Good Morning Saturday

[Marguerite]

G'day, people.

It's been a very bleak dreary day here. Humidity up to 95% (WHY did I whine about it yesterday? It was only 88% then!). difficult child 3 has been climbing around in the roof space trying to find where the rain is coming in, being blown by the wind.

husband headed off to play trains today - they have a sheltered area where they can continue to work on the machinery, even in weather like this. Meanwhile difficult child 3 & I headed off to a garage sale. Most of the stuff had sold before we got there. I did score a silicone cake mould (which can also double as a jelly mould). It's a lot smaller than my usual ones, sometimes I need something this size. Not bad for 20c. And difficult child 3 bought a tennis racquet, a much better one than the old one he's been using. For 50c. Last of the big spenders, that's us.

We're about to head down to mother in law's to fix dinner. I still haven't decided whether to make salads or a stir-fried vegetables dish. I'm thinking of the vegetables - it will be good to have something hot. husband stopped at the fish market on the way home so he will cook his usual pan-fried fish fillets, plus there's the prawns as well.

I was hoping to do a bit more in the garden, but it's just too wet outside. I need to plant more beans, but I need to do it right before a dry spell or the seeds will rot in the ground. Longer-range forecast tells me I need to wait another couple of days at least.

Oh well... time to get cooking!

Enjoy your Saturday, everyone.

Marg

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Good Saturday Morning from the Mid-Atlantic!


Marg, I totally understand the humidity - it is not unusual for us to have days with 100% humidity here.... it makes our summers hot and wet. Enjoy dinner this evening.

We are in the third phase of the storm here in central virginia - it was snow for most of the day yesterday, Phase 1. Phase two was the change over to sleet and then rain al night as the temps rose. We are now all snow with temps continuing to fall all day. Our roads have been recovered with the new white stuff. But, we are a lot better off than those just even an hour north of here. My sister already has 20" on the ground with snow falling the rest of the day!

If you are in the eye of this record breaking storm, :frostbite: stay warm and safe and stay inside!

Sharon

 

[Fran]

Good morning everyone. We have been just drenched in rain. There was even a bit of a landslide west of us. It's finally stopped. The temps will drop for us too.

Marge, it's tough to be productive with humidity like that. Take it easy. You don't want to wear yourself out.

We are planning a quiet weekend at home. Nothing too exciting.

 

[Marguerite]

We've had a lot more rain than I realised - we just about filled the rain gauge today, that's almost 100 mm in a single day! There has been even more to the west of us (thankfully, over the dams). There have been landslides in the Blue Mountains, blocked roads and train tracks so people were really stranded. We have to go out tomorrow afternoon, difficult child 1 has a church function on plus it's also his birthday, he's asked us to come along. We'll probably have to leave home earlier than we planned, our road is likely to be blocked with floods, after rain like this. We'll have to make sure we take the camera!

This evening at mother in law's we were watching a TV show about how they move buildings from one place to another. Tonight's episode was set in Michigan, I think. Lots of snow. mother in law asked if we would enjoy being in snow like that. Part of me would like to know what it would be like, but I also remember my sister coming home after 4 years in Canadian winters, saying she never wanted to see snow again! easy child was saying much the same, after only a few days in a NZ blizzard. Meanwhile on the TV the announcer was saying, "And the temperatures here were 40 below."
I remember someone asking the question, "Is that Celsius or Fahrenheit?" and husband, parodying someone on TV, said, "First one, then t'other."

So despite all the hassles, I think I'll put up with the heat and humidity.

Marg

 

[Wiped Out]

Good Morning All!

Marg-Those high humidty days can just wear you out!

Sharon-Stay safe and enjoy that snow!

Fran-Enjoy your quiet weekend.

I'm in Michigan and just had a great big breakfast with my nieces, sils, and great nieces and nephews. Potatoes, eggs, bacon, homemade tortillas. Will have to work out a lot next week to make up for this

This afternoon I'm going over to father in law's to play dominoes and then tonight husband, sils, and I are going to the movies.

Getting up early tomorrow and coming home.

I hope everyone enjoys a peaceful day

 

[Farmwife]

I sure would like to join in on the good morning updates. When I first saw them I though "it's morning but there isn't anything good about it". Now that I took the time to read a couple I see I have been missing out on all the fun.

So here goes:

Humidity is NOT my friend. I used to live in Arizona where it gets hot as hades but is dry dry dry. I am an air conditioning addict come summer time. As soon as I go outside I gasp from the steam room.

Snowmageddon, yowza!! We get lots of snow and I'm not sure I like that either. I'd tell you to go have a snowball fight for fun, knowing full well I wouldn't bother myself. As much fun as I pretend to be I would rather be cuddled up inside.

Not sure how I ever get out of the house now that I live somewhere that has actual seasons.

The rain JUST stopped here. Our yard is a combination of bits of snow for looks and ankle deep mud. We poured several dumptruck loads of gravel for our driveway and parking spot but fell short of an actual walkway. We have about a 30 yard swamp to wade through between the cars and the side door.

I'm jealous about the bean planting. I have a small stash of my seeds and am dreaming about spring. I got Asian yard long beans, purple ones. (love the heirloom varieties) difficult child gets lazy and will not help pick beans. Says he can't see them. (green on green) this season I have a plan. If he can't find 2 foot long purple green beans on green bushes he can't eat!!

Breakfast today was baked french toast out of banana bread I made last night. Had turkey bacon because I have to keep the pretense of eating healthy.

Been spending the rest of the day cooking. got a wild hair I guess. Doing a slow rise, sourdough pizza dough. (I'm big into all day long artisan breads) Have fresh sauce simmering. Later going to slap together a couple pizzas. Those, a salad I made and some deserts I made yesterday (boston cream pie and hot fudge pudding cake) will go across our yard and driveway to husband's grandparents house.

Tonight we have a mid sized family gathering to eat and play cards. Our game of choice is pinochle. I used to think only senior citizens play that. We are fiercely competitive and it is a special happy time for difficult child. Since he doesn't socialize the Saturday night card games are his reward for being good all week.


Oh yeah, had a sheep die, the friendliest one too. Sheep are not very hardy creatures. If you even look at them too hard you could kill them of hurt feelings. *sigh* My hair brained scheme to be a shepherdess turned into expensive pets and now yet another life failure.

I'm sticking to buying lottery tickets for my retirement fund.

blah blah blah, boy am I a chatty cathy today. Someone cut my string.

 

[Marguerite]

Welcome to the morning thread, Farmwife. It's difficult for me & husband, too, because by the time it's morning in the US, it's night-time the same day, here. Monday morning early, is Monday night in Oz.

Sorry about your sheep - could it have been the wet? They can still get chilled despite all that wool, plus they get weighed down a lot when waterlogged. How many sheep do you have? What kind? I'm thinking of a couple of possibilities...

The beans - there are some lovely varieties, there is a purple kind that has beautiful red flowers. Good luck with them! I used to hate picking the beans too, when I was a kid. But I didn't like eating them much, either.

I went out in the wet last night and planted some silverbeet. The packet said to soak the seeds first but I figured, the ground is waterlogged (and we're on sand! It's waterlogged! husband said we got 140 mm in 24 hours in the rain gauge) so why bother.

I hear you on the swamp - we now live on top of a sand dune, so we don't get puddles. Except for days like yesterday. But I remember one place we used to live, an old welfare house that had been built in a dry creek bed. No drainage had ever been put in, and when it rained, we were swamped. had to wade to the front door. The house had risen damp - not rising. This had already risen as high as it could go, we had strings of mould hanging from the ceiling. We were very glad to move out of there!

Marg

 

[Farmwife]

Sorry about your sheep - could it have been the wet? They can still get chilled despite all that wool, plus they get weighed down a lot when waterlogged. How many sheep do you have? What kind? I'm thinking of a couple of possibilities...

The wet usually only is a problem for the lambs. My girls are pretty good in this weather and do have a shelter. We were up to 30 but are now down to 5 and a ram. Sad number compared to where you are at. I am in cattle country and they don't like sheep. I had pasture issues and as soon as I ironed it all out it was too late, I sold out most of my seed stock.

My ram and best ewe are Montadales, a recent American breed. Cross of Cheviot and Columbia (columbia is a cross of Lincoln and Rambouilet, I think). They were bred for wool and meat, big tall bodied monsters. Had a another of these ewes but she got stuck in a fence, went into stress shock and never came out of it. Just bad luck.

The rest are a Dorset finn cross they are a commercial size as they call it here. Translates to smaller old style sheep. Most people here breed for ridiculous sizes.

I rather like the Dorset but they have been crossed so many times that the breed is virtually ruined in the US.

The ewe was sick due to my own mistakes. They needed more mineral and extra grain over winter. We are in a selenium deficient area, they are on hay and I am sure the poor quality feed effected her parasite load. She was bred so you have to be careful with the wormers. I am so busy with baby that I wasn't up to speed as I usually am. difficult child feeds them now that it's bitter cold out. When I would spend time with them everyday I knew them like I know my own kids. I could even tell apart their "voices". I miss those days. difficult child doesn't have that eye with them.

She did go down and couldn't get up so it may have been an injury too. Hard to say.

Sorry to ramble. I can talk sheep all day. It's something I love that has really broken my heart. I planned to have hundreds, now may be giving up. After I finally learned enough I just got demolished by the rest of life. Just so hard to start over.