Well It Said "#58 On Blue Barrel"...

We like to keep our eye on our local Freecycle website, and we have been keeping our eye out for things we can use at our future Adirondack cabin ('cause we're not going to have any money left over after building this thing to buy anything to furnish it!).  Do you know about Freecycle?  It's a play on the words "free" and "recycle" - it's a website where people can list items that they no longer need, but are still good, that they don't want to just throw out or go through the trouble of trying to sell, if someone else can use the item.  This is not to be mistaken for a charity or for needy people only - freecycle is open to anyone who can use any of the items offered.  The point is to keep things out of landfills and into the hands of someone who can use the item. 

The basics of how it works:  A person lists an item or items that they are offering on their local Freecycle website.  Whoever is interested in that item or items then emails that person letting them know that they are interested.  The person who is offering chooses their recipient (many people just choose the first person who responds, but there may be times where a respondent may petition their case for the item - it is totally up to the person offering the item to choose the recipient however they want to, for whatever reason they want to) and arranges with them a time and place for pick up of that item.  (Good Frecycle etiquette is if you "win" an item, to pick it up as quickly as you can.  You might even say in your email how soon you could pick up an item because I think some people choose recipients based on who can pick it up the soonest.  People don't want the hassle of waiting days for someone to pick up an item, or worse, never coming at all.)  For safety reasons usually both parties meet in a public location (like in a supermarket parking lot) OR often times the item may just be left at the end of the driveway at a certain day and time. 

In our most recent Freecycle success, my DH (dear husband) managed to "win" a used crockpot and the person offering said we could pick it up on a particular road at "#58 on blue barrel".  As you can see in the pic above, that's just where it was, LOL.  Usually it's not too scary picking up Freecycle items because the person giving away the item is just as concerned about their safety as you are, and leaves it in a place that is safely far away from them too, however, there have been a couple of times I've thought of making a quick call for a life insurance quote when I've driven up to an address, LOL!

Anyway, if you've never "freecycled" before, you can click on this link to see if there is a local Freecycle group for your area - Freecycle.org.

Have you gotten any good Freecycle treasures?

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Angel is Showing Us How Smart Siamese Kitties Are

It was very chilly here in upstate NY yesterday.  There weren't any good toasty sunbeams around for napping in late in the day, so this is where my husband found Angel Kitty napping when he came home:

Well, you've got to hand it to her - it probably was the warmest spot in the house!

Normally we scold her if she tries to jump up on the table or counter, but this was just so funny my husband had to take a picture before he shooed her away.  And that probably was a really good warm spot - my laptop definitely runs on the hot side.  We actually took it apart a few weeks ago because it seemed to be running hotter and hotter and we ended up pulling a bunch of weird fuzz/pet hair/lint out of a narrow spot alongside the heat sink.

I let DH take the computer apart cuz he's the professional.  :-D

 This is what we pulled out from next to the heat sink!

It's much better now, but I'd still never put this thing directly on my lap.    In fact you can see in the pic that I have it resting sideways on a thingy that helps disperse the heat, and it's sideways so that the fan at the rear left of the computer has more ventilation.  My old computer was even worse.  I ended up buying a fairly pricey metal stand with little fans in it (from some computer supply place I can't even remember that sold all sorts of accessories, cords, mac memory, etc.) just so that it would be usable.

Anyway, luckily Angel Kitty didn't seem to have pressed any crazy key combination that made my display go sideways, or press a "buy now" button for 50 cases of cat treats (at least not that I KNOW of, LOL!), so no harm done.  She is one clever kitty.  :-P

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Blah, Blah Day

It's a blah, blah day here today.  Blah.  Rainy and cold and....blah.  And I feel.....blah.  I feel so unmotivated to do anything today.  I bet if you checked me with an oximeter right now, you'd find I'm probably not even getting enough oxygen to the brain...my whole body is in BLAH mode.  And guess what?  It's supposed to be like this tomorrow too!  Blah.

By the way, a good friend lent us their rototiller, and DH tilled the garden over the weekend.

We are very blessed to have very good friends that saved us from tilling by hand!  (We not only have friends who lend us their rototiller, but if you read the last few posts we have friends who bring us fondue fixins' and remove dead coyotes too! Good friends are truly, truly a treasure. :-)

So, we still have to put up the fencing, and then I guess plant the seedlings is the next step.

As far as my agenda for today...Tuesday is often my "laundry day".  I have a load I just washed already waiting for me to put it in the dryer.  I also have thank you notes to write for all the wonderful and thoughtful birthday presents I got.  I really really really really really need to get back to exercising.  I think I need to have a date with "Warren" from "Walk It Out" on the Wii this afternoon.  Swimsuit season is perilously close, though YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW THAT FROM THIS CRAPPY WEATHER.

Blah.

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We Do Fondue!

We had some very dear, dear friends come stay with us and visit for the weekend.  They are actually my best friend "M's" parents - I have known them since I was a little kid, and my husband has known them since before we were married (probably known them about 18 years or so).  They have always been like a second set of parents to me.  I love them to death, and was happy my best friend "M" let us "borrow" them for the weekend (and thank you too to "B", "C", "S" and "Z" for lending us your grandparents - we appreciate you sharing! :-).

Anyway, besides the excitement of my best friend's Dad and my husband moving a dead animal carcass for me (see previous post), the REAL highlight was my best friend's Mom had the great idea of bringing her fondue pot to have a fondue dinner!  I actually have a fondue pot that came from my parents' house, but I'd never used it, just because I'd never "done" fondue and wasn't sure what to do, so I was THRILLED to have her show me how to have a really great fondue dinner!  We had shrimp, scallops, steak, chicken, mushrooms and onion rings with batter for the pot with the hot oil.  In my pot we did cheese, and for that we had broccoli, cauliflower, bread cubes, pea pods and apples.  Throw in a bottle of wine to wash it down and what a fun and enjoyable evening!  I totally overate because everything was SOOOOO good!  (I wish they made Bob Duallie strollers for adults so we could just roll ourselves away from the table!)

I have some birthday money left and now I am thinking of getting an electric fondue pot (mine is the kind you use sterno with) to use for hot oil fondue.  Also, I'd love to try doing a chocolate fondue for a dessert.  My friend's parents said you can keep it simple and just melt semi-sweet chocolate chips and some half and half and then dip things like pineapple, banana, maraschino cherries, pound cake, etc.

Anyone have any other good fondue ideas?

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Warning: Picture of Coyote (?) Carcass From My Yard

Don't say I didn't want you - don't look if you are upset by this sort of thing - turn back now!

I mowed the lawn for the first time this season on Saturday, and when I mowed at the far back of our property, this is what I came upon:

And besides looking gross, it smelled horrible!  (A close look at this thing and one whiff are better than the best diet supplement to take away your appetite, let me tell ya!)  We were trying to determine what this poor creature was.  At first we thought it was a red fox, however, upon further research, the color of the fur and a closer study of the teeth especially indicate that it seems more likely that is was a coyote.

Now it's worrisome enough that we have coyote roaming around (which I knew, but seeing evidence of it makes it seem much more real), but what is even more disturbing to think about is....what larger creature killed the coyote?!?  I looked it up and the predators of coyote are: alligators, wolves, mountain lions/cougars/panthers and humans.  Now I'm pretty sure since we live in upstate NY that I can cross alligator off my list of suspects.  I'm also pretty sure I can cross off human.  That leaves wolves and mountain lions/courgars/panthers.  There is also a chance it could have been a black bear (a neighbor two doors down had one on their deck about 2 weeks ago) though bears are not listed as a common predator.  However, a hungry bear might be up for eating just about anything.

None of these thoughts make me sleep too peacefully at night.  Or make me feel like ever going down to the edge of our property again!!

On the bright side, after I finished mowing (carefully around the carcass and holding my nose each time I was downwind) I told my husband and a dear friend who was staying with us about it, and the menfolk went and took the pictures and removed the unfortunate critter out of the lawn area so I won't have to run over whatever is left next time I mow.  It's handy to have men around for dead carcass removals and such.  :-)

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Wordless Wednesday: I Ate the Cake

There was quite a bit of cake leftover from my surprise party.  I ate all of the rest of it.  Right off the tray.  Was that bad?

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Food Porn at Cafe Les Baux in Millbrook, NY

Along with the other festivities I have enjoyed for my 40th birthday, my Dad took me out to my favorite restaurant in my favorite little town - Cafe Les Baux in Millbrook, NY.  Definitely not the place to go if you're hoping for fast weight loss, HA HA!  But who cares?  I'm 40!!  Enjoy!

 My Dad had the salmon

I had the cheese and fruit plate as my lunch.  Not shown is the basket of baguettes that I ate it with.  Eating all that cheese and crusty bread felt so decadent!!

 My Dad had the blueberry crepes for dessert.  He said they were delicious.

I got my "usual" - the madelines.  They are warm, right out of the oven with warm chocolate sauce.

And I just had to show you that even the sugar "cubes" are fancy and special.

Well, if you're a regular reader of my blog, you already know I'm a huge fan of Cafe Les Baux (I blogged about it more in depth here) and the village of Millbrook, NY.  A truly lovely place to visit for the afternoon and the perfect place to celebrate my 40th birthday!  I am one lucky and blessed gal!!  THANKS DAD!  :-)

(And thanks, my blog friends, for humoring me by reading about a lunch I ate. LOL! :-D )

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The Mysterious String

In the ongoing saga of our neighbor who seems to have worries about the property line, but yet doesn't seem to want to talk to us about them, this string appeared.  One end of the string is in the woods tied to a tree that still has the pink surveyor's tape on in, which indicates the property line.  The string only extends about another 10 feet from where my picture ends.  This is what is at the other end of the string:

It's hard to see, but it's tied to a metal stake.  However, the stake is obviously not stuck into the ground, and where it was laying was also obviously not the property line.  This mysterious set up was there for about a week, just as shown, and then one day, it disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared.  The stake was never stuck in the ground.

(And just to recap - we know exactly where the property line is and we called the town to check and see if there were any zoning regulations for gardens or garden fencing.  We are not violating anything, we are not on his property, and we are not too close to his property.  We have been outside all the time working on this garden, and he himself is nearly always outside, yet instead of coming over to chat with us about his apparent concerns, which we could easily put to rest I'm sure, he left us a note, and then the string thing.)

We had a whole bunch of funny ideas about things we could do in response.  We thought of tying our own string to the property line marker and tying the other end to a stake just like his and leave it out there too.  We thought of tying string from the property line marker and weaving it around our fence posts and nearby trees in a big spider-web kind of pattern just to be silly.  We thought of getting some rope and tying one end to the property marker and the other end to a tree and making a clothesline out of it and we could hang up all sorts of crazy things like Halloween costumes, kids ties and funny underwear.  But, we didn't do any of these things - we just kept diligently working on the garden.

So, even after a week of pondering and discussing this with friends and family, we can't figure out what the string and the stake were all about.  Did the neighbor expect us to put the stake in the ground where the property line is??  Anyone have any guesses as to what was going on here?

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Weekend Progress on Our Garden - Removed Sod

Couldn't get started without another trusty pair of cow patterned garden gloves.

My good friend Rebecca helpfully posted a how-to for sod removal just before we tackled this job.  Not only was the post extremely helpful with step by step instructions, BUT she even posted a video!  If you want to know a good way to remove sod, check it out here:  NY Renovator: How to Remove Sod.  In her post, she used a garden tool that we did not have, so we raided our shed and pulled out all these implements of destruction to see what we could use that was similar.  We found that the flat tipped shovel and the hoe-like tool seemed to work pretty well.  

In fact, in a much shorter time than I ever imagined, we had the first row done!

Now Rebecca recommended removing the sod pieces in squares, which would have been easier.  However, we had an area of the lawn that over time had become our own personal sink hole, and my husband decided that we should put all the sod into the depression in hopes of leveling it out.  He also felt it was easier to lay the sod in, in strips, if possible.  So instead of removing it in squares, we made rolls as big as we could.

Below is a picture of where my husband laid all the sod we removed.  It did a pretty good job of filling the sink hole.  It's not like we think the grass from the sod is going to magically regrow, but at least the hole is filled, and if some or any of the grass survives and regrows, well then woo-hoo.  We can throw grass seed on it to help.

So, we got about halfway done by the end of Saturday.  By the end of Sunday we had all the sod removed.

Almost looks like we have little atv drag strips there or something.

(If you look off to the right you will see a white string.  Our neighbor-who-is-obviously-worried-about-the-property-line but won't come over to talk to us face to face about his concerns has now strung a mysterious string.  More about that in another post, though.)

So, that's where we are.  We still have to put up fencing and till the soil.  At the end of the day my husband said to me, "Now remind me, what was wrong with just buying our vegetables at the store???"  LOL.  (He is the one that had this grand idea in the first place! :-)

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One of My Birthday Gifts...Well Two, Actually!

One of the gifts I got for my birthday was a hummingbird feeder from my sister-in-law "L" and her family, which is very cool because we've seen hummingbirds in our garden before, so a feeder should not only attract them, but we should be able to see them better and notice them more.  A jar of hummingbird food AND the recipe was thoughtfully included:

They even added a few drops of red food coloring to make it extra special. :-)

The only problem was we had nothing to hang it on...  However, my thoughtful husband surprised me today for my birthday with a shepherd's hook to hang it on, and he stuck it in the ground for me tonight so I could hang up my hummingbird feeder!  Yay!  I'll have to refresh my memory on how to use my camera as a camcorder to see if I can capture a hummingbird at the feeder.

In other news, we made a lot of good progress on the garden this weekend - I'll post pics soon.  Also, the neighbor did another puzzling thing re: the property line - I have pictures of that to post soon also.

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I Went to a Surprise 40th Birthday Party Saturday Night...

 FOR ME!!  LOL!!

It's my 40th birthday this Tuesday, and I must admit, I *was* on alert - not that I was wanting or expecting a party, BUT, c'mon - you have to realize that a surprise party is a possibility, when you're at one of those milestone birthdays.  Anyway, the funny thing is that the party was at my Dad's and there is NO WHERE to hide cars at my Dad's house - NO WHERE.  So as we drove up, I nonchalantly looked for any familiar cars and there were NONE.  So I figured, ok, this is not a ruse, this isn't a party.  Well, they got me GOOD!  Would you believe they actually parked their cars at the local Jr. High and shuttled themselves back to my Dad's house so there wouldn't be any cars to give it away??  Boy was I SURPRISED!!  My husband, Dad and Mother-in-law executed the plan to perfection.  Which was pretty awesome.  It was cool to be surprised.

Actually, the very best thing was that when you get together the parents and all the siblings and nieces and nephews, it's quite a big group - it's not too often that all of us are together - and EVERYONE was there for my party!  That made me feel very special - that everyone took time out from their busy schedules and lives to come to my party.

So if any of my family are reading this, THANK YOU so much for coming!  You definitely made my 40th birthday very special and memorable. :-)

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Garden Progress

So we had the chance to get the last two fence posts level and concreted in earlier this week.  So there is how our "garden of sticks" looks up to this point.  The next thing we're planning on doing is tilling the soil.  It seems like it would be easier to do that before we put up the fencing.  We may be able to borrow a rototiller, or maybe we would rent one.  We're not sure.  Seems like digging that all out by hand the first time would be killer.  Not that we wouldn't or couldn't do that.

I don't think I've ever posted a list of all the seeds we've planted:

Zucchini

Tomato

Peas

Cilantro

Eggplant

Jalapeno Peppers

Cucumbers

Orange Peppers

Pumpkins

Pumpkin Gourds

Chili Peppers

Red Peppers

Ball Gourds

Watermelon Gourds

Habanero Peppers

Scallions

Lettuce

Spinach

Pepperoncini

We are pretty much newbies at gardening on this scale, so any advice or thoughts you have are welcomed!

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Wordless Wednesday: I Don't Think *I'd* Want To Nap in This Postion

...but Angel kitty seems perfectly comfortable!

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Not Your Typical Easter Dinner

I checked - there is no actual law against BBQing for Easter, LOL.  (I didn't want the Easter Dinner Police to show up and give us a citation.)  I cannot ever remember BBQing on Easter.  Here in the northeast you can never predict what kind of weather you'll have for Easter - could be anything from snow to warm and humid.

A major benefit to the warm weather was that we didn't freeze our Easter Bonnets off at the sunrise service we always go to each year which is at 6:30am.  I can remember some years shivering through the whole thing with temps in the 20s.  This year I think it was about 45, which was still a little chilly but very bearable.

Anyway, our Easter dinner was steak with DH's secret seasonings (not sure all what he puts on, but I think Montreal Steak Seasoning plays a major role), chicken strips with Salamida's Spiedie sauce, shrimp with olive oil and lemon juice with lemon & herb seasoning, and assorted veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper.  We also had some rice as a side dish.

What did you have for Easter Dinner?

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Our Own Modern Day Stonehenge!

Our own modern "Stonehenge"!  Attractive, isn't it?  :-P

This is where we got to by the end of Saturday.  We got 9 posts set in concrete. One post we didn't set because we ran out of little support pieces of wood (which are only there until the concrete hardens so that the post stayed level), the other we didn't set because the hole isn't deep enough - we hit a bunch of rocks and we didn't have time to try to dig them out and use the auger more because the auger had to go back to the equipment rental place.  My husband basically did all this work.  I just helped by holding the posts in place and filling our "contractor grade" water measurer for the concrete:

Also, I checked and we didn't get any notes from the neighbor yesterday or today, LOL.  Regarding the note ...  From the looks and sound of things, Neighbor appeared to be home and working outside on Saturday (as we were), yet although he apparently has concerns and question about the property line, he didn't come over to resolve them with us.  I don't really feel a big need to make an effort to explain ourselves - our garden project is all "legal" and well within where it needs to be property-line-wise... So what are we supposed to do?  Leave a note back??  Well, he's the one that has concerns - if he doesn't want to talk to us face to face and take a look at the property line together (we can't be that scary - he came over to chat the first evening of our garden "project" and it was nothing but friendly and cordial), then he can call the town and ask what the rules are, or hire a surveyor to show him the property line - although the pink tagged surveyor marks still remain on the property and they're not difficult to spot (I've personally shown him at least twice since they moved in), or I suppose he can just keep wondering...  Or leave another note, LOL!  So silly.

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You Can Rest Easy Neighbor, We're Doin' it By the Book

Found this note this morning, taped to our garden lumber.

Text of note reads:  (my husband's name) please make sure you are far enough over on your property.  I could not see the marker and don't want to interrupt you.  Good Luck, (neighbor's name)

I was surprised our neighbor left us a note, as he came over to chat with my husband just yesterday evening and did not mention any concerns about our project.  If he had, we could have happily shown him the original surveyor's stakes that mark our property line to quell any fears that we are over the line or too close.  We could have also allayed his concerns by letting him know that we called the town to make sure no permits were needed and that there was nothing in the code governing a vegetable garden OR a fence around the vegetable garden.  However, we could have further assured him that even if our fence around our garden WAS subject to the code regarding fencing around one's property, that code states that a fence has to be 1' off the property line, and our fencing is clearly further than that off the property line.

I have to laugh because this is the neighbor who often does not mow up to his own property line, and although I don't mind a little "courtesy" mowing, after a few years I got sick and tired of repeatedly having to mow over onto his property so as not to leave an unsightly line of unmowed grass.  I got so annoyed last year I simply stopped mowing any extra and if that meant leaving a strip of unmowed grass between us, so be it.  I guess I'm just surprised he is suddenly concerned about where the property line is.


And why not ask my husband to his face yesterday evening, while it was light out, while the property markers were easily visible?  Or come over today?  I can hear that you are home, outside doing work in your own yard...

Well you can sleep easy Neighbor, we're doin' it by the book, and we're not on your property OR too close to it. 

Should I write him a note back and go tape it up somewhere in his yard so that I don't "interrupt" him?

Silly.

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Friday's Progress on the Garden

The auger we rented.

So, that was the "two man auger" we used today to dig 11 fence post holes (it's an odd number because of the gate we're putting in).  We are much cleaner and happier in this picture than we were when we were done.

This helped us get through it, but only a little:

Do you like my little "cow" gardening gloves?

Our progress by the end of the afternoon:

Hard to see, but we did manage to get 11 holes dug.  A few of them had a lot of rocks, one had lots of roots, but most of them weren't too bad.  On the one hand, we had the fact that the ground was soft going for us.  On the other hand, the dirt was a bit like mud and VERY HEAVY.  It got very difficult to lift the auger out of the hole once it got fairly deep and the auger became clogged with heavy dirt.

I am hoping to not ever have to use an auger again for the rest of my life.  *fingers crossed*

The plan for tomorrow is to set the fence posts in the holes and fill them with concrete...

More soon...

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Getting Started on the Garden

My husband went to Lowe's last night and got everything he believed we needed to get the fence around our "garden to be" started.  He measured it off this morning, and as I write this, he should be on his way home from the equipment rental place with a 2 man auger (to dig the holes for the fence posts).  Yes, I am going to be one of the two "men".  I have actually used a 2 man auger before with my husband when he built the shed, about 6-7 years ago. 

This is going to be exhausting. 

Though certainly easier than digging the post holes by hand!

Wish us luck.  More soon...

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