It’s been a busy month since I got home from my micro-vacation. Way too much going on and barely time to breathe, let alone write on the blog. Right now I am working on preparations for BATTLEMOOR!
I’ve been repairing clothes and starting some new Viking pants for Dan. These are brown linen and should be much cooler than his flannels. I’m hoping to make some Beledi Dance clothes for me. I’ve got fabric for two pairs of sarouelles. (baggy pants) I’m using Folkwear Pattern #119. I’m also making a couple of tunics for one of the Battlemoor crew.
I’ve had lots of meetings, work in the garden, and trips to Pueblo. My mom has had cataract surgery, my nephew moved out, and it’s rained!!!! We also discovered part of the reason that our garden hasn’t done as well this year. Deer. They eat down all the new shoots. sigh…
The school district is trying to get a Mill Levy Overide to provide more money for the schools as well. Tonight there is a drum clinic at Washington school. Dan is doing the sound work. I’m just going to go deaf. 🙂
We’ve been doing a lot of gardening between the two houses. It has been very hard to bring back the yard at 203. Pruning, digging, planting, digging, mowing, digging. You get the picture. I’ll post pics when I have a bit more done. We had some really windy days, and my rose trellis snapped. argh. I’ve sort of fixed it, but it needs totally redone, which won’t happen until the fall when I trim back the rose bush.
There’s been a lot of work as well. Dan has been doing a wiring job for the school district. I’ve been doing sewing. I’ve also repaired two chairs. Check it out!
Life has been busy with SCA meetings, SCA beledi dance and bobbin lace classes, School board stuff and the Huerfano RE-1 Schools Foundation. We are working on a mill levy overide to provide more money for our school district. In order to make it a bit more sustainable, we are setting up a foundation that can raise money any time for the schools. If you’d like to contribute, you can send a check to the Huerfano RE-1 Schools Foundation care of the Huerfano RE-1 School District, 201 E. 5th, Walsenburg, CO. 81089.
Today was gardening day. Or, destruction of the mess formerly known as the front yard. Yes, I had done some work previously, but the rains and lack of time means that things got away from me. The weeds were 10 inches high. So was the grass. Argh! I started working around 8am. Once I figured out the weed eater’s quirks, I began to trim around bushes and plants. I figured that it would be good to do so before Dan began to mow.
I took a break around 10am, and Dan was working on a video. Just as he started, someone began mowing. Much to our surprise, our neighbor had brought out his “bush hog” mower and was cutting our grass and weeds! It was wonderful, and considering all that we had to do, a life saver.
After lunch, Dan and I worked on making the tree out front happier. When the tree was planted, they put big rocks and gravel around it. It was Not Happy. So, we pulled all the gravel back, moved the stones and then added more dirt. It is now a much happier tree. The other one is trying to come back as well.
I worked on two side beds and a few other bits while Dan mowed most of the back yard. We are exhausted. Happy, but exhausted.
Well, at least my hair feels like it is on fire. The first weeks have been crazy!
At the house, we have been fine tuning bits and pieces. Where do we hang this pic? Why doesn’t this door close well? What is that in the rose bush? (two trees) Make a trellis for said rose bush. Find a couch… replace the couch… organize this, that and a few other bits. Plus, we’ve actually been working here! You have no idea of how great a feeling it is to have someplace to work without interruptions! We’ve been trying to spend at least one night a week here as well.
At my mom’s we planted the big garden. Same size as last year, but a few new additions. We are trying eggplant, two new squash and potatoes. 🙂 Plus, the layout is a bit different.
Then there is our um… social life. I am taking two SCA classes. Beledi dance (belly dancing) and bobbin lace. Both classes are in Pueblo, so we have to make sure that everyone gets fed before we leave and that we have all of our gear. It’s a bit daunting at times, but oh it is fun!
And… there is the regular stuff. Housework, cleaning the yard at 203, and meetings! School board, DAAC, the Wellness committee, Celtic Music Fest, etc. It’s enough to make me want to run away. Or, at least lock all the doors at least once a week.
I swear, one minute life was okay. Next… wow! I feel like I haven’t had a minute to breathe. Oh wait… yeah.. last Tuesday between meetings.
Since last I wrote, I’ve attended 8 or 10 meetings. School board, Celtic Music Fest, District Accountability, SCA, and a few others. Some of them, more than once.
We’ve had really cold weather. In fact, nearly a foot of snow.
We had plunged back into winter.
Then, a few days later, it was cool, but more like Spring. On April 30, we attended Aarquelle’s Newcomer’s event in Pueblo West. I hauled out the warm SCA clothes we’d worn to Viking Vinter Vonderland. It was a great day and the after party at THL Generica’s was grand.
It snowed on May Day. The next day it was warm enough to work in the garden at 203. I removed trash, plastic under the dirt, trimmed various plants, lifted rocks, etc. Wore myself out! But… the yard was looking better. Silly me, I did it again the next day. I even got my nephew to help.
May 8th, Mother’s Day. We had fighter practice in Trinidad. 🙂 We even had a local cop stop by. He wanted to take pics and one with him in it. We obliged.
Steph armoring up
Lothar (Dan) and the local policeman
The Fighters
The fighters plus the policeman
The next week was Hectic! Why? Well… because it was Spring Coronation! More on that in the next post.
Crazy? Stressful? Awkward? Daft? Over and under booked? Yeah. All of those.
Meetings. Hello, my name is Jaye, and I have a serious case of S.T.P. Syndrome. (Same Ten/Twenty/Thirty People at a meeting.) It comes of living in a small rural community, where there just aren’t enough people around to fill out all the various positions at a meeting. I’ve had board meetings, committee meetings, Maker group meetings, SCA meetings, festival meetings, etc. I’m still the school board president, and Celtic Music Festival chair. I’ve tried to resign as secretary from the district accountability group. (DAAC) I’ve cheered when some of them have been canceled. And… I’ve had to set up a few. sigh… I think I need Meetings Anonymous… (oh wait… that’s another meeting!)
Cars. A couple of weeks ago, my parent’s Subaru started acting up. A mysterious oil leak. Turned out that the engine had a fault, that all Subaru’s of that era and engine type develop. We took it to our favourite mechanic who suggested we take it to a place in Pueblo. After an hour, that place got back to us. Their recommendation… Junk it. The cost of the repair was prohibitive, and no guarantee that it would stay fixed. The result is that we have a new to us Subaru. It’s a 2000 Forester. Runs well, and Dan has been making the minor repairs it needed.
Work has been crazy. Line up a job, have it canceled. Think we have a free day, job pops up. The inconsistent income is driving me crazy. However, it has had an upside. We were able to move 99% of our stuff out of storage and into the garage. Granted, that doesn’t mean I’m any more organized. We tried to find some of the stuff we needed like clothing, some dishes, etc. Found about 45% of what we were looking for. Oh well… At least I got my desk! I have missed it!
Meanwhile, the last of the garden was harvested. Onions and leeks. 🙂 We still have kale outside, but at the moment it lives under a plastic box. I’m using them up as fast as I can. There isn’t any more room in the freezers for a shred more of food.
I also turned 56 on November 9th. It was an alright birthday. I had lots of stuff to do, so I didn’t get to indulge myself in snuggling in a chair with a good book and being waited on hand and foot by Dan. sigh… There is always next year. I did get some nice prezzies though. A tool box, and a coloring book. 🙂
My tool box
The coloring book
While I don’t expect things to calm down or mellow out any time soon, at least I have things to occupy my time!
Yesterday was cold! Wet! Rainy! Even Penny, my nephew’s dog didn’t want to go out.
We put our work on emptying the storage locker on hold. Instead, we got soaked while we picked the last of the tomatoes. Had to toss almost as many immature tomatoes as we picked that were viable. Probably close to 12 pounds worth of regular and cherry tomatoes combined. Now my kitchen is festooned in green globes. 🙂 We picked bell peppers and pulled onions as well. Kale is all that is left in the side garden and onions and leeks in the back.
This last week has been busy. I took Mom to Littleton to visit my sister on Wednesday. Friday I went to Golden for a two day CASB conference. It was really good. Saturday afternoon, I drove home and we attended the Spanish Peaks Legends Gala that night. Fancy clothes, good food and awards to people in the community who have made Huerfano County Great. Sunday we had the big post festival meeting. That actually went pretty well.
And the school district has been trying to get back on it’s feet. We have a dispute to deal with, and our executive secretary is just back to work. It’s been really rough on her.
Today we are hauling more stuff in from the storage unit. Wheee! My desk!!! I’ll be squeezing it into our bedroom. We will be moving other furniture and boxes as well.
Mom comes home on Saturday. 🙂 I hope to have all the reorganizing done by then. (mad cackling….)
One of the things that got left behind when we went to Battlemoor was harvesting the garden. Mom watered, but that was about it. So, we have spent the last few days gathering ripe tomatoes, green beans and squash. There will be more to come, but at least the great squash explosion has slowed down. The cherry tomato riot is being tackled daily. I picked 20 last night.
I worked in the garden this morning. I did a lot of weeding and harvesting. This is what I brought in.
I’m freezing some things and will be making tomato chutney. Plums are next on the harvest list. The tree is so heavy that the limbs have bent. The frustrating part for me is that most of my canning stuff is in storage, including the jars. sigh…
Monday we unpacked. We moved the TVLH into the garage and while I worked on sorting clothes, dishes and other bits, Dan worked on paperwork and Mark 2 of the TVLH. (yes, ideas were burning up his brain!) I did a lot of computer work as well. All those pics! Oh, and I wrote an article for the newspaper.
Tuesday I did laundry, put clean dishes away, had a Celtic Music Fest and a School Board meeting. At the meeting, it was announced that we don’t have to hold an election. As there were only four candidate petitions, and only four seats open, we are automatically rolled in. 🙂 It saves the district over $10,000. Oh, and I folded more clothes than I thought possible. I swear that they multiplied in the dryer. Wrote a letter to the editor about someone’s bad behavior too!
Today we went to Pueblo and got groceries. This afternoon, I’m taking delivery of the CMF office boxes and harvesting veggies out of the garden. More zucchini to shred!
I’ve also added a few pics. I forgot my bracelets and the forks that Dan made. This evening, I plan to organize all of the crafts stuff. I want to get started on sewing EARLY rather than late. No more finishing a project the night before a war!
