Requires Shade.

The only other business in my Indiana town, besides the post office and the general store, is the green house. I was fortunate to be invited to help myself to three flats of bedding plants and herbs on Dump Day. Sales had been below par, and so Tom was dumping a lot of flora into the mulch pile and it was a sad sight. 

I started with two boxes and Tom encouraged me to take a third, but I know my limits and so kept it at that. Geraniums, New Guinea Impatience, petunias, coleus, marigolds, and a variety of herbs including basil, chives, parsley, dill, lavendar and oregano. 

And two fig trees! In Missouri! (There on the left.) I was told that they will survive the winter if caged and mulched with leaves. That was really the coolest thing, because just the day before, my friend Lorie said that she wished for a fig tree. These are not ficus, but real fruit bearing plants. I am very excited. If I choose to keep my two, I definitely will buy my friend one of her own!

Lots of weather around; more thunderstorms tonight. Wondering when it will be dry enough to mow the grass here - it's getting thick out there.

12 Points of No Return

The sudden summer heat has abated, and the recent days have been cool and comfortable. I've moved my few house plants into the back yard, along with two containers of tomatoes. That is all the gardening I am up to, this year. 

It has taken three tries over three weeks, but I mowed the entire yard in one day using the push mower, without keeling over from heat stroke or muscle fatigue. It's amazing how quickly one can get one's groove back. 

Vernal Equinox Shawl

I have been knitting steadily on the Vernal Equinox Shawl from Ravelry, using 2-ply hand spun mohair. The colors I'm using make it more of an Autumnal Shawl, though. It's not exactly lace weight; about 18 wpi. The center back is at 18" now, about halfway finished. I knit and watch Netflix, and am currently on a Hoarders marathon. That show makes me feel so good about my housekeeping habits.

Trixie likes the taste of mohair

Even better are tortilla chips

And now, Trixie!

Meet Mr. Peabody

I got nostalgic tonight for the Atlanta scene of the 1970s, where I moved in 1975 at the age of 18.  I Googled Lenny and La Banana, aka Roger French an Jo Shifalo, http://www.thestripproject.com/Photos_by_Boyd_Lewis.html and I was swept back into time.

One link sent me to a webpage about The Bistro, where Mr. X and I were on the guest list at times. I saw the Dixie Dregs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQv2UzUGrto as well as The Nighthawks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQQRTn_lRAgThe harmonica player was super hot back in the day and I distinctly remember those tattooed arms of his. 

Which led me to the Great South East Music Hall, also being on the quest list, and seeing B. B. King, Thermos Greenwood and the Colored People http://clatl.com/atlanta/thermos-greenwood-and-the-colored-people/Content?oid=1257732  and David Allen Coe. One bought beer by the bucket there, which had the club name imprinted upon it. I wonder if any of those pails still exist, as they were so prone to rust. 

The Sex Pistols made their American debut there in what? 1976? 

Then there was Rose's Cantina, later Club 666 which the skinheads frequented.

And what we called The Electric Bathroom, aka Alex Cooly's Electric Ballroom, where I saw James Cotton, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, among others. http://www.alexcooley.com/ven-elecbrm.html

I remembered the art movies houses. The Rhode's Theater, The Silver Screen, http://www.buckhead.net/theaters/ and the one in Ansley Mall. 

What it served to remind me of, was that my life in those days wasn't so bad. Really. There was energy and life and talent and fun everywhere, and I was a twenty-something and part of it! Shame that I had a Mr. X in that mix.

My life is not so bad, considering the circumstances. I have nothing to complain about. Sweetie's job is good through August, (yay, us!) and he is getting a monetary bonus for just showing up every day! Seems like some folks there are saying fuck it, and quitting without notice.

The weather has turned hot, but the low humidity here makes it more bearable for me.  Still, I am living in the box fan's shadow all day and night long. 

Yesterday, I gave Trixie her first "hare" cut, more out of necessity than anything else. She found an escape from the back porch through a tear in the bottom of the screen door, and she had taken to having unsupervised adventures for a few days. Which was fine, because she only went into the back and front yard, and knew where the back door was and returned to it. Or so we thought!

Trixie's First Hare Cut

Thursday afternoon, she made another great escape unnoticed by me and mine. Sweetie went out on Search Patrol, only to find her IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET, TWO HOUSES UP FROM US. If not for some kids on bicycles noticing and spooking her, and Sweetie being on the prowl, there is no telling where the Little Shit would have wound up, most likely being a fuzzy pancake. Door is now fixed, as is her wagon. She had a sweet gum ball stuck to her stomach, and twigs and hitchhikers and yard debris stuck all over her. I swear, she is as ornery as Fuzzarelly ever was! And? I love her to pieces.

Gertie gets adventurous

Gertie is slowly becoming more settled into our routine and is not so much with the freaked-out-don't-kill-me attitude. Thank goodness. She and Trixie get along very well, and I am glad to have both of them.

These are two mohair scarves completed last month, both mohair and both done in the same pattern, k2tog, yo, every row over an even number of stitches. Easy Peasy. 

Two mohair scarves

And this is a silly knit bunny about three inches tall, because I cannot help myself!

Silly Bunny, Computer Mascot

I have begun a lace shawl in handspun, two-ply all mohair, dyed a burnt orange with chestnut brown overtones. More on that later.

Use Caution

We have ants. What I have always called pissants, like my grandmother. 

piss·ant also piss-ant  (psnt) Slang

n. 1. One that is insignificant. 2. Obsolete An ant. adj. Not important; insignificant: "Some pissant Texas court wants to make [the company] pay . . . more than $10 billion in reparations" (New Republic). Anyhoo, they have invaded. I broke down and bought some ant bait things, because the grocery store didn't carry boric acid. Boric acid mixed with sugar and a few drops of water are sure ant killers. The ant bait things didn't totally work, so what I did was wash down the counters with a few drops of orange essential oil, which destroyed their chemical trail, and then I placed drops of lavender oil along their baseboard paths.  Results? Very few ants to be seen in the house. This is such an earth friendly way to get rid of ants, and it smells good, too. I don't feel bad about doing this as often as necessary.  As an aside, I have to be very careful around chemicals, due to my allergies. I generally do not use insecticides, pesticides, or herbicides. When I find a large thistle in the yard, I cut off the top with a knife and stab several times into the root, then I pour a little bleach onto it. Works every time. Salt might also work. (Bleach is just sodium chloride, after all.)

See Reverse Side for Instructions

Sometimes, especially after I read a really good blogger, I wonder why I bother with this mess of words. My brain races with thoughts that I can't corral and put into sentences. But then I didn't start this blog with anything other in mind than keeping my friends and family notified and aware of what I do, since I became such a poor correspondent several years ago. In that case, my blog is useful. 

Fun stuff! Watched three episodes of Sherlock on Netflix. It is a British series from last year, and it is set in modern day London. Very clever use of cell phones and computers, and Watson was wounded in Afghanistan, as in the original. Instead of being a cocaine injector, Sherlock sometimes wears three nicotine patches. If you have Netflix, I highly recommend this show. The actor who plays Mr. Holmes is very sexy, in that dark haired, pale complexioned English sort of way that I find so attractive; i.e. he's a hottie.

I also indulged in Downton Abbey, a 7-part BBC miniseries reminiscent of Upstairs, Downstairs. It is set between 1912 and 1915 and I just loved the Edwardian gowns that the ladies wore. Worth watching if only for that, but the story held my interest, too.

Sweetie and I have watched all the episodes available of  30 Rock, and are now working our way through about 2 shows a day of Scrubs. Streaming Netflix may not have every movie or show I might want to watch, but for $8 a month, we get to watch a lot of stuff with no commercials. Worth every cent. We don't have a television at all, and don't miss it. 

The newly screened in back porch

We screened in the back porch yesterday, and today, Princess tried to run straight through it, chasing after an "intruder". Sigh. The screen is almost invisible from the inside, but she is a slow learner. All was repaired and then I ran a strip o fduct tape all around the bottom of the screening to remind the Dull Knife that she has to use the door next time. Trixie and Gertrude have moved to the porch and seem to enjoy themselves very much. I let them into the yard every so often, with adult supervision. I've seen a young, probably male, wild rabbit in the area. I bet he smells the wimmin rabbits.

Sweetie's lap is seldom empty. This time it's Trixie and Reece's.

Also, I have been knitting! Photos next time.

A perfect fit!