Gnome, gnome on the range...

(Yes, I like puns... Ahem.)

I received some yarn from a friend, and have been trying to decide what to do with it.  I like the colors, but I didn't really have a project "in mind" for the stuff.  She was a friend of mine, and loved the Renaissance faire.  We would do goofy stuff there, and she had given me this yarn while at faire.

So, I have had it sitting in my craft room, just sitting, with me looking at it.  Not exactly screamingly exciting...

I happened to be on one of the knitting forums, the internet was sort of working, and up popped this gnome picture.  Then more, and more pictures.  I was intrigued.  They were cute, didn't look too hard to make... I would probably knit them, I gathered enough from the photo to make up one of my own...

I haven't decided when I will make some, but I found out, that several vendors, and others, hide things for children to find when they are at faire.  Considering that kids are all OVER the woods at the faireground, it makes them have a little more surprise. 

And that's when I came up with it.  I want to make a few gnomes for me, but...

I am going to make a few of them with a little tag, it will say something like, "Hi, I am a gnome looking for a home, would you take me in, and give me a name?"  And then hide them at faire, and see if any end up with new homes.


I think she would have gotten a kick out of it...

Climbing back up... Bah...

I don't know what it is about having an illness, small or large, that just takes it out of you.  Well, I know what is happening, the body resisting illness and such.  But it's the idea that I can be well and healthy, going gangbusters on the machine once EVERY OTHER DAY, (she can be taught!), and getting stronger, then, like a wet blanket dropped from above, a cold.  Or worse, in some cases.  But whatever, it knocks you down.

I just fell flat as far as doing ANYTHING when I was ill.  And all I had was a cold, but I was just as happy, relatively speaking, to sit and stare at the cows outside, as to actually get up and DO something.  I mean, I had one day, that I didn't even want to knit!  And anyone that knows me, that's pretty off the charts!

Tuesday, I got up early, and tried to work on my machine.  Well, I *did* manage to work out for about 15 minutes, but am not as greatly recovered as I hoped.  I started slow, and worked up, then started coughing. Yay.  Okay, well, I can walk, so we do that.  And I managed to get something done, so I feel like it was good.

I had a friend who had cancer, she went through so much, and I remember there were a few times I would talk with her, and she was quite happy to just sit, and let me babble on.  She was so worn out from what she had to go through, even with her up attitude, and good doctors and such, she just had a battle and a half to stay stable.

So am I odd to think that I should be happy it was only a cold, and that I will recover quickly???

A wee bit of hooky for me...

I went on a trip last week to the coast.  Husband and I worked out how to give Mom a belated Mother's Day present.  A friend of ours has a place on the coast, and Husband was offered use of it.  After some back and forth, Husband and friend were able to get organized, that Mom and I could go and spend a couple nights.  I, with permission, skipped work the day before we went.  Figured I would do my blog from my phone.

I forgot two items when I went over.  Binoculars, and my password to get into my blog.

AHEM.

Soooo, I will now get back to bloggy stuff... 

It was a nice trip, we went to Newport, and had a nice place to stay.  The first night was just stay in and rest.  Mom loves the chicken soup I make, so I brought a container, and I had made a loaf of Stupid Bread* to go with it.  It's a bit of a drive, so I was sort of glad we didn't go out and make an evening of it. 

I just enjoy most of the activities on the coast, so I told Mom this was stuff she wanted to do.  We ended up going to Yaquina Head Lighthouse, as she'd not seen it before.  I meant to take her to Cobble Beach nearby, but forgot.  It's a bit of a walk to get to, but it sounds like applause when you listen to the waves on the rocks!  We also went to the interpretive center, I enjoy looking at all the "educational and historical" stuff.  Obviously, there was someone who didn't.  I didn't see the girl, but Mom said that there was a teenager that was walking behind the family, nose glued to her phone.  I told Mom, that might be for the good, at least she wasn't ruining the rest of the family's time... 😞 

I pointed out to Mom one of the "Easter Eggs" they have.  From the first lighthouse keeper to the early sixties, there was a book exchange.  They would have X number of books, and then the next time they were supplied, the books would be put in a big box, there would be new ones given, and then the old books would go to the next lighthouse.  Well, they had samples of the books in a crate.  Victor Hugo, Dickens, Bronte... Star Wars...  (I noticed it right off, the docent told me it's to have the kids notice so they will pay more attention, they have sort of a scavenger hunt thing... She also said I was one of the few adults that that noticed. SIGH...)

We also went to a majorly talked about restaurant.  I won't eat the clam chowder there, as it made me sick!  But I found out they have many, many other things to eat, so I told her, if she wanted to go, I would have something else.  I ended up having a cod burger.  Mom had a cup of chowder, and... Something with shrimp?  Anyway, we finished up, and she was okay with it, but said the hype, was hype, it was okay. Not great...  My cod burger, on the other hand, was perfect, and HUMONGOUS.  I was VERY full. 

The next day, we went to Depoe Bay, and went to the Whale watching center.  I guess there was a small whale that had spouted, but I was borrowing the one of many sets of binoculars, to watch boats, and missed it!  Mom saw it, I think.  The ranger was quite sure.  The people that were all glued to the windows, not so much... Oh, well, it was still an interesting stop.

We then went to lunch, at a place we've eaten at for years.  They have changed the menu, and had breakfast until 11:30.  Erk.  We were there at 11:10.  We asked if they were serving lunch yet.  No, the only thing they have ready is clam chowder.  We both laughed, that's exactly what we'd come in for!  So, we had clam chowder.  Quite good, too.  The only oddball thing, I kept getting a whiff of maple syrup.  Turns out, the gent behind me had a stack of pancakes, and was drenching them accordingly.  Fortune would have it, it didn't bother me, just was odd to smell maple, and eat clam...

We then drove home.  WHOA BOY, do people seem to want to drive fast.  I set the cruise to 55, the speed limit on the road home, and I was needing to pull over quite often, as there were lots of people late for pole position at Indy wanting to go considerably faster.  I don't fight it, I just figure, if there's a safe spot, or I can get to the passing lane, let the stinkers by.  I was just sooooo happy we didn't go on a weekend.  We were going HOME on a Friday.  The road going in was bumper to bumper to bumper to bumper...

If I can later, I will see if I can get a picture up.  Being immodest here, but I think I took a very good picture of the ocean... I hope to maybe make it into a poster or some such.

But for now, back to the home stuff!

* I called it Stupid Bread because it was so incredibly dense.  I was making it, and the bread machine tried to commit suicide by leaping off the counter onto the floor.  After cleaning up the dough, (i.e. cutting off the stuff that had managed to actually HIT the floor, eeeewwwww... )  The dough that was still intact was set to bake.  I thought. 

Husband reset it, and it went through the whole process of raise, beat down, raise, beat down, all over again.  It tasted fine, but soft and fluffy it weren't!

F is for...

Friends.

I know I have a lot of friends, as does my family.  I mentioned the accident, well, at the time, I was living in an apartment.  It was near the end of the month, and the landlord told my dad that I would have to pay the rent, or move the stuff out.  (Mom and I were both in the truck at the time...)

Well, I was supposed to be in the hospital for the foreseeable future, so he decided to move my stuff.

He called on friends.  Could anyone help him move me?

I didn't get to see this contingent of folks, but I gather that he had people coming out of the woodwork to help.

What they lacked in organization, they made up for in enthusiasm...

To wit, when I was better, and went through the boxes, things were packed in, um, creative ways.  I had bathroom supplies that were packed with my kitchen knives.  I had my trash cans, with the trash, carefully packed.  One that I had to just shake my head about, though, was the kitchen grater.  Someone had wrapped it, so it wouldn't ding up anything else, I guess, as it was packed in with paper and some wood items.

I just wish they hadn't used my good panty hose to wrap it with...

I have friends now, that I trade spinning fiber with.  I swap eggs and tomatoes and hamburger with another.  We check on a friend that lives about a mile up a hill in the winter, to make sure she can get down her driveway.  We watch friend's houses when they are gone, they watch ours, too.  We make runs for food, for kids, and for meds when someone is over scheduled or can't get out.

And they help us, too.

Yeah, I think this one is one of the more important blessings can think of, alphabetically...  Even if I did have to buy new panty hose...

Sunday Supplement- How to panic your dog. And, the deer have wire cutters???

Husband came out with me to feed, he opened the gates, and doors, while I hauled the feed in, and poured.  I wasn't paying much attention to him, or Rudee, and Rudee kept trying to sneak into the hen yard with me.  Husband was having none of that, and so we finished feeding, and I walked out to go exercise, poles in hand. 

Husband made Rudee stay with him.

Rudee made it clear he DID NOT LIKE THIS.  He whined, dug at the gate, ran the gate and part of the fence.  Husband made him sit.  Rudee liked this even less.  When he was released, he bolted for me, Husband calling him back.  (We aren't doing this to tease him, we want him to go to whomever calls him, to avoid having him in a dangerous situation, or if WE were in a dangerous situation.)

Rudee didn't make any effort to go back.  I, with my best "bad dog drill Sargent" voice, told him to go back.  Exceptionally begrudgingly, he did.  Then Husband told him to go back to me. 

I swear I heard a sonic boom...

We really need to work on him paying attention to Husband.  (Aside, guess that makes ME the alpha???)  So, the 'training' will continue.  When Rudee is with Husband, not a problem.  When he is with me, not a problem.  When we are together, Husband is almost nonexistent.  (Gee, I wonder who Rudee is with 99% of the time...)

Eh. 

Went walking up the hill, and when we finished, Rudee spotted a deer.  The deer managed to out run him, and  I watched where it went.  I saw the deer run, then go through, not OVER the fence. 

What???

I walked to the spot I had seen the deer perform what should have been an impossible task, only to find out something has torn the fence to absolute shreds in that spot.  My none-too-tiny rear could fit through the hole in the fence.  I was extremely surprised that Rudee didn't continue chasing the deer into the neighbor's trees! 

So, I need to go and fix fence.   I really don't think this is the work of a deer.  Unless it was a really big deer, moving very fast. 

Or, it had a set of Leatherman's and wanted a quick way through the fence. 

(I really am curious what would have made that large of a hole... L*rd help me, no bears, please...)

In other news, Naomi's wee one is a budding photographer, I think she is quite promising.  Now if we can work juuuusst a smidgen on centering...  (I guess I should give her a break, she is around two, I think she took better pics than I have, on occasion.)