De-clutter Day and the Pond

Do you ever have those days where you get looking around your house and realize that half of the stuff you have you just don't use or need? I do and I did yesterday and I got disgusted at all the ridiculous things we had. My house is entirely too cluttered! So today was de-clutter day.

I just started by walking around the house picking up things and putting them in the "Salvation Army bag". "We don't need this. We don't need that. What is that? Never mind we apparently don't need it." All those went in the bag. Then I went into the spare room to get one thing, and things fell, and I got frustrated, and Phil followed me and we started on the spare room. I went through my stuff, Michelle finally decided to give away some boxes of stuff she didn't want (It might have been me making her hold onto all those porcelain dolls...maybe), then Phil started on his stuff and I left to go do the outside work and visit the garden (and I did take pictures so maybe that will be tomorrows post though they aren't real impressive).
So the Salvation Army bag ended up being bags and then I decided to just refill the boxes that way we wouldn't have to burn the boxes too. Needless to say there were more boxes than Phil could fit in the car so I will be making more than one trip (I'll take some each day when I go to work).
The sad part is that we just scratched the surface of our clutter. We aren't exactly "hoarders" as in the TV show. We keep our clutter in the spare room and closets mostly but it is still unnecessary clutter. (I still could not give up Christian's ride on toys or John's table and stools that we made him out of car wheels and empty wooden wire spools.)

While I was outside I tried to take pictures of the pond for you all but it seems harder to take pictures when the sun is out as there are too many shadows. Plus I recently got a new computer and I am really missing my Microsoft Picture "thing" and I can't brighten any of these pictures. I have done the best I can with them though so here they are. The water is a bit murky as I really need make it a decent filter instead of just putting a filter bag over the pump and a filter cartridge under the frog spitter but that will be another project to come when I get all the supplies. The fish seem to all be doing great now even with our cold nights lately.

I know, I'll try to get some better pictures on the next cloudy day or closer to evening as you really can't see anything in these. 

Today's Harvest and an Update

Yeah, I know, I don't post nearly enough anymore. I really don't have any excuses. I just plain am not doing anything self sufficient and interesting lately. I have been working on getting my credit score up and I actually got some credit cards. Now I know what you are thinking, the absolute most horrible thing a self sufficient person could do was go into debt...and I haven't. Yes, I have the cards and I use them but I pay them off every month and my credit score is looking good. If finally realized that if we ever really want to have our own place we have to have that credit score to back it up. Frankly I feel more secure having them as well.
Anyway, that is not what this post is about. It is about harvesting what little my tiny garden gives me and today it was basil .....AND surprise, surprise a real PEPPER!

 I am not sure why I get peppers now and not when it is hot since peppers are supposed to like heat but I am getting a few peppers now. It won't last as even we have to get cold eventually.
Not sure about the rest of the garden. We will have a decent amount of greens, like always, but the turnips and beets look like they will be all tops. I experimented with their new beds by buying all the soil for them and they are apparently too good (yeah, who would have thought?). Anyway, I love greens and don't get enough so I'll take what I get. The basil was made into pesto and we will have pesto pasta tonight with our chicken.
The pond is looking nicer every day. The grass is growing around it and I have planted all sorts of bulbs that I am hoping come up next spring. I did lose about half the fish, a few at a time. Apparently the pond did not cycle with the filter from the fish tank but it is good now with 11 or 12 fish in it. The grass around it is still growing, some looks good, some not so good but I am beginning to think it will survive. I still have to water it every day as we have had a few sprinkles lately but no real rain.
We did have a possum visiting us on the back porch every night but he was hiding on a corner of the porch that I couldn't see the other night when I let Romeo and Echo out and Romeo killed it with one shake of his head. Then he dropped it like he had no idea of what had happened (of course, I was screaming at him and Echo to come back as I was afraid they would get bit). They did not get bit, it was just that quick.
I was hoping that the possum was the reason that I wasn't getting any eggs from the chickens and that now I would get eggs but it has been two days and I still haven't gotten any eggs. I set the trap in case there as another one. I haven't seen any snakes, though it isn't nearly cold enough yet for the snakes to be slowing down this year, so it could still be a snake.
I am still playing my Irish tin whistle and my violin. I am fairly good at the tin whistle but was having problems with my violin playing. I could play lots of good tunes but I never felt that I played them really well and after months and months of practice I should have been playing them well. So I started again. I went back to the beginning and started with the Suzuki violin books this week. I don't have a teacher but have looked up lots of videos online and I am really seeing some improvement. Oh, I am still a long was from playing well but I think it was a step in the right direction.
As for the children: My oldest son is doing well with his new wife at Ft. Campbell, my younger son is still in Afghanistan. I try to send him something every few weeks. My daughter Michelle is still at Augusta Technical College and one of her instructors has nominated her for the GOAL award. He also recommended her for an internship and job but she has not gotten either one of those yet.
I will try to get on here and post a guest post tomorrow but no promises. I might just get on here and try to catch up with everyone else's posts and never get to it. :)