Quilting Finale - June 30, 2022

After 6 more hours of quilting yesterday, and three hours of trimming/ironing/binding this morning, the quilt is done.

By the end of the day yesterday, I was so sick of fooling with this quilt that I didn't even take it out of the car when I got home.  It took some deliberation this morning before I decided to bring it in and finish it; it still needed binding.  

Binding a quilt is hard for me.  I really like the idea of a double-fold binding - either store-bought binding tape or a double-fold binding made from scratch, to add a pop of color around the edges.  But that method is hard to do on a sewing machine, and my carpal tunnel hands go numb when I hold a hand-sewing needle, so hand-sewing it out.  My usual solution is to cut my quilt backing larger than the quilt top, large enough to fold the extra fabric double and then fold it over the quilt top and sew it from the front.  This time, I was worried that I hadn't properly centered the quilt top on the backing, and one side of the backing might be too short to fold over and sew down.  As it turned out, I had just enough backing fabric to fold it double, fold the double layer over the top, and end up with a 1/2" border all around.  The pattern is called "Brilliant Diamond," and I did it in gem colors.  The backing/binding is gold.  It looked nice.  

My next worry was that I'd used a Frixion pen to mark my quilting lines - a TON of quilting lines! - on the quilt top.  Frixion ink disappears with heat and/or moisture.  Key word: "disappears."  The ink doesn't come out of the fabric, it only becomes invisible.  Also, I'd done this marking several years ago, and I worried that the markings wouldn't come out after all this time.  Meanwhile, I learned that the ink can reappear if the quilt is exposed to extreme cold.  

After finishing the binding, I dosed the washing machine with stain remover, stuffed the quilt in, and ran it through a wash cycle.  A few minutes into the cycle, I realized that I hadn't put any soap in the water, so I added soap and re-started the cycle.  Didn't even look at the quilt as I transferred it from the washer to the dryer.  When the dryer buzzer sounded, the markings were fainter, but they were still there.

I ironed the quilt.  The markings went away.  For now.  

Hopefully, considering our climate, the quilt will never be exposed to sub-freezing temperatures, and the markings will stay gone!  I'll check it again before I wrap it for Christmas.  

Quilting - June 29, 2022

Yesterday morning, as planned, I was at the quilt store right on time to start quilting.  Although they open at 9, they asked me not to come until 10 so that they could get organized for the day.  

It's been a while since I've used their long-arm machine.  It took nearly two hours to get the blasted thing loaded on the rollers.  When I finally started the actual quilting, the machine kept beeping, telling me I was out of bobbin thread when I wasn't out.  It would also beep if I did not start moving the machine quickly enough.  Some of my blocks are larger than the quilting field, so I'd have to quilt half a block, roll the quilt forward, do the rest of the block, then roll it backwards.  It was a pain in the butt.  By the time the store closed at 5 p.m., I'd done only half the quilt.  Hadn't even stopped for lunch or to pee.   

But I did a crappy quilting job.  It looks to have been done by an amateur.  Crooked lines.  

I don't care. 

I came home hungry, grouchy, and tired from having stood on my feet all day.  Thank goodness we had some left-overs in the refrigerator so I didn't have to cook supper.

I'm going back today to finish.  Hopefully, since I won't have to spend two hours loading the quilt in the frame, I'll have enough time to finish the quilt by the time the quilt store closes.

Birthday Doings - June 27, 2022

We had a nice time with Nanny this evening.  The Sister-in-Law joined us for the movie.

The Elvis movie was good.  The guy that played Elvis NAILED IT.  I haven't seen enough "Colonel" Tom pictures to know what he looked like, but Tom Hanks was awesome.  

After the movie, we had dinner with The Sister-in-Law and her husband.

I got Nanny good as we were walking into the theatre.  Pop-Pop used to tell us that Nanny peed her pants at an Elvis concert in Memphis, and we have teased her about it every time Elvis' name has been mentioned.  As we were walking into the theatre, I said to our group, "Shoot!  I meant to bring Nanny a Depends."

Nanny said that the pee story is nothing but a malicious lie invented by Pop-Pop's brother (who was with them at the concert).  I told her it was okay; "I'd probably have peed mine, too!"

Heh.  :)

* * * * * * * * 

We walked down to check the garden today.  We did not get as much rain as I thought, but the plowed ground soaked up what we did get.  

Something is bugging the squash.  It looks like a bite has been taken out of the stems, near the root.

Rain - June 27, 2022

What a difference a day makes!

After two weeks of dangerously hot weather, it rained here yesterday.  It's 72 degrees on the back porch this morning.  Perfect.

Yesterday's rain was perfect, too.  It was a slow soaker.  For about half the day, we'd get 30 minutes of a gentle rain, followed by 30 minutes of no rain, followed by more gentle rain.  I can hardly wait to check on the vegetable garden.

* * * * * * * * 

Today is Nanny's birthday.  We plan to take her to dinner and a movie tonight.  We're going to see the Elvis movie.

Pimpin' his ride - June 26, 2022

The Husband ordered new running boards for his truck.  Although yesterday was another blistering hot day, he decided that this would be the day he would install them.  When I asked if he would need my help, he said, "Maybe," so I went to the shop with him.  

It was stifling hot in the metal building.  He opened both doors, turned on the gigantic fan, and got to work.  As there was nothing much for me to do until he took off the old running boards, I got a hoe out of the garden shed and went to the garden to do some weeding.  I had not thought to take a hat or a sweat band.  Within about 30 seconds, sweat was pouring out of my hair.  The weeding lasted maybe 30 minutes. I put the hoe away and went back to the shop to sit in front of the fan.

The Husband was having problems removing the bolts from the old running boards.  He'd not yet finished the first one.  I stood by quietly, handing him tools as he asked for them.  We've been married long enough that I know better than to ask a bunch of questions or make many suggestions.  ;)  After another hour or so, the running boards finally came off, and we set the new running boards in place.  All that remained to be done was tightening the bolts.  

I asked, "Is my work here done?"  

The Husband said, "I think so."  

I said, "Good!  I'm going to the grocery store."

We've been on a low-carb diet for about a month.  We're sick of everything we can "legally" eat, and I was hoping to find us a treat at the store.  I have scoured the internet for recipes.  They're all basically the same: (1) cook meat, (2) put cheese on it, (3) eat it.  The other option is cauliflower: (1) cook cauliflower, (2) put cheese on it, (3) eat it.  I've made cauliflower rice, cauliflower "macaroni" & cheese (which wasn't too bad, btw), and last night I made cauliflower fritters.  

We've both lost weight on this diet and need to keep it up, but . . . .

My queendom for a bowl of white beans and some cornbread!

House shoes - June 25, 2022

I have the worst time finding house shoes that I like.  It's the noise I can't stand.  Clippety-cloppity.  It drives me nuts.  Some years ago, a friend knitted me a pair of wool clogs.  I loved them.  They were completely silent.  I wore holes in the soles.  

Over the years, I've knitted myself a few pairs of wool house shoes, and even made a pair from felted wool sweaters.  Wore all those soles out, too, and resorted to store-bought shoes with vinyl/plastic bottoms.   Bought a new pair just this week.  Clippety-cloppity.  After two days, I'd had enough.  I dug around in the craft closet and found enough yarn for yet another pair of wool house shoes.  They are drying on the porch as we speak.  I can't wait to wear them.

* * * * * * * * 

After dinner last night, we went down to the garden to check for bugs and things.  All seems well.  One day ago, I doused the pitiful little Hossinator tomatoes with the microbial innoculent.  Surely it's too soon to have made a real difference, but the little plants look far healthier than they did two days ago.  

Sprayed for blight and bugs - June 23, 2022

I tried out the Teraganix EM-1 spray on my tomatoes and squash today.  I also added a dose of Sevin to the mix after discovering a tomato worm eating one of my plants.  Also, there were squash bug eggs on the squash.  After finishing the spraying, I wondered if it was a bad idea to add the Sevin to the sprayer.  It's okay to do that with fungicides, but I am worried that the Sevin might kill the microbes in the EM-1.  I've emailed the company with the question.

June 23, 2022

The refrigerator repairman arrived on time yesterday morning.  When I described the problem (sporadic leaking), he knew right away what was causing it - a frozen defrost/drain line.  

The freezer was packed with food.  I rounded up a large cooler and a big bucket, and the repairman emptied the freezer.  It didn't take him long to fix the problem.  As he was about to put the food back in the freezer, I stopped him.  "There's probably stuff in there that should've been thrown away 5 years ago."  And, sure enough, there was.

After he left, and after I finished re-loading the freezer (far less went in than came out), I decided to fix myself a glass of ice water and retire to the living room to read.  When I pressed my glass against the ice dispenser, it groaned but did not drop any ice.  I looked in the ice bucket and found that the ice chunks had begun to melt and were stuck together in one giant ice patty.  Surely that was the problem.  I dumped the ice into the sink, salvaged a glass of cubes, and went about my business.  Later that afternoon, after the ice-maker had dumped a few loads, I tried the dispenser again.  More groaning, no ice drops.  I called the store and told them about the problem.  The repairman had gone home for the day, but he's supposed to call me back this morning.  Meanwhile, I'll have to reach into the ice bucket to get ice.  Such inconvenience.  ;)

* * * * * * * * 

I called the quilt store to reserve one of their long-arm quilting machines so I can finish the quilt I pieced several years ago.  It's probably going to take two days to do the quilting, for I had drawn a fairly complicated quilting design on the top.  The quilt store said that the machine is not available for two consecutive days until next Tuesday and Wednesday.  I told them to sign me up.

When I drew the quilting design onto the top several years ago, I did it with a Frixion pen.  The ink in Frixion pens is designed to disappear with heat or water.  As I was writing the above paragraph, it occurred to me that the design might have faded/disappeared after all this time.  The quilt top has been in a plastic bag ever since I sewed through my pinkie, and for part of that time, the bag was in the trunk of my car, "just in case" an unexpected quilting opportunity arose.  Could our summer heat have erased the design?  I just went to look; the markings are still there.  Now I'm worried that they won't come out when the quilt is done.  

It's always something, ain't it?

* * * * * * * * 

We have not set foot in the garden since last week's maintenance marathon.  It's been too hot, and unless a sudden plague of bugs or blight has arrived, there's not anything to do.  I will probably go check on things late this evening.  I ordered a bottle of microbial inoculant from a company called Teraganix.  It arrived yesterday, so I might fix up a batch in the sprayer and use it this evening.

We have fought blight - early blight, late blight, you-name-it - every year of our gardening lives.  It seems to get worse as the years pass.  I'm pretty sure the spores live in our soil - and maybe even in the air? - all year long.  We have tried all sorts of treatments, but the blight has always won.  Last year, I tried spraying the plants with diluted hydrogen peroxide to kill the fungus, followed a day later by an oil/soap/water mixture to prevent the fungus from attaching to the leaves.  Even though I just about stood in the garden with a sprayer at my side 24/7, we still had blight, especially on the Roma tomatoes.  

The weather-people are predicting a chance of rain this weekend.  The garden needs it.  

The Boss's Vacation - June 22, 2022

The Boss left town Sunday on a two-week vacation.  She'll come home for a day or two, then go out of town for another week.

"While the cat's away . . . ."

Monday was a federal holiday.  The Husband had the day off.  It was scorching hot, and the garden was in pretty good shape, so I spent most of the day reading, and he spent most of the day playing his ukulele.  

Yesterday was Granddaughter #1's birthday.  Granddaughter #3 had a birthday two weeks ago, but she and her family had covid and did not have a birthday party.  I'd promised her I'd take her shopping for her birthday when everyone was well, so yesterday I loaded up all the granddaughters (except for the Little Rotten Baby) and took them to town.  Granddaughter #2 won't have a birthday until next month, but I did not have the heart to leave her out of the fun.  We hit four stores and had lunch at the local IHOP (their choice).  Came home with shopping bags of toys and clothes for everybody, even the LRB.

Today I am at home, waiting on a refrigerator repairman.  He's supposed to be here in 10 minutes.  Our refrigerator has been doing a weird, sporadic leak.  

I'm not quite sure what I'll do the rest of the day.  There's a quilt top in my sewing room that needs to be quilted, and I've promised myself to get it done during these three weeks when The Boss will be gone.  A couple of years ago, after I sewed TOTALLY THROUGH my pinkie finger while attempting to quilt this thing on my own quilting machine, I dis-assembled my quilting machine frame and haven't quilted a stitch since then.  I'll have to rent a machine at the local quilt shop to finish this quilt.  I might just be too lazy to tackle it today.

...And Plowing - June 18, 2022

I worked in the office ALL DAY yesterday.  On a Friday.  I know!  Crazy!  But The Boss is leaving town this weekend and had some work that needed to get out before she leaves, so we hung in there until it was done.  Didn't even stop for lunch.

On the way home, I stopped to buy some insecticide for the garden.  As soon as I finished supper, I put on my gardening clothes and walked across the road to kill the Japanese beetles on Aunt B's rose bushes.  It wasn't an entirely unselfish gesture; they needed to be nixed before they polished off her rose bushes and moved to our vegetable garden.  

After that, I went straight to the garden to do some weeding.  

Weeding is the devil.  

Son #1 still has our big black tiller that would make quick work of the job.  I filled up the gas tank on the little red tiller and went to work.  There was still a lot of daylight left - and two or three more rows to weed - when the gas ran out, but I didn't even consider filling it up again.  Just rolled it back to the shed and shut the door.

When I poked my head in Nanny's back door to tell her I was leaving, she said she had some sprouted potatoes that she wanted to plant.  "As high as groceries are now, it's a shame to let them go to waste," she said.  I've never had any luck with potatoes, but I promised to dig up some rows for her this afternoon.  We'll see what happens.

Planting and Plowing - June 16, 2022

It's 9 p.m., and still 87 degrees.  I just got out of the shower after working in the garden for about an hour.  I planted the 6 tomato plants that I bought yesterday, and watered them and the tiny Hossinators I planted a couple of days ago.  The Hossinators look about as pitiful as they did when I planted them.  Maybe they'll perk up.

Weeded the tomato rows with the little tiller.  

Tomorrow there'll be a run to the garden store for more seeds and some insecticide.  Aunt B's roses across the road are positively crawling with Japanese beetles.  I don't want them to come eat my stuff once they finish off her roses, so I intend to sneak over there and "off" them with the insecticide, then I'm going to give my squash plants a preventative dose.

There are still two unplanted rows in the garden, and several half rows.  If I can still find some butter pea seeds, I'm going to plant some this weekend.  They've done well in our garden in the past.  I'd also like to plant one or two hills of zucchini.  I wish we could grow corn, but . . . raccoons.  :(

Planting, Round 2 - June 15, 2022

It was powerful hot again today.  According to my computer, it was 91 degrees at 7 p.m., but after supper I put on my gardening clothes and went to the garden with a pocket full of seed packets and a 1-pound bag of purple hull pea seeds.  I must have lived somewhat right for the last day or two, for the little red tiller cranked after a bit of coaxing, and I set about pulverizing some dirt in what was to be the okra row.  Planted those seeds by hand, covered them up.

The first planting of purple hull peas sprouted on the dry half of the garden, and there were three more rows empty rows, designated for peas.  I moved the tiller to the first half-row and dug up the rest of the row, and when I turned around to start up the next row, I looked up and saw Nanny at the far end of the garden with a hoe in her hand, chopping, and bending over to pull grass.  She has been complaining of dizzy spells and has no buIsiness chopping in this heat.  I throttled the tiller down and hollered, "Nanny, you're not supposed to be doing that.  I don't want to be picking you up." 

Little woman ignored me and kept on chopping, like she didn't hear.  

I cut the tiller off and walked up to her.  I told her nicely that she was worrying me, but she insisted she was fine and wanted to help.  

My choices were (1) quit working, myself, so she would quit, or (2) find her something less strenuous to do.  

It was about to get dark, but I really, really wanted to get those peas planted.  I pulled out the bag of seeds and said, "How about I start planting what I've plowed, and you cover the seeds up."  The dirt was soft and loose, easily maneuvered with the hoe.  I dropped seeds in the half-rows where I'd plowed.  While she covered them up, I RACED up the rest of the rows with the tiller.  She'd caught up with me by then.  I planted the new rows until my seeds ran out.  Planted them WAY too thick, but at least they're planted.

As I was leaving to come home, Nanny said she might do some chopping in the morning.  I begged her not to do that, as she would be home alone.  And I told her I was going to tell The Husband on her.

And I did.

Today was a real scorcher.  No clue what the high temperature was, but it was too hot to even sit on the back porch under a fan.  I stayed in the house most of the day, reading yet another Inspector Gamache novel.  (I have a secret crush on him.)

About 5:30, The Husband said he was going to finish mowing Nanny's yard.  Since I'd planned to tie the tomato plants to their stakes, I went with him.  After finishing that job, I remembered that I'd intended to plant the Hossinator tomato seedlings that have been sitting on our patio table for weeks.  Came back to the house to get them and a watering can and got them in the ground by the time the mowing was done.

Those tomato seedlings look pitiful.  They've been sitting on the patio table in a seedling tray for weeks.  For a little while, they looked really good.  Then a storm came while I was at work.  I'd forgotten to put the clear plastic lid on the tray, and the rain beat the tomatoes right out of the soil.  This happened more than once, and the tomatoes began to look not so healthy anymore.  I don't know if they will make it, now that they're in the garden.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Garden Check - June 11, 2022

Today is Granddaughter #3's birthday.  She is feeling better from her bout with covid, but her parents and two of her sisters are still testing positive, so there was no big birthday party.  About lunchtime, The Husband and I showed up on their patio with a balloon bouquet, a stuffed hedgehog, and some cupcakes.  We lit a candle, sang "Happy Birthday," blew kisses, and skedaddled.  

Late this afternoon I tied on my gardening apron and went to see what was happening in the vegetable garden.  Hadn't even peeked at it for nearly two weeks.  Everything is growing well, including the grass.  I put on my gloves and got the hoe out of the shed for the first time this season.  It seemed mighty dull.  I sharpened it on the bench grinder, but it didn't seem any sharper.  After a little bit, I decided, Screw this hoe! and went to the shed to get the tiller.  Son #1 has borrowed the big black tiller, but he'd left Gloria, the little red tiller, which never wants to crank.  I dragged it out, filled it with gas, pumped the squishy button, and it fired off after a couple of pulls.  Miracles do happen!

Half of the garden was too wet to work, but I got the dry half weeded.  Tomorrow I need to go back and tie the tomatoes to their stakes.  They are growing like crazy.

When the first horsefly zoomed my head, I decided it was time to call it quits.  Before I could get away, two of them got me on the leg.  They chased me into the car, all the way up the driveway, slamming themselves at the windows.  They followed me all the way to the front door.  

And the Winner is . . . - June 10, 2022

Yesterday as I was sitting in a gazebo on a courthouse lawn, waiting for The Boss to come out so we could go home, I noticed that there were ants crawling around on the floor, the benches, and the railings.  They didn't seem to have a particular destination in mind; they were just strolling around rather haphazardly, zig-zagging here and there.  As I watched, an orange "lady bug" trundled out from beneath the bench where I was sitting and started across the floor.  A big black ant happened to be crawling less than four inches away from the lady bug.  I thought, Uh-oh, lady bug, you'd better run, and before I could scarcely finish the thought, the ant leapt forward and attacked the lady bug head on.  I was sure the lady bug was a goner.

It was a vicious but short-lived battle.  Almost as soon as the ant attacked it retreated, and the lady bug continued on its merry way, eventually disappearing over the edge of the floor and out of sight.  The ant, however, began to stagger around on the floor, as if it was drunk.  It was shivering, and furiously swiping its antennae and legs over its face.  Pretty soon it spat out (I guess) a little piece of something orange.  The ant staggered a little more and spat out another tiny orange bit.  It was still staggering and quivering and swiping at its face when The Boss came out, and we got in the car to start home, so I did not get to see the ant's ultimate fate.

If it died, I imagine its compadres ate it.

Unless it tasted really bad from lady bug juice.

Ouch! - June 7, 2022

I got my second covid booster shot yesterday.  If you knew what a chickensh*t I am when it comes to needles, you'd recognize how much courage it took for me to roll up my sleeve for the first vaccine.  The thought of that long needle piercing deep into my flesh . . . {{{shiver}}}.  But, as it turned out, dreading the shot was worse than the actual shot, and so when the time came to get the first booster, I marched fearlessly into the drug store.  As I did yesterday.

But it was a different person who administered yesterday's shot.  The actual puncture wasn't bad, but then when she pushed the plunger to inject the medicine, it felt like she leaned her whole weight against the syringe.  I squeaked out an involuntary cry and gave her a withering look.

My arm hurt for the rest of the day, and today it's so sore that it hurts to pick up my coffee cup.  

I shall not return to that store if a future booster shot is necessary!

* * * * * * * * 

The plan for this weekend was to finish planting the garden, but we got another big rain yesterday, so the odds of working in the garden are slim.  

Concert - June 6, 2022

Saturday night we went to hear the Oak Ridge Boys sing at the Fitz Casino in Tunica.  Lots of gray hair in the audience, including ours and the ones on stage.  Our seats were off to one side, but it was a small venue so there weren't really any bad seats. 

Except for the seats directly behind the woman who stood up and danced and waved her arms during the first part of the concert.  

People in front of me were trying to take pictures with their telephones.  I could see the woman's silhouette in all of their pictures.  I wondered if the people directly behind her could see the band at all.  Finally, some guy a couple of rows ahead of me flagged down a security person.  When the security guy made the woman sit down, the applause from the audience was about as loud as the applause for the band.

* * * * * * * * 

Son #2 and his family went camping in east Tennessee last week.  Granddaughter #1 had been chosen as one of the field commanders for her high school band and was scheduled to attend a 2-day leadership camp in North Carolina, so the camping trip did double duty.  Friday evening, the day before the camp was to start, our daughter-in-law texted us with the news that she and our son were feeling poorly and had tested positive for covid.  By Sunday night, their children were all sick, except for Granddaughter #1 (who may be sick by this morning).  The Little Rotten Baby was running a high fever and didn't want to eat or drink.  They were squirting orange juice into her mouth with a syringe, trying to keep her from becoming dehydrated.

Our son is supposed to go back to work the middle of this week.  I worry that they won't be able to hitch up the camper to come home tomorrow.  

Thursday (I think) - June 2, 2002

Having Memorial Day off from work screwed up my internal calendar.  Monday seemed like Sunday.  Every day since then has seemed like Monday.

But, surprise: this week is more than half over.  I'm looking forward to the weekend.  My Mother's Day gift from The Husband was two tickets to see the Oak Ridge Boys.  The concert is this Saturday night.  I'm not much of a country music fan, but I do like the Oak Ridge Boys.  Love the harmony.  It must be a relic of my "old time religion" church music.

I had planned to work in the garden Saturday until time to dress for the concert, but Mother Nature intervened with a big storm last night.  The garden is a swamp again and probably won't be dry enough to work until the first of next week, if we don't get more rain.  I still need to plant the remaining purple hull pea rows and get more tomatoes in the ground.

Cucumbers and squash had sprouted last Saturday.  The first planting of purple hull peas had sprouted, except in the wet end of the garden.  I thinned them - pull up 4, leave 1 - in the areas where the ground was dry enough to walk on.  

Still haven't planted the okra.  Need to get that done ASAP.