I May Not Do The Backyard Today After All

It's a little dreary and damp out there.  The dreary I can deal with but I think the damp (it rained last night) will make using the bagger on the mower nearly impossibly heavy to deal with.  I'll probably get a tarp so I can uproot all the garden and potted plants to haul to the street because they just look too sad to bear.  It's not too chilly out there, breezy but not frigid, so it might feel good to be out doing a bit of work in the fresh air.  Maybe it'll blow some of the cold germs out of me.  That'd be good.  I was encouraged to see one brave red petunia still holding its head up out there sheltered by the honeysuckle and privacy fence.  Keep strong little flower!


We will go to cast our ballots today.  Wisconsin's electing a governor and a few other offices on the state, county, and local levels AND there are a couple referrenda to be voted on.  Don't neglect to go vote.  Remember, if you don't vote you don't get to complain about the people running the government.  Besides, do you really want everyone else running your life?  Because that's what happens when you don't vote.  It's like you're a perpetual 4-year-old with a bossy mother who never lets you choose what to wear, you just have to do what she says no matter how you feel about things.  Think about that.  Then go cast your ballot.  Okay, one more rant.  People all over the world are dying fighting for the right to vote, WOMEN in America fought for decades for the right to vote.  This is a right you could lose if you don't use it.  That's all the ranting from me today, I promise, cross my heart.  (no, I didn't have my fingers crossed, I was typing, silly)


I got a package in the mail yesterday.  It was my Knit Picks order.  I needed some washable wool to make LC a hat or two so I picked a few colors, then I was so close to the "order $50 for free shipping" that I got a few pairs of needles I'm a bit short of (or maybe they're stuck in some UFO [UnFinished Object] somewhere downstairs) to make the $50.  None of this will go to waste.

I despair of ever getting to 6" of the brown on the trailing edge of my Oriole Wings Wrap.  I've been knitting and knitting on it, at least two rows a day forEVER and I'm still not even to 4".  Gah!  I wasn't going to cast on anything new until I got the wrap finished but I've got to make the hat now or I'm afraid it'll be spring by the time I get to it.  Here's as far as I got on my Elf on Saturday.  As you can see I'm flat out of green which I need to finish the hat and make the hands and feet, and close to flat out of the white for the arms and legs.  I plan to dig around in my stash for some dark red and finish the hat that way and some white for the limbs and then I'll just make the hands and feet in whatever red I find.  Then I can embroider the face, adding the (jug) ears for which I'll use the remaining yarn that matches the head.  It'll be okay.

November 4--Willard Metcalf, Hillside Pastures-September.  The light was pure gold as Shane walked up the pasture.  Stacked stone fences marked the boundary of the farm, keeping their small herd of cattle in and the MacPherson's out.  Shane wasn't sure what the MacPherson's had ever done but Grandad would spit whenever the name came up and turn away grumbling, "you just can't trust them."  As Shane climbed higher the cattle wandered away from him but he still heard them tearing the grass as they grazed.  A flash of blue caught his eye and he looked up to see Mariah MacPherson leaning on the stone fence watching him.  She smiled when his eyes met hers and a warm feeling spread out from his stomach that made his feet feel heavy and slow.

Trite and predictable but interesting.  I think I'll make me some oatmeal for breakfast and then maybe unpack a box or go out and uproot the garden plants.  Or maybe I'll sit on my duff feeling sorry for myself because I have a cold.  Stupid germs.
--Barbara