Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening again. Where does the time go? Not much happening around here. 

We may have to give up on feeding the birds. We enjoy them, but there are too many other animals that want in on the free meal. There are so many deer tracks out front on the pond, it appears that they apparently had quite the party the other night. I haven’t seen them again down here at this end of the pond. I could see the first night where they emptied one feeder and have been chowing down on the neighbors shrubbery. Tracks everywhere.

The deer are no way near the nuisance that the raccoon are. The other night there were three raccoons out there cleaning up everything they could find. They came back later and pulled down one of the suet and munched out a while on it. I was surprised they did not haul it off to finish later. I think the mice and moles cleaned it up the next night. I buy the seed for the birds. Oh well time will tell.

Road Trip

Carol here ~ 

My friend Martha mailed me a couple of table runners and a wallhanging that she wanted me to quilt for her.  I got them done over the weekend.

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Thursday evening. The weather has been a bit chilly the last few nights. I haven’t done much outside lately~too cold, too lazy. 

I have been doing more clean up in the quilting loft and making, what I call “building materials”. These are the 4-patches I make in various sizes, half square triangles and currently various versions of 6” finished blocks using them. Then once I have decided on a design for a top I just paw through the pile for the colors and combinations needed and get started.

Two nights ago I decided on the layout for top #4 for 2024. A quick count showed I needed a few more of a the two style of blocks I had chosen to use. Very quickly, I was making whatever else was needed to create the larger block I was planning to use. The next night I was on to the sashing strips etc. Hopefully, by tomorrow night the top will be complete. Then the process will begin again. The whole process happens much quicker when I have the building materials on hand.

Blah

Carol here ~ 

I had a rough week last week, felt crappy most of the week.  Dan drove me to my oncology appointment Wednesday where they swabbed me to test for the viruses. Didn't think I had any of them but they figured I was there so they might as well test.  All were negative.

Don't know what what going on but started to feel better on Thursday.  Managed to get started on the quilting on 2023-36 finishing it up on Friday.

2023-36

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here ~

Monday evening. Carol experienced a very nice sunrise this morning. 

I very seldom see them. I do enjoy sunsets. Here is Sunday’s evenings sunset. 

I do not get up very early in the morning as it is technically morning when I go to bed. Most nights the only reason I go to bed when I do, is because I like to be finished with breakfast by 10:00. Most mornings I almost make it. I am a believer that if you eat a big enough breakfast, late enough, there is no need to eat again until supper. Maybe why I need to put rocks in my pockets to hold me down when the wind is blowing. 

What I've Been Doing

Carol here ~ 

BRRR!  We're finally getting January weather.  That's OK, would rather have the cold than the mess we had last week.

I'm getting to be a wimpy winter driver, I had Dan drive me to my oncology appointment in Topsham last week.  It was the day after all the rain/flooding and I was a bit leery on how the roads would be.  They were fine, I could have handled it on my own.

I have been getting my walks in most days.  See that red button on my jacket?

That means my heated jacket is on HIGH.  Best invention ever!

Dan's Ramblings

Dan here on the MLK holiday ~

Today is nice and clear but what a roller coaster the weather has been this year. 

We were lucky not to have received the brunt of the force of Mother Nature during the last two storms. The forecast was for six or more inches of snow before turning to rain during both events. On the first storm we did get about 6” and I went out at 1:00 AM to blow driveway. When I got up later the rain had made a nasty mess. Very heavy snow to clean up. 

On the second we received almost no snow, mostly rain. This was even harder to clean up. That’s ok, everything is froze solid now, well except maybe the pond. I really have no real idea if the pond is frozen or not and have no real desire to find out. The water level is higher now than it has been after ice out the last few years. I guess spring could be interesting here on the pond.