Looks good on paper.......

I'm still here, just been working on things I can't show like sitting in front of the laptop for hours working on this new draft, or doing some sewing for gifts which I can't show yet. I have done a little spinning but already showed what's on my spindle so won't bore anyone with that again so soon.  So this is my vines & leaves draft - I have worked on several versions of it, had to step away, then go back to it to see what was bothering me and do more tweaking. I can't tell you how many hours have gone into this and I won't know if it's a success until I actually weave it. Still on the upside of a steep learning curve with designing for the AVL. I plan on getting a gold tencel warp on after the holiday weekend to give it a try, am auditioning wefts but those always change and usually aren't what I usually envision in the planning stages.

On an upside - all of a sudden uploading photos to the blog is working after not working correctly since the beginning of the year - whoo hoo!

Read below if you choose.........or not - it's just me ranting........

On the downside - I live in a crazy county here in SW Oregon......everyone wants services but no one wants to pay for them, I just don't get it. For well over a year we have had very little law enforcement and when someone is arrested they are let out of jail before the end of the day because there is no money to fund the jail for more than a small number of prisoners......and that's if they actually make it to trial since there is very little funding for that either. This has been an ongoing issue for years but the last 2 it's gotten really bad. It is a joke in the county - criminals do what they want because there are no consequences. Last year a measure to fund safety was voted down, this past Tuesday it was voted down once again but this time only 51% to 49% - last I heard there were only 400 votes between the two. I don't even want to know how my friends and acquaintances voted because I'd probably be disappointed in them if I knew for sure they voted against the measure. Our county has the lowest tax rate out of the entire state by a large amount........that is because no one wants to pay taxes here. We have no county libraries anymore - thank goodness a volunteer group organized and started up communities libraries that run on donations.......so some of us donate each year so everyone can benefit of having access to a library, no one is turned down a library card.

So, here I sit on acreage with a locked gate, an alarm system that's only purpose nowadays is to alert me to something happening as no one will respond to it, great neighbors, guns if needed (hopefully never) and  fingers ready to dial 911 if I feel like I am in immediate danger......and what will I say when the 911 operator answers but FIRE.  I pay for fire protection so I know someone will show......I'll just have to deal with the consequences of doing that after the fact. And yes, this county votes down having county wide fire protection too so if we want it we contract for it on our own with the one reliable local company.

Enough of my ranting.......I plan on having a wonderful holiday weekend and I hope all of you do the same.....and I will be keeping in my heart the folks of Oklahoma who have lost so much.......so small are my problems........