So, I've stated before that I am a bit of a reader. Even when I am practically living on the internet, I still devour any written material I can get my mitts on.
For a long time I wasn't reading much because books are expensive and I am cheap. Then one day it occurred to me that there is this delightful invention I had somehow forgot about... a LIBRARY. So I got my library card and got busy. Once I worked my way through most of the books I was interested in at my library I started having them send away to other librarys to borrow books.
Last year I had an alphabetical list. I managed to read at least one book for every letter of the alphabet. V, Q, X and Z were tough to find interesting books for... though the Z book, (Zoo Station) turned out to be quite an interesting book involving intrigue and Nazis..
My total for the year:
74 books total.
22 were fiction, the rest were all non-fiction.
This year I have been reading even more, I am already at 57 if I counted right, only 15 of which seem to have been fiction. The interesting thing about recording it as I read is that it clearly shows what I am interested at any given point in the year, lol. This years themes: knitting, goats, vampire fiction. lol.
So, here we go... my 2010 reading list, the first half of the year, give or take:
January:
"Chosen By a Horse" by Susan Richards
"Forever Chosen" by Susan Richards
"A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans" by Michael Farquhar
"Knitted Sock Sensations" by Louise Butt and Kristie McLoed
"Pygmy Goats" by Lorrie Boldrick, DVM
"Goats, Small Scale Herding for Pleasure and Profit" By Sue Weaver
February:
"Raising Milk Goats Successfully" by Gail Luttmann
"Raising Milk Goats the Modern Way" by Jerry Belanger
"The backyard homestead" edited by Carleen Madigan.
"Trail of tears : the rise and fall of the Cherokee nation" by John Ehle.
March:
"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver
"Easy Composting" by Ortho Books
"Corpses, coffins, and crypts : a history of burial" by Penny Colman
"Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach
"Old-Time Farm and Garden Devices and How To Make them" by Rolfe Cobleigh
"Living with Goats: Everything You Need to Know to raise Your Own Backyard Herd" by Margaret Hathaway
"Paddock Paradise: A Guide to Natural horse Boarding" by Jaime Jackson
"Possum Living: How to Live Well on (Almost) No Money" by Dolly Freed
April:
"Buckskin & Buffalo: The Artistry of the Plains Indians" by Colin F. taylor
"The Crack in the Lens" by Steve Hockensmith
"The Self-Sufficiency handbook: A Complete Guide To Greener Living" by Alan and Gill Bridgewater
"My Uncle Oswald" by Roald Dahl
"Vanishing Tribes: Primitive Man On Earth" by Alain Cheneviere
"Women's Work, The First 20,000 Years:Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times" by Elizabeth Wayland Barber
"Guide To Home Canning, Freezing & Dehydration" a Ball Blue Book
May:
"The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler
"Indian Handicrafts: How to Craft Dozens of Practical Objects Using Traditional Indian techniques" by C. Keith Wilbur
"The Sociopath Next Door: the ruthless versus the rest of us" by martha stout
"Dead Until Dark" by Charlaine Harris
"Chicken tractor:The Gardener's Guide to Happy Hens and Healthy Soil" by Andy Lee
"Seed to seed : seed saving and growing techniques for vegetable gardeners" by Suzanne Ashworth
June:
"Under the dome : a novel" by Stephen King.
"Cell" by Stephen King
"Plain Secrets: An Outsider among the Amish" by Joe Mackall
"Making great cheese : 30 simple recipes from cheddar to chevre plus 18 delicious cheese dishes" by Barbara Ciletti.
"Too late to say goodbye : a true story of murder and betrayal" by Ann Rule.
"Goat song : a seasonal life, a short history of herding, and the art of making cheese" by Brad Kessler.
"Living Dead in Dallas" by Charlaine Harris
"Club Dead" by Charlaine Harris
"Dead to the World" by Charlaine Harris
"Dead as a Doornail" by Charlaine Harris
July:
"Green River, Running Red" By Ann Rule
"Mortal Danger, and Other True cases: Ann Rule's Crime Files: Vol. 13" by Ann Rule
"Definitely Dead" Charlaine Harris
"The anxiety & phobia workbook" by Edmund J. Bourne
"Heidi" By Johanna Spyri
"Altogether Dead" By Charlaine Harris
"You Suck" by Christopher Moore
"Knitting simple jackets : 25 beautiful designs" by Marilyn Saitz Cohen.
"Everything I Want To Do is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food front" by Joel Salatin
"Knitting Simple Jackets: 25 Beautiful Designs" by Marilyn Saitz Cohen
"Finishing techniques for Hand Knitters: Give Your Knitting that Professional Look" by Sharon Brant
"From dead to worse" by Charlaine Harris.
"The Bell witch : an American haunting ; being the eye witness account of Richard Powell concerning the Bell Witch Haunting of Robertson County, Tennessee 1817-1821" edited by Brent Monahan.
"Living with chickens : everything you need to know to raise your own backyard flock" by Ray Rossier
"Tennessee : a bicentennial history" by Wilma Dykeman.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
I.... I think I love my goats as much as I love my horses.
*makes a shocked face*
It must be something about hooved herbivores. What ever it is that they have in common, it's what makes me love them so much. The way they move in a jaunty little trot, maybe.
I'd said it many times over the years that my late great Sarahgoatkin was easily one of my favorite pets ever.
But I couldn't remember quite what it was about her that I enjoyed so much.
I'm still not quite sure what it is about them that I like so much, but I can't believe there was a 15 year gap between Sarahgoatkin and my Scarborough Fair group.
look! It's a hillbilly weed whackers!
Pars is mad at me, I had to cut back his scurs today (deformed horns that grow if their disbudding as babies isn't done just right, his would grow into his neck if I didn;t take them off every two months or so) and coat his head in salve and that involved sitting on him while he gave me the old stink eye. The picture is post-scur removal. he is starting to smell like a billy goat, and after wrestling with him I smelled like a billy goat too. I actually don't find the smell offensive. That doesn't mean I want to have buck smell all over me on a hot summer day, though.
My little ponies are doing well.
I thought Brego was losing weight during this hot spell. But looking at these pictures, I'm not so sure. I think maybe he is just losing condition in his bum because I have not been working him at all in this heat.
I got video of Brego playing with some corn stalks but Tsu is downloading something and my connection is WAY too hosed to accomplish much of anything.
I'm still not spending much time online, so don't freak out if I am still mostly MIA.
It must be something about hooved herbivores. What ever it is that they have in common, it's what makes me love them so much. The way they move in a jaunty little trot, maybe.
I'd said it many times over the years that my late great Sarahgoatkin was easily one of my favorite pets ever.
But I couldn't remember quite what it was about her that I enjoyed so much.
I'm still not quite sure what it is about them that I like so much, but I can't believe there was a 15 year gap between Sarahgoatkin and my Scarborough Fair group.
look! It's a hillbilly weed whackers!
Pars is mad at me, I had to cut back his scurs today (deformed horns that grow if their disbudding as babies isn't done just right, his would grow into his neck if I didn;t take them off every two months or so) and coat his head in salve and that involved sitting on him while he gave me the old stink eye. The picture is post-scur removal. he is starting to smell like a billy goat, and after wrestling with him I smelled like a billy goat too. I actually don't find the smell offensive. That doesn't mean I want to have buck smell all over me on a hot summer day, though.
My little ponies are doing well.
I thought Brego was losing weight during this hot spell. But looking at these pictures, I'm not so sure. I think maybe he is just losing condition in his bum because I have not been working him at all in this heat.
I got video of Brego playing with some corn stalks but Tsu is downloading something and my connection is WAY too hosed to accomplish much of anything.
I'm still not spending much time online, so don't freak out if I am still mostly MIA.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
HHhaaaayyyyyy...
I'm not "back", not really. I've been checking my email/blog/a private forum or two with personal friends on it once a day and otherwise only using the internet for shopping for brass bells*, doing research, checking on my library books and finding recipes. Aside from that I have been turning the computer completely OFF for all but about an hour a day. Wait, no, not true... I have been also using the computer to watch an episode of True Blood each day, now that I have read most of the books they were based on. lol.
Well, I needed to send Tsu an IM about his surgery friday (Tonsils coming out, EEK! and fixing his deviated septum) and I thought I would pop in and make a post. This means I will be going to facebook to post the link, and I haven't been THERE in days.
Well anyway, earlier this year I was all relieved that I had my entire years worth of hay money stashed away. And then... medical bills, unexpected costs, my neck being jacked and needing fixed... Once again I was stuck with a winter on the way and without having my hay money (or the hay itself) secured. Folks who don't live in a really rural setting don't fully understand the concept of "stocking up for winter". Natural gas comes piped to your house, dog food and cat food can be bought at the corner store once a week, and you can buy tomatoes at the grocers all year around. But here... there are costs that accompany winter above and beyond that. You need to stock pile hay, fire wood, save up for filling the propane tank (at times a fill can be as high as $1100. Even the minimum they will deliver is close to $600).
Realistically in today's world you don't need to stockpile food for winter but... I feel better knowing I have some of that laid up in case, too. It's not uncommon for the snow plow to only get to our road 3 days after a big storm. You can't just pop out for lettuce and mangoes when there are two miles of road buried under 3 foot of snow between you and the nearest plowed road.
So... I spend all summer worrying about being ready for winter, and all winter being worried about having enough to make it to summer so I can start over. And not having 12 months of hay in my barn (or bank) by first of June drives me nuts.
So, last week there is a knock at the door. familiar looking guy standing there, "Hey,you bought some hay last year from me and my brother..."
"You Jim's brother?" I asked, then mentally slapped my forehead because the guy looks JUST LIKE Jim. I could run into him 500 miles from home and take one look at him and have to double take to make sure it WASN'T Jim.
"Yup, we just pulled our last field of second cut and we are dang near outta room in the barn. I just remembered you was buyin' hay from us before and was wondering if I could make a deal on a trailer full we ain't got no room for. I just can't see lettin' it sit out and get rained on, so I figured I would offer it to ya for cheaper if we could just move her right into yer barn."
"Hm, well, I'm broke right now but how much you got and how much you want for it?"
"I ain't counted it for sure but I'd guess it's about 150 bales, I was thinking maybe $200 would be fair. If ya ain't got the money right now you all can just pay when ya can, it ain't like we don't know where ya live." *laugh* "Ya know just as long as it don't take like until next year or nothin'."
Now I usually buy their first cutting for $2 a bale. This is pretty much crap hay. Weedy, bland. It's busy work hay basically. I give the weedy bales to the goats (in the past I used the weedy ones for bedding, because it was cheaper than the straw around here) and grassy ones to the fatties. I mean to my horses, who if I give them REALLY good hay either get morbidly obese OR if I limit their hay they get bored when it is gone and eat my barn to pieces. I never ever buy anything other than first cutting. But I know their second cutting is almost completely free of weeds, and is a nice soft grass, better than what I usually get but not so rich that it will make my horses blobs by spring.
So I went and talked to Tsu about it, and he said it sounded like we could swing it. So sunday he brought the trailer over. I think we got closer to 135 bales, for $200. And I was able to pull the cash out to pay right away ('Cause I don't like owe'n no body...) And it is lovely. Soft, pale green, no weeds. We had two bales bust open while we were putting it into the barn and I gave it all to the horses and goats. 20 minutes later every herbivore i own was laying down on the soft fresh hay, munching around themselves.
GOOD grass hay for under $2 a bale? My friends, it just plain don't get no better than that. Depending on how the grass goes this summer I may be set for hay until end of January. I'm at least set until November. It's a great thing to know that your critters have food for a good long time.
The very next day after we got it delivered and stacked it stormed all day. Perfect timing.
*I've started taking the goats out, like a goat herd... me with my walking stick and the goats running loose, all except my queen who I keep on a long line until they figure out how this works. I want bells for them, each with a different sound so I can track them and they can track each other... and a big Swiss style cowbell for myself to use to call them back to me. So I have been looking for brass bells to hang on their collars, from 1 1/2 inches tall to 3 inches tall...
I'll take my camera out on a goat walk next time, and post them.
Time to shut off the computer for the day, have a good one, friends!
Well, I needed to send Tsu an IM about his surgery friday (Tonsils coming out, EEK! and fixing his deviated septum) and I thought I would pop in and make a post. This means I will be going to facebook to post the link, and I haven't been THERE in days.
Well anyway, earlier this year I was all relieved that I had my entire years worth of hay money stashed away. And then... medical bills, unexpected costs, my neck being jacked and needing fixed... Once again I was stuck with a winter on the way and without having my hay money (or the hay itself) secured. Folks who don't live in a really rural setting don't fully understand the concept of "stocking up for winter". Natural gas comes piped to your house, dog food and cat food can be bought at the corner store once a week, and you can buy tomatoes at the grocers all year around. But here... there are costs that accompany winter above and beyond that. You need to stock pile hay, fire wood, save up for filling the propane tank (at times a fill can be as high as $1100. Even the minimum they will deliver is close to $600).
Realistically in today's world you don't need to stockpile food for winter but... I feel better knowing I have some of that laid up in case, too. It's not uncommon for the snow plow to only get to our road 3 days after a big storm. You can't just pop out for lettuce and mangoes when there are two miles of road buried under 3 foot of snow between you and the nearest plowed road.
So... I spend all summer worrying about being ready for winter, and all winter being worried about having enough to make it to summer so I can start over. And not having 12 months of hay in my barn (or bank) by first of June drives me nuts.
So, last week there is a knock at the door. familiar looking guy standing there, "Hey,you bought some hay last year from me and my brother..."
"You Jim's brother?" I asked, then mentally slapped my forehead because the guy looks JUST LIKE Jim. I could run into him 500 miles from home and take one look at him and have to double take to make sure it WASN'T Jim.
"Yup, we just pulled our last field of second cut and we are dang near outta room in the barn. I just remembered you was buyin' hay from us before and was wondering if I could make a deal on a trailer full we ain't got no room for. I just can't see lettin' it sit out and get rained on, so I figured I would offer it to ya for cheaper if we could just move her right into yer barn."
"Hm, well, I'm broke right now but how much you got and how much you want for it?"
"I ain't counted it for sure but I'd guess it's about 150 bales, I was thinking maybe $200 would be fair. If ya ain't got the money right now you all can just pay when ya can, it ain't like we don't know where ya live." *laugh* "Ya know just as long as it don't take like until next year or nothin'."
Now I usually buy their first cutting for $2 a bale. This is pretty much crap hay. Weedy, bland. It's busy work hay basically. I give the weedy bales to the goats (in the past I used the weedy ones for bedding, because it was cheaper than the straw around here) and grassy ones to the fatties. I mean to my horses, who if I give them REALLY good hay either get morbidly obese OR if I limit their hay they get bored when it is gone and eat my barn to pieces. I never ever buy anything other than first cutting. But I know their second cutting is almost completely free of weeds, and is a nice soft grass, better than what I usually get but not so rich that it will make my horses blobs by spring.
So I went and talked to Tsu about it, and he said it sounded like we could swing it. So sunday he brought the trailer over. I think we got closer to 135 bales, for $200. And I was able to pull the cash out to pay right away ('Cause I don't like owe'n no body...) And it is lovely. Soft, pale green, no weeds. We had two bales bust open while we were putting it into the barn and I gave it all to the horses and goats. 20 minutes later every herbivore i own was laying down on the soft fresh hay, munching around themselves.
GOOD grass hay for under $2 a bale? My friends, it just plain don't get no better than that. Depending on how the grass goes this summer I may be set for hay until end of January. I'm at least set until November. It's a great thing to know that your critters have food for a good long time.
The very next day after we got it delivered and stacked it stormed all day. Perfect timing.
*I've started taking the goats out, like a goat herd... me with my walking stick and the goats running loose, all except my queen who I keep on a long line until they figure out how this works. I want bells for them, each with a different sound so I can track them and they can track each other... and a big Swiss style cowbell for myself to use to call them back to me. So I have been looking for brass bells to hang on their collars, from 1 1/2 inches tall to 3 inches tall...
I'll take my camera out on a goat walk next time, and post them.
Time to shut off the computer for the day, have a good one, friends!
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