Dogs of Our Lives: The Dining Room Dilemma

Second Post of the Day

Oh, sweetie. I love you so much and I appreciate that you stick close by and watch over me in case I need something.

I understand that your guide dog training says that you should go under the table that I am sitting at. Really, I do. And theoretically, that that gets you out of the way but lets you still be close. 

But it's just not working.

You see, this isn't UNDER the table; you're sticking out and I can't get up without doing some gymnastics.

And I have to get up and down - I am placing pattern pieces and cutting them out so I need to walk around the table. 

You have a solution? Why, yes, I'll listen - tell me!

Um... sorry. There is no room in the dining room for a bed. 

I know, I know. The bed in the sewing room keeps you out from under the sewing table and allows you to be close and keep an eye on me, but a bed in the dining room simply isn't doable.

I'll keep thinking and in the meantime, continue to step over you as needed, okay? But maybe you could try to squeeze under a little more, too, so there is more room for my feet.

Thanks. I love you, too, Pep.

Looking for the Good

First Post of the Day

Today is the 25th anniversary of the worst day in my life. I doubt I am alone in saying that. Some years I mention it here on my blog, other years I just can't. I simply cannot write about that horror.

There was a child born on that terrible day, one who came into my life and was my student for 4th and 5th grade. His name is Albert, and he was an insightful and contemplative child.

Albert as the Archbishop of Canterbury with Ebenezer Scrooge (Kyle) and Governess Isenbarger (me) at our celebration party after reading A Christmas Carol together in class.

It was during a parent/teacher conference when his mother shared that he'd been born as that terrible day had played out. I could not imagine how that felt - giving birth to a child while knowing what was happening to our country.

She also told me that her son was "deeply spiritual" and I could see that trait in him. It was quiet, but there. Albert was simply a good human being.

Ever since his mother told me that Albert was born during the 9/11 attacks, I can't help but think of him on this day. He's a reminder that, even on that darkest of days when so much hate, pain, and horror were happening, something good came into our world.

And so today I am going to work to focus on the good in our world. I'll still remember what happened, I'll still grieve and maybe even cry, but there are good things to look for, too.

Stay 'tooned. 

Montana Mama Sarah Visits!

Sarah has meetings in Des Moines all this week, so she flew in early and spent Labor Day weekend with us!

There's nothing like having a family gathering with all the local family.

And the dogs. All five are present in that picture. Can you find them all?

We went out for lunch together.

And of course we played many games at the dining room pattern cutting game table.

We did some growth measuring

and shared strategies for winning.

For fun, Vanessa made a family video of us running a backwards race.

I think Curt was the clear winner. We also celebrated his birthday together.

Aunt Leslie, Uncle Rick,

Aunt Jenny,

and Aunt Cindie and Uncle Steve came over for a family dinner and to catch up with Sarah.

Then, one evening Craig and I were asked to "not listen" while Curt, Sarah, and Lisa met online with their other siblings. (Although they did ask me to come in and take a photo of them all together.)

Our 50th wedding anniversary is this November and the kids are planning an open house for us over the holidays.  We know some of the details but apparently others are going to be a surprise.

Sarah was with us Friday through Monday, and it was lovely to be together. Our kids all have very busy lives and I am grateful for any time they can give us.

She flew to Des Moines Monday evening. She is the director for states' expansion for Healthy Birth Day, a stillbirth prevention organization. She has 48 states on board and the final two are in progress. As such she supports the state partners and helps them integrate Count the Kicks, a program that's been shown to help prevent stillbirth. 

Needless to say, I am very proud of the work she is doing.

Craig and I have settled back into our quiet lives again, but it was breath of fresh air having her come. I love you, Sarah. Thank you for the gift of time you gave us. We treasure those moments with you. xo

Not Enough, Not Yet

Sarah was here for the Labor Day weekend (a blog post is coming) and now that she has left, I am back at the sewing machine. 

The stress is really starting to hit. The Feast of the Hunters' Moon is late this year (October 24 - 25) which allows me more time to prepare, but still, that gives me just six weeks to finish getting ready.

I am almost done with replenishing the trade shirts. Stitching several up for the Nebraska Contingent put me behind a bit, but then, those were counted as Feast sales so I'm not really behind.

This is a new block print and I love it! There are browns with accents of red and blue.

You can see the colors better on the prepared sleeves. (The triangles on the underside of the sleeves are gussets which allow for a greater range of movement for the wearer.)

My personal preference is for sleeve buttons, but since some folks prefer horn or bone buttons, I am making some shirts with them. This shirt has buttons made from horn.

Also a new fabric and with an unusual combination of colors, gold, red, and white.

It has bone buttons.

 I have another 3XL trade shirt cut out and will begin that today. I'll make one more 3XL after that and call the trade shirts good.

Then it will be on to bedgowns - I only have five of those made and would like to make at least three more. Petticoats are also on my to-do list, and I just heard the long range weather forecast for late October is supposed to be cold. Three cloaks have been added to the list.

Part of that prep for the Feast includes making beeswax ornaments. While making those is not as time consuming as the sewn items, it's still a big process with a lot of set up and then clean up.

I have 100 ornaments in stock, but when you consider that I have 43 molds, that's only 2 - 3 per mold, and that won't get me through the Feast.

I simply don't have enough, not yet.

Stay 'tooned!

The Sattler Series: The Reason Behind Boo's Appearances

This is the last post for the Sattler Series. I hope you have enjoyed it - I sure have loved looking back at Dave's cartoons, Boo, the worm story (um, maybe not quite so much), and more.

This last post explains the underlying reason why Boo began appearing in Dave's editorial cartoons (and still does although sweet Boo passed away years ago.)

It was really interesting to me to discover that Boo played a much bigger role than I'd realized, one that made a lot of sense. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2013

Finding Boo

Yet again, I found Boo this morning in Dave Sattler's editorial cartoon. (Picture posted on blog with Dave's permission.)

You have to look for him, but he's there. (See the end of this post if you can't find him.)

Dave and I were talking via email about Boo last week - Boo had gotten his own cartoon in Kid's Ear, the first time ever he has been the topic, and as the fictitious Boo Fan Club president, I emailed Dave to thank him.

Dave had some interesting thoughts about Boo and his role - he told me he thought most people saw Boo as just part of the scenery. I explained that, when we moved back to West Lafayette in 2006, Boo was one of the first things I'd noticed, and that I usually looked for him first before reading the cartoon for its point. I also pointed out that I thought others looked for and loved Boo, too.

Dave responded:

 I always thought Boo was only known to "insiders"... friends and family. Maybe not. The purpose of adding him, other than he's my buddy, is to have a constant character in the cartoons. He becomes our representative in the scene. Boo (you and I) was on the scene in last week's cartoon talking about issue A and here he is again this week in issue B. He always stays the same. Boo is US!!

The only time he isn't in it is if the scene isn't really a scene. For example, the one about Coach Hazell and recharging the phone. It wouldn't have made any sense.

So that's the story. I'm glad to know Boo has fans out there. I'll let him know.

Lucky me - I have met Boo personally. He is a beautiful black cat with a very silky coat. Sadly, I did not get Boo's pawtograph when I had the chance. 

(If you could not find Boo, look in the car. He's peeking out a window!)

---

And that's a wrap! 

Stay 'tooned!

The Sattler Series: Worms & the Hershey Editorial Cartoon

The students were coming in from recess and stopping by the water fountains outside my classroom door to get drinks when the screaming began. 

A student came running into my room and cried, "Mrs. I, Mrs. I!! There are WORMS in the drinking fountain!"

What?? Surely not. Had I not heard the screams, I would've thought the child was pranking me. 

I stepped out into the hallway to investigate, and OH MY GOSH! THERE WERE WORMS IN THE DRINKING FOUNTAIN!

I called the school office and reported the issue. My call was met with confusion and, "Worms? Worms!! How could that be? I'll be right down!"

I stepped into the hallway again and scooped up a few of the worms into a paper cup, handing it to the school secretary when she hurried down to my hallway. The look on her face when she peeked into that paper cup! (I think it matched mine.)

Within 24 hours the worms in our drinking fountain had made the national news. 

Dave's editorial cartoon for that week looked like this:

A clever idea, but appalling to those of us who were there. Including Dave's wife, Nancy, whose classroom was next door to mine.

Out of respect for her and the school, he agreed to draw another editorial cartoon for the week and not use the PTA bait one. But he did make prints of that same cartoon and gave them to any teacher who asked to have one.

Of course, I was all in on that, even though I had been the teacher who'd first found the worms. 

A disclaimer on the cartoon carried a note that this editorial cartoon had never been published.

I was glad, especially since Hershey's name was on the cartoon FIVE times.

Dave caught the kids' reaction to finding worms in the drinking fountain with this image of a rather sickly green student.

The question we all had was, where had the worms come from? 

The answer was that school was built in 1964 and the drinking fountains were original to the building. The worms were drain worms, which are not uncommon in sink drains old or new. (Ever had a tiny insect buzzing around the drain in your kitchen or bathroom sink? It's most likely a drain worm.)

As such, drain worms are not IN the water source, they come from where the water goes after the tap has been turned on. And that is the drain, hence the name.

Luckily, the worms the kids and I were seeing were coming out of the drain and not the faucet. (Not that that made me feel any better.)

The principal told me that he'd taken care of the drain worms. I was NOT comfortable when I watched him pour bleach down the drain and call it good. Sure enough, later that day more worms were in the bowl of the fountain.

So, I privately took matters into my own hands.

I called a well known entomologist at Purdue - Tim, as in my barn owner. I explained what I had seen and captured, and that the problem had been handled by pouring bleach down the drain. I asked if that bleach would handle the problem.

Tim felt as I did - the fountains needed far more than bleach.

"When were the fountains last replaced?" he asked me.

"Never. They are from when the school was built in 1964." (Which was about 50 years ago at that time.)

A very long pause by Tim.

"Bring me that sample you have. I am pretty sure that they are just drain worms, but I'll look at them just to be sure. And, I served on the school board for years. I'm gonna make some calls. Fountains that are so old that the drain worms are crawling up the pipes is unacceptable. The fountains need to be replaced."

And Tim was as good as his word. He examined the worms I'd brought him and yes, they were drain worms. Harmless and not in the water we'd all been drinking. The fountains outside my classroom were turned off and had yellow "Do Not Cross" tape placed over them and the kids had to hike to another hallway if they wanted a drink. (If I remember right, bottled water was provided during this time to those of us who were in that part of the building.)

A couple of weeks later, three shiny new fountains were installed, and then during the summer the entire school also received new fountains.

Five years later when I retired, I still had not drunk the water at Hershey - be it from a drinking fountain or from the ice machine in the teachers' lounge. Never again - I brought bottled water from home.

And that is the worm story that I promised to share.

Stay 'tooned!

 

The Sattler Series: The Caricature That Was Hidden Away

Second Post of the Day

After my mother had passed away, I was going through her things when I came across this:

A caricature of my mother?! I didn't need to see the artist's signature; I knew that that had been drawn by Dave Sattler! But why was it hidden away? Why had she not framed it and hung it in her home? 

Dave had done a great job of including things that were important to her.

On the floor by her chair was one of the many books she had authored.

A basket of apples represented our orchard.

And her work in the television industry of writing scripts and press releases was included.

She's even wearing her 18th century hat to represent her work at The Feast of the Hunters' Moon.

This was so cool, but why was it hidden away?

I was already pretty sure I knew the reason, but I still showed it to Leslie and asked her.

"Mom disliked that picture because it made her look so old."

And it did. I can understand her feelings in that regard.

My mother was well known in our community and when she retired, Dave was asked to draw a caricature of her as a thank you gift. It was a big gift and a thoughtful one, and I am sad that she didn't like how she was portrayed. But I do understand how she felt about it.

Currently it is in a stack of things I plan to have framed and then I will hang it in our home. I'll have the framers put a little history on the back, too, so whichever of my kids ends up with the picture knows the story behind it.

Tomorrow we will get to the Dave Sattler worms story.

It even made the national news. 

And I inadvertently played a big part in it.

Stay 'tooned!