Veggies, Knitting and Counry Living

   One of the joys of living in the country is having a garden.  Well, these past 2 years we haven't been very 'joyful' because Jeff's had trouble with his back and wasn't able to work a garden.  Last year we suffered without fresh veggies but this year we've been blessed.  My old college friend, Maggie Schanz, and her husband have been giving us veggies!  Today I found a of couple bags on the doorknob!!  

Jeff had used last week's veggies in the stew he made in the crockpot and I used the zucchini last night when we had pasta for supper.  Nothing like breaded and fried zucchini with a dish of pasta!  (Jeff finished the pasta and meat overnight and I had the zucchini for lunch today.)  Actually, I had made braciole...stuffed beefsteak...for only the 2nd time and it turned out even better than the 1st.  I can honestly say it tasted better than or at least as good as my mom's!  Jeff really liked it, anyway.  

   

I got fancy and strung up Horst's garlic.  It will stay firm longer than way and it looks good hanging in the kitchen window.

  Oh, Maggie had included a zucchini bread but it didn't last long enough to have it's picture taken.  It did taste good!

   I've been getting ready to work in the shop tomorrow...not that I've been selling much but that I've been trying to come up with some new things and I've been finishing some WIP that have been hanging around for awhile.  I've got a ladies cotton 

hat ready to go to the shop

and a pair of ladies socks that have to be mailed to my cousin in Wisconsin.

I've started a lacey shawl that's coming along nicely.  The first half is just stockinette and goes rather quickly.  The bottom will be lace and that may take a bit longer.  I'm doing it on a circular US7 with a gray wool baby yarn that I got in my Yarn Pal package from Australia.  It working up very nicely and is so soft.  The pattern called for sock yarn and smaller needles so my shawl will be a little bit bigger but I rather like it.  Have to wait for the photos.  I also volunteered for and was chosen to do a test knit for The Stitch Angels to benefit US veterans, active duty, and wounded warriors.  The pattern I'm testing will be available for purchase on Ravelry in early September.  It's the first time I've ever done anything like this so a few prayers and good wishes for nimble fingers and a clear mind couldn't hurt.  And now it's time to get back to the baseball hat that I have to replace tomorrow.  At least something is selling!

The Wonders of Yarn Pals!

    I was just sitting here at my PC just now when there was a 'beep beep' in the driveway.  That usually means the postman has something special to deliver and today was no exception.  She had me sign for a soft and squishy package that had traveled all the way from AUSTRALIA! (Half the fun of these Yarn Pal swaps is where the package comes from!!)   You can 

see from the photo that it was full of some pretty neat stuff.  That stuffed tiger and kola are dog toys! And at the back of the photo is baby pattern book with some of the cutest baby things!  I can't wait to knit some of those things!  There is a tape measure and a needle case.  Oh, and a bag of chocolate covered cherries!  Aren't Yarn Pal packages great?  Oh, my Australian Yarn Pal's name is Arlene Fulton.

Wanna Go For A Ride?

     Zoey loves to run...down to Wally's and thru the old horse pasture between our properties.  Jeff usually gets onto the Cub Cadet to go after her and gives her a ride back home in the utility trailer behind the tractor.  She loves that!  He also takes her down to the mailbox that way.  Fanny, on the other hand, does not 'run away'.  She walks...almost strolls...away from the house into the horse pasture.  Jeff uses the Cub Cadet to track her down, too, but he tends to 'herd' her home...she won't get into the trailer (don't think she'd fit, anyway!) or get too close to it (it makes too much noise for her.)  Fanny usually won't even stay outside if Jeff is mowing the lawn on the Cub Cadet!  Zoey wants to be in the trailer but he won't let her so she's either tethered or inside baying and barking up a storm when he's mowing!
   Yesterday my college friend Maggie stopped for a few minutes with her husband, Horst.  They brought us a bag of homegrown veggies and several jars of homemade jam.  Maggie had given me a jar of her strawberry jam earlier this summer and I've been enjoying it...and trying to make it last.  She brought more jars of strawberry and some seedless black raspberry jam that sounds delicious!  They had just picked blueberries and I politely declined any blueberry jam.  Now, if they were to offer some blackcap jam....
   Jeff had gotten a deal at Hannaford's on a pork butt earlier this week and had put it in the crockpot Wednesday night to cook with potatoes and carrots overnight.  When he realized how much there was, we called my cousin Ed and invited him over for supper on Thursday to help us eat it.  The meat was so tender it just fell apart...and so good!  I got some corn on the cob to go with it and Ed brought an apple pie for dessert.  We ate well that night...except that when I went to make a pot of coffee nothing happened.  I filled the pot with coffee grounds and water and turned it on but when it was time to pour the coffee...the water was still where I had poured it!  So we had pie and ice cream without coffee for dessert.  I don't think it bothered Ed or me but Jeff quickly rigged up a French-press type coffee pot after supper so he could have COFFEE!  We got a new 'Mr. Coffee' yesterday.   I guess a machine that costs less than $20 can't be expected to last more than 2 years...especially with the kind of water we have (no matter how many times you run it thru a filter before you use it!).  Maggie & Horst told us that they use a French-press for the same reason but Jeff wants a HOT cup of coffee available all hours of the day and night, so a French-press wouldn't work for us.
   In Maggie and Horst's bag of veggies there was a nice size green pepper and several red tomatoes so last night the pepper got fried up with some potatoes and one of the tomatoes got sliced up to go on top of the 'burgers I cooked.  Jeff really cleaned up his plate! (So did I!)  We both miss having a garden this year.  Maybe next year Jeff's back will be up to it.
   Just got word that the shop had a record-setting day in sales yesterday!  The member who worked, Sharon, is a very talented lady and she creates a wonderful atmosphere where tourist like to spend money.  I've been planning a trip down to restock all week and have been putting it off and now it's pouring!  Maybe tomorrow.  At least I can knit another hat or two! 
   

Soft, Squishy Packages

     I found a soft, squishy package on the front seat of my car last week.  Our mailman has learned that said 'soft, squishy packages' are important parcels and usually come from far away, making them too important to stuff into our mailbox...especially when it's raining!  This 'soft, squishy package' came from Dublin, Ireland and was from my new Yarn Pal, Ruth Montgomery.  It was full of wonderful things...yarn, a small stuffed bear, more yarn...just too much to mention!  And a key chair with a enameled sheep on it!  I've been having a problem with my key chain...it's getting old and the keys keep falling off!  Jeff brought in the 2 keys to the shop one day and just the other day the car keys fell off!  I quickly replaced my faulty keyring with the sheep from Dublin!
   Today I mailed a 'soft,  squishy package' to Scotland.  It held 2.1 lbs of yarn, pattern books and knitting notions in a project bag that I made and cost $35 to mail!  I was lucky enough to find most of what I sent on sale so I could keep the declared value low on the customs form.  (I know that's not how it's suppose to work but I don't know how you can send somebody a gift and declare the true value of it when you know they may have to pay a custom's fee on it.)
  When I worked in the shop last week I was just finishing the project bag and collected a lot of compliments on it so I decided to make some to sell.  I cut the number of stitches and number of rows and it turned into a cute little bag that could be used for a lunch bag or a project bag...or even a purse! And since it's knit from 100% cotton yarn, it is machine wash and dryable!  I've got 2 just about finished and should finish a 3rd before I go back this Saturday.  The bag is called a Japanese Knot Bag and is based on a design by Jean Barresi,  It's available for free on Ravelry.com. I would love to post photos of my little knot bags but my camera's memory card is full so that will have to wait until I can get a new car.  (Jeff says just delete some photos but I won't do that.  Never can tell when I'd want those pix!!)
   While I was working on the Knot bag I developed a cramp in my right hand...my index and 2nd finger twisted and it hurt like HELL!  It lasted quite awhile, too.  (I can honestly say, it was even worst than a trigger cramp, if you ever had one of them!)  Anyway, when the cramp finally subsided my hand started to swell up.  I sat there for awhile massaging it and that helped some and I went outside and grabbed the old pipe that's the handrail for the stairs.  Now, that felt good!  But I couldn't stay there...outside of the shop...all day!  I kept massaging my hand and eventually went back to knitting because although it hurt to knit, it hurt more not to knit and let the fingers/hand stiffen.  By the end of the day, when I got home, my hand was pretty stiff and sore.  The next morning it was even more sore!  Since I already had a MD appointment for Monday morning I just kept 'RICE' and knitting.  The doctor noticed that it was still swollen and ordered an X-ray.  Haven't gotten the results yet but he thinks it just a bad sprain.  Ah, getting old is such fun!

You win some...

   It's been a struggle to housetrain Zoey, our 13-month old Beagle.  From the beginning when there was a path of pee pads thru the house it was not a sure thing that she would use them.  Let's just say her aim was off.  She would have her front paws on them but the important rear end wasn't.  Or she would run over the pad and her 'deposit' would run off onto the floor.  She'd even have one front and 1 rear paw on the pad but not quite enough of the middle over the pad.  It was funny...in the beginning...for awhile...a short while...a very short while.  As the scent in our house changed to 'Mr. Clean', I think Zoey became even more confused.  If it smelled like 'Mr. Clean' it must be alright to go there, became her motto.  Since her 1st birthday on May 27th, the number of pee pads has shrunk until there are none and for the last 2 weeks, she's actually been making it to the door...some of the time.  But there have been setbacks.
   Yesterday was a very traumatic day for Zoey.  Jeff was changing the transmission belt on the Cub
Cadet in the back yard and Zoey was watching him from the parlor window.  And conveying her dismay that she was not out there helping.  Loudly.  When he got the machine back in working order, he cut the grass and Zoey ran from room to room barking and baying, following his progress around the house.  By the time he finished and came back in the house, Zoey was hysterical.  (Ever seen/heard a hysterical beagle?  Trust me, you don't want to.)  It took most of the evening and many treats for Zoey to calm down.  And many 'oops' in the parlor and my room.  (I think she was blaming me for not letting her out.)  Jeff just talked to her when I announced another 'oops' (no discipline) and even I couldn't be too angry at her  (at him, maybe).  I just cleaned it up again and again.  
   This morning around 6am,  Zoey woke me and I was shocked...there weren't any puddles or piles anywhere in the house.  Jeff had take both dogs out before he went to bed as usual and she stayed with him most of the night.  I let the dogs out...Fanny was back in about 10 minutes, Zoey stayed out about 1/2 hour...gave them some of their morning biscuits and we all went back to bed.  Around 9:30 we all got up...the aroma of coffee had finally got to Jeff...and the dogs went back out.  Still no puddles or piles in the house.  Jeff asked if I had cleaned up after Zoey this morning and I said no.  That was a quick trip for both of them because they wanted the rest of their breakfast.  Zoey just got Jeff to let her out again for another quickie and I'm pleased and surprised to say, still no puddles or piles.  Why?  Who knows.  Did the bout of hysteria trigger something deep in Zoey's brain?  ??  I'll take any and all steps forward I can get.   Will it last?  One can only hope.

Life in the Great Northeast!

   Life has been quiet here in the little house in the little woods.  Zoey, the beagle puppy (should I still call her that?  She's almost 13 months old?) is still struggling with housetraining.  She now knows to go to the door when she wants to go outside but she seems to forget why she wanted to go out and after being outside for any length of time playing with Fanny, the older dog, or trying to follow a scent across the yard...even up to an hour...when she comes in she makes a 'deposit' on the floor, usually in the parlor or in my room.  I kept using pee pads there after we stopped putting them all over the house so Jeff says she's looking for her pee pad.  He blames me...says I 'trained' her to use those areas.  She doesn't use the kitchen or TV room where there were pee pads just the parlor and my room.  I think she's associating the smell of "Mr. Clean" with the place 'to go' so I'm going to try a different cleaner and see if that helps.  I've never had a dog that took so long to catch on to the program.  I know she knows she's done something wrong coz when I catch her 'making a deposit' all I have to say is "Oh, Zoey!" and she curls her tail under and tries to slink away.  I hope it all starts making sense to her...SOON!
   While sales in the shop have generally been brisk, anything 'Baby' especially my hats and sweaters are barely selling.  The bigger size sweaters aren't selling, either.  I've been working on a couple of shawls and hope to finish them this week so I can take them down next Thursday when I work again.  Having 292 stitches on the needle is hard on my left thumb...although I'm right handed, it's the digit that moves the work along. 
   Jeff's trying to replace a  transmission belt on the Cub Cadet.  The owner's manual isn't very helpful so he's watching videos on YouTube.  I can't believe you have to take the mowing deck off to get to it!
  We've both been fighting colds this past week and if you know either of us very well, you remember how well we can cough.  Wednesday night I think we both coughed more than we slept!  Last night was a little better but it's still not a restful night.  What do they say about summer colds?  Yea, they are worse than winter ones! Add to the lousy way we feel, it's been very damp and cool...no, cold, the last few days and the furnace even came on during the night!  It doesn't make it comfortable to have a June cold in the Great Northeast.
   

Housetraining the Puppy

     We are in the final stages of housetraining Zoey the beagle puppy.  All of the pee pads have been

removed except 2...kitchen and TV room...but she seems to be skipping them and choosing to use the living room and my bedroom floor!  This morning when she woke me up...at 6:45am...we walked quickly to the door and went outside w/o any mishaps.  Both dogs were out there for about half an hour when Fanny let herself in.  Jeff went out and got Zoey about 15 minutes later.  The dogs and I went back to bed for a nap and when Zoey got up again...about 8:30am...I followed her and caught her using the living room floor.  Jeff disciplined her and put her outside again.  When she came in she checked the backyard from her window perch next to my computer then stretched out for a nap in the chair.  A little while ago she got up, played with Fanny, ran into my room and got on my bed.  I just walked into my room, saw a small puddle on the floor and said "oh, no" when Zoey jumped off the bed and dove under it to hide!  Jeff came in and pulled her out and disciplined her (again) and put her back outside.  She's inside again and he's trying to 'talk' to her.  I sure hope she decides to listen soon.  I'm getting mighty tired of the smell of "Mr. Clean".