So here we go.

Denise; working on bears and books.  Excerpt from the latest ‘Bellybutton Bears in History’ which is about the Klondike Gold Rush
“Ma, I told you there was more to the boy than his rough and tumble brothers.    They’re solid workers, don’t get me wrong, but Roscoe, well he reminds me of my Uncle Jack.”    “But Pa, he was an, an…an adventurer!”    “Yes, he was.” Pa puffed on his pipe.    BellybuttonBears.com

Linda;  busy cleaning greenhouses and planting for the upcoming season.  That would be in addition to bringing all the bookkeeping up to date and working on two or three sewing projects.  FabricCreations.us

Nancy; reorganizing both her crafting area and living area so she is ready for the next big project in the door!  Only1Co.com

Ruth; besides creating a new supply of frames for ‘Shooting the West’ in Winnemucca, it is calf season on the ranch!  Three sets of twins so far.  WoodshopWonders.com

This just barely touches on what is happening.  As more sunshine and spring flowers inspire us, we’ll try to be more consistent in our postings and sharings.

No beer steins, no girls in cute skirts and embroidered blouses.  For us, October means fall weather, last farmer’s market, and….wait for it….our annual long weekend together! Although we figured this out a while back, I’ve already forgotten what number we are on, but it’s close to two decades.  [Waiting for one of the sister’s to chime in…]

This year, the four of us meet in south Central Oregon and have three full days of exploration planned.  The weather is going to be damp at the best, soaking at the worst, but we’ve dealt with that before.  We’ve maps, rock tools, cameras, directions and rain gear packed.  We’ve plans for historical research and laughing over old memories while creating new ones.

It is also our annual corporate meeting, complete with formal agenda, reports and minutes.  That is the formal part, because the meeting often has recurring portions during work/exploration in the field.  Inspiration DOES happen in the middle of a junk store, a rock field, looking at an historic site ~ especially when the four of us are together.

Next week, some pictures and an accounting!

That would be us, with our parents in 1962, and the first business the four of us did together.

The photo has nothing to do with what I am going to natter on about, but you all deserve to see a pretty picture!

a) Natter; for those of you without an English background (and I do mean English, not American in this case!) it means pretty much the same as yak or blather.  Ready?

b) Passwords; pretty sure you all have the same issues and if you do not, why?  Almost everything you sign up for or are a regular viewer of or online place you shop wants a User Name and a Password. The more complicated the better.  Do you remember them all?  Because they are each supposed to be different, and kept in a safe place NOT taped up next to your computer.  “Security is paramount.” I have been told.  Uhuh, okay, but…I have more than one email, WAY more than one user name and password.  In fact I have an entire “little black book” of them.  Is it locked in a safe, or even in another room? NO, because then I’d have to remember that code, or interrupt my projects constantly to go find it.  Hard enough in the little black (sorry it is blue) book!
A friend recently said they had attempted to access (leave a comment) on this blog but could not recall their user name.  That one I was able to help them with, wahoo! [Because, apparently I have the power!]  They did have to reset their password, something I expect all of us have had to do more and more.  Soon, “the little grey cells” (to borrow from Hercule Poirot) will be full of only, yep, passwords.  Not that we will remember what they get us into, or where they will take us…

Haines Packing Co cannery at Letnikhof Cove

c) Another picture for your enjoyment, as I attempt to recall what the other item was I planned to share.  It seems to have vanished, along with those passwords!  I’m working on this while waiting for a file to download so definitely not wasting time.

Perhaps I shall try again for the automatic notification of new posts…which supposedly is in place but has yet to happen! Oh, I know, IT is gone with the passwords too.  Or was a case of, as my sis used to say, “Pretend I said it already…”  Huh

As mentioned in a previous post, we used to use a Swede Saw to cut green alder for firewood for the kitchen range.  It had to be a certain length; ie not too long but not too short either or it didn’t stack as neatly!

Now my worries tend toward an electrical issue.  New kitchen range arriving next week and the darned plug in is not going to fit!  New one is a 4-prong [one round, three straight] whereas the old one is only a three.  Not that it was easy to figure that out, because a) I did not remember and b) could only get the stove moved part way out from the wall! Plus, will have to move the refrigerator to other side of kitchen to allow for space to remove said range/stove and insert new one.

Kinda feel like the woodpile was tilting, you know?  At least it will all be worked out in time and, like said woodpile, it is but a bump in the road.

Perhaps it was as this never came through to my ‘trial’ subscriber email, but I do know the Welcome email went out!  Now if new posts will generate the same action, we’ll be in good shape.

Winter on Glacier Point

Not to worry folks, we do not post each and every day so this mini flurry won’t jam your mailboxes.  To read earlier posts, check in at Homesteadline.com/Journal  aka Dreams and Schemes or to read more about who/what/why go to About or Children of Glacier Point.

Children of Glacier Point, Book #2, Hardbound or CD

Trying this with a different ‘service’ as the whole notice bit is driving me nuts [yes, I know, did not have far to go, but really….]

It is either not working, or is incredibly slow.  I’ve subscribed to our own blog, updated with a new plugin, added widget and now am very impatiently waiting for a notice to arrive in my email that ‘yay, there is a new post!’ even though of course I DID the post.

WAIT, WAIT, I see another box to click or unclick.  Honest, it was NOT there earlier this morning….must be attached to the new plugin?

Do hope that at the very least these posts might give you a chuckle or two, and that some of you will look back through some of the previous ones as well.

Yes, I am STILL fighting with this!  Nothing that is supposed to work automatically is…working automatically.  Go figure.

With many new followers/subscribers, we are wondering what brought you all here?  Anyone care to share?  And…do you want a good laugh?  It may be that NONE of you were receiving notices of new posts on here.  Guess I am not a very good blogger, as I thought this was sending notices automatically.  Let’s see if I have ‘fixed it’ or not.

In the Homestead Line [play on words here, folks] we are in the early planning of another jaunt north next spring.  Yes, really!  Did not have enough time last trip to do all we wanted to.  Guess we’ll have to call it Epic Adventure #2.
One thing we kept wondering about was….is the old tractor still there?  If so, can we find it amongst all the brush?  Looking on Google Earth is NOT an option, as the open areas that were are just no longer there.
Any of you interested in tales of homesteading in Alaska?  Visit www.brainstormspublishing.com for a couple book excerpts.

If I’ve used that one before, please forgive.  How many of you have put something ‘in a safe place’ and it has never been seen again?  With over 500 subscribers, I’m thinking at least half of you must have experienced this, right? No? You have got to be kidding!

At any rate this seems to happen with some regularity around here.  No pattern, not coinciding with moon phases, just noticeable.  The culprit, or victim, this time was vacuum cleaner belts. Four of them, brand new, package unopened.  Not usable for any other purpose [no, I did NOT use them on my rock tumbler]  and something you must have for an upright vacuum to be worth more than a lousy anchor or floppy club.

You all know that distinctive smell when something jams in the beater bar and subsequently the belt WILL need to be replaced. Never smelled that? It IS distinctive, and I’ve come home from being away a couple days and knew instantly that hubby had vacuumed, gotten something stuck and had not clue what to do about it.  Points for him that a) he did a good job of vacuuming and b) owned up to “killing it again”.  This is what started the search for those belts.  They were not tucked inside the container of bags. Nope.  Even found another package of bags I didn’t know I had, but nowhere are there belts.

Three stores [none closer than 10 miles, mind you] later and although they have belts, there is no chart to cross reference and the numbering system is completely different than it used to be.  “How old IS your vacuum?” I kept getting.  I had the brand and model number in hand.  No, I do not remember when I got it, this century, but hey.  Sears store 18 miles away finally said, hmmm, give me your phone number and miraculously there it was in their system.  It is only 12 years old, who remembered?  It still took about three cross referencing moves to “Aha, think we’ve got it!” and they produced one.

Home, and amazingly it fit and works.  Was even less difficult than the last couple to install.  Quick run, and yes it works like a champ!  Now, that done, the ‘safe place’ belts should have come out of hiding.  Nope, still not seen them.  Beginning to wonder if I shipped them off to a customer with an order of memory bears [www.bellybuttonbears.com] or to a grandchild with their birthday pkg.  So if you are still wondering WHY I sent you vac belts….don’t ask!

I suppose to be really accurate, I should include a photo.  However, if I go back out to do that, this post will not happen because I will get sidetracked.  Happens every time (almost).
I was hanging around outside in the expectation of our young worker to arrive at 8 AM.  Already had one chore lined up for him, but knowing it would not take long, planned to have another ready.  There are always branches to be dragged to the appropriate burn piles. [Don’t get excited anyone, we do NOT burn during fire season.  This is ongoing every summer cleanup work.]
In addition to the stuff blown out of the trees, some as recent as this week, there is always dead wood to be trimmed, live branches that are encroaching and so forth.  If you live in the country you understand.  If you don’t and never have, just imagine it.

Up by our old chicken coop, there is a black walnut tree, part of which is dead, and several plum bush/trees.  Branches in them were damaged in last winter’s snows and the way they grow, it is almost as bad as ‘Bre’r Rabbit’s Briar Patch’ or could be soon. Okay, I’ll start cutting the bad wood out and dropping it where it can’t be missed.  I rather like brush and tree trimming, you can see progress and get to make the decisions. It is no secret that I don’t like actually hauling the brush.  Whenever we’ve had grandkids or friends kids work around the place, they always wanted to do the cutting and lopping. Nope, that is what I do, you are paid to do the part I do not want to!
On with the chore at hand, which was going pretty well with the loppers, then the limb saw (it is a bit weak, but has its uses).  Hmm, there are larger parts than I thought of the walnut dead. Time to go bring out the big guns, um saw.  Not the chain saw but an old familiar family tool.
As many of you know, we grew up on a homestead in SE Alaska.  One that could only be accessed by boat or air.  Our folks had four daughters, and we all learned all the jobs (dependent on our age abilities of course).  One that occupied much of my time when I was 12 was cutting green alder for firewood. (excellent firewood, the source constantly replenished because you can almost watch it grow up there)  Fall, trim and cut into kitchen stove lengths.  With a swede saw.  Many of you know this as a bow saw, which I also have.  The swede saw however is an antique, about 4 foot long, and has our family fingerprints permanently in the metal from so much use! (Must be a little psychic to sense them.)

Not that easy to hold in one hand while you take photos of!

I just recently acquired that tool as we sorted through our Mom’s storage shed.
I had not used it in probably 50 years, but it fit my hand perfectly and the black walnut’s dead branches are history!  Okay, they are just laying on the ground waiting for someone to drag them off because, well, you know I don’t do that part and also I must have lost track of when our young worker was coming back because he didn’t! There is however another job lined out for him if he makes it next week.

How many of you have experienced remodeling? Of a bathroom that has not really been improved since house construction in 1972?
Couple points to note: the original contractor was known for his, ahhh, shortcuts.  House only has one bathroom so one notices the inconvenience.
Happily we are nearing the end of the process, thanks to the young men who did the worst part and knew what to do when they encountered problems.  Whew! Almost made one wish for the old outhouse and catalog.
By the way, I’m happy to report that several improvements have been made in SHOWER DOORS.  The track allows free flow of water back into the tub instead of capturing it in a track that gets clogged and gunky.  Wahoo!!