Blustery Winds Time 2024

 

Birthday flowers

Last night's full moon was beautiful. Our weather has been a mixed bag this month. We've had very warm days, followed by cold and rain. We had snow over the weekend. I believe it was only the second time that Bob got out his snow thrower all season. Sun yesterday and today has melted nearly all of it. 

During the nice weather we did some outside chores.

"Five, Six Pick Up Sticks"

 

I gathered all of the branches and twigs which had fallen in the yard during our windy weather. These will be used for stove kindling.

Bob prunes an apple tree

Bob got out and pruned his apple trees. He took some of the cuttings to Cornell Wildlife Hospital for a sick beaver to enjoy.

Shiitake logs

Then he set up his shiitake logs for the season ahead.

Now he's busy working on the bathroom remodel. We finally got a new toilet. This is the fourth try. The first had a molding defect. The second time they sent the wrong model. The third time the tank was broken. We had all of these delivered, but we had to take the returns back ourselves. We got tired of hefting them around. We decided to get a different brand and drove to Henrietta to pick it up ourselves. It appears to be fine. We're glad that nonsense is over. I was beginning to think we'd have to use a five-gallon bucket for the job!

Closet wall coming down

Bob's got the tub area drywalled, taped and mudded. Now he's removing the walls around the closet. It takes quite a bit of muscle to get the framing out. He also has to deal with a couple of different ceiling levels in this area. It looks complicated to me.

Seed starting begins

I've started many of my garden seeds: cabbage, kale, chard, tat soi, lettuce, spinach, celery, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and sweet potatoes. I'm still waiting for the peppers and sweet potatoes to sprout.

Three weeks later...

Everything else is up and has been potted up into the small sized pots. After they've filled these out, they'll be potted up into a larger sized pot.

I finished my hardanger project in plenty of time for spring decorating.

Pansy runner all finished

Lately I've been working on a cardigan for myself. There's just a little bit more time to enjoy leisure activities: reading, working puzzles and needlework. Our larder is emptying out. We still have a few potatoes, some frozen fruits and vegetables and lots of sweet potatoes.

Sweet potato fries

Since we have so many sweet potatoes left we eat them nearly every day. This is one of our favorite ways to fix them. 

I cut the potatoes into sticks and drizzle them with olive oil. I toss them to distribute the oil and then sprinkle on an herb mixture of salt, cayenne, black pepper, oregano, garlic powder and rosemary. These bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees, stirring halfway through baking time. Since the potatoes get sweeter with storage, ours are pretty sweet. Neither Bob nor I like really sweet vegetables, so we like to dress the fries with vinegar. That makes them very tasty. 

Despite our cooler than normal temperatures right now, spring is at hand. By the end of next month we should be planting peas and setting out the cool weather seedlings. 

Nature's stirring from its rest and the pace of our lives will pick up in response.

Enjoy this final bit of rest and look forward to a new season of growth and life.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

A foggy morning at our house

Foggy lane to our wooded property

Ice and Wind Time 2022

Daffodils are starting to peek out

This full moon has brought to a close our month of Ice and Wind Time. It's the month when the tug of war between winter and spring begins. One day, the temperature may work its way up into the 60s, the next, it may be 20 degrees colder. Then it climbs up again over the span of a few days, only to repeat the cycle. We've had both beautifully warm days, and days of wind, rain and heavy snow. As the month begins winter definitely has the upper hand. As it ends it is more of a even draw, with spring perhaps slightly ahead. By the end of the next cycle, spring will definitely be in the lead. 

The birds are returning; red winged blackbirds and kildeers are here, and today I saw my first Mourning Cloak (butterfly). I have not yet heard the peepers.

Taughannock Falls

Yesterday was one of those deliciously warm days, so we went for a walk along the North Rim Trail of the Taughannock Falls State Park. We're lucky to have so many beautiful waterways and falls in our immediate area.

The upper falls at Taughannock Park

 This is also the month that I begin to start my garden seeds in my cellar. 

All set to begin

I've started kale, chard, cabbages, celery, parsley, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. So far only the kale, and some chard and cabbages have come up. I'll begin some more things soon.

The laundry room is all done! Well, except for one door that I need to paint. It's a steel exterior door and I want to make sure the weather will stay warm enough for the paint to cure.

Here's a sort of panorama of the room:

Kitchen entry to laundry room

Here's the door into the laundry room from the kitchen. This is the "barn door" that I mentioned in the last update. If we slide this aside and step into the room...

Laundry side of "barn door"

and turn around, we see the opposite side of the "barn door". Turning to our right a bit, we see the rest of that wall.

Rest of the east wall

Now to our right again, we see the south and west walls with my storage shelves and "tool rack".

South and West walls

Turning to the right once more we can see the laundry sink, washer and door to the downstairs bath on the north wall.

Laundry sink and washer

The thing above the sink is a fold out drying rack (in use there). That's all there is to this little room. I'm very pleased with it. It's so much brighter and easier to work in now. You can check out the "before" pictures on our post "Long Nights Time 2021".

The last task

This door is the last one that I have to paint. It will match the trim color.

That's about all from here right now. This coming month we'll be getting busy with garden preparations, and I'll also be doing my spring cleaning. Bob will be planning out his next project, so stay tuned.

Enjoy the coming nice weather (and expect and tolerate some crumby weather, too).

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

At Taughannock on March 17