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Cascade Pastaza (grey) and Malabrigo Chunky (Paris Night), in the classic Marsan Watchcap

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And I’ve had these done for weeks, so it’s not all that exciting (unless, maybe, you’re the recipient. And it is actually winter where you live.)

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Cascade Pastaza in the classic Marsan Watchcap

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Also, we have crocus:

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(The weather is too weird to be excited – I am excited about getting some yardwork done before May.  Someone had their windows open today. I didn’t think it was quite that warm.)

With all due respect to Robert Frost, only I can butcher a poem make (silent) poetry readings complicated:

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Whose woods these are I think I know.

His Our houses is are in the village though;

He will not mind No one will see me stopping here

To watch these woods fill up with deer … (rhymes with snow, but isn’t snow because it is 60 degrees F outside, in February)

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My little giant horse dog must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse dogbed near

Between the woods and frozen lake flowing creek

The darkest evening wettest morning of the year.

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He gives his harness bells doggie tags a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep drip
Of easy wind and downy flake wood-y drake.

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The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

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(Or maybe it was 65 degrees F in January and I’ve got sun stroke.)

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p.s. Dude’s little kids won a third place award at the FIRST Lego League Maryland State Championships. 74 teams advanced from 13 regional events. The Magnolia Transformers performed well overall, and brought home the 3rd place award for their project presentation! While robotics is the feature competition event, and the only event open to the public, all teams compete for awards in three other categories: core values, robot design, and the research project.

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This year, the research project topic was food safety and each FLL team was challenged to “explore an actual problem that today’s scientists and engineers are trying to solve, develop an innovative solution to that problem, and share their findings.”  Magnolia advanced to the finals based on their robotics competition performance on Jan 7th, they worked hard over the last three weeks to revise their research project by developing the idea of using carbon nanotubes to implement sensors to detect salmonella. The key technology behind their idea has recently been discovered by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, who were happy to share their work with the Magnolia students via a computer teleconference meeting.

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*It is possible that, given the weather (sunny and warm) and the abundance of robots, I simply needed something not-manmade nor electrical nor even-human in my life. And while birds are indeed noisy little things, they are nothing like a few hundred elementary school students and the Cha Cha Slide.

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I started to say that this was Not Winter, but really it’s Not (noteworthy) Weather either.

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The important thing to remember is that Ned was trying to be good.  (I, on the other hand, was trying to be quick and efficient.) (And I was neither.)

Paint Story, Part 1:

I cleared out the master bedroom in order to paint the walls. Dude helped with the furniture and we left the large dresser in the middle of the room.  The plan was to paint the walls, then remove the carpet – so the carpet was acting as the drop cloth.

I covered the large dresser with plastic, stirred the paint. I left the room to find a screwdriver to remove the switch plates and light covers. I returned.  The cats were sniffing around, checking it all out. (Ou! Different!) I had the gallon of paint (open) in place and I was fitting the paint roller onto the roller thing.

As I’m working on the roller with my back to the paint, Ned comes around the dresser. There is no room for him to pass, except to hop over the can of paint.

Problem: Ned does not hop; Ned does not jump. Ned is a wuss.  He’d rather we lift him up.  When I put my hand on his chest to get ready to lift and he puts his little paws out like he is Superman taking off to fly.

Problem: I am unconcerned because he is being very careful and patient. I figure I’ll pick him up as soon as that roller is on the unit.

Out of the corner of m eye, I see Ned’s front feet clear the paint can. His solution to being stuck in the corner is to have sniffed and gauged and to gingerly step over the open paint can.

Problem: he failed to account for that cat pooch.  (It’s called the Greater Omentum and all cats have it.) (And, you know, it’s an understandable mistake for an inexperienced feline brain.)

So …  Ned is stepping over the (open) paint can and his pooch drags through the wet paint.  His little brain says “eewwww” and he rounds his back to lift the pouch higher. His forward momentum causes this to drop his rear end into the paint can.

And then there was a thought bubble that appeared over his head and it was “YUCK! JUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

So he dropped his back knees in preparation to spring – further dipping his rear end into the paint  - and he hopped.  A perfect kitty hop – with his tail acting as ballast and dropping down, dragging completely through the paint.

I was quick and I snagged him – under his shoulders – and called for Dude. Who stopped what he was doing, stood up, came around a corner and was faced with me, holding a squirming unhappy cat, covered in paint from his mid-section down to the tip of his tail.  I couldn’t see the extent of the damage at this point, but Dude could – the paint side was facing him. To his credit, without hesitation, Dude took him from me (and held him at arms length.)

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And he looked at me and said “now what?”

We dropped Ned in the shower.  Dude’s brand-new jeans are now paint splattered.  Damage to the room – trivial. Damage to Ned – feline dignity.

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Paint Story: part 2

I, on the other hand, in a moment of efficiency (I was waiting for dinner to cook – I had 20 minutes) decided that I’d do some (final) touch up on the trim.  (Because I’d picked up a new better smaller paintbrush for this chore.)  So I open the quart of paint. A new full quart of paint. And I dip in my brush and I finish the door frame and lower trim.  I did a little of upper trim. And I was down, off the step stool. On the floor (which, by the way is bare wood. I’ve all ready pulled out the carpet – so it is no longer a drop cloth. But all I’m doing is a wee bit of touch up. With a tiny brush. Very carefully. Very slowly.

And then I drop the full quart of white paint.  All over the floor. A 15 foot long path, 4 feet wide.  A spectacular arc of white paint, everywhere. And two cats in the room watching me.

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I win:  Anything Ned can do, I can do better. Anything Ned can do, I can do more.

And that is why I didn’t blog Thursday (Friday was because of robots).

(By the way, I was covered in paint. Jeans (dog jeans – I don’t really care how stained they are, my top (eh – I liked that top but not a great loss), my birkenstocks (oh sad), my socks (I don’t think these are recoverable).  I got most of the fingernails cleaned at red lights yesterday.  My toes still have white paint as I type.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ntDYjS0Y3w

Posts are coming. Soon, I promise.

Carole wants to know what our favorite soups are.

I think soup is almost the perfect food: it can be made in advance and heated up quickly. Flavors mingle while it sits.  Leftovers freeze well. It is nutritious and doesn’t have to be calorie dense. It is forgiving. (I make a lot of pureed veg soups with whatever is leftover in the fridge.)

(I’ve linked to recipes, but I use them as guidelines for quantities.)

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1. Miso – this one doesn’t get made in advance but it’s so fast, it’s a standby.

2. Squash (or pumpkin) – I bake more squash than I need. It freezes well and then I can have soup. I like mine gingery. With apples.

3. Broccoli – this is what I eat when the green veg are lacking in my diet.

4. Green Soup – The recipes I am finding on-line contain potatoes. I don’t use them but I guess they would thicken the soup. Greens (various), broth (veg or chicken), ginger, garlic, onion, and, generally, whatever is leftover in the fridge (celery? a few carrots? some mushrooms? peppers?)  Blend with a stick blender. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

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5. Mushroom – I love mushrooms.
6. fish chowder – I’ve been experimenting with ways to eat the (leftover) frozen fish.  This works.
7. fish curry – This is better. It seems harder than it is. The sauce is blended – so there’s little actual chopping.
8. chili – Does this count as soup?
9. french onion soup – This was Dude’s favorite.
10. tomato – Easy Peasy.  No grill cheese required.

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Well … o.k. just two pictures.

And I didn’t take them today (They are from a couple of days ago).

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It’s just reallyreally hard to take a picture of a puppy in snow.  And he was really really cute!

the State Championship.

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(Holy crap I’m tired – the a few hundred pix, the Chicken Dance, the Macarena, 22 (screaming) elementary school teams …)

1. My pre-holiday to-do list included over-hauling the bedroom, including ripping out the (last!) carpet, in one day, while Dude was at work (and he’s got an 8 minute commute, when the light is red.)  I came to my senses and decided that a perky greeting of  ”Hi Honey! You’re sleeping on the living room floor tonight, Christmas Eve!” really wasn’t in the spirit of things.  So I wrapped his present and borrowed an air mattress.

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2. Knitting – I am currently managing these projects using the Last-in, First-out accounting technique.   (This is when I pick up whatever is on the top of the pile, deal with it, and move on.) (Also, it helps to rule that there is no incoming stash.)  (Ooops and Oooops.)

(The remaining pictures will show you the first 10 things I found, today.)

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This is my current travel project. I did not realize the color was pooling until I saw the photograph - it is less obvious in real life.

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Around June 2011, I decided to knit my way through the EZ book Knit One, Knit all. These hats are from that frantic time. All are stuck on some triviality - some minor knitting feat that I could not execute at the Time of Stress. And since I knit to relax, I casted on something else and kept knitting.

By the way, daffs are up.

A dear friend gave me this as a kit. It's been knitted and unfelted for at least a year. I'm afraid I'll ruin it if I felt it. This year, I'd like a little courage.

These need to get blocked, ends tucked in, and into the mail.

Brooks Fiber Farm Acero, for socks for a friend. (It is her holiday gift - I pointed her toward the sock yarn stash and said "pick". She's a knitter; it was cool.

One of those experimental skeins, purchased during the Time of Stress. I have no plans for it - just to test knit.

And this is why these pictures are so bad. I was working quickly, under duress.

*I totally thought about changing this to “10 things that have happened since Tuesday” or “10 dogs I’ve walked since Tuesday”.  But the pix for this post were mostly done, so I opted for being lazy. And the others deserve their own post.

Also – ever the project manager – the year really does not have 12 months available to me for working on my stuff. If I spend part (or all!) of January planning 2012, I’m all ready down to 11 months.  Eliminate holiday and vacations, and I’m down to 10 months.  So, the reason so many resolutions fail?  A mismatch between real time and calendar time (that or a warp in the space-time continuum).  It’s a rookie mistake.  Maybe I am old experienced enough to avoid it this year.

Also: Do a little more each day than everyone expects and soon everyone will expect more.