Bark Around the Park

Last Saturday, Raleigh parks and Rec held their 19th annual Bark Around the Park festival over at the Exchange Park next to Millbrook High School. I was out there last year. The AKC had a booth and I helped out with it, and it was good, but this year was much better. The good folks at parks and Rec really outdid themselves this year. The place was packed with vendors and sponsors, they had a variety of events and demos, and there were lots of people that showed up. The AKC volunteered to do some demos of some of the events that we sponsor. We set up a small agility course (think doggie obstacle course) and we did a Rally demo also (think doggie obedience, light). The agility demos were a great crowd pleaser. We had a good group of spectators for every demo we did, right on up until the end. I volunteered the use of my truck to move the agility equipment, so it was a long day for me, but I had a good time. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend as much time talking with people since I was "the equipment dude" this year. Oh well. I've got a couple of pictures below.

blogger is not cooperating right now. I'll post pictures later

Yes, I'm Still Here

I have not dropped of the face of the world or anything dramatic. I've just been busy crocheting away. I've finished a new pair of kilt hose. They are a dark blue, light weight wool/silk blend. It was so much fun to crochet those. I love that yarn! I am now working a sweater. This is my second attempt at making a sweater. The first was a dismal failure. I ripped it apart and set the yarn aside. I am now working on it again. The yarn I'm using sucks, but since I don't have high hopes for the result, it really doesn't matter. I don't really think it is gonna be wearable anyway, so...... This is just a learning exercise. Yes, I know it is a lot of work to put into something I don't expect to be able to use, but I have to start somewhere. At least this way, I haven't lost a lot of money on yarn.

Odds and Ends

Just a little bit of this and that.

First off... Beer.

The second batch of beer is actually getting much, much better as it ages. It is probably about 1.5 months old now and it is quite different than when it was new. It is mellowing out nicely. Of course, since I have no patience what so ever when it come to my home brew, I have just about finished my part of the batch. Maybe I can swipe some from the Marquise; she's on a low carb diet now.

We have the third batch bottled and it has been aging for about 2 weeks now. We tried some of it last week and it was much better than anticipated. If you had tasted it when we were bottling, you would have dumped it out right then and there. It was incredibly sweet. The bottle we tried was still a little on the sweet side but was still very drinkable. I think I'll leave that at the Marquise's until it's ready. One because we didn't make that much and two, if it is way over at her place there is no temptation for me here.

Second.... Hercules Mulligan

I have not made mention of our good friends HM since St Paddy's day because they haven't been doing a whole lot lately. I'm gonna have to get on them and find out what's going on.

Third......Wine

We made a quick wine trip last weekend to Silk Hope and Benjamin Wineries. We had hoped that Silk Hope would have had their white wine ready. They did not. Bummer. Since we were in the area, we stopped by Benjamin and I got another bottle of their Carlos wine. A very good semi-sweet muscadine wine.

We also swung by Saxapahaw to see if the meadery was open. It was not. Another bummer.

Now that I write it out, that little trip was not particularly productive. Oh well.

Loki in Spring

The pollen falls,
Yellow-green powdered sugar,
sprinkled on by Loki from above.

He decorates the world,
The grass, the cars, the road
To suit his moods and joys.

He spreads his mischief
For all to breathe,
To choke, to gasp, to sneeze.

We know his fun
Will last a little while;
The rain will come.

We Hope.

Heaven, I found Heaven

Well, I did not find heaven so much as someone found it for me. The inestimable Marquise finally decided she had enough of me hemming and hawing around and almost demanded that I appear in Hillsborough for my birthday present. (my b-day was in January BTW) She said it had some connection to a local coach celebrity. I thought I was in for BIG trouble. Much to my great and wonderful surprise, she took me to the Hillsborough Yarn Shop. My reaction:

Kid In A Candy Shop

I know the people there were wondering who this crazy man was that came running into the store and started ohing and ahing over everything. The colors were absolutely amazing. Pretty much every color imaginable. And the yarn, oh the yarn. They had some of the best yarns I have ever seen. Cotton, check. Silk, yuppers. Wool, definitely. Stuff I had never even heard of, all right there. They had just about every combination of yarns you could possible want. The only problem was that I didn't have any particular project in mind (which, as any knitter/crocheter can agree with, is VERY rare) At one point I was ready to hit the Marquise; she did not understand what she had done. She set me loose in crochet paradise, told me to get whatever yarn I wanted and I DID NOT HAVE A PROJECT IN MIND to work on. I didn't know whether to cry in joy or frustration.

I finally settled on a wool blend for another set of kilt hose. I had just made the fatal error of drying my other pair of wool hose that I had finished a couple of months ago (can you say shrink, shrank, shrunk). So It seemed like a good time to start another pair. I started on Saturday and I have to say that the yarn almost crochets itself. Sometimes it is real easy to forget what it is like to use really good yarn.

One happy camper Marquise, you did good.

SALVATION!

The great and powerful Rain Goddess has smiled upon us all here in central North Carolina. She has, in all her wisdom and beneficence, graciously deemed it time for a nice light rain to fall in this area and banish the wicked and noisome godling, Pollen, to his rightful place in our world. Pollen, may his wickedness be ever banished, has been forced back into his appropriate place; fertilizing the seeds of the next generation of plants. She has heard the wailing, weeping, wheezing, and sneezing of her devoted followers and acted! No longer do we have to fear walking out our front door, no longer do we have to race to our pollen covered cars and rush to open the door; only to be greeted with a cloud of yellow pollen swirling around us as we get into our cars. There is rain in the land and the air is fresh and clean.

All hail the Rain Goddess!

The Worst Time to Have a Cold

Do you know the worst time to have a cold? Winter? Summer? NOOOOOOO!

The absolute, positively worst time to have a cold is right at the beginning of pollen season in central North Carolina. Not only is your head stuffy, your nose running like a faucet and your eyes watering from the cold, but the pollen compounds those same problems ten-fold AND adds some extras on, just for kicks. Extras like itchy, burning eyes, sinus pressure that makes you want to take an ice pick and........, chest congestion that makes you feel like you are breathing water. Do I really need to go on? Your body gets so screwed up that no medicines work. Sudafed....don't make me laugh. Benadryl....makes the misery almost tolerable. Claritin....Ha! That new medicine that just went over the counter (the memory is the first to go).......not even a dent. All the really good stuff has been pulled off the market because of negative side affects. Right now I would gladly accept the side effects if I could just breath.

Oh, did I forget the sneezing? Can't forget that one!

I am NOT AMUSED!!