I am big on planning your journey in life. Nothing happens by chance. If you want it, you plan for it, and you revisit your growth goals on a regular basis to stay on course and adjust as needed.
My ten personal 2015 goals in no particular order:
1) Walk more plus exercise 30 minutes every other day in addition to walking at least 5,000 steps each day. Fitbit makes this easy to track.
2) Eat healthy snacks - goodbye junk snacks. Hello more home grown produce and gardening! I will begin my raised bed gardens in February this year. I have green onions, radishes, and lettuce mix seeds ready to plant.
3) Scrapbook more - so many pictures, so many papers, so little time! At the end of the year, I want to give scrapbooks as gifts to my family.
4) Spend more time golfing. Shave off 6 strokes for a better golf handicap and play in the local chapter championship. Can't wait to get out to the golf course to try my new petite woman's clubs!
5) Stress less; practice yoga more. Gout is a painful form of arthritis. Acute and chronic at times, my gout is aggravated by stress. Even cutting out all meat, shellfish and beer doesn't help if the stress level remains too high. Lately I've been walking with glass shards piercing my toes. Gout causes uric acid to remain in your bloodstream and get deposited in joints like knees and toes. Gout symptoms are always exacerbated after any particularly stress-filled period, which in this case was the death of my sister. Miss her so much even though we rarely agreed. Not a day goes by that I don't want to talk to her.
6) Set up multiple streams of income; this is a pre-retirement plan to have sufficient income once I don't work full-time. My Etsy business is "Ladies Tees and Such" and I am working to stock it. Nothing in there yet. Also will be on Tradesy and E-bay. Considering renting a local booth at an antique mall. (I get the retirement question all the time: when are you retiring? Answer: I will always work at something. Work is critical to my well-being.) I have sold z-e-r-o e-books, so that is a 2014 disappointment but I will continue to add to my e-books list. Never give up!
7) Continue to improve musically; I have specific goals like better breath control and phrasing in voice and playing my flute at Church.
8) Create a waterfall add-on to our little pond and landscape around it to make it a true oasis to enjoy in the morning and evening.
9) Explore new cooking techniques and cuisines; take some vegetarian cooking classes.
10) Do spiritual journalling. I love to write and I love Jesus; I am fascinated by allowing the Holy Spirit to write through me.
As far as my 3 - dog farm objectives: I am getting out of beekeeping. After much thought, I realize that my property does not sustain enough nectar sources to keep bees. I will be selling my hives and equipment. Sad about that but it is the only conclusion I can make after trying for 5 years to keep bees. I will post an inventory of every thing I have bee-related and a estimated price for it all.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Saturday, January 10, 2015
When Winter is in Alabama, Where are the June Bugs?
I am enjoying the bitterly cold weather by sitting inside on my couch and looking through my seed and plant catalogs planning for that first day of vegetable gardening. There is something to be said for staying inside and close to a fire. We have been eating the canned and frozen produce from our gardens this winter too. We enjoyed the last of the freezer pesto sauce made with my garden's fresh basil. It was so very good and I want to be sure to have more fresh herbs in the garden this year. There is joy in planning which seeds and seedlings will be tried in the garden. I am already dreaming of an early spring planting day for radishes, green onions, peas, and lettuce. Can't wait to try some of the new varieties of these plants.
I regret I have not taken a vacation day from work to turn my garden soil yet. Why would one turn soil on a cold winter day? Glad you asked! We have something in the soil that loves to overwinter in their grub state and emerge late June to early July ravenous for fresh summer produce, the Japanese beetle. Their better known name is June bug and they are as insidious as kudzu in the South. These bugs love to eat summer vegetables and herbs, particularly asparagus, basil, okra, peppers and greens. They can be very destructive to gardens. I wish that I had turned up the gardens before this latest cold snap hit to expose and freeze these free-loaders. Right now they are enjoying their life living a little below root level in our gardens, laying low and waiting for warmer weather like us.
During winter smart farmers will turn up the soil in an effort to organically control these nasties. There are other, natural ways to control them like nematodes, and Milky Spore products. I've had dogs that relished eating these insects once the grubs morphed into their adult beetle form and the dogs would run crazy eights in the yard catching one after another. My Dad said he would catch them as a kid and tie a thread to them and watch them fly in a circle. (My Dad told stories like that one and I could never quite believe it - seeing is believing - it is hard to tie a thread to these critters.)
Many home owners battle moles not realizing that the moles (and skunks) are digging in their lawns for Japanese beetle grubs. The home owner tries to kill the moles not realizing that they need to treat their lawns for grubs and get rid of the mole's food source. If you have a mole you can trap it; and many traps will also kill it. Generally moles are solitary creatures but can have an extensive network of tunnels. which only attract more moles when they find an empty home. Rather than battling moles, battle the grubs.
June Bug Life Cycle: University of Arkansas
I regret I have not taken a vacation day from work to turn my garden soil yet. Why would one turn soil on a cold winter day? Glad you asked! We have something in the soil that loves to overwinter in their grub state and emerge late June to early July ravenous for fresh summer produce, the Japanese beetle. Their better known name is June bug and they are as insidious as kudzu in the South. These bugs love to eat summer vegetables and herbs, particularly asparagus, basil, okra, peppers and greens. They can be very destructive to gardens. I wish that I had turned up the gardens before this latest cold snap hit to expose and freeze these free-loaders. Right now they are enjoying their life living a little below root level in our gardens, laying low and waiting for warmer weather like us.
During winter smart farmers will turn up the soil in an effort to organically control these nasties. There are other, natural ways to control them like nematodes, and Milky Spore products. I've had dogs that relished eating these insects once the grubs morphed into their adult beetle form and the dogs would run crazy eights in the yard catching one after another. My Dad said he would catch them as a kid and tie a thread to them and watch them fly in a circle. (My Dad told stories like that one and I could never quite believe it - seeing is believing - it is hard to tie a thread to these critters.)
Many home owners battle moles not realizing that the moles (and skunks) are digging in their lawns for Japanese beetle grubs. The home owner tries to kill the moles not realizing that they need to treat their lawns for grubs and get rid of the mole's food source. If you have a mole you can trap it; and many traps will also kill it. Generally moles are solitary creatures but can have an extensive network of tunnels. which only attract more moles when they find an empty home. Rather than battling moles, battle the grubs.
June Bug Life Cycle: University of Arkansas
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Blackberries and Siamese Cats
My Dad loved blackberries and made blackberry wine as well as jam. He never tried domesticated thornless blackberries though; he loved anything free and blackberry plants are free along roadsides and fence rows in the South. He would dig up the wild blackberries and transplant them closer and closer to his home. He transplanted the plants with the weeds and briars that always accompany blackberries. He was able to mow around the patches as they grew but it was still a difficult pick that resulted in bleeding arms, pricked fingers and surprise critters.
When I was young and living at home, summer was blackberry picking time. Mom would hand me a big bucket and point to the door. Every year from the time the blackberries were ripe for picking until we went back to school, I suffered the ill-effects of chiggers and poison ivy found in the blackberry patches. I swore that I would have a blackberry patch without the extras one day.
In 2013 I moved my domesticated, thornless blackberry plants that were barely living and planted on the fringes of our mature oak trees to their own raised bed garden. I mixed their soil with chicken manure and oak leaves, coffee grounds and grass clippings. I planted irises between them. Then I waited for 2014.
In 2014, the blackberry plants produced like crazy. Mike and I picked, and picked, and picked. We had blackberry cobbler, blackberry pancakes, fresh blackberries and my favorite blackberry jam. We gave blackberry jam to all my co-workers, my neighbor and my brother. I finally had blackberries to eat and share and freeze and absolutely loved it. Jima and I pulled the old canes out this year, wired up the new canes which are probably 12 foot long or more. There are no chiggers, no ticks, no snakes, no thorns and no weeds in my blackberry patch but there are Siamese cats.
I have heard that other people have trouble with birds destroying their almost ripe blackberries. I didn't this year and hope that continues in the future. I think I did not have any issue because of two Siamese cats. The black Siamese sisters are named Blackberry and Huckleberry and Blackberry, per her namesake, has a special affinity for the blackberry patch where she waits for unsuspecting birds and human hands or feet. There were many blackberry picking sessions that had to be interrupted to chase the cat out of the blackberry patch first. Blackberry is incredibly sneaky and as a kitten could wait for the absolute perfect time to pounce on a hand reaching into the thick blackberry leaves concealing her. It would first startle me and then the work of ejecting the cat from the blackberry patch would begin as she darted between the openings. Her sister, wondering about the commotion, would join us to investigate in typical Siamese cat fashion and then join her sister in the high-spirited hide and seek game. Both were eventually caught and tossed out of the patch so Mike and I could continue picking the berries.
I'm ready for 2015 and the joy of the blackberry patch with the "girls"; it is a success in raised bed gardening and in using cats for vermin control!
When I was young and living at home, summer was blackberry picking time. Mom would hand me a big bucket and point to the door. Every year from the time the blackberries were ripe for picking until we went back to school, I suffered the ill-effects of chiggers and poison ivy found in the blackberry patches. I swore that I would have a blackberry patch without the extras one day.
In 2013 I moved my domesticated, thornless blackberry plants that were barely living and planted on the fringes of our mature oak trees to their own raised bed garden. I mixed their soil with chicken manure and oak leaves, coffee grounds and grass clippings. I planted irises between them. Then I waited for 2014.
In 2014, the blackberry plants produced like crazy. Mike and I picked, and picked, and picked. We had blackberry cobbler, blackberry pancakes, fresh blackberries and my favorite blackberry jam. We gave blackberry jam to all my co-workers, my neighbor and my brother. I finally had blackberries to eat and share and freeze and absolutely loved it. Jima and I pulled the old canes out this year, wired up the new canes which are probably 12 foot long or more. There are no chiggers, no ticks, no snakes, no thorns and no weeds in my blackberry patch but there are Siamese cats.
I have heard that other people have trouble with birds destroying their almost ripe blackberries. I didn't this year and hope that continues in the future. I think I did not have any issue because of two Siamese cats. The black Siamese sisters are named Blackberry and Huckleberry and Blackberry, per her namesake, has a special affinity for the blackberry patch where she waits for unsuspecting birds and human hands or feet. There were many blackberry picking sessions that had to be interrupted to chase the cat out of the blackberry patch first. Blackberry is incredibly sneaky and as a kitten could wait for the absolute perfect time to pounce on a hand reaching into the thick blackberry leaves concealing her. It would first startle me and then the work of ejecting the cat from the blackberry patch would begin as she darted between the openings. Her sister, wondering about the commotion, would join us to investigate in typical Siamese cat fashion and then join her sister in the high-spirited hide and seek game. Both were eventually caught and tossed out of the patch so Mike and I could continue picking the berries.
I'm ready for 2015 and the joy of the blackberry patch with the "girls"; it is a success in raised bed gardening and in using cats for vermin control!
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Shortest Day of the Year - Winter Solstice - 4th Sunday of Advent
We celebrated the 4th Sunday of Advent today. The service was lovely, and the music haunting. There was one verse in particular from an advent hymn that sent chills up my spine. The hymn is "Each Winter As the Year Grows Older" and the verse is "When race and class cry out for treason, When sirens call for war, They over shout the voice of reason, And scream till we ignore All we held dear before." The tune is sung to the better known Carol of Hope. The words in this verse made me see images in my mind of Eric Brown's arrest and death, the protestors of police profiling and killing young black men and the senseless violence against NYPD this week. Crazy world that we live in has been the same crazy world as long ago. I truly disbelieve all who say the world is worse than ever. Before, this type of news would have been hushed, covered up. We would never have seen it the same day.
From the hymn "Creator of the Stars of Night" comes this refrain: "Come, O Lord, and bring your light, O radiant star, our hearts' delight, O god with us, Emmanuel, with your love, the dark dispel".
On this shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, may we let light chase the dark away from us. May truth and justice and clear heads prevail!
From the hymn "Creator of the Stars of Night" comes this refrain: "Come, O Lord, and bring your light, O radiant star, our hearts' delight, O god with us, Emmanuel, with your love, the dark dispel".
On this shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, may we let light chase the dark away from us. May truth and justice and clear heads prevail!
Saturday, December 6, 2014
They're Dead, Now What: Your Role as Personal Representative of your Parents' Estate
My e-book is available for purchase now. It is everything I learned as a crash course in how to handle the probate process in Alabama. Fortunately the process is the same in most every state. I feel it would have been an extremely helpful book to have in my library when both my parents' died within six months of each other. My intent is to help someone else know what I know sooner than I knew it. Let me know your opinion of it if you buy it. And thank you for buying it, much appreciated!
http://www.amazon.com/Theyre-Dead-Now-What-Representative-ebook/dp/B00O170JP4
http://www.amazon.com/Theyre-Dead-Now-What-Representative-ebook/dp/B00O170JP4
In Memoriam of SaraLee Oden Neely, My Only Sister
I have one Sister who passed into a better life November 16, 2014, at the age of 52. She had Multiple Sclerosis and was taking many different medications and various treatments to control its symptoms. It is my uneducated medical opinion that the medications and treatments killed her. She died of advanced non-fatty liver disease, which caused total failure of her liver and kidneys. Because MS is an auto-immune disorder, she was not a candidate for a liver and kidney transplant. She was terrified of dying but in those last weeks she stepped up and was heroic in accepting that it was her time. Her last wish was to see her estranged brother but that did not happen to my knowledge. God has her in his arms and she is not in pain or afraid any longer. I will see her again when it is my time to go; I have no doubt there is a Heaven and that Sara is there already as God's newest Angel.
Update on Pond
A picture is worth a thousand words. Here you go:
My brother recommended getting some feeder fish from the pet store and putting them in the pond to begin the biological cycle of nitrates and phosphates. I need to sink a few broken clay pots to provide the fish hiding spots from the blue herons and raccoons that will be drawn to the water and an easy food source. The cats should love the feeder fish too. If nothing else it will be fun watching the cats watching the fish. In the spring time I plan on introducing native American fish to the pond, which I must catch since bluegills and bream are not sold in stores.
Already under consideration is a upper pond and waterfall. Just saying.
My brother recommended getting some feeder fish from the pet store and putting them in the pond to begin the biological cycle of nitrates and phosphates. I need to sink a few broken clay pots to provide the fish hiding spots from the blue herons and raccoons that will be drawn to the water and an easy food source. The cats should love the feeder fish too. If nothing else it will be fun watching the cats watching the fish. In the spring time I plan on introducing native American fish to the pond, which I must catch since bluegills and bream are not sold in stores.
Already under consideration is a upper pond and waterfall. Just saying.
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