The first photo is very shady because I didn’t even take the screen out of the window to shoot it but something strange is going on. We awaken to various crop circles. This was the first and the pattern gets lost behind the screen. it suggests something either skulked around in random circles or it was dragged.
First evidence
Today’s message is a little clearer and I even went outside to shoot this picture. I’m sure it is meant to be the numeral 2. What can it mean?
Crop circles
I’m still standing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s still better than sitting while my back slowly heals. I’ve spent the time causing many transformations from a vertical position. Most of the work is based upon the raw ingredients we pick up from the farm each week with a little wool thrown in.
This kohlrabi is huge, bigger than a grapefruit, smaller than a breadbox. Apparently you just carve a little off as needed. i’ve made a slaw with apples and craisins two nights and have hardly made a dent in it.
Giant winter kohlrabi
I finished knitting the second clog, felted them and gave them to their recipient, who proceeded to wear them while wet to form them to her feet. What a trooper.
Clogs before and after
Felted
For a bread variation, I made rolls to go with pulled pork. Yummmmm. I just made my basic bread recipe, formed half of it into one inch round balls and threw three in each compartment of the muffin tin. Bread flour from the farm.
Hard rolls
Rye flour became rye bread in the bread machine with both yeast and beer as the leavening. It’s a coarse bread, great with lots of butter and probably a beer. So much for the diet. It was fun while it lasted.
Rye bread
Not “standing” like it’s the same every week or a standing order. I literally knit the entire clog while standing because I strained my back yesterday and don’t like sitting, putting on pants, putting on socks, picking things up from the floor or bending in any way. So I knit, ate breakfast, read the paper and putzed around on the computer while standing. I love this felted clog pattern. They felt and shrink down to a cozy slipper clog.
Unfelted clog
While standing before the window all day, I got to observe the sky changing over Jay and sometimes clouds obscuring the mountain. Right now it’s almost obscured by the power lines but that’s why I strained my back and am standing in the first place.
Say goodbye to wires
Tim had a rehearsal so I had to make the trip to the farm share on my own today. There were big clouds in them there hills.
Something brewing on the way to the farm
There are a variety of hay storage systems: covered or uncovered, randomly strewn around the field, stacked in a pile or lined up like ducks in a row. Esthetically, I prefer the random, uncovered bales.
Hay
Well not exactly but the first cut of the 577 foot ditch needed to bury our power lines in was significant. We rented heavy equipment and used a lot of elbow and back grease. A bulldozer(?) was delivered and Tim’s brother arrived to operate it. We had to watch out for various hazards: an underground spring’s pipe, steep grades and a lost mole.
The first bite
The plan was simple, dig the ditch, glue the almost 600 foot, 6-inch wide conduit pipes together and roll them into the ditch. Not so fast. Although the ground was sandy, without rocks, there was one area with a steep grade and we found another spring, without a stop valve, where water quickly filled the last 150 feet or so. As the youngest and weakest of the crew, I was sent to Plattsburgh to get the pump to empty our new swimming ditch. It worked wonders, the pipe was laid in a dry ditch and the views along the northway were lovely.
I understand why road crews always have a few workers standing around. Earth movers are mesmerizing. I found myself standing and watching when I could. But we only had 48 hours with the heavy equipment so there wasn’t much standing around. Our job was made much easier, or at least mine was, with the help of a friend.
Boys will be boys
Potential pipeline
Moving pictures
Pretty farm
I’m a little broken tonight but hope to be able to stand up straight tomorrow. Now we just have to wait for the power and phone companies to come, take the wires off the poles (I hope the bluebirds don’t miss the wires) and run the wire through the conduit.
I’m on a new food quest. We joined a local farm, a year round Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), two weeks ago and have embarked on new adventures in dining. Yesterday I butchered a chicken. Well not exactly, but dismembered it. I also made rye crackers from flour, which were delicious with smoked salmon. And cut the brussel sprouts off the branch so I could store them in the refrigerator. Today I julienned beets and carrots and made gnocchi, from potatoes and milk from the farm. Next I will figure out what to do with wheat berries and these brussel sprouts.
Brussel sprout tree
We were spared the snow storm that affected southern New England and only saw a dusting of snow on Jay Mountain this morning. We caught the last of the season’s color on Friday before a gusty wind blew the remaining leaves off of most of our trees.
Last colorful hill
I have been up to my elbows in dog hair and don’t even have a dog. I am spinning some dog hair for a very dear friend. I am blending it with wool and think I am up to the last pile of it. I won’t be sad to see it leave the house. For some reason dog hair, which should be cleaner than sheep, alpaca or even wallaby, is less pleasant to work with. I find I always have a mild grimace on my face and try not to breathe too much through my nose, even though it’s been washed. When I was winding a large portion into a skein the other day, Tim’s head perked up, his nostrils flared and he kept swiveling around trying to figure what that smell was. A very dear friend.
A big gust blew most of the leaves off our white birch trees in one sweep. It wasn’t strong enough to knock down the wires but no worries, they are coming down anyway. Next week Tim and his brother are digging a 600 foot long ditch along our property so the power company can bury the lines which run in front of our house. I’ll be sure to take pictures. The scary part is, once they are underground, we own them, and have to be the ones to reconnect them to our house. I may be really off the grid next week.
Falling leaves and wires
Found all my knit hats, mittens and scarves. Chimney swept. Furniture brought in. New snow tires purchased. Yarn acquired. I’m ready for months inside but will be able to get where I need to go with my new snow tires. I may need them to buy english muffins and cream cheese.
Frozen weeds
I’m baking again and working on english muffins. These look right but there are missing the essential nooks and crannies. I have a recipe for crumpets that makes nooks and crannies but I’m having a hard time finding crumpet rings in the north country.
We’ve finally joined the local CSA – great timing right? – just in time for lots of cabbage, squash and potatoes. But it’s all delicious and fresh and local! Tomorrow is our next pick up; time to clean out the fridge and think of a million things to do with cabbage. So far I only know of cole slaw, risotto and sauerkraut. I’ll have to get that recipe for stuffed cabbage again. I made cream cheese this morning from old yogurt. It mostly tastes like old yogurt but dry. Not all experiments are successful!
English muffins
We went to the Adirondack museum a couple of weeks ago with the plan to finally look at all the boats and of course the log cabins, since Tim is building one for us. So I have log cabin radar and on the way spotted this church in Newcomb with logs, rough hewn planks and a tin roof and – a tin steeple?
Newcomb log cabin church
Rainbow over Jay Mountain
It’s still rainbow season in these parts. I saw one yesterday, while I walked to work, but didn’t get a good picture. Early this morning, it was gray, cold and windy so Tim went out to climb a mountain. While I sipped coffee at home, I saw this out the window. I ran outside to stand under the electric wires we are burying later this month, so they wouldn’t hog the photo.
This is the photo I didn’t catch last night. I was in bed when Tim came in from the hot tub to tell me he saw something wierd outside, which he thought might be the Northern Lights. This has been a dream of mine and I have been prepared to travel to Iceland, Finland, Alaska to see them. Instead I saw them from my bedroom window. I decided not to try to get a photo because it would have interfered with my enjoyment of this first encounter.
I have followed the Alaska geophysical site for years and was recently told about the Spaceweather.com site, which is based upon the NOAA space weather prediction data. They have a subscription service you can use to be alerted of “solar activity”. Northern light sitings can be predicted when there are significant solar flares and other magnetic disturbances. All I know is I have never seen the Auroral map predictions as bright or as far south as yesterday. There were sitings and photos in more than half of all U.S. states.
We saw a curtain of red, to the northwest, which moved across the sky. I was a little skeptical since most pictures I have seen show blues and greens but when I checked it out this morning, I learned the red is quite unusual and appears with very strong storms. Check your clocks.
noun
a grayish-white crystalline deposit of frozen water vapor formed in clear, still weather on vegetation, fences, etc
The colors are muted this morning by the hoarfrost!
Hoarfrost 1
Hoarfrost 2
Island and North Country Life 