November 2018

Hello - Just catching up the blog "for the past year"  I had hoped to post from my phone, but for some reason, the link is broken and I just haven't had time to look into it. 

So here is Gracie - giving you her best Caturday smile. 

Halloween snow!

Mother Nature surprised us with an early snowfall.  Actually it wasn't on Halloween, but pretty darn close.  Like me, Gracie isn't a big fan of snow. 

Gracie's romp in the snow

 Hello effury body and effury kitty - 

I've been spending a whole lotta time on the foot of Mummy's bed - I really like having her home all day long - she just lets me be and is always there for me to give a snuggle to.

This snow was all the way up to the bottom of my skirts.  Yikes!












 Now what do I do? 

The Shepherd said that he could see everywhere that Gracie went out side - one place was into the bamboo.  We figure she was looking for burdies in there. 

Catermonday report

Gracie here today with a little report for you. 

Well it snowed a WHOLE lot last night.  Clear up to my elbows!!!  So, I'm just hanging out with mummy in bed (she keeps making noises about getting up but I don't see any movement there). Ha ha...

I think it has stopped snowing though and The Shepherd has gone out to check on the sheepies. Mummy says it is supposed to stay cold for a week in the high 20s (what ever that means) brrrr. Maybe I'll figure out how that box of sand works...

My nurse for the evening

I had my first PT appointment today.  Given my injuries he said that 6-10 weeks wouldn't be unusual for recovery back to pre-accident state.  Oh my. 

Gracie has appointed herself my nurse - it's amazing how heavy a 12 pound cat can feel when she is lying across your belly.  How could I be so lucky.  Ha ha

Look mummy, I brought you a get well present!!

Not to be outdone be my friend's flowers, I woke up to a little get well present from Ms Gracie.  At least it was all in one piece and dead...

Our power just came back on after being out for about 36 hours. I think that is about the longest we've had in the 22 years we have lived here.  It got down to 60 degrees over night. I decided I was better off than those living on the streets and heck, some people just keep their thermostat that low anyhow. So, no bitching out of me.  Well, maybe about that rat, ha ha ha.

My nurse caught napping

Not so much for constant supervision, Gracie is at least here most of the day.  Her favorite thing is to sleep on top of me which isn't real comfy for me. Although she does make for a good foot warmer as long as she doesn't attack my toes.

I was reading thru my "hospital" post and noticed I mentioned how cute the paramedics were but I didn't say how kind they were and get this,  one of them was named Captain Dessert. 

We are having bad storms here in the Pacific Northwest.  We lost our power last night at about 11:00.  Our church is installing a new minister tomorrow afternoon.  I think the "show will go on" as the worst of the storm is not supposed to hit until late in the evening.  I have been on the planning committee, but last night John and I  decided that I am not well enough to go. Darn it. 

Thanks again for all your good wishes. I think that this is going to be a long haul and you are keeping me from the dark side.  XOX

Caturday Report

Mommy and I spend a lot of time looking out into space...looking for my brofur George.  We are heartbroken.  We think we see him in the shadows or coming across the field in the afternoon.  Mommy feels guilty that she didn't call him back in the house that last night.  Sigh. 

I think I'll go look out in the field again. 

What's growing in The Shepherd's Greenhouse?

 I took a little walk out to the greenhouse today after church.  The Shepherd wanted me to take some pictures of some of his azaleas and to show me how the tomato plants were growing.

Wow, are they ever!  And they are blooming already, so we just may have some tomatoes by the 4th of July...

 He had to plant more runner beans because the other ones bolted on him and became a big tangled mess.

I'm not sure what else he's got coming up here.  But it seems like it only takes a day or so before anything he has planted comes up. 

Snapdragons.  They always remind me of my Grandma Dot. She had these great beds of annuals that would reseed themselves from year to year, to year.  I think these will go on the back porch in pots.

And I have been playing around with the panorama view on my phone.  Just walking out to the greenhouse/barn and back this afternoon I think I took about 100 pictures of plants and sky and cats....

George and Gracie were being a little "aggressive" towards each other.  I don't know what's up with that...But she was hiding out, sort of..

Happy Memorial Day.  Remember to take time to give thanks to all our service men, women, dogs and other animals who give their time and risk their lives for us every day, and to those whose lives were lost so we could live safely. 

Hey you, anybody home?

Hey you - anybody in there. 

Yes Gracie - I've just been bad - spending too much time on Pinterest and reading and not any time thinking about what I want to put on my blog...

Sorry to all of you very patient readers out there who have probably all but given up on me...

Contrary to the weather in the rest of the country, ours here has been pretty balmy - in fact last week we had temps up into the 60's!    Our witch hazel bush has long since bloomed and the tulips and the Lenten roses are about a month ahead of schedule. 

The Shepherd has a new shearer scheduled to come out on the 27th of February. 


You know what that means, don't you? 

Snow, north'easters, poor nekked sheep wondering why he had their nice wool coats cut off just before the temps dropped into the bottom of the bucket...

Now, I'm not saying it's for sure, but just sayin' - it's happened MORE THAN ONCE...

Poor sheepies.  Oh, well, we'll just hope for the best, huh? 


So, really, I have lots to tell you - at our spinner guild meeting today we had a class on kumihimo - (a Japanese form of braid making)  Now that's a cool craft - very versatile - can be a friendship bracelet for your niece or a lovely pearl necklace for your mom - or heck, for yourself. 

Anyhow, I promise I'll be back soon. (Sooner than last time, I promise!  I'm getting awfully close to my 1000th post.  Anyone want to hazard a guess when that will happen?  I might be willing to part with some of that yummy alpaca that I had processed in December.  

See you soon. 










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Your Honor, I object....

I was on Pinterest the other day - Oh, yeah, digital hoarding - that's my middle name - and there is something that's been bugging me -

My home page is a mix of food, pretty flowers, cats & funny sayings.  I have noticed a proliferation of food items with "Crack" included in the name - The one I was looking at was "Cracked out Chicken Bubble-up"   Eh?

Just out of curiosity, I typed "crack" in the Pinterest search bar.  - Holy cow -

Cheese & garlic crack bread
Crack slurp noodles
Christmas crack
Crack dip
Crack cake
Maple caramel bacon crack
and of course
Cracked out chicken bubble-up

So, I'm wondering if any of the people who named these dishes have ever tried crack?

I'm wondering if any of the people who named these dishes have any friends or family members who have ruined their lives because they actually ARE addicted to crack.

Maybe they need to look up addiction in the dictionary - a habit of activity, often injurious  -  Synonyms include:  

    bag    bent    craving    dependence    enslavement

    fixation    hang-up    hook   inclination    jones  

    kick       monkey      obsession       shot       thing

    monkey on back    sweet tooth 

OK, so I get that "Dependence Dip" doesn't quite have the same "je ne sais quoi" as Crack Dip, but PEOPLE!!  Maybe think about it when you say something is "just like crack"  -  because, unless it's going to cause you to live homeless/on the street, it isn't "just like crack"  -  

Just sayin'  

And now, a happier thought for the day -  

Gracie - a few days after "gotcha day" in 2011 - when we FINALLY let them outside to explore the big outdoors - 

 

Gracie, last month - Bless her heart.

She's our little tootsie roll - & loves, loves, loves The Shepherd.  Sometimes when I come to bed, she is snuggled up as close to him as she can get - whiskers to whiskers - it's sooo cute (but you'll just have to imagine that one folks - ...I'd be looking for a new place to sleep if I took that picture, if you know what I mean...)

Yes, LOOT!

 (Thanks Michelle for reminding me that I hadn't put a title on this post!!) 

Well, as you surmised from the last post, last week was the Black Sheep Gathering down in Eugene.  Our annual vacation.

Some changes this year - all the vendors were in the concert pavilion - Air conditioned comfort
and lots of room - but more on that soon -








The thing is, to get to Eugene, first you have to go through Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Chehalis/Centralia - and then there is Portland.

 

 The land of bridges & tail lights -

Portland is called "The Rose City" and they have bush roses planted all along the freeways there.








It is so dry this year, they look kind of stressed already and all the brown grass in the medians - somebody throws out a cigarette and everything is going to burn to the ground!

But we MADE IT through Portland, with only a few delays - Generally Thursday early afternoons are not too bad (and actually coming home on Sunday morning we breezed right through!) 

 The Lane County Fairgrounds is comprised of this big pavilion, then barns that the animals are in - because they had moved the MarketPlace into the pavilion, they also included alpacas this year. 









 As you can see, lots of wide aisles
and lots and lots of vendors!

 With room left over for three spinning circles!  (no, my wheel stays home - I bring my crochet projects on the road)

 This was one of my favorite booths - she has such pretty colors! 

 How could you pass this up?????

















 So, while The Shepherd shopped for sheep,



I shopped for spinning goods

One lady said she figured that her stash had now exceeded her life expectancy.....  


















Gracie says: "I think mom has EASILY exceeded that mark - she brought home TWO BIG BAGS of spinning stuff!"

 

Caturday Confessions

Hello Effurybody and Effurykitty! 

It's Caturday, and Mummy has a confession to make, don't you Mummy?

"Oh, I don't think so Gracie, what are you talking about?"

You know, about you bein' an addik.......  Tell the people what you are addikted to.....   Like something that is keeping you from telling our stories, because you are busy doing your addiktion thing on the computer...

"Oh, you mean shopping on Amazon.com?  That's not an addiktion, that's a necessity"

No, I mean when you say, "OK, just one more game and then I'll go to bed"  ....Admit it Mummy, you are addikted to (here it is folks - she is telling my secrets)  Computer Solitaire...........

Yup, plain old computer Solitaire has got me in it's grips - you know, the one at the top of the list when you click on the "Start" menu on your PC- not online or anything - just plain old Solitaire...I can sure see how people can get into trouble with gambling.  You think, just one more game and I'll win the next one. 

Holy cow! 

The Gravy Train Freeway?

Hello kittehs & peeps!

Gracie here with a Midweek Report for you.

The Shepherd came into the house the other day and asked Mummy if she knew that we kittehs  had worn a path on the ground at the end of the house.  Mummy said something like "Sure" - but didn't realize how noticeable it was until she looked at this picture that she took of me showing off my resplendent furs.  

As you can see, right along the house is the path where our little footies prance and dance while we are outside.

We have our own Gravy Train Freeway!

Mummy says she'll be back later this week with a recipe that she made up for a gathering last weekend - Muffaletta Wraps  - I have it on good authority that they turned out pretty tasty.

Later!

Love, your roving reporter, Gracie



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Yarn, Navajo plyed

Here is my latest project from my spinning wheel.  I have been wanting to learn how to Navajo (or chain) ply -  What is Navajo Plying you ask? 

Well, to quote  Lee Juvan from KnitTV.com, "Navajo plying (also called chain plying) is a way to make a three-ply yarn from only a single strand. Spinners often use this method when they have spun singles from a multicolored top and want to avoid creating “barber pole” yarn as they ply. Navajo plying preserves the color changes of the original singles, giving you a striped yarn rather than a marled one."

I have always just made two ply yarn, but, as a lot  of the  roving I buy to spin is multi-colored, I generally end up with the "barber pole" effect to my yarn and wanted to learn this method so, as you can see, the colors stay together. 

So I asked my friend Yvonne, who is also the current President of our local spinner guild if she would teach a class on how to Navajo Ply, which she did. 

It takes a "bit'o larnin" and a considerable amount of hand-to-eye coordination to Navajo Ply.



Everyone says, "Oh, if you cam crochet, you should have no problem learning how to Navajo Ply.  Au contraire, my friends. 

So the bottom part of this skein is what I plied at guild - kind of tightly wound, so to speak - then I got home, and my wheel sat in the living room for a couple of weeks - and since I needed to get started on some more yarn for The Shepherd's next sweater vest, I really HAD to get this project finished.  So off to the internet I went and ended up watching this video by spinner extraordinaire, Sarah Anderson .  Actually, I watched it several times, and by the time I get around to doing my next project that I need to Navajo Ply, I'll probably watch it a bunch more - ain't the internet grant?

Anyhow, as you can see from the top of the skein above, after watching Sarah's video, my yarn was much more balanced.  I think I will make myself some fingerless gloves for work.

I'm still having a bit of trouble with my eyes and it just isn't much fun to blog when you can't read what is on the screen.  And I've been thinking up quite a few things that I want to tell you about from taiko drummers to, sadly,  dead friends.   So, I promise I'll make an effort to get some things written up in the next week or so.  Till then, Happy St. Catrick's Day! 

Soon, we hope. . .

Hello Effurrybody & EffurryKitty!

Everything on the computer is still very blurry  to Mummy - but she has ordered new lenses for her new glasses (they are even going to make them for free!  Sweet!) 

She is hoping that when she gets them she will be able to read and write more on the computer.  We're not sure what we are going to do with her if she still can't see - that would be a very unhappy situation, that's for sure. 

So, meantime, we're spending time watching the pregame fun about the Seahawks.  The whole state is in a fevered frenzy so it should be a pretty interesting week.  We'll keep you posted about Mummy and her spectacles. 

Love, Gracie


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Yay!! It's Caturday!

 Halo Effurrybody & Effurrykitty! 

It's me, Gracie, and IT"S CATURDAY!

The big noos here is that tomorrow is Mummy's Hippo Birdy!

I think she is going to be older than dirt. ...  ...



At least that's what I heard her say.

 She said that "old age was setting in"  and her parts were starting to expire.  Wow,  I hope that doesn't happen to ME!

One of the doctors that she saw last fall "strongly recommended" that she start wearing something called support stockings!   She found some that she liked and says that her legs do feel better. (It is pretty funny to watch her put them on - lots of huffing & puffing)   She says that part of the problem is that she sits at a high desk on a high chair and so her legs were kind of dangling  so she also bought a stool to park them on.

And she's still having problems with her vision & being able to see the computer screen.  Even tho she has gotten her new glasses, she still has to make the words really big so they don't all moush together -  And to top it all off, some of her eyelashes started to scratch her eye, so she had to go to her eye doctor and he pulled them out!  She said it felt like she had a stick stuck in her eye.  It has taken almost a week for her eye to feel better.

She says it's heck getting old. 

Speaking of old, this s a picture from last month - when we had snow, we had an introoder!!!  Infact, The Shepherd said there were a couple of introoders.  They walked all over the yard and left their footie prints - he said it was probably a mommy raccoon and one of her babies.


I'm glad they didn't come in the house!

This is mummy's latest string project.  She went to her spinner guild meeting today and everybody said "Oh, you are spinning SEAHAWKS colors.  They are her and The Shepherd's favorite footsball team.  And they won their game today.  There was a lot of shoutin goin on in the libing room!!!

It has been raining and raining here, so mummy dug out this picture that she took last month when the weather was nice - cold but very blu skies - kind of SEAHAWK colors, don't cha think?

Mummy & The Shepherd are signed up to take snacks for church tomorrow.  So she decided to make it kind of an informal Hippo Birdie party for herself. 

Here is what she is taking:

2 lbs each of sliced ham & turkey.  She got it at Cash & Carry Restaurant Supply, so it wasn't very espensive, she said.  With that are three different loaves of  bread, one dark, one oatmeal and one white, and a package of "flat bagels".  Butter, mayo & mustard, of course.

A nice tray of sliced cheese that she got at the grocery store.  It has 4 different kinds of cheese on it and it is all sliced up and ready to put on the table.  And some Wheat Thin crackers.

A bag of corn chips for our gluten intolerant folks, with some salsa, some homemade garlic dip and some homemade salmon dip.

Some oranges and apples to slice up AND her friend Vikki from church is making not ONE, but TWO Hippo Birdie cakes for her, because Mummy couldn't decide if she wanted chocolate with raspberry filling or Vanilla with lemon filling.  And Vikki said, "Well, why don't I make one of each - if there is anything left, you can take it tow work on Monday"

That sounded like a good idea to Mummy, but she wasn't too shure that any of the left over cake would actually make it into her office... he he he...

And then The Shepherd is going to take her out to dinner someplace nice!

So, that's all the noos there is today.  We hope you are having a good Noo Year!

Love, your roving reporter, Gracie! 

The End.