Riyescott Ranch

There are a lot of subjects to cover. But first I can’t believe what I heard this morning on Fox. Dodd, one of the architects of this new finance reform bill. ( I will have to figure out how to include clips). But he said that this bill (supposed to STOP another financial calaps) we will know how good it is when the next crisis hits. What? Another monster 2,000 page bill that nobody has read. We will have to find out about it after it is signed. We know how that goes with the health care bill. What a mess.

So back to the subjects. It occurred to me that people who are waking up don’t know where to start. I would have to say FOX. I love Glenn but he can be a bit heavy on religion. Greta is a must see every day as she gets interviews with each side of the debate. You can make up your own mind. Neil Cavuto on business is great. He had throat cancer and has MS but you would never know it.

Another must is Thursday John Stossel. Again both sides of the debate and studio audience participation and he picks some controversial subjects.

And lots of blogs. I will put a link to the ones I read when I have figured out how to do it.

So this is a start. I have to go out (I hate going out) and will work more on this later.

Keep a good thought……..

First I want to say that I am going to blog again. Yes I know you have heard it all before but…I have given it a lot of thought and I need to have an outlet for my thoughts. And to put my thoughts out there while I am still allowed to.

Yesterday I got a package in the mail from My Joe. He and Eve got married, well they eloped. Now I love them both and wish them well but I have a feeling of sadness waving over me today. Sad that they lied to me. Sad that they didn’t have the big wedding with the photos, the memories the gifts the tears and the relatives getting together. But to be told via the post office? This seams to be a trend. My Step son got married and it was just that I noticed the use of Mr and Mrs on the Christmas card. When asked about it he said oh yes they had married several months earlier.

And my eldest son moved his family over several states and got a new job and we learned about it on Facebook! Are you kidding me? What happened to face to face discussions? Was it my fault? Did I do something wrong? Is this how it is now? You have to log onto Facebook to find out what your kids are doing? Well not me! I am boycotting Facebook. If they want me to know what they are doing they are going to have to call me!

But if they want to know what I am doing they will have to read my blog. “The Times They are a Changing!”

Now what to expect from me and this blog:

I woke up in November 2008. I knew nothing about politics and even less about what was going on. I used to listen to music. Now I am hungry for talk radio. I want to know what is going on and to hear various opinions and to form my own. I am, to say the least worried.

I asked my daughter what is her opinion. She confessed she did not know enough and what was needed were Cliff Notes on the main subjects. So that when the said subjects come up at least some knowledge of said subjects would be helpful.

I think there are many young people who are busy with their lives, searching for a mate, going to the river or the beach. Goofing off. Meanwhile the older generation is either spending their kids futures or trying to stop the spending.

So I am going to take one subject at a time and give a general synopsis to bring those who don’t know up to speed. First subject tomorrow.

I hope to make at least someone else wake up.

In addition to that I want to tell the story of my farming exploits. There are many mistakes made and I am sure many more to make. So I am off now to take some photos of where it is today and we will go forward from there.

I have become very interested in the concept of making bread without store bought yeast. Ever wondered what did they do before supermarkets that sold it in jars? I never even gave it a thought until Mary Janes Farm magazine had this great article about it. Then I looked it up and found all kinds of information. They call it “The Mother”. The reason for this is because you take some of the dish full of yeasty bubble stuff and mix more flour and water and salt and honey and whatever you want the kinda bread to be. So your bowl of “The Mother” gives birth to a new loaf of bread every time you take some. Well with everything you must give back if you take…..so everyday you add to it or feed it. I know it sounds really weird but it is true. Apparently they have Mothers that are passed down through generations…

Anyway my first try was a flop. I fed it all week and took some and added my ingredients and waited for it to rise. It didn’t. So here I am trying again but this time I have 3 going. Surely one will work? Or I could be taken over by alien Mothers…

1st with rye flour
Next is wheat flour

So far got a good bubble on all my “Mothers”

Sun was warm and got some digging done in the garden. I am amazed that I still have tomatoes in the greenhouse. Look:

The elk meat is great. I made this stew even though we had warm weather it was still good!

The temperature in the incubator is staying constant and so I hope the quail eggs will all hatch!

The Quail eggs arrived! Not as gory as the last post…

9 were broken, I cooked three as you can see. Taste just like chicken (eggs)

17 days to incubation! Lets hope I get a good hatch. You can see the little fertile spot if you look close at the broken ones. I have had success with guinea and chicken eggs.

Must go get on will add more later

a couple of posts because Dale did an upgrade of something computery and lost some of the data. I will try to redo in the next few days. So lost but not forgotten.

In the meantime we finally got an Elk. We have two Owner Preference tags and we have been trying to get an elk since November. Today when we were going to get some more wood: there they were. The whole herd.

But nothing is ever easy. She rolled all the way down to the creek. And believe me it is a long way down. Long story short here is it hanging up before we cut it up into bit size pieces! Squeamish please look away!

Nice Job Joe.

Off the shelf cabinets from Home Depot. Not bad. All appliances are Maytag. About a $10,000 kitchen, with appliances, cabinets and installation. Size 11′ by 12′ . Lots of counter space and cupboard space.

Hints: Make sure you order enough trim, Don’t wait till evening to do the plumbing, you invariably will need something and the shop will be closed!

As promised here is the construction that has been keeping me from the farm for the past week. Here is the before of the kitchen we are redoing. It is now almost complete. We would have finished it yesterday but one little copper washer in the water line cracked and so the water had to be left off last night. And I was one piece of molding short. So today I am off to Home Depot again to get a couple more things. Joe has made a nice job of it but is going back to Eugene today. And I will be able to work on the greenhouse this week. By the way the little boy is Titus who lives there

I will take the after photo today.

I guess I should to say it, Happy New Year. I don’t think it will be though, I have a feeling we are in for a rough ride. Not that I am as bad off as many. I am worried for the country. I am worried for my kids and their future. We are in a deep recession. I read about what they are proposing and it makes very little sense. Bail out the car industry? Where is the money to come from? And by March will people be buying cars again? Mend and make do. That is what people are doing for cloths and “stuff” and they will make do with their vehicles. If you don’t have a car payment, do you want to go out and get one? If you have to buy a car will it not be a second hand one?

I don’t think we will ever buy new again.

They put money into the banks but where is that money? And they lowered the prime interest rate, but they didn’t lower the mortgage rates. Why not? We need to see 3% for people to benefit and start buying houses.

And the creation of jobs that are proposed. If you know how to build cars and loose your job how can you suddenly know how to build roads? Well they must know what they are doing…..

So we are putting a new kitchen in at one of the rentals. A nice new stove. It was quite expensive, a Maytag. It did not come with a plug. So I purchased one, and a socket to put the plug in. The old oven, we affectionately called it “sparky” had been “hot wired. I can tell you it was time to do this kitchen. The hot plates of “sparky” were sitting on a plywood counter with charred makings where the rings used to be.

Anyway the thing that I could not believe was the note inside the oven…”If you want a broiler pan it is yours free after the pay the applicable fee…” What? How can this be free? And, if I want the broiler pan…’course I want the broiler pan…who would want to put an old one in a nice sparkling new oven that cost an arm and a leg?

So if I send $15 postage they will send the broiler pan. Why in heavens name did the broiler pan not come with the dam stupid oven in the first place. Must have been a man’s idea. Seriously would a woman have come up with that one?

Kitchen coming on great. Photos tomorrow. We just went out to Whaleshead for dinner and I am tired, it is raining again and I have to go back to Crescent City again to exchange things….