Gavin (one of our housemates, who did so much work on the barn and library last year) -- has been working full-time most of this spring/summer. Initially he was part-time but the pandemic has made things...odd. Small company, can't fire a guy they were about to fire, because of the pandemic. But the guy is useless. So everyone has to work harder. It's good to be employed but... Anyway, because of that and the work he's doing with gardening -- like a lot of us -- means no work on projects here at our place right now. There are two projects I'm hoping he can work in, but we'll see. Meantime, Lyle and I are doing what we can, and some stuff is getting done, just taking a lot longer.

****

Still making masks, although I've slowed down a bit lately. But I have some to get finished for the school system, so I better get back to that... probably Monday? I hope they don't re-open, but right now we have to plan as if they are. Many parents in our area are working on switching to homeschooling, including the parents in our house.

I have something I want to mail to a friend - will try to get that done this week. Cleaning the house in various ways, dontcha know.

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Randomly bought peppermint candies for an overseas friend -- used Amazon's (I know) UK web site and it got to her quickly. Only .94 for monetary conversion, not bad. Did the same with a Canadian site for sending a tiara to a Canadian friend... sadly that one won't ship until August? Sigh. Yay pandemic. One does what one can.

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Here's today's post from elseweb:

Have sorted out some possible parts for helmet stands as of last evening.

Despite the weather, Lyle and I both got some work done. He did more work on the barn (not a simple task) as well as working on bird netting for the blueberries.

He got the inner boards off of the barn today that had been mouse-stained -- that involved a good bit of moving things to get access, but now things smell a lot better! The humidity was spreading the smell from those boards throughout the whole barn.The old bird netting needs.... work. He's been doing a lot of repairs and tailoring.

We've harvested some blueberries; it's just the beginning of the season.

I moved stuff either out of the grey shed or elsewhere inside it. Swept the exposed part of the floor and laid some self-stick vinyl tiles. They're leftovers from someone else's project and they've been sitting in the trailer for awhile. I want to get back some space in there so... also, the floor of the shed is made from a couple of pieces of heavy-duty plywood but I could see daylight where the two pieces met. I tiled all the way across the join and into a third corner of the shed. That's going to be it for a while - there's a built-in counter in the fourth corner and I'm not keen on either lifting it or cutting around the legs. The remainder of the those tiles can stay in that shed.

There are still some tiles of a different pattern in the trailer... hm.... Might have a plan...

The carpenter was finally able to come last week to work on building stairs into the basement. He's squeezing the job in between other obligations, but they're mostly done -- enough that we can use them. I expect he'll finish them Monday or Tuesday (some risers and the railings). Really nice to be able to get to the basement without going outside and heaving the bulkhead doors open! They're really nice and level, too...sigh :)

Hopefully we can get more work done on closing up the porch tomorrow. We were hoping to do some over the weekend, but yesterday morning was farmers market plus I left briefly to get a flu shot; the first swing dance lesson at the community hall was in the afternoon, followed by some regular house stuff and a nap. Then L brought in a packet from TIAA CREF that was sending their condolences on the death of my mother and forms I would need to fill out as a beneficiary -- excuse me? I knew immediately from the date on the letter that it was wrong, as I had spoken with her since that date, but otherwise the packet seemed legitimate. So of course I called and she picked up, at which point L left to take care of the chickens while I let her know about the letter. This was the third incident this week -- she still has to track things down to the source reporting her as deceased, but it has to do with Social Security. It's complicated, but hopefully it'll all get sorted out in the next week or so.

A couple who are friends of ours decided not to host their usual Halloween party -- I suspect life is being a little busier than usual, as we don't see very much of the husband these days -- so she proposed going to the party at Diva's, a club in Northampton. Interesting time -- neither L nor I have ever gone to a club. Closest for me would probably be going to The Blue Wall at UMass, during one of the sci-fi conventions, back in my college days. I couldn't go to bars back then even when I was old enough, because smoking hadn't been banned in restaurants and bars yet, and there was no such thing as a no-smoking area at bars.

We dressed up a bit for it but the pics another friend took probably didn't come out (Steampunk). If I can, I'll get dressed up again at home for a pic there. Good thing was that I was able to do test runs on a tulle skirt/tutu and also my creative lace leggings and they both worked. The lace is uber white so the leggings light up well under black light. :)

There were some creative costumes there, and people seemed to be having a good time. One of the highlights of the evening for me happened right at the beginning, actually. Everyone was being carded at the door, and the fellow looked from my card to me a few times before letting me in -- we think the age indicated by my card clicked for him when he checked L's next and realized by our costumes that we were a couple. :D

Left before the costume contest was done -- it was pretty late. As it was, we were up late enough that my eyes are light-sensitive this morning. Hot shower has helped sort out some of the general achiness, and I'll get in a good soak in the tub later today.

Late morning is hay delivery, eggs to deal with, piano to measure. Should be back at the house in the afternoon to do what we can there (including that bath for me!), choir practice in the evening.

Saturday:

Did more painting of the office.

Went to kung fu dress rehearsal for China Night. One of the backstage people can't make it because of the date change (event delayed by snowstorm Nemo).

Went to Home Depot and failed to find some things, but we did get a new mat for inside the house's driveway-side door, a shower caddy, and a curtain rod. Then off to G'fld Famers Co-op for feed and scratch for the chickens.

Took down one of the old curtain rods and put up the new one in the downstairs bathroom, and shortened the curtain I wanted to go in there. The old curtain rod is way too large scale for that little room and will mostly be put up in the office over the double-window.

Baked a whole chicken -- rubbed with salt, garlic and cardamom, and made carrots and parsnips w/ a little olive oil, black pepper and ginger. Chicken and veggies were local, all of it super-tasty. More of that yummy chicken to look forward to later this week :)

Sunday (so far):

Got up early for morning ritual and stayed up to do more painting. With the cold weather I've generally been getting up for ritual and then going back to bed for another hour, but with China Night happening this evening and things to do before then, I really wanted to try to finish painting the walls. I'm going to tentatively call them done, but we're going to look at one of the walls later today and see if I got good enough coverage over the bright green that was on that wall. Also painted one piece of trim with some of the paint that came with the house to see how it looks, and we like it, so trim is next!

- Still moving. L disassembled the barn loom yesterday and we moved it -- all but the warp/back beam are currently in our little barn for now. Living room and two bedrooms are cleared. Kitchen is nearly done, bathroom is half done, pantry is about 2/3 done. Office is maybe 1/3 done. Still have things to move at least from the attic to the back attic, but the back attic has been mostly cleared, so there's definitely room to do that.

- Internet guy comes to the house tomorrow (Tuesday).

- Yesterday we started the process of closing in the front porch, with the hopes of turning it into a temporary greenhouse. Challenging working with that large a piece of plastic!

- We also celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary by going to see The Hobbit (2D). A few liberties taken, but overall we enjoyed it.

- The shower curtain ring project has begun. The old system was 3/4 plus a straight rod on the wall. The 3/4 section was suspended on only two rods and the pieces were press-fit. The new one will be significantly better.

Still moving along. Have electricity, phone, gas (stove top and dryer), and tv all set. Internet still to go. Well, and heating oil too, but we have a little time for that yet as there's still half a tank. Bed is set up.

Made a few loop potholders... a guy came into the hardware store hoping for one of the owners to help him out with making a couple for his wife for a gift but she's too busy, so she offered to contact someone else to do it (me). Hey, every bit helps :D

Time to go, g'night all.

Signing has happened! Had a couple minor glitches but they're resolved. I need to take the first load of stuff over to the house. Yay!

Am hoping to get a strong back or two sometime during this next week or so... some things I'm not strong enough to help L move. Meantime, there are plenty of other things I can and will move!

Light dusting of snow on the fields today. It snowed lightly a good part of yesterday and into the night, which is why I expect it's still here this morning...

Minor holdup on the house. Safety issue with basement stairs, which the sellers have to get fixed by a professional. No, they really can't build it to code themselves; their repair effort is likely why it failed. Then the appraiser has to come back and re-inspect, and then the lender will finance a mortgage for the house. Hopefully the sellers can find a builder who can replace the stairs quickly, and hopefully the appraiser will be able to schedule quickly. We shall see.

Still packing, but slowed down with other things going on -- minimum goal is one box per day.

Various joints and muscles are still at issue, but at least nothing is in spasm and in fact I've made it through a couple of kung fu classes this week and plan on going again tonight. Must, must, MUST soak in a tub before then!

There's more, but that's it for now. Have a lovely day everyone!

Hurry up and wait
Make the calls and send the scans
Sellers bid fell through
Closing date is pretty tight
Now there may be extension.

***

Yeah, I need to work on other stuff...this house thing is eating my brain. On the plus side, we actually made it to another kung fu class last night; been a few weeks. Left shoulder is being obnoxiously tight; we'll keep working on that...

A long day at the farm... minivan was mostly already loaded the day before, so off we went to the bank and then to Chicopee to drop off cash and our cooler, as Phred had kindly agreed to pick up our share of beef for us. We decided this year to try out a share with a group of people who do this every year -- 25 lbs. of various cuts of grass fed beef. It should be interesting to try -- it even looks different than store-bought, dark red instead of pink. I very rarely buy beef, between mad cow and having more than enough iron in my blood. But the grass fed have a safer, healthier diet, and get to roam around in the pasture (at least the ones around here do). Anyway....

- We brought up another load, of course...
- L finished wallpaper removal in the "spine chiller", where the office and probably part of the library will be, and I primed the walls.
- L off-loaded the windows and screens in the barn (we saved the old windows when we had them replaced in Holyoke -- future greenhouse/cold frame materials).
- L went back to Holyoke and got another partial load of stuff from the house, including some dishes and dishwashing liquid, so we can use our own cups for water instead of borrowing them all the time.
- I painted more of the dryer room/little fiber arts studio. L came back and took over the last bit of painting as my arms were giving out. Finished off the can, have to buy a quart to finish the room.
- Took care of the last load, picked up the beef, went home, collapsed.
** Somewhere in there we had lunch with Marian, Doris, and Bonnie (B's working the festival). Some good chats here and there with Doris, one of my SIL and L's sister. **

- Mom called to have me call her, and we chatted about some of the stuff that's been going on this month (computer problems, and other, more complicated things). Things are finally settling down, thank goodness.

- Collapse again for the night!

*** Ooo, almost forgot to mention one of the best things about the day. We left the farm house and went out into the night. Crisp, cool, clear. The waning moon was shining bright, caught in the branches of the topmost trees of the hills across the field. On the drive down from Ashfield, down the winding road, we played hide and seek with the beautiful moon.... yes, this is one of the things I definitely look forward to, living at the farm. Clean, clear air, wooded hills, visiting the spring on the hill, and a garden and studio with amazing views.

Window is repaired, and only $50. Yay! Purchase and Sale agreement signed, also yay. Talked to realtor about the attempted break-in and how we're making the house look more inhabited between now and closing. Turns out that there are people who are breaking into houses they think are empty and ripping out (literally) all the copper piping. Scrap copper's selling at $2/lb. now. I'd heard about the stadium lighting somewhere in the U.S., and the irrigation system in CA, and of course the people who fry themselves trying to steal wire off high-power transformer stations, and then there was that closed factory where the thieves thought the power was off...it wasn't. Ick. Anyway, it hadn't occurred to me that there was enough copper in a residential house to be worth the bother. Desperate times indeed.

We made a trip with a very full load Friday evening, and just before we went up, L was finishing up his work day, so I went out to the studiolo to see about winding yarn for another warp -- I could use some more scarves for the festival. I fiddled with the cotton/linen/silk blend stuff, but it was indeed quite fiddly. So, I looked over the yarns I'd saved out for weaving this fall, and chose a lovely rust/red/green/gold wool yarn to work with. It's mostly the rust/red color, with little bits of the other colors - very autumny, at least if you're from New England.

It was wonderful to be winding warp again. The weaving process is an interesting one, full of order, discipline, creativity, with the potential for disaster at every turn for a little spice. For instance, measuring out the yarn on the warping board, you create lovely parallel lines zigzagging across the board. And yet all it would take for a problem to occur is for you to miss going around a post or for the yarn to slip off a post. The tension is supposed to be as even as possible on your warp grouping, so that you can be sure each end will be approximately the same length (avoids waste). Life is like though, isn't it... you do your best to plan things out, to handle things carefully, and then something unexpected happens. Sometimes you can adjust quickly, sometimes not.

Working with this particular yarn, as the parallel lines formed and caught the afternoon sunlight, it was like capturing a part of the sun itself. And as I went through the repetitive movements, I could finally feel that I was settling down from dealing with the attempted break-in, retrieving the calm, sense of order, and joy of life that I need for juggling all the things we have to achieve this autumn.

***

Today we moved a bunch of plants up to the farm, and L started breaking ground for them. Some are in, the rest hopefully tomorrow. Warren and Susan have moved a lot of stuff to their new place, and were working on cleaning out rooms from the west end to the east end. So we were able to do a lot of wallpaper removal (using Marian's steam paper remover machine), etc. Did some patching and a little mudding. Warren suggested priming and then mudding, because the walls are old and a little crumbly (tiny, tiny little bits come loose as you're trying to put on a smooth coat of joint compound). So tomorrow we'll try that, instead of mudding then painting.

We're also going to bring some furniture and a few boxes up tomorrow. I don't want to spend an hour or two going up and down stairs, but it would be nice to get some more things up to the farm.

***

Concentus practice at 6pm tomorrow also, so we need to get up there early so that we can get home in time. I'm bummed that we won't be able to celebrate the equinox with gwynt_y_storm and others tomorrow, but with the excitement we had this week, I'm feeling the need to get a lot of things done as quickly as possible.