A Happy Fuzzy Blog

A Royal Visitor!

Look who discovered my buddleia!

Isn't she beautiful?

I planted milkweed for her too, but I started it from seed, so it's just little.  Next year it'll be tall and pink and useful to a monarch.  But for now, drink that nectar!  Yum!

Don't pet the bees

Every time I see the bumblebees in my garden, I think they look so cute and fuzzy, I just want to pet them.  But that would be bad.  They wouldn't like that.

So I just admire them.  I have no idea how many of them I have in my garden.  Dozens, at least.  Probably well over a hundred in the middle of the day.

Look at them on this Joe Pye weed.  They're practically rolling around on it.

I can imagine them making that sound Homer Simpson makes after he's eaten something really delicious.

I've seen a lot of butterflies in my garden too, but they don't sit still for very long.  And I saw a hummingbird today, just as I was going inside to get my camera so I could take pictures of bees.  Yay!  My first hummingbird of this garden!

And look!  My verbascum is starting to bloom.  Does it not rock?

I think it's pretty cool. 

And my yarrow's buds are finally starting to open so I can tell what color the flowers are going to be!  They're yellow!  Can you say "yellow yarrow" ten times fast?

I didn't know what color they were going to be because when Erica gave them to me, she just said, "Here, have some yarrow.  I don't know what color it is."  Well, hey, ok.  I've never seen a yarrow I didn't like, and butterflies like them, so yes please.  But I've been talking to it ever since I planted it, saying, "Hmm, I wonder what color you're going to be."  Kind of like waiting for a baby to be born to find out if it's a boy or a girl, I guess, except yarrow comes in a lot more than two colors.

Last week I was whining about my tomatoes still all being green.  Ingrid took pity on me and brought me some ripe tomatoes from her garden!  Oh, they were so delicious!  Thank you so much, Ingrid!  And just as I ate the last one...

Yes!  They're finally getting the idea!

Alas, all is not well in my garden.  See my zucchini plant?

No, it's not some trick like the Emperor's Zucchini.  There was a zucchini plant there.  There were actually three plants.  I bought what I thought was one, then realized it was really three in one pot, and didn't have the heart to sacrifice two of them, nor the room to move them somewhere else.  That was probably a mistake.  Anyway, I left the three plants to grow together, and they got huge.  I had lots of zucchini.  I was eating zucchini every few days, I was giving it to neighbors, coworkers, I even gave one to my yoga instructor.  And then the leaves started wilting, even though I was giving it lots of water.  The bottom leaves were dead, the top leaves were wilting, and it wasn't producing as much zucchini anymore. 

I did a google search and from what I could tell, it sounded like the poor thing had squash vine borers.  I pulled off all the dead leaves so I could get at the base of the plants.  Yeah, I could see that something had eaten away a lot of the stalk, and it was still there (just like Goldilocks!).  The stalks were full of small brown insects and some crawly things, but they weren't the white pupae I was expecting to see.  They were brown, much more slender, and had legs.  But the damage looked the same.  

Unfortunately there were so many of the insects and crawly things and they were moving so fast, there was no way for me to remove them.  So, into a yard waste bag, leaves, stalks, roots, and all, for the city to compost.  Rest in peace, my dear zucchini plants.  It was nice knowing you while you were here.  Thank you for feeding me.  Namaste.

On a more positive note, I hauled my ass over to the thrift shop today.  It's such a hit or miss thing, you know.  Sometimes I have good luck, sometimes I don't.  Well, today was my day!  I got four dinner plates, a pair of jeans, and nine shirts for $20.14!  Score!

The thing I don't understand is who the hell decides how women's clothing sizes are determined and what the hell are they smoking?  I tried several shirts on, in both size Medium and Large, because I've found the sizes vary so much, they might as well be in one category called size Random, and either it will fit or it won't.  Within the Mediums, some fit perfectly and look great, some are a bit too snug and not so flattering, some are so small I can't get them on, some are too loose and not so flattering, and some are so loose they look like they're two sizes too large.  Within the Larges, it's the exact same thing as the Mediums.  Which is to say, there are Mediums which are two or three sizes larger than the Larges.  Huh?

It was the same thing with the jeans.  I found two pairs of black size 10 jeans to try on.  Actually I found the one pair and wasn't going to try on the second pair, figuring I already found a pair of black jeans to try on, and then I remembered how much sizes vary and thought, don't be stupid, try them both.  One fit perfectly; the other was two sizes too large.  Uh...right.   So if I want pants in that brand to fit me, am I supposed to be looking for a size 6?  Huh?  That's crazy talk.  Just label things right so I know where to look.  Duh.

Oh well.  At least I got a lot of good stuff cheap, even if I did have to leave behind a lot of stuff that was theoretically the same size as what I bought, but...not in your dreams, pal.

17 Days

It's been 17 days since I got Botox injections for my migraines.  The neurologist who did the shots said they would take effect within 1-14 days.  So have they?

Not so much.  The first two weeks I had just as many migraines as usual, including a couple of really bad ones, but I held out hope, telling myself it could be up to two weeks before it took effect.  But it was two weeks on Monday. 

Tuesday I had a mild migraine that sort of came and went all day.  Not too bad.  Yesterday I had one that started out mild in the morning, but kept getting worse and worse.  I left work shortly after noon and went home and slept all afternoon.  In the evening I felt better than I had, though it wasn't completely gone.  When I woke up this morning, my head still felt like crap, not as much pain as before, but in the postdrome fog, like I just can't make my brain go.  I had breakfast and went back to bed.  I slept for hours, until the phone rang and woke me up.  I'm still in a fog.  I think it's taking me four times as long as usual to write this.  I stare at the screen, and it's like I can't remember what to do.

I really hoped the Botox would work.  Maybe it still will?  Maybe it just needs more time?  Or maybe I need a stronger dose?  Or maybe I'm just one of those people it doesn't do anything for.  I guess I can't say it would really surprise me.  I mean, Imitrex made my migraines worse.  I was really hoping though.

I'm going back to bed.

Where do you want to sit?

I've noticed a disturbing trend lately.  A young couple will board the bus, the young woman first, followed by her boyfriend.  She will start walking down the aisle, and then when she's about a quarter of the way down she'll stop, and turn to him and say, "Where do you want to sit?"  I say now to these young women:

This is rude to anyone who happened to get on after you.  They're just stuck standing until you move.  Just sit down already.

Even if nobody got on after the two of you, often the driver won't move until you're seated, so if you just stand there debating where to sit, you're holding up the driver and all the other passengers.

But while violations of bus etiquette do annoy me, this disturbs me for a deeper reason.  As one woman to another, I really hope you learn this soon for your own mental health: his opinion is not more important than yours.

Where do you want to sit?  You don't need to ask him where he wants to sit.  Just sit wherever there's an empty (whole) seat, wherever you feel like sitting.  He'll sit with you.  If he doesn't, there's something wrong with the relationship.  If there isn't an empty seat, just sit someplace where there are two empty spaces close together.  If he makes you feel like you need to ask his approval for where to sit on the bus or like you're not competent enough to pick out a place to sit by yourself, there's something really wrong with him.  Why are you in a relationship with him?

It's one thing to consult with your partner about things that affect both of you, like where to go for dinner, or is this a nice neighborhood to live in, but it's another thing to always ask your partner where do you want to eat, where do you want to live, and go along with whatever they say like you have no opinion of your own.

If this sounds like a relationship you're in, and you're thinking it will get better, it won't.  It will only get worse.  If he makes you feel incompetent over trivial things or like you need to ask for approval for small things now, eventually he'll be making you feel incompetent over everything and like you need to ask for permission before you do anything. You'll wonder how you ever got hooked up with such a maniacal control freak.  Get out now while it's still relatively easy.

Or maybe your relationship isn't like that.  Maybe he's wondering why you ask him every time where he wants to sit.  Maybe he's wondering why you can't make a simple decision like that on your own?

Either way, it's something to consider.  I wish you luck.

Planting myself

So I moved a few months ago.  Oh, didn't I tell you?  Oh, right, I have this kind of anxiety thing where I feel like if you all know where I live, some crazed lunatic might show up and kill me or something.  Not a knitter of course.  Some of you might be a bit loopy (heh heh, loopy!), but you're not dangerous. But of course all kinds of people besides knitters end up reading this (some pretty strange searches land people here).  It finally occurred to me though that a crazed lunatic could show up anywhere (not that I'm inviting any crazed lunatics to show up, no sirree Bob), and hell, I could get hit by a truck next week for that matter (I have to say, I'm not fond of Kroger delivery trucks or white pickups).

So basically I decided I need to just start living my life.  I was tired of feeling like I couldn't tell you about all the cool stuff where I live now or show you pictures.  I really like it here, and there's cool stuff to show you, so time to get on with it.  Cool thing number one?  I have a garden now.  Look! Little eggplants!  Aren't they the cutest thing ever?

And monster tomato plants, full of a zillion tomatoes, all green, because I forgot about the difference between determinate and indeterminate when I bought the plants.  D'oh.

We'll call that a learning experience.  I'll get it right next year. This year?  Looks like I'll be drying some tomatoes.

And could a knitter/spinner have a garden without lambs ears?

No, one could not.

And I had to plant one of my very most favoritest plants of all time, lobelia siphilitica.

Another cool thing about living here?  There's a chipmunk who visits my back porch regularly.  It actually relaxes there.  How often do you get a chance to see a chipmunk relax, up close?  Pretty darn cool.

I have a basement now where I set up a fiber studio.  It's great, though I need to get an ipod or something at some point so I can listen to music and/or podcasts while I'm working.  I haven't been dyeing that much though because I've been spending so much time in the garden.  The dyeing might turn into a seasonal thing.  I've got some ideas though.

Another cool thing?  I finally got rid of that hideous $20 couch that looked like I only paid 20 bucks for it and bought a real couch.  It's red.  It's very attractive.  It's very comfortable.  I like it very much.*

Rudy likes it too because not only can he go behind it, he can go under it.  I knew he would like that about it.  He likes the fresh food from my garden I grow just for him too.  Ok, I don't grow the dandelion greens just for him, but if they're in my garden, they're his, and they make him happy.  I do grow parsley, dill, basil and mint for him (the mint is in a pot, not in the ground.  It's nowhere near the ground.  I'm no fool).  I was growing cilantro, but it went to seed really fast.  I've tried getting the seeds to germinate, but they don't want to.  Any hints from successful cilantro growers?

Also, rabbit people take note.  Want to make your bunny happy?  Buy a zabuton.  A zabuton is a meditation cushion.  I bought one for myself to sit on to meditate.  I put it on the floor in my living room.  Rudy decided it was his.  Immediately.  Obviously I had bought him a bunny mattress.  He likes it very much.

Usually he's very camera shy.  He won't let me anywhere near him with the camera.  But he didn't want to get off the zabuton, so he let me come close to him even though I had the weird shiny, clicky thing.  Of course I can't really use the zabuton myself now, unless I want to spend five minutes brushing rabbit hair off of it first every time I want to sit on it (I brush him all the time, but he grows new hair and sheds as fast as I can brush him.  Sometimes I wonder if brushing him just stimulates new hair growth.  But he won't let me brush his belly.  No way, no how). 

But I have a happy bunny!  And honestly, is there anything cuter than a bunny washing his face?

*And I know some of you looked at the photo of the couch and zoomed right in on the basket of knitting on the floor

and you're saying, "Hey!  Whatcha knittin"?!  Are you gonna tell us about it?  Are you gonna show us?  Are you?  Huh?  Huh?  Are you?"

Alright.  I will show you.  I'm making this.

Anne Hanson's Hypotenuse Scarf using some of my handspun blue faced leicester.  It's yummy.  I'm making it to go with my yellow parka, which needed a nicer scarf to go with it than the ratty old thing I was wearing with it, which made me feel like some kind of refugee.  This is so much nicer.  After I started it, of course, I realized that the coat is two sizes too big for me now because I've lost 30 pounds since last fall, and I'll probably lose even more weight by this winter, but I can pull the drawstring in at the waist and around the bottom so wind doesn't go up the back.  I don't want to buy another coat until my weight stabilizes (I've lost the last 5 lbs just in the last two months, so I guess I haven't stabilized yet).

Anyway, when I do buy another coat, I want another bright yellow one like the one I've got, or a bright green, the same color as my jacket.  Something that says to motorists as I'm crossing the street in the dark, "Hi!  See me!  Don't hit me!," not "SPLAT!  AAAAAGHHH!  CRUNCH!"  If you know what I mean.  I see so many coats in dark drab colors, and I'm thinking, uh, no, not so much.  I don't want to be squashed.  I like being alive.