Terry's been in Virginia for one of her Smocking Arts Guild gatherings this week. And I've just been sorta loafing around. Sorta.
Besides doing the house cleaning, fixing the garden gate, harvesting tomatoes and peppers, cutting up some longer logs that I had sitting behind the house, and moving firewood from the trail nearest the house using the tractor, I decided to split the wood I had stacked from last year and the stuff I had just moved.
But first, I had to get the wood splitter started. I was a little apprehensive about that. See, I hadn't used it since the fall of 2014 and it had been sitting idle behind the garage all that time. I wasn't sure it would want to start. Or if all the hoses, etc. were still intact. Mice have a bad habit of gnawing on that rubber, you know.
I didn't feel any more confident when I pulled it around the corner of the garage and put some gasoline in the tank--only to watch it leak like a sieve from the area of the carburetor. I shoved a plastic cup under the stream of gasoline to capture as much as I could and took the cover off the air filter so I could get to the problem area. Then the flow of fuel suddenly stopped. I hadn't even gotten to the carburetor and the gas tank still had fuel in it. What the heck?
So I did what anyone else would have done: switched the engine on, moved the lever to "choke" and gave the cord a pull. On the second pull, the engine sparked to live and went running merrily along. Gotta love hose Briggs & Stratton engines! I put the cover for the air filter back in place and started splitting wood.
About five hours later--with only a short break to have lunch--I called it quits. I managed to stack all the stuff I split today while I was working. I still have some wood to split but my back and knees were shouting, "No mas!" The 85 degree temperature didn't help either. I finish the rest manana.
******
Terry reports that she's having a grand old time. Before the bulk of the members showed up, the leadership got to go to Williamsburg for lunch one day and had a private tour of some stitching and quilt work at the museum. She's enjoying her classes and meeting with all her lady friends. She's to come home late Sunday night.
******
Monday we take our problem cat, Shadow, to the vets again. She had some serious scratches right in front of her ears. She got some oral antibiotics for that as well as a cream that gets applied daily. This in addition to her pill for stomach issues every other day. Oh, and she's wearing a collar of shame, which she detests something fierce.
******
They've been working on Every. Single. Road. around here lately. Mostly in preparation for the increased truck traffic expected to come rolling, rolling, rolling Any. Day. Now. See, Shell Appalachia will be drilling a gas well on top of the hill about 3/4 mile (as the crow flies) from the Aerie. Between construction of the pad, workers, water pre-fracking and waste water post-fracking, there will be some hustling and bustling going on. They've almost finished the road work--we've got a lovely asphalt paved section from the bottom of the slope to the top of the hill now--so I expect the tree crew will be showing up to clear the pad site as soon as the weather cools. Then the trucks with their rock and concrete and what not will be moving along on a regular basis for a couple months.
I can deal with it. Especially if they manage to hit lots of gas and pay out lots of royalties.
Well, that's about all for now.
Showing posts with label SAGA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SAGA. Show all posts
Friday, September 23, 2016
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Two Finished Smocking Projects
Terry finished up two smocking projects this weekend. Quite an accomplishment as she had to work around the bulky framework of Chester.
The first was a Wee Care Gown. One of the service projects of the Smocking Arts Guild of America is to provide these little gowns to still born babies across the country. Each chapter donates dozens of them to local hospitals.
The second project was this smocked Christmas ornament She added the ribbons on the top and bottom to the ball I had featured a week or so ago. While these are certainly less fragile than the old glass ornaments, they are still somewhat dangerous for little kids or cats. There are dozens of straight pins in this thing!
We've probably got a dozen of these 3" diameter ornaments in various colors. If we ever get around to putting up a Christmas tree again, we might need two--or three! One just for the smocked and stitched ornaments, one for the Hallmark ornaments and one for all the other ornaments.
We've probably got a dozen of these 3" diameter ornaments in various colors. If we ever get around to putting up a Christmas tree again, we might need two--or three! One just for the smocked and stitched ornaments, one for the Hallmark ornaments and one for all the other ornaments.
Monday, May 02, 2011
From the Aerie, May 2, 2011
Not much to report today.
The rains didn't come as predicted (that's a good thing). Seems the weather that was supposed to cause some drenching today broke up into isolated and widely scattered rains (almost) none of which hit here.
The sun actually came out for a few moments this afternoon (another good thing).
And, it seems, a group of Navy SEALS gave Osama bin Laden the old heave-ho from both this mortal coil and the deck of a U.S. warship. That's a Very. Good. Thing. Though I would have preferred a little old 7th Century justice in this case. Dragged through the streets. (Broadway in Manhattan would have been my choice.) Head on a pike. (Ground Zero is available.)
As to the last item:
Clarence Darrow once said, "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." (Earlier on Facebook I attributed a similar quote to Mark Twain but have been unable to verify that.)
Twain DID say, "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it."
******
Terry spent the better part of the morning fielding phone calls from SAGA members wanting to sign up for the Smocking Arts Guild of America national convention. She had one of her EGA friends here to help enter data into the web site from people who had mailed their forms in to here. I set up a couple of spread sheet to keep track of the financial end of things once they had finished processing the information about classes and such. From 9:50 AM (a couple of early birds--registration didn't start until 10 AM EDT) until 1 PM the phone was ringing off the hook. Remind me to never, ever volunteer for a phone bank!
Now that the first day is over, things will slow down considerably. Many of these women wanted to be sure to get the classes they wanted during the convention and so were in a rush to get things done--yesterday. They didn't not want to be closed out of the classes. (As it was, by 1 PM five of the classes were closed.) Yeah, they could have done it all themselves online, but there were those with special vouchers and others that didn't trust (or understand) PayPal.
I should have either gone turkey hunting or to Cabela's. Maybe tomorrow.
Oh. Wait. Tomorrow (May 3rd) is Terry's birthday.
If I went to Cabela's tomorrow, she would want to go. And then I would have to buy stuff for her. (She got all the cool stuff from Cabela's last time.)
Okay. Maybe Wednesday!
******
Roads around the Bolt Hole continue to be in rough shape according to the pages of the local news sources. Oh, I could get there, but the route would be--shall we say--circuitous. I'm in no hurry, especially since the forecast for the next couple of days is rain, rain and--oh yeah--rain.
******
Well, that is all for now from this little bit of Heaven. Time for one more little toast to the Navy SEALS before I head off to bed. I read that they pulled a number of computers and flash drives from Osama's hidey hole--if you can call a mansion a hidey hole. Got to be some pretty nervous people in al Quida--and Pakistan. I wish them all a peaceful and long--a very long--sleep (well, maybe not peaceful).
The rains didn't come as predicted (that's a good thing). Seems the weather that was supposed to cause some drenching today broke up into isolated and widely scattered rains (almost) none of which hit here.
The sun actually came out for a few moments this afternoon (another good thing).
And, it seems, a group of Navy SEALS gave Osama bin Laden the old heave-ho from both this mortal coil and the deck of a U.S. warship. That's a Very. Good. Thing. Though I would have preferred a little old 7th Century justice in this case. Dragged through the streets. (Broadway in Manhattan would have been my choice.) Head on a pike. (Ground Zero is available.)
As to the last item:
Clarence Darrow once said, "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." (Earlier on Facebook I attributed a similar quote to Mark Twain but have been unable to verify that.)
Twain DID say, "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it."
******
Terry spent the better part of the morning fielding phone calls from SAGA members wanting to sign up for the Smocking Arts Guild of America national convention. She had one of her EGA friends here to help enter data into the web site from people who had mailed their forms in to here. I set up a couple of spread sheet to keep track of the financial end of things once they had finished processing the information about classes and such. From 9:50 AM (a couple of early birds--registration didn't start until 10 AM EDT) until 1 PM the phone was ringing off the hook. Remind me to never, ever volunteer for a phone bank!
Now that the first day is over, things will slow down considerably. Many of these women wanted to be sure to get the classes they wanted during the convention and so were in a rush to get things done--yesterday. They didn't not want to be closed out of the classes. (As it was, by 1 PM five of the classes were closed.) Yeah, they could have done it all themselves online, but there were those with special vouchers and others that didn't trust (or understand) PayPal.
I should have either gone turkey hunting or to Cabela's. Maybe tomorrow.
Oh. Wait. Tomorrow (May 3rd) is Terry's birthday.
If I went to Cabela's tomorrow, she would want to go. And then I would have to buy stuff for her. (She got all the cool stuff from Cabela's last time.)
Okay. Maybe Wednesday!
******
Roads around the Bolt Hole continue to be in rough shape according to the pages of the local news sources. Oh, I could get there, but the route would be--shall we say--circuitous. I'm in no hurry, especially since the forecast for the next couple of days is rain, rain and--oh yeah--rain.
******
Well, that is all for now from this little bit of Heaven. Time for one more little toast to the Navy SEALS before I head off to bed. I read that they pulled a number of computers and flash drives from Osama's hidey hole--if you can call a mansion a hidey hole. Got to be some pretty nervous people in al Quida--and Pakistan. I wish them all a peaceful and long--a very long--sleep (well, maybe not peaceful).
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Aerie Report, September 21, 2010
Terry left yesterday (Monday) morning to attend the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA) national convention in Norfolk, VA. As last year's president she gets to attend a few more soirees than the norm. Still, I'm sure that between the stitching classes, and banquets there will be a lot of partying going on. Over 200 are expected to attend and most all of them can break into a clique at the drop of a needle. If they're anything like Terry, they might even have half a dozen that they can join at a moments notice. So far, I've gotten one phone call telling me she arrived yesterday around 3 in the afternoon so she must be busy, busy, busy!
******
Don and Adam finished up the work on the Aerie yesterday and today. The stone work looks magnificent and the fresh coat of stain really makes the logs POP! The drab concrete stuccoed walls of the foundation/basement really needed the stone work to dress them up. Now even Terry is thinking we should do the two foot tall expanse exposed on the rest of the house. We've got four boxes of faux stone left over so maybe next year.
I'll see about posting some pictures of the finished product tomorrow.
******
While the guys were wrapping up their work today, I fired up the chain saw and log splitter and went to work on the wood pile. I needed the chain saw because there were a few lengths that needed to be shortened to fit in the fireplace. Don't know why I cut them so long in the first place, but....
Anyway, I got about half the stuff split and tossed in to a heap. I'll need to start stacking that more neatly tomorrow before I go to work on the rest.I've got one empty shipping pallet available and two that are already half full on which I can stack more wood. (The left over stone is sitting on one of the half-filled pallets.)
******
It's been a lovely two days to work outdoors. The morning temperatures have been right around 40 degrees but have warmed nicely to 60 and 70 degrees under bright sunshine. The breeze today made things feel a bit chillier but nice and crisp.
The folks down the bottom of the hill on Route 6 said that there was a frost this morning on all their vehicle windows. Don, who lives on the other side of the highway and at a slightly higher elevation said he didn't have any on the glass but you could see something on the grass in his meadow. The valley often gets a few degrees colder than the Aerie, especially on nights without a breeze to stir the air, since the colder air sinks to the lowest point of land. Even at 9:30 this morning when I went for the mail, it was five or six degrees cooler down there, being 55-56 on the truck's thermometer at the Aerie and just 50 degrees in the post office parking lot. That's something of a surprise since the Aerie doesn't get full sunlight until late in the morning when the sun rises above the hill top but the parking lot was already bathed in sunlight.
The clear nights have really made viewing the Harvest Moon a snap! If it's any brighter tonight, I'll be able to read a book out on the lawn at midnight. Perhaps something about Wicca?
Jupiter is also very visible early in the morning. Unfortunately, Jupiter and the moon should be nearly side by side tonight and the moon will probably make Jupiter seem less brilliant in comparison.
******
Got a detailed listing of all the parades going on west of New Orleans come Mardi Gras and an invite to join our Alaskan traveling companions in late February for a reunion. Very tempting to do so but I wonder if I'll be able to get the trailer out of the barn or if there will be four feet of snow on the lawn at the Bolt Hole. Might have to look into renting a vehicle if we intend to camp.
******
Don and Adam finished up the work on the Aerie yesterday and today. The stone work looks magnificent and the fresh coat of stain really makes the logs POP! The drab concrete stuccoed walls of the foundation/basement really needed the stone work to dress them up. Now even Terry is thinking we should do the two foot tall expanse exposed on the rest of the house. We've got four boxes of faux stone left over so maybe next year.
I'll see about posting some pictures of the finished product tomorrow.
******
While the guys were wrapping up their work today, I fired up the chain saw and log splitter and went to work on the wood pile. I needed the chain saw because there were a few lengths that needed to be shortened to fit in the fireplace. Don't know why I cut them so long in the first place, but....
Anyway, I got about half the stuff split and tossed in to a heap. I'll need to start stacking that more neatly tomorrow before I go to work on the rest.I've got one empty shipping pallet available and two that are already half full on which I can stack more wood. (The left over stone is sitting on one of the half-filled pallets.)
******
It's been a lovely two days to work outdoors. The morning temperatures have been right around 40 degrees but have warmed nicely to 60 and 70 degrees under bright sunshine. The breeze today made things feel a bit chillier but nice and crisp.
The folks down the bottom of the hill on Route 6 said that there was a frost this morning on all their vehicle windows. Don, who lives on the other side of the highway and at a slightly higher elevation said he didn't have any on the glass but you could see something on the grass in his meadow. The valley often gets a few degrees colder than the Aerie, especially on nights without a breeze to stir the air, since the colder air sinks to the lowest point of land. Even at 9:30 this morning when I went for the mail, it was five or six degrees cooler down there, being 55-56 on the truck's thermometer at the Aerie and just 50 degrees in the post office parking lot. That's something of a surprise since the Aerie doesn't get full sunlight until late in the morning when the sun rises above the hill top but the parking lot was already bathed in sunlight.
The clear nights have really made viewing the Harvest Moon a snap! If it's any brighter tonight, I'll be able to read a book out on the lawn at midnight. Perhaps something about Wicca?
Jupiter is also very visible early in the morning. Unfortunately, Jupiter and the moon should be nearly side by side tonight and the moon will probably make Jupiter seem less brilliant in comparison.
******
Got a detailed listing of all the parades going on west of New Orleans come Mardi Gras and an invite to join our Alaskan traveling companions in late February for a reunion. Very tempting to do so but I wonder if I'll be able to get the trailer out of the barn or if there will be four feet of snow on the lawn at the Bolt Hole. Might have to look into renting a vehicle if we intend to camp.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Stitching News!
Terry got all excited over an email she received this morning from a stitching friend. Terry had submitted a sample of her work for judging in the artisan program of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA). It was returned to her as unsatisfactory after three Masters had looked it over and criticized the way several leaves on a flower stem were stitched.
Today, after resubmitting the corrected work, Terry got the word that she had passed and has moved up the ladder one more rung. She will be honored, along with others who have also moved up, at a special ceremony at SAGA's national convention this fall.
Today, after resubmitting the corrected work, Terry got the word that she had passed and has moved up the ladder one more rung. She will be honored, along with others who have also moved up, at a special ceremony at SAGA's national convention this fall.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
A report from Terry
Terry reports that she has handed over the gavel as President of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (SAGA) and is now a former President. They managed to get through their national convention in Indianapolis without any major snafus.
She left Indy mid-morning to drive east. Of course, there was a football game there this afternoon. The Colts beat Seattle to go to 4-0.
She's now in Pittsburgh for the national convention of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (EGA). Where Sunday Night Football is being played.
She joked about the wacky place Pittsburgh is with the Sunday night football game between the Steelers and the Chargers being played there tonight. She said every one was walking around in black and yellow. The Steelers, winners of last year's Super Bowl, are 1-2 and need a win against San Diego.
Personally, I think the ladies should have raffled off tickets to the football games. After all, it's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the players are wearing pink shoes, gloves and arm bands in recognition.
She left Indy mid-morning to drive east. Of course, there was a football game there this afternoon. The Colts beat Seattle to go to 4-0.
She's now in Pittsburgh for the national convention of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (EGA). Where Sunday Night Football is being played.
She joked about the wacky place Pittsburgh is with the Sunday night football game between the Steelers and the Chargers being played there tonight. She said every one was walking around in black and yellow. The Steelers, winners of last year's Super Bowl, are 1-2 and need a win against San Diego.
Personally, I think the ladies should have raffled off tickets to the football games. After all, it's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the players are wearing pink shoes, gloves and arm bands in recognition.
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