Fox news, Field trip, and more MUSH

[altivo]

First the field trip. Spinning guild went on a visit to a local wool processor this morning in lieu of our regular monthly meeting. It was fascinating and the machines are wonderfully Rube Goldberg and work very well. Wool still gets washed by hand in stainless steel laundry tubs, but after that hand-controlled machines do the picking, carding, drafting, spinning, and plying. All of the machinery except the pin drafter was new, made to order for the cottage operation by small manufacturers. The pin drafter is 50 years old and was rebuilt for this installation. Like so many things, most of this is no longer done in the US at all. Some equipment comes from Canada, but the pin drafter was US made at a time when the US still had woolen mills. The spinning frame, which can spin up to eight strands of yarn simultaneously, was made by a US maker, but he is a small cottage industry himself and manufactures the machines only on order. So you can't just buy one from stock. It was fascinating, and the Shetland lambs she had on the premises were adorable. Watching snowy white wool travel into the carder on a slow conveyor belt and squirt out the other end as ready to spin roving that looked just like soft serve ice cream extruding from a machine was actually amusing.

Saw a baby fox twice this afternoon. He or she was hanging around our parked horse wagon, playing with a rope that is dangling from it. Each time I cam within view, the kit would dash down the old burrow under the corner of the arena. They are big enough now and have their adult coloration so that they are recognizable as foxen, not puppies. When I first saw them they were sort of batlleship grey in color with darker tails and ears. Now they are definitely fox red, with white and black in all the right places. Kyooot! Just like in Disney's film The Fox and the Hound.

Oh, and for those who haven't heard yet, the Transmontania MUSH now has working guest logins so you can check out the scenery if you like. Only a tiny bit is viewable right now, but you're welcome to pop in.

Oh, yeah. On the way back from Belvidere, where the woolen mill is located, I stopped to top up my gas tank because the price there was $3.75. It's been $3.85 in Marengo and $3.95 in Harvard this week. When I got to Marengo, I discovered that prices there have jumped to $3.99. If Harvard made a parallel move, then it's up to $4.09 there for unleaded. People will be spending the so-called "economic stimulus" checks on gasoline at this rate. I wonder if that was the plan: Republican oil baron dominated administration hands out tax money to the public but times it so that rising gas prices mean most of the largesse will end up in oil company pockets? I'd say yes except I don't believe this administration is smart enough to plan that.

Comments

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Awwwr, fox kit. ^.^ Pity they're still so shy, though (although it's probably understandable).

[deffox]

The fox kit is going to eat your horse wagon! :-P If I seen something like that I'd be camping out with a telephoto lens.

Assuming I get the economic stimulus, which I should, it will go to gas. Even with a fuel efficient car it still is $200 for a round trip to the parents at $4/gal.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Too much to get done otherwise to allow me to sit there with a camera. Actually, the camera wasn't even here yesterday. Gary had it with him over in the next county.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Thats the thing that fascinates me about vulpines. They
seem to be cats in dogs bodies.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

They certainly do seem cat-like. XD