Lost one

Tom died on Wednesday of this week.

I honestly believe we did everything we could do to save him but he just never completely recovered from the respiratory problem he arrived with.

I'm very glad we decided to go ahead and get Alice when we did. She had time to bond with Jerry and so while they were both upset for about 24 hours, they seem to be acting pretty normally now.

They both get wormed again this coming week and we will switch them over to the other side of the "pasture".

I have been spreading pasture grass seed throughout their current pasture area and plan to expand some of that out into the rest of our yard. I think, given an improved yard, I will eventually be able to convince Ken that we can get a few more sheep.

Ken was the most upset by Tom's death, I think. He disposed of his body and was almost angry that he had died. I think it frustrates him when he can't fix things. He mumbled for a few days about not getting any more animals, but then got back to improving their little barn.

He bought some pressure treated plywood and says he is going out tomorrow to work on it. If that project goes well, then it won't be insurmountable to consider putting up another in the front yard where we actually have more open space.

Life sucking pain

I swear I get the weirdest injuries.

Since Thursday, I've had a return of the screaming pain shooting down my right arm and aching in my right hand. It's exhausting.

I think it comes from having slung a briefcase containing laptop and files over my shoulder and lugging it around from car to courtroom and visa versa and then from office to car and home. This pain is the same I experienced a few years ago after lugging a heavy briefcase of files from the Records Office to the work area at the prison. But, of course, I can prove none of that.

The diagnosis (after a carpal tunnel surgery that fixed nothing) was a slight bulging disk between C6 and C7 and pinching of the nerve that runs out of there down my right arm. The "cure" was 8 weeks of physical therapy which included deep tissue massage (read bruising), and learning to sit and stand in a more upright position.

Over the years, I've gotten sloppy again with my posture. I think I pulled things out of whack again by lugging that heavy ass briefcase last week.

So, for the last two days I've slept without a pillow, taken ibuprofen every four to six hours and lifted NOTHING with my right arm. Today, it is significantly better, but there is still some stinging/pain in my right elbow that comes and goes. It gets better when I tilt my 7 pound head to the left, taking some weight off of that right edge of my spine. I'm hoping another night or two pillowless, alternating between the ibuprofen and Tylenol and extreme care not to aggravate the problem will result in the disk returning to where it belongs and a a return to a relatively pain-free life in which I can hold my head upright during the day.

The ton

Okay, so I don't have quite a TON of fiber to spin, but I do have more than I think I can spin in a year. Unless, of course, I quit knitting with it, which would free up hours of time for spinning.

My worry is that I'm going to have fleeces from my sheep next Spring to add to the pile, so I need to make real progress on what I have. Thus the move to change chairs.

Here is one shot of washed fiber waiting to be spun. This is occupying a corner of my living room. To me it is beautiful to look at, but hubby differs in that opinion and is stressing over the space. Of course that green bag/hose and bucket sitting on a tote in the far right corner is his stuff that needs to go out in the camping trailer.



In the fiber room itself, I have bags, baskets and boxes of stuff in smaller quantities. Included in that mess is silk, flax, several pounds of commercially dyed roving (I do have two or three pounds of some gorgeous purple and green roving that I bought from The Barefoot Spinner at MSW that I'm waiting impatiently to get to). I also have about one and a half a lincoln fleeces and about four pounds of tarhee in there somewhere as well as some black shetland roving. Not to mention there are pounds and pounds of white merino roving and some dyed merino roving that is destined for blending (maybe with some white shetland).

We won't talk about the yarn right now.

Small changes

It might just be the change of seasons or it could be seeing the world through sober eyes, but I've suddenly become alarmed at the chaos in my house. So, I am going to start tackling one problem area at a time. Lest I become overwhelmed.

Yesterday I made Ken move furniture. Just two pieces. I exchanged the big blue monster chair for the smaller, more elegant wingback. Two reasons for this: One, you sink down in the blue monster and it was not good for spinning (wrong angle for hips and knees). Two, my back is more comfortable in the more upright wingback.

So, now I have a chair in front of the TV from which I can spin. I wanted to do this because I have a freaking TON of fiber that needs to be spun and leaving all this in the living room is not getting it completed. I spend perhaps 20 hours a week in the family room. I was spending about 2 hours a week in the living room spinning.

Another good reason to switch is that much of my fiber is in need of prep work (combing, carding, flicking, etc.). This tends to be messy work with bits of hay and dirt going everywhere. Far easier for me to sweep it off a tile floor than to haul out the vacuum to suck it up from the carpet.

So here is the before and after shots:

Before


After


I still want to get some nice covered baskets that will stack for the in-progress knitting projects instead of bags. I think that will help the overall clutter problem.

Changes

My dad was finally diagnosed with Wernicke-Korsacoff Syndrome. Basically it means he has a thiamine deficiency caused by alcohol consumption. It has caused brain damage.

My memory has been getting worse and worse. I think I finally may have figured out why.

As of yesterday, I was sober for a week.

The headaches have been awful. And sometime around day 3 I had some problems with hallucinations in which any straight line I looked at would vibrate. The last couple of days things at work have really been plucking my nerves.

I know if I hang in there, all of these yucky things will pass. But today I was really craving some Kalua. Weird thing to want.

Haven't been knitting much. Just don't have the motivation and I've been going to bed really early. But I hope to get back on track with this soon. I have gifts to finish making!

Meet Alice

Here is a picture of Alice, our newest sheep.

I think she is beautiful.

See that dark slate grey in her face? That's what color her fiber is under those lovely white tips.

Weather Witch in Training

Weather Witch in Training

This guy doesn't understand that folks really are doing this already and have been doing it for centuries. But it's still kind of fun to watch him start to get it.