Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays! And another year nears its end. Boy, have we been busy this year! The garden has taken up a lot of time and energy and we've really enjoyed it. Things didn't start too well with Jeff's hospital stay but so far, it's a distant memory. He's got many seed cataloges and has started to order heirloom seeds. He's also found sites on-line that are giving him ideas on how to do things differently. Jeff wants to make the garden larger if we can, maybe add some bees....

The shop's rolling along in Cooperstown. I wish I had more time to knit and work down there. Maybe after I retire.... Hey, I'll be 62 in April so 'retirement looms on the horizon'!

Mom will be 98 in a couple of weeks (Jan 13) and she's still taking care of herself and knitting. Without Jeff it would be a lot harder and I don't think she'd still be living at home. She listens to him when she thinks I don't know what I'm talking about, and I couldn't get her to appointments without him.

Lady Dawg is one of the best dogs we've had. She's so gentle and caring. Whenever she's outside for more than 15 minutes, she wants to go in to check on Mom. Then come back out to be with us...or really with Jeff. She goes out with him more than I do.

Going to PT this fall has made a great difference in my mobility and pain levels. I can't believe it wasn't suggested 4 years ago after the break! Why don't more orthopedic surgeons recommend PT? I know I'll never be pain free but at least now I'm learning on how to cope with it.

Camp for sale

As another year comes to an end I've reached a decision about camp. It's got to go...be sold...so I'm willing to give someone...anyone...a holiday deal: the trailer, share and contents...as is...for $24,000. We had many good times there and we miss it but it's time. It's still got plenty of time left in the trailer...the living room has a propane stove, the windows in the bedrooms and over the kitchen sink are new vinyl insulated replacement windows. The sink in the bathroom is new. So, if anyone out there is interested in a camp in Speculator, NY, please get in touch with me. Happy holidays!

Garden is Closed

The garden is offically closed for the season. Saturday Jeff planted garlic and shallots and tilled in the compost that was ready. Then he covered it with all the leaves that could be collected near by. I was assigned the leaf blower and moved a fair pile to the garden for Jeff to spred around. Then together we cleared the rest of the lawn and he filled the compost bins. (Photos to follow...need new memory card for the camera.)

Sunday the new panry was assembled. Actually, the old sewing room was cleared out and cleaned, new shelves put up and all the jars labled and put on the shelves. It looks very impressive to me but Jeff is wishing we had done more. Hopefully, there's next year to look forward to. He's already busy ordering heirloom seeds.

I've been knitting...hats and scarves for swaps and the shop. Tried to knit snowflakes with crochet thread...think I'll go back to crocheting them!

Little Piggy Went to Market

I did this market bag a couple of times for swaps. It's so simple...it's the ribbon yarn that makes it fancy! I loved the yarn...got several skeins on sale...then didn't know what to do with it until this swap came along. And the gray heather yarn is a silk blend...again on sale that I didn't know what to do with. I'm sure it will work up beautifully. I try to include something funny/cute in my swaps and this pink note holding duck is just too cute! Hated to send it away!

Necklace

This is one of 2 beaded necklaces I knitted for swaps. I used #3 cotton crochet thread and a pattern for a scalloped edge necklace I found in 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. Of course, I changed the weight yarn it called for, the size beads, size needles; I strung the beads differently and then added the lace travel pouch to go with it. The Dove Bar and postcard of General Herkimer were extras for the swap. I did 3 more necklaces & pouches for the shop.

OTN

This is so true!







I've got so many projects started I'm running out of needles!! OTN: a size 2 baseball sweater, v-neck, raglan from the neck down, on size 7 circulars in RedHeart soft navy. I'm using my newly acquired beading ability and working in the shank-baseball buttons as I go. It's keeping the buttons and buttoholes even!! Yesterday I was in Walmart and found some new yarn with Love from RedHeart. It looks very good: vibrant colors that are much softer than the usual RedHeart worsted. Can't wait to get some to try. OTN: a size 2 striped pullover , raglan from the neck down, on size 7 circulars in lime green, blue and white baby/sport. (Can you tell I'm trying to reduce my stash? The white is the only new skein the other 2 have been partically used.) Every time I do stripes I swear I won't do them again, but it's an easy way to use up the too-small-to-make-anything balls of yarn I'm finding. OTN: Jeff's socks, knit toe-up in 'Dust' Stroll from Knit Picks on 2 size 2 circulars. This is 'my project in a baggie' that I keep in my purse. Yesterday I finished the foot on the sock at the laundromat and turned the heel at the doctor's office with my mom. Now I just have to use up the yarn on the leg. OTN: a size 9- months baby sweater in a pretty pink, raglan from the neck down with rolled cuffs and pearl buttons for the girl who cuts my hair's 1st baby. Good thing she's now due soon!! And I'm sure there's more in those bags beside my chair!

Garlic

Jeff was disappointed with the garlic our garden produced this year. He used the garlic we had gotten at the workshop held at the library last year. It was his first try at growing it and between inexperience, the weather and a late start we didn't get much. I mentioned this to my cousin Tom who's been very successful at growing garlic at his place in Berne, NY and he offered to send us some seed garlic. It arrived yesterday and if those cloves are seed and an indication of how big the bulb was all I can say is WOW! We'll be putting them in next week. Jeff has to pull the beets and carrots, dig the sweet potatoes ( with crossed fingers!) and pick the rest of the peppers...sweet yellow bananas and scottish peppers that started out green, turned yellow and are now on their way to orange...and maybe red? The scottish are suppose to be hot...hope so! He doesn't think the beets or carrots will be very big...they were late getting thinned...but as long as there are some.... The lettuce this year was a waste of space. Jeff's head lettuce never headed and my leaf lettuce got tough fast. Better luck next year. His purple green beans have been fantastic! I picked them again Wednesday. Our butternut squash are ready to pick...we only got 2, there were others but they just didn't grow. And we only picked 2 zucchini...something beat me to them every time! I picked the last of the summer squash Wednesday, too. And lemon cucumbers...ever hear of lemon cucumber pickles? I'll let you know how that turns out.

In between garden adventures I've been busy knitting... beaded necklaces with #3 cotton crochet thread on size US2's ( I'm getting better at pre-stringing the beads), another baseball sweater set for the shop, and Jeff's next pair of socks. Got a couple winter swaps coming up...one a scarf and the other a hat...that I'm looking forward to doing. Pictures to come later.

We're suppose to go out for fish-fry tonight but we've both been battling colds so I don't know if we'll make it. Hope so!

OTN: What's not?

I really got involved with swapping on a knitting site this year and I'm having so-o-o much fun I highly recommend it to everyone. For one of the 1st swaps I signed up for I had to do a Victorian Lace scarf. I so loved that pattern...and yarn...it was a silk blend I found in my stash...that I made several. Sent one to the swappee, put one in the shop, changed the yarn and made a scarf for another swap, then used the lace pattern in a bookmark for still another swap and last night used the lace pattern again, this time in a jewelry pouch. I finally knitted with beads this summer doing a necklace I found in 101 Designers One-skein Wonders...but of course, I changed the yarn and needles and strung the beads differently than instructed. In fact, I did 2 necklaces...with pouches...for the swap, and another set for the shop. (Last night I did the pouch for a 2nd set to go in the shop.) Found a doll size table that I had done back when I did American Girl doll stuff...we did chairs & sofa and table as a set. I took the table apart and now it's a necklace display rack. I'm having so much fun knitting with beads...once I get them on the yarn, that is. (One of the group moderators gave me a link to a video that showed how to string beads using dental floss. And another member told he how to use double-faced tape to keep loose beads undercontrol. Both very easy!)

In the mean time, I've done some baby sweaters for the shop, just regular-raglan- from-the-neck-down with novelty buttons to spruce things up, and a couple of hoodies. One was a 'varsity' jacket (white hood & sleeves on navy blue body) with baseball button s (what else for Cooperstown, huh?) and the other was a pumpkin...a orange hood with green stem on a green body with pumpkin buttons. Now that one went quickly so I did another one!

In the baggie in my purse a sock for Jeff is slowly growing. I got several inches done on it when we went fishing last week and another inch or so when I did laundry this week. He may end up with another pair yet!

Tomaotes tomatoes tomatoes....

Monday morning Jeff went up to his sister's to help her with some yard work. He cleared off her garden and mowed her lawn (mowing his new cell phone in the process!) He came home with 7, yes, 7 grocery bags of tomatoes, a bag of green beans, bag of potatoes, a few peppers, a zucchini, a couple of onions and 1 pathetic sweet potatoe. Tuesday after I got out of work we cleaned, chopped and cooked the tomatoes...3 big soup pots of sauce! Last night we proccessed canned 27 pints of tomaotes...sauce, with green beans and as a soup stock. I don't care if I ever see another tomatoe... until next year! Next in the pressure canner will be apples...sauce and pie filling. Somewhere along the way we've got to pick the last of our purple beans and peppers...hopefully some will be hot! ...and dig up our sweet potatoes. Jeff wants to get some pears to dehydrate and I'd like to can some. And I'd like to do some peppers and onions together, too. Jeff dehydrated some of the green beans he brought home and has another grocery bag of tomatoes lined up for the dehydrator. I guess you can say we're getting our money's worth out of the dehydrator and big pressure canner. We were disappointed that we didn't get that much from our garden...all the work he put in to it...but because of having our garden we were ended up with the fruit from Peter's and from Sherry's gardens.

GONE FISHIN'

We went fishing yesterday. It was such a nice day for late September...80 degrees, sunshine, almost no mosquiotes! This is Jeff along the banks of the Mohawk River at Lock 18. Actually, Lock 18 is on the Erie Canal which is behind me or the camera. You can walk across the closed lock and down the lawn-like expance to the river. The 1st time we visited the lock the lockmaster told us how good the fishing was down on the river but Jeff didn't have his poles with him. When I suggested 'drowning some worms' yesterday morning Jeff checked what he had in the 'fridge (all dead) and we went to Philipson's to get a dozen before heading out. The river looks very calm in this picture but the current is actually quite strong in this area and 'civilization' is closer than you'd think. The railroad tracks are across the river but curve away from the river back toward Rte 5 about at the 1st tree directly across from Jeff . The NY Thruway is just out of the photo frame to the left, too. There is so much undeveloped area...wooded and farm fields...that the sounds are muffled. Jeff got 2 white fish but threw them back and something in the river claimed his dozen worms one by one. We spent almost 4 hours on that stretch of river bank him fishing and me knitting. It was a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

The Season Ends

Today's the 1st day of autumn and the garden looks sad. The tomatoes and corn have been pulled up, the white potatoes dug up. The summer squash has had it too. The beets are doing good, peppers are still flowering and are full of fruit. There are 8 eggplants, 2 butternut squash and 1 zucchini getting bigger every day. The lemon cucumbers (yes lemon) are still growing. The sweet potatoes vines have just started to dry up and will be ready to dig up in a few days. We've canned corn, potatoes, beets and tomatoes...when our tomatoes were wiped out by the blight in 2 days we picked over 2 bushels at a friend's and kept canning. Jeff has plans to enlarge and rearrange the garden next spring. He's been looking at seeds on line and plans to order early. He is a little disappointed with the crop size but the weather and our health caused some early problems. But, every time we cook and eat the veggies from our garden we are both proud of our efforts. Better luck next year! It has been fun!!!

I'm finishing up a couple knit-and-beaded necklaces for swapping and that's been fun. Thanks to some of the others in the swap I've learned how to use dental floss to thread beads and double -faced tape in plastic CD boxes to control the loose beads...sure beats picking up 6mm beads off the floor! The next batch of swaps I've signed up for are Holiday themed. Should be fun.

This weekend is the Pumpkin Fest in Cooperstown when the giant pumpkins (1000+ lbs) are in competition in the parking lot next to the shop. Attracts quite a crowd. Last Saturday when I worked in the shop I brought in a pumpkin hoodie (orange hood w/green stem and green sweater with pumpkin buttons) I had done with the hope it would sell this weekend. It sold the next day. Got another one just about finished so I guess I'll be going to Cooperstown in the morning.

Swap News

It must have been Christmas someplace yesterday coz when I got home last night I found a note in my mailbox from the mailman telling me there was a "parcel" in the garage for me. WOW! Not 1 swap package but 2! Jeff and my mom had to gather around to see what there was (Magic Ball from Jessica in California and Market Bag from Rachel in Ohio). They were both excited about the candy bars...will I share? Had to explain to Jeff the principle behind a Magic Ball (wrap a ball of yarn around treasure, burying little...or big...things in the ball as you wrap. To retreave the treasures the ball has to be rewound again.) He thinks it would have been easier just to put all the stuff in a box w/o wrapping them in the ball of yarn. Non-knitters, huh? And that ball of yarn! A turquoise peruvian wool that I'm definately keeping for myself. It's so soft!!

The Market Bag is the perfect size for carrying knitting projects, and I may keep the sock yarn that came with that for me...actually make myself a pair of socks. Yea, right. All the little bits and pieces from the 2 packages got mixed up a little with the 3 of us grabbing things as they caught our eye, but everything was oohhed and aahhed over. And the strangest thing: there was a little notepad enclosed in one of the packages that matches excatly one I bought to send with my market bag. Don't tell me great minds don't think alike. Needless to say, A Swap in Time is very popular at my house today.

My next swap project is a beaded knit necklace...but I've never knit with bead...always added them afterwards. I looked in books and on line to get some instruction but it wasn't going well. Ever try to thread 178 6mm bead onto yarn? Not an easy job. I asked the A Swap in Time group for their suggestions and got a link to placing beads from Wendy in England the swap moderator. It is to a video that shows the easiest way to string beads using dental floss. Tried it last night and it works! But I decided to change the weight of yarn (from dk to #3 crochet cotton) for my necklaces. I think they make up much more delicate. We'll see.

Jeff saw his doctor yesterday..1st time since he got out of the hospital. She sure wasn't in a hurry to see him, was she? He's not happy with her. She tried to talk him back onto all the meds that were stopped when he was in Bassett. Doesn't she know you can't talk him into anything??? She ended up cutting dosage on a few and even cutting out a couple of the meds...but she wrote 'scripts for some that he refuses to take. When the meds were stopped, the bleeding stopped. Doesn't it seem logical the 2 may be related? Oh, yeah, I forgot, this is organized medicine.

End of Summer

The end of summer brings many things. This weekend we canned 16 quarts of tomatoe sauce. Using a pressure canner (an overgrown pressure cooker) isn't difficult at all. A lot better, faster and cooler than the old fashion boil-the-bottles-in-the-kettle method that Jeff talks about doing with his mother. We had been picking our chocolate, grape & cherry tomatoes for salads when that so-called hurricane hit and with it came the tomatoe blight. We lost all our plants and most of the fruit in 2 days. We were able to salvage enough and buy a couple pounds of plum tomatoes on sale to make 7 quarts of sauce. Peter, a friend of my cousin Fran, had offered us his tomatoes after he had had enough. Yesterday we went up to his house and picked over 100 tomatoes. Jeff's got about 50 of them slated for dehydrating. It's amazing to see how the fruit shrinks after spending 8 hours being dehyrated! Two pounds of carrots end up looking like wood shavings in a sandwich bag! Zucchini, peppers and tomato chips are great with a spinach dip and the best part is that they are crunchy but not fried!

I sent out a couple of end of summer swaps with 1 or 2 more to mail. It's fun to see how much you can stuff in an envelope! All of the above I got into a 6x9 padded mailer held together with half a roll of packing tape! I hope the power-that-be don't decide to use that size again.

It's Even Worse!

This past weekend has been even worse than the 'hurricane' the weekend before. It seemed as if the rain will never stop! The tomato vines are rotting on the fences and the ripe fruit is splitting before it can be picked. I feel so helpless...Jeff is very philosophical..that's what happens he says. Just doesn't seem fair to me...all that work.

Before the rain started we went fishing...he fished, I knitted...in the canal outside of Herkimer. I got a nice tan and several inches done on his next pair of socks. He got a small fish that he threw back. Sunday we went exploring and visited Lock 18. Now that's a place to see. We watched a boat go thru the lock and scoped out a 'great fishing spot' on the river... according to the lockmaster. Then it started to thunder and lightening and rain...it hasn't stopped yet. If it ever does we plan on going back there, taking lawn chairs and a picnic, too.

Hurricane Irene

According to the weatherman we were going to get hit hard by Hurricane Irene...and for us that meant loss of power(meaning no lights or water) and possible trees down. Don't have to worry about flooding cos the Mohawk River is about 600' below us. If the water rises that much we just don't have to worry, everything will be underwater! It was all scheduled to start after midnight Saturday night and be over by midday on Sunday. Yea, well, it started to rain about 2am Sunday and it did rain steady and hard. Jeff went out to check the garden and his tilling paths were allowing the rain to soak in. No flooded canals in our garden! It was his opinion that the storm had been 'overhyped'. Then about 10am the wind started to blow and the big oak trees around our house started to sway. The power started to go off and on. For awhile it looked bad...then it moved on. The garden took the most damage...pepper plants and the corn patch were knocked over. Onions and carrots were beaten flat...but the raddishes and lettuce were standing tall. And Jeff's tomato fences held! All the tomato plants in them were standing basiclly undamaged by the wind...the fruit hadn't even fallen off! Yesterday he hilled up the peppers and corn plants hoping they'll reestablish themselves. Everything else looked good.

I knitted during the worse of the storm...my usual activity for times like that. I have an 'end of summer' swap to get finished and luckly I found the skein of yarn I had wanted to use. It's a cotton/rayon blend from Amsterdam, NY, I think handdyed and probably hand spun from the texture. The colors are beautiful with purple and blues mixed with grays and golds. Just right for a scarf. So I sat there and knitted as the wind howled and the lights went off and on. It was a small skein, only 60 yrds, so I was able to finish the scarf about the time Jeff announced the 'worst' was over. Yesterday morning I looked at what I had done and found a large hole in the middle of the scarf where I had dropped a stitch and created another several rows later. Since it was suppose to be a slit scarf but the hole was in the wrong place so I ripped it out. Last night I tried again but I'm not satisfied with the results. Need to look for another pattern. Oh, well.

When I got to work yesterday Joanie from camp called to tell me some bad news. The storm was much worse up there and several trees had gone down in the park...including one thru a window in my camp. Good neighbors covered the window with plastic and Jeff and I will go up Thursday or Friday to replace it with plywood. The deductible for the camp's insurance is $1000 and this was a tripletrack window...no where near that amount. Oh, well, again. Photos to follow!

If that's the worse of Hurricane Irene I don't have anything to complain about, now do I?

What an Interesting Weekend...not!

I did 5 round trips to Cooperstown this weekend starting Thursday night.
Thursday after supper Jeff & I went to Lowe's coz he needed a hole saw. He was changing the kitchen door's lock & knob and the new one wouldn't fit in the old holes. After we got that he told me he was having a problem and we probably should call his MD. So we did...after we went home and put all the tools away, went to Urgent Care...which was closed, and he stopped for a ciggie. Anyway, he finally talked to the MD and she told him to go to the ER. Good thing I'm use to driving to Cooperstown. I just put the car in cruise and steered to the hospital. They were quick about hooking him up to monitors & taking blood but then we waited for 3 or so hours until we saw a MD. There was blood in his stool and his blood count was a little low. They admitted him...but there weren't any rooms available so they moved a bed into one of the ER cubicles and that's where he stayed the night and I drove home around 1:30am. The next day his sister and I went down together and got there in time to hear the MD tell him they were going to do another colonoscopy...but it wouldn't show anything, maybe another endoscopy...but that wouldn't show anything either, and possibly more barium x-rays...but they woudn't show anything either. They finally got him a room about 4pm on Friday and they did the colonoscopy Friday night. Of course, it didn't show anything, so they did another one on Saturday morning. (He drank 2-64oz bottles of pineapple flavored elixer in 12 hrs. If he wasn't bleeding before then, he sure was afterwards! And the smell...pineapple baby shit blood.) Still no source of the bleeding. Now they had to do a transfusion coz his blood count was so low. Once they unhooked the IV's, Jeff wanted a cigerette. He had gone from Thurs evening to Sunday afternoon w/o 1 and he just wanted 1. He got into a discussion with a nurse and eventually went outside for his smoke (MIBH is a 'smoke free campus' where you find piles of butts on the street corners), scoring some brownie points with other staff members while arguing his viewpoint. His sister and I left him at the hospital Sunday thinking there'd be a nuclear tracer test on Monday and then maybe he could come home. But the bleeding stopped just as suddenly as it started. I got a phone call at work yesterday to come an get him and when I got to the hospital he was standing outside waiting for me. So far no more bleeding and the tracer test can't be done unless it starts again. He's got to see his regular doctor this week and he's going to ask about side effects of long-term use of some of his meds. In the meantime he should take things easy. He did take a nap yesterday afternoon but I found him stirring up the compost before supper and trimming the apple and lilac trees in the backyard about 8:30 last night. And he had finished putting in the new door knob before supper,too. That's taking it easy?

I want to post some new garden photos I took Monday morning but don't have enough time right now. You can't tell but the tomatoes are starting to ripen and we've got a load of bell peppers! Oh, a hummingbird has found our feeder, too!

Garden News

This is the most recent photo of the tomato row. Those poles are about 6' high and yes the plants are doubledover. Now if the tomatoes would only ripen. We saw 2 that have started. Can't wait!

Here are the photos of our 'harvest' : We picked purple beans (they turn green when cooked) squash & zuccini, green sweet peppers, lettuce and parselry-oregano-basil to dry .yesterday. We had the beans & peppers for supper! Jeff dug up the first row of potatoes, too. The plants had died back, seed pods were formed and he was told it was time to dig them up. I think we were both disappointed. Out of the 6 or 8 plants we got 12 potatoes: 1 really big one, 4 good size and the rest small. Better luck next year, huh? We've still got 2 other rows of white potatoes and 1 row of sweet potatoes that are still thriving. Hope we do better with them.

Swap again

Here's another swap package I sent...this one didn't have a large project involved...but another rubber ducky and more Stewart's ice cream cone certificates were included!

Swapping Fun

I got involved in some knitting swaps this summer and have really enjoyed myself. This is a pic of what I sent as a Summer Time Swap to Pennsylvania. The only requirement was 100 gms of yarn and your favorite cake recipe...everything else were extras! I loved the rubber ducky and the ice cream cone certificates from Stewart's that were in the summer reading program prize box so much that I asked for some in exchange for the graphic work I did (after I made sure there was a Stewart's Shop near where my swap box was heading.) The 2 beaded stitch markers were made by someone in the shop and the bottle huggers were last minute additions to the box. I found the directions on line and since I was using a new skein of yarn I thought they'd need charms to help identify who was drinking what. The colorful plastic flip-flop buttons were perfect! I noticed that all the packages I had been getting from England had tea bags included and since I couldn't excatly put in bottles of water, I settled for individual packs of Crystal Light. My cousin liked the plastic reuable ice cubes that I found at the dollar store so much he visited several Dollar Tree stores before he found any in-stock (then bought all the packages!)

Jeff helped me block and starch the hat ,and reconstructed a cardboard box that it would fit in. I'm not sure we were speaking the same language some of the time but we finally got it all together. I packed all the goodies in the crown of the hat and wrapped the entire thing in plastic on a piece of styrofoam board that fit excatly in the box. It made the trip without much damage...a lot better than Jeff predicted. It was well received. I'm glad I joined the swaps and I am looking forward to the others that I signed up for.

Catching Up

Yesterday Jeff turned the compost heap and spread some in the garden. Then he tilled up and down the rows and around the whole thing in anticipation of rain. It was suppose to start last night and rain until Tuesday morning. Right now (4pm on Sunday) it hasn't started to rain yet. If it doesn't start raining by tomorrow morning I will have to wrestle the hose and water things. Just can't wait. Today was suppose to be a 'washout' but so far totally dry. The Today Show this morning said NYC got 5"!

Tomorrow I get the stitches removed from my ankle. Now that's something I really can't wait for! And on Tuesday I can go back to work. (Actually missing that a little.) Just no 'jumping for joy' for a couple of months until the screw holes naturally fill in.

The shop has been selling well and my rack actually got cleaned out! I sent a couple of sweaters down with a friend this week and next Friday I'll take some more down with me. Between knitting for the shop and knitting for the swaps I'm in my time home has gone pretty quickly.

Here's Pete's photo of our garden with Fran in the middle.

Visitors to the garden

Fran, who's our head cheerleader, brought his friend Peter over to see the garden. They almost got lost between the eggplant...behind Peter... and the peppers...that's Fran. Peter took some photos of his own, and Fran asked for a panoramic view...to take home to Greece. Now if the tomatoes would start to ripen we'd be really happy!!

Jeff had been busy...on-line and in the garden...trying to find ways to control the bugs and encourage the garden to grow. He's been very successful, too. This is a branch from a tree that we're using as support for the potatoes. You can see his care has gotten it to leaf

This is the purple bean with flowers. That row looks really neat! The beans will be purple, too, until cooked. Then they turn green.

This is eye-level...our tomatoe really are that high. Pretty soon we'll need a ladder to pick the fruit. Right now there are lots of flowers, buds and green tomatoes, all at the right level to pick easily!

Mystery Solved!

The mystery plant...in the corn...has been identified...at least by me. I think it's a dwarf sunflower. Anyway, it has a yellow sunflower-type flower. Must be a gift from a passing bird or squirrel. (Mom thinks it may be a zinnia not a sunflower. Jeff's voting NO to sunflower. Anyone else want to guess?)

Jeff says I've made the garden look bigger than it is by photographing it that way but I think it's really that big! These tomatoes are chest high on me. He's been mixing up a brew to kill/discourage bugs that seem to work. In fact, the more garlic that's in it the less mosquitoes we seem to have.

I can't wait until the tomatoes start to ripen! Jeff has picked hot peppers and I've picked some leaf lettuce so we're starting to enjoy the fruits of his labor. He's predicting all the tomatoes will ripen at about the same time and we'll be overwhelmed with canning them. We'll see. I'd like to try canning some peppers, potatoes and onions together. We used the big pressure canner this weekend and canned some chicken...comes out much better than the cans of chicken you can get in the supermarket!

It's pouring right now...guess we won't have to water the garden tonight. But, he did spray for bugs last night. It always rains the next day after he sprays.

Mystery Plant

Our...Jeff's...garden continues to thrive! Yesterday he tilled around the entire thing and between each row! Even down the middle of the greens/radish row! Now we can thin the radish & carrots and just move the little transplants over. We had to put up a couple Japanese Beetle traps...at $9 each...coz they're in the corn. I wish there were mosquito traps. We have plenty of them. (Oh, yea, mosquito traps are called bats and we do have some of those!) The tomato cages are working beautifully...very rustic, and the potatoe plants are starting to bloom. Potatoes flower on top of the plant but the fruit...potatoes...are under the ground. The peppers are bloomin, too.

And we have a mystery plant. Don't have any idea what it is so I think I'll go to Co-op Extension on the way home with the photo of it.

How The Garden Grows

Our garden has been getting a lot of attention lately and it shows. The rows are weed-free and the soil is rich and dark. Our corn is higher than most we've seen in fields around us...don't know if we'll have many ears but so far we're ahead! The cukes and pole beans have started up their 'rustic' trellis and the potatoes are leaning on their rope supports. The poles for the tomatoes are cut and hopefully will be put in later this week. I found the 1st green tomato yesterday morning!! Last night Jeff sprayed for bugs again...or for whoever is eating the cuke and bean leaves. And, oh, it was back! This is only the 5th time I've run into one in the nearly 50 years I've been in the house. The last one was in the bathroom a couple of weeks ago, so the visits are getting too close for my comfort. Jeff says if it comes back again I get to keep it. LOL! What do I name it? Slinky?? (It is a garden snake.)

The Joys of Composting

Any decent garden deserves it's own compost heap, right? so that was our project this weekend. It was too wet to till/weed the rows...most were full of water, anyway...so Jeff & I decided where to put the compost heap and how to enclose it. Of course, the $400 rotating compost barrel would be nice...oh, that price tag!...and Jeff has a couple of ideas on how to jerry-rig one if he can find the right barrel, but in the meantime, a video on the 'net on building a compost bin using wooden pallets caught our interest. We both watched it and agreed it would be quick and easy and not too expensive. In fact, there would be little expense if we could get some pallets from Jeff's friend, Frank. A trip out to Frank's place on Sunday got us all the pallets we needed ...as long as they were the ones painted blue that Frank wanted to get rid of. (That was OK coz the video recommeded sealing the pallets to prevent rot and if they were already painted....) Jeff managed to get 3 of them into the back of my Forrester and tied another 2 on top. The load was nearly too much for the ol'Subaru but the suspension held and we drove back home on the back roads doing a whopping 20mph with the 4-way flashers going! The video had shown the pallets being wired together but we didn't want to stop at Walmart for wire on the way home, so Jeff cut some poplar saplings and used them as stakes to put the walls together. (Got rid of that stand of poplars and added more green to the compost pile, too.) He tied the corners with twine and will replace that with wire when we get some. The bin has 1 long side made of 2 pallets fastened together...sturdy with the long stakes, and the short sides will be added tonight. The front will eventually be made out of some removeable planks. Saturday Jeff racked leaves from the deck and under the ramp while I trimmed the lilacs so we had a nice pile of green and brown stuff to start the compost pile. Sunday Jeff discovered worms in it as he put together the wall...a very good sign. Mom's not too thrilled about the coffee can (w/cover!) by the kitchen sink to collect coffee grounds and vegatabile peelings but if we empty it often it shouldn't be a problem. (You should hear her on the coffee can of worms in the refrid waiting disposal into the finished compost bin!)

I've been working on knitting swap items...got 2 summer-time swaps and 1 quickie swap almost due. I got a little carried away with the quickie swap and will be exchanging 4 bookmarks with other knitters. (It works out nicely, I couldn't decide which bookmark to make so now I can make/send 4 different ones!) My things in the shop in Cooperstown have started to sell, too, so inbetween knitting for my swaps and working in the garden with Jeff, I have to produce for there, too! Oh, can't forget to do another pair of socks for Jeff, too!

More gardening news

Boy, did it rain yesterday! A real soaker. Hey, that meant no one had to wrestle the garden hose around to water anything. Jeff's size 12 footprints became little (?) lakes! The rain was gentle enough that the only thing that got beaten down was the biggest potatoe top. Jeff said Tuesday night the potatoes needed hilling but he didn't get around to it. Guess it will have to wait until Saturday coz it's thundering & starting to rain right now and tomorrow we both have medical appointments in Cooperstown.

Last night I tried to take a few photos of one of the resident toads in the garden. Hopefully I can get it to download. If there is a photo of something unrecognizable here, be sure to click on it to enlarge it. The toads are about 1 1/2 to 2" long and really jump when the tiller is moving! Dawg just looks at it. Of course, she just looked at the mouse in the house last night, too. Guess providing protection against toads, snakes and mice are not in her job description.

The Garden's Complete!

Last night was The Spraying of the Potato Bugs...and pepper bugs and tomato bugs and etc. Jeff said he could see the bugs jumping off the potato plants as he sprayed...and he announced each new seedling as he found them. He did some more tilling and decided maybe it's as big as it's going to get this year. Of course he has run out of yard on the road side. His potato hills are about 3' high and the potato plants have started to blossom...so have the beans and peppers. He has already started to plan next year's garden, where he'll put what. If we get only a halfway decent crop this year we will be busy canning and dehyrading at picking time! I planted my herb garden in the old dog's wading pool...even found more stevia seeds to put in there. Boy, is that a shock to pay $2.49 for a packet of seeds and open it to find 10 very small seeds. Jeff started a packet of stevia and transplanted the seedlings but lost the label in the move so I figured another attempt might be necessary. I went with the seeds instead of a plant coz of the cost of one ...around $6/plant...but so far I've got $5 in seeds with nothing to show for it yet. Of course, I may be overwhelmed with stevia plants in a few weeks. I also did my time picking up rocks but Jeff tilled up more! I hope this 'bend and stretch' will show on my waist.

I tried again to start a lace garden hat and got further along on the chart before I ran into trouble and had to rip it out. This morning I enlarged the chart...hope that helps me keep my place. This hat is suppose to be for a summer swap in a knitting group but I think it will end up in the shop in Cooperstown. If I could just work on it without anyone interrupting me I just might get it done. I'll try again tonight.

More Garden Tales

I had the day off (ha!) yesterday so we worked all afternoon in the garden/yard. I finally got the entire yard mowed once...some parts twice! I also pushed back the weed line in a couple of places...finding a few 'snow on the mountain' survivors that my mom had planted as a border over 50 years ago! I cleared around them and with a little luck and TLC they may grow back. Jeff had trimmed up some of the pine trees last year and those sections of the yard look very 'Adirondack'. I'm still picking up sticks as I mow around the yard and there are stick piles in several locations that Jeff has promised to break/chop into 12" pieces to use in the fire pit. Of course, the fire pit is still only a pile of rocks but once the garden is set, we may get to the fire pit!

The Garden...it deserves a capital G...is looking Great! (Another capital G!) Jeff tills between the rows and hoes between the plants once or twice a week. He's still breaking sod but he's running out of yard so the garden may have reached it's final size...about 35 x 35'. Just about everything has taken/come up and some even have started to blossom. Over the weekend Jeff had cut some poplar saplings and made a trellis for cucumbers and beans. If it works we'll have a 6' wall of green! His friend Frank stopped in last night and among his sterling words of wisdom re the garden, announced that we have potato bug. So Jeff went online and found a homebrew to combat them. Tonight's activity will be spraying the garden. Last night I finished covering the bottom of the old dog's wading pool with rocks and started...well, I started but Jeff actually did it...taking apart last year's raised garden bed and moving the dirt to the pool. I want to get a bag of enriched potting soil to put in it and then start an herb garden. Jeff was talking about emaking a patio area facing the garden under the trees. There always seem to be a breeze there and it's close to the house...a really nice spot.

I decided to watch the hockey game (the only time I actually roote for Boston) and knit after we finally put the hoe and rake away, but I found I couldn't count well enough to work on the lace sun hat I'm trying to do for a swap so after the game was over and the Boston guys took turns skating around the rink with Lord Stanley's cup (what if one of them had dropped it??? I said I was tired!) I gave up and went to bed. Maybe tonight I can knit while Jeff sprays the potatoe bugs.

This & That

The 'watch dawg'

Jeff got more of the garden tilled/planted Friday and then the rain started...hasn't really stopped yet. At least we haven't had to water the garden in 2 days! I mowed the lawn as he worked in the garden. Got the entire side lawn finished. Boy, it looks good! I pushed the weeds back another 4 feet so I can mow around the trees. Looks like a professional job if I say so myself. I got tangled in the longer weeds and fell once...but I didn't let the mower stop (too hard to start it again). Got the back and part of the other side lawn to do if it every stops raining. I would like to get the entire lawn done at least 2 times before I have to have the loose screws in my right leg removed July 29th. I saw the orthopedic surgeon last Wednesday and he agreed it was time to get rid of my loose screws. He even gave me a copy of the x-ray that shows the screw heads sticking out of the bone! That will mean 2 weeks off work so I probably shouldn't plan on mowing the lawn then either.

It was my turn to work in the shop in Cooperstown yesterday and coz of the rainy weather there wasn't many people wandering around. Made for a very quiet day. I did get a lot of knitting done...an entire Victorian Lace scarf on size US9's in a light olive imported cotton-silk-viscose (rayon??) blend. Only 21 stitches/7 rows for a pattern and that went fast! Last night I tried to read before going to bed but gave up after a few minutes. I was asleep by 9pm and didn't wake up all night. All that mowing Friday and walking around in the rain Saturday really got to me. Boy, did my leg ache.

These are photos of my display at the shop in Cooperstown. Mostly baby sweaters but I'm trying to expand into adult...the olive lace shawl and behind it a lime lace cowl. Maybe I should say I'm trying to expand into lace....

Ol' Farmer Day

Here's our latest project: Jeff's garden: 30'x30', already deemed 'too small'. He's planning to till up another 4' on the driveway side and 2' on each short end. If all grows, we'll lave beans pole & bush, carrots, beets, corn, zucchini, eggplant, wintersquash, cucumbers, onions, garlic, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, red, yellow, orange, green and purple bell peppers, 2 or 3 types of hot peppers, ground cherries (I don't know what they are either). stivia (sugar substitute), head lettuce, endives, spinach and 3 or 4 types of tomatoes including that cute patio tomato in the pot. My herb garedn (parsley, basil, oregano, chives and dill) will be in the old dog's wading pool (one way to get rid of all the rocks that have been tilled up). Jeff's planning next year's garden already! So far, if the crop of rocks and mosquitoes are any indication, we'll have a good year! And there's Dawg...previously known as Lady...watching the garden grow and Jeff work.
(He renamed her last summer. Said he wasn't going to take her out at camp and have to call out "Lady, where are you? Are you done peeing?" :)

what's happening...

Things have been very interesting here. I joined a couple of swaps and have been having a lot of fun with that. Got my lst swap package in the mail...from England! And got my packages ready to mail when last Thursday, around 1:30 in the afternoon I got a phone call at work from Jeff…his doctor had just called and told him to get to an ER faster than fast so I left the library to drive him. He had had his regular 3-month blood work the day before and the MD was very upset with his blood count, seems he was at 7.5 (normal is 12-15 and time to transfuse is 7? )and she wanted to stop his bleeding out. (What bleeding where???) We spend from 2 until 7pm in the ER and left knowing as much as when we arrived…except his numbers had gone up to 8.2. No transfusions--no IV’s--no cause for the drop or rise in numbers. Also no food or meds for my big diabetic guy except a candy bar from a machine in the waiting room! He was told to call his doctor the next morning to find out what to do but their phones were down all day so after work we went over there. Another waste of time. Doctor wasn’t available, system had crashed, please call on Monday. Made for a very interesting weekend…everytime the phone rang I jumped. Ripped out as much as I knitted! Monday he called them again. Went thru it all with a secretary and was told she’d pass the info on to the doctor who was covering for his doctor and one of them might or might not call him back. Just before supper the covering MD called back and told him to go over the next day for more blood work and he would be seen immediately afterwards. About 15 minutes later a secretary called told him the same thing…except she said they’d give him an appointment to be seen. Jeff told her what the doctor he had just talked to said about being seen and she hemed and hawed. Tuesday morning we went over and his doctor was very upset. She had assumed he had been admited from the ER, had had a transfusion and everything was better. She was sending him back to the hospital…skip the ER--go to the admission’s desk…by ambulance but Jeff managed to talk her into letting me drive him. Anyway, another version of hurry up and wait. I know everyone has a job to do in a hospital but some times I think they forget why the patient is there…it’s not a social call. Anyway, he finally gets into a bed expecting a blood tranfusion but no, the hospital wants more tests. Finally they’re ready to start the transfusion around 6pm. Jeff sent me home…actually told me to go to my knitting group! I knitted at home next to the phone and again ripped out as much as I knit. Jeff was rather cranky when I got to the hospital Wed afternoon coz the old man in the other bed had put in a restless night and neither of them got much sleep. Jeff’s 2 unit blood transfusion had lasted until about 2am…w/o complications. They had done some more tests Wed morning and we just had to wait for the doctor. And, Jeff really wanted a cigarette. Around 3:30 this goodlooking youngish doctor comes in and we all talk. Seems they can’t find out why Jeff is anemic but he is. His numbers did not rise as high as expected after the transfusion but were back in the safety zone. He could probably go home. As the doctor was leaving the room I asked if the anemia could be a result of low vitamin B12 or Iron and the doctor half-heartily agreed. About 14 minutes later he comes running and jumping back into the room yelling ‘your B12 and iron numbers are in the toilet! ’ and orders a series of B12 shots. Jeff looks at me and we both say ’ I told you so’. He had gone thru this when he was younger but none of these doctors would consider it. Anyway, after his shot, he got dressed and finally with an armload of paperwork we went home around 6pm. I put together a fast supper and while Jeff napped all evening, I knit. I had barely managed to finish a pair of baby socks from the ‘baggie in my purse’ during his stay in the hospital but that night at home with him asleep in the other room I was able to do 1 entire sock ! Yesterday I left him at home waiting for the garden tiller man and went to work for a couple of hours before taking him for more blood tests and grocery shopping. Today he had to see his regular doctor but I was not asked to come along…just have to wait until after work to find out how he offically is doing.
I’m glad the week is over…maybe I can get back to deciding which pattern I’ll use for my next swap.

read

Silent Auction

I'm trying to fill a basket for the Friends of the Library's Silent Auction, May 3-5th, on the theme "One-Skein Wonders", asking everyone I know who knits or crochets to donate 1 skein of yarn...I'll buy one of the 'One-Skein Wonder' books. So far I've gotten 6 or 7 promises. Hope this keep going good!

Very Good Weekend

It was a very good weekend. Saturday was my 61st birthday and I was scheduled to work at the library. Not a good way to start, huh? But it turned out to be a good day. Jeff came up for supper and even cooked a killer chili! We had bought a large food dehydrator online and it was delivered Saturday. We had used a small round dehydrator for fruit and we were both looking forward to trying the larger one so after unpacking it, we went back down to the store and got $25 worth of fresh fruit...apples, pineapple, strawberries, bananas...and after supper we spend about 2 hours cutting up it all up. The dehydrator runs so quietly! Anyway, by Sunday morning we had 2 quarts of dried fruit. We all feel it was worth the $$$ to get it. After cutting everything up, we decided to watch tv...Stargate...SF...not my favorite genre but I'm getting to like it. (I've also discovered Bruce Willis movies...boy, can I sure knit fast watching those Die Hard movies!) Anyway, we didn't make it to the end of the show but it turned out to be a very good evening. Not a bad birthday at all.

The Shop

Yesterday Jeff and I went to Cooperstown to re-arrange my display. We were just suppose to put up a curtain rod so I can hang sweaters and other things on hangers but nothing is every that simple. Our building started life as a garage or stable and has been modified over the years. About 40 years ago, it was finished inside...if you call barn board on the walls as 'finished'. The shelf unit I use was built for someone else and another knitter used it in between us. Anyway, we took down a shelf and he put up the curtain rod fixtures...a couple of times. Seems nothing is exactly square or level and even tho he measured from the front edge of the shelf to the center the rod did not end up in the center. One end and the center holder were lined up but the other end was off by 1". Move that holder and the 1st end moved 1" in the other direction. Took several tries to get everything straight...sort of. Then the the pegs that held the shelves up had to be moved and either the holes broke or they were not lined up right, either. Finally got them up and if you don't breath hard on them, the shelves stay put. Jeff had a few things to say about women who don't know carpentry but think they do. The unit lasted all these years without a man's input so I think we'll be OK. The shop reopens a week from today and I've got to finish what's on my needles and get buttons sewed on and ends worked in by then.

April Fool!

The calendar says spring but the temperature is saying "April Fool"! We had snow this morning and while it's about gone, it is still very cold. Jeff's cataract procedure Tuesday went very well. Much less pain and discomfort...but more stomach upset. We even took a midnight...no, make that a 2:45am...ride to the ER coz he felt very light-headed and sick. Thought his bp or bloodsugar were playing games on him. Anyway, it was a nice night for a ride and everything checked out ok. His vision is pretty good, MD said no need for glasses to drive. Jeff's so excited! He's worn glasses since he was 5 years old. Yesterday he got a get well card from the OR team! Never heard of that before. Oh, and one of the OR nurses bought 2 pairs of my baby socks. She had seen what I was knitting during the lst procedure and I promised to bring some for sale at the 2nd one. Now I've got to replace them before the shop opens. Last night I finished 2 pullovers, a size 1 in a blue tweed, and a size 2 in a lavendar self-strip. Then I started 2 v-neck cardigans, both size 1. My sweaters tend to be ragalan from the neck down and 'grow' quickly. My display should be quite full when the shop reopens April 14th. Let's hope the customers are there, too.

So much to Knit!

In the past few days I've joined 4 groups on Ravelry, a site for knitters & crocheters, and have been having so much fun! I joined a swap, a read-along and a knit-along and I can't wait to start working on those projects. One group enjoys the colors of the southwest and I might try using a hand-painted turquoise sock yarn to do the swap/lace scarf for myself.

In the mean time I've been working on stock for my shelves in the shop in Cooperstown. Of course, there was plenty (too much) left over from last year that I had to pack up and bring home for the winter, so with what I've been making, the shelves should be bright and full. I've done a couple of jumpers and mockturtleneck sweaters to go with them, a few baby sweaters and baby shrugs and of course, baby socks. I want to do a couple of cotton toddler hats with roll brims and big flowers sewn on...really Springy! And mom's been busy doing white cotton hats for me to turn into baseballs. Can't tell what will sell so we'll try a little of everything.

Jeff has his 2nd cataract procedure scheduled for Tuesday morning and will be coming to my house for a couple of days of pampering and recuperating afterward. Dog will be thrilled! He's the only one who will play with her outside this time of year and every night when I go home she has to check out the garage to see if he's still in the car. When he got a cowboy hat and a new Carhartt jacket this winter she didn't know who he was and was ready to attack! He had to yell at her, identifying himself. She was so embarrassed and upset...it took several minutes of belly rubs to calm her down! Dog will follow Jeff anywhere but wants to come back into the house to check on mom often. It's like she knows it's her job to protect the old lady.

I've had enough winter and all it means (high heating bills, icy streets, snow, hardy soups for supper). I think it's a pizza night!


























































11

I'm Back!

It's taken me 2 years to get back to posting here. A lot has changed in that time but the more things change the more they stay the same, right? I'm still at the library and still knitting for the shop in Cooperstown. I live in the same house, still with my mother who just turned 97!! Got a new dog: a 4 1/2 yr old black lab named Lady but answers to Dog; a new guy: a 6'3" outdoorsman who enjoys wearing the socks I knit for him. I'm happier than I've ever been. I had arthroscopic surgery on a torn manicus in my left knee 2 months ago and now it looks like I'll be having the screw in my right ankle removed this summer. Bridging off & on cummadin isn't as difficult as I feared...not exactly looking forward to self injecting for 2 weeks but do able.