Meet Willow

 We, as in myself, hubby, and daughter, have a serious mouse problem in our house. We are inundated with them. In the last week, my dog, Zoey has killed 3 of them in the living room-paying homage to her dachshund heritage. They've been in every room of the house. I'm finding nests everywhere. We've all gone on the warpath. But it's a hard task. I'm seeing just how much hunting and mouse maintenance Merino and Cashmere were doing. Something has to be done.

 I'd like to introduce you to my new kitten. This is Willow. 

We've had her for a week. I got her at the local shelter. She is now 9 weeks old, and she's feral. When I say feral, I mean it. You can't believe how hard it was for them just to get her out of her cage and into a small carrier just so we could meet her. I tried to touch her and she bit me, and scratched me twice. She's a very wild little girl. 

I decided to take her home. She's an incredibly beautiful little girl, There's a low chance of adoption because she's so wild. We took on the challenge. My daughter and I have been reading up and watching videos to learn how to tame a feral cat and we are making incredible progress! The first day didn't go so well, I got bit again, and we both got scratched. She's feisty! Since then, the progress is better.

We've set her up in the sun room in our wire dog crate, which is pretty large because I bought it when we had Cable. We've got the cat carrier for a little house, a small litter box, and all the things a kitten needs: Food, water, and toys. 

One of the things we're doing is, once we can get a hold of her, we wrap her up in a towel and turn her into a burrito. Like swaddling a baby. That way we can hold her without ending up bleeding and it's been quite successful! 

The first time I held her like this, she was pretty scared. I could feel her shaking in fear, but after about 15 minutes, she started to relax. I gave her a complete tour of the house, including where she doesn't belong-like kitchen counters and the table. I took her first selfie too.

She's a quick learner and is starting to understand we don't want to hurt her.

The second time I burritoed her, she relaxed right away and actually fell asleep in my arms. It's been so long since I've been able to do that. For the first time today, she asked to be picked up by my daughter and cuddled. 

She's vocal when she wants something. She wants to play with Boba so bad, but he's a little afraid of her yet. I'm looking forward to her being able to have freedom in the house, which should be in the next week or two.

Now, for more news. today hubby and I are leaving for the airport to catch a flight to Miami, FL. We are going on a cruise to the Caribbean. It's been 9 years since our last one (to Alaska) in 2017. We had to stop when my husband was laid off from his job. We couldn't afford it. Well, now officially retired and getting our Social Security, we can cruise again. My brother-in-law has a girlfriend and wants us to meet her, so he talked us into going with him and Trisha. We're taking Norwegian Cruise Lines Escape for 7 days visiting Cozumel Mexico, Belize, and two other ports who's names escape me at the moment. I am so excited! 

I'm taking two knitting projects with me. This ship has organized knitting get togethers. I've gotta do that! I'm taking the dog sweater,

and the scarf I started a few months ago. 

I don't know if I'll blog while away. I will have Wi-Fi, and I've installed the Blogger app for posting on my blog on my phone. I guess I'll have to see how it goes.

Our daughter isn't going with us, so we've got someone taking care of the fur kids. 

It's been oppressively hot around around here the last couple weeks. Our heat pump stopped doing air conditioning about 2 weeks ago. I got a repairman to come look at it today and, as I feared, we need to replace the heat pump. Good heavens! Have the prices gone up. Our old one was bought 11 years ago. We paid just under 5 grand. The new one is over $16,000! Urg. Fortunately, we've got money saved up for it. But really?!? 16 grand? Anyway, it will be installed next week so daughter doesn't have to deal with intense heat while we're gone.

And that is the news for now! Until next time...

Live long and prosper. \\//

New WIP

I've finished knitting all the pieces for the mohair cardigan. I just.need to sew it together and do the collar and button bands. No pic of it, yet.

Since I'm at the finishing point, it's time to cast on something new. I've decided a smaller project is in orderso I've cast on a new sweater for Zoey.

The rainbow yarn has a story of sorts.

 

 Recently I noticed that Temu, the discount online store, has yarn. Most of it is made in China.  I'm a curious person by nature, so I decided to order some of their 100% worsted weight Acrylic varigated yarn. It was very reasonably priced at the time. 

It's been a surprise! I love it. It's an amazingly good quality yarn. Well made, nice and soft to the touch, and a joy to work with. It comes in a lot of different color combinations, some exceptionally beautiful. Unfortunately, as I mentioned already, there's no label, and Temu doesn't provide the yardage in each skein. So I've taken an education guess. They're 100 gram skeins, which average about 200+/- yards for worsted weight yarn. 

I have noticed some of the other yarns have yardage in the descriptions. I have bought more of their yarn. They have variegated worsted weight wool too.

I'm planning to make another mohair cardigan, this one for me, in shades of purple. This will be one of the strands to go with the mohair. It comes with a label, but everything is written in Chinese. Rats.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Blue Mohair Update

Just a quick post. I'm making good, if slow, progress on the blue Mohair cardigan. I finished the body a couple weeks ago. 

I immediately cast on the first sleeve and finished it earlier this week. I've got the second sleeve underway.

It will be done soon, hopefully.

We've been having sunny rather warm, weather, but it's summer. This weekend, though, it's rain and clouds. I'm sure the plant life is enjoying it. 

Gotta go.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Morels

 When we first moved here, we could find Morels on occasion in a particular spot in our forest-toward the Northwest corner, but in 1995 we had a freak storm that took down a large portion of our trees. This destroyed the Morel's environment and they just never grew back.

Something really exciting happened last week. My daughter went for a walk and found a large-ish patch of Morels, which are a wild mushroom, in a spot we've never had them before. She picked 2 and brought them to the house to show me. Then she and my husband walked back to the patch and they picked a meal's worth. They were pretty big. I carefully washed them.

They were beautiful and perfect. Not a worm or bug on them. This was the largest one. It's almost 4.5 inches long.

I'd never cooked or eaten Morels. I googled for a basic recipe on how to cook them. I sliced them vertically and sautéed them in just a bit of Olive oil. Just before they were done I added butter and fresh garlic to finish them off. Oh my gosh, they were so good! The absolute best tasting mushrooms I've ever eaten. They were a real treat.

I had a very nice Mothers Day. Usually, we take a drive in the mountains to look at wildflowers, but I was not up to doing that this year. I came down with a couple days before and still wasn't quite feeling ship shape yet. So we went and saw the movie The Sheep Detectives.

It was a wonderful movie and I enjoyed it very much. After the movie, we went to Red Robin for Banzia Burgers. Yum!

My daughter Sarah and her partner Opal sent me flowers for Mothers Day. They're so beautiful.

I redid the wheels on the train cross stitch and I'm happier with them.

I have just a bit of black backstitching left and it'll be done. I will be glad to get it done.

Until next time

Live long and prosper. \\//

Train Engine

 I have a couple WIP updates. First, I've finally cast on the blue mohair cardigan for my daughter.

I have 6 strands of yarn being knit together on size 15 needles. I've cast on 3 times before I finally started knitting it correctly. I messed up my increase after the ribbed welt first. I decided to knit it all in one piece to start rather than 3 separate pieces sewn together. That's why I messed up my decreases. I forgot I was doing the front pieces with the back and didn't increase enough.

Then I discovered I'd forgotten to add the gold metallic thread after the second cast on So I frogged it and cast on with the gold. Now it's right. 

While doing this, I decided I'm going to make myself another one, in purple. I've ordered the yarn for it. 

That's the knitting WIP. I've also made good progress on the cross stitch train. I've done all the back stitching and embellishment on the 2 cars and caboose. They are done. Now I'm working on the engine. I'm putting the large wheels on. They're done with a 1/8th inch metallic silver ribbon. I am not happy how it was looking. The silver ribbon is really flimsy and looks terrible. I can see the stitches behind right through it. Since taking the above picture, I ordered something else to use than the ribbon I had, and I've removed the wheels I'd already done. I'm going to be much happier.

We've had some beautiful weather the last few days. Perfect spring weather in the 70's, blue sky, fluffy clouds, and the flowering trees are blooming. The flowering plum is spectacular!

I've been making time to sit out on the deck and enjoy the weather, but it's getting difficult. The city of Rathdrum owns a dump across the street from us and they started burning trash on Monday. Urg. Ash is falling out of the air like snow. Way to ruin things for us.

I am having problems with my Roomba. It won't stay connected to the internet. If it doesn't stay connected, I can't tell it what saved job to do. I've tried all sorts of things trying to get it to work right to no success. It's been very frustrating. Not sure what to do. Maybe I can set it back to the factory settings, which will delete my programs, but I can redo them. In the meantime, I guess I'll get my regular vacuum cleaner out tomorrow. The floors are getting very dirty.

Well, that's it for now. Until next time...

Live long and prosper. \\//

Catching Up 4/12/2026

 I thought I'd post a bit about what's going on in my life right now. First of all, my husband bought me a new laptop! We did the taxes last week and we're getting a nice refund. YAY! Thus, the new computer. My old Lenovo is getting obsolete because it runs Windows 10 and that's it. It can't support 11, so it's days are numbered. 

He decided to get a Dell 16 DC1625125. He bought it from Amazon and I think I like it. I'm using it right now. One of the things I like about it is the right shift key is in the right spot on the keyboard. The old Lenovo did not have it in the right spot. It has Windows 11 on it so there's gonna be a learning curve. 11 doesn't look or work like 10 at all.

The laptop arrived Friday. I looked at how to get the old stuff from my Lenovo into the Dell hoping there was an easier way to do it than the last time I moved into a new computer. There is software that will do it for you. I looked at the various choices and decided to purchase PC Mover. I was going to do it Saturday, but I felt absolutely horrible that day, so I didn't get to it until this morning. Let me tell you, it was worth the price! I had to install the program on both computers, then I clicked on the start button and it WORKED! It was super easy and now everything from the Lenovo is on my Dell. All the apps, programs, files, pictures, and everything else. There were two small problems I had to solve. The first one was it said I needed to install a utility program in order for one of my programs to work. I clicked on install, and it tried, but it said something else was using it right then, so it couldn't install it, which makes no sense to me. It said it would try again later.

The second issue I had was with the pre-installed Microsoft web browser, called Edge. Of course, it set itself up right away and I used it to get everything downloaded and going for the transfer. After installation of everything, it wouldn't let me visit Facebook with my web browser of choice, Chrome. It kept saying it didn't exist. I had to change some settings, including setting Chrome to be my default browser, and then going to the Facebook website and signing out on the old computer, then signing in on the new computer. It seems to be working now. We'll see how it goes.

I have been doing a lot of cross stitching on the train. I have all the cross stitches done on the train itself and I'm working on the tracks now.

The local spring wildflowers are starting to bloom. The Squill down the hill is in full bloom. It's so pretty!

I love the shade of blue.

A few weeks ago my husband and Ruth went for a walk and took Zoey with them. Husband made a bunch of walking trails on the property during the winter since there wasn't any snow in the woods and we needed someplace to walk that was safe. Anyway, when they got back Zoey was limping her left back leg. No one saw how she injured herself, unfortunately, because I would like to know. I took her to our veterinarian and the doctor said Zoey's sprained her equivalent of the groin muscle. She said keep her indoors for a couple weeks and gave us some painkillers for her. She was doing fairly good at the end of the two weeks, but now she's limping and in quite a bit of pain again. She's been tearing around the yard, and walking with husband. I don't know if I should take her to the vet again or not. We're out of painkiller now. I'm a bit frustrated.

Well, that's about it for now. Until next time...

Live long and prosper. \\//

Pearls and Cubes

 I have a new necklace and bracelet set.

This is from a Facebook video tutorial for a bracelet here:  Easy and Elegant Beaded Bracelet 

I used the same tutorial to make the necklace too.

It's done with 2-needle cubic right angle weave. I used Preciosa 4mm AB Clear bicone crystals, 4mm glass Ivory pearls, 4mm Purple Velvet cube crystals and 2mm gold plated round beads.

I used this inexpensive box clasp on both pieces. It's super easy to put on.

This is the bracelet.

I have been knitting. I felt the need to take a break and do something small and easy, so I'm doing this scarf.

I don't need a scarf. I already have several and I don't wear them very often, but the stitch pattern looks so intriguing I had to make it.

We've been having quite a few visits from the local wild life. I got this picture of a large flock of wild Turkeys that have showed up a couple times now. There are 30 in the flock. They were eating the bird seed that a fat bratty squirrel dumped on the ground by opening the top of the feeder and turning it over.

I wish I could make that squirrel go away. He's been a real pain in the neck this winter.

Speaking of winter, last weekend we had a big snow storm and we got about 14 inches of snow out of it. We were told it was going to be about an inch. Boy, did the weather guys get that one wrong. It has all melted away rather quickly. The temperature was up over 60F on Friday, but it was cloudy with occasional showers.

That's the news for now.

Live long and prosper \\//

New Project

 Guess what I got to do yesterday? Knit outside, in the sunshine! The temperature was well over 50F. It was a beautiful day, so I dragged my camping chair out and set it up in front of the garage. It was blissful! 

I put together everything I need for my next project which will be a mohair cardigan I promised to make Ruth over a year ago. Here are the yarns I've chosen.

When I closed my shop back in 2006, I brought some yarns home. This is one of them. It's a sport weight Navy Mohair with a multi blue novelty thread with little puffs on it. I purchased two other yarns to go with. A plain royal blue Drops silk/mohair that is sport weight, and Lion Brand Heartland in Olympic which is blue.

I've made this cardigan before in 2011.

Me in my orange mohair cardigan.

I worked on the test swatch yesterday. Pattern calls for 2 bulky weight yarns, and 2 carrying threads as well as size 15 needles. I used 3 strands of the novelty mohair, 2 strands of the plain blue mohair, and 1 strand of Lion Brand Heartland in blue. The gauge was way off. I needed 8 stitches in 3.5 inches, I had 6, so I removed 1 strand of the novelty mohair and tried again. Got perfect gauge!

Half knit swatch

I can't cast on just yet though. I've ordered a thin metallic gold thread to knit into it. It won't change the gauge. Just add a little sparkle, which this pattern needs.

That's it for now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Beading WIP

 I didn't get the mittens done last week because I'm being distracted by beading. I'm almost done with this pearl and czech bead necklace.

 The pattern is here: Necklace tutorial

I am using 3mm glass pearls and some 6mm Czech glass beads. So I've modified it a bit.

Last week I took Zoey to the vet. She went for a walk in the woods with my husband and daughter and came back with a slight limp. No one saw her hurt herself. I figured she pulled a muscle and would be fine in a few days. Nope. It was getting worse. So, to the vet we went.

Turns out she's sprained her groin muscle pretty badly. She's been put on a painkiller and we have to keep her quiet and indoors for 2 weeks. Ugh! So far, so good. She's been very well behaved and isn't fighting the pills I'm giving her at all.

Still no snow. It's been in the 40s during the day. We've had rain, but not much. A new gal came to our weekly knitting group at the library and she said something about winter not being too bad around here. We all were quick to tell her this winter is a freak. Not normal. Don't get used to it. 

Speaking of the Rathdrum Library knitting group, we're suddenly getting knitting visitors to our meetings. Not everyone who comes joins the group, but we've had 2 people join in the last month. They are great gals and fit in to the group wonderfully.

Another library development I haven't blogged about is the problems the library is having. Some extremist Christian Nationalist got voted to the board of trustees and they are wreaking havoc! They are trying to ban books and destroy the library system. They started by refusing an annual donation given every year to help the libraries out. They shut down the community book sharing system so books can't be sent to other libraries in the county. Then they laid off a whole lot of employees because there's not enough money. After that they changed the hours so it's not open as much, including being closed on Sunday and Monday because of "lack of money". Yet, when offered the money they needed, it was turned down! They've been talking about having a "Smut Room" for the books they have tried to ban. Now they've decreed that we must have a chaperone at every group meeting held in the library. So now we have a girl young enough to be my granddaughter keeping an eye on us every time we meet, and she doesn't even knit! 

The new rule is extremely insulting. Our group doesn't need someone keeping an eye on us. We're not children! 

In addition, they are working to get a law passed making librarians responsible and liable if a child checks out an inappropriate book. This includes jail time! This is so unreasonable, and downright crazy! There are safeguards already to prevent children from doing that. In addition, it's the parents job to keep their own children from reading something they don't approve. Local people, rightly, are unhappy with what is going on. I expect the next board of trustees election will make some changes. 

We've had several of these people get into local political agencies and they've caused no end of trouble. They got on the board for North Idaho College and did so much damage the college almost lost it's accreditation! Fortunately there is a huge backlash from the public and these people are getting voted OUT! Meanwhile, there's so much damage to be repaired. It's a Trump town. No doubt about it. I wish they would all move away and leave us alone. We'll keep fighting them until they are all out of local government positions.

Live long and prosper. \\//

A Pretty Little Necklace

 I mentioned I'd made a necklace a day or two ago. Here it is.

The Facebook video tutorial is here: Elegance-192

I used gold size 11 seed beads and 4mm Bicone clear AB crystals to make it. Also some gold chain. It's the first time I've used chain in my jewelry.

The pattern has you use a crystal teardrop for the focal bead, but I didn't have any, so I used this glass bead instead. Someone gave it to me about 15 years ago.

It was surprisingly easy and quick to make. I've ordered teardrops do I can make more.

I have more progress on the mittens. Getting excited about having them done.

We had a beautiful day today. Got up to 45F with sunshine, blue skies, and the occasional fluffy white clouds drifting over. I was going to go sit out in the sun for awhile, but I had too much to do today. Maybe next time.

Zoey is still limping so I've made an appointment at the vets at 8:20 a.m. tomorrow. I'll let y'all know the results.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Current WIPs

My plans to post last Wednesday were overruled by life, so I will do it now. I have two WIPs to present today. First is the sock I'm working on . 

It's been going a little slow, partly because I'm not in a hurry, partly because I'm writing down every step as I go along so it will be easy to write up as a pattern when I'm done. I'm using the Mock Short Row Heel in this pair and found that no one has actually written up instructions on how to do it. Just video tutorials, so that will be part of my pattern. I might publish the heel instructions separately as a tutorial here too. In the meantime, the prototype will be a Christmas present. I'm starting extra early this year.

The second project is a Christmas stocking for Zoey. 

I'm not sure why I chose this one for her. The snowman is just so cute. I am having a problem with it. The ink is bleeding on the white pieces. I've never had that happen before.

 This kit is fairly old and out of print. I found it on Ebay for a very reasonable price. Apparently they used this brown ink way back when and it is known to run. It's all over the thread as well as on the white felt. I've done some Googling and found out this is "normal" and I can easily wash it out when the stocking is done. I found washing instructions on the Bucilla web site too. I'm happy to say they don't use the brown ink anymore.

I did not notice there's a fold in the middle of the stocking until I saw this picture. I will steam it out before going any further.

So that's what I'm working on.

I had an excellent Mothers Day. We went to Giorgi's for lunch, then took a nice drive. Usually we go up into the National forest to see the wild flowers, but I didn't want to do that because it was supposed to be a rainy day. My husband wanted to drive the Prius. I said "No off-roading". We decided to go over Thompson Pass. We took a northern route to highway 202, then east to a small town in Montana, then turned for home and drove over the pass. I've never been on that drive in the spring. It was incredibly beautiful! The fields in Montana were so green. The grass is short too. It looked like all of the state had just been freshly mowed, and the wildflowers! They were fantastic! On our way home, we stopped at a convenience store to use the restroom. When we got back in the car, hubby pushed the Start button and all hell broke loose. Warning bells rang and messages flashed on the screens, accompanied by the Check Engine light. There was a message that told us the hybrid system was malfunctioning and to contact our Toyota dealer immediately. Well, they weren't open at that time, so we chose to go ahead and try driving home, stopping at Applebee's for dinner on the way. We made it just fine with no problems.

This morning I woke up and there was a new text from Toyota on my phone. My car had texted them that something was wrong with the hybrid system and would I like to schedule an appointment? I called them. My appointment is on the 20th. I've been reassured it's okay to drive the car, so it can't be too serious. I am feeling a little bit weirded out that my car is sending texts to Toyota without consulting with me first though.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Update on WIPs

 Life has been rather difficult for me of late. I'm struggling but getting through it. My cats have been the worst. Merino is not using the litter box. He's been violating all the furniture. In concern, I've taken him to the vet several times and spent hundreds of dollars on tests only to be told he's healthy as a horse. The consensus is it's Anxiety. He's being bullied by my other two cats quite a bit, plus winter. My cats hate winter. Merino has stopped going outside entirely. So he's been started on Gabapentin. My couch is covered in aluminum foil to keep the cats off. So now he's going all over the floor, his beds, and any box he can get himself into. I'm so glad we got rid of the carpet in this house and installed bamboo.

On one of the trips to the vet, he peed all over my daughter IN THE CAR! It took 2 upholstery cleanings and 2 thorough sprays of Clorox Scentiva (fabric sanitizer), but I was successful in getting the smell out completely. The house, on the other hand...ugh. I am soooooooooo tired of cleaning up cat messes. The Gabapentin better work or I'm going to have to take drastic action because this is not something I can live with.

When we got home from the vet that day, he was soaked in pee. I had to give him a bath. I've never given him a bath. I prepared myself for possible dying by blood loss, filled the kitchen sink, and pushed him in. Oddly, he didn't struggle or scratch me! He succumbed to the attack and let me bath him. However, he made the most horrible sounds I've every heard from a cat. He was very very very pissed off and told me that in no uncertain terms. I told him if he's gonna get himself pee soaked, he's gettin' a bath. It's his own fault. I'm thankful for the lack of blood loss too.

Between that and what's happening in our government, I've found myself fighting off Panic Attacks. I'm pretty scared right now. I never thought I would be on the edge of living in a possible dictatorship ever in my lifetime. Our own government has turned on it's people. It's shocking!

That being said, I'm steadily working on 2 projects right now. They're actually keeping me sane. The feather and fan afghan is over halfway there. I have actually started on the second skeins of yarn for all colors.

I've had to move the project into a large "temporary" bag that I bought from Ikea because it doesn't fit in any of my knitting totes now. I have 3 of these bags. They've come in very handy.

I've also been working on Choo Choo Santa. Man, are there a lot of tiny pieces to deal with! I don't think I've had a kit with this many pieces before.

It's been fun, though. It's going to be so cute when it's done.

We had some pretty cold weather since my last post. The new furnace has turned out to be very good. Our winter power bill is considerably less that last year. Now a warm period is moving in. Since last weekend we've had temps in the upper 40's and lower 50's. The coming Sunday is supposed to be almost 60. I can hardly wait. The snow is completely off the deck, so sitting in the sun is on my mind.

On Saturday, we're going in to our local Toyota dealer to talk about that blue Prius we've been talking about purchasing. They've had one on order for several weeks, but it arrived in the US this week. It's in port on the Oregon coast waiting to get through customs. I'm hoping to put a payment on it so it's mine when it arrives here. I've contacted the dealership and let them know I'm wanting it.

I took this picture this morning.

For the first time, the sunrise was coming in the house through the window. Zoey enjoyed it so much.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Catching Up

I'm going to catch up on the needle crafting first. Current WIPs.

I am making good progress on my Feather and Fan afghan. It's been a joy to work on.

It's been a very nice break from the really complicated stuff I've been knitting. I really like the yarn too. It's very good quality. It is Mary Maxim's Maximum Value.

I ordered a Bucilla Felt Stocking kit to make for my daughter-in-law. It occurred to me that her stocking has Frank on it, instead of her new name. So I've set Zoey's stocking aside for the time being. The new stocking is a picture of Santa riding a train. It's pretty cute. Here's where I am with it. 

This is the first kit where the name comes first. I find that interesting. There's a lot of tiny pieces in this kit too. It's going to take some time.

Next is the counted cross stitch project I'm making for Christmas.

The picture is 24 by 9 inches in size in 14 count, which is rather large. The train, though, doesn't have a whole lot of detail so it should go quicker than my usual projects. The fabric is a pale gray. I gridded the fabric, as you can see, using leftover thread from the finished stocking of last month. It took me 3 days. Worth it though. It makes counting the stitches so much easier.

I have good news. Hubs and I decided to apply to start collecting our Social Security and we both have been approved. I got my first payment 2 weeks ago. Yay! Yarn money! We're talking about buying me a new Prius and using my SS to pay for it. 

There have been a lot of changes in the Prius the last 3 or 4 years. It's now a fancy sports car and they go for $40 Grand. I don't know if I want to spend that much on a car. 

In the meantime, my car needs some minor repairs. A couple sensors have gone out. Doesn't prevent me from driving it, but if I want to keep it that way, I need to get them fixed. By the way, if we do get a new one, it won't be red. I want blue. So far, our local Toyota dealer has only had silver, grey, and dark grey ones. Last week they had 12 in stock, all in those colors. Ugh. They sold quick.

Looking around town, I have to say the economy is doing better than the media and government have been saying. There's lots and lots of new cars on the road. I can't believe how many Tesla's are around now.

Remember when I was sick around Thanksgiving and ended up with a cold and a cough? I had just found the solution to the chronic cough I'd been living with for 8 years. I had all of what? 3 weeks of peace? I kept hoping the cough would go away, but it only got worse. Last Monday I saw a doctor. I have a bad case of bronchitis so he's given me antibiotic, cough medicine, and prednisone to help with my breathing. The cough is going away. I'm looking forward to it being gone.

I got myself a new plant, which is living on the bathroom windowsill. It's an Echeveria "Perle von Nurnberg" which is a succulent that will get purple as it gets bigger. Right now it's just a baby.

The weather is cold and snowy. Winter started snowing on us about 5 days ago and we've got almost a foot out in the yard. It's been snowing all day long. The days of the coming week are going to drop in temperature. Highs in the low to mid 20F's and lows to -7F. Now we'll find out if the new furnace is worth it.

That's it for now, except I took a selfie. Yes, that's me.

Live long and prosper. \\//