Meet My Little Friends...

No, not dogs. Unfortunately. I keep thinking it's time, but Hubby thinks not. And to be honest, he'd be doing most of the work, since I still have an outside-the-home job and teach 3 nights a week. One day, the right circumstance will come. It will all fall in place. 

In the meantime...meet my little friends, the Swallowtail caterpillars. They've invaded what has to be my most glorious crop of parsley ever. I have 6 on there right now, and I've had a steady stream of the little munchkins since I planted it. 

I honestly think that our crazy 'what season are we in?' weather has helped, because the pot of parsley is just about the prettiest thing in my garden. 

I will admit to obsessively checking the parsley and shooing birds away. But they've actually been more interested in the cicaidas, and have been leaving my little buddies alone. The pot is right alongside some very tall lavender, too, which is partially blocking them from the birds' view. 

Next year, I have to get my dill going again. They prefer that, but I haven't seen mine in a few years. 

The Garden...

Speaking of -- I think we're in good shape right now. I have several hanging pots that are going along nicely, the wildflowers are coming up like crazy and the pots of lantana are adding big spots of color. Two pots with some good-sized purple salvia, tomato plants with blooms starting, and the HUGE bags of potatoes...looks like we might have a garden here. Along with the pink flamingo decor all over the front yard. So sue me -- I like a bit of kitsch. I added some more solar lights, along with the fairy lights in the mason jars. 

I did a little magic with spray paint. My mom gave me a trellis for the church's rummage sale and it was kind of rusty. I figured it would end up tossed, and on a whim, I got some spray paint and sandpaper. I also had the well-worn glass bird bath (along with 2 new solar fountains) that needed some TLC. 

After sanding the yellow + rust trellis, I also grabbed the gazing ball stand and gave that a lick of sandpaper. And I up-ended the glass bowl of the bird bath and whipped that up with some fine grit. All the sanded things got a good wipe-off.  

I got matte black, hammered copper, and a kind of paint called "Illusion." So I sprayed the black matte on the trellis, the gazing ball stand and the metal legs that hold up the glass bowl of the bird bath. Let that dry, and then I sprayed SEVERAL coats of the "Illusion" on the trellis and gazing ball stand. When you look at it, it's like a purple/green/blue irridescent. Really pretty. I left the bird bath stand black, but I probably should have done it as well. 

I turned the glass bowl over, with newspaper under it, and gave it several coats of the "hammered copper" spray paint. I didn't quite get the "hammered" look, but I'm ok with it because the bowl itself has a lot of texture on the underside. If I had had my wits about me, I'd have done a light coat of the irridescent FIRST, and then the hammered copper. That would've been kind of cool! 

Anyway, for about $28, I refurbished THREE items that were showing their age. And I decided to keep the trellis. It's sitting right behind a pot of lantana. 

Potatoes Everywhere...

The potatos are huge. Bigger than I thought they'd be! The plants are top-heavy, so we're tying them up. I thought, "Put stakes in there" and then realized that I'd probably skewer some spuds. So we're just hoping they don't topple over in the next big wind. We're set for a tumultuous summer, if you believe the weather folks. Bigger tornadoes, more derecho-type winds, noisier thunderstorms. Yikes. 

I'm hoping that big plants mean a delicious harvest. My dear MIL (and I mean that - the woman was a saint) grew them in her garden. But that was in MT, where dirt is dirt... Here, dirt is the 2" or so of black dirt they put on top of the clay. And Illinois actually has some of the best growing soil in the Midwest. My town, however, has a streak of clay running through it a mile down! 

Meet My Tumbler...

Not THAT "Tumblr" -- My net compost bin lasted for several years. Likely, because it was protected somewhat by our shed, it lasted a bit longer than it would've otherwise, but it went to "Compost Bin Heaven," wherever that is. I got a tumbler, and when we were transferring the compost from the bin to the tumbler, I saw WORMS!!! Yippeeeeee!!! That means that, hopefully by the end of this season, I should have compost. Hubby can dress the beds for winter and it'll season even more. 

It's a small one, but it's still heavy to tumble - no crank. Just Me-power. So it's an additional source of exercise, as far as I'm concerned! 

Even though you fill the thing, by the time everything decomposes down to its final stage, you get about a third of the capacity of the bin. Which is fine for us - we don't have a huge garden. In fact, I'd even take it down to one or two raised beds (we have 3 currently, and we didn't bother to plant them this year either). 

I still want to take the back yard to red clover instead of grass. It's more environmentally friendly, the huge maple in the back kills off most of the grass anyway, and the patio, parking pad, shed and dog pen kind of take up the rest of it. May as well make it one less thing to mow. I think if I can do that in the back, eventually, we can do it for the front as well. It's barely discernable from grass, and it'll kill off the neighbor's creeping Charlie. 

The Great Cicada Invasion...

It's just about done. At least here. In my town, we only got one of the two species, and not a lot of them - which is weird because my neighborhood is old and there are some older trees, which the critters prefer. In spots, they seemed pretty thick, but it was nowhere near as bad as where I work. There, the robins were lining up in front of the tree in front of my office and one-by-one were flying at the tree to pick off their breakfast. It was pretty funny to watch, if you think about it. Robins aren't always known for their manners. 

Where I work is just across the river, and they had BOTH species. It was so loud that, even on days when I was running the AC, I could hear them. One of the little buggers got into the house. Hubby grabbed it and tossed it back outside. Ugh. I know - they're harmless. But they're gross. 

And I realized that the range of tones I hear in my head (tinnitus) is the same as the noise they make. Wonderful. A symphony all year round!

It's done for now, and I think we're just about back to normal. 

The Felon...

Speaking of bugs...I was relieved that TFG has been convicted. Jurors unanimously convicted him of 34 felonies. And then, to top off the jubilee, Steve Bannon has to report to prison on July 1. So. Much. Winning. 

What does frighten me is Project 2025. That cannot be allowed to stand. My great-grandparents left Poland to come here because they were tired of being invaded by Russia (which Putin wants to do again...which the Poles are NOT jazzed about). TFG would have us withdraw from NATO. He will bury our rights as women to our own healthcare decisions and there's speculation that he would consider taking more rights away from women. 

I want to know how many abortions he's paid for. 

I want to know why women would even CONSIDER voting for him or anyone of his ilk. 

I want to know when we will have a balanced Supreme Court that we can trust again. 

What I do know is that, in spite of the odds, TFG is finally getting the comeuppance he's needed for his entire life. 

What I do know is that his own LAWYERS approved of the jury. So there's no blame there. No "rigged" jury. They all saw the same evidence, and they all came to the same conclusion. 

He's getting interviewed by his parole officer prior to the sentencing on July 11. And I hope that he gets some time behind bars. Martha Stewart got time behind bars, as a first offender, for insider trading. And she's actually a millionaire in fact. TFG is a billionaire only in his twisted mind and that of his followers. It's a cult as much as Martha was. But Martha didn't have the nuclear codes. And Martha doesn't have dementia, which is looking more and more likely with TFG. 

July 11 will be the day we know if the justice system will follow through. It seems as though the MAGAts are melting down, but lo and behold, HUNTER BIDEN. That poor soul got convicted of gun charges that one in a THOUSAND people wouldn't be convicted on. But you know, ya gotta "own the libs," so you want to humiliate the sitting president because Diaper Donnie and his Delulu Disciples are ... nuts. With Hunter getting convicted, the MAGAts are kinda caught up short because their Farting Leader can't be portrayed as a "victim of a witch hunt" because....well, THEY are the perpetrators of their own witch hunt. President Biden isn't going to pardon Hunter. He said he believes in the rule of law, and it is what it is. His son did indeed do what he was convicted of, and even though most of those types of things are pled to a lower crime or just fined, Hunter may well have to serve prison time. There was a plea deal and (I know, you're as shocked as I am) that fell apart when the judge appointed by TFG said she wasn't ready to approve the plea deal because of how it could affect "other crimes he had committed or could have committed." So when do we have "justice" meted out for what we "might" do? Talk about witch hunts... Here's a link to the NPR article discussing it. 

With any luck, so will Cadet Poopypants. If a judge can jail Martha Stewart for insider trading (first offense, I might add, so do not come at me with that pathetic excuse), then TFG (as a CONVICTED first offender -- this is not his "first offense" by a long shot) should get some time for trying to rig a federal election. 

Hip-A-Versary...

I'm coming up on one year for the hip replacement. Happy anniversary to me! I still haven't gotten on a bike yet, but I'm hoping to do so this summer. And I'm not back to the stables yet. But otherwise, I'm doing well in terms of moving around, doing about 90% of my yoga practice -- I knew I'd have to break up with some poses, but that's ok -- and being able to stand for longer periods of time without feeling like I need a nap afterwards!

Random Picture...

I made a butterfly bath...or maybe a butterfly watering station. I guess butterflies don't take baths. On advice of a friend who's involved in prairie restoration, I took my bird bath at work and created a little place for the butterflies. 

I had seen them in gardening sites, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to do that or put a solar fountain in there. She brought me some rocks, and told me the best way to arrange them, and after playing with it, this is what I came up with. 

By putting a pile of rocks near the larger piece of flagstone, you give the butterflies a place to perch where they can stick their little noses in the water to take a sip. It's a nice idea, and I'm looking forward to seeing them figure it all out. 

It's the Constitution, Stupid...

There's been a lot of buzz about #MangoMussolini wanting to "defer" the election. But then again, today he tweeted that he wants it sooner. 

Here's the thing, folks: HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING about the date. Period. Full stop. End of sentence. This is what the Constitution (you know, that document he keeps trying to set flame to) says: Article II, Section 1: ‘The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.'

Back in April, 2020, the website Constitution Daily started speculating that, due to COVID-19, there might perhaps be a delay or postponement of the upcoming election. But before you start clutching your pearls, here's what they ultimately said:

What remains clear is that only the states and Congress have the power to delay that part of the election process. “Unlike the practice of some states that allow the Governor to postpone an election during emergencies, neither the Constitution nor Congress provides any similar power to the President or other federal officials to change this date outside of Congress’s regular legislative process,” the report says.

Congress also would have the power, by changing the appropriate statutes, to change the general election date and as well the dates electoral votes are received in Washington and counted in Congress. Such changes would require the consent of the House and the Senate and would be extraordinary since “the presidential election date has never been changed in response to an emergency,” the CRS concluded.

In essence, if we didn't change the election during the CIVIL WAR, there's not a snowball's chance in an Illinois August that we're changing it now. Even the Republicans are walking back (quickly) from that, with - gasp! - TEXAS saying, "Yeah...no. Election day is November 3, 2020." Even #MoscowMitch, TED CRUZ and #LeningradLindsey aren't budging on this one, though Cruz did kvetch about the "voter fraud" problem*.... Which isn't...

A professor of law and political science from University of California's Irvine School of Law (you will agree that this isn't exactly a schlock institution, ya think?) said, "Election fraud committed with absentee ballots is more prevalent than in-person viting but it is still rare," and he cites a dataabse created by News21, a national investigative reporting project that tracks cases of election fraud. The findings? Absentee ballot fraud comprised about 24% of reported prosecutions between 2000 and 2012 (twelve years). The number of cases? 491 - in a period where literally BILLIONS of votes were cast. 

Want a bit more irony? #MangoMussolini himself voted via absentee ballot in the 2018 midterm elections... 

Really. If the news media is going to publish every piece of manure that drips from his disgusting lips? At least have sense enough to do some basic research. 

The Garden...

Well, the wildflowers are in a riotous burst of color. And I've managed to harvest a couple of pods of poppy seeds. The Monarchs are looking a bit bedraggled, as you can see from this picture. Poor baby... I hope that the one caterpillar I saw is a survivor. My milkweed also looks a bit worse for the wear, too. 

OK, so I'm not liking the new Blogger interface... TWICE -- having to upload the same picture and now it just ate my text. Bah!!! So let's see how it reacts now; I'm just going to type what I wrote before, and see what the picture does. Hmmm. Not what I want it to do - I sort of thought that the text would wrap around the pictures. This isn't useful if it's not going to do that. Anyway, in this picture you can see the dill is even getting scraggly. I need to take the "weed whacking tool" and scrape out the weeds; without dislodging the wildflowers. Hubby still has a hard time telling one from the other. I'd love to get some Queen Anne's Lace in there - maybe next year. 

It appears that now, I have to figure out how to use the new interface; and it's going to mess up my process again. It used to be that the pictures kind of lead what I was writing about. I'd upload a bunch of them, write, and then insert them where they were supposed to go. But now??? Jeeze, Blogger!! Don't make it easy. Change for the sake of change is useless to me. Please pardon how wonky this will look till I figure it all out... 

Hubby's orchids are looking good - there's a beautiful cluster of the blossoms on one of the miniature phals. He's so excited! There's also a blossom on the wonky little butterwort plant we have near the orchids. It's supposed to keep away any "fruit flies" that come around; I haven't seen it do anything one way or the other, but it has tossed up a blossom, so there you go. He fusses over his orchids like a mother hen over her chicks, which is fine with me. We have two large cattleyas which I hope bloom soon. They're certainly throwing up the leaves! Now, let's show some blossoms, kids!

Crafting Away...

Today, I spent time in the sewing/yoga/music/office space... One day, it'll be a defined space, but then again, maybe that IS the definition. I still have to continue to organize and declutter in that space. It's taking a while. 

A few pics here. I tried a new way to do the ties for my masks and I finally did my alpaca ones. The tie, which is binding tape, goes over my head and ties around the back of the neck. It's a bit fiddly - and I should have just split the binding tape length in half. One of these is shorter than the other, but they both work. It's going to take a bit of messing around to get it to fit correctly. But I like the idea of being able to untie ONE tie and take the whole thing off. 

Isn't that alpaca fabric fun? I just love it. I also finished a green-ish mask for Kid #2. It has regular ties. I asked my sister if BIL would like one, and she said, "pattern is too flashy." To me, this looks like a Grandpa tie. But what do I know? I ask you -- does that look FLASHY?? Hubby even raised an eyebrow at that. But who are we? I'd rather make a mask for someone who'll wear it. The Kid said he had some "old cotton shirts" and wants me to make masks out of them. This should be fun. Hopefully, they're not t-shirts. I hate sewing jersey!

I have about 10 more of the 3-pleat masks to do to add to the "Mask Fundraiser" pile. Got several of them pinned, and will do the rest of the sewing over the weekend. I also have to mail Kid #1's birthday gift to him soon. It's going to be late, but I think he's not home anyway - at least his GF's social media feed looks like that's the case. 

On the other hand, I did also get my Backpack Buddha order of Mayan masks. The masks are made by the indigenous people and the proceeds go to help the local community, which I like. They're well-made and reasonably priced though there's not much information on how to care for them. I can't imagine just tossing them in the wash, mostly due to the velcro on the ties. It's all recycled cotton, which is always good. And it's tightly woven, also good. These are certainly different, particularly in the way they attach to your head!

I'm not entirely sure how to keep them clean, but I'll figure that out. I like the nose piece on these. They did not fog my specs and they stay away from my mouth. I just can't handle the masks touching my mouth because it feels like I'm swallowing it. And the ties are velcro! One over the head, one behind the neck. I had no choice of colors; I have one that's "Navy tones" and this one is "tan tones." I'm fine with that. I love the Aztec pattern and while the black on the nose and under the chin might be a bit dark, I can't help but think these might be more comfortable overall. I like the ones that are more fitted, as  you can tell. And so do most people. 

Hubby wears one that's got a washable, changeable filter. We got one for Kid #2 for school (in case they're going back - still not sure...) and I have one. I just have a hard time with it -- I really think it's more for guys because I have a hard time keeping it on my head. The velcro (points for that) is all the way at the smallest size when I've tried to wrap it around the back of my head. And it slips off my hair. But it has its good points - fitted and the filter thingie is handy. 

The Long Sands tee is moving along. I'm almost at the point of knitting in the round. The drop stitch row went ok -- I did find that I didn't exactly do the "P1, YO" row correctly - I did a couple purls in a row in more than a few places. But I don't care. Really. If you get close enough to the hem of this shirt to notice that? You and I had better be married! Belive me, Hubby won't even notice. 

And I have a Knitting Story to tell you, sweeties... I was reading the pattern, kind of figuring out what was going on. I saw StSt (stockinette stitch) and it said "Knit all rows." I pondered that for a moment or 10...and then I looked it up. 

Stockinette stitch is clearly NOT "knit all rows." That's actually Garter Stitch. But the photo of the project definitely shows StSt as the body of the tee. I'm now confused and doubting myself. And I'm staying up wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too late... So I fire off a query to the designer about the whole thing and I toddle off to bed. 

At 4 a.m. (I swear...) I sit bolt upright in the bed and say, "You moron... When you're knitting in the round, StSt automatically happens by knitting every row. Think of every single Vanilla sock you've ever knit, stupid!"

Later that morning, checking my messages, I find a very sweet message from the designer explaining exactly that, only nicer. I reply back with my "before dawn epiphany" and the designer replies, "Can't even tell you how many times I've done that!" I love me some Quince & Co.!

Random Picture...

We've been trying to see a comet; and I think it's gone now. It's been too light (too much light pollution) or too cloudy. Tonight, Hubby points outside...I thought, "This is it."

It wasn't. But it was beautiful. The sunset would've been perfect if the houses across the street weren't there. Not like I want to get rid of my neighbors. 

Maybe I just want to live where there's lots of sky... That being said, this does remind me of the old adage: Red sky at morning, sailors take warning; Red sky at night, sailor's delight. 

Whatever Mother Nature wants to show me in the evening? I'll take it. There are a lot of things wrong with Illinois. But the one thing we do really well here in the collar counties is "sunrise and sunset."                                                                                                                     Right now, we're on the cusp of taking every gain we've made in the past 4 months and flushing it.  We're doing crap on our COVID rates as we speak, but this sky is saying something: night follows day as day follows night. 

All Kinds of Interesting...

...weather, that is. Yesterday. 

The only good thing was that it was an awesome picture-taking experience. I'm terrified of thunderstorms. Oh, it's better than it used to be. But I'm still scared. 

TV antenna alongside house

When I was about 9 or so, lightning hit either our house or our TV antenna. For the uninitiated (or the young), TVs usually were restricted to a handful of channels: 2, 5, 7, 9, and 13. That was it, kiddies... 

Rabbit ears

And we had an antenna alongside the house, usually bracketed to the house and extending way up above the trees. I'm not talking rabbit ears on a TV, but an outside one. The picture here is NOT my house - it's a stock pic I pulled off Google, but this is as close as I could get. Ours was very similar to this. 

Rabbit ears, on the other hand? I had those when I lived in VA and my first "grown-up" TV was a 13" black and white. Yeah, go ahead. Fan yourself... But it worked, and I was too broke to be able to afford cable at the time. 

Anyway, it was summer, and we had had a round of pretty nasty storms. Way before the days of weather radios, you usually got an alert from the TV set, provided you still had power. And anyway, most of the time, the TV was off by 10 p.m. in our house. 

We all are in bed, and the next thing I know, my dad is hauling me out of the house onto the lawn. The living room - a corner of it - is on fire... He tried to flag the firemen down, but even though the fire barn was across the street from our house, they somehow managed to go down the street in the other direction...

Flooded parking lot

Anyway - that's why I'm really not fond of thunderstorms. Of course, I was at work yesterday afternoon when all heck broke loose. It started suddenly - we were supposed to get some storms, but not as quickly as these blew up. I mean, I was on the road to work, looked north and thought, "Whaaaaaat???" - it was getting that dark, that fast... And then: KA-BOOM!! It all hit at once. 

I was half expecting to see locusts, floods, cats and dogs. At one point, I could barely see the bank across the lot from us. And it all included pretty nasty lightning and thunder. 

The campus has high ceilings, plus about 3.5' between the drop ceiling and the actual roof deck. It was thunderous in the place. You couldn't hear yourself think. And we're also surrounded by windows, which totally freaks me out. 

The nice thing, if you can get past the scary parts, is that I work on top of a hill. I have some phenomenal views of incoming storms. Here are a few pictures, with the various cloud formations during the day and evening. 

I keep thinking of the Judy Collins song, "Clouds," though it's an entirely different subject. As storms continued to blow in, I kept an eye on the radar and figured it was going to be interesting with classes starting last night.

It was. One of our instructors was on the road for over 2 hours to get here. He came in, like a drowned rat, about 1 minute to 6 p.m., when they were supposed to start. 

As the afternoon and evening progressed, I was able to pop out and get pictures. I love the cloud formations. And I know people who love clouds as much as I do (dang - now that song's in my head!!). And I have looked at clouds from both sides now...

Look at this cool "V" formation as the next batch started to come in. The layers in the one picture were also pretty amazing. 

The light was interesting. At times, of course, when the storms were in full fury, it was dark as night. But when the sun broke through, it was really amazing. 

I got an interesting shot of the area beyond the bank building - it looks almost like a funnel, but it wasn't. It was just a weird twist to the clouds once they had passed over and dumped all the rain on us. 

The weather alarm actually went off after Storm #2... But that's ok. I have eyes. 

Huzzah - no roof leaks! Though the hail wasn't nice. No car damage; it was only pea-sized. Today, except for the fact that the ground is totally saturated, you wouldn't know it had even rained. 

And it rained again this morning before I left for work. Tippi was terrified. I battened down the house and brought most of the feeders onto the porch. In the middle of the storm, the silly female hummingbird was buzzing the front window asking what the heck I had done with her feeder! 

I like this shot; later in the afternoon, with the clouds pierced by a shot of sunlight. I was able to get some good shots southwest-ish, and the light was interesting. 

Here's another one almost worth a painting - doesn't it look like brush-strokes across the blue? It was very majestic looking, for certain. And then there's the one below, which looks like the clouds were truly pillows dipping down beneath the grey to show us that they were still friendly little things wanting to put on a show for the humans.  Yeah, after the sound and fury scared the heck out of me! 

Then came the weird light. I was sitting at my desk trying to get some work done and I saw it - it was piercing and very odd. At first, I thought, "Oh no... green!" 

See, in August, every person who's lived in Illinois for a decent part of their life knows that a green sky is not a good thing. It generally means there's a tornado either on the way or already touched down. Funny enough, in spite of the storms lowering the temperature by almost 20 degrees, we had no tornado warnings. I guess we got off lucky. See what I mean by weird light? Look how bright the green in the trees appears, and it's backed up by those blue-grey heavy clouds? 

Oh, and did I mention that I had a hot breaker? Well, you know we've had HVAC problems at the campus. We have the one breaker which apparently tried to trip, but got stuck. And it heated up. To the point where you couldn't touch it. 

I know next to nothing about electricity. But I do know that hot breaker = trouble... So we shut it off. 

Back-tracking though, the electricians came out and came through our back door - I had disabled the alarm because I needed to change the battery. They didn't knock. They're lucky I only yelled at them! They scared me!!

Anyway, so we had only 2 of the 3 units working last night, and I had fans running. Today, it's back to normal (i.e. a blast chiller). I mean, really, I could wear mitts. I'm in a jacket already. 

I feel as if the building is falling down around us. Since they announced that we're closing the campus at the end of Fall (basically, December), I've been trying to get things fixed and as fast as I get one thing done, the next happens. However, the building is 8 years old, and they don't make 'em like they used to. 

Happily, no roof leaks with all this rain. 

And another happy thing: we were rewarded for the crappy weather. Feast your eyes. It's a double rainbow. 

I almost tripped myself. I had come from the back of the campus and caught a glimpse as I headed to my office. I sprang to my desk, caught up my keys and camera phone and headed out the door.  The taller pic is a close-up. The landscape-oriented one just shows how brilliant the main rainbow was. 

Alas, in about 5 minutes, as is common with the elusive rainbow, it was soon gone. 

But while it lasted, it was fantastic. 

And before the night was over, Mother Nature had another surprise in store for us. 

You know that saying, "Red skies at morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailor's delight" -- well, this morning wasn't EXACTLY a "sailor's delight" but the sky last night was.  Try to ignore the obnoxious parking lot light. Focus on the pinks and blues. Isn't it gorgeous? 

Knitting...

Not a stitch yesterday. Not even brought out of the bag, actually. It was that kind of day. That being said, I'm working the noon - 10 p.m. shift (well, should be 2 - 10, but I usually get here way too early and end up with way more comp time than I'll use...), and I already have a knitting project on my desk. 

Not the afghan. Though I did get the yarn in for the hat, cardigan and booties. No pic - tomorrow, probably. 

I'm only on the first-to-second pattern repeat. Cotton is a stinker. I have found that I can knit a couple of rows with this and then I have to go do something else. 

And I admit to a little peevishness with the Kollage circulars. This is the soft cable. And I'm almost thinking it's too soft. It kinks up there (see the top needle?) and it sometimes takes me some fidgeting to get the yarn up and over. 

Of course, it may be because this is 100% cotton yarn. And it's entirely unforgiving. I can't imagine doing anything adult-sized with this stuff. I'd have to scream. Or drink. Or cuss. Or some combination thereof. 

I do think the ladders are less noticeable. And it's helpful that I'm tugging like crazy when I switch from K to P. 

So the Rory socks are coming along. That's Roman Rib pattern, in case you didn't get the Dr. Who reference.  I finally remembered to stash some stitch markers in the bag, so on the next round of ribbing I can ditch the rubber band.

Hey, whatever works in a pinch... So it's the time of the "interminable" ribbing. Why does 1x1 ribbing take forever? It's only 1.5" or so. If I make it that far. 

I think Elizabeth Zimmerman got it right: "do the ribbing till you're sick of it." And for me, that's about 1.5" or so...

Crafty Stuff...

This would be amazing for Kid #2. Or either kid. Or me. We are all bookworms. 

I'd have to raid the bookshelves for classics. And of course, right now, since these are bricks, all the "books" are the same size. 

But it's cool. I can see them stacked by the front stoop. Or in Kid #1's case, on his deck, maybe. And for Kid #2, on the porch. 

Such a nifty idea. 

I'm not much on crafts like this, though I did make a wind chime using those small terra cotta pots. I should finish the one I have in the basement; it's got all the pots and the string. I just need to get it painted and assembled. 

I don't know who I'd give it to. But it would be nice to finish a project. 

Ahem. I do so finish projects. I have just about finished canning pickles. 

Random Picture...

This morning, fire, flood, locusts and squirrels. A storm broke out pretty quickly and pretty fiercely. Quinn was in her cave. Tippi was shaking on the couch next to me. And before she climbed up to join me on the other side, this was Raisa's reaction. 

She's not scared. Truly, she's oblivious, thankfully. Don't know if we could take THREE deranged dogs.  She was just all, "I'm sooooooooo over this weather!"

She climbed up on my other side and we sat out the worst of it while listening to an old movie plus the weather alarm giving us updates. 

So far, aside from the fact that the grass seems to have sprouted another 6" overnight, I think we're done. It'll get cloudy, and Weather Channel says "widely scattered showers or thunderstorm this evening" but it's only 30% thankfully. 

Almost Hating Winter...

Outside my east window yesterday

I say "almost" because it is indeed beautiful. But I'm kind of tired of not being able to enjoy it. I feel cooped up for a number of reasons, some of them just my own inability to get out there, and some are just constraints of job and other responsibilities. 

Yesterday, we waited. And waited. And waited. Because the snow was coming down really fast - about 2" per hour, which is much more than the plows could keep up with. Pictures throughout this entry will show you that it wasn't exactly pretty. 

Well, it is pretty. If you don't have to drive in it. If you're playing in it, it's great. 

I kind of felt that IDOT was staging snow plow drivers in my parking lot because they'd come. Sit. Then go. The campus is at a pretty major set of intersections for the local highways, and I'm sure they were planning their strategy to handle this mess. 

Finally, though, we got word that night classes were cancelled, and I managed to catch my assistant before he left. He drives easily 45 minutes to an hour to get to the campus, and I didn't want to have him start off on the barely passable highways (all of them in his neck of the woods were pretty messed up) only to have to turn back. 

Even my yoga class was cancelled, which turned out to be a good call. The roads in my subdivision were not plowed when I got home. My trek home took one hour. It's normally 25 minutes, so it wasn't that this was a huge, huge commute. I know folks had it worse. But the roads on the way home were pretty pathetic.

Ice under this snow

And I had a hot-dogger... Some guy in a Yukon pickup apparently thought that going about 25-30 mph in THIS mess was too slow. Because, of course, he has 4WD. So do I. 

And you know what? There was ice under that snow. And 4WD slides really nicely on ice. He flew by me going at least 40 mph. I didn't see him in any ditches, but then again, Heaven only knows where he thought he was going.

This road is normally a pretty busy road. It seems that people finally took heed and if they didn't need to be out there, they weren't. I did leave earlier than our expected closing, but I'm not going to wring my hands about it. I wanted to get out before everyone else left work, and while it was still light out. 

Snow pack

This is a major intersection. Take a peek at the "plowing." The plows seem to have made an initial foray by just swiping 2 lanes. This is normally a 4-lane intersection, with additional turn lanes. Everyone behaved themselves, though the larger vehicles wanted to squeeze into slightly skinnier lanes. I have one of those "fat" trucks and I was a little nervous trying to get into the turn lane and not have my passenger-side mirror knocked off by an ambitious driver to my right. Everyone obeyed the lights; nobody was acting like a fool. And as far as I know, we all made it home safely. 

Of course, I went outside to take pictures. I was out a total of perhaps 2 minutes. It was mild, inasmuch as it would be when it's snowing like crazy. The wind was picking up and this is what I looked like when I came in. My sweatshirt was covered and the snow on the sidewalk was up over the top of my boots. 

Snow sparkles

My friend from IT called to see if she could come out earlier to do her updates and she informed me that "your parking lot sucks." It was at least 5" deep out there... 

Nobody came from our service to plow. I'm pretty sure we're last on their list. Problem is, our operations START when most businesses are closing down! Anyway, I hope to get that straight with the landlord sometime soon. 

I talked to Hubby about bringing my snowshoes. You know we have that area around the campus. I can take a short hike during lunch. I can't use the skis. Mainly, I don't fit into the boots anymore. But also, I tend to fall on my rear end. Not good for work!

But I can get on the snow shoes, tool around for about 10 minutes, and just get off my butt more. It's supposed to rain mid-week, and then snow again. I would like to get out in it -- I think I'm just depressed about being cooped up. Maybe a little dose of winter sunshine will help. 

I came home, made some soup and just had an evening at home, which seems to be more and more rare...

Dinner...

Had 2 heads of green cauliflower (not brocco-flower, but GREEN cauliflower) and I made soup. Same Cream of Cauliflower, but I didn't use any Canadian bacon. I had sliced portobello mushrooms, which I thought about adding, then I realized they'd turn the entire batch mud-colored. Not appetizing!

So I sauteed them, wrapped them in a tortilla and had a nice sandwich with my soup. That'll be dinner tonight, too. Oh, Raisa not only sings along with Kid #2 and the harmonica... She'll sing along with the stick blender. That was interesting.

I'm back to trying to cut out the sugar and refined "stuff" in my diet, and it's working so far. Lucky for me, I can eat the same thing time and again. I know it makes me feel better, but jeeze - when Kid #2 starts baking, I can barely stand it!! 

Knitting...

The Nephew Afgan is DONE!! Well, almost. Here's a picture of it. I ended up calling my LYS and having them set aside 2 hanks of the yarn for me. I'm going to crochet an edging around it. It needs something because one edge curls. It's 75% acrylic and 25% wool, so it won't "just block out." So I talked with my friend D and we agreed: crochet around, once, in each color. First off, it will pop the colors out, since as you can see, it's marled now. Second, it'll straighten out the edges. Third, it'll add a little length and width to the piece.

Nephew Afghan

It's on my California King bed. It takes up, I would say, about a twin-sized section. The extra edging will, I think, make it a tad fancier, and a bit nicer. My nephew is a biggish guy - this will make it more his size. 

I've started Teal Sock #2 and I also made a list today of the projects I'd like to do for 2014. I have to see if Blogger lets me set that chart as a sidebar on the blog. This may require some research and some tweaking. 

I don't want to move to WordPress, but I do want a little more freedom to design this space the way I want to. 

As for the nephew and the fiancee -- as you may recall, I was upset about her behavior at the shower. An hour late, no explanation... many things. My mom got the pics back. I took them, with Sis's camera. She says that Fiancee looks VERY impressed with my gift. Which is nice. I try to pick something that I think people will like. 

But that still doesn't excuse ill-mannered behavior. I worry about him. He's a soft soul. And I'm not so sure about her. Maybe I'm over-thinking this.

Raisa...

Is fitting in nicely. We are all off-leash now. Yesterday, Quinn snapped at her, but that stuff will happen, and from what I'm told, Raisa deserved it. She's taken to giving the Elkhounds a big slurpy kiss. This is usually pack behavior, and in her situation, it means, "I'm so happy you're my friend." She also likes to lick Tippi's ears. Tippi tolerates this much better than Quinn, mostly because Tippi is more emotionally stable.

Training last week was a joke. As a typical Husky, she's nuts. We did several things... Except that Raisa and I had to concentrate on ONE thing. Loose-leash walking. Which was mostly STOPPING for us. You let the lead out, they pull. You stop. Wait till the dog gives you slack till you move again. Stop when she pulls.

Raisa the cat

Go ahead. Imagine. Yeah, it took us most of a half-hour to get down one aisle. Bobbie used her as the "bad example." I think I may have to move closer to Hubby & Quinn. I was trying to keep us apart so that she could concentrate, but I don't think it's working. She seemed almost frantic to get back to them. So I don't know if that means she's bonding more with Hubby, who's with her all day, or just sees Quinn as "hers" and she's not happy unless she can see her. 

I took Quinn briefly and she freaked out. She's definitely a Daddy's girl. Which is fine. 

And I know - Raisa is not even 6 months old. We have to have patience. Well... I have to have patience. She's not Tippi and she's not River-the-robo-dog.

She is, however, as you can see here: Raisa the cat-dog. This morning, before we got Arlo up, she tried to climb onto Arlo's table for a better look. 

Oh my. 

She hasn't tried counter-surfing yet. I don't think she will. I shouldn't say that. 

Back door

Random Picture...

The snow outside my back door yesterday. It really was poetic. Simultaneously swirling and dumping, the snow had a ballet all its own. 

Backing up to a forest preserve, we have this wild area where we can just enjoy the scenery. There's a service road back there, but mostly, it's just us and the hawks. We have a lovely paved patio area and the concrete planters hold Coral Bells in the spring/summer/fall. The trees directly out back are pine trees; I have no idea why they were planted, but I would have preferred they keep it just to the native plants. Right behind those pines, it drops off pretty steeply. I haven't been back there and I won't do that while I'm at work. Maybe Hubby and I can explore that; it's Park District land, so maybe there's a trail in there somewhere.

As you can see, it's piling up. And I still maintain it's pretty. 

I think I've just got cabin fever. 

Friday Nights...

It's Friday night. I'm at work. It's a 2-day seminar on Pain Management for some of our advanced nursing students.

Twisted mess of Fluffy Scarf Yarn

Tomorrow, I start a 2-day training on the art of teaching yoga therapeutics. That will be interesting. In the meantime, I'm sitting here, knitting on the Fluffy Scarf and muttering under my breath because it looks like this. It's knotting up and about every 4 rows, I have to twist and turn to get it straightened out and pulled apart a little bit.

Yeesh. I hope the next couple of balls are better than this.

Knitting...

Went to Le Mouton Rouge Knittery again. And yes, I bought more yarn. Sock yarn, to be specific, though one hank will be set aside for a shawlette. It's Madelaine Tosh, and it was specially dyed for LMR in her colorway. She said she was extremely happy she got it, because when she described it, she wasn't certain they'd give her the tones she wanted. It looks fantastic and I can't wait to knit it up.

It's a fantastic shop and I always, ALWAYS find something I want there. Unfortunately, right??

This weekend, after the yoga training, I continue on with the assembly of the Charity Afghan. I've got about 1/4 of it done. It's coming along ok. I just hope it looks ok when I get it done. It's certainly giving me lots of practice in weaving (not sewing) different pieces of needlework together. Some are knitted; some crocheted; some Tunisian crochet. All of them are different, and there are the crocheted inserts. I'll take a picture of what I've got done; plus, of course, the yarn I've purchased; and I'll get them in this blog somewhere. 

I consider that I achieved a victory today. When we were at LMR, my friend J saw me grab the MadTosh special-dyed and she just drooled. And she bought the worsted weight. She has no idea what she'll knit with it. She NEVER buys "stash" yarn. Except for sock yarn, but everyone knows that's not strictly stash because if you know how to knit socks, you've usually got at least one pair on the needles.

Then she bought several hanks of Cascade Superwash for baby jackets. She has my pattern for those simple ones I did for the twins, and she wants to do some to set aside. Her grandkids are growing up and she said she'd like to have something "stashed" for them in the event they marry and have kids of their own. She's my mom's age, and she said she wonders if she'll be knitting in 20 years, and wants her kids to have something of hers. Good plan. 

...Speaking of "having something" in an heirloom, though I loved Baby Prince George's christening gown, didn't they even receive a hand-knitted shawl for this baby??? Just sayin'...


Random Irony...

White Powerade - what's wrong with that?

On our kitchen table, it's a mess. Just a mess. Like it's a major dumping ground. So Kid #2 has a couple of bottles of power-drink stuff. He uses it when it's summertime because there's no A/C and he doesn't want to keel over when it's nearly 100* outside. Imagine. Well, I asked him if he'd put the stuff in the pantry, and then we got to talking about something else. I noticed that this bottle was sitting on the table still and I made a comment about it. He said, "Oh, I'm not drinking that. I bought it because of the irony."

What irony?

He said, "Who markets a drink called "white power ade"???"  I don't know - my sense of the absurd was tickled. I think perhaps their focus group might have thought about that one - or at least someone in marketing should have been paying attention. Or maybe they should hire unemployed English majors so that these things can be caught before they hit the stores...

Politics...Or "MORE" Random Irony...

So now, Ted (Canadian/Cuban) Cruz is speaking out against the 1%. Yes, please pick up your jaw. Read it here. Yup. Of course he's in Iowa "just because it's there." Right? 

So Mr. "I get MY health insurance through Goldman Sachs" Cruz is now saying that there's a divide in the haves and have-nots. Hang on - I have to see if there's a SECOND full moon this month. 

Food...

Hubby made a lovely chicken and rice soup the other night. Yes, I did heat up my pre-frozen potato soup. And no, it wasn't prepackaged...I had made it last year and we put several of the containers in the freezer. It was very good. Nice and comforting. 

I slept like a rock. 

Tomorrow, what with the yoga training, it'll either be an apple and a cheese stick or a smoothie. I just can't eat when I practice yoga - it's very uncomfortable to me. 

Note to self: Get back on the cleaner diet, and stop drinking pumpkin spiced chai latte!!!

Random Picture...

Snowmen

I know. They're snowmen. I have all 12 months. This is a selection of the first 3 - well, December, January and February. I have March ready to stitch, but it's a matter of when. Maybe during my Christmas holiday? You never know. I have to dig out the floss, though. I've taken to quilting them instead of framing them. They're cute. And the patterns are all out of print now, so I'm kind of on a mission to do those. They're done by Curtis Boehringer, and done in Flower Thread, which is not DMC 6-strand floss. You can do them in the floss, but the flower thread is more delicate. I've usually added beads or buttons or something just to make them my own creation. The December one has metallic floss in his hat. January has buttons on the quilting and regular buttons down her front, and February has beaded hearts. 

And my mother's angel. That's a whole post in itself, and I should probably take a picture of THAT and get myself going.

Hubby, being his ever-helpful self, pointed out to me, in front of my mother, of course, that if I did 60 stitches a night on it for a solid 365 days, I could have it done. Nice. He's right, which makes it more infuriating. 

But it's a Lavender and Lace angel, and there's about 200 colors in it. And I'd have to put it in the frame and LEAVE it up. So I need to put it in one spot. Not sure how that'll happen in the current configuration of my living room, but I really have to do it. 

I take comfort from the fact that if I ever retired early or lost my job, I have plenty of stash yarn and stash projects to complete...