Adirondacks

Pet or pest?

/ one2travelfar / 1 Comment

It’s a matter of perspective. For the past several years, I haven’t had a pet, unless you consider bees pets, and I don’t. I’ve had dogs, cats, turtles, hamsters, fish. We had dogs who had puppies when I was young, ducks briefly, and then cats my adult life until now.

None could replace Shirley.

I adopted her and her sister, Oreo, as kittens. Oreo was lost in the wilds of Nissequogue, NY. Then we got Loki, a black and serious cat.

They lived on a catamaran with us, traveled to lighthouses and moved north to Adirondacks. They accommodated easily to their surroundings.

My last cat, Elli, died young and unexpectedly during the pandemic and I opted to take a pause.

Now there are signs we have a new pet. We went away for a few days and my indoor arugula plant was nibbled to the stem.

We caught one mouse but that wasn’t the culprit because this morning the dust in a joint between the concrete floor in the basement was pulled out in tufts.

It may be another mouse or it could be a self- sufficient pet. It’s all a matter of perspective.

It’s been a minute

/ one2travelfar / 1 Comment

We drove home from Colorado in April and life and work has kept us busy.

Sadly my bees froze over the winter and most of my fellow beekeepers also lost a high percentage of their hives due to weather and mites.

I repopulated them and all was going well until a bear got into one of them. The electric net was stomped, hive frames, where the unhatched bees live, were scattered 100 yards down the hill. Honey attracts the bears but they really want the protein from the larvae.

The remaining bees were huddled on the ground and on one frame.

I put the hive box back together but I never saw the queen and could only hope she was ok. The clump of bees may have been a sign. I added an AC charger to the electric fence.

I called the NY conservation ranger who scheduled a site visit. Before she could get here, the bear came back and got the second hive.

I was very discouraged. With Tim’s help, we tripled the electric wire and baited it with peanut butter on foil.

The bees were pissed. One got under my suit and stung me under the arm. I stripped my clothes off in the front yard. Tim got stung in the hand and the Ranger got stung in the face! They were not acting like their usual mellow selves.

I was advised my fence was in good order, it was a nuisance bear to livestock (my two hives), and I was permitted to shoot it. Hmmm, I don’t think so.

I checked the bees a week later and, miraculously, both queens survived and were laying eggs. Meanwhile the workers were storing tons of honey. I added more honey boxes and will wait and see. It’s been 10 days since the last bear visit.

In the meantime, the deer get bolder.

At least they don’t eat my bees! They better leave my garden alone.

‘Tis the season

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

Every year as Christmas approaches I start making projects, lots of them. I think I knit 40 hats, scarves, cowls and sweaters. Most have been distributed.

This is my current tour de force. A drop shoulder fair isle sweater I designed and knit on a machine. It’s being stretched on my new woolly board from the Wool Brokers in Scotland.

I made this pullover from a simple pattern written up in the 1980’s. The body is cashmere, sleeves are alpaca silk and sock yarn. My granddaughter thought it was soft enough to keep.

Star Wars was my theme this year.

When I wasn’t knitting, I baked, lots of different cookies. These buche noel cookies were a hit with me!

These stained glass window cookies were fun to make. The centers were a surprise though. They looked like chewy candy but were actually melted lifesavers and hard. I won’t be making these again.

Decorations were kept to a minimum. I pulled out two candle chimes and a star.

We kept the lights on an evergreen from last year, plugged it in and voila!

Then we hit the road, to Christmas celebration in Kittery, Maine, and skiing at Killington, Vermont in spring conditions.

Complete with a rainbow.

The Champlain Bridge, on our way home, was picture perfect.

A few more days at home and then we are headed back out. We will be caretakers at Mcgraw Ranch in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Can you say ROAD TRIP?!

What’s worse than a snake in the grass?

/ one2travelfar / 2 Comments
Snakeskin in the grass

One in the basement!

I found this little guy in the basement and another under the outside stairs. A quick search led me to Snake Away to try to keep them from the house. We probably also need to seal a few cracks.

That’s Tim on the roof, for the last time, cleaning the chimney. I’m belaying him from the ground and hate the whole process. He agreed to hire someone next time. I may have to get this promise in writing.

My zinnias keep blooming. Every time I cut a flower, two more appear. They may be my only crop next year.

Here is the last bloom in my wildflower garden.

Honey is in. It was a sticky day. Best advice was to have a bowl of water and towel nearby to rinse your hands, repeatedly.

I harvested about 17 pounds. Since then, I have fed the bees about 80 pounds of sugar to keep them fed over the winter. We traded.

Will you look at that. So pretty. I need more garlic and rosemary next time but it was quite the creative focaccia.

“V” is for victory

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

Although I tried to complete the alphabet today, I messed up “W”. There’s still time.

Kayaks are loaded on the car, bags are packed and we’re taking a horse and carriage ride into Great Camp Santononi tomorrow. And maybe I will get to swim.

First I have to pick out my camping, knitting project.

On a roll

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment
Helicopter cloud shadow

We hiked with friends on Sunday and then swam to freeze off. We created, what I am sure would have been, a beautiful “R” but my gps hiccuped. Instead, I improved my “P”.

Today I was motivated and it paid off. Three letters! I could still feel my fingers when I was done. Drumroll…

“T” is missing because I already swam it when a “K” fail became a “T”.

Since I started at the end of the alphabet, I only have one, maybe two letters left. Maybe, because I could flip an “M” to make it a “W”.

We’re going kayak camping this weekend. I may really complete this challenge.

Summer squeeze

/ one2travelfar / 1 Comment

So much to do before the end of summer: finish swimming my gps alphabet; canoe camping at Great Camp Santanoni; train to climb a big hill with stuff.

The hill starts today. We’re hiking Rooster Comb, with friends but no gear. I will hopefully get to swim an “R and S” after our hike.

We’re getting ready to return to Seguin Island for a few weeks to help tuck it in for winter.

This is truly one of my favorite places in the world. We’ve helped out almost every year since 2008. I may know the 64 acre island better than my own little piece of paradise.

But to get there, we have to take a boat, then a dinghy to the beach, offload everything, then climb up another couple hundred feet to the top of the island, where the lighthouse is perched. I have knots in my stomach already even though Tim does most of the hauling while I unpack in the kitchen. I and/or some our stuff usually take a dunking as well.

Next weekend there are big goings in in our little town and we like to high tail it out of here. Tim arranged a horse drawn carriage to bring our kayaks four miles in to the great camp, where we will look for a nice camping spot- another of our favorite places.

Are these the dog days?

Minding my “P’s and Q’s”

/ one2travelfar / 1 Comment

They are both a bit of a stretch but autumn is coming. It was 49 degrees at home this morning! I swam with a brave friend who let out such a whoop when she got in the water, it echoed for minutes off the cliffs around Chapel Pond.

Not sure what I triangulated. Or how it happened. I split the letters into 2 swims to keep it neat. It’s hard enough retracing one letter. I had to quit early because a few fingers went numb.

My “Q” is weak.

Autumn is coming!

So I knit my fourth pair of jaywalker socks.