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!