Somebody is awfully cranky!

"You know, your mood swings are kinda giving me whiplash." Isabella Swan (Twilight)


Mood swings, bipolar tendencies, what ever you want to call it, Mother Nature has had a bad case of it.  We went from below normal temperatures to weeks of rain.  Now we are in the heat and thunderstorm mode.  Some places had severe damage and tornado's but we have been lucky and haven't even lost electric.

You have to squeeze in any yard/garden work between the rain.  I was able to weed the little I had planted.  Grass got cut on high while it was still wet just so we didn't have to walk through a jungle.  Flowers are blooming but don't last long before their petals are beaten off the stems with the next down pour.  The garden is still not planted but that might turn out to be a good thing right now.  I was out there and the potato bugs are crawling all over the weeds since there favorite food is unavailable to them.  I will wait until they go through this cycle and then plant....weather permitting of course. 


I have managed to pick some rhubarb, asparagus and lettuce.  It will be a long time before the first ripe tomato or ear of corn.  


I have one sleeve to knit on nephews sweater and then that is done.  He is very impatient and said he will wear it even though it is hot out.  I have knit some dishclothes and finished a baby dress just to break up the monotony.  I had shipped some wool out for processing and that should arrive tomorrow but I will be too busy to even admire it because the grandbaby is coming for a visit....along with #1 and Sir T.  


So it can rain, hail, thunder and lightning because I will be inside enchanted by the little guy.  Other than dinner at the local VFW nothing is planned until after they leave Monday night.  Then it is back to work.  I hope you all have a safe  Memorial Day weekend.


And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me. -Lee Greenwood

Is someone holding the sun hostage?

Give me the splendid silent sun

with all his beams full dazzling.
Walt Whitman

As expected Spring brings rain.  I love to wake up to a cool breeze stirring the curtains and the sound of rain softly falling....until it happens for a week.  I know we need it and would have no problems if the garden was planted and mulched for optimal weed control but that is not the case.  The plants in the greenhouse are getting big and would love to stretch their roots into some prime soil but most of the garden hasn't even been tilled yet!  I do have garlic, kohlrabi, carrots and lettuce coming up...between the weeds.  

On the ruse of getting Sir T's and #1 daughters garden planted we got to visit with the grandson.  All prejudice aside, he is amazing!  I love every little hair on his head.

Raising my own kids was rewarding but exhausting.  As a single mom I worked all the time to pay bills.  The older ones got stuck watching the younger ones.  Although economical this is not the best solution as they lose the sibling relationship in lieu of stand in parent.  I don't know if it is because I think I can make up for past mistakes or because I am in a better place in my life, or if it is just being older and wiser (?) but I feel I was made just for the job of grandma.


I watch him with the same utter amazement that I watched #1 with but now I have the added bonus of watching her with him.  It is truly mind boggling.  Some family members had the audacity to call me a baby hog because they said I wasn't letting them have any time with him!  The nerve!!!


Besides being hypnotized by my grandson I have been knitting a sweater for favorite nephew.  He is here every day after school and sleeps over most weekends.  He was getting a bit jealous that baby products were getting made.  He reminded me that he hadn't had anything made for him in a while.  I said I made you mittens and he said it wasn't winter so that didn't count and the socks don't fit him any more.  He said he wanted a red sweater.  I had a leaflet of raglans and he picked a button down the front one.  I am about 4 inches below the underarm so he is happy again.  


So far as the shawl I was working on...I ripped it out, rewound the yarn for another project and put the pattern away for some other time.  I had found the first mistake, ripped it out, restarted it, got through both chart a & b only to realize I didn't have the right number of stitches.  I am not saying a one or two stitch difference but a huge difference.  I thought maybe I was to repeat one of the charts but no, I looked for an errata but didn't find one so I gave up until  sometime when I have the patience to deal with it.  With garden season coming now was not it.


I have also been playing around with milk.  I was raised on a dairy farm.  I remember fresh milk with all the cream that rose to the top.  I remember collecting that cream and making butter.  I always wanted to make cheese after finding a cheese press among my mom and aunts canning stuff.  She said someday she would teach me but it never came.  So I have had the product/instructions and would psych myself up and then chicken out.  I finally started making my own yogurt in the crock pot.  Love it!  Right now I have cream cheese in the making.  I haven't worked out the cost of the cream cheese but the yogurt is cheaper than store bought which is good since they devour it!  Next will be mozzarella.


And canning season has started.  I picked ten pounds of rhubarb.  I froze some for future use, cooked/canned some with sugar and made relish with some.  Plenty more is coming in and if it doesn't stop raining that may be all we eat this winter!

It's a.....

If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I'd have had them first.
Lois Wyse

I became a grandmother at 7:59 AM on May 5th.  After her being in labor for 24 hours they finally took the baby by C-section.  A whooping 9 lb 1 oz and 22 inch long baby boy.

It was wonderful having my own children but this is a whole new area.  It was hard watching her in pain. Then she was upset that she couldn't deliver naturally.  After having sat with her through the day and night, it was hard when they told me to go sit in the waiting room as only dad could go into surgery....but it was all forgotten when he walked through the door with the baby.

In recovery she was shaking so and that was hard to deal with but I showed her pictures of him and held her hand.  Both of us wondering how the heck she had such a big baby.  She was only 5 lbs when she was born, the dad was a normal 7.  She is only 5'2" and was a size 3.  She gained 30 pounds.  She was all baby and now we know why!

We all loved Sir T before but watching him with my daughter and their son made us love him even more.  They are a beautiful couple and will be wonderful parents.

What a truly amazing, heart-aching, topsy turvy day and I am honored to have been part of it and we are over joyed to welcome such a gift into the family.