Sometime during the night, the winter storm arrived and not with snow as predicted, or if it did snow, it was minimal. I got up at first light to hear the sleet hitting the metal roof. The dogs were not amused, they ran out and right back as quickly as they could relieve themselves.
As the day dawned lighter, I could see the layer of ice on everything. The deciduous trees glistening like they were lit up, the evergreens sagging under the weight of the ice. Icicles hung from the eaves, the rails, the bird feeders.
The resident deer family coming close to the house in search of grass or green that wasn’t frozen.
The sleet stopped around 10 this morning and there is a lull in the storm until late afternoon, but when I got up, the power was flickering so I started fires in the wood stove in the basement and the fireplace in the living room in case it failed. So far it has stayed on, but the temperature isn’t rising enough to melt off the morning ice before the afternoon and overnight ice is due.
A couple of years ago, daughter brought home a little slip of a pine tree from Arbor Day at work and I planted it in the yard near the larger pines and marked it so it wouldn’t get mowed down. By last summer, it was as tall as I am but thin with all the needles at the top. When I looked out this morning, it was bent to the ground and I feared it would break so I went out to stake it. The first stake wasn’t long enough to protect it.
I went to the garden and dug one of the 7 foot long fake bamboo poles out of the ice and got it imbedded beside the pine and tied the pine to the pole with some tie loops that are stretchy tshirt material. I hope I have saved it from this storm.
The walk to the mailbox was slippery so no vehicle will be moved today, but the walk allowed an afternoon photo of one of the larger pines weighted down by the ice.
I expect if we get more ice added to the coat that is there, we will see broken branches. The creek is roaring, but I didn’t want to risk the slope to look down on it to see how full it is.
I would rather have snow, but actually, I’m ready for warmer weather and some sunshine.
We have had a two day calm. Mild yesterday early, with wind picking up, a few snow flurries, and the temperature dropping rapidly from the upper 30s to 17f over night. Today there are actually moments of sunshine and hopefully milder temperatures before the next winter storm descends upon us tonight. Yet again, we are supposed to get snow, turning to freezing rain sometime tomorrow morning, then back to snow later. More ice to break limbs, damage power lines, and send more people into darkness and no heat. If it stays cold long enough, the ice will be minimized.
The German Shepherd’s vet appointment for tomorrow has already been rescheduled for next week. Our vet lives way out on a rural road as do we and she may or may not be able to get in to the office. She comes to us for the big guy, but Shadow will still jump in the car and we can take her to the office.
Now that the hay bale that is used in the chicken run is about half its original size, I cover it to protect it from the rain and snow so I can peel off layers to put down in the hen’s run. They will get food and water inside the coop tomorrow, they won’t set foot outside when it is snowing. Once it stops, I can put hay down for them to exit the coop.
The bird feeders were filled, I will probably fill the wheelbarrow with wood again, the wood cart is still full and there is still enough in the basement for a day or two.
Last night’s low temperatures froze the ground surface so this morning’s chores weren’t performed in mud, but unless it warms enough to thaw the surface before the storm, it will give it a better surface to stick and accumulate. It will stay cold Friday and Saturday, not warming to above freezing until Sunday, so it will stick around.
Last weekend, I applied a flex seal along the bottom trim of the windshield, I had already done so along the top edge, and we left the car out of the garage in the rain day before yesterday to see if I had taken care of the leak. I haven’t. I have no idea where the water is coming in, but there was a little water on the dash and the passenger side rug was damp again, not soaked like before, so maybe I improved the situation. I guess the car will live in the garage from now on when we aren’t using it.
As I was preparing dinner last night, I realized what a sorry lot my kitchen linens have become. I pulled out a dish towel, faded and dingy and remembered it came from a niece with a potholder, apron, and cookbook more than 25 years ago. I snapped a picture of it with the apron and sent them to her as a memory.
Most of my dish clothes, unpaper towels, kitchen towels, and pot holders are stained, worn thin with holes in them, and dingy. Maybe it is time to warp the loom and make some new ones to replace the old purchased ones. This little towel above is the perfect size and thickness to use on my tray when canning, so it will still be part of my collection.
Last night I made a big pot of stew, a couple days ago a pot of goulash. If we lose power, they can be reheated on the woodstove or a camp stove and we will stay nourished. For now, other prep must be done. We have been lucky so far this winter with only short outages or flickering power, but ice storms can change that.
In ski country, when the snow pack melts, they call it mud season. There are parts of the country that could use rain, snow, or the other YUK we have been receiving.
Mornings and evenings require donning the thick ugly pink barn coat, a hat or the coat hood, muck boots (sometimes ice cleats would be nice), either leather or thick fleece gloves depending on what task needs to be done. Boldly opening the door to the garage, gathering feed and water bucket, tentatively opening the door to the outside and assessing my safety on the stoop there. Is it wet, coated with ice, or deep in snow. At this point, I actually prefer the snow, at least I can safely walk in it. Some days when looking out, the grass and trees glisten with tiny icicles hanging from the limbs and fences. Those mornings are treacherous, the stoop and other surfaces, including the grass are like stepping on a kitchen floor where cooking oil was spilled, but for the past week or so, even though surfaces resemble the ice palace in Dr. Zhivago, the surface below is mud, thick, goopy, slimy mud. If one surface doesn’t get you, the other one will.
I keep a good thick layer of hay in the chicken run, which as I have mentioned before, is sloped, highest at the end away from the pop door. After opening, or chipping the ice off the gate to pry it open so I can get to the pop door, the first step is always a challenge. For some reason, the preferred scratching place in the run is right in front of the gate, thus all the hay gets piled deep at the other end in front of the coop. Of course, the rain, freezing rain, snow haven’t helped as they make the hay itself slick once compacted. Every few days, a new layer is put down and every evening when I lock them in for the night, I drag hay back uphill to the gate for my evening and next morning safety.
Each morning for the past couple of weeks have looked like the above pictures. The top one was this morning with freezing rain forecast, but it is pouring down not frozen rain as I write. We are in full blown mud season.
The daylilies have sprouted tender green tips which will get burned by the next onslaught of bitter cold, which is sure to come. The mud will freeze again and thaw again before the grass and trees sprout to drink up the spring showers. After two warm winters, my plans to get more cardboard down in the garden and build up a couple of new beds have been foiled by real winter this year. Maybe it is good that I can’t garden year round, this winter is giving my body the needed rest.
Yesterday, on our Anniversary, we drove into town and got drive thru breakfast, it was too icy on Saturday when we usually do it, so we missed the Farmer’s Market, but so did many of the vendors. We picked up curbside delivery of grocery items and came home, sitting near each other as I spun on my new spindle, a gift from my love, and some on my wheel as one of the fibers I purchased for my blanket, though enough was spun on spindles to fulfill the one block requirement (actually there will be two), I don’t like spinning that particular fiber on spindles, so the remainder of the braid is being done on the wheel.
Late in the day, we picked up the Valentine’s Day special from the local BBQ restaurant and drove down to the river to eat. We arrived to pick up our 5:15 p.m. order at 5:10 and it was already sitting packed on the counter, so it wasn’t hot. Packed in styrofoam clamshell contains, several each, cutting and eating from them was a challenge in the car. We should have brought it home and put it on real plates, rewarming what could be warmed. It was not the fancy anniversary dinner of the past, but it was shared together, watching the river flow by in the drizzly gloom. It was a very uneventful day, but a day spent with each other. Another tick off on the calendar of our lives together and another to look forward to.
We started later in life than many couples and married quickly after meeting. We were introduced less than a year prior and so very different, but it worked. After Christmas we had gone skiing in Vermont, my first real ski trip and I promptly separated my shoulder, but managed to bundle up enough to restrict it and skied anyway. We got home on New Year’s Eve and went to have my shoulder checked out at the E.R., leaving after X-rays with a sling and instructions for follow up. Early in the evening, we went out for a drink then home to avoid New Year’s Eve amateur night and as the ball dropped, he proposed. He later said that my continuing to ski though injured was the clincher. The family was gathering on New Year’s Day at my grandparent’s house for black eyed peas, collards, and ham (he doesn’t like the peas or collards) and we made our announcement.
Discussing wedding dates, he picked Valentine’s Day, 6 short weeks away, stating that if he ever forgot it, he was in double trouble. He has never forgotten it, has feigned feeling fine to go out for a dinner at a fine restaurant only to crash and burn as soon as we got home. There have been overnights away from the kids when they were small, nicer dinners at home when our budget wouldn’t allow, B&B weekends when the kids were old enough to be left alone, a ski trip to Colorado with cousin his wife, and a cruise for number 40 with celebrations on two nights on the ship and horseback riding on the beach in the Honduras 3 years ago today.
Our wedding was small and simple, an off the rack Gunny Sack dress for me. We did rent the ugliest tuxes for the men, my matron of honor kindly made her own long skirt and blouse. A simple long stem rose for a bouquet, a halo of rose buds and baby’s breath on my hair. A simple gold band of connected hearts for my ring, and a reception at my parent’s home of punch, nuts, and a cake given to us by my grandmother.
We have had a good 43 years together. This past year with COVID restrictions has been enough to test any relationship and we have come through it together. Tomorrow, we will celebrate 43, but we won’t be going to a fancy restaurant, on a cruise, or away to a B&B, we will celebrate quietly together. Maybe next year we will again be allowed to travel and we will celebrate 44 away.
Every other day as far as I can see out in the forecast is for YUK. Today began with cold rain and fog, it is turning to freezing rain/sleet/snow later. Tomorrow is cold and cloudy, Saturday is freezing rain/etc. Some days freezing rain, some snow showers, but all freezing stuff.
This morning, I sat in the car in the cold rain, spinning on one of my spindles while DH was able to get his second COVID vaccine. He was in and out much faster than I expected as there was a short line outside and when I got my first, the line was like a ski lift line that snaked from outside, along a wall, around a corner and back down the other side of that wall. He said they had reconfigured it and the line I saw outside was all there was. I am two weeks out from getting mine. Now we wait and see if he has a reaction, but a day of not feeling well beats getting critically ill with the virus.
My spinning challenges of the month are all with Jenkins Turkish spindles. One requires a weekly check in with photos showing progress and that was done. The other two I can double dip this month as one requires spinning 25 grams of fiber, the other is the breed blanket challenge. My 25 grams spun was the fiber for the blanket square and I ran short so I had to spin more to complete the square.
While knitting the square on, I was spinning my second breed that I had been working on and finished plying it.
I began knitting that on as well, so I will have a blanket of 6 squares soon, each square slightly larger than 10″.
The spindles, my ply bowls, and the blanket so far.
For Christmas, Son 2 and his family gave me a hydroponic herb garden. It was set up immediately and watched carefully as each herb germinated and sprouted above the opening for it. It has been delightful to trim fresh herbs for salads and for cooking. I’ve even started drying some of the mint and the dill as they are hard to keep up with. The Thai basil is delicious in Asian inspired quick soups for lunch. The thyme and sweet basil are slower and the parsley is the laggard, but is coming along.
What a great gift idea for a gardener feeling the winter doldrums. Today I found out that “Chick Days” at Tractor Supply begins on February 22. I want a dozen chicks this year, but won’t have gotten my second vaccine yet and I am sure they won’t curbside them. Maybe I’ll send DH or DD in to get them for me. I figure if I start them the end of the month, I’ll be getting eggs before the old girls molt again in the fall. If I am careful of the breeds selected, they will lay most of the winter. If I have too many eggs, I’m sure there are folks that would welcome a dozen here and there.
We did get 6″ of snow Saturday night into Sunday morning. Wet, heavy snow. It caved in the fence top on my chicken run that I created to protect them from the hawk when I have to have them penned up instead of free ranging. It will be an easy repair, but it was too chilly and windy to mess with it yesterday.
The sun came out a few times and I plowed the driveway to help it melt off as I feared we would end up with some tiny two wheel drive sedan as the rental car. When we got there to pick up the car, it is a Mitsubishi Outlander, so plenty of clearance, but not AWD. While we were out and about waiting for the recalled switch to be replaced in the CRV, the temperature rose to the mid 40’s and though our road and our driveway are a muddy mess, getting in and out won’t be a problem. Much of the snow cover thinned to an inch or so by last evening and the temperature fell to 16f last night so everything froze over. By the time we got home from picking up the CRV and dropping it at the local mechanic for oil change and state inspection, most of the snow is gone.
It looks like we are due for freezing rain and snow showers mid week and frigid temperatures and snow showers over the weekend, so we aren’t done with it yet. Since we moved here, it has snowed almost every Valentine’s Day. Since our anniversary is that day, we have had some interesting trips to a restaurant, but this year we will celebrate at home, just the two of us, so it won’t matter if it does snow.
I finished spinning my fiber of the month for my breed blanket project and after doing a photo update for the February challenges, I began knitting it on to the blanket. The second “unofficial” breed for the month is being spun. I really love the one I am spinning now and really did not like the fuzzy gray Gotland that I am knitting on. It will be fun if Covid allows craft shows this fall to display the blanket with tags showing what each breed is to demonstrate the varying textures of wool. When I finish this month, I will have three gray wools of different textures and three softer dyed squares to offset them.
And as I am between knitting on squares, I am continuing to knit on a scarf from mini skeins of spun from wool samples that come with spindles and often with fiber braids to entice you to try a different fiber blend from the vendor.
I am finishing up two very similar salmon colored mini skeins and will have two more neutrals, one with some hints of blue that will transition me to a series of ones that are predominantly blues. I will keep adding on until I run our of mini skeins or reach a color that just doesn’t go. This scarf is going to have various wools, bamboo, silks, just about anything natural except cotton in it. They are all spun from lace to light fingering weight yarn, so it should be interesting with it’s changing color and lace edge.
It is very unusual for me to have two knitting projects going at the same time.
The snow from last weekend is nearly gone on our south facing farm. The north facing hillsides still have snow on them as do the woods. And again something is scheduled for which being snowed in is a problem, but there is a winter storm warning for tonight into tomorrow morning with 3-5 inches expected again. I got a recall on my old CRV for the master switch in the driver’s door which failed about 2 years ago requiring that you manually lock and unlock the driver’s door then you can unlock the other doors. Because I am not willing to sit in a dealer’s waiting room while it is repaired for an hour or more on Monday and because we decided to go on and have the state inspection and an oil change by our local mechanic, we rented a car to use for two days, but said car will lack the clearance of the CRV and not have all wheel drive.
The good news is that it will stop in the morning and begin warming up quickly, so hopefully, by Monday afternoon, the driveway won’t be an issue. Hopefully, we will have the CRV back before the next round of winter storm weather comes in mid week. This is from the winter that was supposed to be warm and wet according to the Farmer’s Almanac and the weather prognosticators. After a couple of warm winters with little or no snow, we have returned to true Virginia winter weather. Our electric power bill compares each month with the same month from last year and it showed we averaged 8 degrees colder this year than last.
This morning, we went and picked up my new bird feeder and some bird and chicken feed. Since I use lidded 5 gallon buckets for storage, I did a clean up around them and the workbench in the garage before filling the buckets from the bags purchased. The new feeder was filled and hung and it didn’t take the little mixed flock of Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, assorted Finches, Wrens, and Juncos to find it. I haven’t seen any of the larger birds or woodpeckers yet, but they will discover the change too. You can see the new split tube feeder and the suet tube on the shepherd’s crook in the top photo.
The sky has grayed, the barometer is falling, the snow will begin after dark tonight and we will see in the morning what the storm brought us this time. No matter what the groundhog saw or didn’t see, there are 6 more weeks of winter and here we won’t see the last frost until near Mother’s Day.
Nine years ago the end of February or early March, we drove to Lancaster area of Pennsylvania to pick up a puppy. DH wanted an English Mastiff. I had no clue what they looked like, their temperament, their size. The puppies that were left from the litter were in a pen in a shed. The mom had a huge litter during a bitter freeze and they lost part of the litter of pups. When we got there, Ranger and only a couple of his siblings were left. DH was in love with a 22 pound ball of skin and fur. He asked if we could see the parents who were up a hill in the welding shop on the household’s property so the owner called up and told them to let the dogs out. They came bounding down the hill like a couple of freight trains and though I’m not afraid of dogs, I was frightened at the sight of these two huge beasts with jowls flapping, racing down the hill. I wondered what we were getting into.
Eight week old Ranger and DH
When we were headed home, the frightened pup let loose from both ends, requiring a stop at the nearest store for paper towels, gallon jug of water, and a serious clean up of the crate and the pup. I had put a towel in the crate and it was fouled, so we purchased a fleece blanket to line the crate. Once home, he wouldn’t climb the stairs or go back down them. Daughter told us not to carry him up or he would never learn and we wouldn’t be able to deal with him grown. How true that is as he grew over the next two years to a 200 pound gentle giant.
Here he is, about a year old with eldest grandson using him as a pillow. They are still buddies when grandson comes to visit. Ranger has ridden to Florida when daughter lived there with his head in Grandson’s lap as he was travelling with us that summer.
When he was a younger dog, he would play soccer with a rigid horse ball, kicking it around the yard with his feet until it would roll down the back field to the fence. He couldn’t get it back up himself, requiring one of us to go get it, but we would have to put the ball in a canvas sack so he couldn’t see it or he would spend the entire walk back up the hill trying to get it from us. Now his energy level lasts only a few short minutes, he no longer plays with the horse ball, but will pick up a large softer ball on a rope, fling it around dangerously, and bring it for you to hold the other end. He never caught on to tug of war, thank goodness, as he could pull me across the house.
Two weeks after we got him, we drove back to Pennsylvania to get a German Shepherd pup. She was a beautiful, dark, long haired shepherd and I fell in love instantly. Unfortunately, she only lived with us for 8 weeks before a serious neurological defect required us to have her euthanized. Later in the summer, on our way to Florida, we picked up a 16 week old German Shepherd that has had recurrent health issues, is very, very needy, but afraid of her own shadow.
My little gal Meeko before she failed.Put you phone down and pay attention to me, says Shadow as soon as you sit down.
When they were younger, they would go on hikes with us, but the German Shepherd never wanted to walk where there were crowds, bicycles, skateboards, or people with walking sticks, so we would go to the woods. Ranger wanted the attention of people at the Farmer’s Market and on the rail grade trail, but didn’t like loading in the car. He loves rides, but getting in and out has been an issue for years.
DH with Shadow and Ranger on the War Spur Trail overlook.
They are both 9 years old now. He is an old man that is so fearful of going down the steps that he is limited to only coming up to the loft at night. There is no way we could get him down if he didn’t eventually do it on his own. She, because of her various ailments is old for her age as a German Shepherd. Unfortunately, the two of them never bonded like the Ranger and Meeko did in their short time together. Shadow tries to herd Ranger, he tolerates her most of the time, but will rebuke her occasionally.
Tiny Ranger and Meeko playing tug of war.
The big guy is a sweet, chill, gentle giant that loves most people (especially kids), cats, but not other strange dogs after he was bitten by a Pit Bull at the dog park, the last time we ever went there.
What do yo mean, “relax, I am relaxed.”
And for size reference, this is Ranger at about 2 years old, so mostly full grown, sitting in DH’s lap in the old “Chair.”
There was only so much sledding my senior body could take and the snow has gotten thin and icy. After a very frustrating year of trying to keep my online shop open, paying fees to list, fees if I did sell something, still paying personal property taxes on my equipment and inventory, I closed my shop and debated whether I would continue to do in person events when it was again safe. When I do in person events, I use Squareup for payment when the buyer doesn’t want to use cash. As I was going through my inventory on their site which I hadn’t been on because of no events, I saw that for only a few dollars more than I was spending on my domain name, that I could transfer it to them and build a free website. The last couple of snowy days have been spent taking photographs, removing stock that was no longer there, adding stock that had never been added, and building the website. Squareup does not charge me to list items, I do pay a fee if something sells, but it is actually less than the prior “store.” My efforts can be seen by clicking the “Go to my shop” link at the top of the blog or here. And because the domain name remained the same, just moved to a different server, my business cards and labels are still good.
We can finally drive down our driveway, turn up into the extra parking/turn around spot and backing down into the garage. The other two trips out this week have required me to back the car down the nearly quarter mile driveway or leave it out at the top of the steep drive and walk to and from. The car has been living in the garage because even after two applications to seal the windshield, water is still coming in somewhere, soaking the rug and mat on the passenger side when the car is left out in rain. Yesterday I got a recall on my 16 year old car. I wonder how many people still have their 2005 CRVs. Because it also needs an oil change and a state inspection soon, appointments were scheduled with the dealership for the recall and the local mechanic for the other work and we have reserved a rental for two days while we continue to research new vehicles to replace the one that died and was sold. The CRV will live in the garage and be our backup vehicle once we get a new one.
After stomping down snow and spreading hay to coax the hens out a few days ago, we had more light snow and very strong winds that covered the hay with snow again and the hens just gave me the stink eye like it was my fault they couldn’t go out. Yesterday, I took a rake with me and exposed the hay again so they would come out. It has been so cold until today that the water bucket in their coop freezes all but a little pocket in the middle of the bucket, so it has to be changed out twice a day and the frozen one brought inside the house to thaw enough to dump and refill. It is finally above freezing today and supposed to stay above freezing tonight before the nights fall back into the 20’s and we have more snow showers tomorrow. It is interesting to walk around the west and south sides of the house and see where yesterday’s sunshine on the stone masonry walls has melted the snow away from the house. The areas that the deer have come close to the house have melted patches away exposing grass as well.
I still won’t walk on the stones from the steps to the grass or over to the wild bird feeders, I cross on the upper edge of the walled garden where I know there is soil beneath the snow to fill the feeders each morning. The little birds are emptying them daily. The wind has been blowing the smaller two feeders down, so I have ordered a larger feeder that can be filled in one half with Nyger seed and the other half with black oil sunflower seed. As soon as it comes in for curbside pickup, I will replace the feeders with that one and the suet feeder.
Where is the sun, oh where can it be? It has been thick and gray since the snow began Saturday night and it snowed again last night and this morning, adding another inch. Though the temperature had held in the upper 20’s to low 30’s for days, it dropped last night to 20, staying in the 20s today and dropping into the teens tonight so no melt today. The wind kicked up last night with 40-50 mph gusts. When that happens, sleep does not. I live in a sturdy log home, but the screens rattle, the dormers quiver, and I worry about the shelter over the heat pump blowing over and taking out the heat pump. When we were building the house, we made the decision to place it on the south side of the house instead of the west side, so the snow sliding off the roof caused a bent fan blade twice one winter before Son 1 built the shelter, very sturdy with an angled roof of left over matching metal roof on top. I’m sure it is quite stable, but still I fret, and snow guards were added to the roof, so snow doesn’t crash down from three stories up anymore. I did inquire about moving it to the west side as some point but didn’t want to incur the expense.
I venture out a couple times a day to toss down scratch for the hens, refill their frozen water bucket, gather eggs before they freeze, and keep the bird feeders full. Yesterday I walked up to the mailbox, a steep uphill walk, twice. The driveway was icy and the snow beside it almost deep enough to go over the tops of my garden boots. I figure the nearly quarter mile walk up, then back twice in the snow was my exercise for the day. Two crunchy walks to the coop so far have garnered two warm eggs. Glad the hens are cooperating in the cold this year.
But I guess at 73, I’m not too old to play in the snow at least once. My ski pants still fit, even over three layers of wool tops including the heavier hoodie. With my hooded parka, ski gloves, ski pants and one of the sleds, I managed a few fun runs on the hills and one on the driveway on the way down from the mailbox. It is harder to get up than it used to be, I get more winded walking uphill in the snow, but exhilarating fun all the same. It would have been more fun with the grandkids and daughter, but fun just the same. Though they said the snow would stop by noon, it is almost 3 and still lightly snowing. So much for the mild, wet winter. So far it has been cold and most of the wet has been white.
Cabin Crafted 