Today I took the plunge and bobbed my hair. I am donating the length I cut off for a special cause, it is going to one of the charities that takes in hair for cancer patients who have lost their hair due to chemo. I hope it goes to good use. It was too hot and too long. I was having trouble taking care of it. It is in fantastic shape, hardly any gray in it. It feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.
Yesterday was go to the niece's house to help her out with her sewing. At first she was so afraid to sew what she is working on and wanted Melinda, my sister to do it for her. Melinda told her to get to it. I was there to show her how to do zippers since I have mastered that art. I do enough of them around here with my zippy pouches. I can whip them out like crazy over here. So easy, if you take the time to really learn the method. I hope Kate will be able to master it like I did. It was common sense after I read about how to do it.
I found a new pattern to try out and what gets me, they want the knitter to use a plant based worsted or dk weight yarn. Excuse me, I think I will use a wool based since I have loads of that. I have yarn sitting on my desk for this project. I found it on Ravelry, in the free patterns section, it is called Summer Flies by Holly and Ella. I guess when I finish the silk and the other one that I have waiting for me, I will do this one. :)
I announced yesterday to Kate that I will no longer be knitting socks for anyone this winter. I am done with that for a while. I will make myself and Gary socks but, no one else. I have had it with not being thanked for all of my hard work. No one appreciates those socks. They love to wear them but, do not tell me thank you. Pfft on that!
I was able to actually crawl into the pool this morning and do 30 minutes of swimming. I worked on my legs and my back muscles. I love swimming on my back, I can cruise. I had to go inside and get my sunglasses so, I could see, the sun was peeking across the coolaroo that covers my pool. I like to swim in shade.
I had to go pull my swimsuit out of the washing machine. It needs time in the dryer. I need to do house work but, I find myself wanting to finish the silk shawl. I want it off of the needles. I am to the point where I need to get it done. I am losing interest in it quickly. It is getting boring for me. I will be ready to block it as soon as it is off of the needles.
I had a really cool experience while I was cleaning out the wall skimmer basket this morning before my swim. I always check it with a stick because I have a fear of water moccasins in my pool, it has happened before so, I have a long stick that I use to open the skimmer cover and I check before I put my hand down there. I saw something moving and I thought it was the usual little bitty toad, he isn't even an inch so, I let it get onto my stick...it was a wolf spider that had gotten in the basket so, I let it hop on the stick and what do I see as soon as I get it onto the coping...little spiderlets just totally swarming off of her back. They were everywhere and moving as fast as their little legs could carry them. She took off in another direction and they did their own thing. I had to run inside to share that with Gary. He wasn't too thrilled from what I could see. I don't mind spiders, they don't bother me. I know several people have problems with them but, they eat insects so, they are quite welcome in my yard.
The pest control people have tried to convince me spiders are bad...uh, what planet are you from? I love them because of their pest control capabilities. Some guy came to the door and told me I had a bunch of spider webs around my home...yes, and your point would be what? He tried to tell me he could get rid of them for me. No, I let him know, they are happy where they are, I am happy with them, so, what is your point? Just because I wasn't freaking out..he was looking at me like I was really weird.
We have cooler weather today after yesterday's showers. I am hoping this is what my tomatoes need to set their fruit. Please let the fruit set, I would love some huge tomatoes this year. We have had heat early this year and so far the only tomatoes setting fruit are the super 100 cherry tomatoes. I guess if I only get cherry tomatoes this year, I will be thankful for that and I will pull out the others and put something else in the garden in their place. I can deal with another veggie in there. Good news on the green bean front, they are blooming. I can't wait for fresh green beans. Yummy. I even bought a pressure canner on sale, it is a small one since our garden isn't all that big. I am going to take up canning. Mom and Dad used to can veggies all of the time so, I decided this would be a great thing because I do not have to deal with BPA and the horrible issues it causes diabetics. I can also control the amount of salt put into the canned veggies.
If the tomatoes would produce, we could also make our own sauce and peeled tomatoes in water, that is a life saver when you need something wonderful for meatloaf or chili, go into your pantry and get out the home grown canned tomatoes. I know what it took to grow the items and what is put into that jar.
My major goal is to get enough cucumbers from my three plants to make my own dill pickles. Oh, I miss the days of pickle making and having a jar around that is perfect on garlic and heat. We love hot dill pickles in my family. Gary doesn't like pickles.
I guess all of those things that Mom and Daddy taught us as kids has stuck. I can snap green beans quickly. I used to have to snap those huge brown paper shopping bags full of green beans. If I remember correctly, we each had to do two bags a piece. The one thing I don't miss, is the the shallots...ooh, those things are painful to the eyes. Also, peeling pears...I don't miss that one at all. I hated pears afer peeling the things and my fingers were cramped because someone beat you to the good peeler and I would always get stuck with the craptastic one. Never failed. I also hated being in the huge garden where only one person had the hoe to make sure no snakes were around and it would be so damn hot out there and my back would hurt from bending over. The mosquitos would be out as well and I would come out of that bean patch all stung up. It truly sucked!
The things I remember from being a kid. The best and most disgusting thing my Daddy thought he would get me to do was to pluck a chicken, I puked on him and he told me to get away from him. He used a few choice words but, we won't go into those right now. That was nasty. I appreciate the lesson on growing our own food and killing it for the table but, trust me when I say...plucking a cold, wet, stinking, dead chicken isn't my cup of tea.
Ah the fond memories of childhood.
I looked at the blackberries and it seems we have little berries out there. I am so happy. I need to go blackberry picking. They are too small right now to use as jelly but, we can snack on them. I have to get Gary to help me put up the stakes and the bird netting across the fig tree, it is loaded with fruit. I don't want to lose any of it since I want to make sugar free preserves. :) The birds seem to think that fruit is theirs to work on...I don't think so.
With the price of our produce going up at the store, I am looking into what I can grow at home. Carrots did really well here. I am hoping my patty pan squash will do well. I noticed the plants are getting bigger. Fried patty pan squash is tasty, that brings back memories of childhood as well. Mom and Daddy had a little garden at home and then my oldest sister had a huge garden on their acre of land and that is where the bean patch from hell was located. Ugh!
I am also big into companion plants for my tomatoes. I have planted two kinds of basil, cilantro, sage, dill, mint, and oregano. The mint plants have been in the garden since day one. They are perfect for keeping the ants out. We have fire ants and we hate the damn things.
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