Solstice Day!

I prepared myself for this change in season by cleaning out things.  It started as a simple cleaning out the underwear drawer to cleaning out three drawers and the closet.  As I accumulated things, I started looking around the house for things that I don't use or don't need.  I ended up with a box that was overflowing, six grocery bags, and a small table.  It felt pretty good to get rid of things.  Luckily the Goodwill folks opened a drop-off branch right down the way from me.  It is close and convenient.

Today I got up early to enjoy the coolness of the morning.  I dropped Patty off at the groomers and I headed south to Boston Mtn. for the spinning guild meeting.  It was a long, long meeting as far as our group meetings go.  There was a lot of stuff to discuss, so I got a lot of crocheting on the baby blanket.  I am really getting tired of the blanket, but I am persevering to try to get it done sooner than later.

I was able to sell some books at the meeting and that made my savings account happy.  I don't know what is going to happen when I run out of friends.  I don't want to get stuck with a lot of books.

After picking up Patty, she and I headed up to CJE's house. JE was visiting and I thought I would check in with them.  It was a good quick visit, but I didn't want to stay away from home too late.

I made a good supper with a baked potato and some barbequed chicken on top of the baked potato. Easy dinner.

Tomorrow I am going to go to an oral storytelling class that is being held on a vintage train.  It should be fun.  I have stories to tell, and that isn't the problem.  It's how to get them out there.

So now to go to do some meditating and some prayer work for this glorious Solstice.  I always think it is the end of summer instead of the beginning.  Oh, well.  For me a new year starts and new goals and plans to be made.

Have a good rest of the weekend.

Almost June

I have been a horrible blogger this month.  A whole lot of nothing going on.
-Yard work takes precedence over everything else.  It takes a big chunk of time to mow, trim, and weed eat.
-CJE and I went to Hollister, MO for an OWL (Ozarks Writers League) meeting.  We stayed in an old hotel that has been restored to nice accommodations.  The noise level from the bar and the people in the hallway made me feel as if I was in some dormitory somewhere.  CJE was deadly sick the whole weekend with sinus infection.  Not a lot of fun.  She slept the whole trip.
-CJE and I went to Eureka Springs after OWL meeting, stayed at the Writer's Colony Saturday night, and then attended Books in Bloom on Sunday.  Again, CJE sick, sluggish, and not feeling right. AE called me to talk to her, and we headed home after that.
-Moving slowly, but steadily, along on the sleeve of colorwork sweater.  After ripping out the four inches, I think this time it will stay in.  Looks good to me now. Interesting part- decreases every four rows. Repetitive pattern not so interesting to create, but looks pretty.
-Had a spurt of interest in spinning some yarn, and could not face white.  So dyed it pretty blue color.
The yarn will match my bachelor buttons outside.
-My yard is again covered in bachelor buttons and weeds mixed in those.  I am amazed at my neighbor's abhorrence of the untidiness of everything.  I like it, and I don't care that they don't.  She is afraid of snakes.
-Noodles has decided now to systematically kill off every chipmunk that might be around.  I wish he would kill other rodents, but he has his own menu.
-Patty was boarded while CJE and I were on our weekend trip.  She came home with some weird habits from the other dogs.  Noodles had to slap her down twice until she remembered she was out of control.  Things back to normal now.
-The dreadful privet bushes out front are blooming.  It is a very sickening sweet smell that I am highly allergic to.  Since I keep windows and doors open and sit on the screened porch, there is no avoiding the smell or pollen.  UGHHH!
-I started a barn-raising square.  I had so much trouble with the cast-on and double points.  Gave my one square to CP at LYS, and told her my problem.  I showed her the granny square afghan I am crocheting with the yarn I bought.  JF came in, laughed at me, and said she always teaches people to use the magic loop method.  That was a DUH! moment.  I never thought of that.  She said everyone on Ravelry that had problems used double-points. DUH!
-I had my birthday this weekend.  Weirdest thing-Google had birthday cupcakes, etc. When I pressed the Google logo to see who had a birthday the same day as me, it popped up "Happy Birthday, Juliann".  Now it is strange to know I have a relationship with my computer.  I also got a birthday email greeting from Toyota.  Too strange, huh?

So see not a lot going on.  Just mundane things that occur around here.  Not a lot going on.  I am moving towards sewing, but haven't gotten there.  Goal for the summer is finish the two quilts I started last year.  I want to do some small sewing projects too.  Just moving towards hottest part of summer when I am not as interested in knitting. 

So soon we move into June.  I really like June.  It is a transition month with the Solstice in the middle.  I enjoy the screened porch in the first part of the day, and seek coolness for the hot part of the day.  So come on June-I'm ready for ya.

It's Finally May!

As usual the first of May is coolish.  I am still wearing sweaters.  Some idiots are wearing short sleeves, flip-flops, and occasionally I see a silly little girl in shorts; I am still wearing sweaters.

The weatherman is promising 70's by this weekend.  Be still my heart.  I will be sitting outside in the sunshine for sure.

Today is chaos.  The men are here installing a shower in the hall bathroom.  It is not a big job, but one that does require some skill.  I am not very good at plumbing.  They have their cloths laid out on the floor, and the work has commenced.

I spent my May Day (yesterday) with a friend who had oral surgery.  I couldn't help but compare his experience with mine.  I felt as if I was in a factory.  The workers were well organized, scripts were memorized, and the doctor was quick and efficient and on his way to another patient.  I barely understood all the instructions he gave.  It is helpful that I know what meds are what and how they are utilized.

Afterwards I was able to get my friend into his pharmacy and drugs purchased.  Then on the way home I pulled through Sonic to buy him a milkshake.  My surgery team gave me a free coupon for ice cream, his did not.  I know it is pure sugar, but I thought my friend looked a little bit shocky.  After eating the ice cream and some cold tomato soup I brought for him, he slept until 5 pm. 

I was able to get the dogs walked twice, checked on the horses, and I got a lot of knitting done.  My friend does not have t.v. or internet, so knitting it was going to be.  I got him up at a little after 5 pm and got two cups of warmed broth from the soup I made for him.  I left him a huge container of soup and some soba noodles for today. He was rearranging the horses in different grass eating places when I left.

Today he reported to me he feels fine and normal.  There is minimum swelling, and he is going to do some of his errands as planned.  He is telling me there is minimum pain.  So I guess he will not need the narcotics that the doctor ordered.

I am spinning some very lovely BFL in small quantities.  I find my attention span is limited to small batches right now.  The color is called oatmeal, and is a blend of two light browns of natural color.  Very pretty.  BFL has become my macaroni and cheese spinning.  It is comfort spinning.

I began knitting a square for the Barn Raising afghan.  I found the cast on very fidgety and had some difficulty keeping the stitches from falling off as I knit around in the beginning.  So after blocking it, the laddering is so apparent to me.  I don't like the way it looks.  I tried again to start a second square, and just had the same experience of loosing stitches as I began the knitting.  So I ripped it out and started crocheting a giant Granny Square afghan.  I like the way it looks and the mistakes I make are not so apparent.  It seems to suit the yarn better.  I am using Noro's Taiyo sock yarn.  The colorways are nice.

I have sewing on the mind, but my attention span is limited to short time at the machine.  I have a project or two going and I can't seem to finish anything.  Oh, well, when the summer heat arrives, I like to spend more time sewing than knitting.

I managed to get the riding mowing part of the yard work done this week.  It was rather silly to see me in a jacket and a knit cap out mowing the yard.  I knew I would lose yesterday and the men were coming today for the bathroom.  Then it's the weekend, and another week has gone by.  So to help control the weeds, I did the major mow job.  I still haven't gotten the trim work or the weed eating work done.  I don't feel compelled to run out in the wind and do it.

Patty is feeling rather clingy today.  She felt so totally abandoned yesterday that she is not letting me out of sight.  Noodles was somewhat following me around this morning, but he is off to his hunting routine at the moment.

I finished the red sockies, and they should be in Holly's hands today.

CJE and AE are home from their trip to Peru.  She is happy to be home.  I think she learned some valued lessons on this trip about caring for herself.  She needs a vacation from the vacation.

I guess that is all the catching up I can do.  I want to get the hummingbird feeder cleaned and restocked. 

Hopefully the news continues to be good news.  It is time for warmth and sunshine and happy days.

Signs of the Change!

Yes, it has been warm. It is dry. But this morning I opened the windows and doors and there is a slight, slight cooler feel in the air. The wind is blowing from the north, the wind chimes are singing, and the birds are eating seeds frantically. The light is different too. Surely these are all signs. Falling leaves due to the drought are all over the yard.

The hurricane season began with a flourish up the Northeast coast, and lots of good-hearted people are having hard times right now. With hurricanes, it is never over until the rain stops and the surge is complete. At least when we have a tornado, when it past, it is over. The cleanup begins. When we had the ice storm, it was just a matter of waiting until the power returns and just keep warm. When we had the snow storm last winter, it was just hunker down and stay calm.

And there are still fires in the West. Texas and Oklahoma are still in a terrible mess with the drought and fires.

I finished my spinning commission and the yarn has moved on to its happy home. I got busy yesterday and reintroduced myself to the quilted placemat project I had abandoned to spin, spin, spin. I made a major decision last week that my next quilting project will be something simpler and something I don't have to really think about during the process.

I did some research last week on The Disappearing Nine-Patch quilt pattern. This is going to be the perfect next project. I went to the quilt store with my neighbor, and we both bought some charm packs. I know it is expensive to buy pre-cut fabric, but right now I am willing to buy the fabric already cut. So once the placemats are back on track, I will start making nine-patch squares.

I am about two inches of the ribbing finished on the body of the sweater. I am still moving along on the socks, and I did catch up some on the crocheted afghan. I started spinning the Oxford wool, and it is really nice. And I still have a scarf on the loom.

I stopped to straighten up the messy house a little bit. The floor gets grungy with a dog and the cat around. With the wool, hair, and other stuff, I find dust bunnies blowing around the floor regularly. And my occasional dusting had to be done. There comes a point of wondering how long one can live dusty.

So nothing else new. The football games have started, and the crazy people have been around driving like crazies. I decided it was best to just stay home and stay out of the way. The Fall craft shows have started with the Prairie Grove Clothesline Fair this weekend.

So go outside and smell the air. Enjoy the cooler weather while it is here. We still have to get through September until I can start complaining about the cooler stuff. Summer actually went pretty quickly, but the heat this year is one for the records. Enjoy Labor Day. The last hurrah for summer.

Change always comes bearing gifts. -Price Pritchett

Alligators in the Toliet!

I finished the afghan I made for my nephew and his lady love as a wedding present. Since there is some trouble in paradise with the parents on both sides, I am not sure when or where the wedding is going to be. Both parents have grandiose ideas of where and how they want the wedding. The lovely couple want simple and friends, etc. They have stated quite plainly that they will just elope and the parents can have the wedding they want without them. We will see what will happen.

In the meantime, I finished their little gift. I mailed it off to them and it should be there today or tomorrow. Let them enjoy it this Fall and know that I love them and want them to be warm and happy.

Have you heard of the urban stories of snakes or alligators in the toilet that come up and bite you on the butt? That is not the same story of the outhouses that have to be kicked before entering stories. Well I have proof that strange things show up in toilets.

I didn't have on my glasses. When I looked into the bathroom, I saw a piece of gray dryer lint on the inside of the toilet. It was too big to be a wad of hair, so it had to be dryer lint. When I got closer I saw it was actually a gray tree frog.

The only way one could find its way to this bathroom was with Noodles help. He probably brought it in and lost it. As soon as it disappeared, he lost interest and it moved in. Well, I will say this was one lucky tree frog day. I didn't pee on it or flush it down the toilet. I took it back outside where it truly would be happier, even in this draught.

I have been watering every day, but I am afraid I am going to lose a lot of things. It is promising to be 100 plus degrees every day this week. I can't do anything outside in the heat of the day. I get up early just to sit out on the screened porch and have breakfast. The rest of the day has to be indoors and air conditioned.

My cousin and his wife and grandson stopped by for a quick visit on their way home to Virginia. I got an email this morning that he sent yesterday afternoon. There are still things he needs to get out of the house and garage, but I think he and his sister are going to rent out the cabin and house. At least they will be used and lived in.

I am spinning some weird wool roving that I got from CJE a while back. It has a slick processed feel to it. She says the thrift store got it in and called her about it. She has spun some of it, and it washes up nicer than it feels while spinning. I plan to overdye the yarn once spun. It is a blah light brown now, and I think it needs something to jazz it up.

I am turning the heel on the number two purse sock. I picked up some other sock yarn the other night to try out a pattern I found. I spent some time trying to get it to look right, and it didn't. I ripped that out and put the yarn back. The next night I tried a coupla more patterns, and finally I found a pattern I really like. So now I have another pair of socks started. Isn't that stupid? Oh, well.

I am almost through with the sleeves on the handspun sweater. I am itching to start the body now. The wool feels really squooshy and I love to squeeze it. It is merino, of course, and it is going to have a really nice hand to it. I am so in love with this yarn. I just hope this sweater turns out okay, because I will be disappointed if I don't get to wear it.

Nothing else new. Just trying to stay cool and less humid so I can spin and knit. I need to do some sewing, but.....

Stay cool, stay creative, and keep challenges at bay.

Wow! It's July!

First off-this is a fuzzy picture of a queen anne's lace seed head. Doesn't it look like a basket? I love them. I wish there was a better-not fuzzy-picture. You can see one in the background and get the idea.

This is a fuzzy picture of the blackberry iris that I purchased last Fall when I was on the high road south of Taos. There was a lady on the side of the road with a few plant containers of some local plants. This was the only pot of these, so I got the one. I also bought a pot of purple-ly yarrow, and the flower head is a little bit different from our yarrow. It seems to be adapted to the drier desert air they have there.

I do not know what kind of moth this is. As you can see the wings are transparent. It is very pretty anyway. I hope it isn't what is eating the hostas. I have had a terrible outbreak of grasshoppers with all the dry and hot weather. They have almost eaten my tansy plant down to nubs. I had planned to dye with it this year since it is now established. Well, I am now on Plan B of keeping it alive through the heat and summer. I didn't get to the comfrey in time for dyeing. It has died down until cooler weather comes along.

We did get a brief morning thunder shower yesterday. It was a gentle female rain and cooled things a mite. Until the sun came out and the humidity returned, I opened the doors and windows and aired the house. I was concerned about the neighbors across the ravine and their fireworks burning up the grass. But the rain kept things safe.

Since Patty found where my next door neighbors throw their food waste in the woods, I am now on Patty patrol. I go out with her and monitor her every move. Friday in the heat of the day, she spent most of the day over there. Her stomach was so distended and the farts were horrendous. She has tried several ways to convince me that it is okay for her to go out by herself, but I am not fooled. She has even tried to wait for me to turn my back and get busy in the yard, and then make a dash to the fence. I caught her three times yesterday doing that. The neighbors go to visit relatives this week some time, and I will give her freedom then. When they aren't home, there is no trash in the woods.

I am now plying the turquoise wool. I have downloaded a program to create weave patterns, and I spent a good time yesterday playing with that. I want to dress the loom with my new pattern, but I can't decide what yarn in the stash to use.

I am almost through crocheting the afghan for my nephew. Then wash, block, and mail. Yeah!

I have company coming this weekend, so cleaning is a priority this week. I don't like to clean, but it makes me feel better when I do it.

My cousin is driving with his wife and grandson to their property in Grove next week. He is meeting his sister and brother-in-law, and supposedly they are going to do something about their mother's things. Sigh! I told him it was time when he visited in the Spring. It is a major ordeal to organize a time for everyone to get together. I told him I would come over if he needed me. Otherwise they will drive over here one day to visit.

I guess Noodles has graduated to the big time again. Yesterday while we were out in the yard, he crooked his tail, ran galloping over to the backyard box elder and climbed up high in the tree. I haven't seen him do that since he broke his leg. So I guess he is strong enough now to do that. Isn't that amazing? Maybe I can quit trimming his back nails and let him trim them on climbing. Sometimes even old cats can amaze me!

I guess that is all for now. I baked some cookies and they are cool enough to sample. Then into the freezer for this weekend.

Have a good week. Talk at ya later.

New Family Member

I have adopted a new family member. Her name is Patty (actually Peppermint Patty), but Miss Patty by some folks. She is a miniature Schnauzer. She is 5 years old, and is a rescue from a puppy mill. I don't know a lot of her history, but I don't want to know it all. I do know that she has rather large mammaries, and some big nipples. She had such horrible dental issues that the vet ended up pulling her teeth. Her tongue hangs out the side because of this.

Miss Patty has been with our family for one week today. She is compared to a special needs child. She is learning to integrate into the family pretty quickly. Today I took her to the groomer to get pretty. She has a nice short summer cut now. I had them cut off her "beard" because it was really long, smelly due to drooling and tongue hanging out, and she was scratching it a lot. So they very carefully snipped off that mess with scissors.

I did a lot of house stuff before Miss Patty came to live with us. I have cleaned out my closet and drawers completely. I do not have a lot of clothes now. But that is okay with me. I find I don't need a lot of clothes. I rearranged my bedroom furniture, and I cleaned the carpeting. It was awful.

After that and after Miss Patty came to live with us, I found that I was tired and would just sit and watch mindless t.v. I also was depressed with all the rain. I did not knit a thing for several days. I did not finish the projects I gave myself goals to complete.

Last Wednesday I took Miss Patty with me to Oklahoma to Lake Tenkiller. I have a friend there that has a cabin that she visits a few times a year. So we spent the day with her and her two dogs and sitting by the lake all afternoon.

So Friday I got high behind to set some more goals in the fiber world around me. I decided I wanted to make the giant granny square afghan. Two other people in our Knit Nite have made them, and TR is making another one. I decided I have enough yarn from the Lifetime Blanket to start one. It has grown to small kitty size already. Baby can lay across it diagonally. It is truly addictive. It grows rapidly and easily. I can see progress already. Yeah!

I also decided that I will finish the latest section on the Lifetime Blanket and call it done. If I decide to add onto it in the future, I will at that time. So soon I will be finished with that. Yeah!

Sigh! I laid out my sewing yesterday. Then I got distracted and decided I would just crochet on the granny square instead.

Today I got a lot of my yard mowed while Patty was at the groomer. I just finished that chore. It has really grown with all the rain.

This rain has been super weird. It is not unusual to get a stormy start to May, but usually by this time it begins to taper off. The tornadoes have been around us, but nothing here so far. I did lose my Internet service for three days due to a lightening strike. I finally got that back on Saturday. It turns out that the lightening strike that I thought was on top of us was actually in my neighbor's tree in the front yard. Bark flew everywhere as the lightening went down the tree into the ground. Poor tree!

So Happy Monday! I hope this week will be productive for you. We actually have two days without rain scheduled this week! Yeah! Time to get the yard work completed and ready for the next time around.