Altivo

So the weaving is done for the moment and set aside. But instead I am spinning like mad to catch up to another deadline. Finished a skein of very finely spun domestic yak down (don't ask) this morning. Now working on Corriedale wool so I can complete the knitting of a small scarf that must be done by next week Thursday latest. It's workable, just tight.

Today was a smoke-filled day. Much of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin was blanketed by smoke from the Pagami Creek Fire in northern Minnesota, about 500 miles from here. That fire has been burning since August 18 when it was started by lightning, and has now consumed 60,000 acres in the Boundary Waters area. The smoke even penetrated our ventilation system at the library for a couple of hours this afternoon, but seems to have changed paths since sunset. Police and Fire emergency calling centers were swamped with calls to report unidentified fires in some areas, with callers in some instances refusing to believe that the actual fire was two states away and completely outside local jurisdictions.

I've seen this sort of thing before, but not often enough to consider the possibility when I first notice the odor of woodsmoke. It didn't help that little or no publicity about the Minnesota fire had reached us here in Illinois. Texas we've heard about until we are tired of it, but Minnesota has been keeping things quiet.

In other news, our bizarre Brit neighbors are apparently heading back to England soon. At least, that's what the lady of the house told Gary yesterday. Apparently they've been on visitors' visa all these years and finally ran out of renewal options. Their application for green card status has been hung up somewhere and they have to leave. While I'd expect that as land owners and apparently business owners they'd be planning to come back once the legal papers are resolved, they are taking their horses and dogs with them. This is no small expense and quite a complex paperwork maze in itself, one that implies to me that they don't expect to be back any time soon. They can't sell their property for what they paid for it, let alone the added cost of fences, barn, and improvements they've put into it, so they plan to rent it out. (Just what we need, next door renters with an absentee landlord in another hemisphere.) With my luck, they'll rent to a biker gang or a brothel. Or drug dealers. Sigh.

I did take today off work. I had a fever this morning and was coughing a lot, so it really did make sense to reduce the risk of spreading it around if I could. Mondays are usually not heavy days so it's OK.

Tomorrow my car has a service appointment at 7:30 am so I might as well go in to work. I think I'm improving now and should be somewhat better still by then if I can sleep tonight.

The blanket for Tess came today, along with a new halter. Now I have to hunt through the stored linens for a twin size sheet I can use to cover her while trying the blanket for fit. They'll exchange it for a different size if it isn't covered with horse hair. ;p I'm pretty confident I measured right, but best to be safe I'm sure. Hopefully she has been blanketed in winter before and won't object too much. She's usually pretty calm, so I expect she'll be all right with it. If you have horses, I recommend this supplier: Schneider Saddlery. I've purchased from them several times now and they are always very fast with good prices. Everything has been good quality too.

Gary is thinking seriously about doing a full Ph.D. program in geography now. He still has scholarship funds to cover at least half of it, and figures he can get some help with the rest (probably true, he usually gets excellent grades.) I wouldn't think of discouraging him, though I worry about him driving back and forth to Dekalb in all sorts of weather.

The nutty Brit neighbors have a new dog, looks like a German Shepherd pup. He's been over here eyeing our sheep and ducks a couple of times. They also have some new chickens. Some are bantams, little black ones and very noisy. Gary says there are also some brightly colored full sized birds but I haven't seen those yet. *leans out the window and whistles for the local fox*

I really wouldn't care what animals they choose to have, except that they let everything run loose. No fences, no restraints at all. Only their horses are fenced and even those have been wandering over here a couple of times. We are very careful about keeping our animals where they belong, and have only one cat who does roam outside the property lines. He came in here as a stray from elsewhere, so he was already pretty much set in his ways.

Time to try to get some sleep if I can. Last night wasn't good. I did get a nap this afternoon but only for an hour or so.