Cuckoo

 Far Guy had a project.

It had so many tiny parts, every time I walked by his work table I shook my head.  He has patience to find all the parts, follow the directions and put it all together. 

Sadie on the other hand decided to be a lap dog one day....

We got more rain....real slick out there.  The next 24 hours we are in a Winter Storm watch...snow and wind are forecast.  We will be staying put.  Jen and Andy are painting their bedroom...so everyone has projects.  Jen is on Sabbatical and Andy is home for Christmas Break.

Minnesota weather : Dreary,  high was 38F or 3C and the low was 9f or -3c eh!

Supper was ham, scalloped potatoes, fruit and cornbread.  I puzzled most of the day in between cooking. 

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Hot Pads

 We are still in hot pad/potholder production.  It helps Far Guy with his anxiety.  I tried to teach him how to crochet...I am not a very good teacher.  I thought perhaps he could lessen the yarn stash by making scarves for school kids! 

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Progress

 I am making slow progress on my Nordic Mosaic crochet project.

Pictured are Nordic Snowflakes, Wintergreen Trees and Nordic Star.  I have a start on the Nordic Trees in the upper part of the photo.  I am on part 6 of 9.  

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Bjorn's Blanket

 I finished the baby blanket when I was resting.

This is mosaic crochet using patterns from the Geometrics and Winter Wonderland projects.

I met Bjorn on Saturday he is just two months old and has lots of hair!  This is his first trip to Minnesota from New Jersey to visit his Grandparents ( my baby brother and his bride).  His Mom reports that he travels well. 

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Stuff

 I took some photos over at Spirit Lake.  

They added some resting benches along the lake so I sat a spell until the Deer Flies found me.  Oh those buggers can bite.

We had a quiet day on Saturday Far Guy putzed in his garage and woodcarved...he managed to cut a finger but didn't need stitches or bleed to death....how he managed to cut through a steel glove and a layer of vet wrap is beyond me.   He really needs to see a hand surgeon to see if anything can be done for the finger that had the severed tendon years ago in another knife accident....it was surgically repaired but was never really "normal" and is now causing him pain.  I just splinted it and he says it feels better. 

I am working on a baby blanket, hope to finish it up soon.  I finished watching Ozark on Netflix.  I enjoyed that series very much...I give it a 9 ...a little less emphasis on the F word would have gotten it a 10...and many of the night scenes were really dark and it was hard to tell who was who and what was happening.   Not sure what I will watch next...I think Virgin River has some new episodes.  

Partially done...it is further along now.  This is mosaic crochet and a variety of patterns from Winter Wonderland ( still in progress) and Geometrics...I wanted to use variegated yarn...not sure yet if it was a good idea or not but I am using it up! 

Far Guy cooked...Steak Enchiladas...of course the meat was left over from the last batch so I threw it in the crockpot for him.  I should have saved the easy prep for  a night I was cooking!

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Mosaic Crochet : Costa Nova

 This is one of the projects I am working on. 

This part one of the CAL (crochet a long), I am not sure how many parts there are...six maybe.  

The top part is supposed to be beach umbrellas.  Costa Nova is a small fishing village in Portugal. 

Here is my bucket of yarn.

It was a busy week, my eye appointment was okay...not great but okay.  I am still suspicious for Glaucoma and will have to be tested every six months.   My mammogram results are in and everything boob wise is just fine!   So I am done with Doctors for a bit.  What a relief! 

Far Guy is doing okay, he woodcarves every day. 

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Peg Project

 Some of my Sheepjees Stone Wash yarn has  similar colors...since I like to make yarn balls out of every skein I needed some way to keep track of colors...I have 30 of the 36 colors. 

Using clothes pins/pegs works quite well and will also help me with choosing colors to reorder and help with the color decisions for a mosaic crochet project. 

Far Guy is a great yarn winder.  I pile the near his desk and he winds while watching music videos or movies. 

This yarn is a cotton /acrylic blend so it washes well and you lay it flat to dry.  I use it for my small purse projects and presently a mosaic crochet as you go blanket. 

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Next

My yarn for the next project.  

 Baby Bee yarn.  Have not decided on a pattern yet.  I am still thinking about it.

I still have partially done Winter Wonderland waiting in the crochet project line up.  I have scrubbies in process and a shawl partially done and some really cute mosaic bags in the works. 

I have many other non crochet projects....cards...watercolors... woodcarvings. I also have a very large old photo scanning project to work on.

I have not begun to make the list of things outside that need to be done. 

I am never bored.

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Progress on Patchwork Mosaic

 I started crocheting borders around my mosaic patchwork on April 12.  In the meantime I started watching Downton Abbey...and finished that series which I give a 10!   I enjoyed it very much!  Well I finished the borders on June 1st....and now I begin the crocheting of the patches together. 

I laid it all out on the floor upstairs. 

Each patch is a different mosaic design.   I will have to start another Netflix series in order to finish it!  I used a 3.75 size hook and Stylecraft Special DK  yarn. 

We had a busy morning with outside projects.   The Popple Puke was pretty good in the morning... in the afternoon it filled the air again.  The Pine pollen is bad but we don't have many Pines and the Oak dangles are still forming on the trees.  

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Found

 I found some of the things I was looking for.  I asked Far Guy if he wanted to join me on my hunt for a needle in a haystack and he said sure...and within ten minutes we were done.  It was a miracle.   What was I looking for?  Eight old photos from Forgotten Old Photos blog that people emailed me about over the winter...three were easy to find but five remained elusive...then I found two by myself and started the hunt again...yeah for us we found them!~  They are all ready to be mailed to their relatives.  Cross that project off my list!

Found a great Blueberry Pancake mix and we had it for supper with fruit.  Krusteaz makes it.

Found some time to work on my crochet project (Patchwork Mosaic) and the last square was completed and now work on the envelope borders begins.  The borders will be Teal....

I am a tad tired of Green, Pink and Hot Pink.

My basket will be filled with completed squares to crochet borders.   I am 11 days behind on this project due to time away from crochet for hand surgery.  Not sure that I should pick a date to be done with this project!  Perhaps months from now. 

It snowed again yesterday afternoon, big huge ugly flakes.

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New Project

 One thing leads to another...first you buy an instructional workbook...then the supplies ...and then the containers to store the new found supplies.   This time it is in a tube watercolors.  Before I have used pan watercolors and dual brush watercolors....so it is different. 

Oh well it has been a long winter that is getting longer. 

Far Guy had a good infusion nurse with good aim so only one stick...thank goodness.

Far Guy speaks with his sister and her family daily, there are no big changes although he said she looked like she was in more pain yesterday as she kept rubbing her head.

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Card Club

 I went to Card Club with Jen...they meet once a month.  

It is a creative group.  These are the cards we made.  Of course I ordered some of this pretty paper!   

We got news from back home that a friend and fellow Firefighter way back when died suddenly at home.  So sad for his wife and family.   Since Covid we have not seen him...I did wave at him one day in the Wally World parking lot.  He always had a big smile...he was a good guy.  Rest in peace Jiggs. 

I guess you never know from one day to the next who will be missing. 

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Ice and my messy desk

All that rain we had before that pathetic snow really showed up on Saturday morning in the sunshine.

Every little twig on the trees were coated in ice.   The ice caught the sunshine and the trees looked like they were dressed in diamonds.

We had a quiet day.  My other baby brother went on a grocery run for our parents and called me from the store...he delivered Far Guys cereal and a tomato to us.  BLT's were on the menu plan and I forgot the T.

I worked in the kitchen cleaning drawers...how do silverware drawers get so crummy?   I played with coloring and cards...my desk is a mess.

I am still blocking squares for my afghan...two squares a day is slow going.  I hope to finish the blocking soon and crochet all the squares together.    I still have three shawls in the works...progress is slow....those cupboards and drawers I am cleaning are taking up valuable crochet time.

We are both feeling just fine and are safe at home.
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What is next?

Not sure what big project I will take on after the Farm Diaries.  I do indexing for Family Search and can do more of that.  I can work on Find A Grave entries...I have some obituaries that need to be entered.   One side of Far Guys Mother's family can be traced back to The American Revolution I just need to prove that step by step.  If proven our daughters/granddaughters could  join Daughters of the American Revolution.  It may or may not be something they are interested in.

Presently I am keeping my head above water here at home, trying to stay ahead of housework and laundry just incase the call comes for new lungs.  I am working on the big sort and doing some spring house cleaning in the winter.

I have several crochet projects in the works and two pairs of socks on the knitting needles.

Yesterday I worked on some of my stamped cards...always a fun project and makes me feel good.  I tried out some new pens that I got for Christmas.

I always stamp the images on watercolor paper, I did some watercolors and some Prismacolor pencils this time around.  I use a special blender pencil with the Prismacolor Pencils.  These images will be cropped and matted before attaching them to the front of a card.

I have a woodcarving project that is lost someplace...possibly I left it in the greenhouse last Fall and now there is too much snow blocking the doorway to go take a look.  I could take the time to shovel the snow away....there is about 3 feet of snow there...seems easier to just let it melt! I have another woodcarving project that is almost done... a Santa.

 I have my small Wooden Barn Quilt Square that should be finished. Once upon a time I was missing the paint to finish it...still have that paint and it might be getting old!

So you see I have enough projects and hobbies to keep me out of trouble for a good long time.  I am hardly ever bored. 
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Winter Storm Jacob: Day One

The Winter Storm named Jacob began in the afternoon on Friday with windy conditions.  Snow was blowing around in the wind.  The snowstick is at 20 inches of snow...some either settled or blew away.

It was a dreary day.  I got the mail and Far Guy filled a bird feeder.  Other than that we hunkered down for the day.

For reference I took a photo of the patio and bird feeders before the storm kicked into high gear.

We are home for the duration of the storm.

I put away some cards that I finished this week.  A local pharmacy that has a photo shop sent me an email saying that I had not ordered photos in a long time and would I like a coupon for 25 free photos?  Sure.  Their photos are not quite square with the world but they were free.

Now for the big question is a project unfinished if you never started it?   I found this tucked away in a drawer upstairs...pillowcases to be embroidered....apparently at one time I gathered the embroidery floss for the project...some needles and a hoop are still needed before I can begin...easily attainable I have several hoops and lots of needles ...maybe I will put it in the craft suitcase.

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Rain

We have had rain for two days.  The first day I caught up on laundry and packed some suitcases just in case we get on that Transplant List and get a call.  I have one suitcase full of  misc stuff medications, bath stuff etc.  One for clothing and one for craft stuff to keep me occupied.  I also have a list on the bulletin board that tells me what we need to grab quickly before leaving.  (We should know soon if he is on the list, unless they want some other medical tests.)

I resurrected my sock knitting project, I need to visit that project more often.

The rain has beat down my daisies.

Yesterday Far Guy had surgery to remove his defective port.  It went well, but he is very sore.  For a quiet activity I spent some time online shopping .  I finalized this years Christmas Card design and I needed a few die cuts and ordered the paper with matching envelopes....Blueprint Blue.  Then I cut a bunch of watercolor paper and stamped my design 119 times.

Then my train of thought derailed and I stamped a few of my newest stamps...first time I have had a chance to try them.

 It will be fun to see how they color up!
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Monday Happenings

Two  health care appointments were accomplished.  Far Guy had a "Port Study" done by the Interventional Radiologist...who apparently doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground.  The port leaks as the needle is being removed...yet did he remove the needle from the port??  No.  They are alive and walk among us everyday.

I need a second consult on my hand...both the scar tissue from the Carpel Tunnel Surgery and a growth on the palm of my hand...the Ortho PA said the growth  must go.  Now we will see what the Hand Surgeon says later this month. I  had ultrasounds and that horrible test where they test every nerve in you arm and hand (Nerve Study)

Two more health care appointments later this week....I swear our social life is mainly at the clinic.

Some snow melted but we still have a fair amount in our yard and at the snowstick.

I have been working on some cards.  I got some new Real Pen Brushes and I really like them. They can be used with water.

With my hand as wonky as it is...I don't do any one activity for very long before I switch. I have less pain that way. 

Part of getting older and having more aches and pains means that you must adapt your activities.
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Fresh Snow

It started to snow about noon on Thursday.  On our way home from our appointments we noticed more and more snow.

I took a photo of the patio.

 Before the snow and after the snow.

We had 4 inches of snow at the snowstick just before dark.  So the snowstick contest will begin again.

The snow storm is not finished with us.  It has been real windy.  Many of the roads are closed to travel, they are icy and dangerous.

I just finished raking the front yard one day this week...all twigs and spent bird seed was hauled away and I cleaned out the bird bath and put in fresh water for the birds. Then the Juncos came about 24 hours before it snowed.

We hunkered down at home...watching Frozen Four Hockey Playoffs. Far Guy worked on a woodcarving...I worked on a variety of things; nests, cards, scrubbies and old photos.  One afternoon this week I watched The Highwaymen...excellent movie except some of it was filmed so dark it was hard to tell what was happening.  I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.  It was based on a true story.

We have no place to go on Friday so we will stay hunkered down until the snow ends.

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Thoughts of Spring

We wish Spring would get here faster!

Far Guy took away the Electric Snow Shovel...that piece of equipment saved my shoulders from many aches and pains.  No worries my other snow shovel is still near the door.  I expect that we will get more snow before Spring really gets here.

I bought a new stamp.

A Trillium.  It was on the sale table...truth be told I would have bought it anyway even if it had been regular price.

These will be cards ...eventually.  The shiny one  on the right is done with a pearl watercolor paint.  Far Guy and I both agreed that it was TOO much.

Simple is better...the rest were done with Prismacolor pencils, watercolors and a glitter pen.
If Spring cannot be here yet...working with Spring like images is the next best thing!

The snow is melting and revealing many twigs and branches that litter the yard.  Snow really hides lots of "stuff."
Our Trillium will be blooming in about six weeks.
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Drawing

Jen gave me an online drawing class for my birthday last Fall….I am finally getting around to it!

I love to doodle so this is the perfect class for me.  I can stay home and draw to my hearts content.

Whimsical packages

I am learning more in the online class than I ever did in High School Art Class.  This instructor uses pencils or sharpies.   She also likes to copy and print out her designs to color.  I had some old drawing pencils but she suggested a special eraser.  Who knew a kneaded eraser could be such a wonderful tool!

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