The Saga Continues

Just when you thought it was over, it's not over.  What am I talking about?  The saga of the baby sweater, of course.  

For those of you who don't know, my oldest nephew and his wife are expecting their first baby any day now.  Back when my sister first told me, I immediately whipped out a five hour baby sweater -- which in reality took way longer than just five hours.  

The knitting itself went pretty quickly, but as I hate seaming, the sweater sat untouched for a few weeks until I could work up the oomph to do the seams.  I finally got them done, but then ran into another snag, because I'd lost the buttons I'd bought for the sweater.  

After searching the whole house over multiple times, I finally found them down between the cushions of my recliner -- where I had also already looked, but hadn't shoved my hand down deeply enough -- sewed them on, then got it all packaged up and ready to mail.  The next day after work, I went to the post office...and it was closed because apparently nobody had shown up to work that morning. It would be four days before I went back into town and finally got the package mailed. 

It was supposed to arrive at my sister's P.O. box in five days, but when that day came and went and my sister still hadn't acknowledged it, I checked the tracking number.  It was still in Colorado.  Why?  Your tax dollars at work. 

I checked again the next day, and the sweater had made it to Seattle, WA, but spent three days wandering around Washington state before finally making it to Alaska.  Whew!  It was finally over.  

Or so I'd thought. 

A few days went by, and my sister still hadn't acknowledged the gift, but I didn't think too much about it.  Someone would pick it up soon.  I checked again yesterday morning, and they still hadn't picked it up -- and by that time, it had been sitting in the post office for a week.  

I'd wanted it to be a surprise, but at that point, I thought it was best to say, "HEY!  GO GET YOUR PACKAGE!", and that's exactly what I did.  I texted my sister and told her it was there, and she replied that they'd been crazy busy and no one had gone to pick up the mail, but she'd make sure someone would get it Monday.  I just hope the post office doesn't decide to return it before they get there!  

Hopefully, she'll get it tomorrow, and then the saga will finally be over.  And I can relax again. 

In other news, I'd decided not to get the roto tiller out today, but it just wouldn't stop calling my name.  I tried to ignore it, reminding said tiller that this was the day of rest, but it was very persistent, so I gave in and started breaking up some of the high spots the landscammer left in my back yard. 

I know it's hard to tell from this photo, but this is one of those high spots.  I've also decided that the other landscaper has forgotten me, so I'm going to have to do this the hard way.  It's going to take forever, but I want to get it done before the grass spreads too far, since grass tends to wind around the axle of the tiller.  

So I broke up a small area, then started sifting the dirt, and putting some of it into the ruts the landscammer left with his skid steer.  You know, the ones he didn't fill in because I didn't tell him they were a problem.

But Becky, why don't you just scoot the dirt over into the ruts?  Why do you have to sift it first?

Well, I'll tell you.  I think this landscammer got that dirt from a garbage dump.  Not only is it full of rocks -- which I don't want in my yard anyway -- I've picked so much trash out of it, like water bottles, broken pieces of PVC, and even bits of broken glass.  Not only that, the dirt smells like something dead.  I'd been accusing the cat of leaving a dead animal in the yard, but I never found one, so I can only conclude it's the dirt.  I don't know why on earth he would think anyone would want that mess in her yard.  

Not to mention, I never told him to spread dirt in the back.  He was supposed to spread dirt in the front -- which he did not do.  In a way, I'm glad, because I sure wouldn't want this mess in my front yard.  I mean, I don't want it in the back, either, but at least I can hide the back from nosy neighbors. 

Once the weather starts cooling off a bit, I'll be able to make more progress, but right now it's still too hot to be outside very long.  Before I put the roto tiller back up, just for funsies I went over the garden spot once. 

 There is something almost theraputic about running a roto tiller.  Just not through red clay...

That red clay, when it's dry it's hard as a rock, but when it's wet, it's an absolute gummy mess.  I was going to go over it twice -- once North to South, then again East to West, but by the time I got done with the first time, I was bushed.  

So I came inside, took a shower and caught up on Marcy's and Leann's latest flosstubes. 

I might cast on another hat here in a bit, but my hands have been so sore this last week, I haven't even felt like knitting.  Or writing letters, but it's OK.  I'll get both done sooner or later. 

And finally, I keep forgetting to tell you, I finished reading the second book of The Pendragon Cycle, Merlin, by Stephen R. Lawhead, and started the third one, Arthur.  I'm also finally past the halfway point in Ship Of Brides, by Jojo Moyes.  It's an OK book, but not really my style.  Still, I'm determined to finish it. 

In fact, I think I'll get off of here and go read another chapter. 

Laters.