Stuff

My Dalhia's got hit with frost!

I have seed potatoes to put into the ground.

I have resigned myself that I will need a little extension for level 4 so that I can finish the 150 hour project... It's taking longer than I had hoped.

My foot is not as swolen this morning... but then I am taking more anti inflammatories than usual.

It rained all night though we did have a nice day.... that means that Teapot and Daughter#2 are on the river camping in not such great circumstances... I don't know whether to laugh about it or cry... but then as Teapot always says, "when things get really stupid all you can do is laugh!"

I had a whole bunch a friends come by to visit yesterday and help make the day pass quickly.

Which also meant that I hardly got any spinning done.

Daughter #1 came home with her face painted and a pair of sunglasses that were a mile wide... I think she had fun.. : )

I got the animals fed all by myself with a bad ankle... I just did it very slowly.

The new wee kitten doesn't like it's mom licking its bum which she does regularly.... it must hurt like hell to have a sand paper wipe. Yuck... sorry ( had to include that)!

Twinkle is going to meet her maker... she gurgles really loudly just like her mom used to do and disturbs the peace of the neighbourhood.

I wonder if my garden will ever be finished.

It's Sunday morning and I am going to go and spin... yeah!

I'm also going to listen to CBC.... I like Sunday morning. Does anyone remember Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt?  I used to love that show.

But then CBC on Sunday morning is not too bad. There's all kinds of good programs.

Hope your Sunday is lovely... and you don't have frost... and you're not all alone and you have good friends.

All good things for and all good day.

Hee Hee Hee

Snow.... camping.... hee hee hee! This should go on record as being the worst possible camping trip ever... it almost makes me want to laugh except that poor Daughter #2 is going.... but I don't mind one little bit that Teapot volunteered to chaperon. Hee hee hee!  Sometimes staying home with me and helping me to have a more exciting life is the better option.... don't you think?

Don't answer that... ; (

?!WTF!?

OMG there's white stuff falling from the sky....

One Endeavour After Another

Well, with the Endeavour back on planet Earth, life gets back to normal for the Astronauts that directed that vehicle.  Once again it is sad to see a space shuttle retired. Here are some pictures of the last 16 days... and the Endeavour's endeavour....

The Endeavour's launch at the Kenedy Space Centre in Florida.

Into the wild blue yonder....

Love this pic with the space shuttle coming through the clouds.

Look how fast the planet is turning.... : )

Coming home for the last time.

We are seeing the end of an era.

As for my endeavours.... it is positively freezing out and I can't believe that it got so cold so quickly... a very brrry +4 degrees C. I have to get my buns out on the deck this morning and finish the last two barrels of flowers....but the freezing temps are definitely not encouraging me to get out there. Poor wee plants though look so cold in their little squares of plastic... I really have to grab a jacket and get them in the soil.  I might even cover them with some plastic till we get through this cold snap.

Then.... back to the 150 hour project.... and a day of spinning without a break... really!

I hope all your endeavours are going well!

Up To My Elbows In Poop.... And Loving It

It's been a lovely day that turned into a blustery grey evening... but did I care.... noooo... I have been up to my elbows in poop... and soil. It's been wonderful. All day I've been working on "My Deck" and planting all the annuals for my potted deck garden.  I still have two pots left to do but it is now raining so I'm in until the rain stops unless it doesn't... and then I'm in until tomorrow. I have my carrots in the ground too, and Teapot almost has the area for the beets, beans and peas ready. Potatoes.... well, I'm not sure how that is going to happen, but I'm hoping that we'll get time next weekend. Teapot and Daughter #2 are going on a camping trip down river, this weekend, with the work ethic and academics honour kids. Daughter #1 was supposed to go... but with her arm in a sling she's opting not to go canoeing since paddling would be dreadfully difficult.  Instead she is going to be in a Run for Cancer research in FSJ.  Me?.... I'm spinning for the 150 hour project.  This weekend will be the make or break... by Monday I will know if I will require an extension on the level 4... we'll see. (I'm thinking that an extension is very likely.. urgh!)

Squeeky (the cat) had a f---ng kitten,  (just one thank God) night before last. I didn't do anything nasty to it either.  Suffice it to say she almost had her kitten on my chest. It was only when I realized that the hunching up she was doing was not exercises but an effort to push out a kitten.  It was then that I figured maybe having Squeeky on my chest and stroking her might not be the best idea at the time. I promptly got a box for her and a nice clean towel and figured that maybe she would be best off by herself... I went to bed and slept, while below Squeeky passed her evening suffering the consequences of being a slut. She has been a good Mom and with some luck there has been someone willing to take the wretched thing when it is old enough... Damn Cat! Hi ho, hi ho, it's to the vet we go... in a few weeks.... when we get rid of this blasted kitten. Argh!

Well, it looks like the rain has stopped so I am off to finish my deck planting.... hope you're having a nice day where you are.... and to my Aunt A.... hope you are feeling well soon... walk on, oh Steel Hipped One.

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.