And Now April is Slipping By

And I have once again not down a blog post. If it helps, I've been keeping these hands busy.

For Spring is here. We've had to put down weed killer and fertilizer. The maples are quickly making whirly gigs and leaves are soon to follow. Much of the underbrush is already leafing out.

Today the hummingbird tracking site stated there was sightings in Battle Creek so feeders for them have gone out as the suet feeders empty out and go into storage until winter. Currently the red-winged blackbirds are serenading me as I write this. I love their racket. The other day we saw a large brown bird on a feeder and I told The Guy that I thought it may be a female red breasted grosbeak which is a favorite of mine. Sure enough, the following day we saw the male on the feeder. I opened the oriole feeder we got on sale last fall only to find all the pieces and parts are not accounted for. As I don't still have the receipt and it was months ago, I think I'm stuck with it. Oh well.

With all that spring brings, we've been seeing and hearing more from the cranes that seem to have decided the area is good for being in again, which is nice. We missed their presence last summer. I was out playing ball with the foster dog the other night when these two flew over. That's the moon shining bright above them.

Speaking of foster dogs, Wrangler is in his new home and settling in well. We have Eliza here for a couple more days. She's energetic, can you tell? She's an Aussie/English Shepherd mix and has the energy to prove it. Always on the go this one. Right now she's informing me that I could take her out and play with that ball again. In fact, she'd appreciate it greatly.

She is heading south to the Kalamazoo area to a new home on Friday. Yay! She's going to have two young boys to look after. One of them is a cross country runner which I think will be a great pairing for her. She likes guacamole, can you tell? I'm going to miss this one but I don't think the boys will. They've been run a bit ragged keeping up with her, and dang it, Emmitt doesn't like to admit he's getting old and isn't the fastest dog anymore. She beats him to the ball! The Nerve. This is why I have not brought out the frisbee. You can only ask an old man to put up with so much.

You know what else spring brings? Bugs. I think Midge is liking it though. Even the other day when I was in Kalamazoo to do the home visit and meet and greet with girlie there I noticed a spider on the ceiling of the truck. As I was at the time lost and trying to find my way through a town with no real landmarks I ignored it. Wasn't on me after all and it was a little one. Not like it was a big hairy beasty. I did however remember to let the guy know he had a stowaway in his truck when I got home. Heeheehee...

This shot is also from the kalamazoo area when we were walking the dogs downtown a couple weeks back when we did a tour of the area. I wanted to hit the new field and stream store so The Guy took a midweek holiday and we spent the day with dogs goofing off and woking around.

The wee heathen of a cat also likes the new dog. She settled in with her quite quickly and decided that this one was a new playmate. There's been several times I have started to get after Eliza when I've noticed the cat egg on the behavior so I let them have at it. Here she was the other day stalking her then attacking before making a run for another room just to have a good game of chase.

People find it funny when get out of my car then extract 4 dogs from it. There is constant comments about it being a clown car. I promise that it's quite roomy. Here's the proof. See, I could fit in a 5th. Heck, we have. Please not the hairy roof form Sullivan... It's the only small car I could find that was tall enough for him. He still kind of stops a bit when he comes forward, as you cans, he rubs. This was taken after our big downtown walk to test the girl with traffic noises.

The boys like these walks because it normally means a lunch at the hotdog vendor who adores them.

We also got ourselves a new batch of chicks. We're down to just two adults. The previous foster killed one of our three which is a shame as we really like our reds. But we got two more and some ISA Browns. So, you may see me hocking eggs if they all make it through. We know the Reds give us a daily nice egg. The ISA's are supposed to be prodigious layers. I'm going to have to make more cakes, let me tell you. Today I had to put the gate over the top of their bin after cleaning it out as I found one of them perched on the edge when I went in to get something. Little wenches.

Like I said before, I've kept these hands busy as of late. I went through that spat of startitis which is quite normal for me as we head into spring. I was up to 6 active projects on the needles which means nothing really gets done on any of them. I'm set to wrap up the socks in the next few days. Yay... They were just thrown on the needles as I was asked to teach a sock class, so I figured I had to have some started right? Right. Class has been done and over but I never wrapped them up. The cuff is actually a double cuff which always adds time to the knit. And no pattern guys, this is just made up for a mens size 8. You know how I roll.

Last week however I saw three items finished. The Pfielraupe which means caterpillar I believe in German. It was a lovely piece to knit. Took forever but that's how garter stitch often feels to me.

And the new clothesline pin bag for The Guy as the last one is too small these days. And I think the yarn I used was a bit ugly too boot. If I would have seen how that cotton would knit up I would never have bought it. Good thing I didn't make a baby sweater Like originally planned. This one is a lovely cotton linen blend that will last forever. The little tabs at the top will connect it to the hanger so you can just place it beside you on the clothesline as you work. Smart, huh? Again, no pattern. Made it up. I can tell you that both sides are 84 stitches then seemed. The top band is doubled because when I was first thinking about it I thought of perhaps placing a drawstring in it. That idea was a bust but  think it will give it more structure on the hanger anyhow.

And I wrapped up the Come What May shawl. It came, it went. It's done. It's a great little pattern for those who want to break into lace. Not too complex but very pretty in the end. The yarn is a handspan gradient I did last year. Lovely stuff. Used almost all of it on this project.

So now, I am having a blocking party! I meant to this weekend but The Guy hurt his back so I was kept busy doing things I didn't want him to do. So blocking got put off until I was done making todays spice cake. Which I actually need to go make up the frosting for so I can start the lemon chicken with asparagus and gold beets for dinner. So with that, I will bid you all adieu. I'm sure there's a way to put an accent mark on there but I know not how.