I'm Confident ... Sort Of!

This gal, or maybe it's a guy, has to be one of my favorites.  Last season there were three of them, but I imagine they went their own ways since they were grown.  This winter I've only seen this one raccoon.  Did you know that over two thirds of the sensory processing power of a raccoon's brain is dedicated to it's sense of touch?

Come to find out, they really are not washing their little hands after all.  They have over ten times the number of nerve endings as a human hand.  During the days while looking for food, they develop a thin barrier, kind of like a callous.  Dipping their paws in water softens it so they can feel so intensely that they can tell what they are eating.  They explore and memorize the food, savoring it's texture so they can better identify it next time.  Weird, yeah?? 

There were four coyotes at the water on this night, each one sniffing around where I had dumped some greasy water, before getting their fill of fresh water.  This is one of the younger kids.  Every morning I get the biggest kick out of checking the game camera.  I'm confident they will always come back.

I'm also getting pretty confident about this quilting thing.  Here's a new pattern that I really like ... not that I have much use for hearts since I don't make valentine quilts, but it came out very nice on this one.  I absolutely love quilting, so I'm glad I didn't throw the thing out the window.  I even left it while I ran the vacuum, an amazing accomplishment for me.  The vacuum I mean!  Well, the plumber is coming this morning, so I needed to clean up.

I estimate that I've saved almost $2,000 so far, just by quilting my own stuff.  Hopefully I live long enough to save what it cost me!!!  

In between rows, I even felt confident enough to leave it alone and take Cooper out for a walk.  He's definitely the confident one in this house.  I lost count of the number of times he marked HIS territory.  

While out, Patty called about a quick trip to Green Valley for a little more fabric.  I stuffed my wallet as deep in my purse as I could and off we went.

I was confident ... sort of ... that I wouldn't buy any more.  I have way too many quilts to work on as it is.  Amazingly, I came back with NO fabric.  It was a shock to my system, but I quieted it down by finally finishing the binding on this quilt.  There's nothing like spending eight hours hand sewing to curb that appetite for MORE hand sewing.

I'm trying my very best to be confident that the Plumber, arriving at 9:00 this morning, will find no major problems other than a clean-out valve that needs replacing.  To be honest, I don't think there even IS a valve there but just a hole in the pipe.  We shall see.

In the meantime, I'm putting junk away so the house looks neat and tidy.  You never know, the plumber might be single ......... yeah, well really, I'm not the least bit confident about THAT!!