Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Guess what? It’s Thursday. The weather is playing the normal games. Cold one minute, warm the next. Then the wind blows that makes most of the warm days cold and the cold days even colder. I’m ready for warmer weather, then I can bitch about the mud etc. That’s right, in Maine the weather can give you something to complain about almost every day. I had to deal with about 5” of snow on Wednesday. After I relocated it, the sun pretty much melted everything left down to the blacktop. That was fine by me.

We have seen some eagles flying around lately. One landed on the pond at a depression in the snow. Maybe there is water there and it was thirsty. Fun to see them flying around anyway. The birds have been busy at the feeders and a mourning dove comes about every evening and just sits in the tray feeder and eats. One came and visited me at the studio and was on the roof quite a while. It was a warm afternoon and the snow on the roof was melting and it was eating the little ice crystals. 

Eyes

Carol here ~

I have been having issues with my eyes since maybe last summer sometime.  The sun reflecting off anything shiny, or reflecting off the ponds whether they are water or snow covered give me instant eye floaties/migraines if I catch the light just right.  As we have ponds on both sides of us it's pretty hard to avoid getting blinded!

Mud Pond out the back

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday all over again. We seem to be getting spared from the big snow storms. I did have to do some clean up after Wednesday’s clipper system dropped about 3” of snow. We received nothing from the big blizzard. That’s ok though. I don’t really mind not having to relocate the snow. Knock on wood, the tractor has been functioning correctly so no issues there.

We saw an eagle out sitting on a depression in the snow on the pond. I still think there is open water under those spots. I am not really interested enough to walk out and see. They appear, then disappear, no real idea why or what they are. Still say a drone would be handy, then I could go look from here on the shore. The eagle sure looked big as it took off.

The moon has been allowing me to get some nice night shots of the pond. This is from 7:30 Wednesday night. 

Happy Quilters

Carol here ~

Lena Longarm and I are very happy quilters.  Yesterday morning, Jim from Western Maine Machines came over to service Lena.  He removed the Micro Flex handles that I no longer use as I do not do custom quilting any more and made a few other adjustments including the tension.  

I loaded a quilt on after lunch and got a good start on 2025-36.  

2025-36

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. It has been a very quiet week here at the pond. The weather warmed up a little and they are calling for relocatable snow Friday evening into Saturday. The very idea of it has me wicked excited. Almost as much as the dentist appointment I have tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully this is the last one for a while, a long while. Snow storm and dentist.

No color to tonight’s sunset, still pretty.

This is from later. I like the time lapse night shots better myself.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday again. With the weather as cold as it has been lately I am beginning to think the bear has the right idea. Sleep all winter then when it warms up get out of bed. Don’t seem all that bad. The wind is what I could do without. It is howling right now. Saw an eagle flying around out over the pond this morning, they are always a treat to see. It was being buffeted by the breeze but seemed to handle it ok.

Misbehavin'

Carol here ~

Lena Longarm is misbehavin'. I mentioned last week that her tension was not consistent and I had to keep adjusting it. That never happens, I usually finish up one quilt, load another and keep on going with no tension adjustment necessary.  I remembered that last time this happened I needed to replace the check spring. The check spring regulates the thread tension and stitch formation to maintain consistent pressure as the needle moves.  A worn spring leads to broken threads, skipped stitches, uneven tension and lots of snaggles, top and bottom.

Ugh.  Definitely what's happening.  That snaggle was just a few seconds in the making.