No fun...

ORKING WITH  MY NEW BACK..

Is a lesson in frugality.  I just can't do as much in one day when my back is involved...splitting wood and trying to groom the dogs on the same day is almost a no can do without pain kind of thing. I don't know how my mom did it...she was strong and very able right up to 73 and if not for the car accident that nearly killed her I think she would have done even better...she was still working at my shop at that age, and that was heavy hard work. But I started working at age 14, I did a weekend and after school job and then at 16 I worked in Dairy Queen and went to high school too. 

I did way too much hard work and damaged my back long ago so it just tells me it's had enough earlier and earlier in the day.  I just cant get as much done as I used to.  I feel sorry for my dogs because they don't get the grooming and bathing they should.  I MUST bath Floss she really smells bad...today I trimmed up her hair as best I could with scissors  she needs to be clipped but her coat is full of dirt and dead skin so she needs a good bath before I try to run those clipper thru her coat. BUT can I lift her safely in and out of a tub?  So Im trying to come up with a plan...I have some big plastic tubs but they have cracks etc from using them in the yard.  I think I can heat the water using my camp stove and metal bucket...or I can carry water from inside...I really dont want to put her in my bathtub cause it will be a hairy mess and could cause a clog..

I need to get a big metal wash tub and then I could do the whole thing in the back yard. 

There is a dog wash in a little township about 15 miles away...it's $10 for 8 minutes..that could be expensive.  I don't think I can bath and rinse and blow dry her in 8 mins! So it would be at least $20..

If I take her to a groomer it would be a LOT more,. So I think I may drive by the dog wash and just see what the deal is...In Summer I just use the garden hose because our water gets warm in summer and it's totally fine for bathing her.  Now that she has mobility issues, she does not do a perfect squatt, so she dribbles...and then she smells really bad.  I do a quick wash with paper towel every other day but now it needs a good wash n rinse. 

At the dog wash I could stand UP and do the job...it's starting to look like a $20 well spent...so that's something I need to take care of. Annie's hair is completely different.  I washed her today using Rinseless shampoo for dogs. Its a foam type product you rub into the hair then use a rag to rub it thru and then comb the hair..she looks pretty good and she smells nice.  I tried it on Floss it did not move that dead skin, that needs to be squirted with a forceful sprayer.  But I did her rear area...and now she smells ok. 

I think it was September when I last clipped her its almost fully grown out again now.  And I used the shedding comb on her coat and it brought out a lot of the shedding undercoat. She has this long flossy type hair hence her name,,,:o)

My post of yesterday I removed, it was too personal and it didn't really pertain to me, I probably should not have shared that I hope it was bots who viewed...I never get many views anyway..IM just happy that right now this DAY things are better, BUT things can change in a flash. 

Today I got a box of gifts from my family...so that sure was nice of them...one of them sent me cash and that went in my strong box to go for the taxes on Mom's house.  I paid my house last week so Im broke now!!

NEW...

EEK, NEW MONTH

Im going to have another Skype chat tonight at 6 pm...today is my Younger sis's birthday. Its a milestone for her too 65!  That is one reason I wanted to do my Skype on Wednesday, Because the family spotlight should be on her today not me.

So I am at home doing chores, Im clearing things out of my shed that I don't want and Im putting those things in Mom's old shed so my son can sell them if he wants and what he doesn't sell I will get rid of at some point.  MY shed is a real mess...but it doesn't have to be nice it just needs to not have things in it I have no need for...so Im going thru and clearing out some stuff.  Im making one bucket of scrap metal, and one of scrap wire, this will go to the metal recycling center.  I ended up with one trash can full of trash and I moved a storage bin of stuff to the other shed, well not all some is yet to go over I got tired and hot and called it a day about 1 pm. Stuff like an entire spool of barbed wire...I will not be putting up more fencing.  A 2 burner Coleman stove that burns on Coleman stove fuel, the kind you pump up, I have the butane stove and it's great I do not like that pump up kind that's more for people who will set up for a week or whatever. 

I also have a Coleman Lantern that works on the small propane canister...an industrial hole punch for paper, the odd thing here and there a shower head, a fish tank warmer, just random things. 

Unfortunately  I hurt my back...it is really giving me what-for...I have back issues from old injuries, and when I have to stand still in one spot it really begins to stiffen up and that can throw my SI joint out of whack and I think that happened in the vet's office Tuesday.  They put me in a room to wait for the vet with my dog../we waited and we waited and we waited..NO chair in the room, my dog laid down and went to sleep.  Finally I stuck my head out into the office and wait room area to inquire how much longer, I really needed to either move around or sit down.  The room was about 5 ft by 5 ft with a big exam table in the center...So I was not able to move around I had leaned on the wall, then I bent over the table with my head on my elbows, and the AC was blowing cold on me. 

So I know what happned they were trying to determine if a bulldog was pregnant or not.  They did a urine/pregnancy test and it was not conclusive so they let that guy go I was next after a cat named Butterscotch...but the fellow with the bull dog was pulled BACK in after he had already been let go and paid his bill...then they put him in the room next to me and they talked him into doing an ultrasound...I could hear all this with the paper thin walls...

Next day my back was out of sorts and it had begun to ache in the little room.  I didn't mind waiting but they should have let me go back into the wait room to sit down not keep me standing in one spot for 45 minutes...IM no spring chicken.  As long as I keep moving or sit I do just fine...

I picked banana peppers today I have more chili peppers coming on and at least 2 more Bell pepper and more Jalapeno also...I think I could become a pepper farmer here and do a brisk business...I have 6 Banana Pepper plants got dozens and dozens of peppers...today alone I picked 17...I froze most and kept about 6 raw.  I do plan to overwinter, when the lows' dip to 55 I need to bring them inside the laundry room.  

Last night a fox paid us a visit.  She was in the field just about dusk eating ripe persimmon off the ground.  I heard a fox yelping the night before, or cackling whatever you call that ruckus they make. Sure is pretty a gray fox.  She had red, white, grizzly grey and black on her coat. Very fat and slick...really pretty face. 

So it's October...wow