Purling Oaks

Another update

The clean-up crew finished before noon on Tuesday.  The basement is drying down to the studs now (minus drywall, paneling, etc.) and all has been sanitized.  We should be free of the fans and dehumidifier by Friday sometime.    Just look at all that potential.  (The view into my studio.)  (upcoming contest hint)  I *heart* plastic containers.

Tomorrow, with some of our other crew members, DH and I are celebrating our co-worker's return from Iraq.  He is an Air Force Reservist.  The celebration involves tailgating and watching the Brewers game.  This will be my first visit to the new stadium.  The strike did diminish my enthusiasm for professional baseball but I'm always ready for a good party, especially for a good reason.  *And* I have the second fixation footie to keep me occupied between innings. 

I want to have my hair cut shorter.  I'm waiting a few days to see my desire for shorter locks is the result of the recent excitement around here or is just a summer thing where shorter hair is just more comfortable.   I have a massage scheduled for Friday.   The timing of the massage is important so I can be loose, relaxed, and ready to cast on for the Summer of Socks 2008.

DH has been concerned that I haven't posted since Monday and has been offering post suggestions.  I'm not sure what to think of this new development.  I think he needs a blog.

Saturday's sky and a little of this and that

• Here's a smidgeon of blue sky for Sandy.  Her blog is temporarily out of commission but being the prepared person she is, you can find her at her back-up blog over here.
• I'm interpreting all this rain and the resulting work to clean it up as a reminder from Mother Nature that I should have my muscles and body in shape in preparation of stuff like this happening.  That way, the Advil supply will last longer.  I should have jumped on Nora's Tuesday bandwagon a long time ago.
• We have sunshine at the moment, which is lovely.  I have the windows open this morning to give everything an airing.  Even the living room was starting to smell musty.  As soon as water stops seeping into the basement (maybe next week?), I'm going to try Julie's suggestion of tree tee oil spray to discourage mold.
• I'm running behind answering emails.  I'm still working on them but thank you all for your sympathy and good wishes.  Although this is a real pain in the rear and a lot of work and worry, we have far fewer problems than a lot of people in Wisconsin and the rest of the Upper Midwest from the recent storms and flooding.
• I'm going to do some essential laundry today and get some grocery items.  I'm glad I have the low-water use washer now, for sure. We've wet-vac'ed once all ready this morning.  The seeping is slowing down, which is promising.  We'll do it again this afternoon.  There is a chance of storms this afternoon through Sunday night.  I am hoping for a good two-week period of no rain starting today.  Well, hoping never hurt anything, right?
• I also need to catch up with some "real" work sometime this weekend.  "Real" meaning stuff that results in the bank balance being happy or happier, anyway.
• Tomorrow the insurance adjuster is visiting at 8 AM.  We'll see what results from the visit.  The raw sewage effects (or "poopie" as someone calls it and makes me laugh)  are covered; the water is probably not.  How it gets split out will be interesting.  I may not be going here this October as I had tentatively planned.
• However, all this moving stuff around, cleaning, and throwing stuff out leaves room for new organization solutions, like Joan's new to-dream-about closet.
• The plants and flowers in my gardens seem to like the rain but they aren't as bright and cheery as some flowers.  Thanks for the drive-by flower photo, Cookie.
• Have a marvelous weekend everyone. 

Knitting and *systems* DO mix!

Repairs and remediation commenced at the house this morning.  The septic system appears to be repaired and various tanks have been pumped out, which is contributing to the calm of the purling oaks inhabitants.  Tomorrow, the clean-up folks are scheduled to show up bright and early.  I've been in a bit of denial today.  If I can't see it, it doesn't exist.  And I have not ventured into the icky zone; thus, I cannot see it.  As Stacey inquired, yes, my studio is in the basement.  However, the loom, spinning wheel, and Artemesia's fleece are not.  So there! 

From left to right on the favorite Popeye fleece blanket:  Fuzzle, White Dot, Blue and Black Dot (on the back of the futon).  The cats are being isolated in the guest bedroom so they don't go wading *ahem* in the lower level.  We've "escorted" them between their bedroom and the front door so they can get daily exercise and not go too bonkers.  I very much missed having a kitty leaning against my legs last night.

There was no rain today which relieved me more than I can say.  I'm learning more about septic systems than any knitter should have to know.  The cool thing though?  Our septic repair guy is the brother-in-law of a local fiber mill owner.  So, yes, we did talk about knitting and I got directions to the mill. 

Forecast: Frost

Thankfully, I checked the weather forecast this afternoon and saw that frost is forecast for 1 am through 7 am Wednesday!  OH NO!  I'm also very thankful I'm home tonight and able to cover all the tender plants.  I probably should have covered them last night, too.  Some of them, like the German chamomile, looked pretty sad before getting tucked in for the night.

We had 80 degrees temperatures on Monday and early tomorrow morning it is going to be frosty.  I've been retreating in a book in my free time the past day or two.  The weather must be compounding my mood or whatever I'm feeling.  I'm sure the knitting zen will return along with my needles so I can start Icarus and catch up with the rest of the crew.

Think 40, not 32, not 30, but 40 or higher.  Thanks!  Now, where's that paperback?

Saturday's sky and a good dilemma

I have a dilemma.  Actually, not a bad situation to be in but a dilemma just the same.  I'm faced with the following facts:

• I have three works-in-process:  Williamsro, Forest Canopy, Catherina Faroese Shawl.  Each of these requires concentration (to varying degrees) and a chart. 
• I will be in an automobile for about six hours on Sunday.  Frankly, it may be longer since we are doing a round-trip to the big city at the south end of Lake Michigan with road construction and Memorial Day traffic. 
• I have no mind-less knitting project in process to take with me.  *gasp*

Furthermore, I'm participating in the Summer of Socks 2008 and I am reluctant to start socks before the SOS kick-off date.  As I type this, I realized I will also be flying to the West Coast (and back) the first week of June and will also require a smallish project to maintain sanity.

Maybe a pair of footies would be a quick knit, since knitting those for SOS may not fit in the rules.  I have Cascade Fixation in the stash.  Perhaps I should start a Noro Striped Scarf, since I have several *ahem* skeins available in my stash for color choices. I could practice my continental knitting and purling on the 1-1 ribbing.  My stylist's daughter had a baby girl, named Emma Lynn, so a baby sweater is in order.  I also have organic cotton in the stash, so another Baby Kimono sweater may be a good idea. 

BTW, the blog gets oodles of hits from "baby kimono" searches.  Are there *that* many knitters looking for the pattern or finished knit?  Is it a code for something I don't want to know about?  It is just one of those odd things.

I'll mull my choices while I work on the garden today.  Yesterday's six bags of composted manure turned into ten.  (There was a discount!  Who doesn't need composted manure?!)  Tomatoes, one eggplant and some more radishes are going into the garden boxes.  I also need to finish with the perennial flowers and herbs that I started planting yesterday.  And I need to take the garbage to the township all to drop off since DH is flying home at this moment and the drop-off is only open for a few more hours.  Ack!  I better start!

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Tuesday This and That

• My brown bag project was received nicely at the guild meeting Monday night.  I'll have to show you the bag that another guild member made of my yarn....it is amazing.  I need good light for a good photo so I'll share the fab bag later this week.  It was the last guild meeting with the next one occurring in September.  Next time, I'm finishing the brown bag project by New Years Day, or die, if I choose to participate.
• DH and I have a friend that is being ordained as a Deacon by the Archbishop at the end of this month.  We are fortunate to have an invite to the ordination in Chicago.  I'm not familiar with what to do at these events.  Is there a good gift to give or a good gift *not* to give?
• I am definitely joining the people hater's camp this week.  A new person at work is being a challenge in so many ways, I'm sure my BP is up.  I really need to change my reaction to this person since there is no legal way I'm going to change the person.
• We're having our 25 year old air conditioner replaced this week.  Tomorrow, they are adding a new vent above our bed.  Yes, cutting through the ceiling and all that entails.  I'm wondering what the master bedroom will look like tomorrow when I arrive home from work.  Any guesses?  *g*
• I'm definitely hungering to get back to my lace knitting. 
• I wish that I could fit in someone's suitcase. 

Just tell them

I've been dreading writing about this but if I blog about it now, I won't have to dread it any longer, will I?  Well, remember Nora telling us about her friends that live in Richland Center with the Icelandic Sheep?  Remember how I drove over one Saturday, took the goat trail, visited with the sheep and picked up two fleeces?  You do?  Good. 

One of those fleeces, the lovely chocolate brown fleece, is safely in a box traveling to Stacey under the tender mercies of the U.S. Postal Service.  The other fleece was safe in my garage, waiting for me to wash it and proceed with all the other fun processes one does with a fleece.  Did you notice the "was" in the previous sentence?  You did?  Very astute of you. 

Sometimes we forget to tell our spouses things, important things.  Things like, "don't touch that bag with my fleece in it, even though it is in a garbage bag, it isn't garbage."  Yes, while I was learning about lace in Neenah last Saturday, Artemesia's fleece was (accidentally) taken to the township garbage drop-off and, well, dropped off.  I didn't realize it was gone until yesterday when I had to move a ladder for the A/C guy to go up into the attic and noticed the bag that used to be next to the ladder, wasn't. 

DH is very sorry and I'm feeling pretty bad on several levels.  A waste of money and precious materials, the missing out of doing an activity with a friend, feeling dumb because I should have showed DH the fleece, and feeling a bit of "why didn't you look in the bag before you pitched it?" feeling.  He even went to the drop-off but the bins were empty so it couldn't be recovered.  (Not that I would have asked him to go dumpster diving...ewwwww!)  He has amassed so many "husband points" that this little snafu is nothing.  Besides, there is no lasting harm....there will be more fleeces and no body or animal was hurt.  I just hope that Etta Mae's fleece has better luck.

The Slow-Rise (No Knead) Bread

The bread was well-received last night with a nice romaine salad and seafood stew (from Trader Joe's).  I'm pretty pleased with it but the crust wasn't as crisp as I would have liked but I love the crumb and the taste was good.  Look at all those cool holes!  I *heart* holey-bread.  I nabbed this recipe from the comments on Amazon.com from a book review.  Yes, a little risky but all the recipes looked about the same.  Here it is:

3 cups of bread flour, I used King Arthur's bread flour
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon yeast (I used a 1/2 t.)
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 and 1/2 cups water, room temperature

I added the ingredients in the bowl (two quart size) water first, then yeast, flour, and salt.  Stirred to mix the ingredients (no dry flour pockets) then covered and let the dough sit to double in size.  Here is where I had a problem because my kitchen wasn't warm enough.  I finally put the dough in a cold oven with the light on and there was enough warmth to encourage the dough to double.  Once it doubled, I put it in the 'frig and it stayed there for about 18 hours or so.  You could leave it for several days, I believe.

The next day, I took the dough out of the 'frig (it was a bit jiggly and had lots of bubbles) and set it on the counter to come to room temp, about 3 hours before I wanted to bake it.  Your time may differ.  It was a chilly spring day yesterday. 

I placed my clay covered chicken cooker (from Pampered Chef, in case you, too, did the PC parties at one time or another), both pieces, in the cold oven.  I turned the oven to 475 to preheat.  Once everything was to the right temp, I took a sheet of parchment paper, removed the top of the clay cooker carefully, set the parchment over the bottom of the cooker and poured my dough onto the parchment.  Then I replaced the lid of the cooker, closed the oven door, and reduced the oven temp to 450.  After 30 minutes, I removed the cover and reduced the oven temp to 420 and let the bread brown and finished cooking....about 15 or 20 minutes.  I removed it from the heat when the internal temp was just 200 using an instant read thermometer.

Next time, I'll wait for an internal temp of 210 to see if the extra time will improve the crust.  This is a variation on the New York Times No Knead bread.  I am not comfortable putting my le Crueset lid in the oven at such a high temperature so I just used the clay cooker as a cloche.  Other folks have used a cast iron dutch oven and lid with success, as well.

Thursday's list

Some random items since a coherent regular post is not available.

1.  The spring cleaning bug is going to bite hard this weekend.  I'm having visions of pitching and giving away half of my clothing.  I don't wear half of it for various reasons and the other half only is worn part of the year anyway depending on the season.  My only problem is that I'm sentimental about certain pieces of clothing.  I'll just have to thank them for their service and let them move on.

2.  Is black still "in" for business clothes?  I am considering pulling together a core of black business pieces with colored accessories.  Or how about gray or is it grey?  I need to dress professionally but I would prefer to stay away from a traditional suit.  Feel free to chime in.  I need fashion help.

3.  There is a medium-size woodchuck in the back yard. 

4.  Isn't this the cutest Weinermobile ever? 

Spotted in Brookfield, Wisconsin this week.

5.  I just realized/remembered I have a brown bag project due for the Madison Knitters Guild in about 2 weeks.  Yikes.  Please don't point out to me that I have had the project for several months.  Creative Carryalls is the theme and I have a brown bag with someone else's yarn that I need to make into a carryall.  Yes, you better believe I'll be creative.  *g*  I can't share it with you until after I bring it to the guild meeting.  Yes, I do have a plan.

6.  This afternoon I started a slow-rise bread dough for baking tomorrow.  Stacey inspired me.  It is so slow rise I'm wondering if my yeast is dead.  Update at 11.  Hmmmm.  There is always the bread machine.  After I obtain new yeast, of course.  ETA:  The yeast lives.  Long live the yeast.

7.  I've lost two pounds this week. 

8.  I think Nora has small feet.  Just ask Cookie. 

9.  Speaking of feet, I've signed up for the Summer of Socks 2008.

10.  Mother's Day is coming up!  Don't worry, Mom, I'm remembering.  *g*

A little scary

And not too far off........(except for the "brain" reference which I sincerely doubt has been used about me anytime lately.)

You Are An INTJ

The Scientist You have a head for ideas - and you are good at improving systems. Logical and strategic, you prefer for everything in your life to be organized. You tend to be a bit skeptical. You're both critical of yourself and of others. Independent and stubborn, you tend to only befriend those who are a lot like you. In love, you are always striving to improve your relationship. You have strong ideas of what love should be like. At work, you excel in figuring out difficult tasks. People think of you as "the brain." You would make an excellent scientist, engineer, or programmer. How you see yourself: Reasonable, knowledgeable, and competent When other people don't get you, they see you as: Aloof, controlling, and insensitive

What's Your Personality Type?

I found this quiz at Throws Like a Girl.

Post? What's that?

It has been a busy week with work as usual but with a bonus day of meetings and getting prepped for a vacation.  I'm back home tonight trying to transfer stuff from my old mac to my new mac so the old one can go to a new home with my nephew.  Moving my music from the old iTunes to the new iTunes was bothersome so I just decided to use my old backup disks and that appears to be working. 

I must say I really don't have much worth while rattling around in my brain for a post tonight.  You'll be seeing a guest blogger for a post coming up this week.  There will probably be some posts on fibery (and other) adventures with Stacey coming up, as well, as long as I can find a high speed Internet connection.

I haven't made any measurable progress on Forest Canopy.  I am a bit disappointed about this but it is my own fault.  I'm experiencing a bit of an attention  and time deficit that I hope to remedy this coming week.

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Deborah tagged me with this book meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 or more pages.   Aerie by Mercedes Lackey (fourth and last of a series)  I haven't started reading this book yet.  I'm not too excited about it at the moment but I want to finish the series.

2. Open the book to page 123 and find the 5th sentence. "And we will need to call upon favors from other tribes to make up for our losses."

3. Post the next 3 sentences. 'We will not starve... but we will not prosper either, for some time to come."  That was an extraordinary admission from a Mouth of the Bedu, who were so notoriously secretive that they generally had only one person in each tribe -- the Mouth--to speak to outsiders.  "Starvation is a cruel death," the Mouth said, meditatively.

4. Then tag 4 people.  I won't tag anyone but feel free to tag yourself.  Thanks Deborah!