Traditions!

     My family was strong on traditions, many were continued, amended, new ones added as we had our own family and they grew to adults.  Each season had it's own.
     At Christmas time, we gathered on Christmas eve with extended family at my Dad's home, our home, or my brother's home for Christmas Dinner.  Dinner traditionally was a repeat of the Thanksgiving with the addition of some Smithfield cured ham.  Often, our table included one or more "strays."  Over the years, the extra folks have included friends of one of the children who for various reasons could not return to their home state or country, or an immigrant family that was attending my parent's church.
      Once we had children of our own, each Christmas Eve ended with hubby reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the kids. 
     Christmas morning the children were not allowed downstairs until the tree lights were on and one of us had checked to make sure that Santa had come, stockings dumped, a big breakfast, and gift opening in our own home.  We would put out turkey and ham, cookies, condiments, rolls, eggnog and other beverages and my husband's family would come over for gift exchange.  Early in our family life, we sometimes had his parents staying with us, his sister and her family, my Dad and Mom, my brother and his family and until my sister moved out of state, her family too would come to our home on Christmas Day, sometimes in shifts and once when our home was much too small, all at one.  This one sent my husband and me separately but at the same time into the utility room, where both of us looked at each other, opened our mouths and created the "silent primal scream."  Giggled at the stress relief and rejoined the love of the group.
     Now our kids are scattered with their families, our eldest and his family are here this year, and we will have the traditional turkey dinner tonight, including a young adult neighbor who is alone this year, and a neighbor couple with no kids at home.  "The Night Before Christmas" will be read to grandchildren that are not here by phone (I really think it is for our daughter).
     Tomorrow we will dump stockings, have the traditional big breakfast and gift exchange before son and his family drive across the state so that eldest grandson can also share Christmas with his other grands.  And now we are the grandparents, so we will travel to visit our other two children and their kids in their homes over the next few days.

Tree Day in the Mountains

     Today is tree day for us, much later than usual and it means such a short time to enjoy it, but thus it is.  Today dawned cold and gray, rain forecast this afternoon, snow tonight and tomorrow.   The house prepared, the carpet vacuumed, we properly bundled up for a trek on the local tree farm hill sides to pick the right one to adorn the house this year.  Our first choice tree farm had no one there at 10 o'clock and no hours posted, so we drove about 6 miles to the other local farm to find a delightful gift shop and trees of all sizes and shapes from which to chose.

This one?  No too small.  How about that one?  No too tall.
 

    Finally we found just the right tree for this year, maybe 7 to 8 feet.  Got it cut and loaded on the car, bought some local beef from the shop and a couple of last minute gifts and home to unload it.  Arriving home, we found, not just Ferdinand, but 6 of his harem, happily grazing in our yard with one young cow almost off our property and up on the road.  A bit of herding them deeper into our property was in order, until we could call the owner to alert them.

Wish they were ours, but still not sufficient fencing to keep them in, but then again, the owner can't keep them in either.
 

     The tree was unloaded and put in water while we ran some errands in town, leaving it to drink its fill while standing on the porch.

     The neighbors, were repairing the fence again and rounding up their herd when we returned home, so no kebobs on the hoof left.  The tree was brought in and put in its stand with more water and the branches freed from the twine and allowed to fall back in shape.

 

 

We wonder if the pups will leave it alone.  Merry Christmas to all.

 

 

 

Oh Tannenbaum, where art thee?

     In late September, 2007, I moved into our brand new, still not quite finished home, with half of our furniture and our eldest son and his family.  Hubby had remained behind in Virginia Beach with our youngest son and the other half of our furniture while the house of being completed and to wind down his practice.
     We settled into a routine of my son and his mate, working on the house, completing the upper kitchen cabinets and the interior doors and I left for work each day, sometimes babysitting their then little one so they could visit friends or work together on a project for the house that required two adults without the help of a toddler.
     Before we knew it, it was December, our first in the new house, hubby was coming up with youngest son, daughter had said she and her 11 month old would try to come up from Florida, the whole crew with kids for our celebration.  That meant decorating, which I always have taken to the max at Christmas.  Out came all the Santa collection, up went wreaths, fresh garland was purchased by the yard for the loft and stair railings and I wanted a real tree, a substantial tree.  After all, we had a cathedral ceiling with heavy timber support at the ceiling of our log home and only half the living room furniture, so there definitely was room.  Eldest son went with me into town to look for a fresh cut tree.  At that point, I didn't know that there were two tree farms just miles from our house, but we knew of a lot in town run by one of the local farms that sells produce at the Farmer's Market.  As soon as we drove into the lot, I turned to son and said, "I want that one!"  He looked incredulously at me and said, "Mom, are you sure?"  I couldn't be more sure, it was perfect, full and at least 10 feet tall.  Son shrugged and said, "OK, I'll help."  
     Tree was paid for and with the help of the lot attendant, we tied it on the top of my CRV with the garland in the trunk and headed home.  The tree was so full, that even tied, it barely came through the front door.  Three of us struggled to get it upright in the stand, securely so it wouldn't topple.  The decorations that had adorned our 7 footers for years, looked sparse, but wonderful. 

      There have been subsequent trees, some live and root balled, later planted in the yard, some cut, but none quite as generous as that one.
      This year, the house is decorated with Santas, wreaths, but so far, no tree.  Between illness, dealing with two pups, one of which will be terrified once the tree is up, helping a neighbor try to repair the bull neighbor's fence to keep Ferdinand off our property, we just haven't gotten around to the tree yet.  The house just doesn't look complete yet.  Eldest son and family will be here Saturday, so we best get on it, I think tomorrow is tree day and though we won't have the whole crew here this year, we will see all of our children and grandchildren on or within a few days of Christmas.

Broken light

The overnight front has the clouds breaking and scuttering away to the south east.  That is the ridge you couldn't see yesterday.

Solstice

     The morning is bleak, the sun didn't lighten the sky until well past 7, in part because we are approaching the shortest day of the year and in part because we are on our third day of much needed rain and the sky is heavy with thick gray clouds and the oft presented morning fog.

The ridge beyond is hidden this morning.

Though I don't truly suffer from SAD,  the short days, long nights, and the heavy overcast sky are depressing.  I look forward to the Solstice, knowing that with each suceeding day, the ratio of light to dark increases in the favor of light.  I am sure that I would never be able to live in Alaska, though I would like to visit, as the extended period of dark would likely require me to be medicated and in counseling to survive those months and the period of light would be equally irritating as I don't sleep well in light and don't like my sleeping room tightly curtained.  Perhaps I would have done well when the families bedded for the night shortly after full dark, to conserve the candles or lamp oil and rose with the sun to begin the day's chores.  In retirement, there is little heed to the clock unless we have an appointment or a plane to catch, I rise with the sun's lightening of the morning sky, we eat when we are hungry, and though we have the conveniences of modern electricity and lights on our little farm, I am ready for bed early each winter night.

Aching Heart

     The first time I was consciously aware of a child dying was as a young adult and the child of family from church died of illness.  Though I didn't know the child nor even the adults very well, I cried.  As a new parent myself, the thought of losing a child was incomprehensible, children buried their parents, not parents burying a child.
     Over the years as a school counselor, I was faced with entirely too many incidents of a child dying in a car accident, by suicide or illness, dealing with the grief of a few or huge groups of adults and students who had taught or been friends with the young person lost.
     Living and then working near Blackburg, I was part of the grief support team after the mass shooting at Virginia Tech, then shortly after a murder of one of our students and her mother by an acquaintance of them.
     None of these experiences has made it any easier to deal with Connecticut's tragedy, for a community of families to have lost so many children makes my heart ache.  I have cried for them and my heart goes out to the community and the families who lost a child or have a child that was fortunate enough to survive yesterday's tragedy and will have to learn to live with the trauma that they experienced.
     I hope the media will quickly leave them alone and let them heal.

Hats, hats, and mittens

     Christmas knitting progresses, fortunately fairly quickly.    Daughter by love will get mittens and a slouchy beret to help keep her warm as she walks to and from the Metro between home and classes on two campuses.

The mittens are a basic vanilla mitten pattern with Paton's Classic Wool, Harvest colorway with a crocheted shell pattern at the top of the cuff.  The Stripey Slouchy Beret is the same yarn with the alternate stripes of a solid brown Paton's Classic Wool.  The photos do not do justice to the colors of the set, nor do they look like they match, which they do beautifully.

     Eldest son is also a lover of Mom's handknits and he will get a Pepper and Wine hat to go with his black overcoat as he also is a student and walking to and from the Metro bus to campus.

     The last project is the most difficult for me and may or may not actually get finished before it is hand delivered to our daughter several days after Christmas.  As a late teen/young adult, she had a lacy mesh black sweater that she wore over camisoles.  Now living in Florida, she wants a similar sweater for the rare cool days or evenings.  As the original sweater was a store purchase and is long gone from her wardrobe, all I have to go by is a dark photo of her wearing the sweater, standing in front of a dark, very busy background.  I have started the sweater 3 times, the first attempt of a saddle shoulder sweater, quickly messed with the lacy pattern.  Try two is a better choice of a pattern, but after about 6 inches of knitting, I realized the lacy was too bulky looking, even though I am using sport weight wool on size 9 needles, so again it was frogged and restarted with a simpler, lighter lace.  As the yarn is black and my arthritis makes using larger needles difficult except in short stints, I am plodding along on it between other projects.  It will get done, but maybe not by the time we get to her house.

Catchin' up

      Yesterday was spring like.  We resumed our riding lessons after a three week hiatus first due to family visiting, then a couple of weeks of the crud.  Though we are both still coughing, we are feeling better.  Our energy levels are still low, we must work on that as we have two ski trips pending after the first of the year.  One we fear might end up being a condo stay with 18 strangers with little or no snow as it is in West Virginia and it has been as warm there as here.  The other is in Colorado and the reports from there are positive.
     A little at a time, Christmas shopping is being done and wrapped as purchased or made.  The house is decorated, though we still need a tree.
    Knitting has resumed, a Florida weight sweater for daughter, her request is lace in black yarn, not my preference, but it is progressing.  Mittens for our daughter by love and a hat our son.

     The spinning wheel has been active also.  I spun and plied 346 yards of light fingering weight merino and silk blend that is gorgeous.  So far, I haven't decided what it will become, but I'm thinking about Flip Mitts or a scarf for next year's Christmas gift stash.  It would be awesome to make all of next year's hand knits from handspun yarn.

     Yesterday was rainy and last night the wind whipped up as a front rolled through, this morning it is winter again with mountain snow flurries blowing around.  Perhaps we may actually have winter this year.

Dirty dogs

     This morning, hubby was feeling particularly poorly so I turned the pups outside to play away from us in the house.  After about 30 minutes, they were nowhere to be seen, would not come when called and though we live on 30 acres with nothing but farmland around us, we are only 4/10 of a mile off of the road up to Mountain Lake Hotel,, so I began to worry about them.
     My concern increased when after about 15 more minutes, they still had not appeared, nor came when called.  On went the jacket and sneakers to set out looking for them.  The plan was to go look down the bull path to the sinkhole as they often come out of the woods from that direction, then if not there, to get in the car and go check the local roads.
     Fortunately, and unfortunately, I found them, in the sinkhole, Shadow running back and forth through the muddy creek, Ranger laying like a fat sow in the mud beside the creek.  Once caught in the act, Shadow came up the hill at a trot, muddy from the bottom of her paws to the tip of her ears and wanted to launch herself on me.  After finding her leash, I led her to the yard hydrant and hooked up the hose to wash her down.  Hubby walked to the bottom of the hill and retrieved the slow moving hulk of a mastiff to slowly follow him.  While  he was bringing the beast up the hill, I tried to hose down the shepherd.  She danced and jerked on the leash like a puppet on a string, not at all in favor of the cleaning, so I brought her in and tried to bath her in the tub.  She was in no more favor of that and tried to bolt from the tub, spinning and tugging at the leash like a dervish.  Once semi cleaned and not willing to be dried, she was put back outside on a tie down, also not to her favor.
     In the meantime, Ranger was dancing and trying to eat the water coming from the hose, thinking it was all a big game and hubby enjoying playing with him.
     Shadow has not been allowed outside for the remainder of the day or evening without being tied out on a long chain.  She is not pleased with that and I am not pleased with her. It may be a while before she is given free run outside while Ranger is also outside.  We may have to invest in invisible fence or work more on training them as to where they are allowed and to come consistently when called.  If we could figure out how to keep Ferdinand the neighbor's bull from coming up the path, it would probably keep the dogs from going down it, but so far that has been a failure.

Warding off the winter chill...

                                                                Warm spot of sun,

borrowed from the dog.

Flu season

     The news is reporting that this is an early flu season and that the strains of flu this year are wicked.  I can attest to this.  What I thought started as a cold over 2 weeks ago, flattened me a week later with pneumonia.  Leaving the doctor's office with antibiotics and a heavy duty prescription cough medication, I came home to curl up in my recliner with a quilt and a book, which I slogged through between naps as the cough syrup's primary duty seemed to be to make me sleep.  As I was fighting to get better, my hubby was coming down with what he thought was the cold.  Yesterday, we were both back in the doctor's office, he being given the antibiotics and cough medication for bronchitis and a sinus infection, both of us being given inhalers to try to help tame the inflammation in our lungs.  Usually by now we have both had flu shots, but as hubby nearly always reacts to his, we delayed  because of household visitors and a trip to Texas for a birthday party for a cousin.   We both have had pneumonia shots, both endured the not too effective shingles shots to hopefully stave that malady, but the flu found us and in both of us, produced secondary infections.
     Rest assured, as soon as we are better, we will get this year's version of the flu shot and will be in front of the line next year when they are available.

    

Mending

   
     It has taken me 4 days to do 3 loads of laundry, just washed and dried, not folded and put away.  And thank goodness the turkey was huge, soup made and coldcuts leftover from our daughter's visit, otherwise we wouldn't have eaten for those 4 days.  My ribs hurt to move, breathe and oh no, not again, cough.  The meds started Monday afternoon and this morning, so far, I think I am on the mend finally.  There have been lots of naps, curled under a quilt, most of a book read, no knitting done.  The dog hair is taking over the house, Christmas shopping and decorating not a priority.
     None of the herbal remedies I took when the cold started 10 days ago did much good this time and I wonder what shape I would have been in if I hadn't had a pneumonia shot last spring.  The cold was nearly gone on Sunday when I crashed hard with pneumonia.  Not an illness I wish to repeat anytime soon.  It is going to be a while until I feel like decorating and shopping, but at least I have remade the two guest beds this morning and I am about to fold a load of clothes, then I think it will be time for another nap.

With Thankfulness

     Today, I officially become a senior citizen.  Birthdays at this point in life are mixed messages, thankfulness that I have survived another year and a reminder that the years move too quickly and there is so much left to see and do.
     There is much to be thankful for this birthday, there are many well wishes from friends and families as posts on Facebook, in calls and cards, flowers and dinner out tonight.  This week is especially celebratory for our family, it contains 4 milestone birthdays.  My stepmom turned 70 yesterday, our youngest granddaughter turns 1 this Saturday, our daughter turns 30 next Thursday, and mine today.  It is special that our daughter and her husband, son, daughter and their dog are visiting us for a week from Florida and will help us celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Because they won't be here for daughter's birthday, I prepared a Mexican feast earlier in the week for her birthday at her request.  Tonight we go out for Thai, tomorrow we fix the turkey with all it's fixings.  Saturday will celebrate our granddaughter's birthday with a homemade apple cake for her.
     Life is good and I hope for many, healthy years to come.

Visitors

     Bright and early this morning, our daughter, her husband and two kids and their dog arrived after driving all night from Florida.  They will be with us for a wonderful week, celebrating three birthdays while they are here, though daughter's actually isn't until shortly after they arrive back home.
     Their daughter is our youngest grandchild.  She was born on Thanksgiving Day last year, so her celebration is the biggest, her 1st birthday.  She is just on the verge of walking, cruising around anything she can grab on to or pushing behind a little cart walker.  She has a little vocabulary already, responding with "Dog" each time she sees or hears one of the 3 dogs.  She constantly points and says "What's that?"  Her sign language vocabulary is larger than her verbal one.  A beautiful little girl.
     Their son is the youngest of our grandsons, a bright, verbal child about to turn 6.  He has an amazing reading ability, I love listening to him read, sounding our words he doesn't recognize on sight. 
     Our skittish, shy little German Shepherd has decided that he is ok and doesn't run and shy from him, allowing him to pet and hug her.  Ranger, the Mastiff loves everyone and has been found standing guard over Nadia a couple of times.
     Today was mostly a stay at home day, to give them some relax time after their drive.  We did all pile into their new Honda Pilot to venture to Target to return a coat for Nadia and get a smaller size.  They were unable to find a coat in Florida for her.    This was after a short trip to the farmer's market, which is winding down for the season.  Several vendors have already quit for the season and a couple of our friends finished their season today.  There will be a few vendors that continue on most weekends for the winter, with meat and cheese, so our trips will be fewer until the spring arrives with a renewed growing season.
     We will take advantage of the fairly nice day tomorrow and the fact that the hunter's won't be out tomorrow to take a mountain hike, maybe with all three dogs in tow.
     Monday we are off to Floyd to School House Fabrics, lunch and to pick up our free range turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner.
     Daughter will be getting knitting lessons, sewing lessons, and soap making experience during the week.
     The two sweaters for the kids, both fit!  Yay.  The Darth Vader and Monkey hat and mitten sets were a hit. 
     We love it so much when we have one of our children and their family here for a visit. 
Life is good.

Frumptastic

     Since moving to the mountains, my almost shoulder length hair has grown to nearly my waist, I recently cut 2 inches off, it has grayed around my face and thinned considerably, probably due to the cysts on my thyroid discovered about 4 years ago. 
     I've always had a bit of a swayed back which makes me look thicker in the middle than I really am and this has bothered my self image since I was very young and way too thin, no eating disorder involved, quite the opposite, but as a younger person, my metabolism was raging.
     As a knitter, as soon as I felt confident, I started making sweaters for me, worsted weight, top down raglans, usually loose and comfy.  For some reason as the weather has chilled here, and chill it did last night, down to 24f, and I pulled out my wardrobe of handknit sweaters, as I put each one on, I look in the mirror and feel frumpy.  Only one of my handknit sweaters, a fair isle red wood zipped cardigan doesn't strike me that way.  As a result, I have taken to wearing thin store bought, machine knit sweaters and thin omniheat fleece tops to ward off the chill.  This bothers me with the stack of sweaters I made sitting unworn on the shelf of my closet.

     Every idea, I have to unfrump goes against my nature, I won't dye the gray out of my hair, my hubby and I like it long, so a short cut isn't likely.  I have lost weight, so that isn't the issue, I'm not at this stage of my life going to start wearing makeup, so I guess what I'm going to have to do, is quit worrying about how I think I look and break out the warm wool handknit and enjoy them.  Maybe while I sit cozy and warm in them this winter, I will make a couple of thinner yarn and be more cautious of fit so next winter, I can wear handknits that aren't frumpy.

A horse is a horse, . . .

Fran on Doc

     Riding lessons continue, we have learned to make the horse move sideways to facilitate opening a gate, to back up, to pivot around a front leg.  Jim consistently is given the choice of Levi, shown below or Nemo, who I rode last week, they are large, tall horses and though Nemo is a good mount, I decided that an average size mount is better for me.  I started on Nippers, a round bellied paint, very good natured and easy to ride.  My third lesson was on Squirt, a bay, also good natured.  Today, I was given my choice of any of the three I had previously ridden or Doc, the flea bitten Gray.  Not literally flea bitten, just his coat has speckles of chestnut in it.  I learned that they are called Gray's because their skin is black, their coat is white.  Doc was a bit more spirited and a fun ride.
     Today we were challenged with obstacles at a trot, poles laid on the ground, then divided into thirds with cones and barrels that we had to zigzag in and out at a trot.  Each horse has handled a bit differently, some requiring more reining, Doc liked control with your legs.  I feel fairly confident at this point, can get the horse in, saddled securely and bridled without assistance.  Walking and turning don't bother me, trotting occasionally makes be feel a bit off balance, but I'm getting the hang of it.  I am actually more comfortable when we are asked to trot without stirrups than with them, I feel I have more control of the horse.
     I'm glad Jim talked me into lessons, though I'm not sure I'm ready to go out of the arena and on to a trail yet.

Jim on Levi, Fran on Doc
 

     I promised photos and Reanna, our instructor was happy to take them for us.
    

Indian Summer

    
 I don't know when Indian Summer is supposed to fall, but after several very cold, windy, wet weeks, this weekend has been delightful.  Today is warm enough for only a long sleeve T-shirt, the sun is shining and the sky is a beautiful shade of blue.
     To take advantage of the delightful day, we took the pups to Pandapas Pond and took a two mile walk in the woods and around the pond.  We weren't the only locals with that idea, as we saw families with dogs, horses and riders, cyclists all enjoying the day.
     Since we aren't expecting freezing nights for a while, I removed the frost covers from the greens, just leaving the bug covers which will suffice in a light frost.  The cabbages and broccoli that I thought would not mature look like they might after all.  The other leafy greens look great and I think a mess of greens is on the menu tonight.  I also removed the solar charger that electrifies the fence to keep the deer out of the garden as there is nothing for them to eat that isn't covered, so the charger will spend the winter in the garage out of the weather, hoping to extend it's life by a few seasons.  The fence wire will remain in place, perhaps a deterrent to marauding critters.
     After chasing Ferdinand off yet again, we built a downfall fence across the path he uses coming up from the creek, a narrow, steep path between a near vertical hill and a fence.  Maybe this time we have foiled him until the neighbor has his fence repaired.  It also is the day that the tractor was moved back to the barn for winter storage.  It will come out occasionally to keep the mice out of the engine block and to run it once in a while, but its work usage for the year is done.
     The remainder of the week is supposed to be more seasonable temperatures in the upper 40s and low 50s, with a couple of rainy days, but the weekend has been worth the discomfort to come.

Cozy goodness

     Though the next few days are going to tease us with warmth and sunshine, the past few weeks have reminded us that winter is headed our way.  Will it be mild and dry, cold and wet, frigid and snowy, that remains to be seen.
     Regardless of the level of winter that befalls us, most days require a jacket or coat, a scarf, hat and gloves.  The winter stash of these items has been dragged off the shelf, reminding us that hubby lost his leather gloves in the spring.  A trip to the mall just before Halloween to look for a new pair showed all of the Christmas decorations up, not just before Thanksgiving this year, before Halloween, but alas, though the decorations were up, the coats displayed, no leather gloves yet.  Apparently they are a Christmas gift item and haven't been received as yet.  We left with a thin fleece pair with a leather palm for driving which will have to do him until the others come in.
     I was reminded that I have a scarf I started last winter to go with a hat I designed and knit last winter that I suppose I should finish.  One of my other hats I knit is lovely fall colored handspun yarn that I bought at a craft show several years ago and I made a silk scarf in one of the greens to go with it.  My favorite hat is yarn from Unplanned Peacock, a local friend who is an independent yarn dyer and she only made a couple of skeins in a lovely Ruby color.  She made a hat from one, I made a hat from the other.  She hasn't been able to duplicate the depth of color again so that I can make a scarf.  Maybe someday when she dumps her leftover reds together at the end of a dyeing session, she will accidently hit on it again.
     When I started spinning and making yarn, I just put it aside and admired it.  My spinning friends convinced me that I should really be knitting it, so I found a scarf pattern, Chinook by Ali Green and knit the scarf and it just yelled my stepmom's name.  The yarn was a creamy white and I dyed it peach, one of the colors she wears beautifully.  Now we don't exchange gifts anymore, but her birthday is one day before mine and this year the rule will be cracked a bit and she will have a cozy warm scarf to wear on a winter's day.

Knittering around

     Our Florida born grandkids are spending Thanksgiving with us in the mountains.  We are excited, especially as they will arrive on the 1st birthday of the youngest, our youngest grand.
     Over the years since her big brother, Aidan was born, nearly 6 years ago, I have made an annual sweater for him, all of which are being saved lovingly by our daughter for Nadia to wear also.  Nadia's first sweater was a knit gown, with matching hat and socks all made from the same fingering weight yarn.
     Two years ago, I knit my first Wallaby by Cottage Creations for Aidan, Superman blue as he and our son in law are ardent Superman fans, and the wallaby is a hit.  Aidan and our oldest grandson think that is the best sweater design ever.  Last year, as he was outgrowing the previous one, another was requested, this one was Superman blue with red pocket and hood.  Unfortunately, I selected a yarn I had not previously used, advertised as worsted weight and I didn't bother to check gauge.  The resulting sweater was really no larger than the previous year's version though I knitted a size up.
     The grands will get this year's sweaters when they arrive.  The yarn and colors for Nadia were picked out by our daughter when we visited them last summer, along with the yarn for Nadia's Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween.  There is a great yarn shop in Sarasota that we enjoyed visiting.  Aidan's was picked up locally at a cute little shop in the town of Floyd, about 40 minutes from us.

Nadia's Hood is from Berroco Vintage, colorway is wine, the pattern is based on Capuchon by Tagil Purlmutter, a free download on Ravelry, though I seriously modifed it to make it Florida weight, you can see the modifications on my projects page on Ravelry.  That was knit on our drive back from that visit to Florida.

Nadia's Birthday hooded cardi is also from Berroco Vintage, the teal is color 51104, the light blue is 5120, the cream is 5102 and the pattern is a melange of a pattern for a baby hoody from a friend, a bit of Ann Budd wisdom and my own modifications to work it the way I wanted it.  Both her sweater and Aidan's have been my October and early November knitting.

Aidan's Wallaby is from Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Quatro, the color is 1957, a tweedy mix of bues and greens.  It was knit on a size 8 to make it a bit lighter for Florida and was carefully measured this year to ensure that it should fit him.

Still on my needles and set aside are a pair of socks for me, a reknit of a shawl that our younger pup damaged, and a scarf of homespun to match a hat I designed last winter.  Still in my knitting que is a sweater requested by my daughter, who sent me a dark picture of her as a teen, wearing a black sweater that she would like duplicated.  I'm still thinking about that one, though I have bought the yarn.

Today, I love.

   
    Today as always, I love my husband, for so many reasons; standing by me through good and bad times, being a good Dad to our kids, loving me for so many years together.
     I love our children for keeping me young and giving me gray hair, all of their antics growing up that at times made us wonder why we had kids and others filled our hearts with pride at their accomplishments.  And for bringinng 3 more kids to love in their partners and 5 beautiful grandchildren to love and continue to keep us young.
     I love our home in the mountains with the starkly changing seasons, a log home of our design and with the sweat and blood of family and friends in its construction.   The views changing with each season, the wildlife that provides entertainment to observe and amazement to our city visitors, and the millions of stars visible where there are no city lights to obscure them.
     My father, who taught me to be self sufficient and independent and who having grown up in an era of predjudice, taught us not to judge others by their differences.
     I am blessed to have two siblings and 4 cousins who keep in touch.
     I love the 2 silly pups that entertain with their wrestling and chasing and the unconditional love they offer.
     I am fortunate to be living in a country where I have a say in who will run our  government, have the freedom to dress as I wish, travel when I want, worship if I choose.

Tuesday - Election Day

     We awoke early to the German Shepherd rattling around in the wire cage, looking out at the Mastiff, asleep by hubby's side of the bed and wanting to be out.  It was only 6:45 and I didn't want to rise yet, having had one of my nights when sleep was elusive and broken.  We had no milk in the house for coffee or cereal, nearly no coffee and no butter for toast, and again the sky was thick and gray.  The yard heavy with frost, having had a hard freeze last night.
     It seemed that the expedient route to the day, was to get up, go to the convenience center to dump the household trash, including one bag of mostly political flyers received over the past month, then on to vote.  As our landline phone is maintained only to have internet, we unplugged them to silence the multiple computer calls received each day.  Do they really think they help?  Then on into town to get a light breakfast and a light grocery run to replace the milk, coffee, and butter.
     I have avoided blogging about the election, have basically steered clear of posting about it on Facebook, have studiously not forwarded any of the emails of a political nature.  It is not because I am apolitical, I have strong feelings, and I feel we should all vote to do our part.  I feel that the election campaign procedure has become unnecessarily contentious, leaning more toward misinformation against each other rather than stating their own viewpoints.
     We have done our civic duty, stated our preference and have replugged the phone so that the few neighbors who prefer it can reach us for permission to hunt or walk on our property.  I actually look forward to days when the mailbox is empty, meaning no political mumbo jumbo to trash without reading.  Upon taking the trash down today, we see that now we can recycle mixed paper, so next election, at least the paper will be recycled instead of trashed.

November Thankfulness 1

     As I sit in my warm spot of sun at the breakfast table, I am watching a doe cavort in the hayfield on the south end of our property.  I don't know if you have ever had this joyous opportunity, but they run back and forth, leaping into the air in great bounds.  Sometimes this is a solo activity, often it involves several.
     The sunny morning is a blessing, the first we have had in 11 days.  The afternoons have cleared a few times, but each morning as been thick and gray.  The deer population is being culled during this hunting season in the mountains and we will see fewer and fewer as they elude the hunters or are taken by the hunters, so it is a treat to see a daytime deer right now.  The doe tired or her running play, loped to the northwest corner of the field and bounded over the overgrown fence as though it wasn't even there and graced me with her beauty as she walked nearer the house along the woods line before disappearing into the tall grass at the edges of the woods and then into the shadow of the woods.
     My thankfulness extents to having the vision to watch her at the distance she played.  To give you an idea of the distance, this is the back of our house from that field.

Senioritis

     As of today, the government considers me a senior citizen.  So many places have their own age cut off, AARP only requires you to be 50 to join their ranks.  My favorite local natural foods store doesn't require a membership once you reach 60.  Hardee's will give you senior drink prices at 60, Kroger requires yet another age to get their weekly senior discount and the movie theater requires age 65.  Social security age varies depending upon the year of your birth and whether you are taking early or regular social security.  Medicare is a set 65 unless you have a disability.  Before you start wishing me a happy birthday, I still have a few weeks to go, but Medicare starts on the first day of the month you turn 65, today I no longer have to cough up nearly $800 a month for my insurance.  Hubby's supplement and Rx supplement and mine together do not come close to what I was paying for my insurance alone.
     One reason I returned to education after retiring the first time, was the cost of insurance for us.  When I retired the second time, I was already eligible for early social security to go with my retirement system funds, and hubby was already on Medicare, so I was only paying for me, only a couple hundred dollars less than it cost to insure hubby, youngest son, and me a few years ago.
     Most of the time, as I am digging in the garden, saddling and riding the horses at lessons, skiing or kayaking, I don't feel like a senior citizen.  In fact, I continued buying a membership at the natural foods store for a full 3 years after I no longer had to do so.  Today, after 6 days of frigid cold, rain and then snow and flurries, gale force winds, I feel old.  Going out to the garden to again tie down the frost covers, walking out to the paddock to bring in Squirt, the bay I rode today, saddling and riding in the ring that is roofed, but has 4 huge open doors, one on each side, chilled me to the bone, reminding me that I have arthritis in my hands, wrists, shoulders, and knees.  Making me realize that I am no longer as young as I remember myself.  Now I understand why my Dad is bothered to realize that his eldest daughter is retired, graying of head, and now eligible for Medicare.  I hope I live as long and healthy as he has.

My Dad on the right, now 89 years young.

The Frankenstorm

     Watching the coverage last night on the tube reminds us of how lucky we are.  Having spent my life, except for the past several years, living in a coastal city on the east coast, I have endured many hurricanes and north easters that have caused significant damage.  The home in which I was raised was on one of the coastal rivers and as it was being built in 1954 one of the biggest took out a row of pine trees right down across the foundation, while we watched the storm from our little house in a nearby town on another river.  After the house was completed, we watched many times as the water rose near the foundation.  My Dad nailed a wooden block on a tree we could see from the kitchen window, at the level the water would have to rise to enter the lowest level of our split level home, where his office, the utility room and a little room with shelves for canned goods and the freezer surrounded the garage.  The water never quite reached that magic number of feet, though it came within an inch in one storm and lapped on the sidewalk from the garage to the kitchen door.
     We watched as the Ash Wednesday North Easter took out many homes at the North End and Sandbridge and flood the ocean front streets with debris and sand.
     We watched as downtown Norfolk flooded and flood gates were installed.  We watched as Florida and New Orleans were struck and devastated.
     This storm in the mountains was right on the edge of the hurricane winds and the cold front winds that collided right along this ridge of mountains.  We had winds, not hurricane force, but wind gusts of 60-65 mph, we were lucky, no trees down that we can see from the house, the power stayed on providing us with heat, light and water.  We have a fireplace in the living room and a wood stove in the basement, so we could have kept the house moderately warm, but without power, we have no water as we draw water from an 800 foot well.  Perhaps when we built, we should have installed a generator that would at least keep the pump going and the freezer on, but we did not.
     We did have our first snow of the season, earlier than I have experienced since moving here, it did get cold, still is and the wind still blows, but more like it usually does here in this hollow.
     Perhaps as humanity, we shouldn't build cities right hard on the coasts, in areas that are at or below sea level, but then we would build where there are tornados and earthquakes.  I hurt for those who have lost their homes and hope that they can rebuild and start anew.  We were indeed fortunate.

Road trip

     This past weekend was SAFF, the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival, held in a huge Agriculture arena in Ashville, N.C.  I have wanted to go to this for several years and always found a last minute reason that I could not.  A friend and I began discussing it late in the summer at a knitting group and there was lots of interest in going, but as it neared, it seemed that everyone found a reason they could not, except one friend.  She booked a room with two queen size beds, ah..., room for a roommate.
     Friday afternoon, we set off, splitting travel expenses, making it very doable for both of us.  Saturday morning only 30 or 40 minutes after the second day opening, we were parking in the huge lot, excited to explore.  This festival has two venues for vendors, one huge arena and a smaller building with a small show floor and a large attached pavillion that I expect can be set up with temporary stalls for animal shows, 5 barns, one of which was used for the animals that had been brought, and a building used for classes.  I was overwhelmed, yarn, fiber, books, spinning wheels, looms, spindles, notions, garments, whole fleece, food, WOW.  We wandered until we could wander no more, bought festival food, sat in the bleachers and vegged, watching the arena floor from above, going over our lists of where we wanted to return after checking out the other building of vendors.  After our break, we set off across the parking lot and visited all of those vendors as well.  Many vendors were spinning or weaving between customers, all willing to talk about their fibers, some with commercial products, most with fiber they grew or at least dyed.  Another break for a drink and some sit and knit time.  One of our local friends had her shop there and we waited until the show was over for the day at 5 o'clock and we all went out for Thai food and some visiting time.
     Sunday morning, we were back near opening time to explore some more, for my friend to buy two whole Icelandic fleece, me to try several spinning wheels as I really would like one that I can take to the Thursdays spinning group or to the spinning guild meetings.  We collected our purchases, packed up the car to head home.

     I managed not to buy the gorgeous felted hat that was $135 nor the spinning wheel that I decided will be my next wheel, but I did come home with a sack of spinning fiber to spin and knit into a hat or cowl, enough lovely red wool to knit a cardigan sweater for me and some lovely Raku buttons to put on it, a skein of sock yarn, a knitting needle in a size  I lacked but need to make my daughter's sweater and a pattern.
     We drove home on the western edge of the building storm, arrived home tired, but safe before it got dark and had a great time.  Didn't take a single class, watch any scheduled demonstrations or make it to the animal barn and still filled a day and a half at the festival.

Summer's last hurrah

   This morning it is 60 degrees, headed for 75 as it has been for the past week or so.  The trees know the summer is over, having lost most of the brilliantly colored leaves of the past few weeks.  The mountains are looking barren, though the grass and clover are as green as spring, providing excellent grazing for the mountain foragers stocking up for winter.  In the bright waxing moon of last night, we could see 5 deer within yards of the back of the house, filling their bellies on the sweet clover that "Ferdinand" seeks during the day.
     The weather experts are threatening us with a "Frankenstorm," their term, not mine, a combination of winter storm and spin off of the hurricane edging up the east coast.  The warm days are over, seasonable, then cold temps are forecast for the next few days with serious winter temps in the 20's at night, not as cold as it will get later, but certainly much colder than we usually see in late October.
     As I am preparing to leave for the weekend with a friend to travel to the Ashville, NC area for a fiber festival, leaving hubby home with the pups, the morning has been spent prepping the outdoors for the winter prediction.  My rosemary shrubs that have wintered indoors for the past few winters have gotten woody and not very productive, so they were cut back along with the remaining basil and flatleaf parsley and brought in to dry on a rack in the garage.  The back deck cushions and umbrella, brushed and stored in the utility area of the basement on the upper root cellar shelves that were otherwise unused this season.  The back deck chairs, stacked and moved to the front porch that has a roof and they will be covered with a contractor's bag or tarp to keep the cats from nesting on them.

 The peppers have loved the warm sunny days and cool nights, but will not survive the next few nights, so I have picked all of them that are large enough to use for cooking and they will be diced and frozen or strung for drying to be used during the winter months.  The freeze covers on the fall greens were staked down tight, hoping to provide us with another month or two of fresh greens and the potted oregano and thyme brought in to a sunny window.  As the back of our house is south facing, there are a number of windows that serve to provide winter light to the plants brought in from the cold.

     I will return on Sunday night to find the peppers, daisies, late blooming sunflowers and iris leaves burned and brown to be cut back to the ground on the next seasonable, dry fall day.  I guess we have experienced Indian Summer or a quirk of global warming, but today is the garden's last hurrah.

Lesson 2

     Today was lesson # 2, same horse, and I haltered him and brought him from the field unassisted.  I managed to saddle and bridle him also unassisted after our grooming session.  Today's instructor was a sub and we were sharing the riding arena with another horse and rider, the horse not accustomed to sharing the ring, but it worked out for everyone well.  We used half the ring and she used the other half and when one or the other needed the entire ring, we managed it ok.

     We got a bit more style instruction, a lot more trotting and I am surprisingly, to me, unafraid of the faster, bouncier motion.  Nippers, my ride, needs lots of encouragement to move fast enough to notice, but seems to be a gentle, round bellied paint.  The sub seemed a bit surprised that it was only my second lesson.  Maybe there is hope that I will actually adapt to this.

     The past few days have been unseasonable warm, near summer temps during the day and any toil, horse related, bull chasing, dog walking have been uncomfortable.  The weather forecast shows a significant change over the next few days, with nights in the mid 20's, rain, perhaps snow.  Our lesson on Monday might be a bit more unpleasant for us.  I think my wardrobe is going to gain the addition of a barn jacket if we are going to continue riding this winter and having to deal with our own animals by next fall.

     Still no photos, maybe Monday.

Late bloomer

     Many young girls, develop a love of horses and desire to own and ride one.  Even though I grew up in a rural area, I really never had that desire.

     As our kids grew up and we often spent a few days each summer on the Skyline Drive with them, often a trail ride was suggested by husband or daughter.  Though I did take one or two of these rides, I often elected to hike with one of my sons while hubby and daughter rode.

     We have plenty of land on our farm for a few animals, besides the two dogs and the oft visiting neighbor's bull, and we have considered a couple of beef cows and perhaps a couple of mature, already broken horses for gentle rides around our property, the neighbor's property and the local trails for horses.  To take on this responsibility, we first have to determine if we like to ride and if we can handle the grooming and maintenance involved.  Hubby took a 4 lesson session of riding and he liked it, so today we started western riding lessons together.  One of my personality traits is anxiety at trying new things and I rarely suggest trying new things, so I entered today's lessons with a fair degree of anxiety.  These lessons involve going out into the field, harnessing the horse you are to ride, walking him/her to the riding ring building, combing and brushing the horse, cleaning the hooves, then bridling and saddling the horse before the actual riding part of the lesson.  After learning the basic posture and control and working through walk and trot and how to get off the beast, the preride routine is reversed, unsaddling, unbridling, cleaning hooves, brushing, reharnessing and walking your mount back out to the field to remove the harness and release the horse.  I managed all of this fairly well and actually enjoyed it.  Of course, I think most of my comfort was that I was in a huge building inside a fenced ring with hubby and his horse and the instructor in the ring with me.  This process will be repeated 3 more times in the next couple of weeks and then we decide if we will sign up again.

     No pictures of today's event, maybe after a couple more lessons.

Autumn Glory

Autumn, a time for apples, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and brassicas.  With the fall color and mild daytime temperatures, we ventured off to the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday with the pups.  An hour drive from home, put us on the parkway in Floyd, VA for a short jaunt down to Meadows of Dan and a great country store with local produce of the season.  We stocked up on apples as our trees are too young to produce, cabbages, though I have a few in the garden,  I fear they aren't going to mature to heads before it gets too cold, sweet potatoes and butternut squash, good keepers for the root cellar and to enjoy as the weather chills and the holidays approach.  Also on our journey, we stopped at Mabry Mill, a historic water driven grist mill for the winter's supply of corn grits and buckwheat flour.  I'm southern enough to enjoy grits, but not sweet tea.  After our shopping, the pups took a hike with us along one of the trails off the parkway, scouting out potential hikes for when our daughter and her family visit in late November.

A neighbor produced many more pumpkins than she needed and she offered us several, too small for jack-o-lanterns, too large for stuffing, but a good size to bake and puree for pies and pumpkin bread.

When I pulled the tomato plants a few weeks ago, I brought in a dozen or so green smooth tomatoes and put them in a window.  Most are bright red and ready to eat, but have lost some of the summer flavor.

This afternoon I have cut and frozen apples for pies and cooking with pork for dinners or sausage and eggs for breakfasts, have one of the pumpkins baking to puree for the freezer and a loaf of bread, cut most of the tomatoes and a handful of green jalapenos and popped them in the crockpot with beans I put on this morning as the base for chili tonight.

The freezer is filling with the bounty of our garden, the farmer's market, and the other local goodies, the root cellar is well stocked and we await the off season to enjoy the fruit of the summer and fall toil and preservation.

It is almost time to start dreaming about what will be planted for next season and devouring online and paper catalogs for heirloom seed, drawing a garden plan, and enjoying winter walks.

Life is indeed good on this mountain.

Return of the stymied blogger

     My tablet is home and once I realized that the new charger from Radio Shack had a polarity to the USB adapter, it took a charge.  The loose connection to the screen is repaired so far and the screen turns on as it is supposed to.  The other issues with this tablet have to do with the entire line of these tablets and I suppose they will be corrected with the newer models, such as a noticable lag time between your command and its response to you, limit to Android apps for word processing and data work and Androids poor response to Blogger, I have to type my text in Blogger on Android, then open the blog in Firefox to add pictures as typing text in Firefox on the tablet results in a jumbled confused mess.  The tablet brand choice was unwise, I fear, but I shall use it until it again fails and reevaluate the market, or perhaps return to a laptop mini.

     At any rate, the week plus near absence has resulted in so many autumn changes.  In the past ten days, the woods have become gold, orange, crimson and plum.  This is a beautiful, albeit brief period before the year's leaves blanket the woods floor, we can see our two nearest neighbor's houses through the barren trees, and we await some winter snow for it's beauty.

     The weather has hovered just above freezing at night, rising to 60's and low 70's daily to allow some late blooming of sunflowers and daisies and the thriving of the peppers and fall greens and brassicas in the garden.

     The pups revel in the weather, romping and chasing without overheating, laying in the sun when it is chilly.  The grass has greened up like spring and this has "Ferdinand," the neighbor's bull making multiple soiries into our yard daily to feed and fertilize.  The fence has yet to be repaired and it isn't our job.  The pups continue to see him as a threat instead of just going about their business and play and leaving him alone.  Fortunately he isn't an agressive bull, just stubborn.  We fear for the pups if they get too close, trying to bark him away, that he might kick out which would probably not end well, so I continue to "out bull" him with the tractor and run him off.  I have learned that if I approach quickly with the engine reved, he bolts before I get to him and if I pursue quickly, he picks up speed and leaves without abusing our trees on the way.

     The tablet absence also allowed me to complete a sweater for our youngest granddaughter who will be visiting from Florida for Thanksgiving and her first birthday, and to get a good start on a hoodie for her almost  6 year old brother as he has spurted up and outgrown last year's sweater from Mommom, and to read 2 books checked out of the library.

     Life is grand in the mountains, and I'm back!!!

Electronically stymied

Our first computer was a Tandy purchased when our children were very young and I was still teaching and "needed" it to create exam question bases.  Of course it was used more by the kids playing Space Quest and other games, but it didn't take long to realize how much it could be used.

As the years passed, there was always a desktop in the house.  Kids used it for school work, by then I was a school counselor and only used one at work as they were installed in our offices and student data bases were added.  Then I started volunteering as an adult leader with the Boy Scouts and one of my duties for a while was treasurer, which involved keeping up with dues and fees for trips.  Working on paper at the meetings, then coming home and putting the into into a data base, first Excel, then Access.  At this point, hubby took pity on me and bought me a laptop for Christmas and I was hooked.

The internet improved, email became common, then social networking, smart phones and finally ebooks.  Like so many others, I was addicted to the electronic age, the lap top was replaced when the first one failed at age 7.  I'm not a big fan of television, never have been in my adult life, but I love to read and getting an e-reader that I could carry with a whole library of books on it was heaven.  My first e-reader met with an untimely end, my laptop was less important as I was retired and one son was in grad school, so the laptop had been passed on to him for school as I could do email and internet searches on my e-reader, so I was lost without it.  We replaced it 14 months ago with a Tablet.  Much research, playing with them at the store, etc., I went with an Android based tablet with a detachable keyboard that made it look like a laptop mini when attached and I began this blog.

At just about a year old, the tablet started having intermittent screen failure and it was returned for warranty repair, only to find the extended warranty we had purchased was not as advertised and it was no longer under warranty.  That was another blog a few weeks back.  Then a bit over a week ago, it ceased taking a charge and wouldn't turn on at all.  Again, I am without, having only my phone to connect to the internet and social networks, and I can not do my blog on it.  The tablet has been with an independent repair guy in town for 4 or 5 work days now and I haven't heard any news or gotten an estimate, so I have been down, blogwise and emotionally.  I read a book and a half on my phone screen trying to get to one in a series I had purchased in paper for our trip to Texas and realized it was 4th in a series.  I finally found books two and three in the library and checked them out.  This morning's blog is being done on hubby's laptop while he is not using it, but I miss my tablet.

If it is unrepairable, I guess a new one will be on my birthday/Christmas wish list, but I think I will change brands.

Mini Vacation

    The weekend has been whirlwind, with a trip to El Paso via Atlanta to a cousin's surprise 60th birthday celebration.  In Atlanta we met up with another cousin, his wife, his son and his wife.  After a delay, but otherwise uneventful flight, we arrived late Friday night, which seemed later due to the 2 hour time differential.
      Saturday morning started the surprise part, when the 6 of us were tasked with showing up at his house and "hijacking"him for about 6 hours while his wife set up for a huge catered outdoor party.  Bob was stunned when his wife opened the door and there we all were.  After touristing around for the required hours, we dropped him off and went to refresh and dress.  His party was huge, food, wine, a band and lots of other surprise, to him, guests.  His wife did well.
     We are again sitting in an airport, delayed, awaiting leg one of our flight home.  It has been a great time, a good change of pace, but home, the dark and quiet will be welcome tonight.

Critters

     This morning as we were leaving the property to go into town for lunch and some doggy socialization, we spotted a small black bear in the three acre woods between our house and our nearest neighbor's house.  The bear was only about 150 lbs and may have overnighted in the culvert that goes under our driveway a few hundred feet from the front ofthe house.  I think that might be the case as Ranger was unusually curious about the smells coming from that culvert when he was out for a morning romp with Shadow.  I have only had one other bear sighting since moving here, when one hauled across the width of the upper part of our land like it was being chased and into those same woods.  We know they are up here, hearing tales of them being seen at Mountain Lake or of one being hunted on an adjacent farm, but we seldom see them.  Typically they are shy and are not seen near the houses unless bird feeders are left outside, and I don't feed the birds here except with berry laden bushes or seed bearing flowers.
     It isn't uncommon to see squirrel, rabbits, deer, turkeys, chipmunks, an occassional groundhog and the seasonal assortment of birds.
     All of these critters, even the field mice, moles and voles that the cats bring home are expected.
     Our property has wire fence nearly all the way around it, much of it very old and not well maintained, but two adjacent farms have cattle and generally the fencing between their land and ours is better maintained, however, one of these farmers is less diligent about this and there must be a branch or small tree down over it now as "Ferdinand," his bull (our name for him) has taken a liking to the grass in our front yard, coming over nearly daily.  I wouldn't mind his assistance at mowing and the fertilizer he leaves behind, except the pups don't care for the intruder so close to the house and charge after him barking.  He doesn't have horns, but he is a huge dude and he isn't frightened by them at all.  We are fearful that one of them may get kicked if they get too close, so every time we are going to let them out, we have to do a bull check first and if he is out there, I have to go get the tractor and run him off, it is the only thing that sends him sauntering back toward his own farm.  He is going over or through a fence, through a deep creek bed and up a steep bank to get on our land, and when run off, he has to stop and show his displeasure by head butting one or more of the cedar trees on the edge of the mowed yard.

Bureaucracy

  I have just spent more than an hour on the phone with a medical bureaucracy trying to get my Prescription drug coverage for Medicare in effect.  I have an advanced college degree and low blood pressure and by the end of the call, I feel I need a prescription to calm down and lower my blood pressure.
The agents with whom you must deal are trained only to read a script and react to the correct answer with the next part of the script.  There is no way around this script, nothing you can say to get them to skip on to the application.
I called, knowing exactly what plan I wanted, how much it costs, and what it covers, I had done my homework.  I was able to tell them up front, that I wasn't eligible for assistance, was healthy, had never lived outside of the country, had not gotten out of an extended care facility or hospital (I had done my homework), but it did no good, they had to go through the script.
My phone was on speaker, so hubby was listening in and when the call finally ended with the agent saying, "Thank you for calling, sweetie," he too was stressed.

Homesteading

Retirement has given me the time to try many new to me, but ancient arts/crafts.  Upon notification that I was to become a grandmother, I dug out some knitting needles and refreshed on a long abandoned art, making baby sweaters, soakers, and shirts, all from organic undyed baby soft wool and cotton.  The next 8 years have allowed me to produce dozens of sweaters from tiny to men's,  half a dozen or so baby blankets, scores of hats and scarves, four Christmas stockings and several pair of socks.  This love of fiber urged me to dig out the sewing machine and make a couple of machine quilted baby blankets and a Christmas stocking.  Though I dearly love quilts and all of our beds are spread with them, making quilts really hasn't grabbed my interest, yet.

  Handling yarn, did interest me in the fibers I was knitting and drove me to investigate spinning, first with a drop spindle and this summer with a newly acquired, but nearly 50 year old spinning wheel and falling in love with another ancient art.
From the time I was a teen, I have loved digging in the dirt, gardening with my Dad, later having anything from a few potted tomatoes to a small city garden at most of our homes.  Here in the mountains, on our 30 acre farm, the garden is substantial and organic and there are a few young fruit trees added to the products we grow.

  This garden, the fruit trees, wild and cultivated berries have gotten me canning, making jelly, pickles and sauces to preserve this garden goodness for the cold non productive winter months.

  Recently, I have toyed with the idea of making soap as well.  Not wanting to get too involved, nor spend too much money until I tried it and saw if I enjoyed it, I purchased only a single mold and a few pounds of a high quality soap base that I could heat, scent with essential oils, dye with natural dyes from tumeric, cinnamon, lavender and a few other spices.  I think I am hooked.  I am about to embark on making my own soap from fats and lye.  Of course, I can  buy good quality homemade soap from the local craft fairs and weekly from the farmer's market, but it is expensive, I don't always care for the available scents and I didn't have a hand in its making.

Back when our children were small, I taught myself to make baskets.  Several of the ones that I made are still used to haul produce in from the garden, to store yarn and to decorate the kitchen area of our log home.  These baskets were all made from reed purchased for caning and basket making or from kits, but with the easy availability of grape and other vines, I have considered refreshing those skills and making a few storage baskets for the root cellar from the vines on our property with the ribs from flexible twigs.
These ancient arts have long appealed to me, along with a few I haven't tried, it is a great feeling and sense of accomplishment to use products from our land and my hands.