Aaagh!

Our backyard May 16:
Same area, today (left), and even worse area (right; no picture from May 16):
I've been trying for weeks to get the lawn mowed.* I don't feel like going into the whole story, but I'm getting the runaround here. If the lawn's not mowed tomorrow I am going to have to fire him. Maybe I should line up someone else before I fire him. Easier said than done, though. On my initial quest to get the lawn mowed I left messages with one or two companies that never got returned. What's a woman gotta do around here to get her lawn mowed? Does that sound dirty?

*The front lawn is fine. He mowed it almost two weeks ago (which means it could use another pass, but it's not scary tall like the back is). Yes, there's been a lot of rain since then, which made mowing not ideal on those days, but there have been fine days, too. Excuses: I'm moving, I'm still moving, I'm still moving and my mower's having problems.

Sheesh

Today my husband and I went into a store we've gone in several times before (I'd say at least 5) only to be stopped by a not-so-pleasant woman who wanted to know if we were members. Turns out we shouldn't have been allowed in all those other times. The experience has put me in a bad mood, I guess because she had an attitude, like we were liars or bad people for claiming we'd been there multiple times before despite not being members. I looked them up on the Internet just now and the membership fee is $5 for life. Did she tell me how cheap it would be to join (not that I would have)? No. Stupid woman. Thanks for the cheap KitchenAid mixer and vacuum cleaner I scored in past visits, though.

Knitting? I don't like this.

Jaywalking trouble

So I moved past my mistake in the foot decrease and kept knitting. But I neglected to follow the pattern exactly and now I've stopped working on it because I am thinking of ripping it out. I'd love to rip it back to just before the decrease mistake but I'm not sure I can. Ripping out socks only partway is difficult. So I may have to start this second sock entirely over. I haven't touched the damn thing in ages and have been working on another pair of socks, where I'm happy to say the purling three together through the back has gotten easier. But I still think I prefer the flap heel to the short row heel.

Words cannot describe how much I hate purling three stitches together through the back loops. Ugh!

On the other side

On the other side of the rhododendron pictured with the needle jar is one that is just coming into bloom and it's pink!

My mistake

Not huge, but I might have to wear it on the left foot so it's not staring me in the face when I cross my legs.

Wisteria

If you're going to put your house on the market, take down your Christmas lights.

Yarn + Lycra = not fun to wind into balls using the swift. It doesn't turn nicely and you have to worry about the yarn getting too stretched out.

Help me, I kind of want to make a Clapotis. And of course I'd love to use the called-for yarn, which makes it expensive, especially since a lot of people run out of yarn at three skeins. I'll just keep thinking about it for now.

Not much going on that I can talk about

I'm still working on my second Jaywalker sock and refuse to post another picture of them until they're complete (even though all older pictures have been eradicated). I'm working on something else but don't want to say. The perils of having your readers be your gift recipients.

My first opportunity to vote in Oregon has arrived--because they vote by mail here. I appreciate the convenience but will miss going to those ancient machines (and getting the "I voted" stickers to wear all day). I also don't know how they deal with privacy when there's a paper trail. I don't think I will vote in this primary because I can't vote for anything interesting since I registered as an independent. There's no party registration in Virginia, and that's the way I like it. Anyway, all I can vote for are the nonpartisan judges and such, most of whom are unopposed. I probably shouldn't vote for party candidates even if I could because I have no idea who they are or what the issues are. That knowledge will come, but for now I feel like a foreigner.

UPDATE: Seems other residents of Oregon aren't happy with the current primary system. Oregon Open Primary