Baaah
The sheep are here.
The ducks are here, too.
The ducks are here, too.
Zzzzzzzzap!
"Touch it!"
"No."
"Come on! I really want you to touch it."
"No. I'm not gonna touch it."
"You're gonna touch it eventually. You should touch it now so it doesn't scare you when it happens later."
"I don't care! I won't touch it!"
"Please touch it? I want to know if you think it's strong enough."
"I'm not a sheep."
We put up the fence today. It got tangled. It's a good thing I didn't have a knife handy. I don't think electric fences work too well when they are cut to shreds. We finally got the tangles out and got the pieces all set up and got the charger plugged in. Then we had to drive back to Cburg for more poles. We were there this morning already. Blerg. But hey, the fence is up!
We also got some hay and cracked cornn for the sheep today. The folks at GFF said the sheep've been eating cracked corn, so we figured we should have some for them when they get here. Speaking of feeding critters, I picked Japanese beetles for the ducks. The last few days there have been hordes of them on the blackberry plants down by the road. Today I only found about a dozen. I never thought I'd be sad to not be able to find Japanese beetles on my plants.
"No."
"Come on! I really want you to touch it."
"No. I'm not gonna touch it."
"You're gonna touch it eventually. You should touch it now so it doesn't scare you when it happens later."
"I don't care! I won't touch it!"
"Please touch it? I want to know if you think it's strong enough."
"I'm not a sheep."
We put up the fence today. It got tangled. It's a good thing I didn't have a knife handy. I don't think electric fences work too well when they are cut to shreds. We finally got the tangles out and got the pieces all set up and got the charger plugged in. Then we had to drive back to Cburg for more poles. We were there this morning already. Blerg. But hey, the fence is up!
We also got some hay and cracked cornn for the sheep today. The folks at GFF said the sheep've been eating cracked corn, so we figured we should have some for them when they get here. Speaking of feeding critters, I picked Japanese beetles for the ducks. The last few days there have been hordes of them on the blackberry plants down by the road. Today I only found about a dozen. I never thought I'd be sad to not be able to find Japanese beetles on my plants.
Would the real bunny poo please step forward?
Yesterday Andy called me at work and told me the blackberries are starting to be ripe. He said he'd picked one or two when he was down checking the mail and planned to go back later in the day to pick some more. When I got home, I parked the truck at the craft shack and walked back to the blackberry brambles that are growing along the fence on the front of the property. Low and behold, Andy was there already picking!
There's a sort of ongoing thing with me and Andy. When I hit the driveway at the end of the day, I'm focused on a couple things: whatever story happens to be on NPR, avoiding bunnies, the current state of the driveway and the weeds/wild flowers leaning over the driveway that I get to hit when I pass, the level of the pond, the ducks waiting for me, dinner, bills, knitting... Lots of stuff. So, when I get to the house, and Andy's not there and then trundles up later asking, "Did you not see me jumping up and down waving by the pond/at the craft shack door/by the mailbox/near the barn???" ...Well, is it surprising the answer is "No?"
I really try to look out for him, I do. The problem is, he keeps moving. At first he would hang out by the pond. So, I started slowing down a bit as I passed the pond to look for him. Then, though, he decided to hang out at the craft shack. So, I had to start to pay attention to the craft shack AND the pond. Luckily, when he was hanging out in the middle of the driveway down by the mailbox...that time I did see him. Because, well, he was in the middle of the driveway. (If he had been standing slightly to the side of the driveway? That's a different story.)
Back to the story. I walked up to the blackberry patch, and there Andy was. He seemed excited!
"Yay! You heard me yelling!"
"Umm.....ermmm...."
"You remembered I said I'd be here and you heard me yell as you went by and you stopped. Awww!"
"Ummm...well...No. I just decided to stop. *cough*"
He then seemed a bit sad and yet again confused at how I could have missed him yet again. But, he recovered quickly when I began to help him pick the berries. Blackberry picking is painful. The thorns on the plants are bigger and meaner than on raspberry plants, and, according to Andy, the sting lingers. In addition to the patch on the front fence, we also found a smaller patch near the apple tree and another on the steep slope at the curve in the driveway by the pond. We also found a lot of poison ivy. I did not pick the berries sitting on the poison ivy. (I hope.)
Here's the day's bounty (berries plus the three tomatoes we've picked so far this year). It's about a quart or so and weighs 2lbs.
Blackberries look a lot like bunny cecotrope-y poo, which is the poo that the bunnies eat back up because it still has lots of good stuff in it. If you have bunnies you know what I'm talking about. If you don't have bunnies, you are probably gagging right now. In bunny reference material, they often say these bunny poo candies look like clusters of grapes. In truth, the bunny poo candies look like blackberries.
This bunny poo, however, is the normal poo poo type. It looks like cocoa puffs. In this case, the bunny poo looks like a smiley of cocoa puffs.
Sheep fence arrives today. Sheep on Sunday!
There's a sort of ongoing thing with me and Andy. When I hit the driveway at the end of the day, I'm focused on a couple things: whatever story happens to be on NPR, avoiding bunnies, the current state of the driveway and the weeds/wild flowers leaning over the driveway that I get to hit when I pass, the level of the pond, the ducks waiting for me, dinner, bills, knitting... Lots of stuff. So, when I get to the house, and Andy's not there and then trundles up later asking, "Did you not see me jumping up and down waving by the pond/at the craft shack door/by the mailbox/near the barn???" ...Well, is it surprising the answer is "No?"
I really try to look out for him, I do. The problem is, he keeps moving. At first he would hang out by the pond. So, I started slowing down a bit as I passed the pond to look for him. Then, though, he decided to hang out at the craft shack. So, I had to start to pay attention to the craft shack AND the pond. Luckily, when he was hanging out in the middle of the driveway down by the mailbox...that time I did see him. Because, well, he was in the middle of the driveway. (If he had been standing slightly to the side of the driveway? That's a different story.)
Back to the story. I walked up to the blackberry patch, and there Andy was. He seemed excited!
"Yay! You heard me yelling!"
"Umm.....ermmm...."
"You remembered I said I'd be here and you heard me yell as you went by and you stopped. Awww!"
"Ummm...well...No. I just decided to stop. *cough*"
He then seemed a bit sad and yet again confused at how I could have missed him yet again. But, he recovered quickly when I began to help him pick the berries. Blackberry picking is painful. The thorns on the plants are bigger and meaner than on raspberry plants, and, according to Andy, the sting lingers. In addition to the patch on the front fence, we also found a smaller patch near the apple tree and another on the steep slope at the curve in the driveway by the pond. We also found a lot of poison ivy. I did not pick the berries sitting on the poison ivy. (I hope.)
Here's the day's bounty (berries plus the three tomatoes we've picked so far this year). It's about a quart or so and weighs 2lbs.
Blackberries look a lot like bunny cecotrope-y poo, which is the poo that the bunnies eat back up because it still has lots of good stuff in it. If you have bunnies you know what I'm talking about. If you don't have bunnies, you are probably gagging right now. In bunny reference material, they often say these bunny poo candies look like clusters of grapes. In truth, the bunny poo candies look like blackberries.
This bunny poo, however, is the normal poo poo type. It looks like cocoa puffs. In this case, the bunny poo looks like a smiley of cocoa puffs.
Sheep fence arrives today. Sheep on Sunday!
Killer Walnuts
Just so all of you who were holding off visiting because I could not make ice cream without jury-rigging up the machine using pantyhose strips know, I found the ice cream machine lid. It was inside one of the nightstands.
Recently Sana was staring intently out the front door, so I looked outside to see if there was a kitty friend. Cabol looked up and said 'Is there a walnut on the porch?'
Recently Sana was staring intently out the front door, so I looked outside to see if there was a kitty friend. Cabol looked up and said 'Is there a walnut on the porch?'
Frogging
I don't know why, but undoing knitting is called frogging. I like to call it ripping out. It has more passion.
Example:
Cabol says, "I had to frog 10 rows."
OR
Cabol exclaims angrily, "I had to rip out TEN rows!!!!"
See what I mean? Besides, frogs have a tough enough time living with modern pollution and shrinking habitat. Do they really need to have the negative feelings of hundreds of thousands of knitters aimed at them?
Like most knitter types, I have more than one project in progress. There's Dollie, who lately has been more sewing than knitting. There's the giant monster sock. And, there's my shawl. When I was in Arizona last Turkey Time visiting family with my parents, I somehow snoozled my mom into taking me to a yarn shop with my dad's credit card. One of the prizes of that trip for me was everything I needed to make cozy shawl Just For Me. I haven't really made anything Just For Me.
Anyhow, I was fixated on other things and didn't work on the shawl much until earlier this year. It's not a tough design, but it's one of those projects that require concentrating. I can't work on the shawl when I'm doing anything else. I can't even work on it when I'm a passenger in a car. The slightest distraction throws things all kaplooey. I probably totally RIPPED OUT my work on the shawl a dozen times or so before I realized I needed utter concentration to get things right. I also realized around that time that whenever I finish a row I have to count all my stitches to make sure I have the right number.
I found that the perfect place to work on the shawl is in this little common area / lounge at work. I can look out the window, kick up my feet, and knit in relative peace. In this perfect place, I've managed to knit enough of the shawl that it actually looks like a shawl (albeit for an infant, but still!). Each day I get about four rows done, which may not seem like a lot, but they are long rows, and there's that having to count at the end of each row and also...well...I'm slow. But anyhow, I've been happy with my four rows and the shawl has been growing.
Something happened. I'm not sure what it was, but something has invaded my little happy place. Monday I finished three rows, and there was a mistake in the last one I had to fix on Tuesday. Yesterday, Tuesday, I only finished two rows. Today. Oh...today.
Maybe they call it frogging because when you have to do it you feel like plagues of locusts are coming and frogs should really be falling from the sky.
Today I knit one row. One sad little row. And guess what? Tomorrow? Tomorrow, I get to RIP OUT three quarters of that row to fix a section where I K1 P1 instead of P1 K1. I was reading the instructions for the wrong row. When I realized my mistake (after having happily found I had the right number of stitches for that row and then moved my post it note down to the next row of instructions and realized I wasn't ready for a picot yet), I began to grieve.
I tried to deny it. No no, surely I must be mistaken! I must have already finished row 5 and just forgotten!
Then I got angry. DAMMIT. Stupid fricking bleeping blipity sun shining causing a glare on my paper! ARG!
The bargaining started next. I tried to convince myself that if I just slipped these stitches here over to the other needle and sorta flipped the yarn on the bad stitches I could fix the problem without having to RIP OUT the ENTIRE ROW. (And maybe I could have if I had a flipping tool better than a slightly dull pencil.)
Finally, as my lunch hour ticked away, I accepted reality. I will indeed have to rip out most of the row and fix the mistake. But not today.
And honestly, maybe not tomorrow. Perhaps I need to switch projects and work on the monster sock for a while. I could go for some straight knitting row after row after row.
Example:
Cabol says, "I had to frog 10 rows."
OR
Cabol exclaims angrily, "I had to rip out TEN rows!!!!"
See what I mean? Besides, frogs have a tough enough time living with modern pollution and shrinking habitat. Do they really need to have the negative feelings of hundreds of thousands of knitters aimed at them?
Like most knitter types, I have more than one project in progress. There's Dollie, who lately has been more sewing than knitting. There's the giant monster sock. And, there's my shawl. When I was in Arizona last Turkey Time visiting family with my parents, I somehow snoozled my mom into taking me to a yarn shop with my dad's credit card. One of the prizes of that trip for me was everything I needed to make cozy shawl Just For Me. I haven't really made anything Just For Me.
Anyhow, I was fixated on other things and didn't work on the shawl much until earlier this year. It's not a tough design, but it's one of those projects that require concentrating. I can't work on the shawl when I'm doing anything else. I can't even work on it when I'm a passenger in a car. The slightest distraction throws things all kaplooey. I probably totally RIPPED OUT my work on the shawl a dozen times or so before I realized I needed utter concentration to get things right. I also realized around that time that whenever I finish a row I have to count all my stitches to make sure I have the right number.
I found that the perfect place to work on the shawl is in this little common area / lounge at work. I can look out the window, kick up my feet, and knit in relative peace. In this perfect place, I've managed to knit enough of the shawl that it actually looks like a shawl (albeit for an infant, but still!). Each day I get about four rows done, which may not seem like a lot, but they are long rows, and there's that having to count at the end of each row and also...well...I'm slow. But anyhow, I've been happy with my four rows and the shawl has been growing.
Something happened. I'm not sure what it was, but something has invaded my little happy place. Monday I finished three rows, and there was a mistake in the last one I had to fix on Tuesday. Yesterday, Tuesday, I only finished two rows. Today. Oh...today.
Maybe they call it frogging because when you have to do it you feel like plagues of locusts are coming and frogs should really be falling from the sky.
Today I knit one row. One sad little row. And guess what? Tomorrow? Tomorrow, I get to RIP OUT three quarters of that row to fix a section where I K1 P1 instead of P1 K1. I was reading the instructions for the wrong row. When I realized my mistake (after having happily found I had the right number of stitches for that row and then moved my post it note down to the next row of instructions and realized I wasn't ready for a picot yet), I began to grieve.
I tried to deny it. No no, surely I must be mistaken! I must have already finished row 5 and just forgotten!
Then I got angry. DAMMIT. Stupid fricking bleeping blipity sun shining causing a glare on my paper! ARG!
The bargaining started next. I tried to convince myself that if I just slipped these stitches here over to the other needle and sorta flipped the yarn on the bad stitches I could fix the problem without having to RIP OUT the ENTIRE ROW. (And maybe I could have if I had a flipping tool better than a slightly dull pencil.)
Finally, as my lunch hour ticked away, I accepted reality. I will indeed have to rip out most of the row and fix the mistake. But not today.
And honestly, maybe not tomorrow. Perhaps I need to switch projects and work on the monster sock for a while. I could go for some straight knitting row after row after row.
Sheep Prep
We got an email from Kate at Green Fence Farm. Our sheeps are ready to come home! The plan right now is to pick them up this coming weekend. We weren't expecting to bring them home quite this soon, so we've been hustling to get things ready.
Yesterday we went to tractor supply (we had to go anyhow to get bunny litter) and picked up a bag of sheep minerals and a water bowl/bucket thingy. That was the easy part. Today, Andy started working on getting the barn ready. He had to clean a ton of junk out and pull up some plastic that the previous owners had put down. The previous owners really really liked to put down plastic. Finally, we built a wall to make a smaller, cozier area for the sheep and put down a bunch of lawn hay. Whaddya think? Would you sleep there?
It was sort of difficult to put a wall up in the middle of an open spot. Good thing there were lots of bits and pieces of wood in the barn. This next photo is shot from the backside of the wall (where the sheep will not go). It may look funny, but it seems pretty stable. (And it was all free!!!) The tires are there to add a bit of resistance to sheep pushing.
We still have to get the fencing up. Not looking forward to that task at all.
Yesterday we went to tractor supply (we had to go anyhow to get bunny litter) and picked up a bag of sheep minerals and a water bowl/bucket thingy. That was the easy part. Today, Andy started working on getting the barn ready. He had to clean a ton of junk out and pull up some plastic that the previous owners had put down. The previous owners really really liked to put down plastic. Finally, we built a wall to make a smaller, cozier area for the sheep and put down a bunch of lawn hay. Whaddya think? Would you sleep there?
It was sort of difficult to put a wall up in the middle of an open spot. Good thing there were lots of bits and pieces of wood in the barn. This next photo is shot from the backside of the wall (where the sheep will not go). It may look funny, but it seems pretty stable. (And it was all free!!!) The tires are there to add a bit of resistance to sheep pushing.
We still have to get the fencing up. Not looking forward to that task at all.
Stitch one, purl two...that's not right
I think I've conquered the pants! They aren't done yet, but the scary part of getting them to look like pants is done. I plan to finish them tonight.
As I work on this project, I sometimes think to myself: "I wonder if CatieBug will like this? What if she doesn't? What if I've spent all this time working on something, and she doesn't like it? Aie!" Then I calm down and realize that it's OK. Kim can always lie to me and tell me Catie likes it even if she doesn't.
As I work on this project, I sometimes think to myself: "I wonder if CatieBug will like this? What if she doesn't? What if I've spent all this time working on something, and she doesn't like it? Aie!" Then I calm down and realize that it's OK. Kim can always lie to me and tell me Catie likes it even if she doesn't.
Yeehaw!
I'm running up against a deadline here, and I'm not sure I'll make it! A certain little Bug is having a birthday soon, and I promised myself I'd get her dolly to her on time. Because the Bug lives in Europe and because I'm cheap ... errr.... thrifty and sending the package via llama, dolphin, and carrier pigeon (they take turns), I have set a deadline for mailing of July 31. That's not very far away!!! AIE!
Dolly is done. Casual knitted dress is done. Posh frock is done. Cowgirl outfit is NOT done. Dolly bag is NOT done. AIE. I started working on the cowgirl outfit, but the dolly bag...I'm not sure it will happen. The pattern directions make my eyes cross. I need pictures, people...not a list of steps that read like the instruction manual for the Millenium Falcon!
One of the things holding me up with the making of the cowgirl outfit was finding the right fabric for the pants. Mom sent me a bunch of cool pieces, but none of them seemed quite right for a hip cowgirl. Last weekend Andy and I were in Roanoke and managed to stumble across a Joann's store. I found some fun striped courdoroy for $1.60 a yard! I only got half a yard...so only 80 cents! We also (coughcough) stumbled across a Michael's store, where I picked up a few pieces of brown felt for...get this...80 cents! It was Super Eighty Cents Day! [FYI: We went to Michael's before Joann's, or I'd have gotten the felt there. I don't like Michael's. It's chock full o' "craft" junk that's meant to be "crafted" and then thrown out. I mean come on...what's the point of making a cute little house out of rubberfoam bits if the door doesn't open!?!?]
I've been sewing everything by hand. I was going to pull out the sewing machine, but I don't really have a place for it, and it seems like a lot of hefting and manuevering for very little benefit. It's sort of fun hand stitching anyhow. I did zigzagish on the vest and last night I was doing that thing where you sort of stich over your stiches to make things sturdier. I'm pretty slow at it, but the items are small! I think I'll get the pants mostly done tonight, but I have to get some teeny elastic this weekend to do the waist. I've left the shirt for last because the sleeves frighten me. Maybe she'll just have to be a shirtless cowgirl. Hey, don't look at me like that! She has a big vest that is like a tank top!
No pictures until the outfit is done. Sorry.
Dolly is done. Casual knitted dress is done. Posh frock is done. Cowgirl outfit is NOT done. Dolly bag is NOT done. AIE. I started working on the cowgirl outfit, but the dolly bag...I'm not sure it will happen. The pattern directions make my eyes cross. I need pictures, people...not a list of steps that read like the instruction manual for the Millenium Falcon!
One of the things holding me up with the making of the cowgirl outfit was finding the right fabric for the pants. Mom sent me a bunch of cool pieces, but none of them seemed quite right for a hip cowgirl. Last weekend Andy and I were in Roanoke and managed to stumble across a Joann's store. I found some fun striped courdoroy for $1.60 a yard! I only got half a yard...so only 80 cents! We also (coughcough) stumbled across a Michael's store, where I picked up a few pieces of brown felt for...get this...80 cents! It was Super Eighty Cents Day! [FYI: We went to Michael's before Joann's, or I'd have gotten the felt there. I don't like Michael's. It's chock full o' "craft" junk that's meant to be "crafted" and then thrown out. I mean come on...what's the point of making a cute little house out of rubberfoam bits if the door doesn't open!?!?]
I've been sewing everything by hand. I was going to pull out the sewing machine, but I don't really have a place for it, and it seems like a lot of hefting and manuevering for very little benefit. It's sort of fun hand stitching anyhow. I did zigzagish on the vest and last night I was doing that thing where you sort of stich over your stiches to make things sturdier. I'm pretty slow at it, but the items are small! I think I'll get the pants mostly done tonight, but I have to get some teeny elastic this weekend to do the waist. I've left the shirt for last because the sleeves frighten me. Maybe she'll just have to be a shirtless cowgirl. Hey, don't look at me like that! She has a big vest that is like a tank top!
No pictures until the outfit is done. Sorry.
And it was thaaaaat long!
The raspberries are pretty much gone. There were lots of dried up lil berries...but not lots of yummy ready ones. While we were picking along the fence on T. and S.'s side, T. came over and said hello. We talked berries, and he mentioned there were tons of raspberry bushes on the other side of his property in his other neighbor's land. He offered to and did call the other neighbor to see if we could go over there and pick berries, and then he led us through the grass and weeds and poision ivy to where the patch was. Alas, there weren't many berries left there, either. Perhaps next year when ours ripen, we'll talk to those folks again and see if we can pick there. We'll also need a machete. We got about a pint or two of berries from all the plants. Maybe tomorrow I can make a cobbler or somethin'?
One of our slithering friends is growing. We found this skin floating along the edge of the pond. While it was in the water, the skin still looked sort of snake shaped...especially the head part. When Andy took the skin out of the water, the tail was full like a balloon and was leaky. It was neato.
Today the ducks started eating Big Girl food. sniffle They grow up so fast! They still have baby fluff but are mostly feathers. They are working on growing wings now, too. At the tips of their wings are growing what looks like white plastic pins...I guess the foundation for their big wing feathers. And they follow Andy so well!
The blackberries should be ripe in a week or two. At least that's what T. thought, and he should know better than us. Blackberries. Ooodles and oodles of blackberries. Dang, we really need a big freezer! Ya know how lots of people set up wish lists of Amazon or Toys R Us or Bob's House of Llamas? Do you know any online stores where we can build this wish list:
- large chest freezer
- hand sheep shears
- machete
- spinning wheel
- electric fencing
One of our slithering friends is growing. We found this skin floating along the edge of the pond. While it was in the water, the skin still looked sort of snake shaped...especially the head part. When Andy took the skin out of the water, the tail was full like a balloon and was leaky. It was neato.
Today the ducks started eating Big Girl food. sniffle They grow up so fast! They still have baby fluff but are mostly feathers. They are working on growing wings now, too. At the tips of their wings are growing what looks like white plastic pins...I guess the foundation for their big wing feathers. And they follow Andy so well!
The blackberries should be ripe in a week or two. At least that's what T. thought, and he should know better than us. Blackberries. Ooodles and oodles of blackberries. Dang, we really need a big freezer! Ya know how lots of people set up wish lists of Amazon or Toys R Us or Bob's House of Llamas? Do you know any online stores where we can build this wish list:
- large chest freezer
- hand sheep shears
- machete
- spinning wheel
- electric fencing
For Catie
Posted by Cabol
on Wednesday, July 12. 2006
at 08:46
in Country Livin'
I know that every day Catie wakes up and thinks to herself, "I wonder if there will be a bunny picture on Loafkeeper today..." Well Catie, here's a picture of Hop just for you.
Bunnies really like raspberries. In this picture, Hop is dreaming about raspberries. If I had photoshop on my computer, I'd have put a little thought bubble above her head that says, "Mmmmmm....raspberries." Sort of like this (isn't Andy cool?):
The ducks are working on feathers lately. A few are sporting fancy feather masks while Little Runty is still trying to get her tail and tummy feathers going. Wings are sure to be coming soon. Ducks are pretty lucky critters....they can walk, swim AND fly. They are little web-footed super heroes!
Last night the bunnies, the ducks, the cats, and the people all got a noisy visitor. Around 3am the bunnies started thumping. I woke up and blinked a few times and noticed three cats all peering incredibly intently out our window. I looked outside but didn't see anything, so I went back to bed. The bunnies thumped some more, and the cats were still staring, so I went upstairs to the bunny room. I looked out the window there and still didn't see anything, but when I was very quiet I could hear a slurping sound. Yup. Raccoon on the living room porch feasting on bird seeds. I turned the porch light on, and the raccoon ambled a few feet away. I'm not sure why he was on the porch, though, when he had already knocked the bird feeder onto the ground below.
Mystery solved, I went back to bed, worried about the ducks with a raccoon on the loose. Throughout the night I kept hearing fits of peeping from the girls....but it didn't last long and there were no hysterical shrieks like I'd imagine a duck would make if a raccoon was ripping a leg off. This morning the only sign of the raccoon visit was the empty bird feeder on its side in the yard.
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