And The Beat Goes On....

Things have been rolling around and along so nicely (except for the heat--can't take the heat), that I've forgotten many things...

Such as the kitchen needs a good scrub down--

Oh well, we spent a good deal of time over the weekend cleaning the grill after a starling decided that it would become her favorite nesting place. We finally ended up cleaning it out and disinfecting the entire thing, and moving it to the front of the house where we can put it in the garage--safe from birds, but not from the mice.

We have a shrew in the house that's squeeking. You can't see the durn thing, but it keeps moving from side to side in the water heat distributor. The cats are too well fed, and bored with trying to reach up inside there, and still.not.quite.get.that.little.squeeker.

I finished an English Sheepdog, and it turned out really cute. Almost done with the second one--just some sewing and cutting of the loops and then Ralph is done. Pictures when I have a chance to post them...well, what do you know. The chance.



This is Sam. Cute, yes?

Ralph is a bit different. Here's his face.



As you can see, both ears are grey, while Sam's ears are white and grey. I wasn't too fond of the one ear being so much smaller than the other due to the yarns being different weights. Apparently, this adds to Sam's charm, but I think Ralph is older anyway (even though he's younger).

After this, the plan is to start working on my sweater again. It's been languishing in the WIP pile for a long while, and if I want to wear it this fall, I need to get going.

So, there you have it. Some of the doings for our household and my projects in process.

Oh, and one more thing....I'll be going to the Kalamazoo Highland Festival and the Detroit St. Andrews games in August. It's okay if my ex shows up to either or both...and this time he doesn't have to walk past me and say nothing with his nose in the air like he did at Alma.

The Latest (or What's Going On...)

I am <--> this close to being done with one of the English Sheepdogs. I've been working on it, albeit slowly, for some time. I have to sew things, stuff things, sew it all together, then I have to snip all those loops.

And since I'm not fond of hand sewing, you understand now, why I'm dragging my feet in finishing up.

These amigurimi things are just adorable, but my right wrist has been screaming at me again...which generally happens when I over work. I should really learn to crochet left handed. Perhaps I'll try that--then I can switch hands when one wrist starts complaining.

My next project, I believe will be Kate Middleton's Shawl. I am going to need a break on these dogs, and a knitted shawl would be perfect! It's herringbone, and I'm not certain how to make the stitch, but I'll figure it out. Once started, I think I'll be able to get things going pretty quickly. I might make it out of my own handspun, as I have quite a bit of it going on the wheel. It's a little heavier than the laceweight the pattern is calling for, but I think it will be fine.

This weekend is tied up with Demo's at JoAnn's, weeding the garden and a sewing class at JoAnn's. First class I've had in about 2 months. Notice it's not my regular crochet or knitting class, but the sewing class. Now there's a humdinger. Something new to do. I'm looking forward to it, but which machine should I take??

I only have 6 or 7 machines...

I suppose that I should put them on Craigslist or something along those lines. We'll see. The machines I would never let go of are my featherweight, the quilting machine and the White treadle. So old, I can't find needles for it anymore. It needs a little TLC, though.

Well, on to bigger and better things.

The Weekend

My grand daughter turned six yesterday, but we all threw a party for her the day before. I think she liked her gifts, although, I'm pretty sure she liked the ice cream cake better. I think we both did.

Then, on Sunday, hubby and I planted our garden. Lots of plants and lots of seeds. We're hoping really hard that the corn "makes" this year. We both like corn on the cob.

A pic to come when the weeds have taken over. Sigh.

Knitting wise, not much to talk about. The weather has turned suddenly to almost too hot to breathe (at least for me), and even though I love the warmer weather, there is such a thing as too warm. I used to pray for 70 degrees year around....now, I'd be okay with 50. I am overheated most of the time these days, and praying that I survive menopause without killing somebody (including myself). I'm pretty sure I'm make it, but only just by the skin of my teeth.

Why yes, I do have a fair amount of plaque on my teeth.

Crochet-wise I've got an English Sheepdog on the hook. I didn't bring him to the office today, because I haven't got his body stuffed yet. Tonight, I think, will be a good time for that.

It's a busy week this week, and when the weekend comes, it's the Alma Highland Festival again. Amazing how quickly this time of year has come around. Anyway, I'll be wearing my "garb", and will be taking my wheel with me to demo--I'll have to remember to take some sunscreen this year. Even under the trees, you can get burned VERY quickly. I'll see if I can't get somebody to snap a picture of me in my new outfit.

Sunday, I'll probably be in the garden pulling weeds. Truly, it doesn't take them long, trust me.

Bird Feeder Time Again

This evening, after filling the bird feeder for the third time, I decided to look out the window from my "blind" (between the halves of the curtains) and got the shock of my life.

Okay, maybe not the biggest shock of my life, but quite a surprise.

There was a robin at my feeder eating seeds.

SEEDS!

I thought they mostly ate worms!?

Now, I know that they eat berries in the wintertime, so I was aware that they didn't ONLY eat worms. I mean, worms don't come out to play in the winter, right? But to see a robin at the bird feeder was unusual--especially during their nesting time.

So how do worms keep from freezing in winter? Or do they just die? Nevermind. It's one of those questions that you just kind of ponder on when you have nothing else to ponder on--like "Why is there a robin in my bird feeder instead of on the ground eating worms?"

Now, there's a well-known visitor--a redwing blackbird. It's a really pretty male, and he sings his little heart out. I don't think he has a mate yet. There are several in the vicinity protecting their "property". A couple of purple finches and a blue jay and a pair of cardinals, with a pair of mourning doves rounding out the bunch. In all, they seem to eat the feed pretty quickly, and so far, I haven't seen any raccoons, but I have seen a couple of cats.

Speaking of cats, mine are curled up in the blankets at the moment, but this morning, were staring at a spot near my dryer. Then my border collie, Mandy got in on the act. I had to put her into her pen and lay a trap for the mouse that is OBVIOUSLY hiding in there. I expect it to be full of mouse by morning.

I watched a pair of bunnies jump around the other night in the yard, just before nightfall. Later that evening, I could hear the coyotes yipping about something. Mandy didn't want to go outdoors. I wonder how she might have some fear of coyotes--since I don't believe she's had any sort of contact with them. She's never been off the leash, because she'd run off, but she has no reason to fear coyotes--could it be my concern over them that she's picking up? Unknowable.

But spring has hit the area, and birds are all nesting--including the one in my grill that I had to force to vacate--not a popular decision in the bird's opinion, I'm sure. The grill is mine, and I will be using it. The starling can find another place to hatch eggs. Baby birds in the grill tend to die anyway--mostly from heat stroke. Note: The grill is black. In the heat of summer, baby birds die in the grill ANYWAY. Lest PETA come knocking on my door.

Socks are finished, if I haven't told you. I'm gearing up to start a new project--probably an English Sheepdog. I just haven't gotten up the ambition to start it. Or anything else, for that matter, but it's time to start thinking seriously about the whole thing.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy a drink and maybe plant some tulips before the bulbs die.

My Take on Boston

I am blogging today about recent news in the media...it's fine if you don't agree with me, but honestly, I have my own thoughts on the matter, and this venue is sort of my journaling. If I bore you, just close the window, okay??

First off, the bombing in Boston. Messy. Unprofessional. Not thought out very well. Inept. Let's just say that who ever is responsible, they should fry or get the needle, or maybe spend the rest of their lives in a hole in the ground in Pakistan with lots of ants and no water. I'm not sure I could make the punishment any more severe.  I know all about how I'm not to judge, but there are limits to what I can put through this traumatised heart.

Put it this way. If the bomber had thought it out better, in other words, if he/she had MEANT to kill people, rather than just make a "statement", the bomb would have gone off when people were standing 10 deep on the sidewalk, instead of only 4 deep. Yet, as bad as it turned out to be, it could have been MUCH MUCH WORSE. 

Don't even think that law enforcement/FBI don't know "who done it". The Saudi national that was questioned? Rich parents that apparently want him home RIGHT NOW. Not that he was involved, you understand. He was just in the WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME. A victim of racial profiling. Imagine yourself in his shoes. You're brown, there's a bomb goes off, and someone sees you, and eyes you with a "just what do you think you're doing?" stare, and yes, I think I'd run the other way, too.

Force of habit, fight or flight is going to take hold--instinct made him run. Had he fought first, things might have been very different for him. Imagine the fear? I sure can.

My take on the whole matter is that it was a homegrown terrorist group, but only a couple maximum of people willing to shed a little blood for their cause. I don't know which cause, you understand, but I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with racism on some level. And because "these two perps" were alone in their credo's (meaning that their group didn't agree with their views) they decided to go off on their own and create a little mayhem. It's also very possible that they didn't intend to kill anyone, or they would have used a more lethal weapon. I had some concern in the beginning that there might have been a biological inside the bomb. Not that I want to give anybody ideas. That would make things much, much worse, later on down the road. Frankly, those folks in the hospital need to be quarantined, just to make sure. Nothing's been done on that score, and so it's possible that, further down the road, there could be more. Just sayin'.

I tend to think the perps are black, not brown or white. I don't know why that is, but the "hoodie" business is my clue.

Does it tie into the Treyvon Martin thing? Who knows?

Someone does, and they aren't talking.

The "We got him!" and the subsequent "We don't have him..." was a total CNN FAIL. But you know, truth is more often told in the first 20 minutes of a disaster, after that, everyone is covering up, and CMA becomes the catchphrase of the day.

Final analysis? Sad. Just very, very sad. And CNN asks "Is man evil or good?" All I can say is "Only God can judge the heart." One day, He will.

More Progress...

  More progress.

From the blue line on Sunday.

Progress!

  Good news! The pair finally found their way to their destination! Almost 3 weeks from the mail date. I have no idea what took them so long. Perhaps everyone who touched the package, opened it to see if it was safe, and then admired them for a while, then sent them back on their way? 

I believe they took that left turn at Alburquerque.

I also finished the pink pair, and have them put away for the next need.

And I began a pair of socks for myself...I'm doing an afterthought heel, so it's just hours and hours of knitting, therefore, I am trying a new technique.

I'm lever knitting. This is the way Yarn Harlot knits, and she is so darn fast, it's not funny! But I'm getting there, slow but sure. I have the first sock finished, and the second is on the needles-the square ones I mentioned in my last post. I find them no different than round needles, but because they are square and some sort of wood, the stitches don't flee on me, making practice on this new technique just a bit easier.

So with that, I go back to my knitting.