Wow... ~blows dust off underwood no5~ Poor neglected journal.
Absolutely nothing remarkable has happened. Work on the new place proceeds apace.
Cat: Went back in for his recheck on his hyperthyroid, which is, after medication, at the high end of normal, but normal. Now there's this glucose thing going on. Cats have the ability to spike their bloodsugar when they're stressed. But his glucose was 100 points above normal... This is cause for concern. And cause for plastic pellets and a little paper tester strip. Yes, I have to get a single drop of cat pee to test his glucose levels... Hilarity ensues.
Baby watch 2007: My nephew is being fickle and toying with his mother's head, and he's not even born yet. I haven't even met him and I think I like him. She's due the 16th, but y'know, any minute now! {insert keystone cops impersonation here}
Work: I am actually in a conference call with Austria, Sweden and England this morning... o_0
Patio: Bought a table and chairs for the back patio. Which is interesting, considering we still don't have a proper dining room table. ~shrugs~ It's summer. We'll eat outside, yes? ~pulls on sweater against the fog~ Summer. Definitely. Table needs a coat of tung oil before it can go into service.
Gardening: Laid in roma tomatoes seedlings, green and gold bell peppers seedlings. In the ground, which is so cool. There was much slaying of weeds and augmenting of soil beforehand, and I've still got 5/6ths of the bed to go. Container garden now has Catnip, Spearmint, Lemon Balm, Pineapple Mint, Lemon Thyme, English Thyme, Oregano, Sage, French & English Lavender. The
Canna Indica continues to bloom, although it's clearly been neglected. One of the two daisy monsters has been slain. The other wants for heavy equipment*, or perhaps an axe to take it down. Also, the compost bin is proceeding apace. I've yet to buy worms for it, but I need to build a shelter, both for the seedlings and so the compost doesn't roast in the sun. Bought a bunch of seeds (see above reference to shelter), since our growing season is so long.
Herbs: Bought stuff to make our herbal guild's famous bruise juice recipe. When you hang out with fighter types, who like to hit on each other with sticks, invariably bruises occur. This is an olive oil based infusion of herbs supplemented with essential oils and it's the most wonderful stuff. It clears up really ugly bruises in a fraction of the normal healing time. It's also excellent for stiff muscles.
It saved my ass a week ago when I finally realized that neck spasms were actually a pulled muscle. Judicious application of stretches, heat and bruise juice did wonders on the healing front. Thanks to
strangestgirl@lj for sending me yoga for necks and shoulders. They help. A lot.
Craftroom: Getting a new bedroom set meant having extra chest of drawers, so one of them is being repurposed for herb storage. It got a stain and a coat of linseed oil on Saturday and Sunday, and a coat of bowling alley paste wax yesterday. (Have I mentioned how much I love my husband?) Next thing I need to find is the
fittings. (Pics forthcoming) Assembled bookshelves.
Sun jar: Have all the pieces parts, just need to assemble them.
Solar lights @ Harbor Freight - dissected for guts,
Fido glass canning jar, need to get the glass frosting yet, but it looks like it's going to work quite nicely. I do so wish I could justify the cost of the cobalt blue glasses because those would be so pretty. I'm not sure the solar panel would charge through the darker glass, so I'm sticking with the clear glass. Ideas to supplement the jar include filling it with sea glass (superbright LED light is REALLY superbright).
Spinning: Plied off two bobbins. Wow did I learn my lesson. Ply as soon as you get done spinning the bobbin. Letting it rest on the bobbin for three months made plying a nightmare. Whoops.
Also in the fiber end of things, my sister "arranged" (trans. Foisted on me) four bags of Suffolk, which is full of shit and second cuts and is going to be a real pain in the ass, but best to practice on free fleece before ordering that
merino I was ogling. But going out to see sheep in the fields was fun. The sheep dogs were Great Pyrenees and were the most affectionate,
smelly wonderful dogs ever. Hell, even the barn cat thought we were pretty cool.
Also, new processing steps means I need new tools... Anyone have a drum carder they'd like taken off their hands? No? Hmm.
Writing: ~shifty eyes~ Haven't been writing as much as I'd like. Haven't been musecracking as much as I'd like either. ~makes note to remedy both situations~
* SCA/Gardening joke du jour: This is a bec de corbin. This is a bec de Howard.
Darach Bruise Juice (Recipe refined by Eleyn of Darach/Hope Martin)
Step 1: Infuse the base oil*
6 bay leaves
1/2 cup lavender
1/4 cup sage (or wormwood)
1/4 cup calendula
1/4 cup mugwort
1/4 cup rosemary
Olive Oil to cover
Combine herbs and oil in a pot and simmer on the stove for approximately two hours. You could also use an old crock pot or potpourri pot and simmer it overnight. Just remember to stir.
Step 2: make up the essential oil base.
Camphor oil 2 1/2 t
Eucalyptus oil 3/4t
Lavender Oil 1/2t
Peppermint oil 1T + 2t
Ginger Oil 2T
Castor Oil 3 1/2t
Step 3: take 3 1/2 oz of the oil from step 1, and add to it 3 1/2t of the oil from step 2. This will give you Bruise Juice. To make Bruise Balm, add beeswax to the still warm infused oil at the rate of 1.5:1 (base oil to beeswax) or use your preferred ratio.
* I use EVOO, with enough grapeseed oil to get it to my desired viscosity.
