Journal: Quilting and Birthday Partying and... Wheeeee!

 

Here’s one of the sheep we saw at the Nebraska State Fair.  She was tame as any much-loved pet – and, just like the llamas at our County Fair, she very much wanted to nibble on my shiny rings.

I just looked at the list of 85 county fairs that are held in Nebraska, and I see there is only one left:  Richardson County Fair, held in Humboldt, Nebraska, Sept. 11-14.  Humboldt, population 800, is in the far southeastern corner of the state.

I have read of people who travel the state from county fair to county fair, trying to hit every single one of them.  That might be kinda fun – if one didn’t have anything else to do.

Tuesday afternoon, I took Keira’s quilt back to her.  I also gave her the gold ribbon rosette that designated the quilt Best of County and the red 2^nd-place ribbon, along with $5.

So that Oliver wouldn’t feel left out, I gave him a little notepad with a deer silhouette on each page and a handful of coins, which he soon discovered fit nicely in the little pocket on his shirt.

Supper that evening was chicken, beets, spinach salad, and a smoothie made with ice cream, milk, and a whole lot of frozen fruit.

Here’s one of the 473 quilts at the Nebraska State Fair.   There were quite a number of Judy Niemeyer quilts there.  So many beautiful quilts!

Wednesday was a pretty day, sunny with blue skies, with a high of 81°.  By 2:30 p.m., the last load of laundry was in the dryer.  I was almost to the halfway point of the Nine Kittens quilt when it was time to go to our evening church service.  Larry didn’t get home from work in time to go with me.

After the service, I picked up a large order of groceries from Wal-Mart.  It’s nice to just pull into a parking spot, and have someone bring out all those groceries.  Larry wasn’t back yet when I got home, though, so I had to carry them all in by myself.  Once again, my VeryFitPro watch awarded me a Gold Cup for all my steps that day.

Thursday, I washed the bedding, paid a few bills, and then headed upstairs to get back to quilting, a steaming cup of Southern Texas Pecan coffee in hand.  It rained that morning, but by early afternoon, the sun came out and was shining brightly through a hazy sky.  

After quitting quilting for the day, I headed for my recliner, planning to edit pictures, but could hardly do it, because my eyes were being so troublesome.  Once when I pried them open enough to look at the screen, there was a katydid perched right on the top edge of said screen.  Aaaaaa!

I thumped him into the next county, and continued my attempt to edit pictures.  This is a taxidermy mount in the Nebraska Game and Parks building.

Friday was another nice day, but the sun was having trouble shining through the hazy skies.  The haze was caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires.  It was high enough in the atmosphere that we couldn’t smell it much, fortunately; but a slight change in the wind can always make matters worse, down here on the ground.  Smoky skies are never good for our children and grandchildren who have asthma.

That afternoon I heard on the radio that the air quality had dropped to the moderate-to-unhealthy range, and people with breathing problems should stay indoors.  I walked out on the front porch to remove the spent blossoms from the hibiscus, and I could indeed smell the smoke, but not strongly.

That evening, we went to Caleb and Maria’s house for Eva’s 4^th birthday.  We gave her a Jakks Pacific soft-bodied doll with vinyl arms, legs, and head, and eyes that open and shut; and a little cap with butterflies on it like we gave Carolyn, and one of those funny fidget worms.

I ordered some extra clothes for the doll, but they wouldn’t arrive until Saturday.

When I was about three or four, I had a ‘walking’ doll that was more than half as tall as me.  It didn’t really walk; it had straight legs that were jointed at the hip, and if one pulled it along by an arm, every now and then a leg would move.  I guess they called that ‘walking’.  But if I positioned her feet just right, and got her balanced properly, she would stand up by herself.

One day I gave the doll a haircut.  That poor thing looked like a homeless urchin from that day forth.  I didn’t cut it all off; I just tried to give her a stylish hairdo.  

It was... NOT stylish.

Eva asked for a ‘princess birthday party’; so, accordingly, all the little girl cousins came decked out in pretty dresses with ruffles and lace and jewelry.

Just look at the beautiful cake Maria made.  When Maria asked Eva what kind of cake she wanted, Eva said excitedly, “A princess cake!”

So Maria spent a long while with pastel-colored frostings, making the cake look like a very fancy skirt for a princess.

However, when Eva was presented with this lovely cake, she stared at it, then asked, “Where’s the princess?”  😂

I carried Baby Arnold around for a little bit while Victoria played volleyball in the front yard with some of the other young people.  When my back began protesting, I handed him over to Larry.

Arnold was delighted, because he thought Larry was holding him up precisely so he could play with all the hanging decorative crepe paper.

Baby Maisie is crawling!  She’s only just begun, and it’s a process that takes a lot of concentration; but she gets where she intends to go.

Here’s part of an obituary I heard on the Chicago news station Saturday morning as I got ready to go visit Loren:  “He died peacefully last night, surrounded by his wife” – which begs the question, Just how big was she?!!

It was 67°, on the way up to 77°, a nice day for a drive to Omaha.

As I visited with Loren and showed him pictures, seated on a nice loveseat in one of the wide hallways at Prairie Meadows, a nurse trotted busily about, helping this one and that one, and doling out medications.  Hot on her heels trotted one of the residents, Mary.  The nurse sped up.  So did Mary.

Eventually the nurse, needing to enter a supply room whose door was directly beside the loveseat where Loren and I were sitting, practically ran to that door, quickly tapped in the code, turned the knob, and dashed inside, shutting the door hurriedly behind her.

Mary stopped in the nick of time, barely.  She looked at the knob, then called out, “Knock, knock!”  When nothing happened, she said, “I wanted to go through!!”  Then, “WAAAA!!!” she stated, without changing her expression in the slightest.

Loren laughed, and she gave him a piercing look.

I handed her a Nebraska magazine that I’d brought for Loren, in the hopes of distracting her.  She took it after a moment’s hesitation, then looked at the cover, on which was pictured a child on a bright red tractor in the throes of a Kiddie Tractor Pull.

“Wheeeeee!” said Mary, still without expression.

I laughed.  “It looks like she’s having fun, doesn’t it?”

Mary looked at me. 

“Wheeee,” said she, and allowed me a small smile.

The nurse who had escaped into the supply room suddenly appeared at the other end of the hall, coming our way.  There is apparently another exit to the supply room!

“There you are!” said Mary, pointing an accusatory finger.

“Yes, and there you are!” retorted the nurse with a smile, pointing right back at Mary.  “I’ve been looking for you!” 

(Sherrrrrr she has.)

“Wheeeeee!” said Mary.  😄

After leaving Prairie Meadows, I drove to Standing Bear Lake, thinking to cross the lake on the floating walk bridge.

But... it was gone!  It just... was not there.  Did it get wrecked up when that terrible windstorm went through a month ago?  There were 100-mph winds that damaged or totally took down many of the big trees in the park and all over the city.  Prairie Meadows was without power for 16 hours, but they have back-up generators.  At one point, a quarter of a million Omaha Public Power customers were without electricity – the most without power in the metro, ever.  It took two weeks to get everybody reconnected, even though crews came from all over the state and even from Iowa to help.

Okay, never mind, I’m looking at my pictures, and I just enlarged one aimed waaaay down the lake, and I now see that what I thought was part of the structure of the bank is the floating walk bridge.  haha

Why can I never find the right road to take me to that thing?!  All right, Google satellite maps, show me how to get there.  Next Saturday is supposed to be another nice day; I’ll try again.  😅

Here it is – my 300mm lens sees much farther and clearer than the human eye can.  But can you see why I thought it was part of the bank?

Last year they totally emptied the lake, cleaned out a whole lot of silt, making it a lot deeper, and then refilled it and restocked it with fish.  They’ve redone the banks with steps down to the water, and put in several piers.  There are new docks (only paddle boats are allowed).

The Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) are in bloom all over the place.  I thought last week when there were so many Black-eyed Susans along the roadsides and field edges that it wouldn’t be long before the red sumac started turning red, befitting its name — and sure enough, I spotted one bright stand of red sumac along the road this week.

Below are some of the fresh-hatched baby piglets we saw in the birthing pavilion at the State Fair.

If I ever post pictures on my Facebook page of a sow in a farrowing stall with her piglets beside her, there will always be a couple of people who rant and rave about ‘inhumane and cruel’ treatment, never mind the fact that if the sows are not kept in those farrowing stalls while her tiny new piglets are right beside her, she will doubtless squish a good number – maybe even all – of them.  The mother may weigh 500-650 pounds.  The piglets only weigh 3-4 pounds.

Off and on throughout the day, people move the piglets out of the way and let the sow get up for some exercise, food, and water.  What ranters and ravers find it hard to admit is that pigs just plain like to lie around in laze and comfort!  These animals that we see at the fair are well-cared-for pets.

By a quarter ’til nine Sunday morning, I was ready for church.  Larry, as usual, was still struggling through his ablutions, shavings, noose-tying, and whatnot.  This is not because I can get ready so much faster than he can, but because I get up so much earlier than he does.  😉

After the evening service, we gave Eva the doll clothes that had arrived Saturday.  Not long afterwards, Caleb sent a picture of Eva with four of her dolls, including the one we gave her, all wearing the new little doll dresses.

I sat down in my recliner, lifted the footrest, tucked a pillow behind my head, got my laptop adjusted on my lap – and the second toe on my left foot cramped, pointing straight down at the floor.  That brought me out of my doldrums in a hurry.

I popped up, hastily put the footrest back down, and massaged the foot and toe until the cramp abated.  But the slightest wiggle of my foot or toes would set it off all over again.  As long as I kept my toes curled upwards with all my might and main, the cramping lessened.

And then the second toe on the right foot cramped.

Same song, second verse.  And third verse.  And fourth verse.  Yeeeeooowwowwwowwwowwwowwwieee.

I stumbled into the bathroom to get the Jr. Watkins Pain Relieving Cooling Gel, and rubbed it onto toes, feet (top and bottom), and ankles, which were threatening to cramp, too.  Judging from when this happens (Sunday nights, mostly), it’s just gotta be because of the shoes I wear to church – and I don’t even wear the high heels I used to wear regularly.  Nowadays, I stick to flats and shoes with no more than 2-inch heels.  And the ones I wore yesterday seemed fairly comfortable.

Do I need to start wearing those Earth shoes that were all the rage back when I was in high school??  

Or the wave-sole shoes by Famolare???

Actually, when I was in high school, I had a pair of shoes that combined the wide toe of the Earth shoe with the wave sole of the Famolare, just like these:  

Mine were quite comfortable (or maybe my feet were just tolerant), but it wasn’t long before I grew tired of plowing along through the High Seas on tugboats, and found myself something more fetching.

Supper tonight is lasagna – easy lasagna, by Marie Callender.  There are fresh strawberries and Oui yogurt to go with it.

Time to get back to the Nine Kittens quilt!

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