Another Snowy Day

   It's another snowy day with accumulations predicted to be between  5-8".  Jeff took our 3 month old snowblower down to the repair shop yesterday. Last week he hit a pile of frozen doggie do-do and the shear pin did not break like it was suppose to...instead, the auger bent.  The guys at Collis' (where we bought it) said they'd try to fix it quick and they did!  Got the phone call this AM that it was fixed...and 'under guarantee', so 'no charge'. Now that's a couple of the reasons we shopped locally and bought small.   Jeff got a package of shear pins and I think several on the machine were changed, too.  He finished the pass he was doing when the auger bent and is ready to do it again tomorrow...if we get more snow tonight.  And since it is snowing steadily right now, I think he'll be busy tomorrow.  I promised to take him out for supper tomorrow (Valentine's Day) in payment for all the hard work...especially for lifting the snowblower onto the utility trailer!!

   I've been spending these wintry days next to the woodstove with my knitting.  I'm on the 4th ladies cotton tank top, 4th pair of cotton socks and 2nd pair of tea gloves (fingerless, of course.)  I've been watching a lot of History and Smithsonian...some interesting programs on the Great Wall of China and the Battle of the Alamo.  Programs I can listen to and not have to watch the screen.

   Heard that my cousin, Chris and wife Denise, are expecting their first child this summer.  Got to put something for them on my knitting list, too.
   I made some meatballs the other day and I think the dog and I will finish what's left for supper tonight. I don't care what Jeff (and my grandmother Molinaro) say...I'm Italian and you can't beat a good meatball!

   Ah, snow!  We got about 7-8" on Wednesday and Wally, from next door, had plowed the length of the driveway Wednesday after it stopped snowing. Thursday I had to go to Basset for an PT-INR (a blood test of my clotting factors) and I knew I could drive out to the mailbox without any problems but I had to shovel to and around the car to clean off the window so I could see where I was going!  I got as much as I could off, then drove into the driveway and cleaned off the rest.  I got bogged down at the mailboxes but the Subaru did it's thing and we got un-stuck without having to do any digging.  (My INR was 2.9...which my doctor thinks is near perfect for me.) After that I went to Hannaford's and did a little grocery shopping, got some cooked chicken at the salad bar there and went home.  Had a little trouble backing up into the driveway between the house and the garage but managed to get in finally.  Yesterday Jeff gave me a lesson on using the snowblower.  It's not that difficult but I don't want to be an independent woman that much!  We both know that I can do it if I have to, but I'm not going to unless he makes me. He finished the driveway and the path around the house(past the stove chimney and heating fuel intake pipe) but then something went wrong and he broke a pin or something and that ended the snowblower's usefulness.  Today Jeff was going to stop at Kenny's to find out exactly what the guarantee will fix for us.  Remember, it was new in November!!   

I was happy to go back to my knitting.  I've got 3 tank tops and 2 pairs of ladies socks finished.  I started a pair of tea gloves (fingerless) with a keyhole on the back of the hand and a button closure, lacey little things.  Ladies sweaters and socks take a lot longer to knit that babies and children's.  I was going to spend a month on them, but haven't got as much finished as I wanted to so I'm going to keep  working on them for a couple more weeks.  I know I can do 2-3 baby sweaters in a week, and a pair of baby socks in 2 days, so I can wait until March to start working on them.  In the meantime, I've worn holes in both my index fingers working on the small sharp pointed needles.  I will be glad to get back to the blunt size 8's!  
   The Canadian TV station in our cable system has been showing the Olympics live...so is NBCSN...but I haven't found anything exciting to watch yet.  Oh, well, back to the comfort of the wood stove and my knitting!  Can't wait to find out how much the snowblower repairs will be.

A Little Excitement

  We had a little excitement here yesterday.  I noticed that the wood stove pipe had separated just below the inside elbow and told Jeff.  When he put  the pipe together again he noticed that it really needed cleaning. So that what he did...took the bottom cap off the pipe outside and cleaned it.  Then he took the elbow apart and cleaned the upright section and then the firebox, putting all the soot into the ash bucket. After he put the pipe back together-again, he emptied the ash bucket into the snow covered compost bin. And we sat down to supper (Italian stuffed peppers...a great recipe from an old friend, Liz O'Brien).  After supper Jeff went into the den to check the wood stove and suddenly started yelling.  He told me to look outside and when I did, I saw what he was yelling about.  The compost bin was on fire!  Flames were 3-4 ft into the air!!  Jeff grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran outside. He was soon back in the house filling the ash bucket with water and telling me to fill the pressure canner...it's the biggest kettle we have! When I handed him the canner he said to call the fire department!  He managed to knock down the fire but he was afraid there wouldn't be enough water in the well to put it out.  East Herkimer Volunteer Fire Department was soon racing down our road and Jeff was waiting for them at the mailboxes to direct them to turn and not go sailing past us. (We tend to have that problem with emergency vehicles and repair trucks.)  They brought all 3 trucks (!!!) and the fire was soon out.  They pulled the sides off the compost bin...that's what was burning...but the contents were solid ice!  Jeff was worried that the fire would spread to the wood shed but, thankfully, that didn't happen. We were both a little edgy afterward, thinking that it might start up again, but we made it thru the night ok. Still don't know what started the fire if the contents were solid ice.  Maybe methane

gas escaping thru the chimney's in the compost piles.  I think it doesn't take much to start that. Anyway, this is what's left of our compost bin.  But the plastic on the woodshed didn't even melt!

A Near Perfect Day

   Jeff and I had lunch today at Liz's Mohawk Diner on Main St. in Mohawk, next to Foor's Auto Repair.  We've been fans of Liz's thru her Washington St, N Main and S Main Sts diners in Herkimer and we were both glad to hear she had decided to try it again.  This time there is ample parking, a large kitchen and a just big enough dining room to offer dinners...including fish fry's on Friday!...besides breakfast and lunch.  We were greeted like long-lost family when we walked into the rooster-decorated diner...not what we had expected at all.  We're planning a Friday nite dinner there.
   When we got home, I found a bag of sock yarn on the door knob with an order for 2 pairs of socks. Earlier I had discovered that the mail carrier had put my KnitPicks order in the car...rather than leave it on the porch.  That cotton blend yarn looked so good...the colors are terrific!  And I had stopped at Walmart before lunch and got a skein of yarn for a pair of mittens for my friend, the Hot Dog Lady.  I've got enough yarn to keep me busy for awhile so I don't care how bad the weather gets!  At least for a week or so.

Another Day...

   We spent yesterday afternoon and evening sitting by the woodstove watching TV and talking.  Managed to burn quite a bit of wood from the shed as well as a bundle of kiln-dried hardwood that I got at Hanniford's.  Usually we buy bundles at Stewart's when we get gas but I didn't feel like going that far (another 9 blocks) into town since the car didn't need gas.  The Hanniford's bundle is a little smaller and cheaper than the one at Stewart's...and lighter...and the Stewart's bundle does last longer....Oh, well, time vs money.
   I made a meatloaf for supper but it was a little flat...no onions.  We use equal parts ground beef and hot sausage so it wasn't totally blah.  Baked potatoes and gravy (for Jeff) and canned carrots. A nice...and easy meal. 
   I've been working with a cotton/acrylic blend from KnitPicks called Comfy.  It's a beautiful yarn with a little sheen and a nice soft feel. I did a couple of ladies tank tops or camisoles with lace inserts on US 4 circulars and now I'm just finishing a pair of socks (on US 2 short circulars) with lace legs/cuffs.  The socks and one of the tops is done in Flamingo, a pale pink and the other top is in Marlin, a deep turquoise.    I ordered more yarn from the company and got an email yesterday that it was shipped and on it's way. Should get here Tuesday.  There's enough of the Marlin left for socks so that's my next project.  If I finish them before my order gets delivered, I still have some Comfy in Cream so I could start another pair of socks.  Need the delivery before I can do another top, though. (The index finger on my left hand has a sore spot on it from pushing the point of the US 2's that I don't get using the 4's so I'm really hoping the yarn gets here soon!)
   I discovered another mystery writer who sets his stories in the American southwest.  His name is Kirk Mitchell and I've read a couple of his books.  It's funny coz he evens mentions Tony Hillerman and his characters!  Hillerman was the best but Mitchell writes a good story, too, using a variety of Native American characters and incorporating their spiritual beliefs into the story line.  But, I finished the last book I had last night.  Downton Abbey better be good tonight coz there's nothing to read here!!

   

Ah, Winter!

   Ah, winter continues to roll along...not  exactly  merrily but fast enough.  The Great Winter Storm, Janus, managed to miss us, whacking my cousins in Delaware quite hard.  They got 12" of snow...which effectively shut them down.  Meanwhile, up here in the little woods we got 2" but temperatures dove well below zero...let alone freezing!  The Subaru's proved their superiority and both started without spending the night in a garage!  As long as they do it again tomorrow after another night of minus temperatures I'll be happy. After another night of shivering under the many covers...and beside the dog...on my bed Jeff pried open the register and the room lost it's frosted walls. It wasn't bothering him, just me.  Even with wool socks on, my feet were like ice!!  Must be the Warfarin.  Rat poison isn't that good for anybody.
   Yesterday the TV decided not to have any audio after I knocked the remote control on to the floor.  I tried to reprogram the cable box...even called the cable company, but the tech said I either needed a new remote ($9.99) or a new TV ($$$). I agreed to the remote and spent the evening without TV, knitting and then reading.  (Tony Hillerman's daughter, Anna, has continued his Navajo police series and she writes almost as good a story as her dad did.  The new book is titled Spider Woman's Daughter.)  Jeff didn't agree with the tech and today he had time to play around with the tv and got the audio back so I called the cable company again, got a different tech and she was able to reset the cable so everything works again.  
   In the meantime, I finally got a 2nd ladies cotton tank top or chamois finished for the shop.  This one is pale pink with a lacey Celtic knot worked on the front. (The first one is dark green with lacey leaves.) Tonight I'm working on ladies lacey cotton socks.  Think there's a theme here?
   Even with heat coming into this room, the bedroom is still cold so I think it's time to go sit by the fire and knit. I finally got smart and have been using an Aldi's canvas bag to carry wood.  I can bring in 3x as much wood in a single trip in the bag rather than carrying it in my arms!  Jeff doesn't think the canvas bag will last long so we're going to look for a wood carrier at Lowe's next time we're there.  Oh, Jeff found directions for fire starters on YouTube using cotton balls and wax so he's been melting old candles and making some.  They work quite well...as long as you don't over saturate the cotton ball!  And they smell rather nice, too.

Winter Rolls Along

My PC and I have been feuding.  It thinks it's smarter than me (don't tell it I agree) and won't always let me go where I want.  When that happens, I use Jeff's trick and just turn off everything and wait until the next day.  Nine times out of ten, I'm in charge again.

Yesterday, 1/13/14, would have been my mom's 100th birthday.  She was not looking forward to that event.  Claimed it was not something to celebrate. She made us promise not to plan anything so I said I'd wait until summer when family and friends could travel easier.  She just said "we'll see".  Oh, well. 

Winter continues to roll along.  The temperatures this month have gone from -8 to 52 in just days!  Our driveway is the usual speed skating rink it always turns into and I've fallen once.. so far.  Jeff has spread ashes from the wood stove, ice melt and sand around the cars and to the wood shed making it easier to move around out there. Also making it easier to track it more muck.  And adding the possibility of picking up a nail in a car tire. Oh, the fun of living in the little house in the little woods in the winter.

Our Berkey water filter is a wonder!  Finally we have clean water to cook with and drink.  It has overflowed once...filling the drawer beneath it with about 1" of water.  Now I leave a bowl under the spout just to be safe.  But it's still worth it coz now we don't have to haul plastic gallon jugs of water!

I've started building my stock for the next season in Cooperstown by doing some ladies tank tops with lace inserts down the front.  I've also done 'tea gloves'...I think they'd be rather Gothic if done in black, and I'm planning on doing ladies socks with lace cuffs, too.  All in a cotton/acrylic blend that is soft and comes in a wide variety of colors.  I've got an idea for a display but it will require some carpenter's know how. (Oh, Jeff....)  I'm giving myself the month of January to do adult knitting before I start doing the usual children and baby's things.  Photos will follow when I learn to use my camera!!  Another thing that's smarter than me.