Waiting for November 3rd

That would be the day after Election Day.  I can't wait!  I am so sick of all the political ads on the TV and radio.  When driving in the car, I've taken to changing stations every time I hear a Linda McMahon ad come on.  I change channels or hit mute on the TV as well.  One thing that kills me about these ads - and both parties do it - is the way they use facts and distort them.  A good example is a Tom Foley ad for CT governor.  He talks about Malloy raising taxes and how his budgets had to be reviewed by "an oversight board".  What he doesn't tell you is that the review is done by a Board of Finance and it's not because the budgets were bad or out of line - but that is how the process for budget approval works in Stamford.  It doesn't matter how good or bad the budget is - the BOF is required to review it.  Or when Foley talks about Malloy using a City employee to do work on his house.  Foley doesn't mention that said City employee has a construction business on the side and did the work during his own time (not city time as is implied) and that it was all investigated and no wrong doing found.  They all do this - tell little tidbits of truth but in such a way as to create bad impressions.  The other thing that has been annoying me is the candidates running for US Senate and US Congress saying "I'm going to Washington to create jobs in "  Ummmm - maybe you should for state office if you want to create jobs at home.  Not such an easy deal doing it from DC.  Oh, I know it can be done - by getting projects such as the infamous "bridge to nowhere" approved for your home state.  That's just more pork barrel shit that we don't need.  Generally speaking, people in DC don't create jobs in their home state.  Another pet peeve - "I'm going to run the government like a business."  Yeah.  Right.  Those of us who work in government have heard that so many times over.  Would it be nice if you could?  Sure.  But you can't.  Let's start with Freedom of Information.  No back room deals.  No private agreements.  It's all open.  And then there's purchasing - you can't just hire the guy you've worked with before who you know will do it quickly and well and at a reasonable price.  We're dealing with public dollars, so it all has to be public, rules must be followed, etc.  This is all done to protect the public and make sure taxpayer dollars are properly spent - but there is a cost.  I've
Last thing I'm going to say on the elections - at least for today - I think that anyone in New York who votes for Carl Paladino for governor should have to undergo a psychological examination.  Seriously.

Destined to be frogged

One of our fellow UCONN tailgaters has a cool UCONN hat with ear flaps.  Last year I thought to myself "I can knit something like that."  With Friday's game versus West Virginia our first potential cold game fast approaching, I decided to get down to it.  I found a pattern on Ravelry that I could adapt.  I charted out my stripes and my plan to duplicate stitch UCONN on the front and I cast on.  My gauge should have given me a hat that fit my 22.5 inch head just right.  FAIL.  I finally got to a point where I could kind of try the hat on while it was on the needles.  That sucker is huge.  No two ways about it.  I've been trying to think of a way to salvage the knitting I've put into it so far, but I think that tonight I will be frogging.  Bummer.  I expect that I will put it aside for now, finish the gifts for my cousin's baby momma's shower and reset my earflap hat goal to be the Pitt game on November 11th.  Oh well.

Does it make me a bad doggie mommy if....

.....I suggest to Boomer that he should go chase the squirrel in the yard when I know perfectly well that there are no squirrels in the yard?  I've been kind of doing this of late.  Okay, not kind of.  I've been doing it.  It's fun to see him get all excited and bound across the yard looking for that squirrel.  He looks so freakin' cute doing it!  I'm going to justify it on the basis of it provides him physical and mental exercise.  It's exercising his hunting instincts!  And I get such a kick out of him dashing and bouncing around the yard.

Yarny goodness

I went to Rhinebeck this weekend - aka the Dutchess County Wool and Sheep Festival.  My purpose - to buy yarn.  I went armed with yardages for several different projects.  I didn't buy as much as I would have liked to buy - just could not find the right yarn for the Aran sweater I am planning for myself.  But, I did find some yummy yarn to make a couple of other projects - all for me!  Saturday night, when I got home, I was plenty tired and feeling a little disappointed in my results.  Sunday morning I woke up wishing for real that I had bought more.  I actually for a brief moment thought "I could go back today."  That was really a brief moment.  If I hadn't stayed for the Ravelry party, I don't think I would have been as tired at the end of the day.  But - I'm so glad I stayed for the Ravelry party because I got to meet someone I have known online for about 6 or 7 years.  Weird world the internet has created - isn't it.  It was cool meeting E.  aka Curlyknitter and meeting her friend M.  And the cupcakes were SO good.  And the swag bag was kind of cool too.  So,next year, assuming that UCONN football doesn't interfere, I plan to hit the festival earlier on Saturday, so that I can see more - we did miss at least one barn.  When shopping at something like this, I kind of need to go around and browse first, then come back and buy later.  That's why I need more time.  And maybe next year I won't be as awed by everything I'm seeing.  Sunday is probably an easier day because there are less crowds.  So, in the end I didn't find that special yarn for my Na Craga sweater, but maybe I will in the meantime and maybe that's what I'll be wearing to Rhinebeck next year - along with my lovely Clapotis that's going to be made out of what I did find this year.

OMG! It's Friday and there are photos!

Okay - I've been a real slacker with the photos - but I did shoot some recently.  Starting with the last daisy of the season.  It was a big, pretty one!  Then a couple of my roses.  And of course, as always the star of the show, Boomer.  I was trying to be a little artsy, shooting him through the fence.

Happiness is....

...a side-view mirror.  Yes, you read that right.  Happiness is a side-view mirror.  To be specific, the driver's side mirror.  See - the week before last was bad.  There were the annoying auditors, there was the short staffing and then there was Mom being sick.  The crowning moment was when, as I approached Rentschler Stadium in East Hartford, I tried to cut between lanes a little too quickly and nailed a traffic cone.  Said cone went bounced back up against the back of my mirror, knocking off the cover, then came around the front to smash the glass and knock the mirror loose, just for good measure.  So, since then I've been driving without a side-view mirror on my side.  That is not fun, let me tell you.  The worst was driving home from a golf tournament on Monday on a less-than-well-traveled highway, in the dark, with no driver's side mirror and no cell phone.  Dummy me had left the cell phone home without realizing it.  So, the replacement arrived last night and A, being the wonderful husband he is, went right outside and put the new mirror and cover on.  All is well again.