A Week of Crazy

It has been a week of crazy, but I did get a little knitting in. The second sock from the Vilai pair is coming along nicely. Sunday night I discovered that I had only made the cable on one side. I was about six rounds past it, so I had to tink back to where the cable is made, and it isn't easy to do that in lace! You really have to pay attention when you're knitting this sock! 

Why was this past week crazy, you might ask? Well, remember that yeast infection Sandy had in his ears? We've been treating it with ear cleaner, followed up about a half hour later with some ointment to kill the fungus. I've been working that into my schedule twice a day as I was doing other things. We had an appointment on Friday with the vet for a recheck. The whole family goes for these appointments, so there we were, the four of us, in the vet's examining room. Good news! Sandy's ears looked good, but the vet wanted to do a cytology (lab) check, just to be sure. While we were talking about that, I asked if a yeast infection could be passed from one dog to another, as Dusty had been scratching at his ears for the last couple of days. I had been careful to wash my hands each time I treated Sandy's ears, just in case I could accidentally spread it from one dog to another. The vet didn't think it was likely for one dog to catch the infection from another dog, but he had a look at Dusty's ears. Sandy found it very interesting to see Dusty get his ears checked, too. Dusty's on the wellness plan, which covers office visits, dental, and heartworm/flea/tick prevention, along with a discount on tests and medications. (The young woman in grey is a new technician who is shadowing the team, learning the ropes.) 

When the cytology check was done, Sandy was proclaimed cured, but now Dusty had it. (Sigh!) We left the office with a new tube of ointment. I had already picked up a new bottle of the cleaning solution a couple of days before. So I was in for another two weeks of treating the ears twice a day, this time with Dusty.

The rehearsals for the Summer Choir intensified with a session not only on Monday, the usual time, but also on Wednesday, and both rehearsals were extended until 9:00 PM.

Our instrumentalists joined us for Monday's rehearsal, and all of them came again on Wednesday, except for the percussionist, who had a conflict. I still didn't feel ready, in spite of all the extra help we were getting from our director, Christian. He had given us a playlist on YouTube, which was very helpful.

I resolved to spend a lot of extra time working on the passages that were giving me trouble. Then our internet went down. Not only did it go down, but it was down for several hours. I could audiate (or imagine the music in my head) while looking at the music, but I'm not skillful enough to be sure I have it right, so it was distressing not to have access to the practice music during our final week before the concert on Saturday. The next day, the internet went down again. I called our provider and learned that they expected to have it back up by "noon tomorrow." It didn't actually take that long. It came back in the early evening, but it was still several hours of no access to the recordings just when I needed them most. We are speculating that the outages have something to do with the new construction taking place on the other side of the trail near us. We think someone accidentally cut a cable. Twice. I managed to get in some good practice sessions with the time I had. We were expecting company from out-of-town on Saturday before the concert, and I was still working to get the tidying, dusting and scrubbing done, so Charlie could vacuum the whole house. I listened to the playlist on my phone while I worked.

Our friends, John and Kathy, who were fellow expats with us in Indonesia in the '90s, arrived about lunchtime on Saturday, and we had a quick lunch and a long chat to catch up. When it was time to drop me off at the library for the concert, we all piled into our car and took off. They were all staying for the concert, of course. We hadn't been to the new library yet, although we had driven by it. One of the parking areas is covered with solar panels, presumably staff parking, and that was where Charlie dropped me off, after turning down the wrong street. I had to hustle to get to the door, which was on the other side of the huge building and then had to find the large multipurpose meeting room, where risers and chairs had been set up for our concert. I was almost five minutes late. One of the first things I saw when I entered was this amazing sculpture, "Juniper," by John Grade.

I didn't have time before the concert to look around, but we did later. I thought it was fascinating that they had windows looking into the book return area, so we could watch books being conveyed and sorted using a conveyer belt. Two young children were standing with their noses pressed to the glass, watching it happen. I gathered they had just returned some books, because there were children's books on the conveyer belt. (This photo is from an article about the opening of the new library that appeared in the Bend Source.)

The concert went well. We had a standing-room-only crowd in the huge magnificent "meeting room," and the acoustics were amazing. 

Christian told us we had sung the pieces better than he had ever heard us do, and the praise seemed genuine. 

(Last two photos from Central Oregon Mastersingers' FB page.) 

While getting ready to receive our friends on Saturday, I thought about the fact that they had been away from home with their trailer for 11 days, and suggested that they might like to have a shower and do some laundry, which they appreciated. During the week, somehow, the cleaning had all gotten done, and I had managed to make a batch of my Corn Salad to have with the salmon Charlie bought a couple of days before our friends arrived. Saturday night we had a late but nice dinner. We had a dry riesling and a purchased cheesecake for dessert. We talked until late into the night.

Also this past week, the manuscript came back from Alexa (no, not that Alexa; this one is a real person and an excellent editor), who was doing the proofreading/editing and pre-publishing preview for the new book. After making the changes she recommended, I had to work around the internet outages to be able to upload it to BookBaby, which cost me an extra day. However, I got it submitted and received no "uh-oh" email back, so the proof copy is now in production. I hope it gets shipped out today. Here's a look at the front cover.

I find I'm more excited about this book than I have been for any of the others. 

While the internet was up and available, I made a quick check of social media. I had to laugh at what Facebook's Meta AI app thought would be a good subject for turning into a comic strip: a picture I took of one of our Finnish hand-painted sunflower dishes. (I didn't bother to have the comic strip produced.) Sometimes AI comes up with things that make me not trust it for anything important.

Also during the week, while all of the above was going on, I received an email and a text from my credit union, telling me they had put a hold on my credit card due to a couple of charges they suspected could be fraudulent. I checked them out, and they were companies I had never heard about and certainly didn't buy anything from, so I followed the recommendation of my credit union and regretfully cancelled my card, which wasn't even two years old yet! That necessitated contacting every place I had subscriptions or regular scheduled charges. I estimate that it cost me another half a day, and I'm still not done. Every time I buy something online for the foreseeable future, I'll have to put in my new card and delete the old one.

Sunday we had to hook up the trailer and back it into its space in the backyard, because the landscaper is coming today to start work on the xeriscaping of our front yard.

As if the week wasn't crazy enough, I got the news that our granddaughter Daphne was going into the hospital. She isn't expected to be there long and is doing well, but phone calls and texts were involved, our daughter keeping family informed, including one phone conversation while we were driving to the vet. It was just one more thing during an overloaded week. Did I mention that we had a Madroña pop-up meeting? No? Well, it was a nice break, and we always have to tell everyone what we were grateful for this week. I had a long list of all the crazy during the week and how grateful I was that most of the issues had already been resolved.

One more thing to be happy about: The new official trailer of LAIKA's "Wildwood" is out, and it's getting rave reviews, including this one from Gizmodo! (In case you're new to my weekly blog or hadn't read about our connection to LAIKA, our younger son, Peter is a technical director for special effects (not his official title, I don't think), and has been with them since the beginning of "Coraline." October 23rd the movie comes out, and I can't wait!

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry, BlueSky or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon or B&N and search for Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses, More Classic Tales Retold or Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still working on the Vilai socks.

What's on my iPhone: Still listening to Wildwood by Colin Meloy, but I didn't get any time to listen this week. I can't wait to get back to it.

What's on my sewing machine: Still put away until the next project.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: The Writer is sick, and the dolls worry about how they will get the next story out. And who will clean the house? They work it out, of course, in Working Together.

What's my tip of the week: A silicone mat that can be used in baking is a good alternative to parchment paper, but it will need to fit your pan. I use mine all the time. I got it from Chef's Corner Store in Centennial, Colorado. (This isn't the exact one I have, but will give you an idea.) I used it on a rimmed cookie sheet to bake the salmon, since Charlie discovered our barbecue has a gas leak.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog, and they are reproduced in print with a few changes.

Book #7 is in the works.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your local library to order the books.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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The Last Push Begins

We closed on our house on Friday.

Our shipments (United and U-haul boxes) are still in Salt Lake City. We're tentatively scheduled to receive the main bulk of stuff in 2-3 weeks, although we have a guest bed and mattress coming today or tomorrow. In the meantime, we have had a nice place to stay at DBIL's, while we work on the "new" house. We went there on Friday afternoon. Rocky (his blackness barely visible at the base of the stairs by the hot tub) and Dusty explored the backyard. Most of the trees are huge junipers, loaded with berries (good for making gin, if you like that, but also an ingredient in Sauerbraten, which I could make with faux meat). Dusty hasn't figured out the dog door yet, but Rocky rejoiced in it, being familiar with it from his puppyhood. He went in and out. The pups played in the backyard, rolling around in the grass, something they couldn't do in our old backyard.

I spent a good part of Saturday removing the childproofing latches on the kitchen drawers and cabinets.

I found two more I had missed after I took the above photo. Many of the drawers had two latches. Here's a photo as proof, looking down into the drawer.

There must have been a Houdini wannabe living in this house at some time.

Our younger DIL said we may have removed the latches 1-2 years too early, but I disagreed, as we have recently purchased a taser from Amazon. (Just kidding.) If Johan wants to get into my spices and herbs, he will find them less interesting than some of the "herbs" you can buy here in Oregon.

I brought the girls with me on Saturday, and they are the first "beings" in the family to stay there overnight. They look nice on the windowsill in the kitchen eating area, although they will have less trouble getting up there once the bench from our former dining room is along that wall.

They also liked the TV niche over the gas fireplace. It's like a little living room. (I didn't have the heart to tell them that DH is thinking of buying a new 50" TV for that spot.)

I think the house and grounds offer a lot of opportunities for illustrating the dolls' stories. I'm still working on getting a boy.

Many lights were burned out or (as in the case with the refrigerator) simply not there. The last or some former occupants had used bulbs with a wattage unsuitable (as in too high) for the fixtures in some places, and there were signs of shorts (the electrical kind, not the kind you wear) and perhaps the start of a fire...or two. Some light bulbs were missing the glass bulb part, and the part you screw in was still in place. It's a good thing I married the son of an electrician. He knew to turn off the circuit before using my quilting hemostat to grab the base of the now-non-existent bulb and unscrew it enough to finish by hand.

Then there was the extra hinge we found...which was missing from the master bedroom door,  the one with the broken lock. (I sense a story there.)

There was no toilet paper, of course. (We left toilet paper and hand soap in our Utah home when we left, as well as an appropriate light bulb in every fixture.)

Kitchen cabinets were all either wonky on their hinges or drawers were falling off their rails. The pantry (shudder) was a mess. The pull-out drawers didn't pull out, or were askew or warped. DH worked all day Saturday and most of Sunday to get the cabinets fixed enough to be useable. By late Sunday, I was able to put away the unopened shelf-stable food we had with us in the trailer, brought from our pantry in Utah. Whoo-hoo! (We still have stuff in our shipment. I hope not too much to fit.)

I think there will be room for everything else, because, other than the tea cabinet, we had no upper cabinets in our Summit Park home, only open shelves, as you can tell from this photo from our old place:

The items we still have left from the decorative stuff on the top shelf in the Utah photo (we gave a lot away) can go on top of the cabinets in the new house, and maybe the canisters of beans and things as well. 

Ah, the cabinets! We have come to the conclusion that the only hope for them is to have them professionally painted. We are certain that the parents of the Houdini wannabe were Mr. and Mrs. Jellyfingers, because every cabinet door was sticky. We also think that they had a flood at the sink at one time (based on damage to floor and sink cabinets). Every one of the cabinets also had the finish removed in places and/or gouges in the wood. The shelf-support pegs were missing in almost every cabinet that had a shelf. I don't think they make that size anymore.

One quickly dashed ray of hope came when we thought we had found the manuals for the appliances.

"Quickly dashed" because the fridge is a GE, not a Frigidaire, and the installation instructions aren't much use after the microwave has been installed. However...I'm looking forward to the GE microwave manual as my bedtime reading for a night or two. We don't have Internet yet at the new house, but manuals are pretty much all available online these days. We will download manuals for the other appliances as we can. The stove has about 1/8" of grease on the grates, with hair and possibly paper fibers stuck here and there. I'll have to take them to the tub upstairs to give them a good soak and then have a go with a steel-wool soap pad (or two or three). The oven doesn't look too bad, I appeared as if the self-cleaning cycle had been run. I hope it keeps the right temperature.

We bought a tall kitchen ladder, which we needed to change the light bulbs, and raise and lower the shades downstairs (Levelor cellular cordless). The hook thingy you use to raise and lower the shades above your reach by putting it through the hole in the tab at the center of the shade, was surprisingly missing, and apparently they don't make them any more. We're going to have to make one from a long dowel and a cup hook. Why don't we need the ladder for the window coverings upstairs? There are no window coverings upstairs. Nada! Well, there were some blinds in what will be our guest room upstairs, but there was no way to raise or lower them, as someone (probably that Houdini wannabe) practiced their macrame with the cords, so we took them down. We still have some packing paper from our move, so I can cover the front windows until we can get some shades put up. I don't think anyone can see into the windows from the back of the house because of all the evergreen trees.

The house will be a lot of work, but we could tell that when we walked in for the first time. Our offer reflected the cost of what we knew we needed to do to it and what else we suspected might be needed. I think it will be nice when we get done, and we will love it more for having had to do the work. I wouldn't have put in all that carpet, but at least what they chose is tasteful and almost practical.

Earlier in the week, we had ordered a new bread machine, because we left our our old one behind. It needed a new pan, which is an expensive fix or time-consuming DIY. Amazon sent us a lovely new machine, but we couldn't get it to work, so we sent it back. We think it was a fault in the function that allows the machine to remember where it was if there is a power failure (not too important for us, since all I use is the dough cycle) and then start up again when the power comes back on. After we sent it back, we ordered another one (different brand). It was supposed to arrive on Thursday (noted "out for delivery"), and we're still waiting. They have no idea where it went. Neither, apparently, does Amazon...or UPS. (Too much weed for the delivery guy?)

We are enjoying the parks and trails here, though. Here's a gathering in the small-dog section of the dog park at Ponderosa Park.

We also can get on the Larkspur Trail from our "new" house that goes all the way to the base of Pilot Butte. (This hike was from DBIL's house.) The green pin indicates where we started, and the red pin indicates where we stopped, at DBIL's house. On the map, our house is located on the right-hand side of the loop that shows that we took the trail on the way out but walked back along the street so we could check out our new neighborhood. Ponderosa Park, where the dog park is, is that patch of green at SE Wilson Ave., just a couple of blocks from the trail.

Some day we might take a picnic and go all the way to the top of Pilot Butte. It should be easy, compared with what we've been doing.

It's surprisingly easy to register to vote in Oregon. They use your Social Security number if you don't have a driver's license yet. I'm sure they let Utah know I wouldn't be voting there this time. My registration card came in the mail.

DH can ski again this winter. I gave him the senior locals' pass for his birthday. He didn't ski the last two years we were in Park City, because Vail had taken over the ski areas and raised the price on passes, doing away with the seniors' discount for locals. For the amount of time he likes to spend skiing, it was no longer worth it.

Now I'm trying to figure out how I will be doing my sewing my sewing room. I'm thinking of a Mod Squad corner sewing table (for my Sparrow 15) and another Mod Squad cabinet next to it for my Featherweight. These two pieces should fit in the alcove in my new fiber studio.

I think I can add a compatible cutting surface on the other side of the corner unit, using a stock bathroom vanity with my 3/4" frosted plexiglass panel and my cutting mat (being brought by United)  but it will be higher, of course, to allow for cutting comfortably while standing. DH will have to build a shelf to hold the lights I will use when I need to use it as a light table by removing the cutting mat.

I think I'm going to need a plastic mat to go under my desk chair, as it will be hard to roll around on the carpet.

If anyone has had experience with the Mod Squad pieces from Connecting Threads I'm considering, I would love feedback.

Did I mention we have lost our "parts box" somehow. It's where we put all the screws, shelf pegs, keys and remotes (!) from our move. I hope it shows up, or we have several hundred dollars of locksmith and remote-replacement expenses ahead of us.

This will look good in my autobiography someday. It will be fun to look back on it...instead of still anticipating a lot of it.

What's on my needles: A couple more rows on the Coastal Skies Shawl. Not much time to do anything.

What's on my Sparrow 15: Now sitting in my new sewing room, waiting to have something to sit on for now, perhaps the craft table we use for our trailer.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, a little more progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Being Little, the second episode with Mariah. (Mariah is a smart biscuit.) I'm scheduled through October 12th, with the next one after that in the writing stage. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen. I've made a little more progress with the story.

What's in my wine glass: Block Red Shiraz in the 3-litre box, vintage ?. Not the Apothic Red, my favorite, but still nice. Available in Trader Joe's in Oregon in the wine/beer/pot aisle. (Just kidding about the pot.)

What's my tip of the week: When you remove those child-proofing latches from a drawer or cupboard, you only need to remove the front (hook) part of the latch. That's the part that keeps the drawer or cupboard from opening. The other (inside) part of the latch is much harder to remove because of the location, and unless you plan to using or selling the latches, they don't need to come out.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.