mouse rants

happy day after christmas, all!

2009-12-27T01:04:33Z

i am petting big furry cats and being tortured by the smell of baking oatmeal bread, which not only smells pretty good itself, but we can't go out for sushi till it's done.

still - oatmeal toast for breakfast!

here's my version

2009-12-14T05:58:40Z

of the ever-popular 'branching out' scarf (with some lace mitts to go with):

and a close-up

these are in lace-weight yarn, so blocked. the scarf is 5 or 6 feet long - i was going to just keep knitting till i ran out of yarn, but i started getting worried about having time to get it blocked and mailed, so hopefully this will be Long Enough (it's only about 5" wide, so a decorative rather than a genuinely warm scarf).

the mitts are called "wine and roses" (the pattern on the hand is a rosebud pattern, not sure where the 'wine' comes from) from interweave's "knits" magazine - the 2009 holiday gifts one. it also has some entrelac gift bags i am determined to try, to learn how to do entrelac...but i think i may make myself a pair of those mitts, first (hey, it gets cold in my office!). oooo - and i forgot about those lace bowls....hm, maybe i can use the rest of the pink yarn for one of those.....

hey it's good to be back home again

2009-10-28T02:50:54Z

(or however that song goes). and it's also nice to be back to a full-size screen and keyboard.

spent most of the morning at the tucson botanical garden - really, a gem of a little place. AND they told me where to find sonora dogs, so had two of those for lunch (and now i can try to duplicate them myself!).

and then there was the trip home. had about the only scary bit after i got back to CA - bit of a dust storm, sand blowing across the road and occasional poor visibility, and some pretty strong cross winds. but i made it home, and the cats were (eventually) glad to see me - fred's response to my arrival was more or less "oh, you're back - can i go out now?" - but angelina purred and purred at me. i did let them both out while i unloaded the car, and now that i have sat down and fred remembers that's _his_ lap, he's pretty glad to see me too.

maxed out the photo card, that's downloading now - and the pizza just got here. once i eat, and sort through all the pics, i'll post some.

homeward bound

2009-10-27T04:26:36Z

and it's been a great trip. lots of pictures, hopefully some in focus, but the camera is in the car. long days - next trip, i need to plan what i want to do better, and allow more time for the drive. today i got into tucson in time to do a quick pass through the arizona desert museum - don't know why they call it a museum, it's more a natural history exhibit - native plants and animals, in pretty much their natural environment (ok, the enclosures for the animals aren't quite natural, but they look good). the plants are certainly natural - it looks just like the surrounding saguero national park. trying to decide if i have time to go back for a bit tomorrow am....although considering i spent 45 min driving around trying to get to a hotel i could see, but apparently not actually get to, has rather soured me on another pass through tucson. and tomorrow night i will be home....getting a little impatient for that.

ooooooooklahoma

2009-10-22T01:20:14Z

...where things are pretty darn quiet, and the internet connectivity, even by broadband, is sporadic. AND i can't remember how to check my wok email, after carefully figuring out how to do it before i left.

anyway. my aunt's birthday was lovely, and it was great getting to know the cousins i hadn't seen since childhood....but since then, it's been pretty quiet. i was hoping i could talk people into going to the OKC zoo with me, but that seems unlikely to happen - although everyone was interested when i first mentioned it, now it seems my cousin is working, and she's going to call my aunt at noon, to arrange a time to meet for dinner...which seems like it will mean another day siting around the house. well, i am making great progress on my vest, and friday i head out to the station, and there should be things to do there. and then home!

a grand day at the canyon

2009-10-17T05:40:10Z

..although i'm not going to say much more than that - it's late, my net book is running really slow, and there are too many pictures to sort through. there is one i have to show right off though:

elk!

saw him right as i came in the park....actually, didn't see too much wildlife - some gray squirrels, but they moved too quickly to get a picture - apparently they are firmly up on the "don't feed the wildlife" policy, and can't be bothered to pose for tourists for nothing. Managed to do a bit of hiking - although i had somehow, in my planning, conveniently forgotten the issue i have with heights. i must not be the only one, though - the park service has constructed many sturdy railings, and the rim trail actually lets you feel securely away from the rim. beautiful fall day - drove east from the park with the top down, and it was just perfect.

more pics when i can see them well enough to pick a few

day one

2009-10-16T03:39:02Z

coming to you from beautiful downtown tusayan, just south of the grand canyon. and i have remembered something i should have brought - some sort of recording device. most of the road trips i've done, someone else has been along, and that person can make notes as we go....a bit hard to do when one is driving. so i'll just have to try to remember the things that struck me:
-those domed tops on semi-truck roofs look the the crests of some dinosaurs. particularly when they are brightly colored.
-which makes driving i-40 rather like being in the middle of a dinosaur migration.
-the state of arizona really needs to put in a scenic viewpoint just after you cross the border from needles. you cross over the colorado river, there is a rather nice (railroad?) bridge you can see from the highway, and a set of dramatically-crested dark-red mountains. i would have loved to have stopped there, enjoyed the view and eaten my lunch.
-the state of arizona also needs to put in a few rest stops. if they have any, i haven't seen them.

no pictures today (just some really blurry ones taken on the fly through the window. drove all day with the top up - i knew i was going to be passing through riverside, and it entirely met my expectations with a layer of smog so thick it hid a small mountain. by the time i cleared that, the tempeature was over 90 (and the car was nearly there) - so figured i would just keep the protection up, and the wind resistance down. still, a lovely drive....but i really need to make the trip again with a roadside geology book. i am determined to learn how all those different mountain ranges were formed - so many different-looking ones, sometimes right next to each other.

actually, i need to do the trip again with more time - then i would have time to investigate such things as london bridge (which i had forgotten is now at lake havisu), and that thing that looked like a giant sparkly golf bowl.

testing..testing

2009-10-11T04:18:22Z

so i'm trying to get the hang of my new netbook - if i get my act together, i might even be able to post pics of my trip!

so to test that....this is the scarf i made for my aunt

Bread baking (2)

2009-08-09T03:08:15Z

Well, definitely crusty. A bit more tangy than truly sour, which makes me a bit nervous, given its history - but really, not bad.

Although I need to learn not to play on the web while I'm cooking. I should have adjusted the cooking time to account for the size of the bread - I intended to cook it a bit longer at a lower temperature, which might have given me even more crust, but it was clear that this would result in overbaking. Also, see those eggs? those are ones I hard-boiled (to go with the borscht next week)....but I totally forgot about them. So they may be rubber - guess I'll find out on Monday.

These were made with white whole-wheat, which accounts for a bit of the color inside - although it is much lighter than regular whole wheat, it is distinctly darker than white flour. Tasted like it was baked just right, though - just the right moisture content. As you may be able to tell, I did the slashing thing, although apparently not deeply enough (or maybe early enough - I did it just before I put them in the oven).

Still - not a bad start.

(Borscht is still not properly chilled, although it didn't taste too bad when I was stirring it. It's next week's lunch, however it tastes.)

Bread baking (1)

2009-08-09T00:14:41Z

At least, I hope this will be the first of many. But just in case, I figured I would record this for posterity - so if I'm never heard from again, someone will know what to tell the paramedics.

The 'favorite sandwich' thread on Sinfest ended with a discussion of baking crusty sourdough bread. I've done some baking in the past, but it's been a while since I tried for a crusty bread (let alone a sourdough), so I figured I would give it another try. So I hauled down my copy of John Thorne's Outlaw Cook. If you are into cooking, and haven't discovered Thorne, I would suggest checking him out - he is a font of information, and more than a little nuts. As in: he decided that he would do all his baking in a wood-fired oven (which he built himself). And just to keep things from being _too_ simple, he also decided to forgo commercial yeast, and use a sourdough starter from wild yeast.

Well, I don't have a wood-fired oven, but I figured I could try making my own starter. Which is quite simple - you take 1/2 c water, add as much flour as it takes to make a dough, cover it with a wet kitchen towel and leave it out for a couple of days, to let what wild yeasties are about colonize it. This I did on Tuesday night, and by Thursday, the dough was definitely colonized. Unfortunately, the most prominent colonizer was yellow, slimy-looking and nasty-smelling. But when I poked at the dough, I could see that beneath this unfortunate surface, I appeared to have some nice yeast, which had filled the dough with bubbles. I figured there was no harm in keeping the experiment going, so I scraped the top part off, and left the rest going. And on Friday morning, I was rewarding with a lovely sour yeasty smell when I checked the bowl. In retrospect, I should have put this in the fridge, but I didn't want to risk discouraging the yeasties, so I left the bowl on the counter. By evening, when I was going to make the sponge, the smell was again off; this time the culprit was more tan and dusty looking. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound - I scraped off the new intruder and went ahead and made the sponge. In the morning it was risen; the smell was more sweet than sour but seemed to be OK, so I went ahead and made the bread. After all - I figure I've already been exposed to whatever bacteria are in the kitchen, and all life will be killed when the bread is baked, right? Anyway, I've made it into 4 little baguettes, and they are rising on the counter now; we'll see what kind of bread they make. And if I don't post again: the reserved starter is in a little baggie labeled 'Levain 8/8' on the top shelf of the fridge - someone tell the lab boys, that's the stuff to test. If I survive, I'll try to remember to take pictures.

I really wish I had some sort of head-mounted camera I could take pictures with. Angelina came to watch while I was kneading the bread. No, I didn't let her help - she stayed off to the side - but I did eventually give into to her gentle insistence and let her smell the bread. She examined it carefully, gave me her "This is one of those stupid human things, right?" looks and went off to find something sensible to do. I would love to get a shot of that look.

Anyway - while I'm waiting for the bread to rise, I have a huge pot of borscht on the stove. My CSA boxes have been producing .... well, I'm getting to the point of classifying it as 'a flood' of carrots, celery and beets, and this is using up part of that - should make a nice cold soup for next week's lunches. If you think I'm exaggerating: making the soup leaves me down to 8 beets, 1-1/2 bunches of celery, and over 4 lb of carrots. So if anyone has other ideas....

bless rose kennedy

2009-07-27T01:25:43Z

and cats.

Mrs. Kennedy, for (in addition to being a notable woman) inspiring the drink I am now consuming (a very large jigger of vodka, a splash of cranberry juice (so it's rose-colored) and club soda - cool, bubbly, not too sweet, and very alcoholic. my proportions may differ from the original). and the cats for giving me reason to drink it.

Had the day off today, so I spent a chunk of the afternoon hacking at the wisteria and climbing rose, which have joined forces and started to attack the roof. The cats, bless their fuzzy little hearts, are always determined to stick with me at times like these...getting underfoot, standing just where I am about to drop a large tangle of vegetation (and then attacking the mass, regardless of my warnings about thorns), escorting me to the dumpster (escorting = walking very slowly and majestically in front of me, where I can't see them for all the stuff I'm carrying, and occasionally stopping to be stepped on/tripped over). Angelina always adds to the excitement by climbing the wisteria; fortunately she did not climb all the way up onto the roof, and so still has all her toes. I'm really touched by their loyalty, of course, and appreciative of the support...I just don't get why they can't do it from, say, inside the house.

So after I got the pruning (or hacking, as a more experienced gardener would probably term it) done, I set up the grill to do some dinner-cooking. In the middle of running in and out setting things up, I noticed Fred investigating something on the dining room floor....which proved to be a very large, and fortunately very dead, rat. Apparently, one of them had managed to find the time to run fetch me a little gift. After uttering a small shriek (which is really unlike me - I think the size surprised me) I managed to get it into the trash can and out to the dumpster - and then mixed myself a rather larger drink than I had originally intended. And very tasty and calming it is.

Now hopefully it will let me get dinner cooked without setting myself on fire. Did some very nice pork ribs last night; tonight it is to be beef ribs (which don't seem to have much meat on them, hope they will be edible.)

I'm still alive

2009-07-19T04:29:56Z

Not sure what I've been doing, though

Knitting and felting mostly I guess. I'm really getting into the felting thing. I have a subscription to the Old Globe Theatre, and during the summer they have an outdoor series. They rent out blankets and pillows to theatre-goers - even in San Diego, it gets a bit chilly at night, especially when you are just sitting there, and the plastic seats get a bit hard. It occurred to me, as I was watching these transactions the night of my first ticket, that I could knit myself a lovely felt pillow cover, and have a pillow of my very own. Which I have now done, and now show off Here's one side:

and the other:

Haven't used it yet - I have preview tickets, so by the time I got the knitting done (and it went pretty fast) I had already seen all of this summer's plays...but I'll be ready for next year! In fact, more than ready - I'm almost halfway through a second pillow cover.

This was plain old worsted wool...felting isn't perfect, you can still see the stitches in places. But my next project looks great! This is a handbag a started a couple of years ago, got sidetracked on, and finally finished (once I realized how much fun the felting is).
Before:

and after:

This one felted up much better. It has a certain nubbly texture (from the garter stitch), but no stitches are evident. Not sure if this is because I threw a pair of denim shorts in the washer with it, for friction, or if it was the yarn - this is Paton's SWS (soy wool stripes) - it's very loosely spun, almost like lodi or even just roving sometimes. You can see the difference in size after felting, and the colors are a bit more muted...a little sad, but the effect is nice. One thing I should have done was put this in a pillowcase before I felted it - did a load of laundry afterwards, and I had to pick little nubbles of felted yarn out of everything. Live and learn, I guess.

Hopefully that it true of my grilling. Decided to do a whole (spatchcocked) chicken, with vegetables, for dinner. When I was cruising through cookbooks last night for recipes, I came across one for grilling artichokes - then when I was shopping today, Henry's had them on special. So I grabbed a couple, and a roaster-sized chicken (well, leftovers are always good). Decided to start by cooking the artichokes while I prepped everything else (the chicken, and some vegetable skewers). The artichokes did well (and were quite tasty), but the coals had rather burned down, so I added some more. Unfortunately, I didn't wait until they caught well alight (it was already after 5, and I didn't want to wait all evening for dinner). Well, as they say - more hurry, less speed. The coals never did really catch....so the chicken took about 2 hours, and even at that, I ended up finishing it under the broiler (the meat was pretty much done, for a wonder, but the skin needing crisping). Had to do the vegetables the same way - I had put them on the grill after I took the chicken off, with the lid open, hoping the coals would catch... but when the tomatoes are still firm after half an hour, you gotta figure the fire just isn't doing it's thing. SOOOOOOO....finally had dinner about 8:15. Hopefully, I'll remember this next time.

i post a lolcat

2009-06-15T21:18:51Z

in place of the picture i _should_ have taken of angelina, last night - settled neatly, dead center in the middle of the still-damp sweater i had washed earlier, and carefully laid out on the bed to dry.

'swhat i get, i suppose, for figuring mere water could deter her.

still knitting, too.

2009-05-25T19:19:15Z

i've made a diversion into mosaic knitting (which is knitting things in two colors, using slip stitches, so you are only knitting with one color at a time). i finally found a one-liter water bottle, so made some covers so it would be easier to carry (the straps are long enough to sling over my shoulder):

and the plan for this thing is to use it to cover the piano keys (it doesn't have a built-in cover, so the keys get rather dusty). i've forced myself to set it aside for the moment, though, so i can finish the jacket, and the socks (which i want to get finished so i can start on another pair of socks...some days i despair of ever getting everything i want to done).
anyway - pic!

i still have a garden

2009-05-25T19:08:05Z

and pictures to prove it!

the runner beans are flowering:

something munched down the peas and sunflowers, though, so i planted new seed today.

i have tomatoes!

this is the better bush, which is not much taller than you can see in the picture - so i'm impressed. i still have about 3 healthy cherry tomato plants in the strawberry pot, but they aren't flowering yet.

starting from seed is always entertaining. i planted both sides of this pot the same day:

as you can see - slight difference in how well they sprouted. i planted some new lettuce seeds today too - we will see if those do any better. the okra has all disappeared - so put in new seeds there, too. and i found some watermelon radish seeds, so added those to the radish pot. now if i can just discourage whatever keeps eating things. home depot had praying mantis eggs last year, but i haven't seen any this year. i think it's bugs that are eating things - don't know if the mantises would keep them in control, but they would be entertaining.

this pic is a little older, but i wanted to post it. this is one of the begonias i got a while back - it's called kit kat, i think - but i was entertained to see that the spots on the leaves extended to stems, as well.

it's what i get for not killing them, i guess

2009-04-30T18:14:51Z

Last night Fred caught what I believe to be a juvenile rat and, either as apology for staying out late or just out of a generous nature, he brought it home for us all to enjoy. It did immediately attract excited attention from Angelina and me. However, between the three of us, the rat escaped, into the warren of shelving that includes both bookshelves and an area I use as a pantry. A bit of digging failed to find sign of it, so I was forced to give up the effort (having learned that this sort of thing can lead to me tearing the place apart, with the only result being that the creature sought circles behind me and goes to ground in the newly created mess of things hauled off the shelves). I had hopes that it would have the sense to lay low until morning and then make its escape through the cat door. Failing that, I figured, I have two hunting cats - I really shouldn't have to worry about having a permanent rat presence in the house.

Sure enough, about 3 am I was awakened by the thunder of paws up and down the hallway, punctuated by frantic squeaking - which suddenly stopped. That's that, I thought, and made a mental note to watch where I stepped in the morning.

Come morning, I noted the devastation of the pantry shelf....but was unable to locate a corpse. However, I consoled myself that my Angelina's figure does not reflect her appetite - she is one of the irritating types who can (and does) gobble down whatever she likes, while remaining thin as a rail. So I set to putting the pantry shelf back to rights....and then noticed that Fred was evincing unusual interest in the bookshelf, trying to reach a paw back behind the books. With a sinking heart, I started pulling books out for him - and sure enough, we unearthed the rat, which took off with alacrity. Fred, however, was on the job, and caught it in about 10 seconds. It took me a little longer to catch Fred, but I finally did. I managed to separate him from the rat without injuries to any of us. Since the rat appeared intact (and it's tree-rats we tend to get around here, no plague-carrying baby-eaters), I took it outside and put it in the garden shed, which has lots of little holes something the size of a rat can get out of, but nothing large enough for a cat to get into. I figured it would hole up there for the day - especially since Fred was pacing around outside, meowing and sticking a paw in any hole he could get it into. So I went inside, put everything back on the shelves, and started packing lunch.

After a bit, I noticed Fred was back inside....and circling the footstool with some excitement. Sure enough, there was the rat. This time, I caught it first (and got bitten in thanks). Since it clearly didn't have enough sense to stay in the shed, I tossed it up onto the hill - the one covered in knee-high plant material, ideal for escaping unseen. Especially, I thought, since Fred had resumed his vigil at the garden shed (he is wise to my trick of putting little critters in there to let them escape).

So you can imagine my surprise when I was interrupted in my breakfast preparation by frantic squeaks in the hall. This time I put on my leather rose-pruning gloves, shut the cat door, and again escorted the rat to the hill. I was then able to eat breakfast, disturbed only by Angelina's looks of unjustly-punished innocence, and Fred's small pathetic cries of mourning.

I did let them out again before I left for work. I can only hope the rat managed to make its escape - or that Fred has learned not to bring it home again.

it's probably a really good thing I never had children

2009-04-20T05:33:57Z

Judging from my current state of cat-induced hysteria, I would have died of a heart attack before the kids reached the age of 5.

In my last post I was soliciting ways to finish off any little critters the cats brought home; I'm about to decide that the best way to deal with the situation is to keep them inside forever. Possibly in some sort of lock-box.

See, they are generally pretty good about coming in when I get home of an evening, but they have been a bit difficult of late. My neighbor has recently acquired a cat, and my cats have become aware of this, so Fred's new favorite activity is hanging out on the neighbor's 6-foot fence, staring through her window at her cat. So part of the evening routine is now going to peel Fred off the fence (he insists on hanging on) and dragging him in...unless he spots me coming and retreats to the roof. In which case, I have to go out and yell for him at intervals.

This is apparently pissing off Angelina, who is generally a very good cat, because once she comes in she has to stay in, so she sits inside being a Good Cat, while That Bad Cat Fred is outside having fun. So recently she has taken to resisting coming in. Like tonight. She scampered out to meet me when I got home, and then indicated that no, she was not going to come right in and have Nice Dinner; she would consider the suggestion and get back to me. Well, she usually does come in pretty soon, so I started putting together the no-tools-required shelf I got yesterday (which in fact did not require tools to assemble, but I had to haul out some heavy artillery to get into the box - but that's another story).

Anyway, after futzing with the shelves for a while, I suddenly realized I had been home for an hour, it was full dark, and Angelina was still outside. So I went out to walk around the place and call her. No sign of her. Well, she'll come soon - back to the shelf.

Except she doesn't show up. I keep going out and calling and walking around - no sign of her.

Now, next to my place, there is a bit of a hill. You go up a not-too-bad slope to a fair-sized sort of plateau about 6 feet above my level, and then there's a steeper slope up to the street behind me. The whole think is about knee-deep in a tangle of iceplant and honeysuckle and various other viney things. When you get up onto the plateau and look around, you realize that even though I am in a fairly dense condo complex, this particular place is pretty removed from all the buildings. And it's surrounded by trees and undergrowth, and it is of course prime territory for mice and gophers and lizards and birds and all sorts of other cat-attractive things. And based on no evidence whatsoever, I have decided that this is the prime hunting ground for coyotes looking to snatch cats. For this reason, it is my place-of-last-resort to search for missing cats; when I am on the verge of hysteria, I put on some shoes and take the flashlight and go probing around in the dark for signs of struggle, pools of blood, mangled cat limbs and the like. Coyotes, of course, are unlikely to be around at 8:30 at night when people are still out walking their dogs, but I hadn't seen even the tip of Angelina's tail in all my rounds of looking for her, and it was dark, and also I hadn't eaten since breakfast so was probably experiencing some serious low blood sugar. So I grabbed my flashlight and started up the hill, quartering the area carefully with the flashlight (not that I would be likely to pick out blood in the dark or distinguish signs of struggle from the usual disarray). And about half-way up the steep slope, I caught a the shine of eyes....and there was Angelina.

Now about 90% of the time, when I am out looking for her and spot her like this, she immediately runs up to me, because she is a good cat. The other 10% of the time, of course, she decides to be a brat, and does her 'nyah nyah, you can't catch me!' number. But at least I can see she's alive and healthy. This time, she was absolutely motionless. So I struggled up the hill towards her, trying to shine the flashlight at the ground and her at the same time, convinced that she would take off any second. But she sat there, still as a stone, staring at me, not making a sound.

So now I'm well and truly in a panic. She's trapped on something, she's been poisoned, her back is broken, she's huddled over her own ripped-out intestines - it's the only explanation. I struggle up the hill towards her (and it wasn't easy, this is a steep hill). As soon as I get close enough, I make a grab for her, and Miss Unhand-me-I-am-an-Independent-Cat comes up unresisting, without a complaint or any attempt at evasion. So now I'm trying to get down the hill without falling and breaking both our necks, flashlight tucked under my arm and pointing at nothing in particular, trying to search her for injuries while not dropping her. And she's not fighting me. She's not complaining. She must be only minutes from death.

SO....I make it down the hill, into the house, drop the flashlight, start frantically trying to locate wounds - and she wriggles out of my arms, hisses at Fred, and goes to eat her dinner. Perfectly fine. Not a hair out of place. Totally her usual self - including her very vocal objections to me picking her up and hugging her (which I did anyway, several times, partly out of relief and partly to irritate her back for scaring me). I have _no_ idea what the whole thing was about, but like I say - I'm thinking I'll just keep them inside. Maybe hog-tied. Like I say - my constitution definitely could _not_ handle worrying about children.

My garden and my knitting are both coming along, really need to post some pictures - but tonight I'm thinking I'll just finish off the vodka.

this is the place

2009-04-17T21:30:40Z

for people who want to help me dispatch my cat's little gifts.

friends - please keep being wordy

2009-04-01T20:39:21Z

from the latest lj update notice thingie:

"One of the most common complaints we get is that even your best friends don't do you the courtesy of using the lj-cut on long entries. We consulted with a cutting-edge market research firm and concluded that no one really wants to read more than 140 characters about what their friends are doing. And with our new automatic lj-cut, you won't have to! From now on, all those wordy entries on your Friends Page will automatically be cut at the 140-character sweet spot."

now, the 140-character thing tends to make me suspect twitter is funding the research (i mean seriously - _exactly_ 140 characters?) - and people, if i wanted to communicate with the world via twittering, i would do so. i'm an old-fashioned sort of girl, and i think my friends have a little more depth than what can be expressed in 140 characters. so feel free to chatter on - i will read every word.

and i'll talk as long as i like, so there.

it's getting hard to pay the bills...

2009-03-22T23:17:56Z

since i'm paying them online.

she's been very affectionate lately, and hates for me to take time away from her on the computer, i guess. on the plus side, i'm finding out that there are all sorts of things that you can apparently access by hitting unlikely keys at the same time. at any rate, she seems to be able to access them...now if i could only see the screen, to find out what they are.

she also seems to be considering giving me my wish for a shoulder cat - she's been clambering up on me and doing some shoulder-cruising lately. only when i'm using the bathroom... but maybe we can work on that.

a bit more gardening effort - planted lettuce and sorrel seeds, also sunflowers and peas. those are in the same pot - don't know if they get along, but i'm hoping the peas will be able to lean on the sunflowers. the bird netting seems to be working on the courgettes - at least, no further nibbles.

this is sort of what it looks like now, on the pretty side:

wish i could let you know what the wisteria smells like - it's really lovely, it reminds me of lilac. took some shots on the inside, but they came out really dark - you can maybe see why i have problems growing vegetables.

what else? i finished the socks i was working on - these are quill lace socks from knitty, done in bamboo yarn:

don't know if you can see the texture in the heels - this is a variant of the usual heel stitch, called 'eye of the partridge', i believe (fred is sleeping on the pattern, so i can't check) - anyway, i think it's really pretty - need to try it again, maybe in a solid color with a bit of shine to it. or course, since i am all eager to get the mermaid jacket done, i cast on another set of socks last night....

also knitting pictures.

2009-03-20T03:35:40Z

so here's the start of my mermaid jacket (with the colors of yarn):

the turquoise (center) is the main color; the green will be stripes and the blue edgings and gussets. it's knit in garter stitch, side to side, starting from an i-cord. and it's going to take a while - it's 2-ply shetland, knit on size 3 needles (which are actually slightly larger than i should be using, they are 3.25 mm needles and the pattern calls for 3.0). here's a hand for scale:

that's 14 rows, plus the i-cord.

ok, better get back to work!

now with pictures!

2009-03-20T03:22:28Z

these are the seedlings before they went into pots. the really long ones (on top) are the sweet peas; the squash are in the square pots below:

and here they are, in the pot, after whatever it was discovered them (note the stems that now end in nothing)

so stopped by home depot on the way home and got some bird netting, and a plant support to hold it up:

it was getting dark, and cold, so this is pretty hastily done - just draped the netting over the pot, and tied it with some wire wrap thing (after checking under the pot lip for snails) (and also planting a few more seeds).

some of the other things: the runner beans

and the cherry tomatoes (looking surprisingly robust) (the white things are petals that have fallen off the climbing rose overhead):

and the zinnia, looking considerably less than robust (there were originally 3 potlets, each with 3 seedlings, in here):

as you can see, there are still pots waiting for me to put things in.

oh - and that little stunt i pulled? the one where i came home like i always come home, like i was in for the evening, and the cats followed me in, on account of i have been fussing at them for not coming right in when i come home and so they came right in because they are Such Good Cats, and then I WENT OUTSIDE AND LEFT THEM SHUT UP IN
THE HOUSE AND FOOLED AROUND RIGHT IN
FRONT OF THEM AND ALSO OUTSIDE???

that one has been officially ruled Not. Funny.

(actually, it wasn't at all intentional, i figured they would stay outside as usual, but i wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to get them in. not that that helps me _now_, he's still scratching at the window and whining.)

yes, i know i should be taking pictures

2009-03-19T19:05:05Z

checked in on the garden this morning - the radishes and runner beans are starting to sprout! and most of the tomato seedlings still seem OK, but all but one of the zinnias have collapsed. and something has eaten most of the leaves on the courgettes, so i need to stop on the way home and get some netting, i guess. wish i could see whatever it is that the cats glare at so intently at night, that's probably what is eating things. (i guess i should explain that i have a sliding door that looks out on the patio; the cats stare out of that - occasionally going rigid with interest, and sometimes even growling - but when i go to look, i can never see what they are all het up about.)

in other news - i got this kit in the mail monday (on information from a friend, found it on ebay at about half the price at this site - this may be deadly to me, if i start realizing how many neat knitting things i can get on ebay) - anyway, i've already started it, despite having another sweater and some socks i really need to finish - just too eager to see how it is done! and the yarn is really pretty - tweedier than you can see from the photos on the site. (yeah, yeah....gotta take pics)

mouse_rants @ 2009-03-14T23:26:00

2009-03-15T06:56:30Z

my gardening is progressing. transplanted most of the seedlings outdoors today. they are rather leggy - not a lot of light indoors, so i'm hoping they will leaf out with some sun....rather than just disappearing. the courgette squash looks the sturdiest (although they only have 2 leaves). cherry tomatoes are a bit thread-like - those are the ones i am most worried about. no sign yet of the seeds i planted outdoors - dwarf runner beans, radishes and carrots (although they generally take a while to sprout). oh - also put out some sweet peas - those actually look pretty good - and some zinnias - also leggy, but stouter than the tomatoes. still have nicotinia, primrose and okra inside - they are still quite small. i have one mr. stripey seedling up, and it looks like maybe a couple of pepper seedlings about to sprout - those will have to share pot space with the nursery transplants i got last weekend - a 'better bush' tomato and a fajita bell pepper. still need to plant kale, and today i got some pea seeds, so need to find a place for those as well. i also have seeds for lettuce, cutting greens, arugula, sorrel and carnations i'd like to plant - so still some work to do. i've also got in this years assortment of herb plants - spearmint, chocolate mint and pineapple mint (i do rather like mint), mexican oregano, thyme, a big pot of assorted basils and chives, as well as the rosemary that has hung in for a couple years now.

i invested in some plant labels - the copper kind, on spikes, so they won't get lost. they are now in the pots with the unsprouted seeds. this way, i'll remember what to keep checking anxiously for. i'm pretty excited, i hope things survive - this is the most diverse collection of vegetables i think i have ever tried. i don't have anything close to the space to feed myself with my garden, but it would be pretty neat to have at least a few things on my plate that i grew myself.

spring is getting here - the wisteria is blooming, and the cherokee rose has more flowers than i thought. the snapdragons are blooming again - those are one of those impulse buys from somewhere or other that are now in about their 3rd year of flowering again. it's plants like that that keep me going, despite all the seeds that i never see again - the ones that keep hanging on, against all expectation.

it's begining to look like spring.

2009-03-01T03:48:12Z

they aren't quite this fuzzy in real life (this camera doesn't seem to handle closeups well) - but those are wisteria buds. i will swear last weekend it was just dead-looking sticks - but this morning, it is covered in buds. another day or two, and i will have flowers.

finally a warm sunny _weekend_ day, so i spent some time cleaning out pots, and even planting a few - purple carrots, radishes, dwarf runner beans and some pansies. last weekend i did start a whole mess of things in peat pots, and a fair number of those are up - the zinnias came up first and are already a couple of inches tall, the sweet peas followed closely after, and it looks like most of the cherry tomatoes (i am going to try them in a strawberry pot this year, so started 7 pots). Still awaiting the nicotinia, evening primrose and lemon grass, along with some other veggies - 'mr. stripy' tomatoes, burgundy okra, a summer courgette which i guess is similar to pumpkin if you let it get large enough (if you buy seeds from an english company, you get 'courgette', rather than mere squash), and some italian frying peppers. still some other things to plant - some more flowers, some lettuce and tuscan kale - hopefully next week, when i get the other pots cleaned out.