Lots of Updates

So much has been happening around here, I feel like I post a few tidbits and then move on to the next thing without wrapping up the first. So, here are some updates on things I've written about but never quite finished.

November Give Away Winners

Please contact me about your winnings. My computer is acting up (I've restarted it three times already this morning) and I want to make sure that I have not lost your replies. Thank you! horsiemama8@gmail.com

Count the Kicks

Hawkeye Sarah's event was a huge success!

Curt, Lisa, Sarah, and Vanessa in front of one of the billboards advertising it here in Lafayette.

Two hundred pregnant moms were planned for, and three hundred came. I asked Sarah if they'd had enough food and she responded, "Food? Yes. Cookies? No!!" 

Colts wide receiver and Count the Kicks sponsor Ryan Kelly modeling the event's tee shirt given to all who came.

Sarah said the Kellys were very generous in their sponsorship and support of stillbirth prevention - they truly made a difference by hosting this event. Sarah is back in Iowa now, tired but very pleased with the number of pregnant women who were there and learning about preventing stillbirth. 

Health Update

Speaking of health, look what arrived in the mail for me.

I have very mixed emotions - I've grateful because this will make running errands much easier, especially as it becomes snowy and icy here.

But it also makes me feel old and even bad for taking a parking place that someone who has more difficulty walking than me might want to use. But mostly I am grateful because it has been a big help to me to have it.

I do think my health is improving - the twice weekly physical therapy is really helping my back. The hemiplegic migraines have stopped. I still get a regular migraine occasionally (I've had them since I was nine) but compared to a hemiplegic migraine, they are nothing.

The blood and heart issues have resolved but I am still dealing with blood pressures that are occasionally at stroke level. That's scary, but I've got good doctors who are helping to get that under control. 

The hernia is problematic. It hurts to wear anything with a waistband, so I've bought some muumuus that hang from my shoulders and don't put pressure on my abdomen. I also bought some stretchy yoga pants so that if I do need to run an errand, I wear those. (I can tolerate a waistband for short periods of time.) I see a surgeon next month.

Custom Trade Shirts from The Feast of the Hunters' Moon

I had two orders for shirts from the Feast but I had to wait until Leslie got the fabric for them back in stock.

The blue daisy chain block print shirt turned out really well. 

The man who ordered it sent me a selfie of himself wearing it. I sell a lot of clothing, but I don't always get to see it being worn, so that was a treat for me.

I was prepping the fabric for the other custom order (I always prewash the fabric to get extra dye out and to preshrink it since it's cotton) and was dismayed as I ironed it to discover lots of ink issues. Take a look.

These long random lines were all over the fabric.

I photographed eleven different spots across the fabric

before I stopped, realizing that this fabric was not acceptable and needed to be returned.

Every block print has a flaw or two; it's part of their charm and an indicator of being hand printed. But these lines were not caused by blocks being misaligned.

I think the ink on this fabric was still damp when the fabric was gathered up and taken for pressing and the wet ink transferred along the wrinkles.

Fortunately I had a second piece of this block print without those flaws and was able to get started on the order.

The body is done except for the collar, and the sleeves are ready to be put in. (The triangular pieces are underarm gussets. They keep the shirt from being flat and paper doll-like, allowing for arm movement without constraint.)

Patient Tammo

Pepper is a brilliant dog. She really is; she had to be in order to be selected as a Seeing Eye Dog. She's the smallest of all the family dogs, but she always wins the scuffles over the toys by using her brain. Instead of using strength like the other dogs, she persistently hangs onto the toy and doesn't shake or fight for it. She just holds it in her mouth. And she always gets the toy in the end. 

(Occasionally she uses the ambush approach, surprising the other dog by charging around the corner of the couch and snatching the toy before they know just what happened. Like I said, she's smart.)

If Pepper has a toy, any toy, then Tammo wants it. And that boy has figured out a way to get toys away from her. 

He can be just as persistent as Pepper, but he couples that with patience. He waits her out, watching her all the while.

If she gets distracted or puts her head down to snooze, he makes his move. He sneaks up to her and gently pulls the toy away. If she sees him and grabs ahold of her toy, he goes back to waiting and watching.

From getting a toy or a bed that he wants, his patience almost always pays off. I'm starting to think that Tammo, too, hit the jackpot when it came to brains.

New Hagen Renakers to share tomorrow. Stay 'tooned!

Abby's Dilemma

Abby made me laugh this morning as she had to solve a dilemma - how much did she really want those treats?

January has been warmer than typical and very, very rainy. (Thank goodness for the warm temperatures or we would be buried with snow!) As a result, there is a lot of flooding and ponding in the fields, on the roads, and the Wabash, Tippecanoe, and Wildcat are all well up and over their banks.

The north pasture up by the old barn and farmhouse is no exception.

The herd was about as far away from me as they could get, with a long expanse of water that stretched across most of the pasture between us.

Abby spotted me even before I called or whistled, and began coming up to chat. (The other horses? They know I won't give them nibbles, and with all that water in the way, they were not going to come up just for a rub or scratch.)

 Here is where I began laughing. Abby walked up to the water and took a good long look at it.

  Then she looked across it at me.

 She looked to the left - I could just see her thinking about what to do to get to me and her treats!

She looked at me, the water, and then back at me several times more. I was beginning to wonder if she was going to wade through it or jump when..

 ... suddenly she decisively turned to her right and began walking alongside the water.

 Reaching the end of the water, Abby, skirted the edge...

 ... and was home free! She'd figured out how to get to me without getting her feet wet!

Er, even though they pretty much so were already - and very muddy. (But in good shape, thanks to a recent trim from Tim!)

We had a lovely visit under the pines in the first sunshine our part of Indiana has had in WEEKS. 

And when I left, as usual, Abby watched me until I was out of sight.

I am still smiling, though, as I think about her trying to decide how to get to me.