Middle of the Week

Nothing really going on today. Just posting because I want to stay in the habit of posting at least once a day.

Had trouble sleeping last night. Woke up around 3:00, finally gave up trying to doze off again around 4:30. Got up & knit 'til it was time to go to work. Needless to say I'm pretty sleepy.

Today's picture: close up of some of the fish in our pond. We've got 16 total. Three of them, including the one in the upper right with the weird mark on his head, were born in the pond. A few we got on the way back from the Grand Canyon a couple years ago. We had stopped at the Colorado River just inside the California border, and there was a man who had a bucket of fish he'd been using as bait. His little girl was upset because he was just going to dump them in the river & she didn't want them to get eaten. We offered to take them to our pond, and she was so happy! We carried them back in a small ice chest (without ice, of course!) The largest fish in this picture is one of them.

Houston, we have a refrigerator!

Since my blog is called "Needles and Spins," I thought I'd post a picture of me spinning. This was taken in August of '03 despite what the date stamp says, at a hotel in Big Bear, CA. The yarn eventually became socks for Ralph. That was a nice hotel. It allowed pets, so we had Hali & Gonzo with us (sigh--I miss Gonz!); had a big jetted tub; and was in the heart of "downtown" Big Bear so was within walking distance of the shops, restaurants, etc. I've also included a picture of our bedroom in the hotel. Gonzo is the blonde dog to the left of the shot; we had to put her down a couple weeks before Halloween last year, poor thing.

The good news for the day is: our refrigerator arrived even though I was told they couldn't deliver until tomorrow! We were able to salvage a lot of food, although since the meat had partially thawed we can't re-freeze it and some of it will likely spoil before we can use it. We'll have to eat the good stuff first, ha ha!

This weekend is the Pet Expo at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Ralph has a friend from Las Vegas coming out, so I'm not sure if we are going to go or not. Ralph says the three of us, including his friend, can all go on Saturday, however from what I know of his buddy I can't imagine him having a good time wandering around looking at animals & animal accessories. Maybe I'll tell the two of them to go do Guy Things & see if Big Sis wants to go instead. And afterwards we can knit.

Monday, Monday

Kind of a quiet day. Work wasn't too hectic; only stayed 30 minutes over & it wouldn't have been that long if Mr. Boss Man hadn't kept bugging me about whether or not he could run his reports yet. I could have entered the info for the reports a lot faster if I hadn't had to stop every five minutes to tell him no, not yet, I'll let you know when it's done, now go away.

Ralph got as much fridge food into ice chests as he could this morning. At least not everything is spoiled.

No new pictures today, so let's see what I can find in the ol' archives. Oh, here's a good one. This is part of the hiking trail up to Manoa Falls on Oahu. We took this in April 2005 on our first ever Hawaiian vacation. Love how the branches make kind of an arch over the trail. The pathway was really rather tricky in spots; wet, slick, narrow and muddy. Ralph & I were both amazed at the number of women who thought that flip flops were appropriate hiking footwear.

Good grief, I'm posting AGAIN

What a day this has turned out to be. Bought a new fridge. The store was out of stock on the one I wanted, so they are selling me the floor model. It was already on sale, plus another 10% off of that because of it being the floor model, plus because I used my store credit card I've got no payment/no interest for a year. That really helps a lot! The only downside is they can't deliver before Wednesday.

Went to lunch at Baja Fresh. Now that was disappointing. I bought shrimp burritos for me & Ralph, which normally are their best item, but today it's like something was missing. They were dry and bland. I think the cook forgot to put the sauce on them.

From there I headed to the tax place to finish the taxes. When Ralph was there, they only did the federal and we owed about $800. I had some more deductions to add to the return, which not only cleared what we owed, but now we are getting about $900 back. Woo hoo! Then we did the state return--GAH! We owe $1,300 on that!!! I have *never* owed on state taxes before, so this was a real shock! The only possible deduction we can still take is medical, if we can find the receipts. I'm hoping Ralph knows where they are, or maybe we can get a statement from Dr. Wait 8 Hours Before You Are Seen showing what we paid last year. If we can just get at least to the point where what we get from federal pays what we owe on state, I will be happy.

And on the plus side--I found my yarn. It was on the bedroom floor over by the TV, which means that either a) I put it next to the TV for some bizzare reason and it fell off; or b) I put it next to the computer like I thought, and Zoe snagged it. Either possibility is as likely as the other.

Freezer

OK, I took a couple shots of the inside of our freezer (see post from earlier this morning, below). Love the icicle. The little ledge of ice is where the so-called "iced cream" was frozen to the door. Look at all that food which will probably have to be thrown out. What a waste! Ralph just went shopping on Saturday. Some of it I'm sure we can salvage--the bread for example--but the meat, so-called "iced cream," and veggies are probably goners. And Big Sis, if you are reading this: No, I don't normally have two cartons of so-called "iced cream" in the house. That's left from when Dad & JB came to visit.

No wonder it's taking forever!

Measured the row gauge on the socks this morning. 13 rows per inch. That's three pattern repeats plus one row per inch. Remind me why I use size zero needles. . .

Found an interesting photo on Flickr. It's a Catahoula Leopard Dog, and its colors almost exactly match my socks! Here's a link to it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/organa/2386789399/ Isn't he handsome? Love the blue eyes.

I certainly have a fun day planned. Our refrigerator is dying, so I get to go buy a new one, hooray! Plus I get to take the last of the tax paperwork to the tax guys, yippee! The fridge really has to be replaced ASAP, though. The freezer keeps thawing and refreezing. When I opened it to get some ice this morning, the carton of so-called "iced cream" was frozen to the inside of the door. And of course this added expense comes along in perfect sync with the fact that, for the first time in eight years, we actually have to pay taxes rather than get a refund. And, of course, we have a nice expensive vacation trip coming up in two weeks. Sigh.

Oh, for the love of. . . yesterday I wound up a skein of nice sea-blue yarn that I had spun. I just now went to take a picture of it for today's photo, and I cannot find it anywhere! What the heck did I do with it? I thought I put it next to the computer, but it isn't here. . . not in the red room. . . not in the dining room. . . not scattered around the backyard after being used as a chew toy. . . not in the living room. . . fie. Oh, well, I'm sure it will turn up eventually. Guess I'll use another bird shot from the Bolsa Chica wetlands sanctuary for today's picture. Actually, I rather like this shot. It's an egret. See how he has one leg stretched forward? He's fishing. Ya see, egrets have yellow feet & toes. What they do is, they stretch out their foot and wiggle it around; the fish think the toes are little worms and come up to feed and snap! Breakfast for the bird. It was really interesting to watch. Ralph took a short (4 second) movie of it; I'll see if I can post it (geeze, for such a short movie it's taking a long time to load!)

Yay, it worked!

Slowly growing socks

I cannot believe how slowly these socks are coming along. I just don't seem to have time to work on them (translation: I've been spending too much time on the computer, ha ha!). Of course, it didn't help that I knit and frogged the first four rows three times before finding a pattern that looked good with the variegated yarn. The pattern is really subtle; just enough to give it a little texture. I tried taking a close-up shot, and after several horrid pictures finally got a good one--then realized I hadn't put the memory card in the camera. So I put the card in, took more shots, and got a couple that aren't too dreadful. Each sock has five repeats of the pattern at this point. It's a really easy pattern, too; each repeat is four stitches wide & four rows high, and the even numbered rows are plain knit. Row one is *k1, p1, k2* all the way across, and row three is *k3, p1* all the way across.

Came across an interesting (to me at least) blog last night, "Spinnifer." She posts pictures of her spinning & knitting. I added the link to my list over there on the side bar; take a peek at her work. She uses all the bright colors that I yearn to spin (and then go and buy earth tones, go figure) and her knitting is very nicely done.

I've also been posting to a few groups on Flickr. One of them is "Knits in Progress," and for some reason there are a couple people who post porn photos on it. Very annoying; when I'm looking at nice pictures of people's WIPs, I don't want to come across THAT. I don't want to drop out of the group, but if I keep running across those kinds of pictures I'm going to find a different knit group where I can post my pictures.

Had a mild heart attack last night. Zoe came prancing up to me, chewing on one of my favorite hand-knit wool socks!! I can't blame her--I did leave it on the floor, and most of her chew toys are made of fleece, and I *know* she'll steal wool when she gets the chance. Fortunately she didn't damage it; just a bit of dog spit on it which is no biggie because it needed washing anyway.

SIP Day

Today is the first Friday of the month, which means it is Spin in Public Day. I brought my travel wheel to work & did a bit of spinning on my lunch break. Several people stopped & asked questions about it, which surprised me as I've brought the wheel to work in the past. I figured everyone already knew about it. I really like the fiber I'm using; it's an ivy green merino, quite soft, which I bought at Village Spinning and Weaving in Solvang. Funny thing--I always say that I'm going to buy colorful fiber, and end up getting deep purples and blacks. When I bought this merino, I also picked up another green, some natural beige, and a few other light tones. The clerk was so surprised she actually cried out, "You're buying COLOR!" I didn't think I was *that* well known at the shop. I mean, we only go out there about twice a year since it's such a long drive. Then again, her husband remembered that I like wool/possum blend and pointed it out to me when they finally got some in, so I guess I did make an impression on them.

I've also got some really nice teal that I'm working up on my non-travel wheel. I'm spinning that up pretty tightly for a firmer yarn. Teal socks in the future seem like a good possibility.

Getting closer to moving day at work. I plan on going in for a couple hours tomorrow and packing up my personal items, getting the filing finished up, and basically getting a head start on the move.

Ralph went to Trader Joe's today and is cooking dinner with some of the items he picked up. Smells really good: stuffed sole, veggies, and mushroom risotto. I could learn to like this kind of welcome home from work.

It's a BOY!

My niece, CT, is expecting her first child. She sent out this ultrasound shot of "Little Jimmy." CT is the daughter of my Older Older Brother; three of his kids (or their wives) are expecting. Grandpa-a-Go-Go!

Had insomnia this morning & have been up since just before 4:00 am. Hope I can stay awake during Survivor tonight. We don't have TiVo or a VCR so I pretty much have to stay up to see it. I guess I *could* watch it online tomorrow after work, but that's not the same.

I did take advantage of being awake so early by working a bit more on the socks. I started the pattern portion across the instep but didn't like how it turned out so frogged it again. It's a nice pattern in general--a wrapped rib I guess you would call it--but it's just not right for this particular yarn. Fortunately I already had a "back-up" pattern in mind just in case. I got to work a little early, too, and decided to knit a bit--only to discover I'd left my knitting at home! Arrgh! At least I remembered to bring my book so I had something to read.

I'll leave you with a shot I took of Ralph with Hali in the comfy chair. She's not supposed to be up there, but he coaxed her and then raised the footrest so she was sort of scooped up into his lap. I think she looks darling! And he's pretty cute too :-)

It's been a good day

Here's another shot from our trip to the Bolsa Chica wetlands sanctuary last July. This is a stilt, also known as a lawyer bird. They get their nickname from the fact that--are you ready?--they have big bills. No lie.

Had a very nice day at work today. Actually got some filing done (and the fact that some of it was from October should give you an idea of what a miracle THAT was) and Mr. Boss showed me where he stuck the file I've been looking for for over a month. Not exactly sure why, rather than returning it to me when he was finished with it, he stuck it on a shelf where a former co-worker used to keep his cancelled files, but at least it's been found.

Went to lunch with a co-worker (DW) today, which was really nice. We went to Souplantation, and this month's featured soup is one of my favorites: lemon orzo with chicken. Ate two bowls of it, yum! Had a good chat with her, too. She's really jazzed because her son gets out of boot camp (Air Force) soon and will be home for two weeks. He is going to be stationed in Montana. As DW says, "Anyplace that isn't Iraq is good!"

The electric fence Ralph put around the pond seems to be doing the job. At least, the dogs haven't destroyed the pump or pulled out any of the plants, which prior to the fence seemed to be their hobby.

Virtually no progress on the socks today, although I did go through my pattern book & I think I know what pattern I want to do, if I can convert it into "in the round" rather than flat. Shouldn't be too hard; it's set up for "multiple of six plus four" (for you non-knitters, it means that you need to cast on a multiple of six, such as 12, 18, 24, etc. and then add four more stitches) so what I need to do is chart it on graph paper with at least 22 stitches & see where the pattern repeats. Wish me luck!

working on the socks

Actually had some time to knit today, thanks to taking my lunch break for a change and having a 30 minute wait at the doctor's office. Finished the first toe, and am more than halfway done with the second. What I *should* be doing at this point is going through my pattern books to decide what to do with the main part. I'm thinking a ribbing of some sort, although I prefer something with a definite 8-10 row repeat so it doesn't get boring. Then again, I really need to finish the lobster so maybe I should go work on that instead of the socks.

In other knitting news, fellow Flickr poster Stephieface sent me the link to the "Death of Rats" pattern (her own original work I might add). Of course, now I need to spin up some white yarn to make it. Oooorrrrrr, come to think of it, if the diamond socks don't fit Future Niece in Law I can frog them to make the DoR. And for anyone who is not familiar with the DoR, I highly recommend you start reading Terry Pratchett :-)

We have the schedule at work for the move from Irvine to Ontario. Looks like my department will be headed out a month before the "official" move date. This is good, in that it is forcing me to organize, file, and clear out my cubicle sooner. On the other hand, our move date is right at the tail end of my planned vacation time. I really hope I can still take the time off, since we are planning on taking a trip to the Grand Canyon with Ralph's brother, Wes, and Wes's family. I'm really looking forward to it--the last time I saw them, Andrea (Wes's wife) had just found out she was pregnant, and the baby is almost a year and a half old now.

Well, guess I better go take my walk before it gets too late. I'll leave you with a couple pics I took of the dogs. I know Hali looks like she has no legs; they're just tucked under her.

Monday evening

Nice bird, eh? We actually took this picture last July 4 at the Bolsa Chica wetlands preserve. I'm fairly certain it's a blue heron although I'm no ornithologist.

Didn't get much knitting done today. I managed exactly ONE round on the new sock. Still, it's only a bit after 6:00 so I may get a few more stitches done. Perhaps I'll work on the lobster claws.

Big Sister had good news today; the place where she is temping wants to keep her on a little longer. She's really hoping it becomes a permanent job as she very much enjoys working there.

Not much else going on. Just want to start off right & post at least a little something every day.

Just so She doesn't think that She won

I cast on a new pair of socks today. I really like the yarn; the colors remind me of coffee & chocolate. Actually I cast on 32, and frogged, and recast, and knit three rows, decided it should be on smaller needles, frogged, cast on again 34 since the needles were smaller, knit a couple rows, decided I'd cast on too many stitches, frogged, cast on 32 again, knit two rows, thought it looked funny, tinked a row, realized it had been fine in the first place, finally settled down and knit for about an hour before deciding that casting on 34 was probably a better choice. Fortunately it's easy to add stitches every other row until it gets to be the right size.

The First!

Well, here we are, my first post on my new blog. Hope it's not too boring :-)

Yesterday Ralph and I completely re-worked the fish pond in the backyard. Again. Previously there was a small pool at the end furthest from the house, made of cinder blocks and surrounded by some rather pathetic potted plants. Actually, the picture below is prior to that, when we had the plastic "waterfall" rather than the cinderblocks but it will give you an idea of what it looked like.

We dismantled that completely and rebuilt it along the back (side closest to the fence) using small retaining wall blocks, then surrounded the entire pond with more of the blocks. A trip to OSH resulted in some nicer plants, and we used a small square planter, river stones, and a pump to make a small spillway. We're waiting for the caulking to cure before we turn that on so currently just have the pump fountaining at one side. Couldn't turn it off as there is algaecide in the pond & you have to keep it aerated or it will harm the "fishles." They're only goldfish, but we've had some of them for years (and at least three were born in the pond) & we'd hate to lose them.

Big difference, don't you think? We're pretty sure we're going to keep the current pump as it is now, like a little fountain, and buy another pump for the spillway. Future improvements include more water plants and nicer pots for the potted ones. We're also thinking of raising the wall a bit on the sides; we bought 80 bricks & that was exactly enough for 3-high around the spillway and 2-high around the rest of the pond.

In "knitting news" I've got two WIPs right now, a toy lobster and a pair of socks. The lobster is almost done; I just need to knit the claws, sew them on, then do the finishing up such as adding eyes & antennae and weaving in the ends. I made one claw yesterday but don't like how it came out; it's too short and out of proportion to the rest of the lobster, so it will have to be redone with a longer leg section. It used up hardly any yarn; I'm knitting it with a 350-yard ball of sock yarn, using both ends of a center-pull ball to make it thicker (the pattern calls for worsted weight) and I've not even used half the yarn so far.

The socks, well . . . they are being done toe-up, and I'm not sure they are going to fit anyone. They fit me perfectly width-wise but are too long (they're about a size 9 & I'm only a 6). They fit Ralph length-wise but the gusset is too narrow and he can't get it up over his heel. Big Sister thinks they will fit my Future Niece-in-Law, so I'm going to wait until she has a chance to try them on before I do anything else with them. If they fit, I'll finish them up as-is. If they don't, they'll have to be frogged down past the heel & reknit shorter to fit me, or with a deeper gusset to fit Ralph.

Obviously, with one WIP almost done and one on hold, I'll have to cast on something new today. Or maybe I'll concentrate on spinning more of that lovely merino/tencel bluish-green fiber that I started the other day. . .