As the Who said, "I'm Free!!"

Am I dating myself with the Who reference???    I passed my last exam today at work, so now I am free to knit, spin and read my own choice of books in my free time!    I am now fully licensed and registered at my new job, so my free time is my own, without guilt!    If anyone tells you they are too old to learn new tricks, like the proverbial old dog, tell them about me, reinventing myself at the age of nearly 59.   Anything is possible if you work hard enough and take a chance.   Of course, I was definitely aided by my new boss who also took a chance on me.    I am forever grateful for her confidence in me, and the opportunity she has given me..

Another walk in the trail on Sunday and I visited my friend, the Koi, and it looks like mating season is over for this year.   I talked to a wonderful older lady at the pond, who told me that this Koi has been in the pond for 19 years and she knows the woman who released it there.   It grew too large for her yard pond and she has been watching it over the years, grow to this enormous size.   I understand that there was another one, but it has not been seen in a couple of years.   The heron was back as well, but no photos of interest there this time.

A few more flower shots:

These are tropical Hibiscus that I am growing in pots on the back porch.   Now that there is no more smoking at my home, I can enjoy this back patio again, so I thought I would dress it up with plants.   I have always loved Hibiscus flowers, and I have discovered that so does the dog!    The first weekend, she ate about 8 blooms. I worried that they would make her sick, so I googled them and learned that in the South Sea Islands, the blooms are eaten in salads.    So the dog would not get sick, but I was not happy, nevertheless.    I then sprayed the two plants with Liquid Fence which does a good job keeping the bunnies from eating my flowers  and it seems to have discouraged the dog as well!   Good, now I don't have to kill her..........
My clematis have broken out in a multitude of blooms.   Too bad they only last a few weeks

Another weather report......Rain! Rain! Go Away!    Once the sun shines again, as it must, things will be very lush and green.    I should have some new Iris blooming from the ones sent to me by IronNeedles last fall.    I have buds on at least two varieties, and can hardly wait to see the blooms!  This photo is before the rains began again.   Once the sun comes out again, I know it will pop open with a fury!

Tonight I worked (played) on spinning the Suri Alpaca fiber that I was given at one of the Alpaca shows earlier this spring.  To remind you, here is my washing episode.   After watching many videos on hand-carding, I tried again and I think I have the hang of it now.   Here are a few photos of the progress:

I carded up a bunch of fiber, but my rolags are not nice and pretty like I see them in the videos and in books, so I just gathered the fiber off the carders and put the bunches in a plastic bag.   I then spun from the resulting clouds of fiber, best as I could.

And here are the singles on my wheel.   

I will be two-plying this yarn and should have about 2-3 oz of finished yarn when I am done.

Before the rains began, I photographed my original Iris, which had been in my garden for many years.   Usually, by the time they are ready to bloom, we get the strong Spring storms which make the heavy bloom stalks just lay down in defeat.   This year, I enjoyed many blooms before the winds and rain began.   

Of course, now they are down, and it is too sad to photograph, so enjoy the before photo!

Flora and Fauna

Happy weather  to report today.  Blue sky, no clouds, perfect for a walk along my favorite path, the Big Dry Creek Trail.    I remembered my camera today and a good thing too as the wildflowers (weeds) were blooming and I got to appreciate them in the open space instead of my lawn.   Photo heavy post coming...............

There is a small lake that attracts all kinds of ducks, geese, and today a heron.   But what really caught my eye first was major splashing around in the shallow water.    What it turned out to be was a huge Koi surrounded by several catfish and smaller yet huge goldfish and assorted carp.   I was told by someone more familiar with the sex lives of fish that they were spawning...right out there in public for all the world to see.    So what do I do, but pull out the camera to photograph some fish porn for this blog!

The huge orange Koi had to be nearly30 inches long and its "friends" were about a foot long each!     Sounds like a fish story for sure but the photos tell the story!

And there is more!    

The heron only let me approach just so far before it took off across to the other side of the lake so I followed around the path to get closer again, when all of a sudden it caught a fish for lunch.

It played with it a while then swallowed it whole....you can see how thick the neck became as it was consumed into its throat.    It posed like this for the longest time  before the neck regained its graceful curve.   Wow!