Save Money By Knitting Your Swifter Refill

I subscribe to my friends feeds over at Ravelry and look at what popped up today! Like most people nowadays, I try to save money where I can and I am a big fan of Swifter type mops. But the refills are very expensive, so apart from devising our own cheaper cleaning solution I think this knit mop refill pattern over at The Fickle Knitter will be perfect! Those refills are not cheap either. The bumps in the stitches should provide the needed friction and now that I think of it, I may modify the pattern to be garter stitch for more friction. When done I can simply wash the wool in the sink or bucket. Has anyone tried this? Do you think making it in garter stitch is a better idea?

Use Your Imagination

And speaking of knitting, I had this crazy idea. Anyone ever knit wind chimes? They are often so pretty but I can't stand that chiming noise. Is this a totally ridiculous idea? I know some people hang them because they look pretty but the noise would drive me batty.


This is close but not quite what I had in mind. I found this over at KnitWriteCookGo.

Some Sold Wool Comes Back as Yarn

Suzanne is a gal that I sold two fleeces to this past April. She has also reserved a few more for next year. She recently sent me some yarn from one of those fleeces. She spun it up with some tencel after she had dyed the fleece with red dye. The wool is a charcoal wool with some white fibers that take up dye to make an interesting heathery look. Isn't it lovely? She also sent a lovely card and wrapped around it was a piece of yarn that she spun from the other fleece she purchased. This was the moorit (brown) colored fleece. This is an excellent fleece, one that I have previously kept for myself. Part of the reason it is of such high quality is that this ewe's grand ram was the Big E Fair champion. I love to see what other spinners have done with my wool and am always thrilled when they send samples. Thank you Susanne!

Make sure you check out her MySpace where she plays a lovely rendition of Danny Boy. She has quite a collection of old instruments at home such as the dulcimer and is a wonderful musician.

My Headphones Bit The Dust

Our wireless headphones bit the dust. Those are the ones pictured with the cat in this photo. They were working just fine and then all of a sudden nada. Does anyone have a good recommendation for wireless headphones that last a little more than a few years? The quality has to be excellent. The lighter the better, kind of like those you use with MP3 players. I think these were only a three years old. Maybe that's a long life?

Alex Tiller's Farm Blog

As anyone knows who reads this blog, I am very interested in agriculture, and my feed reader overflows with many blogs concerned with farming and agriculture. Some are more general and some are more focused. Some are issue oriented and some are just entertaining. I plan on reviewing some of my favorite ones soon.

I was asked to review Alex Tiller's Farm Blog and I have to say it is a most interesting blog. This is an issue oriented blog and I was immediately drawn by a banner that said, "Buy Fresh. Buy Local." This, folks is going to be the wave of the future because it will be the only way we can afford to eat. Trucking food thousands of miles away no longer makes sense with the cost of fuel nowadays. The emphasis on fresh produce is also growing as is the need to see where exactly your food is coming from.

Alex's blog talks about this topic as well as the Farm Bill and other issues and it is clear that he is a strong advocate for the survival of hands on farming. I enjoyed this quote he borrowed from Dwight D. Eisenhower: “ Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field." This blog is an informative, fun and easy read and definitely worth a visit.

Gardening in 40 Degrees!

Ok this weather is just plain silly. It looks like we are making up for some much needed rain but 40 degrees? Puhleeeze! And we had a nice big frost last night. The tomatoes are sulking, but the red lettuce and cabbage appear happy enough. Can't seem to find any sign of the other two varieties of lettuce that I planted. The Black Zucchini's are actually starting to bloom in the house! I don't dare put them out until later this week. I'm told the temps may actually go up into the 70's again. I won't hold my breath.

Usually by this time I have flowers near the patio furniture but after the marigolds froze their little heads off I am waiting to put more flowers out.

Some neat things did happen yesterday despite the cold. A Blue Heron that often visits our pond, stood in a shallow area and wasn't moving a muscle. Obviously he had his eyes on some fish. But there was a Redwinged Blackbird nest nearby and both birds were dive bombing this heron who still didn't move an inch. It was fun to watch and I found myself wishing that I had a huge zoom lens on my camera to share it with all of you. As I went back inside I saw two Ravens in the pasture. They were HUGE.

We Bought a New Sofa!

Our attention has been turned towards the cabin even though this weather is not conducive to even thinking about boating. As we look at our checklist, adjustable beds are always a good thing so we have some flexibility when guests come to visit. We are modifying one of the bunks. And speaking of furniture we bought a new couch on Sunday! We must have sat down on EVERY couch in the showroom that had recliners at either end. I am fairly tall so I needed a tall back, and lumbar support was key. If I could slide my hand behind the small of my back that couch was out. The couch we picked was heavenly and it has a nice center section for the cat (forget the kids!). Actually Dan prefers the floor and Mike sits on the other couch. Naturally it was the most expensive model but you get what you pay for I guess. I can't wait for it's arrival on Thursday! But it's going to mean some rearranging of my fiber things. I will have to find a new place for my spinning wheel and my piles of yarn and fiber. Ugh. That's because the couch that is presently in the family room is coming out into the living room and we are giving away that sofa.

Father's Day

Father's Day is coming soon and don't shy away from the idea of a gift basket just because we are talking guys here. There are plenty of choices that suit the male of the species just fine. In a few days I will post some ideas similar to my Mother's Day Gift Ideas post. So stay tuned and thanks to those of you who ordered from my links.

Slow and Not Steady

Slowly but surly. Does anyone knit any slower than I do?
A few more inches on the sleeve, another sleeve and then it's time to sew it together, an endeavor I am dreading, as sewing seams are definitely not my forte.

I've decided that cotton is definitely not my favorite yarn to work with.

Subway Series

The New York Mets trounced the Yankees two games in a row in the subway Series this weekend with one game left to go later today. Last night's game was amazing with the final score being 11-2 despite a blatant error by one of the umps which lost them a 3 run homer! The ump actually overruled the other umpire when the ball ricocheted off the foul pole. the pitcher, Perez was brilliant and Jose Reyes came out of his slump with a homer in both games.

Which Car?

We are still on the hunt for a new car in preparation for the demise of the 150,000 miles plus Nissan Sentra. Trucks are definitely out even though I really like the Ford grill but gas mileage is on the top of the priority list. We are thinking about the Prius hybrid as much as I dislike the look of that car, and the Dodge Vibe. One year old cars of either model will be great But I doubt there will be any used Prius cars out there. If anyone knows of good mileage cars with high marks from Consumer Reports, please point me in that direction.

Shell's Eco-Marathon

Since we surly are all suffering from gas price shock how about a car that gets 7,000 miles to the gallon? Head on over to Today's Gizmos and check out the winner of the Shell Eco-marathon. Yep you read it right. Shell. Somehow Shell and Eco just don't go together in my mind.
We may be looking at $5 gallons by August.

Prom Night

Dan went to the Greene Central School prom last night with his girlfriend who goes to that school. It was the first time we've seen him in a tux. Don't they both look smashing? Dan's vest and tie match Bethany's dress.


In July Dan, his girlfriend and her parent's are going to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. They won't need Outer Banks rentals because they have been invited by friends of his girlfriend's parents. Lucky him, I say. I wish I could go too. They will be staying in a huge house on the ocean.

Techno-Kitty

Most of the members of this household are technologically savvy including, as you can see below, the resident kitty.


He is nestled among the electronics and thinking about using the wireless headphones. That's actually one of his favorite spots to hangout, on the home theater carpet. I think he likes all the gadgets. What amazes me about the animals is their complete lack of annoyance when I blast the sound system. They don't even leave the room. I guess they like it.

Local Baseball

Mike at bat

Leading off first

Coming home

Baseball season here at home is in full swing. Mike didn't hit too well last year but this year his bat is connecting very well. He had 5 RBI in this game against Cinncinatus. I do find the emphasis on men's fashion quite amusing. I mean they have to have designer underwear for heaven's sakes! You can't have fake Underarmour. Oh no, it has to be the real $30 deal. How did Babe Ruth manage in the old days?

Can You Guess the Franchise?

I was randomly perusing the net last night when I came across a franchise opportunity that sounded interesting. But as I was researching further I found a list of names that have been used for the various businesses out there and it was rather amusing. I bet you couldn't guess what some of them are. Here are just a few:

The Crack Team
My Girl Friday
Wholly Crap

Leave your guesses in the comments!

Who Is This Creature?

What would we do without the joy of animals? Just look at this dog. He never ceases to make me laugh. He is upside down, asleep in his kennel, resting his snout on his food dish. Too funny.

Great Firefox Utility

I have numerous uses for this great Mozilla Firefox browser plugin that I found. It splits your browser so that for example you can be answering comments in one half of your browser while reading them in the other half. There are numerous other things I do that are made much easier by splitting the screen. I do a lot of referencing and writing. This makes it much easier than constantly switching between tabs. I love it! You can download it for free here.
This is just a fantastic utility and I bet students would find it especially useful.

My Latest Pond Residents Are Very Cute

I had a wonderful surprise this morning when I went out to do barn chores. There were 6 goslings floating around the pond with their parents. Check them out over at The Other Side of New York.

This Crockpot Recipe Was A Hit

I am a fan of easy when it comes to cooking and this dish which is a modification of a recipe I found online was a hit at the FFA banquet last Saturday and a hit with the family as well. It's cheap, and a fix-it-and-forget-it type of meal.

It doesn't have a good name though so if you are so inclined feel free to leave a name in the comments.

2 cans creamed corn
Optional Addition- 1 can kernel corn
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
Optional- 2 cans garlic flavored cream of mushroom soup instead of regular
I bag hash browns
1/2 to 1 cup green and red peppers diced
1 Polish Kielbasa sliced into bite size pieces

Mix soup and creamed corn together and add to crockpot. Add peppers, sliced kielbasa, bag of hash browns, salt and pepper to taste, and mix thoroughly. Cook on low 8-10 hours until potatoes are soft.

That's it! Enjoy!

NAIS

I find myself being sorry that I ever signed up for the Voluntary Scrapie program many years ago because now I am automatically a member of The National Animal Identification System, NAIS. Any of you livestock farmers out there are already familiar with NAIS which is basically the government's way of keeping tabs on our animals and adding more cost to the already overburdened farmer. With all the intrusiveness and bungling that is indicative of the government today it makes me nervous that they know anything at all about me or my farm. Heck it sounds like a national ID card is on the way for citizens, similar to a medical id. I am against the idea. Someone always manages to turn this kind of thing around and use it against us.

Engineering Schools

I have been reading a lot about colleges lately since my son will be looking in earnest next year. I found a very handy list in my internet travels yesterday. It was USA's top colleges list and they had a page on the top engineering schools. I was surprised to see that the University of Rochester was not in the top 100 for engineering schools even though it's in the top 35 for colleges overall in the US. But what was more interesting was the acceptance rate to some of the best colleges. Truly ridiculous. I guess you have to be nothing short of a genius to get into those. Here is a sample.

2	Harvard University (MA)	9%	one
1	Princeton University (NJ)	10%
4	Stanford University (CA)	11%
7	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	13%

The thing I find unfair is that each college has a certain demographic they want in their class and even if you have fantastic SATs and a killer GPA, if you don't bring the right mix of background, personality and extra curriculars, you just won't get into the class.

So each of these colleges is in the top 100 or better for engineering schools in New York State. Suny Buffalo, RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst), RIT (Rochester Institute of technology), Syracuse University and Cornell (which is the closest to us and has a very low acceptance rate).

The big question remains as to what type of engineering Dan wants to do. He is great with electronics and mechanical stuff. He loves doing the sound systems and setting up electrical equipment. The highest paid engineers according to this article are chemical at almost 60K a year and Computer at $56,200 a year for starting salaries. Decisions decisions...

But the good news is engineers are in huge demand. There is a severe shortage, so much so that they are being imported from outside the country.

Any engineers out there, please feel free to chime in with advice about your particular field.

Money Saving Advice For paying Bills

Postage has gone up yet again so this is a good time to remind you that you can save significantly both in time and cash by paying bills online. Heck it's almost a dollar now to mail two letters! Not only do you save money in postage but you save in envelopes and checks, and they aren't cheap either. Also the time savings is huge. I can pay 10 bills in about a minute. I can't write a single check and address an envelope that quickly. If your bank charges a fee to pay bills go see the manager and tell them to waive it. That's what I did. I told them that both my kids have an account, and we have both a checking and savings account. That's 4 accounts. I said remove the charge or I will go to another bank. They did. Try it, it might work for you. Anyone who still uses paper checks to pay bills is wasting money and time. Even with a $5 monthly fee it' still cheaper now to pay bills online. We use NBT.

Corrosive Water?

Does anyone have this problem? We have stainless steel faucets that are having the coating gradually eaten away by the water. They kind of lose their shine and get discolored. Granted they are 15 years old now but is that normal or is it our water? The same thing happens to the base of our bathroom mirrors. Corrosive water? Yikes!

One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other

One of these things just doesn't belong (remember that from Sesame Street?)



This cat is a constant source of entertainment. He is just too funny ensconced among the CAT6 cable and various wires and computer items. The problem is he launched himself on to that perch from the printer paper tray below, so I hope I don't have paper feed issues now. He also rejected yet another brand of canned cat food this morning. He is so finicky! The vet told me to give him a little canned food along with his expensive special care dry food that you can only get from the vet, to help his urinary tract stay healthy. Only I can't find a brand that he will stick with more than a few days. It's a good thing he is so cute.

Life is Never Dull on A Farm

Life on a farm is never dull. This morning I went to feed the sheep and one of the first time moms was down. I got her up and she was shaky. I noticed that her udders were pretty swollen while all the other ewes had bags that were shrinking. I grabbed one of the kids and we moved her into a stall by herself. I didn't notice any lumps or any discoloration but I did call the vet and he said to give her 8-10 adult aspirin 2 times a day to relieve the inflammation, and 9 cc's of injectable penicillin 2 times a day also in case of mastitis. I am hoping she I didn't know about giving aspirin.
I had been thinking recently how smoothly lambing and it's aftermath had been this year. I was thinking too soon. But the prognosis is good so I am hopeful she will be just fine.


Last week we put the mowing deck on the Kubota. You should have seen us try this for the very first time a few years ago when we first got the tractor. It was hilarious. Of course now we are old pros but back then we couldn't figure out how to get the tractor up high enough and it would keep sinking down to the ground. You see what we do is take a 4x4, and lay the tractor bucket on it. Then we lift the tractor's front wheels off the ground by pushing the bucket down. When the wheels lift up, we have access to the underside of the tractor. The boys then push and manoeuvre the mowing deck underneath which can be tricky because of the wheels. Then we attach the various attachments and lower the tractor. Then the bucket gets removed and the tractor becomes much lighter and easier to drive! Let the mowing begin. I am tempted to let the sheep do the whole thing with the price of diesel and gas these days.

The tractor with it's bucket, back blade and very wide mowing deck is an expensive piece of equipment and rather than take out a policy just on the tractor, similar to car insurance, we have a farm policy that covers not only the tractor but the other farm equipment, the truck, the livestock and the barn. Believe it or not the rates we pay for the farm insurance are better than any of the other major carriers in the state. Our cars actually cost less as well as they are with the same company.