That Awful Clock! (borrowed from Miss Peach)

Miss Peach really struck a chord with me when she put this sweet picture on her blog. It is how I feel every morning lately. I go to bed early because I am so exhausted from my back hurting all day and then I have to get up early (Ok, at 6:30 a.m.) to go into work at 8:00 am because my co-worker is not back full time from her surgery yet. Woe is me - That Awful Clock Again..........

Payday is over and I just have to finish my church newsletter - then I have stuff to tell you clear back from the middle of March!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Here's to another 15 years of peaceful co-existence.

We celebrated with a dinner of leftovers and fresh baked rhubarb pie.

Saturday we'll go on a trek, ending up at Gretchen's Wool Mill Spring Fiber Frolic and Spin-In. Should be a fun afternoon.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie.

Got some catching up to do......

Ta Da - got the new camera to download to the computer. Not the easiest software to use, but, I guess I'll learn - you know that story about "old dogs and new tricks????

Meanwhile this shiny blue balloon heralds the arrival of Cooper - or as The Shepherd calls him "Hurricane Cooper" or HC for short.




The craziest thing is that The Shepherd went back to the pictures of the very first lambs we had born here - guess what they looked like???

Little black fuzzy guys with black & white spotted heads. Hmmm - the more things change, the more they stay the same.




And this two headed monster is Vern/Galloway - checking out the dirt on the other side of the fence. They are goofy little guys -








And here is Sinda posing in the sun for her latest portrait.

I made our reservations for our hotel room for Black Sheep tonight. Almost screwed up - I thought it was the LAST weekend in June - nope - it's the third weekend in June - Luckily I realized it before I made the reservations, etc. Now I have to remember to change my days off at work too. And start cleaning house so the house sitter won't think I'm such a slob...

Things go from bad to worse..........

Random stuff to catch up -

• The week before the Talking Heads were born, I bent over to dry my toes and wrenched something in my back - It didn't really seem to be too bad - like when you pick up to heavy a load at the same time that you turn - Then I spent an hour out in the barn watching babies be born and getting cold - that and stress from work turned my back into a pretzel - So on to muscle relaxers, Reiki, Chiropractic, going to the MD to make sure it wasn't kidney related. It's better now, but still not back to 100 percent
  
  
• My assistant at work had neck surgery on the 7th - she was only supposed to be out for 5-7 days - but they had to fuse two of her vertebrae - involving doner bone, a plate and two screws - I've got to hand it to her though - she came in and worked for a couple of hours yesterday (10 days out from surgery) - and will start back part time next week - meanwhile - work kind of "piled up" - there's only so many hours in a day...
  
  
• I was having computer memory problems - little messages that popped up on the screen, Internet Explorer freezing up, things running slower than molasses - I was encouraged by some articles that I'd read recently - - "Oh don't get a new computer, just add memory to your old one" - so I took it into a local computer repair shop that was recommended by several people. Well, my computer was old, and, it sounded plausible at the time - but it was not possible to add more memory because the slot on the mother board was bad, (or something like that) and by the way, you'll have less memory now than you did before -and, we have a refurbished computer for $375 that we could sell you - Of course I went for the refurb - no sense in throwing good money after bad, was there?
  
  
• Got the "new to me" computer home on Monday (had to wait for some Antivirus software to come in) hooked it all up to the Comcast modem - No do workey - to quote an old friend... - called Comcast - walked through all the steps - Oh, you can't hook this up with a USB2 cord (like the old one was) - you need an Ethernet cord - OK, so we have lots of those hanging around the office and my boss said I could have one - brought it home - went through all the "steps" with the Comcast person and it still didn't work. Came home from work on Friday with three other cords - just to make sure I didn't have a bad cord - STILL didn't work - So I asked the Comcast person if I could go get a new modem - Sure, they'd give me a new modem - but she didn't think that was the problem - called and chewed out the computer guys - he was sure the problem was NOT the computer - and by golly when I got the new modem hooked up, it went "Well hello there - lets get you set up and hooked up to the internet" Houston, we have lift off....
  
  
• In the process of switching over my hard drive many programs disappeared - perhaps I didn't have them loaded right in the first place, but my photo download program, a couple of other miscellaneous things and ALL MY FAVORITES from Internet Explorer- Of course that didn't mater because they switched my browser to Mozilla Firefox, which is OK, I guess, I just wish they would have asked first.
  
  
• There is a poorly marked stretch of road by our new Fred Meyers that, if you're not paying particularly good attention, the right lane will take you off on the frontage road - which a lot of people don't pay attention to and then they cut in front of you, causing stomping on the brakes and cuss words - that happened to me today - (I was the stomper and the cusser, so to speak) But you know, all things happen for a reason - if I hadn't had to slow down those - oh, three to five seconds - I would have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just a mile down the road from my "stomping and cussing" I was literally three seconds behind the guy that got "T-boned" by a car pulling out of a driveway. Stomped on my brakes, screech, halt - less than a car length from the accident - threw on the flashers and called 911 - Luckily there were no injuries - only a couple of badly smashed cars - (altho the guy whose airbag went off is probably looking for some pain killers about now.)
  
  
• As I mentioned above, the photo download program disappeared from my desktop - which is kind of a moot point now that (hm mm) someone who shall remain nameless dropped the camera when I was handing it to him, and now the lens is stuck on open or as the camera screen puts it - "Zoom error" Shoot - I was kind of thinking about getting a new camera, but not quite yet - so, off I go to Costco to get a new camera - I'm hoping however that someone, somewhere can fix the little guy - that way The Shepherd can use it for his own and I'll take the new one.
  
  
• Pearl had her lamb today - a single ram lamb - his name is Cooper - or Hurricane Cooper, as The Shepherd calls him - If I can figure out how my new camera works - you'll get pictures in the next couple of days.
  
  

Well, The Shepherd aka, The Choir Director aka, The Minister of Music talked me into playing for church tomorrow, so I'd better get to bed. Some good things really did happen over the past ten days - Easter - a great present from my Secret Pal at church - and getting to hear Tapestry Artist Sarah Swett at my spinner guild meeting last weekend. Her work is incredible - she has an article on Spinning for Embroidery in the last Spin Off Magazine. Oh, so talented and a very fun speaker as well.

It's a small world after all

Not a very good close up, but The Shepherd has this bright yellow forsythia blooming in the greenhouse right now.

He has spent the past couple of days root pruning and cleaning pots, getting everything ready to move out to the benches in the garden.






A pretty pine with a very gnarled trunk.
















I'm fascinated by the lichens that grow on some of the plants - they are about the size of a straight pin.













Or smaller...








This little weeping larch has the most intriguing looking little cones, and when the needles first come out, they are as soft as they can be.



















He moved this out of the greenhouse onto our front porch this afternoon. I always say -" Some people re-arrange their furniture. The Shepherd re-arranges his plants..."

ON the Hook -

The only crochet project I have going right now is this scarf made from "Vanna Baby Soft" yarn for my younger sister. She picked out the colors, and I really didn't think they would look too good together until I started the scarf - but they do.

Also, the angle of the picture makes it look like I have really increased my gauge, but it's really all the same size.







I used a pattern that I found in this "Box of Scarves" - Very handy - each pattern is on it's own card, so you don't have to schlep around this big book or worry about getting photocopies made of your pattern. You just have this one 8 1/2 x 5 card that you can tuck in your bag with your yarn. Very handy.







Crocheting in the back loops only gives the scarf this cool texture - and the chevron pattern is so easy, I understand why my grandma made dozens of afghans in this pattern.

I'm still working on the brown and caramel colored plied Shetland yarn for The Shepherd's sweater vest. I'm a little over half done. It is such a huge commitment to make enough yarn for that kind of a project - I like to crochet, but I think making the yarn is half the fun.

Off the hook

After making all those hats for Christmas presents, I felt like I needed to gain a little more knowledge about hat making - specifically on the increasing / decreasing part when doing the crown of the hat. So, I took a look at the clases offered by my LYS (Northwest Handspun Yarns and they had an "Earflap Hat" class that sounded interesting. We had a little problem getting started because of postponments from snowy weather, and after the first session, I ended up being the only person in the class, so I had great conversation with Deb, the instructor, who is also in my spinner guild, about spinning for crocheting and how to read patterns etc., and I had brought my new magazine issue from Interweave Crochet (the same people who bring us Spin Off and Interweave Knits, plus a whole host of (would you believe about 30) other magazines!?) So we spent a bit of time going over all the patterns in the magazine - talking about materials and "tools".

I wanted to make this hat for myself. I have a wonderful winter hat - an ear muff style hat made from sheep skin - I love it, but it does kind of look like I have a squirrel on my head - and I don't always want to carry it around, for fear that I might lose it. I also have a large head - I've never been able to buy a hat "right off the rack" - they are always too small. Well this one is made "just for me" - and it fits perfectly - all the way up to over my twisted hair bun on the top of my head, but - I'm only letting you see the back of it, because The Shepherd says it makes me look like a big gnome.

Here's a picture of what it looks like laid out flat - I did put the chains down the front, because it just didn't hang right with out them, BUT, I do, however reserve the right to refuse to put a tassle on the top. I think I have enough yarn left over that I might make a pair of fingerless gloves. (in my spare time...)

Blessings from the earth

Sinda caught a few rays this afternoon - she loves this tree box -












This is Pacific Rock Cress - My camera doesn't do justice to purples at all - but it is so purple it almost hurts your eyes. There is one house in town that has two foot wide beds of this spring flower all the way around their yard. I always try to make sure I get by there when it is in bloom -









This little beauty is less than a foot tall and one of The Shepherd's prize bonsai plants. It got center stage at church last Sunday.














The dafs seem to have enjoyed all the cold rainy weather that we've had this spring - they are blooming like crazy!










The computer is going to the hospital this next week, but I have a few things "stored up" for your viewing pleasure. Hopefully it will be a one day/in and out/pretty easy installation of extra memory - I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one!

Free At Last

Sorry for my absence. (my sis even called me to find out if I was OK - You haven't been blogging! she said...) Well, about 2 1/2 weeks ago, I bent over to dry my toes after my morning shower and things have not been the same since. What is the old saying, "It's he** getting old"?? Two weeks of chiropractic visits have only led us to the conclusion that most of the problem is stress (not gonna lie - probably true) but still that doesn't solve my problem. I have been taking a Back & Muscle Relief medicine that was purchased at Costco in Canada - but may have to resort to going to my MD for something stronger as things are just not progressing the way they should . In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures taken the next day from our most recent "blessed event" - Don't they just have the funniest faces? We are calling them Vern (the one on the left) and Galloway (the one on the right with the "belt") Galloway is quickly turning grey - his belt won't show at all soon, I'm afraid.


This is our friend Diane who came to visit the boys their first morning - "Vern" is named after her husband.

The boys made so much noise the first couple of days that The Shepherd took to calling them "The Talking Heads"




And here they are a week older - yesterday a.m. when The Shepherd put them out in the front pasture. Lots of wailing and carrying on - mostly by Luna - "Where do you think you're going" She'd cry as the lambs took to stretching their legs for the first time - Olambpics, here we come!
She'll run off some of that post-partum chubbyness pretty quickly at this rate.