April Already!

I've been mostly Lost in Taxland with the occasional venture into Motorcycleland lately - tis the season for both! And how do they connect? Every boy & more & more girls, want to get their taxes done early so they can buy a bike. A big bike with a motor on it! And of course, they want one NOW. All the paper dust & testosterone makes me realize that I'm rapidly crossing the line into OLD AGE. I just don't care WHEN I do my taxes & the only bike I want has at least three wheels, a heater, cup holder, a radio & a trunk!

And speaking of OLD AGE, I got my Official Bank Letter yesterday - the one that says," Happy Birthday Senior!" OUCH Apparently, they're switching me to the No Fee Senior Account. I don't have to do a thing! I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad. I know I've been looking forward to the NO FEE courses at the local University and Senior's rates at the Rec Centre! Woohoo. But, the bank letter sort of set it all in stone.

So to honor my Aging self, I've been trying to clean out some boxes, closets & piles in my office. I found boxes of paper that belong to a client who DIED three years ago as well as boxes of documents that should've gone home with their owners even earlier. And in the Office closet I found FOUR BAGS of fleece! There's one bag of mohair curls/2004 - 6 pounds it says, two bags of very dirty & somewhat seedy, Border Cheviot/2005 - probably 3-5 pounds altogether & one bag - 2 pounds - of anonymous brown/grey fleece with tan tips. I suspect there's another bag hidden in the big wicker basket in the back. I found a box with dry grey roving in it last year - I think it's the remainder of some Romney roving I bought years & years ago when I wanted to knit a grey sweater. The roving was so dry it was like spinning Dryer Fluff. So, it didn't get used. I sprayed it with spinning oil - still have half a bottle from the 70s - & tucked it into a plastic tub. I'm hoping it will be spinnable outside this summer!! Sigh, AND I was going to go to the Fleece Sale this summer!!!

Before I change my mind & give it a toss, the dirtiest BC is going outside to become hanging basket fodder. I have a wire basket that's usually lined with coconut fibre but the water just runs through as fast as you pour it in. Only succulents can live in that basket! I intend to line it with dirty wool this year & replace the succulents which have become thin & weak looking. I have several baskets which hold petunias, fuchsias, geraniums etc that dry out & bake unless they're watered twice a day - they will also be lined with dirty wool to keep in the moisture this year. And the rest? I'm going to wash some of the Cheviot & see if it's worth the effort. All this wool was given to me. I took it because I thought I could just wash it & use it. Free wool after all & I was poor . . . but I've been exposed to luxury fibre by other spinners at Spin Ins, Fibre shows & the Desert Mesa retreat. Because of them, I even tried to spin cotton fluff, dryer fluff, unspun nylon, rayon & even the anonymous fibre that the hairdresser puts around your hairline at perm time! I still DO love spinning right off the fleece but the wool has to be GOOD wool to start with & I've been spoiled by a small Shetland sheep from Alberta named Arvik.