Autumn Leaves

That's the name of the shawl Lexi is modeling here. I mentioned it a few posts ago. I donated it to the Art Guild for the silent auction at the Gourd Festival. When I dropped in there about noon Saturday, there was one bid - for $30. I had said that if the first bid was not at least $25 I wanted it back. I hope there were more bids on it. People seem to forget that the purpose of a benefit auction is not to get something cheaply, but rather to raise money for the sponsoring organization.

Last weekend's storm

I heard yesterday at church that the wind last Sunday was hurricane strength. There are a lot of trees down, and some of them damaged houses. The local public radio station is doing its semi-annual fund drive this week; one if the 'guest beggers' this morning said that a large trash can was blown through a window at his church. Fortunately, that window was in a hallway and there was nobody there at the time.

Since the power came back on last week, it has at times been weak, or lights have flickered. I figured they were still working on the lines, so didn't call about it until today. The man I talked to this morning said they might not come today, but they have been here already. They came up the driveway to make sure they were at the right place and then went back out on the road and worked for a few minutes. I really can't tell if they fixed the problem until it starts to get dark, but I expect it to be OK.

Medical?

I decided on Wednesday that the neuropathy in my fingers may not be all bad. While cooking supper, I splashed some hot liquid (chicken broth and oil) on my hand and it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it should. I'm joking here about the neuropathy not being so bad. I know that because of the reduced sense of touch I need to be extra vigilent about scrapes and burns and such.

Storm

I just noticed that it's again been a week since I posted. This time I have a really good excuse - I had not internet service from mid-morning Sunday until 1 pm Thursday, thanks to Hurricane Ike. I was only without electricity until 3:45 Tuesday. Sunday morning Lexi and I were watching shingles fly off the roof. Only about two dozen and I can't see any bare spots. Right now we're having some lightning and thunder, so some rain may be coming (there was only a little 'spitting' on Sunday). I guess that will tell me if I have a problem. I Drove into Bardwell on Tuesday morning to report the shingle loss to the insurance company, but haven't had a roofer out here yet to assess the damage.

Lexi has started soccer this fall. Here she is in her uniform, and in the picture on the field, she's the one in the middle.

She was taking pictures last weekend and I like this one of the cat Ginger. Lexi found it interesting that the fan looks like it's off, even though it wasn't.

I think I'll shut off the computer until this storm blows over.

Shades of 1973!

Ther may have been other times since then of lines at the gas pumps and only being able to fill up on odd- or even-numbered days according to the last digit of you license-plate, but 1973 is the one that sticks in my mind because my husband has just died. They haven't done any rationing now, but there are lines at the pumps and plastic bags covering some of them because they are empty.

Alyssa called me this morning to say that she was not able to find gas in Mayfield, so I took her five-gallon gascan from the shed and went to see if the Milburn station had any. They did, but were limiting people to $30 worth. The five gallons was slightly under $20, so I was well within that limit. I used about 1.25 gallons doing that good deed, but at least she should have enough gas to get to work today and tomorrow. I'm getting weak - that forty or so pounds was difficult for me to lift into my trunk.

Noises

I don't know the source of the noise I've heard twice in the past twenty minutes or so, but it makes me think of the 'horses' in the Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie. The first time I heard that movie, I was scraping wallpaper, so I didn't see much of it. It is one of my favorites.

Yesterday I heard sounds that are rare in Milburn. I think there must have been a traffic accident west of town, because there were police, ambulance, firetruck sirens, and then a while later ambulance sirens going the other way.

Medical

Today was my quadweekly oncologist visit. The lambda lightchains number on August bloodword was good, so there is no change in the treatment regimen.

My blood was too thin four weeks ago, so I've gone back for them to test it every week. It got a bit thick and then too thin again, but today it was good. I've adjusted the coumadin dosage each time, and today Dr B wrote down how she wants me to take it for the next two weeks and then come back for another test. She wrote it on a sticky note, so I will post that in the shelf where I keep my medications - very handy!

This is my second of four days on dexamethasone (steroid) and my feet are already swelling, my face is red and puffy, and my vision is getting blurry. I'm not planning to go anywhere until Wednesday and the blurriness will be gone by then. I just hope I don't need to transport Lexi during that time. I probably see as well as twenty-five percent of people driving, but I don't like to drive when I feel I don't see well enough.

Fall

Maybe fall really is on its way. It was really nice today. I was comfortable in jeans, although I got hot when I mowed, and my hair is still wet from sweat. I mowed out one tank of gas, which usually takes me about an hour and a half. Then I sat on the back porch for about an hour to cool off and did some knitting. After that I mowed for another hour.

Leaves have not started changing color yet, but that's probably not too far off. Goldenrod is blooming. I love it - yellow is such a cheerful color. It's almost a shame I don't want to dye any wool with it.

Knitting:

I finished that shawl - it's not exactly a triangle, but almost. Now I'm working on a scarf with the leftover yarn, using the same embossed leaf stitch pattern. With only 25 stitches, the yarn is making stripes of three to five rows. I need to get Lexi or Alyssa to model the shawl and take pictures of it.

I also finished the counterpane (I love that old-fashioned word) for Yvette, and will take it to her mother on Monday

Comment and Houses

The comment on Thursday's entry floored me! Joe, how did you find my blog? Are you the one who was at Dawn and Terry's wedding six years ago and prepared a lot of wonderful food?

Alyssa and Alexis will be moving to Mayfield this month, but not into the house they had planned to. Things didn't work out with that one, so they'll be in one that is a little larger and is in a different part of town. They'll be a block from the library rather than from McDonalds - sounds better to me. Their landlord will be the brother of my first landlord in Mayfield. Alyssa's boyfriend's mother will be helping with some cleaning and painting. She apparently loves to do those things. I'm glad someone does - I don't.

Knitting

I made that shawl I mentioned a week or so ago, doing the decreases differently, but it still was an odd shape for a shawl. It finally struck me that it was basically a mitered square, which in my opinion is not a shawl shape. So I'm reknitting the yarn, using the leaf stitch pattern but doing decreases at the edges as well as in the middle so it will be a triangle. I plan to donate it to the Art Guild for the silent auction at the Gourd Festival.