Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

 Well, the we went off Daylight Savings Time early this morning - at 2:00 a.m. to be precise.  While I love it when we change times in November cause it gives us an extra hour to sleep in, my body doesn't really care for it.  I've been 'off' all day and it's only noon.  It will take a couple of days to get acclimatized to the time change...thank goodness I no longer have to deal with going to work as well as the change in time.

The last couple of weeks have been - well, challenging is a word that comes to mind.  Last weekend, I had to deal with John's back - we have scheduled a procedure for this coming Tuesday that, hopefully, will give him 100% relief immediately.  Then we had to take one of the dogs to the vet cause she tore a huge hole in the bottom of her paw.  That was all on one day. The next day mom required a trip to the ED via ambulance - the results of which were "We just don't know", from the ED doctor on duty.  

I followed the ambulance into the hospital so I would have transportation when I left the hospital.  By the time I got there, parked the car, and made it to the ED, Mom was 100% pain free and not even sure why she was there.  4 hours later, after x-rays, lab tests, and a Cat-Scan, we were no closer to knowing why she had been in so much pain.  So I brought here home and there has been to recurrence.  

I was on my way into town to teach a workshop on Wednesday morning and stopped at the library to put a couple of books in the dropbox.  As I pulled way, the sun was directly in my front windshield and I proceeded to drive right into a cement-based lamppost.  Tons of damage to my car - undriveable - and a very sore chest area on me.  Fortunately, I had my seat belt on and the airbag did not deploy or there would have been so much more physical damage.  Had the car towed to a shop that is going to repair it, John drove me in to teach and the day went on from the.  I had some developing discomfort from the impact - which I expected - and I called our doctor to make sure there wasn't anthing that I was supposed to do - their recommendation, since it was a result of a car accident, was to go to the ED.  Do John picked me up from my workshop and took me to the ED.  They checked me in and said it could be as much as 5 1/2 hours ....I had John go home and take care of his farm chores and feed the animals and feed mom.  I was only at the ED for 2 hours when they released me after doing x-rays and an EKG.  He came and picked me up.  I drove to my workshop and finished out that obligation and came home.  It's been quite a pain-filled few days but the ED doctor said there was no internal damage, only general bruiding from the seat belt and to continue taking the pain meds I have been taking for my arthritic knee and in 5-7 days I should begin to feel better.  Today is day 5 so I should see some improvement soon.  In the meantime, the insurance company has been working with the repair shop and they believe they have an agreement for repairs.  John and I will stop there tomorrow to see how long it will take to get my car back - total repairs so far are aroung $6600.00. Depending on how long it will take to get my car back, we may decide to get a rental car. 

I saw this car in front of me at a stoplight coming home on Thursday. It's a good reminder that not all things have to be looked at dramatically!  

John sent this picture to me while I was teaching on Thursday morning.  It seems Belle had her calf.  We haven't determined if it's a boy or girl yet but it's up and running across the field and nursing and Babette is being a good big sister.  Will be albe to know within the week if it's a boy or girl and can then name it.  Welcome, little calf!  

Thanks for stopping by.  Will check in soon. 

 

Several years ago I made a pact with myself to post on the blog every single week, usually on Sunday.  That worked really well.  Every Sunday, the blog post was the first thing I did.  Last year, I decided that I didn't want to be tied down to doing a blog post by a schedule and I just knew I would be able to be consistent with writing, even without a set day.  Well, we can all see that was a total disaster!  I have not been consistent - in fact, one might say I didn't even post monthly, much less weekly.  I believe I will go back to the Once a Week Blog Post schedule....starting January 1, 2023.  

In the meantime, let me catch you up on what's been happening here.  

Autumn has arrived here in southwest Missouri.  The leaves on our grove of trees have turned so many different shades of red and orange and yellow.  I love the colors of autumn.  The last few days we've had tremendous winds - sometimes upwards of 50 miles per hour.  Needless-to-say, the trees are almost naked now.  We have had daily temperatures ranging from mid-40's to mid-80's with nighttime temps as low as 21 degrees - breaking a record low that was set in 1917!  Today the temps are expected to be in the high 70's to mid 80's.  Rain is predicted for tomorrow - something we dearly need.  By the end of the week, temps should be dropping down again to be mostly normal for this time of year.  

I've been working on counted cross stitch projects.  Some are miniatures of famous paintings.  

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. This one measures 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.

Mt. Fuji by Kamisaka Seeka

This is an autumn bookmark by Maryna Risnichenko.  Those colors are amazing. I loved stitching this one. 

Mom and I went down to Branson recently.  We met my friend Fran there and we all went to lunch at Scooters - a small cafe attached to a miniature golf course.  The sign on the door made me giggle.  You can't pee for free!  A very clear way of saying the restrooms are for paying customers!

We've had our winter hay delivered.  They 'drop' it in the circle at the beginning of the driveway and John put some of it down by the barn and took the rest of it next door to store it at our friend's property - on a gravel pad to keep the hay from sitting in mud and damp.  John can go over with the tractor and pick the roll up with the spike on his tractor and transport it here for the cows.  The two cows - Belle and Babbette spent the last few weeks grazing on our neighbor's property, allowing our grass to recuperate from overgrazing.  Yesterday they came home for the winter - Belle's calf is due to be born within the next couple of weeks and Babbette isn't due till after winter.  It's better for Belle to be here at home rather than having her calf next door and then John trying to get her and the calf transported home.  

Well, that's about all for now.  Hopefully I can get another couple of blog posts in before the end of the year.  I am fully committed to returning to Sunday blogging in 2023.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Mid to Late August Catch-Up

Well, it's been a while and I keep thinking there isn't much to report.  We will see when we get to the end, shall we?

A while back, John asked me to make a 'flag' for his smoker, something like those that are used on airplanes.  It is attached to the plane in between flights and simply says "Remove Before Flight".  They put covers on the exhaust pipes on the planes to keep animals and bugs out.  And they need to remember to remove those covers before the planes take off.   I did some calculations, and programmed a 'design' into my embroidery machine.  Found some rip-stop fabric in the stash - have no idea why I had it, don't remember ever using it before - and sewed out the design.  Today I topstitched the entire thing and John put a grommet in.  Here you have it. 

 

There's a little magnetic cover to the left of the sign that keeps mud-daubers out of the smoker box...but it needs to be removed when the smoker is in use.  I made one for our next door neighbor's smoker as well.  They are both so pleased with their flags.  It takes so little to make men happy!

The local newspaper (it comes out once a week) had an article a couple of weeks ago about a Barn Quilt class.  I love the idea of bar quilts.  If you don't know, barn quilts are not really fabric quilts but instead, they are large (like 2 feet by 2 feet or bigger) wooden 'signs' that have been painted to look like a quilt block and then attached to the front of the barn.  A lot of different areas in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa and Indiana - to name a few - have put together Barn Quilt Trail maps for tourists.  Our town decided they might like to do something like that to encourage some tourism here.  So I signed up for the class, mainly to find out how best to do the construction or painting of the quil square.  What a fun day!  I learned a lot and will be painting several more to change them out with the seasons.  Here is the one I did.

The block is called Monkey Wrench - I decided to do that one because life seems to always throw a wrench into plans.  It's to remind me to be flexible.   I plan on using my cutting machine to cut Pieceful Harbor, est. 2004 and adhere it to the middle before I seal the block.  You won't be able to see the writing from the road but I will know it's there.  Our neighbor, John, has agreed to make some french cleats for the barn so that I can put up one block and then slide it out to change up the blocks.  

They are never out of each other's sight.  Even if one is down the hall, the other can be laying on the tile but facing the other one.  They are such good friends.  Angel - the white one - is younger than Shiloh but has about 15 pounds on him.  He always lets her go in and out of the doggy door first - I attribute that to Alpha Dog (Angel) but it's probably more like he understands she is bigger and he doesn't want to get stuck in the door when she rushes through.  

Our temps are finally cooling off...it's only in the high 80's and low 90's this next week.  Wish we'd get some rain....the drought conditions have the farmers concerned.  I can't imagine have a working farm and depending on the crops for our income - we'd be screwed this year, for sure.  John has tomatoes and eggplant growing in our little garden this year.  That is enough for us to get tomates for the next year when we can them next month.  

 Be safe, be well, be cool (or warm, depending on where you live here on earth).  Until next time, thanks for stopping by. 

July Fry

Well, we are truly into the month of July here in the Ozarks.  It is hot and humid.  The temps got almost to 100 degrees with humidity levels in the mid-70's.  The air was soupy and the heat sucked the air out of your lungs within a couple of minutes of being outside.  I really don't do well in the heat. Thank goodness I have the studio to hibernate in when it gets this bad.

Mr. Wonderful has chickens - one rooster and 22 layers.  Several of them are broody right now. That means they have laid eggs and are sitting on them in preparation to hatching.  In the past, John has removed the eggs when the hen leaves the nest to get water or eat.  He recently started leaving one or two to see what would happen . Of course, we know what happens when you leave the eggs in the nest for the hen to sit.  21 days after they are laid, they hatch into baby chicks.  We lost 2 a couple of weeks ago - not sure what predator got to them immediately after they hatched.  We lost 2 yesterday morning.  John went to do his chicken chores in the afternoon and there was a baby chick - probably less than an hour old.  He quickly got it out of the nest, and placed it in the brooder with a heat lamp and water.  He  'beaked' it right away - that means he put its little beak into the water to encourage it to drink - and beaked it again last night when he went to close up the chicken coop for the night. As of this morning, the little chick is still surviving.  

It has very few feathers so it needs the heat lamp to keep it warm. One would think in the heat we are having that would be enough but it's not.  Hoping my amazing Chicken Whisperer can keep this little guy healthy.  

Cross Stitch Camp continues through July and into August.  For July, the challenge was to stitch something that would be turned into something other than to be framed.  I stitched an autumn design that will become a strawberry.

I really like these little designs.  They stitch up fast on 14 count fabric and look so cute in my dough bowl.  August's challenge is to stitch something new to me - a designer, a floss, a shape.  I think I will go with a designer.  Tiny Modernist has several cute charts and I have some in my stash.  Now to decide which to stitch. 

This cross stitch project was such a joy to stitch.  It is from a Ukrainian designer - I can't remember which one right now - and shows some of the beautiful landscapes of Missouri.  I worked on it off-and-on for several weeks and finally finished it last weekend.  I've downloaded one for Utah and have it all kitted up to start soon.  I think I will stitch one for each state I've lived in - California, Arizona, Utah, Missouri, Rhode Island, and Maine.  While I haven't actually lived in Utah or Maine, I've spent a lot of time in each state and they hold a special place in my heart so they get to be stitched.  I also have charts for almost every country I've visited - I'm only missing the Philippines.  I have enough plans with charts to last me a very long time.

Have a wonderful rest of the week. Thanks for stopping by. 

Sad Week

This past week is finally over and done with.   While it started out a normal week, by Tuesday it sucked big time!  There were dentist appointments and errand-running and grocery shopping and working in the studio.  There was gardening by John.  And there was saying goodbye.  Our handsome, grouchy cat, Gilligan, crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Tuesday.  He hadn't been eating much for the last few days so we took him in to the vet.  They ran tests and found him to be in stage 4 kidney failure - end stage.  The kindest thing to do was to let him go. And that's what we did.  It was a very peaceful passing and we are so glad we were able to be with him till the end. 

Gilligan had just turned 16 earlier in the month.  He was always a grouchy old man.  Never made friends with the other animals in the house - he tolerated them but they were never buddies.  For that very reason, I think that's why Skipper and the dogs really didn't register that he was gone...Life goes on and as long as they got fed and treats, nothing changed.  RIP sweet Gilligan. Thank you for the million purrs and head bumps and cheek pats!

I saw this recently. It makes me smile and also makes me feel better about the condition of the studio.

My creative friends will certainly agree with the above!

This week includes 3 appointments for physical therapy on my spine and a day of machine embroidery at Shawn's Sewing Center.  All of those make me happy!

Thanks for stopping by.  

Another week gone and plenty stitching got done.  I spent several days using the embroidery machine to complete 55 mug rugs I'm donating to a womens' retreat in Branson.  I will be participating in the retreat,  not as an organizer but as a retreatant.  When we lived in California, our church's Womens' Ministry sponsored a retreat at one of the misisons every year.  I so miss those retreats.  It was 2 1/2 days of no phones, no family, just women ministering to women, encouraging each other and enjoying peace and quiet relection time.  Fran mentioned that her church in Branson is doing a retreat at the end of July and I jumped at registering right away.  My heart said I should 'donate' something and I came up with mug rugs.  They have room for 35 retreatants and' there are 15 ladies on the Team...adding a couple of mug rugs "just in case" and I came up with 55.  I have 7 more to do and they are done! 

My lower back has been bothering me for several months. Sometimes I go to get up off my chair and my left hip and groin area has a stabbing pain and I have to carefully straighten up. It mostly happens when I've been sitting a lot during the day.  I thought it might be arthritis in the hip or - heaven forbid - requite a hip replacement.  My doctor recommended physical therapy.  I started therapy this past week.  Evidently, my left sacro-iliac joint is tipped backwards and that causes my left leg to be shorter than my right leg by about 1/2 inch.  We are working on strenghthening my leg muscles so that once the SI joint is put back in place (they gave me a maneuver to do to move it back in place when it occurs), the muscles will hold it in place instead of allowing it to fall out of joint after a while.  I am so delighted to know that a hip replacement is NOT in my immediate future.  

Evidently, summer has now made its way to the Ozarks.  The temperatures are in the high 90's and the humidity has climbed into the 80's. That combo makes for a very sticky day outside!  Mr. Wonderful is out in the barn, cleaning out the chicken roost area....I do NOT envy him!  Frankly, the change in the weather was long overdue for the area so I am not complaining.  

Well, not a lot going on this week so there isn't a lot to tell you.  Thank you for stopping by.  

June is Bustin' Out All Over

 Let's try this again, shall we?  I remember when I posted every single week and I surely do miss it.  So I think I will try to begin posting each Sunday from now on.  

This past spring has been, not surprisingly, rather calm and uneventful.  The weather in the Ozarks was wet and rainy and cold.  But the farmers need the rain to bring on the hay for the animals.  I promised John a long time ago that I wouldn't complain about rain ever again. So far, I've kept that promise.

John's chickens continue to grow and produce eggs over the spring.  About April, they began to slack off on egg production.  Upon checking with the feed store folks, it turns out that chickens go thru a molting season to rid themselves of their winter feathers and prepare for summer from April to June.  Where John was getting upwards of 24 eggs each day, the chickens only produced around 9-11 eggs each day for the last 2 months.  Hopefully, they will begin producing more soon.  We are able to sell every egg they produce.  I keep records of the egg sales for tax purposes and can see how Grandma could use egg money to run the household!  Eggs bring in quite a bit of extra change!!!

My nephew and his family made a trip out to Kansas City at the end of March and ventured down to us for part of the day.  It was lovely to see them.  Those children are growing up to be amazing humans!  Smart and funny and inquisitive!  They spent part of the afternoon up in the hay loft of our barn with Uncle John...then fed the chickens and gave the cows treats.  We are so blessed to have them visit!

I've been cross stitching a lot!  More cross stitching than quilting.  But lots of artsy stuff happening!

Loch Ness Monster, Spring Strawberry, and Queen Bee.  All of these are smalls - about 3 inches square.  

I am participating in Summer Cross Stitch Camp this year.  For June, our camp project is to be to stitch a holiday design. I am going to do Happy 4th of July by Maryna Riznychenko. She's a designer out of the Ukraine.  I really like her designs. 

Hoping I can get the entire design stitched by the end of June.  Will check back in later in the month to post progress.

In May I was able to travel out to Utah to see our son and his family for the first time in 3 years.  Oh, what a joyful trip that was.  All 5 of the grandchildren are becoming amazing humans!  E and her husband came up to visit while I was there and I got to meet him.  What a nice young man she chose!  C performed in an end-of-year concert at school. 

She's turning into a beauty - inside and out!  She will be a senior in high school next year and will be part of the Madrigal Choir - an elite choir only for seniors.  She will also sing with a couple more choirs and is going to school to become a Med. Tech as well as working as a lifeguard at the local pools.  This young lady is going it all! So proud of her.

W reminds me so much of his dad.  He's funny, and smart, and handsome.  And he's amazing around old people (took really good care of his grandma without being told!)

And then there are C and H.  The two youngest of the Knotwells West family.  H is really an artist!  He amazes me with his talent.  His birthday was while I was visiting and we gave him a huge set of alcohol markers.....his pictures gobsmacked me.  He told me he wanted to draw hands and faces and watched a lot of videos and practiced until he got it right and I can tell you he nailed it!    C is the youngest and she is a dancer.  She had a competition right after I got there and another recital just before I left.  That young lady had her grandmother in tears at her performance!  She seems to prefer lyrical and jazz dance to other forms. And she is GOOD!

What would pictures of my Utah family be without my treasure?  

John and Jill are such a wonderful pair.  They make us so proud!

Clean up time after dinner! Everyone pitches in.

Oliver is their dog. He's a Labradoodle.  They've had him for about 5 years now.  He and I started a routine while I was there.  As soon as I went upstair to start my day. he would come up to me and stand near my knees, waiting for a good rubdown. Once that was done, off he'd go to do whatever dogs do.  But he always came up for a good morning rub!  I don't know what he did when I left to come home.

About halfway thru my visit, I began to feel kinda crumby.  Since Salt Lake City sits much higher in elevation than we do here in the Ozarks, it isn't unusual for me to get a bit of sinus distress....or a cold or allergies.  What I was feeling was just as usual for about halfway in any visit so I didn't think anything of it.  When we came home from C's choir concert, John suggested I take a Covid test, just in case.  Guess what!  Yep, Covid positive!  I spent the rest of my visit wearing a mask and I wore one on the trip home and several days after I got home.  I finally tested negative this past Wednesday!  I was so fortunate to have an incredibly mild case.  I never lost my sense of smell or taste.  Never had any really breathing issues.  Just a bit of drainage down my throat and no sore throat at all. No fever, one small headache that was dispatched with aspirin.  No body aches.  Really very fortunate!  

I am back to normal - whatever normal passes for around here.  John is working on replacing some tiles in Mom's bathroom where her new walk-in tub was installed.  We are expecting rain and storms tonight and rain for several days in the next week.  

Thanks for stopping by and sticking with me all these months. I will try to be a better blogger.