Irksome Inhabitants - January 8, 2025

My sister called yesterday morning and asked, "Are you bored, yet?"

I immediately answered "No!"

It was the truth.  I could think of a million things I'd do if I could only lay hands on the supplies.

"But wait," you might be saying, "don't you have a house full of craft supplies?"

Why, yes!  Yes, I do!  

But there is some sort of sentient, mischievous being living in my space who hides my stuff from me.  

It can't be The Husband; he knows better.

It's a fey, or something.  

Maybe a Little Person who lives behind the cleaning supplies (where it's safe from detection).  

It's remarkable in that it hides things from me right before I need them.

"It was just RIGHT HERE!"

Yesterday, I must have spent two hours looking for a set of plastic stencils that I bought for Granddaughter #3 to experiment with.  She didn't have much interest in them, and I didn't have immediate interest in them, so I put them away.  Yesterday, I thought of a use for them, and they were not where I remembered putting them.  I tore the house apart looking for them.  

The creature who lives here is particularly mischievous, for while I'm in another room, it puts the things back in places where I've already looked.

Cold! - January 6, 2025

Winter is roaring in today.  It's supposed to get icy and nasty later this week.  

I don't like this one bit.  The local schools are starting back after the holiday break, and The Grandson now has the Wrangler.  He has very little driving experience, and zero experience with ice/snow.  I hope the adults in his house make him take the bus if the schools don't close again because of bad weather.

I am SERIOUSLY worried about Granddaughter #1, who is scheduled to drive back to college all the way across the state later this week.  She, too, has not had much experience driving on snow/ice, and I-40 is crazy on a good, clear day.

With all of the traveling, health issues, and remodeling at Son #2's house in recent months, we have not yet winterized the back porch.  We may not get to it at all this year, which may seriously hamper my wintertime mojo.  I do my best thinking out there.  

Last week, I succumbed to YouTube bait and now am somewhat obsessed with bookbinding.  Over the weekend I tried my hand at making a couple of notebooks/journals/sketchbooks.  It was not a complete waste of time and materials, as I built them with scraps and ended up with a couple of usable sketchbooks. but they are not by any means "gift quality."  (There's a third one in progress on the studio table; it'll be a little better.)  It occurred to me that this might be useful knowledge if/when the county archive gets up and running. 

  

Milkweed - January 4, 2024

I planted milkweed seeds this morning.  Last year, the State gave away milkweed seed packets to anyone who asked for them. Five packages.  I scattered 4 of the packages in the phlox bed in the fall of 2023, but none came up (that I recognized) last year.  We found this 5th packet under the Wrangler seat a week ago.  I planted them near the back porch, where I can keep a good watch on them.  They should get some stratifying before spring.

The Husband has been trying to put together a shoe rack this morning.  It's a wood-like thing, came in a zillion pieces, with oddly-shaped screw heads.  It looked to me like it needed an allen wrench. We spent a long time looking for a screwdriver/bit that would turn the screw.  I said, "I can't believe a company would send you a weird screw and nothing to turn it," and left him to keep trying things.  He subsequently re-examined the hardware bag that came with the rack and found - guess what? - an allen wrench.

:-X

;-)

I picked up The Grandson about 11 this morning, and we went to pick up Eugene (the Wrangler).  On the way, he narrated the 'coon huntin' trip.  He said he did put it in 4WD in a muddy spot, but it didn't get stuck.  When we got to the shop, one look at the Jeep told me he hadn't buried it bumper deep in mud; it just had splashes on it.  

The mechanic was on the phone when we went inside.  The Grandson immediately took out his phone and went to googling, or whatever.  I strolled around the room looking at the racecar pictures on the wall.  They were pictures of the mechanic's race team holding up giant checks. I summoned The Grandson, pointed at the pictures, then pointed at the mechanic.  Dude has evidently been racing since he was born.

The mechanic said all he did to Eugene was put his transmission fluid line back where it belongs.  Nobody has a clue how/why it came off, except that maybe the shop didn't put it back on tightly enough when they worked on it in the fall.  When we left the shop, The Grandson shook the mechanic's hand and said it was nice to meet him.  When we got outside, The Grandson said, "That old guy was sooo cool."

We parted at the driveway; he went north, I went south.  To Hobby Lobby.   Got some sketchbooks and a can opener.  Almost got a Bob Ross toaster (it puts his face on the bread!), but talked myself out of it.  Now I wish I had bought it. ;)

Happy New Year - January 2, 2025

Happy Near Year to you.

I'm freezing my butt off on the back porch this morning, looking out at the frost in the back yard, listening to crows yelling back and forth.  The other birds are quiet; I suppose they're huddled up somewhere, trying to stay warm.

It was a quiet day around here yesterday.  About 12 people had showed up for our New Year's Eve supper, more than I was expecting, and I had under-estimated the amount of food that adolescent Grandchildren could consume.  I ended up making another pan of biscuits mid-party, and we had a few of those and some ham left over, so I didn't need to cook breakfast yesterday.  I spent the day piddling around in the sewing room - errr, studio - doing a little re-organizing and a little painting.

I don't have much of an agenda for today.  The transmission shop called Tuesday to say that the Wrangler is ready.  The mechanic said that it appeared that someone had had some fun in the mud in the Wrangler.  I could call The Grandson today to go with me to pick up the Wrangler, but I think I'll make him wait until tomorrow.  While we're there, I'll get the mechanic to caution The Grandson about "dogging" a 26-year-old Jeep with an "iffy" transmission.  

I hope to do some more painting today, if "Arthur" will let me.  Tuesday morning, I woke up with a swollen, sore index finger on my right hand.  It is one of my most useful fingers - it rolls mouse wheels, punches buttons, picks noses - and I'm right irked that it's acting this way.  There's sh*t I want to do, now that I've retired.

By the way, I intend to be selfish with time for a little while, so don't tell anybody I've retired.  ;)