tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-229418212024-03-07T02:54:18.832-05:00CabezalanaFrom wooly minds come wooly thoughts.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.comBlogger648125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-69406189881752461232014-04-12T14:13:00.004-04:002014-04-12T14:13:48.745-04:00Eye-Rack
So, I haven't updated this in quite a while, and a lot has changed. The big thing recently is that I took a job as a government contractor with a company that supplies bomb-sniffing and other working dogs to overseas contracts. Just over two weeks ago I arrived on a one year contract as in-house veterinarian on a base in Iraq. The big reason for the jump, aside from the money and moving away Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-80474173413179477652013-03-07T21:56:00.001-05:002013-03-07T23:01:40.637-05:00Snow Bunny
Yesterday I went downhill skiing for the first time in over 22 years. I turn 44 in a few weeks, so that's literally half my lifetime. The last time was in 1991, when I was a first year veterinary student. A group of us spent a weekend at Lutsen.
It was a fun enough weekend, but what I remember most is taking a lift to a second, not very developed, peak that, on the trail maps, had a blue (Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-10607271996300414142013-02-16T22:13:00.000-05:002013-02-16T22:13:06.887-05:00Sweet BoysMelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-26554071921098701242013-01-16T15:25:00.000-05:002013-01-16T15:25:41.688-05:00Deathflake Lopapeysa
It took me almost a year to finally get around to finishing this lopapeysu, but the frustrations along the way were so worth the final product. I had to redo the neck twice, and then I had to go back and completely rip out and redo the first sleeve after I realized it was too narrow. The perils of making it up as you go along, I suppose. Next time I go to Iceland, though, this is definitely Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-65269888816952195962013-01-10T08:57:00.002-05:002013-01-10T08:57:48.239-05:00A Small Repair
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a hole had opened up on one of my felted wool slippers (Haflingers - I heart them greatly).
Life being what it is, I hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it, but it was bugging me, so this morning I grabbed a ball of Shetland Spindrift and a couple of 2.0mm dpns and...
I also used the opportunity to practice knitting in reverse. I can do it Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-48662038832467150552012-12-16T21:38:00.000-05:002012-12-16T21:38:00.192-05:00Les Bouldogues Français: Une Comedie En Trois Actes
1ere Acte
2eme Acte
3eme Acte
Fin
Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-5611223134035093292012-12-08T23:18:00.001-05:002012-12-08T23:18:42.133-05:00A Cautionary Tale
I assume most folks who stop by here have heard of Tuvan throat singing, but in case you haven't, it's this:
It's a type of what's called overtone singing, where the human voice operates something like a bagpipe -simultaneously producing both a constant drone note and overtones that carry a melodic line. It's also found in some Tibetan Buddhist chant.
Anyway, it's neat stuff, and while I Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-40557959619988679962012-10-29T09:18:00.000-04:002012-10-29T09:18:13.863-04:00Post-Rhinebeck Post
I took no photos during the festival this year. Actually, I take that back. I took this one for Carol, who wasn't able to make it this year.
And then the ever-adorable Stephen West stopped by to dance under the disco ball in his knit hotpants.
As always, it was a good show, and great getting to see all the people that we only seem to see once a year. Also, buying wonderful things. I came Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-85926990933476189362012-09-14T22:42:00.000-04:002012-09-14T22:42:11.257-04:00Now We Are Six (Months)
We also got neutered 9 days ago and started obedience school 4 days ago, but we're managing both pretty well.
Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-32189754415729558712012-09-14T22:40:00.000-04:002012-09-14T22:49:49.288-04:00What I Did on My Summer Vacation
Turns out, graduate school takes up a lot of time. A really, really lot of time. Which means I don't have time for much else. Which means that blogging has gone right out the window. As if you hadn't noticed.
So anyway, here's the short, short version of my summer. We went to South Dakota to visit the in-laws.
N.B. - These are not the in-laws, but I did take the photo in South Dakota.
Part Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-58077592791624395202012-05-30T21:01:00.003-04:002012-05-30T21:01:57.159-04:00Puppy Windup
Chauce is always excited to get home from work so he can see little brother Theo. David's glad when Chauce gets home so somebody else can deal with all the puppy energy.
Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-64654964617141299172012-05-15T00:40:00.000-04:002012-05-15T00:40:08.662-04:00So, yeah.
That last post? The question was more or less rhetorical.
No name, as yet, but hopefully within the next couple of days. We got to meet both parents, and they were very nice dogs. Out of the 5 (!!) pups in his litter, he seemed to be the most easygoing, and he gives sweet puppy kisses. He still has quite a bit of puppy energy, though, and I expect the next few months will be interesting.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-20368584262318271392012-05-12T11:15:00.001-04:002012-05-12T11:15:10.585-04:00Should We?Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-14405033211444224172012-05-11T00:05:00.000-04:002012-05-11T00:05:40.901-04:00BigBoy
So we're three weeks into the new dog, and he's pretty much fit seamlessly into our lives. His name did turn out to be a bit of a sticking point, though. Personally, I was fine with Chaucer. It's a good literary name. David didn't care for it, though, and he was still feeling pretty burnt over the situation with the puppy-who-wasn't-to-be. Naming is a serious business around here.
So Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-42718037105317322892012-04-29T08:16:00.001-04:002012-04-29T08:16:48.771-04:00"A Fascinatingly Disturbing Thought"
In Rome (of all places) I was approached by a young American evangelist who was, apparently, trying to convert all those Roman heathens to Jesus lovers. I told him that I didn't believe in a Creator and explained that being part of this universe was special in its own right, that the fact that we exist at all is beautiful and awe inspiring in itself. The only response he had was, "I just feelMelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-9424244780424999792012-04-23T06:32:00.000-04:002012-04-23T06:32:40.495-04:00Our New Bundle of Joy
There is one, but not the one we thought we were going to be getting. It's a long, sordid tale, but the super brief version is that the co-owner of that pup, who had been raising him, decided on Tuesday, the day before we were to get the pup, that she couldn't give him up. We found out later that she had been blindsided and railroaded into the whole situation, so as much as we had become Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-6491037457101917832012-04-08T23:37:00.000-04:002012-04-08T23:44:01.501-04:00On Loss, and New Beginnings
T.S. Eliot got it wrong. This year, at least, March was the cruelest month. A really, really horrid month. On the 10th, we lost Sylvie, whom David had adopted as a pound kitty back in 1995. She had lost some ground from apparent inflammatory bowel issues, but we seemed to be making headway dealing with that. Within a 4 week period from February to March, though, she developed a liver tumor, mostMelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-84421646584403119462012-03-08T19:01:00.001-05:002012-03-08T19:01:34.781-05:00Deathyoke
So I missed my 6th blogiversary a couple of weeks ago. A lot's been going on - much of it very stressful and for another day when I feel up to writing about it. School, so far, is going well, though I'm still not as into a groove as I probably should be. Again, a story for another day.
On the knitting front, I've been working on a top-down lopapeysa with Álafoss plötulopi I brought home last Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-32460874437693483912012-02-02T09:23:00.000-05:002012-02-02T09:23:08.751-05:00Ste. Brigid's Day
I'm not sure if anyone is still doing this out there, but I like the bloggy tradition of Ste. Brigid's Day poetry, even though I've not always been consistent about it. At any rate, I thought that this year I'd share one from a poet I actually know.
Dream: Intruder
by Mark Wunderlich
A storm boiled the ocean.
The room's heavy timbers shifted
as the wind pushed the town.
Beside you, I Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-16603981208005738982012-02-01T23:38:00.000-05:002012-02-01T23:38:31.918-05:00Startitis Lopapeysum
I decided that I needed some quick-ish gratification, so after a bit of swatching and some calculating over the past few nights, I cast on this evening for a new lopapeysu made með tvöfaldum plötulopa að ofan I'd been trying to decide what to do with for months. That it was going to become a sweater for me was never in question, but I hadn't decided on the form.
Truth be told, I'm not Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-84756524349333655392012-01-22T12:31:00.000-05:002012-01-22T12:31:20.667-05:00Monumental
I got the call this morning that my maternal grandfather had passed away in his sleep overnight, two days after his 97th birthday. I had been hoping to get to South Carolina to visit him sometime this winter, as I knew that his body was beginning to fail. My mother hadn't expected him to survive through another year and had just gone down there for an extended stay. It sounds as though he Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-40946925719004426772012-01-19T10:52:00.001-05:002012-01-19T10:54:23.409-05:00Making Progress
I'm a little past the first repeat of the first color chart on my Luke's Diced Vest. I only do one or two rounds while we watch TV at night, but I think that keeps it from feeling like a slog. The red is einband Icelandic from Frelsi Farm here in Maine, and it's haloing ever so slightly, which is pretty much perfect.
Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-71774496989158169042012-01-18T22:50:00.000-05:002012-01-18T22:50:48.390-05:00Sopapillas not SOPA/PIPA!*
Fortunately, it appears that my Congressional delegation is united in opposition to SOPA (the House bill), and its companion Senate bill PIPA, which is scheduled for a vote next week. Because of that upcoming vote, though, and because I don't always trust Snowe and Collins to follow through based on their expressed concerns, I just sent them both the following:
I am writing you to Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-31984553515432469392012-01-08T21:45:00.001-05:002012-01-08T21:57:05.852-05:00Luke's Diced, in Progress
Hopefully, this should work.
Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22941821.post-13720606699948479072012-01-06T22:48:00.001-05:002012-01-06T23:08:02.655-05:00Back in a Flash?
So, there really was going to be more of a report from Rhinebeck, but it seems that over several months, life has kind of continually sidetracked me from the blog. Anyway, it was a nice time. Busy, as usual, and we didn't see nearly everyone I would have liked, but such is life. We also had a nice day after hanging with my folks and seeing some of the sights in Hyde Park, so on the whole, it wasMelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18047049720897209506noreply@blogger.com3