Nutty, Nibbler, Hoppers and Scampers
I am having none of this. It's time to take a preventative, pre-emptive measure.
We built two "sky cafes" for the squirrels.
We put them about five feet off the ground, too high for the predators to reach but low enough for easy refill.
Nibbler obviously appreciates it!
The things you do for your animals!
At first I thought it was a fox, but foxes have bushy tails and are much smaller.
The neighbors confirmed it: a coyote.
In my backyard.
I called animal control who told me to keep an eye on him. They don't respond to just a "wildlife call," but if the animal appears to be injured or rabid they will come take care of it.
Usually such animals are nocturnal so when they are out in daylight it usually means they are injured or rabid. Not a good news.
I am keep an eye on my backyard. And hope the squirrels stay up in their house.
This is my mohogany Russian-style support spindle with cobalt accent. I am still learning to spindle on a support spindle, so it helps to have the right tool.
Now a Cobb salad at Quizno's costs $8. That's $40 a week, $160 a month.
My lunch is usually leftovers from dinner the previous night.
Yippee!
Here is a reversible top/bottom spiral spindle from Malcolm Fielding from Australia:
And another reversible from Grizzly Mountain Arts:
I like math.
The weather was nice after the week of drenching rain. The sail went up and we cruised along the Potomac for an hour and a half.
I want a boat! Well, probably not a 105-year-old sailboat with no engine, but nothing beats bing on the water with a gentle breeze on your face...
It was such a simple, enjoyable afternoon.
It was quite an experience. And being the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, there were moments to remember too.
Well I could not bring my knitting in (too big a bag and needles). I know next to nothing about football. It was first so hot we all got sunburned, then we were drenched by the rain. We were rooting for the Steelers who had the worst performance ever and were trounced.
We had a blast!
It was the funnest weekend ever!
The engineers say the building is structurally sound. I hope they are right!
And just to give you a perspective. That's my foot in it:
After two cycles in the washing machine on hot wash and cold rinse, with a tennis shoe thrown in to help with the agitation:
Presto!
Magic!
Just don't try this with a sweater!.
This was a beautiful, half fleece that I got from a Cormo farm in California. The fleece was very clean since the animal is covered year-round. Still it was a tedious, labor-intensive process of picking out the veggie matter, dirt, then soaking in very hot water, then rinsing, and finally setting out to dry.
Cormo is hard to get commercially because the fleece is so soft it usually does not fare well through commercial processors. But if you wash it yourself the result is very rewarding.
Fluffy white cormo ready for you:
I tried putting it through the drum carder but did not like the result so I will be hand flicking this (all 3 pounds of it!) with a dog brush!
Yep. A labor of love.
On a totally unrelated matter my Vietnamese neighbor brought us a flower last night. I have no idea what it is but it only blooms once a year and it opens at nine p.m. And at nine p.m. on the dot it opened.
Very pretty. Very fragrant. She gives me one every year.
