Is it wrong?

Is it wrong to drink wine with breakfast? If you're eating breakfast for dinner? I choose to believe it's not wrong.

The other day I yelled at my children. I hollered. I got ugly. I ranted. I raved. I cried. I need more help around here. I simply can't do it all. Nope.

Apparently my tirade had some impact. Yesterday I came home and the guinea pig cage had cleaned itself (maybe the pig was listening?). Last night my daughter got up from the dinner table, and without being asked, helped do the dishes. Today my son came home and mowed the back lawn. It's a MIRACLE! The problem is, he did not mow the front lawn. And he left a pile of grass clippings on the newly powerwashed pavement. And he buried the lawnmower under two bicycles and some trampolene parts. And then he split to parts unknown. How is that helpful??

So.. I had to unbury the lawnmower (a bicycle went flying through the air to crash upon the pavement) and then go finish mowing the lawn, clean up, then start dinner. Time was running out.. people were hungry. Eggs and potatoes and wine it was.

It makes me look forward to my goats!

Day 33

Sharon, Kyle, Jill, Mary, Sophie, Sparky, Chloe, Larry and Dill (the majority of our hosehold) all wish the best for Lori and Tooya. Our thoughts and hearts will be with you.

Day 32

Scarf v.3.1 is nearing completion. just a few more inches.. then tassels and it's good to go! I'm eager to finish. I don't think I'll ever WEAR scarf v.3.1. I'm not sure why. But I'm thinking of framing it and then perhaps hanging it on the wall of "My little Goat Shop."

Here is Sophie modeling the scarf. Honestly, Sophie DOES do more than just lay around. Really. She is getting quite perky. Really. She barked at someone yesterday.

Teenagers vs. goats. I made a pan of lasagne yesterday. Normally plenty to feed my family for 2 days+. But I ended up with 5 teenagers (plus my mother and I) for dinner. They completley wiped out the lasagne! Teenagers eat a lot! I'm guessing it's not that my lasagne was necessarily that good either. I think they would devour anything that doesn't move. They are like a swarm of locusts! I suspect goats would eat less.. or at least, maybe, leave some for me!

Goats!

You gotta love goats!! These darlings were at the Salem Agfest today. The first time I went by they were all asleep and peaceful, the second time it was like someone had put ants in their pants. Apparently the active kids are more common than the sleeping ones. This video doesn't do them justice, one it was taken with my cell phone, and two, just minutes before the three little ones were playing "king of the bucket" and were hopping like crazy from bucket to box and knocking each other off. The littlest one was probably only 12 inches tall, and they were born on March 19th.

I saw Pygora goats (cute - but not overly friendly), alpacas, sheep, lambs (awwwww), calves, chickens, bunnies and more! There was a miniature donkey who had a wooden fence around his cage with a note that said, "Hi, my name is Bubbles and I'm upset today. Please dont' touch me." They said he started biting people yesterday. Poor Bubbles! I think I'll make a sign like that form my cubical at work. At the Agfest, I also saw people carding wool, and spinning wool. But I didn't get a chance to talk with them. There were kids everywhere - and not just the goat kind. Although I did enjoy watching the John Deere tricycle races and they had this cool wooden cow with "equpiment" attached to it so that the children could practice milking.

Day 30

Day 30! That's a month. That's 1/24 of my plan gone. I think I'm on track though so I shall not panic.

Scarf v3.1 as modeled by Sophie. Both Soph and the scarf are coming along nicely.

Tomorrow I have plans to go to "Agfest" and play with goats. My son belongs to the FFA and is working the event. He's sneaking me in the back and helping me get up close and personal with the little darlings. I can't wait!

Day 29

Sophie's Home!!

She has too many pills (very similar to my mothers). But the vet bill was surprisingly reasonable. She must go back next week for follow up.

enough drama....

Back to Goats!

I found the perfect building for My Little Goat Shop.

I can picture walls of home made knitted goods. Shelves of goat memorabilia. Refrigerators with goat's milk and goat's cheese.

How should it be decorated? Hmm.. Too many things to think about. Would I want to leave it red? Probably. Maybe not. Maybe something a bit "hippy-ish" is more my style. rainbows and moons and stars and peace signs.. yeah.. that's what I need..

Day 28

I should not own pets. That probably means goats as well. When I get a pet I fall in love. They become members of my family. They are my children.

Monday night my dog Sophie, a 13 year-old german shepard mix struggled up the stairs like she does every night lately. Just after she got up the stairs she fell, bashing her head on the dresser. She was stuck where she landed and could not seem to move. She was very frightened. I lay down on the floor with her and cried.

Dogs should live as long as humans. I've cried a lot in the last few days.

There has been lots of Sophie-drama in the last few days, including me thinking I had killed her by giving her medicine meant for another dog and a resulting trip to the emergency vet last night. She is spending tonight at the regular vetrinarians office. They think she might get to come home tomorrow.

My heart is breaking. The house is empty without her. Which seems hard to believe when I still have one little old lady, two teenagers, a guinea pig, another dog & a cat roaming the halls. But it's not the same without her. I hope she comes home tomorrow.

Day 26

Goats do Roam

Peter gave me wine. Good Peter. Darling Peter. Awesome Peter. Peter Rocks. Go Peter, Go Peter! I just wish I liked the wine better. But it's got a cool label. I shall finish it all. It's been a rough day!

Day 25

I gave in. We went to Target. She got nothing. (she couldn't find the skirt she just HAD TO HAVE). I however, got 4 summer tops.

This is what I call justice.

and here is scarf v3.1. It's 3.1 because it's still scarf 3 but I've changed the colors around because I didn't think I had enough of the burgundy. I'm quite pleased with it and eager to see it finished.

Day 24 - aka "Can we go to Target?"

My daughter is a "pill." I'll give you a sample of what today was like...

It's very hard for me to blog tonight. Can we go to Target? I'm in what I call my "melancholy's." I'm feeling quite sad. Can we go to Target? Peter has left to go home (last report he was passing through Fort Lewis) and I'm left here without him. Can we go to Target? It's always easier for me when I leave there than when he leaves here. Perhaps because "the leaver" has the distraction of having to drive Can we go to Target? for 6 hours, while "the stayer" has to walk around thinking how empty things are without "the leaver."

Today we drove to Bend to view the famous "Pilot Butte." Can we go to Target? Bend is in the Oregon Dessert. It was HOT. It WAS dessert after all. It was an intersting trip that began with a recalcitrant and pouty daughter. Can we go to Target? please mommy? I was bragging to someone the other day about how wonderful my 15 year old daughter was. None of that girl drama that so many parents Can we go someplace that start with a "T" and ends with an "arget?" tell stories about. I had to eat all my words this morning. Can we go to Target? Her life was in crisis and I was an uncaring parent. Can we go to Target? The end result of all the drama? She and her 15 year old boyfriend accompanied us to Bend. Can we go to Target? It was like double dating with your child. Can we go to Tar-jay? please mommy? Not something I would recommend on a regular basis. Kind of creepy really. The boys had fun though, skipping rocks in a river Can we go to Target? and the daughter and boyfriend had "who could throw the rock the farthest" contests. Oh look, Bend has a Target

Part of the problem, you'll never guess, was that she wanted to go to Target. We made it through the day without going to Target. Can we go to Target? I might break down by tomorrow. I'll probably have Target nightmares tonight and I don't know how much more I can handle really...

Paybacks

Peter got here about 11:00 last night. He worked all day and then drove down.

Two weeks ago, at his house, he had me hauling weed killer and cutting blackberry vines. Grueling work! Today we power washed. All day we power washed. More like He power washed and I assisted. I pulled weeds and every now and then he would take pity on me and let me run the washer. Apparently I powerwash too slow and he just had to take over again. Poor Peter. He couldn't stand to let me do it for more than 10 minutes at a time I think. We power washed the pergola roof, the pergola, the pergola floor, the boardwalk, the parking pad on the side of the house, the drive way, the side walk & the travel trailer.

Day 22

Scarf v 3.0.

I like it!

It's sexy.

It's red.

It's chenille.

My sushi exploded

That's way better than Julie's Sushi exploding (Sushi is her shiba inu pup).

Today is Thursday. Also known as "My Friday!" To celebrate I stopped by the very best Sushi restaurant in Salem, and quite possibly Oregon, to pick up dinner to go. I had a rainbow roll and some wasabi tobiko. Unfortunately, the tobiko didn't travel very well. :( The good news is that it still tastes just as wonderful. But isn't it sad looking?

Last night I was working on my sexy chenille scarf (aka scarf v.3) and right in the middle of the row my entire neighborhood lost power.

The most amazing things happen when there is no electricity. There I was, sitting alone in my family room knitting and listening to the TV when the electricity went "pffzzt." Within 60 seconds both of my children had exited the dungeons of their rooms.. with no TV and no internet what was the point? They joined me for actual conversation and then we went outside into the cul-de-sac where all the neighbors were gathering, as if drawn like a magnet, to the center. We stood around discussing what started as the power outage, to talks of family, kids, jobs. The guy at the end of the street who no one has ever met even came out to talk. It's like this every time the power goes out - people go outside. It was awfully nice.

After about an hour the power returned and people quickly headed back in. The kids went back to their rooms, neighbors all went into their homes and life went back to normal. I'm certain no one was miserable standing out their chatting so why do you suppose they were in such a rush. And now that I think about it.. why am I inside doing this instead of outside while it's still daylight?

I think it might not be such a bad thing if the power company could arrange an outage about once a month.

Day 20 - that's a score you know

I weighed everyone's opinion.. stop. keep going, start over with the exact same yarn and project. 3 people, 3 different opinions. I thought and I pondered and the chenille yarn sparkled from the corner. It was as if it was winking at me and saying..

"you know you want me, I'm waiting for you to put your hands on me, come and touch me. make me beautiful. You know we were meant to be"

.. in a very seductive voice. I have no will power. I don't. If I have something I love I can't NOT take advantage of it. I make my children and Peter hide the chocolate from me. Needless to say, the chenille won me over - partially because I had no one to hide it from me. Why didn't someone save me from myself!!?? The end result, I started over making the scarf but now with this new, sexy yarn. I will treat it with respect and honor it's loveliness. I shall not DARE mess this up. It's too pretty!

It doesn't amount to much yet, but it will. Isn't it just the prettiest thing you've ever seen?

knitting progress

Last night I discovered that I am not yet good enough to knit while watching TV in the semi-dark without my reading glasses. I've made a mess of scarf v.2.

I'm torn between continuing - on the grounds that it's all practice and by the end of scarf v.2 I will have the technique down. or..
Start over - on the grounds that I'm embarrassed to show what I've done to anyone. Any one have any thoughts? I just can't decide....

Day 18

Goat's canoodle!

and they have kids!










Thanks Peter!

These goats belong to Cindy the Goatherder (in northern Washington). Peter has arranged for me to stop by and visit with them next time I'm up that way. I'm SO EXCITED!

And it only get's better - I got an awesome deal on some chenille yarn today. $1.99 (vs. the regular $6.50) I bought a bunch in pretty colors. I have no idea what I'll make with it but I was scoping out a knitting loom. It might prove to be much more workable than me actually knitting as I'm finding that knitting takes time and sigh.. well.. work.

Day 17

No time for knitting today. We went to the Nelson's for a wonderful Easter brunch. We've been Eastering with them for 17 or 18 years and have only missed one or two. It is one of my favorite places to go. They are such gracious hosts. Leonard is an awesome cook when he's not trying to poison me and they have the cutest guinea pigs that actually like people. My guinea pig doesn't like people at all.

Peter told me he found some goats near his house and was going to take a picture and send it to me. Yesterday was dry but it was too dark to take the photo and today, so he tells me, it was too rainy. He did not want to photograph wet and bedraggled goats for me. He only wants to send me pictures of pretty goats. He is SO sweet.

As promised - here is a photo of the scarf project.

Scarf v.1 (on the left) and Scarf v.2. (on the right)

Happy Easter!

Day 16

I like goat cheese! No one is more surprised than I am. I figured it would taste icky.. but no. It tastes yummy - and it goes well with wine! I'm so happy. I had to learn to like coffee.. it's nice to know I won't need to learn to like goat cheese.

I knitted last night, and this morning. Obviously, I could use more social interaction in my life if I'm knitting on a Friday night. However, I made siginificant progress. I knitted about 8 inches into a scarf, only to decide I could do better.. I started over and I'm only about 2 inches into the new, improved version. I'll try to get a photo up tomorrow of my progress. I'm quite pleased with scarf v.2 rather than scarf v. 1.0. Angela, how are you doing? You said you were going to knit tonight...

I did some on-line goat research. I found out that people who have goats, LOVE their goats. That's encouraging. I also found out about nursing kids and how to build appropriate shelters. I'm putting together a fine binder full of goat stuff.

Mom story!

I took her for a drive this afternoon to the Woodburn Tulip Festival. As we were driving through the country side I pointed to a pasture and said, "They have sheep!"
My mom replied, "good luck finding some place here."
I asked her what she meant.
She said, "You said you had to pee, right?"

She's so funny.

Day 15

The good news is my mother did not watch a science fiction movie in her room this morning. Instead she watched a nice program about a young couple that falls in love, get's married, has babies, becomes grandparents and lives a wonderful life. She did not wake me as she promised but says tomorrow I should come down to her room about 6:00 a.m. to see this wonder for myself. I just might do that and wouldn't I be surprised if there WERE some sort of broadcast on her window? It could be a new technology that has the potential to replace cable and satellite dishes.

In the on-going effort to further my goat goals I purchased some goat cheese today. I can't honestly say I've ever had goat cheese. I'm sure I shall love it. What kind of Little Goat Shop proprietor would I be if I didn't like my own product line? I wonder if the taste of the goat's milk and the goat's cheese would taste different depending on what I fed the goats? I bet it would. I shall make a note of this and test it out when I get a chance.

I also stopped by Joann Fabric to purchase yarn for my first real project. I found out my coupon isn't valid until the 19th. Bummer. But I found some yarn on sale for a reasonable price anyway. I shall start knitting this very night. So far My Little Goat Shop adventure is costing a pretty penny - and I haven't even gotten the goats yet!

crazy day!

When my mom woke this morning she greeted me with a fascinating tale of a program she watched this morning while in her bedroom. It was a bit of a horror story about monsters created from 12 human donors. The monster creation process was illegal so, of course, it had to be done way up in the air in an airplane. Not on the ground. This tale is worth mentioning because my Mom does not have a TV in her room. She doesn't even have a radio in there. I explained to her that it wasn't possible that she had seen this program in her room. She surmised from my statement that she couldn't have seen it because even watching it was illegal. I let the topic drop.

I had her in the emergency room by 4:00. I have to say here that the Silverton Hospital has to be the absolutely best Hospital and Emergency Room in the country.

My mom is home now with a couple of new prescriptions and some serious advice from the Dr. When she went to bed she assured me she would call me if the program came on again tonight so that I could watch it too. I can't wait.

Good goat news. I got a coupon in the mail from Joann Fabric today. I was just telling a friend today that I needed to go buy yarn before I start my first real project. What awesome timing!

Day 13

Sparkly things! I love sparkly things! I do I do! Jewelry that sparkles. Earrings! Necklaces! Rings! Shoes with rhinestones and metal goo-gaws! Sweaters with beads! I love it all. Not old lady "bedazzler" type stuff..good stuff! I purchased a pair of men's overalls from Sears a few months ago. Mostly for working at Peter's house but I've found them very useful around my own house when working on my yard. I also bought some applique's and now my very mannish overalls have a row of flowers on the front and a big rose on the back - they need sparkle though. The next pair will be all sparkly rather than applique'd. I shall make myself several pair to wear during my goat days. I bet the goats will appreciate them mightily. Do you suppose I should sell them in My little Goat Shop? Perhaps I could develop a "My Little Goat Shop" label. Would anyone buy girly practical goat overalls? They certainly aren't sexy or terribly attractive - but they are practical.

Day 12

Goat Ice cream!

Day 11 - ruminations

I took today off as vacation. I had to drive home from Peters. It's a 5 hour drive in perfect weather and driving conditions. That's what happened today. 5 hours. I flew through Everett, Seattle, & Tacoma.. the normal slow spots. The weather was wonderful. I had the windows down and the radio up. It was a surprisingly lovely drive.

While proceeding safely and cautiously on I-5 I had time to think. I must confess, I did not devote all 5 hours to goats. That would be a bit obsessive I think. I thought about work and my mother, and my kids, and my friends, and my car, and Peter and.. goats. I don't suppose keeping, maintaining and becoming productive with goats is really very practical. I don't know anything about goats. What am I thinking?? I'm crazy. That's for sure. Nuts. Whacko. Absolutely off my rocker. What am I thinking??

However.. If you can make goat cheese from goat's milk, why can't you make goat yogurt? Goat cottage cheese? Couldn't you make virtually any cow's milk product with goat's milk? Why hasn't some one already done that? Do you suppose it tastes terrible? But if it DID taste terrible why would that matter? People eat goat cheese and drink goat's milk and those taste terrible.

So many things to think about.

Peter's -Day 2

Sunday's we play. Sundays are good. Usually doing stuff outside. Sometimes wine tasting, sometimes a drive, but almost always hikes are involved. Today we drove north. We drove all the way to Whistler, B.C. We investigated Shannon Falls, Porteau Cove, Howe Sound, Brandywine Falls, Squamish, Whistler, and more.

The main goal of our trip was to see Brandywine Falls. However, snow covered the parking lot ~ and we now know to stay out of snow filled parkintg lots ~ so we parked outside the lot, along hwy 99 and hiked in. We were the only ones brave enough (or stupid enough) to take on this challenge and so were the only ones for miles and miles. This was quite appealing to me until Peter mentioned seeing bear spoor and bear tracks. Despite that we had a lovely picnic lunch on the deck overlooking the falls. We ate smoked salmon (I'm sure a bear's favorite food!) and drank wine from a plastic taco bell cup. Such class! This photo is of the stream before it plummets over the falls.

We watched the sun set over Howe Sound. It was so very breathtaking. Click on the picture to see if full screen. It really does leave me in awe of nature...

Despite my busy busy weekend, I have managed to work on my knitting for a bit. I have nearly perfected the art of knit one, purl two & knit two, purl two. I think I'm nearly ready to tackle an actual project. A scarf? A hat? A cable-knit, button down sweater with contrasting cuffs (probably not) I should start with a scarf I think.

Day 9 - Peter's

Yesterday I spent much of the day taking my mom to dr. appointments.. then traveling north. Peter (that would be my totally awesome boyfriend) lives near the Canadian Border. Making this trip at the time of the day when you hit Tacoma at rush hour is not very clever. I spent an hour doing 20 miles an hour through Tacoma and then I crawled through Everett as well. AGH! But it (and he) is so very worth it.

Since there is about 325 miles between us and we both have so very many responsibilities at each of our homes, we have this deal.. when I go up to see him, I work for him on Saturdays. When he comes to see me, he works for me on Saturdays. That way neither of us really falls behind on our to-do lists, much.

Today I spent about 20 hours carrying about 80 pounds of weed killer on my back and then another 20 hours wrestling blackberries and cutting down pussy willows and burning them up. It was a good day. As I was getting scratched and mauled by the blackberry canes I thought none of this was working toward my TYPoE (as well as a lot of other things, including.. if I had goats.. they would LOVE to eat the blackberries!). But then it dawned on me that I can't make goat related advances every day, and that the simple fact that days progress get's me closer to my goal.

At lunch today we had home made soup. Peter is a master at cooking and feeds me well. I almost never have to cook when I'm there. The gin and tonic he drank with lunch is the only explanation I can give for why Peter tried to get the cat to ride the dog...

Day 7

Hey! It just dawned on me.. I'm a week into my TYPoE. I haven't given up yet. That's good news.

There is not a lot new on the goat front. Not only that I really do need to pace myself. I have two years. I have about 723 days left to go. So I shall slow down and breathe deeply. That's the ticket.

I have been practicing my knitting. and purling. and cabling. I think this has turned out quite nice so far. It won't actually be anything - although someone suggested it could become a tube top. I don't think so.

See the lovely little rooster on my banner? He belongs to Peter, My wonderfully awesome boyfriend. I shall get to go see the rooster and his chickens this weekend. They think I'm the chicken queen. They've been known to listen intently to everything I say. They like me. I like them. It works.

Day 6

My mother lives with me. She's quite ill and woke me the other morning at 3:00. After I got her back to bed I lay awake staring into the darkness thinking about goats and my plan. I realized I have two serious goat problems. I figure I need about 5 goats. 5 lactating goats. In order to get goats lactating the goats must have kids. If the goats have kids I'll end up with more than 5 goats. In theory I could sell the goats - which would add to my income but could I stand to sell my precious babies? I think not. My goat herd shall expand and expand and I'll be in real trouble. I'll be like that "octet" mother in California. How could I stand that kind of criticism?

My second problem is that if I have goats that require daily milking I will be forever trapped milking goats. What about vacations? What about Europe? What about weekends at the luxury spa? I wonder if the local temp agency would have experienced goat milkers?

My mother is ill (I know I said that..) but part of her illness results in her saying some very very odd things. Let me share today's conversation (Peter is my awesome boyfriend)

The scene: In the car and we passed a little empty corner farmer’s market.

Me: That’s what I need for my little goat shop
She: Goats?! I don’t think Peter is very good for you
Me: Why would you say that?
She: Because you’ll end up with worms in your pants.

Two years seems like a very long time...