trouble brewing and some small good

The trouble brewing is WASPS !! Not the invasion of the white people, but the small black and yellow stinging kind. When I went to refill the water in the henyard, there were wasps about. And as you may recall, stinging insects and I are not friends at all! Towards evening, when the weather cooled off and it was dusky but still light, I gingerly looked under the "eaves" of the shed, and there are several clusters what look like wasp nests, complete with wasps and hexagonal cells. I didn't get really close, as I am very cautious, and I have no idea what to do about this development... Given the position of the wasps, using the stand at a distance and spray poison method wouldn't work, as it would be necessary to lie on the ground and shoot straight up to get under the eave boards. And there is the complication that the henyard adjoins the shed; perhaps moving the hens and shifting the fencing needs to happen first; I can't let the hens eat poisoned bugs. I am actively seeking advice on this problem, anyone have suggestions??

Some small good things so far this week... I had a chance to visit with my friend Rois, who is as always a big inspiration for household goodness: new wall colors, new salvaged beauty, baby chicks growing up, life there at Hrafinstaad is never dull. We even had time for a trip to the Bins, and though it wasn't a great bins day, I did find a lovely stripey turtleneck in black and grey (what else) for when the weather cools off. If it ever does.

Two things that I miss from when I lived in Olympia are actually coming here to Portland, most unexpectedly -
My favorite vitamin store "SuperSupplements" (they carry many lines of high quality vitamins, heavily discounted) just opened a shop down near Clackamas, and will open one on W Burnside sometime probably in November. They are the only storefront that stocks the multivitamins I like (KAL high potency soft multiple-iron free), and it will be much more convenient to just hop on the MAX, than to mailorder them, not to mention saving on shipping charges. Also, the bank I used all the years that I lived in Olympia, Heritage Bank, has bought Bay Bank and Cowlitz Bank. While normally I would pay this no attention at all, there was a quarter page ad in the Portland paper, so I called them, and there will be is a branch downtown on 5th. As I still have an open account with them, this again will be much more convenient, and might allow me to shut down my account with Chase, (which is a bank that I hate)

The velour bathrobe commission is finished; when sewing velour, there is a lot of hand basting involved, which I'd not really thought about, that directional nap is really prone to movement otherwise. Today, a trip to the downtown library was deemed necessary, as I couldn't find my copy of Threads #19 anywhere (I'm guessing that it is somewhere in a box of fabric) That issue has the article by David Page Coffin about raincoat design and sewing. I've not made progress on The Raincoat Project, as work trumps personal sewing, but I keep thinking about it... On the way home, my intuition said "stop in at the Goodwill" and indeed, there was a $4.99 Calvin Klein sheet set in cool steel grey, Egyptian cotton. I'm thinking shirtwaist dress for the autumn; once I get the LaFred Athena Two blouse fitted properly it will also make a great dress bodice, if cut off at the waist.

I've noticed something interesting - if I post more often, it seems like I actually get more done; when I don't, time seems to just slip by unnoticed. The process of writing about life here at Acorn Cottage encourages me to focus on my daily life, which is actually one of my goals, as the days of our lives are all the wealth any of us really has.