Catching Up

65°f/18.3°C, very windy. Rain expected by 6am, possible snow flurries by afternoon. 

The crazy weather saga of this Spring continues! I  hope the blzzard predicted for those of you in the north does not materialize. Here, we have had 3 days of high winds that have felled dead trees and scattered branches everywhere,  but that's about all.

I told someone the other day that a long conversation between West Virginians will almost always start with weather, then family, and will inevitably get around to snakes and often ghosts---those last two usually following a few "remember when" stories. Is this peculiar to our region, or is this pretty much how it goes where you are?  So, I have covered weather, now i can move on to family!

It has been some busy days here. Sarah's gasline and road drainage work is nearly complete. She now has gas to her cabin! And she did it with just the help of our neighbor Jamie and his backhoe. That's her second utility---she put in the solar electricity last year with the help of our McGyver son Aaron. We haven't been much help, mostly providing moral support, food, and a few tools. 

While she worked on that we stocked our Ripley booth Friday, adding a few new things and cleaning up the disorder from staff moving things away from the garage doors again due to high winds. This time I braced the doors with furniture and put only unbreakables on tops, so it should be okay now.

We worked on cleaning up and reorganizing the workroom and back porch, which also functions as a work area, over the weekend. We still have much to do but we have made a big dent in it. I hope to get this finished before Larry has his hand and elbow surgery on Thursday, but I don't feel hopeful about it. We have so many things to get done before that, as he will be wearing a sling for a month. 

Our new mattress came Friday, so Saturday afternoon we dealt with that. Boy, mattresses are heavy! Wrestling the old one out was harder than getting the new one in place. Larry cut new slats as a couple of the old ones were just a little short and wanted to fall out from time to time. I was in high hopes that the new mattress might help with my shoulder pain and my arms falling asleep all the time, but so far I can't say it has---which is why I am up at this early hour. Just too uncomfortable to sleep.

We went out to dinner Saturday night with Sarah, Derek, and granddaughter Hannah and her fiancé and his daughter. It was a fun evening, and Sarah got her fix of the Yacht Club's barbecued ribs for this trip. They really are good, cooked right on site with locally grown pork. 

Sunday we went to Ernie's celebration of life at Shari's restaurant,  which was Ernie's favorite hangout. The place was packed, and I think he would have been astonished at how many people came to honor his memory. I guess none of us really know the impact we have on those around us.  I cleaned up Larry's workbench and packed ebay when we got home, while he helped Sarah with a few things. 

Always good to come home. New gravel should arrive Tuesday, and it is sorely needed in this part of our driveway. Gravel costs at least $1000 a year to keep our long drive maintained. 

That's about all the excitement around here. Now, maybe I should just go make my morning tea and forget about trying to get any more sleep. We will be restocking our Ravenswood booth today, so I hope caffeine will keep me going!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Work, Work, Work

30°f /-2°C this morning with a few snowflakes floating around...after a high of 81°f yesterday! Crazy weather.

It's a wonder this weather doesn't give us whiplash! So warm yesterday, then crazy winds and a 50° temperature drop. Still it is better than what we had on this day 4 years ago:

Today was actually not too bad, and warmed to 46°. But tonight? In the 20s I think. Brrr. Poor daffodils. Some are already dropping.

It has been busy around here despite the weather 

Neighbor Jamie came over with his backhoe to begin digging the trench for Sarah's gasline to her cabin. Larry finished replacing the leaking power steering line on the tractor,and I baked and painted.

These are an experimental cookie, made with butter, yogurt, peanut butter, oats, molasses, eggs, triple-flavored chocolate chips(semi-sweet, white, and butterscotch), nuts,and self-rising flour. I riffed off a recipe found online, and I must say, these are very good. They disappeared fast.

I am almost finished with this dresser, just need to wax it. It's been in progress for a while. I ran out of paint and had to order online, then decided the drawers needed more sanding, then waffled around deciding whether to add the transfer.

I worked on this cabinet too, just need to put the handle back on and it's finished.

And I finished up this shelf that too far too much time and patience.  Why do I get into things like this! Definitely won't sell for enough to cover how much time it too to paint around all those glass panes. But it looks 100% better than it did originally. 

I staged it with sone faux tulips and milk glass, and may do the same in the booth. I can see this being a display for a farmers market or home bakery,  maybe.

Last night Sarah, my friend Suzy and I went out to play trivia at a local 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Sad News and Good News

This morning, 68°f/20°C, windy and mostly cloudy. Thunderstorms and cooling temps expected this evening.

After that hard work on Monday cleaning out the cellar top, I was tired and aching, so I piddled around in the morning with things like changing my decor to Spring, dusting a bit, etc. We sold a table I was using in my workroom, which meant clearing it off and loading it in the van for Larry to deliver. And then of course, straightening the mess left behind! I had another table that I just moved in there. One less thing in the house, so yay!

While I rearranged decor I talked to a friend who had open heart surgery 2 weeks ago for an aortic aneurism.  She was so lucky to survive that. This is the same friend who was in intrusive care for 2 months last summer due to an infection caused by a very rare bacteria---so she has had 2 dramatic brushes with death in the last year. She is bored to death having to stay home and be careful, so we were on the phone for an hour---that reminded me of being a teenager when we spent hours on the phone! But I was able to dust, arrange, etc, so the time wasn't wasted. 

Larry was gone all day, off to Parkersburg for a tractor part, then to Aldi's,  and finally dropping off the table to our friend Bill. (When he goes out alone, Larry takes his time, so he is usually gone several hours, and sometimes, like yesterday, all day. I think he just enjoys meandering along, talking to people, etc. I tend to be more purpose-driven, do what I need to do and get home.)

In the afternoon I got to work on furniture, touching up a corner shelf made from old louvered shutters, then sanding and painting the inside of a  "chimney cupboard", so called because of its tall, narrow shape. These were often companion pieces to Hoosier-style cabinets. Larry and I did some cleanup around the garage before calling it a day. The shower sure felt good.

We had sad news yesterday when we learned of the passing of Larry's friend Ernie. 

Ernie was a good soul, quiet and shy until he began hanging out at Shari's restaurant a few years ago. He soon developed a circle of friends, older single guys like him. It was nice to see him smiling and laughing! Larry usually sits with these guys when we go there, and he and Ernie became good friends. Ernie was our "junk man": we took scrap metal to him because he did recycling with it. It put a luttle extra in his pocket and saved us the hassle of dealing with it ourselves. He had cats too, lots of them! Strays and feral found their way to him, and it wasn't unusual to see half a dozen or more food bowls scattered around. Ernie lived simply; I don't think he had electricity but he did use bottled gas for cooking and heat. He was an independent,  private kind of guy, so I was surprised to learn he had several grandchildren as he never talked about his private life. We know one of his daughters who lives locally, and she always kept an eye out for him, although I doubt he asked for much help. He was a trim, busy man, so it was a shock to learn that a heart attack took him at only 74. He will be missed by many people who appreciated his quiet humor and kind ways.

In good news, I talked with my brother who had a kidney transplant a month ago, and he and his wife are both doing well. She was his donor! How often does it happen that a spouse is a match? Of course, he has a long course of medication and monitoring ahead of him, but he feels great and is sure he will recover fully. As we all know, attitude is an important aspect of healing. These bodies of ours can be tricky, no matter our age!

The flowers are really coming along now, such a joy to see them.

I planted these forsythia in 2024, and they are starting to take off. They were starts from the big bush above.

These that you can just see in the center of the photo were planted years and years ago, but I didnt care for them properly so brush and weeds have mingled in. Still, them bloom every year, stalwart little things. They were also babies from the big bush.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.