When Knitting Was a Manly Art

Pumpkin Ridge – NW Oregon
8:15am – Clear – Current temp. 54.5F(12.5C)

Max 72.9F(22.7C) – Min 51.8F(11.0C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 4% [?]

I should be posting an update picture of the shawl, but it’s been another busy day. On the road at 8am for a local nursery sale. *Everything* was 50% off and we got there early to take advantage. A few things for resale and a few things for ourselves. Update shawl picture tomorrow

It was a beautiful day here on the ridge and thick fog in the valley. When we got the plants back home, I grabbed my camera and headed back down the ridge a bit to get a shot of the fog and the valley. I’ve been playing around with a couple pieces of software to stitch together multiple pictures into a single panorama under Linux. Works pretty cool. This is a three shot panorama. Closest fog bank is inching up the Dairy Creek drainage and then the next ridge over is the main valley. *Nearly* full size photo linked (I won’t make you load the really big one).

Popularity: 4% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge – NW Oregon
7:30am – Clear – Current temp. 51.8F(11.0C)

Max 70.7F(21.5C) – Min 51.8F(11.0C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 4% [?]

I’ve been seeing Praying Mantises (probably Tenodera aridifolia sinensis – Chinese Praying Mantis) on and off all summer. These are *not* native and are generally released as pest control, but it’s very unusual to find them this far in the country. This one landed on a tomato plant as we were doing our fall ritual of pulling out this year’s tomato plants. Luckily he/she stayed put while I rushed into the house and grabbed my camera. I was able to get 6 shots and these two were the best. Easily something out of a B horror movie. Both linked to full sized pictures.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge – NW Oregon
6:45am – Clear – Current temp. 53.4F(11.9C)

Max 64.9F(18.3C) – Min 50.4F(10.2C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 23% [?]

Long and tiring day here at the nursery.

Eileen picked up a pallet load of potting soil and my job was to unload it from the trailer and restack it next to the greenhouse. 40 bags @ 60lbs each means 2400 lbs handled twice. Once to unload from trailer onto my truck and once to restack. Add to that, 72 gallons of plants repotted and greenhouse tubs filled. But, I had *lots* of help from the cats, so life is good…

Oh… I did spend an hour on the shawl this morning. 18 more rows and then setup and start of the wings begin. I thought I might be able to be further along, but doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge – NW Oregon
8:30am – Clear – Current temp. 50.9F(10.5C)

Max 65.5F(18.6C) – Min 45.3F(7.4C) — 0″ precipitation

Popularity: 4% [?]

Interesting stuff I’ve come across this past week.

Hurricane Ivan, before and after.

Everyone knows knitters love cats. How about the Infinite Cat Project. Pictures of cats looking at cats, looking at cats, looking at cats.

Eddie Adams has died. For a younger generation, the name is meaningless, but Eddie was a photojournalist in Viet Nam who captured a moment in that war that had a huge impact on a whole generation, and for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. (link – warning – may be disturbing to some.)

Darn… we all missed Talk Like a Pirate Day. Maybe next year, Arrrr

Popularity: 4% [?]

Pumpkin Ridge – NW Oregon
7:15am – Partly cloudy – Current temp. 45.3F(7.4C)

Max 61.7F(16.5C) – Min 45.0F(7.2C) — 0.16″/4mm precipitation

Popularity: 3% [?]

Nearly everybody out here heats with wood during the winter. Wood is still fairly inexpensive and stoves are getting more efficient all the time. But, the chimney needs to be cleaned every couple of years and we’ve always done our own cleaning.

This year we tried to find someone to come up and and clean the chimney for us, without success. It seems that no one wants to come out this far without charging an arm and an leg. So…

Once again Eileen and I cleaned the chimney today. I hate high places, so Eileen gets to go on the roof and I get to work at the bottom. Probably a bad idea. With gravity, everything goes down hill and that means all the soot and ash brushed out of the chimney comes down to where I’m standing. The chimney is clean, but I ended up a lot darker than I started. No matter how hard I tried, I got dirtier and dirtier. Soot in my hair, soot in my eyes, soot in my nose, shirt black, pants black. Then I got out the shop vac to clean up. Hmm? Who forgot the filter. Now the kitchen is covered with a fine coat of soot. Doh..!

Finally done and the rest of the day spent cleaning the house. Ain’t life great?

Popularity: 4% [?]