June Report

 So.  Radio silence for a month and a half.  What have I been up to during that time?

Well.  I bought another treadle sewing machine.  I saw it at the thrift store for $200, but furniture was 25% off that day.  She's a Singer 28 dating to 1905, so a three-quarters size machine.  Three-quarters size treadles are rare!  I'd never even seen one before!  The wood was all in very good condition (including the wooden pitman rod!), with just a tiny bit of veneer loss on the top of the coffin lid.  Everything moved freely.  So after hemming and hawing through the length of the store, I bought her and brought her home.  I placed her where my other treadle (a 1913 Singer 66 back-clamp) had been and moved that machine into the bay window.

As part of my bargain with myself, this meant actually relearning to sew on a treadle.  So I've gotten both machines into full working order and actually been sewing on the 66 treadle (it gets better light in the front window)!  I made twenty 8.5" crumb blocks for my guild's charity quilting, and have since made a wall hanging also.

I also finished up quilting feathers into the rather plain-Jane quilt top I'd gotten from the thrift store, and bound it.  I'd intended it for a picnic quilt, and it's already been used as such - we met a couple of our neighbors at the splash pad over the weekend and spread out in the shade under the trees while the kids played in the water.  I'm thinking I need to make another couple picnic quilts so we can all have something better to sit on than towels.  So while digging through stash this morning to find a backing for the aforementioned wall hanging, I pulled out another couple of thrift store quilt tops, and some backing to go with the first of them.  I'm thinking simpler straight-line quilting this time....

Of this year's three new garden beds, I've only gotten one leveled and in place.  Last week, my dad came over in his truck, helped me build a 6" topper for the bed, and we bought a cubic yard of soil at Wilco to go in it.  It took darned near all of the soil!  But I got it planted rapidfire with the rest of the tomatoes and peppers.  I did another A-frame with a pair of the bamboo trellises I've lashed over the past few years, and put the summer squash and some more squash seeds to go in between them on one side, and a whole packet of Minnesota Midget cantaloupe seeds down the other side.  I had to tie the trellis to the tomato cages and sink a couple of t-stakes on the other side and tie it to those as well, because the hot winds we've had over the past couple days kept blowing it over.  Down the center I did three lines of radishes and carrots, and I plunked in marigolds and violets wherever there was space.  We had three days near or over ninety degrees, so the first radishes are already poking their heads up!

Now to get bed #2 leveled....

The cold, wet spring means that certain crops really aren't bearing this year.  We'll see how things go.  I was hoping for cherries this year, but, alas, I have a grand total of two on the tree.  On the other hand, my strawberries and peas are bearing prolifically at the moment!  And it's very clearly time to harvest and dry the year's supply of oregano again.  Four plants, and it's all I need for both my parents and myself.

Weekend Adventures

Saturday my parents and Niecelet came over for a few hours so the kids could play before we went out to dinner, as a belated Mother's Day celebration for Mom.  There had been a 60-piece set of old Franciscan apple pot dishes at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store up in Port Orchard for weeks.  Those are my mother's primary dishes, given to her by my grandmother (Dad's mom), who received them as a wedding gift.  Mom has added to the collection over the years (some of it the new repro dishes, which are a lighter color and much thicker), and I had sent her a picture of what they had.  She told me to let her know if it ever went half off.  Well, it did, but I did not let her know; instead, I purchased it and gave her the set as her Mother's Day gift.  I also harvested carrots and parsnips from the garden and sent them home with her.  (She turned down the offer of rhubarb.)

We went to Massimo's, an Italian restaurant just across the Purdy sand spit.  We'd never been there before; I think it was reasonable, and what I ordered tasty enough.  Wonderful Husband isn't so sure, but we've agreed to give it another couple tries, ordering different things on the menu.  And since Massimo's was quite near Squiddle's new school for next year (he tested into the district's Highly Capable program, and we talked it over with him, went to a few talks and presentations, and in the end he decided he wanted to be challenged more), we did a drive-by so my parents could see it.

Yesterday, I tried to make lamb cawl for dinner.  Dismal failure.  I had to toss the lot, and had an existential crisis about my inability to cook.  My mother is a great cook.  Our friend Serge is a great cook.  Me... well, I'm a decent baker.  At least the soda bread I made turned out well?

Weekend Stuff

Well, Squiddle's ear infection seems to be under control.  He's starting to not want to take the medicine, but I've been very clear to him that if he does not take every single last dose, it won't kill all the germs, the pain will come back and it might never go away.  A bit of a scare tactic, but this is actually important, so I can live with it.  He's also finally asked for an allowance!  So we have agreed that for a starter, he will get $5 a week, and we will see how it goes.

Jazzy and Wonderful Husband are still coughing, so at least the former will probably be out of school again this week.  I'm also coming down with something, but (thus far; knock on wood) it's significantly more mild than what the rest of the household has had.

Friday afternoon I laid out and spray-basted a quilt.  It's a top I got at St. Vincent de Paul last month for $3.  Very plain and utilitarian, but I kind of like it.  It's clear the maker was using every last scrap of the brown in it by how many pieces she used, which is the kind of thing I find charming.  There's lots of room for me to mess around with practicing quilting feathers, and it's definitely not going to be a "best" quilt - it's the kind to be snuggled under and not made a fuss of if it gets thrown up on or used for a picnic.  The green checkered backing also came from St. Vinnie's on some other trip.  Amusing thing - when I laid it out I used up the last of my batting roll.  There was about two feet left over.  So I went and checked and I had a 20% off purchase coupon from Joanns for their online shop, together with free shipping, and the 40-yard rolls of batting I get were already heavily discounted.  So the timing of that worked out well.

Saturday the weather was nice and sunny, so we picked up McDonalds and went to Sehmel Homestead Park.  The boys got to play on the equipment with other children for a couple hours, while Wonderful Husband and I did Pokemon Go things.  We were the only people there wearing masks - but given we're a household of plague, we were not going to go without.  Even the boys kept theirs on without complaint the whole time!  After we got home, I cut up the gallon milk jugs I've been saving and planted out the first eight (tiny) tomato plants, using the jugs as cloches.  It's an experiment - we'll see how it goes.

And today was sunny again, so I worked on cutting up more of the ground-eating bushes on the east fence.  I'm planning to replace them with dwarf lilacs.  There is going to be a lot of rooting out of blackberry vines in that area too, but one thing at a time.  Since this was going to be the last clear day for at least a week, and the grass was actually dry, Wonderful Husband mowed the lawns.  I imagine this caused the chickens, in their mobile run, a great deal of consternation as he went around them for several passes.  We also hung up the codling moth disruption strips in the apple trees.

Last Man Standing

Everyone in the household is sick.  Except for me.  And the cat.  Jazzy has the flu.  Wonderful Husband has the flu.  And last night Squiddle came down with what is apparently an infection in both ears.  So the night went something like this:

1am - Squiddle comes in complaining
2am - Squiddle comes in complaining, and gets dosed with children's Tylenol
4am - Squiddle comes in complaining, and is told there's nothing more we can do in the middle of the night
4:15am - I go into Squiddle's room, where he's crying, and let him know that it's probably an ear infection (he thought he was going deaf, or dying) and that I will take him to the Urgent Care as soon as they open at 8am
6am - Jazzy wakes us up to let us know he used the toilet (with no accidents, hooray!)
7am - Wonderful Husband gets up
7:45am - Squiddle, already dressed, wakes me up. I put on clothing and take him to the Urgent Care.
12:00pm - We get back, I dose him with amoxicillin and children's ibuprofen. Wonderful Husband goes back to bed for 3.5 hours now that I'm back to keep an eye on Jazzy.

NOT A RESTFUL NIGHT.

And I'm being told that I'm not allowed to get sick.  Which, I don't want to get sick!  But having the responsibility for keeping everything chugging along entirely on my shoulders while everyone else is sick is draining unto itself.

At least this, too, shall pass...

A Visit!

Mark and Sionna, who we haven't seen in a couple years, went to Sakura-Con up in Seattle over the weekend, and asked if they could stop by today on their way back home.  Of course we said yes!

And of course I used this as an excuse over the last couple days to clean and tidy, leaving the house, well, not spotless, there were definitely areas of mess, but looking better than before.  And I jotted out to the post office and put a couple packages in the mail, so that's one more thing off the to-do list.

It was really good to see them and spend a couple hours catching up.  We offered them carte blanche on our guestroom if they'd ever like a longer visit.  They couldn't stay, needing to get home before dark, but the all-day rain had put me in the mood, so I made split pea soup for dinner.  Yum!  Squiddle ate a couple bites and Jazzy refused to touch it.  Of course.

Thrifting Day

My mother came across the bridge today, bringing a stack of clothes for the boys (dinosaurs and Minecraft featured heavily in the designs) from the kids' clothing sale she attended recently with my sister.  And returning some jars that I'd sent with her full of salsa, and some saved eggshells for me to bake and feed to the chickens.

Squiddle was not feeling 100% - he's had congestion and a hoarse voice on and off all day - so he stayed home while Mom and Jazzy and I went up to Port Orchard.  We went to St. Vincent de Paul, lunched at That One Place, and then went into One Less Orphan before heading home.

In the middle of lunch it started snowing.  And then hailing.  And then snowing more.  And the trend continued even after we got home!  nothing sticking, but still, very late in the year for that kind of thing.  (For a while it was fat dizzying flakes floating down, my favorite type of snowfall.)

She acquired a book, a couple bracelets, a strainer, and a couple bread loaf pans.  I found two shirts for me, one for Jazzy, a couple dinosaur undies also for Jazzy, three small plant pots, a basket, a quilting magazine, some quilting templates, and two embroidery projects - a matched pair of pillowcases, and a hand towel.  I sent Mom home with some parsnips and carrots from the garden, as well as a variegated spider plant.

I also got a horseradish root planted, another pot of basil started, and another couple variegated spider plants rooting in a hanging pot.  I probably should get around to putting more hooks in the ceiling so I can hang some more plants....

Catching Up

No pics for today.  It's quite late as I write this (everyone else is abed).  I've been trying to cudgel story words out of my brain, but they don't seem to want to come.

I've finished a quilt that's been on my sewing machine in various stages for the better part of a year, and got the next one lined up to baste.  It's a homely top I got for $3 at the thrift store, but it spoke to me and there's lots of room for quilting feathers and such.  Homely quilts are nice to snuggle under, and you never really have to worry about staining them or anything.  Jazzy actually took a couple hours' nap with me under my favorite homely quilt today!  Which never happens anymore now that my babies are big boys.

The boys are off school this week, which they're enjoying.  Squiddle, now 8, has tested into the district's Highly Capable program, but it will mean him changing schools next year.  After his eye exam today, he and I drove by the (potential) new school and looked around a little.  I think he's willing to make the switch.  The only downside is, Jazzy was really looking forward to riding the bus with Big Brother next year, so we'll probably request (and it is not guaranteed that we will receive) a transfer for him to go to the same school.  Which I think will work out with his IEP?  But I want to talk with his teachers about that.

The weather has been something of a yo-yo lately.  In the seventies one day, frost on the roof another.  And it's windy!  There's pine/fir pollen all over the driveway, and my A-frame pea trellis has been blown down twice.  I've finally banged four stakes into the garden bed and tied the trellis to them.  I need to get on the ball about building this year's addition of three more garden beds and getting them in place.  I bought starts at the store!  Though I was virtuous and did not get the three or four more chickens I want.  The neighbors are going to borrow the brooder setup later in the month when they get chicks, and if I get more, I'll need to build a bigger coop.  OTOH, if the boys and I have scrambled eggs for breakfast, that's six eggs, and I only have four hens, so it's a case where I'm having to be mindful of consumption versus production.  Sigh.  Next year.  The potted dwarf peach and nectarine trees I bought have all started leafing out, as have the in-ground cherries and blueberries; I need to check the in-ground apricots and persimmons to see if they're going to break dormancy soon.

I guess the last thing for now is, I've decided against attending Costume College this year.  Attendees are required to be vaxxed and masked, but there's also two long plane trips in there, the cost, and the imposition on others around me for child care.  It was immensely more affordable when I lived in SoCal and it was literally day-tripping the con and putting up with horrible miserable no-good traffic on the way home on Friday.  Living 1100 miles away greatly increases the cost - roundtrip airfare plus hotel room plus meals plus either cab fare or car rental.  Yeesh!  Plus the social pressure of rooming with people I don't know because I have difficulty making friends.  (And, yes, I know, not going doesn't help with the making friends in the community thing.  But.)  So, not this year.