OMG

More than once, lately, I have said to Sweetie,"Things need to change." I am usually in tears when I say this.

So. 

Things are changing. I have contacted a real estate agent and will meet with her on Tuesday. 

Sweetie has a job for the taking in Missouri. I KNOOOOOOOW! (spoken a la Craig Ferguson.)

However. Whether he takes said job or not, we are moving within 6 months. I so much need a smaller house. Sweetie so much wants me to be around smarter people. 

Two things that I have told him lately seem to have made an impression. One is that we are one illness or one accident away from bankruptcy, as I am not insured, healthwise. Also, I will be almost 65 in a mere 11 years. Both of those items shocked him, yet it used to be he that could see the Big Picture. (Bless him for not realizing how ancient I almost am.)

There has been a job offer, to the west of here. Apparently, the job is his if he wants it and we care to move. We will go west to investigate next weekend. Thank goodness for the innertubes, which allows me to check out home prices, grocery stores, drug stores, etc.

So. I am making plans to move, no matter what. We will either be west or east of here in six months. 

Excuse me while I go and comtemplate drinking bleach.

2:20 minutes of clouds, wind and rain

Oh, my holy trousers.

Stephen Fry reads from his memoir on BBC Radio 4. I particularly liked the bit about a fax machine and Stephen Sondheim. Hurry, the links expire in a week.

Ain't no use.

So. 

My 35th high school reunion came and went last weekend, and I didn't attend. I had decided to go, at one point. It would have been great to see this, that, or another person after all these years. Then it became apparent that, out of a class of 500, maybe 25 people were attending. And these people were not my friends, or even my good buddies.

I am positive that if I had gone, I would have been happily welcomed. These folk had not been overtly hateful to me, back in the day, as dozens of others had been.

But, on the other hand, neither had they been there to comfort me when my mother died. The memory of me weeping uncontrollably in class, during a showing of "Brian's Song," not long after her funeral, still lingers. No person, not even the teacher, thought to offer me tissues. 

I became quite ill during my final semester of senior year with Grave's Disease and I could not continue school. My mother had had thyroid disease, too.

I cannot recall anybody, save for two friends and my high school counselor, who gave a rat's ass about me or tried to help. (After all these years, my memory may be faulty.)

I never graduated high school. I had surgery, a partial thyroidectomy, the summer of '75, and even my older brothers were absent. Where were they?

I left home for good that August, and still I wonder why I keep looking back, wishing and hoping that I missed something.

The Tails of Three Mice

So, it's getting to be fall around here, and the creatures are going about their business of surviving winter. The hummingbirds have flown south, raccoons are staking out territory, I am putting on weight. 

And the outside mice are trying to become inside mice.

The first one I found thanks to Millie, who had it cornered in the linen closet. She flushed it out and took it to the bath tub and released the little thing. It was a baby whose body was no more than an inch long. She caught it again and let it go. Then she pawed it a bit as it struggled to climb the sheer, slick walls. I picked it up by the tail, took it outside, and let it loose.

The second I found in the kitchen sink, about 11 in the evening, and again the porcelain walls prevented escape. For this grown one, I used a dishcloth to pick it up and he, too, went outside.

That's when I finally located the mousetrap, baited it with peanut butter, and went to bed. About 2 am, Foxy and Princess both went nuts and woke me up, so I checked on the trap. It was nowhere to be seen. Damn Millie must have ran off with the entire thing. I looked for her without luck, then went back to bed. 

Up this morning, bright and early, to get Sweetie off to work. Doors open and close, and in comes Millie from the outside. Hmmm. I hear a bell, and notice Reece's on a kitchen chair, and look down under the table. There is the mouse with a trap closed onto its hind foot. 

"You want me to shoot it?" Sweetie asked as I took it outside.  

"No, you don't hang a man twice," I replied as I pried open the spring and watched it scamper away.

It's Free! Only a dollar.

No sooner than I cast off and finished the shawl,  did I cast on for the Seaside Cardigan, a free download on Ravelry. The shaping will indeed look good on my body, although I'm not crazy about the sleeves.  I'll most likely make the sleeves wrist length and plain, with maybe one lace motif to finish. The knitting of it proceeds apace; it is a neck down pattern with raglan sleeves. I am using the green tweedy Cascade 220 I bought from WEBS for the pullover sweater Wisteria, because I decided that a cardigan would do me better service in the long run. I was also having trouble getting gauge with the Wisteria. I hate it when that happens.

It is still unseasonable warm here, and very dry, although there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow and a few more days after. The grass doesn't need cutting, but I should get out there and chop up the fallen maple leaves so they can become mulch and not grass killing mats.

Foxy woke me up this morning around 2am, and I looked out into the front yard to see if there was anything truly out there. I saw Millie in the driveway, or so I thought; it didn't respond when called or jingle as it moved. It was a raccoon, and I was perhaps ill-advised to approach it unarmed, which I did. Shoo! Scat! I said loudly, and it lumbered slowly across the yard. I found a long stick, which I shook at the beast and sometimes was able to even poke at its slowly moving behind. I finally had moved it into Good Neighbor Nancy's yard, which I thought was far enough away for the time being.

All chickens and current outside bunnies are accounted for, although I worry about Chocolate Chip's latest litter who are possibly still blind and helpless under the house. Time to tighten the doors to the crawl spaces.

The trees that still have leaves, here in Lovely LAconia

The Red Oak

The Cottonwood (r) and Aspen

The Locust

The Lombardy Poplar and Apple

Scottie's Weeping Willow

Done and done

L'il Bunny Foo Foo blocking

This is how I plan to wear it.

This is more close to the actual color.

Particulars: Body - Misty Alpaca, Border Ruffle - Skacel Merino Lace dyed burgundy

Pattern - L'il Bunny Foo Foo which I found on Ravelry, I am sure, but cannot locate. copyright 2009 MMario Leo a Pola de Finale Emelia. There were directions for making a half-square, three-quarter square, and square.

Needles: American size 3 circular

Border: My own. The shawl pattern ended with about 550 stitches, and I increased by 1/3 via yarn-overs three different times. There were just under 1200 stitches in the final bind-off.

Scoopin' Up the Field Mice...

Here she is, before end weaving and blocking. Three quarters of a square, and there were about 1200 stitches bound off at the end.

I had never heard the "L'il Bunny Foo Foo" song before this. I merely thought it was an interesting pattern.



Southpark, on the other hand, had.

Clinically Proven

This is a link to a little bit of mash-up poetry, from the blog called Sentence First. Go, read and come back.

http://stancarey.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/book-spine-mashups/

Dentist appointment today at noon; just a cavity this time, but need to work a little this morning as I probably won't feel like doing much when I get home.

I'm tired and achy from a busy-for-me Saturday. Went with Sweetie to his work and walked over a lot of concrete floors and sorted through huge boxes of books. Slipped and fell when I stepped on top of loose cardboard sheets. Then went to see friends at the Southern Indiana FiberArts Festival and walked over more concrete. (Didn't buy a thing. Sorry friends.) I was sore that night, and was even more so on Sunday, and I still hurt last evening. I think the fall was worse than I realized. The allergies aren't helping; getting hives on my face which hasn't happened in years.

So it goes.

He walks alone

Roostifer

Thank you British Dental Health!

Listen!

This is my 750th post! Imagine that! Also?

The camera came today!!! Thank you B., aka AmpuTeeHee! She told me that she included chocolate, which unfortunately I am sensitive to but Sweetie isn't, but the little dickens didn't say that she included yarn!! There is a skein of lace weight in dark green tones from Odd-ish creations, and two skeins of fingering weight from Claudia Hand Painted yarns in a dark dark palette. There was also a great little and very reusable gift bag in the box. I am just about ready to cry again.

This is the first photo I took with the new camera. 

I also think there will be something going back soon, to AmpuTeeHee, with love, from me to her.

New twist on old act

One, Two, Three

Three things made me cry today. Two of the things were happy cries, and the other one I just couldn't help.

So, I wrote yesterday about my camera, which is lost and how it would be next month before I could get a new one. So Ms. AmpuTeeHee offered to send me one she had been wondering what to do with. Perfectly fine, out of the box one time, with rechargeable battery and usb cord and everything. For free. Because she is the Queen of the Universe. Yeah, I cried. I mean, I am not used to being given things, especially nice things, or getting offers of help, especially from people I've never met. 

And? It's purple.

I also wrote about the seasonal blues and the committee in my head telling me what a fuck-up I am. So I read an email from NancyNeverSwept that made me cry at the first few words, where she wrote that she cared about me and that I was setting off alarm bells and lots of other genuine things that I won't go into. 

She also made me laugh with this line: I know that a lot of it is the shortening days (I still prefer real butter, but I digress)

What have I done to deserve such good friends?

The last thing was finding Big Red cold in the side yard this morning, but I had been expecting that to happen, so that wasn't it. It was seeing Roostifer walking around her body, staying near her, being a loyal rooster to his only girlfriend. I took her away to the cemetery, and still, this afternoon, he seems to be looking for her.

You'd cry, too.

Report Damage at Once

I still haven't found my camera. I fear it is lost, and I can't afford a replacement until next month. It's okay, though, as Sweetie has been wanting to upgrade for awhile. More megapixals for less money, is what he is saying. Fine. Whatever. I am just pissed that I lost the damn thing. (More of the I-am-so-bad-and-fucked-up voices in my head.)

So. The blog will be less visually stimulating for the next few weeks. No photos or YouTube videos of the Celebrate Laconia parade of 2010. (As an aside, why have I not made any videos lately?)(Shut up, you voices!)

The days are getting shorter, and by that I mean that the sunshine is less, and I am getting more and more blue. Remember my posts where I said, I feel good! I feel good!? These days, not so much. I don't feel bad, but that post-medicine rush has passed. 

I did get into my sewing room today. Seems that the first 6 kites I made were made sort of wawmpy-jawed, having oriented the wings in the wrong direction, and I was mortified and ashamed to have made such a mistake. Kite Man says, not to worry, he can sell them at a discount, but still I was so sorry to have screwed up. No wonder I was so at sea with that first batch! What I need to drill into my brain is that Kite Man didn't notice when I presented them, (and if anyone should have it was he,) and that it was my first attempt to sew these complex and new-to-me things. If they had been 18th century tailcoats? Piece of cake.) (And Kite Man is not mad at me or anything, so why do I flagellate myself so?)

The point being, I didn't want to try the kites again, but today I did, and I survived. I mean, I have looked closely at the offending kites, and they are well made; just, shall we say, different. My sewing skills are not at fault, just my mental processes. (So what else is new?)

All of my critters are a joy, and there are no more dead stock tales to relate. I looked out the back door this morning and counted 13 bunnies of all ages eating the pellets I put out, and that is no where near all of the bunnies that live around here. All the chickens save for Big Red are doing great, and whatever the matter is with Big Red is physical and not contagious, as she is weak and more pale, although Roostifer stays by her most of the day and night. The 6 new hens are vigorous and healthy and give me 3 or 4 eggs every day, and I share the extras with the neighbors. Lucky Duck and Omelet have become friends. Buffalo Wing is 3/4 the size of Henny Penny, and mom has not run her baby off yet. BW is a hen! Yay! 

So there is some joy in my life. 

Special today...

So. 

I was detailing my day on the phone to a friend this afternoon. I had been in my sewing room completing wind socks. I had done the usual chores associated with the bunnies, chickens, and duck. I had collected the body of an entirely unknown, yet not wild, bunny from the street in front of my house and taken it to the cemetery. I had tended to the sick, and possibly dropped-off bunny that I have held captive and caged on the front porch for three weeks now. (I have administered Ivermectin and penicillin and topical anti-robotics, and yet a new wound cropped up yesterday from seemingly no where, and there were disgustingly huge amounts of pus expressed.) 

(I fear that I will nurse him back to health, only to have him squished beneath car tires when I release him.)

I collected two such squished bunnies from in from of Good Neighbor Nancy's house on Monday. I am not sure that I recognized them, either. 

My point is, if there is one, that I had not spoken to another person since Sweetie left this morning at 5:30 until the phone call at 2:00. 

My day had mostly been devoted to taking care of others and other things. That is my life. Probably just like 95% of other women in the world. Taking care of everyone else but me.

I did brush my teeth today. 

I also seem to have lost my camera. Damn it.

This Old House

So, Valerie asked me if I am still moving. 

The short answer is no.

The long answer is fuck no.

1. I love my house too much, and the mortgage is so almost paid off. 

II. Try to sell in this market? I'm not insane. 

C. I'd have to manage it all myself, and I am not up to the challenge. 

#. I am not as angry as I was nine months ago. 

It still takes 20 minutes to get anywhere, and 45 minutes to get somewhere, but…I can cope with that. Right now, I can have my chickens free range over a couple acres and nobody complains about them or the numerous rabbits that populate the town because of me.

I really do love this house and if I could transport it somewhere else, I would. The house is a mess and needs paint and repair and more attention and money than we have on hand, but she is a well-built structure on a solid foundation and we will eventually find the time and/or money to fix her up. And if we don't, the next owners will after we die. She is worth a over ten times more than the mortgage, so things could be a lot worse. 

Let's Be Cool

So I told him that I wanted a top hat. 

Oh! Get me one, too, he said.

Damned copy cat.

John Mayall - It hurts me too

that revolutionary thing that guy said

see more Hacked IRL - Truth in Sarcasm

Machine Wash and Tumble Dry

Hey, chitlin's!

Not much going on here lately. My allergies still beset me, and I wake up tired and stay sleepy until midday, when I lay down again.

There are various annoying things happening with neighbors, but in general, life is plodding on uneventfully, but with a sub-layer of unease. 

Knitting, still, on the shawl; am up to 453 stitches, and increasing 6 every other row. Wondering if I will have enough of the Misti Alpaca to finish as I have used about 2/3s of the weight so far and still have just over 50 more rows. I can always get more, or something similar and then dye it. Once this is done, I intend to begin the green tweedy sweater. Intend being the operative word. I may, in addition to or instead of, begin a pair of socks. 

Socks are so comforting - to knit and to wear.

Haven't sat at my new and expensive sewing machine all week. Not sure what is going on with that. Must be because I don't feel well. J Dragon, it isn't like the bad old days after all, although I never thought I'd sew this much ever again. 

Kite Man has a friend who has an idea for clothing called InActive Wear, Slouching to Armageddon or something like that. Don't know if anything will ever come of it, but it is fun to speculate.

Sweetie has been at his job for a year, and there has just been a new manager installed who is making everyone miserable. I know it is against the law to not allow lunch breaks, but who wants to raise a stink and lose a job in this economy? It's not just him, but the warehouse crew as well, and maybe others, that gets no time to eat. Sweetie is putting out feelers and sending resumes to 4 or 5 companies a week all while he is under terrific stress, being the Maintenance Mechanic/Manager/Safety Trainer/Whipping Boy, and getting way more work to do than there is time in a day. 

My job has been, as it always has, to create a safe haven for him here at home that is free from stress and worry. As much as I can, anyway. 

So it goes. At least he still has a job, albeit one where he is treated like shit. Hope this changes soon.