Can I Have a Change of Underwear Now?

Fathers Day is supposed to be a day of BBQs, not being scared half to death. I was draining macaroni for a macaroni salad when I heard a sherrifs patrol car drive by and ask people to stay in their homes as they were looking for a black male suspect. I watched a couple of sherrifs cars zoom by and did not think much of it. They made another announcement about having the canine unit and I thought about bringing in the dogs. I saw some neighbors outside and thought this might be a bra worthy event. (Yes on weekends when I hang out around the house, I hang out around the house.) The bedroom window was open and I heard what I thought was the dogs messing with the fence and then I heard a voice. I put my shoes on and thought to myself I better bring the dogs in. The dogs were barking but not in an unusual way to make me think anything was out of the ordinary. I walked into the garage and then out the back door and started to call the dogs. That was when I noticed the large black man crouched by the faucet next to the SMUD yard. He saw me and asked if he could have a drink. I told him sure, out of the faucet and turned and went back in the house. I ran through the house and out the front door to the first cop car I saw. "Is he in your backyard?" "Yes!" "Get back in the house!" and they drew their weapons and ran around the side of the house. I ran back in the house. When I heard they had him pinned down I opened the garage door and brought the dogs in the house. Now you would think that Honey, who is the alpha dog would be the one who would be all over people. No, It was my older dog Sweetie who was busy giving them what for. I got them in the house and then just started shaking. I called Bob at work and about all he could get out of me was "black man in the yard" and "gun". He rushed home from work to find a bunch of cop cars out front the suspect in custody, and me snapping pictures through the window. We found out later this guy was a burglary suspect who had broken out of police custody once today.

View from kitchen window:



Suspect in custody:


Where he was hiding from where I was standing:


I have finally stopped shaking. I definately prefer watching "Cops" on tv to living it in my backyard!

Chuckle Softly and Carry a Big Stick

One of the light bulbs burnt out in the den and when I went to replace it the bulb broke. When Bob got home, I asked him to help me. He got the pliers and told me to hold the flashlight while he attempted to remove the bulb. He then told me if it looked like he was getting electrocuted to whack him with a wooden stick to disconnect him from the current

Was it wrong of me to get excited? I think he was a little nervous having me standing behind him with a bat on my shoulder with a glint in my eye asking "Was that a twitch? It looked like a twitch!"

Yarn Shop Hop Part 3

After dropping Bob off at work I drove up to Placerville to meet Sweet Adeline for breakfast at Sweetie Pies and to hit one pf the last shops on the shop hop, Lofty Lou's. This was an easy trip since the two are next to each other.

It was nice to visit with Adeline before she headed off to her crafting retreat at Lake Tahoe. I twisted her arm and made her buy yarn. (I didn't have to twist too hard mind you!) I got my final stamp and then after saying goodbye to Adeline, I headed down the hill to my local yarn shop, Babetta's Yarn and Gifts to turn in my passport. I spent more than I should have, but I had a great time. Now to inventory everything.

Yarn Shop Hop Part 1

Yesterday, my trusty Sherpa (Bob) and I started out on the first leg of the Yarn Shop Hop. 15 Yarn shops are participating. Each one has a pattern for an afghan square and yarn specials. If you get your passport stamped at all 15 shops you are entered in a drawing for fabulous prizes.

We decided to start off the hop at the Lake Tahoe Yarn Company in Truckee.

We had stopped there last month on our way to Reno. Its a cute little shop that has only been open for about 7 months. The owner is a very nice lady who loves what she does. She almost didn't hop as this was the scene the day before.

The chiropracter's office DIRECTLY above her shop was torched. Her Guardian Angel was working overtime as she had no water damge, no smoke damage or any damage whatsoever!

As we were leaving we ran into 2 very nice ladies from the Lodi LYS who had the same idea as us to start in Truckee. We wished them well and continued on our journey.


We left there and headed to Nevada City to Meadow Farm Yarn Studio
This is a nice, open and airy shop with a great selection. Shortly after we got there the 2 Lodi ladies showed up again and I started teasing them that they were stalking me.

From there Bob & I headed to Fibers in Grass Valley.

This is a nice little shop in Old Town. They have these adorable "Rocking Sheep". Bob really wants one. He says he wants it for the grandkids, but I know better! And again our Stalkers showed up!

Stop #4 was at Auburn Needleworks. Mapquest gave us bad directions so we had to call the shop. We eventuallu found it in the Gold Country Mall Building.

I thought it humorous that its located next to a hypno therapy place. Makes me wonder if tyhat is how people deal with their yarn addictions or if that's how they get new customers. (You are very sleepy. You want to knit...you want to buy lots of yarn...) They are a very well stocked shop and I think they carry almost every color of Cascade 220. The owner, Lisa was very friendly and helpful. She is the organizer of the shop hop. We weren't the only ones who had tr0ouble getting their. Our stalkers had to call for directions too. We saw them as we were heading out.

Next stop, Filati's in Rocklin. We were making good time so we decided to grab lunch after this stop and then head down to Modesto for the Central Valley legof the hop.


My Stalkers showed up again so we of course had to snap a picture.


Next stop Modesto for the Urban Sheep Knit Boutique. It shares space with a health food store so I felt compelled to buy some hemp yarn to make up into a shopping bag.


From Modesto we came back up 99 to Stockton to Knit Witz. This is a cute shop in Old Town and the ladies there were very sweet. They could not believe how many shops we planned to hit in one day.


Lodi was next. This proved to be quite a challenge as Map quest had us driving down Elm Street to find Pleasant Street and the 2 do not intersect. It was 5:15 and they closed at 5:30 pm. After a frantic call for directions we made it at 5:25pm. They then told us they were staying open until 6.


Next stop was to have been the Elk Grove Yarn Shop bu they closed at 6 so we hit the other yarn shop in Elk Grove, Knitique. It was a Stitch and Bitch night so lots of people were already there. Lo and Behold in walked my stalkers. They had cut across to my LYS Babetta's and then up the Highway 50 corridor to get the shops in Placerville and Cameron Park. We laughed over their stalking as I bought an adorable knitting bag from Ireland.


We all then headed to Woodland for our last stop of the day, Reynold's Knitting Pretty Yarn Shop. After some brief confusion about West Main Street and East Main Street we arrive at our destination. Bob & the owner struck up a conversation about Okinawa, where her husband had been stationed while I browsed for yarn. My stalkers showed up and we chatted and exchanged info before heading back to town.


On our way home we stopped at Spaghetti Factory for a celebratory dinner of spaghetti A La Homer. We were also treated to an incredible lightning show on the final leg of our drive. Here is my Sherpa at the end of the day. If he looks a little blurry that's ok; that's kind of how we felt at that point!