A Never Ending Wind

As I sit here writing this, the wind is still blowing hard. Last time I looked, there were gusts of 57 mph. Earlier in the day, it was 69 mph. If you read the last post, you probably realized how scared I was staying here with another storm brewing. I decided about midnight that I would stay up all night in case it got really bad & I needed to grab Mia &  run to the basement . I made it until 2am & fell asleep with the lights on. I'm not sure what time I woke up & turned out the light. The barn was making all kinds of strange noises that comes with high winds howling through the attic. The project of insulating the attic is on our list, but not a top priority yet. Other noises heard were the downspout on the south side of the barn rattling in the wind (it became loose with the August storm, along with the old garage doors that are pushed to the middle of the building as seen here.http://the-big-red-barn-blog.blogspot.com/2010/10/garage-doors-are-in.html . We have them staked toward the building, but that was no match for the wind. I woke up at 6am, wondering if the neighbors across the road who are building a barn still had one....they do.

This was taken Monday afternoon...before the storm.

 Eli & Lizzie's barn is okay too. You can see it behind the house in this pic...

Shetlers house. Porch is back on & barn is a work in progress.

When I went to visit Lizzie on Monday afternoon, she was quilting with one of twins. It is a beautiful quilt, black background with purple accents. Very detailed stitching. She said that the day everyone came over to put up the barn, the women stayed in & worked on the quilt (and cooked meals) while the men were outside working. They had a quilting bee. The men had a "frolic" she called it. They say that rather than a barn raising. She says it sounds more fun that way.. :-) There is also other "family" news. A new little one is due in the spring. This will make an even dozen. Eli told us on Sunday after church.  We were talking about Lizzie's father & how many kids he has (eleven) and how many grandchildren he has, ( around one-hundred!) when he told us the news. We are worried about Lizzie's health, considering what happened when she had Fannie (who is a year & a half now). She was in the hospital for a couple weeks due to placenta previa. I can tell Eli is worried too. Here's hoping she has a safe, healthy pregnancy.
Today I have been very productive considering the lack of sleep. It has been a "kitchen" day which I have been looking forward to. Before it started to rain yesterday, I dug up quite a large number of leeks. They are now in the dehydrator set on 100 degrees. I'll be checking them before I head to bed & see if they are totally dry.

I also got some fresh milk yesterday to make Kefir (a fermented drink). I picked up some Kefir starter at the co-op, mixed it with the milk & a quarter cup of cream, then left it out with a cloth covering the top (it needs to breathe) and made sure the room stayed 65-70 degrees. A couple hours ago it was ready after sitting out all last night & most of today

 I made a smoothie with Kefir, frozen blueberries from the garden & a banana. It is thick, creamy & I already want to make more.

I also made jam, applesauce, almond milk and an elderberry liquor. I'll share those recipes with you in the next few days.
 Center Stove & Fireplace called today to reschedule our Wednesday appointment. It is just too windy to take a chance on our high roof. They will be here Friday.
Hoping to get a good nights sleep tonight...