More Socks and Even a Scarf................

Just got these two pair of socks finished and in our Etsy shop.

And even managed a short little scarf.

This afternoon I plan on putting some good music on and cleaning this messy studio of mine!  Next post (for sure!) we'll announce our next little giveaway!

Yukon Sock Yarn Winner.............

Before I announce who won our skein of sock yarn, I must thank all of you for your wonderful and moving comments.  Life can throw some very difficult obstacles in our path, yet I see such thankfulness from all of you.  As I read each and every comment I was so touched and pleased that you would share your thoughts.  Please know that you all have been lifted up in my prayers.

And now, on to the winner!  Sara of SareBearKnits on Ravelry was the lucky name drawn.  Congratulations Sara!  I wrote you via Ravelry, but if you're reading this post, please write me at tehachapisockcompany@gmail.com and let me know where to send your skein of Yukon.  Again, congratulations!

We'll be having another giveaway very soon, but first I must figure out what it will be !

Some knitting news:  I finished the project for the magazine and placed it in the mail on Saturday.  As soon as I'm allowed to mention it, you will be the first to hear the news!  (probably won't be until the new year tho)

So, now it's back to cranking out socks on "Doris".  For those of you who are new to our blog, "Doris" is our antique sock machine.  She's somewhere between 85 - 100 years old and makes gorgeous socks!  I'll post pictures on tomorrow's blog and will start working on a new giveaway very soon.

I wish you all a wonderful day ahead and may you continue to find much "thankfulness" in your life.

Let's Celebrate With a Little Giveaway.....

What a scrumptious morning sunrise!  And finally, the worst is behind us.  3 out of the 4 repair jobs have been completed.  The wind turbine's shock absorber was re-welded to the frame, the diesel generator was fixed and yesterday the electrician re-wired the ceiling fan that my husband put in and made a change inside the wall switch.  Next up will be the pellet stove guys and hopefully there won't be any electrical problems with that.  They should be up next week, which is absolutely fine because our temps have warmed back up and the days have been in the low 80's.

And with all that wonderful news, let's have a little giveaway for this skein of Yukon hand dyed sock yarn.  Just leave a comment on this post and tell everyone what you are most thankful for.  Please make it easy for me and leave contact info (like Ravelry, etc.).  On Monday, October 17th, I'll randomly draw one lucky name.

It's good to be back up and running with power and the ability to spend more time on the computer.  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

A Quick Update..............

We're still limping along without our main generator for backup, but by golly we're doing it!  Pure Energy Co. came up on Friday and got our wind turbine running, so at least when there's wind, it's charging our 32 batteries.  That is keeping our frig going all day and one lamp in the evening.  The problem was what would we do if the wind stops.  So, this company attached a power cord to our inverter inside the pump house, and we can connect that cord to our mid-size generator and get the batteries back up.  The wind has been stopping during the night, so we've been running this for about 4 hours.

Then we also have two of these smaller Honda generators and they're capable of running a floor heater, tv or washing machine when needed.  Not all three at the same time tho.  After my husband left for work this morning, I started one up and used my curling iron (a girl has to look half way decent, right?), then washed a load of clothes and finished up ironing some shirts.  It's not the most convenient way of doing things, but it's very do-able!

One of our worries is the well.  We've had to turn it off because even the mid-size generator can't handle that load.  Our external tank holds 5,000 gallons of water and we're at 3,500 right now.  So, we are really trying to conserve our water usage.  I ran to Kmart and got paper plates, towels, cups and spoons to just throw away during this time.  We're also filling our water buckets and arrowhead type jugs at our neighbors' house and that has been a huge help.

While I was at Kmart, I checked their camping section and found these solar showers!  How fantastic are these!  They hold 5 gallons and you just place them in the sun during the day and then in the evening you can take a hot shower!  I bought two of them and my husband managed to place a 2 x 4 over our shower and then we can hang these bags right inside the shower stall.  Did you know that you can actually get a decent shower with only 2 1/2 gallons of water?

Our son (who is learning disabled and someday I will share his story) just can't deal well with this kind of an adventure, so he's staying with our daughter and son-in-law.  Actually, the less people using the resources we have available is much better at the moment.

The company that works on these Italian generators will be up tomorrow morning at 9, so cross your fingers and toes that they can figure out the problem and hopefully have the right parts. ($125 per hour from the time they leave Bakersfield!!!)

I'll post another update as soon as I can.  Many, many thanks to all of you for your prayers and good wishes.

Take care.

When It Rains...................

Sorry that there's no pictures today, but I just wanted to let you all know that I will be offline for several days.  Remember I told you about having our pellet stove fixed this week, but that they discovered an electrical problem at the wall switch (or with the ceiling fan that my husband put in!) and it was causing a loop over to the stove.  They wanted an electrician to check all that out first and I had that scheduled for tomorrow.

Well, last night while the rain was beating on our windows and a dusting of snow was falling on our mountain tops, our entire off grid system went down.  We put on our rain gear and went out to the pump house, but the generator just wouldn't turn over.  My husband checked fuel lines and everything he could think of.  With that, we shut down the inverter to the generator but kept the one on that goes to the wind turbine. 

We've shut all applicanes off except for the frig.  First thing this morning, we called the company down in Bakersfield that works on these Italian generators and they seem to think it's this one certain part but of course don't have it in stock.  In fact, that part isn't anywhere in California!  It has to be overnighted from Wisconsin!  And it wouldn't even come in until late tomorrow, which means they won't be coming up until Monday.

With all of that, I cancelled out the electrician.  Kinda hard to have him work on the electrical if we're limping along with little power.

Then, if that wasn't all crazy enough, my husband comes in with this awful look on his face and I say, "Now what?"  The wind turbine's shock absorber is now dangling from the top!  At least it's still working but for how long?  So, he calls that repairman and he's coming tomorrow.  He might also be able to take a look at the diesel generator since he installed both systems.

Can anything else go wrong?  Fortunately, we have two small Honda generators and one is running an electric heater in our front room and the wind turbine is keeping the frig going.

My computer battery is dying, so I'm signing off for now.  Keep us in your prayers and we will keep our eyes upward.  It's times like this that keep us closer to the Lord and for that I'm very thankful.

Bye for now............

A Rainy Day.................

 Just finished these two pair of socks.  Aren't they fun?

Now, I have a confession.................

I broke with my usual mode of operation and actually matched up the color sequence!  I know, I'm as shocked as you are!

Today we have our first "winter" storm blowing in so it's a good day to stay home and knit socks and work on the magazine project.

Our pellet stove is down so I'm without heat today.  I do have a portable heater that I can turn on if necessary. But, the winds are really gusting, so I ran out and put the brake on the wind turbine.  If need be, I'll just throw on a flannel shirt.

The repairmen were out yesterday to see what's going on with the stove. The wall switch has one rocker switch and two halves.  He wanted to turn the ceiling lights on above the stove to see better but hit the ceiling fan switch instead which ALSO sent a surge to the pellet stove.  With that, he bellowed out "WOW" did you hear that?  Now, we've had this quirky thing going on ever since my husband put in the ceiling fan (all by himself!)  We've kinda just shook our heads at it because the pellet stove motor goes right back off.

Well, this guy yesterday said that it is extremely dangerous and that the pellet stove isn't even on that circuit.  With that, they shut it down and said an electrician has to come and see what's going on before they can repair the pellet stove.  His thinking is that this electrical surge from the ceiling fan has been sending short bursts of electricity to the stove and probably fried the control board.

As I think back to when my husband put in the ceiling fan, I remember him saying, "Gee, there's an extra wire up here!"

Life's always exciting with my hubby!

Apples, Pumpkins and Little Boys............

Our grandsons came up yesterday and boy did we have a ball!  We started out at our favorite apple orchard............

Then proceeded to one of the local pumpkin patches..............

Even two year old Carter really got into the action. (By the way, look at his shirt.  Our daughter said that he won't wear any shirt unless it has numbers on it!  Go figure!)

There even happend to be some little Alpacas on the farm next door.

And just as we were leaving the pumpkin patch, these two horses walked by and Mitchell decided to share an apple with them. 

It's always fun to have the boys up and then once they leave, the house becomes way too quiet!

Afterwards, we decided to just sit outside for awhile and enjoy the marvelous fall afternoon.  I always love to stare up at the top of our mountain and as I was doing so, I saw smoke.  Couldn't believe my eyes because everything right up to the top of the ridge on the other side has already burned.

My husband ran and got his binoculars and sure enough he could see a bit of a flame and more smoke.  With that, I called 911 and explained to the dispatcher what we were seeing and where.  She said that they had had several calls earlier in the week and it was just dirt devils.  I told her that we had seen some flame along with the smoke and she said to have my husband look one more time carefully.  I was really getting the feeling that she didn't believe me!  But then, it's been almost a month since the fire came through up there so why would there be a problem now.

We confirmed again to her what we were seeing and about 10 minutes later we saw one lone fire pickup coming up the road and heading toward the old burned area.  Probably just to check it out before calling in the troops!  About 20 minutes later we saw 3 "hot shot" trucks making their way up, too.

At least we weren't loosing our minds and actually did see something on fire.  The only thing we could think of was that a tree had been smoldering all these weeks and maybe had fallen and broken open and the wind helped to ignite it a bit.  Fortunately, it wasn't anything serious and the ground crews got it all out.

Today it's back to knitting the project for this knitting magazine and maybe cranking out a sock or two.

Hope your week ahead is a great one.