Uncategorized – Page 50 – This Old House 2

Zentangle

Blogger Hilary of Crazy as a Loom is what I call a real “Do-er”. Generous heart, energized spirit, always in motion, creating, caring, DOING. Ever in need of having something in her hands to work on, she introduced her readers to an art form she has just picked up as a way to wind down and relax, take her mind out of the moment, and I thought I’d give it a go. Her post about it HERE…

What IS Zentangle? (I had no idea)

“The Zentangle Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. Almost
anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and
creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense
of personal well being. The Zentangle Method is enjoyed all over this
world across a wide range of skills, interests and ages.”

The best part is.. you don’t need many tools to do this. I bought a watercolor pad and Pigment liner pens at Staples for less than $30.

Some Examples found on the WWW. These are clearly some very talented artists…

You don’t have to be quite so talented to create your own art

and reap the benefits of this relaxation exercise –
simple shapes placed ramdonly, as shown below – with rules or boundaries
just do it and see what you put together.

My first attempt below… I prefer to work with an outline of something..

Ben Zen

Finding the Bright Side

Attitude is everything. As I mature I discover this to be one of the biggest truths in life. No matter how determined we are, we can’t dictate exactly how things will go, what will change and what will remain the same. Nothing is sure but death, taxes and the unpredictability of weather. And Twinkies, Slim Jims, Twizzlers and Coke. I’m pretty sure those four things would survive any apocalypse.

As I sit here at the computer, my hands, feet and face sting from the thaw after morning chores. I am not discouraged by the winter that just keeps chilling, snowing and blowing. Instead, I am grateful for the beauty outside my windows, for the good health to carry out the chores, for the good fortune to be able to feed the troops and the animals, and for my husbands big excavation equipment, currently in the State Forest digging a Bronco out of the snow after a certain family member and his friends decided to see how far they could go in the snow last night. Wearing shorts and sneakers. ….. Ah, youth.

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch
of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for
home.”
– Edith Sitwell

Because of the cold temps and snowy tundra, we’ve been spending more time around the kitchen table at meal time, more time by the fire watching the Olympics, more time as a family in general. So often the outside world beckons us in all directions. This opportunity for togetherness, despite it’s chill factor, is a gift.

The Mr. and I did some gator riding through the trails yesterday…

…and got just a little stuck.

After a little back and forth and some shoving, cursing and flooring it…

we were free again.

Hey, stupidity is not always wasted on the young.

The picture currently in my header was yesterdays morning moon…

the winter moon is just beautiful.

I’ve now got some serious boot wear I found stuffed in the back of the mudroom closet

-my sons snowmobile boots from a few years back, when we wore the same shoe size.

They are mammoth…each boot weighing probably 10 lbs.. all the better for

some leg toning, right?

Attitude.

The dogs are content to run outside, do their thing, and come right back in.

We always dig a run for Ben, because he will not “go” near the house…

he wants some privacy. If we don’t dig that path,

he stands at the gate looking miserable.

Frasier is not so finicky.

The skies have been the bluest blue.

Picnic anyone?

It’s a new day, All – make it a good one!

Durham Academy Weather Announcement

This is hilarious… have you seen it yet? Way to go, guys…. Lyrics below.. and some info about the school itself from one of my favorite blog readers, Maggy….who is a tutor at the Hill Center across the street.

Durham Academy (aka, “DA”) has two campuses; the Upper School (high school)
and Lower School (elementary grades) are across the street from The Hill
Center, the school I tutor for. In fact, back in the late 70s, George Watts
Hill, a community leader and philanthropist, and his 2nd wife, a teacher with
three children (one which had learning disabilities), were instrumental in
bringing together educators to help address and teach students
with learning differences. That initial program morphed into what is now
The Hill Center, which is both a school as well as a training center for
teachers.

Lyrics:

All right stop, Collaborate and listen
Ice is back and the roads will glisten
Polar vortex has a hold of us tightly
Wind like a harpoon daily and nightly

Will the power stop? Yo — I don’t know
Turn up the heat and then let go
Sleet fallin’ down like a million missiles
Bringin’ school delays and early dismissals.

Dance, To the grocery store
Buy batteries before conditions become . . .
Deadly, slippery roads might be
So stay in your house and drink hot tea

Don’t worry kids, the learning’s not lost
We have Evernote, Moodle, Veracross
If there is a problem, Greg Fishel will solve it
Check out a book while the ice dissolves. It’s

Ice, ice baby. No school, there’s ice, ice baby. No school, there’s ice, ice baby. No school there’s ice, ice baby!

I couldn’t resist.

Niether rain nor sleet nor snow…

Farm folks are like postal workers… whatever the weather, we still have to get out there and do our job. The animals depend on it. I often think of all the animals who don’t have responsible care givers, those who will go hungry and cold today because a humans ignorance is letting them down. When I think of all the animals out there who suffer, it breaks my heart to know I can’t help them all. I am so grateful to those of you who take care of the animals in your charge, and extend a hand to those less fortunate. Someday I will figure out how to reach more of them. For now.. I’ve got my crew to care for.

As much as I would have liked to sit at this computer with a cuppa Joe this morning admiring the falling flakes, the horses and chickens were waiting for the sound of crunching footsteps, ensuring their morning feed. When they hear us coming up the hill, the chickens start clucking and Opie begins his rhythmic banging on the stall wall to hurry me up, I suppose.

Thankfully, this morning my assistant barn manager was available to help, as her day job was not accessible due to the storm.

I’ve done this series of iPhone shots in B & W, because that’s our world this morning, not much color.

The girls are in their coop for the day with a red flood light – which throws heat

but not as much as a heat lamp. A healthier and safer alternative, I’ve found.

Their water is also resting on a small heater.

mini Coady waiting for cookies…

The Gator is our most valuable piece of equipment in my opinion.

..as is a daughter who is willing to help on these blustery cold winter mornings..

Opie would like to return to his stall for some of those cookies, please…

I’m back in and coffee is brewing.

For those of you down South, I hope y’all are safe and warm-

(did I say that right?)

We get more weather here, but we’re prepared for it.

I’m making Paleo Banana Bread today..

a big hit last week with my family, so I can safely recommend the recipe

for those of you who are trying to stay away from sugar and flour.

Recipe HERE

And just to add a little more color on this dreary day..

Here’s a recipe for an avocado dressing I found on Pinterest

One of these days, Alice….

BOOM!.. Right to the moon!!!

*sigh*

Sometimes, especially when I think I’m coping rather well with my loss of hearing… the reality of it creeps in on me again and I could get pretty depressed about it if I let those feelings settle.

Yesterday I got a lot accomplished around here. I was particularly happy with the paleo soup and banana bread I had just finished making for last night’s supper. One pan was pretty sticky and I decided to leave the hot water running over it for a -few minutes- to help me get the pan clean.

Hearing impaired people lose the ability to hear most running water unless you happen to be standing next to Niagara falls.

So .. back to the running water. I ran upstairs to do some laundry… came back downstairs to fold done laundry.. checked e-mail, wrote a blog post… then remembered I needed to turn that hot water off and clean the pan. As I walked back into the kitchen I stepped in a puddle. The puddle covered half the kitchen floor. A measuring cup I had used to cook… covered the drain hole and the sink flooded.. and then spilled over… and over… and over. Even the basement needed mopping. Many many soaked towels, carpets and curses later.. the mess is cleaned up. HOWEVER… our hardwood floors are buckling.

If I had been a person with normal hearing, I would have heard the water hit the floor the second it did so.

To my husband’s credit and much to my surprise, when he arrived home last night he did not blow a fit, visualize Ralph Kramden right here.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a mess of towels to sort out, some wet carpet to move around, and an appointment at the Jeep Dealership to see if they can get the dead mouse out of the engine, because the stench is hideous.

It’s a wonderful life, though, isn’t it? It’s a new day, all. Never ever leave a running sink unattended, OK?

Ok.

Fresh tracks

When we have a fresh snowfall overnight, I look for all the new tracks made by the various critters who live around here while I’m out doing the morning round of barn chores.

Little bird feet at the chicken coop door…

I found these particularly adorable, so delicate and determined.

A mouse scuttles back and forth between the garage and coop

picking up dropped grains from the hens and hopefully not depositing

them under the hood of my Jeep.

These are my Timberland boots… awesome for my kind of wear.

Waterproof, rugged, long lasting, NO F-ing EYE HOOKS

to trip me up and knock me over.

Deer….

Squirrel….

Heading to the feeder from his favorite big old maple tree…

The manchild took down the remaining wreaths for me

and left tracks of his own on the side porch.

If you’ve still got wreaths up… get them down, for crying out loud!

I believe that’s why we’re getting more WEATHER.

It’s those leftover wreaths! I’m tellin ya!

Mouse or chipmunk, not quite sure.

..and GATOR tracks… a heart from me to you.

Maybe I shoulda climbed a tree for a better angle.

Kurt Vonnegut

American writer – November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007

I’m sure you’ve seen some of his gems..

If interested, Wikipedia History HERE

Amen.

It’s all relative

My trek up to the barn and coop were “crunchy” this morning.. best way to describe it. We got the snow that changed to freezing rain yesterday and the result is about five inches of snow with a hard coating of ice. The good news is my legs are getting a good workout with every lift and step I take back and forth. Some winters in New England are wishy washy with barely any snow and a whole lot of grey days, and some have seen three to four feet of the white stuff at a time. This winter is a steady stream of cold, snow, ice, thaw, repeat.

My blog friend Cheyenne in Canada is experiencing her typical winter… MINUS 43 degrees in the wee hours. She went for a walk yesterday and she could not see over the snow drifts to the fields beyond. Like walking in a tunnel. She sent me this pic… a little winter humor… and she said -not quite- what she’s got there right now, but she has seen this kind of snow.

I guess it’s all relative.

My remedy last night to chase the winter blues… a little red.

Unrelated…

Can someone tell me why the current location for the winter Olympics was chosen in the first place? Did they draw straws? Was there a gun to a head involved? Oh, I know, they -won the bid- Still, hard to fathom any logical conclusions when choosing the location.

Let’s recap…. .Before it even began, gay ban and bashing, literally! Stray dog poisoning, by the hundreds!

Lower income residents removed from their housing, which is now demolished to make room for fancy hotel site for athletes, who are welcome even if you are gay. Really!

What did they do with all those misplaced people? What WILL they do with the new seaside resort fantasy land they’ve created, once the games are over?

Afraid for your safety? We feel so good about it we’ve got two Navy ships on the coast, just in case!

Let’s not ignore the current toothpaste terror – the US warned airlines with direct flights serving Russia to be aware of the possibility that explosive material could be concealed in toothpaste or cosmetic tubes. A US Rep said he feels reasonably sure you will be safe, but he’s not going. That’s actually what he said.

The U.S. ski and snowboarding team has hired a private security firm. As have just about all other athletes participating. Some have received death and kidnapping threats.

Some of these things are not new to the Olympic arena…but ALL of these things together? Do not make for a pretty picture. Even after all their hard work and desire to attend the games,I don’t think I could, in good conscience, send one of mine over there.

-Just sayin.

I love when that happens!

I just got in from the barn and coop chores.. it’s actually raining/snowing ICE right now. Pelts your face as you walk in it, no kidding. If you’re local, don’t do any driving that you don’t really have to. Hard to believe that yesterday was beautiful.

Anyway… You might remember in recent weeks I found an awesome vintage 1940’s ” Mobo Bronco” metal horse, made in England, … in an antiques warehouse. The price was steep, $330. I have a thing for vintage horse toys and would LOVE one of these little ride-on ponies to display in This Old House. I thought the price was high, though, and decided to do some research. The truth is, the value for such a horse in his particular color (he was black) was right on the mark, and in some parts of the country if you find one of these ponies, they go for even more money. I found a few of them for a lower price on ebay, but the shipping to get it here would be another $50. more or less. Still too much money to feel good about it.

Then…I walked into this Good Will and Antiques shop just about five miles from here… looking for a little shelf for something else…