Summertime, and the living is hectic

'Tis the season for gardening and hay hauling and firewood acquisition and spinning along with the Tour de Fleece. It is hot and very dry and sometimes smoky. The days are growing noticeably shorter and fall is on its way, but there is much to do before then. So I'll throw a bunch of photos at you and get back to work!

our bright dining room light fixture after replacing all the bulbs

our entry light fixture with old bulbs; yes, there is THAT much difference!

getting the last of our hay

that should do us; the bit at the far right is all that remains of last year's

the morning of August 3

the evening of August 3

the morning of August 4

approximately half our fig harvest, my breakfast one morning

the morning of August 5

the evening of August 5, showing the first bit of improvement

my finished TdF yarn

enough contrast for Murano squares?

the morning of August 7

second planting of beets and beans coming up

oak to cut and split, but not dry enough for this winter

back to normal air quality and "the long view"

zooming in  so you can see the hot air balloons with Mt. Adams between

8g of silk singles on my wee Bee Hummingbird spindle 

two paintings given to us by the artist, a friend of ours

doggy yin and yang

That's it for now from . . .

Gnarly, man!

I do hope you are all having a good day/Thanksgiving. Here, it's been a week of gnarly. I felt a cold trying to get a toe-hold on Monday, but thought I might beat it with lots of water, Vitamin C, zinc, and rest, and went to bed early. Tuesday my car had a long appointment to get its suspension systems replaced, so a friend* picked me up and we had coffee and ran errands together. By the time my car was ready I was so tired, and SO COLD! I turned my seat and cabin heaters on high and was comfortable by the time I got home, but the house was cold (the fire had gone out the night before). I turned my electric blanket on high and pre-heat and crawled in to warm up again, and fell deeply asleep. Good thing I had set an alarm or I probably would have slept right through my MRI appointment. By then I wondered if I had a fever and was hoping to avoid any questions or temp-taking at the hospital which would have postponed my appointment, because I have another appointment on December 5 that hinges on the MRI results. Fortunately for me (and hopefully not unfortunately for anyone else) I skated through and got the MRIs. Again, I had to run the car heaters on full blast, and crawled back in bed when I got home. Besides being insufferably cold, my head was throbbing, my brain was muddled, and my skin was hypersensitive. I crawled out of bed after 10 pm to eat a grapefruit, couldn't taste it, and took a COVID test:

Wednesday morning Rick, who along with his secretary has been fighting a 'cold,' decided to test as well. Also positive. Of course. So much for our Thanksgiving plans.

My gnarly MRI results arrived on Wednesday. Extensive, complex tears in the menisci, full thickness articular cartilage loss, severe patellofemoral arthritis – in BOTH. I'm looking at total knee replacements . . . eventually. Symptoms are the reason to do TKRs, not test results, and right now I'm mostly functional with daily naproxen sodium. But that light at the end of the tunnel? It's a train. 🙄

I continue to look for those pretty/peaceful/positive images to share daily on IG/FB; I need that focus now more than ever. Here are the photos and captions posted since my last blogpost:

Shetlands are sometimes called "hill sheep, I have a subset – 'tree sheep.'

One of the many things I like about 'our' town is its public art. This sculpture by Steve Tyree (who lives on the same hill as us) is in front of our hospital.

It's Beautyberry season!

Oh, and I've finished the first sleeve of my sweater! One sleeve left to go....

*Said friend was vaccinated, so isn't worried. Thankful!

That's the gnarly news from . . .

On my mark, getting set....

This was the forecast this morning. Just LOOK at that long stretch of dry, even sunny weather! That means no excuses to collect fleece samples and start shearing. I want to start with the three younger preggie girls (Blaise doesn't have much wool and needs the insulation) but I already have two black hogget fleeces reserved – which is good, because I'll have five of them. It should also help the grass grow, and perk up the primroses I planted in a pot out front:

In the meantime, there's been some excitement in the bonus room. Yes, I took 'before' photos, but I'm going to wait to share them until there's more visible progress. In other words, the room is still a disaster . . . except for one little bit of organizational heaven. Remember my dream of an antique spool cabinet? After doing a little searching locally (nothing), I turned to the internet, specifically Facebook Marketplace. There I found one a little plainer than I had imagined, but I could afford it and it was within easy driving distance of my agility class, so I picked it up last Thursday night.

From its landing on the cluttered antique table that belonged to my maternal grandmother, to its gainful employment as wire-wrapping supplies and spindle storage:

It's perfect and I love it!

That's it for now from . . .

Enjoying this change

March 2

March 3

March 4

March 5

The first four days of March started with snow; now we're ALL enjoying a few days of sunny, dry weather before the clouds and rain return. This morning, the mud was even frozen firm for awhile – another nice, if very temporary, change!

A less welcome change is in the works. The property on which Rick's veterinary clinic sits recently sold to a developer who plans to bulldoze most of the buildings on the large multi-use commercial lot and open a huge U-Haul dealership. DH hates change so this is stressful times for him; we've been in the same building since he bought the practice in 1995. We need to work on the what/when/where/how now, as we'll only get a three-month eviction notice. On top of that we have to keep in mind that his office manager plans to retire within two years, while we will try to hang on for eight years (our retirement options maximize when Rick turns 70).

In two days, we'll witness change in Rick's immediate family. Rick's mother is getting married again, and his sister and her three adult children (as well as one's spouse and kids) will be here for the event. I'm scurrying about getting ready to feed the extended family as they are all flying in. They won't come here, though; Rick's nephew is terribly allergic to horses – including the hair and dander that inevitably make their way into our house. We'll make my MIL's house home base, since she will be on her honeymoon.

Meanwhile, my creative juices are still flowing. The wire wrapping/wire weaving class of last Sunday was just the inspiration I needed; I got an excellent review of wrapping and learned the beginnings of weaving. While the five other students worked on provided polished stones/gems, I chose shells from my beach-combing collection to complete two projects:

I've since ordered a couple more tools and some 28-gauge wire for weaving, and am thinking of ways to better organize my stash of objects, tools, and supplies. If I can see at a glance what I have to work with, it will jump-start the creative process. My dream is to acquire an antique spool cabinet like that in the internet photo below to contain both my spindles and my wire-wrapping stash, but for now I'm thinking about what I can do with the space and storage I already have in the upstairs bonus room. It's become a messy accumulation of fleeces in bags, fiber and yarn in bags and bins, horse and dog show ribbons, books (our overflowing library shelves are up there), old computer and other office equipment and the desks they are on, cages and supplies from pet birds long gone, an antique table, my loom, etc. Clearly, lots of stuff needs to go, which will leave room for other stuff to be put away; the possibilities are actually rather exciting. Want to help hold me accountable? I hereby make transforming the bonus room my One Big Thing of 2024 (Lord willing and the creek don't rise). Although I'm not sure I'm up to sharing its current condition, as soon as I post this I'm going to take photos so I can mark and celebrate my progress. Hmm; maybe I should commit to sharing a new photo each week showing proof of progress. What do you think?

That's it for now from . . .