We watch the Super Moon Rise

Remember the old song "When the Moon Comes Over The Mountain"?

Well, tonight was a "Super Moon" coming over the mountain and at about 7:45 p.m. The Shepherd said "Do you want to go over on the Ferndale Road (a spot north of our house that has unimpeded views of the horizon) and watch the moon come up?" We had seen the following article in our local newspaper so it sounded like it might be a cool thing to do. "Sure," I said.

On Saturday, 'super full' moon will be biggest in 20 years

On Saturday, March 19, a full moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It's a super "perigee moon" - the biggest in almost 20 years.

"The last full moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993," says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. "I'd say it's worth a look."

In Whatcom County, the chances of sighting the full moon are problematic - the forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies Saturday.

Full moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the moon's orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee): diagram. Nearby perigee moons are about 14 percfent bigger and 30 percent brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.

"The full moon of March 19th occurs less than one hour away from perigee--a near-perfect coincidence that happens only 18 years or so," Chester said.

A perigee full moon brings with it extra-high "perigean tides," but this is nothing to worry about, according to NOAA. In most places, lunar gravity at perigee pulls tide waters only a few centimeters (an inch or so) higher than usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimeters (six inches) - not exactly a great flood.

Indeed, contrary to some reports circulating the Internet, perigee moons do not trigger natural disasters. The "super moon" of March 1983, for instance, passed without incident. And an almost-super moon in Dec. 2008 also proved harmless.

The best time to look for this "super moon" is when the moon is near the horizon. That is when illusion mixes with reality to produce a truly stunning view. For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects.

It had been partly cloudy all day long, so we weren't sure if we would be able to see anything, but we found a likely spot - and as luck would have it - after about 15 minutes of waiting and wondering... UP she came! As cool as it looked reflected in the little puddle of water beside the road, we wished we'd headded further west to Lummi Shore Drive where you could see it rise over Bellingham Bay. I'll bet that was pretty cool.

So her are my pictures of the super moon - as good as my little Panasonic could do. - and Happy first day of SPRING!!!! Coming soon? Lambs!

Shearing Day!

We had the sheep sheared last week.

It begins with an intricate dance of getting everyone into separate catch pens.

Vern & Galloway have to be "babysat" because Vern (the ram) occasionally takes umbrage to being shut up in a small pen with his brother -




"Maybe if I just twist it one more time...."










Thankfully The Shepherd did some halter training with Vern when he was younger, so he is very good about being on a lead, because that's were he went after his attempt at a jail break.

Our shearer, Zander, was due anytime between 11:30 and noon - so he had about 15 minutes on the lead.











While the girls and Wicket were all penned up in the barn

Keep these fluffy girls in your memory bank...











Vern, in a "look how handsome I am" pose.










He does have quite nice wool, don't you think? It is very soft for a ram fleece.

I think The Shepherd will be taking this to Black Sheep next summer.








Zander arrived right after noon and got straight down to business.

He had very good control of the sheep - even Vern didn't wiggle around. The Shepherd and I were speechless!

The fleeces came off in beautiful straight clips - I was concerned that they had started to "roo" (where the fleece of Shetland sheep comes off naturally with the warming of the spring weather - not all breeds of sheep will roo - mostly only the primitive breeds) Rooing makes it harder for the shearer to get a good clip and often the sheep will look like "lumpy Lizzies" afterwards because it is hard for the clippers to get through the fleece.





And here is Luna's baby bump....Not quite Natalie Portman, but it will do for us.















After each shearing the fleece is laid out and then folded and rolled.










Then they are all put on a tarp in the greenhouse to cool down.

The Shepherd has already skirted out Galloway and has started on Vern. Vern's fleece completely covers his 4 x 8 skirting table!








Everybody got pedicures and worming medicine.











Remember all those fluffy sheep from before? Well - here they are after their haircuts - trying to figure out who is who - there was quite a bit of head butting going on for a while.

The four "little girls" (our yearling ewes) were just that after shearing -little! Zander seemed very amused that he could just pick them up and tuck them under his arm to return them to the barn -

So, the temps were not as bitterly cold (in the teens and 20's that they were the week before - mostly hung out around 40-45 degrees - so The Shepherd took pity on the ladies and put the heat lamp on for them for a couple of days - it is supposed to get below freezing tonight, so I think he shut the barn door and turned it on tonight too.

Lambing is next - probably a couple or three weeks to go. "Christmas time" for The Shepherd.

Did I ever show you...

my Nora Roberts collection? Oh, really this is only about 20% of my Nora Roberts books -



And I have an Anne McCaffrey/Dragonriders of Pern collection, and a Sue Grafton Alphabet murders collection, and a Maeve Binchy collection . . . . oh, and all the Diane Mott Davidson cookbook murders. . . .

Actually I took this picture last year just before I cleared out a bunch of books to take to the local humongous garage sale to benefit Lydia Place - the local emergency home for women and children. I lightened my closet by 4 big boxes of clothes and my book shelves by three paper grocery bags full.

I need to do it again. How do I get so many books? Oh, well, there's those three book clubs, Costco, the grocery store...and Amazon.com - where it is soooo easy to just pop on line and order that book you've been wanting - right now I'm reading Christina Dodd's "Chosen One's" series - started at book 3, read book 4, ordered (I thought) books 1 & 2 from Az.com & one of the book clubs - Oops turned out I ordered book 2 & book 2... darn it - and not returnable either...oh, well, I'll trade with someone or our church garage sale is coming up soon -

What's on your nightstand?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours from me & mine........

Moving on - Looking Back

Looking back through last year's photographs brought up this cheery bowl of primroses - my Valentine's day present from The Shepherd. Tomorrow we celebrate the first anniversary of owning his own business. Today he got two new customers. Yeah JP!

Fly Away Home

'Bye sweet girl - say hi to Jaxom & Neelix for us.

Thank you to everyone for your kind words of solace.

I can't believe how quiet and empty it is without her.

It's Time -

Sinda
April 21, 1990 - February 5, 2011

Sadly, Sinda's health and spirit have plummeted in the past week. I made one of the hardest decisions in my life yesterday as I called my friend who has a mobile veterinary service to arrange for her to come out this afternoon and help Sinda cross over the Bridge.

I was thinking of the words to Jim Croce's song "Time in a Bottle" this morning

"If I could save time in a bottle, The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day Till Eternity passes away Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever, If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then Again, I would spend them with you"

Sinda has been my companion for almost 21 years - I can't imagine life without her - I will be catless for the first time in 35 years.

You can read about her birthday last year by clicking here
or click on "Sinda" under labels to see more.

Hold your loved ones close today and Thank you for your kind thoughts. T.

Spinning, spinning & more spinning

I have been doing quite a bit of spinning in my spare time - this is some superwashed merino/mohair/silk blend that The Shepherd gave me for Christmas - 4 ounces of brown, green and red yumminess. Don't know what I'll do with it yet.








This is some of Kathy Green's potluck roving that I bought last fall at the Whatcom Weaver Guild sale. I have spun it "s" (counter-clockwise) and plied it "z" (clockwise) because it is a gift for a friend who crochets. I read an article in Spin-Off magazine that said that this type of spinning ("backwards" from conventional spinning) produces a nicer crocheted fabric. I've not made anything with my yarn spun this way yet, so, the "jury" is still out on this one - I'll keep you posted.

One of the best Christmas gifts ever!

I was very happy with the yarn that I made from some beautiful roving purchased at out Spin-In last spring.

When I was looking at the web site for Sunset Fibers in Olympia WA, I noticed that they had a Roving of the Month Club. Now doesn't that sound like fun?

For $150 a year (or you can purchase one month up to 12- there are incremental savings the more months that you purchase) you get 4 ounces of either their Corriedale or Superwashed Merino roving. My mind immediately thought about Christmas and three sisters who always ask me "What do you want for Christmas?"

I decided this year what I REALLY wanted was the "Roving of the Month Club" My sisters were nice enough to contribute $150 and I decided to put in $150 of my own plus a nominal amount for shipping (after all, what can you crochet with 4 ounces of yarn - not much...) so I will get 8 ounces of roving each month - and the above picture was "Miss January" - is that not cool or what!?!? Now I can add to my stash with out even having to go out of the house!

So if you know that hard to buy for spinner (or are one yourself) - give the gals at Sunset Fibers a try - I don't think you'll be disappointed!

P.S. I've already gotten the February roving - it is beautiful tulip colors - pink, yellow & green - 8 ounces of soft fluffy Corriedale!

Looking Back Sunday - Tao Drummers

I never got around to telling you about one of the shows that we saw at the Mt. Baker Theater last year.








TAO: The Martial Art of Drumming









This is inside the theater - It was first opened in 1927 and refurbished in 1996. For many years it was a movie theater but for the past 20 years they have brought in shows ranging from Chinese acrobats to internationally know performers such as Joan Baez. Ladysmith Black Mambaza, Arlo Gutherie, Natalie McMasters, to Broadway Shows. It is also the home of the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra.

It is a jewel to have in our community.









This is the second time we have seen Japanese drummers there.

The drumming on the BIG drums takes your breath away!






Over the past 20 years we've gone to see between 6-10 performers every year.

The shows from this year didn't pique our interest very much (besides not fitting into the budget very well) - hopefully the line-up next year will be better.

One of the things I've been working on -

I do love making yarn and I enjoy crocheting things for people. But when it comes to making items for new babies, wool or other exotic fiber just isn't the most practical thing you can use.

A couple of weeks ago I was stash busting, (actually I was hunting for places to put more stash) - and came upon three skeins of this Red Heart Acrylic yarn - it is such a pretty color way - and I remembered that The Shepherd's old boss's daughter had recently had a baby. Ta da - I'll make the Merry-Go-Round blanket for her - Didn't it turn out pretty? It is about 4 feet across and I used up all three skeins of yarn (yippee!) And she can just throw it in the washer & dryer - worry free!

You've asked about Sinda

My snoopervisor is still hanging in there - some days are better than others - about every 10 days I shove her in the PTU (that is - Prisoner Transport Unit) and we take a drive into town to get her Sub-q infusion.

She's still eating, tho not very much, so she's getting very skinny - but frequent trips to Pet-Co have provided some new tasty foods that she likes -

And she's drinking water - and everything is "coming out ok on the other end" so to speak - so, we're just going day to day at the present time.

She and I have had a couple of "end of life" discussions - (she continues to tell me it's not time yet) - but, unlike my friend's mother who said she was "ready to meet her maker" and checked herself into hospice, I have not been able discern how to make that call for her . I guess it's going to have to be a "quality of Life" issue -- -you know what I mean ...

I have made a small blanket from my handspun yarn as a "shroud" to wrap her in - and The Shepherd and I have talked about where to bury her (he is the undertaker of our "Pet Cemetery")

At almost 22 years old, she's older than some of my co-workers. She's had a pretty good run and I just treasure each day with her.

I've got a lot of catchin' up to do...

Well, it seems like time has just flown by - I can't believe that the last post I did was before the end of the year!

I have done a bunch of posts "in my mind" - ha - unfortunately they didn't get transferred to my computer -

The first one was "Now you see it , Now you don't" - that was for the snow that fell on my birthday -The temperature dropped and about 6 inches fell the night before - On my Birthday morning, The Shepherd got up at the crack of 0 dark thirty as normal -but with 40 degree temperatures, the snow was going to go fast. He did however shovel a path to my car for me and I headed in to work - The pictures are of the lovely bouquet that he sent to me (from my favorite florist) for my b'day - by the time I remembered to bring my camera to work, they were almost a week old, but still look pretty good. I think the use of the winter cabbage as a "big white rose" is really cool - it most be a new "style" because since I have seen a couple of other arrangements using them.

Anyhow - back to the snow - I was supposed to go to lunch with some friends, but because of the snow their kids were out of school and they couldn't get off - so I called Domino's and ordered in a couple of pizzas and some cinnamon stix. I was busy with payroll, so it really worked out for the best - and I had the left over pizza to share with my co-workers (in our office, if it's your birthday, you bring the treats...- left over pizza qualified as far as I was concerned...and they didn't say no to it)

During the day, the temp kept going up - probably ended up at about 46-7 degrees for the day, and the snow? It was all gone by the time I went home.

And I'm sure the inquiring minds out there want to know...I'm "almost 60".

The Bones of Winter

For most of last year I did a monthly post called "The Colors of (name the month here)" I really enjoyed putting together the pictures for that post and will miss getting to see what pictures everyone else from around the world put on their blogs - in fact one person from Australia had this great picture of all these kangaroos just out standing in a field - I loved it so much that I made it my "wallpaper" for my computer at work - it really gets the attention of the computer repair people, that's for sure...

So, many of the people who were doing "The Colors of..." posts are now doing a photo journal, taking pictures of the same spot all year long.

I've decided to use the White-barked Himalayan Birch (Betula jacquemontii) in our driveway. It really is one of the prettiest trees that we have in our yard, and in the bleak midwinter (to borrow from Christina Rossetti) it just shines. I'll take a picture of it and the surrounding area every month so you can see how it changes.


I have always been fascinated by the bark, how it separates out into pieces, ready made for that secret missive.

I have pictures taken for several years from this spot - I'll try to find some of them so you can see how these trees have grown over the past years.









I was surprised that we get Friday 31st off this year from work. I have a lot of errands to do - get my church newsletter printed up and get the oil changed in my car, so I am grateful to have the extra time off. The Shepherd and I will meet for lunch, and do our shopping/date night early so we can be home and off the roads before the New Year's revelers hit the streets -

It snowed this a.m., but thankfully, it didn't stick around for very long. It is supposed to be sunny for the next three days, but cold - dipping down into the teens at night. Brrr...






I haven't looked at the TV Guide for Friday night - maybe there will be a movie worth watching or something - and Saturday Jan. 1st, we will head out to our friend Nancy's for her traditional New Year's Brunch - lots of old friends, good food and good music.

Have a safe and Happy New Years! It seems way too soon to be saying "Happy New Year!" - it seems like we were just saying that. The only consolation that I have in that is it seems like time is going faster to "younger folks" now too - not just to us old geezers.... Ha ha ha.

(oh, and wait until you see the pretty yarn I spun up from the 4 oz of "Cashmerino" that The Shepherd got me for Christmas. That and the pretty "giraffe orchid" were my favorite presents this year)

Merry Christmas

Mother Nature has provided us with beautiful reds and greens for this time of the year.

The Shepherd and I went to town at noon today to hear Tracy Spring play at the local Allied Arts Christmas festival. I got two of her older CD's and talked with her briefly about her service that she will be doing at our church in February.

I'm listening to her music as I write this and while I don't like some of the songs as well as the album I already have, I'm sure that they will grow on me -

I took Sinda to the V.E.T. this morning to get her sub-Q infusion for this week. We had a couple of errands that "we" needed to do before we got there - I don't think she appreciated riding around so much, but oh, well...

Right after I got there, a fellow came in with a Rottweiler "puppy" - he was in that cute, doofsy stage, but pretty well behaved. BIG paws - he's going to be a good sized dog. Not as big as the 10 month old short haired St. Bernard who came in next - they weighed him - at 108 lbs. he thought that the 38# Rott puppy was going to be a tasty snack - luckily the SB's owner took him back outside - big dogs - whew - I'll be honest - I'm not much of a fan, especially if they aren't well behaved. The Rott puppy was very good and trying to stay put but that big old boy, he was looking for a tussle I think.

I was glad that Sinda was in her carrier.























So that's how our Christmas Eve day went - It's a "pancake night" and then we'll drive to Blaine for the Vespers Service at 7:00.

We're going to wait until tomorrow a.m. to open our presents - The wreath on our back door was a gift from my sister - I really love her wreaths, she puts so many textures and colors in them. And if you click on it to biggify it you can see the three sheepies looking towards the "star" .

I got The Shepherd a digital picture frame so he can see his photos when ever he wants without having to turn on my computer - - I only hope I can figure out how to get the thing loaded before tomorrow -

So, Merry Christmas to all, and as the angels said "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to all"

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

Spinning in my spare time

As a relatively new spinner, the walls of colorful roving (this happens to be yarn) at the Black Sheep Gathering had my head "spinning". So much fiber, so little money -








I found this beautiful roving and could not pass it up.

None-the-less to say I had no idea what I would do with it - and what the heck was Tencel, anyhow?









But I loved the colorway and I really liked the name - there were two bumps left, so I got them both - better to have too much than not enough, I always say...







Well, I have been intrigued by all the crocheted sock patterns that I have seen lately, in fact I even bought a book of just sock patterns ( I am such a sucker for books...)

So I started spinning it up last week - Oh, did I mention that I had read an article in Spin-Off Magazine about spinning for crochet (for the "non-spinners" you normally spin your singles to the right (clockwise) and ply to the left (counter-clockwise) - I have never had any problems crocheting with my regularly spun yarn, but , apparently there are a few out there who suggest that spinning the singles counter clockwise and plying clockwise make an easier yarn to crochet with - well, I guess we'll find out now, won't we?

When I am spinning colored wool, I just spin my singles and ply how ever it goes together - I think you get some really nice colors that way - and you don't have to get all worried if your colors blend on to each other - so here is what I ended up with .









I have two fairly good size skeins - now I just have to wash it up and decide which sock pattern I want to try out.







The other spinning I've been doing is on some Icelandic/Alpaca blend that I had Gretchen do for me last summer - It is too scratchy (a product of not "de-hairing" the Icelandic wool) so it wouldn't be very good for clothing - but I have been really intrigued by the recent patterns I've seen for crocheted bowls and baskets.






I think this will be really pretty for a crocheted bowl...








This is the triple ply yarn that I made at Judith McKenzie's workshop last month. I think it is Corriedale & silk - it is incredibly soft - and if you click on the picture to biggify it, it doesn't look too bad - I have a plan for it, but I will tell you what I have done with it at a later time.






Triple ply is really something to get used to - I had stuff REALLY tangled up there for a while - I guess, like everything, it just takes practice.

Our church Christmas program is tomorrow night. Unfortunately, Rev. Nan had emergency surgery for appendicitis last week and we're not sure it she's going to be able to participate or not - we rather think not, but where there's a will, there's a way, I always say.

If she doesn't make it, The Shepherd will lead the service - He is our "Minister of Music" and he does services on a regular basis. Although it's not his favorite thing to do, he has filled in at short notice several times over the past 20 or so years that he's been there. Our choir has been working hard on the pieces of music that he picked out for us this year - I hope we have a good showing in the congregation - it always makes it more fun.

Sharing -

As many of you know, I am the editor of my church's monthly newsletter "Just for UU" - a little play on words there - as we are Unitarian Universalists -

I thought I'd share part of my "From the Editor" article for this month with you -

"As I sat in our chilly house this morning waiting for the furnace repair man to come, I surveyed the postcard we received a couple of weeks ago from that local heating company suggesting that we call them for a “Fall Furnace Tune-up”. I wished that I had called them last week - BEFORE our furnace quit in the middle of the night.

I got to thinking about how nice it would be if we each got a “postcard” reminding us that we needed a Spiritual Tune-up - but maybe that is what Christmas is all about - reminding ourselves (and one another) to be kind and generous of spirit and deed, to think of others before ourselves -


I hope you’ll take the time this season to visit with an old friend, or drop in on someone who has not been able to get out of the house due to illness or the weather."


I just couldn't believe that it was time to work on the DECEMBER! newsletter - it seems like it was just summer a few weeks ago - but the recent Thanksgiving snow was a cruel reminder that winter is upon us - the days are shorter and darker, and we are on a slippery slope to that "holiday" called Christmas.

So, whether you celebrate it as a "holyday" or if you look upon it as a pagan festival made into something bigger by the Romans and the retailers, I hope that you look into getting yourself a "Spiritual Tune-up" and that it helps get you through this darkest part of the year and into the hopeful light of the winter Solstice.