It's Really Spring! (I Have Proof!)

I wandered around the yard today to survey the ravages of winter.  Instead, I found SPRING!

One of the 98 daffodils I planted in the fall.
They actually came up!

Violets in the grass - love that color!

I caged the peonies before they get
out of control.

The first dandelions - oh me.  The fight starts.

The daylilies are up!

The buckeye tree has real leaves.  And look at that sky!

I cleaned last fall's leaves out of the flower beds.  I caged the peonies.  I picked up sticks.  I cut down old hosta stalks.  I searched for the first asparagus stalks - no luck.

The thing is, I GOT OUTSIDE.  

At last.

New Year, New Knee (Part 3)

Our primary election is coming up, and we're lucky to be able to vote early the four weeks before the official day.  I was planning to be out running errands anyway, so I figured I'd go vote, too, and get it over with.  Efficiency!

I parked on the street and headed into the county courthouse.   I emptied my pockets into one of the dog dishes on the x-ray machine's conveyor belt.  The nice sheriff's deputy motioned me forward.

I stepped through the metal detector and about jumped out of my skin - the ALARM!

I patted all my pockets - what had I missed???

I turned around and looked at the deputy.  He said, "Do you have knees?" and I laughed. 

PROOF.

They really DID give me a new knee.  The x-rays were real!  What a concept!

Nothing But Knit - A Yarny Rant About Rants

When Super Bowl XLVI came to Indianapolis in 2012, volunteers wore scarves made by area knitters, including one made by me.  They had specific guidelines, like type of yarn, size, dimensions, and color (blue and white - Colts colors).  Other than that, you could make whatever pattern you wanted, so no two were exactly alike.  They originally asked for 8,000 scarves, but 13,000 were made.  After knitters turned in their scarves, other volunteers sewed an official Super Bowl patch on each "Super Scarf."  It was a fun way to show some good ol' Hoosier Hospitality and welcome people to the city.

Well, here we go again!

My hats, so far!

The NBA announced that Indianapolis will host the 2021 All-Star Game, and asked for volunteers to make 5,000 navy blue and gold (Pacers colors) knitted hats for the volunteers, hospitality employees, players, coaches, and NBA representatives.  The news spread through the Indianapolis area knitting community.  We were excited to get started!

However, naysayers and killjoys abound, judging by MOST of the comments I read following the announcement of the initiative.  I was shocked!  Omitting commenters' names to protect the grouchy, here is a sampling of the negativity expressed:

"Pretty sure coaches, players and league representatives can afford their own hat. Why not give the hats to local schools for kiddos that need them?"

"These multi-million dollar events, for teams whose owners and a lot of the players are millionaires and billionaires, in arenas and stadiums that are almost all paid for by tax money, are asking people to DONATE knit hats (scarves for the super bowl) for swag bags for these same millionaire players, and volunteers, staff, etc. To get the 'community involved.'  SERIOUSLY!??!"

"As much money as you have, as much money that pours into your pockets from these events because this ain't no charity game -- it's a for-profit thing -- you can't afford to give your volunteers 'swag bags' to thank them without asking for freebies from secretary people? Isn't that what your corporations are for? After all, they can still probably write it off their taxes."

"You want to involve the community? Increase your donations to schools, food pantries, women's shelters. Give more to your community instead of asking them to give more to you. (And yes, I know that the per-person time and materials cost for those scarves and hats aren't huge, but it's the principle of the thing. Greedy bastards found another way to get something free while making it look like they're doing YOU a favor by letting you 'help.' And I'm just going to ignore the whole idea that they have volunteers working these games for now. But, really? Damn.)"

Yes, SERIOUSLY.  Yes, REALLY.  Some of us DO want to make hats and donate our time and materials.  Get over yourselves.  If you don't want to contribute, DON'T.  And don't judge those of us who do.  We do it because we want to.  We're proud of our community.  One commenter claimed the time and money spent would be better going to a "real charity."  Well, hospitality shown to strangers is also charity.

I've made three hats, and I'm making more.  Full speed ahead!  Damn the torpedoes! 

As of today, the official count is 856 hats turned in.

For those who DON'T want to participate, guess what - NOBODY is going to twist your arm and FORCE you to make a hat.  And guess what else?  Your opinion?  NOBODY CARES. 

MEASURE (A Five-Minute Friday Post)

I'm having real difficulty with this particular writing prompt.  Ugh.  Well, here goes!


"Measure" reminds me of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, and "measure twice, cut once."

And quotes:

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."  (Samuel Johnson)

"The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have."  (Vince Lombardi)

"The measure of a man is what he does with power."  (Plato)

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."  (Peter Drucker)  This one is my favorite, at least right now.

When I was going to physical therapy after my knee replacement, the therapist periodically measured the angle of my bent knee.  Over the course of just a few weeks, it went from 95 to 105 to 110 to 120 to 126 to 130, but to me, it felt pretty much the same.  I couldn't see the angle myself, and I just bent my knee as far as possible, so it always felt pretty similar.  Although I could tell my foot was getting closer and closer to my rear end, I couldn't tell how much.  Because I had goal numbers, and I had measurements for comparison, I knew I was improving rapidly.

I'm trying to declutter the house (it's an ongoing process).  I work on particular spaces, and it's amazing how much STUFF is STUFFED into them!  I'll work and work and do what feels like a lot, but when I look at the space afterward, I don't see much improvement.  So I started keeping track of how many trash bags I fill, and how many boxes I empty.  Otherwise, I'd think I've been spinning my wheels.

Make a list of the things you measure every day.

How could you use those measurements to improve your life?

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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up.  Today's writing prompt was "MEASURE."  For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.

April Fool!

April first, and there’s SNOW on the ground!  Not much, to be honest, but Saturday it rained all day, then it sleeted, then the snow started.  Within an hour, everything was completely covered.  An early April Fool's joke on us!

In the morning, my poor daffodils and daylilies poked through here and there, and the trees glistened with a thin layer of ice and glowed with a finish coat of snow on their trunks and branches.  The neighbor’s chain link fence, encased in ice, shone in the sunlight.

Usually, by the end of the day all the snow and ice would have melted, but this time, the temperature never got above 35 degrees, so most of it remained.  No big deal, but often, when there is ice on the trees, branches will break.

And some will hit power lines.

Heavy sigh.

So, on top of the unexpected ice and snow, last evening we lost power.  Talk about piling one insult on another - FUN!

At least we’re well practiced.  We used to have frequent outages before our part of the power grid was improved.  I got out the oil lamp and a zillion candles and lit ‘em up.  So we had light and a little heat.  It always gets me how the house will stay relatively warm (around 66 degrees) with just the oil lamps and candles.  And how quiet it is without the TV, refrigerator, and furnace blower running.

The cats appropriated our laps and contributed warmth to the throws we bundled up with.  Nothing to do but wait.

We reported the outage by mobile phone, talked on the phone, talked to each other.

Not a bad way to spend a few hours!