How I Spent My Summer - The Cliffs Notes

Did I have a busy summer? You might say that.

A synopsis:

The week before Memorial Day the ducts under the house were replaced and the air conditioning was reconnected. School got out. Finished one Ty-Dy Wool sock, cast on sock number 2. Baseball tournament Memorial Day weekend. Zack hurt his elbow pitching, 6 weeks of physical therapy. Trip to Cincinnati for a baseball tournament and a Reds game. Good knitting time for sock #2. Trip to Lexington for another baseball tournament. We got to visit with my parents and nephews while we were there. Ate at Joe Bologna's and played Apples to Apples (highly recommend both). Worked on sock #2 until I realized I screwed up the divide for the heel flap and it didn't match sock #1. Balled it up, said some choice words and pitched it in the knitting bag (knowing full well it's my fault for knitting without a pattern or notes.) Tried a toe up sock and hated it. I harrassed Zack about summer reading. I bought a new washer and dryer! We wondered how a summer that started with so much rain could be so dry. Then the heat kicked in and we endured 100 degree days. I spun some Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) fiber on the CPW--lovely! The February Lady cardigan came back out of hiding and I finished it. Spent some time at Kentucky Lake with Randy. School started back up. Zack found out he and several other classmates were given the wrong summer reading assignment. I worked out my teaching schedule at Haus of Yarn. I've worked on maybe a dozen finishing projects for them over the summer, and I'm getting repeat clients! I cast on the Annette and Liesl cardigans (got to have a sweater on the needles.) Knit up a bunch of tiny Christmas socks for the class I'm teaching. Went to Hamfest in Huntsville and found out that "Hams do it until their gigahertz". Bought Zack a Nissan Pathfinder (it's nearly as old as he is), he'll be 16 in a few. We're getting ready for Labor Day weekend on the Cumberland River with my parents. I have 4 more finishing projects in the hopper plus a refurb project for my mom.

So, there you have it--more or less. Thinking back over the summer, this is probably the first Saturday morning since mid-May that I haven't been out of town or had to be somewhere. It's lovely!

I know you're thinking, "Gee Chris, all that blah blah blah about your summer is fine and well, but move on! What about yarn shops? What about knitting?" I was able to get sneak away from the tournaments and visit a few yarn shops.

Cincinnati:
Lambikins Hideaway - About 10 miles out of Cinci in Hamilton. Neat old building, but the lighting could be better. They also have fabric upstairs.
Yarns and Fabrications - Huge and bright with a great selection. Lots of Habu yarn, which not a lot of shops carry. Quite friendly too.

Lexington:
ReBelle Girls: This is located in the middle of the UK campus. The coolest thing about this shop was that they carried a TON of fair trade merchandise, bags, key chains, jewelry, etc. I got the cutest project bag for $10.
Magpie Yarn: Very lovely shop, (website doesn't do it justice) but a little tricky to find. If I lived in Lexington I would knit here regularly!

Huntsville:
Yarn Expressions: Every time I'm in Huntsville I stop by this shop. Great selection, nice and bright. She also carries some spinning supplies.

That pretty much gets us caught up. I'll post photos of February Lady and my finishing projects in the coming days....and will try not to let three months go by before I post again. I am so ashamed! But please know that I'm glad you came back to visit. Talk to you soon!

Another Rainy Sunday

I awoke to the sound of rain. Lovely.

For the record, I'm sick of rain. I'm sick of humidty. I'm sick of everything being damp.

Update on the car: it is ok! Toyota gave it a clean bill of health after they ran a full diagnostic on the electrical system and computers, upgraded the computer software (who knew), cleaned the fuel injector, and replaced the steering shaft (not flood related and totally under warranty). The electrical silliness has not been explained, nor has it happened since. Weird.

The insurance adjuster is scheduled to be here tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll be able to get some movement on cleaning up the mess. I had to pull up the carpet on the garage steps yesterday because it was beginning to mold. I can only imagine what my ducts look like. Gross. We've been without AC for two weeks now. NOTHING in this house is dry. I contemplated a dehumidifier, but with the windows open what good will that do?

Task for today: create a full inventory of everything in the garage that was damaged by the flood, complete with photos, date of purchase, purchase price, model number and replacement cost. Sounds fun, huh?

Crap crap and more crap!

I just went to roll the windows up on my car, you know, those fancy electric kind. As I was holding the levers to roll the front windows up, the back passenger window went down. I don't think it's supposed to do that.

The FEMA agent told me that water damage to a car may not be apparent right away. This might be a sign.

And the AC unit is probably toast. It's supposed to be in the 90s tomorrow.

CRAP!

I need to go fondle my stash....




(Thank God I have a stash to fondle!)

Rude Awakening

This was the view that greeted me at 8am on Sunday as I walked by the patio door...and before coffee. I've lived in this house for 18 years and the water has never gone over the patio. It has gotten close before but nothing compated to this. The big clump of grass at the top of the photo is surrounded by lariope that's 8-10" high.

Our creek, Vaughns Gap Branch, is usually a pleasant little stream that meanders its way through the neighborhood. It ranges from a couple feet to maybe 10 feet wide and is ankle to mid-calf deep.

This creek, however, gives a whole new meaning to meandering. We did some calculations and estimate that the creek got to about 400 across. That's a lot of water!

By the time I took this photo from my drive way, the water had gone down about 6 to 8 inches.

The creek relocated some of our bridge to an undisclosed location downstream.

Let's rewind to Saturday night. It had rained all day Saturday, and I'm talking about a hard, driving rain. The news reported flash flood warnings and urged everyone who lived near a river or creek to be prepared to evacuate at any point during the night. Zack and I took action and moved most of the stuff from the garage floor to shelves and the work bench before we went to bed.

Before dawn on Sunday, the weather alarm went off with severe thunderstorm warnings for the neighboring county. I got up, checked the news, checked the creek and went back to bed. At 8am I got a phone call letting me know a luncheon had been cancelled. That's when I got up and looked out the patio door.

When I saw the water, I knew the garage was in danger. Sure enough, the water was seeping in and was about 12 inches past the door. I literally ran back to the bedroom, pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt, I don't think I grabbed shoes, and went back to the garage. It was 4 inches deep and still rising. I swear it only took me a couple minutes to throw on some clothes. That's how fast water can rise.

I yelled for Zack and he jumped into action. I'm sure the tone of my voice was something he had never heard before. By the time I got to my car the water was within an inch of the body. I was afraid to move it, but determined that the house had blocked some of the current. The car started up and I was able to move it to higher ground. Then it was time to bang on neighbors' doors and make sure everyone was prepared to evacuate.

Only one neighbor was unappreciative of the early morning wake up call. When he finally got to the door, I asked him if he was ok and aware of the creek. He looked at me like I was nuts and said, "yeah" (in the same tone you'd use when saying "duh!") then shut the door in my face. WHAT?? Is that how his mother raised him? If someone is banging on your door, nearly knee deep in water, soaking wet and telling you to prepare to evacuate, you don't just say "yeah". I won't knock on his door again. Nope. He's on his own. Jerk. (I'm glad I got that off my chest...pity he won't ever read it.)

I'll post more on the flood on another night. Just know that we didn't have to evacuate, we didn't lose power, we didn't lose much at all compared to so many others. Want to help? Check out Hands On Nashville. This is just one of many organizations helping Nashvillians.

Heed storm warnings. Heed flood warnings. Don't drive over water-covered roads.

If you can't handle cute, go elsewhere

Don't say I didn't warn you! These photos are way off the cute meter!

If you're in the market for a Great Pyrenees, get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with the farm. These were taken a month ago when we visited my parents in the Huntington, WV area. At that time, the pups were about 7 weeks old. Bred to work with sheep.

Zack and Poppy

Zack and Poppy's puppies

Getting acquainted

My dad with a load of puppies all tuckered out after their grand day out!

The sheep

And, NO, we didn't bring one home...didn't bring a puppy home either!

Return of the Words

It's been a while, and for that I apologize. Life gets in the way. I don't really know if I've been busier than normal. I just lost my words for a while. Since I've been silent for so long means that I have lots to tell. So I'll quick blathering about nothing and get on with it.

As most of you the two of you know, I enjoy a good estate sale. I check the major estate sale websites on a weekly basis. This past week an ad with photos was posted that contained the magic phrase "spinning and flax wheel".



Quite intriguing, don't you think? The sale started Friday but I work for a living, so I went Saturday morning. For some weird reason the teenager wanted to go with me. I think he just wanted to drive because nosing around a house full of stuff is not how he would choose to spend his time. I was really hoping to find other spinning related stuff, maybe weaving supplies, odds and ends of fiber, stuff like that.

Surprisingly, the wheel was still there! Even more surprising was that it was completely intact, with the exception of the drive band. The treadle was connected to the footman, the footman was connected to the crank, the crank was connected to the wheel. Hmm, this sounds familiar. No rust on the cast iron parts, the flyer spun with ease, no cracks or damage to the whorl and everything was nice and tight.

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand back, the bargaining is about to commence!

At some point my teenage son will learn to interpret my "looks". Like when the woman running the sale said, "We can probably come down to $125", and he said, "That sounds like a good deal, mom." DUDE! You're killing me! I'm here to bargain, not just open my check book and write down the first number to fly about the room! So I give him The Look and he says, "What? $125 is a great price." Really? Really, Zack?? This is obviously not my son. There is no common DNA here at all. I pretended to study the wheel with great care and threw in a few head shakes, hmmms, and I don't knows. I sighed, offered $100, she hestitated, I stepped away from the wheel, and she said she'd take it. SCORE!

Isn't she pretty?




She's a Canadian Production Wheel (or CPW for those in the know). Since there is no maker's mark (not the whiskey, seriously) I can't tell you for sure who made her, but she looks like a wheel made by the Cadorette family of Quebec, Canada, about 100 years ago. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about her in future posts.

Ah, but the story doesn't end here. We gingerly loaded the wheel in the back of the Rav, (for perspective, the diameter of the wheel itself is 30" across), and Zack says, "Can we go to Dick's Sporting Goods on the way home?" Such a total manipulator. Maybe we do share DNA.

It was a typical Thursday night...

I dropped the teen off at home after work/school and went to the Haus of Yarn for a bit of knitting and catching up. Everything seemed typical when I walked in. The usual suspects were at the front table knitting and chatting, while some were wondering about doing a bit of shopping. It seemed very...well...Thursday.

Then it hit me.

Something was different. Something was very, very different and not as it was last Thursday. They should have warned me. On the other hand I should have been expecting it. I just wasn't totally prepared.

EEEK!!!!

My hats and patterns on display at a yarn shop!

This is So! Dang! Cool!

Many thanks to Liana who had her camera phone handy and was kind enough to snap a couple photos for me.