Posted on 06/01/2026 6:10:43 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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So I’ve been grousing about the price of milk, and what does wifey bring home from another(!) party with her fellow area Filipinas (actually a crawfish boil, but of course everyone brings lots of other foods):
A chocolate cake.
I spread some Cayenne pepper around some tomato plants I just upgraded to bigger pots. Somehow, a tiny speck of the dust got in my right eye.
My goodness, if it’s even 1/2 as effective on the varmints...
Next time I’ll wear goggles.
Fantasic news! Congratulations to you and Emma Jolene!
I relocated our apiary from next to the sunroom to a nice spot in the garden. We have captured two wild bee swarms so far and they will be moving into horizontal haves in the apiary this week. I want to rehang a trap for another swarm to fill the third hive, and the boss is talking about me building a fourth hive. I have the raw sheep wool for insulation. I am going to have to assemble more frames….I cut out plenty of parts when I built the first three hives and three swarm traps.
On the not so good news, I have tested positive for Lyme Disease. I started the medication routine last Friday evening. I hope it works…I have been dragging for a couple of months.
Big time Congrats and yes we would all love to see a picture of her.
After reading this -
“but we sat in the shade and drank from our water bowls”
Well I would have liked a picture of that. Just shows how excited you still are.
I have some outside stuff to finish up . Hope to be done by noon. Will see.
Interesting. I always buy gas in SEMO or Western KY, not IL, so, the prices I paid never got that high ($4.299 was my max, IIRC), but now your prices are much lower than what I’m paying.
You HAVE been busy! I love hearing about a good ‘clean up.’ Wish I could get some of the junk vehicles out of here, but at least they’re mostly out of my sight line. ;)
You know, you paid a good $100 dollars for a truck back in the 80’s and even if it no longer runs and has wasps and critters living in it, you still obviously haven’t gotten your $100 worth out of it, so you’d better hang on to it!
*Rolleyes*
Thanks! Beau and Crew made it to Ontario with the exception of ONE hunter. He had a OWI NINE years ago and the guy at the gate was being a jerk and wouldn’t let him into Canada!
So, that guy took MY truck and drove back the 8 hours to stay at our cabin until someone could pick him up and bring him back south. In the process, he managed to crack MY windshield, so I’m not all that happy. He said he would pay for the repairs and he’s d@mn right about THAT!
Beau’s friends are why I can’t have nice things! Grrrr!
Other than that, the hunting and fishing started early this morning. All dogs are fine - I think there is a total of 10 or so with them.
Having been stung by a bee only once and now being a total paranoid when I see one, I can only be deeply impressed by someone developing the skill and courage to take on beekeeping. May your reward be fulsome and sweet, and your bees healthy and happy.
So deeply sorry about the Lyme Disease. I didn’t realize NH was so infested. I worked in New York while I lived in MA and commuted. I would say 80 percent of my co-workers in NY had Lyme Disease. MA was never that bad.
They stopped people from feeding deer in NY because of deer ticks, which was also heartbreaking from worrying about the deer. I remember walking through my 5th greatgrandfather’s property in Poughkeepsie and brushing against a tree lightly. I was INSTANTLY COVERED in ticks. Lucked out and got them off right away and didn’t catch anything.
A friend in NY described sending their child out to play in the summer almost naked. The little one was trained to come back to mom fairly frequently to be examined and de-ticked, if necessary. Hard finding a balance to live well and not be harmed.
The police showed up at our house Friday. I was not home, so mom talked to him. Very nice officer. He was there because someone had reported our mailbox as a ‘road hazard’. The box has been hit at least twice recently. The 2nd hit has affected the way the door works so I will have to take the box off & see what I can do.
What the officer found:
Box is installed per post office regulations which means 6 to 8” off the edge of the pavement. Mail carrier approved the installed location.
Extra fluorescent tape has been added to the box to make it more/VERY visible.
Our box is a ‘swing’ box - if hit, it swings out of the way. This was developed for rural roads where mailboxes tend to get wiped out by snow plows. The officer had never seen a swing box before & really liked it.
Officer’s conclusions:
Our box is NOT a road hazard. He told mom if it gets hit again to call the police & file a damage report that would help with an insurance claim (we are not filing claims for an $80 mailbox). He also loved the views at our house. I think mom has a new friend!:-)
Back to the mailbox .... there are a lot of very large pickups with big mirrors & big tires so their lights are high enough that if the driver cannot keep his truck on the pavement, the mailbox gets hit. The ‘complainer’ is lucky we have a swing box because if it were on a regular post, damage to their vehicle would be much more severe. The mailbox is also extra heavy-duty. The box when we bought the house had been hit & the door barely worked & the wooden post was badly cracked. I got permission from the PO to move the box to our side of the road so mom didn’t have to walk across the road - that’s when we got the new box & swing post.
Of course, no one who has hit our box has had the common courtesy to let us know so I have zero empathy for their vehicle damage. Based on some of the debris I’ve picked up, it’s probably a couple hundred dollars per hit.
The meds for Lyme Disease are very effective; you should be fine. Glad they caught it, though. Untreated it can cause all kinds of problems!
We’ve had dogs that tested positive for it and a week on antibiotics and they were back to new. And this is WITH the sprays and oils and pills they have for dogs now, to prevent it in the first place.
If you run short on meds, I can ship you some that we use on the dogs, LOL!
The fact that someone complained means the police probably know who it was that struck your mailbox. Hopefully not a near neighbor. They Probably use a truck that pulls a trailer for a horse or construction equipment and they have oversized outrigger rear view mirrors. (Which is prudent up to a point...) If you take another hit save the debris for the police report and perhaps they can return the parts and investigate the owner of the truck for reckless driving instead of investigating you for your stationary compliant PO Box!
MOCHA CHEESECAKE/ HEATH BAR GARNISH
Ing: 8 1/2 oz pkg chocolate wafers 3 tsp melted butter, 8 Heath candy bars, divided 1 1/3 c h/cream, divided 5 tsp dry instant coffee crystals 3-8 oz bars cream cheese, 1 c sugar 4 eggs 1 tsp vanilla
Method: Press into bottom/partway up sides greased 9 1/2" pan combined wafers in fine crumbs/melted butter. Sprinkle w/ 4 fine-chop Heath bars. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
Filling: Heat 1/2 c cream just hot enough to dissolve coffee. Stir in coffee. Chill to cool 15 min. Beat smooth cr/cheese and sugar. Beat in well 1/2 c h/cream, eggs, vanilla. Slowly beat in coffee-cream mixture. Beat about 10 min. Turn mixture into candy-topped crust. Bake 350 deg 1 hour and 15 min (cake looks set at edges). Cool then refrigerate. Garnish w/ Heath Bars. Serve 12 to 16.
If interested, a link to organic Tick Control.
Something on Bee hive pests.
Small town & the police are very friendly (if you’re behaving yourself). When they come into Walmart, they get lots of smiles & waves & people talking to them. Most are probably local guys. Fire/EMS is volunteer so it’s the same with them.
On one of my two trips to Canada I was in a VW in the 1970s in college and going to the Shakespeare festival in Stratford Ontario. We were a bit shaggy looking and they pulled us all out and did a search for laughing tobacco! Had none, so the agent let us through.
Nice to be somewhere where the police do not have to deal with daily confrontations and can still be friendly!
Transforming an Abandoned 1950s Motel Carport into a Garden Sanctuary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP9lwrpgATw
Stumbled across this today, though I’ve seen a few of these 1950-60’s Motel Rehabs and they are just LOVELY! Mid-Century Modern is such a cool design that so many of us grew up with.
A LOT of work; I wish them well! :)
When you sit on a “project” long enough that it becomes yard art, it’s time to fix it, get rid of it or throw some dirt and flowers in it.
Gonna head to Menard’s this week and get some more top rail pipe for the last of the tunnel cross bracing.
I’ve been at a mental stand still as far as the tunnel shed. At this point, I think it will be very close to it but not quite connected. No good way to cope them together. Inside corners with poly is not a thing. A covered walkway maybe.
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