Class and Food

6:30 am

                Last day of July! Augg! Class went well which is a big relief. Now I just have to keep it up for 4 more days. And soon the novelty will wear off… The baby buns were of course a big hit yesterday. Today I will bring Bathsheba and we will attempt to pluck her. Not sure she’ll be such a hit, anyway she will be impressive. I’ll bring babies back Wednesday. And maybe on Thursday I’ll bring a couple of the big babes. That will certainly show them what happens when they are not groomed. We started spinning with spin sticks – in partners. Some of them started to get it. Nice thing is that with 4 kids, that makes two drafting at a time and I can alternate working with them. We’ll keep practicing today, and do more dyeing (of course they like that) and pluck the rabbit, and I don’t think we’ll get to felting, but I may bring the stuff just in case we need something more active outside. I’ll be accumulating a lot of stuff there; it will certainly be a pain to haul it all home on Friday.

                I was very productive before and after class. Before I fed buns, did my stretches and wrote, gathered the rest of my stuff, and also had time to hang out 2 loads of laundry and clean out parts of cages that needed it. And I cleaned up the gross dye pot. I need to gather more goldenrod to start a new one. After class I took a much needed rest/meditate then I made supper  (grilled sausage which was relatively simple – oh I also stir fried some baby bok choy and made salad so it was not SO simple), I washed up and even managed to take in the laundry and start plucking Dylan who badly needs it. I am not really thrilled with his coat – it is not as long as I would like. I will see how the male white baby turns out from Dolores’s litter. I need to decide on other buns that I will not keep. I like Dinah’s coat in terms of length and texture, trouble is her personality is none too great. Not sure I will keep Delilah. She is sweet, but her coat also is not as long as I would like. And I don’t really need an agouti. I will definitely keep Daffodil and I think Dusty is fine, I do like her personality.

                I am quite tired this morning. I woke up early and could not get back to sleep, but I might even take a nap later before the class. Yesterday morning a lot of time was taken up with eating a second breakfast of egg and toast. I just wanted to be sure I did not end up feeling hungry during class. I’ll need to leave enough time for that again today.

                I should plan meals for the rest of the week so that I don’t have to decide what to cook last minute each day. Tonight I think we will finish the rabbit stew that I turned into a pot pie. It was really good, but I don’t think K likes it for some reason. Too bad. We had something different last night, we can finish the pie tonight and I’ll have a big salad with it. Then what? Something involving summer squash and zucchini since we have them from the share. And perhaps I’ll make some roast Kale. Oh, along with everything else I did yesterday, I also finished drying some melon. I’m thinking it might be good to dry kale with no oil so it can be saved and eaten later. Or given to L for her trip. We also have a bunch of green peppers. What can I do with them? Trouble is I don’t really like them all that much. I suppose I will grill a bunch of veggies later. Eggplant, too. Enough already about FOOD!!!!

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Class and Soap

7:30 am

                My class starts today.  4 kids for 3 ½ hours a day, I am kind of nervous. We’ll see how it goes. I still have a few things I need to get on the way in to the Bangs Center. And before that – I need to feed buns, clean out some cages, see if the wasps are finally gone (had to power water spray again last night, if that didn’t do it I may have to poison spray). Then I will wind off the last of the blue skeins that I finished spinning last night. I say last, but there is still an ounce of the blue/green, so I will spin that and ply it with gray angora. I should hang out some laundry as it looks like it might actually be sunny today. I had a load that I hung out and took back in twice yesterday. I finally gave up and threw it in the drier.

                K was very busy cleaning and sorting in the garage yesterday, which is great and very helpful (it would be nice to be able to reach the tools). At one point he asked what was in the big metal pot…. Well that is the goose fat that I’ve been saving to make soap. It was all fine in the winter when it was frozen out there, but not so great now. Ok so I took it in, heated it up, will try to pour the fat off, or ladle it off since there is water in there, too. Then I will put it in the fridge to solidify, pour any water left off, and see, later this week, if I can actually make soap. I think there is some other fat in there, too, but it is mostly the goose fat, so I’ll go with the amount of lye called for with goose fat. Then of course it will need to sit and age for a long time. I have no idea where I’ll be able to do that. The basement is a disaster and I truly must decide on which piles of fabric I can just say enough and get rid of. I have a few boxes like that, but I’ll need to decide on the rest of the rugs and sort what I need for them out.

                I started another batch of dried melon. It is a bit odd, but comes out interesting enough. I am doing it in the oven, not as good as a solar dryer. I need to get in touch with Gabor and see if I can come look at his solar dehydrator. I did order the reflective foil and when I can (later this week?) I will make some panels – plywood and the foil – to set around the dye bins to see if I can get them to heat up more. I have a lovely bin full of goldenrod that I was trying to extract dye from, and it got all moldy. I must somehow dump it out but it is not easy at all to carry a bin full of foul liquid. I guess I’ll need to avert my face and scoop some of it out. Speaking of averting my face, I really need to look at what is in the tanning baths. See if anything can be taken out to dry. Ugg. I really hate that stuff. Reminds me of when J worked at the tannery in No. Adams. Nasty place. And it is such a pain to stretch the skins. And I have yet to do anything useful with any of them. Many great ideas – a hat, gloves, a bag – but haven’t spent the necessary time to do it.

                Speaking of time, it will very soon be August, meaning that very soon school will be starting back up and I need to think about what I need to do to get myself ready. I would like to find the text I got and start looking over the material she will be covering.

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Little Dorrit and My Upcoming Class

9:30 am

                My morning thus far has been fairly pleasant. I stretched, I even ran, I washed the dishes. While running I collected plastic trash. My effort to minimize the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I fed buns and power washed off the growing wasp nest. Through most of it all I was listening to Little Dorrit which I am very much enjoying. I am at the point at which Taticorum (which obviously not spelled right) has run off with Miss Wade who is so obviously a lesbian, but of course Dickens cannot come out and say that. Very interesting. Also interesting (and affirming) was that I looked it up and saw that in 2008 there was a BBC adaptation of LD made and in that they presented Miss Wade definitely as a lesbian. So there. And I’ll just add that anyone who does not believe that Moby Dick is dripping in homosexual allusions is just plain blind.

                Yesterday I spent a lot of my time gathering things for my class, which will indeed be happening. I’m nervous but also excited about it. As usual, I just have had to put myself into a situation in order to force myself to do anything. Months ago it is that I contacted Leisure Services and now finally it is all happening. Of course part of me does not want to do it, part of me just wants to spend next week hanging about, reading, spinning, relaxing, getting things done. But that can become terribly involuted, tangled up in itself and I end up feeling actually terrible. Better to have a forced structure to the week. There will be things that don’t end up getting done (I’m thinking of bunny cage repairs), but they can get done another time.

                Friday I managed to do lots of tedious things and I did them by interspersing them with fun things. So along with taking care of the tax stuff that has been waiting for far too many months, I wound off the blue stuff. Along with paying bills I worked on the rag rug. I have now finished 2 rugs, so time to start in on the wool one.

                Today I will finish gathering materials and make sure everything is well organized, and I will also finish the last of the blue stuff. It will be good to get that finished – have moved through that pile. And I have put together brown and black angora to spin next. The usual 1 ounce skeins. I don’t know if there will be a trip to Black Sheep. Last week I did not suggest it, so it never happened and K just went out at the end of the day to get a paper. If we do decide to go I’m thinking I should walk and meet them there. Tigger is not up for such a long walk any more, but that does not mean I shouldn’t do it. Of course, today is also KO day, so I guess at 3 I will be biking up to get my ticket. That takes up a good chunk of the day. We had thought to go to see Twelfth Night  done by the Hampshire Shakespear young company last night, to join some friends, but it was pouring rain so we skipped it. Next week is the adult version of As You Like It, so I suppose I’ll go to that. It would be a sorry summer indeed to completely miss the Shakespeare. Forgot to add that also yesterday morning we watched the mens’ bike race in the Olympics because K’s cousin’s son was racing. It was pretty fun since he was way out front for a long time – part of the “break away” group as they called it. There is a lot of strategy involved in these things, and now of course, K has become a real expert. It was fun to watch, but now I have had enough and would like to stop analyzing it all.

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More ToDos

9:30 am                                                                                                                                                                                               

                I feel just awful today. I’ve been having bad nights lately, having to get up a lot, with some pretty bad butt burn. It was really bad at the farm. I wonder if I have been eating too much salad, and that in combo with fruit salad. Yesterday I made fruit salad for breakfast, and used watermelon. Trouble is that it takes so long to get the seeds out. Took forever just to make breakfast. Then for supper I boned, and I mean really boned, a rabbit. I got off all the meat I possibly could, froze the big pieces, then ground the small pieces to add to some ground pork from the Meeting Place farm and made burgers. They came out fine, but, again, it took forever. K will not be here for supper tonight – he is going to Moan and Dove with a friend – so maybe I will just cook some eggs. Enough about food.

                Yesterday, between several short naps that I just had to take, I managed to finish the 3 one-ounce skeins of blue stuff. They still need to be wound off the bobbin. I think I have about 3 more ounces then I am done with that. And I amazingly started another rag rug. After looking at all the fabric, I realize that I probably have enough for all the rugs on this warp just using what is already cut. I started one using a lot of the old farm beadspreads. It is actually a real pain because I decided to twist some of the strips which is an extra annoying step. And I’m not entirely sure I actually like this latest pattern. Oh well, 1/5 through, I will just finish it and then move on. I also have a bunch of wool cut into strips, I assume from an old and holey blanket from the farm. I may need to cut up some darker wool to add to it. I have the lining that I cut out of the old beaver skin coat that I think was Grandpère’s . I cut it up ages ago and now perhaps I will have use for it. L had asked me if I have any wool scraps to save then for her to use for mending, but there is actually a lot more, some skirts that will never be worn, and a jumper, as well as more blankets, but I think I will not cut them up. Too potentially useful as is.

                I guess I’d better make myself some strong tea so I can “get up and do what needs to be done.” And I suppose I ought to add in some Powdermilk Biscuits. What I really need to do is tackle some nasty paperwork/contacting people stuff. Including contacting the family re the invasives. I guess I could at least start by drafting a communication to send out. I don’t have to worry about sending it right of, just draft it. And I must once again attempt to contact P about the Realty Trust. And I need to look at the tax stuff and financial aid stuff. All things that do not in the least appeal.

                One good thing is that it is raining. Very nice, steady rain. Beautiful. I imagine it will make things extra messy for G, but they will manage.

                Ok, I should break down the things that need doing into tiny little steps so I can work my way through them one by one. It helps when I write down something like: move pile of papers to kitchen table, sort pile, draft letter to P. And I think, to be honest, that I will start with the dishes. That is something very simple and concrete that I can do without much thought. I can start it while the tea heats in the micro.

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Spinning and Geneology

7 am

                Just got up. I actually stayed up quite late getting kind of obsessed with looking up, or I should say trying to find information on Martha Moody Atkins, Grandpere’s mother. I did finally find her birthdate and that she was married in 1880. That was the relatively easy part. It would be interesting to find out when she died, but I have no idea where she went when she left the family, if she kept her married name, exactly when that happened. Do they keep records of divorce the same way they record marriages? Did they even get divorced, or did she just leave and eventually die and that is when Edward remarried. Hmm. I also did not exactly make the connection between Hannah Williams, Martha’s mother and Paul Moody. Well, I hope I can keep myself from obsessing over it all day today. Too many other things to do.

                We got back here from the farm around noon. I first had to deal with the dog who had pulled off his diaper and chewed up the urine-soaked pad as he is wont to do. I told K he needs a pin on it every time. Of course with no diaper, he was dripping all over the kitchen as he barked and barked at our arrival.  So I had to clean up all that. Annoying. Especially as the sponge mop we have is falling apart. I finally threw it away so we will need to get a new one.

                Once all that was taken care of I managed to spin up a 1 ½ ounce bobbin of the blue stuff. Nearly done with that which will be nice. I have gradually come to the realization that one of my big motivators is “dealing with things,” “taking care of what is in front of me.” So, in other words, if I have a big pile of carded wool, it is satisfying to work my way through it. Or, as is true, a big box of angora, or box after box of wool. I have been very good this year and not purchased any fleeces. Still, it will probably take 10 years just to spin through what I have. And I have done virtually no dyeing this year (just a bit of natural solar – the jewelweed) but have just been using what I have already dyed. Sort of sad to have “taking care of business” as a major inspiration.  Another big inspiration is doing things to avoid someone’s wrath. Like when I would clean like hell when I lived at the farm and I knew someone was coming. I have actually gotten away from that one a good deal. But I will still do a bunch of cleaning if I know that will avoid confrontation with K or G. Or, maybe more commonly, I will do it if they get mad at me about a lot of mess.

                Speaking of which, the basement is a disaster, so I do need to decide on the rest of the rugs I want to make, and get rid of the rest of that fabric. I have noticed that several of the rugs I made before were from t-shirts or turtlenecks, and they came out fine, so I think I will use those colorful turtlenecks I have. I have enough warp for about 10 rugs. Except that I told C she could make one, so she will bring over her own rags. Other than that today, I will finish the other bobbin for the blue and ply that, and I will cut up and perhaps cook some rabbit. It is cloudy and a bit drizzly right now. I hope it gets on with it and pours. I will need to do a good bit of laundry today, too, but may have to wait on hanging it out.

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Family Photos and Invasives

8 am

                At the farm. In spite of what I said Sunday. M called to say she wanted to come up to look over family photos. I decided I really did not want to join her, then I thought about it Monday and changed my mind. After all, my big excuse was that I had so much to do to get ready for my class next week, but that is kind of silly. First of all, there is a very good chance that the class won’t happen. So far only 2 people have signed up. To be honest, I would be willing to do it with just 2. It would be a good trial run to help me decide if I want to try it again, if I would do it the same way, etc. anyway, even if it does happen, I don’t need to spend the entire week getting ready for it. Monday I did get out the majacraft type wheel and do some minor fixing. I think it will be fine. And on the way here Tuesday am I warped some cardboard looms. And Sunday I got the roving from E, so really I am pretty set. Oh, also Monday I did errands including buying more cd drop spindle parts (and getting a new clothes rack for outside since the old one finally truly died).

                So here we are. We spent a good part of yesterday afternoon and evening  (on and off) looking at photos. So much in fact that all night long I was seeing these faces from long ago in my half-awake mind.

                Detour. Sitting here on the front porch I noticed a couple of cars stop up the road, so of course I went to investigate and it turns out to be the folks that are doing the invasives control for the woodlot. So also of course I had a long conversation with her and we talked a lot about the possibility of doing invasives control here on our property. This would be important to her because the stuff we have here (honeysuckle, barberry etc) can reseed the woodlot. So I have acres of info that will need to be spread to the family and the conversation will need to start. She will do an estimate for us, and my guess is that this will not be cheap. And if we took it on ourselves it would not be at all simple. Well. One more thing. I did learn a lot from her which is always good.

                Now I guess it is time to eat my oat bran (it is now 9 am) and figure out the rest of the day. I started some peach leather last night using peaches Geneviève brought from the farm that were “iffy.” It came out very nice except that it stuck to the wax paper I lined the pan with (I did it in the oven over night). So I guess some paper will be ingested with the leather. And I’ll need to think of a different method.

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RAIN!!!

6:15 am

                Rain!!! It is actually raining. Not sure if it will be an actual soaking rain or just a passing shower. Still it is something and that is lovely.

                I went to not one but two KO performances yesterday. In the afternoon, and I did manage to get the low price ticket, was the one-woman show Good Morning Anita Hill which basically consisted of this wild-eyed woman ranting about the stage. I liked it very much. Then last night was the story slam which I went to with L. It was 15 people telling true stories about the topic Age. Interestingly most were women in their 50’s and 60’s talking about the process of aging. One was about facelifts, one about hair color and one about general decline. All for the most part were very good and it was obvious that for several this was a very hard thing to do. When I got home from the evening G was back which was a very good thing. Sounds like they had a good time together. Now of course she is off at work already. And I guess they’ll be harvesting in the rain. Not, I suppose, that they will mind much, such a relief from the beating sun.

                Oh dear it sounds like the rain may have stopped. Here’s hoping another dose comes through. This week I need to focus on getting things ready for my class. Which may not actually happen. Well I still need to get ready. And I suppose I won’t know until the end of the week.

                Not sure I’ll run this morning, though I “ought” to. The excuse of it being raining is fading quickly. It is chilly, but that should not be a problem . I suppose I’ll do my stretches first. One thing I have not been doing at all is meditating. It just all seems to take so long – the stretches, the running, eating breakfast, feeding buns. If I also meditate, then I might as well move straight into lunch.

                I managed to clean up and vasoline and toe-nail clip several bunnies yesterday. I have Bathsheba in full coat ready for the class, and Dylan is also ready in case I need two for the two classes. And I have the four big babies who are very friendly but huge tangled messes. And then there are the 5 new babes who will be to die for cute by next week. If they make it.

                While eating GoBerry before the afternoon performance (it is my usual routine – bike to buy the early tickets, then up to town for goberry and then back for the show; a very nice routine) I looked through my journal at the old todo lists to cross of what I could and circle the things still to do. There are a lot of the latter. And several get repeated over and over (like “make soap”). So maybe I can start to actually tackle some of them. And OH I just remembered that on biking through town I saw some interesting stuff left out for the trash that could be very useful display racks. I forgot to drive back to pick them up and now I wonder if they are still there. Maybe I will have to go check. In the car.

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