Raccoon Saga

 

For my birthday, around the summer solstice, my neighbor gifted me with a beautiful bouquest.  And now, on this seventh day of July, some of those flowers are still looking pretty and summer-y.

Like many others, I'm glad that last week's heat has lowered about ten degrees.  We've had a few nice showers.  I'm no longer itching from misquito bites that come with summer watering.

The raccoon saga - a neighbor saw a raccoon going in and out of my chimney.  After a while I had a chimney cap installed, the chimney guy didn't see raccoons, and the projected time for raccoon babies to be born and grown had passed.

Only thing was, mama and babies must have been hiding in an L at the bottom of the chimney flue.  After a few days, mama got desperate and worked at the flue covering in the basement and was able to work it loose.

She ate a couple of bags of Cheetos I had on a table, also sampled most of a bag of flour, drank toilet water, and went back to the babies.  Her tracks were in the flour and she left a mess behind.

I don't do critters well, two neighbor men nicely helped make sure she was back in the chimney, and they wedged the flue cover so she couldn't make her way back.  My daughter helped me clean up the mess she left behind.  Thankfully, the basement is unfinished.

The chimney guy came back and removed the chimney cap so mama could come and go and the babies could get bigger.  And now we wait.  A couple of nights ago there were still little squeaks, so the family is still there.

Apparently several neighbors have had similar stories, chimney caps have appeared, and mama moves on to the next house.

July 4

 Happy July 4, everyone.

I made this table topper at least twenty years ago and I enjoyed making it so much.  The fireworks are rayon embroidery thread.

There are no special plans at my house, and that's ok.  I have some beer for celebrating, one bottle missing.  I drank one last night to hopefully mark the end of the raccoon saga at my house - we'll talk about that later.  (Diana, it's Yuengling, from your area.)

High today here in Northern Kentucky is 91, which sounds hot enough, but is actually welcome after week's heat.  Then we slide into the 80's for next week, with maybe some showers here and there.

Fallen Tree

 

Not my fallen buckeye tree - it's at my daughter's house.

It's a big tree, it could have caused a lot of damage, but it didn't.

It fell on the shed and took out a single section of the neighbor's fence.

It didn't fall on any other structures, didn't fall on the pool, there is no broken glass.  Most important, it didn't fall on any people or pets.

Deep breath.

Arboretum Art

 
This summer's Arboretum exhibit is my favorite indoor exhibit so far.  And of course I love this photo taken by Sarah.

Employees and friends could check out digital cameras and take pictures around the Arboretum.  Some were framed, like Sarah's, and those were displayed together.

Others were printed and displayed around three walls, hundreds of pictures, no blank spaces, tops in a wave pattern that followed throughout.  Each picture was the same size.

The word that comes to mind is dazzling.  I could have spent so long just looking.  So much color, each photo diffeerent.  The other word is stunning.

Good job, everyone.

On the Sidewalk

 

On a sidewalk in Asheville:

IMAGINE

THE LOVE

WE COULD

HAVE

IF WE

LEFT OUR

EGOS AT

THE DOOR

    @POETRY

    BYBOOTS

New Washer

 The washer I'd been using came with this house, and I've lived here for nineteen years. I didn't really use it all those years, I'd brought a washer with me that I used for about eight years.

The washer that came with the house - was made in Ohio, around 1990.  It was made to last, as these things were back then.

A couple of month ago, it stopped spinning out quite all the water.  There was a work-around, I love work-arounds, and I could just turn the dial for a few extra minutes of spinning.

But earlier this week it started leaking water, and that was the end.  If parts were still available I'd have fixed it, but not even ebay could help me out with what I needed. 

So today the truck pulled up with a new washer,with nice warranties and a projected life of twenty-five years.  My projected life isn't twenty-five years, so I'm hopeful that I won't be buying another washer.

It isn't especially beautiful and it doesn't do many tricks, but I'm in love.  It's so, so quiet.

For My Daughter

 My daughter wanted a gray wall hanging for her hallway. 

And I was luckky enough to score a scrap bag at the local quilt shop.  Inside were gray and gray-green fabrics, with several half square tringles already made.  Those triangles wwere pretty precise, more than mine would have been, and mine are pretty precise.

From there it was easy to piece together the wall hanging.  I realize sit-down quilter was happy to get a bit of a work out, so that was a bonus.  I realize that many quilters take their quilt tops to be quilted by someone else on a long arm with digital stitch patterns, but I like my own stitches.

My sit-down quilter has a stitch regulator that evens out the stitches, but it's still in its package.  Maybe some day I'll try it, for now, once again, I like my own stitches"..

Size is 28" x 28".