BOOKS, HOOKS AND YARN

It is the end of July! Summer is speeding by quickly. Weather is being OK and for me it is warm enough without being too hot. As I have been driving around I have noticed the corn is growing like crazy, beginning to tassel out as well. I noticed that locally grown corn on the cob is available in the store.   Slowly working the leftovers down into hats. A few I found had enough yarn for a full hat, otherwise just added in some of the neutral yarn color for a few row or two or more. Keep working through the leftover stash to use it up. Yes, that is Dobby's ratty nip rat on the floor. Old catnip, I need to try him on fresh nip sometime.  Here you can see both the colored yarn on the top, plus the different neutral yarn colors that I was using. With using the neutrals it allows me to make more hats.  Not me, I finish what I start!   Happy Weekend. 

Things have been quiet after a day of severe weather in Wisconsin. I only had rain, no issues, and rain was needed in the area. However to the north of me by about an hour tornadoes hit in the Menasha and Appleton areas. At one point over 120K customers were without power in the state. Thankfully no deaths or serious injuries.  My grass already looks a bit greener after than rain, amazing what an inch of rain can do for plants. Things were looking rather droopy at times, grassy brown and crispy.   Our group got together for trivia on Monday. We did about as good as we normally do, we always get at least a few questions that we have no clue. Questions on The Simpson TV show, none of us watch it or have ever watched it. Some movies too, as none of us are big movie watchers. Oh well, we have fun. However at least this week we won best name. Grateful We Are Not Dead .    Family of Spies - a true story that reads like a novel. The author relates the story of her gr...

The weather has been delightful for the past few days. A bit cooler but warm enough for me, low humidity and good air quality. Windows open, so you can hear birds singing and all of the other neighborhood noises.  It will be getting warm again next week Megan, yes, I know many people do not allow their cats up on the kitchen counters. I have always let my boys go where they want to, even on the kitchen counters. I can't always be around to shoo them off, especially when I was working or asleep. If I am going to use the counter to cook, I just clean it off first.    Mid to end of June while I was working on these. All of which I didn't have enough for a full hat of one color. Also not wanting to do a mash up by combing colors.   The top six rows are the increase rows and those are done in the neutral. Then switch to the colored yarn until it is used up. Back to the neutral to finish off however many rows needed to get the hat to the needed length.  ...

The really hot and humid weather is gone for now. I was able to open the window for a while so that Dobby could enjoy some fresh air. At one point he pushed against the screen.  I discovered that I had a grasshopper sitting on the outside of the screen. Also later in the day a chickadee was clinging to the screen too. Dobby was all excited.     The smokey air has also moved on for now too which also has made having the windows open a good thing. The guys that mow my lawn came to mow on Tuesday. It is dry, hasn't grown, so I asked them not to mow but to work on cutting down the volunteer trees that keep growing under the spruce trees. Looks really nice!  The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective - the landlady to a group of cottages confesses to murder rather than see one of her tenants arrested. The rest of the residents join forces to prove she is innocent.  Murder on Brittany Shores - a storm, a severely damaged boat and three dead bodies. An accident rig...

  I took this picture a month ago after I got home from my hair cut appointment. Dobby on the back of the chair, claws into my scalp and him licking my hair. I got my hair cut again on Thursday and same results. There must be something in the products my hairdresser uses that tastes good. Once I washed my hair a few times he leaves it alone!  This is the sun in the western sky on July 16, just after 7 PM. The air quality is poor. It was in the hazardous range early today, then down to unhealthy, now back to hazardous. Supposed to improve over the weekend.  This follows a few days of really hot and humid weather. As I was driving home the other day the temperature on the car was bouncing between 100F and 101F. I don't do hot weather very well, so staying inside where the air is decent and the AC is working.   Happy Weekend. 

Oh yeah, back in the heat and humidity. As I was driving around on Tuesday afternoon my car thermometer was bouncing between 100 and 101, way too hot! Looking forward to September when things get down into the range I like. When I can open the windows and not have the AC start running.  So inside, watching a bit of the World Cup, baseball all star game and catching up on stuff I recorded off the TV. Plus reading, always reading.  Our group skipped trivia this week. One member is on her usual trip to the cottage up in northern Wisconsin with family. Another is entertaining friends from out of town.  Had to do a bit of driving off the usual path yesterday. On my way to an appointment things were bogged down in a major intersection because of an accident. I found my way through the sub-division and to an alternate route. On the way home things got bogged down because the road is now restricted because of repaving. Again, I turned off and found my way through the side streets...

Heat and humidity are starting up again. Had a few nice days of weather and could open up the windows and be outside without feeling that you would keel over from heat stroke.   My guess on the tie dye jumpsuit from Wednesday's post was a purchased item. In addition to the tie dye there were some stars on the front. I am sure most people in the US have some article of clothing that is red, white and blue.  Sort of watching the rest of the World Cup matches. Down to one match per day. Although I see on the TV that they still have the pre-match TV show is two hours long. What do they have to talk about for that long? I usually try to tune in when I think the match is mostly over. My picks for the final four? Argentina, England, France and Spain. I know France made it, time will tell if I am correct on the other three.   Dobby is driving me crazy the past few evenings. The rest of the day is fine, but come after dinner he wants to invade my space. Try to eat my yar...

The heat wave of last week has moved on for now. Could open the windows and get some fresh air in the house. Also spend some time outside and not feel like you are breathing water with the high humidity. The trivia gang got together on Monday to celebrate birthdays of two of the gang. We had picked this day over a month ago and it ended up on the day the US was playing Belgium in the World Cup.  The establishment was busy, even the staff was dressed in red, white and blue including this tie dye jump suit.   We stayed through the first half of the match. Normally none of us watch sporting events in a bar. Sure while we are there games are on the TV, but we aren't paying much attention. In this case all the TVs were on the game and they had the sound on, not closed captioning. Everyone cheered when the US finally scored a goal. Plus I don't think I have every heard a crowd sing the Star Spangled Banner so enthusiastically at a sporting event. Sadly the US is now out of t...