There are no big happenings to report here, but a number of little things are happening.

In regards the garden, we have harvested the first picking of mint. The tea is brewing. This is just a few tips in a batch of ice tea. We expect just a little hint of mint flavor, but it is the first of many mint-tinged ice teas for the summer. It also means I have grown and consumed items in my own garden in Wisconsin, Washington, California, Oregon, and now Alabama.

The calico creme roving has been plied:

As is obvious, this is still on the bobbin, but I’ll probably make a skein this afternoon.

Pam’s plant continues to recover from the harsh treatment during the move:

This new growth gives us real hope for eventual recovery.

Askimet has been implemented on this blog. Hopefully this will end my frustration with comment spammers. The two URLs responsible for the bulk of the comment spam are currently banned from the blog and they will remain banned for another week or so. Hopefully, the owners will get the message. I plan to continue moderating first posts. My dreams and visions for this blog and website are along the lines of spinning, alpacas, gardening, fiber arts, and occasional social commentary. I long for intelligent communication and comments. Link farms for cheap viagra, sex services, imitation rolexes, and penny stock scams simply don’t fit my definition of intelligent communication.

I cannot express my disappointment with comment spam. I came home one evening after a trying day at work to find twenty five new comments. Excited at the prospect of my blog having been “discovered” and ready to respond to my new commentators, I hurriedly sat at my computer to moderate posts. I discovered a disgusting array of link-farm spam advertising assorted shady businesses and not a single “real” comment. My disappointment was astounding.

Askimet, I have great hopes. Don’t let me down. Maybe now, when I see a comment, it will be real.

In addition to Askimet, we are looking at various other changes to the blog. If the blog comes up scrambled one day, please be patient with us. We will get it fixed eventually.