Journal: Fourth of July, Visitors, & A Real Scare

Late last Monday night, I was sitting in the living room, minding my own business and typing my journal, when... Aaaauuuggghhhh!  Suddenly, there was a bat on the floor, flapping about and trying to launch himself!  I went for Larry... gave him a towel... he threw it over the bat, picked it up, and released to the great outdoors.

Tuesday, it wasn’t quite as hot as usual for this time of year – 84° with a heat index of 90°.  I worked in the north (front) and side gardens for a while that morning.  I forgot all about picking mulberries until I’d already had a bath and washed my hair – and one simply cannot pick mulberries around here without liberal doses of bug spray all over one’s self.  Even though I doused myself and then reapplied it twice, I still got quite a lot of mosquito bites.  Somebuddy ran off with both nearly full bottles of bug spray, leaving me with the almost empty bottle – and thus I can’t get my back sprayed properly, because I can’t hold the bottle upright behind me and press the button, both at the same time.  I was done all bit up.

You know, if we’d just wipe out all the landscaping and put in a deep layer of gravel instead, we’d eliminate a lot of these dreadful ol’ skeeters.

Or maybe I should just buy another bottle of repellent.

This was in the news that day, from www.1011.now:

Health officials in eastern Nebraska are taking steps to control mosquito populations that carry West Nile and other diseases as a wet spring has led to more breeding grounds for the biting insects.

The Douglas County Health Department says it’s using mosquito larvicide in potential breeding sites or stagnant waterways to help curb the spread of West Nile virus. The department is also trapping mosquitoes every other week. Trapped mosquitoes are counted and tested for Zika, West Nile virus and Chikungunya at the Nebraska state public health lab.

The department also has begun collecting dead birds -- including crows, black-billed magpies, and blue jays -- to test them for West Nile virus.

Nebraska reported a nation-high 245 West Nile cases in humans last year, including 11 deaths.

The common advice of the day when a person launches into a brand-new activity or hobby, such as quilting, crocheting, sewing, or knitting, is ‘Do the very simplest, easiest project you can find, so that you don’t get discouraged.’

Maybe that works for some, but for me, I totally disagree.  If I don’t much like the thing I’m making, then it isn’t any fun learning how!  So... I almost invariably wind up starting some new type of project, something I’ve never done before, way off in the ‘for experienced persons only’ category.  I make what I like, and learn as I go along. 

Sometimes I learn this:  that project was difficult.  heh

That night, I was sitting in my recliner, laptop on lap, Teensy between me and my laptop.  I heard an odd noise, and thought it sounded like a bat had thumped into the closed door to the upstairs.  But I had earbuds in, so I wasn’t sure... but Teensy heard it too, and was craning his neck to look that way.

I removed the earbuds – and soon heard a scrabbling noise.  I got up and looked – and there was a bat, trying to sneak-creep his way under the door!

Larry grabbed the dust mop I’d been using, with a big fiber dust cloth around it.  I got him a big towel... and then he opened the door. 

The bat tried to make its escape.  Larry swatted him back down to the floor with the mop.  He then put the towel over the whole works, mop, dust cloth, bat, and all, and drew the mop out, hoping the bat wasn’t clinging to the bottom of the mop.  He wadded the towel around where I thought the bat was (luckily, I guessed his location correctly), carried it outside, and let it go.  It landed on the front porch and sat there, debating the best way to get airborne again. 

I was watching it from the front door, when along came Teensy strolling down the sidewalk, heading for the front door.  He spotted the bat on a step, and headed straight toward it. 

I jerked open the door and yelled, “NO, TEENSY!” 

He backed off and stared at me.  He wanted to come inside, but the bat was between him and the door – and he was curious about the bat, in any case.  I decided the bat was a wee bit too suspicious-acting to suit me, and I certainly didn’t want Teensy to get bit, even if the bat was perfectly healthy. 

Sooo... “Just kill it!” I told Larry. 

Larry killed it with the tennis racket.  “Now there’ll be a gazillion more mosquitoes tomorrow morning,” he said.

“So long as there’s no bat in the house, that's fine with me!” I retorted.

Trouble is, he zinged it into the rosebush, hoping that would keep it away from the cats.

“What happens when I reach into the rosebush to pull out weeds, and stick my finger in the bat’s mouth?” I asked.

“You’ll scream,” he replied.

“I don’t scream,” I retorted.

“At me, I meant,” he amended.

Bats should have enough sense to stay outside where they belong, and I’ll tolerate them just fine!

Wednesday morning, July 3^rd, it occurred to me that it would have been Daddy’s 103^rd birthday.  And the next day, the Fourth of July, would be Dorcas’ 37^th.

One evening on a Fourth of July when she was just 5 or 6 years old, we were driving around town, stopping here and there to watch private fireworks displays in the streets... just licking our ice cream cones and having fun with the kids... when Dorcas sighed happily and said, “Isn’t that nice, all these people celebrating my birthday?”  Another happy sigh.  “And a lot of them don’t even know me!” 

That day, I took everything off the top of the kitchen cupboards, dusted and washed them, and soon had a full box of things for the Goodwill, along with the other boxes of things to keep.  I got several things out of the cupboard above the stove, too, so Larry could move it higher and install the new-to-us microwave.  And then it was time to get ready for church.

Once I was ready, there was still over an hour before time to go, and I didn’t want to get my good clothes all dusty, so I started designing a quilt for Larry’s brother Kenny, who lost his wife Annette to cancer May 31^st.

Thursday, the Fourth of July, we had a lovely (but hot) church picnic at Pawnee Park, our big city park.  There were over 400 people there.

Our contribution was Black Angus hamburgers with red and green peppers and onions on ciabatta rolls, corn on the cob with butter and honey drizzled over them, peaches and dark sweet cherries, and chocolate chunk/peanut butter chip cookies.

A friend of ours made train cars from barrels with axles... and pulled children around the park with his small tractor.

We brought home leftovers of everything but – would you believe – the corn on the cob.

That evening, I worked a bit more on the quilt design for Kenny:

Bear Paw/Wildlife quilt

By 10:30 p.m., I’d combined the two that most people liked best, and come up with this:

I’m happy with this layout ---- but I have a problem:  This panel, by Realtree, seems to be outdated, and I can’t find one just like it! 

I’ll probably have to pick another.  Kenny won’t know differently!  😉

Meanwhile, Larry installed the new-to-us microwave over the stove. I will have a wee bit more counter space in this small kitchen!

Teddy called to tell us about a near calamity they’d just had with a fire in the basement.  It had evidently started from wires shorting out in a remote controller for a toy.  They got the fire out with their fire extinguisher, but there was quite a bit of smoke damage.  Their insurance company is sending a company who specializes in such things to clean everything up for them.

Late that night, I got a note from Keith:  “We have finally finalized everything for making vacation official and will arrive in Nebraska Sunday night.  Will this work?”

This meant we had to kick our making-the-house-company-suitable efforts in not just high gear, but ultra-supersonic high gear!

I wrote back to say that yes, that would work, regardless of the state of affairs – and then,

Eeek!  A bat in the back hallway!  Running for Larry... 

...

...

...

Okay, I’m back.  Larry found the bat sorta stuck in the frame of the pet door.  He helped it on out into the garage.  It’ll probably come right back in somehow, whataya bet?

I don’t cope well with bats.  They like to lay eggs in my hair.  (I wrote that on one of the quilting groups, and several ladies wrote to very seriously and earnestly inform me that bats are mammals, and no mammals lay eggs.  I wrote back to say I was kidding – but there ARE mammals who DO lay eggs:  platypuses!)  (Platypusi?)

Earlier, Larry had gone up to the addition for some tools, and found one up there, too.  (A bat, not a platypus.)  He dispatched of it, since it did not seem inclined to join the catch-and-release program we sometimes employ.

Victoria sent pictures of Carolyn and Violet:  

I got some photos of some of the other grandchildren at our church picnic yesterday, but haven’t gone through them and edited them yet.

Friday afternoon, I took a box containing the coffee maker we’d had in our pickup campe out to the fifth-wheel camper – and that took me right next to the mulberry tree, with its many ripe mulberries.  I need more time! – I’d make mulberry crisps or cobbler or muffins.

Okay, I found a way to care for mulberries quickly and nearly effortlessly:

What you do is, you work your way around the tree, eating every ripe mulberry you come to.  When you’re done, ... you’re done!  No crisps, cobbler, or muffins to make, and you’re probably the healthier for it anyway, leaving out the sugar and flour and suchlike.  Mmmm, they’re good. 

Here’s a hint:  if your mulberry dishes wind up a little too bland to suit you, add lemon juice.  That’s common knowledge; but here’s something I never see in recipes:  pop in a handful of not-quite-ripe mulberries, too.  The less-ripe ones will put a zing into the flavor.

Friday after he got off work, Larry went to Menards for the rest of the painting supplies he needed.  We were painting white – because that’s what we already had, down in the basement.  I’d put a little color in it... if I was richer and had more time. 

Or not.  This nice white sure brightened up the place.  Probably the pine front wall and the pine ceiling in the living room adds enough contrast.

Kurt, Victoria, Carolyn, and Violet stopped by on their way to Telluride, Colorado, to tell us goodbye.  They planned to drive all night to get there.  Carolyn and Violet were so sweet, smiling at us and calling “Bye!  Bye!”

Larry sanded a wall, and got part of that wall painted.  It’s taking a lot longer (and making a way bigger mess) than it should, when we only had one more day – and he had to work Saturday morning.  He took the black microwave downstairs.  I put the apple cannisters in its place, atop the stain on the Formica that won’t come off.  So now I have a couple of feet more counter space.  That’s a lot, when you consider that I had about five inches, before.

I ran the self-cleaning program on the oven, and the next day, after it had well cooled, wiped out the ashes.

All that sanding put white dust all over the living room and kitchen.  My recliner was coated with it, except for the spot where Teensy was lying – which means the cat is coated with it, too.  And the fleece blanket I keep lopped over the back of the chair was doubtless covered with it.  Aarrgghh, I just cleaned!

I gathered up the blanket, along with a couple of throws on the loveseat, and tossed them into the washing machine.

Already the living room looked brighter, with just half a wall painted.

While Larry did that, I made good inroads on the laundry room.  I sure wish it had a decent floor (the tiles are coming loose), and the wall was finished next to the patio door.  But at least I could make it clean and orderly.

AAAuuuggghhh, I carried something downstairs, and there was yet another bat down there.  What on earth?!  We’ve had more bats in the house during this last week than we usually have all summer long!

Clematis

I found a couple of Victoria’s left-behind-and-like-new necklaces for Keith’s stepdaughters, Keyara and Kenzie.  A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a magnetic, stainless-steel ball-bearing set for Kaiden.  And I had a decorative plate that used to be my mother’s that I would give Korrine.  It has a couple of cedar waxwings painted on it.

Finally, at some early hour of the morning, I decided I’d better hit the hay.  I hadn’t had nearly enough sleep the last couple of nights.  Sometimes I simply couldn’t fall asleep, on account of a hip hurting, or an ankle itching, or my pillow not being quite right behind my neck, or my brain trying to figure out Great Schemes of Quilts, People, and Space. 

Other times, I was barely (and finally!) starting to drift happily off to the Land of Nod, when Larry would suddenly kick his feet, bounce around, jerk the covers, and/or snore. 

Once he turned on his side toward me with a great deal of jostling about, and then snored like a misfiring tractor right in my ear.

“HEY!!!” I yelped in great indignation, having been allllmost asleep.

His answer (with matching pique):  “Well, I’m on my own side of the bed!!!”

This non sequitur, I knew, was because he was still asleep, never mind the fact that his voice sounded wide awake.

This made me curious as to whether or not he really was on his side of the bed.  So I stealthily slithered up toward the headboard, grabbed my little battery-run lantern, and turned it on.

And then Larry, in a groggy voice, said, “Whutcha doin’?” 

Okay, now he was awake.

And he was mostly on his side of the bed, though not entirely.

“Nothing,” I answered.  “Go back to sleep.”

So he did.  Fitfully.  Maybe my brain processes were keeping him awake.

At 3:30 a.m. I got back up, went out to the kitchen, and washed dishes and cleaned.  I returned to bed at 5:00.  This time, Larry was quiet and restful, and I fell asleep so soundly, I didn’t hear his alarm go off half an hour later.

I woke up at a quarter after 10.  That’s not quite enough sleep, but it would have to do.

Lack of sleep makes blepharospasm worse.  This eye problem bothers me – physically, not so much mentally.  I just do my best to cope, and keep in mind the advice I used to give my girls when they were fussing with their hair (or clothes, etc.) (would you believe, sometimes the boys did the same thing), and going to make themselves late for school or wherever because they were all in a despair over the recalcitrant mop:

“Forget the hair (or clothes), and go!!!  All you have to do is be friendly and helpful and kind, smile at people ---- and no one will pay a lick of attention to the fact that you’re having a Bad Hair Day.  BUT! – act grumpy and morose and crabby, and people will take one look and say, ‘Wow, look at that crab, wouldja.  Even her hair is a fright!’”

I was sure glad I’d been spending several mornings a week working in my flower gardens.  They look quite nice, even though I wouldn’t have time to do any weeding or deadheading.  The gardens in the back yard need some attention... but they weren’t going to get it.  😏

Saturday afternoon, Larry texted Victoria to see where they were, and how the vacation was going.  They’d made it to Telluride, and were tired after driving all night. 

Sunday morning at about 8:30 a.m., Larry went running for the pliers, asking where I’d put them, and calling, “Come and look at something!”

“I’m busy!” I complained.  “I need to finish getting dressed!”

“But you have to come see this!” Larry insisted.

I went to see.

There was a bat in the very narrow crevice between stove and wall, hanging upside down from the chair rail above the paneling.  Only his hind feet and tail were visible.

Larry hauled him up outa there, a little (or a lot) the worse for wear.  Fact is, he won’t be huntin’ skeeters no mo', no mo', no mo'.  (The bat, not Larry.  Mosquitoes hunt him.)

Yeah, yeah, I know all about the wonderful things bats do for the ecosystem.  But the fact is, the ecosystem inside this house is not going to support them!  It’s going to refuse, in fact.

On our way home from the morning church service, we stopped at our mailbox to get the previous two days’ forgotten mail – and there was the appraisal for the New York Beauty quilt.

It has been valued at $6,100.00.

Keith, Korrine, Kaiden, Keyara, and Kenzie arrived at their hotel that evening, and came to see us after we got home from church.

Larry had gotten the rest of the living room and kitchen walls painted (though not the hallway to the bathroom – it needs to be textured; he ran out of time).  I had put the pictures all back on the walls, swept, vacuumed, and dusted.  And, so far as we knew, the place was debatted (which isn’t a word but should be, and would be, had Noah Webster ever had to contend with bats in his house).

So the house was all in shipshape condition – and then, before Keith and Korrine and the children arrived, it became a bit of a shambles again, because Larry decided to put together the two new chairs I’d gotten some weeks ago.  We did need them, after all.

After visiting a bit, we went upstairs to see my quilting studio and the quilts that I would be taking to the County Fair the next morning. 

I told Keyara and Kenzie they could each choose a big and a little bottle of perfume from those Victoria no longer wanted, which I’ve kept on a tray in the little library.  One girl collects perfumes, and the other collects fancy bottles; so that worked out well.  😊

Kaiden took note of the old treadle sewing machines, the Singer in particular, because it’s very much like his grandmother’s.

This morning, I took my things to Ag Park for the County Fair:

1.              Sunbonnet Sue quilt

2.              Nesting bowls

3.              Camping placemats

4.              Stars table runner

5.              Maxwell House mug rug

6.              NYB quilt

7.              NYB shams

8.              Harvest Sun round pillow

I’m sore and miserable today from all the cleaning, climbing on chairs to reach ceilings and tops of walls, and toting things up and down stairs.  So it was no picnic carrying two loads of heavy quilts and crafts into the Exhibit Hall.

Home again, I put a Schwan’s apple pie into the oven.

It occurred to me that I hadn’t given Korrine a fabric nesting bowl set, so I dashed upstairs and got one.

And then I remembered Keith’s red and blue baby blanket that Loren and Janice got him in Mexico when he was a tiny baby, and skedaddled downstairs to get it.

When Keith and his family arrived, I took pictures of them... and then we went for a drive, first to the Higgins Memorial at Pawnee Park, and then around town to point out houses of relatives and friends.

Supper was Black Angus hamburgers fixed as I did for the Fourth-of-July picnic, though this time I added a slice of American cheese just before the burgers were done.  We had broccoli (and sweet corn for Kaiden, since he doesn’t like broccoli), peaches and cherries, and the aforementioned apple pie, with Strawberry Supreme frozen yogurt for dessert.  Strawberry Supreme not only has big chunks of strawberries in it, but it also has slivers of dark chocolate, too.

After supper, Larry took the children – and Keith, too – riding in the RZR.  Then Caleb came visiting, and he took his father for a ride.  “Don’t make him cry!” I admonished, and he promised he wouldn’t.  😃

And now I’m off to start Kenny’s quilt!  Or maybe just... off to Country Traditions in Fremont to look at panels for the center of said quilt.

Love,

~ Sarah Lynn ~

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

P.S.:  My letter is late, first because of the company we had yesterday, and next because Amy had a crash today with their Ford Transit van – with all nine children with her.  Everyone is going to recover, but they were banged up, and they’re going to be awfully sore for a while.  Amy and eight of the children were taken to the Columbus Hospital, and have been released.  Ethan has stitches all around one eye and eyelid, and Emma has stitches in her hairline.  Warren has a broken collarbone.  They all have bruises and abrasions, especially where the seatbelts went over their shoulders, and some have sprains. 

The worst was Leroy, who’s 7 ½.  He had a bad gash on his head, and a partially or nearly ruptured spleen.  He was airlifted to a hospital in Omaha.  Teddy was working in town today, a rarity, and thus was able to get to the crash site in time to ride in the helicopter with Leroy.  They’ll keep him in the hospital for a few days, most likely.

But we are thanking God that all will recover, and we didn’t lose any of these that are so dear to us today.

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