Now it happened that Kanga had felt rather motherly that morning, and Wanting to Count Things -- like Roo's vests, and how many pieces of soap there were left, and the two clean spots in Tigger's feeder; so she had semt them out with a packet of watercress sandwiches for Roo and a packet of extract-of-malt sandwiches for Tigger, to have a nice long morning in the Forest not getting into mischief.

I always think of Kanga Wanting to Count Things when I head off to do fieldwork where counting is involved. I went out yesterday afternoon, and found that some of the milkweeds were up. So I went through and wrote down the numbers (I have numbered flags near each one) of the ones that were up, and the numbers of the ones that were not up. About a quarter of the plants are up, some have buds.

And you know, I found it rather comforting to be out doing fieldwork. No one could get in touch with me without actually driving out to the site and finding me (I carry a cell phone, but don't turn it on. It's for if I lock myself out of my car, or step in a hole, or something like that). No one could come to me with problems. And, I knew exactly when I was done - when I had counted the last plant.

After that, I went to Sherman - sort of against my better judgement; I was tired and as it ended up I didn't get home until after 7, so my whole day was eaten up. But I did drop off another quilt (this a smallish top that I found in my stashcloset - my original plans were to handquilt it after the current quilt, but I have no idea when the quilt in the frame may be done, so I decided to have Mary do it for me instead. And I spent my 40% off coupon at Jo-Ann's on a squaring-up tool (I have one, somewhere, but it's too big and I can't find it when I need it). I also found that they are now getting into the "fat quarter packets" deal. And I found oneI couldn't resist - vaguely Ancient Greek-ish designs, in various shades of green. And I got some matching solids to go with it, it will eventually become yet another fat quarter quilt.

Then I came home and knit a bit on the moebius scarf. I will be glad when that is done.

And then, as I was settling in to watch "Numbers" (sorry, but I refuse to use the faddish spelling of using a 3 for the e), I began to get stressed and anxious again. I guess the relaxation of fieldwork was wearing off. So I picked up the living room and in fact did clean house a bit while half-watching the show. I finished cleaning this morning. Cleaning is a good way for me to work off the "angries" or the "jumpies." I'm still agitated about the things that happened last week, I guess. I do still have to scrub the kitchen floor but other than that, I'm done.

This morning, was the town trashoff. I had promoted it as a good activity for the youth group. Four showed up (with their grandma to help too). One student showed up. And the only other University-affiliated person I saw there was the president's wife. Again, I'll comment on how it's sort of frustrating that the people who don't throw trash are the ones who come to pick it up. And that all our hard work will be gone in about three weeks. But at least I scored another tote bag, and a $5 gift certificate from one of the local fast-food Tex Mex places.