Sucks To Be Me.... Especially After Picking Cashmere

Well, lots of hi jinks around here last night... before I tell you about cashmere I'll tell you all about the prison break last night....

We have been renting movies from Videomatica (which is an online video rental place) since Christmas and about every 5 days we get a movie in the mail which we watch that evening and then send it back the next day.  Lately we have been watching the series The Tudors and we have been really enjoying it... (though Daughter #2 gets grossed out at all the stupid sex scenes.... totally unnecessary for the telling of the story.) It's just too bad that they are not really sticking to historical truth. I am a bit of a history buff and my favorite era is that of the Tudors.  I know a bit and so the family keeps turning to me and saying, "is that true? Anyway, we were peacefully watching the tail end of season 2 episode 7 when Teapot glanced out the window where a prison break was ensuing. LLama, alpaca, and sheep were everywhere. They had been looking out of the paddock and I guess they were fed up with the fact that they were in a dry brown paddock

Dry brown paddock.

and there was tons of green grass outside...

Lovely green grass just out of their reach. Wish we could afford to fence more property... maybe next year.

one of the buggers had pushed at the gate until it popped open. They wouldn't even look at a bucket of oats.... not with all that green grass now in their reach.  Teapot had a few choice words... and then promptly put up some fence wire all around them between the house and shed, the shed and the the trees, and all through the trees, and then around the end of the cistern and down to the alpaca pen.

You can just see the fence wire with the red ribbons dangling from it in an effort to let everyone know not to decapitate themselves on the wire.

We herded the animals into the pen slowly by making them realize that they were fenced again though only with one wire and they could have gotten through quite easily if they hadn't been so dumb.... but thank God they were dumb. By dark we had them all back in after chasing two sheep around the yard about ten times.  I hate prison breaks... but Teapot has decided to put up a temp fence so that we can let them out on the grass. It will be a four strand fence that can come down easily but, with supervision, the animals will be alright. And the best part is they will get grass and I won't have to mow... how awesome is that.

Now as for picking cashmere... I spent the whole day indoors, picking hair out of cashmere... not a pleasant job I assure you... but necessary.  Today I will be getting the fibre ready for carding. My baggies are ready.... so it is just needing carding and then spinning.  Today I will be working outdoors which I am looking forward to.  Yesterday I even managed some knitted samples for the 150 hour project... it is looking good and shaping up quite nicely.

Cashmere before being picked...

What gets picked out....

Cashmere after it has been picked...

Cashmere in baggies ready for carding.... in 10 gram allotments. 2 grams of silk, 3 grams of cashmere, and 5 grams of merino.

My spun yarn ready for knitting.

Two knitted samples.... the one on the left was knit with a 3.5 mm knitting needle. The one on the right was knit with a 4mm knitting needle.... I will be using the 3.5 mm knitting needle... the gauge will be slightly off but I will make adjustments for that.

Teapot is away and off to FSJ for a day of meetings and won't be home till very late tonight... so we are on our own today, and with Daughter #1's arm in a sling, Daughter #2 and I will be working doubly hard feeding those animals and making sure there is no other break out.

So there you have it... I'm glad I will be carding today... I'm positively sicking of picking disgusting hair.

Feelin' Groovy

"Hello lamp post what cha knowin'... no deeds to do, no promises to keep.... life I love you." 

Yup you know what I'm up to again.... gotta love the music. 

Well, yesterday I took 250 metres of spun yarn for the 150 hour project off my wheel and it looks awesome.   I will be spinning a ton today again as I have to get this done. So it is all about the project in the next few weeks.  I'm down to the wire since there are only three weeks left before I leave... ack!  If I get this done it will be a miracle...

there's not lots to talk about today so I'll just post a quick update on Daughter #1's arm as i know there will be family wondering.  She is doing ok... there's still lots of swelling but it seems to be improving each day.  It is not as tender and we hope it continues to improve....

Tomorrow I might have some pics of that yarn I just took off the wheel.... for my spinner friends.

Things That Swell.... No Not That

Poor Daughter #1. She fell down at sport day on Friday, at the school and came home with her elbow looking like a softball. She couldn't move it hardly at all so Teapot and I felt she should go to emergency and have it checked.  It is not broken... thank heavens... but it is in a sling for the next little while and she has to ice it and take anti inflammatories.  The poor kid. I feel sorry for her. She looked quite miserable when she got home. So yesterday I took her with me when I went to get groceries. She wanted to go shopping and so did Daughter #2. We had a great time shopping though I did not find anything that I really wanted. Neither Did Daughter #2, but Daughter #1 found a few things that she liked. We went for lunch at a Chinese food restaurant and had a lovely day. Still it was quite dreadful for me after the first hour since my foot had doubled in size. This swollen ankle is starting to really worry me... I'm thinking that it is swelling for more than just treadling. After I am on my feet for a while things get really bad and it starts to look alarming. The weird thing is it is only in one foot so I'm pretty sure it is swelling because of injury. I'm just not sure what the injury is.  My father thinks that it might be a fallen arch.... but I can't remember doing anything to it.... so now I am thinking that this has gone on long enough.... and I guess I will have to bight the bullet and go to the doctor. Hmmm..... and what worries me most is how on earth I'm going to get through fibre week with a gimpy foot. Usually we walk across campus to our classes ... but I can't see how I'm going to be able to walk that far with my foot this way. Sucks to be me.... but then fibre week is still a few weeks away so maybe it will be ok by then.

Today I am going to be plying the first of my 150 hour project yarn... I'm looking forward to seeing what it will be like. It should be interesting.... but for now I am going to have some breakfast with the Daughters.... Teapot is away on a camping trip with the Junior Canadian Rangers.... and I am going to be taking very good care of my foot. In the meantime Daughter #1 has just come into the sunroom and said that her elbow feels much better and the swelling is down quite a bit this morning. I am so glad it is not broken... now if I could just sort out this ankle of mine.

Lost For Words

Poetry has always been a wonderful outlet for me... usually I express myself through poetry and art...but for many months the words that I love to push around into poems have escaped me. Usually poetry comes unbidden to my mind, but recently, in months gone by, whenever I thought of poetry, it somehow seemed forced if I tried to get something on paper. Daughter #2 has been taking art lessons from a local artist which I am happy to say has renewed my interest in all things art.  She has had some interesting exercises to complete for homework and I have been happy to watch with the feeling that I would really like to participate too. But I have not had time. With the 150 hour project looming I have had to make that my priority. Last evening, though, Daughter #2 brought home a book on drawing super heroes from the library.  We had a hoot looking through the cartoons and then I said I could draw the Daughters as cartoon super heroes.  Once I had finished the Daughters as super heroes, I felt the need to draw Teapot and moi as super heroes too... the results were hilarious...

Daughter #1 as Spike Lady. She has an ability to jump really high and really far and can use any type of weapon.

Daughter #2 as  Lightning lady who can fly and uses lightning bolts to knock out her opponents.

Teapot is Flash Man who uses the light of the sun to blind his opponents and can run extremely fast.

And Moi as Super Viking Lady who can knock 'em over with a smack in the face with her boobs and can stir any water to turbulence with her duodent (not trident) and can slam her opponents with water and surround them so they are encaged in water and can knock them over by running at them with her helmet.

We roared with laughter at my renditions of us as superheroes and then went out for dinner.

After I went to bed and had slept for several hours, I woke quite suddenly as the birds were beginning their morning chirping in the early dawn hours.... which got me to thinking about poems... and suddenly the words that had not been with me for so very long, were with me once again. Needless to say that I got up right away before the words escaped me once again. I wrote it down and they rolled off my tongue quite easily. You can see them at my other blog ... just click on the link.

In the end I'm not sure if it was the hilarity that brought words to my mind/mouth but I am thankful for the words because I thought I had lost them...

I Am Woman Hear Me Roar

I am listening to Helen Reddy this morning.... "I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman. You can bend me but not break me, Cause it only serves to make me. More determined to achieve my final goal..."

I'm pretty sure that every girl should learn the words to this song by the time they are ten years old...

I think I'll go burn my bra now.... actually that would not be good because I might end up with a black eye. : )

Enough of that silliness....
Oh crap! Now "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" is on by Al Green.  Excuse me... I have to go sing into my mouse/microphone..... use your imagination........

(singing in the background....)

...... I've always been affected by the music I listen to.... my mood can swing from WOW to psssst in seconds depending on what I'm listening to... but then music can really get me going and doing cool things.... like I tend to listen to Aerosmith when painting.... and I listen to Diana Krall when I get down because she lifts me out of the dole drums.... when I'm driving I have a whole bunch of music that I like.
When I'm p'd off I tend to listen to "These Boots Were Made For Walking" by Nancy Sinatra, or "I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane" by Peter Paul, and Mary.... or Chantal Kreviasuk's version is good too.  Bon Jovi is always good for a pick up too.... love them... and Johny boy is always a heart throb.... (hottie in modern lingo).

Oh! Excuse me "Respect" just came on... where's that mouse again.....

(singing in the background....) 

.... Yeah.. well... anyway, I like modern stuff too. Smash Mouth is good and Nickleback, oh and Theory Of A Dead Man, and Uncle Kracker, and more recently Adele. All good music of various types....


Anyway.... today is a day of spinning so I'm trying to keep myself occupied while doing it... I was going to watch movies but somehow music entered my soul this morning and I'm doing that now instead.... spinning is going good though... I've got a bit done on the 150 hour project and last night I finished the stupid flax sample write ups which I've been stalling on for ages.  I have a few write ups left which I will do each evening in between the garden work...

Every now and again I look at the calendar and get really freaked.... it's all good right!?

Oh Petula Clarke is on with "Downtown"... mouse time and time to sing again....

(singing in the background....) 

If I'm not careful I'm never going to get anything done...... awesome.... Santana is on now.... love it.....

Well I'm off to spin before the day is gone and the calendar turns another page.... Do you realize it is almost June..... (squawk)! Ah... and it's 10: 15 already.... Yup I had better go spin.

I am woman hear me roar.... I can do anything........ 

All About Food

I just read through my last post which I posted without reviewing it.... which is obvious... somehow there was a whole two sentences that were lost somewhere in the publishing... what I had been saying was that the 4 elements have been involved in deadly storms of late.  Earth with the Australian and Jananese earthquakes. Air with the tornadoes. Fire with the wild fires in Texas and more recently in Alberta. And lastly Water with the floods in Manitoba and B.C. Daughter#2 seems to believe that this is significant.... especially since rapture day has just past.... are we on the last times on our wee frail planet.... I don't know!?  But I'm not giving up on my level 4 homework just because Jesus might come for a visit....I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile that has absolutely nothing to do with food, however, after also reading about the liver and onions that I had last night for supper my mouth began to water.... it was very good. Meanwhile as I write I am eating breakfast and I am having a corn and cheese omelette. (Stupid American spelling gismo on this machine... keeps telling me that I can't spell omelet/omelette right!) It too was very good and something that I haven't made in a very long time. But the eggs are farm fresh eggs that we got from a local farmer....they were so yellow compared to the nasty eggs you get at the supermarket.
Recipe:

Frankie's Corn and Cheese Omelette/Omelet

6 eggs
1/4 c. of milk
pepper to taste
handful of corn niblets
and 1 oz of cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese grated

In a frying pan and over medium low heat (for me that's a 4 on my stove top)  melt a little butter .... absolutely butter unless you have clogged arteries... then I'll let you use margarine. While the butter is melting scramble the eggs with the milk and pepper. Once the butter is melted pour the egg mixture into the frying pan. sprinkle a handful or two of corn niblets over the eggs mixture and then sprinkle the cheese over the top. While it is cooking, pop some homemade bread in the toaster and toast lightly. When the egg mixture is gelatinous on top, flip the whole omelette/omelet over in the pan carefully.... I have no trick for doing this successfully... though for some reason it always seems to work. Leave the omelette there for 30 - 40 seconds and voila the omelette is ready to be shared. I usually feed all four of us with that much. Served with toast this makes a hardy breakfast and eaten at 10 a.m. you can even skip lunch because I guarantee you'll feel full for hours. And it is simply delicious.

Lately the Teapot has been checking the bush for food.... "What!" you say? Yup, Teapot has found morels... and they are really good with pretty much anything.  Lovely with liver and onions and divine on top of an omelette/omelet.  We are very careful about getting the right mushrooms because around here there are also false morels which actually don't look a bit like the real ones except when they are first coming through the ground. When picking wild mushrooms make sure you have someone who knows what they are doing... because screwing up is not an option! Be careful not to pick morels if they grow in sandy areas as they like to pick up the sand as they grow and you will be eating grit for sure.

Lastly to do with food... Daughter #1 and I managed to get the carrots in the ground while Teapot carried on with moving soil over to the new raised beds for the beets. I am hoping that tonight I will be able to get the beets in the ground... then we will need a couple of days to turn the soil for the potatoes and maybe by Monday night we can get the potatoes in the ground.  We'll see how it goes after that. I am hopeful that we can get the last raised bed ready for peas and beans after that. My tomatoes will go into my barrels on the deck but I never have success with tomatoes... probably because I don't have enough room for more than a plant or two. Maybe next year we can work on the hot bed on the south side of the shed and have tons of tomatoes... oh the work that needs to be done... it's all about just getting it done, one day at a time.

Well, Teapot and the Daughters are getting ready to head out the door and I should go and get back to my spinning.  All's well that ends well....

Oh My

Another milestone (that being the May long weekend) has passed and I'm finally starting to sweat on the level 4 homework. Today I started spinning. It is looking awesome, better than I even expected.

That was yesterday and I kept getting interrupted... so I never did get to finish what I had been trying to say. Today everyone was back to school and so I got down to the 150 hour project. I have been spinning off  and on all day. My foot has been complaining some but I take a few minutes to knit another row on the most recent shawl and then I go back to spinning again.

The garden is not in yet but we are working on it each evening. Tomorrow I am hoping to get the beet and carrots in the ground. The potatoes will have to wait till next week as Teapot and Daughter #1 are away this weekend. I refuse to plant the potatoes on my own.... at least until the soil has been turned. It's too hard on me to do alone.  As for the beans and peas... that will have to wait till everything else is done.
It may be mid June before they get in the ground but that does not worry me since mid June will mean the peas and beans will be ready mid to late August... perfect timing in my estimation.

Aside from gardening and the level 4 homework, like everyone else I have been watching all the news and wondering what on earth is going on. Between the floods in Manitoba and B.C. and the fires in Alberta and in particular in Slave Lake, and now the tornado in Joplin, Missouri... I am in awe of what people can survive through. Daughter #2 has been going on about how it's amazing that Earth with the earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan.... and then as I said above all the 4 elements have been coming together to form the season of horror. There are no words.... just that I hope things settle soon.

I'm off to eat some liver and onions (which I love) for supper... yum!