A move

After much thought and consideration, and since I have regained control of the original Ward House on blogger, I am moving back to that platform, cycling a new password every so often.  The lure of creative freedom is too much.  =)

Please follow me there!

Crazy!

I’m still here.  Work has ‘exploded’ since the lunar eclipse; think full moon craziness with an extension.  Exploded does not need a slew of new business, just crazy stuff happening with existing business.  The garden is ok – we have begun watering in the evenings since the 90+ temps and no rain have been hard on growing things.  School is good though consumes much of my time > took one of the board exams last night (170 questions) and passed with a 72 – must have 70 to pass.  Yes, this was a NATIONAL, certifying test that I took.  Shame it does not count for my license.  =)  Just a test grade.

Anyway, all is good though quiet on the blogging side of things.  I am still reading your blogs, though, it fits between activities.  Keep writing – I’ll be back soon!

Tomato ties and splits

My tomatoes are planted not in straight enough rows for this work this year thought I like the idea for next. Posting it here means that I will not loose the information for next year and, who knows, someone might need it! I have cages for some of the tomatoes and need to create cages for the remaining ones.  The cherry tomatoes have already begun to fruit.  Last year I lost so many of them to splitting.

In searching for causes of ‘da split’  I found that inconsistent watering, improper fertilization, & temperature fluctuations can cause this misfortune.  Last year’s growing season was a big temp and water flux – sometimes hot and dry, wet and cold for the next.  Fertilization did not happen last year though this fall, the garden is getting a blanket of old horse manure.  That will hopefully correct many things for the next season.  Here is a shot of my little wonders!  

Hydrogen peroxide & the Farm

Today I am writing over at Homemakers Who Work about a new cleaning friend – Hydrogen Peroxide.  Come by for a quick read!

We spent Father’s Day visiting with Ronnie’s dad; someone we do not usually see during the year.  While there, I collected the following pictures:

Goodie goodie!

It was an enjoyable though hectic holiday weekend.  The giveaways arrived from Zed and Ana, we were able to take a few motorcycle rides (one to pick strawberries and the other to Lowes), and I planted several herbs into the sides of the garden in an attempt to attract beneficials.

For the giveaways, Zeds package included goodies from Turkey – Thank you so much Zed, the goodies are amazing!  Most of the sesame sweets are gone!  The little evil eye stickers do not appear in this photo as these have been stuck to almost everything.  =)

I received notice of Ana’s package arrival on Saturday, after the post office had closed; that package I picked up today – Ana, you guess my tastes correctly!

Thank you both for shipping international – I am grateful!

This is my 2nd and final week of CPR/First  Aid class and to say that I am grateful to be at the end is an understatement.  You’ll be glad to know that I passed the CPR part with 100% on ventilation and 98% on compressions.  *whew*

I’ll have more pictures and such for you soon!

You are not forgotten

This two week class is really kicking my you-know-what; this weekend I hope to have some goodness to share with you, just not until then.  I am looking forward to some sleeping after tonite.  Zzzzz.

I am, actually, caught up on reading everyone’s blogs and have even commented on a few.  I’ll be back soon – promise!

Yippee Skippee

I’ve tried to blog less about giveaways that are going on ’cause I realize it can be a bit monotonous (unless you request otherwise).  Of the several that I entered, two were winners!

• Stash Avalanche
  

  May giveaway goodie

• Witchin in the Kitchen

Both of these talented ladies are overseas; I have enjoyed both blogs since their discovery several weeks ago.

Thank you, ladies, for sharing your talent and generosity with me!

He is ready

He being our steer.  Ready meaning he is about 27 months old, weights in at 1400 lbs, and is ready to visit the abattoir.  We spoke to two different abattoirs and decided on T&E Meats.  The price is based on hanging weight, not on the hoof, and for vacuum packed beef, we will pay 65 cents/lb.  The other abattoir charges 40 cents/lb, which would save some cash yet they have a very restricted schedule and we have heard from others that one really needs to be mindfull and VERY specific (make sure we receive what we requested).  I was very impressed with Joe with T&E; he explained everything including, I needed to get the birth records for the steer.  For beef that are 30+ months old they are required to dispose of the back bone as mad cow cooties live there.  Because steer mature at different rates, without the birth records proving he is under 30 months old, if he has his 4 permanent incisors, they will have to treat him as a 30+ steer and all our cuts will be boneless.

Part of what I would like to keep from this steer is the kidney fat to try my hand at making soap;  Seven Trees has a great article about tallow.  Soap is not discussed in this article, though some other great ideas are discussed.

My window at work

To help pay for this steer, the Belarus is for sale.  She’s kinda big for our .5 acres and that cash can be put to use elsewhere.

Ronnie has also mentioned, upon his return, that he is going to sell his motorcycle; we’ll see if that thought is still in his head once he returns from his Myrtle beach trip with his brother.  Hopefully they will have better weather than we; it is forecast to rain all this week!!  And here I was concerned that it was going to be a dry hot summer!!

Not forgotten

Mom called last night as she has not seen a blog from me for several days.  My apologies.  Taking on the extra college class really threw me for a loop – today was the last day and now I am back to my night class, which ends on 5/10.

5Seeds scents

Between classes I attempt to catch up on reading blogs and tonite I found a fragrance giveaway – Go here to enter a giveaway from5Seed.  Massage therapy classes have taught me much about scents and skin sensitivities; these scents sound(smell) wonderful!

Oh Happy Day

You will be glad to hear, not as much as I, that I found a ‘back door’ (YouTube) into my Blogspot account, reset my password and regain control of that account.  I will not resume using the original Ward House blog due to the open nature of the programing.  WordPress does not allow me as much freedom when it comes to eye candy; however, the trade-off is acceptable.  I am happy to have Google Reader back; I was missing all the great articles!

Now it is a matter of re-aquainting myself with WordPress details; using categories vs tags, what is and is not allowed as far as widgets, etc.  Exciting in a way.  =)