Ah yes, I do exist

Sometimes I wonder. In other news, I finished a knitting project! I practically broke my arm, patting myself on the back after I got it done. I used some yarn I had in the massive yarn pile. Probably DK  weight, wool, dyed with indigo in the fall of last year. Jordan, my trusty assistant, needed a shawl to wear on site while in costume, and after about 5 attempts at a different pattern, I tried the Holden Shawlette, found on ravelry. Such an easy pattern that I am almost finished with another one. That is, as soon as I spin and dye some more yarn to match. Yes, I managed to run out of fiber halfway through. arrgggghh. But the first one (pictured here) was finished with a bit of yarn to spare. Go me. This is a really easy pattern, but if you're a visual person, like me, do yourself a favor and use the lace charts. All those words will just mess you up.

Rainy Night in Georgia

Last year we couldn't pay for rain, but I think last night just made up for it. Hwy. 82E (which means nothing to you) has been closed because of standing water, and so are many of the back roads. I can't tell you how long it's been since I went to sleep listening to the rain. I kept wanting to write "listening to the train", but in Tifton, that's about all you can hear most days.
By the time I got to work, a lot of the water had receded, but I managed to get some pictures of what was still there. For all you drought-stricken areas, don't worry, your day is coming!

Yes, Virginia, I Do Exist

And by exist, I mean sweat. Yes, sweat. Man, it is some kind of hot down here. In Tifton, not Hell, although some days I'm not sure there's much difference. My sister has been known to say that Tifton is as hot as Satan's butt crack, a place she must be familiar with, but I have not as of yet visited. I can't wait until I can complain about how cold it is. I know you're looking forward to that post, too.So, the hot summer. The hot, hot summer. It's been fun so far. All the kids and grandkids have been down to visit, all at the same time the week of July 4th. There were no sewage backup incidents, but did I mention it was hot? Oh, I did? Whatev. We had fun, but I miss seeing all of them on a regular basis.
I've got lots of catching up to do on here. The wine is ready. Well, it was ready almost 10 months ago, but that's another story. I've dyed wool, canned fruits and veggies, worked on the house, gained 10 pounds, knitted, rearranged furniture, lost 2 pounds, cut up my credit cards, made goat cheese, gained 4 more pounds, painted some stuff, and dyed my hair, more than once. Here are a few pics of my summer so far.

 Bowen at baseball camp

 Jesse's bday shortcake

 Toby, earning a cold Mountain Dew

 Just a frog, hitching a ride

 Princess Grace

 My sister's new plantation

 Idyllic moment. Yes, there was one.

  Luke, our child prodigy.

  Dan, after eating one too many Ninjago Legos.

 Yemessee, SC

Moonlight through the pines. Goodnight.

Long Time, No See

I write a blog post a day, complete with really cool pictures, but it's all in my head. Sorry. I am avoiding working in my yard after work today, so you get a blog post instead. A real one. I have a ton of stuff to write about, but because I don't want to keep you here all day, I'll start with poop. Yes, poop. Again, sorry.

I had a little incident where my sewer backed up into my shower after moving in last August, but a plunger and some bleach soon took care of the problem. Fast forward to Thanksgiving, and 9 extra people in the house, all big eaters. Geez, that was no way to make my guests feel welcome. Poop in the bathtub. Poop in the shower. Gah. Enter sweet boyfriend who plunged, snaked and cleaned up said mess - on Thanksgiving day. I thanked him, and let him know not to expect me to ever do it for him. The truth hurts.

All was fine for awhile, but dammit, it did it again. That was it. We snaked every line out of my house, and decided it must be close to the street. I was sweating bullets by this time, because I had managed to only spend under $30 for some Drano, a snake and a plunger. I made a call to the city, and was surprised when she asked me my address, and then told me she would have someone right out. Really? They were here in about 30 minutes. A very nice man pulled up front in a big truck with odd looking equipment all over it, and poked and prodded in my yard for a bit. Here's what he ended up with:Yep, that would be my yard, full of, well, you know. He then proceeded to do this: He sucked up the waste with a big old vacuum. How cool is that? But that's not the end of the story. Oh, no. A few days later I came home for lunch and found 6 men, a backhoe, and a city truck, some of them on my front lawn. Turns out my pipes were blocked with tree roots, on the CITY'S side of the line. How often does that happen? Where are those pictures, anyway? They fixed the problem, fixed the yard, and guess what? What gets flushed away, stays flushed away now.

I wanted to show you all my homemade goat cheese and the process, but I'll wait for another day. Not too cool to have it follow this post!

In Wine, There is Truth . . .

and the truth is, this homemade wine is about 500 proof right now!

It should be ready to drink on Halloween night, and if stays as strong as it is now, we'll all be seeing things that aren't there. Someone suggested that perhaps I could bottle it as "Gourment Rubbing Alcohol".

So, I picked the muscadines and scuppernogs all by my little self, 4 pounds in all. The recipes I looked at online suggested that I squish each and every grape by hand . Naturally, I rejected that idea. I washed them and put then in a big stainless steel pot, and tried to squish them with a potato masher. No luck. Meat tenderizer. No luck. Damn. These aren't grapes, they've got skins like leather! I ended up putting on some latex gloves (the texture was disgusting, hence the gloves) and squishing the damn things one at a time. Ooohhh, that made me mad.

I added 4 pounds of sugar to the 4 pounds of muscadines and scuppernogs, 1 envelope of active dry yeast, and a couple of quarts of spring water. The directions said to stir the pot (I'm so good at that) once a day for 7 days, and otherwise leave alone. After about two days, you could smell the fermenting fruit and the ensuing alcohol content throughout the house. Whew-wee! After 7 days, I strained the mess through cheesecloth and put it in a big clear jug, where it will stay until Halloween. I think the time length is 6 weeks, but my brain has been befuddled by the fumes! I did stick my finger in it to taste it, and it's really strong. I'm a little afraid of drinking it when the time comes!

SOLD!

It's been a long summer, and here's why:


Back in August I bought my first house. Yeah, I know. Like I'm 21 or something. That's me and my realtor in the picture. She sold us our house when we moved here back in 2007. Who knows what she'll be selling me in 4 more years! These are my peeps, celebrating the grand opening/closing by drinking champagne from plastic cups, and eating pizza. I know how to throw a party, don't I? Stay tuned for the next 30 years. Hopefully I'll get some updating done by then!

Way Down Upon the Suwanee River . . .

Heading out over the bridge (the very high bridge) to see the Suwanee River

That's it, folks, the river of fame and song. I think the first time I heard the song was back in 1966 or '67, somewhere near Sanford, FL, in a Shakey's restaurant. They played sing-a-long music, and projected the words on a screen, so you could follow along, complete with the red bouncing ball to keep your place. Betsy, do you remember that? I think Shakey's was known for pizza and beer, but I could be wrong. Big, long tables, pitchers of beer and pizza. That combination never goes out of style.
As you can see, this dry, dry summer has taken it's toll on everything! I took Bowen on an outing last weekend, which included stops at the Suwanee, the Santa Fe and Itchetucknee Rivers. The water in the Suwanee is dark, dark, dark - not at all what I expected. We were standing on a bridge when these were taken, and the river was waaaayyyy down there. I thought I had pretty well conquered my fear of heights, but I was wrong!

The Sante Fee River. And Bowen.

That's Bowen, checking out the fish in the Santa Fe River. I had no idea there was such a place in Florida! We were there on a Sunday, and there was hardly a soul to be seen. I imagine they were all in church. Apparently only heathens visit the river on a Sunday.

The Itchetucknee

The spring

These are pics of the Itchetucknee River. It was too far down to get close to, but it does have a spring.

All the rivers were very low, but they were beautiful, very peaceful. The fact that there weren't many folks out and about helped with the peaceful part. The parts of Columbia and Alachua counties in Florida that we saw were very agrarian and quaint, not what most people expect from Florida. The small towns we drove through were picturesque, very north Florida. I think it's a crying shame that I've lived in south Georgia for almost 4 years and just found this beautiful spot!

This was a pretty yard with a beautiful house right on the Suwanee River. We were in Fargo, GA, and the bridge in the first pics is the 441 bridge. At one time, 441 was the main thoroughfare to get to Florida from these parts. The Suwanee River Visitor Center is located right here, but because we were on a mission, we didn't stop in. Next time!