Pulling the Wool

Riddle:  The twenty-second and twenty-fourth Presidents of the United States had the same parents but were not brothers.  Who are we talking about?

My golf league cancelled its first game last Thursday because it was cold, wet, and snow was forecast.  The Minnesota fishing season opener is this coming weekend and they are advising participants who want to fish up near our northern boundary to bring ice augers to cut holes in the lakes because the ice is up to thirty inches thick.

On the other hand, on the south side of houses in the Twin Cities, tulips are starting to bloom.  Forecast for today: Upper seventies and sunny.  Spring, dragging at the hand trying to pull it forward, is nevertheless coming.

And for some reason, The Drowning Spool is dragging at the hand (typing fingers?) trying to pull it to completion.  I know what the ending is, I can see it not too far off, but somehow the story line keeps kinking and the characters won’t cooperate.  I’ve taken a day off twice, which usually kicks me back into gear, but that’s not happening this time.  Maybe I need somebody with a bullwhip standing behind me with a menacing glare.

I’ve been trying to resurrect my interest in knitting as part of my diet – if I’m knitting, I’m not snacking.  I got into other needlework aspects for awhile, but knitting is, to me, relaxing.  Expanding that interest, I have agreed to attend a sheep fair this coming weekend.   They’re calling it “Shepherd’s Harvest,” which, as it is a spring event, sounds set in the wrong time of year.  But sheep are sheared in the spring, so it’s right after all.  It’s at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.  I’ll be signing books there on Saturday afternoon, otherwise wandering the grounds, probably buying freshly spun wool and watching weavers and spinners and shearers at work.  And admiring the lambs, who are among the most adorable of baby animals.  The event runs through Sunday.







Our senior cat, Panzi, has been getting thinner and thinner.  We finally called our home-visit vet who found her kidneys to be shrinking but that probably her problem was hyper-thyroidism.  He wrote a prescription, which we filled at Walgreen's (!) and now, less than a week later, she is looking better.

Answer to Riddle:  Grover Cleveland, who was both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President.