What weird weather we're having #4

Laughing so hard to funny!!!!!
You have got are rain LOL
I like to crochet be doing it for years just not lately. Tried a rug once gave up, just could not get it right. gave it away LOL
And I do love needlepoint, it is for giving it you make a Bo Bo, I have one in the making of a eagle with a rainbow, I may be 90 when I get it done, have already bought the mounting and the frame, so when it ever gets done I don't have to fret about it.

Sally - I used to fly to London on the same flight every two weeks and our clients would fly us first class so we could "work" on the plane, saving them money. Little did they know that while I was working I was teaching one of the flight attendants to crochet. We always saw the same crew so I would see her project from beginning to end. I have never tried needlepoint. What kind of gadget did you buy for cutting fabric? Sounds like something I may need.
My goodness I just had a flashback of being on a flight to India through Indonesia and on the last leg of the trip there were chickens in cages by people's feet (Air India). It was nuts. They confiscated our masking tape.???

That's funny I was just about to say that last time I went to the UK I brought cross stitch to work on during the flight. I made the pattern, didn't turn out as well as I liked, but here is a fuzzy picture.

They let you bring on the needle and scissors to cut the thread? I had my pair of fold-up scissors confiscated in Portland actually.

Why take the masking tape? Were they afraid you would wrap up the chickens?

I didn't bring scissors, but they didn't complain of the needles; might be hit and miss though.

I traveled mostly before the added security, but I did have a butter knife taken on a trip to Japan. I took a small knife and fork with me so I wouldn't starve while I was traveling LOL. When I got to Kagoshima, an attendant came out carrying my knife hanging from fingers like it was something icky. He clearly couldn't understand why they had taken it from me, but I was surprised to get it back. Another fond memory, I loved Japan. Our company sent us business class when we had to go out of the country, that was really nice.

Since I learned to tat, I carry a bookmark in the making in my purse. A baggie with shuttle of thread and a hook is all I need. Comes in handy waiting for appointments.

Rained most of the day, potted up some plants out in the shed so I was dry. Managed to get a couple of barrels of leaves up before the rain hit.

The sun is shining! currently 47. Lots of leaves on the ground and deck. More to fall, so we'll wait.

I loved Japan. My son and DDIL lived in Ojiya in the Niigata prefecture. NW of Tokyo about 2 hrs. They were there 2 years. She taught English and my son taught some private classes, but mostly worked at a yochien - a kindergarten/pre-school run by a buddhist temple. There were about 125 kids mostly 4 and 5 some as young as 2. He was the token foreigner and being 6'5" he was also the jungle gym. lol. He had kids hanging off of him all the time. It was a sight.

LOL on taking your own eating utensils. I tried the chopsticks always, but sometimes resorted to a fork.

Jan we later found out that we were not allowed to have masking tape because drug smugglers would tape contraband to their bodies. When we went through customs they literally dumped our suitcases upside down. They clearly did not like Americans in what was then called Madras. However, the people we were working with to develop a hospital were very gracious and protective of us.
The visual image of your son with kids hanging on is cute - that happened to one of my sons when he was teaching in Africa. Just little boys hung on him and dusty clouds of little girls would follow him everywhere.
It is grey and rain is expected today but I really want to get some leaves cleaned up. I also want to take out a section of lawn in my front yard and plant 4 rose bushes and low shrubs in front of them. I'm thinking low-growing heather or heath. Any comments for this new gardener anyone?

I don't think the roses and heath would make a good combo. To much fertilizer and water for the heaths. Small azaleas might be good. Or lavender, rosemary.

Maybe lavender - I like that. I already have rosemary near that area and it so fragrant, almost too much. Lavender is evergreen, is it not? I would like something that stays green when the roses are bare. Thanks for the idea!
Jan I was allowed to take scissors on the plane - they are little fold up ones with swans on the handles. Nobody seems concerned about crochet or knitting needles. Hmmm.

Be sure to check the growth habits on the lavender, I had one that tried to bully everyone else out....didn't stay long. Had the same thing happen with a heather, it got so big I had to move it to a larger area. I do use azeleas because of slower growth and being evergreen. My biggest problem when I started putting in new things..........I didn't know who well everything grows up here LOL Fun problem to have.

Lavender looks fairly good all winter. The azaleas are evergreen also.

I like both azaleas and lavender - I'll have to see what the nursery has and what strikes my fancy. This will be my biggest decision these days, except for what wine to serve for Thanksgiving dinner!
Things do grow well here. I drug a scroungy honeysuckle with me from San Francisco because a friend gave it to me. I stuck it in the ground and in 2 weeks it has grown and seems happy to be out of it's pot.
Today was so cold and grey that I was not motivated to go out at all and spent hours reading. Has anyone read "Saturday" by Ian McEwan? Excellent book - he is one of my favorite authors.

strawberries do well under roses.

Yummmmm. That's a good choice!

Wet and cool here also, I spent the day catching up on some computer work.

Strawberries! Another great idea. Sooner or later I have to make a decision!
Now my back yard garden is getting bare so I got a book about pruning shrubs and I can see that the lilacs and other things have not been taken care of by the previous owner. I've been researching just how to prune all these different things and it is so interesting.

I'm a little behind here, I haven't been near a computer for a while.

Thanks Sally, Portland, and Jan, I am now going to have some very interesting visions whenever I see people carrying blackberries around. It's sooo true how they manage to entangle so many people! Maybe when I look at blackberry bushes as well!

Portland, this new plant bed that you're planning.... how much sun/heat does it get? I assume that it is at least a fair amount of sun for the roses, but is it truly all day and any reflective heat? Than how is the drainage? I assume you have clay soil like the rest of us in the valley. Then are you set on evergreens?

This message was edited Nov 10, 2008 11:06 PM

I just heard the weather forcast for the next couple of days. It's looking sort of.......muddy, muddy and windy. For western Oregon they said 2-4" of rain from Tue-Thur with as much as 2" of it on Tue. To top it off.... it'll be coming with wind. Portland, you may get it worse than us. They said steady wind of 50-60 mi/hr along the coast the might push into the inland valleys at around 40 mi/hr. however, it is supposed to be relatively warm with the snowline at around 10,000'. So, Sally and I will watch the river while Portland can watch the wind. I think we got it covered! I didn't hear what to expect for Washington. I looked at the dopplar for us both though, and it sort of looks as if the "heart" of it will hit oregon harder, but washington might be colder.

Sofer...... I have no idea what's in store for you. Odds are good though that it's Snow! Just as you like it right?

Of course it's going to rain, mom and I are going to lunch. The ladies from here go once a month and we haven't been since she got sick in August. Everyone is anxious to have her back. I'll take an umbrella to keep her dry and hope it isn't too windy.

I'll keep an eye on the river, that's a fun task.

Typical fall day here, mostly dry but overcast and the humidity was so high, it felt like rain.LOL

I'm glad to hear that your mom is finally well enough to attend the lunch. I'm sure that it will be nice for her to see everyone again. The news said that they weren't really expecting the wind to pick up until later in the afternoon, so that will be a little better for the outting. I had overcast as well here today. But, it was cool enough that it didn't really seem muggy. It was nice to finally get something done outside without getting soaked!!! It just seemed dark here all day. No matter what time of day or how much light I was finally getting, it was never light enough to get a picture without the flash. That's sort of my guide for the amount of light outside.... is it bright enough to get a decent picture. Strange, but it works.

That method works for me. It's been really dark at night lately too. I mean darker than normal. Probably because it's been so overcast. Went to a meeting last Monday, between the rain and it being so dark, could hardly see the lines on the road. I was out Northwest Pkwy, it's always dark over there. DH and I went out to dinner last night, it was much brighter then.

Bundle up good tomorrow.

Yeah, it does seem as though it's been darker than usual. glad it's not just been me that has thought that!!! I was beginning to wonder. :-p I think you're right. Usually at some point in the night the clouds will break for a bit and you can see the moon, or the moon behind the clouds. I don't think that I've seen the moon for a couple of weeks. It's sort of odd.

I agree with you about watching the river, it's definitely entertaining, even if it's a cause of nervousness. Can you imagine ourselves as kids, if we were told that some time in the future that we would consider rising water levels a source of entertainment!

I'll bundle up plenty tomorrow. Thanks!! You as well!

This message was edited Nov 11, 2008 1:02 AM

If someone would have told me that at this time of my life I would be living in the country, so close to a river, looking after mom and own my own home.......I would have said "Yeah, right" and not believed it for a minute. We feel truly blessed to be where we are and have what we have. We worked hard for it, but we've had help.

Night all!

I forgot what thread you were taking care of the goat, red. How did it go? Does your friend have any plants left?

I forgot to ask that last night. I was wondering too.

Just noticed we have a minor flood warning issued for north central lane co. I'm mostly out of it, but hope rc is. Sounds like it's mostly streets and bad drainage areas. Guess it rained hard somewhere, not here.

Ohhh... that goat! Thanks for asking. My friends came back on Wed. last week. Which was good! However, apparently the goat is sort of permanently theirs now... not so good :-s My friends' son had come back home to stay with them for a while. He got a goat while he was there, with their permission, but couldn't take it with him to his new place. My thoughts were something as to: of course not, how many places will really allow goats!?!? Anyhow, they're much nicer about it than I would've been, which is good. However, they now have a goat. She is really dissapointed about all of her plants being eaten but is sort of stuck in a quandry over what to do with it. So, Anybody want to goat??? it's free to a good home!!!

Good to know about the flood warning Sally! For now, all will be fine (flash floods not considered---can't waste non-grey hairs thinking about that potential). The bank down to the river is between 12-15' tall. So I'm generally better off than many. The issue that I have is that the high water undercuts the bank and causes the back yard to "slough off." I lost maybe 2 or 3' off of the back yard several years ago and every year their after the last 5' or so has sunken anywhere from 6" to 2'. Anyhow, I'm in good shape! I think that i'm considered central lane county, but better as the cascades of lane county which they rarely use for flood warnings and such.

I would love to have a goat, but I can't go get it, don't think it would fit in my little car and he'd eat before I got home. LOL

We in for some Rain, Rain, and more Rain and High winds. Had a nice day yesterday, glad I was home got all the Furniture covered and all the chimes and birdhouses put away.
Snowed on Stevens pass this morning, not looking forward to winter.

Tylers got wood stove duty.

RC, your friend might consider deer repellent on some of the plants and see if that works for the goat. I'm going to do that for the dogs . . .

My hope are that everybody does well the next few days, with the high rains and wind warnings. Clean out your storm drains and dig trenches if you have to. My neighbor put in a drain across our road and my winter puddle is now gone. Some people just have that engineer gene.

Red, the full moon is tomorrow, so if you can find a cloud break it should be cool looking.

At least the only thing left behind at my house was a cat. Don't know what they were thinking about the goat. LOL

rc...I knew you lived out of the zone, wasn't sure where you were working. It's a shame about losing your back yard a little at a time.

It was rainy again, not really too heavy. Stayed relatively dry while we were at lunch, yeah!!

I'm glad to hear that your luncheon went well Sally. I think that most of the rain was up in the mountains. I actually had today off and was out in the yard most of the day. It was definitely wet all day, but the river rose way too fast to have been caused by what we got. I took pictures, maybe I'll get them onto the computer tonight. The back yard is definitely a project and half. I've been building retaining walls a little at a time. The owner of the land doesn't have the $ to actually have retaining walls built (I know how to build them, but can't do it fast enough without $ for materials and labor help). However, I do believe that I've finally convinced the owner to stop having the vegetation cleared away from the bank. It took way too long to convince them that it was lending towards the property going downriver.

Zhinu... thanks for the info on the full moon!! Hopefully we'll all get a break and be able to see it!

Katie... is your puddle still gone now? I'm glad to hear that most folks are getting prepared for the winter storms.

Tilly... careful what you say! It sounds as if they are nearing their witts end with the goat. She might just drive it up there when it has eaten enough stuff. And she is serious about wanting to find a new home for it. I'm not sure why the son thought he needed a goat or why they agreed to let him get it. I did get her some deer spray to see if it will work. (great minds think alike Katie!!) However the weather needs to cooperate. It needs to be dry for at least several hours when she applies it. We're all hopeful that it will work.... her rose bushes are down to stumps.

This message was edited Nov 12, 2008 12:02 AM

Zhinusmom..... we're getting close to needing a new thread again. (between 250 and 300 always seems to be a good place) You want to give it a try again? I have full faith that you can!

Well, she won't have much to prune this year!

We're due for a dry spell, hopefully we get to see the moon. Haven't seen it for quite a while. I'll try and get back to take a look at the river tomorrow. Dh hasn't been out of the house for a few days, he'll probably want to go into town, his cabin fever gets bad in this kind of weather. Time to get his sun lamp out.

That's for certain Sally! I love your way of looking at the goat's chomping! It's definitely the brighter side, as it should be. It's definitely time for a dry spell. I thought I saw that it was supposed to rain through Fri. and then just be overcast (with potential for sun breaks!) for at least 3 or 4 days. Let's all hope! Maybe it'll be warm enough that your DH will want to get outside?!

Only from the house to the car. LOL He takes medication that makes him cold, he's better than he used to be, but if it looks cold....he gets the chills. He pretty much shivers all winter, can't get him to use the hot hands yet. He and the cats want to stay by the pellet stove.

Chuey said it would be dry for the high school games on Friday and the college games Saturday. Then a couple more days. So we'll see.

Sweet!! I'm happy to hear that Friday might be dry. Every little bit helps!
I'm sorry about your DH being chilly all winter. It took me a few years to convince the Doc's to test my thyroid for being slow. Sometimes it seemed as though I was standing in the door of the refridgerator! Other times were just fine. Hopefully they get his meds straightened out someday.

well.... the pics that I took earlier in the morning didn't happen, apparently the battery was too dead. The pictures in the evening were just too dark. Even though these two sets were only about 3.5 hours apart, you can definitely tell that something was going on somewhere! I wrote on them some identifiers as to the water levels.


taken at about 1 pm.

same area at about 4:30pm

different spot at around 1 pm

that same area at around 430 pm.