Sunday, July 17, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Scarface
ArtieFriday, February 4, 2011
Heading South Where it's Warmer
We HOPE! Last year there was a snowy event there in February. I took many nice photos to remember the excitement of it. May and June are nice for taking flower pictures. September and October are great for the fishing efforts of so many friends. "If you're lucky enough to have a place by the sea, you're lucky enough!" YES!!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Icicles
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Frozen Pipe
Well, this morning was interesting. When my husband went to run the kitchen faucet early (before I got up) he realized the water supply was frozen - somewhere!
While still in bed I heard him going out and back in the side door several times. I then got up to learn that the pipe coming out of the holding storage tank at the bottom, in the outside shed, had frozen during the night. We knew it was going to be cold but not THAT cold! Well, it was -10° at 7:30 AM so we don't know how cold it was between 10 PM and morning. What to do? He determined that the heat tape on the pipes was still working but that the pipe at the bottom of the tank was frozen at its connection. Usually we trickle water in the kitchen sink so this wouldn't happen! USUALLY. We didn't. I got out the hair drier, and the little one-and-only ceramic heater and he set them going. He had to rip the insulation off of the entire bottom pipe and it took two hours before we had water again. Luckily nothing major broke or was permanently damaged (We hope!) and we're back in business again. By the way, around 10 years ago we gave our salamander heater to our son-in-law for his garage work. It would have been a big hassle to get it back but it was a "last resort" plan. Now he has gone to town for more foam pipe insulation to replace what he destroyed. The ceramic heater cord was smashed in the shed door and that will have to be repaired and the kitchen heavy duty utility scissors were broken - no big deal! Whew! Now I can use the "facility" and have a certain flush!
He's been fussing about having nothing to do!
P.S. I took the thermometer photo around 8:30 AM. It's still -7° and the sun is shining. The next time he opened the shed, I got a photo of the its interior which better explains what all it contains and what was involved!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Reactions are Rewarding
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Geraldine,The "One-Time" Bully
I hear those awful reports of kids bullying other kids in school. I think it has been done for many years, but today's kids are the WORST! Of that, I'm sure. It doesn't excuse what I did but my one time bully act, was mild. Well, I think so, but my conscience tells me it was a nasty thing to do. I regret it.
The incident happened in the 7th grade at a Junior High School. A new girl arrived and joined my class. She was pretty in an unusual way. She was intelligent, athletic, and apparently came from a well-off family due to her clothing. Angora sweaters! Tartan pleated skirts! Real wool crew socks and shiny saddle shoes! The minute I saw her I felt a threat and was on guard. I envied her hair. It was a lovely shade of blonde, thick, and worst of all - she had a perfect and exceptionally outstanding widow's peak! Her eyes were sloe shaped, and she didn't wear any makeup. Who was this girl?
Her name was Lucretia. As time went on, she buddied up with others who had the best homes, clothes and things.
After lunch, it was the habit of all students to leave the building and participate in outdoor activities such as jumping rope, playing kickball and trotting around the field track. I usually could be found on the track.
In that time many of us started to wear skirts that had several rows of elastic stitching as waistbands. Apparently, in an effort to fit in with my group of friends, or to mock us, the "clicky" bunch of girls started wearing the same type of skirts.
I, to this day, have no idea of what actually came into me, but when Lucretia was jogging on the field track, right in front of me, I caught up to her and YANKED her copy cat skirt down to her ankles. She fell into the dirt, picked herself up, pulled her skirt up and carried on.
In a year or two, her family moved away and I never saw or heard from her again.
I am not naturally a mean person, but I do remember that this felt good and it is all I remember of what happened that day. Was I punished? ???? Was I ostracized? ??? Did I lose friends? ??? The mind is a strange thing. What I DO know is that my awful act of attacking a classmate who never did a thing to me, has remained a guilty transgression in my memory bank for over 60 years.
Dear Lucretia with the widow's peak, I'm sorry, truly sorry.
Monday, January 17, 2011
French Toast - Make Do
Simple - bread, milk, eggs and a skillet. Perhaps a touch of cinnamon, or nutmeg too. Maybe a little vanilla. I use a Lodge cast iron type of skillet, but the older Griswold works better.
When properly browned on both sides, butter generously. I said BUTTER! Not margarine!
Pour pure maple syrup liberally over tops. No pure maple syrup? Then pour clover honey. No clover honey? Then pour Grandma's Molasses. No Grandma's Molasses? Try Caro. All gone. Then pour store bought pancake syrup. None of that? How about sprinkling brown sugar? None? Try white sugar. Not enough to spare? Try using confectioner's sugar. Out of it! Well, then a lavish amount of jam or jelly will do. Nope? Get out the fruit - peaches, strawberries, bananas, berries, apples, nuts? Missing also? All I can say is quit yer cryin' and eat it plain and thanks to at least having bread, milk, eggs and a skillet.
The Cabin - Part 5 - Conclusion
The Memories Without "Backup" Photos
You are just going to have to rely on my recall of the following incidents that happened at the cabin. They are as truthful as I can impart. Remember, these happened a LONG time ago. The aging process has retained - quite clearly, and embraced my long term reminiscences and is beginning to eradicate some of my short term matters. I just think a few of these are worth remembering. I'd better get them down on paper now!
Once, when the cabin was under construction and had no walls nor roof, my brother, sister, myself and my husband all spent a night there. The concrete floor had been poured and the fireplace and chimney were constructed and functional. There was no water and no electricity, but we were on an adventure. The folding cots were set up in front of the fireplace and a gas lantern was lit at bedtime. The fellas were not there when my sister and I went to bed. I believe they were still fishing down by the lake so we left the lantern on. Suddenly, she sat up and screamed, "A RAT! A rat just ran over the mantel!" Well, don't you know it HAD to be the shadow of a small mouse that was cast upon the chimney. Mice were a-plenty. Rats were not so likely to be around. It took her a long time to go to sleep after her scare.
Another tale that comes to mind is about the "Laura snake." The children, around the age of 9, 10, 11 and 12 used to cary a pail, coffee can or some other sort of container and venture down the dirt road to hunt for snakes. Yes! The snakes would come out of the rock ledges to sun themselves so they were an easy roundup. Many could also be found under rocks and in debris along the shoreline. I love their beauty to this day. When caught, either with bare hands or a forked stick, they were brought back to be discussed and admired before being released. These older children wanted to introduce a particular one they had just caught in the flowerbed to their little sister, who was outdoors in the playpen. The small green garter snake was only presented to her to handle and hold. She IMMEDIATELY snatched it up with both hands and BIT it! In the middle! It died. the older kids were horrified and the small child wailed when they took it away.
This snake account is one that happened when I was picking wildflowers on the bank of the dam. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and looked down to see a coiled up very grandly marked snake just beside my sneaker. I held perfectly still and called for my husband to bring the shovel or a gun because it was, in my mind, a copperhead. I didn't want THEM around me or my children. He came, he shot it and it burst open, revealing dozens of sacs of baby snakes. Those shiny little sacks of babies just about ready to be born normally didn't have a chance, now. End of story? No. It was later determined that it was a common rat snake and not a viper. I was so sorry.
The boys, big and small, once hauled a turkey platter-sized snapping turtle from the lake. What a commotion that was! I draw a complete blank on how it was killed or the meat was gleaned, but I DO remember that my mom made turtle soup for all. From then on, whenever a snapping turtle was captured, the male family members released it to a new home at neighboring lake.
One morning, a very long time ago when we were here I saw very large cat paw prints in the snowy field right next to the cabin. I remember that there was some sort of swipe mark in the middle. It's presumed it was a mountain lion roaming. Strange wailing sounds had been heard previously in the night. Mountain lions our neck of the woods in Pennsylvania? Very possibly because we are surrounded by rugged mountains and have a water source.
Who could forget "Gemma" Mom's black Labrador Retriever. The kids all hated it when she was let loose to swim with them because she paddled too close and scratched them. They tried everything to make her go away, but she had rights and, after all, loved to swim and play too.
Once, after we carelessly dumped the spent charcoal from the iron hibachi onto a spot on the grassy field next the cabin, our youngest daughter, around the age of 4, running barefoot across the lawn stepped on the still hot coals! We had intended to dump water on the smoldering remains, but didn't move fast enough. We were just preparing to travel to our home away from the cabin and had to comfort her with ice-packed towels until she finally fell asleep. Burns HURT! (My husband remembers it was the middle daughter and not the youngest. He may be correct.)
Our oldest boy seemed to be the most active and was always getting into something. One time he got a fishhook embedded so deeply in his thumb that we had to take him to the local hospital for its removal. The doctors there didn't seem to have the correct tools and wire cutters were finally located. After that, we removed several other hooks from fingers, hands and arms ourselves. It's a tricky procedure, but I had posted explicit directions on a varnished panel board in the bathroom near the medical supplies for reference.
Usually in the winter way back in the 60's the water was drained and the cabin was put to sleep for the winter. Winterizing had no impact on us. We came on weekends anyway. Eight of us. The fireplace still could provide heat and the living room became a good drying area for the wet winter attire, some slung over the beams. Water was collected from a spring that was located at the water's edge on a bank nearby. The children had this chore and they made it into a fun activity. A small red plastic toboggan with an attached rope was utilized to transport the water jugs from the spring up the bank and to the side door. There was much wetness involved as you would guess. It got away from them one time and slid back down the bank and across the icy lake for quite a distance, the filled jugs remaining in place except for one that flew off and burst open.
A hole was chopped through the ice, which could reach 30 inches thick, for two large pails to be dipped and filled and brought up to the cabin. Why? To flush the toilet of course!
As for keeping the fireplace logs burning through the night, my husband would be sure to drink lots of fluids before going to bed so he would have to wake up for nature's call and then could reload the fire with enough logs to keep it going until morning.
The elderberry color is lovely, full of depth and drama - it looks more purple in some lights, but usually tends more towards the burgundy with purply-blue undertones. The actual elderberry home made items show off this marvelous color. Have you ever had elderberry pie? Elderberry jelly? Mom made the pies (they are too seedy for my taste) and I made the jelly. When the jelly didn't jell - we used it as pancake syrup. It's a labor intensive process; gathering, washing, sorting, cooking, bagging into cheesecloth to strain. When the mushy bag is accidently dropped into the the old porcelain sink and goes SPLAT! the colorful stuff can stain anything in its vicinity. That's what happened to me one hot afternoon. It's bad enough to have purple hands from the project, but to have to peel off a hot-berry splattered shirt was difficult. Then my face, arms, hair, underwear and all were purple. Needless to say several items of clothing were tossed in the garbage can that day. The clean-up of me and the kitchen was agonizing. I was more careful the next time I made that delectable sweet and colorful treat!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
The Cabin - Part 4
Activities Around the Cabin
Swimming AND diving happened all summer long for many years until the diving board cracked and had to be removed. The dock ladder often became slippery and was scrubbed regularly. The dock finally gave way to a new one, that was built by my daughter and grandson in 2004. The float, a wooden structure mounted on metal barrels, was anchored to the bottom of the lake with an iron chain attached to a huge metal wagon wheel. The float was taken in to the beach bank before winter and then re-launched in the spring. Our family men took care of this maneuver yearly until several years ago when it was too much to handle by the one who did most of the duty alone.
Fishing still is a main activity, done by almost every family member - big or small. An old flat-bottom row boat with an electric motor was in service until a new "V" hull one took its place. Just throwing a line from the bank or dock results in a nice catch often. Fishes caught are: pickerel, largemouth bass, bullhead catfish, perch, crappie, bluegill sunfish and longear sunfish. A long time ago walleye, northern pike and trout were stocked and caught, but were fished out.
Boating is our recreation in water through the use of rowboats, canoes, kayaks, sailboats, paddle boats, pontoon boats - all human-powered or electric-powered watercraft. Then there are the non-boat floation items used for drifting, paddling and moving about: tire tubes, rafts, noodles, and inflatable or foam lounge chairs. What fun!
Picnics, steak bakes, pig roasts, birthday and graduation parties and holiday celebrations such as 4h of July and Memorial Day, were mustered and enjoyed by family, friends and guests. Once there was even an outdoor poultry processing demonstration, put on by my mother to educate an assemblage of youngsters and adults. What an experience that one was! Exclamations of "yuk!" "phew!" and "wow!" rang loudly several times. A barbeque chicken dinner followed, of course.
There are the quiet activities and pastimes: Walking, running, dog walking, bicycling, stroller pushing, ice skating, tenting, reading, and porch sitting. Go carts, quads, snowmobiles, a powered ice boat, the "ice-screamer" horses and ponies, motorcycles, tractors, mowers, saws, weed wackers, snow blowers, generators, and commercial vehicles are the noisemakers. I almost forgot to mention the target shooting before hunting season and horseshoes clanking against the old iron posts!
Cabin Tranquillity is not tranquil all of the time!
Mom & Pop had no idea what they started!
The Old Diving Board
The Old Dock
The Old Float on Tilt
The Old Float Repaired
The New Dock
Grandson & Son
Daughter
Husband
Grandson
Flat Bottom Boat
New "V" Hull Boat
Floating & Lounging
Daughter's Inflatable Friend 
(Me) Grilling Hamburgers in Tire Rim
Granddaughter's Birthday Party
Blue Ribbon Hand Made "Pig-Rig"
Skewered Pig Cooked
Removing Skewer
Removing Chicken Wire Wrap
Picking and Tasting
Poultry Plucking
Poultry Processing 
Son on Motorbike
"Dune buggy Gang"
Brother on Motorcycle
Trail Riding
The "Ice Screamer"
Granddaughter on Quad
My Kids and Husband Snowmobiling
Mom Mowing
Husband Blowing Snow
SC Friends Camping
Brother & Pop First Sign
Husband Replaces Sign
