From the camera...August (mostly)

 This is a young Baltimore Oriole and it took me two days to find this out. The top of his head is just beginning to darken. For a few hours I was convinced we had a New Species.  sigh.

 Cecropia moth caterpillar. Found this on a neighbor's apple tree, it looks like you should be able to plug it in and have it light up.  =)

                                                                           Painted Lady

 annnd the carpenter bee.   I am very polite to these things, they're really territorial. They don't mind you in the garden, as long as you don't get in their space...

                              Charlie's favorite porch place, on the bottom shelf of the wicker table

                                                                      Siberian Iris

Very short story

Alexa, Tell me a Story

                                                 

One of the longer grey days of November.  Outside a cold steady rain, trickling down the windowpanes, with the occasional  splat when the wind picked up again.  And now, just before sunset, fog adding its base notes to the music. My coffee was nearly gone, and what was left was tepid.  I wanted more, but was too rain-weary to consider the long ten foot walk to the kitchen to make another cup. 

When I get like this, a giddy little angel-with-a-pitchfork wakes up, and perches itself on my shoulder.  "Alexa", I said, quietly, 'Tell me a story. In the good voice."  There was a pause, and then the voice of  Morgan Freeman began to slide across the room.  "What kind of story would you like?"  You could hear the smile. See the crinkly eyes.  

"Oh, I don't know, " I said.   "Maybe Little Red Riding Hood?  The naughty one?" 

wells and cats and trucks, oh my

48 years ago we put in a deep well,  to replace the dug well which could not handle much more than a pail and a rope, and was really not trustworthy enough for modern piping.

And like all good things, the well we dug finally had to be refurbished, as to fittings and such, and we went back to the old well for very very basic water needs.  as soon as I could find my old friend the knotted rope and weighted blue pail. My goodness what a long way down that water was.  We figured, maybe 25 feet, since it's been a dry summer. 

The water is back now, the pump is working, the well is working, and I've retired the blue pail and the knotted rope.  For now. 

Charlie, inspecting the truck, which is 'out of place' on the lawn, and apparently it doesn't belong there. He looks quite confused about it.

From the camera

sigh.  He wanted to wear a mask, like the big people do; but he's got no chin 

hummingbird and hollyhock

african daisies

this is what happens when you on-purpose don't mow the lawn.  Im always reminded of Edna Millay's "Witchwife" 'she leaves the daisies standing, and the Queen Anne's  Lace..."

Love this. It's so delicate, so not quite ready to bloom, and that tiny tiny beetle clinging to it...

Ah, the simple life

It just keeps getting better and better

a month or so ago my husband decided that a long overdue repair should be seen to, in the cellar. The trouble is, it's a coupling that goes through the cement wall and joins the water tank in the cellar to the well outside. 
So. We got the plumbers up to dig part of the trench ( he dug the first part to make it easier and faster for them) and chisel their way into the cellar, replace the coupling and bob's your uncle.

uh huh.
The pump wouldn't prime. whirry whirry whirry slop.

Meanwhile I am searching frantically for my two well pails and knotted rope, because we were down to one five gallon container for water for overnight. Not good. 

Meanwhile I realized that the dug well, which has been unused for quite some time,  had a hearty growth of trees, bushes, and nasty thorny things.  Took me an hour to clear the place enough to stand up straight. 

Meanwhile I realized I could find the pails but not the lovely knotted rope, which had to be 50 feet long for doubling, since the water  is down about 25 feet right now. 

While I am doing all of this, the two plumber's helpers (and I use that word exactly, since between them they might have enough brain power to start a small engine) packed up, talked to their boss, and they said theyd be back tomorrow with a digging crew if necessary, since if it was them that messed it up,  they'd foot the bill for it. 

It's been a long interesting awful day, lol. 

Annnnd the wood guy is coming later this week with the second load of wood. 

I think I'll have a nap now.

playing with the new camera

What is really neat about this camera, all of these pictures  (with the exception of the butterfly) were taken from 60 to 100 feet or more away. The butterfly was about 20. I may get over this. =)

catbird with worm

Charlie guarding the field, the house, the porch...he takes his role very seriously

6 point buck, and while I was taking this two more appeared:  I suspect they are triplets, usually you don't see bucks like this together and they all seem to be of the same size and age, so...

Mother and fawn, still in it's spotty stage and yes it's in the same spot the bucks were in the previous day

this is what a really good zooooom lens can do. This is a tiny butterfly called, GreenishBlue (how imaginative), and its no bigger than my little fingernail

Seeing Things

Seeing Things

you wake up in the middle of the night
not sure what--or who--
but never dare to turn the light on
just in case it wasn't just a dream
or just in case
it was





https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2020/07/weekly-scribblings-28-seeing-things.html

Things were different then

Things were different then:
Longer, shorter, slower
We learned patience
waiting for the snow
waiting for Santa
waiting in lines
waiting for the phone to ring
or the right song on the radio
waiting to grow up
and find out what "wait till you grow up"
really meant


https://poetsandstorytellersunited.blogspot.com/2020/07/weekly-scribblings-27-things-were.html

early to rise addendum

This was about 9 years ago, Toby on the bottom left, Albert on the right, and Sammy having just had a long morning swurrrp was off to catch rodents.  It was always tastier after the truck had run through the water, and I think it may have contributed to Albert's long life, he was nearly 19 when he died.  all them vitamins, you see. Yum.

Early to Rise really screws things up

For no particular reason,  I seem to be waking up at 4:00 or 4:30 and on a few less than memorable occasions 3:30:  I have no idea when this started but I still go to bed at about the same time (give or take an  hour), but wake up means get up.

Mornings are lovely at that hour: the birds are starting to stir,  and there's more going on in the cool predawn than later, when they all retire to their nests to nap.

The problem comes later, when I think, golly, it must be nearly lunch time, and it turns out that six hours later it's often barely 10 AM.  wow.   I do give in to the Nap, which I have always hated, but it's that or sleep upright at the computer and risk breaking my nose as I lurch forward onto the keyboard.  Not good.

Right now it's just gone 9:30 PM  AM and I've been up nearly 18 hours.  If I was working, I could put in for a full days pay, plus overtime,  if I got paid.  If I was here, I'd be home now.  =)

With the new camera.  This is Toby drinking, yes, from a 5 gallon pail by the bathroom door. He prefers it. If it gets too low in the bucket he actually climbs up on it and blanaces like a spider monkey to swurp swurp swurp until he's satisfied.  If you look at the top of the bucket you can just make out his ears.  It isn't as if we don't have water elsewhere, I have bowls in nearly every room, but this is the one he Wants.
And this is why we have one strict rule.  Always put the toilet seat DOWN. 

This is Toby for his official portrait. Not sure he likes the camera, but at least he let me take the picture...

Cats and kings and other things

we'll come out of this eventually;  diminished in some ways,  uplifted in others.  There will be less of us, and perhaps the loudest deniers will have gone the way of most skeptics.  One can only hope.  Some people seem to thrive on denial of anything they can't see or touch or smell, and yet those are the very ones who try to connect with the god of their choosing.   

It doesnt have to make sense, it just is.

And a cat picture. Of course.  He likes it up there on the kitchen roof, the view is better,  he said. 

Keep safe, wear the damn mask.  We're all we've got.

New Camera

The zoom on this thing is amazing:  the phoebe was a good 40 feet away on a branch  I may get over this, but not anytime soon, I suspect

                                                        

                                                                 Phoebe  (telephoto)

small as yet unidentified moth

the road not taken =)

the ledges (which are now more tree than ledge)

Addendum to phone phobia

Addendum:  years ago, quite by accident, I discovered a way to get directly to the place you want to be when calling a big company.  Usually you're put on hold and they play ugly music at you, for an interminable length of time.  You press 1 for billing, 2 for customer service, 3 to speak to a rep (never do this one), 4 because your house is on fire,   on and on and on...  

One day I got annoyed by the wait for "customer service", so I hit 'billing'.  Immediately the phone was picked up by a real person!   I mean, that makes sense. who calls billing?   "can I help you?" she asked. "Oh, Im so sorry I must have hit the wrong key, I was looking for customer service..."  "no problem, let me patch you through..." 

and there I was.  

I suggested this to a friend who was fussing about the same thing, she finally tried it, and said, this works like a charm...

It may not work these days, since so many things are now voice automated, but it's surely worth a try...

phone-phobia

It's one of those things that makes no sense. I LOVE getting phone calls, but I hate making them. Especially the ones that need to be exact, as in, "press 1 for business, 2 for accounting, 3 for armed guards..." well, you get the picture. 

Our bank cards  came due this month, and we had to renew them. Easy, right?  It has taken me three weeks to gather the cards, the info, and my courage, just to sit down and use a phone.  I'm always afraid at some point the Nice-Lady Recording at the other end will say, "we're sorry, we have no record concerning the card number you gave us. Please hang up and try again." click.

later. much later.

yay. I got it right.  It's ridiculous to be that edgy, but  when it comes to phones and debit cards and press this for that and it's all  a recording, well, just shoot me now.  I told my husband when he got home, and he said he had the same concerns when he did his.   We gettin' old.  All this newfangled computer stuff, it ain't natural. 

How is everyone holding up with the Covid thing?  I've been home for three months, Im just afraid i'll have to learn how to drive all over again.   

Sometimes...

Went downstairs a little while ago, and I could hear this flapflapflapflap buzzy noise, very faintly in the corner of one kitchen window.   And there was a pretty little pure white moth, fuzzy and new, little wings just buzzing away, trying to fly.

So.
I picked it up, and it spent two or three minutes propelling itself up the back of my hand and down, and every minute  you could see it getting stronger. It even flang itself into the air and landed on the porch floor,  flapflapflapflap,  and I'd pick it up again.  Did that three or four times and finally gave a hop and took off into the sky.

Oh, the joy of flight.  Happy happy moth. flapflapflapflap...

And a sparrow came along, swooped down, and that was the end of that. 

Sigh.

stimulus checks

Stimulus Checks--what a strange world it is

ours arrived yesterday, and my little private account (what I consider my 'slush fund') is about to be graced with what to me is a vast amount of money.  Im not even sure why we have one, but I am not going to turn it down, no indeed.

Oh, the places you can go. the plans you can make, the trips you can take and never spend a cent.

Happy Birthday, Toby

This was Toby when we first got him,  9 years ago last month.  He was about 2, and he's much leaner than he was--at that time he had spent most of his days  huddled in a shelter,  not moving, terrified. As they told me then, without details, 'he'd been brought back" which I think is careful Shelter Speak for two former homes, and they obviously didn't hold out much hope for him, OR his bonded friend Sammy.  I took them both.  They spent a LOT of time huddled together, protecting each other from the dreaded humans. 

Sammy, I think, like a lot of foster kids, ran away from the good (but unfamiliar) home to find  to the one he knew. He came back after three days,  wet and hungry and slightly chastened...but a few months later he disappeared for good. 

But now Toby is lean and fast, he gallops everywhere and has learned to get our attention by sitting just like this, but staring hard at us.  I get that look in the morning and reach for the catfood.  My husband gets that look at 10 PM every night, and he realizes it's time for bed, and Toby Wants His Chair.   And finally he's beginning to let me pat him.  Having a new buddy helps.  He and Charlie are now best buds, Charlie grooms him, and in return Toby lets him.

He also has a finely honed skill as mouser.  Two winters ago he managed to track down and finish off at least 2 dozen mice, no mean feat, but this was his forte. 

This was his first mouse, 9 years ago.  He ran out, caught a mouse, and that was that.  No fuss, no bother.  We haven't had even a glimmer of mouse in here for two winters. In an old house, that's pretty good.  And like a good cat, what he doesn't eat he leaves on my husband's side of the bed.  Goood kitty.

It's always nice to have a friend to share quiet time...

Ruminations

We are, like the rest of the country, self- quarantining;  I have no problem with that, I've always been perfectly content to stay home, putter, read, nap, work through whatever 'thing' it is I'm doing at the moment.  I do wish the Mr. were more into cards, board games, whatever; I grew up in a family of game players, and thank god for the internet or I'd be going mad right now.

We haven't officially closed off venturing out, he goes out once or twice a week to fill in the gaps in the food department, but I see that dropping fairly soon, since NH is now beginning to see the dubious return of the spring break kids, and the even scarier return of spring skiing people and all those older people who have second homes in Florida.

This too, will pass.  I think we'll have lost some friends, some companions and families,  and  definitely more than a few jobs.  In a way, in a terrible way,  this is like being washed on an old fashioned scrub board.   I doubt if we will ever again take for granted the freedom of walking to the grocery store, or spending time in a park, or talking to your best friend over a chess game.

The streets have all blown clean by now.  Wind sweeps through the cities without a soul to slow it.
The air is cleaner, judging by the photos.  It won't last, but it's good to know it's self cleaning...

It snowed here last night, a good two inches.  And again this afternoon. But I notice the lilac bush is budding out, tiny bits of leaves.  Seasons don't wait.

Sounds of Silence

Sorry I haven't been around much, I think I may have run down.  Old batteries, you know.
This seems appropriate on way too many levels,  and it's just stunning.

Sounds of Silence like you've never heard it before.

From last night, Heather Cox Richardson:

Those of you who follow her have seen this:  those of you who haven't, will appreciate it:

Heather Cox Richardson:

This pandemic, and the accompanying economic downturn, are a turning point. Just as Americans have done in other crises in our history, we are rediscovering that our greatest strength is not in how rich and powerful we can make a few, but rather in all of us, working together.

I point this out, because I noticed this a few days ago,  a LOT of voluntary closing of places that could cause problems later on, if not now.  A realization that if we wait for Big Government to do anything, it could be a very long wait indeed.  It occurred to me then that we were doing exactly what should be done, without asking for help that might not come for months.  We may make it, after all. 

Woodcock, starlings, and snow. All the signs of spring.

Opened the door last night after sunset, and I heard the woodcock performing his terrifying mating ritual. First time in several years that I've heard it, that determined nasal "peent peent peent" and then the wings whistling as he goes into a divebomb straight toward the ground, pulling up at the last moment.  All in the hopes of impressing the girls.  (sound familiar?)

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

sometimes in summer if I'm walking in the fields one will whir up almost under my feet,  scaring the daylights out of me, and if he had been still, I'd never have known he was there. 

This afternoon I went out to let the cat out, and heard the starlings in the woods behind the house.  In all the time we've been there we've seen migrations away, but never back, so this was a treat. 

Annnd in a day or two, we're supposed to get more snow. Of course we are.

This: for what it's worth...

I had a nasty feeling about this yesterday, and it looks like Im not the only one:  It's a mouth swab with a q-tip.  Nothing more invasive, and listening to this it sounds like they extracted bodily fluids or drew blood.   Notice the way he waves it away.
Which means either a) he never had it, b)he had it and tested positive, or c) the results aren't back yet. my money is on (b.  He's been way too physical with entirely too many people this past week.  (shudder)

Asked what it was like to take the test, Trump says, "Not, not uh - something I want to do everyday...you know, it's a little bit of a -- it's a little bit of -- good doctors in the White House, but it's a test. It's a test. It's a medical test. Nothing pleasant about it."

Live long enough, you learn how to do stuff

This is nothing new, I know, but it's the first time
I've ever brined chicken and baked it.  We had just
about given up on chicken, since his teeth don't work
so good no more,  but he brought home three
wonderful looking chicken breasts (the man is becoming
a shopper. Scary, lol.)  and I thought, the least I can do
is try. 
This time I brined them, and my god were they good.

why doesn't someone TELL me these things...!

He's using cents off coupons, he's reading labels, at least
if something happens to me he can buy stuff if not cook it.
I may introduce him to the magic of hard boiled eggs.

Updates

The magical mystical loom is still there, and I am learning, the hard way, what works and what doesn't.  It's been warped, and been tied up and retied at least a skillion times, one of the harnesses' leather snapped, and now I know how to fix those,  then I had to understand about 'over' and 'under' and in weaving the only 'under' is in 'understand'.  Everything else is threaded, warped, and woven "over".

We learn, but it's painful.

Spring isn't here  yet, but it thinks it is.  I went out on the porch earlier and inhaled several times, listened to the beef animals at the next farm mooing and moaning, and all the local dogs celebrating whatever it is dogs celebrate.  This kind of weather makes me want to rush out with a spading fork and bulbs and dig holes, plant the bulbs, and start a garden again.  That's assuming I can hack through the permafrost first.

No.

The minute I show up with a spading fork the heavens will open up and bury us all in a blizzard. 

Opened the attic door this morning to give the cats a new play place for a few days, and they've been running themselves ragged, down the front stairs, up the back stairs, a quick turn and up the attic stairs, and the loose floor boards up there make it sound like hooved animals are up there tap dancing. Neither of them have been able to figure out the door flap I put in the wall for cats, and they sit there, pawing at it, and whining.  When you open it for them they back away, horrified.

Got a nice call from the people who handled our property easement,  wanting to know if we would still be available for the 20th anniversary dinner.  They even said they would waive the $100 dollar fee for the dinner because we were the first people they conserved.  I swallowed and said, no,  as much as we appreciate the offer, we just don't want to deal with crowds;  the virus, you know.  I suspect they are finding many older people are backing out, too.  Sadly.

------
edit:  the easement people (MMRG) has canceled the anniversary dinner. Thank heaven.   It may have been lack of people willing to risk life and limb, or their own fears about a group like that, or a combination of both.  Maybe next year, a 21st anniversary instead.  Sometimes wisdom rears its ugly head.  =)

Turning the corner toward spring

Spring ahead, tonight.  Yay us.  We made it through whatever it was we had all winter...

I now have a living breathing excuse to not go to the family Easter 'do",  the CDC has issued a warning (which is tantamount to a proclamation) that the elderly (which they consider to be 60 and over) need to take special care, since we are fragile and frail and, er, elderly.  We should stay home if possible, avoid gatherings,  crowds, and stores.

My husband, who just turned 76, is a bit annoyed by that designation.  I will be 75 in about 6 months, and Im planning to be a bit annoyed too.  What about those people who work??  They can't pass on maternity leave, maybe their companys will give them Elder Leave...?

spring in 13 words

Maple buds

March

a woodpecker drums

deep in the woods

and the sap

begins to rise

http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/

Color me...

1. out of the blue
2. tie a yellow ribbon
3. green with envy
4. orange julius
5. yellow fever
6. black-eyed susan
7. purple haze
8. white heat
9. brown study
10. seeing red
11. pink eye
12. The Man in Grey
13. Rainbow Connection

http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/

And the light at the end of the tunnel...

isn't necessarily a  way out, but is often a flame thrower.  As Terry Pratchett was fond of reminding us.

I used to think that growing old and reasonably healthy was a prize to be aimed for, and valued.

In the past week, after reading the shenanigans in DC and our apparent future as a new soviet satellite, I begin to wonder what prize that might be.   I do now understand what that smile on
Putin's face means, the one you see it all his publicity-with-the-president photos, and I think it's exultation.   He has found his perfect puppet, one who is too damaged to see the strings, and the puppeteer.

I also wonder at those people who cheer. 

I think all anyone of us can do, at this point, is vote our hearts and our heads,  and hope.


I am also busy re-learning a weaving loom (film at 11, but not yet) and it is both enlightening and disturbing, how much I have utterly forgotten, and how much  memory muscle is involved.  It really does become a meditation, on many things, including the act and art of weaving, and the satisfaction you get from it.

 This house has part of an old ( REALLY old) 12 harness loom, up in the attic, in pieces. i have the 12 harnesses, and some of the remnants of the loom, but the rest is gone. Possibly for firewood, or shoring up a shed long after the original weaver died.  One of the longer pieces, the cloth beam, perhaps, is too long to get out of the attic, and i finally realized this machine was taken down every winter and stored in this attic, and in the spring it was moved into the shed attic, through a very small connecting door at the north end.  It gave her room to card, to spin, to weave, and possibly store her projects over winter.   Judging from the pieces I have here, it was a huge, huge loom.

Oh, yes. Eat first. Have your coffee...

Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American

T13 Letter play

1.lounging
2. lunging
3. plunging
4. plugging
5. slugging
6. slogging
7. flogging
8. logging
9. lugging
10. hugging
11. bugging
12. bagging
13. bragging



http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/

Heather Cox Richardson (to cheer you) (not)

heathercoxrichardson.

Must read ( Heather Cox Richardson)

Long, but necessary, I think--started reading this, and suddenly realized I had read the whole thing...


heather cox richardson

The Magic Phrase Part II

Today I got a call from a nearly incoherent Indian man,  to remind me that  my 'delivery' was about to arrive and they hadn't recieved my payment yet.   Then I remembered that a few weeks ago someone who might well have been this same incoherent Indian man had called to let me know that my Clearing House delivery (o boy o boy color me excited) was arriving soon and they wanted to know if I would be home to accept it, and a small fee for the delivery would be in order now.

At that time we got into an argument about such things and I finally hung up. 

This time I may have found the magic words. I suggest that anyone who gets one of these calls, try it, it works a treat.  "I'm sorry, but we're on a do not call list and you shouldn't be calling here"  click.

I used it yesterday when manly-voiced Joe (or Pete or Frank) called on behalf on the State Fire Marshalls, wanting a donation.  click.

They don't argue.  In the case of the incoherent Indian man, he may be just versed in english enough to think HE has been put on a do not call list and who am I to dissuade him...

Year in review, back-country style

What a strange trip this has been

January and March
two ambulance rides,  one kidney stone/kidney removed.  My husband learned just how much to-ing and fro-ing is involved with running three wood stoves in below zero weather.   He got up a LOT, every two hours every night, whilst I idled my way through surgery and recovery armed only with one book, which I read three times.

February, March
it snowed a lot. It snowed a lot more and got colder.   When I came home Charlie was most solicitous of me, and was careful not to sleep on my stitches. I was most impressed by that.

June to November
Had the kitchen chimney lined,  and 6 cords of wood delivered. We cut and split and threw and stacked a bit every day.  I kept hoping I might lose a pound or two. Nooo. Not gonna happen...a neighbor last year had found a felled tree that straddled his property and ours, and he didn't want to deal with that much tree, so he said he'd help my husband buck it up and let him have the wood, as payment for getting it out of the way.  Which he did.  Nice rock maple that had outlived itself, and we're using it now for heat.

July, August, September
Got rid of the piano. it took an engine hoist and a chain saw, but we got it moved outside and dispersed. (to be gentle about it) Moved some furniture upstairs, and some into ever changing patterns, some of them right out into the car to the salvation army and some magically became kindling. You can never have too  much kindling, nossir.

July, August
 He decided we were about to be the dubious parents of an oil burner and a buncha radiators.  My job to move all the furniture into the middle of the rooms, and no I was not happy about that.  And as he said, since we have the walls cleared, why don't we get some wall board and put up decent looking walls. So I got out my plaster removal kit (one butter knife, a spatula, a hammer,  and a flat bladed screwdriver).  He also let me help him pick up  the wallboard at Home Depot, and then unload it when we got home.  I don't need a fitness trainer, I have a husband who Builds Things.

July
He replaced the water tank and pump, which were well overdue to be replaced.  The 30 gallon hot water heater in the bathroom sprang a leak, so that had to be replaced, too.  Damn didn't we get good at hauling things up and down stairs...


August, September
The radiator people came. They wired and soldered and clanged and complained loudly, and at the end of five days we had 8 new radiators hooked up.  I have no idea how to operate them, at this point, but they do work.  We still use the wood, but I no longer feel the towering need to get up every night and stuff the stoves like a mother bird with her babies, open wide, look at what mama has for you...

October to December
I started on new curtains for the bedroom windows (four) and one for the front hall. Amazing how much cold that keeps back.  We brought the small 36" weaving loom down into the parlor, and at some point I'll run out of excuses and dig into remembering how it works.  It's been awhile.

I also did a bit of sorting as to fabric, and was stunned to discover just how much I really have.  Much if it can be repurposed into things like dustcloths (old flannel sheets are perfect for that), or  potholders (former denim jeans, cut in squares,  folded over and stitched work a treat), and I still have one room upstairs to put curtains to, when it gets warmer.

We survived Christmas, and now it's next year, the days are getting longer,  which is strangely comforting.  Some things can be depended upon, no matter what else happens. 

If you've never seen this...

Heather Cox Richardson

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-24-2020?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cta

The Definite Maybe T13

(13 ways to say no to a four year old)

1. soon

2. not yet

3.  not always

4.  hardly ever

5.  probably

6.  possibly

7.  we'll see

8.  maybe, maybe not

9.  if it doesn't rain

10.  when the tide goes out

11.  not until tomorrow

12.  after the mailman comes

13.  ask your father

http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/

I love old age. I get to be cranky

It would seem that the world of scams and hands-across-the-table has discovered that we're old.  And as they know, older people tend to trust more (except for the ones that don't), and are more easily taken in by scammers.  Except for the ones that don't.  So far this week I've fielded calls from insurance companies (for the car I no longer own) and for the policy I don't want and for the healthcare Im not interested in, plus a LOVELY man with a charming Jamaican accent this morning, who wanted to know why I hadn't responded to their inquiries about the Publishers Clearing house contest I won.  I said no, I never look at that stuff, and I throw it away.  He wanted to argue, so I hung up.

From now on, anyone with an Indian accent, or Jamaican, or any other accent will learn, to their sorrow, that she moved away months ago, or never existed, or died, poor dear, a year ago."Her?  That one?  Honey, she dead, she died MONTHS ago, so you just stop calling here, okayyy..."

We are still getting requests to visit our coastal version of  Shady Pines for the Rich and Elderly, gated community (which always puts me in mind of big clangy white gates that slam shut at dark, and you get to sleep outside in your car if you get home late...) and golf course included...

And the burial insurance. Oh, I love that one.  Or the life insurance for the elderly, no medical exam needed, at this age it's a tossup which of us will be burying the other, anyway.

I told my husband,  if you hear me telling people I'm dead, pay it no mind.  It's just my way.

A Just for Fun Story

GOODWILL

She reached into the rack of used jackets, finding a nice suede one that looked as if it would fit.   Slipping it on, she heard someone say, "Well, you know I never liked that color on you, but it's a nice fabric".  Turning, she saw an older couple in the next  aisle, smiled when they glanced over at her, and turned back to the jackets.

Next she tried on a corduroy pinwale, noticed a button was missing, but the price was good and the fit--"Michael, do you like this?" The voice was close, and high, obviously a young woman's, but when she turned to look, only the older couple were there.  Mentally shrugging, she removed the coat, but not before she heard someone say, "Oh, Mike,  not HERE"...and a giggle.

Good lord, she thought. What are they letting in off the streets these days!   She went back to the suede, tried it on again, and heard, close at hand, sobbing.  On and on, so loud

she was certain other people must have noticed it too.  She walked around the end of the row to comfort or at least confront the person, but the only one there was a very small Japanese woman, obviously nowhere near tears. She smiled,  Anne smiled. 

oh dear, she thought.

Taking off the jacket once more, the sobbing stopped.  Farther down she came to a rack of women's winter coats.  Taking a mid length soft fur coat  off the hanger she draped it over her shoulders.  Startled, she took it off, hung it back up, and moved away.  "Oh, baby you look so GOOD" a male voice had purred in her ear.

Suddenly she grabbed a hat, put it on.  A child's voice called.  Wrapped a scarf around her neck, and she heard a fire engine.  The child, calling for its mother, the fire engine wailing.   Gloves?   The right hand began arguing with the left hand.   Now that coat again, with the male voice in it.  Still purring.  Occasionally moaning.   She started to giggle, then realized the clerks were watching her in her headlong dash down the aisle, trying on sweaters, hats, boots.  Drunk, their faces said. Or shoplifting. Watch This One.

Slowly she removed the little boy, and put the hat back on the shelf.  Took off the arguing gloves, returned them to the glove bin.  The scarf, still wailing, went back among the other scarves.   Regretfully she returned the coat, still murmuring,  to its proper place..  Half way down the aisle she turned, went back, and retrieved the coat.  "Eighteen dollars", the counter clerk said firmly. "no checks.".  She handed the woman the money, put the coat on, and left the store, smiling. 

Christmas recap (YAY, we lived through another one)

 

We survived another Christmas with enough relatives (all his) to populate a football team, but the wonder holds:  even with six little kids galloping about (the oldest is about 8, the youngest is 3), everyone seems to get along extremely well.  No sulks in the corner, no grumbling,  no fussyness.

The kids have now progressed enough to be interested in 'group games' and play them with a great deal of shouting, but no howling. Major diff, there.  It's fun to watch them change from infants into kids, one holiday at a time.  The youngest one marched right up to me and gave me the best knee hug (well, he's only three, he's still pretty short) I have ever had, with  a great grin on his face.  He's the Happy Kid,  loves to laugh, and I suspect he will be the future 'good guy' in school. 

There are three layers: Grandparents, parents, and kids.  All even spaced as to age, so none of one group is stuck in neverland, not really fitting in anywhere.   I think that helps.    I realize that now we are the oldest in the bunch, by several years, and if we had had kids,  they would be too old and too young for anyone there. That's a hard place to be in. And they would have had kids who suffered the same strange dichotomy. 

It's always a fun day,  if exhausting, and even though all we did was eat and visit, today I am barely up to anything, beyond coffee and filling the woodboxes. (Maybe it's time to give up the idea of 'someday' having one last Christmas here.) 

Happy Solstice =)

WINTER SOLSTICE

At any time of the year

you measure the dimensions of the sky

one constellation at a time

give it  perspective in terms

that you can understand

but at this darkest point

the nadir of the calendar

stars become much more

than pinpoints on a chart

sometimes it's all you have to steer by

and you begin to weary of the darkness

there is so much of it

Having lost the light

you announce yourself with candles

in every window

drape strings of icicles

from  eave to  eave

calling softly into the winter sky

over here over here

imaginary garden with real toads

bamboo

remember the sundial, lady,

keeping relentless time

precise in its circuit

of the garden, season by season

year by year

and the stones: lady, remember

how the stones looked then

when you held them to the light

now all that remains is memory

like feathers drifting

between the yellow daisies;

becoming Queen Anne's Lace;

a waterfall of leaves:

at rest at last

amongst the wild geraniums

http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/

this and that T13

1. plaster staple

2. triplet splitter

3.  stupid pundits

4.  careful carful

5.  bacon carbon (who cares, it's bacon...)

6.  crane dancer

7. dawn  drawn warden wanders

8.  manger garment argument (you know  how touchy manger directors are)

9.  postal portals

10. stapled pleats

11. lower slower bowlers

12. german manager

13. ingrate creating carpeting

http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/

More curtain talk

Addendum: 
I was getting ready to sort all the fabric this house seems to have spawned,  and found two pair(s)? of curtains I made years ago and for some reason took down, never  put them back.  When the weather gets warmer (read: next spring) I need to go through all the bureaus and all the storage trunks and see just what it is I DO have. 

One thing with a large house, generous relatives (I don't want this fabric/yarn/thread, can  you use it) and a slowly changing  memory,  every drawer, every closet is an adventure and a surprise.  =)  I'm just thankful I never got the Yard Sale Bug.  My mother-in-law used to go with her sister every weekend, and she had a passion for lamps.  Not fancy, necessarily, just Lamps.  I now have about a dozen of those in the attic, waiting for Tables to Put Them On.  (those are up there too, btw)

I can remember when I made those curtains,  it was not long after we had moved in here, and my MIL had given me HER mother-in-law's Singer Sewing machine, that dates back to the 1887.  This house needed curtains, so I went out and bought almost an entire roll of unbleached muslin, then sat down and learned how to use the hemmer and the ruffler.  I must have made 80 yards or more of ruffles, and then attached them with the hemmer.  In looking at the 2 pair I have here from back then, I did a much better job than I can remember doing.

And I just noticed the time.  It's ten days to Christmas.  I've got to start paying better attention,  I'm afraid if I blink it will be June...

The lazy cheapskate (stuff you probably already know but I needed a subject)

1. With care and planning, you can get four sets of curtains for 6-over-6 windows (approx. 36" long) with decent fullness and length, plus valences, from one set of full  bed sheets.  Fitted works better, there's more material in the bottom sheet to accomodate the elastic, and considering the  cost of material...

2.  Shampoo and cream rinse contain carnauba wax, which is safe to use, heck, its even in chocolate, it's used in car waxes, foods, and hair care products because it makes stuff shinnnneeeyyy...but it's a lot kinder on porcelain and shower stalls, and if you put a blob on a sponge you can wash an entire car with it by swirling it around, gently, and then hosing down the car.  No rubbing/buffing involved. And no streaking.  It also removes that high-tide water line on bathtubs.  Great way to use up shampoo that you got and never liked.  Works on kitchen appliances too.

3.  Put a little vinegar in the water you're going to hardboil eggs in, and start the eggs in cold water, let them heat up as the water does.  Vinegar softens the shells so you can often slip most of it off the cooked eggs easily.  Only for about fifteen minutes. Longer than that and the yolk gets greenish.

4.  When you tie shoelaces, usually they skew to north and south rather than side to side.  If you make the last loop 'backwards'  they'll lie flat against the top of the shoe.

5.  House brands.  Most of them are exactly the same quality as the advertised brands, but way cheaper. Bleach,  vinegar, lemon juice, salt, baking soda, even  flour and sugar.  And sea salt is just salt with a huge price tag. Salt is salt.

6. Coffee.  Really.  Someone put me on to this one, and he was right.  As with a lot of other products, branded coffee is the same across the board. The only thing that changes is the label and the price. (Maxwell House cheats on its labeling, selling three different amounts in identically sized containers, all at the same price. ) The only difference is the teeny weight symbol at the bottom.  And house brands use plain coated cardboard containers, no ads, and are sometimes half the price of the fancy brands.  I love coffee, and cannot tell the difference.

7.  Jumbo sized standard foods like cereal, peanut butter, ketchup, and sometimes detergent.  Check the /per oz. label on the shelves.  We were taught as kids that the giant economy size was the one to buy.  Some years ago manufacturers realized that people bought this stuff on autopilot, and began changing their prices to reflect that.  If you  compare sizes, you'll find that the medium size of anything that also comes in jumbo is often cheaper-per-oz than the extra large.

8.  Paper towel products are a minefield.  Read for content on the label.  "squeezably soft" does not mean the product is soft, it means they have air  incoporated into the rolling process, so that you get big fluffy looking paper towels and toilet paper, but lots and lots of big fluffy air as well.  Sheet count is way more important.

9.  repurpose your knitted goods. Unravel the sweater you hate, wash the yarn, and make mittens with it.  Or socks, if you're so inclined.

10.  Those wonderfully huge lawn leaf bags can be used for more than just leaves, and they last, with care, forever.  If they get wet, they dry out quickly.  Great for kids' forts and paperbag games for cats.  Excellent for storing fabric or yarn, or even extra clothing.

11.  Neither of us likes the end pieces of store bread, so I let them dry up a bit and store them whole  in a plastic bag in the freezer.  When the recipe calls for bread  crumbs, take out what you need, let them dry out in the oven, and crumble them.  They still taste fresh, and you never have to actually buy any.

12.  Old socks. I use one as a duster, slip my hand in it and dust away.  I  prefer to go barefoot in the house, but in winter the floors are cold,  and use a pair of my husband's old socks, with the ribbing cut down to just above the ankle line.  The cut-off ankle pieces I use as wristlets  when I go outside to shovel. keeps the cold from whooshing up my arms.  And one is of them is perfect for my right wrist, I have a bone spur there that makes using the computer mouse unpleasant. This is just enough to relieve that.

13.  If you have water-based color pens (not gel or alcohol based, this doesn't work on them) and they start to dry up, take off the end of the tube (sometimes you need pliers, but you can see where it joins up), and with an eye dropper put in water, one drop at a time.  When the felt begins to look wet, replace the top of the pen and cap, and let them set for a few minutes or longer.  You can stretch the life of most water based pens like this almost indefinitely.

http://newthursday13.blogspot.com/

The good news is...

in about three weeks the days will be getting longer.  Inch by inch, day by day,  we will begin the long slow journey back into light and possibly warmth.  I remember warmth.   No comments necessary, just nod and smile happily. Wistfully.

well my goodness

just did some terrifying things in google  and came back here and thought, hey this looks different.
It seems that, at least for now,  we are in business. 

That is one happy hornet, I'll tell ya.

Sadly,...

well I can see your stuff, and bring it into the blog, but Google refuses to let me sign in with anything, and it does appear that I am whipped.
Ark, I have a blog at Blogger, but Im terrified to open it.  I just don't have the patience or the ability to futz with it any longer. 

Trouble is (this is whinging) I am so invested in Google at this point it tends to take over every thing.
Flick'r used to be Flick'r. Then it became Yahoo and then Yahoo became part of Google (aha, she says) and it does seem that no matter where one goes, Google is right there with those  big hairy hands, waiting. 

In any case, I appreciate the support, and the time spent here.  Maybe magically the whole thing will get over itself at some point (although I doubt that).  And I do have an email out there in my profile...

dese dem and dose

okay, so here's the deal.  For now, I can make new posts, and you can read them. And comment.

This is awkward,  and if no one minds comments without responses from me, then I'm cool with that. Or I can just comment in a new post. 

Sigh.

I would like to start a new blog, if I can close this one off from rogue posters and actually use a for real password.  I don't want it to turn into Vandal City, by any means.  I have about 9 years of stuff here, and I'd hate to lose it.    Lotta ego there, maybe, but it's like writing the world's longest book, and then seeing it go down (or is that up) in flames. 

if/when I do start a new one, I'll post the announcement here. oh, aren't we all excited, lol.

new post

lets see if this works

To everyone who is responding

It seems that not a lot is getting through,  although Im grateful for the sympathy:  I may just have to junk this whole thing and start over, something I do NOT want to do, after 10 years of stuff. 

I contacted Blogger and I was told this sounded like something that happened last spring (which it does not), and I should go reread that and see if that's the problem (which it is not) and that was the stellar advice I got from the four star help over there.   I have Chrome on this now, and I surely wish I didn't, it seems to cause more grief than not, but it somehow insinuated itself into nearly every program I have, sort of like the stray cat that you wake to find sleeping peacefully on the bed at your feet. 

Chrome is even less helpful as far as trouble shooting goes.

Anything else, I wouldn't mind, but I just can't respond directly to comments, I have no idea why.  So, we do this.

N.ayisha, if I can, I'll post photos of the loom when I get it set up.  This is a 36" 4 harness loom, collapsible for (ho ho ho) easy traveling (if you have stevedore blood) and storage.  What I love about it, you can fold it up with stuff still in it, unfinished, and drag the thing away to a corner.   And it's an amazing way to use up all that accumulated yarn and such.   I really think a nice coverlet blanket thing would work well.  I could back it with a patchwork quilt made to size,  and have it do double duty. 

Right now I'm doing curtains for the upstairs, from a set of cotton sheets that are no longer fitted sheets, but are also neutral enough to work well at the windows. 

I hate to admit it, but the radiators are working exactly the way we(I) hoped.  He has the thermostat set for 62 deg. and when the temps in here drop to 62 or so, the furnace comes on, and voila, you wake up in the morning to dead stoves but a decently warm room.  Considering it was 9 above this morning, and 2 above the morning before...

problems in blogger land /waving at Boud

It would appear that somewhere between here and there my password, sign in and whatever else google can dream up to mess with, has hit the fan.

I can  post, but I can't respond in the proper comment box.  Google is giving me three choices, none of which work.

This is not a good thing, here.

I posted this to Boud, and it won't take there, so I'll post it here.


"Im thinking of a nice easy straight stretch, maybe a blanketty thing, depending on what I have for yarn. 

My former loom is a big old barn loom, this is a nice 36" collapsible one.  The cats really don't pay a lot of attention to it, and if I can close it up between bouts, all the better. "

Thoughts on weaving looms and oil burners

For the first time in 43 years, tonight we let the woodstoves go out and turned on our new  oil burner.  It seems to be working.

My husband, the mechanical engineer, is down there right now with little digital  thermometers,  assessing and testing and generally having entirely too much fun. When it first went on, it really sounded as if the spaceship engines had been lit and we would be whisked off into outer space.

It may happen yet.

After this 24 hour test I hope it doesn't come on again until much colder weather, my fingers are itching to start up the stoves RIGHT NOW.  Habits die  hard. Also brought the weaving loom down from the front room,  now that we will have a place to keep it.  It belonged to a weaver friend of mine, and when she broke up housekeeping she sold it to me.  It's a reasonably small collapsible one, 36",  and I'm waiting for some long winter days to get it moving.  It's been years since I've used a loom, it'll be like starting from scratch again.

It was time

A week or so ago my husband came home to tell me that the brakes had failed on his mother's (his,now) old car, and he would have to fix them.  But the deeper he dug, the worse it looked.

The car is 15 years old, and well past the due date as far as  something called the timing belt, which, it turns out, is rubber and whether you drive it or not, after 7 years it needs to be replaced, rubber being one of those things that goes pearshaped with no help from humans.  

So...

The last new car we  had was mine, in Y2K, and that died a year ago.  

So...

Go, Honda.  In order to escape the dreaded "black silver grey white" syndrome we had to get the next model up, and Im not disappointed.  Innit shiny?

And as we were leaving to pick up the car,  this happened:  thousands of starlings, all taking flight at once,  with the most wonderful flapping of wings and calling to one another.  I call that a good omen.  

I have (and have had for years) two Yahoo accounts with two different names.   This morning I was on one of them and wanted to cross over to the other. Ordinarily one gets a bit shirty if I neglect it for a few days, sort of like two sisters who demand Mother's attention all the time. 

When I went in,  I was asked for a verification code. er. What.  The rest of the response was,  when you sign in to the 'other' account, you will need to give  us the verification code in there to prove that's you.   If I cannot sign in,  I cannot get the code to give you, because it's unreachable.  yes indeed.
 And when I went back to the first site I needed a verification code for that one, too.  Take your foot off the pedal for ten seconds and look what happens.

But now it's okay.   Puts aching head on desk. sobs.

The visit yesterday was fun. we hiked all over hell and beyond, found a couple witch hazel trees,  spent about three hours out there enjoying the weather and the sun.  We have a lot of beech and rock maple and birch, and the woods just glowed with yellow leaves and sunlight.    Annnd my big old fluffly cat, Charlie, decided that my husband's cousin Joyce was safe to be friends with. He got patted, he chirped at her, and I was delighted with all of it.  It's not often he makes an appearance like that.  Maybe he's learning to trust.

excuses excuses

Not a lot write-worthy going on;  we have 'woods walk' company coming Wednesday(weather dependent); I was supposed to go to the dentist today (cleaning, not drilling) but the car died yesterday and the Mr. had to order a part--the brake linings went--and that won't be in for a week, and that was the perfect excuse for me to call up and cancel the dentist.  I have enough to do this week
without losing half of a day in a dentist's chair--and frankly any excuse at this point;  "oh, dear. I have a hangnail, must cancel the dentist" 😉

The house is still reeling from this summer's rearranging, and now it's time to try to find a way to fit stuff in around the damned radiators.  (no, it isn't working.)

If we could only get this glorious weather for Wednesday, but with our luck...

Weather Map Cat

Charlie is becoming my forecaster, long range.

Last winter long about early November, I noticed he was beginning to look sleekly shaggy, a bit blurred around the edges, like an expensive fur coat.  There was a LOT of Charliefur on that cat, and when you patted him, you had to hunt to find cat.  Luxurious was the word.

It was as if he had become the feline equivalent of a woolly bear caterpillar, predicting hard weather ahead of the storms.

We paid for that.

All winter, every day, he shed.  Sadly, he wasn't shedding fast enough to suit himself, and the old fur would get mixed in with the new stuff, and whatever dirt he had rolled on lately, and he became a
mass of furballs, some of them needing to be cut out with scissors.  The rugs were coated in a lovely skim coat of charliefur, the blankets, the couch cover, MY BLACK LEGGINGS,  and I think it's partly what killed the good vacuum halfway through the festivities.

But the weather got cold (zero) in early december and got colder in January (down to -20 some mornings),  and February we hit a warming trend when it zoomed up to maybe -10 and we got all excited and sweaty in our layers.  And Charlie shed, and shed, and shed,  and I combed and combed and brushed and clipped, until one day in May I thought, hey. No more fur lumps.

In august he started shedding a bit, possibly to make room for this year's crop, and I noticed that the rugs were looking a bit fadey because of the nice even layer of fur on them.

Sigh.

Gonna be a tough winter, I can see that.

Patsy Ann New dress

Went shopping at the Salvation Army (my go-to store for odds and ends...)

And I took some time to examine the baby clothes, found a sweet little (3-6 month) dress that fits Patsy Ann, if not perfectly, at least better than the old baby's dress.    =)
..

And her new friends in the front hall.

PatsyAnn

This afternoon I was up in the attic, hunting for some books--I was also rummaging around to see what I might have stored in an old bureau up there.  The minute I touched it, I knew what it was:
an old Patsy Ann doll I had when I was a little girl, one that my birth mother gave me that she had had too.  That means it was probably from the mid  1920s.

I was appalled at how dreadful it looked.  The face was cracked, two  of its fingers were gone (this kind of doll was known for leprosy attacks) and one foot had been nibbled by mice. I thought,  why am I keeping this?  And was contemplating a quick cremation in the stove.  It's a composition doll, usually a kind of  coated plaster, and it would have burnt well.

Then I picked her up, and god help us all, her eyes flew open, and I realized, I can't do this.  So now she's downstairs warming by the stove while I think about what I might do to dress her  up a bit.

The hair is something I added years ago, no idea when that happened but it really looks pretty good...

Am I Blue T13

1.  Blue on Blue

2.  Blue Christmas

3.  Devil With a BlueDress On

4.  My Baby Blue

5.  Famous Blue Raincoat

6.  My Blue Heaven

7.  Tangled up in Blue

8.  Subterranean Homesick Blues

9.  Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

10.  Song Sung Blue

11.  lovesick blues

12.  North Country Blues

13. Blue Bayou

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