The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 5 trips to carry that many people.
Mix flour, soda, salt, baking powder and spices in a bowl. In a second bowl, cream shortening and both sugars. Add hot coffee to molasses and blend well. Add coffee and molasses mixture to creamed shortening mixture and blend with vanilla. Combine liquid and dry mixtures. Stir to form a dough. Form into a log and cover. Chill completely.
Once dough is completely chilled, preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut dough into evenly sized disks, 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick. Bake on greased cookie sheet 8-15 minutes, based on thickness.
Since it is Halloween…it’s time for Frankenpants! George tears and wears his pants out at a frightening rate. I get snagged on the barbwire fence and slow down and try to unsnag. George just pulls hard enough to get away. Almost all of our jeans come from thrift store. It just isn’t worth the extra money to buy them new off the lot. I also mend our farm pants. Style isn’t a big part of our farm life. Therefore…Frankenpants!
Frankenpants…Lee top and Wrangler bottoms
The crotch was torn (speed trip through the barbwire?) and the knees were worn out in the bibs. Also George didn’t like the button fly. He mumbled something about them being too breezy. What to do? Sew the good parts off a pair of worn jeans onto the bib tops and ta-da: Frankenpants!
The rear view
To be honest, it would have been more efficient to go and buy another pair of thrift store bibs, however I took it on as an artistic challenge. And it is quite possible that my “free-time” is free and doesn’t have any value. (I don’t want to explore that idea too much.) George has tried on the Frankenpants and declared them a success. Time will tell.
Anyone want me to alter their prom or wedding dress? Zig-zags and contrasting thread included!
More on speed over style. Love those little cake pops? Can’t imagine making cute spheres out of food? Don’t want to count how many you would eat? Make a chocolate cake and some yummy mocha frosting, dump together, close your eyes and enjoy!
Chocolate cake with mocha frosting
Happy Halloween everyone!
I’ve been dreaming of Finland for a long time and not long from now I plan to be there! As per usual, I am nowhere as detailed in planning as I had once thought I would be. There are some wishes that would be fun to fulfill. Here they are (in no particular order):
All good wish lists should include some stretch wishes that are unlikely to be fulfilled so that a return trip can be planned. I will need to work on my list further so that it can be well rounded. Right now I need to revisit my packing list and prepare to go!
I was prepared for a very productive day at home this morning. Bills taken care of, dishes washed, laundry hung on the line…and then my friend Pat called and asked if I wanted to go paddling. Productivity out! Paddling in!
BB Bridge on a sunny day
We took Pat’s kayaks and floated a stretch of the Little Wolf River not far from home.
Married frogs, as distinguished by completely different focuses
The turtles that George and I saw along the river earlier this year are still around, but are faster moving! No photos today.
Water lily
The water lily is overexposed, but it was a bright day out.
Pat heads downstream
I was doing the good thing and picking up garbage. The too frequently found plastic bottle was expected; a section of tire wasn’t surprising; but the old electronics were the low-light. The frog using the case for shade was a surprise.
Frog house?
Loaded up with the “goods”
Now, I just need to stop at the dump in the morning. The heated river scum smell isn’t very appealing in my car. Still, its much better than a productive day! Thanks Pat!
Smoking the bees
Mom and Dad had honey bees when I was young. For the most part, the bees took care of themselves and their honey. When intervention was needed, it was always fascinating to me. I remember being curious about tools and techniques, well moderated with the desire not to get stung. Extracting the honey was a great project!
Inspecting a frame of honeycomb
Removing a full frame
Once the honey was moved indoors, going in and out of the house was a cautious undertaking. The less docile bees where flying up against the screen door, trying to protect their stockpile.
I must have gotten a stern directive not to get honey spread around the house. I remember being told how difficult it was to clean up honey.
Removing the wax caps from the honeycomb
Loading a frame into the extractor
Extracting the honey
Everyone gets a chance to extract the honey
Filling jars from the bottom of the extractor
The good stuff
At some point I got honey into my bangs. I clearly remember that I was aware that this wasn’t a desired outcome and that honey was very, very difficult to clean up. Even parents had a hard time cleaning it up. The best thing I could do was to take care of it myself. Water certainly wouldn’t remove it, because if it did, honey would be easy to clean up. I took the next best method and cut the honey out of my hair before it became a bigger mess.
I discovered a swarm of bees in a tree west of the house by their buzzing. I don’t remember very clearly, but I think the bees weren’t our own. I do remember being very proud that I could do something productive…I was the one to find the bees!
Swarm of bees
Filling the hive
A tower of bees
All of the photos above are from Mom’s album, labeled March – August 1979. The photos were taken by Mom, Dad, or Eddie. The color photos are dated July 7, 1979.
The photo below is from Mom’s album, labeled Fall – Winter 1979. Someone has short bangs!
Can you guess who is in seventh grade, second grade, and four years old?
Bee keeping seems like a great idea, especially when I read a good book about bees or beekeeping such as A Book of Bees or The Secret Life of Bees. Then I remember all of the half-started projects around and get more realistic about a project that involves live insects. (I’m being optimistic, the projects are only 23% started.)
p.s. Thanks Jessie, for the book recomendation that hopefully has lots of good bees in it!
Windblown iris
Spring has been unusually hot and dry here, starting from way back in March. I’m not one of those crazy gardeners that water the plants regardless of the weather, but I’ve been watering the garden and it’s not even Memorial Day yet. This weekend was hot and windy…this iris bloomed today only to become part of the frazzled landscape before the day was done. Not exactly great weather for transplanting, but when you meet an unsuspecting someone looking for hosta and rhubarb plants and your own plants are overgrowing their allotment, it is time to dig plants! I was very excited to make some room for a couple of roses that don’t exactly thrive when the nearby plants are always looking for ways to encroach on them. I dug violas, tulips, and garlic around the roses. Would you believe that I have a hard time even composting the excess violas? My mind must be frazzled.
One sorry rose bush
The rose didn’t look so great when it was unearthed.
Flat violas
There is another type of rose in the same garden. It self seeds everywhere! The unsuspecting plant lady got one of them, and these violas lost the support that it provided.
Too much of a good thing
I love garlic, but I may finally have too much of it! I couldn’t throw out the excess dug out from the frazzled rose bush, but I wasn’t motivated to transplant it either. It got thrown in a plastic bag with wet rags so that George can save it if he wants.
Swiss chard
This Swiss chard that survived from last year is growing well, but looks frazzled because it wants to bolt in this hot weather. I declare the whole darn place frazzled.
Prickly ash buds in our woods March 30
Springtime brings the good, bad, and ugly. The good news about prickly ash is that it’s native. The bad news is that it is prickly and invasive.
Beauty of Moscow lilac buds April 14
Fortunately we have more good plants than bad ones. Here’s a white lilac in our garden.
Garlic April 14
The garlic planted last fall looks healthy.
Currant April 14
Spring Beauties April 21
There was a lot in bloom in Grandpa Neil and Grandma Siggie’s woods on April 21.
Honeysuckle
The honeysuckle leaves are pretty, and they come out early. Unfortunately, they are very invasive in Wisconsin and are difficult to remove.
The early frog catches the fly
Aging cow slip blossoms
Dog toothed violet and spring beauties converse
Apple blossoms
It occurs to me now that I don’t know what the quality of the apples on this tree at the edge of the woods is. It’s likely that it is a wild tree since I don’t ever remember harvesting them.
Maple seeds on the tree in Grandma and Grandpa’s yard
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Columbine May 8
Violas surround a lily
Lupine May 13
Springtime in our prairie… it’s always fun to see how much good stuff has spread. Look at the pollen on this bee!
Lupine leaves May 13
A friend gave us wild lupine seeds several years ago and it is spreading well. It’s neat to see the variation in the plants. This one has darker colored leaves with hairy edges.
Evening self portrait in the prairie
Happy spring! May summer not come too quickly.
Media relaxing in the Sweet Woodruff
I’m in one of those moods where very little of what I read suits me now. Young adult dystopias promised lots of plot and delivered in Insurgent (the second book in the Divergent trilogy) and The Drowned Cities (companion book to Ship Breaker), however both of them were darker than what I want right now.
What looked like promising adult fiction, was simply disappointing. Garden Spells could have been fun light reading, but the unabridged version I listened to was too predictable. A Reliable Wife looked interesting, but I didn’t care for the characters, who were very obsessed with sex. I need to be able to like at least one of the characters.
The young adult realistic fiction Try Not to Breathe was good, with likable and very human characters.
What really hit the spot was Billy Collins, reading his own poetry in Billy Collins Live: A Performance at the Peter Norton Symphony Space. Five stars! I would recommend that you try it, even if you don’t like poetry.
Mom taught me how to sew when I was in second grade. One of my first projects was a t-shirt. Another project was a big stuffed whale. Mom had to help me with the zipper…the mouth had zipper lips to open and close it. I was delighted when she made the mistake of sewing the zipper in backwards (the zipper pull was towards the inside of the mouth). My part of the sewing was perfect…the biggest error was Mom’s.
What Mom didn’t teach me was how to finish a project in a timely manner. She has very little interest in finishing one project before starting another. This has been very freeing to me. Perhaps a little too freeing. I have no idea how many started, but unfinished projects I even have.
In the fall of 2011, a book caught my eye. It is Scandinavian Needlecraft and includes great embroidery designs, mostly on wool. The book wasn’t in our library system at the time, so I tried Scandinavian Stitches instead. Author Kajsa Wikman has lots of great designs in it, including soft baskets and stuffed fabric birds. I loved one of the baby quilts in the book, but I wasn’t about to make a quilt just to hang on the wall. It occurred to me that Jessie was having a baby in December and the quilt has lots of blue in it (a color that she might not see enough of these days). A winter theme, lots of blue, and a December baby…a perfect combination.
I dug through my stash and found the perfect colors for the sky. I needed a little more variety and was happy to find a great match at the local thrift store. A couple of small pieces were added for variety and everything was ready to go. The cutting and sewing began at Mom’s house on Thanksgiving weekend. The top went together quite quickly.
Fox peeking out from the snow
The hand quilting took longer. It turned out to be the perfect project for me. I quilted at the hospital while Grandpa Neil was there. I quilted at Grandma Siggie’s while we spent time together. I quilted at the nursing home while Grandpa Neil was there. I quilted with friends while taking time for myself. Some of the stars are less than perfect. Some stars have more than five points. Maybe Ivy and Clara will look for them when they need a quiet project.
Stars in the sky
Since I’ve never finished a quilting project, this was my first attempt at cutting the binding on a bias. I thought about it for quite a while, folded the fabric, and cut. Was I ever surprised to find the zig-zag that it made. Hindsight was much clearer than foresight.
First try at binding
It was a happy day when I got the bias tape cut, ironed, and rolled. The binding finally was domesticated.
Spool of binding
It was time for the label. Jenny made one for the quilt, but it wasn’t quite what I had in mind. A friend told me about her label making process: spray adhesive on a sheet of printer paper; apply an oversize piece of fabric on it; cut the fabric to the size of the paper; feed the paper/fabric into the inkjet printer; print with the desired text; and set with a hot iron. Since I hope this quilt will withstand lots of washing, I decided to make the label more permanent by embroidering on top of the ink.
The fine print
It then seemed to take forever to finish the label and sew it onto the quilt. I had put off putting the binding on so that I could sew the label only on to the back of the quilt. I did everything just right for this process until the last moment, a moment of excitement, when I sewed the label through the entire thickness of the quilt. It was fortunate that the bobbin thread was white and nothing puckered in the process! I wasn’t about to tear it out at this point.
The completed quilt
The finished quilt was ready to give to Jane on March 24, when we celebrated Grandma Elma’s 93rd birthday. Jane and I met for the first time. It was a good day for many reasons, a small one was that this project was completed!
And now for something completely different…
George made a very good supper of squash and nettle lasagna tonight. That’s right…stinging nettles turned into a yummy supper.
Everything is good with lots of cheese
samplingitall 