The fair.

 

Two of my most recent quilts. The farm and tractor quilt is for my grandson's first birthday. I didn't have it finished to enter into the fair but it was  done for his birthday. That's a win in my book.

The Windy Fall Day quilt was entered in the local fair and it won judge's choice and first place. I was very, very surprised and almost didn't enter it! I'm glad that I did. 

Dog gone.

 It has been a rough month for dogs here - one of the perils of having several geriatric dogs. Casper, my boxer, passed less than two weeks after Tipper. Casper and I had a love/hate relationship. He loved me and he hated me. He mangled my left hand on more than one occasion. He caused a couple of fires in our kitchen. He had horrible separation anxiety. But we dealt with all of that. He was rarely alone and I learned to read the signs when he was in a grouchy mood. He was my buddy though - he followed me wherever I went: to the creek (his favorite), to the chicken house, wherever I went, there he was. 

Funny. I no longer really want to walk down to the woods or to the creek. In fact, I don't like to go outside much at all. I miss the old codger - the old, ornery guy. 

What a good boy

 

One of the cruelest facts of life is that we outlive our pets. Tipper was my baby - a Christmas gift many, many years ago. My husband surprised me with this teeny little puppy that he had stuffed in his jacket. It was love at first sight! I remember sharing mugs of warm milk with him - he loved it and so did I! He was fiercely protective of me - snarling and growling if anyone came near to me while he was with me. 

Tipper was old. Really old. Still, I wish I had him a little longer but I'm so thankful that he was relatively healthy until the end. Last Wednesday, I scratched his head and gave him a kiss. He was gone by the time I came home from work. 

I find it interesting that on that day, Google photos had compiled an album of memories that were of Tipper. I'll miss this boy - his snaggle tooth, his tongue hanging out, his bad breath, his bad attitude (toward anyone but me). 

Celebrating the 4th, 5th, and 6th.

And what great days they were!  We all celebrated in our own ways! One day, my daughter, her fiancé and their pup came over and we just hung out on the deck and sweated. It was just great being together - laughing and playing with the pup.  I then went to visit my oldest daughter and her family and we set off sparklers and then watched the fireworks. Another hot day but a really, really good day! 

I'm always a little heartsick when the house is just back to me and my pups (who are huge fans of the hot weather). I can remember years and years ago just wishing for a few minutes of peace and quiet but now, I wish I could get some of those days back! I get to enjoy some semblance of those 'good ol' days' when my grandkids are down or when I'm hanging out with my grandbaby but there is nothing like the constant rush and chatter of a house full of people! 

But in all fairness, I guess my dogs and my husband can create quite a bit of noise and confusion but it's just not the same. I really do love this season of my life though where there is a balance of crazy and calm.

What a day.

 

Such a beautiful day. The forecast that I saw yesterday made me think that it was going to be a day of thunderstorms but although we did have one pretty fierce storm, the rest of the day was dry and just pretty. I took this picture a few minutes ago because I absolutely love the colors. It rained enough today to make my garden happy. This year I planted 2 raised beds with strawberries and then 1 of beans and 1 of onions. All have done well. In the garden that I have by the creek, I planted 5 tomato plants, 2 Brussel sprouts, 2 green peppers, and 2 cucumbers. For a change, my cukes are doing well but my tomato plants aren't doing so hot. I think next year I will make 2 more raised beds for my tomatoes and the other things I like to grow.  I don't hold out much hope for the Brussel sprouts which is sad because I love Brussel sprouts. Especially with bacon. Hopefully I'm wrong and will have a bumper crop of the darn things!

I volunteer with the local fire company helping with their bingo games, food sales, and other fundraising events. This morning at 6, we were selling sticky rolls. These are very, very 
 popular in the community. Yesterday, the fire company sold nearly 1000 of the rolls. They are a big deal! This was the weekend of the community yard sale which is why the fire company was taking advantage of the sticky roll fundraiser.  I love helping out with these events - it is another way to meet people that I should have met a long, long time ago and it is a way to give back.  I can honestly say that I have more friends now than I ever had. I would even say that I have more friends now that I did if you would add up all the people I could have called friend for the past 59 years! 

I've melted.

Welp, we made it through the heatwave or as some people say, the beginning of summer.  I'm a cold weather girl so I'm not a huge fan of the heat and/or humidity. I think that I am in good company!  However, I am a huge fan of the flowers and other plants that flourish because of the heat and the rain. Today on my drive to work, I was behind a couple of Amish buggies so it was slow going. There really is no place to safely pass them on our windy road so I was just enjoying the view. The day lilies are out in full force! I also saw quite a few hollyhocks which I never noticed before. I guess I just wasn't going slow enough. I saw chicory, mullein, daisies, as well as some other flowering plants that were just gorgeous set against the greenery.

My garden is doing well. I've harvested exactly 7 strawberries from the plants I planted in April. Woohoo! I'm sure next year I'll have a much better turnout!

 

These are climbing roses that grow in a bush beside the road I've tried many times to start a new plant but no luck.

It has finally been warm enough that the chihuahuas don't need to climb under the quilts!

These are just some of the day lilies along my way.

 

My favorite things.

 Some of them anyway.

I did remember that yesterday was flag day but it wasn't until last evening that I remembered that I had this table runner that I made a year or so ago.  Oh well, better late than never I suppose.  And it will be there for Independence Day.  I need to pull out my other decorations for the 4th of July. It might be a good idea to do it now while I'm thinking of it. Except that I am at work.  

The 2 pictures at the bottom of the page are from a quilt show that our guild had on Memorial Day. 95 quilts draped over the pews of a historic church! It was simply gorgeous! The church wasn't really local - about 17 miles away but I loved the message. Everywhere, it had signs 'All are Welcome' and I truly believe it. The people of the church had hung pride flags which I love to see and which is something that I would never see at the churches for which I play the piano. I love the churches that I visit each Sunday but I don't understand the fear and the hate. 

Dang pig

A long time ago I wrote about a bunny and chicken engagement at our church. But recently there has been a new twist: a pig. On a recent morning, someone noticed that the stone that holds down the manhole cover as well as the cones we have to mark it, in the church parking lot had been moved. Our pastor looked at the surveillance camera footage from overnight and was very surprised to see a quite large pig strolling through the parking lot, pausing to nose around the cover to our septic. Fortunately s/he wasn't able to move the rock (and I'm sure the cover would have been much too heavy to move) but s/he did spend some time trying very hard to do so. Frustrated, s/he knocked over both cones and sauntered away. 

What is funny about this is that none of the neighbors have pigs. The closest farm with pigs is about 2 miles up the road. This was not a young pig. 

Which makes me question. . . do we have feral pigs? Is there a gang of wild pigs roaming through the valley? We have foxes and coyotes and bears and I'm wondering how long a lone pig would survive. I was tempted to go stake out the parking last night but I value sleep more than satisfying my curiosity. 

So for now, the origins of this particular pig shall remain a mystery! 

A motley crew.

 

It is so true. When you have a dog, there is always someone happy to see you.  My cats are happy to see me as well - especially if I'm putting something in their not-empty food bowl. 

Especially in my retirement years, it is so nice to have my pups to cuddle. Sometimes, when I'm missing my mom and dad, it's just nice to be surrounded by my pets. My dogs are noisy, my cats are not and when you have spent that last many years with a full house and then all of a sudden it is empty, that noise is appreciated. Maybe not in the middle of the night though...... 

I had forgotten how lively - and how much energy - a puppy can be! My old chihuahua is not impressed although I do think he likes the company. My teenaged chihuahua is in her glory and has absolutely no qualms in putting her foot (paw) down when the pup has carried things a little too far.

I've also forgotten how quickly a puppy can re-energize. He usually naps all morning and then is raring to go in the afternoon. Things really become crazy at night after I've tried to go to sleep. For 2 hours, things are wild and crazy. Zoomies for 2 hours straight with a few moments of what I call freeze frames interspersed with the bouts of frenzy. Finally when the lights are all off, things calm down until I get up in the middle of the night. Sometimes they sleep straight through, other times they take it as a sign to wind up again. 

I know that the puppy stage won't last forever so I'm trying to enjoy it while I can.

All the books.

 The bad thing about not being consistent in my writing is that unless I look back at my previous posts, I can't remember if I've written about something already.  

One of the benefits of retirement for me has been the ability to volunteer my time for things I love. At this moment, I'm working at our community library. Ten years ago, this was a real library with funding from the county and it was considered to be part of the county library system. For reasons unknown to me, it was decided to defund this library and distribute the support to the remaining few libraries in the area. Ten years ago, I didn't realize that there even was a library in this area - it is quite rural and there is a larger library in a nearby town as well as a huge library and several University libraries a mere 20 miles away - Since I was able to walk to the library at lunch, I used the ones closest to my work. 

When this library was 'closed', some of the local patrons decided to create a library and operate it on a volunteer basis. It was clearly needed as many of the patrons were Amish and to travel so far away to go to one of the remaining libraries wasn't practical. The location of the library moved about 3 miles away from where it was originally into an old school. The old school houses several other offices such as the historical society and the municipal office. It's fairly easy to get to by foot, car, or horse and buggy with plenty of parking. We have a number of regular volunteers who manage to keep the library open with books from the original collection as well as hundreds and hundreds of books donated to us by the public. In fact, we are donated so many books that a great deal of our funding comes from a semi-annual book sale.  

I love this little library that really isn't so little anymore.  I can remember when I was young - before I hit my rebellious teen years - the only other thing I wanted to be more than a cowboy was a librarian. How I wish I had followed that path! But yet here I am, fulfilling that dream in a different fashion. 

Busy summer

So much for keeping up with this blog! Seems like there is always something to do and for that, I am very grateful! We finally have rain - in fact, it has rained several times in the past week and a half.  My potato plants look beautiful and I'm really hoping that this year, I have a decent amount of potatoes. My tomatoes are looking strong and healthy as are my peppers and zucchini. I really hope that my pumpkins do well. Despite planting 4 pumpkin plants, it appears that only 1 is looking perky. 

When my mom passed away, I inherited her Jeep and unfortunately, its time has come and I will be trading it in. The jeep is a little big for me and even though I'm retired, I do a lot of driving short distances. I think now is the time to scale down to a smaller car. I had a little Suzuki that I can honestly say was my favorite care but sadly, they are no longer made. So on Friday, I will visiting some of the local car dealerships and instead of a vacation, I'll be buying a car. I'm happy that I am able to do so but sad because I really wanted to take my daughter to the beach!

Lots of quilting going on! I was asked to be co-president of the local quilt guild and of course, I said yes. I'm sure these next 2 years will be a learning experience! I've finished several projects including a red/white/blue quilt for my father-in-law. It doesn't meet the requirements for Quilts of Valor so it is simply a red/white/blue quilt which I think he will love. I made a throw quilt for a friend from church and I'm happy with how it turned out. I think my friends likes it! I quilted a printed panel for the 4th of July and am in the process of completing a dog quilt for someone else.  

I still need to make a quilt for my grandchild who is due in August. I already have the design and fabric so I'll get going on that this week. I have a Penn State quilt to make for my oldest grandson which will be the project immediately after the baby quilt. I'm hoping to enter a couple of my quilts in the Grange Fair in August.

Amazingly, I haven't complained about the weather yet but then we are only a week into summer. I'm sure the humidity will catch up with me soon and I'll grumble a bit.