StarzAbove

Well, we survived Blogathon 2009! Thank you again to all that donated!

July was beautiful temperature-wise, but WET!!!! Now that August is here, the Midwest/Top-of-the-South summer has returned. Hot and humid days, with foggy, sultry nights that don’t dip below the 70’s much.

We had a pretty bad thunderstorm last week that blew out porch roof (shade) right off – it landed up on top of the house. That was pretty freaky! The man was standing on a table underneath of it, trying to remove some of the loose boards, I was standing inside of the front door looking through the window at him, and all of a sudden the roof blew up and over us smacking hard as it landed on the roof of the house. He boarded up the window on that side of the house and then finally came inside for the rest of the storm. Fun, fun, fun…

August is birthday month around here. My youngest, 2 of my nephews, and 2 of my nieces all have the weekends of August covered with birthdays (minus the first weekend). Mine is supposedly somewhere in the middle part of the month, but I’ve canceled it once again this year.

This weekend is my eldest nephew’s birthday, so we are getting ready right now to meet him at the movie theater. He’s never been! He turns 7 tomorrow, so we figure it’s time. The little town over the hill near us plays free movies on Saturday mornings during the summer. They are older than 2nd runs, but within the past 6months/year. And it’s always fun to see a movie on the big screen – especially for FREE!

We are headed to pick up a couple of peacock chicks this afternoon. I’m looking forward to raising them and their beauty. I am not looking forward to getting used to their call – it sounds like someone screaming for help!

We’re off! Happy Saturday in August!

Yesterday’s goals for today:

Set pole for mailboxes in concrete
Plant some more in the garden some
Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Work for a few hours
Spin – if only for a little while

One thing was done, at least partially. We planted 4 more hills of zucchini squash, to go along with the 2 that we planted as starts. We planted 4 more hills of cucumbers, also in addition to the 2 that we planted as starts. We planted a row of spinach, that probably won’t make it, so I’ll have to pick up more seeds. Most of the seeds in the packet had sprouted, I think the package somehow ran into some dampness. And Angel planted some herbs: basil, oregano and tarragon (a family fave). She plans to start some chamomile in pots.

We also did some hoeing, weeding and blackberry plant removal. There is a patch nearby and the suckers were trying to invade, so we dug them up as best we could. There are still more out there to remove, which we will do as we plant those areas.
I love blackberries but they can easily take over an area if you let them – so we are attempting to garner control over them.

Something ate our little strawberries that were growing on our starts. I imagine it was either chickens or the bunny. She’s been running around loose in the chicken coop (funny bunny) and has also been seen outside of the coop a few times, though she does run right back into the coop to hide if anyone goes out that way. She’s our Angora bunny, Fauna. She’s 3 years old, I believe.
So we are planning to fence in the garden, hopefully this weekend.

Husband and Son worked on the new lower horse pasture. They ran into quite a few problems with large rocks, but they persisted and have a row started of fence posts – mostly, if not all, cedar. Cody has been escaping the temporary pasture in the Oasis, over and over. In fact, Son and I just went out, in the middle of the night, and put him back in the temporary pasture. I pray he stays nearby long enough for us to finish the lower pasture this weekend. It’s going to be a large job, but a very necessary one.

I didn’t make it out for a walk, but I sure did sweat in the garden doing so much weeding, cultivating and planting. It was a rather warm, humid day, too.

The work I had planned was canceled today. However, I did work with Jillian for a bit on a new revision for President’s Park. They have an exciting tour project coming up very soon, so we took the opportunity to give the site a bit of a refreshing.

So here are tomorrow’s goals:

Go into town to apply for replacement SS Card for Angel
Pick up wire for horse/cow pasture & animal feed
Set pole for mailboxes in concrete
Plant some more in the garden
Go for a walk
Dock lamb #3’s tail
Call shearer and setup appointment
Spin – if only for a little while

My first entry, 6 years ago.

Well, we have more mysterious decision-making going on. I think we’ve made the decision, now we are just waiting for everything to be finalized. Once it is, I’ll spill the beans. I’ve been feeling a cross of scared/excited and I am working really hard at focusing on the positives, now that we’ve worked through most everything. I’m hoping to tip the scales over into completely excited and hopeful and – well, you get my drift.

And yes, my Blogiversary is coming soon, in a little over 2 weeks in fact. I have been posting photos and words here for 6 years! I know this means MUCH more to me than anyone else, but I want to thank anyone/everyone that has taken part in ‘conversation’ here with me. I hope you know how much it means to me. If you have a blog of your own, you probably understand completely. Taking the time to read about me, my family, yarn, knitting, spinning, animals, trials and even some very vague information now and then, really touches me. I know part of it is curiosity, but I feel the other part is reaching out in friendship, and I just want you all to know that I treasure you.

So………….. the celebration calls for a CONTEST of course, and I’m keeping this one simple. To enter, all it takes is a comment- an honest comment- a simple comment. Simply typing ‘Hello’ will suffice. And a few days after the festivities have passed, I will use the infamous Random Number Generator to choose a winner. The prize, as before, I will opt to leave as a sur-prize. It will most likely be something fibery, but I want to leave it open to all of my fiber-loving-friends as well as my non-fiber-adoring friends.

Let the party begin! Simply leave your comment here, spread the word, enjoy the party, and don’t forget to grab yourself a designated-blogger should you be the type to over do it.

I was sitting here earlier and all at the same time I was:

• Knitting
• Playing on-screen UNO
• Listening to a podcast

And I was relaxing.

Donations are now being accepted for the Mom-who-needs-to- getaway-before-she – loses-her-#@*% campaign.
Is there such a thing?
Well there should be!

Well, time is scarce around here. I have SEVERAL design projects to wrap up – we have company coming next wednesday that is staying for 3 weeks – and the normal chaotic hubub around here continues on a daily basis.
I have snuck in a row here, a couple of rows there, and voila! I’ve finished the first repeat – up to row 18 on the Trellis Cardigan. It is measuring at about 12 to 12.5 inches wide. In order to achieve this small size, however, I did have to reduce the needle size down one, and I’m doing the 6 month size pattern! Ah well, it will fit SOME pretty baby. I’ve just no idea which baby/toddler in my life it WILL fit!

Have I told you lately what a FUN project this is? I carry it around with me, I set it beside me, I’ve printed out a new chart to carry with it – sigh…........ I think I need a knit day off. To celebrate the end of school for the year – projects complete – and company coming. Yeah, like THAT is ever going to happen! Well, there is my birthday to look forward to in August, I guess. I plan on running away for the day. No one around me deals well with my birthday, and I’ve decided that it shouldn’t be a day for me or anyone else to have an ounce of bad feelings, so I’m going to give myself, and my family is also giving me, NOTHING BUT A DAY OFF AND AWAY! I have yet to decide where I’ll go or what I’ll do – whether it’ll be just a day excursion or an overnighter, but there will be uninterupted knitting! I am determined! Like I’ve learned to say: If you have to get another stinkin’ year older, and you do so they tell me, you may as well enjoy the day, big time!