The Peeping Tom

The manor is host to many forest dwellers, including insects. Moving with deadly quiet among them is the secretive praying mantis. 

As a child, I was frightened of them. With their prehistoric appearance, I suppose I feared being bitten after my grandfather warned me a mantis will bite. I still won't handle one, much preferring to get a broom to move them when necessary. The females don't seem to fly well and the males don't want to budge, so a ride on a broom to a safer location is sometimes necessary. We don't kill them as they are very beneficial to have in and around any sort of garden.

This fellow, or lady, has been hanging around, literally, on the patio screens all summer. Smart little bug that it is, it must know the screens provide easy meals. Flying insects hit the screens and get stuck. All he needs to do is amble over and grab his snack. 

This morning I was treated to the praying mantis doing his peeping tom impression on the kitchen window screen. It was a helluva sight to behold before my morning coffee.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

A Blue Ribbon result

Here on the manor, we have what we refer to as breakfast adventures. We love to try new recipes that sometimes even work! We've watched cooking shows for years on networks, and now we watch a lot of cooking channels on YouTube. 

We like YouTube better. Fewer, shorter ads, and you can back up to rewatch if necessary.

Back in the day, we used to watch Paula Deen, and then her sons, Jamie and Bobby. Both had their own shows, but we feel Paula was always better. But Jamie had a couple of recipes we tried and kept, one being a sausage breakfast casserole. 

The casserole is a basic sausage, milk, onion, pepper, cheese, and egg liquid concoction poured over bread, and baked. We changed a few things, such as we don't use an entire onion (it would send both of us running for an antacid) and instead of using whole slices of bread, I use bread cubes.

Here's the thing. We hate to waste anything. You know how you get down to the last two slices of bread in the loaf and no one will eat them? Here's what you do. 

Save the loaf wrapper. Cut the bread into cubes, drop back into the wrapper, and freeze. Keep adding to the wrapper every time you get down to those last slices and pretty soon you will have a loaf of bread cubes. When that happens, it's time to make breakfast casserole or a French toast bread pudding. When we do that, it means three breakfasts go to into the freezer for the future. Cook once, eat four times. What's not to love about that? 

This morning's casserole came out perfect! I was both surprised and pleased with how well it baked and even more pleased with how it tasted. Will it turn out that way the next time? Probably not, but that's okay. Life on the manor isn't measured by achieving perfection. It's measured by the appreciation of both success and failure. 

That's why country living is the only way for me to live. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

A fun new tool for on the Manor

The year 2020 being what it is, I've had to wait, wait, wait to receive items I've ordered. Time was, if I wanted a Stihl product, it would be on the shelf for immediate purchase. Not this year. It took four months to get this little gizmo - a Stihl GTA26. 

I think they call this thing a pruner. We call it a baby chain saw. It's lightweight and battery-powered. A very cool addition to our arsenal.  

I probably shouldn't rant about the local Stihl dealer, which is also our John Deere dealer, but I think I will. 

What a pack of misogynists! When a woman walks in the door, they all stop and glare. I'm not militant but damn. I get pissed off every time. But the spousal unit insisted we go there instead of taking a day trek to a dealership about an hour away (which would have been a pleasant afternoon drive). 

But - pandemic. COVID-19. Gotta stay close to home. 

When I told the guys at the John Deere/Stihl dealership what I wanted they said 'no problem, we'll get it ordered'. Sure they did. They ordered a big, very expensive full-sized chainsaw. Yes, I'd like to have one of those someday, but not that day. I not-so-politely told them no, and don't try to work an up-sell on me again. I want a GTA26 and if you won't get it for me, the people in W---r or F---k will. 

I've got my baby chainsaw and I like it. 

The (not-so-ladylike) Lady of Holly Tree Manor

August lilies in September

We've always had August lilies. I don't know much about them but I think they're part of the hosta or plantain family. I love them, but so do the deer. It can be a problem.

Years ago, my grandmother gave me the first plant. From there, I divided the plant every other year until, no matter how much I loved them, I was overrun with August lilies. That's when the deer took notice. Over the course of a few years, they managed to kill a lot of the plants. Not to be beaten by a bunch of tick-hosting miscreants, I started over. 

These days the August lilies are thriving up close to the house. They shine best when planted in a row, but the strategic spots behind the house work as well, although I do miss looking across the yard on nights when the moon is full and seeing their white trumpets gleam.

Sometimes we need to settle for our memories as we nurture bits of the past in the present.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Regrown celery

Some time ago, I learned it's possible to regrow celery from a purchased stalk. When I first saw the pictures on Pinterest, I was intrigued - and a little skeptical. I went to the fridge, whacked off the celery root, and stuck it in a cup of water. Within a day or two, it was sending up new growth. In due time I planted it in a pot and watched it grow. My first impression was that even if it didn't grow celery I could eat, it was a lovely green plant. I've been playing with celery ever since. That all changed this summer. 

Earlier in the year, I invested in some grow-bags to serious about growing some of my own vegetables. I've been growing celery in flower pots but the grow-bags are a much better home for any veggie.

This past Tuesday, I harvested three celery plants. The ribs were diced, blanched, and frozen for in soups and stews. The leaves were dehydrated for the same purpose. 

What amazed me was on Wednesday morning I discovered the oldest plant had responded to being harvested by quickly growing another four inches. With any luck, I'll get another harvest before cold weather descends. 

Here on the manor, we enjoy trying different things. Some things work and some things don't work, but we always manage to smile and get on with our day.

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Tractor Time - the 200 hour service

Being able to afford a compact John Deere 1023E has been a godsend here on the manor. It's a sturdy little machine and perfect for the size of our property and our needs. It may not have all the whistles and bells of larger tractors, but our needs are basic: a bucket, a backhoe, a snowblower, and a set of recently added pallet forks. From cutting firewood, to digging out stumps, to clearing our long lane of snow, the John Deere 1023 has worked for us.

This weekend past, we finished the two-hundred-hour service on the tractor. It's taken us six years to put two-hundred hours of use on the tractor but we can't measure the amount of back-breaking labor it has saved us from. 

 A couple of weekends ago, we changed the coolant and the oil. Getting off the ground is difficult for him, so I crawled under the tractor and did it. This time, for the hydraulic fluid, he decided he needed to be the one under the tractor. 

I lowered the outriggers to raise the rear of the tractor, shoved blocks under the rear tires, and set John down. Setting it on blocks was safer on relying on the outriggers to hold. Once the job was finished, we had to get him off the ground and back into his power chair. That was the worst part of the job. Every move needed to be carefully orchestrated and executed or else we would have needed to call for help. He made it and we went on with our day. Even Deuce was happy to have the job done.

We try to always be self-sufficient, and frugal, here on the Manor. His many years of experience as an auto mechanic has served us well. His mobility is limited but not his brain. I know enough about engines and equipment to take direction well. It works for us. Will it continue to do so? One can only hope. 

It may be another six years before we need to perform the four-hundred-hour service on the tractor. As the year 2020 has taught us, a lot can change in a short time. I hope I'm still living on the manor when that time comes. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Rule of trees

Here on the Manor, one thing we never need to buy is firewood. The Manor is three acres in size, two of which are wooded. Before I built my house, my father, grandfather, and I worked long days and evenings to clear a large enough space for a house, well, and septic system. In the years since the cleared area has grown some making the house and yard an oasis in the woods. 

The woods are precious to me. Who doesn't like the shelter of trees, the brilliant fall colors, and free firewood? There are enough large limbs dropped every year to keep the woodstove burning. Sitting beside the woodstove, watching the fire, is a simple country pleasure.

We lose one or two mature trees a year be it from age or storm damage to keep the woodpile at a healthy level.  Sometimes what falls to the ground isn't large in diameter, but even the smaller limbs are put to use as kindling to start a fire or to renew it in the morning. 

Of course, it is inconvenient when a branch falls across the driveway. When that happens, I need to cut it up and stack it, and toss what really can't be of use on the brush pile, whether or not I'm in the mood to work firewood. When you live in the woods, the trees rule. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Pepper's last bud

last bloom on the bell pepper

The ability to grow peppers has eluded me all my life- until this year. My family has a long tradition of gardening but I got short-changed on the gene. I've tried and tried to grow decent green bell peppers but it's been to no avail. But this year, I did it. 

I planted two different varieties of peppers side-by-side in grow bags. Was that the trick?  Who knows? But I did get a small pepper harvest, enough to freeze several ziploc bags for use in cooking. I couldn't do it today, but I hope to make up several batches of Potatoes O'Brien for in the freezer. It's nice to know I have the peppers ready to go. 

The peppers didn't grow to a large size, but size was not my measure of success. The fact the plants produced at all was a victory. Maybe the young doe eating the top out of the one was a factor in the pepper size, too. I've got a few ideas on how to improve the pepper harvest for next summer. I've even gone as far as to save some seeds to see if I can get them to sprout in the spring. 

Peppers were not a crop my grandfather grew. Oh, he had a plant or two so my grandmother could add fresh pepper to her rather famous potato salad, but that was about it. I'd be willing to bet my mother never cooked with a pepper her entire life. I certainly do not remember them being in the house when I lived with my parents. Where my love of peppers came from is a mystery. 

I thought the peppers were finished but then today I noticed one more bloom. Does it have time to form a pepper? I doubt it, but I'll let the plant work and see what happens. 

So we shall see if the summer of 2021 will be a good year for green peppers. Maybe I can build on the success of this year and raise a pepper worthy of stuffing. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

Not sure what this is

weird white growth on cut maple logs

Even though I've lived on this mountain all of my life, I still, occasionally, come across something odd. Case in point, there is something weird growing on one of the woodpiles. I really don't know what it is, and I've never seen it before. I'm wondering if we should burn the woodpile right where it is and not in the woodstove. That may be the prudent thing to do. 

We've had a lot of rain in the last two weeks, so my best guess is it's powdery mildew, something that is annoying but not dangerous. In fact, it's one of the most common plant "ailments" out there. It doesn't actually hurt live trees, and in the sealed woodstove, won't hurt us, either. 

But it is a bizarre sight, like snow on the logs in September. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor

A spot of trouble in the compound

repair truck

Rural living is the only way for me to live, but it occasionally hits a snag. Case in point - we recently lost electricity for no apparent reason. I called the power company and they came to investigate. They found that our thirty-eight-year-old cable had somehow developed a pinhole and water got in and grounded it out. The result - no electricity. 

I'm grateful the power company personal responded so quickly. I have a fully loaded freezer and I need to keep those food stores safe. Plus, if we get a hard rain, I need for the sump pump to be able to cycle. Our solution to a no-power situation is to start the generator. 

If necessary, we can live on generator power for quite a long time, at least until we use up all the gasoline in the cans. We won't need to do that, this time, but it's a reminder that we need to stay prepared. There's never a good reason to let our guard down. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor