A Day in the Life

Devon was supposed to be here and shear our guys on Saturday but when it started to get dark, I knew he wasn't going to make it.  He called at 8:30 where he was just finishing up at a ranch in Loyalton, 45 minutes from here.  He said he'd still come or he'd do it in two weeks when he's back in our area.  We elected for two weeks and fortunately the weather still isn't hot.  These guys will be glad to be relieved of their huge coats.

The weather was really pleasant Sunday so I hung up my sun catchers and read on the front porch.  Ian called Carol to see if she'd like to come over and sit out with us, maybe have a beer.  She was doing yard work and glad to take a break.  She is the library director in Fallon so is only home on the weekends.  She and Ian always talk libraries and she and I always talk books.  She told me about a website called NetGalley.  It's for professional readers, and apparently as the facilitator of a library book club, I am one.  It took a while to build my profile and request some books.  You get to read a book before it's released in exchange for writing a book review.  You wouldn't believe how many books are coming out soon.

I got approved for two of the books I requested and just finished reading Jennifer Weiner's upcoming release, All Fall Down.  I've never read her before because I thought she was a romance author.  While written in a breezy style and with humor, this is a very serious book about addiction.  I hope her other books are as engaging because she's written ten others.

Chrissie and I are just a month away from our trip to Massachusetts.  I've struggled with what to do for a wedding present.  The kids have lived together for a couple of years and don't really need anything.  I finally hit on the idea of buying one of Erik Holland's paintings of Nevada.  John was conceived and born here, it just seems fitting.  Erik had about four dozen paintings to choose from but when I saw this, it was the one.  I love the cottonwoods in the fall.  This is the wedding present.

I can see by my Etsy statistics that my scarves aren't drawing any attention at all.  I have had good success selling hats in the fall.  These are the colors of my cat and a hat is in progress.

And here's my cat, in a box where she shouldn't be.  I had planned to list more towels in Etsy today and left the lid off, but then got sidetracked making soap and writing my first book review.  She was just doing what cats do when they find a box.  The lid is now on.

I just finished knitting with this strange yarn.  It's three strands of linen and cotton.  It was really stiff and had a tendency to slip off the needles when I'd set the work down.  When I finished knitting my project, it was absolutely hideous.

But after it was washed and blocked, it turned out great.  Melissa gave me more of this yarn in off-white and I'm just going to make the same pattern.  After that, I'm pretty much out of knitting except for hats.  That's a heck of a state for a knitter.