Last Leg

Ian and I were driving east on Hwy 84 along the Columbia River when I started thinking about rest stops. We realized three aren't any along the route we were taking and the towns were few and far between. Enter the sign for Bonneville Dam with "tourist facilities." I said, Ian get off here! He was taken aback but he did exit. This the fish hatchery part of the facility. I told the guard I was more interested in a rest stop than the power plant so she suggested the hatchery.
The first fish we saw was this display of rainbow trout. I thought they were thick at Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City!
I'm so glad I needed to stop, because I never would have elected to come here and it's worth seeing. That is just one of the many tanks that serve as salmon nurseries. I forget what they called them, but it's where the fish grow up. We also went to the fish ladder - that's really interesting and complicated.
When the guard suggested we try the hatchery, she mentioned that they had a 400 pound sturgeon. We were walking to the car when we suddenly remembered her suggestion and followed the signs to their pond. Whoa! But wait, there's more.

That was Mama Fish. Supersize it. This is Papa Fish. He's as big as a dolphin and he lumbers through the water, if that's possible. I've never seen a slower moving fish.
We went outside to see the fish in their pool and he obliged by floating by. He's ginormous - the biggest and ugliest fish I have ever seen. He's lucky he's protected. Sturgeon is delicious!
We were excited for our Friday night plans in Bend. It was Missy's first paycheck and she wanted to celebrate at the the Pine Tavern Restaurant, note the pine trunk behind Logan. She's wanted to eat there but it's a two-paycheck family kind of place. Logan really liked it. Plus we'd gotten to see one football game and would be able to see his next one. He and I sat on the deck one afternoon and just chatted - he's of that age. He told me he liked it better since they moved because when we come to visit, we come for days. That's a gold star, oh yeah.
Josh texted me while we were in Washington to say that we were going to be back in time for the Fall Festival downtown. There are booths with vendors from all over and the attendance isn't deterred by fall temps, though some have it easier than others.
For Evan, the attraction was the kids street and the pumpkin painting area. Notice all the drying pumpkins against the wall. He got his pumpkin, his brush and his paint and he just froze. He is so my grandson - I remember that feeling. He did an abstract and all was well.

This booth caught my attention. That is the very same loom that I donated to Reno High School. He's weaving dishtowels. He said that he usually has a student weaving while he works the booth so was doing double duty.
I was struck by the sectional beam. He had impro-
vised and couldn't remember where he got it. It's not original to the Artisat, nor are the Texsolv heddles. I was stunned when I saw them. I told him that I had put them on but it was murder to thread so went back to wire heddles. He agreed, but said that he never threads - it's a dummy warp and when he gets to the end, he just ties on a new one - a man after my heart!
I had asked Josh to think about turning this towel rack into a craft fair display for placemats. Melissa was going to leave the rack in her rental so I snagged it. I always have things for him to do - he calls it his "sonny do" list.
It's going to be great and free up a lot of table space. We had a long confab at the hardware store. When I told him I was thinking about an easel display, he was thinking floor easel. Communication and assumption - dangerous mix. It was fun watching him put it together on the fly. Yeah, I'm a proud mom.
We got home late Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning I enjoyed the front porch with my spinning wheel and coffee. It was cool, I had to wear my down vest, but the birds were in full song.

It poured Tuesday night night and we awoke to this Wednes-
day morning. I think October has arrived. Hooray - it's my favorite month. Ian is at a library conference so I'm getting to tend the first fires of the fall season.
I spend the afternoon getting a warp on this borrowed loom. I'm leaving at 7:00 in the morning for a three-day weaving workshop on warping makeovers with Robyn Spady. I'm so excited. I chose the huck pattern option. Jeanne forgot to give me the crank so I stole the one from Maudie Mae, but they're both Gilmores so it fits. My crank is really heavy and might be a problem.

I cleared the first hurdle - getting it into the car by myself. It was late and I was tired so I'll check for threading and sleying errors when I get there. First order of the day; caffeine for me, hay for the fluffy ones and kibble for the rest.

In the Washington Moment

Ian suggested we take a drive north since it would be new for us, and Georg was all over that. She was a fantastic navigator and tour guide. Retired librarians still like information. I took this of Georg and Ian in Raymond, Washington by the marine museum. Georg was looking for information on what happened to the Krestine, a 100' foot Baltic trader that she and Bob had owned some years ago, and then sold to the curator of this museum.

If you click on my link and scroll through the pictures, you will see what happened. We got a mocha at a local coffee shop and it was the owner was who told Georg about it. Pete, the man who bought it, had just left it moored, until one day it sank. The Coast Guard had them remove the masts and cut off the upper deck, leaving the remainder of that glorious ship underwater. Bob and Georg had a B and B on Bainbridge Island in a Frank Lloyd Wright house called the Bombay House. They bought the Krestine and moored her below for overflow, but found she was popular on her own. Georg has a photo album just of them sailing on the Krestine. They loved her, and when she learned of it's death, her eyes filled with tears. That was the hardest moment of the trip.
We drove up to Westport for lunch. The Pacific Northwest is a marine environ-
ment and the coast is about boats and fishing. Georg told us about an area called Washaway Beach and so she had us pull into it. There was no it. The road ends on the other side of a bridge. I didn't take pictures but the above link is pretty dramatic at a time when we're talking about rising seas.


We turned inland and started a hunt for three dairies that she and Bob had visited for cheese. It was yet another great adventure, and the cheese was worth it. Willapa Hills Cheese was our favorite and I should be able to get it from Wholefoods. The young wife grew up on Bainbridge Island and instantly knew the Bombay House when that came up in conversation. Insert Rod Sterling music here....

Robert Pyle, a noted biologist wrote a book about Georg's place and surrounds called Sky Time in Gray's River. It's a wonderfully lyrical look into that delightful little place and I re-read it every time we come home.


Ian and I decided to take the Cathlamet fairy across the Columbia. I'm not sure it saved us any driving time but it was fun. Georg told us it runs on the hour so we were the only vehicle for about ten minutes.
The fairy holds six vehicles and is slightly larger than a shoebox. I was expecting something slightly more noble.
On the Oregon side, we entered into a slough, which got pretty narrow by the time we reached the docking point. It was low tide so we had a bit of a climb from ferry to dock, and then drove through more dairy ranching country.
Afterthought. I almost forgot this! Georg got this fantastic little rag rug at a garage sale. The weaver sold it for $2 because she said it was imperfect. Georg called to see if I could pay her a visit, but she said all weaving is put aside right now. She's Finnish and part of a greater Finnish community. Baking for the holidays is now in high gear. Perhaps on my next visit?

Washington Bound

I'm going to try to catch up a little here since so much has happened in the last week. We left Reno for Oregon early last Sunday morning. Ian drove the first leg to Lakeview, where we ate breakfast again at the Dinner Bell. It's a seven-hour drive to Bend from our house with stops, and Lakeview is half way.

I was still in the first hour of my leg when we came upon this. A truck had parked in our lane with a sign on the back, saying "cattle ahead." We got caught in a full drive, moving from one range to another. We had to wait, that's all there was to it.
I don't have blue tooth so asked Ian to call when we turned onto Hwy 97 at LaPine. Grandson Logan's football was going to start at 1:00 and we were cutting it really close. He was already at the field so our kids waited until we got to the house, we hopped into their car, and because the game started a couple minutes late, we were there in time to catch it. We went from flying through the high desert to pee-wee football, just like that!
DIL Missy has volun-
teered in the boys' classrooms since they moved to Bend and last year volunteered in a reading readiness program. She just wanted to be in the classroom as teaching positions are tightly guarded secrets. At the last minute, this one opened up - a one-year contract, and she's back in the classroom with pay. We were going to spend Sunday night with them the following weekend on our way home, but they couldn't get UNR/Boise tickets so our plans changed. We'd spend four days in Wash-
ington, and then come back to celebrate with them.
This is where we were head in Washington. My brother Bob planted all these trees and now they've nearly enveloped the place.

I wanted to read my book and ended up chasing the sun. My book was Tina Fey's Bossypants, which I absolutely loved and was sorry to finish. I had planned to knit hats on the trip so took my glass head. That's it in the grass, and I just kept rotating the hat toward the sun until it finally dried. Man, it's humid in Washington!
My brother Bob bought this flock a number of years before he died. I think it was mostly for esthetic at the B and B, and to help him keep the grass mowed. Georg has kept it going and the income from her locker lambs is something neither one of them might have anticipated.
While we were there, a crew was replanking the end of the historic barn. Georg had applied for a grant but been turned down since it was no longer a barn with a business. However, they did give her the lumber. While Bob was alive she had a fantastic gift barn here, but the B and B and flock are all she can manage on her own now. She was catching some of the brief sunshine while waiting for the crew chief.
The end result is a work of art. They did this all with ladders. When they'd get to the middle, one would climb down and jounce the ladder while the guy at the top hopped it across. It was somewhere between scary and aerial circus act.


I did a walking tour since it was just impossible to show pictures of all the parts I love. I realized tonight that I didn't take a single interior picture, which reflects their love of Mexico and the 15 years they lived in San Miguel de Allende.

Looming

LouAnn suggested that I take photos of the sheets before I cut them into strips so I can remember what they looked like when I compare them with what they wove up into. Yeah, that was a bad sentence.
They are right in the middle here and not contri-
buting a thing. The orange is pushing the colors away, so I'm thinking these are going to live in inventory, kinda like purgatory, only not. I'm planning to do a set with this sheet and the solid red and that's all. I think it will be hot.
This is the set I'm weaving now and they've already been paid for - I just need to finish and deliver. I appreciate Theresa's "go bold or go home advice." She was right.
Drum roll please - this is what was in the box. Eighteen pounds of cotton from Benita in Illinois. She said she had Scott stand on the box so she could seal it. She apologized in an email that some were in pieces and a lot were pink. I didn't see a problem on either score. Pieces are the rag rug tradition, though I did rip some of them to true them up. Pink is great in rugs as it's light but not not dirty looking.
I washed and ironed them all today, and as I did, I found myself discover-
ing potential color arrangements. I'm a stickler for prewash after reading the Finish American rug weavers book. Some of them didn't prewash everything and it's obvious. No thanks - not with all the work that goes into a set of placemats or a rug. I'm a hobbyist, not a production weaver.
And there they are, ready to work with. We're leaving Sunday and I didn't want to leave our house-sitter with a mountain of fabrics in the dining room, nor did I want to come home to that mountain. I have enough warp for another round of placemats using my dummy warp, and then I'm going to order more carpet warp. After that, I'm moving placemats to Maudie Mae since she's only 23" wide, thus freeing up Miss Millie. I hate to say goodbye to that dummy warp - it's been a good friend.
This is the little Gem Gilmore loom that Jeanie has loaned me for the Robin Spady workshop. It's such a sweet little thing. I need to get the required warp on it between now, my Washington trip and the workshop. No pressure.

A Good Day to Dye

I'm spinning the fiber I won at Spindle Camp in May, Blue-faced Leicester and silk. I haven't been spinning lately but need yarn for hats as the season is approaching. That's just an excuse. I love to knit hats! I've not been excited about this but it's taking on a the appearance of washed denim and I find I really do like it now.
I decided yesterday was the perfect day to dye some wool. These are pretty much the same colors I used to dye my skeins the other day, but the blue took over that dye bath. I'm using Gaywool Dyes and mixing the colors together I have. For instance, the gold is pumpkin and olive green. I poured on the color in stripes, covered with water and baked in the oven at 300 degrees for an hour. I'm sure a half hour would have been adequate but I got sidetracked.
I like white in the roving and think of it as a color. The roving is Panda and I'm thrilled with my colors - good guessing on my part. All three colors are mixes that I couldn't possibly repeat.
There's no guarantee that these colors will blend into a pretty yarn, but I'm chomping at the bit to get started. I love spinning Panda - it just throws itself on the bobbin.
While the roving was in the oven, I was kettle dyeing yarns that I'd like to use for color splashes in the hats. The three skeins on the right are the ones from last week. The four on the left were from yesterday. These are all from our Shetland wethers.
I'm really pleased with this experi-
ment. I put two skeins that were originally the same as those on the left into the same dyepot and got two different shades of blue. I'll be doing more of that again.
Ian brought this box in just as I was filling my water bottle to head into town this morning. He said it came yesterday but he didn't pick it up until just now. I know what's in the box but I'm saving the exploration of the contents until the morning. I didn't get home until 6:00 and I want to savor the contents when I'm fresh and not exhausted like I am now.

It was yet another full day in town. I got to the farmers market at 10:00 and spent the last of our CSA bucks on beefsteak tomatoes and pickling cukes, then picked up the loom that Jeannie is loaning me for the Robin Spady weaving workshop in two weeks. It was at the new Jimmy Beans location so I also got a facility tour. Then I was just in time for my eye appointment where I got fabulous contact lenses that let me see both near and far, had lunch with Melissa, we shopped and bought more used clothes - got a brand new pair of Sofft shoes for $18 that retail for $100 and even though they were new, they were in a used store allowing me to keep our "no new clothes in 2011" vow - had a great workout and swim and came home with more fresh produce in our CSA basket. I'm reminded once again that life is good, in spite of the shadows.

It's Been a Hard Week

Death toll rises in Reno air show crash

Our church is in the base chapel for the old Stead air force base, which is where the Reno Air Races are held. Whether or not you like air races, this is small community of fans who have suffered a devastating loss. The church was packed this morning. We even had an AP videographer and photographer - and why. They shot pictures for the first 15 minutes of Mass. What did they hope to get. People camp on our church campus for this event and have for years. Two of the traditional campers are among the dead. Our cleric was a first responder. He said people mobbed him when they saw his Roman collar.

It was a draining morning and I'm so glad I had a great lap swim. I took a sandwich and was eating it at my favorite regional park when Amy called. She lives right by the park and I availed myself of some friendship. Two fires in the valley last week, the air race wreck and then a memorial celebration party last night for a friend much too young to be the subject - it's been a hard week.



I don't want to end on a down note. I do love this album. I bought it several years ago and I see it's been amended to include Bob Marley. Hope is good.

Autumn is Upon Us

I put three skeins of our different Shetland boys in the same dye bath and got three different results, as I expected. I'll dye some solids to go with them to knit up as hats in a couple of days.
Under this ignomi-
nious wrap is the fabulous batch of soap I made this morning. The washed plastic bottles are draining so I can make dye stock solution and store them in clean containers - thanks Chrissie for drinking all that juice.

I haven't sold a felted bag in a while so haven't been thinking about making more, but I sold two in the last week so this is my first replacement in the works. I'm always happy about anything that is stash reduction.
The weather is changing so quickly, it makes my head spin. Ian takes the dogs for a ritual drive every morning and has for years. He has driven by the house that burned yesterday and waved to the owner working in the yard. He said today the house is boarded up with plywood. I wish the owners well.

Just Another Day in Paradise

Yesterday was my first swim lesson since I was pregnant with my grown son, okay, 40 years ago. I bought a suit from Costco and dove right into this thing, really. About ten days ago the suit began to fail and Ian encouraged me to get online and order one immediately, which I did. I found suits on sale at Lands End and ordered two, but they took a week to get to me, three days to get to Reno and four to be delivered, which included UPS transferring the package to the USPS for delivery. By then you can see the shape my old suit was in. On my last swim, it was literally trailing behind me. You get what you pay for. The lesson was awesome. I learned a better way to do the free style and stayed another 45 minutes to practice, using a whole new set of muscles. I can hardly move today.
In addition, I'm still a little tired from Labor Day weekend so slept late this morning. I was having my coffee and working on the jackalope's ears when the songbird activity arrested me.
There was a crowd in the birdbath and the water was flying every-
where. We've seen as many as twelve in there at a time from the bedroom window. I got the DSLR, filled the basin back up and sat down to wait for them to return. Ian came out about then and asked if I had our neighbor Ken's phone number (he's on the VFD) as there was a fire across the valley.
I walked around the end of the house, and saw this - and panicked. For two minutes I'm sure I did nothing but run back and forth and hyperventilate. Finally I realized I had my cell phone and called 911. I was stunned at how shaky my voice was. Ian called Ken who called the fire chief.
And we waited. It was painful as the minutes stretched and the flames rose. Click for big.
My phone says I called at 10:21 and at 10:45 the first fire truck rolled up, our little VFD crew. The thing with VFD is they are all volunteers and many have day jobs. Ultimately eight trucks in all attended the fire. I finally realized their priority was to extinguish the fire, not save the structure. It could have been devastating, a mini-Texas, but for once, we had no wind. Cindie just wrote me that Theresa told her that fire departments are just here to save lives and keep fires from spreading, not save our houses. I can see the reason of that, but it scares me. In this case, the news has reported, the fire started in garage. I've never seen a house burn down before, but losing my house to fire scares me to death. I think the most likely threat to the rest of us is wildfire caused by lightening, as Carol and Harry experienced earlier this week.
Otherwise, it was a lovely day - thankfully so. We get such serious winds this time of year that Mark Twain coined them the Washoe Zephyr, always the pundit. Our normal winds could have ignited the entire side of the valley. It was a sobering day. Our HOA logo is Red Rock Valley - Just Another Day in Paradise. This is the first house fire in the valley and that no other structures went with it leaves us with tomorrow, another day in Paradise. I am resisting the soapbox about cutting funding to police and fire protection, because I'm drained enough already.