aug 7 2023

 for the 934th time......i could not make this up------

Bud got a tiny laceration on his thumb--- maybe ¼ inch long----  so when he needed to use the rest room this “thumbprint door lock” would not let him in the building... he had to ask one of the puppy sitters to come use their thumb and open the door.  Now when does all this technology go just too far.  ?

 In the 40 years I have lived here we have never locked up anything—the 2 keys that get nailed beside the front door were there for a very long time-- .. they may still be there -  we could never tell if the house had been ransacked or not. Actually it was Ann Getchell who put me to the wise when we first moved in....

 

I thought it would be fun to have a large mailbox that was uniquely painted to sort of establish the fact we had arrived.. Anne took one look at it and said it was a mistake... because it will just attract attention and somebody will come along and smash it whereas if you have a normal dull looking every day mailbox they won't touch it... and she was absolutely right...  as life went on in the early days of living here my children grew up into their own homes and families and particularly Gwen was adept at removing anything that would attract attention or might be considered valuable... I cannot remember the last time I wore any jewelry... although I did have one dinner ring with diamonds and a gold coin made into a lapel pin that probably had some value to them  ---Gwen raided my jewelry box and got those things out of here so that no one would break in and steal them...  and when you look around those house there's not really anything worth the effort  of breaking in and stealing... this is a good thing---- I like that---  I don't like to have to lock up things and I've always had enough dogs who were very capable of announcing the arrival of anybody with crowbar or cookies..   so to have locked doors in the laundry building and the ICU building is exceedingly strange. there is apparently some  hypp law where are you are to keep people's personnel files under lock and key---but that can be easily done in a locking file cabinet which doesn't have to involve the restroom.

 

Y ears ago when I was accepting applicants I made a point of telling them not to give me anything that I should keep under lock and key because I didn't have the capability of locking things at that point.  that simplified matters a great deal and if anybody wants to rummage through my files to see what I've paid for the phone bill, or  for the electric bill ---why you go right ahead.

 

the amount of paper that really would qualify for being locked up over the course of 20 years would hardly fill one milk crate---- practically everything else gets published somewhere anyway or at least ought to be published.  with this 990 form from the IRS in order to be a charity. 

 

This is closely connected to yesterdays  sterling silver discussion--- Elizabeth—of direct Scottish ancestry, said her mother had party flatware and daily flatware... just like my family.. but when she had it all in her house she just used it all- and probably lost a few spoons in the trash, but life was simpler...

 

As for farm news.... Elizabeth has moved the 32 chickens up to the ‘used car lot” right outside my bedroom window—it is the "used car lot"  because of the red white and blue overhead streamers which will hopefully deflect hawks...- a bit of a mystery... she bought 25 female chicks—they sent 27- and when we went to gather them up to move them it was 32—and 3 were boy chickens.

 

Fyi-----from the years of Lynne Michieli.  from NovaScotia  documenting every sound from midnight to 6am..... if there was no unusual bells or whistles , left to their own devices the roosters crow within 10 minutes of 4am...  I have the documentation. years of this..... very interesting.....

 

12:00 AM START REPORT, ALL QUIET

12:01 BIRD ALARM CALLS

1:22 – 1:24 CAMERA OFFLINE

1:55 BIRD ALARM CALLS

4:11 ROOSTER CROWING

4:21 – 6:00 ROOSTER CROWING

4:24 SOMETHING BANGED INTO GATE OR FENCE

4:55 ONE DOG OUTSIDE KENNEL 8, QUIET

5:02 FIRST BIRDS CHIRPING

5:03 ONE DOG OUTSIDE KENNEL 5, QUIET

5:04 ONE DOG OUTSIDE KENNEL 4, QUIET

5:10 – 5:10 ONE DOG IN OTHER KENNELS, SPORADIC BARKS

5:10 – 5:10 ONE DOG INSIDE KENNELS, SPORADIC BARKING

5:29 ONE DOG BRIELFY OUTSIDE KENNEL 5, QUIET

5:30 – 5:31 ONE DOG INSIDE KENNELS OCCASIONAL BARKS

5:30 – 5:33 ONE DOG INSIDE KENNELS, SOFTLY HOWLING

5:32 ONE DOG BRIEFLY OUTSIDE KENNEL 5, SEVERAL SOFT BARKS

5:35 – 5:36 ONE DOG THEN MULTIPLE DOGSIN OTHER KENNELS, BARKING THEN HOWLING

5:36 – 5: 38 MULTIPLE DOGS INSIDE KENNELS, HOWLING

5:38 ONE DOG BRIEFLY OUTSIDE KENNEL 4, QUIET THEN FREQUENT BARKING

5:38 ONE DOG INSIDE KENNELS, SPORADIC BARKING

5:38 – 5:39 THAN ONE DOG INSIDE KENNELS AND OTHER KENNELS, SPORADIC/FREQUENT BARKING

5:48 – 5:48 ONE DOG INSIDE KENNELS, OCCASIONAL/FREQUENT BARKING

5:50 ONE DOG BRIEFLY OUTSIDE KENNEL 10, QUIET

5:52 – 5:55 ONE DOG IN OTHER KENNELS, SPORADIC BARKING

5:52 – 5: 55 ONE DOG THEN JOINED BY ANOTHER INSIDE KENNELS, FREQUENT/SPORADIC BARKING

5:52 ONE DOG BRIEFLY OUTSIDE KENNEL 8, SEVERAL BARKS

5:52 ONE DOG BRIEFLY OUTSIDE KENNEL 5, QUIET

5:53 – 5:55 ONE DOG INSIDE KENNELS, SOFTLY HOWLING

5:55 – 5:58 ANOTHER DOG INSIDE KENNELS, FREQUENT BARKING

5:56 ONE DOG BRIEFLY OUTSIDE KENNEL 8, SPORADIC BARKING

6:00 END REPORT, QUIET AT THIS MOMENT

 aug 6 2023

OUT OF THE BOX----Has a whole new connotation as I try and pack up my two rooms and a bathroom in the cartons to move across the driveway and set up housekeeping, homemaking, or squatters rights in what was once known as the guesthouse .  It should never have been called that.  it should have been more appropriately been called the overflow house as it has been home to my children several of their friends as they graduate from college... miscellaneous relatives who were contemplating marrying somebody.. they bring him/HER  here to crazy acres as sort of a trial run as to how the person would behave in extreme situations .  I can remember one specific case OF  a college friend of gwens arriving with the latest boyfriend just when we were putting on the roof till the deagle house... that guy WAS up on the rafters hammering away but we decided he would be acceptable.. the rest of that story is that that pair of people owned a bar on Manhattan for a very long time I can't remember?? 20 years maybe and finally decided to be married ---I think.. I certainly do remember that guy on the roof.. then there was my nephew arriving with girlfriend and they were responsible for putting in the culvert that goes between the two ponds--and my memory there is of Becky standing knee deep in water telling Greg that we needed more rocks.

and then there is A now retired judge. About whom I have sworn never to say a word but there are some pretty funny stories.

 

and now it's my turn to live there as we transition me to eventually land in the ground level apartment which will be the laundry building.. currently unavailable so I will be in the guesthouse living out of boxes... which is a wonderful way of cleaning house and the yellow boxes around town that collect for the epileptic society are all overflowing now with things I DIDN'T  really need-----I have THREE boxes and three uniforms ... one set is on me second set in the washer or dryer... a third set in a four inch tall box.. and I have tried that for the past week rotating with the three SETS.  .. I do have a backup box of relatively current  stuff and I have a large box called "closet" which would be things ordinarily kept in a closet.  that seemed to be working so I will now today address the kitchen. I'm getting that down too two sets of silverware. two sets of dishes. and then a current collection of  COFFEE,  cereal, mushroom soup, and 90 second rice.. salt pepper and sugar what else do you need?

 

That two sets of silver has a story behind it of course.. when I was a kid we had our daily silverware in the drawer and then we had holiday silverware which was inherited from somebody--- it was Gorham's buttercup pattern... and needed polishing for days ahead of any holiday.. where my mother tried all kinds of things like boiling it in water as long as it touched a piece of aluminum I can't remember that that worked too well however that was our party silverware to be carefully washed dried and... before the trash was dumped....... counted to make sure we didn't throw anything out.. it was a holiday ceremony.. and when my parents house was closed I inherited the silverware....

 

now all of you people who've known me for many years I'm sure our snickering the concept of me trying to polish silverware to set up a proper table For any and all holiday guests..  not going to happen...  and I have two children one is the type to enjoy polishing silverware ----that would be Gwen...  however online I did find stainless steel Gorham buttercup pattern which as far as I was concerned was The Living solution... it was shiny already it didn't need any fancy boiling oN aluminum platters..., so I ordered two sets of that stuff because I knew Janine was not of the silver polishing type..... and mine got all mixed with what we currently use but as I'm now getting to live out-of-the-box I thought it would be appropriate for me to have only two or three sets of that silverware for daily use... it has unfortunately in the past 20 years gotten mixed with four or five shoe boxes of miscellaneous table hardware, shall we call it,  that has been left here during many Sunday stews or whatever... now I'm trying to locate just a few pieces to put together an abbreviated kitchen as I progress from house the cabin to laundry.

 

I will easily store these few Gorham buttercup pieces on the counter in stainless steel  containers which once were part of my husband's medical practice

I won't bother you with those details. it will suffice to say men will not understand what those stainless steel containers could possibly have been used for.

they now hold silverware very nicely.

 aug 5 2023

the pig carrier is 1/2 put tog4ther... with 46 tiny nut/bolt things    now to put on the   ramp

 sooooo many things piled up. like goat diapers--- let me try again ltomorrow

 aug 3 2023

You know it's going to be a rough day when putting on a Band-Aid takes about 20 minutes of study of the directions.   I try and warn people ahead of time about things that are going to happen so YOU can be prepared.----- who would have thought –

yesterday I opened a new box of Curad band aids---And I opened two individual band aids before I yelled for help in frustration..

 

so Judy came round and she picked up a Band-Aid and tried to open it ----while I'm sure she was thinking poor carlene has really lost it and can't open A Band-Aid anymore-----and then she got confused---since we were in a hurry a piece of Kleenex and Scotch tape worked very nicely.. but this morning having a few extra minutes at 3:00 AM I decided to tackle this .. I had not noticed. that two sides of this sizable box of band aids had instructions.. and it took two sides of the box to explain the intricacies of Band-Aid management,,,,  with its various numbers an arrows I started in with another Band-Aid. with difficulty I managed to apply one correctly.   turns out there's the normal paper that you remove and then you remove what you think is covering the sticky part---which is either the sticky part or the top coating that you are supposed to remove after you've got the thing stuck on you... I'm just warning you it ain't easy but they're all labeled 1-2 and three on the box..

That's not the only problem I had with the Curad  box...  curad is manufactured  for medline industries in IL ---- DID YOU GET THAT **** FOR****?

 BECAUSE THE NEXT LINE SAYS ---MADE IN CHINA-

I FIND THAT KIND OF DECEPTION ANNOYING.  STUPID THING,BUT I GUARENTEE IN THE FUTURE IT IS ENOUGH TO HAVE ME BUY SOME OTHER BRAND.

 

ARRIVING TODAY hopefully—should be the cargo holder for the back of my Toyota—I have had one of these before—for 2 bales of hay... but it wobbled badly—this “holder says... in the video... that it has an anti wobble device... let us pray...

and last night's mail call on goat diapers--- someone suggested the goat thing on chewey-- and i have seen that on dr pol as kids are entering 4h at the fair... might work for us...

 aug 1 2023

Crazy acres was --- is--- and will be----always in a state of transformation---hopefully always reaching out for better ways—and in this case.... it is------*** THE PIG_***---- one of the senior residences we go to is having a “carnival” for residents and families.....and the director was having  a hard time finding things to fill the theme=------ BOY SHE DID NOT KNOW THE WEALTH OF NONSENSICAL CRAP THAT SHE HAS IN FRONT OF HER WITH CRAZY ACRES.STARTING WITH OUR PIG... A MERRRYGO ROUND PIG THAT I HAD TO BUY ONE DAY FOR $300 FROM A  FRIEND WHO INADVERTENTLY FOUND HIMSELF IN JAIL AND NEEDING $300.. IT IS A LOVELY PIG ! AND AFTER 832 LAYERS OF PAINT IT STILL LOOKS PRETTY GOOD...

NOW HERE GOES THE PROBLEM... I can and will afford the gas money to get me and  my dogs around to these senior residences but I can always think of a way of doing a little bit more and in this case it's the pig ;;the pig right now is sitting or rather standing in the doorway of the ice tea tent ready to go but doesn't fit in the car especially with three or four other dogs it's a pretty good size pig which at one point we had a hole in the top which once was where the brass pole went on the merry go round and we had that as a donation hole.. so back to trying to transport the pig... Digging around in the G tent--- that is the giraffe tent ---I found a four wheeled landscaping wagon in pretty good shape and the pig will stand in that wagon.. so now how to carry the wagon the pig and the dogs so I went out to Amazon looking for wheelchair ramps and found one 29 inches wide and 50 inches long with a ramp--so I should be able to run that pig up onto my back bumper and haul it to a nursing home or whatever..  it is such a weird good looking object that to even roll that through some of these places would be a damn good thing I think.. it would give staff and residents at least one chuckle for the day so that was my big expense of yesterday $254 plus tax for an aluminum thing which will fit into the receiver for my horse trailer..  This will also easily take my pram which is another thing that I could really make use of in our visits because not only would it hold a puppy or Wanda but a lot of the junk that we have to take in with us like a watering dish--- pie pans --and cookies so I will be spending $254 plus tax out of the fund fund for this bit of nonsense..

 

By definition the fun fund is FOR things that are not necessary but might be fun to do or have----- so hopefully all you people who have donated the dollar to the fund fund. are now proud owners of aN ALUMINUM  wheelchair ramp.. Which will allow us to make more people smile .  It's supposed to be delivered in the next few days...   and--- heaven forbid ---needs only one wrench to put it together.. that “together “part might be interesting on camera..  STAY TUNED.

                           our new logo....

 

Judy and her friend the turtle were a huge success at last night's mail call if any of you didn't see it I suggest you go find it somehow somebody will have saved it but it's quite an education about tortoises or turtles or whatever it's also interesting to watch larkey and his reaction to the turtle along with Wanda who could care less agility who really didn't care either it was very interesting---

 

next week she said she'll bring something else I think she's got a chinchilla and a few other strange things including Great Dane dog which is very well behaved.

 

I am still slightly pleased with the audien hearing aid... it does help with word distinction. Which the other cheapo ones I had did not... they just made everything louder... I have long underestimated  the concep What sidet of being deaf... it ain’t no fun.   But then again  I once went thru a 3 months of no thumb  on my right hand and I thought that was terrible...  but it did give a perspective..

I remember when I was very younger... in high school..  some teacher was trying to make a point of “don’t get pregnant” by requiring her students to carry around a 5 pound bag of flour for a week—and they were never to be seen without it- nor were they ever to even put it down....  a very interesting  concept.  It started  with some girls dressing up the bag of flour with cute little bows – and a week later—no  more bows and most were leaking flour up and down the halls... they probably could not even do that now.... but it was effective !!

 

We are onto organizing the big move.. in ---  out ----and across... which evolves into  what is needed daily.--- Weekly..---. or sometimes .

I have a big pile of clean containers judy has given me..

It has also compelled me to get a little organized...like.... I now have a daily monkey fist production kit  which has caused me to have it available when stuck somewhere---so I now have 76938  one inch zipper pulls hanging in the kitchen waiting to be boiled--- ( that shrinks the cotton rope every so slightly—toss in some purple dye and  we have a variety.. best way to get one... two or three.... is to send me a padded self addressed envelope with a dollar or two for the fun fund—and I will get them in the mail

 

Problem is , I have run out of friends here to give them too.. and I keep making them...

we have a new logo--- thanks to jennifer