Some kind of record

On my way to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival this afternoon I got a text from Brian saying the bus would be arriving at the school at 4:30 instead of 5:00 today. I hadn't given myself a lot of time to spend at OFFF as it was; now I would have even less time to look around. Not a big deal, I told myself; I had need of nothing there other than the roving of Blake's I was picking up. No (other) fiber, no yarn, no spindles; nothing. So when I arrived I walked quickly through the booths on the lawn until I found Columbia Carding and collected my bags, then headed inside to try and find the Jenkins.  Fortunately, before too long I saw Ed out and about and he directed me to their booth. On my way there, I passed a table with cute little animals made from pin-woven squares. I thought the sheep would make a cute Christmas tree ornament and said so, and the vendor offered to add a hanging loop of yarn for me. So after chatting with Wanda, I collected my one very affordable acquisition, tried a sample of a beeswax lotion bar, and headed to Salem. Hey, it's not fiber, yarn, or a spindle, and I was in and out  of OFFF in about an hour!

Feeling all kinds of virtuous today at . . .

Off to OFFF

I'm OFFF to see a man about some roving, and say "hi" to a friend or two. But before I skedaddle, a quick report on our successful transplant! Yes, Chuckie has chosen to stay. 😊 If I go looking for him, he's usually in the haystack, but when we came home from church yesterday he came up on the deck looking for us while we ate dinner just inside. So we sat out on the deck with him for awhile, then brought the dogs out on leashes so they could meet at a distance. Dozer didn't alarm him much, but Jackson bark-screamed (overly excited about what being leashed might portend, not by the cat) and scared poor Chuckie off. Last night after chores he followed me from the barn back to the house, though, so it didn't traumatize him too much.

This morning I got up, put on my BGPs as Susan would say, and hoed the garden. The bit of rain we've gotten caused weeds to sprout by the millions, and rather than letting them grow over the winter as 'we've' always done (I admit to feeling this end-of-season chore should be done by those who till the garden come spring), I did it. Even though it was hard manual labor, the ground was perfect for the task – not muddy or dry and hard. Then I tore out the dead pea vines with their baling twine trellis. I even remembered to take before and after photos!

Now I'm off to OFFF from . . .

Friday freedom / flyers

This morning Chuckie got his freedom. I opened the tack room door while we did chores, and he explored the barn. He started by exploring the 'great outdoors,' but beat a hasty retreat when one of the ewes 'baa-ed' – ha! He can retreat all the way back into the tack room if he chooses; we left the door open and his food, water, and bed available as a familiar comfort zone. I hope he's still around when I can go down to the barn to check on him; I haven't seen him from any of the windows while cleaning house.

One flyer is from yesterday morning. A female Anna's hummingbird visited the feeder. The light was right, so I moved into position to take some photos. She flew off, but came back just as I hoped. The photos I got on my iPhone of her flying in, feeding, and flying away were far better than I hoped for, though!

The final flyer is in these photos our pastor took of me last night. (Our son is gone and my DH asked if I wanted to go to church board meeting last night. Don't we have exciting date nights? At least we followed it up with a trip to Dairy Queen! 😋) P.S. The tank top is one of the samples I got from the LYS 'garage sale.' Love it!

That's it for freedom / flyers today for now from . . .

Midweek mélange

'Tis the season for sunrises! Yeah, yeah; I know the sun rises EVERY morning, but it rises at such a civilized time in September, when there are sometimes clouds and valley fog for added interest. 😉

The sunsets aren't slouches, either.

On the west side of the house, my New York asters coordinate with the sunset colors, and the bees are busy working them over. I was told in a FB comment that these are called Michaelmas daisies in the UK, although my research says they are different species. I love that name, though!

On the canine front, our pooches looked pooped last night.

The perspective in this photo makes Dozer look huge, when he is actually smaller than Jackson. Both are aging before our eyes; indeed, Jackson will be 11 next month and Dozer is 10 1/2. That's old for a bulldog, but Dozer is chipper if slow and gimpy (unless it's breakfast time!). It's Jackson, the dog o' my heart, who worries me. His need to drink (and pee . . . and drink and pee, and drink and pee . . . .) seems far beyond normal (diabetes has been ruled out), and he's losing weight and muscle. He was limping on a front leg and losing strength in his back end, symptomatic of a neck problem; we put him on a course of prednisone and those issues have gone away. Sigh; there is no stopping the clock, just the choice to enjoy them every single remaining day while keeping them as comfortable as possible.

The newest member of the family (should he choose to stay) is recovering from his 'tutoring' last Sunday.

Chuckie had a rough go of it for a couple days (and the tack room is going to need an even more thorough scrub-down), but he seems well on the mend now. We've been giving him Clavamox twice a day to prevent infection; after Rick gave the first two doses, Chuckie showed his resentment by hiding in the corner and glowering. He didn't react as negatively when I gave him the next three doses, and we followed up the medicine with lots of loving. So when this morning's dose was followed in a second or two by a crescendoing yowl and an attack of my leg with claws and fangs, I was taken completely by surprise! I hollered in shock and he ricocheted away, landing in his water dish and then retreating to his bed. To say I'm a bit nervous about administering tonight's dose would be an understatement. I don't need cat-scratch or cat-bite fever; I'm still not over a nasty infection in a toe that started with a blister several weeks ago.

One of my anniversary orchids (the one Rick got me in June) is reblooming. The s-l-o-w-l-y swelling and opening buds create great anticipation, and the blossoms last a gloriously long time.

I visited a local nursery and gift shop last Thursday (falling for the print of this scarf vest, which I've worn twice already),

 and discussed my orchids with the clerk. The first one Rick gave me has a bunch of air roots, and hasn't rebloomed in awhile. She said she would help me repot it, so I'm going to take it (and my tiny one) in tomorrow after work.

It's been awhile since Rick finished turning a bowl, but last night he brought up this little cherry beauty.

It's 2.5" tall and 7.5" across and exquisite IMHO!

Oh, and I am still spinning alpaca.

That's all (rather a lot) for now from . . .