Last Monday, Amy
sent pictures of teepees the kids were building in the front yard. The first shot showed only the frames, made
of branches.
I replied, “Hope they don’t decide to go buffalo
hunting next!”
Shortly, she sent more
pictures, showing several teepees – and these were draped with blankets. “Indian village is growing,” she wrote.
“Oooo, they DID go
buffalo hunting!” I exclaimed, “They have hides draped over all their tent
frames! Hope they still have clean
bedding for tonight. 😃”
“We went hunting at
the Goodwill,” explained Amy, “for pet blankets!!! 😊”
Tuesday afternoon, it
was 92°, with a heat index of 102°. I went out to fill the bird feeders, and
it was so hot, it was hard to breathe – and I wasn’t even exerting myself.
Imagine the poor menfolk in construction, working hard...
I paid the bills, watered
the indoor plants and the rhododendron on the front porch (that needs to be
planted somewhere), hung a load of clothes on the clothesline, and started
another load in the washer. Then I washed
the dishes, edited and posted a bunch of photos, and headed to my sewing room
to put together the Tumbling Blocks pillow to match the baby quilt for Victoria.
Here’s a little
male Downy woodpecker on the suet feeder.
More photos are
here:
There are a couple
of short video clips on this page: Squirrel, House Finches, and a Eurasian
Collared Dove
Every once in a
great while, it occurs to me, Oh! Yes! My camera takes
high-definition video!
This is the
Eurasian Collared dove. We’ve sometimes
called it a turtledove. But the turtledove is a lot darker, and
doesn’t have the collar on the neck.
Their coos are a different tone with different numbers of syllables,
too.
That evening, I
finished the pillow to go with Victoria’s Tumbling Blocks quilt. Finally, after 3 ½ years, I can fold up the
fabrics she got out for her Tumbling Blocks quilt and reenter them into the GPF
(no, not Green Fluorescent Protein, but General Population of Fabric).
About a month to
go, and baby will be here.
You’ll recall, Victoria
did the center section of the quilt and had a few other pieces sewn together. I finished piecing it, and then quilted it. Victoria says it will perfectly match their
nursery.
Loren stopped by
that evening, bringing us a bag of corn on the cob that he’d gotten at one of the
Daniels Produce trucks that sell every
year around these parts. Daniels Produce comes from a big farm not far from our
house. It’s always topnotch, always scrumptious.
Wednesday, I headed
to town to get some batting for my customer’s quilt – and discovered that the
Jeep was nearly out of gas. First stop,
Cubby’s gas station.
{Don’t tell me the
last driver didn’t notice the state
of the gas tank.}
Then on to Hobby
Lobby, 40% coupon in hand. The coupon is
for one item alone. I’m always in a
debate with myself, since I live 8 miles from the store and it takes at least
half an hour to go there and return home, whether it’s more worth my while to
get several things, and have 40% off
on just one, or to get one thing, and
go back for more, with another 40% coupon, later. I guess it depends on price of the item(s) I
need, and how much I think my time is worth.
I compromised, and
got two packages of batting. I’ll get more next week.
At 6:45 p.m., Larry
was still in Pierce, some 60 miles to our north; so he wouldn’t make it home in
time for church that night.
After the service,
I gave Kurt and Victoria the baby quilt and pillow.
By the time I got back, Larry was home.
We had a late supper of the rest of the roasting ears Loren had given
us, along with fresh grapefruits, hot-from-the-oven French bread, and pecan
sandies for dessert. We had Martinelli’s
not-from-concentrate, unfiltered apple juice to drink. Mmmm, mmmm.
After supper, I loaded my customer’s Halloween quilt on the frame, printed
a Spiderweb pantograph, laid it in place on the quilting table, and got a good
start before quitting for the night.
An online quilting
friend is in the process of selling her home and moving over 1,000 miles. After a score of prospects fell through, and
various inspectors nit-picked their way around the property, the lady wrote, “I
am never buying another building that provides shelter again unless it is a
tent!”
I responded, “But...
those who want your tent can be just as problematic as those who want
your house!” – and sent this picture, entitling it 'Tent Inspectors':
Thursday, Hannah posted
pictures from Yankton, where they’d gone on a little excursion. They took a pontoon boat out on the lake, and
everyone got a chance at the wheel. One
picture that was especially good to see:
Aaron, walking, albeit slowly and carefully, without crutches.
I worked on my
customer’s quilt most of the day, finished it Friday afternoon, and started on Halloween quilt #2.
Here’s what Teensy
does while I am quilting: I call him a
‘YouTube-Squirrel Junkie.’
I printed a
Halloween pantograph, put it on my quilting table, and was ready to start
quilting.
But first... time
for supper! Larry smoked chicken breasts on the Traeger grill, and I
cooked corn on the cob (Schwan’s, this time).
Honey butter biscuits were in the oven, and we had big juicy navel
oranges from South Africa, too. If we needed dessert after that, there was
Strawberry Supreme frozen yogurt in the freezer.
We were just
working our way through the last half of our supper when Teensy came into the
house, crying. He laid down momentarily
in the laundry room, but when I walked in there, he moved away from me, not
wanting me to touch him. He howled mournfully now and again. I ran to get my phone to call the vet – and
the cat escaped out the pet door when Larry walked into the other room. I hurried out after him, but he kept just
beyond my reach.
He hid for a little
while under the popup camper and cried when we called him, but he wouldn’t come
to us. This was highly abnormal. Then he scuttled out and went off to parts
unknown. Larry looked all over the
yard. We have nearly an acre, with a lot of bushes and trees, two
garages, two sheds... I called
periodically, which usually brings him on the trot. Larry rode his bike up and down the lane,
calling. The cat, evidently either hurt or sick or scared, didn’t come,
could not be found, and soon it was dark outside.
Very unlike
him. He always comes to us when we’re outside... greets us when we come
home... wants lots of petting... loves to get on our laps... So this was really
strange behavior.
We wondered if he’d
gotten hit by a vehicle; but we’d seen no visible signs of trauma. Something was wrong with him, that’s for sure.
Well, there was
nothing more we could do about it right then.
If Teensy wanted to and was able, he could come in through the pet door.
I quilted for a few
more hours. And then the bobbin ran out
of thread, and I didn’t have enough... well, my father used to call it ‘spizzerinctum’,
to take the bobbin out, brush out bobbin case and race area, oil the hook,
refill the bobbin, put the thread back into the bobbin case, check the tension,
put the case back into the machine, find the spot where I’d run out of the
thread, do a few stitches in place, start quilting, stop at a point or corner,
clip the threads, and start quilting again in earnest.
See, it wore me out
just typing all that!
The little tension
finger on the bobbin gets loose and slips out of place now and then. I tried
tightening it up, but the tiny screw that holds it is tight already. I’d probably
better buy a new bobbin holder, in case that little finger breaks off
entirely. They’re kind of pricey,
though.
I went upstairs to
my recliner and did a bit of computer work for a while. Teensy, who almost always jumps on my lap and
purrs and kneads, did not show up.
He was still nowhere to be seen by late Saturday
morning, and I resigned myself to the news not being good when we did find him. The
other two cats refused to behave like dogs and lead me to him. Cats go on the principal, “Every man for
himself, and the devil take the hindmost!”
A little after 1:00
p.m., I headed outside to walk around the property again ----- and Teensy came!!! He came when I called him, strolling
down the back driveway as I was walking up from the little garage, sashaying
along big as you please, squinting at me happily, purring, bumping his head
against my hand just like he always does.
He followed me up the deck steps and into the house.
There didn’t seem
to be anything wrong with him, except he was
jumpy and easily startled. When we walked into the house, Tiger came walking
– er, waddling – toward us, spotted
Teensy, squalled at him as he does sometimes ---- and Teensy then thought he
should run right back out the door. But I blocked him, shooed Tiger out,
and gave Teensy some of Tabby’s soft food. He ate it like he was starved
– then headed for the dry food, and went to crunching away on it.
What in the world happened
to him??
When he didn’t come
in and get on my lap Friday night after I went to my recliner, I figured he was
a goner. He’s always there, every night without fail. Maybe an
animal nearly got him, and scared him out his wits? Maybe he got bumped
by a car? Maybe the bird he ate earlier (I saw about three leftover
feathers) didn’t digest? He swallows
beak and all sometimes. Aaaauuuggghhh.
Speaking of
birds... this is what I often find at our bird feeders:
This one is a mama
squirrel. One of these days, I’m going to look out my window and see half
a dozen smallish furry squirrelies plundering the feeder, while their mama
looks on approvingly.
Kurt and Victoria came visiting, partly because
Larry told Kurt about Teensy disappearing, Kurt told Victoria, and Victoria
loves Teensy; and partly because they had found some sourdough English muffins,
and Victoria knows I love them, and the sourdough variety are hard to find.
After Larry got home, he worked on his pickup for
several hours. It’s getting closer, closer, to being done. That evening, he took the Jeep to wash it,
and picked up some Mexican food at El Matador while he was in town, bless his heart. (That is, bless Larry’s heart, not the matador’s
heart.) (Well, maybe the matador needs his heart blessed, too,
in which case I should not be stingy with heart blessings.) ((snerk))
I had an enchilada dinner; Larry had a Sancho
dinner.
I finished my
customer’s Halloween quilt #2 that night, and headed for my recliner. After quilting almost steadily for ten hours
straight, my back, shoulders, and hands were protesting. Sooo... I turned
on the heating pad, tucked it behind my back, and watched a couple of videos on
Canada’s National Parks whilst sipping a piping hot cup of Legends of China
white tea.
Those National
Parks of British Columbia and Alberta are some of the most beautiful parks I’ve
ever seen. The west entrance of Kootenay National Park is
out-of-this-world astonishing, the way one suddenly and entirely without
warning finds one’s self driving along at the very bottom of a deep, deep
canyon between two unbelievably tall, near-vertical rock walls. And those
ten tall, always-snow-covered, jagged peaks around the brilliant, turquoise
waters of Lake Moraine...
These videos,
pretty as they are, simply cannot do justice to the magnificent views.
Canada should pay
me for that blurb, shouldn’t they?
Meanwhile, Teensy
and the laptop were competing for space on my lap. Teensy was sprawled over my left arm and
tucked under my right one, smashing his head against my stomach, and pumping
his feet on the afghan I had lopped over me (not because I was cold, but
because I saw the cat coming, and his purring and pumping get a bit too
enthusiastic for comfort). Just try typing like that! But I’m
not complaining, mind you.
I’m sooo happy my
kitty is okay. Larry thinks he probably ate some critter that was too
large and too indigestible. Maybe; but that doesn’t explain why he acted
so scared and so odd Friday night.
We have a number of
beasts around these parts that would try to nab a cat. I hear coyotes and foxes at night. I
wonder if one chased him, cornered him, made him think his doom was sealed?
But I guess if your stomach hurt badly enough, it could be scary.
Oh, who knows. I’ve inquired into the matter, and Teensy explained, “Mmrrrrrowwwprrr!”
and that’s Greek to me.
In all the excitement
over Teensy’s twubbles and twials (à la Caleb, age 3), I almost forgot that I
received word that the Buoyant Blossoms quilt was rejected for showing at the
AQS Quilt Show at Des Moines in October. Just goes to show I like my cats
better than my quilts!
The only reason
they gave was that they get thousands and thousands of entries, and have to
reject many hundreds. I now know that it’s a good deal ‘luck of the draw’,
because this quilt was better workmanship (and maybe even more pleasing to the
eye) than either of the other two quilts of mine that were accepted.
They do not
refund one’s entry money when one’s quilt is rejected. I’m helping pay
someone else’s prize money!
Ah, well. It’s okay. My sun doesn’t rise and set
on whether or not my quilts win prizes. The
quilt getting rejected paled next to my worry about Teensy. And now I can
give my mother-in-law back her quilt that much faster. Plus, I’ve sold enough Buoyant Blossoms
patterns to cover the lost entry fee many times over.
(Larry’s glad; he
thinks this means we don’t have to go to the quilt show in Des Moines. I
wonder what in the world makes him think that?
I’m taking it to
the State Fair on the 17th of August. When the fair is over, I’ll
launch into a publishing attempt with the patterns, adding photography and
poetry.
Last night after church, we took our friend Helen, Jeremy’s
and Maria’s grandmother, to the grocery store, as she no longer drives. We picked up some fresh fruit while we were
there, and today I’ve been enjoying bing cherries, grapes, and strawberries. When we took Helen home, she gave us a fresh
loaf of homemade bread, a jar of bread-and-butter pickles she’d made the day
before, and a bag of two different kinds of tomatoes picked right then and
there from her tomato vines.
After we got home, Teensy was playing again! He took a swipe at my necklace when I removed
it, and swatted at my belt robe when I picked it up. He’s getting back to his old self.
I went to town this
afternoon to mail
a birthday gift to Dorcas’ husband Todd.
I called Loren after leaving the post office. He had his camper packed and hitched to his
pickup, and was ready to leave for Rocky Mountain National Park. He needed someone to water the tomato plants he
has in pots on his back deck, so I stopped by his house so he could show me
where they were, where to get the water, and suchlike. One of his faucets puts out soft water; he
uses it for washing vehicles. The tomato
plants wouldn’t be happy, if I’d use that
on them. There are little green
tomatoes all over his plants.
Before I left, he gave me a set of covered plastic
containers for my troubles. I declare, I
can’t do anything for anybody without them giving me more in return than I’ve
given them! :-)
An online friend has been discussing her diet. This made me curious, so I looked up a
calorie counter and plugged in what I typically eat during the day. Turns out,
breakfast is usually 250 (though I don’t eat it all at once; the first installment
is usually half an English muffin, toasted, and a glass of milk; something such
as raw cauliflower and cherries come later)... supper, typically on the order
of chicken breast, asparagus, an orange, yogurt, and apple juice, is about
320... and!!! – my ‘little snack’ in the late afternoon (crackers and peanut
butter or cheese, sometimes) is over 700, for pity’s sake!
Add the butter I put on the muffin... the glass of
orange juice or V8 cocktail juice I’ll likely drink... and the total is over
1300 calories. If I want to lose a few
pounds (10 would be good), I’d better have raw green beans and bell peppers for
a snack, instead! Clearly, the crackers
and peanut butter need to go.
Okay, now I’m
hungry for crackers and peanut butter.
AAaaaaaa!!! I
just went to see what Teensy was peering at under the edge of the pet bed, and
found this – an Eastern Tiger salamander:
Sooo... I
grabbed a paper towel, scooped him up and deposited him amongst the Boston ivy
out front. He seemed appreciative.
Somebody wondered how in the world I coped with such
a thing as a salamander in the house. Well, it wasn’t difficult at all, since he
was polite and stayed nicely in the paper towel until I released him into the
ivy.
Now, wasps
are another matter. Wasps are my nemesis.
Why, I have defied gravity and run in
place in midair for three minutes flat after spotting a wasp right where I had
planned to place my bare foot.
Speaking of insects, here’s a baby praying mantis
that was clambering about on the screen.
And now I have a
red, white, and blue quilt to do for my customer. Hmmm... it’s late. Maybe I should sleep first.
,,,>^..^<,,, Sarah Lynn ,,,>^..^<,,,
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