Poor

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son."So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father. The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them." The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are."

I have received this same email several times. I keep it for a while, usually until I do a big email cleanup. At times I wonder if I keep it to justify my life style or to remind me how lucky I am. So when I got it again, I decided to figure it out.

Poor means to have little or no wealth and few or no possessions... We are poor and I mean financially poor. We live from pay check to pay check and some weeks that check is stretched mighty thin.

On the other hand we aren't poor. We have no debt. The house (when it is done) is paid for. We have a 2005 truck and a 2000 car which are paid for. We have trappings. I have four spinning wheels. The man loves his 50 inch and 27 inch HDTV flat screens, the kids have Xbox 360 and DS’s and walk around in name brand sneakers and clothes.

There is no way I will see England or France. Our vacations have been to see my daughter finish basic training in SC and leave for Iraq from MS or to the MDS&W and Rhinebeck. The same daughter did send us to PR last summer which was great.

It is my choice not to work. It would give us more money, but we would use it to buy the food that I now grow and can or freeze. The man could get a better paying job, but he would be gone an extra 3-4 hours a day and I love having him around. I miss him when he is gone.

I think our’s is a checks and balances life style. We work hard enough to get some of what we want, but not so hard that we lose sight of what is important. We have everything we need and most of what we want. We don’t have tons of clothes, some of which we won’t ever wear but we have enough that we don’t walk around naked. We don’t have a boat or a summer home, but we do have the luxury of being able to be girl/boy scout leaders, soccer coaches, volunteers, etc instead of having to work overtime to pay for the boat/ 2nd home. We have the time to appreciate what we do have.

So my muscles are aching today but yesterday I spent the whole day with the man building a chicken coop. So menial yet so satifying. So, I guess I should keep it just to remind me that we indeed are very wealthy. Wealthy-rich, marked by abundance, well supplied.

In the Zone

In his garden every man may be his own artist without apology or explanation.
Each within his green enclosure is a creator, and no two shall reach the same conclusion;
nor shall we, any more than other creative workers, be ever wholly satisfied with our accomplishment.
Ever a season ahead of us floats the vision of perfection and herein lies its perennial charm.- Louise Beebe Wilder

At some point yesterday while in the garden I realized I had entered the same zone gardening as I did carding, spinning or knitting. The rhythm of the tasks puts your body in a “trance” to continue their actions while your mind is free to explore other things. Some may think that the repetitive nature of my hobbies is boring. I don’t think of it like that because the tasks may be the same but the results are different. The same garden area, one year may produce tomatoes and salad greens and the following year it may be corn, squash and beans. The same tasks are employed to make it grow but with different results. The same washing, carding and spinning can be done on a cormo fleece or a Lincoln, but the yarn from one would be used to knit something for a baby and the other to make a rug. How similar yet how very different and I think that is what holds the interest, I am always looking forward to what the garden will grow or what the fleece could become.

One of the great things of spring is that it is such a sensorial season. The smell of the earth, the sounds of all the birds, the changes in the colors of the grass, the bark on plants and the sky, and then the tartness of the rhubarb, which is peaking out of the ground. So after I am outside enjoying all these marvels I come inside, shower and take tylenol and then hold the aching muscles off a little by spinning or carding, trying to finish off the finn fleece. I haven't been knitting, but Sunday it is going to be rainy so it would be a good day to knit if I can find something I want to work on.

Little Seeds

Little seeds we sow in spring
growing while the robins sing,
give us carrots, peas and beans,
tomatoes, pumpkins, squash and greens.
And we pick them,one and all,
through the summer,through the fall,
Winter comes, then spring, and then
little seeds we sow again. ~ Else Holmelund Minarik

And that is what I spent yesterday doing…sowing seeds. I disinfected the pots and flats and while they were drying in the sun, I started transplanting some plants. I have a flower garden in the middle of the garden because it was the end of the garden at one time but the garden got pushed past it. I was going to leave it but the plants have gotten bigger and are taking up space I could use to plant edibles. I moved some daffodils, golden marjoram, irises, walking onions, garlic chives, tansy and evening primrose. I planted some by the greenhouse but the rest is going to get planted up by the barn. I don’t want to get rid of it as I may want to plant some around the house when it is done.


So I seeded Mammoth Red cabbage (for sweet and sour cabbage), Late Flat Dutch (for storage and sauerkraut). I seeded zinnia, cosmos, angelica, chamomile, snapdragons, Italian Large leaf basil (for pesto), Atlantic and Nutri-Bud broccoli (freezer), Grand Rapids lettuce, and Osaka Purple mustard. There were others but I forget them right now.

All in all it was a great day. After all that I came in took a shower, made dinner, ate it outside and then I carded some fiber while watching TV. Fell asleep to the raccoons chirping outside and the dogs growling at them inside. Woke up this morning and as in Springs past found the forgotten muscles!

So I worked the kinks out while spinning up what I carded and then plied it. Now I am off to finish cleaning up the garden.

S*P*R*I*N*G*

Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.- Doug Larson

Spring started at 8:07 p.m. last night!!! And even the birds knew what was happening.... ...................during the storm and then......yesterday when they knew Spring was coming. Don't they look happier?

And the above saying is so true. Yesterday I shoveled out to the greenhouse and carried the potting soil out. I was going to start some seed but life interrupted. When I went out later in the day to get the mail everything was slush. But nobody cared. The snow cover must have been cut in half! And temps are suppose to be above freezing at night and in the high 50's for the next 7 days!

What do I decide to do when the weather warms? Being an oxymoron, I have been spinning again. Monday, I got into a zone and spun up about 120 yards of 2 ply alpaca and then I carded (made nubs) and spun it any way 70 yards of 2 ply angora. I started hand carding my finn and spinning that but I want to get the drumcarder out, and card up a bunch so I can just spin.

And someone else knew Spring was coming. Not that he hibernates but he knows the pickings are going to get so much better now. When I went out to do the morning chores I found these tracks.....they came out of the woods, went to the chickens, to the rabbits, headed back towards the chickens with a detour several times around the compost bins and then out toward the berry patch. About two years ago the trashman left the lid off a trash can and left it leaning against the fence after pickup. A opossom climbed in and his weight set the can upright and he couldn't get out. The man found him and carried the can to the berry patch and layed it on it's side and walked away so the opossom could exit. I hoping he/she remembers that good deed and behaves accordingly!

Now I am off to do the chores and then run errands. Hope everyone enjoys the first day of SPRING!!!!!!!

Be-lated St. Patrick's Day

Yesterday after digging out and running to the feed store we cooked up the traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner of corn beef, cabbage, potatoes and Irish Soda bread.

While doing genealogy, I was told we are Scots-Irish. I found out the "Scots-Irish are descendants of the Ulster Scots, immigrants who traveled to North America from Ulster in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Ulster-Scots is a term used to refer to people descended from Scots who live in Northern Ireland in a part of the ancient province of Ulster in Ireland."

We have always celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. That is one of the good things about our ancestors making us a nationality melting pot,(aka we are mutts) you get to celebrate just about every holiday.

The farmer's almanac said “Cabbage seeds are often planted today, and old-time farmers believed that to make them grow well, you needed to plant them while wearing your nightclothes.” Now I had intentions of doing this, slippers being my part of nightclothes. But while I was out I forgot to buy potting soil. So today we will head out for that and some maple taps to tap our neighbors trees. Other plans for the day include defrosting one of the freezers....what an exciting life I lead.

In knitting/spinning news, I haven't done a thing. Nothing, nada - looked at fiber and patterns but that was it.

Old snow/New Snow

Let the old snow be covered with the new:

The trampled snow, so soiled, and stained, and sodden.
Let it be hidden wholly from our view by pure white flakes, all trackless and untrodden.

When Winter dies, low at the sweet Spring's feet let him be mantled in a clean, white sheet. ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I don't know where I got that from but I think it fits the purpose perfectly.The birds are going crazy at the feeders. The kids had no school and are taking full advantage of the time off by sleighriding. #1 Son brought over his laundry for me to do - oh lucky me! So besides doing laundry I finally finished the mini-sweater. I did a crochet edging. I needs to be blocked but that will come later for now I think I am going to spin.

Beware the Ides of March

Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak. Caesar is turn'd to hear.
Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.

Seeing as how Julius Caesar was assassinated that day I guess he had cause to beware, but from what I have read we don’t. The ides simply means to divide, as in the month in half.

Or maybe we do have to beware because I have also been reading this...ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES BY NIGHTFALL ON FRIDAY...WITH STORM TOTALS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES BY THE TIME THE SNOWTAPERS OFF.

This A.M. I heard 2-5 inches, then 2-7 inches and on the way home I heard depending on how slow it goes thru we could have accumulations of 16 inches.

But I am going to ignore the above and just think of the goldfinch I had at my feeder today, the red winged blackbirds at my mom's feeeder and this in her back yard....
So I can live with one last push from Old Man Winter because I know his time is almost done!
The sweater is not done yet but will be tomorrow, I am going to crochet around it as I can do that faster.

Unfinished Tasks

There is nothing so fatal to character as half finished tasks. ~ David Lloyd George

I seriously don't need a half finished task being detrimental to my already flawed character so I state here and now to finish the mini sweater before I finish another item.

Since I have started it I finished a stocking (just to finish the ball of yarn) and I did a ice scraper mitt (just to try the pattern) and I did the gloves for the man to give to his fellow worker with 1/2 a finger. Of course it is going to be 60 degrees today and there will be no need to push the sweater aside for these, but ignore that fact. This was the first pair of gloves I ever made and they were a lot easier than I thought they would be so I will be making more of them.

I don't know why I don't want to work on the mini sweater, it is easy. But now this self imposed knitting ban will get it done...hopefully by tomorrow.

As a side note...I heard geese when I went out to do the animals this AM! It was too over cast to see them so no picture as proof. But the camera is in close proximity to get a picture of the first robin. Now off to knit.

Daylight Saving Time

To get all there is out of living, we must employ our time wisely, never being in too much of a hurry to stop and sip life, but never losing our sense of the enormous value of a minute. ~ Robert Updegraff

We move the clock forward this Sunday or in my house tonight before bed. It was April 2nd last year, a difference of 3 weeks. They say it will save energy. I always looked at it as another marker of Spring. NOTE: Only 10 more days until the official start!

After a week of freezing temps I was overjoyed yesterday when the artic blast finally left. I went into the greenhouse and tossed all the broken plastic pots. Now I just need a warmer day to drag them outside and disinfect them and rinse them so they will be good to go. When I left the greenhouse to go put the stuff in the trash I inadvertently left the door open and the chickens quickly found their way inside. I didn’t have the heart to kick them out because they were having a blast scratching in the dirt. I could commiserate with them!

Today was even warmer. After a run to town on errands, #2 daughter and I took a walk down by the river. When I got home I made a big pot of Minestrone soup, salad and garlic bread all ready for an early dinner, so the evening should be nice and quiet.

Tomorrow I hope to get the ducks area cleaned and maybe burn the pile that has been in the garden since last fall.

In the fiber area…I knit a small stocking, a ice scrapper mitt, started the mini-sweater and a pair of gloves from The Knitter’s Handy Book Of Patterns (pictures next time). The man works with a guy who lost part of his finger so the gloves are for him. Now that I know how to make them I might have to make a pair for the elder bro as he lost ½ of a finger in a log splitter. So although the weather is getting warmer there is still time to get a lot of knitting done before the heavy work load gets here.

Meteorlogical Spring

Meteorological Spring starts today. It consists of the months of March, April, and May. Now you have heard….

If March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb and if March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion.

But have you heard the others…
A dry March and a wet May
Fill barns and bays with corn and hay.

A peck of March dust and a shower in May
Makes the corn green and the fields gay.

March brings breezes loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.

A March sun sticks
Like a lock of wool.

So many misties in March,
So many frosties in May

When March blows its horn,
your barn will be filled with hay and corn.

Supposedly when people lived in the same area for generations they were able to “predict” the weather for that area. They had observed their land and the insects, animals, birds and people and what changes the weather had on them. The older generation passed this knowledge to the younger one with sayings like above.

But now that people move around what was true for one area is not true for another so is considered folk or weather lore. I can understand what works for our area would not work for my sister in Puerto Rico. But I can not understand dismissing all folklore.

Our local weatherman knocks it all, calls it mumbo gumbo. He is very into his technical machines and gadgets but when it comes down to it the weatherman is doing the same thing our ancestors did. He looks at the records of what happen when the wind came from this direction and the temps were this and makes a prediction. He has machines and he is no more accurate than most of the “folklore”.

The one thing I like about folk/weather lore is the continuity it represents…the same family, same land year after year. I am not big on change. So seeing as how my ancestors have lived in this area since the 1850’s, I feel I am knowledgeable enough to make a prediction of my own. I predict in March the weather will do what it wants and we will deal with it and that in the end it turns into April! And I predict that until I can get into the greenhouse I will do fiberarts.

Snow

A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations,

but look what they can do when they stick together!

~Author Unknown

The guys were able to get in several hours of fishing before the storm hit. Little man likes leaning over the hole while using a jigging pole, twitching his line, watching the fish take the bait then reeling them in. He got his little cousin fishing the same way by the end of the day. They caught about 30 pickerel and perch but only kept a few.

The storm was slower in getting here then anticipated. By the time we went to bed there was only an inch. We woke to a winter wonderland. There was only 3-4 inches but it stuck to everything.There are times snow is beautiful even when you want Spring and this was one of those time.

Winter Icicles

Are those the magic fairy wands

glistening on the tree

or only winter icicles that I see?~Author Unknown

Friday was a fairly nice day. The sun was shining and the snow was melting. I knew that each little drip off the end of the icicle was bringing me that much closer to Spring. I even started looking for robins. I know, I know I am about 3-4 weeks too early but one can wish!

But alas, the weather has changed again. Needless to say it is a good thing I knit this hat yesterday as we are due for a snow/freezing rain storm which can measure 3-6 inches. The guys are going out ice fishing before the storm hits. I will make sure the animals are all set, then go back inside and find something else to keep me busy until Spring really does get here.

Ask, and it shall be given you

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth;

and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?` Matthew 7:7

I finished knitting a pair of socks and yesterday morning I was sitting with #2 daughter and I said "I don't know what I feel like working on. What do you think I should make?" And before she was able to utter a word, a whispery voice came floating down the hallway and it said "Make (little man's name) a pair of mittens". I looked at #2 daughter and said "The walls are talking". And again the whispery voice came and said " Yes, they are saying, make (little man's name) a pair of mittens". Since I always listen to whispering walls, I did just that and little man went to school with a new pair of mittens this AM.

But now the walls aren't whispering anymore and I am sitting here with the same question as yesterday....What do I feel like working on?

I found a cable pattern that I like for #1 son's stocking but I don't have the right yarn to start that. I have an idea for the loom but hate to warp it. I have lots of little pieces of left over yarn so I could start an earflap hat and use up some of them. I did spin for a little and there is lots more of that waiting to be done. Or I could go clean the house and do some laundry..............think I will go surf the net for an idea!

Hoodie Hoo Day!

Here is what I have read ….

On this winter day, people go out at noon, wave their hands over their heads and chant "Hoodie-Hoo".It is a day to chase away winter and bring in spring. After all, everyone in the northern hemisphere is sick and tired of winter at this point and a little crazy being cooped up inside all winter and not seeing the sun.

“Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.” ~ Victor Hugo

And I would assume that seeing people yelling Hoodie Hoo and waving their arms would make people laugh.

For all intents and purposes, it hasn’t been a bad winter. December was warm, January was the first or second warmest in history. February has been cold with no snow other than on Valentine’s Day. So I can’t really say we have cabin fever but I am tired of the winds which zap every ounce of warmth out of you. I do not think there has been a day above freezing this month. But we are due to get a warm up and there is only 28 days until Spring.

So at noon I'll go do my part -after all, I need the excercise and my neighbors already think I am crazy!

Who's Been Here?

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.- John Muir

When the kids were toddler's we went to an environmental program up by the lake. We picked up a book by a fellow Pennsylvanian, Lindsay Barrett George called Around the Pond: Who’s Been Here? The kids loved this book. We read it every day… several times a day to the point that they could recite the book.

I think they were drawn to the book because we took them fishing by the river and they helped picked berries from when they could walk just like the book. We use to take them for walks down a road with two streams and they would “fish” the streams. This consisted of getting a fishing rod (aka stick) and “hooking” a leaf or piece of grass(aka fish). These streams weren’t big enough to sustain fish but the kids had fun.

So yesterday I walked out to check the chicken/duck’s water and saw footsteps and it reminded me of that. So here is my Who’s Been Here…

Dog, chicken, cat, duck. Since it was nice out I decided to go walk up into the woods under the ledges

And I found...

Deer and the last I'm not sure on...it is either a chipmunk or a field mouse as they were small and side by side. And then some tracks need no explanation.

I came down out of the woods, locked the animals in and came inside to a cup of coffee the man made for me. Life is good! We had a quiet evening so I was able to finish knitting a sock. And since this is supposedly a fiber blog I took a pic of what I have finished. I may have written about it but I need the visual for me to remember what I did do. So there is the 5 hour baby sweater (takes me about 8-10) the bonnet to match, baby socks done on the two circs (didn't like doing it that way) the man's stocking, a baby bib and a pair of socks done with the magic stripes. Everything still needs the ends woven in and to be blocked but I moved on already and started on another pair of socks. I just got to the heel flap on the second one so I should finish them today.

Morning diamonds

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good ~Ninon de L'Enclos

You can definitely say that about water. We woke up this morning to a world that sparkled.

The last picture isn't very good this small but all those little white dots looked liked diamonds just lying there.

It is hard to believe that water in it's different forms can be so beautiful yet so deadly. A gentle summer rain with a rainbow is beautiful. A horrendous thunderstorm or non stop rain with the resulting floods is anything but. A little snow on the tree's is beautiful

yet a blizzard or avalance is not. And the force of water in it's different stages is impressive to say the least. It can carve thru stonegranted it takes time, millions of year for the Grand Canyon, but this pliable substance can make mountains.

Here in the winter, what starts out as one innocent little ice chunk

can turn into one big ice jam, which if it doesn't melt slowly or gets forced down river by a melt up river can take out anything in it's path. There have been years where they have used dynamite to break it up.

Lao Tzu said “Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful."

We may not be able to change or control it but we can't live without it.

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

L-O-V-E, love

I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything

other than real, unconditional love. You can find it in a simple

act of kindness toward somone who needs help. There is no

mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common

fiber of life, the flame that heals our soul, energizes our spirit

and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God

and to each other. --Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Happy Ba-a-a-alentine’s Day! That is what my card said and it had a sheep on the front…that man knows me well. My kids will tell me that it is stupid that I would find that too cute. But they, like him, feed my fiber addiction even though they don’t understand it which to me is love. And I know that even if they don’t wear what I make them that just the fact that I did make them something shows them I love them. Like Robert Heinlein said... Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

So today when I am done with my coffee, I plan to finish the socks I am making (gift for someone) and then start a baby project. I just found out a family member is due in September. I am not allowed to say who, as others weren’t told yet.

The snow we were expecting is letting me down. I wanted those 20 inches and it is mostly sleet and rain. It is 13 degrees how can it rain?!? But there is enough snow to cancel school so I am sure the day will involve lots of wet clothes and hot cocoa.

I wish everyone a day of love and happiness. "In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away" - shing xiong

Did you know?

Did you know February is National Blah Buster Day? No. Well, me neither until yesterday. And how do you celebrate this? Well last night my daughter’s girl scout troop had their overnight at the mall to break up the dulldrums. We stay in a locked down mall overnight, we are not allowed to sleep but we go from station to station and play games all night.
This year’s theme was obscure February holidays and there are alot more than you think! So you get there at 9:30. register and go to your spot. Each attending troop has to pick a holiday and their swaps have to coincide with that holiday. We did Groundhogs Day. We gather up our can’s of food to donate to a local food pantry (Feb is Canned Food Month) and go to the food court for the welcome. We exchange swaps with other troops and from then on it is just up and down flights of stairs going to whatever activity is scheduled for you. Two local colleges have waiting lists to get in and do this as a community project. Their activity has to be entertaining enough to keep the girls active (aka awake) for 30 minutes and be in theme. And should you fall asleep the mall has plenty of these

to sit on to wake yourself up!!!

At 12-1 they rotate the troops to the food court for pizza and soda. Then back to activities until 5-6 when you return to the food court for a breakfast. Then parents pick the girls up at 6:30. By which time you are ready for February 28 which is Public Sleeping Day!

The man came and picked us up as I didn't want to do the hour drive home after not sleeping for over 24 hours. When I got home I slept for 2 ½ hours and then spun an ounce of camel and tussah and then promptly fell back to sleep for 4 more hours. I have to admit I am getting old because even now my brain feels like mush.


So for your entertainment while I go back to sleep...

February is . . . . National Blah Buster Month, National Embroidery Month, National Grapefruit Month, National Snack Food Month, National Weddings Month, Responsible Pet Owner Month, Return Carts to the Supermarket Month, Creative Romance Month, International Twit Award Month, Canned Food Month
February 1 is . . . . . Serpent Day
February 2 is . . . . . Purification Day
February 3 is . . . . . Cordova Ice Worm Day
February 4 is . . . . . Create A Vacuum Day
February 5 is . . . . . Disaster Day
February 6 is . . . . . Lame Duck Day
February 7 is . . . . . Charles Dickens Day
February 8 is . . . . . Kite Flying Day
February 9 is . . . . . Toothache Day
February 10 is . . . . Umbrella Day
February 11 is . . . . White Tee-Shirt Day and Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day
February 12 is . . . . National Plum Pudding Day
February 13 is . . . . Get A Different Name Day and Dream Your Sweet Day
February 14 is . . . . Ferris Wheel Day and Valentine’s Day
February 15 is . . . . National Gum Drop Day
February 16 is . . . . Do A Grouch A Favor Day
February 17 is . . . . Champion Crab Races Day
February 18 is . . . . National Battery Day
February 19 is . . . . National Chocolate Mint Day
February 20 is . . . . Hoodie Hoo Day

February 21 is . . . . Card Reading Day
February 22 is . . . . Be Humble Day and Walk the Dog Day
February 23 is . . . . International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day
February 24 is . . . . National Tortilla Chip Day
February 25 is . . . . Pistol Patent Day (Samuel Colt)
February 26 is . . . . National Pistachio Day
February 27 is . . . . International Polar Bear Day
February 28 is . . . . Public Sleeping Day
And if that is not enough…. http://library.thinkquest.org/2886/INDEX.HTM will give you a month to month list.

Whether the weather be fine...

“Whether the weather be fine,

Whether the weather be not,

Whether the weather be cold,

Whether the weather be hot,

We'll weather the weather,

Whatever the whether,

Whether we like it or not” ~Anonymous

And baby is it cold outside! It was – 0.4 when we woke up yesterday. The kids had a two hour delay at school…not that it made that much of a difference as it only warmed up to 2.8 degrees by the time they left. Today we had a heat wave…it was 1.9 at 5:45. They have another two hour delay. They haven’t used any of their snow days so they are enjoying the delays.

The ducks and chickens never left the barn the past couple of days. The cat doesn’t venture out and the dogs only go when they have to.

Keeping everyone in unfrozen water is almost futile. It would not be so bad if the incessant winds would stop. They keep funneling down the river valley at 10-15 mph with 35 mph gusts.

Although this weather can be beautiful with the clear blue skies, frost on window panes and the ice sculptures it makes it can also be brutal if you are not prepared. Looks menacing doesn't it?!

So I will only venture out when necessary and I’ll sit inside with this thought to keep me warm….

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.- Proverb from Guinea

Happy Groundhogs Day

Today is Groundhogs Day and Full Snow Moon. I also read in the Old Farmer’s Almanac that it is Candlemas Day. They had this verse...

If Candlemas be mild and gay,
Go saddle your horses and buy them hay;
But if Candlemas be stormy and black,
It carries the winter away on its back

Which would lead you to believe that since it is mild (29 degrees) and gray (overcast) we are going to have 6 more weeks of winter. But alas, the groundhog didn’t see his shadow so that foretells an early spring. Maybe the time of day will change things as we are due to get some snow later this afternoon which would make it stormy and black!?! I am all go for the early spring. Half of the plants are already in bud or coming out of the ground. We haven’t had any snow to speak of. If you added all we got together I don’t think you would get to 2 inches.

Cyndy,http://riverrim.blogspot.com/, has told me that all seed orders need to be in by this date. Knowing this date was coming, last weekend I did work on sorting thru the catalogs and narrowing down the list of “wants” to a more realistic, manageable size. So this morning I put aside the knitting and decided to finish the task. I usually order from several magazines to keep them coming but this year I decided I can look on their websites if I really want to order from them. I narrowed it down to two companies …Victory Seed and Seeds of Change. This has made me change some of my picks but I can work with it. So here it is…

The Seeds of Change ~ Nutri-Bud Broccoli, Delicata Squash, Amish Paste Tomato, Royal Burgundy Beans and Cherokee Wax Bean.

Victory Seed ~ Late Flat Dutch Cabbage, Mammoth Red Cabbage, Straight 8 Cucumbers, LI Cheese Squash, Red Strawberry Popcorn, Atlantic Broccoli and Broom Corn.

I still have to pick up seed for yellow squash and the Fordhook vucchini that I like. I might even have some as I haven’t checked the seed stash. I know I have pumpkin for the kids and jalapeno pepper, sugar snap pea, Riesentraube tomato and Blondkopfchen tomato, Yellow Pear tomato and I think I still have some Green Zebra tomato seeds. The beefsteak tomato plants and seed potatoes we buy locally. I will have a bigger root cellar this year so I was thinking of carrots, leeks, parsnips, turnips and brussel sprouts but I can buy them at the farmers market and store them. I decided to not do green peppers this year. I will buy them locally and freeze them. Mom may chime in with some others but that is the list as of now.

I guess while we have no snow I should go clean up the garden and get ready…no it’s still winter and I will stay inside and do fiber arts, there will time for that later. Before you know it I will be in the greenhouse and will have less time for the fiber.