Another Sad Tree Day

Yesterday was my son Allen's 21st birthday. He wants to go in the Marines. His dad an I are not happy about it. We tried to talk him into the Coast Guard, which has the best retirement AND does not get deployed. But he says only sissies go in the Coast Guard, he is a REAL man. Well I hope the marines will be good for him.

While Des and her babies were here, we got another big storm. As we watched from the front door, the storm took out what was left of the big pear tree we lost half of last month. Ironically the other half was surviving. See the black buckets thrown like dirtball people's yards, around on the ground UNDER the piece of broken tree? Those were the replacement apple and peach trees. I don't know yet if they will be alright.

Then as if that weren't enough, we also lost about 1/4 of the 3rd tree, which was also a nice healthy tree. You might believe me when I say, the wind was fierce. This was not lightning damage, just wind.

Note in this last pic... the center tree, which is skanky, has crown-spread and is about half dead, came away almost unscathed. Only a little damage high up where the other half of the first large tree hit it on the way down. Wouldn't ya know.

Artemas has been sleeping on the sofa at night, because its narrow confines keep him from turning over on his still-healing broken collarbone. Beverly, who LOVES her big brother, awoke about 2 AM. She stretched and hung out on her bed a minute, then came over to mine. She climbed up, slept 3 minutes, got back up, down off the bed, and went to the door. She said, "Armis!" and out she went. I went out into the great room to see where she went, and here she was, already back to sleep.

All our family shops are participating in the 4-day Etsy Yart Sale, through the 14th. Check our shops for new items... we have put up quite a few, including this gorgeous recycled, hand dyed Superwash batt which sold in 12 hours! And for Yart Sale specials!
My7kids Recycled Yarns
Heartfeltfun Accessory Boutique
Fluff4Ewe Handspun Yarns and Fiber
Rossoaps Handmade Goat or Soy Milk Soaps

I have been knitting a ball today. Ok, so I am not that fast. But I have a lotta kids underfoot and I was gone 3 hours running a futile errand. And made dinner, all that. So I need 2 of these black Merino balls and got one done. So sue me. LoL




This Evening B got into the stack of clean laundry and tried to put on some of my clothes. She informed her dad that this was for "Nurtsies!" Think it will be a while before I have to worry about sharing clothes with B. LoL!

A New Spindle, House Shopping, and WWKIP Day

Last night I made a new spindle. It is GORGEOUS. I used a white granite donut bead with gray veining. I put it on a long, sleek, black chopstick with little white dots forming a swirling line design at the top, and added a silver zinc hook.

It spins very well! Spins quickly, keeps the spin for quite a while, and doesn't backspin soon or quickly. I spun up a little 1 gram sample of green merino wool, in a finer-than-fingering (possibly lace?) weight yarn. The spindle weighs .8 oz (24 grams).

I am going to gift this spindle to a special friend. She doesn't know who she is, but will know when she gets it. I hope she enjoys many hours creating beautiful handspun yarn with it!

I got a recycled yarn done today, called Faded Liberties, and listed in my Etsy shop.

Richie was off today, so we took off for Clinton, TN, where my daughter Desiree lives with her dh and kids. It is a cute little town, with an antiques district downtown, nice library, and community center complete with 2 gyms and a 10-lane bowling alley.

We went looking at houses. In particular, we went to one about 5 miles from their house. It is a big, very old house on 7 acres. It needs work, which would have to be done a little at a time, but isn't horrible. The good news is, they can keep looking, and if they decide to come back to this one, it will probably be there... it's been on the market a year now.

We looked at 3 other houses. One was less horrible but smaller, on a 2-acre lot and a 6-stall barn, and COMPLETELY overgrown. I mean the lot had grass, no kidding, 3 feet tall. Someone had built on an extra room and already redone the kitchen, so less work than house #1. The third house had even less land... .5 acre, which could be a problem if it is on a septic system. But it was nice and liveable (currently occupied), with a huge garage. The last house was new construction in town, very nice. Only drawback was the lot was sandwiched between 2 streets and the price takes their payments about $50 to $70 higher than they think they can afford. Time will tell.

I made up my own little flyer for World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP), which turns out is actually 4 days: June 13-14 and June 20-21. I called the city of Clinton and got permission to gather on Market Street, which is where we had the table set up for First Friday, where we were spinning. So we went around the town as we looked at houses, and got several small businesses, the library, and community center to put the flyer up. Hopefully it won't just be Des and me and my othe two daughters who knit.

Spin-Out, First Friday, and More B's Eye View

We ended up packing it in Friday from the Smoky Valley Rally. Saturday and Sunday ended up nice, but the rain didn't stop or the sky didn't clear up on Friday. When we were on our way home from Clinton at 11 PM the highway near us was wet. We would have lost all our soaps to the damp. Oh well! Next year!

There is a little street fair each First Friday night of the months in summer, from 6-9PM in Clinton. They have a little antiques district that they rope off so people can wander the street. The shops set out tables, and it is free for anyone to set up a table to sell stuff. There are snow cones and horse-cart rides. This month was slow... there was a local HS graduation and 2 other large, local softball games. But it was a relaxed atmosphere, quite fun.

So we set up a table and dress dummy with our felted stuff and yarns and handbags, and hung out for 3 hours. Friday alsohappened to be Spin Out day, so I threw together an emergency spindle out of a shaft that was down in the supply box, some masking tape as a grommet, and a purple stone whorl I bought online that "accidentally" came to Des' house. We opened one of the batts that Diantha had wrapped up to sell and took turns spinning. Incidentally, I also "dropped" the spindle about 5 times, making not actual chips but chip marks in the side of the lovely stone whorl. Dangit.

I kept asking people who walked by, "See what I am doing? I am turning this sheep wool into yarn!" Then they would stop and feel it, look at it, look at our handspuns, and ask questions. Some of the older people said, "I remember my grandma doing this on a spinning wheel? Is that almost the same thing?" Yes, it is *almost* the same. Drop spindling is not as fast, but useful nonetheless.

The bags you see hanging around behind Des and I in these pics are available in her Etsy Shop.

We got new carded batts and new handspuns listed in Diantha's shop today. Working on my shop tomorrow!

Des, my oldest darling daughter and camera sniper extraordinaire, got this pic of the back of my free Coal Creek Armory shirt. I told her I loved how it fit, because one could hardly see the gun in the small of my back... and momentarily she checked out my reflection in the nearest window, just to see if I were kidding or not. My dh keeps checking my back too... wonder what he thought the term LEGALLY ARMED meant? (At the moment, NOT, but ya never know, LOL)

Beverly (my 2yod) has been at it again with the camera. Well first, here is a pic of her in my newest pair of my trademark purple round glasses. I called this one, "Am I Cool Yet?" You might notice in most of these pictures, that B doesn't wear much clothes. Sometimes it is hot in our house, because we run our air as little as possible. But mostly, she is two, and that is an age where kids take their clothes off.

She took this picture of her daddy, the aging Hippy, who sat down at the edge of her bed to help her, once again, put her clothes back on. Wonder where she gets the not-wearing a shirt thing. hmmm.

Also she had the great idea for this picture. I have to put Richard's contacts in every morning,
and take them out every night, because he has a (hereditary) tremor. Somehow the lid to the eyedrops ended up here. Strange things happen at my house.

I got this pic of her, reading a really good Patricia Cornwell novel. She is either a prodigy, or just doing what she sees Mommy do (a LOT). Can't decide which.


In more wonderful good news, the '82 GS450T Suzuki I own, which has been laid up for 18 months since my *oldest* son flipped it, rides again. Yes, folks, my dearest darling Son in Law (who is too old to be one of my kids), has fixed it. Rewired and all. Somehow my front headlight is missing, so that is a must-do. And I need to renew the plate and change out the oil and filter. Minor inconveniences, at that. I was so thrilled to hear it run and see him take off for a test drive, I nearly cried.

Mama rides again. And is this a fine ride, or what? Yee-haw!

Flying Shelters, Oh My

We went out last night and did our preliminary setup at the Smoky Valley Rally. We had a 10' x 15' metal-pipe frame shelter with canvas roof, and a 9' x 13' screen room for our personal stuff (chairs, cooler, and projects to work on). The "rules" state that vendors must be on-site by 10 AM and must remain open and on-site until 9:30 PM. Why til then, I will never know, as it gets dark at 9PM, and there are NO lights in the field where they have us set up. hmmm. This morning we showed up bright and early, finished the setup, laid out all the displays, Richard left Diantha and I there on our own, and we and sat down.

It started to rain.

We moved all the displays to the center of the shelter, covered the moisture-attracting soaps with a quilt, and waited. For over an hour.

The rain quit, the sun came out (thank you for the faith, Annie). We moved the displays back into position and secured them, and waited.

We knitted. We carded a couple batts, one to sell, and one for Diantha to spin. She did a little spinning. We took Portolet potty turns. We each ate a sandwich. We got bored and did a circuit of the field, probably about 4 acres, with 12 whole vendors.

We had ONE retired biker and his brother wander thru about 1:30, waiting for the group motorcycle ride to start at 3. They were very interested in the carding and spinning. We had the 12yod of one of the vendors come over and also be very interested in the carding and spinning.

At 3 PM, it started to thunder. We moved the displays back to the middle of the shelter, the chairs to the center of the screen room, put away anything we weren't working on right this second, and sat down.

THREE minutes later, a gust of wind picked up our 10' x 15' metal-frame, canvas-roof shelter and sent it flying.

I caught one pole, Diantha the other, and we held it. The guys who had been setting up a band in the band shelter came running and helped us carry it back to place and set it down. No stakes. One guy says, only way this is gonna stay put is if we take the legs off and set it on the ground.

The flying shelter had knocked over the stacking shelves, rack with the quilted bags, table with the soaps. We took the legs off and set it down, making a giant pup tent. I crawled around on the grass in the rain, picking up soaps that I hope aren't ruined. I threw them all on the tablecloth, wrapped it up and pitched it under the tent. I crawled around under the tent and picked up bags, knitted items, and yarns, so they wouldn't stay on the ground and get damp.

While I was doing this, the wind tried to blow the screen room away too. I told Diantha to hang on while I got the car. She threw in bins of more soap, the bin of "stuff," and climbed in. I took the poles off the screen room, set the domed roof down over the chairs and we got the HECK out of Dodge.

Rules or no rules, I got 3 hours sleep last night and this was the 2nd storm of the day with NO customers. I was done. So done.

The National Weather Service is predicting rain until early afternoon tomorrow. So, rules or no rules, I am staying home until the rain stops. Then we shall go out, try to repair the damages, and see if we can make some money!

The Army Corps of Engineers Installs A VCR

We got a new TV, moving our "old" one into our bedroom. Immediately after that, our VCR and DVD unit died. Then the new TV died. So the one in our room is the only one in the house that works. The other day I bought a new VCR/DVD, which we had the bright idea to hook up to the only working television, in our room. Up til now we had two floating shelves up the wall behind the TV, where the baby couldn't reach them when her crib was over there, each of which had a little bitty unit on them, one a vcr and one a dvd player.

So, we take the shelves down. We take the large basket with the diapers in it down. Beverly is starting to potty train anyway. We put the new combo unit on top of her dresser by the TV and go to hook it up.

It has no "in" for cable. It only has "in"s for a videocam, audio and video separate. The "outs" it has are 3 separate units also. Our TV has ONE "in," a coax like the cable.

So off go dh, who used to work with computers years ago and now can't figure out how to do a Google search, Beverly, Artemas to the local Big Box (sorry, but it is really the ONLY store in this town. Not even a Radio shack.) to have an electronics geek esplain this to them. An hour and $16 later, they return with an electronic splitter that has to be plugged in. The salesman said, cable into the splitter here. Coax out to the TV there. 3-prong audio/video cables go here, hook them to the combo unit. Seems simple enough. We shall see how it (or if) it works.

That is all the news that is fit to print for today, so I am including an Etsy Mini of my favorites. I hope you will visit these sellers' shops and buy something ELSE, so that I can buy some of these beauties when I am flush. (ROFLOL!!)

Etsy Buy Handmade my7kids

A Knitter's Day at the Biker Boneyard

Well you know you can make anything relate to anything if you are interested in both. LoL.

Yesterday we went to what we refer to as the Biker Boneyard in Morristown, TN. I have been there before. It looks from the outside to be some innocuous brick building. Inside, it is like nothing you have ever seen, or imagined. It goes back (and back, and back) into the bowels of some of the filthiest "rooms" you have ever seen. There are leaks in the roof (because it doesn't matter if there are), so there are puddles of greasy sludge everywhere.

The rooms are "arranged" into rough categories... Large Kawasakis, 3 wheelers, rims, pipes (above left) , Hondas, Suzukis, Yamahas, scooters. Bike skeletons everywhere, in various stages of decay or pilferage. And EVERYWHERE, hanging from the ceiling like so many bats, are tanks. Every size, color, make, year, and stage of damage you can think of. Some of them are burned. Some are so scarred, you shudder to wonder if that biker walked away or ended up in a pine box.

You wander around, searching skeletons for the parts you need, hoping to find ones that will actually fit or at least Frankenstein on to your bike. If you find parts you think will work, you go and find one of the Biker Wizards who works there, who will follow you into the lightless depths with a super flashlight and toolbox. Or, you can take the parts off yourself and save!

I took a picture of one of the Wizards' shirts. A guy (possibly a manager? hard to tell) asked if I wanted a shirt. I told him I was going to spend enough money in here today, he could probably part with one for me. Off he went, to some mysterious cleaner place, and returned with THREE shirts. Pay dirt. I passed a woman (obviously a Boneyard Virgin) vigorously hurrying her husband out of there. She had a white shirt on. I didn't offer her one of mine. LOL.

You can find art anywhere you want to. There was a hole in the roof, where the bright outside sun was shining in and down on a particular wreck like a beacon. My daughter Des and I both looked at it, held our hands up and sang, "Ahhhh!" like a choir. Turns out that wreck didn't have the parts I needed, but I had to go look. When God speaks... at least check it out. LoL. She named this picture, "Yes, Lord."

There was one piece of brick wall, next to a doorway to an even danker room (I didn't go in), with a grim reminder. Shame it isn't always true.

People in cars who have never ridden a motorcycle don't realize at all what it is like to have to ride like at any moment, someone may not see you... may cut you off or maim you or deprive your kids of a parent.

I wish every motorist took our sport seriously and every motorcyclist rode with prudence and enjoyment of the sport to last a lifetime, not just a few possibly fatal thrills.

While Tony took off the parts we needed, I was kind of like a second set of thumbs. So Des and I set up some silly art and took the pics.

This first one is a 4-cylinder engine head. I stuck Mountain Dew bottles in it (they fit perfectly). Sorry about the lousy quality, I took the pic with a cell phone. Fueled by Dew. Doesn't get any better than that.

This ONE purple rim in a pile 6 feet (almost 2 meters) high of all other rims was too good to pass up. Purple is my favorite color, and it felt just like me, being different in a pile of sameness.

We found a wreck where the headlamp had been duct-taped on... had to have been BEFORE the wreck. Notice the headlamp then lasted better than the rest of the bike. The funny thing about this is that about 4 years ago a cycle shop sold us the wrong size headlamp. It wouldn't fit in the ring that holds it in place, so my dh taped around and around it with clear packing tape, which held the light in place for over a year. ROFLOL.

One bike seems to have had one of its guages mysteriously and oddly replaced by a Pirates of the Caribbean compass. Hmmm....

And, we hung around long enough to begin hallucinating Super Heroes dwelling in the nearly silent, still atmosphere of the warehouses. In fact, we caught glimpses of Spidey himself wrestling an instrument cluster off a particularly reticent bike...

And at another point, performing the grueling task of moving a larger-than-life Yahama tank off what must have been a subway train full of suffering humanity...


And his Alter Ego, Swinging ominously through the warehouse.

When all was said and done, I got the front triple tree, front forks, an instrument cluster (both guages and indicator lights), a set of handlebars, a clutch assembly, 2 clutch connector screws, and 2 clutch handles, for $200 cash. Well worth the trip.

We ate at Taco John's and by the time I came home, went to church, and got back home, I was nearly catatonic. But happy. We had a good time, a ROAD TRIP (always a thrill), and the bikes will BOTH ride again. Not to mention enjoyed some off-the-beaten-path art.

Ok, So a Bunch More Pics

Today Beverly wanted her hair put up. Rare indeed. And she left it that way long enough for me to take a picture.

I had a monumental fail today, and the kids made me take a pic. See I am in the habit, if somebody drops food in the car, of rolling down the passenger window and PITCHING it quickly out at the vegetation on the side of the road. This is a triple benefit: it is completely biodegradable (so therefore not pollution), the local fauna (raccoons, opossums, and skunks) LOVE finding little sticky bits of banana or hot Doritos, and it completely unnerves the person in the passenger seat, for sudden bits of something to go whizzing past them out the window.

So when I dropped a chunk of Dorito down into my quart-size insulated mug of Mtn. Dew today, I hit the window button, FLUNG it toward the grass, MISSED the window by a good 6" and splattered Spicy Nacho Chip ala Mountain Dew all over the dashboard. FAIL!

Alright, I also enjoyed a modicum of success today. I got my CCW (Carry/Conceal Weapon) permit in the mail today. I am officially Legally Armed, until 2013. And don't THINK I wouldn't be serious to give an attacker a choice which nut to keep. I really AM a good shot.


I took pics of our chicks today, just because they are cute.


We lost 3 of them. It happens; they succumb to the Marek's vaccine if they were weak to begin with, and from past experience, we probably expect to lose about 1 chick per dozen. You can see they are beginning to get their wing feathers already. In 2 weeks they will be SO ugly, as the stems of their hackle (neck) feathers will start to come in, making them look something like porcupines. In a month, they will be feathered, little miniature chickens.

Alright, as promised, here are pics of Diantha's project that I got from UFO Administration. This was called Cuff Too Small. Someone had started, I think, a pair of socks. ONE sock. All they did was the cuff. First thing, Diantha claimed the yarn. Secondly, we divided it into 2 equal balls, for making a real pair of socks. Then she decided to make this tam. The pattern called for almost the whole lot of yarn (320 yards out of 400), but for some reason she got the entire tam out of one ball.

It was the first time Diantha ever followed a pattern of any kind, and it does have a few mistakes. But she likes it, and wants to make another one out of the other ball of yarn. Bravo, Diantha!

Here are flat pics (these are really NOT boobs, as one of my kids suggested):
I also got Etsy orders mailed today, from THREE shops (yippee!), got the kitchen cleaned, my room vacuumed (again), some laundry done and some folded, and a batt carded for Diantha's shop. She is feeling puny. I am going to card another batt like it, and hopefully in a day or two she will feel well enough to spin that one and sell the yarn ready-made. This will be White Wedding, for the Etsy Knitter's Street Team June challenge, "I Do 2009." We will list it in the morning, as soon as we can get some natural-light pictures.

Mostly Pics

Today I received the link to pictures taken 10 days ago at the Knoxville Creative Hands Street Team Spring Show and Sale. Stop by and browse through! There were many talented artists featured, with beautiful items offered up for sale. The gorgeous, focal-point pictures were provided by Almphoto.com. Many thanks for the beautiful pictorial!

Tonight we took a road trip out to Des' house while the older kids were at their year-end bashes at youth group. On the way, Veronica took pictures in the car. On the left is one of her, enjoying the ride.




And on the right, a picture of 2-yr.-old Beverly, enjoying the same ride. Gotta love the youthful enthusiasm.


When we got to Des' house, it wasn't raining. The rain had stopped there, and there was a rainbow off her balcony. Always love to see God's promise, that He will never again destroy the earth by water. With the storms we have had lately, gotta wonder at that one. But no, the sun always comes out. Thank the LORD!

The hospital sent home a CD with pics of Artemas' xrays on it (which I am sure was NOT free), which does not work in our state-of-the-art brand-new Dell. But I found a pic online like his broken clavicle. Not his but just like. The xray techs didn't even notice it; they were looking for spinal or rib fractures. I told them, and they had to go back through the slides to find it. DUH! Maybe I should tell the hospital to bill the diagnostic fee for that one to ME. ROFLOL, now I *AM* funny!

One last pic. A progress report on the items I got from the UFO Administration. I am not quite half done with the Fuzzy Yellow Thing. The 2nd half will be identical , but with the addition of a panel of matching smooth yarn in the center, then kitchener stitched to the first half. Keep in mind, it isn't blocked or anything in this photo. I would have made better progress if I had not been sick for nearly 10 days now with the flu. I also got a Cuff Too Small project in sock yarn, which I will post pics of tomorrow. I promise.

Meanwhile, Go get a free Knitting Heroes comic book!