Still Catching Up

57°f/about 14°C, cloudy and warm all day, with occasional bouts of sun and strong breezes.

Yesterday I wrote about our Saturday, going to the rally, a walk in the woods, etc, but I managed to skip over Friday, which was quite a day in itself.

Well, actually it started on Thursday. We decided to get more mulch since the weather was nice, and mulch was on sale for $2 a bag. We picked up 30 bags, got home and got it spread. Talk about sore muscles! It's coming along though.

One bag of 50 crocus bulbs in planted last fall was all white! Which is actually okay with me. They are so pretty.

Then we loaded the truck with stuff we were taking to the Ravenswood High School FFA farm auction (Future Farmer's of America, a high school agricultural group). We had a bunch of extra garden hand tools, along with some antique tools that had been in our booth a good while: corn shellers, sausage stuffers,  etc. That stuff used to sell like hotcakes, but I guess the age group that even knew what they were has passed on, so we decided to donate them to the auction. We get a percentage of the sale, which will probably cover what we paid for this stuff, at least.

While we were loading up, I took photos of all Larry's broken down mowers and parts and listed them on Facebook Marketplace.  I got responses immediately! Who knew so many guys wanted old broken down mowers?

Friday morning it was pouring rain, and as we drove to the auction site, one of the windshield wipers broke. Of course it did, 🙄 and Larry had to  get out right there in the pouring rain and take it off so it didn't scratch the glass. The rain let up some just then luckily! I felt sorry for the teens who were running the sale because it was really a cold rain. This sale is pretty large, with 3 rings going at once, and it's a big income generator for that school's FFA, which they use to pay for trips to state and national conventions, contests, and the like. Here's a photo from a sale a few years back, of just one of the auction rings.

We picked up 30 more bags of mulch, bringing our total to 80 bags so far, out of the 120 or so we will need. So saving that 47 cents a bag really adds up. We intended to spread it when we got home as the rain had stopped, but granddaughter Haley called to say she was coming over for a visit, and that was a real treat---something that doesn't happen as often as we would like, as she lives 3 hours away, and works full time in the WV National Guard. We had coffee, then Haley and Larry went off to hunt for molly moochers (morel mushrooms), while I made sandwiches for lunch, and fresh coffee. The rain had started again and all they got for their trouble was a good soaking. But they did find one tiny mushroom, so the moochers were definitely starting to come up.

After Haley left we hopped in the van for the drive to Ohio to pick up our auction winnings. We stopped in Parkersburg to pick up some nice Asian ceramics from a lady who lived in the coolest old apartment building. 

A few of the things we bought from her. There were 7 pieces in all and she only wanted $10 for the whole lot. 

The woodwork in her building was gorgeous, and the high ceilings, plaster walls and oak floors were really something. If I had to live in a city, that's the kind of place I would choose...although third floor walk up would be a challenge!

Auction pickup was fun as usual. These people, the Beardsleys, are just great to do business with, snf it's a pleasure to see them every time we go up there to their auction house in tiny Lowell, Ohio. We got some neat stuff, which I have been cleaning and pricing today. That is the least favorite part of this business for me, but it has to be done.

Still researching these: they are English and made by the Newport Pottery, but are they made by Clarice Cliff? Because if so, they are worth a nice bit.  

A "Corn King" bowl, made by Shawnee pottery in Ohio.

A first edition, 1895 copyright book was in the $6 box of books. I listed it on eBay. What a title for a romance!

Ainsley, England bud vase, and to its right a lovely teapot that came with sugar and creamer, made in Bavaria by Johannes Haviland.

Back in Ripley we spotted our friend Suzy's car in front of a downtown restaurant,  so we stopped in for a visit and a bite to eat. Then home to feed the critters and get ready for Saturday. 

As I write, the mulch is still in the truck, but maybe tomorrow we can get it down. Yesterday we took it easy. The guy came to pick up the junk mowers, and I waved a happy farewell to Larry's  "I'm gonna fix it and sell it" death pile that he never had time to deal with. I mostly just caught up on laundry and packed ebay sales while Larry worked in the garage. 

Today I cooked: Denise's oat cakes for breakfast, mincemeat tarts as I continue to try to use up the mincemeat in the cellar; I made yogurt and sweet tea, too. Larry had gone mushroom hunting again this morning and came in with a nice mess, so I cleaned them up and made a rice dish with them, broiled some salmon and made a salad for dinner. Larry wanted tartar sauce so I mixed some up quickly with my pickle relish and mayo.  Besides cooking, I cleaned and priced two more totes of the auction finds, did a couple ebay listings, did a little garden cleanup and some housecleaning too. Larry did some weedeating, plowed "his" garden, and fixed the electric fence around my garden. And that was it for today. 

I think that now I am all caught up with myself. Time to read and relax a bit!

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

Where To Start?

37°f/2.8°C, clear. Expecting a high of 70°f today.

I am so behind, friends, both on posting and reading other blogs. I am trying to catch up with everyone, though. And I will try to backtrack over our past few days, which have been very full.

But first, this sad news, which is heavy on my mind right now: I have been very worried about Bruce, who had not posted on his blog, Oddball Observations, since March 13. I have been checking in, hoping for a new post, and even emailed him, so I was so sad to see this morning that dear Bruce passed away. How we will miss his humor, his cooking, and his fascinating life stories. Rest well, friend, with your sweet Judy. (Wiping tears now).

Well, I needed to write that.  Our blog friends become like an eclectic family, don't they? At least to me, each of you holds a special place in my heart, and I feel like I know you well. As we get older, I think these close connections, even if just online, are an important part of our lives. We learn from each other, see places we would never see otherwise, and enjoy watching children and grandchildren grow up. Some of you, like Quinn, have been readers here almost since I started blogging in 2007. That's almost 20 years, a long time for friendships to deepen. 

Most of my real-world friends live a distance away, so online is where we keep in touch. And yesterday, I was so glad to see many of them in person at the No Kings Rally in Charleston,  WV, at the State Capitol. We had a glorious day for it, and, as is usual at these rallies, this was a happy, positive crowd. 

My friend Trinny, a stand up comic and child psychologist.

My friend Ron Sowell, playing protest songs we all knew.

With my friend Lynne, gardener extraordinaire.

We saw so many people we knew, even though this was an hour from our home: musicians Paul, Pam, Doug, Bill, and Becky, writers Debby and Colleen, fellow Jackson counties Roy, Blue, Linda, Detra, Sherree, and of course there were other friends there that we missed in the crowd. It felt so good to reconnect and to feel that solidarity and strength in being together.

After the rally, we drove to tiny Clendenin, WV, home of the first library I managed, for lunch in the tiny brewery located inside an old bank building.

The main reason for going to Clendenin, though, was to take a walk on the Elk River Rail Trail. While at the brewery we met this man named Rodney who is a veritable walking West Virginia flora and fauna expert of the self-taught kind. He offered to take me on a walk on the trail to see what plants might be popping up. Of course I eagerly agreed!

So off we went. Larry moved at a slower pace and Ridney and I soon left him behind. I later asked Larry if he was worried about me wandering off into the woods with a complete stranger, but of course he wasn't! It was clear that Rodney was 100% focused on the plants, and besides, he was very well thought of by the people at the brewery who knew him well.

We had a great wander, about a mile, and then back again. Rodney taught me to use iNaturalist, an app for identification. 

American rosette lichen, up close 

Bloodroot

Carolina Spring Beauty

Coltsfoot

The beautiful Elk River

Yellow cordalis, a new flower for me.

Red elf cups fungus

I learned new plants, and even found out that even the smallest lichen on trees have names, and are pretty astounding when viewed up close. I hope to go back and find Rodney again, because silly me forgot to get his contact information. 

By this time, it was after 5 and we went back to Charleston to yet another brewery for a salad supper and music by a bluegrass band. 

We listened a while, but as the place got crowded, we decided to meander homeward, stopping at Shari's to meet up with a few friends and listen to a young local singer, Gracie Mae, who was very good.

And finally home just as it was getting dark, to be greeted by happy dogs and a hungry cat!

A Memory About Food Budgets

46°f/7.8°C, clear and sunny. A great day to work outside!

Following up on my last post, I was reminded of a time early in my first marriage when my husband changed jobs and his new job really made us tight financially. We had just bought a house, our third baby was on the way, and we needed to replace our VW bug with something bigger. 

Back in the day! I was 22 in this photo, my first husband was 23. The baby,  Aaron, was 2 months, Derek in the chair beside me was 19 months, Jon on the left front was just over 3, and our oldest George was 4 1/2. We were still in Virginia then, in our first house, but moved to West Virginia less than a year later. I still have that chair, as well as the old crock jug and the coffee grinder on the mantle. 

My husband was bringing home about $100 a week. Our house payment was $150 a month, LP gas was $50, electric thankfully was cheap, usually $15, and the payment on our (brand new) van was $77. He had a company car but had to pay for the gas and be reimbursed at the end of the month, and as a copier repairman he did a lot of driving so that gas bill was hard on us. I had a food budget of $10 a week.

I had to come up with creative ways to feed us all. We found a place selling pullet eggs for $1.00 for 3 dozen. We got milk from a local dairy farmer for $1.00 a gallon, and I made butter from the cream. Then we had earlier met an organic orchardist who had made a large amount of cider that didn’t come out as he wanted it, so he sold it to us for 75 cents a gallon (we thought it was delicious). We made a monthly trip to the orchard and to a beekeeper in that area to pick up cider and honey for our local natural food store, so we picked up our honey too, and got paid a bit as well. Another orchard sold their culled apples for $2 a bushel, so we bought those too.

All of those things, plus tuna and fish, made up the bulk of our diet. We didn't eat beef, chicken, or pork at the time because of the additives being used back then, but we did eat dairy and fish. It was a challenge, but I think we managed well, and my boys grew up strong and healthy. After a year, my husband was making a much better salary, and was using our van as a work car and getting reimbursed for mileage, so our situation was much easier.

I was curious about the comparison of my $10 in 1972 to today, and found that it was equal to about $78. And now I wonder, what would $78 buy today? I think that it might actually be easier. For some families,  $312 a month would seem like riches. Some foods are actually cheaper now than they were back then, although meat is outrageously high.

Memories, memories. Despite the lack of money, we were happy, and those were good days.

Anyway, getting back to today: we worked outside all day, spreading 20 bags of mulch, cleaning up the patio, etc. I tilled a bit of the garden while Larry continued cleaning the garage. I didn't plant anything because we are expecting more rain and very low temps and I don't want my seeds to rot like they did last year. We ended the day with firepit time, a reward for our hard work.

 

And to end this rather eclectic post: a friend sent me this link of a Japanese storyteller who credited me with inspiring her to write a beautiful ballad! Here's the YouTube link, if you're interested. 

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