Another Automobile Adventure

    Well, the never-ending saga of our Automobile Adventure added another chapter today.  I had a 1pm appointment in Ilion for my eyes at Woolner's so we headed out about 12:30. By the time we had turned on to Rte 5 from Smallsbush, Jeff had decided something was wrong...maybe a tire was soft...so he headed to Stewart's in Herkimer for air.  As he turned off Rte 5 to take the less traveled route thru the southside, the trip got bumpier.  The last block or so we knew we had blown the tire and were probably riding on the rim.  Yep, the right front tire was no more! (Hopefully, the rim survived!) When we got to Stewart's, Jeff got out the 'donut' and jack and started to change the tire.  Another man had just finished putting air in his tires and he offered to help, so between them they were finally able to get the jack to lift the car and get the lug nuts loose (a real feat since they had been tightened with a hydrohalic wrench on Monday when the brakes and rotors had been done!)  Another guy lent me his phone and even got the number for my optometrist in Ilion so I could call them and tell them I wouldn't be there and why.  Without those 2 guys we probably would still be sitting there in Stewart's parking lot. After they got the tire changed, we went to Tallman's Tire and ordered a replacement. It will be here on Monday. 

    I had to call Herkimer Bassett when I got home and reschedule my regular INR which was suppose to be after my eye appointment.  There was no sense having it done today as stress can effect the results.  I was still shaking when we got home and I'm sure my numbers would have been out of range again. I rescheduled my INR for next Tuesday afternoon and my eye appointment for May 19th.  Let's hope nothing unusual happens those days! 

    I had hoped for something special for my birthday (tomorrow) but a $110 tire wasn't it. Everyone kept saying 'don't drive too much on that donut' so I don't think this will be an exciting weekend...just another quiet weekend at home in the country.

 

The Strange Legend of the Christmas Pickle

As the legend goes, the Christmas Pickle is an old German custom that started with parents hiding a pickle-shaped green ornament deep in the boughs of the Christmas tree after the children had gone to bed on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas morning before presents were opened, the children would search for that hidden pickle on the tree and whoever found it first, would get an extra gift. (One flaw with this German tradition story is that children in Germany open gifts on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day.).

So, where and how did this strange quirky legend start?

One origin story goes back to the American Civil War (1861-1865) and a Bavarian-born soldier Private John C. Lower. He was enlisted in the 103rd Pennsylvania Infantry, captured in North Carolina in April 1864 and sent to the prison in Andersonville, Georgia (also known as Fort Sumter) where by August 31 there were over 31,000 prisoners. According to the Lower family history, by Christmas Eve he was starving, weak, and near death when he asked the guard for a pickle, which the guard provided. Miraculously, John recovered and credited the pickle with saving his life. After the war ended in 1865, he returned to his family in Pennsylvania and began a Christmas tradition of hiding a real pickle on the Christmas tree each year, with the first person to find it being assured of good fortune in the coming year.

Another tale is set in the Middle Ages (some versions say Victorian Era) when two Spanish children were returning home from boarding school, stopped to stay at an inn, and the innkeeper put them in a barrel of pickles. St. Nicholas happened to pass by, tapped the barrel with his wand, and set them free

CLEAN HOUSE

 

Insurance Companies

   The company who holds my house mortage has always provided my house insurance and I never complained about the cost until recently.  Last year the insurance went up to $500 a year and I thought it was too high so I decided to bundle my homeowners and car insurance thru All-State and try to save some money.  It seemed too good to be true!  The insurance payment went down to 1/3rd of what it had been and I was happy.  Then All-State decided our property wasn't clean enough.  There were tree branches over the yard that they felt should be picked up, our wood pile wasn't stacked properly, our lawn furniture wasn't put away...the list went on, so they cancelled our homeowners insurance.  Our house is on a clearing in the woods.  There is only 1 access to our house from the paved road and the back of our house has been used as garden and wood pile till now.  We do not allow access around the house because of the placement of the septic tank.  The back of our house is not even viewable from the front of the house or the road! 

   I contacted Progressive Insurance and inquired about bundling homeowners and car insurance thru them.  The price was lower than it was thru All State so I cancelled my car insurance and signed up with Progressive.  I was surprised to get a refund from All State!  But I was shocked to get a bill from them for cancelling my auto policy. That's where we are right now. More to follow.

Yardage for Simple projects

 

                 child's sweater                                                   364yds

A Cold Winter Day

    About 2 weeks ago our fuel oil company called to let us know that another round of HEAP allotments were going to be coming out and be sure to sign up.  Well, I know that you have to have 1/4 tank or less to qualify and we had just less than 1/2 a tank at that time so I figured we had to 'burn down' some.   After the super cold spell we had the last few weeks with daytime temperatures below freezing and nighttime below zero I knew we'd get down to 1/4 of a tank pretty quickly.  Jeff thought we had done it by Sunday so I planned to call HEAP and signup on Monday but I got busy and never got to it.  

   Tuesday morning we woke up to a cold house.  We had run out of fuel oil sometime in the early morning and the house got chilly quickly!!  Jeff started a fire in the woodstove and kept it going all day.  He even went to town and got a couple of more bundles of wood to be sure we had enough...besides what was in the garage.  He stayed up all night Tuesday feeding the fire and the house stayed comfortable.  We have a fan in between the TV room where the woodstove is and the rest of the house and that keeps the kitchen and parlor very cozy.  In fact, the butter in the butterdish on the kitchen table was softer on Tues & Wed than it's been since August!

   It was my turn to feed the stove during the day on Wednesday while waiting for the oil delivery and Jeff got some sleep.  I sat in the parlor working on a shawl, watching the clock so I could feed the fire on a regular basis.  The thermomature on the wall by my computer showed that the temperature in the parlor stayed between 70 and 72 all day except for one spike when it went up to 75!  Quess that piece of wood was extra heavy.  The oil delivery finally came around 3:30pm.

   Fuel oil in upstate central New York this week is going for $4.03 a gallon (our empty tank took 250 gals), because we were on 'empty' it was considered an 'off-day' delivery and we were charged an extra$65, and to have the guy come in and start the burner cost another $25.  The wood Jeff bought was $9.75 a bundle and he got 3 bundles.  I'll leave the math to the reader but it was an expensive cold day.  Oh, and there was 8.5% sales tax on everything, too!  Still it was nice to have the woodstove to fall back on.  In fact, I don't remember the last time it had been that comfortable in the house.  You can't beat wood heat.

   Here's the shawl I'm working on: "Easy as Pie' by Marissa Hernandez, available on Ravelry.  I'm doing it with Sundara Yarn's "Hills of Mist", a 100% superwash extra fine merino on US5's.  I've got 145 sts heading for 207. It will stretch out and look 'finer' after it's washed and blocked.  It gets a 30-row edging of lace to finish it offf.  The price for this shawl will probably be $80.  I've got another hank of this yarn but I think I've got to find another pattern.  I ordered yarn from Knitpicks, too.  I'm hoping I can do 4 or 5 shawls to add to my display in the shop for our April reopening.  I had thought of doing 'smalls' but my hands don't like that idea too much. I think I'd be better off doing a shawl (that sells for $80) than 6 small things that sell for a total of $80.  

A Winter Wonderland

      We haven't gotten the snowfall that was forecast (9-15") for this 'major winter storm' but since it's still coming down, who knows what we'll end up with!  This first photo was the view at 10am today from the kitchen door.  If you know how high the back bumper is on an Outback you can figure out how much snow we got over night.  Zoey, our short Beagle, says it was too much!  She went down the steps and was suddenly 'swimming' in snow!  Fanny followed her down the stairs and was just walking without any trouble while Zoey was leaving a 'belly path'!  Since this photo was taken, we've gotten at least 2" more!  The forecast was calling for 4" of new snow this afternoon but who knows what we'll end up with! 

   The mouth of our driveway is blocked by the road slush pushed there by the town plow.  There has to be at least 18" of frozen snow and ice built up there.  Needless to say, we're not going anywhere anytime soon.  Jeff had a doctor's appointment today but I called and rescheduled it.  The woman wanted to change it to March 1st at 9am but I couldn't do that to him...it's his birthday!!  So he'll have to wait to May 6th to see his MD.

   This second photo is a view from a bedroom.  Those are tracts left by a snowmobile...not a very wide truck!  After the last storm, Wally had a friend of his come over with a pickup truck and a plow and open the road.  I sure hope he does it again tonight or we will be snowed in for a few days!  The berm in the mouth of the driveway is too big for a 'walk behind' and neither our Cub Cadet or Wally's is in any shape to tackle this job.  

   Well, Jeff and the dogs are taking advantage of a quiet day to nap but I think it's time for a cup of something warm and maybe a good book.