Friday, August 31, 2012

Today's Excitement...........

..........not quite in my backyard, but close.  The vacant lots to the west of my house caught fire late this afternoon. Luckily what little wind there was was blowing the other way so I didn't even smell the smoke.






The Fire Dept. wasn't taking any chances. They had all of our trucks out there and all of Royal's too. They kept it contained to a fairly small spot and got it out quickly.

Since the day started out with the sewer starting to back up just as the rinse water drained out of the washing machine I can only wonder what happens next.

I also got the neutral string setting blocks trimmed for my Jamestown Landing quilt. These are 4 1/2 inches square.

I think there's 160 or so of these.

And, my one other accomplishment this week......



After picking a bunch of dead-ripe tomatoes and knowing I DON'T need any more canned whole tomatoes, I made V-8/tomato juice instead. It's amazing what three tomato plants can produce when you really only want enough to eat fresh.

I really shouldn't say those were the only two things accomplished this week because it was the NE Library System's "Week of Weeding."  My goal was to get the adult general fiction shelves weeded and I got that done.  They haven't been removed from the computer database yet, but I can at least put newer books away on the shelves or display a book face-out.  Boxes of books are HEAVY!! Or I'm just getting wimpier.  LOL

Friday, August 24, 2012

Hourglasses Done!

The hourglass units for the Ohio Star blocks in Orca Bay are finally done, trimmed & counted. Can you say, "S  L  O  W going?"  I found I had made about 50-60 extras. Didn't bother trimming them, just threw them in the "extra unit" box.

These finish at 2". (Those little, bitty pieces you wanted to see, Lori.)
Hi, I'm the real boss around here and helped write this post...now put that camera away, Mom!!

The expression kind of says it all, doesn't it?  If her legs were long enough to reach the sewing machine pedal I'd have her slaving away in my sweatshop too.  LOL


Friday, August 17, 2012

Catching Up


Seventy-four pints of sweet corn in the freezer....I'm almost recovered! :)


All those Quarter Square Triangles  I sewed up are now pressed....that took a while. Next the dog-ears get snipped off and then they all get mixed up real good and get sewed into little hour-glass units.  I read ahead to the next step....a whole bunch of Half Square Triangle pairs cut from black & neutral 2 inch strips.  This quilt has so many little pieces it may have to go on my Bucket List. It may BE my Bucket List.

Enough ripe tomatoes have accumulated that I will have to can a few. I don't really want to, but there are too many to just eat. Freezer space will be at a premium if there are any apples or deer later on and I just can't throw them away. Today I went out and pruned the plants.  They were about to squash my pepper plants and I'd rather have the red bell peppers than the tomatoes. 

The squash vines are producing way more than I want too.  I canned a lot of squash last year and only wanted a few for cooking with this year.  Let's just say that DH is an over-achiever when it comes to planting things in the spring.  I said to stick about six seeds into a hill and call it good. Not exactly what he did.  Picture me later this fall throwing Butternut squash into unlocked cars along Main St.  LOL  It's just taking things OUT that's illegal isn't it???

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Yesterday

It's really quiet at work so let's do a little blogging about my day yesterday....



Sweet Corn Day!! Picked it and husked it. The silks were really hard to get off and IT TOOK FOREVER!!










Boiling water. Tons of steam. AC running like crazy to keep me cool.











Sharp knife!  Watch the fingers!











In the bag and into the freezer. It will taste good this winter.







Oh, the aches & pains after a long day putting up corn.  And since I only got half of it into the freezer yesterday I get to do the other half when I get home from work.

(All pictures from the Internet)


Thursday, August 9, 2012

See....

...EMPTY!!!



Finished sewing the QSTs last night. Now on to pressing and trimming dog-ears. But first work today and corn tomorrow.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Just Living Life

That seemed like a better post title than, "No Catchy Title."  Not too much exciting going on around here. This past weekend was the annual celebration complete with parade, bbq and other activities that I didn't take part in. I did ride along with DH in his classic '55 Chevy station wagon in the parade.  Even though the weather was lovely, temps were much cooler than we've had lately, it still gets hot in a dark colored car going real slow in a parade in the bright sunshine. I'm glad it was a short parade. We brought the car home and I stayed here enjoying the AC until time to go back downtown for the bbq.

We're just beginning to get some fresh produce from the garden. Five tomatoes, two onions and six ears of sweetcorn so far. I've been enjoying BLT sandwiches.


Should have taken a picture of this one before I started enjoying! -giggle-

I went out to the garden about noon today to find some more sweetcorn for supper. If I'd gotten out there earlier I'd probably be freezing corn today. There's enough ready for a smaller batch. As it was I just picked a couple grocery bags full to put in the fridge for eating fresh. Took a look at the squash while I was out there too.  DH has been complaining that they aren't setting on very good.  I think there's way more than I really wanted since I canned so much squash last year. He always takes the negative view.

Yesterday I sewed up about half of the QSTs in the container I showed in a previous post. Maybe I can get a few more sewed up yet today since I got out to the corn patch too late in the day to pick any for freezing.

While it was so hot I spent quite a bit of time enjoying the AC and reading. My fellow book club members think I read some, shall we say, strange stuff.  I like alternative health books and books that "tell the rest of the story." 


What did I learn from these?  Pretty much everything we eat & drink and the air we breathe has been contaminated by chemicals and various additives. Green tea isn't the super healthy drink I thought it was. You shouldn't be taking statin drugs unless your cholesterol is REALLY high and not just a little over 200 like your Dr. tells you. And if you do take it you'd be best off to cut the pills in half or quarters because the overdosing is probably what causes the side effects. Also, you should take CoQ10 supplements----something else your Dr. may not have told you, or may not even know.  Statins aren't the miracle drug that their manufacturers would have us believe and they can be very dangerous.

Another thing I learned is that the profit motive in America trumps everything, including human safety.  Is your water treated with fluoride?  Did you know that fluoride is a toxin that is a by-product of the aluminum and chemical fertilizer industries? It accumulates in the body and causes brittle bones among other things, which might include ADHD, autism, violent/aggressive behavior and Alzheimer's. Fluoride occurs naturally in some water but not in the amounts added to municipal water supplies.  I was appalled by some of what I read in these books.  If anyone thinks the FDA exists to see to it that our food and medications are safe should think again.  Their main purpose is to protect the profits of large corporations at the expense of the citizens.   Anyway, these books will be showing up in the local library soon though I don't have much hope that too many will read them.  People are happier sticking their heads in the sand and doing what they've always done even if it's slowly killing them.

I'm also reading a novel by Eileen Wilks called "Blood Challenge."  Werewolf fiction. It seems to be part of a series and I may have to look for earlier books.  I also read "The Dinosaur Hunter" by Homer Hickam.  Paleontologists, a cop turned cowboy, ranchers, teenagers, environmentalists, survivalists & the Russian mafia....gotta be a good book, right?  It was.

Now, time to sew.


Friday, August 3, 2012

Summer Winding Down

It's really hard to believe but summer is winding down. School starts on the 17th. Today we held the final event for the Summer Reading Program at the library. Over half of the reading records were turned in with over 35,000 minutes read. I know there was more reading than that done, but some participants didn't return their records. Today's event consisted of a pizza lunch and handing out the earned prizes. Everybody wins something and even the kids who just earn a candy bar are happy. Two little boys who won the big bottles of pop were deliriously happy!! This picture is of the group attending today.

Our Summer Reading Program is for kids and adults.
I'm slowly getting a little more done on the sewing/quilting front. This container of QSTs is cut....the question is.....is there enough?  I need 448 pairs to make hourglasses.


We have some good clouds building up. I hope we get some more rain. Wednesday night's was wonderful, this morning's shower was nice, but we need so much more to break this drought.  This weekend is the local annual celebration and tonight is the classic car Cruise Night. If that doesn't bring rain I don't know what will.