Snore..... That's What I should Be Doing

I've had a few things on my mind and I haven't really had time to get back to this blog and write the way I've wanted. When I look back on this summer it feels like I have been really busy but then I feel like I haven't got much to show for it. I'm stuck in a bit of a rut with my homework books and I've been busily working on that all summer and recently in the last few days I have been busy getting the blog/newsletter ready for the PCSW. So really I haven't been sitting doing nothing and when I think back to that dyeing weekend retreat there in July.... well, lets just say that I made huge inroads into my level 4 homework.... but for all intents and purposes it really doesn't feel like I've been working or doing anything, probably because I haven't got anything to show for my work.... well, anything useable that is. Still the newsletter is out for another season. If you would like to view it you can go to Threads Along The Peace for a little look at what I have been doing for the last week.

I took on the newsletter as a volunteer position for the PCSW about a year ago and convinced everyone in the guild that we should modernize and stop sending out a paper newsletter (also sent as an attachment for those with a computer) and start sending out an online newsletter instead. It has been no small task to do that. Convincing people that our guild won't suffer because we publish online has not necessarily been easy. There is an issue with privacy.... so once again I don't put any personal information on the blog/newsletter about anyone who writes or is written about. Everyone can view it online and they can do so with anonymity. It can be viewed in colour and we can now see pictures... which I'm still not sure that people have figured out yet, since I hardly ever get pictures for the reports and articles that people send to me to be published. Anyway, I'm working on these ladies to get the newsletter to be something more than just a sheaf of papers that get sent out three times a year with a cheery report from each guild involved, to a newsletter that informs, and captures attention, and makes a difference in the lives of the spinners, weavers and dyers who read it. At first, the newsletter was closed to only members but at our last meeting in the spring, there was a vote to open it to the general public... it is now ok for me to talk about it here and give a link.... which I think is great because it can only further our influence and knowledge. I'm hoping it will be received well but that is not necessarily the case since some of the ladies in the guild are a little on the technical spaz side of things.... : ) but they're learning.

Meanwhile, while I was waiting for the reports to be completed and the articles to be sent in and then in between typing up the things that I received last week, I would spin. I am working on two questions at once for the level 3 homework. I am still working on the cotton summer question, though I have two spools of cotton spun and am now working on the third, and I have one spool of wool/cotton/silk blend for the baby sweater done. They are both coming along fine and the break from treadling there a week ago has helped my back... (yeah!) So now I work on the regular spinning wheel for a few hours, and then I give myself a break and read.... and then I work on the charkha for a few hours, and then give myself a break and blog/write for the newsletter for a while. It's working quite well except that it feels like I'm making no progress.... I guess I am though. I'm seeing slow and steady progress but no great leaps forward. It will probably all come at one time when I get a whole bunch of stuff finished all in one fell swoop!

Actually it is the wee small hours of the morning right now and it is raining. I know it seems like it is raining all the time here because I keep announcing the rain when it comes... still though everything around here is dreadfully dry. The rain, when it comes, is in very small amounts.... like 3 mm.... and doesn't last long and is usually followed by two days of dry southern wind which whisks away all the moisture and makes it so that it really wasn't any good at all..... the grass, which turned brown ages ago is now that grey/white of dead beyond all reckoning. The trees are turning full yellow, and now that we are getting cooler nights the leaves are starting to fall off the trees that survived the drought.... the trees that didn't survive the drought don't have leaves to turn. Daughter #1 takes her horse out for exercise and the dust kicks up from her walking feet in small little poofs. It would take two weeks of solid rain to make the water table come back up at all and even then we would have to have regular rain after that for a month to bring this place back to life.... mind you it is Aug 17th and I expect that everything will just die off for the season now.

Teapot has been culling the flock. We still have the lambs and we have Fanny, Nellie, and Xavier, which we will keep, with Krunch, Palmer, and Ipwitch next up on the chopping block... the lambs will go in the early fall. Winnie, Lulu, and Griegg are going to a friend's place to be cared for there.

Wow, the rain is really coming down right now and I think I see lightning every now and again!

I do have one bad thing to say.... Oozle the cat has gone missing and hasn't been seen for a week... we checked with the animal control guy, (who's not entirely trustworthy) and he has been away vacationing for a few weeks... his wife told us that there have been no cats brought in...the day Oozle went missing we found a dead rabbit by the hay stack.... hmm... We haven't entirely given up on finding him.... but chances are slim.... Daughter #1 is taking it well considering that it was her cat. Actually everyone is..... well, except me... which is weird since I have a real love/hate relationship with the cats. But for some dumb reason.... well, I miss the little guy. I hate that he might have been eaten or died a nasty death or is stuck somewhere starving in a slow death... it's just dreadful... I hate getting attached to cats!..... I did tell Daughter #1 though, that there would be no more cats because my allergies to them is, while not bad, has been a whole lot worse lately. So for now we will wait and wonder and hope that he returns.... (the stupid blighter.... I only just spent a fortune on him in the spring getting him neutered and getting his shots).

I just heard a clap of thunder off in the distance.... hmm... I think there is a storm on the way... I love night time electrical storms. I love to sit/lie in the dark and watch the lightning play on the walls around me.... and if I can be out in it.... well, even better.

So, while I've been sitting here writing this, time has been marching on... it is 1:45 a.m. and Teapot and the Daughters have been in bed for hours. All is quiet.... except for the in-the-distance thunder. It's actually quite pleasant sitting here working away....but I think it is time to climb the stairs, turn out the lights, crawl into my soft, warm, safe bed, and toss and turn for a few more hours before falling into an exhausted sleep just before dawn.... maybe waiting for the storm will put me to sleep.... usually if I want to stay awake for a reason that's when I fall asleep like a baby..... you know... Murphy's Law!

I'm all about Murphy's Law..... so yeah I'm off to snore or at least try..... good night.

The Home Where I live....

This valley never ceases to amaze me. It is a wonderful place to live and I love the river in all its glory, be it summer, fall, winter or spring. Teapot has been loading pictures from the old computer to the new computer and so we have been looking at the pictures more than we would normally. I have taken many pictures of the valley and the river but I thought that today I would show you this valley in all its splendor by posting my favorite pictures of the river and the valley which I call home.


There is always an abundance of wildlife on the river... of course, birds of all kinds flock there for their very survival. I love canoeing on the river because there are always interesting birds to look at, from Kingfishers diving for their lunch, to Eagles patrolling the waters for any sign of things they can eat, be it fish or a baby beaver. There are no small number of wading shore birds like this little sand piper.

Or this flock of geese.....

I love the way the sun sparkles on the water on beautiful sunny days as the water rolls along under the bow of the canoe drifting lazily along and always carrying us forward.

Sparkling water always makes me feel happy....

And we are not the only ones who love the river when it sparkles.....

It makes for an awesome day of rich, bright, soul renewing light.....

The water has many different faces and colours that often evoke similar feelings in me.

There is a rich blue....of energy....

An azure..... of tranquility....

and sometimes even a somber green....

And sandy or rocky cliffs tower over you as you drift silently past. I find myself wondering if those cliffs are watching as they did when the Voyageurs passed this way... these cliffs are covered in hoodoos...

I have drifted past cliffs of shale rock that have made me wonder if they would slide into the river. Once, just as we got past, a little slide occurred and we hurried away from the slopes that somehow seemed formidable.

The water swirls and eddies under the canoe sometimes as the river rolls along over boulders that have been there for thousands of years.... it is quite a thrill when the river lifts you and pushes you around when you drift across one if its many eddies.


Islands dot it's waters where ecosystems of ancient times thrive and provide sanctuary for who knows how many species. They are awesome to explore and you find ferns as high as 6 or 7 feet and mushrooms that are so delicate in their growth that they look like something out of an alien world.

My favorite time to paddle the river is autumn, when the colours of the trees are reflected in the water and the mist plays havoc with your senses.

It is a beautiful valley... a place of peace....

It's water often lies hidden in the mist... as are the homes of the many people who love this valley as I do...

It is the place I call home..... a real jewel that gives me peace of mind and a sanctuary too...

Inside My Own Head

I've always been a bit of a loner. When I was going through my teens I always enjoyed walking on the beach that graced the town of my grand parents. I'd wait until the evening came when everyone was gone for the day and then I would walk along the beach in the pleasure of my own company. Even now, years later, I really don't have an issue with being alone. I always find something to keep me busy. As a matter of a fact after spending time in the company of friends, more often than not I get to the point where I start to feel restless and this is an indication that I've had enough of chatting and gabbing and I need to go off on my own. That is why I find it so strange that I am not looking forward to the time when school starts again. At that time Teapot and the Daughters will be returning to another year of school and I will be once again on my own.

Most of my life has been spent inside my own head and I find it quite soothing at times to not have to express myself to others. I do that through my art, I think. Poetry has been an outlet for me for many years. Originally it started as a bit of fun. I would write some foolish stuff to who ever was having a birthday or special occasion, but then it became something a little more. I'd often sit down with a journal and write poems. Some of them totally suck : ) and some of them are a little better. I also express myself in the form of paintings. I paint all the time. Sometimes I paint with water colours and sometimes I paint with acrylics but it is always a joy and a pleasure to put a paint brush to work. Then there is this blog which is a way for me to come out of my own head a little and let people know that I exist, (you know... because I am such a fading flower!!!). Still that time spent inside my own head is really quite alright. My head is so busy that really it is quite enough to keep it all straight so I actually think that I need that time away from the business that is the world around me.

A problem arises though when you live mostly in your own mind.... people have a tendency to think you are stand offish. Really though that is completely unintentional.... however, it does make for some really awesome people watching.

I remember having a chat with some friends of mine and we were talking about creativity. They mentioned that back in the 60s and 70s when they were younger they did drugs and found that it really enhanced their creative minds. I found that to be strange because it almost seems like an artificial creativity... I had another good friend a little older than the other ones who did drugs, and she said that her best creative moments came when she was in the bathroom.... I had a good laugh at that one.... and have occasionally used that myself. However, my best creative moments come unforeseen and unexpected and at any time at all.... my mind for some reason never really turns off. The minute my eyes open I start to see things as they could be and not necessarily as they are. I am always coming up with good ideas.... which sometimes can really irritate Teapot. And sometimes my mind doesn't really turn off at all... even when I am asleep.... those are the nights I hate because the ideas won't stop but they never fully form and you wake up not well rested at all.....

I can see how this would all seem a little dangerous. Perhaps I'm standing on the edge of a precipice and don't even know it. I'm sure a psychologist would have a field day with me... all I can say is that living inside my own head is not really all that bad and I do get out occasionally.....

No you don't...
Yes I do.....
No you don't...
Yes I do....

Argh! See what I mean....

Smells And Other Things....

I have a very sensitive nose. This is not always a good thing. For the last two weeks I wake up in the morning and I smell smoke. B.C. presently has something over 400 wildfires burning and this valley seems to suck smoke into it like there is no tomorrow. So upon waking I can smell smoke and it tells me that once again there is dry, warm weather prevailing. Still, in this neck of the woods, though it is still extremely dry, there is a change in the air. The nights are now beginning to feel cooler and in the morning there is a crispness in the air that wasn't there a few short days ago. People around here are predicting a heavy snowpack this year and since our actual rainfall is low every year, we rely heavily on a high snowpack for most of the moisture for growing things in the garden, so I will be happy if what everyone is predicting comes true..... we need it.

So I am now working on the cotton summer sweater question and I have been spinning on my charkha in an effort to get my summer sweater sample finished before summer is at a complete end. I am using dyed rovings that I painted this summer at the cotton dyeing workshop that I did in Olds. It is looking really pretty. It is a really nice soft summer green, which is one of my favorite colours. I have one spool of singles done and I need to do two more then ply the whole thing. I've picked out a lovely knitted lace top from Vogue Knitting magazine. It feels really good to see progress on my books.

Teapot has finished the fencing on the new paddock for the horse. He still has some work to do on the fencing for the sheep/alpaca paddocks. It will be good to get it done as then the animals can get out on grass in the summer. Teapot has worked hard this summer and though the roof on the electrical shed is not done yet I feel that we will get it finished before the snow comes.

It looks like we will be taking a short vacation before the end of the summer arrives. Teapot and I are working on the logistics.... yes I know I am making it sound like a covert operation. But we are planning on going down the river for a couple of days with the Daughters and possibly another couple if they decide they want to come.... the logistics involves figuring out how to get four adults, two youths, two dogs, and all our camping gear into two canoes. You see it is because we have been teaching the Daughters how to paddle this summer that we feel they are not ready yet to take a canoe of their own.... after watching them paddle about for a number of days on the lake and knowing that they don't really have good control over the canoe that we have decided that they are not ready for the river where there is current to push and pull the canoe around. Teapot is going to ferry everything down to the camping spot. We are going to make a number of trips (hopefully only two) with me and the gear being dropped off on round one.... I will set up camp (this is on an island) while Teapot makes a short trip down the river to a boat launch where Opa (my dad) will pick him up, at which point he will load the canoe on top of Opa's van and they will drive back up river and then come down river with the Daughters and dogs. The other couple are on their own if they come at all. Then later on when Teapot has time after our hay has been picked up and purchased we will take the Daughters down to PG for a pre-school shopping trip which they will be ecstatic about..... and know nothing of yet.

But meanwhile I have lots of work and need to get at it.... so I had better go and start working on the cotton punis that I carded last night in the middle of the night, while waiting for Jiggs to come in after she f--ted and evacuated Teapot and I from our bedroom..... there is seriously something wrong with a dog that smells that bad! See what I mean?.... Having a sensitive nose is not always a good thing..... argh! And on that unfortunate note I will end this epistle here... thanks heavens eh?!!

I can't wait. (It's all about now!)

Woopee! After waiting a year I finally have the tub in the downstairs bathroom hooked up with running water. See those taps and that shower head...... It is all hooked up!!!! For the first time in eight years I can have a bath again without having to wait till we go on vacation where there is a hotel with a tub. When we moved into this house the bathroom had a lovely shower but no tub... I've never been a linger-in-the-tub kind of person but after eight years I can safely say that having the option would have been nice. I do occasionally like to stretch out in a tub and have a nice bath with bath salts. Very soothing..... and now I can. I can't wait....

Yesterday, TCH came by and hooked up the tub and all the unfinished plumbing that Teapot didn't know how to finish or was too nervous to do. And what's even better is that he'll come in October and finish all the other stuff (like that paneling off to the right of the tub in the above picture) that Teapot doesn't have time to finish. I'm so excited that by Christmas I will finally be able to finish the floors and walls and electrical and finally have the renovation on the inside of our house finished! Oh happy day! Next year there will only be the stonework on the outside of the addition to finish and that will be mine and Teapot's work for the summer. Oh how nice it will be to have it all done. I can't wait for this either.

I have been working hard at another question for the level 3 homework. I have been braiding on my Marudai a distaff out of cabled yarn. This was a question that I started way back in the winter and never completed. I had cabled some lovely silk hankies and then woven, on my little 4x6 Weavette, two pieces for the side of a distaff bag. And then I wove, on the round, (that means weaving on a paper plate or plastic margarine container lid), the bottom for the bag, and sewed the whole thing together.... it still needed a handle and it needed some dangley bits to wrap your fibre around, but then I didn't get around to finishing it and so it sat all winter waiting to be finished. Yesterday I made the dangley bits and now I'm braiding the handle. It is going to look awesome. With the outerwear question done, (this is the knitted sample)..... and this distaff question nearing completion, I am beginning to feel good about my progress again. I am hoping to finish the distaff bag question today. And this is something else that I can't wait about.....

We have found a new home for two of our sheep... I was telling a friend about the dreadful issues I was having finding hay and how far I was going to have to haul hay from, and that's when she dropped the bomb and said she would like to have sheep to eat some of the brushy stuff that she and her husband have been trying for year after year to get rid of..... well of course I jumped on that like you wouldn't believe. So she is going to come by and have a look and pick out a couple of sheep for their farm.... I feel a whole lot better knowing that those sheep will be on another farm somewhere and not butchered in the freezer. There is a slight issue with cougars and coyotes and wolves and stuff but they plan on building a wee barn for the sheep to go into in the night time and that should be good. So I will be really glad to have that little bit of peace of mind which means, that once again.... yup you guessed it.... I can't wait.

Hmmmm.... what is that I'm sitting on..... oh lookee..... a ball of cotton yarn.... that I spun back in the winter.... (it was jammed down between the cushion and the arm of the chair I am sitting in)..... Wow, I did a really good job spinning that cotton..... hmmm.... did I really spin that.... gee if that was me.... I did a pretty darn good job.... naaah, it has to be commercial yarn..... yeah.... hmmmmmm..... maybe I had better go and check it against the one cone of commercial cotton I own.... well, it might have been me.....right.... I can't wait. I've got to go and figure this one out....

Just remember... it's all about now!

The Teapot Strikes Again!

You know what I just thought about?

I'm a little teapot short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up hear me shout... just tip me over pour me out.

Yep there are no devils hanging around me tonight.....

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

And I got another question done on my level 3.

See what I mean?! There are no devils around when you get work done....!

Reckoning

I had to make a terrible decision yesterday. Oscar the ram will have to be slaughtered.... I'm so upset. He is my all time favorite sheep. But the decision was made because his horns do not have a good configuration.... that sounds so dumb really because it sounds like we are out to keep only animals that look nice... but horns can be tricky things. The horns are full of nerve endings and if they are not polled when they are very young then it is more difficult to poll them as they get older. You would think that horns would grow properly but like human teeth they don't always do that. Oscar horns started giving us trouble early in the spring when they began to curl against his eye. Teapot bought a little saw and we began to saw the tips off so that they would not cause blindness or worse. The problem is that as Oscar's horns grow longer they also begin to thicken.... and the thickening is beginning to squeeze his skull. He is such an easy tempered guy that I hate to slaughter him but unfortunately I've tried every source I can think of to find a solution and unless I want to spend a fortune dehorning him then I have to slaughter him.... When you are trying to run a farm then the idea is to make it as cost effective as you can and this time that means slaughtering one of my favorite sheep.

Xavier, our other ram is still on our list of keepers, so at least I can breed again when the fall comes. Xavier is a pure bred BFL (Blue Faced Liecester) and he will make a very good breeding ram over time. He has a lovely configuration and to my eyes no sign of horns yet... mind you he is still young so perhaps the horns haven't come in yet, but it is certainly something that I will watch for. But then, not knowing a whole lot about the breed other than I really like their fibre, I do believe that both sexes are polled.... meaning that they are bred to be hornless I think. I really never gave any of this much thought when I bought him, since I was planning on using Oscar primarily and Xavier would be just used to breed with Oscar's offspring.

Teapot wants me to cull the flock back even further than the six/seven I had picked out and since he does so much to help me with them and since my back issues dictate that I need help, I will have to take his desires into consideration. I have decided on Xavier, Greigg, Fanny, and Nellie. That will give me ten animals in all when you include the alpacas.

For days now I have had a bad back.... this is nothing abnormal for me since my back has gone through horrible stresses and surgeries since I was a child. Normally, medication keeps everything going along tickety boom... but this week the back monster reared it's ugly head and I have had shooting pains up and down my legs as the nerves for these areas are being horrible compressed.... I continue to hope that nothing back there has changed radically in the last week but am beginning to wonder since five days of drugs is the most that it has ever taken to get things back under control. Like Oscar, my day of reckoning has come..... well... I'm not going to meet my maker..... I'm just going to have to stop treddling for a few weeks, which is a horror since I have not made much progress over the summer on the level 3 homework. But I have two questions that I can work on for sure. I have to spin a yarn appropriate for a summer top, and I have to spin a yarn appropriate for a baby outfit.... both of these can be done on things other than spinning wheels. The summer top of course will need cotton and so I will spin that on my charkha, which does not require my feet or legs at all. The other can be spun on the charkha as well if I use cotton, or I can spin on my drop spindle if I choose to use some other fibre.... possibly a blend of silk and alpaca and wool, (for a christening gown). I might even be able to spend the time writing up the questions on count since I have tons of samples from the t.p.i. questions that I can use them for the count questions. I also have the fibre spun for the distaff and the distaff is pretty much finished but I need construct a handle and do a little trimming on it to finish it off.... all these questions can be completed without treadling and so I am going forward today with that.

After the last few weeks, and though rain has been sporadic and only a little, there is some green on the ground.... not lots mind you, but at least it is not that brilliant golden almost white of dead grass... I took a short walk yesterday on the trails through the forest and discovered that the leaves from the Poplar trees are beginning to fall, see these little yellow things in our driveway, they are dead fallen leaves.....
and this tree has turned mostly yellow under the outside canopy of green....
and autumn coolness is definitely in the morning air. As I sit here with the window open above my desk, the air is penetrating my joints and making both my fingers and toes very cold. Many of the birds have begun to flock and head south. The crows began their journey a week ago. We are on the slippery slope down into another kind of reckoning.... the reckoning of winter, and probably an early one too!