Seedpod

I have no idea what plant this seedpod belongs to. (Maybe someone else does and will clue me in.) It was a "weed" growing alongside our road out. I failed to take note of the plant while it was blooming, but thought the seedpods with square-shaped tops were interesting. (The leaf belongs to a nearby sunflower.)


Bits and Pieces from Saturday, 11/24/07:

Overcast and damp in the AM. Temperature in the mid-thirties.

Clothes needed to be washed despite the lack of sunshine required to operate our solar clothes dryer. The area around our wood stove is now decorated with "unmentionables". It's a good thing we're not expecting a visit from Martha Stewart.

Jo's having problems recording TV programs again, but this time it isn't her fault. She normally tapes several of the Saturday how-to programs broadcast by PBS. She watches them during her lunch breaks during the week. This morning she discovered that AETN had suspended its regular programming and was fund raising. Who knows what Jo actually recorded with her pre-set recording schedule.

(BTW: The Arkansas Educational Television Network is the one and only television channel we can receive up here in the hills. It has several transmitters scattered around the state. We don't spend a lot of time channel surfing.)

Today I donned long underwear for the first time this winter. I'm sure everyone was eagerly awaiting this seasonal fashion statement from the Ozarks.

Jo unloaded her kiln from the bisque firing and waxed the bottoms of the pots so that she can glaze them tomorrow. The wax prevents glaze from sticking to the bottoms when she dips the pot into a bucket of glaze.

The wax she uses comes from a friend who makes candles. It's the extra wax he trims off his candles after removing them from the molds, making it a random mixture of various colors and scents. He remelts the wax into a large block before sending it on to various needy potters. The color of the wax ends up being a blackish purple -- kind of like a bad, deep bruise. As for the aroma wafting off the old electric skillet that Jo uses to keep the wax molten, think of the worst room air freshener you've ever smelled on steroids. The great thing about the wax is that it only costs a coffee mug or two.

Our temperature climbed to 46º today. Drizzle began during the evening.

Seedpod

Friday, 11/23/07

I ventured just a little ways down into the woods this afternoon, mainly just to take a few photos. Jo and I have continued taking our walks along the road leading out to the main county road and have stayed out of the woods due to modern weapons deer hunting season going on. I seems like deer season is running for a long time this year. The modern weapons portion began on November 10 and ran through November 18. It restarted on Thanksgiving day and will run through December 2. (Don't ask me why there was a 3-day hiatus. I don't know.)

When we walk in the woods, Jo and I spend a lot of time off our own 40 acres. All the land surrounding our place is owned by our neighbor, Jerry Joe. Jerry hunts, but due to several bad experiences in the past, rarely allows anyone else to hunt on his land. Walking in the woods would probably be safe, but when it comes to possibly getting shot, not taking any chances seems to be the most prudent course to follow.

They say that back in horse and wagon days, the old road in this photo used to be the main route off Star Mountain and down into Bear Creek Valley. I don't know if that's true or not, but it could be. The road does follow the bench above the creek all the way down to the valley, and there are old rock walls in various places along the route.

Twisted Pine

Bits and Pieces:

The temperature fell to 23º overnight. We had to thaw the rabbits' water bottles by the wood stove this morning.

With sunshine in the forecast, Jo washed a load of clothes this morning. She said her fingers got cold while hanging them out on the clothesline.

Jo finished up a bisque firing I started last night. Actually, the kiln is programed to start the firing itself. All I do is record the electric meter reading and turn on the exhaust fan. This is Jo's last bisque firing before our next show. If it's not thrown and fired by now, it's not going down to Little Rock with us.

Since the temperature was only forecast to remain below freezing for a short time period, we didn't do anything about protecting the studio water pipes from freezing. Jo said the water over there was a bit slow to start flowing this morning, but no real problems.

Jo fixed a pot of black turtle beans for lunch -- actually for several lunches. There just ain't no point in cooking a small pot of beans. I put some of the beans into the fridge and some into the freezer.

The little air compressor over in Jo's studio didn't want to run this morning. Actually, it ran but almost immediately tripped the breaker on the power strip into which she has it plugged. The power strip breaker is probably just barely big enough to run the compressor under the best of circumstances. With cold compressor oil it wouldn't do the job. Directing the air flow from a small electric heater onto the compressor for a while solved that problem.

We took our afternoon walk up to the gate and back without interruption today. The past couple of days we've encountered Jerry Joe either cutting firewood, deer hunting or tending to his cows. Rusty and Bucket always behave badly when we meet anyone on our walks, lots of barking and getting totally hyper. It's the "territory" thing. When we're away from our place they are usually pretty good.

Today's temperature topped out at 53º. Sunny skies, though it was starting to cloud up by sunset.

Friday, 11/23/07

Turkey Day Feast

Jo and I have a long and well-established history of not complying to societal expectations, but in honor of Thanksgiving we decided to go along with the flow and eat turkey on this special day.



The ground turkey spaghetti and butternut squash were delicious.

The fact is: Since there's just the two of us, we seldom celebrate holidays in anything remotely resembling the conventional manner. Usually, we just don't celebrate them at all. However, that does not mean that Jo and I do not have a lot to be thankful for.

We have each other. Our health is good. We have two dogs that think we can do anything. We have never had to do without food, shelter or clothing. We are living where we want to live and doing what we want to do. That's plenty to be thankful for in my book.

Turkey Day Feast