A Rough Lions Meeting

Tonight we had a Lions Meeting with about 28 people present.  It was a joint meeting between our club and another. I was rattled because more people came than we had expected and so we were running for chairs and table settings. Two of the members of my club are high muckety mucks in Lions and they tend to run the meeting and not let anything pass. Fortunately the president of the guest club came up to me afterwards and told me to hang in and not let them get me down.

Obedience Class

Tonight we took Penny to her second obedience class.  The Puppy counselor had to take us out of the room for more training again. The whole class experience was unnerving.  Penny bit me and I was dripping blood and some one ran for disinfectant for the floor. (it was not a vicious bite just puppy teeth.) The counselor remarked that Penny was a very lively headstrong dog.  She knew the commands but hadn't decided to follow them considering the circumstances.(The run was full of dogs.) Next week the class will go to the airport but Penny is not trained well enough to go.  On election day we cannot use the school because it is a poling place, so we are all going to Home Depot where we will be given a shopping list and have to find things and keep the dogs from destroying the store.

Shots

Today I went to Walgreen Pharmacy and got my flu shot and my shingles shot. So now I am prepared. Hubby got his two weeks ago. He paid $125, I paid $45. Now he is looking for his receipt and ready to fight.

Commenting on someone's blog

Well, Pamela J. I did get on your blog and this time it even let me comment. Does anyone else have trouble deciphering the letters we have to type to prove we are not a robot? Tonight we went to the Halloween celebration at Greenfield village.  It was terrific. They line a path with pumpkins lit with candles and in front of some of the old buildings they have displays. In front of the Menlo park laboratories they have mad scientists, On the river they have pirates, and in the corn field they have live scarecrows.  The covered bridge was really spooky.  Costumes and lighting was amazing. If you ever come to the Detroit area, Greenfield Village is a must any time of the year.

Back to Blogging

It is time to get back to blogging.  I don't know if it is the added work of puppy raising or if I am just in the doldrums. I have the middle done on Mike's quilt but have to decide on the border.  Penny is doing fine.  Make sure to look at Puppy Tails, my husband's blog on raising a Leader Dog Puppy. We are all healthy, just a little busy. If Pamela J is listening I can't see or comment on your blog because it says I am not invited.

Update on M & M's quilt

I am starting to applique the birds on my brother's anniversary quilt.  I am sure that Kay Buckley, whose applique course I took last spring, would probably not want to admit teaching me. So far I have finished 4 birds.  I hope you can identify them.

Lions Gold Outing

Yesterday was the annual Lathrup Village Lions Club Gold Outing.  The weather was perfect. We had 76 golfers. Hubby and I ran the Marshmallow drive, only this year instead of marshmallows we had peeps. I need to talk to some of the golfers to hear how they felt about it.  They were definitely sticky.  We had to run out and get baby wipes to wash hands and clubs afterwards. Penny went to as liaison from the Leader Dog School.  She did a great job and behaved herself beautifully. It was a good day.

Puppy Tales

Hubby has become really involved with raising Penny, our Leader Dog Puppy.  Make sure you watch his blog  Puppy Tales.  People keep saying to us. " How are you ever going to part with her afer a year?" I tell them it would be easy afer two weeks!

The First Week with a New Puppy

We picked up Penny, an 8 lb 6 oz golden retriever puppy, from the Leader Dog Headquarters on Monday. It certainly is keeping us busy.  I forgot how active a puppy can be. She is into just about everything. We have gates to keep her in the kitchen.  At this rate Hubby and I will be able to do those "leg up" commercials for LaQuinta Hotels. Hubby has taken over the mid night "park" duties.  (Leader Dogs are taught to "park" (go potty) on command.)  We put her neckerchief on her but she was interested in chewing it off. (She chews everything.)  She sleeps in a crate in our bedroom. When we first put her in it, she wimpered but stopped when we talked to her.  Arnold who sleeps between us was apparently upset when she wimpered and so he barfed all over the headboard of the bed.  Penny gives Arnold a rough time, but he still stays nearby and only hisses at her when she chews on his tail or ears.

A Trip to New England

Last Sunday we went to Molly's baptism in Brooklyn.  She was pretty good only protesting once.  Then we left for the New England coast. I could have stayed at Hampton Beach forever. The water was too cold for swimming but the beach was fantastic. We managed to drive through all the New England states.  The weather was perfect and Hubby and I really enjoyed ourselves.

The Dress is Finished

I finished Molly's Christening dress.  I only had to clean up one blood spot. As many pins as I used to keep everything from sliding, it is a wonder the dress wasn't pink. I cut up the rest of the wedding dress, washed it and put it away. If she has a boy sometime and has him baptized at 6 months, I will make him a little suit. This dress is just too girly for a 6 month old boy.

Morning in the Garden

Every morning Hubby and I have breakfast on the deck.  We watch the birds and Arnold with his leash trailing behind hunts chipmunks. This morning we sat out there for over two hours as the weather was perfect and after all we are retired and it is Saturday. In that time frame we saw sparrows, goldfinches, nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, a ladder back woodpecker, cardinals, a Baltimore Oriole, a humming bird, chickadees, robins, red wing blackbird, purple grackle and a mourning dove. Arnold didn't catch anything although he gave a couple of chipmunks a good chase.  So far this year he has caught 1 chipmunk, 4 moles and a red squirrel. He is not interested in birds, thank goodness.

Making a Christening Dress

We have had company for the last two weeks.  It was great to see the kids and have the grandchildren visit, but the quiet feels good too. Gretel asked me to make Molly's Christening gown for her and upon my Mom's suggestion I am making it out of Gretel's wedding gown. After the initial bout of courage to cut up a wedding gown, I have begun. The dress will be a sheer material on top of a silky material. Everything slips and slides! I waited until everyone was gone to start it and now I have the bodice and the front pleats done, so I think I will take a break.

Out of Control

My life is out of control! The garden is beautiful.  This morning I planted a flat of Marigolds just to fill in the rock garden. It has been so dry here that Hubby had to add water to the water garden and the rain barrel (just to keep the goldfish alive.)(Perhaps I didn't tell you. Hubby uses a trash can to collect rain water from the downspout.  He noticed he had mosquito larvae growing in it , so he bought some feeder goldfish.  They ate all the larvae but he worried they didn't have enough oxygen, so he bought an aerator for them. Now he worries they don't have enough to eat so he feeds them every day.  When we had a power failure he bought an inverter to run the aerator from the car battery.)
     Tonight Gretel is coming with The Tummy and Molly to spend a week. Next Thursday, John is coming in with his family and Mary is coming up with Sofie.  Then a week from tomorrow Amy is coming with her kids.  I have Jury duty on Tuesday. What if I get assigned a jury with all this company in my house?( I did arrange for Gretel to take Mom out to lunch on Tuesday and take care of her medications.)
      Last Thursday I went to my first board meeting for the quilters guild I belong to. I had gone to the potluck, a week earlier, (I HATE POTLUCKS!) and got elected to Member at Large of the board.  So for the first meeting they said "Bring a dish to pass."  (Argh!)
     We have signed up to raise a Leader Dog Puppy and went to our first training class last Saturday.  It was very informative and we are excited.  We have asked for a Golden Retriever Puppy but we don't know when it is coming. Only 15% of the dogs they use are goldens, mostly labs.
    My craft room is a disaster.  I have done a lot of sewing for the babies but somehow I just accumulate more cloth.  It is in piles around the room and won't fit in all the storage boxes. I have Sammy's quilt half way assembled.(I made an Excel spreadsheet for it so that I can get it done before winter.)  Dorothy's quilt is ready for the quilt frame.  (That is waiting for Hubby to finish fixing the family room ceiling where the upstairs shower leaked through.) My Star Spangled quilt will be quilted by machine but there is no hurry on that. I have to get busy on the applique for my brother's quilt but I am hoping when Amy comes she can help me draw the birds.

    This is out of control. ( Oh, and I got Poison Ivy from weeding the garden)

Sofie Came to Visit

Sofie came to visit and so did her mommy, by the way. We had so much fun.  This baby smiles all the time.  We did a lot of shopping, visited great grandma and sewed a lot of baby clothes.  It was a wonderful week. Even Arnold enjoyed the visit. He kept nudging Sofie to ask her to pet him and he didn't seem to mind when she grabbed his whiskers.We spent one day at Greenfield village, where Mary and I tried on hats at Mrs. Cohen's millinery shop.

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Busy, Busy, Busy

I haven't been blogging because nothing has been happening, it's that too much has been happening. We have been volunteering at Greenfield Village twice a week. (This week we packaged and handed out seedlings.  We had the benefit dinner for Beaumont Hospital's Silent Children( they work with children with speech problems, mostly autism) We went to the Master Gardner award dinner. (Hubby got an award for 250 hours of volunteer experience. ( He puts out their newsletter and does some work on their maple syrup project.) Mary came up with Sofie and Hubby babysat while we went to the opera. This was his post on Facebook (Yay! I'm babysitting little Sofie tonight. Bedtime. Need to change diaper. Haven't done that in 35 years. Oh, good... just wet. HEY, close the floodgates! Her mom told me she would do that. Everything is wet. Can't reach paper towels. Maybe if I use about 5 of these baby wipes. Visions of Larry , Moe, and Curly flash before me. All thumbs. No replacement onesie. New PJ's will have to do. All's well that ends well.)

A Beautiful Day for Gardening

Today Hubby and I dug up our front garden.  It was full of wild onions and Clustered Bell Flowers mixed in with purple hyacinths and a few tulips and daffodils. It is all under a Japanese Cherry tree. It was way out of control. There were originally some iris and columbine and bachelor buttons too but the onions and the bell flowers took over everything.  So we took everything out. I carefully saved the bulbs I was sure weren't onions or those white star flowers.  I gave the Iris and bachelor buttons to my daughter Amy.  Hubby bought some humus and manure mix and we intend to plant pachysandra and put some tulips and daffodils back in. We don't need color in the front yard once the roses start blooming.

White Cane Drive

Hubby and I were out collecting for the Lions yesterday and today as part of White Cane Week. I wonder how many people, especially the young, know about a white cane tipped in red. We did pretty well in front of an Hiller grocery store.  It crippled us a little that Kroger initiated a corporate policy forbidding soliciting outside their stores. To tell the truth I wish we would find an equally profitable way of getting funds without standing outside in December in the cold as we do for the Candy Cane Drive.

Machine Quilting

I have wanted to learn how to quilt using my sewing machine. I have a quilt that I put together about 30 many years ago. It is really a disaster quilt.  It is part polyester and part cotton and the squares don't line up( it was one of my first quilts) (not that new ones are all that much better). Anyway I pieced the back with some left over fabrics and decided it would make an excellent quilt for practice machine quilting.
My first run through was so bad that I ripped out all the quilting and decided to "practice" again. Now the quilt also has blood spots from ripping out the quilting with my fragile old lady skin fingers. The second time the back laid flat.  My Bernina behaved wonderfully but even though there are markings on my walking foot for a quarter inch I often got distracted trying to maneuver the roll of quilt material while keeping the sewing area flat and feeding the needle evenly. After doing one direction of the quilting I was ready for a drink. (Some of my seams look like I already had several.)  Over all I feel better about the process although for a really good quilt I will probably stick to hand quilting for now.

Happy Birthday Hubby

Hubby had a party for his 70th birthday last Saturday.  We met at a local Italian restaurant and had a wonderful time.  He had friends there from Ford Motor Company, Lions Club, lots of friends over the years and children and grandchildren. I think he looked very young and dapper.

Gardening

Everyday, Hubby and I put on our warm coats and battle the wind to see what has come up in our garden.  For some reason, in spite of the warm winter, the spring is teasing us a lot. It is fun to see the usual spring flowers, tulips, hibiscus, and dafodils, but I alsom love the pussy willow and the bleeding hearts. Last year at a master gardener plant sale, I bought a woodland poppy.  What a delightful plant.

Peyote Workshop

I signed up for a Peyote Workshop with the local needlework guild. (Peyote is a type of bead work but it really impressed my kids when I told them.) Unfortunately on the day of the class I went to the location of the last meeting which I had attended. But the class wasn't there. I had a vague recollection of being told where the class was but not enough to find it. (Mary said that was because I had too much Peyote.) I hate that when I forget things. I am always afraid I am coming down with some sort of dementia.

Charlotte

Yesterday, I went to a funeral for a mentally handicapped person, Charlotte. I had known her, although not well, since she was born. Her handicap was severe and she never was able to talk. She lived for 51 years. Her mother, Anna, because of Charlotte, founded Angels Place, a group home for mentally handicapped people. In those years after Charlotte was born, through Anna's hard work, the number of homes in this project has increased to 18. Charlotte's funeral was well attended, even a cardinal attended. It was said at the funeral that Charlotte accomplished more in her lifetime than many of us more able have done.

Happy Easter

On Easter Sunday Hubby and I worked as volunteers at the Henry Ford. Hubby was helping out at the Titanic Exhibition. They had such crowds on Friday and Saturday that they had to call in extra volunteers to help out. His job was to remind people to drop off their audio equipment and to keep people from sneaking in the exit. We had seen the exhibit at a preview for volunteers last week. It was spectacular. We had our picture taken on the grand staircase. I worked at a Lionel Train exhibit. I learned all about cleaning the track and the train wheels with alcohol. They have to switch the engines at noon because they overheat when running constantly all day long. As volunteers we have to wear uniforms but I cheated on the socks.

First Step

I have finished the first step in completing my brother's quilt. Since he retired he developed an interest in bird watching, so for his 40th wedding anniversary (next year) I am making him a quilt. I will put different kinds of local birds on the tree. It has only taken me a year so far. I got the layout of the tree from the master gardening book on tree pruning. It's a pear tree. The quilt will show itself as a work in progress because my skill level is changing as I work.

Lion Convention

Hubby and I spent the weekend at a Lions Convention in Kalamazoo. We stayed at the Radisson. The room was nice but the banquet food was terrible. We had a good time, good company and our candidate, Roger was elected unanimously. I find I am getting to know lots more people.

Birds and Politics

We drove to Small Town Ohio on Sunday by way of the Ohio Turnpike. We always enjoy seeing the hawks in the trees along the side of the highway. I really like the birds of prey, even when they come in our backyard and terrorize the song birds at the bird feeders. Seeing the feathers fly from one of their victims has not deterred me from my admiration of them. They are so powerful, independent, and self reliant. I am sure if they could belong to a political party, they would be republicans, (But I like them just the same.) Sparrows, goldfinches, and of course pigeons are democrats.

Sofie

Yesterday we went to small town Ohio and saw Sofie. Well we saw her Mom and Dad too but Sofie is the star of the show. I am sure she is the most beautiful baby ever with the clearest big blue eyes and she smiles all the time. I held her every minute I could while I was there.( finally giving Grandpa a chance to hold her.) She was especially cute when she was naked as she almost laughed out loud, kicking and enjoying her freedom. In one of the pictures that her Mom gave me I noticed she is outgrowing her pink sweater so I had better get busy.

Fire!!

Yesterday, I was sewing in my craft room when I heard a loud bang. It sounded like a gunshot or a car backfire. I looked out the window and saw two cars in the street stopped as if the drivers were talking to each other. Later I heard more popping sounds which I assumed were firecrackers. Then I noticed there were lots of cars on our street stopping and I heard the fire engine. I went outside and saw a wall of flame in the garage about 4 houses away. The fire truck got here awfully fast. A neighbor, one of the cars I saw in the street, said she was driving by, heard the noise, saw the flames, and a young boy running out of the garage and trying to drag the garden hose. She told him to forget the hose and get his sisters out of the house. I don't know what the boy had been doing in the garage, it does seem a little suspicious. The parents were not home. The garage was destroyed as well as that part of the house above the garage. It seems it only takes a moment to change our loves. Thank God none of the children were hurt.

Molly

Hubby and I spent 5 days in Brooklyn, N.Y. visiting Molly for the first time. It was wonderful. She is a real cutie and pretty good besides. Of course, Grandma doesn't get up in the middle of the night and I haven't figured out those fancy O Katie diapers, but I did feed her a bottle and burp her and just cuddle her a lot. We took walks every day around the neighborhood. It was a bit cooler there than in Detroit and I kept putting the flap up on her car seat. My Mom always used to say babies can swallow air if it is a little windy and then they are fussy later. Gretel looked at me like I was nuts.

A New York Cabbie

We spent a long weekend in New York visiting Molly. We took a yellow cab from JFK to the house. The driver was probably Arabian and he was so polite and very nice. When we left we had a different cab and driver. This driver spoke little English and was probably Russian. He was very heavy and very rude. He drove the cab without wearing a seat belt in a typical Mo-Town lean even though I am relatively sure he has never been to Mo-Town. He drove a Lincoln town car and changed lanes frequently and honked his horn a great deal. It was hard not to laugh at him.

A Spring Walk Around the Yard

It is a beautiful day here. Hubby and I walked around the yard to check on what is coming up. We had to wade across the yard to get to the hill. The crocus are blooming and so are the Lenten roses and sweet myrtle. There are several plants that are sticking their buds through the ground, like the peonies, bleeding hearts and Russell lupines. There are several plants that are coming up but I can't remember what it was that I planted. Soon Hubby has to trim the roses and cut off the dead sedum which gave us lovely winter interest but are ready for a new season. We took the fuscia outside for the week because it will be so warm, in case an early hummingbird comes through. I had wintered them and my geraniums and shamrocks in the basement, so I took them all outside for a breath of fresh air. I know it is only March but this weather really makes you eager for the growing season.

The Gathering Place

Last weekend I went on a quilting retreat. It was wonderful. We were at an old farmhouse in White Lake, Michigan. The house was decorated in a lot of froo-froo pink with lace curtains and crafty stuff all over. We had 8 really nice women to quilt with. The work room had 8 big tables for us plus another for cutting and an ironing board. The meals were to die for. The owner had a collection of M & M figurines which dispensed M & M's sprinkled liberally through the house. There were 5 bedrooms equipped with twin beds, so we each had our own bed. It was a fun weekend that went by all too fast.

Mulligatawny

Hubby retired 6 months before me and so he decided to do the cooking because I was still working, Since I hate cooking I just never took the job back. I am spoiled beyond the imagination. Hubby does all the cooking. He even makes my coffee in the morning. The kids say it is a great improvement in the cuisine around this house. Tonight he made mulligatawny for dinner. It was wonderful. Life is really good.

Molly

SuperG had her baby, Molly, last Friday. They live in Brooklyn so we have not seen her in person yet but we will soon. She weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces so she is a hefty bundle. Mom, Dad and Molly are all doing well. Grandma is very excited about her little girls. Sofie and Molly are probably close to the same size now.

Socks

I love fancy socks. I have Christmas Socks, Valentine socks Halloween socks and St. Patrick's Day socks. I have zebra printed socks jungle socks and lots of cat socks. For my birthday Hubby got me a whole bunch more socks. One of the joys of being retired I don't have to worry about being practical or reserved. ( sort of the red hat club motto, but I am not a member of that organization.) Hubby bought these from the Southwest Indian Foundation and they have lots more he can get me next year.

Winter Feeding

Mary , my daughter knows what a soft touch we are for feeding the animals in the winter time. So she gave us this interesting squirrel feeder. We have the fattest fox squirrels you have ever seen and they like to feed on the sunflower seeds that fall under the bird feeder. We also have little red squirrels. They can jump onto the bird feeder but it is one of those that closes up if there is too much weight on the perch. The red squirrels learned to hang from the holes in the side of the feeder until Hubby put tape over them. Lastly we have black squirrels. They are the most nimble. One would make a flying leap from the tree to the stand for the peanut feeder. Hubby would open the window and shoot at him with an air gun. The squirrel learned to jump off the feeder as soon as he heard the window open. Now Hubby attached a black garbage bag to the tree over the squirrels jumping off point and that has stopped. Now they have their own feeder.

Car Barf!!

I am working on my brother's anniversary quilt. It is my own creation and involves appliqueing a tree to the center of the quilt. I have the design of the branches drawn out on a plastic tablecloth and then I use a light box to place the branches and blossoms on the tree. Needless to say it is a little time consuming. I had a section of the quilt top all laid out on the table in my craft room where I could work on it a little at a time. This morning when I walked into the room I discovered CAT BARF on the quilt. Hubby took a picture of everything I had pinned and I numbered the pieces and washed the quilt top. All came out and we are back in business again.

Fleece

I have been cleaning up my craft room and trying to make some more space for more stuff. I had a big box of fleece which other people have given me. Most of it was in pieces too small to do anything with. I also have a fellow Lion whose wife makes pajamas for poor children and she had lots of fleece pieces which she cut 5 inches square for me to make a quilt for charity. I made 6 baby buntings for Sofie and Molly and the rest of my fleece I also cut into 5 inch squares. I made one charity blanket and have enough for two more. I can now put the remainder of my fleece in a little box. I also used my new Bernina that I got for Christmas. It is wonderful!!

Dog Bite

We have new neighbors renting the house next door. They have two little dogs which I think are c0ckapoos. They yap constantly when they are outside and bark at us when we go into the yard. Today I had come home from an outing , parked the car in the garage and walked out to the street to get my mail. I noticed the dogs were loose and were in my front yard on the opposite side from their home. They came running at me and one bit my leg enough to break the skin and leave a bruise. I darted into the house. After I noticed the dogs had wandered further down the street. I ran next door and told them the dogs had escaped and had bit me. The young man who lived there called the dogs home and came to my house and apologized and said the dogs had had their shots. I am sure if the dogs bite again I will call the police, maybe if I see them out of their yard again. Why do people want dogs who bite?

Books I Have Read This Year

It is always so hard to erase the list of books I have read at the start of a new year. That is probably why I have waited to February. But the time has come. I usually read at night in bed. My Dad always had a fit if he caught you reading in the daytime. He would tell about a family who lived in filth but read books all day. As I get older that doesn't sound so bad but I still rarely read in the daytime.

It's Done

It's done.! It's finally finished. I just finished Fish City. It had 15 pages of directions and it took me a little over 5 years to complete. It is a silly stupid project but I will frame it and hang it in my upstairs hallway. Maybe the grand children will enjoy it. It is a lot like a Richard Scary picture with lots of fish with funny expressions. There are kissing fish in a taxi cab and a crab with his lunchbox and sandwich. John gave the pattern to me as a Christmas present and I will put it in my will that he inherits it. (No one else wants it.)

Enjoying having a new Grandchild

I have enjoyed all my grandchildren but some of them are getting older and so it is nice to have some young ones. Sammy came to visit last month. He is two years old and Sofie was born in December. I have been busy knitting and sewing. I made a set of these bibs for Sofie and another for Molly who is due later this month.

A Busy Month

Wow! it has been a busy month. On the 14th of January I had a shower for Gretel and had 28 people here in my living room. It went really well but thank God I had help from Martha and Rejina. My vertigo still comes and goes but not nearly as bad. Bill and Rejina came to visit with their two year old Sammy. What a cutie! He talks non-stop and when he walks into a room says, "What's happening!" Baby Sofie was christened down in Ohio. It was a beautiful ceremony and she even smiled at the priest when he poured water on her. A dear friend had a son who at the age of 36 had a brain aneurysm and we went to the funeral yesterday. The cold wind and snow blowing in the cemetery was awesome. Mary and Brian and Sofie came up for the funeral and stayed the weekend. I think, maybe, things will calm down a bit now.

Benign Positional Vertigo

Yesterday, I noticed the beginning of another episode of vertigo. Today when I awoke it was full force again. It figures I have almost 30 people coming to my house on Saturday for a baby shower for Gretel. I looked it up on Googol and it said that the spinning occurs when one tips their head and one of the treatments was not to tip your head. I guess "benign" means it won't hurt you (unless you lose your balance or upchuck in an inopportune place) and it also means that there are no easy solutions.

Oh No!!

Today I decided it was time to get back on Weight Watchers. I have signed up on line. Last year I lost 13 pounds. Not enough to break records but the Doctor called me fit! So this morning I weighed in and listed my breakfast only to find that the New! weight watchers has lowered my points by 3! I was having enough trouble before staying within my points. Hubby likes to buy those big jars of cashews from Costco and they certainly are a weakness of mine.

Red and Blue Lights

Tonight as Hubby and I were coming home from the Master Gardeners meeting, we had a surprise. As Hubby turned the car into our subdivision, the sky behind us lit up with bright red and blue lights. Hubby immediately pulled over and I said to him, "What did you do?" He said "I don't know." You know how you sit there while the policeman is undoing his safety belt, uncocking his gun or whatever. I wondered what all the neighbors were thinking. After asking for drivers license, proof of insurance and registration, he told us one of our headlights was out. I still don't think he needed all those lights for that.

A New Year Resolution

I made a resolution to blog more but I can't think of what to write. The last company left on the train this morning. The cat has been having a bout of diarrhea. (Her life is in danger). All the Christmas decorations are put away and it's cold out.