Moving Into May

Timmy & Chuck

These 2 cats are always together.  I have a big folding table just behind this dutch door and it has the old cushion from my deck swing on it.  A favorite place to hang out and watch Rowdy.  Once Rowdy goes in the house, they can be over the door and off doing "cat things".  Both these guys came here from the shelter.  Timmy was so unfriendly we thought we would never see him once he was turned loose.  Nope, he has become quite the friendly fellow.



Last Friday, I dyed 2 batches of yarn.  Unfortunately I downloaded the photos onto my home computer and deleted them from my camera, so no pics of those today.  But I did do my last batch on Tuesday, which came out very purple.  I have dyed this colorway before and I don't remember it coming out so dark purple.  It can be seen 3/4 of the way down in this post
http://straightforkfarm.blogspot.com/2011/09/labor-day-weekend-is-behind-me-im.html 
next to the green on the drying rack.  I think it may be that I had 4 skeins in the dye bath last fall and only 3 in the dye bath Monday, so there was actually more color for each skein to pick up.  

 I am still pleased with how this came out.  These skeins weigh less than the ones I was working with last fall and using the same amount of dye for less yarn will result in more saturated color.  Makes sense when I think about it!

I now have 3 dozen hand-dyed skeins done for my show in just over 2 weeks, plus a few left from last fall's show.  Next week I will have more info on all my show "goodies"!

Sunday was gorgeous. Perfect outdoor day.  Sam took me up to the top of the hill on the 4-wheeler and dropped me off with my chainsaw and I worked my way across my trail on Wayne National Forest, clearing the trail of downed trees.  I only left one that I did not feel I was up to cutting.  Rowdy accompanied me and we met Sam at the other end of the trail so I would not have to carry the chainsaw the 3/4 mile home.  I wish there was a way to get a mower up  on the trail, but it is too steep and too narrow in many places.  It would be a huge chore with a weed-wacker!  After that, we also worked on cutting up one of the trees in our top field and stacked it for next winter's firewood.
 
Monday was a special day.  It was Rowdy's 7th birthday and he got his own bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with Beggin' Strips (he LOVES those things).  I can't believe he has been with us so long.  Happy Birthday Rowdy.


I know Easter is over, but I think I have discovered the origin of the Easter Egg Hunt.
Now that spring is here, my chickens are no longer satisfied to lay their eggs in the nest boxes in the chicken house.  I realized egg production had dropped off, so the other day I stalked a hen as she flew over the chicken yard fence and headed for the horse barn.   I had to be sneaky so she would not deviate from her course and what I found was 4 eggs in a nest right in front of the door to Apache's stall!  Now I go through this door every night when I give him his grain and I had not noticed this nest.  To be fair, it is a dark narrow aisle and I don't usually turn the light on this time of year.  But really, I must have stepped over this nest.  So, since I know the location of this nest, I want to make sure the hens who use it don't relocate it (which will result in another egg hunt).  I threw away 2 eggs, kept the warm one (fresh from the hen) and marked the remaining egg with a sharpie and left it in the nest.  This way, the hens will still use the nest and I will know which egg is the old one.  Silly chickens!

It has been an interesting week weather-wise.  We have gone from very cool to very warm, as is usual.  Of course these temperature extremes were brought in by storm fronts, or maybe it is the other way around.


 We had some rain Monday night, but Tuesday night, it rained hard all night and this is what I woke up to Wednesday morning.

My rain gauge is broken, but from my dye roaster still sitting on the back deck, I am guessing we got at least 2 inches of rain.  It's actually kind of scary to cross the foot bridge when the water is up this high because what you can't see from photos is that the water is rushing at a high rate of speed.  It is incredibly loud and there is generally a lot of debris going by.  But it goes back down rather quickly.  All this water is certainly in the Ohio River by now, which is only about 20 miles away as the crow flies.  

24 hours later, this is how the creek looks.  In 2 weeks, it will likely be dry until fall.


I have finished knitting one sock with some wool superwash yarn I bought (you can wash these in the washing machine).  The pattern is from a book I bought that has 17 sock patterns in it.  My goal is to knit 4 new pairs of socks this year.  I think I can do that.  I need socks.  I love hand-knitted socks.  

I have to finish the boring part of the bag I linked to last week (plain black knitting for 25") before I will allow myself to cast on for sock 2.  I have 4 inches to go!

No spinning got done this week and I have 1 rug done on my loom and am waiting for a new tool before I weave the other 2.  I am hoping it will come soon.  I will post about that next week.

I try to always have my camera with me.  This morning, it once again came in handy when I stopped to take a photo of the traffic I had to pass on the road on my way to work.  These are a couple of my neighbors, enjoying a morning ride.

 I don't think most people get to see this on their morning commute.  It sure put a smile on my face!