Knitting Cybrarian

Smokey and the Bandit

or maybe Baby Bear visits the Star City... a bear visited Roanoke today.  Thankfully he wasn't killed.  Read more at the Roanoke Times.

He would have been 75...

if he were still with us.  It's hard to believe that Dad died 5 years ago in March.  When he died, he was about 8 weeks short of his 70th birthday.

Happy birthday, Dad.  I miss you still and wish you could share the sights and sounds as I drive back roads here "'cross the wide Missouri."

*********************************************************************

A Giant Died

 

 

H

e was a giant of a man in stature as well as character and honesty and also in his profession. He was a doctor in his field, especially someone else’s Hay Field. Fred Green knew hay balers like no other man I know or even heard of. I saw and heard him repair many pieces of farm equipment right over the telephone. I couldn’t begin to estimate the tons of hay this man kept from getting rained on or rotting or ruined because of his expertise on tractors and equipment. And to think of the happiness and exhilaration of the farmers, their families and neighbors just knowing they could call “Ole Fred” to get ‘em going again and save all their hard, back breaking, never-ending hours they had put into their crops and cows.

 Written by Jimmie Boone for his friend Fred Green

I caved

and turned on the A/C at bedtime last night.  And I'm comfortable.

What do you knit when it's hot?

It's been hot here the past few days.  High temps in the 90s.  We have NOT turned on the A/C yet.  The indoor themometer read 87 at 10pm last night when I went to bed.  I've been running the attic fan with the windows open.  We close the windows on the sunny side of the house during the day, and because it's been windy, we try to capture some of that breeze on the shady side of the house.

I've been knitting baby booties the past day (off and on, obviously).  I have other projects, but since it's so hot, I don't want to be hotter with wool or anything else in my lap.

I'm playing at church this morning, so I've been up for a while, waking up.  I'm hoping it won't be hot at church.  It's not fun when sweat drips off your face onto the piano keys. 

Joel has kept the birdbath full of water -- he has been filling it twice daily.  The birds love to play in it, drink the water, and sadly, sometimes poop in it too.  Yes, we clean out the birdbath.  A couple of the neighborhood cats love to get in the birdbath too, usually when there's not much water in it. 

Back to the booties.  Two folks at work have or will soon welcome new little ones to their families, so I've been exploring the book 50 Baby Bootees to Knit by Zoe Mellor.  I've been working on the fish bootees, which are just as cute as they can be, even considering the joys of intarsia knitting. 

Time to sign off and practice for this morning's service....

Long eared visitors

My office is on the ground floor of the library, and I have an east facing window.  Shrubs grow near my office window, and pea gravel bridges about 4 feet between the grass and the building.  I frequently have bird visitors and occassionally a possum, several squirrels or a dog come to the window to see what's going on inside.  These days rabbits come by.  One rabbit in particular has cleverly dug a shallow trench underneath the shade; perfect for his nap in the 90 dregree or so heat.  Every so often the ground must get warm to him, so he digs out a little more.  The rabbit lays in this trench much like we lie in bed. 

Yesterday the rabbit surprised me and my human visitors by coming right up to the window and peering in.  The rabbit didn't hop away immediately; he looked in, peered around, and just sat and stared for a few moments.  He must have bored quickly.  We enjoyed seeing the liquid brown eyes up close and the twiching long ears.

unbelievable...

I was in the restroom at work this morning, doing what one usually does, when I heard another library staff member enter.  She was ON HER CELL PHONE, clearly involved in a conversation.  The phone volume was loud enough that I could hear the other end of the conversation.  This staff member did not end her call, but continued on with her conversation throughout the whole noisy visit to the restroom.

Did the person on the other end of the conversation really want to hear all of that?  Did I?

There's a time and a place for everything, and the restroom is NOT the place for cell phones, unless one is calling for help!

Oh what a beautiful morning

Saturday morning.  Cloudy, cool and a welcome change after yesterday's high of 94!  Joel and I (mostly Joel) worked on applying varnish to the deck yesterday evening, and he finished the job this morning.  I've got blueberry muffins in the oven.  The breeze is soft and sweet; the birds are carrying on as if they are the only reason day has dawned!

Today has lots of promise.  I'm not working at the yarn store, I don't have Altar Guild duty and I also have tomorrow off.  I'm hoping to get the house cleaned early, go grocery shopping and then tackle my sewing room.  And edit a document for my promotion dossier.  Let's see how it all turns out.

Portia is sleeping on the bed for now, after getting Joel up early and watching the birds.  I love this time of year, when it's warm enough to have the windows open and cool enough at night to enjoy the fresh air and the warm covers.  My allergist would have a fit, but hey, that's what the shots and the meds are for!

Adventures in owning...

an older vehicle.  I've noticed the tranny on my '87 Ford F-150 hasn't been happy lately.  It hasn't wanted to shift easily into first and second particularly.  After about the first 10 minutes or 10 miles, it's shifting better.  So Saturday morning, between Altar Guild duty and working at the Studio, I thought I'd check it out.

There's a QT and an O'Reilly's close to church, so I stopped in to check my tires and everything else.  Filled up the tires at QT, then went to O'Reilly's and did a little reading in my truck manual first. 

Went in and asked the guys about transmission fluid, based on the diagnosis in the little manual.  They got me the right fluid for my vehicle, and recommended that I may want to try this stuff called Lucas if I'm really low.  They also loaned me a funnel and answered my questions about where to put the tranny fluid.  I learned several things -- for starters, on my truck, you fill the tranny fluid at the same place that has the tranny dipstick.  It's different from the oil -- dipstick location and the place where you fill the oil is different.

So... I followed the directions.  Took off my jewelry, started up the truck and checked the tranny fluid.  The dipstick was hitting air.  GROAN.  So, I used the Lucas stuff (which takes a long time to drain in -- very thick) and then followed it with half a quart of tranny fluid.  The tip of the dipstick was wet, so I followed it up with the rest of the quart.  Mind you, this took around 40 minutes, between waiting for the Lucas stuff to drain in and then every 10 minutes, shifting the tranny through all gears to get the stuff worked in.

The tranny is happy now.  I need to check the level again today or tomorrow.  And I realize I'm very fortunate that I didn't have SERIOUS problems.  But I know how to check it now, what to listen for, and how to fill up the transmission fluid.

The guys at O'Reilly's were GREAT.  They answered my questions, came out to check on me and in general were just terrific.  I was one of two women there in 45 minutes -- more women should know how to deal with these things! 

A father was there with his twin daughters and I told them that I was glad they were there.  More girls need to visit their auto parts store.  The father told me that he does bring them with him so they can learn about what's there -- and that they watch him (and help) when he works on their vehicles.

That brought back memories of my dad.  I would hold the timing light for him, or get him the right wrench or other tool.  I would go with him to the NAPA store in our hometown.  Dad would have known right away what to do -- but at least he trained me well enough to have the sense to read manuals and ask questions!

Day of Refreshment

Yes, today has been a day of refreshment.  I slept late.  Ate popcorn.  Knitted a little.  Snuggled up with Portia.  Cleaned out a couple of filing cabinets, which will be much to my hubster's delight.  Sorted through some books and selected some to donate.  He'll also be happy with that.

I'd like to have gotten to my sewing room, but I hope I can get that done this weekend.  Hope.

I feel so much better now.  Taking today to rest has done wonders.

Long time, no post

I am at home today and still in my jammies.  It's a gloriously beautiful day here.  It's sunny out, a gentle breeze stirs the chimes, and the birds sing their songs to Portia, who would love to chase them down.  She thinks they're singing "come chase us, catch us, come eat us!"

Portia is tired, as am I.  She's laid out on the dining room floor in a patch of sun.  In the past half an hour, she's alternated that with laying outside on the deck. 

I feel as if my body has hit a wall.  Even though graduation was the first weekend in May, life has been very busy.  I'm preparing my portfolio for promotion -- much more photocopying, printing, and navel-gazing than I care to deal with. 

We've also had candidates visit for two public services positions -- I was on the search committee for one of the positions.  When one is on a search committee here, you spend a LOT of time in sessions, presentations, meals, etc.  I used to think "hey, free meals!"  But after the first search committee I was on, I discovered you worked very hard for that meal.  There is no free lunch!

And in my own music library, we're doing those projects best executed when classes are not in session and we can make noise without bothering as many folks.  Tasks such as shifting large sections of the collection, and when the shelving actually comes in, replacing shelving.  Bang!  Clang!

I've also been working at lot at the Studio, teaching knitting classes, and just attended my last Vestry meeting as Clerk.  Although I have two more years on Vestry, we'll elect new "officers" soon and that will give me a small break. 

Knitting?  I finished my "Show and Tell Spacious Mobius Bag" at last, in time to show my second round of that class.  No photo yet.  I knitted and felted a sample of the "Trifold Mobius Bowl."  AND knitted a simple Mobius scarf for my mom for Mother's Day from Fiesta Yarns's "La Boheme" in Twilight.  All designs are from Cat Bordhi's A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting.

I finally took the plunge and had Joel try on his half-sleeved Gansey over the weekend.  I recalculated the sleeve length needed, ripped out the stockinette and started reknitting, with decreases every 3rd row instead of every 4th row.  I hope that does the trick.  I'll find out soon. 

Today will be a day of rest in mid-week.  I'll take another nap.  I'll get a few things done.  And I'll rejoice in a flexible workplace that understands when one is exhausted, you need rest.