Cooper Country Crafts

   What started one winter weekend 50 years ago when some talented friends got together to market their crafts continued to develop and grow, becoming a mainstay of downtown Cooperstown's Doubleday Parking lot.  Encompassing over 300 crafters thru the years, Cooper Country Crafts outgrew their humble beginnings on Pioneer Alley, and quickly proved that Cooperstown is more than just baseball! This unique store may not be the biggest in town, but it is loaded with many one-of-a-kind, hand-made items.  Today's 20-odd members produce something for just about everyone on your gift list from that new baby to your grandmother, with everything from hand-knits, quilts, unique aprons, beautiful jewelry, pottery and hand-blown glassware, wooden toys and hand craved wooden utensils, and much more.  And don't forget, treats for your special furry friends, too!

   And the management of the shop makes it doubly unique.  It is a co-op without any paid employees.  All the maintenance and store workers are crafters.  Any visit to Cooper Country Crafts can be a learning experience as a simple conversation with a salesperson can lead to an insightful peak over a craftsman's shoulder.

    Now as winter finally fades into spring, the talented artists at Cooper Country Crafts will fill their shelves with their hand-crafted treasures for their 50th season, reopening on Friday, April 5th, at 

No Oil???

      We were getting low on fuel oil on Friday so I called the HEAP office to see if I could get another allotment.  I was told  they were about out of funds for this winter, and I had to run out of oil and apply for an emergency allotment.  When we got up Monday morning to the quiet sound of no furnace running, I called them back and after leaving a message twice during the day, they finally called me back late in the afternoon and I was told that I had already gotten my normal number of allotments (2) and emergency allotment (1) and that was all I would get this year.  I called my fuel oil service, and they said I had credit with them for a partial minimum delivery and just had to pay the difference ($300 instead of the full $600) so I ordered it.  Unfortunately, it was too late in the day to ensure a delivery the next day unless I wanted to pay the special delivery fee ($ 200).  I said we could wait till they got to us which they said would be Wednesday or Thursday.

   Yesterday Jeff put a fire in the woodstove and slowly the house lost its chill.  He kept getting up and tending the fire until nearly sunrise and while he complained about how cold the sheets were last night, I was comfortable (wearing sweatpants, long sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, and fuzzy socks...let's just say he was not dressed as well) with my microwavable beanbag warming up the bed around me.  This morning the house wasn't exactly warm, but it was a lot better than it was the previous morning! The dogs were still huddled as close to me as they could get without being on my bed...making it a 2-dog night!

   I had an appointment for an INR this afternoon, but Jeff stayed home in case the oil delivery came because the driver would have to come inside and restart the furnace.  I drove to town and after my good INR (a 2.8) I just drove back home without any trouble.  I won't say much about the a***hole in the red car who raced over the hill from Little Falls, passed me on a double line in front of Cooperative Extension (across from the former Massaro's Florist), got in the left lane when the highway split, passed everyone in their path on their way down the hill and ended up in a long line at the stoplight by Hannaford's, still there at the stoplight at Rte. 28 and when I turned into Bassett Healthcare, the line was just stopping for the stoplight at King St.  It would have been nice if a trooper had been able to ticket this creep for speeding/reckless driving, but I'm satisfied that they were totally annoyed that they had to slow down as they traveled thru Herkimer.

     About an hour after I got back home, the dogs started announcing someone was in the driveway and it was...The Oil Delivery!  Jeff and the driver agreed a lot of this year's HEAP funds went to illegal immigrants.  I've just checked my oil delivery receipts for last year and we had gotten 3 deliveries thru HEAP but this year we got only 2...and we did not get an emergency delivery. We've always tried to stretch our fuel oil by using the woodstove but as we get older that's becoming harder to do.  And while I am sorry that people from Mexico and South America are not comfortable during our winter, I do not think it's fair...or right...that American citizens have to suffer because of it.  Maybe it's time to think of Americans first. 

Happy Birthday, Jeff! (pt2)

      Jeff and I were supposed to meet my cousin, Ed, at Fat Cat's for supper tonight to celebrate Jeff's birthday, but something came up and Ed had to cancel.  We were really looking forward to going out for dinner, so we decided to go out anyway.  We went to town about 4pm and did some errands before deciding where we would eat.  Since I was 'buying' I told Jeff to go to whichever restaurant he really wanted to eat at, and he chose the Mohawk Station.  We both love the Mexican restaurant, Tren de Villa Mexican, that is there.  Jeff easily chose 'Carne Campirano', a big platter of steak strips with veggies over refried beans and Mexican rice, his favorite! I decided on a Taco salad, and I wasn't disappointed!  I have never had a Taco salad that good.  There was even refried beans and Mexican rice on the bottom of the giant taco shell.  And the taco shell!  I almost think it was made in the restaurant kitchen.  I have never tasted a taco shell that was so light, crisp and...just plain good!  Even the old Asteroga House in Little Falls couldn't come close to this taco shell!

    After we supper we kept saying to each other, 'that was a good meal' as we rode over to Hannaford's, shopped and rode home.  When we went past Fat Cat's overflowing parking lots I said 'I'm glad we went to the Station' and Jeff said(again) 'that was sure a good meal!'

   I got a carrot cake and some ice cream at Hannaford's incase Ed decided to come over for dessert.  But if he doesn't get here soon, I'm not going to be held responsible for this carrot cake's future!

edited 3/2/24  10:55am:  Ed showed up about 7:45pm with a cake (!) and this carrot cake was soon a shadow of itself.  But it was good!  Vanilla ice cream went with it so well....  The dogs sat by our sides and eventually I gave them both a spoonful of ice cream.  That satisfied Fanny and she stretched out under the table but next to Jeff and was soon asleep.  Zoey didn't give in that easily and hung around hoping for more, but she finally gave in and went into the living room to stretch out on the dog pillow on the floor where she could keep an eye on us (or the cake) at the kitchen table.  She must have had a dream of eating the entire cake because about half an hour later she let out a large snort and several loud snores!  We all laughed at her, but she just went back to sleep!  I think everyone enjoyed Jeff's birthday.  Oh, he finished his deviled eggs for a midnight snack.  Said they were good.  I think I'll do them again for St Patrick's Day.

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

    Today is Jeff's birthday. He is 71 years old...although today I think he feels older.  Yesterday was not a day either of us want to repeat soon...if ever.  By the way, Jeff still has not opened the ash drawer to see what was burning in it.

   In honor of his birthday, I thought I'd do something special and decided to make a plate of deviled eggs for Jeff.  So, last night between supper (tomato soup and crackers) and bedtime (t-shirt, sweatshirt, sweatpants, 2 blankets and a beagle), I finally got 6 eggs boiled, cooled down and put in the refrigerator.  This morning, I started to peel the eggs even before I made coffee!  Mother Nature must have decided to apologize for lousy the day we had yesterday, because the eggshells came off those eggs like nothing!!  None of the shells stuck and none of the whites broke up and I soon had a bowl of egg yolks ready to be crushed!  That was when I noticed we had very little mayonnaise left in the jar.  That was ok because I had seen a recipe on FB that called for using cream cheese in deviled eggs and I had half a small container of whipped cream cheese!  (Bagels and cream cheese had been on my breakfast menu last week and there is always cream cheese left over!)  Cream cheese and mayo mixed together were a little thick, so I put in a squirt of horseradish relish and another of yellow mustard before mixing in onion and garlic powder, and salt and pepper.  Oh, and a dash of hot sauce, too!  Tasted ok to me.  I cut the egg whites the long way and they were all ready to be filled.  I thought I'd get a little fancy, so I put the filling in a small plastic bag, and tried to pipe the stuffing into bottoms but I guess I don't know my own strength because the bag started to split apart between my fingers and the filling oozed out the top (zipped shut??  Hardly!) all over my fingers.  I gave up and went back to spooning it in.  I had more than enough to fill the 12 halves and boy, were they filled!  (I had forgotten to buy paprika so I couldn't make them look pretty but I don't think Jeff minded.)

   I told Jeff he had deviled eggs in the refrigerator and started to clean up.  The dogs were more than happy to help clean my hands and they seemed to enjoy the deviled egg filling and I think Jeff did, too, because he had 4 halves for breakfast!  (The only suggestion he made was to use less of the horseradish relish next time!) I think what's left will be his

lunch.  We're suppose to go out for supper tonight but that will be covered on the next posting here!  Happy Birthday, Jeff!

Our Latest Adventure

    Our latest adventure here in the little house in the little woods we are attributing to Mother Nature.  The weather forecast for last night included high winds and snow so when both started shortly after sunset it wasn't a surprise...but the strength of the wind was!  Sitting at my computer and later comfortably wrapped up in a blanket with a book in my favorite chair, the wind sounded like it was going to lift this little house and carry it away...or knock over on to our roof those big oak trees next to it that have been getting bigger every year since we moved here in 1962.

   Around 10pm the next act of the evening performance began.  The lights would flicker a few times and then go out, only to come back on in about 15 minutes.  This procedure repeated itself for about an hour and a half until 11:30pm when the lights went out and did not come back on until 1:15 this afternoon. 

   We woke up to a cold, dark house:  no lights, no heat, and no water (remember, we live in the country).  Neither of us had slept much and were not in very good moods.  We couldn't call Wally (next door) ...or anybody...because our phone was out so after driving down to Wally's house and not seeing his car, we decided to go to town and see if we could find a pay phone so we could report the power outage and get some coffee.  But first, Jeff decided to check out the next house down the road since he had noticed flashing lights and large truck traffic during the night. We couldn't even get close because the road was blocked, and a National Grid truck was parked beside a fallen tree that was resting on the electrical wires that ran along the road.  Well, we found out where the problem was!

   Jeff turned the car around and we went to town, couldn't find a payphone but got coffee and went home. A few minutes later Wally was knocking at the door.  He had his cellphone with him, but his SUV was in the garage, and he couldn't get the door open...and he was cold!  Jeff got a fire going in the woodstove in the TV room while we exchanged details with Wally on what we had learned about the outage.  The guys busily anticipated how long the outage would/could last and Jeff offered Wally the couch next to the woodstove if it continued overnight. (Wally accepted!) 

   After everyone had warmed up, Jeff and Wally went back to the next-neighbors-up-the-road and found the road open!  The National Grid workmen were busy installing a new pole and said the lines would be working in 3-4 hours.  Then they went to Wally's to work on the garage door.   They got it open, the SUV out and the door closed again, and Wally headed to his favorite place for a late breakfast and Jeff came home.  

   Jeff went back to tending the fire in the woodstove and the house was finally starting to warm up when he noticed smoke coming out of the ash drawer on the bottom of the stove.  Since neither of us thought it was a good idea to open the drawer just then, he didn't add anymore wood to the fire and kept raking the ashes and coals apart.  Slowly the fire died down, but he still hasn't opened the ash drawer.  We've come up with a couple of things that could be happening (the fan on the back of the stove caught fire because it wasn't working due to the outage, the paint in the drawer could have flaked off and caught fire, a mouse might have made a nest in the drawer and the nest is burning, mice could have gotten into the drawer and died, and we just witnessed their cremation) but Jeff wants to wait until the fire in the box is totally out and the stove cools down before opening the ash drawer.  I think we both imagined him opening the smoking ash drawer and having it burst into flames!!!

   The house smells awful right now, but it is warm, and we do have lights and water.  The first thing I did when I heard the microwave chirp and the furnace come on was ask if Jeff wanted some coffee.  He hadn't heard (or paid attention to) either 'on' signal and was surprised!  Ah, living in the country!  Never a dull moment!!

Are Dogs Paranoid?

       Yesterday Jeff's brother, Tim, came over to deliver a load of ...'stuff'...that their sister, Sherry, had decided to give us as she empties out her house in anticipation of moving to a smaller place.  Since Tim drives a pickup truck and it would be loaded, Jeff moved our car to the front lawn out of the way so Tim could back up to the porch stairs.  But when he got here, they ended up putting most of the truckload in the garage instead of trying to carry it down our cellar stairs (Good idea, guys!)  

   My father had learned his carpenter skills as a member of the Navy's CBs during WWII.  Now, CBs were noted for building things to last but not necessarily for building things to look good or for being practical and our cellar stairs are no exception.  As soon as Dad had finished, he had announced he probably should have put in another step or 2 in the staircase.  (It has even been suggested that he should have added a stair or 2 between each stair that he did have in the staircase!)  Anyway, Tim had had it with cellar stairs at Sherry's and didn't want to try ours, so the bookcases and boxes went into the garage.  Only 1 box made it into the house yesterday and our car stayed on the front lawn overnight.

   Zoey, our Beagle, welcomed Tim like a long, lost relative. (She's met him maybe 3 or 4 times.)  Fanny, the older, bigger dog who also met Tim at those times, hide under the kitchen table...her usual spot when a stranger (to her or us) comes to the house.  A pot of coffee later, when Tim was ready to leave, Zoey was happy to escort him out to his truck until she saw the car on the front lawn and then she panicked and ran back into the house.  (Fanny had stayed under the table...not having heard the "All Clear" signal?)  Before we had supper, I tried to get the girls to go outside so I could knit for a while, but Fanny was still under the table and Zoey got as far as sticking her head out the door and seeing the car in a strange spot.  After supper I tried again with the same results but at least Fanny came out from under the kitchen table!

   When it finally was time for evening meds and treats, both dogs went out to do their thing but neither stayed very long.  Fanny came in all upset about something she had smelled out there and wouldn't calm down until I went into my room to read, and she went with me.  Later Zoey joined us and finally things quieted down and everyone went to sleep.

   This morning as soon as they saw that the car was still on the lawn, both dogs refused to go down the porch stairs and hurried back into the house...with business undone.  In fact, neither went outside until the middle of the afternoon! (No puddles or piles were found in the house, either!!)  I don't pretend to understand my dogs.  Do you?

Bookmarks