February Has Two Birthdays in My Family!

Before I rush off to discuss my family, I just want to give a shout out to a movie on Netflix- Evening.  I had never heard of it, but since it has so many notable names (Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep) I had to watch it.  OMG!  This was the best movie.  I think I could watch it again if I had to.  Why has no one mentioned this movie?

I am really excited about something I purchased last week.  India Flint has spent the summer in Australia thinking of ways to reach people that want to know more about her work.  She knows that folks just can't afford to jet around to places where she teaches.  Most of her workshops in the US and Canada are sold out in hours.  There is only so much one can absorb with books.  Yes, dyeing is practice and practice and practice.  So first off- she set up a private group on Facebook and newest info is posted there.  It is a fast way to get information disseminated.  Then she has created a new card game for dyers.  It is four sets of ten cards.  Three sets will have words or instructions printed on them.  The fourth is for notes or whatever we want to put on them.  When she received them from her printer, she then dyed on a whole lot of them.  That is cool too.  She said the person could use them like a tarot reading-pull one card from each pile.  Then figure out how to use that info.  Or one could just pull one card and do that activity.  The fun will begin soon.  She is preparing them for mailing out on February 29.  She is wrapping the sets in a piece of cloth that she will have dyed.  They are placed in a cardboard box for shipping.  She wanted to do a small wooden box, but the postal service told her she would have to go through a lot of customs crap declaring what is in the box, etc.  She also added an option of a dyed silk scarf for an additional fee.  I chose not to get that.

I think I mentioned that I am trying to walk every day.  My friend CJE gave me a FitBit primarily to monitor my heart rate.  I find that it does not record every step I am taking on the treadmill.  I tried to discuss this with the company without any success.  Nonetheless, it has been entertaining to view my sleep habits and the steps I take.  I am trying unsuccessfully to pay attention to the weight part.  With my history of anorexia, I am really not supposed to even use a scale.  Since I have been dealing with this for over 45 years, I think I can handle weighing once a week.  The weight is not as important to me as the Lean vs Fat part.  I really need to lose some fat.  Don't we all?

I did a strange thing this week.  I decided to go to Devil's Den State Park.  I walked a trail that  I always walk- and that I haven't had any difficulty with- because it is a loop trail.  It is only 1.5 miles. Perfect for a day that was in the 50's.  I really didn't think anything about the fact that it is a mountainous terrain-lots of up and down and roots and rocks and there were downed trees to climb over.  I got about halfway when my gas ran out.  It was a lot of sputtering and then boom! no more gas.  I leaned up against a tree thinking about my options.  Essentially it was a lot of pep talking to myself.  "you got yourself in this, now get yourself out"  "I got down here and I have to get up there" and looking up the bluff line.    As I was climbing up the rock steps to the top of the bluff, I would say "one step at a time"  "one step at a time"  rest, rest, rest  "one step at a time".

Once I was back at the car and leaning on the head rest, I had to plan how quickly I could find something to eat.  I was thinking I needed fuel.  I stopped at McDonald's and got an egg mcmuffin.  They are 300 calories with some protein in it.

After I am home for perhaps 30 minutes, I think that my blood pressure must be sky rocketing.  My ears are ringing.  No-my blood pressure was actually Hypotensive.   So this was perhaps one hour after my episode.  I wonder what my blood pressure had been when I was leaning on the tree wondering how I was going to get back to the car? 

The other thing is my FitBit gave me a badge because I had climbed 25 flights of stairs. 

Well, my body is beginning to fall apart.  I just have a hard time changing with this. 

Now to family matters.  My brother's birthday is next week.  My little grand-nephew's birthday is in 18 days.  Hmmm.

I had a dream about my brother's dog.  We had a great conversation about her sailboat with two sails and how much fun she has sailing.  So I started painting a picture of this for my brother.  I spent the best part of two days working and I hated it.  It was AWFUL!  So this morning I put aside the stupid board I was painting on.  I pulled out a sheet of my watercolor paper.  I did a fast sketch and I loved it.  It was whimsical and obviously just a sketch.  Not a painting-just a quick sketch.  I also wrote a short story of our conversation about sailing.  So those are now packaged with a note explaining it. On the outside of the note I wrote From Sukie and Judy.

.I like it.  It is silly and funny all at the same time.

MH will be getting a hat from me.  He is at the age that he will probably pull it off.  I just thought he needed a new hat when they go to Colorado.  I have to find him a new book too.  That's what Aunties provide.  Knitwear and books.  Ha!

I am still spinning the mystery brown stuff.  I am still knitting my girlfriend's socks.  I haven't touched that last sleeve on my sweater that is taking too long. 

I also have not woven.  I made a promise to weave every day.  Hasn't happened.  I had another one of my memory jumps this week.  I remember when I was wanting to weave Josef Albers color studies to demonstrate how color works differently with fiber vs. painting.  That was nixed by my art advisor.  I don't know if that shipped has sailed.  I don't know if it is something that still needs to be done.  I just don't know.  Too much happened this week after that epiphany.  I will have to think on it.

I watched a wonderful video with Susun Weed about Artemis Vulgaris-Croneswort.  Most folk call it Mugwort.  Susun's plants told her it does not like to be called Mugwort.  It makes one think of drinking from a mug.  I think I will have to go to YouTube and watch more of her videos.  She is a wonderful storyteller.  She also said that was how people knew where the herbalist lived.  There would be Croneswort growing right by the door.  When folk moved to the city, they would hang the dried plant by the door or paint a picture of it on their door.  I have it growing by my back step.  I have had these plants for at least 20+ years.

Herbs are such wonderful plants.  They have been around for a lot longer than pharmaceuticals have.  It's too bad that alternative medicine is not given more credit. 

Well, I have chattered a long, long time today.  Enjoy the sunshine.  It is a beautiful weekend.

Almost Spring!

This year the weather has been so unpredictable.  With the never-ending winter, any sunshine is welcome.  April is traditionally the month of severe storms, and lots of rain.  We have had some storminess, but a good amount of rain.  Last year we had snow for the first time ever in May. 

So I have company coming over the weekend.  My cousin is making his annual visit and we always go to Grove, OK to visit his family property that he and his sister own.  Once we roll into town, I stop at the big convenient store by the WalMart and get a drink and to go to the bathroom. 

Then we head to the cemetery to visit his family there.  I love to drive around cemeteries.  I know it is a Southern 'thing', but I love to read headstones.  I found one some years ago in the Grove cemetery that I loved.  The woman has not died yet, but her stone is a double one with her husbands.  His side has his pertinent information, but the most interesting thing is the carving of wood tools.  Her side has a shuttle.  I think this is a grand way to be remembered.  A woodworker and a weaver-side-by-side through eternity.

I am stuck on the fancy sweater.  It has a complex way to add on the sleeves, and I am not sure I understand it.  I asked my friend CJE to read it, and I think we both concluded the same solution.  I am just not sure it is the right solution. 

I have finished one of the red socks that a friend wants me to make.  I also started a scarf with some handspun yarn that I am doing in a chevron pattern.  It isn't fancy.  I wanted to do a cable pattern, but had some difficulty following the chart.  I started over with a lacy pattern, but I kept losing stitches.  After these two failures, I cast on the garter stitch chevron pattern in my head.  It isn't fancy, but it is textural.

I walked into my sewing room this morning, and it felt sad.  I have ignored my sewing for way too long.  I have to finish the two quilts I have started.  I don't think I have procrastinated so long before on these projects.  I usually like to sew in the summer and it will be here sooner than I think.

I have also been dyeing two summer dresses with the Steep and Store method of India Flint.  I took one out of the jar last weekend and it looks good.  I have to make some darts and modifications to the top.  I am sorta in the mood to embellish it some with some embroidery.  The other one is still steeping.  It is always a surprise when one dyes this way. 

Two years ago I tried compost dyeing.  I left compost, fabric, iron bits, and leaves in my iron pot on the deck.  I did not remove anything until the winter was over.  I like some of the fabric a lot.  I am having fun with all this stuff anyway.  It is a more ecological way to dye, but it takes a lot longer to do than the traditional heat and serve method.

My girlfriend CF says her first sentinel hummingbird has arrived.  Whew!  My other birds will not like it if I take down any of their feeders.  I remember last year I waited until a week after she saw her scout, and that water I put up soured.  I think it is more like two weeks after her report that I start getting the early arrivals here. 

The rebuds are blooming finally.  The forsythia is on the last few days of its bloom.  Leaves are sprouting all over that.  The weigeilia is leafing out.  The red buckeyes have huge leaves and flowers are coming on.  The hollyhocks are about a foot high.  They need to be sprayed soon.  The daffodils are done.  I always leave the green shoots for a long time to give the bulbs time to feed.  The bachelor buttons are popping up all over the yard. So all signs of early Spring.

I am hopefully on the final editing of my book.  I am so sick of these stories.  I have learned that I have to read everything very, very, very carefully.  The editor misses some things.  I will be happy to be done and on to printing.

So I am feeling guilty.  I need to clean the house a little bit today.  I will start by washing dishes and sweeping the floor.  That helps. 

Have a good week.  Don't put sweaters away yet. 

A Little Greeting

A Spinster’s Twelve Days of Christmas by Paula J. Vester, Southern Fibers

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

12 shearers shearing…

11 ladies carding…

10 rabbits for plucking…

9 weavers weaving…

8 niddy noddies…

7 scoured fleeces…

6 pots for dying…

5 cashmere goats…

4 Ashford wheels…

3 lazy kates…

2 white lambs and

a silkworm in a mulberry tree

 

This was provided by CJ in our Spinning Guild's newsletter.  I had to pass it along.

 

I am not as ambitious as the above workers.  I am slowly and steadily working on the last little drab of spinning on my current blue yarn.  It is gorgeous, and I think that when plied it will be wonderful! 

I spent a nice leisurely day spinning, knitting and reading yesterday, and now I have to run some errands. 

We had a major cold snap.  Of course, with the current weather conditions it will last a coupla days and then warmish again.  We need rain so badly.  We had a nice little storm Sunday morning around 2 am or 3 am. I heard the thunder first and then I saw some lightening.  I thought about running Patty out before the storm, but did not budge from the bed.  Then, of course, it was over and gone by the time we got out of bed about 6:30 am.

We had our Wild Foods Party at CJE and AE's house Saturday.  It is an annual event, and I guess I will say, the food wasn't as wild as we have had before.  Lots of venison and some actual field quail.  I brought Bison sausages.  There was a real odd assortment of food, and the desserts just about did me in.

I took a guest, and she seemed to be intrigued by the long-lasting friendships we have within the group.  I have accepted it and do not notice that so much any more.  I guess one could call us a "tribe", and that some of the friendships are lifelong.  I suppose an anthropologist could come in to study our group.  It is a quite intriguing group of professionals who have no appearance of being professional when together.  They have lots of fun, and they like to party.

Not much else to share.  I have completed my 1.75 inches of stockinette on the yoke, and I am now ready for the colorwork.  FINALLY!  I wound the balls last night, and I am keeping fingers crossed I have enough yarn.  It is handspun, and there is no turning back once started.

I am also about halfway on the colorwork bag I am making.  It is a pattern from the magazine Jane Austin Knits.  It is a cute little bag, and I don't know why it intrigues me.  Maybe because it is small, and that means not a lot of knitting to complete.

In my head I think I want to start the twined knitting fingerless gloves next.  I will see. 

I just got some lovely new sock yarn.  I know I didn't need any more sock yarn.  I just caved with the sale.  I got four balls of Regia yarn and shipping for $16.95.  I haven't designated socks or other projects yet.  I have to work on that bowl of yarn this winter. Sigh! 

Have a good week.  Stay warm!  Have a safe and happy time wherever you are.

 

 

Thanksgiving-A Celebration of Thanks!

It still feels odd calling this Thanksgiving Week.  It still feels too soon, too early,too something.

But in my quiet and silly way, I still have so much to be thankful for that I don't care that it is early.

I usually spend my day of Thanksgiving thinking and praying and giving thanks to the universe for all that is important to us all-peace, love, happiness, joy, friendships and all relationships.  I like to spend the day to myself, and I try not to interact with anything other than my quietness.  I don't need to stuff myself silly with food to find thankfulness.  I just need quiet time and me time.

I have almost finished with the pink yarn.  Whew!  It has been a marathon to finish the last bits and get it plied.  I did most of the spinning singles with a really good YA audio book called Gone-Away Lake.  It is about cousins spending the summer holiday exploring the woods and having adventures.  He is 12 and she is 11.  They find a hidden swamp that was once a summer lake resort.  The homes were abandoned when the lake disappeared.  But they find a very eccentric couple of elderly people living in two of the abandoned homes.  It is a really interesting book, and helped me get the work done.

I also am done with one sleeve of the winter sweater.  I am going to finish the body now and then knit the next sleeve.  I am so close to starting the yoke.  I am doing a very simple stranded colorwork, but it has to be more interesting than the stockinette of the body and sleeves.

I also started another hat, and I want to finish that before I start over on the colorwork bag. 

Today has been a gloriously warm and sunny day!  I just ate a sandwich sitting on the back deck in the sun.  I am getting plenty of sun on my arms with just a tee shirt on.  I also am barefoot, so the feet are getting some sun, too.  I remember when I had to scrape ice on my windshield at this time.  So this is glorious weather!

One of the women in my knit group just published her first pattern.  Yeah! Cassie Dominnick.  I don't think she will mind my telling her whole name.  She will have more, I am sure.

My friend CJE has been so worried about her mother.  She has been very ill, and not managing herself well.  Yesterday at the doctor she is discovered to have the worse case of shingles the doctor has ever seen.  She has never had them before, and suddenly she is covered up one side of her back, down her hip and groin, and down the leg.  The doctor told her it is following a nerve path.  That is probably why she is so sick and weak.  It is scary, isn't it?

I need to take advantage of days like today to work in the front flower bed.  But....I think I like just sitting in the sun.

Noodles has not been well, and I haven't figured out totally what is wrong.  I finally figured out why he is limping so much.  He has scabs all over his head, neck and shoulders,  There is one big wound(scab) under one arm pit.  That means fights with a straggler who has ventured into our yard.  Yes, he is very defensive about his territory.  But I haven't figured out the occasional tics in the face.  I researched it online, but just like humans, he could have a brain tumor, or seizures, or anything.  He doesn't show any ataxia, so I am ruling out seizures or a brain tumor.  Oh, well, it is almost time for yearly well-check and shots.  So unless he shows major changes, I will wait.

H and R have had to put one of their dogs down.  But they now have rescued Georgina and added her to their family.  Granddogs are great!

So nothing else new.  Remember to have a lot of gratitude this Thursday for all you have.  Happy Thanksgiving!

What a Tease!

Yesterday afternoon clouds moved in and there was thunder all around us.  I noticed that the wind was blowing a little more.  I walked out to the deck, and it was cooler.  It was in the high 80's!  Oh, boy, a real storm.  But as the afternoon carried on, no rain.  No rain.  How could Nature tease like this.  On the weather report at 6 p.m., other places got rain.  No rain.  Still dry.

This morning it was cool-around 79 degrees.  There was some tiny bits of dew on the grass stems.

CF is coming today, so I took advantage of the cooler weather and baked some multigrain rolls.  I ate a warm bit of bread with soft goat cheese, and it was heavenly.  I had forgotten how good hot bread tastes.  The muffins I made is not the same as chewy multigrain rolls.

Isn't Life the funniest thing?  A silly thing as hot bread, clouds that cool the air, and the news that my nephew finally married his girl.  Yeah!  I am so proud of him.  They stood in the surf and had a friend of his marry them before they flew off to the Keys for a honeymoon.  Yeah!

I gave Patty a quick bath to cool her off and to help with her appearance.  She badly needs a trim, but that will wait a while.  This week is really busy.  She and I have a ritual that I rub her with the towel and say "Shaky, Shaky" and she shakes and grins and jumps.  We do that for several rubs, then I gently comb out her leg hairs and her mustache.  Then she shakes all that apart, and runs into the house and out again.  It is so funny!

The sun is out now, and the heat is on.  I don't know how long I can go without the a/c.

My neighbor's dogs are getting really tired of the new routine.  They want their mama and daddy to just come home and go back to their routine.  Abby is "acting out" and is sullen.  Beau could care less, but wants to stay out in the sunroom on his couch.  They do not like being shut up in a small laundry room all day.

I have not worked on the new quilt.  I finally found the fabric I want for the binding on the quilt I got back from the quilter.  Yesterday I measured and sewed and ironed the binding.  Today I hope to get it sewn on.  Maybe tomorrow.  It depends on when CF gets here. 

I have been spinning while listening to an audio book.  I am not pushing myself, but I want to hurry up and finish it up.  I am spinning the second skein of the camel/merino.  I really like the first skein, and hope this one is as nice as the first.

CJE loaned me a video on Combing Fibers.  I have never really combed fibers very much, but I got kinda excited about it.  It isn't as easy as she makes it look.  I am thinking of saving up money for a pair of mini combs for finer fibers. I have been thinking of how to process the bison easier than I have done so in the past.  I also would like to have a set of paddle combs to blend with.  I want to experiment with colors a little more.  CJE has a pair of Viking combs, so that would be something to practise on.

Well, I guess I will dust mop the floor to get up some of the dust bunnies.  Thank goodness, no one really expects me to clean my house.  The sheets are clean on the bed, and the bathroom is clean.  That should count for something.

Well, down to business.  Later.

Happy Easter!

 This is documentation that it is done and finished!  And it fits!

 Before I wrapped it up in the tissue, I got a picture of the inspiration picture.
So this journey is over!  Thank goodness!  And I made it in plenty of time of my self-imposed deadline.  As always, Easter is always a chilly day.  We had a little bitty cool-down, and a little bit of rain yesterday.  But it is still too warm to wear wool.  I did talk to my friend Friday night, and he had it on at a meeting to show everyone his new sweater!  It was too warm to have on this sweater.

So believe it or not, I got back to my sewing project.  I wanted to show how this pattern works.  First you sew three squares together to make a strip.  Then you make a nine-patch with three strips.

 Then you cut the nine-patch in half, and then cut the half into halves to get 4 squares that look like you really pieced the heck out of it.  And it was easy to do.  After all the squares are finished you can do all kinds of patterns.

 This is the fabric I am using-Terrain by Moda.

And am I knitting?  I did not do any knitting for two days, and a friend came to visit for those two days.  Good excuse to not knit.  We went to Goodwill instead, drank tea, and got caught up on all we have been doing.

And Friday I sat down and picked up my UFO de jour-the giraffe socks.  Man!  After that vest, this pattern seems so simple.  It is really quick to knit around one row.  I am now doing the afterthought heel.  The end is in site.  A finished UFO-what a novel thought.

And that's the week's news.  I spent a little time yesterday trying to do some more genealogy.  My friend that visits has been trying to find her family for 19 years, so I felt badly that I had given up finding mine.  I did find the names of siblings of my great-grandfather.  I found out that one of his sisters never married and lived in Washington, D.C. at one point.  That was interesting.  I wonder what she did.  I had found her picture once in a pile of photos that were in my grandmother's chest.  On the back it just said-Aunt Gertie.  She looked like a lot of women in the 30's with that waved hairstyle and girdled body.  Now I know a little more about her.

I saw my woodchuck yesterday during the rain.  Every time it thundered it would run back to a safe place.  Then it would run out and grab something to eat while standing up and watching for whatever it was that was making that loud noise!

My bachelor buttons have taken over the world.  But the color of blue is wonderful!  It looks really pretty with the pink of the weigelia and the coral of the red buckeyes.  The weeds are really happy with the rain we have had.  Sigh!

I want to finish with this quote that was on The Yarn Harlot's calendar a coupla years ago.  It is a great motto for any knitter, especially those of us that are crazy enough to put deadlines on stranded work:

"Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, face the facts."  -Ruth Gordon

Have a great week!

The Year of Christmas Disasters

Mom-The birds are driving me nuts!

I finished a beautiful afghan for R and H for their Christmas present.  It was something that would remind him of my grandmother, which he knew and loved.  I finished it, and I washed it.  When I laid it out to block it, two nice size holes appeared right near the middle where the yarn gave way.  SIGH!  A disaster.  Yes, I did repair it.  Even if it doesn't look too awful, I just can't in good faith give them a gift that may fall apart again when they wash it.  So I just grabbed a quilt from the pile, wrote an apology note and explained the situation, added all the embroidered pillowcases I had left from my "hope chest", and shipped it off. If they still want the afghan, they can have it with full warning that it may not last long.  SIGH! 

So after Noodles and I watched the birds for a while, I knit this little elephant.  Isn't she cute?  A little wonky, but still cute.  The wool was from something I had frogged, and I even made her a little scarf to wear.

I am getting geared down for hibernation.  I took on a massive project for someone to knit a traditional Fair Isle vest.  We finally picked the six colors last weekend, and I ordered one skein of the yarn to knit a swatch.  If the swatch is right and accepted, then that will be my winter challenge.  I am insane for doing this, but it will be a challenge for the wintry months when I can't get out to do much.

We have had a lot of rain this month, and only that one little snowfall.  The weather is fluctuating up and down, and we even had thunder and lightening last night.  I just can't get too excited about all this.

Somehow a bad person picked up a cookie from me and tried to scam some money.  The difference in this phishing is it was a fake email from a yarn company in Washington.  It was something about my paypal account did not go through, and could I go to this link and check the account, etc.  So I deleted it and went to the real website.  I checked my account since I knew I had not made any orders.  I emailed them to let them know that someone picked up their website info, etc.  I guess knitters are fair game to bad people now.

AE and CJE had their annual Wild Foods Party.  It seemed much calmer and not as wild as in the past.  My friend GO drove us to the party, and we left early.  There were lots of people leaving, and he noted that people are getting older and tamer.  I guess it is good to not be so feral as some of us have been in the past.  It seemed that there was not as much drinking as I have seen this group do in the 20+ years I have known them.

My brother sent me a link to a video my niece, Shelley King, did for the Austin Chamber of Commerce.  She is a singer/songwriter in Austin, so it was good to see her do something like this. 

I expect my neighbors will leave after Christmas to get away for the winter.  It will be nice to just let Patty go out on her own for as long as she wants.  When I do now, she heads straight to their thrown-away food in the woods.  Then she gets sick and that is not so pleasant. 

Well, I guess that catches us up on news.  Sixteen and one-half days until the New Year.  Isn't that hard to believe?  This year has gone fast.  It is hard to believe Christmas is only a week away.  Well, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

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.