Where did the summer go?

Goodness me, I haven't written a blog post since February.  And now here we are at the end of summer.  Where did it go, and why does summer always have to go so quickly, compared to our interminable winter and not-really-spring-because-it's-too-cold-and-wet seasons.  I've been busy with work all summer, of course, and it's good to have work, but sometimes it's too much.  As always, difficult when one is running one's own business trying to ensure that contracts keep on coming in but also wishing that sometimes there would be more of a break!

As usual, I didn't do any traveling this summer.  I still have significant concerns about covid.  We both had it in April, despite having had 3 shots and wearing masks all the time.  Marc got it at work and brought it home and that was that.  It honestly wasn't that bad for me, but I don't want it again.  In addition, it's difficult to travel when one has livestock - especially chickens that need to be let out and let in every day, and closed for the night to keep them safe. 

I hatched 9 chicks this year and ended up with 6 roosters and 3 hens.  Not a great ratio!  One of the hens had some kind of predator incident despite being in a secure coop.  I think she may have gotten her wing stuck between cage bars, which made it stick out of the pen.  Unfortunately, something (cat?  fox?) came along and took most of her wing off.  I didn't think she would survive, but she has beaten the odds and now she has one normal wing

 and one mini-wing.  

You wouldn't necessarily know to look at her though, and she does well except for flying up onto the roosts.  I will have to make her a ramp.  She might be Winifred, or Wilhelmina.  Or maybe Wren.

I also ended up with a funny-looking bantam rooster, and I can't quite bring myself to send him to freezer camp, so he might get to stick around.

Some things in the veggie garden are doing well, and some are a disaster.  Carrots were dreadful - I did two seedings and the germination was awful, even though I kept them moist and did all the things you're supposed to do.  The parsnips, on the other hand, are doing very well.  I have lots of zucchini and cucumbers to harvest right now.

I've also been trying to get more walks into my week, and have been enjoying time at two local parks.  If it's raining, I don't go, but otherwise, I try to go at least 3 times a week.

That's about all I have.  I really should try to write more often.

Fibre Update - Things I Have Done in my Limited Spare Time

I haven't had an awful lot of fibre fun lately.  It's difficult to be too excited about spinning or knitting or crochet when it's hot and sticky here.  We're not as hot and sticky as a lot of places, but since we don't have air conditioning, the heat really sticks when it comes.  The humidity has been high as well, so it's just energy-draining and not really conducive to wool-related pastimes.

That said, I have done a bit of knitting on cooler evenings or in the car with air-conditioning when Marc is driving.  I recently completed the "Sea of Shells" shawl, which reminds me of the ocean, and the waves progressively coming in to the shore.

I knitted this using local Fleece and Harmony yarn from Prince Edward Island.  They have a lovely flock of sheep and I really like their yarns.  I plan on visiting their operation again later this year.

This shawl needed to be blocked (wetted and then carefully pinned out) to really bring out the lace pattern between the shell shapes.  It then took a long time to dry after blocking because of the aforementioned humidity.  I tried to block it indoors and eventually gave up and took it out into the sunshine.

Now it's finished and carefully stored in the closet to await weather that calls for wool.

I also did a bit of spinning and plying.  I used some small scraps of fibre that I had to create these four mini-skeins.  I really love the lime green one.  All of them were chain-plied as 3-ply yarns.

I spun a Fleece Artist bump of kid sliver that was like butter - so smooth.  I enjoyed spinning it and I again chain-plied it.  At 50 grams, it only made a small skein, but I love the shimmer and lustre of mohair.

I also finally plied a bobbin of 50% merino, 50% tencel fibre that I'd spun over the winter.  It was from Creatively Dyed Yarns and I bought it years ago.  I have so much fibre languishing in my stash, but it makes me so happy to spin some up and enjoy the process.  I have no idea what it will become, but for now, I'm just enjoying the yarn.

The colours make me feel slightly cooler in this ongoing heat.

Friday's Hunt v 4.03

I can't believe it's Friday already!  Where did the week go?  Summer is just flying by.

I am not very prepared for this week's Friday Hunt.  The topics are:  Starts with C, Building, and Something I Wear.

Starts with C
Today, I was given a little gift by Mother Nature - the chance to rescue a chipmunk.  Unfortunately, I have an outdoor cat.  I'm not all that fond of cats, and I do not generally approve of outdoor cats. Izzy was my former barn cat and she is a very friendly cat, but she is terrible at litter box use, so she can't stay in the house, so I am stuck with keeping her outside.  As a result, she sometimes catches little creatures.  This really upsets me, but most of the time she is not very successful with hunting.

Anyway, I saw her outside today with a limp chipmunk hanging from her mouth and I was horrified. I've never seen her catch one and they are usually way too fast for her.  Anyway, I went running out to see if I could rescue it but I feared it was already dead.  She dropped it and it just lay on its side.  I picked it up immediately and cradled it and found that it was, remarkably, still alive, but not moving much.  I checked it over for wounds and found none.  So, I put it into a plastic jug that was handy, and took it inside to observe it to see if it needed to be taken to the Atlantic Wildlife Institute for treatment or rehab.  I offered it some sunflower seeds.

The chipmunk was still for a very long time and seemed a bit stunned, which I suppose is normal given the experience it had just been through.  I took it out to the back screened porch and put it in a larger plastic tote with some seeds and water for a while.  About 20 minutes later when I went to check on it, it was running around inside the porch and chirping in the way chipmunks do.  So, I knew it was most likely going to be OK.  I let it go, after getting a couple of cute pictures!  I am so glad I had the opportunity to save it, and it gave me a letter C for today!

Building
Marc has been doing a tremendous job on the renovation of the outbuilding that is becoming his motorcycle workshop.  As I've mentioned before, he is using pallet wood and barn boards to do the inside walls.  This week, the ceiling heater arrived that will keep it warm enough for him to work out there during the winter.  Here is the building from the outside - during the winter of course.

Here is how part of it looked last winter.

Here is how that same part looks now.  The upper boards are the pallet wood and the lower boards (horizontal) are the barn boards.

He also refinished a couple of vintage windows to use on the inside dividing wall - they look great! He hopes to have it all finished by the fall.

Something I Wear
Right now we're in the middle of summer, which is the hottest time of the year here.  That said, it's not THAT hot.  We don't have air conditioning though, because we really don't need it.  We very rarely hit 30 C (86 F) and generally we don't go over 26 C (79 F) but for me, that's still quite warm.  I wear a lot of lightweight sleeveless dresses in the summer to keep cool.  I especially like tie-dyed ones. Here I am today in one of those dresses.  I'm also wearing a very pretty turquoise glass pendant that my parents brought me as a gift from their recent trip to Bermuda - I love the colours!  It seems that I am almost always wearing something teal, green, or turquoise.