another quiet day

Morning, sure don't know where the time has gone, 3 weeks since my surgery, I am doing fine, still a little tender, finally took all the tape off, it was starting to peel my skin off...so that feels better too.. still not lifting anything, and am going to start walking this afternoon, need to get my strength back..Guild had our bi weekly meeting at Andrea's yesterday, we helped her get her wool sample cards finished... took us an hour and a half, and there were 5 of us plus Andrea working on them..must take her forever if she does them herself...had a good visit while we worked. Only a week till Desert Mesa, i sure need to get away... Larry has a cold and like all men, he thinks he is dying..he is feeling better today and slept better last night, and has gone to town today, we need new antifreeze in the Jimmy, so i imagine he is doing that... he is grumpy, cuz i think he is tired of doing all the chores, that i have done for years...he only has to feed two different pen of sheep, and the dogs...big deal eh!...hopefully the one pen of sheep will be out of here by the weekend... and then we can turn the other pen into the big pen with the Long neck lizards as he calls the Llama and the alpacas.. going to babysit Judy Sue's little silky dog and her single pup..as they are off to the island this weekend..seem we have a different dog every weekend... Ben, the shitz/Pomeranian, Jesse, jack russel X, and Lavender a silky..
Finished my shawl for show and tell at Desert Mesa, blocking it, and then just have to add some bling..will put the pictures up as soon as the birthday girl get it..i used some of Andrea's Cherry merino, it turned out very nice, changed the gauge of needles, as i found my homespun was a little thick...i have 3 shawls to do as gifts this next year...one for April, one for Aug and one for Dec... so i had better get my rear in gear on get the yarn spun up.. April's is done, and Aug is almost done, and haven't decided on what to do for Dec's... better go and print off the mailing lists for the retreat... talk to ya soon sheila

finally got to drive

Well, it has been two weeks today since i became perky...hard to believe where the time has gone...decided that i could drive, so started yesterday, was a little sore last night, but feeling good today... think i will start walking today, take the dogs up the hill for a short walk... ... Took Jesse to agility yesterday, i didn't run her, my friend did, Jesse worked really well for her, she wanted to run so bad she didn't care who she ran with..it has been a month since i last took her.. and she has put on quite a bit of weight, she was worn out by the end of the class yesterday..Joe and Kelly are off to Edmonton on Friday, so Larry is picking her up today, and she will get a good start on her diet..Got rid of 6 of the Shetlands on Sunday, got a neighbour to come up and help Larry separate the Shetlands we are keeping, the big sheep who are going this week (i hope) and the Shetlands Judy Sue was going to take...So now we are down to 12 Shetlands and one llama and 4 alpacas, should really cut down on the hay we use...Larry likes the Shetlands, and he is upset that we have to give up the big sheep..he really like the old ram "Jack"... who is a really big baby..but it is time to start cutting back... one day we will be down to the "long necked lizards" (llama and alpacas) as Larry calls them..and hopefully we won't replace the old dogs, 5 dogs is 3 too many..we just can't go anyway with all these critters...better go and walk the pups....

8 days since

Hi... it has been 8 days since the surgery, and i am feeling better every day..no pain, just uncomfortable, went to Dr today, got him to check the incision, so i could have a shower... and he gave me the go ahead... i hate not being able to shower, but i almost knocked Larry over getting to the bathroom, sure felt good, and i sure do smell better...Went to the guild meeting, they are just great, gave me a real boost in self esteem and confidence, i didn't stay too long, as Larry is still driving me around, and is opening doors for me still... He is off to Kelowna tomorrow, taking our friend to Kelowna to catch a plane, i of course offered him to take her... they like each other so will chat the whole way... Just heard from a friend who has moved up to Bowren Lakes, she has 10 acres up there, with a log cabin, bears, wolves, and cougars are her nearest neighbours, but she say she sleep with a 30/30 rifle... she has a young Airedale and 5 chickens and a cat for company... she is sure braver than i am...but she loves it up there.... better go and get supper started, i am slowly starting to cook, Larry does the stuff that i don't want to do, just incase i pull a stitch.... talk to ya soon..

Tiny boobies

For all those who know me, I am (was) very well endowed in the boob department... I have been having problem with my neck, back and shoulders, so have been wanting a "breast reduction"...I started about 4 years ago, thinking about it, then Mom had breast cancer, and we did the genetic testing thing... turns out that she didn't carry the hereditary breast cancer gene, that took over 15 months to get the appt and then the results, but we were happy with the results, so then i really started looking for a surgery, a dear Friend had hers done by a woman surgeon in Vancouver, took Dr name into my family GP, and they didn't carry thru with it... so i waited for a couple of months and then got on the GP's case, got an appt right away, then Larry broke his leg, so another delay, got 2nd appt when he got mobile, then he had to have 2nd surgery, so another cancellation... finally got another appt for April this year... and as i am a little overweight(giggle) she wanted me to lose 20 pounds before she would do the surgery, so i got right at it, lost the 20 pounds, and then had to wait for the BC medical to approve the surgery, so i finally got an appt for surgery Sept 17..and then I began to doubt myself, but Larry was very supportive, so i gritted my teeth and had the surgery last Wednesday...an hour surgery and it was all done, they kept me in hospital overnight as i am a diabetic and they want to keep track of the blood sugar..they got the pain under control in the first hour, I was amazed at how little pain there was after that and that was the last pain meds i took till i got back to Mom's, and then it was just Tylenol, extra strength. I am uncomfortable, but no real pain, and i am starting to itch, not very polite scratching the boobs... so now i have much smaller boobs that are PERKY...Larry is being very good, but he owes me big time... i went thru cardiac artery surgery, heart attack, and two surgeries on his leg...he is a very poor cook, so he is taking lessons, and is finding out that it is not too bad... Larry has been really good, he has helped change the dressings, opens car doors, did the laundry yesterday and even washed my hair today...they surprise us sometimes...I can hardly wait to go buy a new bra...but that will be a while yet...i weighted myself before the surgery and again when i got back home to Mom's and to my dismay i had gained 6 pounds...but i think it was all the IV they give ya.. but i am feeling good, and am enjoying doing nothing for a day or two..i have been teasing the fleece (blue faced Leicesters) i bought in Olds... beautiful stuff... going to try and knit this afternoon... hope it doesn't hurt.... will write soon........... hugs sheila

Weird pictures this time around

hi..what a beautiful morning today...cold but now sun is shining and it is warming up nicely...Have had a great week... played canasta with the gang last night, we played till midnight... way too late for this old lady... but the girls beat the guys again... sure ticks them off, and we love it... I am going to add a few pictures today...

this is some kind of grinder, flour, corn, hay.. does anyone have any idea what it would be used for... our eldest son found it for his dad, who just loves rebuilding old machines..if anyone knows or knows of someone who might know, please feel free to email me.
I found this caterpillar in my bucket of chokecherries, those eyes on his head are not eyes they are just markings.. he was very big, about 2 inches long and as big around as my thumb..i just loved him... put him on the small chokecherry bush by the gate, wonder what he would look like after he became a moth or butterfly or what ever...

this is a gate sign painted by one of my friends, Clara, Larry gave her several old saw blades, and she painted this sign for us... i have seen several things painted on old blades, and i really didn't care for them, but i really love this one..and she is very talented, I had tons of paints, books, and brushes, and i haven't painted for years, so she got it all...i know if i ever want to paint something, i will be able to get some of it back... but don't think i will paint again..

We are getting ready to head to the coast tomorrow for a few days, leaving the bad dogs, Dixie and Jackson at the kennel down the road, the neighbour is going to come in and feed the sheep and the old dogs(the ones who don't get into trouble), we are taking Yankee with us, as Larry figures he will freeze if we leave him alone in the house.. we heat with wood, so there won't be any heat in here while we are gone..I have been going down to the kennel to visit Andrea's dog Locket... Andrea has never left her at a kennel before, and was worried she would stress out, but Mr Parker really liked her so takes her out to do her business, she is a retired "seeing eye dog" and won't do her business on cement... i take her down to the river and we play with a stick for 20 minutes. I picked my "grannie smith" apples today, it would just be my luck that a bear would come in while we were gone, and eat them all... with Jackson and Dixie in the yard, i would never worry about a bear coming in to get them...going to pick my peaches this after noon

it is a self pollinating"Canadian Harmony", free stone, they are still hard, but i am going to pick them this afternoon, and put them in the fridge till i get home

well better go empty the dryer and add the 2nd load... getting ready to go tomorrow... just laundry and packing to do.... will write when i get back... hugs sheila

crazy people in our lives

Had our first guild meeting Wednesday... only 6 of us showed up... several are away, one just got out of hospital, one had cataract surgery yesterday...Andrea stopped by, she is leaving tomorrow for a cruise on an 18 passenger wooden boat from Ketihcan to Bella Coola.. 10 days, no cooking, and hopefully they will see the "spirit bear"...now to the strange people in my life... about a year ago, i got a phone call from a lady who wanted help to fix up a spinning wheel... anyway i invited her to a guild meeting, but was unable to go myself, turns out that she is 96 years young, anyway she never came back to any meetings, life just got in the way for her...anyway she phoned me couple of weeks ago, and she had some wool that she would like to have spun up... so i told her that i would mention it to the guild, and see if any of them would do it, plus i told her that we would have to see the fleece before anyone would commit to spinning it to her... so she has phone several times over the last two weeks, and in one of these calls, she mentioned it was from her father's prize sheep, now do you remember i said she was 96...so that fleece was really old, but she was sure it would be fine, that it was well wrapped up... so anyway she was going to bring it to the meeting , and then she phone back and told me that her car was getting fixed and could i pick her up, so that was organized, until this morning and she told me that she had just become a great grandmother and that her family was all excited, and that she couldn't' come with me..but could i pick up the fleece, so of course i picked it up, and when i did i asked her how old she thought the fleece was... it was from the 1950's so that make the fleece almost 60 years old..so i took it to the meeting and took it out of two orange plastic bags, a box and a cotton bag..and must to my surprised it looked okay... that is until i picked it up... and it was so brittle that when i tugged on it, it broke into tiny pieces..but what would you expect of wool at least 60 years old, it might even be older... so i took it back to her, of course she wasn't' home, so i just left it on the step... had a few things to do before i came home, but by the time i got home she had phoned twice... and the last message said, she thought the fleece looked really good..so anyway i called her back and left a message that it was brittle and nothing could be done with it... haven't heard back from her, so hopefully i won't..it won't be too bad if she was really interested in the meetings, and she didn't have such a whinney voice... Went to visit "Locket" Andrea's dog in the dog kennel down the road, and she is doing fine, i took her down to the river and threw a stick for her for half an hour... what a lovely dog...and very well trained... i am putting my two Monsters in the same kennel on Monday as we are off to the coast for 4 days, neighbour is coming in to feed the sheep and old dogs, but those two, Jackson and Dixie will just get into too much trouble if we are not home..so it is much easier to put them in the kennel and then not worry about them... we are talking the bird with us... Larry figures he will freeze to death here in the house, as we don't have any heat on yet, (we heat with wood), so will take him to Grandma's and all the neighbours will come to hear him talk, which he probably won't do with strangers around.... better go get my act in gear and get to town and then stop and walk "locket" on my way home... hugs

busy week

so sorry, i haven't been writing lately, don't know where the week has gone..We did a demo at the local Fall Fair this weekend, had a great time, love talking to the old guys who know all about spinning wheels...and the little boys who really want to try a wheel, and try to convince you that they know how to spin... it was really cold there on Sunday, had to go outside into the sun to warm up... Well I sold my old ewes and ram... to a woman who i know will look after them... 4 ewes and a ram...she had a cattle ranch for years, and does know animals, although not much about sheep...she has already sold Jack's fleece for next year...i will miss them, but the cost of hay keeps going up, and i never get enough for the lambs to pay for the hay... it is a losing venture... we will keep the Shetlands, although i am looking for homes for a couple of the lambs ..so if you want one, the price is right...Shetlands don't eat as much, so hopefully the hay will last longer... my plan is eventually to get rid of the sheep and just keep the llama and the alpacas...and buy mini bags of hay cubes for them... someday down the road... Youngest Son was up for a couple of days, he just bought himself a new bed, he had bought one years ago, but couldn't afford the frame, so he has slept on the floor for years, now he can afford a better bed, and of course you need a step ladder to get into these new ones.., but he does like it... I am still working on my stole for a birthday gift... so won't show it to ya until i get it finished and she had it wrapped around her... I have been skirting this year's fleece, they are really nice, i think the cold weather last winter really helps make them fine, and soft... Toni wants "little bit's" fleece, but if you remember Larry was here by himself when the shearer came, and he didn't mark the bags, so i guess she will have to have both of the white fleece, cuz i can't tell which one is which...Jack's fleece weight 12 pounds after a very heavy skirting.. must have weight about 15 or 16 pounds before...and of course it is a lovely fleece, a lovely shade of grey...it gets lighter and lighter every year... I washed a chunk of a couple of Shetland fleeces, and they are very nice too...I guess i will have to get my rear in gear and get them washed... i also have that "blue face Leicester" that i bought with Kerry at olds... it is a real beauty... i must email the lady who raised them, as i would like another one... well better go... Oh yeah, i remember what i was going to mention.... i bought some of the new Tide with Dawn Stain Scrubbers, and boy does it work good... first time i used it, i used it on Larry's coveralls, and it took out all the oil stains out, so much so that he even noticed it... wanted to know what i did to get them so clean, at the time i didn't know, but then remembered that i had used the new bottle of Tide, and since then i have noticed that it has really gotten OLD stains out of some of my work T shirts..and the whites seem much whiter...give it a try...oh yeah, i also bought some rubber balls that go into the dryer... don't know if you ever wash new blue jeans, but they always come out really wrinkled..and they have to be washed a couple of times to soften them up... well "Coopers"(jimmy pattison grocery store here in the Interior) had these blue balls, (they look like a dog toy), so anyway i threw the jeans in the dryer with these balls, and i was amazed at how NOT WRINKLED they were... the jeans not the balls... it has been a good week in the clean clothes department...