When Knitting Was a Manly Art

Pumpkin Ridge - NW Oregon
6:30am - Overcast - Current temp. 32.4F(0.2C)

Max 40.5F(4.7C) - Min 31.8F(-0.1C) — 0.31″/8mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]

After yesterday’s very down post, I woke feeling a bit more positive and hopeful. Still didn’t get a lot of knitting accomplished, but a much better attitude.

Eileen is doing well and once again the doctor is hopeful that the medication will alleviate and shorten most of the discomfort. It’s kind of amazing to see the virus spread along the the path of the nerves from her abdomen around to her spinal column.

I spent a large part of the morning and early afternoon watching our beautiful Oak tree turned into a pile of wood chips and a lot of firewood. The yard looks much neater now, but I’m not looking forward to this coming summer, as the tree provided a lot of afternoon shade for the house and I expect we’ll be a number of degrees warmer later in the year.

First shot is at about 8:00am this morning:

And the next is at about 10:30am:

My plans for tomorrow — unless another disaster raises it’s head — is to pick up stitches and knit at least a couple rounds on the body of the Aran. Wish me luck ..

Popularity: 7% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge - NW Oregon
6:30am - Rain - Current temp. 36.1F(2.3C)

Max 49.1F(9.5C) - Min 36.1F(2.3C) — 1.73″/44mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]

No knitting today, as we had to visit Eileen’s doctor early this morning. She’s been having extremely sensitive skin on her lower chest and abdomen. This morning she woke to find a very painful rash and called her doctor. She was told to come in as soon as she could, so we moved double time to get her there early. She has been diagnosed with shingles (herpes zoster), a possibly very painful herpes virus. The doctor thinks we caught it early enough that Valtrex should cut the symptoms from two weeks to 1 week.

And probably nothing done tomorrow, as Eileen needs to return to the doctor for a B-12 injection and blood draw and I get to stay at home and supervise the tree cutters and the removal of our Oak..

Life sucks right now..

Popularity: 7% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge - NW Oregon
7:00am - Heavy rain - Current temp.46.4F(8.0C)

Max 46.4F(8.0C) - Min 40.5F(4.7C) — 1.46″/37mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]

And… A quick pic of the indoor boys..

We’re evenly split male/female for the indoor tribe. And it’s not often that I get a grouping of one or the other, but this morning the boys were grouped nicely on my bed and a *quick* shot provides this shot of our boys. Jake at the top, then Rumley, Rudy and Casey Jones.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tree cutters are coming on Friday to chop up and chew up our Oak tree and we’ve been very busy getting stuff out of the way for them. We’re nearly ready, though we’ve got a group of grasses that still need to be moved, but we will have to wait until we can get some of the branches cut away.

Not a lot of knitting today, but a couple of rounds on the Dubblemossa and a picture of progress. I’m planning on starting back on the body of the Aran tomorrow. Should be pretty easy to pick up stitches and get a couple rounds done…

Popularity: 7% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge - NW Oregon
7:15am - Rain - Current temp. 40.5F(4.7C)

Max 43.7F(6.5C) - Min 38.3F(3.5C) — 0.34″/8mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]

This coming May I will have been unemployed for three years. The first 1 1/2 years weren’t too bad as I got a really nice seperation package and I had some savings.

This past years has been more of a struggle. I’ve learned to live on less 1/4 the income I was earning when I worked for Intel, but it’s required that I take two early dispersals from my IRA. My checking account was down to $125 yesterday, but I finally received another dispersal today after a two week wait. This has got to be the last one. There’s got to be something left when I *really* retire. The nursery probably won’t make enough for two incomes for at least 3-4 more years, so it’s the start of a job search somewhere outside of the electronics industry.

Knitting progress - Nearly 1 dozen rounds on the Dubblemossa over the past two days. I’d forgotten I’d missed a decrease round yesterday and had to tink back over 144 stitches, so that slowed things down a bit. I’ll post a picture tomorrow.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge - NW Oregon
7:15am - Overcast - Current temp. 38.3F(3.5C)

Max 41.5F(5.3C) - Min 36.3F(2.4C) — 0.20″/5mm precipitation

Popularity: 6% [?]