Purple Roadside Toilets, Or The Case of the Invisible Blogfodder

A couple of days ago, as I was driving to work, I spied a new Art Object by the side of the road. I had to look away, blink, and look back, because I wasn't entirely convinced that what I was seeing was truly there. (It had been one of those mornings. I had had to leave the house in an undercaffeinated condition.)
Someone had spray painted a toilet bright purple (a very bright purple), stuffed both the bowl and the tank with a flower arrangement of purple silk flowers and silver spiky bits, and set it next to their driveway at the side of the road. Lots and lots of silvery spiky bits. And fringe. And festoons.

And me without my camera.
So, I vowed that the next day, I would either bring my camera, or, at the very least, get a cellphone picture of this monstrosity Art Object, and share it with y'all. Because who wouldn't want to see a purple and silver toilet floral arrangement.
But the next day I couldn't find it. I couldn't remember exactly where along my route I'd seen it (I did mention that the original sighting was during a period of extreme caffeine deprivation) so I assumed I'd missed it and would try again the next day.
But I still can't find it. (And it's pretty darned impossible to miss...)


So the way I see it, there are four possible explanations.

A) The original perpetrator artist finally sobered up and reconsidered.
B) A kindly neighbor/friend/relative persuaded the perp artist that the object was an eyesore inappropriate for roadside viewing vulnerable to theft in such an exposed position.
C) Someone actually stole it. (The mind boggles.)
D) I hallucinated the whole thing.

What do you think?

Three Bags Full

Those three bags of fleece have been sitting in the living room, taunting me all this time. Today I decided to wash up at least a sample of each of the fleeces.

On the left is Merlin, and on the right are two lumps of Onyx. (I washed a second batch of Onyx's fleece because the first seemed almost self-felted. I'm hoping that picking will loosen it up.) (Missing is Goldie's sample, which I'd done first and which was already dry. It looks exactly like last year's fleece, so you're not missing anything.)
Onyx's fleece from last year was all black, with streaks of red-brown at the tips. This year, though, the fleece is laced with gray. We'd noticed that after she got her haircut this year, she had turned into a gray sheep, rather than the black we were used to:

I don't know if this is an effect of maturity (she's two, now) or if she's just doing it for attention.

As long as I was standing around a sheep pen with a camera in my hand -

Here's Merlin enjoying a big mouthful of hay,

And Goldie trying to decide if she should run and hide from the camera.

Onyx never runs and hides from the camera.


Madman said "Hey, sweetie, you should get a picture of this!" and grabbed a handful of grain.


Madman and his Amazing Trained Sheep...

I need someone to talk me down...

The new Knitty is up!
And I want to cast on for these Right This Very Minute!
If I cast on one more project, my head will explode. Or my house. Or both.

Help...

I need a direct Brain to Computer Interface

I don't understand it. I keep writing all these great posts in my head, but they don't turn up on the blog.
I wonder if they have something at Radio Shack...

Fuzzy Wuzzy Wasn't Fuzzy, Was He?

Finally, it's sheep shearing day! The drippy little fuzzlumps finally dried out, I had the day off, and the shearer was available. The stars and planets lined up, and the sheepies got a haircut.

Of course, in order to shear a sheep, first you have to catch one...



That's Madman on the left, the shearer on the right, and the panicky sheep all over the place.

Closing in...



Gotcha!

Goldie was first. If you'll remember from last year, she's so skittish that we have to make sure she's done before anyone figures out what's going on, otherwise we'd never be able to catch her.

Here's Madman, consoling Merlin. He was very worried about what that man was doing to Goldie. (Onyx is hiding under their sunshade. She didn't even want to look...)


One down. Now to catch another.
Another merry chase. We kept trying to convince Goldie that she didn't have to run anymore, but she wasn't buying it. If there's sheep-chasing going on, she's all over it.

Finally, Onyx was snagged. Look close at the picture - yes, that is his thumb in her mouth. There's a gap between a sheep's incisors and molars that is the perfect width for a thumb, and keeping a gentle hold on the lower jaw goes a long way toward persuading a sheep that we want to go this way.

And off comes that heavy hot wool.



Freedom!

Merlin checks out the girls' new hairdos.

No pictures for the last chase. Madman had to head for work, so I was the assistant chaser. No way I could take pictures while jumping, shifting, feinting, and driving.
We finally nabbed him. Well, the shearer nabbed him. I just urged Merlin in his general direction.
First the mani-pedi. (All the sheep got one. I just neglected to get pictures.)

Look how light the fleece is next to his skin, as opposed to the part exposed to the outside world...


And look! Three naked sheep!

Just in the nick of time, too. The temperature today shot up to 90. Such a delight to have shucked off those heavy wool sweaters!

They spent the rest of the day trying to stay out of the sun, and looking vaguely embarrassed.