Spring has arrived. I think. These are two flowering bushes in our yard. The first is a honeysuckle. Or a forsythia bush. Depends on which part of the country you are in. I prefer honeysuckle myself!!!! It is in full bloom and is very pretty. Second bush is a flowering almond. Not quite in full bloom yet, but when it is, it a beautiful pink flowered bush. I really love it. Both bushes do attract lots of bees, wasps and birds. And they do add to the beauty of the yard.

Well, I know it has been a while since I added anything to my blog. But the world just gets in the way at times. And I have been pretty darn busy the past couple months. Ah, you ask, what have I been doing. Well, several projects.

First, have been knitting socks left and right. Well, whenever I get the chance to sit down and work on them. Have managed to finish a couple of pair. I worked up one pattern that I found on the internet. Really wasn't too happy with them. The pattern was a broken rib type of pattern. The sock is worked with a knit 1, purl 1 rib for two inches, then you go into the pattern of knit 4, purl 4 for like 4 rows, then move the knit stitch over one. After getting it done, I tried on the first sock. Was not too happy with the length, I like my socks longer, but I could live with this. So did the matching sock. The sock does not fit my foot as I would like it, but it works all right. Nope, no pictures. I would have to dig the pair out of the drawer whenever I think of it to take one. Maybe in the future if I think of it. I got thinking maybe a sock with a regular type rib would work just fine. So I borrow some ideas to make my own pattern. I did a cuff of knit 1, purl 1 for about 2 inches. Then into a regular rib of knit 2, purl 2. I worked on this for a length of 14 1/2 inches before I did the toe. The length is better and the fit is more to my liking. In the future, may do more of this pattern. I have now sat down and am figuring out a crochet tube sock. Working on the cuff right now. I may post the pattern when I am done.

Still working on the books for grandchildren. I am working hard on the Colors Books. One down and two to go. Since I brought the project upstairs to work on, I have been able to really make some serious inroads into that project. The grandchildren that will receive them this year, will get two on their birthdays and then 2 at Christmas. And that takes care of a couple of Christmas gifts for this year.

Recently I received this picture in a forward from a friend/family. Can't remember exactly where. Well, a friend dared me to put this picture on my blog. And for me to say that I could offer to make one for someone if they had enough money for me to do the work. And it is gonna take quite a bit of money for me to do this job. And for me to put in very small print, say that I didn't do it. Well, can't change the size of the font.

I have just finished my latest project. Another pair of socks. I have fallen in love doing socks. These are two needle tube socks. I have problems using double pointed needles, so I took a pattern and adjusted it to using two needles. Other than having to sew a seam almost flat, they were fairly easy to do. I now have four pair of these socks and want more. But while sitting here working on this last pair, I thought, why not do some in crochet. So I will look for a pattern on the internet for crocheted tube socks. If I can't find one, will make one up. But before I do, I am gonna do some serious working on the teaching books that I am doing for grandchildren and have a birthday gift to do up for a birthday coming up.

Well, it has been more than a month since I put anything on the blog. Mostly because I have been so darn busy with life. And it doesn't look like it will be slowing down any time soon.

Some of the new yarn I have gotten using the gift card for Joann's that came from step son and family in Arizona, I decided to use for socks for me. I found several patterns using two knitting needles. I have tried to use double pointed needles in the past, but I am all thumbs with them. I mean, gee, a person is handling like four needles at one time. Well, I picked one pattern and started into it. Learned how to turn heels and more practice of short rowing. Well, I had one sock down and was working on the the second when I had to throw away a couple of socks due to wearing out. Got thinking, my socks with heels always wear out in the same spot, just in front of the heel on the sole. Especially the socks that I crocheted last year for myself. So decided to knit tube socks. Back in the days that I wore tube socks, I didn't have that problem. I then went looking for a two needle tube sock pattern on the internet.

Have I ever mentioned that I love the internet. I have not bought any patterns for years. Whenever I want a new pattern, I check out my Bookmarks and if there isn't one there, I type in the search engine what I am looking for. I may not find exactly what I want, but I have come close many times.

Back to my sock saga now. Well, couldn't find a pattern for two needles tube socks. So decided that I could modify a pattern for use with two needles and went to work. Well, the first couple of patterns weren't too bad, but I just didn't like how they were turning out. So back to searching for a pattern on the internet. Found one that really hit me, like this is the one. So I printed it out. I finally finished the sock yesterday while I was waiting for Marshal to finish up an appointment. Had to wait until we got home to sew the seam. I then tried the sock on. It fits quite well. Especially since I had to make several different modifications to the pattern. First off, the yarn in the pattern was a heavier weight then what I was using, so had to add stitches to make the size I needed. And as I was working in rows instead of rounds, had to remember that little fact. Which I forgot when I was working on the toe. In the pattern, it says to knit every other row. Well, not thinking, I knitted every row on the toe. After a couple of rows, it hit me, I needed to be purling every other row. Oh well. The socks are for me and this one looks just fine. I am now working on the cuff for the second sock. Hopefully the sock will be done before winter is gone.

I am still working on a number's book in the plastic canvas. In fact the last one that needs to be done.

And along with those projects, I am tying a quilt for our bed right now. That is taking up most of the room here in my office. Need to get it done also. Just a simple quilt made out of scrap material that I have had for years.

Some day I am gonna retire!!! LOL

I am getting caught up with things. I finally was able to take a picture of the gifts that my DIL in Oklahoma made for me. The black tote bag is the one that she monogramed. Isn't it neat. The little blue bag, she did one afternoon while we were sitting around the house. It is for my Jeep. I love both of them. The black tote has braces in the sides to hold it up. Take the braces out and it collapses and folds up for easy storage.

After spending the night at Roswell, New Mexico, it was back on the road towards Gilbert, Arizona. No, didn't see any UFO's while in Roswell. We made pretty good time, as there was no bad weather to contend with. Our route took us to Ruidoso, New Mexico and then down to Alamogordo. The route then took us through White Sands and up over the mountains to Las Cruces. Here we got onto I10 and headed into Arizona. As we didn't expect to make it to Gilbert that day, we found a park in Willcox, Arizona, home of Rex Allen. I do need to sit down and write up some reviews for a website that features reviews of different rv parks. Next project.

Upon arrival in Gilbert, we went straight to husband's son's driveway. Our plan was to park in their driveway for a few days. The driveway is long enough and we can hook upto water and electricity. It was so nice to be someplace that was nice and warm. Was able to wear either a sweatshirt or tee shirt during the day. Did have to use the heater at night though. This DIL also knows what to get me for Christmas. A gift card to Joann's. I love shopping there. And they have one pretty close. So we made a visit there for yarn. Yes, I picked up more yarn for a sweater for me and sock yarns. I have been wanting to knit socks. I found a pattern on the internet that is for two needles and no double pointed needles. I just can't manage knitting with more than two needles. I have been working on the sweater. Found a nice pattern that I like. After the sweater is done, then it is to socks for me.

After spending four days in the warmth, it was back on the road to the north country. As weather reports were predicting snow for Flagstaff, we decided our best route would be up through Las Vegas. Don't like going through there, but had to due to snow. There was construction on the freeway in Las Vegas and we ended up on a detour through one of the bad sections of Las Vegas. I was not a happy camper until we got away from that area. Back on the freeway, we made some good time. Marshal was wanting to make it at least to Utah before we stopped for the night, but didn't happen. It was dark by the time we arrived in Mesquite, Nevada. Found an rv park at one of the casinos for a cheap price. So parked there for the night. Mainly a asphalt parking lot with hook ups. No wi-fi in the park either.

Our thinking was to get up early enough to make some serious mileage that last day on the road. And we had good weather until we got close to Salt Lake City. About 75 miles south of the city, the snow was coming down. The road was wet, so we were okay. Our thinking was to get home around the middle of the afternoon. Well, the first wreck was south of Salt Lake and that held us up some and put us in the start of the afternoon commute. The next wreck was at Layton, between Salt Lake and Ogden. The back up was like 11 miles long. By this time, the weather had really gotten bad. The roads were slushed covered and slick. And traffic was bad. Took us about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to do like 40 miles!!! We finally got home about 8 pm that night. Both of us were pretty tired. Unloaded what we needed and that was it.

Next morning, we went to the main chore of moving snow. There was about 18 - 20 inches in the yard and about 4 inches on the sidewalks and driveway. A friend moved quite a bit, but we still had some to move. Once the snow job was done, Marshal put the motorhome in the garage and we finished unloading.

Unless we have to make an emergency trip, that motorhome is not moving out of the garage for the rest of the winter.

In a recent trip to California to visit with my DIL's family, Mason came home with this Davy Crockett hat. Doesn't he look cute????????

I have added Christmas Photos to my web albums. It is the Christmas 2008 album. Enjoy.
Mason is a ham when a camera is pointed in his direction. So he scrunches up his face for the camera. He does like to have his picture taken. And Grandma took a few pictures.

I decided to fix a supper for Christmas Eve in our motorhome for us. Went ahead and gave Mason his gifts. He really loved all, especially the police truck that I got him. This is Mason with his Shape Sorter and a football. The colors of the football are red and white. Not orange. Our stay in Hooker was so short. Was able to spend some good time with son and family and especially the grandson.

On Christmas morning, my DIL, Rachel made us breakfast. And it was very good.

I will have to take some pictures of the gift that Rachel made me. One is a tote bag with my monogram on it. She does machine embroidery and is very good at it. The other gift is a small garbage bag for my Jeep. It will hang on the vent. She does good work.

From Hooker, we made the short journey to Boise City, for a visit with friends. And it was a very good visit.

We are now on the road headed to Gilbert, to see Marshal's son and family. Spending the night in Roswell, New Mexico. The UFO capital of the world. Have never spent the night here. Only have been here one time before.

As I get the time and on line will put some pictures on my picture site for all to view.

As ya'll know I was involved in a Secret Santa exchange this Christmas. These pictures show the gifts that I received from my Secret Santa. Her name is Dinah and she does some darn good work.

Here several weeks ago, we decided that we could make a trip for this December. I wanted to spend Christmas with son, DIL, and grandson. Besides I haven't seen them for over a year. And the grandson has really grown. So we made plans to hit the road a few days before Christmas. Head to Oklahoma and spend a few days, then come home by way of Gilbert, Arizona. The closer it came to departure time, the more serious I got about watching the weather. Our plan was to travel between storms and sit out the storms. We did have a couple of days of good weather before we left and we should have left on those days, but alas, we didn't. The day we left, it was snowing, but figured the roads would be wet. Well, for the most point, they were wet with some packed snow. The freeway in Idaho wasn't all that bad, but we hit the Utah state line and the road was worst. The only places they were okay was at Brigham City and Ogden. Going through Weber Canyon, it could have been worst, but mostly with lots of slush. The closer to Evanston, Wyoming we got, the worst the roads got. Decided that we needed gas in Evanston, we left the freeway. We tend to fuel at Flying J's most of the time. Do get a penny a gallon for discount and usually they are easy in and out with the motorhome. But this one in Evanston, is a real pain for any vehicle that has some length to it. To fill up the Jeep, had to block part of the parking in front of the store. In trying to get through town, called the 511 road info number to see how the highways were ahead of us. Well, chain requirements were put into place for the stretch of road called the Three Sisters. This is three long hills east of Evanston. So we went looking for a place to park. Only one rv park that we could find, but it was closed for the season. Found the Walmart and joined the trucks parked there. It took us most of the day to make 150 miles.
Next day, we hit the road after I checked with the road info to make sure the roads were in good shape. Was making some good time, as the road was mainly clear. That is until we got to Green River, Wyoming. The highway sign was saying that the road was closed 66 miles ahead due to wind and snow. So we stopped at the KOA in Rock Springs, Wyoming. We did want to make at least Rawlins, but no way. We only traveled about 1 ½ hour that day. The wind was blowing all day long and it didn't warm up at all.
Third day of travel, wanted to really make some miles to help make up lost time due to the weather. Well, the roads were in good shape and away we went. To date, we had froze water, so were not able to take showers and wanted to find some place nice and warm. Spent the night in Greeley, Colorado with more cold weather.
Come Monday, was hoping for warmer temps, didn't find them. But found more wind. Marshal decided that we were gonna get into Hooker today, no matter what. The roads were in great shape. But we had wind all day long. Depending on what direction we traveled, it was either a cross wind or head wind. When we got to Liberal, was hoping that the wind would be somewhat at our back. Well, that would have worked, that is if the wind had stayed in the right direction, but it turned to the east and Marshal had to fight it from the opposite direction. So we were pretty tired when we finally got to Hooker.
Come Tuesday morning, I headed over to the son's to see the grandson. At first Mason was shy, but once I set up my computer and opened an email with a link to an animated card, he was my new best friend. Mason has really grown over the past year. And he is on the go most of the time. We had some interesting conversations.
Tonight is Christmas Eve. Had supper here at the Motor Home with the kids. Gave them their Christmas gifts. Mason may not understand what is going on, but he does like the gifts. I did take quite a few pictures. Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast as the kids. Will spend the morning with them. They will then go to my son's father's home for Christmas dinner. The weather today has been really nice. It has warmed up and we have been able to take showers.
Our Christmas Day was pretty nice. Spent the morning with grandson, Mason and his parents. The day was really nice weather wise. And of course, Mason was in fine form. We just sat around the motorhome and chilled out. The weather has really been really nice for December in the Oklahoma panhandle.
No pictures of the weather while we were traveling. Too busy watching the roads. At one point, wished I did have the camera and was sitting in my seat. But had to sit on the couch with the pups and only got to watch a coyote try to get some road kill off the road. Marshal could not move over due to traffic and he laid on the horn to get the coyote's attention. Finally at the last minute, the coyote ran off the road. So we managed not to kill any wildlife on our trip.

Yesterday, I heard the mailman pull up to our gate. I looked out the window and he was carrying a couple of letters and a package. Well, in that package from my Secret Santa Pal was the above pictures. The wrappings of the packages are really pretty. I love the card. I now have to wait until Christmas Eve to open the packages and see what she sent me.

I am sitting here in my brand new sweater. This is the first time I have used Homespun yarn and I sure do like it. It is nice, soft and warm. I see more sweaters in my future using this yarn. And right now, I am thinking that maybe for Christmas next year, the grandkids may need a hoodie sweater like this.
When I bought the yarn, I thought I was getting just one color, but as I worked the sweater, realized that it is more of a self striping yarn and I really like the results.
I have one skein left of the yarn and am thinking of getting another skein and make a pair of matching socks for me.

Well, I think that I am done with Christmas gifts for this year. This is the last for me to make. But that can change at any minute also. These are potholders. They are made with washcloths and crocheting edging with thread. They are fairly easy to do, just have to remember how to work in order on the edges so that the cloths will lay flat. I won't say who they are for, as that person may be able to see what part of their gift is. Several years ago, I bought one of those large packages of washcloths, like 10 for $2 or something like that. They do make nice potholders to use.

I have finished another Christmas gift. This is a sweater for my guy. His mom drives a pick up, so this should excite him pretty good. Not really my original idea though. A friend on one of my Yahoo groups gave us a link to a sweater that had a tow truck on it. And so I did some looking and figuring out, came up with my own graph for the pickup. And used the sweater pattern in the original link. On my graph paper, the truck looked pretty nice. But it has been so long since I did this type of knitting, my stitches really look bad for the tires and bumpers. I was so out of practice, but went ahead. This sweater is gonna be too big for him right now, but that is all right, he will grow into it.

Another day to fool around on. Well, I should have been doing some work around the house, but had a choice between spending the day at home working or a good part of the day on the ATV up in the hills tooling around. Guess what my choice was??????? LOL

This week we went into the foothills on the east side of town. Been up there before, so knew exactly where we were going. Took the director and our Senior Center and her husband with as she had never been there and his memories of the area are foggy. Mainly the alcoholic fog of teenage years!!!!!!!!!! Heard some good stories. We saw some real pretty country. Dry, but that is to be expected when we haven't had rain for some time. Saw quite a few hunters out looking for elk. Elk Cow season opened up today and goes to November 15th. We didn't see any. At first, it was kind of cold at times. Especially in the canyon where the sun had not made the trip yet. It did warm up later in the day, which was nice.

Only took a couple of pictures today. Bottom one is geese flying south for the winter. Was waiting on Marshal and could hear them for quite some time. It always amazes me how they know where to fly and when. Middle picture is Angel waiting to hit the road. She really loves to ride in her basket. She sits there and watches where we are going. Top picture is the ATVs and two of our riders. Front one in the orange sweatshirt is the director and the man behind her is our friend George. The other two were walking around a building where we stopped for a rest.

This may be the last ride of the season. Depends on the weather.

On my Campground Crafters group, we are involved in a Secret Santa exchange. By the end of November, we to send a card to our secret pal. Well, my Secret Santa Pal sent me this table topper instead of a card. Man, I wish I could quilt like this. I love it. It goes on my kitchen table for the season. Whoever is my Secret Santa pal does good work.

Several days ago, a few people got together and decided to go for a ride on their ATVs. We were asked to go with and decided that we could. Off we went to the mountains west of our home after breakfast. The going was kind of chilly at first, but as the day went on, it did get warmer. The snow in the above picture is from last weekend when we got some snow here at home.

On this trail, we ran into this log across the trail. Did some serious looking at moving the log, and finally decided to go around. No problem for those of us that had four wheel drive, but one member of the group does not have four wheel drive, so he had to be winched up the little hill. Coming back, he was able to climb the hill just fine.

Some of the sights we saw were 4 deer on a hillside watching us. There were hunters out as it is deer season in this part of the country. If you go to the link on the right that says My Pictures, you can see more pictures of our day. Several pictures show a couple stacks of logs that a logging company has been logging on the mountain. When I first saw the stacks, I was thinking maybe small stacks, but when we got to them, they were like 15 feet high and a good 50 feet long. Lots of logs!!!!

After lunch, we took to the trail and ended up at a dead end, so had to turn around. Which is all right. We did see lots of trails we can do some other day.

Angel had a darn good time riding in her basket. She loves going for these rides.

It is a good possibility that this is the last ride for the season as winter is here. Although if the weather holds, we could go out again.

Well, it has been cooling off here in southeast Idaho. This is me, Angel and a friend George out on the side of one of our many mountains today. What happened. Well, the gang would go out 4 wheeling on their ATVs and I would be left behind, as I didn't have one. I do prefer my Jeep for serious 4 wheeling though. Finally told Marshal that he needed to buy me an ATV so I could join the rest. So Tuesday, we went shopping. Was able to bring the new playtoy home on Thursday. And today was the first day that we were able to get out and do some trail running. The weather has been wet since Friday night. Which is all right, we are really dry and have been experiencing a drought for several years. We did run into some mud holes, which I did hit at a fast rate of speed. But most of the road was either close to dry or mud. At several points, I did have mud balls flying in all directions.

I do have to get me some more equipment before our next trip out. Mainly a helmet, a bavaclava and some thermal underwear. Once we got off the mountain and into the wind, it turned colder. Angel just buried herself down in her blanket in the basket.

They put me in the lead and let me take them any place. And I know no place that I won't go, unless there is not a ATV trail. That way we can see more country.

Hopefully we will get out next Saturday, but it is deer season, so may not go out.