DTE suggested

getting Oribel a pet Guinea Pig to keep her from being lonely. I will be willing to do that with the same rules we had for the kids and pets when they were still at home. AKA, when Oribel is mature/dedicated enough to feed, clean the cage without having to be reminded every time, and play nicely/safely with her pet, I will be happy to get her one. (I don't recall being accused of inconsistency much in my life.)

This was not the post I planned on

returning from the blogging hiatus with, but it is the one we all get anyway. I had planned on telling you all about our trip to Portland in May for DTY's college graduation, catching you up on my Project Spectrum doings, telling you about all the knitting I have been doing, sharing news about my trip to Milwaukee when friends that "lived in my computer" became "real", as well as a trip report of a family vacation to Washington, DC, this past week. Other than that brief "what I would have said" bit, I am not really here today to talk about any of that stuff.

 

Well, I guess in a way I will mention DC a wee bit more since in a way it leads into the real subject of this return posting. Last Wednesday Hubband, DTE, and I all got on a plane together, then changed planes together, and then landed in Washington, DC, where DTY met us via different plane routes. We all had a several days of fun and activities together, and then headed in three separate directions (all of that would be the previously planned report) on Saturday afternoon.

 

DTE and I flew back to our starting point together, where we were greeted by a cat who seemed fine with our return, and a dog who was, as always, very happy to have most of her pack back where they belong. About three hours after we got home from the airport, Sadie started fussing at the two of us, pacing, and wanting in and out. We figured fairly quickly that she was not OK and needed to to go to the Emergency Veterinary Clinic. Shortly after getting her there she was diagnosed with GDV (which I had rather suspected would be the case). Given that she was fourteen-and-a-half, an rare/strange heart murmur, and several other known age related issues, she was not a candidate for any kind of surgery, so I am pretty sure you know the rest of the story.

 

 

 

DTE headed back to her place in Minneapolis today and our house has never, ever felt this empty.

I know it has been rather quite around here.

Last week (the last week of April) I was away on a trip, which turned out to be much, much harder than I had ever imagined. (Well, not the trip itself I suppose, but stuff I had to deal with there.) Fortunately the trip was to a place where I have a dear friend who held my hand and let me vent, rant and rage, and cry. Mind you, ranting and raging isn't really something I do often, but i certainly did a lot of it last week. Unfortunately I now foresee that there might be more in the future at some point; at least this time I guess it won't come up on me as such a surprise. (Funny thing is that it didn't surprise Hubband so much, or a few other people.) As it happened I also had some, but very limited access to the Internets while on my trip, mostly just email and all of it was on a computer that didn't belong to me, thus making it very difficult, if not impossible, to do any posting here while I was away.
Any hows, now I have a very busy rest of the month ahead of me/us, between getting ready for a very important college graduation (well, important to DTE and the rest of our family at least), having both D's home (one for a bit over a week before she goes to her summer internship and the other for the summer before she starts her "year-long, post-graduate thing while I decide on graduate school/what do I do next"), getting ready for a real-live vacation with Hubband at the end of the month, and of course, all the regular stuff that I do. Oh, and due to some fall-out from my trip last week I have extra stuff I need to make arrangements for. Le sigh. Never fear, I/we will manage to get through; all in all we have made it through much worse in life.
In other exciting news around the Coffee Yarn Household, we have an other new appliance. Sunday afternoon I went to the basement to get something from the freezer and noticed a medium sized puddle under and around the water heater, so by 2 PM Monday afternoon we had a new one installed and heating water for me. (Me, since by 2:15 PM I was delivering Hubband to the airport.)
I have finished knitting from April to report (well, that is if you all aren't horrible bored with knitting content) and of course there are lots of green things growing about here as well as some bulbs have bloomed and a few other flowers are all decked out in their spring finery. Sadie had her annual spring "find something really, really gross/wonderful and disgustingly smelly/lovely to roll in" last week while I was gone (hopefully that means she has gotten it out of her system for the year) so that was a plus for me, and Oribel is doing her "I really, really need to go outside into the sun! Wait! What is this wind crap? I need in! Oh look! It is sunny I need out! Wind? I need in!" thing that results in her having to stay inside after about two or three in and outs. Of course that results in the "I am not happy in so I shall try to dig through every door in the house to find a way outside."
OK, so for right now I need to go do "stuff" but I will do my best to get back to you soon with some pictures of the yard, flowers, animals, and knitting if you all want to see it. I might even mention my vacation again.

Just in case I forgot

to mention it, Portland public transportation came through in perfect reverse order, as did both my plane flights, and I arrived safely back home Friday night. Hubband, the dogs, and even the cat all seemed happy to have me home. The dogs were a lot more vocal bout than Oribel was. Funny thing about that.

The Rainy Day

I think Longfellow may have had it right. Well, OK, I feel a bit on the whiney side today (which can apparently be spelled with or without the "e"). My thoughts are definitely "clinging to the past." I may, or may not be able to get the cool coffee beans back on my side bars; same with the header picture, though I have thoughts on a new one for that. But I really miss my cool beans...... (I know, "pull in my lip or a bird will come land on it". What, most of you didn't hear that growing up?)
Seriously, it really has been raining off and on all day, with more predicted for tonight. They keep going back and forth about rain for tomorrow and into the weekend (it also rained earlier in the week, but I forget which day). Good thing I got the lawn mowed over the weekend, since Sadie was pushing grass with her belly on Sunday and I am sure Simon would be getting lost in it about now. (Yes, he is a couple of inches taller.)
Fortunately there was one sunny and warm day this week, so I am sure most of you know what that means.


Hanging out in the sun,

 

first knitting of the season in "the chair,"

 

and of course, Oribel had the best spot for keeping an eye on everyone. (This was intermixed with checking out all sorts of stuff in the yard.)
I did get to drink my coffee outside this morning in between "scattered showers and thunderstorms," so that was a plus for the day. That is about all I've got for now......

Our Thanksgiving day

started with frost on the grass (and most everything else). There was putting dogs out and in (and *out and in,* repeat between *'s as needed throughout the day), feeding of dogs and a cat, making pumpkin pie, washing of dishes, and reading up on some HTML code, and stuff. Well, that was how my day went any how. Hubband did work things; DTE slept, relaxed, and stuff. (Isn't "stuff" a great, all inclusive word?)
In the early afternoon we all bundled up to set out on the annual Thanksgiving expedition with the dogs. Normally we would have loaded up in the truck with the dogs in the back, but since it still has a bunch of wood in it, they had to ride in the back of my car. Sadie loves riding in the truck as it normally means she gets to "sit on the furniture," but three adults and two dogs in the cab of a small sized pick-up just wasn't going to work. Simon doesn't mind the back of my car too much, but Sadie isn't usually impressed with not being able to leave dog hair all over the seat.
She did manage to survive the ordeal, especially with the excitement of the proposed outing.

 

After we arrived at our destination and got leashes attached appropriately to all involved parties, we set out on our way.

 

(Of course we followed the directions on the sign; it is not a good idea to let a basset roam free, and never two or more together!)

 

We saw a lot of things while we were wandering the trail, starting with some berries,
which look much better close up.

 

There were more signs to pay attention to,

 

harvested fields,

 

as well as ones "in process."

 

We never did see the field being harvested, but we could hear it happening, along with the jingle of the bouncing dog.

 

We also saw fallen logs and moss,

 

remanents of Halloween,

 

frozen creeks,

 

the last vestiges of a light snowfall and other trail users,

 

and tree mushrooms. (I am always amazed with these; I don't remember ever seeing them before we moved here. They seem to be all over the place, we even have one growing on a table on our patio.)

 

We also saw seed pods,

 

bridges,

 

lichens,

 

and more seed pods.

 

Of course there were all kinds of good things to smell on our adventure,

 

as well as a some of waiting for the rest of the pack to catch up. A great time was had by all, and then we headed home, with a couple of exhausted dogs!



After we got home I put the chicken on to brine, prepped items for cooking, and then put the garlic-rosemary chicken on to roast. Of course when everythig was done, we enjoyed our meal, but most of all we enjoyed each other's company! All in all, we had a low key Thanksgiving, but sometimes those are the best.
(I will give you an update later tonight or tomorrow about how today went. It is a bit of a different story with other characters involved.)

Three pedicures scheduled for this afternoon!

Life is shiney around here today. Well for the people in the house anyway. How do you know it is time to have your cats claws clipped? When she uses her teeth to get unstuck from everything. Problem is, it doesn't work as well when your claws are stuck in the screen door above your head. So off to the vet the three animals go....
What? You didn't think it was me and my daughters did you?

A day wherein I didn't do much

This morning our weather was (finally)warm and sunny, so I headed out on the deck first thing with my coffee and a baby blanket I am making for a friend of mine. While makeing great progress I got to see all sorts of things like this

(Simon loves being on the deck)

 

and this (I didn't manage to catch a picture of the Red-Tails headed into those trees, but that is where they live),



and this (and I am sure you know by now that these all look better when you click on them).

 

I also had to be careful not to rock onto Sadie. She and Simon were pretty much interchangeable in their positions you see here throughout our session on the deck.
The blanket really spent a lot more time in my lap, growing, than it did on the back of the chair. (Yep, I headed right out in my pajamas and stayed out there for about two hours, stopping only to refill my coffee cup. If Hubband had been home, I am sure he would have done that for me. He is a super nice guy like that.)
I finally tore myself away from all that fun to run a couple of errands. I would have rather stayed home on the deck, but needed to go pay property taxes, get a book at the library, and do some drop off/pick up of packages at the post office. I also stopped in at the grocery store since somehow I was down to only having about two cups of flour in the house. Seriously, how did that happen? That is pretty much all out as far as I am concerned. While I was there, I found this new (at least to me) cool product. It really doesn't have any butter in it, it is just pure maple syrup that has been creamed. Have you ever had molded maple sugar candy (often in the shape of a maple leaf)? Do you remember how the outside is kind of crunchy, but the inside is all smooth and creamy? That smooth and creamy is what this stuff is like. Way yummy! Good thing I have someone coming home tomorrow who likes pancakes; guess I had better get the sourdough out of the fridge to be all ready for Saturday's breakfast.

 

After getting the groceries put away and a sink of dishes done, my sock finally got to spend some quality time with "The Chair" this evening.

Some of what I have been up to

Sunday my dad and I decided to go on an adventure. We went to the Carnegie building of my youth, which now seems to be a TARDIS (it may not look like a Police Call Box, but it is seriously larger on the inside than it looks from the outside), and went back in time to see this. Unfortunately, because cameras didn't exist then, I can't show you any pictures of what all we saw. (You could click on the link to get more information though, if you so desire.)

 

We also went past the “new library” so I could take a picture of one of my favorite literary boys and his two dogs. I never got to meet Wilson Rawls myself, but Hubband has stories about school field trips to meet and hear him talk about his work. We sometimes worry about our Simon or Sadie missing the other one as much as Old Dan missed Little Ann did when the time comes. Our two have been together pretty much their whole lives just like those two had (since Simon was six months old and Sadie was about eight weeks). I guess only time will tell.

 

On the knitting front I have finished my Noro Scarf, have finished a gift project, made some progress on another gift project, made a dish cloth for my dear friend, and used my dad's washer to felt a gift I had finished knitting a while back.
Yesterday we went to visit the mountains, and today we went to visit the river of my youth (for the second time since I got here), but those reports/pictures will need to wait for another day!

In Idaho

I arrived safely to my airplane destination and then we traveled safely by car to our finial destination. There are mountains here! I am so happy they haven't left just because I did! I am hoping that we might be able to take a day trip to the Tetons, my most absolute favorite mountains of all the ones in my life. I promise to give you pictures as soon as I can.
Hubband is home holding down the fort and keeping the dogs and Oribel company. Or to keep them fed, depending on who you ask.

Spring flowers

Warning: This is a picture heavy post. Very heavy on the "first spring flowers" pictures. These are the signs of spring in my front flower garden, right by the front door. These beauties will soon be joined by daffodils.

 

These are out on the hillside of our lawn that joins to the road. There will be daffodils here too, as well as some tulips, if the deer haven't eaten the bulbs. (It is best to surround one's tulip bulbs with daffodils for preservation.)


This is a fallen tree in the forest that borders the west side of our front yard. (The same forest that the Red-Tailed Hawks live in.)

 

(Can you tell I love my flowers, that the snow is gone, and the sun is was shining?)

 

Some of what has been done on the knitting front
First half of February
KAL




Second half of February KAL





Second half of March KAL

 

I still need to catch up with the rest of March and April, but since I got these three done this past weekend, I might make it soon. I got one gift project finished on the knitting front, but it needs to be felted. That may get to happen soon with any luck. I also worked on another gift, realized last night at knitting I had made a mistake, so need to rip out about an inch or two (best not to actually measure that part). I think there was probably another dishcloth that was made, but I forgot to get a picture. Seriously, there was other knitting, as can be seen here, but it is a bit difficult to report about it too much. I am not sure that either of the recipients read this spot very often, but one can never be too safe about these things.

I will leave you with the view I had while knitting.