Tameson's Musing

Trillium

2011-09-25T10:51:00.006-04:00

Sometimes serendipity answers questions when you least expect it.

Last Mothers day, my family and I were walking along the Sawyer Pond road to check out how high the water was at our favorite swimming hole.

Sam pointed out this flower and asked what it was and I didn't know.

Until yesterday that is when I went to the Audubon in Auburn and visited the bathroom. In the bathroom was a gorgeous mural of all sorts of local plants and flowers including this:

Finished the Claifornia Red

2010-01-03T12:40:00.003-05:00

I finished spinning up the california red. It's much softer in 2 ply.

New Year, New Project

2010-01-01T08:49:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I alluded to a new project I had just started. I'm going to give you a little background first. A year or two ago I joined a wool swap on the sheep-l list-serve. All the hand spinners sent in zip lock baggies of fibers from the animals they had (this was before I sold the girls), and the person organizing the swap reassembled the boxes to include one of every kind and sent them back to us (So I sent in 9 baggies of the same thing and got back 9 different baggies).

I put the box in the office and it got buried in toys and school projects and yarn and stuff. I've been watching the A&E TV show Hoarders and the prospect of becoming one literally scares the bejeezus out of me, so I've been taking steps (baby steps) to rid myself of some of the excess stuff I have around. So I was doing a little cleaning in my office the other day and found the box with the exchange baggies. I also got Abby Franquemont's Respect the Spindle book for Christmas, and having joined team Suck-Less on the Ravelympics, so spindle spinning is really appealing to me right now.

I have decided to spin up all the samples and knit them into one garment. I haven't decided what garment yet, and I haven't decided if I'll dye any of them (there are a whole lot more in the white family than the colored family). But at this point the intention is to ultimately have one garment with the whole story.

I started to spin the first baggie yesterday. It's a California Red from Apple Rose Farm in NJ.

Kind of hard to see from this picture, but it's mostly an off white fleece with red hairs incorporated throughout. The white is pretty soft, but the red is scratchier and though spun it makes a really interesting heather effect, it's probably not next-to-skin soft enough for most people (I have a high prickle tolerance). It will be a nice mid-color in a fair isle.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-31T07:48:00.005-05:00

I have been woefully neglectful of this blog in 2009, and I resolve to have at least one post per month for 2010. I think I can manage that no matter how crazy life gets.

So I started this project last night, which was really not thinking on my part because I'm going to need a projetc for the Ravelympics* Team Suck-Less. Maybe I can swing buying some Spunky Eclectic roving for the purpose, but I'm either going to have to be tethered to the wheel - not a horrible thing mind you but since Sean has appropriated my spinning chair, not a lot gets done when he's home. The other alternative is to use a different spindle. So I might go with the latter option. I have a turkish spindle that I really love but can't seem to get it to do what I want it to do, so perhaps mastery of the turkish spindle might be a good ravelympics challenge. Hmmm....

*Those of you who can't follow Ravelry links - Ravelympics is a challenge, where during the course of the olympics (Feb 12-28) you have to complete a project from start to finish, you can't start until opening ceremonies, and you have to be completed by the end. I have joined Team Suck-Less which is Abby Franquemont's team, and the goal for thos team is not necessarily to hav a completed pair of socks or a sweater or something, but to look into an area of your spinning that needs improvement, and practice that for the duration. During the Tour De France some members of Team Suck-Less challenged themselves to spinning a mile a day - I don't think I'm ready for that - well I could be, but I have a life that intervenes and I'm not sure I could meet that challenge without undue neglect to my family, my job, and oher responsibilities. So I'm going to keep my challenge on the DL to something more doable. I'll let you all know when I decide what exactly I'm going to do.

Tomorrow's post about my new project for this winter.

My House

2009-02-09T18:12:00.005-05:00

Some people have expressed an interest in my house - I don't understand why, but anyway, here's some pictures for you. This is my house in 1931.
This next picture is me and my 11 year old painting the house last fall.

This bit of loveliness is my mantle (pardon the blurriness). It's all that's left from the great keeping room hearth. When the house was turned into a post office they went modern and took out the old chimney and replaced it with a new one - bad mistake, the floor sags toward the chimney now because the original one was what actually supported the interior of the structure, but the new one is free standing and the new posts they put in have shrunken or sank or whatever, so it's useless. They bricked up the fireplace as well and put in outlets for stove pipe in all the old fireplaces. (Yes I made the quilt, Yes that's Moxie on the mantle - this is New England after all). This picture is a prime example of the rubble stone walls in my basement. This is another bit of stupidity on the part of the previous owners...there was a bulkhead here, which they filled in, so we have no way to get into or out of the basement except by the door in my living room. I think they may have done this in a vain attempt to keep water from coming in - it didn't work, the water rises from the floor.

I appologize for the crappy photo quality - my battery was almost dead and I wanted to snap the pictures quickly - this one's blury too. Anyway, here's a lovely tree post. It appears to be cedar. It has shrunk in the years it's been holding up the floor ablove and so it's married with another post now. (that's our old furnace in the background - we can't get it out because we no longer have a bulkhead - I suppose we could dismantle it and cart it out that way, but it's really not important enough for all the work that entails).

So you see, the house is OLD, it looks OLD, and just 'cause it's old doesn't mean it's pretty.

Wool tour day

2008-10-11T20:06:00.004-04:00

We went to the NH Wool Arts Tour today. Here are the girls running to see the Alpacas at Mirage Alpacas...

They sure were nice...
Here's the loot... We didn't get anything at the Wool Room, but I overheard Anne saying that she wasn't going to participate next year so it was nice to see the place one last time. At Chauncy Farm we got a pumpkin, some apple butter from Thyme and Ewe farm in Claremont (which isn't on the picture 'cause the hubs had put it in the fridge and I forgot to get it back out, sorry Thyme and Ewe), hats for the girls from We-Z Farm in Hancock and the harp player was fantastic...Quinnie was wary of him while he was playing, but she struck up a conversation with him between songs - apparently he's only scary when he's playing. On to Western View Farm where I got some sweet shetland roving from Hope Thomas. We didn't buy anything at Mirage Alpacas either, but we spent an inordinate amount of time with their alpacas and their turkeys - Quinnie loved them. And last but certainly not least the Fiber Studio...Wow what a change! I hadn't been there since it was taken over by the new owners, they were busy and I didn't get a chance to talk to them, but they seemed friendly enough. The place has gone through a major overhaul though....they moved almost all the knitting yarns into the weaving studio area, and the upstairs was open to the public, and they had a new staircase that went downstairs to a classroom/studio space and there were two more vendors down there. The whole place just seemed open and airy and you could find things without going into tunnels and it just was lovely. I got two balls of sock yarn to make my sister Beth and Brother-in-law Kris socks for Christmas, and a braid of pretty dyed roving from one of the vendors outside the name of which regrettably I didn't pay attention to 'cause I figured the name would be on the receipt and sadly, it wasn't...well in any even it's very pretty and quite soft....I plan to spin it thin and make some gloves out of it.

I had an awesome time.

Potatoes and Beets

2008-09-11T21:26:00.003-04:00

One of the items I wanted to try for the growing challenge was potatoes. I tried them last year but I don't know what happened to them 'cause when I went to harvest them they weren't there. I think someone, or should I say some thing ate them. So this year I put in a few potato pieces I hacked from some store bought potatoes 'cause the seed potatoes I had ordered were sold out. So anyway I waited until the plants died back. I never did get to hill them, lacking a ready supply of stuff to do that wit and not having the energy/ability/ambition to dig any dirt in the oppressive humidity that was our summer.. So considering I didn't hill them and there were only a dozen or so pieces of commercial potatoes I think I did all right. Quinnie had a blast helping me find them, and she was very proud of her haul.

Labor Day Hike

2008-09-01T11:29:00.005-04:00

Sean had to work today so it was just the girls and me. Since Quinn is used to getting up early we were all up before 6 even though I would have preferred to sleep in until 8. We had a nice breakfast of Zucchini bread (isn't everyone eating tons of Zucchini bread this time of year?) and headed down to Reservation road to Hike Pawtuckaway's Boulder field.

There are tons of caves, and the girls enjoyed some spelunking in them. The rocks are huge and of varying levels of difficulty for climbing. Most of the climbing is the free climbing sort - no ropes required. Quite a few, in fact I'd say all of the good rocks have chalk residue from previous climbers.

This is Ali on top of the Lower Slab (yup we New Englanders sure can pick romantic names for things can't we) Check out the next picture for some perspective. Ali's in the same spot, can you see her?
We turned around after these and did some more cave exploring, and then we came home. Next time we're taking Dad 'cause he'd be able to give Ali some boost up to better rocks and maybe free me up from Quinn carrying duty enough to pack a lunch and some drinks and we could picnic up there.

Pawtuckaway is such a neat place. There are so many glacial deposits, every trail is a winner. I love it there!

Goodwill score for Ali

2008-08-31T19:07:00.005-04:00

Ali had her inaugural goodwill shopping spree today. Around here the good children's clothes are found at specialty children's consignment shop, and we've shopped those her whole life as well as hand-me-downs she's real big on hand-me-downs. But she's outgrown children's clothes, and she's the same size as her cousin, and Sam-me-downs don't come as often as they used to when she used to live here. Soooo I took her to goodwill today.

The loot:
Fake fur full length coat (she looks like a bear)
a hot pink fun fur hat (to go with the bear coat)
6 wicked awesome shirts
a pair of shoes
a pair of slippers
2 belts and
a pair of corduroys

All for less than $50! And that included an overstock pkg of socks for yours truly.

Good Deal no?

So after we hit up Goodwill, we went to Jo-Ann's and got some coordinating material and some pretty ribbons to make some headbands. We also got a couple pants patterns - the fleece is cheaper at Ben Franklin so we'll pick that up later, but the pattern we got is suitable for both fleece and rip-stop nylon so her fleece pants and rain pants for the environment camp will be all set. It's a teaching pattern too so that'll be great for Ali to learn on.

It's not often I go shopping, and we got terrifically lucky, so this was a good day.

Last day of Vacation

2008-08-25T12:21:00.003-04:00

I've got some mixed feelings about the end of summer. On the one hand, I'm glad we'll be back on a schedule. Quinnie has been missing her bus time - it's really the only time she gets a nap. Her mind is telling her she's too old for naps but her body tells a different story, and lately when she goes without a nap she gets hurt. Last Sunday (not yesterday), she fell off the playground equipment and got a concussion and three stitches in the back of her head. Last night she nearly toppled off the trampoline trying to get out of it (we have a safety net for the rest of it).

On the other hand, I don't want to give up days at the beach. We didn't have enough of those this year due to the near constant thunder storms and then when the weather finally cooperated Quinn's stitches. Today is, as I said, the last day of vacation and it's sunny and beautiful and we really should be hanging out at the beach, but Ali is off school shopping with Grammy and I don't want to go there without her.

They'll close the town beach after labor day, even though the weather still is nice. I suppose we could swim at the boat launch, or we could actually go to the ocean (it's only 1/2 hr away but we don't like the crowds of summertime people so we don't go in season).

Then again school sports have started and I'll have lots of trips to do, so I'll likely be busy most weekends, and we have Ali's special Pete Seeger trip coming up too.

Soon the weather will be turning cool and I'll have the energy to do all the yardwork I've been putting off since it got hot (I hate the heat). I have a chicken run to build and the rest of the fence to get in, and the winter garden to plant (gotta get going on that). Plus I've wanted to do some dyeing and canning and couldn't bring myself to run the stove (or bear the heat of cooking outside). Soon the leaves will change colors....Aaaahhhhh I love fall.

I got my bus back, and my new run, and I'm pleased with both.

Over all I guess I'm more pleased than not about the changing of the seasons. Still it's hard to let go of the beach.

Out of shape

2008-08-15T11:03:00.008-04:00

Ugh! I'm too out of shape. I'm currently close to 100lbs overweight. Yup, there I said it. I admit it. I'm fat. I'm out of shape.

About 20 years ago, when I first had Sam, I was only marginally overweight and in very good shape. I would go for day long bike rides and not be bothered by it. I had energy galore. Slowly, after sitting on the sidelines watching the children play I got chunkier and more out of shape. It was imperceptible at first, but it became staunchly noticeable when we moved to Deerfield a decade ago. In Exeter, there were a few hills but none were prolonged enough to require walking, they were either a long shallow slope or a quick steep one. Nothing one can't handle with a granny gear even toting 2 toddlers in a burley. But here, OMG! The hills are steep and a mile long, and wouldn't you know we were stupid enough to buy the house directly on TOP of a big one! I pretty much stopped riding my bike when we moved here. I can barely get my fat rear up the hills with the granny gear never mind toting a 35lb dead weight (I'm referring to Quinn here) in addition to my extra 100 lbs. Dude I can't even describe how bad it sucks!

I hate it. Being fat and out of shape that is. I want to do all the things I used to do, but it's harder to do them because of weight issues. My hips hurt when I walk for long periods, and my feet too but that's 'cause I have old non supportive shoes, and I need to get some new ones. I've tried diets, but I hate, hate, hate feeling even moderately hungry, and I LOVE food. The only way for me to decrease my weight is to increase my exercise. That's easier said than done. First off I don't do heat well - that's great most of the year, but in August, even 78 degrees and sunny is enough to put me off climbing the stairs let alone going outside and tackling the hills. I have a small child too, so I either have to carry her, or exercise when my husband is watching her, which with our current schedules is the hottest darn part of the day. So we're back to square one.

My husband briefly mentioned the other day the possibility of going to the 8:00am shift at work (his current shift is 3 am so he has to go to bed at dinner time). It would be awesome if he did get this shift 'cause then I could exercise after dinner when It's cooler, and he can put Quinny to bed - hey that's only fair, I've had bed duty for 19yrs and 10 mos straight, it'd be a welcome change. Ali could join me, it'd give us some special one on one time and we'd both get in better shape (and she can't run worth beans so I'll be able to keep up). Keep your fingers crossed for me.

In the mean time I've been intentionally increasing my exercise. The other day we took a 3 mile walk. That was nice, but I really need new shoes. I was able to free swim at the lake the other day 'cause my Mom was watching Quinn (usually I have to be right on her because our town beach doesn't allow PFDs and she's too daring and walks right out to her ears, and Ali needs the exercise as much as I do and I hate to call her in from the dock so Mommy can have a turn). The swimming out deep and for a long time felt really good (and I had fun with my nephew who I hardly ever get to see anymore). Yesterday we went to our "swimming hole" along the Swift River and I selfishly made Sean give me turns swimming upstream and riding the rapids (which isn't really exercise but the climbing over the rocks to get there sure is). It felt really awesome to do that too. I want to feel really awesome all the time. I want to get back out and enjoy all the things I used to. Hiking is a no brainer - Quinn and I walk at the same pace so I have a hiking partner already. We should pobably find some safty orange vests before hunting season though, Sean nearly had a fit when we went hiking last fall. Walking and running - should Sean get his 8:00 shift, won't be a big problem either. But I've got to really work on this whole biking thing.

Today I took Quinnie down to the local gas station (to add air to my tires and buy her a lollipop to bribe her back into the bike - "waaah no! Quinnie fall me!" - cherry tootsie pops smooth over the roughest of tribulations, but I don't keep them in the house so we always have to go somewhere to get one). It was a 3 mile round trip and I walked probably a mile of it - even with the granny gear.But my legs no longer feel like jelly and my heart isn't trying to jump out of my chest, and I've long since caught my breath, and I don't think this ride will affect my ability to mow the lawn later this afternoon, so despite the failure at getting up the hill ON my bike, I'll call this a win.

Green Autumn Mittens

2008-08-11T09:54:00.005-04:00

Well they aren't green, and it isn't Autumn yet but boy are these fun!

I can't put them down. They're like a new toy. Thank you Jared! These are spun with Molly's fleece, and will be for Ali's camp layette. She wants them fuschia so we'll dye them after they're finished (I couldn't wait to get started on them). Oh fun, fun fun!

Decisions, Decisions

2008-08-06T19:53:00.006-04:00

Please Lord, help me to make a prudent decision. I am weak Lord, I need the strength to stick with the decision you help me make....

Ok so it's not that bad really. Nothing earth shattering certainly. But I have a tendency to want to do everything and participate in every challenge that comes my way and I get overextended and beat myself up for not being able to do it all.

It's Barbara Chlorite-Ventura's fault. She was the one who sent the notification that the new site for the MS4 was up. I signed up this morning.

I already have multiple shawls in my mental queue. I have already committed myself to knitting Ali the Environment Camp layette, I have 1/2 a sweater another pair of socks, a hat and a pair of mittens yet to go and it all needs to be done before the last week in October. Poor Quinnie keeps asking "Quinnie socks?" and I keep telling her that when Ali's stuff is all done then Quinnie will get some socks and a sweater. Granted her socks will take me like an afternoon, and a sweater, maybe a week, but still...

Also, I tried the MS3 last year - I was able to keep up all right, but I never finished it. I didn't like how it went asymmetrical and I don't really like stoles anyway, I prefer big comfy climb inside shawls. And it was in the Summer, not the fall. Fall is traditionally busy.

I signed up for the Growing challenge and how many posts have I made to update that? Alright I did do the challenge stuff, but failed to post regularly about it.

It's lace...with beads! OH! how can I say no? We'll see how it goes. I can always just print out the clues and knit it later, but then it won't be a surprise...Oh I can't decide.

Help!

Growing challenge update

2008-08-04T08:50:00.004-04:00

Soooo, long time no post. (On this subject anyway). My garden is doing well despite the late start. We have some flowers on a couple of our pumpkin plants, but sadly some one who is two removed all of the plant markers so I have no idea which ones are which.

My greenhouse is overflowing with green. True, most of it is in the form of weeds but the humidity has been so darn oppressive I can't seem to bring myself to weed it. I need to stake my tomatoes. I still have a month or two before I'll need to install the plastic.

I've been putting nasturtiums in my salads since they started blooming a couple weeks ago. Very tasty! Sometime this week I plan to retire all the cut and come again lettuce and plant carrots in it's place. I'll plant new lettuces and spinach in the greenhouse between the tomatoes once I get those staked properly. We'll see how the weather cooperates.

My summer squashes have turned out to be the most rewarding though. Despite being completely in the shade they are big and bushy and quite robust. I can only attribute this to the 16 wheel barrels of sheep poop that they are planted in.

Camp sock progress

2008-08-02T08:53:00.004-04:00

Been plugging away at the socks Ali needs for camp. Let's take a look at the progress shall we?

As you can see I'm doing pretty well. I have to finish the second sock on this pair and then I have one more pair to go. The local hardware store has started carrying this new to me sock yarn. Let me just say that any sock yarn the hardware store sells is worthy of purchase, no matter what the brand or the material content of the individual yarn. I think it's wonderful that a hardware store carries sock yarn at all so I want to encourage them to continue to carry sock yarn and the best way to do that is to buy it. However, I've got to say it's not torture, nor do I feel I'm lowering my standards at all with this yarn. I normally dislike the Red Heart brand even among other acrylics because I find the yarn too squeaky and it makes me grind my teeth. This yarn, however is completely different from any Red Heart yarn I've ever used before and I really like it. It's 70% wool (that's probably why) 30% nylon - compared to Regia, 75/25 wool/polyester or Opal 75/25 wool/polyamide. It feels almost exactly the same. I love it! I'm not really feeling any effects of the aloe, but maybe Ali will have softer feet when she wears the finished socks. I mean come on, only the very tips of my fingers and the left hand ring finger touch the yarn while I'm knitting so it's not like I'd get baby smooth hands anyway. Herrschners has it for $5 a ball, in case your hardware store doesn't carry sock yarn (and if you ever see a ball for sale there buy it!). It's a real bargain.

All in a day's work

2008-08-01T19:36:00.006-04:00

So this morning after having a nice look at the latest knit-zine. I went outside to fix the fence. It rained (hard) last night so the digging was easy. I had to move 4 posts. If you are going to dig post holes I highly recommend digging them when the ground is damp. It makes the digging so much easier. I finally finished around 6 (I took a 1/2 hr lunch at 2).

My feet and hands hurt, but the fence looks great.

Bad Melody!

2008-07-31T10:16:00.004-04:00

Argh! Melody is a very smart sheep. She's a very BIG sheep. She's a very strong sheep. Melody did this.

My neighbor Martha likes to mow her lawn, and my neighbor Sheryl and Mike's lawn, and part of my lawn. Whatever floats ya Martha...Anyway, she always tosses the clippings over the fence for the sheep. Melody is a big pig. Like Pavlov's dog , the sheep sit at the fence and cry every time someone mows their lawn, whether or not it's Martha. So all day yesterday other neighbors were mowing their lawns - first Gabe accross the street then Peter, next door, on the other side. Neither of these people offered any free food to Miss Piggy Melody, and she got impatient waiting for it so she decided to remove the gate and seek her own goodies.

Guess what I'm doing tonight?

An actual argument

2008-07-30T13:11:00.002-04:00

I have two autistic boys on my bus this summer and what follows is an actual argument they had this morning...

K - "Hey guess what? Did you know..."
E - "not now"
K - "that the.."
E- shoots K a nasty look
**short pause**
K -"Oh, I'm sorry"
E - "I was reading. You interrupted me."
K -"I'm sorry, E. I was just exited about this new book I have. Do you forgive me?"
E - "Yes."

We should spend as much time coaching our non-autistic children on how to behave civilly as we do our special needs kids. The world would be a much nicer place to live if we did.

Visit with Sammie

2008-07-29T18:45:00.004-04:00

Ahhh summertime. I'm not going to say the living is easy - far from it in fact with a very headstrong, very mobile, two year old. But today it was a little easier because we went to visit with Sammie. Sammie is the swim instructor at the Nottingham town beach.

This beach is actually on the same road as we are but over the town line. So Sammie's been doing this for a few years now and has built up quite a rapport. We go down there occasionally to chum up the sister after her lessons are all over with. We had a great time swimming there today.

It's a twister! It's a twister!

2008-07-26T12:03:00.005-04:00

Wow!!

So we had a tornado on Thursday. My family was safe, as were all of the kids on my bus (a couple of them live really, really close). I still haven't heard from my boss or the people at base, and I'll take a drive up there later today as they just opened the road. I know my boss is OK though, 'cause one of my co-workers who I spoke to saw her on TV, and I'm assuming the damage to the buses was minimal 'cause the news would have been all over it otherwise.

One of the little girls that came to Ali's Birthday party last night lost most of her house and her next door neighbor. Here's a picture of her Dad from the Boston Globe:

Interestingly, this is the fourth deadly tornado to touch down in Deerfield. Wow!

I'm glad it's over.

Coming up for air

2008-07-22T13:28:00.010-04:00

Briefly taking a pause to give some updates on life at the O'Brien household. Ali has turned 11.

We had a really hard time deciding what to get her until I heard about a benefit concert that Pete Seeger will be performing for the strolling heifers in Brattleboro VT in September. So we got her 2 tickets and she and I'll be going to the concert and attending the reception afterward. It's going to be a fun night, and I hope she remembers it always.

We spent the day at Grammy and Papa's boat. We had an Om put on her cake 'cause she'd just finished yoga camp.

My gardens are is doing well and I finally got all my tomatoes in the ground. I still need to find something cheap to hill my potatoes in (cheap mulch hay anyone?) . I got some fence sections for my birthday last month and Ali and I spent Saturday putting up the first 3. They look awesome - much better than the old fence, but they'll look even better once I slap a coat of paint on them and plant a nice little perennial garden in front of it.

I've gotten both sleeves and a third of the back of Ali's Peace sign sweater done, and I'm nearly done with the second of her purple and yellow striped socks done - 2 more pairs of socks left to go, and the remainder of the sweater plus a hat and some gloves and she'll be all set knitwise.

We'll wait until next month at least before we start in on the pants - been doing a summer school run and I actually have less time at home between runs now than I do the remainder of the year.

Swap Shop

2008-07-12T17:59:00.004-04:00

The town of Deerfield has had a swap shop at the transfer station for many years, but recently it's become overridden with too much junk and not enough maintenance so the board of selectmen shut it down.

I see a swap shop as an essential tool in decluttering, recycling/reusing.

Several other people in town felt the same way and we petitioned the selectmen to re-open the swap shop. They agreed provided it was attended by volunteers every time it was open, and that we keep it clean and organized.

Our grand re-opening was June 28th, and today was my turn to be the attendant.

I had a great time. The lady I worked with was a treat, I met some new people and I scored some cool items too (as well as got to play with some neat toys I left there for someone else to take). Quinnie got a little toy car, a child sized recliner and a child sized adirondak chair. I got a metal thermal coffee cup a wicker laundry basket and the Stitch N Bitch book. All of these items were in supreme condition - very gently used, if at all.

I'm so glad I volunteered.

I'm not dead

2008-06-16T12:27:00.005-04:00

I have been so wicked busy and I am so looking forward to school vacation. So what the heck have I been up to? Well....hiking, knitting, planting, lots of field trips, swimming...My plants are almost all in - just a few more to go (no pictures regrettably - I'll get on that soon I promise). I made birthday presents for both my sister and my Mom who have birthdays coming up this summer (no public pictures until they receive their gifts). Here's a peek at some of the highlights of May and early June...

Aren't they gorgeous? Quinn and Daddy hiking at Bear Brook State Park on 4/23/08 - Sean and my 14th anniversary.I saw the Yarn Harlot in North Hampton MA with my Mom - We had a blast!We finished the NETA Afghan. I blocked it and delivered it to Sheryl Amaral of Spin-A-Bit for it's raffle tour.We got some chicks - Quinn LOVES them!And lastly, Ali will be going to environment camp this fall and needs some gear. So I've started making some things...she'll need a hat, some mittens, some fleece pants and rain pants (we'll buy a rain coat), another wool sweater, some more socks (of course). I'm going to have a good time getting all this stuff made up for her (and I'm hoping she'll help with the pants - she likes to sew).

Hopefully I won't be away for so long again.

First hike of the year

2008-04-20T08:24:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was glorious weather. I wanted to work in the yard. Sean not being around and Quinn having some massive roaming urges prompted me (after the umpteenth temper tantrum at not being allowed to walk down the road) to load the kids up in the car and take them out for a hike. Quinn loves hiking. It's truly her thing. Granted, she's 2, and her legs aren't that long so we don't usually go too far. But no matter how bad her day was, if she gets out into the woods for a little hike all becomes right in the world again. So off to the boat launch we went. I was sure the ground was dry enough after my visit last Saturday, and I thought Ali would like to climb that big boulder so that's where we went. The water was low, slow and unimpressive - so I didn't take any pictures of it, but I got some lovely shots of the girls in Quinn's element.

Greenpa has a plan

2008-04-19T11:03:00.000-04:00

People, Greenpa is angry. Please read what he has to say.

Little Blog In The Big Woods: Hunger compilation - and ACTION

Easy sock recipe

2008-04-17T09:17:00.009-04:00

Rhonda Jean asked if I had any tips on getting started with socks. I do. Socks are easy. In fact they're easier than mittens. Socks are basically a long tube with a 90 degree turn in the appropriate place. This is a recipe (not exactly a pattern) for a super duper easy pair of socks that simply can't get any easier unless they were tube socks.

Take a set of smallish double pointed needles and cast on an appropriate amount to go around your calf divisible by 4.

I'll throw some numbers out there for you just to make a trial pair, but these are so readily adaptable you can swap out needles, yarn weights, and body sizes with only second grade math skills.

So for the sake of learning lets say I have sock weight yarn in something that has some give (no cotton or linen without some synthetic additive) like 80/20 wool and nylon, size 2 US (2.75mm) needles...I'd cast on 56 stitches for a skinny leg or 60 for a big fat leg like mine or even 64 if I want them to go up over the biggest part of my calf.

Knit 2x2 rib (k2,p2) until you get sick of it...most of the time it's between 12 and 20 rows for me, but you could do the whole leg portion if you'd like. Continue down the leg in Stockinette Stitch (that's knit only when in the round) until the sock leg is long enough for your tastes and then work a separate waste piece of yarn for 1/2 of the stitches (example30 stitches if I had originally cast on 60) don't attach the yarn just leave the ends dangling. Go back to your main yarn, pick it up and continue working the sock in stockinette stitch. It's helpful to start the waste yarn at the beginning of a needle. Likewise, if you are using 4 needles instead if 5 you'll need to slip the remaining stitches onto the working needle so you can free up a needle to go back with, but you knew that.

When the piece following the scrap yarn is the same length as your foot is from your heel to the base of your toes begin toe.
With the scrap yarn (this is where your heel will go) on the bottom (picture above shows the sock upside down), flatten out your tube and find the two edges where front ends and back begins. Adjust your needles so these are at the edges of your needles (like the beginning of one and the end of another).

The toe goes like this.

round 1 Beginning on edge stitch k1, ssk, k across to3 stitches before next edge stitch k2 tog k1, repeat for other half.

round 2 knit

repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are about 8 stitches in between decreases and kitchener toe closed.

Now carefully take out waste yarn and slide your needles back into the live stitches and make a second "toe" for the heel. These are very cute if made with a contrasting color.

There are two known truths in this world. The first is that you will get a hole at the edge of the thumb on the mitten you are knitting and the second is that you will get a hole at the edge of the heel on the sock you are knitting. This is OK. You'll have a couple ends to darn in, so just make sure you pass over the hole and cinch it closed and you're good to go. I'll take care of this hole when Idarn in my ends - I just tucked them in for the picture.

Enjoy your socks!

PS - the sock in the picture was made with red heart worsted weight ACKrillic and size5 US needles - way fewer stitches (36 total) than the numbers I gave you, but the process is exactly the same.

Ali's second sock

2008-04-13T17:46:00.004-04:00

Well things have been progressing a little more slowly on the second sock. Not due to second sock syndrome or anything mundane like that but just that the weather has been sublime so we've been outside as much as possible. Yesterday we raked a wee bit, and then I went for a walk down to the boat launch at Pawtuckaway - that's about 41/2 miles away from my house. It was a gorgeous walk. I was reading the first few chapters of my newest book while I walked ($2.00 used Living the good life by the Nearings). I like it OK I suppose, but I think they're far more pompous than the author of Ten Acres Enough (same idea about 100 years earlier). In any event, it was a pleasant walk down and an even more pleasant sit down on the bridge at the boat launch. It's so beautiful there. The water was running fast but was about 5-7 feet lower than usual because they drained the lake (so it doesn't flood). I saw a couple of guys running the rapids in a canoe - that was a sight - and some kids were climbing a huge boulder at the trail head. It was a real pleasant pause. It was NOT a pleasant walk home. Something about my shoes I guess was not right and my feet hurt wicked bad, my calves were killing me and my hips were grinding the whole walk back from which I had to be rescued because it had already taken me twice as long to get half way home, the kids were crying for me and my hips couldn't take it anymore.

We went to the beach today to check out the tide pools. It was 40 degrees and windy but my family ditched their shoes and got their feet wet - and Quinn got her whole body wet when she fell down - Luckily I anticipated this and brought her a whole new outfit. We walked quite a ways but as I had different shoes on my hips felt fine. My feet still ache but not too bad. I didn't even think to bring the camera until Sean and Ali were way out in the tide pool and I thought how lovely a picture it would have been if I had thought to bring the camera - darn it.

So now about the second sock. I don't like the toe and heel on the first sock They just don't feel as luscious as the body, so on the second sock I switched yarn to something equally yummy, and once the pair have been completed I'll take out the first heel and toe and rework them in the better yarn. That's one of the reasons I like toe up socks and short row heels - you can just cut them off and redo the whole thing over new when they get worn. But I never wear those parts out. I always wear out the ball of the foot - wouldn't you know it?

Sock in progress

2008-04-07T10:38:00.002-04:00

This is what was accomplished on Ali's sock yesterday. She loves it.

Ali's yarn and other updates

2008-04-06T08:36:00.006-04:00

So I've been a bit busy lately. I joined the totebag swap that Rhonda Jean had going and made my partner Christine a nifty-galifty tote bag that folds up into a little wallet that she can keep in purse so she always has one available when she needs it. The material for the main bag part caught my eye and so I copied the motif in felt applique. It came out alright, but if I had to do it again I'd lower the motif by a centimeter or two.

Next on the list is Quinnie's hand. I'm happy to report that her hand is (mostly) all better. It's still a little tender when she falls on pavement but she doesn't need bandages or medicated cream anymore. And the biggest plus is that she can take a bath - boy did she have a blast when she finally got in the tub. I didn't think she'd ever get out.

And the yarn. Scroll down to the end of the last post where I showed you folks the easter egg dye experiment. I spun it up and it looked like this.

Then I plied it and it looked like this.

The barber pole effect kinda mutes the colors but it feels divine and it'll make same fantabulous socks. I plan on starting them later today while I watch Torchwood.

Happy Birthday Quinnie

2008-03-22T18:19:00.008-04:00

This is Quinnie 2 years ago today. Note the IV taped to her hand...

This is Quinnie today. Quinnie has boo boo hand again on her birthday.

On Sunday, I had to go pick Sean and Ali up after they had stayed at the Old Salt (restaurant my sister in law works at) well actually they satyed at Lamies Inn which is attached to the Old Salt, but anyway we had to go there to pick them up so we were going to have brunch there as well. Ali called me on the phone and said something to the effect that we're up and come on down, so I finish doing Quinnie's hair and go downstairs to iron my shirt and once that task has been completed I set the iron on the kitchen table as it is a much more stable place than the ironing board, and I don't want Quinnie to topple the iron onto herself or have the iron set fire to the house or anything like that so I tell Quinnie "no touch, hot hot, lets go find your shoes" and proceed to turn away. I get aproximately 10 feet away when I hear a blood curdling scream and I know instantly Quinn has burned herself. I cannot even express how awful I felt about having my poor baby burn her entire right palm. On something I was trying to be careful with too. It was awful. The burn didn't look too bad at first so I put some bacitracin on it and wrapped it up and took her to get her Dad, and later on that day when we were changing the dressing it had gotten significantly worse so I took her to the emergency room. I got the most acusatory, demeaning attitude from the doctor who not only implied he thought I had done this to her, but that I was also tying to circumvent my own doctor by coming to him (it's sunday night BTW) and then rewrapped the burn exactly as I had it and charged my $50 to boot. Long story short, we went to our doctor on Monday and were treated fairly, and they de-roofed her blisters and sent us away with some medicine for it and instructions to change the dressing twice a day.
The boo boo looks a lot better today. And the birthday girl is happy.

We got Quinnie her "big" birthday present. A fish - well it will be a few fish but the guy at the pet store suggested we start with one 'cause we don't have any beneficial bacteria built up yet so he suggested we come back in 2 weeks for the remainder. Quinnie loves her fish.

So in between fish tanks and boo boo wrappings, Ali had colored some eggs, and I, of course took advantage of the leftover easter egg dye to dye some roving. I wound off balls that looked like they might fit in the dye cups and put the whole thing in the microwave for a couple minutes and this is what I had.
I let it soak while we were out getting the fish and setting the tank up and stuff and a while later I rinsed it and this is how it came out. I made mittens for Sam (when she was about 4 - so 15 years ago) with easter egg dyed yarn and they are still bright and cheery. I think these might become socks for Ali - well at least that's what the roving whispered to me when I was hanging it up on the curtain rod. We'll see.

Cajun's yarn

2008-03-15T22:33:00.004-04:00

Cajun

Cajun's fleece washed

carded

drawn through a diz to make a roving

spun on the spinning wheel

plied

wound into a ball

Maple Season

2008-03-09T09:11:00.003-04:00

It's maple sugar time! I love this time of year - it means there really will be a spring after all. I saw a lot of maple buckets on Batchelder Rd in Raymond (NH - On my bus route) this week and I just get all warm and fuzzy. Lately there's been a movement to tap with blue tubing into a huge rubbermade bucket, which I suppose is more efficient, but it isn't as picturesque. I'm glad the folks on Batchelder Rd are still using buckets.

Big Girl Bed

2008-03-02T12:35:00.009-05:00

Quinnie got a Big Girl Bed yesterday! We got the bed off Craig's List last November and it's been sitting in "Sam's room" ever since, but yesterday, after the latest in the great crib escape escapades I decided to get Sean to help me move the bed upstairs. Now one of the joys of living in an antique colonial is that they have quirky stair wells. Neither of our 2 stair cases is a straight shot so we went with the wider of the two, which also happened to be in closer proximity to both the bed and Quinn's room. Unfortunately for us, and the bed (and the walls) one of the drawbacks to secondhand furniture is that it comes preassembled and in this case that meant pegged and glued. So when the bed inevitably got stuck in the stairwell, we had a tough time disassembling it in situ. I was in the hall end and able to work at waist height, so my end came apart tidier than Sean's end, which was also the end that was stuck, and one of the things about modern furniture is that it's comprised mostly of particle board, which I admit is very strong and very dense, but when it breaks it's also more difficult to repair. So we had a slightly more difficult time reassembling the bed than we should have. Several hours later, Quinn's bed was all assembled and made, the crib was in the attic, her room set right, and the flared tempers tempered. We had a late dinner and started Quinn's new bedtime routine. Gone of the days of drop and go bed times, now they must be orchestrated carefully to avoid having a stressed out Mommy and a resentful, non-sleeping toddler. So I tucked her in and read her a couple of stories and turned on the music and started to leave, and it took her all of 2 minutes to ~~run screaming and crying~~ come get me in my room. So back I went and sat with her while she adjusted to the new bed situation, and after about 15 minutes she was out cold.

Ali's Doll

2008-02-28T08:18:00.011-05:00

Yesterday Ali was bitten by the creativity bug and wanted to learn how to make a doll. So I got out a saucer and traced it on some material, and then drew lines for the body and arms and legs. I helped her guide the fabric through the sewing machine while she worked the pedal.
Ali stuffed the doll with some of Eva's fleece I had banging around (washed but not carded), and I showed Ali how to make a wig and attach it to the doll's head. She got the doll nearly finished when we decided to take a break from the doll and go shovel out the new batch of snow.
It was such a nice day out there that we ended up staying outside sledding for the rest of the day.

Ali finished the doll this morning,

and gave it to Quinn.

Trials

2008-02-26T08:32:00.004-05:00

So yesterday was the first day of February Vacation. We had a nice peaceful day at home. The girls got out the wooden blocks and made some castles, and had some mock battles. Quinn the dragon won of course. The living room resembled the battle zone that it was the remainder of the day.

While the girls were engaging in medeival battles I was busy in the kitchen making chicken pot pie and bread. I decided that I wanted a chicken pot pie completely from scratch. So I started off by boiling a small chicken with some onions, carrots and celery. I took the chicken out when it was very well done but not falling apart yet, and continued to reduce down the stock. When it got to an OK consistency (not too watery) I strained all the veggies out of it and added some flour (and a little corn starch 'cause it didn't thicken enough with just the flour) and put the chicken meat and veggies back in, with a handful or 4 of frozen peas. I poured it out into a pie plate, and covered it with home made pie crust and baked it for a half hour. All told the pot pie took maybe 2 hours start to finish. Last time I made this I used leftover chicken and previously made stock (actually it came from a can which is why I wanted to experiment yesterday) and it was about 45 minutes start to finish. A frozen Mrs Bud's chicken pot pie takes an hour to cook soI'm going to say that not only nutritionally, but timewise as well, homemade beats out store bought. Now if I had enough forethought to whip up a couple of these, they could be real convenience foods.

While I was making the pot pie I was also trying to make some whole wheat bread. Nothing fancy, just the recipe on the back of the king arthur package. But the day before yesterday I made this bread and it failed to rise. I thought it was 'cause my kitchen was too cold so I moved it onto the back of the pellet stove and it rose a wee bit. I cooked it anyway to feed the geese, but it took a chisel to get it out of the loaf pan. So Yesterday's method I changed a wee bit. I let it rise on the pellet stove and it took off! (the yeast was better I think) And when it came time for the second rise, I decided to try it without a loaf pan - bad mistake. We had a bread pancake. Tasted OK, but it's wider than my knife is long. Round 3 later this morning.

And Lastly, I decided to try a prototype pad for the goods for girls, so I got out a rubber sheet a towel and some PJ pants that the crotch split beyond repair. I made one by layering 2 layers of towel, 2 layers of PJ pant, and one layer of rubber sheet. It's ugly to be sure (but it's just a prototype and I've discovered a better way to turn and a neater place to trim seam allowances) and stiff as a board. I'm trying not to buy anything new for these - would just like to make something out of nothing, so I don't really want to spend $7/yd for PUL. I'll scavenge around and see what I can find for unneeded nylon today and see if I can make a softer pad. Don't use rubber sheets in your pads ladies.

My Dad

2008-02-20T19:43:00.004-05:00

My Dad turned 60 on Valentine's day this year so we had a nice little party for him at my parent's house on Sunday.

So in honor of my Dad's big day I'd like to tell you a little bit about him. My Dad is a fantastic man. He's the father of 3 girls (bless him!). He's incredibly handy. He can fix anything (and does on a regular basis). He's the most helpful person I've ever met. Or maybe he's just helpful to me 'cause I'm his kid, but he'll go out of his way to help you fix something that's broken, and if he can't come by he'll at least walk you through it over the phone. He has some creative outlets too, he went through a stained glass phase in my mid childhood, and everyone in my family (even my eldest daughter most recently) has some furniture that was hand made by my Dad. It's good stuff too - nearly indestructible. He's made my Mom a couple of rings out of spoons and if that's not a neat trick I don't know what is. He's a walking map. This man can give you directions to anywhere, and give them to you right - none of this highway numbers and miles business - he gives you directions by landmark "ok so after you turn left at the oak tree you'll see an old victorian house with peeling paint on the front door, veer right around the dog that will be laying in the middle of the road" and he offer helpful tips too like when I went to the Forks ME when I was like 16, he actually said "when you get off the highway stop at that gas station and fill it up even if you think you don't need to 'cause you won't make it there if you don't have a full tank" That still kills me. But he's not overbearing with the advice. He only gives it if you ask. Not that I'd ever not take unsolicited advice from my Dad, but other people go spouting off all sorts of nonsense without you wanting to and then try to give you directions with miles and route numbers - he's not like that. Most importantly, my Dad taught me that I can do anything I put my mind to. And I completely beleived him (OK so I also beleived him when he told me that Jack Dempsies bite, and I didn't find out that weren't some domestic form of piranah until last year). Truly though, I live my life as if I can do anything, and I jump in with both feet and just do it. I don't think about it I just go. My Mom says I'm a lot like my Dad, and I take it as a compliment 'cause there isn't a person in this world I would rather be more like.

He's Quinn's hero to boot.

Yay!

2008-02-20T13:00:00.004-05:00

I'm gonna see the Yarn Harlot!!!! I called my Mom and we made a date. Stephanie's going to be at the Calvin Theatre in N. Hampton Ma on 4/27 (you have to regester). I'm psyched! It's almost worth it to miss SPA this weekend.

Manure drastically reduces development of lung cancer

2008-02-18T11:35:00.003-05:00

Wow! If this is true I've got it made. Sometimes it feels like I'm up to my knees in poop.

In all seriousness. My kids do have particlarly well developed immune systems. I don't keep a very clean house. I don't use bleach if I can avoid it. I let my kids play outside - even (gasp) get dirty. I've often wondered if the fact that they're exposed to so many germs might have something to do with that, this article goes right along with that thought trail. I'll be interested to see what developments the study finds.

Sump pumps suck

2008-02-17T19:42:00.003-05:00

The husband says to Ali as he's going off to bed, "can you start the sump pump and turn it off before you go to bed". Ali, 10, is all business, she gets her wellies on, tromps down the stairs and stands the sump pump back up in it's bucket and returns upstairs for an hour of relaxation before bed. I know better than to leave it at that. I know that the sump pump is sideways in the bucket because it's hooked up to a temporary hose running out the front window and that the hose has been frozen beneath not one, but 2 storms since the last time it was moved, and the reason the pump is on the temporary hose to begin with is due to the fact that our regular outlet was frozen solid when we went from 60 and raining to -5 in an 8 hour period a month ago. I know that someone needs to go out to unearth the hose from all that ice, and check to make sure water is actually emerging from the end or else the pressure behind the check valve will cause the hose to burst spraying water all over the panel box. So I reluctantly get my boots on and go outside to check because the possibility of a burst will be far more of a problem than a little cold on my toes when I'm winding down for bed. Outside is pure ice. Quinn (nearly 2) has refused to walk outside (even assisted) since Wednesday and basically bursts into tears if I should so much as put her down out of doors. I perform something similar to Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks by slamming my heel first through the ice to get at the more stable snow underneath and wade my way to the front of the house. Directly in front of the window is even worse and is so icy I can't even break the snow and it's mounded up slightly from the stuff that slid off the steeply pitched roof (the one smart thing the builders of this house did) and I can't get close to the window let alone unearth the hose. I fumble around the yard looking for anything dark (and mind you it's 7:00 so everything is dark outside) in the snow and jam my hand through the ice in a feeble attempt to locate some part of the hose. But two storms ago was long enough ago not to remember exactly what trajectory the hose went and I came up with nothing. Knowing that the other outlet should be open, and that the pump has been running the entire time I've been outside makes me not want to spend forever trying to locate a hose end that is almost definitely frozen so I return to the cellar with electric screwdriver and wellies and disassemble/reassemble the pump outlet and reroute the water out the nonfrozen (I hope) outlet. I plug the sucker back in and dash outside. I can make it as far as the corner of the house, and I can see that water is indeed flowing from the pipe, which is good, but now I wonder where all that water is going becuse the hose is frozen to the ground and coming out of the front window. Can you beleive that the ice on the snow bank is so hard it holds my enire body weight, and I'm no feather let me assure you, and it's so slick because it was slightly above freezing today, that I can't climb up it at all and I have to pull myself up by hanging onto a branch of the yew bush that's in front of the window. The water has softened the snow where it's fallen and I can feel that the door we placed to deflect the water is still in place so I trudge back inside and sit me down in an area where I can hear the pump (at the desk) and babysit it. It goes off by itself (miracle of miracles) after 40 minutes and I go downstairs to see if it'll start back up and how well of a job it did, and though I wouldn't wear sneakers my wellies are a bit of overkill. I don't trust the sump pump to go on and off on it's own beacuse it's proven too fussy on too many occastions to be reliable so I reach over to unplug it whe I notice that all the water it just sent out of the building is coming right back in through the rock wall. Round 2, tomorrow 5:30 am.

Growing challenge thoughts

2008-02-16T13:30:00.006-05:00

So I'm still really in the planning stages of the growing part of the growing challenge, and Wow did you all see the neato mosquito tuber that Path to Freedom had on their blog recently? It's Yacon.

I'm researching it. This and Jerusalem artichokes look like they could be a really neat experiment. I read the Mother Earth News article on Yacon and it said that the plant has a really long growing season and doesn't develop tubers until the fall, and that it needs to be stored in the winter like a dahlia. I'm ok with that 'cept I'm in a zone 5 and my last frost date is late May. If this infernal snow would subside long enough for me to put some plastic down to heat my soil up a bit I could probably get away with it. But the way we've been going it looks to me like we may be in for another year without a summer. Just kidding of course, but seriously, I think we've gotten more snow than the last couple years combined and we still have March and April left to go!

New Look

2008-02-16T13:19:00.003-05:00

Took a little detour from trying to navigate the Amazon.com customer service page to update Melinda's Growing challenege button (now that I know how to do that) only to discover it's too wide for my settings. Not being incredibly versed in HTML, I did the best I could to make it wider - seemed to work pretty good too until I noticed that the darkening of the page on the scribe setting ended mid page. D'oh! I like green. This is good. Now to get back to figuring out how to get a response from the seller of the book I ordered in January that has NOT come in yet. I have emailed him 3 times for an update on the status and have not heard back yet, and I'm not past my 30 day window for the guarantee. Grumble, grumble.

Clutter or the Environment

2008-02-15T12:46:00.004-05:00

I've got some serious issues with clutter. This is the thing, I have serious issues throwing stuff away. I mean I can throw things away, like food packaging and old receipts and junk mail, but about the time when Exeter (NH) started their pay per bag system I started to realize that the world's resources were finite and that we should reuse and reclycle everything possible. That said I started to keep alot more things than I did before, the number of my trash bags went down and I felt OK about what I did throw out. But there are a lot of things you can't recycle, don't really have a use for, and they just kind of acumulate. Add to that a move to a house with ample storage for some kinds of things (a huge barn and a garage) and not sufficient storage for other kinds of things (food, toys, books and cooking tools), plus family and friends effectively dumping their stuff (broken tools, crooked bookshelves, cheap acrylic yarn, games we'll never play) on us I have reached the point where even I can not stand it. It wouldn't be so bad if my toddler would leave the stuff in it's place, but I came home last night to a whole box of books strewn all over the office. I've kept these books because they are my favorites. I have whittled and pared down the collection 'til it only fit in ONE box and I'd like to have them all stored neatly on a bookshelf I have yet to build in the hall. I haven't built the bookcase because the wall is wavy and it'll need a fair amount of recon before I can put square wood against it. We don't have the cash flow to facilitate such a renovation so the books sit in a box waiting for a bookshelf and get strewn when Mommy's not looking. This is just one tiny example oth the thousands of things I have in my house that are cluttering up my life. I know some things I truly want to get rid of, so much so tat I rounded them up to bring them to the swap shop at the local tranfer station only to find out that the selectmen have decided it's no longer a good idea to have such a place and have closed it indefinitely. I suppose there's always freecycle, but that takes so long to unload things - I couldn't even give my perfectly good leather couch away - that it's not even worth posting. A yard sale would be a monumental undertaking at this point. So what options do I have left? I can pitch the stuff as I come to it in my cleaning/clutterbusting endeavours, or I can put it in boxes as I come to it and see if someone could possible come by with a U-Haul and spirit it away, or I can pray for a house fire.

I don't know. It's just too much.

Six Degrees

2008-02-11T12:39:00.000-05:00

I've been watching Six Degrees Could Change the World based on a book written by Mark Lynas. Whoo boy, scary stuff. I highly recommend everyone watching this show/video.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/sixdegrees/

I'm going to go think now.

Visit with Ailie

2008-02-10T11:20:00.001-05:00

Kerry's new baby sure is gorgeous. And my girls seemed to like her too. Quinn's first reaction to the baby was to rip open her blankets to get at her toes - then she took her own boots off and played footsie with Ailie (that's pronounced Eye-lee BTW).

Here's Kerry w/ the sweater. She loved it.

A lovely visit was had by all.

On my mind

2008-02-07T21:34:00.000-05:00

My cousin Kerry gave birth today to a new baby girl. Hope all is well - I'm not calling 'cause Kerry said she wasn't feeling well and I wanted to give her voice the day off so I'll check in with her tomorrow.

Books. I ordered a book from amazon and I can't wait for it to come in. I want to read a couple others and thought I'd get them on ILL, but the librarian is very litteral and last time I wanted two books I got BOTH on the same day - what with my Amazon book coming in, I think I might hold off - but I got the ISBNs for both so when I'm ready it'll be a simple phone call. In the mean time I've got the latest body and soul magazine - not in my top 5 favorites but certainly better than most of the rags available at the local grocery store.

I'm going to have a lot of extra time this summer. I'm going to have a lot less money this summer. I'm thinking market garden. Perhaps it's because it's snowing AGAIN today and I'm just itching to get my hands in dirt, or maybe it's 'cause I've been doing a little reasearch on it and I'm lusting for sun drenched shoulders and caked on dirt on my knees. I have to remind myself though that I'll have a 2 year old and I don't have any beds already set up. Maybe I'm jumping in too quickly.

Looking into getting some chickens this spring. Will need to build chicken tractors - I'm thinking 2 w/4 chickens a piece. Had serious hawk issues the last time we had chickens so free ranging is NOT an option. I still miss my birds - particularly my black cochin - poor thing.

Have to tear my kitchen ceiling down tomorrow. The drain pipe from the bathroom upstairs is leaking (ew!) and the ceiling smells like pee. The Bathroom (with the only shower) is out of commission until we fix the pipe and the hubs has a low tolerance for not taking showers so the sooner the better. I'm all over the plaster tomorrow after my bus run - he can do the lath, and once we get it open we'll fix the pipe. Fun.

Thunder Snow?

2008-02-05T18:45:00.000-05:00

I have lived in NH for 37 years and for the first 30 or so I can't recall ever having a snow storm with thunder and lightning, but the past 7 years or so, particularly the last 2, there have been multiple storms just like that, including this morning. Can I just say how incredibly weird it is laying in bed listening to the silent snow falling (for those of you in non snow areas - snow kind of muffles all the ambient sound, so it's a special kind of quiet you only get when it's snowing) when all of a sudden the room lights up and a couple seconds later there's the boom of late summer. I think it's just really, really weird.

Baby Sweaters

2008-02-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

I have 2 cousins who are bout to give birth any day now, and both to girls to boot. I know girls. I have 3 of them, so I know just how gorgeous a little baby girl looks in a lacy sweater. Last month I finished up Sweater #1 for my cousin Emma.

It's an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern from the book Knitter's Almanac : http://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Zimmermanns-Knitters-Almanac-Zimmermann/dp/0486241785

I used Bernat baby yarn 'cause when it's baby number 2 or number 3 it's all about the ease of laundering. Normally I'm a wicked yarn snob and can't stand acrylic but there are certain circumstances that call for it and secondary and tertiary babies are definitely in that category. I scavenged the buttons off an old outfit I found from the 60's. The fabric a pink gingham, and quite threadbare, was not worth saving, but the buttons were pristine. There are little kitties remeniscent of Peter Rabbit drawings. Here's a shot of Emma at her shower.

So this morning I finished Kerry's sweater. Same yarn (I happened to have a couple extra balls hanging around and each sweater only took one ball). Same pattern - it's a really good one, and I enjoyed making the sweater, plus it was super quick. I had these buttons from a project I had intended to make Sam when she was little but got sidetracked (who me?) and before I knew it, she was too grown up for buttons like that. She loved Sunflowers and daisies when she was about 4 and these were supposed to button a little summer dress. Oh well, they look great on Kerry's sweater now.

Oh there are going to be a couple of gorgeous little baby girls to squeeze before the end of the month! I'll get pictures of the babies in their new sweaters for you.

Thoughts on water

2008-01-29T20:00:00.000-05:00

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink... actually last year and the year before it almost was true at my house. We've had some real significant flooding in my neck of the woods, luckily we're on top of a hill so not so significant for us, but the meanwhile all this abundance of water surrounds us and our well pump was quietly dying. Dad to the rescue (the man is a saint I swear he always comes to the rescue I don't know what I'd do without him) well pump replaced last sumer. But the lack of a consistent flow had me thinking of what I was going to do when I finally get the garden moved. I always knew I'd have another garden after my baby induced down time, frustrating as that was, so I was always thinking about these kinds of things.

We have 3 wells on our property, the new(ish) artesian well out front - butt-ugly blue and totally functional, a newer old well, which was put in round about the 60s by the lady who lived here before us because the health department said she couldn't drink from the well that was so close to the animals (horses and a cow at the time). This one has a very nice fitting concrete cap, though it also has a very decorative roof as well, but the cap makes it about as functional for my purposes as the artesian well. And finally we have the old, old well. You can see it in the background in the picture of the geese from Sunday's post. This well is original to the house (early 1700s). It's in magnificent shape save the decking on the "lid" which could use an overhaul. So this got me thinking. A. I don't have horses B. I want to irrigate with it not drink it and C.How could I cheaply use water without putting unecessary strain on my artesian well (not that I have to be careful anymore, but since I have an alternative...) Why don't I figure a way to use this water for irrigation and filling the geese's pool? So while I was down in the cellar coddling the sump pump for the umpteenth time (whole different post) I thought why don't I put a sump pump in the well, connected to a timer and have some irrigation hoses splay out from there to irrigate all my plants and I could manually override the system whenever I needed to fill the pool? Genius!

So you can see from the doodle. It's centrally located. Getting power to it won't be nearly as complicatred as getting power to the bus, and it would not touch the household water, and we'd be using water that would otherwise just be there (unusable). I think it's win/win. So now I have to design myself a PFD for the sump pump (I'm thinking with a lifeguard's ring maybe) and I'll be all set.

Growing challenge update

2008-01-27T07:55:00.000-05:00

Alas I don't really have anything new to report on the growing challenge front. We are deep in the throws of winter here and I have all I can do to keep the house warm and the pipes not frozen. It's snowing here again today, and my garden area is currently under glaciated snowpack.

I'm looking into getting the plastic I need to get my greenhouse frame up and running. I got the frame from the disposal crew who were cleaning out the neighbor's house before the new people moved in and it snowed before I had a chance to get the plastic. In retrospect it was a good thing too 'cause we've had a record snowfall this year and that's where a lot of the snowpiles from my neighbors' pro-bono plowing job ended up (very kind of them too I might add since the snow blower is officially dead), not to mention the fact that I have seen many of these kinds of frames (usually as garages and not greenhouses) get flattened this year and I'm kind of thankful things turned out the way they did. It has put a slight hamper on my winter garden attempts though.

I once had a gloriously huge garden with a wattle fence which sustained us quite nicely through the warm months, but I got a full time job and it went to pot, then I got some sheep and the wattle didn't hold up to my 200lb babies and they ate the garden. To add insult to gardening injury the year I decided to move my garden I got pregnant (surprize!), and was all consumed with fatigue, so much so I didn't even knit (and for those of you who know me well know that is a major big thing). My fatigue didn't end there, the following year I barely had the energy to keep up with 2 squarefoot beds, and the year after that my newly mobile one year old hardly let me spend the time I would have liked, so I just managed some tomatoes. But I'm back, and this year the baby will be 2, and except for really liking to run into the road, which I'm hoping she'll get over by spring, she's pretty self reliant and I should be able to get the big garden I so desperately crave.

These are my geese. I use them primarily as pest control for the sheep, but they also act as an alarm for the sheep as well in that they don't like anything coming into their yard and will squak really loud which sends the sheep running in the other direction. Works fantastic. I have a bit of a problem with the sheep beating the geese up in the winter though and so I keep them out front in the winter time, but as my neighbor accross the street has more sun, ergo more grass at this point in the year, quite often the geese are in the road and I think it's irritating oncoming traffic 'cause they are doing an awful lot of honking (the cars, not the geese) lately, and I'm not really sure how to resolve this dilemma - I'll have to think of something before next winter, because this is obviously not working.

So I'll leave you all with the bucolic view from my office window, very Currier and Ives isn't it? It's an even nicer view when the horses are out, but like my sheep they're hiding in the barn from all the snow.

Growing Challenge

2008-01-13T08:22:00.000-05:00

Melinda of Elements in Time has come up with a Growing challenege in which we are to grow something new that we haven't before and to grow it from seed - no problem. We also are supposed to check in once a week - we'll see how that goes. We're also supposed to attach a button - I'm not terribly versed in the whole blogging thing - basically I've got what 2 posts of experience so we'll see how well I do - might have to beg for help.

So I have some blue lakota pumkin seeds I got from an organic gardening listmember and I can't wait to plant them - I don't know what it is about squash but I get all giddy inside just at the thought of it. This year I plan on a big renewal in my gardeining because Quinn will be 2 and perhaps more helpful (or at least able to play unassisted) while I'm gardening. more to come on that front.

Harry Potter Movie

2007-07-20T22:37:00.001-04:00

Today is Ali's 10th birthday and in honor of the event I wanted to make the day special. She had invited over 3 girls for a sleepover but only one could come so I took them out to see the new Harry Potter film tonight. We didn't get there in time for the IMAX version so we watched on the traditional screen. It was pretty good though you could tell what would have been 3d in the IMAX. I think we'll go back for the other version later this summer.

I printed out the 4th installmant of the MS3 this morning and I feel kind of ashamed that I'm still on the second clue, and haven't even started the 3rd yet. I'm hoping that I'll get them both finished before clue 5 comes out in 2 weeks, but I have a really good book going right now (New England Year by Hayden Pearson) and the new Harry Potter book should be arriving at Miss Ali's doorstep tomorrow, and I can assure you the world will come to a grinding halt while we delve into that. I'm quite looking forward to reading it with Ali this summer. Hopefully Quinn will cooperate with us more than she has been for my knitting on the MS3.

Happy Birthday Ali!

The blog is now open

2005-02-26T11:08:00.000-05:00

So, I set up a blog. Why did I do this? Because I keep posting totally off topic musings about how life is in my town and what's going on in my immediate environment. People seem to like to read these ramblings, but I feel guilty using the NETA list as a sounding board. Probably better to notify the list a new post has been added to my blog than to post the whole thing.

I have not a whole lot to say today, as I am just setting this up, but I'm sure I'll have an observation or two soon.

Tameson's Musing

2005-02-26T08:23:00.000-05:00

Tameson's Musing

I am trying to figure out how to post after the initial set up - let's ee if this works.