The Missing "s" Game. AKA, the post with an anti-lisp and no understanding of plurals.

(The "s" key is no longer working on my keyboard, so I'm pasting it in this intro for your information. I may leave it out a bunch in the post below because it is slowing me down. If a word doesn't make sense, check to see if it is missing an "s." I know you can do it! I've seen how some of you text.)

I learned in Herpetology that if you drop a frog into really hot water, it will realize omething i wrong and jump out, but if you drop it into temperate water which you lowly heat up, you can boil the frog and it won't realize it i dying. Along thee line but in revere, Bill and I often pend many night hivering before we realize it i time to turn on the heat. But, ometimes in Autumn we take a trip and come back to coldness, giving u a clear indication that it i time to make fire. Thi wa one of thoe year. There i a firing burning a I hare the photo with you.

Thi pat weekend we went to Rhinebeck for the NY heep and Wool Fetival. It i the firt year where I've known lot of fetival-goer and had a great time meeting o many lovely, happy knitter.

Of coure, I bought tuff too.

There i ome ock yarn in there and a few kein of heavier-weight longwool for hat. (Now that miing "s" i uddenly noticeable, eh?)

My firt top wa at Into the Whirled for pinning fiber. When I wa holding it all in my hand, thi pound felt like a lot, but now that I'm far away from a purchaing opportunity, it doe't eem like enough.

I alo picked up a fancy pindle. I've been practicing on a "tudent pindle" which i large and brutish. My new one i a Bosworth made of Red Cedar. 17g/.6 ounce. In ampling, I can tell that it i more refined and allow me to pin much finer yarn. I like it. It make me feel more dainty.

It wa a good trip!

26-Year-Old Me would never believe this post

One of the side effects of having a farm and only one income is that we travel way less than we did when we had two incomes and zero farms. This is to be expected - and here's the part where the 26 year-old version of me gets skeptical - I don't mind it. I actually rather dig it.

For the first few years of farm ownership (when we had two incomes but were working on our plan to give up one of them), this bothered me a bit and I grudgingly thought about how we used to travel and how we weren't doing that anymore. Consider:

We spent my 29th birthday in St. John snorkeling, drinking rum, and enjoying a tropical paradise even as a plethora of spring break hooligans invaded the campground, including a young gentleman who chose to make monkey noises whenever he laughed. Very loud monkey noises all through the night.

We spent my 30th birthday in New Zealand being amazed at volcanoes, glaciers and wine. In between those birthdays we were fortunate to take two additional short vacations (Vegas and Iceland) and visit with our families in NY. Plus, we lived in DC at the time, so every day held opportunities for local tourism. Except for eating fabulous food, my most fond emotional attachment to living in DC was having the responsibility-free lifestyle and ability to travel to new places.

After my 30th birthday, we took our life in a different direction, and a year later I was shoveling poop out of a barn in Indiana. I don't know if I realized at the time that the barn would eventually hold turkeys...or that I would find turkeys to be a giant pain in the butt...or that I would ever utter the sentence I whispered to Bill earlier this week.

Are you ready?

Bill left work early one day and stopped at the cheese store, a beer store and a cupcakery and brought home these delights.

We spent the evening eating, playing games, and tending to the animals. As we walked out in the twilight to put the farm to bed for the evening, I told Bill I had a delightful evening and it felt like a vacation - just the simple joy in having a couple of extra hours together and sharing food that we don't have often, made the whole day feel special. Also, I was really, really pleased that we could have a vacation where I dressed in pajama pants for dinner and didn't need to interact with TSA.

I realized that I didn't miss the opportunities to travel at all. (That's not to say that I wouldn't take a free trip to Rome if anyone out there wants to offer...)

I think it takes practice and mindfulness to find honest joy and contentment in the really simple things, and to be pleased with where you are and not just where you wish you were. I am so very, very fortunate to know many people who have cultivated this sort of outlook and I thank them for their influence on me (surround yourself with happy people!).

It may look like it was just a few hunks of cheese and some cupcakes, but really, it was a revelation.

15 years...

September 26 (tomorrow) marks 15 years of JoBi. Over those 15 years we've taken many photos with the camera held at arm's length to capture a day or a background we wanted to remember. Sometimes, we even handed the camera off to someone else for an additional photo.

To celebrate our 15th (dating) anniversary, I made a little slide show of some of these photos. I expect this may only be of interest to our mothers, but if you'd like to see the video it is below. Bill calls it "The Documentation of Our Chins Getting Bigger."

St. Patrick's Day in Chicago

Travel Tip: If it's 70 degrees and sunny and a Saturday that is Actual St. Patrick's Day and you are in Chicago...you will see a lot of drunk people wearing green.

A. Lot.

Bill did a scientific survey and found that over 80% of the people that walked by the window where we were having breakfast were wearing green.

I did a scientific survey and found that people drink beer with breakfast, starting at 6 am.

Bill wore orange (like Liz Lemon). But he did it not to honor of "William Of" more like "Otto The." (Go Orange! Elite 8 tonight!!)

Green River:

It's, like, 4:00 in the afternoon in that photo, so all the green people are passed out on the sidewalks. It was nutty.

Birthday Chicago.

Monday was my 35th birthday (I have Big News connected with that to share...soon) and we went to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate.

First stop - Tapas! It was yummy and I realized how much I miss good olives. I don't think I've had a good olive since we moved to Indiana (nor have we had good tapas...). In DC we would walk to tapas on Tuesdays - half-price Sangria pitcher night - sit outside, watch the people, get tipsy and walk home. We often would stop at the library because it was on our way home and it feels really, really naughty to go to the library drunk.

This was our favorite course - asparagus in a pear (poached in red wine) with some grapefruit sauce thing and cabrales.

We ate and drank and ate and drank and when we felt like this:

...we walked back to our hotel. The luxury I miss most about DC (besides olives) is walking. The night was beautiful and the sangria potent.

I was so excited about walking that I realized how much I miss living somewhere where there is gum on the sidewalk, and apparently felt the need to document the moment.

Bill was looking especially adorable. Living in the country rocks, but we were both pretty excited about our vacation in a City.

The next day was St. Patrick's Day and it was insane. More on that later...but, Krista darling - if this is what it's like when you go to the City every year, I am going to implement a You Must Check-In With Your Cousin When You Arrive Home Safely Policy.

Ooooovvvveeeennnn (and Rhinebeck)

I feel as if I am running out of clever post titles for the oven construction. If you've got any suggestions for future titles that say "Oven progress" in a more interesting way than "oven progress" lemme know.

This is roughly where Bill is at:

He added the two additional arches of bricks and a slanty thing up front. To the very right of the photo is the red brick arch that will be visible in the final product. In between the slanty thing and that arch is where the chimney goes.

An interior view:

That's where the fires will be built and the pizza and bread and cakes will be cooked. Bill is a little further along than these photos show, but not much. This is because we drove hundreds of miles to go to Rhinebeck this past weekend...and visit family. Very important the family visiting (Hi Krista! I know you are reading this in bed...and now all the internet knows too!!).

However, as we didn't bring any of the family back with us, I only have photos of wool to share with you.

Aside from one lovely skein of alpaca, I focused mostly on all sorts of food for my wheel. On the right is a Border Leicester fleece. And then all the rest is tops and roving of various wools...some merino, corridale, finn, cheviot, rambouillet...and a sheep I've never heard of - masham. There is also a silk cap which I'm planning to knit right into mittens (ala the Harlot).

I am clearly in some sort of red and green phase.

These purchases represent only about half of my Rhinebeck budget. Though my plans were big when I started saving money, I don't think I could have actually spent it all - even a wool freak like me can get overwhelmed at the wonder of Rhinebeck. Fortunately (?) I brought a man with me who likes food. Within 20 seconds of seeing the Italian guys from Brooklyn with their tables full of bread and salami, we had a bag bursting with pepperoni, salami and cheese.

It was a good trip!

Staycation Souvenirs!

All vacations require souvenirs, even if you don't go anywhere.

For our vacation, Bill got:

Fire brick.


5/8 inch rebar. This was a super fun souvenir because it only comes in 20 foot lengths, which is too long for our little truck. So, Bill had to cut three pieces with a hacksaw at the lumber/rebar yard. It was like going to a carnival and watching my man complete the feats of strength game...but instead of getting a dumb stuffed animal as a prize, I got rusty rebar!!!

Bill also got some scotch - which is sort of the his only instant payoff souvenir. The rebar and firebrick represent work for now, but will be awesome in a few weeks.

I got...

Two bags of stinky wool! We went to sunny Ohio for a fiber festival yesterday and I bought two fleeces. On the left is 7 pounds of Lincoln Longwool. It is such a lovely gray. Lincoln is typically used for outerwear, and isn't really considered next-to-skin soft. Everything I've read says this will be harsh when I spin it up (though some people make it into socks). Right now, it feels super soft though, so I'm excited to try and see what happens. Plus, the sheep it came from was named Sunshine. That sounds sounds happy and lovely, doesn't it?

I also have 3.5 pounds of Icelandic fleece. Bill is lobbying hard for our sheep to be Icelandics. I like that they are really hardy and seem low-maintenance. I'm not sure about their fleeces, though. I have a sweater from Iceland (which is presumably made with Icelandic wool) and it's pretty scratchy. Bill has a blanket from the same trip...which he named Scratchy.

I've heard that Icelandics in America are bred for their fleeces, though, while Icelanders focus more on meat and conformation. The fleece looks downright odd:

It's dual coated, which means it has two different types of fleece. The long stuff is called Tog and the fluffier short stuff on top is Thel. They can be separated and spun individually, or spun all together. This fleece came from a lamb named Pig.

Finally, our last souvenir is my favorite. Our first delivery of wood:

Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival, Lexington

Last weekend we went to the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival near Lexington. It was our first time in Lexington, and really our first time in Kentucky.

The festival was cool - lots of sheeps and nice people selling fiber. We watched the herding of sheep by children and border collies. The dogs were much more effective. A professor from the University of Kentucky something (livestock?) school brought the world champion of something collie to demonstrate herding sheep. The dog was insane! She was brilliant and had an unreal amount of energy. We listened to the nice professor give different commands by using only a whistle - circle clockwise, circle counterclockwise, creep in, stay. The commands were given at lightening speed and the dog didn't miss a single one.

I wish I grew up to be a professor of sheep dogs...

My purchases were 2 skeins of wool for a shawl and these hand carders.


I don't quite know what to do with them yet, but they are an impressive tool.

Lexington is a neat old city. Very federal architecture and much older than anything in Indiana. It felt like Virginia - Bill said it reminded him of Fredericksburg.



Outside the city there were hills! Most of the fields seemed dedicated to horses.


We camped at Fort Boonesborough State Park, home to the second settlement in Kentucky and named after Daniel Boone.


It was here that we realized Kentucky is not the Midwest. Kentucky is the South.

Standing near the original site of the original fort was a monument dedicated to the "gallant band of axemen pioneers and Indian fighters who...opened the doors of destiny to the white race in Kentucky and the west."


The monument lists those gallant folks by name, and then adds "a negro man, a negro woman." When, do you suppose, this progressive monument was built?


1935. What is UP, 1935? Why did you harbor such discrimination? You had the dedication of the Hoover dam, the release of Monopoly, and of course the depression and the dust bowl...it was hard times and you should have pulled together. Lame, 1935. Very lame.

Another side of the monument praises the white man as the "advance guard of enlightened civilization," among other things.


The monument was just standing alone near the fort, right off the parking lot. I think there is so much value in the present for really understanding the prejudices of the past. In that way, I can sort of see why this monument is important - to remind us how stupid we were not very long ago.

But, lacking any context...any contemporary message...this monument is gross. It stands in the park as if its fact. History written by the victor. It made the whole state feel very unwelcoming to me. It spoiled a beautiful land.

A Wool Gathering

Yesterday, Bill and I traveled to Yellow Springs OH for A Wool Gathering - a sheep and wool show at a dairy farm.


It was a very nice day. Our first stop was for lunch in town. Yellow Springs doesn't seem like it belongs in Ohio...it seems to be a little bit of California transplanted to the Midwest.


The town was full of diverse people out enjoying the day. There was a farmers market, which drew a lot of folks, and the sheep and wool festival brought people in from out of town, but it seems like a place that is always buzzing (and I mean that in more ways than one). Though it's a small town (population around 3,700) it seemed like an engaged, active community.

It was a fun town to visit. We admired well-maintained old buildings, ate some pizza and yielded the right-of-way at a stop light to one of Yellow Springs notable residents - Dave Chappelle.


Then it was on to the fiber! There were lots of fiber farmers there with their animals. We pet all sorts of sheep and stared at a very intense llama.


The gathering took place at a fabulously agro-tourismy dairy farm. There was mini-golf, tons of playground space for kiddos and lots of fun animals to feed. We saw the fattest Barred Rock chicken ever and had goats chewing on our shirts


Naturally, there was ice cream.


And yarn.



It was a pretty nice day!

Freezing fog

Ever heard of it? I had no idea until this winter and we sure are getting lots of it now.

It's just what it sounds like....water droplets from fog, freezing on surfaces.

It's the same stuff that forms in freezers. It makes everything white.


Everything.


And it sure is pretty.


It's been a treat waking up to frozen fog covered trees all week.


Usually, it is accompanied by clear skies that are bluer than blue.


As it warms up, the ice crystals start falling from the trees. It looks like its snowing, but the sky is incredibly blue. Very trippy.


Speaking of trips...we had a lovely day in Cincinnati last weekend. We stopped at Jungle Jim's for hot sauce and micro brews, had Chipotle for lunch, and watched Syracuse beat Cincy in a good game. We got to sit with Orange fans from all over the Midwest, including a gentleman who played with Boeheim and regaled us with stories of the old days.


And, here are some unrelated socks.