Uncle Leona's Day Camp

Vocal chords are overrated

At least that's where I'm at today. I have no voice. You see, I was at the Indians/Yankees game yesterday afternoon. It was a great game--very tense, playoff-type atmosphere. And to make things even more tense, there were a ton of Spankmee fans in attendance at the park.

Very loud, drunk, and obnoxious Spankmee fans.

Now, I wasn't drunk, but I have been known to do a nice job at loud and obnoxious. When two very annoying, intoxicated, and skanky Yankee fans decided they had to scream all game long (I believe that was after their sixth beer), particularly about their loins' longing for Derek Jeter, I started outscreaming them (with the help of my twin brother of a different mother one section over).

It was loud, obnoxious, and not pretty. I'm surprised I only flipped them off once.

Anyhow, we won on a bases loaded single in the 9th. I looked back to those two Skankees, and they seemed to think the game wasn't over. They kept looking to see how many runs we scored off the hit. Ladies, the game was tied. We needed one run to go home. Ha ha.

The best part was that the aforementioned Mr. Jeter grounded into a double play when his team was poised to score in the top of the ninth. The crowd was going absolutely nuts when that happened. I'm guessing that our section wasn't the only one with the opposing fans getting our Tribe ire up.

It was fun. But I sound like Kathleen Turner.

Moving right along, there is a little knitting going on at Casa de Leona. I have all the parts done for my red pullover. Just need to do some sewing.

It'll be ready to wear once Mother Nature stops teasing us with chances of snow in the forecast for the next two days.

I did get a start on a spring/summer pullover.

This is "Lakeside." It's by and large just a stockinette dealio, but it is knit with DK weight on size 9's, so it's very light. I'm using Classic Elite Premiere, an uber soft cotton/tencel blend that should look fabu. I'm a bit curious about how well it will wear, though. It is very light--seems like it could be prone to pilling, too.

Oh, darn. I may have to knit another sweater someday. Like that would be an issue.

As I mentioned, Mother Freakin' Nature is not letting me plant my garden early. It has been beautiful now for two weeks, and everyone is getting antsy to plant something other than pansies. I was going to plant this weekend, but with that damn "s" word in the forecast, I'm not taking a chance. I mean, who am I to hurt these babies?

The beans are taking over the community, but everything seems to be happy anyhow. Grady has already nibbled a couple of tomatoes down to the ground, but he is now blocked off from the flat. We have also discussed that this isn't a salad bar.

Like he listened. He's still circling.

Forget what I ever said about Mother Frickin' Nature

I had scheduled a day off of work today months ago, primarily to recover from my birthday yesterday, but also to give me a 5 day weekend. Generally, when I have time off in April, it's spent doing the laundry or shopping.

Sometimes, it's spent shoveling snow.

Then there are weeks like this one. For the last three days, it has been as beautiful as Ohio can get: mid-70's, no clouds, no humidity, light breeze. Perfect. I played golf on Wednesday in shorts and a polo shirt--not my standard April golf garb, which tends to look more like this:

Today, I decided to do something I wasn't expecting to do for a few weeks. It was the day to reclaim the garden. I had an overgrown perennial/weed garden that I decided a while back to change over to a vegetable/herb garden. All that had to be done today was:

1. Pull out all the grass that had grown over the stone border
2. Remove the little Mexican guy concrete bird bath
3. Dig out all the perennials and weeds
4. Dig out the three Roses of Sharon that had taken residence
5. Dig out a very stubborn set of lilies, and replant a few
6. Put down 240 pounds of topsoil

My muscles are telling me now that I am done:

Doesn't look like much now, but next month, it will be teeming with tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, beans, onions, lettuce, basil, and cilantro. I'm pretty damn pleased with myself. Exhausted, but pleased.

But what to do about this little guy???

I may just use him as a scarecrow.

At least it isn't snow

It's my day off, and the weather is not nearly as lovely as it has been for the past four days. We have had a nice stretch of sunny days with highs in the 60's, but, of course, now that I want to go to the driving range, it's raining. Looks like it's going to clear up soon, though, so there's hope to hit golf balls later.

I need it, too. I joined a new league this year, and they're supposed to tee off in a week. At this moment, I can't hit a golf ball. Any skill I had disappeared over the winter. I'm figuring a couple more buckets of balls should at least remind my body what a golf club should be used for. If not, I could always use a 4 iron to go all Tanya Harding on my leg and take a few weeks off for injury.

The weather is also looking sucky, too, so Mother Nature may buy me some extra time.

Yep. I love golf.

The registration for Stitches Midwest opened up about a half hour ago--I signed up so fast for classes I left skid marks on the website. I will be taking three classes this year: Merike Saarnit's Spinning for Knitting (on a spindle...it's all about new skills), Betsy Hershberg's Have a Ball (beadmaking with yarn and beads...looks uber cool), and Brandon Mably's Color and Design all day extravaganza. I should be one very colorful and creative chick when I get home from Illinois, that is for certain. Now I have to work on more creativity....

....time to book the flight and rental car. I got the Holiday Inn Express for $42/night through Hotwire, so I have hope that I can be equally cheap frugal for the rest of my travel needs. Mama needs Market money.

Mama also has four months to work on finding space in Ikealand:

Granted, if I can't make enough space for the booty I bring back, there is an Ikea a couple of miles from the hotel.

I did make a dent in the stash, though.

This is going to be a simple v-neck short sleeve pullover in Rowan All-Seasons Cotton, which I got at one of our LYS's going out of business sale. I have always wanted to knit with this stuff, but I couldn't find a color I liked. This is a petal pink that is really lovely, and I will have some white in the trim. My biggest problem right now is that I think my hands are reacting to the Addi Turbo I'm using--it's an old needle, and I'm wondering if the nickel isn't as protected as it was in the past. Itchy hands are not fun. I think I have a newer needle around somewhere--that hopefully will do the trick. If not, I'm screwed. Itchy, and screwed.

The Queen of the Waves shawl is off the blocking board and on the couch:

It's not going to stay there, but for now it's the one place where Grady doesn't feel the urge to attack it. He couldn't stay off of it on the blocking board.

Maybe I should make it his cat bed.