Life With The Crew

Warmth During the Cold

It is a bit chilly around here, but nothing unbearable.  It means I check on the chickens more often, taking them extra bread snacks.  I'm drinking more tea, which gets cold more quickly.  I'm worrying about my old man at the barn, but I know he is in good hands.  I'm carrying out the old dog with sensitive feet, ordering him to go to the bathroom while his feet freeze and burn.  The little babe and I completed our first 500 piece puzzle yesterday.  It arrived just in time for the deep freeze days.  If anyone is interested in puzzles, this Songbird one by Mudpuppy is a really bright and fun one.  I finished a custom Nutkin sweater and am working on a bonnet.  The dogs and cats are rotating through the hot spot in front of the fire.  We occasionally smell something awful and realize that Molokai (a not very smart cat) has gotten too close to the woodstove again. 

It is supposed to warm up tomorrow, back to normal Winter conditions.  January will be over; February will begin.  Another month of taking it easy, hoping my back is healing.  At least my fingers can keep busy.  

I hope you can find something bright in your day - warmth comes in many forms.

 

Soaking Up the Moment

It was a cold day, but the sun was shining.  The wind was brisk, but I didn't realize just how briskly it was blowing until we started across the field.  Our destination was the stand of evergreens, to explore and look for fox tracks, then the chestnut grove, to check out the tiny "ponds", really just depressions that fill with melt water.  I pulled the shawl tighter around the little babe's face and I lowered my face deeper into my cowl.  As we stepped beneath the trees, the wind stopped, but so did the warmth of the sun.  When we got to the chestnut grove and paused near a depression, we were low enough to be out of the wind.  The little babe threw herself down to start building tunnels for mice in the snow.  I stood there for a few minutes, face turned Southeast, soaking up the rays.  The little babe wasn't ready to go yet, so I said, "Why not?" and slowly lowered my non-bending self to the ground.  Stretching out, looking up, my partner in exploration beside me, it was a pretty good moment.  One of those moments that are so good, I won't need a picture to remember.

 

Warm in Wool

We have plenty of ice and snow and cold.  As we should in January.  Luckily, we also have wool (and alpaca).

This is a modified Isle au Haut Pullover by Beatrice Perron Dahlen.  I have had this pattern in my Favorites box on Ravelry for two years now.  Knit in Quince & Co's wool/alpaca Owl yarn, I thought it would be warm and toasty - perfect for January weather.  After knitting a couple rows of the lace pattern on the arms, I just wasn't feeling it.  I have been in a color work craze for a while and that is what I wanted to knit, not lace.  So I switched gears, grabbed leftover Local yarn from O-Wool and got creative.  After washing, I patiently waited three days for it to dry and on the most frigid day of the year so far, I pulled on my wooly sweater.  Warm in wool.  Smile.

(The white streak on the photo above is not a flaw on the sweater - it is a drip from the gutters.  The little babe took the photos while standing inside and I was out.  She is getting pretty decent with her point and shoot.)

 

My Goal

I normally try to go to the barn so that I am there by myself.  That way I have the whole ring to exercise Frank and don't have to work around other horses, especially when I am lunging him.  I thought I had timed it right today, getting there a bit before 9am on a Saturday.  However, another horse was being tacked up when I got there, so I grabbed Frank right away and took him into the ring for his "roll time".  He is blanketed all Winter and I imagine he starts to feel like I do when I've been wearing a hat for too long.  I just want to fling it off and scratch my head; feel free again!  I started letting him loose in the ring before I work him and it has now become a routine that he loves.  As soon as I unclip the lead line, he pulls away and sniffs around the ring until he finds the perfect place to roll, normally in the same depression every time - the "buffalo wallow" of the indoor ring.  After pawing the ground several times, he lowers himself down in a half graceful, half painful looking drop and rocks back and forth on one side, getting those darn itches off!  Then he raises himself back up and repeats the same routine on the opposite side.  If he is feeling really itchy and finds a particularly good place, he will roll a third time.  He then slowly walks over to me, checks in to say hi, and goes for a walk about for a couple more minutes.  I then bribe/reward him for coming to me with a piece of carrot, clip on the lunge line, and we begin working.  

So this morning, after our roll time, the other horse and riders joined us.  (That horse is lucky to have two "Moms".)  Towards the end of our session, one of the woman asked me what my goals were for Frank and myself.  I was a little taken aback.  I am not a goal person.  Personally, I think they are slightly pointless, like resolutions.  People sometimes put too much hype on the process of setting goals, more into the making and thinking about them instead of just getting something done.  When I think of goal setting, I think of the forced beginning of the year requirement of an employee by a boss.  Not my cup of tea.  But back to the barn, I said that I don't have any goals for myself, just to keep Frank healthy and happy for as long as possible.  I only started riding again because of him; because he needed somebody and I knew I could be that person.  I am good at taking care of animals in need.  A senior Corgi with epilepsy - I'll take him.  A sixty pound Corgi shaped like an ottoman - I can trim her down.  A 27 year old horse with gentleman manners who needs someone to love him - I can definitely do that.  So on the way home when I was thinking about it again, I realized that my goal is companionship, for both Frank and I.  I simply enjoy his company and I think he enjoys mine; the carrots and apples are just a perk.  I don't want to compete, I don't want to jump a certain height or reach a certain level, I just want Frank to stay healthy and in shape.  And so I guess I do have a goal.  Before the little babe was born, I had a mantra that I recited and part of it was for her to be "happy and healthy".  That is what I want for Frank too.  Happy and healthy.  That is this non-goal makers goal.

Over the Soybean Field and Through the Woods

We have a tract of land near our home that was donated by a family to be open as public lands for recreational use - hiking, hunting, etc.  It is adjacent to State Game lands and so we have easy access to wooded areas for walking and exploring.  The family still farms some of the land with corn and soybeans, but in the winter after the harvest, we can trek across the open fields and pretend we are in some far off snowy location, comforted by the knowledge that we are only five minutes from a cup of hot chocolate.  It was cold, but sunny the other day, and so after a morning at the barn, we headed back out into the woods. 

We saw signs of wildlife, looked for tracks, and made a snowman under a large hemlock.  All the makings of a good afternoon.  And yes, we then had hot chocolate.

Happy Weekend!

A Sunday Stroll (On Skis)

The inch of snow on the ground was just enough for the little babe to ski.  Not enough for her Dad, and I am out of the running for the whole season, so to one of the local parks we went.  We checked out the horses, then went up the hill and through the gardens that are in slumber mode.  There were so many textures, shapes, and sizes of dried flower heads and seeds.  Fox, rabbit, and mice tracks were spotted in the layer of white, then home we went.

This morning is cold and clear.  The sky is baby blue, the sun is shining warmly, illuminating the dried orange slices on my dirty handprint smudged windows.  The yard is still covered with blue shadows, but the little babe has just run outside, insulated from head to toe.  I watched her standing in the middle of the yard, not moving, for about 2 minutes.  Before she froze stiff I stuck my head out of the door - the backyard birds were singing, finally waking and warming with the sun, and I think she was just soaking it all in.  

Happy Monday everyone!

The Adventure Club

Tuesday started with a thin layer of ice covering everything.  The chicken yard was a skating rink and since I don't have claws for traction, I was grabbing onto the fence and bushes, knowing that a fall would set that little broken vertebrae back a couple weeks in its healing process.  Things warmed up by noon and I thought the little babe and I needed some fresh air.  At first there was some grumbling, but then she started gathering snacks for The Adventure Club hike.  We entered the woods in a slight drizzle, which after a couple of seconds turned into more than a slight drizzle.  I would have turned back - it was just above freezing and we weren't wearing rain gear, but the little babe said we have to be brave if we are adventuring.  So onward we walked, hand in hand.  We went up to the little pond in the woods.  It had a thin skim of ice and was pretty in a cold, dark, saturated world kind of way, with the rain drops plunking on the ice.

As we stood at the top of a rise eating our biscotti snack, we heard a Pileated woodpecker call.  I then saw something large swoop through the trees and heard the cry of a hawk of some sort.  Since this Winter has been so mild and wet, fungus of all sorts is thriving. 

I noticed a ring of moss growing at the base of a tree and when I looked closer I noticed that it was contained in glass.  Upon further inspection, we saw that it was the top of a large glass vessel of some sort.  We discover something interesting every time we're in the woods, no matter what the weather or season.  Happy adventuring!

January 2019

Hi Everybody, I'm still here.  I discovered that it is pretty hard to take decent pictures without bending or moving in a way that doesn't hurt a compression fracture, so my creative mojo is pretty squashed.  The little babe received her first camera for the holidays and has happily been taking my place, snapping away at everything - chickens, her dolls, her mother using the vacuum, and lots of pictures taken from the backseat of the car at 65 miles an hour.  We had the big talk about the Delete button right away.  On a serious note though, I think it is a good learning tool/toy/gadget and can be used in various homeschool projects.  

We just returned from the barn.  It is one of those cold gray damp days, but the little babe was a trooper and made it through her lesson.  She is trotting on her own now and feels pretty proud of herself.  Considering that I didn't trot until I was nine years old, I am impressed myself.  This is why I wanted her to start riding early, so she can become comfortable at a young age and have it become second nature.  I am ground bound for the next eight weeks, but Frank and I still have fun working on the lunge line with poles.  At least, I have fun and he is staying in shape.  I am still at the new horse owner stage where I just enjoy watching him move and thinking, "Wow, I own this horse!"  The fact that I am his person is such a thrill.  

The little babe and I discovered a new favorite tea - Stash's Christmas Eve Herbal tea.  It is delicious; just perfect for damp cold days.  Just the right amount of unique ingredients to make it yummy, but not too strange.  We also discovered a film series that is educational and captivating - the BBC Film series about nature, planet Earth, etc.  We have watched the Arctic and Wild Alaska films and both of them had us saying, "WOW!" again and again and also covering our eyes (we know everybody has to eat, but still watching it is tough.)  Waiting for my back to heal requires more sofa time than we are used to, but at least it is the right season for vegging out.  I have plenty of Owl yarn from Quince & Co to keep me busy.

I hope your New Year is off to a good start.  I am not a resolution maker.  If I was, I would resolve to be more patient and upbeat.  I try, I really do, but they aren't my strong points.  As I tell the little babe, we are all good at something.  Getting stuck behind slow drivers isn't one of mine.