HIGH BUTTON SHOE

Yes, I know I am a couple days late again! Perhaps I should forgo the 1st and 15th of the month and just announce this newsletter will come out whenever I find time. Time, would be that elusive word that seems to describe what I don't seem to have much of lately. But I suspect you are all in that same category as me. While we stay busy all seasons, here on the farm, fall is generally the busiest, and the shortest. In northern Michigan, fall can mean cold rainy, sleet, half mix of snow, sunny warm, windy, and always too short. And there is never a shortage of things that need to be done to ready us for the inevitable.... winter. Note, I am saying winter...not that other word (s.n.o.w.....said in the almost inaudible whisper, as Mother Nature always hears me, and heaps vengeance on me, with layers of that stuff..) You would think after all these years, I would learn to like something about winter... but mostly I just complain. For today however, it is in the low 80's which is warm for this time of year, and I am trying to accomplish some outside chores.

Yesterday, we (meaning the competent and me, the other) finally got the big tent down from the July sale. Planning to have it done in August, my plans were altered by my not feeling good. So yesterday was the day. I assumed this late, we would be taking it down just prior to that afore mentioned weather of cold rain etc. However, it was hot. So was I. Ronnie is better with hot. I am not. And it was windy. Really windy. What better time to take a tent down? As the tent still was piled up with antiques, they had to go somewhere. Un-huh. Where? So I made room in the pole barn which will have to be completely redone in the next several weeks to allow the snow plow and my truck to be housed in there, and we stacked furniture in both garage stalls. I believe, I have told you before about my garage stalls. In a future newsletter you will no doubt hear about my efforts to clean garage stalls. Happens every late fall. Ron's truck managed to find THE empty garage stall. My truck is housed in whichever snow bank isn't the tallest.

I have found a new activity which fits the do NOT do with your husband, list. Wedged, now, in between wall papering together, and putting up a Christmas tree, is taking down a tent. Precisely, taking down a tent in gusty wind, and coupled with my apparent inability to understand instructions. First off, do NOT think for yourself. Do NOT anticipate anything and go ahead and do it without permission. Your task as the helper is to do ONLY what you are told. Preferably in snap to order. I will file this away in my poor memory bank for the next time we have "the tent" taking down. I am sure I will be absent somewhere that day. To compound matters, as the tent has been there now for 3 months, the grass around it is quite long, and it keeps tangling me up. But the worst is, that we have a particular bug that Ron hates in the drawers etc. now. Ron hates bugs! as is very apparent, in his quest to kill off ALL fruit flies in the house and I declare I won't have a clean window until they are dead. So he spent 2 hours in search and die of every nook and cranny the bug can be in, while I, am dragging all the furniture off to the pole barn, which I have calculated to be no less than one hundred trips back and forth. I think I deserved to loose at least 7.4 pounds and have a trench in the lawn now between the tent and the pole barn. And I did all this, not with my red licorice, but a protein bar and 1/2 can of diet soda. Cripe, I deserve to lose 7.4 pounds on that alone. But that is done, and I loaded up the shop with furniture piled all over, so that must be reckoned with too before Saturday again. Beulah put some new pictures of the shop up on the website...so you best take a look at them before they all change again.

For the past week, we have had a forestry firm on the farm harvesting our 40'+ pine trees. These are the 50 year old trees right next to our house and across the road just east of the shop. They came in a week ago today with HUGE equipment to begin cutting the trees. Knowing this had to be done, but not relishing the thoughts of seeing these big trees come down, I could only watch about the first 5 big trees being cut. It is however, a fascinating operation. Tuesday morning, I awoke at 4:30AM, like the entire neighborhood did, to huge lights in our bedrooms somewhat resembling an alien attack, the sound of huge motored equipment with its roaring motors, and trees crashing to the ground. NOT a good wake up call. I proceeded later that day to stomp down the sloping front yard, to put a written in big black marker note on the guys door telling him to NOT come before 6:30 AM. He of course, was just getting in his truck to leave, no doubt after seeing me stomping down the yard. I taped it to the big equipment. Each morning since they have started at 6:30 or as in one day at 6:15.

Ron is an old farmer. Farmers are a pretty smart lot. The cut up logs have been in TALLLLLLLL stacks across the road from our house, right in front of my fenced in garden, on what used to be my lawn. Used to be, being a generous term, for what is left of my lawn. Friday they started taking out the huge stacks on a tree truck ( I am sure there is some other word besides tree truck, but you know what I mean..) and 2 big trailers behind it that they pile the logs on. I thought Ronnie called them puffs (and thought that was a pretty stupid word for them!), but he said pups, which when you think about it, is still a pretty stupid word for them. Anyway, there are two of them. And they are BIG! As this big equipment trekking back and forth across what used to be my lawn, have made my trench in the yard between the tent and barn look pretty trivial, they commence to get the big truck stuck in trenches I could hide a baby elephant in. Ronnie and me had coffee this morning on our porch watching this futile effort to un-stuck this big truck with 2 loaded pups that is digging deeper and deeper into my once lawn. Yup, they were stuck, Big time. Ron, the farmer, and one accustomed to getting unstuck, or more accurately avoids getting stuck in the first place, told me what they should have done IN the first place. And went on to say, now what they needed to do. Which, in the end, is what they did, 2 hours later. Also, they have now moved the entire one pile out further toward the road, which in itself is a time consuming labor. Now, after repairing the ruts and trenches in my once lawn, they are able to load from the road. And traffic has to drive on my other lawn. The "other" wood pile is directly in front of the two south doors of the pole barn. Which left me only enough room to get the cart in with the furniture on it, between the barn and the wood pile. And used up 3/4 of the shop parking space. It has been an interesting week!

The purpose of this letter, after you have patiently foraged thru all the above, is to tell you that ranting raven was released Saturday, even though I wasn't here to tell you it did. We are at

http://www.rantingraven.com/Exhibit95.php I made a couple dolls up. JerusiaBinney and her crow Amos, and her cousin Jerutha and her crow Tulla. Also a game board I painted the squares on years ago, on a very old mortised and doweled original paint door with original hardware. I had a devil of a time getting those pictures, as I haven't mastered the light flash on the digital camera yet, and my nerves were rattled from my above mentioned week. But in the end the pictures turned out good, and all it took me was about 18 pictures for each one you see, and I wore the carpet out between the front porch and the computer to check to see if any one was an improvement over the last one.

I will start Christmas soon. I really want to get those outside chores done, even if I am HOT, rather than the alternative, which I apparently always do of waiting until I have to break out the infamous red wool hat, which is NOT attractive... and work in the cold rainy weather.

Just a reminder. We are NOT doing any shows this fall. We will have the shop open Saturdays 11-5, and other times during the week by chance or appointment. Thus, my need to get that furniture all arranged in there before you come! In some incapacitated moment, I decided to put one of the old fireplace mantels on a wall in the shop. WHY? I have wondered. BUT I think it will really look good and give me a new look. All I have to do is move one entire wall of things to get it in and then knowing it won't all go back together again like it was, have to rethink how to do it.

Also reminder...our Christmas on the Farm Open House is November 18,19 &20. I wish you could all come. I work hard to make it special, and it is such a fun time as many of you know each other, and it is a good time to visit.

OK, check out our offerings on ranting raven at the above link... also while there please check the offerings of PineBerryLane and of Walnut Ridge Primitives. My friend Miss Elspeth of PineBerry does absolutely outstanding primitive work, as does Chris Mathis of WalnutRidge. They never fail to make my heart smile.

I am going to try to send you a picture of the north slope of the logged off woods. It really is quite beautiful. Did I mention, I USED to have a lawn in front of my garden???? Oh, ya, maybe I did!

Thanks for asking to be a part of the farm!

in fond regard,

Clotilda

www.highbuttonshoe.net PS. Beulah put the witches shoes picture up on the homepage of the website. They were indeed a hit. I should have made umpteen pair. ya,right!