Nothing new, so here's a story.

So, I have not crocheted another snowflake since my last post, ha ha! I will, though, have a little faith. I'm one of those people who is inexplicably intimidated by the process of stiffening them that I haven't done it yet, so I have a Ziploc with 25 snowflakes sitting on my end table right now. As soon as I get a few done I will post pictures, thanks so much for asking! There are so many different products to use for stiffening and I am having trouble deciding* what to use. I am currently making my second Celestine Crochet using Trekking sock yarn. It's not very soft, I don't know if I'd like to make socks out of it, but it serves this purpose. I don't see the colourway I'm using on their site, mine is red, yellow, orange blue green and white. I made one for my baby DS a couple of months ago and now I'm doing another because DD says she wants one, too. I put a kitty rattle ball inside when I stuffed it so it rattles for him. I may make another to keep on my desk at work, I like to have things on my desk that make people ask questions.

So in the meantime, a story from my youth. I won't be offended if you stop reading now, but hopefully you will find it mildly amusing.

As previously stated I grew up on the family farm 12 miles from the nearest town. My family runs a mixed farming operation which - for those of you who may be agriculturally challenged - means that we raise both grain and cattle (plus chickens, sometimes pigs and lots of cats ). This story takes place in early summer when I was twelve. One of our cows had had twin calves then shortly after broke her leg in a gopher hole and... um... sure was tasty. Anyway, my younger brother J (by 2.5 years) and I were given the chore of bottle feeding** the orphans, so we had to mix up warm formula and run down to the barn before and after school every day. We loved it, despite the early hours, and at that age we spent most of our free time down at the barn anyway. We were also in charge of cleaning the stall, laying down new straw and making sure the calves had fresh water. If you're still reading, this paragraph has all been back story for the following.

One night J and I stayed out playing around and by the time we got around to actually doing our chores it was dark and we could hear the coyotes howling. We had to drag square bales into the barn from the stack just outside the corral. There was only one outside light by the barn so it was pretty dim out there. After we had finished spreading out the fresh straw and hauling out the dirty stuff we had to go around to the back of the barn to give water to the bulls that were fenced in there. J went a couple of minutes before I did, taking the flashlight because there was no light at all back there. When I was done closing up the stall and putting the pitchforks away I followed him out but as I left the barn and entered the shadowed corral I heard something behind me. I turned, thinking one of the cats was following me but I couldn't see anything. It didn't really bother me at first so I started walking again but immediately heard the sound again, something was moving through the straw behind me. I turned again but there was still nothing there. Okay, so to make sure you're all still following, I'm twelve, it's very dark and it's quiet except for the howling coyotes. I stood frozen for a moment and began to shake. I took another step, heard the noise then my nerve broke and I ran screaming for my brother to bring the flashlight back. We almost crashed into each other at the corner of the barn. I stood there with my eyes shut squeaking that something was behind me shine the light, shine the light! but when he did there was still nothing there. I must have looked terrified because he didn't question that I might be just trying to scare him. We stood with our backs against the barn wall until we decided to make a break for it back inside the barn and slammed the door shut - but as I was running further into the barn I suddenly tripped and landed flat on my stomach....because the twine*** that had been wrapped around my boot and dragging behind me everywhere had caught on the door. DUH! It took a while to get over the adrenaline rush but we sere still a little spooked so when we got the nerve up we ran all the way back up the steep hill to the house with the flashlight bouncing around so much we really couldn't see where we were going and the coyotes still howling from over the hills.

So that's my story for this evening, hope you enjoyed a little G rated horror, lol. I'll be back soon.


*You will discover that I am chronically indecisive. My husband and I can never decide on a restaurant when we go out, we usually present the options to DD (who is 8 and shall henceforth be referred to as "Gem" on this blog) and make her choose for us, lol.
**Note for any first-time bovine bottle-feeders - make sure to brace the bottle against your hip, not your stomach! Calves bunt their moms to stimulate the milk letdown and it can really knock the wind out of you, lol.
***plastic rope used to hold bales together