Well, 2013 is almost over. It seems to have really zipped by! So many changes...so much has stayed the same. My, my, am I waxing philosophical or what?!?
We had a bit of snow today...for awhile we were in a white out...and I am very glad to have gotten my errands done this morning. Sitting by the fire, knitting and waiting for Jeff was much more enjoyable than driving in a blizzard!
I finished most of my Christmas knitting...just Jeff's socks left to do but that wasn't my fault. The yarn got here on the 26th! A neighbor asked if I'd do a pair of convertible mittens for her husband if she gave me the yarn and I'm almost finished with them. Jeff's socks are about half finished and there's even a pair for me half done! Unfortunately, they will not be done before midnight tonight so my usual resolution to start knitting for the shop right after New Year's will have to wait a few days before going into effect.
Nothing new there! But I have to start building stock on Monday. In 2014 I'd like to expand my area a little by doing more adult knitting. Knitting for babies is nice coz they don't take much time or yarn but adult hats and sweaters bring in a little more $$$'s...good for the shop and me.
I'm planning on doing ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner tomorrow, nothing fancy. And a lemon meringue pie. I think a bit of dieting may be part of my resolution list, too.
The new Berkey water filter is great! Our tap water is finally clear and odor free. We've been making coffee with it since we got it without any complaints. This means, no more gallon jugs of water on the porch and in the back of the car! How nice! I hardly recommend a Berkey Water Filter...if only they made whole house systems.
Oh, and I've got to learn how to use the new digital camera!!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
A Little of This, A Little of That
We've been keeping busy these last few weeks... with wood cutting, stacking and burning... but we never got around to putting the plastic on the greenhouse! Jeff got a free turkey and he improvised a vegetable stuffing for it but w/o one of those little plastic things that pop up when the bird is cooked our turkey was a little dry. (And I won't say much about the mess it made in my oven...or how I filled the house with smoke when I turned on the auto-oven cleaner. But it worked!) The turkey carcass is waiting in the freezer to be used for soup. I made Italian cookies yesterday and thought that not frosting them until tomorrow would keep them uneaten longer but that didn't work. Good thing I started out with 10 dozen! The new Berkey water filter arrived today and Jeff set it up in the kitchen. No more hauling water!! And I'm working on my last convertible mitten. I may make it to Christmas yet!
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Twas The Week Before Christmas...
Twas the week before Christmas and I finally found the time to write and post. I've been knitting like crazy (got the sore tendons in both elbows to prove it!) but I'm almost finished with Christmas presents. I hauled out the small artificial tree my mom liked but changed my mind and instead washed the crystal trees on the mantel and moved them to the shelf above the tv (the mantel is in the unused living room...) where they can be seen. Had a little trouble with the lights on the garland but finally figured out what was wrong(it was the timer not the string of lights.)Looks pretty good. Used some of the Christmas teapots to decorate the kitchen,too. If I ever figure out the new cheap...inexpensive...camera I got, I'll post some pics.
Jeff got to use the new snow blower and is pleased with it. I can start it...I think, but haven't tried running it. He got a new camera for his pc and is going to put the old one on mine so we can both use Skype. I need a new mouse for mine.
The stove needs wood and I've got mittens to finish!
Jeff got to use the new snow blower and is pleased with it. I can start it...I think, but haven't tried running it. He got a new camera for his pc and is going to put the old one on mine so we can both use Skype. I need a new mouse for mine.
The stove needs wood and I've got mittens to finish!
Monday, December 2, 2013
When Things Go...
Boy, November flew by! I was just complaining about October and before I knew it, it was over! And it never got posted!! But...
Things have been busy around here in October...not that anything important has gotten done (except knitting) but time has flown by. Today the To Do List has gotten several items checked off:
The white Forester came home Saturday (10/19) night looking better than ever...and below budget, too! (Jeff was back in business with the trailer in no time at all! We had picked out a new snow blower and he was able to pick it up...assembled! And do a test run on Thanksgiving to adjust the deck !) Today (10/22) the windshield was replaced on the Forester by Safelite while it sat in our driveway. Took about 45 minutes and looks perfect. Now that cost a little more than I had expected but the entire restoration of the Forester was $638.78. Not bad for restoring a 'totaled' car, huh?
Jeff had another back treatment yesterday
(11/12)...this one was done by the same doctor but at the clinic in Hartwick Seminary south of Cooperstown. Seemed to take hours to get there and no time at all to get home! He feels a little sore afterwards but that seems to be from the all the injections (one each for pain killer and steroid) he got. Hopefully, these procedures will work and he'll be pain-free.
The funeral home that handled my mother's cremation called just before the end of the month to say that they are able to bury her ashes this fall instead of waiting for spring, so the ashes were placed on top of my father's casket on Saturday(10/26). I am going to have to wait until Spring to have a stone installed. It's just too cold to pour concrete. (I had scheduled and paid for a 'Month's Mind' (11/20) for my mom at St Anthony's but when I went there for that mass there was a note on the church door saying mass was cancelled for that day. Wonder why? )
On the knitting side of my life, I finished a 2nd pair of socks for...ME! Don't know if I want to do another pair or start a pair for Jeff? Or maybe start Christmas presents? One of the adult size baseball hats sold over the weekend so maybe I'll do one of those. And the boy's 50's vintage sweater set in navy and tan sold last week, too, so I could start one of those. There's a skein of pink for another "Pretty in Pink" set sitting by my chair, too, so....
Seems like more happened in October/November than that! Jeff actually had 2 procedures done on his back...(the 2nd was done on 11/26 ...and this time I asked some questions before they started and afterwards Jeff came home and watched TV for 2 days with no work. The doctor actually said he could do whatever he could... at waist level...no bending!!...) both were successful, and I worked in the shop 3 times so that meant 5 trips to Cooperstown...enough to last til Spring, I hope! We have been cutting and stacking wood. The porch has been stacked...and emptied...3 times, and the wood shed finally got it's 2nd hump (hog panel) but is still not quite full. It's not that we don't have the wood...there is a lot to be cut but those back procedures...especially the steroid treatments that go with them...slow Jeff down. Hopefully we'll get some more done this week while the temperature's near 40. And maybe even get the plastic on the greenhouse!
We decided to have ham instead of turkey for Thanksgiving ...I got to cook my first bone-in ham...and Jeff made split-pea soup the next day. Fanny got the ham bone and had a ball! My cousin Ed came over for dinner and we all watched the dog show...even Fanny who growled and whimpered her opinions of the entries. She actually sat in front of the TV and watched! We were all glad the American Foxhound won Best in Show.(It looks like a big beagle to me!!)
Hats have been selling in the shop so I did a couple more yesterday...Downton-inspired vintage ladies' hats. Hope they sell. Next week when we make our regular monthly trip to Chanatry's Market in Utica I think a side trip to JoAnn's Fabric for yarn will be in order. I need sock yarn, something nice for a hat/scarf set and who knows what else will catch my eye for Christmas presents! Just as long as I have yarn to keep me busy!! Maybe winter will go as fast as Oct/Nov did??
Things have been busy around here in October...not that anything important has gotten done (except knitting) but time has flown by. Today the To Do List has gotten several items checked off:
The white Forester came home Saturday (10/19) night looking better than ever...and below budget, too! (Jeff was back in business with the trailer in no time at all! We had picked out a new snow blower and he was able to pick it up...assembled! And do a test run on Thanksgiving to adjust the deck !) Today (10/22) the windshield was replaced on the Forester by Safelite while it sat in our driveway. Took about 45 minutes and looks perfect. Now that cost a little more than I had expected but the entire restoration of the Forester was $638.78. Not bad for restoring a 'totaled' car, huh?
Jeff had another back treatment yesterday
(11/12)...this one was done by the same doctor but at the clinic in Hartwick Seminary south of Cooperstown. Seemed to take hours to get there and no time at all to get home! He feels a little sore afterwards but that seems to be from the all the injections (one each for pain killer and steroid) he got. Hopefully, these procedures will work and he'll be pain-free.
The funeral home that handled my mother's cremation called just before the end of the month to say that they are able to bury her ashes this fall instead of waiting for spring, so the ashes were placed on top of my father's casket on Saturday(10/26). I am going to have to wait until Spring to have a stone installed. It's just too cold to pour concrete. (I had scheduled and paid for a 'Month's Mind' (11/20) for my mom at St Anthony's but when I went there for that mass there was a note on the church door saying mass was cancelled for that day. Wonder why? )
On the knitting side of my life, I finished a 2nd pair of socks for...ME! Don't know if I want to do another pair or start a pair for Jeff? Or maybe start Christmas presents? One of the adult size baseball hats sold over the weekend so maybe I'll do one of those. And the boy's 50's vintage sweater set in navy and tan sold last week, too, so I could start one of those. There's a skein of pink for another "Pretty in Pink" set sitting by my chair, too, so....
Seems like more happened in October/November than that! Jeff actually had 2 procedures done on his back...(the 2nd was done on 11/26 ...and this time I asked some questions before they started and afterwards Jeff came home and watched TV for 2 days with no work. The doctor actually said he could do whatever he could... at waist level...no bending!!...) both were successful, and I worked in the shop 3 times so that meant 5 trips to Cooperstown...enough to last til Spring, I hope! We have been cutting and stacking wood. The porch has been stacked...and emptied...3 times, and the wood shed finally got it's 2nd hump (hog panel) but is still not quite full. It's not that we don't have the wood...there is a lot to be cut but those back procedures...especially the steroid treatments that go with them...slow Jeff down. Hopefully we'll get some more done this week while the temperature's near 40. And maybe even get the plastic on the greenhouse!
We decided to have ham instead of turkey for Thanksgiving ...I got to cook my first bone-in ham...and Jeff made split-pea soup the next day. Fanny got the ham bone and had a ball! My cousin Ed came over for dinner and we all watched the dog show...even Fanny who growled and whimpered her opinions of the entries. She actually sat in front of the TV and watched! We were all glad the American Foxhound won Best in Show.(It looks like a big beagle to me!!)
Hats have been selling in the shop so I did a couple more yesterday...Downton-inspired vintage ladies' hats. Hope they sell. Next week when we make our regular monthly trip to Chanatry's Market in Utica I think a side trip to JoAnn's Fabric for yarn will be in order. I need sock yarn, something nice for a hat/scarf set and who knows what else will catch my eye for Christmas presents! Just as long as I have yarn to keep me busy!! Maybe winter will go as fast as Oct/Nov did??
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Life Goes On
I always dislike the end of October and this year is no different. It means t-shirts and shorts have to be put away until next May...or June...or July, and I have to find socks that don't bind my right ankle. (You'd think that after nearly 5 years, my right ankle would be shrunk back to normal instead of still swollen at the double breaks?) I'm always cold (thanks to the Warfarin I have to take to keep my blood thin enough to flow thru the mechanical valve in my heart) and my fingers ache (that might be due to the amount of knitting I've been doing.) The yards are covered with leaves that are demanding to be raked up (or is that Jeff demanding I help rake leaves for the compost bin?). Add in the fact that the Forester is still at the body shop so we're behind in hauling wood and our great idea of renting a leaf vacuum is on hold, too, coz the Forester has the hitch for the utility trailer.
Jeff and I both caught colds when my mom was in the hospital at the end and while I manged to keep mine to just sniffles and a sore throat, Jeff's turned into a full-blown head cold...which he shared with me this last week. Now it's been my turn to be sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose. I've spent the day feeding the woodstove, knitting and watching TV. (Not a bad way to spend a cold, windy day but the woodpile on the porch is getting low.)
Monday I worked in the shop in Cooperstown and restocked my shelves with another Little Girl Chic gray and pink sweater set and a couple of vintage 50's sets in navy and pink...for a girl, and navy and tan...for a boy. And a couple of roll brim hats with knitted flowers. (I came home to find that Fanny the Dog had eaten one of my last 2 pairs of Crocs, and the remote control for the TV/cable box.) I got a skein of pink yarn to do another Pretty in Pink set but haven't found the mojo to start it. Instead, I finished socks for Jeff and me and dug a couple of more skeins out of the box to make us both more. (Sock yarn doesn't really count as part of a stash coz it's kept in it's own box.) I may even use up some leftover yarn to make baby socks.
Jeff and I picked most of the garden this week. There's baskets of zucchini, green beans, peppers, cabbage and beets waiting for Jeff to start canning again. He's still got to dig the sweet potatoes, carrots and more root veggies that I care to know about. Now if we can only get tomatoes to ripen....
Jeff and I both caught colds when my mom was in the hospital at the end and while I manged to keep mine to just sniffles and a sore throat, Jeff's turned into a full-blown head cold...which he shared with me this last week. Now it's been my turn to be sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose. I've spent the day feeding the woodstove, knitting and watching TV. (Not a bad way to spend a cold, windy day but the woodpile on the porch is getting low.)
Monday I worked in the shop in Cooperstown and restocked my shelves with another Little Girl Chic gray and pink sweater set and a couple of vintage 50's sets in navy and pink...for a girl, and navy and tan...for a boy. And a couple of roll brim hats with knitted flowers. (I came home to find that Fanny the Dog had eaten one of my last 2 pairs of Crocs, and the remote control for the TV/cable box.) I got a skein of pink yarn to do another Pretty in Pink set but haven't found the mojo to start it. Instead, I finished socks for Jeff and me and dug a couple of more skeins out of the box to make us both more. (Sock yarn doesn't really count as part of a stash coz it's kept in it's own box.) I may even use up some leftover yarn to make baby socks.
Jeff and I picked most of the garden this week. There's baskets of zucchini, green beans, peppers, cabbage and beets waiting for Jeff to start canning again. He's still got to dig the sweet potatoes, carrots and more root veggies that I care to know about. Now if we can only get tomatoes to ripen....
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Josephine Molinaro Terico
My mother, Josephine Molinaro Terico, of Smallsbush Rd, Herkimer, died today at Valley Health Services, Herkimer.
Born January 13, 1914 she was raised and educated in Herkimer. She always enjoyed sewing and worked as a 'waistmaker'...sewing machine operator...in various Valley dress factories starting with Derby Sportswear and Joy Taylor in Herkimer and Focus Dress in Little Falls, retiring in 1973. After her retirement, she and her daughter made fabric dolls and toys, selling them at area craft shows and at Cooper Country Crafts in Cooperstown until her sight failed. Josie was proud that her work could carry 'the union label'.
On April 15, 1948, Josie married Tony Terico. He died in 1993.
Besides her parents, Joe and Marta Molinaro, and husband, Tony Terico, Josie was predeceased by brothers Louis and Peter Molinaro, sisters Rose Molinaro Salerno, Mary Molinaro Fiala, Caroline Molinaro Fiore, Antionette Molinaro and Francis Molinaro Osredkar, nephews Louis (GiGi) Salerno, Francis (Chick) Fiala and Francis (Joe)Fiore, and nieces Rosemary Fiala Verruck and Caroline Fiala Paul. She is survived by her daughter Mary and her friend Jeff Day, nieces Mary Salerno, Josephine Fiala Morgan and Marti Molinaro Millen, nephews Edward Osredkar and Peter Molinaro and the great grand-nieces and nephews of the Molinaro, Fiala, Fiore, Verruck, Millen, Morgan and Paul family.
There will not be a public services. Memorial donations in Josie's name may be made to the Frank J Basloe Library, Herkimer, earmarked for the audiobook fund.
Born January 13, 1914 she was raised and educated in Herkimer. She always enjoyed sewing and worked as a 'waistmaker'...sewing machine operator...in various Valley dress factories starting with Derby Sportswear and Joy Taylor in Herkimer and Focus Dress in Little Falls, retiring in 1973. After her retirement, she and her daughter made fabric dolls and toys, selling them at area craft shows and at Cooper Country Crafts in Cooperstown until her sight failed. Josie was proud that her work could carry 'the union label'.
On April 15, 1948, Josie married Tony Terico. He died in 1993.
Besides her parents, Joe and Marta Molinaro, and husband, Tony Terico, Josie was predeceased by brothers Louis and Peter Molinaro, sisters Rose Molinaro Salerno, Mary Molinaro Fiala, Caroline Molinaro Fiore, Antionette Molinaro and Francis Molinaro Osredkar, nephews Louis (GiGi) Salerno, Francis (Chick) Fiala and Francis (Joe)Fiore, and nieces Rosemary Fiala Verruck and Caroline Fiala Paul. She is survived by her daughter Mary and her friend Jeff Day, nieces Mary Salerno, Josephine Fiala Morgan and Marti Molinaro Millen, nephews Edward Osredkar and Peter Molinaro and the great grand-nieces and nephews of the Molinaro, Fiala, Fiore, Verruck, Millen, Morgan and Paul family.
There will not be a public services. Memorial donations in Josie's name may be made to the Frank J Basloe Library, Herkimer, earmarked for the audiobook fund.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Where has Time Gone?
This past month...September... has been hard to write a post. Nothing's physically wrong, just nothing happening that I wanted to write about. The garden's been having a hard time existing Blight and bugs attacked the tomatoes and eggplants, peppers didn't seem to want to grow. Jeff dug the potatoes and got about half a bushel...mostly reds. He found out that white potatoes don't produce in hills like red ones do. We still don't know if there are any sweet potatoes. As long as the green tops keep growing, he's not digging them up. We got 3 small cabbages...that were rotten inside when he cut them open to use in soup. The green beans and zucchini were great and we're still picking them! The wax...or yellow...beans are plentiful but don't seem to ripen. The herbs did ok in the beginning but bolted in September. This month I've come to understand why so many pioneer women had nervous breakdowns. A lot of hard work goes into a garden with no guarantees.
Jeff still feels raised bed boxes are the way to go so he's built more raised bed boxes...with more to still build...but it's getting more difficult to fill the boxes with soil & compost. The t-boned Forester is at the body shop getting a 'face lift'. When it's repaired, Jeff will be back in business hauling pallets, compost, and probably even some dirt that we will have to buy. He's also got to get a couple more hog panels to finish the wood shed and rolls of plastic to skin the green house. I refused having a trailer hitch installed on the Outback...at least right now...so that's put a stop to a lot of projects. Jeff's spent some of the free time fishing and I've enjoyed going along some of the time but those hot days turned into cold nights that I didn't enjoy. Cool temperatures or lots of flying bugs...I don't know what I dislike more.
I've kept busy knitting, selling 11 baby hats and a couple of sweater sets in September, but I'm running out of steam! September was a good month in the shop and October's staying strong so I'm trying to knit on a schedule to keep my stock up. I've started rewarding myself with a couple of chapters from a mystery book if I finish something during the day! I did a couple of pairs of wool socks for the wife of a cousin in Wisconsin, and worked on another pair for Jeff. I even worked on socks for me! I'm trying to decide what designs to use for holiday knits for the shop.
My mother is doing well physically but is not happy at Valley Heath. Most days she knows that's where she belongs now, but some days.... My cousins came from Detroit and Milwaukee last week to visit her and she was pleased the day before and the day of their visit but the day after she was looking for a fight...with me and the staff! Oh, well.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
September's Almost Over
I can't believe September is almost over! It's gone by so fast!! Most of the month I've been busy knitting pumpkin hats for Pumpkin Fest last weekend in Cooperstown. This is the first year I've been knitting by myself. When Mom moved to Valley Health last winter she gave up knitting so it's been up to me to produce the baby hats...besides sweaters and socks. She use to make 15-18 hats for September and October alone and sell most of them! There were 6 pumpkin hats in the stock bag this spring when we opened for the season and they actually sold one a month. This season every time I did a baby sweater set I did an extra hat for the bag. Then for the 2 weeks before the festival all I did was hats: at least 2 pumpkin hats every day! I went to the festival with 12 pumpkin hats...and 2 flower hats in my bag! There are 6 pumpkin hats in the bag so I can restock my display when I go down to work this Sunday. I need to do a couple flower hats and baseball hats before then! Sweater sets have been selling well so I should finish the black sheep sweater I'm working on before I work the shop again. I also have 3 pairs of self-striping socks on needles that I took to demo on at the festival. Should finish the pairs before then, too.
The garden has been producing zucchini and green beans but the green peppers haven't given up much. The tomatoes blighted and we were able to pick about half a dozen ripe ones. The beets are the size of softballs in one raised bed and golf balls in the other. Jeff picked 2 cabbages yesterday...one softball size, the other tennis ball...but something's been eating the cabbage, so he pulled out most of those plants. He dug up about 5 lbs of red potatoes and maybe 1-2 lbs of white potatoes. We learned that red potatoes liked the tower method but white ones didn't. The sweet potatoes are still growing so maybe we'll have a good crop of them and the carrot tops are tall and thick so there may be a good crop there,too.
The white Forester went to the body shop last week. It should be ready for a new windshield in another week or so. It will be nice to have 2 cars...especially one with a trailer hitch!
Fanny's been getting into trouble lately. Monday she took a bra off the pile of clean clothes I had left on my desk chair while I took a shower and chewed off one of the straps. This morning she came into the tv room and laid by my feet and started chewing on something hard. I looked down expecting to see a piece of firewood to discover she had destroyed the phone from my bedroom...I had left it on the bedside table when I got up. I've been taking her with me when I go out...trying to cut her free time alone in the house but it doesn't seem to help. Can't wait to see what she destroys next. Will she outgrow this???
Sunday, September 8, 2013
September Begins
September rolled in with a boom Sunday and Monday with some serious thunderstorms . One of the bean towers got blown over and some of the taller tomatoes needed more stabilizing afterwards but there wasn't any hail so damage was minimal. Electrical service in Herkimer got knocked out but we were ok out here in the little woods...losing a few branches. The change in weather...or the side effect of the cholesterol pill... is bothering my right leg and some nights the pain travels from the screws up and down my leg. I took a pain pill before I started writing this and I'm beginning to feel a little loopy...may have to finish it later.
The veggies are starting to ripen and we've been picking broccoli, green beans, hot and sweet peppers and zucchini. Jeff's cantaloupe and cabbage have finally gotten bigger than golf balls so we may even enjoy them this year! And, there are a lot of green tomatoes. The potatoes (white and sweet) are blossoming...a sign that there may be potatoes there. The 1 ground cherry plant is doing well but we won't get enough for a pint of preserves. Carrots aren't very big but there are quite a few of them and they may get bigger yet, and the beets, turnips and parsnips seem to be growing. On the whole, the box-beds are working out quite well and Jeff wants to build more.
The t-boned Forester is scheduled to be fixed at the end of next week and when that's done Jeff will be able to take the utility trailer to town for supplies. (Right now he's comfortable driving the car as far as Gary's horse farm for composted manure but doesn't want to risk taking it on the highway...with the cracked windshield.) I'm happy with the Outback but that has always been my favorite Subaru model anyway.
Sales from the shop in Cooperstown picked up in August and I've been busy knitting and planning how to spend the money I'm making. I was going to buy a new monitor to replace the one I had but a friend offered us one. It was too big to use on my computer desk so Jeff gave me the one he had been using and he took the big one. (He likes to watch videos and wanted a bigger monitor.) Now I'm going to treat myself to a new camera. Got a sock order from a cousin and this morning I'm going to go thru the stash to see if I have some sock yarn I could use. The prospect of actually going to JoAnn's and buying some sock yarn is very inviting to me right now, too. The stash has faded a bit...not the actual yarn just the attraction of those skeins. I've been very good and have been knitting from the stash most of the summer so I feel that I deserve a yarn trip. Besides the check I picked up yesterday is calling...begging for some of it to be spent on yarn--at least a little!
We've had our annual rodent invasion Wednesday...a distant relative of Mickey Mouse has joined us in the house. I've seen it twice. The first time we bumped into each other in the hall. I screamed and stomped my feet, Fanny barked and the mouse ran behind an open door...so I kicked the door a little and told it to get out. Later that day we had an encounter in the living room and this time the mouse ran in circles before running back into the attic hall. I guess he wasn't taking the hint so I got some D-con and put it in the attic hall. I wonder if a smashed up warfarin pill would work? After all, having a large woman screaming, stomping her feet and kicking a door...not to mention a dog barking all at little you...probably made the mouse's bp go up and have an a-fib episode. And warfarin is referred to as 'rat poison' by those of us who rely on it to stay alive. (Check a D-con label some time...warfarin is the main ingredient.)
Cooperstown was quiet yesterday, not many people at the ball games. Some of the seasonal stores have closed already...like the ice cream shop across the parking lot from us....and the metered parking is off on Main St until Spring. The next big event is Pumpkin Fest on Sept 21 & 22. That usually pulls a good crowd. If you can, you should see some of these giant pumpkins! They're brought into town sitting on mattress on utility trailers, wrapped in quilts! Some of them have been 'babied' all summer--grown on pillows, shaded by umbrellas and tarps! The winner goes on to the next level and some of the losers get carved into boats and floated in the Lake on Sunday in the Pumpkin Regatta. Hope I can decide on which camera to get by then!
The veggies are starting to ripen and we've been picking broccoli, green beans, hot and sweet peppers and zucchini. Jeff's cantaloupe and cabbage have finally gotten bigger than golf balls so we may even enjoy them this year! And, there are a lot of green tomatoes. The potatoes (white and sweet) are blossoming...a sign that there may be potatoes there. The 1 ground cherry plant is doing well but we won't get enough for a pint of preserves. Carrots aren't very big but there are quite a few of them and they may get bigger yet, and the beets, turnips and parsnips seem to be growing. On the whole, the box-beds are working out quite well and Jeff wants to build more.
The t-boned Forester is scheduled to be fixed at the end of next week and when that's done Jeff will be able to take the utility trailer to town for supplies. (Right now he's comfortable driving the car as far as Gary's horse farm for composted manure but doesn't want to risk taking it on the highway...with the cracked windshield.) I'm happy with the Outback but that has always been my favorite Subaru model anyway.
Sales from the shop in Cooperstown picked up in August and I've been busy knitting and planning how to spend the money I'm making. I was going to buy a new monitor to replace the one I had but a friend offered us one. It was too big to use on my computer desk so Jeff gave me the one he had been using and he took the big one. (He likes to watch videos and wanted a bigger monitor.) Now I'm going to treat myself to a new camera. Got a sock order from a cousin and this morning I'm going to go thru the stash to see if I have some sock yarn I could use. The prospect of actually going to JoAnn's and buying some sock yarn is very inviting to me right now, too. The stash has faded a bit...not the actual yarn just the attraction of those skeins. I've been very good and have been knitting from the stash most of the summer so I feel that I deserve a yarn trip. Besides the check I picked up yesterday is calling...begging for some of it to be spent on yarn--at least a little!
We've had our annual rodent invasion Wednesday...a distant relative of Mickey Mouse has joined us in the house. I've seen it twice. The first time we bumped into each other in the hall. I screamed and stomped my feet, Fanny barked and the mouse ran behind an open door...so I kicked the door a little and told it to get out. Later that day we had an encounter in the living room and this time the mouse ran in circles before running back into the attic hall. I guess he wasn't taking the hint so I got some D-con and put it in the attic hall. I wonder if a smashed up warfarin pill would work? After all, having a large woman screaming, stomping her feet and kicking a door...not to mention a dog barking all at little you...probably made the mouse's bp go up and have an a-fib episode. And warfarin is referred to as 'rat poison' by those of us who rely on it to stay alive. (Check a D-con label some time...warfarin is the main ingredient.)
Cooperstown was quiet yesterday, not many people at the ball games. Some of the seasonal stores have closed already...like the ice cream shop across the parking lot from us....and the metered parking is off on Main St until Spring. The next big event is Pumpkin Fest on Sept 21 & 22. That usually pulls a good crowd. If you can, you should see some of these giant pumpkins! They're brought into town sitting on mattress on utility trailers, wrapped in quilts! Some of them have been 'babied' all summer--grown on pillows, shaded by umbrellas and tarps! The winner goes on to the next level and some of the losers get carved into boats and floated in the Lake on Sunday in the Pumpkin Regatta. Hope I can decide on which camera to get by then!
Saturday, August 31, 2013
As summer winds down...
August is coming to a close with a wide variety of weather. It's been hazy, hot and humid; clear, sunny and breezy; and stormy and wet. The garden has finally started to produce. We've been feasting on broccoli; green beans, peppers (hot and not) and onions; and zucchini. There are tomatoes but most are still green. The 3 Mr Stripey plants...that I paid $2.99/plant...have a total of 4 tomatoes on them and one of them has to produce seeds for next year. Jeff's raised-from-seed varieties are doing about the same. And the volunteer plants--from last year that self-seeded---keep popping up in unexpected places and are producing, too. Jeff's got 3 or 4 cantaloupe the size tennis balls that may actually ripen! The red cabbage has finally started to form heads and there is one white eggplant that may end up as Parmesan. Most of the greens (lettuce, escarole, kale etc) didn't make it. There are a lot of carrots...now if only they would grow. I'll just mention in passing that the beets, turnips, parsnips and rutabaga that are doing well but since they are not on my list of favorite veggies.... The one sunflower plant that survived is now taller than the miniature apple tree and has bout 2 dozen flowerbuds on it! Jeff is discouraged with the garden but we're doing so much better than other gardens we see that I won't complain too much. He's still building and filling the raised bed-boxes (next year we'll have the area between the boxes covered with wood chips) and spending his free time fishing down at Lock 18. Fanny and I go along sometime but I think I'm better off staying home. There aren't any 'facilities' at the lock and I never got the hang of going behind a tree.
My sales in the shop in Cooperstown have been pretty good this summer. Baby sweater sets and novelty hats keep selling...that may have something to do with keeping my space full since I worked 3 times in 10 days! I'm scheduled to work again next Saturday and I'm trying to build up my stock of baby socks and pumpkin hats. Of course, if a sweater or 2 sells this weekend I'll have to do something about that, too. Jeff got me hooked on the writing of Craig Johnson (modern western/mystery) thru the cable tv show Longmire. I've been treating myself to a book break between knitting projects (I think Johnson is on par with Tony Hillerman...both have Native Americans as major characters) but I'm without a book right now so that means I'll keep knitting!
My sales in the shop in Cooperstown have been pretty good this summer. Baby sweater sets and novelty hats keep selling...that may have something to do with keeping my space full since I worked 3 times in 10 days! I'm scheduled to work again next Saturday and I'm trying to build up my stock of baby socks and pumpkin hats. Of course, if a sweater or 2 sells this weekend I'll have to do something about that, too. Jeff got me hooked on the writing of Craig Johnson (modern western/mystery) thru the cable tv show Longmire. I've been treating myself to a book break between knitting projects (I think Johnson is on par with Tony Hillerman...both have Native Americans as major characters) but I'm without a book right now so that means I'll keep knitting!
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Today's Plans
Plans for today called for me to use the recently acquired Outback to drive to Cooperstown to work in the shop while Jeff got to drive the Forester (with the smashed in passenger door) with the utility trailer down the road to our friend Gary's horse farm for some manure. Well, as the say, the best laid plans.... I stopped at Subway and got my lunch (a 6" sub, 21 oz soda and small bag of chips) for less than $5 and headed south on Rte 28. There was enough construction on the hill to slow things down...a lot...so I made it to Cooperstown shortly after 10 am. I opened the shop and watered the flowers boxes before filling the 8 empty water gallons I had brought with me. By 10:45 am I was settling in with my knitting, waiting for customers. That's when the plan changed for me. A guy walking by the front of the shop came in and told me I had a flat tire. Yep, it was definitely soft, if not totally flat. I called the roadside assistance number on my insurance card and tried to explain what was happening and where. The operator connected me with a tow service in Cobleskill who didn't want to make the trip to C'town to just change a tire and handed the call back to the operator. Try #2 got me connected with a service in Oneonta...who also didn't want to come to Cooperstown so I was handed back to the operator. This time she asked for the number where I was and that was a good thing. (While the shop does not carry long distance service, the phone does accept calls from outside of the service area.) In the middle of trying to explain where Doubleday Court was, my cell phone battery went dead. A few seconds later the shop phone rang and it was the operator wondering what happened. She promised roadside assistance would be there within 90 minutes and gave me the driver's cell number. About 75 minutes later he called and said he'd be there within 20 minutes. About 30 minutes later he called again and tried to tell me I wasn't in Doubleday Court. He had turned too soon and was on the other side of the batting range. We got that straightened out and he came over and took the flat tire off the car. He had to take the spare...one of those 'donuts'...to get it filled with air but was soon back and put it on the car. The car would get me home. The rest of the day dragged on with very few customers until the last half hour or so. I finally got packed up and headed for home about 5:15. Both Jeff (whom I had called while waiting for the tire service) and the tire service guy had warned me not to go over 50 mph while driving on the 'donut'. So I drove home slowly for me (Zoom-Zoom is my middle name.) half expecting the 'donut' to blow or at the very least, go flat but I made it home ok.
Jeff's plan of action for today had also changed. Since it was raining off and on all morning, he decided that instead of going for a load of manure or working in the garden, he'd clean the garage. By the time I got home he had one side almost empty and the other side straightened up nicely. He found a couple of things (like the Coleman Lantern stand that he thought was in his sister's garage) and had the recycle bin completely full. Just need a 'floor magnet' to pick up any wayward nails from the garage floor and the Outback will be dry this winter.
After supper, Jeff checked the 'flat' tire for a puncture (didn't find any) and a cracked bead (found 2) by soaping up the tire and using the compressor to put air in it. We got two sets of bubbles where there shouldn't have been any. Then he filled the tire with air, put it back on the car and we went to Advance Auto to get a can of fix-a-flat and...fixed the flat. Jeff was going to swap tires between the Forester and Outback, anyway, since the Forester had newer tires, he'll just do it a little sooner than planned.
Fanny had not been the good dog she usually is with Jeff. She had found a scent and went out of the yard hunting thru the brush behind the house...and would not come when he called her eventho they could see each other. (That's the way she usually acts when I have her outside off-lead.) When she finally decided she better come home he put her in the house...with a swat to her tail end...and left her inside alone for awhile. She was very happy to see me when I got home (lots of licks and jumps) and quickly 'forgave' Jeff for putting her inside. She's got to learn.
OTN: I spent all of today working on an adult version of a baseball hat. Since I don't have a pattern for a rolled brim beanie to fit an adult I had to make things up as I went along. (That's the usual way to design a pattern but when you're working with white yarn there is a definite number of times you can rip things out!) I got the circumference right on the 3rd try and the crown right on the 2nd. Now I just have to do the embroidery....
Jeff's plan of action for today had also changed. Since it was raining off and on all morning, he decided that instead of going for a load of manure or working in the garden, he'd clean the garage. By the time I got home he had one side almost empty and the other side straightened up nicely. He found a couple of things (like the Coleman Lantern stand that he thought was in his sister's garage) and had the recycle bin completely full. Just need a 'floor magnet' to pick up any wayward nails from the garage floor and the Outback will be dry this winter.
After supper, Jeff checked the 'flat' tire for a puncture (didn't find any) and a cracked bead (found 2) by soaping up the tire and using the compressor to put air in it. We got two sets of bubbles where there shouldn't have been any. Then he filled the tire with air, put it back on the car and we went to Advance Auto to get a can of fix-a-flat and...fixed the flat. Jeff was going to swap tires between the Forester and Outback, anyway, since the Forester had newer tires, he'll just do it a little sooner than planned.
Fanny had not been the good dog she usually is with Jeff. She had found a scent and went out of the yard hunting thru the brush behind the house...and would not come when he called her eventho they could see each other. (That's the way she usually acts when I have her outside off-lead.) When she finally decided she better come home he put her in the house...with a swat to her tail end...and left her inside alone for awhile. She was very happy to see me when I got home (lots of licks and jumps) and quickly 'forgave' Jeff for putting her inside. She's got to learn.
OTN: I spent all of today working on an adult version of a baseball hat. Since I don't have a pattern for a rolled brim beanie to fit an adult I had to make things up as I went along. (That's the usual way to design a pattern but when you're working with white yarn there is a definite number of times you can rip things out!) I got the circumference right on the 3rd try and the crown right on the 2nd. Now I just have to do the embroidery....
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
How the Garden Grows
All the long hours and hard work that Jeff's been spending in the garden has started to pay off. Last night he picked a zucchini, flat Italian beans and some hot peppers. I sliced, egged and breaded the zucchini and put it in the oven with a little olive oil. The beans and hot peppers were diced with some green onion tops and sauteed in olive oil an butter. I fried chicken...Italian or Angie's style... and did a couple of oven roasted potatoes. Everything came out perfect...and we dined as if we were in a gourmet restaurant! And there were no leftovers! The zucchini and green beans were garden fresh and tasted it...and the peppers! (How could things so small be so hot!!) What a difference garden fresh makes! Now if the tomatoes would ripen....
OTN: finished 2 size 6mo sweater sets (a Little Girl Chic in gray and pink, and a black sheep in honeydew green with a purple trim) to take to the shop tomorrow. Today I tried to work on baseball hats but didn't get far. They are so boring to work on I had trouble knitting for any length of time. I should get one finished tonight...I'll take the yarn and work on another at the shop.
I will be so glad when I get a new camera... to replace the one smashed in the T-bone (and not covered by the other guy's insurance.) I miss adding photos to this blog.
OTN: finished 2 size 6mo sweater sets (a Little Girl Chic in gray and pink, and a black sheep in honeydew green with a purple trim) to take to the shop tomorrow. Today I tried to work on baseball hats but didn't get far. They are so boring to work on I had trouble knitting for any length of time. I should get one finished tonight...I'll take the yarn and work on another at the shop.
I will be so glad when I get a new camera... to replace the one smashed in the T-bone (and not covered by the other guy's insurance.) I miss adding photos to this blog.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
The Bat
Jeff and I have always had a difference of opinion about bats getting in to the house. My experience is if you open the kitchen door and the porch door at the same time after dark, you may be inviting in an unexpected visitor. He doesn't believe it.
After Fanny and I got up to 'use the facilities' about 3 am this morning, we had an unexpected...and unwanted visitor...a bat! Tried to catch it w/towel, in a box etc but no luck. Ended up taping a sheet over the bedroom doorway cos the door was swollen and wouldn't close. Took about 2 hours for the bat to get the rhythm of the wind moving the sheet before it got back into the bedroom. Then we just gave up and went into the other bedroom, shut the door and went to bed. Heard it flying around for awhile but no sign of it anywhere. The last time this happened...about 4-5 years ago, a bat crawled behind the fake brick wall behind the wood stove and crawled back out a couple of days later. Can't happen this time coz we put all the trim on, closing in the wall. Don't know where it went today but I'm sure there will be more to come.
OTN: the size 6mo train sweater is done. Had to shrink the design a little to fit the number of stitches but it worked. Just have to sew on all those buttons...wheels, puffs of smoke and of course, the front buttons. Need a hat to go with that, maybe a brimmed sports cap? Started a size 6mo 'Little Girl Chic' in gray and pink. Don't like the shade of gray...a little dark, but the contrast between the pink and gray is, well, chic. The hat will be a pink roll-brim cloche with white flowers sewn on. Hope to finish that today...and sew all the buttons on tomorrow.
Fanny Up-Date: Remember when a friend got high for the first time...eyes dilate, goofy grin, unsteady gait, falling asleep every time they sat still for more than 5 minutes? Well, that was Fanny when we got home from the vet and it lasted most of the night. The bat invasion did not bother her. I'm not sure she even saw it! (She would look up as it flew over head but never jumped or lunged at it.) Jeff had taken the pink bandage off her leg after supper...it was a very dirty pink by then. She was still sore and I think, would have been happy if we just left it on. The bleeding had stopped and she licked it a few times but it was obvious it wasn't bothering her. She climbed up into a chair and slept all evening. This morning it looks ok...she let me touch it and check things out.
8/7/13; 2:45PM: Bat UpDate- we just came in from running errands and out of the corner of my eye I saw an oval shadow on a living room curtain. I checked and it was the bat...sleeping...so I called in Jeff and he captured it in a towel, releasing in near the woodpile. Hopefully the Bat will survive.
After Fanny and I got up to 'use the facilities' about 3 am this morning, we had an unexpected...and unwanted visitor...a bat! Tried to catch it w/towel, in a box etc but no luck. Ended up taping a sheet over the bedroom doorway cos the door was swollen and wouldn't close. Took about 2 hours for the bat to get the rhythm of the wind moving the sheet before it got back into the bedroom. Then we just gave up and went into the other bedroom, shut the door and went to bed. Heard it flying around for awhile but no sign of it anywhere. The last time this happened...about 4-5 years ago, a bat crawled behind the fake brick wall behind the wood stove and crawled back out a couple of days later. Can't happen this time coz we put all the trim on, closing in the wall. Don't know where it went today but I'm sure there will be more to come.
OTN: the size 6mo train sweater is done. Had to shrink the design a little to fit the number of stitches but it worked. Just have to sew on all those buttons...wheels, puffs of smoke and of course, the front buttons. Need a hat to go with that, maybe a brimmed sports cap? Started a size 6mo 'Little Girl Chic' in gray and pink. Don't like the shade of gray...a little dark, but the contrast between the pink and gray is, well, chic. The hat will be a pink roll-brim cloche with white flowers sewn on. Hope to finish that today...and sew all the buttons on tomorrow.
Fanny Up-Date: Remember when a friend got high for the first time...eyes dilate, goofy grin, unsteady gait, falling asleep every time they sat still for more than 5 minutes? Well, that was Fanny when we got home from the vet and it lasted most of the night. The bat invasion did not bother her. I'm not sure she even saw it! (She would look up as it flew over head but never jumped or lunged at it.) Jeff had taken the pink bandage off her leg after supper...it was a very dirty pink by then. She was still sore and I think, would have been happy if we just left it on. The bleeding had stopped and she licked it a few times but it was obvious it wasn't bothering her. She climbed up into a chair and slept all evening. This morning it looks ok...she let me touch it and check things out.
8/7/13; 2:45PM: Bat UpDate- we just came in from running errands and out of the corner of my eye I saw an oval shadow on a living room curtain. I checked and it was the bat...sleeping...so I called in Jeff and he captured it in a towel, releasing in near the woodpile. Hopefully the Bat will survive.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Today's Adventure
Today's adventure was Fanny's trip...semi-emergency...to the vet's. A couple of days ago, running around the backyard, she pulled up with a yelp and limped for a couple of minutes. We looked but didn't see anything out of the ordinary with her leg or paw. This occasional yelping and limping went on and Sunday Jeff discovered that Fanny had broken the dew claw on her right leg...but she still wouldn't let either of us clean it...or touch it. Yesterday the 'toe' part seemed a little swollen and this morning the claw was broken in half and turning black and the toe swollen and red. I called the vet's office and we took Fanny over after lunch. She behaved very well...at first... going into the office, then the exam room without much prodding. After she was put on the table, things changed. Jeff had her in a a tight grip and I kept stroking her but Fanny was upset...scared! The vet ended up putting a muzzle on her and giving her a shot to calm her down. I never saw a dog's eyes dilate so quickly! Fanny was in la-la-land in no time at all...with her tongue sticking out...she was really biting it! The vet gave her a quick pedicure, and a shot of antibiotics before putting her foot in a hot pink bandage and giving her a shot to wake. She was very willing to get back in the car to come home, but she wanted to stay in the car once we got here. Right now Fanny's sound asleep under the kitchen table...all I can see is her hot pink foot! And this little trip cost me $135.00. Oh, and again, I wish I had a camera! I know that pink bandage won't last long.
Monday, August 5, 2013
If Only there had been a camera
Today Jeff had an appointment to have the procedure done on the other side of his back. I had gotten my knitting bag ready early and headed out with plenty of time to make his appointment. But as soon as the door clicked closed behind me, I knew my keys were still in the house...tied to my purse instead of the knitting bag. I tried to open the window on the porch but it's nailed shut. The windows on the deck were locked...from the inside. That left the bedroom windows. I hauled the old step ladder to one of the windows outside my room, pushed the windows & screen up and figured out how to climb in...crawl in is a better description. I got as high as I could go on the ladder, steadied myself on the window sill...and it broke off, rotted thru. Tried again, leaned over into the room, pushed things out of the way and fell into the room. The dog went the other way...some watch dog she is! I was wedged between the bed and the window and it took a couple of minutes to roll around and get to my feet. I shut the windows, dusted myself off and headed out the door...this time with the keys in my hand! My cell phone was dead or wouldn't work and by the time I picked up Jeff he was pacing in front of his building and we were late. I took full responsibility and the nurses were quite nice. I'm sure it would have been some photo...my legs sticking out of the window as I went in! I ache all over now...guess I don't have what it takes to make a habit of going in thru windows.
OTN: a lt blue size 6mo cardigan with a train (red caboose, black engine, yellow and bright blue cars) going around the body just above the bottom ribbing. I love doing size 6mo...only takes a day or two to do a sweater! We went fishing at the Frankfort Marina yesterday and my train chart... and a couple of others all in the same plastic sleeve...went flying into the water and had to be 'hooked' to be saved. I carefully peeled the 3 sheets apart and dried out my charts so nothing was lost.
A trip to Lowe's after lunch got some of what Jeff needed and now he's busy building a compost sift. I think I'm going to sneak a little nap...hope I don't dream about going thru windows!!
OTN: a lt blue size 6mo cardigan with a train (red caboose, black engine, yellow and bright blue cars) going around the body just above the bottom ribbing. I love doing size 6mo...only takes a day or two to do a sweater! We went fishing at the Frankfort Marina yesterday and my train chart... and a couple of others all in the same plastic sleeve...went flying into the water and had to be 'hooked' to be saved. I carefully peeled the 3 sheets apart and dried out my charts so nothing was lost.
A trip to Lowe's after lunch got some of what Jeff needed and now he's busy building a compost sift. I think I'm going to sneak a little nap...hope I don't dream about going thru windows!!
Friday, August 2, 2013
Another Chapter Ends
Today the saga of the T-Bone has finally come to an end. Began on 7/15 and ended today 8/2, a total of 19 days. Included supporting the Affordable Taxi Company, getting a rental car...finally from Enterprise... paid for by the National General Insurance Company (except for $62 of the extra coverage fees that I shouldn't have paid but I was alone and didn't know what would happen if I refused to pay it) and a decent settlement that allowed me to get a Subaru Outback from Mohawk Motors and and my Forester fixed. We even had enough left over to go to Donna's Diner for fish fry tonight! (Portions were huge and the meal was delicious as usual.) All I have left to do is replace the camera. Tonight we took Fanny for a ride in the car...she hasn't been allowed in the rental...and she missed her evening ride. You know, nose out the window, ears being blown back, eyes squeezed shut. Typical happy dog.
Got one of the new socks for Jeff finished. Some of the ladies at the nursing home where Mom is couldn't believe it took an entire skein (50g) of yarn to do one sock. But you've got to remember, the man wears a size 12 shoe and is 6'3", that means the foot of the sock is 12" long and the top (or leg) is at least 14" or until the yarn runs out! I'm scheduled to work in the shop in Cooperstown on Friday and I think I may do a couple of pumpkin hats just to get ahead. Maybe I'll even call the shop tomorrow and see if any sweaters sold.
Had to have an INR done today and of course my numbers were out of range...but only.25 (3.75 instead of 3.5) so no change in the dose of 'rat poison' (warfarin) but I have to go back next Thursday and have it done again. I'm beginning to think yoga or at least meditation might be something I should try to keep my numbers in range since I do not seem to have a quite, calm life. Jeff's having the 2nd procedure on his back started on Monday. Hope it goes as well as the other side went in June.
Had to have an INR done today and of course my numbers were out of range...but only.25 (3.75 instead of 3.5) so no change in the dose of 'rat poison' (warfarin) but I have to go back next Thursday and have it done again. I'm beginning to think yoga or at least meditation might be something I should try to keep my numbers in range since I do not seem to have a quite, calm life. Jeff's having the 2nd procedure on his back started on Monday. Hope it goes as well as the other side went in June.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Things are Looking UP
My luck has finally changed. Jeff and I went to Clinton today to check out a 2002 Subaru Forester (same make/model/year as my wrecked one) but were disappointed. The body was in good shape but there was something going on with the rear end mechanically that Jeff didn't like. And the dealer would not discuss lowering the asking price. We decided not to get that car after all. On the way home we stopped at Frank's Mohawk Motors and finalized the deal for the 1999 Subaru Outback (my all time favorite Subaru model in my all time favorite color...navy & silver) that we saw last week. They'll do all the paper work...except the insurance...for me. Got a good deal, too. When we got home the body man Wally had recommended... and we went to see last night... came over to look at the car. He gave us an estimate that nearly knocked Jeff over! We will be getting the '99 and fixing my '02 all with the insurance check that was waiting for me when we got home. There may even be a little left over...maybe enough for a new digital camera?
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
The Wait is Over
And the wait is over. Yesterday I missed a phone call from the other guy's insurance (I'm tired of avoiding it's name but it's the same as the mascot for the community college I attended) so I called back. Got some guy's voice mail and left my message. No response so I called again this morning. Had to leave another message so I called the original contact number for the company. Finally got to talk with a person (!!) who told me that my claim was with a settlement officer...that must be who I had been leaving voice mail for...and I should hear from him soon. Then I called my insurance agent who promised to try and learn something. Skinner's called a few minutes ago to let me know they finally got paid by the other company for towing and storage. (Their check was dated 7/24 and they received it today! Should we blame the US Postal Service for that??) Anyway, they just brought my poor, bruised car back to us. Jeff wants to see for himself what condition it's in. I could hardly look at it...I started to hyperventilate...had to come back inside the house! (We were so lucky I hadn't picked Jeff up before the accident. He would have ended up in the hospital for sure.) Wally and Jeff looked it over and think it could be fixed. While we were all looking at our poor car, the other insurance company called again. He had a few questions and then some answers. My car's worth $5897.34 minus the salvage price of $843.20. (I'm not salvaging it.) I accepted the offer and the check will be Fed-Xed to me tomorrow. Wally and Jeff think it might cost $1000-1500 to fix it so that's something we'll be looking at. I've been searching online for a comparable Subaru and found one in Clinton. Jeff and I are going to go check it out tomorrow. Maybe we'll keep both cars on the road, I checked with my insurance agent and my insurance would go up about $30/month. It would be nice to have a working spare out here...at the very worst, it would be something we could cannibalize for parts if necessary.
This morning I was trying to finish my sweater order by working on the hat and snapped the acrylic size US6 changeable tip on the circular needle I was using. Guess I had it in a death grip. Good thing I didn't have to have a INR done this week!! The stress of this accident might have pushed my clotting numbers off the chart! Oh-oh, I do have to have one done... on Friday. Hope the numbers are good.
This morning I was trying to finish my sweater order by working on the hat and snapped the acrylic size US6 changeable tip on the circular needle I was using. Guess I had it in a death grip. Good thing I didn't have to have a INR done this week!! The stress of this accident might have pushed my clotting numbers off the chart! Oh-oh, I do have to have one done... on Friday. Hope the numbers are good.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
And the Wait Goes On!
The wait goes on. Got a phone call from the car rental place Monday afternoon telling me the other guy's insurance company had finally had OK-ed the rental and I could get a car the next morning. We arranged for them to pick me up...and they even waived the security fee coz an insurance company was involved. Got a Chevy Scion...a little thing, good on mileage but I still miss my Subaru! Jeff and I have been looking at cars...found some Subaru's, too...just have to wait for the settlement to make a deal. My cousin Pete, who is an insurance lawyer, offered last Tuesday to see what was happening. My insurance guy told him a settlement was going to be offered but if there is still no sign of it tomorrow I think I'll call him myself and inquire about this mythical settlement.
Jeff's been building raised-bed boxes out of pallets he's taken apart and used all the compost/soil he had filling them. When we get a car switching the trailer hitch will be one of the first things he'll have to do so he can go get more compost to fill the empty boxes! He's scheduled to have another round of procedures done on his back August 5th and would like the boxes already in the garden to be filled by then.He's not pleased with the garden this year...oh, things are growing but the fruits are small and slow to ripen. We have green tomatoes and peppers and a fair amount of squash blossoms but we haven't picked anything. The broccoli started to bolt in the heat so I cut those heads off and the plants are forming new heads. Got to keep an eye on them and pick them soon. Our broccoli doesn't produce large heads like you see in the stores.
I finally felt like knitting so I started a pair of socks for Jeff. Didn't like the yarn at first but the self-striping is kind of neat. I think he'll like them. Got 2 other solid colored washable wool's waiting to be made into socks for him,too. Did almost the entire foot of one sock yesterday...that's 10" of 64 sts on size US 2"s...watching Bones, Castle and Criminal Minds. I should turn the heel this morning and be ready to do the leg tonight. Hope there is something good on tv. I knit faster with action shows, don't know much I'll get done watching my usual Sunday night British dramas. At least my stock bag is full for the shop so I don't have to worry about that. I'm scheduled to work Aug 9th. Have to wait until I get a new camera to post photos.
I told my mom about the accident the last time I visited her. We were in the dining room...it was almost noon...and several other residents waiting for dinner were very interested in what I was saying. In fact, when I visited her yesterday, those same folks asked about the car, me, what was happening, etc. surprising me. Don't think Josie liked liked their interest...especially since they were more interested in it than she had been!
Jeff's been building raised-bed boxes out of pallets he's taken apart and used all the compost/soil he had filling them. When we get a car switching the trailer hitch will be one of the first things he'll have to do so he can go get more compost to fill the empty boxes! He's scheduled to have another round of procedures done on his back August 5th and would like the boxes already in the garden to be filled by then.He's not pleased with the garden this year...oh, things are growing but the fruits are small and slow to ripen. We have green tomatoes and peppers and a fair amount of squash blossoms but we haven't picked anything. The broccoli started to bolt in the heat so I cut those heads off and the plants are forming new heads. Got to keep an eye on them and pick them soon. Our broccoli doesn't produce large heads like you see in the stores.
I finally felt like knitting so I started a pair of socks for Jeff. Didn't like the yarn at first but the self-striping is kind of neat. I think he'll like them. Got 2 other solid colored washable wool's waiting to be made into socks for him,too. Did almost the entire foot of one sock yesterday...that's 10" of 64 sts on size US 2"s...watching Bones, Castle and Criminal Minds. I should turn the heel this morning and be ready to do the leg tonight. Hope there is something good on tv. I knit faster with action shows, don't know much I'll get done watching my usual Sunday night British dramas. At least my stock bag is full for the shop so I don't have to worry about that. I'm scheduled to work Aug 9th. Have to wait until I get a new camera to post photos.
I told my mom about the accident the last time I visited her. We were in the dining room...it was almost noon...and several other residents waiting for dinner were very interested in what I was saying. In fact, when I visited her yesterday, those same folks asked about the car, me, what was happening, etc. surprising me. Don't think Josie liked liked their interest...especially since they were more interested in it than she had been!
Monday, July 22, 2013
No Decision Yet
I'm trying to keep it together with very little luck. Insurance companies do not move fast enough to suit me. Still no word...except a form letter...from the other insurance company saying what they'll pay depends on the degree of liability of their client (if the police reports says he was 50% in the wrong, they'll pay 50%, etc). I'm planning on calling them this morning and faxing them the repair/maintenance history on my car. Last night I
found Subaru's at local car dealers as old as and with as many miles as mine offered at higher prices than KBB! Keep me in those prayers and fingers crossed!
Jeff's sister came for dinner yesterday with her mini-Schnauzer, Max, and her new Schnocker puppy
(schnauzer/cocker spaniel), Sunny. The dogs all got along for the most part. Fanny isn't quite sure what Sunny is but let her eat from her dish and swim...drink...in her water dish. This is the 2nd time Sunny's been here so that might have helped.
Sunny has wide, flat cocker feet and an inquiring mind that probably comes from living with Max and 3 cats, all quite a bit larger than she is...at the moment. Jeff and I think Sunny will be bigger than Max but smaller than Fanny. She's double in size in the week since I last saw her!
In the meantime I sit and watch tv. I have no interest in knitting...blame that on the heat?...or being outside. I did clean the kitchen fairly well yesterday but that was necessary! When I finally turned on the overhead light...UCK! (Trying to keep cool I've kept the lights off.) We watched McLintok, an old John Wayne western Saturday and Conspiracy Theory
last night. The old western was better.
found Subaru's at local car dealers as old as and with as many miles as mine offered at higher prices than KBB! Keep me in those prayers and fingers crossed!
Jeff's sister came for dinner yesterday with her mini-Schnauzer, Max, and her new Schnocker puppy
Sunny has wide, flat cocker feet and an inquiring mind that probably comes from living with Max and 3 cats, all quite a bit larger than she is...at the moment. Jeff and I think Sunny will be bigger than Max but smaller than Fanny. She's double in size in the week since I last saw her!
In the meantime I sit and watch tv. I have no interest in knitting...blame that on the heat?...or being outside. I did clean the kitchen fairly well yesterday but that was necessary! When I finally turned on the overhead light...UCK! (Trying to keep cool I've kept the lights off.) We watched McLintok, an old John Wayne western Saturday and Conspiracy Theory
last night. The old western was better.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Life Goes On
Life here in the little house in the little woods continues car-less. The insurance appraiser saw my car Thursday but we haven't heard from him. He did have to wait until yesterday for the complete police report so I don't expect a decision before Monday. In the mean time, we are supporting the Affordable Taxi company with 'necessary only' trips to town ($15/round trip). Boy, you never know how much you rely on your car out here in the country until you don't have one. I'm thinking of asking anyone interested to consider coming over to check out the gardens with a couple of gallons of drinking water as a hostess gift! (We have plenty of running water but have you ever tried drinking sulfur water? I can brush my teeth with it but actually drinking it?? Besides, it makes lousy coffee. And the reverse osmosis system doesn't produce as much clean water as we had expected.)
We had a fairly strong thunder storm last night. Jeff had just built a fire in the outside pit and we were trying to fight the mosquitoes when the thunder and lightening started. I chickened out and went inside but Jeff stuck it out until the downpour started. (When he went out to check the garden after the rain stopped Jeff found the fire was still burning! The grate was protecting it enough to keep it alive.) We ended up watching RED on TV and except for a couple of scenes (i.e the lady who was following them with an arsenal of weapons....) it wasn't as good as I had remembered. Hope RED2 is better.
The heat/humidity has seemed to have broken and it's not too bad today. Of course, with all the rain last night the mosquitoes got a head start on us. Maybe I can get some knitting done today if I stay inside. Jeff found a MacGyer marathon on this morning and those 80's styles are kind of funny. Remember those unisex layered haircuts??
We had a fairly strong thunder storm last night. Jeff had just built a fire in the outside pit and we were trying to fight the mosquitoes when the thunder and lightening started. I chickened out and went inside but Jeff stuck it out until the downpour started. (When he went out to check the garden after the rain stopped Jeff found the fire was still burning! The grate was protecting it enough to keep it alive.) We ended up watching RED on TV and except for a couple of scenes (i.e the lady who was following them with an arsenal of weapons....) it wasn't as good as I had remembered. Hope RED2 is better.
The heat/humidity has seemed to have broken and it's not too bad today. Of course, with all the rain last night the mosquitoes got a head start on us. Maybe I can get some knitting done today if I stay inside. Jeff found a MacGyer marathon on this morning and those 80's styles are kind of funny. Remember those unisex layered haircuts??
Thursday, July 18, 2013
And the Joy Continues
Oh, what a week it's been... so far! After being T-boned at a Stop sign Monday morning, I got to learn about the exciting world of Insurance. Since the other driver was ticketed for blowing the stop sign, my insurance company said his company would probably pay for a rental car for me but when I got to the rental office on Tuesday, they had not heard of me or the accident (didn't the driver call them??) but if I wanted to rent a car, they would be happy to help me...with $350 security upfront plus $65/day. I made it to Jeff's before becoming totally hysterical. Let's blame the heat but poor Jeff, he didn't deserve that! After calming down, we went to the nearby dollar store to get some water and soda, called the taxi company that I had used earlier to get to town and went home. I felt like I was being sent to Siberia! I called my insurance company and gave them the other guy's insurance info off the partial accident report I had gotten from the police which had been my 1st stop when I gotten to town. (The report was incomplete coz the p olice computer was down) and tried to keep busy and not think about living in the little house in the little woods without a little car.
Yesterday the saga continued. The other insurance company called and what the guy was saying smelled like compost...no, that was the horse and cow compost Jeff's using in the garden, we were sitting outside taking a break from yard work. Any way, I put the phone on speaker and handed it to Jeff. The other driver (notice the absence of derogatory terms describing his family orgins, sexuality and/or personality) still had not called them so they could not authorize a rental for me. They'd get an adjuster there as soon as they could...but they'd pay storage at Skinner's only to Monday...after that, if the adjuster hadn't made it there it was my responsibility. Oh, and if they decided the car was 'totaled' it was also my responsibility to dispose of it. Jeff and that agent had a nice little discussion about about the car, my mechanical heart valve, etc and in the end the agent said he'd call for an adjuster as soon as he got off the phone with us. My next phone call was to my agent bringing him up to date, then we called Skinner's. The folks there had never heard of disposal being the owner's responsibility but had a couple of suggestions...they would sell it for us as older Subaru's sell well regardless of their condition or they could get a door and fix my car. Their mechanic is going to inspect the car as soon as the adjuster sees it. If he and Jeff decided it will be safe to drive we'll think about fixing it. Jeff and I talked about it last night and if we can get the car back on the road for $1000 or so we'll probably do that. If the insurance settlement is for more than that (book is $3500-4500), I'll bank the difference and after fixing the car, wait until Spring, then think about getting a newer one. In the past year I've put about $2700 in the car upgrading/replacing the cradle, fuel funnel, rear structs, front axles...and yes, I have the original statements from the mechanics which didn't please the other insurance agent one bit. So now we're waiting to hear...something from somebody!
We worked outside as much as we could yesterday but the heat was awful I got part of the lawn mowed before the insurance lessons began and Jeff took apart pallets in preparation to making more raised garden beds.
He's slowly replacing the in-ground garden rows with raised beds. Keeps the dog away from the plants and lets him use a modification on square-foot gardening. I have a lot of photos to download but I'm waiting until after the weather cools off a little (and I'll include a photo of the injured car).
I'm scheduled to work in the shop in Cooperstown this Friday and next Tuesday but without a car that ain't gonna happen so I spent part of yesterday morning calling other members looking for a sub. Got one for Tuesday but Friday is still a problem. Judy suggested trying asking several members to restock that day and work a couple of hours each and is working on that.
ONT: another ladies tank top but it's been too hot to knit for long.
Oh, and to end the day an just the right note, while we were watching the original Stargate movie last night...with all the lights off, windows open and many fans on, we tripped a breaker and were thrown into darkness. Jeff went down stairs and got most of the lights on but the parlor seems to have shorted out. Something else to worry about.
Good thing I don't have an INR scheduled for this week. Stress throws the ratio off the chart and if this week hasn't been stress full, what has?!
Yesterday the saga continued. The other insurance company called and what the guy was saying smelled like compost...no, that was the horse and cow compost Jeff's using in the garden, we were sitting outside taking a break from yard work. Any way, I put the phone on speaker and handed it to Jeff. The other driver (notice the absence of derogatory terms describing his family orgins, sexuality and/or personality) still had not called them so they could not authorize a rental for me. They'd get an adjuster there as soon as they could...but they'd pay storage at Skinner's only to Monday...after that, if the adjuster hadn't made it there it was my responsibility. Oh, and if they decided the car was 'totaled' it was also my responsibility to dispose of it. Jeff and that agent had a nice little discussion about about the car, my mechanical heart valve, etc and in the end the agent said he'd call for an adjuster as soon as he got off the phone with us. My next phone call was to my agent bringing him up to date, then we called Skinner's. The folks there had never heard of disposal being the owner's responsibility but had a couple of suggestions...they would sell it for us as older Subaru's sell well regardless of their condition or they could get a door and fix my car. Their mechanic is going to inspect the car as soon as the adjuster sees it. If he and Jeff decided it will be safe to drive we'll think about fixing it. Jeff and I talked about it last night and if we can get the car back on the road for $1000 or so we'll probably do that. If the insurance settlement is for more than that (book is $3500-4500), I'll bank the difference and after fixing the car, wait until Spring, then think about getting a newer one. In the past year I've put about $2700 in the car upgrading/replacing the cradle, fuel funnel, rear structs, front axles...and yes, I have the original statements from the mechanics which didn't please the other insurance agent one bit. So now we're waiting to hear...something from somebody!
We worked outside as much as we could yesterday but the heat was awful I got part of the lawn mowed before the insurance lessons began and Jeff took apart pallets in preparation to making more raised garden beds.
I'm scheduled to work in the shop in Cooperstown this Friday and next Tuesday but without a car that ain't gonna happen so I spent part of yesterday morning calling other members looking for a sub. Got one for Tuesday but Friday is still a problem. Judy suggested trying asking several members to restock that day and work a couple of hours each and is working on that.
ONT: another ladies tank top but it's been too hot to knit for long.
Oh, and to end the day an just the right note, while we were watching the original Stargate movie last night...with all the lights off, windows open and many fans on, we tripped a breaker and were thrown into darkness. Jeff went down stairs and got most of the lights on but the parlor seems to have shorted out. Something else to worry about.
Good thing I don't have an INR scheduled for this week. Stress throws the ratio off the chart and if this week hasn't been stress full, what has?!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Oh, What A Day!
Today started out beautiful...sunny with a light breeze. I had errands to do and needed to stop at Walmart for some ice and ice tea mix. It's been so hot and we've been drinking so much ice tea I can't keep up making ice. I stopped at the bank to cash a check and joked with the teller that I was headed to Walmart just to wander around in 'air conditioned' glory. Unfortunately I spoke too soon. I barely got 2 blocks away from the bank when some old man in a big GMC truck blew a stop sign and t-boned by Subaru Forester on the corner of Prospect and Church Sts, probably totaling it. Luckily I wasn't hurt...just the passenger door and window, and the windshield, maybe bending the frame. I called 911 to report what happened and another woman called the local police to report it, too, coz she saw the truck blew the stop sign. The old man was shaken...and very apologetic...but unhurt. I called Jeff and was ok until I saw him walking towards me and then I lost it and started to cry. The car was being towed to Skinner's on Rte 5 by the cemeteries and the driver offered us a ride. After talking with a nice lady at Skinner's, Jeff and I went across the street to Donna's Diner for lunch and something cold to drink and then went back to Skinner's for a promised ride home. Later I talked again to my All State agent, the Enterprise Rental place and the police. I'm going to pick up a copy of the accident report tomorrow and a rental car...on the other driver's insurance coz he's supposedly getting a ticket. Then it's just wait until the powers that be decided to fix or not. And if not, how much money are they going to give me. And to think today started out so nice.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
A Gardner's Work Is Never Done
Jeff's been busy changing the garden to a series of 4'x4' raised beds made from the pallets he's been collecting.
He's leaving wide paths between the boxes that we'll eventually line with wood chips... but so far this season he's tilling the paths... to control the weeds. The boxes are set on tilled ground and the anchor/legs hammered down. Then he mixes composted grass and vegetable scraps from our compost bin with composted horse manure (from our former vet, Gary, who lives about a mile down the road from us that Jeff's getting in trade for helping repair Gary's washed out driveway) and composted cow manure (bought from an ol'Cornhill friend of his brother's on South Side Rd in Frankfort) with the soil dug from another area of the garden and fills the boxes. He then fills the hole he's created with the mixture. This fall Jeff wants to add vermiculite to the boxes to aid drain but they seem to be draining quite well without it. He's been using the same mixture to hill the potatoes in the vertical cages and the potato plants are to the top of the cages and have started to flower.
(Remember, flowers on the plants are promises of potatoes underground!) Yesterday we stopped at Massaro's and got some tomato plants (with tomatoes!) and Italian long hot peppers to add to the plants Jeff's grown from seeds. He's got lettuces and spinach in one box, herbs in another, the dreaded beets and parsnips in another and bush beans and squash in others. The bean tower has vine all the way to the top and the squash and eggplant around it's base have started to flower. We're waiting for the hummingbird/butterfly flower mix to start flowering around the apple tree but that won't be for another couple of weeks (good thing they're perennials) so we got some petunias at Massaro's, too. He's also got a HUGE crop of mosquitoes that have driven me inside. He sprayed again last night and if it doesn't rain for a day or 2 that might help.
OTN: The blue size 2 boy's cardigan with colorful train buttons and a watch cap that is a special order is about half finished. I took time from that to do a size 6 mo 'pretty in pink' set that I sent to the shop Thursday and then did another one to put in my stock bag. Today I'm doing baseball hats coz they sell as quick as I can do them and I'm all out in the shop. Sunday evening The Grateful Dead is in concert at Doubleday Field. Don't know if the 'Dead Heads' will shop but we're planning on being open late. (Or is that insurance that they won't trash?)
Flood update: FEMA has designated the Mohawk Valley as a commercial disaster area due to the recent flooding but hasn't decided about the residential areas. I heard yesterday that at least a dozen houses... in Herkimer alone... have been
condemned due to flood damage. Some people are also concerned that the undermined roads will develop sinkholes.
OTN: The blue size 2 boy's cardigan with colorful train buttons and a watch cap that is a special order is about half finished. I took time from that to do a size 6 mo 'pretty in pink' set that I sent to the shop Thursday and then did another one to put in my stock bag. Today I'm doing baseball hats coz they sell as quick as I can do them and I'm all out in the shop. Sunday evening The Grateful Dead is in concert at Doubleday Field. Don't know if the 'Dead Heads' will shop but we're planning on being open late. (Or is that insurance that they won't trash?)
Flood update: FEMA has designated the Mohawk Valley as a commercial disaster area due to the recent flooding but hasn't decided about the residential areas. I heard yesterday that at least a dozen houses... in Herkimer alone... have been
condemned due to flood damage. Some people are also concerned that the undermined roads will develop sinkholes.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Time to Order An Ark?
Last Thursday night the area was hit by a major rain storm: 5" of rain overnight! The west side of the village (from Main St to the high school and Walmart) was covered by the the muddy runoff of Bellinger Brook (usually just a trickle of water that runs thru Brookwood Park). The parking lot for Midtown Apartments had only the roofs of the cars parked there above water! (This photo 
was even shown on NBC Nightly News! Wish I had taken it!) The Stewart's on the corner of Bellinger and Mohawk Sts had 2-3' of water inside. Most of the cellars on the west side of the village were full of muddy water, with mud covering sidewalks, curbs and roadways buckling and braking them. I saw a tool shed backwards against a house on Caroline St having been moved there from several houses away by the raging water; lawns and gardens covered by mud with several gardens on Steele St totally destroyed. Sunday one still had 5"of water on it while the others looked like weird sculpture with the plants (tomatoes, peppers, garlic) covered by dry mud! The village scattered large dumpsters around for residents to use and when they were full large piles of soaked stuff lined the streets. Pickers and junkers were all over making the mess worse by pawing thru the piles scattering things all over. National Grid was busy trying to reconnect electric and gas lines as they were inspected. And as the temperatures rose the mud turned into dust and the village was covered by clouds of it that were diminished when only when it rained which it's been doing off and on all weekend. Tonight after supper we had an especially heavy downpour. Now all those streets are full of water again and the flood warning is for the east side of the village where the West Canada Creek is already over flood stage! Herkimer wasn't the only village hit, Little Falls had underground streams break thru into stores on Main St and landslides block roads, Mohawk had a large sinkhole develop on Warren Road that swallowed several cars and was without electricity for 3 days with their power station underwater. Living out here in the little house in the little woods we were spared typical flood damage. The driveway and lawn have several small lakes but they should dry up when it stops raining and slugs are feasting on the garden. I think I can cope with that better than water lapping at by cellar door.
OTN: You'd think with all this rain I'd have gotten a lot of knitting done. I did finish 2 baseball caps and a 3-6 month sweater set that I sent to the shop yesterday. And today I started a size 2 boys sweater for a special order. Hope to finish that this week.
was even shown on NBC Nightly News! Wish I had taken it!) The Stewart's on the corner of Bellinger and Mohawk Sts had 2-3' of water inside. Most of the cellars on the west side of the village were full of muddy water, with mud covering sidewalks, curbs and roadways buckling and braking them. I saw a tool shed backwards against a house on Caroline St having been moved there from several houses away by the raging water; lawns and gardens covered by mud with several gardens on Steele St totally destroyed. Sunday one still had 5"of water on it while the others looked like weird sculpture with the plants (tomatoes, peppers, garlic) covered by dry mud! The village scattered large dumpsters around for residents to use and when they were full large piles of soaked stuff lined the streets. Pickers and junkers were all over making the mess worse by pawing thru the piles scattering things all over. National Grid was busy trying to reconnect electric and gas lines as they were inspected. And as the temperatures rose the mud turned into dust and the village was covered by clouds of it that were diminished when only when it rained which it's been doing off and on all weekend. Tonight after supper we had an especially heavy downpour. Now all those streets are full of water again and the flood warning is for the east side of the village where the West Canada Creek is already over flood stage! Herkimer wasn't the only village hit, Little Falls had underground streams break thru into stores on Main St and landslides block roads, Mohawk had a large sinkhole develop on Warren Road that swallowed several cars and was without electricity for 3 days with their power station underwater. Living out here in the little house in the little woods we were spared typical flood damage. The driveway and lawn have several small lakes but they should dry up when it stops raining and slugs are feasting on the garden. I think I can cope with that better than water lapping at by cellar door.OTN: You'd think with all this rain I'd have gotten a lot of knitting done. I did finish 2 baseball caps and a 3-6 month sweater set that I sent to the shop yesterday. And today I started a size 2 boys sweater for a special order. Hope to finish that this week.
Monday, June 24, 2013
How The Garden is Growing
Things have finally started to pick up in Cooperstown. I worked in the shop again yesterday and sales weren't fantastic but fair. I've sold 4 baby sweater sets so far this month and some smaller things. Pink and white seems to be the colors for this year...I'm a little tired of it...and the baseball hats have finally started to sell! I've got a small yellow sweater on the needles today...should finish it tonight or tomorrow so I can send it down with another member who's working this weekend.
Jeff's been busy with the greenhouse. He decided to put last year's gutter garden in it and they had to be re-sized. When I got home yesterday, the gutters were in place and hooked up to the water system and the pails planted. He still wants to put a raised bed in there. That would be nice for herbs. The plastic will go on next week.
The caged potatoes are doing well,too. Jeff's had to hill them a couple of times already. I swear they grow 2-4" every night! The composted cow manure we got a couple of weeks ago is almost all gone...it seems to make a big difference with the potatoes! If the plants are growing as fast underground as they are on top....
We stopped at the 2 greenhouses by us and got some marked down plants...peppers, squash, cantaloupe and Italian basil. They won't get planted today. We're having a thunderstorm right now and the power went off (This netbook has a battery.)
It's back on but I think I'll stop for now, anyway. Jeff planned on borrowing the column from my pc...since my monitor needs a new on/off switch and the one he lent me doesn't work...until he can get his column fixed but he just told me that after the power went off...and came back on (maybe, a surge?) his monitor started to work. Ah, computers. They are our friends. Ah, ha. Pictures to follow!
Jeff's been busy with the greenhouse. He decided to put last year's gutter garden in it and they had to be re-sized. When I got home yesterday, the gutters were in place and hooked up to the water system and the pails planted. He still wants to put a raised bed in there. That would be nice for herbs. The plastic will go on next week.
The caged potatoes are doing well,too. Jeff's had to hill them a couple of times already. I swear they grow 2-4" every night! The composted cow manure we got a couple of weeks ago is almost all gone...it seems to make a big difference with the potatoes! If the plants are growing as fast underground as they are on top....
We stopped at the 2 greenhouses by us and got some marked down plants...peppers, squash, cantaloupe and Italian basil. They won't get planted today. We're having a thunderstorm right now and the power went off (This netbook has a battery.)
It's back on but I think I'll stop for now, anyway. Jeff planned on borrowing the column from my pc...since my monitor needs a new on/off switch and the one he lent me doesn't work...until he can get his column fixed but he just told me that after the power went off...and came back on (maybe, a surge?) his monitor started to work. Ah, computers. They are our friends. Ah, ha. Pictures to follow!
Sunday, June 16, 2013
If It's Not One Thing Than It's Another!
It was my turn to man the shop in Cooperstown Friday. With me, I had my pink & white size 6mo sweater with a plain white hat that I had hoped to add something to. Judy had suggested a pompom flower (wrap the yarn around something, tie in the middle) instead of a knitted one, so I tried it. Did 2 with what pink yarn I had left and used the last 2 buttons for the centers. This year I've been using ribbon for leaves instead of knitting them so I added some organdy 'leaves'.
I kind of liked it and someone else did too, coz it sold yesterday! That's what I like...quick turn overs. Especially in a size 6mo coz they don't take long to make. Found another skein of Red Heart baby pink in my mom's stash so I guess I know what I'm doing next!
When I got home I found that Jeff had been busy. He had taken the greenhouse apart and moved the frame, taken pallets apart in preparation to cut them into woodstove size, mowed the lawn (had to before moving the greenhouse frame), put up one gutter on the deck and found out that he needed some parts to put up the other (I had the car and Lowe's is rather a long walk), and...made a pot of spaghetti sauce for supper. WOW, what a man! Before I cooked the pasta we moved the 'ribs' of the greenhouse half way to its new site. Made out of plastic conduits it wasn't heavy...just awkward to move.
Yesterday, the greenhouse completed its move and the lawn finally got mowed all the way around. Jeff re-enforced the ribs on the greenhouse and added a bi-fold door that a friend had saved from the
garbage pile for us. Now we've got to get the plastic to cover it. Jeff's going to put the gutter garden in there. [Sue, you've got to come see the greenhouse!]
I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting and watching the garden grow. The potatoes have started to sprout in the cages and some of the peppers and tomatoes are ready to blossom. Most of the plants in the seedling beds are too small yet to transplant so there's still a lot of empty space in the garden. Funny but all this rain hasn't helped them much. Oh, and the hummingbirds visit the feeders...one in the apple tree and one in the bean tower. You haven't lived until 2 hummingbird are zooming just over your head trying to scare each other away from the feeder! And, I started another ladies summer top. This one is a size small in the silky ivory cotton/acrylic blend. I changed the directions a little coz I'm doing it on a circular needle so there will not be any seams to sew. I like the way the sweater hangs this way.
The monitor on my pc needs a new switch but that will have to wait until next week. I can't quite figure out how to get the camera to download to the netbook. But, rain is scheduled for this afternoon so maybe Jeff will take the time to do it and I can knit!! (Jeff tried but couldn't get the netbook to accept the camera so he took the camera to his place, downloaded the photos and emailed them to me. Whatever works!!)
 |
| "Pretty in Pink" |
When I got home I found that Jeff had been busy. He had taken the greenhouse apart and moved the frame, taken pallets apart in preparation to cut them into woodstove size, mowed the lawn (had to before moving the greenhouse frame), put up one gutter on the deck and found out that he needed some parts to put up the other (I had the car and Lowe's is rather a long walk), and...made a pot of spaghetti sauce for supper. WOW, what a man! Before I cooked the pasta we moved the 'ribs' of the greenhouse half way to its new site. Made out of plastic conduits it wasn't heavy...just awkward to move.
Yesterday, the greenhouse completed its move and the lawn finally got mowed all the way around. Jeff re-enforced the ribs on the greenhouse and added a bi-fold door that a friend had saved from the
garbage pile for us. Now we've got to get the plastic to cover it. Jeff's going to put the gutter garden in there. [Sue, you've got to come see the greenhouse!]I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting and watching the garden grow. The potatoes have started to sprout in the cages and some of the peppers and tomatoes are ready to blossom. Most of the plants in the seedling beds are too small yet to transplant so there's still a lot of empty space in the garden. Funny but all this rain hasn't helped them much. Oh, and the hummingbirds visit the feeders...one in the apple tree and one in the bean tower. You haven't lived until 2 hummingbird are zooming just over your head trying to scare each other away from the feeder! And, I started another ladies summer top. This one is a size small in the silky ivory cotton/acrylic blend. I changed the directions a little coz I'm doing it on a circular needle so there will not be any seams to sew. I like the way the sweater hangs this way.
The monitor on my pc needs a new switch but that will have to wait until next week. I can't quite figure out how to get the camera to download to the netbook. But, rain is scheduled for this afternoon so maybe Jeff will take the time to do it and I can knit!! (Jeff tried but couldn't get the netbook to accept the camera so he took the camera to his place, downloaded the photos and emailed them to me. Whatever works!!)
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Tip Toeing Between the Raindrops
Seems like we can't get more than a day or two of dry weather at a time. The garden is getting planted...slowly...but nothing is really growing. The tomatoes and peppers in planters on the deck have been practicing their back stroke...the pots have been flooding!! The only healthy crop we have so far is mosquitoes! and there are too many of them!
Jeff had another procedure on his back this past Monday. This time, after locating the nerves with the fluoroscope, hollow tubes were inserted and radio frequency waves were transmitted cutting the nerves. The results may last for 12-18 months. So far the pain level has been quite low and manageable...hope it continues.
We've been getting some interesting 'stuff' at garage sales. This week we used the old fashion, hand-cranked meat grinder Jeff got a couple of weeks ago and made some hamburg. We had gotten a couple of nice big pieces of top round on sale at Hannaford. Jeff had the butcher cut them into 1" pieces that cook up perfectly on our Ronco rotisserie. This week we pressure canned some of
.jpg)
those pieces and put some of them... and the fatty scraps...thru one of the meat grinders. Our hamburg came out fantastic! Have to do it again.
With all the rain I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done. I finished my ladies summer top...really a tank top...in a cotton/acrylic blend. Very silky. And another baby set, this time in pink and white with a white hat decorated with 2 pink flowers. It will be nice if they sell...fast!
(6/15/13-the monitor on my PC has a problem so all photos will be added later.) Photo added 6/17
Jeff had another procedure on his back this past Monday. This time, after locating the nerves with the fluoroscope, hollow tubes were inserted and radio frequency waves were transmitted cutting the nerves. The results may last for 12-18 months. So far the pain level has been quite low and manageable...hope it continues.
We've been getting some interesting 'stuff' at garage sales. This week we used the old fashion, hand-cranked meat grinder Jeff got a couple of weeks ago and made some hamburg. We had gotten a couple of nice big pieces of top round on sale at Hannaford. Jeff had the butcher cut them into 1" pieces that cook up perfectly on our Ronco rotisserie. This week we pressure canned some of
.jpg)
those pieces and put some of them... and the fatty scraps...thru one of the meat grinders. Our hamburg came out fantastic! Have to do it again.
With all the rain I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done. I finished my ladies summer top...really a tank top...in a cotton/acrylic blend. Very silky. And another baby set, this time in pink and white with a white hat decorated with 2 pink flowers. It will be nice if they sell...fast!
(6/15/13-the monitor on my PC has a problem so all photos will be added later.) Photo added 6/17
Thursday, June 6, 2013
A Busy Week
We've been busy this week in spite of the weather. There were a couple of those HHH days (hazy, hot and humid) and some wet and cold ones, too, but Jeff got more of the garden planted. He had to put kick-walls around some of the beds coz Fanny can't understand that 'keep out of the garden' and 'stay in the yard' refer to the same area of ground. Now there is a trail thru the plants that she races around. (She doesn't jump the walls although none of them are higher than 6"!)
Jeff put a flower box around the apple tree in the center of the garden and I planted some wildflower/hummingbird mix seeds in it. (Jeff maintains the planter is to protect the tree's roots when he tills around it). He's trying a new method to grow potatoes this year: potato cages. The
chicken wire cages are buried about 6" in the ground and filled in as the plant grows. Easier than hilling and at harvest time, the cages just have to be unrolled. No bruising the potatoes.
Jeff also built the 1st bonfire of the season one of those cold evenings and we sat outside until 10 pm. (I bought some marshmallows yesterday so I'm ready for the next time!!) I'm waiting for Tractor Supply to put the swing chairs I want on sale to finish the firepit area.
Monday Jeff had a series of injections in his spine. Using fluoroscopy for direction, probes were first inserted in his back to locate the nerves. When they hit a nerve, a block was injected. He ended up with 5 injections on one side of his spine. He had a good reaction to the procedure and the pain level went down. Monday the other side will be done. Then after a couple of weeks it will be decided if a more permanent procedure can be done. Of course, he hasn't been taking it easy this week...planting the garden, cutting up pallets, putting his sister's attic floor back together, etc, but his pain level has stayed down. Hopefully the results from the 2nd procedure will be just as good and a permanent solution can be achieved.
Every time we go to Utica...via the old road between Frankfort and Utica...Jeff points out a farm just before my cousin's house that has a nice pile of composting cow manure. Yesterday on the way to his sister's we stopped. Come to find out, Jeff knew the guy from when they were young in Corn Hill! So, on the way home from Sherry's we stopped and got a trailer load. It was a slow ride home thru the valley towns with the 4-way flashers going but the trailer and ol'Subarbu did ok...and we didn't get a ticket for overloading!! Jeff would like to go back for another load when we need it. The price was right. We got a lot more this way than when we bought that bagged compost from the transfer station...and we know this stuff is 'organic'!
Today my mechanical heart valve had it's annual check up in Cooperstown. My bp is ridiculously low for someone my size (118/68) and the valve is clicking nicely. Just got to work on lowering my cholesterol (and losing some weight)! I stopped at the shop afterwards to restock my shelves and found out that I had sold a toddler pullover this morning. My stock bag is empty but my shelves are full so I decided now is the time to try to knit a lacy ladies tank top. The yarn is a beautiful sea foam green cotton/acrylic blend...soft and silky... but only sock weight and is done on size 3 needles! I'd like to get it finished before my next work day at the shop which is a week from tomorrow. We'll see.... (I had a slice of pepperoni pizza from Sal's in Cooperstown for lunch. Good!! Fanny had a paperback book...borrowed from Jeff... off the kitchen table for her's. Not good!))
The mouse on my desk top PC is wireless and needed new batteries but not having any, I tried to plug in the old mouse...and keyboard...but that just made it worse. The whole thing is now froze up!! Jeff's trying his 'unplug' everything trick but we won't know til tomorrow if it's going to work this time. This post is being written on my netbook but any photos will have to wait until the PC is running again.
(Photos added 6/8/2013)
Jeff put a flower box around the apple tree in the center of the garden and I planted some wildflower/hummingbird mix seeds in it. (Jeff maintains the planter is to protect the tree's roots when he tills around it). He's trying a new method to grow potatoes this year: potato cages. The
chicken wire cages are buried about 6" in the ground and filled in as the plant grows. Easier than hilling and at harvest time, the cages just have to be unrolled. No bruising the potatoes.
Jeff also built the 1st bonfire of the season one of those cold evenings and we sat outside until 10 pm. (I bought some marshmallows yesterday so I'm ready for the next time!!) I'm waiting for Tractor Supply to put the swing chairs I want on sale to finish the firepit area.Monday Jeff had a series of injections in his spine. Using fluoroscopy for direction, probes were first inserted in his back to locate the nerves. When they hit a nerve, a block was injected. He ended up with 5 injections on one side of his spine. He had a good reaction to the procedure and the pain level went down. Monday the other side will be done. Then after a couple of weeks it will be decided if a more permanent procedure can be done. Of course, he hasn't been taking it easy this week...planting the garden, cutting up pallets, putting his sister's attic floor back together, etc, but his pain level has stayed down. Hopefully the results from the 2nd procedure will be just as good and a permanent solution can be achieved.
Every time we go to Utica...via the old road between Frankfort and Utica...Jeff points out a farm just before my cousin's house that has a nice pile of composting cow manure. Yesterday on the way to his sister's we stopped. Come to find out, Jeff knew the guy from when they were young in Corn Hill! So, on the way home from Sherry's we stopped and got a trailer load. It was a slow ride home thru the valley towns with the 4-way flashers going but the trailer and ol'Subarbu did ok...and we didn't get a ticket for overloading!! Jeff would like to go back for another load when we need it. The price was right. We got a lot more this way than when we bought that bagged compost from the transfer station...and we know this stuff is 'organic'!
Today my mechanical heart valve had it's annual check up in Cooperstown. My bp is ridiculously low for someone my size (118/68) and the valve is clicking nicely. Just got to work on lowering my cholesterol (and losing some weight)! I stopped at the shop afterwards to restock my shelves and found out that I had sold a toddler pullover this morning. My stock bag is empty but my shelves are full so I decided now is the time to try to knit a lacy ladies tank top. The yarn is a beautiful sea foam green cotton/acrylic blend...soft and silky... but only sock weight and is done on size 3 needles! I'd like to get it finished before my next work day at the shop which is a week from tomorrow. We'll see.... (I had a slice of pepperoni pizza from Sal's in Cooperstown for lunch. Good!! Fanny had a paperback book...borrowed from Jeff... off the kitchen table for her's. Not good!))
The mouse on my desk top PC is wireless and needed new batteries but not having any, I tried to plug in the old mouse...and keyboard...but that just made it worse. The whole thing is now froze up!! Jeff's trying his 'unplug' everything trick but we won't know til tomorrow if it's going to work this time. This post is being written on my netbook but any photos will have to wait until the PC is running again.
(Photos added 6/8/2013)
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