Adages I grew up with

So much for the 12 days of Christmas; at this point we may not even get that tree up.

This whole year has been challenging on several fronts. I thought we might have a quiet stroll to the end after Rick got back from his ConEd trip, but a brewing problem blew up into a crisis yesterday so I guess not. "No rest for the weary," I remember hearing as a child; ain't that the truth!

I actually bought one package of Christmas cards Monday after several years of being stymied by melancholy over our son's life choices. Yesterday I delivered cards and gifts to two close friends and hope to mail the rest of the cards today ("better late than never"). I have a few presents for Rick and Brian to wrap, and as yet undetermined contributions to a extended family Christmas dinner to make, and that may be it for the holidays. For an undetermined period, I will be keeping my "nose to the grindstone" with limited time at home. So here are some parting shots of what usually keeps me centered and sane. I'll keep repeating what my mom told my younger self often: "Happiness is a decision." Remember, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"!

This will NOT be done by the end of the year, but all the little fiber snacks are being spun and plied.

The birthday girl; Poppy turned six years old yesterday.

Here's to making your own good decisions from . . .

Showers of blessings and lots of rain

A lot has been going on here, including some big blessings.

I've had 'hay on the brain' for awhile, because we clearly didn't have enough and it isn't going to get any easier to find. There's a place at the bottom of our hill that usually has "HAY" and a phone number spray-painted on a sheet of plywood, so I decided to call. After buying one bale each of the two types the farmer has for the horses to try, I bought 55 more. The quality appears to better than the two 'off-brands' we bought earlier this year, the price is reasonable, and the location couldn't be much closer. Whew, what a blessing for now, and perhaps a good resource for the future (our favorite hay supplier is in his 80s and cutting back).

The remedial construction our next-door neighbors to the north had to have done is wrapping up, and last week they texted to say there was plenty of room in their huge dumpster if we wanted to get rid of anything. Boy, did we, thanks in large part to the shop project! Rick took multiple tractor bucket loads over, and our place does look better now – if you look past the multiple dead vehicles. 🙄 Hey, I'll take any improvements made.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from someone interested in buying a few sheep. I kept my hopes in check, as inquiries don't always, or even often, lead to sales. But this one has; I received the deposit yesterday. Hurray; three ewes are moving south next month, which will allow me to consolidate the remaining ewes into one group who should get along better thanks to who is leaving.

Sunday Poppy and I competed in our final agility trial of the year. We had a great time; the club that put it on pulls out all the stops, with personalized Christmas ornaments for each dog, a toy chest from which a gift for each dog can be chosen, a photo booth, and great raffle prizes. Poppy got three qualifying scores plus a first place out of four classes and a new chew toy, and I brought home a new ornament and a raffle prize!

Once again, some awesome volunteers in the Jenkins spindle-lovers' community on Ravelry organized and created a December fiber swap/fiber Advent calendar.

I so enjoy the daily opening, spinning, and plying of these small and varied fiber surprises, pairing them with different Jenkins spindles, even if it means less knitting time on my Dala sweater. The current weather is helping, though; it's been too wet to ride, so that means more time to knit and spin. Rick is also gone for a few days to the annual horse vet convention, and that gives me more time as well. But when he gets home, we are going to have to do some 'remedial construction' of our own; I noticed this morning that we have leaks over the daylight basement's sliding glass doors and the two east-facing windows on either side of it. 😳 It's always something!

That's it for now from . . .

Caps, clouds, and near-catastrophies

Squeezing in one last November post while the photos are fresh.

the last colorful leaves near the front door in yesterday's sunshine

Yesterday afternoon Rick and I took the dogs for a walk. I noticed several different 'textures' of clouds and kept stopping to take photos of them. We passed the place where I saw the magnificent Amanita mushrooms a week ago and found a couple, then noticed other kinds of fungi along our route and took photos of those, too. Look up, look down; there's beauty all around!

But there can be danger, too. There is a place along the road that has two big Great Pyrenees inside what I would consider an inadequate fence, based on how I've heard they can jump. They always run up and down the fence, jumping against it and barking ferociously at Poppy, who trash-talks right back while we keep to the far side of the road and hurry by. Yesterday, one clambered OVER the fence and raced across the road towards Poppy. Her harness has a sturdy handle on top so I scooped her into my arms and turned my back to the LGD, screaming for Rick's help. He worked hard to block the dog from getting to us until the owner ran out and grabbed the dog's collar. (Fortunately it showed no interest in Leo, who was still on the ground.) I probably burned more calories in those long seconds than I burned on the rest of the walk!

While knitting away on my sweater during a much quieter period yesterday, I noticed a dropped stitch . . . many rows down . . . in the colorwork yoke. I think it speaks to my maturity as a knitter that I didn't panic, I didn't rip back, and I didn't put it in time-out. After analyzing the situation, I laddered the stitch up, first on the right side of the fabric and then on the back side, until I could return it to the left needle where it could be knit together with another stitch of the same color to maintain the correct stitch count. I was very pleased with myself. 😊 The eagle-eyed might notice a slight tension difference in that horse, but fortunately it's on the back and not the front of the sweater. Oh, and I did finish the colorwork yoke tonight!

That's it for November from . . .