Saturday, October 31, 2015

October unplugged

According to the weatherman, today was the wettest of 2015. One of the windiest, too, I think! Still some leaves on the trees, though; I took the photo below at church today.
Dicey's sweater is coming along. I think she'll appreciate the added warmth, although now that we have a working heat pump, we can take the chill off the house without building a fire. Our weather has been such that a fire is overkill, but without some sort of supplemental heat, the inside can get to feeling as damp and cool as the outside.

Tonight when we got home, all was dark and we could hear the hum of a neighbor's generator. Lit a bunch of candles and fed animals by flashlight, then the lights came back on. Just in time to mess with the clocks. Oy.

That's it for now from . . .

Friday, October 30, 2015

A well-earned day of rest

Yes, me and my lil' ol' laptop are here. Last night the Apple genius ran some diagnostic tests and all the parts passed. He said that may mean trouble is just starting, though, so back-up compulsively and bring it back in if it goes on the fritz again. Sure thing. In the mean time, I cranked out a LOT of work this week (even though a lot of other things had to slide) and am enjoying this day of rest (which began at sundown tonight). After chores I'm going to sit and knit awhile, maybe while sipping a cup of tea. Ah, fall; you are filled with satisfying pastimes!

One of the things that suffered in my push to meet deadlines was photography. I saw stunning views left and right during every drive, but had no time to pull over and capture them. Yesterday on my way to the Apple Store, I rolled down my window at a stop sign and shot this view across a field; score!

Good thing, too, as today this started:
(Again, captured from my car.)

That's it for now from . . .

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

I've got nerves that jingle-jangle-jingle...

It's been a whirlwind couple of days. Other than capturing yesterday morning's brilliant sunrise, I've pretty much had my nose to the grindstone, getting two of the three waiting newsletters done between work, homeschooling, and homeschool co-op. It has been hard to concentrate with all the noise, though. Besides Brian's class lectures on DVD, there has been a steady whine of chainsaws. The lot to our north finally sold, and we've been told the developer is having every tree cut down. See that lovely wall of green firs?
I don't even want to think about our pending loss of privacy and what that view will look like soon, much less how many birds and beasts will be displaced by the destruction of their habitat. Sad sigh; would that we could have purchased that lot.

Time to start another back-up of my computer and head to bed. I need to crank out the third and biggest newsletter tomorrow if at all possible, regardless of what is going on around me!

That's probably it for awhile from . . .

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Fungus amungus

The 'shrooms are living and dying in our arena, unmolested by heavy hooves while Lance is recovering from his ligament strain. In the top photo, a fresh fungus springs from the sand; in the second photo, behind the aging caps, you can see a cluster of bowed and blackened stems. When they do that, I always think of the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz – "I'm melting! I'm melting!"

I've been having computer problems; sounds like it could be my graphics processor. The good news is that there is a known problem with that part in my laptop's generation, so the considerable cost to replace a faulty one is fully funded by Apple. The bad news is that I have to take my laptop to the Apple Store Thursday night, and won't get it back until sometime next week. I'm hoping it cooperates until Thursday night so I can knock out three newsletters before it goes into the shop. Bye-bye blogging (for now); catch me on Instagram!

P.S. Has anyone else had trouble with Blogger lately? When I try to leave a comment on others' blogs, there is no box to check that I want to receive follow-up comments via email, and once I hit "publish," the progress window of my browser goes all spastic for awhile, then gives me a "Whoops!" error message. I don't know if my comments are getting published or not. Strange.

That's it for now from . . .

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Keep on paddling

What a week . . . and it's not over yet. I spent Monday covering for Rick's secretary at the vet clinic; while there I cast on this sweater for the wee one. No time to knit since, but there probably will be tomorrow; I'm working at the clinic all day again.
Besides extra responsibilities, there have been some personal rapids to navigate (no, not with the adolescent for a change!). When the going gets rough, some take to the therapist's couch. Brian saw me laying on the floor yesterday morning and came in to make sure I was okay –
then took a picture with my phone. That's okay; I'm not afraid to admit I need help. ;-)

This morning brought a bit of a reprieve when I learned I didn't need to report to my regular part-time job. So I'm doing the cleaning and cooking that I thought I wouldn't have time for this week. I also managed to capture one of my favorite morning views:

No, not a dramatic dawn; the sun was already above the horizon to the right of this. But I love the way the clouds/fog lay low in the valley. Sometimes it is thick enough that it appears to be a vast sea, sometimes dotted with islands if the tips of the tallest trees are visible.

That's it for now from . . .

Monday, October 19, 2015

The It-Boys

Five woolly wethers standing in a row.
Think sheep are always white? Nay; not so!

I know none of you think that, but it is amazing how many people DO think all sheep are white – "Baa baa black sheep" notwithstanding.

Notice that all the colored boys have white spots on the bridge of their noses. It is a common trait in my flock; I have no idea why.

That's it for now from . . .

Sunday, October 18, 2015

A golden one

The title refers to this poem, and this friend:
I met Val 26 years ago next month when she became our realtor (our first purchase was her first closing!), and then much more. Over the years we've spent countless hours riding horses and talking – about raising kids and aging parents and sibling relationships and faith. A few years ago she moved to Hawaii, but still comes back to the area occasionally for work. We get together when we can, and today was one of those special times. We chose to walk and talk at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, and had a beautiful day for it.

Here's to all friends silver and gold!

That's it for today from . . .

Friday, October 16, 2015

I don't think she's going anywhere

(Warning: Photo heavy!)

The home I was hoping would open up for Dicey hasn't materialized; she's still here.
She's decided I'm her person (she's sitting beside me in the chair as I type).

I wish I could get a photo of all three dogs posing together like Sheena does over on WooTube; I don't think any of the photos I've taken capture just how diminuitive she is compared to Jackson and Dozer.

She's smaller than our petite barn cat Oreo.
(Oreo saw Dicey in close proximity for the first time this morning at the barn; she wasn't sure if Dicey was prey or predator!)

She wouldn't be able to fit in this nest that fell from a fir in our pasture,

but she is quite sure she fits anywhere in our home...

...and in our hearts.

From the three-dog farm at . . .

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

A gift; a lift

What the song says is true: "I get by with a little help from my friends." I have friends who pray for me, who pray with me, who talk me down off the ledge, who let me know they love me and have my back in a variety of ways.

Yesterday an unexpected package was waiting for me when I got home. The return address revealed it was from A :-) in Chicagoland; I felt a flutter in my fiber-lovin' heart. Sure enough, inside I found two braids of lustrous silk top, two skeins of squishy soft alpaca, and a generous cake of hand-dyed fingering in a cheery pinky-red – all just because she thought I needed a lift.

It's hard to soar with eagles when you are stuck with a teen turkey, but A :-) provided some wind beneath my wings and encouraged me to keep flapping. Thanks, friend – thanks to all my friends (that includes you, Mom and Dad!).

That's it for today from . . .

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Hubba hubba!

While hurrying through chores before work this morning, my brain was as busy as my hands and feet.

"Here it is, October 13 already, and I still haven't put my breeding group together. When am I going to find time to do that? You know, the girls didn't finish their hay last night; I wonder if they could be in heat? I'd better make time to put them in with Blake this afternoon.... Hmm. As fast as they cycle, they could be OUT of heat by this afternoon; then it would be another 16-17 days before they would be in again. I'd rather have early lambs.... I'd better shuffle some sheep NOW!"

And so I haltered Sarai and led her out to the Ram-ada Inn; caught and removed Browning while Blake oogled Sarai through the fence; put Sarai in with Blake; put Browning in with the other wethers; caught Vienna and put her in with Blake, too; and took a few photos to document the beginning of breeding season at Boulderneigh.
Sarai hiding in the Ram-ada Inn
Vienna, wary
"Well, maybe I'll just say 'hi'"

And I was only 15 minutes late to work!

That's it for today from . . .

Monday, October 12, 2015

Fleas, flies, and falls

(Warning: whining ahead!)

I HATE bugs in the house. Bugs should stay outside. But last month, Jackson brought bugs inside; fleas, to be exact. EwItchyCreepyYuck. Of course, Dozer got them, too; we treated both with Frontline just before driving to Spokane. Now Jackson is frantically scratching again, which probably means three dogs are infested, but it's too soon to safely treat Jackson and Dozer again. I fear resistant bugs. Double EwItchyCreepyYuck.

Over the weekend, we've been beset by a plague of fruit flies. They were hanging around buckets of apples (making pie filling and sauce keeps getting preempted by more pressing matters) and remains of grape-juicing outside, but for some reason, they have decided to come ineverywhere, not just the kitchen. AAAAARG!
Homemade trap – woefully inadequate.  :-/
To add injury to insult, yesterday Rick took Brian and a friend mountain biking. Brian overreached himself with a Black Diamond trail and crashed. An ambulance ride to the ER; separated shoulder. Ka-Ching!

We didn't need any more unexpected bills right now. We'll have one from last week for my horse's hospital stay. And remember my heat pump WooHoo? Change that to BooHoo. Turns out it's toast, after all; we've had to order a new one. Ouch.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. At least my horse is getting better!

That's it for now from . . .

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Signs of fall

Besides the obvious,

Fall means 'shrooms,

spiders,
and fog.

That's it for today from . . .