Author: Caryn

Coyotes

On By CarynIn Wildlife

Did a trail cam check, saw pictures of two different coyotes where we haven’t seen coyotes before, up in the meadow near the chicken coop. Mostly we see cats, armadillo, raccoon, and opossum, with an occasional fox in this area. Down in the back woods, were there used to be a small trickle of a stream, we would see pictures of deer and bobcat and coyote as well, but not in the meadow.

Healthy looking coyote
Not as healthy looking coyote

Saying that it has been dry here doesn’t really cover it. The word drought gets close, but doesn’t have enough soul wrenching connotation to encompass the brittle brown fields, plumes from the wild fires, and the ribs showing through on domestic and wild life.

Melon harvest

On By CarynIn Garden
Ripe melon fresh off the vine

We have two more melons! I’ve been checking the melons every day as I pass by to check the chickens, and these two turned yellow rather quickly. One day one had some yellowing, then the next day they were both yellow and coming away from the vine. One was in a sling, one was not. It took a little effort to remove them from the vine, but I didn’t need tools. Since these are small, And I check them daily, I don’t think I need to sling them. Which will make the frogs happy.

White flies

On By CarynIn Garden

While we were on our trip, I did not ask anyone to spray the Hardy Hibiscus, and it stopped flowering due to thrips. I started spraying again when we got home, then noticed something new all over the hibiscus: tiny white flying things.

New insect on my hibiscus

These seemed to not care about my spray, and were all over. I submitted a photo to iNaturalist and received an answer: white flies. Hm. The description of the white flies says they live on the underside of the leaves, so I looked on my hibiscus, and sure enough, full of flies and eggs.

White fly detritus

Internet knowledge said the white flies can be rinsed off with water. So I gave my plant a good rinse, let it dry, then in the morning gave it a good spray with Neem oil, peppermint oil, and castor soap solution. It flowers despite the white flies, so that is something.

Hibiscus bloom

A tale of two shirts

On By CarynIn Craft

I have a printed shirt that I like the neckline and bodice, but am not fond of the cap sleeves. I have a black shirt that I love for the sleeves, but the body is lack luster. Time to combine!

Black shirt with great sleeves (left), and printed shirt with great neckline (right)

I took a seam ripper and removed the cap sleeves, then used fabric from the body of the black shirt to trim out the black sleeves using a backstitch (yes, by hand). A hand sewn backstitch has some flex and stretch, unlike a machine straight stitch. I used a whip stitch to put the new sleeves on, leaving a gap at the shoulder since I also like the “cold shoulder” style shirts.

Finished recombined shirt

Now I’m eyeballing the rest of my shirts to see what I can improve.

Orifice hook

On By CarynIn Craft

The hooked bit of wire use to pull fiber through the flyer assembly on a spinning wheel is called an orifice hook. On my vintage Befra Willy wheel there was no hook. I was using a small crochet hook from my Mom’s stash instead. Then I saw a hole in the back of the tension knob on the wheel. It looked like it used to hold a wire hook!

Hole in the back of the tension knob, and the coated wire I used to create a new hook

I had some sturdy coated wire in my supplies, so made a new hook. The coating made it a little bigger than the hole, so I stripped the end of the plastic off. Then it was a snug fit!

Orifice hook in place

My cat really likes her basket, too.