Snow! 1-12-2018

Yesterday, my boss (the best boss ever) said, "If it's bad in the morning, don't come to work.  In fact, don't worry about coming in whether it snows or not."  I had somehow missed the memo that bad weather was coming our way.  It was 60 degrees outside, and so I just shrugged and said, "Okay," and started making plans for how to use the bonus day off.  Earlier in the week, I'd had the idea that it would be nice to make our grandchildren some trinket boxes for their rooms, a place for the little treasures they accumulate.  We'd have a long weekend to work on the first one.  So before I left work, I searched the internet for a free wooden box pattern, and on the way home I stopped at the lumber store and bought lumber, screws, and hardware to make boxes.

Last night at 6 p.m., it was still 60 degrees and drizzling rain.  This morning at 4 a.m., I woke up to the sound of sleet pelting our bedroom window.  By daybreak, our yard was covered with ice pellets.  By mid-morning, the sleet had changed to snow.

I am pacing like a caged cat, worrying about the family driving to and from work on these icy roads.  Thank goodness I have a project for today!

Raccoon Turd Reminiscence - 1/4/18

I was looking through some pictures on my computer tonight, and ran across a folder containing pictures we took during a trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas a few years ago.  It was a fun trip.  We rented a cabin on Bear Lake, which we used as a base for day trips all over that corner of Arkansas.  It was a one-room cabin on the 2nd floor of a 4-cabin unit.  We got there middle of the afternoon, checked in, and hauled our suitcases up the stairs.  Halfway up, I spied an actual TURD on one of the steps.  It looked like it probably came out of a medium-sized dog, maybe a cocker spaniel or poodle.  It was fairly fresh.  I said to The Husband, "Ewww...there's an actual turd on the step...don't step in it.  I hope this is not a bad sign."  We took our suitcases inside and were relieved to find that the room was very clean and well equipped - little kitchenette at one end, sitting area at the other, bed in between.  Big old tacky jacuzzi tub right in the middle of the room....

We stowed our stuff and went outside to check out the view, and after a little bit we headed back to the car to do some sight-seeing.  On the way down the steps, we saw the poop again.  The Husband got a stick and raked it off the step so we wouldn't step in it when we came back.  We drove around and scouted out a couple of places we wanted to explore the next day.  We ate burgers at a biker bar, and went back to the cabin.

There was another turd on the step, and one or two more on the balcony.

I said, "For crying out loud, who would let their dog POOP ON THE PORCH!"

The Husband said it might be a raccoon.

As far as I knew, I'd never seen raccoon poop, nor even imagined what it might be like, so I allowed that he could be right, but, based on the number of poops, I also wondered if the 'coon had a digestive issue.  And then I looked up.

He had company.

We laughed and laughed.

* * * * *

January 2, 2018

Well, I have knitted myself the ugliest pair of house shoes in the world.

I have used this pattern multiple times.  It requires 100% wool yarn.  The pattern makes shoes that would fit Big Foot until they've been washed in hot water, at which time the wool shrinks, and the shoes become thick and toasty warm.  They stretch a bit with wear but can be washed and re-shrunk. 

The first pair I knitted (a few years ago) was PERFECT - nice medium blue color, fit just right, etc.   The Husband (whose feet are not much larger than mine) coveted them and promptly claimed them for himself, and then did not wear them.  I confiscated them back and eventually wore holes in both soles.  Two weeks ago, when the little toe on my right foot bore a new hole and poked out of the side of the shoe like it was hitch-hiking, I started another pair with the only 100% wool yarn I had at hand, camouflage yarn I'd intended to use for a man's toboggan some day. 

Nothing about this pair is perfect.  For starters, they're butt ugly.  And, because I made a mistake in binding off the knitting, when I washed them in hot water, the opening got too tight before the soles got small enough, resulting in 1" "spoilers" at the heels. 

I ended up snipping around the openings to loosen the fit around my ankles.

And, because the shoes did not shrink quite enough, they are a little drafty.



But I have resolved for 2018 to look for silver linings in dark clouds.  In this instance, I can expect with a fair amount of confidence that The Husband will not be coveting these shoes.  :)