Dear Soon-To-Be-Former (but not nearly soon enough for me) Governor Doyle:

Good-bye, good riddance and don’t let the door smack you on the backside on your way out.

I hope the dairy industry and/or public safety have a nice big cushy chairmanship waiting for you.  I’ll bet you’ll be getting a nice fat paycheck for having your name on some board of directors with no actual effort involved.  Why else would you choose to have your legacy remembered as the Governor that killed the family farm and criminalized healthy food?  Here I thought I was living in a democracy where the people had a say.  Turns out I live in a state where the governor can be bought by the highest bidder.  I hope you are pleased with yourself. 

If you weren’t purchased by Big Ag, then you heard Public “Health” telling you the sky was falling and ran into the cellar like a good little chicken little.  That would mean that you think I am too stupid to decide what is healthy and safe for myself and my family.  I hope not.  That is probably the only thing that would piss me off more than having an elected official living in Big Ag’s pocket.

Yours truly,

KittyMommy

Horicon

On the way home from the WPA homeschooling conference a week ago, we stopped at the Horicon Marsh, which is a huge wetland area.  Part of the marsh is managed as a National Wildlife Refuge and another part as a State Wildlife Refuge.  In the National Wildlife Refuge, there is the “Horicon Tern-pike” which, in addition to being a terrible pun, is a motor loop through the Refuge, complete with interpretive signs to stop and read.  Also, partway through is a parking area with a floating boardwalk that makes a nice short hike though part of the marsh and then back through woodland.  A fun side trip for Mother’s Day!

Lot of lovely scenery and a beautiful day for seeing it!

Trillium in bloom in the woods

Muskrat house seen from the floating boardwalk.

One of many turtles seen from the floating boardwalk.  A bit of “Where’s Waldo?” was involved to spot ‘em.

Goslings!  Babies!  Fuzzy and cute!

A couple of beautiful birds.  We saw zillions of different kinds of birds, but these were the only ones besides the geese that I could captures with my little camera.  The pros had their big gonzo fancy pants lenses.

Biker Dude

Yeah, that would be my itty-bitty baby on a great big two-wheeler.  He hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it, but we have discovered that if he goes left from the driveway instead of right, there is just enough of a slope so he can coast and practice balancing.  He can get it once in a while, so one of these days it will just click and off he’ll go.  If he get frustrated and the bike starts gathering dust, we may get him a pair of training wheels.  “Wheel” see!  ~snort~ (I’m glad I amuse myself).

We got the bike at Dream Bikes up in Madison, which was pretty awesome.  We got a really nice used Trek for not a lot of money, and at-risk kids are getting jobs learning how to rehab, maintain, and sell bikes.  Miss Bean is lobbying pretty hard for a bike, too.  She’ll need training wheels, I’m pretty sure.  Being mama’s girl, she’ll probably need them until she’s a teenager.  Okay, mine really weren’t on that long, it just felt that way.

ETA:  Yes, that is Beeb in the middle distance and Bean is on the trike with a friend in the far distance.  I don't think it biggifies enough to make that out though.

Whatever happened to gray?

**Note: Brief pet peeve rant ahead.  Feel free to skip it if you’re feeling cranky already.  I have posts with pictures coming up very soon, I promise.  They already exist as title and picture.  They just need, well, those word things**

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like a good clear black and white issue as well as anyone.  I think we can all agree that putting kittens in the microwave is bad; refraining from such behavior is good*.  Black and white.  Easy-peasy.  Everybody happy.  Well except for some psychopath who wants to microwave kittens, but I digress. 

The problem is, real life is rarely that clear-cut.  Unfortunately there are just too dang many folks out there that can’t be bothered by messy details like gray.  It especially bothers me when it becomes Us vs. Them.  Or, add in the anonymity of the interwebs and hop on the crazy train.  Don’t get me wrong, I am always up for a good, well-rounded argument based on crazy little things like, well, reality, facts, or logic.  And while I obviously think that I’m right about everything and everyone should agree with me, I also concede that world would be pretty boring (and probably more than a little frightening) if we were all alike.

Bah.  I truly hope the raw milk bill passes the Wisconsin Assembly and that Governor Doyle signs it promptly.  (And no, this isn’t just about raw milk…I could fill up the entire internet with example after example, but I’ll spare you the agony). Then maybe I can pull my head out of the current events stream for a bit and focus on things that really matter, like cute two-year-olds who love “Indy Done (rhymes with stone)” and “bye-kulls” (Bug got his first two-wheeler, more on that later, I promise) and sweet five-year-olds that bring me dandelion bouquets and clever seven-year-olds who uses his sword fighting technique to play germs and macrophages (Cowboys and Indians is *SO* 1950’s).

*Oops.  Must be crabbier than I thought.  I had “bad” and “good” swapped the first time around.  Glad I caught it before I hit publish!

Sheepies, Tie-dye, and a little gratuitous yarn pr0n

First, a better picture to clarify the whole nekkid sheep thing.  This is Mrs. Shearling, with wool (L) and au naturel (R).  There is also a new addition to the flock:

I would like to introduce Vegetarian Sheep.  I didn’t have my black yarn at Late Night last week, so he didn’t get a face right away, but I have since decided to keep this way and name him Vegetarian Sheep.  He is a special little guy made just for those vegetarians who love the great taste of mutton, but refuse to eat anything with a face.  And a group picture of the whole flock:

Abrupt change of subject…

Miss Bean got a tie-dye kit from the Easter bunny, so she and I tied and dyed this week.  She had a pack of five T-shirts and we did all five.  All three kids wore them yesterday and again today (the one Beeb is wearing is on it’s second day, but he has another one underneath, so we are treating it as an accessory)

She had a great time doing them and is already hankering for more tie-dye.  I have a feeling that an order from Dharma Trading may be in our future.

And last, but not least, Bean and I had our weekly girl-time at the Sow’s Ear last weekend.  They had eggs (with discounts AND chocolate) hidden around the store and we spent a pleasant afternoon knitting (me) and drawing pictures (her) with a couple other of our “girls,” Dale-Harriet and MollyBees.  Between the discount and my accumulated loyalty points, these little lovelies came home with me

I have a super-secret stealth project in mind for the light brown, but the green will just be a pet for the time being.  Both are Malabrigo worsted and VERY soft and cuddly

This post is rated PG-13 for brief ovine nudity

MollyBees, it’s all your fault.  See what you started?

Yeah, it’s just two now…but that’s how it all starts.  Innocently at first, but before you know it, I’m down at the Ear offering to trade plasma for just one more skein of natural DK weight.  And look…you can shear them too:

The mama, Mrs. Shearling, is at the left and the baby, Lambert, is on the right.  Mrs. Shearling is DK weight bare from Knit Picks.  Lambert is a wool-silk blend of bare fingering weight, also from Knit Picks.  I believe that his great-grandpappy was a silk worm.  Not sure of the logistics there and I’m afraid if I conjecture, I may lose my PG-13 rating and get upped to R.

Bad Karma

The good news is that the one of the caterpillars we adopted last August survived the chrysalis.

The bad news is that after overwintering, we weren’t really paying attention as days got longer and the house was generally warmer than outside and he (she?) emerged.  We haven’t a clue when he emerged as he was dead and stiff by the time we discovered him.

The good news is that it was much easier to get good pictures and confirm that he looks like a Black Swallowtail.

The bad news is that I now have to add “Butterfly murderer” to my CV.

A Finished Object

Just in time for spring, some extremely springy socks!  These are Trekking hand painted and the pattern is Leyburn (Rav link).  I love ‘em!  This is the second pair of Leyburn socks I have knitted.  The first pair seems as if it would fit my foot and ankle perfectly, but I cant get the cuffs and legs over my sticky-outy heels.  Now that Beeb isn’t as likely to wander off at the park, I think I will be more productive sock-wise again!  I’m almost done with another sock since finishing these.  We’ll not from beginning to end…it’s the Kitty Man socks that I have been working on and destroying needles for around two years.  If I can keep from breaking more needles and/or losing my project bag, these might actually get finished soon!

And try not to faint from surprise that I have posted two days in a row.  My goal is to get back to posting more (or less) regularly.  The biggest obstacle to posting more is never remembering to take my camera with me.  Working on it…

Spring

We are loving the springy weather we’ve been having!  Last week we spent as much time outdoors as we possibly could.  While Bug and Bean were at their Aldo Leopold Nature Center class learning about maple syrup on Tuesday, Beeb and I got the groceries and then hung out at a nearby park.  We spent most of Wednesday afternoon at our favorite state park.  And Thursday morning was our first park day with our homeschooling buddies.  Even though it snowed several inches overnight Friday, most of it was gone by yesterday afternoon and we were back to lovely weather.

Bean and I took advantage of spring and spent some time cuddling lambies and other baby animals at the A-Z Farm Lambing Barn.  The animals were adorable, but I remembered why we haven’t been there for a couple of years.  TOO MANY people!  But, oh, were the babies adorable!  AND Ms. Bean got to pet a horse.  She is all about the horses these days.

We are also thinking spring gardening thoughts.  We made some paper pots for seedlings last week and hope to be planting some of our seeds this week!  We also put some onions in our garden.  I am so ready for green!

Let the sun shine in!

This looks like a nice place to have a knitting blog...

...except for the incredible dearth of all things fiber related.  I have been doing fibery things, just not blogging about them.  First a quick catch-up on finished objects.

Starting at top left:
1.  Penguin dishcloth, finished 1/13/09 (Yeah, I'm that far behind.  Deal with it.)
2.  I love you dishcloth, finished 2/13/09
3.  Beeb's Peace Fleece hat, finished 1/22/09
4.  Bean's Fish Hat, finished 2/28/09
5.  Raspberry Charade Socks, finished 6/27/09
6.  Beeb Shorties, finished 6/28/09
7.  Beeb Shorties, finished 7/17/09
8.  Leyburn Socks, finished 8/21/09
9.  Bean Water Bottle holder, finished 12/02/09
10.  Sweater for Missy, finished 2/12/10
11.  Scrubby, finished 2/12/10
12.  Beeb Shorties, finished 2/12/10

There are also a couple of other things finished that need pictures yet (one is a biggie!).  I'll get them up eventually, and hopefully before I'm over a year behind!  Coming soon...the last of the past due FOs, a spinning FO, some knitting/crocheting WIPs as I figure out what's next, and hopefully some more regular posting.