I don't know if I should be irritated or frightened that there are more posts on blogs I read about nipples than there are about Earth Day's black out hour.

But I think I finally figured out why I have insomnia.

  ¶ 11:30 AM

  There has been a strange thumping noise in our house for weeks.

Jazz thought he was going mad- it's so soft and hard to determine a direction, until I admitted I could here it too. We thought it might be pipes, or the furnace, or a leak in the walls from the roof. We tried to eliminate these if possible. When we could not find a source, Jazz started to wonder if our house was haunted. But I reassured him if I could hear it too, it wasn't a hallucination.

Tonight, I finally figured it out. I heard the thumping louder than ever when I picked up Kenya for her medication. I put my hand on her chest, and her heart was pounding so hard, I could feel it an inch off her chest. It was pounding in time with the thumping. This is called a grade 6/6 heart murmur. It means she's definitely not doing too well. But we know she's not in pain, thanks to her medication. There's probably more medication they could give us for her to keep her comfortable, or they may not be able to do anything else for her.

So we have peace of mind at knowing what it is at last, and yet, my heart aches, and I am not comforted.  ¶ 7:40 PM

  The last time I saw my grandmother, she wanted to make sure I read her autobiography. I said I was the one who had typed it for the Family to share, so of course I had.

Did it answer all your questions? she said.

No, I told her.

What was missing? What would you like to hear now? she said.

But what I could not say. I looked at her in my internal horror. "I can't say what it was that I wanted," I stammered. "But I wanted more."

I wanted more.  ¶ 2:41 PM

  This morning, a noted republican senator appeared on Face The Nation. He said, "The war in Iraq is worth the money and effort involved for the safety of the American people." (Well maybe not verbatim, but that's pretty close.

Excuse me, but I'd rather be able to afford bread and clothes and keep the roof over my head than be as "safe" as you intend. Fuck you, Mr. Senator. Fuck you.  ¶ 7:41 PM

  Signs of spring

Last Saturday, I saw a raven flying with a stick in his beak. Hidden among the distant trees, I saw hints of green. I saw a woodchuck galloping along the verge of the highway. I saw a ring-necked male pheasant by a bush. The weekend before, I saw a bald eagle in a tree by the river.

Yesterday and Saturday I saw the geese flying in huge Vs across the sky. Sunday, Jazz saw a flock of woodpeckers in our maple in the back yard. I didn't know woodpeckers would migrate together.

But the strongest sign of spring for me- this morning I woke up to the singing of birds.  ¶ 10:49 AM

  And now for something completely different, a knitting post.

Because I do my short row heels an odd way, here's documentation with photos on how I do a heel, toe up. This is probably reversible for a top down model, but I don't know if I'll do that or not.

I knit from the toe until the foot of the sock reaches from my heel of hand to very tip of middle finger, which is close to 7 inches. Then I decide what will be top and what will be bottom. I ignore the top. The images may be a little odd- I had help with them. Note- this is 16 stitches per needle, on DPNs to fit my feet. YMMV.



Knit all the way across, turn the work, and then slip the last stitch knit onto the needle.



Purl all the way across, turn the work, and slip the last stitch purled onto the needle.

Repeat. Once you have slipped a stitch, ignore it. The number of slipped and ignored stitches will increase every row. When you have only 8 stitches left to work with, then you will start working on the other side of the heel, and increase your number of stitches.

At the end of the knit row, knit the last "live" stitch. Then pick up a stitch in the gap between the last stitch and the next stitch.




Knit this next stitch too. Turn the work. Slip this stitch. Purl across. Make a purl stitch in the gap here too between the last live stitch and the previous ignored stitch. And then purl that next stitch too. Turn the work again to knit, slipping the last stitch.

Now repeat this, making a stitch between the gaps. This should be adding a stitch every row, until it looks like this. It will look bunchy because of the stitches added, but there won't be any holes. There's a definite gap though between heel and the rest of the foot here though.



So we'll make one in this gap here.



Knit around the foot. Then when you get to the gap on the other side of the foot, use your spare needle to make one in this gap.



Knit across this part. Then count 15 stitches from the heel, and mark with a stitch marker. I like to use hoop earrings. Do this on both sides.



Knit the rest of the way around the heel until you almost get to the end where it joins the foot. Knit two together through the back of the loop (or whatever method you like including ssk) as long as the slant goes towards the heel. (All the pictures I took of this part are very blurry). Knit around the front of the foot. When you get to the other side, knit two through the front of the loop. Again, the slant goes towards the heel.



Continue doing this until you only have one stitch in front of both stitch markers. Now you have 16 stitches on a needle again, and your heel is finished.



Knit the rest of the sock as you will.

(For the curious, this is Socks that Rock, Flinstone, on size 0 or 2 mm)  ¶ 10:23 AM

  First of all, I am finally feeling better. Still have a nagging cough and a small amount of drainage, but I have a voice! and no fever or general crappy run down feeling, or at least not more than "normal."

Also, if you have an interest in adopting a cat and you only want one cat, or if you cats with FeLV and are interested in more- please look at Wednesday. See the Help Local Kitties link on the right for more info.

I will try to post a wee more often.  ¶ 9:44 AM

  We're entering now into Week 6 of Georg's raspy, croaky voice. I feel better at this point than I did last week at this time, but that's becauseI no longer feel like someone's stabbing my neck. Thank goodness for small favors, I guess. But then, now I'm having antibiotic induced diarrhea, and isn't that better?

Yes, this is just a whinge post really. I don't feel witty. I don't feel like I'm dying, but Jazz walks on eggshells every time I cough. He's always worried I might die when I get sick. Unfortunately, I get sick a lot.

Sucks.  ¶ 8:21 AM