Fantastic Day

Allison asked me if I would be interested in partici-
pating in a spindle boot camp of sorts. She spindles during staff meetings and several of the staff have expressed an interest. I'm still a beginner myself but said yes.

Allison is an amazing teacher. I took lessons from her when I got my wheel, lo those many years ago, and before we left, she had taught the ten-year-old girl in this group to spindle. Malinda is doing great too!
Amy (in the fore-
ground) was my spindle teacher. I'm not sure what the attraction is to the spindle, but it's gaining appeal. I think it's quiet and more zen than the wheel.
I was trying to ply two spindles-
full of singles during this time. This is my first spindle-plied yarn, and I'm going to be looking for some instruction at Spindle Camp next month. It was close to a disaster. I decided to try the Turkish spindle since it creates a center-pull ball but I'm not loving how tedious it is to wind on.
When I left for town this morning, the work had just begun on our yard for the fire-fuel and cheat grass abatement program. We applied several months ago and are one of the last families to get treatment for this year.

This is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.

And this is what it looked like when I got home this evening.

Before.

Today.

This program is through the Fire Safety Council. Most people who want to remove the fire fuel from their property do so by brush hogging, which eliminates all the brush and fuel and native habitats. The Council wants to eliminate the fire risk, knowing that it's more cost effective than fighting a fire, but they also want to leave wildlife habitats. In a fire, that 3' brush would crown at three times it's height, or nine feet. They leave the brush "islands" spaced far enough apart so that the fire isn't able to charge through dense brush - compare to the before picture.

Before the team begins, they broadcast seed from five strains of native grasses. The tractor is called a masticator and it chews up the brush with its jaws and lays that down over the seed like mulch. It's going to look raw for a whole season, but next year it will again appear like a natural landscape. It's unfortunate that bird nests were lost today and that makes me very sad. We have an nth of the quail this evening as we usually do.

We had a dry lightening strike several years ago at the foot of our property where the terrain is pretty rugged. The fire department had a heck of a time getting to it and that's left me uneasy ever since. They're going to try to get all the way down to where that fire was. I don't see how they can, but if they're optimistic, I'm going to be optimistic too.

What I haven't posted about is the worrisome past few days with my oldest son (in Oregon) who was hospitalized early Saturday morning for an excruciatingly painful small bowel obstruction with a possible surgical outcome. He had surgery for small bowel obstruction when he was twelve. His doctors tried their best to not "rush to surgery" and their choices paid off - he was released home today. Assuming it is scar tissue related, he's on a liquid diet for a few more days, with orders to adopt an high-fiber diet. My grandsons have been terrified, and 12-year-old Logan broke down and sobbed after his first hospital - his powerful daddy rendered mute by the NG tube down his nostril. The silver lining? My DIL's mother had driven up for Mothers Day and was able to care for the boys so Missy could stay in the hospital with Josh. Julie babysat for them when they lived here - no one could have been more well-suited to that task.

I got four beautiful new tires, had lunch with my daughter, got my swimming haircut updated, caught 20 lovely laps before picking up the CSA box, and now I'm listening to my black lab snore. This turned out to be an absolutely fantastic day!

Oh Wow

I finished the lap robe. You can see the color change if you're looking for it, so don't look for it! I was surprised to need it last night as we watched a BBC concert. We might have started a fire but we we're about one fire from being out of fuel.
Today was a craft fair with Carol and Kerry at the Center for Spiritual Living. When we got there, we discovered that space wasn't assigned for this first-time event. Everyone was scrambling to set up inside the church and since it was crammed full, we asked if it would be okay if we set up outside. We had a plum space on this beautiful day.

Thanks to Facebook, several friends saw that I was going to be at this event and stopped by and bought - thanks! . My favorite towel sale of all time though is Marion's choice. She came with matching pants and from Facebook, knew exactly which towel she wanted. This from my Desert Pond sequence with the Desert Peach weft.



I'm not going to bother you with the hour I spent between the craft fair and going home at my grandson's Little League game, though I do wonder how I ever had time to work. The evening fare was Joe's spring open kiln show, which gets bigger every year. The big guy in the red t-shirt on the right is our neighbor and middle school teacher.
Joe always hires a band from Carson City called Hickory Switch for this event. We started inside where we've always been due to weather, but after their break, the action moved outside and they acquired a jug player.
Last year it was snowing at this party. This evening it was 77 degrees, and it dawned on us that we really didn't need to be inside. It's probaby a one-time occurance.
All the food was inside and oh my, as always there was enough food to take a bath in. So. Eric and Jeri are chatting here on the right. Jeri knows ASL and is conversing with Chris who is deaf.
Eric and Jeri ham a passionate embrace with a complicit Chris. Her husband came by right after and loved it. They're all silly.

This is the nakid studio where we are usually packed in due to the cold temperatures. We left - went away. I hope Joe isn't disappointed. I got sucked into visiting and spent a half hour chatting with Joe's daughter, who is now a second year college student. I think life just can't get any better, and then it does.

New Things

These are the colors I've chosen for my next warp. The pattern is a block weave, so the A block, or odd harnesses, are on the right with the B block (even harnesses) yarns on the left. I think I should have used some stronger values for the B block in retrospect.
I started winding the warp this afternoon. I'm under-
whelmed by the values of these colors, but hey, that's what this exercise is all about for me. I'm trying to learn on my own since I can't go to a weaving boot camp like the John C. Campbell School. The next set will have stronger values to satisfy my curiosity.
My High County Gardens order arrived today. This nursery is in Santa Fe and our own cooperative extension turned me onto them. If they say their cultivar is browse resistant to rabbits, then it is. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow, planting these. I always try to buy local but in this instance it's not practical. That's over $100 worth of future yard and when it's green and growing, it's so worth it.
Charlie and I have been to our vets twice in the past two days. I took him in yesterday for a wellness check because his coat doesn't look good and he seems to be losing weight. So now he's on such a large dose of antibiotics, and after his twice-a-day dosing, he sleeps. Laura just messaged me that sleeping is good for healing and I'm glad to think of it that way.

Our vets are a married couple who have cared for our pets for over 20 years, though now due to physical limitations, they no longer see pets over 30 pounds. Only Charlie qualifies and that was a sad day for us when we had to move our dogs. I saw Dr. Tom yesterday who was worried about weight loss, so they kept him for a couple hours to do some tests. Rather than shop and spend money, I decided to spend money on parking meters and go the campus. I had my Kindle in my purse - thought I'd read at the library. Amy had a half hour before a meeting so I got to sneak in a visit. She warned me to be prepared to some kidney problems.

Forward to today, Dr. Tom called me at 6:30 this morning with the lab results. I lied and told him he didn't wake me and scrambled for a pencil and paper. The lab results: Normal BUN is 15-34, Charlie's is 138: Normal creatinine is 0.8-2.3, Charlie's is 8.0: Normal phosphorus is 3-7, Charlie's is 9.3: Normal WBC neutrophils should be below 12,500, Charlie's are 20,375. Diagnosis: Stage 4 kidney disease which means he should be showing signs of kidney failure.

But the interesting thing is that he's still a thriving cat. The recommended treatment is over a thousand dollars so we're going at a second tier treatment which is about half that. Today Dr. Tom drew more urine which is being cultured for the specific antibiotic to use. He's currently on amoxycillin - same pink stuff as my kids used to take. He's on a feline treatment that transfers urea from the urine, away from the kidneys and to the intestines where it's passed. We're transitioning him to special kidney food and Dr. Tom is optimistic that we can be successful with this regime to enjoy Charlie for several more years. He recommended we buy feline pill pockets since he's on pills for life. After that phone call this morning, it was a long sad drive to town for me today. According to Dr Tom, the fat lady hasn't sung yet for Charlie. It's the dark side of owning and loving pets. Sigh.

The good news is that our friend Petey is coming tomorrow to spend some time with us - the guest room bed is made. We're all going to Joe Winter's open kiln party Saturday where a blue grass/folk band will play. I hope Petey will sit in with his Old Timey banjo - TBA.

I Think It's Finally Spring

I think it's finally spring! Monday was absolutely lovely, not too warm with a nice breeze, so Laura and I sat outside with our wheels and spun. Laura finished the roving she had dyed so started on some she bought from Mim the day before. I'm spinning stash reduction.

I realized I would run out of weft for my lap robe so on Sunday while we were visiting at Mim's I spun up the last 4 ounces of the gray wool, and then Monday I collected more rabbitbrush and overdyed it in the house. Thank goodness we could have the windows open because it's stinky!
And since we were already outside, I decided to put some alpaca in laundry bags and soak it for a couple of days to get some of the sediment out. I'll take it out of the bags tomorrow and rinse it on the grass, what little of bit of grass we have. I discovered I have five alpaca fleeces - two were in one tub!
Yesterday I went to town for book club, a swim and our CSA box pick-up. When I got home, my yarn order had been delivered and was being carefully guarded. Actually Charlie perches on anything that's new and catches his attention.
Look at my new toys!! I love these colors. I'm moving them around, trying to decide how I'll pair them up for another set of turned taquete towels. This is a block weave structure, so I think whatever I decide on for this set, I'll alternate the colors on the next set, just to see what that would look like.
I let the gray yarn soak in the rabbit-
brush dye liquor from Monday until late this afternoon, then rinsed it and hung it to dry. I checked it this evening. The yarn is dry and I think the color is going to be very close. I was worried because even though I used the same weights and ratios, the rabbitbrush is much greener than when I dyed with it a couple weeks ago. Laura suggested some contrast stripes in between the yarn I'm running out and the new yarn, only it's getting pretty close to the end and I think that might look even stranger than a subtle shift in color. This is a problem for tomorrow.

Laura left this morning and Petey called last night to say that he didn't get picked for jury duty so will be here on Friday for Joe Winter's spring kiln opening show on Saturday. Joe hires a blue grass/folk band for this event and he invited Petey to bring his banjo and sit in. I'm broke in greenbacks but rich in everything else!

Old Friends

This is the view that initially captured my heart. Today we are sitting on Mim's front porch for a spin-in. I came with our friend Linda eleven years ago for a spin-in and ended up falling in love with this valley.
We - being the five, minus one (Linda) - members of an old sheep-to-shawl team that grew into genuine friendships. Linda is in Portland, and that's the only thing that could have made this day better.
Laura, in the blue shirt, also lives in Oregon, but her visit is the reason we've all come together. We're looking at some of Mim's fleeces. The weather was a little crisp but what a great day.

We did a walk-
about, checking in on her new goats and sheep.. These are some of the newest additions to her flock. Their little voices and antics are irresistible.
I love Mim's place. Her verdant yard is a mere few miles from our house and so different from the rabbit damage we experienced. It was a lovely day.

Quick Post

This is the colors in my warp, still on the apron rod, still on the floor. I realized that if I didn't post tonight, it would be next week sometime and I really want to show the last set of towels that I hemmed and wet finished today. Laura is coming down from Oregon tomorrow for several days and I know we'll be busy.
Once again, I'm flabbergasted that all these different colored towels come from that one warp, and probably the towel on the bottom best preserves the warp colors. I have a craft fair next Saturday. I'm going to Kiernan's Little League game tomorrow in the cold blustery wind because I won't be able to go next week. I know he likes it when we come to his games.
I decided to set some bread after breakfast. I'm really not enjoying the gummy store bread and on the other hand, I don't enjoy the taste of heavy health breads either. This is half white, half whole wheat. Bread is so easy - it doesn't require much attention but it does take time. I tended to it in between doing laundry and hemming towels. Everything went swimmingly until I realized that the bread had been rising in the pans for an hour and a half. Sigh. I punched it down again and let it rise for the third time. I didn't think to rewet the towel, which stuck to the top of the bread and made it lumpy. It ended up coming out of the oven just as the stew was ready - perfect timing - and it takes so good that we ate this much of it at dinner!


Never underestimate the power of what you can do when you believe in yourself!

Seven Years

Spring is really dragging its heels here. The wind has been blustery and all the rain that I hear about isn't falling here. Nevertheless, the Desert Peach, the harbinger of spring is now in bloom.
It's such a cheerful shrub and very fragrant - a member of the rose family. I took my camera this morning when I walked Buster.
Oddly, the blossoms aren't a uniform shade. Some are this light pink.
Some are this hot pink, and in fact, I used this shade today in one of my desert pond towels. I thought heck yeah. That's a naturally occurring color. Check out the thorns. They are lethal. I have scratches on the my car doors from venturing too close to the side of our driveway too many times. Those bushes are going away this month - soon.
And it's not just Desert Peach, but Bitter-
brush is in bloom at the same time this year. It's another subtle plant but across the brush you see the dots of yellow.
The color is intense but the blossoms are tiny. It's hard to relate how much color these two bushes will provide along the roadsides over the next couple of weeks.
The rabbits have been voracious this winter. They have eaten the lower limbs of the pines and destroyed many other plants. I'm not sure why, since this wasn't a particularly cold or snowy year.
We have been con-
founded at how they managed to eat inside the rabbit-
guard, which is the name of this fencing. They have permanently disfigured this holly plant. The signature of a cottontail attack is the 45 degree angle they leave at their point of munching, so said the Cooperative Extension when I took in some of our damaged plants last year.
This is the tree that has us scratching our heads. They've eaten up for a couple of feet. That would have made sense if we had gotten any kind of appreciable snow this winter, but we didn't. Can a cottontail stand on it's hind feet and eat this high? They ate our Oregon grape too, supposedly a rabbit-safe plant. We know they don't like: lavendar, santolina, Scotch broom, lemon thyme and day lilies. I'm sticking to that menu.
On the tea-towel front, this is the desert-
peach pink that I tried today. It absolutely masks the yellow. I find that fascinating. After talking to Beryl last night, I've decided to change up the warp next time, the threads per pattern and use the Fibonacci sequence. My new order of warp is supposed to arrive on Tuesday, so you know what I'll be doing on Wednesday!

And I've started weaving on the next lap blanket. This is the light gray wool from one of my brother's sheep that I then overdyed with out-of-season rabbitbrush. It's a very pale gold but what I especially like is that the dark gray flecks of the fleece are showing through the dye.

I got an email this afternoon that absolutely thrilled me. My friend Heidi said that she has been infected by my dish towels and has warped her loom to weave a set of her own. I cannot think of any higher praise.

Oh, and I've meant to say since last month that I've now embarked on my 7th year of blogging. It doesn't feel like seven years, but it does to Google, because I'm now paying storage. That seems fair for a seven years worth of words and pictures. Since it was really last month, I should have waiting until May 7th for drama but I wasn't sure I'd remember on May 7th so today is my 7th anniversary.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Out with the old, in with the new. My old swim goggles had gotten to a point where they were leaking, and in trying to stop that, they were so tight they were too painful to use. I asked a woman I swim with what goggles she uses - I was leaving the lane and she was getting in - she showed me hers and told me why she loves them so much, but warned me that I could probably only get them online. Finis - she pointed to the label.

I called Sports Authority from the car and asked if they carried Finis swim goggles. She said, we sure do! The gym is at the north end of the Truckee Meadows and the store it at least 20 minutes south - that's why I called. I couldn't find the Finis goggles so asked a clerk to help me. She cheerfully showed the Swedish brand swim goggles. I guess all Scandinavians run together in her brain. Actually, I've since learned that Finis is a Northern California company - sigh. I bought Tyr anti-fog goggles and for the first time can see underwater. It's really weird looking into the faces of swimmers as we pass each other in the lanes but it's also kinda cool.
I picked up our second CSA box yesterday after my swim. It is an astounding horn of plenty. We ate the asparagus last night. It's the first time I've eaten it the same day it was picked. I'll probably put the turnips in with mashed potatoes again. Did I mention that it's $417 for six months of weekly vegetables???? Color me smug.

The program at my weaving guild meeting tonight was a hands-on presen-
tation of pick-up in inkle weaving. Beryl Moody and Igor Raven came over from Nevada City to present this program and then drove back afterwards. I complain that I drive two hours for an 1 1/2 meeting. They drove four hours! They have both been huge influences in my weaving life so I didn't think I was interested in the subject, but I wouldn't have missed them unless I had broken legs and couldn't shift my car. Beryl prepped all four of those looms for us to mess up.

This is the Gilmore modified inkle loom that Bob Allen has created and it was the loom that Beryl did her demonstration on. I suppose it's really a modern cousin of the indigenous people's backstrap loom. I took an inkle weaving class and hated it so much that I gave my loom to Amy, my instructor, no reflection on her instruction. It was too primitive a technique.
Several of us had a go at this warp and pattern. I ended up sticking to it with Suzanne's help - she explained that we're going to be doing a lot of this in our Pebble Weave workshop next month, which reminds me - I need to make arrangements with Jeanne to pick up her loom! I started to get the hang of it and everyone was packing up. I had no idea I'd enjoy this so much and I think it was because the loom had two sheds - no primitive finger action.

I got to chat with Beryl about the turned taquete towels that I've been weaving. I got the pattern from her. She told me about the colors that she likes to pair, and I came away with a plan for a little different warp, but I'll wait for my new yarns to get here. I could have had them en route by now, but I'm so horrible with numbers that I muffed up the online order. They emailed me that I got an F in credit card information. Okay, not quite that harsh. So I'll just have to weave the next lap robe. Since I spun and dyed the wool, I don't have to wait for delivery.
This is the display that Beryl and Igor brought for us to peruse. They will be back to teach a full workshop on Saturday, but I'm committed to Kiernan's Little League and am sorry to miss this learning opportunity.

We started the meeting with the election of officers. I'm so excited - Igor and Beryl are going to do the newsletter for next year. I got a call several months ago from Lorene, asking if I'd be willing to accept the nomination of president. We are a small guild and everyone has had a turn at the offices. I've been lurking. I felt it only fair to say yes, since I've never served in any office and this guild has fed me for a very long time. So ta-da - the 2012/2013 prez is I. In with the new.