What's That Smell?

That smell is something that hasn't touched our noses in a good long while, like since

mid-June. The smell, wet dog. Finally, the weather has changed bringing with it some rain, some snow and some pretty darn cold temps. This morning it's a whopping 27 degrees F (-5C?). Let's just say cold.

While Rube, the outdoor wood fired boiler is dead cold, the little Morso Squirrel stove is working its heart out. It's a tiny thing but manages to reasonably heat the whole downstairs and part of the upstairs where the pipes go up. We paid a small fortune for this stove when we built the house and it was worth every single penny. It's small, can go close to a regular wall and is the easiest stove to adjust I've ever used. Plus it's got an adorable squirrel relief cast into it's sides. The cat thinks it's pretty nice too and until I went to get the camera I had two dogs sharing hearth space with Rodger.

The last few days I have been busily procrastinating on the painting ( one more coat of trim and it's done!). In place of brush in hand I have played with the horses,

done a little shopping, some spinning and some weaving. So for all you folks who think I'm productive, it's a myth! :-) Gene also abandoned me for some more training. All I know is that 250 firefighters and communications folks are meeting in Corvallis, complete with bomb and cadaver sniffing dogs and he's having a ball. Before he left, he scraped the upstairs bathroom ceiling, cleaned, skim coated and primed it. The paint still needs to go on. It's out of commission for use so we're getting to know our downstairs shower again! He'll be home today and I'll take my wood sniffing dog out to show him a heap that needs to be cut and split! :-)

The white scarf came off Hey Baby yesterday. It needs to be finished and pictures will follow. A new warp has been started. Gene informed me last week that with the Harvest Festival and New Fire House Open House, there will be a silent auction for the fire and rescue department. Could I weave a little something? So, Foxfibre colored cotton has gone onto the loom for some thick and thirsty waffle weave towels.

I've been playing with demo programs on the computer and think I've finally made my choice for the Official Theresa Christmas list. I try to make things easy for DH at shopping time by throwing together a few ideas. I don't expect them all and often he has something completely different in mind, but occasionally I am insistent and this will be one of those occasions. For all those also looking, I'm putting the ProWeave program on that list. Like all programs there is a learning curve, so I can't say if it's hard or easy, I have no lexicon for comparison, but the ProWeave folks have been attentive and exceptionally helpful with questions. Very good customer service.

Shopping happened on Friday. I had a few places to go downtown and while window browsing on the way I spied a bag that just HAD to come home with me. I've been using a basket for all the roving I keep by the spinning wheel. It looks nice but almost daily I see a dog with a wispy beard in the exact color of whatever roving is on top of the pile. The pink was quite noticeable I might add. Something had to be done and this was a fun and inexpensive solution. It's made of a sturdy coated paper like material and such fun graphics! The zip top was the most important element along with it being very very roomy.

Farm news is scant. No Bond break ins so far. The other morning in the dark either a bat or a bird flew into me. It felt awfully big for a little brown bat, but it was so swift and out of my headlight quickly I couldn't say for sure what it was. No doubt it was roosting or resting on the goat fence, my opening the gate disturbed whatever it was.

Two nice looking 4 point bucks where resting just outside the paddock, horses sleeping on one side of the fence, deer on the other. Today it's obvious that I'll need to put out the heated buckets and collect all the errant fly masks.

Bea had her follow-up appointment on Tuesday and is released for just about everything except jumping and running flat out. She can walk up and down stairs and yes, the low sofa is okay. There will be days when she appears lame but not to worry, the new ligament is solid. She'll be like a lot of the human population and have a predicting knee that reminds her of both weather changes and when she's over done it.

For 15 days post-op I'd say the old girl has come a long way.