Why it's better not to live near an arsonist.

Got home last Monday and noticed Neighbor Tom, who lives just behind our 1/2 acre or so of woods at the back of the yard, was burning leaves. NT burns everything that hits the ground, in the belief that this is "good landscaping" and possibly because he loves to start a little fire. When I let the dogs out & in, noticed he was burning along his ditch between us & them. Didn't think anything of it because he's always burning, along with Other Neighbor Tom behind him, and Jimmy the Match across the street. [Jimmy keeps a gas can out by the burn pile at all times, ready for any pyrotechnic opportunity.]
A little later the dogs went on full alert as someone banged on my back door-- it was my on-the-right, non-burning neighbor yelling for help, hoses, etc. Seems NT's little fire got away from him and was merrily cleaning all the leaves out of our woods and headed for hers. We got it stopped with some drama and cursing [and wondering very loudly why NT hadn't called the fire department!]
Midway in all this NT's wife came home and found the fire had snuck around the back of their house, nipping at the deck, scorching a bit of paint and burning through NT's one hose, which was tangled around the fence and NOT EVEN TURNED ON.
Has he learned anything from this? Probably not, since his skull is pretty thick. But he won't burn for a while, because I gather wife let him have it.

Snow! We got snow!

And here it is-- a most un-Carolinian batch of white stuff. It snowed mostly during the night, and about ten when I was coming to bed it thundered for a while. Phil's office is closed, the dogs are loving it, and I'm happily snowed in (except it means missing knitting group.) The coffee is especially good this AM.

I rounded the heel on one of the socks, the tan one, with a new short row technique that may work if I practice a bit. I'm thinking maybe go down a needle size to reduce the big honking holes along the seam. They're just for me and in cheap yarn, so they'll do.

In keeping with my nature I then got distracted by a fetching bit of lace in a sort of rusty pink, more about that next time. I started off in bellflower, pretty but annoyingly complex for a whole scarf, and now I'm trying something else.

Freezing rain yesterday, and the power was a little wobbly, so I made supper a bit early-- with bread pudding for afters-- so we'd have it if things went dark.

I've downloaded two books from http://www.audible.com/ to see if I want a membership, a new novel from Mary Balogh and one on climate change, Field Notes from a Catastrophe. I think the non-fiction is going to work better for listening. When I'm reading fiction I really want to be able to lose myself in it, and also want to carry it around (OK, I'll admit it, I read in the bathroom and at the table and just everywhere.) For knitting, I like news and podcasts, and non-fiction fits in there. We shall see.

Being firm with one's knitting projects

I had a Facing Reality session about my projects yesterday, and put away all but these: the blueish raglan sweater [because I need to learn to knit a raglan]; the Afghan-We-Have-Always-with-Us [because I need some mindless TV knitting and finishing it will make a nice, fillable hole in my stash]; and socks. Well, several socks. Everything else went into bags and into the closet. Out of sight, out of guilt.
We did figure-eight cast on sock toes in class on Tuesday, and it is fairly quick if kind of fiddly. I added a little shell rib design to the front of the sock to alleviate boredom... from one of Charlene Schurch's books. Heels next. I want to make toe-up socks not because the toes scare me; I really don't mind kitchener stitch; but I'm tall and have big feet, and this way I can use all the allotted yarn and make the socks longer in the foot and up the leg than if I had to guesstimate where to stop. I just knit up the leg until I run out. The current pair in Paton's Kroy looks like it could make a prodigious sock.
Little Cate was sick this week, an evil stomach bug; the first time she's really been ill (she's about 20 months.) Times like this I hate being a continent away from them, and wish I could help.
Weather won't settle down into spring. The temp jumps from 60's to 20's and back. We had much needed rain yesterday, just poured buckets, and then in true NC fashion today was sunny again. I went up to the huge Harris Teeter grocery, known locally as the Big Teeter or the Taj Ma Teeter, and did what the English call a big shop, with a list and coupons and everything. I'm sure I missed something, but I should be able to hold out for most of a week. Being retired has made me cavalier about running to the store, since now I have the time.
I've gotten the mileage in the Civic Hybrid to average 40 miles around town, better than at first. I don't know if it's the car or my driving, but it's fun to try to edge it up by hypermiling. Oh yes, I'm easily amused.

The love of inanimate objects

I am in love with a hunk of plastic. NO, no, not that. This is my new ball winder--- YARN ball winder--- and swift.

It's nicely made, easy to use, and best of all was a Christmas present from Phil. I've been winding like mad, including winding together yarns I want to knit together, or hold double; yarns I've already wound into clumsy hand-done balls-- must. stop. winding.

That colorful litter of stuff on the table is a WIP, a Noro vest I'm calling Joseph's Coat, knit in jigsaw pieces of different colorways to join together. It's a plot to get Noro out of my system for once and for all. I love the colors. I detest the feel of the yarn. I could support a sheep on the bits of hay and grass seed I pick out of the stuff. I keep buying it because of the colors. Do you see a circular argument developing here?

Finished a turquoise mohair scarf, pix later. It is just long enough to make it around my neck, saving me from having to find another skein of it. I'm all about finishing things at the moment; the ladder scarf is two inches away from being done, and then the vest is next, and then socks. Taking a sock class next week to spur me to make more socks, because I need them and refuse to buy any until I have made at least a few pairs for myself. There's also the burgundy sweater, and the blue raglan sweater, and if it's not summer by the time they're done, a few other things lurk in the stash--- not to mention the Afghan Which We Have Always With Us. [Eventually it will be long enough that it will serve the purpose of keeping me warm even as I knit it. By next winter it even might be finished.]

If it stays this cold, I might need to crawl under the afghan anyway. 21 degrees this morning. I was whining about how we live in the South and this shouldn't be happening and Phil reminded me that we live in North Carolina. Still. The birds are eating everything I put out, we've even had snow this week-- but hey, I'm getting to wear scarves and mits and things. And cook stew and soup in the slow cooker, and last night I justified a big pan of gooey bread pudding by saying it was cold and we needed the comfort. Can't beat bread pudding for comfort.

Snapshots from a plane

Just got back from Seattle where we went to visit daughter, son in law, and grandbaby Cate. My brain will arrive on a later flight; it was not able to get a seat with me and is apparently not in the house this morning, as evidenced by my sleeping until 8-something and eating a cookie for breakfast and now somehow it's almost 11:00 and I have done NOTHING. Well, I did take a shower.
I love the chance encounters when traveling, the bits and slices of people's lives that float by you. Here's a collection from this trip:
The Tuskegee Airman: An old black man boarded in Newark, through the First Class pathway, fumbling a bit with his cane and tickets and gear. He was wearing a jacket and hat with Airman logos and looked very tired. It wasn't until I passed him on the way off the plane (he sat in First but waited to get off) that I put it together-- this was one of the real Tuskegee Airmen, and he had probably been to Washington for the inauguration and was on his way home. I wish I had taken the opportunity to greet him and shake his hand.
The diva: Picking up luggage in Seattle, I watched a woman in her 50's directing an entourage to collect her voluminous luggage. She was dramatically and expensively dressed and had probably had way too much plastic surgery. Two enormous Gucci bags and three huge black suitcases later she and her 'boys' were finally ready to leave. The serfs had my sympathy.
The paratrooper: Gliding down the elevator in Houston, a young fellow with his arm in a sling was telling his girl a hair-raising story on his cell-- the shoulder he dislocated when jumping from a plane (second jump of the day), spinning out of control through the air with his shoulder in pain, unable to reach the ripcord-- eventually got the chute open and landed safely, but they washed him out of the program. He made it all sound very matter of fact and referred to the whole thing as "sort of unpleasant". I hope they let him stay in the Army.
The geezers: Taking the bus to the Park'n'Fly, two couples in the back were relating stories about their (the husbands) prostate cancer. Treatment, what hospital, etc. It was apparent they did not know each other and seemed they had just met. So-- how exactly did this topic come up in the course of a short bus ride?
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We had a great visit, Cate as always is amazing and intensely cute (when she is not being almost two and practicing for tantrums.) The North Carolina sunshine is glorious this morning, in spite of light frost, and I have a bushel of errands to run and lots of knitting to do, and two freshly bathed and brushed dogs to collect.

Update

Here's the thing-- if you blog, like, once a month, which seems to be my style, it's hard to remember all the things you want to say. And since it seems like too much of a project you put it off a little longer. Yup, Procrastinators 'R' Us. So, the capsule approach:

New Year-- wow, can't believe it's 09. Remember when we worried about what we were going to call this new decade, the 00's, or the oughts, or whatever? Hey, it's about over and it wasn't a problem. Since I didn't decorate much for Christmas it was the work of only an afternoon to de-Christmas, definitely an advert for doing the season lightly and avoiding the tree. Maybe next year, or if the kids ever come out for the season. Meanwhile I have even changed the mailbox cover to the spring one, in defiance of reality.

Weather-- sucky. It's been freakin' cold out there, and I'm tired of it. We even had (gasp) about 2 inches of snow, enough for the new guv to declare a state of emergency. Yeah, I can hear the northerners howling with laughter, but down here they don't buy salt and sand and keep herds of snorting snow plows on hand, and nobody knows how to drive in it. The cold has brought the birds out in droves, and I am filling three feeders every day to keep up. We've had titmice, chickadees, cardinals, white-crowned sparrows, carolina wrens, gold-, house-, and purple finches, red bellied woodpecker, bluebirds, mourning doves, crows, juncos, and pesky varmint squirrels. It's a testament to the health of the surrounding woods that we have not had starlings, english sparrows, pigeons, etc-- the birds of urban blight. Unfortunately several neighborhood cats have set up camp in the area of the feeders, but they seem to be trying to catch squirrels instead of birds, so I wish them no ill.

Inauguration-- stirring. I'm so excited to have a prez to be proud of. Phil tells me there are already changes at work, in only one day (he works for an agency of USDA as I did for many decades.) The transition teams were very efficient. Most previous political appointees are out and line & staffers promoted into those positions, and good folks nearly all. Lots of energy going around. Hope we can keep up the good feelings and get things done.

Grandbaby-- going out to see l'il Cate tomorrow for a few days. It's been too long, since September. Hope she remembers her Nana & PoppaPhil. [PoppaPhil made her a sock monkey with his very own hands to take out.]

Oh, and knitting! Made a buttoned scarf, and cast on my first real actual top-down raglan sweater, which seems so much easier than it would have a year ago. I also [this is embarrassing] made a pair of perfectly competent cabled mitts for Andrea, and did not discover until I went to try them on that I had made TWO LEFT mitts. Urg. I'll just wear one upside down when I walk the dogs and make her another pair, I'm not going to unpick them. I have a lace mohair smoke ring about half done-- to use up a lovely orphan skein I found when tidying my stash; and plans to make a ladder scarf when I'm done (see wool pic). Also signed up for a toe-up sock class to kick my sock making into gear, since I seriously need several pairs. So much to knit, so little serious knitting time available. If only some good fairy would come in and clean, do laundry, cook, and run a few errands while I put my feet up and watch movies and knit. Oh, and could the said fairy also exercise for me? And walk the dogs? Am I asking too much?

Happy New Year

A very happy and contented new year to all and sundry!