Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening after a not too hot, windy day, now with the sound of thunder off in the distance. We are not supposed to get any of it. I see from the weather that it is a substantial weather cell moving through. Can live without heavy winds and driving rain and hail.

Not too much going on around here for excitement. OK by me. I did sell all my wood and deliver it next door to the glamping area. Now I will need to scrounge some more. More for me and for them for next year. Gives me something to do and removes some of the fire hazard lying around. I haven’t had a lot of fires this season. It is usually determined that it is too something. Too windy, too hot, too cold, you get the idea. I’m just as content to go up into the studio and putter there.

Speaking of the studio, I may just as well go up there next. In quilt #42, I again used 6” blocks and a 2-1/2” sashing. The sashing stars were made with the Corner Pop II and popped at 4. I replaced the pop with a red to give it some zip and added the Diamond Rects in the border for even more. I thought it worked out well.  Size 67” x 77”.

2026-42

In #43 I kept the process the same except this time I made the sashing around the Lemoyne stars a lighter color than in the rest of the quilt top. I did this to use up the strips that I had cut for the border on #42 and forgot I had made the border wider than normal to accommodate the Diamond Rect units. Oh, well it’s all scrap. #43 is also narrower than usual because I forgot I had intended to add a first border of the orange just on the sides and then to add the blue. With the blue already on the sides I made the design choice that 59” x 76” will be the size of this one.  I like it anyway, it will make an excellent recliner quilt, long but not too wide.

2026-43

We saw a much larger bird than normal the other night. Larger than normal as what we usually see are sparrows and gold finches, that size of bird. Not this Coopers Hawk.

Earlier I had found this feather and it may have come from a similar hawk. The table is 16” long for reference.

Another observance while walking about with my eyes open was this interesting fungi.

Kinda pretty, but I think I’ll just leave it alone. I find it interesting to see if the rodents chew on it. Some mushrooms they do, some they don’t. I wonder how they know which are ok to eat. Probably the same way people learned, by trial and error. I don’t think I would want to be in the front of that line.

Many of the flowers are looking very worn out. The very hot weather has been brutal this year. Between the heat and the wind it is a struggle to keep them looking their best. The cucumbers are about done. They didn’t do much, again the heat, and the tomatoes are about gone as well. The weed tomatoes of the Candyland variety are just now starting to ripen. The changes in color is very noticeable, with the numbers of them changing growing by the day. I’m going to top off the plants tomorrow so it will put more energy into ripening instead of thinking summer will last forever and producing more flowers. I honestly don’t think I have 4-6 weeks before the first frost. More realistically I might have 3-4 weeks left. Might just be time to look for some mums and fall flowers. I honestly don’t know why, they cost a lot and only lengthen the flower season by 3-4 weeks. It looks so bare without the color. Time will tell.

I saw these two guys on my way home last Sunday. We see them fairly often, they are not real afraid of people. I know of at least one person on that section of the road that feeds them and the turkeys. 

 

In Rangeley, living in town, I could bounce rocks off of the side of a “townie” deer and they wouldn’t run, they would go see if what you threw was something to eat. There are too many in the area as it is. Can you say tick?

There is supposed to be a Lunar eclipse tonight or early on Friday. Time will tell if I stay up that late tonight. It is bright moonlight now but who knows what it will be in an hour or so when we begin to cover the moon with 3/4 coverage at just after midnight. I should make it. We’ll see.

Tomorrow I’m off to look at a different truck. Not fully decided whether to fix up this one or start over with something else. So many choices, both in different vehicles but in how to pay for it. Do I buy outright? Do I lease? Do I finance? I personally have grown to rather like the type of decision that tells me what my sashing and star fabrics are going to be and what size block to use. In other words, decisions that really make no difference what you choose, it is right. Time will tell.

Stay safe, enjoy your weekend. I kinda hope now I get to see the eclipse.