bits

garden bits coming in, I need to pick peppers today and probably pick over the cinnamon basil again.

A postcard from Nakisha!  She is my favorite artist.  A dear friend of mine bought me her book, and for Mother's Day I asked for a print that is now on our art wall.  It says 'I hope you get to curl up with a good book'.  She had a promotion on her Facebook and I knew I'd love to have a postcard to hang up - and show others her wonderful work.

The Art of Nakisha

The other postcards are from The Kirk Estate, which I got with the seeds I bought this year.  I caught up with her blog - a bit bittersweet, she writes from her soul and it is a soulful time in the world right now.

http://www.thekirkestate.com

 

toys copyright Knitowl.com

My friend Christine on my mom's group has been crocheting toys out of a book she got.  They are very inspiring, and a good use for little bits of yarn that would otherwise not make much.   But I hate to follow patterns.  And I knit better in the round than I crochet.  So, I decided to just draw some pictures and go at it.  I'm writing up a 'pseudocode' pattern for it (the only way I can follow knit instructions) for posterity, and will post it sometime soon as well as some step-by-step, and print out a booklet for my Etsy shop about it.

toys copyright Knitowl.com

I repurposed a carrall from the top of a little toolbox to carry my tools and tiny balls of yarn in.  It is working pretty good.  Catching up on season 10 of NCIS, and slowly getting through the Seaquest I ordered for my birthday.

Charlotte is very happy.  The other dogs have mostly accepted her.  She gets to go on walks with Sweetie and Nova, who were never interested in walks before - but now they jump up and 'press me' to be the one to go on this walk or the other - I make them take turns.  Charlotte is so much I could never walk three on leash at the same time.. Daphne comes along without her leash  which is why I still call it a 'three dog walk'... but neither Sweetie nor Nova could be trusted to return with me from the walk like Daph does.

Esme is going back to school, so far, on the 4th of August.  That is coming up so soon.  She wants to go.  We're mostly ready.  I think I need to buy her another mask or two since she has to wear one everyday (highly encouraged), and she only has the one.  I've asked her to wear it to get used to it - but she said that was 'too much'... and she 'thinks she can handle it when the time comes'.  Well, I tried.  She's going to be thirteen before we know it.  She has joined a group online with a team studio and is doing some very interesting work, .. roleplay Minecraft storymode type stuff on a Youtube channel (of the myriad ones there are), but other than that it is 'secret' and copyrighted by the studio owner.  She's learning great art and sound skills - which she hopes to put to use in the future with her own channel.

basils

I am growing and drying four different kinds of basil in the garden this year.  There is sweet Genovese basil, shown above on the left, and the perennial lemon 'mint' basil, and at the bottom of the page cinnamon basil.  I also have a purple basil mixed in with regular sweet basil out there, but it hasn't yet grown large enough to pick or take photos.

my real take on masks

The mask order is to go into effect at most businesses on Monday, and there are two big problems with this:

1.) Masks don't really block the virus, but the 'mask order' is going to make people feel so safe they will now be going about 'business as usual' everywhere.

2.( I have seen people wearing masks believe they do not need to social distance because they are wearing a mask.  I've seen high risk elderly people congregating in a group of five just inches away from each other talking in Walmart aisles - all masked.. but feeling safe because of it.

Combine that with #1 and we end up basically back in the soup.

I know that the sickness is real.  I truly think that is what smacked Mark and Esme down so hard in the middle of February.  It fits all the symptoms they had and the doctors did tests and said that Esme had 'just a virus' and to take an antibiotic to control the sinus infection that came with it, so that it wouldn't dump snot into her lungs and make the effects of the virus worse.  I think I might have had a mild reaction somewhere around the first of March when my throat was so cold and achey for several days.

So I don't think the whole thing is a hoax.  But, I don't think the masks work the way people are believing with their heart and soul they are going to, either.  We should continue to distance, wash our hands and go out for essential things and work.

I naturally distance myself from ANYONE wearing a mask - but that is not what I see from others.  It is also honestly one reason why this bugs me... my 'alert' sensors are going to be going off for everyone - and I won't be able to communicate with half of them if I need to because I can't see their lips move behind a mask.  I already just nod and smile at cashiers and 'do the routine' because I can't understand if they are asking me 'donate to children's hospital' (guessed) or 'dome rate a child's horse petal'   If I know what I'm 'supposed' to hear it gets better, but sometimes it is just entirely unintelligible.

And yet, when the # of cases go up two weeks after this, it won't be blamed on the mask order.  It will be 'it would have been so much worse without the mask order!'

And school?  Well, Esme wants to go back.  They just haven't said much at the district beyond the start date and the supply list - they are still arguing over the policies I guess.  I do have a mask for her if she has to wear one.  I'm not sure what her feelings are on it - she just wants to be back with her grade.  She worries about what 'all' her friends got involved in over the summer, new skills, new friends, new goals.  She wants to talk to them and do new things instead of what she has done the past four months.  She has made a lot of new friends as well, through her Minecraft, voice acting online and animation... and she has 'come into her own' a little with this, having new goals and ambitions.

But, she is ready for a little more 'normal'.. and I know everyone is.  I don't like 'the new normal' everyone is talking about.  It frankly scares me a little to look at life being like that for the next twenty years or so... and not just for me, but for Esme growing up in that kind of world.

Leaving this here for posterity...

zucchini experiments - vinegar

 

I'm experimenting with refrigerator pickles etc. I had fresh basil that I dried earlier today, and several small cucumbers and zucchini that were ready. I read a bunch of recipes online, then freehanded this with what I have:

Recipe tried : 

finely chopped zucchini and cucumber in a quart jar, 
1 cup white wine vinegar, 
1 cup water 
2 tbsp sugar 
boiled mixture together, pour over mixture in jar, 
add 2 tbsp olive oil, basil leaves, mustard seeds and crushed red pepper seed, 
add more boiling water to fill almost to the top, 
seal hot jar and refrigerate for 48 hours. 

I think it would be excellent served over rice, we'll see. I can see making it with some hot peppers, onions and garlic for another go round.  I did not soak the mixture in salt and rinse it as a prep step.  I almost did that yesterday - and then ended up using those cucumbers for a salad mixture to eat on toast.

Adopted a lost dog - Charlotte

This dog was lost over July 4th weekend and someone I knew from Lowe's had posted about her.  I looked at how much she was like our other dogs and sent a few pictures to Mark and he said 'you should tell that person we'll take her if they won't keep her'.. because she looked like she had some real personality and that personality 'resembled the everything of our dogs'.

so next thing you know we are picking up Charlotte (the lady who found her named her) from a house in Paris.  She had been there a week and they couldn't keep her - but neither they nor I wanted to see her in a shelter.  It's obvious looking at her head she has some Pitt bull in her, so she probably would not have fared well at the shelter.

 the vet at Lakeway said they thought she was a blue heeler and pit bull cross, about 2 years old or less, unspayed female  If she does have owners looking for her, maybe they'll find her this way but we will need some pretty good evidence that she is theirs, pictures and vet records etc.  We will have her spayed in a few weeks if no one calls us or the original finder about her.

She is energetic.  She won't stay off the bed - she sleeps up against my back. She loves toys and stuffed animals - but luckily has not chewed anything up here.  She knows about chickens, and how to properly behave around them, and knows cats.  She does not know goats, but was willing to steer clear of 'weird dog' the first day, then got a little barky the second.  She is 'handsy' with her paws -likes to put them up on my knees and probably liked to be a lap dog when she was smaller.  My Sweetie is jealous that Mom would dare bring another dog into the house, much less let it on the BED which she has always been told not to be on *sigh* I tried to keep her off - she said the other dogs would pick on her and they kind of did...anytime she tried to lay down anywhere else someone was prodding and jumping around her. So, I gave in.

Daphne and Nova aren't too hot on the idea either, but do like to go for walks.  Minerva says 'puppy...big puppy' and just wants to make sure she keeps her dignity and that Mom will still feed her curry and eggs.  Spud says 'puppy .. energetic female puppy' and tolerates her - he was the ambassador we brought with and he said 'if we have to' and was quite diplomatic about bringing her home to introduce to everyone else.. just a little snap and bark and sit still and not on me in the truck all the way home.

Rex is glad to have someone to bite, but also his dignity is hurt getting bit so much.  They're warming up to each other.  She is about his age, maybe a little younger, and now she is the smallest dog here!   She walks on a leash nicely, but really really likes walks, as well - so she will get bored and sigh when walks have not been sufficient.. even with yard time.

Someone loved her - they put two collars on her, one purple and a flea collar.  Someone maybe couldn't keep her.  She obviously had a woman owner, because she bonded hard to the lady who found her, and now she is laying at my feet or at doors I go out of etc.. sleeping up against my back (as I said a bit ago).  She does not like lighters, fire, or spray cans.  She cowered once when I picked up a laundry basket and swung it over my shoulder.. but she cues off the other dogs, too - and has decided it is okay when sounds are scary as long as the others say it is.

Mom!  She's biting me!  *ha*

Victor Keyboard model 101 Made in Japan

We were emptying some boxes of old computer equipment and came across this gem - a Victor 101 KB keyboard, made in Japan.  This is old - and we don't know if it is working, but it could be used for parts.  So, we're offering it up for sale.

Victor was an early competitor to IBM, and were a favorite of typists and programmers alike for the 'clicky keyboards', mechanical keyboards that gave you a definite response for each key typed. 

Victor 101 Keyboard buy it on Ebay

serial and part numbers 108815-01
Victor Keyboard Unit Model 101 KB

It has this connector on it, so I can't test it anymore.  But we're sending it up to be offered for parts, and maybe for just plain vintage appeal.

 cinnamon basil

 Komatsuna mustard

 tulip lilies open in the daytime

 and closed at night and in the early morning

Esme did a virtual 4H camp over Zoom the past week, and I knitted on this blanket some more putting another 8 inches on it.  It is 36" wide.  I also found out that I knit in a mostly 'Portuguese style'.. but before I watched the videos I would have said 'continental' or left handed continental if you'd asked me.  Now though, I'm pretty convinced after comparing more videos.  I had heard of Portuguese knitting but only with beads... never watched an actual knitting with yarn example before.