Only Ten Minutes Hooking

Today was the kind of day that leaves me too tired to go to sleep. The day started with making coffee and breakfast for my mother, doing a couple loads of her laundry, and then filling in her caretaker so I could have some hours off.

As soon as the caretaker took over, I headed for the post office. Some books are on the way, but weren't in my mail box. Yesterday, I finally received Mary Shepherd Burton's book after wanting it for years, but the books I'm expecting aren't going to be that special.

Next on to Smart Auto, where Sid (of Sid's Mechanical and Repair Technology) removed the tailgate from my truck for me and then checked my engine for me. The computer said I need a part replaced, so Sid would order it and I could stop back later to have it installed. Then I was off to the farm. I passed a yard sale on the way, and left with a can full of 32 cookie cutters that I plan to use somehow to make patterns for mug mats. When I got to the farm, I went in the west gate and right back to the hay field where I expected to spend a few hours clearing the weeds with my brush hog. My luck wasn't so good - after about half an hour the tractor started acting up. After I cleared the debris in the filter bowl half a dozen times, and started and re-started the tractor at least a dozen times, I gave up and walked back to the truck. While I was on the tractor, I got a call from my vet's office. They offered to give me a bag of cat food if I wanted to pick it up - so I started out in that direction, but stopped at a gas station to try to wash off some of the gas that was all over my hands and probably my clothes. I guess I didn't do a very good job because now, about twelve hours later, I can still smell gasoline. On the way to the vet clinic, I saw a large yard sale - and, of course, stopped. I found a few things, the best being a Harris Tweed sports coat. It's basically tan and gray with a nice blue thread. I haven't found a good Harris Tweed for quite a while, and this one was only fifty cents. I also found a wool blanket - made in Scotland in a Clan Gordon tartan, a yellow wool sweater, and two really nice non-wool sweaters for my mother. Then I paid a whole dollar for a pseudo leather bag, like the ones advertised on TV for a lot more. With three dogs and the toys I thought I might want to use during my afternoon off (my laptop, camera, and bag full of sketching supplies) the truck was getting a little crowded, so when I was given the cat food and two big plastic bins full of hay at the vet clinic, I had to put that stuff in the tail-gate-less truck bed. I'm going to have to come up with a tail gate substitute.

From the vet's, it was back to Smart Auto where Sid installed the new part. Then home about four minutes late to relieve the caretaker. Fifteen minutes for phone calls, then I had to rouse my mother so we could go back to the farm and feed the animals. From the farm, to the grocery store, to the kitchen to cook dinner for friends coming for dinner.

We had dinner and played Blackjack, swapped some books and eggs, then, after our friends left, we watched a Sidney Poitier movie. During the movie, Mother finally agreed to go to bed and we had to go through all the getting-ready-for-bed procedures. By the time we were done, I had hooking time. I had watched my rug all through dinner and Blackjack and knew I had to dull down or dirty up the white wool making the YWCA sign. I tried tea first and wasn't satisfied, then I painted it with coffee. The painting took about ten minutes - so, minutes before midnight, I met my ten minute challenge.