This is almost May, isn't it??

I started getting this post together yesterday morning, but my girlfriend called and wanted me to ride to town with her - so a day late ...

It started out seeming to be a very nice day ... my border daffodils along the driveway/fence are looking very nice and bright yellow

Some are in beautiful clumps ...

... and some are a bit lonesome ...

I think come September and/or October I will put in more bulbs. I will try to get some of the multi-colored ones, so I have a nicer variety to show you next year.

This is what my beautiful daffodils look like this morning after an inch and a half of snow. If you look at the first picture, you can compare. They have been known to bounce back so I'm hoping they can accomplish this feat once again - and I hope the unopened buds will bloom!

I've also been remiss in showing you my new grown baby chickies. Remember these tiny little fuzz balls?

Well, now they look like this ...

There were 2 chicken girls retired to the freezer because they would lay their eggs, then immediately turn around and peck the egg and eat them!! Can't have that. Egg suckers cannot be rehabilitated, so are not welcome because the girls need to earn their keep!!! The new little babies were introduced to the coop on the 10th of April and seem to like it - except that the remaining chicken that lays keeps attacking them. I sure hope they grow bigger and turn on Chocolate to teach her to leave them alone. Aside from that they do get along with the two OLD ladies who are no longer laying those beautiful green eggs, but are friendly. They too, will have an appointment with the freezer, but not just yet.

The snow is starting to melt ever so slowly now, but it is still only about 25-26 outside.  Thankfully there is no wind (shhhh), but the sky is again overcast.  Not sure what to expect for today weather wise, but I guess I'll take what I get.

Hope you all have a great day.

A pair, a pair, a pair ...

... of socks!! I finally finished my first pair of socks. They are not perfect, but I consider them my sampler socks. They are a little bit too loose - OK. There are three different types of increases - OK. There are holes at the heel - OK. I don't think I'll go on with more little things I've found, but I sure have learned a lot! Never mind the hiked up sweats... it was just to show you that they were knee socks.

Two of them! I didn't really have the "Second Sock Syndrome", but I did knit a couple of smaller things while knitting the second sock. The looseness at the top is because I totally forgot about the 1x1 or 2x2 rib to help them stay up. I think I could go back and re-do that part, but then again, maybe not. LOL

Here is a scarf in garter stitch with a bit of a fringe that I knitted during the second sock. Very simple, just CO 20 and knit to your hearts content until you come close to running out of yarn. I took the tail end and cut as many fringes as I thought I would need and then knit until the yarn ran out. I think the yarn was Vanna's Choice Tweed, and the needles a 7 or 8.

I, of course, had to knit a bunny with Easter coming up. The pattern was "Bunny Nuggets" from Danger Crafts, and it came out sooo cute. Only about 4 inches to the top of the ear, and a big fuzzy tail.  The ears are not quite the same length, but that makes him cuter!!  Simple I-cord.  The eyes are light blue beads, and the nose is embroidered pink yarn.

I'm working on a shoulder wrap for my Mom, but I'm not far enough along to bother taking a picture as it looks like lots of stitches (233 at the moment) on a circular needle. I want to finish it by her birthday at the end of August, so she will have it going into winter. My Mom will be 84 and has trouble staying warm during the Danish winters, so I though I'd knit her something useful.

I will probably cast on for another pair of socks in the same type of yarn, but I will try a different toe that is more rounded. I am still experimenting with different methods of doing things, but I figure socks are a good way to practice some of these methods. Only I will know...

Have a wonderful day!
Hugs

Oooh, I'm healthy!!!

Last Wednesday, I had my 'clean out' day ... no food, only clear liquids and some of that cleaning stuff that keeps you close to the bathroom ... the colonoscopy went so well, and I was sooo clean that the doctor wanted to do the surgery the next day (Friday) so I didn't have to go through this again. Thank you doc!!!

They did a laproscopic appendectomy - try saying that three times fast!! - on Friday. It seems the troubles I've had over the last 18-24 months was really my appendix acting up, but not enough to put me in danger of having it burst. I think the doctor was saying that the growth I had came about to protect the appendix from further damage, but it did HURT BAD about 4-5 times during that period. Everything that was to be removed came out without a hitch. It was all sent in for a biopsy, but the doctor doesn't expect any surprises at all - he told me so.

I got home yesterday around 2-2:30 pm, and of course as I was taking it easy, I over did it. Every heard of something so silly?? ... me neither ... I slept until 10:30 am (after changing the clocks) and feel like most of my day has disappeared!

There are so many things I need do get done, but will only do the vital ones. Like baking bread, cleaning the dreaded cat box for tomorrows garbage day, and baking dog treats ... that one may just have to wait until tomorrow even if we are out! I will knit, I will knit, I will knit, or so I keep telling myself ...

I also need to do some laundry ... but I do have enough clothes to last for another week, but my favorite things are dirty (whine, whine & whine some more!)... I will wait, I will wait, I will wait!!

Thank you for all your well wishes over the past month, I really appreciate it a lot! I am fine and on the mend. Thank goodness this is all over, except paying the bills ...

Many hugs to you all!

Babies that Baa and Cheep!

The pictures were taken at Dale's (goats) and baby chicks at my house. The goats are growing like crazy - these pictures were taken, maybe a week after the "infant" goat pics. It is hard to get a picture - they never hold still!! LOL.   By now they are 5-6 weeks old and have been put outside in their own pen, but they are still bottle fed - 3 bottles each; I don't know how many times during the day.  Thank goodness it isn't my milk bill!!!

I wish I could have gotten both their little faces, but all I got was one face and a butt!!!

Then there was the sale at our local Grange Co-op, buy one fifty pound bag of chick starter and get 3 chicks for free.  How do I pass that up when I know several (3) of my older girls have slowed wayyyy down on the egg production.  The two Ameraucana's lay green eggs and I haven't seen one in about three weeks now.  I do realize that the cold weather cuts down on the production, but these girls seem to have been on strike.  The oldest, Cinnamon, a RI Red, is about 7 years old and I think she has has enough of this laying thing.   The Ameraucana's, Cloud and Frazzle are also up there in age and I think it's their time now too.   Now I have my own new little babies, which I never thought I'd do - I wanted pullets that were ready to lay so I didn't have to go through this.  They are living in my craft studio for now - got to keep the cats and dog away from them.  Now to the mystery box - -

Here are my three little baby Barred Rock chicks in their new home.  I have a regular 60w light bulb hanging in there to keep them warm.  The associate that helped me said that they like it around 90 deg., and we are right on the mark.  It stays that warm because of the towel.  They bundle up to sleep, but they are also very active.  That tells me the temp is right on!  In about a week I can lower the temp to about 85, and slowly go down as their permanent feathers grow in.  The already have som wing feathers starting ... I love this ...

Now I just hope that all of them are girls ... no roosters allowed here!  I've cleaned the water dish after the mess they made (see above pic), I've also checked their little butts to make sure there isn't any dried "stuff" - I don't want them to plug up ...

How'd I do? - I might even like this Taking care of Baby thing ... hmmm??  I'll see if I'm willing to try it again next year.  Hope you all like the baby pictures.

Have a great day!!

Babies and socks

I've been gone a while; it's hard to post when one day is pretty much like the next, but I've got news ...

My friends' goat had babies on the 30 of Jan. Twins, a boy and girl. The Mama has produced healthy babies for about 4 years now, and we all think she is getting tired. The first two years there were twins, last year she had triplets and this year twins again. She has always been a good Mama, but last year she kicked one baby away and this year both. The little ones are being bottle fed in the house ... dog kennels work wonders. I only got a picture of the little girl with Mama, but it shows how little and cute they are.  The baby is looking for the boob between Mama's front legs ... she finally learned ...

The red glow is from the heat lamp, and Dale is trying to get the baby in the right place to eat. This one was pushed away a day or two later and is now in the house with her brother. They are doing very, very well.

I've also been working on knitting some socks from the toe up. My first socks!!! Only the first one is done, but I think I need to redo the cast off, it is a bit loose. I used a pattern for short socks, so I knit all the way up for knee socks and then realized that it was too tight on the calf ... rip out about 8-9 inches, figure out how to increase gradually and then bind off. Phew! Now I need to fix the bind off.

This was before it was completely finished, but even though I can see mistakes I need to fix on future socks, but I'm very happy with it overall.

Here is the first sock finished and the second one started. Can you see how the first sock is ruffled at the top - that is what I still need to fix.

I've been reading all about knitting socks from the toe up for about 2 months on and off. I finally found a combination of patterns and made up stuff that suited me. I wanted the easiest cast on possible - I used the figure 8. Then I went with the short row tow and heel. Boy was it a challenge to find the right instructions that made sense to me. Those wraps really gave me fits for about 3-4 tries - I have to look at the instructions each step of the way, but i made it through. The plain knitting for the foot went very smoothly. Once I started the heel and got several rows into it, I realized I have, to me, giant holes where the instep stitches were put on a holder. You know, I had ripped so much on this sock, I left the holes. These socks will be worn, and then put away as a first sock project that I can refer to so I can see how much I've progressed with additional socks!! LOL ...

If anyone has any suggestions for the holes, I'd love to hear about it.

Hugs

Long time no post

It's been too long since I posted - one whole month!! I was caught up in the Christmas present making, but I was also caught up in a medical problem. I'll go back to right after Christmas when we got a wonderful snow storm ... this shot was right out the front door. It was coming down hard.

This shot was to the right of the one above.

I've finally (almost) finished the gifts that were promised. Thank goodness for friends who understand "not feeling good" and "I hurt"! I will shortly make my rounds to deliver the gifts. I had two more ornament covers to finish, and I love the way they came out.

I used silver and medium green beads on a silver ball, with green mottled glass beads at the bottom. I need to make all my future covers this length or LONGER. I just love when they hang way down ... sorry about the flash, but it was so dark in the room when I took the picture.

The red and gold seed beads stand out really well on this sort of pinkish/peach ball.

Last year I knit a cowl in Camo yarn for one of my best friends. This year the gentleman that received the hat last year is also getting a cowl, but in the same blue as his hat. I still need to line it, but that will be completed this weekend.

The pattern can be found on This Boy Knits and it's a fantastically easy pattern.

I'm near the end of another cowl for another friends birthday in February.  This one is in brown.

I really enjoy knitting these, but I might find another pattern to try, or make up my own and maybe sell them to the hunters in my area ... could be ...

The medical problem is a mass the size of a plumb, attached a little bit to the appendix. I see a surgeon on the 27th of Jan. and will find out when I go to have it removed. The only other thing that came up in all the tests I had was high LDL (bad) cholesterol level. At first I looked at all the food labels, but it only on occasion mentions cholesterol, and I'm thinking that means both good and bad. I've added a lot of fruit to my diet and we'll see when the blood test is redone in June. Aside from these two things, which can be fixed, I'm basically very, very healthy.

Hope you didn't get too bored with this huge post ... I will post more often, yeah, like I've promised that before!! I promise that I really, really will try to get on here more often.
Have a good day and a great weekend.

I am here ...

... crafting away. I have shopped, and am still not done, I have knit - and am still not done, I am making my beaded ornaments - and am still not done. I need a total of 6 ornaments; I have 2 finished, 1 almost, and 3 still to go. I don't follow any pattern, I just make up rows as I go.  I'm sorry the pictures aren't clearer, but it is an overcast, rainy day here in Southern Oregon (I wish it was snow!!).  Then again I don't want them too clear as the people they are for, pop in now and again (I think). LOL ... 

 I pick the glass ball first, then contemplate what colors of beads go with the ball.  After that I start looking and counting out beads to see if I have enough of the fancy ones.  Sometimes I need only 8, others 24 or 48 - all multiples of 8 as there are usually 8 danglies on each ball.  I need to expand to have more . . . hmmm, probably next year!  I don't have time this year to experiment ...

I know I will get them all done - is there a choice? - as it only takes half to three quarters of a day to make one my way.  If I had all the supplies in a neat little package it would only take 3 hours or so...... but I like to dig around in my beads, and it gives me a break from getting the needle through those itty, bitty beads.  I love my beads ...

OK, now that you've had a peek, I must get back to finishing the 3rd one, and get started on number 4.

Have a great day!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving

We have a white Thanksgiving!  The pictures were taken on November 23rd, the day of the storm, but aside from snow having been plowed and shoveled, it is basically the same amount as it has been way below freezing since.

I love this view out the front door, it never disappoints me.

You just have to have a view or three out the back door too. The south 40 (1 acre)...

... my poor barbecue under 12" of snow...

... a frozen wind spinner ...

... and the new chicken coop showing how the blowing snow stuck to the fence! I went out and hit the fence and it all came down in one fell swoop!

Silly I know, but I've been giving the chickens cooked rice that's still warm to hold them overnight when temps have been dropping into the minus and teens' range. I will freeze my chickens on my schedule, not Mother Nature's!

The sun is shining this morning, but the temperature will only go to 34 today. I hope everyone has a safe and satiating Thanksgiving. I am going to two houses for dinner ... I'm wearing pants with elastic in the waist!! ... and I'm bringing containers to bring home some leftovers too ... LOL

Hugs

More chicken stuff ...

Remember this old pathetic dog kennel that my chicken girls use to live in?

It was turned into something that looks like a chicken coop! Yeah! I forgot to get pictures of Dale and I measuring, cutting the pieces, building each wall and the base. I also didn't get any of the painting (priming) process. It's hard to take pictures of myself painting, and I really didn't want my camera out in a 40 degree shed with the dog and me moving around! But this is where we are putting it together after moving the pieces out to the back yard.  Dale is standing inside the coop putting the roof trusses on.

Here you can see that the coop was backed up against the wood shed and you can also see the nesting box addition.  The inside of the coop is a smidgen larger than 4'x4', so the boxes needed to be out side.  Besides it is sooo nice to NOT have to crawl into a dog house to collect eggs!  This woman is sooo over that!!!!   The plywood that is standing against the coop is the roof - ceiling actually - as we put felt paper dowm before putting the tin on.

Here it is all put together with the 6'x12' kennel moved so the girls will have some outside fenced area to roam.  The are not that happy about staying in, they would rather come out of there to roam the whole back yard.  I've kept them in since last week so they could get use to the new house and the ladder.   You can also see the blue tarp cover on one end of the area - this is so they have a dry spot when it is snowing or raining.  Dale says my girls are spoiled ... SO?  Yeah, they will be real spoiled when at least two of them go into the soup pot!!   The two rocks holding the nest box lid down are because the plywood warped a little bit and I haven't made it out to move the single center hook to the end and add another one at the other end.  I will not be moving rocks forever - this was to make it easy for me to get the eggs!

Then we have the roomy accommodations for the girls.  There are four nest boxes for five chickens - plenty of room for laying.  There is a roosting bar that will hold all five if they so choose.   On the other side of the door is their food dish, which needs to be upgraded too, since I found an egg in it this morning.  Right out of sight on the bottom left is their water bowl, which will also be replaced.  I have both straw and wood shavings on the floor to keep their little feetsies warm.

Here is a view from the (wo)man door across to the chicken door and you can see three of the girls looking in to see what I'm doing in there ... LOL.

I know this post is getting really long, but you had to see the whole thing.  The last view is of the "former" chicken kennel area.  This will all be cleaned up, but not while there is snow so it might have to wait until Spring.   Right behind the up-ended dog house is my straw bundles; those will have to be moved soon - maybe tomorrow - since I don't want to be digging around under snow to refresh the girls new house.

The sky is blue and the sun is shining - what happened to the HUGE storm we were suppose to get?  More about that the next time ...

Hugs to you all

itty bits of snow ...

It really is hard to believe that snow season is here. The first snow showed up yesterday morning, and of course by noon or so - poof, it was gone! We had more on the ground this morning, so I had to take some pictures.  This is my gravel driveway with the snow carefully placed on the fallen pine needles. Must have been some hard work on Mother Nature's part.

Here is a little pine, oh about 12" tall, that has some snow stuck in the needles.

A few days ago the side yard looked like this, and it still looks like this (in piles) but with itty bits of snow, which is now gone, so it looks completely like this. I hope this sentence makes sense, I had to read it twice to understand it, but I'm not messing with it any more ... LOL

I have a whole bunch of pictures with snow, but it's funny how we all have to take "firsts" every year ... at least I do! Maybe we can get back to a normal winter in this area as last year we had maybe 14" total. Our normal is anywhere from 4-6 feet! I hope your winter is also normal, or at least as normal as possible.

Have a good day.