The Dreaded "M" Word

 How the weather does change.  It's a warm 55 degrees this morning following a light rain last night.  Earplugs kept me snug as a bug in my electric blanket as Cooper and I fought for space.  He usually wins.

Up early as usual, it was time to hit the the streets.  It was rather unusual on this trip around the neighborhood to find so many birds out and about.  A little hard to see, but these are turkey buzzards that come to roost here every year.  

There's a huge number of them, making me wonder if they knew something I didn't.  I changed directions. They used to hang out in the big trees behind my house, leaving a nasty mess in their wake.  Dead things go in and dead things come back out.  I'm glad they decided to move about half a mile West of me.

Then there were the crows ... I've never seen so many in one spot, making a terrible racket.  Cooper hates that crows even fly over his lawn.  He barks until they fly away.

After 2-1/2 miles of running and walking, I was back at the house looking for something to eat.  Never EVER run after eating.  Bad things happen to your stomach and you feel awful as you jog along.  Not eating first means you are starving when you get back.  This looked like me, although not stress, just boredom.  Oh look ..... CAKE!!

So while still sewing all those quilt bindings, and still working on the cowboy wall hanging, I decided to cut up the fabric for this quilt.  It was given to me by Patty since I've always wanted to make a Bear Claw quilt.  At least I did until I read the directions.

There are 332 pieces that I have to mark, then sew to 332 pieces and cut in half to make the half square triangles.  Yikes!! To make it even harder, every one of those 664 tiny little TWO INCH squares have to be trimmed and squared up.  

Hello Ray and Cindy ... I have another quilt pattern for you!!  I admit, it's beautiful and I LOVE the colors, but this entire square is only 10" wide.  We're talking tiny squares here!!!  This project is going to keep me busy for WEEKS!

And then it happened!  A knock at the door.  As soon as I saw his hat, I knew who it was.   I had contacted a local gentlemen (recommended by friend Cyndae) to do some painting on my house.  The window frames are peeling badly and it really needs to be done.  That's the dreaded "M" word ... MAINTENANCE.  

I've been lucky here because other than a couple broken toilet seats and one pump problem, I've had it pretty easy.   We walked around as I pointed out the bad spots.

His main objective was the gutter I thought was plugged up at the top of the ladder to the left.  I held my breath and the ladder as he scoped it out.  It didn't need to be cleaned, it just needed to be reattached to the facing.  Water had been running BEHIND it.  YAY!  One down ... until he said UH OH.  

I hate those words.  He said there's a hole in your roof.  WHAT?   Bad workmanship ... and who would have EVER seen that?  He grabbed some flashing and construction caulking and fixed that one right away, as more rain is coming over the next four days.

As we walked around, he took out his trusty little gadget and tested the bottom of the window frames.  Sure enough ... he found dry rot in a couple of spots.  It's not bad and can easily be fixed, but I had no idea.  We made the rounds of the back yard when we discovered we know many of the same people in the construction business.  Many of his friends and family hauled sand and gravel from our rock plant.  Some of the best people I've ever met.  We became instant friends.

So much so that when we went to move the big box full of junk (that I haven't hauled off), he said let's just load it in my truck.  I have a big dumpster we can put it in.  REALLY?  Wow ... this is like the days of old when neighbors and friends helped neighbors and friends.  I'm so happy I'm bursting at the seams.

In the end, it will be a few weeks before painting can start ... the wood needs to dry out after this rain ... but he said he wanted to get my gutters working before this weeks downpour.  I can never thank Cyndae enough for this recommendation!!

I spent the evening with a smile on my face, knowing my house was going to be fixed up, as I watched the World Series.  I don't have a horse in this race, but I did want Dusty Baker to win a Series after such a long career in baseball.  And win it they did.  CONGRATS to the Houston Astros, only their second win in their franchise history.

Oh ... the wedding celebration?  It's been much quieter than I expected and not nearly as many cars as I thought.  But OH THE DRESSES!!  There's nothing more spectacular than a white and gold sparkling sari.  The colors are nothing less than fabulous.  I didn't want to be rude and rush out for pictures.  Definitely NOT cowboy-ish!!  They did have to cancel one night due to rain, but every afternoon it's been a parade of fabulously stylish outfits for both women and men.

With house maintenance in mind, I'll probably return that toilet seat today.  That M word ... it never goes away!