Monday, September 29, 2008

Is This Monday-or What?

I was appalled to find out that two posts that I thought I posted were not posted. It doesn't make sense. I can go to where the posts are stored, and I cannot figure out how to get them posted from storage. I cannot figure out why they weren't posted in the first place. It's one of those deep-computer mystery things.

Anyway-I am totally exhausted today, and I declared this a rest day. Despite that, I am doing laundry, dishes, etc.

I finally sorta kinda finished the front flower bed. I haven't got all the cross ties in place yet. My neighbor finally got the part for his tractor and tootled over here to load up a big portion of the topsoil pile and place it into the flower bed proximity. He and his wife went away in their HUGE RV for a week, and that gave me plenty of time to rototill the piles of dirt and rake them into an assemblage of level. I finally decided to wheelbarrow several loads of dirt into the middle to pile it up higher. I them planted all my flowers I bought. Now it looks silly with this little batch of flowers in the center of this HUGE flower bed. But in a coupla years this will all be a memory. And it will look gorgeous.

HandHeld Knitting-my LYS- has moved a block and a half into a real store front. Yes, everyone complains because the little cottage was like a home for knitters everywhere. But this looks more sophisticated and upscale. It has a better traffic flow-hopefully-better lighting, and the whole shop is in one room. Better for the cashier/storekeeper. There is a small loft that is planned for a classroom. Several of us helped out last week with the move and arranging of yarn into bins. It should be a good thing once the newness wears off.

Our knitting night has changed with the move. We will now be meeting on Thursday evenings. Other stores will be open, and it should bring in traffic as well.

My friend from California came for the weekend. She has been at her cabin in Oklahoma, and she needed a break from her repairs. So we got the dump site mostly cleaned out in the back. When I began digging around, I found where the previous owners dumped all their trash. After we finished, we went into Fayetteville to the recycling center with 4 garbage bags full of beer and whiskey bottles. The rest of the recycled stuff can be picked up with my service. There were three garbage bags full of trash. There are bulk items that will have to wait until the end of October for pick up by my service. And I have a pile of metal and wires that I will have to call another service for that pick up. Of course, there will be plenty more to clean up once the leaf off is completed. But the majority of it is gone.

I could not believe that today I bought gas for $3.17. There is a gas war going on. I really didn't need any gas, but I topped off my tank while I could get the deal.

I am slowly getting stuff organized in my sewing and storage room. I bought these nice Rubbermaid drawer units at Walmart. They are deep drawers, and they hold a lot of stuff. I am emptying my Rubbermaid containers that are stacked up. I am trying to put one type of thing in each drawer, labeling the drawer, and that will keep things handier than the system I had. I like them a lot. They are not pretty or wood or anything, but they are highly functional. I am thinking about getting a door at Lowe's or Home Depot and put on top of two of them to make a big cutting table. It's a plan; we will see.

Hopefully this will publish. I don't know what to do about the other ones. I guess they are lost in the black hole of blogland.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Where Were You When............?

A friend and I were having lunch last week. He surprised me when he asked, "Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?" I told him, and I repeated where I was when RFK and Martin Luther King were assassinated. I even told him where I was when Elvis died and Lennon was assassinated.

It reminds me that in a sociology class we were discussing values of a culture and mores, etc., etc. Boring stuff. It was interesting that the instructor said that our values are set at age ten from the adults and society we live in, and from age ten to around age 16 we develop our own values from experimenting with our place in that society. The only thing that changes this whole parameter is a catastrophic event. Like assassination, like war, like Hurricane Katrina, or a tsunami that wipes out everything. Or famine, or invasion of one's country, or anything along that line. So my generation was effected by 3 assassinations of world leaders and a really bad war that was killing my generation off. And two social icons were killed.

Now I am not trying to say that my generation was special. My mother's generation was effected by the Depression during their young years, and by a World War that was killing off their generation. My grandparents had their own struggles.

I don't know where I am going with these thoughts. But I do know that today is September 11. I do know where I was on September 11, 2001. I do know that I think it is a very tragic event in our history. And a monumental one at that. But I am not as effected by that as someone who is of the generation surrounding that event.

But go back to the original thought. When we think about Iraq or Afghanistan, think about the effects of our invasion on the mores and societal impact that we created for the children and young people of those countries. It will show up within the next 20-30 years.

And think of any other society we do not understand-or even pretend to understand. What impact will you have on the people in that society? What impact will we have on the children that were snatched from the compound of that religious sect in Texas at gunpoint? We will see in another 20 years. What effect did we have on the poor little Cuban boy that was snatched out of a closet in Miami at gunpoint?

I guess we will find out in a few more years.

Meanwhile, I leave you with a picture of Noodles birdwatching out his kitty door. I understand this more than I understand what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

If you build one, why not two?!?

O.K. It starts as I think I would like to dig up that space between the two sidewalks and make a big cottage garden with indigenous flowers that are more prairie flowers than anything else. Then.....I think this is a wonderful idea because I wouldn't have to mow that area.

My neighbor asks, "Have you been to that nursery down the road?" "No", I said, "I thought it was a wholesale nursery." "Oh, no, they sell retail too. And their prices are much better than W.....'s. ( Another popular nursery) H and I bought our big holly bushes there for only $60 apiece."

On the way home the other day I stopped at the nursery down the road. OMG! They had everything and then some that I wanted. It was like a candy store. So off to home I hurry to measure the space and write down some flowers I would like to have.




So now I have to clear out the grass. I tried the old hoe method that they showed on Ask This Old House. Didn't work. The grass is too tough and thick. So I got out the trusty pick and chop, chop, chop, chop, I had a space about a yard across. This is not going to work either. Takes too long and is too hard to do. So out comes the old rototiller. RRRRRRgh! Works some, but the grass bound up the tiller. Sigh! This is going to be a tough job! Only because I bought some stupid flowers.

This spot is 24 feet on one side, and 31 feet on the long side. It is 9 feet across the short end.

So along comes H, my next door neighbor with his tractor. We worked until after dark and the ground is naked. Except along the edges that I will have do by hand. He wants to disc it up to loosen everything up. Then we can move the topsoil over and Voila! a flower bed. So the next morning-yesterday- he comes over with the tractor to finish up our mess. He had piled up the piles of stuff at the edge of my ravine. It is covered with honeysuckle, wild morning glories, and kudzu. So it is deceptive where the edge is. So he pushed it to where I had mowed, and wanted to look at it in the daylight and mark the edge.

In the conversation, he said he would go ahead and work up that spot in the back where I wanted to make a garden. So off he toodles out to the back yard to work on the bald spot where the pool had been. Weeds have begun growing there, but I figured I could work that up easily.

We have to pause here to discuss my logic. My Daddy always said I have the damnedest logic he had ever heard. Well, when the pool was removed before I bought the place, my logic says, "Oh, a bald place. It could be a garden." Meaning, I wouldn't have to work hard to dig up grass. Well, I have never had an above-ground pool. So little did I know that they had put in red-clay fill and packed it down to make a hard base. And there were lots of rocks for drainage. I kinda got a feel for that when I dug up my little spots to put in the plants I transplanted from my old place.

Well the tractor died after a short while. So now I have a dead tractor in the backyard and part of a bald place. After H left, I worked for a coupla hours digging out rocks, and piling up rocks in the wheelbarrow. I dug out weeds along the area he couldn't reach with his tractor.

So long story short, I bought some plants, and suddenly I have two beds to work on-one front and one back. Sigh! How does one get into these messes?



Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Gustav is Here!


Yes! The kitchen is YELLOW!

Gustav has moved inland all the way up here! We have had a nice gentle rain all day with some wind. It is supposed to rain for two more days. I guess I am now looking for a rain barrel to hook up to the gutter.

I have been resting today, paying bills, and just enjoying the rain. My neighbor brought some fresh out-of-the-oven pumpkin bread. I guess it is going to be Fall before we know it.

Nothing else earth-shattering going on. I put my heavy sock on two circs to relieve some of the arthritis pain in my right hand. I picked up the spiral sock to finish, and I guess I can't give them away. There are too many mistakes. I found a German website that had some gorgeous clothing. I guess I am beginning to think of heavier clothing, although I am still wearing next to nothing. I found a beautiful cardigan pattern on Classic Elite website. I am in the mood to see if I can find something to salvage the Manos mistake. I don't want to rip it out. In the move I found a scarf experiment that I guess I stashed away to hide it. So I guess I will rip that out and find another use for the yarn.

I found some fabric at Hancocks to make a valance for the kitchen window. Maybe tomorrow I can get to my sewing room. I think I would like to do a really easy project. I also bought a cushion form to make a cushion out of a sweater I thrifted. It has sheep across the front. It has a lot of holes, but I think I can fix that. I have enough of a felted sweater that was thrifted that will complete the project.

I will get back to ya later. Stay dry!