caracolina

Life after Work

Shooting

We drove back out to Tonopah to spend more time with Celia and Jimmie at Chile Acres and, more importantly, for some shooting practice for me. I’ve always considered that I should try shooting a gun while I have the opportunity here in the US and this was a good one. Jimmie owns several firearms that […]

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Farm Saturday

After a busy morning at Tonopah Rob’s farm stand where I boxed up almost scores of CSA boxes John dropped me off at Chile Acres just before lunch. I visited the new foal Lunar, helped clean out his stall, and just had an all around good time. The friendly horse above is Oachelita, who is one of my […]

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Carding and Spinning Cotton

John got me a variety of cotton fibers for my birthday, among them were two large bags of Pima cotton, from Cotton Clouds in Safford, AZ. He thought they said it could be spun right out of the bag, but I just couldn’t do it. Instead I used a set of Strauch hand cards which I bought at […]

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Gnats, not flies

The bin is still infested, but I found out, thanks to this blog, that those things are fungus gnats, not fruit flies. One dead giveaway was that they were not interested in fruit (duh!). Luckily, since they are mostly interested in moist dirt, they’ve been hanging out in the bin a lot. I hope to […]

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Weaving homework

Here are my first 5 inches of rug mark II. I certainly learned a few things and I’m pleased with how it is turning out, but I’m curious about that big dip in the middle. I wonder if the warp is too spaced out in those areas. I’ll find out at tonight’s class! Also, I […]

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We pick blackberries

A few days ago John found out about a farm near Yuma, AZ, where folks can go pick their own blackberries for less than $4 per pound! And they don’t count how much you eat while picking! Well, we couldn’t eat that much because we were on a fast, but a few were sampled and […]

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Weaving class, 2nd lesson

Tonight we tied our warps on our looms, made heddles, wound yarn on shuttles and got started weaving. Never mind if you didn’t get all that, it’s just weaver lingo. Two things were very exciting for me: 1) John was doing well, enjoying himself while appreciating the challenge and 2) I got to use our […]

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Windy Morning

The weather report was right for once. This morning has been cool, cloudy, and windy and I can almost smell some rain. We opened the front and balcony doors to let the breeze go through. The trees are swaying in the wind, just beautiful. Nice break in the hot weather, although it hasn’t been as hot as last year around […]

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Graduation! Finally!

It’s done! The ceremony lasted longer than I thought and I managed not to trip or drop my mortar board while walking on stage. After receiving my “degree” from college president Kickels I am shown here shaking hands with former AZ senator Dennis De Concini. I’d never heard of him before, but he was a good […]

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I’m a Shareholder!

I bought a share at Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm a few months ago but just received my shareholder’s certificate in the mail, yay! MVFF is the first “official” fiber CSA that I’ve heard of and buying a share means I’m getting a bunch of unspun fiber in the mail after Fall shearing. In a CSA the share is […]

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