Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

We have been "enjoying" a red squirrel who has decided to take up residency along the riverrim.

 

Red squirrels are usually solitary, and unsociable.  They can be aggressive, noisy and very territorial to the point where they will not allow other squirrels in their territory.  That is ok with me.  I don't like squirrels.  One is enough.  I am hoping this red squirrel will chase off the flying squirrels that have been hanging around.

 

 

Their main food source includes conifer seed.  In the past few days this red squirrel has stripped our hemlock tree of almost all  of the pine cones, and the ground is littered with the remains, or petals of the pinecones.

 

 

 

I wonder what he will eat next?  When I was reading about them, I was surprised to find out that they sometimes eat insects, mice and RABBITS!

 

 

I finished spinning the first 100 yards of the Angora/Alpaca blend.  I spun it with a long draw, as fast as I could...let the slubs fly....and plied it randomly.  I didn't spend much time spinning for consistency, as I figure -after the yarn blooms, you cannot see the definition of it anyway- so I didn't bother.  The color is like tea with lots and lots of milk...however, it has a luster that I am happy about.  It is also extremely soft and fluffy.

P is for point of twist

That magical apex where the fiber turns into yarn.

It is why I spin.

I could look at it all day. 

It is constantly changing, yet remains the same.

O is for Oak Galls

 

O is for Oak Galls...

 

these are just a few.  My oak tree is shedding them presently.

 

 

I read that you can make an ink dye out of them.  Some even claim to be able to dye with them.  I have not tried that yet.  I find it interesting that a little wasp makes them.  I have never seen the little wasp, except in photographs.

compare and contrast

I was reminiscing about why I started my blog today.  I was reading the first in a nine part series entitled
Garden Blog Pioneers Look Back--and Forward.  It is an interesting discussion going on over at Cold Climate Gardening.  Kathy has thought of a very creative way to celebrate her blogiversary.  You may want to go and check it out.

 

  Then..2005...

 

One of the things I love about blogging is that you can access the archives, and compare and contrast things that were going on from year to year. 

 

  Now...2006

 

While last year provided a bountiful harvest, this year it has not been possible to raise our garden.  Sometimes, life can throw you a curveball that hits you square in the chest, knocking the wind out of you.  We experienced a curveball this past spring, and so, had only just begun to lay plans for another growing season.  Our ideas and plans, like our seeds and seedlings never had a chance to take root.

 

Nature has had it's way in our garden this summer. It has remained untouched since May.  We (wade) walk in from time to time, and take what is offered from some of the early season crops that we had put in before May.  It has been at least 15 years since we skipped a growing season.  It feels so odd.  No fresh corn, no beans, no zinnias to warn me that the season is coming to a close.

 

Our garden this year has it own peculiar beauty...a hodgepodge of weeds and perennials with the occasional volunteer (tomato, sunflower etc.) reminder of gardens past.

 

 

The birds and the chipmunks have enjoyed our respite.  They have become accustomed to our absence, and have the nerve to scold us when we open the gate.

 

I find myself anticipating the first frost...something I always hope will be late...this year I hope will be early.  Let the frost take the garden, ......then we will begin the task of putting it back in order.

snubbing post

 

I visited the snubbing post yesterday.  The ferns lined the towpath that I walked.

 

 

A snubbing post is something that the canal boat ropes were tied to years ago.  Snubbing posts are an artifact, sitting by the river, watching time flow by.  They don't see much action anymore.  But sometimes I like to visit this one and reflect.

 

 

Sometimes, I like to put my fingers into the places where the ropes wore the rock away.  I think about the differences between rock and rope, and how strong the ropes must have been.  I think about the person who made the rope.  I think about the fiber that was used, and wonder where it came from.

 

 

I have started to card and spin up some of Lakota's wool.  Since there is not very much of it, I am blending it with some Alpaca to stretch the quantity.  After finishing up a pound of processed prepared roving, I am enjoying the rhythm of using my hand cards, spin some, card some and so on.  

N is for Needle

 

Recently, words and their meanings have been playing a large part in my life.  Communication is a huge thing.  Using the right words at the right time, or choosing not to use words but rather gestures, a glance, a touch or a picture...

 

 

...there are many techniques for expressing ideas effectively so that a thought or a feeling can be conveyed.

 

 

When it comes time to do my ABC Along, and I have to pick an object to photograph...I start thinking about the object that I have chosen.

 

 

...curiously, that word may bring more than one image to mind....as in needle.

 

 

Those that know me best will know which kind of needle I mean when I say, N is for needle...

transition

The signals are there.

 

The mornings are chilly and misty over the river.

 

The katydid have been singing.

 

The acorns have started to fall.

 

The golden rod is blooming.

 

The maples are showing one or two leaves with color.

 

The light is changing, shadows and color are crisp by noontime.

 

And the bees fall asleep by mid afternoon.

little bit more

This fawn was born earlier this year, and has grown quite a bit...in fact, we have a nickname for her and her mother.  We call the mother "little bit"...and the fawn is "little bit more".  She joined me for coffee this morning...rather briefly.

 

 

Last night around 11pm we had a visit from the bear.  I hear something outside, near the hemlock trees, and by the time I got downstairs and onto the deck with the flashlight, the bear had broken into the rabbit chow.  I grabbed the air horn, yelled at the bear to get out, and blew the horn several times.  He lumbered off. We elected not to go out and clean up after him until daylight when we would have the advantage.  Bummer...now I have to lock everything in the basement, and get out the nail boards to put in front of the rabbit hutches.  One more thing to make chores a bit more time consuming.  I will have to do this now until a hard freeze.  I also have to soak a rag with ammonia to put inside the trash cans.  Hopefully this will discourage the bear from coming back.

 

On the way into town this morning, we passed a mother bear with three cubs.  I was glad that they were not in my backyard!  They were with 100 feet from the house.

rafters drays and hanks

This morning at first light, the hillside was full of a group or rafter of turkeys.

They are hard to photograph because they always appoint a scout to keep watch.  I was getting pretty close until a little red squirrel told on me.

Squirrels are mostly solitary, but if you ever see them in a group you could call them a dray of squirrels.

I finally finished spinning up the Finn/Alpaca blend that I started last spring. Would you call this group of yarn a skein, a lea, or a hank?

a traditional unit of length for yarn, varying with the weight of the fibers in the yarn. Typically a lea of wool is 80 yards (73 meters); a lea of cotton or silk 120 yards (110 meters); and a lea of linen 300 yards (274 meters). For cotton and wool, a lea is equal to 1/7 hank. A lea is sometimes called a skein

a traditional measure of length for yarn. The length of yarn in a hank varies with the market and the material; for example, a hank of cotton yarn traditionally included 840 yards (768 meters) of yarn, while a hank of wool yarn was 560 yards (512 meters). For both cotton and wool, these traditional hanks are equal to 7 leas or to 12 cuts. In the U.S., however, a hank of woolen yarn is generally 1600 yards (1463 meters). In retail trade, a hank is often equal to 6 or 7 skeins of varying size.

Now all that is left is to set the twist and package it up.

arthurs garlic

 

Some days my chores are centered around the weather.  I have been waiting for a good drying day to yank the garlic.  Good drying days are for many things...bed linens...fleece...dye baths...but today it was for the garlic.

 

I planted this garlic last October.  Arthur gave it to me.  Arthur comes by for eggs, and one time he brought me a bouquet of garlic heads and told me how and when to plant them.  He told me that garlic never likes to be planted in the same spot twice.  Arthur did not know the name of this variety of garlic.  I do know that it is a hard neck variety.

 

 

I yanked the garlic on a good drying day because I like to hose my garlic down.  This is contrary to what is recommended, but I found that I have better results if I just hose it off.  Besides, it looks more respectable that way. 

 

 

I let it cure with the stalks on it. I let it dry out of the sun...and then it is put in a large open basket that lets the air circulate around the heads.  I keep it near the porch, so I can bring it in the mud room if it looks like rain....this always brings complaints about the odor..."smells like a deli in here!"

 

 

I noticed that my columbine plants have a leafminer again.

I have never seen what the fly looks like, but here are the winding tracks that the larvae leave behind...I believe they are of the serpentine variety.  I have read that all leafminers have complete metamorphosis....with their entire life cycle completed within 28 days or sooner.  Some leafminers are host specific.

 

 

Anyone know who this little guy could be??  He landed on my hand whilst I was doing another drying day chore.....I'm thinking he may be a yellow midge from the river.  There is still so much to learn about hatches....

M is for Muckle & Minor's Head

 

m is for Muckle...

 

 

Now it is an interesting thing about the origin of the word  of Muckle...I believe it is (Scots English)...and to define the adverb, it would read something like " much, or a large amount..a great many...or great."  Now, my wheel is probably not from the Highlands...but it could be considered a  Muckle wheel....(at least for this entry for my abc along...mostly because I used G for Garden....)

 

 

M is also for Minor's Head...there are 4 grooves on my Muckle's Minor's Head.  Originally, my wheel had a broken wooden copp disk.  My wheel was restored by Fred Hatton, who has restored more than a dozen antique wheels, including several great wheels.  While working on my wheel he also restored the axel, and the spindle on the wheel...now she is spinning like a dream.

 

 

Dreaming is something I do a lot of while spinning on this wheel.  I dream of the person who made the wheel, the people who have spun on it...the miles of yarn it has spun and who will spin on it after I do.  It reminds me of a song by Neil Young about a guitar.  The lyrics speak of the object as being old and passing through many hands....I sometimes change the lyrics to suit me....I sing it for my wheel...."This old wheel ain't mine to keep, it's mine to spin for awhile.  The more I use it the better it spins, it cries when I leave it alone....silently it waits for me, or someone else I suppose."

 

 

My wheel is pretty old, I think it is over 200 years old.  It has a wooden hub.  I think the wood on the wheel portion may be Chestnut.  The bench still has a bit of the bark of the tree on the underside.  Yep, I think my wheel is pretty great...er...muckle...