I Know It's Been A Long Time, But...

   I know, it has been a couple of months since I have written anything, but there is a really good reason for that. Nothing ever happens here. I have thought about writing something new quite a few times, but what can I say? So, here goes, I will write about what is happening around here.
   We bought some new chicks and a couple of white broad breasted turkeys in March. We now have two coops, the breakfast and the dinner coop. One of the turkeys is a definite tom. I was calling him Thanksgiving, but yesterday I changed his name to Godzilla. He walks on everyone else and he reminds me of how Godzilla stomps on cars and buildings. The turkeys are also getting pretty ugly.
   We have two Buff Orpingtons that are going to go into the breakfast coop, even thought one of them is a rooster, and we have 10 New Hampshire Reds. One of those is going into the breakfast coop. One is so gentle, I pick her up and she just relaxes and doesn't struggle at all.
   Too bad my parakeet, Frosty, isn't like her. I have had Frosty for almost a year, and I still can't get her finger trained. I have tried all the ways you hear, but no luck. I can pet her, but that's it. I have had birds before and they got finger trained, but not Frosty. Maybe it's her name that did it. Since I named her Frosty, maybe she is just giving me the cold shoulder.
   We planted a small garden this year, because we really need to build up our soil, but we also needed the garden. I was beginning to think I had a bad packet of bean seeds, but after tow weeks, they have finally started coming up. I know I didn't plant them too deep and I have planted this kind before. I was getting ready to go replant them.
   I have been busy making and selling teddy bears in flannel pajamas. I have three left to sell and am making eight more.

Pale blue bear wearing polka dotted jammies

Striped bear wearing train jammies. He looks swirled in the picture, but he is just striped.

 

 Tan bear wearing sheep jammies. It isn't swirled either. All bears and clothes are machine washable and dryable. I am selling them for $40.00 each which includes US shipping. I even started a Face Book page for them.https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lauras-Bears-Critters/624151867673434
   So, now you know what I have been up to. I have a black Shetland fleece in the living room that I need to
wash and spin. The neighbors behind us gave it to me. The sheared
the sheep before they butchered him. I also have shirts and
shorts to make. So much to do and so little ambition.

"Our Bears Need Clothes" Said The Grand Kids

   Well, I'm not done with bears after all. Besides making 3 19" bears for Amy, Alyssa and I, I have been informed the bears I made for the grand kids for Christmas need clothes. Ashlynn is going to ask her dad if he needs a bear, too. I don't know if the 19" bears will have clothes. I think they will probably end up with some clothes since kids will think they need some.
   Anyway, Micheal was very specific about the clothes his bear needs. A striped shirt and red and white shorts. I ask him if I could just make them any color and he told me that he really wants a striped shirt. I guess any color will do as long as it has stripes. He's still thinking of a name for his bear.
   Alix named his bear Arm Pit Bear. Don't ask me why. Probably because he's 4 almost 5. His bear needs shoes and socks.
   Ashlynn named her bear Purple bear because it's purple and it's a girl bear, so it needs girl clothes. Ashlynn also told me I made Nathan's bear a sad mouth and hers a straight face. At least all the bears were a success.
   I'm also going to make some little roly polie ball critters to send to Daniel to sell since he says he could. They are quick and easy to make. If he can sell them it will be nice. I have always planned to make things and try to sell them, but gifty type crafts take over.
   I have been cutting up jeans for the denim quilts, but that's hard on my thumb. I have only started cutting the jeans apart and not into squares. I did decide on 6" squares. My projects keep on coming.
   Seed catalogs are starting to come in, so Tim and I have been drooling over them. Our snow is still no where to be seen. If we don't get any, it's going to be a terrible wildfire year.

Happy New Year!!



    Well, the year is about over, and I'm waiting up to see the New Year in. Since I'm a wild, party person, I'm watching movies on Netflix.

   Today, Tim and I finally made it to Wolf Lodge Bay to see the Bald Eagles that come by the hundreds to eat the dying salmon after they spawn. Wolf  Lodge Bay is on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho. I was even able to get a few pictures of the eagles. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get any of them as they were flying. We have 2-3 months yet to see them, so maybe I'll be able to get in flight pictures. I got a new camera and was having some trouble finding the eagles. I'd point the camera where they were, but I couldn't see them in the screen. New cameras mean more pictures to get more practice. I did manage to get some fairly decent photos of cooperative eagles just sitting in trees. Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took.

 

 



I was busy this month doing crafty things. Below is a picture of the rabbit I made for Michaela's 1st birthday.



Michaela's birthday rabbit





These are the bears I made for Christmas for our 5 grandchildren. At one time, I had thought about making them and selling them, but they were more work than I want to do to make and sell. The bears come with different outfits, so the grand kids will let me know what their bears want to wear.

                                               



I think I will start a denim patchwork quilt next with the stack of old jeans I have collected. I have no idea what size I will make it. The thought even crossed my mind to make several that are child size and embroider things on the squares and give them to the grand kids. I thought about making a large quilt and still embroider things on it. I guess it all depends on how many squares I can get out of the jeans.

Not that I really make New Years resolutions, but if I was going to make some they would be the usual loose weight, exercise more and fold the towels when they come out of the dryer instead of just taking a towel out of the basket when I need one. Oh, and the really big resolution would be to cut waaay back on the sugar.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year.

The Things I Get Myself Into

   Well, Christmas is getting closer and I'm still cutting out bear pieces and crocheting Michaela's bunny for her birthday. I had to take a break from it all yesterday, so I'll be extra busy today.
   Little did I know when I decided to make these bears x 5, I would be cutting out 125 pieces. I just thought, without reading the directions of course, that 11 pattern pieces isn't bad. Everything is cut 2 except for the muzzle and nose, which is just cut one, because who wants a bear with 2 muzzles and noses. The ears are cut 4.
    Anyway, I have one more bear to cut out. The first bear took the longest because I am making it striped and I had to cut it to line up the stripes. Three bears are made from dresses that no longer fit, and I wish I could honestly say they shrunk while in storage or they are now too big, but I can't.
   I see on my weather thing on my blog it's 17 with a real feel of 2. Yeah, it's cold outside. The freezing fog doesn't help matters any, either. I have to be mean and really force Jake out in the mornings. The cold hurts his 3 toed foot. Poor dog. He's acting more and more like a grumpy old man. He's around 8 or 9 years old now, but sometimes he acts so much older until he sees something to chase, and then he's off like a shot and you can't catch him.
   Both Jake and Chip are banished to our room now when Michaela eats. They really know about babies in high chairs now, and Michaela thinks it's fun to throw food at the dogs.
   Poor Michaela is still confused about what she is. Baby or dog. Yesterday, she was walking around until she got to the laundry room, having a good old time hitting the metal folding chair we have there to sit on to take off our muddy shoes, when she decided to crawl over to the dogs' water. I heard a sharp intake of breath as she stuck her face the dish to get a drink. We were all in the kitchen, but she's a sneaking fast little critter. Now, Amy tells me that she gets on her knees and begs like their dog, Sadie. Just imagine what she would do if we had lizards or snakes.
   I'm about done with my morning glass of chocolate milk, so I'd better get busy. I'll be washing clothes for fun, too. Chances are, these bears will be finished in time for Christmas, but mailed too close to Christmas to get there in time. I'll just be known and the grandmother who sends late gifts. The kids will just have more days to open things this way.
   Well, my chocolate milk is gone, so, see ya later.

The Newest Fashion Accessory

    Well, here it is, my new fashion accessory. It's actually pretty comfortable and light weight. It only weighs 1 1/2 pounds. My back even feels better since it has a 3/4 inch lift in the the heal since my leg is that much shorter than the other. Teach me to break a leg in 4 places and then get arthritis, or arthoritis as the kids used to call it.

   I have started more projects, like I don't have enough started already. I am now making 5 teddy bears of different colors for the grand kids. It's taking me a lot longer to cut all the pieces out than I thought it would, but I really should have known better. Hopefully, the sewing part goes as fast as I think it will. I will have a regular bear assembly line going. They just get the bears now and I'll make the clothes for the bears later.

   Our weather has been pretty nice, even if a tad on the cold side. Our snow has come and gone. No snow in the forecast for at least this week.

   No one has started complaining about a brown Christmas yet. We thought it was funny when we moved up here in 2006. People were complaining about a brown Christmas. We just chuckled about that, because we moved up here from the Mojave desert and we really knew what a brown Christmas looked like. The grass was even green, so we thought it was a green Christmas.

   Christmas dinner is at my mother-in-laws house since I did Thanksgiving. Besides, if we do get snow, Tim won't have to go and get them and bring them here.

   The last week there has been some really loud explosions around here. The first on was the loudest and I thought it was some one's propane tank exploding, but it wasn't, and it was in the afternoon. Now, we hear them starting about 8:30PM for about an hour and a half. We have decided they are definitely artillery of some sort. Someone has a cannon and is firing it chasing away deer? Secret war games? Who knows, but we'd like to. We'd also like to know where they are coming from, since they sound fairly close.

   I hear bear parts calling my, so I guess I'd better get to them. Nothing like noisy bears that are in pieces.

I Think I've Got It!

   I made my 3rd batch of yogurt yesterday, and, at long last, I think I've got it. I used the recipe in my original post, but  I added 1 package of unflavored gelatin to the milk before I heated it. I first put only 1 tsp. of the gelatin in the milk, but I added the rest of the package before I let it cool down to 110 degrees. I do think I need to add more than 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract, because I like it with more vanilla flavor.
   In the picture, the yogurt in the spoon is before I stirred it. After I stirred it, I deemed it the perfect consistancy for me. Nice and creamy and smooth.
  I have plenty of time to play around with yogurt experiments, because it's raining and it's never going to stop. I like rain, but it's been raining most of May. On the plus side, I don't need to water the garden. Things are starting to grow. It would be nice if we could finish planting. Finally have the tomatoes out in their walls of water. I hope they work. Tim says guys at work swear by them.
   Lately, I have been in the sewing mood. I started sewing squares of flannel together by hand way back in high school (in the '70's), to make a quilt and I think I will take them apart and sew them together with the overcast stitch, so hopefully they stay together without unraveling. The squares would also be the same size. Next, I'm trying to decide who thick to make it. I'm leaning towards pretty thick, since it gets a might nippy up here.
   I also found a pattern for a cute teddy bear with a sleeper to wear in the same box as all the flannel. I have some flannel I was going to use for who knows what, and I was thinking about making at least 4 teddy bears out of it and using the scraps to add to the quilt. One teddy bear for each grandchild. I will probably have to make me one, too and maybe other family members. Big plans and I hope I finish them. I seem to lose interest half way through things.
  There will be another grandchild in Dec. and I did start crocheting afghans, but I'm not in the crocheting mood now, and I do have until Dec.
   I could also be cleaning house since Amy and her future fiance (?) are coming in a week and a half, but I got to thinking, if Daniel is going to be a member of this family, he can take us as we are, dust, clutter and all.
   For now, I guess I'll fold the towels I washed yesterday. I really wish someone would invent a dryer that hangs and folds clothes.