Month: May 2021

How cool is this?!

On By CarynIn Craft
May 2023 cover of Texas Co-op Power

How awesome to open up my mailbox and be greeted by a picture of a kaleidoscope of lovely hand spun yarn?!? And it isn’t even my spinning magazine, but from the monthly electric co-op publication! (My sister gifted me with a subscription of Spin-off magazine that I LOVE, and selfishly stretch out by only reading an article or two at a time.) Bonus spinning info, hurray! Here is the link to the digital version, if you are interested. It talks about a enterprising group of spinners that co-op their own herd of sheep, goats, and alpacas. A little too far away for me, which is a bummer, but I have local sources for alpaca, buffalo down, and mohair, so I feel pretty darn lucky.

Oh, and that is Sophie doing a photobomb and looking scary. I caught her in the middle of a yawn and stretch.

Bit

On By CarynIn dog, Wildlife

The sound of frightened barking is not a happy one in the veil of darkness before dawn. My dogs found a snake in the backyard before the sun rose and took exception to its presence on our property. It bit Griffin on the lip. We gave him Benadryl and took him to the vet as soon as they opened, and the vet gave him some steroids and more anti-inflammatories. The vet thinks it was probably a copperhead that tagged him. He stayed for a few hours for observation, then we picked him up and took him home with instructions from the vet, antibiotics, and oral anti-inflammatories. The vet shaved the area of the bite site so we could keep an eye on the skin to see if it lives or degrades.

Swelling on Griffin’s lip and neck from a probable copperhead snake bite, shown after the vet visit and shave

That afternoon I put on my thick rubber boots and long pants, picked up the snake grabber, started up the trimmer mower, and took down the grass in the backyard that had grown up high in the recent rains. It was a little awkward to mow and hold the grabber, but I wasn’t taking any chances. And reducing the snake hiding habitat made me feel a little better.

Bite site two days later

Two days later his swelling was down especially along his throat and just the area around the bite was inflamed. The vet said it was good if black scabs formed over the injection site, and he has those!

Bite site four days later

After four days the swelling was almost completely gone and the redness around the bite site was also significantly reduced.

Note: this is a personal account of a single incident. I am not providing veterinary advice.

More practice needed

On By CarynIn Bread

I am fascinated with braided bread. I don’t know why this is on my “I want to be able to do this” list, maybe because it is a mix of baking and textiles, which are two of my favorite things. In the interest of showing the real, I shall share my first plaited loaf. Well, sort of plaited. I attempted Paul Hollywood’s 8-strand loaf, but I need to practice with rope first because I’m not getting it. So I defaulted to a four strand since have that down pat. Then during the second rise it just became a loaf. A lumpy loaf. Hmm. This is something I’m going to have to practice some more, which is not honestly a hardship!

Four strand braided bread, before the second rise
Loaf after baking. Hm.

Itsy bitsy spider

On By CarynIn Wildlife
Spider and web in my rain gauge

Not quite a water spout, but an interesting choice for web building, tucked into my glass rain gauge. I tipped out the water and the spider ran down, then a stick made short work of the web. We’ll see if the itsy bitsy spider crawls up again.