Do you know what this is? Deadly Oleander.

This is a beautiful Oleandar blooming on my deck.

                                 

No matter how you look at it you see something beyond comprehension as to how something this beautiful can be so deadly.  The leaves of the Oleandar are slender and grayish green.  And they can be made into a tea that will kill you.  I remember seeing that in a movie once and when I checked I seen that it was true.  course the description did not give me clear directions on how to make the tea, so I am probably not going to do that!

But it is something worth thinking about.

Going to lose my BMW!

Here I set waiting for a transport company to call and come and pick up the BMW M6 that has been in my garage for the last eight months.  Oh, not to be alarmed thinking it is mine.  It belongs to a friend.  He needs to to liquidate his belongings so this has found a home in Kansas City.  (Hi Shirley!  Hi Becca!)

It is rather sad the way this car has lost value in this economy, but it is not the only thing that has suffered that fate.  The interior of this thing is real leather and like butter.  And pristine.  You can not even see where I sat in the passenger seat.  The driver's seat has a little wear, but not the other seats.

Oh, I just realized that I have to take the tag off so I better go do that little chore. 

Bon Voyage Sherman's BMW!

Chapter One....Loose Ends is almost a reality!

 This is my book!  Or this is the proof of my book.  It should go to print next week and I am very excited!  I am currently working on the website where I will be able to sell it.  In the meantime, if you want to reserve a copy email me at loumercer3@aol.com .  I am pretty sure I will have enough for all of you, but why take a chance? 

It sells for $14.95 if you are paying with a check or money order.  Cash will be $15.00 cause I do not want to carry a bunch of nickles around.  Sorry.  Be sure and remember that it is not printed yet so don't expect it the next day.  I will notify you when it is ready.  And when the website is set up I will give you that.  I know it but it would do you no good to go there cause there is nothing there.  I should be up and running the second week in July.  You can go look if you want.  http://loumercer3.com /  Hopefully I am actually smart enough to get this done.

This book is completely self published and I do not mean I paid some one to do it for me.  I wrote it.  I formatted it.  Jeanne Gardner edited it.  Kenna Mercer mostly designed the cover with a little help from Susie at Riverside Printing who will print and bind it.  I bought my own ISBN number and printed out my own barcode. 

So there you have it.  Good luck to me!

Cleo finds a home!

This is Cleo.  I introduced her to you a few days ago and you she needed a good home.  Well, when the British Motorcycle Association of Colorado found out her plight, the president sent a letter to all the members.  This is a tight group of Lord only knows how many riders, but there was quick response.  By the next day it was apparent that she would have a home with one of the bikers, and today she trotted out with Todd Wallace and Dana Robbins and did not look back.  She is going North to live with Todd and his wife.  Dana was the point man in this and my job was to tell her goodbye and report back to Sherman.  Job accomplished!

Here comes the man wanting a new dog.  Right up the sidewalk to the front door and inside.

 Kind of got him in the shadows here and not smart enough to know how to remedy that.  And bringing up the rear is Dana, himself.

 Well, Cleo, are you ready to go with me?

So, for all of you who wondered, yes, Cleo has found a new home.  I will miss walking her, and I will miss her running to meet me, but I know she will be happy with Todd.  I think this is the first dog Sherman or I have had to give away.  Usually we get a dog and it is till death us do part.   But sometimes life gets topsy turvy.

I want to thank all the members of the BMAC for stepping up to the plate when it was called for to help one of their own.

Namaste!

Then and Now, or some damn happy dogs!

This is a picture of Daisy at the pound, before she came to live with us.

This is Elvira at the pound before she came to live with us

Now I ask you this, do these dogs look like the same dogs to you?  No way.  And what I can not understand is why more people do not do the dog pound thing?  I am pretty sure if we had not come along when we did that these two little guys would no longer be just setting there waiting. 

Do not let anyone tell you that dogs do not smile, because these two are showing some serious happiness here.  I love my doggies and they love me.  We have a ritual at night, a ritual in the morning and a ritual all through the day.

And this brings me to the next phase.  I have knowledge of a very nice dog that needs a home.  She is a bigger dog, probably some greyhound and a dash of lord only knows what.  I walk her several times a day as she waits for her master who will not be returning.  She would make a lovely pet for someone who has a bit of land and no cats.  If you are interested, please let me know.

Crochet lesson at Starbucks.

Ah, there is just nothing as nice at meeting good friends for a cup of coffee and a muffin at Starbucks.  Unless, of course it is meeting friends who want to learn to crochet.  Crochet is a lost art and I am always happy to teach some one this craft.  Well, it did not actually start out that way.

See, my friend Kay, wanted to make an afghan.  Her daughter, Diane,  had suggested it as a past time since Kay knew how.  Well, seems it had been several years since Kay had done this and needed a refresher course.  I was most happy to oblige, being the kind soul I am with lots of time on my hands.  So we purchased the yarn, pattern and ONE hook.  Now in all fairness, I told her she might need another size and steered her to a set, which she declined.

To make a long story even longer, I wound up bringing the whole mess home to figure out the pattern.  I decided the yarn was not conducive to a beginner as it kept splitting.  So with a bigger hook, which Kay suggested, I got it to work, but found another pattern I liked so I started that one also.  Now keep track here.  I now have TWO afghans started.  So let's meet at Starbucks and see what we have.  Two of us had muffins and one of us cringed with a frightened aorta over those things.

When Kay arrived she had in tow her lovely daughter, Diana.  She was here for her dad's birthday.  Oh and it was her birthday also.  Happy Birthday to you!  There you see the paper that held her muffin which she snarfed down while using two hands to crochet.  The girl is good!  Back to the subject.  She was fascinated and decided she would like to learn to crochet right there in the middle of Starbucks on 4th Street right by the drive thru.

 Our first and probably the most daunting task, was to learn how to tie a slip knot.  Unfortunately her dear mother was no help on this one since she had carefully saved the first slip knot she ever made just so she would never have to make another one.  After many attempts and much pulling of hair on my part, the slip knot was completed and there you see it above!  And a beautiful slip knot it was.  Some man did find it necessary to come to our table and tell us he could not help but over hear us and his wife had tried to teach him the art and he had not learned.  We actually had several men advise us and one did say that perhaps we were having way to much fun to learn anything!  He may have been right on that!

To wind this up, let me say, a good time was had by all.  Diana was sent in search of a ball of yarn and a hook to match with instructions to practice form, tension, and patience with the ripping out and starting over in order to have something recognizeable.  And I am sure she will accomplish that when she gets back to Oklahoma.  I, myself, had a wonderful time and will be most happy when little Diana pops up here again because she is such a delight!

And guess what I will be doing this afternoon?  I am giving a crochet lesson to a couple ladies at the SCAP office.  Oh, and we are going to have a quilt lesson also.  But for now, I bid adieu to my two friends at Starbucks who I am sure are at home practicing slip knots and single crochet and double crochet.  The art is not dead!!!  Long live needlecraft of every sort.

(And when I find the link I need, I will be putting the whole show on in a slide show, so watch for that to come on here or facebook!)

When you are over the hill, you pick up speed.

I know that sounds foolish, but it is still so true.  I can remember way back when I used to find ways to "kill time."  Now it rather seems that time is killing me!  I hit the floor every morning between 4 and 5 AM and the next time I look at the clock it is almost noon and I am late for the next appointment.  By the time nap time rolls around I am so far behind that I know that ain't happening.  Running into town two and three times a day to walk and care for a friends dog probably isn't helping much, but that is life.  If there were only some way that I could squeeze a few more hours into my day.  Right now eBay sales are in the toilet so that is a good thing.

I decided right in the middle of the whole thing to measure me a warp for the loom.  672 ends of linen.  Now linen is about the consistency of a spider web.  My warping board that Ryan made me decided to buckle up so I am left with the small one I had purchased online.  It is great and I can measure a 3 yard warp, but it is a real knuckle buster.  If I go really slow I can keep from racking my knuckles on the pegs, but slow was never anything I did well especially when working with tiny things.  All thumbs here.   Now granted, if I get this measured and then threaded through the reed and then through the heddles and keep an even tension, it will be a beautiful piece and a miracle.

And while all this is going on, the weeds in the garden are growing, dust in the house is settling and I have to eat and eating entails cooking which results in a messy kitchen that someone has to clean.  I thought it was Bret and Amanda making all the messes, but they moved out a year ago and the messes continue.  Any ideas?  I stopped by the new Goodwill yesterday and that is like going to the mall!  I found a small George Foreman grill so I can cook me one little hamburger patty.  Whoops!  Then I have that to clean.  I also found a tiny little Belgian Waffle baker.  That might be fun.  What ever a Belgian Waffle is!

Michael came and mowed the yard yesterday while I was in town.  First thing that happened was he forgot to close the gate and the geese got out.  Michael is many things, but goose herder he is not.  Since they were all there last night I am guessing he figured it out.   He does have a fear of the perimeter around the yard so I am going to have to teach him about that. 

And I am still working on getting my first novel published.  I am actually waiting to see if this one company buys it.  That would be ideal and I could let them do all the work.  But if not then I will do the self publishing thing which looks very confusing and expensive.  The more companies I look at in that area, the more confused I get.  I just want to start writing the sequel!

So, I am off to do stuff.  Guess the geese are high on the list.  Then the dog in town.  Ross is bringing a load of stuff to store in the garage so I will need to be home for that.  See what I mean about killing time?  Just spent 45 minutes here writing this and I still need to do the tags and the location and my sponsor list.  Life is a circle.

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