On that day

HAT WILL YOU REGRET?

On that day the one that is your last...will your last thought be; I really regret I didnt have a bigger house, or a better car, or belonged to a different golf club.  It will be I wish I had lived my life the way I wanted and not the way people told me I should.  Trust me, I don't live my life by anyone's measuring tape but my own.  I find it difficult at best to carry on a conversation with rat race people...because to me what they value is non important in the big picture. 

We all make our choice and we live that choice.  I may not be aligned with you and your choices but if Im happier than you how can you tell me how to live?  Some people buy a new piece of clothing every single week.  New shoes, new accessories, they get their hair made up different.  I have never been that person. I only buy what I need.  If my shoes wear out as they did last fall I buy new and I wear them till they wear out and so forth and so  on.  I cut my own hair.  Have not had a professional hair cut since I was 25? Or maybe younger.  

Right now I need new glasses.  This month my budget is not going to allow that, because the electric company whose main goal in life is to become the biggest richest company in the world hit me with a huge electric bill  even tho I burned wood, I used my propane heater, I only heated the space I was occupying...so Im even considering this...I want to go spend the winter in the desert next yr or in Florida.  Just escape, not my home, but the electric company who makes my choice not good enough. If I had frozen to death that's what it would have taken for me to be happy about that electric bill. 

So I need to make an appt for the eye exam.  The last time I had one was in 2011! Now a days I have to take off my glasses to drive can't see a thing thru the distance part anymore.  I know there are people who have their eyes checked every single year.  Im not saying you shouldn't but it's ok for me not to.  Life is days of choices strung together, until we run out of choices...and we accept that last thought..

Hopefully my last thought will be, I wish I had more time...to make any choice right or wrong.  Just to show how different people are...My sisters and I had the same genetics, same upbringing, and yet we all live differently.  We all married, and then divorced.  One of us remarried late in life.   I love to camp and I sleep in my van.  You all know about that. I can pull into a Walmart parking lot when traveling and sleep, or I can find a campspot with a fire right a table, electric for plugging some stuff in or I can boondock in a National Forest.  Im open to make many choices.  But for that privilege I give up many creature comforts...because creature comforts are not the most important thing in my life.  My sis on the other hand has a large Travel Trailer, and when she travels, she has reservations, she has full hook ups and she has a big screen TV and a Shower with her.  

When I travel I rarely know where I will spend the night I figure that out as I go and Im perfectly happy with that...no stress no expectations, no remorse. And our other sister she hates camping and would rather do motels.  
It's all about choices...its not who is right and who is wrong. 

 

Always Spaghetti

HEN I WEAR WHITE...
It never fails...spaghetti sauce has a magnetic force to it...Just hope it comes out when I wash it.  Today I hung out at home listened to the birds sing all day, did some work on my garden plants. Repotted the pepper plants I over wintered, some didn't make it but some did..So hope they will come right back out I put some additional soil in the pots and a light feeding. 
I put some seeds in pots that I can bring in if it goes too low at night..Some green beans, sweet peas, transplanted some Swiss Chard seedlings...
The onion sets I put out a week ago are coming up and the broccoli is almost big enough to cut.  I picked the last of the Spinach leaf, and the Arugula, had a nice salad of that for lunch, and have enough for at least 2 more bowls of salad. In one of the pots I put the Swiss Chard transplants and in the other some radish seed.  By the time the chard and radish are done it will be warm enough to put the Zuke transplants in the pots, that is if the seeds sprout.  
The over wintered eggplant did not survive, so I will buy some transplants.  

Back inside I am trying to make my own coffee creamer, so I used coconut milk, which is thick by nature...and almond milk, I mixed it at about 3 to one ratio. So I hope it works.  Im doing this for 2 reasons.  One is so it's non dairy and the other is to not buy the plastic jug. So we will see.  

My dog Floss continues to not do too well.  She can barely get up from a laying or sitting position I have to help her..I've put a ramp at my back door it's been there for 4 months...and more and more she just cant stay up.  I have her on anti inflammatory dog meds..I just increased her 1/2 a tab daily to 1/2 tab twice a day.  More and more she is incontinent.  She goes out and she does #1 with no trouble...but then she doesnt want to do the walking required for her bowels to work.  She lost weight and she looks awful.  She is 14 in a couple months.  Annie is doing pretty good.  She has a bad ankle on the front leg, which means she can't do a lot of walking without going lame, but she can still run a little bit and she has no problems with steps..she has a good appetite, and she is plump and alert. 

I know they both came from the same Mom but did you know that in a litter of pups each pup can have a different father?  The reason is each pup is in it's own placental sack...So a dog releases many eggs and if the dog has multiple mate different sperm can fertilize one or two eggs.   So I can only assume they are half sisters.  Floss has long hair Annie's is more medium, Floss has long legs, while Annie is shorter. Annie has some chow in her with dark spots on her tongue.  Floss has some English Setter in her since she has the reddish tinge to her hair.  She looks like a flat haired retriever...While Annie is like a border collie mixed with lab. 

On the World Front...
Im really a bit afraid of what shape the world will be in when another couple of weeks passes.  I don't even understand WHY Russia is attacking Ukraine, other than they want to steal what they have.  I was not surprised that Trump said that what Putin did was genius.  Im sure he would have helped him get whatever it is he wants. NYC is the home of the Russian Mob, you could not convince me that they don't have some power over Trump...two of his wives are from the region Slovenia and Czechia. Both are south of Poland with Ukraine  to the East.  Ukraine is just a stones toss from Europe! It's less than 1500 miles from Paris to Kyiv. That's like from Tampa, FL to Ottawa Canada. 

Dull Day.

ENT BACK....

For the things I wasn't able to get except one thing...I normally buy Hash Brown potatoes...those little square things like you can get at McDonalds...kind of thing...it's quick n easy and I like them the packaging is not bad it's cardboard and film wrap that I can recycle at Food Lion. They were out of them at Food Lion so I tried IGA...yes they had them.  

They have them in a pack of 12 or a pack of 7.  I always get the 7 that will last a month for me...but suddenly what was $1.89 is now $3.99..and the 12 pack is $7.99 Walmart sometimes has them too so I will have to check and see how much they are there.  I refuse to pay $4 for those. 

The economy is about to tank for real...IMO.  Gas shot up overnight here from $3.29 to $3.59 in one night...I brought home $30 of groceries in one bag!    
I bought  a single bunch of Kale, one Pear, one russet potato, one Butternut Squash, 3 cans of coconut milk, one large can of green beans, one can of french fried onions, 2 lbs of sugar, 2 small rolls of fresh pet for my dogs, a  can of strawberries, And the total after tax was $30.67.  The dog food was $7.97 of that total.
NOW Im very frugal, I don't buy much processed food, the dog food is not canned its processed but fresh not preserved and is kept in refrigeration.  And the hash brown would have been semi processed if I had found them. I can't imagine what other people are paying! 

It's been a slow day otherwise, I went to the cemetery and then home.  Visited my mom, and took a couple headstone photos of new burials...once I got home did a wee bit of yard work, precooked all my veggies, and had some early dinner and that's it...

I normally watch Finding Your Roots on Tuesday on PBS, really enjoy following along as they trace the roots of the guests back many generations.  

Birdcount

ENT SHOPPING FINALLY...

Ive been putting it off, because I dislike shopping.  But had to go..and still I was not able to get all I wanted as most stores are not fully stocked...So again tomorrow I will have to go to another store Just couldn't deal with 2 store stops in one day.

So I was able to , stay clear of plastics pretty much, the ones I did end up with are recyclable #1 plastic, the number on the bottom tells  you how hard it is to recycle that particular plastic so #1 is the easiest and most prevalently recycled plastic...and on down the line.  I even found some corn tortilla chips for snacking in a Paper Bag!! Mission taco chips...Love that I can make some salsa and enjoy a snack.  I got some canned peaches and now Im making a peach cobbler...easy bake kind of thing. I needed soy sauce and it was plastic or glass.  Since my county no longer recycles glass I got the plastic again #1. 

I did end up with one glass container! Maple syrup.  They didn't have it  in plastic, in Canada  you can buy it in can, wish I could find that then I could refill the glass jug.  

I wanted some white potato and they had none loose.  So I got sweet potato, this time will look for white when I go back either tomorrow or next day. 

Today was the last day of the Great Backyard Birdcount I did participate this year...last year I didn't.  For some reason ebird mobile app was not working...I reinstalled it, and it wouldn't find my location so I kept messing with it and tapped the explore tab and finally it found me.  I did a quick checklist and submitted it and it worked.  NOW just hope it will continue to work I have not been able to use it for a long time. Will be glad if it works since my memory is not what it  used to be...I could hold 6 lists from 6 locations in my memory at one time, and then put it in when I got home but no more! 

So I ended up with 44+1 on my species over the 4 days...and submitted 8 checklists.  My +1 was a sharp shinned hawk that the photo I took was not giving me a warm and fuzzy to be confirmed, so I put it as a cooper/sharpie, just so the jerk reviewer wouldn't be involved..

My sis found a fabulous Northern Pygmy Owl on her second day in CO that was sooo cool and a Life bird to boot. 
 

Day 51 Lost n Found

INDOW INTO A LIFE...
I watch a lot of Youtubers, I don't have Cable TV or Satellite and I don't subscribe to any streaming services...so Youtube fills in the dull times between sundown and bedtime.  I do have antenna tv which is reruns from the 70, 80, and 90's and the main network weeklies.  The past 2 weeks the Olympics have pre-emptied most of what I was watching...some drama's that I enjoy...meanwhile PBS had it's fund raising and I just don't always enjoy that..."You can fix your mind" type thing.  Trust me you can't.  

I think I mentioned before... this young woman who lives in a van up in BC Canada, I was really enjoying her channel, then suddenly she told us she was in a relationship...and that killed it for me...I have not been enjoying her vlogs since that day...it's like now she is in a holding pattern like a satellite suddenly orbiting the life of this guy.  He is boring and now she is too...Her life is just waiting on him while he works, waiting on him so "they" can be together, so I watched her lose herself...and it reminded me of how I lost myself.  I had no intentions of getting married, or having a child or owning my own business, or settling down. When I was 18 I wanted to be a total vagabond.  I wanted to live the life of a gypsy.  Of course I had no money, no plan just this feeling inside of who I wanted to be, how I wanted to feel and what I wished to enjoy in life.  I wanted a little place to grow my own food, have my horses and critters around me, I wanted to pack my horse up and ride across America, and I wanted to experience the flowers, the birds, the Earth up close and personal.

Image all the people living for today...if only there was no Ted Bundies in the world and there was no private keep out signs all over the places you want to see...

Then I met the man I married and I waited for him to spend time with me, and the next thing you know I completely forgot what I had intended to do...how I wanted to feel, and who I wished to be.  I was needing him, changing to be the best companion for him, and working toward goals we had..not all of which came into being as it didn't take that many years and the dreams we planned slowly feel by the wayside and we simply feel into the day to day survival of a married couple with a child, both running businesses and work a day life paying for our home...school, work, family life. 

So I want to shout to this girl DON'T DO IT....she says she is in love so last week she left to go back out on the road for a while, I think she lost subscribers and lost viewers and her income is dwindling...since basically all she did was sit in parking lots waiting for him.  He doesn't want to be on camera...so he doesn't really fit into her life now does he?

So she has been dishonest with us about alot of the things she shows in her life, a fish in a bowl maybe but not really as we discovered she had this man, she had an office she rented, and she was basically NOT living in her van...So now she is away from him and she is "sad, cause she is in love."  Does that make sense??  She fell in love so now she can't just be her that makes her feel sad? 

She used to laugh, go for walks, forage for wild edibles, rock climb, and occasionally visit friends.  All the things that made her cool and made her different she quit doing...So we'll see if she finds herself as she tries to regain her following. 

Now Im free to do what I want and yet Im too tired to do it.

Early Spring...

HAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Talking about how everything has moved 2 weeks forward...My daffodils are fully open the peach tree bloomed in December..the Winds of March have been blowing for a fortnight and the birds are already pairing up...I have to wonder if the migrants will even arrive? The winter ones were late arriving...so will they leave on time or will they just nest here? 

Today I got very little accomplished...picked up that script at Wallie World, then stopped at Lowes for the potting soil, tossed another $20 of gas in the van...I drooled over the Suzuki as I passed it by maybe I will stop next time...I just know he is going to say $3000 and I can't afford that so...

MY son borrowed Wilma...OMG it was like giving someone my kitten...He lost yet another phone...And needs mapping for  his job so I hope it comes back in one piece..I think he should just get a cb radio and a gps not even try for a phone again, this is about the 10th Smart phone he lost or destroyed in some way.  One he left on the roof of the car, one he drove over it, one he slammed in the door, one he busted the screen and you could not see anything on it, another he lost via work left it somewhere and never found it, and now this one...Just gone no clue where it is.

Knock on wood, I have all my old phones in the drawer of my desk...they are not worth a penny and most won't function on todays 5G...I have 2 flip tops, 2 little ones with buttons, 2 smart phones, and the one Im currently using...So I should get rid of those old ones...

Well it's almost Friday again. 

Day 47

AS A SLOW DAY...

Lately I've been going somewhere nearly every day not good cause that means gas is being burned...and my carbon footprint is bigger.  I've been trying to do some early spring birding.  My van is getting terrible gas mileage lately.  IT gets better mileage on a full tank...I think its a volume thing...like when it's full it burns more efficiently. 

I saw a small Suzuki Swift on a used car lot.  I really wish I could go and buy it.  But then I'd have to insure it...BUT I know they have like an 8 gallon tank.  I could fill it up with $25  My van is $25 for a 1/4 tank...I may just stop and ask how much it is...curiosity.  
If it was like $1000 or less I may buy it.  It' a little four door like the little Mercury I used to have and it's also a hatchback...I could actually sleep in it overnight...but with the dogs maybe not.  I know a lot of people camp in an SUV without any issues.  

Today I spent some time getting some seeds planted in starter pots looking forward to doing some growing...BUT I need a grow light on them...I had several but they all stopped working..so I wonder if I could come up with something...I do have a flood light.  I planted zucchini, cucumber, pepper seeds that I saved, so probably sweet bell, some winter squash.  I already have some swiss chard, pok choy, Butternut Lettuce, Broccoli, growing. They have emerged and have 2 leaves...so I HOPE I can grown them to edible size, Im going to use them as young tender not big leafy plants.  I've had Arugula, and Spinach and some microgreens along with Cilantro growing all winter and I have enjoyed eating off those.    And I planted another pot of Cilantro, and sweet Basil. I have some  onion sets planted and I bought some strawberry plants that I need to get in pots and maybe tomorrow I can do that.  I got tired...and so I stopped about 1:30. 

Walmart Pharmacy called me the robo call to remind me to refill my script so that was easy then it called me back and told me it's ready.  SO if I go into town tomorrow I will pick up some more planting mix at Lowes I have a gift card to use.

I got the oil changed I stopped at the tire place I generally go to since my oil guy retired...BUT they charged me $57 he used to charge me $36. :0/

Wrong Turn

HAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Just when I think life is gonna be  okay again suddenly it isn't.  Today I watched the FLY after a busy morning working outside trying to remove MORE leaves...I love trees, but I almost wish any tree within 100 yards of my house was gone! What a chore...one good wind and all the leaves from the woods will blow right back into my hedges and flower plots...
Anyways So I watched the fly...the transformation of Seth after he exited the transformer reminds me of my life in this era of it...like Im a fly on the ceiling watching life happen and am unable to do a damn thing about it...I hadn't watched that movie in years...but I wondered why couldn't he get back in the pod and reverse engineer the whole process...Too late I guess...and at the end I sometimes feel the same way put the shotgun right here at my temple..

Sometimes we think we can do that very thing...stop doing what we are doing and all goes back to the way it was...I don't think so. Recall he called the combo of him and the fly as Brundle Fly...

As we move through life we become Brundle Flies...there is no going back. 

Went to bed feeling one way and within 24 hrs my whole outlook took a turn for the shitter. :0(

Day 43 Birding

ENT BIRDING
I planned to go to Sandhills NWR but I changed my mind and went to Lee County.  I wanted to see if the Eagles I have been keeping tabs on for four years rebuilt the nest since the tree it was in fell down...They didn't or if they did I sure never found it.  

There is this cemetery I enjoy going to cause it's by a lake and it's pretty birdy there.  There is a dirt shortcut road that I can take to cut a little bit off the trip to get to that cemetery...so I noticed a Northern Harrier flying over that road so I took the road he flew down the side for a while then darted down a tract of trees and disappeared...I had stopped to scan the trees thru my rolled down window with my binoculars and when I looked up to continue on I see this white truck coming right at me!! 

So I just sat there to see what the heck....and this man came so close to my van he nearly hit me!! He was basically trying to prevent me from moving forward at all...So I looked at him like..."really"? And he says 'What are you doing'? I dont know this man but so many people who own land with a road going thru think they own the road too!...If it's county maintained then it's open to the public...So I said "well if its any or your business Im looking for a hawk that just flew off that way..." So he says, "Well now I've heard it all." And then he does what all non birders do they try to tell me what they know about birds...he said "the ones you have to watch out for are those darters." I had no intention of making talk with this man so I pulled to the side then left...he was totally creepy. 

WHAT an ass.  I am so sick of rednecks who think they are in charge.  It's getting where you can't even do anything without somebody getting up in your business.  But in the end I did have a good day out birding.  The bird of the day was a Merlin.  I didn't get very good photos of him he was pretty far off the road, and even tho the sun was supposed to shine today it was basically overcast all day.  Not good light for photos.  Then later after checking for the Eagle nest I found a field with about 10,000 Blackbirds!! It was a mixed flock.  Some farmer had just dumped some manure on a couple of fields and the birds were after it. Take a look and this was only on one side of the road about as many again are on the other side of the road.  

I need to start using my tripod so I can get sharper images I can't hold the camera steady enough. 

Born on

EDNESDAY,

41 yrs ago.  Speaking of my son.  It was my bowling night...I had worked at my upholstery shop that day, Tuesday, and had delivered a couch we had completed, meaning I carried my end into the house and the lady who owned it said "I was so afraid you'd have that baby before  you finished up my couch."  Went into labor that night and  22 hrs later delivered my son.  I missed the bowling that week and the next and when the league wrapped up that year I gave it up cause I was overwhelmed with life.

Motherhood was wonderful and hard.  I love my son but found I was so overworked helping make ends meet cause my husband was the type who never pulled his weight...so I had to make a bit more than My ends meet had to help make his ends meet too...that I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do with my son.  Cant go back can only go forward. 

So today I baked cupcakes for my son, I had a good lunch for the 2 of us we laughed and told old jokes and he reminded me of how wonderful it is to have put those hours in and be able to have this time now to know Im not alone in the world we are family. My son is more like his dad than he is like me, he is a chip off his paternal block....so we butt heads a lot.   He could always make me laugh and just forget the hard parts of being a mom...

Happy Birthday Son! I LOVE YOU!!

The Buck Stops Here..

HEN TO MAKE A CHANGE...

I have had enough with Hartford AARP auto insurance! Every  year even tho I have had no accident, no tickets, my insurance just goes UP...*knock on wood*

Last year I used their online calculator to see if I dropped to the State Required limits which was one tier down my premium would actually go UP by $100 a year.  I've been with them for a long time since 2008,....So I called them and said WHY Is it if I buy LESS insurance it will cost me more?? So they said I had signed on so long ago the rates for that tier at todays prices is way more...So it's like Im locked in to that tier...I may end up having to change my insurance every year to get a better price.. 

So again it's time to renew and it went up again...So I had already done some checking and thought I'd go with State Farm,,,my Mom always had State Farm.  So I dropped down to the tier I wanted and will save over $200 a Year.  And another thing AARP does is they charge $5 each month for paying it monthly instead of every 6 months or yearly...It's just too high to pay that way...like a finance fee?  So in reality Im saving $260 a year.  The agent told me they only charge $1 for paying monthly.  I wanted to keep collison on my van cause if it's damaged I want to be able to repair it  VANs are very hard to find and expensive now a days. 

So I went to the State Farm office today and took care of it, painless...tomorrow I call AARP and tell them Goodbye, the Buck Stops Here and He Ain't Got My Back!! 

Mad Hatter

ELL 

The sun sets in about an hour and it just now is starting to show itself..

It was warmer so I got outside and did some yard clean up.  Dragged the mower and bagger out the shed and ran it over about 1/2 the yard so need to finish up the other half and that dreaded chore is done for another year.  I wish I could just burn it off...would be better for the yard.  But anyways too risky I could start a woods fire...So that's why I don't.  

There is this squirrel who has been bugging the double L out of me for 2 solid days.  I hung up a suet feeder for the birds on that dismal day to help get extra fat in them.  Even tho I put one of those Round metal things on top that look like a symbol it took him about an hour to figure out a way. Did I ever mention I hate squirrels?

A few birds did use the feeder, and I was so nice to see that but the squirrels are destroying the feeder.  grrr.

So today I took it all down and reworked it made the chain longer etc..took him only an hr to figure that out...And he is destroying the suet.  I do trap them and relocate so tomorrow the sun should shine I I have to go into town early but later I plan to set the trap...there is 3 different squirrels who routinely go in that tree So I hope I can relocate all 3 when it's warm enough for them to make do in their new digs till they get a nest built. Gonna be 70 on Saturday.  Squirrels live in a nest year round...

Lies?

ET DAY AGAIN...
Cold and wet my two least favorite ingredients for a day.  I want Sun, blue sky and mild tempts as do we all.  I have seen some of the youtubers in BC say they love foggy dismal weather, let me just say...

LIARS no body likes foggy dismal drizzly weather...if you do then you are psychotic in some dark way.  Maybe those are the people who prefer to be cocooned inside...NOT me.  

I have been working on a history post I have planned for Friday on Black History of our town, to highlight some of what I know about the black history of our town.  The town has done very little to preserve the physical locations...that has been up to the private citizens to do.  

Our town had one of the few all Black Private Boarding schools taught K-12th grade and it closed in 1983, and all the buildings were torn down in 1999...Only a few Historic signs and one old gateway remain.  I was NOT in favor of them developing that land the way they did.  I think there was not enough black support to keep it. They should have gotten National Level support...

Since my sister and I have been researching and photographing AA cemeteries in this county and the surrounding counties for several years we have come to know a bit more about the contribution of AA citizens in the area.  

Right now I feel that some of the policies of the Reconstruction era are coming back the attempts to restrict voting, the Voting Rights Act not being renewed and democrats helping to make that  happen??? I am shocked and worried about the future of this country.  We need a more diverse leadership in order to be sure that all are treated equally and with due regard.  An oppressive government  like we had in the past is the way we are headed if we can't get clear of people like DJ Trump, Marjorie Green, Matt Gates, Mitch McConnell, and the Republican party as a whole...

As we see leaders like Putin manipulate and lie and try to pull the wool over the eyes of the world, we must realize the same thing is happening right here in this country...except the threat is not at the border its within our borders. 

The most recent garbage talk from them is the position that a violent riot to stop a democratic process is Legitimate Political Discourse to me is the most dangerous thing they have said to date! The party of alternative facts.  So now we are under the threat of this type of LYING to try to force a lie to be legit.  I say HELL NO it's not legitimate.  Like saying a foggy drizzly day is good??? 

NO it's not good...

day 34 Lady's of the Mansions

HAT A SMALL WORLD...

 I've been brushing up on the local history of the town I live in.  I was not born here but off and on have spent most of my life here.

Needless to say the history is bloody, shameful, and in some cases just plain outrageous.  But I discovered an eye opening fact today...

SO MANY years ago, when I was a young teen we moved to a place called Bramblewood.  Now this place has a history that I have had trouble pinning down but I know at some point it was the DeSassure Plantation. And then it was known as the Lang Place, but I need to go to the archives or the hall of deeds and find out WHO actually owned it  how big was it etc. 

When we lived there it was about 300 acres...all that was left was a few barns and an old farm house most certainly not the plantation house but many of the plantations in those days were only for the purpose of growing and selling and not the actual home of the wealthy owner like they may have lived  in Charleston and owned more than one plantation...AND I suspect this is the case of Bramblewood.  I think that name even came later on...When we lived there the place was owned by Dr A.H. Ehrenclou and his wife.

So this story goes back....to the civil war.  Have you ever heard of Mary Boykin Chestnut? She wrote the book called A Diary of Dixie.  She wrote it as she witnessed the Civil War happen around her.  Her family owned a Plantation in my county called Mulberry.  Their main home was in Charleston and she traveled back and forth...I almost feel Gone With The Wind was based on some of this book.  Anyways Many years later, her Father in Law James Chestnut Sr had left in his will that Mulberry shall go to the Son of his Son James...but they had no children. So in 

 1873 Mary had a home built in town for herself on 50 acres of land and she called it Sarsfield.  It was located at the modern day address of 136 Chestnut street.  After the war and the death of her Her husband  James Jr, she lived at Sarsfield and she worked on her manuscripts getting only one chapter published.  Later after her death  the original manuscripts were found in 1949 and re edited eventually published by Van Woodward in 1981 and won a Pulitzer Prize in History (Mary Chestnut's Civil War). 
 During her widowed years she survived on the income she got from selling butter and eggs and at the time of her death at age 63 she had only 10 acres left of the 50 as she had to sell it off to survive.  What was left was willed to her nephew David Williams.  Mulberry had stood empty since 1873 and David Williams III had it refurbished.  

Mulberry ended up in the hands of Martha Williams Daniels wife of John Hancock Daniels who was an heir to the Archer Daniels Midland company a purchaser of grains and other raw ingredients  that go into food.  A huge operation worth $254.7 BILLION currently.  So he married Martha and she inherited Mulberry.  When I was in the Upholstery business I did all the re-upholstery of the Plantation home antiques and worked on many projects with Martha and a decorating firm who would find or have recreated authentic textiles from old photos of old samples...it was very UPPER Crust!  She was a delicate yet strong woman who had awesome poise...and she was a good horsewoman I was told...SO I've been in the Plantation home many times...its like stepping back in history..

She and her husband built a smaller more private home on some of the property just down the road from the plantation home.  Her husband passed away in 2006..and she passed in 2009.  They left many heirs to keep Mulberry in the family...

Back to Sarsfield...so when I was a young lass we moved to Bramblewood....a farmer leased the farm and the house on it from the Ehrenclou's who in 1936 purchased Sarsfield mansion and the 5 acres it was on.  Both the Ehrenclous were doctors from NYC...Park ave NYC.  She a psychiatrist and he a neurologists she from NY and he from London.  Many NY'rs bought summer homes in our Town...and so I imagine this is how they came to own Sarsfield but I don't know how they came to own Bramblewood.  I hope I can find out.  Maybe she bought it just for her horses.

When I was a girl  my sister and I were into riding horses. We had horses and this is how we ended up at Bramblewood, the farmer was, as part of his lease, to take care of the retired horses at Bramblewood...so when  he met me and my sister he talked my mom into renting the house at Bramblewood and in exchange for board for our horses we would take care of Ben and Jess the 2 retired hunters...that belonged to Ms Ehrenclou.

And my sis would ride Ben but he was lame, and needed a surgery.  We had the vet come and look and he told us Ben could benefit from a surgery called a nerve block...So we went to Sarsfield to ask the Lady Cora Ehrenclou would she pay for the surgery...

She offered us cookies and she heard us out and she agreed to the surgery...so as a young girl I stood in the home of Mary Boykin Chestnut right in the study where she worked on her books and raised the big window to speak to visitors who never got down out of the buggies when they can calling. 

So this is how My life crossed paths and interacted with The Mulberry and Sarsfield, and the Ladies of the Mansions. 

day 32 Plastics

HATS HAPPENED WITH MY CHALLENGE?
The one where Im bringing home less plastic that I have to deal with.  It's been a challenge, but Im learning every day what's working and what is not.  Some things I just gave up on period for now...like I enjoyed buying veggie sausage and veggie burgers but they come in those non recycable zip top packages so stopped that.  My sis said look for alternative brands that may be in other packaging...I recall when Morning star put their products in that packaging I wrote to them and told them how horrible it was.  Before it had been in cardboard and a waxed paper liner both biodegradable and the cardboard can be recycled...I haven't looked for an alternative yet...but will

I found I can buy a french bread in one of those PoP open cardboards like canned biscuits...I can recycle the cardboard and the steel ends..YES..also you can get pie crust and pizza crust that way...also...

Buying all my veggies off the raw racks is wonderful and I save money! I have yet to find Mushroom in an open bin where I can grab what I like so Im going to canned the can is steel and I do recycle cans. Not something I will be buying every week but occasionally. 

Im prepared to purchase the toilet paper I like in the individual size it's wrapped up in a paper sleeve, Paper towel after I use what I have I won't buy again...and I found a cardboard box to bring my shopping home in and it's going to last a long time!   I found quick rice in a box.  And so you recall when they used to put frozen peas and such in waxed boxes, it was so easy now it's all in a plastic bag that is not recyclable.  Since we have only 4 grocery stores in our area and one is Walmart I don't have a Whole Foods market, and the farmers market is not going on currently in my area so it's been hard to find some alternatives.  I went back to canned green peas. 

I got bunch Kale and wash it that saves a plastic bag, I don't bother putting my produce in those little flimsy bags they have "for your convenience." I bring Paper lunch bags from home or I just put my produce in the cart and wash it good once it's home. Buying loose potato, onion, fruits of all kinds, greens, and veggie like broccoli, squash, tomato, avocado, makes my grocery bill cheaper too....I buy 2 potatoes, 1 onion, 2 pear, 1 orange, so IM getting what I need and not paying for the "family" price. 

Ive been eating from my winter greens, some of was destroyed by the 3 weeks of freezing weather but I ate a lot of it, and I've got more planted now hoping for an early spring crop. Sometimes that does not work out but we'll see.  I will grow what I can. 

Its going to take a while for me to retrain  myself and make more food from scratch so I need to perfect my tortilla skills, and I figure to use the pizza crust to make some flat bread!! My cornbread is great but my other baked goods suck!!

                                    The Pop Can French Bread,

               I put everything bagel mix on top...It was delish...
BUT that everything mix came in a BIG plastic container.  So getting completely rid of plastic is not easy...At the very least I look to see if it's recyclable on the bottom before I buy it.  And buy things like that in a large container so I buy less containers to deal with.  NO glass since I can't recycle glass at all right now...One thing that will be hard is I plan to transition to a paper bag for my kitchen trash.  I compost, I recycle, and with the less packaging I hope I can do it without it becoming a huge issue. 

I think like everything else in life it takes a little effort to make a change.