Rainy Superdedooper Tuesday.

 Yes, it's a rainy day here in N. Ga. And it's voting day. It's supposed to be 70 here. With strong winds now later this afternoon. Just a gloomy day really.

My brother and mom came out yesterday afternoon to eat and cut down a tree. My husband had gone to take our daughter for an interview, so wasn't here. Don't let this picture fool you. He did not get that tree down!

First my brother took the fence down. We didn't even think about doing that. Then he cut a wedge above where it split. Then started cutting with the chain saw. He cut it all the way through. Nothing happened. It never even moved. So he got a wedge and sledge hammer and went to whacking it. He was thinking it would turn and twist a little, then fall to the right. Well, it did. Right between 2 of the fence posts and just missed the shed! The top had already come off when it fell over or it would have hit the rook. But it was all good.

He went ahead and cut the tree in half so we could get the fence put back up so the sheep could get in there later today.So we will be working on getting the tree cut up for fire wood. My husband's friend, the wood fairy, will probably come help cut it up. He likes doing that. Then we will have a big ole bonfire.

                                               You can see here where the tree landed. Really close.

Do you see that bird bath? Back when it was still frozen, there was ice in it. I was putting sunflower seeds up there for the birds. But the chickens would hop up there sometimes too. One day, I noticed the bowl had fallen off. I didn't think anything about it then. Just thought one of the cats had knocked it off.

Well, about 3 or 4 weeks ago, I noticed one of the hens was missing. I assumed a hawk had gotten her, since I never saw any signs of feathers or  bones anywhere. This morning, as we were eating breakfast, my husband asked if I was going to pick up the bird bath any time soon. I just had this horrible thought pop into my head that the chicken was under there. I ran outside and lifted it up and sure enough, there was the hen. With an egg next to her. I cried. I am crying now. It's so sad. And I feel horrible. I never even looked or thought a thing about it. Poor hen.

I have to go vote today and I am still confused about this whole mess.I do not like any of the people running. One of them is the closest to what I believe in, so will probably go with that person. Then I have to go get Mrs,. T. to take her to vote. Her daughter is here too, but doesn't know where to go. So I'll take them.

Then off to the pottery class! I can hardly wait. I love it. But, the studio is in an old school building. And it's the voting precinct for that little town. Ugh. And it's probably going to be raining and nasty. The doors are closed at 6:30 and the class is at 6. Should be fun to find a parking place, right? Well, I hope there is a big turn out and all the parking places filled. They were all filled last week, come to think about it. But there's parking around back.

SO back to spinning this morning, while I have some time. This wool is amazing. Have a great day, y'all!

Extra time.

 I have never really thought about leap year before. Never thought how we have a whole extra day. 24 hours. Who started this? How do people who were born on Feb. 29th, celebrate their birthdays? Do they even get to have birthdays when there isn't a Feb. 29th? I am going to have to do some research on this. But anyway, we have a whole extra day to do whatever we want to! I think this day should be a holiday. Everyone should get this day off to do something special.  Don't y'all think that's a great idea?

So this is what happened to the bird condo. We have had SO much rain and wind, that it pushed the tree over.

Thank goodness there's a maple tree in the corner that caught it. Or it would have fallen right on the shelter. And the fence. I don't see how it's holding it up, but it is so far.

So my brother is coming over this afternoon to help us figure out how to go about getting this poor tree down. The birds are still going in and out of their little holes.  My husband has wrapped a heavy chain around the trunk and I think we'll use my 4wd Trooper to pull the trunk and get it to fall. It's going to fall on the fence. There's no way to avoid that happening. I have a cattle panel I can put there til we can fix the old chain link fence. But in the mean time, the sheep cannot go over there. We will have some extra firewood from all this. Looks like we'll need it tomorrow. We are in for some nasty weather Tuesday afternoon. Hail and wind and rain. And it's Super Tuesday. And my pottery class too.

Looks like March will be coming in like a lion!

And with all the crazy weather, we have leaves coming out on some things. My elderberry bushes.

And the blueberry bushes are getting lots of buds on them!! I hope I get some blueberries this year. Last year, the darn chickens got them all.

This is what I've been spinning at Mrs. T's while I'm at her house. I love this natural color. Almost like a linen or tweed. It's really beautiful. I left my niddy-noddy at Mrs. T's yesterday, so I can't take it off yet.

Me and the goats and dogs went for a walk out back. It's not our land, but they don't mind if we walk back there. This was the first time I took the goats for a walk. I used to take all my other goats back there all the time. I picked some daffodils and the dogs went swimming in a few ponds. It's a beautiful day.

My oldest grand daughter, Chloe, is taking guitar lessons at a music school on Saturdays. Coryn, the middle grand daughter, wants to play cello. Or violin. Since I have a violin, she can start on that. And I want to learn too. Chloe's teacher has it right now, checking it out and putting new strings on it. He said we could take a class together. How fun! I really want to learn fiddle though. Coryn is in band. She's in 8th grade and has been in band since 6th. She plays clarinet. She want to play in marching band when she gets to high school next year. She will be the first to do that and I am really excited! Dade Co. High has a really good band program. They are planning to go to Chicago next fall to perform in a parade.

Ok, enough rambling. I have stuff to make. I need to get busy and make things for this show coming up in May. More about that later.

So I hope you all have a great extra day today! Have fun and do something special with it.

Wednesday ramblings.

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. My brother is here for a few weeks. He's staying at moms, helping her get some things done there. Wednesdays me and mom always go to lunch and then do a little shopping. We had to bring Mark along with us. And we met Abby and Jason, my daughter and her hubby, my other daughter Heather and my husband, at a really good Mexican restaurant over near where Abby and Jason work, for lunch. Had a good time with the family.

Mark, mom and I then went over to a really big thrift store so I could look for a filing cabinet for my little office at home. I did find a nice big 2 drawer with sides in the drawers! The one I have in my studio has no sides. So I can't hang those hanging files in it. My brother said they make those little cage like things to put inside the cabinet to hang files in. So why don't all filing cabinets have sides? I think that's just crazy. Anyway, I just paid $15 for it. And it fits perfectly where I had in mind to put it. Now I just need a nice warm rug. There's concrete floor in there, and it's cold!

After I left mom's, I went back over to the pottery studio, to practice. One of the guys, David, was there and only one other person. So had the whole wheel area to myself! I got some really good help from David. And I got to throw 2 really good pieces that I felt good about keeping. He said not everyone has the guts to smash the first things they make, but that's a good sign of a good potter when they can start over. And over and over. He was a really big help to me. It's funny how everyone has different ways of teaching. Like the lady who first tried to teach me to spin. She just was not the right person for me.  David took pictures for me and was supposed to post them on their FB page, but I don't see them yet. I made a little bowl that I will use to scramble eggs. He made a little pouring lip on the side for me. I love it! Then made a little mug like cylinder. I'll see what it becomes in a few weeks. He also said I should make several balls of clay ready for next week, so I don't have to spend so much time doing that. So I feel better about pottery now, just having that time yesterday to practice more.

And my friend came yesterday morning and got Big Red, the rooster! I caught him the night before and had him in a crate on the driveway, ready for him. When I got home last night, my husband said I gave them the wrong roo. It scared me because I just knew I grabbed Big Red, not Black Bart. But he said that rooster crowed ALL day, right outside the window where he sits. The roo and hens love being up at the house, right under the living room windows, where he crows all the time. He follows me around, crowing too. It really hurts the ears.

So I am home all day! I will hopefully finish that shawl. I did go to the yarn store. I had to buy another cable. She said she wouldn't trust it to hold much longer. So now, I have to transfer all those 1000's of stitches over onto the new cable, then knit a few more rows, then bind off. Then weave in all those ends and block it. Can't wait to see how big this shawl will be. Probably big enough to wrap around me twice at least!

I've been spinning the last of Buttercup's wool. I had so much on this bobbin, it would not turn anymore. I ended up with 217 yards. That was way too much. So far, I have 197 yds, 148 yds and 217 yds. And I am working on the last bobbins to get ready to ply. Then done with Buttercup wool! It is SO soft and pretty too.