Journal: Still Gimping Along

 

Tuesday afternoon, I headed upstairs, ice packs on back, to my quilting studio to see if I could finish quilting the quilt on my frame.  I think I can... I think I can...

And it turned out, I could, so long as I didn’t bend or twist much.  I had one small gel pack that has little ‘beads’ in a liquid gel, and it stays soft and flexible even when frozen. The two larger gel packs I was using are supposed to be for big coolers.  They look like giant bubble wrap, with each ‘bubble’ filled with gel that stays frozen for a long time.  Caleb bought them for his lunchbox way back when he still lived at home, in about 2011.  The only drawback is that the edges of the plastic are sharp.  So I ordered a set of two flannel-covered gel packs with an elastic band with a pouch.  It came in a couple of days, and is much more comfortable.

Joyce, a quilting lady from Phoenix who has been an online friend for many years called to tell me she was sending out a quilt that day for me to quilt.  The central part of the quilt was made from a National Parks panel, as the quilt is for a friend who has worked for the Park service, and was diagnosed with cancer a several months ago. 

It’s always fun to put a voice with a name I’ve known only through email and quilting groups. 

Teensy kitty came begging for treats, knowing I keep the Feline Greenies container on the maple table in my quilting studio.  I poured some into my hand, bent as far as was comfortable, and then dropped the treats on the floor.  They scattered, instead of landing in the neat little pile Teensy is accustomed to.  He backed up, stared, looked at me. 

I laughed. 

“Meowww,” said he, clearly not seeing the humor.

Finally deciding I was not going the rectify the error, he ate his treats.  😄

Loren didn’t answer his phones today when I tried calling at 3:00 p.m.  Or rather, neither the home phone nor the cellphone would put a call through.  I checked the game cam and the trackers, and it didn’t appear that he’d gone anywhere.

I was texting Keith about this time, and told him the problem. 

“You need an intercom,” he suggested, “Or good walkie-talkies or a two-way radio.”

That’s assuming Loren would know how to use such things.

“Can and string,” I added to the options.

Tiger cat came marching in about then and squalled at me at the top of his lungs, in his funny gravelly voice.  I laughed, leaned over to pet him – and discovered he had water sprinkles all over his back.  So then I knew he was informing me that he’d tried going to the front porch, and the sprinkler got him.  haha

I relayed the problem with Loren’s phones to Larry, who stopped at Loren’s house on his way past in about an hour.  Loren was fine.  His home phone charger had gotten unplugged, probably because he was hunting for something on the desk and bumped it.  His cellphone was nowhere to be seen, and the chargers weren’t on the table where they usually are.  Larry found the chargers on the desk. 

Loren went to get his cellphone in his bedroom – and brought out the remote for his space heater.

“That’s your heater remote,” Larry told him.

“It is?” said Loren, a bit puzzled.  He went back down the hallway to try again.

He returned with a couple of electric shavers, both in their boxes, wondering how they worked.

“Those are your electric shavers,” said Larry.

“Oh!” said Loren, laughing.  He gave it another try, and was this time successful.

The cellphone was flatter’n a pancake. 

He said in surprise, “I didn’t know you had to charge that thing!”

And the food Hannah had put in the refrigerator the day before, that Loren told her did NOT need sticky notes to remind him, huh-uh, nosiree?  Larry opened the refrigerator and pointed it out. 

“There’s your supper from Hannah,” Larry said.  “Are you hungry?”

Loren was properly amazed; he had no idea that that food was in there.  He said he wasn’t hungry, and didn’t want it – but Larry got it out anyway, warmed it up, and set everything out on the table for him.

He decided he was hungry, after all (it looked –and smelled – good!), and started eating.

I wonder if he forgets about his microwave, and thinks the food won’t be good, cold?

This more-than-usual confusion often happens if I can’t go to his house for one reason or another.

Hester offered to take Loren food on Wednesday, and I thankfully took her up on the offer, saying I would call him as usual at 3:00 each day to let him know she was coming.  “I keep telling him stories and showing him pictures of all of you children and the grandchildren, and most of the time he remembers each of you.  He often says what a sweet little smile Keira has, and mentions that she looks healthy and bright.”

“She seems to think he’s possibly a grandpa of some kind,” laughed Hester, “so always smiles at him.”

That evening, I got a text from Levi:  “Nat is driving.  I am scared.”

Haha  Yep, Nathanael is 15, and has a learner’s permit.  I promptly responded, “I’m scared, too!”  😅

At about 7:30 p.m., the wind suddenly blew hard, and rain poured down.  “I’m always afraid the Black Locust tree will tip over and take out my quilting studio!” I told Lydia.

“That would be a disaster!” she replied. 

“Especially if I hadn’t finished a quilt!” I exclaimed.  “But I go on working away...  gotta get as much done as possible before that happens.”

She laughed, and then remarked, “I think that’s the tree Jeremy said wasn’t a problem.  (He owns Precision Tree Service.)  If anything happens you can blame him. 😆”

“Ha!  I will keep that in mind!” said I. 

“He is pretty good at knowing which ones should be taken down,” she assured me.

“Yes,” I agreed.  “I quit worrying about it so much after that.”

“We have lots of thunder and lightning here,” she told me, “but that’s all.  (They live about five miles east of us.)  Last time it did that, we got a little sprinkling and that was it.”

A month ago, I got an email telling me our State Fair would be open for entries from the general public this year.  Last year, it was only for the 4Hers – though general admittance was totally free.  They made more money than ever before! – because vendors sold, people bought – and there were no carnival workers to pay.  Tuesday I learned that our County Fair will be open for entries from the general public, too!

Now to meekly ask Caleb and Maria if I can ‘borrow back’ that Atlantic Beach Path quilt... and maybe the gray and tan table runner, too.  I’ll ask Victoria about the hexagon table topper.  And I’ll ask Larry to do all the carrying!  😉

I finished my customer’s Appliquéd Butterfly quilt, took some pictures, then packed it in a box ready to be shipped the next day.  The quilt measures 74” x 86”.  I used 40-weight white Signature thread on top, and 60-weight cream Bottom Line in the bobbin.  The pantograph is ‘Alfresco’.

Next, I managed to get a pretty little strip quilt loaded.   This is another one by my friend’s eleven-year-old dau— Oh!  I just took a look at my birthday book, and discovered Johanna had a birthday last week!  She’s twelve now.  😊  I have two of her strip quilts to do.

I kept cold gel packs on my back all day, and so managed to quilt.  But whose idea was it to store my Red Snappers on the floor?!

People keep recommending that I see a chiropractor.  Chiropractors can be very helpful, but I would have to find one who didn’t manipulate the bones or joints, because I have osteoporosis.  My mother, who also had osteoporosis, went to a chiropractor once in her later years – and wound up with broken ribs.  Aiiiyiiiyiii.

Wednesday, I washed dishes, paid bills, and then quilted Johanna’s strip quilt.  And I remembered my mother saying, “I wonder if I’m losing my mind! – all I can think about is my back.”  I knew what she meant back then, and now I know even better what she meant.

I checked with Hester to make sure she was still planning to take Loren some food, and if Keira would be with her, as Loren always enjoys seeing little Keira.

She was, and Keira was all excited about the food drop-off.  Hester had made banana cake with cream cheese frosting for Andrew, and asked if I thought a small piece would be too sugary for Loren.

“He will love it, and it’ll be fine; he has no trouble with elevated blood sugar,” I told her.  “Last week one day, he thought I had earlier brought chocolate cake (he must’ve dreamed it, maybe) – and he sort of sheepishly asked where I’d put it.  I told him that I don’t make cake, ’cuz I don’t like it!  But he clearly was wanting cake.” 

Anyway, Hester’s banana cake isn’t as sugary as some cake is.

At 3:00 p.m., I talked with Loren on the phone, telling him Hester and Keira would be coming.  He mentioned his time/date/day clock that I got him, which sits on his table.  At first he thought ‘some girl’ had forgotten her clock... but now he usually remembers I gave it to him, and he really likes it, and uses it all the time.  He read it to me:  “Wednesday afternoon” – and asked why I gave it to him.  “It wasn’t my birthday!”

“It was for...” I said, thinking fast, “National Pizza Day!”

He laughed and laughed over that.

Loren was pleased when Hester arrived with his food, little Keira, age 3, in tow.  Sometimes he gets mixed up over Hester’s name (because it was our mother’s name, so how can this be?!), but he still remembers that Keira weighed only 2 lbs., 8 oz., when she was born.  He carried on a little conversation with her.  He might be confused, but he still really loves his family.

He showed Hester a ‘Magical Health Fix Pill Magazine’ (Hester’s words) he’d gotten.  “So I just read it 😄 and said I’d never heard of it before.”

For once, it was Larry heading off to our midweek church service without me, instead of the other way around (generally on account of Larry not getting home from a job in time).  So... he got to deliver Jacob’s birthday gift.  Boo, hoo.  Jacob would be 12 the next day.  We gave him a polo shirt with monster vehicles printed on it, a vintage painted tin Lionel train plaque, and a big hardback book of America’s Vintage Cars.

Loren didn’t go to church that night.  This happens now and again, and we’ve learned not to panic, if he’s been perfectly fine earlier in the day.  Perhaps he takes a nap, wakes up, and never again thinks of it being Wednesday.

Or maybe he just forgets about church, and goes to bed for the night.  I’ve also learned not to ask him about it.  I sorta knew it wouldn’t do any good; but one time, having seen by SpotTrace that he had actually headed to church, then overshot the mark (probably because of road construction confusing him) and wound up at our house before going back home.  So I, being overly curious, asked him the next day if he’d had trouble finding the church. 

“Yes,” and he started to explain, with a funny look on his face – then abruptly came up with the perfect story:  “Whenever Norma invites those girls along, they –” he made fighting motions, fists together – “and finally...” he gestured as if throwing in the towel.

So that reconfirmed what I really knew all along:  it’s better not to ask about such things, because I’ll get nothing but a wild story – and it can’t be helpful to him to have been given occasion to think it up.  Best to avoid that.

Hester told me she’d said as she left his house, “We’ll see you tonight!” and he looked at the clock and said, “in three and a half hours!”

“So he knew about the church service at some point,” said Hester, then added, “It’s the thought that counts.”  haha

Ah, well.  When he seems hale and hearty enough, I take a look at the game cam (which of course only shows me the front of his house), don’t worry about it too much, and just make sure to check on him the next day.  I really would feel awful if something happened to him, and I hadn’t checked for a while. 

He’s always been an ‘early to bed, early to rise’ person, and our midweek, church services start right about the time he usually goes to bed.  So I figure it’s just as well that he sleeps, when he forgets about it.

Hester again offered to take food to Loren Thursday, and a couple of gallons of water, too.  She also planned to stop at Simon House, a local Thrift & Consignment Store, and pick up a couple of big, hardback picture/ story books for him.  There are nice books at that secondhand store, and they’re only $.50 apiece.  She hoped this would take his attention away from those ‘miracle pills’.

“He really wanted to make sure everyone knew about the pill in the magazine he was so interested in,” she said.  “He wanted to share the good health.  😄”

I laughed.  “He’s always been like that.  He was once determined that blue-green manna would cure our kids’ asthma.”

Dementia certainly does accentuate various personal traits and characteristics, doesn’t it?

That night, I finished Johanna’s Butterfly strip quilt and started on her Cherries quilt.  I used 40-weight cream-colored Omni thread on top, and 60-weight cream Bottom Line in the bobbin for the Butterfly quilt.  The pantograph is called ‘Butterfly Charm’.  

When I retired to my recliner, I decided to try a heating pad for the first time since the BBBB (Big, Bad Boo-Boo), and it felt soooo good...

However, judging by how I have felt each time I spent an hour or two with a heating pad, I think it is not helpful.  Not yet, anyway.

If I noticed numbness or tingling in my legs, I would head to a doctor of one sort or another.  But I think I’m doing all right; it’ll just take a little time to heal.

I was so hoping to get the yard all spic and span on those two very nice mornings, Monday and Tuesday of last week!  It had been way too hot for yardwork ever since the first week of June.  The weeds will grow tall and healthy before I recover, I imagine. 

And I was doing so well getting my brother’s lower level all nice and clean.  Sigghhhh...

Ah, well.  I don’t have to crank the air conditioner down so low, what with all this going around with cold gel packs fastened to my back with elastic bands these days.  I am still mobile, I have loving, helpful children, and Loren, forgetful and confused as he is, loves them as if they were his grandchildren. 

Hester said when they left Loren’s house, Keira was worrying, “Why does he live all by himself?”  She’s such a little sweetheart.

Thursday morning, I was calmly wandering around feeding the cats, getting the coffee maker ready to start, and then heading off for a bath and shampoo, when I suddenly noticed an email from Joyce regarding the quilt she had sent me – the quilt that had been scheduled to arrive Saturday:  “Oh, my!  The quilt is out for delivery between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.!”

It was 10:45 a.m. right then.

I kicked in the afterburner and hurried, hurried, hurried.  Ten minutes later, I was ready to answer the door, if necessary.  My hair was wet and dripping, but I was ready to answer the door!

The question was... did the mail lady come during those ten minutes I was unavailable?

“It is still listed as ‘Out for Delivery’,” wrote Joyce.  “I don’t think you’ve missed it.”

At a quarter after eleven, someone came to the house.  I scurried toward the door (as well as I can scurry, these days); but it was the FedEx man setting a box inside, as I’ve requested.  The mail lady won’t do that.  She stands at the bottom of the steps and flings boxes onto the top of the porch.  She’s really grumpy when it snows.  Or rains.  Or is sunny.

I opened the box from FedEx.  It contained the new gel packs with a cute little black elastic band to hold them in place, as opposed to the wide tan one I was using.  I put it on, slid the little gel pack with beads into the pouch, and put the two new gel packs into the freezer.  Then I peered into the mirror and confirmed the matter:  Yep, I now look utterly too-too.

By 11:30 a.m., I was beginning to wonder if the mail lady would actually bring that box to the door.  So far, if it’s a box, she will.  But there have been certified letters that I knew were coming, and I had the door and front window open so I would be sure to hear her ------ and she never came.  She instead left a pink slip in our mailbox, several hundred yards over on the Old Highway 81, saying she’d tried and no one was there to receive it.  She’s not only grumpy, she’s lazy!

When that happens, one of us has to drive to town to retrieve the letter at the post office.

“If you ever send me anything again,” I told my customer, “I think it’s perfectly safe to do so without requiring a signature.  We live out in the boonies, but we do have a small handful of close neighbors, and they’re all nice ones.  Our lane is not a through street; it only goes to one other house.  We never see anyone drive it unless it’s neighbors or their family members.  Also, my porch is shielded by a virtual grove of blue spruce trees; no one can even see that there’s a box on the porch until they’re nearly right on it.”

A couple of minutes before noon, the quilt arrived.  The mail lady brought the box up to the porch.  I opened the door and stepped out. 

She said, “Hiiii!” in a surprisingly friendly tone.

I greeted her in return.  She beepity-beeped on her hand-held computer, signing my name for me (do I look like I have Covid-19?).  I held out my hand for the box --------- and she threw it onto the porch!!!!

So... I had to walk over there, lean down, and pick up the box.  Owie, owie, owie, owie.  Leaning down and picking things up hurts.  I wanted to throw it at her.  But a) I’d probably hurt myself, and b) I have good aim, and I’d probably hit her in the back of the head, and then I’d have some ’splainin’ to do.  “I tripped and it flew out of my hand!”  Reckon that would fly?  (The ’splanation, not the box.  The box already flew.)

“I’ll get it out of the box in just a little bit, so any wrinkles can ‘relax’,” I told my friend, who had been consistently and constantly admonishing me to ‘take it easy’ and ‘rest your back’.

“Okay,” she wrote back, “let it relax until at least Monday.  It was a long trip. 😊”

“That’s four whole days!” I protested.  “You know, even my forgetful brother said to me yesterday on the phone, ‘Good thing you’re so patient!’  haha  Don’t worry; I’ll putter along at whatever speed feels best.” 

((...pause...))  “Mach IV, as opposed to Mach IX.”

That afternoon, I got Johanna’s Cherries quilt done.  I used 50-weight white So Fine thread on top and 60-weight white Bottom Line in the bobbin.  The pantograph is ‘Cherry Swirls’.  The quilt measures 35” x 45”.

A quilting friend wrote and asked me how many pantograph patterns I have.  I had never counted them, and decided it was high time I did so.  Turns out, I have about 75 listed on my website... and I have a bunch more rolled up in my pantograph drawer and not on my computer.  Most of those came from the lady from whom I bought my first HQ16, and aren’t on my computer.  Then I have a few on my computer but never printed... and I have some on my computer and also printed that I hope to never, ever have to do again, unless I have a computer-driver machine, because they were dreadful trying to follow!  It might be easier now with my better frame, wheels, and carriage.  I remember in particular a cute little train with the cars going at 45° angles.  All those diagonal straight lines... I didn’t think about it when I started, because diagonal lines are no problem when I’m doing rulerwork.  But oh my, what a mess it was, trying to make straight diagonal lines freehand.  And the lady thought it was ‘really cute’ when I was done!  Maybe she thought it was supposed to look like a wonky train wreck?  haha

My little friend Johanna, escorted by her mother, came and picked up her quilts.  She was so happy with them.  😃

I then loaded the backing for the Park quilt that had arrived at noon.

Unable to do any more because a) I needed batting, and b) my back was protesting more loudly by the minute, I retired to my recliner, where I had a supper of sweet potatoes, dark sweet cherries, Bai Raspberry tea, with yogurt-covered raisins for dessert.  Larry was in Genoa working on vehicles; but I didn’t eat all the food; there would still be some for him when he got home.  😉

Teensy could hardly wait until I was done to land in my lap and cuddle up between the laptop and my stomach.  He knows he’s not supposed to jump on my lap when I say, “Stay down, I’m eating.”  But as soon as I set bowl and spoon down, up he comes.  Trouble is, it’s hard to reposition a freezing cold gel pack behind one’s back when a cat is on one’s lap!  He’s old and frail and has hyperthyroidism (treated with two pills a day), and I try to be really, really gentle with him.

Larry got home later, rummaged in the refrigerator for his supper, warmed it up, and ate.  Before long, dishes were crashing around in the sink.

“What are you doing?!” I exclaimed.

Larry turned to look at me.  Then, “More dishes fit in the sink if you break them up a little,” he explained calmly.  🤣

Friday I managed to toddle around outside the house refreshing the birdbaths, filling the bird feeders, and taking pictures of the bloomin’ flowers and a Big, Bad Bug Fight. 

More photos here:  Flowers and Bugs

Larry went to Hobby Lobby for me and got the batting I needed.  Now I could finish loading Joyce’s Park quilt!

Hobby Lobby had the Hobbs Heirloom cotton batting I wanted, but they no longer have the 40%-off coupons.  It’s still cheaper to get it there than most other places.

That afternoon, Hannah took Loren a Runza, watermelon, a banana, and some raw vegetables, which he originally wanted to hide away (Hannah’s words) in the refrigerator.  She took out the most colorful ones, and arranged them prettily on a plate at the table.  That must’ve done the trick, because he evidently ate them.  😊  He hasn’t had a Runza in a long time, and I know he likes them.  Janice used to make them from scratch.

He’d been reading one of the books Hester took him, and really enjoying it.  Maybe it will distract him from the snake oil and Jeremiah Peabody’s ♫ ♪ Fast-Actin’, Good-Tastin’, ♪ ♫ Green & Purple Pills, oh yeah... ♫ ♪ la lala lalala

By 5:30 p.m., Joyce’s Park quilt was loaded.  I was ready to position the pantograph. 

It wasn’t long before the quilting had begun.  The pantograph is ‘Bear, Moose, & Pines’.  This first little bear was so cute, I had to stop and take a picture before I’d hardly gone six inches.  

The thread on top is Signature’s 40-weight cotton in Sand Dollar color; the thread in the bobbin is Bottom Line 60-weight polyester in Cream. 

I’d barely gotten started on the second row when it began pouring rain outside – but the setting sun shone on!  Sure there would be a rainbow, I grabbed my camera and hurried from one window to another to find it.  And there it was – but the trees covered a good part of it, and the sky was so brilliantly golden-orange, the rainbow didn’t show up like it might’ve, had the sky been dark behind it.

Still... rainbow!  Golden sunset in the rain!  Bear, Moose, & Pines pantograph! 

I finished the second row of quilting, advanced the quilt, and quit for the night.  Pouring myself some juice, I headed for my recliner, fresh ice pack in hand.

When the kids were little, we would now and then get them the rare treat of a personal bottle of juice (as opposed to the usual large economy-sized jug that we shared).  Once in a while, I’d wait ’til one of them got the lid off... lifted the bottle to their lips... and then gasp, “No, no!  You have to put it in the refrigerate after you open it!”  I’d point to the words on the side of the bottle:  “Refrigerate after opening.”

Hee hee  Poor kiddos’ faces looked so funny until they determined their mother was pulling their respective legs, as usual.  I can still hear Lydia’s low-pitched, reproachful voice, when she was 3 or 4 years old:  “Mama.”  That was all, just “Mama.”  😆

I positioned the cold pack and considered the bottle of Aleve on the counter.  I don’t often take any pain pills.  I’ve taken Aleve three times since Monday, and Tylenol once.  Mostly I use topical analgesics and cold gel packs, which help quite a lot.  I looked up side effects of Aleve, and discovered it can cause water retention and thus be hard on one’s heart.  A steady diet of Tylenol can be bad for one’s liver and pancreas.  Most things either kill or cure you, it seems!

The most noticeable side effect of cold packs is --- cold.  I don’t have to keep the air conditioner as low, so I’m saving money!  At least I can walk; that’s always a plus.  😉

In addition to friends offering advice for my back, a quilting friend told me what to do about the weeds in the yard:  douse the yard with weedkiller! 

Noooo!  No weed-killers here!  Many of those products would also kill the flowers, sicken the cats, and kill the bees and the birds.  I’ll just let everyone (birds, bees, cats, and people) enjoy the weeds along with the flowers.  When those weeds bloom, I shall call them ‘wildflowers’!  🤣

Here’s one of those wildflowers; it’s called Mouse Ears (Commelina communis) – it’s about the size of my thumbnail.

Some of my friends have really ruffly daylilies in all colors of the rainbow.  So beautiful.  I have hundreds of them – all exactly like this one.  😄  Mine were given to me free of charge, and I divided and transplanted multiple times.

Saturday, my back hurt a little more than it had the day before.  Either I had done too much, or I’d slept in the wrong position.  I took a bath, wishing mightily for a shower instead, ate breakfast, put on an icepack, and went to see how long I could quilt.

By 4:00 p.m. I was almost half done.  Maybe, maybe I could finish it that day.

At 10:00 p.m., I sent Joyce an email:  “I’m on the last row of your quilt!!!”  I included three animated pictures of Snoopy doing his happy dance and three pictures of the quilt.

A few minutes later, Joyce wrote back, “WOW, I guess that was taking it easy, Sarah Lynn style!”  She inquired as to whether or not I would be resting the next day.

“Yep, I’ll be resting tomorrow,” I told her.  “I’m going to stay home from church.  Just putting on fancy church duds sounds like a trial by fire, and sitting in the pew, nicely padded though they are, doesn’t sound like fun, either.  And I’m much too conceited to wear an ice pack in public.  I can listen to our services online.”

I really like this Bear, Moose, & Pines pantograph, but it sure is finicky.  I have to go quite slowly on the animals, in particular, to get them just right.  I’m raising the price on my pantograph page, as soon as this quilt is done! 😃

I timed myself, and it took 17 ½ minutes to quilt one 58” row.  That’s ‘slow-motion’, in comparison to some pantographs.  Still, it’s a fairly forgiving panto, and turns out so pretty.

One of the hardest pantographs I ever used was the UFO one I put on a quilt a week and a half ago.  You don’t want all the little spaceships and rockets to look like they’ve crash-landed on Jupiter, now, do you?  It really needed to be perfect to look just right – and you just can’t get a panto totally perfect when you hand-guide the machine.  I tried soooo hard... 🤨 ... and really wished for a computer-driven machine!  But even the add-on computer drive is expensive.

These animals, while time-consuming, are considerably more forgiving than the UFOs were.

Soon I was taking the quilt off the frame; it was done.  I was pleased with how it turned out.  The stitching and pantograph look nice on the back, too.  The machine went over the piecing on the back without the slightest quallyfobble.  The quilt measures 58” x 81”.  Joyce will trim the quilt and put on the binding.

When Larry got home, he held the quilt while I took a few pictures.  I couldn’t spread it on the deck right now, not only because my back would grumble, but also because a mulberry tree has dropped mulberries on the deck.

We have three different kinds of mulberry trees in our yard – purple, red, and white.  They’re all scrumptious; they must’ve gotten just the right amount of moisture and sun.

I was collecting my Stuff and Things so I could sit in my recliner and have everything at my fingertips – coffee, Bai Rio Raspberry Supertea (cold), lip balm, laptop, heating pad, gel pack, eyedrops, Rain peppermint gum, craft glasses (just right for my screen, when my laptop is on my lap), glasses cleaning cloth, fleece blanket (what, what?  I like fleece!), warm air vaporizer (helps dry-eye syndrome), foot stool...

Wow, I have lots of necessities.  I need me a bigger chair-side table!

Suddenly, I heard a ‘tink-tink-tinkety-tink’ noise in the music room behind my chair.  I was pretty sure I knew what was making the commotion, but wondered, How’s it doing that?  I flipped on the light, and discovered a bat – in a big, round, empty crystal vase up on top of a bookcase!

It couldn’t get out.  The ‘tinkety-tink’ was the sound of its claws on the glass.

With my back complaining, I scurried into the kitchen, grabbed a big plate, came rushing back, scrambled up on a large footstool, and clapped it (gently! – I didn’t want broken glass everywhere and a loose bat divebombing me) over the top of the vase.  So the bat was pinned, and Larry would take care of it when he got home.

I’m glad that bat threw himself into the vase instead of at my head like they usually do!  😲  I’m in no shape to be ducking bats that want to lay eggs in my hair.

Somebody on a quilting group somewhere, when I said that thing about ‘eggs in  my hair’, explained to me very slowly and carefully that bats are mammals, and no mammals lay eggs.  I, having evidently had oats for breakfast, immediately responded with links to articles about the duck-billed platypus and the echidna (or spiny anteater).  Other ladies came to my defense then, and assured Lady #1 that they were pretty sure “Sarah Lynn knows bats don’t lay eggs.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “but did you know that they have babies while hanging upside down?”

Hee hee ... wonder what kind of kinks that information put in their sewing that day?

Since Friday had been both Lydia’s 30^th birthday and Bobby and Hannah’s 21^st anniversary, I sent their gifts with Larry to church Sunday. 

I sent the following text to Hannah:  Your anniversary gift will be in the BMW tonight – it’s the bag with the gold dots.  Not stripes, dots!  😁

And to Lydia:  Your birthday gift will be in the BMW tonight – it’s the bag with the gold stripes.  Not dots, stripes!  😁

We gave Lydia an Irish whistle (to take the place of the one she had as a child), a big bird book, two long-handled dish scrubbers (deluxe!), and a dusty green and lavender quilt I made Norma several years ago.

Bobby and Hannah’s gifts were a big faux leather-bound book of hymn stories and a set of kitchen scissors.

My back was better Sunday than it was Saturday.  Saturday it was worser than the day before.  But I managed to fix a meal for Loren both days, and Larry delivered them.  Hannah again offered to take him his meal today, and I accepted.

I liked my customer’s Park quilt so much, I thought I might like to have that panel.  She mentioned that it is no longer being manufactured and is hard to find, so I thought I’d better hurry up and hunt for one, if there was any chance of finding one.

I found one at Missouri Star Quilting Company, and promptly clicked ‘Add to Cart’.  A pop-up box immediately informed me that if I added only $89 more merchandise to my cart, I would get free shipping.

Hmmm.  Well, I do want to make all of the grandchildren quilts one of these days, and I had been leaning toward panels, the better to get them done quickly...  So I typed ‘panel’ into the search engine, and promptly had ten pages of panels from which to choose.

I picked the ones I wanted, made myself an account, and clicked ‘Method of Payment’.  

An email arrived, welcoming me to Missouri Star.  I allllmost clicked Pay – then decided to look at the email first.

Good thing I did; it had a 20%-off coupon for my first order!

I typed the code onto my order, and clicked submit.  Free shipping, and 20% off.  Not bad.

Here’s what I got.  There are only 17 panels here, and we have 27 grandchildren with one on the way... but I already have a few that I’ve been saving.  I’ll get more if I need them.  Can you tell we have more grandsons than granddaughters?

Ordering fabric makes one’s back feel better!  (Doesn’t it?)

Upon telling a quilting group of my happy purchase, the same woman who told me to spray the yard with weed killer wrote, “Sarah... .........Sarah..............Sarah.  sigh.........  Keep Away From That Button!”

I retorted, “You would deprive the grandchildren of their quilts??!!!”

Larry got groceries after the evening service last night, and we ate supper when he got home.  A little later, I opened the stairs door to go upstairs and pack Joyce’s quilt; Larry was going to help me.

There was a bat inside the door, hanging on the doorjamb.  I shut the door and informed Larry.  He came and collected the bat while I stood around the corner and kept watch.

A good watchman (or watchwoman) is worth his (or her) weight in gold.  Right?

We got the quilt ready for shipping – and found another bat scrabbling out from under the door of my little office.  Larry dispatched it.

Larry mailed the box with the quilt today, then got the license for the BMW at the courthouse.

There are four newly-fledged baby barn swallows in the garage on a cord just outside the door.  Every few minutes they set up a mighty squawk, because their parents come swooping in with food – insects – for them.  The parents feed them on the wing, without ever landing, and then are gone again to collect more.  What a job, feeding those four hungry mouths!  They spend every minute of the day doing it.

Oh!  Now there are five baby swallows on the cord!  One more has escaped the confines of the nest.  They’re such pretty little things.

And... a bat just hit the stairs door.  Another one was in the small bin I had put on the bottom step.  Ugh, ugh!  I really hate bats in my house! 

Calling for Larry...

 

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

 

I will not pull up sequoias.  I will not pull up sequoias.  I will not pull up sequoias.  I will not pull up sequoias.  I will not pull up sequoias.  I will not pull up sequoias.