about a year ago, i started this shawl – the mystic waters shawl – but it’s been in this same state for about six months now, wow. i’m determined to complete it as soon as possible though because… she’s pregnant! this will be her first (!) and we’re all so excited for the new little one. the baby’s due sometime at the end of march so there’s time to finish this, but considering how big a shawl it is and that i’m knitting it on size 2 needles to boot, there’s no time to waste. plus i would like her to enjoy it in the winter months too, pre-baby and all, of course.

i’m a fixer, a troubleshooter, i can figure things out and find the answers. that’s my job as a librarian, as a code tinkerer on this website and others, as the curious girl i was then and am now. lately though, big and little things have fallen apart. things put off for too long are coming to haunt me and worse. things that as a 20 year old i could excuse on ignorance perhaps are no longer tolerable.

nyagous tomatos fruiting, hooray. and blondkopfchen tomato flowers getting ready to burst into bloom – that’s quite a lot of tomatos-to-be! all the tomato plants were grown from seed by me, so i’m very proud of them.

i came across these pics on my mom’s computer last night, they must have been from five years ago or so.. i came home from l.a. for a visit and during that time i helped my dad fill the horse barn with feed and we took a bunch of pics, my mom was there too. anyhow, filling up the barn is something that needs doing every couple of months or so – depending on how many bags of feed we get of course. the two horses eat a 50 lb. bag of feed in two days at least, so it’s always the more bags the better. with the new little truck we have, with the small bed, i can only fit about twenty bags of feed, but with the old one, shown here, my dad would pack in 40, 50 bags. anyhow, here’s how it’s done, courtesy of my dad.