Prep and Funnel Clouds

Tween and I had a busy day today. We worked on the "pink" bedroom, getting stuff out, rearranging the furniture, changing out the curtains, etc. I took Tween out to eat as a thanks for his hard work, and he got sick. Damn restaurants! We need more restaurants that serve organic gluten-free foods.

But that's neither here nor there.

By the time I got him up, in the bathroom to hug the toilet, his bed ready and fan on, and him into bed, I got a call that we had a tornado warning near us. I threw some clothes back on him, we grabbed some stuff and headed to the basement office. He curled up on the floor with a pillow and a blanket that I had just washed last weekend. We were only there for 20 minutes or so, but it was a LONG 20 minutes. He's terrified of tornadoes. That's a big factor in the next house we buy ... needs a bigger basement.

I think we made enough headway to stop today. He's resting in bed, with the fan on, holding his little tummy (can you tell I'm a mom?) and reading a book about dumb criminals. I'm gonna prep for tomorrow: handyman expected to make some minor repairs, and so is the guy to replace our garage door. Fun.

It Rained ... Finally!

The Denver, Colorado area finally not only got a good bit of rain, but hail and flash-flooding. We had just finished doing about 3 hours worth of work in our container garden, planting all but 3 blueberry bushes, 2 raspberry bushes, and 2 blackberry bushes. The tomatoes, etc. were finished. We put away our tools, covered the left-over potting soil, and came inside to take our showers (hot hot hot = sweat sweat sweat). By within minutes of the last of us showering, the rain started. Barely a drizzle for less than 5 minutes, followed by 45 minutes of pounding hail, followed by another day and a half of light to medium rain.

Luckily, the spot we chose for our container garden was the south side of the house, well protected from the hail but not from the rain. Everything got drenched, and it looks like everything survived. Yippee!

Kinda a good thing that the dogs don't live here anymore. The massive amounts of mud, the intense work to our house, both inside and out... we're better off.

It's hot hot hot hot hot!

Pic to right: Hubby and Tween in 2007 at a pool.

I hate being hot. Always have. Sisters would lay out in the sun, one would turn blonder and red, and the other would turn into a "little brown bear" which is what we called her. Me? I would lay out but hated it. Got little reddish spots all over me, then burn and peel.

Even when I lived in Tampa, Florida and then Houston, Texas, I hated being hot. So when I had the change to move to Colorado where it at least gets a little cold for 6 months of the year, I jumped at the chance.

Now that I'm here, the weather isn't cooperating. This past Winter (2008/09) we barely had any cold days, barely any snow, and I'm frustrated as hell. Now it's supposedly Spring, and yesterday our high was in the 90's. Today it's supposed to break records by being in the 90's again.

Hello? Mother Earth? Excuse me but ... it's NOT SUMMER YET!!

I got out the swamp cooler, filled it up, turned it on and yes, while it's providing a bit of coolness, it's leaking. Oh great.

Pic to right: Sparky the horse-puppy getting cool in front of the leaking swamp cooler.

Up in the bedrooms, the temp last night at 10 p.m. was 87. That's WITH a swamp cooler going on up there for an hour.

Can't wait until we get the house cleared out to stage to sell so that we can move the office down the basement. It's a little bit cooler than the rest of house. Heck, I might sleep down there during the week (while Hubby is gone).

Someone pass me a pool, please?

Blizzard in Town

We got hit today, hard. Started snowing last night. Woke up to 8 degrees F., and just a bit of snow. By the time Hubby left for work, it had really picked up. Now, by 7:30 p.m., we got about 4 inches here in town.

Poor little Son... tried to shovel but practically froze. Hubby had to help when he came home from work.

Note:
We're really behind updating this blog. So busy, with writing, blogging, inventing new recipes, working with a dog with arthritis and knees that pop out, looking for a new home. Please be patient.

P.S.
Check out the weather map we installed to the right. Love it! Now family can keep track of what the weather is doing here.

The First Two Days of 2009

For the first time in a LOOONG time, Hubby and I stayed up with Son until after midnight. I didn't want to. I was so tired, since I get very little sleep anyway (I have multiple sleep disorders), but lost the fight to kid who needed monitoring.

I was up with the sunrise on Thursday, January 1 2009. Made breakfast according to our new Grain Rotation Diet schedule (grits and eggs). Then Hubby got down to work. Literally. He had brought home his work computer because he had end-of-the-year reports to prepare, and they HAD to be done on the first. He was at it all day. Not fun. We didn't go anywhere. Didn't play any games. Didn't even take a walk. We had a tiny bit of excitement when Son noticed Chihuahua's front paw was bleeding (so she's had a bandage on her paw since - cause unknown).

(I hope Hubby's boss realizes he gave up his holiday to do work, and appropriate appreciates him.)

Today I got up at 4:30 a.m. to let the dog out the back door and prepare Hubby's lunch. Then we listened to the weather while he got ready. So much for the predicted warm weekend: today's high will be 61 degrees (yes, here in the Colorado Rocky Mountains), but we're getting a snow storm this weekend! Unbelievable. No wonder everyone is getting sick.

Well, that's ok. I've been "predicting" an odd Winter for months, and guess I'm getting it. I also feel strongly that we're going to have a huge snow storm before Spring, so it's a good thing we're preparing.

We have big plans for this year. Hope to get the farm and our animals. Hope Son catches up on math (that really confuses him). Hope to get along better as a family. Hope to either get pregnant or adopt. So much for this year.

It's almost 9 a.m. Thinking I'll go sit on the front porch and enjoy the warm weather while the dishwasher runs and Son eats breakfast. Enjoy your day!

Bitter Cold in Colorado

We've had major ups and downs recently here in Colorado. Days ranging from 8 degrees F to 59 degrees F. There was a night when it was negative 15 degrees F. It's hard to make a Chihuahua go outside to do her business when her breath freezes before it gets out of her mouth, and her little paws get stuck to the ice on the porch.

Another storm is expected today. Great, isn't it? We have to leave in a couple of hours for Mother-In-Law's birthday dessert, and it's going to be frigid and possibly snowing/icing by the time we leave there tonight.

However, we're a prepared family. So, just in case we get stuck, we'll take a special bag with blankets, water, snack bars, toilet paper, candles and matches, etc. There's kitty litter in the back for weight and traction, and we're taking the Chihuahua so we'll include a little dog food and a bowl for her to drink/eat out of.

Happy Birthday, Mom-in-Law

We love you.

Weather in Colorado

Yes, it's cold. By 9 p.m. last night, the outside temperature was -9 degrees F.! Yes, that's a negative. It dipped further and by the time Hubby left the house this morning, it was -14 degrees. That's not the worst of it - his car wouldn't start! So he took my 24 year old car which didn't want to wake up, but did.

It's so cold that the Chihuahua doesn't want to leave her comfort of the bed, and when MADE to go outside, does her business quickly and heads back for the door. Little priss.

I realize that we're a lot luckier than most people hit by this storm. We still have all of our utilities, and our pantry is well-stocked. Many people are without a heat source, and didn't stock up on edibles as well as necessities like toilet paper.

We're having a tough time, financially, like everyone else, but we're still blessed.

Busy Busy Busy with Recipe Creating

We've been so hard at work creating 365 days of grain-rotating menus and recipes that we've let other things fall behind. Hoping we'll catch up this week since Hubby is off work. Of course, he has a long honey-do list to work through, like working on the essentials-replacement list, pollinate our indoor tomato plants, take care of our hydroponic greenhouses, clean up the backyard, shovel the snow (that was today - about 4-6 inches) from the sidewalks/porch/stairs/driveway, and clean the carpet.

Son has lots of schoolwork to do, even though somehow between last Thursday and today, he's lost his language arts workbook. Interesting, huh?

And I have more work to do on the 365 rotation diet, and recipe experimentation.

And we all still have the flu. Fun fun.

Snow in Denver, and Spirit the Chihuahua

We awoke yesterday morning to a couple inches of snow on the ground. Our dog, Spirit, must never have encountered the white stuff before because when I let her out of the back door, she looked puzzled. You could almost hear her thinking: "Where is all the grass and porch, and what is this white stuff?". I encouraged her to walk out (ok, her butt got a little push with my food - just a little nudge). She walked into the 2-inches of snow and a look of complete shock held her face. "This is COLD!" It took me walking around, making a path for her before she would pee.

Then this morning, it was actually still snowing when we went outside. Spirit was hesitant at first because I'm sure she was remembering yesterday morning. But I went out first, then she followed. She started to turn back but I closed the door. It didn't take as much encouragement today because some of yesterday's snow had melted, revealing dead grass.

What a quandry! What will she do when we've gotten a foot or two of snow, which is completely likely, given where we live? Guess we'll have to make sure most of her walks are in the backyard, or get a litter box or something. After all, she's only 10 pounds. And very stubborn.

Snow in Denver

Newscasters were saying that the latest day it's ever snowed was November 21. We woke to snow this morning, November 14. We didn't get much, but it was enough to say it snowed. We'll post pictures when we can.

Doug and Vikki - http://www.newviewgroupllc.com/

Weather in Colorado

It's supposed to be snowy and cold tomorrow in the Denver area. We'll see.

Doug

A Frigid Tuesday

We woke to very cold temperatures this morning, with a high around 50 degrees. The Denver, CO area was supposed to get snow yesterday but it passed us by. The newscasters on various TV stations all agree it's late for this area to still not have a good snow. I feel it in my bones that once this Winter gets going, it will be odd and quite possibly horribly wet, cold and snowy.

Good thing we're experimenting with home-made soups! Today's is looking quite delicious! Check it out on Wednesday at www.food-self-sufficiency.blogspot.com.

This is a picture Vikki painted last year. Even though she only dabbles, the mountains are her best subject. Click on it to enlarge.

Enjoy!

Doug and Vikki - http://www.newviewgroupllc.com/

Getting Ready for Winter

After 3 days of Weslee's birthday celebration (family fun time), Saturday and today were spent doing chores, and getting ready for the Winter.

A definite chill is in the air, and it's not just outside. We have leaks at the bottom of our front door, our screen door, and a couple of windows in our bedrooms. Plus we think the door leading to the garage from the house has enough clearance for a little field mouse to get through. So Doug has been working on those projects.

Saturday I tore down the sunflowers in the front yard (pictures to come soon). I placed the heads where they could finish drying out so we could eat the seeds this Winter. Doug and Weslee finished breaking off the sunflower stalks at the ground, and then Weslee attacked the corn and sunflower stalks still in the backyard corn patch.

Today they finished tearing down the tomato plants and "plowing" them under, they spread peat moss on the strawberry and raspberry plants. The plastic and blankets that protected them are in the basement, and the tomato cages are still waiting to go into the shed.

I've sliced up another dehydrator-full of varous tomatoes (ripe and unripe) and they are drying right now. Our indoor tomato plants are thriving under the grow lights and Weslee's regular watering, although he did kinda flood them yesterday.

Gotta get back to fixing dinner - taco meat and refried beans in quesadillas, and freshly harvested carrots! YUM!!!

Vikki
www.newviewgroupllc.com

10/11: Fall or Winter?

We awoke this morning to a silvery frost on the grass and garden leavings. Birds passed quickly overhead, heading for warmer pastures. Our tiny chihuahua did her business as quickly as possible and refused to go further than the driveway. Stubborn.

Snow is possible tomorrow, but a hard freeze is definitely forecast for tonight. So we got busy today:
- we disconnected the sprinklers and hoses, rolled them up and covered them
- the 2 blueberry plants in pots were moved indoors to the family room, as were the pots with the asparagas and banana
- Weslee and Doug moved the potted tomato plants from the backyard along the fence to the front porch. We're hoping the warmth of the house will help keep them alive.
- we changed the furnace filter and turned on the heat. The living room thermometer read 55 degrees when the heat kicked on.
- all of the beds got more blankets
- Weslee and I pulled up the rest of the black turtle beans even though several bean pods were still green. We're hoping they'll dry out inside.
- Doug put the bean plants and cucumber plants in the compost bins where we hope they'll "cook" during the winter with everything else in there.

We still have to hook up the grow lights tomorrow for the tomato and other plants which will reside indoors this winter, but for today, we're almost done.

It seems like it went straight from Summer to Winter. Was it really only a month or so ago that we were complaining about the heat? Now we're going through our clothing to find long sleeves, hats and gloves. (Weslee's lost his gloves, again.) Time to get kitty litter into the back of our cars, de-icer stored for our front porch steps, and cars winterized. Ugh. Yet another expense.

Doug is about to take the dog for one last walk (hopefully she'll leave the driveway this time). Weslee is already in bed, and since I've caught the flu, I'm going to bed to rest so we can continue tomorrow's Winter preparations.

Vikki http://www.newviewgroupllc.com/

10/07: Bits and Pieces

Weather:
We had our first "freeze" last night. Temp was around 38 when we got up. Since we're moving in the Spring, we decided to not cover the strawberries, et al. It was a bit warmer today than expected but we're expecting night temps in the mid 20's this weekend.

Harvest:
We did, however, harvest everything we could last weekend: about 2 gallon bags of various tomatoes, 3 heads of celery, 2 zucchini, 20 corn cobs that we left to dry on the stalk (but finished drying in our 150 degree oven), 6 Mexican X-Top winter squash, 3 butternut squash, 3 cross-pollinated squashes that we have no clue about, 3 pumpkins, several small green-striped gourds, 2 birdhouse gourds, 1 dipper gourd, and several other things like eggplant. We picked the rest of the melons also (several crenshaw muskmelons, sugar baby watermelons and tam dew honeydew). YUM!

Weslee:
With the change in the weather, brought the change of clothing. He tried on all of his pants today, and found that he'd outgrown most of them. Guess we'll be hitting Wal-Mart and the thrift store again next week.

He's having a bit of trouble concentrating on schoolwork now that we have a new member to our family, so I've decided to give him a partial two-weeks off. He'll continue with his reading assignments (he's reading "The Red Badge of Courage" now) and listening to his math rap CD's.

I'm sure he's benefiting from taking Spirit out a few times a day. While our block isn't big, it's a lot of territory for tiny dog legs and Weslee is learning responsibility while getting some fresh air and exercise.

Business:
We stopped our association with vTribes as of today. We didn't get what we expected and paid for, so they've accepted our cancellation. We're working now on getting things going on our website (address below).

That's it for now. Have a great week! Vikki www.newviewgroupllc.com

9/23: Bits and Pieces

Weather:
Weird here in Denver.... so what's new?! We got up to 87 degrees yesterday! Supposed to be in the high 70's/low 80's until storms come through towards the end of the week. No matter - garden is dying (snif snif).

TV:
Last night was a flurry of channel-changing during commercials. Saw Cloris Leachman dance (and beg Len!) but missed Susan's until this morning on "The View". "Terminator" was great. And "Heroes" - what can I say - loved it!

MOAB (Mother of all Bailouts - from www.survivalblog.com ):
So many people (individuals, at least) are very against how this $70 billion bailout is structured. Corporations, of course, love it. It's going to cause even more problems if it goes through as presented.

Health:
Weslee's ingrown toenail is looking worse, so the doc gave him an antibiotic to take and severe instructions. May need surgery if not better in a week or 10 days.

Meanwhile, I'm to be fitted for a heart monitor on Thursday. These problems with Weslee and our software provider is increasing my level of stress, and my doc is concerned. Oh joy.

Dinner:
Ok ok ... Weslee has leftover turkey-dogs, Doug's fixed steaks we got on sale last week, Weslee picked tomatoes and strawberries from our garden for our salads, and they are calling for me to join them at the dinner table. Family time is important, so I'm signing off. Enjoy your day, and buy gold low!

Vikki www.newviewgroupllc.com

9/12/08: Bits and Pieces

Weather:
We woke up to rain this morning (near Denver, Colorado), and snow in the Eisenhower Tunnel (up in the Rocky Mountains). We're supposed to get a high of around 62 degrees today, then 70's and 80's over the next 7 days. Hoping the garden survives today's cold weather so that it can thrive again in the warmer weather to come.

Politics:
Not going to say much about politics today but ... according to this link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maverick, here's what they say about "maverick": Etymology (Samuel A. Maverick died 1870 American pioneer who did not brand his calves, 1867)

Definitions:
1: an unbranded range animal; especially : a motherless calf
2: an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party
Who's a maverick? Does he/she know the definition? What's so independent?

Garden:
We picked another sugar baby watermelon last night - it had been hiding in its vines so when we spotted it with it's very yellow bottom, we thought it would be probably past ripe. We cut it open and were surprised to find it light pink - barely beyond white. It tasted ripe so we ate it, but are still puzzled. AND it had more seeds than any other watermelon we've ever seen. Odd.

Weslee had a freshly-picked raw corn yesterday for lunch. Last night I picked two ears of corn for Doug's lunch today. Shucked, silked and placed in a baggie (we eat corn raw - yum). He also picked a green bean that he saw in the corn bed, and I snagged three radishes that had "popped up" - done!

We also saw some cucumbers and tomatoes so those are sitting on the kitchen counter ready for washing and preserving.

With today's rain, guess I won't get out there to plant more carrots, beets, radishes and onions. Bummer. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the weather report!

Health:
Doug is still having a bit of problems with his sinuses but at least the ringing is gone. His head still massively hurts. Guess we'll sleep in tomorrow.

Weslee's as healthy as a horse. Only rarely has he come down with a cold or virus, usually from direct contact with someone with a communicable germ. He willingly eats the carrots fresh from the garden, and sometimes I catch him "sneaking" green beans from the garden. I strongly believe his good health is due to his excellent eating habits.

Too bad I don't have the same. I'm now in the 36th hour of major heart palpitations. Doug and I were so concerned last night that the last thing I said as he drifted off to sleep was "If I die tonight, make sure Weslee knows I love him." P.S. I just looked at the bottle of Excedrin Migraine that I've been using for a few days, and it has CAFFEINE!! No wonder I'm having palpitations - I haven't tolerated caffeine since 1982! Geez.

Still, I'm concerned about my weight. (I can't believe I'm blogging about this, but it's a big part of my life.) My situation possibly could be because I've gained so much weight over the last 6 months but it doesn't matter. I HAVE to do something so that I can go to sleep at night knowing I'll be getting up in the morning, and so I can go up and down our stairs without getting winded. Guess today really is the first day of the rest of my life.

Vikki www.newviewgroupllc.com

9/02/08: Preserving Produce

We got a lot done yesterday. My fibromyalgia was acting up and instigated a migraine but between us three (Doug, me and 11 yr old Weslee with me mostly directing from a prone position on the couch), we did the following:

• picked tomatoes, washed and ready to dehydrate in a day or so
• picked string beans from the corn patch, washed, de-stringed, cut into thirds, and placed in snack baggies in meal-sizes and then in a quart freezer baggie, placed in the freezer
• picked about 1/4 of the Envy Soybeans (edamame) from the soybean patch, washed, and placed into snack baggies for meals and then in a quart freezer baggie, placed in the freezer
• used handy-dandy mandolin (Doug LOVES gadgets!) to evenly slice squaw-kini (cross between straightneck yellow squash and striata d'italia zucchini - not very tender) plus 2 zucchini, 3 roma tomatoes and 1 beautiful orange tomato which we believe to be a Big Rainbow Striped Tomato (YUMMY!!!). Placed all in dehydrator - was dried by evening.
• used the handy dandy mandolin again to cut cucumbers for pickles - made a simple ice-box pickle.
• Finely-chopped more cucumbers with another handy gadget to make pickle relish. Doug says it's missing mustard so we need to pick up some today or tomorrow. Need to get in fridge by this evening (after we put in jars).
• We checked on our winter squashes, pumpkin and melons to see if it's time to harvest. The melons are almost ready, but discovered that the winter squashes and pumpkins need to wait until it's almost time for our first frost. This has been a weird weather year so no idea when that will be.

With yesterday being so busy, we barely had time to enjoy the holiday. We made hamburgers for lunch and sliced a sweet juicy orange tomato (Big Rainbow Striped Tomato) on it. We picked 4 corn from our corn patch for our dinner... outstanding taste. Weslee enjoy picking off all of the little silks. And boy does he gobble it down, as does Doug. I ate the smallest and dearly paid for it (stomach problems). I'm thinking we'll have enough to cut off the cob and dry to use as cornmeal this winter. Well, a little bit.

My friend, Copper, gave me a great idea about preserving produce. She dehydrates just about everything then crushes into a powder and combines. Has everything from eggplant to beans to squash to tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Throughout the year, she sprinkles this all-vegg powder on rice or mashed potatoes. Thinking we'll do some as dehydrated chips as we'd originally planned but also create our own all-vegg powder and probably use on our salads and in mashed potatoes. Here's hoping the taste won't be strong enough for Weslee to detect until it's too late.

We need more information and ideas about preserving our homegrown produce. Please join at http://www.backyardgrocery.net/ and give your own ideas! They are desparately needed!!

Little problem with social security so need to go take care of that. And please send your thoughts and prayers to Doug's family - his Uncle Hugo passed this weekend. Thank you.

Vikki www.newviewgroupllc.com

8/05: White or Pink Tomatoes

I posted a couple of days ago about our quandry: we have these "white" tomatoes hadn't changed colors, and were too big to be "Italian Ice" cherry tomatoes, which is what we thought.

The above is a picture we took today. A couple have started to turn pink! So I looked through our packets of tomatoes we planted this year, and found two. (1) Thai Pink Egg Tomato and (2) Pearly Pink Cherry Tomato. I researched online and found pictures that show the pearly pink are green that turn pink and are small cherry size. The thai seem to be closer to what we have: the shape is right, and the pictures show white to pink, not green to pink. Waiting for them to further ripen. Saw a lot of postings about how the thai pink tomato isn't worth the soil it's grown in. Will make that determination ourselves. If they are sour, then I'll dehydrate to use in soups and stews this winter.

Made it to 92 degrees temperature today (24th day in the over-90-degree streak), but the promised thunderstorms didn't happen, at least over our home. Bummer. Vikki

8/04: Harvest Pic

Here's what we harvested tonight: another beautiful zucchini, 11 cherry tomatoes, 1 yellow pear tomato, 6 small roma tomatoes, 1 boston pickling cucumber, and 3 jalapeno peppers we let ripen too long.

As I was watering the garden this evening, Mr. Frog nearly scared my pants off my in the corn bed - hadn't seen him around for a few days. Then I discovered several yellow squash a few days from harvest-ready. Lots of tomatoes (various kinds) ripening. Looks like those "white tomatoes" I wrote about yesterday decided to turn colors yesterday; kinda pink. Our raspberry plants have a few flowers on them, and below them, the strawberries are starting up to berrying again. Found our first sugar-baby watermelon that is already as big as my hand. The gourds out front are doing nicely. And may I say that our intense efforts to grow grass for the dear town of Thornton is going along okay.

Supposed to rain this evening. Felt a couple of light drops as I was watering but glad I didn't stop. Here it is nearly 5 p.m. and those couple of light drops was absolutely it (so far). Tomorrow isn't supposed to be as hot... a high of 84 degrees. I'll believe it when I see it.

Worked on www.kidwhispers.net today and hope to have it ready to launch by this time next week. Creating a safe place for kids (tweens to early 20's) to be able to chat and post about various topics that are important to them: from spirituality to peer pressure to anything!

Hope www.backyardgrocery.net will be ready to launch the week after. Place to chat and forum and learn how to beat the high prices of groceries by growing your own. It isn't as hard as it sounds! Just look at our pictures!!

Vikki