Anyone selling sunshine?

Human beings will line up for miles to buy a bucket of catastrophes, but don’t try selling sunshine and light – you ‘ll go broke ~Chuck Jones

I think most people in PA would pay good money for some sunshine. It has been a while since we have seen any for any length of time. As I look out the window it is playing games of hide and go seek. It will disappear behind a cloud only to reappear for a few seconds before it disappears again. Happily the clouds are not dropping buckets of rain. Supposedly this reprieve is only going to last for today then rain is due until next Tuesday. Back in 1948 we set a rainfall record of 53 ¾ inches and we now stand at 49 ½ inches so I think we will break that record before the year is out. The electric company loves me since I have to use the drier to get any clothes to dry.

I have been wanting to get into the garden. Last weekend we were able to dig 1/3 of the potatoes. The harvest was dismally small so far but better than my neighbors, his never grew and the seed potatoes were found rotten in the ground.

Now I don’t know what changed…maybe it is the weather, maybe it is the kids going back to school but after going to the Endless Mountain Fiber Festival I seem to have gotten my knitting enthusiasm back. I came home and started knitting the Icelandic socks. Finishing them, I moved on to the Karen Shawl

and then I knit another pair of socks which #2 claimed even though it was not with her yarn. I then proceeded to finish Baby O’s turkey hat

for Thanksgiving and I crocheted a cover for a cup

which I modified to fit #2’s juice box. She has a thing for sock monkeys so when I saw this I had to make it. And I finished stuffing some knitted pumpkins and sewing them shut.

While reading Linda’s blog I saw a poncho with a collar and thought of some girls that would love it. She gave me the info and I ordered the pattern. On Tuesday the new KnitPicks magazine was in the mailbox and I feel in love with the Woodland Winter Mittens…and subsequently ordered the pattern.

While waiting on them to come in the mail I saw Lady Lovelace . I am not going to do the sweater but I did start working on the shawl as sometimes you just want a little something around your shoulders. Something that isn’t too long and allows your arms to move freely. Bulky yarn makes it a quick knit and we are ½ way thru it.

#1, Sir T and Baby O are coming up for the weekend. They have to decide on a stocking design for Baby O’s stocking so I will have it done in time….you do realize there are only 85 days until Christmas right?

And since it is going to rain all weekend I know where I will be. Now I just have to get working on the spinning mojo.

Fall & Apples = Falling Apples

"When the apple is ripe it will fall." -- Irish proverb

We got the calls to come pick the apples. One friend called as her trees are in the horse pastures and they have been taking wheel barrow loads out and thought I might want to come pick. The other call was from our yearly source. Although we have not received our first frost the apples are dropping by the bushel full. As the trees are so heavily laden this year, I wonder if the branches just got tired of holding them all up!

The apples we get are not sprayed and are definitely not something you would find in any store since they are not perfect and shiny.

They take a little work to get from apple to cider, jelly, pie filling, butter and sauce. But it is all worth it in the end.

We got ten different kinds. I don’t know what they are except one which is a banana apple and does have a faint banana smell. Most of the trees I pick from are 50+ years old and those that knew are no longer around.

While waiting on a batch of canning to finish processing, I have been sneaking in some knitting time. I am almost done with the Karen shawl. I have only to finish the edging on the left side and then we can block her.The edging is 12 rows repeated 18 times with only 4- 10 stitches per row - - very easy! Hopefully I will be able to finish it today but first I had to go finish the tomatoes in the garden. I got enough for several more quarts of sauce which is cooking down now.

It might have been because of the rain that started as I was carrying in the tomatoes, but it was eerily quiet out. I have spotted the bear twice and he has left signs of his handiwork

so maybe it was paranoia. But there was almost no bird song, no wind and only the occasional sound of a hickory nut or black walnut hitting the metal shed roof. Usually I embrace the quiet but today I am happy to be inside!

Yearly Fiber Festival

Advice for the day: If you have a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: Take two and Keep Away From Children ~unknown

For whatever reason I have major headaches at this time of year. I remember having a headache last year and the year before that when attending the Endless Mountain Sheep & Wool Festival…one tradition I would be happy to break from.

At this years festival, many of the vendors were unable to attend because the area was hit by Irene and then remnants of Lee. Some places are still underwater and inaccessible. Headache or no headache I decided it was my duty to stimulate the economy. We got there late as the man had to work half the day. #2 daughter came with me and we browsed while he managed to find food and buy out their days supply!

Silvara Valley Farm had lamb jerky and now he says I should be able to make him some with the lamb in the freezer. As canning season is still not over I think he should have savored it until the time I am able to make him some. I think he also bought me the goat milk and honey soap from them.

#2 saw some merino, cashmere and nylon sock yarn in Ultramarine over at the Unplanned Peacock Studio booth. As I haven’t made her socks in a while she hinted that they would make a beautiful pair of socks. So the sock yarn and two patterns followed us home. The patterns are Ishbel by Ysolda and Karen byAmy Swenson.

A sock kit containing Icelandic wool from HeartsEase Farm joined the purchases. I was interested in how long they would wear. As they are already done I will let you know soon!

Then I saw earrings and bought two pair. One is balls of yarn with needles sticking out of them and the other will be a gift so we can’t say anything

more.

I purchased some maple mustard, maple candy, and maple lip care from Loch's Maple Fiber Mill and on the way out bought my knitting bowl from Stillmeadow Finnsheep Farm , a fellow finnsheep owner. This is the one item I knew I was going to buy so I held off visiting this booth until the end. There she sat, a large bowl in a lovely shade of green as I have a thing for green. Then I almost didn’t get it as I was $6 short and they didn’t have an ATM nearby. I didn’t think to bring a checkbook which she would have taken. Thankfully Cyndy from Riverrim was vending there with Grace from Hatton Antique Spinning Wheels and I bummed the extra monies off of her. (Thanks again)

Now I am working my way through another headache and the kids will be home in an hour. Must go lay down and hope it is gone before they arrive.

Rain, School, More Rain

“If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.” ~ Edgar W. Howe

Yes I will admit it, my kids can drive me crazy but I also have a knack of collecting other people’s kids.  There are days mine are at work and I still have four kids belonging to friends and relatives running around the house.  But yesterday all the kids went to school.  Daughter #2 started her junior year and son #2 started his sophomore year.  Thirty years ago I was starting my senior year and ten years ago #1 was starting her senior year.  How time flies.

The first school day started without electric once again.  Ever since Irene paid us a visit electrical bleeps and outages seem to be the norm.  It doesn’t help that the rains continue.  West of here they are evacuating 100,000 people so even though we have flooding it isn’t to the extent of what they are dealing 

with.  Some before and during pics of same house...

Baby O came for a visit this past weekend.  At four months he is 16 pounds 10 ounces and 26 ½ inches long.  He is a big boy.  His mom and him have matching hats for pumpkin picking this year.   

His dad said he would prefer Baby O have the chicken (turkey) hat versus a pilgrim hat for Thanksgiving so I need to get started on that and his Christmas stocking.  I am finishing the second of a pair of fingerless mitts right now.

Other than that the weather has been giving me headaches both literally and figuratively.  Annoying as they are I love the Spring and Fall as it isn’t the extreme heat or cold…as Goldilocks would say “it’s just right”.  The leaves are slowly starting to change and yesterdays high was mid 60’s. The hickory, butternuts and black walnuts are just starting to fall.  It is hard to find them with the high grass so as soon as it dries getting it cut will be a priority.

The rain has taken a toll on the garden, tomatoes are bursting on the vines.  Without electric I was unable to can  them so we lost a lot of produce.  I have about 25 pounds to process today and there might be more out there for tomorrow.  Then the weekend will be free for a sheep and wool festival.  Can’t say I need anything but you never know what you might find!

Good Night Irene

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. ~ John Muir

More appropriately it was a few hours ago every tree was excited.  Irene hit us with less rainfall than expected by half but the winds made up for it.  The flooding that did occur has now crested and the river levels are slowly starting to drop. 

In my county 2264 homes have had their electric restored, 11440 people are still without. Other counties are in a similar situation.

The electric company originally said it would be back on by 10 PM last night.  They have since updated that to 4:30 today.  One reason for our outage is this….

Two poles broken off at ground level will need to be replaced.  However, there are bigger problems further out from this.

After every storm the sun will smile; for every problem there is a solution, and the soul's indefeasible duty is to be of good cheer. ~ William R. Alger

I am lucky as I have a generator.  It doesn’t power the whole house and well but is does keep my fridge and freezers in good shape with some energy left to power the computer.  We plugged the tv and cable box in but there is no cable so if the kids get too bored they will have to watch a Netflix movie.

We stored some water and can easily make trips to the artesian well to fill up jugs.  The percolator coffee pot smells fantastic while brewing and makes a great cup of coffee.  The man likes his coffee as soon as he rolls out of bed which is why we switched to the programmable drip pot but I think once it bites the dust we won’t buy another.  We had friends for dinner.  She supplied the one thing I forgot…paper plates!

We walked outside after dark and it was like the sky was trying to make up for our lack of power by adding extra stars.  Then this morning, it was 50 degrees with a slight breeze, absolutely beautiful !  Of course human nature will make me much less agreeable in four days if the electric doesn't go back on!  Hope everyone came through okay.   

Time Passages

Perceiv'st thou not the process of the year,
How the four seasons in four forms appear,
Resembling human life in ev'ry shape they wear?
Spring, first, like infancy, shoots out her head,
With milky juice requiring to be fed: ...
Proceeding onward whence the year began,
The Summer grows adult, and ripens into man....
Autumn succeeds, a sober, tepid age,
Not froze with fear, nor boiling into rage; ...
Last, Winter creeps along with tardy pace,
Sour is his front, and furrowed is his face. ~ Dryden

It has been rudely brought to my attention that Summer is quickly passing us by.  The leaves are changing from the chartreuse of the Spring buds to dark green, olive and even shades of red, yellow and orange are popping up.  The temperature hit a high of 75 yesterday and this morning it was 49.  Daylight is getting shorter.  Most of the school shopping is done for the kids to start on Sept. 7.  I sold off more than half my sheep.  We took our chickens to the butcher.  The pigs and turkeys are plumping up and will be leaving soon.  They hay is ordered and just needs picking up.  And canning is at a high pace.

It is funny how we process time.  We realize it is passing but to think that 1982 (when I graduated from high school) was 29 years ago astounds me!  I have four kids ranging in age from soon to be 28 to 15 and a grandson...but 29 years ago!!!!  Inconceivable!!!  It seems like yesterday but then again so long ago.  And in 29 years I will be 76 years old.  That seems so far in the future but it too will pass quickly.

They years run too short and the days too fast ~ from the song Time Passages

So what has happen in the passage of time since I last wrote….I had my niece and her family visit for a week.  It rained a lot of the time she was here.  We did get some hiking in along the falls but didn't get to attend the fair with her. 

Due to several recent storms some of the trails were impassable and others clearly told you what to do...

Several days after she left we went to the fair and managed to see everything in between some showers.  I keep saying I am going to enter something but then I never do...procrastination at it's best.  While there all I could think of was  Charlottes Web when trying to convince Templeton to go to the fair they sing  "A fair is a veritable smorgasbord" 

We had our blooming onion and left the other stuff alone.  The kids of  course consumed their way through the fair.  Thankfully no one got sick on any of the rides...or more importantly...the ride home!

Sir T, #1 and Baby O came for a visit and will be back again on the 2nd.  He is getting soooo big.  They came up to look at some houses so they can move home.  They went to the one house to await the Realtor but she never showed up.  The tenant said no showing had been scheduled.  They called about the second house and no showing was scheduled there either.  They called the Realtor they were dealing with and she said " I have to be perfectly honest...I just forgot"! They took time to drive three hours to meet her for nothing.  Thankfully they didn't have to pay for a hotel like someone else might have.  Needless to say she is no longer their Realtor   

My SIL bought my brother, the man and I concert tickets for our birthday.  So Friday found us at Bethel Woods, site of Woodstock, 

listening to the Doobie Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  

I don't drink often but her friend made some kick  @ss jello shots which we quickly consumed before entering the gates.  Stopping at the beer stand before we took our seats, the guy said they would make over $10,000 on beer alone that night.  At $10 a can I can believe it.  We got home about 1:30.  The man had to go to work Saturday so we were up at 6 which made for a long day....but it was worth it.

The garden has suddenly decided to grow!  I picked my first green beans of the season two days ago but it is now covered in small beans and blossoms.  The tomatoes are finally ripening.  However, I have a rabbit inside the garden fence.  As the garden is almost 1/4 acres he keeps eluding me but I find his half eaten tomatoes and cabbage.

Not much fiber work has been done. I downloaded all the classic books  on the Nook and I have been working my way through Tom Sawyer, Little Women, Little Men, Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, Lorna Doone etc.  My morning cup of coffee on the deck has been noisier than usual as the Tennessee Pipeline if adding another line  about a mile away and the sound travels right down the river valley.  

And now that more time has passed I have to get back into the kitchen and finish canning or time will find me with rotten tomatoes!

August

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.  ~Sam Keen

The weather has been back and forth, hot with high humidity to a day where we didn't get out of the 70’s.  Rain has been sufficient and the garden is beginning to produce.  I think millipedes are eating and leaving brown “scars” on my cucumbers making them unable to be used for pickles.  Unfortunately the green beans are going to come in at the same time as the tomatoes.  We use a  lot of tomato products so tomatoes will always come first.   I went to the farmers market and bought hot peppers, cucumbers, green peppers, green beans, and tomatoes.   I canned the green beans and now if I don’t get time to do my green beans we will have dried beans from them.  I got 18 pints of B&B pickles,  25 pints of green beans, 17 pints and 9- ½ pints of tomato soup, 4 pints and 16- 1/2 pints of Cowboy Candy, froze green peppers, had a stuffed pepper dinner and I still have a box of tomatoes to do today.

The rest of the garden is doing pretty good, even if it seems a 

little behind last years.

My blackberries had pollination problems so no jelly/pie filling from them this year.  But the abundance of elderberry, pears and apples will make up for their loss.

Time has been spent running for the kids, pickup/drop off their friends or to pick up/drop them off at work.  #2 son is working at a canoe/raft livery and #2 daughter has been doing a lot of babysitting.   I dog sat a friends pooch, driving to and from 3x a day, while she spent a week in Cape May.  Next year someone else gets to do the honors while I head off with her.  When not working/gardening/mowing/cleaning etc we are fishing and swimming.  Knitting and spinning are almost non existent right now as I have been reading a lot more.  All and all a pretty good summer so far.

Today my favorite niece is coming to visit for several days and the county fair starts on Friday so we will be busy.  And life gets even better because next weekend #1, Sir T and Baby O are coming for a visit. 

~~~Heat~~~Wave~~~

"A break in the heat
away from the front
no thunder, no lightning,
just rain, warm rain
falling near dusk
falling on eager ground
steaming blacktop
hungry plants
thirsty
turning toward the clouds
cooling, soothing rain
splashing in sudden puddles
catching in open screens
that certain smell
of summer rain."
-  Raymond A. Foss, Summer Rain


That was wishful thinking on my part.  We need rain to water the crops and cool us down but is not in the forecast.  I got this picture in an email and it sums the area up pretty well....




















Nothing much exciting going on since I last posted.  #1, Sir T and Grandbaby O came for a visit and will be back again on the 5th.  Baby O is getting so big, at 2 months he was 14 pounds and 23 inches.  He doesn't look fat as he is so long.  Can't wait to see how much he has grown in a month.


A week ago or so I pulled the kohlrabi which was just making leaf and planted more carrots and lima beans.  The heat has drastically affected their germination.  I hope to start a flat of broccoli where it is cooler and then transplant for a fall crop.  The tomatoes are loaded with blossom and green tomatoes.  We have been eating zucchini and yellow squash for about a week.  Today I froze 6 pounds of it cubed for soups.  Two had harder skins and I peeled and grated them, about 1 pound, for zucchini bread, fritters and mock crab cakes.


We got four turkeys, sixty broiler chicks and two pigs to raise and later put in the freezer. So far there have not been a lot of garden scraps for their consumption but I hope to remedy that soon.


I did some alpaca baby sitting for Kuhn's River Country Alpaca.  They just recently had two cria born within days of each other.  The first mom didn't want to let her baby nurse unless they forced her so I had to go over and supplement with bottles.  When the second cria came the first mom must have looked at how things were done between that mom and cria.  A light bulb went on in her head and she started to let her baby nurse upon demand.


I had been spinning until the heat became unbearable. I knit a capelet and I have been sewing the granny squares together.  My fiber work always slows in the summer and I use to feel guilty about that.  I look at the fiber/yarn and think I should be doing something with it, the mind is willing but the body isn't so I don't force myself anymore because the results are usually disastrous. 


When it is cool in the morning #2 and I have either gone for a walk or weeded the garden.  We worked out there for almost two hours today and are rewarding ourselves.  We are headed out to see Harry Potter in an air conditioned cinema which will make coming home harder so we will have to leave again to go swimming.  Life is so rough.   Sooner or later this heat will break and life will go back to "normal" till then keep cool as best you can.

Thrift

Frugal as a poor farmer’s wife —George Garrett

thrift – extreme care in spending money; reluctance to spend money unnecessarily

I have recently seen some examples of thrift associated with my grandparents.  To give a little she was a butcher in their store and he also worked for the railroad.  They had a small farm which provided them with their eggs, milk and meat.  They had a garden to can.  They rented rooms to boarders and sold potatoes to area boarding houses for extra money.

Their house was heated with coal/wood.  There was no electric in the house until after my grandfather died in the 60’s.  There never was a complete water system because she came to live with us in the early 70’s.  There was an outhouse and chamber pots.  Water came into the kitchen but a bucket was under the sink and needed to be dumped.  They owned 100+ acres, never owned a car or tv but did have a small radio.

I try to imagine their shock or awe at the discoveries/happenings just in their life time…Orville & Wilbur Wright first fly to Amelia Earhart to flight being a regular means of transportation, the Model T to hot rods, silent movies to drive in theaters and color tv in the living room, the Titanic sunk, income tax starts, Panama Canal opens, the depression, WW1, prohibition, women get the right to vote, WW2, states added to the Union, man lands on the moon, presidents shot or resign, the atomic bomb…it is truly mind boggling. 

Through it all they lived by the “Use it up ... Wear it out. Make it do ... Or do without " motto.

 

This came abundantly clear when I went to reupholster a chair of theirs.  I undid all the tacks pulled off the old upholstery expecting to find, coiled springs, coir /straw or animal hair, and maybe a batting of cotton.  What I found was…an old curtain, 

part of  curtains or tablecloths, 

scrap material, a blanket, 

an old flour sack, several yards of white (at one time) material and a pillowcase

made from scrap pieces of upholstery.  Pieces of their life from about 50 years ago.

 

I went about redoing the chair 

and then remembered that there had been a small pillow tied to the back. 

I wondered what I would find inside of it.  I took out all the stitches of upholstery thread that had kept whatever was inside from sliding and found a knitted object…

I never saw her knit but I do remember watching her darn socks. I opened it up to find it was a vest….

After several attempts to salvage it 

as a usable piece of clothing its usefulness was continued as a back cushion for a chair!  For all I know the yarn might have come from another sweater.

I went looking for an enamel pan in the house they lived in forty years ago.  I found one...

It must have gotten a hole but with the use of a small bolt it’s usefulness was extended to possibly carry beans in from the garden or feed to the chickens. 

How many of us today would have bothered to do that.  A friend of mine had found one of their old pitchers in the barn while tending my animals when I was away. It had been there for many years.  Why they saved it was beyond me.  She had it painted in such a way that the dent and subsequent rusted area didn’t show.  It is beautiful and useful for decoration.

Next I wonder what they would think of us now. Thrift or frugality can be dabbled about on blogs but I think society as a large has lost my grandparents degree of it.  To some extent my family is still like them.  We raise our own meat, we have a large garden, I can or freeze, we pick apples/pears/berries from wherever we can find them but we also have two vehicles and a motorcycle, eat out several times a month, go to the movies, buy music for ipods, pay for wifi high speed Internet for desktop and laptop computers, digital cable on multiple tv’s from 27 to 50 inch, have Nooks, Sirius radio, Wii and Xbox 360, unlimited long distance phone plans, and the kids pay for cell phones.  A whole lot of luxury and very little thrift.  Their lack of luxury and frugality did not diminish their life.  My grandfather died before I was born but some of my best memories of my grandmother are sitting on their porch snapping beans, shelling peas or just taking walks.  I never felt like we were missing out on anything. 

 

The man wants a camping area where we can go to get away from the hassle of tv, telephone etc.  If you mentioned turning off the digital cable for the summer though you would have a fight on your hands.  He is willing to spend money to have a place to get away from what he already spends money on to have.  Very far from the thrift of my grandparents.