I Have Thoughts....

I've been on a knitting binge - Melt the Ice hats. I'm on my 7th (and hopefully) last one. I've also made about 6 of the "badge" variety that you can pin on your shirt or jacket. I have to find some Primary Election knitting. I thought for a nano-second of bringing my mom's Sophie Hood to the polls but... that might not be my best idea. It's white and there is always the potential of spillage. I will probably grab a sock - I believe I have one on the needles where I can just do the leg for a while. I also have a shawl in progress, which is knit on the bias, fairly mindless. So that's the other option and frankly, that one is closer to being finished, so...there's that. 

Nerdy Notes: The hat on the left was made with Cascade 220 Superwash Sport, held double, with an I-cord tail. Knitted on size 8 circulars and DPNs as we got to the crown. The colorway is 893. 

Death Knell to SAVE Act...

Well, John Fetterman (D???- PA) finally READ the SAVE Act. Amazing. A legislator READS a bill before it's passed. And he decides that it's Not A Good Idea because it will affect HIS voters. 

You know what? This dude has been a hoodie-wearing disappointment since his health crisis -- and no, I'm not slamming him for that. 

I'm slamming his decisions that seem to fall in line with the Republicans more and more of the time. His constituents voted for him because he promised change and promised progressive values. That's not what they've been getting lately. 

And honestly, I do give him kudos for directly addressing his mental health. That's not my issue. Deal with your stuff, dude, and recognize that you're getting PLATINUM level benefits while a lot of your voters are not. Because of the way YOU have been voting. 

I don't understand Dems who vote for things that obviously don't align with democratic values and which do not benefit their constituents. Call me naive, and yeah, I do realize that most politicians lately are bought-and-paid-for by the billionaires. But I still think they should vote for things on OUR lists at least MOST of the time. 

The Knitting...

Like I said, #7 of the MTI hats. And 6 badges. I'm happy to knit these as long as I have stash. I have to tell you, my hat is FANTASTIC!!! I'm so happy with Wicked Tint Yarns. I was kind of dubious when the yarn was in the hank. I thought it wasn't "red" enough. But it knitted up more beautifully than I could've imagined - turns out it's a soft ruby-red that just feels so nice on my head. 

Nerdy Notes: The hat on the left was knitted with Wicked Tint Worsted, 100% Merino Superwash, colorway Melt ICE Red, on size 8 circulars and DPNs, with the I-cord arrangement for the top. This one has 7" of ribbing, and 1" of stockinette stitch before I started the decreases. One round of knitting in between each decrease round. 

I did the MTI variation with the I-cord and tassle, so it's a bit different from the one I'm currently knitting, which is the traditional one with the braid. I dipped into the acrylic stash and will be finishing this one for one of my students. 

The badges (I'm doing the flat ones) take about half an hour, and that includes the red felt I bought to line them. They do need to be lined, otherwise you have a curly little crescent roll on your hands. It's taken me a minute to figure out the best way to add the pin finding, I think that so far, a North/South alignment has worked for me. 

Nerdy Notes: The badge here was knitted in the same Cascade Superwash, the pattern is available free on Ravelry, and I did the "flat" version. I lined it with red felt on the back, and put a pin-back finding on it. I used size 5 needles. Took me about a half hour, which is light-speed for me. 

I will also admit that I am actually looking forward to NOT knitting the hats. They knit up quickly even though I've made some variations on the ribbing. The last one I did for Kid #2 was 2x2 rib. And mine is a twisted rib. I can see the value of the 6-7" ribbing in how it fits on your head, since these are essentially one-size-fits-all. But that much ribbing is my penance for my sins!

Primary Election Day...

So the primary in our state is this Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day. I'm wearing green. We have ben given strict instructions on what we can and can't wear. As it is, we're already told to not wear name badges: we're Judge A, Judge B, etc. We have to have our party on the badges, because in our state, we need a certain percentage of each party. 

Today and tomorrow I'm reviewing the training. I also have to find my Election Day Reading, and my Election Day Knitting. And get my meals/snacks ready. We have to bring our own, though we do have a precinct committee chair who usually supplies pizza for dinner. 

We have to be there at 5 a.m. to open the building and get set up, and voting starts at 6 a.m. We go till 7 p.m. and hopefully, everything tallies, then we drive it back to the County building (one judge of each party is in the car for "chain of custody" of the documents and tally box), and then we get home, if we're lucky, around 9 p.m. 

It's a long day. And we have to be there the whole time; so they prefer that we vote early.. 

I encourage everyone to get trained as an election judge so you can see the process in your state. Consider it your civic duty to understand. Use your own eyes, ears, and brains. 

Also, check out Vote 411, the system whereby questions are sent to those folks on your ballots, and you can check them out to educate yourself -- don't be a voter who doesn't know what they're doing! 

Vote in your primary election -- I can't stress how important this is. In our state, we do have to declare a party. We don't have what's called an "open primary," but that's different from state to state. Don't let your rights dwindle. They need exercising, and voting is the biggest right you have (for now). 

In my state (and I have to insert that qualifier every time I talk about this, because jurisdictions differ), we can declare a party in the primary but at the general, you can vote however you want. You can even change parties for each primary cycle -- unless you're an election judge. Then, they want you to pick one and stick with it.

Especially as women, we are facing some challenges by the Tangerine Toddler. He's determined, somehow, to get that SAVE Act passed and he always can rely on his "magic Sharpie" if he can't actually do it legislatively. Right now, as I noted, they don't have the votes. And some conservatives, who've actually READ what the act says, are saying, "Wowza, this is really gonna kill MY chances..." because it disenfranchises such a large swath of people. 

I was talking about this the other day with Hubby and ended up explaining why I went through the trouble to update my passport and get the RealID. Which, it turns out, according to SAVE, would NOT be an appropriate form of ID. 

What? 

Nope. The RealID is not acceptable as a form of ID to register to vote. For women, we have to make sure our names match throughout all of our ID, from birth certificate forward. So that means, for many of us, a couple of options. 

A passport is an approved ID. That's about $150-170. Funny thing, what I had to provide for my RealID was the SAME documentation as for a passport. 

And yet the RealID is "not approved." Go figure. 

Birth Certficate, marriage license, divorce decree(s) if appropriate, new marriage licenses... That's what women have to provide. 

Or -- you go to court and change your name on your birth certificate. Which essentially erases your original identity and your family line. 

The name change, depending on the county, in my state, is about $700. So there's a filing fee of $300 - 400. You have to publish your name change so that creditors or the law can find you if in fact you're trying to hide...(not kidding) and that's around $388. And then there's a copying fee for the certified order. It's not "official" unless it's certified, for proof of identity. That's another ten bucks. So, roughly $700...depending on your county. 

Or -- you just don't change your name when you get married. Or hyphenate, like my friend did. 

I mean...it's nuts. And a passport can take 6 weeks, unless you pay an expedited fee - $60 for the fee and another $22-ish bucks for a quick return. 

But hey, since "illegals voting" is the "crisis du jour" for the Demented Dimwit in the Oval, let's all just suck it up and get our documents in order, because it's gonna be "papers please" if he gets his way. 

Oh, and the actual rate of illegal immigrants voting? 0.00000764% over ONE BILLION+ ballots cast over a period of 24 years -- that's FIVE zeroes after the decimal point. That's MICROSCOPIC. 

And that's data from the Heritage Foundation. The idiots who are trying (and succeeding at an alarming rate) to shove Project 2025 down our collective throats. 

But yeah, by all means, stay home because it hurts your feelings to declare a party at your primary election. And then moan that YOUR candidate didn't get on the ballot in the general, so you're also staying home "as a protest."

Thanks. Because YOU put us into this mess. 

Random Picture...

We had Basil recently. Hubby wore her out with lots of long walks. She's now able to fully "dog" and has recovered from her heartworm treatment. She loves destroying stuffies and playing tug with her toys. 

After the third walk of the day, she zonked out so hard that she was snoring up a storm. I could hear it while I was on a Zoom meeting... I used her picture for a restorative yoga class I taught - she's an excellent example of  "resting with intention." 

Now, we have to work on her carsick issues. Twenty minutes into the hour-long ride back home, both my "tire pressure" light went on and her yarking happend simultaneously. It had been a long day, so I just kept going. I figured if a cop pulled me over, they could either deal with the barfing dog or help me use my air compressor to fill my tire. It seemed like a logical idea at the time. 

Got her home, cleaned up and fed, and then tried to tackle cleaning up the dog yark. Luckily, the Kid wasn't too far from home and was able to assist. Good thing she's cute. 

As I sit here typing, I'm watching EVERYTHING in my yard blowing sideways with 60 mph gusts. I'm sitting next to a large picture window and thankful that there aren't any leaves on the trees...otherwise at least one of the trees would be blown over. I've lost one garden flag (I knew I should have pulled it in last night...) and we've lost power about 4 or 5 times so far. Make that 6 times...thank goodness for batteries!

Mother Nature is having a hissy fit. How's it going where you are? 

 

Winter Images...

Not a cop-out. It's just that we took a lot of pictures in this cold snap. 

And no, none of them are of the temp indicator on our dashboards! 

Knitting... 

Nephew Afghan

Miles (and miles) to go on the afghan, but it's coming along. I have probably gotten close to the half-way mark here.  At 40" x 46" it's two couch cushions wide and just a hair longer. As Hubby says, "That's not very big." But I'm not planning on making a queen-sized afghan! All I want is sort of a "representation" afghan. My granny did the big ones; I'm not going to do that if I don't have to. This is enough for a snuggle afghan, which works for me.

The Namaste needle case for circulars? Urgh. Not impressed. Mine's full and I need about 4 more! So instead, I ordered the clear vinyl sleeves. I have binders, and I think this is probably the easiest way to store them. Sonda was right. I should've gotten them when she carried them!

Winter...

Yes, winter has arrived with a statement to make. What Winter is saying is "HA" -- We've been lulled into complacency with the mild winters we've had. The "February Blizzard" a few years ago was significant, but it was a tease. 

Winter version of the garden

This is cold. Bone-numbing cold. The actual temperature (remember, I said no dashboard pics) from The Weather Channel is -13*F and with the "feels like," which is their new term for "wind-chill," that's -35*F.  Negative. Thirty-Five. Degrees. Farenheit...

Baby It's Cold Outside!!!

Kid #2's car wouldn't start. Of course, it's the original battery, but -35* doesn't help.

He's off school today; my campus is closed. Most everything is closed, even our local free clinic, which is the first time I've known of that since I've been on the board - almost 15 years.

Our west-facing front window 

The wind-chill warning is on till noon tomorrow. "Prolonged period of dangerously cold and potentially life-threatening wind chills." 

-30 to -50* below zero, which are the lowest in about 20 years - for this part of the country. 

Even the dogs - Hubby isn't doing the usual walk. It's too cold even for a Norwegian Elkhound!

Luckily, they're saying that instead of a 2- to 3-day cold snap, this could be it. The picture here is of our west-facing front window at about 7:15 a.m. Frost. On the inside.

So much for Andersen "energy efficient" windows. But then, they're nearly 30 years old, too...

Church...

Sunday, there were 13 of us in the church for the 10:30 a.m. service. There were only 4 at 8 a.m. and one of those was Fr. Matt.

We had the regular Mass, at the back where they have the small altar, since 6 of the 13 were choir members! A hardy bunch, right? 

This is our church parking lot. It's a very old building, as you can see. And there's a drift there to the right: it was so high that you almost couldn't get into the lot. It's in a very old neighborhood, so as we left, the plows were coming, single-file because of the narrow roads. 

Fr. Matt was probably waiting for decades (well, he's not that old) to use this one: "Thank you, everyone, for coming out today and not making me preach to the choir." We did feel compelled to point out that almost half of us in attendance WERE the choir! 

Arborvitae

More pics...

Just captions, with a little explanation. On the north side of our house, we have a row of arborvitae. This is a close-up of one of them. They bow to the snow, and it's actually better if you knock the heavy stuff off. But you have to be careful because they are pretty brittle in this cold. They provide lots of cover for the birds. 

Tippi had a snow-face. I took her out over the weekend (now that Hubby's home, he's doing more of that) and she decided that plowing her face in the snow, searching for something only she knows about, was a good thing. The snow was falling, but it wasn't that cold this weekend. They saved the good stuff for during the week!!

She loved it. I wish we could take them to the dog park, but it's too cold out there for all of us. 

 Believe it or not, even northern breed dogs can get frostbite and hypothermia at this temperature range. Not worth risking it for a romp. 

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: If you see someone stupid enough to leave pets out in this?

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE call the authorities. 

Like I said, I don't care if your dog "always lives outside." It's too stinkin' cold. Bring the dog in. Period. 

Speaking of dogs...

Dolly...

Dolly found the hedgehog

We had our meet-and-greet. While I wasn't jazzed about some of the methods Lance used, I have to say that Tippi took to Dolly right away. Quinn? Not so much. But she's the one we worried about. 

After the outside meeting, we came inside. Mind you, our house is small. Dolly went on a "face-licking fest" and Lance kept pushing her aside. 

Actually, I wanted her to do this. It's a sign of submission and begging for food. It's a sign that she kind of 'gets' her place. She licked both dogs' faces, which was good. Quinn was still a little schizo, but I think it will all work out. 

Lance had some objections, based on Quinn, but we talked to two experts we know, and we're waiting for our trainer to call us. 

If the agency approves us, we'll take Dolly and Quinn to Bobbie and get them trained together; it'll be a bonding experience. 

Dolly found the hedgehog. And the couch. She'll fit right in. If it all works, her new name will be Raisa. That's Russian for "princess." Her middle name will be "Myrna" for Myrna Loy. 

As soon as we talk to Bobbie, we'll have a better idea. They said "think it over for 3 or 4 days." Hopefully, they'll approve our house. Steve, a veteran breeder and foster-parent, said that he didn't hear anything that would raise flags for us. And he's thinking that we should be approved. He was afraid that Lance wanted Dolly for himself, but I didn't get that vibe. I got the vibe that he was done fostering a puppy and wants to get her settled. 

We shall see... As I told Steve, if it comes to pass, then it was meant to be. Otherwise, all I can hope for is that Forever Husky finds a really perfect setting for Dolly. 

Soup for you!

Food...

This is soup weather. So that's what I made the other day. Chicken tortellini soup. It went over quite well. 

Tonight, we'll be making pasta. It's all about the comfort food right now. 

I have a pot roast in the fridge, thawing. That goes in the crock tomorrow. 

I would love to bake, but then I'd eat it. 

Maybe Hubby will do some bread. That would be good. 

For The Birds...

This weather isn't "for the birds." Hubby will take our old heated dog bowl, fill it with water and plug it in. The birds need the water as much as they need the food we've been putting out.

Male cardinal

There's a huge hole in the snow! We figure perhaps a squirrel came to rest last night. He's gone. 

For your enjoyment, one of my favorite birds: the cardinal. And a nuthatch on the bird bell. And frozen doves... 

I was trying to catch the male and female cardinals, but they're not buying my photography bug... 

The doves? They normally roost around the gutters. Today, they figured the sunny spot next to the snow drift was probably a place they could warm up. They're very puffed up - frozen birds, to say the least. Right now, they're back around the seed on the snow, stoking the tummy. 

The bird bell was an impulse buy for Christmas. The finches loved it. It's obviously all gone now, but I was happy to get this little fellow. 

Doves thawing out

I haven't gotten any cute video or shots of the squirrels. They've been rather sparse today. 

I'm done now; I'm off to knit. What are you doing with this day? 

Nuthatch on bird bell