Arrived in Idaho

We were a bit delayed in our arrival in Idaho because Paul had brake problems and had to take his car in. They had to replace the rotors on the front so we did not get back on the road until almost 11:30 AM. We still had a nice drive and stopped along the way to see sights and relax and eat. We arrived just in time to get checked in before the office closed. This is where our Condo is - not right on the water, but one back and we can see the water from our place. We unpacked and got a good night's sleep.

We hooked up with Wanda and Don for breakfast (pancakes, bacon and eggs) and then went out on their boat for a little afternoon fishing (wrong time of day, but it was a beautiful boat ride).
We are heading out to throw some lures and then Wanda and Don are feeding us ribs for dinner.

Paul is having some bad luck on this trip - he broke one of his fly poles and the other one is the top to one and the bottom to another. We will be making a trip for the purchase of a new fly pole tomorrow.

Later . . .

Let the vacation begin

We were off to a good start this morning at 8:00 AM. Max went to the Donut Wheel for donuts and we stopped at Starbucks for coffee. We had a good trip and stopped along the way at two Fly Fishing stores! We had lunch in Weed and arrived in Bend about 6:30 PM for our nights stay. We are planning on making a trip to Fred Myers and then just relaxing and getting a good nights sleep for our arrival in Idaho tomorrow. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express and they have wireless connections in all the rooms.

Later . . .








Retrieved the camera from the car after going to Fred Myers, so thought I would add a couple of pictures Max took.

Home Safely

I arrived home safe and sound this afternoon around 3:30 PM. The trip home was smooth and the traffic was not bad at all. I was greated with a very warm welcome from Max and the dogs. After we unpacked the car of all the boxes, suitcase and sewing machines, Max and I ran out to get something for Kathy (she had gall bladder surgery on Friday). Max took me out for a excellent Italian dinner and we picked up Cold Stone on the way home.

The beds for the dogs came in and we presented them with their new presents. We are both hoping this will keep Kodi from rolling under the bed!

Later . . .

Great day

Today turned out to be a very successful day. I finished my quilt and I did a pretty good job on it. I learned how to do corners, which turned out really well. I am very pleased with the finished product and I totally love the fabric and the backing. After the fact, I learned a couple some sewing basics that would have made things easier, but progress not perfection. I just have not sewed enough to know all the ins and outs of my machine and how to measure and place my stuff to get a consistent straight stitch. I did my first placemat and it turned out great. I was soooooo pleased with myself! Joy says I am doing an excellent job for a beginner (that is what big sisters are supposed to say). Joy and I spent all day at our sewing machines. She is about to finish my bathrobe, but I want to do some embroidery on the pockets before she sews them on. We got out the serger and I learned how to do a rolled hem. Now I can make my own placements and matching napkins. Tomorrow is the day we go to Joy’s sewing class and we are going to make some fleece scarves that I plan on doing some embroidery on and sending to Ireland. The whole week has been very productive, but I have been somewhat of a slave driver – let’s get to the sewing room and TEACH me. Watch out world – a sewer has been born.

The week is going by quickly, but it certainly has been productive and FUN!

Later . . .

Productive day

Joy and I had a productive day today. She sewed a cover for my serger that matches the VERY cool one she made for my sewing machine. I pinned and sewed my quilt project and I must say quilting is not an easy thing. I really like putting together squares and making quilt tops, but trying to quilt on a regular sewing machine is a bit of a hassle. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself and was actually quite proud when I was finished. The lesson for tomorrow will be to square up the quilt and then make and affix the binding. Joy made me a bathrobe that we have to do button holes and hem the sleeves. We are then going to work on making place mats and napkins. If time permits, she is going to show me how to make the top that she has previously been sewing for me. I forgot to take pictures of the placemats and napkins she made for me before I arrived (they are REALLY cool). She also made a totally cool apron (it felt like Christmas in October). She also made some stuff for Debby that I am not going to post pictures of in case Debby checks the blog.

Still hot around here, but at least we are not getting smoke and ashes from the fires around us. Yesterday there was a heavy smoke smell in the air and the day before there were actually ashes falling. It all depends on the wind and they put out alerts to only run your air in the car on re-circulate and to keep all the windows in your house closed and don't go outside if you don't have to.

Later . . .

Safe arrival

The trip to Ventura was pretty smooth, once I corrected the wrong freeway mistake. I am so accustomed to going to the grandkid's house that after I gased up this morning I headed out Highway 580 instead of the correct Highway 680. Once I was sailing down the road, I thought about going through San Jose and realized 580 would NOT take me anywhere near San Jose. I had to cut over to 101 via 152, which added some time to the trip, but it was nonetheless a nice drive and I listened to my new Christina Aguelera CD. I stopped to have lunch and a nice visit with brother Don and then headed on arriving in Ventura around 4:30. Joy and I don't see each other often so we have soooooo much to catch up on consisting of "show and tell". I am pretty excited to do some sewing and I will take some pictures tomorrow of the VERY cool sewing machine cover she made me.

I am tired and going to try to get some sleep (it is much hotter here than I expected - it is the coast - it is suppose to be cool).

Later . . .

Yet more embriodery

I decided to make a trip to Ventura to visit my sister, Joy. I have not seen her in a while and with all the vacations we have coming up along with my knee surgery and then the Holidays I figured now would be the time to make the trip. I will be going down on Monday and coming back on Saturday. She is going to help me with quilting matters and since she has sewn soooooooo many things for me, I wanted to do some embriodery on a shirt for her and this is the finished product (I hope she does not check the blog tonight or tomorrow before I arrive). I have been messing around with small embriodery on the cuffs and I think it adds some charm to the shirt. Here are some shots of the actual embriodery.









I will try to do blog entries while I am in Ventura, but no promises.

Later . . .

Keeping busy . . .

Since we have decided to sell the Quads, we decided to check them out and get everything organized. Kind of sad, but we just don't have the place to ride them and the places we do have a gazillion other people ride there at the same time - not really what I call fun. It will be nice to open up the space in the garage (and try not to fill it real soon, but I am thinking longarm quilting machine).








I messed around with my embroidery most of the day yesterday and was pleased with the results. I have been wanting to try the quilt patch for signing quits and decided to do one to see how it looks - Nice. I did a small embroidery on the cuff of one of my shirts (actually on both cuffs) that turned out well. I did the fly with "bite me" on a t-shirt to see how it would look and feel - nice. I did the fly with "bite me" and a Moose with "Clark Fork, Idaho to see how they would look - nice. I want to do a couple of shirts for Wanda and Don to take to them when we visit the end of September.









All I can really say is it is really nice to have energy again and the ability to actually do things that I enjoy. I must pass on the information that I am STILL suffering "video thumb" and I am going to have to knock of playing for a while. I can see me in the doctor's office having to explain to the doctor that my thumb is all messed up because of the contoller on my PS2!

Later . . .

Working on embriodery

I have been having some fun now that I have my sewing room in workable order. I started to put my celtic circles together and decided I wanted to do embroidery. I figured since Max and Paul are immersed in fly fishing it would be appropriate to do something along those lines. I purchased the design online for $2.99 and it turned out really well. My goal is to get good at this and perhaps be able to sell some of my work.

Nonetheless, I am having fun!

Later . . .

Kodi trouble

I know that Kodi is a reless sleeper, but I do NOT know how he manages to get himself all the way under the bed! This has been going on for several days and I think it might be the result of throwing out their dog beds and not being able to replace them. They are on order and hopefully we will have new beds by tomorrow! However he manages to get under the bed he has not figured out how to get himself back out. He wants to belly crawl and his massive shoulders will NOT fit. I have to get him to roll over on his side and then pull him out from under the bed. This is NOT something I am enjoying in the middle of the night. The first time this happened I heard him crying, but I could not find him. The first time was funny, the second time was amusing and now it is a pain!

Later . . .

Nothing much . . .

Not a whole lot going on around here right now. The weather has turned hot again and Kodi and I are not very happy. Speaking of Kodi not being happy, last night that huge mutt ran full force, head-on into our sliding glass door. Thank God it would appear all he got from the incident was a bloody nose and one heck of a headache. Needless to say it knocked him silly (thank goodness he has a REALLY hard head and that he did NOT break the glass). I did keep a check on him through the night by waking him up and this morning he gave one of “those” looks so I have been leaving him alone today and he is fine (unless he has something that will pop up later).

We still have a rodent in the back and are trying to catch it. It is either the mother or father and “IF” it is the mother we need to reunite her with her family before she finds a replace male! Someone is definitely there because of the dog’s behavior. Also Max and Debby saw it run out of the tomato plants up and over the fence.

The birds are accustomed to the bird bath and are having parties on a daily basis. They are really fun to watch bathe the on sale $15 purchase was completely worth it).

Later . . .

Where does the time go?

Wow – where does the time go????? I don’t even think I have taken many pictures. I have continued to work on my sewing room and it is pretty well organized with things were “I think” they should be. Unfortunately no matter how well I organize the room does not get bigger. I am ready to put my Celtic circles together and proceed with making quilts (even though I don’t know what to do next).

Max is feeling much better these days, but not fully recovered (cramps). However, she is very excited about tying flies and getting ready for our Idaho trip. I am looking forward to the Idaho trip myself, but I don’t get THAT excited about fishing. Max and Paul are really looking forward to doing some river fishing – not my thing since I don’t fly fish and loose every lure I throw into a river.

A very disappointing thing happened with our order of Hatch chilies. They have been having unusually bad weather in New Mexico and have had a lot of hail. When our box arrived and Max got ready to roast, she found the MAJORITY were spoiled. The company said that with the hail they cannot see the bruises on the chilies when they pick, but they show up later. They were very nice and offered to refund our money, but we would rather have the chilies if they can get a good pick. According to the weather reports for that area it is not looking good.

Later . . .

Fly Tying

The fly tying turned into a “family” affair. Max and Paul spent several days tying flies while Max was recuperating. The whole procedure is actually quite fascinating, also very tedious in nature. Hopefully they will both be able to catch a fish on one of the flies they tied! Once again Max used Kodi hair for one of the tails on a fly. It will be interesting to see how it works and if it attracts a fish!

Later . . .

Sewing again

I have my sewing room pretty well arranged as far as placement of objects, but I still need to sort through all my drawers. I was able to do some embroidery today. I downloaded a free design from the new site I found to check out the quality of the designs. I must say I am impressed with the design (especially the price). I did download a couple of other designs that cost $2.99 each and will have to see how they turn out.

I am anxious to try some designs and to do some more things for the kids. I found an adorable design that has two unicorns and has printed over the unicorns “I am the big sister”. Then they have the same design that says “I am the little sister”. I thought they would be really cute for Desirae and Deanna. I found some really cool dragons for Devin. There is pretty much anything you want out there.

Later . . .

The "RAT" project

I guess I did not previously address the “Rat” issue in a blog. This adventure all began when we put up the bird feeders (they are messy little eaters). We first spotted a “creature” munching away on the bird food that was on the ground. We tired to get a close look and it did not appear to be a rat – perhaps a large mouse. Actually it did the cutest little hop when it ran away and we enjoyed watching it. Unfortunately when we spotted TWO little creatures munching away at the bird food we instantly went to BABIES! We did not want to kill them, so we purchased a small animal trap. Well much to our surprise the wire openings did not keep the critters in. The trap was snapped, the food was gone, but the cage was empty.

Max bought some smaller wire and wrapped the entire cage (which was not easy considering the spring mechanism had to be free to work). Needless to say I was completely surprised when I checked the cage last night and found a FAMILY of five! We took them out in the hills and let them go. They were very happy little rats considering this morning there was a very hungry looking large cat sitting on the fence staring at them thinking about the possibility of a gourmet breakfast.

We will put the cage out again and see if there are any more critters to be caught. The critters drive Kodi crazy. He can be dead asleep and either smell them or hear them, but he is up like a shot and going into a frenzy before anyone can get to the door to open it for him.

Later . . .