Saturday
Tangled sheets . . . ugh. My 17 y/o Whirlpool toploader that I retired in April was The Absolute Worst for tangling & twisting sheets, and pants(!) as well. It was absolutely maddening. My front-loader isn't so bad, usually no tangles at all but the queen-size sheets can sometimes be problematic. I think it's more the size of the sheet that causes trouble, than anything else, but I really don't know.
Kathi in Idaho - what beautiful photos! Going from a cool weather Spring to mid-eighties is thermal shock. That's what happened to us down here, too.
It is spring in Idaho!
Tangled sheets
Rosey - I curse my front loader every time I wrestle with the tangled sheets! Towels are even worse, as for some reason the machine thinks it knows better than I do how to balance a load. If I'm trying to wash a load with only three or four towels, it works and works to (un)balance the load and then gives up and leaves everything wetter than it should be. I've had the repairman out twice and all he says is that I have to put more in the washer than those few towels. Quite frankly, I wish I'd bought a top loader.
Weather here is turning out lovely today. We've had an unusually cool, wet spring, but it's all of a sudden supposed to get into the mid-80s here today and tomorrow. The rhododendrons are blooming. I'll try to post a picture later. The cottonwoods are sending out masses of that fluffy white stuff. Some mornings it looks like snow. The lawn will need to be mowed again this morning, just to see if I can sweep up some of it.
DH is still incapacitated after shoulder surgery, so the yard work has fallen to me this year. I did, however, finally convince him that it's possible to unload/load the dishwasher with only one hand. Yeah!
Kathi
A rainy Sat. day
Laura, what lovely colour with the 'ray' is it? And I cannot imagine the destruction of the tornadoes going through Alabama and your state. Thank you for posting reality and sharing it with us. I tend to live in my own tiny capsule of the world, I think, like most of us do. It helps to have this brought into my world.
Sara, it must feel tinder-dry down there in Florida without rain, does it? Or does the humidity help take the edge of the fire-dryness?
Sandi, I can relate to enjoying the ATV. My late husband had one of the first ATV's and brought it to my parents cottage. He never felt fear (I seem to have been born with an inner radar for it) and the terrain he took us over, I'd never have experienced this on my own. We took the machine into the water with it as well. which was exciting. One consolation I had however, in my usual fearful state was that a neighbouring chap went with my husband and said he'd never go with him again, he was that frightened by the land formations my husband drove over, huge rock formations, woods, etc. But perhaps for you, it's all part of your day. It looks like fun. I'd enjoy it on less challenging landscape than my first experience. And I LOVE your boots. I've just had to ditch my LandsEnd boots for cracking and leaking...how's that for rubber.
Doris, I love your sense of humour. Small entertainments can be found in researching laundry detergents. You've made my day. I'll know who to consult if I ever get a front loader. Meanwhile, I curse the tangled sheets everytime I have to haul them out of my top loader.
It is raining here in Southern Ontario at the moment and the promise of a dreary weather day lies ahead. I'm inbetween quilts at the moment, my insecurities are making themselves felt. I don't like not having a quilt to create.
Rosey
checking in
It has been hot here! What's worse is that I've been playing golf in it. Ack.
Sandi - I love your plaid "Wellies". Those are cute!
Rosey P - clicking that little 'link' at the top right of our Chat Board's home page is the only way I know tosign in.
I am making progress on the Ruby Slippers quilt blocks. I got all 288 HSTs pieced and am now adding a square patch to them. It's slow going, but it keeps me off the streets (but not off the golf course)...
When I was researching front-loader washers, I ran across a laundry forum. Yes, those people talk laundry & washers like we talk quilts & sewing machines! Unbelievable, but there you have it. I have learned a lot about different detergents and ingredients, and am engaged in ... experimental behavior ... with detergents. My whites have never been whiter! LOL And apparently Sears and Costco detergents are held in good esteem. I picked up some Sears brand last week and like it so far. I am so easily entertained ..... ;o)
I forgot...
The Pork part of the Pork and ride is a pig roast. MMMM meat should always be cooked over a flame! teehee
what's up with the signing in?
Sometimes I can just sign right in, other times I get transfered to the Google page.
My GF is ok, they didn't have to evacuate after all.
As a matter of fact, by the time she was supposed to go the roads were blocked with police, fire trucks, there were helicopters overhead, news crews, etc.
The woods area has been contained, but the elem. school in the area has been closed for 2 days due to all the smoke presenting a health hazzard.
There have been several fires caused by lightning over the past week.
We desperately need rain, it is supposed to be 95-97 for the next week. No rain in sight.
DH has gone off to our condo in Daytona for 1 night, to check on everything. I'm just quilting to my little heart's content. Will get my nails done at 5PM. and eat salads tonight.
Working on the fusible applique little space people. lots of fun.
Sara in Fla.
I had to buy these boots. They match my ATV and well, it's going to be muddy on the trails this weekend. I can hardly wait! My DH and I go to an annual event, it's called the Pork and Ride and there will probably be about 300 machines there. Lots of fun and camaraderie.
I might get some hand sewing in or just maybe do some cutting of a couple of quilts.
I need to pack my gear. Have a great weekend everyone!
Pictures
Oh, love the pics. I just got a call from a GF that I was supposed to meet at 7PM, she is having to evacuate due to the brush fires close to her area. I've been complaining about the smoke for 2 days, it bothers my eyes. Never thought about being close to anyone's home. She lives close to the interstate in the county south of me.
I'm getting DH to sit down tonight and get the pic of our new waterfall posted here! Yes, I am.
Sara in Fla.
checking in
I too have enjoyed all the activity! Keep it up, please.
Internet time has been severely limited here, between no power for a week, end of course testing, the end of school, Quiz Bowl national competitions, on-line inservice training, and an intermittent loss of signal that was very frustrating.
The piles of debris are beginning to be hauled away, but it will be years before the houses are all rebuilt, and decades before the trees recover. Driving past the severely damaged areas is depressing.
I have two goals this summer for quilting. I want to get the binding on my friend's quilt; I finished the top 2 years ago, and the group that hand-quilted it has had it all this time. I also want to quilt and bind a top that has been finished for years. That one will be going to an acquaintance at school who lost most of her possessions to a house fire earlier this semester, and then lost the rest of her stuff when the storage unit was totaled by the tornadoes.
Quizbowl nationals were in Atlanta. We were 96th out of 224 teams. This is not what we hoped for, but not too bad either. While we were there, we played tourist. Here is a picture from the GA Aquarium.
Where we all live
This morning I was struck by the geographical differences in where we all live, especially on the Chat Board. We come from all over the world. This is a picture of how my 'back lawn' looks (on the right hand side of the page or below the top picture as I'm not sure how it will post), my world here looking out from my studio window. This is my friend, Susan's 'back lawn', so to speak, where she lives near Morro Bay in California, out on ranch compound with several other neighbours. I am constantly struck by the utter drama of her landscape as opposed to my more bucolic one. I wonder, too, that I might feel less settled in her landscape than mine. Mountains are beautiful but somehow a little threatening to me. I feel closed in when driving through the mountains and since I'm not fond of heights, looking down over the edges of roads often makes my knees feel weak....like looking over the edge of Niagara Falls. We are so much a part of our surrounding landscape and yet, how often, we take it for granted. I'm privileged, through medical necessity, to have moved to the country, a place where I longed to be as a child, yet grew up as a city person with many advantages children in the country cannot access. On the other hand, to have reached this in my later years has been nothing short of a life's dream which, in the reality of living it, did not quite match up with my childhood image of country living. The reality of living on the land in the country is that you deal with mother nature quite a bit more directly than you do living in a manicured and manufactured city.
Just my thoughts for today. It's fun to see where others live here on the board. We have a wide representation of geographical areas in the world.
Rosey
