Someone Else got my Cut

Well, here it is, almost time to check out of the Day Surgery at JPH. And I'm not there. At almost the last minute, I got bumped from my spot by someone who was just diagnosed with cancer. Even if I'd had a choice about it, I would've willingly given up my spot for that person. I just lost most of my voice but he/she may lose far more than that. I wish them good luck.

I, on the other hand, spent my morning running my stressed out Ex to the Motor Vehicle to renew his license.
Driver's licenses & Medical cards are being combined. Apparently we CAN keep them separated but it costs more, it's one more card to lose & both now require a picture.
My Ex went to renew his on Thursday, opted for the combo & was told he had to produce a birth certificate to verify his name. Verify his name??? Why? My birth certificate has a different name on it than my Driver's License. I'll bet yours does too. But, he had to find his birth certificate because they wouldn't renew his license without it.
He was in a panic because he couldn't find it & turned the house upsidedown yesterday. He thought he was going to lose his license. And called me 5 times in a half hour. He was so upset he couldn't even talk. Why do people DO this to Seniors???
Today, I took him to a smaller Driver's Service office on the edge of town. The only questions  asked were about restrictions, suspensions & whether he wanted the combined license. They even took a great mug shot for his new card. And the nice gal flirted with him while she processed it all. If he still can't find his birth certificate by the time he gets his new license, I told him I'd  order a new one. So then, he took me to lunch!!!

So, it turned out to be a pretty darned good day after all. Things sort of went sideways but worked out in the end as they usually do. And it's a good thing men have women around.

Spinning & Walking . . .

Green Braid

I've been trying to spin every day of the Tour de Fleece. I spun so much the first couple of days that my feet, shins, hips & hands seized up but after an application of hot shower & Ibuprofen, things were looking up. I've taken it a bit easier since & only spent one morning stiff as a board after a marathon spin. Hey, there was a terrific line-up on the Knowledge Network so I watched & spun through about 6 hours of TV. I had a maaaavelous time.



So far, I've spun up all the Neon Pink, the Green braid & now, I'm working on 4 oz of a handpainted, multicolored, BFL roving from Sunset Fibers. I actually have 2 packages of

Rainbow Roving of the Month

the roving which was the Roving of the Month last September. My friend Gail traded me hers for another monthly offering that I didn't really like. So, I will have 8 oz when it's spun up - enough to make something larger than a hat or a pair of mitts. I'm not sure what it will be in the end but it's nice to have the choice to make something else. Who knows, it may become a Stephen West scarf since the colors sure remind me of him!!

And in the meantime, I've been booked in for surgery on my throat for the morning of July 31. Oh my Gawd, I may just get a voice once again. I got to do all the prelims at the new Jim Pattison Care Centre - a real factory style assembly line experience. All my tests were pre-booked, timed, set up on the computer & all I had to do was show up with my Care Card & lay on the bed/sit in the chair. I never even signed my name or filled in a questionnaire!!  4 hours later I was spit out into the parking lot with an instruction sheet for the surgery. Other than a acres of walking  over three different floors because the elevators & my appointments were at opposite ends of the building - oh my aching knee - and the most expensive parking I've ever seen, it was a good experience with perpetually cheerful people. I'm not certain I'll be able to stomach all that cheeriness at 7AM but I guess I'll have to try. Anything for a voice again.

Spinning the Tour de Fleece

Woke up Friday morning to a cool, grey sky & the weatherman making cautious sounds about rain on the weekend. It rained Friday night & all day Saturday. It was a good day to stay inside & spin. I'm participating in the Tour de Fleece again this year but haven't spun a thing on my wheel since last year. We Spinners follow the Tour de France & challenge ourselves to spin faster & longer as we watch the Riders compete in the race. It can be a real challenge to spin every day the Riders ride, especially if you don't spin regularly or don't spin that well. Legs, feet, & hands really let you know they aren't used to the pace.

Last year my leading knee was still too sore to do much treadling so I proceeded slowly. This year, I dusted off the Suzie Pro & picked up the pace but never even thought about  how it would make my feet, Achilles tendons, hands & shins feel. Oooops, by Friday, I 

was so sore I could barely spin. They're just not used to all this treadling!! Treadling just doesn't feel much like exercise until you've been working at it for a couple of days. And I've been working hard to spin up this neon Pink - which is just about finished -  for my 'Color Craving' scarf. When this is finished, I'll spin up the greens that will go with it.

Today when I woke up, everything was seized up. Some of it from treadling and some because of the change in the weather. Drugs work. Good Thing. We've had this nice long stretch of dry weather which has been good for my body but we desperately needed the rain. It's definitely cooler outside & that rain has perked the garden right up. It looks like it also washed all the smokey gunk off my car as well. And I believe the lawn turned green overnight. It's amazing what a little rain can do.

No knitting, no socks. Spinning has taken up all my time.

Too Hot, Too Smokey

It's just been too hot to knit. It's also been too hot to spend any time in my sweatbox office. It's been too hot for the poor computer so it has to be shut down. Around 3:30 the wave of heat just pours in - it's like someone just cranked up the Blow Dryer. Not a breath of air, I shut it all down, close all the blinds & the door that faces west & go to bed for a nap. My tall, thin, oscillating fan at the foot of the bed keeps me cool & an Audio Book lulls me to sleep!! I like direct, medium air the best.

My old - doesn't oscillate anymore - fan under the TV blows directly on me as I sit in my chair to watch. So, I have two cool spots to relax in. Then it got smokey. I thought the neighbor was burning her garbage in the BBQ again because it smelled like leaves & paper. Then it got so smokey I had to keep the door closed. And so smokey that I had to get the puffer out. I changed my mind about doing laundry since I have to hang it outside & I don't want to smell like the morning after a Pub Crawl. The sky has been grey but the sunsets have been glorious as fires blaze to the North & East of the Lower Mainland. The Wet Coast is tinder dry & no rain in sight.
Today, the heat has decreased, the smoke smell is almost gone & a nice brisk breeze has blown in to keep us cooler. I can actually feel that breeze through the blinds in my office. Whooee.

Even though it's been too hot to do much, I decided to participate in this year's Tour de Fleece - Rock it TeamCanada - again. I haven't had my spinning wheel out since the last one ended. And it's  time. I have spinning stash up the ying yang, three garbage bags of roving, besides all the hand dyed packages & braids of delicious stuff I've bought over the years. There's even a fleece or two. I bought most of it when I was working, knowing I wouldn't have the money when I retired. Some of it just followed me home. And some came from others trying to downsize their stash. I gave it all a home. Hahaha - and some of it will probably get passed on to other people's stash along the way.

So, this year, I decided to join the Stash Spinning group on Ravelry & work on that stash reduction. Right now, I'm spinning up some Neon Pink that I found in the Stash. Don't know when or where it came from but I love it. I'll spin some dark grey - I have a whole bag of it that followed me home one day - when this is finished & some bright greens that my friend Gail found for me, when that's done. I intend to knit Stephen West's Color Craving shawl/scarf for myself.
I'm 10 months away from Retirement & long, lovely days to spin & knit. Nice thought, but I will still do some work out of my home office. I have every intention of knitting some of it up for me when it's spun. And some of it will become hats, socks & sweaters for the Donation Box.

Happy July 1st

Canada Day. Another holiday day. I feel like I'm missing out somehow since I'm not getting paid for this day anymore. But I'm also not trotting off to the park to wave little flags, paint my face, sing songs, eat expensive charred food, fight for parking or stand in line to use the bathroom either. I can do without everything else, but I have to admit I love the fireworks. Happy Birthday Canada.

I was laughing at my neighbors last night as they hauled the big garbage cans to the curb. I didn't even take my green garbage out because today's a stat holiday & I figured they would pick up tomorrow. Well, the joke's on me, the garbage guys are out there picking up the cans as I type. Dammit. I really hate freezing it for another week!!

This heat wave is inconvenient. I don't have a problem sleeping because I have a tall, skinny oscillating fan at the foot of my bed that can be programmed to run constantly or just an hour or two. I can vary the speed from Gentle Breeze to Hurricane Force. It oscillates from low to high & can even be programmed for the whole works at once, if you like. I like Gentle or Low with & without oscillation for all night cooling. I have to cover my knees though, or I won't be walking in the morning!! I have a second oscillating fan in the livingroom so I can watch tv - same problem with the knees.

But the room where I spend most of my time is a sweat box. It gets so hot in there that I have to shut down the computer in the afternoons. This is the place that I WORK. I WISH I could put one of the oscillating fans in there but I need to keep paper on the desk so I can work with it. I'm getting too old for this stuff. Sigh. Good thing we usually only get this kind of weather for a week or so in August. Remember this??? It wasn't that long ago that we were all bundled up with our teeth chattering! I like to remember that when I'm sitting in a pool of sweat thinking about yet another shower as the News tells me that we need to conserve water. No snow or ice on the mountain to melt into the reservoir all summer. No rain to keep everything watered. In the land of too much water, we have a drought.
I figure if we all flushed less often - do we really need to flush after every little tinkle??? - and only showered once a day, we would save a huge amount of water. This is drinking water we're flushing with, after all.

On this Canada Day, we should celebrate Freedom. And Justice. And Free Speech. And taps that always have water on demand. For now.