Journal: Uncle's Funeral, Snowy Days, & Finally Quilting

Last Monday morning, I trotted out to the kitchen, mouth all polished up and watering, thinking of the one last waffle left over from Sunday’s lunch.

It was gone.  Not on the table in the bag I’d seen it in the night before... not in the refrigerator.  It was gone.

I slogged my way through some oatmeal instead.

Granted, it was Raisin, Date, Walnut oatmeal, my favorite; but it was not a waffle.

Therefore, I slogged.

At precisely 9:34 p.m., I spotted that waffle – way up on the top shelf in the refrigerator.

Who puts things on the top shelf of a refrigerator, anyway, for cryin’ out loud??

Knowing I wouldn’t be eating it until Wednesday morning, I put it on the lowest shelf in the refrigerator, cleeeear at the back.  Short people hide things down low.

Wednesday morning, I happily pulled out the waffle... toasted it... slathered it with butter... drenched it with Log Cabin syrup (Lite!, mind you)... and ate it with relish.  (Not the condiment; the attitude.)

Larry came home at noon, opened the refrigerator, looked on the top shelf... then turned around and looked at me.

“Well, it was mine!” I told him defensively.  “And you tried to hide it from me!” (in an accusatory tone)  “You had three on Sunday!”

(I actually thought he’d only had two, but I always accuse him of having one more than I think he’s had, on the chance he had one when I wasn’t looking.  Besides, it had been three days, and after all that time, he might forget how many he really had.)

He grinned (maybe I guessed right?)... and slogged his way through a chicken pot pie.

Tuesday was the day of Uncle Clyde’s funeral.  Larry was supposed to bring me a new blow dryer that morning, since mine had gone kaput on Sunday.  It would blow for just a minute or two before switching off.  But Larry was busy clearing snow off first Teddy’s drive and then ours, and he didn’t go buy the blow dryer until late morning.  When he finally came home, he forgot the thing in his pickup while he worked on our own driveway.  By the time he remembered and stuck the box with the new blow dryer in the front door, it was noon.

By then my hair was long dried, coiffed, and shellacked.  I’d picked the lint out of the fan cover of the old blow dryer with a pair tweezers, winding up with enough fuzz to make a toupee for a Chihuahua; and, lo and behold, the blow dryer blew harder than it has for a coon’s age, and it didn’t shut off, either.

You’ll recall that Larry had been working on his four-wheel-drive Massey Ferguson tractor for a couple of days, putting the bucket on it, hooking up hydraulic lines, and suchlike, readying it for scooping snow?  Well, that morning, thinking everything was ready to go, he began backing it out of Walkers’ shop, where he’d been working on it.

The front wheels weren’t engaging, even though he’d shifted into four-wheel-drive.

Larry took a closer look.  The driveshaft was turning... the axle was turning... the wheels weren’t pulling.

Turns out, the gears at either end of the axle were gone.  Missing entirely.

He called the man from whom we bought it in Dove Creek, Colorado.  The man was surprised – he’d never used it in four-wheel-drive, while he’d owned it.  He didn’t have those gears.  Sooo... Larry started hunting for parts.  Tractor parts aren’t cheap.

Meanwhile, he borrowed Walkers’ big skid loader and used that to push snow.  The drift covering Teddy’s drive and front walk was well over six feet high.

The most surprising part of this entire story is that we actually got to the church in plenty of time for the funeral.  After the service, not as many went to the cemetery as usual, as it was so cold and windy, and there was only one lane cleared on some of the cemetery roads, so we had to park a ways away and walk some distance.  I really must invest in some leather or suede dress boots!  I put on my warm, non-skid, black, lined Sorel boots with fur along the top edge – but they are mostly rubber, and every other lady with boots had nice dress boots.  

I commented on this to Victoria, who was walking beside me, and she said consolingly, “Well, at least they’re not yellow.”  

I told her to behave, and not make her mother giggle at the cemetery.  

I saw a few young ladies who were wearing spike-heeled sandals, of all things!!  Yikes.  I guess they could use those heels like cleats, come to think of it.

Here’s a picture of the bouquet I ordered for the funeral:

The lady at Blossoms Floral told me Monday when I called that they’d gotten no shipments of flowers on account of the blizzard, and were running low.  So I asked her to throw in greenery... dried pods... any sort of anything, to make it colorful and big; and to add a ribbon with ‘Beloved Uncle’ on it. 

Big bouquets are expensive these days, but we were happy with it.  I was so disappointed with the one I got for a funeral a year or more ago.  We spent quite a lot of money on it, and wound up with a twig in a glass.  That’s what it seemed like, anyway, in comparison to everyone else’s.  I’d chosen a picture they had on the website.  The picture and the reality were not one and the same.

Wednesday, it was bright and sunny, getting up to 31°, and the wind was only blowing at 7 mph.  Practically unheard of, in these parts.  The snow melted down a few inches on our back deck, the birds scuffled it off the railing, and Larry scooped it over to the bird feeders before it occurred to me to take pictures – but you can still tell plenty of white stuff came down.

I did a bit of computer work, and some babysitting of the new quilt group I started on www.mewe.com after Yahoo groups crashed last Sunday.  Yahoo groups did come back to life, sort of; but many have limited functions.

Most of those who have made the switch to MeWe are figuring it out all right, though one person threw herself down on the floor and had a shrieking tantrum, and several group owners, behaving like spooked ostriches, stuck their heads in the sand and peevishly demanded that nobody mention the fact that the place is very likely going down, down, down, and in fact had a Big Bad crash. 

Freedom of speech, I demand it!!! 

People who refuse to change and compromise when change and compromise is obviously needed, and pitch fits when there is eventually no other choice, were probably allowed to pinch their baby brothers when they were toddlers.

MeWe is a fast- rising social media company.  Maybe we should buy stock in it and Get Rich Quick?  But maybe it will go the way of MySpace, once the largest social networking site in the world, but now the 4,153^rd.

We got food at Amigos after church.  It’s not very good; let’s not go there again.  😝

Teddy called as we were leaving town.  His van – full of wife and kids – was stuck in the Super Saver parking lot.  It had been plowed, but there were several inches of packed snow still on the ground, and the van had warmed the snow, then settled right down into it, and refused to get back out. 

We went back to help, and Larry and Teddy tried rocking it from the rear while Amy steered and pressed the accelerator.  They were having trouble getting traction in their good church shoes, and that’s a big van.  We had nothing with which to pull the vehicle, either, “except my good belt,” said Larry.

Fortunately, Maria’s parents, Dwight and Mary, came along in their Escalade, and they had a strap strong enough for towing.  Dwight drove behind the van, looped the strap round Teddy’s hitch, and pulled him backwards with hardly any exertion on the part of the Escalade at all.

Remember our friend, Paul, who pulled Larry out of a drift a couple of days earlier?  Well, Paul and Dwight are brothers.  😃

Thursday afternoon, I picked up the grandchildren from school.  The rest of the day was spent appliquéing... and appliquéing... and appliquéing...  and visiting with Hannah for a little while, when she brought the children out to sled on the hills along Old Highway 81.  😊

One time when one of the girls was a wee little thing, about four years old, she had a bad cold.  Nobody else in the family was sick. 

“I don’t know where I got it,” she told my mother with a dramatic uplifting of palms.  She frowned thoughtfully.  Then, “I must have caught it from my dolly!” she concluded.

For supper that evening, we had baked orange roughy, with peppers and onions.  Mmmm...

By 11:00 p.m., I had only 20 more petals to go.  It took a few more hours, but I got it done.  Tight satin-stitching around ovals is time-consuming, even though I had that machine cranked up to top velocity through the majority of it.

The Schwan man came on Friday; the freezer is full of good things again.  The greatest part of my orders are usually vegetables, and sometimes chicken and fish – but I have to get a couple of boxes of frozen yogurt, too, or Larry might cry.    No other brand of frozen yogurt can hold a candle to Schwan’s. 

Larry came home for lunch, and we looked for tractor parts together.  Ha!  Actually, he looked for parts, and then I interpreted the £ for him when he discovered what he needed first in the U.K., and then in New Zealand.  Shall we go to New Zealand for tractor parts?  heh

Fortunately, there is an implement dealer in a nearby town that will be able to order the parts for him.

After Larry went back to work, I headed to Hobby Lobby for batting for the Baskets of Lilies quilt.  I chose medium-high loft, so the quilting will show up better, in king-size:  120” x 120”.  That’s barely big enough for this 115” x 115” quilt.

On the way home, I dropped off three bags of electronics, shoes, and decorations at the Goodwill.  That’s the first Goodwill drop-off of the year.  I keep all the receipts, and make sure I donate enough throughout the year to give us a decent tax return each spring. 

Home again, I trotted downstairs and found the fabric for the backing.  The fabric was plenty long, but only 110” wide, so I had to piece it.  I pressed the seams, and then began loading the quilt.  First the backing... then I turned on the machine and basted the batting to the backing.  Next, I basted the top to batting and backing both.  And so far, I loved my new Avanté, and the frame, too.  It’s soooo nice – much sturdier, and so easy to turn the bars.  The take-up bar has a handle on a big wheel, making it a whole lot easier on my hands.

I used to be tough!  But... when we got our leather loveseat, I said we didn’t need the one with the electric recliner; the manual one worked fine (and saved us $100).  Well, guess what?  I can’t make the thing recline!  Or if I do, then I’m reclined forever, and can’t get out.

Imagine me over there in the living room, all reclined, but kicking and flailing away, like a June bug that inadvertently landed upside down, and can’t right itself.  😆

A year or two ago, I pulled a big kitty litter box off the shelf in Wal-Mart, intending to put it into my cart – but once it was off the shelf, it went down, down, down, and the only thing I could do was slow its fall so it didn’t pop open and spread litter all over the aisle once it hit the floor.  I tried tipping it over onto the rack under the basket on the cart, but all I succeeded in doing was making the cart go shooting down the aisle, still empty.

I gave up, shoved that big box against the shelves out of the way, chose a smaller box, and chased down the cart.

I imagined Wal-Mart employees later looking at their security tapes, and dying with laughter over the spectacle I’d made.  Just doing my part to keep the locals jolly.  Me, who could lift 80-pound weights over my head when I was 16!

Here’s Teensy watching procedures from his vantage point on my cutting table.  More photos here and here.

Saturday, I started quilting.  Did y’all know that it is absolutely silly to get all panicked when your laser light isn’t working… when you haven’t even turned the machine on?!

I do the same thing with my camera.  The focus is not working! The shutter won’t depress!!!  Panic in the streets!  Run and scream!  Then... Oh. It’s off.  😆

Meanwhile, I’ve missed a National Geographic prize-winning shot. 🙄😖

Here’s Tiger taking it easy in the batting.

Let me assure all repeat and potential customers that the cats are not allowed to get on anybody else’s batting but my own.  If they head toward any batting I don’t want them near, I say, “Stay off!” and put up a hand like traffic cop.  They stop, regard me with a stare for a moment or two (to see if I mean business, you know), and when they determine that, yes, I do mean what I say, they reluctantly relocate.  And yes, you can train cats to do what you say, if you’re persistent, consistent, and reward them lavishly when they obey.

They can’t stay in the quilting studio when I’m not working in there, either; I bring them out and shut the door when I leave the room.  Don’t want some cat to think I’ve left him a personal hammock (the quilt area on the frame between the bars).

But... if you’re violently allergic to cats, then I’m not the quilter for you, because Tiger and Teensy do come into my quilting studio.

I have to tell Tiger to move when I’m ready to roll the quilt forward.  Otherwise... the quilt won’t roll!  He retired to one of the Thermabeds, after I displaced him.  This was dinky little Tabby’s bed, and, as you can see, it’s a tight fit for tubby ol’ Tiger.

I decided to use a pantograph instead of doing custom quilting.  It’ll be faster, and there are several customers waiting to send me their quilts.

The Avanté moves so smoothly and easily on the carriage, and the carriage moves so smoothly and easily on the frame tracks, I waaay ‘over-steered’ it for the first foot and a half or so.  I took a big curve to Chicago, and wound up in New York City.  😅

But I’m a-gettin’ bettah, ah yam.  😉

Before I was halfway through with the first row, I asked Larry to raise the quilting table two notches (each notch is about an inch).  My back was hurting!  

Now the table is right back where the tech put it in the first place – and where I thought it was too high.  Should’ve left it where the tech thought best!

My back feels much better, with the table higher.

Look what a bright, pretty screen the Avanté has.  There’s a screen at the back, too. 

By the time I was done with the second row and ready to roll the quilt forward again, Teensy was in the batting.

Okay, the verdict is in:

I really, really, REALLY like this machine.

The stitch regulator works wonderfully; it slows down and speeds up as quickly as I do.  

It slides like silk on the tracks.

I’m delighted with the way I can stop moving the machine, and the needle stops – and then when I want to quilt again, I just start moving the machine, and it immediately launches back into action.  I don’t have to constantly be pushing the start/stop button on the handle with my thumb.  Sometimes my thumb would be so sore after a long day of quilting, I could hardly hold a pen in my hand.

I’m using an 11”-wide pantograph, and the machine is not crowded for space between the bars; I have an extra 2”.  That’s enough to make a difference.  The pantograph is called ‘Rapture’.

It’s such a pleasure, to be able to make circles effortlessly.  With my other machine, I struggled to keep them from looking like round-cornered squares.

And, last but not least, it quilts faster!  I like fast.  The HQ16 was always beeping at me, because I was overrunning the stitch limit.

The lighting in my new quilting studio is better, too.  It’s better when I’m quilting... and it’s better when I turn some lights off in order to get pictures that properly show the quilting.

Verdict #2:

I really, really, REALLY like my new quilting studio.

Thank you, Larry!  More photos here.

For supper that night, we had tomato basil soup and grilled cheese on toasted 12-grain, along with apple-sauce and strawberry frozen yogurt with slivers of chocolate.

Sunday morning, my brother Loren called; he was feeling quite dizzy, and asked Larry to stay with him, as he was afraid he might fall.  Unusual, for him.  Larry took the blood pressure kit with him, and also his Samsung tablet so they could watch the morning church service online.  His blood pressure was slightly high, but not alarming.

I feel like a pelican in the wilderness and a sparrow alone on a housetop, going to church without Larry.  Plus, I was worried about Loren.  He’s been working very hard cutting and splitting wood, and a couple of days ago he mentioned getting a few logs off his trailer that were very heavy.  By afternoon, he was feeling a little better, well enough to stay by himself again, but not well enough to attend last night’s wedding. 

Our gift to the newlyweds was machine-embroidered tea towels.

When we got home, Larry rode his bike – on its CycleOps Magnus Trainer in the living room.  As I walked through, he paused pedaling long enough to offer me a ‘ride’, saying I could stand on the CycleOps frame. 

“You can rest your hands on my shoulders so you don’t fall off,” he told me gallantly.

“Haha!” I retorted.  “Someone would come to the door right then, see us through the window, and call the Funny Farm!”

Here is the staircase Jeremy is building in their new house.  The addition on their house, technically, though the addition is a lot bigger than the original part of the house.  This is walnut wood he milled, himself.

Jacob told me, “Mama and I both helped Daddy get that railing into place!  And it was heavy.” 

Today on his lunch hour, Larry split some wood for Loren.  He’ll have enough for a few days now.  This morning Loren went to the chiropractor, and he’s feeling a little better.

One time when my brother was the assistant pastor, between the time when my father passed away until my nephew was ready to take on the job, he started that saying, ‘Too many pots spoil the -------’ And then he paused, stymied, because he had no idea what the last word should be.

“Cooks,” supplied the song leader helpfully from the front row.

Loren looked at him, sensing something wasn’t right. “‘Cooks’,” he added tentatively, surprised then when everybody burst out laughing.

I don’t think he ever did figure out what had happened, or what in the world was so funny.

This afternoon, I sprayed some air freshener in the house.

Not long thereafter, I noted that certain areas of the floor where I’d sprayed were shiny.  Slippery, too.  It took a while before I realized... Oh.  I sprayed dusting spray, rather than room freshener.

This, because Wal-Mart slaps a big sticker on the sides of things they ship – and the sticker wound up right over the label:  FeBreze Swiffer Multi-Surface ... uh, something.  Can’t read it, and the label won’t peel off.  The can is exactly like the room freshener can.  Should be interesting, if someone, man or beast, decides to dash pell-mell around that corner over there.

The sky is suddenly full of Canada geese, flying low.  They like the cornfields around here, though right now those fields are covered with deep snow.  I wonder how they will get to the corn?

Larry got his W2 form today.  Guess what I’ll be doing soon?  Do I really have to interrupt the quilting on the Baskets of Lilies quilt for taxes???  Ugh.

Well, the sooner I start, the sooner I’ll be done.

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn          ,,,>^..^<,,,