First big catch

*Spoiler alert for the in-laws, I just can't keep it to myself.*
When I got back from visiting Julia, Nate said, "Are you ever going to make something for G-baby again?"
Its a bluegill.
I made it up.
I don't mean to boast, but it is kind of awesome. I'm kind of proud of it.

While the cat's away...

We freak the heck out.
I accidentally let the cat out last week. I know that this seems like not a big deal. But he is an indoor kitty! We live in the wilderness! Remember this?! That's nothing compared to what else is out there (in my imagination)!
Seriously though, there are 4 types of poisonous venomous snakes in the United States. Of those 4 types, 4 live in Arkansas. Seriously!!
Sometimes raccoons come and get in the trash! They are vicious!
There are real feral cats that live out there!
And big dogs!
Poisonous spiders!
Scorpions!
Killer chipmunks!!
...wait a second.
That's about how my day went. Some tears, some calls to Nate, some comfort from my mom in the form of, "It'll be ok, one time Waldo* ran away and came back after three days! Wait, he won't be gone that long, I mean, I know he'll be back very soon."
The kitty was gone for about 12 hours. We searched all over for him, but he finally wandered back after dark.

He was awfully smug when he finally came back.
But look how dusty!
We immediately found a tick on him and pulled it off, then checked for more.
We decided that he definitely needed a bath.
I took pictures, but they do not come close to capturing the awesomeness of the event.
He was so upset.
I thought that the bath experience would be associated with his romp in the wilderness and therefore discouraging any future frolics or associations with the outdoors.
I was wrong.

*childhood dog

Fruit

We found a berry patch very close to us. It was a really nice morning on Saturday and its blue- and blackberry season, so we took advantage. It is a beautiful property where they grow flowers and berries to sell. Heaven? Maybe, but we were in and out pretty easily. Heaven on Wye Mountain, at least.
I'm sure there was more than I realized, but I saw blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, sunflowers, zinnias, and black-eyed susans. And huge white hollyhocks covering the electric meter! And on top of all that, their personal garden was beautiful!
First we started at the blueberries.Blueberries are so easy to pick. You just kinda shake the branch and gently pull and before you know it:They are so good, and big!

Then we headed over to the blackberries:

These were easier to pick than the last blackberries I picked.


We froze these:

But I have been using these:
For fruit pops! They are so good!



And for smoothies!
And for muffins that I forgot to take pictures of!


For you cat-lovers, this is what kitty does when it is so hot:
Looks all dejected and like he collapsed in front of the a/c unit.

In which I get carried away...

So. I have made some more things for baby Julia, and since most of you actually know me in the real world, you know that I just got to meet her for the first time! I had a lovely trip and Mom and I spent a few days with S and T and J. We did laundry, ate, watched the baby, held the baby, and did a little shopping.
The bro and sis-in-law are very proud of their little nugget, and she is as cute as can be. After a total of four great-grandchildren on one side, and eight on the other, the charm of a new baby is still fresh for everyone. It's fun. More about why babies are awesome another time. I have lots of reasons. More about the trip another time too.
I've been busy stitching for that sweet girl, so I wanted to share.
A dress. Pattern here. I started this immediately upon finding out she was a she.

A bear hat. Pattern here. I started this a while ago and added the flowers after she was a she, or, you know what I mean.
Booties. Pattern here. I made some modifications. I made 5 of these booties on my plane ride. Easy peasy, zippity do da.

A wool soaker for use with cloth diapers. Pattern here. For info about wool soakers, go here. I started these two weeks ago, ish.Mom helped me pick out the buttons.
A cotton diaper cover. Because it's cute, not functional in the diapering way. Pattern here. I gave this to Trisha at the shower, did I already show it to you? I don't remember.

And because I'm not ashamed to admit design flaws or when things go wrong...
When her toes popped through, they kept saying, "I am a GI-ANT!!"

Been busy

Stay tuned for more details...

Turf Wars, reptile edition

I was going to post these pictures and tell you that I was now at peace with Mother Nature. After the fire ant incident of a few weeks ago, I felt like you all would think I was going all rambo on nature.
When the kitty and I first saw this guy (actually, I think its a gal) in front of our house last week, I was pretty freaked out and the kitty was in intense slow stalk mode (from the front porch, mind you). Nate wanted me to take a picture so he could see what kind it was.



Come to find out, it is a speckled king-snake. They are really good at killing predatory snakes, so in a way I was ok with it existing in my world.

Fastforward:
Over the weekend Nate and I were weeding and mulching the rhubarb and strawberry patch. They are in a terraced bed out front by the water. I was kneeling on the wooden edge pulling out weeds and spreading mulch. When I stood up, this snake fell out of the wood on to my flip-flopped foot and tried to get away from me as fast as I from it. Nate took a stick and shooed it away.
I asked Nate if he thought it might have built a nest in there and he assured me that the snake hadn't, no way there was enough room for that.
The next morning as I was watering, I saw a big burrow hole and some broken eggs in the area there.
After we went fishing that night, I showed them to Nate. We walked away from it and Nate stepped on the snake and it spun back and tried to bite him.
We both screamed and ran up the hill.
Sunday morning after getting back from work, Nate saw a black rat snake hanging out by the mailbox.
We were at peace with one snake wandering around our yard from time to time, but we are not in the business of fostering a snake sanctuary here. We have a kitty to worry about who sneaks out the front door from time to time, and loves fishing in the boat. We have to be down on our hands and knees weeding our garden out back and the beds out front.
So, on the way home from house church on Sunday evening, we bought these.
Rambo's back.
The end.

Because sometimes...

...bad decisions should be memorialized.
At the risk of the SPCA or the Humane Society coming after us, I'll go ahead and show you these pictures.
Nate wanted to see if the cat would like the water.

Aquakitty

It was not an altogether satisfying experience for the kitty.
I wrote before about the cat being a barometer for clear and present danger. You can also gauge the kitty's comfort level be how tightly his tail is wrapped around his body. The closer the tail, the more frightened the cat. It was tightly coiled in all these pictures.
Nate's shirt did not survive this excursion. But no kitties were harmed in this experiment, physically at least.
What's that sound? It's my mother in law I hear laughing from all the way north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Let it grow, let it grow

Listen here.

Now view the following:

l to r: beans, tomatoes (with a couple basil), peppers

basil

tomato in the making

beet

the first 5 beans
Turns out, magic beans aren't such a stretch after all.

Food for thought

I am a crafter. I try to be creative.
One of the things I like most about the internet is the ability to share creativity. Sites like ravelry, etsy, and various blogs make it so easy to gain inspiration from others or offer your support to another creative person by buying their product or giving them encouragement.
I came across these two blog posts separately, but they are about the same things. Credit to whom credit and all that. I wanted to share not because I can completely empathize with the plight, but because with the internet it is SO EASY to support the little guy or gal who is trying to share their art.
I'm not saying that we should be able to copyright or protect every little thing that comes off the needles, out of the sewing machine, etc. I'm just saying that there are a lot of resources for handmade, and it seems to be all the rage.
For the record, I think the second example I provided is much more compelling than the first.
So, if you are interested you might want to start here:

Anatomy of a trending topic

I have not read anything else on this blog, but it was linked on another I read. I thought it was interesting.
After you read that, then read post from this gal:

Just saying.

I can give you my whole-hearted endorsement of this blog, because she is brilliant and I've been following her for over a year just so that I can look at something gorgeous and original every few days.

You can see a more detailed follow-up here.