Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

With this gloriously warm weather this week I am trying to keep my drying rack full during the daylight hours when I'm at work.  This requires very diligent preparation of fiber every night, after chores, no matter how tired I am.  I pick as much hay, burdock, tags, etc., out of the wool, pull apart the locks, and soak it in hot water while I mix the Jacquard powder dye in the big pots.  Tonight I picked Teal, one of my favorite colors in the whole wide world.  I'm going to have a Teal run, maybe streaked with a little purple and Aztec Gold, another of my Jacquard favorites.  I don't know yet.  I simmered two pots of teal Bluefaced Leicester wool while finished up chores.  I don't mind puttering around the barn, tending to every living critter in the place.  I have them all so spoiled - this one gets an apple, this one extra cracked corn, this one a scratch on the chin, etc.  I pulled up some wiggly earthworms outside in the rain last night and brought them in to the ducks.  What fun, watching them suck up those creepy crawlies.  The ducks fairly smacked their bills in delight.  After the wool simmers for an hour or so, with stirring the fiber every ten minutes or so, I turn off the burners and let it cool down overnight.  In the morning, after chores and before getting dressed for school, of course, I empty the pots of wool into the washing machine, spin out the dye, then fill up the tub with water to rinse the dye residue out.  Then I can spread it out on the drying rack and pull the protective wire cover over it.  If I don't a gust of wind could scatter all my hard work to the four winds.  I have a mountain of fiber to ship to the mill in Michigan.  Big expense to ship, but they will bring it to me at Maryland Sheep and Wool.  It's always fun to see it come off the trailer.  I don't know who is more excited to see the finished product, me or Kimmie Cornerstone.  I dragged my sorry butt in from the barn at 10 pm tonight and ate Cheerios for dinner.  Matt is flat out on the sofa and hasn't moved since he got home from work.  He is having major trouble with his ankle.  Thirty years ago he fell off the top of an Exxon tanker truck and nearly ripped his foot off.  They told him the screws might fail in the future and his ankle would fuse.  He's in a world of pain and fears that time has come.  The orthopedic people in Syracuse will check it out tomorrow.