I have been watching Grey Jays (Whisky Jacks for you Newfies) scurrying away from my feeder with food for the last few weeks. When my dogs rejected a certain brand of food that we had been given we decided to put it out for the Jays... sure enough they love it. They have been visiting every blessed day and flying off into the forest with chunks of dog food. You must know that what they are doing is getting ready for winter. It's almost here and it is becoming clearer every day.
We had our first brush with winter the other day. Friday we had our first snow fall. It came and then it went and by last night another Chinook was blowing in. I actually had to open my bedroom window last night again after a week of sleeping with it closed. As October slips away I see more and more signs that winter is coming. The mountains to the west of us (the Rockies) are snow covered now and the few straggling geese are making their way south.
So the dear Daughter #2 is home again today... she has Shingles and is suffering from needle pricks in the area where the rash is. It feels like there are dozens of wee needles pricking her skin and it is very distracting... poor kid. She opted to stay home for a couple of days till this stupid rash goes. In the meantime she missed, on Friday, a Science test and so she is studying to do that when she gets back to class. So I suppose that in a way she is getting ready.
Late October seems to be a season of getting ready. I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps it is because we tend to start winter preparations at this time of the year. For example, we spent yesterday afternoon prepping the alpacas for winter. They have all gotten their teeth trimmed, toes trimmed and shots for parasites... so they are good to go. The last of my sheep... the ram to be exact will be leaving us this coming weekend. I started to trim the rabbits and decided that the staple was not quite long enough so I cleaned up the last of the knobs and noils on their fur and and gave them a good combing out. As a result they are ready for winter. So that accounts for all animals. Then Daughter #1 pulled all the rest of the beets and carrots in the garden and I covered the garden soil with chicken wire so that the cats wouldn't be using it for their bathroom.... so that' ready for winter. Daughter #2 has outgrown her winter jacket and so I ordered a new one for her it should be here within a week.... then she'll be almost ready for winter. What's left? Mittens.... today I will be starting in on a bunch of mittens for the Daughters. Both girls are the most terrible at losing mittens even though they are 14 and almost 16 years of age.... so I will be knitting mittens for them out of wool that I spun when I first started spinning so many years ago... (yes, I still have some of that old stuff kicking around). In the end they will be ready for winter. Teapot needs boots for winter and we are working on that and so do I and so we are working on that too.
As you can see getting ready seems to be a part of our lives these days. There are other things to that make me think about getting ready. I am starting to clean up my spinning studio space which got trashed the day our electrician came by to finish putting in some outlets in the front sunroom.... I also have to figure out what I am going to do with the new old loom. That's something that I am going to be working on today. All this cleaning... including our bedroom the other day makes me think that it is a good time to prep for the almighty season of Christmas.... (there, I said the fowl word).... I'm still thinking of a new couch and chairs for our living room. This too seems like I am getting ready.
Meanwhile my level 5 homework progresses but I haven't actually made my binders ready to receive my work... so that's something else I am hoping to prep today. And last but not least.... in 2 weeks I will be teaching Kumihimo braiding on the Maru Dai in FSJ so I am starting to prep for that too. So even in my professional (snork) life I seem to be getting ready.
It's time I think to make a list of all that I need to do. I'm sure I will forget something. I know... forgetting is a way of getting ready for old age isn't it?! Well, if that is the case then I have been getting ready for years now!
Hope this finds you in all readiness....
Have a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment