May 4, 2023 (May the fourth be with you)

 OK, 

L O N G time between writing. Health issues and general life got in the way. I’m still dealing with the health issues-that’s what I get from getting old, but beats the alternative (as my late mum used to say).

We’re finally getting warmer weather, and as per usual here on the Palouse it goes from freezing you *** off to cooking it in two days. All the trees are doing their best to leaf out and bloom in a hurry, birds are nesting, flowers blooming , and docM the gardener trying to get the veg & flowers in before it’s so hot one just can’t do it. And it’s difficult to do when one has to work in short intervals with many rest periods between projects. So far I’ve spinach, kale & kohlrabi seeds in; have put in 1/3 of planned potatoes and the garlic & shallots planted last fall are coming up quite well. I have to get the peas in ASAP and the rest of the potatoes so can get to the later crops as it’s time to get them in around here.

We got new baby chicks as were down to only two hens-thank neighborhood dogs whose owners don’t understand lease laws apparently. This year I got some bantams so I’ll have a hen who’ll get broody & we can hatch our own chicks-I’ll buy fertile eggs from someone who can keep roosters.  I also got some replacements for my daughter’s flock as they had a skunk get into their hens.

I’m doing my best to get back to being healthy and staying there by sticking to the “heart healthy rules & regs”. Plus I’ve been having to deal with some pain issues due to deterioration of my spine and discs therein-let me tell you that “ain’t” easy either; me being the “wuss” that I am, it’s not easy learning to live with constant pain. My doc has recommended me for some ameliorating activities, but they are just getting set up, so not sure when or if they will help.

 

March 17, 2023

 HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY TO ALL OF IRISH DESCENT OR NOT.

1. It may be approaching spring, almost to mornings without frost, but as we all know that can change at the blink of an eye. I am ready for gardening season, though.  I'm planning that which I can start soon and than which will have to wait a bit.

I plan to prune some trees this weekend and am in process of seeing if I can get another Eglu chicken house.  There is a used one for sale and I'm hoping the lady will take my offer.  I'll have to clean it up and most likely fix some things as she had used it for rabbits and I'll have to get some more wire panels, but if she takes my offer it will save me some money.  And, I'll have another pen for the new chickens I plan to get in April.

Today I'm making "Irish Stew" since I can no longer have corn beef; I plan to make some "soda bread" using my soda substitute-we'll have to see how that goes.  I also bought some St.Pat's Day cookies from our local cookie maven-she makes yummy, beautiful cookies that are fun to eat & look at, too.

I did a bit of sewing on the backing for the Fall Frolic quilt; I'll have to do some brainstorming for the rest of the backing as there is not enough of the strips from the grab bag that I sewed together.  BUT! there are more strips for sure in my stash.

Healthwise I feel somewhat better, but the energy level is still not there.  I suppose I'm just going to have to get used to that as the heart is not going to heal itself.  I'm learning about pacing and such since the spine thing seems to be adding to the problem; I was not made to live with pain and I spend some time giving myself pity parties about that.  Another thing I have to overcome I think as that sort of behavior gets one absolutely nowhere!!!

OK, enough gab and on to the timer inspired day, 

February 22, 2023

  Cold, cold, and colder; the Palouse is at it again; we got lots more snow and it’s forecast to be in single digits with below zero windchill. On Monday night the wind was so bad it took out one of the panels from the greenhouse; lucky I found it next morning and it’s not broken. But, will have to wait until spring to replace it-the GH is now filling up with snow.

View of back garden beds & cold frame.

And then, to begin my “awful, terrible, horrible” two weeks or so: the mister brought home Covid from somebody at work and of course I got it. We have had vaccines and I’ve been self-isolating, etc because of my heart. But, apparently that does not matter. 

He, of course, too, did not get very sick; I on the other hand DID! I had to go to the outpatient wing at hospital to get infusions, have been sick for two weeks, lost my sense of taste and smell AND all of the little energy I had been gaining back from my heart episode. Life is so damn unfair! Live a reasonably  healthy life, avoid things bad for one, try to exercise etc etc - GET SCREWED by your damn genes !

OK, more snow pics: the corner of the front porch and the edge of chicken house-they DO NOT like snow.

February 6, 2023

It’s still the winter season and I’m not going to be fooled by the Palouse’s habit of having teaser days of sun and not so cold. 

Although I do have to admit my gardening genes are getting antsy. I have gone through the seeds and found I only need to get spinach seed. Seed packets contain way more seed than I use in a season & so expensive to waste any-sad as one just can’t throw them away. I plant to share with the DD and as a last resort I feed really old seed to birds or chickens, providing it’s safe to do so. Of course veg seed is OK to do that, but some flower seed would not be so.

The two chickens we have left are laying again, but since one of them is the      G-grand’s old lady (“stripe-head” a 6 year old’s name for the baby chick she was 4 years ago) the eggs are mostly from the younger hen. The ladies have to be caged in the small pen as something killed the other younger hen right in back. We had been letting them out when we were home, but apparently even that was not safe. In good weather I use my Egloo pen and can move them around on grass, but in winter use the wooden house with small outside pen that is heavy to move. Can’t move anyway when snow on ground and the wooden one stays warmer as have a small light on when really cold. I hope to get some bantam hens this spring; then will get some fertilized eggs and hatch chicks of our own. Bantams make wonderful moms and although the eggs are smaller are just as useful as bigger ones. No roosters in town, but lots of folks around in the countryside have them so can get fertile eggs.

I’m working on a few of knitted projects: hot water bottle cover, shawl & linen top; just finished a crochet afghan; finished a CASA quilt, started on one of my many UFO quilt tops (need to put on some border blocks to make it bigger & then sandwich & quilt); plus I’m up for the hostess slot in my fiber group-I’m teaching/demonstrating how to make braided rugs (from wool, fabric, plastic bag, or other material strips). It will be fun meeting as is per usual.

January 2, 2023

 

Winter here is trying its best to delude us. There are days on end of sub zero weather, followed by a Chinook that takes away all the snow and teases us with above freezing temps even at night. And then back comes the snow and cold, without, thankfully, the sub zero temps.

I had a light in the chicken house while the temperatures were so cold, but it's off now as it is not so cold.  I'm sure the chickens got confused as they started laying again with the light. The ladies, now only totaling 2, are kept in the coop at all times now. Some predator got one of the remaining 3 and I deemed it prudent to just keep them protected. Our coop is supposed to be predator-proof, but I close them up in the house itself at night anyway. I'm now growing some wheat grass so they can enjoy greens every now & then.

The mister has two weeks vacation along with the children at school and is spending most of it reading or working on a few things around the house. He went out with his buddies to do some "side-by-side" riding and proceeded to break his axle, so the "buggy" is in the shop again. 

I spend my time at home with my hobbies and the perpetual "homework", but I have to say that with just 2 people, and "old farts" at that, we're not too hard on cooking or cleaning needs. I've been doing some baking that is low-no sodium so I can eat it and am learning a whole new way of cooking, too. My health seems to be going along OK in the heart department, but I'm being bothered by that old nerve damage to my spine-I have pain in left arm and leg that has nothing to do with arthritis in either joint. A "gift" from my survival of 32 years ago. BUT!  I do not complain too much, I'm still above the grass and I plan to stay that way for quite a bit.

December 8, 2022

 Tls’ winter coming up and we’ve had the cold & snow that heralds it’s arrival.

Plus, we’re also in the holiday season-much too early for the shopping onslaught that plagues this time of year!  ie. one just won’t have a good holiday season unless one spends every penny & more 👎👎👎.

I’ve made/am making most of the gifts from my marvelous stash so won’t spend quite as much as all those merchants wish I would.  It saves us money and uses that which we already own-reducing my stash, always a good thing.

I, of course, do not like these short daylight hours, but know it will begin to lengthen again fairly soon.

It’s also my time to think about what I’ll put into the garden next year. And, of course I have ideas WAY bigger than my abilities 🙄🙄🙄. But my garden is one of my happy places and I won’t give it up.

November 11. 2022

 

Veterans Day here in the U.S. and the hub's & my 28th anniversary.

It's wintery now, but not the usual winter here; still no snow and not much cold. It went from being in 50-60's down to 20's and then teens in a couple of days-another shocker for the plants. And my poor chickens are still molting and cold, too-I put light in their coop. To top it off the humidity is much higher than normal making it quite cold for our "neck of the woods"-we don't normally have high humidity and it makes it seem colder than what we are used to with those type of temps.

I've just been carrying on with what I'm doing around here: homework and then things to occupy my time with my hobbies AND started making Christmas gifts. There's not so much money for gifts around here due to all of the work done on the house, done for a bit now until next year and then more! So I figured I could use my time and energy to make some myself-I have lots of ideas and lots of resources around me.

October 28, 2022

 

It's slowly continuing to cool down; but only a couple of small freezes so plants are very confused.  So are the chickens - they are molting now, of all times, so there are few if any eggs.  The mean one (barred rock who was not laying) has moved to a colder climate and the other girls seem to be better off.   I hope the little one gets her feathers back.

Today and yesterday we worked outside trying to get the last parts of winter preparedness done.  It is going very slowly as I get tired way to soon and the Mister has use of only one hand.  We did get the potatoes dug today; BOY! we are going to have to keep a better handle on the weeds next year.  It was hard to dig through those awful mallows; they get so big it is nearly impossible to get out the huge roots and I'm afraid they may come back bigger next year.  We  did get some good potatoes, but some of them were too close to the surface and were green.  Will need more cover next year, too.

I finished the Halloween costume for the Great grand and it looks pretty cool.  I'll add photos when we take it to her tomorrow and take pictures of her in it.  This year was a White Tiger - I used some nice fluffy fleece so she might be able to use the "onesy" as PJs.

OK, I'm tired out from the work outside and I just told the mister we were going to our neighboring townlet to have supper.  They have a little supper club there and on Fridays they have steak - which I can eat since it can be cooked with no salt!!!

October 14, 2022

 

aha!!! found one "HIGH SUMMER"

It is "indian summer" (I know probably not PC, but I don't know any other name yet).  Still NO freezing, the climate change is throwing us for a loop! I have tomatoes just getting ripe, so if it holds a bit longer I'll get quite a few.

msH & I are off to WG fiber camp this afternoon when she's done with school.  It is a wonderful weekend retreat with friends who share our interests & passions. A whole weekend to NOT have to think about cooking, cleaning or laundry, etc 😁.  And I am so thankful that the pre-teen still wants to do things with her great gran.

We go lots of big beautiful pears from the late pear tree.  I was able to share lots and put a good deal of them in my new garage 'frig for fresh pears later this winter.  I got a new 'frig for the garage that is fitted with the unheated space addition so it will still keep working when temps in the garage get too cold for the regular refrigeration unit to work. And not that I want to be a doomsayer, but the way things seem to be progressing in this country right now it will be good to have those back up supplies for maybe hard times. Just have to pray the power holds out!

The heart thing is still "kicking my butt" while I get used to just what I can and can't do so I don't get so tired I am down for a couple of days.  I'm learning the "pace yourself" in everything you do routine which includes lots of rest periods between work periods. But as I am wont to say, as per my late mum, "it beats the alternative".

OK, I'm off to finish getting ready for our weekend.  All have a continuing good autumn (or spring, depending on where one lives).

September 19, 2022

 

And we are slipping into Autumn, my favorite season of the year.  I am remiss in blogging and the only excuse I can muster is that I get so tired from this heart nonsense that by the end of the day I've very little energy.  I still have not figured how to pace myself to deal with getting my needed work done around home and having time to do things I want to do.  Such as: today I'm trying to finish up the nearly last of the fruit for the season.  There are but winter pears and the October apples left on the trees.  Yesterday I made some plum/pineapple jam and today I have plum butter rendering down in the crockpot.  I put on to dry the HoneyCrisp apples (luck there were just a few this year) and am preparing to make some Irma Pickles for the Mister.  I can no longer eat pickles, but there is no reason not to make some for him-after all they are his favorites.  In between these things I'm doing laundry AND resting after each 15-20 minute session of work.  I'm hoping this will become my habit so I am able to do some more of the things that I like. 

I got a few entries into each of the local fairs and got some nice comments and mostly blue ribbons.  I even got a best of class for my handspun, knitted vest and a nice monetary prize from the Wool Association of Whitman county (via our Wool Gatherers group).  Very satisfactory to my pride, LOL.

I'm trying to work on some quilts as well as the fiber hobbies.  I want also to make some holiday gifts for my family.  Speaking of families, my last uncle has passed and now I'm down to one aunt before all the members of that generation of my family will be gone.  Time marches on and on, leaving behind nothing by memories and I have precious few of those due to head bonks!  But I will not tarry there as all it does is bring sadness.  

It's cooling down and getting to the time I like the best, so I'm going to revel in it and enjoy life!!!!