Doing some walking

I'm getting better it isn't even a week since I last posted. We did see the cardiologist last week. He says we are both fine. In fact he says Bill's heart is getting stronger. Though both of us had slightly elevated blood pressure. I said it was probably the drive over. Traffic was horrid and we were almost late. He did put Bill on a blood pressure pill. Then he said see you next year. So that turned out good. 

Went out back one morning and caught this flock of birds going somewhere. I don't think they were geese as they were going north and I didn't hear any honking. 

They are still working on laying the new miles long - right through the Wetlands - sewer pipe. This poor guy is out there every day in the heat with his SLOW/STOP sign. They have been starting work earlier lately. 

It finally got cool enough to walk early in the morning. We walked on Sunday morning as we missed Saturday because my friend had an early appointment. Left home about 7 a.m. and got home 8:45 - did 2.5 miles.  I was tired when I got home but we needed to go to market. Before I went to bed that evening my watch went off - I'd done 10,000 steps that day. My friend is 15 years younger than me and is a fast walker. She had to wait for me a couple of times. Hope I get used to it the next few weeks. We started out on a concrete walkway we've taken many times. Whoops! it came to an abrupt end. A wide dirt roadway cut it off - the sewer pipe was laying on the edges and I presume that all the big equipment uses this as their right of way right through the park. There was orange plastic fence up across the trail. Hum. We noticed that it looked like a lot of people had come that way and just walked over the fencing. Okay. We didn't want to go back to find another way so we stepped over the fencing and slowly, for me anyway, carefully walked down a little incline to the smooth dirt. That was okay. But then we had to climb over the pipe and the fence and go up a !mile high incline! to get back on the trail. My friend went first. Did I mention she is YOUNGER than me. Between the incline, the rocks, the pipe and the roll of stuff and over the fence...she pulled me the last few feet. I feel that a few years ago I wouldn't have even slowed down. Funny how your body and mind says...mmmmm??!!  We made it and off we went. 

Got to the first pond. Lots of turtles swimming around. They came right over to the overlook when they heard/saw us. I guess someone is probably feeding them. Only saw one big catfish swimming around. No water fowl. Two or three different kinds of turtles in the pond. 

Continued on up the trail to the area that was burned in the first fire. That one big tree in the middle won't be coming back, it seems complete dead. The black one in the left front is sprouting from its roots. So in a month or so the burnt part won't be visible. We sure hope the little ash trees that were planted after the fire live. Most of them don't look very good. It felt so good to be outside walking. 

Didn't take a picture, but should have. We came home a different area. Again the orange fence, but not trampled down. Again we didn't want to back track so we ended up lifting the fence away and crawling under it. That would have made a funny video. I wonder what the construction company will do about the big dirt path they've made. If they'll replace the dirt and reseed it?

I have finished my fourth small quilt. So here they all are, just waiting to be boxed up and sent. Hate to think what that is going to cost. All are different patterns, materials and sizes. I kind of like the bear paws, but will never make another one of that pattern. Too much work. The middle one has a lot of butterfly material in it. The bottom one I made a year or so ago. It was  fun to make. The one on the left I saw the pattern on line and copied it. 

I also made those little basket/bowls I was making a while ago to match each quilt. Finished them this morning. Put a note in each one saying to use the quilts, don't just put it away somewhere. Hope they do use them.

This one is different. 

Last week we had a four-sided house inspection. Management walks all around the house then sends you letter telling you what you need to fix, paint, prune or get rid of. So waiting for that letter. They always seem to find something. One time years ago when we still had the big pine trees, they said there were too many pine cones and needles on the yard. Glad the trees are gone.

Also we have the RV out front. They are repaving the RV lots so everyone had to move their RVs out on the the streets. Waiting for them to call and say we need to put it back. They say they are making the spaces wider, that would be good. Can barely open the door when someone is parked in next space. And that is it for now. 

No more mouse in the house

Our weather is finally cooling down, mostly in high 90's now and best of all cooling down into the 70's at night. So we are going to try walking on Saturday - should be around 75 at 6:30 a.m. with a breeze. They are still working on the sewer lines out in the Wetlands, be interesting to see how much damage if any, has done to the park. 

Bill and I got out one day this week and went to the big Mexican supermarket just up the street. Always interesting to see what they have. Look at the shine on the concrete floors. Bill is asking about something he was looking for. Very helpful workers there.

Just happened to notice the Coca Cola in glass bottles. Made in Mexico.  The white sticker is Nutrition Facts. 

And of course, the bakery. Yum.

Happy face cookies. 

Most of the week though I've been working on a couple of quilts. This one is one of those things you wish you hadn't started. I thought it was cute, but didn't realize all the work it would entail. But I stuck with it and the front is done now. Going to a great granddaughter in Lake Havasu. Will be sending four of them there to the four girls. Let their grandmother sort them out. 

It is sewed together and I have the backing for it. Now just have to quilt it. But think I'm going to have to use my old machine to do that. The new one doesn't like bulky things. Also I want to try out some quilting templets I got and the new machine doesn't like them either. The only thing my old machine will do is quilt free motion quilting now. 

Also have the backing for the butterfly quilt. So need to finish it too. 

Just took this because I liked the shadows on the mountain. Took it through the kitchen window so isn't as clear as I'd like it to be. 

About the mouse. When the pest control guy came last week he gave us a couple of huge traps with poison in them. He said the mouse would go in the trap eat the poison and then go somewhere to die. I didn't like the somewhere part of it. What if it was under the stove or in a wall. UGH. Well he did die and did so in plain sight. Except neither Bill nor I saw him at first. This rug is right outside our bedroom door. Both of us had been in and out of the bedroom a few times that day. See him?.. 

I was coming out of the bedroom and wondered what was on the rug, it looked like a big piece of lint... OMG it was the dead mouse. How neither of us didn't step on him we'll never know. Can you imagine stepping on him with bare feet.......!!!!! He kind of just blended in with the rug.

Today we go to cardiologist for test results. Then week after next Bill goes to new neurologist. He doesn't specialize in ocular myasthenia gravis but does treat MG. Hope Bill likes him. And I hope the MG isn't spreading.

Sewing, sewing, sewing - all about learning my new machine

Our weather has been hot and humid - unusual for here. But this week it has been lower only 98/99 and starting today the humidity is going away. It really hasn't bothered me as I've been in the sewing room learning my new machine. Have figured out a lot of things. Here it is set up for embroidery. I am doing the rooster pattern. There is a little X on the picture that shows where the needle is and where it is going. This machine has smaller hoops than my old machine. And the presser foot has to be manually raised and lowered. The other machine was automatic. Need to get used to that. 

The finished rooster, needs to be pressed. And I learned after it was finished I should have changed the bobbin tension. Oh well. 

Got into some serious sewing this day. Took over entire room. 

I did take breaks once in a while. Saw this road runner in the back yard. He was watching something. Maybe a lizard. But he lost interest and left. 

Back to sewing again. This time I set the machine up right. Doing the balloon. The squares under the picture are showing me the thread colors and when to change them. 

Took a picture of the machine doing the rooster. Fun to watch the process. 

The finished balloon, not pressed yet either. Did a better job with the tension set right. See the detail on the basket. 

Oh My Goodness I finally lucked into figuring out how to connect my laptop to the sewing machine via WiFi. I have hundred of embroidery patterns on the laptop from when the old machine worked. 

Sent this from the laptop to the machine. So excited...

Yes, every once in a while I left the room, once to check out a sunset. Kind of pretty. 

Back to sewing. Have this quilt almost done, Well the top part. I started to play with some of the decorative stitches I discovered. Used them on the small yellow strips. 

Hard to see but there are hearts on the top one, small flowers on the middle one and bigger flowers on the bottom one. 

Now I'm trying to decide how to quilt it. I saw some stuff on line I might get to help with the quilting. 

Today Sphere.  They are going to show the old movie The Wizard of Oz inside the Sphere. I guess they have added some AI features to it. WOW in row 9 the tickets are $294 each for tomorrow night. People are crazy!!!

Our little house mate the mouse is still around. When I was at my computer I heard strange noises. At first I thought the printer was updating. Then I realized it was coming from my waste basket, Moved the shredder and sure enough there he was looking at me. I went to the kitchen to get a trash bag to empty him into and when I got back he was gone. No idea how he managed to climb up the sides and get out. Haven't seen him since. 

Bill is having a hard time with the prednisone so we need to get it in smaller doses. Have called primary doctor and left message. Also have located another ocular myasthenia gravis doctor. Will call there next week to see if we can get him an appointment. 

Confused.

 I received my new sewing machine on Tuesday, early evening so just unpacked it and set it in sewing table. Of course nothing from the old machine will fit with the new one. This is a sewing and embroidery machine. So should be fun once I figure everything out.  The embroidery attachment is sitting on the table behind it.  Of course I have to buy a new insert for the sewing table so I have a flat surface to sew on.   The old insert doesn't fit.  Called the company and ordered a new one, boy the price for it went up. Will get it in three to four weeks. It goes around the opening in the sewing cabinet and fits right up to the machine so there is a big flat surface to sew on. 

The embroidery unit. Still haven't touched it. 

Started to play with it Wednesday morning. Yep, I still have that same look on my face.  The major difference for me is the presser foot went up and down automatically, this one I have to raise and lower it. That is the major nuisance, cause I just sit there waiting for it to come up. Lots of other difference with threading and bobbins and etc., etc.  It also has a touch screen - well many, many touch screens...and it connects to WiFi. Little by little I'm figuring out a few things. Can finally sew a good 1/4 inch seam. Well most the time. I kept forgetting to write the touch screen setting down. So would have to start all over again. Wrote it down this morning. One needle touch button has 29 different positions for the needle?????

We are heading into monsoon season and might have rain the whole next week. Or might not. But there have been some nice sunrises and sunsets. Sunset two days ago. 

Looking out back towards the Wetlands. Still lots of work going on back there. This machine and another one just as big are parked right behind our house. All of our plants are desert plants, so no matter the heat they bloom all summer long. 

Again The Sphere, I though this one was a little strange, cute but weird. 

In a video this one was amazing. 

Not walking at all, it was 90 by 7:30 this morning. Hopefully next week it will start cooling down a little. One of our neighbors went out early walking in Wetlands and got this photo of the bobcat.

Second person living here that's got a picture of him. I hope he is still around when it cools off enough to walk out there again. 

This guy has been hanging around our backyard lately. 

So that is it for us. I've taken my calm down break and will now go back to the sewing machine and see if I can figure out the embroidery part. 

Beware of what you say and where you say it.

THEY are listening to everything you say. Be careful. 

Weather continues to be hot and by end of week we might get some rain. Oh goody humidity too. 

It never cools down at night. AC runs 24/7. The rain is supposed to come Friday and Saturday, sure hope we get some. So far this year we've had 67 days over 100 but some of those were over 110. Check out the "feels like temperatures." Who are they kidding? 

The good news is last summer was way hotter than this year so far. 

The other day we discovered we had a new roommate...another mouse. Haven't seen him but noticed some tortillas we left out in their bag had been chewed on and of course there was a nice black present in the bag too. So Bill and I were talking about the mouse while sitting in the room where our computers are (Mine was not on line or being used at that time.) Guess what! Next time I went on line I had several ads about mouse traps and pellets!!!!! Freaking scary. I put out one of the old wooden traps. Baited it with tortilla - which he/it just pulled off and ate. So now it had peanut butter on it. So far no SNAP. Maybe he just likes tortilla or he moved out. I hope. No droppings anywhere I've looked. 

The quilt I just finished took a toll on my old sewing machine. It is about 30/35 years old. I've had it for 24 years and it was used when I bought it. For the last year it has been slowly breaking down. One piece or stitch or action after another either broke or quit working. Now it will only straight stitch - but doesn't even do that right. About every 20th stitch it thinks it has to go backwards for a few stitches. So I went on line to see about repair shops. Found a place I could take it just a bit down the road. Got their phone number and meant to call it them the next day. Well...turns out I haven't called them yet. Instead when I went on line the next day (again scary) there were a bunch of ads from Husqvarna Viking Sewing Machines. 

(My old one is a Husqvarna Viking Designer II Quilting Embroidery machine.) The embroidery part quit working a year ago and the laptop the designs were on also quit working. And the program wouldn't load on to Windows 8. The old laptop had Vista! Anyway I started to look at the ads. OMG the prices ... I knew they had gotten really really expensive, but they are crazy out of this world expensive now. And then I saw a Quilting Embroidery machine that was ON SALE for a whole lot off. Hummm.....read about it and forgot about it. Shut down the computer and did something else.

Went back on computer next morning and first thing I saw was the sewing machine - oh no. I managed to hold off until afternoon, then I broke down and ordered it. My reasoning - it would probably cost over $500 to repair the old one and I still wouldn't be able to use the embroidery program. Makes sense right?! So I should get my new machine tomorrow. It is all high tech and uses wifi. I might be out of my technical level. Bill says he thinks he will learn a whole lot of new cuss words before I figure out everything. Like even turning it on and threading it. Time will tell. 

I already have a new quilt pattern picked out. [Crap I forgot I put a pie crust in the oven for the quiche I'm plan to make. Well it will be crunchy.] Now I have to remember to take the quiche out when it is done.

The Sphere again.

I might be away from the computer for awhile while learning my new machine. 

It is still hot here.

We woke up to the power out this morning. Went out about 5:00. I got up around 6 o'clock and it was already in the 90's. About 11,000 people without power. Energy company was on it right away. Came back on at 7:15, at least for us. The community we live in has a Facebook page I read to see what is goin on here. Several residents were on their way to restaurants. Luckily we had matches so could light one of the stove burners to heat coffee. And learned that if the power goes out the big gates guarding us automatically open and stay open until power comes back on then they close. Haven't heard what the cause was. Glad it is on as we are having another 110 degree day. So far this summer 56 days over 100.

I finished my quilt. There are about 190 three inch squares to make it. It ended up being bigger than I thought it was going to be. I used three inch squares and I think the picture I saw was made with two inch squares. If I were to make it again I'd add a couple of rows to the top with more of the colored tree squares. It looks a little squashed.

I had to get creative to finish the back, didn't have any material that I liked that would cover the whole back. So put a piece in the center. Added the dark green around it. Then added the four leaves from same material scraps. 

My sewing room is all cleaned up for a while. I've found another picture of a quilt I like, but haven't figured out if I have the material I'd want to make it.  Even the carpet has all the threads vacuumed up. Think they filled the bag! I bought the curtain material in Mexico years ago, it has sewing machines and supplies on it. The cubbies are filled with material. Lots and lots of material. Mostly sorted by color.

Years ago I made the hanging. Got the idea from a small painting we bought in Mazatlan. It was fun doing. All material.

The things on  the walls behind the ladies are full of thread, for quilting and embroidery. I did the ladies a few years ago. Had the patterns for years before I figured out how to do them easily and fun. 

Our son came across this picture in his stuff. It is a picture of Sirimarco's of Beverly Hills our jewelry store on Rodeo Drive. Had it in the mid 1970's to 1978. A long time ago. 

Been cooking lately. Made chicken taquitos the other night, and brownies and thinking about making candied peanuts. Last night I made paella for dinner. One of Bills favorites. Tonight I think we'll have chicken quesadillas. Have all the things we need and easy. 

They are still working behind us and in The Wetlands laying new sewer line. Same guy is still standing on the bike/hiking walk every day with his sign. 

Your dose of The Sphere. Some of the videos of it on line are amazing. 

Bill no longer has his curls, we cut each other hair with the clippers yesterday. More like heads shaved. So much cooler. His eyes are bothering him today. Making him dizzy.