So anyway, It is Eye Camel Friday (and it should be pretty fun!)

Oliver has gone looking for new friends (being as that I am not necessarily that best one available). He thought he would look for what kind of friend he would like by looking through some old family photo albums that are available for him to peruse while I am working at the gallery.

He thought that this little character would work. It's a little baby goat. Goats are pretty nice friends. I explained to him that goats are really smart. (he thought this was good because he could use a smart friend) I told him that they can be sneaky and get into all sorts of trouble (Oliver would like a friend that he could sneak around with-and he would really enjoy finding some trouble) Then I explained to him that goats like to eat pretty much anything. They are great for eating down thistles and weeds that other creatures don't like because of those teeny tiny little lips. (Oliver thought, "Hmm . . . alright-they're good eaters) I told him, "They also like flowers and trees (wood) and fence posts (wood) and gates (wood). "
(At this point Oliver started to get a little worried about making friends with a goat). I told Oliver about how one time our goats got out and decided to chew down two ornamental trees in front of the house - - which caused them to become permanently disfigured. (Oliver thought, "I don't want to be permanently disfigured. That doesn't sound like fun at all.")

Anyway, Oliver is still on the lookout for a new friend.

In other news, it's my birthday tomorrow and I am looking forward to it a lot. We are having a bonfire out in the pasture and inviting a few friends and family. (Now, to run home and get the house looking good, so I can rest tomorrow!)

I've been US-ed

I went in for the exciting ultrasound (US) this morning and I don't know anything yet. They don't let the ultrasound person tell you what they see because it might be "confuse me." (Whatever that means) And being that they didn't let me look at the screen-I have no clue what could be up. Now, I get to wait until after the 4th of July because my doctor will be on vacation until then. After all of this gets done, I will have an appointment with a GYN in mid-July. I don't know if that is the way it is around where you guys live, but that is one thing I wish could be better in rural MN. It seems like you have to wait days or more just to find out if something is wrong with you even though there are well trained people who know what they are looking at that would be able to tell you what they see on the screen. Grrrr . . . In the mean time I will pretend that I am a-ok and all that.

Anyway, on to more interesting news. I happened to meet Karen today. She blogs near me and was at the Farmer's Market in Cokato (near me, too) as I happened to be passing through yesterday. It was only a very quick meeting because I had to get to a free Yoga class (my first time going to yoga) that the choreographer for a musical that I was going to be in (more in that in a minute) teaches. He told the entire cast that while that musical was going on he would allow us to come to his classes for free. I had kind of wanted to try it out, so I went with a friend of mine. Anyway-Hi, Karen. (Oh, and she knows my husband's uncle)

Soooo . . . I was going to be in a local community theater production of Fiddle on the Roof, but now the entire production was called off. We just found out that the company that owns the rights to it isn't giving them out at all because there is a national touring company doing it right now. (Although, I have searched for it and can't find where it could be touring at all and it seems that there are other smallish theaters doing local productions around the country, hmmmm) Anyway, we shall have to see what happens with that. They are going to be having a meeting tonight to discuss all the options. (Golly, I'm a little rant-y today)

Well, that's what has been going on with me. Now, for something more nicely calming. Ahhhh . . .farm pictures

It is nice to come home to things like this when you have days that aren't as nice as you would wish. Home Sweet Home!

It's Wednesday and things could be better

Wow, what a downer title, but I feel a little sad right now. I have to go in to see the doc's tomorrow to have them do an ultrasound of me (nope, not pregnant-not in the least). So I'm a little scared of what they might find.
I went to my local doctor this morning and they ran a bunch of tests on me to make sure that I was alright and all of that came back like I was good. Of course they have to run a couple more yet that we won't get the results for until the end of this week. So far my blood is all normal and stuff like that, but yuck, I don't like having to have doctors poke me all over.
Well, now all I can do is wait and see what is up with me.
Yuck, I hope this will be done and over with soon.

I've been working in the (Garden) all the live long day

. . . . . I've been working in the Garden just to weed, weed away
Can't you hear the mosquitoes buzzing?
Rise up so early in the morn.
Don't you hear the husband calling?
"Put your bug spray on!"

Pardon the leg shots here, but I've got some little welts pestering me to no end. I suppose I should always wear shoes and socks, but golly I don't like to wear anything but sandals in the summer (well, I usually try to remain fully clothed as well ;o)

Last night I had to water the garden and the mosquitoes came out to bite me as I was spraying everything with the hose (our 2 year old pup chewed our sprinklers up last year-I just got a new one today at the hardware store in town)

This morning the mosquitoes weren't too bad, so my mom and I went up to the local berry farm (Dassel Hillside Farm on HWY 15-they always have great berries, but I think their season will be done this week because it has been warmer than normal around here) to pick berries at 7 am. We got a nice bunch of them and I'll need to clean mine when I get home.



(and in a rare Monday cameo appearance) Oliver is quite happy with them. I guess that they are his favorite. (We have quite a lot in common, I've come to find out)



Mmmmmm . . . . .Berries!!!!
(This is just a small fraction of what we got-4 ice cream pails this morning and I am hoping to get back there later this week for a couple more pails)

When I got home I decided to weed the peas out in the garden. They are staked up with some old cattle panels (thick wire mesh fence). Some of the edges of the fence are a bit sharp, so as I was getting done with weeding one row I decided it would be fun to see just how sharp they are by grazing my arm against it all.



I have a nice 3 inch or so scrap along my arm now. Ahhhh . . . the simple life!

Well, thankfully I am here at work now in air conditioned comfort. My husband is at home bailing hay. He's a good, good man. I think I'll try to get a strawberry pie made for him tonight. (I'll have some of it, too-even if I am lazy-bones compared to him!)

"The Best Things Happen When Your Dancing . . ."

Well, I have to tell you I am truly a total girl. There is a new dance studio opening up in my town in August and I can't wait. We've never had a dance studio around here-I think the closest one is half an hour away. There have been community education classes, but they are all for kids. I hope that I might be able to get into some adult classes. (I always wanted to be in dance class when I was younger, but never had the opportunity.-Okay, actually I got to be in a ballet class for 6 weeks when I was in 6th grade and it was some of the most fun I ever had.

In fact, years later, my dance teacher from that class was the choreographer for a play I was in and she remembered me. I'm not sure if I was that bad or just was one of the most excited girls in the class) We will just have to wait and see how it all goes!

It really is Eye Camel Friday!

Oliver has been a little upset of late that I haven't been able to get around to taking pictures of him out and about. He has been trying to gain a few friends that are closer to his own size that can relate to him better. He found a couple friends on some notecards and was hoping that they could be able to go out on the town with him, but, since they are made of paper and scared of blowing away in the wind, they had to stay inside.



He is hoping that I can bring him somewhere really fun soon, but his hopes aren't very high. He didn't even get to come on the camping trip last weekend like I had promised. Poor, poor Oliver. He didn't get to learn to ride a bike or go swimming. :o(



He would also like to learn how to make some pink socks. (Camels love pink) Sadly his little legs are too stiff to work sock needles. Maybe Denise or Isela could put up a little loom knitting tutorial for wooden pack animals. (I mean there must be thousands of little wooden animal keychains out there just wishing they could knit.)



Hmmm . . .I have an idea Oliver is going to make me take a run to JoAnn's for an itty-bitty loom.

Happy Tuesday, to you all!

Hello, it's Tuesday and that's kinda fun, I guess.

We went camping this weekend down at Lake Louise State Park on the Minnesota/Iowa border and had a good old time. My parents, oldest brother and niece were there, too. We did some bike riding and some swimming and sat by the campfire.

This trip was my niece's first camping trip and she had a fairly good time (she was ready to leave by breakfast on Monday, though). If she didn't have to hang out with adults the whole time it probably would have been even better. At least there was a resident kitty at the campground that she made friends with and there were also a few other elementary aged girls that were there part of the weekend.

I have a couple little strips of sunburn on my shoulders (where my tank top slipped away from my sunscreen (does that even make sense?)), but other than that it was a nice weekend for Dan and I. My mom made all the food, so I had very little work to do-just play with my niece.

More on knitting stuff later-and maybe some pic's of the weekend. I have to get them off of the camera first!

Eye ummmm . . . . not Camel . . . . Friday!?

Well, the camel is here, but there isn't a digital camera (it's gone camping). The camel will be camping tomorrow, but the digital camera already left. Anyway-this means there there is not a camel picture.

So, in lieu of a camel we will resort to some other really nice looking pictures!!!! Yippeeee!

Glacial Lakes State Park near Starbuck, MN. If you enjoy riding horse or going for pleasant hikes, this is a great place to do all that stuff. (I imagine there is a lake (being as it is called "Glacial Lakes") for swimming here, too, but we have normally come here to do horse camping) It is nice and prairie like with rolling hills and prairie grass (and pocket gophers).

Our old Aermotor Windmill. It is one of my favorite things about our home.

In knitting news:
I have finished the back of my dad's vest, two pocket linings, and have started the left front.
I did not let the missing size 1 needles deter me-I am just about about done with the gussets of the sock and should be starting the heel within a bit for my Jaywalkers.

STILL MISSING!

2 size 1 clover bomboo dpns
Last seen on this sock earlier this week.
Not seen under the couch or in the couch.
Not seen in the Tahoe.
Not seen in the gallery.
Not seen on the kitchen table (where most lost items reside).
Not seen in my hair or behind my ear.

Suspects:
The husband
The dad
Those cats
The dog?
Gremlins?
My disintegrating brain that can't remember where I could have put them (most likely)


Be not afraid, dear friends-knitting will go on with miss-matched needles, but it will go on!!!!!!!!

Why, why, why?

Okay, so my Jaywalkers were turning out to be a little big, so I ended up ripping them back entirely. Now, they fit much better (I'm already to the gussets and ready to start the heel), but I keep losing my size 1 dpns.

Why? I have no clue.

So the other day I brought the socks (sock, whatever-it will eventually be two socks when I finish the first one) into work thinking that I might be able to work on them. I wasn't able to work on them then, but I did have time when I got home. I got it out to work on it and I couldn't find the fifth dpn (they become a teensy bit hard to work on when you don't have the correct amount of dpns), so I took out an old metal size 1 dpn that I was able to find and knit with that for the evening. Then, yesterday, I did the same kind of thing. I put the sock and needles in my bag brought it to work-didn't work on it at all- and brought it home. I looked for the loose dpn when I got home and I had lost another one. No clue what happened to it at all.

I've looked around the house thinking that maybe I never put the loose dpn in my bag, but I can't find it (hmm . . . maybe the cats are messing with me and I should look under the couch). I looked in my truck under the sits, in the seats, and all that, thinking that perhaps my bag wasn't always upright and the little bugger slipped out. Not there. I looked this morning here at work next to where I always set my bag. Nothin'

It's a conspiracy I tell you. I think my husband, my dad, and the cats must be in on it. They're telling me that I need to not knit when I should be doing other things.


I mean don't these photos show that these people (and cat) are pure evil:

Dan as a child-the uncanny evilness already abounded in him. Look at those crafty, scheming little hands. He was already thinking of stealing knitting needles. (that explains why there aren't any needles at his parents place)


Sure he looks friendly enough, but he really wants me to finish his vest rather than working on socks that he'll never get to wear.

You certainly can't trust this fellow. He doesn't want me knitting-ever! He just wants his belly rubbed and would like me to make him fried chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

They are the meanest bad guys ever and they must be stopped! Knitting needles beware!

Eye Camel Friday!!!!! Whoopeee! (and some other stuff)

Well, it has come again and Oliver is reeeeeal excited about this one. Okay, maybe about as excited as normal (I'm not really sure because his expression never changes from the one he had when he was originally carved out. Strange, huh?)

We went outside today as one of the many trains that pass in front of the gallery came by, so Oliver decided to sit in one of the flower boxes and watch.

Can't you just see the joy in his little camel eyes?


It's a real train hauling coal. WOW!
(By the way, did you know that down closer to the Twin Cities yesterday there was a train derailment. The train was hauling coal, too, but on a different line. I suppose that we will be having even more trains coming by for the next little while until they fix those tracks.)


The whole thing was very interesting to Oliver, but he is thankful to live outside of town where the sound of the train whistle doesn't wake him up in the middle of the night. He needs his beauty sleep. Train whistles sound nice from a mile away, but when they're just down the block they can sure be bothersome. Just ask the people who live along the tracks.

Here are a few more pictures from around the neighborhood.


Dan (in the back) and my b-i-l heading out onto Butternut Lake for a quick go around.


One of the prettiest views around. I love to walk up here and just look out onto the lake and the fields. (The local volunteer fire department also sends their weather spotters up here because you can see bad stuff coming in real easily from this point.)


This is "Scared Little Kitty." He, or she, (actually it's more likely that SLK is a she) doesn't really care for human company, but puts up with us as long as we don't get too close and keep food in the food dish.


This is Barney (you've already seen a picture or two of him, I think). He's named after Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith Show and he used to have a sister named Thelma Lou, but she didn't make it. You see, when you live on a farm, there are times when people decide to randomly drop off little kittens. This has happened to us a few times. That is how we have our two (not so) male (anymore) cats, Norman and Barney. Norman came to us about 4 years ago in the fall as a very tiny kitten. He had a sister and a brother, too (Squirt and Herman), but they also didn't make it. Barney and his sister came to us 2 years ago in the fall. I get quite annoyed with the people who drop these kittens off with us. (If I knew who they were, I would try to tell them a thing or two about how to make sure they don't have kittens on their property that they don't want) Both times this has happened the kittens have been too young to leave their mothers, so we have had to go to the vet and get milk replacer for them because they don't know how to eat regular cat food. Plus, at this age they are extremely susceptible to disease. Norman's siblings were a little weaker than him and died from either distemper or another cat ailment (they had probably already been exposed before I was able to get them their shots) and Barney's sister just couldn't figure out how to eat.

. . . But I have a real soft spot in my heart for animals (especially, kittens). I guess it comes from being the only girl in my family growing up and playing by myself most of the time. One of my favorite things to do was to go down to the barn in the summer and find the little nests of kittens in the haymow. I mean, I like dogs, horses, sheep, rabbits, gerbils, mice, and the list goes on and on, but golly-gee-whiz cats are a whole lot of fun.

Well, anyway-have a good weekend!

The Sun is Shining and Things Are Getting Done!

Hey there, just thought I would let you know that I was able to go get some cool pictures this weekend and that some knitting has been done!

First-knitting

The Vest

The Sock

Now, for some fun pictures from Butternut Lake and my yard.

I went for a lovely walk on Saturday morning (between the rain showers) with Dakota and we had a fun time taking pictures along the way . . .

Rocks at the boat landing area

Dakota taking a little dip.

Along the edge of Butternut Lake we found a whole bunch of wild roses in bloom and I took a ton of pictures, but I'll just show you a couple (Do you like my new header by the way?)

I sure do like pretty little wild roses

I mentioned a while back (I think) that my mom and I had planted our garden (in my back yard). Everything is coming up well (including the teeny-tiny weeds that I need to till up when I get home tonight) and I am looking forward to fresh veggies this summer. (Oh, I had better get up the stakes for the peas or they're going to start vining onto nothing.)


Well, hope that update wasn't too boring-sometimes when I have nice pictures I can't figure out words that can truly describe things well, so I just will have to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Eye Camel Friday (in the rain)

Well, this will be a quick Eye Camel Friday.

Oliver looked outside and noticed that it is raining. He had wanted to take some pictures by the wild roses that are starting to bloom, but we didn't take them this morning when the sun was still shining. That will have to wait for another time.


He was a bit disappointed. Especially since he missed out on picture taking last week, . . . .


. . . . soooo he decided that he would like to take a picture with the bright pink geranium in the window. We are hoping that the sun will shine again tomorrow for some pretty pictures.

In knitting news, I'm to the heel on my jaywalkers and am just about to the arm holes on the vest. I'll probably do more tonight since I can't be outside all night.