A nice week of visiting family

At this writing Daniel and Crys' Dad, Glen, have come and gone. Sis, Christie, and our niece, Autum, are here through the weekend. It's been pretty darned nice. We're just chilling this morning, kicking back and letting the morning move through. They'll go see Grandma today and I'll go to work, and we'll meet back up later this evening.

It's good.

Starting a new chapter of sorts.

It's Christmas Day.

We have family in town for the holiday. Crys' Dad and Brother, our Niece and sis. Some today, some tomorrow but all for the next week or so. It makes for a nice, slightly crowded, happy, visity holiday.

We've had snow twice in the last 4 days. Luckily, so far, the breaks in the weather have let folks drive in and arrive safely. Tomorrow I'll go up to pick up niece and sis in Denver. At 7 PM. The weather stations say it'll be clear and good for that trip. I sure hope so. It'll be nice to see them.

This morning I was up at 5 shoveling snow. It's kind of a lot of area to cover, but I do enjoy the process. First a path to the solar building, then the 24 solar panels, then the back, side and front decks (900 square feet) then the path to the creek, the path along the creek and the sitting area by the fire ring. After that I shovel out the chicken yard and a path to it. I follow that with a nice hot cuppa joe.

Sometimes it's one of us that shovels, sometimes it's another. Today it was me. Crys made a great coffee cake for breakfast with her dad and brother. Auntie and Unk got ahold of us to wish us a happy Christmas. We adore them. Don't get better family than that. Crys' mom called and that was nice too. Now Dad has taken off to Colorado Springs for a couple days and Daniel and we are chilling and listening to Christmas music. I'm on call for work, but what else is new? :D

The new chapter in the title refers to a risk and expense we've decided to pursue. Today I signed up for the associate level solar installer certification program offered by Solar Energy International in Paonia, Colorado. It is two online classes and a certification test. Following that I'll pursue one of 3 full level certifications. Battery based solar, grid tied solar or developing world solar. I'm leaning toward the developing world battery based solar certification, that would let us travel in retirement and be of use to people. Updates as conditions warrant. If nothing else, I'll understand our own solar better and be able to make it work at top capacity.

BTW, the solar mom and dad help Crys and I put up last July was cranking out over 70 amps to the battery bank this morning. That's pretty much ideal.

It's looking like a white Christmas around here.

We're up this morning checking the intertubes for the lastest.

It's snowing. It snowed a couple days ago, and it's snowing again. Then it's supposed to be clear for 3 days or so before it snows again. That's good, we have family coming in for the holiday, with one set showing up tomorrow (Friday) and me or Crys driving to Denver on Monday for the other set. Sometimes the driving in the snow can be a bit nervy.

I've been out and swept off the solar once already today and it's building back up. Looks like it'll be a most of the day chore. This will be a good test for the new panel system. We'll see how we end up today. The wood stove is going, since there'll be no passive solar heating today, and we have to work out at some point before I leave for work around noon. Maybe today I'll leave closer to 1. :D I do get a bit of flexibility.

OK, enough of the sitting around. I think I'll go sweep.

Inching toward the holiday

We're much looking forward to having our family out for the Christmas holiday. Crys' dad and brother along with our niece and her mom will be out right around the 26th and for a bit after. It's interesting trying to coordinate everything so that all get a chance to visit and also so we don't end up feeling overwhelmed. We kinda like our solitude, a dose of holiday overage is probably just what the doctor ordered.

We've been getting ready by inches and degrees. The weather is still oddly warm but that should be changing some time today. Yesterday we decorated the tree out in the yard, star and all. It's a Juniper tree, and they don't really have a place to put up a star. Yesterday morning found us crouched on the living room floor with an old aluminum broom handle (8' long) and a pile of coat hangers. We built an armature of the coat hangers, then taped it to the broom handle and then put lights on our new star. The broom handle got taped to the juniper tree along with an extension cord, then we plugged in the LED lights and wrapped the tree. We're pleased with it and it adds a neat holiday flair up here where everyone is off grid.

Time to get back to wrapping presents and decorating the pine tree I cut off the powerline right of way earlier this week. Sure, it's a bit Charlie Brown, but we likes it.

boiling boiler

The boiler repair job went well. Just had a couple little things to jury rig and it all went back together just fine. Kinda cool, now we can leave the house without worrying that the whole thing will freeze solid. That was pretty much the big thing for the day.

Today I put the new tire on the car and put all its flotsam back together, then I put the spare on the truck, I have to go put a new tire on that rim tomorrow. I got the floor jacks put in the car and truck, as I have an intense dislike of scissor jacks. The one on the truck had just worn out, I'll have to keep my eye out for a larger one on sale for the pickup. Then we brought in all the Christmas stuff and I wrapped up the few presents I've got here for Crystal.

Crys worked on boxes and business stuff for part of the day, we cleaned up the house a bit and now we're taking our Ancestry DNA tests to send in which will be followed by a bath.

It's a big day around here.

The google machine triumphs again!

We have a backup hot water baseboard boiler system for heat in the house. Part of that system includes a pressure limiter and backflow prevention device. The backflow device is prone to leaking over time and ours did just that. This is problematic in that the leaking requires more water into the system which, in turn, leads to the pump running which draws the batteries down which makes the generator run.

So I had to find a new part. I ordered one, but the specific set up on it was just different enough that I'd have had to sweat pipe in a close location. Not really my favorite thing, setting the house on fire. :D

It took me almost a year of hunting to find the exact same brand name and configuration for the part. And now I have it. This morning I'll put it on and the world will rejoice.

Warm inside, cold outside.

Figured it'd be better and make more sense for the post below if someone could actually see the snow :D

Last weekend of the vacation

We got a little snow over the last few days. It's nice to finally have our friend, Winter, settle in to stay for a few months. We managed to get all cleaned up outside before everything got covered with its seasonal blanket of white. A giant pile of split wood is dry and stacked under cover of the shed. Our new pile of solar panels and inverters are giving us enough power to stay entertained and working away, even when it's cloudy. The little kitty we re-homed ran off as soon as we let him out. After a couple weeks he has decided to let us know he's still out there. He's sitting outside windows and chatting with our 2 indoor kitties, I think they're making friends. And he left a perfectly outlined, my melt, kitty foot print on the welcome mat at the back door.

I haven't gotten the usual amount of things done on this vacation. I don't really mind. We did get the corners of the house cleaned up, had a great holiday meal with friends, put new glass in 2 of the entry doors, and finally got to have a home-vacation. We've cooked and cleaned and walked and chilled in front of the TV.

Pretty sure I like that.

So we have today and tomorrow to get our last chilling out done before I go back to work and probably work every single day till the Christmas holiday. Perhaps I'll make the money to get that storage container I want and clean out the shed. :D

Gypsy's Rest is a Safe Harbor.

In light of the recent election debacle and the rise or racists to power in the U.S. :

Gypsy's Rest is a safe harbor. Because apparently one needs to declare that such a thing exists, whereas we used to assume it to be so simply because that was good manners.

And now we're a destination. :D

Yesterday I signed up with Google to purchase the domain name gypsysrest.com . I figured we might as well own the name of the thing we feel like we are. Crystal is helping me set it up as I'm a bit of a website dunce. We've set up the domain name to point toward this blog, we had to send the thing somewhere after all.

It's kinda fun. Probably pointless and/or meaningless to anyone else but I enjoy this kinda stuff.

An inch at a time

They eyes continue to improve at an agonizingly slow pace. I'm cautiously optimistic.

We're still working on the wood pile for winter and not yet working on sheeting the grow dome. Looks like the concrete work won't be getting done this fall. Every lead I find to concrete finishers falls through. Might be much better off to wait till the spring thaw so they don't just keep moving me to the back burner.

We're in serious thought about getting a storage unit, think shipping container, so that we can unload the shed and make it more useable space. It's heated to the mid 60's and it makes very little sense to continue to fall all over shit we seldom use.

Updates on that when I finally get moving on it.

Today? Crys will work on fiber biz and I'll go out and chain saw up some wood, hopefully I'll get the trailer loaded up with the chunks and we can put them away through the week.

Less than 0.5% of patients experience problems with LASIK surgery. :D

Got LASIK surgery a week ago Monday (Sept 19th).

I was not one of the very many folks lucky enough to wake up the next morning to clear sight and a trouble free experience. I'm putting that down here just so I don't forget the experience after things get better which I am quite sure they will.

Tuesday was bruised, scratchy and painful. And everything was blurry.

Wednesday was more bruised, scratchy and painful, coupled with eyelids stuck together from the meds. The right eye was seeming to get a bit better.

Thursday was like the hammer falling on the hinges of hell. Ended up going to my local eye guy (Surgery was in Denver at Icon Eyecare) who informed me that there was a tear in the flap. He was also surly and grumpy. Called Crys to let her know I'd be driving to Denver on Friday to see the docs at ICON for probably some reparative surgery. It's her busiest week of the month and I didn't wanna interrupt her work. It literally felt like something was loose and twirling around under my left eyelid.

Crys postponed her PhatFiber box till next week and drove me up to Denver. I felt kinda bad about that. The doc said there was a small separation in the flap and that it was beginning to heal. Doc #2 confirmed. They came up with a treatment plan that included more steroids in the eye for a longer period. The twirling thing under my eyelid seemed to have put itself back overnight, this is always a good thing.

Pablo put us up for the night and we proceeded to go out and enjoy our evening. He and his brother Mark are always good to hang with and helped us forget our troubles.

Saturday morning was much better than Thursday. Right eye was starting to see things, left didn't cause me to hunt for a pickaxe to tear it out with. We drove home, it took a good while since it was high time for aspen viewing in the high country.

Sunday was, yet again, better. Still not settled on the vision thing. Putting in the drops on schedule, trying to be hopeful

Monday: right eye seems to be seeing far pretty well now. Got a different pair of reading glasses for close up as I'll probably always need them. Left eye is sporadically better in sight. I'm cynical at this point but trying to be hopeful. Crys is always a soothing balm to my inherent insanity.

Tuesday (today) eyes are feeling more normal overall. Sight seems to be creeping toward clarity in the left as well as the right. I'm cautiously a bit more hopeful.

Updates as conditions warrant.

More Prep, why is there always so much prep?

This weekend Crys was at the Great Basin Fiber Fest makin money and visiting her long time friend Sarah.

So I did a little bit around the place. Our running joke is that Crys will never know what she finds when she gets home. :D

So I mowed the chicken yard, which involved some pretty involved repairs on the mower. I also prepped for about 10 yards of concrete work. I wanted to pour a parking pad at the east end of the house and a pad for the brick kiln for pottery. I never order less than a full truckload of concrete. I just make up a bunch of forms so we can be sure t empty it. :D

In this case I prepped the parking pad and and the kiln pad is easy. In that case I made sure to make a way to form up a 2' sidewalk along the garden bed. That should take care of any extra concrete. :D

It's always a bit of a challenge to find enough to keep myself busy on a home-alone weekend. I think I did good this time.

Parts On Order.

This week I ordered the final assembly parts for the dome greenhouse. We got the 8mm polycarbonate panels a good while ago and then got busy with survival things like solar installation and drinking.

To put the panels onto the dome takes either a willingness to do regular maintenance or a commitment of capital for maintenance free parts. We almost always elect to work overtime and buy things we won't constantly have to mess with. It tends to leave more time for important things like gardening and drinking.

So I went here: http://www.gemplers.com/product/171485/8mm-Polycarbonate-H-channel
to get "H" channels, "U" channels and neoprene washer installation screws. They also sell the 8mm Polycarbonate. It was a significant chunk of change but the idea of having to scale the outside of the dome every few years to reinstall greenhouse taps to the seams irked me.

They have a bit of a lead time, not scheduled to arrive until about 3 weeks after placing the order but we always have plenty to do, so why not?

This left the question of how to properly weatherproof the hubs (where the polycarbonate sections come together). What we settled on is to purchase enough round electrical box covers (steel) with a center hole and a 4" diameter and put cut up yoga mats under them for insulation and to stop air/water ingress/egress. The inside of the plastic hubs we used for assembly have a center hole so I can use a 4" bolt with appropriate washers to attach them. I think it'll work well.

The nice place, Gempler's, that I got the channel from does ship by truck, and often has a coupon to save 10% to 15% off their already decent prices.

I also ordered a couple of temp activated vents to install. With our rather impressive winds I didn't want to go with a vent that lifts off the surface. I got them here: https://www.amazon.com/ShelterLogic-11300-Automatic-Shelter-Vent/dp/B00HF4CQHE
because Amazon does a decent job of carrying lots of stuff.

Of course this is motivating us to put up my old/cheap hoop greenhouse. It's made from hog panels and rail road ties. :D I think I might go to FarmTek and get some of the decent plastic greenhouse panels they sell along with the appropriate H and U channels for that. It'll be our starter and test bed.

One thing always leads to another.

Summer fun.

At the beginning of summer we prep the hammock area for fun and frolic.

For Crys' birthday she got an enduro, Suzuki DR200. Used of course. 

Here's our brother Daniel, enjoying the fire pit.

Then we found a Honda CRF230, so we can go riding together, used as well.

Here are mom, dad, Crys, Autum and her friend hunting geodes by the house.

This would be Autum and Crys and I out hiking around our neighborhood.

This is Autum on our big hike up the drainage from our house. 

This is Crys, on our walk to the old granite quarry in Limekiln rec area.

So this is the new inverter set up. Sexy huh? From left to right: Main battery bank disconnect/rapid shut down breaker; just above that is the solar panel rapid shut down breaker; just below that and a smidge to the right is the charge controller; and the rest of that huge thing is the actual inverter stack. 

This was solar panel installation day. We went from 9 panels to 24. My mom and dad helped that day, it was fun. I started pulling the old panels down before the sun came up and we finished up at about 5:30 PM. 

All installed and damed glad of it.

Now we have 6,250 of solar panels up. 6 parallel strings of panels in series strings of 4. Even on cloudy days we get more solar than we did out of the old setup on the brightest day. 

When it's not all in the planning it's all in the recovery

I've spent much of this last week prepping the new inverter stack for the solar. Last December I got the thing home. It's HUGE. It took 2 strong folks to drag the thing into the shed. This presented a problem for installation. I solved that by removing the two 80+ pound inverters from the panel. I carefully mapped out what went where and have a process map for reinstall after the panel is mounted. Then I finished prepping the panel by selecting where things would come in and doing at least the preliminary hole drilling/knockout set process and putting in fittings where I could. Following that I installed the Automatic Generator Start (AGS) module. This means finding a place within the panel raceway that will accept something that size without getting in the way of the cabling that'll be put in there and allow me to get to it well enough to still wire it in after setting the panel.

After that I started on the combiner box prep. With the new higher voltage panel strings I"ll be running I had to get a 12 place combiner box that ends up accepting 6 double breakers. Equipment manufacturers have discovered that the original solar DC breakers tend to explode at the higher voltages even if they're rated for that voltage and the solution is this double breaker thingy. It's weird when one is used to the old way. The wiring both enters and exits on the top side of the breakers and there's this giant buss bar you have to assemble. That and I needed a larger knock out than the pre-made knockouts allowed so I had to remove one neutral bar (only needed one, not two) so that I could drill a hole and use my knockout set to make the right size hole on the right side (correct side, it was actually the left side) of the box.

Now comes the battery box DC disconnect. Yes, the double stack inverter setup from Magnum Energy has a set of disconnects in the panel. 2015 National Electrical Code requires a rapid shut down system  be installed on roof top mounted solar for the purpose of safety for fire first responders. That and I like being able to completely kill out the feed to the panel if I need to get in there and work on stuff. This one was the easiest one to set up . The knock outs are already the right size. I did have to swap out the Midnight 250 amp breaker for one that will accept the Rapid Shutdown System (RSS) breaker. It looks like I can also wire in some din mounted breakers for various low voltage stuff later on if I like. The breaker has a spot for a ground so I drilled a hole for that and it also has a ready stud for the neutral from the battery box. No, I'm not running double 4/0's into the breaker, they'll run directly from the battery box to the inverter stack. I will run a nice little #4 or #6 from the battery box to the stud for later. It's always good to do it now, not later. Later you have to back up 3 freakin miles to undo stuff so that you can re-do what you need to.

Then I had to map out how to run the piping. This is no small thing. Into the inverter stack come two 2" battery feed pipes carrying two 4/0 wires each. Then there is an 1 1/2" carrying the house power feed. Then an 1 1/4 from the combiner box, another 1 1/4 for the generator power feed, a 3/4" feed for the generator control wiring (can't run control wiring and power in the same pipe (NEC again). Then you have your ground wire (#4 copper) and various lan cables.

I have a map for that. :D

Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to throw the dang thing up there. Crys will help as we can now handle the weight of the stripped panel together. I sure hope I've pre-measured everything right.

When that's done I can start getting the rails up for the new solar. We're going from 2 KW in panels (9) to 6 KW in panels (24). It'll cover the roof and should take care of things nicely for us. The old system will go into a building I've already set in place to supply Crystal's fiber studio when we get that built.

I keep thinking if I was just retired I would have time to do all this stuff much quicker.

On another note, Crys gets home today after being gone for a week fetching our niece, Autum. We're looking quite forward to our summer.

Maybe I'm just getting lazy.

Didn't get any physical work done on anything today.

That's beginning to be a habit.

Crys is out in LaJunta taking care of Nana. That's a good thing. Yesterday was a Denver trip day for me . I left at 6:30 AM and got back at 11 PM. I got a little done. Dropped off a friend from work to pick up a car in Denver, then got to my meeting, and the lunch before hand. I like lunch. I'm sitting there with people I respect that share the same fight I make every day. Generally we're the taken for granted bunch that do it day in and day out for free for our fellow employees. I really needed it this month, I'm dealing with an employee that I have trouble understanding. I'm pretty sure it's a generational thing, and I'm really tryin my best but it's leaving me pretty exhausted with the process. Perhaps exhausted enough to finally take a step back and let someone else do the work. If I'm not going to be effective it's time to step aside.

But the main, good, point is that I get to hang out with my fellow organized labor warriors. I'm proud and honored to know each and every one. And they like and respect me. It feels pretty good.

Then leaving town I tried to stop by the distillery that I took a gift distilling class from. The gift was from Crys, the class was at Downslope Distilling in SE Denver/Centennial. They were closed, so I picked up fiber from Kitty Mine Crafts in Highlands Ranch and dropped off some stuff as well (for Crys). Then it was on to Costco where I got loads of stuff for high energy, low calorie snacks.

That's cause we're on a health kick. We're walking 10,000 steps a day and we've curtailed our diet and drinking. It's feeling good, and we're making some health progress. It's good.

From there to home was a long ride and then the days chores and then bed.

Today was a nice long walk, dishes, chores, research on fixing some stuff and pre work for the new solar system. Now I'm in a bath with some rum.

Still missing the girl and really glad she's coming home tomorrow.

Weather delay

Haven't gotten much done on projects for the last couple weeks.

We've been having snow off and on for that time, and that tends to slow down our production.

Crys did get the trees planted somewhere in there. There's a legendary account of her battle with the mud monster but I'll leave it to her to relate it. I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it justice.

I spent a lot of time working to get power back on in Evergreen and back down in the valley. That included 2 days of being up at Summitville Mine along with some snow shoeing and a fair amount of wicked driving. Finally, today is a bit quieter. Only one call out so far today. It's kinda windy so we're not what you'd call pumped to get outside and lean into the wind.

Crys is working on her Phat Fiber boxes and I'm cooking and cleaning. It's a good spring day.

A step at a time

The dome green house is still relaxing a bit before we spend time altering it's shape to fit what we wish it to be.

Today I worked on the solar shed roof in prep for the new panels. That meant cutting out the terribly ill advised raised port hole for pulling the pump rod on the well and replacing it with a flat and water repellent roof. That and replacing the shingles where the original satellite dishes were. Did you know that when they move the dishes they leave the old mounts in place?

Do you wonder why?

I'll tell you.

It's because they use some kinda crazy stickum that removed the shingles if you try to remove the mount.

Fuck that. I replaced the shingles.

Perhaps in a weekend or two I'll get to work on placing the new rails for the new solar panels. That'll be fun.

Snowy day schedule

It's a snowy day schedule here at Gypsy's Rest.

That means it's a lot like an art movie. We talk slowly, we move around slowly, music plays in the background. It's supposed to snow all day. So we ran the generator (Genny) this morning to top off the batteries, and we're sitting in bed with coffee and internet (laptops and using the personal hotspot on the iphone) while we watch the snow come down and hear the wood stove tic from time to time as logs move around.

Hopefully I won't get called out to work.

We're doing a little shopping and planning. Our rock climbers are back this spring, although not today :D. I'm hunting up a gas grill for them to use and trying to think up a shaded seating option. I originally thought about one of those charcoal park grills for up by the rock, but it gets so dry the charcoal would be a fire danger we're not willing to bear. We'll probably use the little 2 burner gas grill we keep down by the creek. It's a little rough from having been blown off the deck a couple times and hammered back to something close to normal with a hammer. (Thanks art school). For the shaded seating what I have to avoid is making too big a project for myself. I'm thinking of using the poles I have laying around. I'll dig a hold and set up 2 of them straight up, then angle another 2 up to those from a few feet away. Then I can cover it with whatever I can find handy. They're good kids and I'm betting they'll help out if I'm doing the heavy parts while they're here. It'll make a nice spot for them to rest up between climbs and a shady place for their dogs.

Oh and we're thinking of getting some more pans from Le Creuset for our cook pan pile. Stainless steel this time.

So far the solar panels are staying mostly clear from the little bit of weak sun they're getting. We'll see how that goes.

Framing done on the dome.

 So we started putting up the dome last Saturday

 And I got called to work but I got one part done and the next part ready.

 Then on Sunday I started getting this part up since I'd prepped it the day before.

 This was the most pain in the ass part of the whole thing. It's where the bottom realigned so that the top could come out right.

 Between the previous step and the completion of this step it was maddeningly slow.

 But then it started coming together.

 And by here it was actually starting to make sense.

SO I kept working until it all came together. :D

Invisible invested hours

One of the things that never shows in a project is the hours and hours invested in research and prep to even get started on a job.

Our current solar upgrade has materials on site but nothing actually installed yet. I spent at least 40 hours on research and development to ensure that I have the correct stuff and that all of it will play well together. It took about a day to get everything on site from the place I bought all the solar stuff. We've just spent at least 4 hours working through all the customer service issues to get the 2 satellite dishes moved from their current spots on the roof to make room for the new panels without shading.

(Shading is BAD m'K?)

It'll take a day to do a bit of reconstruction to clear a roof obstruction.

After alla that? We'll actually get to start putting some of the damned stuff up. That'll be 24 new 260 watt panels, 8.8 KW in new inverters and a whopping huge assed 100 amp charge controller.

Of course to put the new stuff up we have to take the old stuff down. We'll do that in stages. Stage 1 will be swapping out the old inverter/charge controller for the new one. That's a day at least. Then we'll swap out the solar panel combiner box. Probably a half day. Then I can set up the new rails as much as possible before changing panels. The panels will be another day. They have to get done in a day or we don't get to shower.

As opposed to common beliefs held by some of our friends, I do like to shower.

SO that's the job plan. I'm sure it'll come off without a hitch. :D

AND pigs can fly.

It's getting towards Spring.

The first mountain blue bird showed up here last week. That usually means we'll be getting toward spring and outdoor projects and growing things soon.

Almost all the solar upgrade materials are here and on site. That project will happen in 3 stages so that we're not out of power for too long :D.

Nearly all the snow is melted from the geo dome project site, once the mud is gone I'll get out there and start framing it up with the 2X4's and hubs.

Once the frost is out of the ground we'll work on framing in the forms for our glass-a-gama kiln for pottery and glass blowing. With what ever concrete comes extra on the truck (always order a full truck, anything else is a waste) we hope to make a nice concrete parking pad on one end of the house so visitors need not slop through the mud.

Today? It's still a bit chilly and overcast, so we're just chilling in the house. That makes it easy to do a bit more research on the orchard I'd like to get going. I found a lovely blog from someone at our same altitude and such. It had great recommendations on trees and all that stuff. I'd love to leave an orchard behind when I leave the planet. :D

Thus far, the new phase of our work and home life is working out really well.

An historic day

Today was Crys' last day at her day job in Alamosa at Adams State University.

We worked long and hard to pay off debt and got to a place where she can quit that job and just work at the 2 or 3 part time jobs that she loves.

Me? I got another 3 years 9 months and 26 days. But who's counting :D ?

It's a new year

We have been getting good rest for the last few nights. It feels so good. I went to nana's for a few days on this little vacation. I spent the time cleaning, dyeing, spinning and cooking. I didn't feel rushed or pressured. We had a little upset with some family getting sick from carbon monoxide poisoning. Thankfully they are on their way to recovery. We are all checking with friends and family to be sure that their detectors are up to par. Seriously people, this shit can kill you. Anyway, when I came home, I was super tired and happy to be here. I did some cleaning. I was too tired to sleep well that first night. The next night I slept 9 hours, the next two nights I slept over 10 hours. Now my brain is functioning again. We are doing a couple projects around the house. The kitties will have a new place to sit in the window. 

I wanted to post pictures of my ravelry exchange because I love all of it so much. 

Catching up a bit

We had our traditional hoppin john, greens, and cornbread for New Year's Day. It was delicious and even though we were quite inebriated, it was fun to make.