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| Our creek on the Solstice |
Snowy greetings at the end of Renewal/Cold Time. Our weather has been all over the place; unusually warm and unusually cold, rainy, foggy, icy and now snowy. Often an assortment of these conditions in the same week.
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| Taughannock Falls State Park |
On the Solstice it was seasonably cold. We walked in our own woods, and then took a walk at Taughannock Falls. It was an enjoyable day.
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| Foggy Christmas day |
Christmas here was green and foggy. A dreary day to relax indoors and read our holiday gift books.
The last couple of weeks we've had sleet and freezing rain periodically with cold wind chills.
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| Snowflakes under ice |
I took this picture of the gate post in front of our house. These snowflakes are under the layer of ice! Some pretty unique circumstances would have to occur to bring that about. All of the woods around were filled with glittering ice covered trees, as if made of crystal. Lovely!
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| Snow this morning |
Last night a strong storm came through and we went from 0 to 10" of snow overnight. It's still snowing late this afternoon. It does make everything look better. I always believe that if it's going to be winter, then there should be snow.
My garden tasks are all done for now.
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| Beans all done |
I threshed out 11 bushel of bean pods and got 8.5 gallons of beans to put in the pantry.
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| Preparing the seed order |
The garden plans for 2022 have all been finalized and the seeds have been ordered. Nothing more to do until I start seeds in March.
Bob's been working on the laundry room. He removed the paneling and found mold on the drywall underneath near the washing machine.
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| Mold on the drywall |
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| Mold further down the wall |
This didn't surprise us. When we moved in we could see that there was an untended, longstanding leak situation there. All of the drywall has been removed. The new drywall is up and Bob is now taping and mudding.
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| Getting a clean start |
He has also done the electrical work: moved the wall switch, added a porch light and switch and pulled the wire for an electric dryer hook up.
We're making sure that we take time to rest and restore ourselves also at this time of year.
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| Sweater in the works |
I've been knitting. I finished this sweater yesterday. Next I'll begin work on a vest for Bob. I've also been continuing to work on my harp music.
Reading has been a major activity for both of us. We've already finished a few books this season. There are many more waiting for us.
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| Books we're reading right now |
Tomorrow perhaps we'll get out to enjoy some snowshoeing. Lots of fresh air and fresh chi await.
Oh! I forgot to mention anything about our new heat pumps. We've had them for a month and a half now and are very pleased! We are warmer than before and it's a constant temperature. We like that very much! Our first electric bill was what we consider reasonable and it saved us about $45 over what the old fuel oil boiler would have cost us. We did supplement with the wood stove on the two days that we had sub zero temperatures with 35 mph wind gusts. Not bad!
That's all of the news and views from here for now. We hope you are well and taking the time to rebuild yourselves.
Till next time,
Kathleen and Bob
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| Solstice walk |
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| At Taughannock Falls State Park |
