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Category Archive: Life
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Impossible girl socks
The “Impossible Girl” socks (Pattern by Madeline Gannon) were knit out of the Madelinetosh BFL (Blue faced Leicester) sock yarn. I did not realize until I finished that they are 100% wool without nylon. They may be a bit less sturdy, so I will use them for special instead of everyday. I really enjoyed working with this wool and like the depth of color. And next time I may reinforce the toe and heel with nylon – or maybe not. It is sock yarn and may wear very well.
Farm life is busy
ese
DH went to the gym alone this morning. Beau wanted to go for a car ride, but settled for a good brushing and a treat
When we were through, this office waste basket was full of discarded dog fur and he was happy with his treat of string cheese. And I bet he feels a lot better in this warm weather.
Even mini farm life is busy, and especially so with this beautiful weather we have had. There is always so much to do. And the dogs don’t get brushed often. There are the lambs that need to be halter trained and the stalls that each need cleaning at least twice a week if I want to keep the work doable for me. There is the fencing, and the weeds, thistles, nettles and most of all, we need a garden, blueberries, grapes, raspberries, and an herb garden in addition to the hoop house we have. This year we are moving the garden that has been on the hillside up to a flat area, so that means creating new beds. There are hanging baskets to water and flower bed weeding to do.
These are all extras in addition to the normal feeding and household duties. I have accepted that I cannot do it all without help.
So today, I hired two young men to layout the new garden beds and plant somewhere around 300 potato starts and one hundred onion bulbs. It feels so good to have them in the ground now. Sometime in the next the two weeks, we will plant corn, green beans, and squashes in the rest of this area. They will return to help with the nettle, thistles and weeds on the fence line
While they were doing the new garden area, I was able to get the tomatoes tied up as well as weeding in the hoop house. It should have been done 2-3 weeks ago, but it is done, and now, I need to keep up with it. Already the kale is getting out of control. I picked the parsley and it is time again to pick the peapods and once again, I managed to plant more lettuce than we can eat. But neighbors, chickens, and sheep are always willing to help.
These are called Egyptian walking onions. The little white bulb lets on the end bend down and plant themselves into the soil, thus reseeding themselves over and over. They are a hot onion, so I use them in cooking.
Impossible girl progress
The “Impossible girl” sock progress is slow but steady. The instep is now done and I am on the home run to the toe.
I started to lay out the beds for the potatoes and onions today, when I realized I didn’t have the twine I needed. I went to the hardware store and they directed me to the feed store. At the feed store, I found an employee who told me they don’t keep it out on the floor, only in the back room, until someone asks for it. How do they sell it that way?
So having purchased it, I made my way back home, where I found the sheep migrating (with help) over to the neighbor’s house. They wanted the back yard mowed down. Then the pasture seed arrived and we had a good visit with the people who delivered it.
Now it was suppertime for sheep. They know when suppertime is and as soon as the gate was opened, they were in a mad dash. Look at this lamb who has learned how to jump over the side into the feeder. This is one of my show lambs and I need her to stay relatively clean. The side now has another board on it, so she can’t get over it.
Computer, family and friend troubles
This will be short without photos as my computer is not working again tonight. This will be the third night the Geeksquad will work on it. It works for maybe 10 minutes after they fix it and then quits again.
Family issues: My son-in-law’s brother (age 54) was found dead in bed in the morning. An autopsy is being done, but we have no info yet.
My friend since 5th grade just had open heart surgery and on Monday her husband had to be admitted to a home because of his Parkinson’s and dementia.
On a happy note we and the sheep are all doing fine. I can only hope the computer will send this letter out. I’ll be back as soon as I can.
Busy days
These busy days created a very busy week. Some of the highlights included:
Shopping for us and the dogs.
I was lured by 3 of these lovely hanging baskets.
We looked at the babies with a large marking crayon. A stripe down the back means that this one will be finding a new home. A mark on the head means this one gets to stay here and will be re-evaluated later. Sometimes, it is a difficult decision.
Oops, escapees. It would have been okay earlier in the day, but I don’t enjoy trying to outwit them at the end of the day.
Lasagna and cake for lunch tomorrow.
Gorgeous flowers for my special day from my son’s in-laws.
If you are small enough, your whole head fits into the feeder and you get the prime feed.
It seemed we had an appointment every day. I have most of the winter plants cleaned out of the hoop house now and can put more summer plants in. It’s time to get all the fruit trees fertilized, and get the outside garden ready to plant in another week. It seems the days are just going to get busier for another two weeks. I’m praying for enough energy to get it done. Then I’m hoping it will calm down enough to get back to the studio.
I’m so glad we get a day of rest at the end of each week – Happy Sabbath to each of you.
Interruptions
Interruptions are welcome if one can help a friend. After lunch, I received a text from a friend’s daughter asking if there was anyway I could come up with a service dog scarf in 10 minutes. It needed to be on red fabric and over the dog’s back to easily be seen. It was more like 15 minutes as the sew out was 10 minutes, but it was done and waiting when she arrived. It slides onto the dog’s collar and will be hemmed later. She had to have it to take her dog into an appointment she had. She was delighted and I promised to make her a better one with more time.
The 5 kinds of potatoes are purchased and cut to cure and 3 sets of onions are ready. Now I need to get the stakes for the boxes and get the ground ready this week to get these planted.
Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have gym and that really interrupts my day as I’m out of energy sooner.
Socks and sheep
Socks and sheep – let’s start with the socks. These are the “Impossible Girl” socks. Since I’m a slow knitter, they are just now ready to turn the heel.
These socks are starting to pill quite a bit. The yarn is so soft and comfortable, maybe I should have expected that, but it is sold as sock yarn.
And now the SHEEP
They would be very happy to follow me right into the house, but I squeezed through the gate, leaving them out.
Princess wedding
Our son waited a long time for his princess, but the wait paid off. So I shall bore you with a few family photos today. Tomorrow we will resume regular programming.
Rehearsal dinner
Pre-wedding photo – that is a very long train.
The wedding party
Most of our children are in this photo
The venue was a vineyard high in the Saratoga hills. It was simply gorgeous. I don’t have a cake photo because the winds kicked up and it was so very cold, some of us left after the bride/groom dance. Our prayers are for a long and happy marriage.