What a way to start July

June ended in lovely fashion. On Friday a friend and I went to Black Sheep Gathering, something I haven't done regularly in recent years. I had signed up to take a Ply-on-the-Fly (spinning and Navajo plying as you go on a Jenkins Turkish spindle) class there from Wanda Jenkins, but she was suffering greatly from a failed tooth and was squeezed in by the oral surgeon for an emergency extraction that morning. I was happy for her, and my friend and I had a wonderful time driving down and back together and wandering through the vendors' hall.

Since I couldn't support the Jenkins by taking Wanda's class, supporting them through a purchase only seemed right. 😇 After getting an update on Wanda from Ed, my eyes fell on two horn spindles. Oooh, that's one model I didn't have but have lusted over! One of the two sang to me, so I picked it up with a bit of sample fluff and gave it a whirl. Yep, it was mine. I continued spinning the sample fiber while following my friend around as she bought yarn, fiber, and a sumptuous, squishy woven alpaca/silk rug, thinking I really needed to buy some commemorative fiber in which to dress my new spindle. I was thinking something colorful, but ended up falling in love with some alpaca cloud at the booth where my friend bought her rug, and came away with half a pound! (I guess I know what I'm spinning for Tour de Fleece!)

The next day we went to church at Champoeg State Park, where our church was holding its annual camp-out. The weather was perfect, the program was edifying, and my spindle kept my hands busy and my body still so my brain could better focus on the message.

That peace was challenged when we got home. While we were out, work started again on the lot to our north – the one that was logged almost three years ago and then left to grow noxious weeds (we heard the new owner ran out of money after the logging and clearing). The ground on the west end had been bladed to clear rocks, and a giant backhoe was tearing out blackberries and scooping up boulders right outside our north-facing windows. The clanging, banging noises drowned out the sounds of any distressed birds whose nests and nestlings were being destroyed, but I couldn't help but think about them. What a rotten time of year to tear out habitat!

This morning at 7:38, the operator was back at it. Oh well, can't sit and stew about the inevitable; I headed out to do chores and pick strawberries. But first, a quick breakfast of boysenberries and black, red and golden raspberries – okay, yes, I had a few strawberries, too.

I'm trying to convince Rick to let me plant some Western red cedar saplings I've had for awhile along our north fenceline beside our house to eventually provide a screen, but so far he's opposed. I don't understand his objection; we already have some Jack pines along the upper part of that fence line.

Backhoe visible through the Jack pines beside the house

Furthermore, he's borrowed an auger to dig the holes for fence posts around our upper pasture; he could dig holes for the trees! Maybe he'll soften, and maybe I'll plant faster-growing Douglasfirs instead....

And finally, this first day of July is our last day with Gatsby. His people pick him up within the hour, and tomorrow he flies home to Hawaii. I wonder if he'll miss us; I know I'll miss him. He's been a good boy and a source of entertainment for over four months. I'll have to busy myself cleaning his nose smudges off the living room windows and French doors and picking up all the toys he scatters around – and love on my boys who may wonder at the change.

That's it for now from . . .