Relax

My son took this photo. Greta is all conked out, and Chloe is surveying her domain in a reclined pose. How I love the way animals can completely relax.

Selena called me today on the cell; just to ask me how I was. I guess I've been a little stressed lately. The pain in my neck and shoulder is flaring again. And I've got a lot on my mind: Lots of decisions to make and not really a clear idea of which direction to go.

I've been praying about it. I have faith everything will work out for the best.

Now if only I could nap in the sunshine with my pets all day instead of behaving like a grown-up...wouldn't that be grand? :)

Success!

I love this photo of Dolce. It was taken the first year she lived here. She looks so serious, which is misleading: in fact, Dolce is a lovey-dove.

Today I started staining the siding that was hung yesterday by Chuck and Clancy. Thank you again, Chuck, for all you have done to help us with our house. I began at 9 am. When Clancy got home from work around 11am, we put up more siding. By 3:30pm, when it started to rain, we had the entire west end of the house sided and stained all the way up to the peek of the gable! WooHoo! Clancy would call out measurements and install the boards, while I cut the boards and ran them up the ladder to him. We made quite the pair: he's very afraid of heights and I get vertigo easily. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. We pushed ourselves to finish the staining and all the details because we knew we'd never convince ourselves to go up there again once we came down.

I would have taken a photo to share if it hadn't started raining. Thunderstorms and showers are likely tomorrow as well. Won't be able to side until it dries out. Then we have to shimmy up another one of the gables. I'm not going to think about it until I have to.

A lot for one week

This week started out with a shock. A family friend and distant relative of Clancy's died suddenly. He was not very old; he and Clancy graduated together. He left behind a wife and 12 year old son. He will be deeply missed by all who knew him.

My little moorit ram lamb continues to cough and is in isolation while he receives his shots of LA200. Tormey (who has been nicknamed LeRoy) is very vocal about his displeasure with this situation. Anytime he hears a voice, he starts in with his baa's. I've learned to ignore it for the most part.

Thursday morning we put all three mature rams into a small enclosure so they would get used to each other. They tousled as much as they could in the limited space. After 48 hours the rams were standing side by side to eat the bit of hay without a fuss so I decided to put them out together. The minute Kavan was released he faced off Unicorn. They charged about 5 times before Kavan accepted defeat. By that time he had broken off the last stub of his injured horn and had blood pouring down the side of his face. I got him all wiped off and praised God we were expecting frost that night. The idea of treating him for months again just exhausted me. I decided to do minimum intervention this time around. I would keep Swat on the wound and if he started going downhill I would butcher him. That was not a fun decision. I just checked on him again and he has a large scab across the entire hole where his horn used to be. I decided to leave it and just apply the Swat since it is supposed to be warm today. I am truly hoping he will be OK in the long run.

Friday I spent the whole day in town doing errands and buying supplies to make placards for Dad's business. Foolishly, I wore high heels. I seriously need to hem my favorite pants. Friday evening I made all those placards using foam core, tag board, card stock, and the computer. I think they turned out really sharp; and Mom said some folks commented yesterday on how nice they looked.

Saturday, most of my family went to Grand Rapids to help Dad with his booth in the Goods from the Woods Show . I really wanted to go but Clancy and I needed to use the good weather to side the house. And that is what we have been doing since yesterday morning. Except for the two hours that the electricity was out. It was quite windy Saturday and a tree fell on the overhead wires that come across the lake to us. When the utility truck finally pulled up and the guys got out to let us know they had the problem fixed, Tormey ran up to the fence beside them and bawled until his horrible cough set in. How embarrassing.

Today is more of the same-Siding. Hopefully the electricity will stay on and we'll get a lot done.

Button Holes

My mother-in-law, Nancy, is a fantastic lady. She's funny, she has never meddled in my marriage to her son, she spoils my boys with all the things they never get at home (ice-cream bars, cable TV...), she always remembers what I want for Christmas, and she lets me go on about my animals. (She actually asks how they are doing and everything.) Nancy is even more wonderful than all that, but I figure the animal part sums it up. How many people let me talk about my animals...really? Why do you think I started this blog?

What's more, Nancy never listens to the lame excuses I make up when I'm trying to stall for time. She knows what's good for me...

A little background knowledge: Machines scare me. Maybe I should describe that better: Machines give me anxiety attacks. I will do almost anything to avoid using a machine-especially one I've never used before. (Think-gas pumps, automatic check outs, photo processors.) In spite of my fear of machines, some of the things I want to do most in life-like make wrap-around skirts, and spin lots of wool-sort of require the use of more sophisticated tools. Yes, one can use a needle and thread and spindle the old fashioned way-believe me, I do those things already, quite often. But I have limited free time. I have analyzed my situation and come to the conclusion that I would tackle larger projects if a machine were involved. A machine such as the dreaded... Sewing Machine: cue the lightening bolt and thunderclap, please.

Quite a few years back, Nancy offered to teach me how to use her sewing machine. I loved the idea but I wiggled away from the task of actually confronting that machine as often as I could. Sometimes Nancy would introduce a lesson about the machine. My chest would constrict, the blood in my ears would throb, and my eyes glazed over like a deer in the headlights. Desperately I would make up an excuse to put the whole ordeal off until another day.

Nancy's a smart lady, though. At some point she must have realized I would never willingly sit down to that machine. So she laid a trap, like a spider with it's prey, to snare me into learning something new. (A really nice spider-think Charlotte's Web) One day when I made a quick stop for tea at her house, she asked me to look at the baby quilt she was piecing together for me. (I had done all the embroidery work.) She told me to take a seat. Much to my horror, the machine was on, and completely cued up to sew that quilt. All I had to do was press my foot down on the peddle. There was no polite way to bolt from the room. In my state of shock, Nancy's voice was very far from my ears, but I did manage to do what she told me. And there I was-zipping along. Everything was pinned out for me: all I had to do was sew. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

She taught me how to knit the same way: I put it off forever. She decided it was time. I came over for tea to find myself seated in her rocker with a pair of needles in my hands that already had stitches cast on. I got my tea after I finished a few rows. I was hooked.

Several weeks ago, Nancy asked me to help her figure out the button hole mechanism on her new sewing machine. A few years ago she had given me her old machine as a gift. Of course, I put it off-I know, very lame. So a week ago she announced she would bring her project up to my house on Saturday and I could do the button holes for her. Part of me panicked, the other part of me knew there was no getting out of it short of one of us getting really sick. And I wasn't too sure my health would count in that off-chance possibility. I was stuck. Worse, I worried about it all week.

Along comes Saturday. I used pen and paper to record every minor detail of how Nancy set up her old familiar button hole attachment. I sat down when I was told to. I resisted grabbing the fabric when the machine started to run away with it. And I made a button hole. Simple. It was SO easy. I made another one, and another one, and another one. (It was a long button-up dress) Next thing I knew there were no more button holes to sew. It was delightfully fun.

And so, once again, my dear mother-in-law triumphed over my stubborn fear of all things mechanical. I love her for it!

With her help over the years, I have learned how to sew and knit. And I've learned that I can actually deal with things that have moving parts. I even had the guts to try out the peddles on a spinning wheel at Becky's house. Now I want one of those too. Nancy, thank you so much for having patience with me and believing in me. I love to knit. I can sew to "save my life." And now I'm a whiz at button holes! You're the best M-I-L anyone could ask for!

Once Upon a Kitty...

It must have been about 1978 when this photo was snapped of me and this ginger kitten. I can't imagine why my mom would have taken it, simply because she never let us have house pets. Nor do I remember this kitty-which I find a little strange because I remember so many of the farm cats we had.

Roman was my favorite for a long time. He was pearly gray with a bit of tabby-ness about his fur. His underside was all peachy colored-as if he was a dilute of some kind. Once, against the law of mother's house, I sneaked him up to my bedroom. (I felt it was very unfair that he couldn't live in my room and sleep on my bed.) After a while I heard Selena coming up the stairs. She was bound to tattle if she saw him so I stuck his furry little body behind my guitar that was leaning against a corner. Selena accused me of having Roman upstairs. (Selena has always had a way of sniffing out an intrigue.) I was quite smug with my superior job of lying to my little sister. Just about the time she was content to believe me, Roman drew one little claw across the harmonious strings, blowing a pretty whistle on all my fibs. We both laughed so hard Selena decided not to tell on me. In fact I'm pretty sure she smuggled her cat Butterball up too and joined me in my naughtiness. For many years before, and afterwards, Selena and I counted cats as some of our best friends. I planned on becoming a cat lady.

After cat-less college and early marriage years, I convinced Clancy to let me get a kitty just before our last son was born. She was a gorgeous tortoise shell that had showed up on some one's doorstep and they didn't want her. We got her fixed and vaccinated, named her Chloe, and she took over our household. I was thrilled with having my own house cat for the first time.

Unfortunately, by the time our youngest was four months old, he had asthma so badly that we had to take him to a specialist. Diagnosis: severe allergy to cats. As I learned about my son's problems I was also having a horrible case of "never-ending hay fever." Turned out that we were both extremely allergic to cats. How could that be when I never had a problem with cats as a child? With a heavy heart, we had to turn kitty outside. She was NOT happy about it and made sure we knew it by clawing all of our window screens to shreds. Eventually, my son and I could breathe again, though we go anaphalactic if we touch a cat. Not fun.

Chloe has been living outside now for 11 years. We have no idea how old she really is. She doesn't take sass from anyone. She won't tolerate another cat in her space either-wandering toms are thoroughly trounced and never spotted again. I would love to get another cat but it would probably be futile.

The other day I was stuck in town for a spare hour so I decided to visit the Animal Shelter. An older lady was sitting on a bench there playing with the two little kittens she planned to adopt. Those babies were at the age where they love to pounce but the skin on their tummies still shows through their fur when they are very full. I ached to hold one, knowing that if I did I would get so ill I wouldn't even be able to drive myself home. For a while I just visited with the lady and watched her adore her new babies. Longing compelled me to inquire if there were any altered, short-haired active mousers that would like to live outdoors, don't mind dogs, and don't like to cuddle. The shelter houses at least 50 cats; but the volunteer had a little trouble finding one that fit my description. I figured I was safe from falling in love with another cat. Then, the volunteer said she knew of a cat that just might do.

Minutes later she brought out a slim, 9 month old, black-and-white-patches, fixed male. He trotted around the lobby like he had an agenda. He made two laps around the room, swerved around people and stuck his nose in every corner, sharpened his claws on the rug, and posted himself by the glass door leading outside. Oh, he was definitely "the one." And guess what his name was?...Skunky Morneaux. How great is that?!!! I just know I would love him.

Well, Clancy doesn't want another cat. And I suppose I am jumping the gun. Chloe Cat shows no signs of giving up her reign yet. Nor is she inclined to share her territory. But I will admit I've been thinking about that Skunky Morneaux. I liked his saucy dismissal of all that I couldn't give him anyway-cuddles mainly. I hope he gets a great home; even if it isn't with me.

Clancy Erickson---Artist

The following images are pastel and chalk/charcoal works by artist, Clancy Erickson. These are copyrighted images that may not be used without permission from the artist. Please respect that.

Clancy is the guest curator for the invitational show, "Skin", that opens at the Bemidji Community Arts Center this Friday night. These works, and many others by several local artists, will be on display through September.

OK, that's all the serious stuff. Now I gotta say, "I think my husband is awesome and I'm so proud of him!"

Last Day of Summer

School starts tomorrow. The boys decided that was cool about 4 hours ago. After all, they will be able to see their friends.

They spent the last couple days of summer pilfering sheet goods from our house-building supplies to enhance their tree fort. It's looking pretty good.

Actually, it looks like a tree fort made by boys. But I'm fond of that kid-did-it look. It speaks to me of all the time they spent on it...working together, keeping busy, letting Mom have a few minutes of peace. Well, as much peace as three boys with hammers can offer.

Tomorrow I'll be enjoying the "peace" of having the boys back in school. Usually that doesn't pan out-I end up busier than ever. At least being busy helps distract me from the fact that my oldest boys are going into 7th grade this fall. And my baby is starting 5th. When did they get so big?