Mom

This was taken in July, 

And this is now.......

 Mom

It's September, Let's Catch up

 Yikes! Where does the time go??? 

It's been hot-Dilly has been helping with yard work.

And we got a basketball hoop for him-he shoots hoops every day!

There have been a few windy storms pass through-we lost some small branches and one bigger one.

I got them cut up and burned one batch then we had another blowing storm and had more! So now the fire bowls are full again!

We went to a "Flea Market" at Huibbard Park-unfortunatly the only things there were clothing resellers. Who Knew there were so many people selling used clothing-I swear they had a Hawkeye shirt for every man woman and child in the county there!

There were a few selling artwork and little jewelry, but nothing worth the time it took to park!

We've had some good park time!

I like these playgrounds that have the rubber mats on the ground-they are so much nicer!

And I've started this quilt. I bought this pattern many years ago, like 25 years maybe?  and it was the most expensive pattern I'd ever bought. $15.00

It's not a great pattern in my opinion-I'm glad I didn't start it 20 years ago!

You have to trace off all the pieces and cut the templates out and then the 2nd blocks have paper piecing-which I kind of like.

I'm using a pile of batiks that I got a couple of summers ago at a yard sale. 

These first blocks are kind of wonky, but I think it will work out in the long run.

More to come on this one!

And the Electrician came and did the check up on the generator. It's ready when ever another storm comes along!

And the saddest news too, My Mom is dying. She moved to Iowa River Hospice this week. Iowa River Hospice Is a really nice facility, they have been so accomodating. She is suffering with congestive heart failure and kidney failure. 

This was back in July, not lomg ago at all and time just keeps rushing along.

Love those smiles!!!

Halfway Though Feb all ready!?!?!

 

It seems like my photo app is filled with a lot of pics of this little guy! Here he's helping in his Mommy in the kitchen.

My cousin sent me this picture. I don't think I've ever seen it before. But it's my Dad and Mom in early days. Dad had a stroke in November, and has been progressing pretty well, but his memory for day to day things is not the best. But I showed him this picture and he told me right away when he got that truck and all about it!

Iris had to make a trip to the vet for her annual shots. I thought I was never going to catch her. 

And I am finishing up this Christmas wall hanging.  I'll post the finish later!

I just sort of winged it, I am tired of the fabric bundle of calling out to me all the time! 

For Valentines day, I got some of these m&ms. YUMMY!

And I took Dad to his doctor appointment at the U and afterwards. we went to lunch with these two at Tin Roost in North Liberty. I should have taken a few more pictures, I was being a slacker I guess!

The Wheelchair Lift

 So, my sister and I decided that after Mom's latest fall, she should not be trying to navigate the stairs into the house. We started shopping around for a ramp, but there just wasn't really room to do a ramp correctly. Or a chair deal that Mom could ride up and down the stairs, but they seemed too hard to find space at the top of the stairs to get on and off. SO that left a wheelchair lift. We started looking at the Facebook Market place for a used unit. There are, surprisingly,  quite a few for sale! Unfortunately, most are pretty far away, or asking a lot more than we can pay. But then I came across this one in Des Moines. Harmar Highlander 2. It's only about one year old and the price has dropped to a price we can afford. SO I called the seller and got the address and called Dad to get together to go get it. We borrowed the horse trailer from Julie and set off for Des Moines. 

This thing was a monster! I rented an appliance dollie, thinking we could just strap that thing on there and off we'd go! WELL NO...... That's not quite how it works.  It's crazy heavy! We struggled to get it moved off the bolts in the floor of the sellers garage, then we struggled to get it across the garage to the trailer. It was hot, it was getting late, it was bad!

Then my wonderful son in law Andrew got to us! Phew! With his help we got it onto the trailer and ready to go!  We never would have made it without him! Now to find the time a week later to go and UN load it!

This time I knew what we were up against! I had Andrew, Julie, Ben and Kevin all on hand to help! We thought we'd need ramps, then we decided to use the movers dollies and it worked great! Look at that we got it off the trailer in almost no time!

And got it pushed into place and ready to plug in. The fellas didn't like to looks of the cord, so they got a new one and installed it and got the settings all perfect. As usual, a 2 hour job took us 4!, But look at this!

Mom tested it out a few times and it's perfect! I'm so glad to have this lift in place. Mom will be able to get out of the house so much more safely! 

August Round Up

SO, I've been a lax blogger. 

So, here, my Achilles Tendon is doing OK, healing, but still painful. 

Bob is fine. 

Mom had a bad fall and was in the hospital. Check this out, this is the camera they placed in her room to monitor that she doesn't get out of bed unassisted.

Because she has a concussion as well as a really ugly bruise. At least there are no broken bones and she is home now doing a lot better.

I'm working on Social Sharks, a quilt pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

These friendly sharks are pretty interesting to put together. 

And, I'm back to work now. This is one of the supply totes, just because it happened to be on my camera. That's it for August! Now let me get caught up on September.

 

Happy Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! DD and me made a quick dash to drop off gifts and goodies to Mom & Dad on Christmas Eve. All the gifts have been picked up, so we're having a very quiet Christmas today.

Masks were in place and we were very quick so we could keep good social distancing. It was so good to see the folks-It's been a long time. But with the Covid precautions it's much better to be safe. Dad is doing better-he was in for an esophagus procedure and ended up in the hospital over night for observation. They said his heart was concerning. Hmmmm, I don't know if I trust those medical care providers.

And on the mystery quilt front, I'm caught up! Here's the clue four work. The next clue will come out tomorrow.

 The piles are accumulating and looking pretty good!

A Little Yard Work

 So the power company cut off a bunch of tree branches at my Mom & Dad's house. Being good kids, my Sister and my kids and me went over there to get the wood moved. See DD is almost done...see the pile behind her?

 We probably won't get an A for neat wood stacking but it's better than it was! We stacked it closer to the garage so Dad can cut it up to burn in the garage when it's cold.

 One thing was a pretty big deal, see that? Ben drove Grampa's pick up! He pulled close to the piles of wood that the power company left.

 Then we loaded it in the pick up and moved to the next pile. Then unloaded over by the garage.

 At the same time. Julie and Dad were burning the pile of sticks that was piled up.

 It was a pretty fast burning pile!

 Selfie!!

 One thing I can tell you is that hackberry wood is a lot heavier to pick up than walnut!

Dad pointed out this big old walnut tree is almost all hollow-look at it on the North side-I sure don't know why they wouldn't take the whole tree down! It's bound to fall at some point. They're putting in new power poles, so they cut away the branches they wanted, but you's think they would be a little concerned over a whole trunk falling on the lines.

 All done for now.  Really good weather for the fire-hardly any breeze. Glad this work is done.