HearthWench

So much for sleep

2012-02-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

I should be sleeping right now. The puppy, Sally, sleeps about 4 hours before she gets up to play, pee (not on the pad), eat, drink, play some more, then go back to sleep. It has been almost 16 years since I have had a puppy. The ice is still covering the potty area outside. Sally will learn, with tons of patience, how to use the pads and the outside area. Maggie, my peke, did. This little smartie will too.

Above, Sally ignoring her puppy pad. We took them out of the holder. That helped. Once.

She is having no trouble adjusting, if one wants to use the photo here showing her sleeping on a blanket on the couch. How abused....

Her skin is very dry. I gave her a bath with puppy shampoo that is supposed to help puppy skin. She loves the supplement I mix a few pieces of kibble with. She is eating very well, far more than the breeder thought. She plays when she is awake. Maybe she is burning off more energy?

Oh yeah. She woke at 2:30 am for potty and play. She was hungry and chowed down on an organic baby carrot with great delight. It must of felt lovely on her teeth.

I must nap while I can...

My Sweater

2012-01-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

That wool that I dyed and spun became a rather nice (to me) sweater. I believe I mentioned the sweater's pattern designer in another post? We had a slightly bright day and I tried to take photo.

The button I have had on hand for years. You cannot tell, they are that aurora-like colored background under clear glass. I rarely button up my sweaters and coats, I still put in the buttonholes and attached the buttons just in case. The sweater fits well over a regular long-sleeved shirt.

I have a thing about not throwing away slivers of soap. I buy handmade soap bars. I know... you can put them in a netted bag and use them until gone. Instead, I found online the instructions for melting the grated leftover bits and pouring them into a mold to make new bars. I had slivers made with goat's milk, "regular" base, herbs and ground oats added, even colored. The gritty brown bits are from a leftover oatmeal face scrub bar.

I found the soap mold at Ben Franklin's Craft store down in Sandpoint. I went with a plain mold. The instructions said nothing about oiling the mold. I still wiped the inside with apricot oil. I melted about 1 cup grated (about 4 oz. on the scale) leftover soap bits. I warmed 1/2 cup of filtered water in a double boiler, then added the soap bits. It seemed to not be enough water and it became too thick. If I was making soap balls, it would of been perfect. Next time I get enough slivers saved up, I will first let the grated soap bar bits soak in the warm water overnight. Because I did not, I ended up adding about 3/4 cup more of the water as I melted the soap on the stove. Once I took it off the burner, I added a few drops of lavender, rose hips seed and sandalwood essential oils. Those are supposed to be for middle-aged skin. (laughing) I spooned the goop into the molds and let them cool all afternoon before popping them out onto a spare cake cooling grill. I made a few bubbles from what I can see. It smells nice. I set the grate in a cool, dark place for a few weeks so the bars harden well.

So... am I thrifty or downright cheap?

I may get the little Pomeranian girl pictured below from Hall's Little Acre. She has Pomeranians and Pekingese. I have not seen such healthy pups since I got Maggie. All the adult dogs were out in the snow. they are adapted to our environment. They smelled great, had bright eyes and were friendly. They did not bark except for a brief greeting. I was with Mrs. Hall, the breeder, there was no need for more than their greeting. No yapping, either. I will give more on the puppy if I get her next month. she will go through a health check and more because she had a rough birth. If she gets a good report, she comes home with us.

The photo above was taken a few weeks ago. The bleary photos below taken with my cell phone last Monday.

She was very curious. She responded properly to various things well. She wagged her tail when I was giving her butt scritchies. She tried to get into everything she could. She whined a moment when I returned her to the puppy area. She looks to be a lavender parti-color. I did not care about that, just her personality. she has plenty of it. Mid-February she may grace our home. Himself may agree to another a little down the road. We will end up with the twins of evil? (laughing) this one will go to puppy socialization things and obedience school. Doing things with other canines of various sizes is healthy. I will either make her food or mix it with the good stuff. All doggie cookies and jerky I will make. I also found a cedar oil based flea and tick spray, plus for treating the inside and outside areas. I detest the current stuff on the market. Poisoning the dog so one can travel to avoid cooties seems stupid.

Back to making the new grandson-to-be a sock monkey and a cotton cap....

Happy Friday the 13th!

2012-01-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

I know some find this day repulsive, but I do not. My Mom was born on Friday the 13th. It was lucky for her, she had me, so... (laughing) Himself and I find the number 13 popping up in stuff a lot for us, and the numbers 3 and 9 lately, too. Weird, but a fun factoid. What does it mean? No clue.

I still have not blocked the pieces I have finished so far for the sweater. I really need to get that done while I work on the sleeves. I am using a bigger size to match the sizing for the next size down to fit me. Changing needles was not viable. I am staying with the larger size's lengths. I have a long torso and arms. The sweater will fit better in length and around by going this route. I pinned the pieces together and put them on, and I am happy with what the fit will be.

The Pomeranian breeder had a litter born the day I had my surgery. Maybe... When I go down for my last visit to be released by surgeon, maybe we can swing by the breeder's place and see the puppies. I am very ready to have a furry child in the house again. I loved taking Maggie everywhere. With a good tiny carrier, one can even take your friend into most of the stores around here. We shall see what Himself says about the stop and if the breeder will be available that day and time.

I am dealing with a headache for the last week. I had stopped the pain pills, no longer needing them. I thought taking one a day for a few days before completely stopping them would do the trick. Ugh! Nope. I am so unused to any sort of conventional medication, I react badly when taking them and stopping them. I hope to kick the headache soon. Not fun!

My daughter progresses well, though a fancy medical place said the baby was perfect, yet too thin. Huh? Her doc relayed the info badly, scaring her. (grumble) She has gone through just about every high-stress thing one could possibly go through in less than a month. Stress zaps nutrients that can effect her and the baby. Their solution was working less, not boosting her nutrition to negate the side-effect of dealing with high-stress events. (cursing and grumbling) So... her loved ones looked up What to Do and she is boosting some of her vitamins (it is deemed safe even by the crummy idiot American Medical Assoc.) and we offered to pay for the difference so she can buy and eat organic foods for better nutrition.The baby is doing well anyway, and the changes will help him thrive even more. Maybe fatten up a little too.

I finished a B-Movie fest. I need to find more of them. What a delight they have been. I noticed the movie people are re-doing a lot of old movies, using their younger (mostly awful) actors and actresses to "...get a new audience." What? They do not want the kids to see what real acting is and see the difference? So what if the old movies do not use fancy computerized junk! Nothing will ever be better than the old Harryhausen movie techniques for monsters and the like. They have a charm all of their own. I have never been into Bucket O' Blood and Entrails. ugh! I do not find them scary, just gross. The changes in dialogue sucks. I am guessing today's younger set are idiots who cannot understand simple American English and/or the old movies do not have the level of deep-whine today's crap on the screen and TV have?

No, I am not aging well. I do not care, either.

We have been eating the foods I cooked pre-surgery and froze. I found freezing bread dough a failure for me. It comes out half of the normal height, though we let it thaw and rise for 6+ hours. The last loaf is about gone and I will be back to my normal baking procedures here soon. I think I may make another Handful Soup or Stew. I sear some good, lean beef and dump it into the crockpot. I then add beef stock and handfuls of the various veggies I dried. the last batch was quite tasty. I had made a mixture of kale and spinach we use like dried herbs as flavoring in various Italian-like meals with great success too. I cannot wait for summer and more fresh food. I so miss it, especially leaf lettuce. I am starting some inside in a small growing tent thing in the craft room here soon. It will be nice to be able to lift again.

I spent a good day, or is it wasted the day?, by cleaning out over 138 old bookmarks that I either no longer used or were no longer available. I still have a ton of stuff to clean out! How I managed to have so many bookmarks is beyond me. I am not online all that much. I prefer reading, knitting, spinning, talking by phone or face-to-face with friends and loved ones than to waste time online. I do like all of the information we share with each other, but I am a doer more than anything else.

Nothing fun to report. No photos because I have yet to get some good light to take any.

It has a...

2012-01-05T17:09:00.000-08:00

Winkie!

huh?

My daughter is having a boy, according to the last ultra-sound. Now the name list is being made. Someone suggested the kids go outside and scream the name at the top of their lungs, you know... to hear how it sounds when having to get the booger's attention as he is running towards a dog/fire truck/ice cream counter, and the like. The person's description of hearing a boy's name that sounded more like "satan" than his real name when his mother was yelling at him to stop running up and down some bleachers during a sporting event was hilarious.

In less than a month, we have had the worst and best events. oof.

Not 6 days after surgery on the 13th, when it was impossible to leave, (going to the store with tubes hanging out of your body is not recommended), we get news that one would never imagine would happen in your family. It was reported in 4 different county's and their newspapers and on a major news channel. If anyone is close enough to know my last name, you can google it. I am not repeating the event. We had confirmed that Himself's mom died... way back on March 5th. The cruelty of not relaying that news boggles the mind. There is no acceptable reason for doing so. None. I do not understand the hateful mind-thought. We knew it after Himself had a dream last spring she was calling and reaching out for him from her wheelchair, but we could not find any confirmation. It was kept from the newspaper. Now... I know my family is safe and I will never, ever, have to tolerate a freaking alcoholic again. ugh! The up-side. Of course, the one remaining family member did not return calls, so that side is now "gone". Whatever. I will never understand that side of the family and it is no longer a need.

After that event passed, the rest of the month was much more pleasant. My progress was deemed excellent and I had the procedure done at the right time, early enough to not cause any serious health problems. The new to-be grandchild is growing well. The grandson is doing well, as is the rest of my daughter's little family. They had a lovely holiday season with my daughter's husband's family that live nearby. Santa was kind and not too generous, as he should be. One cannot ask for more than one's family to have a wonderful holiday season. They got the news they have their own home just before Christmas. They moved a few days ago. Yea! Selfishly I wish it was up here. Unselfishly, I am very happy for them.

Remember the photos of the green and purplish yarns from my last post? I am using them in a stripe pattern for Lisa Kay's Undercurrent Hoodie Sweater. (On Knitty, I believe.) The back is done and I am working on the left-front now. One day if the light outside is bright enough, I will try to get a photo of how the green and purples are working together. I think it is lovely. Wearing it may be another. I may look awful in them. laughing...

I have spent my time recuperating while watching two DVD collections- 50 Sci-Fi movies and 50 Horror movies. One on the sci-fi collection was a movie that scared me something fierce as a child. I am sure kids today would just snicker. Both collections included a few old murder mysteries... as filler? Still, I like those. Though they were supposed to be digitally remastered, the silent classics in the horror collection were still in bad shape. I enjoyed those immensely. Lon Chaney is still amazing to me. His make-up work is stunning, even in black and white. Sadly, most of the sci-fi was barely cheesy B-movie stuff, but the collection was cheap enough for me to not mind. The collections had movies I had never seen with Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price as the leads. I was surprised about the Price movies. I thought I had seen all of his works.

I am healing well. I see the doc on the 23rd. After that, I can go back to my normal activities. After I get the garden planned, I am betting it will be staring out the window, wishing for rain and snow to feed the earth so I can have as nice a garden as last year. I am hoping Mother Nature will be kind, again.

May 2012 be prosperous and pleasant for all. I think we all earned it, with all the goodies on top. (grin)

A quickie and...

2011-12-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

... a few bad photos. (I need to get my lightbox out someday!)

I am recuperating from surgery. Drain tubes suck. ugh. Himself is taking care of me quite well.

Yes, I am bored-bored-bored! I cannot knit yet. I knit Continental, but it still hurts at this point. I walk around every hour or so. I have read one book and started another. I got Bejeweled 3 for Himself's old Nintendo DS and playing with that too. I do not do quiet time very well.

This is a baby rattle out of willow wood. We found it at a craft fair up in Bonners last month. It is beautiful! We sent this to our daughter to add to the ever-growing pile of new baby stuff.

I carded together blues, burgundy, green and grays to get this purplish/green/gray yarn to be used on a hooded sweater.

The green is Lavonne's shetland fiber in a pale gray and dyed with a silver green cushing's dye. I am either going to dye more when I am done recovering to have enough yarn for a sweater, or use the yarn above as a contrast or something. I have not decided yet. The green is beautiful, though it is hard to see in this photo.

I found some pale blue-dyed silk, and dyed a few more caps a dusty blue. I spun them up, finding out whatever I dyed the pale blue caps with was "wrong". I have a creamy white silk yarn now. (sigh) I have more of the dusty blue to spin up when recovered. It will be a scarf for my Mom to use when she goes on an Alaskan cruise next year.

Well... that is it for now.

Time flies!

2011-12-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post a few photos last month when we got back from visiting in the Sierras.

When we left the house, the photos below show pretty much how things were up here.

The fall colors were amazing. The black pansies were fading, but still hanging in there.

The photo is blurry, sorry, the purple and orange pansies were still bright and perky. The echinecea was really taking off.

A few days after we got home in mid-November, the first snows hit.

So much for gardening, no? We have not received much snow since. There is a high pressure ridge over us, leaving the area freezing and clear. I hope we have normal amounts of snow and rain this winter, though I hope the storms wait until my business down in Coeur d'Alene is finished at the end of the month. I know, that is selfish.

I will try to post the yarn I have spun up and a few items I made last month. The photos suck. I need to find my lightbox and retake them so the colors are clear and true.Yeah, right. I will be doing nothing for the nex couple of months, except to catch up on my reading and get started on knitting. I will not be able to lift for a bit and have to recuperate. I do not rest well. Poor Himself? Nah....

Recuperating

2011-11-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

For the first time in something like a decade, I have a cold. It is worth it, seeing my daughter and her little family. I have not used any sort of cold "medication". Instead, I have been resting, drinking a tea of freshly chopped ginger with a slice of lemon and dollop of local honey, herbal teas, and good food. I have not noticed the difference between the two methods except my sinuses are not clogged, I am not jittery nor do I have an upset stomach. Hmmmm... So I did not spend dollars for a useless "medication". Win-win?

Why is it when one visits, no matter how long you stay, it seems you arrive one day and leaving the next? I swear it felt like that. My visit for the day with Stephenie and Alden (Dragonfly Farms) seemed to be mere minutes, even with a one hour stop for more hugs from them the day before we left. It was like I was in a time warp that whizzed by. and yet, the driving through the deserts of Nevada and Oregon was butt-numbingly long. My time with my daughter and grandson is never long enough. Ever. They may disagree? (laughing)

Sigh... That is the only imperfect thing about living where we do- those we love are so far away. I love our home and where we live. I feel so lucky to be here. It is beautiful, for starters. I love my family and friends. It divides me at times. I hope to squeeze in a flax spinning class with Stephenie my next visit down when the baby is born in May. New baby and tiny toes to tickle. Learning to spin a new-to-me fiber. Does life get any better than this? Nope.

I have been knitting up some wristlets?...fingerless thingies?, for my step-granddaughter. Those are sinfully quick! She turned 16 today. She loved the pair I made for her early holiday prezzie, along with all the hats, (shown in previous posts). My grandson's fish hat was a huge hit. I found a modified version made into a shark. He loves sharks. That will be next along with the wristlet thingies for my daughter. Oh, a plain cap for my son-in-law. Until we have the news on whether the new baby will be a boy or girl, I am on stand-by for some of the baby knitting. I found the cutest sock monkey baby hat to knit. At least it will not matter whether it will be a boy or girl for that item.

I am enjoying knitting for others again. I need to dye some fiber and spin up enough for a project to knit on the next couple of months while I recuperate from surgery coming up in December. I have a ton of books and my Kindle to occupy my time too. I do not dare bead. I know what I will do- I would want to dig through my boxes for another color or type of bead and get myself in trouble for heavy lifting, or try to get Himself to squeeze into my over-crowded little room and drag stuff out for me. I know my tendencies and the heft of my bead boxes. (laughing) I do need a nice hooded sweater and will indulge myself this time while "behaving". And yes, it hurts to behave.

I spent this weekend having a private Harry Potter DVD weekend from start to finish. I liked watching the kids grow up and watching the story unfold smoothly throughout the weekend. It has to be one of my favorite book series. Funny, but the young man who played Draco Malfoy looks very much like my son-in-law, but his hairline is receding faster than my son-in-law's. Since his father has so many children, one wonders if he visited England at some point? (laughing)

The news says we will have weathers down into the teens and snow. Winter came early for the second year in a row.I am glad I did not attempt a winter garden. I do not think they will thrive up our way.

That is about all the blather I can come up tonight. Sleepy yet?

In Memory of Miss Lily

2011-11-11T01:40:00.000-08:00

Lily was my daughter's Pekingese. The breeder, (we got Maggie from the same breeder), called about a boo-boo litter produced by Maggie's parents. Since my daughter wanted her own dog, we went over to see the litter. Of course, my daughter picked the one who was standing in the middle of the food dish, keeping the other pups from eating. When she had her fill, she slept right in that bowl. Nope! She was not nor ever over-weight, just a bit opinionated. She loved to taunt Maggie by taking her toys and hiding them. We would find them hidden under her bedding or places Maggie could not reach. A true sister act.

Lily had digestive problems, was stubborn and tended to not smell like her name, but she was a wonderful dog. She adored my daughter and brought her much joy and love, and vice-versa.

Her eyesight was failing, as was her hearing. She was losing muscle mass, probably having cancer. She passed November 7, 2011, one week before her 15th birthday. She will be sorely missed. She is with Maggie and they are running free together.

Last month I found a dog training website that was more of my style when we finally decided we were ready to look at puppies and could look at them without bursting into tears over our loss of Maggie. The trainer does not use harsh methods like choke collars, yelling and the like that so many trainers still use, even the "famous" ones on TV. He posted a great poster you can click on to enlarge and print out on the effect of dog training on a dog's brain.

The Effects of training on the Dog's Brain Poster

When we do find the new furry family member to join our home, I will be getting their book. It comes with the videos and I prefer "hard copies" when I am not around the TV or my netbook.

The passing of Lily reminded me of the importance of sharing our home with a animal family member. "Pet" seems so impersonal for the right term, no? We both benefit each other, exchanging love and keeping each other healthy, and much more.

Visiting

2011-11-05T01:31:00.000-07:00

I am greatly enjoying my visit with the kids and my loved ones. It will be too short. We have to get home before winter comes into full swing. Driving over various mountain passes can be so dicey.

I got to go to my daughter's fancy ultrasound thing. Amazing. The booger went from lounging position, to gymnastics, to sucking it's thumb. Still "It" since it is still too early to tell the sex. (Since when has the word been changed to "gender" like it read on the monitor? ugh!) Even then, one never is quite sure. No matter, as long as the babe is healthy is what matters. A mini-version of my daughter would be cool since she has a lovely boy already. All is testing well. She is going for cute monkeys as the theme of the crib accessories.

She is trying to get into one of the social services programs because they need financial help (Crap insurance similar to the O'Bullpucky plan, useless and expensive) but it looks like she will will not get any help from the state or feds. Her orientation video flat-out said that illegals, especially their children, are fully covered, no social security number needed, but citizens will have to prove with reams of paperwork they "deserve" assistance. Stunning how Americans are treated by their own governments. One would think it would be unconstitutional and illegal that citizens are denied assistance by their own country? It sure frosts my cookies...I also did not know that a child born in a foreign country was immediately a citizen without at least one parent being legal or in the process of becoming one. No other countries do that and also demand health testing before entry. Someone mentioned recently they are bastardizing one of the constitutional amendments to make it "right". Gads. The U.S. is in a downward slide.

I hope the gifts I made the kids are well-received. I work for months on her step-daughter's items. One never knows the ebb and flow of a teenager's likes and dislikes. Some things never change, eh? (grin)

I am working on an ancient mobius scarf and decided to add a hood instead of making it wide enough to cover my head too. It has percolated in a knitting bag for (mumble) years. I took advantage of days in the car to get to the hood part. It is a bouclé alpaca blend in a deep chocolate brown and black. It should be warm and cuddly this winter.

It is very late and I have cooking to do in the morn. Night!

And now for something completely different

2011-10-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Fall has hit us with a vengence. I had been trying to winterize everything possible. I finished up one day and the rain started. I stood up to see-

The beauty of our Fall season up here is stunning. The photo does not do it justice. I took a few more quick snaps. Some were blurry. Sorry.

Blurry, but a shot of the orange and purple pansies I found. They survived our first hard frost.

I love the contrast of colors with this little guy I found. I hope it comes back like our wild ones this spring.

The fate of the black pansies are not so certain. They wilted a bit after the first hard frost.

I had never seen black ones. So cool! I planted black, red and a reddish orange tulip bulbs this fall and hope they are as lovely and different as the pansies I found.

I like how many color variations now appear for flowers that like our short growing season. Way cool.

Lastly, the echininea has come up. I hope it blooms next year. Beautiful plant, so far.
We are down in Kalifornia to see our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. And the growing lump that will be our next grandchild. We get to go to one of her visits and see the baby. I do not know if it is too early to see what sex the babe will be.

I cannot believe how bad the pollution is that blows over from the Bay area and the Valley into the Sierras! It is like a dirty toilet ring when one looks down into the Valley area...And you can no longer see it. Ugh! I am so glad we moved to a cleaner area.

Tomorrow I get to go with the kids trick-or-treating. I so love doing that and miss the years we could not be with them. We are having our Hallow-Thank-Mas, all the holidays rolled into one very early. There is no way we want to try to traverse the mountain passes in winter. It was horrifying lasst year. It is being predicted the same for this year. Dealing with 80-degree weather is hard, being summer to us, but worth it.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... Back to knitting my daughter some fingerless wristlet thingies...

WTF!?!?

2011-10-26T03:02:00.000-07:00

Warning: Very foul language and curses below. Not for those offended by a horrified middle-age-ed woman with a sharp tongue.

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/15725035/officials-claim-tennessee-becomes-first-state-to-deploy-vipr-statewide

This is a violation of the 4th, 5th and 10th Amendment Rights! What the *fuck* is wrong with Tennesseans?!?!?! Why are they not protesting? Where the hell is the ACLU and the (un)Supreme Court? Do enough Americans have their heads so far up their asses, they think the smell of shit is a good thing? No one knows or remembers the Nazi Germany history?

If we come across one of these here, they best be armed. I may be a small, middle-age-ed woman, but I will go down fighting. There is no way I will submit to this tyranny. I am stunned and horrified. This is not fighting terrorism. It is terrorism perpetuated by the government. They have gone too far. Stand up and scream, People. Now.

One commenter that reported this and sent the link posted:

Random security checkpoints, perpetual paranoia about terrorists around every corner, a rogue government that is pressing citizens to spy on each other and report their activities to authorities -- these are all protocols that took effect in Nazi Germany during the rise of Hitler, and they are all protocols that are now in effect in the US today. Think about it.

So any Brown Shirts reading this... Report me. Go ahead. I rather die an Free American than a fascist Nazi-like piece of shit.

shaking head... People are broken.

Nana again! (with other blathering)

2011-10-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

My daughter got a bit of a surprise recently... She is pregnant! She did not think she could get pregnant again and her son/my grandson is 9 years old. We are very excited, to say the least. She is going to "cheat" this time and peek on it's sex when it "ripens" enough to tell. It means I get to make things for the little one. I was complaining about not having a baby to knit for.... ahem. My "fault"? heehee... Twins run in the family, skipping a generation. I was cursed for mentioning that. She is showing already, but that is probably because she is thin and any weight shows on her. She is craving veggies and fruits at this point.

Yea!!!

I will calm down back into my more normal sedate manner now. No photos this post, by-the-way.

     I have been making items for sale for the upcoming holidays. I know some people think the Russian Needlepunch and beaded boxes are pricey, yet I am only making about $3 an hour, and that does not take into account the cost of supplies. Wally World prices are expected, not quality handmade items?

     I have a few fulled knitted bags with beaded trim I need to photograph and post. I like how they came out. Right now I am making book weights to hold one's book open while reading. I knit and read. I eat and read. I read whenever I can everywhere I can, except in the shower and while sleeping. Being able to have my book stay open while doing something else is a necessity for me. Many people are similar. I do like my Kindle 2 but I love my real books more, especially when color is a necessary part of what I am reading. Gray-scale sucks for gardening books, especially when the colors of a bug or disease is being viewed.

     I have also been canning and dehydrating many food items. With all of the disasters- tornadoes, flooding, drought and the failure of Monsanto's piezon crops (not drought-resistant and super weeds, besides being filled with pesticides and herbicides that are appearing in people's blood now), food will become even more expensive next year. Besides, home-grown is higher in nutrition, tastes much better and very satisfying to produce on your own.

     I had some canned milk a few months past its sell-by date. Note- one really should make sure it is no more than 1/8th of an inch deep and to very lightly oil the leathers. I did neither and lost a batch. I may try again another time. Why dry milk? Have you priced it lately? Dried milk is excellent in breads and to add richness in some soups and gravies.

     I canned some applesauce and rose hips in apple juice. The former came out well. The latter... Well... It is a sweet syrup. Good to sweetened coffee or tea, maybe. I sweeten neither. (sigh) The rose hips smelled like artichokes while cooking. Even the addition of applejuice as the cooking liquid did not take away the slight taste of artichokes. Weird, huh?

     The pickles came out beautifully and we finally got to taste them and the dilled carrots. Yum! All the jams came out tasty, what is left, that is. I need a whole room to hold jams and jellies for Himself to imbibe, I swear.

     I also learned to dehydrate potatoes. I steamed the slices for about 7 minutes, then sprayed with cold water, being impatient and wanting them to cool quickly. I dipped the slices in a mixture of 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 tsp. citric acid and 1 3/4 cups of water. I then dehydrated them. They came out lovely. That finished, I decided to try mashed potatoes. Ahem. First, I should of made them soupy with water like fruit leathers. I only added some lemon juice to keep them from browning and looking ugly. When dried, I broke up the sheets and ran through the blender to a small granule-like texture. At worst, they will be great for thickening soups and gravies. I have not had the nerve to try them reconstituted back into mashed yet.

     I made my first fruit leathers, too. I had two cans of jellied cranberry sauce. (Hey... I like it.) I mixed the cans with a bottle of cranberry and pomegranate juice and a package of pectin. I brought it to a full boil, then cooled it in the refrigerator. I poured the mixture on barely-oiled leathers and dried. (American Harvest/Nesco dehydrators take 1 1/2 cups liquid-y mixtures per sheet, btw.) Oh man, tasty! I then tried cherry juice with puréed cooked apples and 2 tbsp. of pectin. It came out rough on top and the flavor is sweet, but not cherry-tasting. A bust. (sigh) I used applesauce last night with cinnamon added. They are also rough on top because I did not liquefy the applesauce first. It is cooling. It should be tasty. I need to make raspberry for the grandson, and try strawberries too. I found wrapping them in plastic wrap is Not A Good Thing. It gets too moist, though it was properly dried. I had to unwrap all the cranberry leather rolls and re-wrap it in waxed paper. I then used a piece of masking tape to hold the roll in place and wrote what flavor it was on the tape. Parchment paper, the top pick for most people who make fruit rolls (leathers), is very expensive and the tape will not stick to it.

     Now... I must peel up the applesauce leather and get it wrapped. Tomorrow we may go to a "You pick" apple orchard to get more apples. It is also the last day of our local farmer's market. That sucks. There is so little left in our garden now except for the tomatoes trying to ripen. The ability to walk outside the door and pick our dinner has spoiled us. The canned and dried foods will do, but... Ah well.

     Oh yes... I was attempting to double knit a bag using the method from "Double Knitting" by M'Lou Baber. A Very Cool Book. Cool method. I was trying to do too many things at once and ended up ripping it apart. I will try again when I have less to distract me, like a garden and such.

     I have not put the button eyes on the grandson's hat and must get that done. I know there was something else I wanted to make before we went down for our Hallow-Thankness (all-in-one holiday before winter hits up here) with the kids, but I have seemed to go into brain-fart mode at this point.

     I have bored you all too much...

yawn...

2011-09-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

Man, I have been sleepy. The weather went to a lovely coolness and is now going back to bloody hot. I seem to be the only person around who prefers the cooler weather. The garden, of course, still needs the warmer days. Ah well...

I am working on my grandson's dead fish hat. Red and black cotton yarn. He should like it. I have only ripped it apart twice.

A few photos for ya...

We had to brave Wally World the other day. Our vehicle, a Subaru Outback, and color of the vehicle, a soft green, is the most common vehicle up in northern Idaho. In the winter, there are even more.

Look at the photo to the left to see what we see when we exit a store... Yeah, one has to have stickers, junk hanging from the rear-view mirror, different license plate holders... Something!, to distinguish one from another. Shopping becomes an adventure.

A marigold. Not the calendula one for herbal concoctions, but the one to rebuff the bad insects.

The proper name escapes. What is new?

I have a very happy mullein going by the watermelons. You have to click on the photo to see it better. It is very ...phallic.

A carrot is blooming for the seed head. Amazing how pretty them are, no?

Let's see... what else can I bore others with? Photo of our canned goods shelf with the onions I grew hanging on the side. My plans of hanging them in another place were thwarted when we found the beams in the ceiling are not situated in a way that would allow my idea to work... Unless we wanted to get thwapped in the head with onions, herbs and such.

I have been reading up on dog breeds. another Pekingese is not an option. It would be like trying to replace Maggie, if that makes sense. That would... hurt.

We have a few breeds that we like. They are ones others may find horrid. We have "met" these breeds in the community and like their personalities. After checking the breed's health and longevity stats, I think we are somewhat settled between the Pomeranian, Boston Terrier, and the Pug. Poms are the healthiest, longest-lived and most intelligent. BT's are second. the Pug still rules in personality, especially the males for that breed. Poms are fox-like in looks, can be easily trained to not yap and are very sweet in person. They are polite with strangers, but look to their human more, as it should be. BT's are rather cool in all way, similar to a Pug. I read up on them and it is said Himself's favorite breed, the French Bulldog, is part of the BT bloodline, but smaller, healthier and longer-lived. Explains the ears. We will probably see puppies and sit among them. Which puppy picks us, and go from there. Yep, neutered or spayed. I cannot do the breeding thing. We would end up with canine herds.

Posting some photos in the garden blog, then to bed. Will the excitement ever stop?

Summer is slowly going away

2011-08-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

We have had unusual temps for our area, hitting the low 90's! Woof! It looks to be cooling down into the 70's and 80's now. We hope Fall is not too cool for our garden. Everyone around here started late, due to a lack of Spring.

I have been dehydrating cabbages. I am about to start dehydrating peppermint and lemon balm for teas. I know, lemon balm does not dry well, it is the only way to keep some around until next spring. The lobelia is still blooming! Beautiful flowers. The borage is blooming too, I have started saving the seed heads of those and the nasturtiums for next year. It looks like the lavender finally is starting, as is the calendula and enchinecia (spelling?). Cool.

I have been knitting bags to be fulled to put up for sale. I will add sparklies, of course. I finished all but a couple of knitted gifts. I need to hit the yarn store for a few balls of cotton and wool this week.

I froze my green beans and peas. I found out that RTFM was important. It is better to drain, pat dry and freeze on a tray before putting into a freezer container. I have a lump of green beans. That will end up going into my Italian-ish meatball soup. I want to make sloppy joe and can it like my friend Jola Gayle did. (See her blog link.) Cool idea. I will also be canning some soups and chilis this Fall. It is nice to have it on hand. A major plus is the ingredients will be from locally-grown meats and veggies, (if I did not grow enough of the latter), and the flavors will be much better than the crap on the grocery shelves. I am so becoming a food snob lately.

A photo of one of the last tiger lilies that have blooming the last few weeks. They are so pretty. It is funny to watch the hummingbirds try for nectar when the blooms had not opened yet. Few hummingbirds remain. We hope it does not mean winter is approaching too quickly. The squirrels are bombing the yard with pine cones they chew off the branches, then come down to "squirrel away" for the winter. One decided my cauldron collection by the front door is the ideal spot.

I am planning out a few things to make for sale this late fall for the holidays. There will be a "Handmade Items For Sale!" page on the blog soon, I hope.

Nothing much interesting is going on, really. That is normal around here. I like it that way.

Peaches and Knitting

2011-08-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

First, to answer a question about the canned peaches in the last missive-

I tried to scald and peel one peach. It was a bloody mess, like you warned. I got out my peeler and did it the old-fashioned way. I then sliced around the peaches, making slices that had to be gently peeled or pried off the pit. I made a medium syrup using 1 cup of honey for 1 cup of the sugar called for in the recipe. Before canning, I did take a slice or two that would not fit in the jar, (snort), and tasted them. drool... about covers it.

Pictured below are the hats I have finished so far. I hope to have my holiday prezzies finished in time this year.

This little jester hat is for baby Magnus, A's new grandson. I used kitchen cotton for easy washing.

The next three hats are all for my step-granddaughter who loves strange and fun hats almost as much as she loves all of her bracelets. All the hats were knit from patterns off the web.

I loved the fish hat pattern. It is silly, fun and still useful.

Another fun hat for her is the Invader Zim GIR hat. The colors are not showing as vivid as they really are for some reason. The eyeballs were a booger to get right when attaching them to the hat.

The last hat in peach, her favorite color, is using a pattern modeled after a hat used in the Twilight movies. (I have never seen them.) The pattern used a charcoal-colored yarn in chunky. I went for one of the girl's favorite colors instead.

Pictured below is the locally-grown meat I bought on sale and canned recently. I cooked the meats to medium-well before canning in a sauce or broth.

The quart to the left is two chunked chicken breasts in a chicken broth with organic tomato sauce. The next two quarts are filled with meatballs with minced onion in a mixture of beef broth, organic tomato sauce and red wine. The last three pints have stew meat in a beef broth. I added halved garlic cloves and whole peppercorns to the jars before canning.I will only have to open a jar, dump them into a pot that includes whatever veggies we want, add a bit more broth or juice and warm.

I am starting on some hand warmers next. I am still clueless what to make for a 9 year old boy. I will figure it out, I suppose.

Yesterday, we stopped at The Peach Man, a tent housing locally-grown fruits and veggies, grabbing some banana wax peppers. I put them in a pickling mixture with lots of extra garlic cloves in them. They are pickling in the fridge right now. Himself said to not bother canning them fully. He will eat them fast enough to make it a waste of stove-time.

Have a good week!

Canning Along...

2011-08-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

Food first. Taking photos with lights on or if the flash goes off, it makes photographing canned goods a bit shiny. I tried different angles and gave up. It makes it hard to see the stuff inside at times. I should take it outside in the bright shade. I am not that ambitious.

The shelf of the jams I have canned so far. We have already dipped into a few, of course. From left to right: raspberry, huckleberry, huckleberry and raspberry (on top of a huckleberry and next to the peach), peach, and strawberry. There is a lot of huckleberry jams. I substituted 1 cup of honey for the sugar in the raspberry, huckleberry, and the blend. It adds an extra delicious taste to the jam.

Peaches! It is first time I have canned these. I subbed 1 cup of honey for 1 cup of the sugar in the syrup. Same reason as the jams, it really adds to the taste.

My first pickles. I added extra garlic, a lot of extra garlic. I like garlic. I also added a pinch of dried chile pepper to add some bite. The vinegar is apple cidar vinegar. I used the recipe from Ball for deli pickle slices. I had small bits of pickling cucumbers left over after cutting the tops on some slices to fit the jar. I pickled them with some sliced onion and garlic. I hope they are tasty.

More plants and flowers...

A close-up of a borage bloom. Why am I fixated on them? They are unusual and pretty. They are stars within stars. The way the stamins (?) in the middle stick out and the dark purple color of them are strange and pretty at the same time. I love watching the hummingbirds and bees enjoying the blooms too.

A close-up of a Ziar poppy seed pod. I have no idea what the hairy things are on the dot-marks.

The latest nasturtiums are deep yellow with splotches of red. The plants all came from the same seed package, yet one had orange flowers, the second had pale orange-y or peachy coloring with dark splotches, and now these. I am wondering what color the ones in the pumpkin patch will come out like. I so hope they are red.

Some of the sunflowers from the fallen black oil sunflower seeds for the birds are opening. I found an illegal aphid labor camp ran by the ants on them today. All were blasted with a spray of the hose. Sadly, the ants will live. It is not right they can live for 14 days under water. No, it is not right.

A while back I posted a photo of a round mound of weird leaves. I let it grow. The leaves are soft, like velvet. It is not mullan. I have to see what it is. It has not bloomed.

Another strange thing that popped up with the thyme. I do not know what it is, but it looks like it will bloom soon. I need to look this one up too. I may wait until it flowers to help me identify it. Flower color can shorten the search.

Two backgrounds of lobelia. Come on... you have to agree the color is stunning!I bet if I flashed a black light on it at night, it would glow like the old posters.

Back to knitting the Invader Zim GIR hat. The hat itself is done. I am to the parts.

Night of the Triffids!

2011-08-10T20:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight will be a good night to watch the meteor shower for us on the western side of the States. Friday is the best, but with a full moon this Saturday, it may be a problem, depending on when the moon rises.

We went down to Spokane for some things. We found what we needed at one store and the rest were duds. On our way along Sprague Avenue, we came across the closed restaurant/bar. Fu Bar. FUBAR. heehee. Sorry about the tiny photo. I am a dolt when it comes to a cell phone camera.

I have been canning quite a bit. I will take photos and post them in a day or so. For now, more boring plant photos.

No honey to be found locally. We never had spring and went right into summer in June. There are tons of bees in my garden. We are guessing that the honey will be late-coming this year. Dang, raw organic sugar in my bread for a while, I guess. I substitute one cup of the sugar in jam recipes with honey. It really adds an excellent flavor and creaminess to the jams. The peach and peaches... (drool)

The lobelia is still blooming!

I forgot I planted some Ziar Poppies. Gorgeous flowers. The seed pods are already formed and the blooms gone. I had forgotten to post these last week.

The Tiger Lilies are about to open. Those black balls on the stems are seeds, I believe. I popped some in various areas around the yards in hope we get more. The ones I found and pushed into the dirt produced some beginning stems, so I may be right. Are you not dazzled with my (lack) of knowledge?

This is a photo of the wild mix for birds and hummingbirds. Today, a new variety bloomed, Indian Blanket.

The black oil sunflower seeds for the birds that grew from the spillage are now opening up. At first the green part in the center looks like an artichoke.The birds will love them. I grew a normal eating variety against the house. Those will get netting around them so we get our own.

I must get photos of the hats I have knitted so far. I am in the process of knitting an Invader Zim GIR hat for the step-granddaughter. I hope to not go blind using Monkey-Vomit green (bright lime) yarn or when making the tongue in SHOCKING pink. oof. So far, the pattern is coming along nicely. I got the pattern from Ravelry. The artist, Mei Lynne Travis, made this for her daughter.

Invader Zim GIR Hat Pattern

We had bacon and biscuits tonight, Himself adding eggs and me having Wheat Montana's 7-Grain hot cereal. We tried three flavors of the jams- peach, raspberry and huckleberry. Do I need to try to describe just how delicious they were?

We have not opened the strawberry jam yet. One recipe from Ball gave the best jam...ever. I altered it slightly. You slice the fruit (5 cups after slicing) and cover it in sugar (4 cups of raw organic). Put in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. Put pan on the stove, add 1/3 cup of lemon juice and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes to thicken. Let cool enough to put back in the fridge for another day. The next day, put on the stove and get it hot while getting your canning stuff going- jars, lids and the like. Can up following the directions for water-bath canning. Process for 20 minutes (in the flatlands), 25 for my elevation. Turn off flame and take lid off pot and let sit for 5 minutes before taking out to cool on a thick towel and... you know the drill. Oh man, the flavor is worth spreading it out over a few days. We did not have enough of our own and had to buy the store ones. They tend to be only half as good as homegrown. The process really brings out their full flavors. Yum.

I was up until this morning, so must try to get a few winks tonight after watching the meteor shower.If I never return, the Triffids got me.

Jams, Carrots and a Naughty

2011-07-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

I have been canning for the last week. I pulled some carrots. I did not take any photos. They were delicious... and had appendages. It seems I have too much nitrogen in my soil. I am new to growing things and planted enough carrots for the times we eat them with cabbage, onions and meat.

Wanting to have more on hand, I bought a 25-lb. bag of organic carrots. The price was the same as the "pie-zoned" industrial ones too! Below is 25-lbs. of processed carrots, amounting to:
1/2 gallon-jar of dehydrated, 7 pints of dilled pickled carrots, and 5 pints of plain canned.

We also hit the farmer's market. Huckleberries are the most expensive fruits one can get! I got a gallon bag and a few pints of raspberries and made jam, below. I ended up with:
15 half-pints of huckleberry jam, 2 half-pints of huckleberry and raspberry jam, and 3 half-pints of raspberry jam.

We hope to hit a huge farmer's market down in Spokane for peaches next week, which come into season then. Our seasons up here are very short, so one gets what they can as soon as they appear.

Oh... the naughty "thing" is at the very end. (laughing)

A few flower photos...

Monster borage takes over.

One of the borage flower tops.

Flowers from the wild mix.

The nasturtium is happy.

I managed to get a shot of one of 30 hummingbirds in our yard. They had babies and it is almost dangerous to walk around when they get done with the flowers and go for the feeders.

WARNING!!!

The photo below may be offensive to some.

We first saw the robins "fighting" like crazy, then, "...oh. they are not fighting, they are..." Yeah. A new nest was spotted in the tree. A few days ago Himself came inside, laughing hard and grabbed the camera. The squirrels were having sex all over an area in the yard for over 15 minutes. The photo below is naughty and/or humorous, depending on one's point of view. Move on to something else if you think you will be offended and it is "evil"...

More photos

2011-07-17T22:29:00.000-07:00

Little pinkish buds for... something.

Red berries, of some sort.

The chamomile is thriving.

A close-up of a daisy.

The last of the roses. Most are already growing their hips.

The white flower may be coming from devil's club. It is the only photo I found that matches the HUGE leaves it has, some larger than a dinner plate.

A shot of a small spot in the yard. The pale violet-purple bloom in the middle is clover.

Sunflowers are the tall plants. The stuff below is a wild mix I grabbed at the store for the bees and hummingbirds.

Alyssum in the wild mix above is blooming in a patch in a different area. It is so tiny and sweet.

Nope, do not remember what these are.

These are new to our land. I cannot find a photo that matches these at all. The centers are very yellow and the leaves look like, ahem, cannabis. It is not that plant though. It is very short. Maybe a sort of wild hemp?

For the third year in a row, Himself whacked, dug and did everything to prevent the rhubarb from appearing. It did not work, obviously. It is the plant that will not die. It may be an entity by now. The asparagus that we thought we finally got rid of... yes, it is back now too. I should of put something to show the sheer mass of the rhubarb. It is a good 3 to 4 feet across and almost 3 feet tall. I can just see it snatching birds that fly near by, or snapping up a lizard. It might have teeth.

I can smell the cut fields in the night air, with a touch of moisture. The sun has set and the Northern Lights are quiet so far tonight.

And more photos

2011-07-16T01:37:00.000-07:00

Tired of photos from around my yard? Tough tu-tu.

The whole area up here is covered in daisy's. We did not have them like this last year.

I cannot remember what the fuzzy white, yarrow-like blooms are.

Lupin, I think.

The nasturtiums are blooming. Same packet of seeds, different shades of orange.

Wonder how Disney came up with pansy's having faces? Look at the "grouchy" one above.

Wild "purple haze" penstemon. (Spelling is wrong or the spell check is. Pick one.)

This is a new weed/plant this year. No clue to what it is, as usual.

I cannot find this on online or in my books, either.

A salsify (or however it is spelled) seed head.

After 1:30 am... I guess I should try to sleep.

Summer Daze

2011-07-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

Our grandson stayed for a month, entertaining Himself and vice-versa. Our grandson is doing so well academically and in sports. We are very proud of him. Our daughter and her husband drove up for a 10 day visit. We appreciated the "loan" of her son to us. (grin) I am so glad they could finally take vacation time and see our place! the visit was great, yet too short. It seemed like they got here and then left. We were missing them as they drove off the property. (sigh)

We have waited for spring, it never came but summer seems to of hit quite well around here. More photos of blooms around are property for "pretty" are below. There are a couple of blooms I cannot find what they are or I forgot what they are.

Do you have a bird feeder filled with black oil sunflower seeds? We do. Guess what is growing where it used to be. Yep, Dozens of sunflowers are coming up next to the blueberry bush.

The chamomile is blooming. I should of added a dime next to it to show how small it is.

I should of also added a size comparison to the clover. They are huge, like the size of a 50-cent piece and bigger!

I am not sure, but this may be a harebell. It is so delicate.

The lamb's ears above are in full bloom. The hummingbirds and bees love it. Sorry for the dark photo.

There is no way to capture the true color of the lobelia above. If one is familiar with the electric blue heading towards purple that was used in black-light posters back in the 60s and 70s, then you can at least imagine these blooms. they hurt your eyes they are so vivid.

The two photos above are two Mariposa lilies. I had never seen them before.

The phlox when the buds appeared and now in full bloom. Beautiful!

A close-up of one of the snowballs from a previous post. Sadly, they have all gone now.

The photo above is looking straight down on the abundant yarrow growing all over. I love the teeny flower clusters.

That is it for now.

First Day of Summer

2011-06-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

I took a lot more photos of things growing around our house that I will post periodically.

I have been knitting a bag for some cards out of a rather rough first-learning-to-spin wool that I Kool-aid dyed. (laughing) It does look like candy. I am going to full it for softness when done.

The grandson liked the idea of me changing the started bead bag in camo-colors to a bag to hold his birthday prezzie, a mp3 player. The bag has laid there for months. It is boring because there is no set pattern to bead? no clue. We may be having some beautiful days, so I am going outside instead. It is lovely outside and we had winter without a spring, (write this down!), I am ready for summer. Weird for me.

So... the normal boring same old thing. Photos below are a tad more interesting. Descriptions are below. Of course, clicking on them makes them a little bigger.

We found a dead bee hanging off a rose bloom and the Lady above by the bee. I have never seen a white spider! Rather cool, no?

The nasturtiums are doing well. I have another, but should of planted more.

The patch of chamomile is coming up. some have already managed to breach their area. I am guessing I dropped seed, being tiny dashes for seeds. speaking of spilled seeds...

The ball of leaves may be about the size of a golf ball now. It is right outside the thyme splotch. It may be thyme! (laughing)

The lamb's ears are getting their finger-cot-like bloom heads. Boy, if I do not water them daily, they droop. Heavy?

One of 4 lobelias has started blooming. Delicate little purple flowers that start out as pinkish bb's.

The soapwort seems to be happy.

I thought I killed the mint, but they survived. I need to take the goofy nursery spikes out.

The snowballs are now white! The bush was here when we moved in. It was straggly and dying. Himself whacked it to the ground to protect Maggie's eyes. she kept putting them up against the branches sticking out. It seems it liked the butchering. I staked them to give them something to hold them up.

Last of the arnicas. I really should of saved the flower heads... (sigh)

A strange bloom. close-up of another below.

That is it for today.

Nothing much

2011-06-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Nothing much is going on around here. The weather may finally get warmer in a few days. For once, I am eager for a summer.

The remaining photos-

An Arnica bloom above. All have wilted since I took this photo.

A patch of Heartsease, or violas/pansies. It gets bigger each year. the grandson weeded around them for me and Himself whacked down the grasses. Beautiful.

A couple of other blooms. I have no idea what they are. A friend sent me a site with great photos and I need to compare my photos with theirs. I should start a scrapbook, maybe? Press some leaves and blooms too to add with notes of what is part of my spot here? Yeah... In my spare time.

Our grandson is holding up well, though the weather sucketh mightily. This will be the longest we have had him. We are enjoying our time. Our daughter and son-in-law retrieves him at the end of the month. Finally they get to come up! I am so happy they could take a vacation. They work so hard, they are years over-due. May the weather go all normal, so to speak.

Nothing else, as usual. Same old, same old, except for the grandson brightening every day.

More photos

2011-06-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

It is so beautiful outside. More photos to share. there was a snowball bush that was not doing well. Himself whcked it to the ground because Maggie kept putting her eyeballs against the stiff stems. It seems it liked the abuse.

The close-up above of one of the "balls" kind-of shows just how tiny they are if you notice my pinkie finger there on the right.

A close-up of the bush of wild roses.

This grouping of roses come back nicely every year after we whack them down at the end of the season. It produces tons of lovely rose hips. That is it for now. More in a day or three.

We have our grandson for the month. He is helping with yard chores- raking and the like. He learned how to use the chain saw today. We have two small trees that were girdled by the previous owners and they need to come down. Himself's wrist damage makes the task painful to handle. The first tree is laying across the upper drive for now. It will be cut up and stored. Limbing sucks, but the guys are having fun working together.

I need to look up a bee that was browsing through the roses. It had a copper bit on its back. It was so weird, yet the way the copper shone in the light was beautiful. The air outside is lovely- sweet flowers, grasses and tree-scents all mingled into a heady blend. I am actually looking forward to summer this year.

Another batch of photos

2011-05-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what the plants are below. They are vibrant and make me smile, and that is all that counts. I keep looking through photos online in hopes of figuring out what they are. (grin)

The flowers above appeared this morning. I had not noticed them a few days ago.

Some sort of foliage...

The one above is plantain, maybe?

I think I saw this one in a book... I cannot remember what it is, of course.

I did know what the plant above is... but now cannot remember. Strange leaf groupings.

A geranium-like leaf above.

A close-up of some sort of vine.

Violets, I think.

I know this one! Miner's Lettuce, or Claytonia for those who did not live in a mining area.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and remembered what day symbolizes. Clue: It is not picnics and barbecues...

More Photos

2011-05-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

More photos of our spring that is slowly coming into being.

There are little violet plants peeping out in various places around the property. Most are already losing their blooms.

Above is Oregon Grape. The yellow is not as intense as in person. I was fighting off a cloud of blood-sucking mosquitoes while trying to take these photos.

We have hundreds of dandelions.

What should be yarrow. We shall see when it blooms later on.

I have no clue as to what type of plants these last photos are. I looked for hours and never figured out what they are. The bottom plant is rather interesting.

More tomorrow.

Bloomin' gorgeous

2011-05-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

Everything, finally!, is blooming. I am including photos and will divide them up for a few days. Some of the plants I cannot find in my books and will appear tomorrow or the next day. So...enjoy.

Arnica

Saskatoon flower close-up

It was a bug-hunt finding out what the plant was above. We have arnica! I know... this can be "piezon". But if only using to make one's own arthritis creams, that could be cool.

Saskatoon

I think the bush above is also called Juneberry. We have this all over the place.

Wild Strawberry

We have wild strawberries all over the place! If the ones I am "purposely" growing goes tits-up, there is always these? The ferny bit to the back left is a yarrow leaf. I will post the photo of the mass of to-be yarrow in another missive.

Lastly, this photo is rather sad. A large wolf spider caught my eye as I was digging in the dirt because it was moving "funny". It was large, so of course that would grab the eye, but something moving erradictly that should not really gets one's attention. I took her photo as she went into defensive-mode. She soon after, rolling onto her back and put all eight into the air. We have no piezons in the area. Old age? I detest spiders for the most part. Outside, where they belong, they do a great job on the various bugs.

Wolf Spider

It was not easy getting a close-up without upsetting her. Now.. I need to get over the crawlies. It is contrary to care yet get all creeped out.

Night!

Name these bugs...please

2011-05-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

I posted this over in my gardening blog. Warning, the photos below are gross. I dug these up today. The few I found the last two days went death-by-trowel. I cannot find them in any of my books or online I had also found yesterday a grasshopper-like albino, slimy thing I smashed, not thinking to sharing with others to find out what it was. Lucky you to miss it. the fat white wormy-things have 6 little legs to the front. They are not only groww, they are wrong-looking. Ew!

I have not been knitting and the like. I have blisters that formed under my gardening gloves and my hands hurt right now. Since it is supposed to rain the next day or so, I am going to rest a bit, catch up on some reading. And napping. sleeping with fried-skin shoulders is not fun. I posted in my garden blog what I have been up to, and I am not retyping it.

I hope to get back into craft work once I get the garden going. Time to put more aloe vera gel and lavender oil on my tender shoulders....

The squirrel buffet is closed

2011-05-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

We ended up catching two squirrels. One managed to get into the car and decimate the black stuff on the hood. Firewall? I have no clue as to what it is called, but it is gone in the middle of the hood. It looks like it can be replaced. We have to replace it or it will bubble the paint on the hood on long trips. The two girls were making nests. We relocated them to a wildness area with no one around. They were pissed when released, but should be able to do well in the area.

We took down all the squirrel feeders. We felt bad about it, but we had no choice. The squirrels did too much damage and we cannot afford it. If we had a garage to hide the vehicles in, that would of been another thing. They made us feel guilty for days. It was not hard. ah well... We moved the bird feeder way out. One squirrel shinnies up the pole. (laughing) The squirrel feeders also fed the larger birds.Some went over to the relocated bird feeder, some did not.

I have been busy being Farmer Jane. No, trying to be Farmer Jane. A lot of people up here are growing food this year. Some are made partnerships, sharing the cost of raising various meat-critters. With gas prices rising to levels that they should hold a gun to you as you pump out the gas, and food prices rising with it, people are doing what they can to survive. It is not like there will be any jobs any time soon to buy something as frivolous as foods. The upside I heard is that "we" are all growing organic and heirloom veggies and fruits. Most people around here will not eat the "dead", industrial-grown, "pie-zoned", real-imitation veggies and meats in the grocery stores. The farmer's markets and local butchers are always busy up here.

We thought about a chicken coop, but we do not have time this year. Plus, let us see if I can overcome my Black Thumb of Death first before adding to the load.

Oooo! Or duckies! If I can eat duck eggs, that would be better. We would have to set a coop that could be moved in the winter to a warmer area near the house. How to heat it? We also would like a greenhouse to extend the growing time, but we are still working on how to warm it too. Solar? Too expensive. The sun-warmed part will not be available in the winter up here. I have more research to do.

It seems I lost a lot of weight. My traveling/work jeans are so loose, I can pull them down without unbuttoning them. I was trying to dig in the garden and keep my pants from falling off. Himself said that if I wore those low undies, I would have some serious butt-crack disease going. I think I have an old pair of overalls in the drawer. I might as well look the part, right?

I am learning how to make my own lotions and such. So far, I have had success. I like how my homemade stuff works and smells. Cool... the prices for herbs at the larger health food store is rather high. I need to find an affordable mail-order source. I hate to do that, but I am not rich. (Money-wise, that is.)

We saw the coolest thing when driving down to town today, an eagle sunning itself. We had never seen that.
The pot is whistling. Time for coffee and wait for the next round of rain to hit.

Goodbye Squirrel

2011-04-15T01:27:00.000-07:00

The one squirrel that came from the western side of the property and took possession of our truck last fall and winter will be getting a ride here soon. She, yes a she, got into the truck and shredded every bit of the fuzz under the hood and made it into a nest in the engine department.

Himself removed it.

A couple of hours later, a new one. She is using the old wool I set out with the last bits of the truck firewall, or whatever it is. And started chewing on wires. Luckily, none are damaged. Himself turned the vehicles to point towards the house and propped open the hoods. No privacy, no staying.

No, we do not have a garage large enough for one, let alone two vehicles. (It is barely a "one-car" garage, if one has one of those rolling tin can coffins from India.)

When we shop tomorrow, one live trap will be bought. Once we get her, she takes a ride to the ends of the county and set loose in an area that is not settled. Giving someone else a problem varmint is not polite. We will get a trap large enough for raccoons. We figure the moment the garden is planted, they will be the next varmints to get a ride in the back of the truck to deeper wilderness.

I got some cool books yesterday. More another time.

Silly squirrels and another blog

2011-04-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

Himself's minions are being twice as silly as normal. Some critter, maybe them, tore the lids of the feeders. One squirrel was very happy for the access, as you can see below.

I started a separate blog for my gardening adventures. It is listed under my profile, or click here-
HearthWench (Debbi's) Website

I need to get the bread into the oven. Regular (white and whole wheat and a blend of spelt and a few other flours) "sandwich" bread this batch. the next one, I am adding the 7-grain blend from Wheat Montana, also a hot cereal, for a toasting bread. For now, this is all I can do. I did squats all day laying out our garden beds.

It sucks to get old. Ow and an Oof.

...and photos!

2011-03-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

There he is, Mr. Robin. The emblem of Spring. So where is the sun? Huh? He was posing just before I grabbed my camera, sideways like a Robin Hitchcock. Very portly-looking. He must be chilled

Remember that vest thing? I finally laid it out on the floor to show how it is constructed. Sort-of. It is knit from side-to-side. The sloped armholes does give it a "bag" to the back. I think if I make them straight the back will hang straight. You will have to click on the photos to see them closer.

Below is the vest thing hanging to sort of show how it wears. On, it is very nice. I need to find a better test yarn than the cotton I grabbed. The cotton was too thick and would not have the right drape. The original is machine-knit, badly. I will have to go over every edge to secure them so it can be washed. If you notice below, the black "ties" gives a roll that looks good for the way it hangs. I could not find any commercial pattern for this, so I am uninventing it. When it is finished, I will share it here.

It is a straight rectangle with armholes. The front neck is knitted separately and then attached. I am assuming for structure?We shall see.

That is it for now. I am going to draw up some patterns for new Russian Needlepunch boxes to be worked sometime soon. Oh, spin up something for the vest thing. I think that will be the name of the pattern.

You can all go back to sleep now...

What day is it?

2011-03-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

Where did the month go?

Oh! See the links to other blogs to the right? See? Down a little. (pointy-pointy) Look at Jola Gayle's blog to see the smoked bacon she just made. I think I am still drooling. She even did one that was peppered. (drooling...)

I really need to get going, like get the seeds started for our garden for one thing. Our last frost is not until June, so there was no hurry. Now, it is time.

A nice woman gave me blushingly nice reviews of my boxes. I need to "dress" some of my newer decks. I think she gave me the push.

I am going to be selling my little 22" Harrisville floor loom and the adjustable bench. Maybe my gorgeous Alden Amos Irish castle wheel. I spin everything, including cotton and silk, on my Alden Amos Canadian Saxony, and rarely use the Irish wheel, though it spins beautifully. I hate for it to not be used though. Yes, I push Alden's wheels as the best. I love them. They are the smoothest spin, ever. I have never woven on the loom. I got it used, folded it up and... I am not into weaving.

We had solicitors late today, so to speak. We have a huge sign at the end of the drive warning them away. (I still have not found a proper skeleton to pike at the end of the drive. heh heh heh) Bruce found a lovely giant wooden disk (at On Purpose in Sutter Creek CA) with a pentagram inlay, just to keep the religious people from approaching the house if they ignore the first sign. Ah, but these were two kids selling cookie dough. Children are not scared of signs around here.

The doughs are not part of our normal diet but we bought a tub to help them with their school function or whatever it was meant to help. We usually buy it from our grandson, and they eat it. (grin) I do have cookies in the freezer if I cannot eat the overly sweet ones when the dough gets here. The little girl and her brother were rather fascinated with my skull-topped cane collection in the stand by the door. And look at the dragons! A spinning wheel! And... I think they realized they entered a very different house. I hope they sell enough. It is not easy doing that in a rural area with houses acres apart. I am sure I will hear from my daughter soon for more dough sales.

I have put away the vest-like thing. No, I did not take a photo or send the original one to my daughter yet. It is boring. I am not into the fiber I am using, or anything else about ti at the moment. Maybe if I spin up something instead, I will be more into designing my version?

Maybe a stun-gun to the rear will get me going. Spring has not sprung. It is much warmer at least, a balmy 41 today.

Oh, damn. Himself found a dead tiny bird by one of the feeders. We had another sitting in the sun, it did not look well. The last time I saw teeny birds sitting like that, they died. Were they babies born too early in the season? We keep food out for them and the minions (squirrels). Dang, I do not like finding those who do not make it.

Woof!

2011-02-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

We went from t-shirt weather to Arctic temps with blowing snow and all the rest within a few days. Going outside almost hurts.

We "get" to go outside tomorrow and move snow. You do not remove snow, you move it from one spot to the next. I love winter, but it would be nice to get back into the upper 30s or 40s for a bit.

I am going through my organic seed catalogues, deciding what veggies and herbs to plant. I also have to figure out what to use for the sides of the raised beds. We get carpenter ants. Treated wood is "pie-son", and wood that is pest-resistant is very expensive. Maybe cinder-blocks? Hmmm... I will have to look at the recycling piles at the dump and see what I can use that will be safe, effective, durable, and not make our place look like the Clampett's place.

I hope it warms up enough for the birds. Poor things! We have a naughty squirrel to relocate somewhere far away from our vehicles. We cannot do that until spring comes. Moving him now with winter still in effect would be cruel. It is not like we can move his nest. When it is warmer, he can rebuild safely. The booger has been eating pine cones inside the motor compartments of our vehicles. We suspect he is the same one who stripping all of the black fiber stuff from the sides inside the motor compartments. Firewall fiber? No clue, but the guy has to move somewhere else.

Additional notes on the Faulkner Tarot deck

2011-02-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention the deck does not include the suit's symbols, like the various numbers and images of cups, coins, swords or wands. Instead, she captured the energies involved with each suit without them.

Wait until you lay out the cards! You get a story. A readable story! Right there in front of you!

Yes, I really love this deck. It will work very well with my favorite book too- "The Easiest Way to Learn Tarot-Ever!" by Dusty White. (Bad title, excellent book. On Amazon and all that...)

Anyway, I gotta' go and play with these cards some more...I like this deck quite a bit.

Another day, another deck

2011-02-19T08:16:00.000-08:00

No photos. The birds migrating through our area seem to know when I come out with the camera and leave the scene. (laughing) I have not made anything to show either.

Anyway...

I got the Rhiannon Faulkner Tarot deck. It came yesterday from the UK. It is labeled as the first modern photographic tarot deck and, yes, it is. (grin) I bought the companion book too. this deck does not come with the Little White Book.

I love the deck. It is in black-and-white photos. I prefer color normally but we all have a different idea of what each color means to us personally. The competing colors when laying out cards could also be a problem with photographs for some people. The lack of color does allow one to put things into a better... blend? Story? No matter, it works.

I love! the Court cards! Peoples! Doing things! With the energies of the Suit! What a concept! No out-of-date "royal" personage staring at you and not doing anything that in any way gives you a clue to what the card should be saying to you. Yea! I love how much the images speak to me in this deck!

Rhiannon Faulkner's site is at: (no, I am not paid in any way for plugging the cards!)
http://www.rhiannonfaulkner.com/

You can read a review of the deck and see some of the cards at:
http://www.janetboyer.com/Faulkner_Tarot.html

So yes, the photos convey the energies of the tarot very well. She used images most of us can relate in various areas of our life, unlike the normal images that can be rather cryptic, archaic and uses symbols that are, usually, no longer part of the modern person's common-knowledge.

There are 10 cards that could be better. For me, they do not quite capture the energies of the cards with the images she used. I will have to work with them more to see if I can hold onto the author's ideas and views. Listed below are my little quirks that I would of used as a photo image. My views in no way diminishes the deck's usefulness and all that good stuff, but would better convey the card's messages for me personally. Why mention these? My opinion page, remember? (grin) No matter what I think about these few cards, I think this deck will serve me very well.

Okay...

0 The Fool- A rural scene in the flatlands. There is a rainbow, but you have to read that in the book. In b&w photos, it is lost. Dang! The scene not convey the idea of an adventure or beginning for me because I have lived half of my life in the forest and mountains. Flatlands are not an adventure for me. (grin)

1 The Magician- A photo of a calm pond or body of water with a bridge, a floating boat, a path through a rural area. There is no one in the photo passing on info. No one who is well-learned, so to speak. A grandpa showing the grandchildren how to use hand-tools would be appropriate for me?

2 The High Priestess- A negative of a rural shot at night with a full moon. There is no one to point out it is a lesson one must experience on their own. Grandma watching as the kids use a recipe book and the kitchen to make something? Grandmas tend to let grandchildren learn on their own, they point out the tools you have at hand to do whatever it is you want to experience.

3 The Hanged Man- A clock on a wall. Okay. A child hanging upside-down on the monkey bars watching others have an animated conversation? The image does not convey looking at things from a different perspective for me.

16 The Tower- Stuff, (important papers?), burning in a patio fireplace. A building being demolished would of been a closer match for me.

Page of Cups- Two girls with their backs to each other, looking bored or upset. Water children would of been coloring or painting. This is the murky side of the card; me (the Water child) forced to go outside and play with my little sister (the Fire child). I would prefer to draw while leaning against a tree and she would prefer to play with her dolls (pffttthhh!) inside the house.

6 of Swords- A close-up of the boat sitting in calm water. There is no movement (forward and/or away) in the card.

7 of Swords- A woman walking under a ladder that is on the sidewalk and leaning against a building. If there was a burglar coming down the ladder, yeah, it would work. There is no implication of deceit for me in the image.

8 of Swords- A woman hunkered down behind a door with a hand in front of her face. It works in a way, though I think a person done-up in a tight outfit and too-high heels afraid to move would of been better for me.

9 of Swords- A church with graveyard/crosses planted in the ground. For me, yes, a church and being made to go to one is a nightmare of my own. One I can avoid and has no true danger. So... The card works for me when I think more about it, though it is not what was meant. (grin) Graveyards do not scare me. I find them soothing parks. I think a child clutching a stuffed toy while standing in front of the "Evil Closet Door" would of really hit me between the eyes, conveying the energies of the card.

I can work on those cards I listed above more closely. I like her companion book. I have different views on some of the cards, but I like reading other's views and seeing how they feel about the cards. I think it enriches one to look at what other's think and try to see their point of view.

Like the Hanged Man. (grin)

Again, I highly recommend this deck to all. I think Rhiannon Faulkner did an excellent job. Have a lovely day!

New Look

2011-02-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

As much as I loved my night-moon photo, I changed to that dark blue thing for a short bit. After retooling my website, I matched the blah-g to the website. It may be too pale? Text not dark enough? Not sure yet. I am going to live with it for a bit to see.

The website is set for viewing the contents, not to have stuff blinking, jumping and otherwise flashing around. I have a free site so I am stuck with Tripod's ads and pop-ups. ugh. I refuse to pay for a site when I am not selling anything. Our internet provider is broadband, no freebie website is included. Great service and a large amount of bandwidth. A trade-off.

It has been freezing cold lately. There was bit on the news about some falls that froze. Hopefully it will warm up soon.

I messed up my favorite program on my netbook and may have to dump the whole thing with a recovery disk to get the program back. Hopefully the programmer can help me get the program working again without such a nasty procedure to do so. Ah well. It has been eons since I did something of this nature.

That is it. No photos. Too cold to try. Maybe next week. Speelcheck does not like my verbiage. (sticking out tongue.)

What a morning!

2011-01-29T20:36:00.000-08:00

6:30 a.m. - "Debra! I need you NOW!!!"

What?! A dream? I rarely open my eyes that early. I go to bed around 1 a.m. I get up, somehow realizing this was not a dream but reality, slip into sweats and stumbling into a brightly lit great room. The stove is pulled out and Himself is standing there, calling me over.

He had been dozing when he noticed something go under the TV. He thought he imagined it, then a tiny mouse ran out, went up the counter and, he thought, behind the microwave. (So that is why it is on the floor...) It was not there when he pulled it out, then it dashed from behind the ground coffee jar, then dash behind the stove. There was no way out.. He had it trapped and he needed me to watch while he got something to "get it".

We both detest this. We get the "no see" traps. We had heard the mouse in the wall weeks ago, then in the attic. The teeny booger had managed to eat through the bottom of the trap and eat the peanut-butter. Duct-tape is now on the bottoms with a piece of Snickers bar. I digressed. Sorry.

Anyway, I hold a bright light on it while he gets...the pellet gun. WHAT!? It is a tiny mouse! How else is he going to kill it? is his reply. Trying to trap it and then setting it free is not an option. It will only come back inside. We cannot set a no-see trap and hope it commits suicide inside. He fires. He only wounds it. It wobbles. I tear-up. I cannot look. Second shot and it's pain is over. I wish I did not look over the stove before the second shot. Poor thing. It was so tiny. A beautiful dark silver-gray shiny fur, black shiny eyes, and could carry so many diseases. Yes, focus on that right? Himself gets behind the stove, gently puts the little thing in a bag and bleaches the whole area.

Gads.

7:00 a.m. - Scrubbing counters with bleach. I was glad I covered the bowl with butter inside to soften to make chocolate chip cookies later this morning. Started water for coffee. I was tired and really needed to go back to bed a bit. Oh well...

I spent the rest of the day trying different versions of the Bee or Honeycomb stitch. Yes, I have torn apart the vest-like thing I am copying, again. Stockinette and ribbings are so bloody boring, especially with a bland, cotton yarn. It is green, but not hand-dyed with a nice heathered look to give some sort of interest. A pattern of some sort will make knitting it more pleasant, especially if garter-stitch-based, with texture.

No photos. Every time I go outside to get photos of the rosy-red tweeties, they take off. I still have not taken photos of the vest-like thing or anything else.

I did manage to mess up and lose my favorite tarot program. I cannot get it to reinstall and will mess with it next week. Please note that what one could do with Windows 98, (that is how long it has been since I had anything go wrong to try to do what I did), or try a "restore" with Norton running are not something one should ever do. Never. Norton freaks, then dumps all of its virus definitions and has to re-upload them. I managed to do it twice. Not once, twice. It is time to re-up my subscription, once done, maybe I can get the program to install after some making sure the files are all in good order and the like. I hope so. I really loved my Orphalese tarot program. If anyone knows what the error code "2869" means for Windows 7, please let me know. The programmer of the program has had this happen a couple of times and MS techs have not been forthcoming with any help.

Time to watch a few movies, I think.

yawwwwwnnnn....

2011-01-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

I have the lazies today. Instead of working on un-inventing a stole-vest or whatever the heck it is, or reading a couple of new books, I am sitting here, coffee in hand and reading others' blogs. I guess a day of doing nothing is not a bad thing?

I cannot believe how much junk I bookmarked! I am cleaning out those as I read through. Some have me wondering if there was something "special" in my water that day to warrant bookmarking the site.

That sweater, or stole, or vest... whatever the heck it is!, I will take a photo of it stretched out on the floor to show the concept. Maybe this week. Maybe not. I am not promising anything. I found it at a local store. Sadly, it is in acky-lack yarn, made by machine at some Chinese sweatshop. It is badly constructed. This was the only one that would fit me or my daughter and needed only the edges gone over with thread to make sure it does not unravel. The workmanship these days is horrid. All in the name of profit, I guess. I was going to try to un-invent it without buying the item, but figured having it on hand would make it easier. I also contributed to a local shop. I did get a discount because some of the edges were iffy, at best. Why am I in love with this badly-made item? It is interesting. It looks nice on. It even looks good if you have Huge Tracks of Land or if the Titty Fairy snubbed you for life. It slims if needed and adds weight to the overly-slim. (Yes, they do exist. My daughter is one.)

I have a large cone of kitchen cotton. I know! It is crap yarn. It does wash up soft. It is cheap, meaning it is perfect for inventing a pattern. The yarn is a green on the yellowish side of the spectrum. Not my favorite, but it will do. Better than white, no?

I knitted some dolls to run through the washer, just to see what happens. Maybe I will come out with a line of poppets. We all need poppets. They are great for stress relief without doing harm. Sort of. It depends on what one inflicts on the doll. (laughing)

I will get some pictures. Soon. It means movement. Not today.

Pug Love

2011-01-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

Yogi, my daughter's pug, is a wonderful guy. I just adore him. I knitted him some sweaters in Wool-Ease so my daughter can easily wash them. Her husband requested one in "convict"stripes, pictured below. (laughing) I already made him one in acky-lack camo. Another was in black and red stripes using Wool-Ease. I have some of that yarn in a lovely denim-blue, which will be his next sweater. See him smile? The dog leg in the corner is Oppa, my grandson's Chihuahua's leg.

I finished the accessories for my knitted and fulled purse. I need to add the snaps and then see if all the garbage I fit into the current purse fits this one. If not, my daughter wants one and can have this one. She does not carry half of the junk I do. I will take a photo soon.

I am knitting doll-figures to full/felt right now. Why? To see how they come out. One will have "hair" lockerhooked to its head to see how it felts. All for fun.

I am looking through my fiber stash to see what to spin and knit up into a sweater next. I have some black wool ready to make Himself some glittens. I need to measure his hands first to be sure they will fit. I still need to make myself another pair of bully gloves. They are really Claudia's Pointless glove recipe. See Countrywool's site for her patterns. My daughter took my last pair, knitted in titty-pink. No one at her job will mess with them, being a lumberyard and hardware store.

Unasked-for advice- Never drive in blowing snow at night for almost 500 miles. It is not fun.

That is it for now...

hack...hack...hack

2010-12-23T19:31:00.000-08:00

We are down in CA visiting my daughter and our grandson. We always get so stuffed up here. I think we are allergic to CA. (ornery grin)

I made fudge, something I have not done in eons. The grandson loves it.

They were saddled with their Chihuahua's brother while the boy supposedly tried to find a place that will allow his dog in the city he moved to. This dog was never properly trained, worse, properly house-trained. He is so sweet, but he needs someone who would be willing to handle him 24/7 and make sure he never widdles all over the house again. Hard to do, especially when the dog is a male Chihuahua. It is a shame, really. No, I do not have the patience at this stage of life. The daughter is going to try to find him a good home with someone who good at retraining dogs and has the patience to help the dog.

I also got to see two of my favorite people. It was wonderful. We ran into them today at the hardware store my daughter works at, a lovely extra surprise. Of course I got a few more kisses and hugs in while they were there.

As soon as the pass over the Sierra is clear enough after Santa Day, we are heading back home. We will probably stay at a motel when we get clear of OR. It is too cold to nap in the car this time of year. We are hoping we will get up our driveway and not have to walk up it when we get home. (laughing) It will be good to get back, though a little sad knowing it will be a while before we get to see everyone again. This is our first trip without Maggie. I realized I had not cleaned the car, seeing her sneezes still on the dash in front of my seat. It will be hard to wash. (sob) My daughter's dog, also a Peke and half-sister, cuddled with me a few times.

I received a comment from an old friend, RoseHawk. Email me privately. I cannot find your address!

No excitement to report. We are enjoying the season with our loved ones.

Zzzzzzzzzzz....

2010-11-28T21:29:00.000-08:00

Not much to say the last month. Photos below for your boredom.

This is off my porch this afternoon (Sunday). We first got an Arctic blast with dry snow. The more normal stuff came on Thursday. We had a 20% chance of snow today. (laughing)

A Blue Jay scared a squirrel and vice-versa, when it approached one of the feeders. I managed to catch both. Same sized feeders. We have some huge Jays around here.

The icicles on the side of the garage and the icicles outside the bedroom window. The latter is hanging down like huge teeth now. We are betting it will crash to the ground around 3 a.m.

I have been knitting sweaters for my daughter and son-in-law's pug, Yogi. No photos until he gets them. I must remember to bring the camera. They look like fat tubes until worn. One is red with black stripes. The other is black and white stripes. I will make him more later on after the holidays. I will be starting a purse for myself to be felted next.

All prezzies are done and wrapped. I usually have it all done before Thanksgiving, if not before Halloween. (grin)

You can go back to sleep now.

Photo and nothin'

2010-10-31T14:50:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of Maggie's "devil dog"photos and added them to a couple of more recent photos to make a collage for the vet's office. I also made a copy for my daughter. We miss the girl...

Got one sock knitted. I fiddled with some beading too. I had ordered a few books from Amazon, primarily about felting. I sent one back that was for using other fabrics. The other book I sent back was on stones. The woman did not know the difference between agate and jasper! Not a book for me, I think.

May you all have a Merry Halloween and Happy New Year, if you imbibe.

Felted Book Covers

2010-10-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have so much wool, I decided to try my hand at felt. Wait... I already mentioned that, did I not? The mind wanders...

That first bit of felt I fubar'd is above. It did not look like I fulled it completely, so I put it in the washer to really get it fully felted....

AFTER I CUT IT! Arg!!!

Needless to say, it did not fit the intended book. I cut it down to fit my new book by Barbara Moore- "Tarot for Beginners". I know I am not a beginner, but I found beginner books very enlightening and I love Barbara Moore's work. The covers of books are so thin now, this will keep my copy's cover in good shape.

I beaded two hemitite cabs and attached them to the straps after adding the biggest snaps one has seen. Finding sew-on snaps is hard enough. It seems people prefer velcro, if you can find anyone who actually sews these days. I prefer snaps that are 10mm to 12mm, but these puppies are way bigger. Snaps are secure and do not catch the way velcro does, snagging everything. I prefer thin bookmarks. They do not mess up the book. I used jumbo rick-rack for this cover, attaching beads to the end. I attached the bookmark at the bottom and have to going from bottom to top. I do not like it when they come from the top and get all smooshed if you put the book on a shelf.

This is my second attempt at felt. I made this cover for Kaitlyn's birthday prezzie to cover her copy of Janina Renée's- "Tarot for a New Generation". Perfect for one new to tarot. The cover, like the cover for her deck, hides these items from those of her family who are horrified by the tarot.

I used a combo of various colored wools in colors she loves. The cabs are simulated turquoise. (I did not have real turquoise cabs.) I beaded around them too, and used the last of my preferred smaller-large snaps. There is a second snap further down the straps for added security. I used leftover purple ribbon I used for my grandson's Undertaker hat as the bookmark, beading the end that hangs over.

I think she will like this and her beaded tarot box/deck for her birthday next month.

I am to the heel of one pair of socks. Short socks. I still have not perfected knee socks. I make the tops long for folding my socks over. Yes, I am child-like when I wear my socks. I prefer the cuff and how they cushion my skinny ankles.

I also made some beaded items I cannot photograph or show at this time because they are prezzies.

Lost... so felting and beading away

2010-10-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

It has been hard around here. Routines are altered, most no longer are needed. The house is empty. No happy greetings. No happy good-nights.

We picked up Maggie's cremains. The tears came again when we opened the box. She was 10 lbs. One would think with her large heart and soul that there would be more than a snack-bag-size of remains. We are looking at handmade jars. That would be suitable for Maggie. The nice woman who handles the cremations for the vet's office took Maggie's footprint on a piece of pink marble-like clay, adding her name to it. It is a nice touch. Our vet is the best. They sent a lovely card. The techs, vet and the office woman all included personal notes. The vet called her The Princess. She had cried with us.

People are trying to give us dogs to speed the healing process. We will not be ready for a while to find a new family member. Some day, a soul will get our attention and come home with us.

The beaded box above is Kaitlyn's for her new Tarot of the White Cats deck. It came out rather nicely.

I was feeling so lost, I needed to do something. I decided to try my hand at more felting. My first flat piece is below. Stupidly, I cut it into the right shape before doing a small edge to be sure it was fully felted. I did not realize that until I put it into the washer with another piece to get the edges nicely felted. I should of whip-stitched them instead. The felt will be a book cover, but not for the intended book. Live and learn. I will take a photo of the new piece of felt in a few days. I am on a book cover trend at the moment. Photos when they are finished.

I also did a bit of needlefelting. Okay, a lot of needle felting. It had been a long time since I did this, so I made an item from a book to practice using the felting needles. Needlefelting is mindless- you do not need to focus too much, but enough to go slowly and to keep from impaling yourself with the needles.

I then went for trying my hand at a figure. A fairy was born. I used beads for her eyes and mouth. She needs a 2x4 in one hand, I think.

Halloween is coming up, so a skull was next. I also made a Jack-head. I think it will be the perfect thing to attach to a ribbon for a bookmark, no?

Making things has helped. I am beading cabs for the book covers.

I miss Maggie.

In Memory of Maggie

2010-10-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Maggie
April 22, 1996 to October 6, 2010

Maggie went in our arms. It was gentle, like she was. She began to snore, singing her song one last time for us near the end. Impossibly, it brought a brief smile to me, through the tears. Finding words to honor her is impossible. They do not exist. She brought laughter, smiles, comfort. She had an essence, soul, better than most humans.

The house is empty. Her clicking toenails are no longer heard. It was hard to sleep without a small, 10-lb. pumpkin, snoring and pushing me over to the other side of the bed. When I finally drifted off for a moment, I could smell her. Her funny walk will no longer bring a smile to my face. She is not in one of her favorite spots right now, smiling her funny smile at me. No one sneezed on my face to wake me up this morning.

Our hearts ache in a way that feels like it will never heal.

Her last week was not good, though she never let on. She had a lot of heart, brave and rarely showed she was in pain.. She could barely eat the last few days. We thought it was her medication. She would take her cookie, nibble a bite then hide it away in her bed. She briefly tried play with her favorite faceless ducky yesterday. When I was combing her chest after her bath, I found her chest was deep maroon. Her blood was no longer clotting. I broke out in tears, knowing what was to come. We were lucky she made it through her first bout last spring. We were gifted with a mere 7 months more of her charms. It is not right to prolong pain. It is not fair that she had such a short life. She made it to her 70's, it did not seem even close to being long enough. We know intellectually we did all we could, yet feel like it was not enough.

Thank you Maggie for everything. You brought us love, laughter, and more. You will always be in our hearts. We miss you.

Done!

2010-09-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the felted Undertaker hats for my grandson! Yea! The one below is the one that was knitted and then abused in my front-loader. I used Lacy's Stiff Stuff to try to get the brim a little stiffer. I hope it holds up. I do not know if beating the crap out of the brim while wet would work? This is my first felting project and I am still lost when it comes to this art. Lacy's is not supposed to leave any color. It did leave a whitish-clear bit on parts. Shaving the hat will remove it. I put on a ribbon hatband... and could not get the hat on. I found purple wool and needlefelted a hatband on instead. I think it came out rather cool.

The hat using commercial felt ended up coming out quite nice. I added thin black wire to the brim, sewing it down. I then folded over a small bit and sewed that down too. Sewing the crown to the brim was a major bitch. The felt had finally stiffened after spraying on Lacy's. After slipping and jabbing my finger with the threaded needle one too many times, I found my old thimble. The wounds are now healing nicely. The ribbon came out okay. I fiddled with this hat so much, I decided stepping back and letting it be was the best step.

I will try flat felting and felting a hat on a ball later on, after I finish the beaded tarot box I am working on. I had set it aside to get the hats done in time to mail off the Halloween garb we got our grandson. The beaded box is half-finished. I beaded a large glass cab for the flap as decoration. It came out quite nicely, I think. I will try to get photos of the "parts" as I put it together. It is hard to photograph beadwork without the proper tools. The colors run in the teals and turquoise ranges, and those do not seem to photo well without a good light box.

Miss Maggie is done with her course of anti-bacterial meds. The digestive problem, at least the one she was having, is now gone. She is eating well.

She is not happy with me right now. I got a new chair that does not lock the foot-thingie. I have to move her onto my lap, set her in my chair and go do "what ever", move her back after getting back in the chair. I do not remember the chair in the store being this tall. My feet do not touch the ground, and I am 5'6-1/2"! It does rock. I love rockers, especially ones that are over-padded.

I picked up a huge box of apples, a cabbage, carrots, leeks, and onions at the Farmer's Market last Saturday. I made an apple pie and 9 little half-moon pies to freeze. The remaining apples are covered and in the garage for later use. I took the veggies and made us my Irish-like dinner, adding a good pound of seared london broil bits and beef broth. I simmer it for about an hour, making the meat tender. I did not pepper it that much this time, much to the pleasure of Himself.

That is it for now... Time to warm a slice of pie and slap a gob of 'nilla ice cream on the side. Yum....

Felting along...

2010-09-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

My grandson wants to be WWE wrestler, The Undertaker, for Halloween. Himself order a commercial costume. My grandson has to use his own black pants and boots with the costume. The hat may be a problem. It does have the straggly hair, but it might not fit. So... I decided to try my hand at felted hats. I do so wish I had a photo of Himself trying on the hat with the hair attached. It perched on top of his head. I keep laughing at the image. He will not allow me to photo him in the hat and show anyone. Booger.

The first hat is a knitted hat by Arlene Williams- Felted Hat Pattern.
http://webhome.idirect.com/~quanah/patfelthat.html

I modified it a bit. I made the crown a few stitches wider. When it came to the brim, I increased after every inch in depth, every 5 rounds in other words. The hat ended up about 15" or 16"from the beginning instead of 13". It went through the washer twice with a pair of jeans and another hat made using her recipe as printed, using a merino/mohair blend in an electric blue for the brim section. That will go to my daughter's step-daughter.

The Undertaker hat is staked out on the floor, shown below, to make sure the brim stays nice and flat. The character wears a Quaker-style hat. It will get a purple ribbon hat band when dry. I also pinned the edge around the brim to help it keep the proper shape.

The hat below was made using the instructions from-
A Felt Hat using Standard Fabric Store Craft Felt
http://www.costumes.org/advice/costcraftsmanual/tmpjk10.htm

I did not have the foam or anything to form the crown on, so I used a mini-basketball as the form for the crown. When the ball-shape below is dry, I trim it to be the rounded crown for the style of hat. The brim is two pieces glued together and you add wire to the brim if it is not stiff enough. I have to cut the hold, fit it on the ball and then the crown down over and stitch it from the inside.

It is not dry. The glue is SUPPOSED to be clear when dry, not the splotchy stuff as shown below. If it is not, I will have to re-do the brim...or dye it black again? Same thing for the hat band, purple ribbon.

The construction is clever, but I am not too sure how this one will turn out yet. If anything, I learned something new, right?

I will be trying my hand with making flat felt next. I even found a washboard! It will be a workout. Good for the arm wings, no? I have not needle-felted in a long while, and will be doing that too. Stabbing things for art's sake?

I tried to take a photo of the beaded box I am working on, but the light sucked and it came out badly. Next time I have the camera out I will try again. It is sunny today. I should of taken it in a shaded area. My photo light box for taking photos of beaded and shiny items is still in the storage shed, buried under boxes.

Miss Maggie continues to improve. The meds are not giving her any of the bad side-effects that are possible, at least, so far. She has four days left, so I think she will be fine. I will try that probiotic stuff again later on to see if it helps her tummy.

Merry Fall! Crisp air, fog, rain and more! I love this time of year!

Baby Squirrels and Pot Pies

2010-09-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

No, I did not make pot pies out of baby squirrels.

The first batch of baby squirrels that were born in the truck air filter are out and about. They are cute, though the adults are already getting snitty about territory. An adult was trying to run off a baby, the chase ending up a large tree. The baby was around the side, skittled and startled the adult that thought it had "won" and ran off the baby. I laughed out loud. Did you know that squirrels do not like being laughed at? It whined at me, then started chattering. I laughed more. Then a squirrel across the property started chattering back, leapt to a tiny tree that had thin limbs and went bouncing, gently, down to the ground. Of course I laughed harder and the adult squirrel I first insulted got madder, chattering even louder at me. It had no sense of humor.

This first shot was taken at dusk using a night-shot setting. It was hard to get it this clear. The squirrel was huddled tight against the branch.

Two babies eating seeds, above. Their tails are shorter and less bushy than the adults. Of course they are smaller.

The little one above in a close up. Cute little things, even when they destroy your car.

Ah, Debbi's beef pot pies. I make a thick basic stew. I use lard in the crust instead of Crisco. The flavor lard gives is awesome. I make up 16, freezing most for other dinners.

Today Miss Maggie had an "oops!" on the vinyl flooring, a rather bizarre happy accident. I took this lovely mess to the vet and they tested it. What a foul job. She has some sort of bacterial thing going on. We had been dealing with this for a month off and on. The downside is possible side-effects of the meds. She will get Pepto-Bismal along with the meds to buffer the stomach effects. Hopefully she will have no other possible side-effects and this will clear up the problem. Poor old lady has had a hell of a time. I am glad this is all it is, nothing worse. I am a bit paranoid when she gets sick.

I got new glasses yesterday. Himself says I look different but does not say "how" I look different. I will have to re-do my mug shot. Lucky you. I like the new glasses shape, style and color. I got the transitional lenses so I have sunglasses when I go out. Sadly, insurance no longer covers line-less bifocals. We are lucky to have the insurance as it is, so I cannot complain. I like them a lot.

Knitting a hat to felt. I cannot find a ball small enough to use for a head-form. A 7" to 8" ball would be fine for a normal adult-sized head. I may try the thrift shops for an old wig head, though I do not think they exist anymore.

I have set aside the beaded box while I am knitting. I needed a change. With the new glasses I can see much better. Damn, wrinkles and such are very clear. Selective clear sight would be much more preferable.

You can go back to sleep now.

Lovely cool weather

2010-09-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

We had to turn on the furnace today! Yea! Cool weather is here!

I am a few inches along on the new beaded box. I spent the weekend beading and watching the series "Eureka" on DVDs. Himself announced we were out of food, necessitating a drive down into town. The trees are turning, one a gorgeous, flaming trunk of reds, oranges and golds. Lovely!

A few photos I took recently...

On my morning walks, the dew is still apparent. Below are a few weeds and plants on my path. The rose hips look rather juicy. The fir tree is one of my favorite, though I do not know the species. Its scent is a mixture of spice and white musk. the scent after a rain is even more intense.

Another shot of the now-gone tiger lilys.

The bird feeders were over-whelmed last week with flocks of birds. We now have a few sparrows around. One day, a scene from "The Birds", the next, nothing.

I grabbed my camera for the photos above after my walk. I brought out Miss Maggie. this was taken from afar. She was waiting for me, impatient I was not paying attention solely to her.

I may of mentioned Himself got a deep-fryer. He deep-fried some pirogi and raviolis before indulging in his favorite, chicken. they came out rather well, not greasy. I made a garlicky red sauce. They were quite delicious.

That is it. Back to beading for now. Next I must spin up yarn for mittens and bully gloves.

Lovely coolness prevails

2010-08-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

We are having showers off and on with mild winds. It feels so good! I am a Fall baby, that is for sure. I am making meatloaf today. It is a comfort food, perfect for the weather. Himself did get some ice cream for later. Luckily, the demise and taking over of our grocery store by the evil Safeway empire did not include the total loss of Tillamook ice creams. I miss our old little store.

We found a tuff of fuzz from the Outback's firewall lying next to the vehicle. Dang! It seems another squirrel is building a nest. I tied a bag of icky wool, (cleaned yet not usable), to the post next to the tires for the squirrel to take. We also put teaballs with a cottonball inside the motor compartments that has a squirt or two of fox urine. Of course I had to smell it before screwing on the top. Bad idea. I am glad it was way past my breakfast. Himself's sister made him a sign for the vehicles that has a big stop sign and a note under it to remind him to remove his balls from the engine before starting the vehicles. heh...heh...heh...snicker...

I have finished a couple of books on intuition. Both were fine. I managed to get past the few references to their belief in deity/deities. Why I allow myself to get so slammed by those words is beyond me. A quirk I still need to work through.

I am working through two tarot workbooks. Yes, at the same time! So I am weird! The books are two different learning styles, perfect to keep the brain amused. The first has a silly title that shows the author's humor, packed with a great learning style that is perfect for me, intuition-based- "The Easiest Way to Learn Tarot - Ever!" by Dusty White. The other is more structured but very interesting is "Easy Tarot Guide" by Marcia Masino. I managed to get a copy of the first edition that includes color photos. She is revising the book and adding more for the second edition. Publishing date is unknown. Sadly, the nice color photos of the cards will not be in this version. Me, I will gladly pay for color photos. A spiral spine for workbooks would be the extra cost too. I seem to be in the minority for those two perks. I rather wait a few weeks saving up for them and have color and the ability to leave the book open without using various household objects to keep it open while I work from a book.

Both are very good. Why keep learning, reading beginner's books, taking notes and all that with tarot? There are always more of others' views to read or hear about. I do not think one can learn too much when it comes to the...stranger?, arts. I was given my first deck in christmas 1976. During that time period there were few books to learn from, learning was very dogmatic and there were ONLY the stated meanings for upright and reversed. Any deviation and you were wrong!, wrong!, wrong! It is probably why I did not really start to learn until a few years ago. I am enjoying today's writers. They are much more to my learning style. I still do not like the Thoth deck. I tried. I never cared for Crowley either. He had...fleas...

I have over 70 tarot decks and oracle decks. I have an urge to sell those that do not speak to me off, yet the images are beautiful. A box of 78 masterpieces. A silly conflict? Do I really need that shelf-space?

Miss Maggie is doing well. I am giving her MSM. I hope that helps her arthritis. The combo stuff I was giving before had in teeny-tiny print that dogs who ever had any kidney or bladder stones should not use it. I cannot believe I missed the warnings! Her scan shows she is free of the bladder stones, she must not of had them long enough to cause a problem. Stopping the combo also toned down the amount of "blinders" she silently lets loose...usually while cuddled near my face.

No photos today. There are few of the remaining Grosbeaks decimating the feeders still on the camera. Yeah...yeah...yeah...

The squirrels are even eating the Ponderosa cones, carrying off some or eating them like corncobs. I have never in the 30+ years of living in the mountains seen them eat those. A normal winter is coming? Am I ready? Yes and no. I did not get some things done because I could not afford them this year. Such is life and I am fine with that. Knowing it will soon be cool, the leaves turning colors, the mists that appear at a whim, the snow... I cannot wait. We do not have a hearth, sadly. It is another one of those things I hope to save for, a small addition with a nice pot-bellied stove for warmth and to enjoy the flames during the winter.

Well, it is Monday

2010-08-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

I ordered my grand-daughter her first tarot deck and book this weekend. Her father and my daughter have done a great job with her. I am glad the kids got primary custody away from her poop-head mother. Oops! TMI family stuff? I did use a tamer word than my usual crusty verbiage.

I must make a beaded box for her cards before her birthday, which is not until November. She was warned to not show these things to her grandmother and great-grandmother unless she is prepared to deal with some frowns.

She loved the Tarot of the White Cats, which I got her. It is pure RWS-style, but with cats. They are not cutesy cats either. Better color for one thing. They are more detailed without being overwhelming. The expressions are better than RWS. I also got her Janina Renée's "Tarot for a New Generation". I think she wrote the perfect book for the younger set, though us old folks like it too. I have all her books, liking her style and manner of teaching. I have yet to get them on my Kindle. Amazon has a problem with the accents on her name, or the publisher did it? They have not put the book mentioned for the gift in eBook format yet or there was something about copyright?

I like having real books to cuddle with, and the Reader for travel to lighten my load. I never thought I would like a Kindle, but it has pleasantly surprised me. A major plus, I can jam it into the Black Hole of Death (my purse) and always have books on hand without walking around with a backpack and hunched in half. Besides, I am too old for that sort of load.

I am also a fan of real catalogues and the rare person willing to buy them. I rather order by check than card and prefer to slowly browse while sipping coffee and occasionally sucking on my e-cig, not sit at the netbook and dither through. I do like Amazon's and Google Book's feature of being able to thumb through, Google being the superior on that front. It is like being at a book store. Remember to not take the title into account for a subject. "The Easiest Way to Learn Tarot- Ever!"by Dusty White is excellent, though the title is silly.

I should make a book list sometime? I have so many books that I bought and have stacked because they reeked. I could save others money, if they have the same quirks I do. I have a zillion tarot and oracle decks, but I cannot get myself to sell them off. Some have such lovely pictures though I personally find them useless for what they were intended for.

I need to start my Yule shopping soon. I make a lot of gifts, but there are times when something in the store screams someones name and they get that item instead. We do not over-do, not that we can, we keep the concept down to a small and loving nature instead.

The squirrels are eating every pine cone in sight, even the Ponderosa variety. I wonder if we are going to have a normal winter this year? The sap is awful. Poor Maggie has to go in and have the bottom of her toes shaved this Friday.

I finally took a couple of pictures to bore you all with.

The first tiger lily bloom. The petals have not folded themselves back yet. They look like stylized pumpkins when fully opened. I tried to get a photo of the bloom and those waiting to open. It did not come out too well. I took more photos I will post soon of the fully-opened blooms. I think we may add tulips for next year.

This is some sort of weed? No clue. the bees and hummingbirds like it. The color is pretty.

There is no way to catch the hummingbird swarms on camera. I did get one crossing the feeder, of course the one drinking went off in hot pursuit. They have been draining the feeders every other day. Our weather has been lovely- cool with rain most mornings or evenings.

I tried to get a photo of our little patch of forest. There are a tong of little purple flowers mixed in with the orange of the rose hips that are ripening. Clicking on the photos may bring up a closer image.

I spent the weekend reading and carding a fleece. Not at the same time. I am not that good. We popped in a DVD while I was carding. I was, as normal, not particularly exciting. Maggie is having better days, though her arthritis is not letting up much. She is such a doll.

I have not been online much, preferring to read and do other things. What can I say? My favorite time of year, Fall, is fast approaching. Yea!

What day is it? Or month?

2010-08-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

It is August. Already. My grandson goes back to school, 3rd grade!, in a couple of weeks. I cannot believe how fast time is going! Any comments about time and age? You DO know where to stuff them, right?

No photos. I need to get the camera out so I can take them more easily. I did manage to put most of my beadwork boxes and needle-punch ones on a new photos page which is in the links over to the right somewhere for my blog. (pointing) See? Over there... I must find my light box for taking craft photos. It works so much better than trying to find a bright place on the porch railing for photos. The light box is much too big for the things I make, though great for the rare large item.

I was enjoying the spa ala nekkid this early evening. I moved from the lounging massage area to the "back beater", and noticed that the hummingbird feeder by the spa was being swarmed by over 10 hummingbirds. They were buzzing, hovering, dodging, swirling around... There are more babies, too! They are so tiny. This last batch of nectar was rather strong. I became engrossed in computer junk and forgot the pot was boiling away on the stove. Oops. I added more water and sugar on top of the couple of inches of "thick" water left in the pan. Hey, I did not burn the house down at least. The hummingbirds seem to like the more intense nectar. Or it may be that the other feeder had a bubble and was not drawing well, or that there are not many blooms around right now. No matter, I enjoyed watching them while I had my parts massaged by the water. That was a major perk when we bought this place, they left a very nice spa. Life is very good.

Miss Maggie has developed a lovely trait of doggy farting. It started a little after her 14th birthday. That makes her around 70 years old. Her food is better than before. We are going with age as the cause. She will let a silent-yet-deadly while cuddled to my side...then move to the other end of the couch. She is so much like He who is sucking brain in his chair. Sucking brain = intense and loud snoring. I cannot even copy making the sounds or I start choking, it is so deeply done. Her arthritis is bad in her back legs, the left being the worse. I ran out of her special vitamins and will get more Tuesday. The vet put her on a trial of Metacam to see if that helps her move around more easily. Her check-up turned up well, even with the arthritis stuff. All is good. She is old and well-loved.

I have not been knitting, spinning or beading lately. It has been too hot. I have been reading, bouncing between real books and a Kindle 2. I managed to format some notes I would like to have on hand without digging through my binders and bookshelves. The Kindle is a nice tool and handy. I still love my books, but the reader is much more portable and will not become damaged in my purse the way a book can. (The Kindle has a nice leather cover.) I need to get a clip-light so I can read in bed.

I need to order some seed beads in the green and tan ranges for "camo". My grandson wants a box for his trading cards. He decided he wanted the box in "Idaho", which translates into camo.

...and that is the boring bits for now.

Home again, home again...

2010-07-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

After the fastest two weeks of our lives having our grandson here for a visit, we made the drive down and back to return our grandson. Woof. If I never get in a car again...

Later in the day after we finally arrived home, (after we woke up after passing out in exhaustion), I noticed the squirrel bouncing between the truck and car wheels. It was climbing through the engine compartments again. He went to open the truck hood, noticing shredded yellow. Again. What we thought was a mouse when we had this happen before was a squirrel shredding the air filter. He discovered how it got in, a path we cannot plug up. He lifted the thingie above the filter. The filter underneath was eaten out in the middle. He lifted it up and gently dug around...to find two pinkies. Not mice, but baby squirrels. Oh great. How to get the mother to move them?

I Googled around, finding a nice woman who would put me in contact with people who may help, plus I found a few ways that would make the mother uncomfortable enough to move the babies. Nothing bad- a tea-ball with a cottonball soaked in fox urine-scent inside the compartment. A repellent, like having someone around with bad gas. (Is there any other kind of that sort of gas?)

the next morn I sent Him out to check to see if the babies were cold or warm before we proceeded and bought a bunch of stuff. The mother did not like us opening the hood and walking around her nest because they were gone. Whew!

The warm weather brought on massive growth around the place. We will be weed-whacking and such for a week.

I got a few new books and a new tarot deck. A boring report another time. I am too tired. I have not progressed on Yogi the Pug's sweater. It is too hot to knit, even with acky-lack yarn.

Maggie is not feeling well today. Her digestive system is out of whack. She was very glad when we got home, literally skipping around the house with joy.

I think my rear finally unflattened from the long trip. I am glad to be home. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

This and that

2010-06-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Before we drove all the way down to the Sierras a week ago, I took the photos below.

The first rose buds are above. We were only gone a few days and all the roses were blooming when we got back. Below are photos of pansies growing in a bouquet and the march of the pansies across our driveway.

Above, the Heart of the Fairy Oracle deck's box. Front, and back photos above, bottom and top is the photo under those two. (Depending on your computer, they may be in one line.) Clicking on the photos helps. It was not easy to photograph. I have a light box somewhere in the shed exactly for photographing beads and beaded items. One day I may drag it out.

I am using a tarot workbook that is more my style of learning- The Easiest Way to Learn Tarot - EVER! by Dusty White. Most will be put off by the title. If you are visual and prefer reading intuitively, then check it out.

I am knitting my daughter's pug Yogi a sweater for this fall. I am using acky-lack camo yarn. I need to find some washable wool for the cooler months. I have torn the sweater apart 5 times now. The first time was because his neck was mis-measured... by a lot! The other times was because I messed up. I know, it is a dog's sweater. I am picky. I might add front leg sleeves. I may add back leg sleeves but not weave in the ends until we make sure they are easy for them to put his legs into. He is a neat guy.

We, sadly, take our grandson back on the 5th of July. He will enjoy real fireworks first, of course. As usual, the few weeks we have him are flying by. sigh....

With one eye open

2010-06-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

Before I drone on as usual, no photos. I still need to take a few of the finished Fairy Oracle deck's beaded box....

Oh, that box is finally finished a few days before we drove south into hell. Wait. I do not believe in hell. Okay, we drove down to see loved ones through various deserts to "borrow" our grandson for a few weeks. Darn if we have to return him.

Miss Maggie did not do well on the trip. If the sun beat on her through the window, (the A/C was blowing directly on her the whole trip down and back up), she became over-heated. We will be looking for a plug-in cooler thing for her to lay on (is there such a thing?) and a window shade to add to her comfort when we have to return our grandson.

Did I say how displeased we are at having to give our grandson back? Can you imagine the nerve of my daughter demanding her lovely boy back? My daughter is a great mother and mom. (Yes, there is a difference between those two words.) Our grandson is lucky to have such a loving young woman. So what if I am biased? Others agree with me, ya know.

I will have the groomer strip out Maggie's undercoat before re-cutting her hair to keep her as cool as possible. She refused food the day before we set out for home, urping in the evening. She drank water on the trip home at least.

Once here, she perked a tiny bit and looks almost normal. Right now she is curled up in a deep sleep. She has devoured one boiled chicken-ninny and one of her vitamin cookies. We hope the vet has something safe Miss Maggie can take while visiting for a bit when we go back down to return our grandson. Maggie was worked up from the get-go. This is not normal behavior for Maggie. Maybe it is from her near-death experience last March? Putting her into a doggie motel while away would be worse for her. She is too old to deal with that.

I have come to terms with the fact that recovery time for long trips extends with age. I think my rear section may be numb for weeks though our Outback is quite comfortable. The heated seats help relieve, if not prevent, this during normal travel times for us. In the summer, no way. I am not a hot weather person. I rather bundle up than be hot.

I am knitting Yogi the Pug, (one of our daughter's dogs), a sweater in camo acky-lack yarn so she can throw it in the washer. I will look for washable wool for the next one. She misread her tape when measuring his neck and it was lucky I checked the fit out before I got too far. That boy has a thick neck. Their chihuahua will wiggle out of any sweater. I will measure the little booger and make one with sleeves for the back legs that will also work as "stirrups" for the back of the sweater and keep him from getting out of it. During the winter he is freezing, yet refuses to wear items to make him more comfortable. If anything, a video of him getting out of it would be entertaining.

Okay, I am now officially pooped. Good night to all that have not fallen into a stupor yet.

May disappeared

2010-06-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

Where did May go!? It is already June...

The good thing about June is that we get our grandson and get some time with our daughter. Now if only time would go very slowly during our time with our two favorite people. I will also get to see a couple of close friends when we pick up our grandson. Himself still has to get the spa cleaned and refilled so the Little Man has a "swimming pool". Hopefully it will not rain much while he is here. We are really hoping our daughter can take her vacation and come up. What a perfect summer it would be!

By the way- Remember to never shop on the first of the month unless the fridge is completely bare. Bloody hell. The stores needed traffic control inside and out. ugh...

I forgot to post the beaded tarot box photos this weekend. Oops. The first box below is for my Fairy Tale Tarot deck by Lisa Hunt. I really should of used darker greens. I tried to somewhat capture the back of the deck's card.

The next beaded box is for the Shadowscape Tarot deck by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. This deck really speaks to me. I am surprised, it being a "fairy-like" deck. Her artwork is done in watercolors that are stunning and have so much magic worked into the images. The design is nothing like the back of the cards. Those are a lovely purple on the blue-side with a Celtic-knot-like design, stars, etc. I used three shades of purple, turquoise and green. I first made the moon at the bottom and worked up from the moon. There is a pale moon on the flap to secure the top. I used a plastic snap. Ick. I am removing it and changing it to a bit of velco which is more secure. A metal snap would not be a good idea on glass seed beads.

I took a quick photo of the box I am working on right now. The photo below is the start of a front or back "side" for the Fairy Oracle deck by Brian and Wendy Froud. The deck is stunning. Wendy did a perfect job with the book. It is a very nice oracle deck, yet it is not fluffy in context and meanings. I like that. Like the Fairy Tale deck, I took the design on the back of the cards and used a similar theme. It is not easy using square stitch. I finished this panel tonight. It came out nicely.

Well... That is it.

Over the rainbow

2010-05-28T18:11:00.000-07:00

Amazingly, I captured a spectacular rainbow that spanned the hills outside the main window. I am hoping the photos show the bands of color online. I believe if one clicks on the photo you can get a larger view.

A few days ago we had a hail storm that lasted a few minutes. The hail was larger than peas! The King of the Hummingbird feeder, sadly, disappeared afterwards. We fear it was killed during the storm.

There is a new King of the Hummingbird feeder, the little guy to the left. I caught a couple of other hummingbirds feeding, pictured to the right.

Tomorrow or sometime this weekend, I will bore you all with photos of the two beaded tarot boxes and the start of a third. How exciting....zzzzzz....

When rodents attack

2010-05-19T10:24:00.001-07:00

Okay, no one has been attacked. It is a title that makes me laugh from TV. Paybacks and all that sort of thing.

Remember me mentioning a rodent was somehow getting into the seed bin? He put a "no see" trap into the bin. He caught the smallest mouse we have ever sort-of seen. You only see the tail, at worst. We also were dealing with a squirrel getting into our Outback and truck. The alarm no longer scares off the squirrel. We moved the feeder so it does not have to cross the open area, maybe keeping the squirrel from getting into the engine departments. So far, the squirrel has not appeared after screaming at us for daring to move HIS feeder.

So where was I...

The truck died after reaching the road when Himself was trying to take the garbage to the recycle/dump center. He had to have it towed back into our driveway. The battery was dead. We were told that the new gas with ethanol tends to "sour" quickly. People have to put an additive into the tanks if the vehicle is not driven much. Lovely, gas is twice the price and crappier in quality. I know, what is new about that? Anyway... He charges the battery and puts the additive into the truck. He then tries to start the truck. It starts for a moment and dies. He gets out The Truck Book, looking to see if the squirrel or rodent may of chewed a line or something. He found what was left of the air filter, shown below.

Yep, the mouse who is now dead made a nest in the air filter. He vacuumed out the muck and he has to get a new air filter. He checked the Outback. All is well- no chewed lines, shredded parts and the like.

We had an outrageous 10 minute storm the other day. The poor bird below was trying to dry out afterwards.

Butthead, as He calls the hummingbird below is still attacking and guarding the feeder. We plan on buying a couple of more and placing them around the property. There is no way he can protect them all at once. We had a black, white and red-throated teeny guy show up yesterday and this "butthead" ran it off. I will go out and stand by the feeder at times so the peridot-green guys can get in there. The aggressive guy will buzz me for daring to interfere. I cover my eyes and hope I do not end up in the hospital with a hummingbird impaled on my forehead. He does have lovely copper-red throat coloring, doesn't he?

Back to beading. I have not taken a photo of the Fairy Tale deck's beaded box yet. I am working on the box for the Shadowscapes deck. I am using three shades each of purple, turquoise and green. So far, I have cut apart three main sides. I think I like the latest and will continue with the rest of the box.

Spring is here... sniffle

2010-05-12T13:23:00.001-07:00

Truly, I love today. The sun is shining brightly. The sky is a deep turquoise blue. Big, puffy clouds are moving lazily in the sky. A gorgeous day all around. The windows are open to let in the fresh air. I am sniffling a little, I can live with it.

For your horror, the mound below is an ant hill. Hopefully they are all dead now. The arrows point to the black and red beasties. They are wood ants. The hill was found at the edge of our property. Ick.... I tried to show a close-up of the monsters.

Now that I am all itchy, below is a photo of our first dandelion. No, we do not pull them up. The bumblebees love them. The spots of yellow over the property, interspersed with the purple pansies is beautiful.

Below are the (fighting) hummingbirds. Sadly, I have not been able to capture the brown one in the sun yet. It is a bright copper with a cheery-red throat. It is stunning. The hummingbirds are playing "King of the Feeder" right now. We need to get another feeder, though we are sure another King will take over, chasing away other hummingbirds. I cannot wait for the babies to appear. They are so tiny.

Finally, Miss Maggie. She is doing very well. Friday is the beauty parlor for the Works. I am sure she will not speak to me for a day. She hates getting her nails dremeled and her hair shaved into a puppy cut, but only for a day. The following day she realizes how comfortable she is and forgives me.

Well, that was boring, wasn't it?

Crazy critters

2010-05-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

What a weird week.

I am outside smoking a ciggie with Him and notice something odd about one squirrel feeder. There was a squirrel in it. I mean inside the feeder. He was screaming. This squirrel knows how to open the top. We know it could not really be stuck, so why was it doing that? We discussed the possibility of long poles to tip up the lid so we do not get attacked. A few musings later, the squirrel pops out and dashes after another squirrel that was way above it in the tree. Maybe it was laying in wait inside the feeder and became impatient? It was screaming at us to quit staring at it so we did not give away it was "hiding" in there? We will never know for sure.

A day or so later, He notices that a squirrel is in the fender-well of the Outback. When He claps his hands at it, it chatters back, shakes it's fist at Him and dashes... into the engine compartment. Oh great. He opens the hood and there is seed all over. It seems a squirrel decided it was a safe dining area. He used the beeper thingie and set off the alarm every so often for a few days, especially when He saw the squirrel making for the vehicle. We have a squirrel-free vehicle. so far.

He also found that something got into the container holding the black oil sunflower seeds. There are no holes. What ever got in had to of lifted the lid and put it back. A clever squirrel? Or a mouse that can somehow squeeze through a minute space with pushing from the lip? How did the lid lock down again?

Earlier last week a fat, tiny sparrow was hopping around on the ground. It hopped away from Maggie and continued pecking. It was so cute. It had a pale bluish-grey belly. I saw it later in the day and it was hopping around under the carport while it rained. It seemed "off", but I wasn't sure why. Sadly, He found it dead the next morn near another feeder. I do not know what was wrong. Nature has her ways, I guess. He also found a dead bird by the large container of bird seed. It was also a sparrow-like bird, but yellow and brown. We are worried about that. there was a lot of birds and we have no poisons around. So why the deaths?

I am two-thirds done with the beading of the cover for the Fairy Tale deck by Lisa Hunt. It is coming out nice. It is paler than the last attempt. I am not much into pastel stuff, but this may be okay.

I received the smaller Halloween Tarot. In a tin! It is not too small and shuffles nicely. And it is in a tin! I have not played with it much. It is in a tin! I like tins. A little. I so wish other decks came in nice tins. The Shadowscapes is on its way. Of course it will need a proper box. I am already planning out the pattern to go on that one. I will take photos as I finish.

In my best Zelda voice- "This house is clean!" Everything is laundered. Why? Who knows. Bored, maybe?

Maggie is doing very well. She is moving around much better-playing, sleeping and eating well. She gained almost a pound and we hope to get another on her. Her muscle-mass looks like it is recovering too. She does not go back for another month, then 6 months for another blood test. She has been okayed for the full beauty salon treatment. Finally. Pee-yew!

Question? Since when has Death become a side-effect?

Stalked by the AARP and other blather

2010-04-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

I am being stalked by the AARP. I turned 50 last October and the...

"You are now officially Old as Dirt! Join now or you will get warts and other nasty ailments!"

...have been coming nonstop. WTF? I look in the mirror (with my glasses on), I see some silver in my hair, no wrinkles, nothing to suggest I am in line for the Death Boat. Okay... my glasses are literally rose-colored, but they do not hide anything but the glare of those nasty fluorescent bulbs, (they also bring on migraines). And darn if they are not more hazardous to throw away than the old bulbs. How is that "green"?

Oops. Went off on an odd rant. Maybe I am getting old.

The most prominent sign of Spring is here, the Great Blooming of the Purple Pansy in the Middle of the Driveway. Beautiful, isn't it? The stick-like things are pine needles. I did not fancy-up the "scene". Sitting on the gravel in my thin thermal "house" pants was about as far as I was willing to go to get a nice close-up.

Maggie, (obviously way past needing a bath), brought herself to look at me for a photo. She spent a few minutes turning away each time when I tried to snap the camera. You may be able to make out the one chicklet tooth left on "our" lower left view of her mouth. She is doing very well. She is still unsteady. We hope her muscle mass comes back soon. She may never have her full energy back. Dang. I did enjoy hearing her bark at the Evil Ducky when she wanted to play. (bite...lick...bite...lick...)

A photo of the beaded cell phone case is below. I tried. Dark red silver-lined beads are the design in a sea of black seed beads. Beads are hard enough to photo without making it worse with my color choices. Still... You may see the skull snowflake design in the middle. A skull is on the little flap. I put Velcro on the flap to keep the phone "restrained". The bag is lined in felt to protect the phone from the beads. It is heavy. I still like it.

Back to the last of the dragon series, Water Dragon. I hope to get decent photos when finished. I still have not decided what to do with the five panels. Maybe something clever will come to me when I finish.

Spring is here!

2010-04-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

The temps suddenly hit 60 degrees! The birds are all out. We have butterflies, squirrels, robins, various tweetie birds, and doves all flitting about happily.

And bugs. And mosquitoes who have not renewed their flight tags. Ah well.

Maggie's latest report is excellent. She has gained a teeny-weeny bit of muscle mass. It will take time. She does not have even half of her old energy. that may never come back, sadly. Her eyes are bright, she smiles a lot, her tail is in the cinnamon-bun position more often than not and she learned more manipulation tricks. I dearly wish I had a camera or video camera recording Himself hand-feeding Maggie last night because she was hungry and wanted "help". laughing....

That is it.

Maggie and blather

2010-04-06T13:25:00.001-07:00

Maggie is doing very well. I am giving her joint/hip support vitamins and minerals along with the L-carnitine for her muscles. She is down to two prednisone pills a day now. The vet is weaning her off very slowly. If they go too fast, her adrenals can shut down. Her blood test last Friday was excellent. The vet said we can wait 2 weeks before the next test, we are staying with weekly to be safe. Maggie has gone through too much to take any chances of relapse or worse. She is one tough old lady.

I changed her food to Merrick's canned. It looks like people food. The ingredients are excellent. I know what they all are, no garbage. We could eat it of starving. "People-grade" really does not mean much if one knows what the Gummit allows into our foods. ewwww! Maggie is trying Taste of the Wild bison and venison today. The ingtedients are also good for this brand. We shall see if this added to the list in the future. Maggie now loves boiled chicken. She would never touch it before. I have not bought her foods with duck or salmon. I want to wait until we are around my daughter's dogs. they will eat anything and I would hate to waste any food if Maggie snubs a 'flavor'.

I took a few photos to bore you all with. I tried to get one of the squirrel snoozing in the feeder. It is hilarious to see. Sadly, 'Death from Above; came as I was focusing the camera. In other words, the squirrel that uses the other feeder came racing down the tree, attacking it's rival and the chase was on. One day I will catch one of them napping in the tray or on top of the feeders.

I have no idea to what kind of birds the two in the middle are. The photo is not very good. I could not get close enough without scaring them off. The woodpeckers prefer my homemade suet blocks. The one in the holder is a commercial block. They must taste like cheap food because they barely feed on them. Bad Debbi! I should of made more. I was too busy taking care of Maggie to deal with it.

I am beading an "Air" dragon pic now. I finished the "Spirit" and "Earth" ones. I am not sure if I like them. I am using what seed beads I have on hand instead of looking for specific beads. The charts are meant for cross-stitching. They can be "chunky" at times unless ones goes down to a smaller canvas so give the finished item a better look.

I took a few photos of our night moons. The one in the new banner came out gorgeous. I have another that is very Halloween and may use it later on. As one can tell, (nooooooo....) I love the moon and the night. So I am weird, or as He says, "Weird-er!"

That is it for now....

Getting better...

2010-03-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Maggie's last blood test came out within normal ranges. Her platelets dropped after the decrease of the prednisone, but they are still are within the normal ranges. The vet says that her bone marrow seems to be doing its job. I found a lot of tiny meals are preferable to fewer larger meals. She is hungry all the time from the med, plus she is under-weight now. Too much food gives her a tummy ache.

Things they do not tell you about giving your dog prednisone-

Their muscles can atrophy. L-carnitine was suggested. I hope it helps Maggie soon. She is weak in the back legs. The muscles seemed to of disappeared overnight. Eek!
They need something to prevent constipation. 1 tsp. per 10 lbs of dog on the food did the trick.
Lots of widdling. She has not made it to the pad or getting outside soon enough twice. I hope this will not be a permanent problem and will call the vet if it continues.
We are using pepcid a/c with her medicine doses. It might prevent stomach ulcers.

Prednisone is downright nasty. It did save her life. They did not test for tick-borne diseases. The vet says there are so many, it is better to treat the possibility with antibiotics right off. Maggie is better. I am taking each day at a time. The health food store suggested MSM for her joints once she is off the prednisoneor on tiny doses.

In other news... Nothing, really. I am trying out an artist's dragon graph using square stitch beading. So far, it is "okay". I finished the pillow cover. I used a bland green cotton fleece. The beginning and ending edges are in seed stitch. I used a basket-weave pattern for the middle. The pillow looks much nicer, not that anyone sees it but me as I pass the couch.

Let us skip March, please

2010-03-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

This month sucks. Yep, that sums it up so far. Can we move to April now?

Thursday, my peke Maggie almost died. She started bleeding out her nose in bright red technicolor. Her platelets were very low. She had "bruising" and spots that appeared, but were not there the night before during her customary tummy rubs. Tests are still being done. It is either an auto-immune disease, (the first test was negative so a re-test was done to be sure), a bite by a tick, or... ??? So far, she is doing well, thankfully. I am not ready to lose her, not that I ever will be ready. She has more integrity, honor and "humanity" than most people do.

Sunday comes with the most fucked-up federal extortion to the states and the Peoples- Daylight "Savings" Time. this was Ben Franklin's worst idea, ever. It has been researched and proven to not do one damned thing to benefit anything they claimed it would. In fact, it makes things worse. Someone must be making big money to keep this stupid thing going! Heart attacks, vehicle accidents with related deaths and other illnesses go up during this time. Ah. the medical, pharmaceutical and politicians make big monies keeping this going. I get it now.

"St." Paddy's Day. "Ding dong, the bastard is gone!" That covers it. Though, I normally make corned beef and cabbage. Good food is good food. This year is will be onion soup with roasted garlic bread. A meal to keep people away for days. That will work out just fine, thank you.

I did finish making a lovely beadwork cover for our cell phone so it does not get messed up if dumped in my purse. It is lined in felt. I used a snowflake design in a dark, silver-lined red with a black background. Did I mention that if you look closely the center design is actually a skull? laughing.... I used square stitch. It is very strong and should hold up well. No photos. I highly doubt I can get a good one with the colors. I may try...

May the rest of the month go much more successfully is my wish. It is now 12:30 am, REAL time. Time to try to sleep a bit....

Beautiful Moon

2010-02-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

See the moon in the header? It was barely peeping when I grabbed my coat and camera. It rose in that brief moment over the horizon. Gorgeous, is it not?

I tried to take new photos of the grey sweater. They are not much better. Sorry. The color grey is a booger to capture in the winter. The sweater is washed and blocked, drying in the spare room.

I am now working on a hat. That is it for now. yawn....

Done!Done!Done!

2010-02-26T00:14:00.001-08:00

What the hell am I so happy about? I finished the Celsian sweater today. The photos suck. It is very hard to take photos of a light grey sweater on a medium-grey carpet. No, I do not have any cloths to lay it on that I can find around the house. Maybe when the sun comes out I will try again. Maybe.

I still need to wash and block the sweater. The pattern changes sizes every 4". I wanted to be able to pull the sweater closed with overlap, so went for the "large" size. The sweater is warm, soft and fits perfectly. I did add almost 3" to the sleeve-lengths. I do not like too-short sleeves. The sweater is NOT slimming. Oh yes, I look pudgy, matronly. My Great Tracks of Land have to be accommodated.

Next, maybe a goofy hat to wear with it. I will not use a pattern I thought I was going to use, a fitted cap with brim. It is too fitted. I would be all fuzzy uppers with a pinhead. I have never been a fashion maven, but I do have some sort of standards... I am still looking for them. Maybe a beret-like hat with a brim? I have tons of patterns on the shelf.

The yarn would pill, but I am going to still make Claudia of Countrywool's "Percentage Pointless Gloves".
http://countrywool.tripod.com/kits_patterns/mitten.htm
I love this pattern. I call them "Bully Gloves". I can still do stuff, but the fingers and hands are warm. I do make the fingers a little longer than most people. I go just over the last joint, in-between that and my fingernails. I used them at the storage facility I managed for years and they fit the bill perfectly. My last pair was knitted in titty-pink handspun. My daughter took them for work. Funny, but this pair has never been permanently borrowed from her desk.

In other news, He got us each a HP Mini 311. Mine is mine and His is his. I love this tiny netbook. Typing is a challenge at times. I keep hitting a key, sending the cursor to another part of what I am typing. Sentences are getting jumbled. I try to proof-read a bit before posting. "Try" is the operative word.

I need grammar check. I already give Word fits when I have the program check the grammar. the program has no sense of humor what-so-ever.

Done!

2010-02-09T00:14:00.001-08:00

The following is not fiber-porn by a long shot. It is snaps of the blue fox blend of fiber I have been spinning. As one can guess, I am done. there is a smidgen left, enough for one more skein. I put it back on the shelf for now.

Above, are the 11 skeins. All together there is 3033 yards. I think there is enough for a sweater. Maybe. I had not spun in so long, I kind-of went crazy, spinning day and night. I really enjoyed it. The snap next to the skeins are of the skeins (obviously) after being wound off with a ball winder.

The snap above, which was very hard to get because of the shade of gray, is of the pattern stitch for the sweater I started after swatching first with the recommended #7s. I ended up going up one needle size to #8s to get gauge with the pattern stitch used. The pattern is free from Berrocco's Knitbits site, The Celsian. I am not using two different colors striping through, just the one yarn. It will look different without the color changes. The construction is different from any other item I have knitted. This sweater will be a challenge. I hope to have it finished in time to at least wear it once before it gets hot.

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/celsian/celsian.html

http://www.yarn.com/webs-free-berroco-patterns/webs-knitting-patterns-berroco-celsian-free/

I had a good 3" done when I realized that the cast-on with #9s, (one size bigger,) was not enough. After switching to #8s after casting on, it did not have enough stretch and the bottom curved in a little. ugh. I grabbed another ball and cast-on with #10s. Much better. I used the Norwegian cast-on, a twisted one that has a nice, stretchy edge. One can Google links with videos and snaps for that method.

I had to go up to the 44" (large) to cover the Great Tracks of Land with ease. I am not using a stick to close it. I highly doubt I will add anything. I rarely zip or button sweaters.

Back to knitting....

Spinning Soup

2010-01-13T19:55:00.000-08:00

One cannot spin soup of course. I made some today and... I was being silly. pffttthhh!

I have been spinning the last few days. It is the wool-blend I mentioned in an earlier post of 60% English lambswool blended with 40% Canadian blue fox (combings). I tried to spin it "fatter" to no avail.

Yesterday I became so relaxed, I ended up curling up on the couch and nodding off for an hour. Oof. I do not normally nap.

The photos above are of my Alden Amos Canadian Production Wheel. I put on the plying head to ply the first two filled bobbins of singles. I am lazy with a vain hope of spinning fatter, so I left the plying head on. Of course, being from the Murphy family, my spinning is still thin. I may ply a third ply or resign myself to making a sweater on small needles. It would be ready for next... winter? Looking at the thin singles on those big ol' bobbins, I figure each time I ply them together may take a day or two. Ah well. the yarn is very soft and feels nice to the touch.

I made soup today. I found a recipe for Potato Leek Soup from Ireland. I dropped an ingredient and did not put in the leek leaves. I bet that was a misprint. The idea of trying to ingest those leaves is not pleasing. He suggested an odorous basket woven from them. No thanks. You just go ahead and I will watch. He put them in the trash.

For the soup I peeled about 5 pounds of potatoes, then chopped them into bite-sized pieces. I covered the potatoes in water and simmered until they were soft. While they were cooking, He fried up 5 or 6 strips of bacon. I took 3 large leeks, cut off the root part and the area where the light green part is going into the dark green leaves. I sliced the leeks in half length-wise, washing them well. I chopped them fine and sauteed them in about 3 Tbl. of Butter.

When the potatoes were done, I drained them completely. I put one-third of the potatoes back into the pot and mashed them, then added the remaining potatoes. I dumped the sauteed leeks on the potatoes. I then poured one (32 oz) carton of chicken broth over it all. I salted and peppered almost to taste. He does not like pepper the way I do. I then crumbled the bacon over it, stirred and brought it to a simmer. It simmered for 20 minutes, the mashed 'tators thickening the soup and allowing the flavors to blend. I left out the milk or cream for this first try.

It was delicious, coupled with buttered cheese rolls. One can add onions, chives, a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle a little cheddar over the bowl, and/or about 2 cups of milk or cream to the soup. We wanted it plain. We never had leeks before and wanted the full-flavor. They are now on our shopping list. They like a mild scallion, burps are not included. I made enough for tomorrow. This is a keeper for us. Maybe we will sprinkle a little cheddar and chives over our bowls tomorrow. Or maybe not.

Finished!

2010-01-09T21:01:00.001-08:00

I finally finished my grandson's scarf. Woof! It is double-knit. The winters in the Sierras are not as cold as mine, so I used acky-lack. It is still warm enough for him. He is 7 and is always moving. The pics below are not the best. what can I say... I took them on the kitchen counter tonight.

While I was down in Pioneer CA, my Mom came up and met us down in Jackson for a very brief visit. I sure miss her. She took the photo below of my grandson and I. Can someone tell me what the hell that is under my chin!? Time to count the carbs.

It is snow-linting outside right now. Imagine a heavy mist that is frozen. In the light coming from above the garage door, it looks like zillions of teeny-tiny crystals or diamonds coming down. It is beautiful.

Tomorrow, I get my Alden Amos Canadian production wheel out and get some spinning done. I have not spun for way too long! I will probably finally spin up the blue fox and wool blend I bought eons ago. I found a few sweater patterns that will work with my handspun. I want to add a blue fox collar my great-auntie gave me after she passed on. It will be detachable so the sweater can be cleaned, or if it is too warm out for a fur collar.

Happy 2010 c.e.!

2010-01-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

I hope the next year is better for everyone! (woof...)

Guess what we woke up to this morn? (Like that is a surprise up here.) It was early, the photos show the bluish-cast the light gives that time of morning. The first photo is looking off my porch towards the highway (east). The second is to the side of the property with the two squirrel/bird feeders. I need to make more peanut-butter suet blocks. The last photo is looking towards the end of the driveway.

I wanted Malt-O-Meal muffins. Those who sneer at this, I give a noisy, wet raspberry in return. I love this things. I forgot to buy eggs. Oops. I added a Tbl. of vinegar and 1/2 tsp. of baking soda to try to get a little rising action going. They came up fluffier than biscuits, at least. A bit crumbly. All in all, still tasty and they took care of the flavor-craving I was having.

Below is two quick snaps of the supposed-to-be double-knit scarf for my grandson. Putting them on dpns made it quicker, scarves being boring as hell to knit. The pattern pulled in the material. When I moaned over that, my grandson said not to pull it apart, he still liked it as it is. He is 7 years old and loves handmade things, even if they are wonky. What a sweetie. I am not a color-pattern knitter. That is obvious. I found I can read while using dpns, it is faster than two circulars and I do not have to think at all, usually not a problem anyway.

The inserted skull and crossbones pattern is one meant for a pair of socks. You can find the sock pattern and graph at:
http://www.helloyarn.com/freepatterns.htm

You have to scroll down a bit for them. I used the "We Call Them Pirates" hat graph for my grandson's double-knit cap. I used a skull pattern for his flaps hat. Noooo... I forgot to bring the camera, so no photos.

For more skull patterns, try the Goth knitting site:
http://www.squidoo.com/gothknit#module1683682

There is a Warner Bros. Loony Tunes/Merry Melodies thing going on all day on the idiot eye. Ah... knitting, listening to great old 'toons and reading a book during the commercials and sipping on a tall coffee. Life does not get any better than that, does it?

Maggie does not care about anything right now, pushing me into the corner of the couch a bit at a time. Can someone explain the physics of a 10-lb. Pekingese's ability to grow longer and a good ton heavier when napping? One moment I am comfortably seated, knitting, beading, or reading, the next I am shoved tightly against the armrest in the corner. How does she do that?

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

2009-12-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

A long, boring, blathery bit is below about our December down in the flatlands. You are warned. Really, it is very boring.

We saved up, found us a nice used Outback and headed down to see the kids for the holidays. We needed a more comfortable vehicle and one that handled the ice and snows during the winters. I think we made a good choice. An Arctic breeze settled in the day we left. Temps ranged from 4 degrees here in Idaho to 9 or 11 degrees in Washington and Oregon. Oof! The car is very comfortable. It made the trip very pleasant. The heated seats are a plus when one does not want to heat the car too much and get sleepy. It is also great when your rear end is tired of sitting down for so long. A stretch every hour is not enough when one is driving 1123 miles!

I am guessing that the speed limits posted in Oregon are a suggestion? We stayed in the right lane going the posted speed limits. We were passed like we were going backwards; had people come up on our back-end and tail-gate, flipping us off as they passed by; one person tried to run us into a lane closure blockage! (Oregon is always under construction.) If Nevada had rest stops, we would go that way instead. Oregon is prettier, but the citizens driving on Hwy 84 and I-5 are nasty. We laughed when we came up to stops off the road just behind those who flew by. Rushing does not get one to their destination any earlier, does it? (shaking head) We did not let the bad attitudes get to us.

We got the car over-warm inside at one point and took an hour nap. Surprisingly, the car stayed toasty, though it was 11 degrees or so outside. Wonderful! We were woke up when a couple kept walking their dogs in front of the car, waking Maggie. She did her job, warning us peoples and such were close to the car. One cannot get upset at that.

We were exhausted by time we hit Springfield OR and pulled into the Motel 6 there. They may "...have the light on", but they did not have on the heat! It was 9 degrees outside! Oh, a hint- do not put the key card in a pocket with a cell phone. It erases it. We were trying to get into the room and the key-card did not work. As He went back to see what was wrong, we watched someone back a large pick-em-up into a space, missed by a lot, going right over the top of a little sedan. Oops. The clerk refused to tell the man whose car he hit, and later, the owner of the car who was hit saw what had happened and the clerk refused to tell him who damaged his car though the person claimed responsibility! We entered the room and turned on the heat when we found out it was almost as cold inside as outside. If it was not so late and we were not so tired, we would of demanded a refund and found somewhere else to stay. A shower was out of the question. Brrrr! As it was, we covered up in the bed fully clothed and got a few hours sleep. It was finally tepid in the room by time we woke up. Maggie was curled tight against me under the covers while I slept. She is such a trooper. Never again for Motel 6.

We headed out before first light towards Kalifornia. They had a nice series of rain storms and heavy snows in the mountains before we came down. They need a lot more. Lake Shasta is terribly low. The smog from the cities has finally invaded even the Shasta mountain area. The rains and snows did not cleanse the air at all. The air was brown in the horizon and hazy around the trees. We both popped Zyrtec-like antihistamines when we saw the air so we could breathe during our visit. I am glad we do not have to take those daily up here.

We first stopped at Meek's in Jackson to hug our daughter at her work. I broke into tears, of course. I missed her and was glad we could come see them all this year. The snows were deep in Pioneer. We had not seen snows that deep and early in years!

We took the kids food shopping the next day. They are barely surviving as it was and we were not about to expect them to feed us. Woof! The cost of goods down there is staggering! Add the outrageous taxes, and one can see why the state is still crashing and failing. What we had figured in money-wise for the time spent there was not even close to covering what it actually cost us by four-fold.

We picked up our grandson from school after seeing our daughter. He was surprised. Our daughter did not tell him when we would arrive. I swear he grew up at least another foot. He is excelling in school. He got my reader genes. Yea! He loves reading books, balanced by his male-need for sports. Cool, huh?

Chubbs the marmalade cat decided that Maggie was evil and laid in wait each time I brought her inside. A few times whapping him on the head, and that stopped for the first 10 days. Yogi the pug is a charmer. I would of loved bringing him home. He and Oppa the chihuahua both matured enough to keep from following Maggie around with their noses in her rear. Lily the peke, Maggie's retarded half-sister, is the same. They greeted each other with sniffs and walking away. Things never change.

Our grandson asked me a hat with flaps. Our daughter needs to be able to throw it into the washer and dryer. Kalifornia is not a cold place and the humidity in the mountains is non-existent, so I searched out some acky-lack yarns and circular needles. Joy's Yarns in Pine Grove and the bead shop, the Hole Affair, in Jackson are the only two places to find real needles and yarns in Amador county, for those who want to know. The store in Jackson even has some lovely yarns. I should of bought their washable wool instead. I did not know she was carrying the better stuff before buying the plastic stuff. Ah well. Our grandson wanted skulls and skulls and crossbones as a design element on his hats. (laughing...) The first flap hat ended up too short, more of a weird beanie with flaps. The boy has a large round head, 22" around. I redid the hat larger and longer. I also made him a double-knit hat. The colors he picked were red and black for his hats. I had yarn leftover, and now making him a double-knit scarf, which he shyly asked for. I will mail that to him later next week.

I went down to Sutter Creek to see Robin of On Purpose. She has the best crystals, handmade candles, oils and more. I ended up with some candles and a few items. I went back later in the week for a massage, the first in my life. Oh my... It was lovely. I brought my daughter back on Christmas Eve and had her pick out a few early birthday prezzies and found myself a lovely crystal quartz and a aquamarine for necklaces. (I put those together when we got home.)

We had a lovely time, each visiting with a dearly missed best friend, enjoying the evenings with our family. My visit with Steph was majorly too short. She had a lot of commitments. I will see her more next summer, somehow. My son-in-law has become an adept cook. Unless he has a job that day, he has dinner going and the house cleaned up before my daughter gets home from work. My daughter has also learned to make a dollar stretch forever so they can eat good on "nothing". I am proud of how they have managed to survive where they live. Talk abut impossible! My Mom came down for an hour. I did not realize how much I missed her. I wish she brought her dogs and stayed a few days instead of having to go back.

Yule was nice. My daughter has our grandson write a thank you note and placed with the cookies left out for Santa. How cool is that?

Maggie was being stalked by Chubbs again by the 25th. For the first time in her life, she stood up for herself and barked sharply, letting him know to piss off and she was not going to stand for his behavior. Same went for the boys who tried to check out her Santa gifts. Good girl!

Sadly, we left on the 26th. I cried for a bit. I say we need beaming technology. The trip home was uneventful, except the Kalifornia rest stops were not heated, nor was the water or blowers. Stopping was a wake-up in more ways than moving around to get the blood flowing again. We stopped this time in Albany OR. The Comfort Inn was nicely warm, clean, took small dogs and had smoking rooms. The clerk was a personable young woman. We warmed the car and went across for a quick, small dinner. Reasonably, you cannot leave a dog in a room. Maggie stayed toasty while we ate. A good hot shower and we were out for the evening. zzzzzzzzzz...

The last leg of the trip is always the longest, I swear. We had not been home for so long. Before we moved to Idaho, we always had friends and family check the house daily to be sure it was not broke into and robbed or damaged. We did not ask a friend up here to check the house. It was the holidays and we did not want to impose. We were so glad to see our little house! Someone had used the end of our driveway for a turn-around, making a nasty ice mess, but that was it. We moved to a civilized society here. Everyone is legally armed. A criminal knows it is stupid to pull a gun because the citizens will pull theirs out and stop him, and they will not stand around while a crime is being committed, instead stepping in. Oh yes, we have crimes, but they are rarely violent or entail the use of a gun. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Spokane WA. 2 more police officers were shot, one passed yesterday. Their robbery rate during this Depression has been through the roof. It really sucks. I like WA. The people are nice and the state is beautiful, even in their desert areas.

We had been gone so long I forgot what the house looked like inside. It is wonderful, I must say. We emptied the car, then took showers with real water-pressure. Nice... We had no "real" food, so we ate some noodles I cooked up and crashed in bed early. Our bed. Yea! We bought a double-height air mattress after our first night on the single at the kid's place. We could not get off the short one easily. It sucks to get old. Our next day was food shopping day. I bought some nice veggies and meats. We both gained weight during our trip out. It must of been those cookies, right? We had a lovely mix of beef, cabbage, carrots and onions the last two nights. A thick stew is cooking in the crock pot right now. I still need to get the breadmaker going and put away the luggage. The latter is making Maggie nervous. She is very glad to have her house, spot on the couch, toys, and potty area back again.

The snows that came after we left were rained on, making a thick, white ice. It is snowing now and softening up the ice. It is still too hard to use the snow blower on and not deep enough to do any good. We need chains for the blower with the ice. Next week...

Asleep yet? We had a lovely holiday. We were surrounded by laughter, love and smiles. Things are horrid financially and emotionally in the world, we all did not let the aura of it get to us, instead enjoying our extended time together. That is all that is important in the long-run, no?

Oh yeah, no photos. I forgot the camera. My Mom took some. I may share. Maybe. (grins)

burp...

2009-11-27T22:52:00.000-08:00

I do not think I will be hungry for a month. No matter how small the dabs of the various flavors of Thanksgiving, it is still too much.

Thanks? Of course, I have many things to be thankful for- my home, enough food, heat when it is cold, my family and friends and many more things. No matter how awful something seems to be at the time, I try to picture what I do have, know that I have plenty and let the uglier stuff float on by.

We ended up buying the car from the local dealership up in Bonners. The car is green. It has more miles on it than we would prefer, but the price was right. We are still waiting for them to call about the missing cargo cover. I want that installed before we travel. We will be taking it in for servicing to a mechanic up the highway. I will not go on a long trip until that is done. Call me paranoid. It has a lot of bells and whistles we are not used to having, much to my mom's amusement. Weirdly, the only key-lock is on the driver's side. There is not a key-lock even on the back. It also does not have door lock knobs or whatever they are called. Weirder and weirder. It is comfortable for us and that is what is important. The seats lay completely back. No more curling up in the corner of the Ranger. With Maggie on my lap, yet.

I am usually done with any holiday shopping by now. This year is different. I barely have anything done. I did manage to get some beading done. Above is a beaded box done in beadpoint on Aida cloth. I did not measure before cutting and putting together the pieces for the box. Oh yes, it is too small for the deck I was making it for. I put "Síscéal" on the side, Irish Gaelic for "Fairy Tale". I made the design to go with the backs of the cards. I have no clue as how I want to secure the closure of the box. Since it does not fit any tarot deck I have, it will have to become something else.

Maggie had her dental surgery. Bloody hell! it was expensive. Two teeth fell out while cleaning and two teeth were removed. Poor old girl. She is getting over the whole thing quite well. Her new vet is very good. They did charge for "thermal support", aka a blanket. (sigh)

Speaking of teeth, my grandson finally lost his two front teeth. He was confused at the idea of sucking noodles through the space. It looks like we will have to show him the proper way to enjoy the loss until his permenent teeth come in. Nothing rude, at least from my side. (grin)

yawn....

Where did October go?

2009-11-16T22:00:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it is already November and we are halfway through it to boot!

We finally got ourselves a new-to-us car. I detest shopping for one, but it is a necessary evil. We still need to take it in for a go-over before traveling.

Next Wednesday, (the day before Thanksgiving), I take Maggie in for her teeth. I am nervous. Maggie being a Pekingese and elderly makes the whole procedure surgical in nature. I still cannot get over how expensive it is. Woof! Taking her the day before a holiday would be a problem if this vet did not have 24-hour on-call vets. It is the earliest I can get her vet. She is really good with Maggie's breed. I want Maggie healthy before we travel.

I am still working on my beadpoint "box". It is coming out nicely for a first attempt. I will take photos when I am done. My first attempts at a craft lay the groundwork for improvements for the next time. I realized making the box in the manner I used this time around is slower and wasteful of the canvas.

I frogged the cotton sock. Bleh. I just could not get the cotton to behave. I tried turning the heel many times before I finally tossed the whole thing into a yarn drawer. I have some lovely wool sock yarns in my stash and now working on a short wool sock. the colors are primary stripes. They are rather bright, yet not too nauseating. The yarn is Regia. The color is... a code number. I am using two short circulars. I much prefer that to dpns. I found it faster and the likelihood of getting loose strips like those that can happen with dpns is unlikely.

No photos this time around. Sleepy yet?

Fall, used-car buying, beadpoint

2009-10-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

Beauty first. I posted various photos taken from my yard last week. Fall is here! There is also a photo of rose hips and a tweety-bird in a feeder.

Views from the porch.

The trees above turn the brightest lime green before yellow. The needles drop and it is bare for the winter. I never knew pines did the "fall thing."

The rose hips are beautiful. It is too bad I did not get off my butt and pick some! I managed to snap a bird before it twitted off.

This bush is in front of the house. The colors were gorgeous. That bush and another unseen lost their leaves one day, like an old Monty Python skit. The two spiders above are very tiny though they do not appear in the photo. They were on either side of our front door. Little guardians?

Buying a car is a nightmare, used is worse. It used to be easy to buy a used car. You test-drove the car, kicked the tires, haggled the price and then drove off, you and the buyer each thinking they got the better of the deal. Now it takes major research. There is so much garbage on a car, you have to be careful. Good gas mileage or safety and reliability? You cannot have the first with the last two. Prices are outrageous, insane. I think those who price the cars are smoking something rancid. You take it for a drive and like the car. The vehicle record check comes next. The perfect car suddenly becomes cac because it had too many owners, was in an accident, never maintained. Then the haggling. If it passes those tests, the mechanic check-up. By now, you are out a good $150. After finally finding something that one can afford, then you have to add a warranty on top of the insurance to protect yourself from huge repairs bills to fix the sensors, computer and other "powered" crap that seems to die quickly and expensively. Too bad a horse and buggy is not viable.

ARGH!
Gripe over.

I found a site online that mentioned beadpoint. I printed out the instructions and went for it. It is slow as snail-snot. The piece is pulling up and to the left. Nothing in the instructions mentioned biasing being a problem. That means wetting and blocking before putting the pieces together. It is still rather neat. You can use any cross-stitch chart or graphs for the patterns.

I gave up on the cotton yarn socks. I am grabbing some wool and make more winter socks.

Lazy, car research and tarot

2009-10-19T00:35:00.000-07:00

No photos this time because I am lazy. Period. The air is crisp. The sky goes from deep turquoise to pale gray and it brings me to the full lazies. I need to get walking... sips on coffee. I need to get back into yoga... sips coffee. Coffee : 100; Getting off my backside : 0. I have been so used to getting up and working, either inside the house, a job and the like. The Man says we are "retired". I am not used to "retired". Maybe a stun-gun to the rear?

I had researched a new vehicle for months. I thought we decided, until The Man says maybe there is something comparable. (groan) I go over the figures in the Consumer Reports book. The Man wants all-wheel-drive. It is a necessity during the winters here. We get ice. The highways are well-maintained, but the AWD will give an edge. It does lower the gas mileage, a small price to pay. No matter where one goes, it is highway driving. Our towns are nicely small. We need something to drive to see the kids and, hopefully, a trunk instead of a hatchback. I do not like those anyway. So I sent price requests from the manufacturer for best deals. Still, I have the figures for what the price should be. I wonder if they deliver, too? That would be nice, wouldn't it? Caravaning from Post Falls or Spokane would suck.

I have been playing with the Fairy Tale Tarot. Having fully illustrated court cards, since the scenes are from a fairy tale, is wonderful. Other decks have a person staring out with a few accessories. You have to remember all the little bits that go with the ranking and suit. Having a detailed scene is so much better.

It seems to read as well as my other favorites: Halloween, DruidCraft, Faerie, and Housewives. Sometimes I will layout all of the decks with the same thoughts and compare each one. Why? To see how well one speaks over the other. They are all in a dead-heat. I can see my Mom shaking her head and rolling her eyes right now. She still loves me, though I am "weird". (grin)

Maybe I will take a photo or two tomorrow. Everything died off after the freeze. It is funny how one day it is vivid greens, the next, greens, golds, reds, oranges and browns. Some of the foliage that froze went a purple-charcoal color.

Bead bag and blathering

2009-10-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

Mary received her bead bag for her iPod, so it is "safe" to post the photos now. I still have problems photographing finished items of this nature. Intent means something, right? It is heavy, probably heavier than the iPod itself. I did not have one to use for fittings, but I did have the measurements of the device itself. Mary says it fits perfectly.

The photo to the left is the bag when it was removed from the bead loom. The photo to the right is the finished bag. I used a cross-stitch graph of Kokopelli, Mary's favorite. I beaded "loops" the same width as the sides and folded them over after adding a silver finding for attaching the chain. It hangs around Mary's neck easily and the chain will hold up nicely to wear.

It is hard to see the design on the photo to the left, a lizard. The photo on the right shows the bottom of her bag. One side and front uses matte AB green beads and the other side and front I used the shiny version for the patterns. I prefer Czech seed beads. Their shape is more pleasing to me and I like how they work for me.

I really need to figure out a better method to photograph these sort of things. Shiny things are hard enough. finding the right lighting is always a problem. My light box is in the shed... somewhere. When I photograph socks, I have them on and hold out my feet and snap the photo. (laughing) That should tell you how off-the-cuff I can be at times.

I had 3 ancient fillings replaced this week. For the first time in my life, I have a great dentist, not a sadist like the one in the "Little Shop of Horrors". The whole office liked my dental-grade vampire fangs and the dentist wants to make them for all of his staff. I wore them in, and gave the dentist a good laugh when I opened my mouth for the work to start. I was so relaxed through the whole thing, they had to put a blanket over me to keep me from getting chilled.

The rains finally started. We seem to be ready for winter, not that I should ever assume. We have not looked for an electrician to hook up our generator for emergencies. It is expensive and my dog still needs her dental work done. One thing at a time, as they say.

For now, I am slowly flickering some sort of wool for carding. That is right, I have no clue as to what kind of wool it is, just that I like the feel of it. That is terrible, I guess. It is a tan color on the red side. I do not know what color I want to dye it, if at all.

The cotton sock is tucked away. I think I will find some wool instead. The cotton is giving me fits when it comes time to finish the heel. I am sure it is me, not the yarn. I found a great pattern at:

http://www.helloyarn.com/freepatterns.htm

Scroll down to the bottom for the Skull Socks of Fury. She has a nice skull pattern cap too. I know, I am too old for this sort of thing, yet here I am still doing silly things. She also has a few other nice patterns. I may make the tops longer and reverse the pattern. I prefer to fold over my sock cuffs like a little kid.

Costumes, Soup, and Fall

2009-10-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

Shopping on the first of the month sucks. We needed food items, something we cannot seem to go without. Worse, we were almost out of coffee. After grabbing some ink at one store and ciggies at another, we went into Wally World. My grandson needs his Samhain/Halloween costume. We called our daughter while standing in the the costume aisle to see what the little booger wants this year.

The grandson had said he wanted to be a monster this year. (laughing...) Whoo hoo! No TV super-heroes and the like! So we picked out the Werewolf costume and brought it home. We had picked up some other things to send to the kids and piled them in a box. I called our daughter in the evening, and damn if he said he prefers to be "Mario" from the old video game! Argh!

We took the costume back this morning to exchange it. Guess what? They are out of his size because he has once again wanted to be what all other little boys wanted to be this year. (sigh) I always did something different and made my costumes. I would love to make them for my grandson, but the things he wants to be are out of my ability range. He may have to settle for a sheet with holes at this point.

Last night I was up half the night making meatballs and chopping veggies, putting together my "Italian-ish Meatball Soup" and cramming it into my giant crockpot. I woke up to the smells of the soup. What a maddening scent! I had picked up roasted garlic bread from the grocery's bakery yesterday. Killer bread, especially slathered with butter.

When we got back from the costume-return jaunt, I made a cup of coffee and made a boxed cake, substituting milk for the water and melted butter for the oil. So I cheated somewhat on the cake. pfffttthhhh! I made my killer frosting. He was asleep on the couch, so He missed the licking of the spoon. I would of stuck my face into the pot and licked that but it was still early in the day and I was still not thinking clearly. I must have three cups of coffee in me before a brain cell wakes up.

This is a snapshot of one of many wild rose bushes that pop up in the spring here. It is covered in rose hips. I never got to harvesting any of them.

I have no idea as to what the plant above is. The "flowers" are the prettiest color, though.

The old stump has a couple of mushrooms coming up that make the stump look as if it has googlie eyes.

Why doesn't the various programs one uses to post have "grammer check" to compliment the "spell check"? I bet I would give the program a run for its money.

Big Ol' Spider, Pansy and Socks

2009-09-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know what this spider is? He came from outside, telling me I have to see 'this', and pulling me back out while grabbing a flyswatter. (snicker) The flyswatter would of not been big enough or hard enough if he had dispatched this one. The spider was hanging off the carport. We watched this big-butted spider slowly work her way down to the gravel. The photos are below. It was hard to get clear photos. I was not willing to get too close and she was swinging and twirling her way down. Spiders outside, they live (if not poisonous); Spider inside, spider atoms.

It was not poisonous (I think).

Below is a new pretty pansy to work the creepies off.

I frogged the old sock and cast on using the Twisted German Cast-On. I only had time to do two rows of ribbing before He emerged from the dentist chair. I will get to the sock later tonight and again tomorrow when He goes back for round 2 at the dentist's. He likes this new guy. That is surprising.

A loaf of bread is baking. We had Irish oatmeal with apples and cinnamon. We will be eating 'soft' for a while.

Beans and new decks

2009-09-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

Before bedtime, I put on a pot of "butter" beans with chunks of ham and onions. "Butter" beans are large, white lima beans. He detests limas, but loves this version. I laugh at him, telling him they taste the same, it is just how they are cooked. (grin) I awoke to the smell of the beans simmering in the crockpot. It is maddening when I do this sort of thing, but it is worth the effort.

The teeny ham He bought for the beans is too big. I do not eat ham, but I do enjoy the flavor it gives to beans. The ham hocks up here do not come precooked. I was so grossed out when I tried to cook one, I switched to precooked ham, or cooked up a bit of pork. Sometimes, I use bacon. It depends on what I am making. Where is this leading? I washed some pintos and they are soaking now. I will cook those up tonight and freeze them for meals. I should make some chili while I am at it, but I prefer that meal fresh.

I received my Amazon order yesterday. One would think that as much as I spend at Amazon, they would give coupons or stock-options. Yes, I have spent that much at Amazon. I am a reader, a dirty word these days, it seems. I bought two new tarot decks- "Legacy of the Divine" by Ciro Marchetti and "The Fairytale Tarot" by Lisa Hunt. Two distinct styles in art and approach. Both are stunning.

The woman featured on the front of the "Legacy" tarot deck is half Irish and half Colombian. (laughing) I would not want to be the one to piss her off. She is dressed in a folkloric/tribal garb I have seen worn at Ren Faires. I had only seen the henna-like mask once on a dancer. The whole deck has the flavor of this time period, yet the machine stuff is thrown in. The span in periods is beyond Steampunk. The deck feels nice and looks to be very readable. I like it better than the first deck of the series, "The Gilded Tarot."

The Fairytale deck is awesome. Lisa Hunt used the suit's symbols on the cards, though a few are like a puzzle you may of done as a child, finding the hidden item. (grin) I do not remember the other fairytale decks incorporating the suit's symbols like this. The book gives the tale's name, the culture it came from, keywords, the tale itself and finishes with a short paragraph applying the tale's message to the card. The images cover the feel of the card quite well. Yep, I love the deck. The Fool is Little Red Riding Hood with the wolf behind her. How appropriate!

Bored yet? (laughing) I am going to curl up with my various new books, sip coffee, and occasionally look out at the rain for the day. I am still resting from my 4 months of labors. I think I earned a little rest.

WHITE!!! Porch, a few photos

2009-09-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

Warning! The white porch and steps below can be blinding to some.

It wasn't as bad as you thought, was it? We have no idea where to stash the cinder blocks left around the property as of yet. You can make out my large cauldron next to the steps, plus a couple of the smaller ones. I have my skull-lights up for the New Year Eve celebration, Halloween or Samhain to others. One can sort-of see how massive and well-build our carport is. This door leads into the kitchen/dining/living room area.

The photo is of the front of our house. That porch was never painted, so it is "natural," only needing a fresh coat of sealer. The railing was already white but needed a fresh coat of paint. The steps were never painted or sealed, I painted those to protect them. (They were beyond sealer at this point.) The ugly blue chairs on the porch are there because I scrubbed and cleaned the nice iron ones and brought them inside. We only had seating for two people. Until we get some "real" chairs, the iron ones will have to do. They have nice, thick cushions on them. We hope to get a porch swing later on for this porch. The blue chairs fold up nicely and have "roofs." We bought them to watch our grandson play various sports when we still lived near him and our daughter.

I finally got a clear picture of the small yellow and white ~~violet~~ pansy. I also managed to get a pic of the pale purple ones before He weed-whacked them into The Other Place.

Can you tell how "abused" this poor dog is? (laughing) I wish I could sleep like that! This is my Pekingese, Maggie.

As you can see from the second photo, she did not appreciate me waking her up to take her photo. She has spittle on her chin. I did not tell her. She was not in the mood at the time. She is smiling at least. You can tell from the graying, she is getting on in years.

Violets, Beadwork and Socks

2009-09-12T21:11:00.001-07:00

Below is one of the ~~violets~~ pansies that run wild on our driveway. I tried to get a teeny yellow and white one, but it came out blurry, for some reason. I am not a photographer, that is for sure.

I am planning out my next beadwork project, a prezzie for a friend. It will be a bag/case she can wear around her neck to hold her iPod while she works around the house and such. I could make it on the beadloom or use square stitch. I have not decided yet on which method I want to use. The lining will be felt or muslin to protect the iPod from the beads. I cannot say what the graph-pattern will be until I am done, the design being a surprise. I can say I bought seed beads in a cool cobalt blue that will be the background. For the flap to hold the iPod in the bag, a beaded cab would be nice. I bought "Beading with Cabochons" by Jamie Cloud Eakin a while back. I have been itching to try some of her designs. They are gorgeous. The strap could be beaded or a nice necklace using various gemstone beads or... Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I read a post yesterday describing a stretchy cast-on perfect for socks, the "Twisted German Cast-On." You can Google that and come up with videos and pictures of how to do this. I may rip back the abused sock I started and see if I like it. I do not usually have a problem with tight cast-ons, I found that my cast-off to be too tight for garments, like the end of a sleeve. I have to remember to use a bigger needle for those. I try to work sleeves from the cuff upwards because of this.

I am going through various cardigan patterns, deciding on which I like best. It would help if I spun the yarn first, wouldn't it?

I will not horrify you with how I got the old, abused white linoleum floor clean. I would have to use bad words, like: bucket, hands and knees, scrub brush, hot water, ammonia, and gagging. Or the second wash using that same darn bucket, a cloth, water and vinegar. No, I will not inflict that on you. Oops, already did. The floor looks clean now.

Slán go dtí an chéad bhlag eile (goodbye until the next blog)

Almost done.

2009-09-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

We got the shelves up in the craft room. I played Tetris-Hell with a sewing machine and sewing bench, small floor loom and bench, 5 shelving units, a drum carder, bags and bags of wool and all my various craft supplies. I won, though the bags of wool are piled on the sewing machine, loom bench and most of the floor. At some point I need to process it or put it in tubs.

Above you can see my shelves for my beading stuff to the left. A small loom is safely up on a shelf along with my beading loom. The stuff piled in front of the window covering the sewing machine and the black bags are wool. Some masks I made when I was still a potter-sculptor are looking down at everything.

Now you can see all I need to get done this winter, or hide in tubs! There is a loom under there. Really. The brown paper bags are all filled with Pekingese hair. I was supposed to spin it and make a dog breeder a tote bag eons ago. My life went crazy and it ended up in tubs when we sold our house, moved, it sat in storage, bought this house and moved again. Out of sight, out of mind. I feel horrible I forgot something so important. I must get that finished first. I hope she is still speaking to me!

The above is all the processed fibers waiting for me to spin. The white wools will most likely be dyed first. The plastic carts have commercial or my handspun yarns in them. They are tight with yarn. While posing my skeleton, I broke his little right arm off. I have had him for years. He gets "dressed" each holiday with appropriate garb. Sadly, I will have to replace him.

The pic above is the pitiful cuff is what I started last May. Sad, no? I prefer knee-socks. Most patterns are geared for short socks and for the ribbing to stand up. I fold my sock cuffs over like a kid. I cannot find my post-It with where I am at in the sock! I am using "Ribbing - Plain & Fancy", by E.J. Slayton. The booklet is filled with nice patterns for the cuffs and tops of your socks. It is the simple "Mistaken Stitch" pattern for the cuff. She has patterns you can gear with your yarn and gauge and makes it easy for a new sock knitter like me to make the perfect-fitting pair of socks. I have narrow feet and ankles (8", barely). My foot is 9" long. I also have her Shawls booklet. Her site is at:

http://www.joyknits.com/

I think I will have to rip it all out and start again, not being sure of what point I am at without my notes. Ah well...

woof...

2009-09-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

The last three days have been killer. I sanded the porch, railings, steps, plus the steps for the spa and the back door steps leading to the spa. I painted primer on the railing and all the steps. Thompson's Waterseal on the porch. (Note: Use a paint pad. I used a brush. It is like painting with milk and hard to stop pooling.) I sanded an old pine trunk I bought at a craft fair almost 20 years ago. It was past-due, no? I stained it first with green stain, then went over it with a light brown, rubbing and wiping it off to give an old-look. It took me 12 hours to get all that done.

The following day, I sanded the trunk to take some of the stain off and let it sit a bit while I painted all of the steps and the railing on the porch. I got the spa steps painted on paper under the carport and proceeded to the railing. Halfway through, the clouds came barreling in and large drops started. Argh! They stopped shortly afterwards, so I proceeded on. By time I got to the railing on the steps, the winds hit with force. Uncle! I quit for the day.

Yesterday I got all the railing and remaining steps done. If anyone tells you that white repels insects, laugh at them. Bugs came to white paint with a vengeance and a death-wish. The gnats and meat-bees were the worst. I put two coats of semi-gloss inside the trunk. I did not have any sort of sealer for the trunk. Why not use the Thompson's? I found a small paint pad and rubbed it into the wood, then smoothed. It came out nicely.

We got the brackets up for more shelves in the craft room. I have way too much stuff or need to win the lottery and kick the wall out another good 10 feet. It is supposed to rain tomorrow. I am taking the day off. I have the kitchen landing and steps left to finish. They are under the carport, so rain is not an issue. I cannot wait to be done.

Y'all should of seen the nice man at Home Depot's face when I took the porch paint "as is". He said if I did not mind having Ultra Bright White... Yes, it is blinding white. It will fade at some point. Maybe.

When I am done, I must pick up the sock I started way back in May. With the retrieval of our remaining stuff, the interior painting, the visit of our grandson and the other projects, I never got back to the poor thing. Is that sock abuse?

Cool Night Sky

2009-08-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last night I was laying back in the spa, trying to ease my sore muscles. Our sky up here is beautiful. It is clear and you can see the stars quite well, even with the moon waxing.

As I laid there going all "Gumby," a star moved quickly across the sky going from south to the north, like it had somewhere to go. At first, I thought it may be a satellite. After the third one, I knew it must be meteors passing by, but not low enough to leave "skid marks". A little while later, two meteors skidded across, but they were heading north to south! Weird! A few more slow ones went by from the south to the northerly direction. They were like tiny fireflies puttering along. Before I went to bed, another meteor skidded over, from west to east. The ability to see this is wonderful.

While watching them, we laughed that the meteors may actually be "A-lee-ums," (as our grandson calls them). They are jockeying for position to the next event at the Big Monkey Farm, like people arriving early for a good spot at a drive-in theater. (How many people remember those these days?) What does an alien do if they get the Bubba of Space in his jacked-up space ship parking in front of him? laughing....