No Sewing Here!

Hello Everyone,

Not one speck of quilting has been happening at Wilder's Last Resort, but there's been a whole lot of shoveling and snow blowing.  We have one snow blower, which I call the Joeblower.  Mr. Joe can manhandle it up and down the driveway.  I use a shovel and push the snow to the right side of the garage. I can no longer hurl a shovel full of snow over the berm.  I mainly go out and pretend to help Mr. Joe, and give him moral support, and make sure he doesn't keel over from over exertion.

I took this picture of the back of the cabin two days ago.  Without putting on snowshoes yesterday, I couldn't make it down out back to show you an additional 2 feet of snow.  It's been a heavy, wet snow causing a lot of damage, and an area-wide power outage.  The entire town has been in the dark for days, which also means no Internet, phone, or TV.

I don't think we will be out picnicking on our deck in the near future.  While clearing the driveway on Tuesday, we heard a loud crack.  We went up the road to investigate, and found a tree on our neighbors deck, and wires across the road. Since our phone was working at the time, we were able to call and report the problem.  It was a bad situation.  As of yesterday, the lines were still down.  

A few hearty full-timers ventured out of their cabins to check out the damages yesterday.  Our neighbor ended up with a tree on top of his car.

We keep the red SUV in the garage, but the poor Jeep is left out in the elements.  Everyday I was brushing it off, and digging it out just in case we needed to use it. I finally gave up yesterday.  This is how much snow fell overnight Wednesday.  The red car had been out for just a few minutes, and was covered.

We had to get out of the woods, and get to our house in the Bay Area for our vaccine appointment today, Friday.  We had a small bag packed by the front door, and waited for the snow plow to come by all day Thursday.  The plows are having a difficult time getting through because of the downed trees and lines.  Finally, around 2pm, we heard the plow and that was our key to get out of Dodge.....if we could make it to the main highway.  It was a white-knuckled half mile, but we made it thanks to Mr. Joe's driving skills and 4-wheel drive.  

On another note, my sister decided to come up to her cabin on Tuesday to experience a really BIG winter storm.  Mother Nature did not disappoint!  Gail's cabin is about a mile away from me.  Did we go see her.....no. Could we have driven over there.....probably not without getting stuck. It would have been a very difficult walk through the deep snow. 

Gail rents her cabin out, so she doesn't keep any food there.  All she had was what she brought up with her, which wasn't a great deal.  Last night I got through to her on the phone, and she said in a pinch she could break out her K-rations from her earthquake kit she carries in the car. Yum!

The storm is supposed to end today, so Gail won't have to boil her leather shoes for a tasty meal.  She should be able to get out on Saturday, and we will be back there to help her out.

So we will get our Fauci Ouchi's today, and head back to check on the cabin, and Gail tomorrow.  Power is supposed to be restored later on this afternoon.  What a week this has been!  We've had our entire Winter compressed into the last three days.

Soon,

Lynn

P.S. Gail just called while I was posting.  She said another 8-10" of snow fell in the night.  Time to break into those K-rations.

Down to the Sea in Ships

Hello Everyone,

I've quilted my way down to the ship - the halfway point in Crossing the Pond.....and then there are the borders.  Maybe I'm 1/3 of the way finished.

We had a hard freeze last night, and the garage where my long arm is located, was a balmy 37 degrees.  The garage reached heat wave status this afternoon at 42 degrees when the heater had been on for five hours.  In reality, I'm pretty warm.  I'm just like a little kid that needs to pee after I put on my snow bib, boots, and jacket.  I wear my fingerless mittens, and I'm good to go for a couple of hours at a time.

The morning was absolutely beautiful!  Crystal blue sky, and crisp mountain air.

By this afternoon, the biggest storm of the season started blowing in.  We are actually located in the blizzard zone on the weather map.  We have NEVER been in the blizzard zone for as long as I can remember.

When Mr. Joe heads out for firewood, I'm going to tie a rope around his waist just like Laura Ingalls Wilder did for her Pa.  We have a ton of fire wood on the front porch, so we should be good to go for a few days.

If you don't hear from me for a couple of days, I'm by the fire with my hot toddy and a good book.  We will have to dig our way out, and get to our vaccine appointment late Friday afternoon.  I pray the snow plows will be swarming the neighborhood.

Soon,

Lynn

Crossing the Pond Update

Hello Everyone,

   

Here's just a quick update on my machine quilting progress on Crossing the Pond.  Slowly but surely I'm working my way down the quilt.

This is the area that worried me the most, and had me completely stymied or flummoxed. I love the word flummoxed!  Now, I'm really happy with what I decided to quilt in this spot.  It's a very odd shape to fill with machine quilting.  I think this is really going to enhance the old-fashioned look of the quilt.  I had to draw this design until I was blue in the face, so I could cement the pattern and movement into my brain.  Everything you see is free motion, not computerized at all.

The snow is supposed to start in earnest this afternoon and throughout the night.  If I drop off the planet, it's because we've lost our power and Internet connection. 

Our power supplier, PG&E has set up camp in our one and only shopping area in town.  They are preparing for the worst, as we are also supposed to have 25 mile an hour winds along with 18" of snow on Wednesday.  Yikes! 

Keep sending your good vibes my way as I tipple while I stipple!

Soon,

Lynn