Wow!!!!!!!

We will never make it. Michigan does not cooperate. But we will be getting a lot more as soon as we get these storms through, and get into the gardens. I can't wait for sailing and kayaking season to commence. Sailing days are often 10 or more hours outside on each of those days as are kayaking days and spring garden prep. Yesterday I managed 6 hours doing yard work for dd, and helping my grandsons plant flowers and veggies in her raised beds. N was happy to be outside and working with me, but not particularly interested in the gardening aspect. 8 years old and 51 lbs, that little man moved three 40 lbs bags of composted manure all by himself. He would carry as best as he could from the wagon, and then roll them on the ground when he couldn't carry anymore. I was impressed. Little C, 4 years old, was my shadow, and he wanted to plant ALL the things. He wanted to know about each plant. I think he is going to keep me on my toes when it comes to agriculture and gardening. I set tiny T, the one year old, in one end of the raised bed while I worked in the other end. He dug dirt to his hearts content, and became an absolute dirt mess, disaster. I hosed his feet and hands of outside. Stripped him down, and then plunked him in the bathtub. You don't want to know what that water looked like! 😂😂😂 All 3 boys knocked out after dinner, hardly able to keep their eyes open. It was so nice to be outside. There are perks to Alabama spring for sure. It is the summer I cannot deal with at all! Today it is going to rain and thunderstorm, so I don't think we will get much outside time. My guess is IF we don't have too much rain in the fall, I will manage 800 hours. But, maybe if we manage to get away for some van camping, I might manage some more than that.

Or in the case of my husband, teach the toddlers their colors WRONG as well as how to unpack all the diaper bags and fling the contents around the room and flip the light switches on and off. Babies and toddlers love him. Parents not so much!

Side sleeper. Or in the case of last night, NO sleeper. This is what happens when you and hubby allow the eight year old grandson to crawl into bed with you thinking that surely there is plenty of room in a kind size bed. This kool thinking was entirely incorrect as apparently 8 year olds grow night time tentacles of immense length with which to sprawl across the entire bed while their grandparents huddle on an inch of space on each edge hoping for a glimpse of sleep, and if not that, for the octopus to get too hot and go sleep elsewhere. Futile. Absolutely futile.

Those Irises are so pretty, Indigo! What fun!

This Traverse is such a lovely area! Have fun

I am in Alabama after attending a wedding in South Carolina. I helped Dd plant tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, strawberries, green beans, and flowers today. We sowed radish and carrot seeds in a new pallet bed Mark made for her today. Meanwhile, my seedlings are in the care of my mom who has never cared for seedlings. She says the lettuce looks limp, and the broccoli is green but shows no sign of growth since I left Thursday. My cucumbers, peas, and cherry tomatoes she said look very good. Fingers crossed that some things survive until I get home on the 9th. What's up? Tell me all the things!

We were in North Carolina Friday with a cousin, South Carolina yesterday for a wedding, made it to Alabama today to spend the week with the grandkids, and will leave Friday for our eclipse destination. May, we will be assisting with American Rocketry Challenge in Virginia. Then apart from sailing and kayaking on the Great Lakes, we don't have anything else planned until my sister and brother in law from France come home in September. Then I might take a road trip with them.

Also the monsters that created pantyhose. I have a whole ARRAY of meaningful gestures to those that's! 1st pair I put on today, wore 5 minutes and got a run. Ran back to put on another pair, put my thumb through them without even trying. Dang it! Okay, 1 more pair to put on, and my cousins dog ran up, jumped, and tore a hole in them...almost did that to my dress too, but the dress made it out alive. So I ended up in cocktail dress without hose at a formal wedding. I was a bit mortified thinking it would be quite the faux pas, but then a ton of young women showed up hoseless in cocktail dresses so I had a lot or company. I am NEVER buying another pair of hose again in this lifetime. Done! I want to find the a##holes that dreamed up women's hose, exhumed their bodies, build a pyre, burn their bones on it, and offer free margaritas to every woman who joins me. $30 in hose destroyed in 10 minutes!

I don't question their wisdom. I question whether or not they even have a brain to begin with. Signed, female person who hates all underwear and bras everywhere, and believe they are medieval torture devices.

Hi Dawn, just sent some things. Please keep this thread updated. If you don't get everything, I can and will do more.

Also, check the recommendations for vet schools in your state. Ours require 250 hours of volunteer service, which us basically 23 weeks of work in a vet clinic or animal related business such as a farm with livestock, an animal shelter, etc. The work must be documented and signed off on by a legal representative of the business, someone who would know that yes, this person did those hours. It is strongly recommended that the student journal the experiences so they have a lot to reflect upon. Due to how much time this is, and the number of veterinary clinics that take summer college internships (often unpaid), it can be difficult for every student to get those hours in during their undergrad years. It is especially difficult if they need to work in the summers in order to help pay for college. Many of the young vets at our veterinary clinic indicated they began accumulating their 250 during high school. When our Dd was considering vet school, she worked in high school at a fiber and horse farm working directly with sheep, llamas, and horses as well as chickens, ducks, and the two pigs the farmer was fattening up for bacon. She kept a journal, and every week, the owner wrote a note, indicated the hours worked, and signed the journal entry. Eventually, Dd chose to go into chemistry and human medicine instead, but the owner wrote her amazing letters of recommendation for every college to which she applied, and we think that may be why Dd got so many scholarships. Dd also took equestrian lessons so her knowledge of horses was very deep, and would have been very useful if she had ended up in veterinary medicine. I will say this, the local farriers and horse dentists are crazy, insane busy because there are so few. The wait times for sheep shearers is really bad. I do think someone could make a living at a combo of these skill sets if they can buy a reasonable health policy on the marketplace. Our vet practice, (10 large livestock vets, and 3 small animal) are looking to hire someone who can perform these three services. They offer full medical/dental, and 401K. The senior partners figure that if they can be an all in one kind of livestock care company, it will be really lucrative for the business. I am sure many of their farmers and horse trainer customers would love to be able to schedule everything through on group, and know they will be in the rotation for all of these things. Often the Big Ag school for your state will offer the licensing/certification classes and clinics for these skills which is really nice because one can advertise they are professionally taught and passed exams and clinicals instead of being a fly by night "I watched youtube" outfit, of which we have far too many!

Yes, this.

And there are tornados all over. Much of the US would not be built on if the rule was "don't build in the path of tornados. As for bricks, there are actually better construction technologies available than just brick. In general, people just do not understand the particulars of other regions.

The first thing I did when I got up this morning and saw the news was to call my dear nephew and niece in law. They live in Baltimore and have had various commute routes that cross that bridge. They were busy and not near their phones for about 30 minutes, so my heart was in my throat for a while. We are very, very close with them. Thankfully, they haven't had to use the bridge recently, and did call back to let me know they are okay. Much love to the people of Baltimore! I am sure that had the search continues, there will be more injuries and fatalities found, and from an economic perspective, the port will be closed causing a loss of 1.1 million in taxes per day. That is a devastating loss on top of the loss of life, the trauma of all those nearby, the witnesses, the rescuers and searchers, and so many other consequences.

West Wing House Madame Secretary Newsroom Home Improvement Whose Line is it Anyway All Creatures Great and Small Beat Bobby Flay Cheers Mad About You Community Kim's Convenience But MASH beats them all!

In our area, we have a glut of small animal vets. Livestock and horse vets do very well, and for the most part, seem to enjoy the work. They travel to the farms most of the time, and do not do nearly as much euthanizing as much as the small animal vets do. Other work that would be related, assuming that one is willing to live in rural/agricultural areas is farrier, shearing, and horse dental work, animal ultrasound tech. I know a gal who does all of those, and is able to work full time and make a decent living, but without the debt that many have from veterinary college.

You could try running a casing on the back side of it that you can put a curtain rod through, and then mount hooks to wall and secure the rod. It will stretch it. Fabric has so much give that often quilts do not hang straight, and will stretch a little which makes it hard to make them look the way you want as wall hangings. You can also try having the dry cleaners give it a good steam press and starch it.

You have soooo many critters! It had to be a crazy maker. But can I just say that with white tail deer and raccoons being the most interesting thing that comes into my yard (and rarely at that), I secretly wish I could look out and see a kangaroo just once? 😃

So, uhm, I feel bad. My lettuce seedlings are leggy and flopping over. I found out that maybe I could revive them by adding some more soil at their base, lowering the grow lights (apparently 5" from their stupid ears is not low enough), and putting a fan on them to stimulate breeze which might make them grow thicker stems. All this fussing (while staring at melting snow after also stocking the wood boiler) made me cranky, and I yelled at them, "Grow better!" using my best Crowley voice. (Good Omens) My plants will probably hurt themselves now. Such is the way between me and green things. I have tried so hard though! The broccoli, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and peas look great. Everyone is in a much bigger cardboard pot than the pots they come in from the nursery so I don't think they will need to be re-potted before going outside. But the peas are putting out tendrils! I had to give them each a chopstick to grow on! 😱 They better be okay. They all need to be okay. I leave Thursday for a wedding out of state, and then the eclipse. I won't be back until April 9. My dear dil will be taking care of them, but she has ZERO experience with plants. Those peas are going into the raised bed April 10 even if I am exhausted from a 15 hour drive on the 9th. Hopefully, since lettuce is a cool weather thing, they will be big enough to go out as well. I have row covers if needed. Stupid lettuce!

We gravitate towards wood pieces, or wrought iron, and if we use cushions, we do not leave them out. Regardless of claimed quality, we have found that cushions do not hold up. We have something similar to this, and Mark puts a new coat of sealer on it as needed to make sure it remains in good shape. https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/c/outdoor-dining-furniture/outdoor-dining-sets?t=7924&featuredproduct=18087769&featuredoption=30166141&ci_sku=24247023-000-000&cnc=US&cid=323904&type=pla&targetid=&track=pspla&utm_source=google&utm_medium=pspla&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIn__k7KeNhQMVtZHCCB1DggVoEAQYAiABEgIpQ_D_BwE

Many, many hugs, Dmmetler.

I get it. It is frustrating, even heart breaking. I don't think so long as this version of capitalism and worship of money are the only focus our culture is willing to have, it will change. I hate it. And I am pro every single job should be a living wage that can provide all the basics of life. To that end, I want universal healthcare. But as Mr Holland said in Mr. Holland's Opus, "Well, I guess you can cut the arts as much as you want, Gene. Sooner or later, these kids won't have anything to read or write about!" Also, "The day the football budget in this state, that will be the end of Western Civilization as we know it!" So ya. As a musician, I have a lot of feelings on the subject, and get why parents don't want their kids to major or minor in humanities, or even attend college at all due to debt. But it sure hurts to be so incredibly undervalued that this is where we are now as a society.

I love Easter when it is so close to the start of true spring here in Michigan. We normally do ham packets. Mark starts a fire in the fire ring, gets a good bed of coals going, and we let everyone make up their own veggie and ham or chicken packets. We provide: Ham slices Chicken breast cut into thin strips Cubed potatoes Thin sliced carrots Thin sliced sweet onions Asparagus spears (the thinner the better) Fresh green beans Pea pods We wash/rinse the veggies, shake off excess water, but do not dry them. Double layer of aluminum foil, large enough to roll like a burrito for each person. Everyone places their protein of choice in the center of the aluminum foil, piles on all of the veggies they like, generously sprinkles steak seasoning all over it, adds two pats of butter (which along with the residual water on the veggies helps them steam), and rolls the first layer up like a burrito good and tight. Then we use a large permanent marker to put initials on that layer and blow on it hoping to set enough the ink that at least part will remain.) Turn the packet 180° and roll burrito style with the second layer of aluminium foil. Mark tosses those into the coals, using leather gloves and long tongs to turn regularly, and cooks for about 30-45 minutes. We also, if we can get sweet corn, roast sweet corn in the fire (doesn't take that long so don't start it until 15-20 minutes before the packets are going to come out.) We make lemonade, and eat up! This year we have a wedding the day before out of state so we will be traveling and not with our kids or our mothers that day. The moms are going to cook for our sons and dil while we are gone. This has been our Easter Sunday meal for about 10-12 years.

I tell ya, Saraha, she is quite the handful! I commend you for being willing to see her on her birthday, but boy oh boy, you need a 1 year break now.