Category Archives: librarians

The groundhog is no more

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Yesterday the groundhog came out of its burrow while the dog was outside. Shelby immediately took off after the groundhog and cornered it by the fence. After a battle, Shelby killed the groundhog.

Although I really wanted the groundhog to go away, I feel terrible now. I am thankful that I did not witness the fight. My husband did and said it was brutal.

It remains to be seen if we have a colony of if that was the only one.

I find it ironic that I, someone who writes murder mysteries, could be so upset by the death of a pest rodent.

Radishes and rabbits

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I’ve thinned the radishes three times so far and plenty more to come.

radishes

We should have peas soon – but not broccoli. I had to replant since the groundhog ate the last planting right to the ground. Since Shelby has been outside, though, no sign of the groundhog. Shelby saw a rabbit yesterday and chased it to the other side of the yard. I think she might have caught it if she hadn’t been yelping in excitement.

Shelby and the groundhog

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Hunting the groundhog.

shelby two

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

shelby three

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

shelby four

 

I don’t think she will ever catch the groundhog but she tries hard, investigating every hole and doing her best to push her 60 pound body inside after him.

 

 

 

 

I must say, last year the groundhog reduced my garden to bare stalks. Since we fenced in the yard and allowed Shelby to run, my garden is untouched.

More about baking

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The replacement for the pearl ash (or pot ash) I discussed in my last post was something called salterus.

Salterus is bicarbonate of soda – yes, the stuff used for stomach acid or whitening teeth. We know it as baking soda and it is the leavening agent in soda bread.

This substance has been known for millenia. The Ancient Egyptians used it as a component of natron, the salt they employed to mummify bodies.

Umm, yummy. Using it for cooking seems more recent. (I read that the Native Americans used it but haven’t found additional documentation for this.) Anyway, baking soda works with something like buttermilk, which has a lot of lactic acid. In chemistry 101, we learn that the combination of an acid and a base yields carbon dioxide and that is what raises the bread.

Baking soda itself is pretty bitter. When I make soda bread I usually use baking powder as well. Pop quiz: what is baking powder? Well, it is baking soda combined with the powdered form of a weak acid but it also leaves less of a bitter aftertaste.

Back ups and upgrades

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Every time I log onto my WordPress Account I am greeted with a frantic message that I should update. But when I click on the link, I get to a page with about a million warnings, telling me to back up first or else I will lose all of the customization.

Really?

Then the ‘quick and easy’ directions begin. On your main control panel fo cPanel, look for the MySQL databases.  I don’t even know where to go. And I started my library career as a computer tech so I am not without any skills.

Who writes this stuff? Not regular users, that is for sure.

I guess I will not be upgrading any time soon.

Backing up and Upgrading

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Every time I log onto my WordPress Account I am greeted with a frantic message that I should update. But when I click on the link, I get to a page with about a million warnings, telling me to back up first or else I will lose all of the customization.

Really?

Then the ‘quick and easy’ directions begin. On your main control panel fo cPanel, look for the MySQL databases.  I don’t even know where to go. And I started my library career as a computer tech so I am not without any skills.

Who writes this stuff? Not regular users, that is for sure.

I guess I will not be upgrading any time soon.

The Industrial Revolution and the Loom

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The Industrial Revolution mechanized the entire process of cloth making. According to Brouty, prior to the invention of the flying shuttle in the 1750’s, three to four spinners were needed to produce enough yarn for a weaver. The statistic I’ve read other places is nine. Anyway, many spinners are needed for each weaver. The flying shuttle, again according to Brouty, quadrupled the weaver’s output. If you think that then people would try to find a way to increase the yield of the spinners, you would be right. The spinning jenny was invented in the mid 1700s and the first spinning factory was set up in 1761 by a gentleman named Richard Arkwright. Samuel Compton invented the spinning mule ten years later (unfortunately for him, he was a talented inventor that had his life threatened several times and died in poverty) and now handweavers were hard pressed to keep up. Pressure mounted for a mechanical loom that could keep up with the spinning machines.

Hand spinning and weaving, a honored and important job (primarily done by women) became a ‘craft’. Most people don’t even think of the connection between the clothing on their backs and the process by which it got there.

Dyeing with indigo

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sweater-indigo

I’ll return to looms next blog. But I wanted to post about the indigo dyed sweater. Indigo loses strength with repeated dyeing I like the marbled effect but if one dyes the fiber in successive batches, as I did, the later skeins of yarn are lighter. See the sleeve? Still a few bits of darker dye, but overall the color is a lot less intense. Just FYI for all the dyers out there.

Some semi-modern looms

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There are any types of looms other than those previously discussed.

The drawloom and the jacquard loom both allow a weaver to weave a complex pattern without manually lifting individual threads.

First, a description of harnesses. A loom that makes four sheds (remember: that’s the space that allows the shuttle to pass through )allows a weaver to construct more complicated patterns than one with two. An eight harness loom allows more variation than four.  The compound harness loom, also described as a staggered harness loom, allows a loom to function as though it has many many harnesses. The invention has been ascribed to many different countries but it certainly appeared in China, allowing weavers to create silk brocade. Drawlooms required an assistant to sit on top of the harness and pull the heddles that controlled the pattern in the proper order. The assistant was call the drawboy (or sometimes the drawgirl  Can you imagine this job? Can you imagine that job?).Pre-constructed  patterns were required to produce the desired result.

The very thought of putting a child on top of a loom makes me shudder!