New Year's Eve

   Today's the end of 2014 and it's not too soon for me.  It's been an expensive year with the Forrester rusting out and having to be scraped and replaced, and the septic tank having to be dug up and the dry well replaced.  We lost pallets... without a trailer hitch on the Outback someone else got them,  and then time... with Jeff out of commission doing PT for a 50+ year old injury that only caused more pain.  Now we're cutting, stacking and burning wood at a steady pace.  The woodshed looks good for a day or two and then it's nearly empty again if we get a couple of days of bad weather.  
   Jeff and the table saw had a disagreement last week and of course, the saw got the last word.  Luckily, his reflexes are still good and he just got cut.  Bled like a stuck pig but so far no signs of infection.  His thumb....right up to his shoulder... are sore from the jolt of the saw blade!
   We both had doctor appointment last Tuesday and I came away with less meds...my MD couldn't answer when I asked why she had prescribed hydrochloropthiaxide for me last year.  My bp averages 108/66...high for me is 118/70...and my right ankle is swollen because that's part of the broken leg site not because I'm retaining fluids.   She agreed to discontinue it.   No wonder I was cold all the time!  Between HCLT and Warfarin I didn't have a chance!  I also came away with a cold.  Woke up Christmas morning with a sore throat but I've been lazing around drinking hot tea and not doing much so it's not too bad.  I asked the pharmacist at Hannaford's to recommend something for night time so I could sleep without getting stuffed up and coughing.  If you know me, you know how I can cough!
   Jeff is still disagreeing with his doctor about his medications.  He feels he's taking too much but she doesn't want to discontinue any so he just stopped taking some. (Yea, not the safest way to do it, but that's how he does things.)  He feels better taking less and his blood sugar is back under control.  I think we... the patient...really do know more than the doctor sometimes...especially when we need an interpreter  to understand what the doctor is saying.  I think it would be safer to request a different doctor but....
    The shop is officially closed for the season.  I cleaned out my area Monday and was surprised to find that the man's hat I had done sold!   I think I'm going to order some good cotton yarn and do some skirt and sweater sets for the spring.  We reopen Good Friday so they may sell right away...or during the summer.  And I've got to do more baby hats, baseball hats, maybe some stuffed toys...the list goes on.  I've just got to remember, I'm just 1 knitter and I can do just so much.  I also want to do some wool socks for me...mine have holes in them!   And I usually do a pair of socks for  Jeff for Valentine's Day and for his birthday.    Hey, I'd  better get busy!

The Day After

   Ah, Christmas is over and was enjoyed by all, expect maybe, the mouse who was caught and released... thrown  outside...with Sherry's help.  Jeff laughed and said I knew you could do it.  All I did was drop a small box over it and use a card to keep it in the box on the way out.  Fanny wanted to help but Sherry wouldn't let her near it.  It was mild enough outside that the mouse...after shaking off the landing....left on it's own.  Hope it found a new home...just not in mine.
   We had a good dinner just not a traditional one (opps, I forgot to cook the squash) steak and baked potatoes, onions, hot biscuits and gravy,  with pumpkin pie and Italian cookies for dessert.  My cousin Ed brought wine and Sherry chocolates...both perfect for Christmas! Fanny spent dinner under the table next to Jeff but finally reached out to check out Ed and Sherry and found out that Sherry was willing to pass down bites of steak...but not Ed!  One glass of wine was enough for me...after dinner I dozed off as we sat by the fire and talked.  When everyone had gone home I tried watching TV but started to doze off again and ended up going to bed around 9pm.  (Jeff had spent Christmas Eve trying to download something on my PC...working at it until 6am!  Fanny kept him company and at one point woke me up when she started barking and growling at something...maybe the mouse?)  I left all the dirty dished soaking in the sink!  My Christmas present to myself!!  
   I finally finished Jeff's socks Christmas Eve in the afternoon ...that's an accomplishment since I usually get them done Christmas night.  Remember they're a size 12 for a 6'3" man.  Took 2 1/2 skeins of sock yarn on a US 2!  Patons Kroy Socks FX in Clover Colors (orange, green, blue, red).  He likes the heavier weight.  I did a pair of socks for Ed in Patons Kroy Socks in Grey Brown Marble...suitable for everyday wear.  For Sherry, this year I did a lacy cowl in Knit Picks Comfy...a cotton...Fingering in Sea Foam on US 4's.  (She doesn't like wools.) Everyone was pleased with their knitted presents.  I've got to finish another lacy cowl for a swap with a friend...and mail it...before I can pick out sock yarn for ME!  I think I'll aim for 2 or 3 pairs of socks out of Hawthorne Yarn superwash wool from Knit Picks.  Then it's back to work, knitting for next season for the shop in Cooperstown.  Until then I think there's time for another cuppa (cup of tea) by the fire and a couple of chapters of a Kerry Greenwood mystery. 
 
    

The Day Before Christmas

It's the day before Christmas and the view from my window

is brown leaves and bare trees and not a snowflake in sight.

It's raining and cold and not very bright

but inside its warm thanks to the woodstove and oven

as I finally bake some Christmas cookies...if I did it

earlier they'd be eaten by now!  Two out of three presents are
finished...hey, I've still got today!  The crystal trees are glittering on

their shelf above the TV... they don't shed but they do need to be dusted. The house is quiet today as I think of the family and friends that use to be here on Christmas Eve. The food..the noise...the love.  Tomorrow we'll have good food, good conversation and hopefully, love...even if the dog hides under Jeff's chair for awhile.  Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy and Safe New Year!  Mary T

Christmas Day: an unexpected visitor...a mouse has been spotted...in the kitchen...by the piano...under the corner hutch in the living room.  He manages to evade the capture box but he'll be out or caught soon...I hope!  My Holiday Goodwill does not include mice. 12/24/14 12:50 pm

 

It Took a Little Time But...

   For the last month or so Jeff has been having trouble with the Outback.  It's been chugging, loosing power, the dash has been lighting up like a Christmas tree and has had to be recharged every other day.  At first, he thought it was a belt...but he couldn't find a loose one.  Then he thought it might be the alternator (?) even tho it had been replaced when we got the car.  Finally he decided it was beyond him and it needed a trip to the mechanic.  We decided to try and wait until after the New Year before making that appointment just because we both were intimidated by the possible cost.  Well, Saturday was a "Re-Charge Day" and when Jeff went to hook up the charger he noticed that... the belt from the alternator to the power steering wasn't there!  He checked with Auto Zone and found out that the one he needed was available for $9.95.  So, he...with Fanny the dog riding shotgun...went to town and got the new belt...and in no time the Outback was running like it was suppose to!  All he can figure out is that the worn part of the old belt was always away from him when he checked belts and it appeared to be sound.  Oh, well, it's fixed at last!
   I'm down to my last Christmas present...with the index fingers on both hands taped because my knitting needles have poked holes in them!  I should finish tonight or tomorrow.  Then I have a cowl to knit for a swap.  Luckily that's on a US7 that doesn't poke holes in my fingers!

Twas the week before Christmas...

This was on the NorthEast Fiber Arts Center website:

A Knitter's XMAS Eve...

'Twas the night before XMAS and all around me

Was unfinished knitting not under the tree.

The stockings weren't hung by the chimney with care

'Cause the heels and toes had not a stitch there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

But I had not finished the caps for their heads.

Dad was asleep; he was no help at all,

And the sweater for him was six inches too small.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I put down my needles to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tripped over my yarn and fell down in my stash.

The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow

Reminded me how much I still had to go.

Out on my lawn I hear such a noise,

I thought it would wake both Dad and the boys.

And though I was tired, my brain a bit thick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

But what I heard then, left me perplex-ed

For not a name I heard was what I expected.

"Move, Ashford, Move Lopi, Move Addi and Clover

Move Reynolds, Move Starmore, Move Froilich, move over!

don't circle 'round, stand in the line

Come now, you sheep will work out just fine!

I know this is hard- it's just your first year,

I'd hate to go back to eight tiny reindeer."

I peered over the sill; what I saw was amazing,

Eight wooly sheep on my lawn all a-grazing. And then, in a twinkle,

I heard at the door-Santa's feet coming across the porch floor.

I rose from my knees and got back on my feet,

And as I turned 'round St. Nick I did meet.

He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe,

And his clothes were hand knit from above to below.

A bright Fairisle sweater he wore on his back,

And his toys were all stuffed in an Aran knit sack.

His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace

A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.

The scarf 'round his neck could have stretched for a mile,

And the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle.

The back of his mittens bore an intricate cable,

And suddenly on one I espied a small label,

"S.C." was duplicate stitched on the cuff,

And I asked, "Hey, Nick, did you knit all this stuff"?

He proudly replied, "ho, ho, ho, yes I did

I learned how to knit when I was a kid."

He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man,

And I laughed to myself, for I'd thought up a plan.

I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,

And the next thing he knew, he was tied to a chair.

He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap

Where I'd laid my needles and yarn for a cap.

He quickly began knitting, first one cap then two,

For the first time I thought I might really get through.

He put heels in the stocking and toes in some socks

While I sat back drinking scotch on the rocks.

So quickly like magic his needles they flew

That he was all finished by quarter to two.

He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free

And over his shoulder he looked back at me.

And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon,

"Next year start your knitting sometime around June!"

What Nor'easter?

     Well, the nor'easter passed and we ended up with 6" or so of snow, then it started to rain and now we have open spots in the yard.  Never got the stairs shelved off...they just melted!  More rain is in the forecast for this week before light snow on the 1st day of winter...Sunday.  The temperatures have been just above freezing and unless I turn the furnace up the house feels cold and damp.  Glad I have the wood stove!  At least one room stays comfortable!
   Jeff and I went to Utica on Saturday.  The weather
was suppose to be decent but it wasn't.   It rained and was cold.  The first stop was the Bass Pro Shop at Riverside so Jeff could check out the new guns.
Fanny and I sat by their fireplace (dogs are allowed in the store) and watched the crowd.  Fanny was her usual timid self and sat at my feet and quaked!  One time she groaned as a dog...a pit bull or American Staffishire Bullterrior...in a red velvet dress with puff sleeves, ruffles, lace trim, a full petticoat and a bow
on her head...walked by after having her photo taken with Santa.  I reached down and hugged Fanny and
whispered in her ear 'I promise never to do that to you'. I wish I could have taken a photo of that dog.  What a thing to do to your friend.
    The second stop was JoAnn Fabrics in New Hartford where I got the yarn I needed to finish my Christmas knitting.  Actually we stopped at Jeff's
sister's on the way but she wasn't home so we went on to New Hartford.  Jeff went to Ollie's while I was in JoAnn's and he said it was packed.  JoAnn's wasn't that bad!
    Then it was back to Sherry's and Jeff hauled out the ladder and changed the outside lightbulbs by her
back door.  Fanny and her dogs ran around the yard for a few minutes but by then even the dogs didn't want to be outside.
     Jeff and I were going to stop at Chantary's but
decided to skip it.  Too many people, lousy weather and neither one of us felt that great.  That's what 
happens when you stay away from crowds for too long!  We both came back feeling lousy so while Jeff went to his apartment to sleep I stoked up the fire,
made a pot of tea and put on the dvd of White
Christmas.  Unfortunately, I spent most of Saturday 
night on the phone so I didn't get to enjoy the movie
but I replayed it Sunday night!  I've seen it so many times I know the songs, most of the dialogue and many of the dance routines!  It's my favorite Christmas movie. And I can knit to it so easily!  May have to watch it once more to get all my knitting done! 
Today I moved part of my 'crystal forest' back to the shelf above the TV and  turned on the lights.  That's my Christmas display this year! (The other part of the 'forest' is on the piano with some glass snowmen...the best kind!)  
  
   
         
        
   

It Finally Snowed!

View from the kitchen door, 9pm

Same view, 11am the next morning
but it's still snowing!

  The weather channel and the TV news had been calling for snow...due to that nor'easter...for the last 3 days.  Each night they predict 1-4" of snow and we get....0.  This morning it finally started to snow and right now we have 2" or so of wet, heavy stuff...a real wintry mix!  They say we'll finally get our due with 4-7" accumulation tonight and early tomorrow.  Oh, wonderful.  Even Fanny the dog doesn't like going out in it!  I don't plan on going any further than the woodshed but at least Jeff put a snow brush in my car! (Good place for it...inside the car!)   I guess I'll just keep the fire going and work on a Christmas present.  Jeff and I are talking about going to Utica...now on Saturday...the weather's suppose to be fine with temps near 40...and I want to stop at JoAnn's to get the rest of the yarn I need Christmas.  Time is running out.  I see some...many...late nights spent knitting!  I think I know how Santa's elves feel.

Waiting for...Snow???

  The Fanny the dog got me up at 5:45am with that itch she can't reach, shaking the bed in the other room against the wall.  She has a scab on the inside tip of her ear from a tick that she pulled off (what a dog!) that is healing very slowing because she keeps scratching the scab off.  And bleeding...on the top of her head where the tip of the ear reaches when she shakes her head...and the side of her head...where it rests when she stops scratching it!  She looks like she's been in a fight...and lost!  But she lets me clean her up and put Bag Balm on the scab.  It's getting smaller but how much longer it will take to totally heal ???  I think she secretly enjoys the warm wet microcloth washing the blood off her head, and the soothing Bag Balm applied, but do we have to do this at 5:45am?  
   This area is under a Winter Storm Warning with a Nor'easter moving up the state from the south.  Cooperstown was predicted to get 20-24" of wintry mix but we're predicted to get only 3-5" (from WKTV or 8-15" from the CBS TV station from Albany so who knows what we'll get?)  Right now, it's not doing anything outside.  It's even warmed up...to above freezing! We're just waiting for...snow??
  I cleaned up my knitting area last night and put away what's left of the sweater yarn, just leaving out what I'll probably use for Christmas presents.  Ripped out what I had done for one and restarted it on a larger needle.  Goes much faster and is becoming a nicer looking lacey cowl.  Still got to get 2 steins of sock yarn at JoAnn's.  Maybe Monday.  
   Today may turn out to be the perfect day to sit by the fire and knit by.  I've got enough wood inside to last until Jeff comes up later.  Maybe bake some cookies.  But a nap by the fire may be the way to start the day...Fanny's already gone back to bed.
  

December...at Last

   I worked in Cooperstown yesterday and came home to the heavenly smells of one of Jeff's soup/stews.  He had done a ham-bean soup that was so thick you almost needed a fork to eat it!  There were fresh carrots...from the garden...and beets that he sneaked in!  And besides ham...because he didn't think there was enough, he had beef and pork from our canned staples shelf.  And there were split peas and dry beans...I don't want to know the calories or carbs!  It was delicious and warm and so good!  I sat in my chair after supper and that's as far as I got.  No knitting.  No TV.  And after Jeff left, I went to bed.  (Fanny had gotten me up at 5:45am because Something was outside and she had to investigate.)  When I got up this morning I found the kitchen a mess...a great chef can't be expected to clean up...right???   (Why not?)  Jeff took a quart of his soup to friends who are temporarily lodged at a motel in town because of a major water leak in their apartment.  Their landlord is footing the bill but that doesn't include meals so she packed a cooler...bet the motel management loved that!...to last them a day or two.  If the leaky pipe is traced back to Jeff's bathtub he may be here for a couple of days.  The building has polished cement floors with stones embedded in them...terezza...and that means a jack-hammer and wet cement! 
 

This is the set I finished yesterday in the shop.  It's a size 1 and I'm calling it White Flowers.  Wouldn't it be pretty on a dark-haired little girl?  I thought this would be a nice change from the cream colored sweater with purple flowers that was hanging right there when I opened the store.  Around 2pm a nice lady came in, walked around the shop stopping in front of the sweater and said 'that settles it' and the Purple Flowers set had found a new home.  Can't complain.  Or shouldn't complain!  I'll start another one today and hopefully, get it done in time for Steve to take done on Tuesday when he works.  I'm finished working for the season and I really don't want to drive to Cooperstown again this year if I can help it.  He has another day to work later this month if I have to send anything down again. 
   I may have started something.  I always post my sweaters on Facebook before putting them in the shop and now the shop has 2 Facebook pages, one we maintain(CooperCountry Crafts) and one thru the Chamber of Commerce (Cooper Country Crafts).  Both full of photos of what's available in the shop this holiday season.  A woman saw a sweater...on both sites... and emailed me asking how she could buy it. We decided to put it thru the shop so the customer could use her credit card.  Now other members want that to happen for them and I volunteered to keep our site up-to-date.  Hope this generates some holiday sales coz things have slowed down some in town.  The shop is open 10am-5pm every day thru Christmas Eve and the phone number is 607-547-9247.   Better get back to knitting in case this works!!
     

Thanksgiving

   That Thanksgiving eve storm got here about 1pm Wednesday with a wintry mix and things turned white quickly.  How come everyone forgets how to drive in this stuff?  Visibility was lousy and the roads were covered with slush.  Jeff had the 2 wheelbarrows full of wood sitting in the woodshed waiting to be stacked making it was relatively easy to bring armloads of wood into the house, and the oil company had delivered a full tank so we were set for a 'snow-in'.  Got 6-8" from that episode and a little more from the lake effect band that came thru yesterday.  It looks like a winter wonderland out there but I don't want to be out there!  The house was warm and comfy and even Fanny didn't want to go out!  My cousin Ed came over for Thanksgiving dinner but Jeff's sister Sherry decided not to drive down from Utica.  Dinner was nearly perfect...if I say so myself.  The pork roast was delicious, sweet potatoes and Jeff's carrots, with pumpkin pie and blackberry pie for dessert.  Now, what to have for Christmas dinner??
   Wednesday night Jeff noticed that the greenhouse had split.  We don't know if it was due to the weight of the snow or if the plastic had gotten brittle because he had hung the Coleman lantern inside.  He thinks it may just be the design...there isn't as much support as in the woodshed because the woodshed is made with cattle panels and the greenhouse isn't.  Those black marks in the roof are actually slits in the plastic along the PVC supports.  In the morning there was another slit along the next PVC.  One of the ideas Jeff has to mend the roof is to lay a section of plastic snow fence over the greenhouse and then cover it with another layer of plastic.  It's suppose to warm up a little this week and then we'll see.

   If there was a spy camera in my bedroom it would have captured a funny video Wednesday night.  I went to bed first but got up around 2:30am when Fanny started to growl and fight with something in the other bedroom.  I thought she had a mouse...or was ripping a pillow apart, a favorite past time, but it was just an itch she couldn't get.  We all ended up in the TV room with the can of Bag Balm before Jeff headed off to bed followed by the dog.  I got the job of turning off the lights, etc and when I got to bed there was barely enough room for me in bed.  Now, we're big people, but the bed is Queen size and if he stays on his side we can fit.  Thursday morning I asked him why he stayed in the middle and Jeff blamed the dog. Seems she was stretched out next to him...and she wanted her share of the covers!

 

The Wood Pile Grows

   It was so warm...in the 60's and nice...that Jeff and I cut and stacked wood this afternoon and the woodshed is nearly full again.  We replenished what we used this past week or so.  (It is so much easier to burn wood than to stack it.)  Don't know if either one of us will be able to move if someone yells 'fire' in the middle of the night but the shed is full again.  The wheelbarrows are full, too...waiting for me to stack that wood tomorrow.  I just couldn't do another 'barrow full today!  Jeff's got most of the pallets cut up but there are more waiting to be taken apart .  We're sort of at a stand-still collecting pallets.  Something is wrong with the Outback...it's started to buck like a bronco!  Jeff and Wally, from next door, think it may need a dose or two of fuel injector cleaner and a couple of bottles of dry gas.  They can't hurt and may help...and that would be a lot cheaper than a trip to the Subaru mechanic.
   The computers speakers weren't plugged in so of course they couldn't work, but even after plugging them in they won't work. 

Jeff spent some time trying to figure out why without any luck. May need new speakers.   Jeff also moved one of the big wing-back chairs from the living room into the master bedroom.  It fits perfectly!  I may move an end table and lamp to go next to it.  With an afghan, it will make a great nook to curl up in and read a book before bed.  (I always wanted the tangerine...hell, yes, it's orange...love seat that's in the living room in my bedroom but I've given up on that idea.  The last time I sat on it I couldn't stand up!  It's so comfortable but I sank and needed help to get up.)
  
   
  

Christmas is A-Coming...Wanted or Not!

Hand crafted holiday decorations

Christmas hats...and bears...and soaps!

   Had a not quite delightful ride to Cooperstown   Friday morning.  
We were  experiencing 'lake effect' precipitation and while  accumulation wasn't anything like Buffalo was getting, it did make Rte 29 South not a fun ride.  I got to the shop without mishap but couldn't get the door open!  The locks were frozen or jammed or something.  I ended up giving the door a solid shove and suddenly they opened!  The two previous days had been without any sales and I was pretty sure...with the weather... yesterday would be the same.  But the lake effect passed and the sun came out and I actually made some sales...including a baseball hat of mine!  I started to take photos of the shop to post on our Facebook page but the batteries in the camera gave out after just a couple!  I'll take more next week when I work again.  

    I decided to knit something for boys...besides baseball themed...and came up with these Christmas vests...fun to make but nasty to have to clean up...with all those yarn ends!! (Fair Isle style on circular needles are always a mess maker!)   Both are size 1 and are done in machine wash and dryable Red Heart acrylic yarn.  They were gathering 

ohhs and ahhs from customers Friday and Saturday but it's a baseball sweater that sold!  Maybe today?  A girl's sweater sold, too.  I think I'll replace that one.

   Got home from the shop Friday and found that Jeff had finally started to move the computer...from the bedroom to what use to be the living room.  (The living room is now a large closet... such a waste.)  Any way, the computer is now next to the front living room window, adjacent to  the kitchen. 

The answering machine is right there, too, instead of in the bedroom!  Much more convenient for checking messages when I come in, and maybe I won't let things boil over or burn on the stove since I can now see it from here!  Jeff says I have to clean out the closet here so the wires can be tacked down and not draped from above!  Not looking forward to doing that.  Should clean out the living room, too, while I'm at it.  Oh, he also cleaned the wood stove while I was in Cooperstown.  Even tried to vacuum up after that!  I did the rugs again and all was well.  The wood stove keeps the TV room, kitchen and the living room nice and comfy.  And again, I can see that stove from here so I know when it's time to put more wood on the fire!  The printer doesn't work...I think that may have died of old age, and the speakers aren't working...hooked up wrong? and I'm not sure if Jeff got the wireless connected...but the computer works!!

Oh, there was a parade of fire trucks racing by on Rte 5 the Friday night around midnight.  Seems St. Mary's Church, now called Holy Family, on Main and John Sts in Little Falls, was on fire.  Took a couple of hours for the firemen from Little Falls with help from Herkimer, East Herkimer, Ilion and Salisbury to get the fire out.  Luckily, no one was hurt.  I think a couple of rooms were damaged but not too badly.  Don't know when the church will reopen.  It was always a beautiful building.

  

A Walk in the Country

   Fanny and I went to town this morning to run some errand.  After visiting Hannaford's, the bank...where they always give Fanny a doggie treat, the Post Office, the library and gas station I decided to reward us with a stop at Subway before heading home.  Since it was too early for the mail  I backed into the driveway...right up to the stairs...to unload the groceries and bundle of hard wood I had gotten at Hannaford's and managed to lock Fanny, my purse, and cell phone in the running car.  I walked down to my neighbor's house to see if Wally had something to open a locked car door but no one was home. Massaro's,the florist on Rte 5...about 1/2 mile away... was my next target.  On the way I wondered if Fanny would eat the sub that was on the front seat if she was left alone in the car for too long and rehearsed what I would say to Jeff over the phone to explain the situation.  
   A sleepy looking Jeff soon drove up.  He said he had looked for me at the florist but since he didn't see me (I was inside) went to the house and let the dog out of the car.  She ran...he said, 'slinked' straight into the house.  Then he came back to the florist looking for me.   I rewarded him with a pot of fresh coffee.  When the coffee was gone, Jeff went home to shave and change his clothes.  I fell asleep in my chair by the wood stove and Fanny stretched out on the couch. It had been an exciting morning for all of us.

And the Score is....

   We live in the country...little house in the little woods,huh?...and every fall we get the annual invasion of field mice.  When I was growing up I could hear them crawling up the beams inside the walls in my bedroom at night on their way to and from the attic/cellar.  Then came the discovery of  D-Con and that stopped...or at least, slowed down.  This year the little mickeys are bolder than ever and aren't bothering with staying inside the walls.  So far this week...THIS WEEK...I've picked up 5 dead or dying mice...3 in the TV room and 2 in the kitchen.  I've added D-con to new places (behind the dryer, under the refrigerator) and while the sounds from inside the walls have stopped, the mice are still here.  The other day I was reading the newspaper while Fanny snoozed on a chair.  She growled and I put down the paper and looked up.  She was in a stare down with a mouse who was between us on the floor.   I said...to the mouse...where did you come from...and went into the kitchen for an empty coffee can...while Fanny jumped over the mouse and ran and hid under the bed.  After scooping up the mouse...who was alive enough to wiggle a little...and going outside to dump it near the wood shed...I lured the dog out from under the bed with a dog treat and words of praise for confronting the mouse.  (The next mouse she cornered herself but let me pick it up...with the coffee can.)  This morning's mouse was dead by the dog's dish.  Whether it died there or Fanny put it there...?  Anyway, the score is now Mice 0 Me 5 (I'm taking credit for the 2 that may be Fanny's discovery.)  Almost time to buy more D-con.
   Last week Jeff told his PT guy enough was enough.  The pain from the exercises were getting unbearable and nothing was helping.  He couldn't sleep or eat!   And while a hot bath probably would have helped, Jeff was afraid if he got into the tub...his is an big old claw-foot job...he wouldn't be able to get out.  Now he's trying to get back to a normal routine but that will take some time.   He went grocery shopping

and got a bone-in ham that he cut it up and we froze.  Jeff's going to use the bone and make split-pea soup...his is the best! 
   In the meantime, I'm sitting by
the wood stove, reading a little,
watching TV s little and knitting a little.  Here are  2 Ladies Flower Hat and Mitten sets ready to go to the

shop.  Instead of a fabric bow, these hats have knitted leaves.  The sets are acrylic and the mittens are done on a US4 making them very dense and warm...and a little difficult to make.  My index fingers don't like getting stuck with the needle points... occupational hazards!   

November is Gonna Be Different

     November is here with cold damp winds.  Snow has been forecast a couple of times but we've lucked out and we've been spared.  Most of the leaves have fallen and if we can get a couple of days of dry weather we may be able to rent the leaf vacuum and clean the yard but that depends on how Jeff feels.  He's been going for PT for his right leg for about 3 weeks now and sadly, things are getting worse.  The exercises are draining his strength and causing a lot of pain and discomfort...in his leg and his back.  (The injury is over 50 years old...a series of accidents and mishaps from his youth...that weather and arthritis has made worse.  That's why he sometimes drags his right leg and his right knee buckles.)  He doesn't feel like eating afterwards and that messes up his blood sugar adding to his discomfort.  Today he said he's about had it.  There is not much he can do to ease the pain for several days after a session.  His doctor seems to think there is some kind of treatment out there that will help him with the leg and back pain and it's her duty to find it.  Last year's experiment didn't work for long and the steroids really messed up his blood count and this year's isn't doing much better.  And the thing is, Jeff doesn't ask the doctor for this help, she comes up with it all on her own!
     In the meantime, I'm trying not to burn too much wood.  I've bought a couple of bundles of hard wood at the grocery store and use it with what I have in the woodshed.  I've managed to keep the TV room and kitchen warm and the rest of the house comfortable during the day...except this bedroom which just gets cold because it always did.  (The TV room has a 'phantom draft' from when my father built the room that he could never locate but an afghan around my legs takes care of that.)  I stocked the shop well the last time I worked and sales have slacked off so I'm giving my hands a little rest and not knitting like a fool.  I did some adult mittens last week...took all week to do 3 pairs!...and then took 2 days to do a ladies hat!  That's slow for me.  I think I may be developing or redeveloping carpel tunnel syndrome again.  My hands have been going 'needles and pins' and I've started dropping things.  (Don't want to go thru that again.  I think that would be the 3rd time!)  Anyway, I've got another hat going and then I want to do a cowl for the shop before I start working on Christmas presents.  So, unless Jeff feels good and we're working on the wood pile, I'm spending my days sitting by the fire, nice and comfy, knitting, reading and watching TV.  Discovered Wendy Williams and The Price is Right!  And Channel 2 has just started 2.3 with old sitcoms like MASH!  Who needs cable?    

Someone Forgot to Tell The Garden

   We were suppose to get a frost last week but it never happened. The flower box and pots, green bean trellises, green peppers and squash are still looking good!  And inside the greenhouse....
you can see the tomatoes growing to the ceiling with flowers and fruit!  On the other side there are eggplant, peppers and the big blue bucket has potatoes.  The eggplant has purple flowers and a green eggplant.  It had been purple but turned green...not enough sun?  The temperature inside the greenhouse 
was a warm 68 today (about 8 degrees warmer than outside) and that was without a
a heater inside!
   Jeff tried to dig up the sweet potatoes today but came up with nothing.  Not a single one.  These wouldn't have been the big yams like you get in the grocery store but more like an oversized carrot 
but no luck.  Wish us better luck 
next year.
   Oh, yes, and mentioning carrots,

Funky Carrots

Baby Eggplant

  Jeff pulled some carrots today and we had them for dinner.  Now our carrots are not the long, thin ones but short fat ones and they were sweet and tender!  I 'fried' them...boiled them soft, then sauteed them in butter and olive oil with garlic and onions.  Very nice.  Tomorrow's dinner may include the baby eggplant that he picked, too.  I keep telling him those are  'gourmet' eggplant because they don't have many seeds.  Again sweet and tender!
   Time to get back to my knitting.  Got hats on the needles I'd like to finish so I can take them down with me on Monday.  I don't have to work again after that until Nov.21 and I'd like to stock up a little. Photos tomorrow.

Winter Already??

   I worked in the shop today...a  cold, wet day with a little snow (!UCK!) and not much business.  I finished the baseball hats I had brought with me...probably the last ones for this year...but didn't do any of the knitting I brought.  There were 3 (yep, count 'em) empty sweater hangers and all the flower hats were gone.  Good thing I had 6 more flower hats with me.  I switched days with another member and have to work again next Monday giving me a week to do a couple of sweater sets.  If the weather cooperates and it rains I can easily do it.  If I have to stack wood, it will be a little more difficult.  There were only 2 Ladies hats left so I'll have to do a couple of them, too.  The rest of the day I spent reading.  It was a nice change.  Would have been better with a pot of hot tea.
    We're suppose to get a hard frost tonight so Jeff picked the rest of the cucumbers and eggplants. Since there are peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse he left a Coleman lantern lite as a heat source.  In 15 minutes the temperatures went up 10 degrees inside the greenhouse!  He's not sure how long the lantern will stay lite...there's enough fuel but it may lose pressure and eventually go out.  Right now (12:15am) it's been lite for over 3 hours!  If it lasts for a couple of more hours it may be warm enough inside to hold off the frost.  We have to just wait and see.  Wonder what Wally from next door will say about the lighted greenhouse?

Remembering Mom and Other Things

   Yesterday was the 1st anniversary of my mom's death.  There were a lot of things that happened this year that she would have enjoyed...like watching and hearing about Jeff's garden, how well the baby hats--flowers, baseballs and pumpkins have been selling in the shop (one year she had made and sold 18 pumpkin hats in 1 day at PumpkinFest!) and of course, the dog's antics.  I don't think she missed the septic tank being dug up!  These photos were taken at a family party.  In the photo on the left, I'm wearing a velvet vest that she had sewed for me...one of my favorites and I still have it.  In the on the right that's her sister, Fran and brother, Pete.  They're gone, too. XXOO  Thanks to the Keeper of the Family Photos, my cousin Mary Morgan, for the photos.  She was able to scan and email these to me.  I think, no, that decides it, the next printer I buy has to be able to do that.  Hey, Santa, are you listening?
    Yesterday I planned on finishing up more baby hats and sweaters....sewing on flowers and buttons until Jeff decided it was a good day to cut and stack wood.  He wasn't outside with the saw for more that 15 minutes when he was back in the house.  We had to go to Lowe's.  The 'foot'...the part of the recip saw that you rest on what you're cutting had broken off.  Now this was the 2nd recip saw he had gone thru.  We got them at Lowe's, both Bosch.  Nothing wrong with the saw, it's just the foot that broke off both times.  Luckily, we bought the protection plan with each saw.  For less than $20 if anything goes wrong with the saw, Lowe's hands you a new one, no questions asked.  Well, it's worth it.  The price for the saw has gone up over the years and saw #3 would have cost $129.00.  Of course we got another 2-year protection plan.  For $19.46 how can you not?  And Jeff really likes the Bosch saw!  Anyway, he went back to cutting wood and I thought I'd be going back to buttons and flowers but it didn't work out like that and I ended up stacking wood.  He'd fill a wheelbarrow and I'd empty it.  Since I would empty them faster than he could fill them I got to sit and relax in between.  I was doing well, keeping up until I got tangled up in a fallen branch and some leaves and fell.  Managed to scramble (?) back up and was sitting in a chair rubbing my sore knees when Jeff looked up and noticed me.  No cuts or bruises, or tears to the jeans, just dirty pant legs...and they were clean jeans!!  I was just lucky he has been removing the bricks I had used to outline/covered an old dry well or instead of falling onto  dirt and leaves I would have hit bricks!  Jeff put the 2 wheelbarrows...full of cut wood...in the woodshed last night because the forecast called for rain and it did!  No sense in creating a swimming pool for the wood!  And, lucky for me, they're wedge into the shed so well, he has to take them out for me to get in to empty them.  Oh, well, guess I'll just have to stay inside today and knit...maybe with a nice fire in the wood stove.  I wonder if there will be a Notre Dame game on TV today?

 

Autumn at the Little House in the Little Woods

   I think this is the last week for the garden.  A hard frost is predicted for Saturday night and Jeff wants to pick the rest of the beans, squash, peppers and whatever before then.  There's carrots, sweet potatoes and beets (yuck) but since they're root veggies they should survive.  He bought some celery and broccoli and a whole chicken yesterday so I think a pot of so-ew or st-up  (soup-stew) will be brewed.  He promised some friends we'd take them to the farmer's market in Little Falls on Saturday morning so lunch here on the way home is a probability...you need more than 2 people to do justice to one of his pots of soup!  Maybe I'll do some bread...my Italian bread has been as good what you can get in the store since I started using the Cuisinart his sister gave me to mix it.  Much easier on the hands, too!
   The Harvest Festival last week in Cooperstown was a little damp and chilly but still a success.  The Chamber of Commerce provided the tents and several people from the shop did demos.  Nobody wants to watch me knit so I stayed home...nice and warm and comfy next to my wood stove with a book and my knitting!  I had taken quite a lot to the shop when I worked the Thursday before and my area was well stocked.  About half a dozen hats sold over the weekend and a couple of sweaters, too.  I managed to finish a replacement set in a couple of days and mailed it to Judy.  Now I've got to do some hats...again.
   My clotting factor has been out of control most of the summer...warfarin is such a joy to live on...but finally has gotten back into line.  My doctor increased the dose so I could eat greens (yes, greens are a no-no.  That means no lettuce, spinach, greens and beans...hey, unfair!!) and I've been having my factor check nearly weekly.  Then we managed to edge it up to every other week and now it's up to a month!  The doctor kept the dose high so I can indulge if I get tempted so we'll see what kind of number I score next month.  Never thought that greens would be a diet no-no.
     The furnace just came on...the second time this morning!  I think I should take it as a hint and go start a fire in the stove.  That and it's mighty cold sitting here in the bedroom at the computer.  I've been posting some photos of my sweaters on the shop's Facebook page (Cooper Country Crafts, check it out!).  We're going to move the computer to the living room but Jeff wants to rewire that part of the room, first moving the wall outlet and putting in another one.  That's "inside" work and there's still lots of  "outside" work to be done!  Now that the trailer can be hitched to a car Jeff's been hauling...wood again!

Life in the Country

   Life in the country's been mostly good this week.  We've cut and stacked wood...there's a lot more to do...visited the health center, auto center, and grocery store.  The weather's sweet and what's left of the garden...carrots, green beans, green peppers and yellow squash...are doing nicely.  
                  

The greenhouse is doing even better!  Here are the tomatoes and peppers, and there are potatoes, beans and eggplants in there, too! It's about about 10 degrees warmer inside the greenhouse than outside...and there isn't a heater!
  
   Jeff finally got the trailer hitch installed on the Outback today. It's been 6 weeks since this process started. (He's not too happy about that.)  This week he was told the hitch we have...it was on the Forrester...won't fit the Outback.  Since that was the 1st question he asked...before asking that the hitch be taken off the Forrester...and was told it would...he wasn't happy.  On top of that, they ordered the new hitch without asking him if that would be ok.  The assistant manager cut us a good deal ($234/no labor) but we've talked about it and decided this would be the last job Mavis/Cole did on our cars. 
There's still a lot of wood, compost, and manure we need to haul...that should have been done already!!
   In the meantime, I'm knitting happily.  I finished my 2nd Christmas set, called Snowflakes.  It's

a size 1 circular skirt and short sleeve sweater set in soft navy and white, decorated with a large duplicate stitch snowflake and small snowflake buttons.  (I didn't knit in the snowflakes because
the sweater is done in the round on a circular needle and it would mean loose ends each row on both sides of each snowflake...what a mess to clean up!)  I want to do a matching cardigan and hat with all the snowflakes worked in. OTN:  this week's project list is hats...and more hats!  I'd like to do at least 3 flower hats, 3 pumpkin, 3 apple and 3 baseball hats...by next Thursday...when I'm scheduled to work in the shop again.  And if I get the hats done before then,

Got 6 Flower and 6 Pumpkin Hats finished! posted 9/29/14

maybe I'll do that snowflake cardigan!  In the meantime, it's back to stacking wood!

Christmas Design

Here's my 1st Christmas sweater for this year.  No buttons/buttonholes yet.  Should this be for a boy or girl?  Click on the 'comment' at the bottom and vote.  If it becomes a girl's sweater,
the hat will be red with a white
flower and dark green bow, a boy's
sweater the hat will be solid red, 
both will have rolled brims.

Jeff's Greenhouse

   Here's Jeff's greenhouse.  These plants are all either stragglers or volunteers (seeds that came up on their own without actually being planted by him where he found than).  They are all doing well...in fact, much better than they were outside in the garden!  Some of the tomatoes and peppers
   
have fruit and the beans have flowers!  This week...with the predicted frost...will tell if they will survive much longer. Right now the only source of heat is

is the water barrel and the sun.  The temperature was running about 20 degrees higher inside the greenhouse than outside.  We'll know this week if that will continue or if it will need a secondary sourse of heat like a kerosene heater. 

Septic Tank Day

   Yesterday we had the 'septic' problem fixed.  Jim...the boss...said the guys would be here 'first thing' so I set my alarm for 6:30 figuring it would give me enough time for a shower before they arrived.  Fanny started her 'guard dog' routine around 6am running from window to window barking and making fierce sounds.  It got me out of bed but I couldn't see anything and the motion lights hadn't come on but I took it as a sign and hopped in the shower.  I was just finishing up when she started up again...this time I heard the truck.  They were here!  Fanny retreated to the bed and I called Jeff and made coffee.  We all waited for the pump man and worked got started.  The tank was full to the top!  No one had ever seen a

septic tank like this!  It's two tanks
each  about 4' across side by side...and deep...the pump man had to keep adding hose...15-20'.  There once had been 2 caps but they had been replaced long ago (more than the 52 years I've been here) with the single cement slab.  Before the tanks were even empty the guys started looking for the dry well.  Eventually they found it and 
it was...dry!  They don't know why but nothing had
flowed into it in years.  They dug it out and enlarged the hole so the new cement dry well would fit.  Then came a couple of loads of crushed stone...pushed in by the
machine and pretty soon the hole was filled,
leveled seeded covered with straw...and Fanny finally got outside to inspect!  There will be a lot of stones to 'harvest' in the spring before this part of of the yard can be mowed again but the job is done and shouldn't  have to be repeated again in my lifetime!  Even the septic tank cover is now under
ground and not something to avoid when mowing!  Oh, and something I didn't expect, there wasn't any aroma...sewer gas...when the tank was pumped!  (I could have done with out the cost...seems it was by the size of the tank...$302.  Haven't gotten the bill for the dry well yet. Dry well cost $2200.  Total for the day $2502.  Better than Jeff expected! 9/20/14)

Where The Oaks Grow

   This little house sits in a little clearing in a growing woods.  The oaks and hickory trees get bigger every year and this year we seem to have a large crop of acorns and nuts.  The wind, birds and squirrels cause the acorns to fall on to the roof and deck...and every thing in the yard.  The other night it sounded like someone was on the deck but no, just the acorns falling.  The dog is terrified and will hides when a steady volley starts.  This morning the weatherman called for rain and wind...and that means acorn showers which started about an hour ago.  An acorn hitting and bouncing off a wheelbarrow...or rain barrel...or lawn chair is not a sound you want to wake up to.  But it is better than the dog snoring.
   Today I want to finish some autumn sweaters and hats for the shop.  The yarn color
of the one in the photo is cafe latte.  The one I'm working on is cornmeal.  I'll also try to do a couple of extra pumpkin hats... before Friday when I have to take these things over to Steve so he can take them to the shop when he works this weekend.  That should be enough for the rest of the month.  If they sell I'll do some more.  I couldn't find pumpkin buttons at Wal Mart (surprise??)  and didn't really want to spend the time, gas and energy to go to Jo Ann Fabrics so I ordered these online...from the website on the back of a button card and if you spent $10 the shipping was free!  Got 5 cards of buttons for $11.97...and they arrived in my mailbox in 3 days!!  Of course, it limits how many sweaters I can do with pumpkin buttons but I can always order more.

Pickles!

   Today is Pickle Day!  We've been blessed(?) with cucumbers and today we're making pickles.  We did 15 pints of zesty bread and butter pickles and there are 8 pints of dill pickles waiting for their brine.  Pickles are easier than canning.
   In the next couple of weeks we're going to have a new dry well added to our septic system.  The guy says it looks ( puddling around the top of the septic tank when I do laundry) like the pipes may be full or crushed  or the well itself may just be full.  Pencil that in for roughly $2500...with another $300 for pumping out the septic tank when they do it.  Homeownership...such a delight.  My mother always said don't damn anyone...just tell them to buy a house... and the older, the better.
  The garden is winding down.  Jeff dug potatoes this week and was satisfied with the way the boxes worked.  The plants in the greenhouse are going well and that should extend the season a month or two.  He's already planning for next year!  In-between gardening, he's started cutting wood again so there will be a lot for me to stack.  Oh, so not looking forward to doing that!
   The shop had a fantastic season this year.  Both July and August sales were more than expected.  I had a hard time keeping my area full!  Things have slowed down and I've started working on Harvest and Pumpkin designs.  There will be a Fall Festival in Cooperstown Oct.4th with Main St blocked to cars and vendors set up all over.  Hope the weather is nice that day!  I'll post photos of  my fall sets as soon as I finish one!
  

Promises

   I still have not kept my promise and mowed the lawn....  It's been raining off and on and the grass is so long it takes more than a couple hours of dry weather before I could start mowing.  Besides it's been too cold for me to work outside.  (Remember, I take rat poison (Warfarin) and I'm cold when it's 75 out!  Sunday it's suppose to get dry and warm up and stay that way until Wednesday.  That should be time...and warm...enough for me to mow.

   

(photo added 9:18am 8/17/2014)

In the meantime, I've stayed busy knitting (what else?!?).  In the last day and a half I made 3 ladies hats--2 with rolled brims and 1 with a flat brim--they just need their roses and bows.  Today I'll knit the roses but I'm all out of ribbon. That will have to wait for a trip to Walmart. I've got to get milk and Rx's so maybe later today. For some reason the hats are appealing to customers and they are selling quite well...twice the  the customer bought 2!  I don't like wearing hats so I don't really understand the attraction but ....  A lace-y baby sweater set sold yesterday so after the roses I'll do one of those.  That should keep me busy until Monday.  Then I can do more baby hats... baseball, apple and pumpkins...in between mowing the lawn.

  Jeff had to tie up  one of the tomato plants after an especially hard rain the other day.  The fruit was so heavy the branches had bent over and started to break.  He gave it a dose of compost tea (yes, even after all that rain!) when he did and yesterday it looked pretty sprite.  There are so many tomatoes on it they were too heavy for the stem!  Hope the plant can make it.
   I decided to split my bundle with TimeWarner and get DISH.  You get HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz and Blockbuster free for 3 months!  The only channel I'll miss is the Smithsonian.  I'm going to keep the phone and internet with TimeWarner.  Jeff's sister has DISH and loves it.  I don't like the movies I can get for free on TimeWarner  so maybe I'll watch more movies...at least for 3 months!