Last night we had a sweet reprieve from the heat. I woke this morning around 5 a.m. to hear that the skies had opened up and sent a deluge, with thunder and lighting. It was raining very heavily. I had a look out the window and discovered that ground was giving off steam. It was needed as I watched the grass drying up and turning white over the last week as it died. This will help to replenish the green at least a little.
Not only was there rain outside but there were showers inside too. Daughter #2 was the first to get a shower in our newly hooked up ensuite shower. I was so pleased when Hubby finished everything on the upstairs shower this morning. It means that we don't have to drive to town to cool down.... no more school showers.... woo hoo!
The toilets have to be worked on today. E/P is away for the weekend and God bless him, because he did show up yesterday to help install the drains for the showers and toilets, even though he was hurting. Hubby has to hook up the water for the two new toilets today and hopefully that will mean that we can use the loo upstairs. Next week will require a new door in the downstairs bathroom as well as a new wall.... then in go the vanities both upstairs and down. A little work on the downstairs electrical to accommodate new switches and new lighting and we are done..... well sort of. That's when my work begins.... I have to paint the downstairs walls which will be an off white with a hint of peach with brown cabinets and mirror frame and trim. The towels that I just bought the other day are brown too. All of our old towels will go upstairs and they are blue. So the upstairs bathroom will probably be blue too. I can't believe that I am thinking in terms of colours for bathrooms. It is quite exciting to get that far. While I am painting the bathroom and putting on the finishing touches Hubby will go back to work in the sunroom/office/studio and start putting up the wall board. Then there is the upstairs to finish which will require stain on the floor and walls of the girls rooms and then we have to start on our room..... this, I expect will take us well into the fall. Hubby has to get the new roofing on the electrical shed and I have to paint the North deck not to mention stain the sunroom and organize furniture. Some of this can be done in the fall and will have to be done when we can. The flooring and kitchen counters will have to wait till just before Christmas I expect. So lots of work yet!
There is one last thing to let you know. My eye is definitely on the mend. The distance vision is still not great but it is coming a little bit better every day. The redness is almost gone and it no longer gunks up at night. I have an appointment tomorrow to follow up and see that there is no permanent damage. So all is well....
I'm off to have a shower.... or two.... and get really really clean.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Oh Crap!
Sometimes rotten things happen. You just have to throw up your hands and go with the flow. Lately it seems I have been on a "Rotten Thing" roller coaster ride. It just keeps going downhill.
I decided yesterday to take a trip to a nearby town.... not FSJ but a smaller town CH, where I can buy some of the things that I need which I can't get in my own small home town. This trip was not the most successful trip in the world.
I got up after a not so great night of sleep at about 4:30 a.m. where heat and nasty things on my mind kept interfering with the visit to the back of my eyelids. I decided that a day away from the sawing and cursing on plumbing pipes might be a nice reprieve. Hubby was all for it since it meant that I could pick up a few gadgets from the hardware store that had become a necessary evil. E/P showed up just before I left with one of the items that we needed and so that was one less item I had to get. That's when we discovered that Hubby had made a mistake and drilled holes in the new $1800.00 tub for Hot and Cold taps where they should not have been. This is a serious problem but we thought we would be able to overcome the problem by changing the fittings on the back of the tub. E/P is fed up with us and wants to get this job done and over with as soon as possible since he has been working on the electrical for the house and the plumbing for far longer than he thought he would. Suffice it to say that HE'S NOT HAPPY.
I dropped Daughter #2 off at Drama camp which she has been attending for the last week and a half, and Daughter #1 and I continued on our way. It was about twenty minutes into our fifty minute drive that we were attacked. We were attacked by a prehistoric gray bug the size of New York.
The bark beetle was climbing up my leg and I was able to maintain my equilibrium long enough to get us to the side of the road before I jumped out of the vehicle to do the freak out dance. Meanwhile Daughter #1, who has a terror of bugs, and especially freaky bark beetles, was maintaining her equilibrium by squashing into a very small ball and threatening to jump from my speeding vehicle like a coiled spring. By the time we got off the road we had a problem....WE COULD NOT FIND THE DAMN THING!
We checked my pants and we checked the interior of the vehicle with our trusty snow scraper to beat the crap out of it, but we could not find it anywhere. So back into the truck we got and continued on our way assured that the bugger had flown off my pants when we weren't looking. Two minutes later I maintained my calm as it crawled closer to my neck up the front of my shirt by screeching to a halt in the middle of the highway. Thank God there were no other cars around. Daughter #1 maintained her calm by screaming terribly loud and threatening to jump into the lake which we had just passed. The poor bark beetle probably was as freaked out as us but we were too anxious trying to remove the bugger from my shirt without having a HEART ATTACK!
It flew off over the lake that Daughter #1 had just threatened to jump in and Daughter #1 and I breathed a sigh of relief!
When I finally got in CH, I headed straight for the hardware store. Daughter #1 was with me and we went in looking for little brass elbows in the plumbing supply section. We had an old one to use as a guide, and so I found them with very little difficulty. All was good. We bought a few more things there at the hardware store including the stain for the floor of the girls room. We left the store with our purchases and that's when I discovered my keys hanging nicely on the key chain inside the locked vehicle. GREAT!
So I called Hubby. I mean what else does a gal do? Especially when I am in another town and I don't know who does that kind of thing (break into vehicles). He basically was useless. So I went back into the store and told the girl at the cash register my dilemma and before I knew it there was a brigade of people trying to help me. It wasn't long though that I knew they were not going to be able to help. I had to call in the PROFESSIONALS.
I called an autobody place and they gave me a number of their towing service and so I called it. Finally, someone who could help me. Meanwhile the hardware brigade were hard at it trying to break into my vehicle. I have misplaced Hubby's key to the car when I came home from Olds, so I knew there was no point in going that route. ($85.00 to get a key cut for our vehicle since it requires a computer chip.) I told the hardware brigade that someone was on the way to help and they dissipated like water back into the store rather like rats jumping ship. There, Daughter #1 and I sat at 'the picnic table for sale' in the blaring down sun, waiting for our Knight in Shining Armour. He showed up in a large white duelly. (This sounds stupid even to me!) I sat there wondering how I could be so DUMB.
Half a minute... that's all.... half a minute and I was in. There was this nifty little pad that looked like a blood pressure strap that fit in between the door and the door frame and a long coat hanger-like gadget that had a yellow rubber coating to pull the handle and that was it. Now I know how to break into cars.... not that I would. It was rather wham, bam, thank you ma'am and it was all over. Well... not quite. I still had to pay him $45.00 for his half minute of work..... well I guess he deserved it... after all he was a KNIGHT.
When I got home with all of my purchases I discovered that E/P had fallen down the trap and had hurt himself badly and would likely not be back to finish the plumbing for ever.... I mean a week.
While I understand E/P not wanting to come back for a while until he heals, I'm sick of stinking in this heat and having no shower to de-stink-ify. Off to the school we went for another shower. I HATE THE SCHOOL SHOWERS!
Hubby is not happy..... He hates renovations at the best of times and I can see his positive attitude dissipating daily. I will just have to smile A LOT and other things that I can't mention because his mother reads this!!!! ; }
I decided yesterday to take a trip to a nearby town.... not FSJ but a smaller town CH, where I can buy some of the things that I need which I can't get in my own small home town. This trip was not the most successful trip in the world.
I got up after a not so great night of sleep at about 4:30 a.m. where heat and nasty things on my mind kept interfering with the visit to the back of my eyelids. I decided that a day away from the sawing and cursing on plumbing pipes might be a nice reprieve. Hubby was all for it since it meant that I could pick up a few gadgets from the hardware store that had become a necessary evil. E/P showed up just before I left with one of the items that we needed and so that was one less item I had to get. That's when we discovered that Hubby had made a mistake and drilled holes in the new $1800.00 tub for Hot and Cold taps where they should not have been. This is a serious problem but we thought we would be able to overcome the problem by changing the fittings on the back of the tub. E/P is fed up with us and wants to get this job done and over with as soon as possible since he has been working on the electrical for the house and the plumbing for far longer than he thought he would. Suffice it to say that HE'S NOT HAPPY.
I dropped Daughter #2 off at Drama camp which she has been attending for the last week and a half, and Daughter #1 and I continued on our way. It was about twenty minutes into our fifty minute drive that we were attacked. We were attacked by a prehistoric gray bug the size of New York.
The bark beetle was climbing up my leg and I was able to maintain my equilibrium long enough to get us to the side of the road before I jumped out of the vehicle to do the freak out dance. Meanwhile Daughter #1, who has a terror of bugs, and especially freaky bark beetles, was maintaining her equilibrium by squashing into a very small ball and threatening to jump from my speeding vehicle like a coiled spring. By the time we got off the road we had a problem....WE COULD NOT FIND THE DAMN THING!We checked my pants and we checked the interior of the vehicle with our trusty snow scraper to beat the crap out of it, but we could not find it anywhere. So back into the truck we got and continued on our way assured that the bugger had flown off my pants when we weren't looking. Two minutes later I maintained my calm as it crawled closer to my neck up the front of my shirt by screeching to a halt in the middle of the highway. Thank God there were no other cars around. Daughter #1 maintained her calm by screaming terribly loud and threatening to jump into the lake which we had just passed. The poor bark beetle probably was as freaked out as us but we were too anxious trying to remove the bugger from my shirt without having a HEART ATTACK!
It flew off over the lake that Daughter #1 had just threatened to jump in and Daughter #1 and I breathed a sigh of relief!
When I finally got in CH, I headed straight for the hardware store. Daughter #1 was with me and we went in looking for little brass elbows in the plumbing supply section. We had an old one to use as a guide, and so I found them with very little difficulty. All was good. We bought a few more things there at the hardware store including the stain for the floor of the girls room. We left the store with our purchases and that's when I discovered my keys hanging nicely on the key chain inside the locked vehicle. GREAT!
So I called Hubby. I mean what else does a gal do? Especially when I am in another town and I don't know who does that kind of thing (break into vehicles). He basically was useless. So I went back into the store and told the girl at the cash register my dilemma and before I knew it there was a brigade of people trying to help me. It wasn't long though that I knew they were not going to be able to help. I had to call in the PROFESSIONALS.
I called an autobody place and they gave me a number of their towing service and so I called it. Finally, someone who could help me. Meanwhile the hardware brigade were hard at it trying to break into my vehicle. I have misplaced Hubby's key to the car when I came home from Olds, so I knew there was no point in going that route. ($85.00 to get a key cut for our vehicle since it requires a computer chip.) I told the hardware brigade that someone was on the way to help and they dissipated like water back into the store rather like rats jumping ship. There, Daughter #1 and I sat at 'the picnic table for sale' in the blaring down sun, waiting for our Knight in Shining Armour. He showed up in a large white duelly. (This sounds stupid even to me!) I sat there wondering how I could be so DUMB.
Half a minute... that's all.... half a minute and I was in. There was this nifty little pad that looked like a blood pressure strap that fit in between the door and the door frame and a long coat hanger-like gadget that had a yellow rubber coating to pull the handle and that was it. Now I know how to break into cars.... not that I would. It was rather wham, bam, thank you ma'am and it was all over. Well... not quite. I still had to pay him $45.00 for his half minute of work..... well I guess he deserved it... after all he was a KNIGHT.
When I got home with all of my purchases I discovered that E/P had fallen down the trap and had hurt himself badly and would likely not be back to finish the plumbing for ever.... I mean a week.
While I understand E/P not wanting to come back for a while until he heals, I'm sick of stinking in this heat and having no shower to de-stink-ify. Off to the school we went for another shower. I HATE THE SCHOOL SHOWERS!Hubby is not happy..... He hates renovations at the best of times and I can see his positive attitude dissipating daily. I will just have to smile A LOT and other things that I can't mention because his mother reads this!!!! ; }
Monday, July 27, 2009
Who Knew!
I taught the most unlikely fella how to spin last night. There's a bit of a story behind this.....
Remember the Canadian Rangers who showed up at my house for New Year's Dinner? They were half frozen and there were quite a few of them..... then remember the ill fated Exercise Western Spirit that I blogged about back in February.... well among those Rangers was the very gentlemanly CP (remember no names here).
CP came to visit this weekend. He was here in HH to teach Military CPR to Hubby and his Rangers. Of course I couldn't let the fellow come to HH and not give him a meal in our home. That would just not be very mannerly..... besides, CP is a delightful man. I met him the first time down in Valemount, when Hubby was on exercise. If I remember correctly, he drank tea in our campsite.... how can you not like that!
Last evening he came to join my family and I for dinner and a more enjoyable dinner I have not had for quite some time. We had some very intellectual conversation about everything from politics, to history, to the great outdoors, to spinning and wool. Of course being a military man we discussed uniforms which led to doeskin (red woolen fabric for you folks who don't know the lingo). CP you see was a member of the Scottish Battalion (Fort Garry Horse... I think correct me if I'm wrong CP) of the Canadian Reserves for a while before being hired by the Canadian Rangers. Hubby at one point served with the Governor General's Foot Guards. Both wore red serge-like uniforms. And so the discussion of wool began based on the nastiness of the various uniforms that are meant to look good but torture our military men. Now anyone who knows anything about wool fabric, knows that it is a very expensive product that is very difficult to get your hands on. It runs at about $120.00 a metre and itches like hell fire, leaving the wearer in warm weather with a skin rash that is just sick.... I love the stuff.
I revel in wool and woven woolen fabric is the best. There are all types of woolen fabric and while discussing wool, I began to wonder what the difference between doeskin, Melton cloth, and serge is. And so began the research... here is what I have found out:
Beaver cloth: A heavy woolen overcoating which is intended to have the appearance of natural beaver skin. The lustrous nap of short fibres is produced by milling the cloth and raising the fibres, which are cut level and laid smoothly in one direction.
Doeskin cloth: A fine woolen, warp-face cloth usually of Merino wool, milled, raised and dress-face finished. It is similar to beaver cloth but lighter and finer.
Flannel: A plain or twill weave fabric with a soft handle due to being slightly milled and raised. The cloth was originally made entirely from wool but now commonly contains some other fibre also. Both woolen and worsted fabrics are produced weighing about 200g/m2
Melton: A heavyweight fabric suitable for overcoats. Lighter weights are used as undercollars in suits. It may be entirely of wool or with a cotton warp and a woolen weft in 2/2 twill or other simple weave. It is heavily milled, raised and cropped.
Molleton: A heavy reversible woolen flannel with a nap on both faces. Now made from other fibres.
Serge: A piece-dyed 2/2 twill cloth of almost square construction with a clear surface. The twill line runs at a low angle to the weft. It is often made of wool but other fibres and blends are used.
This is the website where I found the information:
http://www.narrow-fabrics-manufacturers.com/textile-terms.html This is an excellent web resource.... I'll post it in my links....
I also found out that melton cloth is made in Melton Mowbray, England. This is what I found out here:
Melton Mowbray is home to Melton cloth (first mentioned in 1823), which is the familiar tight-woven woolen cloth which is heavily milled, and a nap raised so as to form a short, dense, non-lustrous pile. Sailors' pea coats are traditionally made of Melton cloth, the universal workmans' donkey jackets of Britain and Ireland and in North America, loggers' "cruising jackets" and Mackinaws. Doeskin cloth, a fine woolen, warp-face cloth usually of Merino wool, milled, raised and dress-face finished. It is similar to beaver cloth but lighter and finer.
Sorry I forgot to write down the website..... ooops.... this is not my work though....
Then I found this:
Since desertion was such a problem, soldiers under the rank of sergeant were not permitted to own civilian clothing. With only their uniform to wear, they would easily be spotted if they tried to desert.
Red Tunics indicate that the wearer is a member of the infantry. Soldiers were supplied with their uniforms, while officers purchased their own.
Officers' uniforms were of a much finer weave of wool, usually doeskin, while the rank and file had uniforms made of melton (wool) and to a lesser extent, serge.
http://www.royalengineers.ca/Uniforms.html
So there you have it Beaverskin cloth, Doeskin cloth, Flannel, Melton, Molleton, and Serge..... FYI.
Now back to what I started out telling you.... here is CP spinning his first yarn.
Don't you love the Harley Davidson Shirt! By the way Hubby and I drank all the beer.... ; }
I love being a spinner and a weaver....so cool!!!!! CP thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to teach you to spin..... next time I'll teach you weaving? : )
Remember the Canadian Rangers who showed up at my house for New Year's Dinner? They were half frozen and there were quite a few of them..... then remember the ill fated Exercise Western Spirit that I blogged about back in February.... well among those Rangers was the very gentlemanly CP (remember no names here).
CP came to visit this weekend. He was here in HH to teach Military CPR to Hubby and his Rangers. Of course I couldn't let the fellow come to HH and not give him a meal in our home. That would just not be very mannerly..... besides, CP is a delightful man. I met him the first time down in Valemount, when Hubby was on exercise. If I remember correctly, he drank tea in our campsite.... how can you not like that!
Last evening he came to join my family and I for dinner and a more enjoyable dinner I have not had for quite some time. We had some very intellectual conversation about everything from politics, to history, to the great outdoors, to spinning and wool. Of course being a military man we discussed uniforms which led to doeskin (red woolen fabric for you folks who don't know the lingo). CP you see was a member of the Scottish Battalion (Fort Garry Horse... I think correct me if I'm wrong CP) of the Canadian Reserves for a while before being hired by the Canadian Rangers. Hubby at one point served with the Governor General's Foot Guards. Both wore red serge-like uniforms. And so the discussion of wool began based on the nastiness of the various uniforms that are meant to look good but torture our military men. Now anyone who knows anything about wool fabric, knows that it is a very expensive product that is very difficult to get your hands on. It runs at about $120.00 a metre and itches like hell fire, leaving the wearer in warm weather with a skin rash that is just sick.... I love the stuff.
I revel in wool and woven woolen fabric is the best. There are all types of woolen fabric and while discussing wool, I began to wonder what the difference between doeskin, Melton cloth, and serge is. And so began the research... here is what I have found out:
Beaver cloth: A heavy woolen overcoating which is intended to have the appearance of natural beaver skin. The lustrous nap of short fibres is produced by milling the cloth and raising the fibres, which are cut level and laid smoothly in one direction.
Doeskin cloth: A fine woolen, warp-face cloth usually of Merino wool, milled, raised and dress-face finished. It is similar to beaver cloth but lighter and finer.
Flannel: A plain or twill weave fabric with a soft handle due to being slightly milled and raised. The cloth was originally made entirely from wool but now commonly contains some other fibre also. Both woolen and worsted fabrics are produced weighing about 200g/m2
Melton: A heavyweight fabric suitable for overcoats. Lighter weights are used as undercollars in suits. It may be entirely of wool or with a cotton warp and a woolen weft in 2/2 twill or other simple weave. It is heavily milled, raised and cropped.
Molleton: A heavy reversible woolen flannel with a nap on both faces. Now made from other fibres.
Serge: A piece-dyed 2/2 twill cloth of almost square construction with a clear surface. The twill line runs at a low angle to the weft. It is often made of wool but other fibres and blends are used.
This is the website where I found the information:
http://www.narrow-fabrics-manufacturers.com/textile-terms.html This is an excellent web resource.... I'll post it in my links....
I also found out that melton cloth is made in Melton Mowbray, England. This is what I found out here:
Melton Mowbray is home to Melton cloth (first mentioned in 1823), which is the familiar tight-woven woolen cloth which is heavily milled, and a nap raised so as to form a short, dense, non-lustrous pile. Sailors' pea coats are traditionally made of Melton cloth, the universal workmans' donkey jackets of Britain and Ireland and in North America, loggers' "cruising jackets" and Mackinaws. Doeskin cloth, a fine woolen, warp-face cloth usually of Merino wool, milled, raised and dress-face finished. It is similar to beaver cloth but lighter and finer.
Sorry I forgot to write down the website..... ooops.... this is not my work though....
Then I found this:
Since desertion was such a problem, soldiers under the rank of sergeant were not permitted to own civilian clothing. With only their uniform to wear, they would easily be spotted if they tried to desert.
Red Tunics indicate that the wearer is a member of the infantry. Soldiers were supplied with their uniforms, while officers purchased their own.
Officers' uniforms were of a much finer weave of wool, usually doeskin, while the rank and file had uniforms made of melton (wool) and to a lesser extent, serge.
http://www.royalengineers.ca/Uniforms.html
So there you have it Beaverskin cloth, Doeskin cloth, Flannel, Melton, Molleton, and Serge..... FYI.
Now back to what I started out telling you.... here is CP spinning his first yarn.
Don't you love the Harley Davidson Shirt! By the way Hubby and I drank all the beer.... ; }
I love being a spinner and a weaver....so cool!!!!! CP thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to teach you to spin..... next time I'll teach you weaving? : )
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Cool Fog
This morning I woke as per normal around 4:30 a.m. and had to go visit the loo. On my way there I looked out the window and saw a lovely sight. The garden was filled with ground fog. I love ground fog.... especially early in the morning. It is so peaceful to see such a lovely sight. It is eery but lovely. It is mysterious. I took a picture last summer of just such a morning and I think it is one of the loveliest pictures I've ever seen.
I know what you are thinking.... you are probably thinking that I am nuts. I mean who likes fog? Well to be honest, even though I grew up in Newfoundland where fog abounds and lighthouses abound, where the sound of the drawn out honk of the foghorn is a normal day to day sound, it is what turned me off from fog until three years ago. When this region had a draught three years ago so bad that we didn't get a speck of rain for well on four months, everything dried up to the point where it hurt to look at things. There was so little moisture in the air that there wasn't even enough to produce dew at night. Jets would fly overhead and there would be no vapour trail behind it. That's when I learned to love fog.
Fog has a purpose. It creates an invisible amount of moisture over every living thing, and every non-living thing to come to think of it, and while that's not good when it comes to the clothes you left hanging on the clothesline overnight, it is good for all the plants that you see growing right outside your door. It also nourishes all the little insects that get their daily moisture from the dew that forms on the leaves that provide them shelter. There's a whole world that we don't see that relies heavily on the fog and mist that forms overnight. Dew is the nectar of their lives.
Now, while I love fog that brings moisture to the flowers, I do not like fog that keeps me from seeing it. Right now my eye is still coated in a thin glaze of fog. The corner of my eye is still very irritated and will take a while to clear.... if it ever does ... I just wish that fog would go away!
I know what you are thinking.... you are probably thinking that I am nuts. I mean who likes fog? Well to be honest, even though I grew up in Newfoundland where fog abounds and lighthouses abound, where the sound of the drawn out honk of the foghorn is a normal day to day sound, it is what turned me off from fog until three years ago. When this region had a draught three years ago so bad that we didn't get a speck of rain for well on four months, everything dried up to the point where it hurt to look at things. There was so little moisture in the air that there wasn't even enough to produce dew at night. Jets would fly overhead and there would be no vapour trail behind it. That's when I learned to love fog.
Fog has a purpose. It creates an invisible amount of moisture over every living thing, and every non-living thing to come to think of it, and while that's not good when it comes to the clothes you left hanging on the clothesline overnight, it is good for all the plants that you see growing right outside your door. It also nourishes all the little insects that get their daily moisture from the dew that forms on the leaves that provide them shelter. There's a whole world that we don't see that relies heavily on the fog and mist that forms overnight. Dew is the nectar of their lives.
Now, while I love fog that brings moisture to the flowers, I do not like fog that keeps me from seeing it. Right now my eye is still coated in a thin glaze of fog. The corner of my eye is still very irritated and will take a while to clear.... if it ever does ... I just wish that fog would go away!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
I Can See Clearly Now The Rain.... Tears Are Gone
I can see all obstacles in my way.... which is really good since it is a pain in the a-- to keep tripping over things. It is not entirely true that I can see clearly now, as my vision seems to be improving when I look at near things, not so much with distant things. And, oh man, do the muscles that move my eye hurt. It feels like they have been in a blinking marathon. Keeping my eye closed, seems to do it the world of good and yesterday I definitely overdid it. Waaaay toooo much eye strain! By last night I could barely open it and my whole cheek hurt. I even felt like I had a tooth ache.
Who knew that the healing of your eyes would be so complicated. Gunk I expected, redness I expected, but muscle fatigue??? I mean that's what athletes get. So here I sit with my eye closed once again. (sigh) By the way, the picture up above was taken last winter. Here is what they look like now.
I didn't get everything that I set out to do done yesterday. But well I guess I have to set my sights (no pun intended) a little lower. I did start on my tri loom piece. I definitely have to figure out a better way to hang the loom so that I can work on it more comfortably. Today I will rig up some hooks on the wall and see if that works. I also finished the book that I was reading. Probably not the smartest idea but I will dry up and blow away of boredom if I sit around and do nothing.
So there you have it..... the eye is on the mend but feels like its been working overtime. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do but what else is new. It's the weekend and I think I'll be lenient on myself. I think I will go back to bed.... nobody else is up yet.....
Friday, July 24, 2009
I Wear My Sunglasses At Night
I never realized the heavy duty lines to that song! Whoa! The next lines go "So I can, so I can, watch you weave then breathe your story lines..."
Anyway, yes.. I wear my sunglasses at night. In bed while I read "Weaving In The Peruvian Highlands" Funny about weaving... I've always wanted to learn how to weave on a back strap loom. I think it is really neat how such intricate designs can be woven using a few sticks they may or may not be picked up off the ground. It is marvelous that weaving can be so intimate and so all empowering. There is a picture where a group of women are sitting on the ground around a central post with back strap looms attached to it. They are all weaving and they look happy to be able to enjoy each other's companionship while concentrating on these lovely pieces of weaving that they are creating. That kind of weaving is amazing to me. It is where the primitive meats the complex, in the weaving and in the relationships of the women who produce the ideas. I am suggesting to you all if you are even remotely interested in fibre arts or for that matter other cultures, this is an interesting read.
I read for quite a while last night but had to wear my sunglasses to avoid the glare of the light. I fell asleep with the glasses on and some time after midnight woke enough to remove them and put them on the bedside table. Hubby had come to bed and turned out the light and removed the book from my hand but left the glasses in place so as not to wake me. I woke this morning with my eye (the bad one) severely gummed up. I washed it out and seemed to have a lot less swelling. I am able to get my eye open this morning anyway. It feels like a piece of sandpaper in there and when I look out of it with my other eye closed I can't tell the difference between a baseball bat and a broom at ten feet. So still quite blurred. But at least there is some improvement.
I decided right away this morning, that since it was still cool (it was 6 a.m.) I would get down to it and finish staining the deck. My eye was in good shape, (sort of) I didn't have to keep it closed and so this seemed a prime opportunity to get some work done.
I am happy to say that the deck is nearing completion and as soon as Hubby finishes breakfast I will hit him up to help me move the fireplace so that I can paint under there. I have left a small corridor to the door for walking that I will finish late tonight so that it can dry overnight and not inconvenience anybody. Then tomorrow I will follow up with a coat of Linseed Oil to help protect the stain. Then later in the fall I will do the new North deck when we are not using it and everyone is back in school and there is not so much traffic over the floor.
Hubby and E/P will be working on the plumbing today and hopefully will have the shower installed by tonight. That would be nice as I am starting to pine for daily showers again. We had to go to the school (thank heavens Hubby is a teacher and has a key) last night to wash ourselves and this is not the most pleasant situation. The showers at the school suck! Then we will be working on the new toilet in our upstairs bathroom and moving the toilet in the downstairs bathroom. This will require peeing in the bushes for a day I am told. Thank heavens we live in the country where the only thing that might peep at you while you squat is a sheep or alpaca. (Perhaps I am getting vulgar!!) Inconvenience seems to be the name of the game these days.
In the meantime I am taking out the much anticipated 7 foot tri-loom today and will be starting on the freshly plied Alberta Summer (bought from Legacy Studios).
A 2-ply worsted yarn will be used for a woven shawl.... and I might just have to wear my sunglasses for a while longer..... in that bright sunshine. A good day for weaving.: )
Anyway, yes.. I wear my sunglasses at night. In bed while I read "Weaving In The Peruvian Highlands" Funny about weaving... I've always wanted to learn how to weave on a back strap loom. I think it is really neat how such intricate designs can be woven using a few sticks they may or may not be picked up off the ground. It is marvelous that weaving can be so intimate and so all empowering. There is a picture where a group of women are sitting on the ground around a central post with back strap looms attached to it. They are all weaving and they look happy to be able to enjoy each other's companionship while concentrating on these lovely pieces of weaving that they are creating. That kind of weaving is amazing to me. It is where the primitive meats the complex, in the weaving and in the relationships of the women who produce the ideas. I am suggesting to you all if you are even remotely interested in fibre arts or for that matter other cultures, this is an interesting read.
I read for quite a while last night but had to wear my sunglasses to avoid the glare of the light. I fell asleep with the glasses on and some time after midnight woke enough to remove them and put them on the bedside table. Hubby had come to bed and turned out the light and removed the book from my hand but left the glasses in place so as not to wake me. I woke this morning with my eye (the bad one) severely gummed up. I washed it out and seemed to have a lot less swelling. I am able to get my eye open this morning anyway. It feels like a piece of sandpaper in there and when I look out of it with my other eye closed I can't tell the difference between a baseball bat and a broom at ten feet. So still quite blurred. But at least there is some improvement.
I decided right away this morning, that since it was still cool (it was 6 a.m.) I would get down to it and finish staining the deck. My eye was in good shape, (sort of) I didn't have to keep it closed and so this seemed a prime opportunity to get some work done.
I am happy to say that the deck is nearing completion and as soon as Hubby finishes breakfast I will hit him up to help me move the fireplace so that I can paint under there. I have left a small corridor to the door for walking that I will finish late tonight so that it can dry overnight and not inconvenience anybody. Then tomorrow I will follow up with a coat of Linseed Oil to help protect the stain. Then later in the fall I will do the new North deck when we are not using it and everyone is back in school and there is not so much traffic over the floor.Hubby and E/P will be working on the plumbing today and hopefully will have the shower installed by tonight. That would be nice as I am starting to pine for daily showers again. We had to go to the school (thank heavens Hubby is a teacher and has a key) last night to wash ourselves and this is not the most pleasant situation. The showers at the school suck! Then we will be working on the new toilet in our upstairs bathroom and moving the toilet in the downstairs bathroom. This will require peeing in the bushes for a day I am told. Thank heavens we live in the country where the only thing that might peep at you while you squat is a sheep or alpaca. (Perhaps I am getting vulgar!!) Inconvenience seems to be the name of the game these days.
In the meantime I am taking out the much anticipated 7 foot tri-loom today and will be starting on the freshly plied Alberta Summer (bought from Legacy Studios).
A 2-ply worsted yarn will be used for a woven shawl.... and I might just have to wear my sunglasses for a while longer..... in that bright sunshine. A good day for weaving.: )
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Why I'm Here
I started this blog not quite a year ago in an effort to keep a bit of a journal... if somewhat public journal.... of the beginning of my hobby farm and new business. The interesting thing about blogging is that anyone can read what you write. I really have no idea of how many people read my blog. I do know that some family members and friends who do not live near by keep tabs on my family and I and all of our doings through the writing of this blog.
All along I have only had two official followers who have registered with Google, and I know them. Then suddenly I get another and she is a perfect stranger. There are other people who follow my blog who are not registered. I know this because I have friends who mention that they read this or that on my blog and seem to know as much about my life as I do. But when perfect strangers are reading your blog you really have to try to have something interesting to say.
Even the Daughters are starting to have comments made about their lives to them..... it's neat in a kind of weird way.
Anyway, it dawned on me this morning, that even though this blog is supposed to be about starting up my mill and hobby farm, I really have not said a whole lot about that. I have spoken about the animals, and they are crucial to my milling business, but I haven't spoken about the mill itself. I guess it is time to update everyone on that.
Two years ago, I started the Master Spinners program at Olds College and I figured that the next few years would be a challenge and keep me very busy. Shortly after I registered for my first year of college I got an opportunity to buy a cottage mill and picker for an excellent price. I had a dilemma. Do I carry on with the Master Spinner program or do I buy the mill and start a business, which I knew would take a terrible amount of time. I decided to do both, and Hubby encouraged me in this.
I agreed to buy the mill right away. However, I knew that paying for it in one lump sum would be a stretch. So I paid for it a little at a time. The owner was fine with this. My goal is not to overstretch and to hopefully not take on huge amounts of debt. Next, I knew I would need fibre to feed the mill. That's when the animals became a part of our life. Part of owning a mill is having enough of viable fibre to produce a good quality product. Not all wool and alpaca will work in the mill I have bought. I am trying to find sheep that will produce fibre that will work in it. I do know that my mill will not take really fine fibre and so I am crossing breeds of sheep to find the right mix. Nelly is looking like she might be a good mix. I am hoping Oscar will be good too. Palmer, who is one of the lambs is looking good too. Little Red is not and so she will be culled this fall. As will Izzy. Fanny is a little on the fine side of good fibre but I like her fibre for me so will keep her just as a good hand spun. Greigg also has decent fibre for the mill. The alpacas will be used to blend.
I also am not able to house my mill yet. The mill is still at the previous owners farm. Which is where it will stay until she sells her farm or we finish the house renovation and move everything out of our overly crowded workshop. I also knew at the time of my decision, that if I was going to continue on with the Master Spinner program the business would have to wait until I finished. So suffice it to say that I am working on being in business but am not there yet and will continue to work on that until I'm finished the Master Spinner program. These six years, are years of planning and transition. I have all the time in the world to work on this business and I want it to be the best it can and I want to have it ready when I am ready. I think these are wise business decisions and so that is why I do not write about the milling yet. I am hoping that by next summer I will be able to house the mill in a new building that will accommodate a small shop too. But I am not willing to kill myself or Hubby who helps me in every aspect of this business.
So the resultant is that I will continue to experiment with sheep and look for animals that provide the kind of fibre I want. I have four new sheep coming in the fall. One is a pure Merino which has much too fine fibre for the mill but might make a good cross breeder. I also have another Cotswold/Merino sheep coming which has lovely fibre as well. There is also a Candian Arcott/Charlais/Merino who I am hoping will produce nice fibre. I have a new white ram who hopefully will help me to get lambs that produce dye-able white fibre. (Oscar threw too many black lambs this year.)
So there my fibre business sits at this time. Ye Olde Batt is in the motions of getting started but it will be a long haul. In the meantime, I am looking for a Battmobile this winter. We need a second vehicle and will combine family use and business use in the same car. But I'm sure you will hear more about that as time moves forward as does the planing of my business.
All along I have only had two official followers who have registered with Google, and I know them. Then suddenly I get another and she is a perfect stranger. There are other people who follow my blog who are not registered. I know this because I have friends who mention that they read this or that on my blog and seem to know as much about my life as I do. But when perfect strangers are reading your blog you really have to try to have something interesting to say.
Even the Daughters are starting to have comments made about their lives to them..... it's neat in a kind of weird way.
Anyway, it dawned on me this morning, that even though this blog is supposed to be about starting up my mill and hobby farm, I really have not said a whole lot about that. I have spoken about the animals, and they are crucial to my milling business, but I haven't spoken about the mill itself. I guess it is time to update everyone on that.
Two years ago, I started the Master Spinners program at Olds College and I figured that the next few years would be a challenge and keep me very busy. Shortly after I registered for my first year of college I got an opportunity to buy a cottage mill and picker for an excellent price. I had a dilemma. Do I carry on with the Master Spinner program or do I buy the mill and start a business, which I knew would take a terrible amount of time. I decided to do both, and Hubby encouraged me in this.
I agreed to buy the mill right away. However, I knew that paying for it in one lump sum would be a stretch. So I paid for it a little at a time. The owner was fine with this. My goal is not to overstretch and to hopefully not take on huge amounts of debt. Next, I knew I would need fibre to feed the mill. That's when the animals became a part of our life. Part of owning a mill is having enough of viable fibre to produce a good quality product. Not all wool and alpaca will work in the mill I have bought. I am trying to find sheep that will produce fibre that will work in it. I do know that my mill will not take really fine fibre and so I am crossing breeds of sheep to find the right mix. Nelly is looking like she might be a good mix. I am hoping Oscar will be good too. Palmer, who is one of the lambs is looking good too. Little Red is not and so she will be culled this fall. As will Izzy. Fanny is a little on the fine side of good fibre but I like her fibre for me so will keep her just as a good hand spun. Greigg also has decent fibre for the mill. The alpacas will be used to blend.
I also am not able to house my mill yet. The mill is still at the previous owners farm. Which is where it will stay until she sells her farm or we finish the house renovation and move everything out of our overly crowded workshop. I also knew at the time of my decision, that if I was going to continue on with the Master Spinner program the business would have to wait until I finished. So suffice it to say that I am working on being in business but am not there yet and will continue to work on that until I'm finished the Master Spinner program. These six years, are years of planning and transition. I have all the time in the world to work on this business and I want it to be the best it can and I want to have it ready when I am ready. I think these are wise business decisions and so that is why I do not write about the milling yet. I am hoping that by next summer I will be able to house the mill in a new building that will accommodate a small shop too. But I am not willing to kill myself or Hubby who helps me in every aspect of this business.
So the resultant is that I will continue to experiment with sheep and look for animals that provide the kind of fibre I want. I have four new sheep coming in the fall. One is a pure Merino which has much too fine fibre for the mill but might make a good cross breeder. I also have another Cotswold/Merino sheep coming which has lovely fibre as well. There is also a Candian Arcott/Charlais/Merino who I am hoping will produce nice fibre. I have a new white ram who hopefully will help me to get lambs that produce dye-able white fibre. (Oscar threw too many black lambs this year.)
So there my fibre business sits at this time. Ye Olde Batt is in the motions of getting started but it will be a long haul. In the meantime, I am looking for a Battmobile this winter. We need a second vehicle and will combine family use and business use in the same car. But I'm sure you will hear more about that as time moves forward as does the planing of my business.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I'm Being Followed By A Moonshadow
If I ever lose my eyes.... if my colours all run dry.... I won't have to cry no more. Thank you Cat Stevens for those most appropriate and applicable words!
Ok so this is what I look like right now.
I'm not sure what that blue thing is by my head and the scowl is because I have my right eye closed and can't open it due to icky stuff coming out of it.
I have been in the hospital all afternoon. I landed there only to get a silicone contact lens stuffed in my eye with a hose attached and a saline solution dripping into my eye in an effort to wash out all the nasty stuff that had gotten in there. Then I had to wait an hour for the drip to go through and then another hour before the doctor was able to see me. Both eyes had been affected but the one eye seemed to be on the mend while the other one wasn't. So there I sat listening to the nurse cleaning the bum of some poor woman who had had diarrhea for several days and wasn't able to clean herself and now had, in effect, a severe case of diaper rash. This was not the most pleasant thing to have to listen to. Worse still was the fact that I had polished off three cups of tea and no solid food for quite a while. The tea pees were affecting me with every drip of saline solution that entered my eye. I lay there wondering if I could sneak off down the hall with the whole thing still connected to my eye and if anyone would notice a lunatic with a hose in her eye and tears running down her cheek into her shirt collar as she sought out the facilities. After an hour of the saline solution dripping into my eye while I crossed my legs (tightly) and then the drip stopping and the contact lens now starting to hurt because there was no longer any fluid dripping into it to help with lubrication, I finally couldn't wait any longer. I gingerly sat up and felt for the edge of the tape holding the whole apparatus in place and eased the contact lens out of my eye. Then I gingerly stepped out into the hall looking for a likely door with a lady in a skirt or some such thing. Let me tell you how good it is to rid yourself of some fluid that you don't want to be there but have had to hold onto to for far too long.
I got back in my room and the contact lens was still on my pillow where I had left it. Shortly after a nurse came in to remove the lens and so I apologized and explained my dilemma and why I was no longer lying with the lens in my eye. She understood..... I'm thankful for that. She then told me I would have to wait about an hour before the doctor would see me to put more stuff in my eye. By this time my eye was gummed up with some icky looking stuff that was starting to concern me. That was when the visions started. I looked at the walls for a while and read the eye chart about 15 times... you know... the one that starts with a very large E that if you can't read it you are in serious trouble. I got up and walked back and forth, I sat down, I read labels I tried to get my severely gummed up eye to open (but it was stuck) and then I had my first vision.
I sat there and started to dream of drop spindling and some lovely merino and silk rovings in an undulating red and purple and of a nifty little Turkish spindle that I had bought in Olds. Like what was wrong with me!..... I could have brought it with me and had a lovely 20 metres spun while I waited for the doctor. Take it from me.... always bring a supply of fibre and a drop spindle with you in your purse. You never know when you might need it.
I digress. Anyway eventually the doctor came in and dropped some more drops into my eye (which were a nasty messy yellow) and had a good look. He pronounced me to be fit to leave and that my eye would undergo some swelling and irritation for a few days but would be as good as new after that. No sh--! I must say that I am glad to hear it but three hours in the hospital listening to an old lady get her bum cleaned was not a great way to find out. Oh well.... all's well that ends well.
In the meantime look what Hubby and E/P were doing at home.
This is Hubby removing the old shower stall.
This is E/P who didn't want his picture taken and so produced his butt at the crucial moment.
This is the corner where the shower was. It had to go out through the window.
The bathroom window is out and plastic will do the trick for the next twenty-four hours.
The shower made it upstairs.
They started to drill the hole for the plumbing. It looks pretty good there in the corner.
The shower had to come in through the door... the front door that is.
Like the window, the front door got a coating of plastic for the night.
The jacuzzi came in the front door and sits waiting in the living room for it's final move to the downstairs bathroom.
Wow and this is the worst of our bathroom renovations and we are getting there with them.... I'll be glad when the shower is hooked up again. Anyway... I guess we will see how my eye is doing in the morning.
Ok so this is what I look like right now.
I'm not sure what that blue thing is by my head and the scowl is because I have my right eye closed and can't open it due to icky stuff coming out of it.
I have been in the hospital all afternoon. I landed there only to get a silicone contact lens stuffed in my eye with a hose attached and a saline solution dripping into my eye in an effort to wash out all the nasty stuff that had gotten in there. Then I had to wait an hour for the drip to go through and then another hour before the doctor was able to see me. Both eyes had been affected but the one eye seemed to be on the mend while the other one wasn't. So there I sat listening to the nurse cleaning the bum of some poor woman who had had diarrhea for several days and wasn't able to clean herself and now had, in effect, a severe case of diaper rash. This was not the most pleasant thing to have to listen to. Worse still was the fact that I had polished off three cups of tea and no solid food for quite a while. The tea pees were affecting me with every drip of saline solution that entered my eye. I lay there wondering if I could sneak off down the hall with the whole thing still connected to my eye and if anyone would notice a lunatic with a hose in her eye and tears running down her cheek into her shirt collar as she sought out the facilities. After an hour of the saline solution dripping into my eye while I crossed my legs (tightly) and then the drip stopping and the contact lens now starting to hurt because there was no longer any fluid dripping into it to help with lubrication, I finally couldn't wait any longer. I gingerly sat up and felt for the edge of the tape holding the whole apparatus in place and eased the contact lens out of my eye. Then I gingerly stepped out into the hall looking for a likely door with a lady in a skirt or some such thing. Let me tell you how good it is to rid yourself of some fluid that you don't want to be there but have had to hold onto to for far too long.
I got back in my room and the contact lens was still on my pillow where I had left it. Shortly after a nurse came in to remove the lens and so I apologized and explained my dilemma and why I was no longer lying with the lens in my eye. She understood..... I'm thankful for that. She then told me I would have to wait about an hour before the doctor would see me to put more stuff in my eye. By this time my eye was gummed up with some icky looking stuff that was starting to concern me. That was when the visions started. I looked at the walls for a while and read the eye chart about 15 times... you know... the one that starts with a very large E that if you can't read it you are in serious trouble. I got up and walked back and forth, I sat down, I read labels I tried to get my severely gummed up eye to open (but it was stuck) and then I had my first vision.
I sat there and started to dream of drop spindling and some lovely merino and silk rovings in an undulating red and purple and of a nifty little Turkish spindle that I had bought in Olds. Like what was wrong with me!..... I could have brought it with me and had a lovely 20 metres spun while I waited for the doctor. Take it from me.... always bring a supply of fibre and a drop spindle with you in your purse. You never know when you might need it.
I digress. Anyway eventually the doctor came in and dropped some more drops into my eye (which were a nasty messy yellow) and had a good look. He pronounced me to be fit to leave and that my eye would undergo some swelling and irritation for a few days but would be as good as new after that. No sh--! I must say that I am glad to hear it but three hours in the hospital listening to an old lady get her bum cleaned was not a great way to find out. Oh well.... all's well that ends well.
In the meantime look what Hubby and E/P were doing at home.
This is Hubby removing the old shower stall.
This is E/P who didn't want his picture taken and so produced his butt at the crucial moment.
This is the corner where the shower was. It had to go out through the window.
The bathroom window is out and plastic will do the trick for the next twenty-four hours.
The shower made it upstairs.
They started to drill the hole for the plumbing. It looks pretty good there in the corner.
The shower had to come in through the door... the front door that is.
Like the window, the front door got a coating of plastic for the night.
The jacuzzi came in the front door and sits waiting in the living room for it's final move to the downstairs bathroom.
Wow and this is the worst of our bathroom renovations and we are getting there with them.... I'll be glad when the shower is hooked up again. Anyway... I guess we will see how my eye is doing in the morning.
The Eyes Are The Windows Of The Soul
As I am writing this I am flushing my eyes out every five minutes. I guess it is very easy to take your eyes for granted since really you only look at them only when you see your reflection. I mean we look out of them minute by minute and hour by hour but we don't really see them. Today Daughter #1 came in through the door with a hornet sting on the back of her neck so I proceeded to the medicine cabinet for the Afterbite to put some on the bite site. Problem is that Daughter #2 had two bites last week. She used the Afterbite and did not put it back in the medicine cabinet. We were frantically looking for the Afterbite when Hubby remembered that he had some in his kit from the JCR's. The first thing I noticed was that it came in a tube of gel rather than liquid form which was different from what I normally used. I opened the tube and tried to squeeze a small amount onto the bite site of the neck of Daughter #1. Hmmm it wouldn't come out.... hmmmm! So like a a fool I turned the tube to see why it wouldn't come out and squeezed at the same time. That's when the accident happened.
Somehow a small amount had dried in the opening of the tube and was blocking the liquid gel below. It popped sending a spray of ammonia straight into my eye. I was blinded instantly. I'm not sure what I did but I think there was a scream involved and Daughter#1 was panicking and trying to get Hubby to come quick. Next thing I know I'm stumbling into a wall as I try to get to the nearest water source. Hubby is grabbing a glass of water and trying to force me to the floor of the deck.... "My Deck" and drowning me with water as he pours it over my face. I for the moment can't breath both from the shock of having water pured over my face and also from the water that went up my nose. At this point it would have been funny except that I was in serious danger of burning my cornea to pieces. I grabbed the water and sat up and started to carefully pour the water into my eyes flushing them as best I could. It was, in all honesty, one of the most scarey things that have ever happened to me.
Both eyes were burned but only one eye still hurts. That was about an hour ago. Don't you know it.... our clinic was closed at the time. The medical profession are never available when you need them. I am able to see but I must say that I am worried that I have done permanent damage. As soon as the clinic reopens I'm off to have it checked ... stay tuned.
Somehow a small amount had dried in the opening of the tube and was blocking the liquid gel below. It popped sending a spray of ammonia straight into my eye. I was blinded instantly. I'm not sure what I did but I think there was a scream involved and Daughter#1 was panicking and trying to get Hubby to come quick. Next thing I know I'm stumbling into a wall as I try to get to the nearest water source. Hubby is grabbing a glass of water and trying to force me to the floor of the deck.... "My Deck" and drowning me with water as he pours it over my face. I for the moment can't breath both from the shock of having water pured over my face and also from the water that went up my nose. At this point it would have been funny except that I was in serious danger of burning my cornea to pieces. I grabbed the water and sat up and started to carefully pour the water into my eyes flushing them as best I could. It was, in all honesty, one of the most scarey things that have ever happened to me.
Both eyes were burned but only one eye still hurts. That was about an hour ago. Don't you know it.... our clinic was closed at the time. The medical profession are never available when you need them. I am able to see but I must say that I am worried that I have done permanent damage. As soon as the clinic reopens I'm off to have it checked ... stay tuned.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
75 Years Young Today
Pops is my father and he is turning 75 today. He has had a lot of health problems in the last little while and so it is a wonderful thing to have him turn 75.
I have watched him over the last year go in and out of the hospital for various health problems mostly to do with his heart. He has had low blood pressure a number of times and several infections that have been an issue. He has a slipped disk that gives him great pain and is inoperable. Last year a couple of times I thought I had almost lost him. It is hard to watch your parents health deteriorate. When I was little I always felt that Pops was invincible but as an adult I realize that this is not so.
Pops started researching his genealogy several years ago and has been able to trace my family name back to the times of William the Conqueror. He is very proud of the work he has done and has been writing that history down in a book form that he hopes to leave to his grand children. Unfortunately he had no sons and so the family name will end when he ends. I think that is what prompted him to write his book. The book is well over 700 pages, and tells all about his life, his father's life (who was a fishing merchant and owned a successful business) and continues down through the family history with all kinds of notes on the history of Newfoundland, which is where we are from, and even contains notes on the socio/economic history of England and what brought my family to Newfoundland and eventually Canada in the first place.
Dad is a trooper and it amazes me the amount of work and time he has put into this book. It amazes me how many times he has pulled back from ill health where we wondered if he would come out of the hospital. Just yesterday he went swimming in the local outdoor pool. He loves his children and he adores his grandchildren. We will pick him up later and take the guy out for lunch. He will enjoy it I think. What a better way than to spend his day with his grand kids who love him immensely. I look forward to this day with my Dad because he is someone who I think deserves the best.
Happy Birthday Dad. I hope this is a good year for you.
I have watched him over the last year go in and out of the hospital for various health problems mostly to do with his heart. He has had low blood pressure a number of times and several infections that have been an issue. He has a slipped disk that gives him great pain and is inoperable. Last year a couple of times I thought I had almost lost him. It is hard to watch your parents health deteriorate. When I was little I always felt that Pops was invincible but as an adult I realize that this is not so.
Pops started researching his genealogy several years ago and has been able to trace my family name back to the times of William the Conqueror. He is very proud of the work he has done and has been writing that history down in a book form that he hopes to leave to his grand children. Unfortunately he had no sons and so the family name will end when he ends. I think that is what prompted him to write his book. The book is well over 700 pages, and tells all about his life, his father's life (who was a fishing merchant and owned a successful business) and continues down through the family history with all kinds of notes on the history of Newfoundland, which is where we are from, and even contains notes on the socio/economic history of England and what brought my family to Newfoundland and eventually Canada in the first place.
Dad is a trooper and it amazes me the amount of work and time he has put into this book. It amazes me how many times he has pulled back from ill health where we wondered if he would come out of the hospital. Just yesterday he went swimming in the local outdoor pool. He loves his children and he adores his grandchildren. We will pick him up later and take the guy out for lunch. He will enjoy it I think. What a better way than to spend his day with his grand kids who love him immensely. I look forward to this day with my Dad because he is someone who I think deserves the best.
Happy Birthday Dad. I hope this is a good year for you.
Monday, July 20, 2009
What A Weekend!!!
I dyed. I dyed and went to heaven.... what a way to go! What an amazing bunch of ladies. We almost all of us dyed and went to heaven. This weekend eight ladies came to my house for the annual Frankie's Mid Summer Retreat and we enjoyed three days of all the things that fibre artists love to do. We spun. We drop spindled. We knitted. We wove. We swapped ideas. But most of all, we dyed. Playing with colour in the middle of the summer has to be one of the most satisfying play activities a spinner and weaver can do. (I never write last names here and I try to avoid first names so I will just use initials to protect the identities of friends and family alike.) MW from three and a half hours away showed up on Friday afternoon and right away we started talking shop and showing off new spindles and new fibre and of course the house renovations were at the top of the list too. It was such a joy and a pleasure to have a like minded person with which to share the projects of the last year. Then later in the evening the next vehicle pulled into the yard carrying NC and FE and the furry friend Mokie.
Supper was soon on the go and fibre chat began in ernest. Later AM showed up and out came wheels, spindles, looms, and knitting needles as the activities began. We gabbed and chatted and shared ideas. We laughed and relaxed and that was what the retreat was all about. Too soon yawns became apparent and AM made her way home because she lives only moments away and didn't want to camp out considering that she is 86 years of age. Then shortly after NC and FE followed with Mokie as they were staying at AM's house with the intention of arriving once again in the morning. That left MW and myself to spindle and relax for another hour or so before directing ourselves to our respective beds. MW stayed in her vehicle as she had a snuggly bed set up in there and I headed upstairs to my pallet.
5 a.m. in the morning my eyes popped open in anticipation of the day ahead (I was really excited) and while I really wanted to get up and get going I knew that some more sleep would be good since I didn't want to fade out when the real fun started to happen. By 6:30 a.m. I knew I was a goner. I gave up trying to visit the back of my eyelids and I removed myself to the shower to spark myself for a day of activities and fun. By 7:30 a.m. MW and I were enjoying a breakfast beverage while a pot of oxalic acid stewed on my hot plate and a fire merrily crackled in the fireplace. We planned our crowded pot and began soaking out the fibre and skeins that would make their debut in a new colour later that day.
Our choice of colours was to use the primaries in an Ashford palette. So out came the dyes and we began to mix colour.
MW had never done this crowded pot dying and so I led her through the steps with ease. She's a quick learner and so began the day. We played with colour all throughout the day and when our results were not what we envisioned we made other plans to sharpen up colours or try a new concept in dying. It was fun.
I have primary colours in acid wash dyes and there came a point when MW and I decided we wanted to try something different. By that time NC and FE and AM had shown up and we were patiently waiting for a couple more people to show, one of whom owns a store in FSJ where she sells all sorts of supplies for fibre nuts like myself and my friends. When she called slightly before noon to say that she wouldn't make it till the next day I jumped on the opportunity to suggest she bring some of the lovely dye colours that she carries in her store. With that in mind we decided to put off any more dying until we had more colour. My fingers by that time were red and yellow and blue.
The rest of the afternoon was spent seeking shade and shelter from the hot sun and then later the showers while we diligently all worked on separate projects. Along about early afternoon MW and I were fading fast and NC and FE were needing some exercise so FE and NC went for a walk while MW and AM went to their respective vehicles for snoozes and I headed for my pallet above for a much needed snooze too.
Hubby and Daughter #1 had headed off earlier in the afternoon for some much needed hay and Daughter #2 and her friend were playing on the computer. All was quiet and so I dropped off for a 45 minute reprieve.
Later the spinning and weaving began again. MW was spindling with a lovely spindle that had an interesting purple marbly looking stone-ish type whorl. It was small and compact and she was spinning a lovely lime green concoction. Very pretty! FE was diligently working on a lovely tapestry
and NC was working back and forth between a tapestry and then some spinning. 
AM had a lovely cream and gray Icelandic sweater on the go. I was spinning thick yarn for a woven shawl on the triangular loom.
We ate a lovely repast of barbequed salmon, with bean salad, green salad, coleslaw, and fruit for desert as well as a sugarless and gluten free rhubarb desert which though it was sugarless and gluten free was delightful all the same. We spinners and weavers never go hungry! Fruit abounded all weekend. The food was not a priority but it sure added to the pleasure of the whole affair.
After NC and FE had followed AM off to her house in HH, MW and myself sat down for a light snack before turning in for the night. By this time Daughter #2's friend had gone home and Hubby and Daughter #1 had showed up with a large bail of hay and Hubby had headed off to the river for an evening of fishing. Just as it was getting dark, in the driveway came MF, whom I had given up on showing up. So though MW and I were about to fall off our feet from fatigue (remember I was awake at 5 a.m. and MW comes from a different time zone) we decided to keep her company and chat awhile with her. Finally MW looked like she was a goner so she headed off to bed and so I waited a little longer before crashing myself. Hubby came in with narry a fish and kept MF company till she was ready to crash at which time she headed out to our trusty old tent trailer.
In the middle of the night it started to rain and knowing that we had all of our stuff spread around I decided to go and check out if there were things getting drenched in the rain. As I headed out onto the deck I discovered that our big dog had discovered a bag of garbage and chewed through to the garbage and proceeded to spread it over "My Deck" Grrrrr! Hubby and I were cleaning up garbage at 4 a.m. in the morning in the pouring down rain.
I was actually able to get back to sleep after this incident and so I was feeling pretty good this morning when all things fibre started again. MF, MW and myself started out on the North deck with spinning and spindling. I even managed a little weaving on the Weavette. So when CP showed up with the dye from her store around just before lunch we all jumped on the opportunity to pick out some very pretty colours. That's when we all dyed!
Actually, I'm not sure that AM and FE dyed but that's ok..... not everyone among the fibre junkies is perfect. Out came pots and rice steamers and slow cookers and vinegar and yarn and fleece and silk hankies and then the serious dying began. People were dying all over the place..... here's the results of our day.
All in all we had a great time. We showed off our nifty weaving....
We showed off our stickers that Granddaughter gave us... thanks Hallie for Grandma's My Little Pony.
We showed off our toe nails
And most importantly, we enjoyed every last minute of our opportunity to just be with like minded people. We dyed, we spun, we wove, and we knitted and what a time we had. I can't wait till next year when we do it all again...... I'm already planning what kinds of dying we can do. Hmmm..... maybe we can get some nature dyes on the go.... maybe we can dye some self striping yarn.... maybe.... maybe.... maybe....
To all you fibre enthusiasts.... maybe you can come and join us. Then you too can dye and go to heaven.
Supper was soon on the go and fibre chat began in ernest. Later AM showed up and out came wheels, spindles, looms, and knitting needles as the activities began. We gabbed and chatted and shared ideas. We laughed and relaxed and that was what the retreat was all about. Too soon yawns became apparent and AM made her way home because she lives only moments away and didn't want to camp out considering that she is 86 years of age. Then shortly after NC and FE followed with Mokie as they were staying at AM's house with the intention of arriving once again in the morning. That left MW and myself to spindle and relax for another hour or so before directing ourselves to our respective beds. MW stayed in her vehicle as she had a snuggly bed set up in there and I headed upstairs to my pallet. 5 a.m. in the morning my eyes popped open in anticipation of the day ahead (I was really excited) and while I really wanted to get up and get going I knew that some more sleep would be good since I didn't want to fade out when the real fun started to happen. By 6:30 a.m. I knew I was a goner. I gave up trying to visit the back of my eyelids and I removed myself to the shower to spark myself for a day of activities and fun. By 7:30 a.m. MW and I were enjoying a breakfast beverage while a pot of oxalic acid stewed on my hot plate and a fire merrily crackled in the fireplace. We planned our crowded pot and began soaking out the fibre and skeins that would make their debut in a new colour later that day.
Our choice of colours was to use the primaries in an Ashford palette. So out came the dyes and we began to mix colour.
MW had never done this crowded pot dying and so I led her through the steps with ease. She's a quick learner and so began the day. We played with colour all throughout the day and when our results were not what we envisioned we made other plans to sharpen up colours or try a new concept in dying. It was fun. I have primary colours in acid wash dyes and there came a point when MW and I decided we wanted to try something different. By that time NC and FE and AM had shown up and we were patiently waiting for a couple more people to show, one of whom owns a store in FSJ where she sells all sorts of supplies for fibre nuts like myself and my friends. When she called slightly before noon to say that she wouldn't make it till the next day I jumped on the opportunity to suggest she bring some of the lovely dye colours that she carries in her store. With that in mind we decided to put off any more dying until we had more colour. My fingers by that time were red and yellow and blue.
The rest of the afternoon was spent seeking shade and shelter from the hot sun and then later the showers while we diligently all worked on separate projects. Along about early afternoon MW and I were fading fast and NC and FE were needing some exercise so FE and NC went for a walk while MW and AM went to their respective vehicles for snoozes and I headed for my pallet above for a much needed snooze too.
Hubby and Daughter #1 had headed off earlier in the afternoon for some much needed hay and Daughter #2 and her friend were playing on the computer. All was quiet and so I dropped off for a 45 minute reprieve.
Later the spinning and weaving began again. MW was spindling with a lovely spindle that had an interesting purple marbly looking stone-ish type whorl. It was small and compact and she was spinning a lovely lime green concoction. Very pretty! FE was diligently working on a lovely tapestry
and NC was working back and forth between a tapestry and then some spinning. 
AM had a lovely cream and gray Icelandic sweater on the go. I was spinning thick yarn for a woven shawl on the triangular loom.
We ate a lovely repast of barbequed salmon, with bean salad, green salad, coleslaw, and fruit for desert as well as a sugarless and gluten free rhubarb desert which though it was sugarless and gluten free was delightful all the same. We spinners and weavers never go hungry! Fruit abounded all weekend. The food was not a priority but it sure added to the pleasure of the whole affair.
After NC and FE had followed AM off to her house in HH, MW and myself sat down for a light snack before turning in for the night. By this time Daughter #2's friend had gone home and Hubby and Daughter #1 had showed up with a large bail of hay and Hubby had headed off to the river for an evening of fishing. Just as it was getting dark, in the driveway came MF, whom I had given up on showing up. So though MW and I were about to fall off our feet from fatigue (remember I was awake at 5 a.m. and MW comes from a different time zone) we decided to keep her company and chat awhile with her. Finally MW looked like she was a goner so she headed off to bed and so I waited a little longer before crashing myself. Hubby came in with narry a fish and kept MF company till she was ready to crash at which time she headed out to our trusty old tent trailer.
In the middle of the night it started to rain and knowing that we had all of our stuff spread around I decided to go and check out if there were things getting drenched in the rain. As I headed out onto the deck I discovered that our big dog had discovered a bag of garbage and chewed through to the garbage and proceeded to spread it over "My Deck" Grrrrr! Hubby and I were cleaning up garbage at 4 a.m. in the morning in the pouring down rain.
I was actually able to get back to sleep after this incident and so I was feeling pretty good this morning when all things fibre started again. MF, MW and myself started out on the North deck with spinning and spindling. I even managed a little weaving on the Weavette. So when CP showed up with the dye from her store around just before lunch we all jumped on the opportunity to pick out some very pretty colours. That's when we all dyed!
Actually, I'm not sure that AM and FE dyed but that's ok..... not everyone among the fibre junkies is perfect. Out came pots and rice steamers and slow cookers and vinegar and yarn and fleece and silk hankies and then the serious dying began. People were dying all over the place..... here's the results of our day.
All in all we had a great time. We showed off our nifty weaving....
We showed off our stickers that Granddaughter gave us... thanks Hallie for Grandma's My Little Pony.
We showed off our toe nails
And most importantly, we enjoyed every last minute of our opportunity to just be with like minded people. We dyed, we spun, we wove, and we knitted and what a time we had. I can't wait till next year when we do it all again...... I'm already planning what kinds of dying we can do. Hmmm..... maybe we can get some nature dyes on the go.... maybe we can dye some self striping yarn.... maybe.... maybe.... maybe....
To all you fibre enthusiasts.... maybe you can come and join us. Then you too can dye and go to heaven.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Up Up And Away
I'm so excited! Phase one of the bathroom renovation is just about complete. The plumbing and electrical is done and ready for the washer and dryer to make a one way trip upstairs. Hubby has lined up some people to help him move the dryer up the steps today. No small task I assure you as the washer and dryer is a stackable and so both get moved at one time. The Electrician/plumber is coming back today to help Hubby take out the shower and plumb the shower for upstairs. I can't wait!
Meanwhile during the time that Hubby and E/P have been working on that little project I have been doing what I can as well. I have been working on the deck. Yes "My Deck"! This weekend, I will be holding the annual Frankie's Summer Retreat. I am expecting a bunch of ladies to show up for the retreat and here I am working on the deck. The deck was built two summers ago and it should have been stained at that time.... but like all things Nichols (at least this bunch of Nichols) it was put off till the following summer. At which time it was put off till this summer.
The wood of the deck has been deteriorating in the weather over the last few years like any wood does and so this year splinters in tender feet have become an issue. Thus the reason for working on the deck. I started staining the deck two days ago. One day stain, then the neighbour who shot the bear last week suggested I would get better results from the stain if I treated it with an overcoat of Linseed Oil. So yesterday I did that.
It is tacky this morning and only one half is done yet. This is the other half!!!
(I sometimes wonder if I am mad. I wonder if everything will be back in place by the weekend.) But so far so good. It is definitely looking.... well.... shiny.... and like it can withstand some rain. I just wish I had started it a few days ago.... in time to finish it for the retreat, but I don't think that is going to happen. We will no doubt be using the deck a lot this weekend.
What it means is that some of my list of 40 + jobs is getting done slowly and surely and that puts a smile on my face. So does the fact that I will be spinning..... and dyeing..... and enjoying a good time with friends, this weekend.... I like that... meanwhile.... up up and away with that washer and shower!
Meanwhile during the time that Hubby and E/P have been working on that little project I have been doing what I can as well. I have been working on the deck. Yes "My Deck"! This weekend, I will be holding the annual Frankie's Summer Retreat. I am expecting a bunch of ladies to show up for the retreat and here I am working on the deck. The deck was built two summers ago and it should have been stained at that time.... but like all things Nichols (at least this bunch of Nichols) it was put off till the following summer. At which time it was put off till this summer.
The wood of the deck has been deteriorating in the weather over the last few years like any wood does and so this year splinters in tender feet have become an issue. Thus the reason for working on the deck. I started staining the deck two days ago. One day stain, then the neighbour who shot the bear last week suggested I would get better results from the stain if I treated it with an overcoat of Linseed Oil. So yesterday I did that.
It is tacky this morning and only one half is done yet. This is the other half!!!
(I sometimes wonder if I am mad. I wonder if everything will be back in place by the weekend.) But so far so good. It is definitely looking.... well.... shiny.... and like it can withstand some rain. I just wish I had started it a few days ago.... in time to finish it for the retreat, but I don't think that is going to happen. We will no doubt be using the deck a lot this weekend.What it means is that some of my list of 40 + jobs is getting done slowly and surely and that puts a smile on my face. So does the fact that I will be spinning..... and dyeing..... and enjoying a good time with friends, this weekend.... I like that... meanwhile.... up up and away with that washer and shower!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Rest Before The Storm
Yesterday Hubby and I had a day of rest. We stayed in bed late and then leisurely got up and ate a nice breakfast before sitting out on the deck which is where we stayed until it was too cool to stay out any longer. We had a great deal of rain and thunder yesterday and Hubby and I were able to stay out and watch the whole thing on our new covered North deck. So it literally was the calm before the storm.
The Daughters relaxed and laid around reading their books until the cows came home (actually in our case it was sheep)! All in all it was a lovely day. Today however, Hubby and I wasted time. It was not a day of rest and it was not a day of work. It was a day of frustrations. First the compressor that I bought to help Hubby get the wall paneling up for the air nailer, was without the right connection. So off to town to get a connector Hubby went and he was gone for quite some time. Then when he came back, he brought along some movies which distracted him while I was snoozing. In between it all, I was weaving blocks for my level three project. If I have enough blocks then I am going to make a shawl. Suffice it to say that the house renovations were not on our priority list today. Hubby finally managed to get two sheets of paneling up by 8 p.m. We then ate supper and I washed the dishes while Hubby put away the power tools. Not what I would call a productive day.
Tomorrow a friend will be coming at 9 a.m. to help install the plumbing for the new laundry closet. I expect to see progress tomorrow, because he will not let Hubby sit around and do nothing. Meanwhile, while they are working on plumbing, I will be staining the paneling that was put up today. I will also be staining the trim boards around the entry to the sunroom. It is high time that we got some more work done on this joint. If it is warm enough and dry enough.... we've had a lot of rain... I will try to get some of the deck stained too.
It is high time that we start tackling some of those 40 something jobs I listed off on my to do list last week. So the only thing I can do is consider this the rest before the storm.... I just wish the storm would hurry up and pass.
The Daughters relaxed and laid around reading their books until the cows came home (actually in our case it was sheep)! All in all it was a lovely day. Today however, Hubby and I wasted time. It was not a day of rest and it was not a day of work. It was a day of frustrations. First the compressor that I bought to help Hubby get the wall paneling up for the air nailer, was without the right connection. So off to town to get a connector Hubby went and he was gone for quite some time. Then when he came back, he brought along some movies which distracted him while I was snoozing. In between it all, I was weaving blocks for my level three project. If I have enough blocks then I am going to make a shawl. Suffice it to say that the house renovations were not on our priority list today. Hubby finally managed to get two sheets of paneling up by 8 p.m. We then ate supper and I washed the dishes while Hubby put away the power tools. Not what I would call a productive day.
Tomorrow a friend will be coming at 9 a.m. to help install the plumbing for the new laundry closet. I expect to see progress tomorrow, because he will not let Hubby sit around and do nothing. Meanwhile, while they are working on plumbing, I will be staining the paneling that was put up today. I will also be staining the trim boards around the entry to the sunroom. It is high time that we got some more work done on this joint. If it is warm enough and dry enough.... we've had a lot of rain... I will try to get some of the deck stained too.
It is high time that we start tackling some of those 40 something jobs I listed off on my to do list last week. So the only thing I can do is consider this the rest before the storm.... I just wish the storm would hurry up and pass.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A Day To Remember... Or Two....
Hubby and Daughter #1 are finally home. Daughter #2 and I had a great day in FSJ yesterday, as we waited for THE FLIGHT to come into the airport. We started out with lunch at Boston Pizza and then some shopping at Reitmans where Daughter #2 got some much needed peddle pushers. Then between all the jigs and reels, we ended up at the furniture store where I spied a really nice mattress and box spring. We ended up checking out new couches and bedroom furniture with wardrobes too. (Let me tell you wardrobes are a thing of the past.) Then we went to a hardware store and bought a compressor so that Hubby and I could carry on with our home renovations by using an air nailer.
We mosied out to the airport and got there in plenty of time to pick up Hubby and Daughter #1. Then Daughter #2 and I just waited until Hubby and Daughter #1 arrived. It was a good reunion though more reserved than I expected. Daughter #1 is growing up and throwing your arms around a mother in public is not cool. So I got a quick kiss and hug and then Hubby looked like he was going to fall over from fatigue. I think he hugged me because it was a momentary reprieve from standing independently. It didn't really matter as I was glad enough to see them for all of us.
I wanted to stop at the furniture store to have a look at the mattress and box spring with Hubby in tow. I really wanted the mattress as we have been sleeping for the last two years on this.
This is the combination of the two mattresses from our tent trailer. When our cat defecated on our mattress two years ago it made a quick one way trip to the dump since the stink was enough to knock you backwards. Enter the mattresses from the trailer. Now these mattresses are really comfortable. Of course, they would have to be to be able to sleep on them for two years. But there comes a time when even really good tent trailer mattresses can not stand up to the wear and tear of nightly use all year round. That is why with this new renovation, a new mattress was definitely in the works.
Hubby was in a good mood after his flight home. This was good. And he was tired. This too was good (especially for unannounced mattress shopping. And most important of all HE HAD JUST SLEPT ON AN INSTITUTION MATTRESS FOR TEN NIGHTS!!!! What could be better at this most opportune time than to go to a furniture store to try out decadent, wonderful, comfortable mattresses.
We pick up our new mattress and free memory foam pillows and mattress cover on Thursday.
Hubby also got to have a look at the different bedroom sets with wardrobes. I will have to wait till he is sick and tired of not being able to find his clothes and hit him up for the new wardrobes and furniture. I'm not really that calculating.... but it does seem so lately.
Never mind... our reunion was much more satisfactory in the privacy of our own home. Daughter #1 came to tears when I gave her a really nice hug once there were none of her peers to see. And Hubby, well.... lets just leave that to your imagination..... I'll just say this, I'm glad we are getting a new mattress.
We mosied out to the airport and got there in plenty of time to pick up Hubby and Daughter #1. Then Daughter #2 and I just waited until Hubby and Daughter #1 arrived. It was a good reunion though more reserved than I expected. Daughter #1 is growing up and throwing your arms around a mother in public is not cool. So I got a quick kiss and hug and then Hubby looked like he was going to fall over from fatigue. I think he hugged me because it was a momentary reprieve from standing independently. It didn't really matter as I was glad enough to see them for all of us.
I wanted to stop at the furniture store to have a look at the mattress and box spring with Hubby in tow. I really wanted the mattress as we have been sleeping for the last two years on this.
This is the combination of the two mattresses from our tent trailer. When our cat defecated on our mattress two years ago it made a quick one way trip to the dump since the stink was enough to knock you backwards. Enter the mattresses from the trailer. Now these mattresses are really comfortable. Of course, they would have to be to be able to sleep on them for two years. But there comes a time when even really good tent trailer mattresses can not stand up to the wear and tear of nightly use all year round. That is why with this new renovation, a new mattress was definitely in the works.
Hubby was in a good mood after his flight home. This was good. And he was tired. This too was good (especially for unannounced mattress shopping. And most important of all HE HAD JUST SLEPT ON AN INSTITUTION MATTRESS FOR TEN NIGHTS!!!! What could be better at this most opportune time than to go to a furniture store to try out decadent, wonderful, comfortable mattresses.
We pick up our new mattress and free memory foam pillows and mattress cover on Thursday.
Hubby also got to have a look at the different bedroom sets with wardrobes. I will have to wait till he is sick and tired of not being able to find his clothes and hit him up for the new wardrobes and furniture. I'm not really that calculating.... but it does seem so lately.
Never mind... our reunion was much more satisfactory in the privacy of our own home. Daughter #1 came to tears when I gave her a really nice hug once there were none of her peers to see. And Hubby, well.... lets just leave that to your imagination..... I'll just say this, I'm glad we are getting a new mattress.
Friday, July 10, 2009
A Case Of The Chickens
We have chickens.... we've never been what I would call successful chicken owners. We have them and it is a real love/hate relationship. Last year when our little flock got knocked back to 7 we felt it was time to buy a few more. The damn things wouldn't lay. Normally after about 6 months with new chicks they are old enough to start laying. But all winter we waited and watched as our old hens died off one by one and the new ones were being fed but with narry an oval globe to be seen. Mostly their butts were sealed. Finally Hubby blew a fuse and said, "I'm not feeding those useless excuses for chickens, anymore."
But feed them we did. Daughter #2 has a friend who loves chickens.... like normal people like dogs. So one day I looked out and noticed Daughter #2 and said friend sneaking off with chickens under their arms. I decided to find out what my chicken rustlers were up to. I carefully eavesdropped the next time they were close to me and discovered that they were liberating our chickens from the chopping block by sneaking them away to said friend's chicken coop where they could live in peace without fear of losing their heads. This struck me as funny, and so I proceeded to watch their efforts over the next few weeks as chicken by chicken disappeared. Finally we were down to twelve and I felt that this had gone on long enough. So I spoke to Daughter #2 and told her she had to leave the chickens alone now. That's when we noticed that the chickens were starting lay eggs. Damn chickens! Contrary that's what they are.
Hubby and I concluded that the buggers were overcrowded all winter and that we should have butchered a few.
Two nights ago I was sitting in my new sunroom with a lovely cup of tea and noticed that in the bushes by the chicken coop was our large Huskey dogwho happens to love gettin an odd egg from the chickens. Then I realized that the colouring was wrong. It was too light to be our dog. All I could see was the fur. That's when I noticed that it wasn't a dog at all..... I thought briefly it might be a coyote, which have been known to enter my chicken domain and carry off a few from time to time before. Then it lifted it's head and I saw that it wasn't a coyote either. No sirree, this chicken thief was a bear. A cinnamon bear. A young, obviously from it size, starving, and lonely bear!
Oh did I tell you I was by this time heading toward the chicken coop with a large stick in hand to get rid of the coyote. No I didn't think I did. Well Mr. Bruin came up on his hind legs and took one look at me and recognized me as a treat and proceeded to drop down on all fours and start walking most sedately toward me to check out if my stick was something good to eat. I turned and ran. Thank heavens there was still 30 feet between us. He didn't find me interesting when I headed for the house so he turned and ripped the ever living sh-- out of my chicken coop and fence and started to catch my newly laying birds one by one while I frantically tried to think of someone who might be able to come shoot the scoundrel, before he decided the lambs were on the menu too.
Honeydew, our llama was bugling by now, and Daughter #2 was beating sticks on walls to make as much noise as possible. That's when I thought of a friend who lives just up the road who would come and deal with this. I called and his wife answered. I explained the situation and let them know that Hubby was away (which is my usual line of defense). They were there in minutes but it felt like hours. Meanwhile Mr. Bruin had made the fence look like matchsticks and my chickens.... or what was left of them.... were headed for the house, which meant that Mr. Bruin would be following directly when he was finished with the chicken he was devouring. The friend with the gun showed up and shot above Mr. Bruin's head in an effort to get rid of him but Mr. Bruin who was starved from the look of his ribs and hips was not having anything to do with departing from his food source which was my coop. He would run away but circle back after a few minutes. Finally after 7 - 8 shots with no success of encouraging Mr. Bruin to leave permanently, Mr. Bruin met his maker.
My chickens eventually returned to the coop and we are now down to 10. Mr. Bruin ate 2. My chickens are so permanently scarred by this that there has been narry an oval globe since. Back to square one. At least Mr. Bruin didn't get my lambs.
I've noticed the crows and ravens have been quite happy for the last two mornings. Poor Mr. Bruin. Too bad he found my chickens.
But feed them we did. Daughter #2 has a friend who loves chickens.... like normal people like dogs. So one day I looked out and noticed Daughter #2 and said friend sneaking off with chickens under their arms. I decided to find out what my chicken rustlers were up to. I carefully eavesdropped the next time they were close to me and discovered that they were liberating our chickens from the chopping block by sneaking them away to said friend's chicken coop where they could live in peace without fear of losing their heads. This struck me as funny, and so I proceeded to watch their efforts over the next few weeks as chicken by chicken disappeared. Finally we were down to twelve and I felt that this had gone on long enough. So I spoke to Daughter #2 and told her she had to leave the chickens alone now. That's when we noticed that the chickens were starting lay eggs. Damn chickens! Contrary that's what they are.
Hubby and I concluded that the buggers were overcrowded all winter and that we should have butchered a few.
Two nights ago I was sitting in my new sunroom with a lovely cup of tea and noticed that in the bushes by the chicken coop was our large Huskey dogwho happens to love gettin an odd egg from the chickens. Then I realized that the colouring was wrong. It was too light to be our dog. All I could see was the fur. That's when I noticed that it wasn't a dog at all..... I thought briefly it might be a coyote, which have been known to enter my chicken domain and carry off a few from time to time before. Then it lifted it's head and I saw that it wasn't a coyote either. No sirree, this chicken thief was a bear. A cinnamon bear. A young, obviously from it size, starving, and lonely bear!
Oh did I tell you I was by this time heading toward the chicken coop with a large stick in hand to get rid of the coyote. No I didn't think I did. Well Mr. Bruin came up on his hind legs and took one look at me and recognized me as a treat and proceeded to drop down on all fours and start walking most sedately toward me to check out if my stick was something good to eat. I turned and ran. Thank heavens there was still 30 feet between us. He didn't find me interesting when I headed for the house so he turned and ripped the ever living sh-- out of my chicken coop and fence and started to catch my newly laying birds one by one while I frantically tried to think of someone who might be able to come shoot the scoundrel, before he decided the lambs were on the menu too.
Honeydew, our llama was bugling by now, and Daughter #2 was beating sticks on walls to make as much noise as possible. That's when I thought of a friend who lives just up the road who would come and deal with this. I called and his wife answered. I explained the situation and let them know that Hubby was away (which is my usual line of defense). They were there in minutes but it felt like hours. Meanwhile Mr. Bruin had made the fence look like matchsticks and my chickens.... or what was left of them.... were headed for the house, which meant that Mr. Bruin would be following directly when he was finished with the chicken he was devouring. The friend with the gun showed up and shot above Mr. Bruin's head in an effort to get rid of him but Mr. Bruin who was starved from the look of his ribs and hips was not having anything to do with departing from his food source which was my coop. He would run away but circle back after a few minutes. Finally after 7 - 8 shots with no success of encouraging Mr. Bruin to leave permanently, Mr. Bruin met his maker.
My chickens eventually returned to the coop and we are now down to 10. Mr. Bruin ate 2. My chickens are so permanently scarred by this that there has been narry an oval globe since. Back to square one. At least Mr. Bruin didn't get my lambs.
I've noticed the crows and ravens have been quite happy for the last two mornings. Poor Mr. Bruin. Too bad he found my chickens.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Reunion
My family and I have a reunion coming up. We are looking forward to the day when we are all together again. On June 26th I headed down to Olds, Alberta for a ten day working vacation to complete my classes in Level 3 of the Master Spinner Program through Olds College. Daughter #2 headed off to Victoria for the historical fair on the 29th of June. Then Hubby and Daughter #1 headed off to Cochrane, Alberta on 2nd of July, for the summer camp that the Junior Canadian Rangers has each year. We all went our separate ways.
Daughter #2 came home on the 3rd of July closely followed by me on the 4th of July, and so now we are waiting patiently for Hubby and Daughter #1's return. They are home on the 11th of July. It will have been 15 days since we have been together as a family. I think we are all looking forward to our reunion.
While it has been a bit of a mad dash we all have enjoyed our various trips I think. I'm not sure about Hubby since he is working and overseeing a whole platoon (60) kids. He has called practically every night and I am amazed that he has had the time to do so. Even Daughter #1 has called her own call to me and of course I am always happy to have her call and tell me how her day is going. But I do find it strange that she is able to call me amongst all the activities that she is experiencing. They are mountain biking and canoeing and rock climbing and repelling. Backpacking was a huge one as she was totally exhausted after a night in the bush with a 35 pound backpack. Poor kid. They had a day at the Calgary Stampede and they will have one more day at the Calgary Stampede. They were supposed to get a day in Drumheller at the dinosaur museum but they got rained out and won't be able to do that part of the trip. I was disappointed that they weren't able to go horseback riding because I'm sure Daughter #1 and her friend who is with her would have had a blast. But with such an intensive schedule Hubby and Daughter #1 are not relaxed.
These trips for all of us are intense. We do not come back well rested. It takes days to get over something like that. Summer is half over already and we really haven't had time to just be.... and so we look forward to our reunion, not because we are all tired. That just sweetens what would be nice anyway. We are a family and though Daughter #1 and Daughter #2 fight occasionally and Hubby and I sometimes get on each other's nerves over the summer with our expectations, we really miss each other when we are apart. That's what being a family is all about.
Two sleeps to go till we are all together again. Wahoo!
Daughter #2 came home on the 3rd of July closely followed by me on the 4th of July, and so now we are waiting patiently for Hubby and Daughter #1's return. They are home on the 11th of July. It will have been 15 days since we have been together as a family. I think we are all looking forward to our reunion.
While it has been a bit of a mad dash we all have enjoyed our various trips I think. I'm not sure about Hubby since he is working and overseeing a whole platoon (60) kids. He has called practically every night and I am amazed that he has had the time to do so. Even Daughter #1 has called her own call to me and of course I am always happy to have her call and tell me how her day is going. But I do find it strange that she is able to call me amongst all the activities that she is experiencing. They are mountain biking and canoeing and rock climbing and repelling. Backpacking was a huge one as she was totally exhausted after a night in the bush with a 35 pound backpack. Poor kid. They had a day at the Calgary Stampede and they will have one more day at the Calgary Stampede. They were supposed to get a day in Drumheller at the dinosaur museum but they got rained out and won't be able to do that part of the trip. I was disappointed that they weren't able to go horseback riding because I'm sure Daughter #1 and her friend who is with her would have had a blast. But with such an intensive schedule Hubby and Daughter #1 are not relaxed.
These trips for all of us are intense. We do not come back well rested. It takes days to get over something like that. Summer is half over already and we really haven't had time to just be.... and so we look forward to our reunion, not because we are all tired. That just sweetens what would be nice anyway. We are a family and though Daughter #1 and Daughter #2 fight occasionally and Hubby and I sometimes get on each other's nerves over the summer with our expectations, we really miss each other when we are apart. That's what being a family is all about.
Two sleeps to go till we are all together again. Wahoo!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Original Plan
Plans change. Yes they do. Mine change regularly. Mostly because I can always see a better way. Hubby and I planned to turn part of the addition into an office but recently I've looked at our space and thought wouldn't it be nice to use the room as a breakfast nook or luncheon nook or supper nook. In other words lets try the dining room table out there. And so I did.
I think it is a great idea. Except (and there is always one of those) there is a door that we installed in the sunroom. It's in the way. I know that the wall paneling is not up yet but I wanted to see if I could make the dining table work in there. It does but it is tight and that means the door access is cut off. Bad drag! Now I am wondering why in the world I would ever want a door there in the first place!
The nice thing about having the table in there is that it gives us room for a living room. We could actually buy a couch (since the one I covered at Christmas ended up at the parents house indefinitely) and actually have seating in our house to comfortably watch movies on our TV.
I look forward to Hubby getting home and getting his opinion to see if he likes it that way. If he does then it's all good, and I am getting a couch. I also want a nice desk to put our computer under the steps and not have to worry that it will fill up with dust. A covered desk is what we need. I want a roll top. For some reason dust drifts down the steps and sabotages anything we put under the steps. Sometimes I think it looks like snow under there. I think because Duff has taken to sleeping at the top of the steps there is a lot of hair from her. Not to mention laundry from all of us contributing to the problem.
Anyway the desk will go under the steps, the table would stay in the new addition, and the rest of this room will be used like a living room. I think it will be cool.
The good news is, if we keep the table in the addition then we won't need another addition. Next project would be the west deck or maybe we should build a screened porch. Now that would be really great!
I think it is a great idea. Except (and there is always one of those) there is a door that we installed in the sunroom. It's in the way. I know that the wall paneling is not up yet but I wanted to see if I could make the dining table work in there. It does but it is tight and that means the door access is cut off. Bad drag! Now I am wondering why in the world I would ever want a door there in the first place!
The nice thing about having the table in there is that it gives us room for a living room. We could actually buy a couch (since the one I covered at Christmas ended up at the parents house indefinitely) and actually have seating in our house to comfortably watch movies on our TV.
I look forward to Hubby getting home and getting his opinion to see if he likes it that way. If he does then it's all good, and I am getting a couch. I also want a nice desk to put our computer under the steps and not have to worry that it will fill up with dust. A covered desk is what we need. I want a roll top. For some reason dust drifts down the steps and sabotages anything we put under the steps. Sometimes I think it looks like snow under there. I think because Duff has taken to sleeping at the top of the steps there is a lot of hair from her. Not to mention laundry from all of us contributing to the problem.
Anyway the desk will go under the steps, the table would stay in the new addition, and the rest of this room will be used like a living room. I think it will be cool.
The good news is, if we keep the table in the addition then we won't need another addition. Next project would be the west deck or maybe we should build a screened porch. Now that would be really great!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Summer Jobs
Hubby and I have a lot of work ahead of us. Mostly we will need to finish the renovations but there are other tasks ahead which when I stop to think about it I just about freak out. Here's a list of "to do" before school reopens in September:
1. Fix bathroom taps at rental.
2. Complete shearing on animals.
3. Breed Mishka.
4. Put siding up in girls bedrooms.
5. Install doors in girls bedrooms.
6. Bight the bullet and buy wardrobes for girls rooms.
7. Finish installing pine paneling in studio and office.
8. Install strapping for ceiling tiles in office and studio.
9. Install ceiling tiles in office.
10. Finish wood burning enough ceiling tiles for studio.
11. Install ceiling tiles in studio.
12. Plumb the new laundry closet upstairs.
13. Move washer and dryer upstairs.
14. Remove shower stall from downstairs.
15. Install plumbing for upstairs bathroom.
16. Remove current plumbing for downstairs bathroom.
17. Install new plumbing for downstairs bathroom.
18. Move downstairs shower to upstairs. (If we can!)
19. Bring in new jacuzzi tub and install in downstairs bathroom.
20. Install electricity for Jacuzzi tub.
21. Remove downstairs toilet.
22. Install new downstairs toilet. (this is a medical toilet for Dad)
23. Cut new doorway to downstairs bathroom.
24. Install step in downstairs bathroom.
25. Install door to downstairs bathroom.
26. Install new wall cutting off old doorway to bathroom.
27. Install shelves in new kitchen pantry. (I can do this while the men carry on with the upstairs bathroom.)
28. Install toilet and sink in upstairs bathroom.
29. Make sure plumbing and electrical are to code.
30. Install all new electrical switches and outlets as well as light fixtures.
31. Install fencing for new paddock.
32. Put new roofing on electrical shed.
33. Put pine on ceiling upstairs.
34. Install pocket doors upstairs.
35. Panel hallway and stairway upstairs.
36. Panel closet and new bathroom upstairs.
37. Panel master bedroom.
38. Install flooring.
39. Move furniture back to house from shed.
40. Clean shed.
41. Pick up cottage sized mill and picker.
42. Buy new bed and mattress.
43. Build new wardrobes (2) for master bedroom.
44. Install new counters in kitchen.
45. Put window in the door to the office.
I'm tired just thinking about it. I have to also paint the deck as soon as we get a warm and dry day again. I also have to finish wood burning the table on the deck and do some finish work on soffits on the veranda. I will also have a little work staining edges of logs and trim boards in the house. Not to mention staining the floor and walls and ceilings upstairs. This I can do in the fall when the weather gets cooler.
It is a daunting task to get it all finished. But I'm going to try.
1. Fix bathroom taps at rental.
2. Complete shearing on animals.
3. Breed Mishka.
4. Put siding up in girls bedrooms.
5. Install doors in girls bedrooms.
6. Bight the bullet and buy wardrobes for girls rooms.
7. Finish installing pine paneling in studio and office.
8. Install strapping for ceiling tiles in office and studio.
9. Install ceiling tiles in office.
10. Finish wood burning enough ceiling tiles for studio.
11. Install ceiling tiles in studio.
12. Plumb the new laundry closet upstairs.
13. Move washer and dryer upstairs.
14. Remove shower stall from downstairs.
15. Install plumbing for upstairs bathroom.
16. Remove current plumbing for downstairs bathroom.
17. Install new plumbing for downstairs bathroom.
18. Move downstairs shower to upstairs. (If we can!)
19. Bring in new jacuzzi tub and install in downstairs bathroom.
20. Install electricity for Jacuzzi tub.
21. Remove downstairs toilet.
22. Install new downstairs toilet. (this is a medical toilet for Dad)
23. Cut new doorway to downstairs bathroom.
24. Install step in downstairs bathroom.
25. Install door to downstairs bathroom.
26. Install new wall cutting off old doorway to bathroom.
27. Install shelves in new kitchen pantry. (I can do this while the men carry on with the upstairs bathroom.)
28. Install toilet and sink in upstairs bathroom.
29. Make sure plumbing and electrical are to code.
30. Install all new electrical switches and outlets as well as light fixtures.
31. Install fencing for new paddock.
32. Put new roofing on electrical shed.
33. Put pine on ceiling upstairs.
34. Install pocket doors upstairs.
35. Panel hallway and stairway upstairs.
36. Panel closet and new bathroom upstairs.
37. Panel master bedroom.
38. Install flooring.
39. Move furniture back to house from shed.
40. Clean shed.
41. Pick up cottage sized mill and picker.
42. Buy new bed and mattress.
43. Build new wardrobes (2) for master bedroom.
44. Install new counters in kitchen.
45. Put window in the door to the office.
I'm tired just thinking about it. I have to also paint the deck as soon as we get a warm and dry day again. I also have to finish wood burning the table on the deck and do some finish work on soffits on the veranda. I will also have a little work staining edges of logs and trim boards in the house. Not to mention staining the floor and walls and ceilings upstairs. This I can do in the fall when the weather gets cooler.
It is a daunting task to get it all finished. But I'm going to try.
Level 3
So Level 3 in the Master Spinners program begins. I returned on Saturday to an empty house as Daughter #1 and Hubby are off at JCR summer camp until the 11th and Daughter #2 was in Victoria for the Historical fair. I am very glad that my girls are getting opportunities to fly off to interesting locals to partake in programs that allow them to see things other than their own backyard. While I just happen to love our own backyard, there is more to life than it. I really want my girls to have a more well rounded view of the world. Daughter #2 is home now and we are having a very relaxing mother/daughter time together. Yesterday I took her to FSJ for some lunch out and a little shopping. We purchased some fun things for "My Deck"! A fountain with squirrels tipping out buckets of water and a shiny metal ball that has whirling things for in the wind, and a lantern. Problem is that "My Deck" is wet.... really wet. We are having the first real rain of the summer. It has been pouring for two days without fail. This is a good thing because the grass was so dry that fire was a serious issue in our neck of the woods. With so many dead trees from Pine Beetle kill and with the undergrowth like dry tinder most people around here were worried that anything would set off a fire and evacuations. Not to mention the farmers and their crops. Most fields are standing at about 5 - 6 inches where they normally would be at about 12 - 15 inches. For those who rely on hay to feed animals (like us) it was getting to be a concern. We are not out of the woods yet. A lot will depend on what is in store over the next couple of weeks.
So I was in Olds for ten days and thoroughly enjoyed my courses this year. I didn't burden myself with a heavy course load as I never finished my level 2 until early June. This meant that burnout had not completely disappeared. I was sorry that I didn't take a Spinning Cotton course that was awesome but at the same time that spinning cotton course would have exhausted me. Level 3 was awesome too. I had to unlearn some bad habits and I was able to learn some things that will improve my spinning... especially woolen spinning. I have some things on the floor of the living room still that need to be picked up and put away but for all intents and purposes I am unpacked. Hubby and I are going to have to bight the bullet and purchase wardrobes quickly because I can see that until the reno is complete putting stuff away is going to be an issue.
One of the days spent in Olds on my level 3 class was a day spent dyeing with natural dyes and learning what different mordants and different modifiers could do to change a dye. We used Madder which is a dye that comes from the root of the plant, though all parts of the plant can be used. It is one of the earliest used natural dyes in the history of man. It gives lovely Turkish red which are predominantly used in Turkish carpets. I was really pleased with the strength of the colours that I got as for some reason, my colours from natural dyes are usually sad and pale. I want to use these beautiful colours from our experiments with Madder to make something and present it in the fashion show next year when I return to Olds. I was looking through my pattern books and got a lovely idea but I do not want to start that project until I have had the opportunity to mount my samples for my level 3 books and do my write up. This means work. I am completely out of ideas as to how to mount the samples and so they sit there mocking me and tempting me. Hopefully today my brain will kick in and I will be able to get that question done and mounted in my book. One down and plenty to go.
Sunday was a down day for Daughter #2 and myself. We took the opportunity to lounge in bed till an unprecedented 11 a.m. Unheard of for moi and rare for Daughter #2. I got up and had a noble lunch of ice cream smothered in caramel sauce. Daughter #2 added to that with Oreo cookie crumbs and chocolate sauce. It was very decadent and quite a pleasure. After lunch I tried my first attempts at spinning ginned cotton. This is not as simple as it sounds since the best preparation method, and in my estimation the only preparation, is punis (rhymes with loonies). So after working for an hour I had spun two punis in which there should be enough fibre for something like a quarter mile of thread. I got four inches which looked more like crochet cotton in the single (and lumpy crochet cotton at that) than thread. Clearly my cotton spinning needs practice. So today after I clean up from a breakfast of toast and tea, I will get out my puni stick and make punis till my hands bleed and then every opportunity I get I will be practicing spinning ginned cotton. Obviously I need all the help I can get.
Level 3 finally presents a real challenge. I think the learning curve for this level will be quite high. I know that I will have to spin about 4 hours a day to see my spinning improve greatly. Level 1 was no challenge but lots of fun. Level 2 was some challenge and some fun. I expect level 3 to be mostly challenge. I am learning to spin things I have never spun before like cotton. I am learning to perfect my woolen technique... that needs lots of practice, I am learning to spin forms of silk that I have never spun before, and I am learning to spin fat yarns and novelty yarns. This is something I've wanted to learn ever since I learned to spin fine and stopped spinning crappy beginner yarns (which were fat because I didn't know any better). I am excited to begin my level 3 homework. Challenge never daunts me but more likely excites me especially when it comes to spinning. That is why I love it. Life should be exciting. It shouldn't be confusing or scary (well maybe a little scary)! It should be real and full of what you love best. That should be family first, a place that you love, like "My Deck" and the thing that you love best to do too. For me that's spinning.
So I was in Olds for ten days and thoroughly enjoyed my courses this year. I didn't burden myself with a heavy course load as I never finished my level 2 until early June. This meant that burnout had not completely disappeared. I was sorry that I didn't take a Spinning Cotton course that was awesome but at the same time that spinning cotton course would have exhausted me. Level 3 was awesome too. I had to unlearn some bad habits and I was able to learn some things that will improve my spinning... especially woolen spinning. I have some things on the floor of the living room still that need to be picked up and put away but for all intents and purposes I am unpacked. Hubby and I are going to have to bight the bullet and purchase wardrobes quickly because I can see that until the reno is complete putting stuff away is going to be an issue.
One of the days spent in Olds on my level 3 class was a day spent dyeing with natural dyes and learning what different mordants and different modifiers could do to change a dye. We used Madder which is a dye that comes from the root of the plant, though all parts of the plant can be used. It is one of the earliest used natural dyes in the history of man. It gives lovely Turkish red which are predominantly used in Turkish carpets. I was really pleased with the strength of the colours that I got as for some reason, my colours from natural dyes are usually sad and pale. I want to use these beautiful colours from our experiments with Madder to make something and present it in the fashion show next year when I return to Olds. I was looking through my pattern books and got a lovely idea but I do not want to start that project until I have had the opportunity to mount my samples for my level 3 books and do my write up. This means work. I am completely out of ideas as to how to mount the samples and so they sit there mocking me and tempting me. Hopefully today my brain will kick in and I will be able to get that question done and mounted in my book. One down and plenty to go.
Sunday was a down day for Daughter #2 and myself. We took the opportunity to lounge in bed till an unprecedented 11 a.m. Unheard of for moi and rare for Daughter #2. I got up and had a noble lunch of ice cream smothered in caramel sauce. Daughter #2 added to that with Oreo cookie crumbs and chocolate sauce. It was very decadent and quite a pleasure. After lunch I tried my first attempts at spinning ginned cotton. This is not as simple as it sounds since the best preparation method, and in my estimation the only preparation, is punis (rhymes with loonies). So after working for an hour I had spun two punis in which there should be enough fibre for something like a quarter mile of thread. I got four inches which looked more like crochet cotton in the single (and lumpy crochet cotton at that) than thread. Clearly my cotton spinning needs practice. So today after I clean up from a breakfast of toast and tea, I will get out my puni stick and make punis till my hands bleed and then every opportunity I get I will be practicing spinning ginned cotton. Obviously I need all the help I can get.
Level 3 finally presents a real challenge. I think the learning curve for this level will be quite high. I know that I will have to spin about 4 hours a day to see my spinning improve greatly. Level 1 was no challenge but lots of fun. Level 2 was some challenge and some fun. I expect level 3 to be mostly challenge. I am learning to spin things I have never spun before like cotton. I am learning to perfect my woolen technique... that needs lots of practice, I am learning to spin forms of silk that I have never spun before, and I am learning to spin fat yarns and novelty yarns. This is something I've wanted to learn ever since I learned to spin fine and stopped spinning crappy beginner yarns (which were fat because I didn't know any better). I am excited to begin my level 3 homework. Challenge never daunts me but more likely excites me especially when it comes to spinning. That is why I love it. Life should be exciting. It shouldn't be confusing or scary (well maybe a little scary)! It should be real and full of what you love best. That should be family first, a place that you love, like "My Deck" and the thing that you love best to do too. For me that's spinning.
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