Returning from hiatus...

Why was I on hiatus?  Because I didn't write.  I actually had time, off and on.  Just puttered about, doing things that weren't blogging.

I finished The Grapes of Wrath (The ones about the Oklahomans, not the World War 1 book...).  I thought it was a riveting book, and I am going to look up some more of Steinbeck at a later point.

Because it was a good book, but not exactly a laugh riot, I picked up Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett.  I enjoy his work, and knew that he had written quite a few of the Disk World series, I decided to look up how many in total he'd written.  40, which is great!  More to read!

And also, he died.  Er... Oh.  Guess I missed that one. Crap.

Had my birthday, which had people giving me flower seeds. (I had requested this.  I thought it wouldn't be too much of a problem.  However, turns out, I didn't request early enough, and most places have quit selling seeds by the tail of July... Meh, still have a great variety...)

I finally was able to get someone out to shear my llamas.  These poor girls have been unshorn for nearly 2 years.  I was getting to the point, I was concerned someone might turn me in for neglect.  I had checked with shearers all across the state.  I had responses from "We don't DO anything less than ten animals", to "sure, I will be there Monday", and they never showed.  I called my local extension agency, who, very, very disappointingly, never got back to me.  So, I saw a neighbor that had a llama.  It was ONE llama, shorn.  So, I went and asked.

He told me he didn't do shearing, but he'd look up the number of the gent who did.  L, L. L, L, L, hmmm.  No, it's not under L.

Oh, wait, I didn't put it under L for llama, I put it... Yep, under S for Shearing!  (Organized like me... Hee hee.) So, he gave me the number, and I called.  And couldn't figure out if I had managed to leave a message or not.  I am still working the bugs out of my brain phone...  So I called the next day, and the gent was happy to come out.  You... will?  Great, when?

Is Saturday too soon?

I groaned inwardly, as I had another appointment, but decided that I was going to take a chance on this guy.  I told him where I lived, and he said, oh, blah, blah...  Turns out, it was 8 minutes from my house!

Saturday came, I was up at a little before 5.  Husband had put the chute out, I was out cleaning the area. (We use the chicken yard, and I raked up the little land mines, so it would be less of a mess, especially if the guy had to kneel.)  Fed, watered, haltered up the girls, and the phone rang about 6:15.

Do you mind if I run into to town for coffee?

No, we have it all ready for you, so when ever you're ready...

Oh, do you want me over there now?

I tried not to bray laughter, I assured him that a cup of coffee was fine, and we were just a bit ahead of the game, not to worry.

He arrived, a big gent, with a grey t-shirt and camo shorts.  Huh.  Well, he'll get his gear on when he starts, I guess...  Husband set up orange cones over the extension cord, as one of our neighbors has a bad habit of driving in and running it over, because he's busy watching what we are doing.

I get Dolly into the chute, and see he's oiling the clippers.  Huh.  I watch, as he comes up, lets Dolly take a sniff of him, pats her on the back, then starts in.  Starts in while wearing his t and shorts.  Most people I know have coveralls, and wear heavy boots.  I even wear a jean jacket to keep the biggest majority of fiber, spit, and dirt off of me.  Not this guy, and other than dust, he seemed to do fine.

Again, huh.  Husband was tired, and his back wasn't doing so great, but I'd forgotten to ask the gent about doing the llama's toes, which needed trimmed.  The gent looked up when Husband said to keep Dolly in so he could do that, and the gent pipes up, I have snips, would you like me to?

I kept looking to see where this guy was hiding his camo colored angel wings.  He was gentle to my animals, enjoyed what he was doing, and certainly took the burden off the two of us for the 'grunt' work involved with this part of livestock ownership!

I gave him some extra for the effort, he looked so surprised.  He then asked if I would like him to call next season, BEFORE the hot season, to shear and trim them.  I nearly dropped my teeth.  Yes, oh, thank you, yes!  So now we have two very defluffed llamas (I told him to basically cut off all the hair, the llama equivalent of a buzz cut).  He did, and the darker one, Dolly, actually looks like a deer with a long neck at the moment. A mutant deer?  But they are doing much better, and it's supposed to get hot by week's end, again, so they will not be so overwhelmed with fur...

Husband did a job, and was paid with some of the company's product, which means that I now have 2 really beautiful, as well as excellent quality kitchen knives.  We had made a trip just shy of 2 hours away for him to do this job, and I went, just for the day out.

I knew it was taking a bit, when Husband came out, he had me come in to choose said knives.  I picked a bread knife, and Husband chose a chef's knife.  Meanwhile, he and the maintenance man were having an intense discussion about machines, tools, and such.  I was half listening, while watching two of the employees work on the knives.  Next thing I know, the guy is offering Husband a job...

I really think that if they ever get this cloning thing figured out, I am going to have to hide my husband, or there will be several dozen of him about.  At least if all the people who want help from him are any indication! (And no, he didn't take the job.  2 hour commutes are NOT his cup of milk. He doesn't care for tea...)

I picked a lot of black berries, and made jam.  I did this over two days, so I picked, crushed, then put the juice in the fridge.  Normally, I do all this one day, and so I never thought about it, just do.  Well, I had this 'stuff' on the top, and I skimmed it before I made jelly.  It was mostly fruit solids and such, but when I made the jelly this time, it was so much prettier than what I've made in the past.  I might just have to do that again!  So I have around 8 pints of jelly.  Yay!  Now I will have to bake up some bread...

(The chickens enjoy the seeds and leavings from the berry picking, but let's just say that the landmines around of late have a definite violet tinge...)

I also have been drawing up the t-shirt for the Ren Faire.  I gave them several ideas, they narrowed it to two.  I worked on both, just knowing they would love the one.

Nope, the other.

Oh.

So, I worked on the other.  They then wanted a change to that one, too.  Hmm.

So, I did the changes, (fortunately, some of it I had on computer, so I didn't need to start from square one, thankfully).  Finally, I was able to send a completed logo she liked, so I will get it out tomorrow, if all goes well, and we will have a new t-shirt for faire.  I laugh a little about this, I draw well enough, but I know there are some that are astounding in the arts.

But when I ask around, would any others like to draw the shirts, we even had a competition, I was the only one that turned in anything.  So, I have been the 'shirt artist', for something like 5 or so years.  Hey, I get a free shirt out of the deal, so it works out.

Oh, and I have been knitting a pillow for a friend, I don't think she reads this blog, so I can get away with telling.  She is a big Doctor Who fan, so the pillow is dark grey with speckles, like space, and the TARDIS will be centered on the front.  She, and her husband, have helped me quite a lot, and I wanted to give her something nice.  She is going through a rough patch at the moment, and I thought something nice and cushy would be good...

And a pillow will last a lot longer than a jar of jelly. 

Time. Zoooooom, there it goes!

I thought it had been about 4 days since my last blog.  Ahem.

Not.

So, Just to let you know that I am among the land of the living...  Yon update on Le Doings.

I read all the comments.  Then tried to use my computer, which promptly committed some random blast of poo, rendering it useless for such things as GOING ONLINE.  (I am writing this at the cop shop, and Husband has said that I can use his computer when he's out in his shop.  And since he has a big order from the company he works for, I should be able to get some computer time...)  I still get emails.  That is something, I guess.  I just can't convince the computer that google.com is NOT a virus.  I have narrowed it down to my Norton program, I think, so with any luck, I hopefully shall get some sort of solution after running a restart.

Again...

I want to say that on the comments, La Shaune, your comment that there should be a knitting bag in the shape of a Tardis has given me an idea, which I hope to work on soon, and will post in the (hopefully) near future. 

Sharon, you should email me and I would see what I could do about the bag... If you don't mind a wait. :)

messymimi and Danielle, the even more annoying part, I exercised all week, and he didn't! Bah!!

Rain and Dreaming, this is the first time I have ever had dealings with a GPS, it was beginning to make me wonder what the fuss was about.  But in the city, it was a huge help, especially when I missed a turnoff...

bon bon, yes, I have found that knitting and sci-fi seem to go together.  Guess it's all that string theory, heh heh heh...

So, I have been helping at the Ren Faire site, cutting grass and weeding, putting off my garden, where I would be... cutting grass and weeding.  Life can be interesting that way, sometimes. 

My llamas... Have been very friendly with one another, all except Llama.  She just walks away from the fray, grunts, and just watches the antics.  If I don't get a cria* out of this, it won't be for lack of (Lorenzo's) trying! 

I have now had cucumbers, a few zucchinis, and 2 crookneck squash from my garden.

I have had a few tomatoes, but every one of them so far have been cracked because of all the rain we have had.  I keep thinking we could trade, give a few days of rain to some of the other states that are roasting, and they could give us about a 5 or ten degree up in temp to help with growing.  Right now, we are having weather more suited to April in this area, then August.  One bright spot, the fire danger is relatively low...

I was watching a movie, just getting into it, and our lovely digital programming got me, the signal went out.  (Insert various non-lady like words here).  I had a little bit of time before I went to the cop shop today, and went to the library.  I remembered they had videos.  I started snooping, and TA DA!  The movie that I had been watching was there.  I snapped it up, and most likely will watch it tonight or tomorrow.  Hey, I have the card, might as well use it, right? 

I was reading that if you just do the same exercising, that your body can adjust to it, and you don't lose weight as quickly.  So I have added a daily set of sit ups.  I started at 100, and am now up to 300.  It seems to take forever.  But this week I lost about 1 1/2 pounds.  So we shall see.  I keep trying to figure out how to add push ups, but so far my knee won't cooperate.  (I have no kneecap on one side, so pressing on it for long periods doesn't work.)  I might a "knee pillow" of some sort, and start with like, oh, 10 push ups, see if I go into paroxysms of agony, if not, increase.  It's one of those things that I just have to go slow.

And I am up to the 8th handwritten page on my book.  It's a start!  Few hundred to go...
Heh.

Wishing all my readers GOOD computer time,
Cat

* cria is the term for a baby llama.

Birds, brush, and buzzing about.

 We have new chicks!  I want to show you them...  But this is Taurus.  She is not going to give way to let me take any pictures. 

And since Husband and I have nearly lost parts of our persons trying to transfer her to the 'new digs', I decided that she can sit there, I will take a picture of the chicks later.  If we counted right, there are 6.  I will confirm that later.  When I won't lose a finger...

I thought we had some new birds over at the neighbors.  It had been raining, and I kept seeing orange 'birds' in the the trees.  I could NOT figure out what kind of bird 'round here would be orange.  And they never went to ground. 

Huh. 

Then I got out the binoculars.  And realized there was a logging clean up crew next door.  So, now my neighbor is delighted to know she has "Orange Headed Timber Trimmers" in her trees... Yeesh. (And I just bought some glasses, folks!)

Orange Headed Timber Trimmers in their natural habitat...

In other news, I do not have gooseberries.  I have Wild Hawthorn.  And I was told that it needs to be treated like Scotch broom, or it will spread and be as obnoxious. Groan... 

I am half tempted to see if I can get a burn permit!  (That won't happen, Oregon has all but outlawed field burning. Sigh...)  So, I guess I will be getting more upper body workouts, because I will be doing a lot of cutting brush. 

Unless Husband decides to help. 

I love my husband, but he can be the largest pain in the... ahem.  He is really having problems with his eyes, he is highly allergic to pollen from whatever that is blooming right now.  I came back to get a saw to cut brush, as some of the stuff was larger than my wrist.  Some bigger than my upper arm.  So what did he do?  AFTER I ASKED HIM NOT TO, he goes up the hill with a chain saw and cuts down the stuff.  It was a help, I admit, but he then paid for it for several hours with swollen eyes, and needing to put a washcloth over his face to keep the swelling to a minimum.  He doesn't want ME to use the blasted saw, though, I could hurt myself. 

(He has this @#$%@ pink and blue job thing, and while I love the man, this drives me up and back down the proverbial tree!) 

I also found out I am the slightly surprised new owner of a (sorta) new washer.  He'd traded the in-laws out of a dryer (that WORKS! HAPPY DAYS! I can dry a load of pants in less than 3 hours!!!)  So, he says he wants to look at getting a matching washer.  Uh. My washer is fine.  I can look around if you want, but just need a new faucet for the cold water.  Oh, no, no, no, we must get a new, MATCHING washer. 

Uh. 

Yes, folks, that is my Husband's attitude.  He wants them to be the same age (which sort of makes sense, I guess), and that they MATCH, (which makes no sense at all to me, dang it, the washer isn't the PROBLEM!!)

So the next day, I told Mom we'd to to some places to look at washers.  I called that afternoon, letting Husband know I was shopping, and did we need anything?

Oh, yeah, some milk, and by the way, we will be getting the washer Wednesday.

What washer???

I found one at Xityx's Shop through Craig's List.

Oh.  Well, I guess we don't have to go look for washers...  (I've noticed I have been getting a strange tic of late, I have no idea where it's come from...)

I will be having some Ambassador duties coming up soon, so I will be able to tell you about the great and mystic secrets of people watching as a Law Enforcement Representative.  (And get this, I get to go fishing!  More on that later...)

I am also going to be doing a presentation for my Renaissance group for another school.  I am not overly looking forward to it, only because it's a year end thing, so I know the kids will be as focused as a broken projector lens.  But, I will get paid, so that's a plus. 

And I get to watch the Indianapolis 500 with Dad, that's cool.  Our one big sporting day together.  We compare drivers, stats, strategies, eat breakfast, and I knit.  This works until the last few laps.  I have painfully learned to put down my knitting, or I either stab myself with a needle, or manage to pull out looots of stitches when I yell at the television...

So, posts will show up a bit later, but if I am not on as often, I am still thinking of my blog friends.  (A note on that, I have been trying to write responses on people's posts, but Blogger won't let me put them on.  I will keep trying, though!)