Mother's Day

This is what my beloved son gave me.
He says that I don't have enough pretty things. He also took me out to dinner at Pizza Inn. He asked me if he could borrow some money to pay for it.


I was so full from stuffing myself with pizza, that I sat on the sofa all afternoon and knitted another hat. Slowly but surely, the stash is getting smaller.

I also undertook another big project--decluttering my house. I got way too much stuff. I can't even get my closet doors shut. So I drug everything out, and am going to start sorting through it. Fine time to start something like that when I've got company coming in a month. Yes, Carole is coming down for my black belt test. I finally got a date for it by the way. It will be June 17th. I'm getting shaky just thinking about it.

Stormy Skies

A Sketch

A real, honest to goodness sketch. I was sitting there at work yesterday on my lunch break, when suddenly I was overwhelmed with the urge to sketch something. So I grabbed an old component identification sheet and my trusty Mainstays ink pen and dashed off this pear. Complete with oil stains and everything.

Kind of makes me want to find my trusty sketch book...

Another Hat

I finished this one last night. This one is the adult size, however, I think if I make more of these, I'm going to make the ribbing band longer. The pattern only calls for 6 rows of ribbing, but on a hat this big, it really needs to be more. They really knit up fast , these hats do, but I'm getting kind of tired of them.

So I started a scarf.

I got the lace pattern from my 365 Knitting Stitches a Year calendar, and just added a stockinette stitch background and seed stitch border.

While digging through my yarn, I found a skein of pink worsted weight that wasn't on my Stash List. It is enough to make a little hat and possibly a matching scarf for a little girl. I know I said I was getting tired of hats, but I think I need to get started on this one...

A Full Rich Day

Today we had what is known in M*A*S*H episodes as a full rich day.

It started about 2:00 in the morning, when the storms started. They were some bad storms too. High wind, buckets--no lakes of rain, hail. The works.



I was awakened by the storm, an while laying in bed wondering if my house was going to blow away, I heard a little voice call, "Mom?". Thinking he was calling from his room, I got up to check on him. I opened my bedroom door and there he was! Gave me quite a start. I guess he was getting me back for this.

I got him settled on the couch, after he told me he thought the hail was going to come through the roof. To which I replied, "Well, it never has before." Ok, ok, I could think too straight at 2:00 AM. I looked outside, and we were getting about marble sized hail. However, a co-worker told me it got to golf ball size at his house.

The storms continued for the rest of the night, and I never really got back to sleep. I dozed a bit, but didn't really sleep. Unfortunately, the alarm went off at 5:15 as usual.



When I woke Cody up to get ready for school, I discovered he was broke out in hives. I gave him a Benadryl and sent him back to bed. I went on to work as usual.

Around 9:00, a commotion ensued, and to our dismay, it was storming again. I looked out the receiving dock doors and it was so dark, it looked like night time outside. The storms hit again around noon, which only added to the shock when I got off at 3:00 PM and walked out to bright blue skies and sunshine.

I got home to find a couple of good sized limbs down in the yard,

but no real damage.

We're supposed to have a couple of dry days, but more rain by the weekend. I think my house is going to float away.

I went into the office at work today, and put in for vacation for the rest of the June weekends, since I don't know when the test will be. If you wait too long, the days fill up and they don't let you have them. Once I find out the date of the test, I will cancel the other weekends.

I felt obligated to explain to my shift supervisor why I was requesting every weekend in June off. When I told him about my black belt test coming up, he said, "Black belt? You do karate?"

I replied, "Yes, I've been doing it for three years."

He said, "So if anyone jumps me in here, I should call you and not Johnny Lindley."

I answered, "That depends on whether you want him took care of, or just hollered at. If you want him hollered at, call Johnny. If you want him took care of, call me."

You have to know Johnny Lindley.

What A Time

to get a groin pull! A month before my black belt test, I have to go and pull a groin muscle. It actually happened Thursday night in class, though I didn't notice it until Friday. I was doing much better until yesterday when I ran through my kata. When I got to the jump kick in Chinto, I thought I'd ripped my leg off. It ended up worse than it was when I first did it. So now I have to take it really easy when I should be preparing for a shodan grading!

I still don't know when the test is going to be. Sensei is going to try to call Mr Worbington tomorrow and let us know something Thursday. James says if they try to have it June 10, he isn't going because he wants to go to the MKA tournament. He's the one who's been fussing about having to stay a brown belt for so long, and now he's going to skip his shodan grading for a relatively minor karate tournament. DUHHH!!!! I doubt his dad would let him do that anyway. I just need to know so I can get the day off of work, and so Carole can make her flight reservations.

A couple more honeysuckle pictures. This stuff is everywhere!

When I was growing up, our back yard fence was absolutely covered in honeysuckle vines. The flowers must have numbered in the millions. During the summer, we would be out there every day sucking the sweet nectar from the flowers. Unfortunately, we didn't leave enough flowers on the vines for them to get properly pollinated. Each year, the vine dwindled in size and the number of flowers, until it finally died altogether.

You might say, we sucked the life out of it.

Feeding Scarlett, Round 2

Scarlett got her second liquid feeding this evening. When I tried to get her to open her mouth, she pooped on my leg. Though it may sound gross, it is a good sign that she's still got some spunk in her. I gave her a smidge more, about 1.5 CC this time. It's a good thing, too because some of it spilled out of her mouth. Not that much though. We'll get this thing figured out eventually.

On the other hand, my cheap $20 amel hatchling moved up to fuzzies this evening.

New DAUB Sketch

I finally got around to doing another DAUB sketch. Of a bottle this time. It isn't quite symmetrical, but pretty good for a freehand sketch. It wasn't hard, and didn't take but a minute or two, so why am I so unmotivated to do these drawings? Could it be that the book is just uninspiring?

Scarlett managed to keep her meal down, though she did something strange. It looked like she was trying to regurge a couple of times Saturday afternoon. Nothing came out, though, not even liquid. I asked on the cornsnake board about this, but no one has answered yet. But she still managed to keep her meal down. This is cause for hope, but she is not out of the woods yet. She still has to be able to eat whole mice and keep them down before I relax. She'll be on liquid meals for the rest of this month, at least. This will give her time to build her strength back up. And I'll gradually increase the amount of food I give her by something like 1/2 CC every other feeding until I get up to 4 or 5 CCs. Maybe. I'm still playing this by ear.

Sensei finally called Mr Worbington to get our black belt test set up. He should have done that months ago. Anyway, Mr. W. nixed the idea of doing it at that seminar (thank you!). There is another lady who is ready to test for her nidan, and they want to do her test the same time as ours. She won't test anywhere but Greenville. Sensei is still requesting June 3. Hopefully, I'll know something soon.

I Got Poop!

from Scarlett. But no regurge as of yet. Forty three hours, and so far so good. Keeping fingers crossed still.

No Post Today

I didn't get much sleep last night, so I doubt I'd be coherent anyway. Going to try to get to bed early tonight.

Feeding Scarlett

I gave Scarlett her first liquid feeding tonight. I boiled an egg and mixed the yolk with the jar of baby food chicken that I bought the other day. I mashed it through a tea strainer then thinned it with some water. I divided it into 1 CC, 2 CC, and 4 CC servings and froze most of it. What was left became her meal for tonight. Well, part of it. I started her off with ony 1 CC. I thinned it down with some more water, added a generous amount of Nutribac, and the medicine the vet gave me. Getting it into her was a bit more of a challenge. For such a little critter, she was surprisingly hard to hold on to. Cody helped me and we managed to get her fed. Now she just needs to keep it down. Doing that, I finally got a good look at her. She does appear to have lost a little weight, but she is no where near skin and bones. If she can hold down this liquid meal, there is hope for her yet.

I told sensei tonight that James and I needed some attention. We have a black belt test in less than a month, and neither one of us feel ready. He responded with his usual, "oh, you'll do fine." So I said that we feel he is brushing us off when he says that. He said, "naw, naw, it's not like that." I replied, "but that's how we feel." And it is almost like we've become invisible in that class. He needs to be letting Barrett and Josh teach the regular class (they are brown belts, after all) while he works with James and me.

He's still planning on having us tested June 3. There is going to be some seminar in Oak Grove, LA that weekend, and he was going to have us tested there. But after class tonight (!) he finally called Mr Worbington and he told sensei we needed to test in Greenville. Mr. Worbington is going to call around and see if enough of the board can be there then. I'm glad, in a way. I'd pictured us at this big seminar in front of a huge crowd of spectators making fools of ourselves. The crowd would then laugh at us when we didn't get promoted.

There is another lady who is supposed to test for her nidan, and she refuses to test anywhere but Greenville. As it appears, it may just be the three of us there.

I'll let you know.

A Baby Hat

I go this one done last night. I really like this pattern, and will probably use it again.

Why The Air Smells So Sweet

Honeysuckle

Gas Lamps

There is something enormously comforting about the soft glow of a gas lamp. When I was growing up, nearly all the houses in my town had gas lamps in the front yard. It created such a warm light, not like the harsh glare of an electric bulb. I loved riding in the car at night seeing the lamps lit up, like a candle in the window, welcoming those far and near.

But slowly, one by one, the lamps fell into disrepair and were removed. Now only a few homes have them. This one belongs to a neighbor down the street from where I currently live.

And you know, I don't think it's even gas.

The Last Hat

This is the last hat from that particular yarn. This is the smaller size, and as you can see, I had enough left over to make pom poms for this hat and one other. I've now found another pattern, and have started a new hat.

Ok, about Scarlett....I've been posting over on Cornsnakes.com about her condition. This morning, I got this post from Kathy Love.

So sorry you are still having problems...
4 regurges are A LOT. I normally would be really guarded about the prognosis after that many, but the fact that she is still healthy, strong, and in good weight gives hope yet for a recovery. Also, the fact that she did very well until the feeding of 2 pinks is
a good sign too. Since you already have tried just pinkie heads without success, I would go to a few liquid feedings via syringe, along with Nutri Bac. I would use cooked egg yolk (no sense in adding more Salmonella than she already has!), meat baby food, or a cat food pate', or some mixture of those. Strain them through a tea strainer to make sure they will go through the tube, adding a little water to make it go through a little easier. If she is hatchling sized, I would give 1 cc of the mixture (with a pinch of NB mixed in). More if she is bigger. Sit down and put her tail between your knees, holding her upright in a vertical position, and keep her vertical for a minute or two after the feed so it doesn't come back up. Have a friend help if you need it. Repeat every 4 days or so. The liquid should be very easy to digest. If she can't digest even that, then she has some serious problems and the vet may need to do some cultures. If she digests it ok, then keep it up for at least 2 or 3 weeks (with a good pinch of NB each time) before trying another pinkie head. That should give her some strength and maybe get her digestive tract back in balance a little. If you can't find a feeding tube online, maybe the vet can help. If you are nervous about tube feeding, maybe the vet can demonstrate, if he feels it is a good idea. As long as you avoid the opening in the bottom of the mouth (where the snake breathes), and keep it vertical for a minute or two, it should be pretty safe. What you are doing isn't working, so unless the vet has a different treatment, you are likely to lose the snake if you continue on the same treatment plan. BTW, I have never found bloodreds to be particularly susceptible to regurges, although each family line may be different. Hope it helps - let us know what happens. Good luck!

__________________Kathy LoveCornutopia.comkathy@cornutopia.com

Now, if you're not involved in the cornsnake world, you may not have heard of Kathy Love. Let me clue you in...

Kathy Love is one of the top cornsnake breeders in the world. She and her husband have been breeding cornsnakes for some 30 something years, and are responsible for many of the new color morphs out there. For her to answer my questions is like Bill Gates calling you personally if your PC crashes. My first thought was, "Wow Kathy Love!!!" But I shouldn't think that way. She is not like that. She has answered many a call and e-mail about cornsnake problems--not from me, but from other members of the cornsnake keeper community. My second thought was, "FINALLY!!! Some practical advice!" I took it, too. I found some feeding tubes online and promptly ordered them. I paid the extra for priority mail--though shipping only totalled $5, and stopped by the store on the way home and bought some baby food chicken. I already have eggs in the fridge (I don't know why, I can't eat them), and the Nutribac she mentioned. If this doesn't help Scarlett, well, it's time to begin thinking about putting her down.

You can read the entire thread here. I don't think you have to register just to read, but I'm not sure.

Now, on to more entertaining news....

One day last week, James and I were texting each other on our cell phones. At one point, I tried to type in "YUP", but the autocomplete on my phone spelled out "ZUR". I thought it was funny, so I sent it on to him anyway. He thought it was funny, too, so he sent it on to some other people, including her. She didn't think it was so funny, because when she got to class, she told sensei that James was sending her vulgar things on the phone and harrassing her. Totally rediculous behavior...(Good thing we didn't send her "riddledats".)

Yesterday I sent James the following message:

"Zur! Zur! I'm harassing you! Zur! Zur!"

He responded with:

"Stop! Stop, or I'll tell sensei!"

To which I responded:

"Zur! Zur! I'm not gonna stop, and if you tell sensei I"ll cry!"

Such silly people we are...