Into the Woods...Again!

After the kids' visit, we had just a couple of days to get ready for our last camping trip of the season. I put the clean sheets on the bed, which is a challenge because the bed is surrounded on 3 1/2 sides by walls. That means tucking sheets under the mattress while kneeling on it. 

We got it done, though, and loaded everything we needed, mostly food. Fortunately, the drive wasn't too long. We drove to LaPine on Wednesday. We found Jim already there and in his camping spot. (He drove up from Florence on Tuesday.)

We were across the road from Jim. We had to camp at South Loop this time. The other loops are closed for the season. South Loop has full hookups, but they turned off the water on Thursday, so it's basically just power. We could use our electric space heater and the convection/microwave, so at least we had that.

Thursday was our only whole day with Jim. We got in some hiking, a total of 6.44 miles during the four days we were there.

We like to start out at the off-leash area, so the pups can get their wiggles out before we start hiking.

If we're the only ones on the trail, we let the dogs off leash for a short time. 

Dogs are allowed off-leash at the river's edge. It's hard to swim when you're on a leash. The water level was pretty low. 

There were sand bars out in the middle, but in some places the water was deep enough to swim. There wasn't too much current out in the middle, so it was pretty safe to let them swim.

While we were camping in LaPine, we got the news of the school shooting in our city. The school that was involved is less than a mile away from our home. Some of the victims were known to members of our church. We have to work together to find a way to stop this from happening.

We came home on Saturday. I finished the Gracie Cardigan I started last week. This will be for the doll we're giving our honorary granddaughter Elsie. Here it is, blocked and ready to have the button sewn on.

I followed the pattern until the divide for the sleeves. Then I worked the left front, then the sleeve stitches as I came to them, turned the work and knitted back across the sleeve stitches. Then I turned it again and bound off the sleeve stitches, using the first stitch of the back to finish the bind off. I worked across the back, worked the stitches for the other sleeve and worked those the way I did the first sleeve. After that, I worked the right front. When I worked back on the wrong side, I picked up a stitch at each edge of the sleeve and passed the first picked-up stitch over the second one. By doing this, I didn't have to cut the yarn for the whole project and the base of each sleeve was tidy.

The pajamas I ordered for Elsie's doll came on Tuesday. I tried it on Jolena, who looks the most like Elsie's doll Emily. I wanted to be sure the fit was OK. I thought the slippers were cute.

The preclue for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knitalong arrived in my emails on Wednesday, while we were still home. I had a look through my yarn stash and found some yarn that should work for the project. 

I've been checking on my new book's listing on Amazon and other booksellers' websites. I found this on Amazon: "90 days free of Amazon Music with purchase." I thought that could be taken to mean you could be free of Amazon Music, which I am, but of course, I already have a copy. LOL! I wonder if AI writes their promotional content.

The kids left some of their veggie share with us, including eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower and one poblano chile. I made a nice stew with it with lots of cumin. oregano and cilantro. I also used onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, a carrot, a celery stalk, black beans, some TVP, bouillon cubes and some of the leftover cooked brown rice. It was tasty.

Charlie had bought a set of puzzles. The kids started it, but couldn't finish it before they left to go home. Charlie has been working on it. It lives on our kitchen table.

Sunday was very busy. The Diocesan Convention (Diocese of Eastern Oregon) ended their meeting in Prineville with a worship service. The choir from Trinity went along to sing. Some singers from other churches joined us. It was inspiring and, after the school shooting in our community, therapeutic. My friend and fellow choir member Julie, who often drives me to choir practice and to church, gave me a ride to Prineville. She's also in the bell choir. We went back to Trinity after the Prineville event and attended bell choir practice. I think I'm on the verge of getting the hang of it. 

For some cuteness, here's Soren, who is....

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry, BlueSky or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon or B&N and search for Mandy's Little Science Lessons: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses, More Classic Tales Retold or Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them. 

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Speculoos Sweater, but also the gauge swatch for the 2027 Yarn Crawl Mystery Knitalong. Finished the Gracie Cardigan.

What's on my iPhone: Finished Wildwood by Colin Meloy and looking forward to seeing the film on October 23rd! Downloaded The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

What's on my sewing machine: Doll clothes.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In The Hair-raising Adventure Part II, this week's story from The Doll's Storybook, Emil and Billy get their wigs, but will a wig make Billy into a real boy?
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What's my tip of the week: We often reuse bread bags and bagel bags. I've found I can flatten them for storage by folding them longitudinally, then smoothing any air bubbles, starting at the bottom of the bag to the top where they can escape, folding again the same way and repeating the process once before folding the bag once horizontally.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog, and they are reproduced in print with a few changes.

Book #7 is available in BookBaby's Bookshop right now. Amazon, B&N and other booksellers has it available for presale. The release date is October 27th.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your local library to order the books.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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