Rainy Day Shenanigans

First off, I hope that those of you having fun at M$&W are dry and full of yummy food, trying to stuff your loot into trunks of cars and suitcases. I just remember the journey home from that adventure, as so many years ago it seems, with a taut carry-on that contained THREE fleeces! It was so much fun and a leap of faith to go, meeting internet friends for the first time. I hope that there is a whole new wave of that going on this weekend and I wish my vendor/artisan friends empty boxes for the journey home.

We picked up OUR boxes from Amtrak this morning and it took them 4 days to get them to Sacramento from Atlanta. That includes two trains, other than the one that began the journey on Monday. Not bad. Of course this time the boxes were not put on pallets (note to self...do not watch those nutty people THROW THE PALLETS AWAY!!!) and of course the boxes were a little bit worse for wear. No damage to contents but broken boxes, all the same. SIGH. Now the box contents have been put away, for the most part and in the morning I can pull stuff from stock for orders. That makes me dance a jig, after having to dye to order for all of these weeks. WHEW!

The May rain has taken us a bit by surprise, even though it was forecast by the powers that be. I had the house to myself last evening and was amazed to hear the sound of rain DUMPING outside when I headed to bed. We awoke to find that there had been 2 inches in 24 hours, which is not HUGE by Healdsburg standards (they see 5 inches at times) but for us, with the saturated ground, this means that the creeks have waterfalls, once again. Fabulous. The well is taken care of and the trees can perhaps have some way to drown those &%#$@& bark beetles. I'll take it, thank you VERY much.

We did have crews here the other day, cutting or topping (!) several trees on the property lines (we have no fences) because their health made them vulnerable enough to threaten power lines. The power company pays to have tree cutters roam the foothills and mountains in search of targets. One particularly large Ponderosa Pine that was toppled turned out to be 62 years old when it succumbed to those beetles. I could pull back the bark and see the small beetles and the jillions of progeny mining the cambrium layer of that poor tree. We hope that the rain and subsequent water takeup by the trees will make it too wet of an environment for these tiny monsters that threaten our forests. We are lucky to have a mixed forest, with said pines as well as Cedar, Douglas Fir, Black Oak, Mountain Maple and a couple of prized Sugar Pines. That being said, I would mourn the loss of some of these big old trees. The woodpeckers are doing their best to feast on the bugs, peeling the bark, but they are too slow to save them all.

Well, I think that I will go snag some of the new baby alpaca/cashmere top that I premiered at Atlanta and give it a whirl on the Rose. I cleaned up my spinning corner and so I deserve a little spinning pleasure!

Comments

[vanessa]

we have lost most of our pines to those bloody beetles also :-(

[AlisonH]

Baby alpaca/cashmere top? And it's not on your pages yet. Teasing us like that!

[CarolineF]

Baby alpaca/cashmere? Thank goodness it's not on your website.
Maryland was fun and Sheila seemed to be having a good time too. Come back sometime!

[Miranda]

OOhhh... baby alpaca/cashmere top... my 11-year old son scored some baby camel/silk for his drop spindle at MDSW (the kid has great taste) but I didn't... will be watching and waiting for yours to come up on your site!