Questions...

When we went down to goose pond, we saw this hawk....I could not get a good capture of it.  However, I am showing you one I have played with in Picasa...

Does anyone know what kind this one is?  I think it is the strangest marked hawk I have ever seen.  I tried to capture it when it looked away but didn't manage that.  The back of its head was white/dirty white.  A spot about an inch in diameter I am guessing.

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I made another block yesterday....

I knew I would not be real happy with that center block but used it anyway.  But then I really did not like it.  I let it lay for a couple of hours but could stand it no long and ripped it out.

I replaced it with this...I do like it better.   It won't be my favorite block...I do know that much.

Unexpected things...

My brother and his wife came down last summer, and we took a little drive to see a couple covered bridges.

We drive down this same road numerous times every year and this was the first time to see these.

On my other blog, Time Stand Still, I have a couple close-ups of some of the flowers.
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Roger had therapy today...last week and this week, she had him work on filling out a form as if he was going to a doctor for the first time.  And he is doing it....just slow.  It is amazing how far he has come.  But she says she thinks she can go down to two times a month.  That gives me relief to know if I have concerns, I still can talk to her.

I know each stroke is different....but until this happened I had no clue.  I know my boss had one, but his was worse than Roger's.  He couldn't talk, could not feed himself...had a feeding tube.  So when Roger's happened, I really expected that.

Thankfully, it was not as bad.  But oh, at the things you probably don't even think about unless you have dealt with someone that had a stroke.  Where his brain bleed was on the left side affected Roger's speech/communication center.  He had trouble naming things, could not read...which was partly due vision problems. For the time he was in the rehab facility, he could not name things or read at all.  I think one time he figured out one word.

Since coming home, he has had to learn to count change/money, and learn to tell time on a dial clock all over again.  He is learning to read and has come a long way, but still has work to do.  He has come so far from where he was.  I never would have dreamed that he would ever be able to fill out a form. 

 All the therapists he has had have been wonderful people.  The ones he has had week in and week out have been so, so good to us.  And I know they get paid, for doing it but they sure work for it.  I am sure that some of them take their work 'home with them.'  I know the couple that are married discuss how to help him.  

We have not been back to the rehab facility that he spent time at in Terre Haute but we want to go there one of these days...hoping to see some of the same crew.

I know this is rambling...but just felt like sharing a bit. 

Another block...

Hopefully this is just another block in a long line of blocks.  Most people call this pattern Churn Dash, but for me it will forever  be Hole in the Barn Door since that was the name I seen it called the first time I saw it.  The name held the appeal for me.  I have made only one quilt using this pattern, but if I ever have one of the 'quilt blocks' made for the side of the garage, this is probably the pattern I would chose.   I am not sure what colors though.

I really am hoping to make enough of these to make a quilt.  Though it and the other block I made have blues, I have not planned on just using blues. 

What is funny, I am trying to use up scraps.  But the local quilt shop has a bin of scraps...and I buy more.  To add variety to my scraps!  I think I am defeating myself by doing this.

If my mom had had all the fabric I have and had had the time, she would never have stopped.  Specially when she was my age.  When she got up into her late 70's and right before she died in her early 80's...she didn't get as much done.  I would love to know how many quilts she made over the years and how many she gave away.  I bet it would amaze even me! 

There are still quilt tops down home that she left that has yet to be quilted, and I think one or two were in the process of being made.  I don't know if they will ever get done now.

Five Randoms

I have been wanting to do the Friday Five and have such a hard time making up my mind what to share.

1. Today I am starting out with a song from Growling Old Men...I heard them on PBS's Live From Dennison Lodge.



2.   This one is one you cannot listen to in just a moment or two, but listen to a minute or two.  Once I heard his voice I had to watch it, but it is one I could just listen to and enjoy. (There is also Farm Story, featuring the same guy.)



3.  I got to pick my Juki 98Q and bring it home yesterday.  I am one happy girl...if I dare to call myself a girl.

By the way this is an old photo.

4.  I have only sewed a very few stitches on it since I brought it home.  I had a set of wire shelves to put together when we got home.  And then we have looked and looked for something we have lost.  It is something Roger ordered just before his stroke, and it came while he was in the hospital.  It laid in there on the table, unopened until he had been home a while.  After he started coming more to himself, he opened it.  I have not seen it sine--that I remember.

We have both looked off and on all the time were home today.  I don't know whether he laid it down and lost it or if I picked it up and put it some place 'safe' without even realizing it.  

Do you ever lose things?

5.  Roger is slowly improving in some things...but not fast enough to suit him.  I want to do a post about that in a day or two if I can gather my thoughts enough to get it done.

That is my 5 for Willy Nilly Friday Five....

Wringer washers

We saw these at a store in Shipshewana in 2015....I would have sworn that I posted them.  But have looked and looked and cannot find them.  I wish I had taken note of the price of these.  They were used and the price was high...or at least I thought so.  I think one of them was a bit over $1600 and the other was even higher.

Someone posted a pic of one on Facebook the other day, a bit different to these.  When I grew up we used one most of the time.  I was in school before mom ever got an automatic washer and dryer.  and even after she got them, we almost always used the wringer and hung the clothes outside.

Ours had the red release...like the one on the left.  If you were to catch your hand in the wringer, the idea was the push the red release....but I never knew anyone to get caught.  But many is the times my mom told me to be careful when she let me feed the clothes through.  Every now and then for some reason, I can remember having to press the release to get something 'untangled.'

We had a pantry, I guess you would call it....we didn't call that though.  It had shelves at one end for the jellies mom made and for canned goods, and under the bottom shelf was this big tin can that mom kept sugar in.  A big chest stood on the other side...and in the middle we kept the wringer washer.  We didn't have a clothes hamper...we just threw our dirty clothes on top of the washer.  We never threw anything wet on the clothes...if it was wet, we hung it on a line to dry rather than pile it with the others and get them damp.

We never had a certain day to wash that I remember.  When we washed, we just rolled the washer over to the sink.  We had a short hose that we could screw on to the faucet...and then ran it over to the washer and filled it with hot water.  Then add the detergent.  Mom placed a regular dining chair on the back side...behind the wringers.

We didn't have clothes baskets.  We had metal dishpans...similar to the following.

At least one was sort of shiny like this and one was a bit deeper and was aluminum.  I know we had two, and maybe a third one.  And I  know when we first washed clothes they were piled in them..rounded up.  But I still can't see three being enough, but for the life of me I cannot remember using anything else. We would always have to run the clothes through the wringer and guide them down and make sure they go in the pan.  (When I was real young, that was my job.)

We started out washing sheets and towels, followed by underwear....next came shirts and dresses, and that was followed by jeans.  I don't remember how we did if we had a quilts or blankets to wash.  They would have been either before or after the jeans.

Mom always had a different pan with bleach water in it,  had lye soap on hand, and a washboard and used it for tough stains.  I can only remember having to use it a time or two.  But mom always used it on some things.

After everything was washed, we ran that water out into the sink, and rinsed the tub out.  We re-filled the tub and proceeded to run the clothes through the rinse water.  Now this time, soon as we got a load ran through and put the next load in, we took the clothes we just ran through outside and hung on the line.  When little, my job was to hand the clothes up to mom.  In the order that she wanted them.

By the time we were done with a load, it was about time to run the next load through the wringers and put in another load and start the process over.

I remember gathering the end of the sheets in my hands to start them through the wringers, and I remember trying to fold the shirts or anything with buttons till the buttons were to the inside.  But I don't know if mom did that or if that was just something I did.  I enjoyed laundry then, and I do now.

Though I am thankful that I don't have to use a wringer washer all the time,  I sure wish I had one.  They would save so much water. 

Snow geese...

This is from today...out by the strip pits we always go to.  They were just simply amazing.  We probably stood there at least 30 minutes watching them.  We were heading to a little restaurant and by the time we came back, not a single one was anywhere near.

Of course I was looking into the sun, or close to it.  I was happy with the videos and shots when I thought about that.

I could not get a photo to do them justice...

I am glad to have finally got to be this close to them...and get to witness and hear them for myself.

Thankful Thursday

It is Thankful Thursday over at Michelle's....I want to join in before the day is over.

I am thankful for a few minutes to make this block.

More than that, I am thankful for the past few days.  Roger's blood pressure has been doing pretty good, and he has had three good days in a row.  He is 'playing' with a project down in the basement as I type this.

Sandhill cranes...

We went down to Goose Pond today...nothing much at all on the ponds, but we know to go east of there and look in the farming area.

They were far away, and it was a gray day...so not the greatest photos.  Add to that the fact that I had trouble with holding steady....I was in the middle of a narrow road so didn't even attempt to get tripod out.

Still it was fun seeing and hearing them...

I love watching them come in for a landing...

So much fun to see.

We also saw:

They were way up in the sky.  We didn't know what they were...was pretty sure they were not Canada geese.

This is one I zoomed in a bit...notice in the first photo, they just look like dark birds.  But as you can see if you click on this, they are snow geese.

Waiting for spring...

After all the dark, dreary days I have been going through my photos.  Lingering just a bit extra on blue-skied, sunny days.  Looking with longing at colorful flowers.

I know if it came a big snow that I would get all excited...I just cannot help myself.  I love how snow makes things new again. 

But right now, give me some warmer weather, and a cup of coffee on the front porch.  Is anyone else anxious for some sunshine and warmth?

Going back in time...2014

 I was looking through things and came across these videos of Lorelei taken in 2014.  I had totally forgotten them.


I hope you enjoy them even half as much as we did....



She has the moves...



I wish you could have heard Roger....he is definitely feeling better.  He says she is going to love me when she is a teen-ager.  I have a feeling she will be like her mom and not really care too much.

Long ago...

This is from September 2, 2007....the first night we brought Puss Puss and her brother home.  They had been playing and playing...we must have had our minds on other things.  We suddenly missed her.  We started looking for her and could not find her.  So we started doing a methodical search of each room and would close the door behind us.

We worked our way back to the living room without finding her.  I can remember both of us being puzzled...finally I spied her in the kleenex box sound asleep.

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Roger did not feel the greatest today.  I tell myself this is to be expected...and it really is.  Specially after he had did so much yesterday and then he stayed up later than normal.  So he was bound to be tired. 

Add to that, when I stopped sewing yesterday my sewing machine was making a funny sound.  I did not try oiling it because I had stuff to do.  I went down this afternoon to do a bit more sewing and it was still making the noise.  I did do the one line of sewing around the perimeter of the the quilt, and then stopped and oiled it.  Hoping that it would stop, but no such luck.  So I packed it up and we ran to Terre Haute to leave it for repair at Wabash Valley Fabrics....if repair is required.  It sewed just fine...I just was not comfortable sewing with it with the sound.

Anyway, I tried to tell him he could stay home...felt like he was too tired to go but he insisted on going with me.  Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow.

The word 'normal' speaks volumes

For a while this afternoon, from my point of view, things felt normal.  Normal is a big word now...there are times I don't think there is ever going to be even a new normal.  So many nights I get what I call the 'fearfuls.'  I don't know if I will ever take normal for granted...I learned just how easily and quickly life can take a turn.  And I get afraid of when it will happen again.  Cause even though Roger was not taken from me this time, I know that sooner or later, one of us will more than likely have to live without the other.

But for that while this afternoon, you would never have known the upheaval we have had.  We were both in the basement.  I had laundry going, and spent at least a couple hours with my one of my sewing machines and quilting.  And Roger was working on things in his area.  I am not sure what all he was doing, but I heard tools.  And he was content. 

He did say he would have to stop and think to remember how to do things.  And he still had trouble telling me things when he needed to name things.  Even with that, he felt more normal than he has in a long while.  Then, after we came up from down there, he grilled some pork steak...just so normal.

Through all this, he has not lost his sense of humor.  Sometimes it is a case of we either laugh or we cry, but a lot of times it is just his quick wit.  The other night we were watching Family Feud.  One of the questions that was ask of a hundred men, 'what is a word that you could use to describe a peach that you would also used to describe a woman.'

One of the answers given by the hundred men was'fuzzy.'  And the family guessed it...when it was actually one of the answers, Roger says, 'Well, who would say that...nobody would say that.' 

Then he started laughing and said, 'I guess they do, remember your brother used to say Why, Hell-o Fuzzy!  And he did...he was not actually calling someone Fuzzy though...it was sort of a light way of swearing...If he was looking for something and finally found it, he might say 'WHy, Hell-o Fuzzy!  Here it is'  or if he and Roger were working or discussing how to do something, it might be, 'well, Hell-o fuzzy, that won't work!'  It was not hello...it was Hell-o. 

This is probably not funny to anyone else...I have ask both my other brothers if they remember this and neither of them do...but Roger and I sure do. 

Losing my mind...

I have spent hours the past few days looking on Google Earth.  Looking for where this barn was located.  I know the general area it was at.  But just cannot find for sure where it was.  The other day when we took a detour home, we went down the road I thought it was on, only to find out I was wrong.  That is when the search began.  I would have bet money I could take you right to where it once stood.

 And look at it...I don't see anything that terribly wrong with it...this was taken in December of 2010.  I have taken photos since this was taken.  But the last time we were by there the barn was completely gone.

Anyway, as if I needed to feel any crazier...not being able to spot where it was has left me feeling like I must be crazy.

What goes on....

I would love to have this lovely log cabin.  Isn't it a beauty.  I hope someone gets to spend enough time there to enjoy it.

Do you ever see houses and wonder what goes on there?  Are the people happy?  Is there any children that come and go through those doors.  Most of all I wonder if the people that live there are happy.

Sleeping Beauties...

First a zoomed in look...

Look at all those sleeping beauties...can you imagine sleeping on the water like this?  In single digit weather?

This pond/strip pit is on the south side of the road...thus always looking slightly towards the sun.  Add that to the fact that I cannot see my screen I have a hard time getting a good picture.

If you will right click on these photos, then click open in new tab, or open in new window, I think it will be a big bigger photo.   

Thankful....

I have a hard time doing a post without a photo...so am showing you this kitty.  We saw it one night when walking around the strip pit.  I did not try to pet it...I did not want to end up wanting to bring it home.

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This is Thankful Thursday over at Michelle's...I like sharing the things I am thankful for...and I am thankful for a lot.  On cold days such as today I am always so thankful to have heat at the touch of a switch.

And tonight I am especially thankful that Roger's blood pressure finally dropped to 138/82.  When I took it at the regular time it was 164/92.  He had not rode his bike today and then insisted on riding it half an hour.  He got done, took a shower, and I waited a while after that to take it again.  It ended up being 170/90!  I was about ready to take him to the ER.  I gave him a bit more time, he got in his chair and Puss sat with him and he stroked her.   About 50 minutes later he headed to bed.  Thankful that it was down to 138/82 at that time.

Did I show you this...

We came out of Walmart back in the summer and saw this in the distance...

Forgive me if this is a repeat.  We have Directv but one of these days I am apt to get so fed up with the rise in prices that I quit them.  I could go on a real rant here, but I won't.

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I told you the other day about Sean of the South...well, his little story was excellent today.  Go HERE to read it...I think the women will really appreciate it.

Hope you aren't tired of geese....

We decided to run to Super Walmart to pick up a few things there that our little Walmart doesn't carry.  We went through one end of the strip pits as we headed that way...



The day was actually just a gray day.  Just so much fog and mist...have your sound on to hear them.  You might want to try half volume to begin with.



My hands had started to try to tremble with the fist video I showed...I thought if I paused it would stop but as you can see they still trembled some.  It all happened so quick that I didn't even attempt to get my mono-pod out.



I so wish you could see them all in person...these videos just do not do them justice.  Down at the south of of this pond were several swans but so far you can barely see them with the naked eye.

 

From the strip pits

First this bird...I am not sure what it was.  I know it was not a vulture, and if it was a hawk, it was a HUGE hawk, but by the same token, if it was a juvenile bald eagle, it was on the small side.  Also, the underneath side was not white like most hawks. I have a hard time zooming in and tracking with my little point & shoot camera.

This is way down at the end of a pond...I was surprised this photo turned out even this good...again, trying to zoom in and track the two swans was difficult.

 I managed this capture as these swans passed over right in front of us.

 There were several Canada Geese...this group was near us on the north side of the road.

This is the pond on the south side of the road...and this is showing just a small portion of the geese that were up on the bank.  I have never seen the quite like this before.  I have seen them in the fields near other ponds, though so guess it amounts to the same thing.
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Roger's BP was fairly high again tonight.  I don't know why.  He had had a coughing spell right as I took it...I waited a couple minutes to take it and it was still 163/88.  In the hospital and rehab they wanted to keep the upper number 140 or below because of the fact that he had had the bleeds.  Again, I gave him a whole BP pill instead of the normal half a pill...it came down quickly tonight so maybe the whole pill was not needed.

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I have told some of my blog friends of the things Roger is having to relearn but haven't shared them in detail on here.  Simple things we all take for granted.  Things like telling the time.  He can read a digital watch, though sometimes numbers pop out of his mouth that are not what he means to say.    It is almost as if he just has to say something...but I can say not it isn't 3:00...and he will look again and say, oh, it is 1:00.

As for a clock with a dial...he is having to learn to tell time all over that way.  But is really improving with that.  As long as I don't ask him to do too many times in a short period. 

But don't ask him what year it is...he seldom gets that right.  

He cannot just sit down and read...he has to spell out words and then can usually tell you what they are.   But what is funny, a lot of times he can read longer words.  

He can write words a lot easier than he can print them, though he still has some trouble with a few letters in writing.  But nothing like when he prints.  And I have him print the alphabet most days. 

I won't put it all in this one post, but will continue to tell some of the things he deals with as time goes on.

I want to share this...

First this pic...again not a great photo, but still I like the subject.  There were about a dozen, maybe 14 swans out in this field...most were sleeping.  But two or three remained alert.  I assume on purpose.   To watch for danger.  They were too far out plus it being the middle of the day...didn't make for a great photo.
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Now, I want to share a site with you, it is called Sean of the South.  Well, let me go back in time a bit...he has a book out by the same name.  I found it through a newsletter of kindle books.  It was free.  I told my SIL about it, she bought an actual book for her brother.  And she read it.  Now I got the one for my kindle, but had not read it yet.

So she reads it and discovers his website...and at the top of the page you can subscribe.  Except me...but that is another story.

Anyway, so since I can't get the subsription to work, she forwards the stories to me...THIS one--The Big Thing....is the one that came this morning....if you read no other, read it. But I think some of you will enjoy all the stories.  At the first link I gave you, you can scroll and see the stories.  Just realize that down at the bottom of each story on the lower right side, you have to click  'more' to see the whole story.  The word 'more' is in light gray and barely noticeable for me.

I hope you will read and tell me if you enjoy it/them as much as I do.  They are wonderful.

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Roger's blood pressure was up last night...I could not focus enough to blog after I discovered that.  He had eaten salty popcorn and I am assuming that did it.  I increased one of his BP meds and it finally came down by the time he went to bed about 4 hours later.  Don't worry, I am still not giving him as much as they originally said for him to take of this med. 

His BP is still down this morn, so things look brighter.  We have to run errands this morn...but hopefully I will get to visit some later..

Love you guys!  And don't forget to read The Big Thing.