Enjoy Cold.

So.

No news is good news they say, but rumors are rife about what will happen to the employees and the Tyson building. Not a peep is being said by the company, apparently until "the deal" is signed. In the meantime, Sweetie is putting in applications, still working, and getting free meat for perfect attendance. There a lot more jobs out here than near Louisville, especially for skilled labor.

I think everything will work out. Just a feeling.

Spring is really here, so I took a photo of the house. The grass has been mowed three times. If I had irises, they would be blooming now; I will have to bring some here from Indiana. The one peony bush out back has big luscious buds on it, and I have discovered several more hostas. I so enjoy sitting on the back porch, in the shade, but able to see the sun. I could live in the office and back porch all the time, but I try to get out and about every once in awhile, which is hard for an agoraphobe to do. But I try.

My mood seems to depend upon the amount of sunshine we get, and fortunately, it has been sunny here lately. No flooding here either, as we are high enough above sea level. I really feel for those affected along the Mississippi.

The squirrels are tormenting Princess something fierce. I don't think she would ever kill anything, as she is more into spotting and alerting. This ballsy squirrel cracks me up. 

Also, the husband of my good friend in Indiana suffered a heart attack yesterday, and is scheduled for triple or quadruple heart bypass next week. Lorie will spend the next several days camping out in his room. 

And my ex-sister in law was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, Stage 1, and after the surgery and chemo, seems to be doing well. 

And then there is my friend in Kentucky, who is involved in a long and messy divorce, has had an appendectomy with very poor insurance, and who's dating attempts have, shall we say, broken her heart into several pieces.

I'm grateful to have my life, and no one else's.

More bleach, please.

http://www.komu.com/news/montgomery-city-tyson-plant-closing/

http://www.abc17news.com/news.php?id=1962

"JFC," my friend said, "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water."

Too many things are unknown at the moment, so we're just sitting tight.

Take with bleach

As with many other bloggers, I am neglecting my own blog. I don't twitter or even update my facebook status often. No apologies from me. It's my life and I can't promise to post more often.

I am depressed, but less so than before. These grey, gloomy and rainy days lately have not helped, but I wonder how much warm and sunny days will improve my outlook. 

I am loving my bunnies, and that is a good thing. Today, I spun some of that mohair cloud, and that was also good. I had an anxiety attack and put off a meeting with the insurance agent until tomorrow, when Sweetie can accompany me. I do not want to leave the house. I hope we won't go to Indiana this weekend. I want to stay safe at home, and in this room. The mud room/office, where Gertie and Trixie and the computer are. is.?

I am exceedingly lonely, and I so much appreciate that Lorie from Indiana calls me regularly. My other friends there seem not so much inclined. 

It's a teary type of day, when one may long for eternal sleep.

Saturday afternoon

Visited my friend in Indiana last week. I taught her knitting a few months ago, and she has taken the ball of yarn and run with it! I gave her a big bag of handspun, and she began knitting garter squares and rectangles to make an afghan. This trip, I showed her the purl stitch made the "regular" way as well as the norwegian purl, aka purl with the yarn in back. I left her eager to cast on for a pair of two-needle socks done in ribbing. 

Fried Chicken

While there, I saw Fried Chicken, Henny, and the other chickens. 

Also went to the Fiber Event in Greencastle, with one goal in mind: a baby bunny. Thank goodness I went early on Friday, as most of them had already been sold, but I was able to find Trixie who has turned out to be a total doll! (The breeders hired students to come and hold the bunnies almost from birth, so they are all used to being handled.) For much of the drive home through Illinois, she sat quietly alert on my left shoulder. She and Gertrude get along just dandy, and they both have the run of the office/mudroom, which has an easy care tile floor. 

Trixie

I have a follow-up visit with my care provider today. I can report that I am feeling better, mentally, although there are still some hard days. Also physically better, as my mysterious allergy/stress-induced rashes have mostly disappeared. It could have been the prednisone she gave me that caused my sense of smell to return for a full and glorious two weeks. At least I know that it is possible for me to smell; that my nose isn't damaged.

Spring is here and that can't help but improve one's mood. We have a pretty flowering shrub in the back yard that I can't identify. I have a tree and shrub book, but it is uselessly arranged. One needs to know the name first to find information, instead of flower or leaf type. 

Also, I washed some very old mohair. I don't have my carder or hand cards here, so I am merely fluffing the clean locks into cloud. I haven't spun since December.

Mohair Cloud

Not suitable for all ages.

Mostly? 

In spite of all the things going on, the thing that makes me most happy is my new bunny. 

Her name is Dawn. She is two years old, and a color called tawny. She has two white toe nails, and so is considered to be mostly worthless in the showing and pedigree market. 

I think she is wonderful.

Take the last train to Clarksville.

Sweetie and I have driven to Indiana and then back to Missouri numerous times by now. Near the Illinois and Indiana state line is the Wabash River and vestiges of the Erie and Wabash Canal. Begun in the 1820s and finally ended in the 1870s, this canal provided folks in New York State access to the Ohio River, and thence to the Mississippi. 

Growing up in Northern Indiana, I could not help but absorb some of this history.The school bus that took me to elementary school drove beside this Wabash River. As an thirteen year old, I often walked to that river, because it was only a mile away from that wonderful house I lived in. (I still dream about that house, and they are always good dreams.) 

There was a Canal Street in Huntington, Indiana and an Erie Avenue. I knew that there had been one or more canals running through that hateful town. (Hateful mostly because I was 16 and 17, and could not wait to leave that backwater. And the hateful people it held.)

And now, I am sorry I didn't learn more about that place, founded in the early 1800's. It was close to Ft. Wayne, named for Mad Anthony Wayne, and I loved that. The area was saturated with history about both the white men and the Indians. And maybe even women.

So it goes. 

And now it is known as the hometown of Dan Quayle. Such ignominy.

In my new town, Montgomery City, I am told that it is a quiet place, and not to expect much after 9 p.m. Yay. If I were a 16 year old, slightly mental girl, I would be bursting my seams to be anywhere else. As a 50-something, slightly mental lady, I am so glad to live here.

Daphne du Maurier once wrote that everyone remembers, knows, what it is like to be young. But one does not know what it is like to be old.  

I'm finding out.