Life Beside The Pit

Not-so-fondly referred to as The Pit Next Door, then (when wildlife arrived) The Pond Next Door, I am sharing my ugly mess with you. Keep in mind, we had offered to buy part of the property from the town BEFORE they announced selling it, and we could have been looking out our windows at a line of evergreens, rather than THIS:




Although a building cannot be erected within 10 feet of the property line (the orange snow fence is pretty much on it), the digging did have to come closer. But, INCHES from our property?? We park a tent trailer and two cars in our driveway. Let me rephrase that. We used to park a tent trailer and two cars in our driveway. Now, with only a few feet between our car and the Pit for the front half of the driveway, we've taken to parking one car on the road, the other at the back half of the driveway closer to the road, where the Pit is not quite so close.



What happened? The town sold their property to the Youth and Family Resource Network for transitional/low income housing. For a song, I'm sure. And not the long-lost-worth-a-million kind of song, either. Sewer connections were put in, with the fee waived, then the digging started. Ooops, contaminated soil was found, they can't build. Apparently now, the builder, the YFRN and the town are all in talks, with lawyers involved.
How long has the Pit Next Door looked like this? Well, basically, since last September. Wish I could remember exactly what day, we could throw an anniversary party. I say basically, because...well, the sides are eroding. Scary thought. Even scarier is the fact that behind our house runs a walking trail that used to be a railway. Along that walking trail, they are putting in a sewer line. Which means heavy equipment shaking the earth. Which could mean MORE dirt from the sides falling into the Pit. See where I'm going?

Fishy stuff

I wanted to design a cat blanket that I could sell and try to raise money for Kittenaide, a local group that helps cats and kittens find homes. Our younger cat, Stormy is one we got from Kittenaide. I remember going in, there were a lot of cats and kittens! and one in particular came up to Delainey and wouldn't leave her alone. The woman said "Oh, looks like Vixen has adopted you!" It's true. With a name change--both names really suit her personality, though!--Stormy quickly settled in amongst our dogs and other cat. And realized that although the dogs will play with her, the old cat just won't. Don't get me wrong, there are still times that Stormy gets that devilish look in her eyes and tries to engage Smudge in some play!


The fish blanket pattern will be available May 5th on my site, and on Etsy. $1 from each pattern will be donated to Kittenaide to help pay for vet bills. To read more about this group, or if you would like to help out: http://kittenaide.fortunecity.com/


Now for the blanket:

Now, for something else that (to me) is a little fishy: eBay sellers who list books of patterns, but will not state the title. Why? So you can't find the book at an online retail store for less than half what the bidding ends at?

Recently, someone on a crochet list I belong to was hoping to get help finding the name of one such book on eBay. I dug around, didn't take too long, found the book (304 pages, Annie's Attic and more than 90 patterns of afghans and doilies) was enough to go by, along with pics! for less than $20 US. The one on eBay ended at $46 plus shipping. I kinda figured with a publication date of 2006 that it would be available elsewhere!

Me? I paid $27, shipping and taxes included, CANADIAN for a new copy at Chapters.ca!

So, one word of advice: if you find a book that you like on eBay, and the seller will not state the title, it is probably available elsewhere and they just don't want you to find it. Or, they legitimately forgot to add the title in. (clear throat here) So, check with online groups, there's a good chance someone there has the book, or can help you with the title.

I certainly can't blame sellers who are up front about the title, which is currently available, and the bidding goes up to twice the price that Annie's Attic is selling it for! As with any auction, you do have to know what you're bidding on.

Time to 'get back to work'...play...crochet!

They're ba-a-ack!

The tree swallows that is. Swooping in front of our house, and hanging around the same birdhouse on our porch where the couple raised their young last year.

I've had several projects in mind, just finished one, and will be starting on the next one this afternoon. That's the one I'm excited, yet nervous about. It's something I don't think I've seen before, and I'm not 100% sure how to go about what I want to do...

I know many people look for free patterns (heck, don't we all!) and I know many people do so because buying patterns would eventually put them in the poorhouse. I do try to price my patterns for sale reasonably, and this morning had an idea for a not-so-secret secret sale.

Not-so-secret because I've just told you about it! Secret because I didn't say exactly what it is. This month. I'll be changing the sale monthly, and each month will be like a treasure hunt. Large buttons are put on a few pages of my website: one button will be on the category page which is involved in the sale (there's a hint!), the other 3 buttons will be on other pages. If this works well, or gets some good comments, I will continue with different sales each month.

Start the not-so-secret secret sale hunt.