Under the Weather

The day after Christmas, I woke up feeling terrible. My dear, lovely sister-in-law decided to share her cold with me while she and my brother were here for their visit. Thanks Sis. So since Wednesday I've been talking with only half a voice (I sound like a frog; don't ask to hear me sing), and have been forcing myself to take a spoonful of honey 2--3 times a day. I'm not even sure that this is even a cold, but I don't know what else to call it. I'm just rather lightheaded right now, tired feeling, and wishing I could talk normal. Don't know what you have? Call it a cold. Don't feel good? Say you have a cold. Seems like logic to me anyway. 

Today however, I had two fun things come in the mail that managed to distract me for a couple hours.

One was a most coveted item:

Photo courtesy of www.rareseeds.com

Every December I look forward to my newest seed catalog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Sometimes I think I might be more excited about this catalog than I am about Christmas. All of my fellow gardening enthusiasts had gotten their copy, meanwhile I had to listen in agony as folks were saying, "I got mine today! It's so beautiful!". Torture, I tell you. Pure torture. I checked the mail every day, waiting for my copy. Days past, weeks past. And then right when I stopped thinking about it, it came!! Now it's MY turn to exclaim over how pretty this year's book is. 

The second piece of mail was a book I impulsively decided to buy myself. I say "impulsively" because I very rarely buy books for myself. I adore books, and the best gift you could possibly get me is a book, but I always feel strangely selfish when I buy a book that is not a gift for someone else. There's always that nagging thought of how the animals need more hay, or I need to buy more milk filters, or the money should be saved for something important (like a nitrogen tank! Someday I'm going to get one of those for the goats!), so I rarely buy anything for myself...

But then I saw a book I wanted. A book I wanted really bad. It was eleven dollars... I argued with myself for three days about buying it, and then during a streak of hotheadedness, I bought it. Yes, I am pathetic. Maybe someday I'll grow out of it. 

The book in question?

I've been reading online about aquaponics for a little over a year now. I'm intrigued by it to say in the least. I'm planning on getting a small hoophouse built as soon as funds allow it (hay prices are astronomical this winter!), and I thought it might be fun to try this whole aquaponic thing out when said hoophouse is finally something more than words and wishes. 

The book itself has been fabulous, and definitely worth the $11 I spent on it. :) Some of the chapters are a bit hard for me to fully grasp right now, in my fuzzy-headed state, so hopefully I'll get over this virus-y bug soon!   I'm so, so ready to be back to my normal self. To be able to sing out in the barn without sounding like a toad on steroids, and to be able to get back to writing on here. There are so many posts I'm dying to write! I have three that are halfway done, but still in draft form. I just feel that I can't focus enough right now to do them justice. Sorry guys. :-/ Maybe I should start taking more honey...

But I have things to share, and that's the truth. I want to show y'all how big the Pumpkin Hulseys have gotten (It looks like I ended up with a stag and a hen!), my new fodder growing system that I got during Thanksgiving week (I know; you're all wondering WHY I haven't shown you sooner... Long story.), and then there's all the other fun stuff like how to winter out your livestock in Salatin-style, a review on a Baker Creek seed collection, the end results on the Freedom Rangers, an update on the pigs, the next chicken breed I want to take on (the blackest bird you've EVER seen)... Sometimes I sit down at the computer and feel so incredibly overwhelmed at what all I need to blog about. And then when you're not feeling good, like this week's state that I've found myself in, it about makes a body want to cry. Okay, full confession: I did cry today. That's how not-good I'm feeling right now. I was so tired this afternoon after reading through my catalog and book, and my brain was saying "you need to blog!!", that I broke down in a most ridiculous manner. So I crawled into bed, not caring that it was 3pm and I should have been doing something constructive. I woke up at 4:50pm, and felt slightly better. I'm at least not crying anymore. I ate some chocolate (makes everything better), and felt perky enough to sit here and ramble about everything that came to mind. Which brings us to the present moment. I think I've run out of things to say.

So that's where I'm at right now. I sound like a frog, I feel like I'm in a fog, and I'm itching to be back to my normal self. Rain, rain go away, come again another day... I should end this post here before I think of something else to say. You never know what might be next...