On the Road Again

 We are officially “on the road” for our summer sojourn! We did a shake-down cruise to the FMCA International Convention in March. It was cold. It rained. We were all miserable. It was difficult to deal with the puppies….but we made it. We returned home and over the ensuing weeks reevaluated what we needed to have with us, what needed to go, and what we needed to acquire. 

Scott found some amazing bins/cabinets that perfectly fit in a recessed area in the back of our closet for clothing storage. We also found some shoe bags that can be hung in the closet to keep our shoes off the floor. In the storage area below we installed some carpeting so our things don’t scoot all over the place. Scott put in some small shelves for chemicals and cleaning agents below as well. One of the problems we experienced with this particular motorhome, which has a low profile, is that the gravity feed “dump” was often lower than the drain we needed to use. He installed a pump that will “pump our dump”… even uphill!

The puppies live in a kennel when we are on the road and overnight. While traveling, it fits perfectly on the dinette table that has been lowered, as if to make a sleeping area. Once we have landed for the night, the kennel occupies valuable space on the floor…but, so be it! As they mature we may find that we can dispense with the kennel. 

We packed the RV leisurely, bringing it over to the house every few days for upgrades, cleaning and packing. We chose to leave for our first destination a day in advance, so we could be a bit more relaxed. We were ready to leave by noon. We locked the doors to the house and turned the wheels north.  We decided to swing toward the Gulf once we were north of Tampa. I randomly picked a campground near Homosassa Springs, FL for our first night out. Amazingly, I discovered that we had stayed at this same campground over 30 years ago!! 

We will be on the road from now until the end of June. After a month or so in California we will begin our return to the southeast. It will be a learning experience for all, for sure!

Zoomies

 The pups provide so much entertainment, and make us laugh. Here's why:

Life With Corgi Pups

 Our girls are growing bigger by the day. They are learning new things: some good, some not so good! 🤣. They are working hard at listening to us, and walking nicely on leashes. It certainly is a challenge - there are so many things they want to explore - and we humans are just too slow!  

I sometimes wonder if they will ever be housebroken 🤪 Some days they seem to get it, and other days they wander off to a secluded area to poop, instead of wandering outdoors (and a door is always open!) They are just like toddlers; they get so involved in whatever they are doing it is much easier to squat there than to interrupt their play to go outside. 

Even though they weren’t “broken”, we did take them to the Vet to get “fixed”.  We pretty much sailed through that without having to resort to those nasty cones. I found that baby Onsies fit them perfectly and unbelievably they ignored the “clothes” and never tried to tug on them, even when roughhousing with each other. 

Roughhousing?? They are experts! We have evening entertainment, without having a media on. They play chase games. They practice “kangaroo boxing”. They chase empty water bottles, and they are practicing the fine art of destuffing some toys. Vickie’s favorite game is chasing a baggie tied on a string. I think coursing may be in her future!

Their personalities seem to mirror those of Tucker and Gypsy. Vickie is very independent and is less likely to listen to me (after all, she knows best!) Kaitlin is the lover and is a bit more timid. But, she has an endearing practice of plopping on her tummy when we are walking and she wants to stop to smell something!  It’s hard not to laugh! 

Double Trouble

 In a weak moment….

Meet Kaitlyn and Vickie (the Vixen), our new fur babies! They are Pembroke Welsh Corgis and are  half-sisters (Dad slept around a bit!) Vickie is 5 months old and Kaitlyn is about 4 1/2 months old. They are a ton of fun….and a wee bit naughty now and then. They will be our travel companions and will experience their first motorhome adventure later this month. It’s refreshing to see life through the eyes of a naive puppy!

Another Loss

 It is so amazingly strange to be without a dog at our feet. We lost Tucker, very unexpectedly, just before Thanksgiving.  With all of the busy-ness in our lives, I still haven’t had time to process the loss, and my eyes still well up with tears when I think of him. 

Folks asked if he missed Gypsy, and to be honest, we hadn’t noticed a huge change in his behavior, but maybe it was all too much for him, and he gave up heart. Maybe it was destined to happen with or without her. It could be totally unrelated. Only a higher power knows. 

We booked a cruise over Thanksgiving, because we could! We wanted to celebrate a big anniversary in a special way, so found a free period of time and made the arrangements. Our neighbor’s daughter and son-in-law lost everything in Hurricane Ian, and were thrilled to have a home to call their own for 10 days. They adored our dogs, so were thrilled to take care of Tucker. We met the day before we left to go over all of the particulars: where is the dog food kept, how much do we feed him, how often do we give him medication, etc. 

In the morning we woke early and began the last minute craziness of getting ready to leave for the cruise. Tucker lay next to our bed, conveniently/inconveniently sprawled in the path to the bathroom. We stepped over him as we hustled from closet to suitcase, grabbing things to pack. In hindsight, his stillness was totally uncharacteristic. In the past, just bringing out a suitcase would have induced pacing and panting. A bit later he moved to his spot in the living room. Mr. Dreamy made his breakfast, but Tucker was disinterested. Not unusual given the commotion of packing. A bit later I grabbed his leash so we could at least go for a walk before out departure to drive to Ft Lauderdale to board the ship. Tucker struggled to stand, I had to assist him as he got to his hind feet - this had never happened before.  I also realized that Tucker was wet, he had lost bladder control. As I stepped out, he tried to follow, but his hind legs wouldn’t cooperate and he knuckled under. Both Mr.Dreamy and I looked at Tucker, and at each other, in disbelief and horror! How could this have happened? What happened? What are we going to do? 

Our vet lives down the street from us, and was on her way to the office when I called. We were able to lift Tucker into the back of my car to transport him to the Vet’s office.  He was able to wobble inside, but his stance, with shuddering front legs and an awkward posture, showed how difficult this was, and just how much pain he was experiencing. Our vet came into the exam room, and after an exam turned to us with tears in her eyes. Yes, she said, sometimes disc injuries happen and impact movement in this manner, and perhaps with several weeks of medication and special care, he might be OK. But, realistically, this didn’t seem to be the case. She felt there might be some sort of mass in his abdomen, as palpating that area resulted in pain reactions. She felt that given his age, 12 1/2, and given his size, and given previous spinal injuries (Pippin bit him on the back, and he was always sensitive in the area), perhaps the most humane thing to do was to euthanize him. We nodded our assent, and held him, and loved him as he took his final sleep. 

I have to admit I still suffer some (a lot of) guilt about our decision.  We had a cruise ship to board. We didn’t have a lot of time. However, our vet called us later in the day to let us know that it was evident that Tucker had a massive tumor, most likely a hemangiosarcoma that had burst, impacting his spine. I talked with her a few weeks later, I guess I just needed to hear again that we made the right decision, even though it hurts and doesn’t feel right. 

We have had a crazy schedule since we lost our dogs. We are on our way back to our Florida home after the cruise, a few days at home, a visit to Las Vegas, and a few weeks, including Christmas, at our new condo in CA. Once we get home, I will have the opportunity to deal with my loss. But I know I will still have that “oh my God, I need to walk the dogs reaction in the morning, after coffee, and in the evening.  I’ll have to borrow dogs from our neighbors!

We Lost our Gypsy Girl

 Gypsy passed away peacefully with both of us Dreamers by her side, stroking her and telling her what a great girl she is. We had noticed that she was slowing down over the past few weeks, lagging behind when we walked and struggling getting down and up. We chalked it up to age and arthritis, as she was anywhere between 12 and 14 years old. Wednesday her breaths came faster and she could barely walk. Apparently she was experiencing congestive heart failure. 

Reflecting back on her life with us,  she certainly lived a full and exciting life and most definitely lived up to her name!

Gypsy on July 11 2012, in Parker Colorado - our first day together (The Shelty belonged to Gypsy's Foster Mom). We adopted Gypsy from the Wyoming Aussie Rescue Society. They thought she was an Aussie who hadn't had her tail bobbed, but we soon realized, she had to be a Border Collie based on her very typical BC behaviors when "herding". 

In Oakland, California in May, 2022

Hiding from a thunder storm in Parker, CO 2013

Gypsy's way of getting some love - in our trailer as we traveled in 2018

On the shores of Lake Superior, June 2022. Neither Gypsy, nor Tucker were water dogs. I'm actually thankful as cleaning up two hairy, wet, sandy dogs would not be fun, especially in an RV 

Gypsy loved nothing better than rolling in the grass and scratching her back

Besides calling her Gypsy, Gypsy Doodle Bug, and Gypples, I often referred to her as my "Ground Hound" She would investigate EVERYTHING she found on the ground, and if it was edible, she'd scarf it up, never breaking stride! Here she is investigating a tarantula in Texas.    

Rest in deserved peace, sweet girl.

Anatomy of a Quilt

I prepared this post in 2021, but never completed it.... I guess some things, like the subject of this post, just take time!!

Quilts that I make often begin as a single piece of fabric I happen to see and fall in love with. The fabric calls to me and tells me that I must make a quilt featuring that fabric. Then I begin the hunt for other fabrics. On very rare occasions I'll find a pattern and select all of the fabrics I need on one visit to the quilt shop. Well, maybe that's only happened once! Usually I walk out of the shop with the few yards of the fabric that caught my eye and nothing else. From there I may purchase more fabric when I find it, still looking for the perfect pattern, or the pattern may come next and then additional fabric. 

This quilt began with fabric I found at a quilt shop in Laramie, WY on a trip from Denver to San Francisco in 2017. Yes, you read that correctly! I collected fabric at several stops on the trip, not even knowing what I wanted to do with it. It wasn't until another adventure, this time a workshop in New Hampshire in 2018, that I found the pattern I wanted to use! Bonnie Hunter's String Fling" has a quilt called "Jamestown Landing".  I thought it would look great in teals, and decided I also wanted to add some soft orange colors. The hunt continued!

Quilts take fabric. Lots of fabric. A twin-size quilt requires 7 yards of fabric, plus or minus, just for the top. If the quilt is comprised of lots of tiny pieces, you may even need more because 1/2 inch of every piece, either width and length, are lost in the seam allowances. I decided to make this as a king, which requires over 10 yards of fabric! This particular quilt is what we call "scrappy" for obvious reasons. So, collecting fabric continued,  As I visit shops I look for fabrics in the right colors,  and add a quarter yard here and a quarter yard there. Some of my fabrics were featured in quilts I previously used and some I inherited from my mother. 

Half-square triangles, or HSTs (sounds like a venereal disease!) make up over half the pieces in the quilt. An HST is a square made of two triangles sewn along the diagonal. For this quilt the squares are 2 1/2". It takes a lot of HSTs to make a king size quilt! At one point, while sewing, and sewing, and sewing, a song came to mind. You can sing along to the tune of "Seasons of Love":

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred HSTs, 
That's how many I have to sew.

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred HSTs, 

I probably have a thousand to go!

You cut them,

You piece them,

You sew them together.

You press them,

You trim them,

And stack them up high. 

I began making HST's in mid to late January. The finished "flimsy" was on my wall on April 2, 2021.

"Strings" of triangles sewn together

HST's in stacks, ready to be pieced together

Here I have placed HST's on the quilt wall to view placement of colors

HST's are sewn together to make blocks

Blocks of different sizes are sewn together to make the quilt

I knew I wanted a "piano key" outer border, but here I am "auditioning" different fabrics for a smaller inner border, trying to decide which looks best.

When I complete the "flimsy" I often hang it up on one of the walls in my sewing room. This lets me enjoy the almost finished quilt, and also helps me decide what quilting patterns I want to use.

However, before the quilt can be quilted, I need to prepare backing. I enjoy using scraps from the quilt to make a pieced backing. It's almost as much fun as putting the top together!

Once the top and backing are complete I can put the fabrics on my long arm sewing machine, making a "sandwich" with the backing on the bottom, the batting in the middle and the quilt top on the top layer. The fabrics are rolled onto separate rollers on the machine, so the fabric may be held taut for stitching. 

Sometimes I am not quite sure what design I want to use for different portions of the quilt. I have a piece of plexiglas that I can put on top of the quilt while it is on the long arm which I can use to try out different pattern ideas. 

After the quilting is finished the only thing left to complete the quilt is to put a binding on the raw edges of the quilt. I usually sew the binding on by machine, and finish it with hand stitching. 

Adding a label to the quilt is also part of the process. This label was sewn into the backing of the quilt. Other labels are hand stitched to the back after the quilting is complete. 

The quilt is then ready to use or to gift to someone!