Christmas Parties - 3 Down, 3 To Go

Three down:

1.  Gateway Quilter's Guild

The guild members made some beautiful ornaments for the Christmas tree they sponsored at the Merced County Courthouse Museum. I also loved the spool garland. I cannot claim any of it, but I did enjoy looking at it.

2. Turlock Amateur Radio Club - no pictures




3.  Daughters of Utah Pioneers - Turlock Camp

We had our usual December meeting and pot luck luncheon. Joan brought her nativity collection for decoration. Marsha brought the Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus that she made for our speaker's table.

Three to go: Merced County Genealogical Society, Atwater First Ward & Merced Family History Center.

Thanksgiving Day -- So Far

My day started with waking to the sound of the washing machine going and Buck grumbling and shuffling around in the laundry room. He came in the room and asked, "Well, you want to go to Home Depot with me? I am tired to dealing with the water leak." I looked at the clock. It was 7:00a.m.

The floor was flooded this morning which required him to haul the cat food, laundry soap boxes, etc., out in the hallway (where it currently still is).  I opted out, due to pie baking duties. He returned over an hour later. Tried three stores, none were open. Hmmmm.....must be a holiday today. 

We are going to #1 daughter's friend's house for dinner, which is where she is having Thanksgiving dinner, and my food assignment was pies. (Per my Maxine calendar: "All it takes is one undercooked turkey and you are the dinner rolls and soda person for life.") Unless I am having dinner here, I am the pie person for life. #1 daughter bought this Pampered Chef apple corer-peeler which she keeps at my house. She's not so dumb. With it at my house, she has a reason to beg off making apple pies, whereas I do not. I started putting this thing together. Next thing I knew, the "equipment operator" honed in on what I was doing and decided to show me how it was done. Eleven apples later, I had enough slices for pie.

Then the "equipment operator" went to the back yard to work on the project he had planned on for the morning: splitting firewood. That homemade yellow monster is affectionately known as "No Problem". Because, when it comes to splitting wood, it is, as the name implies, no problem.

Shower Cat

Not everyone has a cat who keeps them company while they are taking a shower and drying off....

Finicky Cats!

I stopped buying canned cat food by the case years ago because my cats stopped eating it. Turned up their collective noses. I offered dry food until Precious, our kitty that we believe was accidentally poisoned several years ago, could not keep dry food down. So, we went back to canned for her, but bought the one and only flavor that "stunk" right and that she would eat.

A few months ago, she refused to eat that. So, we switched to shredded in gravy, not pate.

A friend who no longer has a cat gifted us with a case and a half of cat food. Precious still won't eat it. Bootsie and Archie, our other two kittys who eat indoors won't touch it, either.

Not ones to let good cat food go to waste, Buck and I decided we were smarter than the cats. We started mixing the juice from one can of people tuna with three cans of cat food. The cats like it just fine.

And, Buck and I have tuna salad every day or so for lunch. It is a high protein, nutritious meal.

Only problem is, we still have about two-thirds of a case of cat food to get through before we go back to buying the stuff our finicky cats like straight out of the can. Buck and I are sure getting burned out on tuna salad for lunch.

Gorilla Garbaging

I know, "garbaging" is not a real word. But, I needed something to go with "gorilla", as in, "gorilla warfare." That is what I felt like I was doing in my studio yesterday when I got into a cleaning mode -- warfare on the garbage.

 I had storage containers out there filled with piles of office supplies, memorabilia, obsolete papers and plain junk. They could be more useful to me now if they were available. So, I went into "gorilla garbaging" mode and started throwing things out. I consolidated usable office supplies, organized what I want to keep to remind me of past rural letter carrier state and national conventions, and went through my old 3.5" floppy diskettes to choose the ones with information I want to save onto a CD. All our newer computers are sans a 3.5" drive, so I better do it quick before those floppies are totally useless.

I found a program cover with a sharp image of the artwork from CaRLCA Unit 15 when we sponsored the state convention in 2006. I hope to use it next year to create blocks for a quilting project to sell or raffle off at a state meeting to raise money for our political action committee. That alone made my gorilla garbaging effort worthwhile.

Anyway, my project that took me about two hours freed up a cardboard office box and a four-drawer Rubbermaid unit that is now mostly filled with over-sized paper supplies and "cost of goods sold" supplies for my quilting and craft projects. That freed up a large tote for my fabric projects.

The generous donation I made to our garbage can means that discarded stuff is not coming back.

Buck's Fitness Center

Buck’s idea of weight-lifting. We used “Old Blue”, my dad’s old pick-up, which is currently our hunting, firewood and go-to-the-dump truck.

Buck decided he did not need to have all the fun by himself.  He invited me to help.

Buck says along with getting fit, we can get warm five times with this firewood:   

• 1) When cut [It was raining when he started, over 90° when he finished – I missed out on that one – oh, darn!]   
• 2) Loaded [hot]   
• 3) Unloaded [still hot]   
• 4) Stacked [I will wait for cooler days for that chore, thank you very much.] and   
• 5) Burned [Oh, yeah! This saves big-time on the heating bill…]

Photo Templates

I got tired of fighting to get my images placed in my blog posts where I wanted them. I often want two or three photos side-by-side. I decided to solve the problem by making my own plain color paper templates (and creating some using my own photos manipulated by my photo-editing software). I can add my photos and sub-titles on top of my templates using my photo-editing software, then save it as a new image that I can upload in one fell swoop.

I know there are fancy template software packages out there with images that take up A LOT of space on the ol' hard drive. For now, I will play with my own templates. After all, I have taken so many photos over the years, why not show off my own creations before I get excited about ones developed by others?

Genealady on Etsy

I now have a store on Etsy named Genealady:

These are what I listed today: 

 

And these get listed next:

         http://www.etsy.com/shop/genealady

PAC Contribs

Today they are on the way to the PAC chair for the California Rural Letter Carriers' Association. I have been meaning to do this for awhile. Finally did. Now that I have more time than money -- which is not necessarily saying much -- I am making things to be used as fund-raisers.

Things I learned making the snowman:
1. Invisible thread is hard to work with by hand.
2. Quilt the little pop-out pieces (Hard to see in the photo, but the cardinal, the hatband and the carrot nose are separate pieces that are stitched on to give a "built-up" look.) BEFORE you attach them to the quilt piece.

The other hanging quilt includes the block I needed to do for Sara's Second Saturday class. I got started and decided to finish the project. Since I need to get these items in the mail in time for the snowman to make the Fall Carrier Seminar Day, I decided to finish the other project and send it along with the snowman. So, Sara is going to have to settle for a picture of the completed block when I show up at class this coming Saturday.

This quilt also includes the design from a tee-shirt I don't believe I ever got around to wearing. The color is that florescent "safety green" that I thought was so great when my husband was still working construction and wearing a lot of that color. It was hard finding fabrics to match, or even blend, especially when I found the blue background with green, yellow and orange dots fabric I thought really set off the background color of the shirt and had to try to make it look decent with the strawberries on black fabric. This shirt design was from the state convention site in Oxnard, known for growing strawberries. That was the only strawberry pattern in the entire fabric store. So, there is a reason for the stretch in making these fabrics work together.

Things I learned doing this project:

1. Iron-on pellon stabilizes knits pretty well. I used a light-weight so that I could stitch through it easily.
2. Even with iron-on pellon, knits will still stretch if you are not careful.
3. Screen-print and sewing machines do not mix well. I had to free-hand the stitching on the design. The bottom teeth were not the problem. The pressure feet could not slide on the painted surface. I could not even use the pressure post without a pressure foot.
4. Do not, and I mean DO NOT iron over a screen-print surface with a hot iron. I almost messed up the design by accidentally getting the iron too close. Use a cover cloth or press on the opposite side of the fabric.

DUP Hellos and Good-bys

Daughters of Utah Pioneers started up again last week. Of course, I am referring to the general membership of our camp in Turlock. We officers and advisors had our training meeting a month ago, and our board meeting the week before to start planning for the coming year which ends in May.






Two long-time members are moving--probably gone as I write. As a board, because of their contributions over the years, wanted to give them a remembrance. I offered to make each a quilt square with a sego lily -- the association's official flower. I chose sage green and lavender, the official colors. The fabrics I chose looked great together on the cutting board. Unfortunately, they did not have as much contrast as I would have wanted once the block was stitched together. I added a decorative stitch around the green star.

I was happy with the final result. 

Another member lost her son in an auto accident over Labor Day weekend. I made her a square using the same pattern. His obituary picture was in the center square. I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but these are the colors I used.

One thing I realized is how much I depend on my big yarn needle. It helps me ease fabric that wants to pucker or I can use it to convince several layers of fabric to move smoothly through the pressure foot.

It is handier than a seam ripper -- I keep it in my pin cushion. It also is easier maneuvering in tight places, which is how it can get working around the sewing machine needle shaft and pressure foot.

Charity Quilt

Finished up a child-size quilt top for the Gateway Quilter's Guild charity quilt project.

It is a cute little pattern called "I Spy."  Easy, too.

I also have been working on my Civil War Reproduction BOM squares. Started sewing the pieces by hand before I got the new sewing machine with the 1/4" foot.  Will finish it by hand -- takes a lot longer, but more authentic since sewing machines were invented shortly before the Civil War and were not in widespread use at the time.

Art of Bragging

It is time to brag again about the beautiful artwork sent to Buck and me by two of my daughters-in-law in the form of greeting cards.


Toadaly Handmade by WSE:












 By Li'l Momma.

Mission: Multi-Tasking

Last Saturday afternoon was my shift for the FamilySearch World Wide Support Online Film Ordering mission. Even with Canada on this system, it is still very S - L - O - W on Saturday afternoon. I guess most people have other things to do on Saturday afternoon than call about problems ordering microfilms for their family history research.

Still, the shift needs to be covered, just in case, and I was it.

Quite often what I do during those slow times between phone calls and emails is do some indexing or catch up on Church News or do some handwork. Since I spent Saturday morning picking a bumper crop of tomatoes from my garden, I decided that this last Saturday was "provident living" multi-tasking day.

I set up my counter with my computer and phone so I could reach them quickly. My note tablet, computer glasses and mouse & pad were handy.

The 4-hour mission shift was covered. No phone calls, but 3 emails that came in within the last hour were taken care of.  In addition, this allowed me to grate and bake my squash bread (double batch) and process my tomato/chili mix I like to freeze up for chili.

Weightier Walking

Yes, Buck and I are still walking three to five times each week. We are now up to three miles most days unless we have something going on in the morning where we have to cut it short.









Last Thursday I added a new element to my walking. I found my one-pound hand weights. I have been feeling  guilty about not getting any weight-lifting in to help strengthen my upper body. Spending as much time on the computer as I do--even with my homey little ergonomic set-up--is hard on my upper back and neck. I started doing my arm exercised as part of the walk routine.

This morning after our three miles, I played in the garden for a few hours. Today's harvest. Some of those potatoes are big enough to feed four people all by themselves.

The Unconstant Gardner

*

I have not been very attentive to my garden this year. I get out and weed a little, then the next time I get back to it, I realize it has been a couple of weeks and the weeds are taking over. In spite of that and the several days of in adequate water considering the 100+ degree weather we have been having, I have a harvest.

I did not plant any squash varieties this year--well, except for the banana cucumber I bought that turned out to be a zucchini. [I guess they got the babies mixed up in the nursery.] Anyway, all I have are "volunteers" from seeds left in the soil last year. My zucchini are more round than long.

My straight-neck yellow squash turned out round, no neck, and bumpy with green speckles. I suspect they were cross-pollinated with the zucchini. Some of my zucchini had light orange flesh inside which led me to suspect they were crossed with my pumpkins.

At least I did get an honest-to-goodness pumpkin plant out of my collection of volunteers.

I am happy with my peppers, except that only two of the four plants I bought are producing so far. I probably should tear out some of my flowers and volunteer tomatoes. Naw, I am enjoying my flowers too much. We will just see what happens.

Anyway, no matter how it is crossed, squash bread is good stuff. The following is my recipe:

Combine in large bowl:
2 cups shredded / grated squash (You may remove some or all of the peeling.)
2/3-1 cup oil (I have been known to forget the oil, and as long as the batter is not too dry, it still turns out okay. Tastes great, but a little drier. If you do this on purpose, add some raisins to your bread.)
2 cups sugar (part may be brown sugar)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine, then add to bowl of wet mixture:
3 cups flour (part, no more than 1 cup, may be whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

For variation, you may add: 1/4 to 1/3 cups cocoa powder for chocolate bread, chopped walnuts, raisins, cranraisins, chocolate chips.

Line the bottom of two large or 3-4 small (depending on if you add nuts, etc.) greased loaf pans with baking parchment. You can also bake in a 9" x 13" cake pan.

Bake 40minutes to 1 hour (depending on size of pan and depth of mix in pan) at 350 degrees.

Time to Hum Taps

*
Any time the children went to a school carnival, I could count on them coming up to me all excited about the goldfish they won at one of booths. I would stare through the clear plastic bags knotted at the top at the poor little creatures swimming around in the water. I felt bad for the little fish, because I knew their time on earth was short.

We invariably took the goldfish cache for the day home, put them in our fishbowl, changed out the water regularly and fed the little darlings morning and night. However, within a week, they all had gone the way of the world.

Our funeral services were short but solemn. We dumped the deceased into the toilet bowl and hummed taps.

Then we flushed and consigned the departed to a watery grave.

It is time to hum taps for my old Toshiba. It will hopefully be resurrected using the recovery disk, but the old memory full of Maxine jokes, Meridian articles and memorable stories that I did not get backed up are gone for forever. And, the sad part is, it is my own fault.

I was researching ghost towns in Colorado for one of my novels I am writing. I got too far afield and clicked on the home page for the site which, I gathered, was the gateway to any ghost town anywhere in the United States or perhaps the world. This horribly loud music blared from my speakers. Now, I like "Ghost Riders In the Sky," but not at a decibel level that bursts the eardrums. Buck was on his cell phone, waving his arm and giving me "the look" since he could not hear over the commotion.

First I tried to find the volume control, but it hid among all the many icons. I tried to red-x the site, but it locked up on me. I tried the control+alt+delete trick and nothing happened. I pressed the on-off button, and still I was assaulted by "Ghost Riders In the Sky." So, I did the only reasonable, but stupid, thing left to do. I unplugged the computer.

Ah, silence!

I waited 10 seconds and turned it back on. Uh-oh. It took me to the black screen of "your computer shut down unexpectedly..." warning. I followed directions. First, I tried starting at the "last known good configuration." Then I tried starting it in normal mode. I tried it in safe mode. I tried F-12 and F-2. Each time, the start-up would get only so far and crash. Actually, recycle would be a more accurate description. Once I got it going, I had a terrible time convincing the laptop to give it a rest and shut down already.

Phooey. I backed up everything a month ago in anticipation of needing to reformat the thing and starting over. Just the day before, I put the latest versions of most of the files I have been working on in my Dropbox folder (check it out at www.dropbox.com). So, except for the minutes from the Merced County Genealogical Society meeting of last Saturday that I will need to reconstruct, I am ready to reformat, recover, and start with a clean slate.

I guess later I will discover what other little files and favorites I forgot to back up. Until then........

Dum-da-dum -- dum-da-dum............

Meet Archie

*
The neighbors next door moved out in the middle of the night. Next thing we knew, there was a starving, half-grown kitty on our front porch crying for food. The cat was so pretty and pathetic, I could not ignore him. I set a small bowl of dry food down and the kitten devoured it immediately. Through the screen door an hour later, we heard the kitty whine again. We fed it again. Then it disappeared, probably looking for water.

The kitty found its way to the back yard and probably thought it had hit paydirt. Not only was there water, but it found the perpetually-full kitty food bowl we keep back there.

I have never been very imaginative when it comes to naming pets. I usually name them after a physical characteristic. I named the kitty Goldie because it was so pretty and petite, I assumed it was a female--AND, because it was gold in color.

Then I watched it walk away from me with tail in the air and saw the equipment. Nope, it was a boy-kitty. I didn't like Goldie for a male name. So, from there, Buck and I went to Golden, then Golden Arches, then Archie.


When you stop and think about how our minds work, sometimes it's scary.

We soon learned that Archie was used to being an indoor kitty. He followed us into the house. He quickly found the indoor kitty food and made himself at home on our bed. He is my kitty and follows me around when he can.


Archie was not welcomed by all.

Bootsie is Buck's kitty.

Bootsie is the queen.

Bootsie barely tolerates Precious, the old cat from our first litter, who also comes in the house. She is not fond of the outdoor cats, including her brother and litter-mate, CC:, or her cousin, Jeffy. She certainly has no use for the two feral kittens that showed up last winter. It is an understatement to say she was not happy to see this gold and white kitten make himself at home in her house and her yard.

But, the day she came in and found Archie sleeping in Buck's chair--HER chair......

Oooooooooooooh!

Livingston Canal - June 2010

*
Some people make New Year's resolutions. Buck and I made a Memorial Day resolution. On the holiday we started back on our walking routine at the Livingston Canal.

The first day I was upset because I forgot my camera. (After all, I had to get up an hour earlier than usual to do this, and I am not a morn person.) But, the second day, I got a picture of one of the resident Mallards swimming the canal.

Later on in the walk we were treated to the bullfrog chorus. There is a line-up of about five that serenade us most mornings. I needed to bring my main camera with the stronger zoom lense to get a close up of this beauty.




Unfortunately, I have not been able to get a shot of the kit foxes that we saw the first day. It appears they are living in the blackberry bushes that fence off the canal bank.

It was so nice to see the duck families. I saw this mama and her babies only the one day. Did she move farther down the canal where there were fewer walkers on the banks?

I think of the ocean when I think of shells, yet the canal bank is peppered with them. The sunflowers are out in glory. And, the fire ants are not unique to the canal bank. Yet, with all the hills and tunnels, I wonder how long it will be before the banks collapse and slide into the water.

Looking for Volunteers

*It has been a long time since I updated this blog. Last was a garden entry. I still am not doing much in the garden. In fact, except for a few additional purchases--peppers and cucumbers, I am looking mostly for volunteers.





I have enjoyed the cilantro that came up, all by itself, although I did plant these potato plants from some "seed" potatoes I found growing in my pantry.



I have harvested quite a few strawberries, and they are actually a decent size this year. The potatoes came from a plant I put in the ground last fall. The hot pepper plant was purchased, but the squash and all the nasturtiums are volunteers. The section next to the strawberries (some plants were transplanted to another flower bed) is now in corn and beans--last year's seeds, so it will be interesting to see what turns up. The petunia wintered over and the squash is a volunteer. I am still waiting to see if it a pumpkin or one of the squash varieties. Since it is a volunteer, and I know most seeds are hybrids, it will be interesting to see what it comes out to be. All but two of my ten tomato plants are volunteers, so once again.....