Cabin Crafted

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  • Another one bites the dust

    Yesterday was a miserable day, rain, freezing rain, sleet, all freezing on surfaces. The hens had been let into their run, not free ranging as I didn’t want them out in the weather and because Grandson and I had pulled up a couple Barberry shrubs the day before and there were areas of loose soil in garden beds that I didn’t want them digging up. When I went out at dusk to lock them up and gather the couple of eggs that are being provided now that molt is mostly over, I found my most timid Marans dead in the run with damage that looked like that of a hawk that couldn’t carry off a full grown hen. Today they were left in the coop all day.

    We drove the hour to the city to take Grandson to the Pinball Museum and to get lunch only to discover they aren’t open on Monday, so a long drive in both directions for a mediocre lunch. On the way home, we stopped and purchased erosion fencing, staples, and cable ties to try to secure the run. Once home, first step was to tighten up the 4 foot fence and set a few more posts, removing the part of an earlier solo attempt to cover the run, securing the tightened fence wire to the new posts. The erosion fencing is being stapled to the top of the coop, just below the roof, his 6’2″ + height useful for this and having the extra pair of hands to pull fence tight and handing cable ties also nice. We didn’t finish, it was cold and reached dinner prep time, but about 2/3 of the open top is now covered securely. When we walked over to begin, the hawk was in the empty run where it had killed the hen the day before. It flew into a pear tree, then off to the lower field. Tomorrow is to be a bit warmer and hopefully, the remaining top can be covered so the hens can be released again.

    The coop had been cleaned on Saturday, and the spoiled wood chips added as mulch to the daylily bed and I don’t want the hens scratching through that either. They have scratched there so much the soil in that bed is several inches lower than the stoop and the surrounding grass. It needs to be built up and enriched. The metal fence pulled down in our efforts today will be used to provide a protective ring around the young plum and any remaining erosion fence used to protect the daylily bed from deer and hens.

    Yesterday did provide an afternoon to socialize with my two local spinning friends, enjoying hot tea, each other’s company, and a lesson in a new skill for one of them. One of the gals, as soon as she learned to spin, made two great Turkish spindles, an amazing feat that I couldn’t do.

    Today my new hearing aids arrived, now wearing two instead of just one and these are bluetooth enabled so they can be controlled by my smart phone. It is nice to be able to be in a different area of the house and hear hubby or grandson speaking to me.

    I hope we can finish the hen run tomorrow. I’m toying with putting a temporary fence around the compost pile and an opening from the run to it on the other side of their fence so they can stir it up. When they are given access to it, a tarp or cover will have to protect them from the aerial predatory.

    We continue taking one day at a time with hope that Wednesday morning, the Cardiology specialist may be able to open at least hubby’s most blocked artery.

  • Out with the old, in with the new

    We happily said goodbye to 2022, the last quarter of the year having been a medical nightmare. We welcome 2023 with hopes of heart repair, a reprieve for a few months from the immunotherapy treatments that have produced more extreme side effects for longer periods of time.

    Traditionally, the holiday decorations were put away on New Year’s Day as school often resumed the next day. This year, the process was begun half a week ago, just after Son 1 returned to his job. The tree was left standing until today and it too has been stripped of his ornaments and lights, removed to the cedar thicket on the edge of the woods, and the needles vacuumed.

    The Dyson decided it didn’t want to do the job, so the old Oreck was hauled upstairs and did a much better job of even removing the dog hair from the rug than even the newer Dyson when it is working at it’s best. The Dyson has been disassembled and every washable part banged free of dust and washed, set aside to dry for a few days.

    The closet beneath the basement stairs needs to be cleaned out, some ductwork retaped, then the crates will be moved down for storage for the next 11 months.

    The bottom left one will go straight to daughter’s house next Christmas, it has about half of my Santa’s in it that I chose not to place this year and are ready to move on to her collection. The tree ornaments got new storage this year that allows a separate cell for each ornament so they don’t have to be individually wrapped, which made the put away simpler and will allow easier decisions on what will go on the next tree if it is too small for all of them.

    The Christmas Amaryllis gift is beautifully blooming, a total of 7 lovely red blooms.

    Now that the holidays are behind us, more time will be spent working on the shawl that is from Jenkins Turkish spindle spun Alpaca, Merino, and Silk. It was begun in mid December once all Christmas knitting was complete. The spindle is holding a lovely blue wool of unknown origin, spinning enough to double the thickness of the hat that is my preferred one when the weather is cold.

    After last weekend’s weather tried to destroy us with single digit temperatures and high winds, today feels like spring with mostly sunny skies. We managed to get a walk in before the tree came down and out. We have a couple more warmish days, mostly with rain, then a return to more normal winter temperatures here with low 40’s f during the day and 20’s at night. Life moves on, we continue to taking it one day at a time.

  • Friends

    Most of my friends live far away, but a few have been made through my various fiber arts and two of them are very local to me and women that I have taught to spin, one on spindles and a wheel, the other newer and just on spindles.

    The main group of spinner/knitter/weavers that gather in the adjacent town are more casual friends and with Covid and then hubby’s health issues, have been seen only very sporadically. My plan had been to attend the annual holiday social with them last Thursday and the freezing rain/ice storm caused it to be postponed until this week. There is another storm brewing to potentially cancel or postpone it again and family obligations might prevent me from attending anyway. I had planned to take one of the local friends with me last week, the other was away midweek, but neither of them are available this week.

    We try to get together as often as possible to spin, knit, chat, and have a cup of tea. Sometimes it is the three of us, usually at our home, sometimes just two of us, but always a pleasure. Because of the week’s foiled plans, we decided to have our own little social yesterday. The house is decorated, I baked another small batch of Ginger Nut cookies and the house was fragrant with the smell of fresh baked ginger. The tea kettle hot when they arrived and we gathered to visit and craft together. Some small gifts exchanged, my first Christmas present, a wax coated Amaryllis bulb almost in bloom. It doesn’t require soil or water, just placed in bright light and allowed to bloom.

    Once it has bloomed out, I will remove the wax and treat the bulb in a more traditional manner and hope it will bloom again next year and the year following.

    The afternoon was a treat, the two ladies, true friends. The cookies enjoyed. We will gather again when we are all available, likely not until after Christmas, but the anticipation of further gatherings tides me over.

    Taking one day at a time.

  • I Let It Go

    A half dozen years or so ago, my yarn making, knitting, soap and salve making grew beyond what the family could use and a small cottage business was born. Etsy was tried and abandoned due to the fees and rising postage cost, a website store initiated with the help of Square. It was fairly easy to manage, but generated very little in sales. A few in person events were done each year and some product made, booth fees paid, but still, barely breaking even each year.

    The tax ramifications, hassle with the income tax, the personal property tax, and state sales tax caused stress every year.

    Then COVID struck and in person events ceased for two years. Though there were a few this year, even with low or no entry fees, it just got to the point where it wasn’t fun anymore.

    First the webstore was taken down, the last couple of in person events done with minimal sales, and the decision to just let it go. Some yarn was gifted, a shawl traded for some hand woven kitchen towels to be used as gifts, some knitwear gifted, and body products donated to the museum where my goods are sold in their gift shop. This leaves a few skeins of yarn for me to knit, soap that will be used in the household, and a few more knit items that need a new home. This week, the tax certificate was mailed back to the State with a letter notifying them that Cabin Crafted Shop is no longer in business at this location or any other. I have kept the domain name, just in case I change my mind at some point, but for now, I have let it go. The decision is bittersweet. Some of the events I used to enjoy became too expensive for my little business, some just not busy enough to make them worthwhile.

    I will continue dressing in Colonial clothing and spinning at events as requested, but only for the pleasure of educating others.

  • Rain and Ice

    It seems like all we have had for a couple of weeks is gray gloom and rain. One day of sunshine slipped in and the temperatures have stayed just warm enough for it to not be frozen rain or snow, but cold enough to make the daily walk an uncomfortable affair. If it is really raining, not just gray mist, we forgo the exercise, but miss getting out. The walks have necessitated extra layers in the form of long underwear and wool knee socks, but they have even been welcome in the house. Age plays tricks on the internal thermometer and higher power bills discourage turning up the thermostat.

    Yesterday morning with the threat of an ice storm, we woke to rain again. Deciding to go on into town for lunch and errands, we passed into freezing rain and ice covered trees on the 12 mile drive. The roads were still fine and VDOT was out to make sure they stayed that way. When we prepared to take our walk in town, because the forecast appeared that the precipitation should stop around lunchtime, it was still coming down hard. When we arrived back home, the ice had moved with us and the mountains across the valley were coated trees.

    It did finally end and as we had to meet someone in town near dark to deliver an item, we took a later walk on the Rails to Trails paved path we often use prior to the meet up. The path was wet, not icy, but the trees were dripping and dropping little ice pellets on us.

    It was like walking in a wonderland, but cold and damp. Today there is some sun off and on. Taking advantage of the drier day, a layer of hay was spread in the chicken run to make it less treacherous to navigate. The round bale needs to be rolled uphill a bit so I can roll more off and deepen the layer before we are possibly getting our first significant snow next week. It may take the tractor to accomplish that task. And though it is colder than preferred for working outdoors, the coop needs to be cleaned to give them a clean dry layer if they are confined for a day or two. If the sun stays out, that task will be tackled as well.

    The sun came and went and came again. We got our walk done, slightly warmer than yesterday, but windy. And the coop got cleaned, but the wood shavings are a tad thin, so another bale will be purchased and another layer added to the coop. The spoiled, shavings full of molted feathers was dumped in a raised bed that needs more soil. A layer of soil will be added over the shavings, the fertilizer will be hot now, but should mellow out by planting time.

    It is definitely turning toward real winter and we continue to take it one day at a time.

  • Self Restraint

    restraint imposed by oneself on one’s own actions; self-control

    I have none if certain food items are in the house. The solution has been to just not bring them in the house. Kettle cooked potato chips, chocolate, certain types of cookies. Hubby likes a sweet after dinner and chips with sandwiches, so what comes in the house is a variety that doesn’t tempt me. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, I bake him a pumpkin pie. He says my pies are delicious, but I don’t care for pumpkin pie, thus no temptation to me. I may be the only human in the world that actually dislikes Oreos, so another non temptation for me.

    But, last year around Christmas, a friend from England, presented me with a small tin of Ginger Nut biscuits. That my friends was temptation that I couldn’t resist. Fortunately, there were only about a dozen. Hubby ate one or two, but preferred other options, so, yup, I ate them all. They did last a few days and each biscuit is small.

    I haven’t baked cookies at the holidays since my children were small and wanted to “help.” And as we held an Open House for neighbors, friends, and coworkers, the dozens made were usually devoured without much damage to my health and waistline. But the receipt of the crispy, gingery nuggets sent me into “Google Search” land to find a recipe. The traditional Ginger Nut biscuits use Golden Syrup, not a product readily available in the USA. Yes it can be ordered online, in fairly large tins, but a large tin would not be used in a timely manner, so the idea was dropped. Until… the upcoming annual spinning group holiday gathering with snacks to share and a Yankee Swap game. My friend was contacted about the recipe she uses, which she gladly shared as it comes from a cookbook from the UK. I asked her if she had ever used Agave Syrup as she had said definitely not to use Maple Syrup and she had not, but she gifted me a small bottle of Golden Syrup from a recent order she had made from her supplier of traditional goods from her homeland.

    Not wanting to wait until the last minute to try a new to me recipe, this morning, the simple appearing recipe was attempted. The rather small quantity of sticky dough is supposed to be divided into 16 equal pieces, rolled into a ball, slightly flattened and baked. I used a tablespoon to scoop out the first batch and ended up with 13. They were a success, so a second batch was tackled and this time, rolled out and cut into 16 pieces. There is now a tin of slightly more than 2 dozen Ginger Nut biscuits for the social on Thursday. I am going to have to hide them from myself so there are still enough for the party.

    I admit to sampling the top right biscuit as it spread too much on one edge.

    Now back to my self restraint tactic.

  • Rainy Winter Day

    It was chilly and wet, not a day for a walk, but with errands that had to be done. The trash and recycle bins taken to the “convenience center” to be unloaded, packages and a card to be mailed. A box of gifts to be shipped. Chicken feed and wild bird food to be purchased. It seemed like a good day to see if the local tree farm where we often cut our own tree had any precut trees at the seasonal store. There were two, a very scrawny one and pretty little tree, much smaller than our usual tree for a room that can take a 12′ tree with ease and has in the past. This tree had to be of a size that I could manhandle alone to get it in and in the stand.

    It was small enough to fit in the car and did not have to be tied on top in the rain.

    Once home, placed in the stand on a plastic sheet, and the strings cut, it was allowed to drip dry.

    And finally lit and decorated, using our large dried Starfish from a long ago Bahamas cruise as it’s topper. It has graced the top of our tree for more than a dozen years now.

    It isn’t large enough for quite all the ornaments, but close. The very first one I hung was the first one hubby and I purchased as a married couple. It dropped from the tree and broke, which sent me into tears. It was glued back together with superglue, but though I tend not to be superstitious, I hoped it wasn’t an omen as hubby’s health continues to be a major problem. We hope that it’s repair means that the various medical specialists can repair him as well.

    Our tradition, up until last year, had been to purchase an ornament together every year and years of significant events like the birth of a child, a second one added. Each one dated, if not already so, with a fine tip marker in a discrete place. A lot of joy comes from seeing the dates, remembering the time or event or where the ornament was purchased. Many of the more recent ones are from a local potter, a friend, and they were added to a wreath and hung from the hutch.

    I have to admit, that decorating this year has been difficult, there have been many bouts of tears as hubby and I both know that there is a significant chance that this might be the last we celebrate unless healing is found. Today brought joy and several bouts of tears. Not all of the collection of decorations were used this year. There is a crate of Santa’s that will go to daughter. I held on to them this year without putting them up but they will go to her before she decorates next year.

    The day ends with Christmas lights and fog in the hollows.

    Hoping for many more with my love, but taking each day at a time and making the most of it.

  • A week of Thanksgiving and Frustration

    Thanksgiving week in our lives is full of birthdays and family gathering. Five of us celebrate birthdays in a 9 day span, with one born on Thanksgiving Day and celebrating her 11th birthday this year again on Thanksgiving Day. Son 1 came for a week, preparing me a scrumptious birthday dinner and then offering to cook again another night, again preparing a gourmet meal. Grandson 1 came a few days later to be here for Thanksgiving. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we drove to Weathertop Farm to pick up our 19.36 lb turkey. Nearly a decade ago, after reading about spatchcocking chicken, Son 1 and I decided to spatchcock the turkey. The first time, we lacked the proper tool to do it, but managed and learned that it produces a delicious, golden, juicy bird in less than 2 hours cooking time and we have never looked back. Though I have managed to spatchcock a couple alone, it is Son 1’s “job” to butterfly the bird and rub the herbed butter under the skin, then he also is the carver when it is done.

    As this year, granddaughter wanted Thanksgiving at their house for her birthday, Son 1 and I went over early enough to prep the turkey and for me to work with daughter to get the rest of the meal prepared together. Son1 and Grandson 1 went on a bike ride then returned home to pick up hubby and bring him over. Eleven of us gathered, enjoyed our meal and birthday celebration together.

    Early, very early, the next morning, Son 1 was put on the bus to the train to go home to finish out his semester of teaching and working on a project for the Dean. And the following morning, early, but not quite as early, Grandson 1 was put on his bus home.

    Today is Daughter’s birthday, the last of this flurry. She has to work all day, so we are going to take her to lunch tomorrow.

    The birthday girls with another of daughter’s awesome cake creations for her girl.

    Right at the time when eggs are needed in quantity for holiday cooking, the hens all decided to blow their feathers at once. The just cleaned coop has more feathers than wood chips at this point and egg production has virtually ceased. Two of the girls molted a bit earlier than the others, so one or two eggs about every other day appear, but I actually had to purchased a dozen and a half during the holiday to make pie and breakfasts.

    Christmas decorating at our house is always on hold until after daughter’s birthday. It used to begin the day after Thanksgiving because as an educator, I always had a long weekend to get it done. As soon as she was old enough to catch on, she decreed that it had to wait until after her birthday, which only seemed fair. The snowman pillows, ceramic snowman, and sled were brought out already, the dried flowers pulled from my fall wreath and put in a vase and three carved wooden birds added to the wreath with a plaid bow, but other decorating will wait, maybe for a while. December is bittersweet for me. It ends with the holiday that represents family to me, but it is also the month in which both of my parents passed away. This year we enter December after 3 months of stress, doctor’s appointments, treatments, and pending treatments for hubby. Yesterday’s treatment was postponed due to a side issue, this is the second time that has happened. It should have been his last treatment based on the original schedule, but now he is only half finished with this round. There are still many appointments in our future with the various specialists. It has been a stressful and frustrating period for us.

    Many months ago, our aging Mastiff reached a point where he could no longer manage the stairs and settled himself in the living room at night. He will turn 11 in 4 more days, very old for a Mastiff and he can no longer even get to his feet unassisted. A folded beach towel is used for me to assist him getting to his feet. About a month ago, the German Shepherd, who is a few months younger than him fell down the stairs and though she limped around for a day or two, still insisted on coming up when we were upstairs. In the past couple of days, she has fallen down all or part of the stairs 3 times, so a baby gate was erected yesterday to prevent her from coming up. This caused her, an already anxious pup, to be even more anxious as she paced around the living room and dining room for hours. Last night, she even urinated on the floor which she never does in the house. We had purchased the Mastiff a mastiff size bed last year. He uses it as a pillow with about half his body on it, but won’t get totally up on it. Last evening after I took her bed down to try to comfort her, I looked down to this.

    She was totally up on his bed, he was resting his head on her much small one. I guess she will adjust to not being allowed to come up and it certainly will reduce the dog hair dust bunnies upstairs.

    We continue on, taking one day at a time. That is all we can do. Decorating will happen to some extent when it happens, likely a much smaller tree and fewer shelf decorations, but some holiday festiveness.

  • Poor Bees

    The remaining hive doesn’t have as many bees as I would like with the winter now here. The past few days have be hovering between freezing and 40 f and windy with nights in the 20’s. I gave them all the stores I could scrounge from the hives that had been robbed and killed and added chunks of sugar bricks.

    Today the first 10 lb sugar board was made. As soon as it is dry and we have a slightly warmer day next week, the board will be added to the hive and any bricks left added on top.

    I don’t want to have to open the hive any more than absolutely necessary to add more sugar. I explored the Mountain Camp idea of just placing newspaper down and pouring loose sugar on it, but saw mixed reviews of the idea and my local friend said they would never do it that way again. To provide a bottom to my sugar board, I stapled on a queen excluder and placed a single sheet of newspaper on it with a hole in the center for the cluster to move up under to feed.

    The frames that were brought up from the dead hives have all spent at least 3 days in the freezer, then placed back in the boxes and sealed in large bags to prevent wax moth destruction.

    I hope that by keeping this hive fed and not opening it unless to add feed, they will survive the winter and become a strong hive next year. Then adding a second or third hive back will be explored using the built out frames and working with the medium boxes. I am disappointed with my first season of bee keeping/learning, but medical issues interfered at a critical time and sometimes life just gets in the way.

  • Winding Roads

    We live in a very rural mountain area in Southwest Virginia. Main roads are reasonably straight or at least gentle curves and more subtle elevation climbs through gaps, but if you leave the main road for a paved two lane road, those rules are tossed out the window. Our road has curves and elbows, no true switchbacks, but climbs steadily two miles to our turn off, then 4 more miles to Mountain Lake Lodge. Son 1 has said more than once, that a head on collision will occur. So far, we haven’t seen that, but have seen a two wheel drive sporty sedan slide off the wrong side on ice and stopped by a large tree from a more destructive ride or tumble down the side of the mountain. We have seen a young couple, who allegedly came up to watch the sunrise, drive straight off the road where it made a 90 degree left turn, no injuries we were told.

    Today as we headed out to lunch, walk, grocery run, and a follow up hearing check on me, we stopped to pick up yesterday’s mail that we didn’t get in the rain then and turned downhill on the road. If we had been 90 seconds earlier by not stopping for our mail, we would have become the head on that son has discussed. A young man, driving a fairly new Mustang up the mountain, in spite of a sign that shows a right L turn and 25 mph speed recommendation, came around the turn too fast, off the left side of the road, and to rest at a more than 45 degree tilt, held up from the field below by a sturdy tree. He was still attempting to climb out the passenger door that he had to open up and climb over the edge and just as the neighbor who lives across the road came out to see what had happened. He was fortunate the tree was there or he would have rolled the car down into the hayfield, probably more than one roll. He was young, English was not his first language, and he didn’t know what to do. We stopped and with the neighbor, attempted to provide some guidance. His rear bumper was pulled off and I’m sure the driver side caved in, probably an air bag or two deployed. We were out for several hours and wondered if he managed to get it towed out. When we approached the curve slowly, a Sheriff’s deputy was controlling “traffic” (us) while the tow operator was trying to figure out how to remove the Mustang from it’s location. The young man was not standing there, so he must have gotten a ride from someone. He is about to learn a lesson about insurance claims, probably received a citation and will get to appear in the county seat courthouse in the near future.

    We were glad we were not in the way when he sped around that corner.