Local updates

All's quiet on the sheep front. After the trio left, I pulled Bette out of the ewe group to keep her twin Butler company in the Ram-ada Inn (separated by a divider; no incest!), but she made it clear NO one would get any sleep with that arrangement. So I swapped her out for Vienna, and now everyone is settled. Butler is scheduled to go to his new home next Tuesday.

Is anyone else absolutely fed up with Blogger's process to prove you're not a robot?!? I have given up on leaving a comment several times lately because it takes SO. LONG. to click on all the corresponding images. I had to go through this to leave comments on my own blogs (so that your comments get emailed to me, another unnecessary hassle) – even though I have comment verification TURNED OFF. Grrr. So if I'm not commenting on your blog like I usually do, now you know why. There are only so many hours a day I can spend on my laptop....

The other day I went out to the garden and found this:

I was dumb-founded; I just saw the first blooms a couple days ago! There were only enough for my breakfast, but they will need to be picked regularly from here on out. I've finally got BIG tomatoes turning red (we've eaten two small ones),

cucumbers getting big enough to pick, green beans setting, bell peppers swelling, and basil burgeoning. The parsley is paltry and the eggplants take forever; the squash plants look fabulous, dahling – if you're not looking for something to pick. Fortunately a neighbor brought a couple boxes of summer squash to the neighborhood picnic Sunday so I have some to tide me over for awhile.

Yesterday it started heating up again. While the guys sweated it out continuing work on the new permanent fence around our upper pasture, I mostly looked for jobs to do inside where it was cool(er). One of those was dragging out my Featherweight Singer and mending at least six sheep suits.

I'm still spinning along on the Tour de Fleece, too. I'm striving to spin up all the dark brown Shetland on my miniSpinner, and use my Jenkins horn spindle in as many different locations as possible. This evening I'll be spinning at the coast; ahhhh. Rick and Brian are stopping by to pick me up any minute and then we are headed to a vet call there together. I don't often get to take advantage of it, but it is SO nice to have a coast to flee to when the valley is sweltering. It's almost 40 degrees cooler over there right now!

After the TdF ends on Sunday, July 29, I'm going to try out these babies:

Wicked-looking, huh? Those are double-pitch wool combs and I'm going to use them to prep the messy neck fleeces I've been loath to toss. But first I'll have to do some washing. Fleece will dry quickly in this heat!

Bye for now from . . .

Multicraftual me

Last night (and into the wee hours this morning) my Featherweight and I made these:

They are "Christmas tree" napkins (there's a tutorial here, but I bought a template and fabric at a local fabric store . . . years ago) that I made in non-holiday fabric so my niece can use them year-round. She is graduating from college with her bachelor's in nursing this week, and is getting set up for housekeeping on her own. These ten napkins will hopefully match both her china and her everyday dishes. My MIL left for NE today for the occasion and Christmas, and will deliver them for me.

Now I need to finish up the last few rows of these

so I can mail them to TX, and then whip out a pair for Brian for Christmas. Then I have a couple cardigan patterns I'm anxious to cast on for ME, but I can't even think about them right now.

Between the airport runs, the Christmas parties, and the cold with its increased chore load, photography and blogging have suffered. I haven't been slaving away without compensation, though. The sheepies pay me back with much love. ;-)

That's it for now from . . .