January 13, 2011
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This is a double entry; yesterday was one of those gremlins-in-my-xanga days. Nothing wanted to work, so, although I did try, I gave up.
Wednesday morning was our coldest of this winter, and it took its toll. The resident farmboy spent all morning dealing with frozen water lines, frozen silos, frozen everything. He then spent the afternoon in the shop, working on equipment that either needed repairs or maintenance. Since he loves the farm and almost everything that goes with it, he rarely complains. But sometimes he grudgingly admits that he wearies of fixing things. Which is why I really hate to ask him to fix anything at home. Which has led to my learning to do many little things around the house that most women never do–like taking apart the drain under the bathroom sink, cleaning it out and putting it back without it leaking. Pulling the washing machine out, squeezing behind, shutting off the water, removing the hoses from wall and washer, cleaning them out and putting it all back so that it doesn’t leak. Installing new shower heads, complete with teflon tape and/or the gooey stuff. Hanging all curtain rods and window treatments and pictures and whatever. Using my very own cordless drill with rechargeable battery pack.
Those commercials on television that lead you to believe that it is the husband’s job to take out the trash? Snorting laugh, here. The trash is and always has been and always will be my job. I take it to our personal landfill and burn it myself and make sure it burns properly.
Which leads me to one of my jobs yesterday–taking off the recycling. I really have been working at doing my part for the environment, which has led to the establishment of my very own recycling center in our garage. It started with one plastic trash can to hold aluminum cans, and it now is a row of five. They hold aluminum, tin cans, paper, plastic and glass. The nearest and best recycling center is in town, 22 miles away, and about once a month I haul my loot to it.
The only problem is with paper. We get so much junk mail, so many catalogs and publications and periodicals and most are unsolicited. My paper container gets full to overflowing before the other containers, and then it is VERY HEAVY. Takes all my muscle to get it into the back of my truck and then I must dredge up some new muscle to get it out of the truck and into the bin in town. But my reward is a satisfying feeling, Good enough for me. Oh, and a hot chocolate from McDonald’s that is just down the street from the recycling center…
So, if you have curbside recycling, please do not take for granted that convenience!!
Because I grocery shop only once a week, using a reusable shopping bag isn’t practical for me; but I do save all those thousands of plastic bags and take them to Walmart, hoping they really do recycle them. It is scary to think of how many plastic bags are carried out of one store each day. And I HATE seeing them along the roadsides or flying like dirty little flags in the tops of trees where they’ve blown.
I try and think of common-sense ways to recycle other things. For example, my birdseed bin is a large popcorn tin that was given to us for Christmas many, many years ago. So is the dogfood bin. I made gift tags out of last year’s Christmas cards when I wrapped gifts this season–and they were pretty! I save boxes to use for mailing instead of buying shiny, new ones at the post office. Newspapers crumpled up make good packing material. Etc., etc….
Okay, let’s move on to today, which was much more fun than yesterday. I spent three hours in the Historium this morning with four fellow volunteers, unpacking, sorting and shelving more genealogy records. How satisfying to almost have the boxes emptied! We are hoping to be open for regular hours starting in February, and we’re going to make it, I think.
Then at noon, two of us who were there met some old friends from out of town for lunch at a local restaurant, along with my mother, mother-in-law and another older friend. It was a delightful time of reminiscing, hearing some new old stories and catching up with one another. Three of us were born in October, November and December of the same year, went from kindergarten through high school together and have remained close, in spite of living in different parts of the country, through many moves and changes. Heart-friends like these are NOT a dime a dozen, and as we grow up, we seem to appreciate each other more and more. We’ve even talked about requesting adjoining rooms in the nursing home, when the time comes…
Today has been warmer–above freezing–and the sun has been so nice. And now it has set, and my chickens are on the roost, and I must go close their little, bitty door so they can stay warm and safe throughout the cold night. Hope you, too, are warm and safe and cozy in your little houses tonight.
Comments (9)
Sounds like you have a very pleasant life, including more than enough work.
With Cerwin being a trucker all his life, I had to learn to do things like that – but not quite all the things you have to do, and now that he is partially retired, he has more time to do the “manly” things around the house.
Your post pulled me in just like a good book. I enjoyed reading every bit of it. You are self sufficient in that home of yours, and very responsible with your recycling. We do have curbside pickup and our recycling bin is big…AND we can just throw everything in it all mixed up! Those popcorn tins are very handy. I used to keep catfood in one and my mom keeps her flour in one.
Your day with the ladies sounded wonderful. You are blessed to have forever friends like that. There’s a lot to be said for staying in the community in which you were raised.
Guess what? We now have three roosters. Out of the ones that hatched out this summer 2 ended up to be roosters. We knew one was, but we didn’t know for sure about the other until it crowed yesterday. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Roosters knock over my little children!
We didn’t quite get above freezing. The paragraph about Walmart bags is also done here and we say when we travel that Walmart bags are now the new “decoration” of America. We keep our farm acres picked up and even this far off the hwy we get trash. Wil picks up the roads he walks almost daily and almost always has 2 of those Walmart bags full of things people throw out and we don’t live on any really main road. It is amazing how little respect people have for themselves, the countryside and the people that live along the area they decide to litter.
Wil was outside almost all day today and tonight is paying for it. His back is so bad. He plans to walk while I swim in the morning but if he isn’t any better then than he is now I don’t see how he can.
Busy, busy gal! I seldom can repair or fix things. While Fritz was trucking I was helpless when something broke down! Even with a new lawn mower it seemed to have something go wrong! I whined and if Duct tape couldn’t fix it I called my son or waited until Fritz returned. I admire your abilities very much.
@Lucy_or_Ethel - Duct tape–the magic fix-all! I use it liberally.
@purpleamethyst76 - I have found that more than one rooster is too many roosters! We have two now–twin brothers, both the spitting image of their dear, departed daddy, Delbert. One is with the chickens and one is banished. How did they decide who is the top rooster? They look and sound identical–but one is definitely more dominant. D.T. (the banished one) would be sacrificed if he could be caught–but he is wild and untamed and short of a bullet, he will remain so. Sadly, he roosts at night outside our window and crows at 4:49 each morning. Your chickens are pretty tame. I’d recommend grabbing and giving away a couple of them to whoever would take roosters–someone who likes to stew them? (Not me! I can’t eat our chickens!) The sooner, the better! And there are sometimes people with chickens who want a rooster, so they can set chicks–you might be fortunate enough to find someone like that…put up a note at your local feed store. Then they could go on being happy little roosters forever and ever.
Remember, you can reuse those walmart bags by keeping them near the front (or back) door so when “farmboy” comes in with muddy boots to quick grab something out of the house, he can step into the bags, tie them around his ankles and not have to take his boots off. ”Farmgirl” will love it because she won’t have to clean the floor behind him and will have more time for writing.
We’re out in Yuma AZ working right now and the temps are in the mid 70′s. It’s been really rough, I had to put the airconditioner on in the car yesterday just to make a store run for icecream. I’ve haven’t been able to wear the same shirt twice because of sweating in it…. horrible, just horrble!!! My neck and arms are sunburnt so I may have to take my shirt off today so I can get an even tan….. When will this nightmare end!!!???
@gcstotes - Surely you don’t expect any pity from me!!! Hope you’re strong enough to endure…
Thanks for the bag tip–I think I’ve read that somewhere else but had completely forgotten it, and it’s a really great idea. The big source of controversy in our 40+ years of cohabitation has been the reluctance on SOMEONE’s part to take off his nasty, stinky, horrid boots at the back door. Maybe, with your suggestion, we can keep going another 40….