169th I Like Thursday Post

 Thank you for stopping by for my 169th I Like Thursday post.  A gigantic thank you to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find and share things that we like/love during the week.  

I love how my patio pots are looking.

Too bad I can't keep up with the weeds in my flower beds and gardens.  

I tried a new project.  I usually buy these fabric covered dog collars since the nylon ones actually cause abrasions on her neck.  The only thing is the collars are about $20 a piece.  I used Google and started reading and watching videos, bought the supplies, and surprise!  I actually made it in about 1 hour total.

Bobbin was even willing to model.  Not too shabby for the first try. 

I have been shopping my stash a lot lately, but I couldn't resist these fall fabrics.  

And of course you always need neutrals!  I also loved this sweet little pattern.  

The animals are all on the mend, then this happened.

A grandchild was sent to water the chickens, and the babies.  This is the grandchild that came to visit the summer from Oregon.  They returned and asked where did you get babies from?  I looked at them, and thought, you goober, you have been feeding and watering the babies for the past 3 weeks.  I told him, you have been feeding and watering them.  He told me no, not those.  I looked at him quizzically.  He said the little fluffy peep, peeps.  I was really confused.  I told him to show me.  Out in the chicken yard these were running around.  Twelve!  Yes twelve baby chicks.  There was a chicken that managed to get under the chicken house through a hole which was about 3" x 5" and had a huge stash of eggs, which turned into these little fluffer butts.  We grabbed them up and put them in a trough in the garage.  The mother hen was all upset, so we put her in the trough as well.  I will say that these chicks seem to be much more calm with their mama around.

I think I mentioned that I learned a new way to listen to books on my phone.  Since I seem to be working a lot of 12 hour days because people keep calling off I listen to at least 1 book a day if not more.  

 A Bucket of Ashes by PB Ryan.  This is the final installment of the Nell Sweeney Historical Mysteries.  Nell is at Cape Cod with the Hewitt Family for the summer, when she is informed that her brother, her only living relative has been killed in a fire, but the stories just don't add up.  When Will Hewitt returns from the Napoleonic wars Nell must make a decision, should she marry the local doctor, or stay with the Hewitts, caring for Gracie, and put aside her love of Will. 

A Rueful Death the 5th book in the China Bayles Mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert.  China is struggling with her successful business, and relationship.  It all seems too simple, so she decides to go on a retreat to St. Theresa's a few hours away from Pecan Springs.  A couple of mysterious deaths, some fires, and an old flame give China many things to consider. 

The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree.  The Darling Dahlias is a gardening club in Darling, Alabama during the 1920's.  Rumors of a bank failure, the disappearance of one of the local honeys, and a ghost digging around the Cucumber Tree near the Dahlia's clubhouse, and garden.  

Another fun series by Susan Wittig Albert.  

A Vow of Silence by Veronica Black

Sister Joan is sent to Cornwall and the Daughter's of Compassion due to a mysterious last letter sent by a nun.  A missing novice, and many secrets.

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I like Thursday posts. 

 

168 I Like Thursday Posts

 Welcome to my 168th I like Thursday posts.  For the past few years a number of bloggers, encouraged by LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color have created I like Thursday posts, or Thankful posts.  Our way of adding some positivity and beauty to the universe which has seemed topsy turvy.

One night as I was walking through the store I spied this potato.  Hanging out by the Vodka in the liquor aisle.  Do you think it is has high aspirations?

I guess if you are going to dream, dream big, aspire to be Absolut Vodka!  

While at my parents house I grabbed a box of Cheerios and they made me giggle.  

Some of the Cheerios are shaped like hearts!  Part of a heart healthy breakfast!  

 I saw this little red truck bird house and it made me smile. I love the old trucks, don't think that will ever change.

In fact I love old trucks so much imagine my delight when having breakfast with my middle daughter in Portland I spied this truck.

What is it about old cars and trucks that bring a smile to your face?  Is it because they bring back memories of simpler times?

Perhaps that is why I love seeing old windmills too?  

I know I have shared that my health plan through work encourages you to have check up, dental, eye, lose weight, test for diabetes, and many other things.  If you log in to their app, and synch it with your phone and log 10,000 steps a day you get points to spend in the "mall".  I bought myself a FitBit with my points.

What I have learned so far wearing it?  I don't sit still long enough for it to buzz at me to move.  I don't sleep enough, and I need to up my exercise regime.  

Back in November I started the On Grassy Creek Mystery Quilt by Bonnie Hunter.  I finished step one, and two and then stalled out.  After finishing the pineapple quilt it was time to choose a new UFO to work on so I grabbed the fabrics and started reading step 3.  I cut all the neutrals I needed, and then discovered I had not done a complete fabric pull.  I had the neutrals, golds, greens, and grays, but I had not pulled any of the reds or oranges.  I went shopping, stash shopping.  I hope it works out, some of the fabrics I don't think there is enough difference in the value but I am determined to not buy any fabric for this quilt.  

This is as far as I have gotten on step 3.

While cutting I spied this selvedge and it made me smile.

A local girlfriend is hosting a SAL on Facebook, she got the swap, SAL bug a year or so ago.  She really wanted me to join the group.  I joined but with the understanding I would not participate in any swaps.  I grabbed some scraps though to participate in her QAL.

Block 1.  I think this is a Pat Sloan block.

See a theme?  Yep I am using the fabric I have out and sitting around for this SAL too.

So far both of these blocks are made from 2 1/2 inch strips and a background fabric.  Super easy, even with partial seams. 

On the way home from Oregon I decided I wanted to visit Devil's Tower.  I don't remember ever stopping there before.  

I was very impressed.  I loved the picnic area nearby that had this sign with the Lakota story.

And an art installation called Circle of Smoke. 

I am definitely going to have to return for a visit in the future.  I hear they have an awesome after dark program.  There was a sign with a staggering statistic that less than 10% of the world's population has actually seen the Milky Way in all its glory due to ambient light and light pollution.  

Books....oh after figuring out how to use my phone I have almost averaged one book a day.  Remember my comment earlier how I stated I don't sit still long?  Well that also translates to not reading many actual physical books, other than at bed time.  But as I am at work, doing housework, working in the yard, working out I use that time well.

The Chelsea Thomas Apple Orchard Cozy Mysteries.  With Amazon Prime and Kindle Unlimited I could borrow the box set. 

Candy Apple Killer--Chelsea and her Aunt May have solved 3 recent murders in Pine Grove and are happy to have hung up their sleuthing for work at the orchard and the upcoming Candy Apple party.  Enter a new family, The Turtle family who are a couple of the most disagreeable people you can imagine.  When Mrs Turtle is left for dead at a corner table at the party after getting a "specially made" apple from K.P, Chelsea and Aunt May have to clear him, and fast. 

Berried Alive--A new developer wants to build a mega store in downtown Pine Grove, elbowing out many of the businesses that have been there for many years.  But before the first big protest by the local town fold he is found dead, face down in Aunt May's Berry Pie.  

Granny Smith is Dead---A History walk, hidden tunnels from the Revolutionary War and a love triangle, and town historian Granny Smith is discovered dead in a tunnel.  

Candy Slain----The Mayor has hired one of the most odious Santa Claus' imaginable.  So it is no surprise he is found murdered with a sharpened candy cane stuck through his heart. 

Shot Through the Tart---during a community production of Phantom of the Opera the lead actor is shot dead, everyone thought it was part of the play, except he does not get up to the standing ovation for his final bow.

Peaches and Scream---this is the first year the orchard is ready to sell peaches, so of course there must be a big peach party.  Later that night a person is found dead in the locked bake shop, a tarot spread before her, and Chelsea's keys to the bake shop are missing?  

Dread and Butter---Pine Haven's mayoral debate is anything but civil.  But then the deputy mayor is discovered dead with wads of bread shoved in his mouth.  Did the other mayoral candidate do in her competition?

The Smoking Bun.....There is a new hot chef in town working at Pete's Land and Sea.  He is thoroughly detestable and Chelsea discovers his dead body with a sticky bun lying nearby.  Death by sticky bun?

 

Bonefire of the Vanities by Carolyn Haines is book 12 in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries. Sarah Booth and Tinkie go undercover at a retreat center where the leadership hold seances, with people who are on the periphery of Washington power brokers.  Is it all a scam to cheat Marjorie Littlefield out of her millions?  

Smarty Bones by Carolyn Haines is the 13th book in the Sarah Booth Delaney Mysteries.  Olive Twist has came to Zinnia to study "the Lady in Red" a body that was discovered decades before in an unmarked grave.  Olive declares that she has secrets to share that will upset the Richmond and Falcon families.  When Olive's assistant is found dead from a cup of coffee who really was the intended victim. 

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts!

167th I Like Thursday Post

 Welcome to my 167th I Like Thursday post.  LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color encourages a group of bloggers to share things that they have discovered that they like/love during the week.  A way of throwing a little positive vibe into our universe. 

While Bobbin and I were traveling, it was during the crazy heat wave in Oregon, Washington and Western Canada.  Driving from northern California to Portland the temps hit 116 eventually.  I snapped a picture of the car thermometer at 112 to share with my daughter back home in Michigan. 

As stated previously Bobbin demanded the A/C on and was kind of a miserable little girl for the day.  She loved to get out of the car to walk, but she was more than happy to get back inside for a drink and the A/C.  

I love plants and am always so thrilled when I find new or different ones.  My mom had this interesting petunias that looked like someone had splashed them with bleach.

 

I saw this gorgeous coleus at a store nearby!  

What is it about variegated plants that fascinates me?

I love the ditch lilies.  For years Jeff would bring home buckets of day lilies to try to plant them in the ditch.  He never was successful, but the past couple of years we have had lilies and they seem to be growing more abundant every year.  

Of course one of the other things I love are foxglove.

 

These were growing wild in my parent's field.  The white flowers behind are blackberry blossoms.  June is a bit early for them to be blooming, and some bushes even had the beginnings of berries, but I am sure with the heat they will just dry up.  

I liked these tiny cones.  They are from a Red Alder.  I was always fascinated by them when I was a kid.  I miss seeing them. 

I have had some critter sightings too recently.   One morning I came out of work and saw this guy under my rear tire.  

A pretty big guy.  I think it is a snapping turtle.  

My mom got a new pup and she and Bobbin seemed to hit it off. In fact Good Golly Miss Molly has been kind of sad since Bobbin left.  One day I was left to baby sit.  Molly came in after running with Bobbin full of burrs.  I was told I am a terrible babysitter since my parents returned home to this.  It is hard to see, but her hair on her face and head were matted down she was so full of burrs. 

Molly is an Australian Terrier, she is a cutie, but man she has a lot of energy. 
 

On the way home I went by The Medicine Wheel in the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming.  There was a family having a ceremony while I was there so no pictures out of respect for them.  But as I was doing the 1 1/2 mile hike in I spied a moose in a meadow down the mountain side.

I decided that it was time to put a dent in my scrap bins.  I decided on a scrappy pineapple quilt using the creative grids mini pineapple trim tool.  

These are just 2 of the bins.  These are 1 1/2 inch blocks and strips.  I also have another huge bin full of "string" scraps which I dug through also.  My first block.

I wonder, do you think I will have enough scraps to make a quilt?  :D  

I loved this metal frog that I saw at the local feed store.  I think it has awesome colors. 

 I found a new way to listen to books.  My library uses an app called Hoopla.  I discovered that I can download it to my phone and so while I was traveling I listened to books I actually listened to 3 different books on my way to Oregon. 

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner.  In 1791 London Nella is an apothecary in a back alley.  Her specialty are poisons to liberate women from men who wronged them.  Nella keeps a register with the person who has made the purchase, what the purchase was, and the person that the purchase is intended for.  Present day London Caroline Parcewell spends her 10th anniversary alone, after discovering her husband's infidelity.  While mudlarking Caroline discovers an old apothecary bottle which reignites her passion for history.  Little does she know that the bottle is linked to the apothecary murders from 200 years prior.  

The next 2 books are by Micah S. Hackler, and are part of the sheriff Lansing mysteries set in the southwest.  

Legend of the Dead...a body is discovered in an arroyo.  Sheriff Lansing is investigating the death on the Anasazi Strip when a US Senator, a high powered business man, and pot hunters all discover that perhaps the ancient myths aren't just stories.

Coyote Returns...Sheriff Lansing is investigating the death of a man found dead on the road after being ran over by an 18 wheeler.  An invasion of coyotes in a nearby town, land deals and the Murder of a Navajo leader.  

Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson.  Midwife Sarah Brandt delivers a baby in a boarding house and spies a face from her past, at least she thinks she recognizes the face.  When the girl she has spied turns up dead, and Sarah realizes that the victim is part of her old world of the Elite and powerful in New York.  Sergeant Frank Malloy who is sent to investigate the murder is surprised when Sarah notifies him of who the dead girl is, and helps him investigate in 1890's New York, where the wealthy live in a completely different world, and will do anything to hush up the scandal.  

A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber is the 8th book in the Lady Darby series.  Kiera and Sebastian are invited to a Twelfth Night party at the estate of the Earl of Helmsdale.  Kiera is looking forward to finishing the portrait of the Duchess of Bowmant.  But during a ghost tour or the old crypts that connect the manor house with an ancient abbey a body is discovered.  Is it the Earl of Helmsdale who is supposed to be on a trip?  

 

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts!