Ravenwood Cottage

White Christmas at the Cottage

I did not plan any activities for Christmas this year. I contemplated putting up a tree this year, but when I weighed the expense of a real tree and the hassle of decorating it and then taking it down, it just didn’t seem worth the expended energy. I thought that maybe Mother might enjoy having a tree, she is getting older and I want to make life as pleasant as possible for her; but she pretty much felt the same way I did…just too much work. I have had a fresh cold for several days now and haven’t really felt too well. Sneezing, coughing and just feeling tired so that was another excuse for just not doing it.

 
It has been unusually cold again for long stretches and the propane tank needs filling about every 3-4 weeks. Thank goodness I have a long standing relationship with the supplier so that I don’t need a zero balance on my account before they refill the tank again. Most of the country is suffering under blizzard conditions and bitter cold. Even Georgia is expecting a white Christmas, unheard of since 1882! Gretchen is working at the Hospital thru the holidays and I worry about her driving in ice and snow. Christmas Day saw snow covering the North Georgia Mountains and we got about an inch in our yard. Reading the posts of friends on Facebook showed that some were unable to get back home due to bad weather. At least they were snowed in with family.

Lunar Eclipse

Loretta has gone out of state to visit family for Christmas, so I went to Beth’s house tonight and worked on cutting out pieces for my Civil War Anniversary Quilt. Beth set up an area in her basement with tables so we could stitch, crop or quilt there in lieu of going to Loretta’s freezing Church in Locust Grove. I got one entire month of the ‘block of the month’ quilt cut out for assembly. My back was hurting after bending over the table to cut the fabric so I just sat and we chatted for a bit before I went home.

Tonight is a rare occurrence; a total lunar eclipse on the Winter Solstice, this event has not happened since 1638. Unfortunately it is cloudy in our area so I don’t think I will set the clock to awaken me at 2:45 am. We are expecting some rain and the cloud cover is pretty thick tonight. It seems many astrological happenings are occurring recently and more to come in the next few years. I hope all the worry about serious earth changes for December 2012 is for naught.

Working at the Dry Pack Cannery

I had the opportunity to go with members of the Griffin Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the dry pack cannery today. I went in late Septmeber this year and procured a large stock of long term packaged basics for my needs; such as red wheat, oatmeal, white rice and powdered milk. Today I was taking several non-member friends who are affiliated with me on the American Preppers Network, Georgia State Group. I told my friends that though the canning process could be a bit messy, the whole experience would be rewarding and fun; and it was.

My friends were coming from several different directions in the Atlanta area so we all met at the cannery located in Tucker, Georgia, on the east side of Atlanta. What a gloomy cold day Saturday was, temps in the low 40’s and drizzle to down right rain most of the day. Late afternoon even brought heavy fog, not a good day for travel but none the less we all were there ready to work at 8:30 am. I was honored to be asked to give the opening prayer for our groups efforts. The building felt chilly at first but we soon warmed up with the activity of stocking our canning stations and the actual labor of canning.

Our bulk order supplies had already been pulled for us and sat awaiting proccessing on a large wooden pallet. Sanitized tubs held our number 10 metal cans for filling with the variety of dry food stuffs we were preserving. A few of the items our group dry packed were: Black beans, Pinto beans, White beans, Oatmeal, Dried onions, Powdered milk and Cocoa Mix, White Rice and Macaroni. We worked steadily to accomplish our task as another group was scheduled to follow us at 10:00 am. Right on time we finished and did our clean up by washing out the tubs, wiping down tables and equipment and sweeping and mopping the work areas.

The canning proceedure was broken down into individual station activities performed by workers . The cans were filled with the food item to be packaged, an oxygen absorber and lid added, then the cans were sealed on the canning machine. Cans were then passed off to be labeled with the name of the food inside and date of canning. The processed items were stacked in the order processing area where prefilled order sheets for each person were selected and filled. Orders were placed in cardboard boxes which held 6 number 10 cans each, labeled with the contents and purchasers’ name. The whole process went off without a hitch and soon we were ready to load our efforts into our vehicles.

I posted a couple of photos of me working in the cannery. One of my friends that came to work today is a professional photographer and took many pictures. She is burning me a CD so I will have lots of photos to scrapbook, yahoo! Once again the camera does not like me and I look rather silly; but as a

 

scrapbooker I take what photos I get gratefully and use them to document my life and to share with family and friends. I hope I don’t really look as homely as the camera portrays me, and if I am…well I do have a good spirit.

Bitter Winter Winds Blow...

Today certainly feels like winter. While the mid western United States is suffering with blizzards and record snowfalls, Georgia is expecting some flurries and very low temperatures for the next 72 hours. The wind has howled most of the day, whistling round the corners of the Cottage and making the crisp leaves fly in whirlwinds. A wind advisory is posted for most of Georgia today and I saw tiny snowflakes drifting down for a good part of the afternoon. North Georgia is due for several inches of snow accumulation.

Gretchen was on call this weekend at the Hospital but did not have to report for work. We were glad that no one had any place they had to be today and we could stay snug at home. Yesterday Gretchen and I hauled up three lawn wagons full of firewood to add to the stack already on the front porch. I lit the first fire of the season today, the well dried wood caught flame easily and soon the smoky wood smell wafted through the air. I am sure the neighbors enjoyed smelling it as much as I did; nothing is as comforting as a wood fire. Olivia, my house cat, has spent most of the evening perched on the footstool nearest the fire napping. The living room is toasty warm thanks to the simmering embers. Olivia and Fritz both enjoyed sniffing the firewood; one only dreams of all the individual odors they detect from the logs.

Mid morning I put on a sauce pan of ground beef, garlic, onions and green peppers to sauté for home made spaghetti sauce. It cooked gently all day and the house smelled redolent with the spicy sauce. It was deliciously warming on such a cold evening. Also I was suddenly inspired to put a Dundee Cake in the oven to bake; it has been a really long time since I baked us such a nice treat. How yummy it will be tomorrow with a cup of hot tea.

While I was on Facebook games playing my latest obsession, Cityville, I saw Marsha was online. I just had to instant chat and find out if she was having snowfall too. She said it was bitterly cold but no snow yet. I had to chuckle out loud when she told me that her life size Santa Claus standing guard on the front porch had been blown over several times this morning by the heavy winds. Santa is motion activated to talk and move his arms and the whirling winds have kept his automatic chatter and arm waving going all day Marsha said. She often mistakes him for someone playing antics outside her door.

I am hoping that Loretta will not want to crop tomorrow night as the high tomorrow is barely going to reach freezing! Beth was organizing in her basement craft room so we could crop there and said the space was quite warm, but oh my how miserable it will be just to get out and drive there. Maybe even Loretta will declare it too cold to leave home…I can dream can’t I?

Too Cold to Crop

It was really hard to see my dear friend, Marsha, move the first of November from the Stockbridge, Ga. area to Erwin, Tn. Even though we might only see each other on our regular Monday night cropping session, we ‘knew’ we could get together if we wanted to. Our crops had been held at the clubhouse in her subdivision; when she relocated Loretta, another scrapbooking friend, volunteered her small church as our meeting place.

 

We usually bring our supper from home or stop and purchase fast food and share a meal before we start our crafting, later we may boil water for hot cocoa or tea. Loretta uses the Creative Memories line of scrapbook products and travels with everything she owns to a crop. Too much weight for me to want to bring; I guess I learned to travel light after so many years of taking everything but the kitchen sink to my needlework seminars..lol. As I have gotten older I transport as little as possible even though I fret if I don’t have the proper color cardstock or embellishment with me.

 

 

 
This week the building was almost too cold to be comfortable in even with the heat on low, the old brick holds the cold. I dressed warmly and Beth brought a small electric heater which she and I snuggled close to, but it still was chilly. We could hear the wind swirling around the corners of the mill and when darkness fell…so did the temperatures inside. Finally at 8:30 we decided it was time to pack up and go home. I told Loretta if it was this cold next week, I sadly will not be coming! I had a sore throat and Beth had an earache for a day or so afterwards. The brisk arctic air snatched at our hair and jackets as we loaded up our supplies to drive home. I was so grateful for the heater in my little car and knowing I had a warm house to come home to.

Grain Mill on Order

Most of my friends and family know that I have a real testimony when it comes to preparedness and food storage. Wheat crop failures worldwide, climbing food prices here in America and just the general worry about the quality of our food stuffs has spurred me in the last year or so to focus on stocking my pantry well. I have ordered long term packaged wheat from the Latter Day Saints Provident Living web site as well as going to the dry pack cannery in Tucker, Georgia and processing wheat for storage.

The large stockpile of wheat that my family preserved 30 years ago had been stored in questionable conditions, so I decided to replace the wheat. I worried that I did not have a hand grain mill to grind the wheat should the need arise but seemed to postpone acquiring the mill over and over; “I just can’t afford it” I would say to myself. Mother finally said, “Just order the mill and we will pay for it over the course of a few months. It is better to have it and not need it…than to need it and not have it.” Gratefully I ordered the long desired mill! I knew that if I ever hoped to be able to grind the wheat into decent flour for baking bread and such I would need a sturdy dependable mill. I had heard good reviews on the Country Living Grain Mill so that was the mill I chose. I confess I am a bit concerned where I will mount the mill so that I can use it, but will put my thinking cap on and come up with a solution or ask online at some of the food storage website message boards for suggestions. That is one less thing for me to fret about, whew.