Know Anybody This Would Fit?

Look what came in the mail as a surprise gift before Christmas!  It came from that wonderful, whacky gal out in New York who writes a wonderful blog that keeps us all entertained.  She asked if I would post a picture because she forgot to take one before sending it.  (Ooops, I hate it when I do that.)

The cutest knit red union suit you ever saw.

And check out the reverse side with the "back door!"

I put it up right away as part of the holiday decorations on the pegs of the drying rack in our bathroom.

It's too cute to be packed away with the Christmas stuff.  I think it's very appropriate to have a special spot on the rack all winter long.

Thanks, Sweezie, you clever girl!

Mother Nature Did It Again

There's no doubt those of us living in northern Minnesota expect snow in the winter time, but this is crazy.  To get two heavy dumpings of wet snow because Mother Nature decided the thermostat should be set right at or just above freezing?  Not nice, Mother Nature.

Last night we got our second "warm" snow of the season.  The temperature hovered right around 32 degrees so the snow fell in just about the wettest state it could possibly be.

Today the temp is at 34 degrees and it's been drizzling since about 7 a.m.  After being out clearing paths and doing a LOT of shoveling for about two hours, not only was my down chore jacket soaked, but the falling moisture had gone right through to my sweatshirt and turtleneck which I had to strip off and put in the dryer when I came in.

Above is Papa Pea shoveling the path to the bird feeder.  He and our good neighbor to the east conferred and decided it wouldn't be wise to plow the driveways until the rain stops and the temperature drops.  Clearing off the snow now will allow the falling moisture to form glaze ice on any plowed surface when the temp does drop.  Of course, there's the chance that when the super-saturated snow freezes, it will be like trying to plow wet cement.  Six of one, half a dozen of another.

This afternoon Papa Pea will make a pass or two up and down our driveway with the tractor so if we had to drive out, we could do so.  Good neighbor D (we plow his driveway, too) will do the same on his driveway with his ASV.

I sure hope this is the last time this winter we get such unusual conditions.  No fun (are you listening, Mother Nature?), I say no fun shoveling snow when you toss a shovelful away . . . and it all sticks to the shovel!

Christmas Crafty

During my December month's hiatus from the blog world, I spent some time making some cross-stitched ornaments I was thinking of hanging on our Christmas tree.  (More on that in a future post.)

Another little thing I did was to make a pomander ball.  It was something I've thought about doing for several years and finally got around to it this year.

I had actually thought of making a few of them as gifts.  However, I now know and can positively say that won't be happening.  What a lot of work!  And how hard on the fingers pushing those whole cloves into the orange even after making preliminary holes through the skin with a nail.

I had truly envisioned totally covering this first experimental pomander ball with cloves but it didn't take me long to decide not to pursue that idea. The Internet shows all kinds of designs one can make with the cloves but I stuck with straight (sort of) lines from one end to the other.

One set of directions I found (after I had made mine) said that after putting cloves in the orange, you should roll it in a mixture of equal parts orris root, ground cinnamon and allspice, then wrap in tissue paper and store in a dark place for four weeks.  (Oops, guess I was a little late for that.)

After four weeks, the article said, shake off any surplus powder and tie a pretty ribbon around the orange.

Another oops.  Again, I read this after I had rolled mine in pumpkin pie spice which is a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves.  I shook off the excess ground spices, tied a ribbon around it and hung it in a doorway.  Supposedly, if you followed the directions (which I obviously failed to do), the pomander ball would emit it's nostalgic fragrance for months, even years.  Mine has a nice fragrance but only if your nose gets up close and personal with it.

Also, the pumpkin pie spice so coated the orange skin that my ball has a muddy brown color, not an attractive orange.

Here's another picture of it after hanging in the doorway for a week.  (Why does it remind me of a shrunken head?)

All in all, this experiment would have turned out much better if I had taken the time to research making a pomander ball before diving in rather blindly.

Here's my pomander ball attempt with the readjusted ribbon.  Slightly attractive or just plan ugly, I'm glad I finally took the time to give it a try.  Rest assured, I won't be giving Ms. Stewart any competition . . . or doing it again soon.

And Now for a Little Ketchup

Forgive me, that's an old, and really bad play on words.

What's our weather been like so far this winter?  Did we have a white Christmas?  (Come on now, I know you're just dying to know.)

We did get a fresh light cover of snow before Christmas which made everything look bright and white.

On Thursday, the 27th of December, a couple of days after Christmas we got our first real winter snow.  It started about 5 a.m., nearly seven hours later than had been predicted.  (At least everyone had ample time to prepare.)

It snowed all day with more forecast until noon the following day.

 The first of the heavy snow.

 
All during the snowfall, the temperature was an unbelievable 34 degrees.  (Thirty-four degrees and snowing heavily?  We've seen rain before at 32 degrees!)  The snow couldn't have been wetter . . . or more beautiful as it coated simply everything outside with about a foot of heavy, wet snow.  Tree branches (and small trees themselves) were bent down over our driveway to the extent that it was actually difficult to drive through.

At times, the snow felt almost like rain falling which is understandable at that temperature.  We went out two times during the day to plow and clear.  My down work jacket was soaked each time.  Above it's hanging in the heated workshop part of the garage to dry between shoveling periods.

The snow was heavy to the max and Papa Pea's plowing was not easy.  (Nor the shoveling!)  Great piles built up in front of the plow and made it slow going.

Above he's fine tuning the back parking area and ready to come in for a cup of coffee and rest period.  Those of you who have run a snow plow know that it saps one heckuva lot more energy than you would think it should.  It feels as if you've done half the plow's work yourself.

Then the following night when the snow stopped, the temp plummeted down to the teens and all of the terribly wet, heavy snow froze into blocks of ice.

We made the mistake of not going out once more to shovel and plow right before dark that previous night when it was still snowing.  The morning of the 28th in trying to clean off vehicles, poultry pens, trailers, paths, etc. we found all to be covered with several more inches of frozen snow with about 2" of ice underneath.  It was close to impossible to clean off.  And today, January 3rd, that 2" of ice is still prevalent with even more snow on top of it.  I'm thinking that ice may be preserved until spring!

Following all that snow, we were able to stay snug and secure at home but our daughter had to go out for work the days following and got stuck a couple of times and it couldn't be helped because she's an excellent driver.  (She takes after her dad in that respect, certainly not me.)

Papa Pea did an excellent job with the plow truck but has also been using the bucket of the tractor to move some of the big piles of snow.  (Above is the Black-Clad Snowman coming in from tractor work on the day the temp dropped.

So that's the weather update.  No significant amounts of snow after the 28th, but more is possible this coming weekend.

Next post I'll get together a little update on what I've been doing handwork-wise.

It's A New Year!

If "Every day is a fresh beginning," quote attributed to the writer Susan Coolidge, I believe, the first month of the year certainly is, too.  Big time!

Here we are at the start of a New Year, and I'm back in the blogging world again.

As I recently wrote to my friend Susan, the break from all things bloggy for the past month has been good.  I felt a freedom of not having to keep up with it all every day, and yet there was that feeling of being left out or alienated or separated from all the great information, uplifting thoughts, feelings of belonging to a group of kindred spirits, etc.  It probably doesn't make much sense to say it was freeing not to blog and/or read and comment on others' blogs, while at the same time missing doing so.  

Although a hard pill to swallow, I've come to realize making changes in my life that will afford me as much leisure time as I desire isn't proving to be easy.  (Hunh, 'magine that.)

Holing up in my quilt room takes time away from my every day homemaking and routine life on our little homestead which remains very important to me and, of course, is something I enjoy and which does bring me a measure of contentment and satisfaction.

What I have to face is that I want to do too much.  I have too many things that interest me.

A goal for this month of January is to avoid slipping back into the all-work-and-no-play day after day routine.  I'm continuing to work on it all.  I'm a work in progress.

I copied the following from a blog post one of my favorite bloggers, Rosemary Beck of Content in a Cottage, wrote back in 2012.  She said: 

January is my absolute favorite month

of the whole year.  The holidays are behind me

and there is nothing pressing before me.

Perfect for nesting and doing

self-indulgent things like

watching movies, reading books,

knitting, sprucing up my blog,

or anything fun.

So, hooray for Rosemary's inspiring thoughts so well put, hooray for this first month of the year, hooray for new beginnings or for continuing on the path of discovering new ways of structuring each day's hours, and . . . welcome January!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Hiatus

I've been whining incessantly, it seems, that I desperately want (and need) to make some changes in my priorities in order to have more time for doing the things for which I feel a real need.  At my leisure.

Winter arrived in our neck o' the woods a little early this year, and I'm taking it as a signal for me to jump into this time of hibernation with both feet while clutching knitting needles, a stack of good books and a lot of fabric with which to create.

I keep telling my husband (the man who never stops thinking, reading, researching, planning, gaining knowledge) that he doesn't have enough time in one life to pursue all of his personal interests let alone accomplish all the projects we'd like on our little homestead here.  It's time I took my own advice.

To this end, one of the changes I have to make is to step away from the blogging world for the indefinite future.  I will miss it.  Terribly.  (Oh, the withdrawal . . . I can feel the symptoms starting already.)

Having stated this need for a hiatus, you may get a good laugh when you see a new post from me in a week.  Or less.  Could well be.  Or it may be possible for me to stay true to my intensions.

I don't know, but the only way for me to actually make some changes toward a more balanced life is to try.