Awesome Are The Wonders Of Nature

If this wouldn't make you think twice about a greater power than man, I don't know what will.
This is a lightning storm last week over the Icelandic volcano eruption.... you can read all about it here.

No Lambies

We arose this morning to no new wee lambies.... I'm still waiting for Fanny to produce.... she's fit to burst. I think her belly must be dragging on the ground. In the meantime I've made a discovery. Our white ram is not a ram. I have been wondering. Last year when we got him he was not quite six months old. Well the dangly bits don't always show when they are that young. Then when November came and we put him in with the ewes and you could almost hear the ewes laughing at him I knew something wasn't right. We watched for two weeks while the gals bumped him around and generally ignored him. That is unusual behavior for ewes when a ram is around. I thought that it was just because he was young. Two weeks went by and not seeing him jump any of my gals, I began to panic about not having lambs in the spring.... so even though I hadn't planned on using Oscar, who is black, I felt that black lambs were better than no lambs. Ipwitch was removed and Oscar gave those girls the low down on how thing were going to be run in his harem right away. All winter I was troubled about Ipwitch. but since it was winter and he was young I let things slide. Until yesterday. Hubby went out in the paddock where Ipwitch lives and caught him and promptly turned him on his butt. We had a really good look... no dangly bits. So Ipwitch is a dud. He is a wither. Somehow the lady who sold him to me made a mistake which is really weird. Because she doesn't usually make mistakes. Hmmm....

In the meantime our two new lambies are doing very well. Jonas is running, and jumping around and Twinkle is starting to.

Last but not least we are hoping that we have found a dog...... and that is all I am willing to say about that at this time since I don't want to jinx ourselves.

Oh, and one sleeve is finished for the big j.c. and I am now working on sleeve #2. Will I ever finish this thing?!

BBG

Little Red produced for us, first thing this morning, a bouncing baby girl (BBG).... and she's white! She has the cutest pink ears and I'd show you a picture but my batteries in my camera need charging. I left it on yesterday after uploading the pictures of Jonas, stupid me. Our new lamb will go by the name of Twinkle.

If you are wondering how we go about naming our animals then let me enlighten you. There is no hard and fast rule for naming animals... you know.... the barnyard type.... not the house pets... but a friend of mine who I bought some of my sheep from named her animals by assigning a letter from the alphabet to each year and all the animals born that year would have names beginning with whatever letter was assigned to that year.... so lets say that 2001 was "B" then all the animals that year would have a name beginning with "B". Using the method, she was able to keep track of which animals were born when, and how old they were. But she had a much larger operation than I do.

Naming my animals kind of happened by a happy accident. The first animals that I purchased were Axton, Benny, and Coal, which are my three alpacas, already named by the previous owner. Notice that their names begin with "A", "B", and "C". I would call them my ABC guys. Well from there it went.

The next animals I bought were also alpacas but they had names that didn't fit with my ABC guys so I renamed them. Here's the names of my animals as it stands now.

Axton..... male alpaca, 4 years old..... white.... likes to spit and gave me my first full frontal... aaak!... recently gelded... ha! the dirty bugger... that will serve him to spit at me and give me a full frontal.
Benny.... male alpaca, 4 years old.... fawn..... very pleasant manner but likes to be the boss.... recently gelded.
Coal..... male alpaca, 4 years old..... black.... my favorite alpaca because he is so mild mannered and curious.
Dexter..... male alpaca, 3 years old.... fawn.... has a testy attitude.... but smiles a lot and spit occasionally... likes to "talk"!
Eddie..... male alpaca, 3 years old.... fawn... smallest alpaca and has the nicest fleece but aloof.
Fanny..... female sheep, 6 years old.... white Shetland/Merino x... excellent mothering skills... aloof.
Griegg.... male sheep, (withered), 5 or 6 years old.... soft grey, Shetland x.... stubborn but I like him.
Honeydew.... female llama, age unknown..... brown and white.... likes to run away but has a really great attitude.... but skittish and aloof.
Ipwitch..... male sheep, 1 year old.... white, BFL/Merino.... untried ram.... aloof.
Jonas..... male sheep, 1 day old... black.....BFL/Merino/Shetland x..... cute but food.
Kracker and Krunch ... both female sheep, 2 years old.... Shetland/merino x... black.... nice gals.....good moms... Fanny's twin offspring from 2 years ago.
Lulu.... female sheep, 3 years.... brown to black with grey in it... Cotswold/Merino x.... sterile.... lovely fleece.
Mishka..... female alpaca, 2 years old.... white..... lovely curious creature.... who wants to be a mom to all the lambs being born... will be bred this summer.
Nelly.... female sheep, 2 years old..... white, Cotswold/merino.... gorgeous fleece but crazy skittish... and wacko... probably sterile.
Oscar.... male sheep, 2 years old... black, BFL/Merino proven ram.... love him to bits... very nice fleece and wonderful nature... loves to be scratched, but bit of a pig... (can you tell he's my favorite sheep).
Palmer.... male sheep (withered), 1 year old....first lamb ever to be born on Nicholsville farm...black..... Romney/BFL/Merino x... nice little guy but kind of stupid.... I think that is a trait of the Romneys.
Queen... female sheep, age unknown... quite old though.... pure bred Merino, obviously white.... nice old lady.
Red, (also known as Little Red)..... female sheep, blond to brown.... pure Shetland.... awesome Mom.... but fleece sucks.
Sal.... female sheep, 3 years old....Canadian Arcott/Merino.... she is the fattest old cow you have ever seen a total hog but wow what a fleece.... probably sterile.
Twinkle..... sheep, born today,..... Shetland/BFL/Merino x.... cute pink ears.... keeper....

So the next lamb(s) born will have to have names beginning with "U" that will be a hard one to come up with....

Any ideas?

Finally!!!

Here is our new mom.... and still wet from the sheep's hind quarters, making his debut and what a gorgeous day for his debut, comes Jonas....

Damn... it's a boy and he's black..... he's also supper..... well, next year anyway.....



Kracker: Hmm.... something just fell out of my butt.

Mishka: Hey did you know something just fell out of your butt..... that's weird.... what is it? It looks like a very short necked alien.

Jonas: Arggghhhh!


Kracker: Hmmm... what is this thing? It smells like me.... it looks like me.... hmmm... maybe I'd better lick all this gunk off to get a better look.

Mishka: I wanna see too..... I'm coming around to look.

Jonas: Waaahh!!! I'm cold and I can't see anything. Oh wait now... I think I see something... what is this thing licking me.... oh! ah!.... I think I smell something yummy!



Jonas: Could you stop licking me?! I'm trying to get to the nice smelling part of you. I can't get these long things under me to work. What's happening?

Kracker: It's trying to move.... gak.... it's trying to lick my belly.... hmmm.... that's weird.

Mishka: I still can't figure out what it is.



Jonas: Gak! What the heck are you..... I sure hope you are not my momma.... hey what is this.... ahhhh ... what's going on? One minute I smell milk, and the next I'm getting checked out by this big woolly white thing.

Mishka: See I told you something fell out of your butt..... it is kind of cute though.

Kracker: Slurp.... I think it is a baby.... Oh my God..... it's a baby!?!!!!!.... how did that happen... I bet that big black balogna butt with the curly horns had something to do with this last fall. He kept jumping on me and shoving something where the sun don't shine.



Mishka: Hey you guys come and look at this..... uhhh... ain't it cute....

Jonas: Whaaahhhh..... I want milk..... I wish these stupid legs would work.

Krunch: Hey.... I'm an Auntie.....

Kracker: Yeah well... you wait.... I saw that big curly horned balogna butt jumping on you too!

Sunday Morning Relaxation

This is the second week of relaxation on a Sunday morning. Retirement is great. Now I can decide to go to church when I want. I, at the moment, am having a self imposed exile from church. That doesn't mean that I am no longer interested in God or anything to do with Christianity. I am just basking in my Jonas-like lifestyle away from my local church. For the last ten years I have been a lay reader here in HH. I started out ten years ago as a help to our half time minister. Over the years there has been an escalation in my duties as a lay reader. I also have taken on many other positions to the point where I am worn out. So when I decided a few weeks ago to resign from all my positions as a church leader I wasn't quite sure what my reaction would be. Would I feel good about it or would I feel a sense of loss. So two weeks has passed and I am realizing that for the first time in years I feel free. Sunday is now a day of choice and not a day of obligation. Now I can choose which church I would like to attend, now I can choose whether I want to attend or whether I would like to stay home and enjoy Michael Enright on CBC radio. It is a pleasure that I have fore gone for many years.

I am hoping to enjoy a day at the shooting range later on with the JCRs. There will be hot dogs for supper and I may bring a pot of soup along. Hubby will be heading off momentarily for a birthday party and bringing along a gift for a little guy who is the son of a friend of ours. Sunday without the obligation of church is strangely different.

Yesterday I headed over to Alberta for a day of learning about Temari balls and recycling for spinners and weavers. I started my first Temari ball and didn't get very far. So I will work on it when I get the big j.c. finished. Speaking of the big j.c., I am working away at it. I have now got one sleeve half finished. I probably would have more done except yesterday was lost to my workshop. So today I am back at the big j.c. and sleeves which need to be finished, then, the lining needs to be cut and sewed in, collar sewed on, embroidery finished and buttons dyed and painted. Almost there. Just a little more effort and I will be done. I will be glad.

So what am I doing, sitting here writing? I should be weaving. And so it begins. Once again the day has begun and so should I.

Its A Better Day

The sun is shining gloriously and today the big j.c. rears its ugly head. Its head down and arse up as I get down to this project once again. (I know that head down and arse up will raise an eyebrow or two but for fishermen hanging over the side of their boats and hauling in a catch of fish it was the way to say hard at work! It might work for a prostitute too!! Anyway, for me it means hard at work on the big j.c....) The warp is on and today means weaving. I think weaving on the deck will do quite nicely.

We are still waiting for lambs and Fanny looks like she is go to bust a part at the seams. Little Red looks like she is a ship on the ocean with her rolling gait. They both carried twins last year and I'm thinking that they are carrying twins again. But each morning I get up expecting to see wee lambs in the paddock but no lambs await us yet. I'm not quite sure who is lambing this year. We will see. I don't think Ipwitch, the white ram, was successful but I know Oscar the black ram was successful. So now we will see which colour lambs I get black or white. I'm hoping for at least three white ones... there are three black sheep that I want to butcher and I want to have white ones to replace them. But then the good Lord only knows when and what.

I have been having knitting DTs lately as when I put down the lace gloves a few months ago I stopped thinking about knitting for a while today I got out an old project that I didn't finish last year because I ran out of yarn and looked it over with the thought of getting back to it. I have since then spun enough yarn that matches to go on with. With tonight being knit night I think I will work on that project this evening.

We have all been feeling a little subdued with the loss of Duff. But we all feel that a new dog will help with taking our minds off our loss. So I have been looking around with that in mind to bring home a pup of some kind. We are being very specific though. Primarily we don't want a black dog or a dog with black as the main colour.... I don't know why.... we also have to have one that will be good with animals. We want a medium to large dog. Tootsie is still our house dog and we do not want to replace him. I severely miss having a dog to walk with in the mornings and though Duff has only been gone for a little over twenty four hours she has not walked with me for well over a week. We thought about a pure bred dog and decided we are a mutt family. Tootsie is a pure bred and while we love him we weren't really concerned with the fact that he has blue blood. Who cares. Mostly we want a dog that will groove with our family and that is not always easy to find.... it may take us a long time to find something we are happy with.... the most important thing is that we find a dog that is young.... and trainable. I always say that it takes a good two years to get a dog trained the way you want them.... and it is hard work.... I do really like Irish Wolfhounds though and always thought that one day I might own one. Mind you with our small house an IWH might be like putting a horse in our house!

Anyway the morning is moving on and Hubby has left to go to FSJ for a teacher workshop. The girls have eaten breakfast and since I am taking them to school I had better have at it and get myself ready.

Spring is definitely in the air.

Emptiness

The day is blustery. The grey clouds pass quickly overhead and on the fence there is a yardage of bailing twine blowing in the wind. I walk out my door this morning and there is something missing. There is no big galumping dog waiting for me to give the word to head down the trails for our morning walk.

A new Inukshuk stands on a knoll by the trail leading to the electrical shed. Inukshuks were used for many years to give the Inuit of the North markers on a markerless landscape. They were meant to help show the way home. Our Inukshuk is to show our old good dog a way home. She watches, ever faithful over our home and farm in her final resting place. I hope she has found her way home.

And our hearts are broken.

Poor Big Dog

It's hard to watch. A week ago she was following me around when I went to check on the sheep. We've watched her deteriorate all week. She barely lifts her head and she won't take food anymore. She lies listlessly watching what we are doing and she can't get up and move. It has been three days since she last ate and today she won't take water. This morning she was whimpering when I got up at 5:30 a.m. The meds are not working and though I knew this two days ago Hubby had not come to terms with it.... We all had to be on the same page. Today she will go on her last car trip, today she will see her last sunrise.

Figgy Duff

November 2000 - April 2010

So sad, we are, to lose our friend and loyal companion.

Vets, Birthdays, And $$$$

Happy Bitherday to me.... I mean Bitherday.... not Birthday..... so there is a bit of a story behind that one.... want me to tell it? Well, Ok.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was in grade one and she really liked her teacher. One day the teacher assigned a project to the whole class. All the grade one students had to make a diary for art class and then write in it for a whole month. The little girl got down to it and pulled out all of her favorite coloured construction paper. She cut and she pasted and she stapeled and she glued and when she was finished she had used all of her creative energy on her diary. It looked really pretty, sort of like and red juicy apple with a green leaf and a worm sticking out. She got a really good mark on the art part of the diary.

But now she had to take her diary home and write in her diary every day for a whole month! The little girl was not a particularly good scholar and so each night she would look at her diary and write something about her day.... it wasn't much but the teacher had said that it needn't be any more than a sentence or two. When the month was over (the month of April) the little girl handed in her assignment and it was marked and passed back..... she had passed and that was that. Or so she thought....

Many years later, when the little girl had grown up and had finally finished school, her mother gave her a keepsake as a graduation gift.... It was a scrapbook of all the work the little girl had done over the years in school. The little girl smiled as she read through some of the projects her mother had kept.... until she came to the grade one section and there before her was the Apple shaped diary she had so lovingly made in grade one. She began to read it and it read something like this...

April 1
I saw a flower.
April 2
I saw a flower.
April 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
I saw a flower.
April 15
I piked a flower.
April 16,
I had a Bitherday
April 17
It rained.
April 18
I went to my Grandfather's house
April 19
My Dad's car broked down.
April 20
My grandfather gave us a ride back home.
April 21, 22,23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30
I saw a flower.

The little girl, who had now grown up, laughed and laughed until she fell off her chair and the tears rolled down her cheeks.

From that day forward, the little girl always called her Birthday not a Birthday but a Bitherday. So happy Bitherday to me!

Oozle the Knob gave me a present this morning.... yes he did, the little pain in the a--! It all began yesterday. Duff the big dog has been ailing all year off and on. She has had a harder and harder time keeping food down and when she does it usually manages to come out the other end with a resounding rush! This has worried me. This has been a source of consternation for all of us. Hubby and I have been trying to find a food that is not a problem with our big pooch. (Hang in there, I know this has nothing to do with Oozle's gift.... but it is coming I promise.) Recently she has really taken a serious turn for the worst. The day the alpacas were gelded the vet checked her out and felt that it was fairly serious what was happening with Duff. Her blue eye has turned green which is usually significant considering that she is probably got a serious amount of toxins in her system. The vet took some blood samples and has put her on prednisone to see if that will help, but in all honesty I don't think it is... in all honesty I think our good big dog is not going to see another year.... maybe not even a month. With all this on my mind I have not really been paying too much attention to our other pets. Tootsie the wonder chicken herder is chasing balls in every attempt to seek attention and stares pathetically at us to play with him. Midnight our old cat just quietly sneaks off into a corner and steels food from the other pets bowls knowing while my mind is otherwise occupied he'll get away with it. And Oozle the Knob disappeared for the spring testosterone high of the year.

Lunch time yesterday.... I got a call from the Animal Control guy in town.... he asked if we owned an orange tabby cat. I answered, "Yes unfortunately."

After paying $25.00 to get the sod out of jail, I had agreed to get the blighter neutered.... ( I think I will call this nard week.... or maybe nardless week... ) anyway, when the vet called with Duff's blood test results, I made an appointment for this morning to neuter Oozle. Gak! at 8:30 a.m. I woke early once again worrying about Duff and got up to discover that I had a very angry cat in my living room. He wanted out to go find his Juliet, femme chat, honey pot, etc... He had been bathed and readied for the vet this morning since he came home from jail smelling pungent to the extreme. I crated him in a box. tied a rope around it so that he wouldn't go nuts in the truck... I knew this from experience (cats don't like vehicles but that's another story for another time). He began yowling before I got out of the driveway... so how was I to know. With all that yowling I thought he just wanted to get out of the box. Hmm.... Just before I got to the vet's, which is an hour's drive away..... hmmm.... he couldn't hold it anymore and quickly the truck was permeated with a smell soooo foul my eyes were soon watering. I pulled over on the side of the highway. Hmm.... what to do now? I got him out of the box and a leash on him and got him tied on without too much incident..... but I had a box most foul to deal with.... hmm. I chucked it in the back of the truck where the open air could deal with it and thought when I got to the vet's there would be a dumpster.

I began to drive with the cat in the back seat tied to the seatbelt so he wouldn't latch onto my head in an effort to appease his terror. (You'd be scared too if you were about to be nardless!) The smell was divine..... hmmm... ok so that was serious sarcasm! But in less than 10 minutes I was at the vet's and the windows have never been wider open. I untied the leash and carried a now very p----d off cat into the lobby, filled out the forms as a very nice lady took the offending-on-the-olfactory creature into the back where he would be injected with anasthetic before his procedure..... I at that point was thinking that a cat in a stove pipe was not such a bad idea. (For those of you who don't know.... some of the cowboys around here will perform the nardless surgery on cats for free.... just put them in a stovepipe upside down where they can't claw you, hold their back lags open, snip snip and it is done.... but it is very primitive and not very ethical.) I dropped the stinking box into the dumpster on the way out and was relieved to be rid of the smell.

In the truck once again.... hmm... the stinky smell is still stronger than it should be..... hmm....
I stop and get out to have a look.... no poo... no pee that I can see. That's when I discovered it. A large streak of poo..... yes.... it was on me! Lovely!

I spent $1000.00 dollars for vetrinarian services this week.... All that $$$ and not one cent for me on my Bitherday! All I got was a wet wipe to remove the poo.... but to be honest.... that's all I wanted... well, that and Oozle to be nardless.

I wonder what the bugger has in store for me when I go later to fetch him home!!

Animals Around Here

We had an awkward day yesterday. I had called the vet some time ago to catch him when he was in our area next time so that I could get 2 of my 5 alpacas gelded. I forgot that yesterday was the day. And so when He showed up I was surprised to say the least. And certainly not prepared the way I should be. We went ahead and caught the two alpacas that are the worst fighters and before long we had them on the ground (having had a anesthetic)and had their nether regions exposed. The vet did a little surgery right in the midst of poo and the two boys were up and on their feet in no time at all. It actually was quite a bit more work than I am making it sound. But all went well and it is done. So now Axton and Benny are gelded and we will see how they do.... if there is still a lot of fighting then Dexter will get it next time the vet is in town. I will keep Coal and Eddie as studs because they are not related to Mishka who is my female. Lets just say that Axton and Benny are keeping their tails pretty tightly tucked today.

Duff our big dog, has not been well. We have watched her deteriorate over the last year in energy and small health concerns. But recently she has had several bad health problems. The latest occurred a few days ago. She started lying around listlessly and not eating her food and then right out of the blue she started panting very heavily and then we notice her blue eye turned green. When I went out to greet the vet in the driveway she wasn't able to get up and walk. The vet was concerned, and so am I. Very concerned. The vet took her temperature and took a blood sample and is going to let me know the results today. But I am not holding out a lot of hope. She is 9 almost 10 years old and the vet mentioned that cancer might be one of the possible problems. He also thought that she might be allergic to something like her food. We are going to try her on canned food for a while and see if it is all the corn in the dry food.... I just hope we don't loose her to this illness.

Well I'm off today.... to weave on the deck.... I don't thin I'm going to have the big j.c. done in time for my birthday either... too many interruptions this week. It is going to be another glorious day at 16 degrees.... in mid April... I can't help but get out there and enjoy it.

Middle Aged

Sorry for being off line for a few days but I have had a problem with the keyboard on my computer.... I think the connecting wire is not connecting any more. So for several days I have not had a keyboard on which to type. I am using a borrowed keyboard for the next few days until I get to town and buy a new one.

In two days I will be another year older. You would think that this would bother me but it really doesn't. I am happy to say that I went through my mid life crisis in my thirties and got it over with then. This decade has been a decade of shedding some of my obligations so that I can finally enjoy doing the things that I want to do without obligations hanging over my head. The problem is I don't know how to say no. That's a bad thing. I don't think I'm the only one. I hear many of my friends complain about having obligations that they don't want to fill. I shed a big one this week. I have decided to give up lay reading at the church and I am stepping down from all the positions that I hold there. It is a huge burden lifted off my shoulders and for the first time in years I feel free. I'm wondering if it is because I am middle aged.

One of my friends says that as she has gotten older she is quicker to say when things p--- her off, where as when she was younger she would keep her mouth shut and let things slide when it bothered her. Perhaps that is sort of what is happening to me... maybe I'm a little more testy about giving up my time, especially when it is taken for granted.

I want to get my business up and off the ground. I want to take pleasure in my family. I want to take vacations without having to worry about who is going to fill in for me while I am gone. I want to enjoy my deck more.... and stay home with Hubby on the weekends and sip tea till 11 a.m. if I want. I, in essence, want to retire. It is a good feeling to know that you can.

April 16th is my day. I'm looking forward to being another year older and maybe a little more wiser. All is good. Being middle aged is not so bad.

Scrambled Or Beaten

That's my brains today.... maybe even scrambled and beaten. I'm waiting for some herb biscuits to come out of the oven... and then I'm off to town for a day of spinning again. Hubby is away in Victoria and we miss him dreadfully... but while the cat's away the mice will play : ) Meanwhile, lack of sleep does not help my poor brain which has been fighting one of those ugly migraines for two days. Scrambled and beaten... yup that's me today.

At least the furnace is back on... propane in the tank and everything is fine..... no more whiffs of propane floating around the joint. All is calm cool and collected... except for me.

Have you ever gotten one of those days where you have so much to do that you don't no where to start? That's what's happening to me.... it all started with crawling into bed last night and having a dog to cozy with instead of a Hubby. Suffice it to say that a gimpy dog (for the last week) is not the best bed mate. Having woken several times because the wee bugger felt he should have tree quarters of the bed instead of the two foot square space alloted, and finally waking enough at 4:30 a.m. to heft said wee bugger off the bed altogether, doesn't make for a happy Frankie. So having tossed and turned for another hour, I finally got up and spun on the drop spindle for a while. At 6:45 a.m. I was feeling sleepy enough to go back to bed. Shortly after, I heard Daughter #2 get up to get her breakfast, probably because the wee bugger was now pestering her and trying to take control of her bed instead of mine. I drifted off into la la land only to be woken a short half hour later by a crumby cat meowing at the top of the steps in an effort to find a comfortable human to cozy with.

It was at that point that I had visions of a mad woman (me) in a rather thread bare nightie and very wild hair standing on the balcony outside her bedroom swinging a dog on the left and a cat on the right by their wee tails and sending them soaring through the air into space with a rubber L.L. Bean boot permanently sticking from their posteriors.... (I do have violent thoughts from time to time, but I try not to let it show...)

So I sit here waiting for my biscuits to come out of the oven (no I'm aware that they won't do that on their own) and then I'm heading off for my spinning and a day of relaxation....

If you see any wee buggers flying through the air.... well, you know that I lost it and my brains became completely scrambled and beaten....

Brrrr! It's Cold!

Me: Shiver, shiver!
Hubby: Brr... it's cold here this morning. Turn the furnace up when you go downstairs.
Me: !? Don't I always?!
I trudge downstairs and flick the furnace thingy..... nothing.....
Me: Dear.... (calling out in a sing song voice) the furnace won't cut in.
Hubby: Hmmmm....

(later) rattle..... bang...... clang.... rattle.... from under the house. The furnace cuts in
Me: sigh (of relief)
Hubby: (coming up from the crawl space)... Well the furnace is working but there's no propane...
Me: What?! That can't be.... I just had it filled Christmas time...... we usually get a whole year out of a tank..... I haven't even finished paying for the last lot..... argh.....
Hubby: I'll call and get a propane delivery..... we must have lost a lot with the leak a few weeks ago.
Me: Whahhhhhh!

So I sit and shiver while waiting for the propane truck to arrive.

Brrr!!!! It's cold!

The moral of the story is this..... get your leaks fixed right away... don't leave them....

The End Is Here!

It's not fair..... (whine)! The morning is beautiful, the sun is out, and the kids go back to school...... you would think that would make me happy. But there will be no relaxing till 10 a.m.... no drinking tea all morning,.... no pleasant and leisurely morning showers..... it's wham... bam..... thank you m'am mornings again with Hubby cursing on the food processor as he makes potted meat sandwiches for lunches as I trip over him while I'm making breakfast. It's yelling daughters as they vie for space in front of the upstairs mirror which is really small when there is a huge mirror in the downstairs bathroom. It is dysfunction on all sides again.

I did manage to get several skeins done for my level 3 homework, during March break though.... and I am proud to say that I am half finished my level 3 homework. Yeah!!! I have one skein that I am determined to get finished today which I really tried hard to get finished before I went to bed last night but I had been working all day and I was really tired so I gave up and went to bed.... I have one single left to do for a 3-ply yarn and it is still that blasted cotton/wool that I was having so much with. I decided that the skein which I thought was going to work really didn't work at all so I gave up and started again.... this is now the 7th try. Sometimes skeins are like that.

I've started walking each morning in an effort to lose weight. My weight loss program has not been aided by all the Easter chocolate. It's just too easy to get my hands on. Walking each morning is lovely though. The fresh air in your lungs... the vibrant colours and the bright light help to get you going.

Hubby and the girls just went out the door and all is quiet. CJ is coming this morning for some spinning and chatting, some lunch and maybe a trip to the Thrift Store for a little poking about. We will see. I enjoy these days and I usually want some mindless spinning to do so I will be working on my old friend the big j.c. Will I ever get that stupid thing done?!!! Oh yes.... it is coming right along. I'm plying weft today and then,... oh yeah.... I'm finished the spinning. And it is weave weave weave... all the way. Put the thing together and I'm done..... woo hoo!

Meanwhile Tootsie the wonder chicken herder bummed up his leg last night chasing his ball around the yard after it showed up semi frozen in a snow bank as the snow melted, so I have to carry him every where. Pinecone the crazy cat is sneezing like crazy, (I wonder if cats are allergic to mildew which might be in the hay after all winter). The sheep are looking like it won't be long before we are pulling lambs again. Yup.... it's spring!

So a day ahead full of things to do, friends to chat with, and it's sunny too..... how very lucky am I! There's much to be grateful for.... don't you think?..... Aren't you glad that the end is not really here, and that it's only the end of spring break......

Welcome Happy Morning

Easter... it seemed like two whole weeks of spring break leading up to the Easter weekend, would be wonderful and it has been, but it just flew by too fast. As I am writing Hubby is making one of his very delicious lemon meringue pies and the service for tomorrow is being spit out of my printer.

Flowers are everywhere in my house. Besides the Christmas cactus that is in full bloom, there are roses on my dining room table and there are daffodils on my coffee table and in the window are two swan shaped vases with a white rose, one each for the Daughters. I have purple mums in the fridge for my Mom and Dad and there are lilies and tulips in the outside fridge for the church. What would Easter be without a house (and a church) that looks like spring.

It has been a very busy few days. I have been spinning up a storm. After I finished the needlework sample, pictured in my last post, I got to work on the wool blending section. I finished a wool/silk blend on Wednesday night. Thursday morning I woke early and was really feeling enthusiastic about spinning so I got up early and started on my wool/cotton blend which sucked, so I tried again.... it sucked too.... I tried something else.... nah eh... another sucky sample. After 5 tries I was desperate to get a good cotton/wool blend that would spin nicely....
and nothing seemed to be working. What was I going to do?... I called everyone I knew in complete desperation and that just gave me a bunch of people who are sick of hearing about it.... but I was no closer to a solution..... finally it hit me that maybe I should try spinning my wool/cotton sample on my charkha..... woo hoo! Success at last. I now have two of my wool samples done and am working on my last wool sample.... I'll have it done tomorrow and I'm going to work on my novelty yarn on Monday.

Tuesday,Hubby and the Daughters go back to school and it's back to the big j.c. for me.... argh!..... : {

But in the meantime there are chocolate and flowers to enjoy.... and a service to staple together.... so I better get to it. Happy Easter to one and all.... hope your bunnies are not dust bunnies.... !