I Live In The City

So, we think that this lovely creature lives under our cute little shed. Not sure if it's a he or a she, but last year there were babies. For all we know this is one of the babies all grown up. These things should not be out in broad daylight right? We have tried pretty much everything to get rid of it. Alan even filled the escape hole with cement. Obviously that didn't work. I happened to be leaving for work and there it was, taking a leisurely stroll through the ditch across the street. I swear it even seemed to stop and pose for that last picture. Not afraid of me at all. In the meantime...

These animals, that are pretty much spoiled rotten, that we have around to  purposely keep unwanted critters away, have totally fallen down on the job. Seriously.
I hope you have a lovely weekend. It's not supposed to rain again until Sunday, so I'm going to take advantage of the sunshine.
Sally

A Journey Finished

 You may or may not remember that I set a goal for myself way back in January of 2014 to knit all 6 of the patterns from Journey during that year. Well, I almost made it. I finished 5 of them last year, So close... I finished the last one at the beginning of March and was able to wear it to the Knitting Pipeline Retreat. I really enjoyed all of the projects, but I have gotten the most use out of the fingerless mitts. both of the sweaters ended up fitting me very well. I really like the blue one and am looking forward to wearing it a lot next fall. For now my knit wear is packed away. It's spring!
Sally

Happy Easter

Hope you are enjoying a lovely Easter. Alan and I decided to do a little hiking/walking this morning. It started out as such a pretty day with blue skies and light breezes. Alan got a new book for Christmas called Take A Hike, Louisville. It basically talks about all of the parks with paths and trails around the city. There are a several that we have not visited so we set out this morning to check a couple off of the list. We started at BearGrass Nature Preserve and tried to do the White Oak Trail, but because of all the rain we had Friday parts of it were pretty washed out. Lots of standing water and mud do not make for an enjoyable hike. We opted for the paved paths at Joe Creason Park. This park is across the street from the zoo, so we've passed it several times. It's primarily used by people out to get a little exercise. It was nice to be outside for a bit. The grass is green and the trees are just starting to bud. The last picture is of the tiniest, little, baby pine-cones. I know it's hard to tell but they are probably just an inch long. So cute. It's gotten cloudy now and the weather people say that it will rain all week Oh goody, more rain. So glad we were able to take advantage of today.
Sally

Spring At Last

You know how sometimes time just gets away from you? That's pretty much my only excuse for not blogging since early March. Seems like it's just been one thing after another and I've just been along for the ride. I'll try and catch you up on the main events, but it's probably better to just go forward from here. March was one busy month,  not just for Alan and I, David and Grace gave us several days of nervous excitement. I spent a weekend in Peoria with my good friend Jacqueline. We attended the Knitting Pipeline Retreat but mostly just enjoyed each others company. We did a lot of knitting, some shopping and ate delicious sushi. Alan attended a conference and an out of town lab inspection. He also participated in the Triple Crown of Running. A 5K, 10K and 10 Miler. David is down to the wire now. Match Day was March 20th and apparently all of his hard work has payed off.  He will be doing his residency at the University of Iowa. This was his first choice, and he is very excited to return to Iowa for at least the next 3 years. Grace attended a gender equality meeting in Cambodia that coincided with Michelle Obama's Let Girls Learn" promotional tour. She got to have lunch in a fancy hotel and listen to Mrs. Obama and the head of the Peace Corps talk about the importance of educating girls. Oh yeah, and she also got a huge hug from the First Lady. Totally the highlight of her Peace Corps experience so far. In other news, you may have seen that we had a bit of rain last week. Seriously, the flood gates opened and water was every where. Thank goodness the sun has come out today and things are starting to dry out. The grass is turning green and all of the daffodils are blooming. Spring is finally here. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter Celebration.

Sally

In Like A Lion... Out Like A Lamb

Or so the saying goes. All I know is that we have seen our fair share of the Lion this year, thank you very much. This latest winter storm dumped over 11 inches of  lovely wet snow on Louisville. When we went to bed it was just getting started. When we woke up it was pretty much over except for the digging out part. Thanks to all of you who checked up on us to make sure that we weren't buried alive. The national news probably made it look a whole lot worse than it was, unless you were in one of those lucky cars stuck on interstate 65 for 15 hours. That was just crazy.  The good news is that the sun has been out all day today and a lot of melting has been the result. The bad news is that now there is a concern for some serious flooding over the next few days. We just can't catch a break. I did not leave the house Wednesday or Thursday, so cabin fever was setting in. Today I ventured out (not far mind you) to Trader Joe's and JoAnn Fabrics. I finally finished knitting a sweater and it needed buttons. That's a good excuse to risk my life dodging mounds of snow and potholes don't you think? I wondered around both nearly empty stores for quite a while and found some buttons and these beautiful spring like daffodils. Things are looking up. Alan is supposed to run in a 5K downtown tomorrow morning. which I'm not so sure is going to happen. We were also hoping to make it to the Maple Syrup Festival over in Indiana. Maybe by Sunday that will sound like a better idea. Hope you have fun weekend plans. Don't forget to "spring forward" your clocks Saturday night.
Sally

Farewell February- Good Riddance

Are you still trying to keep warm? I'm kind of glad that February is such a short month. My brain knows that it's still very much winter, but in my heart I'm already celebrating spring. I did my best to "spring" up the house this week. Almost all signs of winter have been packed away and yellow is my current decorating color of choice. Yellow flowers, yellow lemons, yellow sunlight...Yellow just makes me feel warmer, until I look out the window and see the giant icicles hanging from the little house out back and the still snow covered grass.  The good news is that we "might" make it up to 60 degrees on Wednesday. Of course it will be raining so no one's going to get to enjoy it, but I'm hoping that all signs of snow will melt away. It's a start.
Hope you are having a sunny, warm weekend
Sally

Snug Hollow Bread

It's another YUCKY day in Kentucky and  I'm not leaving the house. It's a raining, sleeting, snowing, freezing mess out side. I'm so glad that I bought the Snug Hollow cookbook during our visit last weekend. Today was a perfect day for a mug of Trader Joe's Roasted Red Pepper Tomato soup and a couple of slices of Rosemary Bread. Here is a link to the recipe. Barbara told me the it could be made and baked in 30 minutes and I think that was pretty accurate. I made one big loaf and probably should have cooked it a few minutes longer. Next time I'll try making 2 smaller loaves and freeze one. As you can see from the second picture I bought some Nutritional Yeast and Tamari Sauce at the store yesterday. I found them both at Kroger which was a mad house of people stocking up for the big storm. I'm all ready to give some of her other recipes a try, but first I'm going to go to a Pampered Chef Freezer Meal party. Have you ever been to one. From what I understand we spend a few hours in the consultants kitchen and leave with 10 Zip-Lock bags full of crock pot ready meals. She sent out a shopping list of supplies we need to bring and we have all placed orders with her for spices and seasoning etc... Sounded interesting. Now I have to go make room in my tiny little freezer. Stay warm friends.
Sally