Change is a-comin' – and welcome!

This morning's sunrise view of Mt. Adams:

And a bonus sunrise view of Mt. Hood from earlier in the week:

Nothing out of the ordinary, those. But as I was returning to the house from chores this morning, I noticed the mackerel sky. Ah, change is a-comin'!

Up in the garden (resetting a soaker hose; count on the forecast or the clouds), I turned and looked over the house to see the edge of the front pushing east.

Here's hopin' we get a good soakin' over the weekend!

Still, the dry, sunny weather has been good for some things. This week Brian played in his first two soccer games ever, one away and one at home; the at home game was last night (I posted blurry photos of his first game on Instagram). Can you "find Elmo" in each of the photos below? ;-)

And earlier yesterday, one of my best friends and I enjoyed a perfect day at the beach with our horses. (More photos to come over on my dressage blog.)

Now back to applying myself to cleaning my filthy house and making food for tomorrow's church potluck before picking up Brian from school and driving him to his violin lesson.

That's it for now from . . .

The pause that refreshes

Bless Rick's heart for offering to drive to Salem to pick up Brian this evening; it gave me the first wiggle room I've had in my schedule for waaay too long. I used it to take a NAP (gasp!), which sure did make me feel better – if a little disoriented – afterward. Not only have things have been go-go-go from early morning until (much too) late at night, but Brian came home from his backpacking trip with a cold, and now I have it, too. Better than my co-worker who I've been covering for for a week and a half; she came back from her trip with the flu, so I worked today as well.

The renaissance fair last Sunday was fun while it lasted; my MIL and I both needed to get home to get things done in the afternoon so we left before seeing everything. Besides memories, photographs, and lunch, my MIL and I both picked up a few small gifts, my friend Debbie bought and wore a flower crown, and I picked up some lovely combed mohair locks ($2 for 100g) to spin and knit a souvenir (maybe plied with something else).

Not too far from the renaissance fair was this beautiful old covered bridge. We stopped on our way home to read its history and take some photos.

Browning has not continued to improve. He's gotten more B complex and Nuflor, and tonight Rick  checked his heart and lungs (good), drew blood and took fecal samples. We could be dealing with worm issues, since this has not been an exemplary year for sheep husbandry because weed seeds and dry weather have severely limited pasture time.

Here's hoping I feel well enough tomorrow to enjoy what's planned – the beach ride with a friend I've waited for all summer!

That's it for now from . . .

Prognostics

During Friday morning chores, I noticed Browning standing off by himself, not looking comfortable. I had to leave for work and Rick and Brian had to leave for school, but Rick said he'd try to take a look at Browning when he stopped by around noon to pick up his backpack. Unfortunately, he's not their shepherd so they ALL looked lively and avoided him then. It was a different story when I went out....

Typically Browning would be the first one up for attention; this time he hung back with Blake. That's a sick sheep.

Poor Browning. I put him and Bing (for company) in the Ram-ada Inn lot and took his temp – 104°. Rick had told me where various drugs were on his vet truck should I need them, so Browning got 4.5cc of Nuflor and 3cc of supportive high-potency B complex. I tried to give him some Nutri-Drench, but he wasn't interested. There's not much else I can do for now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Thursday my dad had appointments with three doctors – his GP, his pulmonologist, and his oncologist. The doctor told him what Rick and I had already surmised: his cancer is stage 4. In the next couple weeks, Dad and his team will likely come to a decision on a course of treatment to pursue; he has decided once again that he doesn't want traditional chemo and radiation therapy. I can't say that I blame him.... There's not much I can do for now.

Looking forward

I'm home alone for a couple days, a rare treat. Brian is on a backpacking trip for Wilderness class, and Rick decided to go along. As always, I have an unrealistic list I hope to accomplish, but one main task that must be accomplished plus one scheduled activity I'm looking forward to (besides the Sabbath day's rest and worship). A couple months ago I purchased tickets to a renaissance festival for a family outing (us and Rick's mother), not knowing there would be a school conflict on a Sunday. So my MIL is bringing her best friend, and I invited one of my best friends, and us girls are going to go enjoy ourselves!

I am also looking forward to casting on a knitting project after two and a half months of spinning, monogamous crafter that I am. This afternoon I finished plying the second colorway of alpaca/silk singles I've spun since the start of the Tour de Fleece:

That's 114g of yarn on my 35g myrtlewood Swan

Towards the end my turtles were getting frisky, so grabbing the "tools" I had at hand (my iPhone and a used tissue), I got my singles under control with a plying ball. Necessity being the mother of invention/innovation and all that.

Now I'm free to cast on the first of two promised shawls for co-workers. First up, Romi's Terryknits Twist in chocolate and cream:

After that (hopefully quick knit), I'll tackle Romi's Simee Dimeh (which WON'T be a quick knit) in these yarns, which the giftee and I picked out at the LYS today after work:

Looking to next week, I'll be attending Brian's first varsity soccer game Monday night. To our surprise (since he's a freshman and a complete newbie to the sport), he's a starter! The weather will be ideal; we're enjoying warm (not hot) days and cool (not cold) evenings through mornings. Personally, I'm looking forward to a good, soaking rain to get our cool-season grass growing again, the arena footing firmed up, and the dust washed off everything; but until that happens, I'll keep watering the garden, enjoying the sky shows, and riding my horse through the woods:

Actually, I'm hoping to finagle a ride at the beach and a dressage lesson next week; we'll see! (And I'll report on it over at my horse blog for those who are interested.)

In two and a half short weeks, Rick and I are taking a trip, just the two of us – I'm looking forward to that! He has a vet conference in Langley, British Columbia, and I'm going with. Years ago (probably 20+; gulp!), we went to Vancouver in December for a vet conference, and visited Victoria and Butchart Gardens while in the area. As beautiful as it was in the off-season all decorated for the holidays, I've said ever since that someday I want to see Butchart Gardens in the summer, including suggesting that it would make a nice anniversary trip – you know, since we've never done anything "big" for our anniversary in 32 years of marriage. But hey, I'll take it in September! We'll get a day together in the car to visit and enjoy the scenery, I'll get two days to explore around Langley and Vancouver while he's in meetings, we'll spend one day at Butchart Gardens/Victoria, and then have another day together driving home. Sounds perfect to me!

As soon as we get back, it will be high time to put this big boy

in with a couple lady friends! Sarai (below, in front) and Vienna (below, at the back) will join Blake in the "honeymoon suite" to make more beautiful lambs. I would love for Sarai to give me a black-based ewe lamb or two to join my little flock, but will take anything alive and healthy from her after this spring's unsuccessful lambing.

This pretty girl is two years old now and I would like to see some offspring from her, too, but I don't think that Blake is the best match. I'm investigating another possibility or two; I should know by October.

Then there are my two sweet musket girls, full sisters out of Vienna. I would like to put Nightcap over both of them; he's not getting any younger and should be a great cross, but he wouldn't be able to come home until November. That would be okay, since Babette is this year's lamb (although she's easily as big as Blaise and almost as big as Bree).

Wow; that would be five ewes bred, more than I've ever lambed out in one season. But the potential in all these pairings is fantastic, and the lambs would be spread out over a couple months. Hopefully at least some of the people who have expressed interest in Boulderneigh Shetlands this year (when I didn't have any available) will be interested in what they produce next year!

That's it for now from . . .