Faster Than The Speed Of Light

I'm a bit of a science buff... I love Quirks and Quarks on CBC radio, and I love to read the science magazines.... you know popular science etc...

This morning I woke up to a great headline on the CBC news.

Particles faster than light measured

A pillar of physics — that nothing can go faster than the speed of light — appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein's theories.
Scientists at the world's largest physics lab said Thursday they have clocked neutrinos traveling faster than light. That's something that according to Einstein's 1905 special theory of relativity — the famous E = mc^2 equation — just doesn't happen.
(you can find this on the CBC News Website.)

Then the following conversation ensued.

Me: Hey dear, they've proved that Einstein's theory of relativity is false.

Teapot: I've been saying for years that the speed of light is only a finite number and that it couldn't really be true.

Me: I always knew you were smarter than Einstein..... dear why are you feeding the cat again?

Teapot: Oh yeah... ooops!

Me: I always knew you were stund! No intuition at all... hmmmm! Book smart and street stund.... that's you.

End Of The Season

This is the end of summer. We officially enter the season of autumn today. But it has been deceptively warm these last few weeks. Aside from a scattered shower of rain and some windy days it has been unusually warm and soft.  I keep expecting the weather to turn and when it doesn't I enjoy my days wondering when this beautiful weather will end. Nightly Teapot and I have been taking the dogs for a walk and then resting after on the deck in the balmy evening darkness. Last night we sat out till almost 10:30 and I was wearing a t-shirt and had no problem and felt no cold. Though the trees are mostly bare there is a beauty in the season that you just can't deny.  This Sunday is BC Rivers Day and Teapot and I will be celebrating the river as we usually do by taking our canoe down the river and hopefully our girls will come too.  It is a good way to end such a beautiful season.

I have been diligently working on my ceiling tiles.  I try to wood burn two a day. Each tile takes about an hour to finish. Today I am burning and prepping two tiles which need to fit around the light socket. I hope to have them finished before lunch so that I can spend the afternoon weaving. The ceiling looks awesome as each night I add two more tiles to it.  If I am able to keep going I will finish the tiles somewhere around Christmas. It will feel so good to get this job done. I don't know if it is the season or what is causing it but there is a definite nesting instinct that I can't seem to thwart.

Meanwhile, apples are still a priority but the dent in the numbers is becoming increasingly obvious. I'm now down to one last box of apples and have used every possible container in which to keep apple juice. So now I'm bumming containers from friends and family.  Two or three more days and I should have the apples done.  Teapot had to take some to the composter as the older ones were starting to go bad. Yesterday, I was sitting in the living room having some well earned lunch when the dogs started barking outside quite ferociously.  I went outside and discovered that all the animals were on high alert as the alpacas and llama were sending up freak-out signals (they were bellowing). This is usually an indication that there is some great danger nearby.  And they were right... a black bear decided that the apples that Teapot had chucked in the composter were just what he needed. But it didn't take long with the dogs barking and the llama and alpacas bellowing and me yelling for him to decide that there were easier pickings elsewhere. I was glad to see the back end of him.  In short order he had moved on, much to my relief.

With winter just around the corner the bears will be no problem in the not too distant future and like them hibernating could be a good project for those cold winter months.

Well that's it for today...once again my mind can't think of anything worthy of blogging about so you'll just have to put up with the weather/season report... I'm off to wood burn and breath in the fumes of wood smoke then I'm going to weave.....

See y'all tomorrow.... enjoy this last day of summer in your neck of the woods.

Bight/Byte/Bite Me

When I was a kid I didn't think I was very smart. But as time went on I began to think that I wasn't so dumb after all. This was due to the fact that I had a really good memory and was able memorize things fairly easily. I also had excellent observation skills. So I began to notice that people around me would often infuriate me when they didn't "know" what I knew. My sister was one of these people.  I remember playing cards with my sister when I was a kid and getting completely p'd off because her turn would come and she would sit there for ages before she would finally make her move. It infuriated me no end because she was unable to "see" the outcome of all possible moves without really studying them. I even called her Ding Bat all the time which makes me feel really bad now. We found out later that my sister has MS and that it greatly affects her memory and her ability to concentrate.

As I got older I discovered that if I actually took the time to study, memory work was fun.... in grade 11 I actually memorized my Social Studies text book cover to cover. A lot of good it did for me because when it came time to write my public exams I failed miserably on the section on current affairs because at the time I hated listening to the news.  If I passed my exam at all (I'm not really sure if I did because of the Bell curve and figuring out Bell curves just about on-does me because it is so boring... but considering how stund I am, maybe figuring out Bell curves would be a good lesson for me!)  it was because I probably got full marks on the actual history part of the exam.

I didn't want to go to University because all that studying was daunting.... imagine having to spend hours pouring over books sucking up all that knowledge. So I went to college instead to study becoming a Travel Counsellor.... which turned out to be completely ludicrous since the need for Travel Counsellors was completely redundant within a decade of my finishing the program. I hated my time there but finished the program because I was not a quitter. After I finished that program and couldn't get a job (mostly because I was so shy that I had a really hard time making any kind of impression on anyone), I decided to go to University after all. I loved it. I loved the social part of it for sure... it was great. But I also loved the study part of it too. I graduated with an honours degree. Basically all that means is that you do more courses in your area of study and you have to get above 80% in all of them. I did that no problem (except, if I'm honest, in logic... which was double dutch to me... and eventually I did it again to bring my mark up and it made a whole lot more sense the second time around... I do have a tendency to have to repeat some courses to get my marks up where I want them... sounds familiar eh?). So I entered my adult years feeling really accomplished and ready for the world... Like I was seriously smart. I even thought I was smarter than Teapot... (he was stund you see because he had failed out of University trying to get macro economics under his belt). I have since realized that his intelligence far outstrips mine. Though he is not the most intuitive person, his ability to retain the things that he has read is phenomenal especially if it is a piece of information that is completely useless to anyone. And his wit scares me at how fast it is sometimes... if wit was a measure of intelligence then Teapot would be a genius and Einstein would look like a monkey.

So it has been a really slow process coming to terms with the fact that I have an extremely over-inflated ego and that in actuality I'm just of average intelligence and at times quite stund myself.

The most recent blow to my ego and a lesson in humility was discovering that I couldn't spell bight/byte/bite. Teapot, in all his simple smartness, informed me that bight is a geographical and nautical term for a loop of land or a loop in a rope as when knot making. Byte was the computer thingy and to chow down is bite. Well who knew. I thought bight was chowing down in traditional English spelling, and bite was the barbarised Americanized version of chowing down and also could be used for the computer kind. Forget byte altogether....

I, being a good Newfy, should have known bight was a term that many Newfies use for a loop of land like a harbour.... I've heard it aplenty in Newfy music.

And so you see, in all humbleness, I bow to the Gods of knowledge and fully submit to my dumbness and stupidity. I am a slave to my ego and really should get the darn thing chipped down a bit...

But to the whole world I say bite me.... and not bight me or byte me....

If you're stund and you know it clap your hands (clap clap)
If you're stund and you know it clap your hands (clap clap)
If you're stund and you know it and you really want to show it
If you're stund and you know know write on a blog....

Then everyone will know just how stund you really are....

A Bit Of This And A Bit Of That... It's All About Being Organized... Right?

Besides the apples, I have been working. (Really I shouldn't have to justify myself but I always feel when I haven't been writing, that there's got to be a reason. Mostly it's because I'm in a spell of brain-farty-ness and I really haven't been able to come up with anything good to write about, but I'm going to say in the next sentence that it is because I've been busy... just watch!) I've been doing a little of this and a little of that and been quite busy trying to get things done. (See?) The apples have been keeping me busy as you know.  We seem to have apples and the baking from apples everywhere and I'm sick and tired of trying to find containers in which I can freeze apple juice concentrate. But there's a ton of apples to deal with yet though I do have to say that I was able to find someone to take about 25 lbs of them off my hands. That leaves me with 11 lbs of green apples and I still have a 20 lb garbage bucket of crab apples that Daughter #1 picked quite a few weeks ago. I'll never see the end of the apples and I'm even starting to dream about apples.

While I have been sitting on my duff waiting for the apples to cook, I have been weaving for the most part.  I have stopped working on the 50 hour project for my level 5 homework

These squares are woven with hand spun ramie and eventually will be a table cloth/runner.

and have begun to work on a shawl for the upcoming show at our local gallery. 

These diamonds are being woven with a sturdy worsted wool. 

I have been making plans for a few scarves as well. Most of the shawls and scarves that I made last year were given away for various reasons as gifts.  So I am left high and dry making things at the last minute as per usual. (What else is new... sigh!)

Then I've been getting this bizarre nesting instinct.  I have been wanting to take care of things in the house.  It all started when Mom's and Dad's hot water tank started to give problems.  I also wanted to move furniture around and make the house a more pleasant place to live.... I'm not sure but it may be that the temperatures are cooling down and I know that winter is not far away. My bedroom has been moved around and I'm looking at buying a new coverlet for our bed as well as new sheets. I would also like to get new window treatments for in there since it is several years since we bought bedding for our room and things are starting to look dreadfully shabby. I had thought of making a quilt but I'll be honest, time is not of the essence for a project like that.  Yesterday I got sick of looking at the ceiling lack of ceiling in the sunroom and so I got out all the tiles I had wood burned a few years ago and clear coated them... then when Teapot came home I got him to set me up with the air nailer (gotta love that tool) and I put them up... they look awesome even if I do say so myself.

I still have tons to do but the goal is to finish one tile a day until I get them all done.  I will need 132 tiles and I have 36 done. That leaves me with 96 to go... 96 days... that's not the end of the world.... right!? I should be finished some time in February give or take with problems that may arise.

Meanwhile level 5 is on hold for now. I have to get to the gallery opening and then level 5 will be on the go.

Then yesterday I got a brilliant idea.  I'm going to propose to my guild that we give to our sister guild next year shrunken heads. Now before you gasp in disgust they are not actually shrunken heads. They are felted heads but I have a couple and I hang them on my deck.

This one is felted....

This one is ceramic.

I  know it is weird but I love them... I intend on hanging them on trees coming in the driveway.... my intention is to make a whole bunch more.... (sorry... I can't help being weird, it's just who I am!!!)... but I thought they would be really cool gifts for our guild to make and then we could send them to our sister guild in Whales for Christmas.... I'm not sure what my fellow guild members will think but I guess I will find out.

So for today I plan on burning a tile.... weaving a block or two working on a shawl that I wove last year but never put together and getting ideas for shrunken heads and maybe even drawing a few.  I'm making bread as we speak... it's rising. And I have to cut and cook a pot or two of apples.... first things first I'll cut up the apples.  Then while they're cooking I'll get the pans ready for the bread and put on a movie.... then while I'm watching the movie I'll weave. By that time it will be lunch ti..... hmmm... I won't bore you with all that stuff...

So see ya... I'd better get to work and tackle all these jobs... maybe I really am busy after all! I hope your day is full of good things that keep you busy in a happy way.

The Apple Of My Eye

44lbs

37 lbs left! That's what I have sitting on the counter in the kitchen.  I started out with 44 lbs of apples and I have managed to use 7 lbs of them so far. In between it all I'm trying to weave scarves and shawls.

Do you know what you do with 44 lbs of apples?  No?.... Neither do I. I wish I did.  I'm making apple juice right now and this will be my third batch. It takes two days to make apple juice. Then I'm using the pulp from the apple juice to make apple and cinnamon pound cakes.  I will be so sick of apple and cinnamon pound cakes by the time I finish that I won't want to eat a bight.  Still, I just can't throw the damn things away.  So I persevere. But the house smells of apples and has done for several days. It's a bit disgusting actually.  And while everyone else thinks it smells wonderful.... well, frankly they're not around it as much as I am.... in the end I think it's a bit gross now.  At first I thought it wouldn't be too bad.... I'm now starting to rethink that as my fingers are starting to feel raw from all the cutting. Argh. Need I tell you that a friend dropped by with apples?... no... I didn't think so!

Today is sunny again after three days of cold and rain.... I was listening to California Dreamin' by The Mamas and the Papas yesterday... it seemed to fit somehow.

All the leaves are brown.... and the skies are grey ....

So I am glad to see the sun shining beautifully again.  The wind is blowing and is taking the rest of the leaves off the trees around my place.  It was really strange though since yesterday I took a drive to town and noticed that all along the highway on the way to FSJ the trees were actually still a little on the green side. So for some reason our place in particular loses leaves more quickly than anywhere else.  Weird!

I took a walk out to the paddock yesterday with a few apples for the horse.... she didn't appreciate them either.  I could smell the rich brown smells of rotting leaves and wet soil... While reaping a harvest of apples will probably be appreciated later in winter, right now I feel that the added odor of rotting apples to the already rich smells of autumn would be a pleasant outcome to my apple ordeal. However, Teapot suggests that rotting apples in the garden might just add another dilemma... that of bears. All around town bears have been raiding apple trees and this is the reason for my apple inheritance.  The friends who brought the apples had an abundance in their tree and wanted to get rid of a "few". Little did I know when I agreed to take some off his hands that I was agreeing to 44 pounds. I've even thrown a few in for the alpacas and llama. None of my animals want them. Teapot keeps coming back to the fact that a pig would just gobble them up... so I told him to go find a pig... but he had better not bring it home. (No fleece.... too bad pigs don't have fibre to spin!) 

We are getting a pair of rabbits.... yes you read that right.  On the 1st of October I will be getting two bunnies that are angora cross breeds... which means that they are not pure angora... a good thing since they won't have hair issues on their faces. But they do have nice spinnable fibre on their bods.  Hey! ... I wonder if the bunnies would like apples.... hmmmm!  Some good might come of this yet.

Well, I'm off to strain apple juice... hope the "fruits" of your labour make for a bountiful harvest.

Cleaver T.V.

I just finished watching the second last installment of the Tudors.  I love British history and I love British T.V./movies. BBC and I are really good friends.  And while I love the Tudors... well, it is a little over the top sexually.

I have begun to think that the art of subtlety is no longer among us.  What happened to those directors who knew that the person watching had a brain in their head?  Perhaps I live in the eternal deception. Perhaps I'm mistaken in my belief that less is more.  I'm sick to death of having my head cleaved apart with over the top images both sexual and violent.  Give me something good. Too bad the Tudors is littered with such pointless pornography. It would have been good otherwise though somewhat misleading in their portrayal of British history. (There are blatant changes in the actual history to make the story better... but I ask you what's better than the real thing? I mean in the end Henry the VIII married six women and had no success with any of them... it's a fit story for the soaps... reality T.V. at it's best... why falsify information. It doesn't add to the story.  Instead I have to keep checking the facts to make sure that I haven't forgotten all that I learned in school!)

That's it... that's all I got for tonight folks.... I'll be back tomorrow with hopefully something better. Hm!

The Reason I Love Yellow

I love yellow. I love all things yellow... even mustard..... (Having said that I do think that mustard yellow has its place and that it should be used sparsely).  The other day when I was giving this blog a new look and I saw the background that I'm using here I knew that it was the right one... reason?: 1. Because it makes me feel happy. It makes me feel like the sun is shining down on my head and shoulders and.... 2. It is the colour of the season that we are experiencing right now. Autumn is soooo yellow.

Now, I know all you Easterners know that fall is all about red but here in this neck of the country, the majority of our trees are Cottonwoods or Poplar.... and they turn yellow in the fall (and sometimes, a nice mellony yellow).  We don't get red... or at least much red (some in the underbrush in late fall).  I never felt my skin respond to Yellow until I moved here. Now when autumn (I love the way autumn rolls off my tongue) arrives, I can feel yellow.

Some of you are giving yourself a mental shake now and thinking, "How can you feel yellow?"

My answer to that is, I don't have a flippin' clue, but it's true, I do feel it.  My body is a sponge at this time of the year and it is sucking as much yellow into my soul in an effort to preserve life as I know it through the long months of winter greys and blues. I'm like a squirrel madly rushing around storing pine cones for food... only I'm storing yellow.

Each day I go out into the yellow as much as I can.... I just look around me and absorb it.  This morning there is ice on the sheep's bucket of water. (Yes the sheep are still here.) The new tin roof on the electrical shed came none too soon... there's ice on it as well and it is red-grey instead of red. But as the sun has been warming things this morning everything has begun to turn yellow again. (Except for the red roof).

I know that it is only another couple of weeks that things will feel yellow and then the yellow will fall to the ground and turn brown and the skies will darken to grey and then everything will be grey and blue.... boo hoo!

But in the meantime I'm going to suck up as much yellow as I possibly can....

A post without it just wouldn't be right.....

Wait for it....

They call me mellow yellow.... just butter it!

I'm off to remove my yellow nighty and put on a yellow shirt and take the dogs for a walk through the yellow woods.... see y'all.