Musings at Windyridge

When You Have No Wrapping Paper

2008-07-25T11:00:00.000-04:00

If you are in a bit of a pickle and need wrapping paper but don't have any, any newspaper will do. Especially newspaper print that is in color like this old New York Outdoors paper.

We were at the cabin and that's all we had for decent paper along with some electrical tape.

Mike and dad did a fine job don't ya think?

This Blew Me Away

2008-07-23T23:31:00.001-04:00

If you love animals grab a hanky. It's wonderful.

Garbage Can Potatoes

2008-07-23T22:05:00.000-04:00

I thought this was pretty neat and would like to try it next year. Has anyone done this?

Basically you take a clean 30 gallon garbage can and drill a few holes on the bottom and a few inches up the side for drainage. Mix a cup of fertilizer with about 2/3 of a bag of potting soil and add to the garbage can. Take some small potatoes for your seed potatoes and place them about 5 inches apart in the can. Cover with the remaining third of soil. Keep the soil moist but not soggy and make sure you have about 4-6 hours of direct sunlight daily. As the plants start to grow, mound the soil up around the stems leaving the leaves uncovered. When the plants start to flower, it's harvest time and you can reach in and grab the new potatoes. Later when the stems start to wither and die it's time to spill the trash can over and harvest the rest of the potatoes. Add the soil to your flower garden and not your vegetable garden as there may be pests you don't want to introduce into your vegetables.

And there you have it, garbage can tomatoes!

For You Little Dog Owners Out There

2008-07-22T10:47:00.002-04:00

Being the dog lover I am, I thought this was very cute. I guess those little guys have pretty strong jaws and neck muscles!

Save at the Pump and On Credit

2008-07-22T09:48:00.000-04:00

Changing the way you drive will save at the pump. We coast the last two miles to our house. It's become sort of a game, too see how much we can eek out of one tank of gas. And to our delight, instead of the paltry 15-16 miles per gallon we generally get in our V6 car (that weighs 4,000 pounds I might add), we got 20mpg this last fill up! So not being a hot foot helps. We also coast to red traffic lights, and any time we are going down hills. We also appear to be the only car on I-81 on our way up to the cabin going 55 mph! But hey, it saves a bundle. Those suckers in their huge trucks going 80 are sucking down gas like nobody's business. But the downside is it's no fun.

The other thing we do, rather than taking out debt consolidation loans is snag any 0% balance transfer checks that we are offered that have at least a year before payup and then pay it off monthly for a year. And anything we buy that has that ability to delay payment at 0% interest we take. Let's keep the money in our account making interest, I say. But there is a very important caveat here. If you miss a payment or don't have the balance paid in full when it is due you will be whacked with huge interest rates and a penalty. Write down the date when the final payment is due and don't lose it. Because, surprise, surprise; they make it very hard for you to find out when the final payemnt is due! In general we either do this or pay off any credit card purcahse in full each bill. We rarely pay interest.

And don't forget the Hess card. This is what we use. You get 30% of all gas purchases for the first 90 days followed by 5% always after that. It just can't be beat. Kwik fill is the next best gas card.

And any of you looking at future student loans, your credit now has to be nothing short of fantastic to get a loan, so get your free reports and look them over. Close accounts that are idle as too many of these can actually work against you.

Mummified

2008-07-21T10:27:00.002-04:00

Anybody you know sleep like this?

This is my youngest son, snoozing on the couch at the cabin. How does he breathe in there? I cannot have anything over my face like that..... ever. I get claustrophobic. He looks sort of like a mummy in there doesn't he?

Computers, Oregon and Fire Trucks

2008-07-17T14:16:00.003-04:00

I am getting ready to purchase a computer for someone and I am wondering what y'all have and if you like what you have? Any of you used Vista yet? I hear good and bad about it but I am specifically interested in details. I will be setting up the computer when it arrives. She doesn't need anything fancy but I do know Vista is a resource hog and needs 2G minimum of RAM. Whew! I am thinking a basic Dell will work. I like Dell because it's what I have and I like the on site next day service (even if it isn't really "next day").

My mom is moving to Portland, Oregon at the end of August. Anyone ever been there? It's the number one spot to retire and seems to have great public transportation and is relatively inexpensive accommodation wise. I wonder if she should take out travel health insurance on the way across the great US of A.

I leave you with pics of the fire department checking our pond hydrant. Pretty neat isn't it? They attach to the hydrant which we had installed when we built the pond and periodically the fire department comes over and tests it. It would come in handy for spraying a smooth ice surface for skating in the winter, wouldn't it?

View from driveway

Mike, Rascal and a few fire personnel on Stage Road

See the house in the mist?

The hydrant

Baby Sweater is Finished

2008-07-16T13:55:00.007-04:00

Pieces laid out for seaming

I am finally done with this thing after over a year. I lost interest as it was not the most exciting knitting and I am not at all in love with knitting cotton. I have to say I am happy with how the seaming came out. I took the time to read the techniques and look at pictures so I had a firm grasp of how to do it before I started. Really this is my first sweater! I don't count the one I knit in the round as it will be frogged when I get the motivation to do it.

The gift is for a gal who recently had a baby boy. I thought about knitting some crib bedding items but I had the cotton and wanted a bigger project. I figured it was time to try a sweater and because it was a baby sweater, the chances were good that I would actually complete it this decade!

Various blog posts with pics on the sweater:

Musings at Windyridge Sweater One
Musings at Windyridge Sweater Two (kitty included)
Knitting at the cabin

Specs:
Pattern is the Raised Stripes Pullover by Nancy Hearne, the cotton is Aracania,

2 skeins = 308.0 yards (281.6m), is Pomaire.

I had a very small amount left over.

Our Hot Water Heating Goes Electric To Save $$$

2008-07-15T11:19:00.006-04:00

Well here it is, the beginning of a project to end our dependence on heating oil or gas for our hot water needs.

We had our furnace starting up just to heat the water. And we rarely use it to heat the house since we burn wood. This was a terrible waste of oil and at $1,800 for the last delivery of 500 gallons in the spring (and it would be about $2,000 today and who knows what next year) our new method will save us quite a bit. Electric hot water heaters are more efficient today and cheaper to run than gas or oil at current fuel prices . So that is what is running now but it's only the beginning. We plan on installing a heat pump in a few weeks. You need an electric hot water heater to attach the pump to but you no longer use the heater as a heater. It is now merely a holding tank for the heat pump. In fact you can remove the heating element if you want to. Now heat pumps generally run about $800 but we got in on a deal so the final cost of the pump will only be $250. A utility company in Maine had bought several units for a project that fell through. That's why we are getting them at half price and then a further "friend" discount is kicking in because my husband knows the guy getting them! So that was lucky. There will be more details once the pump is installed and we get a few electric bills!

As an added advantage, heat pumps which are 300% efficient by the way, are basically reverse air conditioners, so you can duct the cold air into the house and the unit will also serve to dehumidify the crawl space which is always damp. My estimate is that we will spend maybe a few hundred bucks a year on oil for those times when it's minus 20 outside and the furnace kicks on.

This is our 1,000 gallon oil tank. Ridiculously huge isn't it and who can afford to fill it now???? It was there when we bought the house.

Go here to see how a heat pump works.

Wonder Dog?

2008-07-15T10:04:00.009-04:00

Vlad is an indoor kitty and because of his urinary tract infections we have to keep him from the food that the two outdoor cats eat. His food is rather expensive and can only be bought directly from the vet. In our family room we have a sliding door which is perpetually open once the cold weather abates. Lately we have noticed that at various times of the day the screen door is open by a few feet and somehow I get blamed for letting the cat out.

Even tho' Vlad is an indoor kitty, he doesn't like it and takes every opportunity to bolt. He doesn't go anywhere he just likes to sniff the outside fauna and eat the other cat food. (for a cute video of Vlad slapping the dog go here.)

The other day I was sitting in front of my computer in the other room reading my friend's site about candles, when I heard the screen door slide open. I knew no open was home but figured maybe someone came home early. I called "who is there?" No one answered. Hmm I thought, let's take a look. Sure enough the screen door was open by a few feet and the dog who had been inside was gone! "It can't be," I thought. Rascal can't open that door. It's impossible. Fast forward to yesterday when Mike was wathcing TV and Rascal was outside. "Mom," he said. "I just watched Rascal let himself into the house." I wish he had a camera handy when that happened.

Who ever said Labradors aren't smart? Ours herds sheep and comes and goes as he pleases.

Rascal and Vlad chatting

The outdoor kitties, Midnite and Cistero

Hoorah! Steekfest At Last!

2008-07-13T12:28:00.007-04:00

Finally, after a very long wait, Steekfest occurred on a warm and humid day in the valley. Both Beth and Carla and her daughter Cassidy, drove down from Syracuse in Carla's new Toyota Sienna (I LIKE this mini-van). I finally met Beth whose blog I have been reading for a few years now and she brought her drum carder and kindly carded up a few ounces of Albert Finny's Finn fleece for me. Of course I want a drum carder now too but they don't give those away unfortunately. The fluffy resulting wool was GORGEOUS.

I just wanted to smother myself in those batts, they were so soft and inviting. It's so much quicker than hand carding and I like the resulting batts better, all of which I spun up today. While I was spinning, I made a small mistake and said "rats!" out loud. All of a sudden there was Mike standing above me (we have a loft) holding Priscilla, one of his rats. "Did someone call for rats?" he asked. I thought that was rather amusing.

But now to the reason for the get together. I have always wanted to learn how to steek. In knitting, steeking is a shortcut used to knit things like sweaters in the round without interruption for openings or sleeves until the end. After completing a tube, a straight line is cut along the center of a column of stitches, in order to make room for an opening or place to attach another piece. The steek itself is a bridge of extra stitches, in which the cut is made. This technique was developed by the knitters of the Shetland archipelago and is particularly associated with Fair Isle sweaters, although it can be used for solid colors as well. After the steek is cut, the edges are tacked down on the wrong side of the fabric in order to create a neat finishing. The stitches can also be picked up and knit from, for example, to create a sleeve.

I have a book of gorgeous vests that I wanted to knit for years but all the patterns call for steeking. So we all knit a teddy bear sweater which was the perfect small project to wet our feet in steeking. If we screwed it up no biggy.

Two teddybear sweater bodies and one sleeve

Me sewing my edges around the area to be cut

Beth taking the plunge and cutting!

Here is an excellent steeking post and video.

While we were snacking (gotta snack when steeking!), Beth told me about a very good book called The Autobiography of Henry VIII, written by Margaret George. Since we have been watching The Tudors on Showtime (an excellent highly recommended series), and I have been very fascinated by that period and that scoundrel Henry, I ordered the book from my library. I am looking forward to reading it.

The Case of Cat

2008-07-11T11:49:00.008-04:00

A few years ago, Dan won an award for his media project at BOCES (a branch of our education system here in NY which I still don't quite understand). I found the series of photos that he entered quite clever and amusing, especially since I am a fanatic about keeping my car spotless, and of course that's why they did it. I used to run out and scream at the cats to get off my car. It still drives me crazy.
I chuckled at the jail "mug" shots. Check 'em all out in:

A Case of Cat!

The Big Day Approaches

2008-07-10T13:39:00.005-04:00

A Ticket

The big day is fast approaching. My son's band Pariah is playing their first professional gig in an all ages show at a venue called Downtown Manhattan's in Syracuse near the university. The band has not been without it's soap opera like story, the latest being the drummer announcing he was quitting yesterday. But he will play next week and he's off to college soon so it doesn't really matter. The band has gone through two guitarists and they are on their second singer. The only constants have been my two boys! Friends and family will be attending of course to cheer them on. Wish them luck or better still, come join us!

Camping Teens

2008-07-09T12:30:00.005-04:00

Nutritious food

The bed

click to enlarge

Mike and a friend of his announced that they were "rough" camping down in the ravine out back by the creek. No sleeping bags, no tents. They were going to construct a bed of hemlock boughs and they already had a filleted fresh caught trout grilling over the fire, and potatoes were boiling. Of course they had the requisite marshmallows and junk food. I predicted silently that they would be back in the house by 10pm. Now and then I would go for a walk and see how they were doing and they appeared to be having fun. At one point they heard some yipping and then all of a sudden Rascal was hightailing it out of there in pursuit of a fox. They enjoyed that. They ate well and were were very proud of their cooked meal. When they were preparing to bed down, there was a shock of lightening and a burst of thunder and they were back in the house by 10:15! It never did rain though. I took lots of photos from my perch by the house using both of our digital cameras. One day they will look back on those photos with fond memories.

More Car Shopping

2008-07-08T08:45:00.007-04:00

Mazda 5If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that we are looking for a car to replace the Nissan Sentra that has 120,000 miles on it. It still shows no signs of dying but we want to be ready. Yesterday we went to what is called an auto mall. And wow, this place was HUGE. One of our criteria is decent mileage. After that we are hoping to find something that can take us all with the pod, to the cabin. The thing that kills me about new cars is that the dealerships never have a base model on the lot. They all come with extras we don't need, which of course jacks up the price. And for many models, you have to go the next level up for the roof rack which we must have.

A few weeks ago we looked at the Pontiac Vibe. Too small and I didn't like the upholstery. Yesterday I found out that if you don't buy leather seats, all the new cars I have seen have this cheap fabric upholstery. So I guess we are stuck with that since I dislike leather seats. I guess all the manufacturers are trying to keep their costs down whatever way they can. After we looked through several football fields of cars we had it narrowed down to the Nissan Rogue and the Mazda 5. Now the Mazda 5 is an interesting car. It is a car and not a van, but the back storage area turns into two extra seats to make a 6 seater car! Otherwise with them folded down, that area is spacious enough for the dog and it's not a bad looking car. Mileage is ok at around 27 (I'd like to see 30 plus) and the back doors slide like a van. For what you get it's the best value for money at around $20,000. The Rogue wasn't as flexible and didn't have as many neat features. The Mazda had under seat storage and a fold out tray for the 2nd row, a good radio with a hookup for ipods, and a tire pressure monitor. It's also a Consumer Reports recommended buy. This may be the one but hopefully we have another year left in the Nissan. By then they may have a hybrid model.

Update: Jame's comment made me realize I should clarify what I mean by fabric seats. I don't mean the velor type brushed fabric. I love that. It's what we have in our Sorento. This new stuff is thin, cheap looking fabric. And all the cars seem to have them both foreign and domestic. Maybe the seat coverings are made by one company.

Bargains Where You Least Expect Them

2008-07-06T23:05:00.009-04:00

The 4th of July weekend was great. I couldn't have asked for more perfect weather for a long weekend at the cabin. Our little bay on the lake had it's 2nd annual boat parade. The boats were decorated with flags and streamers. That's Mike in his little boat. He was behind us.

There was plenty of sunshine, not too hot, little wind...in a word, perfect. Dan's girlfriend came with us too. They were goofy.

When we arrived on Thursday, we set about getting dinner started
Then we threw in a dvd and got to bed early. For once they were very few projects to do over the weekend. But we did need to go to Ogdensberg and got gas for the boats and the car on Friday. That was painful. We stopped at Walmart for some fenders for the other side of the dock and "Mike's boat". Then we went to Lowe's in search of a nice table and chairs for the little deck. Now we had a $100 gift card from Tom's boss, and another 10% off for any Lowe's purchases. We found a lovely iron table

with removable ceramic 12 inch tiles. I loved the table and liked the idea of being able to replace the tiles if I got sick of them. Then we found 4 suitable faux wicker chairs. Tom asked the service desk if we could get another 10% off if we applied for a Lowe's credit card. The gal checked with her supervisor and said yes!

You can pretty much get a lower price or some kind of break if you just ask anywhere you make a purchase of a few hundred dollars. We have done it in so many places, so we know it works. On our way home we passed a closing out sale of stuff from an antique shop. As we got out of the car, the owner said everything is half off today. Oooh good I said since I'm always on the lookout for a good bargain. We needed a coffee table with a lamp for the cabin. There was a cabin wall light that drove me batty. I had to wear a baseball cap whenever I looked at the TV since the light always shone in my eyes! How much do you think we paid for this? It's looks good in the cabin I think. Definitely a best buy day for us! It does need a little more dusting though. It was $5! Should I take to Antiques Road Show?

Not one to miss out on his exercises, Mike did some chin-ups with his brother acting as the chun-up bar over the side of the boat. The water temperature was 75 degrees.

A Day At The Farm

2008-07-03T09:46:00.000-04:00

A pretty butterfly flew onto the porch marigolds yesterday. Does anyone know what it is? I know I fell in love with that ENature field guide sight but these kinds of guides would be a lot more useful if they had a page of thumbnails so that you could identify the organism by site. If you don't what it is and in my case what type of butterfly you are looking for, there are pages and pages to go through. Does anyone know of such a site?

Today I discovered that I had forgotten to mow the path into the woods this year. Could that be because I have not been taking my walks? Hmmm. Doesn't it look inviting?

I was playing pickleball three days a week. That's exercise right? But then I hurt my wrist, doing what I don't know (playing pickleball maybe?) so I have languished the past three weeks. Now my wrist is better and after the holidays I plan on getting back to pickleball and walking, and perhaps a little tennis.

Cannot Grow Catnip

2008-07-03T09:39:00.003-04:00

So I am having difficulty growing catnip. If you recall from a previous post I planted a bunch of seedlings all over the property. They are barely growing or the cats found them. I even managed to kill the seedling in the pot in the house! So this weekend I got some more mature plants from my son's girlfriend's father. The only place I can safely put them is atop the computer cabinet. These, I am happy to report are doing well. I WILL harvest my own catnip some day!

GPS

2008-07-03T08:35:00.000-04:00

An invaluable asset to any outdoor enthusiast's gear is the gps tracking devices they have nowadays. There are so many different types to choose from and they are useful for so many activities from boating to hiking to flying. A friend of mine's son just drove 600 miles through the Alps and simply used his GPS to navigate his way. I want one so that I never get lost again!

Brighten Up Your Salads With These Two Ingredients

2008-07-02T09:09:00.000-04:00

Want to brighten up a dull salad? In a minute I will tell you about a few ingredients that you can add that will have even non salad lovers (like me) craving more. With my garden at it's current state I have enough lettuce for four salads each night. I also have chives but I'll be lucky to see a big crop of tomatoes until October. However I still have my bucket tomato

that has two of the green globes growing. My dream is to pick my entire salad from the back yard. Fat chance though with our growing season. Cukes will be late July. Nothing every grows at the same time here.

So to spruce up the salad, add toasted almonds and cherry craisins. The craisins give the salad a nice zing and the toasted crunchiness of the almonds adds scrumptiousness. Top the whole thing with some grated cheese if you like. You can substitute the craisins with dried cherries and probably other berries, but so far I like the cherry craisins the best. You can use roasted salted almonds too but they are expensive. If you buy the bags of almond slivers and toast them on a cookie sheet (broil setting) you get a wonderful taste added to the salad. In fact the almonds are so good you will find yourself eating them off the tray and forgetting about the salad!

Some Great Links for Nature Lovers

2008-07-01T16:51:00.004-04:00

If you like field guides to birds, animals, plants etc then this online guide is for you. It is fantastic and I found it over at a blog I regularly frequent. It's called Enature. Check it out!

And while you are at it, if you are interested in the outdoor pursuits in the great state of New York, check out New York Outdoors.

Alcoholic's Breadanonymous

2008-07-01T12:31:00.004-04:00

So we purchased 4 loaves of Freihofer's 100% Stone Ground Wheat bread last week. We opened a loaf for lunch. Tom made some toast and I took out two slices for myself. Whoa Nelly! I caught a whiff of alcohol (no Tom wasn't imbibing!). Tom said "I thought something was funny about that bread." I told him to throw his slices away and we proceeded to call Freihofer's. I am now playing phone tag with them. Is this weird or what? We figure they use alcohol to sanitize their equipment and someone forgot to wash it out? Have any of you ever had this experience with bread? Had we eaten it, would we have gotten sick I wonder? Are we on the edge of a huge recall? Seriously you could pass out if you took a deep breath from the fumes inside the bag!

Knit Ankle Socks and Other WIPS

2008-06-30T09:55:00.003-04:00

I only had two rows to go so who knows why I was procrastinating, but I finally finished these ankle socks from my own pattern. The yarn is a cotton/wool blend - called Plymouth Yarn Sockotta Sock Yarn, Striped Effect. The feel is a little harsh for me so I think I will take the rest and make a few washcloths. I am still knitting the baby sweater and am on the last sleeve now. I also have that puppet which I am stuck in neutral on. It's basically a case of lost momentum and I am 3/4 of the way through the lace silky scarf. I need to cast on for John's other mitten if I want to finish by winter!

My First Scrabble Bingo!

2008-06-27T10:45:00.005-04:00

I did it. I got rid of all my letters! Check it out. Click to enlarge.

This Facebook Scrabulous is mildly addicting. But I am getting better as I only have 9 games ongoing. I had nineteen! But remember you can choose a range of three paces and I am on the "play when you get a chance" pace. In other words it can be slow and mellow.

Hopefully my opponent doesn't read my blog or she will see all my letters!

Drink 24 Oz of Beer in 24 Seconds

2008-06-25T09:21:00.006-04:00

Just when you got over your fear of sending your kids to college with all the binge drinking you hear about, along comes the Bierstick to enhance their alcohol poisoning possibilities. I came across a discussion about this in a forum I frequent and all I can say is that I was horrified. Read the Pixel Shack's take on it. Should stuff like this even be allowed? I guess one can argue that humans are capable of making their own choices but college kids in a group have been known to do dumb things especially when alcohol is involved, and this just gets my goat, what can I say...