First Fire

It would seem winter has finally decided to pay us a little visit.

It was 45' when I got up this morning, and since I'd gotten a load of firewood delivered yesterday, I decided to splurge and light a fire in my wood box.  

It didn't last long, as it warmed up pretty quickly once the sun came up.  However, it's supposed to get down into the 30s later this week, so there will likely be more fires in the near future.  No, not likely -- definitely.  

By the way, I'm not really pleased with the guy who brought the wood.  Oh, the price was right, and it was good wood -- red oak and hickory, but the dude wanted to cut a hole in my fence so he wouldn't have to walk all the way around to where I store it.  No, you're not cutting a hole in the fence, dude!  If that's going to be a problem, I can always buy wood from someone else. 

In anticipation of the coming cold weather, I took this opportunity to go ahead and bring my outside plants inside.  Well, some of them, at least.  I still need to bring in my hanging plants from the front porch.  

I wasn't quite sure what to do with my Christmas Cacti, though.  I normally put their shelf right there where that step is, but that is where the cat likes to lay and look out the window.  For now, I put them by the front door, 

although I may move them later on.  I'm going to have to when I get the Christmas stuff out, because my living room is pretty small.  I'll probably put them back into their usual spot by the back door, and the cat will just have to live with it.  Squeaky liked to sit on that bottom shelf and look out the window.  Maybe Cutie will like that as well.  Oh, and I'm considering changing her name to Bellatrix.  Not that it matters.  I mostly call her "cat" anyway.  

In knitting news, I'm sure you will all be pleased to know I finished the cowl I've been working on for what seems like forever.  

I haven't washed and blocked it yet, but once I have, I think it will be long enough for the recipient to pull up over her head, in the instance she needs just a bit of warmth on her ears.  Here we see Charlotte modeling the as yet unblocked cowl/wimple.  

I guess that's all I have to talk about today, so I'll leave you with my traditional Halloween prayer: 

Happy Halloween!

I Haz Firewood!

 I have firewood!

The way I acquired this firewood is as follows.  I was laying in bed last night, and decided to check FB Marketplace one more time before I drifted off to sleep, and lo and behold, there it was!  A new listing, and reasonably priced, at that.  This morning, I got up and contacted the guy, and after a couple of rounds of phone tag,  we had a deal worked out.  He did ask for a $10 delivery fee, but even with that, the price was still within what I am willing to pay.  Quite frankly, I don't blame him for asking a delivery fee, what with the price of gas nearly doubling in the last year.  It was still cheaper than that one guy who wanted $50 to deliver.  

Whatever, I have firewood, and just in time it appears.  Look at the temps for next week!

The cat says, "I think I'll just stay right here..."

That's my lap, just in case you can't tell.  By the way, it's surprisingly difficult to take a photo of a cat on your own lap.  

I've got me one crazy cat, I'm telling you.  Yesterday I bought her some seafood flavor cat food.  Canned cat food, I mean.  The kind with the actual chopped up fish.  Today, she turned her nose up at it.  I should have known better, as she's never eaten any seafood flavored food before, but I thought this being the actual cuts, and not mush, it would be different.  Nope.  She won't eat it.  

Don't that beat all?  I've never in my life seen a cat that doesn't like fish.  Well, now I have.  

Looks like the dog will be getting some treats for the next few days.  

Almost Winter

 It's not quite winter just yet -- as in, it didn't get quite as cold last night as I thought it would.  Even so, it was chilly enough in the house for the heater to come on, but I didn't really think it was chilly enough to start a fire.  I'm almost out of wood, and until I can get some more, I'm going to have to be pretty stingy with what I have. There are some people advertising, but they're a bit too proud of their wood for my budget.  I can't afford $300 per cord, even if it is red oak. 

Still, it was drizzly and cold all day long, with the high temp only getting up to around 55'.  It was the perfect day to stay in and knit -- after grocery shopping, that is.   You know, they say it's going to be the most expensive Thanksgiving ever, due to the rampant inflation, so I wanted to start buying up my ingredients.  I'll have to get them a little at a time so I can afford it all.  

Cody and I discussed dinner on the way down to Texas.  I told him I was going to fix all the usual stuff, and he'd need to bring an alternate source of protein, since they're still vegetarians.  He said, they've added seafood back into their diets -- and by "they", I mean him and Brennan -- so he's going to make a seafood gumbo.  He's not super strict about it, either, because he ate some jalapeno poppers with sausage in them.  He said something about bringing Brennan with him for Thanksgiving, so that'll be good.  

He was really excited, because she got into the teaching program she wanted to.   She wants to teach kindergarten, so they're both pretty happy about that.  

But I digress.  Ok, so what have I been knitting on?  This.

Yes, I'm still working on the cowl.  I had been making good progress, but it has slowed a bit this week.  I hope to have it finished in time to give it to someone for Christmas.  I haven't decided who yet, but someone will get it. 

In other news, my poor kitty has been stuck inside for two days because of the weather.  She was going a bit stir crazy, and finally ventured out sometime this afternoon, rain or no rain.  In the meantime, I had to trick her in to using the self warming nap pad I got her.  She'd taken a shine to a blanket I'd knit many many winters ago, so I tucked the warming pad in between a couple of folds of said blanket. 

Now she's all nice and warm, snuggled down into her blanket. 

She's been staying in the house more at night here lately.  I imagine it's because of it getting cooler.  I'm kind of glad, because even though she's still waking me up, I worry less about something getting her.  At least she's safe inside.  I don't think at this point I can convert her into being a completely indoor cat,  but I'm working on it. 

Let's see, what else have I done today?  Oh, yeah, this.  When I was in Texas, Beverly was going through some boxes of old photographs, and she found one of Cody's senior pictures.  For some reason, I didn't have one of those, so she gave me that one. 

After nearly 10 years, I finally got his senior portrait in this frame.

BTW, yes, I did notice it was a little off center.  I fixed that, but didn't take another picture. 

One more thing she found in her box was this treasure.

That is my great aunt Annie McDonald -- my paternal grandmother's sister -- sitting in front of the fireplace in her house, which was built by my great grandfather Joseph Winfree.  That fireplace was the only heat source in that house, although they eventually got electricity hooked up, and indoor plumbing.  She died when I was 11.

I guess that's it for tonight.  I'm off to look for some reasonably priced firewood.  

Laters

Well, That Was Exciting

 What was exciting, you ask?  This:

OK, it's a tornado.  What of it?

What of it?  IT'S IN MY HOMETOWN!  

Here are a few more views of it:

I'd heard about it, but it wasn't until I watched these videos that I realized how close it was to Beverly and James' house.  It's only about 2 miles from them -- and Judy and Bill, of course.  They're all OK, though, and even had a calf born during the middle of the storm.  Appropriately, they named him Tornado. 

There was another tornado in Lake Charles, LA.  Lots of damage, but my friends who live there are both safe.  Mississippi got a tornado as well, but the worst of the severe weather passed to well the south of where I live.  What I got was rain.  Lots and lots of rain.  

I emptied my rain gauge this morning, and it was completely full.  It only goes to 5", so I have no idea how much rain we really got.  Oh yeah, and it's raining again. It is supposed to get down into the upper 40s, but then I told you that yesterday.  

When I get started talking about the weather, I get all geeked out and sometimes can't stop. 

OK, I'll stop now...

Straight To Winter

It looks like I'm going to be cranking the ol' wood stove up this weekend after all.

I got out after work and brought up some wood, but I still need to get more.  I've been checking the FB yard sales groups, but right now, all the wood I see is a bit too rich for my blood.  One of them wants $250 per cord, PLUS a $50 delivery fee.  I can't do that.  I'm going to keep looking, though.  Sooner or later, I'll find something.  

Good thing is, I managed to get my vacation day straightened out.  I don't know what the issue was, but I had to go up to HR and get them to enter it manually, after getting my supervisor to approve it, that is.  I knew he would, because I'd already discussed it with him, so I'm good to go for both this weekend and inventory weekend.  

Now, if you know anything about our HR department, you'll know how difficult it is to deal with them.  When I told my friend I was going to run up to HR, she said, "Blessings be up on you!"  She knows...I was lucky, thought.  The least unpleasant one was the only one up there, and she took care of my problem with barely and attitude.   

So, one of my coworkers stopped our Director of Operations, and asked him why she couldn't have her cup of coffee in the mornings, and do you know what he told her?  No, of course you don't, so I'm going to tell you.  He told her that wasn't his decision.  That it had come down from corporate.  

In the famous words of Colonel Sherman T. Potter. 

I don't know how stupid he thinks we are, but I've got news for him.  Ain't nobody buying that lie.  I'm wondering how in the world he even got that job, if he can't even own up to the decisions he made.  I don't think he's going to last very long out there.

And finally, I leave you with one very comfortable kitty. 

 

Bosses Be Like

Bosses:  I can't seem to figure out why employee morale is so low, and turnover rate is so high.  I just don't understand... 

Also Bosses: 

Really?  You seriously can't figure out why nobody wants to work there?  Do you really think people are going to joyfully jump out of bed every morning and say, "Yay!  I get to go work myself to death for 10-12 hours, and STARVE while I do it!"  Not likely, buddy.  You'd think they would have figured it out when so many people walked off the job the day they first announced it, but no....

Me, I've got five years left until I can retire, and I'm trying so hard to stick it out, but they're making it mighty hard to do that.  

Oh, and by the way, one of the production managers quit recently.  Nobody is surprised.  He and his wife both had COVID last year, and he was very sick.  There was a point there when they didn't think he'd even survive, but he pulled through.  His wife had been battling a brain tumor, and she ...well...didn't pull through.  Nobody expected Boss to come back to work after that, but he did.  Even so, he just hasn't been the same since.  He'd been talking about moving closer to where his kids live, so I guess that's what he did.  He was a nice guy, and we'll miss him.  But I wonder who will be our production manager now.  

Also work related, this week was supposed to be inventory, and since I always work inventory, I didn't put in a vacation day for Friday.  Well, guess what.  They  postponed inventory for two weeks and didn't tell anyone.  That is so typical out there.  Nobody tells you anything.

I was standing there at my stand grumbling and fussing about having to work this weekend, when it occurred to me, hmmm, maybe I can move my vacation day.  I went and talked to my supervisor, and explained that I'd just found out about them changing inventory day, and wanted to move the vacation day that I'd already had scheduled for the new date to this Friday, so I can still work inventory.  He said he'd approve it, but naturally my  place of employment has to make even the simplest thing complicated. 

Back in the day, all I'd have had to do was to get two vacation forms, fill one out as a cancellation and the other out as a request, hand them to my supervisor to sign, and bada bing, bada boom, it's all taken care of. 

Nowadays, I had to go to the little box, request to cancel the day I wanted cancelled, wait for supervisor to approve it through the computer, then wait for HR to approve it through their computer so I can get my hours back. All this before I can put in the request for the new vacation day.  Sigh...

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my job?

Let's talk about something a little more pleasant, shall we?

As promised, here is the progress photo I was talking about yesterday.  

I was going to get out there after work and cut a little bit more down, but then, I just didn't.  I was tired and didn't really want to.  So, I came inside and watched....something, I'm not sure what.  Still, it looks a lot better than it did.  

My drywall patch has finally dried, as well.  

I had to put another thin layer of spackle over it, because there was a pretty significant crack down towards the bottom.   Once it had dried, I smoothed it a bit with my sandpaper, but not too much, because none of the walls in that laundry room are very smooth as it is.  I think I'll dig through my leftover paint and see what I have that I can use on those walls.  Whatever color I choose will certainly be better than that hideous green.  

Well, I guess I've bored you enough for one day.  Oh, one more thing, I started to set up my Kindle and record myself playing, but I've got to find a stand or something to put it a little higher.  I'm pretty sure you don't want to be looking up my nose while I'm playing.  And I've got to find a better way to light that corner.  I looked so white!

I'm not talking about pinky-beige Caucasian white, either.  I'm talking glow in the dark, death warmed over white.  That's not going to work at all. 

Eh, I'll figure something out.

Eventually. 

Sore

 First of all, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post.  I think just having all of you comment made my post more visible, because that one got twice as many hits as I've been getting lately.  Not that I'm all that concerned about being popular, but still, it helps to feel like I'm not just talking to thin air.  

Now that that little bit of housekeeping has been taken care of, on to today's post. 

Boy, am I sore.  I'm pretty sure it's from two days of hacking away at the privet I've been cutting out of my back fence.  I'd intended to get out and take a progress photo when I got home from work, but that didn't happen.  I got caught up in watching the cheesy Hallmark move I'd DVRed last night, and by the time it was over, it was already dark.  I was like, "Wait, how did it get to be so late?  Oh, yeah...you watched a whole movie."  

OK, it was 6:30, but when one gets up ridiculously early, one also goes to bed ridiculously early, so yeah, it was late.  

However, I am making progress cutting all that mess down, and I have felt it in my lower back all day.  

And I'd just gotten over being sore from my trip to Texas and back.  It's always tough riding with Cody because he does not like to stop.  At all. I think if he had a big enough gas tank, he'd drive all the way from Memphis to Texas without stopping once.  I've already told him I'm getting too old for that, and I need to get out and walk around every couple of hours, so my back doesn't hurt so badly.  He will stop if I ask him to, but I can tell he doesn't really like it.

Not to mention, he drives in the left lane the whole way, which drives me nuts...

On the way back home Monday, we got caught behind a wreck on I-55 just north of Canton.  It was pretty bad, and we were stuck just sitting there what ended up being right at an hour.  Cody was fussing, "Are they even trying to clear the road???"  I said, "It depends on if there were any injuries."  You can't just drag a car off the road if there is an injured person inside, you know.  You have to get the people out before you can move the vehicles.  

Anyway, traffic finally started moving again, and when we got up to where the wreck had happened, I saw a truck off in the left hand median with a pretty significant dent in its tailgate.  He'd apparently been hit so hard, his toolbox had been knocked completely out of the bed and was laying on the ground behind the truck.  On the other side, loaded up onto the wrecker was the car which had hit him, and suddenly, I understood why it took so long.  The whole front end of it was a mangled up mess.  I can't find any news articles about it, so I hope that means the driver is OK.  Up about 100 yards further up the road was a semi cab that looked like it had rolled several times.  There wasn't much left of it but an engine block.  I don't know what went on there, if they were all involved in the same incident or what.  

But, us having to sit there an hour meant I needed to make an extra pit stop.  Cody was not happy.  I mean, he stopped at a rest stop, but he didn't like it.  He says when he goes somewhere, he just wants to get there.  Me, I'm at the age where I want to stop and see all the things I've always said I'm going to stop and see, but haven't yet.  

I'll have to find me a travelling companion who isn't always in such a hurry, I guess.  

Don't Envy Me

Before I begin, if you are seeing this post in your FB feed, could you please make a brief comment on it?  Even if it's only to say hi.  My daily hits have dropped significantly in the last couple of weeks, and I'm wondering if you're not seeing it, or you're all just really busy.  Not that there's anything wrong with being busy...I'd prefer that to you all suddenly finding my blog posts boring...

And now, on to today's post.

You know you live a sad life when you get inordinately excited about getting a new sweeper. 

I've had my old corn broom for probably 25 years now, and it was getting pretty raggedy looking.  I saw a Swiffer commercial, and decided to splurge and buy myself one.  But it wasn't too much of a splurge, because I bought the store brand knock off.  Still, it does pretty good getting the dog hair up, and I may be inspired to sweep more.  It even has the wet mop pads, for like when one of the animals has an accident.  Or I do...I mean spilling something, not peeing on the floor.  

But look!  A new sweeper!  

Don't envy me my exciting life. 

Because I also bought a new card reader.

For some reason, my computer won't recognize my camera if I plug it in directly.  Probably because it's so ancient.  I really want a new DSLR, but not only am I getting more curmudgeonly in my dotage, I'm also getting to be more of a tightwad.  Ten years ago, I wouldn't have hesitated to buy another camera, even though I couldn't afford one.  Now, I have a little bit saved up, but don't want to spend it...so no new camera for me.  Not yet anyway.  

But I digress...I had an old card reader, which had gotten pretty worn out -- as in the cable/wire/whatever was loose.  Sometimes it would read, sometimes it wouldn't.  Even if it did, I had to hold the reader just right, and half the time, it would disconnect halfway through the download.  It was very frustrating.

The first thing I did after buying a new reader was go out and take a few photos of my flower beds to try it out.  It worked pretty well, once I got it all set up and everything.  Which mostly involved plugging it in and choosing a storage folder on my laptop. Very simple, very easy. 

Oh, you want to see the flowers?  OK, here you go:

My Petunias.  I moved them to the East side of my carport and they're doing much better.  I guess the harsh, afternoon sun was just too much for them. 

I'm down to one sad, lonely Marigold, and it doesn't look so sporty itself.  I guess I ought to give up on them, because I've never had much luck with them.    

My calibrachoa has no problem with the sun.  Their biggest issue is me forgetting to water them. 

My lantanas are really taking off, but for some reason, the orange ones are doing better than the pink ones. 

My zinnias.  Not much to say about them, because they always do well. 

And look!  One little bluebonnet is coming up!  

OK, moving right along.  My big project for today was to patch the hole in my laundry room wall. 

I got this repair kit, but I wish I'd read the package, because the little plastic patch wasn't quite big enough for my hole.  I made it work, but had to put a pretty thick layer of spackle on it to fill in all the gaps. 

The spackle turns white as it dries, so don't worry, I won't have a giant pink patch on my wall.  I'll have a giant white patch instead.  

I'm still considering painting the whole laundry room, but that's a big job and I'm not sure I want to get into that right now.  But still, a giant white patch is better than a giant hole in the wall. 

My next project is to start cutting all this mess out of my fence line:

I'll let you know how that goes.   

But for now, it's almost time for a new cheesy Hallmark movie.  Christmas is calling, and I must go.  

I only wish it were cold enough for some hot chocolate.  I guess nog will have to do. 

Dear Biden Supporter

 Do you remember back last November, right after your boy Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, and you sneeringly asked, "Where are all the Trump supporters now?"

Do you remember what I told you?  I said, "We're stocking up on foodstuffs and preparing for the lean times to come."  

Remember how you mocked me, right before you blocked me?  

Well, I have just one question for you.

Where

are

you 

now?  

I've noticed you've gotten mighty quiet here lately.  So, where are you now when gas prices have tripled and store shelves are empty, inflation is through the roof, and your kids' and grandkids' Christmas presents have been sitting in a cargo container on a ship off the coast of California for two months?  

Why can't I hear you anymore?  

Come on now, brag on your boy!  Say it with me, loud and proud!

Let's Go Brandon!!

*All photos were taken today, Friday, October 22, 2021 in a Mississippi Walmart. 

Moo!

My coworker has a grandson.  He is six years old and absolutely adores cows.  She told me she'd taken him to a local place called Bull Bottom Farms.  They have a pumpkin patch, and a corn maze, and all sorts of things for kids to do.  They also have cows.  My friend said as soon as he saw the cows, he got so excited and started calling "MOOO!" to them.  

Beverly and her sister Judy have cattle, so when I was down in Texas, I just had to walk out and take a few photos of them for my friend's grandson.   

I managed to lure this one closer by holding out some grass for her. 

I don't think she was too sure about me, 

but she wanted that grass, she did!

The first thing my friend said to me when I got back to work was that her grandson said, "Nana!  I want to go to where those cows are!"  That would be a long way to drive, just to pet some cattle!  

That's all I have for you tonight.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go practice my piano.  

There'll be a piano post soon.  I promise.  

See, I said it out loud -- so to speak.  Now I have to stick with it. 

Back To Work

 The first day back to work after a few days off is always hard, and today was no exception.  Getting up at 3:30 after sleeping in until nearly 6:00 was the worst, so I'm not too sure how coherent this post will be.  But I did want to share a few more photos from my trip to Texas.  

I had planned on going down sometime around Christmas, but I woke up Wednesday morning to a text from Cody saying he was going, and wanted to know if I could come.  Of course I'll come!  I'm always up for a trip back home. 

Since I already had vacation for Friday, all I had to do was make a quick call to the vet to make arrangements to board Jesse, and we were good to go.  Suzette, as always, accompanied us. 

For those of you who may be new to the blog and don't know the story of Suzette, I had a dear, dear friend named Suzie, who left us last year.  Suzie had multiple health issues, which meant she couldn't do all the travelling she wanted to do.  She was in end stage kidney failure and had to stay tied to that dialysis clinic -- among other things.  

A while back, she'd lamented that she missed going to fiber festivals and such, so at the last Fiber Fun In The 'Sip -- in 2019, before the pandemic -- I'd fixed her up a little gift bag with fun stuff I'd bought there.  It had yarn, and stitch markers, kudzu soap, and this little alpaca, plus a few more things.  After Suzie passed away, the alpaca was the only thing I asked to have back.  I named her Suzette, and now she goes with me on all the trips Suzie was unable to take.  

Anyway, the trip down was mostly uneventful, other than a brief traffic delay for a wreck.  I'm telling you, we certainly picked the right weekend to go, because cousins I hadn't seen in years were there.  This is Beverly's oldest grandson Steven, with all his kids.  

That's Hayden, Charlie, Decatur, Steven, Wendi, and Stormi -- who is a little camera shy. Wendi brought her baby Liam -- who was the hit of the weekend.  

Not only that, but Beverly's second grandson Richard came with his family.  

Here we have Stephanie, Richard Jr, and Lizzie (holding Addlyn -- who is Shelbi's), sitting on the floor.  Beverly and James in their recliners, with Astra (who is Anthony's daughter -- long story, and for a different day) standing beside Beverly, and Richard and his wife Sharleen in the back.  

I just realized I didn't get a picture of Diane, Steven's wife.  I have one of her back, but you don't want to see that, do you?  

I took these photos with my new Kindle, which actually has a pretty good camera.  The only drawback is that it doesn't have a flash, so it doesn't do so well in low light situations.  My phone camera is messing up, and won't flash unless I manually turn the flash on to take pictures.  That's one reason I kind of want a new phone.  The other is that I've had that one for nearly 5 years, and want a bigger one anyway.  

By the way, if you've ever seen the Matthew McConaughey movie The Free State Of Jones, Richard was an extra in it.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.  I've got a screen shot somewhere.  If I can find it again, I'll post it someday.  But not today, for it is now past my bedtime, and I must go. 

Laters. 

Home Again, Home Again

Cody and I are back from our quick trip to Texas, and as always, I wish we could have stayed longer. I'll be posting more about the trip in the coming days, but for now, I have to show you my new candles from my friend Kristine's shop.  

Once again, she knocks it out of the park.

Not quite sure who that Brandon guy is, but everyone has really been cheering him on lately...*snickers evilly*

The other candle is one of her Halloween scents.  I think it was out last year, too, but I don't rightly remember.  

Back to Brandon, this candle smells like vanilla ice cream and musty basement.  

It smells a lot better than it sounds.  Seriously.  It does.  

In knitting news, I got this far on my cowl while I was gone.  

I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to make it.  I want it to be long enough that whoever receives it can pull it up over her head -- which means it'll need to be about twice as long as it is now.  What I'm probably going to do is wind about 25 yards from the opposite end to make a square in my blanket, then just knit until I run out of yarn.  

In the meantime, here are some cousins just having a bit of fun.  

Cory is Beverly's great grandson, and his parents have talked about how he just isn't into sports and that they wish he'd be more active and outdoorsy.  Part of the problem is he doesn't really have any friends his age down there.  They moved to Texas just as the pandemic was starting, so he spent the first year there doing virtual school.  Now he's in school, but hasn't really made many friends.  There are some kids in the neighborhood where he lives, but Shelbi doesn't want him hanging around with them, because they'd be a bad influence on Cory.  Other than his much younger sisters, he's pretty isolated.  

When we were there in May for my mother's memorial, he got out with my nephews Joshua and Paul, and they tossed a baseball around.   Cory seemed to really enjoy that.  This time, Cody asked him if he had a football.  He said he'd get out there and throw it with Cory, but alas, Cory had no football.   So, what did Cory do?  He got on the phone and asked his dad to buy him a football, which dad happily did.  

The next day, Cody got out there and they spent all afternoon playing football, which tickled his parents to no end. Then Cory came in and Beverly and I helped him with a paper he had to write for school.  I got to tell him a little WWII history, which totally geeked me out. 

Him, not so much, but it did help him with his paper. 

Alas, all good times must come to an end, and it's back to work tomorrow.  Sigh...

Not So Great

 I finished the cowl I'd been working on, and decided I didn't really like it that much after all.

Eh, it wasn't so terrible, but it wasn't so great, either.  It was a little too long and thin for my liking, but I'm not going to re-do it.  I'll stick it in the gift drawer, and I'm sure I'll find someone who will appreciate it.  I'm hoping once I've washed and blocked it, the edges will stop curling like that.  In the meantime, here's what the stitch looks like. 

I like the way the stitch pattern looks.  I might do another one some day, but something less than a 216 stitch cast on.  

I apologize for the crappy photos, as well.   I took them on my phone, and for some reason, it's decided it doesn't need to flash when it's on autoflash.  I have to turn the flash on to get it to flash.  Every tie I open the camera.  It's a bit tedious.  I still can't get into the website to order a new one, so it looks like I'm going to have to go into town to the AT&T store.  

Anyway, back to my knitting.  I'm determined to get  a cowl done, so I ran and got the other skein I'd bought from this same dyer -- Ravenswood Fibers -- and caked it up. 

This colorway is called Flickering Flame.  She has some gorgeous colors, but the yarn itself isn't so great.  I find it to be very splitty, and there were several spots where one strand had broken or frayed.  I probably won't buy much from her any more.   Even so, I caked the yarn up and cast on a new cowl. 

This time, I only cast on 160 stitches, which I think will give me the size I'm envisioning, and am knitting a simple diagonal lace. 

Once it gets long enough for the stitch pattern to show up, I'll be sure to post photos. 

In other news, I bought the cat one of those beds with the mylar layer inside of it.  

So far, she's not too impressed with it, so I moved it to Cody's bed, where she likes to nap.  

And she still won't lay on it.  I figure once it gets a little colder, she'll appreciate it more.  

Speaking of, it's supposed to get cold again this weekend, with lows in the upper 40s and highs in the low 70s.  I'm thinking when it does, the cat might want to stay inside at night more.  The downside of the cooler, dryer weather is that my fingertips have already started drying and splitting, which makes piano practice very painful.  

I'm trying to remember where I put my Working Hands lotion...

And finally, Cody and I will be making a quick trip to Texas this weekend.  The doctor has told my cousin there isn't anything more they can do for her in regards to treating her cancer, and she has been put into hospice care.  We're going to go spend a little time with her, while there is time to still spend with her.