On the Road

A cold, rainy morning. Temps in the 50's but up to the 60's now, still cold and drizzly. We had heavy rains overnight so the ground is totally saturated. 

I keep thinking the pace of life will surely slow down soon but that hasn't happened yet. It's all good things, so that's a blessing, but goodness this ol' lady is getting tired. 

The weather has been...well, the weather. Pat at Weaver of Grass blog mentioned that she was obsessed by the weather, but for us country dwellers weather is one of the controlling facts of our lives. For example, Tuesday was a fairly nice but very humid day. We knew rain was in the forecast so we worked all day in the vegetable gardens, planting, weeding, tilling, staking, mulching, etc. We were beat by the end of the day but it had to be done before we got more rain. Today, since it is so wet, we're doing inside work. Our days are planned around what Mother Nature hands out, for the most part. I don't mind, really--there's something right about that.

But tomorrow, rain or shine, we will be on the road to the other side of the state to pick up some auction buys and to visit our oldest son. We haven't been to his house since Christmas of 2019 for his son's wedding. They have done a major remodel and addition, and I cannot wait to see it. Besides, just getting out again feels so good.

Last weekend we were out too. Our granddaughter Michaela graduated from high school so we drove across the state to her graduation party. Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely hate graduation ceremonies. I guess maybe I've just gone to too many, but I am in hopes of avoiding them if at all possible in the future. I would not have attended my own graduation from college or grad school had not my family wanted me to do it. I didn't have a high school graduation to suffer through, at least, since I graduated from night school when I was 19, after having two babies. I've rarely done things in the traditional order. 

On our way out on one of our trips, we saw these little foxes. Cute as they can be, but I was thankful there were several miles from home. My hens don't need to meet them.

And then last week, there were several trips--one to Ohio with Leah, the owner of the antique mall in Ravenswood. We went to a warehouse to buy things for the mall, new items to mix with our vintage and antique things. It was a great trip, and we came home with her box truck loaded. We bought a few pieces of furniture too, of course, since we had the truck and there were deals to be found. That was Wednesday, and we spent Friday at the mall getting the new items worked into our booths. Here's a look at how the new space is shaping up.

Sunday we swore we'd be staying home, but Larry found an ad on Facebook for tobacco sticks, which are perfect tomato stakes. Since we're putting out about 70 tomato plants, we needed those sticks, so it was off to Ohio again to get them--this was just the day after our long trip in the other direction for the graduation. We bought 300. Don't laugh, we will keep most of them to continue using in the future as the older ones rot off, which they will. I'll sell about 60 to pay for the whole lot, so ours will be free once I get those sold. Crafters like them for various uses, and of course other people will need tomato stakes too. On the way to the place that had the sticks, we passed this beautiful spot, obviously once the location of a grist mill. 

If you've never seen how tobacco sticks are used, here's on old photo that shows it. We did not do our tobacco the old-time way when we were growing it, but basically tobacco would be cut, stacked into small teepee-shaped stacks of about 5-6 plants and allowed to partially dry before being put on the sticks and taken to the barn. The photo below shows the tobacco tied into "hands" on the stick; this may have been flue-cured rather than burley tobacco, the kind we grew. As I recall, the locals who still used the old hand-tied method would tie the leaves in bundles according to grade--tops, lugs, and lights I think were the names for the various kinds but my memory is hazy so if you know better about all of this, please tell in the comments. When we grew it, we put each stalk on a piece of wire bent into an S-hook that was then hung on barbed wire strung throughout the drying barn. It was an easier, lighter method for hanging, and worked well for us since our help was our young sons. You can read about our tobacco-growing days in this blog post from 2007.

Then Monday was another road trip to the south to pick up an unusual little cabinet as well as some things a good friend was giving us--a Singer treadle sewing machine, among them. We stopped at the antique mall to drop off a few things again. We seem to have spent a lot of time there lately, but it has paid off in increased sales. We're working on the Singer now, sanding off some water stains on the wood and re-staining it. It's a beautiful machine, and only needs a new belt. It even has the original booklet and key that came with it.

Today we're trying to catch up with ourselves. I mailed out the last of the eBay backlog of packages and some things I needed to return. I also mailed my fox puppet to a friend who wrote a children's story about foxes, and will use the puppet at her readings. I'm scrubbing old bottles and a cabinet, doing laundry, pricing and packing, painting a dresser...it's one of those days when I've got my hands in many pies. 

Surely next week will slow down a bit, and my poor house will get some much-needed attention. I have to admit, though, that it is nice to be able to go places without worry once again. How long it will last is anybody's guess as the virus variants that are causing problems overseas are sure to come here eventually. I am not going to worry about that--I am going to enjoy what we have now, and be grateful to have gotten the vaccine so we can once again see friends and family and go pretty much where we want to go.

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