Working the Homestead this week...

Cooling on the homestead --Well, Dewey headed back to Arkansas this morning. He should have yesterday, but things were still in the middle of being completed here...namely the air ducts were still in parts under the trailer. Go figure...we don't like paying for central air that is being used more by the assorted free range critters here than by us! Not an animal in site roaming the yard -- of course, it's been beyond the other side of hot, but still -- and you start hunting for them. Where are they? Under the trailer. Enjoying quite the blast of nice cool air. From my a/c unit.

No wonder the solar oven we live in was running so warm inside. It was cooler outside with the section of duct work pulled open a bit.

I'm beginning to rethink the whole sustainable homestead idea...with animals and such. I don't do heat real well to begin with, and, well, you know, to have the cats and a dog and whoknowswhatallelse taking up residence under my home and living the good life off my dime (well, my several dollars) of electricity just sets wrong with me, kwim?

So, some new duct sections, some insulated whatever-its-called wrapping stuff and we are back in the business of keeping the homestead Mrs. relatively cool again. Not that there is truly much of a difference inside given these temps recently...sunlight beating down relentlessly on a tin box tends to keep the heat level fairly high. Temps today are no different -- still running on the high alert side for the heat advisory. Will be this entire week from the looks of it -- temps going to 98 today and between 95-97 each day this week. That means heat indicies pushing 107 still.

The good side to that -- it's only in the upper 70's inside now that the ducts are looking more normal and most of that air is staying where I pay for it to go. And the laundry has never dried so fast :o)

Laundry on the homestead --Yes, I broke down and bought a new washing machine. A Whirlpool Cabrio Agi. It was the largest tub (5.0 cu. ft) I could find this side of a top loader, with an agitator. Hey even handwashing has an agitator, I just can't wrap my mind around not having that thing in the middle of the machine.
This machine does a wonderfully large amount of clothing in one load. Shhh...don't tell Dewey, but honestly, I have really loved using it. And with the current trend in heat, I think I prefer it to handwashing and using a wringer. Don't tell him, though. Keep my secret and I'll work out a way to email chocolate to everyone, deal?
It handled 12 large bath towels (3 of them were beach-sized, the rest were largest normal body towels) plus 9 kitchen hand towels plus 34 washcloths and cloth napkins. I would never have gotten all that in any of the other washers we've had. And it took all that without so much as a grunt or a struggle. And quiet -- it makes some noise when it fills, and when it spins out the water...that's it. LOL...and it doesn't wander the floor like that poor old beast we put down! Oh, I should have listened to my dear sweet husband sooner and bought a new machine. He really does have some good ideas. yeah, don't tell him that either!
We washed literally everything Thursday and Friday....all linens, even those in the closet, all towels and such, every stitch of clothing, and even several bolts of fabric that needed tending. If it was cotton, it was washed! The washing cycle for a normal load, no extra rinse, no heavy duty, just a monster large load takes about 53 minutes. In that time, the previous load on the line was already dry and ready to come in...even the blue jeans were bone dry. I will give that a plus for the the heat down here.

Sewing on the homestead -- we are working on a lot of sewing needs here. I am so lazy when it comes to sewing. Good grief, I've had my own dress cut for about 3 weeks now and it's partially pinned but not a single stitch sewn. Worst part is I know this pattern very well. I can put my dress together in less than a day, even with normal breaks for other tasks. Might have to have extra time for the buttons, but the sewing takes me no time at all, we've made so many of them. That's laziness :o( On the ironing board today is the 2nd of 3 nightgowns for the girls. Then it's boxers and pj pants for the boys. After that, maybe I'll do my dress as I do need another for church (I have a total of 5 dresses now...only one is decent for church -- you know, no serious fading, no baking stains...I'm always full of baking and cooking stains!) Then 3 dresses for the older girls.
My total list:
youngers/middles --
3 nightgowns
6 chemise/bloomer sets
4 dresses/pinafores
5 outer bonnets
6 pj pants
12 boxers
getting around to pants after summer moves on...
olders (and myself) --
4 church dresses
4 underslips
5 kitchen aprons
4 headcoverings/3 outer bonnets

And that secret project mentioned in this post I need to work on. I haven't done a block a day -- but, I have 'power blocked' a couple days and finished all I need for said project to be put together now. And we have a couple other projects starting up, with many block components cut and ready to stitch.

I tend to get waaaay too many irons in my fire at one time. It's a thing with me. That's how I roll I guess. So much to do and so much to learn about and not enough time to wash the dishes.