Weekend shenanigans

 The weekend turned out to be pretty pleasant. I woke at my usual time on Saturday and had a bit of a leisurely morning. 

My husband reminded me about the downed tree we saw in the back 20 a couple of weekends ago. A "fresh" fall from the recent windstorm, and it would be great for firewood. 

I thought I had taken more photos of this but I don't see them on my camera roll. Also, the photo doesn't do it justice.  The roots was a huge mass, and the tree was pretty tall. 

The tree is sort of circled in this photo. 

So it was decided we'd spend an hour cleaning out a new trail to reach this tree, so the ATV and trailer  could be driven up to the tree so we can haul it back to the house. 

My hubby surveying the land, seeing where a trail could be made. 

It was so pretty out there that morning. 

I was all bundled up because it was a wee bit chilly. A short bout of lomping down brush was just the thing to warm me up, and I had to start taking off layers. 

We discussed a few options and then decided on a direction to go.  My son was at the house. I called him and asked him to come help. Then my hubby drove back to the house to get him.  

This is where I thought "Oh, I'm a terrible content creator. 😆" I didn't think to take before photos. There was so much brush and undergrowth we cut down and cleared out.  The end result looks so good, and we have a new trail. 

This is a pile of what we cleared out. 

And this is the result.  

A cleared path. Along with a different view of the downed tree. 

The rest of the path. 

Spotted this tree out there. The woodpeckers are making art. 

That was the big project for the weekend. 

I think that was my first "big" laboring in a long time, too.  My body still isn't fully ... calmed down.  It's so frustrating.  I did everything I could to protect my core, so to speak, and I didn't feel crippled up at the end of the day. Yay!

Sunday we went out for the first bike ride of the season.  

We rode down to the river. I didn't get many photos because there were quite a few people there, and when I went to take photos of the river, someone else drove up. 

While we were down there we saw a dragonfly. Seriously, this early in the season? Hubby looked it up and it's definitely a thing.  The dragonfly was flitting this way and that. I was trying so hard to try and get a photo of him.  He never slowed down and landed anywhere. 

Guess what? I got a photo of him! Actually a few, but this might be the best one. 

After the bike ride I was out in the garden area. I cleaned out a few things, amending the soil in the planters and containers, and upblocking the few things that needed to be upblocked. 

I carried a few flats out so they could be carassed by the breezes.  

And caressed they were. ... the wind picked up and made it pretty much impossible to record a garden journal. 

Today the wind was crazy, as the kids would say.  They finally calmed down in the late afternoon. 

We had the makings of a beautiful sunset this evening. 

Frost on the pumpkin

 Wait, what? That cannot be correct. 

Oh, but it sort of is. 

May 1 and I woke up to a hard frost. 

Yuck. 

Also, I'm SO glad that I kept my pepper plants in the house last night. 

The morning sun was bright and gorgeous. It does not look like it was below 32 degrees F out there. 

It was my first time seeing how the back yard looked after my son spent some time cleaning up the pine cones, leaves, etc., last night.

Wow! 

Now it feels like spring out there! I could see the green grass.

The girls were already demanding to be let loose.  Nope, it was too early. 

I made my way over to the greenhouse. 

Things were looking okay. Thank goodness.

Work was busy and I was surprised at how quick the day went. 

Today was the first day of Mudpuppy May. Which is a month my fellow flosstuber and friend, Bethany,  declared last year. 

I spun the wheel and it chose "George's Frog" for my first stitch. 

One hundred stitches in and this is what I have so far. 

Not going to hide the fact that I had a rough start with this piece. Counting is hard, you guys! 

After working on that chart for a bit, I decided to switch back over to Strawberries and Chickens by LumiStitch. Uff, I messed on that one, too.  Cross stitch was not my thing this evening. 

Well, here's a progress update on it anyways. 

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Hoping the temps are a wee bit warmer. Fingers crossed. 

So long April

 But first, for my friend Becky.

Ha! 

I thought I'd write on Sunday.  Sunday was kind of a bust because the weather got me in a bit of a funk.  Rain. More rain. Chilly because of all the cool temps and moisture in the air. Monday I was wiped by the end of the day. 

Really, how much can I write about how the weather is annoying me? I wish I could be outside, doing things, taking pictures. 

Well, wait. I mildly take some of that back because I did do something garden-related this weekend. 

Picking acorns out of the garden. 

Yeah, you read that correctly. 

A few years ago we expanded the garden and now the big oak by the garden drops acorns directly in the garden. 

To comb through and pick out the acorns didn't take as long as I thought it would. 

Sunday I was sore all over.  After a slacker winter I definitely felt all that bending and stretching of muscles that aren't used to it, despite the exercises I've been doing. 

We wound up with a 5 gallon bucket that was more than half full of acorns.  The majority of them already sprouted.  

It was decided to take them to the back 20 and toss them in an open area. 

Monday was rain. I don't remember what exactly was going on with work, but by the end of the day I was wiped. 

Oh, the last week, or so, we have had a bird fly in to the garage at night and we see him in the morning when my husband gets ready to leave for the day. The one time he flew in to the house, circled and landed on a lamp, then flew back through the door. 

I've tried to get a photo of him a few times.  So far this is the best one. 

He's a lively little thing. No idea why he's decided our garage is a good place to roost for the night. He leaves as soon as it's light out. 

I can see now that this blog post is going to be a bit all over the place. 

Tuesday, on my lunch break, I decided to take a short walk in the back 20. I wound up at the other pond of the property. 

Once it really warms up and the grass starts growing, it will be harder to get back here.  

Yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you.  That is blue sky and sun!

It didn't last for very long, but while it was here, it was very much appreciated.  It was still windy. Which kept the temperature low. 

Later in the day ... 

Wednesday I was picking out fabric and flosses for some new cross stitch charts. 

I can't get the color to show true on this one. It's more vibrant than the picture shows. 

Yesterday I had my first flare up in a while. NOT fun. I've been taking it a bit easy since. 

I also started a new chart that was given to me by my friend Jess, of LumiStitch. 

This is what the chart looks like

It's so cute. When she asked if I'd like it, I didn't even hesitate to say "yes!" And immediately started pulling floss and choosing fabric as soon as I had the chart. 

My progress from Wednesday.

Once again I can't get the colors just right. Trust me, it looks fantastic.

Today I worked on it a bit more, but I'm holding off on showing progress until my next flosstube. 

Flosstube #43 - Having fun with the wheel (April 23, 2026)

 

Thank you for watching my video. I am so glad you stopped by! If you like what you see, please subscribe and click the notification bell to be notified of when I load new videos. 

Current WIP (Works in progress)

Project name: Crested Porcupine

Started: June 27, 2024

Finished:

Designer/Source: Purple Stitching on Etsy.

DMC: 167, 168, 169, 310, 317, 318, 413, 414, 415, 433, 437, 451, 452, 453, 524, 535, 611, 612, 640, 644, 645, 646, 647, 648, 762, 779, 840, 841, 842, 844, 927, 928, 934, 935, 939, 3021, 3023, 3031, 3032, 3041, 3072, 3371, 3756, 3787, 3799, 3828, 3863, 3864, 3866

Fabric: Half yard of 14 count Aida purchased from Forbidden Fiber Co. 

New Starts

Project name: USA 250

Started: April 12, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Wrought Iron Stitching

Chart purchased: Etsy, 2026

Fabric: 14 count Aida, brown hand-dyed by me

Floss used: 832, 824, 3866, 3777, 898

Project name: Western Meadowlark

Started: April 13, 2026

Designer: Lindy Stitches

Chart purchased: 2022 from Lindy Stitches

Fabric: 14 count aida, blue-green, hand-dyed by me

Floss used: Blank, 451, Threadworx garden rock, 307, 728,310,822,367,414,3713

FO (Finished Object)

Project name: Love a Furbaby

Started: March 26, 2026

Finished: March 28, 2026

Designer: Sambrie Stitches

Chart purchased: Sambrie Stitches gumroad, 2025

Fabric: 14 count Aida, stash

Floss used: 22, 729, 911,959

I also chatted about an *almost* FOed piece. "Wee Bee Patriotic" by Mrs_AZFamilyzoo.  I will share it on my next flosstube.

Project name: Wee Bee Patriotic

Started: April 11, 2026

Finished: April 12, 2026

Designer: Mrs_AZFamilyzoo

Purchased: AZFamilyzoo.com

Fabric: 14 Count Aida, hand-dyed by me, green with yellow

Floss used: Blanc, 321,310,797

Knitting

I discussed my vanilla sock and armande cardigan.

Other channels mentioned: 

Alison - https://www.youtube.com/@Mrs.AZfamilyzooStitchesAlison

Jodi - https://www.youtube.com/@Stitchyplum

Leann - https://www.youtube.com/@leann.stitches

Patty - https://www.youtube.com/@StitchingWithMyKitties-xe8qz

Kenzie - https://www.youtube.com/@mudpuppystitchery

Jessica - https://www.youtube.com/@LumiStitch

Bethany - https://www.youtube.com/@Bethany.BirdStitcher

Becca - https://www.youtube.com/@SamBrieStitches

First storm of the season

 Friday morning my coworker messaged me that there was a storm heading her way.  I can't recall how the rest of the message went. I checked my own weather app and saw we had something coming our way, too. 

"Oh," I thought. "Okay. Well, cool. Looks like we are supposed to get something, too."

I made the decision to keep the girls in the coop and not let them free range.  Have you ever tried to corral chickens in a storm? it's not fun and there's usually one lone hen that decides she's too freaked out to go in to the coop, and is convinced you are trying to steal her virtue, or murder her. Also, who wants to run out to the coop and close it up when it's raining? "Not I," said the crow. 

I sort of went about my business for the day until my son started messaging me. He was asking me how the weather was out there. He was in town. Then he told me it started hailing.  Then my darling son went silent for like an hour. I was having visions of his car being pummeled by hail, but that's neither here nor there. 

I checked the radar and was so surprised to see how gnarly the radar looked. 

Eeeks! I decided that could be something really bad. Rarely do I see purple and that deep pinkish maroon color on the radar.  So I went and closed up the greenhouse. 

This was the sky when I looked west. 

Granted, the photo doesn't do it justice. The temperature started dropping, too. 

Then I heard rumbling start up, way off in the distance.  So I went back to the house and waited for the storm to arrive. 

Wind, rain and not as much thunder as I thought there would be.  There was hail.  I heard it hitting the house, the front window and the garage door. I mildly worried about hail breaking the living room window.  That would be a terrible thing. 

Then the power went out. 

I wasn't really expecting the power to go out, but I wasn't surprised. Thank goodness for power back up. 

"Oh no! My quiche!" I thought to myself.  My oven shut off when the power went out. Between the quiche, and my hubby trying to work out in the garage, we decided to throw the backup power on. 

My quiche:

I think it actually overcooked a wee bit.  Crazy, right? 

After a few hours the power came back on. Yay!

And then, the rain stopped. I thought we were in a ... what do you call it, a trough? A calm time between the storm bands. 

No, it was officially over. 

The sun even came out.

I posted some video clips on my most recent garden video.

It sounds like we missed the brunt of the storm. There's a few towns to the east of us, right on the lake, that sustained damage. Downed trees and all that not-so-good stuff. 

The rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful.  The temperatures dropped. We are back to running the wood stove and my plants are back in the house. 

Sunday was sunny and there wasn't any wind.  All of us spent some time outside, doing some storm clean up. 

My son and I moved the fountain out of the greenhouse. It's so easy to walk in there now! 😆

Isn't that blue sky gorgeous? It's such a liar, though. It looks like it should be warm. It wasn't as warm as I think it should be.  Temps in the 40s F, I think. 

While I was over by the garden I decided to clear out the leaves around my table.  I have no idea how, but that side of the garden collects oak leaves like no one's business.

I was wearing my fancy new croc boots that I purchased a while back. Yes, I know that's not the "proper" rake for what I was doing, but I was working with what I had, instead of walking all over, looking for a proper rake. 

Looking good! 

I have some grand dreams for this little area.  Will I do it? I don't know.  Maybe.  Depends on how I feel, quite honestly. 

This must have been back on Wednesday.  The girls found the front door again. 

They hung out there for a good long while. I was surprised there was hardly any poop out there when they finally decided to leave. 

Guess what? I started a new cross stitch project. I reached 500 stitches on it and stopped. 

Western Meadowlark by Lindy Stitches. I dyed that fabric myself.  Even though I measured dye with my heart, it turned out exactly like I wanted it to. I'm starting to wonder what I'll do when the fabric *doesn't* turn out like I want it to. 

Today was publishing day.  It went pretty smoothly. Yay! I love when that happens. 

If you watched my most recent flosstube episode, you will know that I decided to jump on the wheel bandwagon. 

Spin the wheel and let it decide what you work on. That's how I started the Western Meadowlark. 

This evening I decided to add a couple things on the wheel.  One if the things was "Free space." I thought it might add some excitement to the whole Spin the Wheel fun. 

Guess what I spun when I spun for tonite? 

"Seriously?" I said out loud. I could decide to spin again, if I wanted. I decided not to. 

Instead I made 8-minute cheesecake, while watching my friend Leann's newest flosstube.

And then I decided it was a good time to sit down and write a blog post. After this? Who knows.  The world is my oyster this evening. 

Oh, and my son's car? It's fine. The hail that was in our area wasn't very large. Thankfully.