The Day After

Mary arrived about 9am to finish quilting her beautiful quilt. It only took her about an hour. When she left I went outside to see if I could fix the lights I put on one of the trees Wednesday. Wouldn't you know it--when I plugged the lights in while still in the basement they all worked. Got them on the tree which was no easy feat as the tree is 8-9 feet tall and plugged the lights in--half of the lights didn't work--GRRRR. I gathered a bunch of spare bulbs and started changing and about the sixth one I changed made all the bulbs work again, YEA.

It was time to feed Michael and then I headed into Big Timber. I wanted to check out the stores and see what was for sale as well as visit with all the other people I knew would be in BT. Plus, I got to drive the little sports car! Town was packed as were all the stores. I purchased a couple of Christmas presents--one for Elizabeth and Leah--my great nieces. Had a breve at Cinnabar Creek before coming home.

When I got home Michael was scurrying around gathering tools. Seems Lonn and LoraLee were having septic problems--the new house has what is called a pumping septic system. There is an alarm that sounds when the system malfunctions. OK--they have been in this house two weeks and the system is alarming???? So we headed off with a new pump for the septic system and my presence was requested by LoraLee and her sister Barb--they had a sewing problem. Seems the contractor who installed the septic system wasn't exactly on the up and up and the pump was not the correct type. Mike installed the new pump and now Katie can shower.

LoraLee's problem was easier to solve--she and Barb just needed a zipper placed into a pillow thing that new mothers use to support babies when breast feeding. That was easy. LoraLee fed us supper as if after yesterday we needed anything else to eat! Emmi spent the evening chasing and being chased and is now sacked out on the floor, dead to the world.

Sunset yesterday on the West Boulder
Mr. Pheasant by the roadside.

Two Mr. Pheasants by the roadside. We saw four males yesterday on the way over to Boo and Terry's.

Christmas decorations in our house.

Happy Thanksgiving Again

We had a most wonderful day with friends Boo & Terry, George & Shirley and Jeane & Steve. This is the first time in 15 years that I have not had a huge crowd at my house for Thanksgiving. Boo & Terry volunteered (they are always on our Thanksgiving guest list) to host this year and I thought, "what a wonderful idea!"

We had the traditional turkey plus a beef tenderloin and all the fixings--oyster dressing (Terry grew up on the Chesapeake Bay), corn pudding, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad and green beans, YUM--can you say waddle??? For dessert we had pumpkin bars, derby pie and pecan cranberry pie--can you now say stuffed?? But oh my, it was so very good as was the great company. A wonderful day to be thankful!

The Thanksgiving table.

The view from Terry and Boo's house--these are the mountains you see from our house just a different perspective.

Boo & Terry's beautiful home.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family. May this day remind us all of the things for which we should be thankful.

I am so thankful I have such a close and loving family, I am so thankful for Michael. We have such a great group of close friends and we are thankful for those. Our health, the beautiful place we live, the list just goes on and on.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day with family and friends.

Did We Lose Our Minds

The high temperature this afternoon was around 50 degrees and Michael decided we needed to go for a Spyder ride. He told me he would go get the car while I got ready. When he pulled up to the back door, he had the top down!!! We just went a little ways up the Boulder and it was not unpleasant. Notice the new cap he is wearing, his high school buddy Sarge sent it to him as Spyder attire as Mike can't wear a cowboy hat in the car, might lose it in the wind and when the top is up there isn't enough room.

Michael gave me several new gray hairs and made my heart stop today. He had the motor home up on one of its rear jacks and had the wheels blocked with wooden blocks. He crawled under the motor home to adjust the brakes and just as I walked out of the house the motor home moved and it appeared that Michael was pinned beneath it. I was never more relieved in my life to see him wiggle out from underneath. He doesn't know why it moved, the wheel chocks slipped and the motor home did come to rest on his chest but not so tightly that he couldn't get out.

When he was a teenager, he and a friend were working on a car with Michael underneath and the jack slipped out pinning Michael's head under the car. It scared his friend so bad that he was able to lift the car enough for Mike to crawl out--he has a scar on his cheek from that episode. The guy has used up some of his lives hasn't he??

I spent the entire day decorating for the holidays--yes, I have my tree up before Thanksgiving. I decided that if I wasn't having a houseful of people for Thanksgiving lunch I would enjoy the Christmas decorations a little longer this year. The house looks beautiful--I tried out some new decorating ideas this year and it worked. Now we will see if the tree can withstand Emmi!

Nat and I got phone calls this afternoon telling us that the little spot the doctor biopsied during all the more involved surgery a few days ago was another squamous cell carcinoma and Nat will have to have another MOHS procedure on December 23.

I've also stirred the pot with my blog post on November 19 when I was very critical of the care we received in Billings during Nat's original surgery. Seems that Billings Clinic has a service that scans the web for references to Billings Clinic and it picked up my blog post from that day. A public relations person has attempted to reach me but we haven't made contact yet and today the dermatologist that did Nat's surgery called me. As I worked in the health care system for so many years (28+) I understand way too much about how it works and still stand by the statements I made.

As I was finishing up this blog post I missed Emmi--couldn't find her--look where she decided to nap!

My sweet potatoes are in the oven baking so I can make the casserole tomorrow and we are just relaxing.

Secret Revealed

Now we can talk about the quilt I was working on that I couldn't talk about or show photos of on the blog. The quilt was a gift from our family in Montana and Arkansas to Maaike and Leon from Holland who are expecting their first child just after the first of December. Many years ago my Mom decided to get an exchange student when my niece was a senior in high school. I thought Mom was crazy to want another teenager in her home after all hers were grown and gone but she persisted and Maaike from Holland arrived. Maaike became a member of our family, not just an exchange student that disappeared when her year was up. She and her entire family including her new husband and his mother visit Arkansas frequently. Christmas of 2008 there were eight members of the Holland family celebrating with us.

My maternal grandmother was a quilter and made many, many of these baby quilts for family and friends. A few years ago I wanted to make one of the quilts for my niece who was expecting her second child and began searching for the pattern finding that my mother had inherited the pattern when Grandma died. When we found out that Maaike was expecting we decided she needed one of the baby quilts as she also knew and loved Grandma. I made the quilt and Mom and Ann, my sister, shipped it off to Holland about a week ago and Maaike called Mom today. Maaike--your Montana family wishes you, Leon and your new baby the best.


Today was a busy day. We brought all the Christmas decorations up from the basement and got the tree up and lighted. I made lunch then headed for Big Timber to run multiple errands--got the tires rotated on the Explorer, stopped at the library, mailed off some finished quilts to Marti in Arkansas, picked up a quilt to be quilted, got a massage and then went to our local quilt gathering. We learned to make pillowcases tonight--I made some to match the quilt I made for the motor home. One of the member brought great munchies for tonight and we enjoyed sewing and visiting. I am now home and pooped!

This guy and his girlfriend came strolling by about lunch time today.

Emmi was very glad to see me when I got home, she is the most excited little dog when someone she loves comes home.

The Car Fits

Michael decided this morning that he wanted to try and load the little sports car into the trailer we purchased. He drove and I provided directions--it fit, barely!! We didn't even have to yell at each other! We need to paint some direction lines on the floor of that trailer--it is a very snug fit!

Nat needed some help with a dressing change on his nose and Mike needed some transmission fluid for the motor home so Nat drove up and had lunch with us bringing his nose and the transmission fluid. He is having a fair amount of pain from his biopsies and is just weary from it.

After lunch I finished a quilt for my Aunt Margaret called a Mumbo Gumbo (I think). Recognize your quilt Aunt Marg?? While I was removing it from the zippers Emmi decided it looked like a good place to take a nap!
Here's another shot of the same quilt.

I also spent a lot of time this afternoon trying to get someone to call me from EE Schenck, a wholesale fabric/other sewing stuff distributor. Judy from Patchwork Times wrote a blog about poor customer service the other day. There seems to be such a lack of caring and customer service anywhere anymore. I have been trying to deal with another quilt batting company too and the customer service I expected just isn't there. I did finally get my order placed with EE Schenck and the customer service rep that I spoke with was very personable and seemed glad to have my order. So, batting is on the way.

Emmi has a bad hair day every day!

Poor Michael spent most of his day out in the cold working on that old motor home--I think it is getting on his last nerve!

Quilting and Quilting

The day started out sunny but cold and deteriorated to gray and cold with a nasty little cold wind.

Mary came about 10am to rent the longarm machine. I helped her get the quilt started and then I worked on cutting out the pieces for an adorable Christmas wallhanging. This was Mary's first quilt and she did really well--it was a huge quilt and she got it finished--she was amazed! It is a Christmas gift for a dear niece of hers.

The West Boulder mountains in the distance.
Boone Mountain--to the left of the pointed peak is another little snow covered mound--we have been there on a horse pack trip many years ago--it is beautiful up there, meadows, little creeks. We took the pack trip with our good friends Jill and Terry and their son Fritz who was only about 10 or 11 at the time. We had the bigger tent so Fritz slept in our tent. During the night the wind came up and sucked the tent wall out and when the wall came back in it hit me on the head. I came straight out of my sleeping bag Michael said from prone to standing straight up--I was sure a bear had come along and whacked me on the head. The next morning Fritz says, "what was all that commotion last night?" We still laugh about that night.

Michael worked on the shorter table for my longarm machine today. I made a delicious beef stew for lunch and we are having leftovers for supper.