Snowmeggedon

Since Wednesday night we have been getting a fine and furious dumping of the white substance.



 All told, about two feet so far.



 And it certainly caused a lot of headaches road wise on little old state Highway 66. We are allotted one state plow. When it's bad up here it often travels to help out on the Interstate 5 over the passes. Well, they'll just have to go fish (and so won't we!), because our designated plow is 30 feet down an embankment in Mill Creek where it will likely stay for a while. No injuries, but it went off at the beginning of the storm. That was just the start of a long day that included a jack-knifed big rig, a second Klamath Falls plow off the road, crashed tow trucks and numerous vehicles sliding into one another or off the road. Highway 66 was closed from 3:00 p.m. Friday until 3:00 a.m. Saturday when the jack-knifed tractor trailer was finally pulled up to a large turnout area. There it sits.  Poor Gene got called out at 9:00 Friday morning (1st ODOT plow), and arrived back home a little before midnight. This is what his truck looked like yesterday morning. I wonder just how he got home quite frankly.

 

But yesterday dawned clear and beautiful.



 For all the headaches a remote location provides, it also gives us breathtaking beauty.



 A fair trade most times.

 Our driveway is now half plowed, we can get out. Bob the tractor, who was stuck in a drift since Thursday night, was finally pulled out. Gene's now stuck Jeep will be unearthed today. My new wall oven which arrived last week will get in before Christmas. So really, we're left with our picture postcard views and another round of storms on the immediate horizon today and tomorrow. We are warm, we have food and we have power. It's all good.



In other news, a little sewing has gone on. The chairs have been recovered and I'm happy with them.



 It is certainly easy enough to do and change. One curtain has been completed and the other cut and awaiting hemming.



 To stabilize the fabric I put fusible interfacing in the curtain header and also a strip in the lower hem. This is a very loosely woven fabric, which is why I like it, but it's heavy too and would stretch out at the top then hang uneven at the bottom. And it's hard to sew. Many of the warp and weft yarns have threads wrapped around them, giving texture and interest. The sewing needles hate this stuff. Friend and fabric/sewing guru Sandi suggested not using the Pfaff walking foot, and doing a long and narrow zig-zag stitch. Worked like a charm!

I had some fun making a set of four napkins.



 I was able to go to both November and December's Swig & Stitch in Medford and this is one of the great little projects that was covered in November.



 Oh, and the beer and food pairings are pretty dang good. It's usually a big rowdy group at the Medford S&S and Ginger from Women Enjoying Beer brings her amazing energy and sense of humor making for a thoroughly enjoyable two hours.

Christmas is now down to hours, and like every year, the fine folks at NORAD are taking on the task of tracking Santa. You can follow his progress too, right here. :)

But wait, there's more. Last week I got a call from my vet about a Jack Russell Terrier pup in need. Her family had to rehome her. A nice pup, well bred and just 9 months old, spayed, UTD on everything and known at the clinic. Could I, would I, should I?  We all know the answer to that one don't we.

Meet Lucy, who is quickly learning how to be one of the pack.

 

 

And everyone, have a happy and safe holiday. Eat and be merry. Laugh lots and count blessings. Gosh knows, we have a number of "blessings" to be counted here and not just the four legged variety.



Parting shot: Oh, so you DO rest once in a while.

Giving a Bit of The Bounty 2012

I would have to say, we're in last minute mode around here. A few stocking stuffers and some special edibles for everyone to enjoy over the holidays. And of course, sharing some of our good fortune .  Our supermarket has coupons you can add in at the register in amounts from a dollar to five available year round. The local food bank then is able to come to the supermarket and use those cash donations to fill in where they are lacking. The cash stays local and those most needy in the area benefit.  No doubt your area has a food bank of some sort too.

The animal shelter is always a good choice IMHO. Everything from monetary donations to toys, old blankets and towels are welcomed. Many shelters have a wish list, things they need or want. Check it out, often times they are not big things. Our favorite here is Dogs for the Deaf. Every one of their specially trained assistance dogs was taken from a high kill shelter ranging from WA to Southern CA. These dogs are then placed in homes all over the country after training. There is a $50.00 application fee and a $500. deposit which is returned after the dog and its partner have been together a year. They are expanding their program to Autism assistance dogs.

There are toy drives by the local police or fire and it is certainly easy enough to drop off a new toy in any of the boxes that are likely set up in YOUR town or city. Abuse shelters for women and children also often have some low key donation opportunities. Then of course there are many national and international non-profits doing good works. If you want to find and see their ratings you can check them all on line at Charity Navigator.
Maybe a gift in that hard to shop for person's name?

The point is, if you can, spread a bit of your bounty (be it in time, goods or cash to something near and dear to your heart),  this Christmas season, do it.  There are few enough easy things in this world that will warm your heart and bring immeasurable help simultaneously.

Parting shot: Sharing

Indecision

Something that doesn't happen often with me and fabric and color. But home decorating, that's a whole 'nuther nut to crack. I'm always better with someone else's decorating dilemmas! And mid century modern is a place I haven't visited until now. Before I die it's likely I will have lived with just about every style/period of furniture out there. And I like it that way. Living with the same kind of furniture forever, for me, would be like reading the same genre of books. And it's cheaper than moving because don't you know, I wouldn't mind living in different house styles (and places) too! :) My own form of wanderlust.

Last Thursday was the one day last week that had fine weather and off I tootled up north to Sutherlin OR to pick up 4 dining room chairs. The drive was spectacular. Going north brings you through some spectacular forests and hills. It is one of the prettiest sections of highway I have ever traveled. And there were not just any chairs either, but dog bone backed Heywood -Wakefield chairs.



 I use to live in Gardner MA, on the same road as the old Heywood Wakefield factory, (there are 3 pages to that link, click on "next" at the bottom), drove by the giant chair daily and in general took all that beautiful blonde mid century goodness for granted. I mean you could pick up cottage chests and dressers at tag sales every weekend for a song. Imagine my shock and awe when I looked at adding some more Hey-Wake to my decor now. OUCH! Anyway, these chairs were marked very inexpensively, affordable even by Gene's standards and that means a real steal. ;) They look so much better than the old ladder back chairs, which were a leftover from another dining room table, long covered in storage in the basement.

My indecision comes from picking new fabric for the chair seats, because what's on there now is just plain awful. Pity too because the original fabric was beautiful, but has seen better days.



 So, this is what we did yesterday morning.










Yep, I dragged out a ton from my stash to try, color, texture, scale etc. plus the yard I had bought for the project. Now I wasn't really in love with any of it, but DH Gene felt the love for the black and white weave, and I figured if someone loved it, it was good enough.



 BTW, that fabric was the one I had purchased for the project, not from stash. It reminds me of birch trees and because it blends well with the rest of the choices so far, it will also be used for new curtains. The old lace ones need to be retired. The table will always be what it is, not of this period or any other, but is the one piece in the house that never will change. It was made for us, literally. The fabric has a pretty loose weave. If you had kids and these would be seeing hard wear, it would be a poor choice. I have backed it with fusible interfacing to give it stability and body. The curtains will get an interfaced header and hem but I will leave them unlined as the beauty is in the seeing the lovely patterned, slubby weave. Modern lace so to speak!

Our weather has finally settled on winter. The last few days have been cold and snowy. The ground is getting that nice hard freeze. The road has been ice and snow covered and rather tricky. The horses eat in when it's snowing and out when it's not. The donkeys all bundled up in their blankets. The only drawback to the cold is the constant struggle with keeping water unfrozen for the animals, but it's manageable. The horses love this kind of weather. I spied Dandy chasing Cooper yesterday afternoon. Bucking almost the length of the paddock, head up, snorting and just acting like a 3 year old.  Cooper caught the spirit of the play and they had a fine time tearing up and down the hill and around the trees. Self exercising at its best and such beautiful animals to reflect upon. And this certainly has been a week for deep reflection.

Parting shot: Pax.

What a Difference a Day Makes

It IS winter after all, and one dry crisp day can be followed by many overcast wet ones.
This time our precipitation came as snow. Since we have that big beautiful deck, I came up with the brainchild of putting a Christmas tree on it, lights and all. And so we did. A tree was found that had been crowded in with other trees and needed to be culled anyway, allowing those that remained more of everything to grow well. This is how it looked early Tuesday morning



 and this is how it looks this morning.



 What you can't see are the three pine cones with peanut butter tucked in among the branches for the birds. More on that later. The birds didn't find them by the time it got dark last night, but it would seem a certain masked bandit was scoping it all out. My tracks to turn on the lights are to the right, his to the left. ;)



 He/She actually got a small cone I had left on a deck post to help out the birds.



 If you look closely you can see the signature long back feet of the Raccoon and on the left side middle top a fine print of the lovely articulated front fingers and paw. It's hard to see, I know. When I go out to feed I'll be able to track this critter easily, even through barn cat tracks.

This isn't a long post so we are already at later! I tacked up Dandy in the late morning yesterday. I had been hoping for a break in the gloom but the freezing fog just wouldn't let up, so it was now or never. My little red rocket hasn't been out since early September ( maybe even late August), so I wasn't sure of the go/whoa proportion. He was a gentleman. We picked our way over the horrid deep ruts left by the power company and took our usual training trail. Stopping along the way to gather pine cones and stuff them into the saddle pack. There is no grazing, but Dandy wore his mountain horse cap well yesterday and stayed right were I left him. Untied, reins over the front of the saddle and patient while I beat around trees and bushes looking for pine cone gold. The squirrels had obviously beaten me for the really big ones months ago.
It was a slow ride and short. The last thing I wanted was for Dandy to get sweaty and in his curly winter coat, that is easily accomplished. On this wet raw foggy day it just wouldn't do to be damp at skin layer. I, on the other hand, was freezing by the time we arrived home. I should have worn a pair of warm tights under my breeches, my legs were cold and wet. A jacket instead of just a heavy sweatshirt would have been smart too.
I warmed up with tea and a grilled cheese sandwich and later in the afternoon the horses got a heaping load of hay for dinner. Dandy got the heavier bundle for all his good works.

So the holiday shopping is done, the tree decorated outside and the mantel inside has 9 little stockings all hung with care awaiting filling. The oven is on order and the fried parts of the electric fence ( which we discovered yesterday) have been repaired. I have only my yearly holiday book to find and a Christmas dinner to plan.

Parting shot: I'll go out and help you track that raccoon, I will, I will!

The Road to California

If any of you have looked to see just where Ashland is, you'll know we are a stone's throw away from the northern California border. Myself, I usually head north towards Grants Pass and Eugene when I travel locally, but once in a while, you just gotta go south. A friend and I had been talking (and talking), about heading down to some of the antique shops we've seen listing stuff here and there on Craigslist in Redding CA. Well, we finally pulled it together and had our road trip last Thursday. It wasn't like Feasting on Asphalt, with cool motorcycles, not even Two Fat Ladies with sidecar. And don't go thinking my friend is fat! :) It was just us and the giant mini van. And yes we had fun. Sadly the mini van was mostly empty on the way back, but we picked up just enough little goodies to make us want to go back to a couple of the places come spring/summer. Like any investigative trip, the places ran the gamut to really good to really awful. Amazing Finds, wasn't amazing at all. In fact it looked like they had stolen the stuff sitting in back of any Goodwill. And it was cold, dark and kind of dirty. A place we didn't even know about (until my friend ran into someone she knew), was nice enough to plan a trip south for in the spring. Great garden stuff and beautifully laid out inside. 11 rooms all stuffed with beautiful things. As is typical for me, I didn't bring the camera. I just go and enjoy the adventure and being in good company. I do wish I had a picture of how beautiful Mount Shasta looked at sunset. The sun casting a rosy glow on the new snow and us, driving home, in the dark of the forest the highway winds through.

The weekend was spent getting caught up on some stuff around here. Piddly things, picking a tree to be cut, finding the Christmas decorations and lastly, doing some more home dec. sewing. This is about it for me. Not my favorite thing to do, but I also hate to leave something half done. The brown linen curtains just weren't working with the new stuff, so down they came and in their place, new fun canvas curtains went up.



 I did these quick and simple, 4 hems, the curtains are all 2 yard panels, no lining.

 Like the linen, when these come down (in a distant future), they will be perfect to recycle to other projects like I will be doing with the linen.

The final throw was made too.



 Not because I am sick of making them ( well I am maybe a little), but because the wonderful rust velveteen is all gone. Oh woe! I snagged the last of the yardage. I saved a scant 1/2 yard to make some arm covers for the velvet chair, even if it isn't an exact match it will work.

Now, every good mid century modern room needs a few things to bring that particular style to it's pinnacle. Starburst clocks, atomic boomerang fabric, awful metal sculptures
and of course T.V. lamps. Now the former three are either out of my price range (those clocks are dear), or just not to my liking, then I saw this TV lamp in a place in Redding Thursday and it just had to come home with me.



 I have fond memories of Siamese cats, decorations and in real life. My grandmother had two sweet Siamese cats, Abby and Oliver along with a few well chosen representations of them in her home. It was love at first sight.  And very reasonably priced. Oh and lets not forget the funky sparkly stacking tables.



 Quite useful too. An Etsy purchase. There are a few other touches still to be done. A new to me lamp is on it's way and finally, a comfortable set of dining room chairs to replace the old ladder back ones. But that's for future posts!

Parting shot: Smoochie, the cleanest ears in the West!

Wanted: Spare Ark

You think I'm joking don't you? Well, yes, I am but not because we haven't had enough rain. Maybe just a roomy barge.

Southern Oregon and Northern California has seen some record rain over the last week.
Saturday night into Sunday brought a long steady 12 hour slog of over 3 inches, more yesterday. We're all beginning to grow webbed feet and waddle. There is a reason Oregon picked Ducks for their team name. ;)

But lousy weather aside, it was a fun productive weekend. New furniture requires new throws! Why I like making throws and not curtains is possibly a job for a psychoanalyst, but I do. Two were cranked out Saturday morning in about as many hours. OF COURSE Friday was spent choosing fabric which is half the fun. The other half was spending time snuggled under them for the Sunday games. Try doing that with curtains! The fabric is a new Alexander Henry light decorator weight cotton canvas, Keely is the pattern name.



Throw one reverses to a cut corduroy with narrow pin stripe



and  throw 2, a deep rust cotton velveteen.



 These were so easy. Two yards long by the width of the fabric wide sewn with right sides together. In this case 45 inches. Don't forget to leave about 5 inches for turning right side out!  Instead of trying to get sharp corners, I took Sandi's tip to round the corners. So much easier. Ironed then top stitched all around. A second line of top stitching at whatever depth my sewing machine harp would allow, about 7 inches, to stabilize. That's it. All fabrics are wash and wear.

Also under "home decorating" (which in our house usually means furniture preservation), arm covers for the light grey chair.



The arms just called out for protection against muddy paws and sloppy chins, not to mention our sometimes less than clean and pristine selves. I had a beautiful piece of leftover hemp/linen/cotton fabric in just the right color.

This is such nice stuff. It is all recycled fibers, so like a Melton wool, there are bits of other colors in the nubs and slubs.  Fabric of Vision almost always has a roll of this in stock, but due to the nature of the fibers, the color varies from roll to roll. It's always a grey though. This piece happens to be darker than what is in stock now. I took an old tablecloth and cut it up for pattern pieces and set to work on these. For a quick project they came out well. Once washed and dried the first time, the fit will become a tad snugger which is good.

I finished up a blouse I had been working on. This one in the beautiful soft wool and rayon blend recently procured. Good thing it was beautiful, because it was a bugger to work with.



 The rayon gives it softness and drape and also a certain amount of stretch and weight. Keeping it from fraying and stretching out while working to keep the plaids matched was challenging.



 For things like collar and collar stand, button plackets and cuffs, I couldn't/wouldn't use iron on interfacing, but I had some left over (deep hem for my Dad's monogrammed pillow case), linen in the right weight, drape and color. It mimics the drape of this wool while providing much needed stability. I may toss a lot of my cotton scraps, but nice pieces of linen I always save. On the collar and cuffs the linen was hand basted inside the two layers. I liked the way it looked and felt on my neck so decided to leave it as complimentary fabric collar band.



 The shirt is a joy to wear and the extended time it took to sew this loved and used C. Crawford pattern was well worth the effort.

The oven issue is still in flux, but it looks like our out of pocket costs will be minimal if anything.  The killer is that no one stocks wall ovens so it will have to be ordered and we're talking 10-15 days out for a new oven.

Parting shot: Who knew? The perfect camo for Peter.

How Ironic

So... (pregnant pause)... after suffering through an October and November with tree guys and equipment butchering a clear line through a good portion of the front of property, the first sustained storm to come along wipes out a tree which in turn, snaps a pole.


The fallen tree can be seen behind the pole by about 20 feet.

 Power loss was a little under 12 hours and the surge when finally coming on fried our electronic oven controls. You simply can't come into a wooded area and clear cut like that and not expect consequences.



 Weaker trees that have grown up in the middle of a tree cluster don't usually put down as nice a root system. Take away the outer trees ( that offer both support in a strong wind and deeper root systems) and you are left with the weaker ones. Take away the brush and the scrub and you are left with bare unsecured earth; in our case, a very small layer of rich matter on top of a very slippery and dense clay composition. Add about 5 inches of rain and 50 mph wind gusts and well, watch the trees fall.



 It missed taking out the corner of our upper paddock by about 15 feet but the electric lines where resting over the the electric fence. That's how close it was. The crack was something. Horses were wigged out but thankfully no where near the top portion of their enclosure. They were eating down by the gate.

Then the rest of the story. They brought in 4 big trucks and a new pole. Need I tell you what 4 BIG trucks do to a dirt and shale road that is saturated by rain?  Looks like next spring we'll be doing some heavy duty repairs to that too. At the top of my trail head it looks like monster trucks were mud wrestling. It's bad, it's just god awful bad on top of the horrible straight through view.

So pretty much I spent my day fuming indoors. While the boiler doesn't work in a power failure, our little Morse Squirrel wood stove comes to the rescue for heat and comfort.



 It rained pitchforks all day and I did feel bad for the crew that had to work in that. They didn't do the cutting, they're simply hard working linemen doing a pretty nasty bit of work yesterday.



Getting the tree cleared, the snapped pole out and everything onto the new pole in the wind and rain we had yesterday was heroic.

The stalls flooded, and I mean flooded. Even a good french drain isn't going to help when you've got 5 inches of rain plus or minus coming down in a 6-8 hour period. The horses were wet and obviously couldn't stand in all that water. Blankets and feeding outdoors was the only option. They are hardy, fat and use to extreme weather. Thank heaven it is not terribly cold. Over night temps are hovering at 40F.

So enough griping! We were warm, we had food, we had 9 little furry foot warmers (don't forget the cat!), horses and donkeys were safe if not terribly happy and it was only 12 hours. The power company may spring for a portion of a new oven, but even if they don't, it will get fixed or replaced. At least it wasn't any of the sewing machines, computers or..TV! ;)

Parting shot: The dogs (Smoochie, Robin & Miss Bea), have picked the danish chair to love. Such good taste! :)

Who Doesn't Like a Good Slash Pile Burning?

Not me. I've been wanting to get that thing blazed since my folks were here and yesterday was the day. All it took was new (to me) furniture. How extreme!



I simply got tired of there being only one truly comfortable seat in the house. That would be the comfy chair. And that was driven home during the parental invasion.

Unlike Archie Bunker, I would never begrudge my Dad (or my Mom!), the special comfy chair especially on Sundays, when one plops their butt into it at a little past nine in the morning and need not move until about 12 hours later. Beer, bathroom and stretch breaks aside. It's football all day long and the comfy chair is VERY comfy. While pretty and well made (and where the rest of us were relegated to), the mission love seats are not comfortable.



 We are a short family and those are deep sofas with not much back support. Gene and I agreed, they had to go and for a joint anniversary gift I could replace our existing sofas. I got to work. I have a long list of must haves when looking at furniture that lives with pets. The sofa had to have loose cushions and no upholstered frame as did any additional chairs. It had to be smaller too, apartment sized.



 I never buy new furniture, mostly because I don't like the over stuffed styles (comfy chairs are the only exception), and it never meets a majority of my criteria. Plus, lets face it, I have eight dogs. Furniture takes a beating in this household. Mid Century Modern fits the bill and I set to work looking for suitable pieces. Nothing available local for sure. Not a popular style around here it would seem and those I did find, the prices were through the roof in San Francisco and Portland. Enter the internets and a few taps of my fingers and I was in Florida, at a wonderful mid century specialist Furnish Me Vintage. Needless to say, I found some well priced, well made pieces and was able to swing an amazing deal that included crating and shipping. They arrived yesterday and in the blink of a thousand eyes we had them uncrated and in the house. They are all extremely comfortable and except for the egg chair,



 which might require some professional work to recover, all within my scope of expertise for cushions etc. (Linda are your reading this? ;->). Gene hated the egg style chair when he saw the picture, but I adored it and the price was too good to pass up. You know how that ends, he has taken that chair over as his own. ;) The velvet danish lounge chair was love at first sight for me. Original upholstery and all.



 Of course, they don't match, they just live together and my living room will never be magazine nice, but now there are truly numerous seats to flop in and oh, bring a book, you'll want to sit awhile! And the crates,



why they fueled the slash pile!

Parting shot: New furniture, sounds tasty!