Thank you to our veterans

Today is Veteran's Day. Please remember to thank a vet for your freedom.

We can't forget the brave men and women who have served our country.

Nor will we forget the ones who won't be coming back.

Thank you to our veterans.

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

For an amazing photo tour of Ardennes American Cemetery in Liege, Belgium, where Don's uncle is buried, see this post.

Those amazing peas

Late in April, I planted peas in the garden. I duly harvested them in early August, and got a modest but delicious haul. On impulse, I decided to try a second planting, even though I knew it was risky in north Idaho since we never know when our first snow will fall.

Well, the peas grew. And grew, and grew, and grew. We've had several frosts, we've had the wettest October on record, we've had howling wind and driving rain and mild sunshine and every other fall weather issue you want to throw this way ... and still the peas are thriving. This planting has grown far healthier and lusher than the spring planting did.

From October 6:

From October 12:

From November 3:

Currently we're having a week of mild temperatures and weak sunshine, a very late Indian summer, and the peas look gorgeous. Well into November, the garden is buttoned up for winter, the beds are mulched and asleep -- and those amazing peas are gorgeous. I mean, look how vigorous and green and healthy these things are, with flowers and pods galore.

The pods, however, are maturing more slowly than they might otherwise in warmer temperatures. I'm not picking them yet because I want them to plump out some more. I suppose I could pick them flat and use them like snow peas, but I prefer to can up the peas themselves, so I'll wait.

Speaking of snow peas, a neighbor gave me a variety of overwintering snow pea. I'm always interested in stuff I can plant in the fall for a summer harvest, so I'll get these in the ground before the snow flies.

Let's hear it for those amazing peas!

Two is one, one is none

I wear glasses. I've worn them since I was ten years old. Without them, I am comically blind.

I wore contacts for many years, but as I've gotten older I got tired of fussing with them, so I reverted to wearing glasses exclusively.

About three years ago, I decided it was time to get my eyes checked (first time in well over ten years) as well as select some new frames at Costco. I was pleased to find my eyes hadn't gotten any worse since my last exam. Despite the expense, I decided to order three identical pairs of glasses.

Why three? Because we're preppers. Two is one, one is none. I put the two spare pairs aside and wore the third pair exclusively.

A few weeks ago, while working outside, I ran face-first into a head-high board I didn't see because my visor blocked it. Thankfully the visor squished down and protected my glasses, although it did splay them out a bit.

In fact, it splayed them enough that they were subsequently very loose on my face and kept sliding down or even falling off if I turned my head too fast. I decided next time I was in Costco I would see if they could be adjusted.

Then last night, in a moment of idleness, I thought perhaps I could tweak them back myself. I gently bent the frame -- and it snapped cleanly in half. "Aaack!" I shrieked.

Groping blindly upstairs to our bedroom, I fetched one of the spare pairs of glasses, and could see once again.

I'll take my broken pair back to Costco and see if they can be repaired, but I doubt it. Nor do I have hope they can simply slip my lenses into a new frame, since I'm sure the frames I got are now passé.

But I don't like being down to merely one spare pair of glasses ("one is none"), not for something as absolutely vital as my sight.

If, like me, you are utterly dependent on eyeglasses, keep this rule in mind: Two is one, one is none.

Chicken coop expansion, Part 1

Many years ago, we took down an old barn for a woman in our church. We salvaged most of the lumber and assorted accouterments, and this resulted in a rich source of old lumber we've used for endless projects.

One of the things we salvaged was an oddly-shaped little shed.


Don retrofitted the shed with salvaged glass windows and turned it into a tiny greenhouse.


We used it in this capacity for a couple of years...


...but discovered it was easier to start seedlings indoors on a shelving unit instead.

So the greenhouse fell out of use and became a sort of catch-all for assorted garden-related stuff: planting trays, pots, bird netting, that kind of thing. A couple of windows broke. It became an embarrassment.

But the shed itself was sturdy and we didn't want to just burn it. As a fall project, Don decided to use the shed to expand the chicken coop.

To back up a bit, last summer we started raising Jersey Giant chickens. So far we're very pleased with the breed: the males are large (suitable for butchering, although since we only have two mature roosters at the moment, we haven't done that; we have some young roosters we have earmarked for the pot), the hens are prolific layers, and I have never encountered a breed more likely to go broody than these ladies.

So we're slowly transitioning to an all-Jersey Giant flock. As our older assorted ladies die off, we won't be replacing them with other breeds.

We are also interested in expanding the flock: more layers (for egg sales) and more roosters (for meat birds). This means our current coop is too small. We need extra space; not only for the upcoming young layers, but also a place to separate maturing roosters, and a "brood" area for mamas and their babies.

As part of this expansion, we decided to utilize the old greenhouse shed. It will make an excellent brood coop.

We started by chaining up the shed and moving it out to the middle of the driveway, to make it easier to work on it.

Don stripped off the plywood siding and remaining windows...

...while I got busy cleaning out the junk inside.

Then he started roofing it with OSB (oriented strand board). He also put OSB siding on the shed, making it much stronger.

One of the disadvantages of the current chicken coop is its lack of windows. The birds have no natural lighting when they're inside. For this new little coop, Don installed one of the windows which had formerly been on the roof (when it was a greenhouse). Obviously it needs cleaning, but it will provide ample light inside. He plans to put hardware cloth (metal mesh) on both the inside and outside of the window to prevent breakage, and will also make a "storm window" for winter, for better insulation.

Then he removed the window (it was just a "fitting" in the above photo) and finished retrofitting the shed with OSB.

Our plan was to snug the shed against the outer wall of the existing coop. However this couldn't be accomplished without first cleaning out all the junk which tends to accumulate on any farm. (See what I mean by "embarrassing"?)

Heavier things were lifted en masse with the tractor. Heavens, what did we ever do without this tool?

Soon the only thing left to remove were two posts, sunk deep into the ground, left over from an abandoned project years ago.

Once again, the tractor helped.

Then it was time to shove the shed into place...

...using, what else, the tractor.

First Don pushed the shed from one direction until it was just about level with the chicken coop wall.

Then he pushed it from the other direction...

...until it snugged up against the building.

We still have lots to do to make the coop extension habitable, including bolting the addition to the wall. But that will be a future blog post (Part 2). For the moment, at least, we're making progress.

BookBag -- beginning and end

When Older Daughter went to New Jersey a year ago for her job as a live-in nanny, she immediately began exploring all the options to indulge in one of the overriding Lewis passions: books. In short order, she found every local library and bookstore (both new and used), and treated herself to numerous online purchases.

One of the things she signed up for was a service called BookBag. The idea behind this little business was charming. They would look over your reading preferences, then shop for used books that fit your interests. Every other month, three surprise books would be shipped to your doorstep.

Here's how they describe the service:

BookBag is an eco-friendly handpicked used book subscription box that lets you indulge your bookworm habits while catering to exactly your taste and budget. BookBag is as fun and simple as sharing books with a best friend. "You loved this? Well, then you should read this!"

Older Daughter raved about this service for months. She was expanding her reading repertoire because of the new (well, used) books they sent. She said only once did she receive a book she didn't enjoy. Everything else was terrific.

So I decided to give it a try. Older Daughter said I should be as careful and clear and thorough as possible in making a Good Reads profile (which BookBag utilized to make reading choices). I filled in the appropriate information on the website covering my tastes and interests. The first shipment was due to arrive around the beginning of November.

And then ... something sad happened. I received notice that BookBag was going out of business (it was "unsustainable"), and the first shipment I would receive would also be my last.

Sure enough, yesterday I received the box.

It was like opening a Christmas present, since each book was individually wrapped, with a twine cord and a hand-written note. Classy classy classy.

Based on my reading preferences, these are the three books they chose for me:

I've dipped into The Oregon Trail and so far it's excellent.

The books came with a charming hand-written note:

I, for one, am very very sorry to see this service go under, though based on the amount of personal work that went into it, I'm not surprised it was called unsustainable.

Does anyone know of a similar service available?

And so it begins...

In a moment of giddiness, some friends and I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month -- once again.

NaNoWriMo, for those unfamiliar with it, is a push for participants to write a 50,000-word book in 30 days, which amounts to 1666 words per day (unless you're foolish enough to skip a day, in which case you have to add the skipped tally to the next day).

We've done this before, and it's always a wild wacky ride during which you force yourself to write something, anything, often by the seat of your pants. Today is the first day of November -- and so it begins.

Anyone else participating?