Hello world, I'm back. It has been pointed out to me that it has been several days since I posted. OK, yeah, I'm aware.

Think I told you that I took a tumble on a Seattle street. I landed complete palm down on my right hand, which means that the wrist was nicely bent, so I jammed it down pretty hard. I've had a recurring soreness when I turn my wrist or pick up anything with much of a weight (large, full, coffee cup for example). NO it is not broken, or sprained - it doesn't hurt nearly enough for either. Been there, done those. I think strained would be the most it can be called. It has caused me to treat it "nicely" for the past week. It is much improved!

Yesterday was Father's Day. D.W. and I took my Dad to brunch at Marie Callendar's before D.W. had to go to work. They have quite the spread. Omelets, waffles, fruit, and dessert in 1 room; salad/soup bar in another room, and the bisquits&gravy, salmon fillets, chorizo, quiche and the like hot trays in a 3rd location. We all enjoyed it. Dad ate more than his usual for breakfast :) , including giving in to a bit of sweet tooth. I'd never put shredded carrot into a veggie omelet before, that was pretty good. D.W. and I did justice to the wonderfully flavorful pineapple.

Have I told you that the neighbor's cat has been trying to convince us that he belongs to us too?
Started when we let him into the dining room (where the cat door is) when he was locked out of his house during the snow storms that past winter. Now he just comes for company. He knows that he isn't supposed to come any further in than the dining room area; and he minds a darn sight better than ours do.

Anyway, this weekend another cat (who I have only seen once before) came to sit on the steps and gaze in. This one is a large, medium-long hair, cream color with orange points.

What brought this subject up is that "someone" decided to scent mark my kitchen! So I washed down the counter fronts, and the floor, and the rugs. That worked. Think I'll go back over the counter fronts and floor tonight with a more specific cat odor out solution just to be really sure.

Raven and I went to Firwood Farm Alpaca's earlier this month, see previous post. And we went back after they sheared and took a look at the fiber that they decided to keep and sell directly to hand-spinners. Raven also booked a day for the weaver's guild fiber artists to visit and have a mini spin-in. We had told her that we were mostly interested in the chocolates and the multi-color suri (long haired) fiber. She showed us the whites, and the pure black that she had as well.

We purchased small amounts from those for which we had previously expressed interest. Mr. C's is a warm, milk chocolate color. Hershey's is a dark chocolate color with some blending toward his father's black, and just a bit which is an usual kind of grey-brown. The the suri, Bellagio, is a 6" long staple of mixed fawn, grey, white, cream. For the event, the farm staff will be making an assortment of 1-3 oz. bags of single color or assorted color/texture.

I haven't worked with raw alpaca before. I decided to look for cleaning instructions on-line. What I discovered is that there is a wide range of ideas on how to treat raw alpaca. Who'd have figured. I knew that because alpaca does not have lanolin that it would take a lower than sheep's 150 degree wash temp. What I hadn't realized is that the "popular opinion" as to care would range from 85 - 140 degrees. And some said they thought the best option was to spin raw and wash afterward to clean and set twist at the same time.

With this alpaca I can see that last option, these are very clean alpaca. Very little vegetation and pretty low odor for a camelidae. These species like to roll, and who cares if there is urine on the ground. Apparently this farm has very well behaved alpacas, they don't even dig wallows.