Text Message From KY

(I'm editing this one blog post as I receive information from my sister. Figure it's easier than a new post each time)



I received two text messages this morning from my sister. The first one:

>No NPR

The second:

>War Zone

>War zone here no elec prob not a week
>fp works cooking on it too no cell since tues 0830
>hope this gets thru

I've been envisioning tree branches through her house, broken water pipes. At least there was no mention of this. The weather reports are for it to reach into the 50s for this weekend. That should help. At least she'll be warmer.

Thank you crgilvr for you update from Kentucky!


Edited to add:

Here's a good story of conditions in western Kentucky. My sister lived in Murray a few years ago but now lives in Gilbertsville, up closer to the lakes.

Edited to add:

And here's and even better article from the Murray State news.

Edited to add

Text message from 12:00 p.m.

>No cell no elex for at least a week no npr no fuel
>trees down everywhere have gas logs hooray
>bored silly went out yesterday too dangerous

>Have water

>House is warm

Last Update

My sister finally got through on her cell phone. She was at friends' and had just taken a hot shower. They were sitting in the sun, the ice was starting to melt. I could hear the branches popping in the background. They were well into their cocktails. Good for them. A little relaxation in a time of crisis. It will be some time before there is any electricity. Every wire is down, transformers are laying in the road and in the trees. I guess it's quite a mess. At least she is safe.

Looking For My Sister

I know there's been terrible ice storms in Kentucky and elsewhere. My sister who lives a few miles from Kentucky Lake sent me a text message last evening telling me she thought her cell phone was out of service. I tried calling her back but no luck.

I've called numerous times today and this evening. I've texted, I've emailed. I'm sure she's okay, just not able to contact anyone. I hope you are warm and safe somewhere Ann. You're very resourceful and have lots of friends. I hope you are holed up with them somewhere. I hope you did not try to go and see your patients today because I'm sure the roads are terrible.

So as soon as you can, call, text, email, float a balloon, just let us know you are okay!

All my love, Mary

More Goals

Thanks for the comments on Percy's tail. It has healed nicely, too bad though he can no longer wrap it about his feet. Still, it's a very serviceable tail and Percy's a very handsome cat isn't he? At least in the winter he is - when he stays home, grows a plush coat and puts a little fat on him. In the summer, Percy goes almost wild, gets too skinny and comes home once a day at best.

Knitting

I completed the Valour Vest.



I stopped in at Knitter's Palette today so had a chance to check out the store sample again. Mine is as nice, but I am a teeny bit unhappy with it. I knit this vest on the suggested 10.5 US needles and I wish I had gone down to a size 10 US. I think I would like the tighter gauge better. But it's a small disappointment. Overall, I like this project very much. The vest is already boxed up and ready for the Post Office tomorrow. Can you believe it? A knitted gift ready before the due date. I'm not disappointed about that.



This weekend I played around with several different projects. I made a swatch for Cameo from Custom Knits and another swatch for Amelia. I also played around with a couple of sock patterns. I couldn't decide what to start next. Then I found the kit for the Pony Tail Hat my sister Rita had picked out.



This is what I'll do next. Should be easy and fast. I couldn't decide if I should make the hat green or blue, so I decided I'll make a striped hat. Why not? A Pony Tail Hat is already a pretty wild and crazy thing, might as well add to the wildness and craziness of it.

Dogs

I listed my knitting goals last post. I should list my dog goals this post.

I'm pretty ambitious here. Honestly, I know I'll fall down on some of these. Still, if you don't aim high, you'll always shoot low. So here goes:

Dot - OA, OAJ, AX, AXJ
Dusty - MX, MXJ, CD
Dak - NA NAJ plus a few UDX legs
JJ - OA OAJ CD
Shamrock - CD CDX
Bunny - CD
Fame - health

You can find a short description of these titles here.

Tonight I'll leave you with a picture of Bunny. Poor Bunny, she is so quiet and reserve, I have to be careful not to overlook her.



A final note, RIF means Reduction In Force - or laid off! So I'm still employed and starting this week, quite happily employed with a new manager. Life is good. Well, except for this interminable winter. I am so over it already.

A final question, does anyone else have trouble uploading pictures using blogger? I sure do. I have to try over and over again for each picture. It's probably the biggest reason I don't blog very often. How can I fix this?

Setting Goals

I can't believe I haven't blogged since the start of the year. I blogged a few dozen times in my head but I guess that doesn't count.

The biggest news of the year is that I was not RIF'ed this week. Several of my good friends and peers were. That part was very sad.

I asked and received a transfer to another group back in October. My transfer was granted but not until January 23, 2009. RIFs were January 22, 2009. Lucky for me, I was able to get my transfer to the new group and was not laid off. I have very mixed feelings however. The manager I've had for the past 5 months is evil incarnate - and I realize what I just said and I stand by it. Any manager who motivates by fear, treats employees with disrespect and total condescension and thinks it's fun to play games ("I am giving Mary all the "crap" work because she's leaving the group") rates so low in my esteem. I'm ashamed to work for a company who would promote and support such a person. On the other hand, I very much like and respect my new manager and the work I am doing. And let's face it, any additional quarter you can stay employed in this economy is a very good thing.

Okay, enough ranting.

Oh wait, before I go back to the non-confrontational subjects, did you watch the inauguration? I did. It was amazing to see so many people attending, waving their flags, telling their stories. I hope we haven't put too much on the shoulders of one human being, still, it's good to see some hope for our country and its place on the planet Earth.

Knitting

I've been working hard on my mom's birthday vest. Here's a picture of the back and one side.



I've completed the other side and have just to block the pieces and sew up the seams. I'm happy with this project. I hope my mother doesn't find the colors too bright. I could have skipped by some the brighter pinks and greens but personally, I like the bright colors so I did not. Let's hope it will all match up and look good together once it is completed.

I'd have it all blocked and seamed by now but my spare bedroom, where I normally do all blocking, currently looks like this



This is the top of my desk. The floor looks the same or perhaps worse. I've had 3 straight weekends of dog events and all I've managed to do with my Christmas decorations so far is to pick them up and stuff them in the spare bedroom. I'm home all this weekend and so this weekend is dedicated to cleaning my house which includes putting away the Christmas stuff. Then I'll have a clutter free room for blocking the vest.

Setting Goals

So, what about this setting goals?

I always like to set goals at the beginning of the year. As for knitting goals, I have many.

I want to complete my white blob.

I want to learn more about knitting instead of just knitting. I think/hope this statement makes sense to my knitting blogger friends.

I've knit plenty of top down sweaters, but all raglans. I want to knit a top down sweater with set in sleaves. I want to learn lots more about seamless knitting.

I want to knit more without being tied to a pattern.

I want to do more color knitting.

Lots of goals. So what am I going to do to reach for these goals?

I've started the Cameo sweater from Custom Knits.

I've order all the Elizabeth Zimmerman books I do not already have. And I'm going to read them all!

I plan to knit the Baby Bonnet from the Jan/Feb Piecework.

This should get me started.

Dogs

The dogs and I have been very busy. I took Moby, Rumor and Fancy to the shows at the Excel Center in St. Paul the first weekend of January. It's a very nice show site once you are there and settled. To get there and settled however, is so much lugging and hauling, loading and unloading. Every year I do it I swear I'll skip it the next year. Still, I was very happy with my dogs' showings. Rumor won her class each day and Fancy placed in the competitive Bred By Exhibitor class even though she was the youngest in the class.

Since then we've done two weekends of agility trials in January. Not a lot of success to report there, but then, my dogs and I are novices still in agility. March will mark our first year since entering an AKC agility trial. We have a lot to learn yet.

Still, that doesn't stop us from setting goals. Lots of goals for the dogs this year. Someone suggested I make a training blog. Hum, I've been thinking about this. Perhaps I'll add a training section to the blog. I don't blog very often as it is though, so it deserves more thought.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this picture of Percy. My dogs are such a big part of my life, my job is so important, my knitting is my relaxation. Percy, I don't know how to describe Percy, but the dogs and I would be lost without him. For sure we'd at least be overrun by mice!