Saturday

I'm sitting here trying to decide whether to get a new laptop. I really hate to put anything on the Visa card. I'm trying so hard to pay it off! But there are several good reasons to get a laptop.

It's been raining hard off and on since this afternoon. I took Timber for a walk this morning, and he was very good! He pulled just a little bit, but when he did, I would stop, and he would glance over his shoulder at me and come back, and as soon as he did, I'd start walking again. And when we encountered a guy coming the opposite way, I stepped off the sidewalk and asked Timber for a sit-stay, which he did very nicely. It was a very pleasant walk, and I was a proud mommy. Our hard work is paying off. Poor Taenzer, though, we only got about a block before the first spell of rain blew through and we had to hurry home.

The local farm store had a sale on a bird feeder pole with two fixed arms, a moveable arm, a mesh tray, and a plastic tray, so I ran out and got one. The really expensive ones are close to $100, but mine's not so expensive, and on sale it was only $20. A small problem--it's taller than the pole I had up, and I needed a stepstool to get the sunflower seed feeder up. Ah well, I'll just get a longer hook to hang it from, so I can reach. Another small problem: I can't get the lid off the sunflower feeder. I'm going to have to get someone to do it for me, and then tinker with the clips so that they still hold, but I can get it open.

I think tomorrow I'm going to go out and see if I can find a nice suet feeder and a pole baffle to try to keep the squirrels out of the suet. Hopefully all the nesting birds will like it for their babies as well as for themselves.

I'm also thinking of putting the pole I was using in the puppy pen and hanging a couple of feeders out there, so I can watch birds feeding while I'm out with the dogs.

I'm finally nearing the end of my 2009 calendar scarf. I have one pattern left to go. I have enjoyed working on this, with the different patterns and different yarns. I especially like the qiviut and the buffalo down. I'd like to work with them again; maybe I can find another sale.

I expect I'll do socks as my next project, if I can successfully combine one of my beautiful sock yarns with one of the many patterns I want to do.

And, oh yes, I got the lace scarf finally back on the needles and mostly made back to where I was when I originally dropped a stitch. It's going to be a nice little scarf, something I can wear to work, I think.

I also meant to tell about my sweet peas. Last year I did about 4 plantings of sweet peas before I got them to come up. Each time I faithfully soaked them for 24 hours before I planted them, and kept them watered, and hung over them, and eventually got half a dozen or so spindly little plants that bloomed sometime around in July. This year I put a packet in the ground, got them covered up, and thought, oops, I forgot to soak them; oh well, I'll just replant later. Imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago to find a long, thick row of sturdy-looking little sweet pea seedlings! I suppose that at this point I should thin them, but I'm really afraid to touch them--they're doing so well without my interference!