Overnight Backpacking Trip

Well we made it back in one piece. The hiking part wasn't so bad, but the SLEEPING part was what I just couldn't get the hang of. It was pretty much impossible to get comfortable enough to get even a little shut eye. Ideas, anyone? Perhaps some Tylenol PM? In theory I'll have to be able to hike and camp for four days by August, and I figure I will ABSOLUTELY need sleep in order to get by.


Lake Kelly


The endlessly amazing rolling hills of Henry Coe park

Camping...me...really?

You read that right. We are going on an overnight backpacking trip tomorrow with G's dad and brother, sort of a mini test run before we hit Yosemite this summer.

This won't be entirely an accurate test as we won't really be at altitude, and it will be a bit colder tomorrow night and sunday morning (lows in the 30s) than summer in Yosemite. But, it will be a better gauge of our readiness than our typical weekend treks as I'll actually have a full pack on for the duration of the trip.

Now, if only I could safely knit and hike at the same time...hmmm...what if I had a pack llama...can you get yarn from a llama?

Getting Things Done

So, I've been tackling a small number of rather insignificant things lately, which means that I really haven't had too much to blog about.

BUT, I did finally manage yesterday to get google blog reader set up so that I can finally track ALL of the blogs I read occasionally as they are updated all in ONE PLACE.

This is seriously amazing. No, really. Now it is ever so much more likely that I will read and comment on your blog in a timely fashion -- not just once a week or every other week when I start to wonder what you IIFs are up to.

I'm lovin' the Internets!

Monkey's Big Adventure

Yesterday, some time late in the afternoon per usual, one Ms. Mabel was begging for some soft food. So, I bopped on into the kitchen and cracked open a fresh can of kitty chow. I made the usual can and clank noises as I dished up two bowls.

It took me a minute to realize that something was horribly wrong. Monkey was mysteriously absent, and that purrbox LOVES him some soft food.

I called and called, and cooed and made his special Monkey noises, and he still didn't show. I started searching the house. No Monkey upstairs...

When I made it downstairs at first glance all appeared normal. But as I stepped into the back bedroom I noticed that the screen was mysteriously absent from the window. I looked out and the screen was laying all janky on the ground. AND NO MONKEY IN SIGHT!

I called and called and nothing.

I climbed up on the deck and Griffin climbed up onto the roof to call and call and look for him.

I went completely around the block calling for him, talking to the neighbors, and searching for ways he could have gotten out of the almost escape-proof backyards on our block. Still nothing.

I tried the backyard and walked around the block again. Still nothing.

I logged on to the SF Animal Control website and registered Monkey's details (so that they would email me if a cat matching his description was picked up). They also recommended waiting until the neighborhood was quiet and then searching again.

So, we broke out the camping headlamps and searched some more. Still nothing. Pretty much at 9:30pm I was starting to FREAK OUT. I left the house shortly thereafter proclaiming that I was not returning until I found the cat. My bladder had other ideas.

Sometime just after 11 (and tromping through brush in some of the hillsides near our house where I had seen tons of cats, just not mine) I ended up coming home for a potty break.

I decided to go in the back yard one last time to call him -- I still couldn't believe he'd go very far. I called his name and made a kitty coo noise and FINALLY I heard the WORLD'S TINIEST MEOW.

I found Monkey. He had hidden under the 3 x 3' wooden walkway in our backyard. He wouldn't come out until I broke out some food, and then he basically ran into the house, ate some food, used the litterbox, and proceeded to snuggle and purr.

I can't believe how lucky we were, and can't believe we almost lost our MONKEY!

Knitting 101

So I started a sweater from the sold out Fall 2007 Interweave knits - the placed cable Aran. I brought it to knit night last week, and really thought I was making huge inroads. However, it was WAY TOO HUGE (Patricia, you were correctamundo).

I seem to always have this problem - the sweaters I make end up super duper huge. On Saturday, I ended up transferring what I had so far to waste yarn and trying it on. It was ridiculously huge. Back to the drawing board.

So I measured, ripped, and started again.

Imagine my surprise this evening when I realize my ridiculous rookie mistake - now, though the sweater is indeed the correct girth, there is a nice TWIST that I didn't catch until I was two balls of yarn in. Sigh.

Perhaps this sweater just wasn't meant to be.

I think I'm going to rip it and cast on ONE LAST TIME.