Spring or Summer?

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;

To-day the glint of green is there;

Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;

I know no thing so wondrous fair,

No miracle so strangely rare.

I wonder what will next be there!~L.H. Bailey

We have been having above normal temperatures which has Spring unfurling forward at an amazing pace. And while my sister finally took off her winter jacket, I have not been enjoying these temps quite as much. To temper my midday washouts I have been getting up earlier and earlier to enjoy the coolness of the morning in peace and quite...well at least human peace and quite as the birds make alot of noise!

I am too cheap to put the air conditioning on this early but I did borrow the mans chain saw to shave my legs! That was my one concession to passing Spring and heading full steam into Summer.

Each day something new is blooming or coming up in the green house. I still need to transplant my tomatoes and they are suffering from phosphorus deficiency. Taking them out from under the grow lights and putting them in the unheated greenhouse seems to have caused it. The low temperatures stop the plant from absorbing the phosphorus which gives the leaves a purple tint. Unfortunately it has only happened to the Amish Paste, both new seed and saved. Now that I have diagnosed it, you know what I will be doing today. When I did chores I grabbed some of this for dinner. Yum!!! It's not much but hopefully there will me lots more to come.

I finally finished my sisters "first" pair of socks and quickly started on a pair #1 daughter requested. I thought they looked too big so put them down until she came home to judge for herself.

I finished going thru the 10-12 bags (which ended up being 17) of fleece from Farmer Dave. I gave more to a friend, tossed more and started picking and washing the rest. The hot weather might make me shrivel up but it dries the fleece pretty fast.

On Sunday, in the afternoon heat, the man and I took refuge in the basement. We got alot of work done re-organizing and tossing things. Then I found out the man had alterative motives for cleaning the basement, as once there was a little room he rolled his motorcycle in so he could wax it "in the shade". #2 daughter and her friends took the spare kids pond, I had in case the ducks broke theirs, filled it with cold well water and sat in it to cool off.

The roaster chicks are getting big, and like me are not enjoying the quick rise in the mercury. But the new layer chicks are going without the light in these temps...buff orps, light brahma's, I think these are the Golden Campines, the Araucana's and the Rose Comb Leghorns. And this is the freebie bird which is either a Buff Laced or White Polish.

Supposedly the temps are only going to stay like this until Wednesday when we will be back to our normal 60-70's. I can't wait. Although I have enjoyed this burst of growth, I find I can wait on the heat.

Personal Pursuits

“Nothing defines humans better than their willingness to do irrational things in the pursuit of phenomenally unlikely payoffs. This is the principle behind lotteries, dating, and religion.” ~ Scott Adams

We have spent the last couple of days on personal pursuits and it has been heavenly. On Wednesday, my sister, #1 daughter and I went on pursuit of some spring scenery pictures. Having been away for so many years, my sister is enamored with rediscovering home as it awakens from the frozeness she wasn't enjoying. We drove around a little and then ended up hiking to the top of the mountain. Although the hike seems shorter as an adult we aren't quite as limber as we were as teens, which is when my sister was last up there.

Thursday found us in a much less enjoyable pursuit. We were in the pursuit of a doctor. #2 son had pulled a muscle in his back. While stacking fire wood he was standing on some round logs, ended up rolling, hitting the pile and when some started to fall he had to jump out of the way. He has decided to stand on the ground to stack from now on, of course when the pain ends he will probably forget and stand on a log again. It's a vicious cycle until things finally sink in. It must be the German in us that makes us all so hardheaded.

Friday was another pursuit of health and yarn. Mom had an oncologists appointment. She was feeling spunky and decided we needed a day out. We left early, had lunch, went to AC Moore and Michaels and then we went to the doctor. She is getting two unit blood transfusion today as her hemoglobin is down. As spunky as she has been, I can only imagine what is going to happen now!!! So far as the yarn I only bought... but when I got home my Knitpicks order was here.... So far my sister likes her "first pair of socks from sis". Sounds like she assumes there will be more to follow! I really need to teach her to knit.

Saturday dawned with the pursuit of fish. It was the first day of trout season. #2 daughter and I went to the ARC Hike/Bike-athon while the rest of the family went to catch dinner. After the hike we joined them only to snarl our line. If it were not for #1 son's girlfriend we would have starved but thankfully she provided and we had trout along with stuffed clams and coconut shrimp for dinner.

Sunday they went in pursuit of the fish again while I moved all the flats to the greenhouse. Sometime soon I am going to have to seperate some of the flats. Not one of the chores I enjoy so lets think of other things, such as the Nanking Cherries that are blooming. I am so easily swayed. I started weeding the flowerbed that encircles the garden. A friend had given me some iris and I wanted to plant it before the rains came. The chickens decided I had loosed this soil just for them and dug up all the transplants in their pursuit of bugs. I gave up and went back into the greenhouse to seed in some herbs and flowers.

The family returned with one (small) fish for all their efforts. After a quick meal we went to play movable chicks, moving chicks from one pen to another as the new layer chicks will be in today. Some family members decided the chickens were getting too much attention and tried to look like a chicken.

Today the man and I are in pursuit of a little quality time together. The man called off work so we can finish up some projects around here. It is suppose to rain which we really need but will make outside chores harder to do. I might have suggest lunch out!

Forsythia

Forsythia is pure joy. There is not an ounce, not a glimmer of sadness or even knowledge in forsythia. Pure, undiluted, untouched joy. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The forsythia by the shed is blooming. How could someone live in an area that was summer-like all the time and miss out on Springs rebirth? You wait (some not patiently) for each new bud and then after a nice rain and a couple of 60+temps, it just seems to happen over night. Spring makes me feel invincible...and then the aches and pains give me a rude awakening!

But...when you can't play in dirt you can play in fiber. I finished the merino roving. I split the roving from top to bottom. I spun one bobbin from top to middle and one from the middle to the end and then plyed them, which made them come out barberpoled. I got 16-18 wpi and 593 yards...now it will go in the cedar chest until I figure out what to do with it. I am waiting on a knitpicks order to make more socks.

#1 daughter and I had thrown some white roving into the dye leftover from coloring eggs. Yesterday when the kids went back to school, I dug out the pot to dye the baby blanket. When that was done, the pot was not exhausted so I threw in some of the tan/brown/gray roving (same as my sweater) and it came out looking like heathered teal which I have not be able to capture in a pic.
While the dye pot was on, I sorted some bags of fleece. I put some aside to wash, gave some to a friend and tossed some. I have 10-12 more bags to go through today.

Also on the list for the day is seeding more broccoli, which had sporadic results, flowers and herbs....hauling manure to the garden...entering my seed information into an excel sheet #1 daughter made up for me....raking the pond garden...stacking firewood...and the list goes on and on. I will be exhausted tonight but soon I will be getting sustenance from the garden....yup asparagus! It is just coming up!!!

Happy Easter

Chocolate causes certain endocrine glands to secrete hormones that affect your feelings and behavior by making you happy. Therefore, it counteracts depression, in turn reducing the stress of depression. Your stress-free life helps you maintain a youthful disposition, both physically and mentally. So, eat lots of chocolate!~Elaine Sherman, Book of Divine Indulgences

We don't eat alot of chocolate, we must just suck those endocrines out of the air because we all like to live in a happy world down here in the valley. Yesterday, while preparing some Easter dishes that can be made in advance, I whipped up a double batch of cookies for #1 daughter. I had some help from monster man. #1 daughter's favorite memory of Easter is these cookies, which I only made once before but she loved. #2 daughter's favorite memory is the bunny tracks left on the carpet and floor courtesy of a large car sponge and baby powder. The kids are are older now and forego the egg searching/chocolate for some small useful gifts.

So alot of the cooking is done and church is over so today is going to be a nice easy restful day....I might even finally finish spinning up the pansy yarn. Hope you all have a stress-free holiday.

Garden in a seed

“Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn.” ~ William Arthur Ward

And as the snow flurries continue to fly, I have faith there will be a very fruitful garden. Several days ago I planted seeds and I am starting to see green! One old package of broccoli that I thought might not come up I seeded several in each cell...so far it is the only broccoli that is growing. The cabbage is coming up but I think I should get more so I have can be sure of having enough sauerkraut. And the Amish Paste, both new and saved seed, is the only tomato coming up yet. The broccoli and cabbage are getting moved out to the greenhouse today.

And that beautiful merino roving is coming along. I decided to reaquaint myself with the old Ashford and started spinning it up on that. I finished half of it so far. I started another bobbin this morning.

Today I am helping a friend put up a swing set and I get to bring home all her rhubarb divisions. My sister is ecstatic as she loves rhubarb and was unable to grow it in PR. I was also given some hawthorne trees and a goldenrain tree which need to be planted today. Which means I should get off my duff and get to work.

Gluttonous Chickens

“Gluttony kills more than the sword” Proverb

Wikipedia defines gluttony as the over-indulgence and over -consumption of food, drink, or intoxicants to the point of waste. Which correctly describes the roaster chicks. They are gluttons. They will sit by a feeder until the food is gone. I have read they will eat themselves to death. When done eating their crops are so full they can hardly walk.

The Jumbo Cornish X Rocks which we use as roasters, along with the white leghorns, red sexlinks and barred rocks were all hatched on 3/16/09. Here is the difference in size three weeks later. While raising them I swear I won't get them again but the freezer full of this big roasters makes me forget their nasty behavior. When you go to feed the roasters they fly at you, peck you and are noisy as heck. The others are so calm and hardly ever make a peep...or maybe we just can't hear them over the roasters? They were in seperate cages in our basement as the larger ones trampled the smaller ones. I lost two before I was able to get another cage set up. This weekend we moved the roasters into an outside coop as they are more feathered than the others. As luck would have it the weather has gotten colder so we added another light. When it warms they will be allowed outside all day...not that they show any interest in foraging. Which is too bad since we seem to have a bumper crop of ticks this year...I might have to get some guinea hens.

Gratifying Greenhouse Time

The year's at the spring

And day's at the morn;

Morning's at seven;

The hillside's dew-pearled;

The lark's on the wing;

The snail's on the thorn;

God's in His heaven -

All's right with the world!

~Robert Browning

All week I have wanted to get into my greenhouse and finally get some seeds planted. I am soooo far behind but for whatever reason the planets did not align and I did not get a seed planted. Everyday something came up. Sis and I got alot done in the garden but if I didn't get seeds started soon all that work would be for naught.

But then Friday after home health came to install a telephone-scale, blood pressure/oxygen machine, I was finally able to get into the greenhouse. I was in heaven. The warm interior, the smell of dirt, the rain softly falling on the roof. I went into a gardening euphoria and was able to get all the paste tomatoes started along with the peppers, broccoli, and cabbage. I was abruptly jarred back to reality by the rain pounding on the roof and loud long booms of thunder. After a couple of booms I decided I better get into the house. Which was for the best since I had to get ready to leave.

After a quick shower I left to run some errands and pick up one of my wheels. A fellow knitter borrowed a wheel to see if she would enjoy spinning. She was addicted! Her husband saw the signs and bought her a wheel. She gave me a yummy braid of merino in purples and yellows...reminds me of a pansy (picture does NOT do it justice. Thank You Patty) I wanted to spin it but the weekend was upon us.

Saturday while the man worked 1/2 a day, I baked some goodies to take to a sick neighbor and a lady that works at our local feed store. On the way home I picked up a friends two kids to watch for the day. By then the man was home, while he cut up some oak logs and stacked them, I made beef stew and bread for dinner.

Sunday was a lazy morning but still ended up a fruitful day. The man changed the oil in my car while I was shopping with my sister. Then he cut down two trees. The kids and I piled the brush to be burnt at a later date. Leaving them to load the firewood, the man put my garden fence back up while I went into the greenhouse and seeded more.

This time I was able to do the slicing, grape, cherry tomatoes, and some squash that would not have time to produce if I waited to plant the seed directly.

So what I thought of as an unproductive week ended up with me being in a happy place. Mom ate better today than she has in weeks, I am close to caught up in the seed planting department, tree's are down, meat chicks moved, and the dogs even got a bath. All is right in my world and to keep it there for a bit I am going to bed!

March Fool

April 1. This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four. ~Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894

Even though it is not April Fool's Day I was reminded of what a fool I am today. Remember I said I had 6 ducks, 5 hens and a drake? Remember when I said I went to trade for an unrelated drake this past weekend? While today I was showing my sister the new drake while he was in the middle of doing what drakes do best in the Spring. Then it dawned on me the one doing the deed was not the drake I went and picked up!

Now in my defense I had never seen this duck demonstrating any on these male tendancies before and he also does not have the sex curl. He is old enough to have a sex curl. I could not go by plumage because these are all cross bred and when they are all squalking together you can't tell which sound is coming from which duck so I have always depended on the sex curl. See the one in the front (no sex curl) and the one close to the tree with a very noticable sex curl. I guess we will be making another trip to Farmer Dave's to drop this related drake off.Of course it makes perfect sense now why I have only been getting 4 duck eggs a day!

Grand total in eggs this month....90 duck eggs and 73 chicken eggs. The ducks always lay their eggs before I let them out. The chickens are on their own schedule and I haven't found some of their hiding spots....yet. Better luck next month.

Ideal

To me the ideal doctor would be a man endowed with profound knowledge of life and of the soul, intuitively divining any suffering or disorder of whatever kind, and restoring peace by his mere presence. ~Henri Amiel

Oh, to live in an ideal world. But in reality our life recently is...i deal...with that space between which completely changes things. Mom has decided she will recover quicker at home so the doctors released her on Friday. We got a crash course in oxygen 101 and trucked her home. I didn't think she was ready to come home but they had given her a transfusion so she was feeling spunky. I don't want her in the hospital but I want that instantaneous knowledgable attention if anything goes wrong. So I deal with the fear. And I shouldn't complain because that is all she can do... she deals with being dependent on others, all the meds and the long oxygen tube dragging behind. But she was right as Mother always is....She isn't up and running a marathon but is sleeping/eating better and was outside sitting in the sun on Saturday.

While she was soaking up some rays, the man and I went to visit a friend, do grocery shopping and stopped at the feed store. The man cut the shelves down to fit the greenhouse and the kids raked the side yard and hauled some broken branches to the burn pile.

During the night the rains came so early in the morining the man set the burn pile on fire. While he did that, I was able to rake the chicken and duck area. We took our drake up to Farmer Dave and traded him for an unrelated drake. Mr. Lucky (he has five hens drooling over him) is a Rouen and is beautiful. He is the one in the rear, which is what all the other pics were of since he kept walking away from me! Later in the Spring I will stop gathering the eggs and see if any of them set. I haven't had a problem any other year so hopefully things follow suit this Spring.

While at Farmer Dave's he asked if we wanted any firewood and proceeded to have one of his workers load our truck up with logs from tree's he had cut down. The rains and temps made the ride home a little foggy. When we got home the man put the shelves in the greenhouse and proceeded to start splitting the wood so the kids could stack it. They were soooo happy!I finally got the pile of manure spread on the greenhouse garden and put everything back into the greenhouse. I had to hurry as the thunder was getting pretty loud.

While making dinner we were treated to a great lightening show. The power only went out for a couple of seconds but still made me glad that we had bought more gas for the generator in case of a longer power outage so mom's oxygen stays pumping.

It was a great weekend with the lightening storm being just one more sign to add to the other signs of Spring such as....worm casting

bleeding heart

some fungusand elderberry that I thought I killed is showing signs of lifeToday I hope to get into the greenhouse to re-arrange things and finally start some seeds. This week my neighbor is going to come plow up a new area behind the large garden so we can move the potatoes outside the fence. I picked up some Kennebec, Katahdin, Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold so I am ready.

First day in the garden

Methinks I see the wanton hours flee,

And as they pass, turn back and laugh at me.

~George Villiers

My sister had to run to the bank yesterday and she stopped in at the post office knowing I was expecting a package. The package contained....White Finn and even though it does not look it in this picture, jet black Finn rovingYummy! I really wanted to spin but I pulled a muscle in my leg last week and I don't think it is up to spinning quite yet. I am, however, finally able to slowly climb steps! It's the little things!

We assumed mom was going to be able to come home yesterday so I stayed here to play catch up. After a quick turn around in the house I went outside to work in the garden. I was able to get all the blackberry plants removed of last years canes and the new ones topped. While I was doing this #1 daughter was raking moms lawn.

We came back to the house and had a little sustenance then returned to the outside to work some more. We removed everything from the greenhouse so that the man could put in the new shelves, raked the garden into a burn pile and dug up some errant Jerusalem Artichokes. I think it is awe that I feel every Spring when things start to emerge. Everything that I saw showing signs of life was like a little reward....daffodil, chives, rhubarb, hyacinth, tansy, monarda, day lily, iris, mint, quince in bud, oh my!

Sis came home without Mom as they want to double check some blood work, set up the oxygen which will be coming home with her, consult on how soon dialysis should start and do some PT work. The new release date is Friday.

We came in, showered and finished dinner. After dinner we had company over and it was 10 before they left. I went to bed exhausted and aching but happy with the productive day. I woke up at 2:30 and my hands hurt so bad from the clippers and every little briar I hadn't found earlier. As usual I didn't wear gloves and my hands feel like sandpaper. I keep putting lotion on them but it hasn't really helped much.

Today I have to throw dinner in the crockpot and run to town to do my cleaning job. I am dropping sis off at the hospital to bully mom into getting up and walking a little. I would like to get the shelves in the greenhouse this evening as I want to start seeds this weekend but the man has been coming home pretty tired recently. Hopefully tonight we can test the leg by spinning some of that fiber. If it doesn't work, it is still nice to look at!

Tension

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.~Victor FranklI have been walking around saying I need to get into the garden where there is peace (a tensionless state). Other times I say I need a vacation. Sometimes life just plain out sucks and I want a break from reality. For the most part I am very happy in my life and would not change things but sometimes the curveballs just floor you.

The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye. ~Winston Churchill

My mother was admitted to the hospital last Tuesday with congestive heart failure. In August 2006 my mom, husband and I went to visit my sister in Puerto Rico. My mother was keeping a secret. When we returned she went to the doctor to have some tests run. They found she had an ovarian mass which she had removed in September. Upon biopsy they found this to be cancerous, but secondary to the kidney. Meaning she had renal cell carcenoma which had metastasized. After the removal of her left kidney, imaging showed that it was also in her lung, liver and spinal column. She was started on Sutent, an oral chemo which she handled fairly well as chemo's go. She didn't do too good on the drip. She has been in the hospital twice with complications but she this time has been by far the worst. To treat the heart problem they risk the one remaining kidney which isn't working up to par and to treat the kidney they risk the heart.

During this time my sister has gathered some fly miles and we have become quite familiar with Newark Airport! She has always been very supportive when I call about Mom. Sometimes she has been my pressure relief valve...I have called and dumped because I had hit my limit and she has made phone calls from PR and magically eased the pressure.

This time my sister decided enough was enough. She resigned from her 20 year job and as of Sunday has officially moved back home. She too wants that tensionless state. Here I was thinking it was easier on her living in PR when it was probably worse. This became abundantly clear to me when I returned to the hospital following a really bad day for my mother and walking down the hall to her room was so agonizing because of not knowing what I would find-hoping things would be better but semi preparing myself for worse. I can't even imagine sitting 100's of miles away and waiting on phone calls for 2 1/2 years.

Thankfully Mom seems to be doing better. Today we meet with the kidney doctor to find out the results of the ultrasound. Soon we will know if/when she will need dialysis, if she will come home with oxygen and when she will be able to come home.

Although not a tensionless state, Sis will hopefully feel less tension being here front and center and I know I will feel less tension just knowing someone else is here to talk to and help make decisions concerning mom's care.

Spring

No matter what changes take place in the world, or in me, nothing ever seems to disturb the face of spring. ~ E.B. White

Spring officially starts today. Every time I am outside it seems there is flock of geese flying north. The robins, bluebirds and red winged blackbirds have settled in nicely. The sap is still flowing but I am going to stop collecting this weekend as I should have enough for our use by then. The maples are on the outside of the pasture. It has become a ritual for the sheep to follow us around the perimeter. Here they are enjoying the first little wisps of green.While inspecting things around here we came upon a coyote ravaged deer carcass. We heard a huge ruckus from them a couple of weeks ago so that must have been what they were doing. I hope they leave my chickens and turkeys alone this summer.

I want to get into the garden in a little bit to finish cutting the old blackberry canes down and topping the new ones. Eventually I have to find time to get into the greenhouse and I have to start seeds.

I finished the capelet finally. I also plyed the splotch yarn. While it looked good when a single and didn't look too bad as a plyed...it looks like mud when knit. This is the beginning of a pair of plain old socks for #1 daughter. They have to go in the bag now because I have a ton of housekeeping to catch up on before I can play with them anymore! I hope everyone has a great Spring day.