Bye Bye Baby!!

I feel like I sat around and did absolutely nothing yesterday.  But there was progress in spite of it.

I called the quilting machine manufacturer pretty early since they are back East.  I got a very nice lady who seemed to be very knowledgeable.  I took a picture of the back of the carriage, only to have her say the communication cable was installed incorrectly.  It had two twists in it when apparently there should be none.  At her request, I removed and reinstalled it correctly.  

Then I set an area, pulled up a pattern and sized it according to her instructions.  There was one very important step my Tech missed. She said to hit the "baseline" button.  That compresses the directions so the machine is not overwhelmed.  Sadly, nothing worked.

She said she would immediately send out a new cord and a new front panel.  YAY ... but it won't arrive until I'm gone.  BOOOOO!!!!!

And so I occupied myself with making up several lists of what I need to take to Yuma.  I put air in the tires with my mini-compressor, which midway through refused to work.  All you men out there .... don't laugh too hard .... I plugged it into a long extension cord to reach the second back wheel.  I hit the ON button and it didn't work.  I found out later upon my second try that the tank was full of air.  All I had to do was air up the tire for it to continue.  I can hear you laughing because that's what I did!!!!

Mr. Chance came over mid morning to work on the concrete wall he's building to keep my hill intact.  It's a one man job he said, so I tried to stay out of his way until the bottom layer was set and leveled.

I thought it went really fast as he used the backhoe and a hoe to scrape away the dirt.  When I came back out, it was time to hand him the blocks for stacking.  

Woohoo ... it went really quickly from there.  Rebar will be pounded into each block and concrete poured. This is going to be an amazing addition to my driveway!  I feel bad that I'm leaving soon and won't be able to help much.  

In the midst of trying to figure out what to take for food since I have little freezer space, I got a phone call that my quilting machine would be picked up and taken back to their shop for repairs.  BUT ... I had to wait until 7:00 pm for him to arrive.  

They gave him directions to my house, but literally NO ONE comes to visit after dark.  I didn't realize you cannot see how to enter the house in the dark.  I found him wandering around the garage.

We dismantled the machine while I gave him the lowdown on the cable.  As I suspected, he mentioned the front piece they replaced really WAS different inside, meaning it wasn't meant for my machine.  This is turning into a comedy of errors.  

By the way, this guy was a tall handsome drink of water.  Too bad he was so young!!!  I said bye bye baby as my quilting machine went out the door.  I sure hope it comes back in working condition and doesn't cause me any troubles in the future.  I have a four year contract that covers absolutely everything, which is going to be extended five months since that's how long I haven't had it in my possession.  

Today's schedule includes shopping for groceries and packing up the rig.  There will probably be some Dan helping in there too to get my mind off quilting.  

FYI the cigarette lighter electric blanket for Jonathan does not work on anything but a cigarette lighter connection.  I plugged it into a USB and it doesn't work at all.  I may have to sleep with Jonathan under the covers!!!  Won't THAT be fun!!