Ira is in the hospital. Yuri called Mel this afternoon to say they had apparently induced labor and she was in a lot of pain. Sasha was firmly head down and ready to be born, but nothing was happening, so the doctor decided to make it happen. Ouch. We haven't heard anything more and now we probaby won't until morning. I've been praying for Ira and Sasha off and on all afternoon/evening/night so far. Sasha will be our "unofficially adopted Ukrainian grandson". How's that for a mouthful? :) :)
Mel and I went out last night to look for meteors. You know, when we first moved here, it was almost impossible to find a street with street lights actually lit. Last night we had a hard time finding a place that was NOT lit! Wow! What a change. And for the better, really. We finally ended up in front of a big building that is being remodeled. There was a very bright light down the street, but enough trees that they blocked most of the bright light.
We saw 3 oe 4 meteors each. Very disappointing. However, we did see 10 (TEN!!) sputniks, er... satelites! In one hours' time we saw 10 of them, going in a variety of directions. Three planes and 10 satelites. Wow - there is a lot of stuff up there in space above the earth! And we know that we only saw a fraction of what is really up there, and of course, not the ISS last night.
Tonight we went out again and this time we saw brighter meteors, but again, only a few. I think I saw 4 or 5 in a little over an hour. Mel saw about the same. We didn't see the same ones each time. Two that I saw were good ones - big, bright and lasted longer than the little blips. Same with Mel - but different ones.
Olya called the sheep lady for me and the woman says she has fleece for sale at 10 griven per kilogram. I have no idea if that is a good price or not - it comes out to about $1.20 per kilo I'd guess at the current exchange rate. I'll talk with Olya again tomorrow and see when we can go over and buy some. Olya thinks a kilo will fill a huge bag. I, on the other hand, have a feeling it will be so full of dirt and lanolin and seeds, etc. that a huge bag will weigh more like 10 or 15 kilos. We'll see. I think she's thinking nice pristine wool already carded and ready to spin. I know better. I saw the sheep. heh heh heh
So, Sue, I'll let you know when I actually get the fleece. But, you can email me and let me know what to do with it first already. I've seen on the internet about soaking it in the bathtub without moving it around. I've also read about doing little "burrito shapes" in foil and warm water. I guess there are a lot of different ways to handle it.
A BIG question: I know that there is the prossiblity of getting anthrax (or is it foot and mouth disease?) from fresh fleece. Anthrax has been reported here in the past 10 years. So - other than handling the wool with rubber gloves - what else can I do to make it sterile? Or at least get rid of those germs?
Ok, I've hit the wall - time for bed. I'd love to go out and look some more at the night sky, but I'd have to walk down the street by myself and then stand there by myself in the dark and I just don't think that's safe. A lot of people are out, a surprising number actually, but - well, I'll have to see the Perseids again another year.
