Unexpected 'Home Improvement'

 Two weeks ago, I was washing dishes, and went to turn my kitchen faucet to the side of the sink that I rinse dishes in.  It practically came off in my hand.  Uh-oh.  That's not supposed to happen.

Luckily, there was no water seeping (or spraying!) anywhere, so I carefully finished the dishes without touching the faucet lest it come completely off. Then I told DH that we had a problem I needed his help with.

When he started investigating, he found that the little metal plate that sat (hidden) underneath the faucet had rusted through. 

 If you remember my post from about a year ago where I mentioned we'd  replaced the kitchen sink in early Spring of 2021 but had reused the fixtures/faucet because I couldn't find any I liked. . . I guess maybe we should have at least replaced that plate.  Because it's demise was about to cause rather a headache.

In the process of removing the rusty remnants of that metal plate and reattaching the faucet (with a random washer from the garage doing the duty of that plate), we ran into a problem.  The water lines wouldn't connect, even though they'd been in fine working order just shortly before, when we'd disconnected them.  DH was on his back, his torso squashed into the cabinet under the sink, with limited mobility of his arms and hands.  He's not a small guy, and has pretty much always had broad shoulders. Through the years they've gotten rather well padded and even broader. Not the build of a person who puts themselves into sink base cabinets.  And try as he might, he just could not get the plastic clamp-on connectors for the water lines to reattach snugly.

The verdict: they were broken/damaged in removal and now we needed either new ones, or a whole new faucet (which would come with new lines and connectors).  Not the thing you want to find out at 9 p.m. on a Friday night.  Especially when you look up any and all of the big box stores within a 30 mile radius and find that NONE of them have that type of connector (ahem, 20 years old now) in stock.

Which meant, oh dread of the existential kind, I would have to get a new faucet.  Something I couldn't find a style back in 2021 that both fit my needs and my aesthetic.  I'm rather picky about the function of my kitchen faucet, not just in the part that the water comes out of, but also in the ease of adjusting temperature of the water (personally, I find two-handled faucets to take more time and effort to make small adjustments in water temp) and also what the thing looks like.  

Friday night I think we were up until midnight looking and looking and looking at faucets online and then, when finding one I said was acceptable (none matched all my criteria exactly), seeing if we could get it in store the next morning without driving 100 miles to do so.  We found exactly one, about half hour away.

On Saturday morning, DH went and got it.  We pulled the old faucet and components out, dropped the new faucet and components in, and reconnected the water lines.  All in all, that took a couple hours from start to finish (and stuffing DH in the cabinet, then pulling him out again when he got a cramp or had to take a peek at the installation diagram, and stuffing him back in again.)  I got the (dubious) honor of being the tool girl, or surgical nurse, or whatever you want to call the person handing tools to DH while he was in the cabinet and could neither see nor reach them on the counter or floor, then taking tools from him when he was done with them, then handing them back again because oops, he wasn't really done with that size wrench yet.

After much marital tension, we did manage to complete the task and I have a fully functional kitchen faucet again.  It's a little darker color and a little chunkier design than I prefer, but at least it's got the high arc faucet I need for washing large pots and canners and the single handle that is not attached to the side of the faucet. The italicized part being super important to me, and a huge reason it was so hard (in 2021 and now) to find a faucet I like.  The ones currently in style with the handle attached to the side of the faucet just make me think of science lab sinks from high school, and, well, as much as I loved science lab, I just don't want to think of that every time I see or use (a billion times a day) my kitchen sink!

Task complete, new acceptable faucet installed

Probably the vast majority of people in this situation would call a plumber to deal with the issue.  Not me and DH.  Nope, we know we can do this ourselves faster and cheaper (and I can be waaaayyyy pickier) ourselves than if we tried to find an plumber and get on their schedule.  Besides, why deprive ourselves of the great opportunity for some husband and wife bonding time?

Horse Update, November

 The Poetess and I took a step back, and moved forward in other directions this past month.  It began with canter troubles popping up to the right when longeing in the bridle.  A very frustrating session of Poetess getting most of the way around the circle and then stopping dead from a canter, lap after lap after lap.  She'd been doing really well when this seemed to pop up for no reason.  The next session, she was fine again and in fact gave me the most awesome canters she's ever done in each direction.  But after a handful more sessions, here came the canter tenseness and stopping issue again.  So I decided to stop longeing off the bridle and go back to longeing just from the halter without even having her wear the bridle.

That was the 'step back'.  Going back to just a halter when longeing, I decided to do a longer amount of  pole work in each session.  We warm up doing all three gaits without them, then spend about five minutes in each direction going over poles at walk and trot.  I even added a third pole to the circle, one stride from our original pole. So on one half of the circle she steps over a single pole and on the other half she has to do two poles in a row.  That has gotten her a bit less distracted and more focused on longeing rather than outside the arena--all the falling leaves have opened up views into the woods and brush near the arena that she didn't notice during the summer--as well as having her stretch through her back more and regulate her tempo.

We also had a stretch of quite a few rainy days that made the sand arena rather deep and I didn't want to longe her in it for fear of inducing injury to her legs.  Some of those days we just hand walked around the arena and over the poles.

Something I learned, or rather, was confirmed during the wet spell is that Poetess doesn't mind the wet weather; she likes to play in puddles and roll in the mud.  So, there's been lots of time spent grooming, especially on days the arena was too wet to work in at all, or my breath isn't good enough to walk out there and back with her.  

Only a little muddy

We've also spent time bonding via hand grazing as well as practicing being caught.  She's getting better at seeing me and walking to me rather than standing and 'allowing' me to walk to her.  In fact, in late October, for the first time ever, she saw me come through the gate to her pasture and she ran to me!!

That was such an awesome thing to see: my horse recognize me and willingly come to me rather than just stopping and waiting somewhat grudgingly for me to come to her.

Her winter coat has come in a lot, and her dapples are gone.  But I don't mind, as her winter coat is darker than what she'd bleached out to in the summer and that makes her little bitty star of white hairs more prominent on her forehead.  Honestly, I'd forgotten she even had a star!

Stay tuned, as big changes are ahead for us both: Poetess will soon be moving to this little place here instead of being boarded elsewhere!

I've Been Having Health Issues

 Do you remember how, in late March, DH and I went on a vacation to Arizona in which we hiked and hiked and did trails that were pretty much rock scrambles way more than flat, easily traversed surfaces?  

I do!  Mainly because my abilities then are a stark contrast to what I'm physically capable of now, a bit more than 7 months later.  Over the course of the summer and fall, I've gotten increasingly shorter of breath, easily fatigued, and prone to random strange muscle cramps (like the muscle that connects your upper arm to the back of your elbow--the muscle that you never hear of cramping.  Or the ones that are in your torso so that it feels like your ribs themselves are knotting up??)

In the beginning of the summer, we had several weeks of 'poor air quality' days.  Which is a term I've never heard applied to Michigan, in all of my 51 years of life.  Boy, did I feel those 'bad air' days.  Couldn't walk 25 yards without starting to cough.  Climbing one flight of stairs would elicit the same reaction.

Prior to that, I'd noticed that I was somewhat slower in doing tasks (such as stall cleaning), than I had been the previous summer.  Not significantly, just maybe an extra 15-20 minutes over the course of ten stalls.  But, I figured I was just, you know, getting older.  Being over 50 now and all.  And everyone was a little more short of breath and slowed down on the days you could practically taste the wildfire smoke in the air.

Except soon it wasn't just shortness of breath. Because even on days where the air was wonderfully normal,  DH and I would be working outside on fencing (or another project) and I couldn't lift and carry things that were normally not a problem for me to pick up and tote around.  Hold this heavy thing in position while DH fastened it?  Forget it, and watch your toes, because I just dropped it.  Hold this pair of pliers and untwist that wire?  Nope, and why the hell am I randomly losing my grip and the pliers are just nose diving out of my hands?!?  Why is working in the summer heat making me light headed?  I've worked in 90+ degree temps wearing jeans and boots for decades during Michigan summers, why am I feeling spacy at barely 80 degrees and a tank top and shorts?

Went to the doctor in late June for a physical.  Had bloodwork drawn.  My A1c is just barely over normal (I'd been off the diabetes meds and handling it just fine via diet and watching my carbs for 2+ years). So that wasn't the reason for my weird body troubles.

My iron levels, well, they were 'low', the doctor said (which has been an issue for me off and on the last 12 years or so), and it was recommended I go back on an iron supplement.  In hindsight, I wish I'd known then that 'low' was closer to 'this is bad' than 'meh, it's just a fraction of a percent lower than the normal human female'.  I wouldn't have dinked around all summer trying to find an iron supplement.

Because this time, I couldn't get a prescription for the iron supplement I'd been on last time my iron was low; apparently because that strength of iron is now readily available over the counter.  Didn't matter that that particular prescription iron was the only one I'd found that didn't affect my bowels in an excessively loose way.  I tried a couple over the counter brands again, and had really negative results.  Called the dr's office and they said sorry, try taking it every other day instead of daily.  So I tried another brand, and another, and then for about a month I said "F*** it, I'm not taking any because I can't live on the toilet".  So I didn't take any until I found yet another OTC brand, that I hadn't tried yet.

Then I finally got back in to see my doctor in October, told her of all the issues with fatigue and weird muscle cramps and loss of grip and shortness of breath and even light headedness that were still going on, some to a greater magnitude than they had been in June.  She ordered more bloodwork, with a few 'new' tests.

Apparently my iron has dropped to a big red flag level.  And looking at those new tests, some of which were never ordered before, prompted the Dr to order even more tests.  WHY?!? IS HER IRON SO LOW?!? being the underlying theme.  

Good news, all of the blood tests for cancer markers have come back normal.  My white blood cells are normal.  My 'ability to uptake iron' came back normal, whatever that means and however they figure that out from looking at blood. On the other hand, my red blood cells are 'microcytic' (smaller than they should be) and some have abnormal shapes, and there seems to be a higher percentage of 'immature' red blood cells than you should normally have.  We still haven't figured out why.  At least the doctor has submitted a request for me to be allowed to have the prescription iron again (the one that doesn't blow my gut up so I can actually leave the house), because I obviously must have some iron ingested on a daily basis.  Haven't heard back yet if that's been approved.  Meanwhile, I'm again trying yet another brand of over the counter iron in the strength I need (which doesn't come in 'gentle').  Also discussing the possibility of getting an iron infusion because it would be really bad if my iron continues to drop (it's that super low), and because I'm not just physically incapable of doing the majority of the things I normally do/need to do, this inability is beginning to really wear on me mentally.  And I ain't taking anxiety/depression meds when it's the iron issue that is the underlying cause of my problems. 

This is part of the reason our building project for the summer (fencing and horse stalls) has taken way longer than planned.  And why my garden went to weeds right around the middle of July.  Because I just physically cannot do the work. And why I told DD1 that I just couldn't babysit on a regular basis this school year (and have had to guiltily still tell her sorry, no, on a few 'emergency' babysitting type situations--when either she or Honorary Son ended up having to take a day off work because there was no babysitter available). If I push myself, I end up basically in bed for half of the following day because I am so worn out.  Or I get horrible muscle cramps.  Or so spacey that DH (and me too) is afraid I'm going to keel over. I haven't done nearly the work with my horse this summer that I'd planned on doing because of the days I haven't had the breath or the strength to safely work with her.

There's another test being done in a few weeks.  I'm really hoping it will show us the root cause of this iron problem, and then we can know an appropriate way to fix it, even if it means a surgery or regular infusions of iron for the rest of my life.  The band-aid approach--take an iron pill that's going to turn your gut contents to high pressured mush and here, if you're down in the dumps because you feel like an invalid we can add a mood stabilizer--that's been the method employed by doctors for the last dozen years and especially this summer obviously isn't resolving the source of the issue.

Fingers crossed that I'll be up to normal iron levels, and my normal 'balls to the wall' activity level, in early 2024.

Apples Everywhere!

 This year was a great year for apples.  My apple trees were loaded, my daughter's apple tree was loaded, everyone I know with an apple tree (or several) said their trees were loaded.

So, since about the middle of September, I've been picking apples, using apples, storing apples.  And I can't keep up with al the apples!  If it weren't for the fact that the chickens and the rabbits and deer and other wildlife at this little place here also love to eat apples, I'd feel rather bad about not being able to take care of every single apple on my trees.   This Fall is just too busy with projects and other things (like picking up DS1's kids after school on days he has appointments after he gets off work--he works first shift.  And emergency babysitting Buck--a 9 hour day--when his regular babysitter has gotten sick; or Buck himself is sick.)

This year, I'm doing what I can handle, and just not allowing any guilt to creep in (from myself or anyone else) over the apples I just can't handle.  They'll get eaten, just maybe not by humans.  I did, briefly, think about putting and ad on Facebook or Craigslist for anyone looking for apples and getting them into the hands of humans.  But you know what?  I don't have time to deal with answering an ad, setting up times for people to come u-pick, making sure strangers aren't coming by my house at times that aren't good for me--like if I'm gone babysitting unexpectedly, or dealing with any of that.  I certainly don't have time to pick them and transport them to food pantries or soup kitchens (which honestly aren't all that prevalent in my immediate vicinity).  So the wildlife get what me and my family don't get to.

Meanwhile, there's been apple crisps and apple pies for desserts.  Fresh hot chunky applesauce with meals. Apples for snacks. Applesauce canned, and still more apple sauce to be canned.  Apple juice yet to be made, and, hopefully someday soon, apple rings dehydrated into apple chips (which is a process that consumes more hours than I so far have foreseen being home to keep an eye on the dehydrator on any given day.)

MacIntosh from September

More MacIntosh in early October

Cortlands and Red Delicious in October

Granny Smith in late October

The Yarn Thief 'helping' me pick apples.

Thankfully the weather is cool enough now, but not below freezing yet, that I can just let those approximately 3 bushel of apples sit in my garage and wait for me to get to them a bit at a time.

Sewing and Stitching Update, November

 Since the last sewing and stitching update, I have sewn nothing.  Not one thing.  I had thought I would, but it didn't end up working out that way.  My time has been spent on other, more pressing things.  After all, it's not close enough to Christmas yet to say "I must stay in and sew on this good weather day."  And even on not good weather days there's been other things to fill my time. 

Did I at least get some stitching done?  Yes, a bit.  I finished the back-stitching on the Cardinal Santa I've been cross stitching, and I began doing the beading. Not much beading, because that requires good natural lighting, and, well, on good sunny days I've been not in the house.

We've been making progress on other things, and they'll have their own posts later, but I still kinda feel like I'm not using my time well (because, man, I really want to sew some stuff, and get the beading finished on this Santa!)  Although with firearm deer season coming up (opening day is a week away!) I know I'll be in the woods, not at my sewing machine, until November is over.

Some Frugal Things Lately

In October, I did some fairly good on money-saving things, even though with our 'finish the horse barn' project it feels like we've been hemorrhaging money since Summer began.

The biggie was paying off our 2017 truck.  Whew!  I so hate having loans, and DH was adamant that because the interest rate on this was pretty much lower than any other loans we carried (mortgage, credit card, etc), we were just going to make the regular payments and not pay extra on this one (so we might be able to pay a little more on something else each month).  So, to me, it felt like we had this loan forever.  And now, finally, we've made the last payment.  Which means starting in November we have all that much more cash to roll into paying off the higher interest rate things.  

I had a very successful trip to Goodwill in early October.  Things I found there: 

• Fabric!  Normally I don't have much success with finding sewing fabric, but this time I came home with a 4 yd piece of quilting cotton for  $4.99,  a 2 yd piece of quilting cotton for $1.99, and 2 yds of flannel for $4.99.
• Duplo bucket in excellent condition for $5.29; missing a few of the pieces listed on the bucket, but had many extra pieces not shown.  After consulting with DD1 she said she didn't care it wasn't totally brand new, so I bought it to be a Christmas present for Buck.  This is the size and type of bucket that was $9.99 brand new 20 years ago.  Brand new now, they are definitely out of my price range of one item for a grandkid.
• 2 dress shirts for DH that look like they've never been worn (maybe bought just before covid for a guy that hasn't had to go into the office in person since?) $5.29/each
• 4 books like new (will give as gifts to grandkids) priced at 2/$2.29

Other successful grandkid related deals I scored in October were 40% off kinetic sand (birthday present for Faline) and 50% off kids waterproof mittens (presents for Faline and Rascal).

I gave DH a haircut, which is the only way he's had his hair done in something like 25 years.  I have no idea what a man's haircut costs these days.  Wish I could talk him into trimming mine, because I really hate paying to have it trimmed an inch or two twice a year.

A big money saving thing was that we were able to price match t-post caps online for $7 per 10-pack savings over buying in-store locally (needed 20 packs).  That made our horse fencing project cost $140 less, which is about equivalent to the price of an 8-foot metal gate for a pasture

My pumpkins in the garden were a complete crop failure this year.  I was rather bummed out about not having pumpkins for the grandkids to pick for their jack-o-lanterns at Halloween.  Turned out they didn't mind going somewhere else for a pumpkin.  I thought I was okay with being personallhy pumpkin-less, but about 10 days before Halloween I decided I was going to spend $5 and get a pumpkin from one of the small farm stands nearby.

For $5, it was actually a nice sized pumpkin.  A little flat on one side, and slightly tilted on the round side, but a good deal.  To make it an even better deal, I came up with the idea of carving two faces into it, saving the cut pieces and cooking them down.

So, I was able to enjoy having a jack-o-lantern, and ended up with exactly enough cooked pumpkin from the eyes, noses, and mouths, to put in the freezer to make a pumpkin pie with for Thanksgiving!

two faces

Having the pumpkin carved the way I did it actually worked really well for putting it at the top of the stairs to my front porch.  Going up the stairs you saw one face, and when you stood on the porch, you saw the other.  I just might carve all my pumpkins that way in future years.

Knitting Update, November

My Traveling Woman shawl is finished!  (Except for the blocking). Boy, am I glad I did stripes, otherwise I would have been sweating it playing yarn chicken for sure. Plus, I like the effect they make.

I really like this shawl (and so does Rascal, who wanted me to wrap him up in it when he saw that it was off my needles.)  I think I'm going to like it even more after it's blocked and the lace opens up a bit and is more pronounced.

Truer to actual colors.

After working on that through the whole summer, I am a little at a loss for what to knit next.  Being November is here all ready, I feel like I should cast on for Christmas knits.  To be honest, though, I don't have any knit gifts planned.  A few quickie sewing things for the grandkids, but no knits.

I have been wanting an ear warmer for myself, for when it's not so cold that I want a hat, but I do want to keep my ears from freezing. So I downloaded the pattern for the cozy cable knitted warmer and made one for myself out of some bulky yarn that's been in my stash a few years.  Only once I was done with it, I realized that, being purple, DD1 would probably love to have it.  Luckily, there was plenty of yarn left on the skein, so I knit a second one for her.  And there was still a bit of yarn left, so I knit one for Faline (who is really into being like Mommy or like  Daddy, depending on the day).  I ended up with three completed ear warmers and only about 9" of yarn to spare!

warm ears for Faline, DD1 and myself

It didn't take long at all to make the ear warmers; maybe three short evenings of TV watching.  And now I'm again wondering what's the best thing to cast on next??  

--An afghan that's been on my list for a while (and could be a present to someone in 2024)?  

--A pair of socks (although I know my mom is going to be requesting socks for herself, made with yarn she has chosen, for February)?

--Some extra hats to have on hand for grandkids this winter?  

--Some dishcloths to replenish my dwindling stock?

Changing the subject from knitting to reading, I've apparently not read much recently.  I didn't finish the Rick Rubin book I listed last month, although I did read Meet the Frugalwoods all the way through. 

Right now I'm about halfway through Mocha, She Wrote by Ellie Alexander.  Overall, I'm enjoying the storyline.  There are some typographical/editorial errors that I've noticed though, and that's something that detracts from my opinion of the book.  Nothing huge, just a pet peeve of mine.