Things are looking up...

In spite of the weatherman's forecast this morning of another "fairly drab day" (Can you believe he actually said that?! Talk about making you depressed!) we had a bit of blue sky and enough sun to give us some shadows. I quick took the photo just in case it didn't stay long, which it didn't. But it was in the 40's today (just barely), the birds are singing, the robins are hogging the bit of open ground there is, and the snow is melting quickly but not quickly enough to cause flooding. A pretty good spring day all around. I even tossed aside my winter coat and wore my lightweight jacket into town today. (As opposed to yesterday, I've had it with being a wimp!)

Snow Geese?

At the bottom of our hill live a bunch (or is that a gaggle?) of geese who decided to abandon their owners and move into "the wild". All summer long you can see them floating contentedly on the small stream that runs through a small valley. (If you look hard - that dark thread that runs left to right just under the posted sign is the stream.)

Until today, I never stopped to wonder what they did in the winter. Do they go back to the barn? Do they try to tough it out in the wild? Domestic geese aren't much for flying so I doubt they head south. At any rate, this morning they were all lined up along the road looking longingly at their stream. We (and that includes the geese) got 19 inches of snow yesterday.

We came home a different route so am not sure what they decided to do. Upstream we saw two hardy fisherman in their waders in the middle of the stream (after all - 15,000 trout had been released two week ago and were just waiting to be caught). If the snow didn't slow down the fishermen, perhaps the geese weren't turned away either. As for me? I think I'll wait awhile before heading to the waters. (I confess, I'm a wimp!)

Snow???

Need I say more?

The good news is...

- it's mostly stopped
- spring snows are GREAT for the garden as they melt slowly into the ground taking all those good nutrients from rotting leaves etc. with it - known as "poor man's fertilizer"
- John listened to me (if you can believe that!) and moved the snow blower last night (before the snow came) from the shed far away from the driveway, to the driveway. It also gave him a chance to put some air in that flat tire on the tractor...
- The tire did NOT go flat again overnight (wonder of wonders!)
- the squirrels have stayed away from the feeder all day, much to the delight of the birds
- and, the best news of all.... it's supposed to get warmer every day this week ending up with 60 degrees and SUNSHINE (I've already cleaned my sunglasses in preparation) on Sunday!!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE, including those without electricity, are feeling better about things!

Signs of Spring?

Folks around here (including myself) are getting a bit upset with the state of April weather... overcast... cold... snow most every night even though it melts during the day... (not to mention the mouse situation in some households!)...

One good - no GREAT - thing is that the fresh fish truck has returned to the Village Green on Saturday mornings. He gets there at 9:00. I got there at 9:05 and you can see I was not the first in line. He is appreciated! Two (or is it three?) hours of selling cold fish on a cold day out of a cold truck - not a job for everyone.

So... in spite of it being in the 30's,
and damp...
and cold...
and taking an hour for the charcoal to get hot enough to cook on...
we had wonderful grilled FRESH fish for dinner.



This morning we, of course, woke up to the scene to our left. Okay, so it is beautiful but we're ready for a different sort of beauty now. It is April after all.

Perhaps we shouldn't complain too strongly - the weather person is saying we can expect another one to two feet of the white stuff overnight. Maybe the schools will have a snow day.

For immediate release...

HAMILTON REPORTS RUN ON MOUSE TRAPS & PEANUT BUTTER

Hamilton store owners today reported an unexpected run on mouse traps and peanut butter. According to one store owner an unidentified couple came in and purchased every mouse trap in stock. Another store owner reported a couple came in asking specifically for Victor mouse traps made in Pennsylvania. Having only traps made in Taiwan, the couple had a heated discussion, then purchased the entire inventory. It was also reported the couple was overheard questioning grocery store owners if they had any "recalled" peanut butter left.

Speculation has run rampant on why the sudden sale of mouse traps and peanut butter. One source, as yet unconfirmed, identified the couple in question as artists who are planning an upcoming installation entitled "Mouse Moat at Midnight".

Store owners state it will take at least two weeks to replenish their stocks.

Ok, ok... so I made this up. However, I am pleased to report we all slept soundly last night (Adam, the cat, included). We did NOT catch any mice in our numerous traps overnight. What does that mean?

WARNING!!!!

If the thought of a mouse story gives you the willies, read NO further!

For all you other brave souls, read on... No pictures today - your imaginations can do the work.

We live in a 200 year old farmhouse in the country. While we continue to seal up any openings we find, a family of mice always seems to join us in the fall. The traps go out (there are just too many hiding places for our cat, who is a GREAT mouser outside, to be effective.) By Christmas the mice seem to be gone. Then spring comes and we find ourselves with more mouse visitors.

This year has been no exception (so at least we're assured spring is on the way) and the mousetrap (we were down to one) has been put to good use. Last night as usual, we turn off the bedroom lights and the cat joins us (he sleeps at our feet). Rather than settling in like he normally does, he keeps on walking up to our heads and stops. Then I hear the pitter patter of little feet!!!! on the comforter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sitting straight up in bed and flinging the covers I yell to John (who probably already has my full attention) to turn on the light - that I think Adam (the cat) has brought us a mouse. Of course, there's no mouse anywhere I look - just Adam sitting there blinking at us. John tells me I'm imagining things and to go to sleep.

1:43 a.m. John & I simultaneously sit straight up in bed, awakened by the pitter patter of little feet on the top of the pillows above our heads. This time John SAW the mouse in the moonlight before he turned on the light!!! Adam is blinking at us at the foot of the bed. John moves the mousetrap to behind the bed (why oh why have we let ourselves get down to only one usable trap?!!), then tells me to go back to sleep. Right!!! 1:58 - I hear it under the bed and jerk up again. John says to relax, it will stay on the floor. Right!!!! 2:14 - John jumps straight up. (I refrained from saying "I told you so!")

On go the lights. We pull the bed 2 feet away from the wall (while I'm silently considering how practical it is to either move back to the cold upstairs bedroom or spend the night on the love seat). Then we spy the mouse being "herded" back to us by Adam (guess he was determined we were going to have his "mouse gift" or else). By this time the mouse (measuring all of an inch) has about had it with indoor life himself. John easily traps him in a jar and "relocates" him to the great outdoors.

2:34 - Adam is heard munching on his cat food (obviously rewarding himself for his gift giving abilities). John is heard snoring. I'm of course wide awake listening for the pitter patter of little feet...

Yellow works for me...

Perhaps yellow is my favorite color (at least today). It's so hard to believe that these delicate looking crocus could look so good after being frozen every night and snowed upon every day for over a week. Yet they still look beautiful and more than welcoming when I look out the window. I do have to admit they open up fully and REALLY look happy when the sun shines (but don't we all?!!!)

Eggy Art...

Did you "do" Easter eggs this weekend? We hadn't really intended to, but when Wynne (the artsy artist on the left) and Bridge (the artsy attorney on the right) came up for Easter, there really was NO choice.

In our usual way, it turned into a MUCH bigger deal than one might imagine. First, I had plenty of our neighbor's fresh BROWN eggs, but, as you know, they don't dye the best so we had to get white (very inferior) ones at the market. Then we didn't have "egg dippers" so we had to find some wire and make our own. That then lead to the creation of the egg holder/art piece in photo. It made a GREAT table centerpiece as you could see through it. Once we get by the egg thing, perhaps red balls at Christmas? It's on its way to Seattle so we'll expect a full report at the end of the year.

And of course there was the issue of what to use to dye the eggs. Martha Stewart Living had just had an article on natural dyes so we went for that. Our review... the turmeric worked the best making a pale yellow (squint and you might see a blush of yellow on some of the eggs). The "pink" from the canned beets was, well, subtle - perhaps we needed beets WITH skins? And the coffee? - we might as well have used the brown eggs au natural. Bottom line - it was a great way to spend a cold, snowy Saturday and lots of FUN!! (plus I certainly had more to write about!)

Dyngus Day

Dyngus Day??? No, I'm NOT making it up. If you haven't heard of it, it probably means you a) are NOT from Buffalo, NY or b) are NOT Polish-American. So.... if you'd like to learn more I'd suggest you start with
www.dyngusdaybuffalo.com

What does this have to do with the photo? Well, that bushy tree on the left is actually what was supposed to have been a "small" ornamental pussy willow. (As you can see, it rather ignored its genetic instructions to stay small.) However, on cold spring days like today I always harvest a few sprigs to enjoy in the house. (Few is the operative word - I can barely reach high enough to cut off the tips of the branches where the "pussies" are.) And what do pussy willows have to do with Dyngus Day? I'll leave it up to you to find out.

Where is she?

Tune into our other blog to find out...

ontheroadinthevw.blogspot.com

New look at the pancake breakfast...

This morning was the "Valentine's" pancake breakfast put on by the firemen of Earlville who deserve extra credit this year. They spent ALL of Thursday night at a house fire in Earlville (the family got out safely but their home unfortunately burned to the ground - started from an electric boot warmer). Then the firemen were called out again last night because parts of the rubble had started to burn again. However, they were all at the fire hall serving breakfast at 6 a.m. (this is farm country remember)... with smiles on their faces (even if some of their eyes were half closed).

The turn out was great - guess this COLD weather is making everyone feel "housebound" so folks are more than ready to go out for everything. "Housebound" madness seems to have reached new levels as you can see from the new hairdo on the kid in the photo. His mother (sitting across from him) proudly told me it's easy to do with a combo of hairspray and Elmer's glue and that it washes out easily. The snowmobilers were speculating how you could make a helmet fit...

The Joy of Cooking...

Breaking news... it's still winter. Just north of here they've gotten almost 8 feet of snow (going for 100 inches) from this storm. We've gotten just "a touch" in comparison. However, we've shared in the wind and the cold which means I haven't been walking. (Been working on broadening my hips I'm sure!)

To do this, I've been cooking - mostly on the wood stove. I'm still learning but getting better. Haven't burned too many things and am learning what those trivets were really made for - to separate the pots from the top of the stove if you want a lower cooking temperature. It works. In the past couple of weeks we've only cooked one meal on the regular stove. John even used the oven one night and roasted a chicken. Tonight's menu is gumbo with rice to put us in a Louisiana frame of mind since that's where we're headed next week (barring any sneaky storms coming from the west). I'll continue blogging as we travel but probably on the other blog site - will let you know, I promise.

PS - the best part of cooking on the wood stove in weather like this is it keeps the kitchen warm without guilt or impact to the pocketbook.
PSS - I finished those beastly seats!!!!!!!!!!

Oscars & Beans

In case you've forgotten, the Oscars are coming up the end of February. Until about five years ago, they really didn't hold much interest for me (other than curiosity as to whether I had actually seen ANY of the movies nominated for best picture). Then we happened to visit a friend on Oscar night and discovered that if you're willing to pledge a few dollars and enter a "contest" to see who can come up with the most correct winners, the Oscars become a WHOLE lot more interesting. I happened to "win" that first year through no fault of my own. I've been hooked ever since. I've also lost ever since - through no fault of my own, of course.

So, what, you may ask, has that to do with beans? It goes like this... When the Oscar nominations are released, John & I diligently print out the list and attempt to see as many movies as we can either in the theater (preferred) or on video/DVD. We happen to have a fairly OLD TV (it still works doesn't it?). It's so old in fact that the connections for the video/DVD are in the front. This is okay (who cares about looks anyway?). However, there's a short in the connecting plug in the TV which can't be fixed. This means sometimes you get a picture, or sound, or nothing, or, if you're very lucky, picture & sound - together! John discovered by chance that if you hold the cord "just right" and your mouth "just so" you get both. Rather than holding the cord throughout the movie (he does rather block the screen for anyone else who wants to watch), a jar of beans makes a fairly decent substitute. Of course the trick is to make it to your seat without jiggling the cord AT ALL (VERY hard to do in an old house). Our house sitters for some reason find this part of the "what you should know about our house" instructions fairly perplexing. Will we ever replace it? Only the Oscars know for sure...

Return to the BS

That's BS as in "beastly seats"...
Having finished everything else I really wanted to do, the back seats from the camper have finally reached the top of my list. Yesterday I finished the bottoms, today I'm working on the backs. Talk about using every inch of fabric. One of the final side pieces that could have been done as one piece has now evolved into four pieces. Ah, the stress of it! So, I'm taking a break and writing this instead.

One thing that tends to inspire me when I have to do something I really DO NOT want to do, is to think of other jobs I might be doing that are far worse. (Cleaning for example...) This morning I noticed what you see in the photo. There are three people up on that round area of what will be Colgate U's new science building. They are working not only up in the air (you could never get me that high without being strapped down to something), but they are attempting to put down metal roof decking... in the wind (at least 20mph)... in 13 degree F. weather... (I know 13 is Colgate's lucky number but not for these folks.) Whatever they're being paid it is NOT enough. I'll go back to my BS and count myself lucky.

Boys at play...

What do men in the north do in their free time when they're not out in subzero weather barbecuing chicken?
They play at being Mr. Science in the workshop and dream of making wooden boats that won't sink in the summer.

Bruce proved to be master at mixing up the "magic goo" that

John poured over the canvas that

Steve stretched over the hull of the boat.

Apparently it worked for the boat now has a fairly solid top for the first time in 30 years. (If they'd only figure out some way to keep the bottom from leaking!)

You'll notice that Tillie is snuggled securely in the corner of the workshop looking more like a storage unit than a vehicle of leisure. She, too, is dreaming of summer and the wonderful trips that lie ahead.

Snow, wind, cold...

It's winter up here! (If I only knew how to turn that ! upside down - "up" excitement is not quite what I'm trying to convey here.)
The good news is that we're in this magical little spot where we're still measuring the snow in inches rather than feet - that's reserved this time around for Buffalo and the Tug Hill Plateau. However, we are among those who can count the temperature on their fingers (one hand, please, and make it heavily gloved). The minus numbers are counted on one's toes. And the wind continues to howl making New Year's resolution walks out of the question.

However, the Colgate U. pool is still heated and available and we can paddle about thinking of warmer times and places even if we do have to tread through the cold to return home. And, of course our weathermen (they do seem to be all men up here) LOVE being the center of attention. They wouldn't trade their location with Hawaii for anything in the world - too boring. We, on the other hand, after complaining about NOT having winter, are only too ready for "boring" to return.

Bicentennial Celebrations

Today was our town's BIG kickoff celebration for its bicentennial. The photos tell you how hardy the folks from Lebanon are. Most communities would NEVER even consider having a chicken BBQ in February but our most hardy were there at 6 AM building the fire. (John is NOT a native and was NOT among them. He just ventured down to take photos.) It should be noted the temperature at 6 was below zero with a breeze. In this photo around 1:00, they're just beginning to take the chicken off and it was DELICIOUS!!! They did 175 halves and we sold every one. (You might note in the photo there's still snow on the ground next to the grill - temp only got up to 5 - no wonder the guys still have their hoods up! Also note the bottle sitting on the block behind the guy to the right. That is or was blackberry brandy...)

Not to be outdone, one of our local teams of horses came with a wagon to give rides to the adventurous. (The high was 10 with a nice breeze.) Fun seekers were more than happy to come inside after their "refreshing ride" for chicken dinners, homemade desserts and all the ice cream they could eat. Speaking of desserts... there was a contest so of course, in the spirit of things, I had to enter something. I won first prize in the historic category. (I haven't been able to decide yet if that was an honor or not... By the way, it was an apple pie.)

Can this be true?

Yesterday morning I was half listening to NPR news about students at the Univ. of Iowa monitoring their laundry via web-cam. Having spent many hours in my pre-washer-ownership days, this sounded like a very practical use of technology. Then the news reporter went on to say that another school was using fingerprint identification to let students access their accounts to pay for meals. Thoughts sprang to mind of a large university getting a grant to do this. I stopped dead in my tracks when they said the school was in Omaha, Arkansas.

They must have meant Omaha, Nebraska, right? But no. I went to the web site and it was Omaha, Arkansas. (So....? Big deal!... What's your problem you might ask?) Well, it's the public school I attended and graduated from... with a class size of 13. By anyone's standard that is SMALL. It's also rural (less so now that Branson, MO, the next wide spot in the road north of Omaha, has decided to give Nashville a run for its money). Had something happened to suddenly cause Omaha School to explode in population?

I went hunting on the web for the local paper (from Harrison the next wide spot to the south... I told you Omaha was small). According to them the Omaha cafeteria during the 2 hour serving time was a "beehive of activity" serving about 560 - that's K-12 plus staff. (Many NY schools serve thousands so that seems rather small. However, it definitely indicates the school population has grown since I went to school there). I guess a small problem to some, is a big problem for others. Of course the bottom line is cost. How pricey was this fingerprinting account system? $375 That's cheaper than a computer. I'm surprised other schools haven't caught on.

Our own version of Punxsutawney Phil...

In case you missed it, today was Groundhog's Day. The forecast was for overcast skies - always a good sign since in upstate NY that means ONLY another 6 weeks of winter instead of at LEAST 6 more weeks of winter.

Daybreak comes and I'm awakened to... sniff, sniff - is that skunk or do John & I REALLY need to brush our teeth? The odor was there again on our walk this morning - sent the groundhog back into his hole I'm sure.

I always thought skunks hibernated until a skunk came and ate seeds under our bird feeder most of one winter. I was always careful to make sure he wasn't there when I let the dog out until... You guessed it! I let the dog out without looking. Just as I remembered, Red was getting sprayed in the face. NOT FUN!!!! especially in February!!! A fan of the internet, I immediately went to the computer to do some research (and avoid dealing with the Red who was busy burying his nose in the snow.) "Douche" they said (on not in) so I called John to stop at the store. John's dilemma? What scent to choose. Poor Red ended up smelling of "Spring Flowers" with a slight under-aroma of skunk the rest of the winter. We were ALL glad for spring that year!!!

More from Podunk

Finally! At last the paintings are done that my town requested!! (I hate to run this close to a deadline but sometimes it can't be helped.) From left to right...
The Old Mill - no longer there but we knew the Irishman who salvaged a lot of the stone.
Lebanon Federated Church - the Baptists & Congregationalists decided in 1920 to merge & kept the "better" of the two churches.
Old Schoolhouse - one of the few remaining that looks like it did then.
Lebanon Community Center - the town's old depot.
Stowell House - home of abolitionist Horace Stowell & on the "Underground Railroad".
Tomorrow they get printed and made into cards (or at least that's tonight's plan - you know how that goes...)