April is Almost Over...

And in just 5 days this beloved old dog will be 14 years old.  I have many days had my doubts that he would make it this far, but every time I think he is nearing the end of what he can tolerate, he seems to rally and I see in his eyes that he is not quite ready to leave us yet.  His appetite is great, it's the getting around that is tough.  And yet, true to this dog's stubborn, independent nature, he wants no help.  However, since he can no longer get up on the couch, he very much seems to enjoy my spending time with him on the floor in the evening.  Sam and I wonder if Rowdy is just biding his time until our new puppy comes home in 3 weeks.  Maybe he needs to let us know it is okay in his own way.

Getting a new puppy?  What I did not mention in my last post was that while Missy and I were driving through downtown Indianapolis (well I was driving, Missy was looking at Facebook) on the way home from Tulsa last month we got notice that a litter of puppies I was looking forward to had arrived!!  A dog named Miranda, a red merle Australian Shepherd, who I know from agility trials, delivered 9 puppies, one of which was to be mine.  This was such exciting news.  In the intervening 5 1/2 weeks, I have visited the puppies twice and have chosen one to be my next agility dog.  He is a red tri in color, which means he is red with white and copper, which can be seen in the photo to the left.  His daddy is also a performance dog, doing herding and dock diving as well as being shown in conformation.  So this litter was purpose bred for performance puppies.  Not having had a puppy in the house since Rowdy joined us in July of 2005, this will cause a  huge change in the Moore household for the foreseeable future.  Oh, we will be calling this little guy Rufus.  

The boys enjoying hot dogs and s'mores on spring break

The last week of March, my nephew brought 2 of his friends to the farm for their spring break from school.  They are all juniors in high school, and they had a wonderful time.  They stayed at the guest house and were responsible for their own meals as well as taking care of my nephew's family's 2 dogs who came along with them.  Sam and I were greatly pleased with how they kept themselves busy and enjoyed their "off grid" mini vacation.  They also left the house in very good shape and are welcome back anytime. 

Immediately following the boys' stay at the farm, I left for a girls' weekend with my cousin Tracey, who was on spring break from her teaching job in Michigan.  I met her in New Orleans and we spent 3 days eating, drinking and laughing.  New Orleans is a great city and the food was wonderful!  Tracey and I always have fun when we get together, which doesn't happen as often as we would like.

 
 And when I arrived home it was April and the weather was starting to warm up.  I finally had some nice warm sunny days to do the clean up from syrup season.  I had 4 dozen buckets and lids to bleach and put away and also 38 taps.  I do this outside because I have no good indoor space in which to do it.  So I wait for warm, sunny weather which also aids in everything drying after being cleaned.

 

 This is a job I like getting finished because until I do, those buckets just sit on the back deck reminding me every day that they still need to be done.  And now it is finished for another year. The buckets get stacked and stored in the sugar shack and the pan and taps and other things we use get stored in the basement at the guest house until next February.

Of course the warmer weather has lead to more and more time outdoors.  The garden has been tilled and I have planted lettuces, chard, kale and beets so far, most of which are coming up.  There is still a lot to do there, though.  I also cleaned out the summer kitchen, which had become a catchall and repository of alpaca fleeces that were not the best quality.  I put most of those out for the birds to utilize in nest building and in the process found a few nice ones I would like to clean and spin.  When I get time.

 Nature is also waking up around us and everything is in bloom.  The bee hive has made it through another winter and the bees are very busy.  This week should be a great one for pollen.

Maple tree in bloom

  



The maple trees in our yard are in bloom and there is a yellow coating of pollen on the table on our deck. 

Fungus in the woods

 
This brings us up to this past weekend, where Grover and I had our first agility trial since Nationals last month. It was our club's final trial of the season in Zanesville.  We had a pretty good trial, though we did break our Double Q streak, but only after QQing on both Friday and Saturday, bringing us to 11 QQs in a row at trials.  Nationals didn't count because even if we had gotten a QQ there it would not have counted toward our MACH.  So Grover and I now have 19 QQs toward MACH2, but we still need 420 points.  I predict we will be running for points for several months.  Maybe in December we will get that second MACH.  We are consistent, but not overly fast.  This means we need to go to a lot of trials this summer.

 I am now spending more time outside, but I have still been able to get into my studio most days for a little while.  I have both looms warped and weaving in progress.

I have scarves on the small loom.  I finished the one to the right and cut it off and re-threaded the loom for a different pattern.  This one came out a little shorter than I intended.  That's what I get for counting pattern repeats instead of measuring as I go, which you can see I AM doing with the second scarf.  The warp for these is tencel and the pattern weft is handspun merino/tencel.  I am so happy with this color combination, though I did not dye the yarn myself, but I did spin it.  It is just beautiful.

 Scarf 2 is still on the loom.  This weave structure is called overshot and there are 2 different yarns being used in the weft, one of which is the same yarn as the warp.  The other is called the pattern weft, and that is the on that creates the pattern you see.  It is a heavier yarn than the pattern and background weft, also known as "tabby".  

 


There is an informal weave-along in an online group and I decided to join in and weave bath towels.  I used some yarns I had gotten a few years ago in a large purchase  of yarns from a weaver's estate.  I am having fun with this project and hope that the towels will be nice to use.  They are 100% cotton and will have some texture since the weft yarn is rather slubby.  These are going much more quickly than the overshot scarves since the pattern is much simpler.

Upcoming:  Our grandson will turn a year old in less than a week and I am flying out to Oregon for his birthday party next Friday.  Sam would be going with me, but Rowdy is still with us and until that is no longer the case, Sam and I just can't travel together.  I really wish he could accompany me, but at this point I don't think it will happen.  Nor do I want it to at this time.  I will be seeing younger son Sam/Zac/Satchmo there, as he is coming up from the Yosemite area for the party as well.  That will be nice.  And once I arrive home, from Portland, I will have only about a week before Rufus is ready to come home.  I plan to stay around the farm for the first month we have him, with no plans to be away until mid-June.  It will be a nice respite from all the travel I have been doing so far this year!

And there are sheep (and goats) grazing on the pasture across from the guest house once again!