3 December 12
Deluge
Lots of rain lately! From last Thursday the 29th to Sunday morning, we got 4.07 inches of rain in three tightly spaced storms, the warm air not producing much snow in the mountains. We had a casualty though. On Sunday morning Pica looked out the window and saw that the almond tree fell over. We evidently slept through the crash; the weather station log said that the wind speed got up to 31 MPH early in the morning. We’ll miss the tree, especially for the sweet harbinger of spring when it blooms in February before leafing out.
2 December 12
Fibershed
A couple of weeks ago I went with a couple of friends to the Fibershed Symposium in Point Reyes Station. This is a group of people led by Rebecca Burgess (brilliant author of Harvesting Color and passionate advocate of locally-grown and produced textiles) who aim to transform the amazing resources we have in Northern California into a self-sustaining industry so the wool that is grown here can be used rather than thrown away (or shipped to China to be processed there and shipped back).
We heard from local growers (of whom one was Robin Lynde of Meridian Jacobs, where I am a Farm Club member) about the joys and challenges of raising fiber animals in our region. One of the shepherds has Marenna dogs to guard the sheep against coyotes; vet bills for her dogs have to factor into the cost of raising the wool. You have to factor in the cost of irrigating pasture in a region where there is little to no rainfall from April to October. (Pasture health is a prime concern for sustainable farmers.) You have to factor in vet bills for the sheep as they always, as Pratchett’s Granny Aching says, look “for new ways to die.”
We also heard from sheep shearers, whose perspective on fleece quality is not often heard, and from two people with crazy exciting ideas for starting fiber/textile processing plants here in Northern California.
Rebecca spent a year wearing clothes, including underwear, that had been grown and produced within 150 miles of her home in Petaluma. This is a tall order but taking a cue from her, I’ve designed, spun, and am knitting a vest that I hope will replace my polartec one. It needs to be tough; it needs a zipper up front and on two side pockets; it needs to be able to handle my keys in the pocket; it needs to be wind-and-rain-resistant.
I discovered the Swedish technique of twined knitting when I first got back into knitting after a 25-year absence, and it’s the reason I learned how to spin, since yarn for this technique is typically spun and plied in the opposite directions of most commercial yarns. The fabric is taught but not as much as woven, making it ideal for this kind of outer garment; it doesn’t shrink or felt when wet. I also wanted to showcase the beauty of the multi-colored Jacob sheep.
I spun the yarn from the fleece of a sheep named Summer but ran out close to the collar. (Note to self: you don’t really need to do 4-ply sport weight…) The good news about sheep though is that they’re always growing more.
Here are some locks from Summer’s fleece, shorn in early November; her dark spots have lightened over the two years but it’s lovely, soft, and a joy to spin. These locks were soaked in rainwater, then spent 3 days in a fermented suint vat, then rinsed in rainwater. No heat/energy required…
Finally, here I am with Summer right after she was shorn. There’s something very satisfying about making a garment from an animal you know personally…
23 October 12
Pennant In The Rain
The San Francisco Giants won the National League championship yesterday evening, and are now going to face the Detroit Tigers in the World Series starting tomorrow. The Giants took an unlikely route to their championship by having to win 3 straight elimination games in two successive series, but this path didn’t seem to faze them in the end, and they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals last night in Game 7 of the NLCS 9-0. The final half-inning was played in a sudden downpour. Had the game not been so one-sidedly close to finishing there surely would have been a rain delay. As it was, everybody was quite happy to celebrate in the rain.
The Tigers are pretty heavily favored to win the World Series — they have possibly the best pitcher in the game in Justin Verlander and in terms of batting they have the first Triple Crown winner since 1967, Miguel Cabrera. Still, I’m relaxed about the series. The Giants won the World Series two years ago: there’s no longer the angst associated with never having won the series since the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. Unlike the Giants’ opponent in 2010, the Texas Rangers, or the team the Tigers beat quite decisively to reach the World Series, the New York Yankees, I don’t have any general loathing for the Tigers, and in fact rather like the team. The Giants are underdogs, so if they win, great, if not, it’s been a fine season for them. Meanwhile, the kitties are rooting for the Tigers, not that they show much enthusiasm for baseball, sleeping through most of the games we listen to.
14 October 12
A Trip to New York
I took my mother to New York last week. She turns 80 this year and to my surprise jumped on the opportunity for a trip.
Moving slowly seems anathema to this high-octane city but we did. A full day at the Met, focusing only on Flemish painting and Islamic art, mostly Persian miniatures — there’s no way to do the whole Met no matter how much time you have so you have to be selective. We were just very selective. Moving slowly.
I got on the bus back to Davis from the airport. Two large suitcases marked “Heavy” careened around the bus while their owners, weary with transcontinental travel and a small cranky child, looked on helplessly. They got off in Woodland and in their place a bearded man, well-dressed but belligerent, got on the bus after a lengthy argument with the bus driver about whether he was going to Sacramento. He emanated a patronus of stink: vomit, stale tobacco, urine, repelling riders to the back of the bus or even off if they preferred to wait an hour rather than stuff their faces down their sweatshirts. I am cursed (or blessed, in this case) with a poor sense of smell so I made it to Davis, where a new passenger in his 80s in a wheelchair boarded the bus and was strapped in—incarcerated, really—across from the man with the stench by the driver whose plumber’s crack mooned us like some 90° rictus.
I should ride the bus more often.
3 October 12
Bay Area, Baseball Capital West
The baseball season ended today with an outcome nobody was expecting, both Bay Area teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, winning their respective league’s West Divisions, finishing with identical records of 94 and 68. The Giants clinched their division a week and a half ago, having taken over the division lead about 40 games ago. The A’s path to their division championship was far more astonishing. On June 30th the A’s had a record of 37 and 42 and were 13 games back of the Texas Rangers. Since that time the A’s won 57 games and lost only 26. They finally caught and tied for first place the Rangers last night, and beat the Rangers this afternoon 12-5 to take the title in the last game of the season. In so doing the A’s just won six in a row and eight of the last nine. (For a nice graph showing divisional standings by date see here). The 2012 A’s are a perfect example of why baseball teams are not just the sum of their parts: the players for the A’s are barely known outside of the Bay Area, yet this has been an amazing season for the team.
Baseball has expanded the playoffs this season, adding on a second wildcard slot for each league to make 10 teams in the playoffs all told. The two wildcard teams from each league are to meet in a one-game playoff to determine which team advances to the best-of-five divisional series playoffs. Since one-game playoffs are practically flip-of-the-coin things, no team wants to go through one to reach the rest of the playoffs, so this format increases the importance of winning the division as opposed to settling for a wild card slot. I hope the baseball powers that be don’t further expand the playoffs (I don’t want to see baseball look like basketball where nearly half the teams end up in the playoffs) but this new format has made for an interesting season. Though it’s especially sweet now that our two local teams have made the playoffs without having to go the wildcard route!
28 September 12
Chickens
I’ve wanted chickens for the longest time, ever since before I started caring for the ones across the road. When a friend of Robin’s mentioned she was looking for a home for some, I volunteered.
The coop, an English chicken tractor of very ingenious design, was a big incentive. We have turkeys, coyotes, raccoons, possums, at least five hawks, owls, dogs, cats, etc. willing to get at them and I needed to have a way they could be safe, at least until they figure out what’s up.
I’ve named them Fortunata y Jacinta, from the Galdós novel of the same name. Fortunata is the Ameraucana, right up top, lays light green eggs, flashy, tetona, brash. Jacinta is the more delicate Faverolle, who made a beeline for the bare patch and promptly turned it into a dust bath.
Happy to have them here. Chickens keep it real.
25 September 12
Axle Quest
I cycled home from work Friday thinking I had an awfully loose and creaking front hub and that it was time to adjust it but when I inspected it the axle turned out to be broken. Not so good to cycle on. Rebuilding a front wheel hub is a relatively easy task if one has the parts so finding myself with a spare hour on Saturday afternoon I went over to Bike Forth. This is a bicycle repair collective and DIY tool shop just east of downtown. They have lots of tools and very good spare parts bins, for which they ask a nominal donation to use.
I was reminded of a couple things during my visit. 1) There are always Tricks to repairs. In my particular case I just couldn’t untighten the nuts holding the cones in place. One of the volunteers showed me just how to get the right leverage to loosen these. That’s the tale when I do bike repairs: I know the goal but don’t have the experience to have the tricks to be efficient. 2) There really is quite a diversity of bike parts. Rummaging through their drawer of spare axles I ended up with one that was almost but not quite right. I didn’t finish working on the wheel that Saturday afternoon, but took it home to finish the job, only to decide yesterday I needed a better match for an axle after all, so best I go to a new bike store for a replacement.
The first bike store I stopped at this afternoon was unable to help — it was too old and oddly sized to have it in their parts bin. Maybe I should try going to Bike Forth, they suggested. Better luck this evening at the second store: the mechanic spent about four minutes looking through their collection of spare axles, testing these on a nifty thread socket board, to come up with one that seems like the right match.
I’ll try to finish the job tomorrow — let’s hope my axle quest just ended.
9 September 12
Return -- Canidly
Apologies for the long absence. I have many half-written-in-my-head blog posts strewn over the past month that never made it onscreen. Rather than trying to gather them up, I’m going to jump in again.
I spent time with one of my vet friends on Friday evening. I like vets: they see the world in an entirely different way. For instance: any black-and-tan dog (Rottweiler, Doberman-type) is at huge risk of parvovirus; lumps on boxers should be removed immediately because they often turn malignant, and sighthounds (greyhounds, Afghans, wolfhounds, the big guys) have the reputation of looking for ways to die.
Mixed breeds obviously are the answer, but poor Molly from next door is terrified of gunshot and broke through the fence twice this morning (it’s dove season). She’s a pit bull mixed with a larger breed — boxer? — and is amazingly sweet. Just neurotic. I’m guessing this is not genetic, she was probably shot at before the landlord picked her up at the shelter.
The foxes at the Wildlife Health Center have moved on, possibly because of the parasite loads in their former dens. (Lots of my coworkers have been suffering from flea bites.)
Dog days of summer are over, and I’m trying to figure out how best to preserve the feral tomatoes…
28 July 12
A Day At The Fair
We went to the California State Fair today because Pica was helping Robin Lynde of Meridian Jacobs sheep farm with her stall in the livestock hall. Pica spent much of her time drum carding wool at the booth, an activity which a lot of people were curious about, and I was free to wander all about the fair. After doing an initial pass through the exhibit halls, I started sketching, beginning at the western end of the fair, where all the rides are (at left) and ending back in the livestock hall (see below at right).
15 July 12
This Week, Not on Facebook
1) I went to the Delta, twice, to sample ducks for avian flu. The second time we saw a mink run across the path and I strained my left large toe trying to extricate my foot in a wader from some black mephitic ooze.
2) I wore some lipstick, for the second time in about five years, to a retirement party. It lasted through half a glass of lemonade, so I feel it doesn’t really count.
3) I started rereading Ulysses.
4) I got stung by two bees in the sunflower field while looking for the runaway Charlie in 104° heat (Charlie’s escapades did appear on Facebook, thanks for the mojo everyone). The second bee sting left a big red welt under my right eye which has still not really gone away.
5) Our hot water heater was leaking gas and had to be replaced. This is very bad if you’ve been sloshing around in, and then fallen into, mephitic ooze (see 1 above) and need to get ready for a retirement party with lipstick (see 2 above). Showers trump lipstick in this case. (Actually showers trump lipstick in all cases.) (Lipstick also does nothing to distract from large red bee sting welts, either.)
6) The pocket gophers have eaten three eggplants, two chile plants, one green pepper, three tomato plants, and are working on what’s left in that patch. They seem to be avoiding the basil, which is something of a consolation.
7) Charlie is never going out again without a leash if I can help it, so he will not be available for gopher control. This patch may be a lost cause.
8) I have spun yards and yards of merino silk but the bobbin seems never to grow. I am strongly reminded of Penelope.
9) During yesterday’s Sketchcrawl, which WAS on Facebook and is pictured above, I felt all smug when I actually knew what Pete was talking about when he invoked the famous Uruguay World Cup team of 1930 in Paris. I’m still not sure Spain’s light blue alternate kit is a homage to that team (why would it be?), but it’s fun to think about.