Been A LOOONG Time

Since I’ve shampooed carpets!  Several years ago I shampooed the ceiling carpet in our motorhome but it’s been probably 25+ years since I’ve done carpet.  It’s a job—I have blisters on the palm of my right hand from dragging the machine back and forth, back and forth!  Wednesday I shampooed the living room carpet and part of the hallway leaving us a way of getting to a bathroom.  Today I did the rest of the carpet.  It looks great!

Michael and Emmi took a CanAm ride with some of the ATV gang today and came home with ONE photo for you readers—may have to fire that photographer!  Photos of me shampooing carpets would not be entertaining!!

Not sure what these two were doing but I’m sure they were up to no good!

Other than leading the yoga group this morning, life has been kind of boring—shampooing carpets is not exciting—it’s hard work!  Tomorrow will be exciting—Sandy and I are getting on a big bus before the crack of dawn and heading to Phoenix with a bunch of quilters for a quilt show—a BIG quilt show!

Life is good!

I Just Thought I Was Finished!!

Monday about lunch time I put away all my painting supplies, closed up the paint and said, “I’m finished!!”  The inside of the house was painted, done, finished.  Well, that lasted until today! 

Another owner of this home enclosed the carport creating a workshop and creating an awkward entrance to the house.  We intend to remove the walls re-creating a carport/patio area but probably not until next year.  We want to move the house entry door and the steps leading to that door.

Today I found the cowboy standing in that carport/workshop staring contemplatively up at where the new entry door is going to be—“I think I’m going to tie into moving that door and the steps.”  So, I guess you know what that means—yep, more painting after he rips a hole in the sheetrock for the new door and closes in the area where the former door was located. 

Monday evening we were invited to Mike and Cathy’s along with the rest of the ATV gang for pizza and cheesecake—strange combination, right—but let me tell you, it was delicious!!!  Cathy had fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and chocolate syrup to go with the cheesecake—I thought about skipping pizza and going straight to cheesecake!  It was the best evening—we sat around their propane fireplace telling stories—good people and good times!!!

Sunday morning Geri gave me lessons on using Windows Movie Maker and I helped her load Open Live Writer.  Geri does a fabulous job creating movies of ATV rides we’ve done.  She creates CD’s and gives them to all of us. 

Our weather has warmed up significantly and we’ve been taking longer walks in the desert.  Today after yoga and lunch we headed to Wickenburg for a haircut for me and groceries. 

And that’s our story for the last few days—no photo taking—I’ll try to do better for the next blog!

Something On My Mind

You’ve all seen the photo on Facebook—cell phones on the table in a basket, caption reads, “first person to check their phone picks up the dinner tab.”  Today a family friend posted the following on Facebook—it may or may not be an actual “Dear Abby” letter but the gist of the message is what caught my eye.

I focused on the line, “spending time on the cellphone rather than socializing is rude,” and “I know cellphones are part of our culture, but adults still have the power to choose what is important and turn them off.” 

Has it become acceptable in your circle of friends/family for people to bring cell phones to gatherings/parties allowing those phones to ring and beep, spending time texting, reading email, and surfing the internet ignoring the conversation/friends/family around them? 

Would you bring a book or newspaper to a social gathering—probably not—so why bring your phone?

Miscellaneous

Columbus, Montana is a small town with a population of less than 2000 people situated between Big Timber, MT and Billings.  But on Sunday a Columbus, MT company will be making a big bang—they are supplying all the fireworks for the 50th Super Bowl—how cool is that!!  AND—that’s not all the fame Columbus, Montana will have on Sunday—a native son—Dwan Edwards—has played defensive tackle for South Carolina since 2012.  Click on the link and read the story—it will warm your heart!!

Wednesday morning the phone rang and Larry said, “cinnamon rolls ready at 12:30!!”  All righty then, we will be there.  Geri baked and invited all the ATV gang over—delicious rolls, good coffee and conversation!  We know how to operate when the weather is too cold for ATVing don’t we!!

I’ve been busy, busy painting—I want this job finished so have been slinging that paint brush right and left!  Painted so much I ran out of paint—Barry and Donna were in heading to Wickenburg and were kind enough to grab another gallon for me. 

Our grandson-in-law John has departed on an adventure with the USAF—he is now in South Korea for a year—Laci and baby Lora are hanging out in Montana with Grandpa Lonn for a while before venturing off for some travel of their own.  Here’s hoping that year goes by really fast! 

Thursday afternoon I finished the master bedroom—only one more room to paint, the laundry room which wasn’t exactly designed well—there are several design issues with this house—the laundry room is very small with a huge laundry sink, washer/dryer and hot water tank.  Can you say crowded and hard to paint??

Wayside Oasis Near Alamo Lake State Park

Remote would be an under statement!  Our weather yesterday was all over the charts—wind, rain, sleet, snow and dang chilly!  Not ATV riding weather so we all piled into vehicles and headed toward Wenden, AZ where the road leads to an Arizona state park—Alamo Lake.  It’s a beautiful, lonely, remote spot with a lake—a definite rarity in Arizona. 

And it has the Wayside Oasis—a bar/grill/RV park run with a 75,000 watt generator.  The RV park wasn’t full but there were plenty of rigs occupying spaces—and as I said above, remote is an under statement!  There is a tiny grocery store/hardware store in the community of Wenden but that is about 35 miles away.  The nearest larger store would probably be in Wickenburg—adding another 50 miles to your trip—but you could fly!—the Wayside Oasis has a dirt landing strip and we were told it is quite busy on weekends with people flying in and landing for breakfast and lunch!!

There was 14 of us--

The food was very good and the service outstanding and friendly.

After lunch we drove around looking at boondocking spots anticipating a future ATV riding outing. 

Some Arizona wildlife.

Snow on the mountains viewed from our windows.

Another room painted—the small master bathroom—it’s almost too small to turn around in much less paint!  My hair has a new color after sticking my head to a freshly painted wall!

Cold but sunny today—the temps will warm up quickly as the week goes on.

I Wasn’t Expecting A Ribbon

We met our friends Caryl and Jerry while cowboy shooting in Montana—at that time they had a home in Montana and a lot here in North Ranch.  They have since moved to Arizona full time purchasing a beautiful spot of desert just outside Congress.  Caryl has always been an inspiration to me as a quilter and I’ve longarm quilted a couple pieces for her.  She is a perfectionist and it shows especially in her “winner” quilt she entered in the quilt show--

Caryl pieced this beautiful quilt and then quilted it on her domestic sewing machine—she was almost finished I think last year when her quilting lines started to wander.  Rather than just let it go, Caryl ripped out the quilting on the whole quilt and started over.  She received first place in her category and the Hall of Fame Award—a definte feather in her cap—congratulations Caryl!!

Caryl’s “Where’s The Grass” quilt depicting their donkey Burrito won a second place ribbon.

At Ellie’s birthday party last night hosted by Gina I was surprised when Pat showed me photos of my little “Winter Solstice” quilt wearing a ribbon!!!  I received a second place ribbon in my category—surprise!!

Well, the weather has been nice lately but it is about to change and not for the better—much cooler temps, rain and possibly even a little snow—YIKES!!  Michael has finished the routine maintenance on our CanAm saving us a bundle of money—once again, I sure am glad I have a handy cowboy!  I started painting again today doing some of the trim painting in the master bathroom. 

Vulture Peak Patchers Quilt Show

Early Friday morning I was heading to Wickenburg again to work my shift as a “white glove” lady when the quilt show opened at 9am.  At any quilt show I’ve ever attended, visitors are not allowed to touch the quilts—a guild member wearing a “white glove” roams throughout the displayed quilts helping visitors view the quilt back or detail—that was my job.

Attendance at the quilt show was brisk and steady—a good thing as the $5 entry fee funds guild activities during the year.  It was fun to hear the comments about the quilts and each time I wandered down a row of quilts I saw something new—here are some photos I took today with the camera.

This is Burrito, a donkey belonging to our friends Jerry and Caryl—if you look closely, there is a photo of the “real” Burrito in the lower left side of the quilt.  Caryl created this beautiful art quilt using Burrito as inspiration.

This was one of my favorites in the show I think because of the beautiful quilting—the quilt is a non-traditional log cabin pattern.

Another stunning Bargello quilt with beautiful quilting.

The pattern is Grandmother’s Flower Garden and it was quilted using a spider web type design with a spider brooch pinned in the middle of the spider web. 

Geri and Nancy came to the quilt show and when my shift was over we headed over to the Local Press Sandwich Shop recommended by Al and Kelly—our sandwiches were delicious! 

Back home Michael was out and about doing maintenance on the CanAm when I was bitten by the furniture rearranging bug.  Last night during the birthday party the ladies of the group ended up seated in the living room and we were discussing my off center furniture arrangement—time for a change.  I didn’t even involve the husband—didn’t want to hear, “I’m only moving it once!!”  I pushed and pulled moving sofa and loveseat but still didn’t like the way it looked—sent Donna a text and she came to rescue me—now it looks great!! 

The cowboy is taking a painting class tonight up at the clubhouse leaving Emmi and me to fend for ourselves.