Almost December

Morning, sure don’t know the time flies these days, i had a good week, Guild meeting on Wednesday, with a new young spinner… she caught right on… now we have to find a wheel for her to use… i have my old Ashford, so will dig it out of moth balls, tune it up, oil it up and get it delivered..  Finished spinning up the Quivit i got for my gift at the retreat, 2.2 oz, 63 grams, and i got 400 plied yards, just enough to make something..i love the quivit, but i don’t like the colour, so i dyed it yesterday “cranberry”,  don’t know what happened to that sentence… silly computer does its own thing sometimes..  It has been acting up since Larry started using it… thank goodness he (we) have figured out how to use it… he is getting much better at navigating himself around.. he has figured out ebay and several sites he checks out every day… He almost has his “old tin” engine finished..just two pieces left to come..i will take a couple of pictures of it… he has done a nice job, i won’t tell him that though..

Had friends over for cards on Saturday, only one couple, instead of 2.. so we played a new game, Canasta, but a different variety..”Hand and Foot”… the guys whined when we decided to play it, but they did like it by the time we were finished..a lot more thinking with this one..a lot higher points… but a bit more complicated..it was fun… girls won both games…we used to play it years ago, again it was different, i find with canasta everyone has their own rules…

Levis and i had an okay time at Agility on Saturday, he loves to be with me, but he isn’t that excited about going over jumps… he loves the teeter, the A frame and the dog walk, and is fast on all of them… the instructor was standing the middle of the run, and he just quit.. that is not good, as when we run in a trial there are volunteers sitting around the edge of the arena..I was thinking of putting him in a trial the middle of December, but i don’t think he is ready yet..so i guess i will wait till spring..and try to get him more excited running the course… i would love to be able to “Q” Qualify, in every class i run first time around..Jesse and I took almost 18 months to get all our “Q”s, I haven’t seen her since September… and i really do miss her… but Levi keeps me busy keeping him out of trouble..I have been really surprised that he has been really quiet at the classes, he is usually very vocal when he can’t get to me, but he is the quiet one in the class, just sits and watches..  Weather has been good, had a bit of snow yesterday, but it was gone by 10 am..poor Lynne R is snowed in… Started knitting on my vest again… shoulder and arm have been aching so i thought i would take some time off knitting, but that didn’t work… still aching, guess i will have to go to the Dr to figure out what is wrong, although i am staying away from there with all this flu going around. 

Sun,Rain, and Snow

In the last 30 minutes we have had sun, rain, and now it is snowing… Levi and i headed out for our walk, and the sun was shining and the breeze was warm, 5 minutes down the road it started raining, and by the time i got home, it was pouring, came in and dried my hair, and looked out the window and now it is snowing, and now it is raining…I walked across the field, and after 24 hours of rain, (which we never have) there wasn’t any water laying in the fields and the ground was firm not sloppy with rain…Spuis Creek is 10 times higher than it was a week ago, and very muddy…In the 30 + years we have lived in the area, we have never had so much rain in 24 hours… at least 3+ inches, can ya imagine how much snow that would be… 10 inches of snow to a inch of rain..but we sure needed the rain… spoke to Andrea this morning and it had snowed 3” up there, she is quite a bit higher than we are…

Donna and i are revamping the door prizes for the Spring retreat… it kind of got out of control at the Fall Retreat…everyone was very generous and brought all kinds of stuff for the door prize, enough so that everyone got a gift..think this spring we will have 2 or 3 baskets full of very nice gifts, and just raffle the 2 or 3 baskets off..and use the raffle $$ to purchase gifts for the next retreat…

Just looking out my bay window, before i headed for my walk, there was no snow on the small mountain to the south… now the rain and snow has stopped and the sun is coming out again… the top half of the mountain is covered in snow..

Larry replaced the bathroom taps yesterday, sure are nice… we will need a new sink soon.. we have been in this mobile for 20+ years and it was 10 years old when we got it… would love a new house, but we do have a roof over our heads and it is paid for…have to win a Lottery before i get a new house…

Played cards on Saturday nite, we played two great games, the Losers(the guys) won the first game and we(the Lovelies) won the second game…they both were real cutthroat games…but i love those kind… I won us the last game…i didn’t have high enough cards in my hand to meld, so was able to play all the small cards i had, except a lonely pair of 4’s and Dave was sure that all the 4’s had been played, but guess what, I had 2… won the pile and was able to make 3 red canastas worth 500 points each…. what a giggle..

think i am going to have to quit knitting for a while, my elbow has been acting up, only when i knit though… so will spin for a few nights..

Had oldest son Joe over for supper last night, he comes for supper as least once a week now that he and his spouse have split up…we had home grown chicken, now that the boys have left home, we finish the chickens off at about 3 to 4 pounds… with him here last night, there is hardly enough chicken left for supper tonight..so now i remind why we finished them at 7 to 8 lbs when they were at home… this is a picture of my Mom taken several Christmas ago at my brother’s place, why she is wearing a gas mask i have no idea, but thought you might like to met her, and see where i get my goofy ideas from This is what she looks like (one on the right) without the mask… this was taken in Whiterock right after she finished her chemo for breast cancer…don’t we look alike… the other is her friend Grace, who used to be a teacher in Pemberton..they live in the same mobile home park in Langley..  The SUN is shining again…. see ya soon……. sheila

OH what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day

Good thing you can’t hear me sing, as i can’t carry a tune in a bucket…Both yesterday and today are just beautiful, must have been up to at least +12 yesterday and right now it is +6, and i have the front door open…took Jackson for a walk yesterday, he sure enjoyed it… he must have peed 10 times by the time we got to the end of the driveway…he gets his nose to the ground and just goes… but he keeps looking back at me to see where i am… took him down to the creek, he loves water, but won’t drink or wade as his nose was working overtime… we have always thought he would make a good tracking dog, but his one knee isn’t great, and i don’t think he could handle charging thru the bush.. then went to town, and had lunch with Andrea, she is on her own this month as her hubby is off to the Antarctic again… for 3 trips this time, but we had a good chat… did a bit of shopping and then home…

Took Levi for his walk this morning, been using the “haltie” on him… it is like a horse halter, keeps good control on an dog who thinks he is boss.. you can pull on him, and it brings his head down and around, so you have much more control on him…

Larry has been after me for some “date and nut loaf”, so am doing all kinds of loafs today.. cherry loaf, lemon loaf and date and nut… got the cherry loaf in the oven..lemon loaf half made and the nuts chopped for the date and nut…

It has been so warm that i think my currant bush is got buds on it..sure hope this weather lasts… and we don’t need the expensive snow tires… needed to add a picture so found one of the noisy bird…his newest words are “don’t be a guinea” and ‘Yankee’s a guinea…’  right now he is carrying on a phone conversation… the side he hears… “hi, how ya doing, okay, I'm fine, okay, what's that, ok man see ya…”  wish you could hear him…

 

this is old Willy, he has to be about 18 years old… and looking every year of it…. see ya soon

Happy Fall

Just where has the time gone..It is almost winter, and i do hate winter… My baby boy will be 29 next week, poor boy is not impressed, he doesn’t want to get older..but what can one do… he is so hard to buy a gift for… so i just get him a gift certificate, so he has buy just what he wants…  How do you like the new picture on the blog heading, Lynne R put a lovely picture on hers, and i was impressed, so i went looking to figure out how to do it… not quite what i wanted for the font, but i do like Jesse’s picture… thought i might change it every month..just for variety..

Finally finished the “Swallow tail shawl, and got it blocked.. pictures aren’t that great, but i really am happy with the shawl… will try for more pictures, maybe outside on the next sunny day..  I am really happy with the beads.. My Mom asked me the other day how many shawls i had made, so i sat down and thought about it… i have made 17 shawls… and still have a few more to go…. the alpaca one went up to Heather at Bowron Lake this week… her son was going up to visit so i sent it with him… hope he remembered to give it to her

  Here is a picture of our lovely BROWN eggs..i love pullet eggs, had to lock up the biddies, as the dogs were hassling the ones who kept getting out..

Levi and I are doing great at agility… we are now in a class of advanced beginners… our instructor goes away to workshops, comes home and works the pants off us… this time it was all jumps and tunnels, with lots of twists and turns… I will need to get someone to take some pictures of Levi doing jumps or tunnels… he did really well this week… he is very stubborn, but when we connect he is very good… listens to me some of the time…i end up going over the course time and time again in my head after the class. 

The guild was very pleased with the show at the Art Gallery… we didn’t sell much, but we did get some very good comments in the Guest book…

The weather sure has been good… cool, and rainy, but very little frost, it could stay like this all winter… the river is up, and creek are filling up…we don’t have a water problem as we are on a aquifer..(which is actually an underground lake)..

Levi and i are walking every day now… i even run a bit…run a bit and walk a bit, trying to loose a bit more weight, and build up the breathing.. 

Larry is still playing with his motors.. this is the latest one he got… lucky for me he didn’t have to pay for it… a gift from a friend…it is also very rare… he is still checking out the internet, trying to find stuff about it…  Here is latest pics of Levi… Larry has a habit of giving all the critters nicknames… Levi’s is “baboon”…

I have started on my next project… for me this time… a jacket done in the “feather and fan” pattern… drives me nuts… i keep making mistakes.. only one row of pattern in 4 rows, and i make mistakes… i keep putting YO’s into places where they don’t need to be… i think because i have done so many lace patterns, it is merino and silk in Glacial green it is coming along slowly..   well i had better go feed the dogs, and gather the eggs…. talk to ya soon………….. Sheila

 

Almost November

Where has the year gone, only 2 months left until 2010… sure glad i don’t live at the coast and have to deal with the Olympics…I even decided that i won’t go over to Dream Spin on the island this year… as it is in Feb…feel sorry for the residents of Whistler..can’t even go shopping with out a pass..

Our Desert Mesa Retreat was a blast as usual, we had a lovely rain, lasted almost all day, we haven’t had a good rain for over 5 months…We had a full house as usual, we did lose 2 guests , Bev and Jean, they both had mini strokes a week apart and they live right across the road from each other… must be the water… giggle..  Our retreat Hosts, Carol and Horst are retiring in December, we will miss them, they have been really great to us the last 6 years…the new guests seemed to enjoy themselves, and plan on coming back..we love all the original guests, but it wonderful to meet new ones…The show and tell was wonderful as usual… the Merritt girls didn’t have much to show as all our stuff was at the art gallery… Marie did bring a shawl that i made for her for her 60th birthdaythis is the picture of it that i took when i was on the island last Feb.. ..i didn’t take any pictures of the retreat… too busy visiting… starting to look forward to the April retreat all ready..

I planted 120 cloves of garlic yesterday… the Garlic guy was here visiting Larry, and darn him, he won’t help me… he told me that they planted 6000 bulbs of garlic this year… last year they planted 4000 and got 600 lbs of garlic..he grows the Russian Red hard neck… i bought 2 lbs from him earlier and planted that… i love the hard neck stuff better than the soft neck stuff…

Levi and i were off to Agility on Saturday, it was the first time he had been in the roping arena, so i got there early to get him used to the smells and sounds and all the different dogs, which are all new to him… it is amazing that they really know that the dogs are different…we are now in a class of beginner advanced dogs… and he did really well, in fact better than some of the other dogs..one girl (woman) is running her daughters dog, dog is trained but the handler isn’t, and then there is me, trained handler, but untrained dog…i was really pleased with him, although he is a “Hard headed Aussie”…and is very stubborn… but we practice at home, doing jumps and weave poles… this is Levi the first day we brought him home… he is doing so much better, his nose was dry and rough, as were his feet, his nose is nice and wet and black, and his feet have softened up…and he has gained some weight, and his coat is nice and shiny..better take some new pictures of him… need to get someone to take some pictures of him on the equipment…

Larry is in town getting ‘gold’ snow tires put on the Jimmy… hope they last a few years..there is snow on the Coquihalla, so guess it is time..nice to have a half day to myself..  The new hens are starting to lay… had 8 eggs yesterday…love the pullet eggs… must remember to take a picture of them as they are so pretty…

Better go and start the laundry, and do some knitting, i am knitting the “swallow tail shawl”.. i hate the ‘nupps’ so am following Melody’s lead and using beads in the place of nupps, and i am very happy with it… should have it finished soon… can’t believe that i will have it finished 2 months in advanced… have several different plans, just have to figure out which one do do first… OH yeah… at the gift exchange at the Retreat, I got 30 grams of Quivit..from Louise…after the exchange she came over and asked me if i like it… now who won’t like Quivit..she asked me if i would like some more… and she gave me another 30 grams… and it is lovely stuff, very few guard hairs, and no veggie material…so i think as soon as i get my Traveller wheel back on Saturday,(it is on display at the Art Gallery) i will spin it up… no idea what to make out of it… maybe the “swallow tail shawl”… as i will need about 400 yards for the original… I doubled the size of the main part of the shawl i am working on now…should be the right size…okay… time to go get something done…. Bird is yakking up a storm…. one night he was saying “thank you Larry, thank you Larry…and then Larry said, You are welcome Yankee, and Yankee said…”Pardon Me”…right now he is yelling at the dogs… telling Dixie to Shut up…and then tells me that “Yankee is a snookie”…Yankee a big bird, what a bird, do ya want out… sure do love that crazy critter…. talk to ya soon……….  S.

I’M BACK

Hello… I’m back…sure don’t know where the time has gone… sorry i have been away so long…been busy… the Guild has set up a display at the Court House Gallery.. for the month of October.. This is what it looked like before we started… the girl in the picture is the Gallery Manager Kathi, and if you look really close you can see her little parrot on her shoulder…”Zoe”  cute little bird.. this is us.. me, Caroline, Andrea. Annie and Sheila S before we started This is Caroline working on a display… Annie was a floral designer, so she has the “FLARE” that we needed.. took us about 3 hours, and we were really plelased with the result.. Annie brought this lovely walking wheel, which i would love to own if i had room for it… she said i could have it…now i just need to get a house.. This is all my stuff.. kind of hard to show off shawls.. This is one of Andrea’s woven shawls and a knit shawl by Annie All the gloves hanging in the box are a guild project… fingerless gloves..and a few pair of socks This is a picture of my “wee peggy” (the one on the right, and one of Annie’s old wheels.. This is my girlfriends shawl that i gave her on her 60th.. the one i forgot… i knew i had given it to her, but forgot what it looked like This is baskets of skeins for sale.. This is the room when we were finished… we were very pleased with it..I hope we decided to do it again next year..  okay i have put enough pictures in, so i will write about Desert Mesa next time around… guild meeting tomorrow…

Frost

Boy, it was chilly this morning.. i slept in, and at 8 am, it was 1 degree… so imagine how cold it was earlier… just couldn’t stay awake this morning..i don’t sleep-in very often, so it was nice for a change..

Larry and i went to a “Garlic Festival” yesterday… they had an old tractor parade, and several of the hit mad miss motors that he likes, I had bought my garlic a couple of weeks ago, so i really didn’t need any… they also had some garlic mustard that i would like to have bought but they sold out the first hour…i did taste it and it was nice… will ask her if she will make some more this winter… they were also selling garlic powder, but i thought it was a bit expensive… about $12 for about 4 oz… i like fresh garlic… 

Then we went out for supper… and cards, and we got our butts kicked, and of course the guys won’t let us forget it… only the four of us this weekend, Clara is in PEI, and her hubby Steve is in Fort St John hunting with his boys…we are having thanksgiving here, deep frying one of our turkeys..

Cleaned out a bit of the garden this morning… the beans, zucchini, lettuce, and a few weeds…gave them all to the chickens… the new hens sure have tamed down, when they were in their original pen, they were really flighty, i would walk into the pen and they would hide in the back corner, but when i put them into the new chicken house with the 5 old hens, they calmed right down, one even came up to me for a treat… no eggs yet, it will be a couple months yet as they are only 3 months old.. we will get the meat birds and turkeys earlier next year..and be all done by end of June..

I get the whole day by myself tomorrow..Larry and Joe are off to Alexis Creek, a friend of our lives up there, and she has a part of one of Larry’s motors as a flower pot, and she said he could have it… it is the only  part left that he needs… a nice quiet day and then Agility with Levi at 5, and i just might stop and get myself some Chinese take away… they have the very best Ginger beef..  not quite sure what i will do tomorrow, clean up a bit, and then sit and spin for a while, then knit and then read… I am reading ‘The kite flyer’, very interesting, and then i plan on reading his next book, about the women in Afghanistan..what a strange country…

Retreat time is getting closer… i can hardly wait… talk to ya soon……this is willy… getting very old, he is at least 18 years old..