Penncrest Sewing Machine

This wonderful piece of machinery was passed on to me a few weeks ago. What is it exactly? It’s a 1971!! Penncrest sewing machine that works like a charm and has not a dent or ding on it. Complete with sewing table and all the accessories I could ever need. …

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Lights out…again.

As if we needed another reminder that winter is well on its way we’ve started the season of frequent power outages. One was due to a storm which means we were prepared for it. Heavy rains and strong winds of 40+mph are almost a guaranteed outage in our area. Another two outages …

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Priming T1-11 on the garage

As most are aware we replaced t1-11 on our garage.. I guess I should say add more T1-11 to the garage 🙂 The T1-11 we used was primed, however since this side gets sun all day in summer and most of the day in winter I decided I wanted to …

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Heavy rains in mountains of california

Last weekend California experienced heavy rains, and high speed winds and those of us in the mountains got even more! We received over 4″ of rain, and winds approaching 30mph where we are located. Power went out for about 8 hours, and we were able to put the Honda EU2000i …

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Parking next to garage

The area next to the garage always has had a narrow flat walk way, and a small gradual hill to the flat area about 4′ higher. This area is pretty useless for storing anything bigger than a couple trash cans, or a work bench. Even the ATVs were too big …

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Replacing T1-11 on the garage

The garage probably has the original paint, and original T1 11 siding on it from 1985 and was maybe fixed up once or twice since. Needless to say it needed repair! What started out with plans to sand, and re-paint the garage quickly turned into removing the old siding and …

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Honda EU2000i Generator Usage & Plans

After spending almost a week without power, and an old generator last winter we decided it was time to upgrade to a more sensitive device friendly unit. The only high power items in our house are our well, and our dryer. Other than tools in the shop these are the …

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Blocking knits

Thought I’d share my latest crochet project because it involved a new step for me. This is the first project I’ve made that required the shaping and blocking step. This scarf was blocked in segments because I didn’t have a piece of cardboard large enough to accommodate it’s length. Since this piece …

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Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Fall is here, days are shorter, cooler and the rain has started. Few things are more comforting on a cold rainy day than some hearty, home cooked food. The rain put a hold on outside projects so my Sunday was now open for an indoor activity. Homemade chicken pot pie …

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Concrete driveway removal with the M59

With winter approaching it’s been top priority to make the garage more water proof than in the years past. When we purchased our home it didn’t have a garage door on one side and the other was an old wooden door that was warped enough to allow cats in and …

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Crocheted Owl

This little crocheted amigurimi owl was a project I stumbled on while searching for a  Crochet Today pattern for something else. He’s so charming I just had to make one. For those not familiar, amigurimi is the art of creating small stuffed creatures from crocheted pieces. Mr Owl stands about …

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Made From Scratch…a memoir.

Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich is an entertaining glimpse into the life of a self sufficient woman. In 180 pages she breaks down major points of self sufficiency (raising chickens, gardening, beekeeping, sewing, rabbits, etc.) into dedicated chapters then breaks it down even …

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Stacking Firewood

Well Autumn is officially here and days before rainfall are numbered, as if we dont always feel the pressure of winter looming over our heads. We had a spare pair of hands to help us today as we moved our freshly delivered firewood, sorted, and stacked it. The tractor was …

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First and only Nectarine

For those of you who haven’t followed our garden this year, we brought home 6 fruit trees in the spring, one of which is a lovely dwarf nectarine tree. There was a single nectarine growing when we got it and FINALLY about 2 weeks ago the tiny little guy was …

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Whole Grain Pastry Flour Carrot Cake

I grabbed a bag of Arrowhead Mills whole grain pastry flour while at the local grocery store. It was new to me, looked intriguing and I wanted to try it. I pulled up Arrowhead Mill’s website for recipes and found this fantastic recipe for extremely moist pineapple raisin carrot cake …

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