We're back

Hey all - well, we made it through Ike with minimal damage. Lots of tree branches down, lost water for about 24 hrs, our power was waaaaaay funky (went out Friday at 9:30 pm, back on at 5:00 am Saturday (!), off at noon on Saturday, and then back on hopefully for good Monday night at 5:00), and the wind was driving rain under the doors as the worst of the storm came through. But all in all, we were very very lucky. The girls slept through the worst of it, and missed the pine trees in our neighbor's yard swaying like blades of grass in the breeze.

We don't have internet access at home yet, so posting will be sparse until that gets restored, but I just wanted to let anyone wondering know that we are ok. Stay tuned.

Incoming!

Ehem. So, as some of you may be aware, a big ass hurricane named Ike is currently barreling his way across the Gulf and has decided that Galveston Bay looks like a pretty nice place to come ashore. So posting over the next few days (except for tomorrow's previously written/scheduled spinning post) will be nil, given that 100 mph winds and consistent electrical service are pretty much "Matter, meet Antimatter - Kablooey!" Hopefully there will be much knitting, but the girls may not be so keen on Mama huddled in the corner knitting by the light of her headlamp while the roof flies off (Mom, I'm kidding!) (At least I'm kidding about the roof)

In fact, this morning on the way to daycare, I had the following conversation with Devil:

D: Mommy, is the storm going to come visit Daddy's office? (Ironman's place of employment closed down yesterday afternoon in anticipation of Big Ike, so he worked from home today)

P: Yes baby.

D: Mommy, is the storm going to blow our house down?

P: No sweetie it's not. But it is going to get really windy and rainy for a while.

D: (silence. Clearly she's not convinced about the house not blowing down.)

P: Besides, if it looks like it's going to be really bad, we'll leave.

D: (Considering the consequences of leaving, not realizing that we would not be bringing all of her books plus the Dora Princess adventure DVD) Um, OK.

And that was it. Here's to hoping she continues through the next 48 hours with as much equanimity. Keep your fingers crossed that Ike suddenly springs a leak or hits a patch of Artic air or something and that we all make it through in one piece.

(And if I could arrange to guarantee that my roof would survive in one piece too, that would be great).

See you on the other side.

Remember

The past two days have been pretty significant in terms of coincidences. Or things coming together. But I'm struck by the fact that the first African-American nominee from a major political party accepted his nomination on the anniversary of Dr. King's I Have a Dream speech the day before the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting NOLA. With two more potential hurricanes headed towards the Gulf Coast in the next week or so (not to mention two more months of campaigning), I am sobered by waiting to see what will happen and how we will respond. And whether anything will be any different.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

The swap package is on the way...

I sent off my first swap package today, and let me tell you it was a near thing.

I love this yarn, and I want to keep it and display it on my kitchen table for the next ten years:

It's soft and squishy and the colors are To. Die. For. (you know, if you're one of us who has a thing for blues).

This is a handpainted Targhee top from Woodland Woolworks, in the colorway "Winter Sky". Spun/plied (navajo plied) at 10:1 on a ST folding Lendrum. 4 oz, ~290 yds, 13 wpi, making in approximately sport weight. I tried to overply a bit and then gave it a fulling wash (hot/cold/hot/cold/hot/cold), so it came out very springy!

I'm hoping there's enough here for my swap partner to get a pair of socks. Or maybe some mittens. Anyway, if she doesn't like it, I will pay for her to ship it back to me.

As for TS Edouard, he pulled a Rita* and all we got was a bit of a breeze and some good soaking rain, which was desperately needed. May the rest of the season go as well!

* pulling a Rita means that the hurricane/storm makes a beeline for Houston and, at almost the last possible moment, swerves and hits the poor folks on the TX-LA border. Thankfully this time, it was a much smaller storm.

A Very Harlot Tuesday

Today I am lounging at home slaving away on my laptop as I wait for the AC guys to come check out our system. It's funny, when I was growing up, the big annual home maintenance chore was getting your furnace checked out (if you were lucky enough to actually live in a real house, instead of living a deprived existence in a condo apartment) (just kidding Mom!). Well down here, nobody worries much about furnaces, but the air conditioner is a different thing. Woe betide those who do not do the annual maintenance on their AC, dooming themselves to a sudden failure at 10:30 pm on a Saturday night in August. With no repair available until Monday. Shudder. We got our compressor replaced in 2004, and haven't had it serviced since. So...

Anyway, the AC guys are coming over this morning to crawl around in my attic roasting themselves to death, and given that it's 20+ miles to work, and I wouldn't get down there until after lunch, and have you seen the price of gas these days?, I decided to take a mental health day. I've got a hot date with this

and this

and I'm not stopping until I have some nice stripey chain plied yarn to knit the lined mittens from the new Spin Off for Devil and Boo for the winter. Cause, you know, they need mittens in Houston. Of course, I may take a break when the AC guys arrive because really, do they need to think I'm any odder then they already will? Cheers!