IT'S A HOLIDAY WEEKEND...AND IT'S SPRING...WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH ALL THAT EXTRA TIME?

We had bad storms in my area last evening, although they caused very little damage here...a few trees down and creeks going out of their banks for awhile. We had gone around the place, making sure anything that might blow away in high winds was secure, "herded" the three cats into the basement, along with the dog, and tried to prevent fur flying in all directions. (Dog went into bathroom and the cats were fine after that.) We spent a few hours in the basement, listening to the NOAA updates, but once the storm passed through, the sun came out and the birds continued eating us out of house and home. I've never seen so many goldfinches before this..and with the thistle feeders full, they're extremely happy. I spend a lot of time refilling the various feeders I have around the yard.

I'll be spending part of today picking up dead limbs and putting the outdoor furniture back in an upright position on the deck. After that, I intend to relax and read a good book...if I can find one. Don't want something philosophical or political...a good murder mystery will suffice!

HOPE ALL TVNL MEMBERS ARE HAVING A GOOD WEEKEND, WHEREVER YOU ARE.

Been fighting a resilient cold for some time now.

I've had the most ing, unprofessional, downright shitty roofers in my yard on and off for the past 3 weeks. I finally got rid of them late yesterday and I've been working to clean my yard up (they completely destroyed it), cutting the grass and now working to hurry and get my garden planted. My tiller has decided to only run in reverse, so I cannot use my tiller this year. SO I've been hand digging my garden. Oh the fun! My hands hurt so bad, its actually painful to type. But, I've decided for a super-lazy woman's garden this year and I've actually just started digging holes, filling them with humus and topsoil and then sticking my various plants in the middle of each hole. (My yard is entirely clay, as is most of MS, I would guess.) I think I'm going the "plastic mulch" route this year to keep the grass/weeds out of my plants. This is basically just laying down black plastic all around the plants (leaving about a 12 inch "hole" around each plant to allow water to get to the roots). My organic gardening books always talk about this method as being very successful. I'm also going to use agricultural fleece over my squash this year to stop the bane of my existence, squash vine borers, from killing off my wonderful plants. I've just ran out of my dirt mix, so I've sent my hubby to the store and I'm eating an apple and resting my hands for a while. I may even treat my family and take a shower to get the funk off of me.

I love spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have guessed that Mississippi would have good fertile gardening soil. Starting with clay sounds tough as the clay would be hard to break down.

I wonder what would happen if you mixed a lot of sand into it.

There's got to be something to "Mississippi Mud.." Google it...and you get a heck of a lot more than pie and cake. However, if it can be grown in Mississippi, lefty will do it. She grew a great garden last year, even during the worst of the drought.

It would make a durable adobe. I think that Indians generally used whatever was available.

Dried mud can be fairly durable if very thick and with grasses intermingled in it.

I can't seem to remember if Indians utilized a successful recipe for outstanding adobe.

Arizona has plenty of adobe structures. I once spent a week traveling amongst their more popular tourist attractions.

My tiller is very old and well used too, Cat. A hand-me-down over and over again. Who knows who originally owned it! But those are the best, things that people pass on when they no longer need them. Ah.

Anyhow, I would guess that the MS Delta region has the ultra fertile soil, but most everywhere I've ever been is all clay. That's not to say you can't grow in clay because you obviously can. We are an agricultural state and growing is our forte. My main difference is that I won't use any chemicals at all. So, I have a lot more to contend with than the larger farms who don't mind spraying and dusting. It will work out though.

I also know what you mean about stupid tines spinning. You have to till at the exact right moment around here, not too dry and definitely not too wet, other wise, you just make big ole mud tires out of the tines.

I don't mix sand in, but I do compost and use that and I have mixed in a good bit of humus this year. Though we have to buy it by the bag because we don't have anything to haul it in, so we aren't getting the most we should into the ground.

My husband had me at lowes today looking at the tillers. We could "technically" afford it right now, as we have the cash on hand, but I am so scared to spend the money I won and we left without buying anything. Tomorrow we are going to call around and see if we can rent a tiller from someone. We'll see how that works. I've got to get the rest of this stuff in the ground, I already feel so far behind I'm sort of in panic mode. Last year I had the entire patch planted by now.

Oh ya, I grew gourds last year too. Your husband will love it, they make you feel like you know how to garden because they grow like crazy. Of course, now I have a bunch of dried gourds I need to turn into bird houses, but I'll get to it soon if I can get the garden planted.

I'm downloading porn :alien And I have a bloody nose cause I forgot to take my blood pressure meds. Life's a bitch then you know what?

This is what I did for my garden space. I mixed in bushels and bushels of tree leaves for nitrogen. Plus bushels and bushels of free horse manure from a nearby boarding place.

Then my elderly mom said that my brother gets as much as he wants...from my garden. So I gave my garden to ... her. I'll still have to work it of course. Family is great?

We lost dad so I just try to grin and bear it when mom makes requests....or demands. She is preferential to...whoever is increasing her worth the most. That was me...two years ago. Now it is my brother. She doesn't need or use the money but that can change if a nursing home is needed.

I'm just glad she is still healthy. Being elderly and single really doesn't seem too grand.

My sister's significant other has an incredible green thumb. He grows a huge garden on ground that lies beside a river. His garden is the biggest I've ever seen, and his cabbage is much better than anything I could grow. So, I offer to purchase his cabbage plants in return for enough cabbage to make saurkraut. When it's made, I give him as many jars as he wants. This cooperative effort benefits us all. I don't know if you've ever heard of Nantahala cabbage....they're HUGE and very white. Three of them will chop into a gallon of kraut.



Right you are...and if she owns property and lives alone, the value of her property will be used to help supplement the costs of her nursing home care. My father-in-law's wife left him over a year ago. At age 80, he depends on my husband and me to help him with most things he can't manage himself. My husband spent two days taking him back and forth for cataract surgery last week. He still owns property, too, but we've done all we know to do to make him see reason about getting it out of his name, right down to offering to buy it from him. He's one of the most unreasonable men I've ever known.

That sounds good. As opposed to the Jack LaLanne juicer I bought last week. The commercials make it look super efficient.

I used about 8 pounds of apples to make about 2 1/2 qts of apple juice. There was a tremendous amount of ground up pulp....inside of the machine. The motor doesn't seem too strong either...it won't turn if apple slices are pressing against the blade. The machine also has to be completely disassembled for a proper cleaning.

I seriously considered taking it back. But there are times when a juicer could be handy.

I'm a fan of LaLanne....but his juicer isn't all that. It is much, much cheaper to simply buy juice from the looks of things.


As for mom....she used to be the calmest person you could imagine. Hormones change with age. She is rightfully freaked out by the fact that I've been under surveillance for.....eleven years now. That would freak out any mom. It pretty well crushed my life as well. My oldest friend witnessed one act of my surveillance and was completely freaked out. I told him that he couldn't handle two weeks of my life. He quickly agreed.

I was told it was for "my protection." The "ex"-agent who ran the light and fractured my hip ruined that illusion. There were just too many "coincidences". Along with multiple threats and insinuations. Do not kid yourself. Agents are bullies.

Don't go to shrinks....even for a session. Friends don't let friends go to shrinks. That is what got it all started. I turned down the 2000 offer that "justified" the surveillance. The surveillance never ended. Can't find an attorney that wants the case either.

Don't tell me that it isn't a surveillance society that has become a beginning/intermediate police state. The beauty of this board is that the people are bright enough to recognize reality and it is too small to be swarming with...thought police/agents.

Cat, keep in mind that if your father in law goes into a nursing home, they will search back many years to make sure there wasn't a "convenient" transfer/sale of property, usually around 5 years before moving into a nursing home. They (the fed gov) actually have the power to nullify the transfer or reverse the sale. So, your best bet is to NOT try to do anything with the property. If it is a home, they will allow for the ownership of one home, but I don't know how that works when there is not a spouse living in the home. If there were a spouse, they wouldn't count the value at all. Also, he's allowed a certain amount of income/cash in the bank, that they won't take away. You could probably get in touch with the elder care people in your area, they would be found in the office of welfare. If you try to get rid of any assets, its only going to cause problems and make the whole process much, much harder. Think about it like this: if he's having to move into state sponsored health care, they assume that he is destitute, but if he has a way to pay for some of his care, they believe that he should do so. I don't particularly agree with this tactic, because it takes away things you may have intended to pass down, but obviously, the government doesn't really care if you want to pass things down and would truly prefer if you didn't.

The last time I checked it, the look-back period was five years in NC. It used to be three years. My parents conveyed all of their property to my sister and me a long time ago. In the summer of 2000, Mom had a stroke and was in nursing home care for several months. Dad lived in the "marital home." and the look back period had been fulfilled. Mom was insured via Medicare and her personal policy with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Had she and Dad not thought forward about the property conveyance long before she had the stroke, their savings would have been wiped out in a very short time. She worked hard to maintain that Blue Cross medical policy, too. She and Dad were firm belivers in insurance.

My father-in-law got a reverse mortgage on his home and five acres of his land last year, which provides him with income that supplements his Social Security. Wells Fargo will get their money back upon his death via a sale of that particular property.

My understanding is that if we bought the acreage remaining and he ends up in a nursing home, we would have to continue to make the payment to the nursing home for the duration of his time there. What might be a problem will be the "gifts" he made of land to his daughter and younger son at the time of his divorce settlement. Those lands are indeed subject to the look-back period and the children might have to forfeit their property OR pay a substantial part of his nursing home fees.

I just hope he remains as independent as he is presently. Yes, we have to do a few things for him from time to time, but for now he can live alone and seems to be doing pretty well. When his time runs out, I'm hoping he goes out easy in his sleep, like his brother did.