Y'all.

Yesterday, the first day of fall, the temperature dropped like a stone.  

It is 65 degrees on the back porch this morning.  

After almost a month of near-100-degree weather, a light jacket sounds good.

It is bliss.

* * * * * * * *

Kudos to me for not forgetting to pick up the Little Rotten Baby from school yesterday.  

School pickup is a ballet, of sorts.  A well-oiled machine.  Get in the right lane, and it's smooth sailing.  I got there early to claim a place in the front of the line so that the LRB wouldn't have to search too hard for my car.  When the kids started pouring out the door, I stepped out onto the sidewalk so she could see me.  

She came a-runnin' when she saw me.  We hugged and got in the car.

She talked ALL.  THE.  WAY.  HOME.

The music teacher gave the class some eggs - not chicken eggs like you eat - but COLORED eggs - to roll on the floor and it made noise and we shook them . . . .

I remember my very first music lesson in school.  First grade.  30 kids.  We sat at our desks while an old, fat lady (she was probably 50) drew five lines across the chalkboard, all at once, with a chalk holder that held FIVE PIECES OF CHALK.  This is all I remember of the lesson.

Anyway . . . . 

The first thing the LRB said when we walked in the door was, "Let's do something."

She rolled some clay through the pasta machine a few times, then pointed at the sewing machine and said, "I really want to do THAT."

She's been wanting to do THAT for some time now.  All three of her sisters have done THAT.  

She had it all worked out in her head; she would sit in my lap while I ran the pedal.  But guiding the fabric was her job.  

I told her the story about the time I sewed ALL THE WAY THROUGH my pinkie finger.  

She picked her fabric from the scrap bin.  She picked out her thread.  She the presser foot.  We put a piece of practice fabric under the needle.

When the first few stitches happened, the child absolutely giggled with delight.  I showed her the "pretty" stitches (she picked "hearts"), but she liked the straight stitches best.  

It didn't take long for her to make me get up so SHE could run the pedal.  She had to stand up to do it.  Her face was about level with the machine.  She wanted to sew two pieces together.  Then three.  Then four.  

She's got this.

She did not want to stop when it was time to go home.  

She took her creation with her.  

I know what she'll want to do the next time she comes over.

Granddaughter #3 came in while we were in the sewing room.  Her science teacher belches out loud, and the whole room stinks, and she doesn't know if it's because of the burps, but they all think she's pregnant.

Girls have a lot of information.

To Do List - September 22, 2026

I am supposed to pick The Little Rotten Baby up from school today.  

My phone is set to alarm 30 minutes before it's time to leave my house and again 5 minutes before it's time to leave.  I'd set a third alarm for the exact time to leave if the phone would let me.  

I've had "five more minutes" turn into 20 minutes, more than once.

I've been playing with jewelry today.  Made a pair of earrings.  Re-examined some of the earrings I hope to sell.  When the LRB gets here, we'll probably paint.  Or roll clay through the pasta machine.  Stuff like that.

Yesterday I went to a meeting of the class reunion committee.  50 years.  It's unfathomable.  We finally have a list of who's coming.  I, who can scarcely add or subtract, spent a good part of the weekend trying to reconcile the bank balance with the list of attendees.  It turned out that the last deposit just hadn't gone through until yesterday.  Good grief.

I'm sitting here on the porch looking at a phenomenally large boneset plant growing in the flower bed by the bird feeder.  No doubt it came from something in the feeder.  It is about 6 feet tall, white and fluffy with blooms.  I should get rid of it before it goes to seed, but I have enjoyed watching it.  

One more day, maybe.  

The moles are at it again in the yard.  Traps all over the place, and they dig elsewhere.  Over the weekend, I bought poison gummies but have not used them yet.  Tomorrow, maybe.  ;)

Oh, you can't rollerskate in a . . . - September 21, 2026

Saturday morning, my daughter-in-law texted me a picture of a herd of buffalo walking down our road.

That's right.  A herd of buffalo.

Just a small herd.

Still . . . . the stuff that goes on around here.  🤣

None of us knew, for sure, whose buffalo they were, but we had a pretty good idea.  

As the morning progressed, details began to emerge.  The herd - 5, I think, belonged to a dude up the road.  The Redneck Nephew (who lives with Nanny when he's not working on a riverboat) had been called to help.   

I texted the daughter-in-law.  "Tell him not to wear his rollerskates."  Sent her the song, figuring she was too young to get the joke, thinking the little girls might enjoy it.  That song has been my brainworm ever since.  It's probably yours, now.  🤣

Anyway . . . . 

By the time The Nephew became involved, part of the herd had abandoned the road in favor of the woods.  The Nephew was told to saddle a horse; the round-up would occur on horseback.  

I heard that they managed to get three into a trailer and tranquilized one.  Don't know how they got the tranquilized one from where they dropped him and onto a trailer.  I expect some farm equipment was involved.  

To my way of thinking, this situation must have been The Redneck Nephew's - any redneck nephew's - wet dream come true.  

Roundin' up some buffalo.  On horseback.  Might have to shoot some if they can't be herded into a trailer.  Hell, yeah.

He'll get some mileage out of that story.

  

Friday - September 18, 2026

I have not made a single piece of jewelry this week.  This is partly due to a lack of a creative spark and partly due to the abominable state of the craft room.  

Doing the vendor booth last weekend sapped me in more ways than one.  It was soooo hot.  (The Husband's truck registered an indoor temperature of 107 when we got in it to come home.)  Very few people showed up during the time the venders were allowed on the premises.  I sold very little.  It was a disappointing day.  

All of the boxes from the vendor booth landed on the craft room floor.  It sat there for days, impairing my ability to move around the room.  

Yesterday, I decided to put the booth stuff away and do something about the general chaos in the room.  It's still a mess - there's just too much STUFF - there needs to be another ruthless purge - but at least I can move around in it.  The worktable is cleaner than it's been in months.  

Next week, it's back to work.

Last night, I went to an outdoor concert at the park in our little town.  The band played hits from the 60s and 70s.  Once the sun went down it was right pleasant.  It turned out that one of the band members graduated from high school with me.  I hadn't seen him since then.  Since our 50-year class reunion is coming up next month, when the band took a break, I nabbed him and told him about the reunion.  He may be way too cool to hang out with us old fogies.  

Out - September 16, 2026

If you're looking for me today, I will be out.  Routine physical, then a visit with my sister.  

This week, so far, I have been mostly worthless.  

It's the craft room.  

Something must be done about it.

Besides the usual disorganization, it is now full of boxes brought home from the vendor booth.  I can scarcely move about in the room without tripping over something.  You'd think that if it all came out of there, it ought to all fit back in.  I just need to summon the willpower to tackle the job. 

Sales Report - September 14, 2026

You must be about to burst to learn how the benefit dinner booth sales went.

I sold $40 worth of rings and earrings, just enough to pay for the folding table that I bought to display my wares at the event.  We're in the hole if you subtract the money we spent on lunch.

We got there at 9:00. There were tons of volunteers to help us unload and set up. We were set to go at 10 when the event officially opened.  There were maybe 10 other vendors.  Two or three of them sold jewelry. The day was hot, with scarcely a breeze. 

Hardly any customers showed up. 

Some of the more seasoned vendors reported that there was another (bigger) event going on in the next town that probably drew some people away.  One of them told me that there would be more people arriving around 5:00, when the actual dinner was set to begin. 

But here's the kicker:

The vendors were told to be gone by 4:30, as they needed the space for the diners.

I would venture a guess that there had been more volunteers and vendors than the cumulative number of customers by 3:30, when we packed up and left.  Some of the other vendors had been gone an hour by then.  Thankfully, the volunteers helped us get everything to the truck.

The Husband and I were both sapped.  As we pulled into our driveway, I said, "Can we just wait until tomorrow to unload?"  He didn't need any convincing.  We had been invited to dinner at Nanny's, a going-away dinner for a Nephew who was moving across the state; we were grateful that we did not have to come up with our own food.

Despite the lack of sales, I am glad I did it for the experience.  And it gave me a chance to scope out the other vendors' jewelry.  (Mine was very different from theirs.)  

I will probably set up a booth at the indoor event at the high school in November.  Between now and then, I intend to use up the rest of the beads, wire, and clay already on hand.  If the stuff doesn't sell, my jewelry venture may conclude.  

And then I'll move on to something else . . . .

I went into the craft room this morning and wanted to turn around and walk back out.  It's a disaster.  Something must be done about it before any serious work can happen in there.  Must find a place for the jewelry and hats to live until the next event.  Right now, they're in boxes on the floor, and they're in the way.

Memorable Days - September 11, 2026

Two people that I know have birthdays today.   They are both old enough to remember what happened 25 years ago today.  I remember it well.

I was on my way to work, listening to the local classic rock station, when one of the goofy DJs announced that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in New York.  It had just happened, and the DJ did not know what kind of plane it was.  At that moment, nobody suspected that it was anything other than a tragic accident.  When I arrived at my office, I turned on the old rabbit-eared TV we had.  It wasn't long before news of the other planes was broadcast.

My sister was living and working for the government in the DC area at the time and occasionally visited the Pentagon.  I panicked and started trying to call her.  The phone lines were jammed; there was no getting through to her.  Fortunately, she was able to telephone me to tell me that she was okay, and she asked me to get word to our parents, whose phone line was down because of some bulldozing being done in their yard.  I called my uncle, who lived just across the hill from my parents, and asked him to go tell my parents that my sister was okay.  My mother said that the first thing he said when he got out of his truck was, "She's okay."

* * * * * * * * 

We got a little rain last evening, but not enough to help our drought situation.  The weather radar app shows some clouds coming from the west.  Hopefully, they will hang together long enough to give us a little more rain.  Our hydrangeas are crispy.  

* * * * * * * * 

Tomorrow is the day of the benefit dinner.  I spent part of the day yesterday gathering up the things I will take.  I am nervous, a little excited, and a little bit dreading the day.  The temperature is predicted to be "only" 94 degrees, so it will be a little cooler than it has been, but still mighty hot.  I hope the heat doesn't make people stay home.

Book Club - September 10, 2026

My phone alarmed at 2:00 yesterday, reminding me of my friend's book club meeting at 2:30.  There was a pot of red beans cooking on the stove, and they weren't done.  I'd never been to a book club and wanted to see what it was like, so I transferred the beans to the crock pot and went to the meeting.

Side note:  my friend - a new friend I met in an art class earlier this year - was the only person I recognized.  Twenty years ago, it would've been strange to have found myself among strangers in our little town, but not anymore.  At the grocery store yesterday morning, I did not encounter one person I knew.   It is just weird.

Anyway . . . .

I enjoyed the book club meeting.  My phone is set to remind me of the meetings on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, but I am not sure I'll go again.  

The red beans and rice were done in time for supper.  Earlier in the day, I'd texted The Grandson to let him know I was making them.  Before he came home from work, he texted me to ask if he could bring a friend to dinner.  He came in about 6:00 with a young lady, the sister of his best friend, a tiny little thing with colorful striped hair and a beaded nose ring.  She seemed to enjoy her dinner, especially the coconut pie.

The Husband got home about 7:30 and went straight for the pie.  He took red beans and rice and coconut pie for lunch today.  

He'll be getting the same thing for supper tonight. ;)

Saturday is fast approaching, but I think I am ready for the craft fair.  It will be a hot day.  We have to be set up by 9:45 and packed up by 4:00.  I just hope I don't come home with everything I took.  If that happens, there may be a huge craft supplies give-away at my house next week.

Kitchen Duty - September 9, 2026

Last night as we were eating left-over meatloaf for dinner and lamenting our lack of appetite in this outrageous heat, The Grandson suggested red beans and rice.  

So I went to the grocery store early this morning and got the ingredients.  I intended to put andouille sausage in it but got side-tracked on the way to the meat department and forgot to get any.  Thus, this pot of red beans is getting polish sausage and ham, instead.

What side-tracked me was a passing glimpse of a package of coconut.  The Husband loves coconut pie.  Detour to the freezer section for a pie crust.  

I came home from the grocery store and went straight to cooking.  Sweated the vegetables, low and slow, while the beans soaked.  Made the pie.  Sent The Husband the picture when it came out of the oven.  

There were two pie shells in the package.  I made a ham & cheese quiche with the extra one.

The beans are simmering on the stove.  The quiche just came out of the oven.

A few minutes ago, The Husband called and said he had a meeting after work.  

Just for that, I may send a slice of pie to all of the neighbors.

A friend invited me to a meeting of her book club at 2:30.  The beans probably won't be done by then, so I'm not sure I'll make it to the book club.

Or maybe I'll dump them into the crock pot and motor on.

Okay, I'm up.  And dressed.  Even put some shoes on.

Now what?

I just had a walk-about in the back yard, checking the mole traps.  During the past couple of weeks, I have fished three big moles out of the "way-back" yard.  I gottta tell ya . . . it is most satisfying to discover that a trap's been sprung, and pull it up, and find a fat old mole dangling from it.  No trap was sprung this morning, and I didn't see any fresh digging in the area.  Maybe I've caught them all.  But on the way back to the house, I noticed some fresh disturbance in an old tunnel closer to the house.  I can see it from my perch on the back porch and can probably hear it if it's sprung (if the air-conditioner unit isn't running when it happens).  

Cheap entertainment.

Anything to keep me from facing the craft room.

I need to be in there working.  

For the most part, I am finished with the manufacturing processes.  I am not going to make anything else from scratch.  Nothing is priced except one or two of the hats.  There are at least 64 pairs of earrings, two dozen bracelets, and two dozen rings.  I am just going to put a price on each category and roll with it, for I will never be able to decide whether THIS pair of earrings is worth more than THAT pair.   

There are two or three more "dumpling" bags cut out and ready to sew.  Before I can sew them, I have to take the embroidery unit off the machine, but I just downloaded a free-standing lace dragonfly that I want to embroider . . . . 

I should get to it, huh?

Time to Regroup - September 6, 2026

Although our little get-away was officially over on Wednesday (we came home on Tuesday, but I claimed the whole day as "down time"), I am still not in full craft mode.  The Husband has been home all week, scheduled to get back to the grind on Tuesday.  Maybe that's when my vacation will end, too.

But the past few days haven't been a total loss.  While we were in Mountain View, I crocheted a cute bucket hat and started another.  I can't crochet for long stretches.  (The ring finger on my left hand is what The Husband's grandmother called a "trigger finger"; it doesn't want to un-bend after it's been bent a while.)  I finished a child-sized hat yesterday working about 10 rounds at a sitting.  It made 6 hats I've finished since the last week of August.  Not too bad, all things considered.

But I want to decorate the hats.  

I crocheted some small flowers.  They help, but . . . meh.

I embroidered some free-standing butterflies.  So-so.  They were too big for a child's hat, and pushing it for adult hats.  I can size them down and try again.

Yesterday, I tried making flowers out of sparkly tulle and taffeta.  I did not try hard, and they came out crappy.  I will try again and mean it.

There are a couple more school logo tote bags to embroider.

This morning, I've made 4 or 5 rings for big fingers and one or two smalls.

But I am running out of time.  The benefit is this coming Saturday.  It will be an outdoor event, and unless the weather cools off, it will be miserably hot.  I will have to supply my own tent and display tables.  There are tables and tents in the shed, but also snakes and mice and spiders.  For several days, I've been warning The Husband that I will need those things from the shed and that he would have to be the one to get them out.  Finally, today, he went into the shed, and I went as far as the door - the *outside* of the door - to help him.  We set up the table and the tent to make sure they're ok.  When I suggested we put the stuff in the truck instead of back in the shed, he balked.  I did not understand why - we'd only have to get the stuff out again in a few days - until I overheard him tell Son #2, "She's doing a craft fair later this month."  When I told him, "It's NEXT WEEKEND," he understood why I thought loading the truck today was a good idea.  But by that time, we'd already put it all back in the shed.

The table in the shed isn't quite big enough.  I just ordered an 8 ft. table that should be here in a day or two.  Those two tables, plus our card table, should do the job.  

I went ahead and registered for a November craft fair.  

Mountain View - September 2, 2026

We're back from our trip to Mountain View.  

I was not ready to come home.

We got to our cabin around 4 p.m. Friday afternoon, unpacked our stuff, and headed to the square to listen to some music.  A "headliner" group was to play on the courthouse lawn later in the evening, but we preferred to go to the little park near the courthouse, where impromptu groups had congregated under the gazebos.  

As dinnertime approached, we went into a Mexican restaurant (it was Friday, after all) only to discover that they didn't serve margaritas - it's a dry county.  A lady who was waiting on a pick--up order said that another restaurant a few miles away served liquor, so we got in the truck and drove down there.  The parking lot was packed.  We didn't even get out of the truck and drove back to town for dinner at a pizza buffet (sans beer), then back to the square for more music.

The Husband had packed his ukulele but did not break it out Friday night.  I think he wanted to scope out the scene first.  Or else he was just chicken.

It was hard going to sleep that night.  Our refrigerator kept making clicking/grunting noises.  I got up and raised the lever on the icemaker, and the noise settled down.

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at a place on the square that had been recommended to us by the cabin rental agent.  It was crowded and the restaurant seemed to be short-staffed that morning.  They were out of biscuits (Horrors!)  and got our order wrong, to boot.  We did not go back there for the rest of our stay.

We spent most of Saturday poking around the shops on the square.  One of the shops seemed to be an "overstock" store.  I found a bag of smooth gray rocks on the shelf that did not appear to be part of the overstock inventory.  I've seen these kinds of rocks painted and left for people to find.  The lady at the counter was the same lady who'd told us about the restaurant that served liquor.  She said that she and her kids liked to paint on the rocks.  Thinking that The Granddaughters might enjoy doing that, we bought the bag of rocks.  After we paid for the rocks, she very nearly crowed with glee.  The store manager had bet her that the rocks would never sell; if she could sell them, he'd give her a day off with pay. I meant to check back with her before we left to hear her tell his reaction.

There's an ice cream/coffee booth on the square that does a hoppin' business in the evenings.  The Husband and I had lusted after ice cream cones since we got to town, so when we were finished scoping out the shops, we walked over to the booth.  He ordered ice cream, I wanted lemonade.  Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were minding the store.  They were bickering as we walked up to the window.  The girl took our order and instructed the boy to make my lemonade.  When he said he didn't know how, she said, "I ALREADY SHOWED YOU HOW.  FIGURE IT OUT!"  Having just paid $6 for the lemonade, I stuck my head in the window and said, "NO!  NO EXPERIMENTING WITH MY LEMONADE!  SHOW HIM AGAIN!"  The bickering ceased (though there was probably some low, under-the-breath muttering.)  

My lemonade was fine.  :)

We went back to the cabin for a while (it was just off the square) but went back to the square around sunset.  The Husband took his uke this time.  As we walked up to one of the gazebos, one of the musicians spied the ukulele case and, thinking there was a fiddle in the case, invited him to join.  The invitation held even after they discovered the instrument was a uke.  ;)  The Husband had a good time playing and singing with the group, something he rarely gets to do.  We stayed until everybody got tired.

Sunday morning, we broke our travel rule of "no eating at chain restaurants" and had breakfast at a fast-food joint.  After breakfast, we drove up to Mountain Home, just to look around.  We had a good lunch (with alcoholic beverages . . . ON A SUNDAY!) on the square.  Afterwards, we found a liquor store, where I bought a small bottle of Jack Daniels and a small bottle of Fireball.  We drove back to Mountain View, rested a bit, then went back up to the square.  The Husband played with the gazebo group again.

We laid around the cabin a lot on Monday.  Running low on ice, I lowered the lever on the ice maker.  There was a hum as the icemaker began to fill itself with water.  I closed the freezer door and went back to my book.  A few minutes later, The Husband observed that the icemaker was still making that humming/filling noise.  I got up to look.  THE ICE BUCKET WAS BRIMMING WITH WATER, and we could not get it to stop.  The Husband opened the cabinet doors under the sink, looking for a cut-off valve, while I bailed out the icemaker bucket.  The water kept coming.  While he grabbed his phone to call the rental agent, I flipped the icemaker lever a couple of times and, mercifully, the water flow stopped.  We did not fool with the lever for the rest of the trip.

Monday, after breakfast at the fast-food joint, we drove up to the Ozark Folk Center.  It is closed on Mondays.  :(  

Monday evening, as we were eating dinner in a restaurant down the road from the square, we recognized one of the other diners as a lady who had done some singing in the gazebo the previous night.  The Husband struck up a conversation with her and learned that she planned to go back to the square to play music that night.  She encouraged him to come along with his uke, so after we ate, we went back to the cabin, got the ukulele, and went back to the square.  Several people were sitting around the gazebo.  Nobody was playing, not an instrument in sight.  An elderly man spied The Husband's ukulele case and said, "Boy, break out that fiddle and let's have some music."  When The Husband told him the case held a ukulele, he said, "Oh.  Never mind."  Everybody laughed.  But one of the other observers said he'd brought his guitar, and this started a trend.  Before long, there appeared several guitars, a mandolin, and a harmonica.  We stayed at the gazebo until nearly 11 p.m.

Our cabin reservation ended Tuesday morning.  I tried my best to get The Husband to extend it, but he'd talked to Nanny and Son #2 and learned that (1) Nanny's cousin had died and the funeral was Wednesday, a long way from home, and she'd need him to drive her there, and (2) The Little Rotten Baby (who had been named "Student of the Month for August) was expecting us at the school on Thursday for Grandparents' Day.  We had to go home.  :(

Even though I would have happily stayed for as long as the cabin was available, we packed up Tuesday morning.  On the way home, we realized we had not even opened the liquor we worked so hard to get.  ;)

Even though I would have happily stayed for as long as we could've found lodging ANYWHERE, it was good to get home.

 Yesterday, my BFF sent me a picture of a pair of dragonfly earrings, along with the comment, "You can do that."

My response:  "Jewelry production temporarily suspended.  Moved on to the sewing machine."

At the time, I was digging through the buffet cabinet in the sewing room (which once was the dining room) where I'd stored the fabric that survived The Great Purge of 2022.  To my delight, I found two sets of embroidered placemats and a table runner/napkin set that I'd made several years ago for my booth in the antique mall.  They are fall/holiday colors.  They will go to the booth I will set up in September at the charity benefit.  

I spent most of the day working on dumpling bags. Found the right size pattern, which took a while.  Cut out one using nice fabric, sewed it up without any hitches.  Today I am going to choose the fabrics for a few more bags and have them ready to sew when we get back from our trip to Mountain View.  

Got It - August 26, 2026

Yesterday morning, I decided to get up off my lazy duff and plant the baptista australis seedling that my sweet niece brought me.  I decided to plant it on the gravely bank along the driveway, where digging is hard.  The bank is covered with some kind of creeping yew, and also English ivy, mixed in with iris and lavender and daylilies, and I had to hack out a place to put the new plant.  While I was hacking, a wasp got after me, and I realized that I was close to a wasp nest hidden under all the brush.  I put some distance between me and the nest, but the wasp came after me, and four or five of his wing men took to the air.  I fought the attacker off with my trowel.  He gave up, eventually, and when he did, I went for the can of jet spray wasp killer and went back and dosed everything that was flying around where I was trying to dig.  When things settled down, I jumped back in, planted the plant, and got out of there.

About this time, Son #2 drove up in my Wrangler, which he had borrowed the previous day.  It was his day off; he'd just come home from having driven the Little Rotten Baby to kindergarten.  (She had insisted on riding to school with the top down, he said, but he'd already put the top back up.)

I said, "While you're here . . . follow me," and took him to the back yard, where the mole trap had been sprung.  

I was not sure that there was actually a mole in it.  It's a brand new (but cheap) scissor-type trap that had given me fits trying to set it.  It once popped itself plumb out of the ground when I turned my back on it.  Anyway . . .

There was a mole in the trap, probably the biggest, fattest mole I have ever seen.  His pink paddle feet were the size of quarters.  

If there is a trick to getting a mole our of a scissor-type trap, I don't know it.  I handed it to The Son, who had the good sense to look for a release mechanism, but there wasn't one.  When he finally got the scissors open, the mole was stuck to one of the blades and wouldn't just fall out of the trap.  I raked it off with a stick and flung it down the gulley.  Something will eat it.

I need to get out there today and check for new digging and re-set the trap.  

Chiggers will get me when I do.

Maybe I'll do some sewing, instead.

* * * * * * * * 

It's not that I am bored with making jewelry (the force is strong); I just need something besides jewelry to populate the booth that I am setting up at a charity benefit in mid-September.

I didn't tell you about that?

Ok, well, when the booth at the local October festival fell through, friends suggested some alternatives.  The benefit happening next month is at a local church.  Over 1,000 people usually attend.  I will probably know a lot of them.  There's another event coming up in October at a local high school.  I probably won't know many of those folks.  I am not sure whether displaying my craft in front of people I know is more scary or less scary than showing it to strangers.  

Anyway, I've got two weeks to prepare.  

As I said a few posts ago, I have made enough jewelry to set up a moderately full display.  But I want to make some other things, too - useful things.  During the past week or so, I've crocheted 3 cloche hats (and started a 4th) at night while watching TV, and there's enough yarn in my stash for several more.  In a couple of days, we're doing a road trip to Mountain View, Arkansas, and since I don't get car-sick, I'll whip out a couple more hats while we're on the road and at night in the cabin.

I also wanted to make a few "dumpling bags," little half-moon-shaped purses for cosmetics and such.  I made one for myself years ago; it goes on all my trips.  Monday, I decided to make some out of some yardage already in my stash.  Naturally, the original template for the original bag was nowhere to be found.  There was a smaller version for free on the internet, so I downloaded one and made it, and realized that it was W-A-Y too small.  I enlarged the template with the copy machine and cut out six more bags using the enlarged template.  Before sewing the first one, I embroidered local school logos on them.  These bags are made of unbleached canvas and are lined with vinyl shower curtain material.  The bulk of the seams takes up too much room in the bag.  Zipped up, my "enlarged version" might hold a small orange.  I was shooting for something long enough to hold a toothbrush or a pencil or paintbrush.  

Back to the drawing board to draft a USEFUL bag.  

The experiments were not a total waste of time.  Sewing the canvas fabric convinced me to use some other fabric for the final bags.  There are some lovely fabrics in my stash that ought to be used for something.  Once I finally get the size correct, I'll use the pretty stuff.  The two tiny experiment bags are lined with vinyl shower curtain material.  I'm on the fence about using it on the pretty bags.  

Still, I have six little bags pieces already cut out, too small to make into bags but on which there is useful embroidery.  Maybe I can cut out the logos and applique them onto something else., like a tote bag.

* * * * * * * 

Mole Madness - August 24, 2026

For the past month or so, new mole hills have popped up in our backyard almost every day.  These are not your standard mole trails; these are mole MOUNTAINS, foot-high piles of loose dirt.  I've been setting traps to no avail.  

Yesterday afternoon, as I sat here looking out at the backyard, something in my brain snapped.  I went to the shed, got a shovel, and started digging.  When I finally dug down to where I could see an actual hole, I channeled my father-in-law and went to get the water hoses.  These mole hills are at least 150 feet from the nearest outdoor hydrant.  It took FOUR 50-ft hoses to reach them all.  I was about worn out by the time I strung all the hoses together and turned on the water, but I was determined.

I jabbed the end of the hose into every hill and tunnel I could find and filled them until they either backed up or sprung a leak in a tunnel downstream.  By the time I was done, the whole area was soup.  I lost my crocs in it a time or two as I tried to stomp down all the tunnels.  The exercise must have taken two hours.  I never did see a mole surface, gasping for breath.  I hoped I had drowned them all in their lairs.  

This morning, I took a stroll to check for new digging, and there were places where one or more moles had re-opened a tunnel.  I set traps in them.  

If I don't catch a mole today, I may consider dynamite.

She Who Hesitates . . . August 22, 2026

Well . . . shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

Around 4:00 yesterday afternoon, I finally decided to commit to do a booth at the town festival coming up in October.  I really wanted a companion for the enterprise, someone who also makes stuff to sell, and was willing to foot the whole rental fee just for the company.  Last night I posted the call for help on my social media page.

This morning, someone associated with the festival replied to my post; the booths were all spoken for by the end of June.

I hesitated too long.

Now what am I going to do with all this crap?

* * * * * * * * 

A night or two ago, The Husband came to me with a leather bracelet he bought for himself a while back.  He wanted to know if I could change the metal closure, complaining that it digs into his wrist when he lays his arm flat.  He wanted a sliding knot closure like one of his other bracelets uses.

In my opinion (which I shared with him), changing the closure would be a mistake.  The closure was flat and smooth and not very thick.  But he wanted me to try, anyway. 

And so I did.

I tried everything in my arsenal: a sliding knot, a barrel knot, and a hook/loop.  The problem is that his wrist is small - the ends almost meet without any closure at all - and every type of closure I constructed made the bracelet too large.  

Good thing we saved the originals.  

Ima let him put them back on.  ;)

* * * * * * * * 

  

Leather and thread - August 19, 2026

This blistering heat needs to go away.  It's been 100 degrees (or nearly so) for two weeks.  Enough!  

All day, I have moved back and forth between the porch and the craft room and the kitchen.  My tools and supplies are scattered between the three places.  I've said I need a set of wire-working tools for every workstation, but that would be a useless endeavor because, inevitably, they'd all end up in the same place.  

Last week, when the jewelry display racks came in, I spent several days putting the jewelry I've made onto the racks.  The earring rack is completely full - 64 pairs.  The bracelet rack could hold a few more, but it doesn't look bare.  I've filled up two necklace boards (about 20 pendants) and have two spare boards, one of which will probably be full once I finish the pendants that are "in progress" on the table.  The ring display looks sparse, so yesterday I made about 10 more rings.  

So, you see, I have been somewhat productive.

I am not bored with making jewelry, but I needed a break, so when the internet kept baiting me with sewing and crochet patterns, I took the bait and downloaded a hat pattern.  Yesterday, when I went to the hobby store for some needed supplies, I bought 3 skeins of yarn - ecru, red, and black - to make hats.  Last night, I sat down with the ecru skein and crocheted the top of the hat.  My hands are complaining about it this morning.  You'd think that they'd be toughened-up from all the wire twisting and clay kneading I've done, but I guess the hand motions are different enough that some unused muscle/tendon got a new workout.  When I picked up the crochet this morning, I only lasted about 2 rounds before my left hand started to go numb.  I'll work on it a little more tonight.

I have also been wanting to make some machine-embroidered bracelets.  A few months ago, I made two or three embroidered leather bracelets from leather scraps from the hobby store.  They turned out well, but my machine complained about the leather.  There weren't any leather needles in my stash, but there was a heavy-duty needle that worked well enough to crank out two bracelets.  But I wasn't satisfied with the weight/thickness/size of the leather in the stash.  The few scraps that were large enough to hoop in a 5" x 7" frame were too thick to suit me.  There were plenty scraps big enough for the actual bracelets, but it in order to use them, I had to affix them to tear-away stabilizer, which created a whole 'nother set of problems; either I'd have to pick the stabilizer out of the back of the design or else I'd have to back the bracelets with another piece of leather. which ALSO created more work.  I decided to put off the embroidered leather project until I could find some more suitable leather.

It so happened that the hobby store had a roll of thin leather pigskin on sale.  Half price.  I snatched it up.  This morning, I decided to have another go at the bracelets.  I'd changed the machine needle last week when testing an embroidery design for my online store, but I reasoned that since the leather is so thin, the regular needle might work.  Wrong.  My thread kept breaking. I put the heavy-duty needle back in (remind me to post a tirade about narrow machine throats), but that didn't solve the problem.  A few minutes ago, I ordered some machine needles for leather.  So the leather bracelet project is once again on hold.

The design I was sewing today was one that I'd bought from another designer a long time ago but had never sewn.  I've been very happy with the designs I've bought from this business ("Urban Threads"), but as I sewed (or tried to sew) this design, I realized it's not what I have in mind for my bracelet rack.  So, it looks like I might be digitizing my own bracelets. 

Meanwhile . . . . 

I want to put some of my jewelry in my online store, which means I need to take some pictures.  After abandoning the bracelet project, I tried to set up a camera-worthy shot on my worktable, which was already loaded with stuff.  I cleaned off a spot, draped some fabric over a form, and noticed that the fabric needed ironing.  THERE IS NOWHERE IN MY CRAFT ROOM TO SET UP AN IRONING BOARD.  I could put it in the spot where the t-shirt press usually sits if I could find a spot for the t-shirt press.  Fat chance of that hap - 

Wait...The Husband keeps an iron and ironing board set up in his closet.  

Never mind.

Photography project back on.

I need some elves....

I need some elves.

Just rambling (as usual) - August 17, 2026

The Husband and The Grandson have left for work, and I am sitting here on the porch, looking out over the back yard, wondering why I cannot catch the #@)#! mole that's digging up the yard.  In one area, there are hills - not just trails, but HILLS - of loose dirt 8" high.  I read somewhere that these might be cavities where moles give birth (mole maternity wards?).  If this is true, the whole back yard is going to collapse one day, when all of these babies start digging.  I have set three traps; none of them have been sprung, yet I am not seeing any new raised tunnels (I stomped down all I could find).  

Granddaughter #1 went back to college Friday.  The day before she was supposed to leave, some part of her car broke.  She'd already packed her car with as much of her stuff as it would hold.  Her family was to follow her with more stuff and help her get settled.  The best part was that they intended to take Roscoe with them, and we would not have to babysit his dumb ass.  When the car broke, all of that changed.  Mom and the girls hit the road to the college Friday morning, and Dad stayed behind to fix the car.  Roscoe stayed behind, too.  Fortunately, Dad was able to get the car back on the road by Friday evening, and he headed to college with the rest of #1's stuff.

This will be her last semester of undergraduate school.  She is in the process of applying to veterinary schools.  

This morning, I am hearing a bird call that I *thought* might be a turkey.  It's not the "gobble" sound; it's more like a little dog with a high-pitched bark.  Arf, arf, arf.  I fired up my bird-call app, and it turns out that what I'm hearing is a yellow-bellied cuckoo.  Who'd'a thunk it?

Cooking - August 13, 2026

I am so tired of cooking.  It's not so much the actual cooking as it is planning the meals and getting the ingredients.  

Last night I asked The Husband to think of something for dinner tonight.  "It can be anything," I said.  "I'll go to the grocery store tomorrow."  

He pondered a while and said, "Well, we haven't had Mississippi pot roast in a while."  

Google it if you don't know what it is.  It's good, as far as pot roast goes, but it has a lot of high-sodium packaged seasonings.  

I went to the grocery store this morning and got the stuff to make it, but I also got ingredients for crock pot Cajun chicken penne, which we are having tonight.  The pot roast can wait until Sunday.

* * * * * * * * 

There is what I believe to be a honeybee crawling around on the screens inside the back porch.  One gets in here almost every day.  I send them mental vibes to fly over to the door, where I will let them out.  

There was also a large, hairy spider inside the screen.  I am not so tolerant of spiders when they invade my space.  I got the fly swatter and whacked it, and it dangled down on a web thread.  I whacked it again, and it sailed somewhere.  There is a mountain of stuff on my worktable - multiple bowls of beads, a tin for wire remants, a couple of caddies for tools and paintbrushes and pencils.  The spider could be anywhere, and I don't know if it's dead.  

This is the stuff of nightmares.

* * * * * * * * 

I wish I knew more science about polymer clay.

Recently, I have been sort of fixated on the baking process.  When I first started fooling with polymer clay, I dragged out some old digital thermometers - the kind with a probe on a cord - and set my oven for 275 degrees, with the probe laying on a pan.  When the oven said it had reached 275 degrees, the thermometer said 230.  It never got to 275 in an hour of baking time.  This week, I got a new digital thermometer, again the probe type.  Same deal; WAY below 275 degrees.  Thinking that it was maybe the fault of the thermometer - maybe the cord in the door let the heat out or soaked up cool from the room.  So I ordered another thermometer, the dial kind that sits on a base inside the oven.  Tomorrow, I'll let you know how it did.  

To be honest, I'm not real keen on baking polymer clay in the oven where I bake food.  When I bake clay, I always run the fan over the stove, and after the oven turns off, I open the door a little to let any fumes out.  But I am not comfortable that the clay isn't leaving oven residue that might somehow work its way into our food.  I know that we eat, drink, and breathe plastics every day, but I like to avoid it where I can,

  

Today in the craft room, I said to myself, "Don't make anything else you don't like."

Yesterday, being fresh out of fresh ideas and running low on some supplies, I worked on organizing the ring display and the earring display.  (The bracelet display isn't here yet.)  I hadn't handled some of it for months, and organizing it helped me see it with new eyes.  I thought once again that I wouldn't wear most of that stuff to a cat fight.  It's not that the workmanship is bad; I culled the ones that had flaws.  The colors are pretty.  It's just that most of it is too gaudy for my tastes.

Anyway, today I decided to make something I, personally would wear.

And I did it.  Made a polymer clay pendant and some earrings for myself.  Assuming I don't screw it up somewhere down the road, I will wear them to my class reunion.  They're baking right now and will need finishing.  Lots of pitfalls there.

Speaking of the class reunion, the committee had another meeting yesterday.  Only people who like to talk and socialize will come to a meeting.  This makes it hard to stay on track.  I had to call the class to order a couple of times to get a consensus on the menu and the venue.  Several people are keeping their own count of attendees, and nobody's count matched.  It was a mess.  I think we finally got everything straight until the next meeting after the registration deadline has passed.

Heat Wave Coming - August 11, 2026

Yesterday morning, after I said I wasn't going to rake up the grass clippings in the back yard, I womaned-up and raked up the grass clippings.  Filled up the big yard wagon TWICE, dumped the loads onto the compost pile.  Set the mole trap in the new tunnel that had popped up since I mashed them down with the lawnmower.  

I briefly considered cranking up the weed eater, but it was already seriously hot.  Enough womaning-up for the day.  

According to this morning's weather report, we're in for more serious heat for the next TWO WEEKS.  I had considered taking my jewelry to the local farmer's market this weekend, but . . . nah.

The LRB's first day of kindergarten was a success.  On the way to the gym for after-school pickup, when two little girls behind her toyed with the "charms" on her backpack, she told them, "I don't like people I don't know touching my stuff."  

We never doubted that she'll stand up for herself.  ;)

This afternoon I am going to another class reunion committee meeting.  (50 years.  It doesn't seem possible.)  The reunion is coming up in October, and we still haven't firmly decided on a venue or the menu for the reunion.  Hopefully, we'll straighten that out today.  Registrations are still trickling in, but the deadline happens this week.  

I don't know how I let myself get roped into this thing.

Weekend - August 10, 2025

I'm sitting here on the back porch, looking out at the back yard, which is strewn with glass clippings from the weekend mowing.  Mounds of grass clippings, which is highly unusual considering that we never had much grass in our back yard - only a variety of wild ground coverings, like clover, creeping charlie, henbit, etc.  I believe the bird feeder is to blame for this new grass.

I should have raked the grass clippings after I mowed, but it started to drizzle just as I was starting on the last section of the yard.  The drizzle didn't last long, but by the time I figured out that a drizzle was all we were going to get, I'd already showered and changed clothes and didn't want to expose my clean self to a new barrage of chiggers.  I should rake them and compost them today . . . but I probably won't.  It's going to be hot again.

Yesterday, there was a birthday party across the road for Granddaughter #2, who recently turned 16.  The theme was an Hawaiian luau.  Grass skirts and leis for everybody.  The Husband took his ukulele for the "Happy Birthday" song.  #2 seemed a little mortified.  It was kind of funny.  ;)

Granddaughter #4, formerly known as the Little Rotten Baby, started kindergarten today. The LRB is gung-ho about it.  Her mom is about to have a come-apart as the last chick leaves the nest.  For the first week or two, the moms get to walk the students to their class.  I think my daughter-in-law was relieved - and also a little sad - that the LRB went into the classroom, took a seat, and never looked back.  I'll walk across the road later today to quiz the kid on how her day went.

Last week, I ordered jewelry display items JUST IN CASE I work up the nerve to actually try to sell some of the stuff I've made so far this year.  I got an earring rack with 64 hooks, some necklace displays, a ring display, and a bracelet display.  They came yesterday, and I started filling them.  The earring rack is almost full, as is one of the necklace displays.  And there is a pile of pendants that still need to be strung.  I haven't started on the rings, yet.  Or the bracelets.

The sad part is that I don't *love* any of this stuff.  Wouldn't wear it to a cat fight, as they say.  Not my personal style.  It'll be hard for me to try to sell this stuff with a straight face.

Lunch with The Sibs - August 6, 2026

I had lunch with my brother and sister yesterday.  We met at a local family-style buffet.

I did not eat the salad.  ;)

Kudos to me for not going to the hobby store while I was within spitting distance of it.  However, while I was at Walmart, a little bit of craft stuff fell off the shelf and into my basket.

This morning I did a little bit of crafting with clay and wire.  Made some earring components and pendants.  There's a whole pile of earring components and pendants on one end of my craft table that need to be assembled.  This is where I hit the stump.  Because I have been using cutters and molds, all of these pieces are shaped the same, and I am bored with them.  Maybe it's time I just "do me" and stay out of the molds. 

This afternoon, I've been cooking.  I try to keep breakfasts-to-go for The Husband and The Grandson.  This morning, as The Grandson was wrapping up a blueberry muffin to take with him, he said that he'd shared yesterday's banana nut muffins with his supervisor, who said, "These taste just like my grandmother used to make."

I said, "She must've used the same Martha White muffin mix I used!"  ;)

Memory Exercise - August 3, 2026

Do you wonder why I bother writing about such mundane crap?  

It's memory calisthenics.  I'm trying to keep my "pencil" sharp.   And mundane crap is about all there is to recall, most of the time.

Last week there were a couple of non-mundane events.  I had lunch with The Old Boss on Wednesday.  When she retired, we made a pact; we'd have lunch on the first Tuesday of every month.  We kept to that schedule for a couple of years, but I do believe that last week was the first time we'd had lunch since January.  One or the other of us couldn't make it.  It was so good to see her.  We sat and chatted and caught up for nearly two hours.  After visiting with her, I went to my niece's house to pick up some cast-iron cookware that had belonged to her father, who passed away last fall.  I have more cast-iron cookware than I need, but my sons said they could use it.  It was all in pretty bad shape, but the boys know how to clean and season it.

Another non-mundane thing we did was an overnight trip to Nashville.  It was The Husband's thing, a work-related dinner.  We ate at Fleming's restaurant.  The food was really good. The best part was that I didn't have to cook!  

Yesterday, I tackled two weedy flower beds.  July was hot and rainy, and I let the flower beds get away from me.  While I was pulling weeds, I felt a sting on my arm, looked down, and saw that an ant was munching on me.  I squished it and kept weeding, and when I worked my way around to the flower bed where jewelweed grows, I crushed a leaf and rubbed it on the bite.  Evidently, jewelweed is not all that great at neutralizing ant bites, for a big red knot rose up around the bite and itched like crazy.  For the rest of the afternoon, I dosed it with every anti-bite anti-itch medicine I could find in the cabinet.  The itching woke me up in the night.  I got up, dosed it again, put a band-aid on it, and managed to get a few hours of itchless sleep.  

I have to drive Nanny to the doctor later today.  She had a "spell" Friday - while we were gone - chest and back pain - and DROVE HERSELF to the hospital.  They ran some test but did not detect any heart issues.  Gave her some antacid, which made her feel better.  Her doctor wants to see her, anyway.

When we get home, I think I'll mow the yard.

Another Monday - July 27, 2026

Saturday night, The Grandson came home with a few ripe home-grown tomatoes that a friend had given him.  I was thrilled.  Although I planted a few tomatoes this spring, I did not take care of them, and we haven't had ripe tomatoes.  (We ended up mowing the entire measly garden plot down last weekend.)  I said to The Grandson, "We'll have one of these with some gravy tomorrow morning."  So, yesterday morning, as soon as the household began to stir, I started cooking our breakfast.  

Sunday morning breakfast with us is something that The Grandson remembers fondly from his childhood.  I decided to go all-out and make scratch biscuits to go with our gravy and tomatoes.  Fried some sausage patties, scrambled some eggs.  It was yummy.

As we were cleaning up the breakfast dishes, the kitchen sink stopped up.  We tried baking soda and vinegar.  Didn't work.  We got out the plunger.  Didn't work.  We ended up having to snake the drain.  Big old greasy clog. 

Kinda ruined everybody's post-breakfast lazing.

* * * * * * * 

I got out early this morning to do the grocery shopping.  Now I'm sitting here on the porch, watching butterflies swarm the lantana in the sunny flower bed.  I got out there one day last week to pull weeds in the hope of finding the clippers I lost the week before.  It was hotter than hell, but I stuck with it and made a big dent in the weed/grass situation.  Never did find the clippers.  It's a mystery.

There are a lot of UFOs in that flower bed, plants I've never grown or even seen.  I believe that the cause of these alien invaders is the bird feeder on a pole just a few feet away.  There's no telling what's in that seed mix we've been feeding the birds.  While weeding, I pulled up a chunk of grass with the biggest seedhead I've ever seen on a grass, barring pampas grass.  Reminded me of milo.  And could've been milo, I guess.  There's another unidentified plant that I'm watching to see what it does.   It's taller that I am, and bushy at the top.  If it makes a pretty bloom, it can stay.  Also taller than I am are some purported rudbeckia plants my niece gave me.  I've never seen rudbeckia this tall and am beginning to wonder if that's what it really is.  It's not showing a sign of a bud yet.  It may be something that came out of the bird feeder, landed amongst the rudbeckia I'd planted, and shaded it to death.  Imposter!  

You won't catch me doing any work in that bed today.  It's supposed to be 98 degrees today, and 99 tomorrow.  I don't see how even the butterflies have the energy to work in this heat.

* * * * * * * * 

I did not have many successes in the craft room last week.  Or this week, so far.    

I'm sitting here on the back porch this morning, sipping coffee and watching the bird battle going on in the back yard.  A few minutes ago, a group of crows landed.  A resident hawk has taken exception to the invasion and is doing his/her best to run them off, one at a time.  When the hawk runs off one crow and turns its attention to another, the first crow comes back.  It looks like the hawk needs to call in the reserves.  I know they are out there, for I hear them screaming every day.

It is soooooo much more pleasant on the porch today.  Yesterday, the temperature reached 100 degrees in this area.  Sweat dripped off my face as I sat here with a fan blowing directly on me, twisting wire to make chains for pendants.   Last night about 10 o'clock, it rained, and I could feel the temperature dropping.  

This morning I have errands to run.  This year marks 50 years since I graduated from high school, and I was drafted into helping organize a class reunion.  At the most recent reunion committee meeting, the "treasurer" job got lobbed onto me, which means I, who can scarcely add, am in charge of the money.  In a little while, I have to go out to collect some checks.  Fortunately, I'll be driving in the opposite direction of the hobby store . . . . 

Speaking of hobbies, for a couple of days this week, I put polymer clay aside and worked on some wire jewelry, attempting some pieces that a few months ago I would have considered too hard for my skill level.  Two pendants turned out okay.  Some videos I watched used coiled wire.  They coiled their wire with a drill.  I tried it, but my wire kept breaking, so I coiled it by hand, instead.  Took forEVER, but it'll make a pretty accent on a pendant or bracelet.

Over the weekend, I was fed a cooking video in which an elderly lady made tomato dumplings.  Yes, TOMATO dumplings.  She used about a pint of home-canned tomatoes and a small can of biscuits.  She brought the tomatoes to a boil, dumped 1/2 cup of sugar in it, dropped biscuit bits into it, and simmered it for about 10 minutes.  I made some that day, minus the sugar.  It looked a bit like . . . well, vomit . . . but it was SO GOOD.  It reminded me of the macaroni and tomatoes that The Husband's grandmother used to make for big family dinners.  She sauteed onions first, then added the tomatoes and macaroni.  I'll put sauteed onions in my tomato dumplings next time.

Hot! - July 20, 2026

The weatherman says it's going to be 99 degrees today, and 98 tomorrow.  If you're looking for me, I'll be in the house.

This past weekend I braved the heat to do a little yardwork.  It all started when I noticed the fabulous squash plant in the flower bed.; it had been a week since I'd picked it.  I grabbed my clippers and, sure enough, there were several squash too big to use, lots more coming along behind them.  I snipped the big ones off and started toward the compost pile with them.  On the way, I stopped to snip a dead bloom off a rosebush and yanked a few weeds from around it.  Tossed the big squash onto the compost pile and headed back to the house with two squash I'd kept.  

As I approached the porch, I realized I didn't have my clippers.  I had absolutely no recollection of what I did with them.  They were not near the rosebush.  They were not on the compost pile.  I put the squash in the kitchen and went back out to find the clippers, thinking they were most likely in the weeds near the rosebush.  I started there, pulling up creeping charlie, working my way toward the squash plant at the other end of the bed.  Something buzzed my head.  I looked up and there was a swarm of wasps rising out of the creeping charlie.  I took off running for the wasp spray on the back porch.  The can was almost empty.  I abandoned the clipper search for the day.

The yard needed mowing, but I was kind of hoping The Husband would see to it.  About 4:00 when he said he was going to mow Nanny's front field with the tractor, I reckoned he was hoping I would see to our yard.  

Nanny met me at her back porch when I went to get the lawnmower.  "It's too hot!" she hollered.

I waved and hollered back, "Don't start!" and went for the lawnmower.

It took about 3 hours to do both our yards.  The Husband was coming back with the tractor as I was making my last few rounds at Nanny's.  I had been circling what was left of the "vegetable garden" - a few sprawling tomato plants and some sickly okra - debating about whether or now to just mow it down.  The Husband saw what I was doing and asked if I wanted him to mow it with the tractor.  I said, "Have at it."

So much for this year's garden efforts . . . .  

Yesterday, I bought some wasp spray and tricked The Husband into finding out where the wasps had come from.  They'd built a nest in a container concealed in the creeping charlie.  He doused it good.  I'm still scared to mess around in that area. 

Still haven't found the clippers.

Monday - July 13, 2026

I'm having a hard time getting my act together this morning.  

Once again, we are tending Roscoe, the Great Dane, while his family has gone on vacation.  If Roscoe wasn't such an egghead, he could stay at our house and it wouldn't be troublesome to keep him.  But he is an egghead, and so he has to stay at his own house while his family is gone, and we have to go over several times a day (he lives across the road) to let him out to do his business.  Every morning since Friday, I have gone over there at 6:30 with my coffee cup in my hand to let him out and fill his bowls.  Thankfully, with the weather being so hot, we are not having a hard time getting him back inside the house.  

When I came back home this morning, I tidied up the craft room.  (I KNOW!)  The Husband gave me some craft tools and some polymer clay for my birthday (good job, Hubby), and I had to find a place to put the stuff.  I've probably hidden half of it from myself.

I learned a good tip about polymer clay yesterday.   The tip was to condition hard clay by bashing it with a hammer while it's still in the package.  I tried it.  Remember the clay I bought from Walmart that I said was too hard?   I bashed it into a cube with the flat side of a claw hammer.  It went right through the pasta machine, no crumbling.  

No charge for that tip.  ;)

C'est fini - July 9, 2026

The tooth-pulling is over, thank goodness.  I can't honestly say that the dread was worse than the doing, but it was close.  The appointment was at 7 a.m.  Worried that I'd oversleep, I asked The Husband to make sure I woke up when the alarm clock sounded, then I set a second, more annoying alarm on my phone and put it on my side of the bed.  I needn't have worried, for I was up and moving an hour before the alarm went off. 

At one point in the torture chair, I worried that the dentist was going to break my jaw trying to get the tooth out.  

But he didn't, and I was out of there by 9:30.  I came home, took two acetaminophen tablets, and moved on with my day.  The worst part was that awful hunk of bloody gauze.  Yuck!

My BFF called after lunch.  When I told her I'd just had a tooth pulled and probably shouldn't talk much (the gauze was still in my mouth at that point), she said, "Good!  Now you won't interrupt me so much!"  

Bitch.  ;) 

* * * * * * * 

Tuesday afternoon, I tried making a silicone mold from a slab of clay I'd sculpted and baked the previous day.  First, I tried the water method in which you just squirt silicone caulk into a tub of soapy water then gather it into a ball and apply it to the form.  The silicone stuck to my hands to bad that I feared I'd never get it off.  I tried rubbing alcohol, acetone nail polish remover, and lots of soap, but none of those things worked.  Finally, a hefty coat of petroleum jelly helped to slide the silicone off the ends of my fingers.  I'm still picking silicone from under my fingernails.

I tried the cornstarch method next.  Mix cornstarch with silicone and knead it until it makes a sort of dough.  I did this in a ziplock bag.  Used way too much cornstarch and ended up with a crumbly mess.  Meanwhile, silicone was oozing out of the caulk tube when I wasn't paying attention . . . . 

Eventually, between the slime from the first attempt and the crumbles from the second attempt, I managed to coat the baked clay mold with a thick layer of stuff.  Laid it aside to dry.  When I got home from the dentist, I peeled the silicone off the mold and pressed it into some raw clay.  (Broke the clay mold in the process.)  It was not a very good image.  

Yesterday, I sculpted another mold - same basic design as the first one, but with improvements.  I think I'll just stick with using it instead of fooling with silicone anymore.

Pickles - July 10, 2026

Yesterday, I discovered a big bag of cucumbers on the kitchen table.  I knew The Husband must have put them there.  They were big cucumbers.  I didn't weigh them but estimated there were probably 7 or 8 pounds of cucumbers.  

We could not eat that many cucumbers before they go bad.  Unless I wanted them to go to waste, I'd have to pickle them.

We need pickles.  There are a few jars that have been shoved far to the back of the pantry.  They were made in 2015.  They should have been dumped years ago.  

I didn't really want to make pickles, but I washed the cucumbers and sliced them on a mandolin.  Sliced off a bit of my pinkie in the process.)  Put them in pickling lime water to soak overnight.

The use of pickling lime is frowned upon these days.  Apparently, the lime lowers the acidity of the pickles and creates a danger of botulism.  Nevertheless, I've always used it, always washed the cucumbers thoroughly, never had a jar go bad.  

The cucumbers are washed and ready to make pickles, but I'm not ready.  The jars must be washed and sterilized. I will have to make a run to the store for sugar.  I don't want to do any of this, but I will.

* * * * * * * * 

The four Granddaughters came bursting through the door yesterday afternoon to bring me a gift, a Cardinal (bird) that they'd sculpted from air-dry clay.  They did a fabulous job.  But it was freshly made, and not quite dry, and I set it on the back porch to finish curing.  This morning, its tail broke off when I picked it up to take inside.  Hopefully, I can repair it and touch up the paint before the girls find out!

Errands - July 7, 2026

I have a butt-load of errands to turn today.

First up, deliver a box of doo-doo to the UPS store.

Unprovoked by me, my health insurance provider shipped me a colon cancer test.  I did one of these a few years ago after my yearly physical during which the doc said, "It's time for you to have a colonoscopy," and I said, "Not gonna do it."  He ordered a doo-it-yourself kit, which must have put me on somebody's radar to schedule another one down the road.  In any case, I "dood" the deed this morning, and now I've got to deliver the box to the UPS store.  I hate walking in there with a box of poop, knowing the UPS counter person will realize what's in the box.  Less embarrassing than making our regular UPS guy drive around with it in the back of his truck all day.

Tomorrow, I must have a tooth pulled, first thing in the morning.  I am not expecting to be in a lot of pain afterward, but it wouldn't hurt to lay in some easy-to-grab grub for the natives in case I don't feel like cooking for a couple of days.  Or a week.  ;)

I might go to the hobby store while I'm out.  A few weeks ago, I dissed some cheap polymer clay that I bought from the hobby store, claiming it was too soft and gooey to work with.  I also dissed some cheap polymer clay that I bought from Walmart, claiming it was too hard and crumbly.  Since then, I've discovered that the two clays combine fairly well to come up with a clay that is manageable, so I might get more.

Lately I have been interested in making my own molds for use with clay.  Last week, I rolled out some clay about 1/4" thick, carved some designs into it, and baked it.  After the mold cooled, I misted it with water and pressed raw clay into it.  The clay came out of the mold fairly easily, but because the mold was pretty thick and not very bendable, I had to pull on the clay, which distorted the imprint a little.  I wondered if I could make a rubbery mold of the baked mold.    There's a can of rubbery dipping stuff in the craft cabinet, but I've never even opened it and don't know how it behaves.  Yesterday, I ran across a video in which a woman was mixing 100% silicone with cornstarch to make molds.  She kneaded it like dough.  That afternoon, I went to the hardware store and bought a tube of silicon and a caulk gun, but I haven't tried it yet.  This morning, I watched a guy squirting silicone into soapy water to make his mold.  He squirted a little silicone into the water, gathered it up in his fingers, kneaded it, and pressed a thin layer onto the thing he was molding.  He said he would add another coat after the first one dried a little 

I'm not familiar with silicone, but I don't understand why I can just smear straight silicone into my baked mold and be done.  Maybe the soap is what makes it bendable?  I'll have to research this before I cut that tube open.  

Yesterday, the mailman delivered a bunch of craft stuff from Temu.  It's been so long since I ordered the stuff that I'd forgotten about it.  I peeked into the bags but have not had a chance to really see what's in them.  I'll save that for tomorrow after the dental torture session, when I'll need a good distraction.  

The 4th - July 6, 2026

Cousin Gus, who is somewhere near 80 years old, invited us to his annual 4th of July barbeque, which always happens at straight-up noon.  We haven't missed many of his barbeques.  We usually get there in time to help pull the meat while it's hot off the grill.  Man, it's good.

But this year, Nanny (who just turned 85 and recently had a "spell") decided she wasn't up to the heat, so we ordered some ribs from our daughter-in-law's father's BBQ joint and had a quiet dinner with Nanny late in the afternoon.  

As darkness fell, folks in the neighborhood began to shoot fireworks.  Things were still booming when I went to bed at 11.

It was so hot last week that I rarely ventured outside.  Finally, on Friday, I had to go to the grocery store.  It was a madhouse.  As I entered the store, people coming out would stop and exclaim, "Shoooo!  It's hot!"  Inside the store, everybody seemed frantic and irritable.  There was a traffic jam in the bread aisle, with people grabbing bags of buns off the shelves and store employees waiting to refill them.  I did not dally; I got what I needed and got the heck out of there.  On the way out of the store, I heard a lady grumbling about the crazy people inside.  Then she almost backed into my car as we were attempting to leave.  For the first time in about 30 years, I laid into the horn on my car, which probably pissed her off even more.  

This week I have an appointment to have a tooth pulled.  The dentist has been telling me for months that the tooth needs to come out.  When I went in Wednesday for a cleaning, the area around the tooth had been tender for a couple of days.  So the time has arrived.  I dread it.  I never even had a cavity until I was pregnant with Son #2, and now I have a mouth full of crowns that have begun to loosen.  It looks like this might be the Year of the Dental Makeover.  Boy, do I dread it.  

The Spider - July 2, 2026

A few nights ago, I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.  I did not turn on the bathroom light until I reached for the toilet paper and realized that the roll was empty.  When I flipped on the light to find a new roll, a fairly good-sized spider came out from the tiny space between the floor and the bottom of the door facing.  There was nothing within arm's reach with which to bash it except the empty toilet paper tube, still on the roller.  When I reached for the tube, the spider went back under the door facing.  

I hate spiders, in general, and especially one I know about.  This one would be dealt with, but first I had paperwork to do.

While I was putting new toilet paper on the roller, the spider came out again.

I flattened the toilet paper tube and managed to jam it under the door facing.  I jabbed it around until I was satisfied that if the toilet paper roll was going to kill the spider, the deed was done.  Case closed.  Back to bed.

The next morning when I turned on the light, the spider (or its identical twin) came out from under the door facing.  Back to the toilet paper tube.  Jab, jab, jab.  Then I smashed the bottom of the door facing with my foot for good measure.

I haven't seen the spider again.

But that doesn't mean it's not there. 

. . . . 

Heat is on - June 29, 2026

It's hot on the back porch this morning, no breeze, not a leaf moving anywhere.  The ceiling fan is running, and the fan-on-a-stick is blowing right on me.  I worry about The Grandson, who is working as a carpenter's helper this summer.  He's going to have a tough week.

Our weekend was half fun and half worried.  We threw a birthday party for Nanny on Saturday - pizza and birthday cake.  The majority of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were there.  It was fun.  We've got two 5-year-olds, a boy and a girl, who are hilarious to watch as they play together.  Then yesterday, Nanny had a dizzy spell.  The Husband convinced her to go to the hospital to be checked.  Preliminary tests looked fairly normal, but they kept her overnight to do one more test today.  Maybe we'll know the results by the end of the day. 

Last week, the mailman delivered a box of polymer clay - 82 little blocks about the size of a piece of Double Bubble.  There were zero instructions in the box, except for a small sheet showing how to make some characters and such.  I didn't know if it's supposed to be baked and, if so, at what temperature.  It took a good bit of searching before I found the answer.  This is worrisome.  The clay is labeled as "non-toxic" and is supposed to be okay for children to use.  I bought it thinking The Little Rotten Baby might have fun with it when she comes over, but now I'm not so sure I'll show it to her.  

For the past few days, I have been trying to figure out how to make polymer clay bezels for some resin pendants and earrings.  I wanted to encase the resin pieces with clay.  The problem is that the clay must be cured by baking it, and resin is not supposed to be baked.  So this morning, I made some polymer clay pieces using the same molds I used to make the resin pieces, thinking I might use them as forms for the bezels.  Uncured clay (the bezels) is not supposed to stick to cured clay (the baked forms) without the use of some liquid clay.  If I bake the bezels around the clay forms, will I be able to pop the forms out and insert the resin pieces?  To be honest, I don't think it will work, but at least I will get some practice making bezels.

It is so nice to have a clean porch.  There's still a little bit of stuff that needs to be somewhere else.  We're working on it.

The craft corner was a wreck.  Bead boxes on the floor, in a semi-circle around the table.  It was plumb hazardous.  Friday I bought a rolling cart with 10 shallow drawers, enough for all of the bead boxes, tools and wire.  I need another one for polymer clay if I continue with that craft, which is still "iffy."

I'm almost out of clay.  Last week, I practiced blending colors and making "canes," using up my biggest chunks of clay.  The irregular ends of the clay went into the left-over pile, which I then chopped up and re-formed into pendants.  They turned out a little weird.

A little more clay is coming in the mail, a brand I haven't tried.  Maybe it will be easier to work with.  

Porch cleaning - June 25, 2026

This back porch needs cleaning.  Seriously.  The dust is so thick

* * * * * * * * 

I interrupted the foregoing broadcast to get up off my a$$ and actually clean the back porch.  Jetted everything with the water hose.  Washed all the furniture, the cushions, the throw pillows.  Threw away some stuff.  Moved out some stuff that belongs in the shed.  

The shed is full.

Texted The Husband to stop on his way home from work and buy us a big new shed and enough metal shelving to line its walls.  

I doubt he will do that.  But maybe the idea has been planted.  

* * * * * * * * 

Today is my father's birthday.  If he were alive, he would be either 104 or 107, depending on which document you believe.  ;)

Gripe, gripe - June 24, 2026

Yesterday, I tried to make a beaded rope necklace, not one with actual rope inside, but one made of nothing but beads and thread, to use as something from which to hang a clay pendant.  I had all the stuff  - beading needles from "way back when" and seed beads in a wide range of sizes and colors.  I watched a how-to video, multiple times.  Got this.  

The thread was a recent purchase (the "way back" stuff has dry-rotted), thin, clear, nylon line.  The video said I'd need 5 meters of it, which amounts to 20-something feet if my math is approximately right.  I measured about 6 arm lengths, threaded it through a needle, poured up a bowl of sparkly size 11 beads, sat down in my recliner, and got to work.

For one thing, I can't see worth a shit.  Tiny beads, miles of nearly invisible thread that kinked and curled and knotted, needles with tiny eyes.  

Lord have mercy.  

Do I have a beaded rope necklace today?  

Nope.

I gave up.  The battle was mostly with the nylon line.  It fought hard.  There's about 40 feet of it in the garbage can this morning.  And every time I sit down in the recliner, I hear beads raining onto the floor.  

Following that failed attempt, I found a pattern I like just as well and understand a little better.  I'm going out to buy groceries in a little bit, and while I'm out, I'm going to check the hobby store for a different kind of thread.  Going to the hobby store could be dangerous to my craft budget.

Speaking of buying groceries, have I mentioned how I hate this chore?

* * * * * * * 

Yesterday afternoon when I went to retrieve our garbage can from the roadside, I noticed that Nanny's garbage can was still at the end of her driveway and decided to take it home for her and check the garden while I was there.  I had not set foot in the garden in a couple of weeks.  The tomato plants never got staked and were just running across the ground, almost invisible in the weeds and grass.  It has rained a lot this month, so the ground is mushy.  In places, there are strips of landscape fabric and mounds of wood chips left over from last year.  The garden is a haven for fire ants, ticks, frogs, and no telling what else.  

I waded in and pulled enough weeds to find the tomatoes.  They do not appear to be faring any worse for laying on the ground.  We've had so much rain that the some of the fruit is baggy with water.  But there were a lot of firm green tomatoes.  I picked some for Nanny and some for us for fried green tomatoes.  The mosquitoes nearly ate me alive.

 

A Stormy Day - June 22, 2026

It is raining cats and dogs here this morning.  Gloomy.  Thunder booming overhead.  I'm at my worktable on the back porch, trying to decide what I'm going to do today.  I've been watching tutorials for inspiration, but the rain is so loud at times that I can't hear the narrative.  

The smart thing to do would be to clean up my workspaces.  The junk on this porch table has encroached so far that there's only room left for the laptop and the mousepad.  There's scarcely an inch of free workspace on the sewing room table.  The danger in cleaning is in running into something that has been set aside for later and forgotten - "Oh, look!" - which will open up a whole 'nother can of worms and only add to the existing clutter.

* * * * * * * * 

A day later:

Well, I did manage to mostly clean off the worktable in the sewing room.  I did not put away the pile of polymer clay pendants and earring components on one end of the table, intending to finish them.  Someday soon.  For real.  I promise.  

I also managed to produce a couple of pendants that - well, they were different and interesting in a weird sort of way.

Shout out to the lady at TurtleSoupBeads - YouTube.  Her tutorials got my mojo workin'.  

Circle this date - June 21, 2026

My niece texted me yesterday and said that her mom (my sister) was coming over Sunday morning to help her decide where to plant the three hydrangeas she bought this weekend and said that I should come, too.  I replied with a thumbs up.  She texted me this morning with her mom's ETA of 9:15.  I got there about 9:30, and the three of us decided where the hydrangeas should go.  I volunteered to help dig some holes, but my niece turned down the offer (thank goodness!).

After a nice walk-about in the yard to admire what's blooming (it looks great!), I came on home.  One of the first things I did was to check on some polymer clay that I had put between two sheets of paper to "leach" yesterday afternoon in hopes of making a "Skinner blend." 

Now, here is the big announcement:  IT WORKED!  For the first time ever, I made a long, even, sheet of clay that graduated subtly from red to orange to yellow, which I then successfully rolled into a cane.

Hallelujah!

And this was done with the too-sticky clay from Hobby Lobby, which has laid opened (but in a plastic bag that sometimes gets sealed) for several weeks.  

There's a distinct possibility that I will ruin the cane once I start cutting into it.  But that's a different hurdle to leap.  

Before I left to go to my niece's house, I gave The Husband his Father's Day present.  As I handed him the gift bag, I said, sincerely, "This is not retribution for the Mother's Day present [an iron] you gave me."  He got some comfy sleep shorts, an extra-squishy seat cushion, and 4 packs of Dude Wipes.  

There was no insinuation in my gift choices.  (Well, not much.  *snicker*)  

Out of the mouth of babes - June 21, 2026

 A couple of weeks ago, Son #2 and his family bought a few baby chicks to add to their thinly-populated henhouse.  This weekend, on his days off, Son #2 and the granddaughters cleaned out an old tractor shed and turned into the Chicken Mahal, fit for their small flock.

Today, just about suppertime, Daughter-in-law texted The Husband and me, saying that a snake was in the chicken house and had eaten one of the babies. 

The Husband grabbed a rifle and we walked across the road to dispatch the reptile.

By the time we got there, Granddaughters #1 and #2 had already offed it with a shovel.  Its abdomen with swollen with the chick.  #2, the hopeful veterinarian, was contemplating extracting the chick from the snake, just for fun.

Their mom said, "Don't touch that snake with your hand."

Five-year-old granddaughter #4, standing nearby in her bathing suit and a life jacket, said, "But mom, that's the only way you can touch it."

She had a point.

Weekend Edition - June 20, 2026

This week, there were fights between young owls and adult mockingbirds in my yard every evening as dusk approached.   The owls are at least 4 times the size of the mockingbirds, but the little guys run them off, screaming and dive-bombing them in unison until the owl flies away.  There must be baby mockingbirds close by. 

This morning, I found a mockingbird feather in the yard.  The Husband found one yesterday.  I hope the owls haven't won the battle.

On the garden front:

A few weeks ago, I planted crookneck squash seeds in flower beds.  The ones I planted near the stump are healthy and proud and yielded two squash yesterday.  The others are sickly, even some that are in the same flower bed as the healthy ones, not 4 feet away.  I don't get it.

The Husband reported that there are volunteer squash in the "garden" at Nanny's.  I used the quotes because it's not much of a garden - a few tomato plants, a few sickly peppers plants, a row of okra, plus the volunteers.  They are surely butternut squash, as I believe that's the only kind I planted (by accident) last year.

Yesterday, I noticed a few odd plants growing in the compost pile.  They looked vaguely familiar, so I left them.  Early this morning, it came to me; they're potatoes.  If you only knew the agony I've caused myself trying to grow potatoes.  And here they are, volunteering in the compost, healthier-looking than any potato I ever planted.  I'm going to keep throwing stuff on top of them (I mean, don't the experts say to hill up dirt around the stems as they grow?).  We'll see what happens.

I am absolutely riddled with chiggers and mosquito bites, just from walking around the yard.

In the craft room this week, I made some polymer clay pendants and earrings that came out nice.  I wore some of them to the class reunion committee meeting on Thursday, hoping they'd be noticed, but nobody said a word about them. :-(  Booo.  On the bright side, most of the committee were menfolk, so they might not have said anything even if they'd noticed. 

The other pieces are unfinished right now.  Can't decide what to do with them.  

There are a lot of unfinished things in the craft room . . . .

 

Struttin' My Stuff - June 18, 2026

In about 45 minutes, I'm going to a planning committee meeting for the Class of '76 50-year reunion.  (50 years?  WHAT?)  Hopefully, we will nail down a date for the event, which will probably happen in October.

And I am wearing jewelry that I made.  {Nervous expession.}  A polymer clay pendant, matching earrings, and a slinky wire bracelet.

Hoping for unsolicited compliments. :)

Twixt and Tween - June 14, 2026

I have been a powerhouse of ideas this morning.  

Just now, I put some polymer clay earrings and a pendant in the oven.  Earlier I was sketching out some pendant designs that I will scan before I color them.  I also flipped through a few old sketch books, looking for useful things.  There were too many to go through right then, so I'll finish that job tomorrow.  

Last evening, Granddaughters 1 and 2 came over to show us their birthday party attire.  (The party is this afternoon.)  They looked like two hookers.  I said to #2, "You'd best be careful in that dress not to let your toochie show."  She clamped her knees together and cried, "IS IT?"  😂😂😄😄  As they prepared to leave, I told them, "Hurry home [though that would be tough in their hooker shoes], if some dude comes by, you might get propositioned."  Just as they were walking out the door, it started to rain.  The Husband drove them home, thus avoiding a proposition.

While they were here, they saw some earrings I'd baked yesterday but not assembled. One of them said, "Oh, I like those!"  It so happened that they matched the dress she was wearing.  So this morning I attempted to assemble them, and the clay (the Walmart clay) broke when I tried to put a jump ring in a hole.  Granted, the clay was thin, only 1/8".  I remade them with a backing to thicken them.  They're baking now.  Unless I eff them up, I will UV resin them before I assemble them.  That ought to stabilize them, for sure.

We'll be taking the birthday cakes over in a couple of hours.  They're not the most professional-looking cakes, but they'll do.  One has a horse head on it (with pretty feathers in its mane) for the wanna-be cowgirl, and the other has a highland cow (for the wanna be veterinarian).  I hope they get a kick out of them.  

Frosting Day (maybe?) - June 12, 2026

Today is the day I will frost the birthday cakes.  Cream cheese frosting.  The cream cheese and butter are already softening on the counter.

The cake layers are in the freezer.  To thaw or not to thaw, that is the question.

The sides of the layers stuck to the pans a little.  In an effort to reduce the amount of crumbs in the frosting, I patted the crumbly sides to neaten them before freezing the layers.  To my way of thinking, there would be less crumbling if the layers were still frozen when the frosting begins.  But I don't know what I'm doing, so my thinking might be wrong,

* * * * * * * * 

After a bit of research, I decided to thaw the cakes in the refrigerator overnight and frost them tomorrow. 

The cream cheese and butter are back in the refrigerator.

Looks like I just freed up a whole day for craftin'.  :)

Fondant Part 2 - June 11, 2026

The kitchen ran at full capacity Tuesday from about 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.  There was a minor bungle with one of the 4 cake layers.  I must have lost count when pouring the batter into the pans, for one cake turned out thicker than the others, and it took longer to bake, and a crater formed in the middle as it cooled (even though the test stick came out clean).  I will putty the crater with frosting when I assemble the cake.

Everything else went fairly well.  Got the fondant equines wrapped, air tight, I hope.  Got the cakes wrapped and in the freezer.  For kicks, I cut out the letters of one granddaughter's school and set them aside to dry.

The frosting will happen Friday.  Cream cheese and butter and confectioner's sugar and vanilla.  Since this is an orange-flavored cake, I am considering flavoring the frosting with orange jello.  Might be orange overkill.  We'll see.  I have orange extract, but I don't like it.

I'm sweating covering of the unicorn cake with fondant (per the granddaughter's request).   I tried fondant for the first time last year and didn't do such a great job with it.  I rolled out a circle for the top and a long strip to wrap around the sides.  The seams were ugly.  I disguised them with wonky flowers.  Need to watch some videos and do some experiments before I tackle this cake.

* * * * * * * * 

When shopping for groceries, I could not prevent myself from buzzing the craft aisles.  Found some new-to-me clay, cheaper than most other brands.  I bought the primary colors and white and black.  "Art Elements" is the brand.  Online video reviews say it's stiff.  One person called it unusable, another said it was so-so.  After I cleaned up the cake mess, I tried it.  It is stiff.  The dark blue color I tried first could be crumbled right out of the package.  I did not try to condition it.  Instead, I completely crumbled it, squirted it with liquid clay, gave it a shot or two of black alcohol ink, and smushed it into a ball.  Took a lot of smushing to get the ball to stick together, and when I cut the ball open, there were a lot of air holes inside, which gave a texture to the cut side.  I rolled some slabs out, would've had to roll them pretty thin - thinner than I wanted - to get rid of the texture.  So I just coated it with liquid clay and baked it.

The black clay was a little softer.  It crumbled the first time I ran it through my pasta machine, but I smushed it back together and rolled it a few more times.  Got a nice, even sheet after a few trips through the machine.

Fondant experiments - June 10, 2026

Ive got two birthday cakes to make for this weekend.  The birthday girls chose the flavor; they both want an orange crush cake.  No big deal, I've made this cake for years.  Decorating them is the problem.

Cake-decorating has never been one of my talents.  I'm not very good with a piping bag.  I'm not sure what the consistency of the frosting should be, or what happens to it under varying conditions.  One granddaughter (the gymnast) wants "a fondant cake."  I'm not very good with fondant, either.  

Yes, I just could frost the cakes with cream cheese frosting and be done.  But I won't.  

Yesterday, I decided to try painting a fondant horse and a fondant unicorn with gel food coloring.  It worked.  Kinda.

I rolled out some fondant to about 1/4" thick, maybe thinner, on a silicone mat dusted with baking powder.  I drew a horse on a piece of paper and used it as a pattern to cut out a horse head shape from the fondant, and started painting.  

Painting on fondant is kind of like painting on glass; it's hard (impossible in my experience) to get even coverage.  The gel moistens the fondant a little and changes the texture.  You can stir a mud-hole in it if you're not careful.  Light strokes and repeated coats (with drying time between coats) seem to be the keys.

I had trouble getting a good pink out of the red gel food coloring. 

In any case, there's a fondant horse head (with feathers in its mane) and a colorful, sparkly unicorn head drying on the craft room table as we speak.  They were supposed to be practice pieces, but I'm calling them good enough.  (Despite my measuring, the horse's ears and the unicorn's horn are going to stick off the edge of the cake.  Oh, well.)  However, the party is not until Sunday, and I don't know how to store them.  Should I freeze them, refrigerate them, or leave them out?  Will they dry up if left out?  What will happen to the fondant if frozen then thawed?   

The search engine says to store them at room temperature in an air-tight container.  These are good-sized horse heads, almost covering a 10" cake.  (I wish I'd made them smaller, as adding names is going to be a challenge.  Oh, well.)  I don't own an air-tight container big enough to hold them.  Plastic wrap will have to do.  

Cross your fingers that I don't wreck them while trying to store them!

* * * * * * * * 

Last night, about 10 p.m., I was sitting on the back porch, playing my bedtime game, when I heard the most god-awful SCREECH/squawk/growl I ever heard.  And in the distance, something screeched back.  Just about raised the hair on my neck.  Had Sasquatch returned?

I stuck my head in the house and summoned The Husband.  "Is it the groundhog?" I asked when he came out and heard it.  He thought it might be a bird, and he went inside and got my phone and the big flashlight.  The phone said, instantly, it's a barred owl.  The Husband spotted them with the flashlight.  There were TWO of them, sitting on the big grapevine that hangs like a trapeze in our back yard, and at least one more calling from a distance.  We figure it was a parent and some babies.

We "know" these parent owls from regularly hearing their "hoots."  But this squawking/screeching were calls I'd never heard from the old regulars.  

Kinda cool.  :)