What a difference a week makes!

Husband got a wild hair, we hadn't gone to the coast since way before Thanksgiving.  So we picked a day, I think it was like the 4th or 5th, and went coastal.

The weather was great, and the gulls were hungry.

I had sympathy for Tippi Hedren...

Little cloud action coming in.  

Along with the tide going out.

The lighthouse from Nye Beach.  

Wish I could have had closer picture...

I can't remember the proper name for this creature.  

The skeleton washed up on the coast, and they made a mold 

of what it might have looked like. They paint it different colors

every so often.  I try and get pictures of it as the paint scheme

changes, Husband always knows I will ask to go see the 

"Dragonfish".

It was a great day.  A little windy, but it was, oh, about 65 or so, and sunny, nice, nice day.

***

Then came about 2 days ago, in the morning.  The wind had been heavy all day, several places had lost power, then I looked outside to feed the cat, and saw... 

This...

There was about an inch or so.  It was wet, sloppy, cold,

and generally not what I wanted for THE WEEK BEFORE SPRING!

Sorry for the blur.  Just trying to show the snow. 

Stupid groundhog!

In case anyone thought I had fallen off the earth, remember last blog I mentioned being in the Iknitarod?  

I was knitting like crazy this whole time.  I started, then got to the center.  Did my decreases. Ran out of yarn, and realized I had screwed up royally!  I had not read the instructions right, and had decreased once on each side, not twice, as written. which basically made it a big, house shaped, pentagony thing.  Frog, swearing not so silently, and start from the middle, over again.  Decrease CORRECTLY this time.  I finished about 5 pm, local time, with the edging, and was able to have it count, as the first musher of the Iditarod came in last night at 8, (Dallas Seavey) so I was in the time frame. (Whew!!!)  

For a simple pattern, it took a h*** of a lot of effort!  I am now going to knit something... Sockly, I think.  

After I take a short break and write some letters.  I have several folks that I need to reply to.  Let's just say the Month of Letters went better than I could have imagined!  I am not going to write every day, but I am going to make a point of replying to the letters I've received.  And perhaps a few that I haven't managed to get to yet... Urk.  

A letter's a letter, right???

Iknitarod project, MUSH!!!

So, over here on the right is a logo for the Iknitarod.------------------------------------------------>

What it is, is a "race" to knit up an item while the Iditarod is on, from the ceremonial start, to the "red lantern" (i.e. the last musher is in).  I decided, since one of the gals in my volunteer group had a new grandchild, I would give it a blanket. The race coincided nicely.

I had wanted to give the pretty blue one I'd finished.  Well, it was a baby girl, so I changed my plans. The blanket photo below  is the start.  The colors are fairly accurate, medium purple, tan, sage, coral, and white.  I have extra motivation to get this finished, soon, because there will be a baby shower this weekend.  I would like to give it to the new Grandma, so even if I don't get to the shower, it will get to new Mom (who lives in another state).

So, here is the first half of the blanket.  I picked a mindless knit, then I will border it with white crochet on the edges...  I will "foo foo" it up when I do that...  So, needles and hook will be smokin' this week!

I have heard from several people about why didn't I just give the blue blanket.  I could have, yes, but I know that some folks are rather traditional.  I will save the blue for a boy.  Most around here don't seem wild about purple for a boy's blanket, so that gives me this to use for a little girl.  And mostly?  'Cuz I wanted to! 

Sunday Supplement. A finished blanket.

Yep, there it is.  Lots 'o stitches...  Hopefully some baby will have a warm 'bum'.

(Along with the rest of it, of course...)

Returning. In which I compose a blog. Or compost one...

I actually had written "compost" to begin with.  Not exactly an auspicious start, I would say.

Eh.

So, what have I been doing? Well, faire, obviously, since that's what the last (long, LOONG, LOOOONG ago) blog was about.

I finally took a make up class for the one day I had missed in the Citizens academy (cough2008coughcough), and then have been an Ambassador for a class.  Which means that I make GALLONS of coffee, for a lot of very intense young (mostly male) people.  Where I have seen several of the classes, people are chatting, interacting, and generally seem to be enjoying themselves, this group takes copious notes, and looks like there will be a pop quiz that is half their grade at the end. (One detective even commented on it during class. Only the other deputies laughed, and me.  The class took more notes.  Strange...)

I went to a fiber fest.  Husband would probably have been upset had I brought these home... Actually, I think my ride might have too, since we were in a Prius, with a baby in the back...  (But, Honey, it's yarn on the hoof!)  

I also saw several llamas.  I was surprised, there were some babies, but the only llamas for sale, were adult males.  This cutie kept flirting with me, I suspect he thought I had food in my carry bag.  Or he has a thing for plump gals making goo goo eyes at him...

 

My usual shift at the substation.  We had the computer melt down, so this month has been re-writing the newsletter from scratch, which includes digging up logos and such.  That has been a bit of a challenge.  One of the days I was there, I had a woman nearly demand I look up a license plate, because... 

She wanted to buy the vehicle in question.  (No, the Sheriff's Office, Police Department, etc. do not do this.)

I have picked quite a few vegetables, found out the kohlrabi is a hit with a friend of mine, so much so, that one day when I was gone, Husband offered several of the remaining ones to him.  Uh, Husband, THOSE WERE MINE... Sheesh.  There is a couple left, so I at least will get a little try of them...  However, I do have several cups of vegetable soup from my garden that I have frozen for winter.  Quasi-recipe, for any that want it:

Lazy Gardener's Veggie Soup.

5 cups water.

Vegetable Soup Mix (I used Knox)

Tomatoes.

Beans (I used Navy and Pinto)

Onions

Zucchini

Crookneck squash

Carrots

Cook beans until tender.  Remove skins from tomatoes and chop.  Chop all other veggies from garden.  Put in pot, simmer until tender.  Add beans, mix. Freeze.  Add Garlic powder if Husband doesn't catch you.

Like I said, lazy.  There may even have been more stuff than that, but that's what I can remember.  

I finished an Edwardian Cape and matching hat for a new baby and her older sister (pictures to come.)

Finally got some blackberries picked and, for lack of a better term, mashed.  I now have several cups of juice that Husband loves dearly on ice cream.  I now only wish I had picked more...

I also picked apples...

(Tea box for scale.)  I have most of this batch made into applesauce, and then I have some more to pick and sauce-ify.  Then I can work on my Walnut trees, if I can beat the deer, squirrels, and turkeys.  

And the rainy season is starting here, just in time for it to warm up, figuratively speaking, for Halloween.  Most costumes match the raincoats, around here...  Halloween falls on a Monday this year, I have decided if I get my act together, I might go as a hippie this year.  We shall see.  

Baby Hal has been (frantically knocking wood), doing quite well.  There seems to be some problems behind the keyboard, but it has been improving, and it certainly does much better than our TV.  Our news has almost entirely been from the computer of late, which tells you the quality of our reception here... 

I also started a Twitter account, but it looks like it will probably be as hit and miss as the regular blog.  I guess I have to realize that I have to actually WRITE something for it to show up, since I can't blog or tweet by telekinesis.  Pity, that.

I am also knitting...  A scarf or two, and a blanket, for my charities.  Some socks for myself.  A present for Mom.  A baby blanket for a different charity.  A new sweater for me.  

And I am still working off and on on my book.  Right now more in my head than on paper, but it's still in the queue, at any rate.  

That doesn't take into account the normal I have to get groceries, my spinning days, and just running around when we need something.  

Still exercising, too, Rudee is getting arthritis, so I am doing some things to supplement, as we can't walk as much.  Well, he can't anyway.  

So, I guess, perhaps I should shut up, and check some other blogs...  Certainly been away long enough! 

SHHEEEESH!

And just 'cuz, more pictures of veggies.

Responses. Decisions. Blather. We got it all, folks.

I was out of the house and on the go a lot this week, so I didn't get the chance to respond when I put up the answers to my last blog.  So:

Sharon:  I found out, via Wikipedia, trust at your own risk, that Grape Nuts have no grapes, nor nuts.  They, in fact, have barley and wheat in them.  The reason given for the moniker was that Mr. Kellogg, the guy making the stuff, thought sucrose was made during the process, which he called "grape sugar".  Then he ground the cereal in a grinder, calling the end products "nuts".  Hence, Grape-Nuts. 

Louise:  :)

messymimi:  Yes, Rudee is quite astounding on what he does when highly animated.  Even more so on ice! 
And thank you!

Judy's Corner: Might try that, as well, but I tend to have a pen and paper at nearly all times, where I don't always have the computer.  (This never ceases to amaze my "boss", who rarely writes anything.  If she can't type it, it usually doesn't get written down...)  But I will have to find out what form of 'saving' I will use.  Right now, all I have is my poor little broken down computer in the back I use for a typewriter, that uses 3" floppy disks...    Composting?  Yes, I would know about that.  The neighbors wondered why it snowed just on my garden one year, after I'd put all the miscellaneous paper I had shredded on there!  LOL

John Gray:  YES! You are lucky.  Our hen house is shaded, and I have to cover the windows during winter.  Even with the windows having clear plastic, it's gloomy within.  I think that makes the gals less inclined to lay for a bit.  But they are back to nearly full production now!  And chicks are coming up for sale soon, so I am going to get more feathers, for Fur 'n Feathers Farm!  (But, I do envy you about mid December...)

So.  Decisions. 

I took the 'write everyday for a month' pledge.  And now, after saying I would go back to only Wednesdays and Sundays...  I find I think I want to write more than that.  Probably not everyday, (definitely not much on Mondays, that's my one "busy" day), but I hope to write (and comment on other's) blogs more than I have been since January started... 

I have also decided not to do the country fried 5K. 

Yet. 

I said I would this spring.  I am up to a mile, but after this week, where I was walking a lot, I found I don't feel in shape enough yet.  Husband has been sort of my sounding board, sometimes he registers that I am overdoing it before I do.  For example, he has been encouraging me to use my cane when I go out and have to be on the go. 

I have had selective hearing about this...  To my deficit. 

Well, he took me out for an early Valentine's day treat, (it was to a Sportsman's Show.  I asked.  He didn't care if he went or not.  Yes, I am crazy.  Yes, he is wonderful), and he suggested that I really needed to use the cane. 

Grumble. 

It's really annoying when he's right.  I went through the whole day, and was TIRED.  I was not, however, in PAIN.  This is an astoundingly big difference, folks!  Especially when we thought it was 3 large buildings.  Nope, it was FOUR large buildings.  Walking all the way, most of the day.  I didn't really do much the next day, let me tell you!  But I am finding that that stupid a$$ cane is a relief. 

Now if I could just tolerate having the stupid thing as a companion.  (Maybe I should get this one. Or this one?  Perhaps this one?  But I would not abide this girly girl one...  Just so NOT me.)  The cane I have needs some repair.  I have been getting slivers from it, so sanding and repainting are in order.  Husband rolled his eyes when I suggested painting it white with a curling red stripe to make a 'candy cane'.  But if I used it, not him, I don't know that he would care.  But, I would probably be only inclined to use that during Christmas.  So, we shall see where I go with it.  If anywhere.  I find it annoying to be 43 and need to worry about a cane.  Blurble.  Guess it could be much, much worse.  (And it was supposed to be, but I had some fantastic doctors...)

Finished two projects.  Messymimi, I finally have your Christmas stocking finished, so I will email soon for some info.  (Just roaring right along, hurrying, yes?  Only took me HOW MANY months to finish the project?)  Finished a pair of socks for myself.  That part's sort of funny, everyone lurves them the color of the socks, but when I looked it up, the color isn't there.  Whether it's discontinued, not made this time of year, what, but it's well known yarn company, so I assume it's just been discontinued.  Oh, well.  Guess that makes them rare and collectable, right? 

Right now, I am trying to get a baby blanket or two ahead. 

And my "boss" has asked that I knit more hats for the Christmas party this year.  She said that the kids liked the ones I had made.  Eeep.  I think I hear a call for hats that I might make into something here on the blog, but I will have to see what my boss says.  Let's just say, 50 hats was a lot for me to knit, and I really have a few other projects I should finish.  Like baby blankets for my charity, since I promised them first. 

I really need 12 more hands for knitting.  Or several pairs of Mrs. Weasley's magic knitting needles from Harry Potter...

Sunday Supplement- Monday Edition

Why no Sunday Supplement?  Some great catastrophe?  Famine? Pestilence? Ravaging hordes? 

Would you believe I just forgot?  {sheepish grin}

So, to make up for it...

To prove I have actually been doing something, here is the baby blanket for Baby Grandchild #3 of one of the deputies.  (The Deputy is a total card, I can't wait for his reaction...)

And, this is the  famous cougar.  It is now a very, very, VERY large ornament in our living room.  I have named it Broken Tooth Killer, or BTK for short.  I must say, it is huge, (6 foot, 1.8 meters) and it was, when living, very heavy (188 pounds, 85 kilos and change...), so it is not a shy little thing in our living room!  It's going to take a bit of getting used to, but I guess I will manage.  The way it is put up, I won't be running into it, or hitting my head on it, so that's a plus.  Husband's seat is directly looking at it, I have the 'rear end' view, to paraphrase my husband.



So now, I am organizing a community get together, for all that wanted to see the thing, and I am going to start knitting and crocheting my Christmas presents in earnest.  (Amazingly, I am much more worried about the presents, can ya believe it???)

And all this when I am not running around doing other stuff. 

Dang, that cat is big...