Winter Came Early

It snowed here on Saturday.  My guess is that we got about 2 inches.  The trees were flocked and every surface was coated with the white stuff but the roads are free and clear.  I think the asphalt must have been just a little too warm when it started around 1 PM Saturday afternoon so it did not shut everything down.  So anyway, it is beautiful here.

When we moved into this house we knew that the house needed insulation.  For some reason no one every thought to insulate this house in over a hundred years.  Maybe they ran into the same fiduciary restrains we have been running into of late.  I digress.  Evelyn had her last pottery sale of the year on Saturday morning so I drove here down there and then over to The Big Box Hardware Store to buy enough bats of insulation for the job.

The job started really easy and it looked great.  Over course, I wore a paper mask while I worked but I was not into the second package when I notice it was getting hard to breath.  Finally, I figured out that I had been sweating and the mask was soaked through, essentially suffocating me every time I inhaled.  So I swapped out the water logged mask for Evelyn’s respirator and got back at it.

By the time I finished I was bushed.  My knees hurt from crawling around the attic, and my hands, the same hands that gave me such fits earlier in the year were sore and achy.  Serves me right.  But the job was done and now the house warms up as quick as you can expect a heat pump to warm it up.  And its a good thing too because come Monday we had problems.

But on Sunday, we had a ball.  Evelyn, Gertrude, and I took a walk in the woods in morning.  We bundled up, put plastic bag on our feet (under our boots) and headed out into the snow.  I thought I had seen a stream running through the woods behind our house on the Google Earth photos of the properties around here and I wanted to explore the woods when I knew nobody would be out there with a fire arm.  We did find a big creek back there and Gertie jump right in a little part that was about chest deep.  It must have been freezing.  What a silly dog.  But that’s our McGurk.

When we got back we fixed some eggs, bacon, and potatoes.  Then settled in on the couch to watch the Godfather and maybe take a nap.  I learned that you can not take a nap during the Godfather.

So, the high on Monday was 28 degrees.  Yes, 28 degrees.  IN NORTH CAROLINA!  Or at least that is what Evelyn claims.  But It was chilly.  So then we go to bed.  The next morning I went into the kitchen to make the coffee and what do I find?  The pipes froze over night.  Ugh.  Maybe I will put this in the book I might write one day, “So, You Think You Want To Live In The Country?”  Anyway, I put a space heater under the house and one in the well house before I left for school today and Evelyn said the water started running again around 10 AM.  When I got out of school I ran by The Other Big Box Hardware Store and picked up some rubber wraps for the pipes.  When I got home, I crawled under the house to wrap ‘em up.

Speaking of wrapping it up.  I’m outta here.

A First for Us

A couple of weeks ago, our friends asked if we'd like to come over and help slaughter their chickens. We'd talked about this a lot and wanted to see the process in person so Aaron went over to help and learn.  I didn't expect it but he came home with a freshly killed chicken in a freezer bag. Thanks Eli and Carolyn!

I wanted to make a special meal from this chicken, so I simmered the whole bird for about 4-5 hours with some pot veggies. When the bird was tender I took about half of the meat and made a chicken pot pie. We ate it last night and it was delicious, great for a chilly night. I'm going to make soup from the remaining meat and broth. 

Here's a photo:

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped

• 1 cups chicken broth

• 1 purchased or homemade pie crust

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 large sliced celery stalk

• 3 carrots

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 cup half-and-half

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 1 egg, beaten

Preparation: In a large saucepan, melt butter. Add onion, celery and carrots. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt (less if using salty broth) and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add the broth and milk; cook and stir until thickened and bubbling. Stir in chicken and peas; pour into a round casserole dish. Brush the edges of the casserole with beaten egg to help the pie crust adhere. Place pie crust over the mixture; cut to fit and crimp edges all around. Cut steam vents in top. If desired, re-roll and cut excess pastry into strips or decorative shapes and lay over the crust. Brush chicken pot pie with remaining beaten egg. Bake at 400° for 30 to 40 minutes, or until crust is browned.

The Last of the Fall Garden

This week I went out and gathered up what I could from what remains in the garden. We're supposed to get several nights in the 20's. There are still some carrots, beets and onions in the ground but they should do okay with the weather. We were surprised how big the carrots got so fast, I think it's because I planted them where the potatoes were so there was a lot of loose dirt for them to grow in. Here's a photo:

This week I'm catching up around the house. I've been so busy with getting ready for my Fall shows, everything else has taken a back seat. Yesterday I cleaned out the attic so that Aaron can put insulation up there this weekend. There's absolutely no insulation in this house and we feel like we've been wasting a bunch of money in heat that's going right through the ceiling. 

Busy, busy.

I'm in the home stretch getting ready for my Fall shows. Last week I had a terrible firing (most of the pots came out with terrible blisters, ugh), so I made some more, loaded the kiln and tried again. The kiln is cooling today so I won't know until tomorrow if the adjustments I made worked. Fingers crossed.

This weekend Aaron added on to the shelter over the kiln. He extended the roof for more shade and rain cover and built a table I can use for loading pots. I've already used it and it's gonna make my life a lot easier. It definitely beats what I was using for a table,  cinderblocks and an old door. 

Here's a picture of Spot, our new cat. She's turning out to be a good mouser already. Now our 12-year old cat, Teddy, is missing. He's been gone since Thursday when there were tornadoes in the area. I'm wondering if he didn't get turned around in the storm, everyday I keep thinking he'll show up.

Here's Gertie doing downward dog pose.

Cedar Creek woodfire pix

Two weeks ago I took part in a woodfiring at Cedar Creek Gallery as part of their fall pottery fest. It was a group firing with Carolina Designer Craftsmen potters to coincide with the CDC show in the gallery. Thanks to Deb Harris for organizing it!

The firing went smoothly, we finished in about 12 hours or so. The pots came out good, I had a bunch in there and was really happy with most of them. Here are photos of the firing (that's Deb in back), me spraying soda and a couple of pots. I got there too late to get good photos of everyone's work. People who participated are Deb Harris, Lois Sharpe, Gillian Parke, Trish Welsh, Wendy Panko, Devin, Gaines and me.

Face-off under the apple tree.

Saturday afternoon I noticed this gopher (I think he's a gopher) under the apple tree, munching on some fallen apples so I ran in to grab the camera. I realize they're big pests, but I thought he was pretty cute sitting there eating an apple like a little man.

Anyway, our dog Gertie finally noticed him... here's a pic. Every hair on her back was on end!

Some sad news, our little cat Lucky got hit by a car last week. He will be missed, he was Gertie's buddy.

It's Getting There

We've spent the last two Sundays painting. Last week we did the screen & side porch floors, and the new siding on the south side of the house. It's pretty much done on that side except for moving plants around and stuff. Here's a before picture from when we first looked at the house and one from yesterday:

The big window that we put in is also pretty much done, finally. It's been about a 3 month project, reglazing the windows and then painting. There were a few broken windows that I replaced, too. Here's a photo, I think it came out pretty good.

Yesterday we painted the studio porch, the back stairs and started on the fence. Here's a before and after of the studio porch:

Firing #2

Just unloaded the kiln, and I'm pretty happy with the results. There are a couple of things to work out, I'm having issues with my turquoise glaze blistering in the front third of the kiln. I can't figure out if it's getting too hot up there or if there's too much soda or what. I'll probably just put pots with that glaze on them in the back from now on.

Here are a couple of pics.

Do cows cry?

Thursday evening the outer bands of Earl gave us a little magic here in Hurdle Mills.

This was the weekend of mourning.  Yesterday, the man that rents the 10-ish acres of pasture land to our west came and took his three adolescent bulls away.  Their mothers were torn up for the remainder of the day yesterday and all of today.  Apparently, cows will loudly bellow for their young when they’ve been lost, and wander the entire pasture in search of their babies.  The cry that went up from time to time was a constant reminder of their misery.  While we worked this weekend, we sat vigil with the cowsies. Here's a picture of them from when we first got here.

So I finished mulching the new bed in the garden this morning and brought the fruit bed back up to standard.  The fruit bed had gotten completely out of hand with the overgrown grass, the weeds, and the ever pointless, purple basil.  So I installed a new aluminum siding edge, then weeded, and finally covered it with mulch.  Finally, the mulch pile is gone!  I had to readjust the garden gate.  It was swinging too low and catching the grass.  Evelyn said it was a little annoying so I raised it up a little bit.

Following that bit of bread labor (and a bit of a nap,) it was off to the chicken coop for a little cleaning and improvement.  There was a metal chest of eight chicken boxes hanging on one of the walls and two of our chicken regularly perched on its slanted roof in the evening - not quite as comfortable as you might think.  Since we have way more nesting boxes than our small flock requires, I ripped the metal cabinet off the wall and installed some proper perches for the girls.

While I was attending to such mundane and inexpensive chores, Evelyn was loading the kiln as we get  ready to fire it up tomorrow.

This is Lonely, our last surviving guinea.

Fall Garden

This week we planted the fall vegetables in the new part of the garden. We put in lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, carrots, sugar snap peas, beets, onions and turnips. Some of them have already started sprouting, I can't wait for the lettuce.  It's been really cool in the mornings so it's much nicer to work out there before the day gets started. 

We also started harvesting the apples. It pretty much took all day yesterday to pick and wash the ones that were ripe. We're not sure what kind of apples they are, maybe golden delicious or pippin, they're greenish yellow, a little tart but not too tart. It doesn't really matter, they're pretty good! What a bonus, we didn't even know there was an apple tree here when we bought the place. 

The pears are starting to ripen too, I haven't had one that I thought was fully ripe yet, though. The lady that used to live here stopped by a couple of weeks ago and said the man who she bought the house from used to get his whoopings under that tree!

Here are some photos of outbuildings around Hurdle Mills... and some horses. There are so many cool old farm buildings around here. 

A Trip to the Courthouse

We wanted to do a little research on the history of the house before Aaron went back to school, so today we went to the Person County courthouse to do a little digging. We didn't find out a lot but we did find out the house & land were sold at auction in 1937 to D. Long for the sum of $9482.55 for the homeplace of J.R. Rimmer and 177 acres. Mr. Rimmer died in 1933 and his wife died in 1936, after which their heirs sold the property at auction on the courthouse steps. We couldn't really tell but it seemed like there was some kind of dispute which the court settled by auctioning off the property. 

That was pretty much what we were able to find out at the courthouse. Then I did a little searching online and found out James Rimmer was born in 1855 and that would have made him 32 when the house was built in 1887. His first child was born in 1888 which sounds about right too. I also found out his dad was a Confederate infantryman and is buried up the road, and he shares a distant relative with David Koresh of Waco fame.... friggin' internet's amazing isn't it?

The garden is just about winding down for the summer so we're getting it ready for fall planting. Aaron dug up another big plot doubling the size of the garden after he got back from a much overdue visit to California to see his Mom & Dad and the rest of the family. It seems like they had a really good time, sorry I missed it!

This year was a really good year for cucumbers and we had so many I made dill pickles, which was surprisingly easy. They came out pretty good, they tasted like the kind you get in delis in the big barrels. I made 20 and they're already gone.

Last night I noticed these flowers out by the wooded area in the back of the property. I'm not sure what they are but the plant is shrub-like and it's got leaves like a mimosa tree and delicate golden flowers.

Up and running, for real.

I fired the kiln on Monday for the second time. The first firing came out a little light on the soda and I was pretty bummed. I have shows looming and a shop that's been waiting for pots and it feels like forever that I've been without a kiln.

So I was more than a little anxious to see how this load turned out. But yesterday I unloaded the pots and I'm super happy with the results. Yay!! What a huge relief. Now I can get back to work making more pots!

This is our cat Lucky.

summer pics

Here are the latest pictures from around the house; the newly done screen porch and a bunch of animal photos. Even the cows look hot...