Lehman's Country Life

It is a perfect late summer morning – a Saturday, to be exact, and my favorite day of the week. The front and back doors are both propped wide open and a fresh, cool breeze flows through the full depth of the house. Once I’ve disposed of the day’s obligatory small rodent that the cats have dutifully left on the back porch, Barney is free to wander in and out and pick a vantage point to keep an eye on me as I set up for the first round of canning I’ve done in years. The Ball canning book and a copy of Stocking Up III were among the first of the cookbooks I unpacked, and they will remain out in a prominent place now until late Fall.

As the 20 qt stainless stockpot full of water approaches the boil, I slip the first dozen or so perfect, ripe Roma tomatoes in to blanch, and reflect on the cases of commercially canned goods I have collected over the past few months in a room set aside upstairs for storage. When I lived in hurricane-prone North Carolina, I made a practice of keeping at least a few weeks’ worth of basics, including food, paper goods, and some 40 gallons of well water in labeled glass jugs. When Hurricane Fran swept through the Piedmont, downing trees across roadways and knocking out power for days on end, I had everything I and my animals needed and the only real compromise was bathing with water dipped out of the spa tub (yeah, that was really hard….)
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I believe that I suffer from a genetic predisposition to thrift in a time/situation where it’s rather difficult to practice it. Maybe when we get the kids out of the house. In the meantime . . . I’ve grown adept at ignoring that wee Scotsman, hoppin’ up ‘n’ down, brandishing his shillelagh, and verbally accosting me from the back of my head.

Autumn is at hand and, as much as I’d like otherwise, it’s time to drain the pool. I’m more of a “floater” than a “swimmer” myself and rather enjoy just floating about. But it hasn’t been warm enough to use the pool lately, isn’t likely to get any warmer, and it’s a poly above-the-ground contraption; so we can’t very well leave it sitting out over the winter. If the freezing didn’t wreak havoc on it- it would be July of next year before the darned thing thawed enough to swim in again.

Time to educate my youngest on how to set up a siphon and empty the pool without pumping or attempting to dig a hole under the pool edge to access the manufacturer provided drain (who designs things like that anyway?). I’m in no particular hurry, the water is draining out into the coulee so Momma’s backyard won’t be playing host to a quarter inch of standing water, and all is well ‘n’ good right up to the point where I stopped to reflect on how many gallons I was running out on the ground and how much it had cost to fill the thing in the first place.

“Yah great bleedin’ idgit (whack)!”
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Have I ever mentioned that we call our place “Sagging Acres”? The fences are sagging, the barn roof is sagging, the horse’s back is sagging and the adult humans’ energy is sagging. There is so much work to do here it makes me tired just thinking about it! I read stories about single women who build their own houses and maintain huge pieces of property and…well, it is unimaginable to me!So when we experienced some recent problems, we learned a big lesson. We are never alone. And God intended for us to work together.

I was gone for a short vacation with the children when Jurgen, my husband, fell. He was in the backyard feeding the dogs and stumbled on something. He hit his head on the wall of the house and lost consciousness. The day had been a rainy one, so we didn’t expect anyone to be dropping by.
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I remember as a kid taking a stroll through the local neighborhood in search of a tiny mushroom no larger than a dime. No, I was not intent on picking and eating these mushrooms, for I knew nothing about them. My goal was to find and then step on them, because upon being stepped on the tiny little mushroom would release a neat plume of “smoke.” There would be a time or two when nothing would happen, at which time that mushroom be declared a dud. I showed all my buddies who then began their own assaults on the fungi.

It would be years later that I would realize there was more to this “smoke ball” mushroom. The mushroom was called a puffball, and under the right conditions they grew much larger, sometimes to the size of basketballs! Once I found out they were indeed edible, my curiosity turned into a full-blown love affair.
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Compact articulating 4 wheel drive
Engine: 21 hp Kawasaki,
Serviced and ready for action.
330 Hours on the machine
Lehman’s carries implements for this machine
30 Day Warranty.
Tires, Knobby good shape (like new)
Local trade
Price is $5500
Free delivery in Wayne County! Available for sale anywhere in our service area. Call for details or to arrange a test drive on your land!
ventrac@lehmans.com or call 1-888-438-5346

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[1] When you don’t know where you are going any road will get you there.

[2] I decided the best I could with what I knew at the time. Then when I knew better I decided better.

[3] Rearing children brings us both the greatest joy and greatest pain all at the same time for a life time.

[4] Why do we eat things that are not good for us? I can only conclude the sense of taste is stronger than common sense.
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North America and many other places have been diluged with weather emergencies. It has been happening since there was life on earth but now with cell phone cameras, TV and Internet we get close up views of what is going on. Some upset weather is worse than others.

Where we live we can predict with certainty the power will go off  in the winter and  some times spring. With North West winds off the Atlantic  and salt spray from the ocean  we can be plunged into darkness easily. A few years ago we had a lot of snow and fierce winds. The power was off for four days and other places much longer. By preparing ahead your life doesn’t have to become a disaster when the weather turns bad.

Here is a list of things you can do to prepare for this type of emergency ahead of time.
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