All Purls. No Swine.
This post was originally published on ricochet.com on May 26, 2018. There's an update for 2020, just below it. This old house once knew his children This old house once knew his wife This old house was home and comfort As they fought the storms of life Truth be told, it’s not so very old.… Continue reading Of This Old House. Of Mine.
In which I expose my DIY efforts to the hilarity and ridicule of the men following me (there are more of you than I have a right to expect at my age, trust me), “weak and feeble woman” that I am. Next time you’re tempted to go down that path, ask yourselves how things turned… Continue reading A Good Piece of Gear: Building a Pair of Driveway Gates
Several years ago, during my quest for the perfect hay feeder for my sheep and goats, I built two 8' long, 4' high, and 35" wide hay and grain feeders using Premier's wire panel feeder inserts. I loved them. They won the hay-feeder lottery! Not only did they do double-duty as grain feeders, they were… Continue reading Building a Small Hay Feeder Using Premier’s Wire Panels
https://youtu.be/OKxTxEKvlmo "Little Dickie Feller," as my mother's favorite Pittsburgh disc jockey of the early 1970s used to call him. (No, it wasn't KQV's Jim Quinn. Or even Quinn's replacement, when Quinn moved to the bigger market of Buffalo NY in 1972 or 73 and was replaced by a young feller (see what I did there)… Continue reading “Some Days are Diamonds, Some Days are Stone”
So there I was this morning, laughing uproariously at a YouTube video of a sheep having joyful fun on a trampoline: And while I was noodling around looking for other amusing animal videos because I didn't want to go out and put on any more house siding today, …. I ran across the Australian news… Continue reading Words Fail Me. Well, Hardly.
One of my favorite childhood stories was that of The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse. There's never been any doubt in my mind which side of the marker fence I fall on; as one of the little friends says to the other at the end of the Aesop's lesson: "You may have luxuries and… Continue reading The Gift
My husband, Frank Zbozny (see--I always told you I could win a game of Scrabble in one go, if only proper names were allowed), has died. Many of you know of his decades-long struggle with dementia, and of the cardiac and other physical problems that began to sap his strength in 2012 or thereabouts. But… Continue reading Ave Atque Vale: Frank Zbozny, Rest in Peace
It seems that it's about time for the regular pre-election "Let's Fix the High Cost of Healthcare Once And For All!" national political posturing extravaganza, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents, and present what I'm pretty sure is a unique and extraordinarily effective solution. I’ve alluded to this subject in a few… Continue reading How To Bring Down The High Cost of Healthcare: RWKJ’s Medical Plan!
I love it down here on the farm. Some days, not so much, it’s true. Mostly, those are the days when I start out with a handful of prophylactic Advil or Aleve, and then hie myself down to the barn for a day of shoveling, or perhaps sheep-shearing, or down the field with my little… Continue reading The Nesting Instinct
Bee Swarm Soirees: Check. Done for the year I think. Net gain of two hives, neither of which came quietly. The first congregated around a fence post (actually on a "dropper" between two fence posts). After my neighbor Randy helped scoop them into a five-frame "nuc" hive, I left them for 48 hours to settle,… Continue reading The “Rights” of Spring