Author: Cabincrafted1

First Meetings

Early this morning, Son #2 arrived with his family. The eight year old boy cousins haven’t seen each other in several years and the 3 year old girl cousins had never met each other or the boy cousin.

The girls hit it off immediately this morning. They are about 5 months apart in age. The boys have been running and playing chess with each other all day.

While this has been ongoing, I decided to learn to make Ricotta cheese. . .

A gallon of milk first made into mozzarella and a second gallon into about 4 to 5 cups of Ricotta. Two balls of pasta dough made and a pound of sausage cooked and a fresh homemade lasagna assembled.

Son rolling out the noodles.

A baking and a salad and we will have dinner for 9 tonight with two new lessons learned, Ricotta and Pasta. Three products I will no longer buy. In a day or two, daughter and I will make homemade tortillas. I used to make them when Mountaingdad and I were newlyweds but with kids I switched to commercial ones. Daughter bought an 8″ cast iron tortilla press so we will make our own.

The dogs don’t know what to make of all the activity and want to be in the middle of all of the play. The girls escaped. . .

It seems safer inside the dogs cage than out.

January 24, 2015
The Changes

I have lived in this house for about 8 1/2 years now. Mountaingdad for about 6. When I first moved in, Son #1 and his family were living with me, but they moved to the university town after a couple of years and the household was just Mountaingdad and me for a couple of years, then 3 years ago, we added the pups and we had visits by Son #1 and family, Daughter and family, and Son #2 and family from time to time. Two summers, we kept Grandson #1 for extended periods to help out.

Almost three weeks ago now, daughter, 2 grands and granddog moved in as her husband tries to sell their home in Florida and moves here with them. They will live with us for a year or two. It has been a new experience for everyone. The children are having to adjust to not having Dad in the house for now, but having 3 adults monitoring their behavior. Mountaingdad is very good about staying out of behavior correction, I’m not as good, but try to defer to their Mom dealing with issues that arise. The household experiences the pattering around of children, the dog that barks at our cats, the visiting cows, anyone coming or going on the driveway or walking around in the basement or the loft if he hasn’t seen the person leave the room he is in.

Since their arrival, we have had only one afternoon that was both dry and warm enough for the bundled up Floridians to play outdoors, but they loved having the huge yard in the midst of the farm on which to run, bike and play without fear of cars on the road or the canal behind their house that was home of “Chewey” the 5 foot alligator that appeared at times.

There have been times when each adult has had to escape for a bit, to a closed bedroom or to leave the house for an errand or two without kids. Fortunately, they are okay being left with one of us for a while.

Granddaughter has had the hardest adjustment at night. Because our bedrooms are spread out over all three floors of our home, with the master upstairs, two on the main floor and one off the finished basement, the kids are sharing a room with a twin over double bunk. Eight year old grandson took right to it, getting the top bunk. Granddaughter has the double bottom. They each had a double in Florida in their own rooms. Daughter has been trying to keep Granddaughter in her own bed for naps and at night, but Granddaughter has other ideas and will resist until she is so tired from crying that she finally falls asleep, sometimes for an hour, sometimes all night. Yesterday was a resistance day and this is where I found her…

Curled up with her blanket, stuffed toy and pillow, outside her Mom’s bedroom door on the floor. She had cried for over an hour before falling asleep there for her nap. I texted daughter not to come out of the room quickly and sent her the photo. She slept there for about an hour.

Lately, we have been having a nearly daily visitor, Jumper Jr., the ginger cow in the background. She comes over to graze, I guess our field is more appealing to her than her own. Yesterday she brought her Mom, Jumper. They got their name because neither of them can be kept penned up. Daughter and I decided they should be Ginger and Blondie. We don’t mind the visits and the kids think it is great. Granddaughter runs to one of us whenever she spots the ginger cow and excitedly states, “Jumper’s here.” Now if we can just get their dog on board with this idea too.

Today, we are having a winter storm that began around 10 a.m. They closed the schools 3 hours early and brought the kids home. When Grandson got home, his Mom and I were both knitting and he decided that he wanted to learn too. Since daughter is just beginning to pick it up again and is a novice knitter, and since Grandson and I are both left handed, I was nominated to be the instructor. This is lesson one. He is excited about learning and eager to make a scarf. I patiently have had to tink (knit backwards) more than one of his rows this afternoon to repair his work, but he is being persistent. I think he is going to catch on. I don’t know if his interest will hold, but it is fun teaching him. Three year old sis thinks she is “big and strong enough” to do it too. I think we may buy her a spool knitter or pot holder loom to start on.

January 23, 2015
OLIO 1/19/2015

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

This has been the birthday weekend for the 8 year old grandson now living with us. His Dad flew in from Florida to be with his family for the weekend. The celebration began with three generations bowling, 6 of us. I can’t remember the last time I bowled and in spite of sore stiff joints, it was fun. From there we were off to the birthday boy’s favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse for steaks and ribs, then home for a birthday cake that took his Mom 3 hours to decorate while he was in school on Friday. He wanted a Corvette Stingray cake and she managed it nicely, placed high enough that he couldn’t see it until serving time Saturday night. Sunday they went out for family time and lunch together and today, his actual birthday was supposed to be a school holiday, but ended up being a makeup day for a weather missed day last week.

Before he got home from school and while his Mom was taking Dad back to the airport to fly back to Florida, I finally cleaned up the garage from the move in night when we quickly unloaded their trailer into the garage. Son #1 had left his butchering station cleaned up, but left in place after we did fall chickens in hope of the deer he never got this year. I dismantled it and put it back in storage until it is again needed. The box of outdoor toys was finally opened, the crate shelf moved to a more convenient place, the bins of balls, bats and helmets filled, bikes lined up until we can get wall hangers for them.

Toys are now accessible and I can walk through the garage to get to the outside.

Also today, 10 gallons of whole grain chicken feed was made and stored. Before grandson got home, I made 18.6 oz of homemade Mozzarella cheese, solo this time, in preparation for homemade from scratch pizzas, his request for a birthday dinner.

In 20 minutes, I can make this cheese with a gallon of milk at a cost of about half of the price of 8 ounces of “fresh” mozzarella from the grocer.

It was a beautiful day for all of these tasks. This gorgeous sky was seen while awaiting his school bus to arrive. Once he got home, I stayed outdoors with him for a bit of archery practice with his bow and arrows that he got for Christmas.

The pizzas were made and savored, followed with left over birthday cake and ice cream. The end of a busy and full birthday weekend for the young man.

January 19, 2015
Snow play

Today we have a dusting of snow and frozen drizzle from over night. Enough to make the roads slick and close schools again, but not enough for real snow play. Granddaughter’s only other snow was when she was months old and being worn in a carrier by her Mom. After breakfast and chicken chores, we bundled her up and I took her out on the deck for some snow play.

The only place we could accumulate enough snow to “play” in was on the back deck. The snow was too dry to pack into snowballs but it stuck to her mittens like it was velcroed, but she had a blast and was so excited.

Such fun for this little Florida born cutie.

January 14, 2015
Baking with a Grand

This was another morning where the freezing early temperature was the high. It was foggy with occasional freezing drizzle, not enough to affect the roads or school, but enough to warrant hunkering down in the house for the day. Daughter woke with a bad cold and after taking her son to the bus stop nearly half a mile away, she got in a hot bath then back in bed. Once granddaughter awoke, I decided to entertain her to let her mom sleep.
After we had breakfast and I did chicken chores, we decided to bake crackers together.

She put on her apron, helped measure, pour, mix and cut. After they baked, her job was to put them in the jar.

I think she ate one for every 3 she put away, but it kept her entertained for a while and she made a glorious mess playing in the flour.
This afternoon, we used two very ripe bananas to make a loaf of banana bread and now a pot pie is baking. The warm oven has helped the fire keep the house warm and cozy for sick daughter and the healthier crew that just didn’t want to be outside today. Except for bringing in wood and doing chicken chores, I have stayed inside. If it is going to be cold and damp, I wish it would snow.

January 13, 2015
Pizza from scratch

Today was girls day out while Mountaingdad and Grandson watched a movie. We ventured to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get a lidded glass jar for compost as the newest canine addition to the house puts his feet on the counter when no one is watching and steals from the compost bin. We also needed a broad strainer spoon to make cheese and a cake pan to make grandson’s birthday cake next weekend, then off to the natural food store and grocery. During our outing, we decided that tonight would be an excellent night for homemade pizza and we were going to have a cheese making session to make Mozzarella.

This cheese lesson was without the son that gave me the first lesson and was a lesson for daughter.

A pound of delicious cheese. Then we made dough for two pizzas. Cooked down a pint of my homemade pasta sauce for the pizza sauce, chopped red onion, some of the frozen green pepper strips from last summer’s garden, some chopped garlic, cooked a couple of Italian sausages and assembled them for dinner.

One was special for the adults, the second with just sausage, sauce and cheese for the kids.

We still have a few more ounces of our cheese, so we will look for another dish to have in a day or two to enjoy the rest of our success.

In a day or two, we will have a soap making lesson, after making a batch of laundry detergent today, the soap supply is low and after all, it does take several weeks to cure.

Lovin’ life on our mountain farm and having part of our family here.

January 11, 2015
A Week of Adjustment

Tomorrow evening will mark a full week since Daughter and children arrived with me and their trailer full of household goods that we have been incorporating into our mountain home. All but one box from the garage has been brought in and mostly unpacked. On Thursday, the first day that the school counselor was to be back from the holidays, we scheduled to enroll grandson in 2nd grade, but the weather played havoc, treating us to unseasonably frigid temperatures and strong winds with sub zero wind chills and school was cancelled.

The Principal and bookkeeper were there, so we went by to pick up paperwork and take the necessary documents to try to expedite the process the next day. I worked as a school counselor for most of the 37 years as an educator and never in all of that time did we refuse to register a child who had a valid school physical form from another state, if they had all of the necessary vaccines. This school said that the info had to be on the Virginia form and signed by his doctor. His records had already been transferred to the new Pediatric practice in this area, so a quick appointment was made for the next morning and instead of starting school, he went to the doctor. Once the forms were complete, he did get to go meet his new teachers, see his 14 classmates and get to ride the bus home.

On Wednesday, in the frigid weather, we drove two towns over and bought a twin over full bunk bed for the room the kids will share. It was delivered on Friday and we realized that the foundation under the mattress made the bed too tall for the three year old, so back to the furniture store to get a full size bunky board. Their room is more spacious with the bed turned 90 degrees and pushed up against a wall, our huge heavy headboard and footboard with the rails and foundation stored in the basement.

Daughter realized the bookcase that we brought from Florida would not hold all of the kids books and the board games, so she purchased a second bookcase and we put it together yesterday. She and grandson are sorting and arranging the books on it.

After an initial moment of intimidation with the big dog, granddaughter has decided that she loves “Stranger” (Ranger) and he loves her back. A very tolerant beast he is, fortunately.

We are getting used to the activity of having little ones in the house again, they are getting used to not having Daddy here yet and living in a different place. All of us are trying to get used to the cold, though it does look like we might see more seasonable temperatures this week with a bit of rain and then snow, followed by a few even warmer days.

The chooks are laying a few eggs again, though they aren’t happy about the frigid weather either, spending much more time in the coop.

January 10, 2015
The Great Chill

Our Virginia born daughter who has lived the last dozen or so years in Florida and her Florida born children arrived as an Arctic blast hit our region. The first two days they were here, we saw highs of around freezing and lows 10 or so degree lower. They are cold, to the bone cold and the next two days are colder. We awoke to 20°f (-6.67°c) and that is today’s high.

We have a wind chill advisory for the next day or so. It is snowing, mountain snow showers. The kids want snow to play in, but not this event.

When I took food and water to the chooks, the wind cut through me. I filled the PVC feeder that hangs inside the coop and realized that even the water in the coop was frozen solid. The waterer was brought in to thaw and a pan of water put in the coop. I opened the pop door, they ran out into the yard, turned and back into the coop, where they will likely stay today.
Other than trips to the coop to check for eggs and thaw water, we are going to hunker down indoors with a fire going, games to play, knitting, planning and reading.

My knitting is an Ouroboros Moebius from Margaret Radcliffe, a local knitting designer and author, a friend knit out of Green Dragon Gradient sport weight in Teal which I will treasure as this other local friend is no longer dyeing yarns. Son#1 and family gave me the Organic Seed Grower for Christmas and my two favorite seed catalogs arrived during the busy holidays and I haven’t had time to even look at them.
The day will be fueled by a pot of stew or vegetable beef soup and maybe a pan of bread.

January 7, 2015
The Move

Last Wednesday, I flew to Florida and Thursday and Friday morning, daughter and I finished packing the children’s books, games, indoor and outdoor toys and clothes, along with her clothes, some linens and other needs from their house. Thursday, she and her husband met with the Realtor that is listing their house for sale and signed the paperwork to get the house on the market early this week. On Friday noon, we picked up the trailer and began loading it, putting the children’s dressers, two bookcases, toy bin shelving and daughter’s desk. Once her husband got home from work, he helped us play Tetris with the boxes and items like bicycles, scooters, and outdoor toys that would not go into boxes. Everything stacked up, tied down and balanced.

6 X 12′ stacked front to back, top to bottom

Saturday morning, the dog and his paraphernalia, backpacks of car books and toys, small bags for travel clothing were added to the car along with the laptop, camera, and tablet to begin the 2 day trip north to our home in southwestern Virginia. The weather was beautiful, the traffic fairly light early in the day and though the trailer was 100 feet long, 25 feet wide and weighed 10 tons, or at least it felt that way attached to the back of the vehicle. And the fact that every time I looked in the rear view mirror, I startled at how close that “U-Haul truck” was to my rear bumper. The kids were great travelers, the dog quiet and calm most of the time. When we got to South Carolina and within 35 miles of our first night destination, we landed in an interstate parking lot, creeping along at 5 to 20 miles an hour. We ended up taking a couple hours longer than expected driving almost 12 hours the first day. Yesterday was a shorter day, fortunately, though we did drive in rain off and on, arriving home about 5:30 last night as the cold front hit here, dropping the temperature from the 50s to the low 20s. We are going to have a night of low single digits tomorrow night, quite a change from Florida weather.

We got the trailer unloaded last night and returned today. Boxes are getting unpacked and the family settling in. We are delighted to have them here and hope that our SIL sells the house and moves with them soon.

January 5, 2015
2014 in review

Being on the road after 12 hours with daughtwr, 2 kids, and one big dog, pulling a heavy trailer full of household goodies, all you get from the road is a summary of last year in blogworld.
Tomorrow, we will be home☺

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here's an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,800 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

January 3, 2015