Is It Spring Yet?

Let's take a wander around the old garden shall we? The rhubarb is coming up, no this isn't a picture of my rhubarb, my camera got left in the house this morning. Still have to dig some of that for my Dad who wants some in his garden.

I've planted my strawberries in the stone ledge border I built around the pool, they also don't look quite like the picture, actually, I'm not at all sure they're alive.

Asparagus has been planted as well. Oh, and onions. Onions are important.

Garlic is ready to go in too, although normally a fall crop, someone didn't get off their behind long enough to get it planted in the fall, so spring it will be. Started it in the house probably in January or so, not too much longer, actually the tops are starting to die back already.

My Tiger Lilies are popping up all over as is all of the mint that seems to find it's way around the place.

Started in pots are Hollyhocks (I know, they'll grow anywhere, anytime, but I wanted to make sure I got a good bunch of plants before I put them out for the rabbits to munch on - gotta feed those rabbits ya know!)

Also started are tomatoes (3 dif. kinds of regular tomatoes and 2 different strains of heirloom) as well as peppers, hot and regular.

As soon as hubby gets the garden rototilled for me (or Sunday afternoon, whichever comes first) I'll put in some radishes, carrots and spinach and beets maybe. Don't know about beets, have to check on those, but definitely the first three.

One of these nights when it's nice enough, I'm gonna grab hubby and go tooling around the countryside and woods, looking for blueberry plants to transplant. Tried to grow some from seed, but no go.

One of the next big projects in the barn related area of the homestead is to Clean. Out. The. Barn. This spring has been very busy with work and other stuff, and that just hasn't gotten done yet. If I could get hubby to get the dozer outta there, it would help. Then I have to build a wood rack (actually just reinforce it as I've already built it) and start piling all of our scrap wood up there, off the floor. The next task would be to corrall all of the binder twine, actually, this is valuable stuff. But scattered all over the floor, not so much.

In the knitting room, I'm still working on granddaughter #1's sweater. Purpley heathery Lithuanian Birds and Blooms design, and I do need to get a picture of that.

Here's the reason for a recent er, um, stash addition!

So, daugher #1 calls and says, “Go to this yardsale. They have TONS of yarn”, she says. “More yarn than I’ve ever seen in one place, ever!” She recants. “It’s your heaven”, she teases, “your own personal paradise”, she continues.. yadda, yadda, yadda….So, being the dutiful mother that I am, I went. Seriously, this woman had a problem. She needed to start her own Yarn-a-holic 12 step program. She had yarn. LOTS of it. Yes, TONS! of good stuff! Mohair, cashmere, alpaca, wool, actually very little acrylic. She had skeins and balls and cones. She had needles, and lace wires. Stitch and row counters were coming out of boxes. Patterns, books and leaflets jumped as I walked by. But she doesn’t have alot of this stuff anymore. Bet you can guess why! Because now I have a yarn problem. 8 (yes, count them - 8!) lawn and leaf bags later I’m now looking into 12 step program requirements for myself.
Part of my New Years Resolution was to knit from my stash and not buy any more new yarn. There’s a loophole here, can you spot it? Yup! New! This yarn was not New, so it didn’t count!
I wonder if justifying addictions is addressed in the 12 step programs?
Moral of this story? Sorry, got nothin’ for ya. But yard sales, garage sales and auctions rock for possible stash enhancement!

So, now that I've fessed up about my recent purchase, I better go. Got a few minutes before I leave for work and that means I have a few minutes to pet and drool, I mean to admire my recent aquisitions!

Aren't Weekends Supposed To Be For Relaxing?

Someone told me that once, I think they lied. "They" said that weekends are for relaxing. "They" said that weekends are for doing whatever you want to do. "They" also implied that the reason for having weekends in the first place were so one could unwind, put the feet up, and recharge for the upcoming week.

Again... "they" lied.

I think what was actually implied was that weekends weren't for the work you get paid for, they are for the work that you don't really get paid for, like laundry, cooking, mowing the lawn (well, not this time of year) and such.

All of this nonsense brings me to a point. I actually have points now and then.

This weekend was sheer work!
I did dishes, can't tell, but I did clean up before I messed it up again. I hung out laundry, I mopped floors, I cut, split and stacked firewood, I canned pumpkin, I put up some frozen dinners, and what do I have to show for it? Laundry that's still out on the line because it rained. Floors that got muddy again because it rained. A pile of firewood that actually looks pretty good all stacked nice like on my deck. REAL pumpkin that I can get at a moment's notice, to actually make a pumpkin pie. You know, a REAL one, with real eggs, real crust, real milk.....
And my kitchen is trashed again. Because inbetween all of this canning of pumpkins, sweeping of floors and basically taking steps backward, what did I do? Not dishes, nope, I spun lots and lots and lots of yarn. And washed it, and hung it to dry, and blocked out a sweater, and, and, and... then fun stuff that you're supposed to do on weekends.

I didn't got out to the barn at all this weekend, except to do chores - my bad. I didn't change the lightbulb in the hall (waiting for The Mouth's boyfriend to show up wanting food, he's about 7' tall, he can change it easily!), and I didn't wash windows.

Oh well, I got to spin, and I knitted a bit, and I got my pumpkin canned and I watched my Red Wings take Chicago by the throat and win 6-5.

Tonight, will have to be for the kitchen, putting away the mounds of yarn that I spun and washed, finishing up the last sweater, and of course. Dishes.

Never ends........

In Which Ter Quits

At any given day I have quite a bit of stress going on. I work full time at a job I love. I work part time at another job I love. I run my farm, home and on the off chance I have a few minutes to myself, I like to breathe. Keeps me going.

But, I quit! (not breathing, because that would really mess up the rest of my day).

Hey, hubby gets to quit and go up North fishing and hunting for the weekend, why can't I quit too?

Let's identify some stressors that I'm resigning from

There's always money, yeah, I'm not doing money anymore.
Taking care of the parents. Well, that one I can't really resign from.
Taking care of the kids. Come on, seriously, they're full grown people (sometimes they don't act like it, but then either do I). The oldest is successfully out on her own. Once in awhile I'll help her at her store, gives me something to do when I'm not breathing. The 2nd is successfully out on her own also, married with kids and the whole deal. The 3rd, Blondie, is not married, however she is out, pretty much on her own. Still requires a bit of help now and then but pretty much....
4th, The Mouth, see above, and the 5th is in Iraq. Now there's some stress I'd love to get rid of.

Let's see, what else. Probably not enough hay to last until June, water pump shouldn't be freezing already which means something just may be amiss (doncha love that word? AMISS!!), it's supposed to rain/snow for the next 6 months which means my laundry is going to get seriously piled up, there's not enough room in the garage for my bike.....

I could go on and on but I won't. The main thing right now? Not enough time. I just "got" spinning. I mean, I've been spinning my own yarn for awhile now, but just last night I got it. It worked. The hands and feet and wheel all seemed to be in sync, and nice, even, consistent yarn was produced. This is a good thing. Something I've been working toward now for awhile. Now I have to find the time to produce more, because, of course, I have the perfect project to knit with this perfect yarn. So, yeah. If you could just send me a bit of time, I'd be really grateful!

But before I start to spin more of the perfect yarn to knit the perfect project, I have to finish the last 2 that are still in my basket waiting for me.

And there's the pumpkin that STILL hasn't gotten canned. Spinning and canning, sounds like the perfect Sunday to me!

Another Day, Another Clump!

If someone had told me, a few years ago, that one of the reasons I would look forward to spring is so I could de-clump the PAF (aka... Puff-A-Fluff... aka... Siberian Husky) I would have called the White Coat Guys. Now, I live for it. I pull the clumps out much the same way I used to when I had the Angora Rabbits, every spring as he sheds. Someday I will spin this into yarn. I'm not good enough yet to spin dog fur, I'm really not good enough to spin roving, but I'm working on it.


If someone had told me, a few years ago that the most exciting part of my day would be going out to the barn and discovering my First Ever Turkey Egg, I would have called the White Coat Guys myself. But here we are.

Now I bet you're wondering what the most exciting thing I did yesterday was. Well, I dug out the incubator, when I say "dug" that's not far from the truth. I had to dig for it, it's been a few years since I used it, but the First Ever Turkey Egg demanded to be hatched. So I will try. I hatched out a bunch of wild turkeys once (a nest we found while haying) and they all flew away. Hmm. Funny how I didn't see that coming. My turkeys are left overs from last year, domestic big white dumb things. But this will truly be exciting if I can hatch my own. I also gathered a few Rhode Island Red eggs. As long as I have the incubator going (on my kitchen counter, which The Mouth had a comment for) I may as well fill it up. Right? I thought so too.


I missed Knit Nite last night, we went to cut wood again. It's a good time of year to cut wood, not so hot that you want to curl up and die and not so cold that you don't want to be out. So another pick up load for next winter. I won't do another picture, look at yesterday's post. Same truck, same parking spot, different load of wood. We'll go do that again tonight, and tomorrow, and the next day and as much as we can while the weather and wood holds out.

If someone had told me that the very cute, very adorable puppy (Bu-Dawgh - part Shar Pei, part I'm not sure what else) that I got for Christmas last year, well year before last actually, he's 1.5 yrs old now, would have the Ears That Itch And Drive Him Nuts, I may have thought twice. Probably not, but maybe. By the time he became mine, he was already pretty much part of me. He started out being Blondie's puppy and as is so often the case, became mine when she moved out. To make it official, she put a ribbon around his neck and "gave" him to me for Christmas. Never saw that one coming either. Hmm.


Today is Oldest Grand Kid's birthday. He's 12. I'm pretty sure. I should know this, but I have trouble keeping track of how old I am. Happy Birthday Oldest Grand Kid!

PAF (or Puff-A-Fluff)

I want to introduce you to another of my favorite critters. He is a 3 year old Registered Siberian Husky, actually belongs to my daughter. He is affectionately known as PAF (Puff-A-Fluff....aka....Dawson....aka...Fins - my family are serious Jimmy Buffet groupies!)
This is the nicest dog HOWEVER.... we have issues with walking on slippery surfaces. Yup, that's right, a sled dog that won't walk on ice! (or hardwood floors, or tile, or even a slippery deck). I'm telling ya, if there is a critter out there that is "not quite right" it will find it's way to me!

He's very vocal, as I understand huskies can be, will actually "talk". Well, more like argueing and expressing his opinion but it's very fun. And talk about High Maintenance! We've endured several pancreatitis episodes as well as Heartworm (yeah, in Michigan!). He's allergic to a lot of different things (seriously, beef? A dog who can't eat beef?)Total Arm Fur!

But... he sheds the most GORGEOUS fur. Last spring I pulled and brushed several grocery bags full of this soft, soft, downy under coat (puff). One of these days when I'm good enough at spinning to try dog fur, I'm going to try to spin this. It's beautiful! This puffy is just about useless, but he's gorgeous and that's all he has to be. And he knows it, just ask him!

In my yarn world, I got another yummy package from Yarn of the Month Company

I LOVE the Debbie Bliss Cotton (yellow sample) as well as the silk and wool laceweight from Nature's Pallet (variegated blue sample). Those two will definitely go on my "must have" list.