And some require binding. My corners aren’t nearly as good as yours, but they are improving!
Thursday, December 19, 2019
For Karin
Karin, it’s not quilting. But I have been sewing. potholders.
And some require binding. My corners aren’t nearly as good as yours, but they are improving!
And some require binding. My corners aren’t nearly as good as yours, but they are improving!
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
An Adventure...A Bucket List item...A Personal Challenge
Last week at this time I was hiking the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. I can't say I loved it, but I can't say I hated it either. At times, as evidenced by my text messages to Kevin, I absolutely hated it, but time blurs those memories. Right?
A couple of years ago, while day hiking in the Wichita Mountains with the Herron Girls, Kim and Bailey, our conversation turned to a curiosity about hiking the Appalachian Trail. We decided we needed to give it a go. We didn't set a date at that time, but we started talking about making it a Girls Only trip and giving it a try. We decided to start at the beginning. Over time, we committed and picked last week to go. So I started gathering my "tools." I bought a backpack--a cheap one. I bought new hiking shoes and got them 1/2 size bigger as advised. I started gathering dehydrated foods. I read. I read guides on hiking the AT. I read peoples memoirs. I tried to absorb as much as I could. I upped my workouts at the gym, walking more, raising the incline, coming in with the packed backpack and working out with it on. I even walked home from town several times to get used to walking on real terrain. (ha...as if the Kansas prairie can ever prepare you for hiking in the mountains of Georgia!)
I'm not an experienced backpacker or even hiker. I've hiked three times in Colorado. I've "hiked" here in Kansas some. I've never backpacked. I've camped and cooked over a fire, I've slept in a tent. I just haven't hauled everything in a backpack and relied only on what was in my backpack. So this was going to be an adventure.
I'm 53. Kim is 43. Bailey is 23. We tried to convince Miss Kat to join us, but the thought of no showers for a week turned her off and she declined. On June 2, the three of us left for Georgia.
We decided to hike from Springer Mt. to Unicoi Gap. A distance of 53ish miles. We had a week. We figured we could make 10 miles a day but would aim for 7 for the first couple of days, as recommended in the AT Guide.
So on a rainy Sunday morning, we began. We hired a shuttle driver to meet us at Unicoi and drive us to Springer. We started hiking at 10:30 in the rain.
And it rained for two days.
At first, I didn't mind the rain or the walking. For the most part, Springer is an easy climb and it stayed that way for the first 4-5 miles. The rain was cooling, it was a gentle rain. We quickly shed our rain gear because it was just too hot. About mile 6, I hit a wall. I was exhausted and probably hadn't snacked or drank enough. I happened to have a Gatorade (which I HATE). It tasted wonderful and gave me some much needed energy. Our backpacks weighed between 25 and 30 lbs. We didn't weigh them because we really didn't want to know how much weight we were carrying. My biggest problem I think, was I was carrying the big bear canister in a backpack that was really to small for it. That first night, we did some switching around and Kim took the bear canister and I traded her for the tent and the snack food which was in a bag. That stopped the canister from digging into my shoulders and hips. (I found some chafing marks later from the canister on my back.)
Day two was a long day with hiking up Sassafrass Mountain. It had rained during the night, so not much sleep was had by any in our tent. My feet started to be a real issue on day two along with the rain that continued.
Shoes: it's recommended that mountain hikers get their shoes 1/2 size to 1 full size larger than their regular shoe size. You need this space because your feet slide in your shoes as you go downhill and your toes can slam into the end of your shoe leaving your toes bloody and you can and will lose toenails. I'd bought new shoes 1/2 size larger, but I didn't get good shoes, just normal over the counter shoes. BIG mistake. My feet hurt horribly by day two and all you can do is keep walking. There's only so may places you can get off the trail, so I kept walking, every step painful. Every step UP and every step DOWN.
I tried not to let my misery show, but I failed. Kim and Bailey knew I was hurting and knew I was miserable. And it kept raining. In fact, while on Sassafrass, it poured. It rained so hard we had streams pouring down the trail ankle deep. It rained that way for over an hour. Just made everyone miserable. Add that to my foot problem, and I was ready to quit.
At times, I had to walk on alone because I knew I wasn't fit company and I will admit, I told the girls if there was a way out, I'd probably take it. I tried to talk them into stopping at Neels Gap, but they were enjoying the adventure and wouldn't give in to my not-so-subtle hints. (good for them because it made me keep going too.)
Day three was better. WE took a two hour break at Woody Gap and dried everything out. It was paved, so the asphalt was warm and dried everything. That two hour break allowed me to rest my feet. The walk from there while still painful, was a nice walk. I started to enjoy the trip a bit more.
Day four found us ready to go up Blood Mountain. We ran into a south-bound hiker with his son who suggested we take the trail around the mountain, Freedman trail, because he was seeing hikers come across Blood Mt. with cuts, and bruises and bleeding. We took Freedman. Which was our toughest hike. It's all climbing boulders and rocks. It seemed never ending. But once we made it back to the mail trail, it was a relatively easy walk down to Neels. Where I bought new shoes.
Lord what a difference a new pair of shoes made. My toes didn't hurt anymore and I had more support for the remainder of my feet which made such a difference! And Pizza! We had a pizza. It was the best frozen Red Baron's Pizza ever made. Ambrosia wouldn't taste any better than that pizza did. With my shoes, we continued on for another 4 miles.
Day five, we hiked 15 miles! We had an illusion that we could make the remaining 3 miles and get out a day early, but it was pretty rough headed up to Blue Mt. Shelter, so we camped.
Day six was a short day, around 3 miles to Unicoi. We were up early, broke camp quickly and were on the trail by 7:30. About an hour in our hike, we came upon 3 bear cubs--who we saw climb a tree. Worried about Mama Bear, we slowly backed up, bunched together, and made lots of noise. We then watched the cubs climb down the tree and head down the mountain to Mama. We gave them plenty of time, then continued our hike down the mountain. Two miles downhill. It was rough. We'd decided early on that climbing sucks, but going downhill hurts. It's just hard on your knees. That two mile hike down was the worst as we knew we were on our last downhill trek. We were at the car by 10:00. Foot sore, knee sore, tired, and so happy, proud, sweaty, and very dirty and smelly.
I'm glad I didn't give in to my disillusionment and quit. I'm glad I finished our set section. But I don't think I'll do any more hiking on the AT. Camping didn't bother me. The rain? Maybe it affected me more than I thought. What I really think got to me is the fact that all you do on the AT is walk. All.day.long. It's up and it's down. All.day.long--up and down. It was work. Not hard work, but work. And it does take it's toll on knees, ankles and feet. Somehow it just wasn't was spiritually fulfilling as I wanted it to be. It is that for others, but for me it just wasn't.
Part of me says to try it again and now that I have good shoes, I'll do better. But I've been home 4 days now and my knees still hurt. I don't like that! It wasn't fun enough that I want to go back. It's just not my cup of tea. I'm rather sad about that. I want to love it. I want to feel awe or inspired or something. But I don't.
I told Kev that I wanted to do this to see if I could.
I got my answer. I can do it, but for me I guess I discovered CAN isn't fulfilling. I want to want to do it...and I don't.
I guess that's OK. Trying something new is about self-discovery, and I did discover things about myself. It's OK to discover you don't enjoy something. It's probably as important as discovering you DO enjoy something it's just not as much fun.
I did it. I set a goal and I met it. I didn't give up when I so desperately wanted to. I hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail.
A couple of years ago, while day hiking in the Wichita Mountains with the Herron Girls, Kim and Bailey, our conversation turned to a curiosity about hiking the Appalachian Trail. We decided we needed to give it a go. We didn't set a date at that time, but we started talking about making it a Girls Only trip and giving it a try. We decided to start at the beginning. Over time, we committed and picked last week to go. So I started gathering my "tools." I bought a backpack--a cheap one. I bought new hiking shoes and got them 1/2 size bigger as advised. I started gathering dehydrated foods. I read. I read guides on hiking the AT. I read peoples memoirs. I tried to absorb as much as I could. I upped my workouts at the gym, walking more, raising the incline, coming in with the packed backpack and working out with it on. I even walked home from town several times to get used to walking on real terrain. (ha...as if the Kansas prairie can ever prepare you for hiking in the mountains of Georgia!)
I'm not an experienced backpacker or even hiker. I've hiked three times in Colorado. I've "hiked" here in Kansas some. I've never backpacked. I've camped and cooked over a fire, I've slept in a tent. I just haven't hauled everything in a backpack and relied only on what was in my backpack. So this was going to be an adventure.
I'm 53. Kim is 43. Bailey is 23. We tried to convince Miss Kat to join us, but the thought of no showers for a week turned her off and she declined. On June 2, the three of us left for Georgia.
We decided to hike from Springer Mt. to Unicoi Gap. A distance of 53ish miles. We had a week. We figured we could make 10 miles a day but would aim for 7 for the first couple of days, as recommended in the AT Guide.
So on a rainy Sunday morning, we began. We hired a shuttle driver to meet us at Unicoi and drive us to Springer. We started hiking at 10:30 in the rain.
And it rained for two days.
At first, I didn't mind the rain or the walking. For the most part, Springer is an easy climb and it stayed that way for the first 4-5 miles. The rain was cooling, it was a gentle rain. We quickly shed our rain gear because it was just too hot. About mile 6, I hit a wall. I was exhausted and probably hadn't snacked or drank enough. I happened to have a Gatorade (which I HATE). It tasted wonderful and gave me some much needed energy. Our backpacks weighed between 25 and 30 lbs. We didn't weigh them because we really didn't want to know how much weight we were carrying. My biggest problem I think, was I was carrying the big bear canister in a backpack that was really to small for it. That first night, we did some switching around and Kim took the bear canister and I traded her for the tent and the snack food which was in a bag. That stopped the canister from digging into my shoulders and hips. (I found some chafing marks later from the canister on my back.)
Day two was a long day with hiking up Sassafrass Mountain. It had rained during the night, so not much sleep was had by any in our tent. My feet started to be a real issue on day two along with the rain that continued.
Shoes: it's recommended that mountain hikers get their shoes 1/2 size to 1 full size larger than their regular shoe size. You need this space because your feet slide in your shoes as you go downhill and your toes can slam into the end of your shoe leaving your toes bloody and you can and will lose toenails. I'd bought new shoes 1/2 size larger, but I didn't get good shoes, just normal over the counter shoes. BIG mistake. My feet hurt horribly by day two and all you can do is keep walking. There's only so may places you can get off the trail, so I kept walking, every step painful. Every step UP and every step DOWN.
I tried not to let my misery show, but I failed. Kim and Bailey knew I was hurting and knew I was miserable. And it kept raining. In fact, while on Sassafrass, it poured. It rained so hard we had streams pouring down the trail ankle deep. It rained that way for over an hour. Just made everyone miserable. Add that to my foot problem, and I was ready to quit.
At times, I had to walk on alone because I knew I wasn't fit company and I will admit, I told the girls if there was a way out, I'd probably take it. I tried to talk them into stopping at Neels Gap, but they were enjoying the adventure and wouldn't give in to my not-so-subtle hints. (good for them because it made me keep going too.)
Day three was better. WE took a two hour break at Woody Gap and dried everything out. It was paved, so the asphalt was warm and dried everything. That two hour break allowed me to rest my feet. The walk from there while still painful, was a nice walk. I started to enjoy the trip a bit more.
Day four found us ready to go up Blood Mountain. We ran into a south-bound hiker with his son who suggested we take the trail around the mountain, Freedman trail, because he was seeing hikers come across Blood Mt. with cuts, and bruises and bleeding. We took Freedman. Which was our toughest hike. It's all climbing boulders and rocks. It seemed never ending. But once we made it back to the mail trail, it was a relatively easy walk down to Neels. Where I bought new shoes.
Lord what a difference a new pair of shoes made. My toes didn't hurt anymore and I had more support for the remainder of my feet which made such a difference! And Pizza! We had a pizza. It was the best frozen Red Baron's Pizza ever made. Ambrosia wouldn't taste any better than that pizza did. With my shoes, we continued on for another 4 miles.
Day five, we hiked 15 miles! We had an illusion that we could make the remaining 3 miles and get out a day early, but it was pretty rough headed up to Blue Mt. Shelter, so we camped.
Day six was a short day, around 3 miles to Unicoi. We were up early, broke camp quickly and were on the trail by 7:30. About an hour in our hike, we came upon 3 bear cubs--who we saw climb a tree. Worried about Mama Bear, we slowly backed up, bunched together, and made lots of noise. We then watched the cubs climb down the tree and head down the mountain to Mama. We gave them plenty of time, then continued our hike down the mountain. Two miles downhill. It was rough. We'd decided early on that climbing sucks, but going downhill hurts. It's just hard on your knees. That two mile hike down was the worst as we knew we were on our last downhill trek. We were at the car by 10:00. Foot sore, knee sore, tired, and so happy, proud, sweaty, and very dirty and smelly.
I'm glad I didn't give in to my disillusionment and quit. I'm glad I finished our set section. But I don't think I'll do any more hiking on the AT. Camping didn't bother me. The rain? Maybe it affected me more than I thought. What I really think got to me is the fact that all you do on the AT is walk. All.day.long. It's up and it's down. All.day.long--up and down. It was work. Not hard work, but work. And it does take it's toll on knees, ankles and feet. Somehow it just wasn't was spiritually fulfilling as I wanted it to be. It is that for others, but for me it just wasn't.
Part of me says to try it again and now that I have good shoes, I'll do better. But I've been home 4 days now and my knees still hurt. I don't like that! It wasn't fun enough that I want to go back. It's just not my cup of tea. I'm rather sad about that. I want to love it. I want to feel awe or inspired or something. But I don't.
I told Kev that I wanted to do this to see if I could.
I got my answer. I can do it, but for me I guess I discovered CAN isn't fulfilling. I want to want to do it...and I don't.
I guess that's OK. Trying something new is about self-discovery, and I did discover things about myself. It's OK to discover you don't enjoy something. It's probably as important as discovering you DO enjoy something it's just not as much fun.
I did it. I set a goal and I met it. I didn't give up when I so desperately wanted to. I hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
2016 Reading list
| Passenger | Alexandra Bracken |
| The Secret Chord | Geraldine Brooks |
| The Nazi Officer's Wife | Edith H Beer |
| Jeremy Poldark | Winston Graham |
| The Dirt on Ninth Grave | Darynda Jones |
| Unbroken | Laura Hillenbrand |
| Eva's story | Eva Schloss |
| Ruins of Gorlan | John Flanagan |
| Traveler | Arwen Elys Dayton |
| The Last Midwife | Sandra Dallas |
| Brotherhood in death | JD Robb |
| Glass Crown | Victoria Aveyard |
| The Great Influenza | John Barry |
| The 5th Wave | Rick Yancey |
| Rose: My life in Service to Lady Astor | Rosina Harrison |
| My name is Mahtob | Mahtob Mahmoody |
| Wild | Cheryl Strayer |
| Kardashian dynasty: controversial rise of … | Ian Halperin |
| A walk in the Woods | Bill Bryson |
| The Obsession | Nora Roberts |
| Game of Crowns | Christopher Andersen |
| First Dads | Joshua Kendall |
| The Infinite Sea | Rick Yancey |
| The Last Star | Rick Yancey |
| In the heart of the Sea | Nathaniel Philbrick |
| Return of the Witch | Paula Brackston |
| Bay of Sighs | Nora Roberts |
| The Dark Horse | Craig Johnson |
| As the Crow Flies | Craig Johnson |
| The Curse of Tenth Grave | Dryandra Jones |
| Schindlers List | |
| It Wasn't Always Like This | Joy Preble |
| The Cold Dish | Craig Johnson |
| Roots | Alex Haley |
| The Virgin's War | Laura Andersen |
| Harry Potter and the cursed child | John Tiffany & Jack Thorne |
| Bonk: the curious coupling of science and sex | Mary Roach |
| Prayers the Devil answers | Sharon McCrumb |
| Messenger | Craig Johnson |
| Spirit of Steamboat | Craig Johnson |
| Divorce Horse | Craig Johnson |
| Hell is Empty | Craig Johnson |
| Jesus before the Gospels | Bart D. Ehrman |
| Grunt | Mary Roach |
| Death without Company | Craig Johnson |
| Junkyard Dogs | Craig Johnson |
| Any other Name | Craig Johnson |
| The Silent Sister | Diane Chamberlain |
| Apprentice in Death | JD Robb |
| The Mother Tongue | Bill Bryson |
| Notes from a Small Island | Bill Bryson |
| The Road to Little Dribbling | Bill Bryson |
| The Highwayman | Craig Johnson |
| Another Man's Moccasins | Craig Johnson |
| Dry Bones | Craig Johnson |
| Kindness Goes Unpunished | Craig Johnson |
| Serpent's Tooth | Craig Johnson |
| I am number Four | Pittacus Lore |
| The Fall of Five | Pittacus Lore |
| The Revenge of Seven | Pittacus Lore |
| The Last Days of Lorien | Pittacus Lore |
| I am Number Four: The forgotten Ones | Pittacus Lore |
| I am Number Four: Legacies reborn | Pittacus Lore |
| I am Number Four: Nine's legacy | Pittacus Lore |
| I am Number Four: The fallen legacies | Pittacus Lore |
| I am Number Four: Six's Legacy | Pittacus Lore |
| The Rise of Nine | Pittacus Lore |
| The Power of Six | Pittacus Lore |
| The Fate of Ten | Pittacus Lore |
| United as One | Pittacus Lore |
| An Obvious Fact | Craig Johnson |
| Turbo Twenty-three | Janet Evanovich |
| The Chemist | Stephanie Meyer |
| The Undesirables | Chad Thuman |
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
2015 reading list
I didn't post my list of books last year and was asked about it in, oh, July or so. Because at least ONE person had asked, I decided to list books this year. Now, looking at the list, there's only 60 some titles on it. Which makes me wonder if I just didn't do a good job of writing titles down! On the other hand, this year, I had a need to re-read several series. I re-read the entire JD Robb "In Death" series (30+ titles) as well as Anne McCaffrey's Pern books. McCaffrey's titles are listed below, Robb's aren't. The Only Robb titles you'll see are the new releases. I also re-read the Outlander series and they aren't listed.
One of the nice parts of reading ebooks is I can check my reading history. But for titles I read in print, if I didn't remember to list them, they didn't get listed. That is what I think has happened to me here. I'll try to do better this year!
My favorite first reads of the year? The Red Queen it's a fantasy/young-adult title but very well done. Favorite non-fiction reads are harder to pick. One that has inspired me to reduce the sugar I eat (knowingly and unknowingly), A year of No Sugar. One that was fun? Pioneer Girl: the annotated autobiography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The most moving and disturbing? Born Survivors.
So, without further ado, here's my reading list from 2015.
| A year of No Sugar | Eve Schaub |
| Return from Gap Creek | Robert Morgan |
| Carnal Desire | Crystal Jordan |
| The Wilder Life | Wendy McClure |
| Bound by Flame | Jeaniene Frost |
| Tempted by Midnight | Lara Adrian |
| The miniaturist | Jessie Burton |
| Transcendence | Shay Savage |
| Gap Creek | Robert Morgan |
| Clockwork Angel | Cassandra Clare |
| Pioneer Girl: the annotated autobiography | |
| A 50 year silence: love, war, and a ruined house in France | Miranda RichmondMouillot |
| There was a little girl | Brooke Shields |
| Obsession in Death | JD Robb |
| As You Wish | Cary Elwes |
| Hatshepsut | |
| Sweet Poison | David Gillespie |
| The Glass Arrow | Kristen Simmons |
| Red Queen | Victoria Aveyard |
| Seeker | Arwen Elys Dayton |
| To Marry an English Lord | Gail MacColl & Carol McD. Wallace |
| The Liar | Nora Roberts |
| Dragonseye | Anne McCaffrey |
| Dragonsdawn | Anne McCaffrey |
| Renegades of Pern | Anne McCaffrey |
| Masterharper of Pern | Anne McCaffrey |
| Dolphins of Pern | Anne McCaffrey |
| Dragon's Kin | Anne McCaffrey |
| Dragonflight | Anne McCaffrey |
| Dragonquest | Anne McCaffrey |
| White Dragon | Anne McCaffrey |
| Skies of Pern | Anne McCaffrey |
| Dragon's Fire | Todd McCaffrey |
| Dragon Fire | Todd McCaffrey |
| Dragon Heart | Todd McCaffrey |
| A Desperate Fortune | Susanna Kearsley |
| Whose Names are Unknown | Sanora Babb |
| After the Red Rain | Barry Lyga et al |
| Bound to Darkness | Lara Adrian |
| Virgin's Daughter | Laura Andresen |
| The Dragon War | Daniel Arensen |
| One year After | William R. Forstchen |
| Devoted in Death | JD Robb |
| The Perfect Nazi | Martin Davidson |
| The Winter Witch | Paula Brackston |
| The Midnight Witch | Paula Brackston |
| A Name of her own | Jane Kirkpatrick |
| Death on the Western Frontier | Eugene D. Fleharty & Gary Hulett |
| How to be a Victorian | Ruth Goodman |
| Outlander series again :) | |
| tis herself | Maureen O'Hara |
| Lights out | Ted Koppel |
| Underground in Berlin | Marie Jalowicz Simon |
| Tricky Twenty Two | Janet Evanovich |
| Stars of Fortune | Nora Roberts |
| Born Survivors: 3 young mothers and their story… | Wendy Holden |
| The Heir | Kiera Cass |
| Tournament at Gorlan | John Flanagan |
| Pack | Jeaniene Frost |
| Droughts and Dreams | Glenn Beck & Matt Redhawk |
| The Virgin's Spy | Laura Andersen |
| Brighter than the Sun | Darynda Jones |
| Silver Witch | Paula Brackston |
| Eragon | Christopher Paolini |
| Eldest | Christopher Paolini |
| Brisinger | Christopher Paolini |
| Inheritance | Christopher Paolini |
Thursday, December 03, 2015
The Dish cabinet.
One of the things that I like to do is to restore furniture. Specifically furniture that I will use and that has belonged to someone else in the family. I've done a dresser, a library table, the Hoosier, and others that aren't coming to mind right now. This most recent project is exactly like all the rest, it was a piece of furniture that belonged to the family. I really thought I'd taken a picture of it "before", but I can't find it now. Maybe I never did take that picture, but always thought I should take it. That would be completely in character!
 |
| Sitting in the garage, ready for its new home! |
After the tornado, Grandma and Grandad moved to town and left this cabinet in the basement. (Which was covered by a metal roof to protect everything they left at the farm.) About 3 years ago, I finally convinced Kevin to bring this cabinet home for us to restore. It sat in the garage until this October when we finally decided to get it restored and to give it to Andy. So, we washed it and assessed its condition.
We knew there was some termite damage. Everything stored in the basement suffered in varying degrees with terminate damage. (The termites were discovered and eradicated during the 80's, after Grandad died.) So, Kevin looked at the cabinet to decide what he would have to do. I thought all the termite tracks could simply be filled in with wood putty, but Kev disagreed. He took the back off, which was a walnut tongue and groove. It was so brittle that it splintered when he tried to remove it.
One of the shelves was too far gone, so Kev pulled it out and replaced it. Fortunately, he had an old piece of wood that was exactly the right dimensions. One other shelf he could simply fill in the few tracks with putty. One front edge, we just sanded the remaining tracks down until they were stable and left it. One of the lower cabinet shelves had a knot hole about 3 inches in diameter. The knot had long ago disappeared. We left the hole. We also left the spot where mice had chewed into the bottom corner. There were huge gouges in the top. Several deep dings in the sides One of the sides still showed the saw marks. We left it all for character, and because, well, it is an old, beat up cabinet. It had survived at least 7 children and 20 some grandchildren and a tornado. It's old and it's a survivor. We wanted those scars to be a part of its story.
We bought some new tongue and groove car siding and replaced the back with new wood. The top of the cabinet wasn't centered. One edge was flush with the side of the cabinet, so we pulled it off and centered it. We had to replace one of the pieces of glass. All the hardware was sanded to remove rust, but we didn't remove it from the piece because we were afraid of losing screws or stripping them out and we wanted to retain the original as much as possible.
We wanted to keep the character, but we just didn't think staining and refinishing was the answer. So, I convinced Kev to let me paint it with chalk paint.
I sure wish someone was around who knew the origins of this piece just so I would know and could pass that history on down with it. It doesn't really matter though. I'm very happy we could save it. I'm even more happy that one of my kids wanted it. That Andy wanted this part of his roots means a great deal to me. He never knew my grandparents. He never knew the farm as it was when they lived there, and yet he wanted a piece of them. Hopefully, this piece of them will live on for a very long time.
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