean dish ( Not with the one with the fried onions on top! ) deviled eggs and something else. What? I don't know. Maybe the cranberry walnut jello mold with cream cheese/pretzel bottom. I will have to think on it.

Well, did anybody else have a problem with blogger? I have been stuck for the past half hour. Time for bed.