Great Package from Kansas City!

I was folding laundry this morning when the dog started barking and running to the window.  The mail carrier was putting a box in my car! (Dorothy from next door came up later and asked how come my mail was delivered to my house instead of left in the box!)  The laundry could wait so I ran outside to see what I got.  It was a Quick Fix swap package from Alacaze in KC, MO.  As you can see from the photo at the left it was great! English Breakfast tea and Milky Way Simply Caramels. yum!  And that alpaca yarn!!  I really needed some TLC after the night I had with the dog.  The coyotes were hunting and the neighbor-on-the-hill's dogs were barking.  Around 12:30 Fanny decided she had to go out...didn't stay long.  About 20 mins later, she wanted to go out again.  Again, didn't stay long.  When she announced she wanted to go out again, maybe 15 mins later, I said 'no' 'go back to sleep'.  Instead, she peed on my bed.  I stripped the bed and washed the sheets and blanket but didn't have the energy to make the bed so I took an old quilt and went into the tv room.  I thought Fanny would follow me...which she did but wouldn't stay in there.  She kept looking at the shadows on the ceiling from the woodstove and running out of the room to hide.  Really spooked her.  It was a long night.  Now, if I had had those MilkyWays and English Breakfast teabags....

Another Weekend

Another weekend comes to an end and while the weather was cold and damp we worked outside this afternoon, anyway, Jeff cutting wood and me stacking it.  (Hey, he worked in the garage and I stacked it outside!  What's wrong here?) He saw online last night that there's a nor'easter heading for the mid-Atlantic coast (same approximate landfall as the hurricane) that could effect our weather later this week and he wanted to make sure we have enough wood cut and the utility trailer put away before we get any significant snow.  Tomorrow we're going to see if we can find glass chimneys to fit some of the oil lamps we have.  When the hurricane was predicted Walmart sold out of everything...chimneys, wicks and oil.  They haven't restocked as of yesterday so we may have to check a couple of the hardware stores.   Fanny was having a ball running circles thru the garden like a kid...running around and then throwing herself into a pile of leaves.  Boy, I bet she's full of ticks tonight!  It usually takes 12-18 hours for them to fall off...or me to pick them off.  She gets dosed monthly with the flea and tick repellent  you spread down her spine but she still manages to acquire 2-3 after playing in the leaves.  And dirty!  You just don't realize how dirty a white dog can get running through piles of leaves.

Before we went outside I worked on the 2nd sock for an upcoming swap, turning the heel and starting the  leg.  I managed to get it turned on the first try today.  If I get uninterrupted I usually have to rip it out and start again.  It took 3 tries to turn the heel on the 1st sock!  I'm still disappointed that the repeats in the pattern are not identical.  You can tell the socks are a pair but the self-stripping yarn isn't perfect.  I got an email from Betsy who worked in the shop yesterday to tell me that this hot pink blacksheep sweater had sold.  I have one in mallard green that seems to have taken up premanent residence on my needles that I can finish by Tuesday when I go down to work.

I got an email thank you today from Adriane in KC, MO  for what I had sent her in another swap.  I had included my favorite children's book, Annie Hoot and the Knitting Extravagance.  It seemed like the right book to include in a knitting swap.  Swaps can be such fun!

The replacement basket for our Ronco Rotisserie came this week and we've used it twice.  It was great for the chicken pieces I did tonight, and Jeff did pork chops with peppers and onions earlier this week.   The meat stays nice and moist and the veggies cook perfectly. It was worth the cost.

Another Great Swap

Got another great swap package in the mail today.  Actually found it stuffed in the mailbox.  The delivery man has been putting boxes in my car if it's raining when he comes up to the house and it was raining today but... the envelope fit in the box. It really took me by surprise!  I received a very nice market bag (complete with the directions), a nice pot holder and 2 skeins of sock yarn.  The sock yarn I think I will hide away for me!  Thanks June, in Texas!

SANDY

We spent much of the weekend preparing for Hurricane Sandy.  The forecasts warned of high winds and heavy rain with power blackouts thru much of the Mohawk Valley...first starting on Tuesday & Wednesday; and then as the system got closer on Monday & Tuesday.  Jeff cut up firewood and I stacked it on the porch giving us enough for 3 or 4 days in an easy-reach.  Got 24 gallons of drinking water and extra cereal, milk and bread. Jeff finished taking apart the garden braces and put them away in the garage along with the last of the lawn chairs, wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes.  We actually looked like we had 'batten down the hatches'!  The backdoor on the garage is easily opened by the wind, so Jeff braced it from inside and since we couldn't fit the car in the garage with everything else we parked it between the house and the garage in a protected area. He even put the garbage pails in the garage thinking there wouldn't be a collection on Tuesday morning. I remembered to take the remote garage door opener with me and we were all set.

When the kitchen was clean after supper I made another pot of coffee and turned on the Fox Report.  Things looked really rough in NYC and on the Jersey Shore and we settled down to watch the storm's progress.  Mom went to bed early as usual and while the wind picked up, it didn't rain.  I worked on a sock I'm doing for a swap and Jeff kept coming up with something else we should get before the next emergency
(a generator, a camp stove, lamp oil, etc.)  Every time there was a loud band or wind gust, Jeff went outside
to check if anything had fallen over.  He was worried that the stovepipe would be taken by the wind (and I was kind of hoping the fireplace chimney would be).  In spite of the heavy cloud cover it was so bright outside last night he didn't need a flashlight. around 9pm the lights flickered and went out.  Still no rain to speak of.  We sat in the dark talking until about 11pm and then went to bed.  The dog was nervous about the shadows caused by the flashlights and Jeff still jumped up with every large thud.  Around 3am he decided to make a camp stove out of a coffee can and heated up some of the coffee outside.  Still no rain and the night was still very bright.  The lights came back on around 5am and while the cable tv, phone and internet were still out (didn't come back on until 10am) we managed to get a Utica radio station and caught up with the outside world.  A fresh pot of coffee and it was soon nap time for us all.  Hurricane Sandy hadn't lived up to her predictions here but hadn't been so docile in NYC.  Jeff and I spent most of today catching up on our sleep.  I hope we don't have too many hurricanes but there is a nice stack of wood on the porch....

I had been so involved in knitting that sock last night I didn't notice I had gotten carried away and had to rip out a couple of inches this morning.  And I did not try to work on it after the light had gone out!

OH, WHAT A WEEKEND!

My cousin Mike and his partner Chris visited us this weekend from Detroit and while they don't visit often they do do the cooking...and cleaning up... when they visit, making them the perfect guests!  This trip the menu included a Killer Soup for lunch (photo l) that Mike put together while talking politics with Jeff.  Supper was a beef stew with dumplings that we all enjoyed, too.  Mike and Jeff grilled shrimp on our little firepit by the garden as the appetizer and Jeff and my cousin Ed, who joined us for supper, were pleasantly surprised how good shrimp can be!(photo r)  Again Politics was the topic of conversation during the meal...maybe the wine kept the opposing views in check!  (photo l)  We all cleaned up our plates and went back for seconds.  Or maybe it was the chocolate chip cookies Mike made.  My contribution to dinner was banana nut bread with monkey butter (bananas, coconut and pineapple cooked into a peanutbutter like  spread.)

While the humans in the house were clearly enjoying the good food, good

conversation and good wine, the dog was not!   When Mike and Chris stopped in Friday night after checking into their motel, Fanny hid in the bedroom and nothing could make her come out to say hello.  In fact, she wouldn't come out for over an hour after they left!  And she wouldn't go outside thru the door they used!!  Saturday I had to carry her outside coz she went back into hiding when they parked in the driveway!  Jeff got her to stay with us...at his feet under the table during lunch and outside next to him while he was tending the fire pit... but "ChickenLittle" went back into hiding when we went inside eat.  Even a full supper dish couldn't interest her!  Jeff eventually carried her outside where she tried to 'save' her supper by covering the bowl with leaves!  We finally gave in and she's been hiding since...all night long!  Such a brave dog we have.  We don't know what makes her so skiddish around strangers but the 3 extra men in the house this weekend really got her nervous! (Had to carry her to the door and push her outside this morning.  She kept looking around...expecting to find them still there!)

After everybody left last night I finished some leaf washcloths to include in a swap.  They came out bigger than I expected!  I used cotton worsted weight yarn on US7's and the widest part of each leaf is only 31 sts.  They needed to be blocked, too, to flatten them out.  I wonder if they'll stay flat when you use them?  Anyway, now those are leaves I don't mind picking up!

 We're trying to prepare for that 'perfect storm' that Hurricane Sandy is suppose to create for us.  Jeff wants to get more wood chopped and we've got to get some lamp oil for the 2 hurricane lamps we have... in case  the power goes out.  I got all the water jugs filled yesterday but I think I'll go back to Walmart today and see if there are any 3 or 5 gal bottles left in the Colligan Water display.  Jeff wants to go his sister's today to make sure  her sump pump is working,too.  We brought in 2 big plants from the patio...a purple pepper (l) and a 5 year old geranium
that our neighbor at camp gave me.

Oh, and the beautiful vase of flowers Mike and Chris gave my mother added a little charm to the house, too.  Look at the size of that yellow rose!

A Vacuum I Like

I finally found a vacuum (l) that I liked using.  It's a lawn vacuum and sucks up leaves and small twigs off the lawn.  No more rake and wheelbarrow for me!  Of course, we rented ours today...$65 for 24 hours...but definitely worth it.  Got the backyard and one sideyard done while Jeff tilled the garden.  (It usually took 3 days to rake & remove leaves in the backyard!!)   He filled both sides of the compost bin with those leaves I vacuumed and watered them with a weak 'compost tea' to help them breakdown.  The other sideyard and around the garden are about half finished and those leaves are covering (r) the garden.   Wally...from next door...was mowing his yard and contributed some leaves and grass cuttings, too. Jeff plans on finishing up tomorrow morning.  Fanny had a ball checking out the leaves after they were spread in the garden.  The sound of the tiller and vacuum bothered her for awhile...as did the Oil Man who was here cleaning the furnace.  Every time he came outside to get something from his truck, she ran around the house.  Our brave chickenhearted dog.  

I've been doing some leafy washcloths to put in a couple swap packages that I have to send out but that's about the extent of my knitting this week.  I've still got that sheep sweater OTN waiting to be bound off, and a pair of socks for a friend's wife that just need their bind-off  row ripped out and re-done with a larger needle.  Last night I got a phone call telling me I was out of baby socks in the shop and my last Yankee ballcap sold (the day after they lost the playoffs).  There is plenty to knit but I just can't knit, read, can and do yard work at the same time.  A 'perfect storm' (combo winter and hurricane) is suppose to hit this coming week so I'm planning on catching up then.

Halloween Swap

Found a Halloween swap package in the mailbox today. (The sun was shining.) Love the button on the towel!  Hid the milky ways!  Thanks Barb!