Journal: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

 

Last Tuesday was an overcast day.  I couldn’t have seen the lunar eclipse that morning, even if I had’ve tried.  But here’s a photo from NASA.

I continued working on the Star Crossed quilt that day, preparing the newsprint papers I’d printed for paper-piecing.

Meanwhile, I saw that Larry had put ‘Take Me Home’ into his GPS, which always gets my hopes up, even though he’s done it before, and my hopes have soon been dashed when he instead requested to be routed to Napa or O’Reilly Auto Parts.  🫤  He was listening to Sweeter As the Days Go By by the Old Fashioned Revival Hour at the moment; so I figured he hadn’t crashed down a mountainside.

A friend, having successfully gotten her front-yard security camera up and running, sent me a video clip from the previous evening.  She lives some distance to the south, and insects have come out of diapause (if they ever went into the state of dormancy in the first place), and luna moths have emerged from their cocoons.

I wrote to her, “Wow, there’s a huge moth!  It went swinging on your wooden porch swing, admired itself in your car’s side-view mirror, grinned at the camera, curtsied, and then exited Stage Left.”

(Photo from National Geographic Kids.)

We were once camping at Ponca State Park in the northeast corner of the state alongside the Missouri River.  That night, as we were roasting marshmallows around a big campfire, a large luna moth landed right atop Joseph’s cap.  Victoria, who would’ve been about 3 or 4, laughed so hard she sat right down on the ground, ker-plunk.  We all got struck funny at her, more so than at the moth on Joseph’s head.  I have no idea why she thought that was so all-fired funny; but her sense of humor has not changed much in the ensuing years.

That morning, FedEx delivered two 40-lb. bags of black oil sunflower seeds.  Soon the insect population will start picking up, and the birds won’t be going through sunflower seeds and nyjer seeds like hot soup.

I spent the day working on the Star Crossed quilt.  As suspected, my printer had indeed spit out extra pages – enough for four extra blocks.  So I’m debating... shall I or shan’t I make four decorative pillows?  (Or two large shams, alternatively.)

For supper that evening, I had broccoli, applesauce, cottage cheese, and apple peach juice, with mint chocolate chunk ice cream for dessert.

The Sandhill cranes are arriving in the Platte River Valley west of Grand Island.  I want to go see them!   About 1.25 million cranes migrate through the Valley.

(Photo from the Iain Nicolson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary.)

Here’s the Crane Camera, streaming live.

I texted Hannah, and after a short delay, she responded, “I lost my phone, so I searched all over the main floor.  Finally I saw it in Levi’s hands, thanks to Aaron saying, ‘Isn’t that what Levi has?’”

She had gone to Urgent Care that morning, because she was having trouble breathing.  She had some trouble in Los Angeles, too, as their hotel room was in a building that had opened in 2025, and had some odd smell about it.

I have no trouble breathing, but I do have extremely sensitive olfactory senses, and I know it’s distressing when someplace where you’re trying to stay smells bad or odd.  So much worse for Hannah with her asthma and sinus disease.

This time of year, an odor of fumes sometimes fills our house.  It burns my eyes, nose, throat, and makes lymph nodes in my neck swell.  It’s probably diesel fumes from trucks on the highway.  The newer trucks bother me a lot – it’s the DEF additive in the fuel.

Wednesday I thought, Thank goodness I’ll be going to church and get away from this smell — and then the church smelled quite similar, only from train diesel fumes!  Aarrgghh.

Larry sent me a picture Tuesday night, writing,  “My rig is just as long as the truck next to me.”

He was not making good time, since anytime he got above 40 mph, the trailer began swaying alarmingly.  The picture cut off the tail end of the container, so I suggested he turn his camera to the landscape position in order to show the entire thing.  (I have severely cropped this shot; it originally had lots of black sky at the top and even more parking lot at the bottom.)

“No wonder the thing is swaying,” I remarked.  “I see what you mean about the axles being too far to the front.”

He was in Seligman, Arizona, and it was chilly.  He was planning to sleep in the container he was hauling, as it actually has a room built into one end with planks for bunkbeds.  He had a travel mattress, a sleeping bag, and quilts, so he would stay warm.

“The altitude there is 5,243′,” I told him, then asked, “Have you noticed you’re smack-dab in the middle of a big tourist trap?” 

He had not.  I sent a few pictures.

Seligman, Arizona, is famous as the “Birthplace of Historic Route 66.”

Since he was hungry and hoping to find a place to eat before he slept, I sent a shot of the Roadkill Café.  There’s a sign out front with their slogan:  “You kill it, we grill it!”

“Did you want me to bring you a meal from there?  😋” he asked.

“They supposedly have good food,” I answered, “but by the time you’d get it here, it would be so old it would be petrified.”

Wednesday morning, I showered and curled my hair.

I do that every morning, even when I don’t expect to see anybody – well, except for the house finches, English sparrows, goldfinches, blue jays, Eurasian collared doves, cardinals, juncos, red-winged blackbirds, grackles, starlings, and robins.  The cardinals in particular can be quite judgmental.

On Wednesday mornings, I take a little extra time, since I’ll be going to church that evening.

It was a foggy, mysterious morning, and 42°.

The red-winged blackbirds are practically tame this spring.  They perch just 10-15 feet away while I rehang the bird feeders, tipping their heads to see if I’ve got each one straight, and making little metallic ‘hurry up, please’ squeaks and squawks.

My piano sounds sooo beautiful since Levi tuned it Saturday, I can hardly stop playing it and get on with anything else.  That boy has talent.  He also has perfect pitch.  If I say, “I like I Know Whom I Have Believed best in the key of E, four sharps,” he promptly starts humming it in four sharps.

According to Larry’s Google Activity around 10:00 a.m., he was looking for equipment and/or tool rentals in Flagstaff.  😶  I wonder what that meant?

I don’t often call him when he’s traveling, because one of two things might very likely be happening: 1) he’s driving in heavy traffic/unknown, perilous territory, or 2) he’s taking a much-needed nap.  So I prefer that he call me.

Someone posted a video on Facebook of hundreds of thousands of snow geese on Lake Babcock, 8 ½ miles to our east.  What a sight, and what a sound!

Greeting a couple of my very tall great-nephews after church that night reminded me of the time I was in the public library, trotting through the aisles at a rapid clip.  I came dashing around a corner — and barely got stopped in time to keep from bashing my nose against a gigantic, ornate, silver and gold and jewel-bedecked belt buckle.

So I said in my most intelligent tones, “Oops!”

And then I looked up... up... up... and more up, into the face of a black man (a grinning black man) who was taller than anyone I’ve ever seen, before or since.  He was taller than my great-nephew Joshua, who is 7 feet tall.  There was another tall black man with him, though not as tall as the first.  He, too, was wearing a giant, shiny, sparkly belt buckle.  

They looked like basketball players, judging from the logos on buckles and caps.  And weightlifters, too.

Anyway, I grinned back and went on my way, trying to hush small fry scampering along behind me who would insist on hissing loudly as soon as we got into the next aisle, “Those guys are TALLLLLLLL!!!!!” with the smallest fry (that was Hester, back then) inquiring in great curiosity and wonderment, “Whyyyy are they so tall??!!!  Are they ((...gasp...)) giants??!!!!!!”

Small fry assume sound waves travel only to the ears for which they were intended, and never, ever pass through or go over the top of bookshelves.

I said right her ear, ”They can hear you.”

Wow, her hazel eyes opened WIDE, at that news.

Here’s a pair of blue-winged teal on Standing Bear Lake, a photo I took two years ago after visiting Loren.

Larry spent the day in Flagstaff, moving the double dual axles under his flatbed farther back so his load would stop swaying so badly.  In so doing, he discovered that they had actually been moved forward by the previous owner, probably in order to better balance the backhoe they hauled on it.  He had to rent a welder from a Home Depot, and then he put those axles back where they were originally intended.

While there, another customer, a man in his mid-40s, saw what Larry was renting, along with a few supplies he also purchased, learned what he was doing – and proceeded to spend the day helping Larry do the job!  He drove twice to his house, ten miles away, and got welding helmets, creeper or mat for Larry to lie on under the flatbed, and some DeWalt chargers for some of Larry’s tools, as he’d forgotten his chargers at home.

He let Larry fill his pickup with fuel as payment, but when he took Larry to a nearby Cracker Barrel for supper that night, he wouldn’t let Larry pay for it. Larry wouldn’t let him pay for his meal; so they each paid for their own food.

In our many travels, we sure have run into a lot of lovely, helpful people.  We try to be helpful to others when we can; but I think we’re going to have to up our game, if we want to come out even!

I spent a totally sleepless night Wednesday night/Thursday morning, which was odd, since I was tired when I went to bed a little after one.  I almost fell asleep, not quite... and finally gave up and got up at a quarter after 5, showered, and got in gear.  That’s waaay too long to be miserably tossing and turning.  There are better things to do.

It was another morning with dense fog, and just 32°.  It would get up to 59° that afternoon, with a few raindrops falling.

Larry would be heading toward home as soon as he could return the rented welder after Home Depot opened.  I hoped his pickup and trailer would be a whole bunch safer now.

That day, I continued piecing the Star Crossed quilt.  I’d gotten the fabric cut for all the blocks the day before, and started the piecing.  I’ll cut the sashing and borders when the blocks are done.

At 7:30 a.m. I texted Larry:  “You’re in a wind advisory, with winds up to 45 mph.”

From my kitchen window, I watched a robin tugging a worm up out of the ground – but before he had it quite extracted from the earth, another robin that had been perched in a nearby Blue spruce, watching with a combination of malice and anticipation, divebombed him!  Robin #1 nearly tipped over, fluttered and hopped a few feet to the side – and the divebombing opportunist scampered right to the half-tugged-up worm, jerked it the rest of the way out of the ground, and gobbled it up.

Haven’t seen that happen before.

When I got sleepy at 12:30 p.m., I took a nap.  That lasted just an hour before I abruptly awoke; but I felt better, and it kept me going until bedtime that night.

As I sewed, I watched (and listened to) a video of someone taking an Amtrak journey across the country.  As they waited in a depot for their train to arrive, they gave a running commentary. 

“Here’s a lady who’s probably never been on a train before, looking nervous and pulling two large rolling suitcases, with a big duffle bag slung over each shoulder.  She’s probably packed for a two-week vacation with enough stuff to last her an entire summer.”  And, “Now here’s a man jauntily strolling along, a small carrying case in one hand.  He’ll probably make whatever’s in there last him a month.”  Pause.  Then, “Along comes somebody carrying an entire toddler.”

Hee hee  It would be easier if toddlers could be split into sections, like those colorful big plastic pop beads.  Here’s Hannah at about age two, playing with said beads.

At 4:40 p.m. Larry texted, “I just galloped into Gallup, New Mexico.  It was definitely worth moving the axles back two feet.  I had the cruise set at 58 mph.  When the trucks pass by, it still pulls me toward them a little bit, but it corrects itself without me having to touch the brakes.  👍”

“That’s good,” I answered, then told him, “You have 950 miles to go.”

“Yeah, and around 100 miles before I turn north and head with the wind, if it doesn’t change direction,” he said.

Gallup, New Mexico, from years gone by

At 7:00 p.m., I sent him a weather forecast from Live Storm Chasers for our area, where he would be by the next afternoon:

“SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER EXPECTED FRIDAY:  Storms may produce STRONG TORNADOES 🌪️, Baseball ⚾️ size hail 🧊 (up to 3 inches), and Severe damaging winds 💨 greater than 60 mph.

“Forecast conditions appear favorable for supercell thunderstorms, which are capable of producing strong tornadoes, large to very large hail, and severe wind gusts Friday afternoon through Friday night across parts of the central and southern Plains into the Missouri Valley.”

From the predictive radar maps, it appeared that if he cut across the states from New Mexico toward Columbus in as straight a diagonal line as possible, he might miss the severe weather to the east and be ahead of the snowstorm to the west.

I baked an apple crumb pie that evening, and had a slice for dessert when it was still too hot and runny to actually be a slice, putting a big scoop of extra-creamy cool whip on it.  Mmmmm, yummy.  (Those ‘Let it cool an hour’ instructions are suggestions only, you know.)

At a quarter ’til ten, Larry wrote, “I am going to sleep for 4 hours and then start driving again.  Maybe I will be home before the bad weather hits.  I am just a few minutes from Santa Fe.”  That meant he had 800 miles to go.

I somewhat made up for my lack of sleep the previous night by getting 8 ½ hours of sleep, only waking up twice during that time.  That’s an hour or so more than usual.

It was foggy again Friday morning, quite windy, and the temperature had been on a downward trend ever since it hit the day’s high of 52° at 4:00 a.m.  There were some rainstorms with lightning during the night, and it was raining again at 10:00 a.m.  The weatherman said it would change to either ice or snow or both as it dropped below freezing that evening.

I spent the day continuing to put blocks together for the Star Crossed quilt.  The quilt is scrappy, in blues, browns, tans, and creams.  Sometimes, especially when first starting, scrappy quilts look all unbalanced to me, and I’m unhappy with them.  But as I continue, the colors usually balance out.  Let’s hope this quilt does the same!

By 4:00 p.m., the wind was gusting up to 30 mph., howling and rattling around the eaves.

An hour later, I texted Larry, “There are tornadoes in Oklahoma and in Michigan, and a snow-and-ice storm approaching us from the west.”

He answered, “I’m heading north on 83 and just went thru Rexford.”

That’s Rexford, Kansas, 260 miles from home.  Population 197.

Two hours later, at 7:00 p.m., he wrote, “I am in Alma, Nebraska, putting in some fuel. The wind is holding me at 50-55 mph.”

“It’s upended trucks in Oklahoma and Kansas,” I told him.  “I just heard a warning about 2” hail south of Seward.  Snow will be starting here in 40 minutes, and there will be ice on the roads.  There have been bad tornadoes in Michigan today, and going on right now in Oklahoma.”

“I am ready to hit the road again,” he responded a few minutes later.

“It is now hailing and raining hard, and thundering and lightninging,” I said.

He had 160 miles to go.

As I sewed, I listened to the weather.  There were reports of homes being wiped off the earth, right down to the foundation, and mobile homes rolled.

By the time the storms subsided that night, six people would lose their lives, adding to the mother and daughter who were hit by a tornado north of Tulsa as they drove in their car the previous night.  Others were trapped in ruined homes, with rescuers having a hard time getting to them, not just because of debris, but also because of downed, but still live, power lines.

At 10:00 p.m., Larry texted, “I made it to Grand Island, but I am going to take a little nap.  Too tired to drive on Hwy 30.”

He would finally get home, after being gone for 8 days, at 1:00 a.m.  He had a scary moment just 20 miles from home when he hit ice on a bridge.  His pickup started sliding, and he knew that if that flatbed trailer with the big container on it got to swerving, he’d land in the ditch, and probably not upright, either.  He let off the accelerator immediately, and then, knowing he had the brakes on the trailer adjusted as high as they would go, he applied the brakes.  It straightened him out like magic.  Whew.

Better believe, he drove the rest of the way in four-wheel-drive!

It was a good thing I stayed up until he got home, as the front storm door handle was iced over and frozen, and he couldn’t get in.

It was warmer than expected Saturday – 40° by 11:00 a.m., on the way up to 55° – and not a cloud in the sky.  I went on working on the Star Crossed quilt, getting the fourth block done and part of the fifth.  The finished size of the blocks will be 16”.  I paused and counted the pieces in one block:  65.  Maybe that’s why they each take so long!  😄  Paper-piecing takes a little longer than regular piecing; but it’s more accurate, and an absolute must when my designs wind up with oddball sizes for each and every piece.

It was Andrew’s birthday that day; he’s 39 years old.  We gave him a Gerber multi-tool, and I tucked this eagle placemat into his bag, too.

In the middle of the afternoon, I went downstairs to get a refill of cold brew.  That emptied the jug, so I made a fresh gallon of it.  I keep a bottle of Starbucks or Dunkin cold brew in the refrigerator in case I want more while the next gallon is brewing.  Since I don’t like it nearly as well as the stuff I make myself, I also keep a bottle of Coffeemate creamer on hand to make it a little more palatable.

Victoria sent this picture of the table runner I gave her for her birthday, saying, “This was the perfect centerpiece for a baby shower I hosted today!”

I took a little time to sew the hanging sleeve back on a quilt I made for Jeremy a few years ago, then continued with the piecing.  Below are the blocks I have completed for the Star Crossed quilt.

At 7:30 a.m. yesterday, it was 35°; but it would get up to 73° in the afternoon.  I got myself a tall mug of cold brew to sip as I curled my hair, getting ready for church.  This recent cold-brew coffee conglomeration is Gingerbread and Cupid’s Kiss (vanilla and red velvet cake flavors), and it’s mmmm, good.  When I need to combine bean flavors in order to have enough for a gallon of cold brew, I go by the aroma of the beans to decide if they go together.  It’s a surefire way of deciding. 

Motto: Trust Ze Ol’ Schnozz.

Did you know there are seven verses to Amazing Grace?  We sometimes sing them all.  Everybody else must love those verses as much as I do, because boy, oh boy, do they ever sing, when we do that!  Here they are:

 

Verse 1

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

 

Verse 2

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed!

 

Verse 3

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come;

’Tis grace that brought me safe this far,

And grace will lead me home.

 

Verse 4

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.

 

Verse 5

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess, within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

 

Verse 6

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun forbear to shine;

But God who called me here below,

Will be forever mine.

 

Verse 7

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Than when we first begun.

 

I was glad to have Larry with me at church yesterday.  Without him, I feel as King David described:  “I am like a pelican of the wilderness:  I am like an owl of the desert... I am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.”  ~ Psalm 102: 6-7.

After the evening service, we took Jeremy his quilt, then picked up groceries at Walmart.

We had ham and Swiss cheese lettuce salad, along with Sweet Hawaiian club crackers and mozzarella cheese, for supper when we got home.

Andrew had sent us home from church with angelfood cake and breakfast muffins that Hester had made; Larry had his piece of angelfood cake for dessert while I had a piece of apple crumb pie.   I had the breakfast muffin for – what else – breakfast this morning.

We have a pretty, sunshiny day today, 59° on the way up to 71°.  

Someone with a phone number from Omaha (supposedly) just called.  I said “Hello?”, and after a loooong pause, a mush-mouthed man said, “Hello, is garble-garble-garble available?” (I think he said, ‘My man Goofball,’ but I could be mistaken.)

I considered handing the phone to Larry...

The pizza is done! 

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