Not a Regular Transmission.... but it's handy.. A Key Board hint.

What to do when your thumb is falling off....

I'll be resting my hand a lot more but this is is sort of neat and appropriate, if you can retrain your hand and head....

How to create a space, in your verbiage, without using the space bar.

Our thumbs simply wear out from all the stuff we are constantly subjecting them to, such as banging them down endlessly on a keyboard.   So, I went searching for solutions.

Here's one:
Turn on the NumLock key...hold down the alt key and type in 255..

Hey Presto! There is a way to use the right control key (Ctrl) but I haven't got to that one yet.

What I'm reading.....

Hey... I found the old Blogger posting window.  Yay Me!  😊  You just click on the Blogger symbol in the top left hand side of the composing window.  It looks cleaner and a bit old school but I like it better.


This is what I'm reading

Snagged it on the used books thinga on line.

I'm also reading an ebook: Michael Clarkson's The Age of Daredevils, as well as Thomas Cleary's translation of, Vitality, Energy and Spirit.

Reading can really help out the blues.  And I've been sick so that plus LOTSOFOTHERSTUFF... has kept me busy.

Maybe I'll see you all on the weekend.  I hope...  my head is splitting...ouch!

Tuesday Tails, Cat Saves little boy, and Wolfie goes to see the sister cats. Medicinal whining. Fotosketcher site

In case you were one of the three people who hasn't seen this video, watch a little kitty take on a vicious dog to save her toddler master, and his mother, from getting bitten repeatedly.  It's sad about the dog, but I can absolutely understand the reasoning.

Cat Save Boy Video

If the link goes down ( which they sometimes do) look for it on YouTube.

Thanks to DH for this video of an amazing save by a family's cat.

Wolfie went to visit his sister kitties recently and they got along very well except he is not allowed to get anywhere near the 13 year old.   She needs her Peace and Quiet, thank you very much!  Her name is Ophelia and she is the Queen.  She is too old to take kindly to area usurping canines, however well behaved.  We love her dearly.  Little Silvery Neva was not well, but she didn't freak out when Wolfie came into the room.  She did freak when Shadow, the Demon cat, came in. Shadow is so well named.  She who must be obeyed!

Wolfie loves the ocean and the Beach but we didn't have time to take him there.  This visit was only a week long.  Santa Cruz is much more Dog Friendly than San Diego is, for the beach.  I do admit that it's gotten friendlier, and there is always dog beach which is so crowded some days that it's scary.

No Dogs

From November 1 through March 31, dogs are NOT allowed on the beach between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. From April 1 through October 31, dogs are NOT allowed on the beach between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. At all other hours, dogs must be leashed. Owners are expected to pick up after their dog. Dogs are prohibited at other hours of the day, except at Dog Beach (adjacent to Ocean Beach) and Fiesta Island (in Mission Bay).

Lots of fun walks to be had with Papa.

I was, unfortunately not only recovering from Surgery, but also was suffering from an allergic reaction to an heart medicine, of all things!  Anyway, it's all sorted out for now.  I'm not willing to try any new medicine for ANY ailment again.  I will literally have to be dying and/or unconscious, and they will have to administer it without my consent!  Am I the only old lady that thinks some doctors just test things out on us?

Oh, something fun after the bit of a whine.  A friend sent me a site that looks like it could be loads of fun.  It's for creating paintings and drawings from you own photos, and it's free!  Hopefully it isn't a site that has forgotten it's manners.  Actually it is a site that probably should be inspected carefully.

Hope you enjoy doing special effects with your photos!  Picasa 3 is good but not THIS good!  OK, here is the SITE again.  It's called FotoSketcher.  It's lovely.  Thank you Suzie.

Am I happy?  You bet!

Except, well, I'll wash the mirror next time.  I love my Einstein Hair.

Fires and Fairy Shrimp, Horned Toads and little blue butterflies.

Written sometime at the middle of May, around the 16th, when it was 100 degrees and fires were everywhere.  In fact, on the way up the highway, we were witness to a brush fire being put out by Central Coast firefighters, along 101:

I"m going to blog a bit about my spot in the world.

It's been broiling, and there are fires burning where you just don't want them ever to burn.  We have drought hardy, dry as dust and very volatile native brush.  Right up against it are developments of houses that basically have created a desert for the wildlife.

All the mesas lands had, and some still have, seasonal formations called vernal pools on them.  Most of them have vanished under a Developer's bull dozer.   But the point I wanted to make is that these pools appear in the rainy season, and only then, and there are tiny creatures who live and have a whole lifespan based on that narrow span of time.  Tiny shrimp called Fairy Shrimp.

These little shrimp are not the only creatures dependent on the vernal pools,  There are several species of very rare butterflies who used to do a "mesa hop" across to the mountain areas where their favorite plants grow.   When these areas burn, most of these life forms, already critically endangered, lose out.  You have to really hunt to find a horned toad ( it's actually a horned lizard) nowadays.  My brother and I used to catch and admire them all the time.  Ask a kid now what a Horned Toad is, and they most likely won't know what you're talking about.

We can see all the human drama, and it is dire.  Sadly, I'm afraid we are in for more and more wildfires because of climate change.  And, because it's irresistible to build near beautiful open spaces, which are full of tinder dry brush, more people will lose everything they own to wildfires.  

Thankful Thursday. My Levi's fit!

Graduation is here, so I'm pretty busy.  I'm very thankful this time has finally come.

I hope to post a bit here from time to time.  I'm thankful this long awaited event  - 7 years - is finally here. Grace and Tender Mercies abounding!  Oh yes, Goodness me! My Levi's fit.  Both pairs.  Yay!  

Friday bits and pieces + Environmental Action takes on Smuckers and their GMO jammies. First White Crowned Sparrow

That would have sounded more Modern Media-like if I could have said, "IN" their GMO jammies, but alas, the formatting bits to do cross outs don't go as far up as the titles.

Read About it HERE

Environmental Action organized the first Earth Day.  That is Long term activism, eh?  I intend to put some bucks in their pockets.

Today we went to the Gym, I did pliés in all foot positions, three sets with ball rolling and, lord help me, some flies or something for the abs.  Everything is screaming but I got an A**kicking work out when all was done.  I think I'm keeping my trainer because she has shown me how to regain some of my grace in motion.  Don't get me wrong, I loved being a Marine, but now I want to be a Ballerina again!

We dug out some more Christmas doodads and hopefully will get things up and running tomorrow and the next day.  We watched two movies tonight.  "Into the White".  It's a Norwegian movie about when England and Germany were fighting over the resources in Norway.  If you watch this, remember it is a guy film but don't let that stop you.  I can't tell you very much about it or I'd give it away.  But if you feel dread it's justified, not from the five people who find themselves together in a hunter's cabin out in the middle of nowhere but from another source.  It is based on real events.  Bittersweet.

We also watched a Christmas movie that (now at the top of my "A" list) is sort of a thriller.  It is called "The Perfect Day".   It is the story about a man who writes a very personal first novel that shoots up from the floor to the top of the best seller lists and what happens to himself and his sweet family.   I love a good story with a little bit of seemingly magical things that happen as the days go on.  It's a bit scary for kids, or old ladies with heart conditions who nod their heads sagely at the dialog.

Bird report:  We now have a juvenile white crown in the Cape Honeysuckle tree.  I was thrilled!  The rest of the flock can't be very far behind.

Well, that's the day!  I've got some coupons lined up for the weekend!  You betcha!  Have a good weekend!  

Saturday Komeekz, Good Reads, skywatcher, tiny tribute to Nelson Mandela

Teacher of Righteousness, one of the few Truly Human Beings,  Goodbye to you, Nelson.  God Bless you, and thank you for teaching us how to Be truly Human, too.  Thank you for teaching us how to forgive and move forward without rancor.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Nelson Mandela


This is the cartoon I mentioned awhile back.  I finally excavated found it in one of my Swartz piles. 

I love Pickles!

Today's Saturday skies were grey and not as interesting as the week before, when the clouds spit out some drops, here and there, to tease.  See the tiny drops captured by the speeding vehicle's windscreen?

 
So, after teasing us for several days, the clouds bunched up and emitted some moisture!  It rained!  Wolfie got wet, which he hates!  DH got wet too, but he doesn't seem to mind it as much as W.  I think it's because DH doesn't have as much hair- not quite as much. hehe

Yesterday, after a shorter muscle grinding exercise session at fitness, we went to Michaels and scooped up some garlands.  The house is going to be very decorated, for the first time in years.   Today was the monthly book sale and look what DH found for me!  A massive Tome from Elizabeth George that puts me in mind of the size of A Suitable Boy by Vicram Seth, or And Ladies of the Club , by Helen Hooven Santnyer, both of which are real wrist breakers if ever there were wrist breakers.  Believing the Lie, I am hoping, is just as good a read as the two mentioned.  I always liked Elizabeth George novels until I realized that they had a horrid affect on my mood.  Sufficient time has passed that it may be this one will not make me feel like the world is chock full of psychos- ones not much different than  my paternal unit.

And there was this book, which is memoirs of  Ms. Atwood's time in Kenya.

Being a life long Californian, I seem to have a great affinity for stories, or films, about Africa.  I've read just about every book that can be found about that Continent, especially the more southern countries.  I think it must be the sun and the light that fills my imagination when I think of Africa.   Well, even the bad and terrible, to be honest, I've read it.

Last week, when Mr. Z and I were traveling back from a Christmas Do for a club we are in, I told him that if I had to be born again, which I hope doesn't actually happen, I would ask to come back to California.  That night, while eating salad in December, I said that it would be the foods that made me come back here, to California.  But, like an arrow, I would head for the Central Coast.    I'm not strong enough to live in Africa, I don't think, though I love the continent and the people very much.

Thursday... Thankful Thursday- Very Manic

I am so very thankful for Music, and especially the beautiful Canon in D by Pachelbel.



And, I am also terribly thankful for Flowers, all the way from the tiny ones on grasses, tall and small, to the great big beautiful Magnolia blossoms that are popping out all over the place on this second day of May.

Knitting report:

I started knitting the rest of the first sleeve -i think it was the sleeve - of the pink cardi, yesterday.  On Tuesday I actually did drag what I thought was the Manly/Beastly out of the house and took it all the way to Ceramics only to discover that I'd left the body of knitting at home, in yet another multi-colored, zipped bag.  ~*insert smilie tearing out it's own hair*~  All I had was the lumpy bag of skeins and the pattern, locked tightly to it's heavy metal cross stitch plates with various and equally heavy magnetic doodads.  I thought I had it all.

SCREAMMMSSSS!  The knitting trolls are living in my hair I tell you!

Today I'm making a manly necklace for my buddy but in the down time, I'll sooth my sore hands with a little knitting.  Or, perhaps, I'll just snoofle down er daintily eat some soothing chocolate covered ginger at tea breaks? 

The day at my sister's was good.  She, DH, and I shared lunch (I had my first EVER cup of noodles-not too bad but I like ramen with garden weeds a lot better), swapped recipes, and managed somehow NOT to talk about ANY thing political!  Last week, everything ended on a high note when she revealed that a sparrow was raiding one of her plants to snag some tiny twigs to weave it's nest, and, eh Presto!, today we got to see it happen.   So, the lucky little bird even got some snippets of  pink silk bamboo yarn off the skeins from Elle's sweater (which I had taken to knit on a bit).

I got the best picture of a BobCat actually working at a job site the other day which I'll share sometime soon.  That's the one in the "Not So Heavy Equipment" version of BobCat, and also not the fuzzy, wild one.  Yes, I still like tonka trucks, too.  The red and yellow cement mixer we saw on the Hiway was just a little too fast for me, and it was too big for the frame.  Missed the bugger!

Good night!  I hope you have a peaceful day tomorrow.  And one that is blessed with everything to ease the pain of being human and Hyper alert these days.  Take the time to breathe in and out as calmly as possible when you feel a "freak out" coming on.  That's what I do.  Love ya!  Pray for everyone, even the real nasties, who actually need it the most! 

Lots of Photos...Crafty hands, SkyWatcher Post, Arboretum visit, and first Woggy felting project

I made all photos small for ease of loading but make them bigger with a click...


 Crafting hands

DD1's Hands make a beaded bracelet

At Camp, DD4 makes the dotted egg

My first felting - yes, it's supposed to be an egg. Ha!

Cities have pretty skies, too, especially along coast lines.

Sunset in the City

Arboretum Proteas

Sunlight through Protea Flower

Plainer but did the bees love this one!

Ghostly White that must have been spectacular in Moonlight

 I'm sorry to say that I've not touched my knitting.  This is actually the coolest day we've had since we returned so that's my excuse.  I'm sprawling out with my books - The Lady's #1 Detective Agency re-read - and working in the garden.

Garden Report:

There are Lots and LOTS of new tiny succulent starts to minister to, and I dead headed the big Apricot Nectar Grandaflora (Happily, it LIVED!) and cleared away a very aggressive upstart of a scented geranium that the birds must have planted last fall.  I want it but I don't want it where it is.  I'll transplant it this coming winter.  It was headed for the Grandflora with a speed reserved for Giant Kelp!  You just can't have something going for a treasured rose!  You just have to put a stop to that level of floral aggro!  The rose struggles enough. 

Speaking of roses, I saw an unusually pretty rose in Trescony Park community garden this month. Trescony is called a Kid's Park and it really is a lovely small park for the little ones.

This beautifully shaped rose starts out bright yellow
Then it fades to this lovely white with pink edges.

 I'm sore all over.  Gardening and Fitness.  Chocolate here I come!

A day in the life of ....

Last night, after knitting in the thumb hole on the mitt, I put it away.  This morning I took it out again.  I cannot knit late at night anymore. 

This morning I dashed around after waking up late (because of being up half the night) so that the excursion force (Hubby) could be assembled.

First we went to JoAnn's to see whether all the patterns that I'd planned to nab were gone, and I was lucky enough to get them all, all three, and it was late!  I was surprised any Vogue was still there as they disappear fast!

The Sandra Betzina pants pattern had only ONE left in the drawer but I had no competition for it.  YayMe!    I also got a fabulous looking dress design by Sandra B. as well.  The hunt will be on through the stash for material suitable as soon as can be.   I know that I have a pretty big piece of browns and tans in a floral Challis.   But that is a lot of fabric in that dress.  It would be a shame if I had to BUY more fabric, y'know?  The many gored skirt is going to be made in the 3/4 length style.  I'm SO not into showing off my knee scar.

The pink polkadot box just grabbed me on the way to and from the pattern drawers.  I had to have it.  It spoke my language and had a bow on the front, what can I say.  My knees just went all rubbery, and I couldn't walk back past it with out snatching it up.

I  plan to spend the rest of my sewing days, after constructing a very special little girl's baby quilt, making carry-alls and bags for my  DDs, sister, nieces and Sista-friends.  I don't think brothers or nephews (or other guys) are into those things but I know that grrrls are!

The next stop was at THIS wonderful place.  Get Centered Clay Studio.  I got some Crawl Glaze, which will do amazing things, not quite the same as Slip Glaze, but I think I might be able to find that stuff somewhere.  The heart always hopes.   I think I'm going to love this place because I can get slab clay and other clay bodies there.  These were some of the pieces there.  

I got another wide angle shot of the whole wall in the entry part of the studio but with the camera that does clouds or flowers excellently but balks at indoor shots.  I'll put it up so that you can see how thrilling it was to step into this room.  But it's a crappy shot of gorgeous stuff.

Yesterday, while going through a box of stuff given me by my SIL, I found these:

OMG, Ponies!

Those, my friends, are a treasure:  48 Weber-Costello soft pastels.  I had thrown away layer upon layer of spent, too-old acrylics, and then saw that dusty box on the bottom.  I knew there was a Pony in that box! 

I will now curl up and go to sleep until any black (or mushroom) cloud goes away.   God help us, please, no mushroom clouds unless they are like the pretty ones in New Mexico just before a male rain.

Friday Fil in, for my DH

1. I knew it was love when...DH took me in his arms and we danced for the first time!

2. My heart can be broken but you always heal over time, and with the help of others.

3. A dog is a sentient being, and one that gives a person unconditional love even when they clearly do not deserve it.

4. My how you have helped me to change, my lovely DH.  You taught me that some people can be trusted with a human heart. ♥

5. Can you see the changes you've made?

6. And the love you gave me is the reason for them.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to resting and knitting, tomorrow my plans include clearing the ceramics table and shopping for frits and glaze body,  and Sunday, I want to go eat some fish and chips!

Health Update: That "thing" at the beginning of the week was "most likely a Coronary Arterial Spasm", according to the Cardiologist.

Sort of a "shot across the Bow".
So, I don't do "political" now.
Some doggerel to celebrate
Not being in a coffin, prostrate.

I will still talk about Healthcare, Animals rights, Human Rights, Heroes for the Planet, Walk with Beauty and Accidental Art, and of course, Knitting and Ceramics and any jewelry I succeed in making.  That should keep me busy enough.*

Anyway, sooner or later, because the people can't be bought and sold by any amount of money or for very long, we will have our democracy back and money won't be buying it so blatantly.  If you are ignorant, then educate yourselves.

My advice is this : Don't watch Fox News, and always, ALWAYS, read the fine print and find out who is placing ads trying to get you to believe things on an emotional level rather than intellectual levels.  Stop letting them push your emotional buttons.  You are not stupid, not at all.  You have good instincts, and you are intelligent enough to sort through all the lies and meet the truth face on.  I love you for trying!  Thank you!  The Democracy depends on all of us thinking our way through things.  God Bless you!

And as for me, I'm looking forward to knitting, sewing, painting, sketching- since Bizarro gave me a clue today! (thank you Dan) Yay!- and making lots of interesting flower pots and/or lamp bases which I will share with you all.

Yesterday we ate some amazing artichokes- huge and round.  I've never seen these types before.   They are good without anything on them.  Delicious!

*PS: Yes, I am still going to read that 2 foot high stack of books by my bed but I'm also going to paste a picture of "Earth in Space" on the wall above that stack.  The tiny blue dot thing from Carl Sagan's Video of that name.  Piss Ant stuff, ya know?

Three Months Today

Yesterday, I went back to exercise class. It wasn't too very hard a workout, very mild really, but today is payback day just the same. We all know about that and what it means. The leg hurts about as much as a nagging toothache. lol

Most of those I'd met there a year ago have moved on but there were lots of enthusiastic people and a good instructor who understands the limits of the over 55 crowd. My hip is a little sore but the knee is not quite so bad, yay! I'm not going to be using the pool, which is a disappointment, but I can't take the miasma of chlorine that is trapped in the air around that inside pool.

Thursday I went to see my sister for a few hours. She was just not feeling up to coming to spend the day here. I've been wanting to take her to the giant bead shop up the hill, but that will have to wait. I took along Jane's Hedgerow socks to knit.

After we left there we were supposed to go buy green-ware for the year. I've decided to try to make my own glazes, engobes and Crystal glazes, because I do know how to do all these things, and they are are over the top expensive!

Alas, I was so tired and stiff from sitting in a bad chair that we just came home.  A nearly three score and ten aged spine does not take kindly to hard chairs.   So it was the comfy chair for me and the little doggie, and we watched screaming brats turn into human beings while their parents learned to calm them down and act like Senior diplomats.  Who knew?

Today, Friday, which is now officially yesterday, (the clock struck midnight) the bike and the treadmill got a half hour each of my attention, and then it was off to the green ware sale!  I'll show you what I bought to tomorrow.  We found the cutest things! There were some tiny tortoises and "dwagons" coming out of eggs.  DH wanted that one.  Anyway, I'll have to start selling ceramics again if I'm not careful.

The knee still gets hot but it's doing great!  I have a very messy looking leg, it looks like it was skinned and then it all was put on again but I'm not into gams anyway.  At my age I just want them to get me from point A to point B with as little trouble as possible.

Oh and while we are on gross subjects, if you are bothered by those teensy black heads on your nose because the paper is printed with soy inks that love to get into your pores when you rub a tickling nose, just get some white glue, smear it on sort of thinly but not too thin, let it dry to clear, and peel it off.  If you keep after it, repeating several times and thena couple times a week thereafter, it's going to give you a nice smooth looking nose.  I used Aleene's because that's what I had.  And you all thought that craft glue was for wood, fabric, and paper! 

Yes, this is one of those weird late night posts that have absolutely no limits or structure and I do this without any sedative or liquor.  How's that for weird.?  And no, there is no knitting content AGAIN today.  But I got things moved in the studio and will be out there slogging away at my devils tomorrow even if it rains!  I love rain because it's the only time that good old Southern California is rank with green plants and the birds absolutely adore it.  Lots of tiny bugs to eat and itty bitty seeds.

Wolfie report:  He loves to come screaming around the house to launch himself at me across the gap of the sofa and the big comfy chair.  I've gotten very good at defending my knee from blunt force damage.  Hell, he weighs almost 16 pounds and is three times the size of Jasper.  The Wolfman can take rejection, he comes humbly back and flips over to pay obeisance to my Alpha femaleness, and then he's lots nicer and cuddly even.  I can see that he had to have been a somewhat  feral dog even when he was someone's pet!  I love him so much that I'd never hit him, just "push him in the face" when he gets too rambunctious.  We have slowly come to an understanding about how I am to be treated.

Flowers you may not have seen yet:

Flowers from Yesteryear

Weather Report:  We are getting some rain!  I hope that it's a good amount but not something like hit our poor Friends in Washington State.  In fact it was raining by morning.

Good night.  I really hope to find some yarns tomorrow in my excavations - to paraphrase Meff -  into the Ancient Zippi Civilizations.   It's been more fun than I thought it could be, though my archeological methods are not very scientific.  It's the layers you see.  I don't give a damn about the layers.

Nighty night!  Happy crafting and digging out!

How to make a tiny box from a christmas card

I know PJ likes to make boxes so here is another way that I've made little boxes for my creations. 

Starting with your favorite tiny box, flatten it out by opening the seam along the inside.  Find a pretty, old card that is big enough for the opened box to fit across.  Any card stock works, too.  This one is for a Christmas present, but any card that is heavy enough stock is good.

Carefully draw around the outside of the box with a sharp pencil.  Also, carefully draw in the fold lines as they will be needed, too.  After drawing the box make sure to make small hash marks on the fold lines, which you do not want to cut through!  Cut off and discard the bottom of the card - the words side. 

Here we are with the box all cut out.  I marked the words bottom and top on the flaps because they can't be reversed or the box won't fit together right.  Just make a mental note of where these are.

To score the lines you left uncut, so that the box will fold up well, use a steel crochet hook, or similar tool, in a small but not ultra tiny size as they tend to cut the paper fibers rather than crush them, which is what you want.  I used a 10.  With a quilting triangle or metal ruler, anything with a strong edge, lay the ruler along side the line and score it with the head of the hook.  Just do this lightly enough to crush the fibers so that they bend evenly and neatly along the line.  Practice on scraps if you feel more confident that way.

Here's the little box, all glued up and ready to use.  I did have to trim a little bit on the flap so that it fit inside the front but that's not unusual for craft where you are cutting along drawn lines.  The smaller the boxes the smaller the tolerances for nano inch size differences. 


I used tacky glue but you can close it with any thing from tape to paper stick.  a very thin line of Tacky Glue works the best, though you do have to stand there and hold the join for a short while.  Count to 50. hehe

There you go!  You have a sweet little box to put some ear rings or a necklace into and give away.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Now go make some awesome boxes. If someone else made a box, you can, too. Commercial boxes are the best patterns, too, so keep your eyes open for likely donor boxes. Most of all, Have some fun!

Childhood Memories, the good the bad and the monsters

I'm reading a book called My Old Man and the Sea.  It's an excellent book about a father and son who go around "The Horn" in a 25 foot sailboat called "Sparrow".  In it, one of the authors, the son, describes what happened to him emotionally when he decided he had to shoot his own elderly and blind dog rather than have her euthanized.  This brought my reading to an instantaneous halt. 

The Second Anniversary of Jasper's death passed on May 16th, and even though I cried a lot I kept my feelings to myself and my appetite intact.  I ate my whole allotment of chocolate for the week five days early as some sort of consolation.  DH came in from outside a few days ago,  and I thought he had been sneezing but no; he, tender heart, had came across memories of Jazz in the RV.  There was Jazz riding home for the first time, a tiny ball of fuzz, curled up in the passenger's seat, and there were the toys he always played with, his first and favorite was a little devil that he'd chewed to bits but still preferred over all others.

Only two times have I lost my appetite .. one when my mother passed away, and then when Jazzie died.

I had undergone a brutal training as a child specifically to not show - any emotions - no matter what happened anytime but especially at meals.  Our terrible father would hit my tiny 2 year old brother hard enough do knock him out of his high chair and give him a black eye, but I wasn't allowed to even react without receiving a beating myself.  I learned to keep eating, and to show no emotion.  I learned to swallow food almost whole.


My other little brother died when he was five.  I know Mother carried that sadness in her heart the rest of her life.  I don't know how people survive losing a child.  I do remember that Mom became terribly thin.  I think I know she felt trapped. 

My brother and I talk about things sometimes.  We were all good kids who just had a terrible father, and in a time that women had so few choices that it was destructive for them as well.  I rejoice that my daughters and I have had choices.

Video of tiny piglet pet

This is so sweet. It's late but I'm almost ready to shut down and wanted to leave something adorable for you all. HERE it is.. piglet pet. C/o my  DD Gee.

The scarf is coming along, and the sock is to the heel and is a really a pretty thing.  When I have the first few inches of the sock done, a picture will be posted.  It has a marled look and is a dream to knit on those little short fives.

My wrist is not getting well very fast but it's not a hip, a leg or some really serious thing just yet.  The doctor said it could take up to 6 weeks more to heal so I'm ok with that.  A couple of things about the scarf yarn if you try it.  It's not spun evenly, like regular superwashes.  So, the stitches don't come out with the same precision.  There are of runs an inch or two long in the yarn that are barely spun.  I think all this will work out in the final blocking and washing.  Though, it IS a superwash.  Just so you know this.

We are having quite a lot of rain.  This will be a wetter year than the drought years but by no means are we safely out of drought or water restrictions.  I'm going to go to bed now and listen to the rain.

My sister is finally thinking that she needs to get an exercise program and support group as well.  We will go explore what's available after the Holiday.  She needs to have her world be broader than the four walls she lives in.  I'm glad she is looking now instead of brooding.  She has started to adjust to the fact that this IS her life from now on.

Wolfie continues to be his funny little self.  We are so glad to have him in our life although it must be said that he had some big shoes to fill, as my brother-in-law was saying last Christmas. 

As we suspected, our cute, little mutt has all the earmarks of having been in a puppy mill.  We suspected that as there are a lot of mom and pop operations in National City and Chula Vista.  And Oceanside, and and and.....

Our friend's Shi Tsu, whom they got as a stray from the Oceanside shelter, was a lactating female when she was thrust out in the cold; the puppies were then probably sold through an ad in the newspaper. 

Here in San Diego, if the Humane Society gets too near, the people just let the dogs go and move away from the rented house.  Awful people.  We know of one other dog (puppy) that came out of Chula Vista and was sold to a clueless friend of ours as being a poodle, with two photos shown him that were off the "parents".  Poodles of course.  The dog is absolutely not poodle at all.

Reading the "allanimals" magazine article on how these puppy mill breeding dogs react to things just nailed it down for us. After that article everything pointed to only one history for this little fellow.

Blessings to all of you who read this.  And I wish you a lovely Holiday with much to be thankful for, though it maybe leaner times, we will make it through this.  Americans can be lied to, stolen from and cheated, but sometime or other the pendulum swings toward the truth regardless, and we start making our own communities work for us again.   

Sweet dreams!