Random Website Monday

The first harbinger of Spring...
there is a robin
(blogger ate my post and I lost my bigger shot of the robin)

Every Alaskan child gets to play in the water with the trucks.......

DM's socks
(the gussets are now started).

Was sunny but windy out today so instead of sewing- Bumpkin's and I went out to conquer the garden. Raked it up and got a HUGE pile of old dead grass (guess that is what happens when the garden goes to seed for 3 years). The ground is still frozen under it all and there was snow on the backside. The stuff that got raked up last fall was already starting to compost and the shrews had a heyday in that last winter. Digging tunnels, while looking for the worms. No wonder we had so many critters in the house last winter. There was a Denney's right outside the house.

Had training tonight, Bumpkin's went out to DM's and played w/Obi and Mackenzie. Got home after 10:30. Filled my tank up with gas and almost had a heart attack. $71.88 for almost 18 gallons (van was running on fumes). This weekend I saw a cool little moped that got 135 mpg- DH said that 40 mph wasn't fast enough for our highways. Bummer, that thing would pay for itself in gas in no time.

Random Website: DH's website. If some of the pictures look familiar it is because they have been posted on this blog previously.

Sunday Quotes

Even if you are on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers

(caribou crossing highway on our way home one night)

Knitting: Cast on for DM's second sock have 1.5 inches left to knit before the heel flap. Cruising right along on it. Cast on and knitted aprox. 6 inches on a scarf for my prayer sister.
Sewing: nothing, goal this weekend is to finish the tote for my "Snow melting contest".

Went grocery shopping today and milk is $3.88 a gallon. It is a very sad day up here when milk is cheaper than gas. (Hasn't always been that way).

Weather: warm and cloudy 52 F. All the snow from Saturday is gone what is left is the winter snow. Tomorrow will start raking the garden in preparation for burning.

Saturday Sky and yard

Saturday Sky
(yep we got some more snow).
The front yard this morning....
5 inches or more of the white stuff.

Another shot of the yard.
Before the snowplows were out plowing.

Knitting: Finished knitting and grafting toe on DM's sock, also picked up and weaved in the dropped stitches. Had a Ravelry knitting get together planned for this morning. But DH said that the roads were bad and that was at 6:00 this am. So instead we stayed home.

Have to go clean out the car so DH can run trash. Yuck.. and then sometime I need to go grocery shopping and the library. But with the gas prices, may just go shopping after church on Sunday. And have DH drop the DVD off at the library.

Two people are out of the contest for "when will the snow begone?" Kazul who guessed April 23 and Princess who guessed April 26.

Breakfast: Buttermilk pancakes. Some had chocolate chips and others had hot apple slices on top.

Dinner: Roast Chicken, mashed taters, gravy, peas/carrots, and buttermilk biscuits.

(I had this ready to post hours ago, but got the satellite lost internet connection).
Desert: how does an upside apple cake sound?

More Random photos...

The playground
Nikiski Community Center

Yard on Wednesday
April 23..

The yard at 10:00 am
April 25...

For once there was more snow at my house than at work.
Didn't realize that my earlier post was posted.

random photos

Sunset April 22 at 9:30 pm
(on my way home from work).

Blogger isn't being my friend and letting me post the most recent snow pictures.

Tuesday's Strange Stuff

The price of gas 2 weeks ago....
The price of Gas today.....

And Tesoro's Nikiski Oil Refinery
(I drive by it to go to work each day-
and the gas station is less than 1 mi away from the facility).

Knitting: couple more rows done the scarf.

More melting going on... there were swans out on the Kenai River flats when I went to work. But they were gone by the time I came home. Did take pictures of the geese but they were all blurry. The good news is the Snow Geese, ducks, Canadian Geese, and swans are back. Haven't seen any Sandhill Cranes yet.... so Spring is here!

Strange Stuff: Actually these "britches" are kind of cute.. not very strange at all.

Random Website Monday

Lifting off:Higher.......

and there you have it..

complete Lift off...

and the landing.....

Knitting: rewound Bumpkin's cardigan ( it is now 4 balls of yarn- there was a knot that had to be cut.) And because everything is so depressing- I cast on for a new item. A scarf using US 11 and 2 yarns. White fun fur and black acrylic. cast on 24 and am knitting it in garter stitch using the continental technique.

Thought that I had training so went out there... no training. Bumpkins and I had fun over at Nana's. Bumpkins got to take a big girl bath, she is so comfortable in water. Lays down on her back (ok so she covers her ears so water won't get in them), rolls over (complete w/getting soap bubbles in her eyes), kicks and splashes. DM's comp had some maintenance work done on it- hope that it runs faster now.

Needed gas- good thing I got it tonight. Tomorrow it is going up to $3.99 pg tonight it was $3.89, by the end of next weekend it is supposed to be $4.10 pg. And it isn't even Memorial Day when prices usually go up. There is no rhyme nor reasoning behind these latest price increases. Told DH that we should move to Indonesia because everything is cheap over there!

Random website: Some humor over at youtube..... and only an idiot would hold something while chickens pecked at it! And here the chickens are even more aggresive.....and again the bloke sticks his hand into the feeding frenzy.

Sunday Quotes

All things must change,

to something new ,
to something strange.
-LongfellowYes Thing 2 bleached his hair....
it was brown. Now it is gold.

Knitting: DM's sock.
the needle is marking the dropped stitch.

Bumpkin's cardigan...
It was to big so I frogged back an inch.

Knitting: After putting the cardigan back onto the needles- I counted out my stitches. And discovered that I had forgotten several of the increases! There aren't 123 stitches- only somewhere around 114. ARRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!! That means all of my projects that are on the needles require frogging! I am so frustrated! Want/ desire to knit but something that requires no thought or ripping out of stitches.

Weather: Sunny/cloudy ahhh.. Hazy! and 50 F. Had to go read Contest rules and it clearly states when the snow is gone from the yard surrounding the swing set. (Because today there is only patches of snow under the swing set).

Saturday Sky and yard

The snowman is gone!

There is still snow under the swing set.....
(Hmm.. does it count if the snow is gone under the swing set
But still has snow all around it?)

The camera took this picture of the blue sky.
(It was hazy and I honestly didn't know the cloud was there!)

First bike ride of the year!
Today's temp was 45 F.
(tomorrow will plant sweet pea seeds).

Knitting: have been busy! DM's sock only has an inch left until toe decreases.... that is until I found a dropped stitch (way back at the beginning of the gusset decreases!). Bumpkin's sweater has a partial sleeve- until I tried it on her. It is way to big! The underarm seam is almost to her elbow. So instead of frogging everything!
I turned to the sewing machine. And have started the prize for the "winter snow contest". I hope that whomever wins this will like it. Non knitters and knitters alike. At Kenai Fabric yesterday I bought a quilt panel and have just created an interesting item. Princess- where are those cool rubber buttons? I bought three of them several years ago and can't find them anywhere! Princess used one on a bag she was attempting to hand sew.

Well that's all for now.

Tuesday's Strange Stuff

Knitting: one row on DM's sock.

Long day at work. Got there at 11:30. Asked Nige if he wanted me to rotate out.. he said yes and then started to tell me the plan of attack for the afternoon. When a little girl came up and needed first aid. Welcome to Work! That took 15 min than it was time for me to suit up for lessons. Taught lessons from 12 to 12:45 then stayed in the water to guard the kiddos. More lessons at 1 to 1:45 then a fast shower (so fast the conditioner didn't get rinsed out of my hair!) and more guarding for a school group. Finally sat down at the front at 3:00. Wow the day went fast! Water Aerobics and then home at 9:45 pm. I am tired.

Lizard Birth:

If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for dead goldfish, the story below will have you laughing out LOUD!

Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet.

Here's what happened:

Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was 'something wrong' with one of the two lizards he holds prisoner in his room.

'He's just lying there looking sick,' he told me. 'I'm serious, Dad. Can you help?'

I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and followed him into his bedroom. One of the little lizards was indeed lying on his back, looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do.

'Honey,' I called, 'come look at the lizard!'

'Oh, my gosh!' my wife exclaimed. 'She's having babies.'

'What?' my son demanded. 'But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom !'

I was equally outraged.

'Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce,' I said accusingly to my wife.

'Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?' she inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!)

'No, but you were supposed to get two boys!' I reminded her, (in my most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth).

'Yeah, Bert and Ernie!' my son agreed.

'Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know,' she informed me (Again with the sarcasm!).

By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on. I shrugged, deciding to make the best of it.

'Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience,' I announced. 'We're about to witness the miracle of birth.'

'Oh, gross!' they shrieked

'Well, isn't THAT just great? What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?' my wife wanted to know.

We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.

'We don't appear to be making much progress,' I noted.

'It's breech,' my wife whispered, horrified.

'Do something, Dad!' my son urged.

'Okay, okay.' Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried several more times with the same results.

'Should I call 911?' my eldest daughter wanted to know.

'Maybe they could talk us through the trauma.' (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)

'Let's get Ernie to the vet,' I said grimly. We drove to the vet with my son holding the cage in his lap.

'Breathe, Ernie, breathe,' he urged.

'I don't think lizards do Lamaze,' his mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for G~d's sake.).

The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.

'What do you think, Doc, a C-section?' I suggested scientifically.

'Oh, very interesting,' he murmured. 'Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?'

I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.

'Is Ernie going to be okay?' my wife asked.

'Oh, perfectly,' the vet assured us. 'This lizard is not in labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen.
Ernie is a boy. You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into maturity, like most male species, they um . . um . . . masturbate. Just the way he did, lying on his back.' He blushed, glancing at my wife.

We were silent, absorbing this.

'So, Ernie's just just . . . excited,' my wife offered.

'Exactly,' the e vet replied , relieved that we understood.

More silence. Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.

'What's so funny?' I demanded, knowing, but not believing that the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless manliness.

Tears were now running down her face. 'It's just that . . I'm picturing you pulling on its . . . its. . . teeny little ' She gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more.

'That's enough,' I warned. We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard and our son back into the car.. He was glad everything was going to be okay.

'I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad,' he told me.

'Oh, you have NO idea,' my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.

Two lizards: $140.

One cage: $50.

Trip to the vet: $30.

Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie: Priceless!

Moral of the story: Pay attention in biology class.
Lizards lay eggs!

Strange stuff: A very interesting place to hold your yarn.

Weather: Snow (enough accumulation that sweeping off my windshield was necessary.)

Random Website Monday

Today was a hard day on the snow people population.......
A very busy day at the bird feeder.
We had Boreal Chickadees, Black capped Chickadees
Nuthatches.....
and this guy.

While I was airing out the house....
Athena discovered the bird feeder too.

The baby booties that will fit a 12 mos. not
3-6 mos like the pattern said.
(Athena was interested in what I was doing..
probably looking for catnip).

Knitting: Many more rows on DM's sock.
Sewing: Altered a shirt for DH's coworker. DH said he couldn't even tell where the repair was made. So I am charging $15.00. That'll pay for some new bobbins. And the rest goes into a piggy bank for Crafts. Need more knitting needles.... need more yarn.... need more material.... need time to do these things!

Anyone notice the clean tabletop the booties are sitting on? Well the sewing machine table got cleared off tonight as well. Put away patterns, threw mittens away that didn't quite make a mitten. Also found the pattern for Bumpkins cardigan so now the sleeves can be started.

Random Website: The snowman website.. Yes the "man" has a site of his own!

Sunday Quotes

"Sing a song of winter,
of frosty clouds in the air!
Sing a song of snowflakes falling everywhere."
by: N. Schlichter

4 days later.....
The Snowman melteth......

Finished! Finally....
The Scarf!

Knitting: Finally finished the scarf today. Even weaved in ends. It is only 56" long not 60" but DH likes it. Now to make a hat to go w/it and that is one gift done for Christmas. Also finished another Baby Bootie (still need to sew it together though). DM's sock has a heel and I am working on the gussets. This sock has had to be frogged back numerous times- this last time was because there was a great gaping hole before the instep. Not good, so ripped back 8 rows. Now my left bicep and wrist are sore... so no more knitting tonight.

DH brought home a co-workers shirt for me to mend. After ripping out the sleeve, realized that the whole cuff had to be removed, the shirt sleeve requires trimming before the cuff can be put back on. Tomorrow's project. Hopefully it goes back together pretty easily and I can get some money for doing this. I need to find a way to make $120.00 worth of items each week, then life would be very good.

Bumpkin's is getting so big. Today at Safeway, she told me that we were forgetting somepin. The somepin turned out to be juice... not just any juice either. Pink juice. So now we have a gallon of pink Tampico in our fridge (it is cheaper than buying a whole bunch of Crystal lights).

Weather: snow... and now I guess it is raining. (internet connection is very sporadic).

Weekly yard picture

"Hmm... less fries and more crunchers"

Snowman #2
only slightly taller than Bumpkins.
(making snowmen is hard work!)The yard Wednesday morning.

Bumpkin's out enjoying the snow....

Everyone went outside......

It is warmer in here!

So the snow is still lingering around.. especially with temps that are staying around 10 degrees F at night and 37 F in the day. Today is sunny- much like Wednesday.

Knitting: Finished the back of Bumpkin's cardigan (no pix), made a baby bootie (no pix) and have only 2 more inches left on DH's scarf!

Today is being spent on outings... This morning Mugz: for hot chocolate, cookies, tea and scones (knitting time w/a friend). Library: faster upload, books and DVD's. Swimming Pool: swimming and slide (playing with new friends... kids that I taught lessons to). Nana's: Lunch! and then grocery shopping. Finally Home for the rest of the day/evening. And maybe a chance to play outside in the snow- AGAIN!

Right now uploading at the library- but Bumpkins attention span is gone . So gotta' run.

Strange Stuff Tuesday on Wednesday

What this isn't strange?
It is cozy in here...

Knitting: one row on DH's scarf got done (while my gas tank got filled up). Gas is now $3.79.

Work was rough on Tuesday. I pulled a 10 hr shift- noon to 10 pm. There was a group of 60 kids that were in the water from 12:30 to 3 pm. At 3 my lessons started and they got done at 5. So after cleaning- I got to work on paperwork. Then 7:30 found me getting set up for Water Aerobics. And then at 8:30 in came 80 kids for a rental that lasted until 10 pm.

argg.. I am sick again. Sore throat, tired but thankfully no cough. So off to work I go.... only 2 more days of lessons. Than a school group and that is all until June.

Anyone else tired of winter? We got another couple of inches of snow last night. Visibility was bad and the snow was slushy, wet. Hard to drive in last night.

Strange stuff: Kazul mentioned this gardening container.. a down under planter (you need to scroll down to the bottom of the page to see it planted) and here is a link to make one for yourself. Think this item will be made here. Just don't plant a seed in it - some seeds will turn themselves around to find the sun.

Random Website Monday

Bumpkins first snowman.
(it is less than 5" tall).
I was informed that it needed a Hat!

Here is a close up,
the rocks are eyes,
the arms are on the back.
All done now?
NO! it needs someping...
Ahhh!
flowers for its Birthday.

Knitting: am now only 2 rows from starting Bumpkin's sleeves on the cardigan. Also have about 4" left to do on DH's scarf.

DH took the laptop w/him to work last night. So I sat down in front of the little tv and watched Battlestar Gallactica not the original series, but the latest. We are still in Season 1 of that- oh wow it is good though. Got a fair amount of knitting and laundry done.

Today was nice out and after errands, I took Bumpkins outside while the steaks cooked on the grill. She was outside for over a 1/2 hour and no the steaks didn't burn. Put them on the grill frozen and turned the flames down to low. She filled a bucket with snow and then dumped it out. Interesting picture: winter jacket, fleece hat, mittens, leggings, mud boots, shovels and a bucket. Yep and Alaskan child playing in the springtime.

Bumpkins did do a first today: Went on her first elevator ride (it scared her! the poor tyke started crying and we only went down one floor!) She is getting so big so fast! Her imaginary friend really isn't imaginary- it is her right pointer finger. Finger gets into so much trouble! After she stacks her blocks up, they get knocked down... "Finger don't do that! Finger knocked over my blocks". "Finger, go in time out". And some of my favorites "Finger took my glove off!" and "Finger did it". Just this last week the pointer finger on the other hand was named "Lolly". So now "finger" doesn't play nicely with "Lolly".

Wish I could take a pic of the moon tonight. Very pretty- crescent with just a shimmer of the rest of the moon behind it. Better start getting your seeds and soil together. Plant on the next full moon.

Random website: And for all the sci-fi buffs out there that no longer pay for cable/satellite tv.. check out this site. Sci-fi

Sunday Quotes

"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing..
is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."
Phyllis DillerAnd the first blue sky in days!
more snow fell over night.

Since I am now done with the alphabet- a new Theme was needed for Sunday. Kazul sent me 40 quotes for my Birthday and those will be shared with you over the next several months.

Knitting: nothing really new from yesterday. Did discover that I am 2 inches behind in a sweater CKAL, so that will be getting some work done on it.

Sewing: found a pattern for a handbag and sometime today will be printing that out. So that I can start for the handbag contest.

Something way cool happened to me... and you never know who actually is reading your blog. But the author of "the history of the snowman" Bob Eckstein read my blog and posted a comment! And yes I am basking in this moment for a time..
And since spring snows are wetter than the winter snows- this is perfect for snowballs and snowpeople. (sorry Kazul- no anatomically correct snowpeople from us!)

Breakfast: 1/2 whole wheat buttermilk pancakes some of them had mini choc chips and others had apple chunks. Topped w/homemade applesauce and cheap syrup. (Bumpkin's no longer says cancakes :(

Saturday Sky

Friday night at 8:30 pm.
(yes it is Snow)Last Night's snow shower left this

Mornings wonderful white landscape.

(the snow melted a lot this last week!)

And now my new work shoes..
Teva's ordered last Saturday from Sierra Trading Post.
Cost: $42.00 + sh
Regular price: $80.00
(They are even more comfortable than my worn out pair
that lasted 6 yrs!)

Knitting: have aprox. 7 inches left on DH's scarf. Princess is really getting antsy about her Itouch cozy. So that better be next on the semi fast list.

Finally it is the weekend and I can enjoy my time off. Last night the internet was down (snow) so after reading another very interesting book "the history of the snowman". I went to bed kind of early for me, midnight. Then DH called and needed me to connect to the internet... I told him it was down 20 minutes ago and I had just fallen asleep. Needless to say I got up to see if there was connectivity and what do you know.. WE HAD INTERNET! After restarting the laptop and getting online, I called him back and did an internet search while on the phone w/him. Gave him the info that he needed and then since I was up and the computer was on... I went online for few minutes. Needless to say that when Bumpkins got up at 8:15, mommy wasn't ready to get up. But I had to because she was trying to wake her Daddy up, he got off work at 8 am and made it to bed around 8:30. So today was spent grocery shopping, a 2 pack of Jiffy Peanut Butter is now over $8.00! And this afternoon we went swimming, Bumpkins went down the slide many times (no she doesn't go by herself yet)!

Tuesdays strange stuff

Knitting: did another row on Bumpkin's sweater. And two more on DH's scarf.

Another long day at work... again night supervisor. I have to be careful on how I move/twist my upper body as one of my ribs likes to roll. Well I have done just that- twisted in the wrong way and now my rib is very painful. I taught water aerobics like that too. Maybe tonight it will go back the way it is supposed to be.

The book "Saxons, Vikings and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland, by Bryan Sykes" is extremely interesting. I could easily just sit and read that for quite awhile.

Strange Stuff: Now what to make w/that root beer and carrots. Seriously I kid you not! And because I like links with pictures this one seems appropriate for today... a doorstopper.


ETA: Link to the book "Saxons,Vikings and Celts".