Woo Hoo, I Got a Pullet Egg!

 It's so exciting to see this first itty bitty egg in the nest box each Fall.  It means that this year's chicks are now old enough to begin laying eggs.  And if they start laying eggs in the Fall, that typically guarantees somebody (i.e. the youngest hens) will lay me fresh eggs during the winter when the older gals are likely to take a break in productivity.

When a young hen (pullet) first starts laying, her eggs are undersized.  Within a few weeks, as things get fully geared up internally, they reach the normal size for her breed/type. 

But for now, I'm loving seeing the bitty eggs in the nest box daily.

A Near Miss. . . Or New Idea?

 My brain's been kinda foggy the last day or so, but, as per usual, I'm pushing on.  Most everything on my daily to do list has been of the routine done it a hundred (or million) times variety, so running on auto pilot has worked out pretty well.

Although in making my most recent batch of granola, the brain fog/auto pilot combo created what could have been a very interesting--or yucky--taste combo had I not realized at the very last minute that the spice jar in my hand that I was about to measure into the pan for granola 'seasoning' was not cinnamon, but cumin!

Whew!  Glad I caught that before I put nearly a whole teaspoonful into the pan that already held veggie oil, honey, water and brown sugar.  Removing the cumin would have been impossible--without dumping out all the other ingredients and starting new--if my brain hadn't actually kicked in and said "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? THAT'S NOT CINNAMON!!!!"

(Yes, literally, in bold face and all caps, that's what my brain said.)

I quickly set down the jar of cumin and grabbed the jar of cinnamon from the lazy Susan where they reside very close together since I keep my spices in container-size and alphabetical order (post on that here).  I measured the cinnamon and added it to the pan of granola 'wet' ingredients.  Making granola proceeded without tragic incident.

Although that did get me to thinking that with a little tweaking (like, definitely leave out the shredded coconut and probably the brown sugar and vanilla too), a batch of granola with a bit of cumin in it could be an interesting flavor profile.  Not your typical breakfast granola, but maybe not icky either.  I might have to think on this concept for a bit and maybe do some tinkering with my recipe and try out a (very) downsized batch of granola containing cumin.  In the name of scientific research.

I mean, some people love breakfast burritos (not me, my taste buds do not like eggs and tortilla together), so why couldn't a savory cumin flavored granola be a thing?

regular granola, thank goodness!

Quilt Show 2025.

On the 11th, I went to a quilt show hosted by a nearby quilt guild that was being put on at the local fairgrounds.  This is the same guild that put on the quilt show DD1, Faline and I went to in 2023 that I blogged about here.  Apparently they have a show every two years, so I have all ready penciled the next show into my calendar for 2027.  I really love looking at all the quilts, getting inspiration, and sometimes just standing in awe of the talent of other quilters.

 I wish the camera on my phone had done more justice to these quilts.  In person, they were all amazing.  In the photos, even in some of the close ups, the colors aren't true and the quilting itself is difficult to see.  This is only a small sampling of what was on display; I quickly figured out I should just take pictures of the ones that meant something to me, in one way or another.  Maybe it was just the wow factor of that particular quilt.  Maybe it sparked an idea in me of a pattern I might make myself. 

Or, like this penguin quilt, it was because I all ready own the pattern and had been intending (for two years now) to make it as a gift to DD1 and I wanted to judge her reaction to the pattern by sending her a picture.  If her reaction was 'meh', I definitely didn't need to worry about making a similar one with her as the intended recipient.

Her reaction (like mine) was "Cute!  But I'd do different colors.  Those are too washed out."

So, I know I'm on the right track with that particular quilt idea and, like I suspected, if I sew one for her it needs to be more eye catching and not so mellow in the tones used.

It was neat to see this Jacob's Ladder, as I made a throw sized quilt several years ago using Jacob's Ladder blocks from a swap I'd been involved in back in 2013ish.  I know how to put this block together, and it would be a fairly quick and easy one to make again in the future.  Why I took a picture of this particular one is because the quilter who made it made a small modification in one upper and one lower corner of each block which gives it a slightly different look when all the blocks are assembled into a top.  I wanted to remember--and probably copy--this easy modification for my potential future Jacob's Ladder quilt.

Two diagonal corners have a small triangle in the corner rather than being a small four-patch in all four corners.  I like this modification.  I think, on a two color quilt especially, it makes a new design appear in the quilt as a whole.

I don't think the pattern name of this quilt was listed, but it's definitely using Lori Holt fabrics.  I'm guessing it also uses blocks designed by Lori Holt.

This Strawberry Quilt caught my eye.  I doubt I would ever duplicate it, but I did think it was an interesting way to use up red and pink scraps if you're into making seasonally themed quilts (so far, I'm not that person.  At least not on the order of something large enough to put on a bed, LOL).

This sea turtle quilt falls into the WOW Just WOW category!  It was all foundation paper pieced and had absolutely the most invisible and beautifully done seams.  I must have spent at least ten minutes just examining it and basking in it's perfect presence.  This is art.  I am a utilitarian quilter and probably always will be.  But I surely do appreciate art when I see it.

These next two quilts also probably fall into the art quilt category.  Although they both had me scratching my head and going "why????"  I mean, as a challenge to see if you can, ok I can understand that.  But as something you're going to decorate with???  (And spend a bunch of time and money creating?) I guess these two quilters and I have vastly different tastes.  (Although I understood the LOTR reference on sight.)

This small rooster quilt (wall hanging?) also had me doing a WOW and up close examination.  Such tiny pieces of fabric.  Honestly, I'm not convinced they are sewn together (foundation piecing) versus 'glued on' as I call it with some sort of fusible bond.  Either way, they definitely took a lot of time to cut out and construct into this art style quilt.

This next quilt, a shoo fly, I took a picture of to remind me of another quick, easy, and familiar block I could make into a future quilt.  Not sure I'd do the wide border like this quilter did, but I do like the scrappy sashing and the gold/yellow cornerstones that add a pop of bright color. 

Then there was this wolf quilt.  Sized for a queen (or maybe even king) sized bed, it was amazing.  Not just in the fabrics used and how they made the wolf's head come to life, but also in the heavy quilting that added so much depth and texture.  Definitely another stand-in-awe quilt in my book.

close up to show the quilting

Another quilt that I admired the 'life' the quilting added was this one with maple leaves in the centers of the blocks.  From a distance, it was just kinda ho-hum to me.  Definitely bright, but nothing exceptional. I felt that the batik fabrics of the leaves on the black backgrounds were kind of muddied rather than eye catching.  But then I looked closer and noticed the veining on the leaves.  This boosted the quilt in my opinion.

There were several appliqued quilts.  This one was a favorite of mine.  I've done a little applique, but I doubt I will ever do something on the scale of this pretty quilt. Everything you see was applique. Everything.

Close up of a portion of the large circle in the quilt.  

Can you imagine having the patience and talent to do this?

This Cathedral Window quilt caught my eye for a couple of reasons. 

1. it's Cathedral Window, a pattern which I first became aware of about 15 years ago and said "I love it, but it's way too hard for me to ever dream of doing".

2. it's made with recycled denim jeans.  As a person who has made several jean quilts, I loved the idea of doing something other than repeating denim squares or rectangles to make a quilt with old jeans.  (Side note, I have two more jean quilts to make with squares before I give up making that kind; one for DS1 and Surprise, and one for DD2 should she ever get married and have need of a king sized quilt).

Upon examining this quilt close up, I could see how it was made and that it really wasn't as hard a pattern as I'd always thought.  Or maybe my skills have improved in 15 years.  I could totally make a Cathedral Window quilt!  And not only could I use old jeans, but I could use a ton of scrap fabrics, like this one does and make it an I Spy quilt at the same time!

Another scrappy inspiration is this Postage Stamp quilt.  It is also another pattern I've been aware of, but never seen in person.  Oh my goodness, the time it must have taken to cut and sew all those little (1.5") squares together!  But, again, I could totally do that!

This pattern I can't remember the name of, but I know I saw it back in 2020 during our surreal lives of the Covid shutdown/stay home orders.  It would be a great scrap buster, and not difficult to piece. Given the repeating nature of the houses and that they are done in rows, I think it could be easily adjusted to be pretty much any size from wheelchair lap sized to wall hanging to any size of bed you'd want to make it for.

Here is a spin off of the bookshelf quilt idea (there were a few bookshelf quilts on display, all neat in their personalization).  I like the take on this, it's a great throw quilt idea for a reader, librarian, bookseller, writer, etc.

As someone who has lived in Michigan all her life, I can see myself making this quilt someday.  I love the blues, but can also see using blues for the background (lakes?) only and doing shades of green or greenish brown/tan for the land mass.  

In general, I'm kind of tired of all the rainbow toned quilts in recent years (nothing political or condemning any identities, I just have burned out on all the many, many, many quilt patterns for sale that use rainbow color schemes) but I could see myself doing something like this one. It's kind of a string quilt, kind of a log cabin quilt, and I think the white sashing plus the on point setting makes it more soothing and calming and therefore appealing to me.  It's pretty, not in-your-face.

There were at least a half-dozen quilts that featured embroidery.  Here are two that I really liked. The first one has identical large blocks all done in embroidery with narrow solid sashing in between and very basic crosshatch (or diamond) quilting.  It's beautiful in it's simplicity. 

The second one had both piecework and embroidery, and each block also had a quote in the center. Plus the quilting was very ornate and made the 'blank' white spaces pop just as much as the bright fabric pieces and the deeply toned embroidery threads.  It was not only eye catching, but thought provoking as I read the handstitched quotations.

This last quilt that I took a photo of is a color scheme that either of my daughters would love.  I like it too.  It's nearly impossible to see (hopefully you can zoom in on the picture on your screen), but there is a ton of quilting in the white spaces.  The colored pieces are also quilted, but in person, to me, it's the quilting in the white space that make this one shine.

I really enjoyed the time spent at the quilt show.  It didn't cost a ton for admission, only $10, and if you printed out and colored in the quilt guild's logo you got a dollar off your admission fee.  Of course I did that, LOL.  And then, once you paid your entrance fee of $9 or $10, you were given a ticket that you then turned in for a chance to draw a slip of paper that either said WINNER or SORRY.  Winners received a tote bag with some goodies in it (I'm not sure what, as I wasn't a winner, LOL), and SORRY got you a free fat quarter of your choosing.  Since fat quarters are at least $3 these days, I'm deducting that $3 from my admission fee and saying it only cost me $6 to go to the quilt show.  

There were lots of items you could bid on in a silent auction (I bid on a neat hand painted thread box, but apparently was not the high bidder), about 10 quilts of varying designs and sizes you could buy raffle tickets for (drawing in December, so I don't know yet if I'm a lucky winner there), and a shopping area with fabrics, patterns, notions, and handmade crafts of various kinds.

I will definitely be back in 2027 when the quilt show comes again.

Fresh Venison!

 Warning!  If you are vegetarian, or anti-hunting or squeamish in regards to blood and/or death, you probably want to skip this post.  If none of those apply to you, then by all means, read on!

DH has gotten a very nice 8-point buck with his crossbow.  After shooting at two nice ones last year, and getting neither into the freezer (one we tracked into the corn field on a very scant blood trail, but then lost it about twelve rows in--it was found a few days later by the combine harvesting corn about 50 more yards in from where we'd finally given up searching after several hours of trying to pick up the trail again), both DH and I were very afraid that this buck was going to be another heart breaking hunting experience.

But, thankfully, the 'curse' has been broken and he easily tracked and recovered--in the dark, no less-- (with my help, we're a team in most everything) this big buck.  This picture, taken at the point in the woods that it was laying when we reached the end of the blood trail, doesn't do it justice.

This one, taken the next afternoon while hanging, is a little better.

Field dressed, it weighed in at 140 pounds, which is not bad at all for a Michigan whitetail. 

DH let it hang and dry age a few days before quartering it and bringing it in the house to debone and finish processing. Currently, with exception of the burger meat which we have yet to run through the grinder (tomorrow after work), it is all cut, wrapped and in the freezer.  

Well, in the interest of full disclosure,  several pounds have also gone into our stomachs, as we had tenderloin and onions for breakfast yesterday, heart and onions for breakfast today, and venison steak with roasted garlic and sweet potatoes for dinner tonight.  Gotta love boosting my iron levels with tasty lean red meat!

Walking, First Half of October

 Back in late August? early September?  I decided that I wanted to participate in an online walking challenge for October.  The premise was easy: walk at least 10 minutes per day.

Now, my days are already mostly spent on my feet, but I was wanting to squeeze in more 'fun' walking along with the 'work' walking that I do.  So I signed up.  How hard can 10 minutes be?

BWAHAHAHA!  (Insert maniacal laugher on repeat here)

Turns out I'm really horrible at squeezing in a measly 10 minutes of fun or 'just for me' stuff, especially walking.

The first few days, okay, I got those. I included pictures from those in this post. But the next week or so, not so much.  

October 4, walking on the 'garden road' that runs from the driveway to the garden. Looking towards the driveway and horse pastures. Front yard is to the right of the conifers and front field (and after that, the road) is to the left , garden is out of sight on immediate right.

October 6, standing in the back of the field looking west towards the house/barn/shop area

October 7, in the backyard looking north towards the coop, barn and shop

On Saturday, October 11, I went to a quilt show at the local fairgrounds, and did a ton of walking there, looking at all the quilts on display.  It was a lot of start and stop type walking so I'm not sure I should even count it as it didn't raise my heart rate one iota like constant motion would.  But, since I was there for over two hours, maybe I walked the equivalent of ten continuous minutes?  I took a bunch of pictures while there, and intend to write a separate post about that, but here's a token picture for my 'walking' that day.

This week I redoubled my efforts, and have (so far) walked 10-25 minutes each day.

October 13, near the northwest corner of the property while walking the perimeter path we made for riding horses/driving tractor/driving 4-wheeler/walking on.

October 14, walking in the field near the marsh, looking northeast.

October 15, walking laps in the 'arena' behind the barn while I wait for one of the water troughs to fill.

As you can see from yesterday's arena laps, I'm trying to get a little creative and explore time slots that I can multitask by walking while 'doing' something else, like filling a water trough, or the 20 minutes something (zucchini muffins) is baking in the oven when the day is pretty jam packed and doesn't feel like there's any 'me' time in there available for a walk.

Hopefully the second half of the month I'll do better and actually walk every day.

More Barn Finishing Progress

You'd think  I had thought, back in the Spring when we were working on putting up the tack room walls and I was staining boards for paneling the inside walls, that the tack room would be finished and fully functional by the end of the Summer.  I mean, we spent a half of a Saturday putting up paneling and got an entire wall done.  So with just three more walls and the ceiling to do, we'd need what? another couple of Saturdays?

Ha!  Not so.  (Well, maybe if we'd kept at it rather than taking 'breaks' for weeks at a time. . . DH's typical start-stop-start-stop method when he's not super interested in a project or he's feeling unsure how to do it. . .)

Here we are, fully five months from when that first wall got done, four months since the ceiling was installed, and my tack room is still under construction.  Yes, it is further along, and yes, it's about two steps from being totally done, but come on!  Something that really bugs me is disorganization, and with moving things here and there in the tack room (and/or empty stalls) during this construction phase so that there's room to work on the wall of the moment/week/month, the equipment I use on a daily basis for working and/or grooming horses has been anything but in a consistent neat spot where I can quickly retrieve it when needed.

Since I try to keep most grievances offline, let me refocus this post.  Here is what we have gotten done! *insert big smiley face here, LOL*

All four walls are paneled and trimmed!  Toad helped DH with putting up the paneling on the fourth wall (the one DH put off the longest because it also includes plumbing).  At 11, Toad is sorta interested in building/making stuff, so he tried to listen to DH's lesson in leveling the starter board at the bottom but really liked the snapping into place (and holding while DH nailed in) the tongue and groove boards above that one.  Together, they got half of the wall paneled in a little over an hour.

Before we put up the remainder of the paneling, DH stubbed in the hot and cold water faucets that are on the feed room side of that wall (only the cold is operational for now). And, as you can see, we had by then put up the plywood that is the 'finished wall' on the feed room side.

Then, while he finished installing the rest of the knotty pine in the tack room, I spray painted the plywood in the faucet area of the feed room with a sealant.  Four coats seems like it's well protected against any errant spraying of water when using the faucets/emptying the hose.

Once the wall was finished inside the tack room, there was another pause while we had a debate about trim.  Or, rather, I wanted a less easy for DH to make (slap together) style of trim and we took about a two week break. . . Until he decided my idea was feasible and not totally outrageously expensive to buy, and stopped at Home Depot to buy a few sticks of quarter round for me to stain. (First, he had to try making quarter round out of some scrap lumber we had, but didn't have the right router bit or jig or patience for it to work.  Then he decided to give in and buy some since I was standing adamant on not having 'square edged'--as I referred to it--trim.)

Last weekend, we installed the quarter round at the ceiling/wall joints and at the corners of all four walls inside the tack room.

He had wanted to go with some ripped two by fours or leftover paneling pieces and use those as trim in the joints.  I felt that would 'box in' the corners and ceiling visually and draw your eye to those areas, when all I wanted to do was 'hide' those rough edges where walls and ceiling met together and soften the joints of the room.  Hence the necessity of using quarter round.  

Once it was all in place, DH did admit it looked nice, even if it wasn't his first choice (the easier--slapping up square boards--way out).

With the interior of the tack room trimmed out (except around the door frame, which DH forgot to cut boards for when he was cutting other trim pieces for me to stain last weekend), we spent a quick half hour or so on Sunday after church and before the Lions game putting up the trim on the corner where the aisle wall boards meet the feed room plywood.  So now that looks nice too.

 

There are just a few things left for DH to do in the tack room.  

• finish the plumbing for the sink and the on-demand water heater,
• install the sink 
• install the heat exchanger he bought at auction last month for heating the tack room (the barn has PEX tubing running to it underground from the outdoor wood boiler; installed back in 2007 when we installed the wood boiler for heating our house and planning to someday have a tack room that needed to be kept above freezing), 
• hook up the above sink light and counter level electrical outlet on that last wall, 
• install the countertop (I bought at a garage sale this summer for $4!) and cabinet above it (I bought at Habitat Restore in early spring for $40),
• install the door trim on both the tack room side and the aisle sides of the door.

Really all that stuff is 5-30 minute tasks and could be knocked out in one afternoon with time to spare.  Not like it takes a month of Saturdays committed to it. (Fingers crossed it won't be a month of Saturdays from now. . .)

Once a few of those are done--like the heat exchanger, sink and counter, I can get an accurate idea of how much space into the room those things take up and then I will be ready to put up the wall mounted saddle racks and bridle brackets (I don't want to put them up, have them be too crowded, especially near the heat source, and have to move them, thus leaving holes in my beautiful paneling where they had been screwed into place).  

I'm getting really anxious to move everything in and get stuff put where it will 'live' in an organized and easily used manner.  Plus, with all the extras out of the empty stalls (tack, tools, totes of winter blankets in the off season), I can start advertising for another boarder or two and get my barn fully occupied at last.

Glad I Had a Spare

A week or so ago I was saddling the Poetess in preparation to ride her and I made a crucial observation.

I'm guessing that most people do not know what the black ring thing in the picture above is.  I'm fairly certain a whole lot of horse people won't even know.  I know (obviously, since it's pictured in my hand and I'm writing about it).  And I'm glad I always try to keep a spare on hand.  They don't need to be replaced often, but when they do, it's imperative to have a replacement on hand.  Because you can't go without it.

So, what is it?

Well, it's a small (traditionally) rubber ring, although I'm fairly sure there are plastic ones also these days.  It's an integral part of a safety stirrup iron known as a peacock stirrup.  In short, it's a rubber-band like ring that attaches to the outside of a particular style of stirrup that, in an emergency such as falling off and getting your foot stuck in the stirrup, will release and open up the stirrup so that your foot can come out and you don't get dragged and/or stepped on by your horse.

These are the type of stirrups I use on my dressage saddle when I have a horse that's either fairly hot/spooky or early in it's training.  Just in case I have any unplanned dismounts (aka getting thrown off).  That way I at least won't be further damaged by getting my boot stuck in the stirrup iron.

When tacking up the Poetess, I noticed that the ring on my right stirrup was pretty shredded and barely holding together.  I'm glad I noticed before I got on.  Because the state of this ring was a huge safety hazard.

Since the stirrup is open, and therefore my foot easily able to fall out of the stirrup, when this ring is either unhooked or otherwise no longer attached at the top and bottom of the stirrup--so, broken--I want this ring to be connected when I'm riding.  The entire time I'm in the saddle, this needs to be attached.  I, for instance, don't want to be cantering her around and have it give out and therefore my right foot falls out of the stirrup (and I'm suddenly off balance and possibly hitting the ground if I don't regain my balance fast enough).  Or even trotting her and have her spook at a deer jumping out of the cornfield (it's happened at least once this Fall) causing her to swiftly turn 90 or 180 degrees, which would definitely briefly put pressure on the outside of the stirrup and potentially snap the thread that this ring was still connected by.

Had I not had a spare on hand, I probably, in the name of not potentially dying or maiming myself, would have not ridden her that day or the following number of days it took to purchase--and wait for it to be shipped to me--a new pair of safety rings.

Because I did have a spare, I quickly changed it out, and had a spectacularly good ride.  It just so happened to be a day when something we've been working on for a while clicked and we moved a step further along my training plan for her.

 Interesting tidbit I just learned while writing this post and googling peacock stirrup: Apparently these are now considered 'dangerous' and are banned in competitions.  Because the little hook that the rubber ring attaches to can sometimes in a fall, snag on your breeches/belt/belt loops and catch you/trap you.  Oh the irony (Gah!  Pun not intended!) of a long-used safety iron now (that other styles are manufactured) being too dangerous to use.  I've had no issues with mine the last 25+ years, I think I'll keep using them, thank you.  (But I may want to stock up on replacement rings just in case they become harder to find).

Random Things on a Friday

 Happy Friday!  I hope where ever you are, the weather is great and life is not too overwhelming at the moment.

Here's a few things from my week I thought I would share for a Friday wrap up kind of post.

1. This is sort of a PSA.  If you use a paper towel roll holder that holds the roll vertical like I do, don't forget to check it and clean the base now and then.  Honestly, I'm not sure how long it's been since I did this; mainly because I'm not sure how many years ago I first bought and started using this roll holder (prior to that the roll just stood on the counter and would randomly get knocked over/blown over in a stiff breeze now and then).  So, let's say, for the sake of easy numbers, I've had this thing for five years.  It never occurred to me that over time, maybe some little paper towel debris (from tearing off those towels) would build up on/under the base of the holder and that I should probably regularly give it a wipe down.  Maybe when I change the roll (we don't go through paper towels very fast, like several months for one roll) would be a good time to do that.  Definitely don't go for five years, because then it will look like this which is kind of gross and unhygienic-looking.

Definitely wipe it off with a damp cloth now and then, so it will be nonfuzzy and look much better, like this

2.  Another PSA kinda thing.  If you're making banana cream pie and your recipe calls for you to put a layer of sliced bananas onto the crust before pouring in the filling but you forget to do that, you can put those banana slices right on top of the filling after it's poured in (and you cuss yourself out because you realize you forgot to do the bananas first).  Just know that you have to eat the whole pie pretty quick because those banana slices will brown after a day or two and start looking rather unappealing.  I wanted to share this info with you just in case you ever mess up your pie by forgetting to put the slices on top of the crust and then pour in the pudding filling.  All will not be lost, just toss the slices on top and eat pie with each meal for the next day or so.  😁

3.  The Northern Lights were out, sort of, a couple of nights this week.  No big light pillars, more like an opaque-ish pale green light that swirled horizontally a bit.

4. I'm taking part in an October walking club over at optimisticmusings.com so have been taking short walks for the last few days.  Just around this little place here, so far, and challenging myself to take at least one picture on every walk.  Here's Wednesday, Thursday, and today's pictures:

5. Last Saturday was the Fall Book Swap that my friend organizes and puts on.  I think I spent about an hour and a half browsing all the offerings, took in 14 books from home and came out with a bit more than that.

Most are authors I haven't read before and thought I would take a chance on, based on the blurb on the back (or inside cover) of the book.  What do I have to lose, other than a little reading time, if I don't like them?  Didn't cost me anything.  And if I find some new favorite authors in the process, all the better!