4th of July in Ajo, AZ

Posted by mammal on June 29th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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We are going to Ajo for a few days over the Fourth. We still do not have possession of the house we won in the online auction, but we might get it this week-end. We will pop by the realtor’s office and check.
Once we get in there will be plenty to do. I know it doesn’t sound like fun to any normal person, but we are just itching to get in there and do improvements. We haven’t even see the bathroom. What it if needs ceramic tile and a new paint job? Oh joy, what fun that would be!
First thing we have to do is build a dog-proof fence and a swamp cooler needs to be there right away, too. Lucky we have Mom’s house to stay in until we get the cooler up.
We plan to drag the extra barbeque down there this weekend so we can grill out.

My New Sewing Machine

Posted by mammal on June 28th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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I got a new Brother 6000 CS. It does the running leaf decorative stitch I wanted. I’ve been looking at one similar to this (but not as deluxe) at Walmart for $130.00, I found this beauty on Craig’s list for $75.00. It threads itself!
Sigh, I’m in love.

The leafy vine is number 49, I think there are 60 different stitches.
It has a wide quilting foot, but you need to put it on medium to slow speed and that is pretty slow for me. I like the guide, though, and can see me using it. It uses a line of stitching or a seam as a guide and stitches exactly so far from that seam, great for repeating lines on a quilt. You can go fast with that one.
I’m so relieved I didn’t have to shop at Walmart. I love the bargains, but hate to buy their stuff and support them in any way. … but there’s all those bargains ….

Art Books

Posted by mammal on June 24th, 2009 filed in art gallery, crafts, design
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Art books refresh my creative juices. I just finished The White Rabbit and Other Delights by Alan Bisbort.
http://openlibrary.org/b/OL988301M/white-rabbit-and-other-delights

What a long strange trip it’s been. I will give this book to my friend who is moving to Arkansas next week. We are getting together tomorrow for lunch and to say ‘goodbye’.
My friend is an artist. A REAL artist, and she will love this book. Even though she is younger than my son, she still finds the sixties art interesting and inspiring, and understands the philosophies involved with being a seeker and a slacker.
Don’t expect wedding invitations from her, she’s going to Arkansas to stay with her Dad for a surgical procedure. The reason she’s actually moving there, is because she wanted to move anyway and her lease is up, and it just seems like a good time.
I remember being that loosely tied, back in the sixties.

Auction win on Ajo house

Posted by mammal on June 20th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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We won! We got the foreclosed house for an embarrassingly low price. This is going to be our entertainment for years to come.
First things: Dog fence and swamp cooler. After we get the dogs secured and the house cooled we can develop the rest of it. It’s so exciting! We must be duffers, alright, if that kind of thing excites.
Dave turned 61 this year, and I’m right behind him, so I guess we are duffers or geezers, even.
Now the serious thing is we need a 5th wheel and a truck to pull it. Dave has been half way looking for a few months now, but now that we have a place to park it, we’re serious.
We get to furnish it with castoffs and finds. Maybe get a stainless steel backsplash, and at last I have an excuse to go to the auction Wednesday morning. I swear, it’s addictive to get three or four big boxes of assorted household crap for a couple of dollars. I have not been in months and months because I have too much crap. But now I have a whole other house to fill. Yippee!

Road Trip !!!!!

Posted by mammal on June 12th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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WOO HOO!! Joleen and me and the kids are on for a road trip! We’re going to drive from Utah to Virginia in July! The only hard part is that I can’t take my dogs. Getting them home is just not practical. It costs an extra $100.00 (more or less), and Fae is too big. I might get Pnut a ticket, still thinking about that. I need to count my sheckels.
Joleen’s wienie dog gets along just fine with Pnut. And it will be nice to have my baby boy with me.
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She’s got a big old 5th wheel and doesn’t want to drive it cross country alone. (well, with just the kids). I am one lucky so-and-so to be free for a month!
More good news, Mary (my 94-yr-old friend) is out of the hospital and back home. Mom lined up a day nurse and is looking for a live-in nurse, and Mary is doing fine. She always hires someone staying there, like flesh and blood alarm systems, but at this point, we’d feel a lot more comfy if she had someone with medical training. She still can’t get out of bed by herself, but she’s working on it.
You Go, Mary!!

Green Quilt #2 done, Purple started

Posted by mammal on June 11th, 2009 filed in quilt
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The second green quilt came out cute. It is much smaller than the first one, but Jaden wanted one like her Mom’s, so I used the leftover pieces and a couple of the best blocks that were just not quite right for the original. You know how that goes, you start in on a quilt and make some blocks then change your mind about maybe one little color, or shape, and then start all over. Well, the leftovers fit perfectly into this little blankie.
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SAS material (by the pound)

Posted by mammal on June 11th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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I love SAS !!! I got a coupon the other day for $5.00 off purchase of $20.00 or more. Needless to say, I spent WAAAY more than that, but got some real bargains.
I am planning a manly quilt made to lookie it’s made out of sweatshirt hoodies. Blues, browns, black. SAS had hoodie material on sale for $5.00 a piece, no cutting in the new clearance area of the store on 19th Avenue. I got some cammo, and some dark blue, HUGE pieces, like ten yards?? or more, for $5.00 each. It will be a good start on the manly blankie. I got a bunch more of lavender and purple lace edging and trim. Some was only .10 cents a yard, so I got whatever was left on the card, about 20 or 30 yards. Lord knows I will use it. Eventually.

On another subject, I want to go on a three week trip with my niece and her three darlings from Utah to Washington DC or there-abouts. that would be in July, and I would fly back home in early August. I could use the three weeks to get my bad habits in line. I know they don’t eat the crap I do, (right now I am munching on some after breakfast chocolate-covered peanuts) it would be as good as having a supply of atro-phex on hand, I may even have to completely forgo my favorite buzz creators, and thus clean up my liver at the same time. Three weeks would do me a lot of good. Also I would get to really visit those kids good.

Missing Rocky Point

Posted by mammal on June 10th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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Without school to keep me distracted, I am getting bored!! I’ve read enough fiction novels to satisfy me craving.
(Somehow I’d thought that I deserved to read fiction novels all summer to make up for the year of privation. School generally keeps me too busy for ‘fun’ reading.)
I finished 2 quilts and have a good start on another, the house is as clean as it’s going to get, (not exactly pristine, but as clean as it’s going to get), whew, what else?
So I need a trip to Mexico. I’d like to visit Mary again. She’s still in the Santa Fe Clinic. They’ve made a suite available for her only and she has round the clock nurses. They have stopped charging her per diem, and only are charging her for medicines and disposable diapers. She only owes another $3,000.00 or so. Can you believe it? All the care she’s had, a month of in-patient care, and her total bill thus far is only about $6K. They pulled her back from death at least twice now. She had another little heart attack the other night.
She is bored and itching to get home, but I don’t think she’s ready.
Mom and Mary can’t seem to get the in-home nursing thing together to the approval of the doctor, so that could be my excuse to spend some time there. Maybe I’ll go down to Rocky Point and meddle a little. I bet I could find a live-in nurse.

A house in Ajo?

Posted by mammal on June 9th, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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Dave is putting a bid on a house in Ajo, it’s an on line auction, I can’t believe a lot of people will be bidding against us. So maybe that one will come through. I don’t know, maybe we’ll end up getting the acre, maybe the other house (which the bank is foreclosing on). We put in our bids.

Last week-end in Ajo we walked to the little bar, Pugsy’s, after dark. It was cool out, and a real nice walk. We had a beer and talked to a guy who worked for the Air Force out at the ruins that Dave has been looking at. Dave wants to do a history or something. I can see some sessions at the VFW in my near future. They have a nice bar with a back porch looking out on the desert, it’s not a hardship.
There’s really not much else to do in Ajo, the quiet is profound. My whole forehead unwrinkles in just one day of no phone, no XBox No TV.
Once we actually have a house there, we will get distractions, but not yet.
We’ll deal with that when it comes. For now, I take my sewing machine when I’m going to be there for more than a day.
The green quilt for Jaden is done!

Finished the pink babyquilt

Posted by mammal on June 3rd, 2009 filed in Uncategorized
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The recipient won’t be back in town until Fall term starts, late August.
Somehow I am dissatisfied with the lighting and contrast I get on the quilt photos. I take them inside and out and don’t get the texture. The quilted parts are much better in person. I think you really have to touch and hold the blankie to get the full impact of how sweet it is.
I showed Aunt Nete the purple baby quilt I took down to a friend of mine in Rocky Point for his new boy (didn’t get pics … darn!) and when I unfolded it and handed it to her the look on her face made me real proud. She kinda melted. Like it was the baby itself. Yes, baby quilts are special.