Gate and Driveway Snowed In

I want to post these photos before the power goes off again.

I took all these snow photos this morning at 8am.

Too much snow to drive out.

And I forgot to open the gate last night.

Another tree down

and it has smashed the fence

up a bit.

I was up last night

late making myself a cup of hot cocoa

after filling up the wood stove.



Maybe I can post some more later today.

Now I'm off to make buttermilk pancakes.

Low Snow

The snow level is down to around 1500 feet (we are at 3000) and it started snowing fast with large snowflakes so the snow has piled up rather quickly.

The top photo shows the snow after it had been snowing for only a short time.

(Update: It is 12:40 am and there's 12 inches of snow.)
(Kristine didn't make it home.)

After several hours we have a good
8 to 10 inches.

It is still snowing, but will it stop and start to rain?

Maybe, or it could keep snowing...

Questions, questions.

Morgan is drying out.

After I took her for a walk I fixed it so she could stay in the shed while I was carrying feed for the chickens.

Lot of good that did. When I came back she was laying in the snow. Silly girl.



The chickens are fine. Not exactly happy chickens, but they are ok.

Tom is still putting the new toilet together.

The power went off twice, so I'm trying to get this posted before it goes off again. I made stew for dinner. Great stuff on a cold day. Love the wood stove!

5 eggs today
Finding eggs was a surprise.

One Of Those Days Where Things Go South

Go South? Wonder where that saying comes from? But, it works for me as it means that things just haven't been working out right today.

Seems like whatever I try to do just hasn't worked out the way I planned. I should have gone back to bed like I did yesterday.

But I stayed up and moved the furniture which meant the next thing I needed to do was vacuum the floor.

Ok. I can do that. Except the vacuum  choked up, gasp... no sucking of air was happening. To make a long story short... I didn't take a picture of the disgusting stuff I finally got out of the tube. I vacuumed, I washed down the floor, and I dried the floor. The floor was clean.  OK. Good so far.

Next, I laid out the quilt backing and even remembered to place it down with the wrong side up.

  Note to self: never make another quilt back out of squares again. It doesn't lay smoothly and it is going to be a terror to quilt with all those seams. Remember this.

Batting is next... I finally, with a lot of crawling around, got the batting smoothed out over the backing. I was tired of floor work so decided to take a rest and go back and have some fun vacuuming.

When I was vacuuming the bathroom I thought, "Gee, the vinyl looks shiny." Yeah, it was shiny alright... water!

Surprise! So, Tom took the toilet out and then left to go buy a new one. Seems the one we had finally flushed its last flush. Well, at least I don't have to put in the new toilet. I stopped vacuuming. I didn't know what I might find next... and went back to the quilt.

I smoothed out the batting again and laid down the quilt top making sure to have backing fabric evenly spaced around the edges. So far, so good.

Before I started sewing basting stitches through all three layers to hold it together so I could start hand quilting, I thought I should wait and ask Kristine if she was happy with the size of the quilt and the thickness of the batting.

(I tried to buy safety pins to use to pin the layers together, but the quilt store didn't have any... phooey!)

Kristine is happy with the size of the quilt, but the batting is too thin. I thought it was too thin also. Maybe it would do for baby quilts?

The last thing I didn't do worked out.  I spent three days basting the last quilt together. I really wouldn't have wanted to spend time ripping out basting stitches.

So, I took the quilt and batting apart, folded them up, put them away and went back to my computer for some down time. Sigh... I love my computer!

3 eggs today
Rain is forecast for the next 10 days... even snow. Ok, I guess rain is better than a lot of snow?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This puts a smile on my face... enjoy!

Breakfast?

On these cold dreary rainy days I like hot oatmeal with raisins and a hot drink for breakfast to help chase away the wintery blues.

Didn't work this morning though because, after seeing Kristine off to work, checking on the chickens and taking Morgan for a walk, I ate my cereal and went back to bed.

Well, it is dark all day and I guess I'm tired and getting rid of this cold and my sleep switch is confused by not having any sun around. That's my story.

I like my oatmeal with milk (cream if I can get it) and sprinkled with brown sugar. If there is no brown sugar to be found I like maple syrup or honey.

I love this oatmeal even though it takes ten minutes to cook. It is stone ground and has a great texture and flavor. I'm getting hungry looking at the photo.

My favorite hot drink lately is ginger tea. I peel fresh ginger root, chop it up and freeze it so it is always ready when I want to add a few pieces to my cup.  The ginger tea is very simple to make.

Here is what I do:

1. Add about an inch worth of ginger root to the cup.
2. Add juice of one lemon (or how much you want.)
3. Add boiling water.
4. Add honey to taste. 

I guess it is what I would have called hot lemonade with ginger before I read about ginger tea.

I like the peppery taste of ginger and it really does warm me up.

I have been playing around with crocheting trying to remember how to read the directions and how to make the different stitches.

What I really need to do is move the furniture around in my room so I can make a large enough clear space on the floor to lay out the quilt layers and baste them together. I think a lot about moving the furniture, but I haven't come up with the will power yet to get the job done. Tomorrow?

And always at the back of my mind is the whole disaster going on in Japan. Maybe that's why I went to sleep. It was a good way to get away from thinking about the whole terrible mess.

This article (Reuters) or this article (PerthNow) quotes a Russian Chernobyl nuclear clean up specialist, Iouli Andreeve, who does not inspire confidence when it comes to believing news about radiation leaks in Japan and about possible radiation making it to different parts of the world.  Nothing I can do about it, but I sure wish I could get information that didn't sound like double talk.

If those plants really do melt down then everyone is in the radiation stew pot.

I can understand why the powers that be down play the eventualities because what are people supposed to do, where will they go? ... if people panic there will be a bigger disaster. I'm not going to worry. Can't do anything anyway. I think I'll go hang out with the chickens.

No eggs today. The chickens are confused by the dark days and all the rain too...

Rain Came And Keeps On Coming

Rain is forecast everyday up to the 24th (10 day forecast) and then who knows... more rain? I hope there are not too many rain related problems on the mountain because there are already mudslides on the highway. I heard a lot of sirens today.

I took this photo because there is smoke coming out of the chimney. There is something really nice about seeing chimney smoke on a cold rainy day. We don't usually see any smoke because our wood stove burns the smoke up after it gets going nice and hot. The stove smokes when we first light it or add more wood to the fire.

The chickens are not happy with having to stay in their coop and pen even though they are dry they would love to be out tearing through the leaf litter. I really am amazed by all the rain... and maybe snow.

The chickens give me such a look and talking to when I go out to feed them in the morning. It is going to get really soggy around here.


Let us out!

I am drawn to find out more about the earthquake and tsunami. For hours I stay away from the news, but finally give in and check to see what's happening. I guess my own experience with a large earthquake, becoming homeless, and perhaps not ever really getting over the disorienting scary experience has left me prey to having to find out the latest news.

Anyway, I'm posting a link to some before and after photos of the coast

 There is a 2nd page.

ABC News - Before and After Photos

I wish I had been blogging in 1989. I could have put together some interesting stuff to post . Wish I could get those images out of my head and digitize them. Maybe someone will come up with a great invention in the future that will enable us to capture our memories and save or print them. I've always thought that if someone can think it up, then there will be someone/s who will be able to figure out how to do it.

 The rain was very heavy last night. We don't often get that loud pounding rain. It will be interesting to see if we actually get more snow toward the end of the week.

3 eggs today 

Rain, Rain, Rain

Kristine filled the wheelbarrow and used her muscle power to get it on the porch and parked by the slider near the wood stove.

I decided to bring in a load of firewood in the wagon and park it in the entry way for easy access during the rains the next four days or so. The wood looks like it is holding out fairly well. So, unless we get a lot more snow we should have enough to make it through to some warm weather.

I get my news off the computer and found:
Upstream has a live broadcast for news about what is happening in Japan in English or translated.
Kyodo News has up to date news.

Watching brings back the 1989 quake and living in a field and that disorienting feeling of not knowing and not having a place/home anymore. It took us ten years to get back to where we were before the earthquake. I think it could take a lifetime for the cities to be rebuilt. I try not to check too often. So heartbreaking.

6 eggs today - the hens are fine and dry

Solid Chicken Mug Rug

I like the chicken made with red fabric better than having several different patterns and colors.

I was going to take a photo of the pancakes, bacon, etc., before I ate most of them, but ...

I like making breakfast

for dinner sometimes.

An easy, fast and good dinner.

Buttermilk pancakes with

real maple syrup are my favorite.

Morgan has three beds in the house, but she will still curl up on the cold, cold floor to be close to me if there is no bed close to where I am sitting.

Makes me feel guilty.

5 eggs today.

I'm still working on getting rid of my cold/cough thing. The grey cold days do lend themselves to making it easy for daytime naps. The snow has almost all melted. I'm fighting cabin fever and making plans that need Spring weather to carry out. Things always seem so simple and easy in the planning stage.  

Chicken Mug Rug

I have been reading about Mug Rugs and have found several very good tutorials online for different types.

First I thought about making a place mat, and I decided to make a chicken themed mat to use with my tea cups and snack.

The mug rugs I saw were a bit smaller than I wanted and a place mat was too large, so I came up with this design and size that is just right for a cup and a snack.

Well, it is just right for me.

Kristine brought home 

a bunch of boxes 

of 

Girl Scout Cookies.

I just had to raid the boxes

for the photos... yum!

I was going to make the back out of scraps and use up some of the fabric waste. Next time...

The brown fabric has hearts on the right side and arrows on the reverse. I'm sure the arrows are not supposed to be used, but I think they are cute, so I put a piece in wrong side up.

Oh!... I can't lie... it was a mistake... I made an oops... but still the arrows look ok and it kinda looks like a plan. I like it!

I like this solid color

chicken mug rug

because it shows up the shape 

of the chicken better

or doesn't look so confusing

or I just like it better?

Anyway this is my favorite!

Timberrrr!

Missed the fence by a few feet. Glad I wasn't walking under it when it fell.

Poor little tree... well, it's not little, about 40/50 feet, but still a young tree. I guess the winds and snow load were too much for it to bear.

Still haven't gotten back to working on the quilt, but I have been:

1. planning some neat projects: an apron, mug rugs, tea cozy and some place mats.

2. rereading a set of David Weber Honor Harrington books.

3. and I have been letting a finger on my right sewing hand calm down. First time one of the finger joints got upset and swollen from too much hand sewing. I guess that was my birthday present. No more marathon hand sewing.

Raining today, but still looks like the photo, and rain and snow forecast. Really don't think we will get much snow tomorrow, but you never know.

Well, I'm going to go heat up the chicken soup I made yesterday and make some tea. Kristine brought home pizza. Guess she has had it with the chicken soup.

Quilt Batting!

100% Cotton Needled Batting!

Kristine brought it home and tossed it on me. I was in bed at the time. I guess I will have to get up tomorrow and go back to work on the quilt back.

I still have to add a few more rows and some side strips.

I think I'm feeling better.

The weather is warming. We have gone from snow to rain. I love the sound of the snow sliding off the roof. It sounds like a train coming through.

Well, time to make some tea and head off back to bed. I want to feel good enough to start sewing in the morning. I've been dreaming about sewing.

Morgan Is Clean And OK

I didn't see rain or snow today because I was asleep. After I saw Kristine out the gate and off to work this morning, Morgan and I went back to bed.

Morgan went back to sleep because she is a dog and takes advantage of any opportunity to take a snooze.




I went back to bed and slept all day because I am trying to get rid of my cough/cold thing.

Kristine got rid of this dumb cold, but I just seem to stay tired... not sick... and cough a bit.

Maybe I really do need the sun to come back and warm things up so I can get outside and breathe some Spring air.

Morgan is not limping anymore! And she is clean and smells like doggie perfume. I think she would rather smell like cat pee. Too bad, Morgan!

Screamer (Light Brahma) and Morgan

Still sewing on the quilt back so here are some photos I took recently.

I really like the Light Brahmas. The two we have are big healthy hens and lay lovely brown eggs. That is Curly the Cochin standing to the rear of Screamer. I read that Brahmas were developed using Cochins and other breeds. They do look a bit similar as far as they are nice round hens.

Morgan is on the extra bed

that Kathleen used.

She doesn't usually get on the furniture

and she has three beds of her own,

but I guess the opportunity

was too good to pass up.

I snuck up on her with the camera.

She does look a little guilty.

Squares For A Quilt Back

The chickens are ticked off having to stay in their pen and not even able to scratch in the snow this year. The tarp I put over the pen has worked very well to keep the snow out and even better to keep the rain out. I really don't like a muddy chicken pen.

I take Morgan out on a lead otherwise she gets too cold and wet. She has fun in the snow, but she makes a mess of herself. Tomorrow she goes to the groomer. It will be nice to have a non smelly dog.

I have been working on making a quilt backing instead of blogging. Not much reading or commenting on blogs has been going on. I am trying to get back to posting everyday. Hope the power stays on.

Kristine wanted 6" finished squares... so that's what I have been doing... cutting them out, laying them out in groups of 13, marking the 1/4 seam allowances and pinning and sewing the rows together. The backing does look a lot better in real life.


The only thing I will need to finish this quilt is batting. I want to find some 100% cotton batting... don't like the synthetic stuff. I have some leftover pieces of batting, but I don't think I have enough. Wish I had bought several bags of batting when I had access to a quilt shop.

I made stew on the wood stove. Smells so good. I want some comfort food.  I think I will make some buttermilk biscuits tomorrow. Trouble is I want to eat them all. Biscuits do not help keep the pounds off. Sure do taste good though.

Rain and snow due tomorrow and Thursday. I'm enjoying winter. The Christmas decorations and tree are still up. Seems like they belong what with all the snow. I'll pack them away once the snow is gone.

1 egg today.