New Nemesis??

 I mowed today and, in the process, may have discovered a new homestead nemesis.  It's not a new one, even to me, but since I've kind of been "doing the minimums" for the last couple of years it's had a chance to sneak up on me and get established.  Mulberries trees.  They're everywhere!! 

My new homestead nemesis?

Since it's the season for them to ripen I could easily spot their beautiful red and purple berries.  Everywhere.  Stubbornly growing up through every neglected fence line.  Stealthily invading every unpoliced border with the wooded area next to my house.  Brazenly growing up right through the lilac bushes.  Everywhere!

My next question is "What now?"  I have a chainsaw, of course, and will probably employ that to terminate most of them with extreme prejudice.  I'll drag them into a brush pile and burn them all this winter.  However, I know from experience most of them will grow back.  I could - and eventually may have to - purchase some Tordon or equivalent to keep them from coming back, but I prefer to keep the herbicide use to a minimum, or not at all if possible.  I will be looking for a non-herbicide solution first!

So there it is!  Another challenge to address on the Hoosier Country Homestead!  All that being said, if that's the worst problem I have going I'm still pretty well off!  I am, in fact, still blessed!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Back again... Again!

 So...  I'm not dead yet!  I am: 

• Mostly recovered from a couple of rough medical years.  I'm much better now and am (hopefully) done with surgeries for awhile.  I have some limitations, but they're not too onerous.

• A 'long haul' Covid survivor from January of this year.  The 'survivor' bit was an open question for a few days, but once again God came through and answered a lot of prayers.  Lungs and heart have a ways to go, but overall I feel pretty good!

• Retired!  Not exactly my preferred timing, but I could no longer keep up the pace required as the site's Chief System Test Engineer and God has blessed so we can do so pretty comfortably.

• Able to be active for solid 1/2 days, which is enough to have a nice garden and keep up the homestead. Hopefully that will improve but even if it doesn't, it's all good.  I'll be telling you about it!

• Still blessed!

We're up to 5 grands,  we have a garden, and chickens, and have a lot going on in our lives. The plan is to catch up with you all and, at least once a week, get back to sharing a bit of our lives on the Hoosier Country Homestead!

Col. 1:9-12

Mark

2018 in a Nutshell!

Hi Folks!!

If anyone is still out there paying attention, or just wondering what in the world happened to Mark, I've got some updates and some answers!!

Homestead updates:
This year was not a bad garden year, but not our greatest either.  It was cold and really wet early on and our green beans (like most other folks in the area) just didn't come on well.  That being said, we ended up with about 70 something pints against the 130 something pints from last year.  Not awful, but we're hoping for better next year.  The other crops survived the cold spring reasonably well, and we had a number of harvests like this - less the butternut squash and sweet potatoes - over the season.  The pictures don't include the obligatory over abundance of summer squash, zucchini, and tomatoes that most everyone has most years!

I had some good help getting the crops out of my weedy garden some days.  I love when they ask Papa if they can go work in the garden with me.  The two city girls have developed a love of working the garden. It makes a Papa proud!  They've also developed a love of digging for worms.  Don't get that one, but I always tell them "Have at it!"  A couple of the grands just didn't seem to be up to helping out!  Maybe next year!

Getting the last of the tomatoes and peppers

Ok - Gratuitous grandkid picture!! 

 With all that help De , along with a little assistance from me, got a lot of canning done and we were able to put up a nice variety of yummy things for the family and us.

Sweet potatoes and carrots

We love all the colors!!

We also had some great family times!  One of the highlights was being able to dance with Daughter #1 at her wedding!  It was a wonderful, magical day and we added another amazing son-in-law to the family.

Daddy didn't cry...  too much!

Lastly, I got some answers to my long running health questions, but had a couple of rough spots along the way.  After months of appointments and tests and a half a dozen doctors I have a diagnosis: It's not Lupus, it's Polymyalgia Rheumatica.  It's an autoimmune condition that attacks muscle tissue. It's not, at least on it own, degenerative but it causes a boatload of pain and some serious fatigue.  There's no cure, but it's surprisingly easy to beat into remission with a couple of years of low dose immune suppressants.  In the grand scheme of things that's good news!

There were some rough spots along way that are a lot more amusing looking back on them than they were at the time.  One of my mid-stream pain medication protocols didn't suit me very well and I ended up passing out while on my feet.  At a fancy company "Winter Celebration".  In front of 500 coworkers and spouses, and with a 4 piece string ensemble playing in the background.  I ended up with a concussion and don't remember much but I'm told there were a handful of medical professional spouses looking after my pasty, prone, and out-like-a-light self as I lay on the floor right in front of the hors d'oeuvre table.  I was out for about 20 minutes, and only have a few 'snapshot' memories of the next two hours.   I'm told there were security folks, and two policeman, and no less than two fire trucks with crews, all before the paramedics arrived.  I have a lot to live down!

The concussion is mostly better but I'm still light sensitive and get frequent headaches.  I also hurt my right hand on the way down.  I expected it would eventually get better with time like most hard bumps but it didn't.  After shameless procrastination and considerable urging from De I finally went in "just to have it checked out".  It took me awhile so sort out the radiologist's report (the family doc just said 'fractured'), but near as I can tell I ripped one of the ligaments in my thumb clean off the bone and took a chip with it.  I see the hand doc tomorrow who will tell me if it's Ginsu knife time, just a cast, or something else.

Even with all that, I'm doing better that I have in a long time.  They have my pain meds tuned up pretty well with no narcotics involved.  I'm getting around most of the time without my cane, and that just in time to dance with my daughter at her wedding!  I'm on a good path and am looking forward to feeling even better!  One more time, I am so blessed!

Col. 1:9-12

Mark

Yes, we have a garden!!

Hi Folks!!

We do, in fact, have a working garden!!  As you can see it's a real ugly, unkempt, one (more on that in a bit), but God has blessed our efforts and the harvest is coming in!   

That is one weedy looking garden!!

It has been very hot, very wet, and very humid here in NE Indiana this summer (95F/35C with 90ish %RH) and for the first time in many years, the green beans will likely have a poor showing.  We thought the tomatoes would never start turning red, but they seem to be coming on quickly now and we'll have a good tomato year.  Broccoli did well.  Peppers, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and egg plant are doing very well.  Beets and sweet potatoes seem to be doing fine.  Cabbage was a total loss as was the brussel sprouts.   Today is the start of canning season for us, so we are "off to the races"!

We have had some hard times this summer, too, in a couple of ways.

On August 5th De's Mom fell in her apartment.  She shattered her shoulder joint, broke her knee cap, some bones in one hand, and maybe her hip.  Her lifelong heavy smoking habit had left her frail, and her kidneys, heart, and lungs could not tolerate the shock of her injuries.  On August 10th, early in the morning, she went to be with Jesus.  De and her other daughter were with her when she died.  Family, Church, and friends all pulled together to get us through this difficult time, and we held her funeral on the 14th.

To complicate matters a bit more, I seem to have developed a new 'thing' over the last few months.  The preliminary diagnosis is lupus, but we may not know for sure until November, which is the earliest available rheumatologist appointment.  I have the usual bone-crushing fatigue, joint and muscle pain, and funky rash across my nose and cheeks that comes and goes, as well as some balance, speech, and cognitive issues. (No stroke - they checked.)   I use a cane pretty much full-time now for balance, when I'm not in the house. (Thus the shoddy looking garden.  Harder to swing my beefy weed whacker when you need to use it to balance some, too.  It can be done, but it's slooowww.)  

Even with all that, we are still blessed.  The outpouring of caring we received when Mom B. passed was amazing.  Everyone has been great in accommodating me and my new limitations - well beyond what they need to.   I'm getting along OK with prayers, rest, and ibuprofen in equal abundance, and I'm praying for a cancellation that allows me to see the rheumatologist soon.  By God's grace I can do most of what I need to do (including the garden) and some of what I want to do.  He provides for what I can't do.  And we have some really good tasting bell peppers and tomatoes!!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

It Ain't Pretty, But....

Hi Folks,

Yeah - I'm still not dead yet, but I'm a pretty lousy blogger!!  It's July and my last post was about winter!  What a looser!

Things here are mostly the same.  My health hasn't gotten better but it's not gotten much worse either, so that counts as a victory.  I'm still able to do almost anything I want, only in limited quantities and slower than I used to.  Still -  it's all pretty good.

We do have a garden this year.  Smaller than most years, but a little bigger than last year.  It sure ain't pretty, but it's growing like crazy.  That is not, of course, do to any ninja gardening skills or deep, dark, family gardening secrets.  It mostly due to the almost tropical weather we've had this spring.  Lots of rain, with local flooding in some areas, and higher than normal temperatures and humidity.  We're toward the end (I hope) of a string of days with 105 degree F heat indexes.  Great for the garden, not so great for gardeners.  Outdoor work gets done early mornings (on days off) and evenings (on day-job work days) and it's indoor work the rest of the time.

So the garden...  Last fall I had just enough energy to get the harvest in, but didn't get the usual post-harvest clean-up done.  That's kicking the can down the road, I know, but sometimes that has to be good enough.  In any case, before I could started on the spring work, I had to do last fall's work first.  The problem was that it was so wet, and for a short time flooded with an inch or so of water, I couldn't get into it when I needed to.  So when I could get to it, I started with this:

Sad, isn't it?  All that quackgrass!

We were able to do two things this year that made the job a lot easier.  First, I was able to buy a Mantis tiller from a friend at the day job.  I can easily lift it into the beds and it is a terror on quackgrass roots.  For guy with limited energy it was truly a God-send.  With the tiller we got the garden, in stages, to:

Ok, it's a start...

Looking a little better now!

Second, and a number of weeks into the process, we broke down a bought a heavy duty gas-powered weed wacker.  We have a battery powered one that is small enough De can use it, but it just wasn't up to the task by far.  I could almost hear the snickering mockery of the weeds as the battery wore down and the weeds grew taller.  With my heavy duty gas powered one, weeds get hacked off at ground level with no debate or discussion.  It's a beautiful thing!  With the new weed wacker, and some of the usual effort required to get a garden in we got to:

Starting to look like a garden!

Yesterday, with the hog-panel cages on everything it looked like:

Still not pretty, but I can live with it!

The lower garden area at work!

So I still need a long term mulch solution between the beds.  You can see the old feed sacks held down by garden staples in some of the pictures.  It works ok, but boy is it ugly and it consumes a lot of garden staples.  Leigh at Five Acres and a Dream had a great post about the mulching problem, and after seeing it all laid out I think I'm going to go with the feed sacks but cover them with wood chip mulch - after it cools down a bit.

Anyways, there it is - The Hoosier County Homestead garden, such as it is.  One other tidbit, mostly for your amusement.  Sumac is a constant battle here at the edges of any wooded area.  It's very invasive and keeping it at bay without a lot of chemicals is a constant battle.  De and I were recently gone for a week of vacation.  When we came back we discovered it had stormed hard enough to push the walls of the hoop house in far enough to dump some stuff that was sitting on sawhorses on one side on the ground and...



...  the sumac was trying to take over!  All this in about two weeks of growth.

All in all things are pretty good and, as usual, I know for certain I am blessed.

Col 1:9-12

Mark

Relearning Winter

I've never been a big fan of winter.  Not that I hate it and, truth be told, I've missed it when I've lived in places that that didn't have a real, Midwestern, winter.  I just enjoy the other seasons more.

This winter is no exception.  A few weeks ago I was ready to be done with winter.  I don't get a vote, of course, but still I was ready to be done with single digit temperatures, treacherous 40 mile commutes to the day job, clearing vehicles before you can drive them, bundling up to go out and do anything, and wading through snow to do the chores.

Last week we got a bunch of the white stuff early.  I don't always get the tractor out to clear the driveway with new snow since De and I both drive AWD vehicles, but this time there was enough I had to.  My little tractor can only push so much and if we had gotten more I'd have been in trouble.

Then we had a day or two of warmer weather where much, but not all of it, melted.  Then colder weather guaranteeing what was left would stay for the weekend.  This weekend, the kids and grandkids were up for the one year birthday of the youngest one, and the announcement there is another on the way.  With snow on the ground and an open hill in front of the house there was bound to be sledding.  De and I have five or six sleds from when our kids were young we keep for just such an opportunity.   With an inch or so of new snow Saturday night, it was clear there would be more after Church on Sunday.

Saturday was the birthday party, and after the traditional festivities Papa took the four girls, the two grands and the two adopted grands from my last post, out to play in the snow.  Between Saturday and Sunday there was:

A lot of sledding,

Snow angels,

Snow "reindeer",

"Bears" in the snow,

And lots of smiles and laughter.

Through it all, Papa 'relearned' winter.  Where I had seen mostly inconvenience, the grandkids saw a wonderland of imagination, endless possibilities, and pure joy.  For the price a few days of achy joints and sore muscles, I got to share in it all and see winter anew in the laughter of the children I love.  The days where I can do that will someday, perhaps someday soon, come to a close so I'm cherishing the opportunities I have.  It was worth every minute I'll spend with the heating pad, every ibuprofen I'll need in the next day or two to get through the workday, and every bit of muscle cream I'll use before bed.  This day, I am truly blessed!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

What it's all about

Yep.  We got it.  De and I, both.  Not sure who was first, but in the end it didn't matter.  I'm taking about the flu of course, which has been burning through this part of the country.  I don't know specifically which variety because when I called the doc he said, via his nurse, "Don't bother to come in to be tested, it's the flu."  Since I was already on Tamiflu as a preventative (due to my unrepentantly, unabashedly, underperforming immune system) they called in an Rx of the same stuff for De.

It was too late.  By the time De got home from work it was clear she had it, too.  A woman who has essentially become a third daughter picked up De's prescription for her and we both settled in for the siege.   Being on Tamiflu did seem to help because neither of us got seriously ill.  The fact that I didn't get seriously ill, even being on Tamiflu, is a simply a testament to God's grace.  There have been over 136 flu deaths in Indiana so far and many of those are folks who had compromised immune systems.  Like me.  I was expecting real trouble and got no more than healthy people get.  Once again, we are so blessed.

So - Down to the 'What it's all about part'.  We got a few inches of fresh snow last night and after church (which De and I sat out this week) the same adopted daughter who picked De's meds stopped by with her two daughters (Adopted granddaughters!! Woot! Woot!).  They wisely didn't come in, but the three of them brushed the snow off both our vehicles, cleared the snow from our patio, took our trash down to the trash cans, and the girls each made a little snowman to sit on the benches outside the front door.

Their family has been a joy to us for the past few years and even more in the past few months.  We were so honored and humbled by their kindness.  I'm going to be smiling all week, everytime I think about it.  Kindness, community, family, Christianity - Yep!  That IS what it's all about.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Sorry, Girls!!

There were bad vibes, accusations of disloyalty,  a little bit of name calling (Slackers!), and even some occasional talk of summary executions.  But, before you wipe me completely out of your cyberspace, hear me out.

Just before it got cold this winter - I mean the first stretch that was real, single digit and not all of them positive cold - the eggs pretty much dried up and almost the whole flock went into a molt.  The timing was exquisite and couldn't have been worse.  Feathers were everywhere, eggs were nowhere, for more than a month they rarely left the coop and on the coldest days we left it closed up.  It was a pitiful sight to see.

Everyone gets a pass on egg laying during a molt.  They pretty much get a pass when its really cold or miserably hot.  For the molt we stocked up on "Feather Fixer" and let it run its course.  And, as you all knew would come, first there were pin feathers then there were full feathers then there were warmer temps and chickens out happily scratching in the run.   And still no eggs.

That's when it started.  For a week we talked about how we would replace the lot of them.  The following week we got more irked everytime we went to the laying boxes.  We were getting one or two eggs every other day, and were not pleased.  Being chickens and all, they were all pretty much oblivious to our frustration with their shoddy performance, which which did nothing to enhance their position.  They had just about sealed their grizzly (but nonetheless tasty) fate when, on a lark, De checked the little 'nursery' annex we added to the coop.

Oops...  Sorry, girls...  Nevermind all that talk about you getting up close and personal in the crock pot with sweet onions and baby carrots...

For now...

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

A Fresh Start!

It's cold here in NE Indiana.  Again.  With the exception of one anomalous 50F day last week, we've had single digit positives and negatives or low teens in both directions for several weeks now.  After a while it starts to kind of sink into your bones, which makes those occasional warm days even more of a blessing.  This morning was no exception.  Depending on whose thermometer you were looking at it was somewhere between -4F and 9F at first light.  Brrrrr!

There was one difference between this morning (Sunday - January 14) and the way most of our bone-chilling mornings have been.  The sun was out.  One of the reasons the morning was so cold is that the clouds cleared off during the night and the open sky just sucked what heat there was right out of the air.  (The physics behind that phenomena is really cool - no pun intended - but most folks know that clear skies=cold nights and are justifiably not really interested in the mathy specifics of how God designed it all to work.  Still...)

I suppose it works this way in most places but, here at least, sunny skies after a clear, cold, cold night makes for a simply glorious morning!  We had a light, soft snow whisper in early last evening with no breeze, so when the sun came up every twig in every tree and every standing stalk of roadside grass was painted with a frosty, glowing blaze of sunlight.  It was clear and crisp and wonderfully perfect.  Adding to that, while I was doing the Church Security team thing and watching for other things, I got to watch a dozen or so deer pick their way across an open field between wooded areas near the church building.  Glorious!!

And to make life even better, the garden seed and tree catalogs have started to arrive.  De and I have always enjoyed planning the garden in the months before we can actually work it, and the seed catalogs always provide fuel for that fire.  For us, when the planning begins, it's much like the dawning of a new day like we had today.  It's like a fresh start!  Never mind we couldn't do all we wanted to do last year, or the year before.  Never mind there is still a bit of clean-up to do before we can really get things started in the spring.  Never mind the 'new health realities' mean focusing on less labor intensive methods of doing things.  It's a blank garden canvas that we can paint however we choose.  Once again, simply glorious!!

Speaking of wonderful things, last post I promised a picture of the grand kids, so here it is.  The family did PJ pics for family Christmas this year, and this is ours with the grands.  (The oldest never gives you a natural smile unless you catch her off guard!)  As many of you know, grand kids are such a blessing, and De and I are loving being grandparents.  We don't get to see them nearly often enough, so when we do its always a wonderful (and exhausting!) time.  We are so looking forward to having them come to the homestead in the spring.

While we were down at their place a few weeks ago the oldest one, as kids often do, was asking her dad for something that was not going to be in the family spend plan.  Dad was telling her if she wanted something like that she would need to get a job and, since she did not have a job, that item was not going to be forthcoming.  Her reply just made my heart sing.  "Yes I do!! Helping Papa in the garden!!"  Papa resisted the urge to whip out his wallet and buy whatever it was she wanted, but it sure made my day!   It assured Grammy De and I that we are making an impact and a difference in the life of those children!  And that is truly glorious.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Ummmm... I'm not dead yet!

Hi Folks,

I've actually got a t-shirt that says that. "I'm not dead yet!"   Daughter #1 got it for me several years ago when she was studying in England where she saw "Spamalot" live, but that's another story.  I wear it when I'm in the hospital because the nurses get a kick out of it. The fact that I know that, I suppose, needs to be part of this one.

So first things things first, I am still alive and more or less OK.   That being said, it's been a year of changes.  Where do I start?

First the good stuff.  We have a grandson!  Born February first, he's an amazing gift from God for both this parents and us.  His name is Maverick.  He lives, with his sisters and parents of course, about 2 1/2 hours away - which is pretty hard on Grammy De.  Pics to come.

The homestead is pretty much the same.  We sent about 10 chickens to freezer camp and bought a few more.  We have seven now, and just as it turned cold they started a molt.  We'll be glad to get everyone past that.  We'll grow up a few more in the spring.

The garden actually shrunk this year, but it was still respectable.  We had high hopes, but energy was an issue.  There were still 130+ pints of green beans, only 30+ of tomato products.  There were cabbages, beats, sweet potatoes, egg plant, onions, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, a couple different kinds of peppers.  Not a bad year, and we have high hopes for next year.

And the nitty gritty:  It's called CVID - Common Variable Immunodeficiency.  You've almost certainly never hear of it: Statistically there should be only about 6200 of us in the whole USA.  That means about 132 in the whole state of Indiana and 3 in the rural 4-county NE corner where I live.  I don't know the real numbers.  I've never personally met another CVID patient, but know of several from blogs and other web pages.  Google it if you're interested but the short story is that I don't manufacture certain classes of antibodies, and have a pretty constant string of small infections interspersed with the occasional major one.  There is a a short list of weird stuff that comes along for the ride.  I was diagnosed in 2012, but this year it 'bit' harder than most.  Fatigue is the real problem, which is why, sometimes, things just don't get done.

There were a few little health things going on that become bigger things when you throw CVID in the mix.  I had two surgeries this year: One planned - an inguinal hernia fix, and one unplanned - a 7mm kidney stone they had to go fetch ten days after the hernia surgery.  And a prostate cancer scare (I'm clear for now - recheck in a couple of months.)  And a 17mm spleenic aneurysm that seems to be stable for now.  And acute bronchitis - again.  (I'm mostly past that for now.)  And I've stopped manufacturing sufficient vitamin D (that's a CVID related thing) which is part of the whole fatigue thing.  You get the picture.

So with all that, things have slowed down across the board.  At home, pretty much everything takes longer to do and some things just don't get done.  At the day job, I've had to step out of what was a central role in major programs, into more of a support role.  Having to do that stung a little bit, but the folks at work were and are great about it, and it's for the best.  God only knows for certain, but the slower pace is likely a permanent thing.

I think I promised, a year ago, to spill the beans on the day job.  I'm a physicist (BS only, not PhD) at a mid-sized defense company and I am, or was anyway, the chief system test engineer for many of the USA's weather satellite primary sensors (think: "camera", but about the size of a mid-sized garden tractor.)  You likely have not heard of my company and, as much as I like it, I'm not going to name it.  If you've seen weather satellite pictures (think hurricanes this year) on TV or the internet, you've seen a bit of my handiwork.  Ok, promise kept - 'nuf about that.

Just so no one is tempted to think otherwise - I am STILL blessed.  Wildly.  Immensely.  God is still in control.  I have a wonderfully supportive family.  I can still hold a job, and work for a company that is willing to let me.  I can do almost anything I want on the homestead, just not as much of it.  I have a team of about 6 really good doctors that keep me going.  Life on the Hoosier Country Homestead is still really, really good.

I will try and post a more frequently.  And I will get back to reading your blogs.  I seem to be on the upswing, and have collected a handful of post-worthy stories about the homestead, family, and life with CVID.

Do take care all and, as always, Col. 1:9-12.

Mark

Catching Up #1

It's time to get started on these catch-up posts.  I'm going to do them by topic, so the first one is going to cover the saga of 'The birds'.  (With apologies to Alfred H.)

This year we added to, and later subtracted from, our chicken flock.  It all started when our one reliably broody hen went broody once again.  We were hoping it would happen and was glad when it did.  We carefully selected the eggs we wanted to her sit on and sit she did!

In the mean time, since she was sitting in a nest box some 18" off the floor of the coop, we set about building a nursery annex to the coop.  We ended up with a "nursery annex" box off the west side of the coop a little more then twice, in each dimension, the size of a nest box.  It could be opened to the coop or blocked off.  It had a separate pop door to an isolated yard space set up for chicks.  We still need to paint it, but we didn't want to paint and then drop the hen in, so we left it unpainted until next spring.

The "Nursery Annex" all ready to go.

When the nursery was done we moved our broody hen there and waited for the chicks to hatch.  18, 19, 20, 21 (OK, so maybe we counted wrong), 22, 23 (Umm - This isn't good), 24, 25.  A little candling action showed no chicks.  Not one.  In any egg.  From any hen.  It seems Ivan Crossbeak the Rooster had worse issues than just a crossbeak. 26, 27, 28.  So what's a flock owner (and a broody, expectant hen) to do?

The answer is, "We did what we could and, by the grace of God, got away with it."  We went to our favorite local farm store and bought 6 chicks.  Then, late in the evening but well before dark, we picked up the hen, pulled out the eggs, put in the chicks and hoped for the best.  Two of the chicks ran straight under the hen.  The other 4 essential mobbed her.  She immediately accepted them all. Whew!!  5 of the 6 survived and we had our replacements for some of our aging hens.

Six little ones: 3 ISA Browns and 3 Rhode Island Reds

Jumping forward to fall, production from our 11 older laying hens had dwindled to two or three eggs a day.  Most of the eggs were coming from the 4 Easter eggers.  The 4 Red Stars were generating a few eggs a weeks, and the 5 Buff Orpingtons were done.  A little internet work and a few phone calls later and we had located a place to process our birds.  We considered doing them ourselves, but decided we weren't going to butcher often enough to invest in the things we needed to do it right.  Ivan went too, and a couple of weeks later we had 10 whole "slow cooker" chickens in the freezer.

Just today, we got eggs from every one of the new additions.  We lost of the one of the Easter eggers to an accident and one to predators, so we now have a flock of seven hens.  We're considering added a few more in the spring.  We're also considering adding a rooster back into the flock.  One of my good friends from the 'day job' has one we could buy now if we decide we want one.

So that's the story on the birds!  All in all, we're in a pretty good place today with our flock.  Once again we blessed.

Col.1:9-12,

Mark

Back in the saddle? I hope so!!

First post in 6 months!!  So I suppose I owe some answers.  Let me see if I can shed some light.

First up, I'd guess, is "So how are you doing?  Last we heard you were mostly confined to your recliner recovering from something or other."  In general, I'm doing pretty well, but there some things about 'the new me' I'm still coming to terms with.  Pretty much everything about eating and drinking has changed.  I essentially lost part of my stomach as part of a massive hernia repair surgery I had in May, and the valve that was supposed to be working away at the bottom of my esophagus was 'refurbed' to be a simple, snug little restriction.  That makes it harder to get things down, and means I'm now eating small, frequent meals with a set of restrictions on what I can eat to boot.  That being said, not having stomach acid constantly spritzing my esophagus, voice box, and bronchial piping has been a wonderful thing, and I haven't felt this good at this time of year in a number of years.  I'm getting some of my energy back - I will likely never get it all back - and (knock on wood) seem to be on track to avoid my annual pneumonia hospital stay.  All things considered, I'm coming out on top!

Perhaps next is, "Ok, so you haven't done ANYTHING useful or interesting in the last six months?"  Au contraire, my friends!! We had lots going on!  I'm planning on doing a (mercifully short) series of "What I did with my summer and fall" posts.  I took pictures of most of the interesting stuff, so it's not going to be 'essay only'.  The highlight reel goes something like:

• We got most of want we wanted in the garden out before the surgery.  I couldn't do any weeding early in the year and not all that much in late summer, so we lost some of it.  But all in all we had a decent garden year.
• I got none of the orchard, berry or grapes in.  They're on the docket for this year.
• We did get a temporary fence around the garden later in the summer.  Hey!  Did you all know you end up with a LOT more tomatoes and green beans that way?
• It was not, however, done as early as I would have liked.  We learned that chickens are fond enough of beets they will pull them out of the ground, quickly devour all the root part, and move on to the next one.  All this without an ounce of shame!  Tsk!  Tsk!
• We built a nursery 'annex' on the coop and run, hoping one of the girls would go broody.
• We found the same hen who went broody last year went broody this year. Yay!
• We discovered Ivan Crossbeak the rooster is apparently infertile.  Our one broody hen came up with zilcho from the clutch of eggs (from several hens) she sat on.  Boo!
• We discovered our one broody hen either has a big 'mama chicken' heart or a small chicken brain (or both) because when we clumsily replaced the eggs she was sitting on with six chicks from Rural King she rolled her chicken eyes, puffed up her chicken feathers, took them all in, and did a great job raising them.
• We learned that the predictions on how long a chicken's productive laying life is pretty accurate.  By fall our flock of 10 old hens, one molting middle aged hen, 5 pullets (too young to lay) and one infertile rooster with a bad attitude were cranking out a grand sum of 2 eggs a day.  
• After only a little hand ringing, we now have 1 old hen (the one that goes broody), 1 middle age hen, 5 pullets just about ready to lay, and no rooster (fertile or infertile).  
• We also have a fair number of whole chickens in the freezer.  It was an interesting process I'll tell you all about later.
• There were memories made with the granddaughters, the discovery of a grandson coming in February, and a bunch of other really good family times.
• The latest is trying to help a (married) couple of really good friends from the 'day job' as they are starting their own journey with homesteading.  They moved out of the city onto about 5 acres and have a desire to live the whole homesteading life.  With that description, naturally the first thing I did was point them to Leigh's "Five Acres and Dream" blog, and recommend her books.

So what's coming in 2017? (Besides the promised string of catch-up posts).  Let's see - God willing: the aforementioned orchard, a half-dozen more chicks when it gets warm, some better fencing, a workbench in the barn, FINALLY getting my tower up, ...  Well that's probably enough.  I've also decided I'm going to spill at least some of the beans on what the 'day job' is I keep referring to, and what I do for a living when I'm not pulling weeds or pitching the chicken coop.

All in all, we're doing OK.  All the things we have been blessed with are still there and getting better.  I seem to be set for my health to continue to improve, and we have another grandchild on the way!  We are blessed!! 

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Musings from the Recliner: It's 'the fates', and they ain't kind!

Good morning to all!  I figured it was time to get another one of these out, so here it is! 

First the usual stuff:  I continue to get a little better every day, but still spend most of my time in the recliner.  As long as I'm active enough to keep all the internal processes running but not too active, a little bit of the liquid hydrocodone-acetaminophen concoction alternated with a big-boy dose of Children's Motrin keeps me comfortable but not drooling.  (I think, anyway - I haven't actually hit the sweet spot yet.)  If I cross the line on activity - as I have every day so far - I quickly get sore and worn out, which leads to more meds which leads to... well... drool.

As I ponder a host of things here from my recliner I have come to understand the fates are cruel.  This may be a blinding glimpse of the obvious, but I've seen it frequently.  Since I'm not a TV watcher my 'window to the world' these days is my personal laptop which seems to be, at least in part, controlled by the evil fates.  The 'gotchas' come most frequently from the pop-up adds:  Just as De delivers a hearty mug of beef broth for me to tuck into they pounce:  BOOM! - Up pops a 'Hebrew National' add with a perfectly grilled, all beef hot dog nestled under an exquisitely arranged bed of relish, onions and the appropriate condiments.  AHHH!  GO AWAY!  (Fates:1,  Mark: 0 - I'm not usually much of a hot dog eater, but that dog looked goooood and I was sorely tempted.)  I shunned my eyes.

Yesterday I thought I pretty much had the day planned out to get the right amount of activity without crossing the line.  (Yeah, I know, "The road to perdition is paved with good intentions.")  We had a young farm kid from church coming to mow the lawn since it was approaching knee level for De and she doesn't run the little tractor with the mower deck.  All I had to do was walk up and get the mower out.  BOOM! - It needed a jump-start.  GRRRRRR!!  (Guess I should have replaced that battery.  Fates:2, Mark: 0.)  I took it in stride. 

I haven't sharpened the blades yet this year since we're still in the 'wood mulch' phase of lawn care at our house (I'm not picking little sticks off 1-1/2 acres of lawn - don't judge).  The kid was mowing so the cut grass was blowing into the unmowed grass creating a growing pile-up for the dull blades to chew through, there was enough chaff generated to clog the radiator and BOOM! - The engine overheated - at the far edge of the property.  NOOOOOO!  (I should have been watching him a little closer, I suppose.  Fates: 3, Mark: 0)  Since I had some pecuniary interest in verifying I was looking at steam and not smoke I felt obligated to traipse down next to the road to check it out in my fashionable new look of sport shorts and barn boots.  I just "brushed it off".

After a cool-down period and a bit of advice on mowing tall grass, an attempted restart required BOOM! - another jump start.  HRRMPH!  (Unmotivated battery, hot diesel engine - I should have known.  Fates 4:  Mark: 0)   Yes, Virginia, there was drool.

I'm guessing my leash will be a bit shorter today.    Even so, the morning sun is promising a beautiful day and there's another mug that of savory beef broth in my future.  "Um.  De?  I don't suppose we have any onion powder?  Yeah?  Cool!  Um...  pickle... powder?  No?"  <sigh...>

Take care all,

Mark

Musings from the Recliner: Home again, Home again!

I survived!  It's not as though that was really something to worry about, but from my point of view here in the recliner, it's worth stating for the record none-the-less. 

First the little factoids:

• The doctors were great.  The pre-surgery discussion was mostly the surgeon musing to De that he thought it was generally a good thing when the patient and surgeon had more-or-less the same surgery in mind and at least similar expectations for the outcome.
• The reconstruction took about 2 hours, and I spent another 2-1/2 hours lounging about the recovery room where the nurses, on the phone with one of the docs, somewhat irritably worked to get my consciousness up and my blood pressure down.  I was apparently an unrepentant slacker on both counts.  "Senator, I have no recollection ..."  I do recall they were more-or-less polite, but it was clear I was holding up the pre-holiday preparations or something.
• "More-or-less" was clearly the operative concept this time around.
• I was thinking 3 or maybe 4 incisions would be fine for this job; 6 is apparently more-or-less the same.  (With 6 incisions and 4 bruises my mom, of all people, told me I look like a connect-the-dots puzzle.  For just a moment I was tempted to provide a pic as proof but I have nightmares of reoccurring shaved belly images with who-knows-what superimposed on and showing up at odd times for years.)
• I was thinking a little bit of "belly inflation" so he could see what he was doing would work great; turning my midsection into a street carnival moon walk is apparently more-or-less just that.
• I was thinking a few stitches in my diaphragm to keep my stomach where it belongs would be dandy; a circus tarp of medical mesh lashed into place is apparently more-or-less the same thing.
• The nurses were great and it was clear some of them must have had an agricultural background since they knew just what is done for a mildly bloated cow and assumed that same technique would be fine for me.
• I spent one rather undignified night in the hospital getting everything ‘restarted’ (I'll spare you all the details on that one) all the while waiting for my next round of pain meds to show up.
• They yanked out my tubes (and more than a little arm hair) and De took me home to my recliner after noon on Saturday.

There is a bit of good news. The going-in plan was an all-liquid diet for two weeks.  It turns out a few things like yogurt, pudding, soft ice cream and thinly mixed cream of wheat are on the menu right from the git-go as long as no bite is larger than an M&M.  One M&M – and not the peanut kind.  Still, that’s good news.  Also, once I got the Moonwalk mostly deflated (Ah!  No details!), I’m pretty comfortable and have backed off on the pain meds already.  This is, of course, a two-edged sword and since I’m not supposed to be doing much of anything at all De has already had to wave said sword my direction more than once to keep my keester in the recliner.

I’ll call tomorrow and get my follow-up appointment in place for roughly two weeks in the future.  All restrictions apply, to the letter, until he says otherwise.

So, once again, I'm in the recliner, the musings have begun, and I’ll be sharing them.

Col. 1:9-12,

 

Mark

Sometimes it's just too much help...

I'm working up a post on all we've done in the garden, but worked in amongst pics of the quack grass, plantings, trellises and plant coverings are the chickens.  We like having them around but, as the title suggests, sometimes they can be a little TOO much help...

A few times a year I have an opportunity to work the "day job" from home.  With the work laptop home and the magic of "virtual private networks", it's almost like being at my desk.  It was a nice day and I decided to work outside for an hour or so, mostly to demonstrate to my co-workers I could ;-) and I sent them this pic to prove it .  One of  the 'girls' apparently decided I needed help.  I wouldn't let her, but she was itching to try her hand (or claws) at the keyboard.  (I blurred out the screen at bit so the day-job legal folks wouldn't get cranky.)

Garden work always means the 'helpers' are close.  When I was cleaning the quack grass out the beds (again), they were right there to lend a "claw".  A lot of "claw"...

The worms are directly under my fork, so that is where they want to be.

The "girls" and I (mostly "I") pulling out the quack grass roots.

I'm never alone in the garden.  Even if I would like to be.

We did manage to get into a bit (a weeeee bit) of helpful rhythm when we planting.  The 'girls' are always in the bed I'm working on, or the last one.  As long as I stayed two beds ahead of De planting it worked out OK.  I would have the "main" help in the bed I was digging, Ivan and the girls would be "leveling out" the last one I worked on, and De was (relatively) free to plant.

The production line at work!

 We have one hen, a white Easter-Egger named Esther, that has been something of an outcast since her last hard molt.  She gets picked on a bit and lately goes running for a safe-haven.
 

De got first 'dibs'.  Tank Top!  OUCH!

I got my turn.  At least the claws weren't an issue.

 

Funny, and I'm flattered I suppose, but it did slow down the work a bit.

Garden work is not the only thing that draws an audience.  This time it was replacing a headlamp bulb (accessed, on my Equinox, via the wheel well. Grrr!  What genius thought that was good idea?).

"Yes, I know the light is over there, but you get to the bulbs through here!"

"Hey!!  He's right!!  You really can't get to the bulbs from up here!"

You gotta see the fun in life where you can.  Hope you enjoy!

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Bad Luck or Disturbing Trend?

De and I went to get our garden plants yesterday and encountered some unpleasant surprises.  We went to our "go to" greenhouse, and discovered the garden plant section had been cut in half in favor of  flowers and landscaping plants.  The Sausage tomatoes we love instead of the traditional Romas were no where to be found and, we were told, would not be available this season.  We got some of what we needed and moved on hoping for better luck at another greenhouse.

After visiting four greenhouses we still are need of a few plants,mostly tomatoes.  In each case we found 1) the garden plant section had been reduced from the previous years allocation, and 2) the plants available were almost exclusively the same mass produced, factory, "brand name" varieties that we have found to be mediocre performers and yield an inferior product.

In our area there are a lot of small lakes with lots (and lots) of summer lake cottages.  It appears greenhouses may be getting a "bigger dollar" by selling to "lakers" getting their summer landscaping and flower gardens in order and folks who raise a small summer "salad" garden only,  than to persons putting in larger "country" gardens with a focus on varieties that preserve well. 

Since we are striving to have some degree of food independence and to generate a garden harvest of really good-and-good-for-you fruits and veggies, this is a disturbing trend.  Our next trip out will be further out to greenhouses in an area with a large population of Amish and Mennonite families (and fewer lakes) which, we hope, will have more freezing, canning and winter storage varieties available. 

So I'm curious.  Is the trend toward greenhouses offering more landscaping and flower garden items and less "country garden" plants a local phenomenon, or is it more wide-spread?   If you have this problem in your area, how are you coping?  What say you all?

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark

Big Family Weekend!!

It was a big Mother's Day weekend on the Hoosier Country Homestead!  Daughter #2, Son-in-Law and the granddaughters came Friday evening and stayed through early Sunday afternoon.  It had been four months since we had seen everyone, and Christmas since they had been here.  We all had a great time.

I got the lawn mowed (OK - I confess - for the first time this year) just as they were arriving, and then it was "off to the races" for the whole weekend.  I was too busy 'living' the weekend to 'document' everything we did, but I do have some highlights. Most of my pics, for some odd reason, focus on grandkids.  :-)

There was a little bit of garden work done. Another confession - I hadn't started on the garden work yet, but when little girls want to work in the garden, Papa makes sure at least a little work gets done.

Let the gardening begin!

As always, where is digging there are 'helpers'.  When the girls figured out the chickens were after worms and bugs the real fun began.  Bugs were out (of course - eww!), but they dug up a few worms and wanted to feed them to the chickens.  This, of course, requires actually touching the worms which brought on a great deal of city-girl consternation.  In the end, after a short exploratory session with Papa holding a worm and a little encouragement, worms were handled and the chickens were a little happier.  One more step from city-girls to country-girls!

Son-in-Law helped me finish the shelving in the hoop house.  I would have struggled in my 'normal' state to finish off the top shelf since it's almost 8 feet in the air.  In my current, somewhat degraded, state it would have been nigh impossible.

The bottom shelf is 10 feet wide by 4 feet deep.  The top shelf is 6 feet wide by 4 feet deep. Like everything else on the place its not very square and does the job nicely.

Stuff from the barn already moving in!

Simple as it seems, that shelf was one of my big spring projects. Getting it done, and barn cleared, is the gateway to a handful of other tasks.

Last year I got De a reel mower for her Mother's Day gift. (Ya gotta love a woman who asks for a reel mower for a gift)  The granddaughters have, of course, seen gas driven lawn mowers but had never seen a reel mower.  Both spent some time trying it out.  I love being able to offer them some new experiences, especially the 'homesteading' kind.  Both thought it was great fun.

One of the highlights of coming to the "farm" is helping to gather eggs.  De made both girls "egg aprons" - aprons with pockets for individual eggs - and, of course, they got a chance to try them out.

De and the girls gathering up the eggs.

There were of lots of other things that didn't get pics.  Steering the tractor and the truck around the homestead from Papa's lap as we hauled stuff out of the barn, countless rides rolling down the hill in the wagon and other kid's vehicles, chicken chores of feeding and adding bedding, playing ball, and the like.

Big days make for tired girls, and just a moment of 'downtime' was enough.

Naptime! - Pic doesn't show that Papa was snoozing away too, moments after taking this pic.

 More to come, but tomorrow is a 'day job' workday and morning comes early.  It was a wonderful weekend.  De and I are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and have them close enough to see them several times a year.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark