What’s nice about having a needlework project that lasts all year is that you don’t have to figure out what to make next or buy a lot of yarn (I have bought a little, but mostly from friends). And what’s nice about my Temperature Blanket projects is that every week and month is different, so I get to see new patterns emerge. But it’s relaxing at the same time—I can do it and watch television, etc.
November
As you can see, I finished November tonight. At the end of each month you have to make a lot of black squares and do the border. Then you have to join blocks together.
October and November
You can see October had some hot days, but cooled down towards the end, while November had much cooler days, as indicated by greens and even blues in the center. That last day, with the green outside didn’t get out of the 40s, which is cold for here.
It’s still chilly and damp, as evidenced by how the mama and baby cattle were huddled up by the trees this morning.
I keep thinking I’ll be tired of temperature blankets. This is my third using the same colors for the temperatures. I like the size of this year’s. It actually makes a good lap blanket already. I guess we will see what I come up with.
And I can see what I’m working on with my newly functional quirky old lady glasses
Maybe tomorrow will be fascinating! Or sunny. Until then, knit on through your individual crises!
I didn’t blog yesterday because it was just a normal day doing normal things. Today was similar. It’s been cooler, like normal December weather, but I have appropriate clothing.
And the ridiculously early sunsets are pretty.
I did have a brief walk this morning because I wanted to see what was going on next door. Our former ranch property is now unmistakably not ours. That’s a darned nice entry!
If you need fancy cows, go here.
So, other than that I’ve worked, painted some rocks, crocheted the rest of November on my temperature blanket, picked up my new glasses that are now the correct prescription, and wow! I shortened my nails!
BeforeAfterBeforeAfterThese frames are titanium, and very light. They are the least weird ones.
No rock photos. Some are gifts. All are rather amateurish. Instead, you can have a cute photo of Carlton being a circle dog. Lee’s lap is never empty when it’s chilly and rainy outside!
They’re coordinated.
I’ll try to come up with something philosophical or some deep thoughts tomorrow. Heck, I can’t cut my nails and get new glasses every day to make for fascinating blogging, right? Maybe we should view it as good that I feel well enough and the world hasn’t upset me enough to make for more interesting blogging.
I’m relieved to say I no longer have itchy stitches above my left eye. And yes, I removed them myself with clean (Anita asked, so you might also) nail clippers. One snip and out they came, saving me a couple of hours of travel and a visit to a place with scary germs.
Not bad! I’m almost healed.
I was surprised at how little the scar shows up. The stitch holes look worse than the cut. I know I’m a good healer, so I don’t think I’m deformed. It’s still swollen and tender, so I don’t plan any rash actions in the near future.
I’ll stick to artsy photos of dead thistles.
I did take my hurt black glasses over to Marvina’s House of Optical Whimsy (not its real name) to see if they could be fixed, but alas, the hinge is dead. So I made myself feel better by picking out some new (more whimsical) black frames and…maybe more whimsy. I do love eyeglasses. So does Marvina. Tomorrow I’ll get my eyes examined and patiently (not) wait for new frames. I just hope my prescription hasn’t changed so I can still use my other glasses.
So many choices. I chose none of these.
Other than bird drama (Sandhill Cranes, a marauding Harrier, and a friendly Bewick’s Wren) today was calm. The big rain isn’t here yet, all livestock are great, and work is dandy.
Such a friendly little guy.
I’ll stop before I make more typos. Sorry about the recent ones, for you email subscribers, but at least my friend Sue R finds them so I can fix them on the website. It takes a village!
This question intrigued me. And answering it is way more fun than talking about my anxiety attack from today. Ugh. I let something get to me today. So, hmm.
1. My glasses. I rely on my eyes so much! How could I read, write, look at birds, and knit easily without them? I’m so glad eyeglasses were invented.
I want to see things like this amazing swamp privet in the back pond area near the spring (Forestiera acuminata). I had no idea it was there.
2. My car. Not only is it pretty (red leather!) and zippy, but it’s my only way to get to food, friends, and non-ranch fun. I don’t want to hitch Fiona to a wagon to get supplies!
I’m relieved.
3. Knitting Needles. Weird but true. I need to knit to stay even semi-sane. I’d say I need a pair of circular size 4 US needles and I’ll be set for life. I can knit with any yarn-like stuff. String, strips of cloth, wire…whatever.
This is the progress on 2023 for my friend. The dark are isn’t very pretty from a distance.
There you have it. I am sure my answers aren’t typical!
Today, other than dealing with mental challenges, Lee and I went to Temple to look for containers to put in my “new” nonfunctional freezer that will store horse food and foil those darn mice for good. Thanks to our neighbor for painting it red just before it died. It looks good. Now we just have to work out the storage method.
Latches were added to prevent creatures from breaking in.
Lee even treated me to an early birthday lunch, which was fantastic. Seared tuna with a great salad. And I got free dessert!
Other than that, I mostly hung out with the birds and plants. That brings peace.
First dewberry blossomOld bird nest Bluebonnets!Gulf fritillary Wandering pond turtleYeah. More spring beauties. Look at the pink stamens!Wood sorrel. I love the patterns on these thistle leaves. Mushroom cap with dew.
There is good news! Apache isn’t mad at me today. He even picked up his feet so I could take his boots off. I think he should only wear them a couple days at a time. It’s rubbing off his hair.
Today was long but fun. I left last night to go to scenic Round Rock, Texas, so I could visit the Mother Ship of Dell Technologies. I worked there before. It’s where I met Lee!
Oh look, it’s I-35!
After a night at a Hampton Inn that was not the best in its genre but was okay because it had no barking dogs, I entered the iconic Round Rock 1 building. And I was blown away.
They made good use of the pandemic off time by completely renovating the building to make it less of a cubicle farm and more of a place people would like to work. Even me!
Cute conference room.
I didn’t take many pictures, since it’s a workplace, but I really liked the way workstation groupings were interspersed with seating areas, brainstorming places, and snack stations. It is a lot quieter, too, thanks to really attractive heavy felt hanging dividers. The planners did so well!
I was there to finally meet some members of the team I work with. It was gratifying to meet my boss, Bob, and some of the folks I see in Zoom weekly. They all seemed pretty happy, too. Note: you can’t tell how tall a person is on Zoom—I was surprised by a couple folks. We had a very decent lunch in the new cafeteria, once we found the stairs.
This was great.
Next we did our weekly staff meeting in a Zoom Room where the technology appeared much better than the ones at my last place of employment. We geeked out happily when we saw that the camera both showed everyone in the room AND a head shot of each person around the table, along with the virtual attendees. That’s pretty cool.
My headphones stopped letting me hear others talk, so I got to use a little meeting room for my last meeting. How fancy! Speaking of fancy, lots of the good number of folks who were there had actual work clothes on. Glad I dressed up.
See. I dressed ok.
That takes me to seeing things. My glasses came in, so I picked them up on the way home. I’m wearing the most controversial pair above. They are a unique shape, and wireframe, not like my usual ones. They sure are good for vision! I also love the new computer glasses, which are more “Suna.”
I wish my hair was really this white. So mamy colors.
I had a third pair (they were all 50% off) but they arrived all wonky, so the optician is sending them back to be redone. That’s the nice part about going to a real specialist. They do quality control.
So what are these?
Since I have my prescription and had credit at EyeBuy Direct, I got two pair from there, and they also arrived today. The pair above has silver foil in it. I like the size a lot. I was happy to find the prescription was good on them and they fit. They look more like my usual weird picks. But it goes with my hair. And the other ones are more subtle.
They have color! Honest!
You can’t really see that the frames have blue, purple, and pink in them, but it’s there. I was just happy to find a modern large frame that didn’t dwarf my wrinkly old face. And they are also comfortable and focus right. Maybe it’s because I got the higher quality progressive lenses.
My attempt to show the colors.
I got all these good glasses for really reasonable prices, so I’m set. I can sure SEE better now. But I’m tired. After all the meetings, taking longer than expected at the glasses place (I let someone go ahead of me, then mine had to be processed), and doing my horse chores, I’m zonked. Hey, 7 am meeting tomorrow! But at least it’s from home!
The Hermits' Rest 