Best not to compare

What I get done is laughable compared to other bloggers, but I felt really good about washing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom this weekend. So good, in fact, that I rewarded myself with a new bookshelf to keep everything I want close by my favorite chair. Top shelf has a basket of yarn, jar of needles and a salt lamp. Next down is a stack of knitting and sketch books, knit kit, pencils, scissors and current project yarn. Down again is kleenix, remotes, current project, kindle and gun (in case the zombies break in suddenly). Bottom shelf holds more knitting books and open space for other items I haven't thought of yet.

My other reward for such amazing accomplishments (cough, cough) was starting a new knitting project and watching Flambards. Of course, now the theme song is running constantly in my head.

Does anyone have a convenient way to store circular knitting needles? I looked online and really like the idea of a cloth container with pouches marked with the needle sizes, but the ones I found  seemed either overpriced or shipped from China at such a low price it did not bode well.

And so on

I haven't posted in a while; not really a lot of fun stuff to report: winter, work, bad cold, blah blah blah.

I trapped an opossum in the chicken coop on an evening when my son was home, so he shot it for me. Yay!

I've been knitting an ear warmer/headband for my mom. About halfway through I realized I misread the instructions; instead of size 10 needles, it said UK10 which should have been size 3. Being too stubborn to start over, I will have to figure out a way to double it up so it doesn't end up looking like a hat with a hole in the top.

Tonight I feel equal measures of virtuous and rebellious: I ate a lettuce salad made from romaine bought the day before the recall. Honestly, I'm not at all worried about illness; none of the reported cases were anywhere near me, 43 illnesses out of how many millions of lettuces eaten is pretty good odds and I'm the only one at risk since my son doesn't eat lettuce willingly.

Oh, yes, a weather update: we were forecast to have an ice storm followed by snow with blizzard type winds. The news has been howling about it for days. And we got...no ice and a dusting of snow. At least they were right about the winds, but it's not that cold so even those don't seem so terrible.

Veterans

I've been watching Band of Brothers.

It's difficult to describe the feelings I have between this and Veteran's Day. One of my customers fought in WWII. The interviews at the beginning of each episode with the men being depicted in the show brings it to life more than any other method. Normandy was bad enough, but Bastogne...something about observing the cold, hunger and fear while I sit here listening to the wood burning in the stove and knit a hat; indescribable.

Well, poo

That was a very short adjustment time for the onset of winter. There's a layer of snow on the ground and the wind chill is -11F right now. I didn't realize it was so cold while I was doing chores and thought I was just being a wimp.

The chickens were not pleased and opted to stay inside their coops. Outside the pen, my yard is a crisscrossing maze of rabbit tracks. At least I know they can't reach my fruit trees and strip the bark off.

On the positive side, this hard freeze will let the farmers get out and harvest more of the corn.

Adjusting for winter

Yesterday rained; all.day.long.

Today is gray, cold and windy. The forecast is cloudy or mostly cloudy for the next week and today is one of the warmest days with an expected high of 35F. I know this is better than dropping straight down to single digit temps, but it is so hard to stay upbeat.

I need to put away 300 lbs of chicken feed now. Brrrr

Errant Thoughts Story, Part 30

Iris humphed crabbily at the television before fumbling at the remote control for the power button. "People are too soft."

Susan climbed to her feet, resisting the urge to groan; scrubbing the floor was her least favorite chore. "What do you mean, Iris?"

Her charge turned away petulantly, "Where's Grace? She would understand."

Moving to sit so she could converse at eye level, Susan reminded her, "Grace has a doctor's appointment this morning. She promised to stop by as soon as she comes home." Noting the hunched position of Iris's shoulders, she decided not to wait. "Did you see something disturbing?"

"Fools! Crying about not having some thingy that they can't live without. They don't know..." her voice trailed off weakly.

Seeing a tear trace down the wrinkled cheek, Susan shifted closer and patted the elderly woman's hand. "What don't they know?"

"If we didn't work, our family didn't eat. It's so hard to sleep through hunger. We tried drinking extra water before bed." Even as the vague look returned to her face, Iris shook her head, "It didn't help."

Later, Susan mentioned the conversation to Grace who closed her eyes with a pained expression, "Yes, they had that talk show on in the waiting room. Women with familes were being interviewed. So indignant at having their benefits cut back, but insisting they couldn't work because of the children.

"I'm afraid that I agree with Iris; people are too soft and protected. They think they are poor when they still have smart phones and cars and a place to live. Real poverty is hunger and cold, no doctor when ill, giving up school to work."

Susan knew she would be haunted by the bleak expression that accompanied Grace's explanation as she finished, "Worst is the despair when months and years scrape by with no hope of escape. People don't understand how bad it can be and they don't see the edges of society's safety nets are fraying."

Random Stuff

I was sick on Wednesday and the lingering effects mean I have little appetite and feel queazy after eating. I wish I could keep the low appetite for weight loss. :)

Strange thing happened Friday: after work in the evening, my foot started to hurt. On the top towards the outer edge it became swollen and the pain became worse as the evening progressed. At 3 a.m. I got up to take half a pain pill (left over from back pain years ago) being unable to sleep. I had to wear snowboots to do morning chores because shoes were torture. After a day of ice packs and elevation, the pain went away and now my foot is back to normal. Weird.

I just read a feature on the BBC website about the Crazy Horse Memorial here in South Dakota. While Mount Rushmore is worth a visit, unless you want to see the museum, don't bother with Crazy Horse. There has been no noticable progress in the last 20 to 30 years on the monument and it can clearly be seen from the road. The general belief by those of us who live here is that the family have no intention of ever completing it. Originally estimated to take 30 years, it's been over double that.

I am finally digging up my gladiola bulbs for the winter. There are a few other things I could do, but mostly I'm ready.