ahedderick

[ahedderick]

*Crash* *CRASH* *CRASH*

HERE COMES TAFT WITH A STEEL CHAIR!!

All the Presidents of the United States are resurrected in the far future with their last memory being at the point of their death but in refreshed, youthful bodies. They’re dumped on a planet where they are told they must kill each other, Hunger Games style, until only one survivor remains…

[ahedderick]

Watering, cleaning, and moving shit. Amen!

I realized, after the questionable violet syrup experiment, that I'm poisoning my blueberries and other acid-loving plants simply by watering them! My well water is alkiline, around 9ish pH if the anthocyanins in the violets are to be believed. Blueberries want soil around 4 - 5 pH. Yikes!

It may be that I should keep rainwater from the downspout to water them with, since it would be much more to their liking.

I did a pH test on the soil near my berry bushes, and it was around 8. I gave them a good drink of vinegar solution, which lowered the soil to 6.5, but I clearly need to keep working on that. What a shame that we got rid of the big glass jug of sulfuric acid in my late father's workshop! just kidding. unless . . .

Ah yes, spring, that time of year where half of what I do is water things. So far I've watered the strawberries (gotta haul a can), the vegetables, shrubs and trees still in pots, and seedlings and potted plants on the deck (mercifully, a hose), the chicks (scrub waterer, refill, and haul back), the grown chickens (likewise) and the newly planted Solomon's Seal and myoga. Still to water: new planting in the front of the house, the poor eaten fruit trees (hauling cans again, probably six cans worth, over an acre each trip, add fertilizer), and the sheep (fill multiple jerry cans, haul them in a cart several acres across uneven ground). I have literally dreamed of having well-placed water points.

Also shit. Lots of moving shit around. Clean the cat litter boxes, clean out the indoor brooder, finish cleaning the big coop. At least I don't have barn stalls to clean, because I don't have a barn and the sheep just stay on pasture 24/7.

#farmblr #farm #women who farm #country #rural #gardening #soil science

[ahedderick]

The power of books

I used to volunteer at the elementary school library reshelving books and other simple chores, because the librarian was supposed to be handling three different jobs and I enjoyed helping him out. Also enjoyed being there, in the library, when my kids' classes got their library period. It was fun all around, but there were some unforgettable moments.

Such as the time when Mr. F decided to read the kids a nonfiction book about wolf snails. He taught them that a 'radula' was a tongue with sharp teeth on it, and the snails would scrape their prey to eat them. Never has a librarian more fully commanded the attention of an entire fifth-grade class.

Also the time the third grade teacher, Mr T, had something important he wanted to tell me about a situation on my son's bus. However, Mr T, a massive man with a booming voice, was unable to whisper. While library class was going on, and I was standing at the reshelving cart, Mr. T was LOOMING over me trying to whisper but only managing to yell a little less loud than normal. He spilled the tea, all right. I felt lucky that we weren't asked to leave.

Good times, good times. I will never forget the word 'radula', that's for sure. I wince every time I see it.

#books & libraries #library #librarian #school #book lover #volunteer #snailblr

[ahedderick]

No, no, you have a point!

Due to my seeds refusing to sprout, I've been forced to go to the plant nursery and purchase many seedlings. Woe is me (said in obscene southern accent whilst flinging myself dramatically to the couch)

How dare I need to grace their verdant aisles in search of the foliage I require!

Truth be told, I was an absolute goblin in the nursery. I was alone. Absolutely no social structure in place to stop me from chanting 'green things' over and over as I pet virtually every leaf in reaching distance.

#gardenblr #gardening #flowers #planting #green thumb

[ahedderick]

Nem bűnös!

[ahedderick]

Me: What happened to my notes!?

Me: Oh, Nutmeg and Hero again. Carry on.

#hero and nutmeg #the pool noodle incident #goats #Instagram

[ahedderick]

My poor boy Rocky is all kittens favorite uncle. Reposting because I miss watching the chaos.

#catblr #artblr #artist #comic #cartoon #cats man #battle cats #kitten #cat comic

[ahedderick]

Spring 2010

[ID: A photo of a small girl in a sunflower-print dress kneeling by a large orange tabby cat. They are both holding daisies. A photo of the same girl standing in grasses and wildflowers up to her shoulders, looking straight at the camera. A photo of the wildflower patch with a black cat sitting peacefully. She is looking at the camera with golden eyes.]

#momblr #farmblr #farm #wildflower #flowercore #cottagecore #naturecore #nature aesthetic #flowers #spring #cat #catblr #cat of tumblr #orange tabby #black cat #daisy

[ahedderick]

Bills galore

I wasn't planning to spend a ridiculous amount of time digging through financial stuff this morning, however. That is what happened. I keep a spreadsheet to track very large expenses such as home/farm insurance, auto insurance, and property tax. Mainly so I don't look at a current bill and think, hey! wait! why is this so much higher? Is my memory going?

It is supposed to simplify life, but every year when I pull it up to check something, I find it hasn't been updated for 2 or 3 years. "That is not possible!" you may be saying, and I certainly agree. But. This is the experience I'm having.

Anyhow, I found old billing amounts this morning, all except one. My concern is that this year's home&farm insurance is 13% higher than last year. BUT, after my research, I find that there have also been steep increases the past couple years before that - in total the four year increase from 2020 to 2024 is 90%. Which is. Uh. A little bit of that is likely that we added a couple barns to the policy that had not been covered before, but, still. Hey. Hey Kevin.

"Kevin" want us to believe that this increase is due to the minimum wage increase. I'm going to spend a little while cussing, fertilize the strawberries, put some acid solution on the blueberries, and think about this.

(ps - we have never made a claim on this insurance. For Pete's sake.)

#insurance #greedflation #price gouging

[ahedderick]

Hello, Godwin!

Our first ever feeder pig arrived today. Say hello to Godwin!

#piglet #feeder pig #country living #farmblr #farm

[ahedderick]

Everyday I worry about the world my young adult children are going out into.

#parenting #momblr #motherhood

[ahedderick]

My poor boy Rocky is all kittens favorite uncle. Reposting because I miss watching the chaos.

#catblr #artblr #artist #comic #cartoon #cats man #battle cats #kitten #cat comic

[ahedderick]

Generations

Plans are proceeding for my son's 'soft-launch' into independence, living down at Home Farm for the summer with a roommate. They spent most of the weekend working together to fix things up, including retrofitting the old goat barn to be a mews. Because Roommate is a falconer, and his 'battle-chicken' is coming along with him.

It's yet another evolution for me, mentally. I grew up in that house. Left at 23 and didn't go back for about 20 years. Reconciled [sorta] with my father when I was my forties, and visited frequently. Then had to step up to daily and several-times-a-day visits in his last couple of years.

He passed away in 2022, so the past two years it has sat empty, with me going in regularly to clean up some of the endless mess and clutter he left behind.

And soon, I'll be a 'guest' in the house again. Strange.

#generations #farmblr #appalachia #appalachian gothic #ruralcore #rural

[ahedderick]

Bro|<en

So many things are broken, glitchy, or temperamental.

When I try to login to my bank account, I get a "wrong password" message. I have to wait a sec, then hit Login again (without changing username or password). THEN it will let me in.

We have one wheelbarrow with a broken handle on the right, one with a rusted hole in the barrow, and one with wheels that just disintegrated into cracked rubber strips.

I can access my daughter's college website - for classes and emails, but not for the billing section. You know, the part where I need to go to PAY the BILL.

The phone's voicemail system won't recognize my PIN the first time I enter it - have to enter it a second or even third time (much like the bank issue, actually)

My beloved car, eleven years old, is starting to get picky about starting if I don't twist the key *exactly* the correct way.

Don't even ask about the 'check engine' light on the pickup truck.

My son's college website decided to change-up their two factor authentication rules in the middle of the semester, leading to him getting locked out for several days because his phone didn't want to play nice with a certain app.

The secondary memory card in my camera died, leaving me with only the 'basic' memory, which accommodates only 8 pictures.

There's one door at the farm with no key, but the lock is old enough that I can't just buy a new key from the hardware store; the whole shape of modern keys is wrong for it. Can I update the lock? Maybe? But the door is also old, handmade, and unusually thick. Could we even install a new lock in it? No way to tell.

A spring in the pasture that used to run straight toward the little creek nearby has decided to run a different direction, and leave a chunk of the pasture boggy.

Four different pieces of farm equipment need fixing. Help!

#farmblr #tech #glitchy #my life and good times

[ahedderick]

I am the very model of a modern Generation X

STILL worried 'bout the world-wide wars and threats of hostile AI tech

The Boomers still attention hogs; Millennials are nervous wrecks

I am the very model of a modern Generation X

[ahedderick]

The pond dinosaurs are nesting. We never, and I mean never, had geese nest here until last year. The eggs are so large!

Also, the thousands of mating frogs and toads have given way to uncountable numbers of tadpoles.

Just - so MANY little guys!

#pond #spring #farmblr #farm #wetlands #nature #frogs and toads #tadpoles #amphibians #goose

[ahedderick]

Whoo, it was j-u-s-t below freezing here this morning. THAT'S not going to be good for my strawberries/fruit bushes/fruit trees.

#I am in a nest on the couch #it's the only way