Makin' Plans

Lots to be done in the next three weeks. After my Monday night shift, I need to spend the remainder of the week clearing out my little office alcove and getting it in order. I also need to work on getting organized for the upcoming Hawai'i trip. I don't believe I've really written about it here, but the pretense for going is the American Veterinary Medical Association's Annual Convention. Having been on the board of the Lesbian & Gay Veterinary Medical Association for 6 years (in various capacities, including a stint as President), I've traditionally gone to this meeting. I believe this is the first time that it's ever been held outside the contiguous 48 states.

Because of all the upheaval in my life last year - the unexpected end of my last relationship, two major moves, two job changes - I had kind of given up on the idea of making this convention. David really wanted to go, though, which gave me an excellent excuse to stick to my long-standing intent to attend. To make it a proper vacation, we're going a week in advance to vacation on Big Island. Then we'll fly to O'ahu for the convention, which is in Honolulu, and afterwards fly back to Big Island for three more days before coming home. Aside from the excitement of vacation in Paradise, I'm also looking forward to being able to add Hawai'i to my list of states I've visited. That will leave me with only two more out of the fifty to see - Alaska and Arkansas.

So with 19 days to go before we leave, I am trying to sort out what we need to pack, what needs to be done before we leave, and what we need but still don't have (snorkeling gear for David). I believe that I handle such preparations with a bit more aplomb than Franklin, but I still like to be efficient in the execution, which leads to a bit of obsessiveness over details. Fortunately, David likes lists even more than I do.

Evening at the Beach

After I got home from a fairly exhausting and overly long shift at work (during which I was stabbed in the back of my hand with a 20 gauge needle) and collapsed for a few hours this afternoon on the living room futon, David and I drove up Rte. 1 to Ogunquit - Maine's answer to Provincetown - to take an evening walk on the beach. On the return leg of our walk, there was a fox scavenging in the rockweed that was washed up above the high tide line. The only other time I've seen one (or at least an apparently healthy one) show so little concern for human presence was years ago in Fundy National Park in Canada. My guess is that she's probably got a litter of kits to feed somewhere, but when wild animals let humans get so close to them, it often ends badly for the animal. It doesn't help that she was foraging near a protected shorebird nesting area, which makes her a more likely target.

More Spinning

I spent about an hour tonight working on the shetland x icelandic. Bobbin #3 is nearly full, but it's kind of slow going, as I have to spend a fair bit of time picking out vegetable matter. This is turning into an interesting exercise, but I have to say that I'm not impressed overall with the processing of this roving.

Ted commented, "So...were the singles spun S or Z? Usually, in the first plying pass for a cabled yarn, you ply in the reverse direction to the singles." I'm actually spinning the singles Z and plan on setting the twist and dyeing them individually (either in different colors or differing shades of one color - undecided as yet), then plying first Z, then S. I know it's contrary to the usual approach, but this is an experiment that's really more about process than end product.