Monday

Hi everyone~I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I was supposed to get several projects done during my blogging break~and I did get a few of them finished, but still have a ways to go.

It's starting to look a little bit Christmas-y around the Cordwood Cabin, but I still have a long way to go. We have to move some furniture and store a few things away to make a little bit of room for our Christmas decorations.

I'll post some pictures of our decorations, as well as a couple of my craft projects by the end of the week~I hope!

I'm enjoying looking at all of your very Christmas-y blogs. Everyone have a great day!

Wednesday

No Wednesday Wives Tales today.

See ya in two weeks. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!

Saturday Smile

It's a beautiful fall in the mountains! These pictures were taken at Mount Magazine State Park.

Wednesday Wives Tales~Raising Chickens

Raising chickens in the mountains can be a bit iffy. One has to worry about disease and most of all, varmits that are always looking for a tasty chicken meal. Then, there are other problems, such as getting a good hatch out of a batch of eggs. Through the years, Ozark and Ouachita mountain folks have found several ways of dealing with all of these problems.

Never raise chickens next to a potato patch. The smell of the potato plants will make hens quit laying eggs and start setting.

If you collect eggs and put them in a woman's bonnet to transfer them to be hatched, they will mostly hatch out pullets (hens). But, if you put the eggs in a man's hat, they will mostly hatch out to be roosters.

Any eggs that are elongated or sort of 'rough' on one end, are thought to be 'rooster' eggs and should be avoided putting in a clutch to hatch.

A sure trick to protect your chickens from varmits is to pull one feather from each chicken in the flock and bury the feathers deep in the dirt under the hen house. As long as they stay buried, the chickens will remain safe.

And most important~never give away a chick or you may be giving away your 'luck' with it. Any payment will prevent this curse, even just a trade of something, like a bucket of berries or garden produce for the chicks.

I've been trying to remember if we've given away any chicks, LOL!

Saturday Smile

These beautiful animals run wild in the National Forest area next to us and sometimes wander down our road. I think the owner has been fined~but they are still out there. I look for them whenever we are back there. I hope they stay safe!

Wednesday Wives Tales~Sweeping

I grew up hearing that you shouldn't let anyone sweep under the chair, over the feet of a single girl~else she might end up an 'old maid'.

There seems to be several more old wives tales about sweeping. For instance, you should never sweep your house on a Monday, else you might sweep away the family's 'money luck' for the entire week.

Be careful to never let a broom fall flat on the floor. And if it does, do NOT step over it~it will double your bad luck.

Never sweep the dirt out the front or back door at night, or you might sweep dirt into the faces of the ghosts and spirits that stand outside the cabin door in the dark. In fact, it seems to be bad luck to even sweep at night at all.

It is bad luck to stop sweeping a room before you finish it. And you should never burn the 'sweepings' in the fireplace or wood stove. They must be disposed of in some other way~like out the back door in the daytime.

In looking around the Internet, I also found this: When moving to a new house, if the broom is moved with the rest of the household furniture, you will not be successful. The broom should be burned while standing in the corner, being watched meanwhile, to prevent the house from taking fire. (I'm still puzzling over how one accomplishes this, LOL!)

Happy Sweeping!