Things to do when you start summer vacation

A meeting on Monday morning at school, a doctor's visit in Columbia at 3:15 Monday afternoon, and then Danny and I drove back to the school to watch the Linn Co. Baseball team play baseball.  (So sorry that they lost.)   Then we get home to get the sheep in before dark.    Tuesday was a very full day too.  I washed 4 fleeces and had the clothes line full of little nylon bags filled with wool.  In between each load I cleaned house, then the wool room at the barn, picked strawberries, made a cake, ended up taking a shower at 10 PM and went to bed hurting...Danny let me sleep in on Wednesday....our 42nd Wedding Anniversary.  We both just took it easy,  and enjoyed ourselves.

Pick cherries....a total of 2 cherries...so they tasted great!

Pick strawberries and make a cake for strawberry cake

Sit on the front porch and watch the birds

Danny got Old Johnnie out and got the old JD mower working.  

Danny enjoys playing with old Johnnie.

I washed 4 fleeces on Tuesday.  I moved the stainless steel sink out by the new camp stove that I am using to heat water to wash the wool.

New camp stove that we got at Tractor Supply.

Danny parks old Johnnie on the hill so he can start it by letting it roll down the hill.  

I purchased two tubs at TS and filled them with my compost and plants.  I am going to put them on the patio .  I also planted the large planters by the front door.

I now need to card and spin some of this wool for weaving, rug hooking, and knitting.  I have been trying to rug hook, it is fun and addicting but I have a long ways to go.

My New Rug Hooking Frame Arrived

I have wanted to try my hand at rug hooking for many years...who can raise sheep, shear them, wash the wool, spin the wool, knit, dye,  felt, and weave the wool and not want  to hook the hand spun yarn?  Well, a few weeks ago I told Danny that I was going to order a new rug hooking frame and he said OK...it can be your Mother's Day present...I had my eye on an octagonal lap frame that also came with a floor frame.  I put in my order and it arrived!

Now I need to put it together.

I am so excited to give rug hooking a try.  Today was the last full day of school for this spring...1/2 day tomorrow and we are out.  I have so much to get done this summer.  I want to weave, spin, garden and can produce to restock our vegetable supply.  Not to mention wash fleeces, build more pens and fences for the livestock.  Danny and I will also be haying.  When will I get in time to learn rug hooking?....oh, I will.

Danny and I planted some garden tonight.  We have used all the radishes and the lettuce is about gone.  Danny disc up the garden spot and ran the tiller over parts of it.  We put down landscaping fiber down where we put in the tomato plants.  We will put the cages around the tomato plants when the plants are larger.  We put in Brandy Wine tomatoes, Super Beefsteaks, old fashion Amish Paste and some yellow pear tomatoes tonight.
We also planted 3 rows of Tender Treat Sweet corn and 4 green pepper plants.   Tomorrow afternoon when I get home, I will plant some Top Crop Green Beans and some beets.    Danny is going to grow a few melons in the garden this year instead of planting a large  truck patch of melons.  We don't want the garden to devour all our time this summer.

The fruit trees are  loaded with pears, apples, peaches this year.  My sweet cherry trees have just 2 red cherries on them.  No apricots this year.  I planted 3 apricot trees because I love apricots.  Last year one of my BIL's calves got out and broke one of my apricot trees  but it came back.  Well, last Sunday when his bulls got out, one of the bulls broke the same tree over again.  But there is  No coming back this year....I will be looking for a tree to take its place but now it will be 2 years behind the others.
I will be posting more this summer as I prepare our fiber and start my journey of learning rug hooking.
I was going to buy more sheep but I think I will see if I can go this summer without getting sick and see what next fall brings.
It is almost 10 PM, better get to bed so that I can roll out on time for the last day of school....Whopeeeeeeee!  

 

Trip to Arrow Rock Missouri

We had to go see what Arrow Rock was all about and check out the camping facilities.  We had talked about going all last summer and never made it.  I read my email one Saturday morning and had a message from the Friends of Arrow Rock.  They were having fiber activities that day.   Danny and I headed out, drove about 1 1/2 hours going the long way through the country.
Each fiber activity was in different buildings.  One lady was sewing penny rugs in a beautiful old house with appropriate   age furnishings.  She had some lovely penny rugs and demonstrated how she did her craft, dressed in attire of the times.
I am sorry that I didn't get pictures of the fellow sitting on the front porch of one house spinning shetland wool.  In that house were rug hookers, lace makers, rug braider and in another house was a weaver.  The fiber tour was very interesting.
The camp grounds were very nice too.  But before I drove miles and miles, I would be sure that they had a vacancy.  Check Arrow Rock out on the Internet.

We went into some of the stores downtown.

The sidewalks were brick  and wood.  The brick building is the tavern.  It was closed the day we were there.

I enjoyed myself so much in this store.  See the hooked rugs?  Replicas mixed in with real antiques.  

 I am not sure what this building was, we did not go in this one.  It might have been a private home.  There are several private homes.  Some had real estate sale signs in the front.

More items in the store.

We went to the visitors center and toured the museum.  I loved this old bed with the beautiful hand quilted cover.   But it was so narrow.

Of course all the fiber items were interesting to me.

More items for sale in the store.  The manager was such a nice guy.  If you get a chance  to go to Arrow  Rock, it was definitely a step back in time.  It was quite and not crowded the day we  were there but in October they tell me that they have a very busy crafts fair week end.  Camping spots are spoken for a year ahead of time for that week end.
I spent time visiting with the ladies doing the rug hooking and they were all a joy to talk to.