Photo Friday: over the river and through the woods

Once upon a Monday I drove 68 miles (one way) to meet a woman who sells very inexpensive plants from her home.  I told Bob about going and he quickly quipped:  “With the price of gas being almost $4.00 a gallon just how much money are you saving here?”

Well, I had to admit that it was probably next to nothing in savings, but hey,  it afforded me the opportunity to get out with my camera and see some more of Alabama, as well as the chance to talk to someone besides kitties, dogs, and chickens!

On my way I stopped and took a few photos of:

A  derelict old building…

Lead Paint over Stucco

A covered foot bridge…

A Cowboy Church…

The church’s concept is intriguing don’t you think?

Note the hay bale bench on the left, and the corral on the side!

and the Dam Cafe which “…serves damn fine BBQ too!”  Or so I’ve been told…

NOTE:  Having been highly recommended by the lovely Plant Lady, I wanted to stop in on the way out and get some for that night’s dinner,  but they were closed!

Then I followed a very curvy road through an oak forest to arrive  here!

(I wish this image was sharper, but you get the effect at any rate.)

The Plant Lady told me that they had found an old house that was being torn down, so they acquired these doors and retrofit them to make an entry to their screen porch!  I, of course, love her color choice!  Don’t you?

Now when I left that morning I had imagined that I would get my plants and be off, but as it happens, the lovely lady who lives here was a chicken lover like myself,

This is the biggest rooster I have ever seen!  He must have been over two feet tall!  Well, OK I’m embellishing a bit, but he really was very big!

and an artist as well as gardener of native plants!

This garden is a mix of native and other plantings, but it is done with a very natural effect!  It was very peaceful here.

And so it was that we ended up spending the afternoon together talking about the things that were important to us.   Her plants, native gardening, her children, and the state of the school system were among the many topics discussed.

During this time we walked across the road to see one of many inlets along the Tennessee River.

On our return I saw a shy Red Fox in the tree studded meadow behind her home.  How I wished I could have gotten close enough to get a better shot!  Having never seen one in the wild before I found myself holding my breath, as if in so doing he might linger for my camera’s lens, but he did not!  Instead he ran off into the deeper grass and disappeared from view altogether.  I must admit that I was only a little bit disappointed at not getting a better photograph, because after all…  the very fact that I got to see him was a gift.

All too soon it was time to go home and I had over an hours drive ahead of me.  It is a funny thing, but driving back the way you came, the miles seem fly by and you arrive home in no time at all!

So what did I get from the lovely plant lady?  Red bud trees, Joseph’s coat ground cover, Lamb’s Ears, Monarda (aka: red bee balm) variegated Solomon’s Seal, Wild Phlox, and May Apples!  All the native plants went out under the Fringe Tree at the head of the drive, and the trees (also native) are to be planted along the edge of our parking area giving us a gorgeous view in spring, and a bit of shade in summer…

Perhaps more importantly I made a new friend, and that is priceless!

~*~

Notes:  These photos of my visit were taken on April 24 of 2011,  three days prior to the horrible tornado outbreak in our region.  Hence, my delay in posting this lovely visit.  Sorry it took me so long.

Also, out of respect for the plant lady’s wishes, I’ve restricted my photos to the environment about her home.  Just in case you wondered.  Oh yes, and the lovely lady and her family were all OK!!! 

Where there is a will there is a way

Having recently discovered how much I love quilting, and especially needle turned applique, I was dismayed at the difficulty I was having with finger strength, dexterity, and painful joints.

So I went to the internet looking for a better solution to grasp the needle and to keep my fingers from being stabbed countless times per session in the studio.  The logical solution, or so it seemed to me, was to find some non-latex finger cots to give me a better grasp of the needle, and thus avoid the strain on my index finger and thumb.

FOUND…

Sadly I could not afford to buy the box of 500 Nitrile finger cots at a cost of about $57.00.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Not to be deterred I reasoned that I could get the same traction from a finger off of a Nitrile glove.  So it was off the hardware store for Nitrile gloves, in the paint department, at a cost of $4.99 for a package of 25.

Do the math!  5 X 25 = 125 finger cots!

I snipped and…

Voila! 

Well, OK they are Smurf Blue but what do I care?

I also ordered special longer, coated, quilting needles, and a good leather thimble for my pushing finger.

I’m good to go!

Now if I could just quit stabbing the thumb on my left hand!  Guess I will have to spring for another thimble and quit using my thumbnail for a needle stop.

~*~

Photo Friday: traveling by train

Mia culpa!  This got posted before I was finished editing, but I think I got it now.  ~ L  

Once upon a time travel by train was the ultimate in luxury, though I am sure that those who traveled by rail in its infancy might argue that point.

Photo credit:  Scanning around with Gene – please click the photo for source and many other wonderful vintage photos and adds.

~*~

As a child, in California, my 2nd grade class took a ride on the train to the San Bernardino Depot.  It was a wonderful experience, though I also remember how cheated felt on finding out we did not get a return trip!

San Bernardino Train Depot, California

I also recall arguing with my teacher about this point.  At which time she put her hand firmly on my arm, and with the conductor’s assistance, redirected me to the bus!

Photo credit:  Scanning around with Gene – please click the photo for source and many other wonderful vintage photos and adds.

The picture is the right vintage, but do you see that the Teacher and Conductor have strained smiles… and me?  No way was I smilin’!  Posers all!

~*~

Later in my life I would meet my husband Bob.  He and his father were great train enthusiasts.  Why, he even had a model RR set up in his bedroom that was so big it went edge to edge, taking up a full two-thirds of the room.   That  necessitated the placement of his bed shoved head first into one closet, with the chest of drawers shoved into the other!   Me, being a tomboy at heart, loved to watch him and his dad run the HO Scale models on the layout.  There were mountains that climbed the back walls, tunnels, bridges, a town and more.  All done to exacting scale and very realistic.

~*~

Jump forward to this November when we went to the Huntsville train museum with our friends Pam and Tim…  They wanted to take the “Fall Color Ride” and could either of us say no?  Of course not!

The following photographs were taken on that day and recalled many memories of times that are no more…

In its heyday, the dining car carried folks long distances, and you were  wined and dined in comfort and luxury.

~*~

Looking about I saw

A Diner’s still bright windows,

and  I thought to myself, 

“They resemble eyes, still bright, that remember better days.”

Clinging vines tying iron wheels to the tracks,

dust, rust, and

Couplers gone green with algae

were now rendered useless.

The men who remember,

some as old as the relics they tend, 

dream of a time when life was large

and mighty engines

huffed,

screamed,

and rattled down the tracks,

taking us to where we were going

in style and luxury.

A time that passed…

and is no more.

~*~

_

It’s what I do

A coworker once asked me about my weekend, which launched me into a conversation monologue about my chickens.   I told her my husband and I had built some security into their run because of hawk problems, and that I had mucked out the chicken palace.  At that last comment she snorted incredulously,

“You enjoy doing that?“

to which I replied,

“Well, yes I do.”

My chickens and geese depend on me.  I get up, don my “Fashionable attire for feeding chickens and geese on COLD mornings,”  brace myself, walk out the door, and set to work.

The routine is the same, it never varies by much except for how cold it gets.  Today the ice on the chicken’s water is only the thickness of cardboard.  Once last year it was over an inch thick and I had to go out and crack it again midday!  This morning I easily break it with my wellies, and then reaching in with my ungloved hand, I lift out the shards.  My fingers burn from the icy chill.  Quickly I dry them on my wooly robe, and just as quickly reglove them.

Next, I let out Quasimodo and Miss Dixie, check for an egg, and grab their food dispenser to take with me to the barn for refilling.

Quasi is my special needs silky rooster.   He has curled toes, that make him hobble and lurch, and he’s blind in one eye from an infection he picked up as a baby chick.  Miss Dixie is a mixed breed, little white splash hen (Blue Andalusian and Buff Polish) who thinks that Quasimodo is the perfect mate… she can say,

“No, thank you dear.”

and there is nothing he can do about it.

Now, the fun begins!  It’s off to the barn to let out the geese.  As I near the roll up door I hear them becoming animated.   I try to sneak up on them every morning, but their little grunting noises tell me that they’ve once again heard the gate latch.  I approach the door and call out,

“Good morning duck-butts, good morning!”

Which gets them knocking on the metal door with their beaks in response.  Huey stretches his long neck under the door and rushes out, next comes Polly who strolls out, stops, and taking a moment, looks up at me as if to say,

“Good morning to you Missus!”  and  “What took you so long?”

Last is Little Dorrit, who once everyone else is out of the way, begins flapping her wings and honking as she becomes airborne!  This little morning flight gets her four feet up out of the straw and six feet out of the door.  When she lands she takes off running and honking to catch up.  I listen as her little flappy feet slap the frozen mud and I realize I’m smiling.

Last stop, the chicken palace.   I open the gate to the run and hear them all cooing inside.  Someone has gotten into someone else’ space in the door lineup inside the coop.  Squawking and rustling ensues.  I call out…

“Good morning stinkies, com’on out!”

I open the coop doors and they rush, tumbling beak-over-butt-feathers to get out and find breakfast.  Some days, I let them out first and when they realize the food isn’t there yet, they race back to me, and stopping they look up as if to say,

“What’s this trick?  Where’s breakfast?”

I refill their food dispenser, put food into the other chicken’s feeder, check their water and then go in to check for eggs.  This morning I find that there is one, freshly laid, blue-green jewel in the back nest.  Reaching in I pick it up and discover that it is still warm.  Removing my glove from the still frozen hand I take the egg and cradle it there.  It’s heat begins thawing my fingers as I place it into my pocket.  Unwilling to let go, I leave my hand there with the egg until it becomes too cool to work its magic.

Almost done!  Now, returning to the little coop, I hang the newly filled feeder for them, then looking back, I check quickly to be sure I haven’t left any gates open.

Pausing before I go in, I reach back into my pocket and pull out the little egg.   Looking at it I think,

“This is why I do it.”

~*~

My little reward from my girls for the time I take to keep them happy.

~*~

Ahem, if you haven’t clicked on the link to “Fashionable attire for feeding chickens and geese on COLD mornings“  then you’re missing out on a rare and candid view… 

~*~

First day

OK, were done with that one and it’s on to this year, 2012, and what a start!

Teacup version:

• Polly ate something she shouldn’t have and she’s sick.
• It is 57  and sunny for the moment, will reach 61 for a high with rain again later.   It was already raining like heck this morning when I went out to do my rounds.  Oh yes, and the (scary) wind turned my umbrella over when I set it down to water the chickens, and promptly filled it with water. Tonight will be 20 degrees and colder still tomorrow.  Well really we are just being plunged into the deep freeze for the whole week.
• Took advantage of the sunshine and mucked out the chicken house before the rain leaks under and tonight’s freeze makes that job impossible.  (I’m brilliant that way sometimes.)
• Read everyone’s New Year’s resolutions. . .

Which brings me to mine.  I’m not going there.  I just have to agree with DJ Lutz at Almost Out of Ink, when he penned this as his one and only resolution,

“I will simply resolve to try to be a better person each day. And if I can do something to make the world a better place, either through my writing or (gasp) by personal interaction, all the better.”

As regards myself, I will only add this to his statement,

I need to get my spiritual life back on track. 

NO, not to worry.  It’s not that I have given up my faith, nothing of the sort!  I’ve just been lazy about it, and that bothers me.

Something  I will do this year that is not really a resolution because I will do them regardless are:

• Get my ETSY store up and running.  Now that all the home repairs are completed and I have a studio to work in.  * This makes me happy!
• Continue my research for my book.

Why make it hard?  Why set myself up for failure?  This is simply the easiest and wisest choice.

*NOTE:  It is said that if you want to love your work, then work at something you love.  Now I won’t go into a whole treatise on the subject as this fellow already did that job HERE,  and its translatable into fourteen languages.  Why would I try to reinvent the wheel?   What I will say is this:   I love being a sewist/quilter/writer.  Better, it seems to come easily to me.   I could use more practice in design to get a handle on mixing patterns but that will come with practical experience and maybe a class or two.  The book could take longer.

Happy New Year Everyone!

 

 

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for my blog.  Is posting this the same as tooting my own horn?

Probably. 

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 8,800 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Learning a New Craft: needle turned applique

This week I have begun to teach myself how to do needle turned applique.  If you have never heard of this before here is a nice calming video from Deb at Connecting Threads to help you learn.

Connecting Threads can be found  HERE

Points you may want to consider before you start:

• Start small
• Start with something easy… something easy is NOT Maple leaves.
• Don’t teach yourself on a deadline… like say, a gift for a friend.

If you watch the video, follow Deb’s instructions, and my hints above, then you will probably have a fun time learning this beautiful craft. 

If you do try it, then please let me know how you liked it!

HAVE FUN!

Communication then and now: “you’ve come a long way baby…”

This post got started when a blog friend that I follow on The Simple Life of a Countryman’s Wife wrote about receiving a vintage, Brother, manual typewriter from her Mother-in-Law.  Reading her post, that was written using the typewriter, caused me to remember when I learned to type on this!

This baby was introduced on July 31, 1961 and turned 50 this year!  No one uses them anymore, but do click the picture for photo credit and more about the IBM Selectric.

Now, calling something from the 60s and 70s vintage just boggles my mind, but in the realm of communications the typewriter has “…come a long way baby…”

Of course, written communication is nothing new.  Humans were recording their thoughts and history on cave walls, some say, as far back as 32,000 years.  The Lascaux cave paintings discovered in 1940 are perhaps the most well-known of these.

(Please click for more photos and for credit)

You simply must go to the Lascaux site and see this interactive display: the Lascaux virtual tour

From painted murals for communication we then went to writing on clay tablets and stone.

(Click the photograph to link to the photo’s source.)

Remember the very famous Rosetta Stone?

Later, it was on to scrolls made of hides and papyrus, and of course, all handwritten!  I do not think I would have enjoyed the life of a scribe, too exacting… but then in those days the job of scribe was a male dominated position!

(Click the photograph to link to the photo’s source.)

Dead Sea Scrolls

The invention of paper led to the creation of books.  All were hand-made and very time-consuming to produce, and that led to the printing press by Gutenberg in 1440.  This was a vast improvement and cut production costs.   However, the most important thing about this invention was that it brought books, most notably the Bible, to the masses.

Now of course, by this time we were communicating via letter, but it was still a slow process.

Fast forward to the typewriter…

The first typewriter was invented in 1864.   It is made of wood! 

Please click the photo to follow the a link to the Peter Mitterhoffer Typewriter Museum, and there you will find a timeline on the invention typewriters!  Very interesting I promise!

I won’t go into all the details of the typewriter’s evolution as Mr. Mitterhoffer’s museum site does a fine job of that.  However I would like to share a little Youtube video about the IBM Selectric.  When these hit the typing lab at Claremont High we all thought it was a revolution in typing, and it turns out we were right!  It was the revolution that led to word processing!

Ah… that sound…  It was thrilling in its day.

So today, unlike the Countryman’s Wife  who enjoyed writing to us on her manual typewriter, I write to you on my new computer that Bob built for me.  It is a wonder of modern technology, and beats heck out of my old laptop that was being held together with a rather large binder clip.    It’s fast, sleek, and imagine, it has replaced all the functions of the aforementioned forms of communication!

What will tomorrow bring us?

A special Thank you to the Countryman’s Wife for inspiring today’s post

If I wait till it’s done… It will never get posted!

Yes friends I am just that way.  I want it all to be perfect, but it is not.  I think it will take quite awhile for it all to shake out, and settle into where it goes.  That aside, here is the basic layout.

The window quilt is whole cloth, and was a practice piece for machine stippling and binding the edges.   It also instantly and dramatically warmed up my room!  The handbag collection was my Mother-in-laws.  The little bed by where I work is Tucker’s place. 

So, it’s all here, and like I said it still needs a bit of fluffing and folding, but it will sort itself out as I use it and find the logical places for it all.

And this is very special to me…

The vintage telephone table was a recent purchase.  The vintage telephone belonged to Bob’s parents and still has the old phone number on it… the one I dialed so long ago and he answered…  AND IT STILL WORKS! 

Things I learned how to do:

1. Use a pneumatic nail gun
2. Use a radial miter saw (and didn’t hurt myself!)
3. Build and install a sewing counter (it’s there on the left in the first photo)
4. Lay and cut in vinyl flooring.
5. Miter and nail in shoe to hold flooring

Bob painted the ceiling and helped me carrying the heavy stuff.  He also helped me with hanging the wire shelving and the peg board (it takes two for those jobs).  But the rest of it was all me.

Can’t you just feel me smiling?

Now, what else can I tear up fix around here?  OH, I know, the laundry/mud room!

A tough call: thoughts on not culling a chicken

From time to time good animal husbandry practice would recommend that you cull a sick animal.  I have a sick chicken and was coming to grips with that fact for a week now.

The problem?  An impacted crop.  Evidently, she had eaten something that was blocking her crop, and it had become engorged.  It was three times the normal size and…

“What did she eat?” you ask.

Who knows with chickens!  It could have been anything, a piece of plastic, some straw, a length of string or a large blade of grass, any of which can be fatal if it gets lodged at the exit of their crop.  The diagram below shows you that number 4 is the crop.  This is a pigeon’s inside view, but it is very much based on the same organs as the chicken possesses.

Photo credit HERE

You may click for greater detail or just take my word for it that it is the large organ at the base of the neck and resting at the opening of the chest cavity. 

In an effort to avoid further impaction which could lead to infection and death, I began a twice daily regimen of massaging my poor little barred rock‘s crop.  She didn’t like it, and squawked in protest each time.  I can’t blame her!   A couple of days during this time I felt we were making some progress, but then by Sunday she had become very weak and thin.  She had wobbly knees but was trying to eat in spite of the over-full crop.  I continued to watch her closely for signs of other sickness that would be contagious to the rest of my chickens.  While an impacted crop will not affect the others, a distressed and weakened chicken can fall ill to various pathogens in the environment. If not carefully monitored she can then spread these to the whole flock.

Monday night I went out to lock up the Chicken Palace and she was sitting low on the roost.  Her feathers were fluffed up, her head was sunken into her shoulders, and her comb had gone pale.  I expected her to be gone by morning and told Bob my suspicions.

Tuesday morning I went out to the chicken yard and tried to prepare myself to do what was necessary if she was still lingering.  I opened the door and as is always the case the girls and Grayson came bounding out looking for breakfast, and so did the little barred rock!  I watched as she drank lots of water, ate like there was no tomorrow, and nearly nosed dived each time she bent down to do so.  It was then that I noticed her comb was a bright red like is should be and her frontal profile was much reduced!

So my little Barred Rock looks awful and puny,

but she is definitely on the mend!

~*~

It was a tough call, but I’m so glad I waited before doing anything rash.