I've been a nosey neighbor

Our neighbors have Longhorn cattle. They have been a novelty since they first entered the pasture next door. 

Being farm folks, Mike and I thought it was odd that the neighbors would buy such a creature. They were not really farm people and simply bought them for the novelty of how the cattle looked, I think. The first two who came to be our neighbors were Wanda and Willy. Wanda was a hefty, older looking cow who looked like she had not had a calf in years. Willy was a young yearling bull.  

Then, the neighbors added another and another Longhorn cow until they had an entire herd. Some of the new cows gave birth shortly after arriving next door and the herd continued to grow.

The neighbors wound up selling and moving away to another state but the herd stayed next door for the new homeowners. These new homeowners really seemed to have less knowledge about cattle than the original ones. For example, they didn't realize that they probably needed to get some hay to feed the cows when it snows and there is no grass readily available. So, they asked Mike for suggestions and he shared a little information.

After lunch one day this week, Mike mentioned that there was a truck and trailer backed up to the catch pen next door and some guys were loading up some of the Longhorns. Out of curiosity, I gravitated to the window to watch. I was curious about how many they would be able to load onto a trailer with those long horns. There were already a couple of the cattle loaded onto the trailer and the guys were working to get more on. One of them came dashing around the side of the trailer and had a rope dangling from his neck. The guys came dashing after him and the chase ensued.

The young bull went loping off down the pasture away from the barn. At one point one of the guys grabbed hold of the dangling rope and he began to dangle along as well. After a while, the guy turned loose and stood in a state of ponder for a bit. Then, he eased down the pasture and circled around the young bull and drove him back up toward the barn. This time, the young bull made short work of running around and getting by the men. Finally, both guys snagged hold of the end of the rope and held on, stopping the young bull.

It became a war of wills. Which would have the most determination? Would it be the guys or the bull? The guys were patient for a while. The other cattle came over to their friend and checked him out and then they wandered off munching on grass. After the young bull tired a bit, one of the guys ran back up the hill to the truck and pulled it down toward where the young bull was scotched and holding his ground.

I was amazed by the strength of this guy! Evidently, they didn't make much progress at coaxing the young bull onto the trailer. So, while the one guy held on, the other guy circled the trailer back around closer to the young bull, who was laying on the ground at that point. 

Being the nosey neighbor through all of this, I just took a seat near the window looking out onto the neighbor's pasture and watched all the action as I was making up an online grocery order. I was certainly amazed by the strength of the one guy! They were pretty tenacious about getting their job done and I found it interesting to see how they went about getting that bull loaded. I was also thankful that I didn't have any part of the work of it!

The two guys tugged and coaxed and finally got the bull loaded and went on their way with the load of Longhorn bulls. Obviously, this was not the guys' first rodeo! 

Today I Noticed...The Glow of the Rising Sun

I have developed a bad habit. 

I wake up each morning sometime between four and five-thirty. Why? Why couldn't my body wait for just another hour or so? Why does it decide I need to get up that early?

I've been getting up and moving to the chair in the bedroom so that I will be quiet and not disturb Mike. I can hear his gentle snoring in the den. So, I shift to the chair and do a little reading and napping.

Today, I noticed that as the sun is coming up, there is a nice glow from the rising sun peeking into the window. Even my unmade bed seems to have a nice glow as the sun is coming up.

Maybe I am getting a gentle nudge so that I don't miss the glow...

Family Portraits to Make a Gallery Wall

As we have been reclaiming the basement, I have been going through lots of things that were Mrs. Ozburn's. She lived with us and had her own space here from 2017 through 2023 when she passed. She had promised different things to family members and we certainly passed those things along as she had requested. Sorting through things has been a slow task for me because I don't want to overlook something that might be treasured by her grandchildren. There were lots of trinkets and decorative objects - far more than even I like to have atop tables and on bookshelves and keep dust-free. I took photos with my phone and sent out a group of ten or so photos at a time asking Mike's children if they wanted to claim them for their homes. Most were spoken for right away and only a few are still waiting for them to pick up and haul away.

Before Mrs. O moved in with us, she cleared out lots and gave furniture and decor to us, my brother and sister-in-law, and her grandchildren. We have a beautiful dining table, a cane rocker, a beautiful oil painting, and a few other pieces. One of the interesting things that we inherited are family portraits and loads of photographs. So, I'm sorting through the ones Mike's mother gave us as well as the ones she had on the walls and in boxes and books. We've asked Mike's aunt to identify some folks pictured that Mike was unsure about and I've left many hanging in the kitchen which show his relatives as well as what life was like here in days gone by with old trucks and horses and wagons and such. I want to create a gallery wall of some of the portraits and photos. I made a few snapshots with my phone to send to Mike's aunt for clarification on identity and am including those here but as I get these grouped and hung, I will try to update and make better photographs as the gallery shapes up.

One of the portraits we were given is of Mrs. O's great-grandmother, Helton Claiborne. We were told by Mike's mother that she was never married but she had three children with an American Indian fellow in the 'wilds of Tennessee.' She is certainly a stern looking young woman and it is an old-time portrait that has steely eyes. I proudly brought it home right after Mrs. O gave it to us and planned to hang it in the den. However... I was informed quite swiftly that Mike did not want her hanging in a room where he would be! He says she is scary and mean looking.

He tells a funny story about a lady, Martha, who helped his mother. It seems that she didn't like the portrait any better than Mike does. He said she would drape a towel over the frame as soon as she came into the house and then go on about her business as if that was a normal mode of display.

A photograph that we were given turns out to be another image of Helton Claiborne. While the portrait above is of her as a young woman, this photo shows her at a more advanced age.

She doesn't seem to have grown more cheerful over the years but it is interesting to see how she aged. Plus, look at the beautiful lace work on her blouse.

Another interesting portrait is of  Mrs. O's grandmother, Cynthia Elizabeth Claiborne Stephenson who was known as Betty. 

It is a beautiful portrait with a Gibson Girl look. How about that hat? She is the daughter of Helton Claiborne and mother of Mrs. O's father, Jack. Strong family resemblance, huh?

One of the sweetest photos is of Mike's mother as a toddler being held by her mother. The bonnet alone is photo-worthy. Obviously it is a photo made in the 1930s and the fashion of the time shines.

There are portraits from Mike's paternal side as well. The first one is of his great grandfather. He looks very studious and reflective posed with his eyeglasses doesn't he?

The next one is of his son, Mike's grandfather. Again, he looks very distinguished posed outside in a fancy bentwood chair.

I'm gathering them all together and leaning them against the wall and on a cabinet of books in the basement staircase landing. 

There is such a range of sizes - 8x10, 5x7, and some 4x6 photos of Mike as well. I love that collage which has a portrait of him at three months, six months, nine months, and one year old. There is also a sweet one of his parents at their eighth grade dance. What treasures!

There's also a sweet set of little school photos of Mike's parents that I want to include. I'm not sure what age they are but I'm thinking third grade or later elementary school years. Don't they look innocent and precious?

I have a good 5x7 school photo of Mike that looks like he was in about eighth or ninth grade. Plus, I'm hoping to fill in the pieces with a photo of Mike's maternal grandmother or grandparents, too.

I think it will be an interesting gallery wall and am so thankful that many of these are already framed in beautiful heirloom frames. I'll update when I figure out how I'm going to configure and hang all of these treasures. I think it will be a really interesting gallery wall and I hope I can gather the same sort of collection to represent my ancestors on the opposite wall.

Today I Noticed...Cleaning

I noticed something as I was going about my business today and I thought my grandmothers are probably just shaking their heads. I cannot even imagine what my great-grandmothers might be thinking of the life I lead.

I was doing some cleaning today. I had a load of laundry drying in our automatic clothes dryer. There was another load of laundry sloshing around in our automatic washer getting clean without my attendance. I just tossed the clothes into the machines and pressed the buttons and the work of cleaning began.

The robotic vacuum cleaner was rolling across the den floor sweeping up the bits from the trees that we had tracked in and strewn across the floor. I had cleaned out the dust bin of Rosey Jetson and attached a new filter. Then, as I sat sipping a cup of tea, I opened the app on my phone and instructed Rosey Jetson, the robotic vacuum cleaner to sweep the den floor. 

adapted from this source

I had just finished cleaning out the fridge and disposing of outdated salad dressing and ketchup. I also tossed out the unrecognizable food that had been tucked away in there a week or so ago but let go to waste because we never got a yen to clean out that leftover bit and eat it. There were a few little sealed containers with mushy something and something suspicious growing like a science experiment on the corner of another. I can just hear Muffa, my paternal grandmother, exclaim with disdain about how wasteful we are as I was scraping those bits into the trash.  

I was unloading the dishwasher so that I could reload it with containers where I had cleaned out the spoiled and wasted food and paused to pour myself another cup of tea before I sat down to rest my back. I felt pretty productive, though, as I opened the app on my phone and instructed the oven to begin a clean cycle to get that black crunchiness off the oven floor where the strawberry bread I'd baked had bubbled over yesterday afternoon. You see, I had forgotten about the dribbled over mess in there and when Mike had baked biscuits to go with the ham we had for breakfast, smoke had curled out into the kitchen and smelled it up until he had turned on the exhaust fan above the cooktop to clear that away and in just a little while, the inside of the oven will be sparkling clean again and I will get a notification on my phone that the cleaning is done.

I realized that the laundry will be ready to swap out again - I will fold the dry load and transfer the wet load to the dryer and start the next load to wash. So, I am sitting here sipping my cup of tea and browsing through an online post that has a how-to instructing me how to transform something to give it a new look or purpose while there is a soft tune playing in the background from Alexa, my virtual assistant. 

I know that Granny, my maternal grandmother, is probably smiling and shaking her head in comparing how my cleaning is so different from hers back in the day. She would have embraced the robotic vacuum and all the gadgets just as I do but she would also sit us down and tell us tales about how things were when she was a young woman and those chores would have a whole different look. She would tell us about drawing water from the well and heating it and scrubbing and the back-breaking labor it took to get things cleaned.

Earlier in the week the house-wash-guy came and used a power washer with a generator and blasted all sorts of suds and rinses to get the mold and mildew off the siding and make it new and shiny, just like a fresh paint job that my ancestors would have swiped across their siding as a way to freshen it up, taking hours or days to cover it all out in the hot sun. 

As I sit here capturing these thoughts and memories, I think of how different it must have been for my great-grandmothers and grandmothers and remember my own mother scrubbing, sweeping, and painting to give things a nice fresh spring cleaning and I am so thankful for the luxurious life I am fortunate to lead. I also wonder what is in store for my grandchildren in years to come. Will they have something even more advanced than the Robots from the Jetson's cartoon that I enjoyed?

Projects - Kitchen Window Treatment

I did a little refresh on the kitchen recently. After seeing lots of block print fabrics featured in home decor, I decided to update the kitchen window treatment with a block print fabric. I shopped online and found a print I liked that I thought would cheer up the windows in the kitchen. Then, I ordered just enough to create a faux Roman shade for the two windows. I also ordered a nice print to use for trimming out the edges.

My fabric came from Spoonflower and I paid full price. I was not compensated by the company in any way. The fabric I chose is called Handblock Medallion 6 Blue on Whitney White Fabric. The contrast that I used for trim is called Indigo Blue Painted Chevron Herringbone. I ordered a length of both fabrics that was two yards in length. The fabric was 58 inches wide. I neglected to make photos along the way. So, I've created some diagrams to illustrate as best I can.

To begin, I measured the width of the window and added an inch. Then, I trimmed the selvage edge off of one side and cut the medallion fabric that width, plus one inch to allow for seam allowances. Next, I cut the fabric in half so that I had the same length for both windows. Then, I gave both pieces a quick pressing to get the wrinkles out. 

I trimmed the selvage edge off one side of the herringbone fabric, measured and cut 2 pieces that were a seven inch width and the full length of the fabric. These two pieces would form the trim for the sides of the shades.

Then, I measured up seven inches and cut a strip of fabric that was the full width of the fabric. And repeated that process so that I had two seven-inch strips that were a wee bit wider than the width of the medallion pieces. These two width pieces would form the trim for the bottoms of the shades.

I folded the two lengths that would form the side trim in half with wrong sides together and pressed. This resulted in two strips that had a folded edge on one long side and two raw edges around the other three sides. Then, I folded the two widths in half with wrong sides together and pressed. This resulted in two widths hat had a folded edge along one side and two raw edges around the other three sides.

Now it was time to assemble the shades. I placed one of the folded strips on the left back side of the medallion piece and the other folded strip on the right with the folds toward the center of the medallion piece. The cut edges of the medallion piece and the folded pieces were flush with one another.

Then, I stitched down both sides using a half-inch seam. Next, I pressed the seam allowance toward the front of the medallion fabric. Then, pressed the herringbone fabric over to the front of the medallion fabric.

Then, I stitched along the fold of the herringbone fabric. The stitching is 1/8th of an inch from the folded edge. That encased the raw edge of the seam inside the trim.

The next step was to trim out the bottom of the shades. So, I lined up the raw edges of the widths of the herringbone fabric to the raw edge of the bottom of the in-progress shade, leaving about an inch overhang on each side. The herringbone strip is on the back side of the shade-in-progress.

I stitched the bottom trim to the back of the shade-in-progress using a half-inch seam. Then, folded and pressed the seam allowance toward the medallion fabric and folded and pressed the trim piece toward the center of the shade.

Next, I stitched along the folded edge of the bottom trim 1/8" from the fold. Then, I folded the raw side edges under twice to encase the raw edges inside and stitched those edges down as well.

At the top, I created a rod pocket by cutting a four inch strip of the herringbone fabric. I laid this strip atop the shade with right sides together and I stitched a half inch seam, making sure to have at least a one-inch overhang on each side.

Then, I folded the side edges over a half-inch and then a half-inch again and stitched that edge down to enclose the raw edges.

Next, I folded the raw edge of the rod pocket under a half-inch and pressed it. Then, I folded the rod pocket strip over to the back and pressed the seem connecting the rod pocket and the shade down to have a crisp edge with none of the herringbone fabric showing on the front. 

I stitched the folded raw edge down to create the tube on the back to hold the curtain rod, stitching 1/8" from the folded edge. Then, I stitched a line across the shade from side to side one inch above that. This gave me a nice little header above the space where the curtain rod would slide through.

This method left me with no raw edges and a smooth completed finish. After that, I determined how deep I wanted the folds of the shade to be. I sewed a small plastic ring at the fold near the edge of the shade for each 'pleat' that I wanted folded up. Then, I sewed another plastic ring on the opposite side near that edge and another ring in the center. Finally, I cut a short piece of cording and tied the rings together to form the folds. I ran the curtain rod through the rod pocket and hung the shades.

I decided I liked the look so much that I also wanted a faux shade above my sink. However, I didn't have a wide enough piece of the medallion print to fit the window. So, I took the piece that I had and matched the pattern to form a strip wide enough to go across the window. I finished the sides and the bottom the same way I had for the large window shades and hung it on a tension rod pushed between the cabinets.

The window treatments seemed to finish off and add a cheerful note to our updated kitchen. Even the mister commented that he really liked the new look!

Projects - Lamp Project

Don't we all have projects that we postpone until we have plenty of uninterrupted time to complete them? 

I have such a plethora of projects that have been postponed. I am starting to tackle some of them one by one. It is such a fabulous feeling to have space to work, to have time to focus and dedicate to completing projects, and to have the luxury of walking away from them or pausing and coming back to them.

One of the first projects I've tackled is to transform a lamp. 

Several months ago, I picked up a lamp from a local fellow who sells items that he picks up in storage facility sales, home cleanouts, at the end of estate sales. He advertises to sell STUFF. I follow him with a social media account and have picked up some treasures. The lamp and shade for $10 was one such treasure. 

My plan was to use it in the basement bedroom on the bedside table between the twin beds. Shortly after purchasing, I saw a blog post that inspired me to take on a little DIY project. Rachel at The Ponds Farmhouse had transformed a similar lamp to create a dupe of a Ballard Design lamp. I decided to follow her example and update my rather simple lamp. 

I began with a spray on primer coat for the lamp. Then, followed Rachel's instructions exactly.

I searched online and found a lampshade for about $14 at Hobby Lobby and my project is complete!

It has wound up in the basement den because I thought the space needed something of substance. That means, I'm on the search for another lamp for the bedroom. Here is a look with it lit up in the space.

I'm pleased with the project and hope that it is just the start of loads of fun and successful ventures.

Return to the Keyboard

Well, today marks my return to the keyboard. I've been away for quite a while - technically, I've been away for far longer than one might recognize because there for a while all I did was post happy birthday wishes to members of the family. That served as a way for me to be sure I saved some pictures and marked a special day - mostly for myself! Then, even that sort of faded into the shadows.

You see, my job as a curriculum designer and educator really took on a life of its own. I was so devoted to getting the work done that I kept at it far longer than was expected of me. Unlike the advice I gave to teachers with whom I worked, I didn't walk away and leave tasks for later because teaching is not really a matter of life or death. Nope. I would take on a project and work with it until I got done. I did look for 'stopping places' some days but generally, I just stayed at the computer until the job was what I considered as finished. I let the perfectionist in me take over and I just had to see it through. 

I would get frustrated that more and more is expected of educators but, rarely, is anything taken away. So, we hand them a full basket and send them out to educate. Then, we hand them more things to put into that basket until it is piled so high and so full that they cannot see beyond it. Yet, we never seem to tell them that something else could be left off or ignored. I truly understood why so many teachers left the profession after just a short stint. It is overwhelming!

Finally, this past year, I knew that age 65 was on my horizon. I knew that I could stop then if I really wanted to do so. No matter how much I loved education and teaching and sharing my love for learning, I had grown tired. So, I went into the new year in July with the idea that the 2024-2025 school year would likely be my last as a professional educator. I was smiling and looking forward to June. 

After a couple of weeks, I was asking myself if I thought I could make it till the end of the semester in December. It was even more overwhelming than ever before. There was more to do and, again, nothing was laid aside. I quickly decided that I would strive to see through to the semester end and kept reminding myself that it would come sooner than I could imagine. With each passing day, I grew more and more tired and bedraggled and felt as if I was struggling to take on the next project. So, without saying a word to a single soul, one day in early September, I filled out the form stating my intention to retire. I took a week to think about it and then one afternoon I submitted it. After a few days, I got a message from our school district's Human Resources office telling me that they had  notification from the State Department that I planned to retire and asking me to call as soon as I got a chance. So, I did that afternoon.

Within a matter of hours, the ball was rolling and my retirement date was official. I had always dreamt of simply closing my computer and walking out of the school building quietly after letting my supervisor know that was my last day. However, that plan did not work out. As it turns out, there is too much red tape and too many hoops to jump through for retirement to be that simple and if it could be done wrong, I did it wrong.

First, I was required to get my supervisor's signature on yet another form to indicate my intention to retire. So, when I turned in that form, I explained to the HR representative that my last official work day would be on a Friday but the following week would be the Thanksgiving break, so, I wanted the Friday after Thanksgiving to be my last day. The representative put down the Friday after Thanksgiving. So, I didn't get the extra week that I had planned.

Next, when I heard from the Social Security office, they informed me that I had earned more than was allowed for me to immediately begin drawing my SS check. Of course, I knew that there was a maximum allowed for earning in a year and still drawing SS. However, I didn't realize it would apply to somebody who was just beginning retirement. So, I wouldn't even get my first Social Security check until February. So, I might as well have waited until the end of the semester in terms of drawing the money I'd earned, after all!

Then, in early October, I reported to my supervisor that my last day would be just before Thanksgiving. I had planned to just keep working and walk out on the last day as I'd earlier hoped. However, I got a call from human resources to firm things up. I asked about rolling the sick days I had left over to add to time served. I was told that for every 20 days I would be granted a month added to my time served. The young woman checked and reported that I had nineteen and a half days - not enough to roll over. So, I decided to begin mapping out how to use those nineteen and a half days and started scheduling the time off. 

In the meantime, I also learned that my atrial flutter - an afib where my heart was beating twice as fast as it should have been. So, some of those days involved a scheduled procedure where my heart was shocked back into rhythm. When the team of folks I worked with noticed me scheduling frequent time off, they became alarmed about my health. So, I realized I would not be able to quietly walk away from the job and announced my retirement.

So, if I could err in mapping out and working up to my retirement, I certainly did. 

The good news is...

No!

The great news is that I retired the week before Thanksgiving last year and on Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I experienced a procedure called a cardiac ablation. As far as we can tell, it was quite successful and things are ticking along well.

Sometimes, even best laid plans do go as, well, planned. Retirement is a wonderful place to be and I am wallowing in that wonderfulness. I encourage any and everybody to embrace the opportunity as soon as possible!

After avoiding the computer and a keyboard for quite some time, I'm hoping to return to posting on a semi-regular basis. I hope to see you here!