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New post Top Sites Tuesday Work

Please stay off the stairs!

This year, like some years in the past, we are doing more stairs. I don’t mind it, when we get finished it it very satisfying. This week we are finishing a set of them. Trina and I were talking how the home owner is your worst enemy when it comes to someone walking on the stairs before they are done and leaving footprints. About the same time the owner came into the new house. We both explained how important it was to stay off of them.
My first thought was “this guy understands and will stay off of them”.

I think new stairs attract people to them like a magnet. They walk in and must say to themselves, “how nice, they look dry to me” and up the stairs the go walking on the cardboard sign as they go up.
Well it happened again….. Yes there was a sign and all precautions were taken. This is when we left:20130827-071632.jpg

Small bare feet and tennis shoes, I should say sweaty bare feet the worst kind to be walking on the stairs before a seal coat is applied. This is what we came back to:

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My second thought is there is no way to stop this from happening, so I try to get the prints out even going as far as faux painting the grain over the prints. For the most part they can’t be seen but I know where to look so I see them anyway.

The new home owner is a police man. I showed him the photos and he wanted a copy so he could watch people’s footprints. I’m kinda glad I’m the one doing the stairs and not the one being tracked down!

Have a great Tuesday
Wolfbernz

PS:  My Third thought today, this picture explains it all – Will Smith and Family watching Miley Cyrus at the VMA’s

will smith vma

 

 


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Farm Food New post Top Sites Tuesday

Chickens GMO’s and Bees

We finally found chickens… You would think this would be easy to do since we live in a rural area. But all we could find this last month were chicks, until the other day.

Everyone wants to know why in the heck I would want chickens. Here’s the deal, I can control what goes into making my eggs. It’s that plain and simple. Everyday we hear about our food being compromised with a chemical or genetically altered feed crops. My first thought was oh no big deal, they are growing bigger crops with higher yields… Everyone is living longer with a better quality of life. I’m not so sure I believe this anymore.
Monsanto, the leader of Genetically Modified Food, the maker of Agent Orange and the company protected from liability by our government for the 400,000 people killed and 2 million sickened, are at it again.

Monsanto is traveling around the globe with their products in which when planted you cannot save seeds for the next year because they have a patent on them. This has effected many farmers and forces the farmers to buy Monsanto’s seed. That’s not the worst of it either. In talking to our local bee keepers they blame GMO’S for the loss of 60 percent of their bee population!

I was told by one local bee keeper “There will not be enough bees to go around, a lot of farmers are planting and do not know it yet but they won’t get bees this year.” When I asked why, I was told that the Genetically Modified Food was to blame. The old timer went onto say that his bees are affected, become confused and disoriented. When this happens they don’t return to the hive, also the pesticides are killing many of the bees. I asked how do you replace them. “There are bee farms in Texas but it is so bad right now you can’t get bees for replacement.” This local bee keeper has decided to sell out at the end of the season. My second thought is heck I’ll buy a few hives and put them in the back of the farm. I don’t plan on using GMO’S or a lot of pesticides so they may have a safe place to live and maybe we’ll get some honey to boot.

I am not a survivalist but growing my own food and raising chickens lessens my dependency on our food supply.
For all the conspiracy buffs out there here is a thought… Our Government protects companies like Monsanto and Dow shielding them from prosecution so they can control the food supply.

Ok back to the chickens, these pics are from the day we brought them home:


is it safe here? Should we get out of the box?

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It’s ok… Get out of that box!

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Farm Food Top Sites Tuesday

Two Thoughts For Tuesday

Sometimes it gets fun around here while we are working.
We were all in the back field Sunday afternoon, planting, working the dirt and putting in marker steaks. It was a bit cold but nice enough out.

My first thought when my buddy said we should hook up the disk to the Rock Crawler Jeep was… Holy crap this will be fun!
Off we went to get the parts and the Jeep. We got a few looks like” what are those two up to?” lol
After it was hooked up Buddy said jump in and go for a ride… We laughed and carried on as we threw dirt everywhere with the radio blasting!
After a few runs around the field I mentioned to Buddy that the disk was like a sea anchor and if he were to floor it, the disk would keep the rear of the Jeep straight. Buddy said  “you think so?”
Me… “Of course you could floor it and it would be fine, just go for it.”
So he did and the dirt was flying, the radio blasting with the heat on. The next thing we see is Trina looking at us as if we were crazy with camera in hand. We definitely received a few funny looks as we continued to have fun on our home grown tractor pull!

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My second thought was who said farming can’t be fun? Even though we were goofing off we still managed to get more planted before it rained.

 


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Farm New post Top Sites Tuesday

Two Thoughts

Life is funny, when we were sailing it was easy to jump up at dawn and go again. Now that we are home and there are things to do everywhere I find I don’t want to get out of my comfy bed in the morning. The roaring wood stove warming the house that has a slight spring chill, oh I missed this- hmmm so comfy!

My first thought when I got up this morning was, crap I have a couple jobs to look at, the field is tilled and needs planting and oh the gourds from last year need to be washed and Put in the sun to finish drying. Crap the tractor needs work… Then Trina said don’t forget we talked about a BlogDumps overhaul, we need some changes to the site!

My second thought was we’ve only been home a week and here we go again. It looks like it could be a busy spring and summer in all aspects of life.  This year we are growing Lima Beans, Yellow Squash, Spinach, Zucchini, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Cauliflower, Green Onions, and an assortment of Herbs.  Farming this year will be interesting with all the varieties of vegetables and herbs, this will be the largest crop of more then one type ever… Yikes… I hope we can pull it off!

I’m a little late posting today, I could tell you I had to go to the job early but the truth is I slept until the last moment and then ran to the job. I am going to have a talk with myself about this laziness, better yet I could just fire myself and go back to the boat lol

It feels strange to be gone for 5 months, then step right back into the madness of work and children. It’s good to be home.

Snowy Farm Entrance
The entrance to the farm on the day we got home, the snow waited for us.
Screaming Monster faced kid
Oh Lord!
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GK hanging out with Graddad
John Deere tractor on the Farm
Time to work the field.

Have a great Tuesday
Wolfbernz


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Atlantic ICW Chesapeake Bay Farm New post Sailing Top Sites Tuesday

Home Sweet Home

Last Friday around 11:45am we decided to make the jump from Norfolk, Virginia, to Cambridge Maryland. It’s about 150 miles and usually takes three stops. We filled the tanks full of fuel just in case we decided to skip a stop. The wind was screaming from behind us, gusting 25 to 30 mph as we headed into the Chesapeake. The prediction was for the wind to calm as the day went along with a wind shift after midnight. Later in the day about 3:30 the wind

We decided to skip our first stop at Deltaville, Virginia, and head to Solomans Island, Maryland, but this meant sailing into the night. Well rested we decided to go for it and make time, arriving in Solomans at 4:00am. So far this had become a long haul with Trina and me trading out for a turn at the helm to go below to warm by the heater. The heater did make it a bit more tolerable though. After checking the weather, wind conditions and fuel we decided to catch a short nap and go onto Cambridge. The weather had moved in a bit quicker, it was now to rain on Sunday with snow in the afternoon, the bay is not the place to be in these conditions!

Trina and I both had our turn of falling out, going below to rest while the other took over. Finally Saturday afternoon the sun came out, we made the right choice because it was a bit warmer. I raised the pirate flag and Conch Republic flag from the Keys as we made the last five miles into the marina.

We ran twenty five hours and crossed the bay, about 155 miles or so. Tired and hungry we were picked up and taken to eat, now I was much more tired. They were right about Sunday it never really got above freezing. The sun came out for a short time so we headed back to the boat. Some how the boat was parked in the wrong slip… Missed it by that much lol

It was an adventurous trip to say the least but I am glad we made the right decisions and got here before the storm blew in.

My first though when we arrived at the farm was… Holy Crap, it’s still winter what happened to spring? I thought I was seeing things, it was just a joke when I said get out the snow shovels we are almost home!

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My second thought after watching the news and seeing the big picture was… It won’t last the sun comes out tomorrow with a warming trend and I really don’t want to be on the water for the April thunderstorms that come up the East Coast.

It’s good to be home spending the rest of the week with the the son and grandson Jacob and getting back in the swing of things. The shop will be opened for business this week and its time to fire up the tractors for another adventure on the farm 🙂

Have a great Tuesday
Wolfbernz


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Atlantic ICW New post Sailing Top Sites Tuesday Vacation

Weather Predictions

I woke up this morning in Elizabeth City. It was foggy and drizzling. I’ve been through here before but it’s always been pretty nice… sunny, warm… the forecast for today was sunny – no mention of fog. My first thought was to make the next weather window we have to keep moving north so we have to go North through the Dismal Swamp today.

It’s foggy and drizzling and we’re in the swamp with logs and trees and floating debris. It’s an eerie feeling to be in the swamp like this.. maybe that’s why they called it the Dismal Swamp, the fog and drizzle really help it live up to it’s name.

My second thought this morning is I need a job like the weather men have. Where I can be wrong 50% of the time, make lots of mistakes and still have a job! It would be cool to just throw out a prediction of what the weather might be and just sit back a pull in the paychecks. I could do that.

So here we are making our way. We arrived early for the first lock and we’re waiting for it to open so we can pass. Once again, not sunny. Not 67 degrees. It’s cloudy. It’s windy. It’s cold. In the Dismal Swamp.

Dismal Swamp

Dismal Swamp

Any day on the water in the boat is a good day though, even if it is foggy and the weather men are clueless 🙂

Wolf


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New post Top Sites Tuesday

Two OK Maybe A Few Thoughts

It’s a rainy day and as we sit and wait out the weather I can’t help but think about all the things that seem to crop up over the course of our trip. There are things on the websites that need work, the shop that needs to get ready for the upcoming season, the farm and the worst of all the last farm dog, Woofy, passed away last night – 10 days before we get home.

My first thought is I miss the past, the farm full of little kids, dogs, horses etc… It seems like the grand ole days but I like the future too.

Why is it that growing up and older has moments like this? Sometimes it seems like yesterday and in another way it seems like another lifetime. The good times, I wouldn’t want to be frozen in that time period the future has much to offer. I like moving forward, new beginnings so to speak, it brings some excitement back into the picture. This new path all grown up, where will it go, where will it lead. This has to be rainy day syndrome talking right? Am I the only one that goes through this? The trip home always seems much harder then starting the adventure.

My second thought is simple… I really need to stop thinking so hard and watch the movie and listen to the rain drops! Yeah that’s it, enjoy the moment, the adventure is almost over… Reality will set in soon enough and life will be a buzz with the hurry of daily life, work, and kids…

Have a great Tuesday
Wolfbernz


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