Trying to take care of my little piece of the planet
Power of Love
Back in the spring, we lost five of six pullets that we were raising as replacement hens, since then we’ve installed Alan’s “predator proof” poultry gate and have managed to raise this last batch without loss. But in between the two groups, there was one attempt at raising chicks from eggs that was [...]
Posted on November 30th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Yes, we’ve had a hint of snow, and I had intended to be ahead on preparations for winter this year, but there were delays in getting the logs delivered, and further delays on my part in turning them into firewood. So I still don’t have that self-satisfying pile of split wood drying safely in the [...]
Posted on November 24th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Energy, Rainwater Collection | 3 Comments »
No. I haven’t decided to venture into abstract art at this stage of my life. But this image portrays a reality that you may find surprising. Obtained from this interesting website, it is a more accurate map (referred to as a cartogram) of Obama’s victory last week. It represents the percentage of votes cast (rather [...]
Posted on November 12th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings | 5 Comments »
We capped off a marvelous week with a trip to the coast, staying in a relative’s beach house for the weekend. It was forty-eight hours of R and R, returning home to our little place in the country a few minutes ago. Now, I’ve unpacked the van, built a fire in the woodstove and successfully [...]
Posted on November 9th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Family Life, Meat, Eggs, etc., Nature Diary | 2 Comments »
A wonderfully informative and nostalgic post on compost on ‘Milkweed Diaries’. We’ve been worm composting for years and I recently harvested the finished product below.
Based on what goes into our compost bin, I can only assume that caffeine and capsaicin are OK for worms. Come to think of it. I’ve never seen them sleep……
Posted on November 7th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Books/Movies/Podcasts, etc., Gardening | 4 Comments »
Here are a few shots of life in the country in recent weeks.
First, from late yesterday morning. This is a shot of Stanley, and a field rat that he’s brought in through the cat door and taken to his favorite entertainment venue, the tub in the main bathroom. It was apparently this rat’s second trip [...]
Posted on November 5th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Gardening, Meat, Eggs, etc. | 3 Comments »
In addition to being just a fabulous, top-of-the-world kind of day thanks to the American voters, this little blog is one year-old today. To those of you who are responsible for one or more of the 8750 visits over the past year, I am grateful. Writing here, reading your comments and discovering some fabulous blogs [...]
Posted on November 5th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »
It’s about six hours until the polls close here in NC and I’ve just finished my last little bit of ‘civic duty’ misguided though it may have been. Even in the heat of the election season, I refused to knock on doors. And I only participated in one phone bank session, which was enough to [...]
Posted on November 4th, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Rants and Musings | 1 Comment »
I know. The title of this post is so over the top. But the reality for me, silly or not, is that after the last eight years, I have been pathologically focused on tomorrow’s election. I spend far too much time at my desk checking and re-checking the news. I haven’t had any exercise other [...]
Posted on November 3rd, 2008 by jack-of-all-thumbs
Filed under: Gardening, Nature Diary, Rainwater Collection, Rants and Musings | 5 Comments »