Out of commission for a bit

Quick post here. My home computer connection with the entire innerweb is down. I will be unable to see emails or comment or post for a bit. I am giving it a time out to see if it will behave, but I don’t imagine it will so I will probably need to stage an intervention in the next week. I also have no land line phone connection, so I am cut off from civilization. OK, not completely, I do have cell connection, but otherwise, it’s like I’m in a techno-void. Take care all and I’ll see you as soon as I am able!  And, happy birthday again, Peanut!!!

I got a royal decree today from the king.

Grover.

This is an archive photo (fyi).

I was the breakfast lady for Room at the Inn this morning. That’s a program for the homeless that my church has been involved with for over 20 years. I’m grateful to be a part of it, but when I’m the breakfast lady for RAI, Grover does not get his morning walk. It’s hard enough for me to get up at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning without getting up earlier to give his royal highness a walk. He was a bit miffed with me, but I was in a rush so I just ignored him. I came home and fixed breakfast and coffee and stuff and then changed and went to church. Well, that didn’t sit well, either.   When I finally got home from church, I had a bite of lunch and decided to give the walk a try.

You see, I cut my foot yesterday.  I was throwing away a broken glass and it slipped and went down on my right food on the big toe joint.  It cut to the bone and bled profusely.  It’s only an inch long so I was never in any danger, but it hurts.  I was worried about putting on shoes,  so the walk was questionable.  I got an older pair of walking shoes out and cut the big toe joint part so that my owie would have no pressure.  It worked.  Thankfully, his royal Grovership got his walk.  Heaven forbid we should disappoint his Mr. Spoiltrottentothenthdegree.

Now, spinning.  It hasn’t happened…………………………………………..yet.  I will.  I will.  I’m just putzing around and not accomplishing a thing.  In other words, it’s status quo here in Middle Earth.   I have been knitting.  I thought I was ready for the black contrast in The Plume, but I counted stitches and I was a pattern short.  I’m halfway through the final pattern before the color change.  I have also almost completed another pair of fingerless mitts.  I’ll post a pic when they are done.

I did start a sock with some String Theory yarn.   It’s good yarn because I have ripped it about 3 times and it’s still holding.   The pattern is Firenze.  I like them so far.

Gotta go finish laundry, and maybe spin a bit.  I know…..hahahahahahaha.  Have a good one!!!

The ground sucks………..

Really. It does. When I step on the lawn it makes a sucking sound. The 12 year old in me thinks it’s hilarious, but the grown up me realizes that not only is the drought broken here in Middle Earth, but that it’s really really wet, too. I realize that’s pretty heady stuff for most, but I’m a very deep thinker.

Hope this finds you all well.  We’re doing pretty well here, too. Still on fur explosion watch, but daily brushing doesn’t even come close to alleviating the amount of fur dropped on my dark rugs on a daily basis.  Of course, Grover is not my first dog, so I have been through this twice a year for 17 years now.  It still amazes me the amount of fur these guyz produce.  Even Stinky is shedding, but she has a completely different approach.  She drops it on the rug in chunks.  I brush her.  I swear I do, but she still leaves little piles of white and/or black fur for me.

I have a spinning goal.  I need to finish the Cabin Cove roving I started over a year ago before the next Tour de Fleece or Cookie will call me out.  She threatened to, recently, and I totally believe her.  That, plus my niece, Peanut, is now spinning on supported spindles and spinning amazing stuff, so there is a small amount of shame involved as well.  I’ve been spinning way longer than Peanut and my stuff still looks like a beginner spun it.  I might need to up my game a bit.  Of course, this is not a competition, but I do feel like I’ve been a spinning slacker for too long.

The Plume is still in progress.  We all know that a shawl that starts with 7 stitches is gonna get to way more than that.  I keep plugging along with her.

This is a picture I took on February 17.  It’s about 4 times that size.  In other words, the same, but bigger.  I have two more rows before I change to the black contrast which will be interesting because I can’t knit black inside.  Unless it stops raining soon, I’ll be putting her sorry little strands aside until I can sit on the deck and knit.  And, the rain?  After the 4″ in my rain gauge yesterday, I’m not holding out much hope for the sun until July.  That may be a bit of an overstatement……..just, a bit.

Have a good one!!!!

What word rhymes with Grammarian?

I honestly haven’t come up with one yet. How about Walt Whitman’s  “when all at once I saw a crowd. A host of grammarians :”? Or, how about this one from Shakespeare:

“from off a hill whose concave womb reworded
A plaintful story from a sistering vale,
My spirits to attend this double voice accorded,
And down I laid to list the sad-tuned tale;
Ere long espied a grammarian full pale,”

Oh, I have more.  Here’s a William Carlos Williams poem:

“Let the snake wait under
his weed
and the writing
be of words, slow and quick, sharp
to strike, quiet to wait,
sleepless.
– through metaphor to reconcile
the people and the stones.
Compose. (No ideas
but in things) Invent!
Grammarian is my flower that splits
the rocks”

It appears that rhyming is not necessary to be a real good poet.  Here’s William Blake:

“England! awake! awake! awake!
Grammarian thy Sister calls!
Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death
And close her from thy ancient walls?”

I did have a near knitting catastrophe last week.  I was working on Plume (the neverending shawl) and Stinky came over to attack the cast on end of the shawl.  She proceeded to get caught in the yarn, which spooked her.  She took off and ran all the way down to the basement.  Thankfully, the evil yarn let go of her at the foot of the basement steps, but then I had to retrieve said yarn and rewind it.  It wouldn’t have been so bad, but my inconsiderate cat didn’t keep it straight so there was considerable untangling.  Disaster averted.  My life is filled with drama, isn’t it?

Well, have a good Tuesday and I’ll catch up with you later!

Where are the Grammar Police when you need them?

I’m trying to stay out of trouble, but I want you all to know that it is categorically unfair that the mainstream media can use poor grammar and not get hauled in, but if a simple humble blogger uses improper grammar, she gets a ticket. It must truly be who (or, whom to cover my bases) you know.  I am speaking of the overused and exhausting phrase “went or gone missing”.  I have checked and it is, apparently, not improper grammar.  It is really annoying.  Just because they use it in the UK, does not mean we should use it.  You, or an item, are either missing or not missing.  You didn’t have to go missing.  You were and are missing.  thankyouverymuch

So, it’s Tuesday and I have nothing to offer but a pathetic rant that really should just go missing, so I’ll leave you with an all-time favorite of mine, Schoolhouse Rock and “Lolly get your Adverbs Here”.  Enjoy!

I can’t be a Grammar. I don’t have kids.

Hello, all! I wasn’t going to post because I used up all my pictures this past weekend and have absolutely nothing to show you. Still knitting on The Plume.  As is usual when knitting a shawl, there is a period of time when you feel like you’re just knitting stitches of air because it takes so long for the darned thing to grow.

We have had a week of wet, here.  I got over 3″of rain yesterday and just a tiny bit of flooding in the basement, but that is to be expected when you get torrential rains for over an hour at a time.  I’m one of the lucky ones.  Last year we had a drought and this  year, flooding.  Go figger.  We must be warming up (current temp is 39) because the big puppers is shedding like mad.  I look at him and he keeps getting puffier.  I’m a bit concerned that I’ll see him explode his winter coat like a dandelion in the wind.  At least we’d be done with it, then, instead of taking weeks and weeks of daily brushing to get it out.  Stinky is shedding, as well, but she is an indoor cat so her coat doesn’t get all that thick in the winter.  Besides, it’s like trying to brush a Roley-poley bug.  You just get started stroking her coat on her tummy with a comb and she rolls right up.  It can be difficult and a tad complicated extracting your hand from the center of a ball of cat.

This should be a good weekend.  I don’t have to cut the grass because it’s too wet.  I’ll save that chore for Monday after work.  It’s also supposed to be in the 60′s and sunny.  Can’t beat that with a stick.  It should be lovely.  I’m still unsure if the Grammar Police look for over-used cliches.  I just don’t want to get caught.  It’s like going 8 miles over the speed limit and seeing a police car and, THEN, slowing down.

Please have a good weekend.  Relax and enjoy, if you can.  My soundtrack for the day?  For all those who got hammered yesterday and today and tomorrow by the rain. “Crooked Little Man” by the Serendipity Singers (so very 60′s retro Folksy music).

I’ve been laying low to avoid the Grammar Police

Plus, I have had to do my taxes because it appears tomorrow is the last day to file. Sometimes it pays to notice the date. Also, I have been taking multiple pictures. The spring has come with a vengence. Such vengence that I had to cut my grass yesterday. To be able to do that I had to get a spark plug, oil, gas and then cross my fingers that he’d start right up. Bless his lil heart. He started right up, and wow, was the grass thick. Almost choked the poor little mower out, but we persevered and got the job done. We’ll find out soon enough if the Grammar Police are interested in trite and tired cliches.
Now, for the picture intensive post. No knitting to show, but we had snow on Palm Sunday (3-22-13).

But, someone had her nose out of joint because she couldn’t join in the fun.

Still, the pup had a good time.

The, we had a major warm up and these happened.

All my yellow bulbs are out, but the pinks and reds are still forming.  All except for the Flowering Almond bush.  It’s beginning to pop open, but that picture didn’t turn out.  I’ll get a shot when it blooms.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing.  How ’bout you????   Have a good one and since we’re due a wet week, here’s my soundtrack for today.  “Buy for me the rain” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.   Enjoy.

Elderberry Whine

I’m baaack. Like a bad penny or rash. I was aponderin’ the elderberry wine concept.  Montrachet wine yeast?   That is so interesting.  I bake bread, but wine yeast?  I didn’t have any idea about that being an ingredient.  I am most definitely going to look into it.   I have a store near my house that sells beer/mead and wine-making supplies, so I think I may hightail it over to Worm’s Way  and check them out.   I’m intrigued, but if it’s too pricey to try, then I’ll just cut those bushes down.  I do hope it is feasible.  I’m very very interested.  I will keep ya’ll posted.

I knit on the Plume shawl again this morning.  My mornings have been too busy to have time to knit, so the poor thing has just sat, patiently waiting for me to come back.  I’m getting close to the stripe rows, so I’m slowly moving along with it.  I just need to keep plugging away on it and it will get done.  Hopefully, before the temperatures work their way up to hideously uncomfortable.

Oh, crap.  That last sentence was met unkindly by the Grammar Police.  I have received an official warning.  I think that’s like a ticket, but without the fine.  I need to be sure.  I know from experience they don’t take bribes and the fines are pretty steep!!!!!!!!(lots of exclamation points)

Have a great day!

Whoa there, boy, sloooooow down!

My goodness gracious me. Where does the time go? I remember writing a post about silliness and then, everything went blank.  I awakened to find I had two weeks missing and, presumed, permanently gone.  I still go to work every day and walk the pup, but after that 12.5″ snowfall I sorta lost track.  I did take pictures of the snow, but since it’s ancient history, I don’t really care.  I am beginning to pick up the knitting again and I think I may have something to post, knitting-wise, soonish.

Now, the lure of the yardwork (I’m really trying to make it sound wonderful) is calling me.  My back yard looks like a disaster area.  I have had elderberries volunteering in my yard for many years and decided they had to go this year, but now, I am drawn to making elderberry wine.  Sounds like fun.  I have been told that elderberry syrup is good for the immune system, but if that’s the case, wouldn’t elderberry wine be good, too?   And, a whole lot more fun?

Anyway, all is well here in Middle Earth.   The sun is shining and it’s a balmy 49 right now.  Spring is here!   Have a good one.

Where did the silly go?

I was wondering about something on the way home from church this morning. Where did I misplace my silly? I can’t seem to find it anywhere, but I know it’s here somewhere. I think I put it away last summer early because it was hot and I was afraid it might melt. Now, I can’t find it. It wasn’t a good sign anyway that I hadn’t missed it until now, but I can’t find it and I’m getting a bit frustrated.

I have done this before with earrings and important items I needed to find in a hurry.  Put them somewhere “safe” and lost them forever in the process.   Like my tax stuff.  I know it’s here, but when I think to go look for it, it hides.  That’s it!  My silly is hiding with my tax stuff.

Now, where would a silly and tax stuff hide?  Stinky doesn’t care because they are neither soft, fluffy, smelly or yarn-like.  Grover doesn’t care because they are not squeaky and don’t taste good.  I checked the linen closet earlier today and asked the cough drops if they had seen either the tax stuff or my silly and they informed me in their cheeriest voices (all 30 of them), that they hadn’t seen either and they were so very very sorry.  I asked the bandaids and they just shook their strips.   I asked the old style incandescent light bulbs, but they are illegal and didn’t want to get in trouble.  I asked the aspirin and ibuprofren and they didn’t want to get involved.  The dust mask just looked at me stupidly.  Dumb ole dust mask.  The linens offered to keep a look out, but so far, hadn’t seen a thing.

I’ll keep you posted on my search, but I’m running out of time on the tax stuff and the silly is just being ornery now.

Have a goodun’!!!!!!!!!!!!!