a few things that I've been pondering...

    There are some people that I have known over the years, who every fair complected. They have absolutely gorgeous, porcelain skin. Some had red hair, and some were blonde. Really striking young women. At some point they need to get glasses. It happens to the best of us. But can anyone out there tell my why these delicate, beautiful creatures decide they need to get big, heavy BLACK frames?? 


     I find it so confounding, it's like putting on a Batman helmet, or wearing a Lone Ranger mask. These big black frames are all you see when you look at them! I think a pair of small, light, or even rimless frames wouldn't detract from their looks. OK, that rant is over. Thanks for listening. 


    Now onto the big one. A while ago, Hubs and I went vehicle shopping. For me. We were just going to look. (Sure). We started at our local Jeep dealer. I have driven a Wrangler for about 9 years and I love it. We started out looking at the Wranglers, and while Hubs talked to the salesman about what we were looking for, I started circling the Cherokee that was there, right next to the salesman's desk. 


    Long story short, I ended up with a Cherokee Trail Hawk. It has many bells and whistles, but what sold me was the heated steering wheel, and seats. I loves me a warm tushie. Considering that this is my very first brand new vehicle, I think I did OK. 


    In my whole life, at least since I've been old enough to notice, I have not liked white cars. They just didn't appeal to me. And, they didn't appeal to many other people either. White cars were the last to be sold, usually at rock bottom prices. It seems that this has changed in recent years. Since my Cherokee is white, now I'm noticing how many white cars there are on the roads. I think a revolution has quietly begun. I also think that only cool people drive white cars.... Among those, I can name myself, my son Jesse, and my friends Kim and Bonny. And recently my Hubs, who is considering getting a beater car for better gas mileage. The one he's considering happens to be white... 


    So the next time you are out and about, around town, really look at the other cars on the road. I think you'll find that a significant portion will be white. 


   And lastly, I do miss my Wrangler. My left leg is bored now. The new Cherokee is an automatic. What I miss the most is the Wrangler Wave. I posted on facebook recently about that, and someone commented that a Jeep is a Jeep, and I should still wave. The silhouette of a Wrangler is so distinctive that it can be recognized from pretty far away. My Cherokee? Not so much. 


    I've been looking, really looking, in these last eight weeks, and every single car company, from Hyundai, Ford, Chevy, Honda and Kia, all the way up to Cadillac, Mercedes and Audi have vehicles with the same silhouette as the Cherokee. I see a familiar shape coming at me, and by the time I can decide if it's a Jeep or not, it's too late to wave. So I've decided not to try and start the waving thing for Cherokees. 


    I do get to see my old Wrangler, the kid who bought it works at a local pizza joint. When I drive past and see him (the Jeep) in the parking lot, I smile and wave to him. His name was 8. The new one is 9, because he's the 9th car I've ever owned or driven. If I can remember them all....

Rambling on a Sunday

    My hands hurt. See, I joined a knitting group on facebook, read through all through all their rules and nonsense, and now my hands hurt from clenching them and not typing smart ass response comments to some of the stupidest things I have ever read.


    If I do comment, I'd for sure be thrown out of the group and banned for life. I mean, seriously? Someone buys a  36" circular needle and wants to know if she can make a baby hat with it??? What baby does she know that has a head that big??


    At least I can vent here. In other news, my camera battery is dead. My Jeep is still in the hospital. My pool rehab, however, is coming along nicely! I am not allowed to post any photos of that, however. Just take my word for it, Club Scheffler will be the place to go swimming next year! I just hope it's all done by my birthday, as my one wish is to swim in my pool on that day. They have 27 days until then. And I'm watching. So it will be done just in time to close it for the season. But no matter how cold the water is, I want to swim on my birthday.


    We will have a new dark liner, and steps to get into the pool. We will have a new surround/walkway and even a new fence around the pool. It's all very exciting. I can't wait until it's all done!


    As far as knitting goes, I am plugging away on two 10 Stitch Blankets, and occasionally pick up one of the many other WIPs that are in a time-out. I have plans to make a very unique, crocheted scarf that a friend designed. I brought out all of my Malabrigo worsted weight wool that I could find in my stash, just for this project. I just need to get out my swift and ball winder and get to work.
  

The Big Storm, Part II

    The last storm was bad, and when I went to bed last night, the weatherman was telling me that there would be up to another 6 inches by morning today. I figured I could break through that berm in four wheel drive, and get to Sara's to watch Owen.


    HA the weatherman was  *surprise* wrong!  When I got up and opened my front door, all I could say was "HOLY SHIT!" There was more snow last night than all of the more than 20 hours of the last storm! The walkway to the front door looked like it had never even been shoveled! The Jeep was buried so deep I wasn't sure we could get it out. But plow guy Matt got it out. He is a miracle worker.


    You see, we park on the side of the road, and the county plows throw lots more snow on our cars than you can imagine. You know how you get upset when the end of your driveway gets plowed in? The entire front of our property is where we park. There used to be 3 vehicles there, now there's just Hubs' truck and my Jeep.


    Needless to say, I didn't make it to Sara's. Again. I feel so bad, but I don't think she will get in trouble for not going in to work. I was really shocked by how much snow we got hit with. Here is a photo of the Jeep, followed by our shoveled walkway.

 

 

     And they are saying it's not over yet. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. KMN. It may not look like much, but the snow depth on the walkway is at least 24". Let's hope tomorrow's post is NOT entitled "The Big Storm, Part III" !!                         

Here's the deal

    I must say, it was an absolute joy to drive the Jeep without fear or worry. I had to promise Hubs that the next time I think there's something wrong with my vehicle, I will make him listen to me. You would think he would already do that, considering this is the third time this has happened.


    The first time, I told Hubs that there was something wrong with the Lincoln I'd been driving. I told him it was vibrating really badly, that my butt was going numb. He told me it was probably a bubble in the tire, until he drove it. Apparently something really important like the drive shaft, but not the drive shaft, had broken. I drove that car all the way to Wappingers and back to Hyde Park like that. To this day he says he doesn't know how that car kept running.


    The second time, I was sitting in my car, at that time I was driving a Nissan Stanza. As I sat there waiting for someone, I felt a thunk, and the sound of the engine changed. It had been humming, and after the thunk, the hum was lower pitched. I mentioned it to Hubs and again he blew me off.


    Until one night, I had to drive him to the E.R. because he had burned his eyes while welding. Since he could only listen, he noticed the change in the engine sound. The next day we went to the drub store to get the meds for his eyes. He sent me in, telling me he would check the engine while I was in the store.


    When I came out, he was sitting in front of the store in the car, all grim faced and staring ahead. I got in, and asked him what he found. We drove directly to the garage, where he told me that an engine mount had broken, and the engine was falling out of the car. He fixed it and it wasn't a big deal to fix. But I was hoping he would learn from that and listen to me when I tell him something is wrong with my car.


    With the Jeep, I had asked him more than once to drive it, maybe he could tell what it was from a test drive. He has mad diagnostic skills. But I was unsuccessful. Do you think that maybe he will listen to me in the future? Only time will tell....


    I realize this post may repeat old stories, and I apologize if that is so.

After the storm

   At this point, all I can do is hope the storm is over. We must have over a foot of snow at this point. We have shoveled, and been plowed out. Maybe this afternoon I can get some work done on my legwarmers.


    Yesterday I didn't get to knit at all, we were busy at doctor appointments, grocery shopping, and picking up meds at the drug store. Hubs needed blood work, so that took a while.


    The bad news is that my Jeep broke. I made it home from Sara's house Friday, barely, parked it and swore I wasn't driving it again until it was at least looked at. I didn't get to tell Hubs about it until Saturday evening after he got home from work. With husbands, timing is everything.


    Friday night he was too busy venting about work. I would just have added to the stress, so I made the executive decision to wait. In the end it turns out that once again my instincts were correct. It seems that my right rear wheel was falling off. Two of the studs were broken off, and the whole thing was wobbling when I drove. That would have been the "whoop whoop" sound I was hearing when I drove.


   The good news is that it's now all fixed. And Hubs can return all those other parts he bought before he realized what the problem actually was. After he came home with my repaired Jeep, he was freaking out that he hadn't noticed the problem. And the fact that I had mentioned to him twice that there was a problem.


    So I get to babysit for little Owen tomorrow. I can't wait to see him! I just hope the roads are all passable in the morning.

Almost got it all done

    It was THIS close..... Then I ended up sitting on the side of route 9 after pulling out of the Stop n Shop plaza. It seems my brake problem had decided to come back. The right front brake is seizing or something. Hubs told me before that when it happens, I should pull over and let it cool off, then it should let go and after a while I can drive some more.


    That's what happened the day it took me three hours to get home from Fishkill. I had to stop three times to let the brake cool off. Thank the Goddess that yesterday I was close to home, and only had to stop the one time. I only had to wait a half an hour before trying to drive the rest of the way home. I made it!!


    While I was sitting there waiting, I got a call from my son James. He told me that he had gotten a call from a friend that I was on the side of the road, so he called to see if I needed help. That was so sweet. I told him I was just waiting for my brake to cool off. It really didn't occur to me to call anyone for help, I knew what to do. I mean, my kids are all grown up and busy with their own stuff. And my Hubs will fix it the next day (today). So in the morning, Hubs took me to James and Jessica's house so I can watch the kids, and then he came pick me up afterwards. While I was gone, he fixed the brakes.


   On a positive note, I got some knitting done in the time I was sitting there waiting for the brake to cool off. See? That's why I always have either my nook, or my knitting with me. Sometimes both. You never know. It's almost gotten to be a superstition with me. If I go out without at least one of those things, something bad will happen....


    In fact, I thought the brake had a problem because I had taken the extra skein of yarn out of my bag. When I started knitting, I thought I was almost out of yarn. But I was wrong, there was plenty left.


    So yesterday I got almost all my errands done. I just wasn't able to get to the pharmacy. But I have plenty of that medication and don't need it yet. I can pick it up another day.

The lost ribbon yarn

    A few years ago, someone gave me a bunch of balls of a ribbon yarn. I put it away in a really good place. Once in a while, I would see it in it's bag, while moving it to get to something else.


    This past week, while not crafting, I've had the urge to find this ribbon yarn and knit it up with big needles. Just so I can say I'm making something. So far, I have been so far unsuccessful in my quest. But after Hubs goes back to work on Tuesday, I will have time once again to actually look.


    I find that I'm getting a bit excited about this possible project. I will take a photo or two once I find it and get going.


    Today it rained, after being hot and very humid. Thank the Goddess that it cooled off. During a lull in the down pouring, I went to the supermarket to pick up a few things. While I was in there, it started raining really hard again. I could hear it on the roof of the store. After I checked out, I joined the crowd of people who didn't want to run to their cars in the really heavy rain.


    After a while it let up, so I made my way to the Jeep. Just as I was a step or two away from the passenger door, it started raining really hard again!  So I got wet. Oh well, it had to happen. I don't mind me getting wet, I just didn't want my groceries to get wet. In fact, earlier in the day, I was swimming in the rain. Of course there was no thunder at that time. It was just plain rain.


    We've had so much rain today that the extra water has filled up our pool to the top of the skimmer. My friend Bonny's pool was threatening to overflow, and they had to pump off quite a bit of water. Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you all about the pool trauma we had this year.

The Cicada's Bad Day

    This morning, as we were driving to New Jersey, my Hubs happened to mention that he noticed that I have a cicada stuck to the bumper of my Jeep. After we got home this afternoon, I went and looked, and darn if he wasn't right!


    And just like he said, it looks like his head is stuck in a hole in my bumper, and the rest of him is just hanging there. Of course, I took a few photos.

    Looks like this cicada had a really bad day. And yes, we made it back from New Jersey in one piece.

another snowy adventure

    Well, we got hit with the snow storm yesterday, last night, and today. Yesterday, it wasn't bad. It snowed pretty much all day but wasn't sticking. But today was another story. We only got a couple, maybe three, inches. But it's a heavy wet snow.


    I had to go out this morning. It was still snowing like mad at that time. It took longer than I expected to clean the snow off the Jeep. I was in 4-wheel drive to get out of my driveway, and down my road to Rte.9. Rte 9 was just wet, so I turned off the 4WD. The side roads were slushy, but not too bad, I didn't slide or slip at all.


    When I got to the Temple, however, I pulled into the driveway, and put the 4WD back on. It hadn't been plowed yet. I spent most of the day in pleasant company, helping my good friend Jan set up for her son's Bar Mitzvah. I've never been to one before, and I'm honored and excited to have been invited!


    We re-arranged the tables a little bit, then put tablecloths on them.  Then time was spent unwrapping cellophane from the candles, then setting them up for the center pieces.  Jan and her son Sean put the favors at all the place settings. There were nice people there from the caterer's and from the Temple itself, who placed all the silverware and napkins on the tables.


    When we were finally done, Jan took us out to lunch at the Brewery, here in Hyde Park. The food was awesome. I'm really looking forward to this event tomorrow. I haven't knitted at all today, I'm ashamed to admit. But it's not over yet. I might have time to get a few rounds in.

Searching for a Pattern and Other Stuff

    Since yesterday, I have been searching for a pattern to knit. I have looked through most of my pattern books, magazines, and patterns I've gotten from free pattern sites, mostly Knitting Pattern Central.


    I've even looked at crochet patterns. Nothing is speaking to me. In the meantime, I will continue working on the shawl. But it's getting  b  o  r  i  n  g. Which could be why I put it down in the first place.


    This morning, when I went to sit for the Cherub, I took my camera and completed Arachno Shawl. She had agreed to model it for me, so I could show you a good photo of what it looks like. This is what I got:

    Apparently, she decided she wasn't into it this morning. I will try to find another model, or maybe just lay it out on the hood of my Jeep. It's really not big enough to suit me, I think if I want to make it "Kim" big, I would have to double the amount of cast on stitches. I'm thinking that doing the cobweb pattern for the border on that many stitches would drive me over the edge.


     So Hubs is finally asleep, I think, after having to work a 5th 12 hour shift in a row. To say he wasn't happy is an understatement. But it's over now, and I get to be with him for two nights before he goes back for his three night week.

 
    And tomorrow is new tattoo day!! Finally!!

The Parade, Then and Now.

     Back when my daughter was in high school, she was in the marching band. So of course, she got to be in the parades. I remember driving down Rte 9, and the ungodly hour of 7:30 or 8:00, and even at that hour, people had chairs out already, marking their territory of where they were going to sit.


   It is still like that now! I no longer have to drop anyone off at the drive-in for the parade line up, but my two friends who do have remarked to me that this is still the case. And Jan even said, "Only in Hyde Park could people put their chairs out without fear of them being taken!" I agree, Jan!


   My poor daughter in the marching band had to wear this god-awful heavy wool uniform, even in July, and those stupid looking tall wool hats too. She would arrive home after the parade, practically fainting from heat stroke. She was furious that shortly after she graduated, the powers that be changed the marching band uniform to black pants and a white T shirt! I remember that she wanted nothing better than to burn that awful heavy uniform!


    This years parade was pretty good. I took a few photos, we were sitting on the east side of Rte 9, here are our views looking south, then north.

     Of course, the parade hadn't started yet. Even after it starts, we are near the end of it, so it takes forever for it to get this far!

    This nice family were also at the Memorial Day parade, when they were the hit of the street! They brought a duck, on a leash, with them. Everyone wanted to go say Hi to the duck!

     And of course, they can't have a parade without old military vehicles. Here is an old Jeep.

   
    And here is my fantasy boyfriend. I do like a man with a shed over his tools.  I don't want me no skinny men with bones sticking out. They hurt.

      And lastly, the highlight of the parade for me, a purple tractor! Gotta have a purple tractor, it sure is different!

 
                                   HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, EVERYBODY!

No Tire Cover, But....

    I still haven't installed my new crocheted tire cover. My friend and I decided it was too freaking hot to be that active.  It would have only taken a few seconds to get completely drenched in sweat. Hopefully we will be able to try tomorrow. I did accomplish my task of buying a new battery for the camera, though. So the day wasn't completely wasted.


    I'm really looking forward to having the new cover on the spare! It is so well known around town, I can't help but wonder what comments I'll get. I've had people next to me at stoplights roll down their windows and tell me how much they like it! Strangers in parking lots, too! It's fun and different, and there aren't any other tire covers like it around here.

    Also today I did something my Hubs has been bugging me to do, I went to the pharmacy and had a talk with my pharmicist. Last week, my pulmonologist gave me a new inhaler to try, to see if it works better for me than Advair. As I read through the accompanying papers, I discovered that the new one contains a LABA and I shouldn't take it until I check with my pharmacist to make sure none of my other meds contain a LABA.


    I know, YAWN.... But I finally went today, and the answer is "No", none of my other meds contain the nasty LABA, so I am cleared for take-off. Starting tomorrow morning. Whoopie.


    P.S. LABA stands for Long Acting Broncho-Something or other. Just so you know, and won't have to Google it.
   

    I added the knitting M&M just for a laugh. It's been too long since I posted a photo.

   

My Next Two Projects....

     I finally decided it's time to replace my crocheted tire cover on my Jeep, so I've started a new one! I bought the yarn a few weeks ago, but I was waiting to be done with a few other things first, and waiting for my crochet hooks to reappear when we moved the couch out of here.


     I went with another color scheme entirely for the new one! I started with burgundy, and found a variegated yarn to go with it, called Cherry Chip. It's got the dark red, as well as tan, dark tan, and chocolate brown. I like it. Here is a photo of the two yarns, together:

      So far, so good. I'm sure Hubs will hate it, thinking it's too girly. See, he hasn't driven my Jeep very often since I put the last tire cover on, he feels the other boys will make fun of him. I even started making one out of camouflage colored yarn. But I don't like it much, so I never finished it. I probably should, since my Jeep is green, and the camo would kind of cool on the back. Here is a photo of the progress I've made so far:

     At this rate, it won't take long to finish this one off! However, I will probably need help putting it on, since it took two of us to get the last one on. I made it a bit small, so it went on nice and snug. It's been on nearly two years now, and it's starting to get a bit ratty looking. As a reminder, here is what the current one looks like!

 

 

    Well, it's now after  p.m. and I've had to stop crocheting. My hand hurts! I will rest it overnight and start again tomorrow. Here is how far I've gotten:

    That was written last night. Today, I've made more progress on the tire cover. But the going is slow, it's been a while since I crocheted this much. My hand is aching. Today, I found two skeins of Lion Brand Pound of Love in my stash, in the denim blue colorway. I like this color! It's calling me, it wants to be a blanket for a small person. But I can't decide whether to crochet a blanket or knit one. I will have to think about this some more.

    The two choices? For crochet, I would make my favorite pattern, it's only 4 rows of any one stitch, so it doesn't get too boring. It's sort of my trademark blanket, we all have one, even son-in-law Mike, and Jesse's grilfriend Julie. Even both grandkids each have one! Only fair that the next grandbaby gets one too.

    The other, knitted option, would be to make that EZ blanket I started with the yarn I can't find any more of to finish it. I would make it a bit smaller, and with the two pounds of yarn, that should be plenty to make a finished blanket. Here's a photo of the yarn:

    It looks pretty against the pink of my chair, doesn't it!  As you probably guessed, I made the pillow cover that the yarn is sitting on too. It's on a pillow from our former couch. The corner where I sat kind of sank, so I would sit on the pillow to raise myself up to normal seat height.

    If anyone has any opinions on which blanket I should make, please feel free to leave me a comment!

      

Downton Abbey, and It's a Jeep Thing!

    Downton Abbey.  I have up to this point, watched six episodes of the first season. And I have to say, I really like it! They almost lost me in an early episode, when Cook gave Daisy a bowl of poisonous stuff and asked her to take it away, then, before she could do so, gave her another bowl of stuff to take up to have sprinkled on the family's food. That would have been just too much.

   Obviously, I figured everyone would get poisoned or very sick. I was relieved to see everything put to right, just in the nick of time. I have enjoyed every episode since! I am nearly through the first season. I can hardly wait to get some more time to myself so I can watch the rest!

   It's a Jeep Thing. Back when I got my Jeep for Christmas, in 2003, right away I noticed that when I drove it, other Jeep drivers would wave to me. Since then it has continued. It makes me smile every gosh darned time too.

   As I have traveled through many of the surrounding towns, villages and cities, I have noticed that there are trends in this. In some towns, other Jeep drivers will wave. In some, they won't. For instance, in the City of Poughkeepsie, they won't, but in the Town of Poughkeepsie they will. Wappingers Falls, they don't, Fishkill, they do! I am glad to say that here in Hyde Park, we do the wave.

   It's like the Harley Davidson thing, only with Jeeps. I look at it as a kind of solidarity salute. And as I said, it makes me smile.  When my daughter is riding with me, she asks, "Do you know him, or was that the Jeep wave?"

   I must be kind of well known around my little town, because on the occasions that I am driving my Hubs' truck, I have actually had people in other cars point at me, and gesture questioningly. Like they are asking me, "Where's your Jeep?" I really like that. I shrug, and wave back.  I do so love my Jeep!