The Newest Grandbaby

 The newest grandbaby (boy) is due any day now, but his shower is tomorrow. I finished up his blanket just the other day. I don't know why, but I always think it's going to be too small and end up with a crib size, which is fine, it just takes longer to finish.......This is just double crochet, with the white as single crochet, then drop down into the previous white row with a double crochet.  Seems complicated, but it's really pretty simple.

 My daughter also wanted those little mittens for babies so they don't scratch their faces.  I had some organic cotton yarn on hand, so I used that. It's a little hard to figure out how big to make them when you don't have a baby handy to measure by.  With the leftover yarn I whipped up a little hat for the boy too.

She said something about some pictures she has of other items she would like me to make him too. I guess I'll just have to add them to my list of projects!

A Little Backwoods Boogie

Our friends had their 10th annual Backwoods Boogie last week-end. I can't believe this is the first year we've made it, but I'm glad we finally did. There was a lot of homemade instruments to go around if you didn't happen to bring your own.

 I think at one point there might have been more dogs then people!  It was great, all ages were there, even Tamara's 95 year old dad who played excellent on the accordion  He didn't stay after dark, but it was great listening to him when he was there. I think the music went on until 4 or 5am, I went to bed quit a few hours before that, but everytime I'd wake up I'd hear them still at it!

A quiet morning for sure!

Big Horn Sheep

A few weeks ago we made a trip down the Gorge. That is the strip of highway that goes between Oregon and Washington, from Portland to Boardman, along the Columbia river.  I grew up in Portland, and having Multomah Falls an easy drive, we made many trips to those falls with my family.  One of my favorite places is the Vista House on the old highway that overlooks the Gorge.  There is something to see, or stop and see on this whole stretch of highway.  If you are ever looking for a driving vacation, this is it.  It would take days to see everything. 

On our recent trip to Bend, my husband was determined to get some pictures of the Big Horn Sheep that have been transplanted from CA to the bluffs near Biggs, OR.  I think they were "planted" there about 20 years ago and now there are more then 1 herd, and if you watch you will see bunches of them spread out for miles.  This trip was no exception.  We spotted these between Biggs and Arlington, pretty close to the road:

So many people say there is nothing to see once they reach the dry part of the Gorge, but I believe there is always something to see, no matter where you are....................just look closer.

Just an Update

Remember those peas a few posts back, holy cow, have they grown. Once the warm weather took hold everything has gone out of control, faster then we can keep up.  Have you ever heard the saying "my eyes are too big for my stomach?", well, I guess that is what happened with us..............

We have to pick peas everyday to keep up, and now the raspberries have started, we never did get all the spinach picked before it went bad, just crazy!

Moms house is coming right along too, I can't believe the difference a porch makes!  Move in day is Labor Day week-end, I sure hope she settles in nice and likes her knew place.....

Next project a blue and brown crocheted baby blanket for the upcoming grandbaby due in Sept. Time, all I need is time!

The Lacy Bolero

  I've had this done for weeks now, and all it needed was the trim, boy work sure gets in the way of my crochet time!                                                 

I really like it now that I look at the pictures, but the day I wore it, it just didn't seem like "me". On the original one the sleeves seemed a little too long and so did the ties.


 So the one I made for my Esty shop has a little bit shorter sleeves and the ties are shorter, actually, that's the one in the picture.  The first one I made I ended up giving to a friend, and she loves it.


Having the tie front, makes it easy to adjust sizes. And it's actually pretty warm even with the lacy pattern.

The Lizard Lounge

When I got home from work yesterday, the husband takes my hand and says "I want to show you something.....I'm calling it the Lizard Lounge," "you have to be quiet while we go there." So I am thinking, "we have lizards here?" 

He'd hung the hammock I'd bought a few weeks ago, once settled in it, it is quite cozy.  Once I was settled in, he pointed up into the plum tree......There was this owl and her baby, dad was over in another tree, they were watching us as close as we were watching them.  Frank thought they had to be Great Horned Owls, but I was thinking Barn Owls, and when he looked them up, we found out they are Screech  Owls............

  

The baby is all fuzzy, no real feathers yet.

The Old Misener Place

             Like my gardening hat?  Picked it up at the thrift store, and I finally had the opportunity to wear it last week-end.  I spent the whole week-end working in the yard, and that hat really worked at keeping the sun out of my face, blew off a couple of times, but what the hay!   I love these trees, huge maples that must have been planted over 100 years ago, they will keep our house cool all summer.  I can't help but wonder who planted these trees so long ago. 

When I'm out pulling weeds and trying to manage all of these beautiful flowers I think about the lady that planted them, and I hope she's not cringing as she's looking down from heaven at the terrible job I'm doing to maintain her flower garden.  When we tell people where we live, they say, "OH, the Old Misener Place"  I don't think they were the ones who planted the maples, but I hear Mrs. Misener's flower garden was spectacular in the day.  So, Thank You, Mrs. Misener, you sure do have a beautiful garden, and I'll try and do it justice.................