Rotty3's Blog

GRRRRRRR!

Posted by: Rotty3, 09:21 PM GMT del 15 Aprile 2012

Okay, I'm back. A week late, a dollar or two short, and MIGHTY unhappy w/ WU.

For the past week, not a day, not two and not just one computer or browser, but a whole week on four different browser/computer combinations, WU just HATED me. Said, I can't log in. URGH and GRRRR...

Well, whatever they (or I) did, it is back to working again.

Happy to be back in WU land :) Hope I wasn't missed too much.

My thoughts are with those folks who were hit hard yesterday by the bad storms. Seems we're gearing up for a bad season both on the tornado and 'cane front.

There was lots to do at work, so I didn't get much time to check anything as it were. No word on the Grad School putting final stamp of approval on it, but I was told by someone, they really don't matter. Well, I would think THEY would beg to differ with that lol.

Let's see what all happened... rolling it up from the rear. Gardening galore today and yesterday. The zucchinis and squashes are showing their little green nosies and are going lovely strong. Several plants have managed to get past the two round-leaf stage and are starting their serrated type leaves (esp. the green zucchinis).

The eggplants, tomatoes, okras, and hot peppers are all doing well, they're slowly emerging. So is the lettuce. Lemon basil was planted, some more potatoes stuck into the dirt, oh, I found ~ 8 lbs of sweet potatoes from last year in the ground. Very nice surprise after I thought they didn't do anything :)

The onions, cucumbers, beans and some other miscellaneous little stuff have been planted, now it's just hurry up and wait lol.

Making home-grown kohlrabi for dinner tonight. Yummy.

Found some more stuff that survived (surprisingly) the few cold winter days, including a hot pepper plant. It's about to bloom. Yea :) Anyone want hot peppers nicely dried in the dehydrator?

With the unexpected loss of the Barred Plymouth Rock hen last month, I decided, it was time to add a few more "ladies" to the mix. So, on Friday I stopped at my toy store, also known as TSC, and got some of their Red Pullets. A dirty half dozen. They seem to be much older than a few days as they already have wings sprouting and are able to flap enough to fly about 2 inches up and about 6 inches long. But, I'm not unhappy. Seems they feel the heat lamp is almost too much. So I turn it on and off (at least have over the weekend). Need to figure out what to do tomorrow. By Tuesday I guess they can do w/ their own body heat during the day and just have heat at night when temps drop slightly.. we'll see.

Wednesday had a superb riding lesson. My big goofy TB was just that, but when he figured out, if he did things right then we would do fun stuff, he went and did much better. HOPEfully it'll last lol.

And then there was last weekend. BEAUTIFUL weather. Had a friend from Canada come up from a visit to Central FL on Saturday and we went on a trail ride. It was PERFECT all around. Weather had gone from the 82-88F (28-32C) to a toasty 74F with a light breeze that kept the bugs away. Humidity? What's that lol.

Horses were perfectly behaved. We saw several groups of deer, including one herd of 6 crossing the path about 250 feet ahead of us on a nice sandy trail. We did end up veering off that path before we got to their crossing point though.
Had great conversation w/ lots of catching up and just fun all around.

Last Sunday was another garden weather day. Perfect for that. Warm, but breezy.

With the mystery tree having broken out, I guess our last cold was this past week when temps at night hit the low 40F range--even though the crows were cackling and calling a lot today. Usually that spells another cold front.

Finally got to wash my car - it needed it badly I admit. LOL And next week? Yup, clean the inside ... Too tired / lazy tonight. Just another of those things that didn't get done for a while. Oh well. At least the degree is in the box and the rest is going to be caught up as time permits :)

Hope everyone has a great week and me, I hope WU is over giving me H**l...

Updated: 11:07 PM GMT del 15 Aprile 2012

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Bit(e)s of things to come...?

Posted by: Rotty3, 02:09 AM GMT del 02 Aprile 2012

Hope everyone had a great April Fool's Day. Is it really already April? Wow.

We tied yet another heat record - 90F, last set in 1935. Sigh.

Well, after the tick bite earlier in the year (and the 21 day Doxycycline round), I thought life was going to be easy. Well, that's until I finally was able to do more stuff outside. Mid-March, right after the hectic week, I finally got to scrub the horse water tubs. They've been getting a leeeeeee'l bit crudd. I reach for the rim to flip the 40 gal. plastic tub and feel spider webs. Hmmm. Carefully sliding my hand off and moving to another spot, I flip and what do I see? A nicely shaped yellowish colored egg case, then another one and finally she herself. Yup. Lovely Black Widow. Ummm... Not around the horses, no you don't.
She was gone before she knew what got her. I believe in quick dispatches. So, I carefully screen further along the rim. Sure enough. 'Nudda one. Okay, gone two.
On to the next tub a few days later. Again, some spidery sense says, careful! Sure 'nuff. Number 3. And gone, too. One in the garden as I was working on one of the beds last weekend. URGH. So that's four. Nice four leaf clover would be better. Alas.

So I sit at that computer yesterday and mind my own business (still tweaking that manuscript's final version before it goes to final systems check), and look to see what the horses are up to. I can see them from my office window (planned that way). What wasn't planned was what crawled up between the window screen and the outside window pane. You guessed it. Black Widow Number 5. Heartache by the Numbers anyone? Well, she's no longer having no heartaches that's for sure.

The skeeters are atrocious around here for several weeks now. And the black biting flies (innocently looking like regular house flies) are biting the horses and me like blood is going out of style. Urgh. Bug spray? Lasts about 1 hour at best. Then what? Yea, they laugh.

On a brighter note, the first set of new crop plants have shown their lil' green nosies. Yea. Armenian Yard Longs, some reseeding of lettuce for the summer (hoping for slow bolting), carrots for both equines and moi, okra and some tomatoes and hot peppers.
Today, some yellow and green zucchini / squash seeds went out, along w/ butternut and patty pan (anyone remember the flying saucer squash I grew the last two years?) and tonight I finally got the eggplant and tomato bed done. Next on list? Remove left-over onions and replant w/ peppers and some leek. Then, get the ol' beans and peas out too. And of course some watermelooooh'ns. Hopefully this year they actually WILL grow. Last year they failed miserably. Oh well. Gotta see if I can find the asparagus I planted last year under all the green overgrowth (yes, Virginia, 9 months of doing nothing in a garden when the weather is so warm you can fry an egg in a pan by sitting it in the sun WILL make anything vanish under a blanket of green...).

Things are looking up nicely. And I'm starting to get my interest up toward maybe another degree... this one a little different. Thought of going back and doing another UG degree, but from the looks, I can get away easier w/ doing a grad one. This time, work will pay for it. Yea. Doubly good :)

On the critter front:
Chicks (minus the one hen I reported having lost her life unexpectedly after doing so well) are doing well. Laying pretty good, too. Not sure they have or are molting this year. They'll be 1 year in about 10 days. I see some feathers around but nothing that would make me think "shedding feathers."

Miss Sharpy is doing well after all the scares she's put me through. We were down to 20 mg but the baggie on her chest seems to return slightly, so we upped the prednisone back to 30 mg. We'll see if that works.

And then today, Panthera (Mamma Cat's son who is my indoor kitty) went to the vet on an emergency call. He had so much blood in his urinary tract that a blood clot blocked the exit and he was backing up. Poor thing had a very hard bladder and felt super puny. He's a very active kitty (he should be 2 1/2 yo now I think) usually and this morning he couldn't be made to move at all. Big alarm bells. So, I called vet and said, can I bring him over. He's now in the hospital w/ a catheter and hopefully can come home in about 2 - 3 days. That is, if he doesn't reblock when the catheter comes out tomorrow. Keep fingers crossed.

Updated: 02:19 AM GMT del 02 Aprile 2012

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