A Whirled Yarn

And the Pulitzer goes to...

First, in the poetry category...

   

If cats ate cold pizza and drank hot coffee.

If cats ate cold pizza and drank hot coffee,

They would also drive SUVs.

The price of clay would be through the roof. Gas, too.

They would shop at Target and drive a third world market for fuzzy toys on suction-cupped plastic rods

Made by kittens.

They would plow up fields to build acres of kitty condos

(each three stories high and carpeted on the outside).

The world would be their litterbox. 

~ the AMP

So this answers the burning question about what the Absent-Minded Professor does while waiting to give lectures at Continuing Ed meetings.

Also in contention for this year's Pulitzer Prize... in the non-fiction category... is this little work in progress whose title caught my eye on our computer's Word file directory....

Beware, all mothers of fourth grade boys, there apparently is a manual in the works...

Is this Heaven?

No, it's yarn school!!!!!

I was teaching and talking and eating all weekend at Yarn School.  It is the best time.  So much fiber, so much yarn, so many spinning wheels...it's where I want to spend eternity...especially if Nikol will be cooking.

If you were wondering where yarn school was held...it's here...

And that is pretty much the town.  It is about an hour away from me and the drive is beautiful.  In fact I saw lots of Kansas wildlife along the way.

Turkeys being all sexy...

A herd of buffalo at home on the range...

Dinner on the hoof...

Dinner taking a nap...

Umm...dinner lost on the wrong side of the Atlantic?

Honestly, how could you be expected to eat something so cute and fuzzy?  I swear he (she?) only stands about 4 ft high.  This is a prime example of why I am only an Insteader, not a Homesteader.  (Carnivorism according to Jen...only eat the big, ugly ones.)

And I'm pretty sure I found one of the Billy Goats Gruff...

I think he might be the smallest (trip-trot, trip-trot, trip-trot...)  So, if you're needing any troll busting, he lives right in downtown Auburn, KS.

I also discovered my dream house...

(It doesn't really lean dramatically to the right...)  Picket fence, flock of sheep, daffodils in the spring....it would be perfect...

What?  You want to see pictures of Yarn School?  The wheels, the fiber, the fun?  Yah, I didn't actually take any of that...

Men just don't understand...

Me:  Honey, I just got a pair of sheep shoes!

Absent-minded Prof:  I hope you got a pair of cheap shoes.  We're not made of money you know!

Me:  No Honey, I got SHEEP shoes, SHEEP shoes. Look!

AMP:  Those are some of the most ridiculous shoes I've ever seen!  How much did you pay for those anyways?

Me:  Oh,...um,...like I said, they were cheap shoes, CHEAP shoes...Is that the fire dectector?  Dinner must be done... gotta go!

Undeniable Proof

Okay, it may have been a high of 45F two days ago, but I know spring is here.  How, you may ask?  Well, let me tell 'ya...

First, my boots are muddy...

...and chewed on by the rabbit.  (But he does that no matter what the season, so it really doesn't count).

Second, the forsythia, that will some day consume our house, is blooming.  Now you have to look quick because all the blossoms are blown off by the constant, driving, prairie winds in about two hours.

Here is a close up of the lovely, little flowers...

What's that?  Oh, you mean you noticed the giant bag of Jacob wool?  Now how did that get in those pictures?  But since you mentioned it...I scored a 10lb bag of Jacob wool! I got Jacob wool, uh huh, oh yah!  It's even very soft.  I desperately needed this because I only sent off a measly 45lbs to the processor last week.  So...you know...I needed more.

Don"t you?

Why we should shutter our windows...

The moths in Kansas are H-U-G-E!

Beauty and some Beasts...

Exciting and fun new things have been showing up around here everyday. 

How much fun is a brand new S10...

And this sweet little Victoria...she even has her own little suitcase she folds up into.  Just the thing for those spinning sleep-overs (you laugh...but how much fun would that be!) ...

And this is a brand new Wheel called the Mach I.  It treadles a whole new way and is incredibly smooth...like buttah.

And these...Ack!  They take me by surprise every time...

Our newest addition to our farm...Guinea fowl.  Besides being hideous ugly,... (don't you just love the horn on the top of the head, sort of Teenage Mutant Ninja Chickens...heavy on the mutant)...and completely wild, they make a noise like finger nails on a blackboard (except about 500 times louder).  Why bring such creatures to our little Instead homestead of happiness?

Because this is their favorite meal...

And besides being even uglier and less cuddly than a Guinea...they suck blood.

So, chow down Guinea fowl.  Every day this summer, that I don't have to pull a tick off the tender parts of a 10 year-old boy, I will be very grateful for your unattractive existence...

It's a lot like my house...

It's made of sticks and mud (okay, for those purists ours is technically plaster and lathe). A good stiff wind would probably blow it over.  And it's got wool sticking out everywhere...