Really? Seriously? Have You No Shame?

I’m BAAAAAAAAAACK!

Did you miss me?

Where was I?

I will give you a hint…….

Yup. NYC. The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. I will tell you ALLLLLLLLL about it.

Later.

But I just thought I would show you what happens when the progeny and I get silly. I am sorry.

I apologize in advance.

It isn’t pretty.

But we just couldn’t be stopped.

We were waiting for dinner. We were hungry. The Norwegian Chef (my BIL who is NOT a chef in real life but is Norwegian and a fabulous cook) was grilling the shrimp and salmon and lamb. Oh was it good.

Please excuse my double chin. It is hereditary.

And I had consumed vast quantities of lamb and bread and beer and fruit and cheese. I needed a subway car all to myself!

I will stop now.

I Will Be Right Back After This Short Break

Yes, I know that there should be a 7 Quick Takes here this morning. Or afternoon. Or whatever.

However, I am taking a few days off to do fun family things.

Things that might involve…..
Eating
Laughing
Eating
Being silly at the expense of my progeny’s sanity
Eating
Eating again
Doing stuff together
Taking pictures of us doing the above things.
Coffee. Does that count as eating?

I will tell you all about it next week after I recover from all this togetherness business.

Woo Hoo!

Managed to go out to the garden today and get some weeding done.

And was rained on.

But I persevered. I am strong that way. I don’t melt.

Usually.

The onions are happy. We haven’t ever grown onions before. This should be interesting. Can I just say that they are a booger to weed between.

The tomatoes are happy in their Indian graveyard.

Cherokee woman. Cherokee tribe…..

Sorry.

There is lettuce. Please ignore the weeds. I am trying to do that.

Oh Basil how I love thee. On pizza you must be.

The first planting of beets. Yum.

This is dill.

OK, this is actually dirt but there is dill under there. I know cuz I put the seeds in.

At least I hope it is there. I want dill fresh from the garden to put in my dill pickles which will, hopefully, be made with the cukes that are just sprouting. I didn’t take a picture of those because they are boring at the moment.

Ahhhhhh. Isn’t that nice.

Garden Repose

Well, this isn’t the garden update that I thought we were going to have. You see, I had planned to take some pictures yesterday of the Community Garden plot.

But I was thwarted.

Thwarted not by the man who insists on driving his van into the garden when it specifically says not to. Nor by the people who have YET to weed or plant in their plots.

No, I was thwarted by…..the rain. LookLeap and I got in several hours of gardening and we were making fabulous progress on some things when…

What was that noise? Was that thunder? Does it look a tad dark around here to you.

And then the heavens opened. And I ran for it. And I never got to take any pictures of the tomatoes and the basil and the beets and the beans and the brussels sprouts and…..

So we will have to content ourselves with what is happening here at Chez Knit. In between the rain drops.

The Day Lilies are about to bloom. I would think by next week we will have some. And that means that I will be spraying the burgeoning blossoms daily with stinky stuff so that the invaders from the woods deer don’t eat them.

The continual battle with weeds is waged daily. I just think it is rude of them to come back after I spend so much time banishing them from my kingdom. They have no manners.

All the plants that I divided and moved seem to be happy in their new locations. These little beauties are “Deer delight”, sort of like Turkish Delight….only for the deer. But not REALLY for the deer. They only think it is for them. So I moved it to a place where hopefully they won’t be so tempted to graze.

The basil is very happy. And if the basil is happy then Debbie is happy. Three plants in this garden and…..twelve more in the other garden.

LookLeap and I have basil issues. There is never enough.

Yes there is a gnome….or two in the garden. Are you surprised? Hello! Remember, I am the person that has a toilet bowl for a garden planter.

The bees are buzzing in the Spirea.

Max the Wonder Dog is on guard making sure that all is right with his world.

My favorite clematis is in full bloom. Oh how I love this one. And it seems to love me too.

There is coffee and bits of sunshine although more storms are predicted for later.

There are slugs crawling lazily across the…..

Wait just a cotton pickin’ minute here. SLUGS!

I. Don’t. Think. So.

There, now I feel better.

I Struggle

Sometimes I can find an endless number of things to do other than blog. And after you read this then you may wish that I hadn’t blogged.

See, I wrote those sentences and then decided that I would get up and do something else. After a few measly sentences. I wrote it. I thought about it. I got up and messed around with some things that I am cleaning out. I started a load of laundry (HHBL’s baseball pants that need to be soaked). Anything but blogging and putting words on “internet paper”.

I am struggling you see.

Struggling with many things.

Struggling sometimes to know what to say here. Does any thing I say have any relevance? Does it really matter if it does or not. Does it really matter that I am even here?

I am struggling with what I should be doing with my time. With my life.

Some days I struggle with just about everything in my life. I don’t care that my kitchen is dirty. I don’t care that the Hummingbird came to the feeder. Tears stream.

If you met me you might not know it. I usually have a smile on my face (except if you cut me off in traffic). I try to be nice. I try to be polite. I try to be productive. But I still struggle.

I guess you could say that I struggle with relevance. I know that I am relevant to God, that is one thing that I do not doubt. But it is all the other things that just sometimes feel like they are going to do me in. Most of the time it is pushed to the back of my mind and I just leave it there. But then there are times when it just comes roaring to the front and there is not a thing that I can do to stop it. I am overwhelmed and unable to cope.

Funny. Or not. I have reached the grand old age of 51 and I just don’t know what I am supposed to do.

What to do with my life. What to do with whatever talent I might possess.

I could read all day, take care of my house, experiment in the kitchen (my pasta primavera yesterday was KILLER), knit, garden, take pictures of stuff, mess around with said pictures. All those things.

But is that what I am supposed to be doing?

If it is then I would really just like some peace about that. If not then I would really like the Lord to open a big door and put out a big sign that says

Deb, THIS (with accompanying arrow) is what you are supposed to be doing.

But I haven’t seen the arrow or the sign yet.

And so I struggle on.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 121)

Greetings and Salutations. It is again Friday. A beautiful and sunny day so the weatherman tells me. I will take his word for it for the time being. And if it is Friday that means that it is time for Quick Takes. So sit back, take a nice big gulp of your coffee and lets see what has been going on. And after you are done with my blathering then click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of my bike as I ride down hill, over to Conversion Diary to see what everyone else is doing.

And now on to the blather.

And it will be blather because I lead a very boring life.

1.
Various things that I have seen on my bike rides and walks this week.

- turkeys
- one orange workman’s earplug lying at the side of the road
- more beer cans than I can count
- hawks soaring
- chipmunks playing “chicken” with bike tires
- various pieces of clothing discarded by the side of the road
- a used condom on my nice, quiet street (sorry). As my cousin Jon so succinctly said, “I guess your street wasn’t all that quiet last night”. So true evidently.

2.
LookLeap and I have more things now planted in the garden. The zucchini and cucumber seeds are now it. The peas are up. The first planting of green beans are sprouting. The basil is happy and we have decided to add 6 more plants. We like basil….a lot. The tomatoes seem to be happy but the broccoli is not. That is quite possibly because we put it in later than we would have liked do to the rain that never seemed to stop.

I will take pictures next week.

3.
Shoe Queen is finally coming home next week. Yipee!! Her job is finished until Fall, the new boyfriend will be off to Europe for a month and it is time for her to be home with us. She has been bunking at the Parental Units home for the last 6 weeks or so.

We haven’t met the new boyfriend yet so he doesn’t have an official name. We are told (by Mimi, Papa, TMO and TSiL) that he is very nice……

We will see.

4.
We have been having trouble with the frig for the last few weeks. It didn’t seem all that cold and that is never a good thing with a frig. Barely cool milk on my morning granola just isn’t right.

I turned the temp down as low as it could go which seemed to help somewhat. But not enough.

I had made sure that there wasn’t anything blocking the air flow vent at the bottom. THAT little vent cost me big several years ago when the same warming thing happened and the frig repair guy came, moved a plastic bag and then charged us LOADS of money for the privilege.

I was frustrated and worried and REALLY didn’t want to call the repair man. That always brings humiliation to me.

And then I went to get the asparagus from the back of the top shelf of the frig. The asparagus that I was going to have for lunch. The asparagus that was sitting upright in a container with it’s feet in some water and covered with a plastic bag…..

A bag that had blocked a vent that I didn’t even know was there.

And since the vent has been unblocked the frig has been lovely and cool.

But I didn’t get to have my asparagus because it was frozen solid on top.

Thank goodness I refrained from calling the repair guy.

5.
Strawberry season is upon us. And I am hoping to get out to pick some next week. I still have frozen berries from last year but they are fast disappearing because I am currently obsessed with making fruit smoothies. Oh how I love them.

And when I pick some strawberries then I am going to make this……

Strawberry Basil Fruit Leather

Oh momma I can hardly wait.

6.
P2P Training Update: Not quite as many miles as last week but that was on purpose. I woke up last Saturday morning, after having already logged almost 40 miles on the bike, and just knew that I didn’t have another ride in me. My body would have died at about mile 2. So this week I logged a few less miles but made sure that I walked at least two days. So the total for the week so far (not including what I will ride tomorrow) is 27 miles. But I feel great after my 13 mile bike ride this morning so I am making progress. The ride today: The Blueberry Hill of Exquisite Pain + The Chapped Buns addition.

7.
My heart is breaking today for my knitting friend Karen, who learned this morning that her son and grandson have been lost in a car accident. I cannot imagine the pain.

Because I Need To

Have I ever told you that when I am unsettled or crabby or what have you that the thing that makes me feel better is to……

Organize something.

I am not sure what I will do when I finally have all extraneous things deleted from Chez Knit. What if there isn’t anything that I can organize? What will I do?

You may laugh but actually there is some plaintive truth in that cry.

As it is, today I had to re-organize something that was already sort of organized. It wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I might have hoped.

But there are still things that can be sorted through and gone through and donated. I found a box of books that I hadn’t seen for a while. Paperbacks that I used to love but that really, in my heart of hearts I know I am not going to want to keep long term. As much as I would like to think otherwise I cannot keep every book. Oh how I would like to but I just can’t. I think I will spend some time reading through them before they make that trek to the local library.

I am just having one of those days when I really think I need to organize and clean out to maintain my sanity.

Of course I also need a big Wendy’s Frosty right about now too but that isn’t going to be happening so I will just have to keep busy and organize.

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

Musings on Biking

I am in a mood.

I am without major pithy things to say.

All I can come up with is a list of things that I like and don’t like about bike riding. That thing that seems to occupy more than it’s fair share of space in my brain at the moment.

Check back tomorrow and I might have actually come up with something a bit more exciting…..

Maybe.

But I can’t promise anything.

1. I think that there are not too many things better than a bike ride through our rural landscape early on a Saturday morning. Peaceful, quiet, misty, hot, humid. The sound of the wind whistling in my ears and the gasping for breath as I labor up a hill.

I was sort of exaggerating about that last part.

Not the gasping part because I certainly seem to do a lot of that but the fact that I might enjoy that sound.

2. I do not like the fact that I actually have to work at this. No I do not like that at all. I have had way too many things that have come easily in my life.

School? No problemo.

Gardening? Ace in the hole.

Having babies? I popped them out.

Organizing things? I am your girl.

But exercise? Oh for the love of all that is holy it is hard. I was born to be a couch potato with a book in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

But I suppose that is why it is good for me.

3. The best thing about a bike ride? The last downhill to the house. I pedal as fast as I can. I am like a horse that knows the barn is nearby. Home I go.

4. Sometimes the hill in front of you isn’t as bad as you think it is…..and sometimes it is much, much worse.

5. The more miles I put on the bike…..

The more calories that I burn…..

The more that I can eat during the day.

I like this aspect of biking a whole lot.

I am counting my calories these days, not specifically to lose weight but to break some eating habits that had gotten out of hand. If I know in my mind that I have to write down everything that I eat then I am MUCH more mindful of what I am eating. I can lie to others but I can’t lie to myself.

OK, I can lie to myself but I am trying not to.

And please do not in any way EVER think that I am dieting. That word, to me, is worse that the F--- word (name that movie!). I will never diet again as long as I live.

Thankyouverymuch.

6. When on a bike ride, especially early in the morning smells are greatly exaggerated. I have to say that I like this. I can tell that someone is doing laundry or baking or cooking.

I can smell the damp earth and the flowers that are blooming. The farms that we ride by are especially fragrant.

And that raccoon that has been sitting by the side of the road for two days?

Oh momma.

7. Often times I get to ride behind this……

I like that a lot.

8. I am not all that fond  of the diaper bike shorts look. But today I took the second bike ride in as many days without my diaper shorts and I can tell you that there are certain parts of my nether regions that are very unhappy with me at the moment.

TMI?

I only have one pair of diaper shorts at the moment and I haven’t finished the laundry. Sorry.

9. When I ride The ‘Hood that means that I am riding by myself and I need some extra help getting myself going. This is then the only time that I ride and listen to a playlist at the same time. I like to be able to be aware of my surroundings the rest of the time. But not in the hood.

And as usual the list is rather….

um…..

eclectic.

But you really shouldn’t be surprised at that.

I mean who wouldn’t get revved up by listening to Pink.

Monday

It is Monday.

I am tired.

There is a reason.

I stayed up way past my bedtime to watch the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat last night.

As a Clevelander it was my duty to do so.

I think this picture says it all. (h/t Jonathan Claytor).

Sorry. It isn’t good to make fun of someone but…….

For some reason I just feel vindicated.

I am bad.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 120)

Here we are again, gathered around the computer and catching up on the little things of the week. And as usual I am writing this on Friday because I have forgotten to work on it during the week.

Hi, my name is Debbie and I am a procrastinator.

Hi Debbie.

So, after you have zipped through my inane blather be sure to go over to Conversion Diary and read about all the much weightier and pithy things that others have been doing.

And now for the blather……

1.
Mark this down as one of the dumber things I have read about as far as food is concerned….

Caffeinated Popcorn.

Oh for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary!

Just brew yourself a cup of coffee and pop your own popcorn. Cheaper that is for sure.

At least that is what I do.

2.
P2P Training update:

I am not huffing and puffing quite so badly on small hills. And I am pushing myself as much as I can, which sometimes doesn’t feel like all that much.

With the addition of today’s ride (15 miles) I have clocked 39.75 miles this week on the bike (that is last Saturday to today). And I have biked a total of 119.5 miles so far. Not nearly enough yet.

Today’s ride was: He Said Moderate Hills…..He Lied.

AND I am actually anticipating, with happiness sometimes, my daily rides. And I think that is probably the biggest stride I have made since I took on this little “challenge”.

3.
We had to run the A/C for two whole days this week. Oh the horror!! It was 93F on Wednesday and it didn’t cool down past 74F overnight so, heck yeah, I am going to turn the cooler on.

HHBL doesn’t like A/C. He likes it hot hot hot.

Me…..

Not so much. Oh I don’t like A/C and I would much prefer to have the windows open than to have the house closed up. But, if it is too warm at night and we can’t get the house cooled down…..

Then I need the A/C. And I am glad that it is available.

4.
Oh one of my favorite 50’s Sci Fi campy movies was on last night…..Them!

Who wouldn’t love a movie that has giant ants who have mutated because of atomic testing and then go on to make a nest in the sewers under LA. Oh my word I love that movie. Giant mechanical ants menacing women and children.

I used to spend Saturday afternoons watching Sci Fi movies on the TV when I was younger. One of the Chicago stations would show Sci Fi movies all afternoon and I would stand there and do the ironing and watch to my hearts content.

That was when pillow cases still needed to be ironed. And handkerchiefs. Or at least that is what Mimi told me. But I guess it could have just been a excuse to give me something to do. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

But I digress

Another great movie is Day of the Triffids which actually has Howard Keel in it.

And there is the movie that I have never learned the name of but has stuck with me all these years. Something “bad” lands in the swamp outside of town but people don’t know it. But people who venture out of town keep showing back up later with a bandaid on the back of their neck and a different personality. If anyone knows the name of this movie please let me know.

Oh and then there is the movie about the giant spiders that are killing and eating people.

I may have to go on a Sci Fi film kick this summer.

5.
Oh, and regarding my ongoing battle with finding a little bike bag to put my cell phone and house key in…..

Strike out #2.

Returned bag #1 and bought a bag that attached to the frame and thought that was going to work. But I found this morning that when I pedaled the bike my right knee would scrap up against the bag. And that was just too plain annoying.

So it goes back to Wally Mart on Monday and I am just going to go with another solution.

GRRRRRRRR.

6.
On the gardening front we are making progress. Some peas are in and sprouting. Lettuce is coming up. Basil is in and happy. Beets are sprouting. The tomatoes look happy. We have planted our first bean seeds. The beds for the zucchini are ready as is the bed for the sun flowers. We are still amending and weeding out some of the beds that we just hadn’t gotten to…..but are making progress on that too.

But doggonit do people not read the rules for the garden? Apparently not because some guy had driven his mini van all the way into the garden to the end. Now right now it isn’t all that wet but I can tell you that after even a modicum of rain he will make the already existing ruts even worse. I took a picture of he and his van. Now the question is should I be an Upthight McTighterson and send the picture and complaints to the guy that runs the garden. Maybe. I have calmed down a bit and am rethinking whether I will or not.

After the ride today I did two hours of intensive gardening and I am just pooped. I left LookLeap in the garden hoeing away but I would bet she has had to stop because the minute that I got home the heavens opened and I only live a 10 minute drive from the garden plot.

Good timing on my part I think

7.
I cannot believe that I am going to say this but….

Thank you Dallas Mavericks (a team that I normally do not like). Please win one more and do it in a decisive fashion. That would make me fairly happy and I think…..

Nay I KNOW….

There are many fans in Cleveland who would be extremely and supremely happy.

Was It Too Much To Ask?

So we all know that I am “in training” to hopefully, maybe, if the planets align just right and my bahookie isn’t too chapped, ride the MS Pedal to the Point bike ride.

That just means that I riding my bike every day, rain or shine, up hill and down, with HHBL and without.

But I like to have HHBL along most of the time because, well, because I can look at this when I ride.

Yes sireeeeee! We all have to have some sort of motivation you know.

But I digress.

So when I am out on the bike, because I am a nervous nelly, I like to have my phone along….and kleenex….and gum. LOTS of gum…and the house key. And since the weather has quickly risen to be in the rather hot range that means that I am no longer wearing my little fleece vest in the morning. And no vest mean no pockets.

And so I decided that I needed one of those little bike catchall bag things that attaches to the underside of your seat. For all those little incidentals that a girl needs. How hard could it be to find one?

Famous last words.

All I wanted was this…..

That wasn’t too much to ask I thought. But finding this little thing turned into a driving here and driving there and driving everywhere sort of thing on a day when it was 93F by 11:45a.

Now I have a Wally Mart about 10 minutes from Chez Knit. But today I decided to go to Wally Mart #2 which is about 20 minutes from the homestead because I needed to go to the office supply store as well and there is one in that area.

I should have known that it wasn’t going to be a good day when they were all out of the specific thing that I needed at the office store. Fine. Back in Coco and off to Wally Mart #2 where I will get the other things on my list.

Or not.

Loads of stuff for the bike but the little place where the small “wedge” bags should have been was as empty as my brain after 9p. RATS!

So back in the car and drive 5 minutes back down the road to Target. Surely THEY will have it.

Or not.

The little place where the small “wedge” bags should have been hanging was empty. COME ON! What, did everyone in the area need one of these?

So back in Coco AGAIN. I figured that I would just cut to the chase and go to the local sports store which sits right next to my usual Wally Mart, you know, the one that is 10 minutes from Chez Knit but is now 25 minutes from where I am currently sitting in the parking lot grumbling and trying to remember what Pastor Joe said about patience last Sunday.

Over to the sports store I go. Stop in the bathroom first. Over to the bike area. YES! They have tons of these…but they are a tad more expensive than I was thinking to spend. Hmmmmmm. I know, I will walk next door to Wally Mart #1 and see what I can find.

So back out into the Sahara like heat to walk the 100 feet to Wally Mart where the cool WHOOOOSH of refrigerated air will overcome my rising annoyance. Walk to the back to the bike section and…

YES!!!! They have one. They actually have many styles. In fact they have the cool little one like my friend Sue has on her bike. But it is, inexplicably, $2 more than the bigger “wedge” shaped one so of course I go with the bigger yet cheaper one.

Purchase the bag. Drive home. Drop everything on the counter to go and put my new biking accessory onto Hi Ho Silver……..

And it doesn’t fit.

Oh for the love of all that’s HOLY!

Really?

Seriously?

So, tomorrow I will be going back to Wally Mart to get the smaller one.

Darn it.

Oh The Pressure….and The Sweat

Well, we have entered baseball season finally. The monsoonal rains have abated and the baseball fields have dried out and that means that Sunday afternoons are generally spent, for me at least, watching 48+ men play a little boys game with great enthusiasm.

Oh how I love baseball.

And yesterday was no exception. We went to church. We stopped at Wendy’s to eat a salad and to watch the drug bust and arrest that was going on, 20 feet away, at the gas station next door. OK, I am conjecturing about the drug bust thing but not the arrest. Handcuffs. In police car. And then the police literally turning the guy’s van inside out.

WOW! Lunch and a show!

But I digress.

So down to the ball field we go. HHBL’s team plays on different ball fields in the area. They are of varying mediocrity. Some better, or less worse, than others. Some have shade. Some have actual bathrooms rather than port-a-potties. I like those the best.

Yesterday…..no shade…..no bathroom only port-a-potty. But I am a big girl and so I persevere through it. And I make sure that I have hand wipes, extra kleenex and hand sanitizer.

I had myself settled in my lovely folding chair with the built in cup holder. I had my Nook out and was reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. I was taking the occasional picture.

I was happy if a bit warm as there was…..no shade…..and much sun…..

All, or should I say most of the guys on the team know that I take pictures. How can they miss that when I have that honkin’ big camera around my neck all the time. That it is not unusual to see me crouching down in the dirt to take a picture of the used ticket stub, or the odd baseball……

Or players feet and legs. It’s just the way I roll. Most of the guys just smile and run in the opposite direction. But poor John, who is new to the team this year, just stood there and didn’t know what to do when he caught me taking pictures of the baseballs through the fence.

Don’t worry John, you will get used to it.

And so, the time to start the game was fast approaching. I had slathered on my SPF 1000 sunscreen. I had my rapidly warming water at the ready. I had my score pad out and my mechanical pencil sharpened……

And then I looked to my left and saw HHBL approaching, something that I normally like a whole lot.

But….

He had something in his hand.

No, no, nononononononononononono.

It was the official team score book. The one that they keep the official, it counts for their stats book. The one that I have, until this fateful day, been able to avoid having to deal with.

The book that they mark….IN PEN.

Hey Deb, do you mind keeping the score book. We are short guys and we need someone to do it.

I look around. Surely there is someone else to do this job. Perhaps the umpire behind the plate wouldn’t mind doing double duty. Or that young man who is sitting on his bicycle. Yeah, he can do it. Or, or…..

Someone……

Anyone…..

No one?

Rats.

And so, I kept the official score book. And that of course meant that I made several egregious booboos that had to be scratched out….in PEN….because they can’t keep the official score book in pencil.

AND to top it all off it was FREAKIN’ HOT sitting there in the sun with no shade thankyouverymuch. And I had to go to the bathroom immediately upon beginning the game and that was really just because I knew I couldn’t get up and go any time that I wanted to. Thank goodness HHBL came to relieve me (har har) in the 7th so I could skeedadle to the port – stinky – potty.

And, oh my word, when I stood up to go to the little blue cabin in the field I realized that I had been sweating so much….because of the sun and no shade and no breeze thing…..that it looked like I had already GONE to the bathroom, my shorts were so soaked.

Oh lordy, do not look at me! Can I pull my shirt down far enough so that no one notices. Can I dawdle coming back so that my shorts dry and no one sees it…..no.

Thank goodness they won the game.

Scott I am SO sorry that you had to deal with that darn score book after I was finished with it. Who knows what the stats are going to be like.

In PEN.

Shudder.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 119)

Well here we are gathered together again for another addition of Debbie blathers on about nothing in particular only in short little pieces. Just like the regular content of the blog. Just remember to click on the pic above to be whisked, at the speed of my rapidly expanding waist line (home made crumb cake in the house), over to Conversion Diary to see what everyone else is doing.

And now on with the blathering.

1.
The dog has a stuffy nose again. I am not happy.

I noticed it yesterday.

I was going along with my day, doing the laundry, planning world domination when…

What is that noise coming from the dog? It isn’t stuffy dog nose is it? Please tell me it isn’t stuffy dog nose! Daggnabit! IT IS!

And I am SO hoping that we don’t have to go through THIS again.

I will be closely monitoring the situation.

2.
Do you know what this is?

I bet my father does.

If you guessed Poison Ivy then you would be correct. And I have to say, it is growing rather happily right in my front bed at the street. And it is also ascending the tree. And by the looks of it it has been there for some time and I just somehow missed it.

It is one of the prices that we pay for living on a piece of property that used to be woods. Well, that still is woods come to think of it.

And when we had the landscapers here several weeks ago to do things like edge the beds and put down mulch Keith, the head honcho says, “Oh look you have Poison Ivy in this bed.”

And yet it is still there. And evidently Keith conveniently “forgot” that the guys were supposed to clean out all sorts of stuff like that from the beds. And they also seemed to have “forgotten” to spray it with weed killer.

So I have taken care of it thankyouverymuch.

DIE Poison Ivy. DIE!

3.
This is my anthem, my inspiration. I am going to watch it before every ride!

4.
LookLeap and I have been able to spend some time in the garden this week as it has finally stopped raining for the moment. Of course, once the rain stopped then the temp decided to ascend to the stratosphere for several days.

Whine, whine. Complain, complain.

We did get the basil and Brussels Sprouts and tomatoes in as well as some other stuff.

No that is not an Indian burial ground although it does look like something out of the movie Jeremiah Johnson and I feel like singing Cherokee Woman whenever I look at it.

Those are our ingenious tomato stakes. PVC pile that I laboriously drilled holes in and then threaded the holes with strips of cloth so that we can gently tie up the tomatoes as they grow.

We stole appropriated borrowed the idea from one of the gardeners last year.

I am rejoicing that the tomatoes are in and that the temp is no longer Hotter than Hades with the humidity of the Amazon jungle.

I cannot promise that there won’t be more of these pictures as the days go by.

Sorry.

5.
This is what I made my momma for her birthday. I can show it to you now because she has received it.

Now I have to cast on one for myself in this fabulous blue color. I can hardly wait. But I do have to finish up another project before I do.

Or maybe I will just give into the temptation and cast on. There can never be too many projects on the needles right?

And I really need to have it done before attending the wedding of TFD and his lovely fiancee Rachel.

6.
P2P Update:
Not as much biking went on this week as I needed due to various circumstances. HHBL and I did do 7.71 miles last night. We rode “The Gradually Ascending Ant Hills of Doom” and I didn’t have to walk any of that last hill. So I think that is progress.

HHBL and I did a longer ride last Saturday, longer for me anyways. 14 miles! The ride name is “The Mennonites Whooped My Ass”. Sorry, I said ass. Part of the ride is a gradual and long incline that I really wasn’t all that aware of. I just felt that I was struggling more than I thought I should for a not too difficult ride. The truth became obvious on the return trip when we were zooming down hill for a good portion of the way. The thing about the Mennonite ride is that for part of it we are on a back road that is used by large cement trucks. That will put a racing stripe in your shorts when one of those things rumbles by going 50 miles an hour. Yeehaw.

Today, after my monthly prayer breakfast with friends I am taking a bike ride with my buddy Sue. I don’t think hills are involved. I am grateful beyond measure.

Oh and I must remember that it is not a good idea to eat Pesto Chicken before taking a rigorous bike ride.

Not good at all.

7.
We had babies come to visit Chez Knit on Memorial Day. OH I love babies. Their smell (most of the time). Their cuteness. The fact that I don’t have to keep them and I can give them back.

Jessica was most determined that she was going to sample his toes! Griffon was all like:

HEY what’s going on down there. Give it back! What is she doing? MOM!!!!!