Gearingup for Fall

A look at summer: Monkey Flowers or Mimulus. These come in a myriad of colors with unusual spotted patterns. I planted a variety 6-pak of plants, and as luck would have it, there were only 2 colors, but pretty ones.



Since Wednesday, as usual, we've been busy.
Kman has almost finished the damaged greenhouse. One of my jobs was to pull the plastic sheeting from the ends of the two bigger greenhouses through the opening in the new greenhouse wall, and bunch and staple it to form a seal.
Scaffolding and ladders and I don't agree. So I grit my teeth, and go on the scaffold, pray, and get to it. After about 10 minutes or so my comfort level improves. Then I had to work on the 10' stepladder. That was OK, but I can never do extension ladders. Then I went to the dump--that load I was supposed to take a couple of weeks ago.

On Friday I went to the city to see Dr. Randy Gregg about my feet (he's been treating me after the accident 2 years ago). Need changes to the orthotic insoles, and heavier, stiffer boots for working. Went to my LYS to look for yarn for nephew's kilt hose, and other errands. The yarn we thought would work is just a bit too thick, so I couldn't start the Kilt Hose.

Saturday was spent loading the truck to go to the dump. My church is 1 mile from the dump, so, since I am the caretaker from August until March, and we had Mass here his week (we alternate weeks with another church--shortage of priests), I cleaned the church before going to the dump. Boy, the spiders are busy in only 2 weeks. There were spiderwebs and cobwebs everywhere, and millions of flies to vacuum. It's wonderful to be in that old church. One can feel the history and the prayers of the pioneers who furbished their church before their own homes.

WE HAD A DECENT RAIN LAST NIGHT! (about 1/2 inch)

After church on Sunday,
Mr. and Mrs. Spit came over, since
I will be altering some clothing for
Mrs. Spit. It was really nice meeting
a fellow blogger/knitter/home renovator.Then, besides meal
preparation, I spent the rest of the
evening knitting , so Honeycomb #2, in charcoal gray heather alpaca yarn,
is finished. (Just a peek). Notice the
neat "Buckle" buttons. Honeycomb #3 in natural white is now on the
needles.

Have a great, productive week, everyone!

Till next time: Grandmas should write down the stories of their lives, however dull they seem to them. for such tales show history as it is--a procession of interlocking lives. A unity. The family of mankind. (Charlotte Gray)

More on Dazey and Sparky and the Orange Kitty

Dazey and Sparky were wondering about the dearth of comments after their mommy posted their pictures. They are happier now that 2 friends posted comments (one of which their mommy lost while publishing the comment). Dazey and Sparky are now 9 or 10 years old. In people years, that means that they are older than their Mommy now. Believe it or not, they are sisters from the same litter.
There is a long (does Sigrun know any other kind?) story behind their arrival at the farm.

I DO NOT LIKE DOGS. No, I really don't like dogs. I value dogs for their capacity to be helpful to us helpless humans: dogs for company, guide dogs, police dogs, drug-bustin' dogs, sheep-herding dogs...... We used to raise pure-bred German Shepherds, and were card-holding members of the Canadian Kennel Club. And then one pooper-scoop, chicken-scatter, and one lamb-eating incident too many, and the bloom was off the rose.

Several years ago, I saw these tiny creatures trying to climb into the sheep pen. I thought they might be baby skunks or some other little varmint. Upon closer examination, I found this tiny, fur-ball-y little pair. Our son 'fessed up. His friends A&M, had plans to move into a house, and had to take the puppies while they were still in the apartment. KMJr. offered to look after them at the farm. Knowing how I felt about dogs, he kept their presence a secret--fed them and played with them in the barn. One day, they went exploring, and that's when I found them. They were precious, adorable, just a bit bigger than a handful, and sooooo precious, and adorable (did I tell you how precious and adorable they were?). So they were out of the "closet", and we openly cared for them, and fell in love with them. Well, A&M did not move to a house, and after the puppies' 2-month spell of farm vacation and freedom, I refused to doom them to apartment-dwelling. So I suggested that A&M give them to us (really, NO $$$ changed hands). KMJr. knew the deal was sealed when he heard me say to them, "Come to Mommy, girls".

They are so clever. They have such personality. Dazey (the black one) is the "Blondest" dog I've ever seen, except I think her "Blond-ness" is a crazy-like-a fox act. Sparky is really intelligent. You can just imagine that she is problem-solving. They love the greenhouse season because everyone adores them and the kids come to visit the dogs, associate dogs with plants, and will probably become plant-lovers in later life.

There are other dogs I can easily put up with: the Grandpuppies. Since the Grandkids are grown up or almost so, I look forward to babysitting the grandpuppies: Toby the Pomeranian, and Tundra the German Shepherd cross (KMJr's dog).

This next part is for all you Orange Kitten fans: our orange kitty --all grown up.
PS: Knitting news; The Honeycomb Sweater #1 is finished. I am not showing it yet, in case I decide to submit it somewhere, then I think I'm not allowed to reveal it ahead of time (I'm not sure about that, though).
Still slugging on the bridesmaids' dresses. Will definitely be finished this week (Wedding is on the 8th of Aug.) come H or high water. The tough part isn't the sewing, it's getting together with the girls--we're 50 miles apart.
Garden: half weeded. Had 5 tomatoes ripe off the vines (2 weeks later than usual), the sheep had a feast of swiss chard--I'll get the second cut. Cucumbers next week. Kohlrabi next week. The flower beds that had been weeded, as well as the strawberry bed, all need re-weeding. The other flower beds haven't been touched yet. Also, YEAY!! I managed to kill out 2 major ant hills. Only 4 more to go.

Till next time: Grandmothers are inclined to bring their grandchildren home muddy, sticky, radiant, exhausted and two hours late. Wise mothers say nothing. (Clara Ortega)

And It'll be a wonderful Summer After All

Welcome to my blog, Kathy.

We had a lovely day today. The kind of day you have after several days of good rain, when the sun shines again. Yesterday evening Jeanet and I went to church to weed the garden we planted around the Blessed Mother's statue. We replaced some plants that had succumbed to the harsh winter and the spring drought. It is lovely.

Our wonderful priest has been transferred to another parish in Edmonton. While it saddens us, we know that his talents are needed elsewhere, and we believe that life is about sharing our time, talents and treasures (isn't that like blogging?). We had a farewell pot-luck for him after Mass today. A good time was had by all. He is happy that his new parish also has a prayer shawl ministry.

Now I would like to introduce you to Jack, the regal (aka Wimpy) Llama. Jack used to have 2 wives, the seductive ZsaZsa, and the Lovely Coco (unfortunately over the years, Jack became a widower). Jack is so handsome. He looks so regal. When the Llamas first came to live with us, we wanted to give them names. ZsaZsa was the same color as Jack, with sweeping eyelashes out to here. Coco was a chocolate brown real lady. And the ladies totally henpecked and dominated the poor guy. Naming him was a challenge--a name such as Prince or Royal was just undeserved. But if we named him Wimpy, he'd have nothing to aim up to. One day a 4-year old smartie named "Summer" was visiting while I was fitting her mom for a bridesmaid's dress. She re-named our two dogs (whom you haven't met yet) so appropriately, had they not had names they were used to, I could have changed them. So I asked her to help me name the Llama. She looked at him, arms a-kimbo, and said: "He's a Jack". And Jack he was. Not pretentious. Our school caretaker's name is Jack--a great person, a great family man. A good role model for our Jack, the Llama. Coco had a baby girl before she died. Jack was a real good dad to her. The power of a good name.
A glimpse at some lovely flowers. The pot above is from my "monochromatic period". I'm always trying to show folks how to creatively put plants together. The terra-cotta colored pot has a bronze Carex grass, an Alternantherna Royal Tapestry, a green-leafed Purple fountain grass whose seed heads will be shiny mahogany later on, and a Coleus that is mostly rust with just a bit of green. At the back is another Alternantherna-Purple Knight. I love it!!
This rose is Prairie Joy (oops, I forgot to deadhead one of last-year's flower stalks). It grows to 6 feet tall, is loaded with pink flowers, the scent is heavenly--it's a prairie hardy rose. I trim it bare at the bottom, sort of like a multi-stemmed tree. This allows other plants to share the sun under the rose bush. Its only drawback is that it suckers like crazy--I dig them out.

This gardener has the same vice in gardening as in knitting--starting too many projects. When I'm about to procrastinate on a knitting (or sewing) project, for whatever reason, I often just start something new, in the hope that this will somehow re-energize me for the other, less desirable project. Well, guess what happened in the garden? I have many large flower beds (after all, we own 320 acres of land), in various stages of maintenance. The ones nearest the greenhouse are well-maintained because they are demonstration gardens. The worst ones are overgrown with quack grass, dandelions and clover, but I can't Round-up them because the perennials hiding in there were given to me by special people, some of whom are no longer around. Others are in various stages in between. I couldn't go weed the garden (too wet), so I STARTED A BRAND NEW FLOWER BED on the west side of the house, where it was dry enough to work. It's 25 feet long and varies from 3-4 feet wide. I planted 2 Brandon Cedars, a Mock Orange, a clematis, and a Sensation Lilac. I will fill it out with a variety of lilies.

My Honeycomb Sweater #1 is coming along nicely. I'm almost finished the second sleeve. This pattern is so versatile--stretched, it can be incorporated into a lace shawl, I'm already thinking of sweater variations with the stitch. Wouldn't that make a good knitting book: Variations on a Theme, that theme being a single knitting stitch pattern?

I was just reviewing my blog list. There are just too many wonderful blogs out there. I have two blog lists. The ones on my blog, which I intended to be a) Very Interesting and b) Frequent posters. So my bloglist needs to be revised. I have another list of Bookmarked Favorites, on Firefox, all very interesting, but less frequent posting. I'm still trying to limit my time on the computer, so I have to streamline the blog-visiting. If your blog disappears from my blog--yiou have not been rejected--just moved to my other list (please post more). And please, blog friends, leave a little comment so I know you were here.

Till next time: There is a frisson that comes when a small grandchild smiles up into your face and says, "Oh, thank you for bringing me here", exactly as her mother said twenty years before. (Monique)

Picture/Project Update

Here is a close-up of the Honeycomb Sweater that I'm loving working on. The custom-spun Alpaca yarn has a homespun feel, and the pattern just pops out. When I swatched with a regular yarn, the pattern was more flat. It knits to approximately a Dk gauge, I'm using 3.25 needles.I wish you could see these plants in person. They are all purple, dark green or black. The Heliotrope is almost luminescent, and has a heavenly scent. The Ornamental Black Pearl Pepper is very black with a purple haze to it, and the other plant (whose name I can't remember) is a metallic purple. The combination, with the garden fairies is very meditative.
Last week I finished this Marshmallow Comforter, which has been getting in my way for 2 or 3 years. After I stuffed the pockets according to the directions, I thought I wanted some batting in the edges, too, so, since the quilt batting seemed so thin, I added a double layer. Now the comforter is quite heavy, and I hope, warm.
The baby hoodie that I finished a long time ago, and which should now have arrived in Passau, Germany for my cousin's new son, Noah.
The very Large, Large Man's Alpaca Cardigan. It's really charcoal grey. It has tiny cables for ribbings, and a double row of tiny cables for a front band. I resized these two pictures too small, that's why I think they are blurry in the middle. Will keep learning.

All these pictures took less than 5 minutes to upload--and I'm on dial-up. Excellent!
It's still raining today. Today I will go to the local hospital (where I have a contract to plant the flower beds) and replace some of the plants that perished during the hot/dry spell). I want to take advantage of the wet soil so I don't have to haul hose around. The hospital has many flower pots at the entrance doors of several wings. These pots my mom and I plant, and I donate the plants for the pots. The in-ground flower beds are a paid job.

The awning at the nursing home is supposed to be installed this week, weather permitting. I have raised almost all the money, and have faith the rest will come. The hospital administrator also has faith (he and I belong to the same church), because he said the hospital will front the money so we can get the awning up quickly. Praise the Lord

Knitting: Today I may possibly not knit, since I need to get my head around the bridesmaid's dress with the big bust alteration. If I knit, I will knit on the second sleeve of the Honeycomb sweater--the back, one sleeve, and one front are done. Or maybe I'll start the second front, then I can do the button/buttonhole band sooner. I sure get why test knitters are necessary. I wrote this pattern in 2000, and immediately made 2 more sweaters from it. Now I'm seeing it with new eyes, and am sure making a lot of corrections that I didn't see the need for the first time. This design is also sparking ideas for other variations, since I love knitting that stitch.

Check this out:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3211188.html

Till next time: Always remember to forget the things that make you sad,
but never forget to remember the things that make you glad. (Elbert Hubbard)