2012 December 01 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Baby Chick Update

December 1, 2012 · by JudyL

The baby chicks are 3 weeks old today and they are the cutest little things. We’ve been keeping the three adult chickens in the coop with the babies because they all seem to panic if they’re separated and we weren’t ready to let the babies out yet.

This morning we decided to open the door to the run and see what they did.

The adults immediately went out but they weren’t sure they wanted their babies to come out. While the three big chickens wanted to be outside, they also wanted to be inside with the babies and they were so nervous. See that little gray/black mottled one that the yellow chick is looking at? He is so cute. I love that little chicken! See their little dark legs and the feathers on their legs? Oh, they are so cute! The babies stayed there and weren’t quite sure what to do.

One of them is getting brave . . right near the edge. Is he brave enough to hop down?

Yes! He did. Look at Louise looking at him. She was quite frustrated with the whole situation. We left them out for a little while and then when we picked the baby up and put him back in the coop, the three adults went back in and we closed the door again. The babies are still a little small to be out. They can get through the chicken wire but the moms cannot so we wouldn’t want that to happen.

We’re enjoying having the babies.

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 5 Comments

A+ for Mr. Bargain Shopper

December 1, 2012 · by JudyL

That husband of mine has an amazing ability to sniff out a deal. He was in Tractor Supply for something else and saw a brand new looking chain saw that had been marked down. His “bargain alert” began sounding in his head. It’s a little chain saw and great for trimming limbs and doing small stuff. Heck, it’s small enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t try to designate it as my Christmas present!

Vince came home with the chain saw. He had been thinking all the way home of his “presentation”. As you might imagine, there are several chain saws around here already. Here’s his story: The saw sells for a bit over $200 new. Someone bought it, took it home and never could get it started, so they brought it back. It was marked down to $100. The guy at Tractor Supply told Vince to take it home and mess with it for a week and if he couldn’t get it running, he could bring it back.

Vince messed with it for a while. The gate guy messed with it for a while but they couldn’t get it running. Vince spent some time online trying to figure it out. He found a Husqvarna dealer about 50 miles from here and called him. The mechanic there gave Vince some advice. Vince told the guy what he had paid for it and the guy assured him that he got a heck of a good deal so Vince was more determined to get it running.

He’s working hard. Notice shorts on December 1. The air conditioner is running too. I see another frowny face in my future from the electric company.

After a while, he came and got me in the sewing room. “Come and bring your camera!”

Yes, it’s running. Can you hear it? Really . . running like a champ. You might also notice my big laundry sink that goes in the garden in the background. Vince wasn’t happy with the way the legs were painted so he’s added more paint to those and they’re drying. Soon I’ll have the sink installed near the garden.

Here’s proof you can believe . . low hanging limbs that snagged the tops of the delivery trucks.

Good job, Vince. Hopefully there will be lots of good years of trimming in this little chain saw and if we’re lucky, we won’t need another one for a very long time.

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 7 Comments

Washing Socks

December 1, 2012 · by JudyL

Most of the sock yarns I use are meant to be hand washed and not put in the dryer. I’m asked often how I handle that. I’ve never found it to be a burden to hand wash my socks. Yesterday was sock washing day so I thought . . how exciting can this be? Washing a pile of dirty socks! I’ll just take pictures and write a blog post about it!

I keep a container in my bathroom cabinet and when I take my socks off, I toss them in that bucket so they don’t accidentally end up in the washer. I used to use an empty one gallon plastic ice cream bucket but every time I saw it, I wanted ice cream so I switched to a plastic bucket that I think is kinda like a small clothes basket. When the bucket starts to get almost full and we have a sunny day (every day around here almost), I dump the socks in bath tub.

As I’m running lukewarm water into the tub, I squirt in a little pet shampoo.

Socks come from wool. Wool comes from sheep or alpacas. Sheep and alpacas are pets . . so, why not use pet shampoo to wash my socks? Besides .. it’s 3M and I have it here.

I swish the socks around in the warm soapy water, then I rinse them by holding a couple of them in my hands under running water. Then I squeeze (NOT wring) any excess water out of them and put them down on a folded towel.

Next, the socks are rolled up in the towel and I will step on it and “smush” as much water out of the socks as I can.

On a table or, on the porch floor if there are no chickens running loose, I spread dry towels and then lay the socks out to dry.

After a couple of hours, I flip the socks over so the other side can dry. Here, where we have no humidity, the socks are dry within a couple of hours.

Simple as that!

· Filed Under: Knitting & Weaving · 8 Comments

December Color Palette

December 1, 2012 · by JudyL

There is no palette for December. For this final month of the Color Palette Challenge, we’re doing a monochromatic challenge. You can read about it on Vicki’s blog. On January 1, we will have the first post on our new project/challenge and there will be a link box for your monochromatic project.

Did you get a project done from the November palette? If so, please post a link here and you will be entered in the drawing for a fat quarter pack from Vicki’s Etsy shop. The winner will be announced on Wednesday.

Thanks, Vicki, for sponsoring this challenge.