I have been mosey-ing along through summer. It got really hot for a while. Our normal heat plus humidity. It is the kind of weather that makes one sit in air conditioning and try not to think about our ancestors sweltering in layers of clothes and unable to breathe properly.
Then in August we had a cool snap. Normally in August it is HOT and 100% humidity. I was able to turn off the a/c for a while. The nights actually got down into the 50's on some nights. This is unheard of where we live. No one, and I mean no one, has ever imagined an August like the one we have had the last two weeks.
Today the heat is back on; the a/c is turned on.
I have had a lot of stuff happen at one time. Since I retired, I don't do catastrophe well. I get a bit melodramatic-the woe is me routine. No one cared. It's nice to have friends that just shrug and move on.
My riding lawn mower died right at the end of a row I was mowing. I made myself finish the mowing with the push mower. That nearly killed me. I find that my heart rate fluctuates wildly when I am hot, tired, exasperated, and mad. Sears will send someone out to take care of your mower for a very hefty sum. It also takes about two weeks or so to get in queue.
Then I stepped out on the deck in back and thought that something wasn't right. I went under a little ways and could see the support board was katty-wancuss. I don't know how to spell that. Phonetics are good for some things; others not so good. When I returned on top, it was with a LOT of dismay that I saw that the deck was actually pulling away from the wall of the house.
Then when I really looked, I saw the reason it was pulling away from the house. The boards it was attached to were rotted and ant filled. I don't mean a few little ants. I mean ant filled. I called my handyman service, and they sent someone out within a few days to inspect and give me an estimate. I also called the termite inspector to come out and inspect for termites.
So after a long drawn out ordeal, two men jacked up the deck, replaced the support wall, reattached the deck properly, replaced some siding , and left me with a secure and badly scarred up deck. This Fall I have to seal it for winter time.
The mower gets fixed in another week or so. So I had to hire someone to mow and trim.
Money is precious to me. I hate to splurge on things like house repairs. Sigh! More drama.
My SIL lost her husband a week ago. It was very sudden and unexpected. I have called her a few times to check up on her. I guess I will have to visit in Fall.
I have finished the pretty green yarn that I was spinning. It was dyed with tansy. I am now knitting my indigo yarn. It actually started as an experiment with prickly pear and that went wrong immediately. So I rinsed that off and tucked it in the indigo bucket. It will be pretty when finished. On the electric spinner I am still spinning the green dyed with redbud leaves.
I finally got the yoke increased on the raglan sweater and the sleeves taken off to waste yarn. It is just a basic sweater and nothing fancy. I am knitting a pair of socks that have been promised to my niece. I am using the Monkey pattern for those. The stranded work got put on time out for a while. I have cast on 450 stitches to make a linen stitch scarf.
I have a pretty tapestry going on the loom. I feel overwhelmed at times, so I have dragged my feet on that. I dreamed one night that I was told to "Follow the line." I had an art instructor that used to tell us that all the time. If we sat too long staring he would nudge us with "Just follow the line".
So nothing else too new. My niece and her man have finally set a date for the wedding. I look forward to going to Florida in April. I will be really sick to death of winter by then.
Keeping busy, but nothing earth shaking to report. I had the goats out to clear some of the brush on the west side. I hear geese overhead periodically, although it is far too early for that. The robins have moved back to bulk up for their journey to wherever they go. The hummingbirds are feeding well. A noisy wren is setting up camp in the back.
The chives and the mint are all that are blooming. Usual end of summer routine.
Sorry to not write more often. Just nothing happening around here. Next time.
