AJ and I took a walk this week at lunch, and there was a huge flock of geese out in the field.  We think one of them may have been an albino???  Either that, or a different breed of goose that got stuck with the Canadian geese....

 

I tackled a project I put off for way too long - removing a "volunteer" palm tree from the koi pond area.  It grew very quickly, and the roots got very invasive - I hope I got it in time, before it ruined the pond.  Here's the tree and pond before:

I really liked the look of the tree - but it just couldn't stay.

And the stump after.  I bought my very own chain saw just for this project - a Ryobi battery powered one, and it was actually pretty fun to play with!  I will probably find a few things around here I can use a chain saw for, right???  You can see where the roots have grown into the waterway - not good!

While I working, Ripley was on "squirrel patrol" - I am definitely safe from a squirrel attack....

 

I'm dipping my toe into doing more of my own quilting (it was over $300.00 for the last quilt I took to a quilter!!!), and bought a Cutie quilting Frame....it should be here early next week.  I decided I needed a simple, quick quilting project to quilt with it, and had this baby quilt in mind for it - super cute and super quick.  I got the blocks done in one afternoon, and got it put together the next afternoon.

 

I finally finished the quilt top for my Barn Stars quilt!  This was a block-a-month (9 months of monthly shipments for quilt blocks) quilt that I started in May of 2021, and I got it finished in January, 2023 - not really a block a month, now was it???  It was usually the last quilt I would work on, so it didn't get as much attention as it should have - especially since it is one that I really, really like!!

 

I was missing Jessie one evening, and took a peak at Alli's nannie-cam. Sure enough, Jessie had snuck into Alli's room while I was putting her to bed - the eyes are so creepy on the nannie-cam!

 

We had our annual jewelry making weekend last weekend, and I made a few sets of earrings, and restrung a couple of bracelets that had broken....and got photo-bombed while taking a picture.

 

Poor Alli took a tumble last Friday, and broke a tooth.....it doesn't seem to bother her luckily.  The doctor determined that no nerve or root damage, just cosmetic, so we are on the search for a dentist to fix it....

 

Yesterday was Alex's 30'th birthday, and he did his annual swim.  Luckily for him, it was almost 60 degrees and sunny this year (for just a short time -we are back to rain again - the 4th storm to come through.)  Last year he slipped on the ice on the diving board and almost fell in.

Here's last year's....

Ever get the feeling that someone is watching you.....?  It's probably just James.....at least she wasn't trying to "help" me sew.

 

Sunrise in between storms.....

 

We had Cooper over Christmas break, and it was so nice to see him and Luna sleeping together...you'd think he lived here all the time!!  I did get a few more dog beds for Christmas for the dogs, so there was no reason for them to sleep together....there were other beds.

 

I walked into my bedroom to find James fighting with my boot.  Turns out she had dropped one of her toys in it.  That will teach me to leave my shoes lying around...(probably not - I've done it forever, and nothing seems to get me to change....just call me Cinderella - I'm always loosing my shoes....)

 

And I finished it in 2022!!!  I did the quilting on this, and I really like how it turned out.  The quilting's not perfect, but it's much better than the first one I tried free-quilting on.  It actually looked really bad when you could see where I drew then lines on with the blue washable pen, and I see where I was "supposed" to quilt (and didn't).  Since the lines wash out, you don't see where I wasn't as good as I should have been - and it all looks good!

Unlike much of California, we had a beautiful day yesterday (San Francisco recorded over 5 inches of rain, levees failed in Sacramento County, and record rain and snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountains).  I met up with Cindy M and we took Ripley and Cooper for a walk - along with her grandson and nephew and one of their dogs Lucy.  Since we had the boys, we went to Kid's Kingdom aka Enterprise Park and let the kids play while we walked and talked.  Ripley spent most of her time looking (and finding) squirrels.....

 

I think someone was cold......