Cabin Crafted

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  • Everyone is an Expert

    And all of their expertise is conflicted by another “expert.” In doing some research recently on several topics, one article or website or person will tell you it should be done this way, but the next gives just the opposite advice/instruction. It is no wonder that people are conflicted on important topics.

    As a retired school counselor with a science background, I try to seek out the science on topics, but even that can product conflict. Should you take your probiotic first thing in the morning or last thing at night? Should you allow 3 square feet in your coop for your hens or 4? Is this method better than that? Should you wear a mask and get vaccinated or let natural immunity win (if you survive)? And everyone who weighs in thinks their way is the only way and they are the only one right.

    Sometimes even those with science backgrounds give opposing advice. As we were discussing with the pharmacist yesterday about needed vaccines, one in question was Shingrex vaccine for shingles. We both had the single vaccine many years ago, but hubby still developed a mild case limited to his side and part of his back. The dermatologist immediately prescribed an antiviral medication and told hubby that having shingles was like a super vaccine. The pharmacist on the other hand indicated that having had it increased the viral load and the likelihood of a recurrence was greater. I got the first dose of the vaccine yesterday, but hubby has to wait because of the other vaccine he got, but to use a COVID coined over used phrase, “out of an abundance of caution,” he will follow up and get it also. BTW, it is an expensive vaccine, hope you have good insurance.

    Years ago, we were told not to eat real butter, use margarine instead. Don’t eat eggs or at least not the yolks. Both of those dietary advices have been disputed. Use this diet to lose weight, no, use this program or this diet. Or better yet, eat whole food and exercise.

    Every day I see an “expert” weigh in on a topic on social media and start an all out argument with the OP, if the OP choses to engage. I have removed a number of social media contacts and left a number of groups as I choose not to engage in such behaviors and don’t need the stress of reading them.

    Who is a person to believe? Back to my research on a couple of topics.

  • From Fog to Frigid…

    And snow flurries. Nothing extreme, no real accumulation expected, just the lightest dusting on surfaces frozen solid from the temperature fall into the teens. Yesterday morning it was 52 f when I arose, by the time hubby arose a couple hours later is was 43 f and it continued in that direction all day and overnight. It is 20 f and very windy now and not expected to get out of the 20’s today.

    I have to think seriously whether there is anything I need from the Farmer’s Market to go shop in these conditions, but feel I should support the vendors that brave the cold to come out and supply us. There are no fresh veggies this time of year. The vendor that provides them all winter from large tunnels decided to just vend from their farm store until spring. It is too far to drive to the farm store for $20 worth of produce. I have signed up for the “chose your own CSA” again beginning in the spring when they return. The support of the vendors won out over the comfort of home, eggs were delivered, cheese, fresh milled corn meal, potatoes and turnips, maple syrup, and some protein obtained. While in town, we found out that there was a shooting in downtown last night in a Hookah bar that left one person dead, 4 others wounded. This is not the type of incident we see in this small University town and it alarms me. The news reports hint that the shooter was not identified nor caught last night.

    Last night I pruned back all the lettuces in the hydroponic garden and harvested enough for 2 side salads each for us, but three of the plants were too bitter for hubby’s preference, so they were pulled and new ones started. It is nearly time to start tomato and pepper seedlings in that unit.

    The hens were really slackers this week, not even providing what is needed for the three households that get their eggs. Their coop needs cleaning again, but not until a warmer day this week, if there is one. A warmer day is needed to do some midwinter garden clean up as well or it will be over run with a weed that seems to be able to withstand the freeze. I have been saving newspaper and as I pull the weeds in an area, I am going to put down a thick pad of newspaper and anchor it with wood chips. The area that is the worst is above the bed that never got it’s 4th side screwed on last summer so never got cardboard and mulch applied. I guess some bagged wood chips will have to be on the purchase list sometime soon. I wish I could get a truck load dumped up here without paying a fortune for them.

    The second breed blanket is growing. I added a 5th breed and found a skein I had spun after the other was done, so a 6th breed is being knit on now. Some spinning is getting done, but not a lot. My friend in Sweden sent me more Jämtland wool, a lovely dark, soft brown and enough to do a blanket panel and still have enough to knit a hat and or fingerless mitts for myself. Her package arrived so quickly, I was amazed. I mailed one to her the same day, it will be interesting how long it takes to get to her. I think that will be my next fiber to spin after the wine colored batt. In December, one of our spinning group who is a contributor to a local community magazine, did an article on our group and the edition just came out this week. As I had been the topic of another article when I completed the Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em challenge, I was not part of the interview, but when the photographer came a couple weeks later, I was putting my Breed Blanket together and my old hands working with the blanket in my lap was the lead picture. Photographed here with my second breed blanket progress and current spinning project. The spinning is really more wine colored than this photo shows.

    The sun is out, but it is still too cold to want to do any chores outdoors that can wait a few days until we get back into the low 40’s, so knitting, spinning, and reading will occupy my afternoon.

  • Fog

    As I looked out the kitchen window this morning, I was reminded of a poem I have always loved.

    Fog

    BY CARL SANDBURG

    The fog comes
    on little cat feet.

    It sits looking
    over harbor and city
    on silent haunches
    and then moves on.

    It is always beautiful to see as it moves up the valley and through the hollow where we live, the ridge to the south disappearing then re emerging, the woods blurred. It isn’t a freezing fog today, the temperature barely dropped 10 degrees last night and will stay stable today and tonight before dropping back into the teens tomorrow night.

    The February spinning challenge is spinning colors to earn BINGO cards that we are filling out online. Last month, 25 g of spun fiber earned a card and two cards could be earned. Though I have little interest in winning a prize, a pattern download of my choice up to a certain value, it is fun to play along. As hubby gave me a gorgeous double batt of a dark red wine colored gradient wool for Christmas, I spun half last month and am working on the second 55+ g this month. While I am playing along, I decided to use the rest of the breeds that didn’t get spun for my breed blanket last year and spin enough to do a second smaller lap blanket. There was one square last year that ended up too small for the blanket, so I used it as the center of the new one and have been picking up stitches and knitting a log cabin type pattern around it. There are 5 breeds represented so far and a 6th spun but not knit on yet. It is only 12″ square so far.

    There will be no walk today, it is very dismal and wet, a constant rain varying from drizzle to downpour.

    About two years ago, we replaced our mattress. The old one was more than a dozen years old and with aging bodies, was no longer comfortable. We spent entirely too much on the new one to find it no more comfortable. Testing one in the store just isn’t the same as sleeping on it for a full night. Yesterday, we wrestled the queen mattress from the downstairs guest bedroom up to our room, took our mattress off and stashed it against a wall, put the other mattress on to use last night. It isn’t as comfortable as ours and ours is memory foam, that one isn’t, so every movement by either of us was felt by the other. I’m not sure what the solution is, but I guess the guest mattress will move back down and ours placed back on the bed. Maybe a down pillow topper cover.

    Yesterday’s fan/light situation has not been resolved. We drove to the big box hardware store two towns over and purchased a switch. Once home and I had disassembled the light unit to get to the switch, it is a 4 wire switch, the ones they sell are 3 wire switches, the colors on the old switch are green, tan, black, and gray, so I don’t even know which is the “hot” wire. The switch was returned, and the man working in the electrical section tried to help me, but the only option other than replacing the entire fan and light unit was a rewiring using a single switch instead of two switches that operate the two parts of the unit. I am not comfortable attempting that, so it has been put back together unrepaired for now. He wasn’t even able to tell me which of the colors in the fan was the hot wire. So we drove about 90 miles to not fix the problem. Son 1 says he has had this issue before and we will be able to resolve it later. For now we will dine by candle light or early enough that there is still some level of daylight coming in the French doors.

  • Changes

    We have had a couple of “mild” relative to last week, days. I sat on the south facing deck stairs in the sun this morning and had a phone conversation with an old friend. It was only 32 f but the wind was calm, the sun warm and no coat was required. By the time we left for our walk, it was in the low 40’s, but thick cloud cover had taken the sunshine and it felt much colder. Tonight through Friday morning, we will get the rainy edge of the winter storm moving northeast and our temperatures will again return to winter with the chance of ice or snow on Sunday. We still have snow in the woods and in more sheltered areas from the last storm. This is Virginia, not Vermont, Maine, or Colorado, snow never lasts this long. The paved rails to trails path we frequently walk was only about half cleared in the last storm and there are still areas of ice requiring you to leave the trail and walk in the grass on the edge. Much of the path is still only about half width with ice on the edges, making passing others going either direction a challenge, the path is only about 8 feet wide when fully cleared. We always drop into single file when we see a bicycle or approaching walker or jogger, and it amazes me how many people walking two or three abreast don’t both, eliminating any distance between you and them or even requiring us to step off the trail where possible. We don’t want to be aggressive and stand our ground, but the though has occurred to us and we wonder if they are so oblivious that they would walk into us.

    Though it is still cold, definitely winter, when I went in the Natural Foods store today, their spring garden seed rack is up. I’m still trying to decide what I want to plant this year and what seed I still have on hand. After going in Tractor Supply last weekend to get pet supplies, chicken feed, and wild bird seed and seeing how elevated the prices have gone, I may use more of my garden to grow some dent corn for the chickens and sunflowers to save the seed for the wild birds. I often give the dogs an egg in the mornings, provided by the hens, but don’t like the smell of eggs cooking in the morning, so I had become lazy about preparing them until I accepted it was much more economical than the various supplemental feeds we could purchase. To get around the smell issue, I steamed half a dozen last night while preparing dinner and put them in the refrigerator to use for several mornings.

    While sitting on the back steps, my friend was amused that I kept having to chase off chickens that came up on the steps to visit while I was talking. Those birds are really imprinted on me and come running anytime I am outdoors.

    Ooops there goes another … repair. I don’t like messing with electricity and it has been more than 25 years since I installed or replaced a fixture, but as I was setting the table tonight and turned the dining room lights on, they flashed on then off. I replaced a bulb and tried again and nothing, though the fan works just fine. That light doesn’t appear to be on it’s own circuit or even one with the dining room wall outlet, so it must be connected to a kitchen circuit as it is one room. I guess I will have to figure out which one during daylight hours and go buy a new light fixture for the fan and have a go at it. Definitely not something I want to tackle, but better than having to replace the entire fan and light unit. I hope I can match the finish or get a light that doesn’t show it’s trim very well.

    Last night as I was preparing dinner and watching for it to be dark enough to go lock up the hens, the light in the fields was an odd color. Stepping on the back deck, this gorgeous red sky was the reason.

    There was no red sky tonight, just thick clouds signalling the beginning of the upcoming round of wet weather. I guess there will be no walk tomorrow unless we can dance between the raindrops.

  • Hello Monday

    Still cold in these parts, but not as cold as last week and only liquid precipitation expected this week so maybe the rest of the white stuff will wash away until the next winter storm arrives.

    My post yesterday caused my hubby to worry about me. He fears that if the day comes that I am here alone, that I will become a hermit. At this point, I am mentally intact enough to know that I have to have some socialization to stay sane and there are foods that I don’t grow that I will have to go purchase, so some trips to town will still occur to the Farmer’s Market and the Natural foods store at least. My daughter and sons will make sure that I don’t end up needing to be cared for by others.

    As I was walking up to check the mail, all 13 hens fell in behind me like I was the Pied Piper, sure I was going to give them a treat. I wondered how far up the almost quarter mile driveway they would follow.

    They are crazy animals. Though they spend all day free ranging, if they see me they come running for kitchen scraps or scratch. At least they have provided eggs all winter since they are just now turning 1 year old. Next year they will molt in the fall and eggs will be few and far between during the winter. I guess old school farmers had it right by culling out a few each year and allowing new ones to be raised by the hens so there was always a fresh crop of young hens to continue laying. If our barn was more convenient to the house and in better shape, so they could expand their roosting area, we could have that arrangement, but the coop is too small as it is and I don’t want to raise chicks a couple times a year to keep the rotation going. I don’t have a rooster, so there are no hen born and raised chicks here.

    The month’s spinning challenge ends in a few hours, I have finished everything I had on spindles, a total of 97.41 g, the wine colored BFL is singles, the second ply to be spun in February, one of my Christmas gifts from hubby who kindly indulges my love of wood, wool, and tea. The two whites are plied Shropshire and Norwegian both to be added to the second blanket.

    For now, I am going to finish a very disturbing book I wish I hadn’t begun, but now I can’t not finish it.

  • The Hermit on the Mountain

    As Covid continues into it’s third year, my hermit tendencies have grown stronger. When hubby had to travel to a funeral a few weeks ago, I basically stayed home, ate soup, read, knitted, and spun. I had to leave the house once but not for long. Already an introvert, being isolated has just encouraged more isolation. Glad to have hubby here, daughter and her kids nearby, and Sons that pass through, to keep me connected to humanity. I started back to the local spinning group before Christmas, then the Rec Center where we meet was closed for two Thursdays and I haven’t managed to get myself out and back to the group since. Now there is another new variant loose and this being a University region with a new Governor who feels masks and mandatory vaccines shouldn’t be required, I am again fearful of joining in person groups. This in part has influenced a decision to not attend a fiber retreat that I have attended for years prior to covid. The people with whom I visit at that event are comfortable to be with and in the past, those that I did not know well were in a different area. Due to renovations at the venue, we would all be in the same room, which along with covid concerns add to my discomfort.

    Though hubby also has introvert tendencies, he often puts things I say in context of my being an introvert. The cheese lady at the local natural foods store is an extrovert and once, I asked for a particular cheese without first greeting her by name, which I know. She gently chastised me for not greeting first. He reminded me that extroverts talk for social reasons, introverts for purpose. I now remember to greet her when I see her whether I am buying cheese or not.

    When daughter and Son 1 were both here, they taught me to use Zoom. My Jenkins Spindle group online has a Zoom session every Saturday afternoon and for the past two weeks, I have joined them. It is fun to join them, “meet” people that I have interacted with by written posts for the past couple of years. I am glad I don’t have to work every day using online meetings, but it is great for an hour or two of socially distanced time with real people. I don’t interact a lot, but it is so much more comfortable than being in a group where I am uncomfortable and my hearing loss makes following group conversations difficult.

    I am struggling at being social and not truely becoming a hermit.

  • 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.