Home with Petunia, power went off

We got home this afternoon with Petunia and got her all situated in the barn. She was really easy to get moved. She laid down in the trailer most of the way home and we put a rope on her leg just to prevent her from wondering off on the walk to the barn. She was very cooperative and went along with no fuss. She has a nice barn that stays dry and hay for a bed. We have access to water all the time and will be fed 2 times a day so she can eat free will. I am sure she will miss her sheep and cow pals that she ran with but she does have a cat to hang out with her. We noticed she likes to shove all the hay into a pile and then tunnel under it to stay warm. Odd for a pig. I think she will grow nicely with fresh corn and lots of feed.

We have had really nice weather today. Perfect fall weather with sunshine. But for some reason our power just went off. I just hope it is not another case where someone has taken out a power pole with their car. But it has happened before. So we will use the kerosene lights till it comes back on. But yes my computer is on battery backup and will run for a while. On the radio they are saying someone has been electrocuted at a sub-station and someone else is calling for help. Hope this turns out well for all involved.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

We are getting a hog

We are going to west Kentucky tomorrow to get the hog that is at my friends house and bring her home. We did finally barrow a small horse trailer to haul her in. It will be better than putting racks on a pickup truck. At least she wont be exposed to the wind and possibly get sick from the ride this way. So we are leaving in the morning and will be back home early Sunday and get Petunia in the barn and feed her. If she were a different breed I am not so sure I wouldn't breed her and let her have piglets before she is butchered. But I really don't have room for pigs right now. Maybe another time.
It has been rather cool here all day. Not a short sleeve day by any means. I guess winter is right around the corner now. Not much else happening here today. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Fall cleaning, nice weather

I haven't done enough to write home about in the past few days. Just kinda trying to take it easy for a bit and rest. I did get out for a bit to enjoy the nice weather before it turns cold tonight. We have a freeze warning for our area tonight and tomorrow night as well. Do you have any idea how hard it is to write a blog post when you have done absolutely nothing? Well its hard. So I didn't. Today I got back to the fall cleaning inside the house and de-cluttering. I did get all the base cabinets in the kitchen cleaned and organized a little better. Tomorrow is the upper ones. Gosh I dread those because that is where all the baking supplies are and herbs, spices, that kinda thing. I know I need to sort and see what I need to stock up on when we go to the grocery next time. The extent of our grocery shopping each week is for maybe a loaf of bread, milk and cigarettes. We really don't buy much. But when we go to Sams club and the bigger stores we do buy mostly staples in bulk. That includes flour, sugar, coffee(expensive habit),just basic stuff. And we do get more than our share of what I call junk food. I do get wild rice mix and that type things. We are not big bread eaters at all so flour is not something I store a lot of. Some yes, not a lot. I did go into town today to get smokes, yeah OK, I will tell ya bout that in a minute. I though I would plunder the store a lil bit and check out the prices. The meat counter was a horror, oh my the prices. I have been buying good high quality bacon for $2.49 per lb, now it is well over $3. A friend mentioned that in her town bacon was 3 # for $15. Chicken and pork were way more than I am willing to pay for it. I am so glad we raise our own chickens and this year we are getting a hog to butcher. And the guys hunt, which is  a great help on the food bill. Here's one that killed me, chips, I have an addiction to chips. I guess I need the crunch. Dang they are near $4 per bag. I can get 10 lb of taters for that price. Sugar was $3 for 5lb, self rising flour the same. I got sticker shock and came home. That  trip made my head hurt. Well OK, now for the smoking part. I have a script for the anti-smoking medication. You are supposed to take it for a week before you stop using cigarettes. So this week I started the medicine. I know the medicine works because when I get up in the mornings I am not drooling for that first cigarette. So Thursday of next week will be my start quitting date. Care to join me? And if you choose not to join me, at least bring a damn shovel to help bury the bodies.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Projects getting done, rain

The weather was so nice and pleasant today. We had a nice breeze blowing although they were giving high winds and severe storms for us. The temps were so nice in the mid 70's. Then we got a good rain this afternoon, no storms tho. I got out and worked on some of the clean up projects that I had started a few weeks ago. I finally got my outbuilding cleaned out and arranged so at least you can get in the door with getting killed by something falling on ya. Then I unloaded the taters and onions that I had got yesterday and put them in plastic crates that have good air circulation. While I was out there I cleaned out the odds and ends and swept the floor. So thas 2 more projects marked off my to-do list. After I came in I started on the 2 freezers in the house. One on the side by side and the other on top of the second fridge. Got some stuff tossed that had been lost in there too long. Now you can safely open the door without risk of a broken toe.
OK with the bad but not so bad news from my doc yesterday I have decided it is time to quit smoking. I am certain it will help my blood pressure a great deal. I have one more pack of cigs to go and thas gotta be it. I think my quit date will be Friday October 29. Right before Halloween. Thas gonna be scary. I have to do this for me, no one else, just me. But the first person that bums a cigarette will likely get their throat slit. We shall see how this goes.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

We finally got rain, doc visit

We finally got some much needed rain late last night. Not a lot but enough to settle the dust and snuff out some of the forest fires that have been burning in nearby counties. Some of the state parks here have been closed due to dry conditions and burn bans. The ground is so dry and sponge like that it soaked in the water really quick. Now tomorrow we are under a wind advisory with gust up to 45 mile per hour and it is posed to get cold after that. The pretty leaves will all be gone after that.
I had a doc appointment in the next town over today. As I was leaving I stopped into the local fruit stand that is just across the road. I picked up a 50lb bag of potatoes and a 50lb bag of onions to put in the cellar. The onions are nice and dry so they should keep most of the winter. We use a good many potatoes but I think we use as much rice and pasta. So this bag should do us for a good while. In winter we like to make tater soup and that takes several and will make good use of some of the fresh onions as well. But as for the doc visit, not as good as I would have liked. I had a physical several months ago and called to get the results and they tole me all my labs were fine. Then today they mentioned drawing labs again to re-check my cholesterol. I tole the doc that I was told they were OK and she let me see the lab print out. Well my cholesterol is not too bad at 210 but its the bad cholesterol that is elevated. And my white count was slightly elevated as well. She said that is probably coming from all the inflammation in my joints from arthritis. I have also had a nagging headache for several weeks and had checked my blood pressure at home and it was up too. It was up today as well. Now I have to work on those 2. I guess the first task will be to quit smoking. I got a feeling they will have me in a cage in a few days of trying to quit. Maybe not, who knows.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Peaceful existence

I think we have a rather peaceful existence here on the homestead. It is nice to be home this time of year and relax. That is about what I have done today. Just did the general pick up and straighten up here. Rodger and Jason had to make a trip to Lowes to pick up some heaters and I stayed home. Its days like that where I can just do as I please and nap if I want or what ever. They got back and then went to the shop to get some lumber cut to size to build a box around our water pump and get it insulated for winter. I think they also need to do the pump box at Jason's house as well. Things to do while we have some really nice weather.
We have been trying to locate a small covered trailer of some sort to use to haul a hog home in and haven't had any luck as of yet. So we decided this evening to just build a set of racks for Jason's pick-up and use it to get Petunia home. The next several weekends are full of plans. So this means we must go get Petunia next weekend. So that's where Jason and I will head off to. The weekend after that is chicken butchering, then the next 2 will be for deer hunting, then Rob and Amoy will be home for Thanksgiving. Rob called today and he said they took a lil drive around the area where they live just exploring and the mountains were so beautiful and they have snow already. I did remember to tell them they could keep it out there. It is pretty to look at tho.

Rob also said they had already had several days of rain and was expecting more this week. I am not looking forward to winter.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

A nice class reunion

It is so hard to believe that I have been out of school for 30 years. Gosh where does the time go. We have the woolly worm festival in our town this weekend and a lot of folks who live away do come home for that event. So someone had planned a class reunion for this weekend while the out of towners were home. It was a nice time, was fun to see a lot of old class mates again. The ones that were here tonight haven't changed a lot. I was kinda proud of the fact that over 50% of my graduating class has stayed in the county to work and raise their families. I had been told that that was the largest percentage of any graduating class to stay around here. Kinda neat I do think as we are in a really small town. But a nice time was had by all and nicer time for some of us who chose to supplement our drinks. I am looking forward to next years reunion, maybe we can plan a little farther ahead and more people will know.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella