tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33520807487623107922012-02-13T11:31:09.647-05:00Wherein existential questions have taken center stage, and the question of the day is unanimously WTF?Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.comBlogger3871100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-83161431864560347402011-05-08T22:07:00.012-04:002011-05-09T06:18:43.403-04:00

It was a very good gardening weekend.I made a lot of progress in the "spare room window / utility area" ...I built up the berm around the foundation to help keep the water away from that area - we tend to have water over-run at this spot, the gutters seem insufficient to handle the convergence of water in the corner, and I don't want it puddling up against the foundation. Got the rain barrel

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-35168036630601608692011-05-07T19:13:00.010-04:002011-05-07T20:50:24.020-04:00

Today was good. I've been having a rather rough time lately, but today helped. The weather was decent, and I spent almost the entire day playing in the dirt. Though I'm now exhausted and in a lot of pain, it's a better pain than I'm used to ... and I realized I didn't think about anything disturbing all day. There's much to be said for the magic of dirt.While I still haven't managed to branch

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-68668807305433173332011-04-21T15:04:00.002-04:002011-04-21T15:05:07.021-04:00

After an initial interest, I quickly grew sick to death of Charlie Sheen. But this ... this is funny.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-28276670174439920122011-04-17T20:16:00.008-04:002011-04-17T21:34:30.957-04:00

It's been awhile since I had any interest in making anything. But something's come up. Greg's hosting a non-SCA event in a few weekends (it's a get-together for friends in our pirate group, but not an 'official' SCA event). There are going to be some friendly competitions, and he wanted splashy award medallions for the champions in each competition. We were going to try casting them in pewter

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-1773344960774943982011-04-11T07:28:00.006-04:002011-04-11T08:15:41.722-04:00

Yesterday it was 80 degrees here ... a welcome hint of spring. I spent several hours outside doing garden work.Last year I felt like I hadn't gotten anything done, as the areas I worked on really didn't look like much throughout the summer. But yesterday, when I began cleaning those areas up and getting them ready to plant, I was able to see just how much I did get accomplished last year in

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-21537225704159419062011-04-10T10:01:00.002-04:002011-04-10T10:04:19.536-04:00

There's no good segue from that last post, but I guess I have to do something, to keep posting here.It's been rough. I've been mostly keeping it to myself, outwardly managing what appears to be a normal existence. Mostly I've been doing a whole lot of distracting myself. But more on that another time.Today is supposed to be the warmest day of the year so far, in the high 70s. I'm waiting for

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-63158391670241164672011-03-27T14:30:00.013-04:002011-03-27T15:23:01.332-04:00

Tyler11.20.94 ~ 3.27.11The best dog in the world, paws down. And mostpeople who knew you already agree.Tyler, you took a large piece of my soulwith you today, but that's okay -it's yours, you can keep it.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-20290393133098386852011-03-03T01:01:00.004-05:002011-03-03T01:49:01.238-05:00

Well, things are progressing steadily to shit.Two weeks ago Tyler was supposed to have surgery, but the surgeon, after examining him, called me and said he didn't think it was a productive idea, so I picked Tyler up and took him home. The surgeon, however, said he'd consult with an oncologist and let me know if there was anything else that might help.He didn't get back to me until last Thursday.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-10014354834442041432011-02-19T08:10:00.004-05:002011-02-19T08:26:12.527-05:00

Originally the vet that examined Tyler suggested we start with surgery to remove the tumor - she believed it could potentially all be removed, and that it would give him immediate relief as far as the difficulty in swallowing. Then we'd see about chemo or radiation. That surgery was scheduled for yesterday.But yesterday, about half an hour after I dropped him off, the surgeon called. He had

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-62474282109890150252011-02-13T18:46:00.004-05:002011-02-13T19:34:04.790-05:00

It's a sad weekend around here. Got some bad news about Tyler. He has cancer. Well, here's the story and what's next.You may recall that late last summer he was having problems swallowing, and was choking when he ate or drank water. One vet told me it was nothing serious, and to just raise his food and water dishes - which initially helped, so I thought he'd be fine. The problem returned

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-54922354469918686132011-02-05T17:00:00.015-05:002011-02-05T17:59:15.193-05:00

My new scheme is working ... the dining room molding is finally done!!(The last wall wasn't finished yet when I took this picture, but it is now - it's all up!)Well, mostly done. I'm marking it 98% in my little status section in the side-bar, because technically I have a couple things to do - go around and dab paint over the nails, and patch the few little gaps with spackling and paint that.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-42191370086855565922011-01-30T17:01:00.007-05:002011-01-30T17:20:54.337-05:00

I got the book yesterday - it's awesome! So today I - of course - spent much of the day beginning the learning of the techniques.One really cool thing about the book is that the author shows you how to make almost all the tools you need, and it's super on the cheap. It's nice that you don't even have to invest a lot of money in specialty tools. I, however, was too impatient to do all that

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-26762586211568866072011-01-28T21:43:00.008-05:002011-01-28T22:12:36.093-05:00

A very good kind of busy, though - lots of stuff going on!First, (drumroll please) ... I finished the sweater back! Yeah, that's astounding enough, but what's more amazing is, the gauge is dead on. I almost fell over.Here's a picture a day or two before I officially finished it. It doesn't show the pattern really well, but you'll get the gist.I've started on the first front piece, and have

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-25987157507268568742011-01-23T12:16:00.004-05:002011-01-23T12:22:55.844-05:00

I was just checking it this morning to see how it set up, and this happened. I put very little pressure or stress on it to cause this, which tells me it would have never survived as a piece of jewelry anyway.I'm not sure why this happened. I tried checking online, but couldn't really find much. It may be that pieces as thin as those petals are just too fragile to stand alone. I have read that

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-53285850095034819952011-01-22T18:29:00.009-05:002011-01-22T18:52:11.288-05:00

Today was cool. First, I bought a couple of the best tools I've ever owned.I'm working on this quilted table mat thing for Valentine's Day, and decided to do stipple quilting in part of it. I absolutely adore stipple quilting, it's one of my favorite things about quilts ... but it takes some skill and practice to do. It involves quilting random squiggly patterns over an area, moving the quilt

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-85930193431172649252011-01-18T06:31:00.008-05:002011-01-18T07:27:29.412-05:00

So Greg was away on a winter camping trip with his son and Boy Scouts this weekend, and on Saturday night I was downstairs watching a movie. During a commercial I went to the loo, and on my way there stepped in something wet. Thinking Tyler had peed on the floor again (becoming a habit with him, unfortunately), I turned on some lights to clean it up - and discovered it wasn't Tyler's mess. The

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-57835448789451986412011-01-02T17:05:00.002-05:002011-01-02T17:18:21.153-05:00

I'm disappointed to note that 2010 was the first year since 2006 that I had no finished projects for the year, to add to my link in the sidebar. No wonder I've been getting more and more neurotic - I'm not creating nearly enough!Actually, I could have thrown a few things on there last minute, but I didn't bother. I did make a skirt awhile back, but I was disappointed in how it turned out and

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-44195159524036611762010-12-24T07:42:00.001-05:002010-12-24T08:11:34.846-05:00

So here's the update on the Droid Drama.I got the new digitizer bought from Amazon.com, and it worked perfectly. So I contacted the Ebay seller and told him it works, so you owe me $20. He said okay, and he'd post it to my Paypal account. That was on Thursday, Dec. 16. I heard nothing else from him.On Monday I received a message from Ebay Buyer Protection, checking on the status of my claim -

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-25245323490237266262010-12-19T18:57:00.003-05:002010-12-19T19:17:09.275-05:00

This was a crazy productive weekend.Friday night we had band practice, and I've been working on a new part which is pretty intense bow-action-wise, and challenging, and fun. (that becomes more relevant in a few minutes).Saturday I went out and did some final Christmas shopping, getting not only everything I hoped to find, but finding things that were even better than I hoped! That was nice. I

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-91679695363125038872010-12-08T14:47:00.004-05:002010-12-09T19:58:23.465-05:00

I'm adopting a new philosophy: "The universe loves me and just wants me to have an interesting life."I posted awhile back about dropping my Droid and cracking the screen all to pieces, but then learning that I could order a new digitizer and our office computer guy would put it in for me. So I ordered one from Ebay (as recommended), it arrived promptly, and our computer guy installed it.The "

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-19493775718429840062010-12-05T14:59:00.004-05:002010-12-05T15:03:29.028-05:00

I'm considering suicide, but I know I'm changing insurance policies in January - I'm switching from a private policy to my employer-provided group policy - so I'm wondering if I should wait (for the suicide attempt) till after January 1, as if it fails, it might be considered a pre-existing condition.Gotta love life in the 21st century.Or not.(Of course, the fact that 'failure' enters into my

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-35482209864133383362010-11-24T22:19:00.003-05:002010-11-24T22:57:19.957-05:00

The thing I'm most thankful for right now is that this week, at least as far as enforced dealing with the outside world, is OVER. This one will go down in the books as a bonified week from hell.On Monday my boss had an insurance guy come in to talk about changing his group insurance, as it's too expensive. My boss has always provided health insurance for me, but not through his group policy - I

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-79682846822545704592010-11-20T10:53:00.008-05:002010-11-20T11:07:30.547-05:00

I've been working on some projects.I made a necklace awhile back, but I don't think I posted any pictures. It's kind of simple, but it was my first foray into working with clay and making beads. The three brown beads are clay, and the strip with studs around the middle bead is also clay (well, the studs are mini-brads).That was nice as far as it went. But I've made another one.I picked up that

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-17563721019328092852010-11-14T16:57:00.008-05:002010-11-20T10:52:44.991-05:00

Well, I've gone and done it now. I've found a new hobby - uh, art form. I've hesitated to even mention it, as I have so many hobbies that I can never finish anything as it is. But this one ... um, this one feels different. I've never been quite so enamored of a new hobby before. I just spent about 6 hours today working on a project, and didn't want to stop, but had to - had to get a few

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-91384281670655601682010-10-31T14:05:00.002-04:002010-10-31T22:37:31.503-04:00

Here's a sampling of how we do Halloween and Trick-Or-Treat around here.You'd think some of them would be scared to come up and ask for candy ... and you'd be right, some of them are. The candy's in the 'treasure chest' sitting on the chair, and when the kids come up, the Commodore asks them if they've come to steal his treasure. More than half of them, at that point, look like they're thinking

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-79792057023627748732010-10-27T18:59:00.002-04:002010-10-27T19:12:35.352-04:00

Yes, it's knitting. (What were you thinking?) I've tried, over the years, to knit sweaters several times. Every time I had to give up because I'd get 3/4 of the way through (don't ask me why it took me that long to figure it out) and realize the thing was turning out monstrously the wrong size. Well, every time but one. I hopefully and optimistically finished that one, and didn't discover

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-48591667734851176062010-10-24T14:26:00.000-04:002010-10-24T15:29:27.972-04:00

One of those autumn 'gift' days.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-1374254619609427652010-10-18T19:02:00.004-04:002010-10-18T19:27:47.364-04:00

I think I'm in for a rough couple weeks, if it lasts that long.I said in my last post that after 12 years of harassment and bullying, I finally couldn't take it anymore, and I told my boss last Wednesday that I was going to start looking for another job.Initially he was devastated, and practically begging me not to go. I was grateful for his appreciation, but tried to explain to him that I just

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-24810101198986343372010-10-17T12:30:00.002-04:002010-10-18T07:44:59.522-04:00

I've been trying to write this blog post for three days. It isn't easy. (and I've edited it even since it was posted).Earlier this week I told my boss that I was going to begin looking for a new job. This is a big deal, for a couple reasons.First, I've been there for 14 years. I've worked myself up to a place where I make really decent money (for this area, for someone with no formal training

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-68408242956148433672010-10-15T19:39:00.002-04:002010-10-15T19:47:21.626-04:00

Too awesome! Abney Park's newest CD goes on sale tonight at midnight, and they released a new video of one song from the CD. It's pretty awesome!

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-58300162163620857112010-10-12T07:18:00.003-04:002010-10-12T07:58:34.517-04:00

I'm finally getting psyched about house projects again. It's funny what random occurrences can trigger a new line of thought.I was out with Tyler in the yard one day a couple months ago, and an elderly gentleman happened by on his morning walk. We'd run into him once before and stopped to chat, so he stopped to chat again. I remember he told me his name was Frank, well it was really Francesco,

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-88269702438665210642010-10-10T11:30:00.018-04:002010-10-10T12:22:14.414-04:00

I was perusing Ravelry today looking for dog sweater patterns. I seem to have lost Tyler's dog sweater somewhere (it's either buried in the truck from the trip, which is as good as lost as far as I'm concerned; or I lost it in the hotel room, which is also a possibility; regardless, it was pretty ratty anyway) and he's been chilling easily lately, so with winter coming, I really thought he

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-43487637754871243042010-10-09T06:52:00.002-04:002010-10-09T07:23:38.753-04:00

Tyler seems to be doing better and better. I've been leaving the collar off of him for large stretches of time. I put it on when I go to work still, and at night when I go to bed. But otherwise it stays off ... except for those times when Tyler starts frantically trying to rub his eye in the carpet or paw at it, which he did several times last night. Then I put the collar back on for awhile

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-82881745474257733442010-10-08T21:13:00.009-04:002010-10-08T21:53:15.885-04:00

An excerpt from texts shared today with my friend Wren (who is as devoted to her pets as I am to Tyler):Me: Going to get "Complete Idiot's Guide To Edible Weeds" and go live in the wilderness.Wren: I'm down with running away to live in the woods ... except for the coming winter. And it's hard to find dog food in the wild. At least dog food a Shih Tzu will eat.Me: Bah. We go south to warmer

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-8675737673238283872010-10-05T19:53:00.003-04:002010-10-05T20:17:23.979-04:00

I took Tyler back to the Akron clinic today for his post-surgery checkup. Things are looking good. The small lesion that was beginning in his left eye has healed completely. The graft in the right eye has fully adhered to the eye, is basically 'sealed' in place all around the perimeter of the graft, as it should have done. The doctor said the hole underneath still has some filling in to do,

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-42561942305463889962010-10-03T04:07:00.003-04:002010-10-03T04:33:32.073-04:00

Yes, this is a little post-vacation rant.People get all pissy when I'm negative about things, telling me I "should" be more positive. Well, why? Why should I put a rose-colored-glasses spin on something that just sucked? Whatever happened to honesty, to telling it like it is?We just got home from NC about 45 minutes ago (and for reference it's 4:10 a.m. Sunday morning, October 3). The reason

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-36447963801915205282010-10-01T18:37:00.001-04:002010-10-01T18:37:47.110-04:00

We found this starfish washed up way up at the high tide line ... except we didn't find it till quite awhile after high tide. When we picked it up, we thought it was still alive, and Greg tried to get it back out in the water, but it just kept washing back onto the beach.He brought it up and put it in a pan of ocean water to see if it can live till we can get it back in the water, somehow ...but

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-82775287416489096002010-09-30T12:40:00.001-04:002010-09-30T12:40:59.398-04:00

Well, okay ... it's not 'surfing,' it's boogie boarding. In a not-tropical-storm. I said I wanted to spend my birthday on the beach. Who says I can't just because it's not sunny and 85? Welcome to "real" coastal weather ... all ranges of it. You know what they say ... a "bad" day at the beach is still better than a 'good' day in NE Ohio.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-73491077446560781342010-09-30T10:04:00.000-04:002010-09-30T10:05:23.441-04:00

Well, "Nicole" ceased to officially be a tropical storm yesterday, but I think that makes little practical difference. We've been getting pounded with 50+ mph winds and walls of rain for at least the last 4 hours. The water line usually averages about 30 yards or so from the bottom of our steps down to the beach. Right now the waves are topping about 5' from the bottom step - and high tide

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-78291200435834111412010-09-28T08:17:00.001-04:002010-09-28T08:17:06.598-04:00

Tyler continues to do well. He handled the trip down here like a trooper. His eyes look good - consistently moist and wet. He's taking all his meds well. He hates being cooped up in the crate, and I want to have him out as much as possible, but for a couple days it was tricky - there were so many people here, including kids, that I couldn't let Tyler roam around the house - too many things to

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-22461382315260351112010-09-23T12:26:00.007-04:002010-09-23T22:09:32.748-04:00

UPDATE:The Most Beautiful Sight I Ever SawEyes (mostly) open ... wet and shiny ... and both there!!! That whole eyes open thing is a really big deal - it's been a week since Tyler would voluntarily open his eyes ... and while that may not sound like long, it's an eternity to have watched him suffer and wonder if he'd ever open them again. ORIGINAL POST:Last night Tyler finally slept through the

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-50187550713084276502010-09-22T14:54:00.003-04:002010-09-22T15:39:57.314-04:00

... that I adopted the new practice of refusing to worry about anything, because it served me well last night.Though Tyler's surgery went well, his eye is still very fragile, and will be for several weeks. That's why he has to wear the E-collar (Elizabethan, that big plastic cone thing) and at all costs be kept from rubbing his eye on anything, or pawing at it. In the worst case scenario (

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-90566022455625047012010-09-21T23:02:00.003-04:002010-09-21T23:48:20.132-04:00

To say it was a stressful day would be like saying ... well, like saying the moon's a little chilly this time of year, might want to take a sweater.Tyler didn't start the day in too horrible a place, but as the morning wore on he steadily declined. He was in excruciating pain - I mentioned he rarely shows pain, but today it was so bad, he did. At some point he closed his eyes completely and

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-53936975649356400842010-09-21T07:31:00.006-04:002010-09-21T10:11:43.100-04:00

I've always been a worrier, I know that. I think I inherited it from my mother, who was the same way.I've finally learned a really valuable lesson. There's absolutely no point in it - not just because it's unhealthy or serves no real purpose. No, for a totally different reason.Because the really bad things that happen are not the things I ever worried about, ever even thought to worry about.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-1581716919368310102010-09-18T20:46:00.005-04:002010-09-18T21:39:28.194-04:00

Tyler's had a bad week. And so, therefore, have I. Actually this started a few weeks ago, but peaked this week.Sometime near the end of August three things hit Tyler all at once. First, after being allergy-free for a year and a half, the allergies returned with a vengeance. He was biting, scratching, chewing, and pawing at his face constantly - he was miserable.I wasn't sure what caused it,

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-35077151991945903972010-09-12T16:21:00.007-04:002010-09-12T16:29:08.415-04:00

I did end up going back and getting a sample bottle of paint in the other trim color, the one I'd first picked out and then got nervous it was too dark. I should have followed my first intuition.Before ...After ...Well, only the vertical strip is done; when I took this picture I hadn't done the top yet, or the door trim (that strip in the far right side of the picture). But I decided I liked

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-41996016730126646862010-09-06T19:45:00.012-04:002010-10-03T13:53:03.366-04:00

As I've said many times before, I'm so sick of nothing getting done around here. We've lived here a year and a half, and it just feels like nothing's getting done!I know that's not entirely true. We've done a lot. But it doesn't feel like much, probably because I keep hopping from project to project without ever really finishing anything. It's a constant source of frustration (and undermines

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-14528157334528423352010-08-19T15:34:00.006-04:002010-08-19T16:56:16.227-04:00

My boyfriend is a field tech for a cell tower company. Today he found this at one of his towers.That whole platform is now one big nest.Sweet! The really cool thing is, since these birds are protected, neither the tower company nor the carriers who use the tower can disturb the nest for any reason. They have to limit their activity around the tower and nest site. Their regulatory compliance

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-75987389589442183772010-08-14T20:15:00.013-04:002010-08-14T21:30:07.932-04:00

Pennsic was fantastic this year. Very close to one of the best ever.The weather was great - it only rained twice, both at night, so no biggie. The one night it was just a brief downpour an hour or two before dawn. The second time it did rain for several hours after midnight, but we took advantage of it - a campmate and I went on a walkabout around the lake in the rain with a bottle of Ryan's

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-4121570976973849062010-08-04T21:14:00.005-04:002010-08-04T21:36:08.940-04:00

The crash hit, yesterday. I just couldn't make myself do anything last night, and in fact I ended up going to bed about 9:00 p.m. Consequently, I woke up at 5:00 a.m., but that's another story.This is a bad time for it to hit, as these are going to be the busiest days of my last week - at least, busiest by need, not desperation. There's lots of stuff I couldn't (or didn't want to) do till the

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-78486560513481687552010-08-02T20:55:00.004-04:002010-08-02T21:25:02.913-04:00

This has been the week from hell. Well, is being... it's not over yet. I don't ever remember this pre-Pennsic week being this hard. I suppose it always has been, but ... for some reason I don't remember it to this degree.I'm talking, of course, about the fact that everyone I know who is going to Pennsic (with one exception) is already there, there for the whole two weeks. And my anxiety to

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-35940992832404982182010-07-30T15:53:00.000-04:002010-07-31T15:53:51.074-04:00

Rain barrels are not cheap. When we decided to put them up around our house, we talked about different ways to do it. We knew where we could get those white plastic 55 gallon drums for $15, and decided to try it with one of those. The result was our first prototype.It's not pretty. (smile)But it is very functional. It is of course linked up with the downspout via PVC pipe and various

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-53627409265531921492010-07-29T23:32:00.004-04:002010-07-29T23:39:39.294-04:00

Most years I would be in a state of mild panic about now. The two weeks prior to the weekend I get to go to Pennsic (middle weekend) are usually spent in a last-minute frenzy, with a 'to-do' list several pages long.This year? Not so much. I'm feeling rather unhurried and unfrazzled about the whole thing.Makes me wonder what I forgot.I still have to sew elastic into the sleeves of one chemise,

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-33196158799554189532010-07-25T17:47:00.006-04:002010-07-25T17:58:43.486-04:00

I got two major projects done today, which makes me very happy.First, I finally got the fence finished - as in, actually put up (attached to the posts) instead of just leaning there.That was a whole lotta fun. Attaching the top cross-pieces wasn't that bad, but the bottom ones? With those shrubs in front of them? Well, to get to one of them, I had to crawl on my belly underneath the shrubs, and

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-79372761735506569712010-07-24T07:40:00.005-04:002010-10-03T13:51:56.504-04:00

I haven't been posting much lately. Bunch of reasons. I've been having trouble for awhile getting online at home. Our wireless modem is in the basement, and though I can get a good signal there, I can't anywhere else in the house. Greg thinks the netbook's antenna is just too weak. I don't know - I used to be able to get online from anywhere in the house and even outside, and I still can

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-45453482462694222952010-07-16T07:52:00.001-04:002010-07-16T07:52:03.620-04:00

Tyler had his vet check-up yesterday, and it was another great one. No problems, he's doing "amazingly" well! Always love to hear that. I went over the test results with Dr. Nokes, but he said the few things that were flagged as borderline were really no big deal and nothing to worry about. He didn't even have to have his teeth cleaned, though he might next time if I don't keep up on his

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-81228716244872352332010-07-04T15:41:00.008-04:002010-07-04T16:09:23.098-04:00

So I wanted a little water feature in the one side of the 'dining room gardens.' Last weekend I found a large planter I thought would work well for it, so got that. I already had a small submersible water pump.The trick was, however, getting the two to work together. I tried sitting the pump on something inside the planter, but the force of the pumping water and the pull of the power cord flipped

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-29324770907654560322010-06-26T19:29:00.007-04:002010-06-26T20:21:28.124-04:00

I went on a pretty big shopping spree today. It wasn't a spur of the moment frivolous thing, though - I'd planned it.For starters, I desperately needed some new work clothes. I mean, desperately. I detest clothes shopping, so only do it under duress. The last time I'd bought anything for work wasn't even a 'shopping trip' - I'd just, in desperation, picked up a couple new tops, and I think that

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-28085725289112148192010-06-25T19:19:00.005-04:002010-06-25T19:27:56.558-04:00

I got to work a little more on the 'dining room' gardens this evening.I planted a Japanese Painted Fern and Halcyon hosta which I bought a few weeks ago at a local garden center (both on the left of the barrel), as well as an unidentified hosta - it was a Father's Day gift to Greg a few years ago, and has been growing in a pot. He told me to plant it here with my other shade garden perrenials.It

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-17234070476874133772010-06-24T20:49:00.007-04:002010-06-24T21:16:50.760-04:00

My yard has been invaded by Bunny Fest. I'm not complaining! It's kind of amazing.Tonight I discovered four bunnies running rampant around my yard, and apparently the entire neighborhood, or else there's more of them (which is likely, of course). I saw bunnies playing in my front yard, then I saw a couple of them run across the road (which scared the crap out of me, this is a busy street), then I

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-66932593915395878322010-06-13T15:58:00.007-04:002010-06-13T16:14:37.509-04:00

Tyler made it to his second-ever event this weekend. We went to Northern Oaken (aka NOWM).NOWM was my first-ever camping event, 8 or 9 years ago. I went two years in a row, then haven't been able to go back, first because no one I knew wanted to go and I didn't want to go by myself, and later due to dog-sitting problems. They allow dogs, but Tyler used to be too high-strung to take to events.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-73007211214265406082010-06-10T10:16:00.015-04:002010-06-10T12:36:02.011-04:00

I was going to keep my comments to myself about the oil spill, and not go on a social activist rant.Then I read a news article on msnbc.com, wherein some extremely ignorant comments were made.I'm starting to wonder if England is working hard to stick it's collective foot in it's mouth.First, some days ago (not in the above article), Tony Hayward so very sensitively commented that no one wants

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-47205830023700634552010-06-10T07:51:00.002-04:002010-06-10T10:01:46.636-04:00

We had enough rain to fill the barrel, and then some, so we got to to test the overflow. Works perfectly! We have corrugated pipe running the overflow out into the front yard, where it is away from the house, and the drainage is so good that even after heavy rain it disappears very quickly. Sweet! Now all we have to do is add a couple more barrels ... since this particular downspout generates

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-65394599038882842552010-06-10T00:28:00.002-04:002010-06-10T10:02:05.922-04:00

I got a Droid. OMG. This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen! It may make the netbook almost obsolete, except as a glorified word processor (or when I really want to ramble on, as typing with my thumbs isn't my preferred method of communication). But I can do email and blog from the phone, meaning ... well, I'm sure you see the implications.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-17263177782348321682010-05-30T08:42:00.007-04:002010-05-30T09:21:23.402-04:00

I finally got to make my trip to the garden center yesterday. I'd been wanting to get my plants since early May, but it seemed like every time I had the time and opportunity, the weather turned foul - cold and rainy.I got impatiens, violas, petunias, calibrachoa (one of my favorite annuals now, for hanging baskets - they just mass and spill over the side and look really cool), and a trailing vine

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-65811475246748109552010-05-24T19:54:00.008-04:002010-11-20T10:53:29.256-05:00

I recently got re-interested in doing some more art. Well, ish. I was on vacation last week, and spent some time drawing. I decided I wanted to attempt some interesting textures, so I set up a little still life of a teddy bear, a crystal ball, and a wicker basket with yarn. (I work best from photos, doesn't limit me to sitting in one place while I work).Although it turned out that when I started

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-87637897121812995092010-05-23T16:21:00.008-04:002010-05-23T16:36:16.304-04:00

I finally got to camp at War Practice again. This has been the first time in 4 or 5 years, because the weather is traditionally hideous at this event - cold, frost, sometimes even a hint of snow late at night. This year only hit about half the traditional bad - there was some pretty incessant rain Friday night and Saturday afternoon, which resulted in the flooding of our tent, and two of the only

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-18035887485162049552010-05-12T07:37:00.003-04:002010-05-12T07:48:40.672-04:00

The first SCA event of the year is rapidly approaching, and it brings to mind my abandonment of my A&S50 Challenge projects. Well, I haven't really abandoned them yet, but I haven't kept up with them anywhere near like I hoped I would. Sigh.But every summer when event season rolls around, I start getting in SCA-mode again, and have started thinking about these things. I don't think it's too late

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-8426816650597598692010-05-08T08:40:00.002-04:002010-05-08T08:57:51.333-04:00

Wow, last night was kind of interesting. I'm a weather fiend, so whenever bad weather threatens, I'll be glued to the NOAA website monitoring things.All day yesterday they were calling for the potential for strong thunderstorms in our area throughout the evening, even a 'higher than usual' probability of tornadoes.All evening long I watched tornado watches and warnings pop up all around us, even

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-56253222367500812742010-05-07T19:00:00.010-04:002010-05-08T08:40:46.958-04:00

Note: this is entirely about caring for my beloved, aging Poo. If you find such medical discussions tedious, feel free to skip this one ... there's no surprise interesting stuff at the end. It's rather technical.It was time for his annual bloodwork again. I took him in last Saturday, and they called me with the results on Wednesday (they had a little snafu so I didn't get them right away). I

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-28265539558022691362010-05-05T21:36:00.002-04:002010-05-05T21:44:19.858-04:00

I don't have any pictures tonight, but I wanted to rave about the garden. It's coming along swimingly. My azaleas are blooming like mad. I'm putting up the PPF (Proverbial Picket Fence) - got the posts primered, next step is to primer the fence, then paint both. It's taking longer than I hoped because the weather hasn't been cooperating. We had a bunch of cold, damp days last week that

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-9078765498053746452010-04-29T01:59:00.001-04:002010-04-29T02:01:39.788-04:00

There is still much ... much ... to be done. Please do not forget.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-36913226067293862032010-04-25T17:41:00.015-04:002010-04-25T18:15:05.047-04:00

I'm psyched. I had a good day. This was in part because I wasn't hungover for a change (shup), and had the energy to tackle some projects. I'm sick to death of having lived here over a year and not gotten nearly as much done as I'd like. So today, progress ensued.You may recall that I have a vision for what I call the 'dining room garden' - the area right outside the dining room door, which we

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-269764125348457782010-04-23T20:28:00.006-04:002010-04-23T20:35:25.740-04:00

I've been wanting to do it, and we finally did it.When I painted this one wall last winter, I had removed a light switch cover, and hadn't replaced it because I didn't want to put the plain, boring one back up. I wanted something special - something to take the first baby steps towards steampunking the Imaginarium. But I hadn't figured out what yet.The other day we were wandering around in Home

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-8963569500107927792010-04-19T07:50:00.004-04:002010-04-19T08:00:47.331-04:00

Check out what we got.It's an old Wurlitzer organ. A friend of ours was moving, and didn't want to take this with him. He was going to throw it out, and we said, ummm ... it's a musical instrument, it works, we have to rescue it. And he gave it to us! How cool is that?We debated on whether to take it (another musical thing in the house?) but I'm glad we did. I had one of these growing up, in fact

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-10826582425127274032010-04-11T12:23:00.010-04:002010-04-11T12:42:11.906-04:00

First event of the season this weekend. It was nice. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few of the fighting. We had the kavehane set up (turkish coffee bardic hangout) but, I forgot to take pictures. I wasn't quite operating on all cylinders, primarily because I'd been up till 4:30 in the morning working on a new song. As I've recently told Robin, art trumps sleep.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-41652232760107846792010-04-04T19:17:00.007-04:002010-04-04T19:42:46.851-04:00

I got a bunch more work done today toward the first garden phase.I cleaned up the first half of what I've dubbed the 'dining room garden,' removing a bunch of dead leaves and tiny twigs and stuff. It now looks like this.Doesn't look like much yet, but I see both the improvement and the potential. There are 3 azalea plants there, the one in the middle pretty tiny, the two on the sides slightly

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-25190766339721273382010-04-03T16:19:00.005-04:002010-04-03T16:30:04.438-04:00

Well, at least temporarily. I got to do yardwork today. Though it was the tedious not-as-fun kind, it was worth it. Looks much better out there. The yard had a lot of debris from winter - leaves we never quite got all raked up, tons of sticks and small branches. I cleaned all that up, and raked most of the whole yard just because I've been reading it's good for your yard in spring. I only

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-7865771072178589242010-03-31T07:04:00.002-04:002010-03-31T07:23:09.933-04:00

It's been awhile since I wrote. I thought I'd check in, though not much is going on.I performed surgery on Spike (the netbook) this week. One of the reasons I hadn't been doing anything that involved a lot of typing is, after spilling that drink into Spike's keyboard, I felt fortunate that it hadn't killed him, but the keys were very sticky. It had been getting worse and worse, and finally last

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-78931476040213929502010-03-19T19:46:00.002-04:002010-03-19T19:49:57.122-04:00

A couple of my favorites. There are more if you go to YouTube and type "Tara's Fire" in the search box.

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-16728637341304676572010-03-14T10:23:00.002-04:002010-03-14T10:34:56.479-04:00

Seems I've done it ... pushed through the performance anxiety. Last Saturday must have just been 'first time jitters.' I've played several shows since then with no problems at all. A thousand 'yays' for that.Friday night I was jazzed, and the place was great, and things went swimmingly. Yesterday afternoon was the other end of the spectrum. I was most definitely not jazzed, I was exhausted

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-66496733062204163172010-03-12T16:23:00.002-05:002010-03-12T16:37:25.119-05:00

This is why I like to write things out ... when I just think (and stew, and mull), things just spin around in my head and little gets resolved. It seems that when I write them out, I do much better at coming up with actual solutions.After I posted this morning, I went down and talked to Greg, and said that for the next several weeks (at least) (personally I'm thinking to make this permanent, more

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-29523495142591407372010-03-12T07:17:00.004-05:002010-03-12T08:03:27.647-05:00

I can sum up the past few weeks in one word. Blah. Or possibly !$^%#&*^$!!I don't know why, but apparently I don't handle stress well anymore. Maybe it's because I'm getting older, maybe I'm getting wiser (knowing when too much is enough and internally rebelling, if not outwardly), maybe I'm just getting lazy or finally going completely insane.Whatever the reason, the fact to deal with is I don't

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-2614474785676673252010-03-06T02:26:00.002-05:002010-03-06T02:30:05.185-05:00

For those of you who haven't yet heard, Tara's Fire (the new version .... all electric, with me on FIDDLE!) has our first show tomorrow ... oh, excuse me, today - March 6, 2010 at 9:00 p.m. at the Meigh Eo Tavern, 706 Steel Street, Youngstown, Ohio. Come enjoy (it's a hugely FUN show!), cheer and support the band!!Rayne Of Tara

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-46040117860123007362010-03-01T22:38:00.004-05:002010-10-03T13:52:26.040-04:00

No gold for me. Just couldn't do it. Well, I could have, but I didn't. For some reason, about Thursday or so I just stopped knitting, and didn't pick it back up. In fact, I got involved in several other new projects instead, and that's what I spent my weekend doing.Oh well. Wasn't meant to be.As for the new projects ... I'm excited. I've started sewing again. Many years ago I attempted to

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-3524974611713615922010-02-27T08:38:00.003-05:002010-10-03T13:49:08.906-04:00

I don't think I'm going to medal in the Knitting Winter Olympics. I don't think I can get the blanket done by tomorrow night.I have mixed feelings. Part of me says, just go for it - if I knit obsessively over the next two days, I could probably finish ... and that's part of the point of all of this, striving to do more, push yourself, find a new personal best, just like the Olympians.But on the

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-60272186499577464192010-02-21T11:05:00.006-05:002010-10-03T13:54:03.122-04:00

But first, Knitting Olympics Update.Here's a picture of the progress (with skein of yarn for sizing).Not too shabby for a week, considering it took me more than a month to get this far on the first one. I tried a new pattern on this one, and I'm not sure I'm liking it very well, but I'll have to wait till more of it's done, as I can't really judge yet (poor visualization skills).As for this

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-38289028217421649812010-02-20T09:49:00.004-05:002010-10-03T13:50:06.782-04:00

I didn't know much about Johnny Weir before this Olympics. I'd heard of him, I might have seen him skate in the last Olympics (though I didn't used to watch much men's figure skating), and I didn't have much of an opinion one way or another. If I'd been forced to, I'd have probably said his flamboyancy put me off a little.This year I watched a lot more of the Olympics than in previous years,

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-14776302986847664432010-02-13T15:27:00.009-05:002010-02-14T09:42:00.973-05:00

My dad had a clock, which he was given by his employer in 1978 for twenty-five years of service. It was a ... I don't know the technical term, but you had to wind it up, and it chimed every quarter hour. That kind of clock. Well, here - this is the clock.This clock hung in my mom and dad's living room from the time I was about 12 years old, and for 29 years after that, and was a very deeply

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-83460047067607778322010-02-13T00:44:00.006-05:002010-10-03T13:50:32.298-04:00

I waited patiently ... so patiently ... through the opening ceremonies, for the lighting of the Olympic Flame, to cast on Baby Blanket The Second.It's too bad I couldn't have gotten a better picture, but we'll live with this ... this is my preparatory cast-on loop, needle in hand, while they carried the Olympic flag into BC Center (or whatever it was called).I officially started as they lit the

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-54906688041285648202010-02-12T07:37:00.003-05:002010-10-03T13:50:56.116-04:00

Yes, the 2010 Knitting Olympics have arrived.I debated on not participating this year. The Yarn Harlot's introduction to the Knitting Olympics talks about the fact that the point is to challenge yourself, the way the athletes challenge themselves in their chosen sports - honoring the spirit of the Olympics by doing what we do, knitting. So of course you can do any project you want, and there

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-19324626775627334632010-02-06T10:28:00.007-05:002010-02-06T18:14:22.213-05:00

I've left the Haiti post up for awhile, in part because I just really didn't have anything else to say for quite awhile after that.But this major snowstorm seems worthy of a new blog post.We were on the far northwest fringe of this system, and were only supposed to get 4" to 6" of snow.Ha. I stepped out my front door this morning, and for starters, when I thought I was on the bottom step, I

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-11373476127300782932010-01-10T09:23:00.004-05:002010-01-10T10:03:44.085-05:00

Meet Spike.Yep. I got a netbook. I've been wanting one of these for years ... in fact, I've been wanting one of these since even before they were available to the masses, before I even knew they actually existed - I just knew I wanted as small a laptop as I could get, one small enough to actually carry around with me easily (without lugging a big case, and weighing me down). When I bought my

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-59224200864837471702010-01-09T09:20:00.004-05:002010-10-03T13:51:21.623-04:00

I've been steadily slogging away at Baby Blanket The First. Here's the progress.I put the coffee cup on it for a size comparison, when the Poo decided to show up and pose, which is a better size comparison, so there ya go. (Of course I'll wash it before sending it off to the parents-to-be).It's coming along. I'm thinking a couple more rounds, and it'll be done. I'd like to make it good-sized, so

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-33212404050948426112010-01-03T09:02:00.006-05:002010-01-03T09:28:01.417-05:00

I haven't been posting much - I've either been busy, or extremely lazy.Christmas was really great - for the first time in several years. Then, I took a mini-vacation the week between Christmas and New Year's, taking vacation days on Wednesday and Thursday. That rocked and I'm very sad that it's almost over.New Year's Eve was nice, too - we had a small get-together, nothing big, but it was fun.New

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-33613443210057219262009-12-24T17:31:00.007-05:002009-12-24T17:49:32.407-05:00

I had my own Festivus Pole at work this year.Unfortunately I didn't buy one, with a nice base. This was just an, umm, Festivus Pole that we found in the workshop that we didn't know we had. Yeah. That's it. So I had to prop it up with a stepstool. But I was pretty excited. It cheered me up every time I looked at it.Christmas Eve at the Office From Hell was another story. Our boss had initially

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-65610220054850041072009-12-23T08:00:00.002-05:002009-12-23T08:02:20.887-05:00

Happy Festivus!

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-68786439662153104812009-12-16T10:41:00.004-05:002009-12-16T10:48:39.540-05:00

Progress on the first baby blanket ...... and I'm having a blast with it. I can't believe how much I missed knitting, or figure out why it took me so long to get back to it. Well, yeah, okay - that part I kind of get. With the chaos that was The Move, I'd pretty much lost track of it all.But regardless, the obsession is back, and it's fantastic. I noticed, though, that this blanket was

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-71508701344803895702009-12-12T22:45:00.006-05:002009-12-12T23:06:33.495-05:00

Yes, it's shocking, I know. But I actually knit something today.Those of you who have been here for awhile know that this blog started almost exclusively as a knitting blog. But then I branched out into other things, and then at some point last year I quit knitting entirely. Not for lack of interest, but too much other stuff going on, with the house hunting and buying and whatnot. Since we moved

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352080748762310792.post-40062390786469552122009-12-07T23:08:00.004-05:002009-12-12T23:01:57.480-05:00

I don't get this often, but this feels like one of those nights. So I thought I'd do a blog update.We've been crazy busy through the beginning of the holiday season. Funny, I'd heard about that, but never really experienced it.Greg's mom, step-dad and grandmother were here, and spent the night, for Thanksgiving. We also had a couple other guests as well, so that caused a flurry of finding places

Rayne of Tara ~ Zen Rat Studionoreply@blogger.com0