Update and Winter Wheat

It's been, well, interesting lately.  I suppose that's a good word for it.  I'm working back into sewing after I had a mishap with my hand crank and a finger, but it was the first time I've ever had a needle through the finger since I started sewing 32 years ago.

I've also been writing again, and after filling 5 notebooks and over 50 pieces of notebook paper, I've put it aside for the moment.  If I had a camera, I'd post a picture of the fountain pens I've been using.  Since I can't, they are (so you can look them up if you wish): Edison Nouveau Premiere in Lilac, Fountain Pen Revolution Triveni Jr in green ebonite, Pilot Metropolitan in purple leopard, Pilot Prera in soft blue (when I discovered that the Metro was too cold on my hand in this weather, I switched the Prera because it was warmer on the hand), and a good old Platinum Preppy (which always work well for me.)  Oh, and on notebook #1 I used an Airmail 67T eyedropper pen (also from FPR).  (Usual legal disclaimers here, NAYY, as we say on Treadle On, all pens and ink I purchased, etc., just a happy customer.)  Inks (because someone will want to know): Noodler's Liberty Elysium (Preppy), custom mix in the Triveni Jr, J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune in the Edison, Noodler's Dark Matter in the Airmail, and Pilot blue-black in the Pilots. 

  Anyway, so tonight I'm a bit blue, long story, part of the problem is I've been watching news again.  I wish the news reporters had to live with their own stories the way I have to live with their work.  The saying about "walking a mile in someone's shoes" says it all.  Well, I haven't read much since the CNV started, so tonight I did.  I read the entire book Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker (1944). 

  A little background -- I first read Winter Wheat about 28 or so years ago, when I was around 12.  My grandma had it on her shelf, and living with them on the farm, I didn't see a library as often as I went through books.  Well, when we moved off the farm I was able to claim it as Grandma didn't want it anymore.   It's probably been about 20 years since I last read it.  It's about Ellen Webb, daughter of a Vermont father and a Russian mother, and it leads up to the beginning of WWII.  It takes place in Montana.

  Throughout the story (Ellen's trip to Minnesota for college, then having to leave to teach a year for money) the wheat serves as a backdrop.  It's always there, unobtrusive, yet controlling, and yet it's a friend, even.  If the wheat does well... if the hail didn't get it... if they can sell for a good price... (short version.)  For all the times I've read this book, the optimism never jumped out at me until tonight.  There's lots of bad events that happen in the book, and yet, that wheat is always there to look forward to, and if it's a bad year, well, there's always the next year...

  That theme rings with me, having grown up on a farm.  The type of farming I knew is dead now, a victim of greed and corporations.  It's gone, never to return, and the county I live in, well, let's not go there (also a victim of greed.)  And even as blue as I am tonight, that little flame of hope is still going, "There's always next year.  Things will be better next year."  So, if you need a little bit of earthy comfort, try Winter Wheat.   
 

 

Meet Danny

Meet our new family member, Danny

This was taken his first night home.  That's not my lap.  He wouldn't sleep on me until 3 days later.  I won't show you those pictures, because I was asleep, too.  He slept curled up on my neck, under my chin.

Yes, another rat terrier.  Our last rat terrier passed away in January, just shy of 15, after being blind for the last two years and having diabetes.  It's been fun having a puppy again, and we do love him very much.  He loves us, too, and watches out for us.  He's a rescue, and his name was originally Danie (we just changed the spelling.  He seems like a Danny!)  He does this cute thing with his mouth when he sleeps, where he almost looks like he's blowing kisses.  But oh, boy, if he sees something outside he doesn't like, he can growl to scare the grey hair off your head.  Never at us, mind you.  There isn't a mean bone in his body.  He's already a good watch dog.

This is Danny on a normal day -- all blur.  The only time you get a good view is when he's sleeping.  Nearly every day we take him for a mile and a half to two mile walk.  He loves walks.

Danny as of last night:

Danny when he first came:

 
We can't imagine life without him.
 

Catch up time!

Since my last post 2 years ago and some, way too much has happened.  2013 was the year of deaths, following on the heels of Grandpa's death December 2012.  I lost my other grandfather, a dear cousin, my great-aunt (and Godmother), two beloved teachers from high school, Mr. Claraspet's aunt, and then top it off with a dear lady I knew all my life (who left me her treadle.)  That was June-September.  There's been a couple more deaths, ending with Mr. C's grandma a week ago.  She was a wonderful, dear lady.  But the biggest challenge to come my way came last November with my eyesight.  Something wasn't right with my vision, but I wasn't sure what. I was due into the retina specialist anyway, and when I went I was appalled to find out that what didn't seem right was 20/70 (corrected) in my left eye.  CNV -- choroidal neovascularization.  It's easy to search if you want to know more.  4 shots later my vision seems to be back as close to 20/20 (corrected) as I'll get.  If I use just my left eye things are still wavy, but I'll take wavy and clear as opposed to what it was last November.  I'm just getting back into sewing, though I have been cross stitching and crocheting.  I'm working on projects for everyone while I can, just in case the CNV ever acts up again.

So that's been about it.  CNV sucks -- but it could be worse.

I hope to post again tomorrow.  I have a new family member to introduce.

Take care, y'all, and print yourselves Amsler Grids.

Claraspet 

Sad News

I knew that this day was coming, and yesterday morning it happened.  Clara died during the night.

Clara turned 10 last month, and from all accounts I've heard, 10 is old for a chicken.  No sign of illness or anything.  She acted perfectly normal the day before.  We buried her under the pine tree, where she always liked to lay in the summer.  Her other favorite spot was on the back step, but we really couldn't bury her under the cement.

I looked through some pictures yesterday, and thought you might enjoy a few.  Unfortunately, I didn't find the one from when she caught the mouse.

Moving into the new chicken coop, 2006.  What this picture doesn't show is that she was trying to get into the coop the entire time we were taking the old one down and moving the new one into place.  It got the Clara seal of appoval!

    Clara and Goldie (long deceased).  Clara would walk right inside the back door if it were open.  It was a running joke for a long time that Clara should have been a dog.  She was a great watch-chicken, and chased a couple of people out of the back yard once.

This was taken in 2010, after the raccoon attack.  She survived the attack but walked around for a few days afterwards almost like she was in shock.  A friend of mine said that had I not been as obnoxious as I was taking care of her, she'd have probably died from being convinced she was going to die. 

OK, so Clara isn't in this picture, but it's still a good one.  How many Rhode Island Reds fit on a garbage can?  Four! 

 

Perching on garbage cans or climbing the fence to get out (thank you, Goldie, for teaching that trick) was not Clara's thing.  She was a good chicken, preferring her back yard (in the fence) to roaming around.  She would let me know when hawks or other predators would come around, and she woke me up a few times during the night, too when oppossoms and raccoons would visit.  Yup, she will be missed, but what a grand life she had!

   

The Treadle that Shouldn't Exist

After having read today about one treadle which was deemed not to be worthy saving as such, I decided it was time to talk about the Detroit. This is what it looked like when I got it:

 

 

Pretty rough.  One of the drawers were broken, almost all the finish was gone, and there wasn't a speck of paint left on the irons under the rust.  The grandson of the owner gave it to me.  It isn't a "rare" treadle.  It's a National, and while there were many of them made, I haven't seen very many National-badged Detroit show up.  In fact, I only know of two at the moment, and mine is one of them.

 

Well, a little elbow grease, oil, maybe $20 worth of cleaners (I haven't had to go out and buy anything for so long I can't tell you how much that really costs), and some shellac, and this is what it looks like:

 

Used, but in nice shape for the age.  Based on the cabinet patent I found, it dates to ca. 1901. 

 

I'm working on a new treadle now, a Germania, which is also a badged National.  That one had all it's drawers removed, and some other stuff done to it, but the machine is lovely, so I decided it was worth a little work.

 

I think the pictures speak for themselves.  (The Germania is undergoing some veneer work, and so I'll post when I get that finished.)

Back after a long vacation

... though it wasn't much of a vacation.  Since Dec 2011, I've said goodbye to the church I was a member at for 32 years and transferred back to the church I spent my first 5 years at.  Really, it was a no-brain decision to leave, and the fact the paperwork went through and was delivered by mail in under 48 hours says so, doesn't it?  I did enjoy a bit of a laugh about the speed since NOTHING travels that quickly in the mail.  OK, so apparently something *can* travel that fast.  Who knew?

Much of last year was also spent helping take care of my grandpa, who passed away December 1st, 2012.  While I miss him greatly, I wouldn't wish him back for anything.  He is taken care of, safe from whatever the future brings. 

I managed to save some seed for this year's garden, but not enough to where I could list in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook.  That was the biggest disappointment for the year, besides losing 95% of my Hidatsa Red beans.  God willing, this will be a better growing year.

Speaking of which, it's seed ordering time.  The 2013 SSE Yearbook came today, and it's great reading.  God willing, this year I'll have enough to offer seed for 2014.  That's one thing about a garden.  It forces one to be optimistic.  No matter how bad the previous year was, there's always next year!  Just make sure you save a few seeds, just in case......   
   

Quote of the Day

Since it is forbidden to discuss what is going on at my church, I shall merely post this:

"For this you should always bear in mind, that God’s word and grace are a passing shower that goes, never to return. And do not, my German brothers, indulge in the delusive dream that it will abide with you forever. For an ungrateful and a scornful spirit will drive it away."

--- Martin Luther,

“To the Councilmen of All Cities of the German Nation, That They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools"