no name post!!!!

wow! how the time flies. i thought i'd better update before liam and i leave on our annual field trip to point reyes youth hostel tomorrow! we always have a ball. i look forward to a visit with the mighty ocean in october as it's the most perfect time at the coast. i need my ocean fix. it replenishes my soul and makes me very happy.

i believe last post i mentioned i would be spinning at the celtic festival. i wish i had taken more pictures but i kept running out of batteries. don't ever buy batteries at grocery outlet-they suck!!! i did manage a few pictures though. my all time favorite band-molly's revenge was there again.
the wee folk enjoyed molly's revenge too!

our fiber guild had a booth for spinning. not the best picture i know-maybe it was the black and tans i was imbibing in at the pub!a big thank you to bj for having a booth for all us fibery people to sell our wares. i was pleased to have sold a baby sweater, hand dyed rovings and hand spun yarn.the booth was beautiful-sorry no picture-uh did i mention the pub? thanks again bj!!!! of course there was an abundance of fairy folk and other creatures-and lot's of guys in skirts.birdsong and i enjoyed the sheep dog demonstration. what amazing concentration!well, i'm needed and must go....but i wanted to leave you with this. remember this beautiful sock yarn i won?well-it now looks this.....a tangled mess!and who could be responsible for this disaster? none other than our sweet little puppy "blue"- who loves his boy and sleeps with him whenever he gets a chance. liam fell asleep listening to the debate analysis. okay-he's too cute to beat! good thing eh? ha! yes, brings back memories of when kitsie was young. see past post. later!

happy equinox!

HAPPY AUTUMN EQUINOX! i welcome and love fall. i am so NOT a summer person! the nights have cooled and i love, love, love needing blankets on the bed again. i actually wore a sweater this morning. i tried to keep in on all day but eventually the heat set in and i had to take it off or fry my brain. i so look forward to cozy rainy days!!!

well, so much for posting more often. life has been stressful, hectic and way over the speed limit lately. multi tasking has never been one of my strong points-(see past post about trying to dye and school at the same time.) unlike hubby who can drive, clip his nails, change the radio station and look at the passenger all while driving the curvy canyon road-no, for me i start multi tasking and things just start breaking.... like when i forget i've collected eggs and put them in my pocket instead of taking the time to bring them to the kitchen.
don-cha just hate it when that happens? i end up feeling like one of kitsie's little creatures that she tortures in the nite. this is the dog's water dish- is it a gift or a threat. remember her nick name is luca brasi from the god father.heavy sigh!!!!

weekend before last i missed our monthly spinning satuday as i took younger son and his best buddy to the downieville antique bottle and glass insulator show. but i get to make up for it this weekend as some of us are spinning at the celtic festival! i will also be able to sell some of my fiber goodies! the boys were a bit disappointed as the show was mainly bottles this year. but they did get some treasures. i was able to turn my collection of 2 into 4 insulators.hey soxchik-please note the ultra cool hand painted gnomes i scored also!!!! i know i know-try to contain yourself. my gnomes are smaller- but i need to get them all together for a group photo!! what a score!!!

remember the contest i won? here's the awesome sock yarn i received from hazelknits. it is so soft and the colors are of the olympic peninsula-way up yonder in the great state of washington. check her etsy shop out she has so much wonderful hand dyed yarn! thank you jeanne of 4 chickens for making my day! before i cut out tonight i wanted to mention the family did a wonderful high sierra hike this past weekend-our little equinox celebration-all together hiking to a little lake on donner summit. the last time we did it liam as in the sling and and we were hiking thru snow. i'm still looking for the old pictures. i love high sierra snags. they are so beautiful.i was able to gather some lichen for dyeing my wool.but i only gather once it has been blown off the trees as the lichen is very slow growing and an essential part of the ecosystem. i love the smell! this picture is faded-i'm talking effin bright chartruese!!!! almost blinding!!! i won't bore you with a barage of photos from the hike but i will leave you with a pic of a very tired puppy.yes, he has couch privileges-i know i know-don't say it!!!!

vulcans have arrived!

if only i could post more often-i wouldn't have all these lengthy posts with tons o pictures-sorry folks on dial up. i'll try and post more often. today was my lucky day! i won a contest. can you believe it? i won a contest over at jeanne's blog- 4 chickens. i'm tickled!!! and the prize is awesome-i get to pick a skein of hand dyed sock yarn at hazel knits!
i don't know how i'll ever be able to choose from all the awesome colors. like my son at a glass insulator show-torture. pure torture.

speaking of contests remember my mystery vacation photo contest? well- annemarie won! and she just sent me a picture of her yarn she spun from the roving i sent her. she turned this:into this:the skeins remind me of new mexico!!! i sure miss it.
-i love it! she's gonna make a warm wooly hat. send me pics when you are done annemarie!!

i've been digging up old projects and trying come to terms with my inability to complete projects. i found these dead solders in a box in my closet from years ago- socks i was knitting after our fiber guild had a natural dye workshop. all these colors-dyed from naturals dyes-what fun we had. indigo dying was intense- a bit too scientific for me. all the ph levels and stuff-whew! i really need to finish these cozy buggers!
this past weekend we had our rebel ridge volunteer fire department picnic and flea market to help raise money for our fire dept. as usual much fun was had. the toddler races were hysterical.i scored big time with a killer pair of redwing boots(feminine foot wear at it's finest) and some kind of pelt. seems like it was dyed to me but it is real.
i've been knitting a baby sweater out of my purple disaster yarn and it's turning out way cute. last minute kate here-trying to get ready for my holiday craft shows!!!!!gotta go-red alert! spock-i mean puppy in need of a run-later!

the sad passing of ruth

well, i write this post with saddness. we lost our BIG MAMA partridge rock hen ruth the other day. this is the first time we've lost a hen to something other than a dog attack. the truth is -i'm not totally sure why she died. my best deduction i can come up with-which i'm ashamed to say is heat exhaustion. we have had triple digit days and my girls have not had the opportunity to free range as much as before-since "blue" came into our lives. as he must be closely monitored if he is outside with the hens and we don't always have the time to do that. their fenced in yarn gets real hot later in the day. i had checked their water earlier in day but failed to do so later. by the time i noticed their water had been emptied-it was too late. i found her in the coop. it was extremely hot. i feel just terrible(like a bad chicken mom) for not checking the water sooner and keeping a better eye on the situation. i've been letting the girls free range during the heat of the day now where they can find better shade.

ruth was our largest bossiest gurl. we will miss her. i'm so sorry ruth!liam honored ruth with one of his glass insulators.

that time of year again!!

every year at this time i start to panic and totally freak out. ugh!! summer is my time off. i had high hopes as usual-of getting liam all caught up in math and spelling during the summer months-and the days slip by-and my good intentions float down the river. i want to kick and scream when school starts again while i watch other parents do a jig as they sent their kids off to school. i want to take a year off and say "lets unschool-and do nothing but what you want to do" -forget standards, forget testing, forget all the bullshit!!!! but i return every year with my tail between my legs and follow the rules. i hate rules. you see we belong to a homeschool charter. we homeschool-but since we are governed by the public school system we have guidelines to follow and monthly meetings with educational specialists to hand in samples of work- but jeez-can't we start until after labor day?????

but then i remember all the cool stuff our school does-all the field trips and neat classes they offer. such as the mural painting class last year. all the students in Lew Toll's art class participated in a group mural for the outside of our school building. they presented it on the last day-very awesome! here's a pic. when i remember these things i put on my big girl panties, pull myself together, get busy and realize i'm doing the right thing. we started this past monday.

yesterday i had the great idea of trying to school and dye at the same time. i had been soaking many skeins of drab grey yarn-yes, i too had a grey phase!!!! how much grey yarn does one need? i decided to over- dye them-i wanted a variegated purple heather -i mixed 4 different shades of purple-this was gonna be awesome. kill 2 birds with one stone. i don't know what i was thinking-i didn't cover the kitchen table, i didn't move the bills or liam. i thought i could just squeeze in there and do a quick job and stick them in the sun. well, to make a long dramatic story short-i had dye everywhere, it was running onto the floor, Blue was trying to lick it up, dye all over books, dye on the bills, i forgot my gloves again and i had total purple hands-i'm yelling at the kids for help-"get the puppy! he's drinking the dye! get me some towels! GET THE PUPPY, move the books!!! GET THE PUPPY!!" well, my grand idea turned into all my colors mixing into one-i got pissy and put the yarn in ziplocs and into a black trash bag-and threw it out the back door-and didn't look at it till this morning when i rinsed. well, i must say- it's quite pretty. sorry no pics yet. grey rocks when you get mad at it!

it's back to being broiling hot-little "blue" doesn't even want to got outside to pee-making house training an adventure. we don't have a.c.-so it's not like our house is cool-we broil inside too.look his ears are starting to stand up!!! a couple weeks ago we went to union flat campground liam became obsessed with building "ducks" on the north fork of the yuba river.Blue can sleep anywhere!! very tired river pup!i have all this sun and heat and no undyed roving-boo hoo! supposed to be even hotter tomorrow!

more tea please!

i'm sooooooooooooo tired. blue wakes me up bright and early every morning-ever so chipper. but the week after the full moon brings the coyotes(we have very bold ones!) and they carry on-right outside my our house-they are very loud with their ear piercing shrill yaps-which excite all the dogs on the hill-especially skippy. he's the neighbor dog but considers himself "dog of the hill!" lives most of his life at our house. i swear i thought they were ripping skippy apart last night-he has a dislocated hip and broken teeth so he's an easy target. i had to bring him in the house and he barked all night-i finally let him out at around 4 a.m. when i knew the coast was clear. then i worried whether they were getting into the chicken coop or whether the cute flock of wild rogue banty hens that live in the forest will survive another moon. needless to say-i did not sleep well.

the triple digit weather has left-whew!! i was extremely cranky and i got a bad case of uptight impatient mother syndrome-i hate when that happens. hubby's been working out of town a lot lately so no quiet moments for me. blue hates the heat too! everytime i'd open the fridge he's jump in.
sorry for the blurr-but he is an active bugger!

i finally got around to solar dying with the marigolds i had steeping in the sun-like for ever!!!! i was waiting for alum to arrive from dharma trading co. and trying to spin up some undyed yarn. well-my patience was lacking-remember the heat? i knew my friend and neighbor rhodie just got a knitpicks order in-i.e. undyed yarn ready to dye! i borrowed a big hank of bulky-mordered it for a day in the sun with alum and cream of tarter. then strained my oozy marigold sludge water and rinsed the skein and put it in the smelly marigold tea-it could have fermented at this point-hey maybe i had some mighty fine wine-marigold wine. should have tasted it. let the sun do it's business and wah-lah! it worked!the heat finally ripened the tomatoes and peppers in my garden and i've been doin the salsa thang!the bright side of the heat has been solar dying. here's a few items.we had a great knit nite last nite. we actually had 5 of us!!!! it was at rhodie's who graciously let me bring blue as i couldn't leave him alone for that long. rhodie's hubby made a big spread of homemade chips, beans, guacamole-i supplied the salsa-being that i'm overflowing with it. birdsong brought some delicious home brewed beer , mary lou showed up which was a wonderful surprise-her first time and barbara sue supplied us with delightful stories of growing up jewish in new york-complete with singing "oklahoma" in hebrew!!!

blue needs a walk and i got get ready for horrid town day complete with a trip to get the car smogged-i hope it passes! then off to the delightful DMV. where i get to spend my afternoon with other "wishing to be anywhere but here" folks. sigh!

tibet awareness photo:

i've been tagged!!!!!!

OMG!-for the first time ever, i've been tagged........ by jeanne. something called a meme?-does anyone really know what that stands for-drives me nuts as i can't figure it out!

so here it goes!

The rules: Are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answers.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Hubby and i were living in Nevada city, ca. I was a happy new mama-liam was 7 months old. Carey is hubby’s first born-he was 3 ½ when we got together so I was adjusting to the baby world. I never spent much time with babies before. So I was scared yet thrilled as I have had several miscarriages in the past.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order?

Clean chicken coop, chicken mite dip & butt baths-having some dirty butt issues here-probably worms as my gurls free range, water and feed garden, laundry-seems to be a daily thing around here, bills-and figure out what’s for supper!


3. Snacks I enjoy.

Salty, crunchy, spicy stuff. I’m not much into sweets-but I love popcorn, salt and vinegar potato chips, seaweed, pretzels, egg rolls, nuts, chips and salsa or cheese and crackers.

4. Places I’ve lived:

I’ve lived in many places! Idaho(my birth state),Hawaii-I was a baby-don’t remember it. Dad was in the navy, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. This not in any particular order

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: I’d totally freak out! First I’d pay all my mom’s debts and set her up in a sweet house let her live the rest of her days with out working and take her on a trip to Prague-someplace she always has wanted to go-she is half Czech. Then I’d pay all our debt and buy lot’s of land and let it be wild. I’d have a fabulous fiber studio and cottage in Ireland. Hubby could retire. Oh yeah-and fiber animals- a little farm-I’d live the homestead life of self-sufficiency and not have to worry about making ends meet!! I’d have a Belgian draft horse. I’d pay my brother tom back for helping me years ago from financial crisis-he paid my student loans for me! Knit and travel. I’d love to give, give, give-have breakfast at a diner and really make that waitress, cook or dishwashers day!!! I’d be able to give money to all those wild animal foundations-like save the wolves and polar bears. I’d give money to folks that need health care and can’t afford it- give money to single mom’s-wow-it would just be so great to give to anyone you wanted any amount any time! I’d be able to pay for college for our boys if they desire to go. The dreaming goes on and on and on.

6. What are some jobs you’ve had:

I’ve had a lot of these-my first job was working at a nut shop-it was owned by a priest-I’m not sure how that could be-he also had a girlfriend! Then I was a salad girl at a restaurant, department store clerk-these 3 jobs were high school jobs. Then I moved to Minnesota and had the pleasure of being a pizza delivery person, submarine sandwich maker, dishwasher, natural body care store clerk, croissant shop, alternative clothing store clerk-way fun job! Worker/owner at a vegetarian café cooperative, nanny- I still wonder to this day if the 4 year old ever told his mom-I used to jimmy parking meters with Popsicle sticks as I never had change and I was diving the parents car-I didn’t want parking tickets sent to their house. Luckily the 18-month-old tyke was unaware of the situation. Worked in many health food stores, card shop, professional house painter, prep cook, cocktail waitress at a STRIP club-very short lived-but I got stories! Perfume shop, herb/coffee shop. There’s probably more that I’ve happily forgotten.


7. Peeps I want to know more about:

soxchik, moonalisa, turbo kitty, karen,

gwen

pippi

jenn

if any of you ar totally against this mememememem thingee-don't worry. skip it. or if you'd rather you can send me your info personally!

my computer is possessed again-can you folks see everything written in blue and underlined? now it's wriiten in black-must have been the full moon. the coyotes were back.

tibet awareness photo:

snot monster!

there's nothing i hate more than a cold-but even worse-a summer cold. it's bad enough to feel all crappy and miserable but add intense hot weather and you've got the recipe for HELL! ugh! i'm dragging myself around trying to get things done and it's so hard.

i realized-or i shall say liam realized i haven't done a garden post in a long time. well, i guess i'm not too excited about the garden this year. it's been a bad year for my garden. ear wigs galore, blossom rot, miniature peppers, pathetic tomatoes, gophers-the list goes on. i had 3 huge zucchini plants-over 3 feet tall. gopher delight-it's the only thing that wasn't wired underneath. i only got 1 sunflower this year-they also eaten by some creature. it bloomed this week!
despite all the problems with the garden this year-we are getting a few things. liam was excited about his " bounty harvest" as he calls it.the only thing doing well is the basil and purple beans. knock on wood! i realize i have much catching up to do on this blog a county fair post and update you all on my fiber adventures. i'm slagging i know-but i write blog posts in my mind all the time!! does that count? too bad i couldn't just download directly from my brain to the computer-on second thought that would be just too weird. forget i said that. it's the time issue you know.

i'm in puppy time zone now-we are working with potty training, not ripping apart the furniture, biting and chewing on toys not human flesh, not chasing the chickens, not swimming in the water bowl and flooding the kitchen and not eating chicken poop! maybe we should have named him Ritalin. but he is a dear sweet boy and oh so cute(it's a good thing) i always thought mother nature was right on when she made babies of most species cute.i actually got a wee bit of spinning done the other day with him!did i mention-not attacking feet, wheel or wool while spinning? i promise updating soon!!! very soon.

tibetan awarenss photo:

puppy breath!

okay-right now i have limited computer time-no time for a real post. but as per request from several-more puppy pictures. when blue is not asleep-he's moving a mile a minute-very hard to get a clear pic. here's the best i could do this morning.hi ears stand up more everyday-he is a happy guy!! he sleeps in a laundry basket next to my side of the bed at night. he lays on his back! only gets me up once to pee-around 4:00. then sleep till 6:00-what a great guy!

as i stated before-i will end every post during the olympics with a picture from tibet.

“None of us are free until ALL of us are free!”

“None of us are free until ALL of us are free!”


thanks to beverly and pippi for getting the ball rolling! please check these sites out!

bev

free tibet

students for a free tibet

free tibet 2008

i wish i was more computer savy-tried to post all their groovy banners but it just didn't work out-please check the above sites out!

we are very fortunate here in our neck of the woods-the tibetan monks visit our community yearly and build a sand mandala. when my kids were younger and they met the monks, they gave each of them a teddy bear. they still have these bears. unfortunately these bears were made in china-gads!!!! my kids noticed this even though they were young.

i'm going to end my posts during the olympics with images of tibet, her people and her culture to raise awareness. warning some images may not be pleasant.

welcome Hartley Blue!

surprise, surprise we got puppy after all-last night. what a peach he is. he's a red heeler named blue. hartley blue. we are in love. here's a very tired boy-just woke up from a nap under the kitchen table-he likes the cool linoleum.
notice the ears are starting to stand up.

last night i was startled out of sleep-lightning and thunder. barely a drizzle. so i couldn't sleep-as dry lightning=forest fires. heavy sigh. this morning we watched the fire planes fly low over our house. a friend of ours who is on the fire department next town over called me to reassure me. the two fires(close by) caused by lightning last night were small and further than they seemed-even though one was called the bullards bar fire-which is just a few miles from us. i could smell no smoke but actual wood burning last night. scary. but it was on the northern side and this afternoon they got it out. thank you fire fighters!!! thanks for calling lynn and shawn to reassure me.

i went to the farm store last weekend to check on my yarn and hand knit items. i was thrilled to find i sold a baby sweater!!!!! remember this one?the sweater was knit from Marr Haven yarn- i love that stuff-soft, not itchy and machine washable on gentle-just keeps getting softer!! the photo has issues-once again-it's a brighter green heather.

younger son just made a killer honey sweetened zucchini muffins and bread. sorry no pics-devoured to quickly-the neighbor kids sniffed it out !!!

gotta run- the kids are anxiously awaiting- mystery science theatre 3000- the killer shrews.

still waiting........

i'm soooooo bummed. we were supposed to bet baby boy today-miscommunication! not till next week. i can barely stand it!!! here's his latest baby picture.okay- i guess i can make it another week-heavy sigh of impatience!

here's some solar dye pictures:the skein on the far left i dyed with fresh wolf lichen on the stove years ago-in real life it's very chartruessy. the middle skein is what i just recently solar dyed with dried wolf lichen-it is brighter as well. the small skein on the right is undyed. i did some solar dying for my fiber swap but i can't post till they receive it-i have not mailed it yet!!!

i'm having brown issues. i always end up with purple. i kept making the dye darker-but it just ended up being darker purple-i tried adding yellow and got glorious shades of monkey shit. getting frustrated i threw it all in a zip lock-squished it around and threw it out in the sun for the day. the results were pretty cool-but the camera won't make it look real. i have camera issues as well as brown issues.the true colors are a deeper bronze, purple and some greens-i didn't even add green!!! the picture looks totally washed out!!! it's a dark roving. quite beautiful! i'll never be able to recreate it.