Come on over -- we're looking at quilts old and new, and talking about their wonderful role in our history. Four Mile Historic Park is one of Denver's old stage stops -- and full of interesting things to do and see...besides me!
Go here for more information. The talk starts around noon on the 28th.
It's not too early to think about What's Coming Soon.
For your listening pleasure, here's a music collection worth hanging onto. Shoot, I might even listen to it now!
Miss Bo-zer the pup has an interesting habit. To keep track of the Chipmunk Menace (and other threats), she enjoys sticking her head out of the gap between the glass panels on our back deck. Catch this from the side, and it's unnerving -- reminiscent of heads on pikes during the French Revolution, or gracing the London Bridge.
Weird...but funny.
It has been a busy month. I've had several working gigs, including a lecture and appraising at the La Plata Quilt Guild in Durango. (Thanks, girls!) The Brick attended a national conference for the Convention of the States, a pro-states rights movement that advocates for, among other things, term limits. In between, we sang at church, worked on an upcoming music gig (Oct. 2 at Lu's in nearby Blanca), and started buttoning up for the coming winter. Our first frost and/or snowfall has been in October; we'd be foolish not to plan for it.
Meanwhile, the cooler weather, plus some rain, has been a relief. We've even had a few fires in the woodstove. Lovely. We may not have strong leaf colors this year -- it's been too dry. But there's still enough gold and red to appreciate.
The first snow is starting to decorate the moutains -- but not our Blancas, thankfully. The last week of the month has been potato harvest here in the Valley. People are hustling to get the crop in before it rains/snows. Yes, we need the moisture. But finishing the harvest is more important.
Welcome, Fall. We've been waiting for you.
(This report is a bit early -- but I won't have time later in the week to work on it.)
*Allergies have blessedly eased up. They were extra-heavy this summer.
*Cut the Brick's hair. It was a lot faster than a 45 min. trip to Alamosa, and certainly cheaper. It turned out so well that I may continue it! (Now, if he could cut mine...)
*Mended a pillow. (I wonder why...) Stitched up a favorite tunic's frayed collar and cuffs.
*Found a free channel to watch the Michigan-Oklahoma football game. Go Blue!
*Propane for $1.59/gallon! At nearly 400 gallons to fill our tank, that savings really adds up. I told our friend, and his eyes widened -- he's been paying about $3.69/gal. (The best we could find in bulk before this was around $2.25/gal.)
*Continued to stack July's dwindling pile of firewood...and water the perennials planted this summer. (All but one have made it, so far.) I'll put straw or grass around them -- hopefully that will protect them until spring.
*Plants galore: lavender, Russian sage, a pepper plant and a blueberry bush -- all marked down from Walmart.
*Found Money: 55 cents in the Safeway change machine. Not comparable to the bonanza find -- but not bad, either. No more for the rest of the month. (And yes, I HAVE been checking.) At this rate, I'm not going to get anywhere near what Katy at The Nonconsumer Advocate puts in her Found Change Challenge jar.
Our bank does not have a coin-changing machine anymore. (Booooo.) And I refuse to pay a percentage to the Coinstar ripoffs. In fact, I find a good share of money in their return slots! So for the Durango gig, I gave $5 in change (half-dollars) to one customer, and left a goodly share of nickels and dimes ($4) as a tip in the hotel room. I also have $15 worth separated for the next trip to the Monte Vista thrift shop. (They offer a 4% discount for cash. And last trip, I had little to use. Double boooo.)
*Friends came over for a French-style dinner: French onion soup, chicken fricassee and mashed potatoes -- and cookies bought while we were in Paris. Other friends gave us a sloppy joes supper (she called it 'taverns!') and put us up for the night. Yet other friends invited us to supper, the sweethearts -- and friends from Castle Rock came down to visit during the monthly potluck at church. And our kids took us out for breakfast. (Thank you, Dears!)
*A handful of baby zucchini, beans, plus greens from the back deck bins. Planted rainbow chard -- and picked an awful lot of green tomatoes. (The first tomato didn't ripen until after the 20th. Sept. 20, that is. Go figure.)
*Got myself a birthday present:
*Bought some baby eels for the Seven Fish Dishes. They were delicious in Madrid. (The Brick gave me a birthday tote bag and fan he'd bought there on the sly.)
*Tried hard not to Look for Things on Ebay and Amazon...I did buy a collection of Helen Forrester books (about $3.99 each) and a Charles Dickens collection -- about the same.
*Made $5 on an online survey.
*Kept Freya, our granddog. Every day we do this, it saves our kids $75. The puppies love her.
*The Brick attended the COS (Convention of the States) national conference in Indiana. He paid the fee and covered his food -- but got a scholarship for hotel and travel costs. What a guy!
For my part, I stayed home, worked and took care of the dogs. No money spent, and I ate out of the freezer and pantry.
*The $3 roses lasted for weeks! I have never had this happen before. After they dried up, I made do with wild asters, as well as roses and zinnias blooming on the back deck plants.
*Umpteen appraisals worked on...including a teaching trip to Durango and the La Plata Quilt Guild to speak and do a few days of appraising.
*Little goodies snagged during my Durango trip: some fabric from the guild's giveaway pile. Four apples from the hotel breakfast buffet. (Future apple crisp!) A stop at the local Goodwill -- and a 3-cent-per-gallon discount when gassing up for the trip home. And meeting with some of the kindest guild members in the world.
*No trip to Palisade for peaches this year-- bought peaches on sale (if you want to call it that) at City Market and Safeway, instead.
*Sold some books. Always welcome.
*Thrift shop buys: a floaty white tunic ($5.99) and a frugal living book - $1.99 (Goodwill/Durango). Several Western history books and the final book in Winston Churchill's biography set, The Last Lion ($2 each), eight Calvin & Hobbes comic collections (a buck each!), some mugs (25 cents each), storage boxes ($1 each), a sturdy pair of Riders jeans that FIT ($7.99) -- and a big $2.50 pkg of cards (Nazarene/Monte Vista).
* A Free 40 oz. pkg of frozen burgers from Safeway, thanks to their rewards program.
*Grocery deals: Green peppers (78 cents ea) and Roma tomatoes - 97 cents/lb (Walmart). $1.47/lb chicken breast, $2.50/lb shredded cheese, 99 cents/lb chicken legs, 99 cents/lb strawberries, $2.50 gallons of milk, 49-cent pkgs of macaroni and cheese (Safeway). Boxes of a date/fruit confection (Pharooj) resembling Turkish delight, $1.59 each; 1 1/2 lbs bacon, $5.39 (SLV Amish Grocery).
Am I the only one who thinks pasta has skyrocketed in price?? I used to find it regularly at 79-99 cents a pound -- now the cheapest is $1.59/lb. Ironically, it's usually the imported stuff that's more inexpensive. Go figure.
I also stocked up on peach and pineapple nectars, as well as canned beef stew, for wintertime use. Amazon prices weren't earthshaking -- but not bad, either.
FRUGAL MISSES
*Total cost for the two emergency room visits in July: $125. The actual figure was thousands more, so I guess that's good.
*Some food went bad before we could completely eat it up: sausage, hotdogs, chicken & rice. Ah well.
*Several pee, poop and throwup incidents -- but from Aunt Freya as well, instead of the no-longer-puppies. Go figure. A dishcloth and my nightgown got chewed up, as well. (My guess: that was Tiger.)
*Dickens books - yep, 35 books for roughly $140. (Does it help that they were published in 1911?) I honestly didn't think I'd get them, at this bid.)
Here's last month's report -- and September 2024's offering. The year before that, too.
And on with life.
What would we do without dedicated garbage guys who are good at their job...I appreciate them, too!
The hummingbirds are outa here.
They stayed a week or so longer this time, guzzling down nectar. (Two feeders a day, according to the Brick.) It was almost a gang war out there -- 7 or 8 hummers trying to drink and chase everyone else off. Territorial little buggers.
Anyways, they're gone, down to Mexico -- even the female who enjoyed staring at us and checking out the zinnias on the back deck. The weather's cooler, even more incentive to get the firewood stacked and everything put away.
The Brick is due back tonight from the national conference for the Convention of the States (COS) - a states rights group that he, as well as many veterans, has become involved with. My reserved, quiet husband has been attending meetings and schmoozing with all sorts of people -- which amuses the heck out of me.
Meanwhile, I've had fun cleaning up dog poop, chasing after pups, watching trash TV (Columbo, American Greed and Unsolved Mysteries) -- and work. Lots of it.
We should go back to 'normal' this week -- whatever that is.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Nebraska lost to Michigan 31-27. Poor babies. (Funny... this article made it seem like Nebraska won.) Go Blue!
And the Buffs beat Wyoming 37-20. Go Colorado!
Meanwhile:
* * * * * *
Charlie Kirk's memorial service was today (Sunday).
What Bill Maher thinks about Charlie Kirk.
A very illuminating essay from William Bennett about Kirk and his influence.
and this is odd -- the high-range bullet that hit Kirk should have blasted through him and hit others behind him. But it didn't. The surgeon in charge thought it probably saved someone's life behind Kirk.
"What I learned from debating Charlie Kirk." And it's not necessarily what you would think, either.
* * * * *
Ancient treasures mistaken for junk.
Very funny off-the-cuff comments from celebrities.
Robert Redford died; he was 89. A quirky, interesting actor.
Meals pioneer families ate to stay alive:
A dozen times money was dumped all over, in public. From 1997 through this year...
Why were bone fragments washing up on a New Jersey beach? They belonged to... hey, read the post. I don't want to ruin it for you.
A Boston BLM activitist who started her own nonprofit -- turns out she spent most of the nonprofit's money raised on her own family, instead. (She's expected to plead guilty to multiple cases of fraud shortly...and she's not happy about it, either.)
Texts -- 126 of them -- that will make you laugh. (Okay, some of them are rude. And vulgar.)
And now I'll show myself out. Have a great week.
As you know, Charlie Kirk was murdered last week.
Why, why are the people who are accusing Kirk of being 'hate-filled' the same people who are saying the most evil things?!? Why would you be bragging about anyone 'getting shot in the head??'
Why are so many people accusing Kirk of being 'hateful' -- with bigoted, hate-filled and delighted comments that he is dead? What would they say if this happened to someone else -- or them??
How do you think Charlie's widow and young children feel about this outpouring of rudeness and hate? Do they deserve to hear it, as well?
It's sickening. Please tell me, Gentle Readers, that you are not taking part in this trashfest. Whether or not you agree with Kirk's Christianity and beliefs is secondary here. Accusing him of hatred because he chose to disagree with your views? (I am not surprised at the many gay people and others who said he treated them with friendship and politeness, in spite of their differences. That, frankly, is what Jesus would do.)
Show some respect for a leader who was assassinated because of those beliefs. Do it for civility, at least. Making hateful, gleeful comments does NOT advance your cause.
Please give me some hope that you have rethought this, if you're riding the celebration train right now. And not just for Kirk. Others were murdered, too. Cheering anyone's death is NOT RIGHT. Branding a killer as an innocent victim of the system -- nauseating. Slapping on the 'racist' label while you're spouting nastiness -- even worse.
You can do better.
Meanwhile:
A very cool stingray and fossil fish -- dug by Daughter #2 and Son #1 in Wyoming!
Welcome surprises -- after buying a home or land. We had a few of these ourselves, including furniture left behind -- and a deer head under a wheelbarrow.
Some secret e-mails of former Director Fauci's are surfacing. (Bear in mind -- he has already been presumptively pardoned by former president Biden. Pardoned for what, they're not saying.)
A zookeeper becomes lunch for the lions he cares for. Poor man.
A teenager endures months of abuse and insults from an online troll, including urging them to kill themselves. The troll is finally unmasked -- and it's Mom. I truly do not understand this.
Improving your knowledge of French -- for free. Thanks, The Prudent Homemaker!
The amazing Ghent Alterpiece, which was savaged during WWII, is still not complete. Who stole the missing panel? There are some clues out there.
Have a good week. May God help us to do better -- and keep going.
This advice came via Charles Spurgeon's MORNING BY MORNING for Sept. 15. He wrote it more than a hundred years ago, but it's still fitting, considering the chaos we seem to endure every week.
Charlie Kirk died today... assassinated for what he believed in.
And here's what some had to say -- that he deserved it. Or one of his own supporters shot him "while celebrating." They quickly added in the two assassination attempts on Trump -- somehow he deserved that, too. (Or just made it up.)
This is sick. This is wrong. How can you live with yourselves, saying things like this?
I would say the same thing if Kirk was a dedicated Democrat supporter.
You should, too.
Update: FBI director Patel says they've caught the shooter. Maybe yes, maybe not.
Mark Kelly (D-Ariz): “Political violence is never the answer. It divides us. But also, I’ve got to say, political rhetoric, too, from both sides, often gets out of hand and it incites people to do things like this...
“think about .. our words and the consequences of them, you know, from both sides of the political spectrum.”
