Sock it to me?

I have been knitting socks for a while now...

Several years at least.  I have a 'plain vanilla' pattern, and I use it for a lot of my socks, with variations of color, ribbing, etc.  In fact, I have it memorized.  

Or, I thought I did.  

Or, perhaps, I am not paying attention, which is much more likely... 

Ok, for non knitters, if you knit a sock from the top down, you knit a long tube for the leg, then make a ledge, and then a shelf, for the heel, then go round and round and round for a bit, making a bit of a cone, until you get to the foot, and then another tube*, and then you finish off the toes with some sort of cup shape, unless you make a toe sock...  

Well, I have been knitting when I am watching a show I very much like.  The last two times I have started to work on the heel, (also referred to as "turning the heel"), and I realize something doesn't look right.

I have very merrily managed to forget the small shelf area on  the sock.  I then managed on this last one, to not be paying enough attention until I realized that I had WAAAAY too many stitches when I was working on the cone part...   

Gah?

Frog, rip it, rip it, rip it...

So, as much as I enjoy knitting during my show, if I come to that part, I do think it would behoove me to either stop knitting for a few minutes, and enjoy the show, and maybe work on something else.  I would love to stop the show, and finish the little project, but right now the recording part of my machine has nothing I can record with... Silly machine just has to have everything.

"No disk", Phooey.  

But, I have pulled out the mess my mistake, and now I will work on it again.  

Before the show starts...

*Ok, I am beginning to wonder about me, thank goodness I read this over before it goes up, I usually catch mistakes, I wrote tube, as toob. 

 Why, I do not know... 

Call me. Or, wait. Um... Hello?

We've now had the new smart phones for a few weeks, and I am going to give it a solid 8 out of 10.  I reserve two points because you have to either look online for instruction, or call or go into the place we bought it at to get information.  No paper books that explain why it does what it does.  Also, a minus point because I can't seem to convince it not to make phone calls when I am trying to put a number in my address book... Fortune would have it, most of the folks I have dialed by accident seem to have had the same problem, and laugh it off.

I keep thinking about phones... My Dad worked for the local telephone company, and so we had several phones in the house.  We even had the old style crank phones, to call to the barn.  One of my friends walked around the house once, just counting phones.  I actually don't know how many we had, but Dad would often find two or three broken phones, and repair them to make one nice one.  Since they were 'junkers', we could keep the phone.  This lead to some really nice, but very unique phones.

I remember getting on the phone, and checking if anyone else was on.  Ah, yes, the good old party lines.  One jerk would leave the phone off hook each weekend, screwing up service for us.  Dad got permission from the company to disconnect them from the line, as he need to have phone service to get called out.  He received permission, and every Friday, he'd disconnect them.

They never noticed...

I recall needing to wait to call Grandma and Grandpa until after 5, as the rates were lower.  It seemed like SO many numbers to call them, since they were out of state...

I always thought it was cool, my Dad installed all the pay phones in the area, including the ones at my high school.  One of the guys told me he was going to knock down the phone booth when my Dad left.  Dad heard him, and I don't know exactly how he did it... I think the booth could have survived a 9.95 earthquake without even moving, when he finished.  I saw several football guys climb on top, then push on the roof, trying to displace it from the wall.  One fell, and did an interesting pommel horse style dismount, but no one ever did manage to pull it from the wall...

Later in high school, my parents let me stay home, when they went on a trip.  They'd told several family members and friends that I would be there, could they perhaps check on me?  This lead to me being late for school the first day they were gone, because I had all the family calling to make sure I was ready for school...

I got permission from my parents not to answer the phone the next day, which led to the family en masse calling Mom and Dad to let THEM know that I wasn't answering the phone.  Wherein, Mom had to explain that it was because I was GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL, and couldn't talk all morning.

Oh, right...

I had a really nice red phone when I was in college, a few of my friends made comments about whether it called the President...  Yes, I had unique friends.  My biggest thing was having an answering machine.  I really liked being able to come home and hear from family, or a friend reminding me about an event.  The only problem I had with it was one friend that had an extremely high voice.  The message would go something like,

BEEP, Hi this is So'nSo BEEP, next message BEEP, I just wanted to sayBEEP, next message, BEEP we are havingBEEP, and so on, for about 10 messages, until she could get the message to me.  I apologized, and she shrugged, she told me that it was what she had to do on almost every answering machine she'd dealt with.  I think the woman had a million times more patience than I will ever have.

I had a number that was one number off of the biggest greek house on campus.  It was not unusual to get phone calls at 2 AM asking if I would come get them.  If they were polite, often I'd call the greek house to go get them.  If they were jerks, I told them I would be right there, and hang up.  I wonder how many of the jerks were still waiting the next morning...

As time wore on, I learned about multi line phones, manage to entertain a company, where I didn't realize I'd hit the announcement button, until after the second or third "hello?"

The response by about 20 employees bellowing into the office was "HELLO, ALREADY!!"  Eeep.  Live and learn.

Dealing with voice mails, butt dialed numbers, and other sorts of modern phone maladies, has been ever useful for keeping grey cells functioning, if not patience.  With my new toy, I seem to have several things in my hands, a computer, a phone, a camera.  Hey, if I wait long enough, do you think I could get one that will make my cocoa in the morning?

I am only half joking, it seems like things I thought were so wow, are blaze' now.  I mean, I had a flip phone like Captain Kirk and Spock.  Jeez, now my phone is more like the on board computer!  Or even better, actually...

The Grapes of What the Heck??? And hardtack.

Wished I had some extravagant reason I haven't written...  I have been busy, but just the regular running about, when I sat down to do computer stuff, I had my nose bump against the screen when I dozed off...

Therefore, not much was written...

BUT, lately, I have been of a mood to read again.  So, after a bit of a look at an article which mentioned "The Grapes of Wrath" (in a political vein, so I won't go into that, but it was informative).  I decided to go over to the (Not So) Mighty Kindle and buy it, so I could sit down and have a good read.  Jumped on, found the book, (I thought), and started to read.

World War I.  More about fighting, and such... HUH???

Looking again, I have downloaded "Grapes of Wrath" by Boyd Cable.  Not even CLOSE.  So, I then slipped over to a local bookstore, and picked up the RIGHT book. A real book.  I am reading it right now, and it's quite good, and makes a lot more sense in context to what I was reading in the article!

I happened to chat with an older friend of mine, (age 90+), and we chat about books often.  He found out what book I was reading, and he commented that it was a great book.  He also commented that Oklahoma looks much different than it did at that time, he said it was a mess... I realized after a bit more discussion, he was speaking from personal experience!  That was pretty cool!!

In other reading, I read some post-apocalyptic fiction, and they were talking about making a longish trip, and taking hardtack with them.  I had, not so long ago, read a book about sailing vessels taking hardtack with them, as well.

I decided to look up hardtack.  I found two or three recipes. I chose this one, and decided to try baking up some.  With the exception that I should have taken my rings off when I mixed the dough, and used one of my non-stick pans, it came out pretty well.

I let one cool, and tried it... It has a taste of a cracker mixed with a biscuit.  I guess I can see why it has the nickname 'tooth duller' when the various recipes describe the correct dryness as "brick-like".  And, well, it is.  I crunched through one, and it sounded like I was crushing rocks!  I will put them in a container, and try some in a month or so, to see if they hold up as well as the various recipes say...  I guess if it can be taken on a ship crossing the ocean, or a prairie schooner crossing the United States, my pantry should be no big deal.

If they are okay, (the next time will be with tea or soup, because it says they get harder with age, eep!) I will probably bake up a few batches, and put them in sealed containers for my emergency packs. Not exactly fine dining, but it will be usable!  And that's the important thing.

Thank you, thank you, and you, too! reverb 31

Ok, plan B is in effect, folks...

I was working on my computer.  It crashed, twice.  I fixed it. Twice.  I then received a notice from my virus protection that IT wasn't working.  No more nothing on that, until I can figure out what happened, and how to fix same.  So, I figured, well, I will go in and watch TV.  And promptly had that go mammaries skyward. 

I have decided to stealth on Husband's computer while he isn't home.  I will try NOT to change anything, but I really want to make my 31 days of blogging complete.  I suppose it's just the darn principle of the thing now... 

So, I want to thank everyone that has been following my navel gazing for this month.  I think I will return to my Wednesday and Sunday blogging.  This was a slow month (hence the reason I chose for a blog everyday.  Even then, I cut it close on a few of 'em...)  I know I didn't put responses on a lot of the stuff people wrote to me, and I didn't like that, I try to respond when people say something, and it felt like I wasn't able to as easily.  Probably could have, but just seemed like a bit to do... (Excuses, excuses...)  :)

Huh.  I might write on other days, as well, when the mood strikes me, but I found I like reading other people's blogs and writing comments, so that will probably be more the 'thing o' the day'.  And there is that book I keep talking about.  I don't know about growing extra sets of arms to type, knit and so on, so I guess perhaps I need to get the time in on the book.  Silly thing still won't write itself, no matter how much I try to convince my computer... 

And here, for... the last one of the month, is reverb 31. 

***

Prompt: Core story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.)

My core story?  Gee, make it an easy one.  My core story is what I am, and what I do.  There's no mystical wonderment, no grand enlightenment (that I know of), it's just a bit of this, a touch of that, and see whence it goes. 

You know how that people put things on Facebook, and so on that later comes back to bite them on the posterior?  I guess I am sorta boring.  I have very little that I would avoid putting on FB.  (I wouldn't put my pictures on there anyway, but that's because of the agreement with my husband, more than anything else...) 

I suppose my core story also is how I feel and react about things.  I have been called a lot of things. (Recently been called a witch quite a bit, but I really feel that it's not meant in an insulting way, if you can believe that.) I can be upset with the tags, titles, and names, (Ma'am sort bugged me... I am a ma'am, already?), but I can learn from them, too, if I make an effort.  Am I being called stubborn?  Is that because I am being obnoxious?  Or am I finally learning how to stand up for myself?  Am I called shy?  That could be because I am shy, but it can also be because I have found people intensely interesting to listen to, watch, and (try to) understand.  Fascinating stuff, if you pay attention.

And for the bonus question, I saw no unexpected threads, animals, writing, health (both physical and mental), my family.  Yep that's the biggies. 

Oh, and Tom Petty.  How'd he get in there?  Heh.

So, if there is a blog here tomorrow, great.  If not, I will see you Wednesday.  If I don't manage to destroy any more computer stuff. 

Ok, that is ENOUGH...

This has been an unmitigated screwy couple of days.  I have been walking, um... bra-less of late.  I haven't figured out why, but the strap leaves me raw as hamburger.  Now bra-less isn't normally a problem.  The nearest neighbors are about an acre or so away, Rudee obviously doesn't care, and if any folks show up, they are in Husband's shop, and I discreetly go the back way into the house, and all is well. 

Ahem. 

I was walking down the hill, heard a car, okay, no big, I knew Husband had a delivery from work.  I went out to feed the chickens, and realized I had no clue about the car in the drive.  Hmm.  Then the guy got out, and I thought, geez, that isn't the normal guy...

That looks like my Father in law. 

But he's in Missouri, or Florida.  Where ever they are spending the winter.  Must be a different guy delivering the stuff...

Hmm.

I feed the llamas, and look up to see the guy walking TO THE HOUSE. 

Okay, this is screwy.  I also realize that I don't hear machinery from the shop. 

Uh.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

I feed the chickens.  Water the chickens.  The guy doesn't come back out.  I manage to avoid having my favorite hen, Buttercup, make a landing on my back (again), and get out the cell. 

"Hi, Husband, are you in the house?"

"Yep."

"Who is there?"

"My Dad and his wife."

OOOOOH, S#*T!!!

I remind him of my less than chaste dressing style, adding to that, the fact I had been exercising heavily (for me) and was sweaty.  And stinky.  He suggested going in the side, and he would distract them while I changed. 

I managed to get semi-presentable, although I think my hair probably looked like it had been done up by Hurricane Katrina.  At that point, I was there, and dressed 'properly', and managed to drown most of my stinky with enough deodorant that I should probably had stripes of it showing through my clothes.  But I managed to not offend, mostly. 

At least not stink wise. 

Turns out, they had just come from Eastern Oregon, and are working on getting some property there.  It looks like a nice bit of property, from the pictures.

But man, it was a complete surprise to have them show up!

So, I have to sit quietly and not knit, or bake, or do email, or the half dozen other things I needed/wanted to do that morning, and mind you, I hadn't had breakfast either.  By the time they left at noon, (I'd been up since 6), Husband saw me bee lining to the fridge, and piped up, why don't you save a few steps, we will just pull down some wallpaper for you. 

Ha, ha... nom, nom, nom, nom...

Anyway, I started to sit down and do some emails (things I really needed to do, for CERT), and Rudee starts barking.  And the phone rings. 

Get that taken care of, and I go back to the computer.  Then remember I didn't put any clothes in the wash, and I am out of pants. 

NOW back to the computer.  Then my Dad and Cousin R show up.  (I think he's actually my second cousin, but I have just called him cousin, ever since I was old enough to know what a cousin was...)  I have a nice conversation with the two of them, and showed Cousin R how to use my spinning wheel.  He is a man who does all sorts of work with his hands, and so he asked to try.  He spun lovely yarn RIGHT OFF.  I was amazed.  He was pleased.

So, they leave, and I try to get the emails finished.  OH, CRAP!  The laundry is still in the washer!  OK, I will get back to my emails.  Husband then points out it's bedtime.

Oh. 

So, the next day (today), I walked, carrying a bra in my pocket, (just in case).  I managed to get the emails finished this afternoon.  I have most of the other laundry finished.  So, brain flash, I need to make an appointment for "the girls".  I called my bright shiny new doc, as I was told that he had to send an order to the OBGYN. 

OK. 

So I had called, and they told me, no, you just need to talk to your OBGYN and get an appointment. This was about 2 days ago. 

I forgot to write it down, and just remembered to call today. 

And the OBGYN appointment lady asked if I had an order. 

Nooo, I was calling to make an appointment. 

But you need an order.  We can't do anything without an order.  When was your last exam?

Guh?  Uh, I don't remember, it's been a long time, more than a year... (I, for various reasons couldn't make an appointment last year.)

I hear typing, and she pipes up, well, we don't have an order for you, so you need to call your primary physician. 

I get a bit growly at this point, but trying to remain polite, I tell her that I had called him, and they told me to call THEM.  She said, well, you need to find the order we sent you, or talk to him. 

I told her ok, and bye, hung up.

And proceeded to scream at the phone for a few minutes to blow off steam. (Rudee peeked out from the dog house, decided it wasn't a good time to be out, and slunk back in.  Poor guy, wasn't his fault...)

So, the plan for Monday, is to go FACE TO FACE with the bright shiny new doctor's appointment gal, and explain that I really need to get IN to have this, and could she please get me this order.

I had an easier time with this when I didn't HAVE a doctor... 

Then to top it off, my computer has been acting up with screeching noises coming from the speaker, and the DVD thing wouldn't record. 

I am now convinced I am really in trouble with Someone...

So let this be a lesson to you all, have good clothes available at all times, and save anything and everything that the doctor's office sends you.  (I have this image of going into the office with a scoop shovel bucket full of paper, saying "YOU find it...")

So, if you happen to see me curled up in the fetal position, sucking my thumb, now you know the back story.

Whimper....