Im finally motivated

I think I have finally gotten motivated to get some things done that are on my to-do list. Earlier this fall we harvested our cushaws and stored them in the cellar. A few days ago I went out to get something from the cellar for dinner and noticed my they were not keeping well. I had already lost several of my butternut squash to rot. I decided to just can them instead of letting them rot. Several weeks ago I had invited Rodgers mom to come up and spend some time with us. She called on Monday and ask when I would like her to come and I told her anytime she wanted. She got here Monday evening and is going to stay to help butcher chickens this weekend. She and I used to spend lots of time together and were really close till they moved to Florida and then back to Kentucky in another town. Then life got in the way, we both worked and never got a chance to get together. Now she is retired, finally, and I can be home all the time so this has been good. I do hope that I can be as good a mother-in-law as I have been blessed with. But before momma got here I had made my to-do list that I had been talking about. Dang it is getting longer as I go. So today Barbara and I got out and canned the cushaw so it don't waste. We ended the day with 14 quarts of canned cushaw cubes. Now all I need is a good recipe for pumpkin soup. The two can be used interchangeably. Maybe tomorrow we can make some pumpkin butter and get that canned as well. This will have to happen after I get back from town. I have to take my truck to the garage to get some work on it tomorrow. The weather was nice to be out today with lots of sunshine and warm temps. Although it is supposed to get colder this weekend in time for opening day of modern gun season for deer. Next week I will be going to western Kentucky to help my aunt cook for the hunting lodge that she is operating out there. She is real short on help and I do need and would like to visit with her a bit before bad weather and the holidays. All of a sudden my schedule got filled till early December. I have to wonder what will keep me busy the rest of the winter. Maybe some of those things that I have wanted to learn.We will see.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Getting ready...........

Not a lot gets done when ya cant get motivated around here. But at least I did get out today and get a few more of the outside things done that needs to be done while the weather is nicer. It was cold today but not bad. Good sweatshirt weather although I did have on sandals. But thas just me having a hard time wearing shoes. Rodger and Jason did get the cover on the water pump house today so it don't get rained in. While they did that I got the corn crib cleaned out and ready for the corn. It needs to be picked like now. While I was out I got the heirloom sweet corn that I had saved for seed shelled off the put away for gardening time. The earlier part of the day was spent trying to get hunting rifles sighted in and ready for deer hunting. Opening day is next Saturday here and they will be hunting the farm opening weekend. Sure will be nice to have a good stock of meat in the freezer. Venison is as good as beef as far as we are concerned. And with the price of beef going out of sight I think there will be more deer hunters in the woods this year. I get sticker shock every time I go into a grocery store these days. With all the news online and on TV all saying the same thing I sure hope people have taken this as a warning and have a well stocked pantry. With grain crop harvest low this year and demand higher it makes the growers have to pay more for the feed to feed to animals that we eat which in turn drives the prices way up. I do wish I could get some people here to understand the need to be able to provide all our own meats and veggies. I know my dads family survived on this farm during the depression years and I feel we could do the same if we make every effort to be more self sufficient. With winter coming on heating bills will take a bug chunk of the budget and leave less money for food in lots of households. We do pay like everyone else to heat but then again we dont have to have a big grocery budget. For this I am thankful. But things happen from time to time that need to be paid for such as my truck needing some minor repairs that I have had to put off. Seems like when it rains it pours. OK off my rant now.
I think I had posted earlier this year about taking our dog to the vet because she was limping in her front leg. He tole us it was because the Great Pyrenees grow so fast that it makes the cartilage weak in their joints. From time to time she will do something to make it flare up again. That's what she did last week. When she was at the vet he just gave her pain meds and mineral supplements to take. So I had Rodger pick up a bottle of children's liquid ibuprofen for her. I have been giving her that for a couple days now and she does seem to be less sore. I am sure it also helped that she is not sleeping out on the ground now. She has a spot on a rug on the front porch to sleep. Last year I had bought her an igloo style dog house and she will not go in there for love nor money. So I have a new dog house, un-used sitting under the front porch that I should get rid of. Would be nice if I could find someone who would be willing to build me a real doghouse out of plywood in trade for this one. Probably wont find any takers on that tho.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Things I want to do

I have decided to make a list at some point of things I want to learn to do or thing I want to do better. A lady that writes one of the blogs I follow has challenged her readers to do a "want to learn list". I can name a few right now. The one thing I want to learn is to knit. When I was a teen an older lady at our church taught me the basic stitches and since then I have forgotten even those. I also want to learn how to crochet using patterns. As of right now I can look at a crochet pattern and it may as well be written in Greek. Maybe somebody has written a book "crochet pattern reading for idiots". I also this winter would like to finish my family cook book. I had started it on my computer last winter just putting in recipes for dishes that we make a lot and how-tos pertaining to doing things in the kitchen. I'm not doing this cook book for sale, mainly just for the benefit of the kids and family. As I was adding some of the recipes I was suddenly aware that my cooking style is very Appalachian with a southern twist. A lot of what we eat is prepared the same way my grandmother would have made it. And if any one has read the book "Nourishing Traditions" it explains a lot of why certain things are prepared a certain way. Around here when we fix pinto beans they are cooked with a piece of salt pork or ham in them. I always thought that's just the way po folks cooked. But really to unlock all the enzymes and nutrients in the pintos they must be cooked with added animal fat. The book sure explained a lot of things that were a mystery up to that point. Add reading the book again to my want to do list.
We did get out this afternoon and clean out the chicken house and got new dry bedding put in for the chickens. The cornish cross are eatin, drinkin, poopin machines. To get them to grow well and be strong they need food around the clock. And with a constant supply of food and water it is near impossible to keep their bedding dry. I had been adding more dry straw to the building every day to keep them happy and today I tole Rodger we need to just take out all the wet straw and start with a fresh layer of good dry bedding and that should hold them till next weekend when I will definitely be butchering them off. They just were not big enough to suit me today to butcher. In cooler weather they grow slower because they use a lot of their food to maintain body heat and not so much putting on meat. It was cold out today. Even working cleaning the building I had to keep my sweatshirt on and I was still chilly. Did I mention I don't like cold weather. I don't think we will see much of a warm up till next spring. I am just looking forward to getting all the outdoor things finished up so I can stay in a start on this want to learn list. I do know for sure I have some sewing projects that need to be done. Summer past when we went to the 127 yard sale we picked up some California king size comforters for about $5 each and I want to use those to make new covers for the cushions in the patio chairs. Lots to do, now how to motivate me.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Just doin what I do best

And that amounts to nothing. I got up earlier than normal this morning and got out in hopes of getting some things done outside. But dang a gal has to have her coffee before all this happens. So I had my cup o coffee, I am down to 1 now, not sure why. Then went out to feed the chickens and give them water. Gosh they do drink a lot. And when they drink a lot they also poop a lot. All this keeps their bedding wet if I don't put fresh hay in there every day. By time I get them all butchered off the bedding will be a good foot or more thick. I guess that will all get put on the garden spot so it can break down over winter. But that is gonna be a week or so. I had intended to butcher this weekend but dang it the chickens are not as big as I want them. So I am gonna wait another week and let em grow some more. With the weather being cooler they use a lot of their food to produce body heat to stay warm and don't make meat as quickly. But thas OK, next weekend is good too. Although we did get out scalding kettle set and filled with water this evening, I will just cover it and it will be ready to go next week.
Rodger stopped and got a small electric heater to put out in the summer kitchen to keep it toasty when I do have to get out there and work. Early next week I am going to make my annual supply of hominy and get it canned up. It is rather easy to do just takes a lil time is all. But it sure turns out tasty. While I was out I got the coolers all cleaned up and ready to use or store. It was really too dang cold to be messing in cold water outside but I thought it should be done today. I think I should have picked a warmer day. All the patio chairs are cleaned and stacked to be covered for winter. Once the chairs were out of the way I took down the gates from the front porch and let Luna come on the porch so she isn't sleeping on the cold wet ground. She has one of those really nice igloo style dog houses and will not, no way, no how go in there. Talk about a waste of money. In summer we don't let her on the porch because we do sit out there some and after I took the gates down she didn't want to come on the porch. I had to do a lot of begging to get her to come up and lay on the rug I put there for her. I think I need to hit a yard sale and find a few old quilts to put out for her this winter so she can have a nice warm bed. Last year she had a shoulder injury and the vet said it was a tear in the cartilage and from time to time she limps really bad. Maybe sleeping off the ground will help that a lil bit too. I feel so bad for her when she limps around, ya would think she was old. But I can sure relate to sore achy joints. Last time I was at the doc they changed my arthritis medicine and the med seemed to work well it just made me sick. So that one is a no go. I am pretty sure that is why I was sick for so long with nausea. The only other alternative is to not do any thing physical. And I really don't see me doing that. So I guess I will just have to pay the price in pain and soreness everyday.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Uhoh!! I lost a day

Dang some how I lost a day this week. Not even sure how that happened. I just looked at the date on my computer and it is Thursday already. So I reckon I didn't post yesterday. O well!
Any way, as for today not much really happening in my world. Well except that I was really happy with the election results on a national level. I am so doing a happy dance that Nancy Pelosi lost her position. I am sure the country will be much better off without her liberal agenda. And I sure hope to hell someone teaches her how to apply lipstick so its not smeared all over the lower half of her face. Just further proof that you can not make a silk purse out of a pigs ear.
Speaking of pigs, ms Petunia doesn't like pig pellets. She much prefers scraps and corn to the good for her stuff that we wanted to feed her. But so far she is doing really well adjusting to her life of not having other critters eating her feed. Although I am sure she misses her cow and sheep friends.
I think I will only be butchering about 10 or 15 of the chickens this weekend as they are not quite big enough to suit me. They don't grow as fast in cooler weather due to the fact that they burn more energy trying to stay warm and less of the feed energy goes to making "chicken". So we will do the remainder next weekend hopefully. It is really hard to keep the building clean and dry with that many birds wanting to stay near the heat light and feed and water containers. I added more hay in there this evening to try to combat the moisture and hope they will have less manure on then when we do butcher. Yeah I know its a nasty job but gosh someone has to do it. Here it is November already and we still have lots of outside things to do. And the weather man is saying we might get a few snow flurries this weekend as well. It is supposed to get much colder too. Kinda makes me want to stay in the house and build a fire in the fireplace and drink hot chocolate. Or at least something that will make me think I'm warm.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Election day,our corn is ready

It has been election day here and yep I did get out and vote. So I guess that gives me the right to complain about our elected officials. Some of the offices in our county were unopposed and some I just as soon have voted "none of the above". I am not sure that any candidate that I have heard about has told the truth about anything. Seems all they try to do is belittle their opponent just to try and make themselves look better. I sure would not make a good politician. I really don't think many changes will take place in our local offices but not sure about state wide. Many we just need to vote in a new crook to see if they can do better.
The weather was nice today when I was out but they are giving colder temps and maybe some rain later this week. The cold I can live without. When I went out to vote and pulled into the parking spot at the polls my truck was acting odd as far as brakes. Then I heard a hissing noise when I got out and thought 'oh great, a nail in a tire'. But when I came out it had stopped so that kinda clued me in that it was not a tire but instead my brake system. I took it to have it checked out and was tole that it may possibly be a wheel bearing. And that really didn't sound cheap. So I go back later this week to get that fixed. Dang it is alas something. Not that I drive that much but I do like the fact that I have a vehicle IF I decide to go somewhere.
I limped the truck back home and went into the field to pick some corn to take to Petunia. Our corn is ready to pick. Nice and dry, shells easy and I gave the hog some and she liked it. Most of em will eat new corn better than anything else. So later this week I might go back and pick some more and shell it for her. The guys really need to get the corn picker ready and get the corn in before the fall rainy season starts. This same corn will be our corn for cornmeal too. And heaven knows we use a good deal of that.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A stay at home day

I had a chance to stay at home today and chill out for a bit. Seems like I cant get enough sleep for some reason. I feel tired all the time. But I got out this morning and fed the chickens and seeing as how they were hungry and not to disturb them I waited till this evening to put fresh bedding in their building. It was needing it really bad. With 50 chicks doin their business in there all day the bedding can get kinda wet and never drys this time of year. This only happens if the chicks have feed and water and eat 24 hours a day. I figured I would have some cold chicks last night when the power went off. But the power company got it going again by midnight and the heat light came back on for the chicks.
Jason said Petunia is liking her new digs and all the things we are giving her to eat. We don't have a lot of leftovers from meals but even a lil bit will make a pig happy. He did get a bag of feed for her today as well. He has to feed really early in the mornings before work and he said Petunia was buried under her pile of hay this morning when she shined a flashlight on her. At that point she was awake and ready to eat. Not much else happening on the homestead today. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella