Awaiting a Storm

We’re under a winter storm warning through tomorrow, for what that’s worth. The problem is that the National Weather Service has been issuing “winter storm warnings” for months for minuscule amounts of snow (in Montana, 1-2” is not a “winter storm,” sorry), so it’s hard to take these predictions seriously after a while. I’m inclined to believe this one may have some teeth to it just because Snoqualmie Pass is literally impassable at the moment. The WADOT Twitter feed noted that there is no way to get from the east side of Washington state to the west side right now because all three passes are closed.

[As a mother with a kid in Seattle, that makes me slightly nuts.]

The pork processor called yesterday to tell me everything is ready to pick up. Clearly, we are not going to try to do that today. The husband and I will go down there tomorrow morning if the roads are clear.

A package was waiting for me when I got home yesterday:

This is my new lettuce-growing shelving. The husband said he would put it together today as he is not planning to go to work. He’ll probably be out plowing at least part of the day.

I am a bit defensive about this shelving only because I don’t want to field comments like, “You could build that cheaper yourself.” Those kinds of comments tend to pop up in homesteading groups that pride themselves on bootstrapping and doing things on the cheap. I get it. I am also keenly aware that I am not the kind of person who would be able to build that cheaper myself. I cobbled together the existing system and it was a pain in the butt. A cobbled-together system the size we need would be an even bigger pain in the butt.

I’ve decided that my response to those kinds of comments is to point to some of that person’s clothing and say, “You could make that cheaper yourself, you know.”

Figuring out the best ROI on our time and money is a personal decision and one that differs depending on the situation.

I might sew today, but I might also make some curd. I have enough eggs to try out the blackcurrant curd recipe that Cathy sent me. I put all of the appliquéd Sunbonnet Sue blocks up on the design wall yesterday to assess what I need to do next. There are 26 finished blocks and another six completed motifs that just need to be appliquéd to the background fabric. I think I will finish four of those for a total of 30 blocks. I can do a setting of five across and six down—with sashing between—and make a quilt that finishes at roughly twin size.

The blocks are very cute, and because I knew the woman who made them, working on this quilt has a lot of special meaning.