Ravelry and Some Cool Pics

Yesterday I got nothing done during the day-well, that's not completely true. I did take an hour break to get the boys nails trimmed at the groomers. Other than that, I was on the computer for the whole day. No knitting, no beading, I didn't even get out of my jammies until after 2pm-when daughter Ruth pointed out I was still in my jammies. Sweet Hubby was an hour late getting home from work and I hadn't even started dinner yet. Why you may ask?

I GOT MY RAVELRY INVITE!!!!!!!! Hurray!!!!!!!

What an absolutely cool place for knitters! I found out 132 other members are working on the Monkey sock. How cool is that? Suddenly, we who live in rural areas are no longer isolated and alone. There's tons of yarn info, pattern info, book info, tool info, gadget info. There are forum groups for like minded knitters to join (I joined two. Idaho Knitters and the SAM4KAL group). You can link your blog, and your flickr album. There's email too. You can make a journal of all your projects, finished or not. Make a catalogue of your books, patterns, and yarn stash. All in all, a wonderful wonderful place on the web. I am SO glad to be a member, and I hope the creators get filthy rich from it.

I spent quite a bit of time filling out my own profile and notebook info. I've still got a long ways to go to getting it done, but I wanted to look around and find out just what Ravelry is all about. That's when I got excited about it. I think this will change the knitting industry-the way patterns and yarns are marketed and sold. And I think it will benefit knitters more than anyone else. I also see it being a great tool for the local yarn shop. I would have loved having this kind of resource for my shop.

They're still in beta, so you have to ask for an invite. They should be going public soon though. If you haven't asked for your invite, I recommend you do. It took 2 months for mine to come through, but it was worth the wait. Go to Ravelry.

After hubby got home, and I was 'forced' to turn off my laptop and join the world of the living, I made dinner. After dinner I got going on my Monkey sock. Finding out 132 other people are knitting it at the same time as me was very inspiring. I worked until I finished the leg. This morning I started the heel flap. I'm on fire now!

And now, for the pictures. Let me preface this by saying that two nights earlier this week something ate the lower branches of our trees, and upper branches of a couple of our bushes during the night. Something that can reach up 8 feet. I know what that is, but on to the story.

Last night, around 9:00pm, Tommy started acting agitated. He kept looking out the living room window and running around in circles. He didn't bark, but clearly, he was upset about something. The lights were on outside, but we couldn't see anything out there.

A little later the boys wanted outside, I thought to pee. I opened the door and all the motion sensor lights were on. Tommy shot past me. He ran all the way down the hill, past the satellite dish, then circled back up the hill barking his little head off all the way. I grabbed a big flashlight, but there was nothing there. So, after barking a bit more and hopping up and down, he ran into the house. Morgan peed, then strolled back into the house. It was then that I saw it. A moose, standing just off the lawn by the garden-opposite direction of Tommy's little bark fest. I quickly got in the house and shut the door. Best if the boys don't see that.

Who was it that called Italian Greyhounds SIGHT hounds??? Neither of them saw a thing. Obviously, they'd heard and smelled something though.

About 15 minutes later they wanted out again. Well, I'm not taking chances. Moose can make an Iggy into a flat pancake with one stomp. So I grabbed the flashlight and squeezed out the door, leaving the dogs inside for a bit to check things out. No motion lights were on. I waved my arm to turn the one on nearest me, then clicked on the flashlight just as a small female moose came charging up the hill straight for the Yellow Twig Dogwood bush. Whoa! I ain't letting my dogs out!

I squeezed back into the house and told Sweet Hubby and Ruth about it. Then I grabbed my camera. We all squeezed back out the door to watch the mayhem. This is the pic I got. I am surprised I was able to get anything at all, cos I could not see the moose in the little video screen used to set up the pic. But the flash went off, and I had guessed pretty good.

Click on the pics to enlarge.

Then hubby told me to point my camera toward the satellite dish and take a pic. I did-with flash of course. There was a pair of eyes down there. A second moose!



Seconds later a young male came charging up the hill to join the first in the destruction of the Yellow Twig Dogwood. We think they are siblings. Small for moose, but big as animals go. Definitely larger than a horse. I stepped down onto the lawn to take this pic. They didn't like it at all and started moving toward me, which scared me so I hightailed it back up the steps. You don't mess with Moose! They took off down the hill after that.



You'll notice the top of that Dogwood has been stripped bare of leaves. That was a much bigger moose that had visited during the night over the weekend. It's what ate everything 8 feet high. I noticed my baby apple has been nibbled on a bit. Yikes! It must be August. This is the month of the moose and deer invasions. The woods are dry and crackly. Our green yard suddenly looks like a smörgåsbord of delightful juicy tasty tidbits. The battle begins.

I have bead group today.

Have a great day.