First I want to show you all something....

Yup, that is the first sock and it is almost done and yes it has ribbing.  Mom says she has a few changes in mind for the next pair of socks though.  She says to thank everyone for the advise and ask do they make teeswater sock yarn?  LOL

    Now on to my day.  First, Happy All Hallows Eve or Happy Halloween if you prefer.  As for me I do not like Halloween at all.  Every year Mom buys me a bit of candy and we eat chili for dinner.  This year we are having pizza.  I have to tell you though, I can never remember a time when I liked Halloween.  The last time I did anything for the holiday I was still in public school and I was in the 1st grade.  It is the year that those masks came out for "The Scream"  You know the ones that you pump that hand pump and blood came all over the face of the mask??  Well, I hate those kinds of costumes and every year Mom tells everyone the story about the year I stopped having Halloween.  She says it is to funny so I am going to tell it here tonight.
    You see I was in 1st grade and I was all dressed for the day.  I was a cowboy.  I have my hat (which I wasn't allowed to wear in school on normal days), My boots and jeans and I even had a holster and guns on my hips.  At the time I was thinking I was all that and a bag of marshmellows too.  When I got to school and Mom dropped me off I started down the hall.  I looked around and wasn't really happy.  There were kids in masks and I didn't know who was who.  One kid came up to me in one of those blood pumping Scream masks and said something to me (I don't even remember what)  I was scared and shaking in my boots.  I took off to the principal's office.  I didn't even stop to tell the secretary what I wanted.  I march right in and told the principal "Call my Mom, I am going home."  She asked me if I wanted to talk about what upset me and I just kept saying "Call my Mom, I am going home."   I stood there with my arms crossed and never moved while she called Mom.  
    Mom came in to the principal's office and asked me "What's up, Little Man?"  (Little Man is Mom's nickname for me)  All I would tell her is that I wanted to go home.  By the time we got to the car I was upset and spilling my guts about the masks and how terrible it was.  Half crying and half trying not to cry I told Mom about the scarey things I saw.  She sat with me in the car and we talked and then we went back inside.  She had the kids take off all their masks and show me who as underneath.  It made no difference.  I wanted to go home.  I hated the day.  Mom talked to the principal and I went home.  Since that day I have never dressed up or taken part in this day as most people do.  I prefer to eat candy and give candy away to others.  A quiet All Hallows Eve makes me a happy camper.

Mom wants to add one more question to my earlier Post...

        5.) What is your favorite sock yarn and does it have a web page??

    Okay, I only have one piece of news today.  If all goes as the club plans Friday the community coop will be moved.  I am sad, worried, glad and happy all at the same time.  To be honest though I think I covered that in a post a while back so we aren't going to go there.  
    Just for today, Mom is going to Hijack my blog.  Well, Kind of anyway.  As everyone knows Mom has been working on her first pair of socks. (Yes they are for me)   That is cool but she has had a bit of a problem.  If you remember Mom doesn't read patterns.  So she is making it from her head and what a sock should look like.  So far she has gotten this....

    She says when the leg part is done and the end worked in, she thinks it will be fine.  Trust me when I say you have not lived until your Mom has stopped you in the middle of the arena and made you take off your boot to try on a sock to see if it fits.  Yes, from horseback I tried on her sock.  (No one ever tells Mom no, I have no Idea why)
    Then later we started talking and she told me she had a few questions that maybe my readers could help her with.  Please post your answers in the comment section or you can catch Mom on Ravelry as RJsMom.  So here it goes....

       1.)  Are there any crochet podcasts?  Mom watches some knitting ones but doesn't really knit. 
        
        2.)  What makes sock yarn, sock yarn?  Is it tougher or does it last longer?
    
        3.)  Is there a way to ribbing in Crochet?  Not just the ribbed look but real ribbing. 

        4.)  Does self striping yarn work when crocheted or is there a certain pattern that you knit to get the stripes?

    Okay, I think that will do for now ... Ready, Set, Answer!!

    Today was a day to get some things done that Mom and Dad need done.  Like Tag the Truck and Car.  Take my check in and pay on my loan for the calves.  You know stuff like that.  Dad and I went and cut more firewood and Storm and I had a great work out today.  Then I had some down time and came in to check on everyone on the computer.  I have noticed that most of the blogs I read aren't posting anything.  I don't under stand and some that I just found haven't posted in like months. The Question of the day is why?  I have noticed alot of blogs have stopped posting.  Is blogging going by the wayside to podcasts??  If you have a blog or podcast let me know what you think.

    I am sorry I didn't blog yesterday but I had company.  Well, first I worked the sale barn.  Then I had a friend over to stay the night.  We roped until it was to dark to see.  Then we shot the bows.  After that we had a air pellet gun fight.  We fell asleep watching Roku.  
    This morning when we got up it was more of the same.  We roped until my friend had to go home. We wore all 4 of the horses out.  Angel got to working really good today.  She even roped a few calves herself.  LOL okay, maybe it was me roping off of her but she did most the work.  
    I ended the day hearing how Mom wants to learn to knit socks so that she can start making better ones then the ones you can buy in the stores.  Alpaca Socks she said were warmer and would last better then the tube socks I wear. 

    Today was great.  First I had a field trip to the Little House on the Prairie.  It was kind of cool.  It was just a small shack but the school house/church and post office were there too.  I stopped by the gift shop and brought home a book about the real little house story, a book mark, some post cards, a hand written bible verse page, a knitting kit and some Cherry jam. 

    Yesterday Mom set up Jethro's inside cage for the winter.  I have to say that he loves it.  He sleeps in there anytime not just when we leave.  We left him in today when we went on our fieldtrip and he loved it.... The sleepy head....

    The only problem we have now is that he drags everything in to his House as we call it.  Can you believe he is only 5 months old??  
    Anyway, after our trip and Dad got home we got the yucky bale of hay out of the sheeps pen and got a new one in to them.  I tracked a few calves on Angel and then got some dinner.  Mom made chili and apple dump cake.  
    All the while we were getting updates on Lot's Travels.  He is on the Central Kansas Yarn Hop you know.  You have to check out his page and all the shops he has been to so far.  He even met another traveling sheep at one of the stores.  Make sure you check out the gallery of pictures they have links to most of the yarn stores he went to... Find Lot's Story Here

    Today was pretty quiet.  I did my school work before I worked on cleaning my room a bit again.  This afternoon I worked Storm.  She did great.  Then Dad and I found mold in the round bale of hay that is in the sheeps pen.  We tried to get the tractor started but for some reason it wouldn't start.  We ended up putting a small bale of hay in the stall and locking them up for the night until we can get the bad hay out of the pen and a new bale in.    
    Dad called the provider and we got credit for that bale.  Tomorrow we will get it moved out and the new one in.  After that I headed out to my 4-H hayride.  I had fun but because it was cold there weren't very many people there.  We ate hotdogs and smores and drank Pop

    Today was a quiet normal day.  I did my schoolwork, chores and then did a bit of cleaning up around the house.  The deal is that I worked on the plans for a round pen.  When we get them the way we want them, we will be building it with pens to the side so that we can use them as striping chutes as well.  When Mom got home we took two bigger calves to the sale. 

    This morning after school and breakfast I headed to the pen of my spunky gal, Storm.  I worked her before I fed her and did the other chores.  After that I just hung around and tried to come up with plans for a round pen.  I think I have Mom convinced to help me build one a little at a time.  
    I have also decided to keep track of what I do with Storm each day I work her.  I started to track her progress as a blog because I don't know any other way.  I am also going to try and take a picture a day of me and  Storm together.  
I updated the 4-H horse project page to include a section for Storm and the blog.  You can see the updated page by clicking here. Then scroll to the bottom of the page.  You can find the Blog for her by clicking  here.
    After that I made Dad a birthday card.  Mom is making him a dinner and I am even going to do chores for him tonight.  It is the least I can do for a grouchy old man.... LOL

    I have had such a tiring week this week.  As you all know I went to Youth in Action with our 4-H group.  It was Wed. - Fri.  It was good we did have one issue though while we were there.  It stopped our dance and made everyone not want to be there but it turned out to be nothing just a Buzzkill.
    Then Saturday I had to work but I didn't buy anything.  That night I tried to catch up on my sleep but man, once you get behind it is hard to get rested back up.  Anyway, Yesterday I had a rodeo.  The two horse trailer got two flat before we even left so Mom sent Dad and I to get them fixed but Dad thought he knew a better way that would save us time so he didn't get both fixed just one and then he used the spare.  To bad on the way home the spare blew out.  And since he didn't get the other tire fixed we had no spare with us.  Mom on the other hand had two good tires at the house but with no jacks (Dad left the jacks in the back of the truck so they were with us) to get them off the other trailer, she couldn't bring them to us.    
    In the end we ended up borrowing a trailer and leaving ours on the side of the road over night.  Then this morning Dad set out with all the tires ... got them fixed the way Mom said in the first place .... Then went to return the borrowed trailer and get ours home.  While Dad was gone, Mom took me on a little trip to another farm.  There I met this little spitfire of a gal that I am now in Love with.  I don't know her name yet but I will.  We got home and did a bit of cleaning before I went out to run some calves on Angel... She is really doing great.  Today I found out that she really has the gitty up and go ... And that I was holding her back.  
    While I roped Mom made a few more jackets/fleece covers for the flock.  In the beginning Mom used to put more work into the jackets she made but now she doesn't because she has found out that the sheep are kind of hard on them.  She used to do elastic fronts and scooped necks like this

Now she just makes them square with ties of either ribbon or material 

    She also makes them out of other items instead of buying material.  Sheets ... table cloths... anything...
    She says until she can find some material that will hold up to the sheeps wear and tear she will just keep fixing and mending the ones we have .... and keep making them out of what ever she finds at thrift stores, good will or garage sales.  
    My Dad continued when a friend of Dad's called and has two llamas that he has to have off his property by Friday because he sold his house.  We loaded up and headed that way to go get them.  We were just going to house them for him until we could take them to the sale but when we got there someone else said they wanted them so we didn't have to.  If the other people don't come get them by Friday then we will have to go get them.  
    After all this running I had one more thing I had to go get.  MERRY CHRISTMAS to me!!!!

    These aren't very good pictures but that spunky little spitfire of a gal that I am now in Love with, is the Baby.  This photo was taken when she was younger but she is now about 6 months old and all mine.  I think I am going to call her Tropical Storm ... Mom says she wants her named something cute like ladybug or cricket.  I think not.  Tropical Storm with go very well with my Tropical Ice.  Storm and Ice for short.  What do you think?  Tomorrow I will post better pictures.  I already have her in a halter dragging a lead rope.  That is how you halter break them and teach them to stop all at once.