Wyoming Weather More Moodswings than I

We had our first snow. We had our first severe snow a few weeks later and now it's in the 70's. We should expect a cool down soon. I still need to get my web store up. I have a lot of things I should be doing. It will all get done. It was a very short fall. The freeze hit before the leaves could fall off so the trees look a little shaggy. But boy the animals are going crazy..we had 8 deer in the yard this afternoon all begging for candy and we are regularly visited by a flock of wild turkeys.

I am sort of in a fog... I haven't been sleeping well. I need to go to extremes to get some sleep. I have the window open a crack to let in fresh air and the sound of the creek. That doesn't seem to help. It's been weeks since I have had a decent nights sleep.

Halloween was a non issue. No parties, no celebrations no revelry. This was a weird year too. It had the same calendar as 2003. That meant I could mentally relive the events of the Cedar Fire and the evacuation and the losing everything. Of course even after the rebuild with this economy the house is gone.

This will be a very solemn Veterans day. I have friends stationed overseas and some on their way out to the front. I understand the need and I respect the job that our military does but I still am very protective of my friends. I don't want to lose any of them. We could not have our freedom if it wasn't for their hard work and dedication. I say prayers for you all.

I've been working a lot at the day job. My current project is to label documentation photos from a historic site. It's not as exciting as it sounds. But because I needed to be not disturbed to finish on time .. I worked from home. That was very nice.

So wish me luck in getting my web store up. I have some new pieces of jewelry and some nice yarn. I need to start spinning again. I need to start knitting again and I need to start pounding on metal and melting hot glass.I've been out of touch for 5 months held captive by a computer game. Wow now that would be a trip...sleeping and crafting again. Sleeping starts tonight. Crafting starts tomorrow.

It's snowing!!!

For those of you who know me snow is very special. We got our first snow this afternoon and of course I was in tears. Yay!!!!

Resting

I am home today with feet up and thermometer at my side. I've been feeling under the weather the past few days running a low grade fever. I promised myself I wouldn't go into work yesterday but I did and fell and hurt my knee and back so today.. I am not going to work. I am resting feet up downing aspirin for fever and pain. I'll probably go into the urgent care clinic later when Hubbins get home. I know I can drive there but i don't know what they will do to my knee so I don't know if I would be able to drive home. So better safe than sorry.

This would be a very good day to start a knitting project. Spinning is out of he question. I need to finish bagging and tagging my yarn for the sale on Saturday. Should get it in the mail too. Hopefully it will all find a home.

Fall is in full swing outside. Winter is right on it's tale. We are expecting the first snow in the basin this week. Samhain this year will be disjointed. I don't know what we'll do. Maybe have a sit down dinner and tell ghost stories or something. I don't think the usual festivities will go over well here. It's time to brew beer. The weather is nice and cool finally. Time also to over winter the hops and the rose and of course the indigo. I figure we'll plant spring bulbs on he leach field of the new septic tank which is finally hooked up.

Hey it's my stove!!! Just watching Kelsey Grammar on the Good Morning America plugging his new show "Hank". The clip they showed had an old stove in the scene that was identical to the one I left behind in San Diego at our Alpine house. Sigh. Well I have a whole new future before me.

Now it's time to do a little house cleaning.... as long as it's withing reach of my Lazyboy. Maybe noodle on the squeezebox and build some more on my Evony Cities. Oh yeah... and start a knitting project.

People are funny today's blog isn't tonight

I don't get people. Maybe that's why I live in the middle of nowhere and enjoy my peace and quiet. Not that I don't like some people. I do. And these past eight months were not very fun with all the isolation and loneliness and stress. I can't say that it almost broke my spirit because it totally did. Love and friendship are good glue to put the pieces back together.

This house helps a lot. It is structural Valium. It made saying goodbye to MY house easier. Wood on wood on wood and soft colors of red and green and the warm golden yellow of my office/craft room created from blood, sweat, and tears and dreams.
Sometimes I think my purpose in life is to have what I want taken away from me.

Must infuse some whimsy in my life. I think it's time to change the drive band on my wheel.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

I had kind of a creepy day today. It was the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. I remember when I found out. I was at home working, and I had called a supervisor for a question and he broke the news about the first plane hitting the first tower. I Turned on my TV and watched with disbelief. While I was finishing up with my customer, the second plane hit the second tower. The world stopped and the rest is history. A moment we should never forget.

Fast forward to today. I woke up at 2:00am with a panic attack, which I rarely get anymore. It was a bad one. I was uncontrollabley shaking and my heart was beating out of my body. I was drenched in a feeling of sadness and dread and felt like I wanted to climb out of my skin. I could best describe it as the feeling of being on a roller coaster when you don't like roller coasters. The feeling of hurling through space with no control. This feeling lasted all day and into the night. It's calmed down a little thanks to my friends on the online game I play. They made me laugh (LOL) and made me forget how I was feeling for a while.

Now here I am 24 hours later still buzzing with unwanted energy. I picked up the new issue of Spin-Off (the magazine for hand spinners ... but if you didn't know that why are you reading my blog??) In the back there was an artical written by my favorite fiber author, Stephanie Pearl McPhee, about a friend of hers (Denny McMillan) who made her own personal souvenier of S.O.A.R. 2008 by gathering all of the wool left behind by the participants in the classes and the spin-ins. She ended up with several skeins of yarn and knit a couple of items including a neck warmer. Having attended that S.O.A.R., and taken Robin Russo's exotic fiber class, I had contributed to her project. I was always embarassed to leave at the end of the day with a large pile of fluff under my chair. After all this was an exotic fiber class and that stuff ain't cheap!! I'm glad that the fiber found a home and a purpose. I cried a little at the end looking back on my memories from last October. And looking forward to spending tomorrow uncovering my fiber stash that has been packed away for a few months as we move into our latest dwelling.

This house has been a Godsend. While not perfect and it would be nice to have the septic system working correctly, we really like it here. The sound of the creek is soothing and the trees and wildlife are ever entertaining. It is as relaxing as our house in California was. That is the best excuse for not being unpacked yet. But as of last weekend I started to set my shop up again to work on jewelery projects and felting projects and hopefully this weekend I can find my fiber and yarn and start my spinning and knitting projects.

I need to get my website back up and my web store and move that in a forward direction. Holiday shopping season is rapidly approching. It's time I caught that wave and rode it for all it's worth. And as winter approches, settle in for a while.

When Winter does arrive I will have plenty of time to spin and knit, plenty of time to shape metal and blow glass, and plenty of time to spend with my friends online building cities and conquering barbarian cities and laughing. However one of my online friends won't have all that time to spend with us. He will be in harms way defending Democracy on the other side of the world. Cleaning up what was started 8 years ago on a sunny September morning. My thoughts will be with you. God Speed and come home safely.

Story Days

Recently I moved to a little town called Story. Population 650 and I think a lot of those are seasonal residents. It's a cute town. EVERYONE wants to live here. We have a creek running along the property and the sound of the rushing water has lowered my blood pressure way down to where I am probably normal.

This weekend is Story Days. The whole town gets together and puts on a shindig. All of the locals do something. There is even a parade. Now if you live in a large metropolitan area and have the occasional parade you ain't seen nothin' like this! Although not as Norman Rockwell as the ones I saw in small town Wisconsin, this one was truly a delight.

It started before it started. First there was gunfire followed by sirens. Then some Civil War troops marched down the street.... then the sirens got louder and then they announced the parade.

First in line were the Fire department and rescue squad followed by the sheriff, highway patrol and National Guard. Thank goodness nothing ever happens here as all of the protection services were in the parade.

There were cowboys and Indians. There were Masons and Shriners (including the contingent in go carts weaving around in their Fezzes. There were clowns with pitchforks (yes clowns with weapons very scary) There was a few floats. I think the most confusing one was the kid in the wire pen and a guy in a chicken outfit dancing and there was a tipi on the back. There was a pipe and drum band and later on a lone piper. The local radio station had a boom box van playing classic rock and there was a showing from both the Big Horn Model A club and another classic car group who had not only the usual 1930's and 40's souped up cars but a large group of high end muscle cars squealing their wheels and revving up their engines plus a viper a prowler and several model years of corvettes and mustangs.

The whole thing was so cute I cried. Now my neighbors think I'm nuts.

Currently outside ...probably in front of my house is an Indian Dance performance.

And a fun highlight that I enjoyed was the kid who walked over to my fence and tried to dump trash nonchalantly on the ground. He saw me see him and he gave me the "what are you going to do about it" look. I gave him the "pick it up or I will jump this fence and rip your head off and use you as a garbage can" look. He picked it up and put it back in his pocket. Justice prevails.

Well as non social as I am, I am a prisoner in my home this weekend. The street is parked up with visitors and crowds of people. But I'm fine. I still have unpacking and cleaning to do.

Next year will be different. I want to enter my Lamb Tagine in the dutch oven cook off. I also want to set up a booth at the bazaar and sell some yarn and jewelry. Had I known about this a few weeks earlier I would have done it this year. Day late dollar short... story of my life.

I know I know it's been over a month!

So when I last blogged I was hopelessly addicted to a stupid computer game that was holding me captive. Well now I have 5 cities not one, I have prestige reaching 140000, I have been promoted to General and Earl. I'm still addicted but I can put the computer down.

Also since I last blogged the house we were living in sold so we had to find a place to live. Hubbins was out of town still (since March) I was freaking out and got totally depressed to the point of no longer functioning. It's been almost 20 years since I have been like that. Things turned around in the weirdest way.

I had put in an application for a house on a quiet street in town. I went to the grocery store to get some comfort food. As I was leaving the store I stopped at the gumball machines and put my 50 cents in for a Santo. Yes tiny plastic saint statues from vending machines. I received a Saint Jude. Patron Saint of hopeless causes. My next day at work I placed the little Santo on my computer monitor. Later in the morning I got a call from the potential landlord saying I didn't get the house. My boss's wife at that point, sent me a list of a few places for rent. One was already rented, one was too expensive, one was way too small and I called the third. The owner said it was a "very rustic" cabin in a cute little town. It took me three tries to find it. Once I found it I fell in love. We moved in this week.

It's right on the creek and I sleep like a rock and my blood pressure has gone down enough were I almost had silence one morning. My tenitis had quieted down to where it wasn't like walking through a field of cicadas.

Well Les Stroud is on Craig Ferguson tonight ... I will try to say awake an watch.