Showing posts with label Mon Ami. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mon Ami. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Well, a blog, at any rate...

My chickens enjoying breakfast.


General catching up on my blog...

I was hoping to get several blogs up. Not as easy as I had hoped, with the phone.  But, I can get on here at the moment, so, I write up a blog.

I ended up not going full Santa barf mode, maybe just mild Santa indigestion?  But I thought it looked nice, and we had a good time with family.  

Sadly, Mon Ami died.  He had been acting listless around food.  Then, we went to town, we came back, and he was sitting in the middle of the hen yard, in the rain.  I picked him up, which says something right there, and put him in a hen box to dry out and rest.  He dozed off, and I went in the house.  Husband went out in the evening to close the door, and found him on the floor.  We suspect he wanted to roost with the others, and just didn't have the strength.  

He was a silly little friend, and I will miss him, but I looked up the lifespan of a rooster, he would have been edging towards ancient.  He has several progeny, and Jet Puff has a lot of his good looks, so he leaves a legacy... 

I was able to get all my Christmas cards to people out of state... But didn't get any local ones finished! I received a few cards, but lots of my friends don't "do" cards.  I figure, that's fine, I get to pick and choose who gets one from me, then! I sometimes receive texts with Merry/Happy, but even then, less than I used to.  Oh, well.  

I amused folks, because when I was shopping, I would wear a Santa hat, red vest, usually with a green shirt, copius jingle bells, and socks I knit with a"fur" ruff on the top. I heard more than a few comments about Mrs. Claus, and more than one little one would just watch in amazement as I jangled by.  A few adults, too...  And, mostly, it garnered smiles, which is what I was aiming for.  

Tonight?  I work a half day, then some quick doings, and home before the craziness starts.  I guess I like my home, and not running off to celebrate the New Year, I really prefer at the house. No muss, no fuss, and falling asleep is no big deal... Let's just say, midnight is when we wake up, say Happy New Year, kiss, then go back to sleep.

Enjoy 

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

It's SPRING BREAK!! (also known as one week of rain...)

In seriousness, it is closer to half a week of rain.  Today, for example, is very nice, and few clouds.  So, the kids will get some pleasant weather to go create havoc and chaos... Heh.  This is from someone who's idea of spring break was to go home, do laundry, and sleep for about 2 days... Then see what things I needed to get ready for, for the next school session. 

Not really a party animal, no. 

Meh...

Well.  Hmm.  Found out our doctor is retiring.  I am not pleased much about that, but, on the bright side, we don't have to hunt for a new doctor, there is one taking his patient load.  And, looking him up, he seems to be freshly minted from our doctor school nearby.  I think this might be a good thing.  I just hope I don't seem old, broken down, and decrepit.

Oh, wait...    (Hee hee!!!) ðŸ˜ƒ

Well, we need to trim another wing.  Mon Ami, that lovable stinker, has figured out how to get over the fence.  We have trimmed one wing, thinking this would stop him.

Ahem.

I watched, as he got waaaaaay back from the fence, took a fast run, then jumped and flapped right near the gate, managed to get his feet on to the gate, then jumped down, into the wide world of  Not In The Henyard.  This is not going swimmingly for Husband, as there are little land mines about.  And Mon Ami, he just wants to follow me about like a puppy, can't understand why I put him back in the pen.  Someone must have spoiled him.  Can't imagine who. Cough...

I have been working on knitting a vest for myself.  I think it will be quite nice, especially in cold weather, as it is a good, thick wool.  It's red, (Think Cola Can red), and the pattern is really nice...

Except.

I have a problem with one little part.  It's called a fleck stitch (it looks something like this...)  This should NOT be a problem.  But it is.  And it's about 1/3 of the patterns, alternating, on the vest.  I have the back finished, and so far, haven't found any major boo-boos, so I really need to make it match on the front.  I started, and found I was continually making a mistake of putting two rows of knit and purl in, when you only need one.  I think this was because the pattern calls for this fleck stitch, and then moss stitch, which is ALL knit and purl.  So I frog*.  And knit. And frog.  THEN there was my bright idea to knit both of the front panels at the same time.  Until I realized I had managed to knit both fronts, as both LEFT fronts.  And, I had made the same blasted mistake on them, so they had a couple nasty squares that were screwed up.  So, frog again...

So, I started knitting alllllllll over again on the LEFT one.  SLOWLY knitting on that one.  Husband noticed that I had started another project...  I told him I needed to put that away for a day or two, and do some mindless knitting, so I don't go seeing if anyone wants it for target shooting.  So, I will get it out, and with severe trepidation, measure to see if it is coming out equal with the back, and then finish, and start on the Right half. 

And do I want to do this vest again? Yes.  Do I want to do fleck stitch, oh, **** no!  In fact, I was thinking of doing no pattern at all, just using blocks of color, or textured yarn for the accent.  But I do need to finish this one first.  Dang.

As far as the blanket, I am doing something with a stitch that I just came up with, and have later found out it is an actual stitch that has a name.  (Yep, right here, if you want to see...)  I just made it up, when I found out a stitch I used didn't show up well on my sock, so I did this instead. 

The funny thing, most knitters see it, and comment on how odd the stitch is, the way I use it.  One or two even said that it doesn't look good.  But, I have come to the opinion, it's my socks, I will knit little bumps, or not, or colors that are different on each sock, or whatever, as I am not doing for anyone but me.  So dere.  I guess I have been a bit irked by some of the folks telling me how "off" some of my knitting is, I know it's not everyone's cup of  Camellia sinensis.  I have things I could comment on other's knitting, but I figure, they enjoy it, and you know, life is too darn short to worry about a funky color, or oddball combination of stitches.  If they like, go forth and knit, dang it!  Considering I have even been told I was a witch one time, because of what I was knitting**, I tend to be a bit shy of showing off my stuff anymore... 

Woo!! So, off the soap box.  Anyway, the blanket is another co-creation with Ding kitty and my knitting.  She keeps pulling yarn balls out at night, and then wants attention.  I give it to her, and the cycle repeats.  So, I had to do something with it.  I have made a simple garter stitch blanket for the trailer. Also, a lap warmer, my Mom likes to have something in my car, as an electric car tends to use up electrons very quickly when the heat is on... 

So, this will be the Linen Stitch Flow blanket.  Flow, because when you change colors, the first color alternates with the second, then goes to the second, so it isn't quite as jarring.  (Especially since she picks out some color combinations that are... unique, to say the least.  But it's fun to see what she comes up with.)  I was worried when she first started doing that, but she has never eaten the yarn, or done anything but pull it out, carry it into the hall or front room, then sing for me to come see.  Kinda wish she'd do that at times other than 2 am, but hey, it's a cat thing...

* frog, based on the sound a frog makes, you rip-it, rip-it... Also known as throwing something in the frog pond.

** I was knitting with yarn I'd spun, and she'd noticed that I'd spun it counterclockwise.  In front of a large circle of ladies, she pipes up, LOUDLY, "Oh, you're a witch, then?!??"  You could have heard a pin drop.  She then continues, "Only witches spin backwards!"  Um.  Oh.  I had no response, and she finally left.  I don't think the red left my face for a half hour.  None of the other women said a thing.  I don't know if they did think me a witch, didn't know what to say, or just were as dumbfounded as I was.  It still didn't do too much for me...


Monday, December 03, 2018

Cup #2

Well, it's about 3 in the morning.  I tried all day yesterday, and our internet was just about totally unusable.  So, since I got up for... early morning potty break, thought I would see if it works NOW.  Gee, when everyone else has gone to bed, and aren't streaming everything, it works pretty good!

Sorry about the glare, This cup was not great to photograph...

This is the the first cup that I couldn’t put up.  Better late than never, I guess…

A large cup, I think it holds about 16 oz., or so...

Today’s cup is my most recent.  Mom picked it up, I think, at a thrift store.  I thought it was the same as some other snowmen cups I have, but it’s not.  It is similar.  Sort of a cousin to the others.  Husband says it is an “honest snowman” because it has such a short nose!

Quiet day today.  I made cookies.  Husband had noticed a big bag of chocolate chips, (I am getting ready to make Christmas gifts), and he hopefully asked if that was going to be cookies.  Er, no, it was going to be fudge, do you want chocolate chip cookies?

YES, PLEASE!

Well, I made much and many cookies.  Some will probably be gifted, but most will be kept for Husband’s noshing…  

I made our rooster, Mon Ami, happy, too.  He is the only one we allow to roam out from the chicken yard.  He doesn’t make a mess, stays off the concrete, and off the porch railings.  He just wants to get away from Mulan Rouge…  So, I had made some terrible corn bread. (Note: if you forget an ingredient, don’t try to mix it in while it’s in the pan, just… Don’t.)  It was edible.  Barely.  So Mon Ami was outside, and I walked out with the remaining dreck bread, and he came running!  I crumbled it up, and he ate, and ate, until I thought for sure he’d get sick.  I haven’t Googled “do chickens barf”, but I was beginning to wonder if I would find out graphically.  But, he finished it up, flapped his wings a bit, then strolled off under our Sequoia tree, and took a nap.  

I think he has his priorities straight…

Wednesday, April 06, 2016

E is for Early Bird. Not...



Mon Ami was a rescue, from a family that had hand raised him.  He didn't know how to do the poultry thing, when he first came here.  He was even afraid of the other chickens, and the lawn.  He watched the other birds, though, and figured out, wow, I can do this.  And then he figured out he was a rooster, and seems to have been a happy bird since.

The one thing he doesn't do, is crow early.  Most of the roosters I've had, 3 to 4 a.m., they would  be starting crowing, jumping down from the roost to stretch, flap wings, and bellow hello to the morning.  

Mon Ami takes a rather more casual approach.  He will let the day know he's awake, eventually.  He does crow, but I have more than once heard him crow, oh, at the crack of 7ish...  He will crow at other times of the day, if he's happy, if he's angry, or when he is high up on a perch.

But greeting the day, he's happy to let someone else be an 'early bird'!