Lead — in 2015!

Two days ago, while working on a DIY project on our home, my husband found in our walls a can of “White Lead” made by Dutch Bros.  I’ll include a photo.

The photo on top is a close up of the can and the second photo is of the can in the same area as we found it.  In the wall, above a support that holds up our roof rafters.  You can see one and a part rafters in the photo.  The can in the photo, had a lid that was loose.  I opened it up and it even had about a fifth of the canful of product, which had separated. White from oil.  I was even stupid enough to poke at it.  I took the photos yesterday and today.  (9/17/2015 <–two days after discovery)

We bought this house  in 2005. Neither of us were too concerned about lead.  Lead is an issue that I specifically remember hearing about as a kid, and had assumed that it was safely taken care of and all was well.

Of course this whole thing has me researching about Lead.  Contacting folks hoping to find out if my kids might be poisoned.  So, this might be an ongoing issue that I’ll be posting about.  We’ll see.

Our house was built in 1953.  Sometime after that the garage (where the  can was found) was built.  It is obvious that whoever added on the garage was trying to keep it in the style of the home (Ranch Style), and the siding looks the same as on the house. I would think it was added soon after the house was built.

Peg

Butterfly Haven

Last Saturday (June 2) Clyde and I pretended we were mountain goats again. We followed a logging road up West Fork Creek. He is looking for the elusive creek where the big nugget lies… and I am pretty much along for the ride.. cause it’s fun! LOL.

We got five miles down this road before there were big logs that had fallen down blocked our way…so we got out of the jeep and hiked another mile or so. I wore the wrong shoes for such a trip. I thought we were going to the creek to get wet and wore my flip flops! But, along the way we saw what he thought was bear dung…so I was happy he was carrying his 45.

It was awful pretty up there…I really didn’t want to turn back, I was just getting warmed up, in terms of exercise. But, he was on call, and had to be back within cell phone reach before 3. He was taking chances being out of cell phone reach as a matter of fact. lol.

I almost always take a camera with me now, no matter where we go… sometimes, I’m too lazy to take it out. Sometimes, I don’t get good photos… but, on the way down, we stopped by the creek so he could “shoot” for gold with his little electroscope, and when I got out, I saw one Swallow Tail Butterfly. Well, one good shot of a butterfly with my camera would well be worth me getting it out of the jeep for… so I got out the camera, and planted myself on the shore of the creek…

As I was observing this butterfly I realized there were other kinds of butterflies…soon, I realized I must have been in some butterfly haven… either they just hatched, or they were mating..I don’t know. But, I sat down and kept still and before long I was easily able to count a dozen Swallow Tails..

and I got to thinking…. and you know, I could be wrong. LOL, but, you know how God gave us a rainbow to be a promise…
The rainbow is a symbol of God’s Promise to mankind…. and well, it’s a symbol mankind can understand I suppose. I think everything we see, touch, feel, taste, and hear is part of the promise…. it’s all glorious… I think these butterfly’s are part of the deal. ya, I know, not a well thought out theory…

Anyways, I got some photos, none of them are fantastic… but they are here, I hope you enjoy!!! Love& hugs, peg

http://i192.photobucke t.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/butterflies%202007/group2.jpg

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z177/pegrowe62/butterflies%202007/group_bu…

My compost pile.. er, my yard.. lol

What do you think???? I like to check in with friends and family when I am this pissed off…cause, well, I have a tendency to follow  my knee jerk reaction, which is to rent the biggest truck I can find and just pile the compost in here now…. lol, but, since I know, I get a bit over emotional, I decided to ask anyone if they’ve ever ran into a problem like this and see what they did to solve it….

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I don’t know if I am over reacting….

We have hauled four loads of that free compost you get from the County into the yard. I have spread it around my Irises that were given to me, mixed it in with my hay bales in order to build soil in our ‘garden area’, we put it right by our front door on my flowers out front… (when you think of four loads, think of the back of a small pick up truck, our trailer was once the backend of a Ford Ranger) note: in our ‘garden area’ we have no topsoil, it’s all clay.. a contractor took it years ago, and it’s so hard, Clyde beat himself silly trying to till it last year and go no where with it…our last load went on the back lawn, we were told if we spread it a couple inches thick that the worms would carry it under ground and make our soil real spongy and healthy….

We were planning spreading it on both front and back lawns, around the flowers around the pond, and in my butterfly/hummerbird/bee corner… yes, basically on almost all of our little 1/2 acre.

And yes it smells.. there is manure in compost, is my guess. But the smell starting to wear off.. and most of it will be tilled under in the fall after gardening season is over…

Supposedly, our neighbors have gotten together and decided that we should not be spreading this compost on our yard anymore, and they want us to buy  straw and cover it up.. geez, louise, how many inches of straw do they want?? I think it’s realistic to say that no straw is going to cover up what they don’t want.

The one neighbor that approached clyde said three neighbors had come to him about it.. first of all I don’t believe it.. but if it’s true, it’s probably the same three that demanded we cut down our trees as soon as we moved in….

The people who lived here before us manufactured dope, and  we’ve been told the back yard was used as a dump and it was so bad that rats were all over the nieghborhood… We are cleaning the place up and trying to improve the lot.. so that someday we won’t have to haul any compost in… or at least very little…

My neighbor asked me tonight, if i don’t care about my neighbors… and you know, i see that as a mean tactic.. it’s not that I don’t care.. it’s that I’m looking at the big picture, and enjoying the fact that this is our first home, and I can actualy have a beautiful yard someday.. and I tried to explain that to him, and he kept asking me over and over again, “so do you care about your neighbors??”

I look at his stuff in his back yard every day.. he puts in furnaces for a living.. there are pipes and furnuce pieces.. and wires, and cables, and a shed that needs torn down..but it’s not my yard so I don’t worry about it.  I don’t see it as my business.

I’ve tried to tell this story from the neighbors side and from my side, and I’ve taken college logic classes and I know good and well, I put an ’emotional appeal’ in this.. but right now I’m really emotional.

My neighbor said he wasn’t gonna talk to me ever again, he now has no use for me.. cause I said I told him I would not stop hauling compost in, and I invited him to hire an attorney if he wanted. My husband is mad at me because he doesn’t want to make enemies of the  neighbors…. this is just stupid!

We live in an area that is zoned in the county.. we live down the road from a cow farm, across the freeway from Sheep farms… there is agriculture all around us… I don’t honestly get it.

Obviously, I need a 200 acre ranch…cause I think cow stuff doesn’t stink at all.. unless you get such massive quanities that it could probably be considered toxic waste…. my grandparents had a farm… it is part and parcel of growing up in the country.. yes, I come from a very long line of farmers…

I’m so sad… and mad…. have you ever heard of such a situation coming up ever?? And how did it go???

xoxoxo, peg

Yanks, Rebs, & Doodlebugs!

Doodle up, Doodle up!!

Hey this is fun!!! Find out if you are a yank or a reb! I am 46% yank (barely there according to them).  Which did kind of shock me, I have a very small amount of ancestors from the southern part of the country.   I also got a big kick out of this page, because it has a link to the “infamous” doodlebug! Which it turns out is REAL!! My grandpa and us kids, called the doodle bug out to visit when we went out for walks to the back pasture on their farm in Woodburn, Oregon.  My EX husband made it quite clear that there was NO such thing as a doodle bug and that my grandpa (Earl Otho Coop) was pulling my leg.  I am soooooooo happy that my EX was wrong!!  Goes to show, again, he don’t know as much as he thinks.  If anyone happens to have his email address, I’d love for this to reach his desk!!!
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html