It's Definitely August

I can tell we're in the month of August now. Aside from all the forest fire smoke in the air, the deer and moose are showing up way more frequently to eat in our green oasis we call our yard. Just in the last few days we've had 2 moose show up after dark (so I couldn't take pics), and we've had some Whitetail deer, of which I did get pics.

This doe showed up at dusk.

Then a couple days later, in the middle of the afternoon, I noticed this guy.

While taking his picture, this guy walked into the frame.

They are so beautiful!

Others have come to our green buffet during the night to eat. I'm sure of it, because the dogwood vine has been decimated, and the lower branches of all my deciduous trees have been stripped clean. They haven't bothered the Geraniums in the boxes on the deck though. That is good.

Life on the Parkarosa. Never a dull moment.

I got all the Knit Wits fair entries in. It went pretty well this time. Only had 2 items missing their tags, which the fair people printed up for me right away.

Something I have not blogged about. I've been having trouble with my eyesight the past few months. It's the main reason I haven't been beading much. It hurt too much to try focusing on those itty bitty pieces of glass. In the evening my eyes would hurt so much I even stopped knitting and have been knitting mostly in the daylight.

A week and a half ago I finally went to my optometrist to find out what was going on. I really expected her to say my cataracts were much worse and I would need surgery. That isn't what happened, thankfully. The problem is not serious, and is fixable. Something has caused my eyes to become seriously inflamed, and even swollen. She isn't sure what the specific cause is, but it's probably a combination of things (air pollutants, allergies, etc), including needing a new prescription for my glasses. So, I got new glasses, which I picked up yesterday.

In addition, she has me using prescription eye drops several times a day, hot compresses at night, and massaging my tear ducts. The treatment is helping. My eyes are feeling much better, and as you could see yesterday, I'm able to bead again. Originally I wasn't going to try and finish that necklace to enter it, but my eyes feel so good I had to give it a go. I'm glad I did.

I go in again for a follow up appointment on Friday so she can check on the progress of my eyes. I'm glad they have stopped hurting all the time. And it's nice to be able to see clearly again. Aging sure sucks though.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Bucks Playing

I had a nice weekend, I guess. Went to a Funeral on Saturday. It was someone I didn't know, so I was spared the crying and feeling wretched part, which was nice. But it was a friend of my husbands family, which was sad. Anyway, that was the big activity for Saturday. I detest funerals.

On Sunday Sweet Hubby and I went into Coeur d'Alene to visit Costco. We needed a few things. Man, is that a big store when you're not quite recovered from surgery. I was so exhausted when we got back to the car. I just wanted to lay right down on the ground and take a nap. I expected to feel really awful on Monday cuz I was certain I'd done too much. I felt fine Monday. That was a nice surprise. I feel fine today too.

Sunday afternoon we had some visitors. A flock of 10 Turkeys came to enjoy the Parkarosa Bird Buffet.

It looked like there was a big hen and a bunch of not quite full grown ones-probably were hatched last spring. Here's a close up of one.

You may have noticed the snow in those pictures. Yes. Four inches fell between Friday and Sunday morning. It's been slowly melting ever since. It's been so cold during the day. Upper 30's and low 40's at our house. It feels very winterish.

Today we had a couple of Whitetail bucks visit us. I saw them first as they were grazing on grass at the bottom of the hill, near the satellite dish.

They both raised their heads and looked at each other for a minute.

Then they started banging their antlers together.

They weren't going at it hard enough to be a serious fight. Just a bit of gentle poking and pushing, so I figure they were probably just playing with each other.

After a few minutes of that, they stopped and went back to munching on grass. Eventually they wandered off into the woods together.

I've never seen anything like that before. I'm glad I had my camera so I could capture it for posterity.

I've gone back to working on the second Wheat Rib sock. I finished the heel and have started the leg. I've got about 2 inches of leg done now. I need these socks to be done before Christmas cuz they are slated to be someones present, so I better get my rear in gear!

I also have started a pair of Owling fingerless mitts in a light heather brown for another Christmas present. It is probably going to be the extent of the Christmas knitting for me this year. I don't feel like making much more than that. Especially since I did so much gift knitting for folks last year.

Tomorrow I am planning on going to Yarnies. It will be my first time back since the surgery.

Right now I've got a load of laundry in the dryer that is calling for me. So I better get to it.

Only 2 and a half weeks left until the trip to Maui.

Live long and prosper. \\//

A Fawn and a Turkey

About an hour ago we had some visitors. Tilly the turkey met a fawn. Click on the pics to embiggen.

Hello! What are you?

Lets play!

Mmm, this grass is yummy!

Are you coming with us?

'K, thx, bai!

Live long and prosper. \\//

Oh Deer

Morgan woke me up at 3am this morning because he needed to go outside. While I was waiting for him to come back in I glanced out the living room window. There was a deer... helping herself to the Parkarosa Seed Buffet. She was pushing the little feeder with her nose so the sunflower seeds would fall out to the ground, then eating the seed. I watched her do this for a good 10 minutes. She emptied a whole feeders worth. All this time I thought the birds were eating like little pigs I've been feeding a deer. I predict that I will be going out in the snow later today and moving that feeder out of her reach.

Last night was my husbands annual company Christmas party. I had a good time. The meal we were served was delicious. I KIPped during the party. I took my knitting with me. I worked on the next Christmas gift, a pair of fingerless gloves, and got a good 5 inches of the first one done. My hands kept busy while I sat there for a very long time. The best part though? Daughter Sarah brought her crochet project with her. I have taught her right. Woot! So the two of us were busily working on Christmas presents during the party. Our table was the productive bunch.

The White Elephant Gift Exchange was hilarious. Imagine a geeky young guy unwrapping a gift and finding a Hello Kitty Toy Tea Set. Hee-hee. What's even funnier? The CEO of the company stole it from him when it was his turn. I scored good on the gift I got to keep. I started out with a set of those funky glass Aquaglobes, which I detest. I got lucky though. Someone else wanted them and stole them. So I got to steal something from someone else. I picked my SIL Sue. She had something I wanted, which she'd stolen from my daughter (yes, many Parks work at the same company). Gifts could be stolen twice, then they were safe. My stolen booty was safe. She couldn't steal it back. Ha ha!

It's a $10 gift card for Hastings. I have to ask myself, though, what does it mean when my first thought is "Woot! New knitting book!!!!"?



Have a good day.