Cold Time 2018

  Well, it's Sunday afternoon, and the three of us have just returned from a walk in our meadow.

Enjoying a walk today

 Today is sunny and warm. Nearly all of our snow is gone. We had a lot of snow melt last week so there are just a few ridges of snow around the edges of streets...

Creek flowing with meltwater

Our weather here has been yo-yo-ing from sub zero with snow, to almost balmy sunshine. The week ahead looks like the temperatures will be moderating.












  We tried something different on New Year's Eve day. We've always felt it made more sense to begin the new year quietly and in good health, so partying has never been our choice. This year, we decided that cleaning out our paper files would be a good chore for that day. Bob always has the 31st off, so he's home to help. We were able to eliminate two recycling bins full of old warranties... It's part of starting the new year clean. We think we'll do this again next year.

Inventory of the seeds

  I guess you could say that the gardening season has officially begun. I inventoried our seed stock, and made out orders for new seeds. We received them last week. It will only be about five weeks before I begin my plant starts indoors.

Decisions, decisions. So many choices.

   The bathroom work continues. All of the old paper has been stripped off and I'm taking the trim work down to a stable layer of paint - which happens to be an interesting shade of apple green.

Apple green paint on skirting board

There's a great deal of woodwork in this room (2 windows, 4 doorways, 2 doors and 12" of skirting board around the 11'x15' room). I'll be at this job for a while. Thankfully it's the last room with the original "fancy" trim work.
Bob has the extra wall and fixtures out and some of the large holes repaired. He's also made a lot more, larger holes to make access for plumbing vents and wiring.

Holes for plumbing vent

More plumbing vent holes

Ah, the challenges of putting plumbing into a house that was never designed for such an outlandish thing! He got his new 18" drill bit caught in a 6"x8"
oak timber. It took him two days to extract it!
While he's got so much area exposed, he's also improving the plumbing in the laundry room (which butts up behind the bathroom) and pulling a wire into the kitchen to accommodate an electric induction range we plan to get in future.





  Even though we're busy, we've still taken time to do some reading by the fireside, It's so nice to sit by the stove with a good book, a cup of hot tea and to look up and see the snow falling outside.

One of the joys of winter and Cold Time

  I suppose that's all for now. We hope you're all getting some rest after the holiday season, and before the rigors of the warm seasons begin.

Take care and we'll be in touch at the end of next month.
Bob, Kathleen and Lunette

Darkest Depths 2017

A nest in our meadow

It's been a cold month of Darkest Depths here in the Finger Lakes. We haven't had a lot of snow at our place, but we have had end to end clippers and our temperatures are about 30 degrees below normal.







Our holiday celebrations were very nice. Due to the cold, we were unable to get out for walks, but we stayed cozy and warm playing games, taking turns reading aloud and watching old movies. We had high winds on Christmas day which took out our power for about four hours. Because we live low tech and simply, it didn't affect us too much. I bet it put a crimp in the day of many other people!

Aside from our celebrations, we've been busy about the house. We got the garden "put to bed" on the ninth of  December. That also happens to be the day that I finished threshing out our dry beans.

2017 Bean harvest

I ended up with eleven gallons. That's enough to meet our protein requirements for eleven months. I'll fill out our needs with purchased lentils, garbanzos and limas.










Bob's been working on the bathroom. He has taken down the closet wall and removed the fixtures. Currently he's patching in drywall where the wall was connected and replacing some old cloth covered wires with romex cable.

Tearing down the interior wall

Wall removed

Having the wall down really opens up the space, even though it was only two feet away from the exterior wall.

Two of the four layers

I've gotten all of the layers of old wallpaper scraped off. It was a job. I don't think any of the previous paper hangers had ever heard of sizing!









One almost always finds surprises when remodeling. When the paneling in the toilet area was removed, we found holes in the exterior wall. On the floor beneath the holes was a pile of cellulose insulation 2'x3'x3' which had fallen right out of the holes when it was blown into the walls. Bob scooped it up and spread it on the layer already in our attic. Waste not, want not.

Hole in the wall 

Pile of cellulose

I guess that's everything for now. We'll keep working on the bathroom and update you on our progress next time.
Stay warm and enjoy some rest this winter. We'll check in at the end of Cold Time.
Kathleen, Bob and Lunette

Seed Fall 2017

Seed Fall 2017

We’re just finishing the month of Seed Fall.  It’s been a very busy time wrapping up one season and preparing for another.

last autumn greens from our garden

The garden beds all have a nice layer of mulch on them and are ready for their winter rest. The garlic has been planted for next year. Wood has been split and stacked and the leaves have been piled to  await next year’s garden needs. The only thing left to do outside is to mulch the strawberry beds. We’re waiting for the ground to freeze before doing that. Otherwise it just makes a nice cozy winter home for mice…

I’ve been busy threshing out the beans that you saw in the last update. I’m nearly finished.  Just two boxes left to do. I’ll show you the results next time.

threshing our dry beans

Bob has begun work on the future downstairs bathroom. He’s poured concrete pads for the supports which will go underneath the bathtub, 

support under bathtub

and he’s begun demolition on the wall that is next to the current toilet. That space is only twenty four inches wide. If we weren’t both slim, we couldn’t use the facility at all! 

Removing plaster wall

Plumbing to the upstairs bathroom. Lovely, eh?

I will begin stripping the old wall paper off of the other walls, and then need to prepare the woodwork for painting. I plan to begin this weekend.

peeling paint

We had a nice Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed a couple of nice meals and the three of us went for a walk in our woods. The wind was a bit brisk, but Lunette really had a lot of fun.

Wild rice with shiitakes, cranberries & hickory nuts

Mrs Murphy-San's pie (with tempeh)

 In the afternoon, we made our annual fruit cake. This isn’t your normal stuff that everyone jokes about . We start with a sourdough batter and add a nice amount of dried natural fruits, like dates, apricots, raisins and prunes. Then we add crystallized ginger and dried pineapple. To this we add English and Black Walnuts and our own Hickory nuts, and spices like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. After baking it’s wrapped in cheesecloth, which has been soaked in brandy, and placed in an airtight tin. This sits in a cool place, being splashed weekly with more brandy, for a month. We’ll open it on Christmas. It’s good stuff!

Making fruitcake

We hope that all of you had a nice Thanksgiving and that the upcoming holiday season will be all that you want it to be. Whatever you celebrate, do so in the way that means the most to you. We’ll catch up with you again after the New Year.

Until next time,

Kathleen, Bob and Lunette

Bread rising by the fire