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     For past readers, you know we have two pups.  One, a German Shepherd, about 14 months old and still puppy hyper and unfortunately shedding horribly and doesn’t like to be brushed.  The other, an English Mastiff about a year and a half old and nearly 200 pounds, a true gentle giant, but like others of his breed, selectively deaf.  Last evening, just before dark, I took them out one at a time, hubby is still healing from his surgery on his knee and I am trying to limit his climbing the stairs more than necessary.  Ranger, the beast spotted some critter in the tall hay on the edge of the property and took off barking.  Not to be disuaded from this pursuit, he ignored my calls and I couldn’t see him in the tall hay from the ground.  Eventually, he came back, but seemed to be having some digestive issues, finally came in the house.
     Also, for new readers, eldest son (ES) and I built a chicken ark/tractor, a moveable pen for the cull birds and it is lined on the lower half and ends with hardware cloth. The structure is A frame and it is a struggle for me to reach in to get the waterer in and out and in doing so, I scratched my inner forearm the first day and cut the side of my pinky finger, probably enough to need stitches (didn’t happen) two days ago on the edge of the hardware cloth.
     This morning in the wee hours, around 4:45, I was awakened by the sound of heavy rain falling on the metal roof and by a smell.  Mastiff’s can clear a room when they fart and I assumed that was the case, but it didn’t go away, it got worse.  Finally we turned on lights and it wasn’t farts.  Cleaning up after a 200 pound dog, sick at both ends, at 5 in the morning is not my idea of a good start to the day.  Doing it while trying not to involve the badly injured finger, to keep it clean and dry made it less fun.  Once that was done, sleep seemed elusive at best, but I got back in bed.  Less than 30 minutes later he was whining and nosing me to get up and let him out (I’m the morning caregiver) and he went out into the pouring rain, spotted something to bark at and chase and wouldn’t come back in.  That meant dressing, finding shoes and going after him in the rain.  Finally back in, we all settled for an hour until both dogs wanted out.  I gave up on sleep at this point, dressed again and turned them out in the pouring rain.  Shadow returned after doing her business, wet but came in for breakfast.  Ranger would not come in and I refused to chase him down again.  Generally, once she is in, he returns on his own and he did, looking like a 200 pound drowned rat.  Towel dried and fed, breakfast fixed for me, I awaiting a lull in the driving rain to go deal with the chickens.  The culls go through their food container and their water container daily.  To access the inside of the chicken tractor, one 100 inch long side lifts and can be propped up, but any birds up on the perches when you do this can escape.  I managed to chase all but one down into the bottom, but she escaped.  After they were fed and watered, the top closed, she had to be caught, single handedly.  There are places if she would go that would make it easier to do, but she wanted back in with her buds and just circled the tractor trying to find a way in.  Meanwhile, in spite of my GoreTex jacket, I am getting soaked.  She is finally back in the pen, the girls came out of the coop, discovered it was not to their liking and scooted under it.  I am back inside, jeans and socks wet, rain jacket hanging in the shower and dreaming of moving to Australia.
     Ranger is getting the sleep he denied me.

     Yesterday, the missing parts ordered for my new wheel arrived and the wheel assembly was finished.  Over the year that I have been spinning, I have accumulated a few small bunches of roving of various fiber, some from just not finishing roving I was spinning, some the wee giftees from the friend from whom I purchased my first wheel, and a few left from when I was drop spindle spinning.  I pulled out some Merino, an easy to spin fiber and tried out the new wheel.
     It is a learning curve to change wheels, I don’t know how people with multiple wheels manage it.  The first few tries resulted in the roving getting too thin and disappearing onto the bobbin while I still had the rest in my hands.  After a number of false starts, I got the hang of it, I thought, and spun the remaining few yards of Merino, switching to a Merino/Silk blend and feeling pretty good about the wheel when the roving broke and I lost the end on the bobbin.  After trying to find it for a while, I gave up.  Today I resumed looking for the lost end to no avail and cut the single near where the end should be and worked backward until I had a solid single to begin on again.
     This afternoon has been a fun experiment, using Corriedale in vivid colors, Blue Faced Leicester/Silk blend and pure Alpaca to create a funky bobbin of single that I am going to ply with a neutral and use to knit blanket squares.  Maybe someday, there will be a blanket or throw to warm us on a cold evening and it will be made entirely of homespun yarn.

     I am in love with my new wheel and still adore the spinning process.

     I am a consumate hippy.  Recycling and using cloth reuseable shopping bags have been my habits long before it was popular.  But nut butter jars, especially the square one and oil bottles with a neck too small for a bottle brush are almost enough to want me to just toss them in the trash.


Seriously, how do they expect you to clean those corners?

It is going in the dishwasher and then it gets recycled, hopefully cleaner than this.

     When our eldest son was here week before last, we didn’t finish everything that was planned, so he and our nearly 8 year old grandson rode the MegaBus from Northern Virginia to here on Friday night and we hit the list hard yesterday morning.
     First on our list was to level the chicken coop.  Our farm slopes from the road at the top to the property line at the bottom with an elevation change of about 200 feet, so there is not a naturally level place on the entire property.  Hubby and I did the best we could when we put it in place, but it wasn’t level and it was sitting directly on the ground.  Two car jacks and a 6 foot prybar, a stack of cinder blocks of various thickness and the coop is now level and sitting off the ground with all 4 legs sitting on one or more cinder blocks.
     Next up was to finish the chicken ark/tractor.  Son calls it a chicken palace.  What it is, is a portable coop that can be moved every few days to provide fresh grass and bugs to the birds until their harvest date.

Fastening flashing over the roof peak

Applying Linseed Oil in the dark

Riviting a piece of split garden hose along the sharp edge of the side that lifts for access.  He doesn’t want me to cut my face or scalp.

     The chicks in their new, more secure and moveable pen.  The girls are still in the coop and they have two new playmates.  I found a local supply of Buff Orpingtons, a heritage breed and the chicks are 10 weeks old, only a couple of weeks younger than the other pullets.

     The Chicken Palace completion took the rest of yesterday and part of this morning.  Before working on it this morning, we racked the beer from the Brew Day for it’s second ferment.  It is a beautiful clear dark brown beer.  Son says it will finish into a very dark Porter and during lunch today we played with naming it.  The name is not to be revealed until it is ready to serve up at our big double summer celebration of my Dad’s 90th birthday and the baptism of our daughter’s two children.

     Removing two bins of the 6 making up the compost bins, barn roof repair in the rain and an approaching thunder storm and putting a switch box extender on a light switch completed our allotted time.  The rest of the jobs will have to be finished when they return in July.  Son and grandson were put on a 3:30 Megabus home and we drove to an adjoining county to pick up the two chicks.  Now it is time to rest and read or knit.

     My new wheel arrived today!  I had already mowed the yard, planted the rest of the garden seed, run errands, and planted the deck pots with geraniums and lantana, so when FedEx appeared at the door, I began my happy dance.
     Unpacking commenced promptly with the help of the beast, who thought the box smelled delicious and was curious about what I was doing.  The seller included the original manual and left as many parts assembled as she could, so it looked like it would be an easy assembly.  Basically it was, except, she failed to include the barrel nuts that hold the bolts attaching the upright to the base and the maiden base to the upright.  An email to her failed to produce them, she doesn’t remember them ever being there.  Fortunately, The Woolery came through and the two nuts are already shipped to me first class, so they should be here Monday or Tuesday.
     I guess I will have to wait until then to try her out, but except for a couple of marks on the treadle pedals, she looks brand new.

     My spinning mojo was off for a while.  Everytime I sat down to spin, either the roving pulled out of my hands, I spun too thinly and it broke or I feared it would, or something would come up to draw me away.
     After last week’s whirlwind work session and this week’s surgery for hubby, it seemed like a good week to sit and get my mojo back.  I had started 4 ounces of 70% Merino wool 30% silk in a colorway combination that my knitting friends would never attribute to me, it isn’t blue or red.  The color is called Jamaica and is cream, copper, yellow, green, merlot, navy and a purple blue carded in such a way that it does not stripe, but blends.
     The initial two bobbins were plied to 213 yards of two ply about 14 to 16 wpi, maybe light fingering weight.  The remaining roving was spun a tad thicker and Navajo plied to a three ply of about 85 yards of sport weight yarn.  I have no idea what to make with it, but it is lovely and so soft.

     There is the tiniest bit of the roving left and several other samples of different roving that I have collected and I am trying to figure out what I can make with them.  My plan is to use them to learn on my new wheel that is supposed to be delivered by FedEx tomorrow.  Maybe I can spin fingering weight yarn, knit small squares and begin a blanket of homespun leftovers.
     My current wheel has already been spoken for and is cleaned and oiled and awaiting delivery to her new owner.

     This morning at 8 a.m., hubby checked in for outpatient arthroscopic knee surgery to see why and or repair whatever has been causing him pain for the past 8 weeks.  I had prepared a bag with knitting and magazines and ended up with his newspaper for the wait.  Last night neither of us slept, maybe getting a two hour nap after 4 a.m., but nothing more.  The wait was in his pre-surgery room for two hours while he was taken to surgery then recovery before he was returned to finish recovery.  My best laid plan to entertain myself was a complete fail, I was too tired to read, too unfocused to knit on the project that I had taken, so mostly I just sat.
     Though he seemed to be feeling a fair amount of pain right after, he seems to be reasonably comfortable now, sitting in his recliner with his leg elevated and ice on it.  After settling him in with his ice pack and a beverage, I measured the yarn that I made last night, about 213+ yards of fingering to sport weight.  The photo taken in daylight shows the more muted colors.  There is more of the fiber to spin into a maybe another 100 or so yards, then it will be washed and set aside until I decide what it wants to be.

     I’m hoping that his recovery continues to be easy and that we can soon resume doggie walks and horseback riding.

     After two nights of going to bed very late for me and getting up at my usual time, driving to Northern Virginia to return our son home after his week of work for us and then back the next day, followed by one of my nights where sleep must have been optional as I only slept for 4 hours in the early morning, last night I slept soundly for a good night’s rest and have slugged around today.
     The usual chores were done, feeding the dogs, watering and letting the pullets out of the hen house, a bit of house cleaning as the dogs seem to create more hair on the floor than they wear, but that is another story.  After lunch, I decided to just take it easy.  I have read a bit, spun a bit, and prepared a bag to take while sitting in the waiting room tomorrow while hubby has arthroscopic knee surgery to find out or fix whatever has been causing him pain for the past 8 weeks.  We stocked up on some lunch foods and a few days worth of other groceries, but basically just took it easy.

      The fiber that I am spinning is Merino and Silk, the colors are called Jamaica.  It is a pretty blend of shade that look much bolder in this picture than in reality.
      This will be the last fiber that I spin on this wheel as I was lucky enough to score a new used Ashford Kiwi II today that should arrive within a few days.  This has been a nice starter wheel and the person who has expressed an interest in her is a new spinner and I’m sure she will love her as much as I have as I learned.

     Wow, what a whirlwind week.  Eldest son came for a week between his school and his summer job to help us with work that we either lack the skill to do or for reasons of safety, shouldn’t do.  Over the years, I have developed some carpentry skills, can operate safely, a table saw, a circular saw, power drills and sanders, so I make a good carpenter’s helper, but I don’t do very good on my own when it come to making items bigger than a bird house or a spice rack.  Given instructions, I can follow them. 
     The week involved moving a bi-fold door, then building, finishing and hanging a new door, see post from Wednesday the 22nd.  I was a cutter and holder on this project.  This was a project for which we lacked the skills.
     The main job for which safety was an issue, was going up on the metal roof of the front porch and the front of the house and staining the 3 dormers.  Our son who spent 10 years between his bachelors degree and his masters degree doing carpentry and stone mason work in New Orleans, Asheville, and on our log home, and is still young enough and flexible enough to get up there safely, took care of that job.  I would go 2/3 the way up the ladder to hand him items he needed, collected items he no longer needed, but otherwise worked on other projects.  He spent the better part of a day up there only to have horrendous thunderstorms that night and we worried that the stain would be damaged.  It seemed to have survived ok, but it then rained for the next two day off and on.  Friday morning, it finally cleared, but the wind was howling and we were a bit fearful for him going up again, but he did and managed to finish the job. 
     On the rainy days, he worked on building a chicken ark/tractor, a portable coop and run for the meat birds, to get them out of the temporary pen that I put together a few weeks ago, in hopes that I will continue to raise meat birds for him.

Chicken ark minus roof

     On Thursday morning, while waiting to see if it would clear and dry off, we got in about an hour at the shooting range for some target practice. Since it didn’t clear,  he was working on constructing the ark and I was learning home brewing and made 10 gallons of beautiful stout style beer that is burbling happily in the root cellar.  Friday morning, I got up early and made the third batch, putting another 5 gallons working with the other 10 and then worked on the ark while he finished the staining.  We finally quit after 5 p.m., cleaned up and drove the four plus hours to Northern Virginia to return him home arriving at midnight.  The ark is not quite finished and another of our tasks not completed, so he and our grandson are going to ride the bus back down next weekend to finish those jobs and try to get the back deck re-stained.

15 gallons of racked stout fermenting

     This morning was spent helping with errands, including a clothing run for son, a grocery run for their family and looking for birthday presents for grandson from us and his parents.

Oldest grandson with what is to become his birthday present from his parents along with lessons.

and with his new bike, the gift from us.

    After helping them run errands in Northern Virginia this morning, as they don’t have a car and then taking them out to lunch, I did the return drive to the mountains, home just in time to prepare our dinner, feed the chickens and collapse in my recliner.  It has been a busy, busy week and I am tired.

     Nearly 10 years ago, eldest son, who is currently visiting and doing some work for us, began experimenting with fermenting vegetables and homebrewing.  Having attended or hosted several events where his homebrewed beer, mead, or rootbeer were served, I can attest to his ability.
    Three years ago, we had 2 of our children marry within 3 months and eldest son and our daughter by love as their wedding gift, made 15 gallons of  varieties of beer for each of the celebrations and it was very well received.
     In August, we will be celebrating the baptism of two of our grandchildren and the 90th birthday of my father on consecutive days at the location that my cousins, siblings, father and stepmom and friends vacation each summer.  He wanted to take 15 gallons of beer for this celebration fest as well.  I have never been present for the entire process.  I have visited them when the carboys were burbling on a shelf.  I have helped decant from one carboy to the second for the second ferment.  And I have been there for clean up session and to decant it into a keg to pressurize and finish.   
     I have expressed an interest in learning the process and as all of his brew equipment is stored at our farm and he has made his brews here for the past several times, today is the day for me to take an active part in the process.  The idea was for me to help him with the first five gallon batch.  Him to watch me do the second five gallon batch.   And for me to do the third five gallon batch, basically unsupervised except to have him lift the huge stainless steel pot on and off the stove and to pour it from the pot in the sparging phases, while he worked in the garage building a chicken ark to move the rest of the meat birds into and to house the fall crop of meat birds in August.
     It hasn’t quite worked out that way.  We worked together to measure, mix and divide the malt and to clean the equipment.  Once we got underway, he felt that I was following the procedure and recipe directions well enough to skip me to the third batch first.
     We are in the later phases of cooking a very dark stout that smells wonderful.  The chickens thought the malt grain that we cooked for the wort were a great treat.  I am a bit concerned that we will only get 2 of the five gallon batches made and as he is leaving tomorrow, I will either have to do the third while he finishes the last dormer staining before I take him home, or I will be tasked with trying to do this on my own next week and I am not sure I can physically handle the big pot with all the hot liquid in it.  Maybe we will end up with only 10 gallons this time and supplies in the freezer for another batch another visit.

Bags of measured malts.

Insulated box that hold the kettle to keep it at the right temperature without fiddling with the control knob on the stove constantly.

Clean carboys awaiting the brew for the first ferment.

Checking the temperature of the cooking grains before sparging for the wort.

The monster kettle.

First batch into carboy for first ferment.  One batch down, 2 to go.

     The chicken tractor/ark is well under way while batch 2 is begun.  A good day.