Thursday, July 31, 2014

Little Mysteries

   I lost my glasses.  And if you know me, you realize how difficult that is since I wear my glasses all the time. Even at night to find my way to the bathroom without tripping on dog toys!   But yesterday I went to Fran the Optician to order new glasses and he asked why I was wearing an old pair of glasses and not my current ones.  I know there's a pair of glasses in a brown glass case but I can't find the glass case.  They must be the current glasses.  The mystery...or at least one of the mysteries...is how long have have the glasses been switched.  They were new in 2012 so have they been missing that long??  I saw the glass case a couple of weeks ago but can't find it now.  It's probably in a bag with yarn...but where???  (Mystery solved!  A project bag in the sock yarn box had the missing eyeglass case and glassess!! @3:01pm 7/31/2014)
   Fanny and I went to the store this morning for dog food and got back home just as it started to storm so we got comfortable and dozed while it rumbled. When I woke up there was a mouse on the floor in front of the tv.  Fanny nosed it a little but it didn't respond so I got a plastic bag and picked it up and tossed it outside.  It's not on the deck any more so maybe it survived...another mystery?
  Judy just called to say I sold another sweater set but the sales person didn't put the color of the flowers on the sales slip.  Could I tell what set sold without them?  Oh, well, a third mystery.

Monday, July 28, 2014

What A Garden!

   Can't wait to start posting photos of the garden I'll take with the new Kodak digital camera I'm treating myself to this week! Jeff's been working all hours...last evening he was still weed-whacking after the sun went down! The rows between the boxes are cleaned up and ready for bark mulch. We're suppose to get 3 days of rain so it will be Thursday before we can get a load of mulch to spread between them. I still find it hard to believe that an inner city boy is such a farmer!  The zucchini and cucumbers are doing well and the beans are ready to pick.  Jeff's been pruning the tomatoes ...following a guide on YouTube...and the stems are thick with clusters of fruit.  He used reusable shopping bags...again, following a YouTube video...as grow bags on the gutter garden and yesterday set up the gutters in the greenhouse.  Massaro's, the florist by our house, had the last of the veggie flats on sale this week so we got the 4 tomato plants...complete with fruit...for the bags.  He's got a couple of large bags he wants to try to grow potatoes in, too.  The best part of the box garden is the flower box with geraniums and red silvia...that the hummingbirds like. (They're avoiding the feeders. Hummingbirds can be difficult.) Now if we could just get rid of the mosquitoes.
   Last Saturday was a good day for me sales-wise (but Sunday-actual Induction Day-was a dud) so I have to knit-knit-knit this week to be able to refill my space on Saturday when I work in the shop.  I have to do a red v-neck cardigan with baseball buttons and hat, (why the Red one sold and not the Yankee Blue ??) and a lot of hats (baseball, apples, pumpkins and flowers). As long as it's raining today I should get busy and KNIT!

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Summer Timer, Summer Time...

   Summer keeps rolling on.  Jeff's garden is doing well.  We have tomatoes and peppers, green beans, cucumbers and zucchini forming. And millions of mosquitoes!  The potatoes are about ready to dig up and two stocks of corn have ears with silk already!  Only 2 ears but still....  Jeff''s busy prepping reusable shopping bags to use as planters in the gutter garden.  Saw that on You Tube.  We'll see how that grows...in the greenhouse.  
   I finally found a camera I can understand...a Kodak digital at Kmart that I'm planning on getting the 1st of next month.  My  1st digital was a Kodak (it died when the Forester was T-boned last year) and I couldn't find a Kodak anywhere until recently.  We were in Kmart to get a TV when I saw the camera (seems everything falls apart at the same time sometimes) and since July has been a banner month in the shop I'm rewarding myself with the camera!  Can't wait to post photos again!
   I worked last Thursday in Cooperstown (and sold 4 sweater sets to one woman !) and came home to find Fanny chained up.  She had disappeared for awhile and was being punished for not staying in the yard.  It must be difficult to be a dog living in the country with all the interesting scents around...the fox and deer pass thru everyday and the rabbits bring the babies onto the lawn to feed.  And she loves to chase toads and snakes!  She spent a couple of days tied up and since then has stayed in the yard...she can go around the house and around the garage but not disappear into the woods!
   Yesterday I went back to Bassett in Cooperstown to have some papillomas or skin tags removed from my right eye lid.  One was the size of a pencil eraser and was in the inside corner near my nose.  The other was in the center of my upper eye lip and was open.  It oozed and bled when touched.  It didn't take long and the shot of lanocain was the worse part.  Boy, does that fine, little needle prick and burn!  Seeing the smoke curl up from the side of my nose wasn't all that exciting, either.  But nothing bled and it was over in a couple of minutes.  I had forgotten that lanocain...like novocain...lets pain wait to build up and hit you all at once.  I have a small hole in the corner near my nose and I have to put ointment on it and the upper lid 4 times a day for 5 days.  My eyelid is swollen and there is a streak of black and blue from the corner down. I'll just tell people Jeff hit me.  Think anyone will believe me?

Friday, July 4, 2014

The Fourth of July!

   Today started wet...or yesterday ended wet, anyway it rained and reminded me how much I did not miss camping in the rain.  I think you must be young to enjoy that coz the kids in the 
next-house-down-the-road-and-up-the-hill had another party...in the rain...last night complete with fireworks...this time rockets and cherry bombs...that sent the dog back under the bed.  That part of the party didn't bother me. Around 1am, it was the pickup truck  parked along the curve of the road facing my house with the high beams...or maybe a spotlight...shining across the field and lighting up my yard and house that woke me up. Were we being invaded by aliens???   Then at 2:55am a loud, angry male voice woke me when  it told someone in no uncertain terms to get in the truck or else followed by a quick and loud automotive getaway and a pair of headlights racing around the curve and up the road.  Voices do carry on the wind, folks.
   Yesterday the Forester met it's end.  Jeff was driving when the brakes failed.  He couldn't find a leak so he filled it up with break fluid and we took it to Cole/Marvis.  Unfortunately, it was more serious than just a burst breakline.  The frame had rusted out...in 4 places...and was holding together by threads.  A serious pothole could cause the frame to break apart!  Our only choices were junking it or selling it for parts.  Marty Kucerak at MK Auto Sales on Rte 5 was the first to suggest Hillslide Auto Repair as a possible buyer.  Seems he buys, reconditions and sells Subaru. We visited and Jeff was impressed.  We're going to use the Forester as a down payment on an 2004 Imprezza.  Since the trailer hitch will fit the Outback, Jeff had the guys at Cole/Marvis remove it from the Forester while they had it on the lift.  We'll have it put on the Outback and he'll be back hauling pallets and compost/dirt with the trailer and I still won't have a trailer hitch on the car I drive!  In the meantime, it be a little inconvenient...one car with 2 drivers in the little house in the little woods.  Maybe more gas economical?
   I ended June in the shop by selling 2 baby sweater sets so I started one.  Unfortunately, it's in my now least liked color...pink...and I have to force myself to work on it.  Luckily, a size 9 months doesn't take too long to knit.I have just the body to finish today.  I guess it's time to put away the fancy yarns and get back to the basic pink sweater sets...since they're what's selling!
   Today would have been my dad's 106th birthday.  When I was little, I thought the parades and fireworks were for his birthday! We always had a party for him and he enjoyed the fuss for the day.  I found several photos I tried to scan and post here but printer wouldn't cooperate.  I'm afraid the machinery is getting old and wearing out.  Anyway, Happy Birthday, Tony!  Miss you.