Mysteries in the night Saturday, Feb 16 2013 

Projects acairfearann 13:51

Nothing at all exciting!

This house has no complete ‘blueprints’.  It was mostly built before all that paper. We have measured out some of the rooms, but not all.  In the classic bit of insomniac pondering, I got to thinking about the old duct work for the original north end heating system.  This was a hot air system and built with the addition in 1893, so everything is buried in the walls and floors.  However, because it is not forced hot air, but simply gravity, the ducts are quite good sized.

Now, in the library section, between two rooms, there is a complicated stack running east-west.  On the first floor, this includes two closets, a chimney breast, and a bathroom.  On the second floor, there is the chimney, a hall, two closets, and a bathroom (offset from the one below on a long diagonal).  Now, that is all very well and fine…but there is on the second floor two wall vents for the hot air system: one at the extreme south-east, the other at the extreme north-west.  On the first floor, there are floor vents that are nowhere near where the wall vents must branch off.  Now, did those two second-story wall vents run directly up from the basement?  If so they have to have branched off somewhere in the basement ceiling, because only two main ducts ran below the ceiling in that direction, and one went to those floor vents.  Or does it snake through the first floor ceiling?  Or does it snake through that second story wall, but…  How did they fit? none of the walls appear to be thick enough to fit a duct in…but they must be….

I think I have a bit of measuring to do…unless the engineer knows?  I mean I could send our resident cat back in to the ducts…but he didn’t like it last time!

 

Early morning photos Friday, Feb 15 2013 

Modern Photos acairfearann 12:48

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Golden Dawn Thursday, Feb 14 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 11:28

Sunsets here are very obvious, with the great sweep of the meadow and the far hills, one can never miss the exact point in time when the sun sinks below the horizon.  Sunrises, however, have an entirely different aspect.  If the trees weren’t here, of course, they would be just like the sunsets.  But the trees are here.  So the sun rises behind them, as through a curtain of lace and green silk.  Early morning light is more ‘alive’ than sunset somehow, it is lighter. * Today, with a fresh inch of new snow on all the trees it was even more so.  Gold light, dark green trees, and diamond white snow.

And then not fifteen minutes later, the gold had vanished, and the day turned bright, with a clear blue sky, white snow under a distant sun.

*I am a closer to a poet than a scientist, thank you.

 

Mardi Gras! Tuesday, Feb 12 2013 

Historical Events acairfearann 16:37

It is easy to forget, it being several generations and a long distance, that at one time New Orleans was a major part of the Esperanza culture (so to speak).  This is hinted at in some of the art-work, a sketch of a New Orleans cafe, sketches of plantation life and workers from Louisiana, an oil painting of a bayou.  And mentions of invitations to various balls given by some of the old line krewes: Comus, Proteus, and Momus at the least.

We don’t really know what approach to religion that either Julie or her daughters took, except church-going (but what denomination?) and opinionated about all flavours equally.  However, living in New Orleans in the winter, Julie’s daughters, especially Carlotta, seem to have enjoyed Mardi Gras.  (which even then had remarkably little to do with religion!) Julie herself went to balls only a few times, mostly to get material for writing; Morris was actually asked to help organize a Krewe one year but declined due to health, he had been involved at some level even before the Civil War; Carlotta who wintered in New Orleans on and off from the late 1870’s through to about 1900 seems to have enjoyed it the most. 

It must have been a very colorful world, far away from Hartford’s winters.

 

Frustrated plans Sunday, Feb 10 2013 

gardening acairfearann 23:14

It is somewhat stupid to have begun pruning an apple tree just before the storm.  I am now stuck eyeing the unfinished project from the window.  I am sure that if I was made of tougher stuff, I’d be out there pruning.  Somehow, however, 28 inches of snow, plus Drifting, just aren’t conducive to any ease of work.*  And no, I don’t have snowshoes from which I can prune!  So I shall content myself with contemplating which branches I want to work on and how.  The tree will wait and the snow will melt, would that life was always so!

*as this town had one of the ‘official’ stations for measurement, I can be fairly confident in that amount.  It would impossible to measure that on the property: if it isn’t under a tree, it is in the wind.  Actually, there was one wind-free spot, or less windy, the north-west, bottom corner of the hayfield: the snow was still stuck to the branches in that corner even after high winds all Saturday; an interesting bit of information to see clearly demonstrated.  I will say that thigh high drifts are an awesome workout, and they make both the fishpond (which needed shoveling for the waterfall to continue to work if this next storm is ice) and the barn marvellously far away.

 

Exercise Saturday, Feb 9 2013 

Modern Photos acairfearann 14:20

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Those barn doors are tall enough for a full-size Chevy pick-up truck (or a Percheron)

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Having shovelled and blown with a small snowblower over to where the large one is parked…

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Work commences! But, seeing as the town has yet to plow the road, and the state highway is still shut, and it is the weekend, there wasn’t much hurry.

 

Why New England? Friday, Feb 8 2013 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 15:05

Because this: (January)

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Or this: (February)

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Will eventually turn into this: (April/May)

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(if you’re lost, note the three-stemmed river birch in all the photos: right side in the first two, center on the last)

 

 

Birdwatching Thursday, Feb 7 2013 

Uncategorized acairfearann 16:51

About this time of year, the birds start to get ready for spring.  A pair of robins hanging about; male cardinals practicing their songs, chickadees, owls, all gearing up; and, once in a while a flock of starlings.

The latter, thank heaven, don’t hang around for long.  They are, however, quite interesting to watch.  Whereas the over-wintering, native birds are confident and independent; the starlings act like a school of hyper-wary bait-fish.  Anything will set them off.  Even the robin approaching with a bit confidence will spook them, the entire flock will go whirling off and the robin will stand there looking puzzled.  Same with a titmouse or cardinal in a bush, or nothing at all.  The native, non-flocking, birds don’t behave like that at all.  I got the distinct impression that there was no sense of communication between the starling flock and the native birds, almost as if they didn’t recognize each other; which most assuredly is not the case with the chickadees, cardinals, titmice, etc.

I think the starlings were after sorrel/plantain seeds on the flagpole lawn; they have since vanished.  They were a bit locust like, frankly.

 

Contemplations on Gardening Wednesday, Feb 6 2013 

gardening acairfearann 15:41

Considering the seed packets that arrived in the mail today, mostly vegetable seeds, I was struck by the miracle, the everyday miracle, that is gardening.  It is a triumph of nature: taking this tiny seed and creating a plant that may produce many pounds of produce in a few short months.  It is also a triumph of the modern world.  How rich we are, that we can order seeds from half a continent away, every spring, and the choices are endless.  I can grow any vegetable that I want, from any continent, from any culture.  Some may take more work than others; some may be harder to find, but I can.  If I want an heirloom tomato similar to the original pre-Columbian, or an Italian, or a Ukrianian, or perhaps a modern genetically engineered hybrid?  All possible.  And next year, something different.

Whatever one’s take on gardening; that really is amazing.

 

Indoor Gardening Tuesday, Feb 5 2013 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 14:08

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Unknown Amaryllis, possibly ‘Red Lion’.  Further research: it is ‘Peacock’.

 

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