CHINA STRIKES AGAIN WITH CHEAP, UNSAFE PRODUCTS AND OUR DAY OF REST

I am still on my soapbox so watch out, folks!

The following paragraphs are taken from Penny's Tuppence's blog.  I feel that the information is important enough to pass along.   The links will not work as this is a copy and paste. 

"Alert for Chinese Treats.

"The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) has notified the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) of reports of possible toxicity with chicken jerky treats from China.
The recently reported Fanconi syndrome-like symptoms in dogs are similar to those documented in 2007 by the AVMA, also associated with chicken jerky treats made in China.

The AVMA issued an alert to its members, state veterinary medical associations and allied organizations to 'remain vigilant for illness possibly linked to chicken jerky treat consumption.' "
Dr. Becker recommends you not feed chicken jerky treats to your dog. Select an all-natural, protein based treat like Beef & Bison Bites, or another healthy treat made in the U.S.
As with any treats, they should be fed only occasionally, not routinely. This is especially true for small-breed dogs."
More at: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/07/26/avma-issues-alert-for-chicken-jerky-treats-from-china.aspx"

Karen in the Woods left a comment this morning.  She asked if the chicken in the chicken and noodles I fixed last night was from the chicken that hitched a ride under the motorhome.  Nope Karen, as far as I know, the girl is fine.  Three people said they would give her a home and we did not see her wandering around as we left.  

It has rained all day making it a lazy, lazy, sleepy day here in the John Bryan State Park.  The deer come and go at will.  Some with their camouflage spots fading.  They seem so small to be going into winter.

There are only 5 campsites occupied tonight.  Couple that with the campsites being quite large and the pads being blacktop for nice, level parking, what else could we ask for?  


I have found some new dyes to try.  I am ordering them over the Internet and looking forward to their arrival.  They are dyes that contain no heavy metals and are so good to the environment.  If I like them, I will be selling them on my website and at fiber events.


I am going to be more scientific in my dyeing.  Thus far, with my acid dyes, I have been a throw the dyes in the pot and see what I get type of person.  


Now that my hand spun and hand dyed yarns are selling, I want to have larger lots of colors for people to create larger projects such as wraps, sweaters, etc.  Just more of expanding our business to provide our customers with the best we can find.  

I love it that my hand spun is selling, but that means I need to be spinning, spinning, spinning.  And that's not all bad....well....that's not bad at all!   I just wish that I could spin, crank socks and felt at the same time!  I wonder if the Bionic Woman was able to do that...hummm....thinking....it hurts!


We did not find a weaving loom that we liked at the Wool Gathering.  We will be looking at them at SAFF in  Asheville, North Carolina in a few weeks.  I am patient, I can wait, I think....


I am also looking for a yardage counter for my yarns.  Right now, I wind the yarn around the lip of my felting table....then I must rewind the yarn into a ball or cone in order to package it or to knit on my circular sock machine.  


Have I ever told you I love all things fiber?  Can you tell?  There is only one problem....my weight never goes down.   


That's all for tonight!  Be safe out there!


God Bless!

T MINUS TWO DAYS!

In just two short days we will leave for Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. September 9, 10 and 11. I will be vending there and Sunday, will be teaching a felting class.  

John has been working on the motor home and there is one leveling jack that is acting up.  It will not retract thus when he wants to level the passenger side, the jack just hits it's "toe" on the ground.  Grrrr.  He has tried to pound it back in with a rubber mallet, sprayed tons of W-D 40 on it, begged, pleaded, offered me as a sacrifice, all to no avail.  

On the brighter side, he has found a wonderful cleaner/wax that is doing wonders on the motor home.  I wonder how long it will take to do all thirty five feet of this wheelestate.  

Did you catch that last word?  We want to eliminate our real estate and have only our wheelestate.  Seems like a good trade to me!  

I am really pleased with some of the fiber that I have dyed.  I finally put on my dare devil hat and started mixing my own colors.  I love how they have turned out.  The fiber I have dyed is mainly for the felting class that I will be teaching, but there will be some left to sell at the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs Ohio the following weekend.  

	Jeb Mac (Jeff McKinley) and his wife, Carolina Pearl, will be back this year entertaining the kids playing a farmhouse fiddle, banjo, lap dulcimer and other instruments. The children young and old enjoy singing along, playing instruments and dancing.

If we have room in the motor home, I will take my circular sock machine on this trip.  We will be gone for two weeks and I hope I can spend a few evenings knitting socks.

As we look to winter travels, I have decided to take my sock machine, possibly my Schact Matchless spinning wheel and supplies to do more fiber "paintings".  

Since we will be leaving in December rather than February, we will have more time to do our artsy activities.  


As I finish each step of preparation for the fiber festivals, I move the completed items to the motor home and am totally impressed at how much better my studio is looking.  What makes it even more pleasing is that I am not in the cleaning mode, but it looks like it!  I kinda am impressing myself.   


Wisconsin Sheep and Wool is only in it's 10th year and is a huge success!  It is full of classes, competitions, an auction, style show, youth activities, stock dog trials and more events. 

 

There are tons of vendors!  (Ahem....I'm one! - in the west building of the country store.)

 

People come and shop till they drop.  

If you are in driving distance, come visit us.  

It looks as if the weather is going to be great this year now that it has cooled down.  Blogger has started creating a problem, so I will sign off since I  cannot control it from this end.  Hopefully, someone will have an answer for me in the comments!  

Be Safe all - And God Bless and keep you....

 

 

 

Home

Home, .......... home,  rain filled front lawn, rain filled barnyard, water standing in the field yet to be planted........Rain.........and more rain.

We arrived home this morning to water standing everywhere.  This morning, I woke up to find a ground hog sitting on our hot tub cover, just to have some dry feet! The hot tub is just out my bedroom window.  (If I knew how to transfer photos from my new Droid X to this blog, I would show you his picture!  Flood warnings are flashing on the screen.  The poor farmers are waiting to finish planting their crops.  And then more rain storms show up on the radar.

Then there is Texas and Arizona, New Mexico....the southwest regions of the United States.....drought, and more drought, and fires.  Don't we wish that we could "spread the wealth?  Last year, we had such a hot, dry season.  The corn withered. soy beans did not produce their usual wealth., grass turned brown and was crisp under foot.  We had no-burn orders.  If one tried to burn brush, the fire department was out to issue a citation and to put your fire out.  What ever happened to equal opportunity weather? 

Well, laundry is caught up, I have knitted a sock on my circular sock machine............all in addition to the things that must be done after a trip on the road. Now,  ..............  we are looking forward to the next time on the road.  And that is not far off.  We leave Friday morning for the Wool Fest in Kirkland, OH!  Oh my....

It is time to get some sleep and prepare for the Wool Fest!  Blessings to all.....N

Busy Days

Yesterday as a very productive day.  More work in the motor home was completed.  Those little things that seem to bug us when we are having a quiet evening have been fixed or cleaned.  Why is it that we pick, pick, pick.  It's almost impossible for me to just sit without visually inspecting everything to see what needs to be done next.  Oh well, really, it is fun to work on the "roadhouse". 

I also worked in the studio.  At the last show people were happy to find our knitting, weaving, handwork lights.  We almost sold out!  I ordered more and they have arrived.  Also, the wet felting kits were a very popular item, so I made more for the Great Lakes Fiberarts Show in Wooster, OH that is coming up this Memorial Day week end.  This is a super show and again we look forward to seeing the friends we made last year. 

We Have a New Great Grand!

New babies are so precious.  Especially when they are our grand children and great grands.  Today, Harper Howe entered the world at 6 pounds 7 ounces and she is just beautiful!  I even have the photo to prove it! 

We have been waiting with a bit of anxiety.  She has created a stir for the last 2 or 3 weeks.  There was an irregular heart beat.  Cause for concern!   An ultrasound showed that there was an umbilical aneurysm and the physicians were fairly confident that the increased pressure created by the aneurysm was pumping too much blood into the heart creating the heart rhythm problem.  But we had to wait until delivery to be sure.  On top of that, our little darlin decided to present her tush, rather than her head.  Therefore, a Cesarean delivery was scheduled for this morning. 

The parents to be were to be at the hospital at 9:00 this morning.  The hospital personnel told them that it was "all clear" for their delivery.  When they arrived, they went through the registration process etc.  And then they waited, oh, oh,  the OR was needed for an emergency delivery.  Then another emergency... they had to wait their turn for the operating room.  Finally, it was time and Harper entered the world, easing every concern we had about her health. 

Megan had visitation all planned.  First she and Adam wanted to be with her for the first hour.  Just a nice quiet time to bond with their loan from God.  Next they wanted the grandparents for the next hour followed by the greats!  We calculated that if Harper was born between nine and ten o'clock, that would mean Meg and Adam would be alone with her from say, ten to eleven, followed by grandparents from eleven to twelve o'clock.  Then, last but not least the  greats at noon.  Now, I added about ninety minutes to that schedule based upon past experience.

I passed some of the waiting time reading and then I decided to spin some yarn.  But when the ninety minutes stretched to two hours, we decided we would make our way toward the hospital, hoping that we would get a call and we would be close by. 

We went to Camping World to make a couple purchases for the motorhome, then drove by Sam's Club. We decided that since it was a Sunday crowd, we did not want to stand in line, so we just moseyed on down the road.  While driving, we called daughter #1 - Karen to see what the progress was and she informed us of the delay, but said she was on her way to the hospital.  We knew from that it was going to be a bit longer, so off we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant to wait.  The good food helped distract us and made the time go quickly and suddenly, we get a text from Meg telling us to come meet our new little one. 

She is so petite and cuddly!  The hospital has swaddling blankets that make them feel nice and secure.  She looked so cute in her white blanket and her pink and white hat.  She's just a "knock out".  Can you tell I'm a bit biased?  Oh well. 

Well, the rest of the day is history. 

Yesterday, we spent time spring cleaning the motor home in preparation for next week's trip to the fiber festival in Wooster Ohio.  I was amazed at how much dust and grit there was from the desert of California.  Now all the wood is cleaned and polished, mirrors are shiny, windows are clean, exhaust fans are cleaned, etc, etc.  I even cleaned closets and drawers!  We are ready to roll and are looking forward to meeting up with our friends that we have  not seen since last fall and those we have not seen for the last month or so.  This begins our busy time with art shows and the fiber festivals.  Having our home on wheels makes our travels more comfortable and we are looking forward to hitting the road on Thursday. 
The gas prices have gone down fourteen cents a gallon.  Nice timing, don't you think? 
Well, it's been a great week and a marvelous weekend.  Till next time....God's blessings to you....

The Joy of Having Children and Grandchildren

Wow!  Double Wow!!

What a time we have had since last talking to  you.  We have celebrated our grandson Ross' third birthday.  He is such a sweetie.  Beautiful red hair and energy to the max.  Ross has the sweetest temperament I  have ever seen.  He is totally into the Cars cartoon movement.  Ninety percent of his birthday gifts were in one way or another in the Cars genre.  He loved each and every gift and was totally overwhelmed with the entire celebration.  This is the first year that he "got it" as far as birthdays go.

Now the age spread between grandchildren is quite a spread.  Our two oldest are 23 and 21.  The younger two are 3 and 6.  A bit of a gap there, isn't there.  Megan, at 23 is expecting her first child, our second great grandchild.  Megan seems more like one of our daughters than a granddaughter and needless to say, there have been baby showers.  We took Meg to Babies R Us and she showed us the items they need for our little Harper.  We, being the stingy curmudgeon, of course did not listed....... HA!    We did our part to make her showers a total haul.

Harper is to make her entrance into the world this Sunday morning.  She has been a bit of a concern the last week or so.  An ultrasound has brought to light an aneurysm in the umbilical cord and arrhythmia  AND she is going to be a breach baby.  What more could be expected?  Nothing, I hope.  We trust that God has both mom, Megan and little Harper in His hands and we will have a healthy little girl to dote upon.

Today, Megan, her paternal grandmother and I all had lunch together at Bravo's.  It was funny to see the appetite an expectant mother can have.  Little Harper is not really giving her mom much room to breathe or to put food into her stomach, but Megan still managed to tackle her lobster bisque and salad.

After lunch, we went to Gymbore to look at baby clothes.  What fun!  The styles are so neat, I could have just purchased the store and been done with it.  Alas, that takes capitol....so we continue to spoil a bit at a time.  After our little shopping trip, we said our goodbyes and each of us headed to our homes.  Megan, for an expectant mother's nap, Gam's Pam home, and I went off to library and to our rental for a confrontation with our renter.

He is behind in his rent and is totaling up a lot of  late payment charges.  I decided that instead of a letter, I'd just show up on his door step.  What I found was very upsetting.  He opened the door and all I could smell was stale cigarette smoke - in a non-smoking home!  That really set me off!  Not good!  I asked for him to pay his rent to date and to add all the late charges.  Then I told him that he was not supposed to be smoking in the condo and he needed to be smoking outside.  Ohhhhh, the fun of being a land lord.  It is tempting to just sell the place.

I cam home and ranted to John, then retreated to family room to "cool down".  Following my cool down time, we went to dinner, but not before calling Megan and asking her to join us since her husband, Adam, works evenings.  We had a lovely time together and that just made the day complete..

One week from tomorrow, we leave for Wooster, Ohio for another fiber festival.  If you are in the area, this is a great opportunity to stock up on fibers, yarn, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies.  Today, I ordered more knitting lights and hopefully they will be in for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is June 3 and 4 in Franklin, Indiana at the Johnson County Fairgrounds.  You might want to check our our website: www.hoosierhillsfiberartsfestival.com to find more information about classes and all the vendors.

Well, tomorrow, John and I resume our exercise.  We have slacked off since returning from our winter tour.  But tomorrow, he hit the road - walking.  After our walk, we are going to tour some garage sales so John can get an idea of pricing items.  He insists on having sales to begin selling off things so we can think about full timing.

As for now, it's time to go, - God go with you and bless your walk. -  This reminds me of a sign I saw this week.  It read "If you want to make God laugh...........  just tell him YOUR plans!  ..............

Blessings..............