Memorial Day

San Joaquin National Cemetary

Still Knitting!!

 This is a pair of socks I'm knitting for a friend of mine who has offered to house sit so D and I can go to Washington for a memorial service for my mother's sister who recently passed away. It's a pretty big favor she is doing for us so the least I can do is give her a pair of hand knit socks. The fact that I have a bit of self striping yarn that is holding my attention helps. A lot. This is actually the first sock but I have finished it and have completed the leg, heel, and gusset. I'm currently working on the foot. Now that I look at the photo the current sock is just a stripe and a half further along than this photo. And the socks will match each other pretty darn close.

 This is the pair I made for myself. Look Shannon! They match each other. See I can make them match, I just choose not too. It's more fun if they don't. At least for me. But I have to admit that there is a certain amount of satisfaction in achieving a matching pair.

And here is our first tomato of the year. It's not big and I may have picked it one day too soon. But it's pretty. I shared it with D. It was okay. I'm sure the ones coming up will be tastier.

Weather Report
It's been windy here. All. Year. I am tired of being gritty all the time. No sense dusting because it looks like I never did. Even the kitchen counters are covered in dust/dirt by evening if I don't wipe them down during the day. They are warning people with breathing problems to stay inside. It's that bad.

Here is my problem. I like open windows. I like fresh air blowing through my house. It freshens it like no chemical spray can. I don't like dark, closed, stuffy rooms. So even though it's not all that hot out there I'm finding I have to keep most of the windows closed or I'm coughing and hacking all day. I hate it!

When I go outside to feed the horses the wind blows hay inside my shirt and bra every time. I don't know how. I can't keep the plants and grass watered. The wind blows so hard that my clothes tangle on the clothes line. And I get smacked in the face with wet laundry trying to hang them up. The good news is by the time the second load is done washing I can take the first load off the line. Assuming they haven't been blown off by the wind.

We aren't talking breezy like the weatherman says. We are talking 15mph and up constant wind. I don't bother with makeup because I'm so gritty all the time I'm constantly washing my face and hands. There isn't enough moisturizer in the world to help. I've used up one and a half Lo Lo Bars on myself. I'm even using it on my face because after it soaks in it protects my skin to a small degree.

And there is always noise. Not just the noise of the wind. There's always something banging, clanging, or swooshing against the house. Last night the wind died down to a breeze in the evening for a while. But by the time I got up at 5:30 this morning (don't ask) it was already screaming.

Don't get me wrong. I know we live in a windy area. But this is not our normal windy. This is over the top, all the time, 24/7 wind. My hair always looks like I just got out of bed. There is trash blowing all over the place every Thursday, garbage day.

So, Mother Nature, how about a nice cool breeze? Say 5-7mph? I wouldn't want you to go cold turkey. A few nice breezy 80-87 degree days would be perfect. Whadda ya say? Pleeeaaaase!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

So, two of my aunts passed away very recently. I was able to attend services for one just last week. I could not stay for the whole thing because I had promised to help a friend of mine with a small seminar she was putting on. Her 90 year old mother had a stroke just the week before and my friend was very worried and upset. I figured it was not a good time to bail on her.

I loved my aunt very much. She was especially important to me when I was very young. She was a good mother to me. She was the one who taught me my love of hand crafts. She taught me to sew and to embroider. Her kitchen always smelled of something good cooking. I don't remember her ever getting upset at a kid. And she smiled. A lot. I will miss her and regret that I didn't see her in recent years. Life has a way of distancing us from people we should never distance ourselves from.

My other aunt is not here in California. We will head up to Bellingham, Washington to share memories. We have another good friend who will stay at the house for us and take care of all our critters. It's very difficult for us to get away without farming everyone out and having someone come in to care for the horses, fish and bird. We are lucky to have such a good friend that she will leave her animals in her husband's care for a few days. I don't know how to thank her.

It's a busy month for the whole family. There are graduations all over the place, and a wedding. It's nice to have happy things happening along with the not so happy.

I have two more orchids blooming! I can't figure out why they are blooming for me but I have five orchids that I purchased in bloom. I've had these plants for at least a year and some far longer than that. And I've killed other plants but these orchids have decided to give me some beauty in my life and bloom.

On the knitting front; I cast on a pair of plain socks in self striping yarn for myself. I'm getting kinda low on the hand knitted socks in my drawer so I thought I'd better whip up a pair for myself. They are self striping yarn so that makes them go fast and keeps it interesting. I still have a beaded scarf to pick back up and knit. I may do that before I cast on for a t-shirt type shirt. Of course that won't keep me from dragging out patterns and trying to match them up to yarn in my stash. So far I don't believe I have purchased any yarn this year. I'm using what I have. Each visit to the stash reveals I have some very nice stuff in there and it's such a convenience shopping at home.

I haven't done any spinning. I need to do a little sewing. Vacation is sneaking up on us and I have some shorter pants that aren't short enough. I don't like the capri length on me. Pedal pusher length looks a little better. I have reached the age where shorts are not such a good thing in public. I wear them around home but not out. I have these two pairs of pants that are a little short for capri's but too long for pedal pushers. I like the way they fit so it's just a matter of hemming them up some. They have these funky buttons on the side and that slit there will allow me to hem the pants without worrying about the leg taper. And the funky buttons will be gone. It's a simple job. I just have to uncover my sewing machine. It's got a protective layer of knitting stuff on it but I am certain it's still under there. I could just hem them by hand but I have two pair of jeans that are just  a tiny bit too long. D says I should leave them and let the backs wear out. He thinks it's cool. I may leave one pair long and shorten the other pair. I need both of them for vacation.

I think three pairs of jeans is all I'm taking and two pairs of pedal pushers. I have to have jeans on the bike but it's nice to have something a little shorter for warm days in camp when we don't go anywhere. There's a laundromat right next to our campsite, so I'm not worried about it.

Three weeks! Three weeks on vacation! Three weeks on a motorcycle! I am so looking forward to this. And I've figured out how to blog with a tiny netbook and my cell phone  for  photos. There's wifi at the campground so I think I'm set. If you don't hear from me during the first part of August you will know why. But I think I have it covered. Can you tell I'm starting to get excited about the whole thing?

D is now riding our mustang, Stormy. He's done all the ground work and now he can walk, trot and canter on her. She kicked up a little yesterday but I think he has it figured out. So now we will have three broke horses. He swears next year it be Roxie's turn. Darryl is getting pretty good at this horse training stuff. I will try to get a photo of him on her. I'm never in the right place at the right time. When he first started riding her I'm telling her what to do and he is just sitting on her. But after a week under saddle she's getting the cue's down so he doesn't need my help as much. So maybe I can get a decent picture.

We will see.

Oh yes, I  agree with others that have posted about Blogger changes. They suck. I'm hoping with enough complaints they will change some of it back.  I can get the pictures up but placing the text correctly has been a pain. Keep your  fingers crossed this post goes okay.

Ahh, Activity!!

 

This is Rosie, if you look very closely you can see that 1/4 of one eye is blue. It's like someone took a slice out of the brown and inserted a slice of blue. She's very sweet and we are still getting to know each other.

Like a lot of other people I'm having trouble with Blogger so I won't be able to put the text with the pictures for some reason

 

Wait. I have a little success. We will see how it goes. Okay, that orange crescent up there is my shawl. I used up some sock yarn in the two shades of brighter orange but mostly what will be seen when it's worn is the more caramel colors. Tangerine is THE color this year so I'm stylin'!

 

This is a present for a young girl in my family. She has taken up sock knitting and I made this for her because a sock project will fit in it and it simply hang from her wrist if she so decides. I like it so much I'm going to make one for myself one of these days. Yes, I lined it so stuff like knitting needles don't fall out. I put my cell phone there so you can get an idea of size.

 

And this is a pair of socks for a birthday gift for someone I know. In order to get my gift knitting down to a dull roar I knit these so now I can everyone just one sock for a gift and it will go with what they already have. And if they wear one out they don't have to throw the pair away.

Now this is the same kind of sock for a gift for someone except that I knit each part of the sock in a different yarn. The cuff is one yarn, the leg another, heel flap yet another, even the small yellow part is separate in sock construction. That is the magic part, the heel turn. Then comes the gusset decreases, change colors again for the foot, and finally the toe. It was fun to do and make the sock go surprisingly fast.

So the only project I have left on the needles is a beaded scarf. I'm not sure when I'll pick that back up but it will be soon. And as for socks, I am going to tackle learning the magic loop. Two socks knit on one very long needle. I can knit socks with double pointed needles in sets of four or five. I can knit socks two at the same time, one inside the other. I can knit socks on two circular needles (Darryl's preferred method). So now I want to try the magic loop.

Wish me luck.

It's A Girl!

We adopted a new dog yesterday. We had no intention on adopting any more critters for a very long time. I went to the pet store to get some parrot food and passed by the animals for adoption. I do this all the time and don't bring any home. I like to play with the puppies knowing I don't have to house break them later. Anyway, there was a little dachshund there that looked like Vinnie so I went to get a few pets in. But I found this little girl was handicapped. (I see the light bulbs go on over your heads.) She had had a back injury of some kind (I see the bulb growing brighter). I talked to the guy who was fostering her. She had some kind of back injury and became totally unable to walk. The owners took her a vet and after an exam they were either unable or unwilling to deal with her injury so they signed her over the vet. That's where she has been for six months. She has undergone extensive physical therapy. She went from not being able to walk at all to being able to sort of walk. It's painful to watch. She sort of flops from side to side but is moving her legs. From there she went to her foster home to make sure she was socialized enough for a new home. I went back to my car and sat there and cried for a few minutes but went home without her.

I got home and told D the whole story and said that I know that we don't need any more dogs and was rather proud of myself that I didn't adopt her on the spot. He said, "Why didn't you?" I said, "What?" He realizes we are uniquely qualified for caring for this handicapped dog and seems to think there's always room for one more if they need us badly enough. I explained her adoption fee was $150 and I wasn't willing to pay that. He suggested I sent an email and see  what happens. So I did. I told all about Ringo and how he no longer needs his wheel chair and it would fit the new dog (Rosie). I told about Tess and how we figured out she was deaf. I told about Sarah and how we dealt with her cleft pallet. I told about Dusty who became deaf and blind. I had picture of Ringo in and out of his wheel chair. I had pictures of ramps we have in the house. I explained how our dogs don't jump on the furniture we lift them up. And I told them we would adopt Rosie and take special care of her if they waived the $150 adoption fee.

They did.

So now we have another 8 year old dog. We had to pay $20 for shots but she's neutered, micro chipped and up to date on all her shots. We brought her home and adjusted the wheel chair to fit her, put her in it, put her on the floor and she wouldn't move. I headed to the cabinet with the dog treats to bribe her and she took off like a rocket! We laughed so hard! I have no idea how she knew there were dog treats in there but she never doubted it! When I took her out of it in the evening and put her outside she wouldn't move again. She's figured out she can get around faster and quicker in the wheel chair.

She's sharing a crate with Ringo at night. And she's just now starting to get a little vocal. She is about the size of Ringo. She is a dapple like Vinnie. She has short hair and one quarter of one eye is blue. It's common for dapples to have blue eyes but this one looks like someone cut 1/4 of the brown eye out and stuck a blue one in. Her ears are a little small. She is heavily muscled in the front and has two muscles, one on either side of her body that are oddly well developed. So she's a little out of proportion. We think it's because she's been dragging the last part of her body around. I think this will change.

The wheel chair is set so she can use her legs. And she is using them. So we hope it will work as well for her as it did for Ringo. She can use the legs and develop muscle without inflaming the spine by that flopping from side to side. She is a speed demon in that thing!

I'm sorry I don't have any good pictures of her yet. You can be sure I'll be taking two or three soon. Watch for doggie updates.

I actually have some knitting photos to post but I'll save them for later in the week.

 This is a yarn bowl. You put your ball of yarn in it and it has a slot or some type of opening to control the emerging yarn. It keeps the yarn from rolling around while you are knitting. Originally my idea was to put the bowl on the floor. I have this big dog who is fairly careless about what she is running into when she is romping around the house. I really, really love this bowl and hope to keep it for a long time. This means I need to put it so that Charlotte doesn't stomp on it accidentally or sit on it. Yes, sit on it. Charlotte backs up to the sofa and plops her butt down. Her front feet are still on the floor. She is actually sitting on just her butt on the couch. She plops her behind down next to me then turns and looks at me as if to say, "So, how is your day going?" Seriously. In any case she takes up a lot of space when she does that so I put my yarn bowl next to me on whichever side has the least room. Yes, I tell Charlotte to get off the couch. But that happens after she sits on it. I don't want my bowl broken so I guard it carefully. So it might not be quite as useful as it might be but I just love it and use it all the time.

 This is a birthday present. I'm not a very good lace knitter but I thought I'd give it a shot. It's supposed to be a small reticule. There are some problems with the lace pattern on the bottom but I ripped it out so much I'm ruining the yarn and I have a limited amount so I left it. Hopefully it will remind the little girl that will get it eventually that no matter how long you knit there will be times you just don't get it. No one is a perfect knitter. I still have the handles to knit and then I will line it with some fun fabric I have. When it's done I think it will be just the right size for a sock project. The color is a bit more salmon than the picture shows. It's a lovely color and it's way late as is one of my sisters' birthday gifts. But I'll get it done soon. It's just about all I have been working on.

 I've been spinning this whole bunch of fiber I've had for a long time. I haven't hit the spinning wheel this week. It's been very busy. But so far I have 482 yards of pretty bulky yarn. I think I'm about 1/3 through this fiber so I have a ways to go. I've been thinking I should take a break and spin another fiber but then I might not finish this. And when I'm done spinning this I'll have a goodly amount of yarn to make something with. I think I should just start another fiber on my drop spindle for a change of pace. When I have my birthday knitting under control I'll get on that.

Rain, sun, wind. We have it all in the same week these days. I really can't remember a windier year except the first year we move here 22 years ago. I understand why my mother loved this valley so much. It really is beautiful. I'm pretty lucky to live here.

Critters and Photoshop

Well, here I am fooling with blogger again. Who knows what I will get? For a long time I've had trouble with Photoshop so I couldn't crop my pictures like I wanted to. Now that is working. I don't know if D removed and reinstalled it or it just decided to work. I'm not going to question it. That is Sugar and she is not in any pain or having a spasm. She is just getting ready for a good roll in the dirt. Nothing she likes better. Okay, maybe peppermint. I give the horses small peppermint candies. They love 'em.

We turned the chickens loose for the winter and they loved it. We added a run to their coop so they have more space. Chickens don't lay eggs in the winter. I started finding eggs here and there so it was time to round up the chickens and put them in their new expanded coop. We are down to two chickens but that might just be enough for the two of us.

One chicken we found and caught right away. The one in the photo. But the other one had been eluding us for a week or so. Yesterday I was near the horse stalls and I thought I heard a small chicken noise. I put my finger to my lips, like there was someone there to shush or the horses would understand what I meant if they were making any noise, (they are quiet animals). I tiptoed in the direction of the noise and found a chicken in a roll of horse fence. I got a couple of large bricks and put one on either end of the roll (it was laying on it's side) to block the chicken's exit. When D got home we went about the business of getting the chicken out of there. I don't know if she was stuck or stubborn. No amount of pushing or pulling was going to get her out of there without some damage to the chicken. So while D went off to get something else to try to get her out of there I kept fooling with it and found if I used a metal rod and pounding on the top of the roll of wire fence she did not like that at all. She made like she was coming out. So when D got back we stood the roll of fencing up on end and he held a big net over the end while I tapped on it with some force. She came forward enough for D to grab her and we put her back in her new spacious coop. We also added a nest box for their comfort. Now if they will lay eggs in the coop as nicely as they did in the yard. I won't have to go on an egg hunt daily.