Sasquatch Clothed; Chicken Defense; Men at Work; Murderous Thoughts

Charlie (L) Mark (R)

I took this picture from inside, through the dirty kitchen window. As you may remember, my hens have been coming into the house in a small cage every night since October 18, 2010. When I have surgery, I cannot use the left arm after the torn rotator cuff is repaired. I hear it is horrendous.

I took pictures early in the process, but cannot figure out what happened to them. So, in the picture above, we are about four hours into the process, a process Charlie said would take two hours.  AND, he has put Mark to work, something that was not supposed to happen.

Remember Jamming with Sasquatch? This is the same Charlie.

Blogger will not load pictures now, so here is the end. Pictures come later. I hope. (Okay, got it working somewhat.)

Charlie made the frame at home, disassembled it, and brought it here. It is two 5'x10' sections, a lid of sorts for the hens. He reassembled it in my yard. Then, half-inch hardware cloth, galvanized after welding (GAW). They are using a crummy pair of J-clip pliers to attach the strips on hardware cloth. I wrote this as they worked.

Oh, this picture is the only one that loaded and stuck. What weird thing have I done to get this picture.

Charlie and Mark both left. Now, I am expecting three days of rain. The cage is not secure. The tarp will not protect them or their nest boxes from rain. I had to buy more supplies--wire and things, using more money than people have given me.  I am just depressed and stressed because surgery is set for Thursday. Maybe I should cancel.

Okay, blogger will allow me to post pictures. Luckily, they are all at the bottom this time instead of the top. So, I am going with this.

Charlie explaining

one finished--5'x10'

Two of the pieces above cover the pen. It is made of electrical conduit, corners made of pvc pipe, and 1/2 inch hardware cloth covering it. I don't think it is attached securely enough, but they voted me down.......muttering, " but I know I am right." 

and, it got dark

okay, late evening, pictures definitely not in order!

Charlie said he did not need  light, "have plenty of light," until it went pitch black. I brought out a lamp and strung the extension cord from the outdoor electrical outlet, gave Charlie my headlamp, and they were off again. Mark actually had to say, "I cannot see." before Charlie called for light. Mark is attaching strips of 2 ft hardware cloth to other strips of the same.

There is more. Blogger will only allow me to add one picture, close the blog, open blog, add another picture. Otherwise, the blogger picture thing just keeps spinning and not loading if another picture is present. One time, somehow I wiped all the pictures from the post...sigh.

Surgery did not happen because the lift chair is $999.00.
  

Your turn
Do you think this will work? Can raccoons rip J-clips from the hardware cloth. Can you see that it took longer than the two hours? Can you see why I had murderous thoughts? Okay, Charlie and his sister will read this. I was really upset.

Jamming with Sasquatch

He said he would hug his jam he made.

I told him to pose proudly with his jam he made. He said, "I will hug it." Of course, he did not pose, and I missed it.

Here is how it happened

Charlie had a gallon+ of muscadines. He wanted to make jelly because he eats jelly with a bagel every morning. Then, he decided he did not want to get rid the skins or anything because it was at least fiber for him.  So, he wanted jam. I offered to bring my canning equipment and teach him how to can. He was going to copy ALL my pictures with his sooper dooper scanner. THEN, he invited a woman he had never met to come by.....grrrr.

Thinking she would probably tell me all about how she canned and that mine would turn out wrong, I was livid. He told her on the phone that I was picky and not to talk to me. LOL...he had been telling me that every woman he knew said that putting sugar in strawberries ruined them forever for making strawberry preserves. ??? This woman was very nice. She laughed when I explained I wanted to teach him with no interference. Then, the next woman could teach. As it turned out, she did not know how to can, so all was well.

I told him I did not think he wanted to can jam bare-chested because he might get hair in the jam. He shrugged his shoulders and said he was eating the jam, so he did not care. This evening when exbf heard this and I told him how hairy Charlie is, he said I should name this post "Jamming with Sasquatch." Driving the back road is bad enough, but when I am laughing and crying, it is really dangerous.

Part of the gallon of muscadines

Part of the muscadines, halved and seeded

I told him to have this done when I arrived. The muscadines were not even completely thawed. He hated using the knife to get out seeds and was slow. Finally, the hurry things along, I used my clean thumbnails to removed seeds, two to most grapes.

He is not happy or very productive at this point

hmmmm

All I said was, "Look this way." I did not meant that way.

Seven pint jars from a little over one gallon of muscadines

Charlie filled all the jars, wiped the rims, dried the flats, and screwed on the bands. Of course, he mashed all the grapes, did all the stirring and timing. The last jar lacked an inch being full enough to put in the water bath canner. We put in  boiling water to fill that last jar. He will eat that one first. He was counting the pings as they sealed. They jars all pinged within minutes, not the hours the books state.

Once, I reached to grab a jar to show him how to tighten the seal. Charlie could not believe I could hold the hot jar that just came from the canner. He declared....over and over.... that I had Teflon hands.

He complained that the muscadines were so tiny. His hands are so large. However, he is accustomed to handling tiny computer components. Maybe we should can wires next time.

Crushing blow

So, that is how I spent my day until I went to the orthopedic surgeon and learned that, indeed, I do have a torn rotator cuff. I cried a bit on and off.

Food

Then, I went to a food bank there  and got a ton of food that I must process or cook. There are about 50 lbs of bananas, 3 whole wheat bread, 1 foccaccia bread, 1 artisan rosemary bread, 1 whole wheat nooks and crannies, 3 whole wheat bagels, 6 bell peppers, 6 lemons, 1 honeydew, yogurt in date (little cups), muscadines, apples, leaf lettuce, mess of green beans, one onion, fresh cooked Spanish rice (was hot) with meat in it, two gallons milk, 20 lbs potatoes. NO CANS. No meat. I left the eggplant! Charlie helped me carry things. Okay, he carried everything.

I will freeze the bread items and milk. Potatoes and muscadines will be canned. Onion, apples, peppers and bananas will go into the dehydrator. Lemons will be juiced and the juice frozen in 1/2 cup Ball jars. The honeydew will be chunked and frozen for smoothies and who knows what. The rest will be cooked and eaten.