The Good Old Days?

There's a delightful blog I follow written by two ladies in Iowa (The Iowa Housewife) and this morning the post was a picture of a line of clothes hung outside in a cold, blustery, snow-filled back yard.

 

Oh, the memories.  Back in the days before I had a clothes dryer in the house, I did hang my clothes outside year 'round.  The biggest hurdle in the winter I found to be finding gloves (mittens were much too clumsily frustrating) to wear so that my hands didn't suffer frostbite.  (A goal never quite reached.)

 

The first several years we were married, I took our laundry to the local laundromat.  (Ugh, I hated that.)  Then around 1970, we moved and rented what was the ground floor of an old farmhouse that had been remodeled into a lower and upper apartment.  (When I say this farmhouse was old, I mean it.  The original part of the structure had been built as a stagecoach stop.)

 

Mrs. Rector, our lovely 80-some year old landlady, lived in the apartment upstairs and kindly told me I could use the clothes lines in the back yard to hang our washed clothes.  (I did have a washer then, but no dryer.)

 

This was back in Illinois and many days in the winter, the temperature stayed below freezing.  If there was sun and a breeze, the clothes dried better than you might think.  But many times, at the end of two (or three) days, everything would still be frozen and I would give up and bring the laundry inside to drape over every surface possible to thaw and finish drying. 

 

Dear Mrs. Rector, being of the old school when many babies didn't survive infancy, repeatedly warned me that bringing in all that cold, frozen laundry would lower the temperature of our living space and I needed to be very careful that my then infant daughter didn't "catch cold."

 

I do remember awkwardly bringing in sheets that were frozen stiff and felt like the sails of an ocean-going vessel.

 

In the area at that time there were many farm auctions and we frequently attended them.  At one we purchased (for $7.00) a large, wooden, folding clothes rack which I used in the winter to hang as much of the laundry inside as I could.  That helped the situation a lot.

 

That rack was made rock-solid and I still have it (some fifty years later) and used it once again earlier this winter when our gas dryer went on the fritz and wasn't usable for three weeks.  That rack is one piece of household equipment with which I'll never part.

 

Were those times the good old days?  In many ways, yes.  Nothing wrong with a little challenge (little, perhaps, being the operative word) and knowing you can successfully bring self-sufficiency into play.  Plus, there's something about seeing laundry hanging out on the line by a house that makes it all feel lived in, efficient and cared for. 

Greetings from the First Day of the New Year of 2021

Has the start of a new year ever been greeted with more hope and heartfelt wishes for it to be better than the one just past?  I think not.  Or perhaps some of us are just girding our loins (what a mental picture) and preparing the best we can for whatever awaits in the coming months.  I am so very grateful for where we live, our community, the little oasis we've managed to build around ourselves and our remaining brain power that enables us to make wise decisions that will keep us safe, sane, healthy and happy as we go into this new year.  I wish the same for all of you.

This is the front of a nifty little book my daughter gave me for Christmas.  Upon unwrapping it I thought, "Well, there are probably good tips in here, basic mechanics of sewing machines I should know.  Maybe."  Then it slowly dawned on me.

 

You see, a couple of months ago, she, being our resident computer guru, had asked me for my password to some site or another I was having trouble accessing.  My password to that particular site?  Hmmm.  Wait, I have it somewhere.  Some place.  Now where did I mark that down?

 

It's been my practice to enter my different passwords (as least I'm meticulous about using all different passwords) either on the inside of particular folders or on index cards held together with a big paper clip and tossed in a small box on my desk top.  Wise daughter suggested I organize all my passwords in one spot.

 

Ta-dah!  Here's the secret, hidey place in which to do just that.  Slipped in with the other "important" books and pamphlets on my desk, not only will all my passwords be in one handy-dandy spot which will be easily accessible, but a burglar looking for all my highly sensitive material (yeah, right) will never be tempted to steal Sewing Machines - Home Guide Series. 

Christmas Week

We had a terrific snow/wind storm on the night of December 22nd.  All in all, not much snow accumulation, only 3" if that.  But the wind!  Oh, my.  Supposedly gusts of 70 mph were recorded.  No downed tree damage for us, but we did have wood stove chimney damage.

Of the three wood stove chimneys on the roof, two were affected.  The stove pipe on the stove in the heated part of our attached garage lost its cap.  No big problem there.  But the complete chimney on the wood stove in the kitchen went down.  When Papa Pea went up on the roof to survey the damage, he found the whole roof covered with glaze ice.  Ugh.  Carefully crawling where he had to go, he made temporary repairs which he feels are quite safe until conditions change and he can secure the chimney with guy wires to insure this doesn't happen again.  

The storm left a drift of snow at least two feet high, maybe more, along the south side of the house.  This meant I needed to shovel it off the deck (we keep this clear all winter as a safety precaution in the event we wouldn't be able to get out of the back door for some reason) and walkway for a good distance.  I was very thankful the snow was light and not the heavy, wet stuff.  But, yes, my lower back was a smidge bit ouchy and grouchy before bed that night.

The blowing snow made the wreath on our (protected, if you can believe it) back/main door picture card perfect.

The morning after the storm, Papa Pea was out on the tractor moving drifts of snow when Chicken Mama and her little charge stopped by to open a couple of presents.  He LOVES big machinery of all kinds and begs to sit on the tractor at times even when it's in the shed and not moving.

Chicken Mama had a new fox suit for him (He's outgrown the old one that he dearly loves).  Here she's reading him the Little Blue Truck book we gave him.  The series of Little Blue Truck books are great for little ones.  Especially if they like trucks, bulldozers, tractors, dump trucks, etc.!

I'll close with a picture of the mints dear daughter made for me at Christmas.  Each year she makes her dad "healthy" Mounds bar candies and when asked if there was a candy I'd enjoy, I told her some nights after dinner I'd like just a wee little mint to end the meal.  She came up with these and they are WONDERFUL as witnessed by the immediate taste testing.  The good news is that there is a double layer in the tin.

Hope you're all able to enjoy this coming week between Christmas and New Year's.  Stay warm, safe and healthy.  Sending hugs. 

Warm Wishes to You All!

May your holidays be filled with the joy of living and the love of giving.

 

                                             

                                        
 

Here Comes Susie Snowflake . . .

Yep, 'tis the season and I have Christmas music, from classical to pop, going on the player in the kitchen just about all of our waking hours.  Nothing puts me into the holiday spirit like listening to all the old favorite carols and tunes.  My head-shaking goodhearted husband is being very indulgent, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him walking around with his noise-cancelling ear muffs clamped to his head soon.

 

Speaking of snowflakes, this weekend I finally put to use a blue x-stitch embroidered snowflake I've been shuffling from place to place in my quilt room for over a year.

 

The snowflake itself is about 5" square.  I chose a deep royal blue fabric for the narrow inner border. 

 

To that I added a 2-1/2" outer border.

 

And here's the piece sandwiched with batting and backing, quilted and bound.  It finished up at 10" square and I'm very pleased with it.  I think I know just the spot for it when my January decorations go up.  The colors remind me of the traditional colors used in Swedish homes to help brighten the dark winter season. 

Blog Post

Catchy title, eh?  That's about as creative as I can get, folks.

 

If I feel these days I have nothing about which to blog, how come my days are filled to the brim from wakening (slowly and with much grumbling and stumbling) to having run out of steam and the need to put my body into a comfy bed (usually around the complete darkness of 5:30 p.m.) at night?

 

Yesterday was butchering day here.  Never what I call a fun experience, but after all, we do raise our poultry for eggs and meat.

 

The operation went very well with our small crew of Chicken Mama (at scalding tub above just outside the garage door), Papa Pea and me.  We did only six ducks and were done with all but a little clean-up by noon.  We tend to like the looks of the black Muscovy ducks and it's proven they suffer less attrition by hawks and owls than the lighter colored birds.  But, oh my, those black pin feathers remaining on the carcasses are, to my mind, simply a culinary turn-off!  Next butchering, Papa Pea wants to try duck wax which is said to be more effective than scalding and plucking.  We shall see how that turns out.

 

As per usual, someone keeps locking the door to keep me out of my quilt room.  (Or maybe that's just my imagination.)  The time I've managed to spend in there recently (short periods with lots of starts and stops) has been spent organizing my embroidery floss onto spools and into designated containers.

 

Methinks this is going to pay off in the future and certainly looks much more organized (duh, ya think?) than keeping the skeins in plastic sandwich bags.

 

Our cookie bake of a week ago was a success, and I've loved having a nice assortment of baked Christmas goodies to give to friends, but it's hard not to snitch one or two (or more) goodies from the selection at various times during the day.  Maybe I should put the tins containing same behind that locked quilt room door instead of on the cool back porch where they are currently stored . . . much too conveniently.

 

This week just past has been much too busy so I'm yearning to take some downtime today and tomorrow.   Someday (when I find the time) I'm going to analyze why two (basically introverted) people living on a small homestead in the woods (during the restrictions of COVID, no less) always have long lists of daily duties which are rarely completed and never need to wonder what we should do to fill our time.

 

Oh, bunkerpoo.  I know I have nothing, not one diddly-sqwat thing, about which to complain.  We're living the life we've chosen, in a location in which we feel safe in a myriad of ways, our lives are truly blessed and never do we experience long days of "I'm bored, Mom, what can I do?"  Right now, I am free to toddle on into that lovely quilt room I'm so fortunate to have, put an interesting audio book in the player and busy my hands, heart and head doing that which feeds my soul.  It's a great feeling.