Today, Tomorrow, and Yesterday...

Today:
1. FSJ for the last installment on the spindling course. All went well.
2. Dex seems to be a little better. Making sure he drank water from a baby bottle seems to have helped and then we gave him about three cups of oats last night. Then this morning Teapot got him up on his feet for a little while before he lay down but not on his side. He is eating hay though we are supplementing with oats. And half a bucket of water this morning. That's better.

Tomorrow:
Sunday.... ahhh.... relax and maybe spin.... forget that! I'm back to the PCSW newsletter. : (

Yesterday:

I always did love dogs.

Ok... that's just weird.

Does anyone ever take pictures of me without my tongue hanging out?!

Yup that's all I've got today.....

The Damn Moose, Dex, And Some Sun On My Back

I was off this morning at 7 am sharp chasing a moose away from my bales of hay. I got him on the run pretty good and he headed off down through the trees that borders our land. That's when I discovered that my day was not going to be good.

Dexter is sick... real sick. I've put a call into the vet. It's not good. Dexter is on his side and won't get up. We've removed him to the barn but there he lies and there he stays. We've tried twice to get him on his feet. He stands for no more than a few short seconds and then he keels over again on his side. He's weak and we're not sure why. I'm working on it. We'll see. But I'm not hopeful.

There's sun on my back today and I've been busy between the barn and meds for Dex, and trying to get the PCSW newsletter finished. I'm so glad when I'm on the floor of the barn trying to coax his meds into Dex's mouth, that the sun is shining. It gives me the feeling that all is not lost yet. But I'll be honest, it's hard to keep smiling when you know that one of your animals is down and might not get up.

So here I sit once again behind the computer monitor and sometimes I wonder if I spend more time here than anywhere else in this house.  I'll be glad when Teapot and the girls get home this afternoon and they can help take my mind off what's happening in the barn. I hate to see one of my animals down but an alpaca... somehow it just seems wrong.  Sheep are butchered regularly so when we lose one it usually because they were born late or just weren't good eaters and were weak to begin with... if they die somehow it doesn't seem so bad. But Dex has always been healthy. Yes, I'm very much afraid that he is dying.

Every four hours for meds.... maybe we can save him... I'll let you know... meanwhile thank God for that sun today.

I'd better go and try him with some water.

Call Me Fickle If Ya Want, 'Cause... I Love the Colour Green.....

Happy St Paddy's Day to ye all! With St. Paddy's day upon us you couldn't ask for a better day for the green. So I say, "Top of da marnin' to ye!" Too bad there's no green out the door. Just white as far as the eye can see.  That's the snow, and so it tis. Still, yesterday was the first day in ages that there was any sign of spring. The snow was melting off the roof and it actually got up to -1 degree. I am happy to say that it is sunny once again dis marnin'. The sun is  rising over the 'orizon and is cheering me, and that's for sure. Along with that I had a little leppycaun come for a visit to me header this morning and so, being polite, in the hopes that he might part with a little of his gold, I asked him to come and stay a while... but the bloody ruddy ting is sittin' there as large as life with not a sign of the gold and look at those great fearsom hands about to grab the wee bugger and nip him into a cage. I'll have the wee bugger's gold yet!

Yes I know that the "look" of my blog has once again changed... I was not happy with the cut up look of the background, and so, decided to simplify. These pooffy things to the left and the right,  remind me of cotton bolls and that's what I have used as my header background... spun cotton... and since I'm dying for a little green in my life... well thus the colour. 

For the last few days I've been busy getting those mitten knitted for the person who requested them last weekend. And finally I finished them yesterday. Now I just have to pack them up and get the in the mail today. Also I have been working on the PCSW newsletter which will be ready to go out very soon... there's one more article to go up and an application form for the scholarship and a few other small items and I'm done. Then I can get back to my own work.  I have been doing a little stitching on a Swedish Weave sampler so that I can put that in the newsletter. I've even dyed some yarn green for the Swedish Weave sampler (and you couldn't ask for a better colour today!)

But as a result it has been overwhelmingly busy and level 4 homework languishes. The other ting that's been going on is that the whole family has been gearing up for march break. The JCR trip which Teapot and Daughter#1 were going on was cancelled and then yesterday there was an email confirming that the trip would go ahead after all, and so they will be leaving for skiing in Smithers on Monday. On again... off again... and in this case, back on again! I'm happy for them though, as that will mean that Daughter #1 is looking forward to a trip that she has wanted to do for several years. It's all good.

But I need to get to the Swedish Weave sample and I might just try to catch a leprechaun and if I can't get the gold from him then I'll at least settle for one of these.

Oh! There he goes now..... I'm off then!

Time For A few Quick Pics

Ok it's busy around here... I'm working on the PCSW Newsletter and trying to get that done before the weekend and also trying to get the last of those mittens done before tomorrow.. Just about finished. I have spent an exorbitant amount of time on line today trying to finish the newsletter and while I'm not quite finished I'm taking a quick break because I'm starting to see double.

Here's a few more old pics....

I'm in the red.... dressed for Halloween.

Another Halloween costume... nobody knew me including Teapot.

Gotta love that cheesy grin.

I'm not sure what this was about but Oh my God!

Maybe I thought it was weed!

And 4 months pregnant.

Pops and I celebrating the new year.... hmmm!

What a total goof I used to be.

A Little More Serious Than Usual

Big fat flakes of snow are drifting lazily to the ground... in all this peaceful beauty, it is hard to believe that a dear friend can have lost her husband when only a few weeks ago he was hale and hearty. It's hard to believe that one of my readers too has lost her husband suddenly. And though the peace of new fallen snow is all around me it is hard to believe that the horrors of Japan's recent disaster continues to unfold moment by moment. I, like most of you, have watched and listened to the news coming out of Japan and wonder how in the world they will recover.  It seems too much some times, to turn on my computer and hear any more bad news. We rail against God or whatever might be your choice of belief systems. But in the end there is nothing we can do to change what has already come to pass. All we can do is go forward... focus on making what's left of our lives better than it was and appreciate what you have had, what you have now,  and what you will have.   

Japan will recover but right now they need time to look around them and find that which is lost... they need time to find their heart. They need time to find the lost photo albums of families washed out to sea.  They need to think about the very real people who are lost... the wives, the husbands, the baby children that will not be there anymore. And we need to respect that and support them in whatever way we can... and mostly we need to listen to their stories so that the people who have been lost can be remembered and respected. It is no small thing to carry the memories of loved ones forward because it is the way that those we love live on. By talking about them and holding them in our hearts we carry them forward into the future.

There is a reason for blogging. We express our opinions and sometimes they are misguided and if mine have been then I apologize, but in the end, if a forest fire swept through and wiped me and my family out there will still be this. A little bit of me... a little bit of us, for someone to carry into the future. There but for the grace of God, go I. There are those of us who will get mad and we will rail and some of us will say stupid things in the face of a disaster, but in such turmoil and loss it is hard to keep our heads. Eventually though, sense will return and that is the point at which we need to look around and be the best that we can be. And then and only then will we reach out to those around us, and find the heart of humanity... the good that I believe is in all of us.

I am going to go now and knit.  I am going to knit a counterpane from Piecework magazine that Grace Coolidge probably never thought that a woman many miles away and many years into the future would be reading about and knitting. I am going to do that because it is a good morning to remember those from the past... and to be thankful I am alive.  With all that peaceful snow falling, I think it is a good time to reflect on life, and memories. And I will listen to the stories from Japan on CBC radio, and I will think of my friends and their lost husbands. I will make peace with the world around me by remembering those who are gone... and I will pray for them... and I will pray for us...

They've got it over, and we've got it to come.

Will Ya Still Love Me When I'm 69

When I was 18 yrs old.

When I was 22 yrs old.

When I was 27yrs old.

It's fun looking back at old pictures. More tomorrow...

A Little Green With All That White

As I look out my window today, I can see snow all around.

I was peaking through my most recent pictures and saw that the cotton that I spun a few weeks ago looked so soft just like the snow outside. There are tracks in the snow from where Jiggs drops her nose into the snow and scoops up some into her mouth. It leaves funny imprints in an otherwise pristine surface.

Teapot is burning trees that are dead from the rampant Pine Beetle kill and while most of the trees are red there are some that are green still, and so I decided to change my blog to reflect the view from my window and in so doing ridding myself of that dreaded pink. Besides... St. Paddy's Day is coming and what is St. Paddy's day without a little green?

While I've been watching the horrible events of the last few days in Japan, Saturday has come and gone. My spindling class of last Saturday gathered once again yesterday, full of vim and vigor for the next installment on our spindling class. This time I had Teapot with me to drive and I enjoyed his company making the drive fly by. He went car hunting again while I taught the class the intrigues of spindling. I was pleased to see that most had finished their homework and had vastly improved. I even had two new student join the fray.  They've invited me to come again for another day to check homework again next week and to trouble shoot any questions that might arise, so once again I will be traveling back for another day of spindling next Saturday.

Daughter #1 enjoyed a sleepover with her friend at her friend's house. Daughter #2 enjoyed having her friend here last night. It is easy to see that this is the last week before mid term break. Neither one is feeling overly energetic as is the usual case the week before any break. We all find ourselves winding down to a well earned time from obligations, homework, and getting up early in the morning. I think even Teapot looks forward to a week and a half of pleasure. We are all disappointed that the JCR trip which Daughter #1 and Teapot were to be on has been canceled. They will not be going skiing in Smithers though the powers that be are trying to work it out so that the JCRs can go skiing at Powder King. I hope it will all work out for there are some very long faces on those thwarted in their skiing expectations.

Today I am working on a pair of mittens which are a request from a family member who needs nice warm woollen mittens because he lives even further North than moi. I hope to have them knitted by Tuesday at the latest so that they can go in the mail and I can go back to my homework. With all the cold of the last few weeks, I am sure that Fanny, my best breeding ewe, has been keeping her eyes crossed and her legs crossed in an effort to wait till the warmer temperatures of spring arrive before dropping her lambs. She looks rather pathetic as her pregnancy takes its tole on her energy and she spend much time lying down or standing very still.

That's her in the middle watching me take her picture.

I am finding it hard to believe that spring is near.... it is still too cold to think of spring adventures when winter still seems to knock daily at my window. Knitting mittens still seems like a timely project though with mid March looming I wish that I could be thinking of more spring like activities.  Is anyone out there planting their seeds yet for transplanting in the not too distant future?  My cotton seeds await their soil, and I begin to think of that lovely mound of soil in the yard that will be my new garden area in a month or so. I look forward to beets and carrots and potatoes and peas.  Each morning I hear the chickadees singing their love songs. It is the only time of the year that you hear them trilling in such a way.  I await the first call of the returning geese but I think this year they might be late since the snow is still deep and they can't even feed on the fallen oats in farmer's fields. Still the yellow canoe shows it head through the snow

 and I know that a trip down river will bring the pleasures of watching returning water birds in the not too distant future. The kingfishers may already be here since the river never freezes with the dam changing the river's flow.  It is hard not to get ahead of myself with the grey of the sky turning to the brilliancy of sunshine outside. But then the snow is so very bright.  I am sure that it is for that reason that the sun looks so charming.  For now though, there is bread to be kneaded and mittens to be knitted, and still the smoke of Teapot's fire drifts slowly past my window.... I wonder if he is ready for a cup of hot chocolate....

I hope your Saturday is calling to you with spring like qualities.

Here comes Teapot through the kitchen door.... I think I'll put that kettle on.