Cabin Crafted

Author: Cabincrafted1

  • Mindfulness

    Last spring, Son 1 was working at the house and was listening to an audio book. As I popped in and out assisting or providing water, I was intrigued with what I heard and asked him what the book title was and who was the author. The book was Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Late August, as I was preparing to travel southwest to the mountains of North Carolina for a fiber retreat, I attempted to get the book from our public library as an audio book to listen to as I travelled about 7 hours round trip, but I was so far down on the list that I purchased a paperback copy instead. This followed having read Overstory by Richard Powers based on another of Son 1’s recommendations. For Christmas, he gave me a copy of Gathering Moss, Robin Wall Kimmerer’s first book which I have read a chapter at a time savoring her wisdom.

    Several varieties of mosses growing just off the mowed area in a wooded rocky part of the farm.
    Several varieties that grow on rocks in the same area.

    These three books have caused me to pause and even more strongly recognize what we are doing to our environment. Like Kimmerer, I love a sheet of white paper on my wood desk with the grain of the wood as a background, but at what cost were they provided. I love wood tools, live in a log home cut from a monoculture tree farm and again at what cost to the environment were they provided. We have planted dozens of trees on our farm to create windbreaks and in areas where haying is impossible. We have avoided weed killers, have woods on three sides of us, but see the effect of some of the non native invaders both vegetative and insects that wipe out entire species of trees. Years ago, these mountains were covered with Chestnut trees, all killed off by blight. All of the mature Hemlocks die off from the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. Now the Ash trees are dying because of Emerald Ash borer. We are invaded by Tree of Heaven and Autumn Olive, plants that were introduced as ornamentals that have become invasive. As we drive up the mountain we see several areas that have been logged and I recognize the value of the timber but also the destruction of habitat for native vegetation and wildlife.

    To add to my mindfulness thought process of late, as I was returning home from taking Son 1 to the bus Sunday morning, I listened to a program on NPR where the speaker discussed how we couldn’t provide for others if we didn’t take care of ourselves. We have to give ourselves permission to be kind to our own person to fill our cup enough to share. We need to be thankful for what we have, not want for what we lack, not complain about our ills, but be thankful for the health we have at whatever level.

    These books and this program have reminded me to be more mindful. I suggest we should all be.

  • When a home improvement, isn’t

    Quite a number of years ago, we had our basement finished into a rec room with TV, pingpong table, futon, and a small bedroom with a tiny closet that is the preferred bedroom for Son 1 when he visits. At the time we built the house and had the HVAC system installed, we began paying for an annual maintenance contract that provided twice a year maintenance and 10% off parts, free labor if a repair within reason needed to be done.

    Shortly after the basement was finished, one of the HVAC maintenance visits was done and only 2 of the 4 damper motors was left in an accessible location and 1 of them had a door jamb that prevented the open/close lever from moving. The HVAC guy was able to chisel out enough space for the lever to move, but on the last visit, he realized that motor had failed. We didn’t have it repaired that day, but had a tech here today to replace it only to find out that the replacement motors are physically larger and don’t fit in the space and that if that damper or any of the dampers ever need to be replaced, that the contractor that did the basement work did not leave enough room to remove them from the ductwork. While trying to check the other motors, he couldn’t get to one of them, so I guess it hasn’t been checked since the work on the basement was finished. I think some creative carpentry will allow enough space to replace the failed motor, but don’t know what will happen if the inaccessible ones fail. The system is 15 years old now.

    We had left much of the designing to the contractor with only our wishes known. The tech today said this happens often in basement completions as the owner or contractor is trying to get the most finished space possible. Though the basement looks great, this isn’t the first problem that has been revealed, not all the contractor’s fault, but some are. So far, Son 1 has had to tear out the wallboard on a soffit and build a wood siding removable panel that allows access to the space above the wallboard. And most recently when trying to repair ceiling damage from a failed dishwasher, he discovered the drywall ceiling was bowed under a drain pipe so that a new piece of drywall didn’t really fit so another removeable panel has been placed there.

    I’m not sure what we will do, but for now, the damper motor that failed serves the basement, and as three sides of the basement are below grade and the fourth side is south facing, it stays mild down there even when it is cold outside.

  • It didn’t happen the way we planned

    Son 1 left for his dwelling and job at 6:40 this morning, arrived there on the bus, train, and his bike and let us know he made it back. Son 2, who owns his on medical transport business ended up on an ambulance today due to employees calling out in the snow/ice storm the coast of Virginia received, so they couldn’t come.

    While Daughter, Son 1 and grands were here on Friday for lunch, they taught me to use Zoom so I could join in the Zoom session that my Jenkins spinning challenge group does on Saturday afternoons and I did join them for about 35 or 40 minutes yesterday. It was delightful to see live faces and real voices of people that I have communicated with online for the past couple years. There were only 16 of us but one was in Germany, two in the Netherlands that are “neighbors” close enough to walk to each other’s homes, and from one coast to the other in the US. Such fun, I will try to join them more often at least for a while each Saturday.

    We took another cold walk on the Huckleberry as it is the only route we usually do that isn’t still covered in ice, and snow flurries are supposed to happen tonight for a couple hours, but I doubt it will amount to anything. I can’t remember the last time snow and ice was still on the ground a week after it fell here. After our walk, I followed through with the plan to bake bread and make soup that was to be for a dozen or more, but just made less, and Daughter and her two came over to share the meal with us. Hot Herb and Onion bread, fresh cornbread, and a pot of delicious soup for a cold winter evening. We sent them home with the extra milk and juice purchased in anticipation of more family here, and one of the two loaves of Herb and Onion bread. There is still a part of a loaf and part of the cornbread for us to enjoy over the next couple of days.

    I continue to work on the dark wine colored fiber that hubby gave me for Christmas. By spinning it on the spindles, I can enjoy it for longer, make a finer yarn, thus more yardage and then enjoy it again as I make myself something warm to wear and enjoy. The January challenge as I mentioned before, changes every couple of days and today and the next two are just to spin at least 2 grams a day and take a photo. While bread rose, then baked, and soup simmered, I sat in a sunny spot in the dining room and spun my bit for the day.

    It isn’t quite as dark as it appears, but I waited until dark to take the photo.

    There is some babysitting in our plan later in the week, first at their house, then bringing them to ours for a couple of days. Last time I did this, the kids and I got snowed in for a day. I hope I didn’t just jinx us.

  • Hey Guys, it is cold outside

    Awoke this morning to this:

    My photo memory from 3 years ago, it was 9, so it must be the time of year.

    The weekend plan changed some when we realized that, 1) I obviously can’t read a calendar as Son 1 is leaving tomorrow morning early; 2) that Son 2 who lives on the coast of Virginia is getting the storm this weekend instead of us and won’t be coming after all. But Daughter and her two came for homemade pizza lunch yesterday as the icy roads in the more rural parts of the counties caused their school to be closed. I shortened her Taekwondo pants for next week’s National testing and the tournament she is in, fed everyone, we visited, then we all went for a two mile walk in 27 f temps and a cloudy day, so it felt colder than that.

    Today is again very cold, but sunny and Son 1, hubby, and I set out to do a walk at the pond near us, but the road in, the parking lot, and the start of the path down looked like an ice skating rink and ski jump. We altered plans and walked a different section of the Rails to Trails Huckleberry, a 2.5 mile round trip. Part of this section goes through a rock cut where the rail used to run and the icicles dripping from the rocks were fascinating.

    A failed attempt to catch a falling drip.

    Though the temperature when we walked was a few degrees colder than yesterday, with the sun, it didn’t seem quite as cold.

    The vegetable soup and homemade bread will still be made tomorrow, in a smaller quantity and Daughter and her two will come share it with us for Sunday dinner.

    It is always delightful to have one or more of our children here to be with us, to share meals, for family visits. We will try again to get them all together at once the weather cooperates a bit more.

    The ice is finally melting off. I am glad because the trip up hill to the chicken coop and back down to the house has been a threat to my health and safety for the past few days.

    When we got home from our walk, enough had melted off that the hens had finally ventured away from their coop to the relative shelter of the naked Forsythia bushes. I was able to walk over to gather early eggs before they froze, without feeling my safety was at risk.

    The upcoming week is going to be more seasonable with most days above freezing to the low 40’s and nights in the upper teens to low 20’s. I think there is a day of rain chance in there, but not freezing precitipation.

    Hubby looked out the back window and said, “I’m ready for winter to be over.” Usually he doesn’t make that statement for at least 3 or 4 more weeks.

    I am perusing the seed catalogs, making plans for spring and summer when two bee hives will be added and maybe a mushroom bed.

  • The Switch was flipped

    December was so warm and dry, January has been just the opposite and though there isn’t much snow forecast for the next 10 days, there is some bitter cold weather. Yesterday was comparatively mild, getting up into the low 40’s and we got out our driveway for the first time since Sunday, up the gravel state road that had been plowed yesterday morning, and down the mountain to deliver a birthday card and gift to the local grandson who celebrated his 15th birthday yesterday. It seems like I just drove to Florida where he was born to help daughter out in her first week post partum and deliver an Amish made rocking chair and high chair to her. I love that they are now living within 20 miles of us and we see them weekly, not a couple times a year.

    The prissy hens finally came out on the hay mat I threw down for them. When I dug their outdoor water tub out to fill it yesterday, it was buried in a foot of snow that had drifted into the run. Walking on the hay mat, I now sink several inches each time I go over. Taking advantage of it being “warmer” and not windy, I cleared the wet straw from their coop. I need to figure out how to seal the drop down window on the east side for winter. Though moisture rarely comes from that direction, there is no eave overhang on that side of the coop and the weekend snow storm blew in that direction making a small snowdrift inside the coop that melted with the heat they generate and soaked their straw. With fresh dry straw in there, I need to protect it. While tossing the damp straw into their run, a few hens ventured out on the straw surface and out the gate, only to realize that it was cold and white outside the run, so they retreated back onto the straw and hay. Fortunately they are still laying eggs, though now in the quantity they did last summer.

    Overnight, it rained for an hour or two and this morning, the snow pack is thin and brittle, beginning to show grass patches through in some areas. Today is much colder again and snow flurries are the moisture of the morning.

    While we were in town yesterday, we supplied with milk, juice, fruit, and soup veggies as we will have all three of our children and a houseful of grands for Sunday. I am going to make a huge pot of vegetable soup and a couple loaves of bread, a pan of cornbread (because that is the only “homemade” bread on of the grands will eat) and feed a dozen or more folks dinner. Homemade muffins for breakfast, probably pizza for lunch. Daughter and her two will only be here for dinner. This will be the first time in a decade they will all be here and there are many more of us now than there were then. I am beyond myself with excitement to have them all together.

  • Snow, snow and more snow

    The snow continued off and on all day on Sunday and was snowing hard when I got up yesterday. I was determined to not let the wind, gusts up to 40 mph yesterday keep me from snow play. My ski pants are too big, the weight loss since I last skied shows, but they have suspenders and over longjohns they were usable. Ski gloves, jacket, neck warmer, hat and hood, a sled in tow, I hiked to the top of the driveway to try to sled down. We did that a number of years ago after a heavy snow and ice storm. Not so much luck yesterday though. The snow was over my boots in places and my weight on the sled in deep snow did not make for good sliding. A walk back down to below the barn, I did slide down the hill toward the house, then tried to go down the hill on the opposite side of the house, again without much luck. Strong wind on loose snow sent tiny particles like needles at exposed skin, fortunately there wasn’t much of that. I tried, I quit.

    This morning, the wind has died down, it is still only 27f outside. When I took thawed water and scratch grains to the hens, I threw down a thick mat of old hay in part of their run. One look out the pop door and they retreated back into the coop.

    I decided to plow the driveway to thin the snowpack in hopes of encouraging some melt off as the sun has come out and disappeared behind the cloud cover off and on. I did a single pass down, just driving the tractor over the snow then used the blade for a single pass. It did help start some melt off as I discovered after putting all my ski clothes back on to take a walk up the nearly half mile to the paved road to see what the roads look like. I also discovered that my ski pants now fit over jeans, that wasn’t possible a few years ago.

    Between my pass down on the tractor and my walk, the gravel road at the end of our driveway has been lightly plowed, but is very slick.

    It would be perfect for sledding right now. We did that 4 years ago with daughter and grands. It was such fun, but you had to be careful because at the bottom of the hill is a cattle grate over a creek.

    The paved road doesn’t look much better.

    After preparing and eating lunch, I did more work with the tractor and blade, widening the pass down as the blade is only 5′ wide and at an angle doesn’t make a car passable swath. If we had to get out in an emergency at this point we could, but have no plans to go anywhere today. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid 40’s and rainy, so we will have a slushy, muddy mess, but will be able to get out to deliver a birthday card and gift to the local grandson who turns 15 tomorrow.

    Thinking that we would have this behind us for a while, they are now calling for either 2 light to mid accumulation snows later in the week or 1 mid to heavy snow depending on how the fronts come together. This is after a late fall forcast of a warmer than normal, wetter than normal winter. As hubby said, they got it half right.

  • How to spend a snow day.

    It started hours later than predicted, but the snow is quickly covering the ground and roads and the “Winterstorm Warning” is still saying at least 8″ maybe changing to sleet later today, with the heaviest bands yet to come.

    The woodstove is burning and will continue throughout the day and tonight if I can drag myself down to the basement to stoke it in the middle of the night.

    Though the house isn’t any cooler than usual, with the wind blowing outside, it seems colder and I am ensconced in my chair, wrapped in the wool shawl that I spun the yarn for a couple years ago for the Shave ’em 2 Save ’em event, then knit into the shawl, and draped in my Breed Blanket that I spun last year on my Jenkins Turkish spindles and knit for the year long challenge. A cup of hot tea, my spindles and wool, and I am set.

    The chili and stew will be saved for rewarming if the power goes out and homemade pizza was on the menu for lunch while there is power to cook it.

    An after lunch quick trip to dump compost and give the hens thawed water and scratch grains in their coop and gather eggs before they freeze, allowed me to see that the cover is now about 3″ and still falling fast, from an easterly direction so drifting into the coop through a drop window that doesn’t close fully.

    The wild birds are flocking to the feeders, Nuthatches, Titmice, Chickadees, Wrens, Finches, a couple of woodpeckers, and a pair of Eastern Bluebirds that should be much farther south by now. I took a short video, but can’t get it to load.

    So far we are warm, hope to stay that way. It is so quiet as it gets when snow mutes the outdoor sounds.

  • Almost a week. . .

    Since I posted the Olio post. It has been a cold one, but we have gotten in our walk each day. We got caught in a sprinkling rain one day that turned into real rain and snow showers after we got back to the car.

    The weather prognosticators are threatening us with a real winter storm starting tonight. The predictions have been all over the place from 8″ to 16″ of snow, maybe some ice, then more snow. We took heed, I brought in several loads of firewood for the wood stove and the fireplace. Our Sunday grocery run was moved up to Friday, a Farmer’s market run this morning with veggies, meats, and sourdough bread purchased, a large pot of chili made last night and stew tonight that can be heated on the wood stove or camp stove if we end up without power, and we will wait and see what it brings. More than about 6 inches and we won’t be going anywhere, our mountain roads aren’t priority for clearing.

    The January spinning challenge has a changing theme every few days, but all encouraging the continuation of the practice. I am working on the batts that hubby gave me for Christmas to make myself a large scarf and simultaneously spinning neutrals for a second blanket that will have some repeat breeds and some I never got to on the first one. I must like these colors.

    The base square is one that was too small for the first blanket and I am doing a log cabin pattern around it. It will be a small lap blanket when finished.

    It is getting dark, the hens are secured with food and water. Regardless of tomorrow’s weather, they will need thawed water once or twice during the day and probably won’t come out of their coop until they can see hay or grass on the ground. The coop will need cleaning again once they do leave the confines of their indoor shelter.

    The fall predictions for this winter were for warmer than average temperatures and wet. Instead it has been colder and white. I have concluded the way to tell the weather is to look outside and see what it is doing.

    I have two paperback books and one ebook, lots of yarn, fiber, spindles, spinning wheels, and knitting needles. There are both a two burner camp stove and an alcohol burner that can be used for heating water or cooking. This won’t be the biggest snow we have had and we have no where to go, so we will just enjoy it. Maybe some Senior Olympics can be had with sled runs.

  • Sunday Olio

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection

    I haven’t done an Olio in quite a while. They are easier to do when more activity occurs outdoors, and this definitely hasn’t been a week for that. With snow twice, temperatures rarely getting above freezing and even dropping to 8 f night before last. With hubby gone for several days, I have literally stayed in and kept the homefires burning. The wood stove is in the finished basement and though it makes that area too warm, the warm air drifts up the stairs and warms the upper reaches of the house above. The winter setting for the thermostats is 68 during the daytime hours and with the stove going, it will show main floor temperatures of 72 or 73.

    Today is warm, going up into the upper 40’s and it is raining, all day long according to the forecast.

    The remants of snow will disappear today, but it is going to get cold again tonight and stay cold but sunny for several days. It is winter.

    I did make it to the Farmer’s Market yesterday, and the donation center. Though there were some icy spots on the mountain road, the highways were clear and dry and the new car handled it nicely.

    With hubby gone for those days, lots of soup was made and consumed in single serving batches. There was a half loaf of sour dough bread from a Farmer’s Market vendor that was enjoyed with the soups. My cooking will return to the fare favored by hubby now that he is home.

    My time was spent spinning on my spindles some and working on using up the bits of yarn left over from making the blanket last year. Those bits are becoming bulky hats, the first one sent home with Son 1 after Christmas. The second finished last night.

    They are a great way to use up the small yardage as 4 strands are held together and when one runs out, another is added in, making a marled look. The pattern calls for the purl or “wrong” side out. The first one looked better on “right” or knit side, this one is kind of interesting on the purl side.

    My time was also spent with cleaning, organizing, and destashing unused items. A box of random clothing, bags, and household goods was taken to donation. and a major overhaul of my craft area that still needs more work. I think shelves that have bags of fiber will be cleared and the fiber stored in a sealed plastic bin and yarn in another so only tools and books are on the folding and fixed shelves. I am putting myself on a “low fiber” diet, no more fluff in until what I have is used up. A lot of the natural colors are being spun a bit at a time to make a second, probably small blanket. The remaining square that was too small for last year’s blanket will be the center of a log cabin style blanket.

    The rest of my spinning time is starting on the 4 ounces of gorgeous Marion Berry colored BFL wool that hubby gave me for Christmas. It is a gradient dyed pair of batts and I plan to spin them in the gradient to make myself a large scarf.

    After being housebound for days, I’m looking forward to sunshine tomorrow even if I have to bundle up and get outside for a good, not icy walk.

  • Repeat

    The unusual weather is continuing. We get a few snows each winter, usually just a couple inches, occassionally more and my Facebook memory for today showed snow two years ago today, but not this cold. We had about 7 inches on the ground Monday morning from overnight and early morning accumulation. It was mostly gone by yesterday afternoon.

    When I walked up to get the mail late yesterday afternoon, it was beginning to snow flurry with a little bit of sleet in it, but it was still a few degrees above freezing. When the German Shepherd came in from her last outdoor run last night, she was coated in wet snow and I awoke to this:

    and 15 f with howling wind and a wind chill advisory. The snow finally stopped with only a couple inches on the ground and the wind is intermitent now, but still blowing strong at times. It has gotten to 19 f which is the expected high and a single digit low tonight. Tomorrow it will be sunny and warm back up to normal January temperatures for here and hopefully most of the snow on the roads will melt off. They did pretreat prior to this round, that should help.

    The hens got fresh thawed water and scratch in the coop, the wildbirds a supply of seed, and I don’t want to go back out again except to check to late eggs near dusk. I brought in 6 warm eggs before they could freeze.

    Soup for lunch, soup for dinner tonight, different ones, both homemade. A pot of decaf coffee made, lots of hot tea available, a woodstove and a fireplace if I feel the need. I’m dressed in extra layers and longjohns today, the heatpump doesn’t like it this cold. I have spindles, fiber, yarn, knitting needles, books and no need to go out in this weather.

    I spent the morning cleaning a closet and filling a donation box that will go down tomorrow if the roads clear. I want to make it to the first winter Farmer’s Market tomorrow, but again, only if the roads clear. And I hope it has cleared and dried by late tomorrow night when hubby will have to drive back up the mountain roads in the dark in our old car.