Weathertop Farm - Homeschool Blogger

Topsy-Turvy

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:23:00 -0600

The last couple weeks have been kinda....well, busy/stressful/sad. And yet, there was still some things to feel good about, if I looked for them. The farmer's Nana, the sweetest grandma you could ask for, had to go to the emergency room and ended being admitted to the hospital. She was 93, she's been declining for awhile, and the ER doctor was pretty sure she wouldn't survive this.

I spent most of my week sitting with my MIL at Nana's bedside at the hospital. It made for an exhausting week, but I was thankful my children are old enough that I can be gone much of the day if needed, and thankful I could support my mil at such a hard time. (the farmer was rained out all week, so he was able to be there a lot as well) After a few days, hospice was called in - they were beyond wonderful- and by the end of the week Nana slipped away peacefully.

This is Nana with my mil at her wedding in 1962- aren't they adorable with their little hats?    At the funeral, all of her grandchildren (and a step-daughter) got up and spoke about what their Nana had meant to them....we should all wish for such a loving testimony.   The farmer and one of his brothers sang "It Is Well With My Soul."   We are all thankful for her wonderful example and for the peace that passes all understanding at her passing.

I started an easy project at the hospital that week, a great free shawl patterncalled Multnomah. (Rav link) I grabbed a skein of yarn I've been wanting to work with, some gorgeous fingering weight "Cashprose" by Perfect Day Yarns.   The yarn was wonderful to work with and I loved the way it turned out.

With all that hospital knitting time, I had no trouble finishing this in just a few days.   I got it done in time to wear to Nana's funeral services.      Nana was a devoted knitter, so it just seemed right.

Not Knitting

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 23:07:00 -0500

Nope, not much knitting here. I am still working on the Girasole blanket, plus a baby blanket. The knitted bind-off of Girasole looks great, but it's taking me forever.....and I've totally lost momentum. There's over 200 points to knit and I've done a little over half.   And I messed up on what is really a very easy baby blanket pattern and need to rip out a bunch.    All knitting mojo has vanished for now!

So instead I....spruced up a little sewing box that used to belong to the farmer's Nana. When she moved out here from New England, her old box got lost in the shuffle and this was a little box we had given her with some basic mending supplies. (I don't think she ever touched any of it, lol) I didn't like the fabric on the lid so I recovered it with some cute chicken fabric my mom bought me on one of her travels. It just seemed to go with the box.

I could have done a better job on the one side, but after this little incident with the glue gun

I slapped it back together and called it done.   And said ouch. And whined. And sat with an ice cube on my finger the rest of the evening. I think this sewing box will be perfect to stash some embroidery supplies.......not that I've ever done much embroidery but after Thimbleanna linked to this blog, I feel like I just have to get my hands on some wool felt and embroidery floss!

Luckily I had already ordered this little pumpkin & crow kit from Farmhouse Woolens, so I had something to work on right away. I've never really done anything with wool like this before, but I was happy with how it turned out - my stitching isn't the most even, but that just adds to the "prim" look, right?

I couldn't find a frame I liked here in the land-of-no-good-shopping, so I found an inexpensive frame, painted it black and then scuffed it up a bit and went over it with some antiquing varnish. Perfect!

The farmer is gearing up for harvest, it shouldn't be long at all now, just a matter of days. Have I ever mentioned how I used to dread harvest when the boys were small? Oh, the days got so long. I always felt like harvest ruined my favorite season for me, LOL.    Now they are older and so much is easier, now harvest just feels like part of the natural rhythm of life. (not that we don't miss the farmer, you know) Oldest boy will be helping on the farm as schoolwork and his other job (he's an assistant instructor at his karate studio) permit, while the other boys will be a big help to me here at home.

And if you're a wiener dog, you can just sleep through it all, if you want.

Hopefully next time I'll have some knitting progress at last!!

What's up?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:39:00 -0500

Fall's here!   And it always gets me in the mood to do some sprucing up around the house. That and all the DIY home improvement blogs I've been looking at lately, wow I can really loose track of time doing that!    First thing on the agenda - cleaning all the carpets.   That's a big job but all five of us helped, we gave everything a good dusting, vacuumed under the beds, I could just feel my sinuses clearing with all that dust out of the house!

Next came power washing the back deck, sidewalks, and entire front porch.    You can't believe the dirt that gets on the house -and here's a project I've been dying to do for AGES:

UGLY!   I didn't like these things when we moved in, and they have tarnished so badly they're just gross.

Here's the farmer putting up the new lights - yay for handy husbands! Besides these 2 at the front door, there were 5 others for him to put up.    And then of course we had to replace the cheap looking doorbell with something nice that matched the new lights!

Ahhh, so much better!   Of course, I put the fall wreath back on the door and then realized now I want to replace the shiny brass door hardware so it matches the new lights and doorbell!   It never ends once you start , does it?

Love it !!!!   And I have to add, the farmer washed all the windows and made them sparkle - and the sills haven't looked this clean since, well, probably when the house was new 10 years ago.

The next project on my list was the bathroom on the first floor - when we first moved in I put up some wallpaper and a border.   The paper looked like a painted, crackled wall and I still liked it.....but that bathroom gets A TON of use and the paper was looking pretty sorry. I decided to take it all down and paint so it would look nice and fresh. It took me awhile to get the paper off (even in that small room) but last week I finally finished, spackled, picked out some paint and ta-da!

Not a very exciting picture I know, but it really does look nice. It's a stone color, which was called "Woodrow Wilson," for some reason.   I'm showing this view because I'm looking for opinions and there's nobody in this house to ask!!   (middle son told me recently I should paint my bedroom black so it would be like a sleeping cave)   Under this window there's normally an oak magazine rack/toilet paper holder mounted to the wall.   I'd get rid of it, but the farmer really likes it and you can't deprive a man who'll wash your windows, right?   But the oak doesn't look so great and I'm thinking of painting it- but what color?? There are blue accents in this room, but would navy look too stark/strange? Or should I go for white, or a darker stone than the walls, or????? I just can't quite visualize what would look nice.

Let's see, what else??   Max & Emma had a play date with my mil's new puppy, but Max was not very welcoming I'm afraid.   Emma was thrilled to make a new friend but she doesn't share toys very well.

I've got a few more projects for this fall up my sleeve, but I have to say this whole project taking up a lot of my time right now:

I couldn't quite believe when it was time for school to start, but you can't with the calendar.   Oh yes....and knitting.   Still working on Girasole and started a baby blanket for a cousin. It feels like the never-ending-blanket-slog, but I think the end may be in sight!!

Back to our regular programming:

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 13:22:00 -0500

Well, that was a longer than planned internet break - actually, I hadn't planned it at all, but our service provider hasn't been the best all summer and a few weeks ago we were down to so little signal, I couldn't even open the email!! Things seem to be up and running again, thankfully! We had to wait for some new equipment to come in, not to mention vacation was thrown in too!
\

It's been a loooong summer and we'd all been looking forward to getting away, so with a caretaker lined up for the livestock and the wieners dropped off at the doggie resort, we were off to Wisconsin! We spent a few days in the La Crosse area with my extended family, then the 5 of us went for a few days to one of our favorite places, Door County. Doesn't that playground above look fun? (that's only part of it - it was huge!) We took all the kids there one day and they had a great time, even the older ones.

We did some swimming, some hiking, biking, shopping, and of course ate at many of our favorite places. Here we are at Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant, waiting for our swedish pancakes with lingonberries. Yummmmm!!

The waitress raised her eyebrows when I asked her to bring us more ligonberries - twice.   What?? Does she think we get to eat here every day or something?   Al Johnson's is also know for it's goats up on the grass roof. I can only imagine how many photos have been taken of those goats!

La Crosse was a bit rainy but Door County gave us great weather, with sunshine every day. Our last day was warm enough for the beach, so we had a relaxing day at Nicolet Beach, where we relaxed, played in the sand and water, and the farmer took the older boys sailing. (youngest boy preferred the beach)



One new thing we enjoyed that we've never done with the boys is take them to see a performance by the Peninsula Players. The boys were a bit skeptical at first but the play was great and we all had a good time. The theater is somewhat open and is in the middle of the woods, so it's a unique experience.

Our last night we attended a fish boil and we able to eat outside near the water and watch a beautiful sunset. It's hard to beat the sense of peace and relaxation you get when sitting near the water.

Myself, I'd go to Door County just for the flowers - they are everywhere! Each shop, hotel, inn and restaurant has a riot of flowers outside.   It almost feels like you are on a garden tour.

Thanks for looking at all those vacation pictures!   I don't have a photo of one of my vacation highlights - a new yarn shop that I found in Fish Creek.   This is the only LYS in the part of the county we visit so I was thrilled to find it. ( I always try to scope out at least one yarn shop on a trip, as we don't have any here. ) "Red Sock Yarns" is a great store, with a wide selection, cozy chairs to knit in, and a friendly shopkeeper. I founds some yarn to begin yet another blanket....not as big a project as Girasole (still doing that knitted-on edging!) as this one is for a baby arriving in October.

All I can say is, those of you with a great LYS are very fortunate, I wanted to take this one home with me! I hope she'll have a successful business, as it'll be another thing to look forward to when we return.

Lucky or Unlucky??

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 12:14:00 -0500

It seems like much of the past 2 weeks revolved around my washing machine - waiting for repairmen, going to the laundramat, waiting for parts, or calling about broken parts (and told the part was either on the delivery truck, on back order indefinitely, or "in research"). I'd estimate I spent about 10-12 hours alone on the phone trying to resolve this but finally today we seem to have a functioning machine!!    While it's pretty cool to get 10 loads of laundry done all at once at the laundramat, pumping a million quarters into their machines and hauling all those clothes in and out of the house was NOT.

   wiener dogs don't worry much about washing machines

So my nice front-loader blew it's main bearing - the repairman said he's never seen a machine this young do that- makes me feel pretty unlucky until I remember that if it happened a mere three weeks later, it wouldn't have been under warranty. And
apparently the repair would have cost $1250 -ha!   Can you imagine??

While not dealing with washing machine DRAMA, I'm STILL working on "Girasole." Looks like I'll have enough yarn to finish all the repeats and do the knitted-on edging - lucky!!! Unlucky- I spent most of last weekend's available knitting time repairing the damage Emma did to it. That dog really has a thing for yarn, although she disdains cheap kitchen cotton and goes right for the good wool!

The garden is absolutely exploding. Beets have been canned, and we've made lots of bread & pickles - my first time ever to try that. A good way to use up lots of cucumbers and some onions as well.    We've frozen lots of green peppers, and next we really need to freeze green beans.    We've been enjoying some tomatoes, but soon the bulk of them will be ready and I'll need to do some freezing there as well. I think I mentioned that the farmer has almost 50 tomato plants?? Oh boy.

I feel like the summer has flashed right by me - who can believe it's August?? We have another fair this weekend to take the sheep to - this one's only for 2 days though. In a couple weeks we'll go on vacation (yay!!!) and it dawned on me recently that when we get back, it's about time to start school. Whoa. Time to organize my thoughts, clear out the bookshelves, and start ordering curriculum.    I really think I could use an extra month of summer this year.....anybody else??

Over for another year

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:29:00 -0500

The fair finished up this past Monday. The FFA shows and the 4-H auction take place that day, then it's time to help clean up and haul everything home. I think this was one of our busiest fairs ever, and we were really tired by the end of the week, but everything was a little easier because of the AMAZING weather we had - never have I worn jeans or a jacket at the fair!

We brought all the little goats that were born this winter and they did great.    Most of the older gals got to stay home and I don't think they'd have done as well - something to work on for next year.

As for the sheep, middle boy got champion lightweight wether with one of his but none of the others did very well - again, something to work on for next year. None of the lambs showed as well as their moms had in the past, which makes me think we need to borrow a different ram this year for breeding.

We're always proud of the boys and all their hard work though, and it's been neat to see them taking on more as they get older.

This year oldest boy won Senior Showman in the sheep barn, which entitled him to go on to compete in the Master Showman contest. The winning senior showman from each barn (sheep, goats, dairy, beef, swine, and horses) all show each animal other than their own.    This meant that before the competition on Sunday, oldest boy had to go around to each barn and line up an animal to borrow for the show, plus practice how to show it.

It was a great experience for him and he really enjoyed working with all the different species - I think he was the most nervous about the radio interview!

Of course, the icing on the cake was that he won reserve champion!!   All the competitors did a great job and I hope they are all proud of themselves.   Some of the kids won't even try to compete at this level with all the different species so I say good job to all of them!

he was much happier than he looks, believe me!

So that's one more year of county fair under our belts.......I hope the boys will have fond memories of these days when they are older, hopefully the early mornings and hard work won't be the main things they recall.

It's time

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:37:00 -0500

It's fair time once again -- everyone around here is busy with preparations: cleaning & clipping sheep and goats, gathering supplies, trimming hooves, & putting the last touches on other 4-H projects.   Tomorrow is "visual arts" judging and then late afternoon, the animals will get moved down there.   It's sure to be a busy few days, and we are blessed with a forecast of wonderful weather!   It sure makes life easier when the temps are pleasant.   See you on the flip side!!


    2008

Just keep knitting......

Tue, 7 Jul 2009 14:12:00 -0500

I've been knitting as much as I can on my Girasole, hoping to make it for the wedding but I think I miscalculated when deciding if I had enough time to make the deadline. I didn't take into account things like birthdays (the farmer), out-of-town guests, and all that good stuff!

This is what might happen around our house when the cousins get together:
Besides making unique block/cousin sculptures, we saw a movie, did some swimming, played games, and of course had a cookout for the 4th of July.    It was all fun and great to see everyone but now the fair is only a week away and the to-do list is long.   I think this summer seems to be going by even quicker than usual because the busy farming season went on so long....in fact it's just finishing up. The farmer still has plenty to do but he was actually home for dinner last night, so that's a good thing.

So far the only thing from the garden has been radishes (not my fav) but youngest boy found this one lone tomato a few days ago - there's many more to come, I hope! The farmer planted 48 tomato plants, luckily tomatoes ARE one of my favorites.

I'll leave you with a few photos from the flower garden and a goodbye from Max & Emma!

Wild Kingdom??

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:50:00 -0500
Ok, I know we live on a farm and all that, but it seems like there's been a lot of wildlife around here lately. It's fun to watch the birds that have nested on the front porch, but they make you feel pretty unwelcome, ha! The little finches on the front door have hatched so we're trying to be extra careful.

I have a feeling this wreath will be a real mess before they're ready to move out!
We've got another feathered friend hanging around - this little guy hangs around every day except when it's raining...tap, tap tapping on the window. I've no idea why he wants in so badly!

A couple days ago a coyote ran right along the back yard in broad daylight - we hear them all the time at night but I rarely see them (maybe because of Eowyn?) and especially not during the day.

We spotted these little guys at dusk while walking down to get the mail:

They are young enough that they were more curious than scared.
One of the farms had a trench dug for a phone line, and a ton of little frogs got in the trench but couldn't get out. My bil scooped them up and brought them home to go to work in the garden. They are welcome to eat all the bugs they can!


Speaking of the garden, it's really coming along nicely and we've got tons of very nice radishes out there. (too bad I really don't care much for radishes) I can't wait for the first tomato!

The farmer is trying to finish the planting - he's still got some beans to go. It just keeps raining!! In 22 years, I've never seen a spring like this. He even worked all day on Father's Day, which has never happened before.   We did bring him some lunch and then around 7pm he got rained out again.

Things have slowed down just a bit now that little league is over for another year.   Youngest boy's coach was a screamer, and the more those kids won, the more he yelled at them.    I really had to bite my tongue as I was ready to do some yelling of my own sometimes - one game he finally got thrown out for yelling at the umpire. Yes I'll admit, I was cheering that ump on - on the inside anyway. So we're all a bit relieved to be done with that.

I started bringing knitting to the games to help distract me from the crazy - once it was warm enough to not sit wrapped in my blanket, that is.   I normally avoid deadline knitting like the plague, but when I saw Girasole and the Loopy Ewe discount on yarn bought for it, I couldn't help think it would be a great gift for a friend's wedding later this summer.    So I plunged in and I'm really enjoying it- the pattern is worth every dime. I'm using Dream in Color Classy in a pretty grey color called "Tabby." (it's much nicer than the picture shows) It's going fairly quickly but it is after all, a blanket, so I try to work on it whenever I can. Speaking of which....
I think it's time to squeeze in some knitting before dinner.

ps. Emma thanks you for welcoming her! We're still really enjoying getting to know her although I do feel for Max at times - she's a very bossy little girl!

New Addition!

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:46:00 -0500

Last week we added to our menagerie by bringing home a "sister" for Max!
We've been thinking about this, off and on, ever since we had to say goodbye to our Springer Spaniel Abe, last August.      I really didn't want another puppy, and we thought it might be a good idea to adopt a rescue dog. After checking out Petfinder.com for several weeks, I came across a little wiener dog that looked like she would be a good fit for our family.

Meet Emma!!

We adopted Emma through "Magnificent Mutts," and I was very impressed with their organization. After our application was approved, we were able to go up north to the Chicago area to meet Emma. (Max was required to come with, too!) Apparently their were lots of applicants interested in Emma so were were lucky to get her. ( I think the fact that we're home all day most of the time gave us an edge.) Because Emma was in "foster care," the people she lived with could give us a good description of her personality.   She's good with kids and other dogs, which was important! She's a very happy little thing and she's only a year old so she's plenty frisky and loves to play.

Emma is fearless and she's giving Max a run for his money, but they are having a ball together!!

Just like Max, she loves to be on someone's lap whenever she can.

She's only been here since Wednesday, but she acts like she owns the place and has been here forever. Max is learning all about bossy little sisters.....but he's also learning how to hold his own!   And they're giving us plenty of entertainment!