Meat, Yarn and a Downed Tree; or, life in the California foothills

Living in a small mountain town has its quirks, drawbacks, and bonuses. Take shopping, for instance. We have a fairly comprehensive shop in town where you can get most of your groceries – but at a cost. It’s hard to compete with Wal-Mart, even when it’s 30+ miles from home. Seriously. And going anywhere with amenities is at least 10 miles. But I live here…

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Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love it!

So when your local shop has an annual meat sale, you go, you stand in lines, chat with everyone else who’s waiting, and walk out with a full grocery cart and an empty bank account. Thank goodness for the stimulus checks!

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The butchers were good-natured about my camera happy zeal! However, this being a small town, many of the locals who are social media savvy know who I am and what I post. 😇

And the excitement doesn’t stop there!😆 Even though I have enough yarn stashed away to open a small shop, there’s always room for more, especially when it’s a fun, thick yarn, such as Lion Brand Go For Faux Thick And Quick yarn. I purchased four skeins and was able to half double crochet my daughter a scarf in about one hour. It was much appreciated.

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The colors and project were inspired by my daughter’s presence. She liked the colors and i hadn’t made her anything for quite some time.

Of course, I have a more long-term knit project going on. With Christmas sales on hold until October, I am working on another fingering weight pullover. Presenting Purl Soho’s Ribbed Raglan Pullover in Sweetgrass Beech Bark colorway. I started this about two weeks ago and I’m still on the yoke!

On my lunch break.

I’ll be updating on the progress of this sucker for about a year! Seriously, I’m shooting for about two more months. We shall see…

On a final note, there’s nothing like getting up at 5 A.M. to drive your friend 50 miles for an early surgical procedure, and one of the little roads you take has a big tree lying across it. We still made it on time because she caught a ride from her husband before he went to work (he doesn’t have paid time off; ergo, my timely intervention) where she was dropped off on the other side of the blockage! One person just muscled their way around the limbs (see pic), but I didn’t want to chance scratching up my paint.

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The image on the left shows how one person just bulldozed their way around it – and how I was missing my Jeep at this point!

As it went, when we were leaving, one of the stranded motorists just happened to have a freaking chainsaw in their car and was gassing it up as we walked by. Imagine that!

As I’m sitting here in my car, waiting for the procedure to be over for my friend, I’m thinking this post feels more like a diary entry than compelling reading, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

Until next time, dear readers!