Autumn Sky But Humid

And just warm enough to be sticky.  It's probably 70 degrees and the humidity has to be at least 80% which makes for a sticky walk, and my lower back didn't like walking for some reason today so I turned around after about three-quarters of a mile.  Porter didn't seem to mind.  The trail was nearly deserted because the sky looked like it was ready to rain any minute.  This time I remembered to carry my umbrella so it didn't rain a drop.

DIL1 hadn't gone to work yet when I picked Porter up for our walk so I got to bask in her pregnant-ness for a few minutes.  She looks like most expectant women do--gorgeous and tired, but then I think she always looks gorgeous and I didn't have the heart to tell her that the tiredness will be her companion for the next, oh, ten or twelve years.  I got an invitation to a baby shower for her and AZ in Shawano the first week in November so I've got to marshal all my nebulous "ooh, I want to make that baby hat/blanket/sweater/booties/softie" and get cracking.  I spent yesterday perusing patterns, sorting out yarns, winding the hanks into balls, and picking out needles.  That reminds me, I need to order a few pairs of smaller size needles.  I could buy them from Michaels or Joann but I like the Harmony ones from Knit Picks the best (they're pointier) so I should have them, right?  Right.  I should probably make a needle roll with bigger pockets too.  I was just a beginning knitter when I made the one I use and foolishly thought that I only needed one pair of each size.  You don't want to know how many I have--and I even gave DS some when I taught him to knit.

Durwood's got the tomato soup factory up and running again this week.  He made a batch (5 qts. + 1 pt.) yesterday and plans another one for today and a half-batch for tomorrow.    It sure makes the house smell good when he's simmering a pot of tomatoes, celery, and onions.  Mmm. Yesterday someone was on the other side of the privacy fence harvesting the apples and I see that the ones on our side are getting rosy and the branches are hanging low.  I keep getting beaned when I'm mowing and filling birdfeeders.

September 20--Egypt and Sudan, Ram's-Head Amulet.  The ram-headed god Amun with the cobra on his head glared up from the bottom of the stairs.  It lay there looking up as if placed there on purpose to keep intruders away.  Anita's light wavered as she climbed down the uneven stone steps and it made the cobra seem to sway.  She rubbed away goose bumps on her arm and kept a tight grip on the rope threaded through eye bolts screwed into the timbers shoring up the shaft.  The dispassionate voice in her head droned on like a robot "gilded ram's head Amun amulet, looks Nubian, possibly Kushite period of the 25th Dynasty."  She paused when she realized that her inner voice had a British accent, that it said din-asty instead of dine-asty.  A stone the size of a tennis ball ricocheted off the wall behind her and a shower of pebbles pattered like rain on the steps.  "For God's sake, Norb, watch your step," she said, "you nearly knocked me out."  She turned to see that the stone had broken the lens of her flashlight.  "Do you have a spare light?" she called out. "Mine's broken."  There was no reply and the small shower of sand and stones became an avalanche.

Uh-oh.  Is Norb buried too or did he start the rockfall?  Dun-dun-dunnnnn.  Hey, have a good day.  I'm off to take a shower, play with yarn, make a Walmart run, and go to knitting night later.  Oh, and can today's batch when I get home after 9.
--Barbara