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Saturday, March 10, 2012

Daylight Savings Time One Day Early

This morning, my body clock said it was time to get up. It was 5:30AM and I was wide awake and the sun was not up. For the last two weeks, I have been getting up at 6:30 sharp. Conveniently that is when the sun rises around here. Tonight is the night we spring forward. Starting tomorrow, that means my body clock will either make an adjustment or I will be getting up when the sun comes up around 7:30. Well, apparently my body clock got a jump on DST. Sunday will be the test. If I get up with the sun, today was a fluke. If I get up at 6:30 DST, I made the adjustment just fine.

Today, Carol had double duty - doggies and cats. I planned on fixing waffles for breakfast so the plan was for me to feed the cats and then get started on the waffles while Carol took care of the doggies and cleaned the cat center. After breakfast, I checked on our propane level and decided we really should get our tanks filled. We filled one tank in Montgomery, AL a few weeks ago but due to the freezing weather here, we had one empty tank and the other was down to about 1/3 left. There is a propane place in Pollocksville but they are not open on weekends. The only place I found open was a dealer on the South West side of Jacksonville. Our GPS took us to the wrong place. That could have been a frustrating thing. However, as we headed back toward the correct location, we came up to Cabin Creek Campground. They sold propane so that is where we stopped to fill the tanks. Looks like a cool place to hang out so I asked if they use workkampers. Of course they do. So while our GPS led us down what appears to be a wrong path, we found a workkamp opportunity for the future. Plus we got propane at the same time. That was pretty cool.

Next stop was a Citgo convenience store that sells Off Road Diesel. That is diesel fuel for off road vehicles like tractors and other agricultural and farming vehicles. I had three 5 gallon containers from the farm to fill. For the folks who use diesel fuel, you will know there are two types of dispensing nozzles - large diameter ones with high flow rate for 18 wheelers and small diameter ones with low flow rate for trucks and cars. This pump just happen to have the large diameter dispensing nozzle which just did not quiet fit into the 5 gallon containers. I carefully placed the large nozzle in the small opening of my container and pulled the trigger. In a matter of a few seconds, my container experienced what I call a diesel fart. There was very little room for air to escape my 5 gallon container so the air pressure grew past equilibrium and the air escaped quickly forcing diesel fuel to spray back toward me. I quickly released the trigger but by then it was too late. Diesel fuel had sprayed on my shirt, pants and shoes. Oh well, I will just smell like diesel for a while.

Since there was a Home Depot next to the Citgo store, I thought I would get them to give me a quote on the 10x16 foot deck we are going to build on the farm next to one of the cabins. What a mistake that was. Earlier this morning, I went to Home Depot on line to search for their Build A Deck Design tool. The software does not run on a Mac. Gee, that's strange. Lowe's Build A Deck Design tool does. I should have taken that as an omen of what I would experience at Home Depot. The service person could not find the application on the store computer he was using. He found it on a different computer. Then he was not familiar with how to use the software. He consulted with three other people before he figured out how to print the material list. That experience alone was sufficient for me to say sorry Home Depot, you just lost a sale. Lowe's will get the order.

We were less then 1/2 mile from Starbucks. Carol and I decided to go after a treat. After the diesel fart and the long painful wait for Home Depot to provide a material list for a small deck, that Caramel Macchiato was well worth it. We enjoyed our drinks and headed back to the farm. What should have only taken a couple of hours took over 5 hours.

Next on our list of things to do today was finish bathing the doggies going to Adop-A-Thon tomorrow. Before we left this morning, I did get the water heater back in service so we would have hot water in the clinic where there was a large tub that would make it easier to bathe the larger dogs. Now I confess that I am not a seasoned dog bather. Cody gets his baths from a garden hose outside. In my manner of helping Carol, I decided to bathe the two larger dog. Somehow I managed to spray more water on me than the dog. I also managed to spray the ceiling. How do you dry a ceiling? With a mop? You get the picture. 

Last task on the to do list was to load the van with dog crates for our trip to Jacksonville tomorrow. Van is loaded, supplies are loaded, tables are loaded. Tomorrow we load the dogs around 8:30AM and head for Jacksonville Petsmart.

Tonight it was time to fire up the grill. We had purchased a couple of rib eyes at Walmart when we first got here. I had one marinating and plopped it on the grill. Carol was baking a sweet potato and making a salad inside while I was tending to the steak. The aroma of the BBQing was filling the air. Apparently this played with the cats' noses. They had to come check me out.
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Maybe it was the Blue Moon instead of the steak. I must have introduced them to a new aroma.

As we get older, we must Spring Forward and Fall Back carefully. Hope you did not hurt yourself. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Busy Day On The Farm

Today was a busy day on the farm. Critters needed to be fed, a sick water heater needed repairing, and doggies needed grooming for Sunday's Adopt-A-Thon. And we still found time for some of the local attractions.

Carol was scheduled to feed the cats this morning. Perfect time to show how obedient they have become. In the first photo, Carol is headed to Trump 1 while the cats follow. The middle photo shows the complex design of Trump Towers for the cats. The photo on the right show the cats following Carol to Trump 2. Some of the cats are double eaters - they eat at Trump 1, then he'd for Trump 2 for the second course.

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We have a few resident ducks on the farm. These two think they are cats since they tend to hang out with the cats. When Carol started the feeding, the large duck flew into the yard near Trump 1, nibbled cat kibbles from the ground, then followed her to Trump 2.
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After the cats were fed, we enjoyed our breakfast. While Carol began on the dog grooming, I headed for the Kindness Clinic to take a look at the water heater. The hot water has a very strong rotten egg oder. Some folks recommend removing the anode rod, while others recommend replacing it with one made from a different material. The first and least costly remedy is two remove it. There is not much room above the hater heater so I need to cut an opening above the heater. Middle photo is the escape hole for the anode rod. The last photo shows the hex head of the anode rod. Looks like I got it right.

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Now to get it out.

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Tomorrow I place a plug in the heater where the anode rod was, fill the water heater, turn it back on and start flushing. Hopefully the smell will go away. While I was working on this project, Carol was busy bathing dogs who are going to the Adopt-A-Thon on Sunday. Here are three clean doggies - Albert, Hazel and Stockings.

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I decided tonight would be good time for a date with sweety so we went to Andy's for dinner. On the way there, I passed by this house and thought how cool his collection of gas station memorabilia was. The Sinclair sign got my attention because my Grandfather sold Sinclair gas in Elroy, Tx back in the 50's. My brother retired from Texaco.

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A cold front blew through today so we had some rain for part of the day. Now the temperature is falling as we head into a cold night again. The cold will not last. Next we, temperatures should be in the mid to high 70's. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

100 Years of Oreo

Two days ago on March 6th, Oreo celebrate its 100th birthday. Happy Birthday Oreo. Now there is a good reason for March Madness. We were in Walmart today and I decided to get a package of Oreos. Now that is a strange thing because I just don't flip over the original Oreo. As I looked at the shelve, I was stunned at the options. Do you have any idea how many different flavors of Oreo are available? According to my trusted source , there are over 34 different flavors of Oreos sold world wide. In 2010, Oreo partnered with the movie "How To Train Your Dragon" and introduced Oreos with red creme. Carol bought a package of Oreos the other day that had yellow creme. This is one of their Spring color. I had never seen them before.

Back to my Oreo shopping experience - my eyes scanned the shelves from top to bottom, left to right. Oreos of all colors and names. Ah Ha! There they were. Double Stuff Cool Mint Creme and Double Stuff Peanut Butter Oreo. The Mint Oreo is a good sub for my favorite Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie. The mint is not as strong in the Oreo but it sure is tasty. And the Peanut Butter Oreo is a good sub for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Oreo, you made my day.

We decided to head to New Bern today to pick up some antiseptic soap and non stick gauze pads for Carol. That is what led us to Walmart. Before we hit Walmart, Carol found a sub for Barnes & Noble when she found Books A Million, the second largest bricks and mortar retail store in the US. While there she learn how to connect her Nook to any WiFi. While she was there, I went to Lowe's to get a material list and quote for a 10x14 deck we will probably build next to a cabin here at Safe Harbor Farms.

As we left Walmart, I decide the weather was too nice to drive around in a truck that looks as if it had been mudding. We found a coin operated car wash and pumped in about $6.00 in quarters to pressure wash the caked on mud off and to vacuum the interior. Wish I had a before picture. Trust me, our truck looked like a genuine farm truck with mud caked everywhere.

We left there and headed back to NC 17. We discussed getting a bite to eat since our tummies were growling. We saw one of the few Mexican restaurants in the area - Arturo's. We both decided to turn the truck around and hopefully satisfy our need for TexMex.
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I ordered their Enchiladas DelMar. Carol had a Beef Taco and Cheese Enchilada. Verdict? Certainly not the authentic TexMex like the many places in Corpus Christi. Not as good as the big chains in Texas. But not bad. Will we go back? Probably, unless we find a different place. The food was OK. My DelMar Enchilada's were tasty. The refried beans were too soupy. The enchilada sauce tasted more like tomato sauce. I've heard that before from other who live on the East coast.
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We got back home with a clean truck. Carol and I rested a bit then Carol headed for the dog center to get Sugar, a salt-n-pepper shih tzu. Sugar had a grooming date with Carol. I helped with the bathing part will Carol did the grooming part.

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Sugar was very good even though she was not happy to get the bath. She was well behaved and would make a good pet for someone. Sugar will be going to Jacksonville on Sunday for the Adopt-A-Thon. 

While Carol was finishing up with Sugar, I had a conversation with our not so smart rooster. I explained to him how he should be crowing when the sun comes up, not just when he feels like it. Hopefully he is a fast learner. It does not really matter to me since I sleep with my hearing aids out meaning I do not hear him anyway. If I am successful at getting him to crow when he should, I may take up a new profession - Rooster Whisperer.

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As we wrap up the day, our canine fur babies are happy campers.
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Thanks for stopping by.