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.

Obsessions and Life!

I think I am finally at the point where my "hobbies" are my life and that is just fine with me. I am reflecting some today, because yesterday two friends told me they are retiring. Both are knitters, and one plans to get into her weaving more and the other plans to get into her spinning more.

My advice is there is no advice. I wake up every morning and then have to decide what day it is in the "real" world outside my little sphere of being. I go through morning chores, and then I decide what has to be done today. Then again, all that can change when someone calls me and says, "Can you come over and help me with ........?" So then I stop and go and come back and my focus is off and then I may just sit down and knit for a while.

I find I don't have to do laundry more than once a week. There is more laundry in the summer because I do yard work and I do change my clothes more often. I have enough underwear so I don't have to stop and do a load of wash just to have clean undies. I still remember when I had to do a quick laundry of clothes for work because suddenly I realized at 10 pm that the pants or shirt I needed was dirty. Or that I was needing something that was not in the closet and sure enough, it is in the laundry basket.

Also, if you are eating lunch in front of the tv, you can watch that show in the middle of the day. No more having to tivo something to watch "when I can".

With no husband (or significant other) or children, I can spread my stuff out all over the place. I can put the blocking board out on the guest bed and leave it until the knitted piece I am blocking is dry. I can put the warping board up and count out my warp threads without worrying that someone needs me right now and I have to stop in the middle of the project.

I also don't have to cook all the time. I have stuff in the freezer that I can dig out and fix. I don't mind leftovers, either. If I have something a second day, it's still good. Then the rest can go into the freezer for a later showing.

Do not rush because there are no expectations. There are no rules that say you have to be up and at it by 6 am anymore. If you like getting up at 6 am and want to sit out on the deck and drink your coffee, then do so. But don't feel bad if you read that good book until 2 am and you don't get out of bed until 8 am.

Life is fun, and Life is crazy. There are always changes going on all over the place. But I don't push myself any more and I don't "have" to make choices that I used to make. I may do spinning like crazy for a week while listening to an audio book. I may decide that today is the day to finish up that afghan I am making and I will not budge except to go to the bathroom. I still like to set goals, but they are realistic goals like "I will get this done within the next two weeks."

So to my friends I say, just relax. It will all happen when it happens. Just work on the small stuff for a while before settling into the big stuff. You are going to enjoy the freedom of providing yourself your own entertainment.

Best of luck, and good health to both of you. Have a good beginning of the next phase of your life.

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.

Gosh! June Is Almost Done!

I had one more skein of sock yarn in my stash waiting for dye. So I picked some correopsis tinctoria and did a very small dye pot with copper sulfate as the mordant. It is a pretty light reddish brown. In fact, what washed out mostly was reddish color. Isn't that better than another golden yellow color? I did a fabric bundle with some different flowers and the strained correopsis in the bundle and threw it into the leftover dyepot. I got a nice reddish brown cloth with splotches of darker reddish brown. It was nice too. Sometimes surprises are often what makes me happy.

Yes-it's sunflower time. This will make all the finch folk happy when the seeds come on. I don't have as many sunflowers as I have had in the past years. And surprisingly, they are not as tall in past years. We are in a drought already. After the cold and wet, we immediately went into July heat and no rain.

I also finished the pink skein of yarn. It is beautiful, even if I say so myself. I love it. It is 50/50 romney dyed with Gaywool Salmon and faux cashmere dyed with leftover cups of Gaywool dye on a dye day on the deck. CJE and I called it Clown Barf, since it was so many different colors of pink, red, green, blue, and yellow. I haven't taken any photos yet.

I am presently spinning some more turquoise merino for the handspun sweater. I have one skein left and decided I needed to have two skeins, just in case. I am halfway done on the sleeves. Then onwards to the body.

I am also chugging along on the afghan for my nephew and his lady love. I am sick of it, but I am trying to get it big enough before I give up on it. I finished number 1 sock on the traveling socks in my purse. I immediately cast on and started ribbing before I put it back into the purse.

I have also started stitching on a story quilt that I have been putting off for quite some time. When we cleaned out my grandmother's things, my sister-in-law showed me a ragged beginnings of a crazy quilt that she did not know any history or anything. She had found it in my grandmother's things. I recognized the fabrics from clothing my grandmother had made, but I know my grandmother hated quilting. She was very vocal about this. So that means it had to be my great-grandmother who started this. It would be the kind of thing my grandmother would hang onto because of the recognizable fabrics and that her mother started it.

I found this scrappy thing the other day, washed it, and the embroidery threads gave up the ghost. But I think that is part of the appeal to me. The ragged-ness is something I like. The weird part of it all is that the scraps are all wool pieces of fabric. So I started a story quilt yesterday, and today I did a little bit of stitching while it was cool out on the screen porch. A new journey!

This is a spinning wheel a friend's husband made her. Isn't it gorgeous? It is cherry and yellow wood. And yes-that is a clock mounted on the post! I sat down to do a little bit of spinning, and it is really nice. This guy is a genius. He makes all these things for his wife to keep her happy. Even a wooden needle holder for her embroidery needles! I am totally blown away! That thing in the background to the right is her embroidery stand! And on the end table is all her needlework stuff-bowls, containers, etc. that he made her.

In that glassed case next to the fireplace is all the beautiful stuff he has made. I am so amazed!

Oh-oh! I forgot! The whole wall behind the sofa is this custom quilt rack that he made for all her quilts. Too much for me to fathom.

So CJE and AE are moving CJE's mom out to their place. They will now have both moms there to monitor and take care of. CJE has been moving everything of hers out of her studio so her mom can move into it. Now her two floor looms and other stuff are in the house in half of the family room. All her music stuff and stash and "stuff" is moving into a storage unit in town about 4 miles away.

I guess nothing else new. Oh-Patty tested negative for her six month follow-up heartworm test! Yeah! Noodles is moving really slow these days. We wouldn't want to overheat ourselves with all that fur.

I guess that's all. Just trying to stay cool and busy. My strength is gaining, although I am tired by the afternoon. I have been up early most mornings to utilize the cooler time to water and sit on the screen porch.

Talk at you in July. Happy 4th!

Ah! The Lethargic Days of Summer!

I know that Summer is not official until next week, but my gosh! it is plenty hot and humid. We have had a few summer thunderstorms and that helps with the watering.

I finally got Patty into the groomer and she now has a pretty summer do that seems to be helping some with her heat distress. I take her into the vet soon to retest for heartworms, and I will ask if there are side effects from the meds she was given that cause her to be so hot.

My friend CJE kidnapped me yesterday for a girls day out to get lunch and a pedicure! Boy! That was nice. A big ole comfy chair that has heat and vibrates and feet in a foot jacuzzi! A great fun day! Her husband had supper waiting on us when we got to her house, so I got home rather late. I had to call my neighbors to let Patty out since she had been in the house since late morning. Both of the animals were a little upset. Noodles sat on the arm of the chair with one front foot touching my leg. Just to let me know that this is the way it is supposed to be!

I am reading the funniest book called Sheepish by Catherine Friend. CJE and I are both reading it on our Kindles, and I have told others to get it.

The lady that worked with us yesterday is a friend of CJE's and she said it was the first time that anyone brought knitting to her shop. Both of us just simultaneously said,"Well, that's weird".

I guess I am getting to the point when people either think it is weird or they just think "That's Juliann". I remember last year when I helped Dr. B shear her llama Paco. I answered the phone just as I got into the door. My friend identified herself, and I said, "Can I call you right back. I've got to get into the shower and get this llama spit off of me." When I did call back, she didn't think anything of it. She said she knew I was doing something with a llama that pissed it off, but didn't think beyond that. Then I get the looks when I reply that "I'm making a sock." and they say, "What?" and you know the rest of the story.

My roadrunner is spending quite a lot of time in the yard now ridding me of any lizards, insects etc. I saw (I think her) with something in her beak the other day, and when I could see better it was a lizard. Now I personally like lizards, and I wish she would concentrate on snakes and ugly, bad bugs.

I haven't seen as many bumblebees as I remember from last year. There do seem to be a lot of honeybees this year, which I am really happy about. I heard on a story on NPR that the blue jays up north got some kind of avian virus, and that is why we don't see many blue jays right now. I did notice that there were not as many as I have seen in the past.

I am almost finished with the foot on my traveling plain sock. I am not working very hard on the sweater sleeves on the handspun sweater. I always start sleeves first. I did pick up the afghan again and have been getting that moving along again. I want to get that done and mailed off by the end of this summer. I am not sure if they are getting married or what is happening. It seems both sets of parents are busy fighting over the wedding, and the bride and groom plan on just going on a trip to the Bahamas and getting married while on vacation. Sounds good to me.

I purchased a used tiny Norwood floor loom from a lady in the weaving guild. It is so pretty. It is 22 inch weaving width, and, of course, it is cherry. I have been weaving the last little bits of warp that she had on it. I am making myself some new kitchen dishcloths. I am happy with the purchase, although I had doubts of my sanity. When I sold the last one to JE, I was convinced that weaving was not in my cards any more. I did not want to do that. And here I am again. Sigh!

I mailed a huge box of fabrics to the quilt guild in Joplin for their charity quilts. The lady that is in charge of that and stored all their fabrics lost her house in the tornado. So I sent off a box hoping they will like them. It was just time to let go of some things and give them new homes.

So, slowly, I am doing much better. I still don't have a great enthusiasm for strenuous activity. I have to mow the yard in increments over a coupla days. But I am used to taking breaks now, and I don't feel as guilty as before. I am forcing myself to not take naps. By this time in the afternoon, I am sleepy and tired.

So have a safe and productive weekend coming up. Happy Father's Day to anyone who has fathers. Keep cool, and don't overheat!

Just Pictures!

Moving Through The Fear

I have very, very severe dental phobia. It all began in childhood with an old country dentist. But my most recent adventure into dental surgery helped me move through some of this fear. My blood pressure was extremely high. High enough to cause severe damage if that were my normal blood pressure. After all the prep with cardiac leads, pulse ox on finger, blood pressure cuff attached, a nasal cannula was placed. I began to feel pretty happy with that. The doctor put in the i.v. and said he would just tie my arm down to the chair to keep me from pulling out the iv. That's the last thing I knew until the nurse called my name. Wow! No listening to the noises, no smells, no pressures, no seeing the needle approaching the mouth, Wow!

Of course, I had been warned by many people of all the things to watch out for. The nurse told CJE that she was amazed that I did not bleed very much. And that I went out really fast. Well, I haven't bled very much. Just a little bit in the beginning. I had a headache Friday afternoon that I think was due to the anesthesia. The only pain I have had is my TMJs were sore yesterday after I woke up. One Aleve took care of that. I have been taking very good care of myself, following instructions given, and I am doing so good with this.

Since I got sick in May, naps are my new friend. I have continued to nap with this surgery. But today is the first day in probably a month that I have some energy and feel like doing something. I lay in bed last night and thought about my indigo pot that is languishing on the deck and thought of things I want to dye. This is a good sign. My normal habit is to think of things when I am going to sleep. I haven't done this in a month.

Yesterday I spent a good portion of the day spinning the pink yarn. I love this stuff. It is a 50/50 blend I made up of some Romney wool I dyed and some faux cashmere that CJE and I dyed. It is spinning quite fast. The faux cashmere is not too slick, and it makes the whole thing so soft. I think it is quite a lovely mauve-y pink with shades to lavender.

Oh-speaking of lavender. Mine is blooming. I am going to try to capture it at just the right time to dry the flowers. I didn't do that last year and I missed the opportunity.

My front flower bed is loaded with yellow correopsis and blue bachelor buttons. I only had one daisy bloom, although it was a really large plant. Yarrows are blooming. I rescued some plants from the jungle on the hillside. This year I have a tall common day lily blooming, but it is the old fashioned kind. I also got a very tall iris from the hillside. Since I have been sick, I have not done the weeding I should do. Sigh!

We moved from wet and stormy and cool to very hot and dry July weather. It is most bizarre. I normally don't have the air conditioning on all the time, but the humidity keeps it on. I can't spin or knit if I am hot and sticky.

So slowly now I am getting better. I am ready to do more. I have ideas in my head that want to come out. I feel like I am moving forward a little bit. Thanks to all my friends that have been there for me .