1898

 Funny story......

Years ago my granddad fell ill and had to go to our local hospital. My mom and my brother David went to admissions to start the paperwork. Everything was going well until mom mentioned granddad's birthdate which was May 2, 1898.  That's when my brother lost it....falling on the floor of admissions laughing hysterically.  Mom stopped mid sentence to admonish him...to no avail. He could not fathom that our granddad had been born in another century. How was this possible? Mom made him leave the building and go sit in the car. Of course I had to go with him to make sure he didn't draw more attention to himself....sigh.....little brothers are very tiresome.

When she came out, needless to say, she was very angry with brother David but he was still laughing and trying to figure out how all this could be. I wanted to hit him over the head with a heavy object.

Anyway, I want to acknowledge my granddad's birthday today. He would be 124 today. 

WOW! I can still hear my brother's laughter.

Happy Birthday to everyone whose born on May 2nd!

No Sewing But Found Time To...

Look at this eye-candy. Batiks and Grunge......love em!!

As you all may have guessed from my posts this summer, I've not been sewing anything AT ALL, however that has not stopped me from ordering fabric over the Internet.  Mr. Cowboy couldn't believe what I'd done and was about to lecture me on spending money on things that I probably won't use this century but I stopped him in his tracks when I mentioned his spending habits when it comes to golf stuff, trailer stuff, fishing stuff, truck bumper stuff.....all of which pales in comparison to my itty bitty purchase.....dusting of hands, scoring #1 in the air...........LOL!

Shots Fired!!!

No photos....sorry about that.
My cousin Clark is a great guy and a softie at heart. A few months ago he trapped a wild hog or two (see POST here) with a bit of drama.
Now that he fully understands how vicious wild hogs can be, he's decided to take a more....well....not so close-up and personal approach.
 The other day Clark informed me that he had borrowed another cousin's rifle to do a little hog hunting.  Well not real hunting. Some wild hogs have been rooting up his backyard. They are cunning, have great hearing and smell and are very fast. Clark says he made sure the rifle was fully loaded when he placed it near his backdoor.
At 11PM, he quietly open the backdoor but nothing was amiss. At 2:45AM he had better luck. There were about 3 adults and loads of babies rooting away.
I can just picture what Clark was telling me. He eased the rifle into position, took aim and ....... click!!
Yes, click!!! A shell was not in the chamber. Upon hearing that small click, the hogs took off for the hills. By the time Clark was able to fire, he was shooting at the night. Needless to say, he was very disappointed.
I told him that those hogs would return in a few nights.
I was wrong about the time of night....they showed up this morning in my field. I quickly called Clark, who being a bit more prepared this time, tipped into a good position and fired....rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat!
Sigh........we need to work on the aim.
Better luck next time Cuz!!!!

Man Verses Beasts

You may not be able to see but this trap has three wild hogs in it. My cousin, Clark borrowed the trap from another cousin, Ed. Allow me to digress a bit. Up until last week Clark was into trapping "moles." You know those tiny, almost blind, sort of hairless burrowing creatures that make mounds in your yard!! Clark is the king of trapping them but for some unfashionable reason, he decides to get into this new venture. I advised him that wild hogs are not the docile creatures like the moles but he didn't seem to grasp that concept.

Mole mound where the little critter lurks!!

Back to the present. Three hog wind up in the trap & charged it & him. Suddenly Clark realizes the viciousness he faced. So Clark called on three cousins for help. Mind you, all four of these guys are over 65 years old. This was not going to be pretty.

Picture four slow moving guys with two pick-up trucks backed as close as possible to the trap with raging, salivating, ferrel hogs just waiting for an opening to making someone's day.

I couldn't watch.

Let's just say there was a lot of screaming (like a teenage girl), hollering, praying & profuse sweating. All coming from the guys. My back was turned & I was safe seated in my Jeep ( I'm no fool). But by some miracle no one was injured only a bit shaken & limping, the guys, I mean!!

The hogs, still quite unhappy, were driven away to a processing plant.

On a brighter note, cousin Thelma landed a 10 lb. catfish. Dinner looks promising!!

Off On Another Tangent!!

"Moth Eaten"
is what I've come up with for my next series of blocks. I'm planning twelve blocks total. As those of you who are followers, you know that when I get something in my head, I'm on a mission to get it done........ Until it comes to the quilting part....sigh!!
I was talking with Mr. Cowboy when a moth flew into the room from nowhere the other day. Of course I had to eliminate it which was not an easy task because said moth was fleet winged. No really, I couldn't catch the little flittering critter. Mr. Cowboy was laughing his head off as I chased the moth around the house yelling for him to help me. Finally, with heavy breathing, a sweaty brow and a near missed fall, I pulled out the big guns. No, not the shotgun, although I did contemplate it, but that would have caused major hole damage. Plus, Mr. Cowboy stood in front of the gun vault thingy. I used Raid, of course!! A can in each hand. I nearly drenched myself before I could take out the moth. I thought I'd need oxygen afterwards.
With that said, here's my first moth, not a block yet because I haven't figured out what I want as a background.

I decided to to the 'death-face' moth from Silence of the Lambs and after surfing the Net I found out what it would look like and drew off my own interpretation. Then I dug into the old stash for possible colors.

Using Steam-a-Seam II Lite or Heat N Bond Lite, I traced off the parts needed.

Next, I cut out parts. Above are most of them. I did have a minor problem with the fan blowing things around.

Finally, here's my moth. I'll think of a background later.

In The Heat of The Night

Picture this....a post menopausal woman asleep, dreaming of that extra slice of pecan pie she should have turned down. Are you with me so far? It's around 3AM & about 85 degrees when said woman (me), is awaken, sweaty, hair plastered to the face, pillow, neck....are you getting that into focus? Of course there's nothing to be done until the morning says Mr. Cowboy. WHAT!!! Are you kidding me! I could literally feel an inner temperature rising, beads of sweat flowing. I am in a full blown panic. Mr. Cowboy wisely decides to investigate, as my eyes bulge from their sockets.

I realize that climbing into a hot attic was not something he relished but I did not for one moment care.....no, I'm sad to say. After thirty minutes of searching, cussing (that's a Texas slang), a banged up knuckle or two, this is what was causing the problem....

I don't know if you can see it but it's a capacitor, says Cowboy. 

Here's the conversation that followed..

Me: What's a capacitor?

Him: it's a .....blah blah blah

Me: I don't know that all that means honey.

Him: I saw your eyes glaze over.

Me: Can you fix it?

Him: Now?

Me: Of course now!!!!

Him: Well, I'd have to replace the capacitor.

Me: Ok, do that.

Him: Now?

Me: YES!!

Him: it's 4:00 in the morning.

Me: So?

Him: There are no stores open at this time of the night, woman!!

At this point I'm beginning to see why cool air is not in my immediate future but am unwilling to admit anything to the contrary!!!! 

Me: what's it going to take to get this thing going?

Him: a long-suffering sigh...I can fix it by noon if I can find one of my electrician buddies.

Me: Noon! Ok, fine! 

Him: he didn't say anything but eyed me suspiciously.

I went outside to the storage building, in my nightie with my trusty flashlight, pulled out three box fans, went into the sitting room & surrounded myself with "warm" air.....not ideal but doable....all because of a little $15 part.

I don't know what Cowboy did because I couldn't hear a thing over the noise of the fans.

The morale of this story: you're going to have to give me a few days to cool of before I can think properly. I think my brain was fried!