S-quarreled away
Wednesday September 23rd 2009, 8:09 pm
Filed under: Family,Knit,Wildlife

I wrapped up the one scarf in a doctor’s waiting room yesterday after it got as long as it reasonably could, and, needing something to do, cast on a second to match, risking the dreaded SSS with my sock yarn: Second Scarf Syndrome.

Heh. You can change the project, but you can’t change the essential qualities of a yarn.

Lots of bird puns waiting for more over at Lene‘s Sept 21 post.  I particularly like Karin‘s–I wish I’d thought of that!

Over here, there were some not-yet-swept-up sunflower hulls mixed with a few fallen seeds scattered around the base of the wooden pole this morning. I watched a gray squirrel go through all kinds of weird contortions trying to reach around cautiously, carefully to sniff out the good ones while trying really really hard not to appear to come near that dangerous thing. Pre-seed-ents had been set, after all.

Or pre-seed-dense, in its case.  I watched it for awhile, much amused, when suddenly it completely lost its head and leaped.  All that food up there!

Instantly the door flew open–caught!

Train them in the way they should go.  It *knew*.  I didn’t have to make a sound.  It scrammed all the harder in its guilt, twitching its tail hard from the top of a tree, staring at me. Do not stop, do not pass go, do not collect 200 calories.

I’m suddenly remembering my kids growing up, when they didn’t get their way, wailing, “You’re MEAN!” And I would grin back at them, “Yup. Rean, motten and nasty too.”   How do you argue with a mom who’s chuckling and refusing to give in to pole-emics? They tried, but it was all bluster from there from them and they and I knew it.

Meantime, Michelle and I went off to Los Gatos for birdseed today (no hulls, that was a one-time hardware-store mistake), and a raptor–a large hawk or peregrine, I couldn’t quite make out–soared over us on the freeway as she drove. I wonder, do I just see them now? Did I miss out on so much for so long? I know the populations have been recovering the last few years…  Wow. It was glorious, wide wings highlighted against the sunshine, riding on the breeze.

Fill that feeder!


14 Comments so far
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Oh, yes. I have had second every thing syndrome. I’ve gotten so bad that I wear the socks mis matched. My niece tells me this is cool. She promises to email me if it ever becomes un-cool.

Comment by Laura 09.23.09 @ 10:39 pm

I burned out on scarves from recent ‘need to’ knitting. Currently knitting two socks in tandem to keep SSS away! Ugh…Fall didn’t come…still 100 degrees here. Dreaming of cool days, tea, and baking.

Comment by Ruth 09.23.09 @ 11:22 pm

We went to Wild Birds Unlimited and got a baffle for the pole my feeders sit on to prevent squirrels and raccoons from climbing the pole — I don’t mind if they want to try to grab the droppings on the ground — though my mourning dove does — and we get a chipmunk coming through to visit too. My favorite however is my pair of bunnies who visit daily.
On the bird front, I think my goldfinches have left the area for the winter — but my Cardinals are quite a large family.

Comment by Patricia 09.24.09 @ 4:04 am

You get your birdseed from the cats?

Comment by LynnM 09.24.09 @ 4:44 am

SSS = ZZZs for me anyway. _chuckles_
Once you become raptor aware you learn where to look for them then they seem to be everywhere. Don’t feel alone..I woke up to them mid-life, too, but it’s better late than never. There are so many cool things in this big ‘ol world.

Comment by Toni Smoky-Mountains 09.24.09 @ 4:46 am

Scarf is gorgeous, of course.

Squirrels, as much as I dislike them, I had a run in with one the other day and it lost, unfortunately. I just could not stop in time. How can they be so stupid in traffic and so coniving with bird feeders?

Comment by Joansie 09.24.09 @ 5:03 am

The Scarf is beautiful! Every time I see that colorway I am just mesmerized. I must go out & get something close to it 🙂

Comment by TripletMom 09.24.09 @ 6:20 am

Just thought of you. A squirrel hopped through our flower bed at the front window here at work. My father inlaw went out to scare it off and it jumped into the volunteer tomato plant, which caused MJ to rant…

Comment by Channon 09.24.09 @ 6:37 am

My mother refuses to knit the same thing twice… I’m glad I did not inherit that gene, as I hope to make many shawls of different colours and textures. lol

I love the colour of the yarn you use for the scarves. It looks like ocean riples.

Thank you for writting so beautifully!

Comment by Suzanne in Mtl 09.24.09 @ 7:00 am

Rean? Motten? How nerrible! Thank heaven I’ve never known anyone like that!

Min da eantine —

A youngster is watching his grandfather put on his shoes using some strange gadget. “What’s that thing, Grampa?” the boy asks. “It’s a shoe horn,” says the old man, handing it to the youngster. The boy takes it, and is examining it carefully, and then asks, “How do you play it?”

Related true story: Several years ago I was in a doctor’s office where I was required to take off my shoes. When the exam was over, a nurse came in to help me. I asked, “Do you have a shoe horn?” Nurse’s response: “What’s a shoe horn?”

I told that story to my physical therapist, and he responded with this: What is the difference between the Iron Age, and now? To which someone had answered, “We don’t need irons today. All the clothes are non-iron.”

Comment by Don Meyer 09.24.09 @ 9:55 am

I have gone a few years now without a good view of my back yard, but soon my studio will eb ready again, and it has a lovely big window.. We have hilarious fox squirrels I love to watch.

Comment by Diana Troldahl 09.24.09 @ 11:04 am

I’m taking notes on your teenager survival skills.

Comment by Michelle 09.24.09 @ 4:04 pm

I understand Second Scarf Syndrome. After I finished the Traveling Shawl Scarf, the giftee wanted one just like it for her AARRGGHH!! The second one is finally done and the third one is on the needle. And all I really want to do is finish the pair of socks on the needles.

Comment by sherry in idaho 09.24.09 @ 4:50 pm

I well recognize that mom-line — it’s used frequently in our house, too 🙂 I do think that the raptor populations are making a come-back; lately I’ve been seeing a pair of kestrels on my walk — such a fabulous sight 🙂

Comment by Jocelyn 09.24.09 @ 6:44 pm



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