Not Responsible for Items Left in Vehicle.

There was our first snow on the ground this morning! Not much, a mere dusting, but still ~ I liked seeing it.

And it is about time, as it is well into December.

The temps are just above freezing again, so tending the barn bunnies will be more comfortable. When it gets really cold, their water bottles/crocks freeze solid, and without water, bunnies won't eat. When it gets very cold, I take a bucket and a big jug of hot tap water out there. I thaw the bottles/crocks in the bucket and then fill them up from the jug. I wear rubber gloves to keep my hands from becoming finger-cicles. So far, they are all doing well, but there is more coldness in store for later in the week. Angoras take the cold better that they do the heat of summer.

I went to the Friendship SpinnersRetreat at Shakertown (Pleasant Hill, KY) this past Saturday. It was wonderful to see such a turnout there, larger than I have seen in the last few years. I wore the fresh-from-the-oven Artisan Vest.



The metal buttons are from a denim dress that I bought at a thrift store in Springfield, MO earlier this year. (Remember my truncated vacation?) I like this vest very much. It is the perfect around-the-house, keep-me-warm garment that is also well-suited to public viewing.



My gauge tightened up somewhat about a quarter of the way through it, which worked out okay. It is a bit scant in the bust area, but a better blocking should eliminate the gappage that occurred upon first wearing, (which didn't look awful, but rather, artful.) I mean really, I blocked it Friday night, and sewed on the buttons Saturday morning - and it looked damn good. It hits me knuckle length, which for my size, is perfect.

Thank you Lynne for the bread/cake. Sweetie inhaled almost all of it immediately when I got home, but I did get a taste. Yum.

Thank you, NancyNeverSwept for the handwoven towel in those wonderful colors of turquoise/black/hot pink. I love it! Congratulations on achieving Crone-hood!

I was totally remiss in gift giving this year. But to be honest, it was about all I could to do forklift my ass out of the house and actually attend the meeting. My isolating tendencies hold sway especially during these dark, cold months. I don't do holidays of any sort very well. I love this post from Bizarro, as he pretty much echos my feelings about the commercialization of Ecksmas.

Last year, I sent out hand-made Bunny Pop-Up holiday cards, and I hope to maybe, possibly, do something similar this year. Just don't hold yer breath.

Only 40 calories!

So.

My van has been "borrowed" since Saturday, and I needed, really needed, to ship those windows back to Home Depot, for which the van was required to haul said windows to a FedEcks drop off site. (By the way, the Home Depot customer service people have just been super. Thank you!)

The van was in my driveway this morning, and if it hadn't been, someone (Crazy Neighbor Josh) would have been called in for Grand Theft Auto. The real thing, not the game. I got the key back, and began the short journey to Brandenburg and....

ran out of gas four miles from home.

I will spare you the rant about returning someone's vehicle with mere droplets of fuel in the system. I will spare you the profusely spoken swear words. Mostly. Damn it! MotherFucker!

Fortunately, I bottomed out near the house of a person that I actually knew, who drove me back to town to get five gallons of gas, and then drove me back to my van. Thank you, Darryl! My best to Corinne.

This has been about the least of my troubles this week. It has been gray and dreary, and it is finally, actually, for reals, getting chilly. Therefore, depression has been my constant companion, along with general sick-feelings and balloon-headedness. I feel awful and should be the invalid character in some tragic Victorian novel who has a sad end, due to unsaid words of love, or a lost letter, an unknown inheritance, or some such crap. How goth.

Okay. Critter news. The two chickens in the barn finally discovered the windows and flew the coop yesterday. I still have not put up netting in the backyard enclosure. See above.

Silky, who had been ailing, died this morning. I had heard that liquid benadryl would help the process of dying, and so when I found him prone in his cage, I gave him two syringes of the cherry flavored. I don't know if it was that or what, but he quit breathing shortly thereafter. If it did work, it was so much less violent that a bullet. Bless his heart.

There are only 24 angoras in the barn now. I bred Sonya to Harvey last month, two young and healthy kids, and hope to have babies about mid-December.

Love you all, my few and scant readers.

Oh, here is something for anyone over 47.

Itch Relief

I'm home, safe and fairly sound, from the trip north. My three brothers were there, with assorted in laws and a couple of teenage kids. I had a great time!

Everyone was glad to see me and I was glad to see all of them. We played eucher and Aggravation and laughed and ate.

The trip turned bleak, though, when the car lost power on the drive home and just quit. I was able to pull off to the side of Interstate 69, but not far enough to avoid the jostling effect of tractor trailers as they passed. Phone calls were made, a tow truck called (thank you, Harry,) an alternator installed, and I made it home $350 poorer and four hours later than planned.

Sweetie was nowhere to be found, having apparently heard me say that I would be home at 9, instead of what I actually said, which was 7:30. I know, the two numbers sound just alike, don't they? Also, Crazy Neighbor had put up an artificial christmas tree on top of the rabbit cage in the living room. I hate artificial trees.

I had so wanted to be home that night, and it was like being in the twilight zone, and no, not the vampire twilight. That might at least have been interesting. So, I went to bed, grumpy and tired and out of sorts.

I'm better now.

Dinner Meeting Reminder

In the past, "with family" was where I never wanted to be for any holiday, because it always dredged up sadness, hurtful memories, feelings of loss, and tears.

But a friend told me that I should go and be with my family. The friend spoke dispassionately, as he had no idea what was in my head. I merely said that my brother had invited me up for Thanksgiving, and I wasn't sure if I would go or not. Go, he said.

So, I am heading to northern Indiana tomorrow, by myself, and will come home Friday afternoon. It's a five hour trip, one way. Sweetie will stay home to take care of the critters - and sleep. He has four days off, and will mostly likely stay in his jammies the entire time.

Speaking of critters, we lost another banty hen today, and almost lost a rooster. I heard him make his "warning" cackle, and I took off out the door and saw a strange dog carrying him off. I was sure he was dead, because when the dog dropped him, Roostie was motionless, face down in the grass. I picked him up, and lo! his eyes flickered open but he was panting, grasping for breath, and his comb and wattles were purple-ish. The offending dog, with collar, had high-tailed it out of there, so I carried the chicken inside where he panted and rasped for a good two hours. I think he must have been in shock, but his color gradually returned and his breathing became normal. He even ate a little bit.

Tonight, he and the remaining banty hen are cooped up. This weekend, I will try to put some netting over the enclosure to keep them in. Should have done it long ago.

Had court this morning, too, for the damages/back rent but the evil renter called at 8 am to ask if we could just settle and call it even. We did. It's over. That's all I can say. I'm not happy, but it is over.

I will return ship the windows Friday. I will have to pay shipping charges, and maybe a re-stocking fee, and I will have learned an eckpensive lesson. (My keyboard is screwy and will not make the letter ecks.)(The command key is also not working.)

Anyway.

Enjoy your holiday, folks, and be truly thankful.

Turn to the Right

Ten hours and fifty minutes. That is the amount of actual daylight we have here in southern Indiana today. Dawn and twilight eat up an hour of that time. One more month and daylight will win out again. Yay, Solstice!

So. I am a dumbass.

I ordered replacement windows for the rental from Home Depot, and I measured wrong. One inch too wide. Damn it. The service from HD was great, no fault on their part, but now I am facing shipping back the over large windows via FedEx, because I cannot take them back to a real store.

I am beginning to think that I will merely repair said windows, not replace, and call it a lifetime. I am running short of money to fix up that place.

The repair is mostly replacing missing and broken panes. The energy savings replacements will just have to wait.

In the meantime, I have been clipping bunnies. This is Spike.




Grumpy, Jr. passed last week. As has Kelly Bob. And now, Icky Thump is ailing something awful.

It seems that, every year about this time, I lose three or four buns. I try to learn and prepare, but, still... when one has livestock, one has deadstock, too.

Two hens have been taken by predators of some sort (hawks?), and I tried to corral them all into the barn with the bunnies. Ha! I never could catch one of the roosters, and the two banty hens flew out of the windows to join him. So now, I have one rooster and Miss Biddy in the barn, and the other rooster and his two hens are loose. But wary.

I am at least glad to have separated the roosters, who have been fiercely fighting one another, drawing blood and everything.

The Artisan Vest progresses.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Shaun the Sheep.

Close Box Before Striking

From The Daily Bitch.