Sunday, November 30, 2008

Women and Heart Attacks

Ok, I know this has been posted about once a year, but I do think it is important to re-read this frequently:


I don't happen to care if Snopes says it is legit or not!! It is most important to be aware that any changes that are unexpected be taken care of, immediately!!
just checked this out with Snopes and it is legit...have those aspirin handy too.




FEMALE HEART ATTACKS

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the best description I've ever read.

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that women rarely have the same dramatic
symptoms that men have when experiencing heart attack ...you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies. Here is the story of one woman's experience with a heart attack.

'I had a heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might've brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, 'A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you've swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation---the only trouble was that I hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR).

This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. 'AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening -- we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I think I'm having a heart attack!

I lowered the footrest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else ... but, on the other hand, if I don't, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics ... I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like 'Have you taken any medications?') but I couldn't make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open my right coronary artery.

'I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents.

'Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.'

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body not the usual men's symptoms but
inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more
women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and
commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed,
hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up ... which doesn't happen. My female friends,
your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a 'false alarm' visitation than to
risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said 'Call the Paramedics.' And if you can take an asprin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER – you are a hazard to others on the road.
Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.
Do NOT call your doctor -- he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

3.Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there.
Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know,the better chance we could survive.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save
at least one life. **Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends (male & female) you care about!**

Friday, November 21, 2008

Spittin an Sinnin

 


Decorating the fireplace wall in my house is a most interesting thing to do. All freshly spun wool yarns are hanging up there now. I am getting ready for the Christmas Faires and Festivals. Surely there will be someone who wants a little yarn now just before Christmas to make some small last minute goodies.
Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 13, 2008

DEREGULATION DID NOT CAUSE THIS PROBLEM!

A friend sent this and it is a bit scarey. It is a long video so be patient while it loads:


"Subject: FW: How did this mess happen?




It moves really fast, but very interesting!


Be ready to hit pause because this goes fast….but it shows the REAL cause of the housing crisis and WHO caused it. Please forward this to as many people as you can.






PLEASE watch this video – I believe the basic facts are true and correct and , unfortunately , the people getting blamed for this economic mess are not doing an effective job of answering the baseless claims against them.
DEREGULATION DID NOT CAUSE THIS PROBLEM!
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=themouthpeace&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_994846

Click the title at the top to watch the video or copy and paste.

I believe all of you will vote thoughtfully and I appreciate that – whomever you vote for – but, before you make your final decision – please consider some of the facts put forth in this video!"

Sunday, October 12, 2008

blatant advertising of a lunch place

This is blatant advertising for some new friends. Bill and Beverly Strauser bought the Dolan House in Lincoln, New Mexico and achieved Betty (Pfingsten) Schrekenghost's dream of making it into a lovely sandwich and tea shoppe. The Dolan House is open daily except Wednesdays.

The Dolan House was built in 1883 by James J. Dolan while working with L. G. Murphy & Co in Lincoln, New Mexico.

This is a beautiful house and I am really glad it has people in it now with the wherewithall to restore it and to make it into the type place one can go for a lovely luncheon with friends and also to plan a tea party.

Tea parties are by reservation only and are held in Caroline's Parlour.

Breakfast is served daily except Wednesday. Hot oarmeal with biscuit, brown sugar and raisins, two biscuits and gravy, two biscuits with jelly, Belgian Waffles, a cup of fruit, or a bowl of cold cereal. Caroline Dolan's Favorite is a special breakfast entree.

Lunch is L.G. Murphy's soup of the day, Dolan's Sandwich of the day, Homemade Red Chili with tortillas, PB&J sandwich with chips, Polish Dog, Coleslaw & chips, or toasted cheese Sandwich and chips.

Desserts offered include hand scooped ice cream, topped with chocolate or caramel syrup, Root Beer float, Maria Dolan's CheeseCake with chocolate or Raspberry topping, or Sheriff Brady's Favorite cake (chocolate).

For drinks they offer fresh hot and Iced coffee, Iced and hot teas, herbal tea, fresh milk, orange or apple juice and a variety of sodas.

This past Saturday the Dolan's Sandwich assortments were chicken salad and hot pastrami on rye. This was served with coleslaw and chips. It was delicious.

Contact the Dolan House at 575-653-4670 and by email at dolansoutpost at yahoo.com

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Apple Picking Time...

CAN YOU GET 50% IN THE PAIL......................
THIS ONE WILL DRIVE YOU NUTS!!


Click the title to go to the game.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

CHOCOLATE CAKE IN A MUG

Found this very interesting recipe in my email. Sure is good! Sure is fast! Don't necessarily have to share either!!!

MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour (that's plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well . Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)
Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Oh, the Internet is Born

Click title for a cool video on how the internet was born. It is a good giggle, so don't bother looking for a reference to it on Snopes.com It won't be listed there and if it is, oh, well! Snopes doesn't have the goods on everything.

We leave in the morning to Albuquerque for the New Mexico State Fair. Will set up the shearing pens for the long running, nearly 40 years, Sheep to Shawl exhibit and demonstrations by the New Mexico WoolGrowers, Inc. and the Las Aranas Spinners and Weavers Guild.

The fair opens on Friday with all the Junior Livestock Show people coming in. That is a good circus to sit and watch every year. 4-H and FFA members from all over the state coming to see who can show the best animals. They are all really good kids and we never have "police incidents" on our end of the fairgrounds. I have seen most of the current Advisors and Extension Agents grow up this same way, here at the Fairgrounds showing their stock.

Saturday we have to get to the grounds no later than 7AM as the streets close to traffic for the big Parade.

We will talk to people about sheep, wool, spinning and weaving for eighteen days. Then we will all come home and be happy without talking for a few months.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Sheep to Shawl at New Mexico State Fair in the Ag Expo Grounds in Albuquerque!

Sheep to Shawl at New Mexico State Fair in the Ag Expo Grounds in Albuquerque!

Public Address systems are necessary when you have about 5 or 6 school classes and their attendant parents and teachers all piled up around the shearing pen which is 8 feet to the side. We always have the kids stacked just as deep as they can maybe see. I try hard to get the little ones to the front and have them sit in the grass, the next batch on knees and then the bit taller ones toward the back with adults at the outside ring. Have to out yell them so for me when I give the shearing talk, I just get some "mic feedback" to get their attention so I don't have to tell them to "HUSH, I am talking now!"

I have to spend the entire month of August getting my mind ready for these things. You cannot mention God or the Lord at all ever during these things. You cannot even say "damn" and darn just doesn't quite cut it either!! so I have to return to the curse language my son taught the little kids when he was a teacher's assistant. skiddlywhichatit or something like that. Any way something nonsensical!! It impresses the kids and they learn new language skills from adults, so why not give them a word they can use that gets smiles from their parents and teachers.

The demonstrations of shearing, spinning and weaving have been going on at the State Fair for about the past 40 years. I have been a part of it for 20 and co chair of the WoolGrowers committee for the past 15. Lloyd is the other co chair on the Shearing Demos and Mercedes Perez Cravens is the cochair and contact for the Weavers Guild. We are all WoolGrowers trying to interact with Las Aranas (the spiders) Spinning and Weaving Guild based in Albuquerque whose members are mostly town people 3 generations from the farms.

Nearly the whole month of September is devoted to the State Fair in New Mexico. The first half is the Youth Livestock Shows. There are only about 5000 4-H and FFA members dashing about with their feed buckets and show supplies. I know most of the 4-H agents and most of the FFA advisors from when my kids and they were all competing for the prizes at the fair. It is a huge hugg fest for me. I am the meeting place for anyone in these groups. It is called "Mrs Maness will take and pass messages and be responsible for any problems you may have no matter what they are!" "Meet me at the Shearing Pens at whatever hour" etc.

The second half of the fair is devoted to the Open Livestock Shows. There are some Junior peoples, under 18, who show Open Classes. But the frantic activity is gone this week. It is more the "professional" show people. And NO PIGS!!!! this part of the fair!

One of the more stupid questions I get during the second half of the fair is "Where are the Pigs?" Pig show is a Junior Livestock thing! It is not an Open Class thing. Pig show is terminal!! Meaning if the pig doesn't go home with the kid it is at the butcher or on the way there!

I serve as a double duty person at the Sheep to Shawl exhibit and demonstration! As a spinner or weaver I can sit at any wheel or loom on display and work and explain the workings of the machinery and how we get our clothing. I am also the WoolGrower on duty all day every day. I serve here as the "shop girl" who is knowlegable about the care and feeding of sheepskin pelts! I can also demonstrate the drop spindles and get people to buy them. Anything else anyone wants to know about the care of the woolen garments the demonstrators have for sale is known by me!! I do not ever touch the cash register! that thing is a booger, all computerized and messes up very easily!!

There must be a member of NM WoolGrowers on duty at all times that the shop is open. To be allowed to sell items in the shop a person must have made it themselves, spend at least 12 hours demonstrating the crafts, and be a member of either Las Aranas or NMWoolGrowers. Las Aranas chairman sets up the schedules and each shift is about 4 hours for the guild members. I really need more volunteers to be WoolGrower on duty, but cannot get people to commit to it. They will sign up then come saying "My child is showing in about half an hour, can you cover for me?" and they forget to come back and give me some relief.

Ok, Now back out to the Shearing Pens on the front lawn in front of the Livestock Pavilion or more familiarly known, the Dairy Barn!! We have people in Albuquerque area who have small flocks of sheep and don't mind having them shorn in the fall. Some of these sheep are the Churros who require shearing twice a year. We do one sheep every hour usually about a quarter till the hour. Pat Melendrez shears the sheep, Lloyd or someone talks about the shearing, history of sheep, history of sheep industry especially in New Mexico, and how the shearing is done on Ranches. We must get over the children who are on a field trip holiday from the classrooms, so the PA System works very well to out yell them.

Pat uses the new Heinigar Shearing motor which is a heck of a lot quieter than the old motors so it can actually be talked over! But is still much easier to use the microphone and be heard easily by the crowds. It also draws people when they hear the motor turn on and Lloyd say "Welcome to the Sheep to Shawl Shearing Demonstrations brought to you by Las Aranas Spinners and Weavers Guild and the New Mexico WoolGrowers Inc. Our shearer for today is Pat Melendrez from Las Vegas New Mexico, the sheep being shorn are Navajo Churro belonging to Dr.Barbara Miricle of Algodonez, New Mexico."

The shearing demo lasts about 5 minutes, then we have 10 minutes for questions then shoo all the kids in the building to Cody Lightfoot and the Milking Demonstration! When Cody gets through with his little 5 minutes of milking demonstration he has questions then heads the people across the hall to the Carding, Dying Spinning, Weaving, and Exotic Use demonstrations.

The dye pots are all Natural Plant material dyes. Some of the dyes are quite toxic to those with breathing problems, but we only use the most non toxic mordants and plants we can and still come up with some gorgeous yarns.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Are All Tech Supports Total Idiots

A couple of weeks ago I had a problem with my IP and called tech support. The person who answered the phone barely spoke English and I think assumed anyone calling Tech Support was an imbecile.

She spoke very slowly and told me to do all the things I had already done to try to get online. Ok, fine, this is the third time that morning I had tried to run this systems check. Then she said, Ok, now do it again, but first turn off your Virus Program, the firewall, and all other check services that protect your computer. I said HUH?? those are supposed to protect my computer from getting a nasty bug that causes it to fry it's gizzard!!

She repeated to turn off these services. Ok. I did it, then we ran through the systems check again, Unplug the DSL, UNplug the power line to the DSL. turn off the computer. Ok, I did all this. Then she said "I cannot see your computer on my computer, are you sure you turned off the virus check and the firewall? Of course, she couldn't see my computer!! It was unplugged from the DSL and the power to the DSL was also unplugged. What did she think was going to happen when I unplugged???

It turned out not to be a problem within my house on the DSL line. It was out on the phone line somewhere. A broken connection that was getting damp and shutting down. It is doing it again this month. So I am thinking there is another short in the cable somewhere and I will not be calling the Tech Support, I will be calling the phone company from my cell phone and complaining about a problem with my land line.

Today our Satelite went nutz! We have menu service and sound, but no video. So like a bunch of dummies, after we had run through the systems checks, and unplugged the system to allow it to reset its little computer brain, we called Tech Support! Again we get one of those peoples who can barely speak English but this one had a speed problem. She talked way too fast for anyone not speaking her accent to catch what she was saying.

We again went through the systems check with her telling us what to do. But we still have no video on the TV. She is Fed Exing something or other to us which will probably get here sometime after the first of September when we are gone from the ranch for around two months and could care less if we have video on the set or not.

I am not at all sure I will be calling either of those Tech Support locations again. If Tech Support wouldn't treat everyone as if they had the brain cells of an amoeba and the memory of a hydro, then maybe we could get some electronics working.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

School Has Started

School has started here in my corner of the world. The small people get on the big yellow buses and we as parents and grandparents think they are safe going to and coming home from the school. But, and this is a huge BUT!, they are not safe at all.

My sister owns and drives an 18 passenger bus. On this size bus everyone is required to wear a seatbelt. My daughter drives for a huge city bus company. She drives an 80 passenger bus. Only the driver of these monstrosities is required to be seatbelted.

One of the buses in the line my daughter drives for got hit in the ribs last spring. Children were thrown all over the bus, mostly because they were not confined by the seatbelts. Their injuries and the ambulances required to haul them to the hospital for treatment of bruises and scrapes need not have happened. The driver of this bus, an older gentleman, suffered a heart attack and can no longer drive.

One of the reasons this accident happened is planting or failure to prune bushes planted too close to an intersection. The bus driver could not see the oncoming pickup truck. The truck driver slammed on his brakes but it was far too late to prevent him from hitting the bus in the middle. He, too, suffered a heart attack from the accident.

When you see these buses, they are big and yellow, think about safety of the small people in them. Slow down, if the caution lights are on, slow even more. If the stop lights are on, DO NOT PASS them. Stop until all the small people are across the road or street. There is a reason for having caution lights and stop lights on buses. It is the safety of our children.

Someone asked why the tops of most of the new buses are not yellow but white. There are numerous reasons including it absorbs less heat. But the main reason is the reflection of light off this huge yellow and white object might help people to slow down and not hit the big yellow school bus!

Use extreme caution when there is a school bus in the vicinity or you are in the vicinity of a school zone. We want our children to be safe traveling to and from school and while they are there.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Congressional Energy Bill

watch this youtube video on the new Congressional Energy Bill as seen by one of our neighbors Representative Ted Poe of the 2nd District Texas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg

I quite agree with Rep. Poe on how far is congress going to go micromanaging our lives.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Inn of the Mountain Gods

View down the fairway at the golf course at the Inn of the Mountain Gods


Grandson hitting his ball in front of the Inn of the Mountain Gods



The Inn of the Mountain Gods is a Casino and Hotel complex on the Mescalero Apache Reservation to the west of Ruidoso, New Mexico. It is just glorious up there. I cannot praise the high level of service of the staff at the Inn nor the food service for the convention highly enough. It was outstanding!!!



Grandson was on the winning team for New Mexico CattleGrowers and WoolGrowers Golf Classic Tournament. A really excited little boy when he called me last night to report how the team did. This is his second year playing in this tournament and the second year he has been on the winning team. I am so pleased that he likes playing golf, it is a good sport, good exercise, and he is a valued member of the First Tee of Pecos Valley.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

beat high fuel prices this summer

My best advice is to stay home!! Don't go doing any long distance driving especially with five dollar per gallon diesel prices in the southwest!

Go to the Army/Navy Surplus store and get a hammock or two, a simple charcoal grill and a couple of ice chests. Make one trip every couple of days to the Dollar Store to restock cold drinks, charcoal sack and starter fluid, and then to the grocery store for more grill stuff and ice.

Turn off the AirConditioning system and stay out of the house til mid October. You can live in swim suits for that long. Just hose them off every once in a while. It helps if you are in them when you do hose them off.

You can get the pre cubed meats and pre chopped veggies and thread them onto bamboo skewers. It only takes a couple of minutes to cook these things fairly well done. Get really creative and thread fruits, veggies, and interesting meats all on the same skewer. Watch closely and remove when tomato wants to fall off.

This way you are cheating the OPEC nations of their sky high oil prices. You are not driving your vehicle more than maybe five miles to the store then back. You are not cooling your house!

Try some shrimp, pineapple cubes, bell peppers, and pearl onions on a skewer. I think you will be surprised at the flavors here. Two foot long skewers should be enough for one person. Meat cubes, celery, pearl onion, and bell pepper are traditional. Try a pineapple chunk next to a pork chunk, Life gets really interesting. You can or not marinade the meats. I like them just sprinkled with a little lemon pepper and salt best.

Just don't go back in that overly hot house!!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Today's Rant

Click to Mix and Solve

Walk in the crosswalks, do not J-walk! it can get you a ticket or in jail or the hospital most places.

Don't think you can get anything for free either!! Education is not available to everyone. You can only get 125 free credit hours, then you cannot even get a student loan!! It does not matter if you are an exemplary student or not. Go after the Scholarships now!!! get as many as possible lined up before applying for any aid at all for furthering your education.

A couple of years of college or University education will only get you as far as if you hadn't even bothered. You can go flip hamburgers in as many places per day as you have energy to do.

The various States lotteries don't help a bit either. That is just a sham to get people to go to the first year of college or University. Then they are cut off, like permanently. It just makes people hungry for more education but cannot afford it at minimum wage jobs.

Do not believe any of the Financial Officers of the various schools when they tell you "you can do this!", "it is totally covered as long as you keep your GPA over 3.5!" Do not believe anything those lying people say to you about financial affairs.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Red, White and Blue Cheesecake

Red, White and Blue Cheesecake

1/4 cup dry bran cereal crumbs
3 pkgs. (8oz) fat-free cream chesse at room temperature
1 Cup Confectioner's sugar
3 egg whites + 1 egg, separated
3/4 cup fat-free plain yoguart
1 Tbs + 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp. grated limon peel
1 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4 cp Blueberries
1 Pint medium strawberries, trimmed to uniform size


1. Arrage a rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325F. Coat the bottom and side of a 9" springform pan with vegetable oil spray. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the pan bottom. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and sugar. On medium speed, beat until smooth. (If lumps remain, use a spatula to smooth them before proceeding.) Reduce the speed to low, adding the egg whites and egg, one at a time, as you continue to mix. Add the yogurt, vanilla and lemon peel. Mix to incorporate, being careful not to overbeat. Add the cornstarch and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the reserved pan.

3. Bake for 40 to 45 min. or until the top is well set, but the center is still slightly soft and the edge is light golden brown.

4. Remove the pan from the oven. Run a butter knife around the inner edge, but do not remove the pan side. Let stand to cool for 30 min. before refrigerating. Chill at least 4 hours before serving.

5. Remove the pan side. With the berries, decorate the cake to resemble a flag: Place the blueberries in the upper left, and then arrange the strawberries in horizontal rows to cover the remainder of the cake. Cut and serve.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

American Disabilities Act non functional

I just got a note from a friend telling of one of her friends who was fired from Wal Mart for checking his glucose levels and asking for time to get his meals or snacks in a timely manner in order to maintain good Diabetes glucose control.

He was fired for trying to take care of his health while working to pay his bills!!

http://www.diabetes.org/for-media/pr-ada-urges-congress-pass-legislation-to-end-discrimination-111507.jsp

It seems like the Disabilities act doesn't have any teeth and the courts will not allow for fair hearings.

But Wal Mart is to blame too! They are the "family friendly" employer. They are supposedly an equal employement business. Well, guess what? They fire a guy for doing his job and attempting to take care of his health? All he asked for was breaks every 3 hours to check his glucose and to have a snack.

I had heard from others that they didn't get time to take coffee breaks or lunch breaks, but hadn't thought this happened any more. I thought OSHA had put an end to sweat shops!! Boy was I wrong!! I have not talked to many Wal Mart Associates who get coffee breaks or even lunch breaks. These people are expected to work straight through an 8 hour shift on their feet the entire time. ?????

I recommend we hurt Wal Mart by not shopping there!! I know there will be some expense with this, but we had other places to shop before Wal Mart came into our lives. We may have to pay a bit more for some things elsewhere, but we can and should avoid shopping or patronizing a business that doesn't play by the rules.

Write your congressmen and include the link above about this problem. We can threaten to vote for another person in November if our congressional people won't fix this problem.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Traditional Memorial Day

Click to Mix and Solve

Our grandmothers called it Decoration Day. This was the day we went out into their gardens and plucked every single bloom there, put them into wet newspapers in the car and drove to the local cemetery to "decorate" the graves of those gone before us.

To my grandmothers this was not a day for parades and picnics, but a day for honoring all the dead! They would lecture us on how this one was related to us or what this person did for the community.

I remember at Lake Valley, NM the "chinaman's grave"! It was outside the cemetery proper. Meaning it was outside the barbed wire fence keeping the cattle out of the cemetery. This gentleman had a cafe in Hillsboro for a long time. If I remember right he had one in the town of Lake Valley before half the town burned down and he moved to Hillsboro to the north.

The gate to the cemetery looked very similar to the one in the jigzone puzzle. The sky was always that blue, and usually that cloudless.

A very good "Decoration Day" to all of you!

Friday, May 30, 2008

Goat Events!

Granddaughter got her goats day before yesterday. The gentleman who raises these goats sells them on contract to 4-H members for $1 each with the understanding and signed contract that if they make the county sale at the fair they will pay him $200 for the prize winning goat. She got three of them.

My dogs have seen llamas, crias, cows, calves, sheep and lambs and even lambs in the house! But they have never seen anything that looks and smells like the goat kids. They wanted to bark at them! When the dogs barked at the goats, the goats jumped over the four foot high pen we had them in. Three goats can go three different directions really fast! Lambs just run in a bunch!! Crias and their llama mamas stomp back at the dogs.

So we had the new goat chase on yesterday morning!! We tied a poly tarp over the goat pen so maybe we could keep them in for a few days until Evalyn and the kids got well acquainted. The kids need to learn what the feed bucket sounds like!.

Goats gathered back up and put back in the barn in the pen, we fixed lunch. Trini who lives in the bunkhouse called and asked why the goats were standing at the yard gate and where was Evalyn?? The kids had found a small enough space to crawl out from under the tarp.

This morning the goats got their first baths!! That was most interesting. They didn't like the cold water! They didn't want to stand still! Evalyn ended up having to tie the feet of each of the goats to bathe it. Then she wanted to do the dogs!!

We will get pictures of the goats tomorrow!

Monday, May 26, 2008

new audio book: No Idle Hands

Knitting Out Loud Announces Release of No Idle Hands


Stockton Springs, Maine, April 7, 2008: Publisher Kathy Goldner announced today the release of Knitting Out Loud's sixth audiobook No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by Anne L. Macdonald, read by Kymberly Dakin.
Quoting from diaries, letters and personal reminiscence, No Idle Hands traces the social history of knitting in the United States beginning with the Colonial period. Included are stories of women who risked their lives to bring hand-knit socks and clothing to freezing soldiers at Valley Forge, women who knit in covered wagons traveling West, women who knit socks for freed slaves after the Civil War, and shell-shocked men who used knitting to save their sanity in hospitals during both World Wars.


"This is an exciting book," says Kathy Goldner, "a social history full of first-hand accounts of women, and sometimes men, knitting through very intense periods of our history. It's inspiring, and Kymberly Dakin does a superb job of bringing the stories to life."

Author Anne L. Macdonald, former head of the History Department at the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., also wrote Feminine Ingenuity: Women and Invention in America (1994) and Perrot: The Story of a Library (2006).

Narrator Kymberly Dakin won the 2006 Audie Award for her narration of Alice Munro's Runaway. She narrated KOL's Knitting Memories.

No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting by Anne L. Macdonald read by Kymberly Dakin. Abridged, 4 CDs, 4 hours 46 minutes, $29.95.
ISBN 978-0-9796073-3-2

For review copies or more information contact Kathy Goldner at info@knittingoutloud.com or toll-free 1-877-567-3950.

This spring Knitting Out Loud will release KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects From Knitting's NewWave by Sabrina Gschwandtner read by the author, and Knitting Lessons: Tales From the Knitting Path by Lela Nargi read by Julia Olson.

Knitting Out Loud's previous five audiobooks are America Knits by Melanie Falick read by Christine Marshall, The Art of Fair Isle Knitting by Ann Feitelson read by Melissa Hughes, The History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt read by Melissa Hughes, Knitting Memories: Reflections on the Knitter's Life edited by Lela Nargi read by Kymberly Dakin and Stitch 'n Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook by Debbie Stoller read by the author.

Knitting Out Loud is an audiobook company specializing in knitting literature: knitting essays, interviews and histories of knitting. KOL audiobooks are available online at http:..www.knittingoutloud.com http://www.interweave.com/books http://www.amazon.com and http://www.audible.com. They are available at local yarn shops and bookstores and through Playaway. KOL audiobooks are distributed by Interweave Press.

For more information contact:

Kathy Goldner, Publisher
Knitting Out Loud
111 Middle Street
Stockton Springs, Maine 04981
Toll-free 1-877-567-3950

Monday, May 12, 2008

I like JigZone puzzles

Click to Mix and Solve

this is a really cool website. You can even upload your own pictures and make them into jigsaw puzzles here.

Sunday, April 20, 2008



My friend Bob lost his battle with prostate cancer yesterday. A more gentle man is hard to find. He had a zest for life, a true Christian, and a belief that people are good that is hard to find as well.



My heart goes out to his family and his other friends. We shall miss this gentle man a great deal.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Navajo TearDrops Afghan



this is an afghan my mother made and actually kept. Most of her afghans were given as gifts to friends and relatives. This is the Navajo TearDrops pattern. Very easy to make. It is just crocheted across and cut off leaving fringe on each side.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Shearing Barn Cleaning

One of my greatest challenges every year is barn prep for shearing. We have had a commercial flock of mostly Rambouillet sheep for nearly fifty years here at my ranch. My grandfather traded some purebred Hereford cows to a neighbor for his first flock of sheep.

Now we’ve all heard the stories about how the old Cowboys hated the old Sheepherders! My grandfather was no exception to being the “Old Cowboy”. At age 13 he was hired with another boy to trail a herd of horses from Dalhart, Texas to Corona, New Mexico. They were in charge of about two hundred fifty head of horses! We don’t even let our thirteen year old boys out of the yard now, let alone charge them with getting a herd horses across about three hundred miles without an adult along. He was put in charge of a “line camp” on the ranch to which he brought the horses. He was charged with keeping those sheepherders away from the waters and off the grass.

Since he bought the flock of sheep in the early 1950s, he had to build a “shearing barn” that would work for other things during the rest of the year. A barn is necessary to keep the floors a bit cleaner here in the desert southwest. It keeps the spring winds out of the freshly sheared wool.

The floor in the barn, at that time, was portable being made like pallets. Each of these pallets was eight foot long by one foot wide boards with narrower boards nailed underneath, and with inch gaps between. This was for the trash to fall through but not the sheep or shearers. It worked well for years. My dad decided to pour a concrete floor to make it easier to work on the trucks and other equipment. This makes for oil spills and other sins.

Every spring we have a barn cleaning party. Anything not shearing or sheep related must be removed from the barn. This includes snowmobiles, ATVs, tool chests, welding equipment, dirt, oil spills, blown in vegetable matter. When we get through with the barn party the barn is cleaner than my kitchen. In order to keep the wool in as near to pristine condition, it must be sheared in a clean barn. And the barn must remain in a clean condition all during the shearing operation.

Oil spills are first blotted up with kitty litter, a concrete detergent used to scrub the floor, and a very thorough rinsing.

Things like rocks, cigarette butts and soda cans are strictly forbidden on the shearing floor. My floor boss is in charge of keeping all trash off the floor. This person is given a push broom and a lawn rake. They sweep the area immediately after a sheep is let loose and the fleece is picked up. Prevention of contamination being the operative word for the floor boss. During lunch hour, the floor boss gets to sweep the floor completely and rake the area where the sheep are kept, off the edge of the concrete. Then at the end of the day this process happens all over again.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Raising Dogie Lambs

What is a dogie? it is an animal who has lost its mother for one reason or another. In the case of sheep, Rambouillet Ewes usually have twins and in our dry desert southwest, they will forget they have two babies and leave one asleep at the feed bunkers or waters. I pick these babies up and try to raise them on the bottle.

Ewe milk is about twice as butter fat content as cows milk. So just feeding them a regular dairy suppliment milk is not an option, neither is giving them regular powdered milk. They have to have a special formulated milk.

Another problem with raising lambs on a bottle is that sheep are born with the notion that they will die and when they do there is nothing that a shepard can do to prevent it.

I have a little tightly enclosed pen out by the bunkhouse with one of those large dog igloo dog houses in it. I put trash wool in the bottom and change it out about once a week. The other day the gent who lives in the bunkhouse decided that the bottom needed to be off the dog igloo. He cleaned the thing out and instead of putting more wool in it and putting the top back on, he just sat the top half on the ground.

This morning the three babies we had in there were frozen!! It got much too cold last night for them to survive that way. It is fine not to have the bedding and bottom on the dog igloo in May!! But in March we are still likely to have zero degrees nights.

I am so aggravated this morning because we had those babies going very well until he decided he knew best how to shepard them. Sometimes it seems to me that the men on and around this ranch have absolutely no common sense.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Disaster Happens

Some of the more fun things in my life are getting demonstrations of my crafts set up at fairs, faires, and festivals. Most of the time things go very well and we have no trouble at all. But then again, once in a while Disaster strikes!!

We have been setting an information booth up at the New Mexico Ag Expo for about 11 of the 13 years this event has been happening. One year I had to cancel due to a death in the family. Most years the weather in February is atrocious! But this is what is needed to bring active farmers to the festivities! It is too cold to work in the barns and too nasty to plow, so they and their wives come to the Ag Expo.

This year started out promising!! The wind was blowing at around 50 miles per hour across the plains and creating the look of the Dust Bowl Era. But things went downhill from there very rapidly. The wind settled, the temperatures hit the 70s, but that wasn't the Disaster!!

As I was getting the spinning wheels and woven and crocheted things out of the truck, my husband was going to pull my tables out of the trailer. I still have no clue what happened back there. When I came back out of the building he was laying on the gravel drive area, half under the trailer on his back. He had a sort of glazed look to his eyes! He answered all the questions as if he were with us!! How many fingers am I holding up? Can you raise your arm? Can you smile at me? What happened?

We let him stand up and then sit in a chair I pulled out of the trailer. He flatly refused medical help and refused to let me take him to the hospital ER as well! I finished setting up my display and came back to the truck. I moved the truck and trailer to the back of the building to unhook the trailer. His right eye became increasingly bloodshot and was turning black around it. But he fell backward out of the trailer? Maybe he hit something I can't see.

I should have ignored him and taken him to the ER then!! But no, I let him have his way. Our granddaughter came later in the evening to take us to dinner. He didn't want to go, said his head hurt too much to think of eating, but did drink one of those Fuze drinks. It promptly made him sick to his stomach. Still, I didn't insist that he go to the hospital.

I left him in the motel the next day, worrying about him all the time I was away. Granddaughter went back over and checked on him several times. That night he still wasn't in the mood to eat but did conceed that he might have a concussion.

The next day he went with me to the Expo and mostly sat in the corner of the display booth quietly. I took everything apart that night and loaded it and we came home. The next morning he decided he definately needed to see the doctor. So I took him to the ER. The CT scan showed that he did have bleeding on the brain, and the ER doc gave him a very bad time for not appearing in an ER sooner.

Hey, girls!! Don't let your hardheaded guy get away with this!! They suffer much too loudly!! They won't suffer any more or less by being taken to the ER immediately, but you can worry less.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Southwest Fiber Festival - Arizona

'Southwest Fiber Festival Announces Plans'

Late in 2007 a group of 'area fiber people' thought this area was long overdue for a true fiber festival. You know the kind, we've all visited at least one or twice during our fiber journey. The scene…….. oodles of vendors, booths overflowing with hand-dyed roving and yarns, fleece fresh from the sheep, beautiful wood drop spindles lathe turned by a master and perhaps the unexpected artist selling the perfect hand felted vessels.

Next, on to the barns……….a myriad of sheep, goats, rabbit, llamas and alpaca. How interesting to meet the animals that provide the fiber for our passion. The aroma from the stalls become hypnotic and we envision ourselves one day owning 'just a few' animals for our very own fiber stash!

Well, we can dream and until those dreams become reality there are plenty of opportunities in the fabulous Southwest to meet our fiber needs!

To that end, those crazy fiber people; ranchers, fiber artist and purveyors, decided to create their own fiber festival!

They're gearing up; enticing vendors, ranchers and fiber artist from around the Southwest to Amado, Arizona, a lovely little spot south of Tucson. Come and join them for the 1st annual Southwest Fiber Festival, Saturday October 25th, 2008. Revel in the fiber, take a class, smell a sheep!

Visit www.southwestfiberfestival.com for all the latest information. We are currently seeking; vendors, teachers and participants. We will have space for area guilds to host a booth; great for demonstrating, handing out literature and showing examples of guild interests.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

CactusPatch Peace

Daylight at the CactusPatch is usually as glorious as sunset. Roadrunner sitting on pillar on the patio
Bitsy, Lab/G. PyraneeseX, having supper in the weavery.

Some days are more peaceful than others. The salmon sunrise did indeed turn into a nightmare afternoon with the patio furniture being rearranged by Mother Nature. A few days later it snowed about an inch. The roadrunner brought me her offering then fluffed up on the pillar to wait for the sun to come out.

Bitsy feels like one of those really fluffy plush toys! Her fur is so soft and thick. Here she is about 3 months old. Growing like the proverbial bad weed, she will be a good guard for my front door.
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Friday, February 15, 2008

Washing Garments, Yarns, and Fibers

I am asked over and over, How do you wash wool garments? When do you wash your spinning fiber? What should I do to wash the wool? There are several good answers to this. Wash wool in a mild detergent, with no chlorine bleach, in comfortable water, with absolutely no agitation. The other answer is to fill your washer with water to the desired depth, add a little detergent, with no chlorine bleach, toss in the wool, let it soak, spin it out and repeat. Those are the easy answers.

Now for the harder part: What kind of detergent? This depends on your budget. There are a lot of good wool washing products on the market and some are scented with lovely herbals to repel moths. You can also use your regular laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent or my favorite the same shampoo you use on your hair! When using either laundry detergent or dishwashing detergent, make sure by reading the label that it contains absolutely no chlorine bleach. There are a few brands out now that do contain bleach and this weakens and destroys animal fibers. The chlorine in your water is not strong enough by itself to do much damage. It would be far better to use non-chlorinated water, but most of us have no choice in that matter. Your hair shampoo is made to be mild to animal fibers. After all, isn’t your hair an animal fiber? It works very well to clean any type of animal fiber, wool, alpaca, vicuna, camel, llama, dog, cat, human, mohair, angora, anything that grows a long enough fiber that can be spun.

I use water of a very comfortable temperature. If you can put your hands in it comfortably it won’t shock the fiber. To heck with the idea of cold water. That hurts my hands, so I expect it will hurt the fibers as will hot water except in a few instances. Baby bath water is just such a lovely temperature. Add a cap full or about a teaspoon of shampoo or detergent to the water, swirl it around a bit to blend well. Toss the fiber or garment on top and let it soak for about fifteen minutes. This will remove most of the dirt without removing the spinning oils or the natural oils such as lanolin. Squeeze out most of the water. Remove the fiber or garment to a towel or another bowl. Empty the dirty soapy water. If needed repeat this washing as many times as needed until the water is no longer dirty.

Rinse with comfortable, baby bath, water the same way. Never run water over a fiber garment. This has a tendency to felt the thing. Rinse as many times as needed to get all the shampoo or detergent out of the fibers. Final rinse, use your hair conditioner. It is made to control the static. Put a capful or about a teaspoon of conditioner in the water as it is running into the bowl. Swish it around a bit to blend so there are no clumps of conditioner. Squeeze the water from the garment or fibers.

When you have squeezed as much water as possible without actually wringing the fibers, roll the fibers in a large Turkish bath towel. Now you can wring the towel with the fibers safely encased in it. Do this about twice using a dry towel for each roll up.

Spread unspun fibers out on a nylon screen to dry. Hang yarn, colors in the shade, to dry. Spread garments out on the back guest bed on a plastic table cloth covered with a couple of Turkish towels. Stretch the garments to match the drawings you made of them before washing. Turn these over daily until dry.

Store all animal fiber garments, yarns, and fibers with aromatic herbs and/or cedar chips. Do not let the cedar chips touch directly the fibers. The fibers will absorb the oil in the chips and probably get discolored. For aromatic herbs, I like lavender, cloves, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sage leaves. Most work as long as they are strong smelling and you like the smell of them. Moths don’t like them. NEVER store a dirty garment, yarn or fibers. They attract the nastiest of critters.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

As a jr teen I asked to take over the chuck wagon, camps and kitchens. I was about 12, not really old enough to drive the trucks that held the chuck wagons, but on a ranch on ranch roads, who cared. There was nobody gonna run me over out there in the back 50 of a 200 section high mountain ranch.

Girls being girls, I didn't want to ride one week. I asked my mother if I couldn't just stay in the kitchen and get lunch ready and she could go with the rest of the crew. She really hated being tied to the kitchen when there were horses, cattle, and no telephone!

She said yes. She gave me specific instructions on when each part of lunch was to be started, the recipes for things I hadn't made yet, and left. Mostly with several misgivings I'm sure.

Menu for that day and every one like it ever since, hasn't changed a bit, was: Roast beef/potatoes, gravy, green enchilada casserole, frijoles, tossed green salad, green beans, the can of peas!, corn, frosted cake, ice tea, coffee, bread and butter.

I found out in a big hurry that absolutely no one even my grandfather or father ever cussed the cook!!! No matter what happened, the cook never, ever got cussed, kicked like a dog, or even spoken to in a not so nice manner. That made me the only person on two ranches that absolutely could do no wrong as long as I was in the kitchen!! Everyone said Please and Thank You!

Neat, nice and I liked that treatment much better than being "one of the boys"! I kept the job for the next 10 years! I got hired to cook for the neighbors brandings. All the best cooks in the 6 county area gave me their hints and recipes!

The only time one of the cowboys gave me any grief was when I forgot the sharp axe when going to one of the camps. This camp was on the backside of our ranch, about 40 miles from the main house. Forgetting anything was a huge sin. I was out using the dull axe kept at this camp to cut wood (beat it to death?) when one of the neighbors rode in. He was just older than me. He sat there on his horse and laughed! Funniest sight in his world was his tagalong "little sister" beating up the wood to build a fire in the big wood stove to make coffee!

Another year at this same camp, the rats had knocked the coffee pot off the warming closet on the stove. They built a nest in it. The well was about a quarter mile down the canyon and all water used in the camp house had to be packed. I had carried several buckets of water to the house, then proceeded to boil some and scrubbed the coffee pot. I used Babo and a lot of elbow grease getting the thing cleaned up so I didn't think the men would be poisoned by the rats nest. I then scalded the thing with boiling water.
Got the coffee started, the cobbler in the oven, and other things well under way for the crew to come in for dessert and drinks.

My uncle who only drank ice tea came in first and raised his eyebrows and grinned. He said absolutely nothing about the shiney coffee pot sitting on that old black stove. My grandfather followed and shouted, "you scrubbed the coffee pot!" My dad followed him and in his usual quiet way stated, "you scrubbed the coffee pot!"

I replied, "Yes Sir! It had a rat nest in it. Coffee isn't quite ready yet!" I shoved a couple more sticks of wood in the fire box. Temperature outside was about 100 already at 9 am! In that little house with the cookstove going, it was around 150! And when I shoved more wood in the fire??? I burned the cobbler! I burned the biscuits! I boiled that coffee down to where they could float a horse shoe on it with the horse attached.

Dad and Granddad never said a word about the taste of that coffee. Mom, Aunt Ann and Grandmom all opted for ice tea. Coffee pot was back to coated with coffee oils!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Some Adventures of Princess Beauty


Princess Beauty lived in a castle in the southwestern desert with her parents. She had almost everything a girl of her age could want, except for the one thing she wanted above all else. She wanted a pair of soft, pale pink wool socks and mittens to match. Now you might ask why a princess couldn’t have her every desire. Well it’s this way!

Like all girls her age at the time she had chores that must be done. She might only be 12, but she was in charge of the Spinnery and the Weavery at the castle. She had been charged when she was 9 to make sure that every person in the kingdom got enough wool or yarn to make a new pair of socks and mittens every year. She discovered on the first year that everyone wanted the nice soft Debouillet and Rambouillet wool for their socks and mittens. The whitest and finest of wools went to the spinners first. Then everyone else in the castle could choose their wools after that. Even the lowest scullery maid had a choice before Beauty was allowed to choose her wool. Always there was only the very coarse Churro wool left. And it was always a muddy gray color and couldn’t be dyed to a nice pink at all. Oh, yes, it never wore out, but what was the point in that?

This year, she ran up the staircase in tears. She ran right up three flights to her old Nursery where Nanny was resting before the fire, knitting her new socks. Now, Nanny was old and had Alzheimer's disease, but most days she was lucid enough to understand what it was she was supposed to do. She said, “Why, Child, what ever is wrong with you this fine morning? Why are you in such a state?”

Beauty dropped to her knees beside Nanny’s rocking chair and put her head in Nanny’s lap. She cried, “Why can’t I choose some wool first? I know it’s my job to see to it that every one in the kingdom has new socks and mittens, but it’s just not fair! All that is ever left when it is my turn to choose is that old grey Churro wool that is fit only for rugs and saddle blankets! Why do I have to wait ‘til last?”

“Oh, dear me! Let me think now! I believe that your father the King had all the spindle wheels put up in the attics when you were born. I can’t remember, now, just why he did that, but he had it done,” said Nanny rubbing her forehead. “And if I remember correctly he had all the wool of that year also put up there. Now dry your eyes and wash your face and run up to the attics and see if there might not be some of the very fine Rambouillet or Debouillet wool up there.”

Beauty dashed up the stairs to the attics, there was dust everywhere above the fourth floor. No one had swept or dusted in years. Spider webs were everywhere. They covered the windows, they connected the equipment to the old chairs and other furniture. Beauty was amazed at the walking wheels. They were beautifully made pieces of walnut and mahogany. The wheels themselves were higher than her head. And there were bags of wool just laying there under each wheel.

She played with the wheels a while turning the wheel so it drew the spindle round and round. She picked up a bit of combed fleece to see how this worked. Wow!! It would spin the wool much, much faster than she could ever get it done with the drop spindles down stairs in the Spinnery. She got a lot of wool spun that first day. And as night fell, she went to dinner as expected. Then she went to the kitchens to see what Cook might have that she could dye this beautiful white wool pink. Cook said, “I have some raspberries, but you know they don’t stain my aprons, so that won’t work. But I will be using some Cactus Apples tomorrow in the salad. That stains really nicely. If you add some vinegar to it, it would be a beautiful rose pink color.”

Beauty barely slept that night. She was so excited, but knew she couldn’t go to the attics until she had completed all her chores downstairs in the Weavery the next day. Fabric for the new cloaks and shawls was being made and she had to make sure all the looms were up and working before she could do anything else. If someone were ill, she would have to fill in for them. As spinning was finished for the time being she wouldn’t have to do more than make sure the Spinnery was clean and all spindles and baskets were stored properly.

At breakfast, Princess Beauty just couldn’t sit still and kept fidgeting until the King got after her. He said, “Well, I see you are all ready to go to work. So get on down to the Weavery and make sure every loom is ready
to weave. I, too think it will be a long cold winter, and early as well.” Beauty took off in a very unprincess like manner.

She was in luck, every weaver was in place and ready to work. Of course, all weavers know that a little cold won’t keep them from dancing the treadles as this is hardly work. The only thing that will keep a weaver from her job is a broken arm or leg. Beauty loved to weave and did at every chance she got, but today she wanted to be in the attics spinning. She was so looking forward to her soft, pale rose pink socks and mittens. And there was even enough wool up there that she could have a cap to match. The weavers didn’t need minding, so Princess Beauty was able to be out of there in a flash.

In the attics there was enough light coming through the dormer windows that she had no trouble at all seeing what she needed to do this morning. She did the walking wheel dance, three steps back and three forward again, taking on the ages old rhythm of the old spindle wheels. She mused as she was spinning, .”these are spinning wheels, these are walking wheels, these are wool wheels, these are spindle wheels. Why oh, why did Father put them up here all hidden away!”

She missed morning tea, she missed lunch, she missed afternoon tea, she missed . . .! She was getting tired and bent over to her basket to get the last piece of roving and raked her arm on the tip of the spindle. She fell asleep instantaneously. Just as the wicked fairy had predicted twelve years ago, she had pricked herself with a sharp pointed object.

Now at the same time as the wicked fairy had put the curse of the pricking on Beauty, she had also condemned all the handsome princes in the world to live as ugly green frogs. They all knew the tale, but none knew who was the real Prince Handsome and who was just an ugly green frog. But, being told from birth that one of them would turn into Prince Handsome upon kissing a beautiful princess, they were all looking forward to finding one. The tale of the poor Princess Beauty asleep went out all over the kingdom and spread around the world. Every ugly green frog had to make the trip to the Fair Kingdom to try kissing the beautiful sleeping princess. Do you know how many ugly green frogs kissed that beautiful sleeping princess over the next 100 years?

Well, now it really doesn’t matter at all does it! Finally the one who was the Prince Handsome kissed the sleeping princess. She awoke immediately and he turned into the Prince. Wow!! Did she say, “Oh, my! What a handsome prince you are!”? Oh, no! Not our dedicated Princess Beauty.

She said, “Oh, Dear! Cook will have tossed out all the cactus apples she promised me so I could dye my white yarns a nice soft pink!” and down the staircases she ran. She ran into the kitchens, Everyone was different. Not a soul she knew! Clothing styles were different! No one was even wearing socks, let alone wool socks!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

What is a Spinning Wheel

Just what in the world is a spinning wheel? Is it a wheel that spins? Or is it something that actually works?

In my opinion a spinning wheel is an old piece of equipment that actually spins fiber into yarns. I have new wheels and antique wheels. I have plain jane wheels and those that have really fancy turnings on them.

I have heard the arguments that if a wheel doesn’t have some really fancy wood turnings on it really isn’t a spinning wheel. Do you really think the turnings on the legs, the wheel posts and the mother-of-all have anything to do with the way a wheel works, it’s efficiency? No, that is all for the professional home decorator. The maker of a wheel might take a lot of pride in the looks of the spinning wheel and other fiber equipment, but it has nothing at all to do with how smoothly the wheel turns, how easy it is to spin fibers into yarns or what pleasure one gets from using the wheel.

One of my spinning wheels has a wheel made from plywood. The rest of the wheel is made up from sanded, stained and varnished one by fours and two by fours. I think this is a beautifully simple little wheel. It was my first and came in kit form. On another of the wheels I have collected, no two pieces of it are identically turned. Does this affect the way this particular cobbled together wheel spins fiber? Absolutely not! I do not have one of the Babe wheels, which are polyvinylchloride piping and a bicycle wheel, but it would spin fiber just as well as one of the really fancy turned wooden products.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to our useful “house decorations”. Yes, I love wood products, polished to a high shine with beeswax! None of my furnishings have the same woods, stains, or finishes on them. The thing I prize most in each of the seven spinning wheels in my house are that they work! Two of them are around one hundred fifty years old, two of them are only about ten years old, the rest are somewhere in the middle. They are oak, maple, walnut, beech, and pine! They all have attitude!

I don’t prize any maker of any wheel over any other. Each type of wheel has it’s use and it’s individual idiosyncrasies. One wheel will work better for coarser wools, one will work better for things like the new silks. One will work great when the air is really dry and hot and another requires a rainstorm to work well. We all just need to be mindful of the use we put these little machines to. If they are purely for decorative purposes, they need the fancy turnings and high polish. But if they are for use as a yarn making piece of equipment, then they need only work well and not be really fancy at all, just plywood and a few boards will work just fine.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Parts of a Spinning Wheel

Footman? What’s that? Why does this wheel seem to have 2 drive bands? We’ve all heard these questions if we’ve been around non-spinners or new spinners at all. If you have ever been to a spin-in, you know that the visitors are really curious about how the wheel works, and when you use a term unfamiliar to them, they want to know more about it.

All spinning wheels have a lot of features in common. The wheel itself, a wheel post, a bed, a drive band and the mother of all. To the novice most of these terms are like Greek or Martian. We need to be able to identify the terms and to define them so everyone can understand us.

Wheel: It can be as small as nine inches in diameter to about thirty-six inches across. It only matters to the individual how big their wheel is for the ratio of wheel size to whorl size. It can be made with turned spindle work or a solid disc, or have cut outs in the solid disc. It can even be a bicycle wheel or wheelchair wheel.

Whorl: This is the other “wheel” or disk that the drive band is connected to. The whorl can be as small as one inch diameter to 6 or 8 inches. The larger the whorl the slower the spin you can put in the fibers.

Drive Band: This is made of cotton, linen, or sometimes leather. It connects the wheel and the whorl. Some drive bands are double. They go in the grooves of the wheel and around the whorl and the bobbin. This system gives the tensioning for properly getting the spin into the fibers. Single drive bands go only around the bobbin.

Bobbin: It looks like a very large spool. It sits on the spindle in the flyer. It has a starter line tied on firmly. It receives the spun singles.

Flyer: This is a large Y shaped piece on the mother-of-all. It has hooks on it for carrying the singles up and down the bobbin, usually. It has an orifice with three holes in it. It also has the spindle for holding the bobbin and the whorl. Sometimes the whorl is a permanent part of the flyer.

Orifice: Usually made of metal but sometimes carved wood, it has a hole in the end and either one or two holes in the sides. The fiber goes into the end hole, then out the side across one face of the flyer and is held in place by the hooks.

Hooks: These are to guide the singles yarn onto the bobbin. The yarn must be manipulated by hand so it does not pile up in one place on the bobbin.

Treadles: Most spinning wheels have either a single treadle or double treadles. It is up to the individual as to whether they want to exercise only one leg or both legs. These drive the wheel by way of the pitman rod(s) and footman.

Pitman Rod: Rod that goes up the back of the wheel post connecting the treadle to the wheel.

Footman: A flexible piece of leather or nylon to make connecting the treadle to the footman possible.

Mother-of-All: The mother-of-all is the whole spinning head.

The two Maidens are part of the Mother-of All. the flyer is connected to them.

Bed: All of this must rest on some sort of frame.

Terminology of each craft is unique and individual. In this case, most of the terminology is from Old English, Old Scots, or Gaelic. To learn a craft is almost to learn a new language. We really do learn a bunch of new terms when we start a new craft.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Troll Hair

Weavers have a term for warps that just don’t work. We call it “mad dog ugly” warp. The easiest cure for it is to cut it off the loom and start over. Sometimes we get fleece that is hard to spin. Is it “mad dog ugly” or is it “troll hair”?

The first roving I got that was really hard to spin was old. My friend had had it in her stash of weaving supplies for about ten years. When she sold her loom and all her stash, I wanted to spin the roving she had stashed. My mistake!! It took me about 3 years to spin a pound of orange Merino. During this time another friend asked me where I got the “troll hair”. It was just the shade of orange that matched the old troll dolls hair.

When fibers get older they get drier and much harder to spin. This is especially true of wool. All of us have read in the spinning books to only use “new” fleeces for our spinning. This is especially true for raw or grease fleece. After a few months the lanolin and dirt set up and it is really hard to get it to draft out of the locke. It helps a little to lay it out in the sun for a while and let the sun soften the grease, but the best bet then is to clean the grease out of the fibers.

You especially don’t want to get raw fleeces that are more than a year old. The lanolin and dirt or grease, will be very hard to wash out It will be hard to break the fleece down into the locks to wash, and the grease just doesn’t want to wash out. Then there is a rancid odor to the whole fleece that is most unpleasant to live with while spinning that “troll hair”.

Old dry roving or top doesn’t stick together to spin very well. It is hard to get the twist into it and it won’t stay very well at all either. This can be referred to as “troll hair” for sure, especially if it was dyed a vibrant crayon box color. It feels harsh to the hand. You might be able to add some spinning oil to it and ease the “hand” a little. It doesn’t help much.

My suggestion to everyone is to go through your stash, label all the bags of different things with type of fiber, date of purchase, where purchased and price you paid for it. Do not keep it in plastic! Plastic causes it to age faster by not allowing the fibers to breathe. Toss anything over five years old. Make some tulle bags to keep the fibers in so they can breathe and still be separated. To keep moths and other critters out of the stash, add aromatic herbs and spices to your cabinet or shelves.

Prevent “mad dog ugly” and “troll hair” by never letting your stash get old. Use up all that really nice fleece you have put back for a rainy day. Rainy days don’t come often enough. Never keep fleece or any other fiber for more than five years, preferably no more than 3 years. Use the yarns in the same time periods or they might just become as ugly and hard as my orange “troll hair”.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Devils Fun Cake

This was my dad's favorite cake. It takes most of a day to make, and very little time for the family to eat it. My mom copied this recipe down from a radio program in the early 1940's. You can cut the recipe in half but why deprive the family of so much good fun.

I usually make it into 6 layers, 3 for each of 2 cakes. Be sure to refrigerate.

Make this for your Valentine! See if he doesn't react as my dad did.


DEVILS FUN CAKE

cake:
6 squares baking chocolate
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
4 eggs

Pour boiling water over chocolate and butter; stir to dissolve. Stir in sugar and buttermilk. Add sifted dry ingredients, stirring just enough to blend. Add eggs and beat 2 minutes. Pour into greased, floured, lined pans. Makes 3 or 4 10-inch layers or 6 9-inch layers. Bake 25 minutes in 350 F. oven. Test in center of cake with toothpick and check edges to see that they have pulled away from sides of pan just a little. Cool 15 minutes and upend on plates or waxed paper.

Chocolate Custard Filling
4 egg yolks
4 cups milk
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 squares baking chocolate

Mix eggyolks with milk in top of double boiler. Mix dry ingredients together and blend into liquid. Grate chocolate into mixture, stirring constantly until thick, cover and cook an additional 10 minutes. Cool and spread on cakes. I like to make 2 3-layer cakes. You may have to toothpick the layers together so they don't slip. That is the Devils Fun part of this cake.

7-Minute Icing

4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons water
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

In top of large double boiler blend all except vanilla. Beat while cooking with electric mixer until icing stands in stiff peaks, about 7 minutes. Add vanilla and beat in. Frost tops and sides of cakes.

Very happy eating this super devils food fun cake!!!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

llamas are so cute

My llamas are trying to unload some feed from the truck this morning. They are such smart animals. Maybe even easier to train than pigs! Pigs are supposedly the smartest animals on earth.

Show a llama something three times and they have it down pat, even bad habits. If you want something that is easy to train get a couple of these really cute animals. They don't particularly want their heads touched, but otherwise, they are so cool to be with.

My brother brought me nine beautiful ladies a couple of years ago. They are all colors of the fiber artist's rainbow. Everything from light tan and white to chocolate and jet black. They do not care to get sheared, but it can be done easily. Just hobble them so they can't rear and stomp you and tie up their heads so they don't spit or bite.

Of course, they don't bite hard as they only have one set of teeth like sheep and goats. Their care is like sheep and goats also. But they are good foragers. They have pruned all my trees perfectly around the bottoms. The problem is they will probably prune my rose bush when it leafs out too.

Their gestation period is almost a whole year. And I can control that fairly well as "Joe Camel" the male my brother got lives at his house seventy miles away. "Joe" will be coming to visit in April. They can withhold giving birth until the weather is right, so we don't have to worry too much about unexpected snow storms freezing the babies. And they only give birth during the daylight hours!! That way this "midwife" doesn't have to be checking them all hours of the dark night!

I am thinking of spinning the wool just as it comes off them without dehairing. I can spin both the warp and weft threads for rugs without dehairing the wool. If I want some for sweaters, I will have to send it off to be processed. I have not decided on that yet.

Listen to the llama song: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

The Voting Snafu

The Democratic party of New Mexico did a very poor job setting up for the Caucus yesterday. They estimated about 7% of the registered voters would go to the polls. Boy, were they wrong. About 2 hours after the polls opened at noon, most precincts were out of ballots.

Oh for the days when we had those push button voting machines!!! There were lines waiting at all polling places that stretched around the blocks and at a snails pace in the icy winds!! It took til well after 10 last night before all the people lined up at the polling places got to get inside and vote. Polls were to close at 7!!!

From the time I was in the 4th grade New Mexico had electronic type voting machines up until the last election!! The first ones I remember were huge boxes with curtains on the front. You went in and threw the little switches and opened the curtain for the next person. That is over 50 years of something working nearly correctly most of the time. Since the mess up with the "hanging chads in Florida" we have been tossed back in time to paper ballots.

Some people do not know how to make a solid block with a pencil, so the electronic readers toss the ballot back out. It takes time to fill in each of those little blocks, go back and check that you didn't miss a crucial one then go feed the thing the proper way around to the electronic reader.

Printing all that paper is nonsense!!! A total waste of forests and recycled paper also. In the age of computers, with most people having cell phones and microwave ovens, why do we have to go back to the PAPER ballots??

Everyone can read a notation next to a button and push the yes or no button!!! If they can't they should not be voting without a seeing eye dog and a caregiver. The law allows for an assistant to help a person vote. All they have to do is sign an affidavit at the Election Judges station. I assisted my grandmother and several other ladies for the last 20 years to read and vote.

Come on People!!! This is the 21st century!! Voting lines running around the block and the fire Marshall making sure there are not too many people standing in a school's halls is totally ridiculous. With only one question on the ballot it should have taken about half a minute for each to vote!!!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Angora Bunny Mistakes

The first time I saw a rabbit being spun, it was in molt, sitting quietly in the lady’s lap. She had her little spinning wheel at the rabbit show and was drawing a strand of fiber from the bunny and spinning. Just like that. And it looked so very easy the way she was doing it.

Angora is from a rabbit. Mohair is from an Angora Goat! Don’t get confused here. So this little white Angora rabbit was sitting in the lady’s lap and seeming not to mind that he was loosing all his fur to the spinning wheel. Since most show rabbits are groomed daily, this bunny didn’t have any knots or mats in his fur and it was easy for her to draw off the loose fibers into her spinning.

A friend of mine had some Angora bunny fur from her rabbit in a gallon pickle jar in the fridge. She brought it to a show where we were demonstrating spinning and weaving. She wanted to use my carding machine to comb this stuff out. Total failure!! This fur was so very fine that my carder drums were way too coarse to comb it. We tried blending it with wool, silk, and in desperation with some Pima cotton. It still wouldn’t blend, comb, nothing. It was clumped on the carder drum just as nastily as it was in the jar. I tried hand picking it out, I tried flicking it and then trying to spin it. Nothing was working with this Angora fiber.. Spinning was just a series of clumps, not the smooth thread she wanted for trimming a sweater.

A couple of mistakes she made were: 1. she didn’t have time to daily groom this bunny. That would have saved us a lot of time and cursing in trying to comb it, and 2. she clipped the fur off the bunny rather than combing it off or plucking it off. I have worked with some other bunny spinners since getting this fiber and it is much, much easier to deal with the Angora if the bunnies are combed or brushed at least once a week.

Much care should be used in removing the fur from the rabbit. They do bite when hurt! Don’t try to pluck tight fur. Just take that which is loose and would shed off anyway. If the rabbit is groomed frequently it might be alright to shear them as with sheep. Take care not to let the Angora felt. It is too much trouble to card it back out. Don’t allow alfalfa and other feed stuffs to get in the fur. It doesn’t come out. Much less likely to come out of that than out of sheep’s wool and it won’t come out of that either.

Angora bunnies should be housed in clean, comfortable hutches with air conditioning or fans in hot weather. Other rabbits can have their frozen water bottles, but the moisture from these makes the fur clump as if you deliberately felted it. Bunny fur must be spun very tightly as it is so very fine and very slick surfaced. It will fuzz out when washed and look like the bunny itself.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Tuna Casserole

TUNA CASSEROLE

this will make enough for 4 servings:

preheat oven to 350.

peel and cut 2 potatoes into half inch chunks
the same with 4 stalks celery and 2 carrots
dice one medium onion

Put them into kettle and just enough water to cover them. salt if you wish. Cook til carrots are just tender. Remove from heat.
Stir in 2 small cans tuna that has been drained.
Also stir in one tablespoon each chives, parsley, and cilantro

Line a 9 x 9 baking dish with foil and spray it with pam (cleanup is easier)
Pour the potato blend into the baking dish.
Top with 9 canned biscuits and spray the biscuits with pam or brush with melted butter.
Bake in 350 F oven about 45 minutes. Or until the biscuits are nicely browned.

Serve with a nice colorful tossed dark green leafy salad.

For dessert I suggest

BROKEN GLASS CAKE

1 3-ounce package each green, red and orange Jello gelatin

Prepare in individual 8 x 8 pans according to directions. Allow to set firmly. Dip in hot water about 5 seconds and unmold. Cut in 1 inch cubes. Set aside.

1 large package yellow Jello gelatin

Prepare according to directions using Ice to chill rapidly to egg white consistancy. Stir in other Jello cubes gently. Put into 9 x 13 pan. Put in fridge to set completely.

dip in hot water about 5 seconds and unmold on nice plate. Keep in fridge while making the icing.

1 8-ounce brick cream cheese softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8-ounce container sour cream

beat these together and spread on Broken Glass Cake.

Garnish with pecan and/or walnut halves sprinkled all over the top center.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Yarn Plys

The number of plys a yarn has is NOT the size of the yarn. Yarns come in a variety of sizes and plys. Sizes range from Extra bulky to Lace weight. Most of the yarns we buy commercially come in two different weights: worsted weight and fingering or baby weight. These lie in the middle of the vast number of weights of yarns and are used for most patterns. The number of plys just means how many separate strands are used to form this particular yarn.

Why do we spin fibers into yarn? Why do we ply? How do we ply? There are answers to these questions if you just stop to think about them. A single strand of silk is nearly as strong as spider web and nearly as fine too. We spin fiber into yarn to make it stronger! Just think if we could spin spider webs into yarn. We could do away with the steel industry. The more strands we can put together just makes the whole thing much stronger.

If a person takes a locke of wool between their fingers and pull it a bit, it comes apart fairly easily. But if they then take that locke and stretch it so the fibers overlap some and put some twist into it, it becomes much stronger. Then taking several of these spun singles and re-spin them, makes them nearly unbreakable.

We spin the fibers in one direction making our thread. Then spinning the opposite direction to combine 2 or more plies makes a balanced yarn. I have been in a number of discussions lately on the best way to ply the singles to make the 2 or 3 bobbins of thread come out more or less even so there is not too much left over on one of the bobbins.

The method I use is not the preferred one, but is to my liking as it leaves no leftover singles at all. I use the ball winder, winding the singles fairly loosely. Pulling the thread from the center and the one from the outside and allowing it to twist together for neutral yarn, then tying it to the starter yarn on the bobbin, works for me. The ball must be held firmly so the yarn from the outside comes off smoothly and the yarn from the inside doesn’t throw too many kinks. I stick my fingers into the ball and wrap my thumb on the outside allowing the threads to pull to the wheel with a fair amount of tension.

The preferred method is to not worry about it if you have leftovers. Just spin some more thread from the same source. Take one line from each of 2 or more bobbins, allow them to twist together, tie them to the bobbin starter, and start plying the threads together.

Another method of dealing with the amount of singles is to make a Navajo ply yarn. This is loose chain from crochet using only fingers to chain the length of yarn. It will keep the colorways in the spun thread, but tends to be a bit “knotty” when working with it.

Now what to do with the small bits of singles that are always left over after finishing with all the source fibers? How about making a novelty skein from a bit of everything? This can be used for small projects.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Breaking Roving Down to Pencil Size

My wheels were sitting in the shade of a tree at the Fair. The painted roving was lying there in the basket waiting for me to finish my coffee. I sat down to get busy. Picking up the five-yard length, I broke it into one-yard lengths and started stripping it down into smaller diameter pieces. A lady standing there watching suddenly said, "I was told it was cheating to do it that way. You are supposed to spin from the end of the whole thing". Well, maybe some people do, but it doesn't necessarily need to be done that way. It is much easier to break down the pretty colors into pencil sized roving strips then pre-draft a little to loosen up the fibers.

There is a mystery and magic about how to get the fibers ready for spinning. Roving comes in large balls most of the time in pure white. Here, the roving has been painted and dried, broken up into eight-ounce pieces and put into packages to be sold. Painted roving can have from two to five or more colors blended in them. In order to keep the colorways intact in the spinning, the spinner must strip the roving down into pencil size pieces or break it apart in handier sections then down to pencil size roving sections. It is very difficult to maintain control of singles diameter or the colorways if spinning from the tip of compacted roving an inch in diameter.

Take the length of roving and pull it in half down the whole length of the piece. Pull each of these in half again and again until you have a strip about the size of a pencil. Now draft these out a little until the fibers are all airy and the length is about doubled. This is called pre-drafting. Wrap this around your hand keeping the tail of the roving under your thumb so it can be pulled out of the little spiral easily.

This prepares the length of roving for the long draw spinning demanded of a walking wheel or the regular shorter draw of the treadle wheel. You could, of course, pre-draft all the roving so it moves easily to spin, but this would not preserve the dye artist’s colorways. It is just much nicer to not fight with the bulk of a compressed roving when trying to make nice singles. It is absolutely easier to deal with roving prepared this way when just learning to spin.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Housekeeping??

Housekeeping is a fairly simple task to do daily, right? Not for me it isn’t. I would much rather be sitting at my wheel or loom than running a dust mop. If one doesn’t live in an ancient mud hut, run the vacuum around the rooms quickly on a daily basis, picking up and putting in a basket what does not belong in that room. Wash the few dishes and stack them to dry or stash them in the dishwasher. Start a load of laundry if necessary.

If you live in the ancient mud hut, like I do, it is just a bit more complicated. Run the spider-chaser duster around the edges of the ceilings, run the dust mop over the middle of the floors, and then move some of the dust around on top of the furniture. Gather into that basket everything that doesn’t belong in the room chosen for the “lick n promise” cleaning today.

My 100 year old adobe, ancient mud hut, is not air tight. I don’t have air conditioning, so the windows are open the three seasons of the year when it is possible. The wind blows; the adobes seem to shed dirt. The windows are open so dust devils fill the house with pure dirt on nearly daily basis. Not too much problem, just sort of keeping it to a minimum is all that is required.

The other problems with housekeeping are the little critters like clothing moths, silverfish, and carpet beetles. They must be removed!! We bring them home with every box and bag from almost every store we walk into. It is best not to bring boxes into the house. Open them out doors and bring in the contents!

Put all fleece from any source into a trash bag, tie it up tight and put it into the freezer for about three or four days. This won’t kill the eggs, but will kill any adults in the fleece. Take the fleece out on the lawn and shake it well. This should cause most of the insect eggs to drop out where they can hatch without eating your fleece. That should keep most of the critters out of the house.

I like aromatic herbs in little sachets all over the house. It not only makes the house smell nicer, it is environmentally friendly, and it chases all those unwanted critters elsewhere. They do not like the sharper more pungent smell. Chamomile, sandlewood, thyme, basil, sage, lavender, cloves, cinnamon, any of the herbs and spices with a nice pungent odor are just fine. Make up the little sachets from nylon net or silk netting. They take only a few minutes to run a couple of stitch lines. Tie the tops with a pretty ribbon. Spread these around on end tables, shelves, in small pretty dishes on tables, and on window sills.

I like to keep whole cloves in the pockets of my wool garments when they are hanging in the closets. Be sure to take them out before sending garment to the dry cleaners and replace them once the garment is home again. Lavendar makes any drawer smell especially nice.

Do not seal any natural fiber, fleece, yarn, or garment up in plastic. It must breathe! If it needs to be kept fairly dust free, place it in a pillow case and baste the end shut. This is death to loads of antique quilts whether made of cotton or wool. Also do not allow any of your fine fabrics to touch the cedar walls of the cedar chests. Get some archival or acid free tissue paper to line the chest with. The oils in the cedar wood will stain most fabrics and it is impossible to remove these stains.

We will spit-polish, to our white-glove sisters’ approval, when we run out of our stashes. The only thing that must absolutely be done daily is to oil your wheel on any of the moving parts so they don’t squeak! Chasing dust bunnies and spiders can really wait til next week, don’t you think?