Range, Redneck, Spindles, Knitting

So I went to the range today w my 21yo DS#1. One of the mags from my weapon is seriously misloading. I do have arrangements already made to send it in for servicing, so I am kind of glad the problem showed up before I shipped it off, so I can let them know.


I noticed that on the X-1 targets I was using, the 8 ring is the same size of the 9 ring on the 12" Dirty Bird targets. Hmmm, if I use the Dirty Bird, my score is even better.

I shot 26 rounds right-handed and 10 rounds left-handed. Pics speak for themselves.


Pic of the dirty bird target up top is from a couple weeks ago but you can see what I mean by the ring size.

Artemas has started making wooden items for his Got Wood 4 You shop at Etsy. Last night he was working, and working, and working on a spindle that we could NOT get to balance. He hit on the idea of putting the shaft of it in the drill and making his own "spinning wheel".


You can see from the pics that he and Diantha had a big time of it. Gotta give them points for creativity.

In the one picture, Betsy had just taken a bite of Cola-slow-roasted pork and looks like she is either in ecstasy, or she can't believe the redneck ridiculousness of her brother. LOL.

Seems like every time Des and Tony are over, the kids get into something like this. Nice that they are getting older and actually get along!

Also it seems like every time they are over, B takes camera in hand and has a heyday running around between all the tall people, taking pictures. so I have included here, for your viewing enjoyment, some B's Eye View pics of the family.

Left, 17 yo big brother Artemas

Right, big sister Desiree with sleeping Hannah


Left, 14yo big sister Diantha, who is a peacock.


Right, Hannah.

Or rather, Hannah's legs, which is all B could reach with the camera.



Left, big brother (in law) Tony. She always makes him look like a giant.


and, God forbid I should get left out, this time she also nabbed a pic of Mom.


Artemas finally did get one spindle done to put up, this one a top-whorl. It has a 2" pearwood slice with the bark still on, screwed-in silver color hook, and 9" oak shaft.

I tried it out and it spins well.

I have been knitting, but not enough. So here for all the world to see, are my latest knitting fails (geez I use Twitter so much, I almost used hashtags. #knitting #fails. LoL)

The right cotton slipper sock, finished. But I did not cast on the left, because I wanted something to knit while I was walking this week, and I can't do the provisional, toe-up crochet cast on while I walk. Call me uncoordinated or something.

The beanie hat to go with the slipper socks, partway done. It keeps slipping off my needles, and true to Ross household form, I can't find any of the 36 needle tips I have lying around here in limbo. So despite my really good idea, I can't knit this while walking either, because I keep having to pick up lost stitches.

I cast on a Mossy Jacket (pattern here) for Hannah for Christmas, though I am going to knit it in a v-neck raglan with centered button placket. Like I need ONE more thing to do, but Hannah LOVED a hand-dyed recycled yarn I made, that coordinates with this one. And, I am a sucker for my grandbabies.

And the best #knitting #fail of the week... I lost the socks I was working on for Josiah. [Hangs head in shame]. But! I haven't looked under my bed yet. There is a very special place under the head of my bed next to my nightstand, where knitting projects left on my nightstand go if ignored for more than about an hour. So there is hope...

Tackled by Tuesday, Shoot, a Package, and a Product Review

Today we did a Tackle-it Tuesday with the end of our family room that holds videos, video equipment, etc. We must own several hundred videos, and today we sorted them, cleaned out that end of the room, put Xbox controllers all in a basket and the games all in a file cabinet, and generally made the area around the TV look peaceful again.

My original plan for the day was to pin out a quilt top that I have ready, and piece together 2 others. Sounds like too much for one day, but one is a mini and one is all laid out in order to sew. Alas, my plans aren't always, or even usually, what actually happens.

Instead I got up today and took 5 LARGE boxes of good, clean baby clothes to our local Project Hope. Then Artemas and I went to the range to shoot a little. I got these awesome pictures. The one of Artemas shooting, I actually and accidentally captured the cloud of cordite and the bullet, making its way to the target. Too cool.


These two targets are mine. The one on the left was shot with the .22 Ruger longbarrel. You can see the cluster is in an area 1.5" x 2". The other target, while not centered, still shows the shots clustered in a 2" x 3" area. To give me some credit, the target was only 6" across and was shot from about 20 feet away. I shot it with our Lorcin .380, which is the one I carry, until my Bersa Thunder comes in. I like the .22 better, but being a longbarrel, it looks funny down the back of my pants. LOL.

Ok, on to other things! When we got home, I tackled the laundry once again. DH was off work yesterday, and we ended up spending the entire day in Knoxville. Seriously we didn't get home until like 9 PM. That is kind of late to start Monday Laundry Madness. So I did all 7 loads today and folded them. As incentive to get them done and put away, I folded them all over our bed. Can't go to sleep until it is done! (And it *is* done.)

Here is one that tackled ME. We got a new computer, a smoking-hot Dell, a few months ago. Since then, I have put off and put off having to sift through files on the old computer, suck them onto a flash drive or something portable, and put them in the new computer. Today I discovered I needed an MSWorks type application and guess what? Our laptop AND the new computer do not either one have it. The old one did. So I had to sit down and transfer files. Note on the screen, this ONE folder it is transferring says it has 114 minutes remaining in the transfer! (Also note how many folders I had done already!) When I hooked the drive up to our new computer, it transferred ALL the files in 3 minutes 14 seconds. Quite a difference. I am so spoiled.

Ok yesterday I put out a teaser about a spindle sent to me by my beautiful friend Marion in Indiana. She has a shop, Mommbaear7, but she is in well-deserved vacation mode right now.


She sent me 5.6 oz of this gorgeous superwash in pacific blue with flecks of pink and gold... also 170 yards of incredibly soft 2-ply handspun in gray and white (thinking a little top-down raglan sweater for Betsy on huge needles), and the spindle.

The top of the spindle is bone, carved with two elephants. On the underside of the bone, she has pressed and baked thin layers of this very Aborigine-design polymer clay cane in black and white turtles. I LOVE it. And you can see, I have already given it a whirl, so to speak, to test it out.

While I am mentioning whirling things, go on over to Feeling Sheepish for a wonderful giveaway of 2 oz. of handpainted milk-protein fiber!

I am going to close tonight with a product review. The other day I went in a grocery I usually don't patronize, and there were these chips made by Herr's. They had several interesting-sounding flavors, like Heinz Ketchup, Pizza, and Cheddar and Horseradish. In the interest of pleasing nearly everyone, I bought Pizza and Cheddar & Horseradish.

The pizza chips really *almost* taste like pizza. I have a comprehension problem with a product that tastes pizza-ish but is room temperature and crunches. Though I guess in my past, there were times I probably ate crunchy, 2-day-old room-temp pizza. Can't remember though (LOL!). Anyway, one with a really sensitive sense of taste can taste various flavors of tomato, garlic, oregano, and some stinky cheese, perhaps Provolone or Parmesano-Reggiano. Not bad for pizza that crunches.

The Cheddar & Horseradish chips are WOW, HORSERADISH! The cheddar flavor is a base note, but the horseradish (which I find to be slightly bitter) is strong enough to clear the sinuses after about 15 chips. Which is supposed to be the good-sense limit anyway.

Darn Tootin' Shootin'

Today is my 2nd son Artemas' 17th birthday. 17 years ago today my water broke and I went into labor while my dh was enroute to work, where I couldn't get hold of him. So I left a message at his work, put my almost-6 and 3 year old kids in the car, and drove myself 25 miles through heavy traffic on US 19 in FL, to the hospital. Why the rush? Because with my 2nd child, I only had 40 minutes of labor. So you can see I was in a hurry. Artemas was in a hurry too. He was 3 weeks, 4 days early. He weighed in at 8# 3 oz, came into the world hungry, and hasn't stopped eating since. He has grown into a fine young man, and wants to be a chef when he finishes school. I hope he pursues it, and I think he will make a fine chef, Christian, and a good husband for some very lucky woman.

We got up this morning and took him to the firing range. I get to shoot free on Tuesday, and anyone sharing my lane is 1/2 price, so it was a cheap birthday present. LoL. We showed him how to load, ready, safety, and fire each of our 2 handguns. Then we stepped back out of the way, he picked up the .22 Ruger Longbarrel revolver, and proceeded to put 6 out of 6 shells right into zone 9 or closer.
The next barrel, he got 4 out of 6 in the zone. Not bad for a kid who has never had anything more than a bb gun in his hand.

I put 22 out of 24 (6 from the Lorcin .380) in the kill zone, also not bad shooting for a middle-aged Biker chick with a bunch of kids underfoot. Annie Oakley, move aside!

When we got home my BIL was over with my 5 year old niece. We had some snow yesterday and last night, and our grass was still relatively covered. Theirs was melted. So they came here for her to sled down our yard a few times. The guys watched a Guy film, so I guess the trip wasn't wasted for him either.

Today I started spinning a roving I got, called Raspberry Caramel Cheesecake. It is superwash merino top, that I got from Knitspaz on Etsy. I am using a cup-shape, top-whorl drop spindle that I got as a gift, and I am doing a terrible job. LoL. Well here is a pic of what I have so far, anyway. The colors are luscious though. I might make this available in my etsy shop for Valentine's day.

Today's block was Flying Geese. Finally! I made 24 of them. I need 22 for my project, and it's a good thing, because I had a couple rejects. Two little Flying Geese had bent wings and got rated 4-F. Here are the rest. I had in mind to lay them out with a row up, down, up, down... but somewhere I got confused. Doesn't matter entirely, because they aren't sewn together, and when they do get sewn together, they will be in 2 rows of 11 each. Lucky me.

We made homemade DELICIOUS pizzas for supper, and since Artemas didn't want a birthday cake, I made a double batch of brownies with dark chocolate chips from scratch.

Life is good.

Some Time Off

Well I didn't get EVERYTHING done in time for Christmas. I think I have to start knitting in January, with the size brood I have, to do that. I didn't get Veronica's second sock done but it is half done! The boys didn't get their knuck mitts yet but it isn't that cold so they aren't suffering. My Etsy shops are both suffering, but there is time to rebuild the stock. I am not worried.

Tuesday I took most of the day off and went to the Armory to shoot. We were there about 3 hours and I did a good job. My final target had one clip from the Lorcin .380, of which I got all 6 shots in the 9 ring or closer (the kill zone). The .22 Ruger longbarrel, I got 4 shots in the kill zone and 2 in ring 8. Not bad shooting for someone who has only used a weapon one other time in the last 20 years. And it seemed to work out a lot of holiday stress that I hadn't even realized I had. My dh and I bought each other reservations in the Carry and Conceal class on Valentine's day... a dual-purpose gift!

Tuesday morning before shooting I made Tony an Applesauce Junk Cake for his birthday. Tony and Des came Tues. evening to do presents with us, and I made Fattening Potato Soup. Allen brought one of his friends over and there went an entire gallon of soup! Yum! When I get home I will post the recipes.

Yesterday we did some last-minute errands (mailing, etc.). It was 60 degrees out, windy and kind of damp but not raining.
So I finally got a chance to take the 73 Suzuki out. Got all leathered up and went for a ride... first time on that bike in over 20 years. It has a couple little bugs to work out but nothing major, actually great for having been in my dad's basement for 20 years. In case you didn't see the blog post last month when we brought her home, here she is. Gotta admit she is a thing of beauty!

Last night I had some presents to work on so I walked Artemas through making a carrot cake, a white cake, and Baklava. His hands, my brain. They are delicious too! Then this morning we baked a ham, made sweet soft rolls from scratch and came to my sisters to have Christmas dinner and presents with her family and my parents. God help me, I will make it through.

I still have the cough I have had for a month, and today I am tired and cranky. But we have had a nice Christmas so far, and for that I am thankful. And being tired will make me all the more grateful to go to bed tonight, in my comfortable bed with the bullet in it, in my warm house. I know there are many who have neither of those priveleges, so I truly am thankful.

More tonight maybe...

A Shot in the... Dark?

My dh likes guns. He isn't that good with them, but he likes them. He doesn't go hunting or target shooting, nor does he shoot people or jack convenience stores. But he thinks they are handy things to have one or two or six of. He is real responsible with them, keeps them trigger-locked and the ammo separate and mostly keeps them locked in his old Army footlocker. But lately he decided that I should have a carry permit. Maybe one day he won't be around to protect me, LoL.

And since the local armory gives classes for the permit every Saturday for under $100, and since I am a good shot, I figured, ok. Also the local armory has "Ladies' Day" every Tuesday. Your bring your weapon(s) and ammo or buy some ordinance there and shoot away for no range fee. Yee-haw! Annie Oakley!

There is a girl he works with, (Jade, that one of my sons is enamoured with) who thinks going shooting with me would be a hoot. And my eldest daughter does too. Like we should make it a Girls' Afternoon Out. Here comes the Tombstone Gang... Doc (me), Wyatt (Des) and Morgan (Jade).

I have a Lorcin .380, semi-automatic. Nice weapon... Less than 4 pounds, 7 rounds in a clip, slide it once, flip off the safety and you're off and running. But if I am going to take the Tombstone Gang with me, I have to have more than one weapon. So Saturday he got out the trunk, unlocked it and showed me his flintlocks (2) and the Ruger .22 5-shot longbarrel. Nice weapon too, single-action revolver (you have to pull the hammer back each time before shooting) with a barrel only slightly shorter than Wyatt's Buntline Special. The hammer was back. I said, "Why is the hammer back?" He says it has to be back, to put the trigger in position to put the lock on. Ok.

Later on I am sitting in the living room knitting a fingerless glove for Jade (here's a pic, more about the gloves later), and Richie and our #2 son are in our room watching some Testosterone movie. Artemas had moved a kitchen chair into the middle of the room for his viewing comfort. Richard put the trunk up on the bed and decided to take the trigger lock off the .22 longbarrel and make sure the instrument was clean and not rusted from being in the trunk for several years. Apparently the hammer didn't click back down and he thought it was stuck. Next thing I know I hear CRACK!

He comes out and I asked him what he shot. He just looked like the cat with the canary feather hanging out of his mouth and said, "Nothin'! Shut up!" Artemas came out a few minutes later and I said, "What did he shoot in our room?" I figured the light fixture or something. Artemas says, "Let's just say it was a gift." I said if he shot the quilt my daughter made me, hanging on the wall in there, I was going to lock him out in the 22 degree weather!

Later when I went in to go to bed, I noticed little bitty pellets all over our sheets. I remembered that the case of cartridges for the .22 were birdshot. So I started to change sheets (I canNOT sleep in gritty sheets, no WAY) and said, "Show me where you shot the bed!" My DSIL and eldest daughter bought us this bed a year ago because our 10 yr. old mattress was so sway-backed we could hardly sleep on it. Well. I *had* been pregnant 5 times in that 10 years. While not all those were quite successful, they were still a lot of work. [wink]

Sure enough, in his side of the bed there is a LEEEETLe bitty hole. If you didn't know what to look for, you wouldn't find it. After all, a .22 is less than a quarter inch across. I suppose the bullet is still in the bed. I said, "Did you say to Artemas, 'Now son, let that be a lesson to you in handgun safety... never know when the hammer is just jammed or if it is up because there is a cartridge in the chamber...'" He said, yeah, words to that effect. I bet.

Glad it is on his side of the bed. Say, does this mean I can wear a holster and boots to bed? Yee-haw!!