Sorry this is late...

...but it's been a busy weekend.

In birdie news, we've had a tragedy. You know the Dark-eyed Junco that was nesting in my beautiful purple fuchsia...well on Friday morning I thought she was out of her nest, so I took down the fuchsia to see the two babies...mistake #1. Mom wasn't out the nest and she flew up and was squawking at me...then the one baby in nest (where was the other one?) jumped out of the nest!!! So I quickly scooped it up and put it back and then hung up the fuchsia so mom would calm down. I went downstairs on the computer to see if I shouldn't have touched the baby, but I learned that it is an old wives tale and the mom will be okay with it. So, I go back upstairs to see how things are in the nest and the little baby has left the nest and is sitting on a branch...oh, my heart!! I don't want to touch him again, so I went back to the computer and found out that, by his appearance, he was at the fledgling stage...and they do sometimes leave the nest. I was so worried about him. I kept checking on him the rest of the day and he would move from the branch to the nest and back to a branch. I think he was trying to get up the nerve to jump. Which he eventually did!!! He ran to the edge of deck...so I ran into the yard to get him before he could fall...it was about a 3 foot drop...but I didn't make it and he jumped onto the ground and started running. I was following him...then mom appeared and he ran straight for her and they disappeared in the shrubbery. I thought I was helping...mistake #2...but I realized I was probably scaring them both to death...a crazed old lady with a wild top knot running after them!  I found out that it's not uncommon for this to happen and the mom will stay with the fledgling until it is able to fly. Whew!!

Then I was poop-scooping, as one does when you have dogs, I found the other baby bird! He was laying on the steps of the deck away from the nest. I knew it was the missing one because the other one had just made it's escape with mom on the other side of the yard. So sad. He didn't look like he had been bitten or anything, so he must have just died when he left the nest. I took a photo...so don't look if your squeamish! I wrapped him up and buried him. Poor baby.

I'm not sure I can take this much longer...my heart breaks when this stuff happens.

This is what my beautiful purple fuchsia looked like after all the tragedy.  See the one lone bloom and the bird nest?  I read that Dark-eyed Juncos do not reuse their nests...but I'm leaving it in there in case another bird wants to use some of the twigs and moss.

I cut it back...gave it a good watering and some food and hopefully it will bloom again.

In other news...I got a new toy.  A Worx Hedge Trimmer so I can keep our Boxwood under control.  It's been growing wild since I planted it many years ago.  I have a few Worx garden tools and I love them because they are battery powered and light weight...just perfect for a great-grandma!!

I also hosted our Saturday with Kimberly here this month but I forgot to take any photos.  Since Sharon passed Kim has been coming over on the first Saturday of every month because her aunties are her moms now.  We craft and have good food...it's a fun time.

Just wanted to let you know, if you've been wondering, the Smith family in Texas are all fine.  I talked to Laura and Hannah today and the flooding is about four hours south of them.  Tho, they have been experiencing torrential rains, there has been no flooding.  

Well, that's all the news...I hope you are all doing well and have a wonderful week!!!

OK, I'm a horrible neighbor!

Hi Everyone!!

Well, after I decided not to put my feeders back up, I went into a deep, dark depression!! Ok, so maybe that's not quite what happened, but I missed my birds so much!! So Jim and I talked about it and we decided to just put one of the feeders back up. And we would take the food down in the evening so it wouldn't tempt any marauding bears.

So that's where we are and I'm happy again...and look!

Steller's Jay

American Goldfinch

This guy comes every morning for breakfast...have I mentioned that I love crows? They are so smart. He will even take one of the in-shell peanuts and sit on the edge of the birdbath, dampen the shell and hit it with his beak to get the peanut out. Brilliant! Here he is getting some of my homemade suet...ALL the birds love that stuff!

See what I've been was missing...I'm happy again.

And look who else came to the party!

We have a Dark-eye Junco nesting in one of my fuchsias...look at these eggs!

This is what mom looks like...tho this is actually a male. Males have black heads while females have a dark gray head.

I saw "mom" leave the nest the other day, so I asked Jim to take the fuchsia down so I could take a quick video.

Other things besides birds have been happening around here. We had to take our sweet Caesar to the doctor because he was just not himself and he was having trouble with the stairs. He was feeling better a day or two before his appointment, so I was thinking I would cancel it since taking a pet to the vet is like taking a child to the doctor, but without the insurance! But Jim wanted to take him in anyway and I'm glad we did. The doctor took an x-ray and our boy has a collapsed vertebrae. He said it looked like it was trying to heal itself by building a bridge across the top (not sure what that meant). So, he's on medication for pain and inflammation and he may need that for the rest of his life.

Then, Jim noticed our refrigerator didn't seem really cold...it wasn't! So he called a repair shop and they couldn't get here until sometime in July. The thing is, this refrigerator is only like four or five years old!!! We were both really happy that the two 40-year-old refrigerators we have the garage are working great! Anyway, Jim got a call a couple of days later that the repairman had a cancellation and did we want him to come right over....yes!!! One computer board later...oh, and about $600...our refrigerator is working again.

What I've been crafting lately is junk journals. I'm currently working on number three of the Shield side of the family. I made the original for myself and then Susan wanted one...then Katie wanted one. Susan has hers and I'm almost finished and will get this off to Katie soon. This is the first page and it goes from the Shield immigrants from England to the five sisters then that's the end of the line for my dad's side. He had a brother that had two boys...so the name lives on somewhere. I just have the cover to finish but inspiration isn't coming to me. And, yes, it's grungy...but that's the style I love. I have a couple other projects in the work that I will share later.

Okay, that's it for this week. Hopefully, next week will be calm with no injuries or breakdowns!! Hope you are all well...love ya!!

A Sad Day!

I'm sure those of you that are friends with Jim on Facebook saw the video he posted of the black bear in our backyard destroying all our feeders. Jim did all the things...he called Fish and Wildlife to report it, told our nextdoor neighbor that have a young daughter and a small dog what had happened.

We talked about not putting the feeders back up, but we both get so much enjoyment from the birds that we decided we would try one more time. Jim worked a long time getting the feeder secure and I started making suet again to fill them and Jim, me, the birds and the squirrels were all happy again. Then "he" came back! We didn't get a video this time because our floodlights on the deck camera didn't turn on for some reason. But, everything was flattened once again. I'm so sad. We just can't risk this bear coming around our neighborhood...I'd feel awful if something happened to any of our neighbors!!

Here's the view we had this morning...notice Brutus is hard at work investigating. For those of you that haven't seen Brutus in a while...he has Vitiligo...he's slowly turning into a very short dalmation!

Here are close-ups of the pieces of the poles that go in the ground.

Totally snapped off this one!

This one ripped up from the ground!

I didn't think I'd post an update so soon...but I'm sad...and, as you know, misery loves company!! Love you all...bye!

Where did four years go?

Hey All...

I'm thinking of starting this blog back up since I'm no longer on Facebook. And I miss all of you that I really care about!!

I left Facebook for a number of reasons but mostly because of the state of our country and all the hateful thing that the algorithms thought I wanted to see (I didn't). I also didn't care for all the tracking they do. I look up something online and then I'm bombarded with ads, for the thing I looked up, on my Facebook feed. I don't think that part will change as everything we do online now is tracked.

So, I thought I'd give the blog another try. But, you know I'm a great starter and a terrible finisher!! But I promise to try. I really miss connecting with all of you.

Just know that I might spout off about something political if it's really bugging me...but remember we all have different views and that doesn't mean we don't care about each other. I'll try not to tho.

I'm putting together a group email and will send out a link for this update. If you get the first email and don't want to get the updates, just let me know. My feelings will not be hurt...promise. If I don't hear from you I'll assume you want updates...or you can just email back and say HI!

She's here!

 Hi Everyone!

First thing I want to share is that "she" is here!!!  I say she because she's much too beautiful to be a "he".

Feast your eyes on this beauty!

She fits so well into my sewing table!!  I am totally in love!!  I can't tell you how nice it is to just sit down and sew...no more spending hours on the computer doing troubleshooting!  I can change the bobbin any time I want and she just continues to sew! OK...I'll try to contain myself.

Just like most everyone around the country....we got snow.  The great thing about snow in Washington is that it doesn't stay around too long.  It was beautiful for a few days and then it started to melt away.

The puppies weren't to sure about all this white stuff.  I had to get a shovel out and make paths so they could investigate.

I finally finished a wool project that has been languishing for years!  I made myself finish it before this winter was over...so here it is finished and it's now hanging in the livingroom!   So glad this is done!

This next photo is sort of funny...Jim and I bought this a few months ago for some small things I needed cut.  Now I have a large saw that Jim bought me for the She Shed, but it scares me...so this one is just my size.  Don't laugh...it really works.  I used it today to cut some lengths of 1" board to add the the ramp we have in the bedroom...the ramp isn't for us...it's for the wienies.  But whatever was used for the padding has become slick, so the pups don't like using it anymore.  So I thought I would put wood across it in several places to give them traction.  I didn't take a photo of the ramp...but here's my cute saw.

Today I started working on the March table rug for my dough bowl.  I decided to rug hook it.  I used a heart template I made for some stuffed hearts and turned it into shamrocks.  My background fabric is sort of sad because I've run out of it and am scavenging from other unfinished projects!  But it will work for this.

I found this green wool in my stash...and I really like the color.  Now, you are suppose to color plan rugs...layout all the wool and decide what you want for all the areas....that's what you're suppose to do...I don't do that.  I know I want the background light...so I hope I find some that works!

Now for Throwback Thursday...I'm going to have to call it something else because it's never on a Thursday!

1955 - Sisters...from left...Linda, Cindy, Mary and Susan.

1956 - This was taken in our yard on Clare Ave.
From left Susie Husband, Cindy, Mary and Carmen Fraley.
Susie was the daughter of our parents friends...I still remember
when they would come to visit...I liked Susie.
Carmen lived across the street from us, she had a bad home life
and Mom and Dad thought about fostering her.
I don't remember what happened with it, 

but she did stay with us for awhile.
I wish I knew what happened to her.

April 1959 - Cindy and I in our Easter best!
Cindy...I see young Katie in this photo!!

How can these be 60+ years ago...I remember wearing these outfits and I loved the hat!

That's it my darlings...time to get to my couch to do some stitching!!

Oops! It's been a while!

 And I have a very good reason for that.  Absolutely nothing is going on.  We don't go anywhere or do anything...this whole pandemic thing is really a win, win for me!!  Being a cave-dweller and all!!

We did get a big surprise this last weekend tho, so I thought I'd come on here and tell you about it.

I got this photo on Friday...

I called Laura immediately and she said they were on their way here!!  They were going to surprise us but didn't want to risk a heart attack! 

Papa and I got to spend a lot of quality time with my fellow cave-dweller...Hannah!  We saw the rest of the crew off and on...they had a wedding to attend while here.

Hannah and I were going to  make journals together, but time sort of ran out...so we said we'd do it next time.

It was really great to see all of them!!

So I've been doing some cross stitching and sewing.  I want to have a different "rug" for under the bowl for every month and cute things to put in the bowl.

Here is (was) my January Dough Bowl.

The January one is now put away and February is out.

I need to work on March because I haven't a green "rug" and no shamrocky things.

I have also been questing...of course.  Dredmama looks a little different these days and she's tough as nails!!!  Look out all you baddies!!

In other news...   

Jim stopped to check on our furniture and he was told it will be here March 27...we ordered it in the middle of October!!  Geesh!!

Also, I'm scheduled for my first Covid vaccine this Friday, February 5th.  Can't wait!!  Jim couldn't get in.  He had to get a letter from the GP because he has allergies, so he called and she said he can pick it up later that day, but in just the time it took to talk to her, all the appointments were gone.

Since I've missed a couple of Throwback Thursdays, I thought I'd put a few pictures up this time.

First is my Dad's father and mother's wedding photo, Henry & Edith Shield.  They were first cousins, their fathers were brothers and it had absolutely no effect on later generations...no matter what you may think!! 😊

Next is a photo of Angeline Shield (she is Henry's "from above photo" sister), Dad (Fred Shield)  my oldest sister Sharon Forsmann and her oldest child, Dean Forsmann.  Sad to say that they are all gone now...makes me choke up a bit.  I miss them all.

The last one is Dad...looking young and dapper.

Well, that's all the news...old and new...my darlings.  I hope you are all keeping well and staying safe.  Love to all of you!!

It's been a great new year...well, the first five days anyway.  Geesh!

So what's been going on around here...

First thing is, I spent a whole lot of money...sorry kids, had to dip into the inheritance!  
I've been fighting with my sewing machine for many months now.  I was scared to change the bobbin because when I did, the machine wouldn't work because the bobbin case wouldn't go back into the machine.  It just spun and spun!!  And it's so computerized that you can't do anything manually.  Now last year, we took it in for service and had to replace the whole bobbin unit...not cheap!!  It worked like a dream for a few months...then...the bobbin went again.  Now, I could just take it back and have them redo the repair because it's under warranty, but I'm just done...I'm tired of fighting with it every time I want to sew.  Plus, I've had this machine for many, many years and it's just this past year that all problems began (must be that 2020 thing).  But like I said, I'm done.  Here she is...she is now a trade-in.

And here's the beautiful new one that will be here in February.

This one doesn't have all the bells and whistles the 820 has...but she has everything I use.  I can't wait to be able to just sit down and sew instead of trying to sew but end up spend time on the computer to find ways fix a problem.  Maybe I'll get my sewing mojo back!!

Had to have my teeth clean on Monday...it's pretty sad when you look forward to that just to have different people to talk to!

I've been working on the Fruits of Plenty every evening...and I'm getting close, just have the bottom right to finish...hoping that will happen tonight.

I finished the small January quilt that will go under my dough bowl.  I need to figure out how I'm going to quilt it since the machine I quilt with is all packed up and ready to go bye-bye.

I wasn't going to buy anymore cross stitch patterns this year...but I saw these on Flosstube and I just had to!!  It's a Bird Sampler...how could I resist!!!

Then this one...it reminded me of Sharon...cuz fairies...she loved them...and it's pink...I'm weak people!

I ordered a new pair of glasses today...online!  I got dark frames this time...we'll see how it all goes.  Then Jim and I went to the Audiologist and had our hearing aids cleaned and got new supplies to go with them.  Getting old is not for sissies!!!

Oh...I forgot something else I ordered.  I got three yards of wool...it was on sale.  I told you I'm weak!  I need to start dyeing for a couple of projects I want to do.

I think that's it.  Tomorrow is Wednesday...so Jimmy and I will be questing.  I need him to help me kill a few unsavory characters!

I hope your days having been going well...till next time my Darlings!!