This old house in bits

this is why I gave up on scraping down the door:  the white paint went on, as they say, straight from the can, and heavy. under that is/was a dull flat grey with the tenacity of cement, and under that this original paint which the camera interprets as semi navy blue but in reality is more of a sapphire.  That the woodwork was a dull pale green seemed not to matter, lol.  by god someone got hold of a bit of blue paint and they wanted to use it. =)

This is a corner of the mantel in the dining room.  The dentils are all hand done, and whoever painted it used the same white paint and almost totally obscured the detail.  The paint used  had the holding power of putty;   I could go just so far before I felt like I was going to do more damage than good to it.  Its this color, truly, underneath.  You wonder why anyone felt the need to paint this at all

And this is the mantel in the parlor.  This part of the mantel is where I stopped trying to dig out the white paint that someone had slopped over the other three or four coats on the dentils.  the carving on this is just lovely.  the left hand upright molding on the side, you can see, has a remainder of the black paint all the fireplace wood was painted with at the time.  That silver looking band on the bottom is the front edge of the heavy aluminum flue cover, to keep the birds out and the smoke heading in the right direction.  

I wanted to get a nice shot of the greeny grey paint but the camera insists its a lovely pale grey and I refuse to get in  a shouting match with a camera at this point.

Garden in the fog

still life with cart

elderberry bushes

the first poppy, purple alium,  solomon's seal

lol everything looks more intriguing in the fog

This is just plain fun

Be warned, those of you who remember this game from years back, it's gotten more complicated, and I think more fun.

Ron., I know how you LOVE these things...

Bloxorz

Thursday 13 Book List

for once I've been keeping track of my reading through the entire year--so far, since  January,  I've managed to cull out 13 that are worthy of saving, and reading again.  Tried some new authors this year,  and some very old (as in classics I never got to yet) ones,  it's fairly eclectic.  It's always a bit disappointing to reread old favorites and find that, like the Campbell's Soup you loved as a kid, this too seems to have lost its flavor.  The Terry Pratchetts are rereads, as is The Samurai's Garden.  Some I've had around for years and never really got into:  Antonia Fraser,  Edwin O'Connor,  P.D. James...

1. The Night of 400 Rabbits   Elizabeth Peters 

2. The Attorney                    Steve Martin

3. The Samurai's Garden      Gail Tsukiyama

4. Everything She Ever Wanted   Ann Rule

5. Dorchester Terrace          Anne Perry

6. The Night Watch            TerryPratchett 

7. Family Man                   Calvin Trilling

8. All In The Family         Edwin O'Connor

9. The Lincoln Lawyer     Michael Connelly

10. Low Country              Anne Rivers Siddons

11. Thief of Time             Terry  Pratchett

12. Marie Antoinette         Antonia Fraser

13. Death In Holy Orders    P.D. James


http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/

Just one Thing:

Over the years, both on message boards and now on blogs, Ive noticed a strange phenomenon--if someone happens on a temporarily unused topic, or discovers that this post has passed its sell-by date, they will not comment, no matter how much they want to.  "Oh bother," she'll say,  and leave.
I asked someone once why you DO that and she said, well, no one is using it...

Do you know how little sense that actually makes?

What I'm heading for here, is this;  if you stroll back through some of my posts (and  not just mine, but anyone's out there) and find something to comment on, for the lord's sweet sake do so.  If the blog is obviously current, there's a good chance the author will see the comment, and maybe even respond.

Now and then I find older posts by people that are just riveting, and if I do comment, sometimes I'll get an answer back very quickly.  People like to know that their older stuff gets read, too.  We've become too  much of a rip and read culture,  and that's kind of a shame.

Bloggers love comments. Even if its on a five  year old topic,  it still counts.  And I guarantee you, comment, and you'll probably get a response from me.

Hot Humid Green Glowing Leaves Flowers (6WS)

not to mention ticks, black flies,  mosquitoes
and birds that never STOP, already.

 I've done everything but roll in the fresh cut grass and that may be next.

 I am not even complaining

.

sometimes I am such a stupid

that little search box up there just above and to the high left of  the post box...type in a word or phrase and it will magically take you (or me) to allll the posts with that word or phrase in it.

I spend two days  hunting for my old posts about when we bought the  new woodstove.  type in "wood" or "stove" and bob's your uncle, there it is,with all the other posts that reference it.

whacking myself on the forehead

Setting the Goals Making Visible Progress (6WS)

Last fall was devoted, not to garden cleanup but to getting as much wood in the shed as we I could.   And of course we were drawing from outside, and didnt touch the shed wood until the day before Christmas.

I dont usually winterize the plants, they are all pretty hardy, and those that pretend to be, like the butterfly bush, will die in two years anyway,   Ordinarily i do give everything a final coat of mulch, but I never did get back to the lawn.  So I just leave what's there until spring. Which happened this week, with a roar and a nasty chuckle.

After a winter of relative idleness (apparently feeding stoves and napping doesnt count as work),  the muscles have turned, if not to jelly, but to old lady legs and arms.  it always takes about a week of bend-and-stoop-and-whine  to get the muscle memory awake and working.

The only way I've found to do that without causing too much damage, is to set narrow-edged goals that leave room in either direction for continuing or stopping.  The mental muscle memory appreciates this.   As I carve out a chunk of garden that has an incredible amount of witchgrass already, I tell myself,  "okay,  to that plant. Ill do all these and then stop when I get there..."  At first, it's a struggle to get to that point, but after a few days Im making bigger goals with tougher demands. It sounds complicated, but it's the only way I can force myself to keep going.  In a week or so Ill be out there half the day without even noticing.  Right now it's hell with a spading fork.

One of the few times I heartily wish for strong sons (or even grandsons)...

well it is only May, what can you expect

I won't put the picture up. It's too cruel.

This morning it was 28 deg. when I went out on the porch to pick over some wood for a morning fire. Then I looked at the roof of the shed, and thought, hey, I don't have white shingles up there...

And on the tarps covering the wood behind the house


It's snowing right now, ever so lightly. I'm trying not to look.

What Every Music Sound System Needs (6WS)

The minefield called "Mother's Day"

I got email today from a site I visit regularly,  suggesting that if I want to send my mother a pretty gift, sign up here...

It sort of took me off balance,  I don't really remember ever getting this kind of email solicitation before,  and I found it disturbing and invasive.  Not sure why.   And later today nearly the same thing happened at another site, suddenly there's a big old drop down window covering the screen,  suggesting that I might like to do "something nice" for "mom".

Part of the disturbing aspect is the assumption on the part of what amounts to total strangers that 1), you have a mother, 2), you actually need to be reminded that you have one, and 3)., they are all too willing to let you spend your guilt money at their site.

My mother's been dead for 17 years.  I doubt if I need to send her a card, a gift, or a greeting.  We were not always on the best of terms anyway,  and it's the assumption that we are/were that scalds me.  I keep thinking of those people who are still struggling with loss, suddenly being smacked in the face with one of these guilt laden invitations.  ouch.

Checking in--yay it's stil raining

Not much going on around here, unless you consider the rain

I was thinking the other day,  if you take into account the seven month drought last summer that stretched from March to September here, and the lack of fall rains after that, and the appalling lack of snow in this region (maybe three or four inches all winter), that pretty much turns into a year long drought.
It is now raining, slowly, gently, and has been for over a week. It looks like we may get showers for another week, daily.  I am so not complaining.

Just found this weather/drought site,  it's really fascinating.  You can find your state, zip code, region, whatever, and it's pretty current.

https://www.drought.gov/drought/

A Small Learning Experience

It once was, that if you hit "next blog" at the top of the page you would be given a random blog to view with pleasure, alarm, horror, or boredom.  There were times when I could be treated to all of the above and a few more emotions, in the space of ten blogs or so.  When I found one that appealed, I'd read into it, maybe bookmark it, maybe start to follow it.  And then on to the next.

Now, it seems, Blogger has decided if you seem even slightly interested (ten seconds seems to be a kind of bench mark, apparently) in a blog on, say, birds,  well, by gosh and by  golly that's what you get.  Hover too long over the marshes of a distant preserve, or read into a gardening blog or two, and suddenly you are seeing marsh birds, endless images of gardens,  and birds in gardens.  Where have the other blogs gone?

This morning I decided, as much as I wanted to read about bushtits and upland lakes,  I was going to try to wrestle my blog hunting away from Blogger.   Fifteen tries later I broke free of the bird lovers and plummeted into the gardening.  Undaunted, I kept moving.  More birds, more gardens. Aha, porn. oh, wait...

Fast forward to economics, a few political blogs, ducking the golden eagle swooping over the marshlands again,  dodging owls in their native habitat, and came up upon an unhappy mother and her unhappy life. One more click and I found myself staring at a Japanese entepreneur making and selling handbags.  I rested there for a bit, let Blogger catch up with me, and maybe tomorrow I can find a wider range.

Once I escape the Luis Vittons and the Coach bags.

Kaleo

Thursday 13 favorites

Neal Acito-- Forever and Ever

Keb Mo--Let Your Light Shine

Moody Blues-- Tuesday Afternoon

Traveling Wilburys

David Gray--This Year's Love

Silhouettes

Lifehouse-- Everything

Patsy Cline lip sync

David Gray--  Go Down Easy

Phillip Phillips--Home

Neil Diamond--Play Me

Solas--Am I Born To Die

Simon and Garfunkel--The Boxer



Thursday13

Statement of Policy concerning Early Spring (6WS)

I refuse to garden in a winter jacket

It is  my considered judgement that wooly hats and mittens clash with lawn mowers  and it's hard to pull the rip cord in mittens

Sunburn, yes. Frostbite, no.

I will wear rubber boots out there but do draw the line on wool socks and fleece-lined mukluks

If I have to shovel a path to the garden shed, maybe we should wait a week or two, ya t'ink?

It's also very hard to turn a compost heap when it's still a 4X4 block of ice with twigs embedded in it

thirteen of them (Jaudo13) (Thursday 13)

Joi

Jeudi

Jueves

Jaudo

Torsdag

Csutortok

Stvrtok

E enjte

xingqisi

Dydd lau

thu nem

Poaha

Payshanba


Thursday13

overkill

You go into a new forum, and are confronted with about five screens of sign-in 'security" code.   Your address, repeated.  your magic question.  your password (oops, it has to be 12 letters and numbers, no two consecutive, lower and upper case);  your date of birth.  your screen name (ohhh sorry, that one's been taken) --and so have all of these.

now comes the little box with the strange swirly looking letters, pink and yellow on a white background. No clue as to how many there really are, (is that a sideways number or part of the design...) or if you need to use upper and lower case...oops, sorry, try again.  (you have three more tries and then, sir, or madam, you will have to start over)   oops, sorry.  you have used up your tries.  Start over please.  e-mail address? no, that's been taken----

All this to enter a forum where you want to ask a single question about one item.  and by this time I have totally forgotten the question,  lost the site address,  and no longer care.

By contrast, all I have to do is go into my local bank and 'look familiar" and they will give me my savings account number.  No ID necessary.

(shakes head. wanders off)

I miss the Five and Dime (6WS)

1. the narrow board squeaky hardwood floors

2. goldfish and turtles at the back of the store beside the potted plants

3. the snack bar with the red vinyl seats and a foot rail to hold your packages

4. the notions aisle

5. the popcorn machine at the entrance

6. the parrot

Fast Forward

8 years ago today I started this blog, with trepidation
and not much hope of it going anywhere.  it's a small thing,
as these things go, but it's mine, and like Gollum, I cling
to the rocks and shoals of it, waiting for the shiny parts.

44K pageviews, 22 followers (several of whom have wandered
off), and a LOT of photos.  It's been fun.

Every day is the first day, and the last.

Then again, I guess it's that way anyway. These days I wake up
a little surprised that I woke up at all, and glad to be here.

and here. Thank you for taking the trip with me. It's a lot more fun
with company in the passenger seat.

13 cool things about bread

1.When it's done baking the smell fills the house
2. Making bread is great exercise
3. Always knead it longer than the recipe tells you to
4. It has to be truly awful to be inedible, sorta like cheesecake
5. Toast
6. More toast
7. If you're the bread baker in the group, people say, ooooo.  you bake BREAD?
8. If you're not, you wish you were
9. Yeast is magic
10. Once you get over the idea that yeast is a living organism...
11.  It rewards all the work when you open the oven and it smiles up at you
12. A sandwich wouldnt be a sandwich without it
13. Oh, have some more toast

Thursday 13

A very long walk

100 years ago this part of New England was just recovering from almost total deforestation;  farmers had found new and more efficient ways to manage the land, sons and daughters were now working in towns,  and the once ubitquitous farm land was reverting back to fields, truck gardens, and forest.  In the late 1800s NH was 90% agricultural land,  by the end of this last century it had reversed itself, despite our sincere efforts to pave anything that didn't fight back.

Places like this took less of a direct hit because of the topography, and the trees crept back steadily as there was less and less need for grazing land and huge acreage for crops.  This particular bit of land was scraped down to bedrock by the glaciers, carving large tracks for the melt that followed.  I suspect that thousands of years ago there were serious rivers in each valley, all of them heading down to what would someday be towns, and lakes, and larger rivers.

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `

The biggest concern was the rain: would it?




It started to rain the minute people began arriving for the walk;  35, more or less, amazingly enthusiastic people.  It continued to rain while the two tree guys introduced themselves and we huddled like refugees waiting for the walk to begin.  It rained harder as we marched off into the woods. Some people actually brought umbrellas =)

we had originally suggested splitting the group into two separate parties, one to go west and one to go east but the organizers felt we needed to stay together.  

This is one of the stone walls that divide one pasture from another deep in the woods at the bottom of the valley.  to the right you can see how steep it is.  

this is basically the same area, only looking the other way, up the side of the other valley.  At the bottom, one of our tree experts is showing us about a basswood tree,  one of only a few that we have. They LOVE finding stuff like that. =)

We decided to take the easy route (most of the people on the walk were  over 50, some I suspect were even over 80), through the admittedly sloppy valley.  At some point one of the wood fellas hopped a wall and we found ourselves trekking upward toward the beech ridge.  It was a lot like that part in the Hobbit where the  hobbits are inexorably shunted downward, toward the Evil Tree, only in this case we were being somehow propelled up.  Since snags and downed trees blocked the way down, over and over,   up seemed the way to go.  Suddenly we all agreed that since we were here, yes, yes, the beech ridge would be lovely.

this is the end of the beech ridge path, leading to the neighbor's field and the really cool view.  He's very generous about sharing the view, and it never disappoints.

 And this is one corner of the pasture, (yes, it was still raining.  endlessly)

Below that  photo is the overlook, on a good day you can see the ocean, 40 miles away.  

We turned back, to come back to the main house, all along the beech ridge but going the other way.  Once there my husband said, hey, let's take the OTHER walk too and everyone said, oboy and off they went.  My jacket was thoroughly soaked, and I was starting to forget what toes feel like, so I came in, stoked up the fire, and had one of my power naps in the rocker.

An hour later they all trooped back, having taken not only the scenic route but the long loop,  a complete journey of nearly three miles.  yikes.

As they left, the rain stopped.  The sun came out almost immediately.  Of course.  And last night, just to make sure we didnt get too excited about spring, we were given two inches of snow. Nature's answer to "spring? Can't last,  don't get used to it..."

Before dawn, this morning, a woodcock (6WS)

One of the uglier birds out there, but for me, always a sign that the seasons are progressing the way they should.  I went out to get kindling for the morning fire, and sure enough, I heard the whistle and that nasal "peent peent peent" overhead.
They have a tendency to sit smack in the road or field (if I close my eyes you cant seee me) and only when you approach too closely do they fling themselves upward and fly away.   Once your heart stops pounding and settles back in your chest you realize you have just terrified a Woodcock.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Woodcock/id

Addendum /Link alert

this is a link to an earlier post that describes the process a bit more clearly:

http://mittens-stonesoup.blogspot.com/2014/09/how-i-spent-my-summer-vacation-land.html

Update

At the moment everything is in stasis:  a bit of rain, a bit of snow,  a LOT of wind.  Not much to write about (and I so do not want to discuss Scary Politics here) and unless you are fascinated by the processes involved in de-mousing a closet,  I will draw a tasteful veil over that and promise I am still around, if not visible.
Tomorrow if it doesn't rain we are going on what is called a Site Walk with MMRG (Moose Mountain, our Land Trust people), with two very interesting tree experts and probably 30 people total.  This is what I wanted to have happen,  that it become a place to learn stuff about the way trees mature, the way forests mature and change, and why a messy 'natural' forest is the place where wildlife actually live, rather than just pass through to get to the good stuff.   This IS the good stuff.

I'll try to remember to take photos.

Last year we had 20 or so, that the sight of them winding their way across the land in a kind of careful conga line was both gratifying and hysterical at the same time.

And now I must go tidy up the porch. It's been a repository for wood and bits all winter, and it's begun to look as if there should be a wringer washing machine at one end and an old washtub at the other.  =(

They are calling this 'ice pellets" now

     I don't care what March came in as, but it's surely going out as a Yeti...

Words of one Syllable department

One of the coupons from my KMart purchases yesterday:

                                 5% OFF

                    APPAREL PURCHASE

EXCLUDES HUNTING APPAREL

    ROLE-PLAY/COSTUMES

    FOOTWEAR, FINE JEWELRY

    CLEARANCE AND EVERYDAY GREAT PRICE

Role Play??? is this now Kinky Mart?

On another front, my new microwave (in two languages and every other line is a safety warning) tells me that I  MUST keep my microwave clean and I MUST never clean the oven while it's plugged in --but as an alternative,  it says if you cannot access the plug, be sure to keep the door open while you clean it.  er.  Unless you are very very tiny, this is almost a given...

Something is tugging at my sleeve (6WS)

1)  I now have one of those annoying little pill box strips that not only reminds you to take your pills but also tells you what day it is,  instead of staring at a blank calendar and realizing that in order to know what day it IS, you have to know what day it WAS...

2)  it took me three tries yesterday to figure out how to spell cupboard.  Two tries to get deciet deceit  right.

3)  I can still add, multiply and subtract,  but division is beginning to elude me;  this is not good.  I was never in the top forty when it came to math,  but at least I could handle division.

4)  My handwriting is now illegible enough to confuse even me. I would like to blame the computer for that, and do so frequently, but still...

5)  Last year my closest friend (who is 94 this year) called to tell me she had written me a real letter, and when it came I decided the least I could do was respond in kind.  After I found the paper, an envelope, and a pen.  It covered a full sheet and half the back side, and by the time I was done, a half hour later,  I was exhausted.

6)  I have mastered the 15 minute Chair/Book Nap and the instant Asleep at the Keyboard Nap which hints at  the  terrifying  possiblity of Supper Naps in the future...

Looseleaf Notes, colleen, if you're out there...

It would seem that your blog has been taken over by
someone selling tea.  Im assuming this is not your doing,
and you have been visited by the Redirect Monster...
No matter where or how  I click, it comes up tea...

In honor of PI Day, Monday, March 14

Pi Day (What Pi sounds like)

frankly Tau sounds better but there is no Tau day...=)

I hit the ground running today (6WS)

Sir Terry Pratchett 1948-2015

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Terry Pratchett's death:  I've been thinking about this, and him, and his books, for quite some time now.

He is the one author I never weary of, and have read his complete series several times--and each time I do, as I age, I see more, and in a different way than I did before.  Every time, it's different.  He is funny, and sad, and can move me to tears on page 17 and have me laughing out loud two paragraphs later.

He makes you think, and rethink, all the while teaching you things.  He has subtly delineated the history of the British Postal system,  printing, money, (and printing money), how the British policemen  and their place in London came to be.  The Buddhist monks come into it, dragons, strange gods, wizards, and talking dogs;  as does his philosphy of death, life, time, and humanity.

You end up caring, and thinking, about his characters.

He has written (besides a children's series and myriad of other things) a series of DiscWorld books, 41 strong.   He has been compared to Douglas Adams, and yet when I read Adams, I am rarely moved, and often disappoiinted, because he seems to be a one note cynical writer.

I have never seen a single book of  Pratchett's  in the used books bins anywhere, from yard sales, church book sales, or thrift store shelves.

Anyone who has never read his books, or wants to know where to start,  start at the beginning, but don't be discouraged by that first book (The Color of Magic).  It's not that good, but it introduces you to the characters in embryonic form.  I only read it now because it is the first book, and the ones to follow only get better, and it's nice to see how his gifts as a writer grew.

It's obvious Pratchett loves his characters, even the despicable ones.  And I am reminded not only of Dickens but  Shakespeare, both of whom wrote across the spectrum of humanity by the time they were done.  Each of them wrote for the time they were in, as does Pratchett.

There.  Now I feel better =)

What does one DO with this stuff?

Having just spent nearly two months cleaning out, clearing out, and just plain dumping,  it suddenly occurs to me that one of the hardest categories to deal with is Things Someone Else Saved;   most notably,  the Inanimate Object Category, which includes Petrified wood,  Old Interesting Bones/Skulls,  Unusual Rocks, and SeaShells.

Right now Im looking at a rock that weighs close to 20 lbs, has a lot of smaller rocks embedded in what might or might not be cement, lava, or other rock.  There is also an equally heavy and almost totally round rock that now and then escapes its moorings and rumbles across the floor. Don't ask.  

It's granite, and obviously someone found it in a stream bed at one point, but frankly I wish they had left it there.  It's just borderline interesting enough to keep off the stone wall, but not interesting enough to show to visitors.  I just keep my feet away from it.   As a door stop, it's obviously worthless. 

A few of the others I have carefully /quietly placed back on the stone wall.   Im still not sure what to do about the sea shells. Most of them someone gave or sent to my husband's grandmother, since they are all Florida shells.  When we first moved up here one of the first things she did was bring me her 'favorite' conch shell, as a  house warming gift.   It always sat, she said, on the sideboard in the dining room, it was one of  her favorite shells, and a  friend who lived in Florida brought it up for her...

Some of these shells are huge, true conch shells, but once the novelty of  the dinner plate sized shell wears off, there's not a lot you can do with it.  In a way it's like finding antlers in the attic, reminders of Uncle Eddy's prowess with a gun.  sigh.

ahhhh I may have it.  Garden houses for gnomes, toads, and snakes. 

Early Spring Fever

This is the kind of day that smells like spring.  

I kept thinking, porch furniture.

Mama ain't happy

Bloglovin'--I can see this is going to be a difficult relationship

The amount of information they bombard you with is incredible:  its like being attacked by curious spiders. So far in two days I have had to unsubcribe twice and close out an entire nest of blogs that they want me to view.
No.
I want what I have, and if I want others, I'll manage it, thank you very much.  Why would I want to read about 20 other food blogs if I like the ONE I read now?  It reminds me of over eager sales girls in a dress shop who suddenly realize that you are looking at grey dresses,  and start  hauling out all the grey clothing they can find.  If you move on to brown or red, they follow you, arms laden with red chiffon and brown leather.

It also appears that if I do NOT join this thing there will be getting NO announcements from anyone about new posts.  ("If you don't eat your cereal, young lady, there will be no saturday cartoons for you...")

It would appear that what Blogger has done is take a stab at becoming a social network, like Facebook.
Circles and Google + and now bloglovin' and most of them, once you belong, are inescapable.  Close out Google+ and your entire blog will disappear, apparently, along with your front porch,  the  mailman, and the family dog.

sigh.

picks up podium,  exits stage left,  staggering slightly

Oh the joy of spring approacheth...(6WS)

1. ticks  (but the days are longer now)

2. blackflies  (and warmer, much warmer)

3. ticks AND blackflies (warmer, longer days, cling to that)

4. killing frosts just after you've planted everything (but you still have time...its only July...)

5. finding what's left of your favorite lopping shears buried in the compost bin (I wondered where they went...)

6. finding what's left of your favorite garden gloves when you mow over them (but isnt the grass a lovely shade of green...)

Addendum and Happy March 1st yay all over

"cemetary" is not a word.  We have Stephen King to thank for  it, and no one seems to realize he was using that spelling deliberately, the way a book entitled "Chimbleys of the City" does not mean that's the way it's spelled,  but rather the way it gets misspelled.

I looked, by the way. It has yet to find its way into the dictionary, but Im sure in a few years...

Charlie and his new 5 minute friend

 At the moment he is recovering from Playtime with Charlie.  I put him out in the leaves but he seems unwilling (or perhaps unable) to scurry away.  Afraid that he might just be in shock, I brought out a temporary shelter for him.  He went in and then came back out.

He is moving around a bit.  This is the sort of critter you want to adopt;  he truly looks like some cat toys I've seen.  Charlie is firmly in the house, still hunting for his new friend, and his attitude reminds me of when I can't find something.  'I know I left it here...somewhere..."

meadow vole

Later:
didnt make it. We found him part way across the lawn,  beside the tractor, all curled up on his side.  At least he wasn't pummeled to death by a playful cat...

6WS update on the weather in pictures

two days ago it was warm, rainy, and clouds drifted across the fields, pushed by a strong south wind.  Warm air over snow, and you get fog.  The air smelled of mud and spring, and there was just enough green to make me want to agree.  ;

I don't mind if the deer get at this,  as aloe stays green all winter but dies back in spring to regrow--they do make a mess of it though

there were titmice (titmouses?) out, practicing,  and a crow or two.  that's when you realize it's been too quiet too long.

this was the one 50 deg, day we had this week, with the warmer south wind making clouds over the snow patches

 I have no idea what this  bulb thinks its doing in late February,  don't even know what it IS...

it's bleak, but I love the colors.  Funny how nature never puts a foot wrong in color choices

grammar (not grammer) (spell check probably won't help you here...)

1.  there, their, they're
2.  discreet  discrete
3.  definitely, definately
4. your, you're
5. hear, here, heir, hair, hare, herr
6. bear (woodland creature), bare, bear(to carry). bier, (to bear the bear on a bier) beer
7. rogue, rouge
8. tongue, tounge
9. capital, capitol
10. baited hook, bated breath
11. wether, weather, whether
12. proposition, preposition
13. principle, principal



Thursday13

Not for the faint of heart

Had to get up in the middle of the night, and as I climbed the stairs I was assaulted by the mother of all dead animal smells. oh. my.   This wasn't mouse sized, this wasn't even squirrel sized or even rat size--judging from the exuberance of it, I'd say maybe St. Bernard sized. Dog or Saint, no matter.  Made my eyes water.

Also made me glad I never met this apparition in the attic, or the cellar, or thundering along the kitchen counters.

There is a definable time limit on most dead-in-the-wall stuff (the kind you either live through or just close the door to that room for a day or so), usually three to five days for the little stuff and five to seven days, give or take, for the larger er, animals.  It also depends on time of year.   In the summer you can count on screaming intensity  for about three days, tops.  In the winter the aroma is less, but it lasts for twice as long.  It's really a tough choice, isn't it.

And to top off all the other winter sports, my husband found a very live rat in the cellar three days ago, scuttling around. Aha, I thought. that accounts for the rustly noises and the outright frenzied galloping overhead in the crawlspace above the  kitchen.  We put down a havahart trap, baited with cracker and peanut butter. Upside down, so who ever takes it, has to contend with the trap tripper.

Whatever is taking the cracker also licks the trip plate clean of peanut butter and walks out through the untripped trap. door.  I would think a rat would be heavy enough, and a mouse would leave crumbs.

I'm pretty sanguine about wildlife, here. Almost have to be. When we moved in the house had begun a relentless southward journey off of its old stone foundation, leaving a gap under the west wall you could see sunlight through...(I found out very quickly that snakes do not like to be disturbed whilst having an afternoon nap under the piano).

I have dealt with snakes in the attic, above the kitchen sink,  in the cellar...  spiders, ticks, bats, squirrels, frogs, toads, chipmunks, dead and half dead and very much alive vermin, raccoons in the shed attic, porcupines in the shed, the neighbor's herd of oxen (they wanted to come in, but I do draw the line on anything with horns), birds up to and including a grosbeak, hummingbirds who took wrong turns, bees, wasps, and an entire swarming colony of honey bees in the east wall.   But field rats (which are basically just a bigger version of mice out here) I do not handle well.   We all have our limits, and Ratty in the Wall is mine.

If anyone is interested in the site...http://www.havahart.com/

In case you were really wondering

It is now 12:45 am, and the temps have just hit -20.  

I just wanted to share that.  =)

closets (Thursday 13)

1. Now I can open the closet door and see what's actually there without fearing for my life
2. All the relevant stuff is finally together
3. Oh, the thrill of finding the cover that matches the jar, or the bowl I thought was gone forever
4. Oh, the thrill of dumping, with a clear conscience, stuff I haven't used yet and probably never will
5. All the shelves are scrubbed, de-moused, and the old wall paper used as shelf paper
6. Labels. Need. more. labels.
7. Now I can close the door all the way
8. The walk in closet now is a walk in closet, rather than a reach in with tongs from the doorway closet
9. If it's broken, why am I saving it
10. If I don't know what it is by now, I never will
11. Wedding presents I didn't like 48 years ago have not improved with age. Unlike us.
12. I had no idea I had acquired so many single rolls of wallpaper
13. The orange conversation piece really has to go. End of discussion

Thursday Thirteen

Poem

Who Never Dreamt of Horses

all night long
she dreams of wild horses
running across open fields
on waking,
she wonders
if horses ever dream
of flying

Bread Day

Cold,  snowy and a stiff north wind. Good day to make bread.

These are smaller loaves, suitable for sandwiches or toast, Oatmeal

this time.  The smell is amazing. I've even converted my husband

to the stuff.  

Enjoy (wicked grin)

Sugar-sugar-3

Follow-up to the Closet Cleaning

One closet done, one half way there, and it has managed to spread itself to the second floor and the kitchen cabinets, spring cleaning frenzy at its finest.  We knew it would.

Took a car full of stuff and I do mean full to the Salvation Army, resisted the temptation to buy the equivalent in Newer Things,  dropped off about 20 lbs of pennies at the bank (do you have any idea how hard it is to walk casually to a bank when you are listing badly to one side...), and bought groceries. Many many groceries.

I did notice a new and fairly interesting way to spell "curtains" in the Salvation Army, combining dyslexia and French, apparently:  "courtians".  This was not a typo. Every courtian in the place had this carefully hand lettered on the individual  tags, giving even the most mundane pair of gingham courtians a  slightly exotic (or is that exotique), racy air...

Finally cleaning out the old closets (6WS)

As I age, and the further shore creeps nearer, year by year I've begun revising some deeply held theories ..."That May Come in Handy  Someday"  has turned into,  "If I Haven't Used It By Now...".   "Oh What a Perfect Storage Container" has become  "How Many of These Things Do I Really Need".

 I am also protected by the unwritten law that says, anything to do with the kitchen that does not involve plumbing or wiring is mine to do with as I choose.

I am ruthless.  I am determined. I have a woodstove,  our landfill recycles, and I have many, many cartons marked Salvation Army.

Thought for the Day =)

No  one can ever
teach you how
to use a hammer

At Least It Isnt Snowing....Yet.... (6WS)

Im still here, still breathing softly

we had some snow,  it's been cold, and then not so cold.

been making bread nearly every day,  trying to get it 'right'.  I figger if I can get sixty loaves ahead by summer we'll have enough to get us through the hot weather because there is no way in hell I am going to fire up a woodstove in July to bake bread.  Im just curious to see if I can get that far ahead.  

Charlie has been perfecting his U-turn,  got it down pretty smooth, now. I open the door in the morning that he insists he HAS to use, marches across the porch, hits the snow, and without pausing U-turns and strides right back in, little mouth working indignantly, ears flat.  My fault, yep.

About the only thing in the news worth writing about is politics, and considering the choices, Id say there's not much worth writing about...

I'm around, in my winter semi-fetal position,  waiting for spring.  Feel free to drop in, don't be strangers.  There's always  coffee and cookies. 

Google strikes again...

I just found this announcement from the powers that be at Google and am so excited about it.  Not.   If you have readers who do not belong to Google,  they need to know about this too.  

"In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer"

Thursday 13 Comment

It's a Jungle Out There

This is the place 
where the pavement ends
and the real world 
begins



Thursday Thirteen

Not much changes, even after 70 years

it's a bit rumply at the bottom, sorry, it  didnt flatten out as well as I'd hoped...this is from a favorite cartoonist of mine,   Gluyas Williams, and he always managed to nail the human condition perfectly  (this was from 1943)

("Fred Perley kept his temper when he had to get dressed up and go out on a wild night to a bridge party at the Dibbles',  and he kept it when he found that his wife  had promised they'd bring their bridge table along, one leg of which kept falling open and tripping him;  but when he got there and found that his wife had got mixed up and the party wasn't  until tomorrow night, things began to happen")

A fascinating view of the solar system

and the music is pretty cool too

A very strange year, as far as wildlife is concerned.

This fall I  heard only one skein of geese, and that was below tree level,  possibly my neighbor's freeloading geese going to visit their friends the other freeloading geese about five miles away.
No other migrations.

No ravens this year to speak of, and no migrations.

The tree swallows were sparse and disappeared in early august.

The crows are usually the rowdiest bunch (they remind me of my dad's family,  shouting and tossing rolls at one another at the dinner table) during migration,  probably wondering who hid the car keys and 'you're not taking THAT on the bus, are you INSANE" and all the checking to see if they left the water running and  trying  all the doors... none this year. Very few actual crows around at all except for the one that kept startling the daylights out of me on the porch when he yelled at me for trespassing....

No robin arrivals in the spring, which is usually heralded by a huge number of robins one morning in april,  all over the fields.  I dont think I saw a robin all summer. A friend who spends time in Florida said they had tons of them, more than he's ever seen.  And no spring peepers at all, which is what we all wait for every year.
There were, however,  a huge number of smaller birds, clouds of them, especially this fall, juncoes and sparrows and wrens.  And of course the turkeys. who, it seems, are always with us now.

No mosquitoes.

Once the early feeding frenzy was over, no ticks.  Lots and lots of yellow jackets and white tailed hornets, with ground nests and filling every crevice they could find in the wood pile (which may account for so many frogs in there, too)--in a dry year you learn to look before you lift.  Or better yet, jiggle it and move away.

We did have woodcocks return, and a whippoorwill in the distance.  Owls in the field and I think a mating/nesting pair of red shouldered hawks living  nearby.

Lack of rain was noticeable, that may have forced the  birds to wetter areas.  What was also noticeable was the total lack of interest the weather people had in mentioning a drought that ran from April to September, with almost no rain at all.  Even the trees were wilting.

More frogs than we normally see, sheltering under the wood piles, so I made a few little frog houses with pans of water, and rocks, and covering.  They seemed to appreciate the effort,  I had one filled and in place and the minute I moved away I heard splashing.  =)

And surprisingly we are now in the flight path of a great blue heron, something I ve  only seen once (and at a distance) before, in forty years. We're just too dry for them, so I suspect they are traveling from one swampy area to another.

A wet fall, all rain, no snow, right up until yesterday.  Maybe things will settle out next year.

Neal Acito

 anyone who visits this stuff, put a 'like' in the box.  I think he's earned it.  Nothing fancy, just a good clear voice and you can sing along.  smiles


Medley

Red River Valley

Goodnight Irene

Lived through another one. Ho Ho (6WS)

Six kids under the age of three,  two trees,  16 adults of varying ages,  one dog.  And if a partridge had appeared in the living room no one would have been even mildly surprised.  "Somebody wanna get the Pear Tree out? The Partridge just flew in..."

The magic words are,  Someone else's  house, dinner, responsibility.   Yes indeed.

Merry Christmas

I dare you to stop at just one (reblogged from the original site http://tyler-lewis.blogspot.com/2011/02/awesome.html)

Making Music


Thank you Tyler Lewis for this

Happy Solstice --Now, we wait

Got the lawn chair out
and the umberella
swept the porch
the iced tea is sitting in the fridge


I'm ready

Got snow. 'Nuff said.

Just a Sad Song

The Muppets and Paul Williams

Poem for Thursday 13

THIEF

I only know that you have been here

by the swirl of dust motes rising

on a shaft of sunlight.  There is

a hollow place within the air

that but a moment earlier held

flesh and bone and breath.

I put my hand into that place

like a hand into a wound.

I smell the scent you always wore.

And in the distance

an unlatched door,

banging in the wind.

Thursday Thirteen

Let it snow, let it snow (but, please, not yet)

Let your fingers do the walking...(6WS)

Found as page headings in the Yellow Pages


Burial-Cabinet

Carpet-Caskets--for those of us who demand a comfy place to rest

Debt-Dentists

Fence-Fire

Medical Mission

Golf-Hair  (you know what happens when you take off that golf cap...)

Pest-Pet  (one man's pet is another man's pest)

Stairway-Storage

Swimming-Tax (really?  I didn't  know  that...)

Wireless-Youth

Fable from an old poetry prompt (6WS)

(Approach a poem (or short story) as if you were writing a fable. Keep a third-person point of view. Address the anthropomorphic qualities of the objects you introduce. Invite an animal or creature into the poem. Allow an invisible force to alter time and space.)

Fable

Once upon a time in a small dark cottage deep in the forest there lived, quietly but well a wooden settee with a plaid cushion, and her friend, the deal table, well scrubbed and softened by age. They were most suited to each other and lacked for nothing, needing only each other for companionship.

One rainy day the door opened and a small very wet weasel came in, asking for shelter; taking pity on his plight they let him sleep by the fire until he was dry, and were so charmed with his wit and cleverness they invited him to live with them.

After that, time seemed to slow; days lingered at sunset far far longer than either of them ever remembered, and the sun rose much earlier as well.

They thought it might be because the three of them were so content with each other, and never considered that it might be the weasel who, in addition to being a good companion, was also intelligent, and magical.

He thought they'd like the changes. 

18 days

and the days
will start
getting longer.

Oh treats.

Oh joy and feasting.

Good Night, Irene! (have you no sense of dignity)

1. Starry Starry Night
2. In The Still of the Night
3. Goodnight Irene
4. The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
5. Twilight Time
6. One Night With You
7. Hard Day's Night
8. Nighttime is the Right Time
9. O Holy Night
10. Night of the Iguana
11. Strangers in The Night
12. Tender is the Night
13. Night and Day

Thursday Thirteen

Oh give thanks 13 ways --Happy Thanksgiving!--

1. for air
2. for a heart beat
3. for memory
4. for the surety of a sunrise and a sunset
5. for the cats I know and the cats I remember
6  for the deer in the field
7. the turkeys in the middle of the driveway
8. and now and then an eagle
9. for poetry
10. for rain
11. for music
12. for books
13. for you

Thursday Thirteen

to everything that moves or breathes (6WS)

it becomes a meditation

that thrum you feel

when you live

where high water flows

meditation of earth

the gifts we take

the gifts we give back

what we keep for ourselves

it's all good

every point on the compass

connected, mind and fiber,

to everything that moves or breathes

salt from the sea

spit from the rain

part of the monkey the whale

the now and the lost

what touches us once touches us forever

to lie on this hill

look up at the stars

feel the earth move

not under us but with us

like riding a turtle

into the darkness

when we die we go back

to ground

return as rain, as snow,

as part of a wind

bending wheat in a Russian field
stylized trees in a Chinese landscape

or sunflowers in the rain

It's worth the 10 minutes to watch =)

     


Home Sweet Home

Charlie dreams of summer

The only back history a cat has is his own.  As does any animal, actually.  We are, with perhaps the exception of whales and dolphins, the only species that remembers what happened before we were born by word of mouth,  reading,  poems, family histories.  

You can, if you're careful and patient,  figure out why that dog you just got from the shelter is so afraid of pianos,  or resents men wearing hats, or why that lovely cat will quietly disappear when strangers show up wearing boots.  

I wonder what he remembers beyond the bad stuff.  

ohhhh around and around and around...

gosh this is fun,  got the yahoo problem back, and finally removed, now I have to remove the pushy chrome download that wants me to get Chrome for all my other apps.  ::sob:: I dont HAVE other apps.

heads up

I noticed today that there seems to be a new kind of spammer around,  I've had two people (each with five names) commenting on my latest post:  clicking on their blogsite shows that they have very similar blog lists,  clicking on their profile photo and looking for the image online at Google shows photos that have nothing to do with their blog names.
aha, she said. aha.

I just noticed Ron. Lavalette has one of those, as well.
I think of them as the "Five Namers"--nothing flashy, but the names and the photos dont go together, and the three or four word comments seem oddly placed.

anyone here getting comments from Five Namers, check out the profile image in Google images, see what you get.

I deleted both of mine but there are probably more to come.  Traffic is lovely, but not this kind. (She said, loading salt pellets in her over-under)

Some things don't know it's November (6WS)