There are 10 days left in this year.  In just a few days the “Silly Season” will be over and a new year will begin.  I am reminded of some words from a song by John Lennon “So this is Christmas and what have you done another year over and a new one just begun”.  My past year has been in a word good.  Not every thing I ever wanted in a year but my health held out, I lost a few pounds and made a few more friends.  I don’t mind getting up in the morning.  I have been luckier than a lot of others. I am thankful for this past year and look forward to the new one.

Thought of the day

“An American "tradition" is anything that happens to a baby boomer twice.” http://xkcd.com/

It has indeed been a long time since I last bloged.  I missed the whole month of November and here it is 1/3 through December wow!  Its not that I don’t have anything to say, my god I am Irish I can talk a persons ear off its just that I have been too busy playing and working to write in my virtual journal. Well not really too busy I guess the real word is too lazy.  I have been piddling around the house not really getting any thing done, piddling around the yard not getting anything done and meaning to work on the barn and clean out the shed and not getting it done.  It is like I have hit a lets get things done wall.  I have as of late been doing just enough to get by, no dishes in the sink, floor swept, trash out, laundry done; you know things you have to do if you don’t want to live in a trash heap.  What have I been doing other wise you ask? Reading.  I am trapped in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” books by G. R. R. Martin.  I am in book 3 of the 5 that are out now.  Book 3 has 1128 pages.  I am looking to this series as my “winter read” and I am enjoying it.

I have also discovered that NPR slows me down.  I have been listing to it “all the time” as of late. While it is very informative for some reason it seems to keep me from getting things done.  I turned on some good old fashion Rock the other day and got a lot done!! So for me at least no more NPR during the day, well I am going to limit it to early morning and late afternoon.  The rest of the day it will be Radio Paradise and other R&R stations.

Now not to lead folks on, I am an average reader I can read 50 pages or more an hour if am able to just sit and read BUT I did spend Halloween in New Orleans and Thanksgiving on the Outer Banks.  I have been working more and as always there is wood that has to be cut and friends that must be associated with and volunteer things that must be volunteered so while the barn still needs fixing, the shed still needs cleaning and a million other things do need to get done…… I guess the lesson here is stop doing fun things and get my work done!!!

Whelp I am off to get something done, I don’t know what yet but something.  Maybe I will bake Christmas cookies.

I woke up this morning to the first frost of the year.  Summer is gone and Fall is nearly half way over, heck the year is almost gone!!  For me the year so far has been a good one.  Mountain life suits me.  

This past month so far has been a busy one I went to the Outer Banks at the beginning of the month and it was a very nice visit.  My sister was at the beach so my moms “honey do” list was almost done when I got there, that allowed me to enjoy the family and do a little shopping; you know just relax.  For me mid September through October is a great time to visit the beach. Its not as crowed and defiantly not as hot as the summer is. When I first got there I was a little surprised at the traffic but then I was reminded that it was Columbus Day weekend.  I don’t have any kids in school and I work at a job that is not tied to a  8 hour, 5 day work week so all but the major holidays seem to have been dropped from my radar.  It was one of my better visits since I left the beach. I had a good time but it was nice to come home.

Knights in armor

fairies

 and friends

 Last weekend some friends and I went to the Renaissance Festival outside of Charlotte NC.  I had a good time.  We put renaissance looking things in our hair, a few of us dressed up and we all had a good time. I had my face painted and while it looked great red on a pale face at the renaissance fair did not go well in the long run.

This weekend I will be hanging at home.  I need to get some things done here.  If my garden is not wiped out from this frost I need to mulch it more and cover a few things with plastic. Between work and play I have let the garden go.  The weather has been so nice that I did not even think about frost.  Of course there is the never ending winter activity of splitting wood, stacking wood and bringing wood in the house. In between my little activities I will sit on the couch and read.  Sometimes a little alone time can be great!!!  

I'm gonna love this wood splitter,

I went from this....

to this in just a few hours...

I'm gonna love the wood splitter!!!!!!

Labor Day weekend here in SW Virginia consists of yard sales, yard sales and really big yard sales. I went to Galax through Hillsville Friday and the Labor Day Flea Market & Gun Show was going on. All along 221 there was yard sale after yard sale. This goes on all weekend, Friday to Monday. On my way to Floyd yesterday I had to be very careful of traffic on the road side. People had stopped all over the place to check out the sales and traffic was very slow. Kinda like it is on the Outer Banks in the summer; People going real slow because they don’t know when and where they are going to turn. The yard sales are a bit of a pain for me, I’m not a yard sale person but like the deer and raccoons they are apart of living here and I would not see them gone for anything.

I had plans for the next 4 days that have to be changed thanks to tropical storm Lee. For the past few days my brother down near the Big Easy has been getting some much needed rain and starting tonight and then over the next 3 days we will be getting some of that much needed rain. I had plans on putting a dent into my wood cutting duties. I have bought a new wood splitter and a gas powered chain saw and planed on spending at least 4 hours a day on cutting and splitting wood (I’m not going to kill my self working 8 hours a day with unfamiliar equipment!!). I’m going to go ahead and get started today but I know I wont come anywhere near finishing but we really need the rain and I’m sure I can find plenty of rainy day things to do.

My solution to the deer problem was to put a simple fence around the garden and then I will be putting an electric fence around that. It’s not the prettiest thing I have ever seen but I have seen worse and it is working for now.

It was a long day at work today. Any time there is an inspection it is a long day but I got off a few minutes early and was home in time to enjoy a nice dinner on the deck. Looking at my dinner of a fresh tomato and lettuce sandwich with peach slices it occurred to me that today is September 1^st and the fresh salty/sweet tomatoes will be gone soon as will most of the fresh veggies I have been enjoying these past few months. I only have a few tomatoes left and I will enjoy every last one but ohhhh how I look forward to next year and more fresh tomatoes.

Well it has been an eventful weekend here in paradise. At least 1 deer has discovered my garden and the girl dog Trip got skunked again. On the good side the deer did not get much, just the tops to the carrots and some beans I was letting go to “seed”. The area the deer got into was where I was going to put in some winter plants so I cleaned out that bed today and put in some cabbage. Of course I did cover the bed with wire fencing so hopefully that will detour Bambi. We shall see. Trip only got a “little” skunked, if there is such a thing. The way she was foaming at the mouth I would say she got it mainly around the muzzle. I did not feel or smell any on her shoulder which is where she usually gets it and today while she still has a scent of essence de la pew it is no where near as bad as it usually is. I had her foamed up with dawn dish soap less than 5 minutes from the “attack”. Damn dog.

I took a good portion of these tomatoes and made

these jars of goodness.

These were not quite ripe enough to use today

I spent much of today canning 8 quarts and 2 pints of tomatoes.

It was rewarding in that I grew, harvested and canned the tomatoes but the economy of this is subjective. I spent ½ to 1 hour harvesting the tomatoes, 2 hours cutting and pealing them, another ½ hour putting them through a hand cranked food mill and then hours of tending the pot as they cooked down into a thick-ish sauce. Add to that cleaning the jars and lids and then watching the pressure cooker cook, it turns out I spent all day putting up what on a bad day might have cost me $20 at the store. Now don’t get me wrong I’m glad I did it and this will save me on my food cost but preserving food is not as easy or as “cost” saving as the books make it out to be.

Oh and by the way…. I know that I can use a water bath to can the tomatoes but I have found that at my altitude it is quicker to use the pressure cooker.

It is already August, the days are getting shorter, the trees are starting to have a yellow tinge to them and the garden is just about shot but that’s OK I came to the mountains to experience the change of seasons and I have loved every minute of it. I still have a lot to do before winter; I have an old locus tree that needs to be cut down and split into fire wood. I want to get some fall & winter “crops” planted this week. There are still tomatoes to be caned, apples and pears to be preserved and the second crop of black berries will be happening soon. I said that after the very active July I had I was going to “take it easy” this month. Staying home and getting ready for winter that’s taking it easy in my book.

The last three weeks have been quite busy. A friend of mine’s daughter got married, Floyd Fest X happened and I spent a few days in Abingdon VA.

The wedding was beautiful, Floyd Fest was hot in more than one way and Abingdon was a nice mental and physical cool down.

I will post photos in the next day or so

Well we are half way through July and the government is as f-uped as ever and if there is not some kind of COMPROMISE the country is going to face Armageddon…… Well here in paradise the garden is looking really nice and if all goes well I will have plenty of green beans, tomatoes and butternut squash to hold me over till next spring. I will keep on working in my garden, trying to do the best for my plants and my food future while those idiots in Washington fight like children over who broke the toy, both refusing to admit that it was the fight over who could play with the toy that broke it and neither accepting that they will all have to pay to replace it. Man politics just makes me sooo pissed off!! Thank god for the garden!!!!

Sorry about the political crap but I needed to vent.....

Now for some better stuff,

GARDEN SHOTS!!!!!

I have not had a big bug problem until recently now I am fighting Japanese beetles and squash bugs. I have been controlling the Japanese beetles by picking them off. I found that if you water the plants first the beetles hold on tight to the leaves and are less likely to drop to the ground when you go after them. Once they drop to the ground they are really hard to find.

I tried real hard not to use any pesticides in the garden but the squash bugs got so bad that I used a little sevens dust on the pumpkins and butter nut squash. I tried very hard to avoid the flowers because sevens dust is very toxic to bees.

These are some moon "rise" photos I took last night.

It has been so hot and muggy up here these past few weeks; last night we had a change in the weather. It became much cooler and the air was clear. These moon photos do not do last night's sky justice but I am posting them anyway!!

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of 2011, it will be daylight for 14 hours 43 minute 53 seconds, which is 2 seconds longer than yesterday and 2 seconds longer than tomorrow. Just thought I would enlighten you.

The garden is looking good this year. Hope it stays that way!!

I harvested these greens, mustard and radish,

Did all this work

and got this. I will freeze these for later.

Things here in Floyd have been good. The weather is finally getting back to normal. Hopefully the 90’s are gone for a while. I have been keeping busy in the garden and trying to keep the grass under control while doing normal log cabin maintenance. I am finding out that log homes are defiantly not care free but then no home really is. The front of the cabin faces south so it has gotten beaten up by the sun and I have had to re-stain it. I’m not a fan of ladders but with the help of my friend Shirely I got the front done!! I still have 2 sides and the back to get done in the next little while but the hardest and most necessary sides are done.

I’m going to try and get to the Floyd Town Jubilee this Saturday that should be nice. Next month, July, just explodes with the Floyd Fandango , a friends daughters wedding and then Floydfest X. The summer is just flying!!!!

I enjoy reading but I sometimes feel that I limit myself to genres that I am comfortable with so from time to time I pick up a book at a discount store. I feel for a buck if I don’t like the book it’s no big loss and who knows I might like the author and have whole new series to read. That is how I discovered S. M. Sterling. Any way after reading and finally finishing “The Simarillion”, a book that I originally tried to read nearly 30 years ago but never finished, I needed a light read so off I went to the discount store where I picked “The Book of Unholy Mischief” by Elle Newmark. I would not say it’s a great book but I am enjoying it, it’s a combo book on cooking, history and religion. I am learning a little about Venice in the late 1400’s, at least I am hoping the author did some research and her descriptions are accurate, and it is an easy summer read. I would recommend it.

There is a certain catharsis that comes from simple hard work; a cleansing of the soul, a freeing of the mind. Simple hard work requires less of the mind than is required to do more complicated task such as balancing a check book, and for me hard work allows part of my mind to wander, to explore the past the future and the present. Today I spent the whole day working with my hands. I used a weedeater to cut about a half acre or so of tall grass then after it got too hot to do that anymore I made a quiche from scratch and cleaned house, then in the cool of the late afternoon I weeded the garden, watered all the plants and put some sprouting potatoes a friend gave me in pots. All day while I did these necessary but mind freeing activities I reflected on all I wanted to do in the future, what others had taught me in the past and what I want to do with my time in the now. I solved no problems, had no great insights but at this moment while I am relaxing on the deck drinking a coke, the dogs lying quietly next to my chair as I watch the stars slowly appear and the fire fly’s start their psychedelic dance I reflect on the day and say to myself god I’m lucky.

It is June already, oh my gosh, the summer is in full force and it seems like I am still doing things that were meant to be done in the spring but there is so much to do in Floyd that time seems to be flying!!!! Just last night I had the privilege to go to my first classical concert. Can you believe that here in the middle of gods county there is a classical music festival going on. I am very impressed by the sound of all those instruments combined together to form a coherent sound. As I was listening the thought came to me that human civilization has only existed for a few thousand years and in that time many musical instruments producing a plethora of sounds have been made and someone had the ability to combine all those sounds into a symphony. It is just awesome.

This is just a taste of the sound of a cloudy day here in the mountains.

Like every one else we have been getting a LOT of rain and not nice gentle rains, they have been almost torrential. I hope the rain slows down a bit I need to cut the grass.

Nearly every morning and in this order I get up, walk to the living room open the door so the dogs can get out, turn on the computer, get coffee started, get the dog food ready, go and relieve myself (I know TMI) feed the dogs, get a cup of coffee and sit at the computer to check out the weather, e-mail, and NEWS. I am not happy when this routine is interrupted especially when I have to work. 10 minutes with a nice hot cup of coffee and my equivalent to the news paper just makes my morning. Well today at 0610 that’s 6:10 in the am Trip the girl dog came into the house foaming at the mouth and with an odor that brought tears to my eyes. That damn dog got into another skunk; the second one this year. To make things worse I had to be at work for a mandatory class at 8:00 am and it takes an hour to get where the class was being held!!!!! Well I got the Dawn soap and the vinegar, threw Trip in the shower gave her a quick bath and rinse, I did not have the 10 minutes to wait with the Dawn on but since the skunk spray was still wet I figured something was better than nothing. Trip got out of the shower and on to the porch and I hopped in took a quick shower and off to class I went. Class was canceled because of a computer glitch but not before my coworkers got a scent of my new perfume. It seems there was just a hint of essence de la skunk on me. With the cost of gas I went ahead and got my errands done while I was out. I stopped at three places, the first place I stopped I heard a man say to a woman, “Do you smell that I think it is something electrical” her reply “NO that is SKUNK!”

I have spent all afternoon cleaning house and dog and I can still smell that skunk…… Damn that dog!!!!

Trip smells spring


just a taste of Willis spring color


on one of the trials near Blowing Rock NC

the valley before brunch

the valley after Brunch

It’s been a busy few weeks for me. I have been getting things ready for spring planting and trying to catch up on some outside repairs of course I have been working in between storms. It seems that every day I am off it is either raining or I have to “do something” away from home.

Last Friday a friend and I went to Blowing Rock NC for the weekend and there was a tornado that set down about 40 miles from my house, that was a blessing but I was told that the wind and rain at my place was torrential. This week end the same storm system that started in Oklahoma has brought an unbelievable amt of rain to us in south western Virginia. The fields down from my cabin have a stream running down one side of them. That stream became a river today. I had never seen it do that before. That land is pasture land and hay field in a flood plain and today I could see why it will most likely not be used for anything else.

The daffodils are hidden under the snow to the left of the photo.

It’s been quite a week here. Monday it snowed then it rained then it just plane got cold and today they call for high winds. Hummm….. I have finished my book and magazines, I have baked bread and I have cleaned house. It was warmer here the beginning of March than it is now!!! I had all my seeds out and was planning on where to plant them and now I have been reminded that winter is not over yet. I want to plant things and I need to cut the grass but it is winter again!!!! Agggggg I have spring fever sooooo bad!!!!!!

I did get to see a sun set last night, it wasn’t as pretty as the sun sets at the beach but I do miss seeing the sun rise and sun set so while it was not perfect it was very nice.

Winter is back if only for today. I almost put the snow shovel away and I thought seriously about taking off the snow tires but I was reminded that it can snow in April here. Today I am reminded that it’s not summer yet.

a touch of spring

Spring shed cleaning

It has been a very nice March. The weather has made me think that that ground hog from Pennsylvania knew what he was talking about. Of course it is still March and the old saying in like a lamb out like a lion came from somewhere.

So far this month I have been spending a lot of time out of doors. I have been working on getting rid of a bunch of black berry bushes. Now that may seem like the wrong thing to do but there are so many bushes that I can’t pick the berries and they are spreading out even more. Cows kept them back in the day but since I don’t want cows on my property it has become my job. Hummmm goats are sounding better and better….. Any way the object this year is get as much done with the least amount of money. I want to use up some of the “good stuff” I have saved over the 2 years I have been here. As can be seen by the cleaning the shed photo I’ve collected a lot of junk. In the barn there is a lot of scrap wood and stuff that needs to be used or gotten rid of. I found enough log siding to repair a good deal of the front of the barn. From the road the barn is going to look like a big log cabin!! I have been putting in two more raised beds for gardening. I will put in two a year until I get the garden to where I want it. When the garden is on a steep slope putting in raised beds is a lot of work. I have to take the fill in by wheel barrow and bucket and it takes a lot of fill. One of the raised beds this year is 8x8, I had to go up 28 inches on the down hill slope to get it level. Now just think I have to fill in half of that space, that’s a lot of fill.

Now back to the March weather, things have cooled down. We have been getting day time highs in the upper 50’s, 60’s and a day or 2 in the 70’s and night time temps well above freezing, now we are having a reality check and we are back to normal which means OK day time temps but cold nights. Last night was cold so I decided to light the wood stove for the first time in 2 weeks. I put in the kindling, lit it and sat back to watch the fire take. After less than a minute out of the wood stove popped a bird…. that stopped that fire right quick!!!! Today I have to take my chimney down and make sure there is no nest in it. Cheese and Crackers more work!!!

Is it the end of times or is it that with nearly 7 billion souls on earth, the internet and 24 hour news things that have been happening since the beginning of time are making a bigger impact on us humans who have moved to the shore, built nuclear power plants and could not imagine living with out our modern devices?

The world has been in flux since it was formed and will continue to change and remold it self long after we humans are gone. That truth does not take away the pain and suffering the victims of natural and man made disasters experience but if we are lucky we will learn from these events and devise new ways to live with nature accepting that nature does not care that we are here. It is up to us humans to bend to nature and work with nature not against it; nature will not bow to us, nature is queen.

I told myself I was going to do better blogging but then I got lazy. Sigh………..

Things with me have been good and like always busy. I have been dividing my time between the loft, which is looking good!, the outside, the weather has been AWESOME !!!!! and of course making the donuts, I have to have a job so I can pay to live in paradise.

I am dreading go to work today because I know its going to be busy, people if you are sick don’t wait till you get real sick to see a doctor and try to see your doctor before you go to the ED. I don't want to go to work to day its looking like it is going to be nice and I would much rather be outside preparing for spring which is in just 16 more days from now!!!! Of course living in the mountains means warmer days but the nights will still be too cold for planting but that just makes me want it more.

Well more later, gota go make the donuts!!!

I think the cat is looking forward to the spring. She is getting some tree climbing in

For a cat she's not bad

I have to say that after the cold winter we have had waking up to temps in the 30’s felt almost balmy. I had to think about starting a fire this morning I finally did but that was only after looking at the power bill and thinking “I can get it lower than that”. I did start one last night when I got home from work but I did not get up during the night and put any wood on the fire, my stove is small so it only holds a fire about 6-8 hours so usually one time during the night I put another log on the fire but last night was busy at work and I got off late and I was dead tired when I went to bed, so this morning around 4 o’clock I said frack it I’m going back to sleep.

I am getting the loft done. I have the hip walls framed in and will put the wainscoting up next week. It’s going to look nice up there. It will be a comfortable place for company and a nice place for me to work on sewing and such. I think one of the best things I did when building the cabin was put in the spiral stair. I was going to use a ladder but the spiral stair does not use much room and is so much easier to go up and down, especially when you are in your 50’s, than a ladder would have been. Plus it just looks nice. At the pace I am going I still have a month or so of work to do n the loft but the important thing is its is getting done and I’m doing a good job!!

I still have projects to get done in the house, I want to build a pantry I still have trim that needs to get up, the list is never ending but that is part of the fun of having a new home and county living.

Maybe that ground hog was right, maybe spring will be here early. I’m starting to see a little red in the tips of the trees.

Well I survived the storm. Compared to last year this years storms, TO DATE, are not much. If things pan out the way the weather folks say I'm going to have to get off my fat butt and do some out door work. The temps look like there going to be normal which for around here means temps in the 40's during the day.

I have been getting the loft work done, slowly but surely, I'll pick up some wood this week to frame up the hip walls. I'm going to use wanes coating so that will make the wall surface easier, at least that is the plan. I am full of plans.

Welp the snow has started. Lets see if we get 1 or 6 inches of the white stuff!!!

I am spending my day enjoying the sun and warm temperatures, getting laundry and other small chores done. In between folding loads of cloths I have been reading an apocalyptic tale by S.M Stirling and it got me thinking, I know there will be a change in the weather tomorrow; there is the possibly of “substantial” snow. Because I can look things up on the internet and I have the radio I know that things are going to be less pleasant tomorrow and I can prepare. There was a time when your only clues of the weather to come came from local clues, the clouds on the horizon, the feel and smell of the air but now we count on NOAA and the Weather Channel. After living on the beach for nearly 30 years I do have some sense of when the weather will change but the smell and feel of the air is different in the mountains. It seems the fronts are harder to see and feel. The weather is less predictable. At the beach I knew the winter would be wet and windy, summer hot and dry and spring and fall a blur on the calendar. I haven’t learned the seasons here yet. This winter is so different from last and last was so different from my first winter here. I am looking forward to the spring. The past two springs have been consistently wonderful.

Well gotta get a move on. I have to stock up for the snow, I need milk and ice cream!

I’m sitting here in front of the computer in shorts, a tank top and flip flops. It is 75 degrees in the cabin down from the 79 it was in the “heat” of the day. That is what passive solar can do. While I spent the day reading a book with my legs basking in the sun shining through the windows I had a false sense of temperature. When I took the dogs for a walk I found out that it really was cold out side and the wind made it feel even colder.

There is nothing “special” about my cabin it just has good insulation and big south facing windows but that is enough to keep the cabin warm during the day. Even if the wood stove is off or kept very low (like today) on a sunny day the heat pump does not come on at all.

Another ½ month has gone by and I have not done anything I “wanted” to do. I still have the last half of January to finish the loft that was my finish in January list topper. I AM going to start it TODAY and there is not a lot to do, just a little sanding, painting, put up trim and a kick wall with wanes coating and then putting down the flooring. Humm maybe I will put this on the top of my February list right next to get the garden beds in order.

Oh man. It is the middle of January all ready. This winter has been a little different from last year, the Farmer’s Almanac said it would be colder and dryer (at least that is how I read it) ; it feels like it has been colder to me and we sure have not had as much snow. The “timing” of the weather has also changed. Last year it seemed any weather we had came on the weekends, this year it’s been mid week. Last year I hardly had to drive in the mess and this year uggggggg, it seems like every damn shift I have worked the weather has been bad. At least when I am at home my cabin is cozy and warm and my view is beautiful.

This weekend promises to be a good one; we are going to get a bit of a winter thaw this Martin Luther King holiday. The warm temps and sunshine will give me a chance to tromp around the property and dream about the spring planting and summer gardens that will come from them. I know this warm weather is going to be short lived, the cold winter is not even a month long yet, but it will be a nice break and I am going to enjoy it.

I lift my coffee mug to you, stay warm and enjoy the weekend

Happy New Year

It is hard to believe that it is January 2011. It is said that as we grow older time seems to go by quicker and for me it is sure speeding by. I woke up this morning thinking that in 4 ½ months I can start planting my garden and then my mind went to the John Lennon song that says “And so it is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over and a new one’s just begun” or something like that. 2010 was a good year for me, not great but not bad. I can’t say that I accomplished a lot but the important things got done. I have a few personal New Years resolutions that I am going to try and accomplish this year (for real THIS time). My only real hope for this New Year is that my family and friends have a year filled with a lot of good times and that the bad times, because there are always bad times, aren’t too bad.

2011 is already starting off on a relatively good foot, its 6 am and 46 degrees. It’s going to rain but heck its still warmer than its been in a long time.