More progress in the garage - the shop part of it is looking pretty good - still a lot to go through that we haven't looked at before, but we have room to walk in there now.

More room to walk in the main garage as well.

There is even room to walk by the door!  Part of this is set for donations or to go to someone specific, so much of this are will be clear soon too.

 

My two latest quilts under construction - the black/gray one should be finished fairly soon (at least the quilt top - maybe not the quilting...) but the other is a block-a-month quilt, so will take several more months to even get the fabric for the blocks, and then to put together.  Making a large quilt just a couple of blocks at a time does make it less intimidating, but I'm always ready to go before the next package arrives. (Unless I procrastinate and save up several months to work on all at once....)

 

We had Danny's Celebration of Life earlier this month at Anderson River Park.  Celebrations of Life are not much fun anyway, but Danny was only 49 - very sad.  As we left, I caught this photo - made me think Danny was peaking out at us...

 

The first sign of fall is here - the sycamore leaves are turning.  That means in a couple of weeks they will be falling...and I'll be spending my weekends raking. shredding, and hauling leaves to recycling....

 

Bosses Day was last Monday - while I was in Portland.  My Team sent a plaque to me at home (I didn't do anything for my boss - my bad!)

 

I spent the first part of the week in Portland for a 2024 Strategic Planning meeting - a fun time to meet all the supervisors I've been working with since March!  The meetings were long, but fairly productive, so I figured that's a win!  The evenings were planned events as well - dinner at Margarita Station one night and an evening at Top Golf for another.  I am not a golfer, and luckily most everyone else wasn't either, so we played Angry Birds golf....an interesting game.  It's pretty liberal for allowing your shot to be anywhere near where you were supposed to be so even the worst of us showed some damage to the pigs.  I'm blaming my lack of scoring on my poor wounded wrist....(I sprained it while Rhioji was here) it was just beginning to feel better, but one too many times of hitting the ground instead of the golf ball made it just a bit sore again.

 

It's hard to brush Alli's teeth when the basin is full....of James....

She's in the way, no matter where she is....

 

The work on the garage is progressing quite nicely.  The focus has shifted to the shop area now, and will probably go a bit slower now.  We have a lot of the "things we know what they are" done, but now we are venturing into unknown territory.  The shop area holds tools and "stuff" that Ralph kept - do we still need it???  Do we know what it is?   How many do we have already?  (Don't laugh - I think the last time I counted, I had 8 hammers in one spot - no telling how many others are around....)

 

New quick gift idea...quilted potholders.  Margene gave me a set for my birthday - they have magnets inside them so they stick to the microwave/refrigerator and are the handiest ones I've seen, so....I must try to make them!!  This is my first try, and I need to make a couple of adjustments, but they work great!

 

Usually I take advantage of Indigenous Peoples Day by taking a walk on the River Trail or at Lema Ranch Trail and getting some fall foliage photos, but we had low clouds/light rain on Monday - not good photo weather.  AJ and I walked the dogs though, and I found some color in the back field....

 

I got the body of Margene's quilt quilted - now it's just the border left to quilt (and then the binding.....)  I have been trying different little tricks each time I quilted something, and this time I used them all and only had one problem - one broken needle.  Not too bad, since I have been breaking 3-4 each quilt.  (I was moving the fabric too fast when I first started.)  There is a Facebook page dedicated to Allegro users and one for Cutie Frame users, and between the two of them, I figured out (most of) the things I was doing wrong.  Whew!

 

I finished the quilt top for Kirby!  As usual, I had help.  It is very hard to press seams with James hanging out on the ironing board....

The final quilt is too large to put on my design board - I really like it!!!

 

Debbie brought me a box of apples when we met up to go hiking.  I sent a few home with Pat, but not before she played with Jessie with them....

 

And I'm left with a few random pictures from the weekend hikes.  All the snow has melted off of Mt. Lassen, so maybe we should try it again???

 

Parts of the hike to Kings Creek Falls:

 

When we got to Cold Boiling Lake, there was a sign that Crumbaugh Lake was another 0.5 miles away, so....why not?  Off we went!  By the time we got there though, the weather had shifted a bit - windy and heavier mist.  Since we were hiking through the fire zone full of dead trees, we didn't stay long to look around and headed back out.  The pace was a bit quicker than our usually walk - the result of hiking with CDF people that know the dangers of falling trees....and we were soaked through by the time we got back to the truck.

 

We also hiked to Cold Boiling Lake - less than a mile from Kings Creek Picnic Area.  It was pretty cool - CO2 bubbles up.  I took a quick video of it.

 

Kings Creek Falls was beautiful - lots of water in the creek.  The remnants of the Dixie Fire are heartbreaking, though.  Hiking with three retired CDF people was interesting too - I heard lots of fire stories and how badly the Dixie Fire was mishandled.  (The fire started near Cindy just outside of Reno and burned through Lassen Park.)