Saturday, January 3rd… I’d like to find a virus creator…just once..

Again, this morning…… I seem to have acquired another virus…… somewhere….from an email or eBay possibly. I didn’t have it until we started watching eBay for spinning wheels, but after that, one appeared and won’t go away. Bit defender is the most worthless antivirus program on the market. Several times I have contracted a virus and Bit defender ends up being taken over, allowing it’s setting to be commandeered to the virus’ settings and cannot recover. It is worthless and so vulnerable!
Well, anyway, here I am infected again. I suppose I will investigate a better antivirus program…… one that can cut the mustard, but I’d surely love to spend about ten minutes in a closed, locked room with any little bastard that creates these malicious viruses “for fun” just to cause hate and discontentment for honest people. I’ll guarantee you he wouldn’t create anymore problems for anyone until he learned to type commands into a computer with a pencil, held in his teeth, if he wanted to continue his virus creation crap, because I’d break every finger he has. This is becoming a bigger and bigger problem on the internet…… one that can devastate a person that is doing business on the net, making a living. It is a problem that the authorities need to clamp down on and quick.
I hate when this crap happens…… because it just ruins the entire day for you and everyone else involved. It’s hard to enjoy yourself when your blood is boiling.

Friday, Jan. 2nd… A resolution & a solution… what else’s needed???

This morning I decided to change my life for the better by dumping old baggage… baggage from another world…another time when life was constantly filled with disappointments at every turn in life’s road. I’ve realized this morning, that I’ve harbored some of that old baggage and it comes to the surface from time to time, inflicting disappointment into my present life when everything should really be bright and sunny, considering the great promise of everything around me. If I have one thing in my past to hate or someone that caused it…..it would be this ugly ghoul, that rears it’s head, when I am completely relaxed and unguarded, thus not expecting those old feelings from yesteryear to resurface so painfully. Abuse is such an ugly word……one branding the aggressor to the male gender 99.9% of the time, because it is extremely hard for a man to admit he was abused. If it weren’t, the percentage would be more even, male to female. It remains as such because society paints a man as a sissy or at the very least spineless, if he were to admit to such a silly thing…… come on…… a big man being abused by a little woman…… right, you sissy! You want us to believe you couldn’t defend yourself against a little girl? You want us to believe you couldn’t suck it up…… and ignore a woman’s tongue, if it was a little sharp at times? You couldn’t just tell her to shut up or slap her one in the mouth for cussing at you? Come on…put her in her place you wimp…… you’re the man here. Well fellas, I’m here to tell you that if you react as such, you’re an abuser too. I believe in loving and respecting the person you’re with and if problems arise, you try to resolve them…… not punch them or slap them or leave them. You try, then try again… then you lose respect and then you’re stuck and disgusted… because you’re not a quitter. Nothing works, you don’t hit… so you strike back by word… sharp words… then you realize after bruises and blood, that sharp words don’t work either because all they do is invite physical retaliation and if it has to be while you’re sleeping to get those retaliatory blows in… then, so be it. Ahhh….. … memories…… sleeping with one eye open and still waking up to savage cursing and breaking things, throwing and smashing at three AM for God knows what reason…… Ahhhh… memories.... of a huge shard stuck in the middle of my back....as flying glass covered the bed I slept in... Memories I am going to purge myself of along with the baggage!
No one should live that way…… I know…I did… and my New Year’s Resolution this morning is to remove that past forever from my mind and never allow those feelings to surface unexpectedly.
I’m not a sissy for choosing not to hit back …… and I will not be responsive with sharp words which then make me an abuser too…… but boy, do I hate the life I lived before this one and memories that jump up to haunt me.
I thank Vicki for loving me and if these feelings ever hurt her when they surfaced in the past, I truly am sorry, for she is the greatest love a person could ever ask for or be blessed with having…… and she heals me and my past. I love her for that……among many other things……
If you are abused…… change it. It won’t ever change itself…… nor will the other party, so you must do it. Be a sissy, but change it…
Then get on with life…… you only have this one chance.
Today we go to Richie’s house for his birthday party. I’ve fed and watered all the critters in their less than warm abode, but all are happy and puttering around like it was summer…… chirping and laying some eggs.. although production has dropped off a little, I know it is because of the frigid cold and they will return to regular when the temperatures do. I am writing and knitting now though….because it’s way too cold to work in the barn doing anything until it warms up, so we will continue to make Hospice gift shop items for spring.

Happy New Year from the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm……

Well we’re into a new year and nothing seems better or worse…!
Isn’t it odd how we celebrate New Years Eve, at the crack of mid-night…… thousands of people at Time Square waiting for the ball to drop and people all over the United States partying and acting crazy, then the next day it’s a ho-hum…… yeah, yeah, kinda what the hell, who cares thing!!!!! Once that little ball drops….it’s all over but the drinkin’ I guess. And so far today…… it’s nothing any more special than any ordinary day of the week or year. I cleaned the pellet stove good today, refilled it and fired it off, then sat in front of it knitting another scarf for the Hospice program. This time it will be a solid blue scarf…… plain, but functional. I’d really like to spin the Alpaca wool we picked up from Isabelle, into one of these scarves for myself. It would be so soft and warm. Alpaca is five times warmer than sheep’s wool, 100% allergenic free and much finer, therefore far more luxurious than any of the cashmere wools. Alpaca wool spins like butter…… and feels great next to the skin, so it is said.
Anyway, I went out to feed the animals and found it to be about 28 degrees in the new barn, 30 degrees in the duck and chicken house and about the same in the brooding house. Thank goodness we have the heat lamps for individual heating for the critters. We pulled double duty on the bunny heat lamps, using them to keep their water bottles from freezing and allowing the bunnies to take advantage of the heat by sitting close to the water bottle and sucking up the heat too. This morning 3 of the four bottles were frozen at the very bottom near the metal, sippy tube…… the farthest distance from the heat lamp also……approximately 14” to 16”… Well, anyway, I had to thaw the tubes on those three watering bottles, refilled them and moved the heat lamps as close to all four of them and directed the lights directly at the bottle.
Later in the day, we went to our friend Charlie and Joan’s house down the road, to find they were away, so we went to Albany and had dinner at the “Capital Buffet”, on Wolf Road. Then came home. That my friends is what the first day of 2009 went like for Vick and I. Had we known last night……… perhaps we wouldn’t have celebrated so hard……
By my saying “Happy New Year…… And a whoop-de-doo……… as Vicki Smiled………

New Years Eve, Dec 31st… Back from a lovely dinner with friends…

We just returned from an excellent dinner at the local French Restaurant called the Mountain View Brasserie, Inc., where we shared a lovely New Years Eve Dinner with Joyce Williams and Stanley Maltzman, our close friends. We started off with drinks and then enjoyed the main course of Prime Rib Au Jus, scalloped potatoes and mixed vegetables…… followed by coffee and an apple tart al a mode in caramel glaze, which was superb. This restaurant owner used to own and operate the Freehold House in Freehold, NY and is a famous local chef, that has served his highly palatable cuisine to some very important people, including the likes of President Bill Clinton. Although Vicki and my tab was expensive, the extent of satisfaction we derived from the evening was worth the cost. I can honestly say that the Prime Rib was the best I’ve had in a long, long time. We are now home and enjoying the evening in a safe and comfortable atmosphere which I wouldn’t trade for all the money in the world, as we await the new year. Tomorrow will start as today did……… except for the date of 2009 rather than the 08, we’ve become accustomed to writing for the last 365 days.
For a long time, both Vicki and I have read the Jon Katz books about his dogs and his little farm in Washington county, which we admired and wished to duplicate here, for ourselves. We have however, recently been finding that both we and his other readers are not so intrigued by his actions and ethics as a farmer. We have been reading reviews about his books on Amazon.com and find that many of his readers feel exactly as we do. Obviously, it does not take a rocket scientist to see that Jon Katz is an author of books and not a farmer. He is constantly applying his remarkably exquisitely, self created, farm life, to interesting writing material, rather than conducting himself as an bonafide farmer would do, providing his animals with the care necessary to keep them healthy, as one would expect an educated caretaker and operator of a farm to do. He acquires dogs and animals when he needs new writing material, then discards them when he no longer can write appealing stories, detailing their existence, so to him....... they no longer deserve to exist and he has them put down or gives them away. This is the very thing that should realistically put Jon Katz down for the count, as an author of less than appealing, writing and reading material. Check out the reviews of his books yourself. I’m sure you will see that Mr. Katz is a money hungry ogre, responsible for inflicting pain and suffering upon poor animals that don’t realize he is a stupid author of fairy tail novels, about fictional doggies from never, never land and that he doesn’t understand that they are simple animals, simply trying to live a simple life.

Wednesday, Dec. 31st… The very last day of 2008 is diminishing…

Good morning from the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm, this beautiful winter morning in 2008, which I will never say again as long as I live! The weather is a lousy mix of snow, cold and a slight wind which creates a chill factor that can cut to the bone, then freeze the flesh right off of the bone. STAY INSIDE TODAY!! The roads are going to be atrocious…… and addictive drunks will be out today and this evening, before becoming really wasted, so be advised to make any dinner engagements close to home. Our's is at six o’clock this evening, with friends, at a local restaurant within three or four miles of our house. The New York state police will be out in force, but they can only do so much to catch these scruffs that plague our highways,trying to kill us, our wives, sons and daughters, with their illness, irresponsible actions and their three thousand pound tool of destruction they operate. PLEASE BE CAREFUL, then have and enjoy a healthy and prosperous New Year.
The new year is one we are eagerly looking forward to, as we continue to expand our farm and keep upgrading the existing entity. New for this coming year will be Alpacas, which will arrive sometime after February or March. There will be a rabbit house built to the rear of the existing barn, where four Angora rabbits will live, multiply and prosper to provide us with Angora wool to add to the Alpaca wool which we will clean, card, spin and knit into items of clothing, that we will market in a newly constructed Hospice Gift Shop this coming Spring. All these things are very exciting to us but the most exciting and dearest to our hearts is supporting the Hospice program here in the Columbia- Greene county area. The hospice program is sometimes viewed as a morbid, subject that is better left alone and not talked about. We want to change that perception of this very special labor of love performed by dedicated and understanding folks prepared to give the greatest gift know to mankind…Love and Understanding.
In the middle ages, a hospice was a resting place for travelers on a difficult journey. Today, a hospice can be a special place where people with life-threatening, life-ending illnesses are cared for and at the Columbia Greene county Hospice, it is a service that reaches out to people where they live, while they still live, with the limited time they have left. You may also know this work as palliative care, the “heart of hospice.” This “heart” describes the approach to care, that which considers the whole person - their physical, emotional and spiritual needs, especially when there is no one else to offer this kind of care. Nature’s Friend’s of Hospice, Inc. shares the hospice credo that-"When all that can be done to care for the person, has been done and to no avail, then the focus must shift to improving the quality of life that remains, while it remains". Help us make this important care a reality! By supporting hospice programs with your cash donations and purchasing gifts and items from participating organizations like, Nature’s Friend’s of Hospice. Inc., you will be helping to provide this physical, emotional and spiritual care. Visit our web page to see Vicki's "Remember Me" hospice heart and more which can be ordered by clicking on the Pay-Pal buttons or email her to order items on the Hospice Page.
Happy New Year!

Tues. Eve, Dec. 30th… What a day we’ve had!! Slow poky as can be..

Well now…… I suppose I should report that today…… I was worthless, shiftless and lazy. Why…… all I did, was go to the bakery for some of the VERY BESTEST…… second to NONE… 3 bean Chili Stew and whole wheat sourdough bread in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD…… As Vicki would put it, It’s my very favorite thing in the whole, wide, world. And all this… I mean…… my extremely satisfied taste buds and contented belly would not have been so….. without the extraordinary, culinary talents of Master Chef, Reginald Ratcliff, Extraordinaire!! He, along with his lovely, Master Gourmet, Artisan Bread and Cake Baking wife Keren, should be held in high esteem and honored for their contribution of excellence to the Greenville area. Never have I found a better place to dine among friends and professionals alike. ( How’s that Reggie??)
Now, back to planet earth……… Seriously, The Two Kids Bake Shop beside the dollar store behind the Rite-Aid drug store in Greenville is an excellent place to go. They serve some delicious breakfast sandwiches and then soups and sandwiches until two in the afternoon from Tuesday to Friday. Everything is all natural, on homemade breads and rolls. Miss it and you’ve missed a real treat. Tell Reggie or Keren, that the Cluckin’ “A” Critter Farm sent you! We’re there every Tuesday for soup and bread!
When we came home, I just goofed off, the remainder of the afternoon, because Vick said it was too cold for me to be out there in the barn working, (it’s nice to be loved so much) so I just worked on the computer and read about Alpacas, bunnies and anything that came to mind. OHHHH!! I did place an order for boxes to ship Vicki’s “Remember Me” hospice heart’s in. That took all of 15 minutes…… 14 of which were wasted trying to use the USPS web site to order them.
Now I guess we should start thinking about what to eat for dinner……… Jeeze……… decisions, decisions, decisions. No sooner will we complete dinner than we’ll have to decide when to go to bed. Ahhhhh, Jeeze again……………………

Tues. Dec. 30th… Cold & clear, but it’s on the way & going down…

It was 34 degrees when I got up this morning with the dogs at 6:30, because Casey Mae couldn’t hold out any longer…… and upon opening the door and seeing her rush out, then stop and slowly look back at me like……”wow, can’t we get a doggie potty inside?” The wind was gusting to 35 mph and the 34 degree temperature has already dropped off to 29 degrees right now, (8:30) so the forecast of lousy weather rushing in today and lasting throughout New Years day seems to be coming all too true. We are to get snow Tonight late which will continue into New Years Eve with accumulations of up to one inch tonight and an additional 2 to 4 inches tomorrow. It’s snowing right now, which is the usual lake effect snow showers we usually get, which amount to nothing except a reminder that winter is definitely here.
All this cold weather will probably place a damper on my wiring in the barn, because it’s really annoying trying to work with stiff, cold wire and frozen fingers. I will definitely place the stall post and railing for the Alpacas and then see how the wiring will go today. If I can, I’ll get some outside lights in…… or close off the wind upstairs or something productive anyway.
We are now really starting to promote our fundraising efforts for the local hospice program as you may have already noticed. Later, when we start harvesting our own Alpaca wool and shear fur from the Angora rabbits we will get this spring, we plan to card it, spin it and knit it into items which we will offer as, 100% natural, hand made items from our farm. We are now knitting scarves, which we will sell in the gift shop and we have many, many other items planned for sale there including fine art by Vicki, books of mine and other local artists which have already pledged some of their work, so we’re busily preparing right now for a huge grand opening with an open house in the spring. We now have a link on the blog for donations, because some folks don’t care to buy anything, but do want to donate to this worthy cause, so for them, we have the “Donate” button which takes them to Pay-Pal, where they may donate any amount they wish which goes directly into our “Nature’s Friend’s of Hospice, Inc.” account with Pay-Pal, which is fast, secure and easy. We are also making products for sale both on the internet and later in our “Hospice Gift Shop” this spring, when the building is approved and completed. To see what we are presently offering, go to our Hospice Page at http://www.cluckinacritterfarm.com/cluckin%20a%20critter%20farm_014.htm and you can see the items ready for sale by ordering directly from the “Buy Now” buttons for the corresponding items. Again, all net proceeds go to the hospice program. Like I said before… “A small thoughtful gift, will not be missed by you, or them!

Mon. Eve, Dec. 29th… Working in the barn after running around…

We did go to get Vicki’s glasses adjusted…… both pairs! We called and Richard was in today at the Albany store, so we decided to go to the office in Troy. It’s about the same distance I suppose, but it’s far more easy to get there than the one in Albany. We drove right into the lot, had both pair adjusted in a matter of minutes and left very happy! Imagine, Richard couldn’t do in two hours what they did today in ten minutes!!!!
On the way home, we stopped at the Agway store and bought almost 40 egg cartons so I had somewhere to put all the eggs we are gathering…… Very few people are bringing the cartons back, so I’m going to have to raise the price of our eggs to $2.50 per dozen and if you bring boxes, I can sell them for $2.00 a dozen. It’s a lot easier to reduce the price when someone brings boxes back, than to tell them that the eggs cost more for them because they didn’t bring any boxes back. So from now on, our eggs are $2.50 per dozen. When we got home, we went to the barn and boxed eggs we had in the refrigerator in a big basket, so all we had to do was transfer them from basket to boxes and put them back into the frig! After finishing the eggs, we moved things around in the barn, built a bottom door and As I held it into place, Vick installed the hinges. We then placed plywood on the sides of the stairs to close them in. Now the chickens and turkeys cannot get to the loft anymore or roost on the steps and fill each step with dodo. How Nice!!!! Tomorrow we have no place to go, so I will start in the barn early and pull wires, mount switch boxes, light boxes and be ready to mount the fixtures so we finally have lights outside. We will also finish the stall for the Alpacas and add a hay feeder, Somewhere along the line. I also want to revise the bunny cages that are mounted on the wall and install catch pans underneath them. I guess that’s enough for tomorrow and maybe the entire week!! Let’s see how well we can do.

Finally......You’ll notice if you look to your left, just above my followers, a Donation button now exists where you can help raise money for Nature’s Friend’s of Hospice, Inc., our not-for-profit corporation, that we created, to benefit the Columbia-Greene county Hospice and Palliative Care program. Your gift of love to a hospice patient, is probably the last loving gift those patients will ever receive except for the loving, received from their family before their passing. It’s a good feeling to help provide the care and maintain their dignity as they approach departure from this life. You can see our hospice hearts that are for sale at our web site by clicking on (visit our hospice page) A paid receipt will be provided by mail for tax purposes. Thanks. http://www.cluckinacritterfarm.com/cluckin%20a%20critter%20farm_014.htm

Monday, Dec. 29th… A cloudy, 35 degree, Good morning to ya……

Been up since 6:30, drinking coffee and mulling over a verse for Vick to put on a little card, to be included with her Hospice Heart she is selling for Columbia-Greene Hospice and Palliative care program located in Catskill. It is a lovely sun catcher, which is an all hand made, stained glass heart, meant to be hung or displayed in your home as a remembrance of a loved one that has departed, showing that life does go on and a person can continue to live and still hold the departed person, lovingly in their heart.
Vicki is accepting orders at a cost of $9.00 each plus shipping, by email to, cluckinafarm@aol.com. (100% of the net proceeds, goes to Cloumbia-Greene County Hospice) Be sure to type Hospice Heart in the subject line so your email order isn’t overlooked. When you email, just tell Vick how many hearts you would like and include your Name, Address and Zip code. She will get back to you with the total price, including your shipping. (which she will figure out from your zip code, so PLEASE remember to include it with your email) Anyway, I finally came up with a verse for her card…… so now we will wait to see what she thinks of it before I post it.
I really don’t know what we are gonna do today… but there was strong talk last evening about venturing to Albany to have Vicki’s glasses adjusted properly, but we’ll have to call to make sure “Richard” isn’t there. It was suggested we go to Pearl Vision or Lenses Crafters, but Vick wants to go where she bought the glasses. The lady is nice, but Richard is a real nitwit and takes forever to do a simple adjustment and fitting. Last time we were there, we sat for 1½ hours while he made an adjustment to a lady’s glasses. This was a second or third trip adjustment for the lady. Jeeze, I was ready to flip out, (I am not a patient person…as Vicki will attest to) because I think this is ridiculous! Why do they keep this guy employed there?? Anyway, we need to call to be sure he is not working there today before we go and if he is, we’ll go another day!
Perhaps then I will work in the barn…… I need to clean the stairs to the loft of turkey dodo and install a hinged plywood “door” at the bottom of the steps and plywood up the sides, to keep the turkeys off the steps. (dodo on steps is treacherous!) I should also remove the hay and roost, under the steps, that the turkeys don’t use, so I can put the steel break I use for making metal catch pans for the bunnies under the steps for storage, along with all the fencing and steel sheets and hand tools. Then I can install the stall rails and gate for the Alpacas…… which will be perfect roosting places for the turkeys and easier to clean. We also need to install the outside lighting and upstairs wiring, so there is still plenty of “nice weather” work to do in and around the barn. Lights outside will be especially nice when you have to venture to the barn after dark and it does help to deter predators from coming into the barn area, especially in the early morning hours. There will be several dusk to dawn lights and the rest will be on motion detectors with switching to turn them off if desired. More on all this later……for now, I’m off! Huh?……… come to think of it, it’s always been said that I was a little off anyway………

Sunday Eve, Dec. 28th… Today was a travel day again… I love it!!!

Today we decided we were going to go to Shokan, to a store called the Cracker Mill, to shop for birthday stuff for Richie and hit anyplace we thought fitting to check out along the way. It was a neat idea, because we wanted to try the pizza out across the road from the Cracker Mill. Richie swore to Vicki that it was just like pizza they grew up on in Canarsie, Brooklyn, when they were young, so we naturally had to check it out to see if it was just like the “Original Pizza” in Brooklyn or not. Vick said it was pretty darned close…… but then so is Pomodora’s in Catskill and Paul’s in Coxsackie. Oh well, nothing ventured……… nothing gained, but it was good.

The stove store, with other neat stuff

The Chinese is good too, but the wine and hard stuff is better!!

After leaving Shokan, we headed into Woodstock and stopped at the Pegasus Shoe store where Vick picked up a nice pair of winter boots, which she needed for everyday use and going away. Their merchandise is top of the line and Vick had been searching for a pair of Merrill’s for quite a while now, with no luck. We then stopped in at the Catskill Art Supply, for Vick to see if she could get a new tip for her smallest Koh-I-noor pen, but they don’t carry that tip, so she bought a nib and holder which she will use in place of the Koh-I-noor pen. We left there and headed home where we killed time upstairs watching TV and Vick did some painting, then we went to Russo Ristorante for dinner. It takes for ever there, but Eddie Russo’s shrimp Parmigiana is the best you’ll ever get and his pasta and salad is to die for…… After a day like this……..all you can do is go to bed, because it can’t get any better than this.

Ahhhh yeah…… check out the last picture. I wanted to show you what we found in the bird/squirrel feeder the other afternoon in broad daylight……… stealing from the squirrels and birdies!