Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[Callender Girl]

It's always good to learn new things, Jim. You'll know better for next year's kraut!

One of the "work crew" spotted my sauerkraut and asked if she could have some (she likes kraut, her husband does not). She complimented me on it. I didn't tell her it's the only jar I've ever made -- I learned at an ISU Extension workshop last year.

TV is calling today's weather "tropical." I've never wanted to live in the tropics. It means my weekly errand run needs to go fast so I can release all the birds from their coops. Everyone stays inside when I'm not here. I've recharged all the camping fans so I can move some air for them.

No rain predicted until tonight, but the air is so humid that water should just drip out of it. Don't think I want to work in the garage today. I have to keep the door closed unless I want chicken and cat "helpers" in there with me.

I am giving up on apple trees. I put copper fungicide on two of the four. And, the only one to have apples only has three. On the other hand, my sour cherry tree is having a productive year. I just need to race the birds to the harvest.

 

[jvls1942]

I just was outside. 80F
I checked the rain barrel. it is full and was spilling into the next barrel. but the spigot was open so whatever spilled over just ran out.
the boat is clean, but I found a spot of compost on a seat. I will let the rain take care of that.
hauled 14 pints of kraut down to the basement.
I figure that I lost 1/3 of volume/weight during fermentation.

 

[Callender Girl]

I may only be on here sporadically until I get my newest computer woes resolved.

The severe thunderstorm warning expired at 8 p.m. Tuesday, so I thought all was good when I went to bed and nothing bad had happened. Wrong! At 12:30 yesterday morning, a thunderous boom woke me up and the power went out.

I called in the outage, and a crew showed up three hours later. After we hiked all over the property in the dark while they tried to figure out the least-destructive way to bring in a truck on the soft ground (almost 2 inches of rain had fallen), they decided they needed different equipment, which they had to go into town to get. In the end, they replaced the transformer on the road and "temporarily" repaired the one on the pole in the yard, awaiting drier ground.

At 7:23, I had electricity again and was happy -- for a while. Something is screwed up with the computer, which now refuses to stay connected to the internet. A Very Long conversation with a tech person with my internet provider seemed to fix the problem. It has not. So, when my new computer repair guy opens for business today, I will throw myself on his mercy and see if he can fix whatever's wrong.

 

[jvls1942]

Lisa, I don't imagine you are reading this yet.
I hope your computer woes are corrected soon and inexpensively .
my shop floor is all wet from condensation.
I'm thinking of lighting the stove and see if I can dry things out.
I have three vises. I want to get at least the big one mounted today.
Annie thinks she located the pipe threading tools.
I will check that out today.
I want to thread some pipes for making pipe clamps.
went to Menards to buy some rain gutters.
they were out of fittings, like inside corners and drop outlets. In retrospect, I should have bought the rain trough anyway. then they wouldn't be out of stock when the fittings come in.
I am setting up another rain collection barrel on the other side of the porch.
So much to do and the summer is so short.
A couple of the tomatoes need to be staked already.



















come in.
accsesories accessories

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Lisa, I don't imagine you are reading this yet.
I hope your computer woes are corrected soon and inexpensively .

I think you meant Barb. I too hope she gets her problems resolved. 2 nights ago we got a close lighting hit and my internet went out for a while. Thankfully it came back within an hour.

Barb I don't think they could drive anywhere off our driveway here either. Getting sick of living in a swamp.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hi

 

[jvls1942]

Yes, Barb. See? that's what happens when I get on the computer before I have my coffee.
With all the nuts and bolts I have, you wouldn't think I would need to go buy three special bolts to fasten the vice to the bench. Menards still doesn't have the rain gutters and fixtures in.
I did drive off of the driveway with Ollie and turned the wood chip pile over a few times. it is rotting nicely.

 

[Callender Girl]

I know how much you appreciate my inability to sleep, Jim, so here goes one of my long, middle-of-the-night posts.

After the storm took out the transformers and my conversation with the internet provider's agent didn't solve my problem Wednesday, I scheduled a visit from Anthony, my computer repair guy.

Anthony checked out everything and suspected an issue with the modem. I asked him to call the internet provider because I could not convince anyone there that my internet Really Wasn't Working properly, that there with intermittent signal loss of several minutes at a time and sometimes no return of the signal at all for more than an hour. Turns out, he couldn't convince an agent either. The guy was repeatedly saying there was no problem with the signal at the exact same time that Anthony was telling him there was No Signal coming through.

I was on speaker phone, finally could not take any more nonsense and insisted in the strongest terms possible on speaking to the agent's supervisor.

Turns out, all the supervisor had to do was "stabilize the signal" to the modem, something that occurred in just a few minutes, after a fruitless 26-minute conversation with the agent. Anthony, BTW, charges by the hour, so I wish I had insisted sooner on talking to someone useful.

Sorry about your swamp, Lisa. I know Midwest weather has always been volatile, but so far, this year has been ridiculous; the long-term drought appears over, replaced by "monsoon" rains. Better hope Menards gets those gutters in before the next deluge, Jim!

And despite all my woes of the week, it appears I will have my first two ripe cherry tomatoes today or tomorrow. I've never planted Orange Zingers before, but I think they are about as orange as they are ever going to get. And, quite big for cherry tomatoes, too.

Now that I've vented about my internet service, I hope I have released enough steam that I can go back to bed and get some more sleep.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hey

 

[jvls1942]

Barb, I didn't think it was so obvious that I enjoyed your sleepless nights.
No rain gutters yet, . the rain is supposed to start any minute, now.
The guy at Menards didn't know diddley about rain gutters. All he could was verify what we already knew. there were no down spouts in the bin.
Then we went to the hardware dept where I had to educate that moron as to what a pole barn screw is.
I am going to start charging for my tutoring of clerks.
I don't think Anthony should charge you for what you had already done and he just repeated it
I wonder where Anjanet is ?
Lisa, sorry, no hay making today, again.
It is all Mark Holley 's fault..
(our weatherman on TV here)