Faith-manor
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Posts posted by Faith-manor
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I don't have much to contribute except I am sick to death of the clickbait, and the bot comments which for now, are easy to spot. I am becoming a bit of a curmudgeon, and can easily see myself in the future swearing off all social media except WTM. It gets so old wading through the trash. I am on the Michigan Gardening forums on Facebook, and I have learned a lot from so many gardeners there. But, when I open facebook, I have to deal with so much garbage just to get to any M.G. posts, that I quit even using the newsfeed. I go out to my account, and click on the MG in my list of groups I belong to, and then go read. If Facebook changes the program to not being able to avoid the newsfeed and just open the few group pages I want or bots invade that forum significantly or my rocketry forum, I am out of there.
I don't know anyone who truly gets their news from social media per se. But I know many whose only source of information is FoxNews so they find a lot of support for their wilder claims on certain social media platforms.
Mostly though, when it comes to AI, I am not well informed so thanks to everyone here who keeps discussions going about the issues with it.
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8 hours ago, popmom said:
My tiny poblano plant set three tiny fruit that never really grew bigger than 2 inches. I don’t really think it hurts anything though to leave them and just see…
Baby apples! I would be excited about that. I keep putting off planting stuff like blueberries and a fig tree thinking we are eventually going to move…. I should just go ahead and at least plant a fig tree.
I am anxious to get our property up north. Mark and I are not retiring to Alabama like we thought we would. As things have turned out, our daughter and son in law only want to stay there for two more years and then want to move back to Michigan. Son in law has some medical conditions that make the very hot summers very difficult for him to endure. We are looking for property in the Traverse Bay area, and I am having a hard time being patient with the search. Fruit trees take a while to mature, and I plan on having 3 Honeycrisp, 1 granny smith, 1 clingstone peach, 1 free stone peach, 1 Stella cherry, 1 bing cherry, 1 north star cherry, and 1 anjou pear. I told Mark we will be paying a pretty penny for them because I am going to get 3-4 year old stock so that they set fruit much sooner, and those cost a LOT more per tree. This is in addition to the 12 blueberry, 12 raspberry bushes, and the asparagus patch which takes 3 years to fully mature.
He asked me if I was becoming an orchardist. I said, "I want to help feed my family healthy food." With four adult kids, two in law kids, three grandsons who already eat like hyenas raiding a goat farm, and four bonus/honorary kids, my "orchard" will barely keep up! 😱 He said we should keep chickens. I asked him how many he thought we would need if we were going to give each of those households 1 dozen eggs per week. He said 8. 😂😂😂 I said, "Nope, more like 25, and then only for about 6 months a year. October through March light levels will be low enough some of the hens won't lay, and others will only have an egg a week, maybe at the very most two, but not likely for that far north." He backed off on that idea thank goodness! I don't want to muck out after 30 hens. I used to farm sit for a friend who had five horses, 12 hens, 4 ducks, 20 sheep, 5 llamas, 1 alpaca, and 6 angora bunnies and every summer grew out 3 weaner pigs for fall bacon. I am fully aware of the responsibility for livestock. Meanwhile the only thing he had ever mucked out after is a cat litter box!
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23 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:
I have sunchokes to dig up, but I haven't because I'm not in a cooking mood.
However, I do have a teenage daughter coming this weekend, who is a proficient cook, probably because she has spent years cooking while I read our school books to her.What should that daughter make out of those sunchokes this weekend, while I dutifully read feminist history and Indigenous philosophy aloud?
I think she should make Smashed sunchokes in rosemary and thyme butter.
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I would not ever co-sign. This can mess up your credit a lot, and tie you to something that may or may not be properly maintained. It can negatively affect you in retirement.
If they are tight and if they have debt, I would be more inclined to actually pay a debt for them so they are less tight and can build savings and credit rating faster. We did this for our dd. She owed $7500 on a medical bill, and was being absolutely gouged by the hospital with interest. We paid that off which removed a $500 payment from their monthly budget, and brought relief.
In this volatile market and knowing there be a big bubble burst coming again, I would encourage them to take full advantage first of 401K matching if their employers offer it. That is just free money right there, and this younger generation is going to pay in a ton of social security, likely end up with the retirement age raised to 70, and still never see a dime of social security because the old geezers on the Hill are just fine with fleecing Gen Z to the max while complaining they can't afford to buy new cars, go on vacations, and "participate in the economy" the way that billionaires would prefer.
Emergency and retirement savings should come first. Then they need money above and beyond the down payment so they can pay for all of the inevitable things that go belly up the minute a house is sold like the refrigerator or the range or the furnace. It is just amazing how appliances seem to be like the the dog in The Odyssey and once they see their master one last time, roll over and die.
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Herbaceous soups and stews are a really easy way to fill up and eat several servings of veggies. I make a meatless chili that my family loves. It is light on chili powder, but heavy on garlic and cumin. Lots of cumin. I use both red kidney beans and pinto beans. I use my home canned tomatoes which are sublime, but a really good substitute are the Cento San Marzanos, crushed. That said, Cento is not a cheap brand and you can make a great chili with cheaper tomatoes. The chili ends up being very filling and super healthy.
I also do wild rice in chicken or veggie broth. I carmelize a large sweet onion, and run it through the blender on puree with the broth as a base which fully infuses the flavor which you do not get if you just add diced onion to the soup, and then fine dice three or four large carrots to add to it, some sweet peas, and rosemary and thyme with salt to taste and a gin of garlic. Yum yum. If you need more protein, make it thick like a plate stew (takes some good cooking down to do it), and top with an over easy egg. Some vegetarians do use eggs in order to fill out their nutrient profile for the vitamin E and what not.
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I was just fussing in the garden, as usual yelling at my Amish Paste to try harder (those stupid things take so long to establish and grow), and looking at my apple tree. BABY APPLES! Squeal! 💃💃💃 The honey crisp is loaded! If the bulk thrives, I am going to have 2-3 bushels. Much happiness!
I also have a baby chilli pepper. You might not be able to tell from the picture since it came out blurry. But my concern is that the plant is just not very big. Should I prune it off plus any other blossoms 😭 or let it go?
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11 hours ago, Terabith said:
Mrs. Doubtfire really didn’t age well. My kids were HORRIFIED by it. Between the cross dressing jokes and the idea that an ex was deceiving his ex wife to spend more time with their kids? My kids were legitimately like WTF was wrong with you guys then???
I agree. It was a disturbing idea back when it was made, carried off as comedy because Robin Williams, the master. But, it is an effed up idea for sure. In real life, we would be talking about a parent being sent to psych ward lockdown or worse. It would actually play out as a horror movie plot not a comedy.
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8 hours ago, Mom_to3 said:
I just came to link to this. From the article "At least 35 people have been tested so far". 35?!? This is NOT very encouraging - given the experience we had with covid, we should be doing many thousands of tests a day! Also, the nasal swab was negative - they had to swab the eye.
I am in Michigan. Our dairy farms are huge. I am equally concerned. The dairy farm 3 miles east of us is a smaller one and has 75 employees on the pay roll. The owner has not allowed ANY of his employees to be tested on pain for employment termination. My guess is authorities will go after him. He is a kind of sovereign citizen dude and thinks any public health policies are communist plots.
We do need thousands of tests a day. It is the only way we can get the data to see what is happening with this virus, and since it is a ticking time bomb of likely when, not if, it jumps species again and becomes more infectious, one would think folks would WANT and demand action. But nope. There are too many Michiganders who would rather die themselves and are willing to watch their own family die as well in order to "take one for the team", the team being conspiracy theory nuts. They have their tinfoil hats on out here in rural Michigan.
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45 minutes ago, Home'scool said:
I couldn't find a way to upload the picture of the exact one I did, so I am attaching a picture of the kit from online.
These miniature kits are my new obsession! I also do the Book Nook ones that go in between books on the bookshelf.
I just find them so relaxing to do!
Really cute!
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14 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:
Just finished this 1940s pattern 2 piece outfit with some vintage flannel fabric for winter. Skirt and waistcoat.
This is amazing! I absolutely love it.
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9 hours ago, Wishes said:
Anyone know if lake water (with duck and goose droppings) could spread H5N1? I have done some searches but haven’t really found anything. I don’t let my kids swim in lake water close to shore because I worry about Swimmers’ Itch but with summer close by, tons of people in the area will be jumping in…
The only research that is have seen went all the way back to 2007 by WHO. On page 14 of the document, they surmised that it might be possible based on two patients for whom this appeared to be the only mode of infection. But they had no proof. I tried to find newer research, and came up empty handed. There are a fair number of articles out there about finding the virus in wetland areas with concentrated waterfowl activity, but not really concerning this as a mode of infection for humans.
The scary thing is the virus can live up to 150 days in lake sediments and in some lake water depending on temperature. Smaller bodies of water and wetlands seem to be the biggest concerns. I would imagine that backyard ponds fall into that category too. Definitely a lot to think about!
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My mother in law fell today. She went down four steps on the side of her porch. She was beyond lucky Mark was actually heading to his car to leave when she decided to try to go out to her flower bed. She refuses to keep her cell phone or call alert button with her so she would have laid on the grass and likely died. She isn't badly hurt. But I was not slated to see her tomorrow, and Mark had meetings in the city all day. No one would have checked until evening - her choice. 24 hours without water, laying in the elements, not getting her five different BP meds on time. I doubt she would have survived.
She refused to go to the hospital, and told Mark after he helped her into the house and got her a sandwich and a big glass of water that he had to leave because she was fine. Ordered him out the door. This is her whole schtick. She would rather die miserable, in pain, and alone than accept that she needs more help and supervision. She refuses to have a wheelchair ramp. She refuses to use the walker.
Even IF she agreed to an aide, she has $15,000 in the bank, and $2000 a month in pension/social security. She can't afford it. It would fall on us. Mark figured out if she lives five more years at the current price of a CNA for just 12 hours a day/7 days a week and we do the rest, after we pay the taxes to withdraw the money from his 401K to pay for it, 1/3 of our retirement savings would be gone before he ever retires. She absolutely refuses to sell her house and get the less expensive but very nice condo in the senior center which is fully handicap accessible, made to reduce fall risks, and has someone who checks on each senior twice per day. Her home is worth a lot so she could do that, and use the remains to fund a housekeeper and an aide to help us out with all of this.
Sigh. He has given up. It is just mentally too much. He is reconciling himself to the fact that she is going to die horribly and alone in that house, and we can't stop it.
OP, I have no advice just a lot of hugs from me to you. Take care of yourself.
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54 minutes ago, Catwoman said:
You're right and your dh's friend is an obnoxious idiot.
This is it in a nutshell.
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Jurassic World and the sequels would probably work.
Boys in the Boat
October Sky
Free Guy might be really fun since so many teens are into gaming. It has Ryan Reynolds and is genuinely funny.
If they haven't seen the old War Games movie that might be another good one.
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I am only responding in order to bump this to the top for you. No idea! Did you also post this question in the May Gardening thread? If Melissa is lurking there today, she might have an answer for you. I think she grows just about everything! She is my go to source for vegetable knowledge.
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19 hours ago, Corraleno said:
I was watching a video last night about the famous Framingham Heart Study, which included a tour of the facility where the researchers interview and examine the thousands of subjects who have been part of the study for up to 75 years. It's a clinical setting, where they draw blood and perform other tests, and some of the research subjects are very old, so the staff were wearing masks. There were SO many comments along the lines of "Why are those idiots wearing masks in 2024??? I can't take any 'scientist' seriously if they're so brainwashed by political propaganda that they think masks do anything!"
And this was on the channel of a scientist with a Stanford PhD, whose health and nutrition videos are always 100% science based, with full references cited and linked — not the type of channel that typically attracts science deniers. But when it comes to masks, people just lose their freaking minds and all capacity for critical thinking goes out the window. It's so bizarre.
I think the human race is doomed if this kind of insanity continues.
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This thread reminds of just how much I want high speed rail!
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This would not bother me. But what might help you would be to set about doing some fast redecorating that will make the place feel more like your family home than grandparent home. Paint, total change of window dressings, etc. It wouldn't take a lot of money to make it look different, feel different. Then add all of your own family photos and furniture, and it might seem like a whole new place.
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Thank you for helping her. So many young adults do not have anyone rooting for them much less actively helping them.
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I understand completely. I was stressed out by something similar yesterday. I was one of the NAR volunteers putting on the American Rocketry Challenge Finals and was in the restricted area with hundreds of students prepping their rockets for launch. It is a big deal, lots of safety matters we have to watch over. We run it with military clockwork, absolute precision, and have to be on our game. We all have our cell phones on and set to vibrate so if we need to get a hold of security or each other.
My whole family has known for weeks NOT to call us (Mark was volunteering too) on the day of launch unless it is absolutely a major emergency. Yet, my pocket vibrated numerous times, and when I finally had a break to eat a bite of lunch and called them back, there was no emergency at all.
I think I was rather terse on the phone with them.
Hugs
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I am 100% pro title, pro job description. My mom worked for 45 years in my father's business, no wages, no title, no nothing. She did all the accounting. And he controlled the money too making absolutely disastrous decisions that left them destitute. She never had any agency. Just watching it play out when I was a teen convinced me I would not agree to anything like that.
Ting Tang, if I remember other things you have shared correctly, I would encourage you to work outside the home even if the job wages are low, and save that money. I have seen so very many women left in bad situations when the farm that is their spouse's, bellies up, or someone dies and the trust/will cuts out the farm working spouse. These kinds of things can be very fraught, and his callousness towards you when your father died makes me worried.
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26 minutes ago, Katy said:
To be clear, if you or your son was someone I’d spent any time with, I’d be there to celebrate with him, not considering it a gift grab. But those aren’t the sorts of invites I’ve gotten recently.
I’m probably partly salty because a couple I know makes something approaching a million dollars a year recently sent an invite for a fundraiser for their college aged child to go to Europe. I understand wanting her to raise money herself. I don’t understand sending the letter to someone you haven’t spoken to in ten years just because we’re Facebook friends. And at $18/hour, she could work part time for a month at McDonald’s to raise the amount of money she needs.
Yes this.
We had kids whose names we hardly knew and only saw one time per year when we judged their projects at the county fair. Our address and phone number was published in the directory so anyone could send us invites.
OP, I think $10 or coffee gift card is nice if you can afford it. Don't feel obligated to attend.
Here we don't have 8th grade graduations as much as 8th grade confirmation parties for the LCMS students. We aren't Lutheran and so unless we have a very close, personal relationship with the parents, we don't attend those.
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When we were in 4H and VERY well known leaders, we were invited to 20-30 parties a year. We just couldn't do $20 each and a card and put in an appearance. Often it was a 99 cent card and a best wishes message. OP, you should not feel guilty about refraining from the gift giving.
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My dd lost two of her chicks to some kind of varmit that apparently dug under the fence to get into the coop.
in The Chat Board
Posted
Believe it or not one of the most common predators is skunk. How were your daughter's chickens killed? The method the animal used will be a clue and whether or not the animal was eaten and how. Skunks will go after the head and throat, ripping out what we would think of as "going for the juggular", and then they will eat part of the chicken until they are full which means somewhere between 1/3-1/2.
Owls will just swoop down and decapitate, then off they go.
Raccoons kill for sport. They decapitate, but it is a less clean kill than owls, and then run off because they are coons. Evil beasts, and don't feel bad about killing one. They don't have enough natural predators these days, and their population is too high which is causing disease and aggression. Thin those buggars out is my motto though they are cute, and many people do not want to kill an animal. However, if she traps and relocates, they will keep coming back. They are persistent thugs and serial murderers.
Foxes are pretty clean killers. Their standard move is to sneak up behind a chicken, pounce, grab and shake, feather go flying, but they take the whole chicken back to their den. So you find feather mostly, not too much in the way of chicken parts.
In our area, if it is skunk, we are supposed to live trap it and call the DNR. 9 rabid skunks already this spring. They will come take it, kill it, test it, and then track the results and also get back to the owner because one does not want rabies going around the mammals on your property. Chickens cannot catch rabies (different metabolism), but it can spread to unvaxed, undomesticated animals like coons, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and of course other livestock such as horses if she has any of those animals around. However, that is in Michigan. I don't know what the policy is in other states.