Just January

This week, the governor declared a state of emergency because of our winter weather. We had a big snow storm (got 8", officially) on Monday.  Then on Tuesday afternoon, the winds picked up. Today we've been below zero all day, not counting the wind chill.

the high temperature for the day at this little place here

The wind chill, which really doesn't matter if you're not outside in the wind, has ranged from -20 to -33 so far, and supposed to dip further yet tonight.  OK.  Sounds horrific.

Except, to me, cold is cold.  I mean, I've been out all three days, doing my normal routine (feed and water chickens, work at the horse farm) plus some chores that aren't normally mine--like stoking the wood boiler and plowing the driveway with the 4-wheeler because DH has been out of town all week on a work trip. If it is to be, it's up to me. Oh, and keeping the cellar temperature above freezing--I've been monitoring that too the last 24 hours--since the pipes coming in from the well and the pressure tank are in there.  Mr. Buddy heaters are handy for more than just warming your hunting blind!

Honestly, bundled up--which you should be if you need to go outdoors to get chores done-- negative 30 hasn't felt any colder than -12 did, and -12 didn't feel really any colder than zero did.  After a certain point, it tends to all feel the same: cold.

It's just January. We've kind of gotten spoiled by the warmer winters of late, and the media is making a huge deal of the current cold and snow.  I especially was entertained today by reading an article on the "record cold" which stated that it hasn't been this cold on this day since 1994 and that it's "the kind of cold that only comes around once every 20-25 years."  This was big news, I kid you not.

Now think about that for a moment.  Today is the coldest January 30th it has been since January 30, 1994.  So 'horribly' cold that it's the kind of cold you don't get often, only "every 20-25 years".  Dude, do the math.  2019 minus 1994 is twenty-five years.  So, technically, this weather isn't anything extraordinary or earth-ending. It's a fairly regular occurrence.

Anyway, enough of my mini-rant.  Here's a few photos of my day, this cold, windy, January day.

snow blowing across the road on my drive to and from work

stoking this thing full every 12 hours to keep the house toasty

working on some knitting (that's actually not socks!)

figuring up a baby quilt design

(graph paper leftover from DH's college days;

none of our kids needed it by the time they got to high school, LOL)

cutting fabric for my next wild baby quilt

bundled up for chores

"Cold, what cold?  I'm sweating!"

Well, Darn!

Darn socks, that is.  Since I got hooked on the wonderful thing that is wearing hand-knit socks, I really didn't want to part with them once the heels started to wear through after much use.  So, when it happened to the first pair I'd knit (created way back in 2013), I set them aside with the intent to learn how to repair them.  After all, before mass produced goods, people darned their holey socks instead of tossing them in the trash and running off to the store to buy a new pair.

However, I didn't get to looking up how to darn socks right away.  Not even after a second pair got holes.  Or a third pair. . .  Over the past year and a half or so, I'd racked up five pairs of socks needing mending.

Well, I finally got around to doing it, and it wasn't hard at all.  A little time consuming, yes, but not hard.  Something that can be done easily while watching TV of an evening. Or a mid-day if you're having cold and snowy weather keeping you indoors. Tutorials abound on the internet; I don't even remember exactly which one I used to educate myself in the 'art' of darning socks.

All I know is that between my not-worn-out-yet socks and the five mended pair, my dresser now has more hand-knit socks than there are days of the week!  And if you don't look at the bottoms, you can't tell which ones are the mended ones.  Even when you do look, it's not always easy to tell--if I had leftover yarn from making the sock, that was what I used to darn it with, so it blends right in pretty much.

I picked up a wooden darning egg at a local antique store for just a few dollars.  That helps tremendously in keeping the correct shape while patching up a holey heel.  Even works well on the ball of the foot, where one sock needed to be mended.

Usable socks once more!  No more worn out heels.

Darning on the ball of the foot.

Unfinished No More

Something that really bothers me is when I don't get to finish things that I start (or that other people don't finish what they start).  Having incomplete projects or tasks just slowly eats away at me in the back of my mind.  One of my main goals for 2019 is to try to complete at least those projects that rely on just me to get done.  In other words, if it's something I need DH's expertise or muscles for, those projects are not up to me alone, and so are ranked differently (those are on the "Wishful Thinking" list).

This weekend, I knocked one item off my Personal Projects list.  It was a mystery quilt that I participated one winter. It has been languishing, incomplete, first in a closet, then in a drawer, then promoted to sitting on the cedar chest in my bedroom--where I can see it daily--for a long time.  Like, I pieced this thing in January and February of 2013. 

Yep, an almost 6 year old UFO. 

Looking back, 2013 seems to be the year I started to lose it.  Organization, control of my house, etc. December 2012 is when we moved DD1 back home after only one semester of college out in Minnesota.  She'd been incredibly homesick, and the college out there wasn't as good of a fit as she'd thought it would be. But coming back home didn't mean going back to the old arrangement of sharing a room with her younger sister.  Nope, they had so many screaming fights that we ended up shuffling things around and giving DD1 her own space in the basement.

Moving back home meant bringing all her dorm stuff with her (cram that into my house).  And when she moved out again in August 2014, we had about one month reprieve before moving DS1, K2, K3, and Toad up from South Carolina to living with us.  Cram four people and about 1/2 their house into my house.  They were here for 18 months.  When they'd been on their own again for about a year (and I still hadn't gotten my house back to pre-2013 status in terms of cleaning, schedules, and organization--plus still had some of DD1's stuff and a few stray items of DS1's family), DD1 started moving her apartment into my house in preparation for living with us while she student taught at a nearby school district.  She stayed until after her wedding in May 2018, and while she now lives several hours away where she and Honorary Son are permanently employed, because they are renting a lot of her stuff still remains at this little place here.

Sigh.  And that, my friends, is how this relatively small project sat for six years before I got around to finishing it.

All it needed was a border, batting (which I've had for years), and backing fabric. I admit that it was probably the border fabric that delayed the project the longest.  The few times  over the years that I took my pieced top out and looked at it, I just couldn't find any fabric in my stash that I thought went well enough to be the border.  And then this summer, I found the most fabulously perfect backing fabric, and that gave me new insight into what a good border would be.  It just so happened that in the previous year, I'd picked up a small cut of fabric somewhere (garage sale?  thrift shop?  end of bolt bin at Walmart?) that was a good match with the backing and while not typically what I would of considered to coordinate with the front, it did go very well.  I think of the 'pattern' on that particular red piece of fabric as lava.  Hot, spewing lava. 

Anyway,  I got that small--45"x 45"--project completed in the last few days.  It is no longer a UFO.  Now it's a small quilt/accent piece/throw/something the grandkids are going to want.

Top

Loud lizard backing

Backing close up

That's a little bit of weight off my shoulders.  One less undone thing nagging at me.  And it's something bright to display in my house during these fairly dull gray winter months.

Random Thoughts, Food and a Picture! Jan. 18th

I've been wanting to blog more for a while now, but between normal life and the things life randomly throws at me that are abnormal (LOL), I haven't quite gotten to post as regularly as I intend.  Amongst all the holiday craziness, I did from time to time conduct some 'blog research'--as in, went looking for other blogs to read in addition to the few I frequent (many of whom also seem to post less and less. . .).

Instead of helping me to organize my thoughts and create more frequent posts, these recon expeditions into the current blog world have me scratching my head. I've noticed a few common themes, like posting your weekly menu, or blogs that are lists upon list of suggestions for bettering yourself or your looks or your wardrobe or your sleep or your home.  But not too many that appeal to me as real-life anecdotes or discussions by people like me. 

My aim has never been to sell stuff via my blog (sorry, no binders of how to declutter, or de-stress, or organize your life).  My aim has never been to impress people (sorry, no fancy photos of gourmet meals, grandiose trips, fashion, or reveals of trendy home makeovers).  No lists of what I've been Kindle-ing (I don't own an e-reader and don't intend to).

What you get here, what you've always gotten here, is me, plain and simple, and not too glamorous.  You get happenings at this little place here where we raised four kids and a large portion of our own food.  You get to read about cutting wood, and weeding the garden, and repairing the tractor/suburban/house. You get my opinion on stuff, but typically not political or other hot button topics.  You get chicken pictures as well as recipes that sometimes feature those very same chickens.  You get pictures of things I knit, things I sew, things I grow.  And photos where I've covered up the faces of people so that their privacy is somewhat kept.

I guess looking at what other bloggers are talking about hasn't given me topics for more posts.  It's kind of made me a bit more random.  Such as this post you are reading right now.  Maybe I don't need to have a planner with post topics mapped out and scheduled to publish on certain days of the week. Maybe I should just pop in more often and share with my readers what's going on in my little piece of the world, and in my head.  Even if it's totally random.  And probably more than a little un-exciting.

So here goes:

Random thought #1:  What is up with language these days?!?  Even in our writing.  Do we really need to cuss so much and use acronyms for salty phrases that everyone reads as the words that should be edited out?  Can't we dig out our thesauruses and expand our vocabulary instead of shrinking it?  Can't we be livid instead of mad "As F***"?  How about apoplectic?  Incensed?  And unless you are of the genus Canidae, I can't quite see calling you by the terminology for a female dog, even if you are a good friend, even if it's all in fun and (maybe? do they use it that way?) a compliment.

Random thought #2: Does everyone really like painted furniture?  I know it's way easier to slap a coat of paint on something wooden instead of taking time and skill to strip old stain, repair scuff marks, and apply a new stain and sealant.  But should we?  And can you truly say a dresser or sideboard is antique if you painted over it?!?  Doesn't painting it kill it's value as an artifact from another time period?

Random thought #3: Along the same lines as RT#2, what is up with all the white?  It seems like every thing I find on decorating lately, the walls are white. The trim work is white.  The furniture is white.  The drapes are white. The carpet/rugs are white.  WHITE?!?  Do you not have kids, pets, or live where people spend part of their time out of doors?  White?  Are you kidding me?  Not only is it hard to keep clean, it's just obnoxiously antiseptic to look at.  The only time the earth is white, white and nothing but white is during a blizzard.  And not too many people rush out into a blizzard to joy in the whiteness of everything.

Random thought #4: I don't really care to see what people ordered from Amazon this month. Or what they are binge-watching on Netflix (seriously? Binge-watching?  Let me send you some chores to do with your time).  Or what they are Instagram-ing.  Or what they are pinning on Pinterest.  Tell me real-life stuff.  Stuff that matters.  Stuff that can benefit someone in lasting ways.


Now, I do kind of like seeing what other people's menus are.  It gives me a little inspiration to switch up my own dinner line-up now and then. In case you are wondering, this week for dinner I cooked:

• oven-fried chicken leg quarters with mashed potatoes and creamed corn, 
• scalloped potatoes and ham with green beans, 
• husband's delight (kind of a lasagna knock-off with egg noodles),
•  taco salad, 
• and glazed pork chops with mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots).

We went out to eat on Sunday (using a gift certificate I received as a Christmas present), and I'm not totally decided on what tomorrow's dinner will be.  Homemade chicken soup, perhaps.  I still have several chicken carcasses (from where I cut off leg quarters and breasts after butchering) in the freezer waiting to be made into soup.

What I'd really like is some ideas of quick to cook (so I don't have to get up pre-five-thirty a.m. to make breakfast that will get served by 6:30) but not carb overloaded breakfasts.  I can only eat eggs so many days a week before I'd rather skip breakfast than eat another egg.  Sausage never agrees with my stomach, (except as very small pieces in biscuits and gravy, most of which I try to leave in the gravy for DH) so any type of breakfast sausage dish is out.  Also never could deal with the texture of hot cereals such as oatmeal or cream of wheat. . . As a kid I'd starve rather than try to force them down my throat without them coming right back up again.

What do I like to see on blogs?  Stories of every day life.  Stories of homemade/frugally done DIY projects and festivities.  Stuff about animal husbandry.  Stuff about gardening. Craft tutorials for things that are useful and will last a long time rather than be the trendy tchotchke of the moment. Pictures that people take.  Doesn't have to be professional quality as long as it's not too dark or blurry to tell what the picture is of.  It's nice just to see pictures of things other people have made, or experienced, or seen from their front porch.

Here's a picture I took on my camera this week.  I pulled out of the cedar chest a quilt DH's grandmother had made for us in 1991, and decided to wash it up and put it on the bed that is now considered the guest bed since (hopefully) DD2 will have a full time job somewhere and not return home to live after she graduates from college this Spring.  It hasn't fit our own bed since we got a king-sized mattress back in 2000.  It's nice to see that quilt in use again.

A Few Quick Projects

I have a sewing project to do that I'm a little nervous about.  I know I can do it, but it's kind of an important one, and part of me is afraid that I'll mess it up.  You see, DS2 asked me to hem his new suit pants. Easy, right?

But these aren't just any suit pants.  These are the pants to the suit he will be wearing when he stands up in his best friend's wedding in February.  And when he stands up in the wedding of another long time friend in July.  And when he says his own wedding vows in August.  (These guys are really smart thinkers; instead of renting tuxes or suits three times this year for these wedding they will all be in, they decided they would all wear the same suit in the same color for all three weddings, and just go ahead and buy suits.  That way they save money in the long run and have a suit to wear for other formal occasions too.)

So, while I know that I can do a great job on a simple tailoring task such as a hem, I decided to do a couple of other quick and easy sewing projects first.  To bolster my confidence, as it were.

First, I whipped up some new cloth napkins/bread cloths to cover dough while it rises.  These were all made from fat quarters acquired during a trip to Shipshewana last summer.  In fact, the lighter colored fabric was sort of a birthday gift to me from DD1.  She had intended to make these cloths herself and surprise me with them, but she had trouble with the tensioning on her mother-in-law's sewing machine and so quit after the first one. When she gave them to me, she informed me that my gift was "some assembly required".  She had measured and cut them, and even ironed under the hem allowance, but had only sewn the hem on one.

It was quick and easy to finish the other three.  And while I was at it, I got out some fabric that I had set aside for the same purpose.  Using the same dimensions as the ones DD1 had started, I cut and sewed the edges of two more.  Now I have six new bread cloths!

I think these bread cloths are the bees' knees!

The bread cloths are just 18" x 18" squares.  I ran a basting thread 1/4" from the edge (using my handy dandy 1/4" presser foot normally used when piecing quilts), ironed the hem under on that mark, and then did a fancy top stitch over all four edges, which caught the raw edges on the underside.

Having accomplished that, I was motivated to work on another sewing project right away.  I made a pair of pillowcases for K3 and Toad to use when they come spend the night at this little place here.

Minions for my little minions.   :0)

Now I'm ready to tackle DS2's wedding pants.  Tomorrow.

No Venison

After three months of deer hunting (bow season, firearm deer season, back to bow season, muzzleloader/black powder season, and late antlerless season), for the first time since we bought this property in 2002, we have no venison in the freezer.

That brings about a certain sense of dread. 

You see, venison has been our primary red meat for over 15 years.  Most years, when we still had all four kids at home, we could go beef-less until about April.  And as the kids grew up and moved away, we were able to stretch the stash of venison longer and longer. Some years we had enough venison that we did not need to buy beef at all. This past year, I cooked up the last package of venison on November 19th.

So to have absolutely no venison on hand means

1) I have to buy beef

2) our grocery bill is going to increase a lot

3) I will have to make extra sure I am getting enough red meat in my diet that I don't get anemic again (because me and iron ills just weren't working, and I don't seem to absorb non-heme [plant-based] iron very well at all). My body honestly needs red meat, the wilder the better.

Along with dread I have two other feelings.  One is guilt.  You see, I only went out hunting six times, all during the beginning of firearm season.  I saw this little guy (a 3 point)

and this littler guy (button buck; the deer equivalent of a pubescent boy whose voice has just started to change--he's all gangly with not much muscle yet)

both on opening day.  Since they are both small/young deer, and it was only the first day of firearm season, I only shot at them with my camera. My gun stayed on my lap. I knew there would be more deer yet to come in the next two weeks of the season.  Mature deer.  Larger deer, with more meat on their bones.

Unfortunately, I came down sick along about the fifth day of the season.  I'm hardly ever sick, and have never in my adult life been sick-on-the-couch sick (as my kids put it).  But that's how I found myself for the next four days: mostly on the couch, mostly sleeping, and about as strong as a cooked noodle.  What followed after that was horrible coughing; loud, racking coughing that went on and on and on. For weeks.  For a couple doctor visits until we hit on the right meds. (Honestly, it's only been in the past week that I've truly been able to say I am completely healthy again).  So, I did not get out to hunt again at all.  Not during firearm season, not during muzzle loading season, not during late antlerless, all of which I will normally hunt if I have not taken a deer yet.  

Yes, now that we are facing almost 10 months before the chance to hunt deer again, I am feeling guilty that I didn't do my part for putting venison in the freezer.

On the other hand, and here comes that other feeling I have, I'm kind of ticked off at DH.  He started hunting with the bow opener on October 1st.  He stopped hunting on January first, when late antlerless ended.  He had three entire weeks of vacation time from work in which he was capable of hunting morning and night (and even mid-day, which he did a few times).  The rest of those three months of deer hunting season, he had weekends and holidays to hunt, plus whatever evenings he was able to get home from work before dark.  He spent a whole lot of time out in the woods hunting.  He saw a whole lot of deer.  Did he shoot one?

No.  Most of them, he let go, waiting for the giant trophy buck that he'd seen on our trail cam (and in person from a distance). He wouldn't shoot the 6 point, or the 8 point.  He wouldn't shoot a doe at all until late antlerless in December.  He wanted a buck, and he wanted the buck with the biggest rack.  

But that large-racked buck is so big because he's older.  And he's been able to get older because he's wily.  He doesn't put himself in a position to get shot.  He outfoxed DH.  

Then, when the time for shooting bucks had passed, and DH's only option was to take a doe, the deer disappeared for over a week.  When they came back, we had rainy nasty weather, and Christmas, and all sorts of family get-togethers we had to attend.

So we are without venison this year.  I'm a little frustrated with my health keeping me out of the woods, and a lot frustrated with DH being more concerned about the size of the deer's antlers than the quantity of meat in the freezer until it was too late.  Other than making sure I am taking a mature deer, not a barely weaned one, my goal in hunting has always been to acquire food, not impress people with a set of antlers.

Yarn Along: January 2019

This afternoon I am joining Ginny for this year's first Yarn Along.

I finished my Glacial socks! (aka my Alaska yarn socks)

The second sock came off the needles on Dec. 30th. After languishing untouched for about two weeks while I sewed a bunch of Christmas gifts, it only took an estimated two days of focused knitting to get from a half-done leg, through the heel, the foot and the toe.   The pattern really doesn't show up too well in the photos; it's kind of like diamonds that ripple down the sock.  Reminds me of how the melt water from a glacier forms rivulets that braid together as they run down the outwash basin.

Once my socks were finished, officially completing my 2018 knitting, I consulted my list of crafty projects I want to make in 2019, and chose my next knitting endeavor.


Technically cast on before 2018 was totally over, my first project for this year is a pair of October Leaves fingerless mitts.  This is a pattern and yarn (such a yummy Alpaca/polyamide mix) that my Mom picked up two (? I think) years ago as a seed club offering and passed on to me as she typically doesn't do 'small' knitting--anything finer than worsted weight yarn.  Being busy at the time, I set it aside (not with the rest of my stash) and it ended up buried under a pile of stuff until recently.  Yikes! Yes, I have some piles of fabric, etc, in my house that really are that old.  (Hoping to resolve that this year; hence the list of crafty projects to make in 2019. . .)

With her birthday coming up in February, I decided that this would make a perfect knitting project for January. She'll be very surprised to receive these fingerless mitts as a birthday present.

I'm not very far along on them,  just through the cuff and first repeat of the first chart on the first mitt, and all ready I am in love with this yarn.  Looking at the yardage given on the pattern, and what the label on the yarn says, I should have enough yarn to actually make two pair of these fingerless mitts.  So. . . a second pair later in the year for myself?

2019: A Bright New Year

As I write this, it is quite gloomy outside.  Very grey, very wet (heavy rains most of yesterday afternoon and overnight), and just a totally blah winter day. I would much rather see temperatures below freezing and white snowbanks than all this almost-40 degree grey and mud, mud, mud. 

Add that to coming out of a frantic holiday season in which we juggled lots of family gatherings (really, must we do the whole extended family thing on both sides--now encompassing four generations--every year?) as well as work schedules and a lingering cold (or is it newly developed pesky allergies and possibly asthma?) on my part, it's hard to feel energetic on this first day of the new year.

However, there is a lot to look forward to in 2019.


First, or might turn out to be second, DD2 will be graduating from college with her Bachelor's in Wildlife Ecology and Management (and a minor in International Spanish) in early May.  That's been on our radar for quite a while, and we all ready have room reservations and travel plans in regards to attending that.

Next, or perhaps slightly before that, our third grandchild will be arriving.  The due date is six days after DD2's graduation, but as this baby's siblings (K3 and Toad) both arrived over a week early, I'm thinking this one probably will too.  We know this new bundle of joy is going to be a boy.  Toad all ready has a name chosen for his baby brother, but their parents have a different one in mind, so won't be using Toad's idea. Given that Toad's choice--Rascal--sounds like an apt nickname for a little boy, I might just use it here.

The third big event, which will definitely arrive third since it is slated for mid-August, is DS2 and Surprise's wedding!  Plans are well underway for that, and it looks like we will be traveling to New Jersey (where Surprise's family is) for the joyful day.  DH and I are discussing taking a week after the wedding for a long talked about but yet untaken New England sight seeing vacation. Once we're as far east as New Jersey, how can we not head on up to Vermont, and possibly New Hampshire and/or Maine?


The year, of course, holds much more than that in store for me, and I think I'm up for discovering all the surprises, good and maybe not so good, of 2019.