Winter Wonderland

As you probably already know, a good portion of the US was hit with a pretty nasty winter storm this week. We were part of it, but from what I've read, I think we were lucky. It wasn't as bad as other parts of the country. I keep getting stuck on Arizona. That is just not the state I think of when I think of snow, but they got hammered and had colder temps than us.

We got down into the upper single digits over night and our highs during the day have been in the teens. The real problem has been the wind. Those wind chills are wicked. So bad in fact that I locked the alpacas in the barn overnight for the last 2 nights trying to keep the winds out of the barn.

We only got about 6 inches of snow. There were many places far worse than us. I just wasn't quite ready for the freezing cold yet. They say it will be back above freezing this weekend. YEAH! I can thaw out then.

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the pretty landscape and stay in and get some work done.

This is what the plow guy did to my garbage can this morning. :( At least he didn't take out the mailbox as he's been known to do on our road.

Fiber Fun Wednesday -- Skirting, skirting and more skirting

Not everything about fiber is fun, but knowing what comes next, keeps me going.

Today I've been skirting. Well actually, I've been skirting all week, but today I realized....I'm NEVER going to be done. Sorry for the momentary whining.

This is back breaking work (constantly bending over the fleece) and pretty dirty too. My goal was to get all of this ready to ship out to the mill by the weekend. Not going to happen. The pile is huge and I've barely made a dent. I know, I know, someone's got to do it if I want all that alpaca yarn to knit with. I'm trying, honestly, to do it without complaining.

If you don't know what skirting is, it's basically cleaning up the shorn fleece and taking out all the unwanted bits. These are things that you don't want to find in your yarn. Things like hay, grass, crusty mud, poo, pee stains and any other undesirables you can think of. A lot of dirt gets shaken out at this point, too.

I'm still hoping to at least get it boxed up this weekend. I'll let you know if I do.

The before pic :o)

Today I learned...

Today I learned....

• That my truck will make it all the way to town with the gas light on
• That it is fun to pay for the gas once you get there, with dimes and nickels from the piggy bank
• New friends are always fun to make, even when they come with complications
• 10 tween girls screaming "Mrs. Camp" for an hour makes you want to scream, but the joy of teaching pushes you past it
• You should never be bored if you're smart enough to bring your knitting with you
• Lunch you make up on the fly can be really tasty
• I really don't like the movie Polar Express and please don't try and change my mind
• No matter how bad I want that double cheeseburger from McDonalds, it's not worth waiting 12 minutes in the drive-thru line to get
• AWANA is a great program, even if it's only for the 2 hour break I get every Tuesday night
• Just as you congratulate yourself on getting to the gas station without running out of gas, the truck will die
• Chores are much more fun when it's warm enough to use the hose for watering
• I'm not ready for my baby to turn 6 tomorrow
• That my baby is going to turn 6 no matter what tomorrow, so I need to get over it
• And thank goodness for family. Couldn't make it without them.