Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

If my calculations are correct, here's a TOPP!

Every time you put something positive into the universe, the world changes. Your kindness invites miracles to show up – not just in your world, but in the whole world. - Anonymous

A very quiet day here today! I hope all are well! Enjoy the rest of the week and weekend, Everyone!

Sending healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, , and prayers, Everyone! Have a great weekend!

Great TOPP, Julie!
I believe that to be true!

I have a visitor here today. And a house that smells of cake! Maddy is here today baking her brother's birthday cake for his 21st tomorrow. She is sort of between homes. She left her Dad's because she hates his live-in girlfriend, she can't move in with her Mum for 3-4 weeks when Karin's house settles. She's been living with her boyfriend and his family, but didn't feel she wanted to mess up their kitchen, so she's messing up mine (I don't mind), making 2 choc cakes, 2 vanilla cakes, 2 red velvet cakes. Stacking them, putting butter cream on and between them, then a mirror glaze top which will drip down the sides. Then she'll decorate the top. Already made 2 dozen red velvet cupcakes, and now making some vegan vanilla cupcakes for herself - she can't eat any dairy or she bloats and feels ill, poor kid.
I just told her she is a good sister!
(And granddaughter!!)

Hi, Everyone! Thanks for the compliment, CynB! I can't take credit for it, though I also believe it to be true.

CynB, Maddy is indeed a good sister and granddaughter! That's quite an undertaking - lots of mixing. baking, and decorating! Happy Birthday to Lachlan!

Heidi, has the weather improved so you can move some more hay?

DOrA, how is your project coming?

Midge, I hope your son is enjoying his time in Chile!

Thinking of everyone and sending lots of {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, and

Party went so well! He loved his star. He loved the cake that his sister spent all Friday making. Funny thing, I tested the water with the girls, 3 of whom will have their 21st in the next 3 and a bit years whether they'd like a star. Um, no thanks!! That's the difference between boys and girls.

I've got to say without the bias of a grandmother that Lachlan is an awesome human.

Now we have 2 weeks and it's Emily's 18th.
I can't wait to give her the painting of her dogs, she'll love it.

I have put up a photo of Lachlan and I at his party for anyone who hasn't seen it on FB.
(Now I promise to shut up about it all)

Got 3 loads of hay moved today, for a total of 27 rolls in one day. Just 19 rolls left to move of the 63.
There will be a hay shortage this winter thanks to our screwy weather this summer. We had so much rain that people couldn't get into the fields and a lot of hay rotted before it could be rolled. I'm hoping I have enough. Mike the Vet calculated that I'd need only 50, I tried to get 75, but could only find 63, with 3 left over from last year.

I got the final 3 loads hauled today and stacked in the barn. It feels so good to get that job done.

Tomorrow we finally start construction on the winter indoor pens for the alpacas. There'll be one 12x16 foot pen for the girls and a 6x16 foot pen for Phaeton (and a replacement male when I get one).The job primarily is putting in strong flooring with 2x6's, and adding doors on the outside wall. The indoor walls are already there, being converted from dog kennels. If and when my alpaca herd grows, I have room to add more indoor pens.... up to 3 12x16 foot pens total.

So Heidi,

If a cow doesn't produce milk, is it a milk dud or an udder failure?

How do you fix a broken pumpkin?

With the pumpkin patch...

I thought Milk Duds were brassieres.

I remember Milk Duds as a nickel box of candy at the neighborhood 25 cent Saturday matinee movie theater.

Yeah, I know, I'm dating myself...

CynB, it's great that the party for Lachlan went well and he was excited by his star! Hooray for Maddy for making a special birthday cake for Lachlan!

It's interesting that the girls wouldn't be interested in having a star named after them. You're right about the differences between girls and boys, especially when it comes to gifts!

Wow! Only 2 weeks until Emily's birthday! I can't wait to hear how excited she will be with the painting of her dogs!

Heidi, you're really 'making hay (well, moving it) while the sun shines.' I'm sure you're feeling very relieved to have a good supply on hand for the winter!

Heidi, that sounds like another big job preparing indoor pens for the alpacas. At least I'm guessing that the weather won't have as much of an impact on completing the job. Do you expect to buy a replacement male alpaca this fall, or wait until later?

DOrA, that's a couple of groaners. By the way, how is your project coming along? I really have no way to guess how long it would take, so don't know if it's likely that you have finished the work.

DOrA, I think the box of Milk Duds was 10 cents back in the day when I might have gone to a Saturday matinee. I wonder what they cost now - probably $1.50 for the same size or smaller? (We rarely go to see a movie and hubby NEVER buys refreshments when we go, so I really don't know.)

Thinking of everyone and sending healing energy, , positive thoughts, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and prayers for each of you! Good Night!

The water line and farm hydrant installation is complete. It took longer than it should have, but then I'm no longer a 'spring chicken'. I still want to re contour the area as in flatten the area. That may wait until next dry season however. I will be placing 'ecology blocks' to protect the hydrants from being bumped by moving vehicles or equipment.

In the meantime, I have a storage unit and old house to empty and their contents to dispose of.

Installing a water line and farm hydrant isn't as easy as it sounds. You have to make sure all the connections are perfectly sealed, that there are no sharp rocks in the trench that you have to dig which could puncture the pipe, and you need to have good gravel under the hydrant for bleeding off and drainage. Since you don't want to dig it up and redo the job, you have to be extra careful. That's a big job, DOrA. You have my respect.

We'll be finishing the floor in the first alpaca pen later today. It's going slow but this floor will last longer than I will. It's supposed to rain tomorrow so we won't be able to install the door to the outside until Friday.

Tomorrow night the temperature is supposed to drop to 17˚F / -8.3˚C, and it's supposed to snow.

The floor is finished in the first (larger) pen!!!

Congratulations to DOrA on completing a very large and complicated project. Sounds as if you have more work o the agenda. Going through and emptying a storage unit and an old house sounds challenging! Good luck with the next project!

Heidi, you have also completed a major project. Installing a floor that needs to be strong and last a long time will provide a secure and safe indoor pen for the alpacas. Congratulations on finishing the floor in the first (larger) pen. Good luck when the weather allows you to work on the second pen!

I hope Col's treatment goes well and with few or NO side effects!

Thinking of everyone and sending , healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, and prayers! Happy mid-week to all!

Made more progress today despite the pouring rain and falling temperatures. The old floor was removed fron the smaller pen. We got a quarter of the floor installed in the smaller (males) pen. I repaired and rehung a door to the larger (females) pen that some cows had ripped off and I caught Phaeton and put him in the cattle working pen in the barn (freshly bedded with clean straw) to keep him dry and warm until his new pen is done. He didn't want to be caught so I had to rope him in the pouring rain while he ran around like an idiot. The rain is supposed to end in an hour, then I head into town to pick up the last 20 2x6x12 boards that we need, the new latches for the doors and some more screws to install the hinges for the new doors. We hope to finish the job sometime this weekend. My neighbor George and I are doing all the work. A bunch of years ago George and I replaced all the windows in his house, re-insulated it, and put up all new siding. We enjoy working together. Plus, he told me a really funny story that my idiot ex did recently. George and another neighbor were driving down the road past ex-IH's property, and spotted 2 cows of his on the road. So they stopped and drove the cows back onto his property, then went and told ex-IH that they had been out. So the 3 of them looked around to find out how the cows had gotten loose. Eventually, they found where someone had cut the fence and left it open. Ex-IH flew into a rage, accused another neighbor of cutting it, and called the police, demanding that she be arrested! The police showed up, photographed the scene, then went with ex-IH to that neighbor's house. Ex-IH started screaming at her in front of the cops! The neighbor looked at him and calmly said '' But Gil, don't you remember that YOU cut it last month?'' His mouth dropped open, he turned red and said ''Oh, yeah. That's right.'' What an idiot!!!

Love your story Heidi - he sounds like a real dolt. Aren't you glad you don't have to put up with that anymore. But good to hear about his antics from George.
You and Dora have certainly been working hard - great results. Would love to see a photo when you have finished.
CynB - sounds like you have great times with your grandies. Love the star naming. I have 3 boys and 1 girl - they are certainly very different. I am very lucky as our daughter is 11 years younger (28) than the next one up and they all get on really well and involve each other in their lives.
We have the weirdest weather here in Aust. now - very hot up north in CynB's and Suzy's territory with bushfires and in Melbourne cold (14) with rain, hail and thunderstorms.
No 1 son still in Santiago - riots are worse with more than 24 dead. Not on our news but on the internet or Aljazeera broadcast. Still waiting to hear from him (over 2 weeks now). From the address he last sent, it looks like the riots are in his area - hope not.
Our big racing carnival is almost over - hubby got the trifecta in the Melbourne Cup so he is happy. As usual I picked a few winners from when they are in the mounting yard, but I don't bet on them. My favourite jockey won this year - he has a great rapport with horses. I like him because I have seen him go straight to the horse rather than the people around.
Cheers to all.

Both floors are done, and we've cut the holes in the side of the barn for the outside doors to the pens. I've been making heavy duty wire cages to go around the light bulbs in the pens. Now we're working on framing the door openings before George builds the doors. With any luck, we'll finish the job tomorrow. It's really looking great.

I'm falling asleep at the computer , so will need to get some sleep. Good night, Everyone. Good Night

IT'S DONE!!!!! The indoor pens for the Alpacas are ready for occupancy. Now I need to get them used to going in them before next weeks massive cold spell hits.

I'm sure that Heidi's project is far more photogenic than mine. Scraped dirt takes a while to regrow grass. In the meanwhile, its kind of ugly...

Mine may not be photogenic, either. These are utilitarian pens in a barn. Because of poor drainage, the floors had to be elevated to keep the bedding and animals dry, and we used recycled metal siding for the new doors to the outside pen. They're kind of dirty, but will look a lot better after a heavy rain. With thick straw bedding, you can't see the floors. They just look like 2 roomy stalls in a much used barn, but with doors sized for alpacas instead of horses or cattle.

Hooray for the finished projects, even if we can't see them. Congratulations, DOrA and Heidi!

Thinking of all Sudokuaholics and sending positive thoughts,
, healing energy, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and prayers for All!

It's been a long day, so I'm off to bed. Good Night, Everyone!

I'm off th spend the day at the Llama and Alpaca show at the North American International Livestock Exposition. After all the hard work I've put in recently, I deserve a treat.

Heidi, I hope you have fun at the Llama & Alpaca Show! Will you be looking for a male to replace Frontman? Or will you wait a while - maybe until next spring?

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing weekend! I can't believe we're already a third of the way through November! I wouldn't mind if we could find a way to slow our lives down a bit.

Sending healing energy, prayers, , {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and positive thoughts for everyone! I hope your week gets off to a good start!

I'm going to wait until spring to look for a replacement male.... especially with the weather we're about to experience. Bad time to introduce a new male is during an ice storm, which is due to start this afternoon or evening. Then we're due to have several days of bitter cold.

Ice storm for you Heidi and bushfires for us.
So much of eastern Australia is a declared emergency area because of weather conditions expected today and tonight. Rated as catastrophic. Suzy is in a particularly dangerous area. So is Amelia. We are on alert but so far so good. Col's brother, who lives near the Qld/NSW border had fires on Sunday night, deliberately lit near his fence line. He got them out with the help of neighbours and firies. I heard this morning there's another nearby this morning.
Fingers crossed for everyone experiencing these extreme weather conditions whether cold or hot.

Col's 8th cycle of chemo has been a particularly brutal one. His gastric reflux and resulting sore throat are so bad he can only eat soft foods. He's living on fruit, jelly and custard. I made him macaroni cheese which he managed. As well as that, his fatigue is really bad. He sleeps around the clock.
4 more to go but I'm dreading them.

My heart bleeds for poor Col. I hope the last 4 treatments are not as bad, but I fear they will be worse. They're pumping toxins into his body and their effect is cumulative.

In my opinion, people who intentionally start fires should get the death penalty. Not only are they destroying the environment, and people's homes, but they're taking animal and human lives for fun. They're a type of serial killer.

I've posted a picture of my local radar from 7 minutes ago. It's going to get really ugly really soon. At least the alpacas are warm and comfortable in their new pens.

Heidi, I'm so glad you were able to get the new indoor pens for the alpacas completed! It sounds like your weather is similar to ours, maybe getting worse. We had about 4 inches of snow today and temperatures dropping from a high of 24 degrees to mid-teens right now. We'll be down to single digit ACTUAL temperatures tomorrow, so below zero with wind-chill/real-feel temperatures. We won't even reach 20 degrees for a high temperature tomorrow. At least the snow has stopped.

I just looked at your local radar picture, Heidi. I hope your area can stay on the rain side of the line and avoid the snow and ice! I hope you won't need to go out tomorrow. (Unfortunately, we have errands that must be run, and a meeting.)

It really makes sense to wait until spring to buy another male alpaca. I hope you were able to get to the Llama & Alpaca Show today, Heidi!

CynB, I'm so sorry to hear about the bush fires in your area, and more in Suzy's and Amelia's area. How awful for Col's brother to have to deal with fires directly, especially knowing that they were deliberately set! I hope that doesn't continue! Sending prayers and positive thoughts for all who must deal with the fires.

Heidi, I agree with you about people who intentionally set fires.

I'm so sorry that Col is having to deal with the cumulative affects of his treatments. I hope the next ones are not as bad and he will be able to weather the next couple of months! It's no wonder that he needs to sleep to much! I certainly hope that all of this leads to the desired results and no further worries! Gentle {{HUGS}} to both of you!

Thinking of all of our Sudoku friends and hoping all can stay safe and healthy! Sending healing energy, positive thoughts, prayers, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and !

Just looked outside. The snow is about an inch deep already!

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