Lives in a Shoe

Blah. Blah, blah, blah.

This is how my day went.  Took Edgar the mini-schnauzer in to be groomed.  Had a pleasant chat with Germaine, groomer extraordinaire.  Agreed to return at noon.  Came back home, did some tidying up (well, okay -- I did move some papers around but got distracted by an Archie McPhee catalog -- go see, you won't regret it http://www.mcphee.com/).  Left for town again, realizing as I pulled onto the freeway that I'd forgotten to put the dang trash out for pickup.  Had another pleasant chat with Germaine anyhow and collected Edgar, fragrant with lovely brushed whiskers so full he resembles a tiny, hairy Sam Clemens. 

Stopped at Mexican restaurant for lunch.  In one smooth, coordinated move, managed to lock Edgar AND MY KEYS in the car.  Motioned to Edgar to Wait, Wait -- as if he could do anything else.  Called Triple A, which sent a tow truck with a nice young man inside.  Nice Young Man used a speculum and a piece of chimney flashing  (well, that's what they looked like) and popped open the car.  He complimented Edgar's calmness.  I felt absurdly proud, as if having a dog that didn't hurl himself at the window and snarl at a tow truck driver somehow canceled out my boneheaded move with the keys. 

Hopped in car with Edgar, headed for home.  Edgar greeted me with delirious joy as if I'd been to Panama and back.  There's nothing like a dog, eh?  Halfway between home and gas station, ran out of gas.  I usually can go all the way home and back to the closest gas station after it hits E -- in fact, it goes quite a way PAST it usually, I can attest. It was pouring; rain in the Pacific Northwest is not newsworthy, except that today's rain follows several clear sunny days during which I did not have to walk anywhere. 

Six of one, half dozen of another in terms of distance to be covered.  Began walking toward gas station with shivering Edgar on a leash I improvised from two bungee cords.  I come from good pioneer stock and sometimes it shows.  Then, after a quarter of a mile or so, decided it made more sense to go home and get my own gas can or wait for George at my own house, where it would be WARM and DRY.

I headed back to the car with cold rain dripping off the end of my nose, and there was a Sheriff car with a very nice girl inside, uniformed and official, worried that where I'd left the truck was a bad place, being on a curve and all.  She had me and Edgar all loaded up to give us a ride home when we decided to just PUSH my little Sonoma truck to the gas station.  What a concept!  Edgar DID NOT want to leave the warm and dry sheriff's car but I made him do it, heartless as I am.  He grumbled and shivered and looked as pathetic as possible.  What a wonderful little Sheriff girl; she rocks, truly.  She worked for three years as an animal control officer and I had the opportunity to tell her I think those people deserve some sort of award for being on the front lines of animal welfare.

Anyhow, I got home after putting gas in the truck (and yes, I put in more than my usual ten dollars worth this time) breathing a sigh of relief -- only to find my niece Angela, who with her husband Jeromy is a tenant in our little guest house, shivering in the rain with raindrops running off HER nose (sort of a family trait today).  First, she had locked herself out, and second, there is a broken pipe gushing water all over their tiny back entry where the washer/dryer is.  They have been gone for a few days and probably a pipe froze and broke.  I have Angela in here by the fire now, and a guy coming to try to fix the plumbing.  Ka-ching, ka-ching.

But -- today is definitely NOT a good day.  What's that Judith Viorst book -- "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No-Good Day"?  It's been like that.   

And does Mr. Puss care?  Absolutely not.  He caught a rodent this morning and he needs his rest.

VALENTINES DAY

I know when it REALLY was, but we're celebrating today.

Portrait of Young Tomatoes as Seeds

The winter solstice having come and gone, the shy light of day hanging around a smidge  longer and longer -- good golly Miss Molly, it's time to get those seeds IN THE DIRT toot sweet.  Here they are in fast food containers in my shed, on bottom heat mats, flourescent tubes on a pulley ready for when the tiny green sprouts appear.  Cherry tomatoes, striped stuffers (not much inside, good for serving filled with something), Romas, beefsteaks, and most intriguing of all this year, a yellow pear mini tomato from Martha Stewart Seeds which is cute cute cute judging from the picture. 

I've volunteered to give 30 tomato plants to the Master Gardeners for the plant sale.  So I'm hoping nothing bad will happen to these little guys.  Never has before, but it's kind of like stage fright.  What if I forget to water them?  What if weevils come and chomp?  What if Dick Cheney shoots holes in the containers?

I've been winter sowing lettuces since Christmas, plus brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, chard.  Scarlet runner beans.  Flowers too, sweetpeas, marigolds, love lies bleeding, poppies, carnations -- I save my own seeds so there are hundreds and hundreds already in dirt, in recycled fast-food containers, waiting until their genes call them forth in the fullness of time. 

To the dismay of my husband and some friends I am a seed scavenger.  I'm doing a service deadheading gone-to-seed flowers, yes?  That's how I view it.  I have my standards, though -- never damage a plant, never take all there are, don't trespass other than from the sidewalk unless you have permission, and if somebody's around, ASK.  Once -- only once in my whole life -- did somebody say no.  There was a man working around in the office of an abandoned building -- it looked like he was maybe getting ready to start a business in there.  I asked if I could take the dead tops of bedraggled flowers and he said no.  He said people had been coming at night and just DIGGING up landscape plants and making off with them and he was sick and tired of it.  I can understand that.  He didn't want to hear anything about deadheading plants so I thanked him for his time and left.  Otherwise, if there are people around to ask, they say, "Go ahead."  So I do.  If it's close by I try to stop by in early summer with a plant or two.

I love taking a few seeds from a garden near where something important is going on and always calling the plants, generation after generation, after whatever it was, however it came to me.  I have "Jason and Tanya Wedding Marigolds", "Denny and Lee Anne Elephant Head Amaranth".  From cuttings I have "Claudia's Wedding Jade" and "Susie's Vet's Bleeding Hearts".  I have a gardenia from Carolyn (not a cutting, though, a full plant).  There is a "Derek and Tanya White Lilac" that's ready to go out on its own in a permanent place.

This is the time of year I begin to start roses from cuttings.  Doesn't always work, but I have two little bushes that were started that way.  I don't know what they are yet (I should remember to take notes when I pinch the 4-inch stems) but they're healthy.  From an abandoned house where I was invited to take anything at all, I have some pussywillow and a big green leafy thing the name of which I can't remember.  That was just uprooted and stuck in a pot and it made roots.  This year it can go out on its own.  Our dog club was hired to put on demonstrations in Calgary at the Pet Expo and a couple of years ago I brought home a little twig of red dogwood from there.  It's flourishing.  All nice memories.

Hello Daniel -- Welcome to the World

On their way to the intended recipient:  A cardigan and hat for Baby Daniel, brand-new son of Alfredo and Yoli. Knit of Moda-Dea 100% acrylic "Sassy Stripes" in colorway "Crayon" which I picked up at Michael's.  Pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple "Baby Neckdown Cardigan".

I make baby things of machine washable-and-dryable yarn.  To my way of thinking, a young mother has enough going on without having to stop and think about special laundering for baby clothes.  If I knew she loved natural fibers and wanted to spend the fuss time, then it would be different and I'd be happy to oblige.  But babies leak, yes they do, so most of the time, it seems to me, a new mother would appreciate the convenience of tossing a garment in the pile of dirty things to be washed and dried with no further thought.  Then when it gets old and maybe pills up -- TOSS IT WITHOUT GUILT.  And no, I don't think everything should be sacrificed to convenience -- but it's wise to pick your battles, especially if you have a new baby.

A handmade heirloom garment like a christening gown would be a whole 'nother deal.

Seahawks Lost? The coffee cup is half full -- just wait until next year.

Sooo -- we went to a local sports bar to watch Superbowl XL.  Here I am making a fashion statement, pre-game, still smiling.  Fun beginning -- all the hoopla and interviews.  Nifty commercials from time to time, and the Stones.  Not nearly enough camera time for Keith Richards, if you ask me.  Somebody said looking at him makes you believe heroin is good for the hair.  I just like looking at him, period.

The best commercial was the Budweiser Clydesdales, absolutely.  That little pony, so cute.

Okay.  Here we were, in a rural area, in an old-fashioned meat-and-potatoes restaurant lounge to watch the game.  There were raffle tickets given out and drawings from time to time.  People won a couple of Seahawks glasses, or a hat, or a shirt.  The biggest prize was a 9-pound ham.  Odds are that I was the only vegetarian in the place, and I knew, absolutely positively knew I was going to win that damn ham.

And I did.

One Little Life

Her name was Bunny; she was a teacup poodle.  She died last week.  She was the constant companion of Blissful Knitter, whose blog is: 

http://goddess1.typepad.com/i_hide_yarn/

I found the blog looking for knitting instructions, which I found in full measure.  But I also found some good writing, and the world of Bliss and Bunny.  I checked in a couple of times a week, sometimes more often.  When Bunny was ill I was worried and wanted to know the latest news.

 

At Christmas time, Bliss wrote a wonderful, wonderful poem featuring Bunny to "The Night Before Christmas" (check her archives for December).  You can see Bliss's photo of Bunny here, in her little lambie jammies.

During the past couple of weeks as Bunny's strength declined, sometimes I checked in several times daily.  I knew it would be hard for Bliss to post, considering her anxiey and stress, but she did it anyhow.  I held them both in my heart and even shared the bulletins with my husband -- but there came the day that I checked the blog and found the Rainbow Bridge story there.  Even though I never actually met little Bunny, I held her in my heart and I post this now through tears.

Her life was too, too short, yes.  But in that tiny body lived a strong, purely loving being.  She loved her Bliss, she loved her family.  Every bit of strength she possessed was used at the last to stay here so she didn't have to leave those who loved her.

Somebody once said, "If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."  Just so.  If anybody earned heaven by the purity of her love and life, then Bunny did.  Goodbye, Bunny.

I'm so sorry, Bliss.

Gardening Theory, Lapin Visitor, Signs of Spring

Being in class after lo, these many years, is humbling.  I've been going through the Master Gardener program which is given here through WSU.  Classes two days a week, which doesn't sound like any big whoop until you do it.  Lectures and quizzes and hands-on work, oh my.  Soil, compost, fertilizer, pesticides, propagation and bugs, eek. 

You can see most of the material we were given.  You cannot see that the Sustainable Gardening book is thick enough and heavy enough to ballast a ferry, but take my word for it.  The blue fabric there is my shirt with the Master Gardener logo.  I bought it the first day at orientation.  If they'd had freshman beanies with whirling propellers I probably would have bought one of those too -- I was that proud and happy to be there, in a room with 30 or 40 people who share my passion for dirt.  Ever since that day I have not worn the shirt for fear that some citizen would come up and ask me a question.  Once upon a time I considered myself a pretty fair garden hand -- now I realize I KNOW NOTHING.  But I'm learning with some successes and some failures (I forgot to put cites in answers to a quiz and therefore flunked -- a second chance has been offered, so life is good).

We've had storm after storm -- I have a bay tree in a large-ish pot on the deck and the winds have been strong enough to dump the poor thing on its side time and again, despite the rocks I set in there.  Maybe the Sustainable Gardening book would do the trick.

This rabbit has shown up from time to time, generally over by our blue van.  I first noticed him around Christmas.  Here he is.  He is marked very much like our small cat Kitty Lang (called Kittle).  Sometimes when I walk up to the barn to feed the cows I see this rabbit guy by the berry thickets where wild bunnies live.  He hops along roughly parallel to the way I walk.  I think he was tame some time before.  He's big enough that he should be safe from our three cats, all of whom are mighty hunters.  He's probably faster than the dogs.  At night there are coyotes here but it seems that he shelters under a small guest house nearby or maybe in the old pots outside my greenhouse.  Maybe I'll try to make friends by giving him some alfalfa pellets.

Whenever I feel that spring will never really get here, something comes along to remind me how little I know. 

Here is flowering quince, one shy little bloom out to greet the day, and a few buds ready to follow.  There are two old gnarled quince bushes in the front yard, and it seems to me that they have been there for many, many years.  They are tangled and venerable.

And, over by the side of the house where the hoses are -- a lone vinca flower.  This is from cuttings taken some years ago from relatives in Seattle.  I rooted it in our Seattle garden and brought some cuttings here.  It's done well even though I thought where I put it might have had not enough light.  After yesterday's class I should be able to identify that hole in the leaf there, but have no clue.

And I've been knitting, 'deed I have.  Most of it is continuation of WIPs including the Everlasting Afghan for my demanding, unreasonable sister-in-law, but some visible progress has been made on other things.

Two baby hats, both with matching sweaters not shown.  The sweaters are almost done, needing buttons and weaving in of ends.  One needs a sleeve and a half.

The scarf is made with some luscious stuff that tempted me the other day -- I don't have the band nearby but will post it when the scarf is finished.  I thought to give it to my stepdaughter who likes rainbow colors.  It's so spring-like it would make a good Vernal Equinox gift, wouldn't it?