Knitting

Here is my first patterned knitted item, a scarf about 5 feet long. I have made hats, but the only garment I made I raveled back, it had such severe goofs in it.  So here it is my best item to date.  (Using my guitar for a prop.)

Maybe (horse) is running around the barn screaming, for no apparent reason.  Guess I'll go check it out.  Back later.

OK, she has stopped with all the screaming, still can't figure out what set her off .  One of those horsey things.

I am doing another scarf, while the pattern is fresh in my mind.  Not that it is complicated, but I want this one to be error free.  If that is even possible.  I have been machine knitting off and on for years, but I am determined to learn how to do other then straight stockinette stitch..  I am pretty pleased how this is going.  I know people say, why go to so much trouble when you can buy knitted things so cheaply?  But if you want a certain color, a certain style or fit, you could look a looonngg time and never find just what you want.  Plus, it is enjoyable to knit (as long as it is going OK.) One of a kind, too.

I am sitting here dyeing (my hair) and boy does it stink.  You would think it would destroy your hair, all those chemicals, but my hair actually behaves better right after being colored.  When my hair grew back after the chemo treatment, I left it gray for several weeks, and I would flinch every time I saw myself in a mirror, the grey made me look sickly and drab.  It took many treatments before I got my chosen color back, but I am being real particular now to keep it done.  I sure would like to be a "grandma", but not look like one.  Not that it is likely I will ever have a grandchild, both D and S are adamant about that, and given the state the world is in now I guess I can see why.  Maybe if  I rented a kid for a weekend I would change my mind.  My aunt says she kinda felt like me until she had her grandnephew for a few days, when she was glad to welcome peace and quiet back.  But think of all the baby stuff I could knit!

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Never argue with an idiot.  They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience."

Wordless Wednesday

Bumper sticker of the day:  "Editing is a rewording activity."

Lazy Summer Days

After some really hot weather, we have a lovely day here today, 66 degrees and fluffy white clouds in a pure blue sky.  A little chilly for swimming, but probably OK this weekend.

Above is a photo I took a few days ago.  The hummers were not the least bothered by me and my camera, there was a steady stream of birds at the feeder.  I took dozens of shots, never sure if the bird was visible or not, they move so fast!  I mostly  just listened for them and got the feeder in focus, ready for a bird.  Perversely they often fed from the openings in the back of the feeder.

Do you know the old saw about shooting photos?  If you can, shoot it good.  If you can't shoot it good, shoot it big.  If you can't shoot it big, shoot it red.  I have at least two of these covered.

See my view counter over on the right side?  Today I hit 21,000 views since 2007.  I know that is not a lot, compared to many blogs, but I am happy with it.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Cover me:  I'm changing lanes."

Ah, the Mysteries of the Electronic Age

Here I am again!

What, you didn't miss me?  Five entire days without an internet connection? And all because of a lightning storm that crashed one TV, one router box, one pool pump, and, as it turned out, one ethernet card on my desktop computer.  So I am connecting now with my Macbook and I can't see the keys because I am typing in the dark.  Why am I in the dark? Because in the light, the glass door attracts bugs outside while the cat BC makes like a pogo stick, jumping straight up and then falling down Kerthunk! over and over again, trying to catch the bugs on the other side of the glass.

You know what?  I'm going back to sleep.

Later:

We are puppy sitting again today, fortunately they will be in the garage in crates, because the owners have a family emergency to go to.  We will probably let them in the kitchen later when we are all awake and breakfasted.  God they are noisy!  I can hear them upstairs and on the other side of the house.  Meanwhile Raven (the black Newf) is off to the vet for her checkup after all her problems.  She even had to wear an e-collar for  couple of weeks so she wouldn't lick or chew on the sores, which are finally all healed up.  Her appetite is back and she is playing with the other Newf.  Hopefully this visit will be cheap, maybe even free?  Not likely.

It is pouring outside, even though the weather said it would be overcast but no rain.  I heard thunder around 1 a.m. and got up to listen, and check the weather channel radar and I thought maybe I had imagined it.  But no, when I woke up this morning it was pouring all over my new summer furniture cushions.  I won't make that mistake again.  It is just that the cushions are hard to wrangle back into their storage box.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "The cops never think it's as funny as you do."

Monsoon, anyone?

It wasn't even supposed to rain today, but at 1 pm the sky opened up and along with lightning and thunder made us think about a boat.  There is a river in the back by the barn, going away from the barn which is good.

Our neighbors across from us asked us to keep an eye on their beagle pups (Max and Ruby) while the family went to an amusement park in Ohio.  They were fine in the morning, but with the storm, they were shivering, howling and shaking as the water slopped through the pen and on into the dog house.  We brought them inside here and put them in the kitchen with gates from our own puppy days on either side.  They were pretty scared, (they are only 7 weeks old) but now that they are dry and the worst of the storm is gone, they are sacked out on the towels we put down.  Dog towels, I hasten to add; that is the life cycle of towels in the household, first people towels, then when they get tatty they become dog towels and when they are really shredded they go to the barn as horse towels where they never return.  I'll take a photo (success) if I can do it without waking them up.  They are very noisy, and they are noisy any time they are awake, it seems.

I have been preoccupied the last week or so.  Both my primary care physician and my surgeon retired as of July1st.  I got in to see the regular doctor before he left to get all my scripts refilled; and I switched my appointments with the surgeon to another doctor in the same practice group.  Now as long as my oncologist, dermatologist, dentist, and psychiatrist keep working I should be OK again.

In addition to changing doctors, I have had to switch my meds around.  I had been taking Aleve every day, first thing in the morning, because it helped my bum knee a lot.  But  it is not without side effects, and so I am taking another NSAID which is not as effective.  Drat.

I somehow got into some poison ivy a few days ago.  I think it was from handling DH's grubby work jeans that he wore while mowing, since I have radar senses when it comes to the poison ivy plant itself.  It grows everywhere here, vines climbing a few of the black locust trees on the edge of our property; the vines have aerial roots that keep the vine alive even if it is cut off at the base.  Some of those vines are as big around as a man's forearm.  The only way to clear it now is to cut down the trees and haul them away.  Couldn't run the risk of burning the trees because inhaling the smoke from an ivy fire could give you a nasty anaphylaxis reaction.  Not good.

We were going to go out to dinner tonight, but I feel very tired for some reason, and with the puppies here until the owners get home, it is better to wait for some other night.  My knitting project was nearly done when I dropped 12 stitches on the end and they ran into "ladders".  Now the entire thing is unraveled and I will have to try again.   It is just as well; when I was unraveling, I found several other mistakes, where I dropped single stitches when binding off.  I'm going to knit a little looser this time.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "I'm not a psychiatrist; I'm just an expert at being confused."

Happy Fourth of July!

Bumper sticker for the day :  "Support a cause:  stop plate tectonics"

Wordless Wednesday

Well, wordless except for the bumper sticker of the day:  "The good thing about small cars is that you can fit twice as many into a traffic jam."

Planted out

This is one end of the dining room showing the plants at the windows where the bird feeders can be seen outside.  As you might guess, getting into this china cabinet is not very easy.  Right in the center, on the top shelf of the black stand, is a pot with two cacti, they look like cucumbers with an attitude.  They take the prize for continuous growth; some of the others are from my mom, who passed in 1999, but they have been re-started and re-re-started from cuttings as the original plants get too leggy or too straggly and the original  plant gets pitched once the cuttings are growing.

Bumper sticker for the day, "Confidence is the feeling you have before you understand the situation."

And the rains came...

Not only raining here but hailing too.  The temperature dropped from 82 to 67 in about 45 minutes.

I am trying (at docs direction) different sleep meds, in the hope that I can find one which will let me sleep all night and not leave me like this in the morning:

So far, not so good.

The knitting forum that I follow is pretty big; about 96000 members and about 5500 posts a day.  The topics are arranged in groups, and not limited to knitting /   crocheting.  There is a thread going on now, 39 pages worth, on Paula Deen.  It's split about 50/50 between for and agin'  with most of the "for" group saying they like her recipes and that her racist bigoted remarks should be forgiven since she apologized.  The "against" group say they like her recipes, but that it's her big mouth that landed her in this trouble and if she has any gumption she should own up to her disgrace and disappear.  I myself don't like her recipes or her vocabulary.  Good riddance.

Bumper sticker for the day: "Blessed are the flexible, for they never get bent out of shape."

Wordless Wednesday

June J-birds

Here is a photo of a blue jay and a woodpecker on our squirrel feeder.  You can see the woodpecker eating a kernel  of corn.  It seems only fair since the squirrels eat out of the bird feeder.

It will soon be the 4th of July and already the booms and bangs are being heard in the neighborhood.  They send the cats under the beds, but the horses don't seem to notice.  It is a lot easier to soothe an anxious cat than doing the same for a 900 pound horse, so I am not complaining.  But fireworks are pretty expensive, so to put on much of a show you need $$$$.  And it is all over in 10 minutes, I don't see the attraction of firing off a few rockets and flash bangs.

When I was a kid one of the neighborhood kids lost an eye to a firecracker when he put one in a can and then looked at it when it didn't go off, the very thing they teach kids not to do.  And where were the parents?  Inside watching TV would be my guess.

 We went to a nearby mall on the anniversary of their first year in business and watched a phenomenal show by the Zambelli family, all co-ordinated to a musical score that was broadcast over a local radio station.  Incredible show.  Maybe a thousand families there, all OOOhing and AAAhing .  It has been 20+ years now and I still remember.

When we lived in San Francisco, on the fourth of July in 1976, there was this magnificent firework program due to be set off on Alcatraz Island.  Tens of thousands of people, all sitting anywhere there was a sight of the island, we were at the Marina.  About 15 minutes before it was due to start, one of SF's well-known fogs rolled in through the Golden Gate and completely hid the island.  We could all hear the firecracker noise, but couldn't see a thing.  Everybody went OOh and AAh as if they could really see something, an inside joke I guess.  I heard that the tall buildings had a wonderful view of the fireworks above the fog and reflected in it.  Or so we read in the paper the next day.  It was quite a let-down.  Except for all the pot smoke in the air.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "Don't worry what people think.  They don't do it very often."

How to pill a cat.

How to Give a Cat a Pill (followed by How to Give a Dog a Pill)

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm, as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop in the pill. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor, and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

3. Retrieve cat from bedroom and throw away soggy pill.

4. Take new pill from foil wrapper. Cradle cat in left arm, holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force open the jaws and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl, and cat from top of wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.

6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees. Hold front and rear paws, ignoring low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to hold head firmly with one hand, while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.

7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, and get another pill from foil wrapper. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth, and set aside for gluing later.

8. Wrap cat in large towel, and get spouse to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force cat’s mouth open with pencil, and blow down straw.

9. Check label to make sure pill is not harmful to humans. Drink one beer to take away taste of pill. Apply Band-Aid to spouse’s forearm and remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

10. Retrieve cat from neighbour’s shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

11. Fetch screwdriver from garage, and replace cupboard door on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of Scotch. Pour shot and drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check medical records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw away tee-shirt and fetch another one from bedroom.

12. Call fire department to retrieve ****ing cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbour who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrapper.

13. Tie the little sod’s front paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table. Fetch heavy duty pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth, followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour two pints of water down throat to wash down pill.

14. Consume remainder of Scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the emergency room. Sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm, and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call in at furniture shop on the way home, to order new dining table.

15. Place “Free Mutant Cat from Hell” ad in local newspaper and ring local pet shop to see if they have any bunnies.

How to Give a Dog a Pill

1. Wrap it in bacon.

Rambling

This is my daughter putting flowers on the graves of our family for Memorial Day/ 4th of July.  Mom, Dad and Aunt were all in the military in WWII.  Nearly all of the graves here are always decorated, and the upkeep is pretty good, especially considering how much trimming  there is around the headstones.  My grandparents are buried here as well.

I have been busy knitting and hope to have this project done today or tomorrow.  I wish I had a better chair while I knit on the machine, but frankly I don't think there would be room!  I keep a squirt bottle at hand to discourage the cats from playing with the dangly bits; if they managed to pull it off the needles I would flip.  I couldn't even guess at how many hours I have spent so far, especially since I had to start over three times.

When I was a kid I tried to learn how to crochet from my grandmother and mother.  But anything I attempted was doomed; each row was crocheted tighter and tighter so overall the piece would look like an "A".  It was hard to keep a consistent tension on the yarn.  No one in the family knew how to knit, because Grandma had lost three fingers of her left hand in an accident as a child and therefore couldn't knit, or teach knitting.  I can hand knit (badly) but I enjoy the knitting machine a lot, it goes so fast (once you get going), where hand knitting is like watching paint dry.  Of course there are my other hobbies, like candle making, macrame, writing, ceramics, pottery, sewing, quilting, and on and on.  I'm nothing if not eclectic.

I'm pretty good at napping too.

On a forum that I read, I posted a topic asking what the bravest thing you ever did, and I have gotten some amazing replies.  The most touching one came from a woman who survived a chemical plant explosion in 1953 when her house collapsed, with herself and two tiny children inside, and then caught fire.  None of them were seriously injured, despite all odds, but 4 people died and 75 were injured.  The plant was making fireworks.  Illegally. In Texas.

Some of the other stories involved jumping out of an airplane, rescuing kids, braving bikers, leaving abusive situations, traveling alone to far places, boldly facing down shyness or fears and on and on. I have been impressed. So much goes on in our lives that no one else would ever guess.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "This vehicle protected by anti-theft sticker"

Hot already

It is only 1:45 and the temp is already 85.  Twice in the last 7 days we have had to bring the porch flowers in because the temp dropped below 40, now we have to water them every day or they wilt.  Such strange weather.

This is Mac, about 16 years old now.  He is  little scruffy these days, and he sleeps a lot,  but still likes to sleep on us, lap or no lap.

And this is BC, not a very good shot, but being black there is little to see of her if her eyes are closed.  BC stands for Bad Cat, which suits her very well.  She is 4.

Nothing much new from here, I'm doing laundry today, whoopee.  However when I fold towels they do not look like this:

This is what the stewards on the cruise ship leave when they turn down the beds in the cabin, all kinds of different animals folded up in fanciful ways.

Simple Sunday

Impossibly small knitted things

                                      Found this through a series of web blogs, don't know the actual author/artist; but isn't it cute?  What size needles they must have used...

AT&T is down and I can't check my mail.  I was afraid it was my computer glitching, until it did the same thing on the desktop 'puter.  I am using Safari here, which proves that it isn't my software or connection.  It has been two days, so if I get comments on this, it will be a while until my email is back up. Just so you know.

Bumper sticker for the day:

Gracie

This is Gracie, one of our older cats, also known as lap kitty.   She is deaf as near as we can tell, the result of a bad ear infection, but she is still a big cuddler.  I took this with my new little Nikon camera, about the size of two credit cards, it fits in my purse perfectly and takes way better photos than the cell phone camera.  Especially since I still can't figure out how to get the photos off of the cell phone.

It is 82 today, and last week we had frost and had to bring in the flowering plants I also got for Mather's Day.  I  saw the racks of plants outside of Lowes and Walmart looked all blackened and damaged.  This weather all year has been so wacky; but global warming is just a government scare tactic, right?  Yeah.

 Down to Gassaway tomorrow to see Aunt and Uncle.  Supposed to be nice, and will have less traffic than next weekend, Memorial Day holiday.  Or Veterans Day, as it used to be.

Still too early to open the pool, it takes forever for 15,000 gallons to warm up, even with a black cover over it.  We tried a little water heater one year, but it compromised the flow on the pump so much that it interfered with the filtration.  Now we just wait for the sunshine heater.

Nikon and pool, sounds like we're rich if not famous, right?  Not so.  Pool is above ground and 7 years old, and Nikon isn't the brand it used to be, in my opinion, now that everything is point-and-shoot.

In spite of the heat I am still knitting, so I won't forget whatever I have learned.  I'd hate to start over.  My next project (having finally completed the afghan) is a vest; simpler than a sweater, no sleeves.  I'll post a photo here when it is done, now that I can use my little one.  Assuming it turns out OK.

Bumper sticker for the day:  "The lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock."

Happy Mother's Day

This is Dottie, who originally had polka dots, but they have all spread and disappeared.  She is 4.

Friday ----> Saturday

I have been retired for 6+ years. but I can't shake the habit of doing all the big things on the weekend.  Laundry ( When I die I'll smell like fabric softener ), grocery shopping (thereby spending a lot of money for very little reward), haircuts, yard work, etc,  And just like when I was working, I'll fall into bed Sunday night feeling like I have been rode hard and put up wet.  So!  Time to get started.  When I get up for the day, of course, it is 5 in the morning now.

I have cut down on the Ambien (sleeping pill) to half a pill.  I wake up a lot of the time (like now) but am able to fall back to sleep promptly.  I would like to be rid of it completely, we'll see how that goes in a few weeks.

I'm waiting for the shipment of a new spice rack.  For years now I have used Tupperware spice containers, and it has completely gotten out of hand.  There are 50!! of them, and I am sure that other than a core few the spices are waaaay too old to have any flavor left.  So now I am thinking of which are actually used regularly so I can whittle it down to 16.  It's hard for me to throw stuff away!  Maybe there is a list on line somewhere.

One of our feral cats who has been hanging around for a few months apparently got in a fight and now has one eye all squinty and mattered.  I would take him (I think it is him) to the vet but he is too wild to catch.  I guess we will just hope for the best.  This is one of the reasons I keep my cats indoors, because although the outside is more interesting to a cat, the average cat only lives a few years and indoor cats live into their teens.  There are two other outside cats that adopted us several years ago, but they (spayed females) hang close all the time.  In the winter they seldom leave the garage to go any further than the front deck (the garage is heated and there is a kitty door).  I know, I am a softee when it comes to pets (and horses, who are big lawn ornaments here).  I hate when they pass away, it's like they take a piece of  your heart with them.

I found a neat pattern for a sweater vest that I am sure I can actually do.  Now to decide what yarn to use.  Did I mention my "stash" of yarn?  So many pretty colors to choose from.  Maybe some day I will get it all used up; meanwhile it looks nice all tucked away in a bookcase.  I'll post a photo here when it is done, because I know all of you (all six of you) will wait with bated breath to see this project.  But where else can I show off ?  My family says Uh Huh, which is not the reaction I am looking for.  Of course I will have it done just as the temperature hits 90 degrees.

Onwards and upwards,  I'll try to find an actual topic for my next post...

Bumper sticker for the day: "If your heart is in the right place, it's on the left."

Birds and feathers

This handsome fellow was on our bird feeder today, a red breasted grosbeak.  Often seen in early May, according to the Audubon guide, but I have never seen one.

 This one dropped by for a wee dram as well...

These are internet photos..mine aren't anything as good as these, although I am practicing.

Bumper sticker for the day: "I'm only doing it your way so I can blame you later."