Journal: Fremont, Lincoln, a Raccoon, & a Wallet

Do you recall that one morning last week, we discovered the cats’ mat with their food and water dishes scooted partway into the back hall, toward the pet door?  And that we suspected an opossum had done it?

Tuesday morning, not only was the mat scooted around a bit, but the water also had a variety of dirt and UFOs (Unidentified Floating Objects) in it.  Seeing that, I immediately decided, Not opossum, but raccoon.

That afternoon, I washed Tiger’s pet bed.  After that, I had to wipe down the inside of the washing machine.  There was enough cat hair on that bed to make a whole new cat!  The washer is a deep, large-economy-sized one.  It’s a wonder I didn’t tumble right in, headfirst, with only my feet sticking out.

I was still recovering from that aggravation when Teensy came in covered with tiny seeds of some sort.  They were stuck fast, so I rummaged up the pet brush and carefully combed them out of his fur.  Teensy purred.

I wound up with so many seeds stuck to my clothes, I needed someone to brush me.

I washed the dishes, did a quick-clean of the kitchen, scurried upstairs and scanned a few pages in a big photo album, then hurried back down to the kitchen to make some food for Loren.  After taking it to him, I got back to the photo-scanning.  This is a lengthy project.  Why do my days not have the usual 24 hours in them??

Here are Hester and Caleb, ready for school pictures, 1999.  Do you think Caleb is afraid the camera (or the photographer) is going to bite him?  😊  He was so proud of those little black dress shoes.

Upon finding a photo of Hannah, 18, lying on the loveseat, Black Kitty cuddled in one of her arms, I asked her, “Which Kitty knew better when you weren’t feeling well? – Calico Kitty, or Black Kitty?”

She answered, “Calico Kitty was more affectionate with me when I was sick.  Black Kitty had more people to be with, so she didn’t stick around one person too long.  I do remember her coming in my room every Sunday morning.  I had curlers in my hair, and she would nibble on the plastic of the curlers.”

The Jewel T man was scared to death of Black Kitty.  

One of the UPS drivers was petrified of sweet little Calico Kitty, because she squawled at him when he’d open the door to put a box inside.  🙄

Here is Dorcas at Christmas time, 1999.  

Here are Hester and Lydia, the same year.  I sewed their dresses.

Hester remembers especially loving the skirt on that dress.  It was flocked satin jacquard, and had three tiers in the back.

Hester showed little Keira, 2 ½, several of the pictures I sent, and was surprised when Keira knew they were her Mama, even though she was only ten years old.

I was upstairs in my little office scanning photos when Larry came home.  All the downstairs lights were off, so he flicked on his cellphone light as he came in the garage door, since something made him think of the unknown visitor we thought we’d been having in the house.

He walked in, shut the door, heard a noise, shined his light toward the kitchen – and around the corner of the refrigerator scurry-waddled a not-quite-grown raccoon, heading toward the pet door – and Larry.

Larry backed up to give the animal space. 

Being nervous, and new at this venture, the ’coon misgauged the opening and ran ker-smack into the pet door frame.  It staggered, stared, made a circle, tried again – and this time it hit the pet door squarely and exited stage right into the garage.

Larry came upstairs, went into the addition (gained through my little office), and collected the large wire animal trap we’d once set up under the eaves in a fruitless attempt to capture the squirrels that were rampaging about up there.  (We didn’t catch them, but we did manage to chase them away with bug/odor bombs, and by closing up the holes they had made.)  He put a bowl of cat food in the trap and set it in the garage.

The only thing that has happened since then is that twice the door has been sprung, which is exactly the number of times Tiger has come into the house via the pet door, marched over to stare at me indignantly with those golden eyes of his, and then told me, “MMMMRRRRROOOOWWWWWRRR!!!” in quite a heated tone.

I imagine he spotted the cat food, headed into the cage to get it – but was fat enough that he tripped the mechanism on the door, and it started coming shut on him.  He would’ve easily been able to back out unscathed, his hide intact, albeit with his senses of justice and privilege affronted.

I once innocently emailed several people a picture of a cute little baby raccoon in our front yard, hiding under some brush next to an Austrian pine tree. 

My sister promptly wrote back to me, “Nice stand of ‘weed’ you have there.  Does the raccoon know how to roll it?”

After my initial puzzlement, followed rapidly by surprise, I grabbed my keyboard and clackety-clacked back an answer:  “And just how did YOU know what it was?!!”  😂 

’Course, now I know, too.

Here are Jeremy and Bobby, Christmas 1999.  They had not yet guessed they would be brothers-in-law one day!

Here is Victoria, that same Christmas.

That was the year Norma made several of her granddaughters these cute dolls and quilts.  The dolls are ‘Charlotte’ dolls, patterned after Laura Ingalls Wilder’s very first rag doll.  The girls all loved those dolls.  Still do, for that matter.

Here are Victoria, 2 ½, and Lydia, 8, with their dolls.

Friday, October 30^th, was Kurt and Victoria’s 4^th anniversary.

I went to Country Traditions quilt shop in Fremont that afternoon and purchased fabric for a colorwash quilt I designed in EQ8 called ‘Blooming 9-Patch’.  

It will be a while before I start it, though, because of this giant scanning project.  Some of these albums hold 700-800 photos, if the photos are small.  Others hold 250-300 large pictures; but the average is about 400, I’d say.  I have 24 albums scanned so far.  I save the photos into folders labeled with the same volume number that’s on the album, and I number the pictures so they go in the same order on the computer as they are in the albums.

I feel like I’m only at the tip of the iceberg!  But it’s enjoyable, this walk down memory lane... and the kids are enjoying the pictures I’ve been sending them.  So that keeps me going.

Here’s the fabric I purchased: 

I may withdraw those two fabrics that are silvery-gray and light plum and see if I can find a couple of floral prints that match better.  Maybe.  Possibly.  Perhaps.  Probably.

By using my Country Traditions 20%-off birthday card, I saved $98.

On the way home, I took pictures at Fremont Lakes State Park.

I used my crystal Lensball for a few shots.  The picture through the Lensball is always upside down, so I flipped the picture.

You can’t hold that ball very long in the sun, or it will burn your hand.

My drive home from Fremont was straight into the setting sun.  I prefer driving in a blizzard, to that.

More photos are here.

When I got home, I made stuffed peppers for supper.  It wasn’t until everything was cooked and I was putting it all together that I realized I had no sour cream.  Rats!  Maybe I could use Ranch dressing instead?

I could... and I did... and it was good.

I bake the peppers in the oven, and while they are baking, I cook the hamburger – deer burger, in this case – in one pan, and the rice in another.  The various flavors of the ingredients are so much better, so much more distinct, when cooked separately, as opposed to stuffing the pepper and then baking it all at once.  I like to layer it, too:  lettuce, then the baked pepper, which I slice open so it lies flat, then a big spoonful of the hamburger, which is cooked with onions, an assortment of spices, and onions added late enough in the cooking that they don’t get too soft.  Next, a big dollop of sour cream – Ranch dressing, this time – then the rice, cooked with a bit of salt and lots of butter.  On top of this, I generously sprinkle shredded Mexican cheese (it will start melting on the hot rice), crumbled, freshly-cooked bacon, tomatoes cut into bite-sized pieces, and Pace picanté sauce (not salsa, picanté sauce) poured liberally over the works.

The layers of cold and hot, along with the variety of flavors, makes this dish a culinary delight.

Here’s Lydia in 1999 at Niobrara State Park on the shores of the Missouri.  That’s me in the background.  Teddy, I think, took this photo.

Saturday, we went to LensCrafters in Lincoln to get our glasses.  We went by Loren’s house before leaving town to drop off his laundry and to give him some food:  deer burger with a sesame-seed bun, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, V8 cocktail juice, rice pudding, and a banana.

It was a nice day for a drive, but it sure was windy.

Loren called just as we stepped into LensCrafters at 5:30 p.m.; he couldn’t find his wallet.  I told him we would help him find it the next day after our church service, as we would be late getting home that night.

But... that wasn’t satisfactory.  Somehow, he zeroed in on a young niece-in-law and decided she had taken it, despite the fact that she hadn’t been to his house for over two years.

This is so typical of Alzheimer's patients, to think their oft-misplaced articles have been stolen.  But it can sure be upsetting for those who get the blame!

Upon hearing about all this through various friends and family members, I called Loren back and told him that his almost-niece had absolutely not taken his wallet.  I was adamant about it, and more obstinate than he was.  When I finished by saying that this was making her feel really bad, it seemed to soak in, and he didn’t again accuse her of taking it.

He then told me that his checkbook was missing, too.

I assured him we would help him look for both wallet and checkbook Sunday afternoon.

We drove by the Nebraska State Capitol Building.  The sun was low in a blue sky with a few clouds strewn across it, making everything look so pretty.

On our way home, we stopped at Walkers’ shop.  Larry jacked up the Jeep and looked at the muffler he recently put on it, as it’s been rumbling.  It seems part of an extension pipe has slipped into the muffler.  He will fix it soon; it was getting too late that night.  So he washed it (the Jeep, not the muffler), and then we proceeded on home.

Sunday after our church service, Larry helped me make meatloaf with deer hamburger (deerburger?) to take to Loren.  I make it similar to how my mother used to make it, with lots of crackers and eggs, only I add onions, too.  The rest of the menu included carrots, corn, and beans, peaches, tapioca pudding, and grape juice. 

When we got to his house with his dinner, all prepared to hunt for the wallet and checkbook, he told us he had found both of them.  They were tucked in one of his drawers, under some clothes (because things keep disappearing, you know, heh).  I don’t know if he found them Saturday night or Sunday morning.  Knowing him, and figuring that I upset him when I was so stubborn about everything, it was most likely Saturday night; he probably hunted for them immediately after we talked on the phone.

Asking him wouldn’t have told us when, really; his perception of time and date is totally skewed.

He didn’t act worried about anything, and all thoughts of his niece and her thievery seemed to have vaporized.

Home again, I was reading email and messages, and discovered a note from a cousin of mine who lives in Illinois:  her husband, who had been suffering from Covid-19 the last few days, had passed away during the night.  He was 77.  Sad news.

Last Monday, the high was 23°, with a windchill of 13°.  Today the high was 70°, and tomorrow, Election Day, it is expected to be 76°.  I opened the windows and patio door.  The birds don’t usually warble this time of year, but the blue jays were screeching, the juncos were ‘chip-chip-chipping’, the finches were ‘tweet-tweet-tweeting’, and the English sparrows were ‘chirp-chirp-chirping’.

When I called Loren this afternoon, he told me about some people who had just been visiting him.  (Nobody was visiting him; perhaps he dreams during a nap, then awakens and thinks it really happened.)  “Then they just up and left without another word,” he said, “and they were on foot, as usual.”

 “It is a good day for a walk,” I remarked.  “It’s so nice outside.  Even Tiger is going for a walk!”  Then I laughed and said, “And he heard me say his name, because I have the windows open.  He was walking down the front sidewalk; now he’s standing there looking at me.”

Loren laughed, and we discussed cats for a while before I told him goodbye.

Sigghhhhh...

Tonight when I got some frozen yogurt out of the freezer after supper, the box reminded me of the time Joseph, age 6, was reading the label on a box of ice cream:  “Pink...” his mouth moved as he attempted to sound it out.  “Divots!” he finished triumphantly.  (‘Divinity’, it really said.) 

At about the same age, he helpfully added to my grocery list, “Clean X’s.”

I must get back to scanning photos!  I got no scanning done Friday or Saturday.  But not tonight; it’s bedtime.  Beyond bedtime, actually.

A friend on an online quilting group gets up about the time I go to bed.  I look at the timestamp on her post, and think, Yikes, look what time she gets up!  She doubtless looks at the timestamp of some of my posts and thinks, Yikes, look what time it is, and she’s still up!  hee hee

My gift-wrapping room downstairs has Norma’s albums covering the marble table, and there are a couple of big boxes full of albums under the table, too.  I haven’t decided exactly what I should do with them.  I will definitely scan the old family photos.

But before that, I need to use that table for wrapping Christmas presents.  I’ve been saving the large boxes I get from Wal-Mart; I think there are enough to hold all those albums.

Hopefully, our gifts to the children for Christmas 2021 will be thumb drives with a variety of plugs to fit into any electronic device, full of these photos.  

Here’s something funny:  numerous quilters have asked me how I can bear to scan and edit photos, take pictures, and not quilt; while photographers have sometimes asked me how I can bear to sit and sew or quilt, and not be out taking pictures!  

The answer?  I like both pursuits – and a few more besides – almost equally!  😊

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