Ducks ALIVE in 2025!

[heirloomgal]

We did have a heavy frost this morning, which I saw on top of the tarp covering the blanket covering my little peach tree.

We had a blizzard today. Almost white out conditions, dangerous heavy snow covered roads. Giant snowplows are out again, even though on Friday it seemed so nice out and spring was here! Crazy!

 

[baymule]

I hope your peach tree is ok!

Do you dress up for the CW reenactment? As a teenager my DD dated a boy whose family was CW reenactment participants. She had to have a dress, so I made her one. It was short sleeved but it was going to be cold that night, so I made elastic banded slip on “long sleeves” that she could wear. Plus I put in seam deep pockets in the skirt and none of the other ladies had pockets in their dressed. There was a clothing vendor on site with dresses that weren’t as nice as the one I made, selling for up to $600!

 

[flowerbug]

properly dried and frozen the seeds may be viable for longer, but it will vary by plant species. so far my searching says that sweet pea seeds may be viable for 10 or more years when frozen. i have no direct experience to go on though...

 

[ducks4you]

@flowerbug, re: sweat pea seeds--No Kidding!!
I have this drawer downstairs where I stored various seeds over the last several years in what were plastic and glass small spice jars. My plan is to plant ALL of them right before my next surgery, very much like I planted a bunch of squash seeds in July several years ago, so as to compete with the weeds.
I want to document what I plant and see what seeds were viable, but there is no sense keeping them any longer and I could use that downstairs drawer now that I have a nice upright teak seed cabinet upstairs.

 

[ducks4you]

I hope your peach tree is ok!

Do you dress up for the CW reenactment? As a teenager my DD dated a boy whose family was CW reenactment participants. She had to have a dress, so I made her one. It was short sleeved but it was going to be cold that night, so I made elastic banded slip on “long sleeves” that she could wear. Plus I put in seam deep pockets in the skirt and none of the other ladies had pockets in their dressed. There was a clothing vendor on site with dresses that weren’t as nice as the one I made, selling for up to $600!

Yes, @baymule, the going price for a well made and authentic (no zippers, no elastic, no fishing line to gather the skirt materials, is around $600.00
DD bought fabric to make me a new gown, but:
1) we are running out of time for May 3-4
and
2) I am working hard to have a smaller dress size
so, it's all good.
I have a dress that I wore last year, and we located one that middle DD made, youngest DD washed it and it and the shirt and vest is now hanging in my closet.
We have purchased online a black tweed vest, so black shoes, teal OR green skirt, white shirt with fabric covered buttons and black shoes and I'll cheat with leggings and we'll all good.
We were part of a very authentic--if you don't count me as a "cavalryman", (but, they were MY horses, so price was paid for that,) Union Infantry, the "Cumberland Guard," out of Indiana.
Everybody went their own way of study, and one member found that he liked first to construct period shirts, then period uniforms.
Best practice was for everything you wore to have been accessible in 1860, and the "stitch Nazis" would check to see that it was no more than 15 hand stitches/inch/CW Uniform, not what a sewing machine could do.
Hand sewing a woman's garment had no such requirement bc, of course, hand sewing can have tiny stitches and can be fastidious.
For a day dress the undergarments protected the outer garments and those were washable.
IF you wore a hoop, you would be considered poor if there was no significant petticoat between the hoop and skirt and/or you could see the hoop boning through the skirt.
You could wear a number of petticoats under the skirt.
If you were in camp, you could forego the hoop with a day/work dress but most CW reenactor women want to show off.
We have a couple of dresses that we inherited that are well made, a little bit worn, and the best place to sell them is At a CW event.
I will also clean up a couple of McClellan saddles to put up for sale there, too. We might bring my two wooden sawhorses, cover them each with 1/2 of a shelter tent to put them on instead of the aluminum saddle stands.
There is only so much inauthentic hyprocrisy that I can bear!!

 

[ducks4you]

DD's put up the Wall Tent and the Baker's tent on Sunday--finally NO RAIN!!
They found enough stakes, although some are missing...
The Wall Tent is now 40yo. It has a few holes that eldest DD will be repairing this week. She did an excellent job on the other holes that were discovered a few years ago and they have an adequate supply of white canvas for repairs.
It is Totally a hand sewing job, best done by measuring the hole, creating a rectangle with 1/2" selvage, ironing back the selvage then hand sewing. A little bit of school glue to hole it in place while you stitch doesn't hurt, either.
We own the following tents:
Wall Tent w/a Fly
Baker's Tent--looks like 1/2 of a Wall Tent
9 ft A Frame
6 ft (hybrid) A Frame
Sibley
Shelter Tent
Here is a site with most of them:

Civil War Canvas Tents & Flys: A Frame, Wall, Officer, Hospital, Sibley

Quality Canvas Tents of 10.38 oz Sun Forger Canvas. Treated for Water & Mildew Resistance.

www.ccsutlery.com

 

[ducks4you]

@baymule,
I had it covered Sunday night/Monday morning, then yesterday's 30 mph winds blew my cover off!!
I went out and covered it again, and this is what it looked like:

I plan to leave it covered until Saturday morning.

 

[ducks4you]

I had 3 appts yesterday, but I was able to put back 1/6 bolts that had been missing from my tow wagon.
It is time consuming to take a bolt to the hardware store and find same. In this case I brought one of them with me in a snack sized ziplock bag, I asked for help, ended up buying six 5/16" bolts a little bit longer than 1/2 inch, bought a package of toothed locked washers bc I saw that the original bolts had these on them, and I opted for wing nuts to make it much easier to tighten on the spot. The original bolts had a wider head for a standard screwdriver. These have a smaller head and need a hex or star wrench. Several years ago I spotted a tool with lots of sizes of allen wrenches, both in standard And metric, and I bought both of them. Since all wrenches are attached I don't lose one. Also, me, being a hoarder, I save those specialty allen wrenches that come with projects, like office chair assembly, so I am good with these new bolts.
Part of the assembly of the tow wagon in the back has pulled apart, but if I use a locking wrench I should be able to put those bolts back on and intend to make them Really tight. It is been difficult to put the back on the wagon for a couple of years. Dropped a heavy piece of wood on it and got some bending. Probably this is why I lost those bolts in the first place.
This is all drudgery--eldest DD would say "I have stopped listening"--but when your tools are in good working order you can get your jobs done.

 

[ducks4you]

Sorry, I have become a fan--

and THIS:

 

[ducks4you]