Way out in the Middle of Nowhere

Usually I don't make them. Why? I think I might not follow up on them, like everyone else. My usual resolution is to have more intimate moments with my Husband. Well, if you think about it, one more time in the hay is MORE than the year before, right?  I've got that one NAILED! Time to do some serious stuff though: My New Year's resolutions: photo courtesy of the website mentioned in the photo.  1. To wear my weapon more. I have a concealed carry license. The world is going more cray-cray and less sane. I'm wearing my weapon and will be working on more practice on moving targets this year. NO, that does not mean humans.  God, how people think these days!  If someone does come at me to threaten my life or those of my family I want to be sure I am accurate. Incidentally, those 4 rules over there are not just guidelines, they are RULES!! Everyone who owns a gun should live by these 24/7. Most 'accidental' shootings are because of the lack of following th...

My usual feeling on Christmas is dread. I used to despise Christmas with a passion. Not for it's meaning, but for the fact that it meant we had to schlep all over Wisconsin to see family. Lumpy beds, hours upon hours driving in bad roads, people with uppity attitudes, bullshit galore. Yeah, not a great way to spend the holiday, but we did it anyways. After the big blowout shortly after Christmas before last, we've been freed. Dave's family finally came out of the closet and told us how they truly felt about us: We're stupid, horrible, evil people because we're not Libs. In fact, that apparently is the very reason WHY they felt it important to tell us so during a visit to our home. Yep, I invite them as guests into my home only to get called a stupid, evil bitch.  Bitter? Me? HELLZ YES! I'm still bitter about that, and will be until my death. I'm SO much better than that! I know how to be an excellent guest in anyone's home. But that's why I'...

Is it safe?Are all the integrals gone? I'm also sporting a Deephaven Cowl that I finally finished! I will never have to take another difficult math class again! Yes, I advanced far enough to pass Calculus 2 with a dip into Differential Equations. That is, unless I bombed the final. I would not recommend that someone decide to abandon their course in University two weeks before a final. You find that your give-a-shit busts in every way. I wanted to do well in Calc, and I didn't even take the Circuits final, because..there was just no way that I was going to get anything other than an F in the class anyways. And If you are in WI, thinking of taking the UW Platteville "Collaborative" course in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, DON'T. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT'S HOLY...................DON'T! Mango, made for a couple who sat next to me in Calculus. They have a daughter who is young. It's a ruse: They take your money, show you a decent la...

I came to a crossroads of sort in my student career.  URock is refusing to allow me to take any more classes there due to some stupid f*cked up rule about maximum credits. Dude, it's all within the University of Wisconsin system anyhow, who gives a rat's hairy bottom if I take Statics in Janesville or Platteville. Apparently these people are SO stuck into their rigid rules and regulations that they cannot see they are losing students to it. I panicked, tried to think of a way that I could save myself the 4 hour round trip to Platteville every stinking work day and could not. This is Wisconsin, y'all - 9 months of winter and 3 months of bad ice-skating- it's not cool to spend that much time on icy winter roads! So..transfer to Whitewater (only 1 hour away) and major in Math until I could transfer to Madison? I bounced it off of David. "What are you going to do with a BS in Math?" he questioned. "I don't know, calculate my unemployment?" My a...

So, i downloaded  the app on my phone. Let's see if I can get more blogging done on the cell than I do if I sit at my laptop. Right now it's a lot of studying going on, some talk of transferring from one university in the Wisconsin system to another university because of problems with the collaborative online stuff. Knitting has been stopped for a little bit. I've had a few request for more prayer shawls, but I'm taking a break from them right now. I turned out three of them in less than two months, that is a record for me. I bought a truck. It is not a new truck, in fact it's pretty old, but I do like it better than having the car. If I am to commute to and from Madison, I'll need a truck that's not worthy of stealing. With the truck being a stick shift, it will be sufficient theft deterrent. The photo is of Fred the goose and I. He's one of the the two last hatched. Papa Percy and Mama Mary are good goose parents for them. They like me to sit and le...

I supposed to be studying Circuit Modeling, and yes, I'll get back to it. That in itself is at least a 12 page rant. The book I was supposed to be using sucks, the Proctoring is bullshit, and I've got at least 5 supposed professionals from the UW who are annoying me with their inability to think outside the procedures. If one more person sends me the 'procedures.doc' and insists that I peruse it again..I'ma throwing a brick at them. Yes, I know the bloody 'procedure' and I know you're hiding your inadequacies behind them. These people couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag without their ever-loving, vaunted 'procedure' And here's the kicker for all 5 of them: I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR PROCEDURES! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT LAME EXCUSES!! And their inadequacies has made me rethink my college of choice..maybe NIU has a better program... Onto knitting: Three people in one week let it be known they have cancer. Three...

Ok, I'm not totally SURE that's the cold I have, but if it's not...it's pretending well. Last Tuesday night I went to bed feeling like I had a bad allergic reaction to something. It happens. I took a Benadry, Ibuprofen and Claritin and went to bed. I awoke feeling worse than I did before bed: Runny nose, all stuffed up, that feeling that you've been run over by a bus. Yeah, it was not fun. I took the day off from school, begged off my chores to Alex and just slept most of the day. A few days later I was better, but that cold has migrated to my lungs - my old, asthmatic lungs. I wake up, hork up some mucous, toke on my inhaler and get some coffee. So how does one cope with having a bad cold like this without having to go to the doctor? Well, over the counter meds and some good old-fashioned home remedies. OTC Meds: Mucinex DM - Well, any generic medicine containing Guaifenesin will work. My generic med has that and a decongestant. Now the caveat to taking G...

oh Hey! that's George saying hi to me. He and Fred like to come up and chew on me a bit while I'm outside. I've been inside now for a few days struggling with a nasty cold. First day was the clogged yet drippy sinuses, Yesterday was the migration to the asthmatic lungs. Today is just meh.  really really meh. I'm tired and glad to be going nowhere. Last weekend was the Sheep and Wool festival in Jefferson, WI. As Dave found a cooking partner this year for his task of cooking the roasts for the Church's Harvest Festival, I got to go! I finally got my hands on one of Adam Mielke 's spindles. I've wanted one since he started making them. I understand he's stopped, but a few can be had. I started spinning with some nice red merino roving in it from the Fairy Yarn Mother. . Susan is a good friend of mine that I enjoy talking with at the fair each time. She has the most wonderful shades of roving around.  It's the one roving I am most trustworthy ...

Lots of challenges going around on Facebook.  Here's a challenge I have for everyone: 1. Donate whatever money you want to whatever charity you feel would benefit from that cash. Don't post a video of it, don't throw water on your head. Do NOT- I repeat DO NOT- challenge others to do so. What a person can give to a charity and to what charity they believe is beneficial is none of your concern. 2. I've seen the 'gratitude' challenge. Dude, if you need someone to TELL you to be grateful, you've got problems. Even in my worst days: my worst pain, my most desolate times, there were things to be grateful about. Even if that gratitude was that I woke up alive that day. If you're stuck in a complaint rut, think about 5 good things that happened to you today, even if one is that you got dressed correctly. My list of gratitude is endless. When you see geese dance like that, it always brings a smile to my face. That's George, by the way...drying off a...

I'm back from the grocery store. We were out of milk. I was out of soda...it was necessary. Oh and HEY! Ice cream was on sale! So I gather milk, soda, pizzas and that awesome ice cream and head to the checkout lane. I'm a tad frustrated because my pen is not in my purse. That means I'll have to wait until I am being checked out to write out the check. Meh, I write fast. The woman in front of me...in her 70's by my reckoning has a whole cart full of stuff. She starts instructing the bag boy (man?) to not crush stuff, keep this to the side etc. Oh goodie! She's going to be one of those people. Others who queue up behind me suddenly realize how slow this line is and in a huff wander off to another line. Whatever, I mean, this can't possibly take TOO long, right? Food's been scanned, the lady hands the cashier a dozen coupons. The two of them go through these coupons, 'did you buy this?' no..that coupon goes in one pile, the other ones that were f...

It's been 3 years since our last vacation, and Dave decided he needed one badly.  We trained up Alex and his friend Cody to watch the flock while we were gone and we headed off to Governor Thompson State Park near Crivitz, WI. It's a new park, situated on the Cauldron Falls impoundment. A very nice park, actually. Except for the rain. Seriously, it hadn't rained in Southern Wisconsin for WEEKS. No rain. the grass was brown, we really needed some! Up North, it rained for 3 days straight. A few hours here and there were dry but it was getting absolutely ridiculous. The first night we were there, we set up and went down to see if we could get cell reception and call home. I took this photo from the boat landing. Nice, eh?  Even the mosquitoes were pretty scarce. We called home, everything was fine and went back to fishing. There's been a fox stalking our flocks. Problem is, we've got a huge flock and the geese are actually bigger than the fox. they'll sto...

That's George, Fred is behind him. They're doing well.  I've put up the enclosure again so they can be protected while outside. They have food, water and a bath in their enclosure. The rest of the flock is still harassing them. I don't know why, nor do I care. I just need time to be inside. Carrie is sitting on the last 2 eggs we have. I've incubated them until yesterday when B5 was internally pipping. B3 and B5 were fertile and have progressed well since I popped them in the incubator. By putting them under a broody goose, she gets to be Mom and I get my life back. This is just a nice photo of part of the flock. I can tell right away this is the flock we term "Ron's Flock" because Buddy is in it. Buddy, Ron, Sweet Pea and Gingi are all part of our original flock sent to us over 2 years ago. Everyone else in the group is Ron's offspring: Ronson, Sissysan, Penny, Nelly, Lumpy and Arthur. It was a cool morning after a good rain. We could u...

Last week, my shoulder decided it did not like shoveling loads of muck out of the mud pit. I had a grumpy arm that wouldn't allow me to move it without griping about the movement. Lovely, eh? It was my left shoulder as well, which makes it oh so much more challenging as a left-handed person. I had gotten the TENS unit that Icy Hot sells for Dave, as his back was hurting. It did wonders for him, but was fiddly: the buttons are on the unit itself and impossible to reach when attached to the back. I tried it on my shoulder. It made it worse. It got to the point where any movement on my upper body sent it to thralls of great pain. The pain itself reached a crescendo Friday night when we wrapped the shoulder. I ended up on the recliner to sleep and spent the next 2 nights there as well. There was just no way to sleep in bed without it hurting. At least in the recliner, I could prop it up and put the heating pad on it.  A regimen of 4 ibuprofen plus the heating pad helped out a lot....

So here I sit, on a Google sponsored site: Blogger. Of course, I have nice photos and videos on Google + because they INSIST! I must put my cell phone photos there...but I cannot share them on blogger...........a Google site without downloading them and then uploading them again. Stupid, moronic and vapid. If you want to compete with places like Facebook, you need to start acting like you can do better than them. It's been a summer of 'meh'. Meh as in I just have not done much except sit on the ground staring  at goslings or taking naps. Yah, sure knitting is going on. This is the photo of my prayer shawl with the pattern I've devised. So far I'm into it for a skein and a 1/3.  I'm thinking it would take about a skein and a half to get about a 6' shawl. It's almost done. Then there's another one in purple that I'm making as well. Each one is from a pattern I've modified from looking at photos of other shawls/baby blankets. The patt...

I'll let you in on a little secret: In my mind, I have like 5 ideas for blog posts every week. Due to age and my schedule, by the time I get to the posting, I forget them. Some ideas: A nice listing of hobbies/interests that I understand, but just don't 'get'.  List of what I've learned from my Grandmother. It boils down to three things: 1, independence 2. frugality, and 3 putting family first. Moments in my life where I've dodged HUGE bullets.  I lead a blessed life, not because it's all been easy, but because there were moments in there where I was given a choice between easy and correct. I chose correct.  If I were to write a book, which story would I choose? Mindless rants about how people drive, stare at their phones or just are assholes. Yeah, like that  hasn't been overdone on other blogs! inane photos of more geese, ducks, chickens and knitting. Oh you know  that will happen anyways, right?  Summer is summer. Tyranny of the shoulds ...

This is Nelly who has a baby gosling nestled under her wing with it's little head sticking out by her butt. Look closely and you'll see. I tucked this pipped egg under her wing 3 days ago and it hatched. Her eggs weren't viable. She's last years' gosling and they really don't get the hang of brooding and such until the 2nd year. We've got a few gals that are really good Moms; Luna is foster Mom to Elsa and she is just loving it. Molly is just a natural Mom who has always had good clutches of goslings. Nelly is slowly picking up what to do. The last 2 days we've had her segregated 98% of the time from the flock so that the gosling can get on it's feet, learn to eat and drink and learn who is Mom. Today they are out on the land checking out stuff. Nelly's got the jist of keeping the kid near her, but does not understand when the baby needs to have mom lay down so it can warm itself under her wing. She's very protective of her; attacked...

I've not had a cell phone for years. We have one cell phone that goes in the car. It's what we term, the 'burn phone' a tracphone with prepaid minutes we load every 3 months for those emergencies. Well, I'm doing a lot more things away from the house. Dave and I decided we might actually take a vacation this year, so I researched cell phones and plans.  I'm amazed that people will pay 600 bucks for a frigging phone and then fork over another 150 a month just to play on it. It's more than I can ever afford to pay for a simple phone and internet. Mine is a $150 phone with a $25/month service. Republic Wireless. The phone is good, and the 3G works fine. There's still a black hole of cell reception by the house, but the wifi takes over. I use my phone for photos, video, ebooks, radar, facebooking, and texting. The photos are turning out really good, with the exception that google is trying to hijack EVERYTHING on it. Someone should tell them their Googl...

Have you ever wondered why I have pictures of tornadoes on my blog? I find them fascinating. They're God's own havoc in a tight, spiraling cone of Hell. Spawned from nothing but wind, they can destroy lives and property in seconds only to go POOF! and be gone.  Utterly fascinating. I know they kill persons and animals. I know they destroy lives. A conversation I had once with a person living in CA went like this: "I wouldn't live in CA, too many earthquakes. Likewise, I wouldn't live in the gulf coast. Too many hurricanes." I said. "Well I wouldn't live in Kansas or anywhere near there, too many tornadoes." My friend replied. "Yes, but I don't build my house on a tornado! You built your home like miles from an earthquake fault." My response. To live in a place where danger is imminent because of a crack on the Earth, or location that gets banged up by tropical storms is inviting destruction. Tornadoes are much more random. ...

Ok, one thing first: I have become the mother of a gosling. She hatched out last Friday. We've taken her everywhere this last weekend as she is very needy. I'm in negotiations with Luna, one of our gals to see if she will watch the gal outside for those times when I'm needed to be inside. So far..so good. Luna is very shy but very taken with the baby. She'd love to be a Mom to her. OK before my computer dies again:  I've knitted 6 of these hats so far. Of all the yarns I've used, I like the Patons Kroy best. It's thicker yarn than the other sock yarns which makes a nice, warm hat for 3 seasons out of 4. I find myself wearing hats a lot lately to keep my hair out of my eyes when doing chores and to keep warm.  The upside to them is that they also make good pouches to keep baby goslings in. The babies like to feel as though they are under Mama's wing, so I will pop them into a hat, roll down the brim and let their noses peek out.  Do I need 6 more ...

I've been having interrupted sleep lately which is screwing up my days something fierce. It also makes me very short-tempered.  I also could not give a rat's hairy butt what I look like with 4 hours of sleep plus 2 hours of trying to sleep on a 30 year old recliner. So. Here's my not giving a crap look: Penny hatched out one gosling. Well, there was another one but it died shortly after getting out of the shell. Chaos ensued the days after the hatching and we could not convince the uncles that they should leave Mom and Dad alone to bond with the gosling. In the chaos of hissing, wing beating and fights, some goose stepped on the egg and on the gosling inside. I tried to help it out, but he was a goner. Nellie is brooding in that same garage. When her babies hatch the fencing goes up around the opening to the garage that same moment and does not go off until time to put them back in. The uncles are just too violent. These are the uncles: Sweet Pea, Gingi and Bud...

Yes, Sissy's death has been a big blow to all of us. We miss her terribly. We suspect she became egg-bound, a condition that is most often fatal in poultry. She had not laid eggs this year and I knew she'd been shagged. There are a few things you can do, but you have to know that she's egg bound to start treatment. My laptop had been shutting down randomly, so I had Dave take it apart and blow out the fan. It's been sporadic since. I've been using Alex's laptop (he has a desktop also) but it's frustrating. His touchpad is extra touchy and if you rest your hand on it, well...the laptop does crazy things. We sold 2 of Molly's babies to a lady who lives near the Dells. She had bought 2 geese from someone and one died. Geese need a flock to survive, so I offered her two of Molly's babies. She said they are doing well and bonding with her gosling. It's good to have a flock of happy geese. There's a good video of what it's like to have ...

We lost our Sissy girl last night. Found her dead in the coop this morning. She'd been sick last week, with a swelling under her beak. We let her stay inside the house, and she was stumbling and bumping into stuff. Her bad eye went worse and I was treating that but she seemed to take a turn for the better last night. She got in her last nibbles on our hair and Dave's beard and we put her in the coop because the others were harassing her. Going to be a crappy day............

I had a very odd dream last night/early this morning. I was sitting in class listening like a good girl when the guy who sits next to me looks outside and says, "WOW!" which makes us all look. We are on the 2nd floor of a building, so looking out over the parking lot we notice that the sky is not blue, nor gray nor any natural sky color - it is the color of fire. We look for the cause and find none. We run down the stairs and out the door and find the entire sky the color of flame.  And in my mind, I realize this heralds the end of humanity; Armageddon, the Reaping,..whatever you call it. It's the end. But life goes on and we all do our best. The next part of this dream, I am working in an office. I do not know the man with whom I work, but I realize it's a co-worker. He's on the phone with a customer across the world away. A flash of bright, a swoosh and we are both in another office. I look outside to see barren, brown rocks and a mountainous terrain. My co...

What? It's a very quiet time here at the ol' farm just before all heck breaks loose with babies. Well...some babies are already here. I lent out some duck and chicken eggs to a school teacher so that her classroom can watch them hatch. They've got 2 ducks hatched yesterday, I'm guessing more today. We'll add those to our flock in a few days. Currently I'm having a love affair with the Pattons Kroy yarn. It's a tad thicker than your usual sock yarn and these hats are just mindless. Knit while I'm studying, get a warm hat as a reward. Since it's yet to reach a temperature in the morning that can be construed as hat-less, I'm liking this style of hat. It stays on and doesn't move when you look down, look up, reach all over the place. BTW: Dave doesn't mind the affair as long as it's just platonic. Every Friday I go into town and hit Goodwill and then JoAnn fabrics. My MIL gave me gift cards to JoAnn's for Christmas. Armed wit...

Lots of fun around here...with spring being here and all. The goosie gals have been laying eggs constantly, so I've resorted to putting a few dozen on Craigslist to allow others to incubate and start their own flock. I tried something in the goose pen that turned out to be a failure: I had Dave take down the partition between Percy's flock and Molly's flock. Fights ensued between Percy and Albus, Adele was frantic and Molly was having none of it. After 2 nights, I put the stupid thing back up. I'm knitting basic stocking caps while studying. So far, I've knocked out 3 of them within 2 weeks. The last one was thrown at my Professor who was surprised. I asked him if he was allergic to wool. His confused answer was, "I don't think so, why?" because you're getting a hat there skippy.... I was screwing up the decreases horrendously. Instead of a double decrease using SSK,then K2Tog, I was doing just the SSK....it screwed it up a lot. They are handy...

This is Holy Week, the last week of the Lenten Season culminating in Easter. So what was my sacrifice? Well, I didn't give myself one. I did pray about it and apparently God gave me a good one. Over the last month I've had to deal with people who have wronged me seriously. These are people whom I've distanced myself from because of their actions. In each case I was put in a situation where I encountered them again. The encounters were enough to tell me that I can be civil to someone but I don't have to go all mushy with them also. The Grebe that we rescued from the frozen pond was transferred to the Milwaukee Humane Society rescue center as they have more experience with water birds. After a month of hanging out in a deep pool diving for minnows, the Grebe was rehabilitated enough to be let go. The Humane Society has had 2 Grebes as rescues this year which is a record for them. Grebes are endangered here in Wisconsin (well, they ARE migratory..they may just not migra...

It's a good color after all that white/gray of the last 6 months. The grass is greening up. I see shoots of the daffodils beside the house, and buds are starting on the trees. I'm knitting a green hat from the leftover Knit Picks sock yarn from the shawl. The stupid yarn was just hollering at me to be used, so I found a nice hat pattern from Pattons: Basic beanie  that will use up the rest of it and make something that I will actually use. You see, I've decided to forgo an actual gym membership, not because I don't like working out, but because it takes 1/2 an hour to get TO the gym and 1/2 an hour to go back home...to spend an hour working out. I've decided on using that time to work out here. I'm calling it the 'Rocky IV' workout. Unfortunately, I've seen all the Rocky movies. Rocky IV was when Rocky goes to Russia to fight Dolph Lungren. Dolph gets the state-of-the-art facilities while Rocky gets a barn with a tree stump. High Tech meets O...