2ND day

hi... well we have almost made it thru 2nd day...i haven't killed him yet...as G mentioned it definitely is a "lesson in patience"..wouldn't be bad accept it is the 2nd time around..Dr said if it didn't work this time she would have to fuse the ankle..hopefully it will work this time.. We went into town to pick up a walker, he feels unsafe with the snow and ice with the crutches, and a bath chair, as he can't stand up to shower...i dropped him off at his buddy's shop while i did a bit of shopping, that way he gets to chat with his buds..and i get a few minutes by myself.. Eldest son show up for a few minutes, i had a couple of heavy chores we had to do together...seems to like his new job.. he drives one of those HUGE, HUGE trucks at the mine... 6 miles an hour for 12 hours.. he will be working over Christmas, so probably won't see them till Boxing day... that is okay.. we are having Friends for supper..so we won't be alone, Youngest boy works Christmas eve day, and i think he will stay with his grandma for Christmas dinner, she doesn't want to go to her granddaughters place for dinner, too far a way... better go and stick the pizza in the oven... Larry isn't too hungry, so we eat little and often these days..... nite, nite Sheila

the grouch is home

Hi.. well the surgery is over, and his highness is home... Dr couldn't believe how little pain meds he was using.. only T3's , everyone said that the hip would be the sorest, but the ankle is the sorest.. he is bored already, and it is only DAY 1, it is going to be a long long long winter. I think i am going to have to sleep in the spare room for the next week or so... he wakes and and starts talking to me..and i need my sleep...Sure gets dark fast now... i usually go out and feed the critters at 4 pm..and it is almost dark when i get back in... it was even darker to nite, as i had to feed the wild birds and doing the job i hate most in this world, stoking the outside fire.. i have to wear a cap as i end up scorching my bangs, guess i stick my head too close to the flames..Larry doesn't have any hair so it has never bothered him.. I have ordered him a "i walk free" a peg leg thingy where you don't have to use crutches.. WCB is going to pay for it...it should be here by Monday...i will take a picture of him and it and put it up..better go and make the JERK some supper.. nite nite sheila

too tired for words

hi..
boy am I tired... didn't sleep well last nite... &*()^%$ cat hollered all nite long, and the minute i got up to see what he wanted, ('out' i imagine) he vanished.. under the sofa..he is getting old..must be 17+ ..so he deserves to stay in, but the hollering does me in... 5 minutes after we are in bed he starts, even the bird hollers like him now...
Did dog agility again today, and that helps wear me out, of course it was cold
-4 when we started.. it is outside, but inside a roping arena, just as cold inside as it is out, but out of the wind.. the instructor brings a propane heater as she is there most of the day..6 classes starting at 9 am... we sure have some giggles, at the dogs..one large Newfoundland dog 'Maddie' who only speaks french hates the dog walk.. (a twelve foot up ramp, twelve foot on the level about 5 feet in the air, and then 12 feet back down..)anyway she gets nervous and gets her nails out then she slips and sometimes falls off as she goes up... MJ tried and tried with her today, and it just wasn't working, so she was told to skip the dog walk and go around it.. the look on the dog's face when she found out she didn't have to do it was too funny...like 'there is a God'.. she galloped around the rest of the course with a smile on her face..She is a huge dog, and we laughed at her last spring when the snow slid off the roof of the arena, it really scared her, and she headed into the smallest crate there... one that would fit a mid size dog..MJ had to take the crate apart to get her out... then she headed into one of the tunnels and wouldn't come out, MJ had to crawl into the tunnel to get her out..
One of the dogs 'Sara' barks when her handler doesn't give her the right directions.. Austin the 'Jack Russell' also gets vocal when his handler isn't fast enough for him... and my Dixie just goes around the jumps when she gets mad at me..and Jesse just runs in circles waiting for me to catch up..I ran her with a dog sweater on today... she doesn't care for it, but it did keep her warm as she has to wait an hour while i run Dixie..
Larry's surgery is on Monday.. we have to be in Kamloops by 10 am..thank goodness, i sure didn't want to go over the nite before... i would have had to have someone come in to feed the critters, and stoke the fire... i will drop him off, and then go do some Xmas shopping and then head back to see him before i go home for the nite, then go back and pick him up the next day..
I have been knitting the "flower basket shawl"which is fairly easy, but i can't be tired.. or i screw up..and end up with too few or too many stitches, then i have to find the error, rip it out to the mistake and hopefully it is not in the first 10 stitches.. which is usually is..i only have 1 set of rows and then the finally edging.. but not to nite.. I spun up some llama fibre i found, i was planning to knit a friend a pair of mitts, but as i spun it, i found it had too many guard hairs in it... so i did finish it, but am not sure if it will make a comfy pair of mitts.. I also spun up some old coloured fibre that some one gave me, i want to make a pair of those fingerless gloves... i think we should all make a pair..after Christmas of course..there is a blog with tons of patterns on it..
got to go... might do some spinning as i can't make too much of a mess of that... nite nite Friends hugs Sheila

Another week has gone by

hi
another week closer to 'Christmas'... where does the time go...had a busy week, and didn't accomplish much...did go to the Dr on Friday for renewals, and of course he took my blood pressure and it is high... and Dr wanted to put me on one of those 24 hour blood pressure machines, but when i explained how hectic our lives were... Larry's surgery and our son moving on to a new job and leaving our business high and dry and in a mess, it was okay he leave for a better job, he just left a real mess behind...we do have a young fellow who said he would hold down the fort for us till Larry can get back to the mill..DR said i could wait for a couple of weeks...Larry is trying to get all the winter's wood in, get his shop organized and get everything else done around here before he is house bound after his surgery...
Youngest son showed up on Friday, had a couple of days off, so decided to come for a visit...scared me half to death when he stuck his head in the door, i was expecting Larry, who is 5'4 and instead got Matt who is 6'4...i was off to agility Saturday morning, so left both guys at home, when i got home, Matt had moved out the old beer fridge and moved in the the newer one, and had cleaned out my back porch... he is such a good kid.. so is the other one when he isn't thinking about himself..We have been really lucky as both boys are adopted and we have had no problems with either of them, no drinking, no drugs or wild driving..
Agility was good, both dogs are working well... Dixie is finally starting to enjoy herself..and does what i ask of her... and Jesse is just too fast.. it wears me out... as we were havin company for supper on Saturday, i was totally wiped out by 11 pm .. We did laugh at our Yankee bird. we have a friend who just bought a new highway truck, so Larry taught Yankee to say "So ya bought a truck, eh Stupid" it only took him 4 days to learn how to say it... and he said it right at supper last night when they came over for supper and to play Canasta..we thought Dave was going to pee himself laughing... was going to put up a Yankee picture, but this thing won't let me do it for some reason... oh well no picture... have been working on that "flower basket shawl"... don't have a picture of it yet Karen... will put one up as soon as it is finished.. more than half done... it is a small shawl... might add another row of pattern...got lots of silk spun up...better go put supper in the oven... home grown chicken.. talk to ya soon.... Silk

November 14-07

Good day, and how goes the battle...

We have had a cold rotten week so far, cold, rain and no sun...it was +8 but with a very cold wind... Spent yesterday working at the Food Bank... what a busy place, over 50 people came thru, and 3 new ones signed up... it is very sad, but i have met some very interesting folks... we have lots of laughs..
Larry is feeling better after his flu shot... he said it made him sick... what a whiner.. we are looking into a 'i walk free', it is a crutch free walking thingy... like a peg leg, i am waiting for them to call me back to see about the price, and then i will call WCB and see if they will buy him one.. cuz if it is like last time he will not be walking on it for 3 months..and he found it really hard on his good leg and hip... here's hoping...
I got the 'flower basket shawl' started, out of handspun PURPLE silk... i am working off a GRAPH, chart or what ever ya call it..very first time... i was having a problem with the repeats but i figured out that if i covered the rest of the chart and only concentrated on the repeat it works better...have to do 7 repeats of 10 rows, and am on 4th repeat... working very fast, i was surprised..a lace pattern but not too hard to follow as long as i count stitches to make sure i haven't missed one...
I am going to order some buffalo felt from Colleen at 'Wildrose', i am going to make Larry a boot to go over his foot, so he can go outside... should work to keep him warm, wish i could sew, but will do it by hand, i found an old pattern for one..bet i have had that pattern for 15 years, why i kept it i don't know, and the fact that i found it the very first time i went to look for it..is really beyond me... better go and get something done around here...
Larry is teaching the Yankee bird to say "so ya bought a truck, eh Stupid", friend of ours has just bought a highway truck.. right now he (the bird) is saying 'truck stupid' he will have it figured out real soon, he is just too smart for words... Larry taught him to sing 'i'm in the jail house now' in 5 days.. got any suggestions what we should teach him next... last year i taught him... Merry Christmas HO HO HO...we were afraid we would hear it all spring, but he only used it over Christmas.. hugs Silk

Coast day

hi... it is just like the coast here today... damp and rainy and dark..just got in from feeding the critters...pen is getting muddy... and sheep are all wet, llama and alpaca got inside the lean to... they don't like the wet..neither do i... have to wear the goose boots (duck) L and i went for flu shots yesterday and of course it is effecting him today.. what a baby...he slept for 2.5 hours this afternoon..i just had a sore arm for a couple of hours yesterday..but fine today... Went to guild meeting yesterday... 4 of the girls went up to Sharon Wickstroms for a mini workshop on weaving... they were all overwhelmed and are trying to decide if they like it well enough to continue..weaving is not for me... i just don't have the room for one thing.. i did try weaving on a table loom, used to take it off the table for supper and when i went to put it back on the table there was a cat sleeping on it...finished what i was weaving and put it away for good.. I got my beautiful purple silk spun and plied, decided i am going to make the "flower basket shawl" with it...needed help from my knitting guru "Louisa".. to get it started..what would i do with out her.. Gave my friend her "hug me" shawl yesterday and she was delighted, her hubby is very very ill, and we just live too far apart for me to give her daily hugs, so when she wraps up in the alpaca shawl she will get a hug.. I have been spinning up some merino and silk, in "pewter".... and am now plying it on my new 'wool lee' winder.. i can't believe how much yarn one of those bobbins hold..and it is so even... even my spinning seems more even...should get it finished to nite to 'Grey anatomy', 'ER' and CSI.. Thursday is my favorite nite to sit and spin and watch the tube... my nite, L watches what he wants on the other nites... ever watch "the Deadliest Catch" about fishing boats fishing for crab in the Berring Sea... i enjoy that one too..
Better get supper started, haven't figured out what to do with the 'burger' yet...nite.... silk

where did October go

I can't believe that it is November already... time sure flies as one ages..my baby will be 27 in a week...he hates getting older...seems like just yesterday he was a baby... lucky for me both boys were good boys... never had any problems with them, no drugs, no drinking, no wild driving...of course i have no idea what they do now... but as long as they behaved themselves when i was responsible for them.. i am fine with what ever they do...

had a great day at Agility yesterday... Dixie ran really well, only a couple of mistakes on her part... lots on mine..and she is getting faster... everyone there calls her the "slow border collie"... but she is getting faster and then there is Jesse... "rat dog"... she runs with a class of dogs that all jump 16 inches, she jumps 10", so yesterday the jumps were all set for the 16" dogs from the previous class, well did she get mad... she didn't run first like she usually does, she barked, she growled, she howled, she muttered, she was p---ed right off..i couldn't keep her quiet...but the minute she finished her run, she quieted right down, she just didn't like the other dogs going first..and sure let us know about it..she is getting so good i think i will put her in a one day trial in March and maybe Feb depending on Larry's leg..

I got my new Wool Lee Winder on Friday...tried plying with it, not too sure i really like it as it really draws the wool in faster than i usually like..and it wasn't winding across as it should, but Larry figured out that the wheels weren't meshing like they should, works good now..i just have to figure out how to ease off the tension... sure is made well and finished nicely.. I started spinning some Merino and silk (Pewter) this is the first fibre, so will see how it works...better go and make dessert for supper at friends tonite.... see ya soon........... silk

trip to Kamloops

Hi... nothing exciting, took girlfriend to Kamloops so she could get her eyes checked..had the drops so things were a little fuzzy for her... had a busy day... left here around 9:30, stopped at Staples to return those darn little name tag holders that i hated and the pet store to pick up a new comb for Jackson, i broke his brush on his tough coat. Stopped at local veggie store for a few veggies.. nice and cheap.. and then Penningtons... and didn't buy a thing, can't believe that.. just didn't see anything that caught my eye...did her Dr appt and then went to Joey Only's for fish lunch.. and then Costco and only spent 100 bucks in the 200 buck store. Went into Merritt for the other stuff today... again nothing intersting other than my Wool lee winder came today... and i bought 10 bucks worth of 649 tickets.... I will take ya all on a trip if i win...
I finally got that alpaca shawl finished, and will put the picture up as soon as i give it to her... just encase she reads this.. turned out good... softened up nicely after the spinning oil was washed out.... finished spinning up my beautiful purple silk, and am now plying blue/pink/purple alpaca and a thread... looks good Hugs silk