Forty Days and Forty Nights

Well, actually it's 36 days and nights in a row. Oklahoma is breaking the drought in style. We had about five years of drought, and this year we are already ahead of our average rainfall amount for a year. At the time of year when things are usually shriveling up we are seeing huge fungus' popping up everywhere. The lakes are full (and then some), the farm ponds are full; there is water in the Canadian River (!), which usually needs mowing by this time of year. After years of buying expensive hay, a lot of the horse pastures I pass when we are out riding have been mowed. The horses are not keeping up with the grass this year. We've had enough water to start replenishing the ground water, but up here on the surface it sure gets old.

Miss Vivian came by my office this week, attended by The Parents, so everyone could get a peek at her. She'd been to the doctor and had big band aids on both thighs, but of course she looked delicious. Her doctor thought she looked a little too chubby - meanie! Today I popped in to see her for a minute after work - it was nearly her nap time so I did not linger long enough to throw her off of her schedule -and she was just as cute as can be. She's smiling, and has much better luck getting her fingers into her mouth. She does sometimes have to hold them in with the other hand, but the main goal is to get them to stay put long enough to chew on them, and in that she's having success. They will be visiting for dinner on Sunday, so we'll get to have a longer visit then.

The Norman Conquest ride is tomorrow morning. I will be so happy to be underway because I have been obsessing over it for at least a month. It towers in my memory as a really awful ride, but I hope my strength, skill, and endurance have improved enough to make it easier than I remember. I am planning a longer ride in a few weeks, but it does not scare me the way this one does. By this time tomorrow I will know if I am equal to the challenge. I've been watching the Tour De France all week - the ride will surely be easier than THAT! It's hard to believe that while I am training to ride a single 100 mile ride they are racing for over a hundred miles nearly every day for three weeks. One of the riders had a bad spill yesterday, but still rode on to catch up with the rest of the group with a giant hole in his shorts displaying a huge bloody bruise and scrape on his hip and blood running down his arms. Today he was riding over 100 miles with stitches in his elbows and knees and ice packs bound to his knees. I don't think I will get that tough.

Three pair of socks are proceeding in mostly non-photogenic ways. I started a pair of garter rib socks in Knit Picks Dancing and got about 4 inches down the leg, but frogged them last night because I did not like the way they were pooling. I started them again with a different stitch count, but they are now only about 1/2 inch long, and therefore not worthy of a picture! I will say that I am really enjoying the Zigzag socks. The Knit Picks Sock Landscape still feels a bit lifeless, but it's looking great in the pattern. I tried to get Shana to admire their beauty, but she's been spoiled by the Koigu Monkey Socks and does not think any others could ever measure up. Jamie tells me that she and Alex have picked up some yarn for me to knit up a sweater for Miss V. They are hoping for matching hat and mittens, too. Jamie plans to sew on some lacy trim after I have them knit up to be sure that Miss V looks girly enough. I have a couple of baby blankets to knit up before winter, too. I guess I'd better add some baby knitting to the nightly mix of projects! Apparently I don't have time to dawdle along on socks.

I went through my back room stash - the basic stuff that does not get a display place of honor on my crafts desk - last night. There seems to be quite a bit there, but not a lot that I don't have some pretty good plans for. I also ran across an Annie's Attic booklet of crocheted toys that I had completely forgotten about. I picked it up on extreme clearance at Hobby Lobby a few years ago ($1.61, marked down from $8). It's just what I need! This particular one is all dogs, but of course you can tweak them any way you like. I'm thinking I can use up some of my sock yarn leftovers to make some tiny toys. It's so much fun to go shopping in the closet!