Rain Instead of Snow

My kids will be happy to know that most of my sewing machines have been moved out of the house to the old garage. And I bought myself a decent set of screwdrivers—including some nice long-handled ones for getting into tight spots—along with a few wrenches and pliers. I’ll be ready to start tinkering with some machines soon. I also ordered some plastic bins and labels so I can sort parts by machine model.

[I have a Chapman hollow-ground screwdriver set but I also need regular screwdrivers.]

The piglets appear to be doing just fine; the shelter is dry but not fully enclosed or heated, so the husband put up a heat lamp for them Sunday night and gave them a blanket to sleep on. We have had nonstop rain for almost three days now and it is pretty soggy outside. Parts of Montana, near Bozeman, had several inches of snow. Yes, snow in Montana in June—it’s a thing.

We get a couple of days of warming temperatures before more rain this weekend. I need to get the grass cut again before then. And weed.

The husband installed the replacement seat on the backhoe:

He continues to work on it here and there, replacing parts as needed and tuning it up.

The chicks are getting bigger every day. I can tell which chicks came from Brahma mothers as their feet now have feathers on them. I might go sit in the coop with them today and pick each one up and take a good look at it. I was listening to the Farmish Kind of Life podcast yesterday and Amy noted that when she decides which rooster(s) to keep, she watches to see which rooster the hens prefer. I had no idea the hens had an opinion, although when we had multiple roosters, I noticed that each of the roosters had its own little harem.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the Black Australorp hens started sitting on eggs again. I think this is the same hen that keeps trying to go broody but can’t quite get it together. She amassed a pile of about 15 eggs. The interesting thing is that this pile of eggs always has a hen sitting on top of it, but it’s never the same hen. I’ve seen the Black Australorp, a Buff Orpington (or two), a White Orp, and even a Brahma on that pile of eggs, although the Black Australorp is there most often. I am leaving the eggs for another week to see if anything hatches. I don’t know who is going to actually take responsibility for a chick if one does hatch, but we left the brooder box in the coop in case I end up being the mama. Does tag-team broodiness work as a hatching strategy? Stay tuned.

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I made a quilt out of the construction equipment fabric. It came in a layer cake of forty-two 10” squares, so I sewed them together into a grid of six squares by seven squares. Some of the fabrics in the layer cake were large-scale prints and there was no sense cutting them down into unrecognizable pieces. It’s not a fancy or complicated quilt. I have half of it quilted (with loops, of course). I’ll get the other half quilted today and attach the binding. I used Warm and Natural batting and it’s is an absolute pleasure to quilt.

We had Elysian’s little guy here last night (he’s 6) while she was at a meeting. We have established a rule that if Janet falls asleep on the couch—those kids YouTube videos are horribly soporific—he is not to take the keys to the car and drive to California. I didn’t fall asleep last night, though, because I got him hooked on Ultraman videos. Ultraman is a Japanese science fiction series from the 1960s and it figured prominently in my childhood. I have the entire series on DVD. We watched the first episode and I promised him that the next time he comes over, we can watch more. I think I should also introduce him to the original Lost in Space.

The husband can’t watch Ultraman without laughing at the low-budget special effects.

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I discovered—in my quest to make some knot-front tops for myself—that there are two methods for creating the knot. The 5 out of 4 Patterns Knot Your Average Shirt version makes the knot with two horizontal bodice pieces twisted into a knot. A thorough examination of the knot tops in my closet, however, revealed that the ones I really like to wear are comprised of two vertical pieces twisted into a knot and seamed. Those also seem to be a bit less complicated to sew. I’ve played around with the 5 out of 4 pattern, although I haven’t made a complete top yet. I picked up this Burda pattern, which is the vertically-seamed version, and I am going to mess around with it using some knit remnants from Joanns.

DD#2 texted me yesterday to say that, not unexpectedly, Nordstrom has reorganized some of their stores in response to what has happened with this pandemic and she has a new position. She’s been working the whole time, even though the stores were closed, as the managers were kept on to fill internet orders. The stores plan to open to shoppers next week. She is now going to be an assistant manager in the kids department. The husband asked me what she knew about selling kids clothes and I laughed. This is the child who has been putting together her own wardrobe since she was 3. My mother used to take her to The Children’s Place in Missoula and let her pick out what she wanted. I told him that if a little girl comes into Nordstrom with her grandmother and her grandmother tells her to buy what she wants, DD#2 will know exactly what to do.

Retail is going through a tough time right now, but obviously Nordstrom recognizes that she is good at what she does. They like to invest in their managers by cross-training them in lots of different areas. The fact that they are moving her to another department is a positive sign.