The Christmas Spirit

For some reason I just couldn't find my Christmas Spirit until yesterday. Better late than never, I guess.
Here's to wishing all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Hadn't realized it had been so long

It has been a long, long time since I've posted.
So much has happened.
After the death of our beloved Cino, we became the proud parents of a pair of puppies. One afternoon in early November we went to the SPCA and adopted the newest members of our clan. Shayla, our female is a black lab mix and Buster our male is a boxer-beagle mix. They are both cute and get along great. Pictures here. (Of course these picture are about five weeks old. I hope to post new ones soon.) The puppies are so much work but also a lot of fun. I love watching them grow and learn about their environment. We have our first puppy training class this Sunday. Wish us luck. With all the time we've spent with the puppies not much else is getting done.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it's less than two weeks to Christmas.

I've gotten busier at work, thanks to the pending legislative season. I very glad to have my job.

Tomato Harvest

Last night we picked most of the ripe or somewhat ripe tomatoes that were left. After this cold snap I'm not sure if any of the ones left will riped.

Cino 1998-2010

Rest in peace, my dear friend.

Pledge of Conscience

Sunday morning are the best because we lounge around reading the paper, drinking coffee and watching CBS Sunday Morning. This last Sunday Ben Steins comentary hit home. He was comenting on the Republicans newest "Pledge to America." While is might be a good thing, it looks a lot like "Contract with America." He feels we can do better by pledging not to give in to hate. Hear and read to whole comentary here.


In this season of politics and the news in general has a lot of hate messages in it. I pledge not to give in.

OFFF-Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

This last weekend we needed to go up and visit Mike's folks and it just happened to be the same weekend as the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby Oregon.
I hadn't made it to OFFF yet so I was glad to get a chance. Last time I was in Oregon, for Black Sheep, it was cold so this time I brought cold weather clothes. Saturdays weather was sunny and humid which made for some hot weather. I was very over dressed.
I love this whole fiber festival thing. One gets to see friends from far and wide. The first friend I got to see was Linda.It was sure a surprise to see her. She's living up in Kelso Wash. and came down for the day. It great to see her so happy.

There were lots of vendors and sheep and people. I had a great time.
Sunday the weather changed a lot. It was rainy and drizzle all day but it wasn't cold. In fact despite the rain it was quite nice. Too bad for the vendors the turn out wasn't as good as Saturday.

I'd like to give a shout out to the PDX knit Bloggers and Duffy of the Portland Spinnerati for giving me a place to hang out Sunday. It was fun to see/meet people I only see at Black Sheep Gathering.

Of course my friend Morgaine of Carolina Homespun was there. I always get a kick to see her. She was a great mentor when I learned to spin and is always a wonderful resource.

Tomaotes, A summer time treat?

I always think of fresh tomatoes as a summer time treat. We always had fresh home grown tomatoes when I was growing up. We even had the at Thanksgiving thanks to my grandfathers green house.
Any way it took me moving away to realise that all tomatoes are not the same. I'd come home to visit in the summer and make a bee line to my fathers tomato patch and pull one off the vine and eat it right there.
This year is the first time I've ever tried to grow my own tomatoes. We got them into the ground late and what with the cold spring and late start to summer I thought we'd never have any ripe ones. I just had to be patient and wait a bit.
I have lots of ripe tomatoes now. Of the six types I started with so far the yellow Darwin's are my favorite with the chocolate strip, a super dark red with greenish tops, coming in second. We also have some a 1884, two beefsteak plants and a green zebra. Haven't had a green zebra yet but I hope to this week.
Pictures here.