Well, I am doing the dreaded and awful job of cutting down the bachelor button stalks and spreading the seeds. I hate to disturb the plants, because in the mornings the doves are usually roosting in there at night. But watching the fires out west reminds me to cut down the stalks. I don't need that much dead and dry material near the house.
The neighbor that owns the wooded lot behind my house is trying to do some husbandry things too. I hate it. I have piled up limbs and dead flower material for three years now. I like the habitat I created for the little critters. You know the ones most people hate are the mice and rats. But they are food for some bigger predators and it balances out.
Yesterday he took a huge tractor and cleared out behind my neighbors on the east side. He has a nice fire barrier up to their fence line. Luckily he broke a belt of some kind, and he hasn't made it down to my side yet. I know it is a fire hazard and I should be thankful that he cares, but I have worked hard to create some kind of natural habitat. Oh-and the birds love the underbrush too. Sigh!
I have also been very busy cleaning up my studio space. That was MAJOR! I have a tendency to just pile up stuff and let things go for a while. My friend CF gave me some really nice heavy-duty shelves and they have been sitting out on the deck. So I started cleaning on Saturday. I found the nest of all nests of brown recluse spiders that creeped me out. I sucked up a bunch in the vacuum, and squashed quite a few. It is the same feeling you get once you find a tick on you. You think you are covered in them and every little itch is a tick. Well, I finally had to leave the room and wait until Sunday to finish.
Sunday I moved the furniture, vacuumed really, really well, put up shelves and rearranged the fleeces. I mean it was WORK! I was really sweating. Luckily toward the end of everything, CJE arrived with a chocolate milkshake! We both went into sugar comas, but I rallied enough to clean the carpeting. Then I showered and we played a little while. She succumbed to the sugar coma and took a long, long nap. While she was asleep, I cleaned the carpet cleaner out, took Patty for a walk, and finally settled into my spinning with a audio book. She woke up feeling more human, and left shortly afterward.
I finally gave up and started a pair of socks. I was sitting on the chaise lounge and just looked at the sock yarn bowl. There was the prettiest yarn I don't remember ever having. I picked it up and looked at it. I put it back and said someday. Well, Sunday night I cast on a pair of socks with it. This is the first pair of socks I have knit this year. I don't count those UFO giraffe socks, since that was just a finishing of something I had already started. I am doing a twisted rib and it looks really pretty. Sigh!
I am spinning some baby camel/merino now, and it is really yummy! I love it.
I think I will go back to mowing my bachelor buttons. I want to get that done before it gets too hot.
Talk to you after Solstice.
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