Update on Punkin

Punkin made it through the weekend and on Monday the veterinarian checked her and called us to let us know our options. We chose to have Punkin's leg amputated. She had the surgery on Monday and Bob picked her up from the hospital this morning. She is so sweet. Bob has taken her outside with him for awhile today and she loves it. She is doing really well getting around on just the three legs. Her biggest challenge right now is learning how to squat with one back leg.

Very Sad News

On Friday our dog, Punkin Doodles, was injured. Bob had run errands and just returned home. Checotah and Lola came out to greet him, but Punkin didn't come - which was unusual. Checotah had blood all over her face. Bob wondered where Punkin was - he called and called for Punkin, but she didn't come. Punkin is very obedient and comes whenever called. So, Bob thought Punkin might be injured and maybe out in the back field, so he started walking out that direction. He didn't see her, and turned around to head back towards the house. Punkin was limping towards him from the house. She must have been under the porch. Her left back leg was just hanging there and she was hobbling on three legs and was bleeding. Bob loaded Punkin into the truck and headed for the veterinarian's office.

Bob thought that maybe Checotah and Punkin got into a fight, but the veterinarian said the injury was much more serious that what an animal could do. He thought she had probably been hit by a car.

Punkin has been sedated and has been made as comfortable as possible. The veterinarian didn't expect her to make it through the night - but she did. On Monday we will have to make a decision. Bob and I are so sad. Punkin has been our baby for 12 years. We love her very much.

Finally . . .

It's been seventeen years since I started this quilt in a day project! I had signed up for a quilting class and made this log cabin cover project called a quilt in a day. My next class was on hand quilting so I decided to hand quilt the log cabin quilt in a day project that I had started. As you can tell, the colors of the quilt are outdated now, but it took me so long and was so much work I'm going to use it on my bed no matter if the colors are from the 90's. I don't think Bob is too excited about all the pink in this quilt, but he's a good sport and has let me use it anyway. He probably wishes it was still packed away in that clear tub that we toted around all these years - at least in the tote it was out of sight!


A few weeks ago, Bob started caning a chair he found in the barn. The directions indicated that re-caning a chair was a great weekend project. I had my doubts about "weekend project" after my 17 year quilt in a day project. But, the re-caning project only took two weekends and the chair looks great!

Bob enjoyed the project so much, he found another chair (one that we had hauled from California) that needed to be recaned and completed it in no time!


Bob said that the square seat was easier to cane than the round seat.

I'm thankful that Bob's caning project didn't take as long as my quilt project! Now if I could just finish the rest of my many unfinished projects.

The Surprise Party

Yesterday Shannon, Jeff, and Madeline came over and brought me a birthday present and visited for a while. Bob had my antique clock repaired and gave that to me for my birthday present. I thought I'd had a great birthday - even though I celebrated a day early.

Today, my birthday, I went to work as usual, had a stressful day as usual, and returned home expecting to spend the evening alone (Bob is usually gone in the evening). However, that wasn't the case. When I arrived home, it looked like every light was on in the house and there were two cars in the driveway. It was a party! Bob had planned this party two weeks ago and invited Ryan, Lisa, and the kids; Shannon, Jeff, and Madeline; and Tony and Donna. He must have been very busy all day because the dinner was delicious and the table looked beautiful! Bob made home made dinner rolls, mashed potato casserole, corn, salad, and beets. For dessert he made lemon merigue pie and angel food cake (my favorite) without icing! It was a wonderful evening with presents too! Ryan had taken an old picture of my grandfather several months ago (I had actually forgotten he had taken it) and had it restored and framed. I just loved it. Ryan actually looks like my grandfather did when he was in his 30's. I received many wonderful gifts, cards, phone calls, e-mails and notes. This truly was a special day for me. Thank you to each of my children and friends for filling this day with love and memories I'll always cherish.

New Project

Bob has been spending every spare minute cleaning out the barn so he can repair the floors in preparation for a big barn conference for his churches this coming June. The scrap metal pile is growing almost daily. Bob has found quite a few treasures and I enjoy my weekly tour of the barn to see the progress and take a look at the treasures. Bob has found several chairs. One chair didn't have any legs, but the rest of it was in good condition, so he thought he could nail it onto a log and use it for a stool. I agreed that would be a good idea as long as it stayed in the barn. A couple of the chairs were quite nice, but were in need of having the seats re-caned. We spent some time exploring information on-line which described the caning process as a good weekend project. So, Bob decided he'd give it a try. We ordered the supplies on Sunday and we found the package on the porch last night when we let the dogs inside to be put to bed for the night. So, tonight Bob started his project. Since he's starting on Thursday it'll give him a good head start and hopefully a completed chair by Sunday night.




I sure hope this project doesn't last as long as my quilt in a day project has lasted. I've managed to stretch my quilt project into 17 years. I guess we'll see who finishes their project first. I'll keep you posted.

Tale of Two Sundays

Last Sunday Lisa and the kids were with us for the day. We started the day off making homemade donuts for breakfast. Gracie was the official donut icing girl and Hannah waited patiently for her turn.

After breakfast I played a few polkas on my accordion while the girls danced around in the living room.

For lunch grandpa made a German potato and dumpling soup and blooming onions. Both were delicious! These sweet onions are from our garden. We have a "ton" of them stored in the basement.

Here is what the blooming onion looks like after it has been battered and deep fried. They were a big hit with the kids - me too!!!

The boys enjoyed riding their snowmobiles while the girls made a snow fort.

Little Ryan came in with snow all over his face even on his eyebrows. The boys were having so much fun riding. However, I think they spent as much time fixing the snowmobiles and they did riding them. They managed to get one of the snowmobiles stuck in a snowbank not far from the orchard, so grandpa went out to help them. First they got the snow blower out and blew some of the snow and then used my Envoy with the four-wheel drive to pull it out.

This Sunday Bob and I were home alone. No guests for the weekend. I went out to the barn first thing in the morning with Bob to observe first hand our crazy chicken that prefers to eat breakfast with the cats rather than the chickens. And, the cats let it! Big Foot was eating with Tiger and the chicken too, but I scared it when I turned on the camera. He's camera shy.

Then Bob and I decided to go for a walk on the property using our snowshoes. It was the first time I had used mine.

We were gone for about two hours and had a great time. The dogs loved going for the walk with us.

I was a little hesitant when we were walking across an area that was filled with cat-tails. But all is well.

Run Away Comes Home

While we were celebrating the holidays with family in Michigan and Oklahoma, we left the care of our beloved dogs, cats, and chickens in the very capable hands of our friends that have taken care of them many times over the past few years.

Bootsie, our female barn cat must not have appreciated our leaving her to be cared for by someone else, because she ran away from home. Bob and I were so upset that Bootsie was missing. However, Matthew was the most upset. Bootsie was Matthew's cat and had come to live in our barn while the family lived with us during their new home renovations. Then when they moved, Bootsie enjoyed the barn so much that Matthew left her with us since their new home didn't come with a barn.

Bootsie was gone for two weeks and we didn't think we would ever see her again. It was sad for me to think about what might have happened to her. I tried to convince myself that she had gone out looking for mice and she couldn't make it back to the barn because of all the snow.

When we arrived home from our trip we had at least three to four feet of snow on the ground. If fact our town made the national news - because of the amount of snow we received (60 inches in nine days and counting).

This morning when Bob went out to the barn to feed our other two cats (Tiger and Big Foot - Bootsie's two boys that we kept) and the chickens, he was so surprised to see Bootsie waiting to be fed. Of course when he came into the house to tell me, I immediately called Matthew to let him know - Bootsie had come home!!! We are all so happy that she made it back home safely. Now I just hope she isn't expecting kittens. We didn't want to get her fixed before we left and now it may be too late.

Bootsie