First camping trip of the season! Yay!

 We had a nice wooded spot for Lily.  It was almost too short but we were clear of the road, just barely.  I should have taken more pictures but we had no cell service so I wasn't carrying my phone around with me to snap pictures.  I have become very bad about taking pictures.  I used to be the one with the camera all the time and was always taking pictures.  One day I just ran out of juice to take all those pictures and I just stopped.  I need to find a bit of my picture taking mojo again. Dale is the one who takes the most pictures now.
 We had a really nice weekend of camping with friends.  They had 4 cub scouts plus their own son with them.  So we had 5 boys around 10 years old.  To be fair to them they were all pretty well behaved.  If you told them to do or not to do something you usually only had to tell them once, maybe twice, but that is good.  I was accused of being the "cookie stealer" until the boy found out that I was the one who had baked them and brought them up. lol  He changed his tune then.
 We were unable to have a camp fire as the fire rings were WAY down over the hill from our site. It was so cold that a fire would have been really nice.  As it was I ran the furnace and fireplace in my camper all weekend.  I knew it was going to be cold and I didn't pack enough heavy clothes.  I packed for warm weather and I paid the price.  On Saturday night I was so cold I was shaking.  I finally told Dale that I was going in and take a hot shower to try to warm up.  It helped some, but in a camper you don't take a long shower.  Oh, well.  Live and learn (I hope).
On Saturday  Dale and L had a meeting over in town and T took the boys fishing so I just pottered around the camper and had a relaxing time.  I am not into fishing.  I don't like to sit still that long,  I end up casting and then reeling in constantly and that annoys Dale so I tend to not go.  If I go with him I'll take my knitting and just do that while he fishes.  Luckily he is not into fishing all that much either.
 Betsie and I took a nice walk while everyone was out and about.  She is such a good dog on the leash, but that is because we took her to obedience training and she learned to walk at heel.  A good thing as she is a big dog, 85 pounds.  She is a mix of Saint Bernard and German Shepherd.  She isn't as big as my full blooded Saint was but she is big.  Dale took her for several walks and we took her together a few times.  Have to walk them and let them go potty.  We are responsible pet owners in that we carry doodoo bags with us.  
 I had packed our camper full of food for us for the weekend and enough to also feed our friends but T had already planned out what we were having and the Cub Scouts had brought food so they fed us all weekend.  On Sunday after the boys had gone we had brunch and I supplied and fixed that.  We ate inside as it was still cold outside.

 I've heard it said that if a Cardinal comes to see you it is a departed loved one.  Well this past weekend we had 2 cardinals come to visit.  They were trying to get into the camper it seemed.  Actually they probably saw their reflection in the black windows and thought it was another pair of birds and were trying to run them off.  I told Dale that it was his Mom and Dad coming to see our camper and telling us that they were glad for us. (I don't really believe this, but it is a comforting thought.)
 They were there beating at our window for at least and hour and a half if not longer.  Luckily we were so close to the tree that they could not get a good run(fly) at the window so did not hurt themselves. That would have upset me.  I went out and tried to run them off so they wouldn't hurt themselves but they were persistent.  Dale also went out and tried but they just would not go.  I think I saw them still flying around when we were pulling out.
 If you look close in the above picture you can see the female slightly down from the male.  Her coloring makes her blend in with the tree.  

  In the above picture you can see her sitting just in front of him.  They were always close to one another.  I looked for a nest close by but never did find one.

 You can see her a little better here.
 All in all it was a lovely weekend.  We stayed until Monday afternoon and had a great time.  We relaxed Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.  It was just the 2 of us and our dog Betsie by this time.  Betsie is an excellent camper.  I don't think she barked even one time the whole weekend.  Unlike some of the dogs in the campground that seemed to yap constantly.  Even when the birds were dive bombing the camper Betsie just lay there and slept.  My other two would have been barking up a storm.
Home now and ready to go out again.  Hoping it is soon.  I do so love to go camping.  :)

 This tulip actually bloomed on April 16 and here it is May 1 and it is still there.  I have never had a tulip last that long.  They usually bloom one day and pretty much die the next.  I am loving this solitary little bloom.

 My Christmas cactus has a new bloom on it.  I noticed it last evening when we came in from camping.  Just the one, but it is a Christmas cactus.  Also my indoor Mum is blooming again.  I had never seen an indoor Mum before so we got this one.  About a week after we got it all the blooms died on it.  I thought at first that the plant had died, but when I looked at it I noticed that it was only the blooms that were dead and the rest of the plant was still green.  So I cut off the blooms and it looked fine so I kept it watered and before long it began to bloom again.  It blooms about every other month I guess.  It is pretty and doing fine so I will let it go and see how it does. Betsie had to photo bomb me. lol.  She is sniffing the cactus.

Edited to add: I wrote this yesterday (May 1) and thought I published it, but I guess I ddin't.  So I will do so today,

Will Spring EVER Get Here?

The only tulip that I had come up.  The leaves have been up for weeks now but the flower just came up Monday.  It is really pretty but it looks so lost and alone.  At least it has the path light to keep it company.  :)

 These are my next to latest socks.  Coley was determined to be in the pic with them.  He really loves my socks.  If I leave the drawer open while folding and putting them away he will jump up in the drawer and lay down amongst them.  He doesn't pull or pick at them, just likes to lay in them.

 Last Tuesday we had a storm come through and with it we had some hail.  Not a whole lot but enough to know we had it.  It was just small sized also.

 Coley is still grieving from losing Erica.  The other night I woke to a weight on my chest.  Coley had curled up on me with his head on my chin, just seeking some comfort, which he got.  He is my very special baby.  He is about 14 now so no spring chick, but still in relatively good health.  He has hyperthyroidism but we are dealing with that with a holistic medicine and changing up what he eats to stimulate his appetite.  Right now he is on a salmon eating kick.  Before that he was into home cooked chicken with rich broth.  Not sure what we will be going to next, but I will find something to feed him that he will really like.,

If spring ever gets here we will take the camper out and have a nice relaxing weekend.  I can hardly wait.  I have started buying the supplies that I will need for her, but I haven't put anything in yet.,  I am waiting until the chance of a freeze is over.  Don't want to have anything freeze, burst, and make a mess.
I have a new quilt for the bed which I am anxious to put on.  But I am waiting until it is time to camp so I can make the bed completely and have it all fresh and ready to sleep in.  Need to buy some new pillows for the bed.  I don't want to have to keep taking the pillows from the house to the camper and back again.  Too much chance of forgetting them and getting to the campground and having no pillows to sleep on.  That would be uncomfortable.

I found a pattern online to make UGGS for 18" dolls.  I have made several pair and they are just so stinkin' cute!  I have decided to make some in colors like pink, yellow, green, purple, blue, and such.  I am really enjoying making clothes and such for those dolls.  Still don't have enough done to even try to open an Etsy store, but that is my ultimate goal.  I'll just have to keep on sewing.  :) 

Took pics while over at the house for lunch.  I must have had my phone upside down.  OH, well.  YOu can see what they look like.  The outfit is one I made, a skirt, blouse, and vest.  I still have to put snaps and buttons on the vest but for the most part it is done.  I think it is rather cute.
Just over look the mess of my sewing table/dining table.  I will clean this mess all up just as soon as Dale helps me reclaim by embroidery shop/sewing room.  It is a total mess right now.  It is full of paintings his Mom did.  We are going to share them with our 2 kids just as soon as Dale can let go of them. 

 

A pic of my filthy dirty LeRoy.  He is such a good dog.  His hair is extremely long and heavy so it is next to impossible to brush him.  He goes to the groomer next week for his spring cut.  I hope to be able to take him about every other month so he stays pretty.  He is a beautiful doggie when he is clean, which he is not right now, but he is still a cutie .

These are my latest pair to be finished.  I have no idea what the yarn is.  I had started a 2 color shawl with this and another yarn.  I did not like it as there was not enough contrast between the two when they were knitted up so it got frogged and I seem to have lost both of the ball bands.
The pattern is by Wendy Johnson and is called  Nancy's Socks

I started this post a  week or so ago and didn't post it because I didn't have pics of the above socks.  Then I totally forgot about it in the busyness of life.  :)

Everyone have a good weekend.  See you next week.

She was a sweet girl.

 Our beautiful little Erica passed away last evening.  She was around 18 years old and had lead a full and well loved life.  She was Dale's cat and always made sure everyone knew that.  :)
When she was young we had a scratch box for her.  Dale referred to it as her throne and every-night when it was time for bed he would say, "Get on your throne, Erica." and she would do it and then he would carry her upstairs to bed.  It was such a silly thing to do and to see but I loved it. 
She had 5 kittens in her life and outlived all of them.  Her last kitten to  go was Velcro and we lost him last fall.
Erica looks chubby in that picture but she ever only weighed about 6 or 7  pounds.  She was such a petite little thing.  The plate she is sitting on is an 8 inch plate. 

This was her brass bed up in our bedroom.  She didn't sleep on it all the time but when another of our fur babies would get on it she would stare them off.  SHE was queen in the house and all the others knew it. 
She was fine until Tuesday and then she just sort of started shutting down.  We took her to the vet and Val said she would be surprised if she made it through the night.  She made it.  She was never in distress or pain.  It was as if she was just patiently waiting for her time to go and be with her best buddy Katie again. 
We will all miss you, AirBear.   Love you, Mom.

More socks??and more snow??

These skid marks were made by Hannah.  She was on a dead run to the office to go see Josh and LeRoy got in her way and she upended and slid.  She was ok, just mad at LeRoy and told him off royaly.  lol

 These socks are made out of Mrs. Crosby Loves to Play colorway Summer Bloom.  I put the details about the yarn in an earlier post.  They took me about 8 days to finish.  I seem to be picking up speed on socks, or maybe I am just spending more time knitting than I had been.

These have the Mrs Crosby Toes and the rest is a really decadent feeling yarn.  It is Heritage Silk Cascade Yarns and is 85% Merino Superwash Wool/15% Mulberry Silk.  The color is 5604 whatever that is. It feels so heavenly and soft. The pattern is  Petunia Dursley Double Eyelet Socks.  This is a free pattern available through Ravelry  Another easy to memorize pattern and a quick one.  I took about 13 days start to finish with several days being very little knitting getting done. 

 I started the toe of the next pair at noon but haven't even got the increases done yet.  I still have not chosen a pattern but am thinking of a small cable.  We will see.

A bit of snow ....

We had a bit of snow last evening.  Not much, thank goodness.   Now it is snowing VERY lightly out there again!  When will the snow end and spring get here so I can go camping?  I am ready to go (even though the camper isn't) and eager to go. 

We used to camp.  We even belonged to 3 camping clubs.  Most of the members were family and those that weren't actually family soon became as such.  The kids loved it when they were younger because they were the only kids and ALL the campers in our group treated them as grand kids and they all had special food/treats in their campers for them.  They soon figured out who had what so they knew who to visit when they wanted a particular thing.  Of course their Granny and Great-Grandma always had just about anything that they wanted so that was their first stops.  LOL

Now they are all grown up (41 and 36) so they won't be camping with us.  But I hope to take our grandson and a friend occasionally.  Sims is 15 now.  It really isn't possible or fair.  We didn't get him until he was almost 10 so we all missed quite a bit of his growing up.  But we have him now and we are enjoying him.

Still working on the red toe/speckled top socks.  I have a couple 3 inches to do on the leg and they will be done.  Then on to the next pair which will have a speckled toe and probably a solid blue top.

Still working occasionally on my Cathedral Window quilt.  When I have been sewing I have been making doll clothes on the machine.  I'll get back to the CW quilt in a bit.

We are talking with friends about a trip up in the New England states some time this spring or summer.  I'll wait until we get back to post about that.  No need to tell that I will be away from home.  You never know who might pick up on being away and come help themselves to your house.
I think it pretty foolish when people post on facebook that they are here and there with so and so.  It is just asking to be broken into.
Granted, a blog is different than facebook, but all the same, it is not a good idea to publicly announce that you  are not home.

All things chicken. lol  Found this at Tractor Supply last summer and loved it, just not the price.  It was $99.99.  Too rich for my blood.  

Have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by.

I've done a bit of knitting recently....

 I have finally gotten back into the swing of socks.  Don't get me wrong, I have been knitting socks all along for the past several months, but I have been rather slow and lackadaisical about it.  One pair of socks actually took me 3 months to finish!!  That is totally pathetic.
 
This first pair of socks was started late December and finished up early January.  I "think" this yarn is Colinette Jitterbug in Toscana colorway.  At least this ball band was in my just finished basket..  The pattern is  Waterfall by Wendy Knits.  I really like this pattern as you will notice when you look at the next socks and the 5th pair.  It is an easy pattern to memorize and see where you are in the pattern without having to keep notes. 

 These were started mid January and finished up the first part of Feb. The beautiful grey is Silk Sock Handpaints, Handpainted by Cherry Tree Hill in color Ash.  It is a blend of 63% superwash merino, 18.5% merino and 18.5% bleached tussah silk. This is some yarn that I ordered off of eBay. Very soft and lovely to knit with. I think I will look for more.  

These were started next and finished in February.  This is  the same yarn as the above, just a different color.  I had a small brain storm when I went to cast these on and knitted the toes out of the yarn from the last pair of socks.  I was going to do heels and cuff also of the black/slate but there was not enough yarn and then I decided that for this year each new pair of socks would have toes from the pair before.  Lets me keep a timeline of when the socks were knit.  I know, silly, but you have to keep things fun, don't you?  The pattern is Tidalwave by O/C Knitiot Designs - Deby Lake  This is another easy to memorize and see where you are pattern.  Good for knitting on auto-pilot. It is also Silk Sock Handpaints  in the same blend. in colorway Red Dawn.

This pair was knit for a good friend who is diabetic and needed sleep socks that would not strangle her ankles and would keep her feet warm.  They are some superwash merino that I had in my stash.  It is Nashua Handknits.  it is 100 % Superwash Wool (50% merino. 50% wool). It is very  soft.  They only took about 3 days to knit.  A very fast knit.  I think these were the first pair of socks I made out of worsted.  Unless I make her more bed socks it will probably be the last pair also, lol   They were made in February.  They didn't get red toes since they are worsted and not fingering weight.

This is my current pair of socks on the needles.  I started them last Saturday night and just did the toe increases before laying them aside.  These are also Waterfall.  The pattern shows up much more in real life than in the photo.  The yarn is  Mrs. Crosby Loves To Play in the colorway Summer Bloom.  It is a blend of 75% superwash merino wool, 15% silk, and 10% cashmere.  Truly luxurious feeling.
I won/earned this yarn when I did The Camp Loopy Glamping way back in 2014. 

 

This is D's silly dog.  She went under the table in the laundry room when I went to clean out the litter pans.  She just sat there and looked at me.  When I moved the other litter pan she was trapped.  I figured she would tromp through the litter pan to get out, but she waited patiently for me to move it again.  

A little of this -- a little of that

 An employee of ours got this Poinsettia for me in 2016 and it did wonderfully in our house, but I needed to move it to make room for a Christmas Cactus so I brought it out to my office.  Within 2 weeks it looked like this.  My office is a death sentence for potted plants.  :(  Cut plants last a long time but not potted.

 This was January 13 and we had to go to Toledo which is a 4 hour trip.  It took us a little over 5 hours to get there, but God took us safely there, and back home again the next day.  God is good!

 

 This series of pictures was taken outside Dale's office.  A momma and her baby came strolling up and got a bite to eat at the bird feeder.  They were there for a long time.  I went and sat in the window seat and watched them.  I wasn't any farther than 6 feet from them, of course there was the window between us.  We just had 4 deer in our front yard a couple of days ago.  I love to watch them.  Just don't like to meet them on the road!

 This is my first attempt at making a Cathedral Window quilt.  I have loved them since I was a little girl.  My Granny's best friend used to make them all the time and was going to show me how to do it but you know how it is with best intentions.  I really wish I had made the time for Lizzy to teach me.  It would have meant so much more than learning from the internet. People ask me how big it is going to be.  I just shrug my shoulders and say I don't know.  It may only be a wall hanging or maybe even just a pillow top.  Depends.  lol  It is mostly hand sewing so it will be a long process and will be a carry along project.  The only machine sewing is sewing the muslim squares together.  I tried doing those by hand but was not getting the seam allowance just perfect and the squares were not coming out square.  So machine sewing for 3 seams in those and then the rest is hand.  This will go with me on camping trips.

 This is Betsie, our oldest dog, she is 11 now.  She is not supposed to be on the couch so she waits until Dale goes to bed and then she jumps up on it.  If she hears him coming down the stairs she quietly gets down and acts like she was sleeping on the rug all along.  Silly dog, I am there watching her.