So tired.

Short but sweet catchup.

Cucumbers, squash, and okra showing seedling activity.  Rough tomatoes improving.

Tried to straighten shed today in preparation for a yard sale.  So much work !   Really just rearranged.....more to do, so much more.

Doctor said Monday that the good vocal cord has not moved over any to compensate for the lack of activity in the paralyzed one.  He offered to send me to another doctor who performs the same collagen injection that I had once before, but this doctor does it from the outside of the neck, eliminating the need to be put to sleep.  I'm praying for guidance.  This procedure didn't last more than a week  before, and when it does last, it usually only lasts from 2 to 6 months or so.

Still......God is good, He knows what I need, and He will not tarry.  I must wait and see the goodness of the LORD.  Praise God !

Pride goeth before a fall.....

.... and I was so proud of the job I did re-erecting my garden fence with all new stakes, driving them into the ground by hand.  I repent.  Today I discovered that some rascal, most hopefully four-legged, decided to rip a huge hole in that beautiful fence in one place, and tear several other places.

   Being the lifelong seamstress that I am, after repenting of my pride, I grabbed my curved needle and some polyester reinforced quilting thread and stitched up the holes.  I've since tied selvedges all around to flap in the wind, and added aluminum pie pans to clash around and generally scare the bejeebies out of my nocturnal visitors (I hope).  I even stuck a yard flag out there to flap in the breeze, and hung my favorite kitchen-utensil wind chimes on the fence.  Yep, it looks less than beautiful now, but (again with the HOPE), HOPEFULLY we'll have a nice harvest like last year.

I  pulled dirt up into a row and planted one row of Okra before I realized that it was too much work to do by hand, after the rain having packed the dirt again.  Maybe tomorrow I can loosen it up a bit again with the tiller, and then rake it into a semblance of rows, hills, and walkways.   A raised bed garden is looking better to me all the time.   Sounds great to be able to go out to a lumber-enclosed, raised bed, bend at the waist and plant !   Surely it has it's own aggravations too?

  Anyway, beyond that, the good news healthwise is that my hemoglobin levels were finally high enough yesterday that I was able to donate blood for the first time in about 2 years or more.  I was happy !
  Monday I go for my 6 month post-surgery checkup.  Small things, that make a big difference, have changed, but I still have very little volume to my voice, cough alot, have difficulty sleeping, and MISS SINGING !  But, God is my healer, and time is my friend.  Anesthesia and surgery, on the other hand, are not things I want to tolerate again, so if my surgeon offers to make my voice better, I think I'll just tell him that I'm waiting on God to do that when he desires.

Yard-wise, my bronze-rasperry Irises are blooming down the driveway on either side of the mailbox.

Iris

And I couldn't identify this greenery when it came up, so I left it alone, and it turned out to be Sweet William !   I bought seed and put it out SOMEWHERE once, but I don't know if this is from that or from Rose, or from the birds/wind sharing her garden with mine.  But it is a very happy surprise for me, and I hope that they reseed themselves and hang around for years !

Sweet William

Also, the Purple Salvia that I planted last year have come back as they are supposed to (never had them before and I shaded the area when we built the carport, so I had my doubts).

Salvia

And my newest visitor to our bird feeders is this Indigo Bunting.  I've never spotted one around here before, although this time I thought he was a Bluebird for days before I actually saw him AT the feeder.

Indigo Bunting

And, an interesting thing that I noticed was that a black and white Grosbeak, like I noticed last Spring, showed up on the exact same day as in the photo that I took of one last year.......April 25 exactly.  God is so amazing !  "A time for every purpose under Heaven" !

Grosbeak and Red Finch

A nice visit

Yesterday, our son-in-love, Tim, stopped by on his way further east.  He and our daughter and grandchildren live in Oklahoma, and he is stationed at Ft. Sill army base.  He is attending a month of school at Ft. Lee, in Virginia, and our home is approximately the halfway point for his trip.

He arrived at 3 in the morning, and only got to sleep over and get ready to move on.  But we got to visit for a few hours and it was so good to see him after nearly 2 years.   Hopefully, when he gets back home, after a little bit he AND the rest of the family can come back out and stay for a few days.

Praise the Lord (by Chris Chistian) - A powerful song of Encouragement

Just documenting the seasons of change

First off,........PRAISE for my saviour, Jesus, who gave his life for me, and rose again to reign as my King !  Oh, how I love you , Jesus !

I spent this Good Friday doing my first real mowing of this year.....I got the entire front and alot of the back mowed.  Before that, I mopped the kitchen floor a couple of times with Mop N Glo, which I have neglected to do this winter.  I've been using Pine Sol, and didn't realize how UNSHINY my floor had become until I moved the washing machine looking for a leak.   What a beautiful shiny floor I found hiding underneath it !  (And no leak there.......it must be coming from the connection, inside the wall or below floor....YIKES).  Now the place smells so good (from the Mop N Glo) when you walk in from outside....love that smell !

Pausing to catch a second wind, I had some yummy Cheddar Broccoli soup for a late lunch, and then I got the tiller.  After having difficulty getting it to idle, I adjusted the carburetor and reset the idle screw (sounds all smarty, doesn't it?)  What really worked was praying, "Father, please let me get this thing going so we can be blessed with a good garden to share again !"  And HE did !  I tilled about 4 passes and emptied the gas tank, so I hope to start again tomorrow.

Cable guy came and did some rewiring and stuff yesterday since my phone was dropping calls.  He's the one who discovered the dripping underneath the trailer.  I've called a guy to come have a look at it next week.

So, that was my day.......and I had a lovely date night with the hubby tonight,---upon HIS request !  Can't beat that after 37+ years !

Oh, and 15 Irises bloomed this week along the front of our home, all purple blooms, just the way I like !  On a couple of mornings, the temperature dropped down to the high 20's and nipped the newly opened leaves on the Maples and on the Crape Myrtles and Rose of Sharons.  I hope they come back okay !

Have a blessed Easter weekend, everyone.  Look to the Lord !

Feeling better, and showing off a finish !

I've been silently lurking around blogland for a week.....a crazy week.

I started throwing up last Friday, .........and had family/company on the way here, from out of state, to spend a few days !  Needless to say, I wasn't the best hostess, but we got by and hubby enjoyed seeing his nephew for the first time in nearly 40 years.  They grew up almost as brothers, so that was nice.

After checking with a local doctor, I found that the sickness was caused by acid reflux, not the creeping crud that everyone else has had.  I totally lost my voice off and on for days, and it's still not stable (not that I ever have MUCH voice anymore).  And, I couldn't eat, so I lost ANOTHER 5 POUNDS......not good !   I'm looking emaciated now.

I've scheduled a checkup with my surgeon for Monday afternoon, and am asking him to refer me to a gastroenterologist up at Vanderbilt.  I hope I can get some kind of solution to this aggravation.

Meanwhile, we've had some beautiful Spring days here, and I've been working in the yard again, now that I've recovered some of my strength from last weekend.

  Rose gave me a whole bunch of different styles of buttercups/Daffodils, and I spent most of today setting them out in various places.

While I didn't have much strength, I was able to do enough handwork to get the brown quilt bound. 

I present.................DIAMONDS IN THE DIRT........finished !

Before washing.  All of the quilting was done using my Brother walking foot.  I drew the cables with a stencil, and did the wiggly by using the 3-stitch zigzag.


Since I had to piece the backing, I inserted red diamonds, like the front of the quilt, and the arrows just came to be because I liked them.  I used the half-squares leftover from trimming the diamond-in-a-square units on the front.

Also before washing (check out how the center quilting goes right through the center of the  backing !)

 I machine-quilted it until I got sick, and then finished the last of it a few days ago.  Today I washed it and threw it into the dryer before I went out to do the yardwork.   I FORGOT all about it, and pulled it from the dryer when I came in around 5:30.

It did the cotton-shrink/crinkle-up more than one has in a long time, but it looks good.  That USED TO BE my favorite thing about a cotton-battinged quilt.

Picture's a bit fuzzy........quilt's nice and crinkly.  This design is my own adaptation of a quilt I saw offered as a pattern in a catalog.  I made a few changes but can't totally claim it as MY design.

 I have a recipient in mind for it, but I have to admit that I like this quilt more than anything I've made in a very long time.  My hubby does too !   If it had a flannel back I might have had to give it to HIM.

Nice and wrinkly after washing

I can't believe it lined up that well !  Good thing, too, with the arrows pointing it out !

The quilt started out measuring 56 x 80 inches, but shrunk a bit in the dryer, to finish at a measurement of 53 x 76 inches.  That's a LOT of shrinkage......I was making this for a TALL guy to nap under....hope it still fits !

Maybe I can get a full length shot of the quilt on the clothesline next week.

And, now, .......... I get to think about a NEW PROJECT......... YAY !
Have a great Sunday......and don't forget to thank God for this week !

Praise God for gifts of talent, busy hands, and peaceful days !

Why can't I remember

to take my camera when I go to quilting day ??????????????

Agh !   I saw a most gorgeous scrap quilt top today while I was there, and never even missed the camera until I was on the way home and wanted to smack my forehead right there, going down the highway !

But, backing up a bit, I got my White sewing machine out, since the walking foot works well on it also, and took it and the brown quilt down to the senior center to join the other girls.  I got there at around 9:30 a.m. and stayed until 11:45, so it was a good morning's visit.   I set up at the end of Dot's table, and everytime someone called out her name for help, MY head would pop up, because that was the nickname I used in my Shawnee, OK quilting group.  But, I quietly machine-quilted while listening to all the 'quilt talk' going on around me as we worked together.  It was like music to my ears, hearing that special 'language' again.  I heard a lady say, "next I'm going to add this fabric to 'stop it' ", and I thought, now, non-quilters would think "stop WHAT?"  But I KNEW what she meant !

Before I left, Dot was across on the other side of our table with the opposite end of my quilt, helping me to bury my threads in the back side of the quilt......(again, "bury my threads?") without even being asked,  and I just LOVED the sharing again.  

Then I bought hubby a barbeque sandwich, came home and ate lunch with him, and grabbed the quilt to tie some more threads before going out to the church's food distribution afternoon at 1:30.   I looked up, and it was ALREADY 1:30 !   Had to jump, and boogie !  After having suffered chest pains all evening yesterday from talking too much (I expend so much air when I talk, with this vocal cord standing open ),  I prayed, "LORD, please let me have strength of what voice I have for people to be able to understand  their choices today."   I SAID that I would cut back on the 'cutting up' that I have been doing with a fellow worker.......but that didn't happen much...............BUT, my loving FATHER did give me voice to make it through the afternoon with NO CHEST PAIN AT ALL !   Praise His HOLY name !

AND, while there, I heard that my niece came through a surgical removal of a cyst from her collapsed lung, doing very well !   Thank GOD !  She has two daughters, 6 and 2, and a husband, that want her home very badly, not to mention that she is the head of the local physical therapy clinic.  Victory in JESUS !   That's what I'M talking about !

No pictures today, but hopefully............SOON a finished, photographed quilt !

Love ya's !

Time for bed

I had a pretty productive day.  I set up a quilting station in my sewing room, placing my cabinet-machine in front of my cutting table, and snugging the ironing board up near my left elbow, all for supporting the weight of the quilt.

 I machine-quilted the 'bones' of the brown quilt, going down in the ditch of all the long, light-colored sashing strips.  Now I'm doing some cross-seams.

I have a stencil that I think I am going to use on the wide strips, but it involves lots of twisting and turning to do with the walking foot, so I'll take it a bit at a time.  I think I'm going to like the finished look.
Today's weather started out cloudy and cool, but by mid-afternoon, it was 74 degrees and sunny with very little wind.  My baby girl turned 36 years old today.  I got to say 'happy birthday' over the phone, but my voice is so weird that she couldn't really hear much else.  That makes me sad.  But she had a good day and that makes me happy.

Buttercups are blooming all around me, and I especially love these two-tone ones that are around the mailbox.

I even have a couple of Hyacinth blooming.  Welcome, welcome little blooms, so beautifully adorned by our heavenly Father.

Spring has finally arrived !

Yes, I know that it comes on the same day every year, but the weather this past Winter made it seem extremely long !

Whatever the case, hallelujah, God is on the throne, and the seasons continue.

The first day of Spring was beautiful here, with a temperature in the high 60's, and lots of sunshine.  I had been awaiting this day to baste a quilt, but that didn't happen.

After not sleeping well for the last 3 nights, and it being especially bad last night, I awakened with a slight pain in my chest when I coughed, and a feeling of no energy at all.

Knowing that I had freshly-purchased ground beef in the fridge that needed to be used, I made myself go right to work in the kitchen.  I made up a huge pot of many-vegetables soup (my go-to lunch when I want to spend time piecing/quilting), and a big pan of beef enchiladas (these have become a favorite of hubby's).  During all of the prep work and cooking, I barely felt like standing up straight.

As soon as everything was done or simmering, I grabbed my Bible for some study, and prayed to the Father to rebuke the devourer for His name's sake ---  to please take this affliction from me, which was causing me to be short-tempered with dear hubby.

Well, it wasn't probably 15 minutes before the funk lifted off of me, and I felt just fine.  Praise be to God, my Healer !

 I spied my trash barrel full of leaves that I had been waiting to burn on a wind-still day.  So, I started in on them, not realizing that it meant that I had given up the entire afternoon to 'fire control' !   The wind came up just a bit, and I dared not leave the barrel alone, so I just set out to rake up, stir, and burn all I could gather around the garden spot.  As night fell, I took the water hose and sprayed down the last of the smoldering leaves in the bottom of the barrel.

But, blessedly, I heard on tonight's weather report that we are supposed to have an even nicer day tomorrow.  So, hopefully atleast one quilt top will get basted.  My neighbor reminded me that I not only have the back porch where I can baste, but also my carport as well !    Can't believe I never thought of that !

Finishing things.

I have no picture to share today, as my camera batteries need recharging.  I took a picture today, but now the camera says that the card needs formatting.  But if I do that I'll lose what's on the card.  Usually when it says that, actually the batteries just need a charge.

So, anyway, I've been busy lately getting some things finished.  A few days ago, I figured out what I wanted the back to look like for the "Diamonds in the Dirt" quilt top, so I got that completely pieced.  Very happy with it, but will wait to share it when the quilt is finished.  I don't know if I want to hand or machine-quilt it, so I don't know whether I want polyester or cotton/poly batting.

Today, I pulled out the Japanese X and Plus top and added a border to it.  For me, the quilt top was just TOO BUSY, and yet my hubby LOVES it !  I feel like the border helps contain the chaos just a bit.  Both this, and the top mentioned earlier, measure around 56 x 80 inches.  They'll top a full-sized bed, but are really extra-big nap quilts.  I told hubby that with health changes and sleeping in recliners and on couches, maybe it's a smart thing to have some of this size quilt around nowadays !

Next  thing I want to accomplish is getting a back together for the x and + top.  I bought a beautiful Valori Wells print for my scrappy tripalong top, but I don't really like that one nor want to finish it, so I may borrow that fabric for this top.

Tomorrow is my middle grandchild's birthday.  Timothy Daniel, Jr. will be 8 years old.  I have missed so much !  I love that little guy, he has the sweetest heart.

Back to the cold !

After 2 beautiful, warm, sunny days spent outdoors, (discovering my first buttercup blooms),  today's temperature started out around 62 and fell all day with a cold north wind.  They're saying we might have snow flurries tonight.  Hubby said, "oh, no ! "  I say, "if it's gonna be cold anyway, atleast give me the beauty of the snowflakes flying!"

So, I spent this day INDOORS, doing housework, cooking, and trying to figure out a backing design for the brown/diamonds quilt.

  I received my backing fabric,

A design by Riley Blake, purchased from Fabric.com

 which I have to piece, so I'm trying to use the leftover lopped-off triangles to work some red into the back design.

I may just have it worked out now.

I cooked a meatloaf, real mashed potatoes, and a wonderful pot of white beans with chunks of leftover ham for supper tonight.  Yummy, good, cold weather comfort food !  Good thing I have trouble eating or I'd be fat as a town dog !
Believe me, though, I got down a good (healthy?) portion !  Praise God !

 Tomorrow, the roofer is scheduled to start work, so I have a good excuse to hang close to home and sew.

Hope your week ends well !

The yard is calling !

Yesterday's temperature reached 60, and today was as warm, but more windy.  Not being able to resist, I raked leaves from more flowerbeds today, discovering lovely little green starts peeking their way out of the ground.  I saw "Seven Steps to Heaven", Phlox, Daisies,  Rose bushes, Irises, Candy Tuft, Violets.....all starting to wake up again !

A young man came to measure our roof and give us an estimate for covering it with metal.  Another roofer comes tomorrow to discuss his estimate.  God has blessed us with hopefully enough insurance compensation to pay for the new roof and possibly a couple of other small repairs.

Also, today I received my package from Connecting Threads.  I managed to snag a great deal on their backing fabric when it was on sale, and only paid $8.36 per yard for their $11.96 per yard  104 inch-wide fabric.  Not knowing what I'll use it for, I chose a color that I thought would work on a number of quilts.....it is called 'silver lining', and a couple of hours after receiving my 3 yard piece, I noticed that the sky outside was mimicking the fabric's name !

Isn't that just like God to give me a smile that way ! ? !

Tuesday I should receive my other score........I found fabric for $3.49 per yard, a Riley Blake large leaf print, to back my brown and diamonds strip quilt, plus a beige-colored print for the binding at the same great price, from Fabric.com.  Their sale goes until midnight on the 10th; it's called the cotton print blowout sale, and they brag about prices of $5.95, but I saw quite a few fabrics priced at $3.49 !

Post Script:  I was thinking about 'low volume' fabrics a couple of days ago, and realized that, what with my vocal nerve damage,  I myself am now LOW VOLUME !    ha ha ha ha ha ha !

Beautiful hope of Spring

Today was a GORGEOUS day.  I spent a LOT of it outside.  Once I went out there, it was hard to make myself stay inside.

Hubby and I pulled up the old garden fence stakes and rolled up  the nylon fencing.  Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll re-till the space I used last year and till up a bit more to go with it.  We'll see.......wintertime inactivity makes that sound like AN AWFUL LOT OF WORK, but each year I'm able to do more than I expect.

Then, we can buy new stakes and re-erect the fencing.  I'm not sure about these new 're' words I'm making up, but I'm going with them !  LOL !

The only picture I have to share is the one I took yesterday evening trying to capture the beautiful sunset.  I looked out my living room window when hubby told me I had to see something.  And the sky was actually STRIPED.  Of course, by the time I shot the photo, it had changed or I couldn't capture it or something.  Some things, you just have to keep as a beautiful memory, right?

I sent packages for Kelley's and Timothy, Jr.'s birthdays today.  For once, I'm not sweating getting them to them on time !  Yay !

Finally, some finished knitting !

I finished knitting these socks on Monday evening, right after the little tabletopper quilt.

I've had them in the works for probably 6 months or more.  They are just plain stockinette in a superwash wool that I purchased from someone on Etsy YEARS ago !

As usual, I wish that I had made the cuffs longer.........I always get so antsy to be done with the cuff, and then I regret that they're too short to wear with thermal underwear !   I should remember, "Dolly, you don't wear WOOL socks in the summertime !"

Anyway, I'm glad I finished a pair, as I've worn holes in several older pairs lately.  Somehow, my feet are always able to find a loose screw sticking up from a doorway threshold, or Lottie grabs my foot with her claws as I walk by her lying on the carpet.

And, hey, I discovered something else that I'm able to chew and swallow !
Enchiladas !  Yay......I've been thinking of making some of these again for awhile, and finally got around to it today.  Yum !  Hubby ate 2 helpings....I had to go easy on the sauce on his half of the pan.  He doesn't like tomatoey things very much.

Starting to feel like they may have stoked the old acid-reflux, though.  Good thing I don't make these very often !

Thank God for quilting !

I would go absolutely bonkers staying inside during a cold, snowy, sleety winter like this if it wasn't for sewing, quilting, knitting.......

 Thank God I restored my sewing room to working order again too.  I have just had THE BEST time the last couple of days.  I went in there yesterday and played with scraps all day long, just wanting to make some little something pretty. 

 I got into my scraps bins and pieced 3 wonky stars, which is something I've always wanted to try.  Well, then I messed around with strip-piecing to make some filler blocks.  I was aiming, at that point, for something just big enough to cover the chairside table in the living room.   

I even went so far as to hand-sew some batting strips together while I watched the Walking Dead episode.  So this morning I had my batting and top all ready for basting to a backing.  

more Valori Wells Dandelions, this time in pink/red/coral

I machine-quilted in straight parallel lines, using the edge of the walking foot to keep the lines about 1/2 inch apart all over.  I dug into more scrap strips for the binding and Voila ! 

 FUN, FUN, FUN !

Prayer and wishes of more good times and happy moments with her mom to Dee.  You were whom I thought of as these happy colors came together; it reminds me so much of the pretty, girly things you turn out so often.  I'm glad you have your 'stitching therapy' too....may God continue to keep you and your family in His tender care.  Love to your mom.

Dandelions Near The Steps

Hey, I have a Friday Finish !   I'm not part of that linky party, but I am happy to share my first truly finished quilt of 2014.

This is a baby quilt made from the simple desire to sew !  The design is my own, just something to showcase the solid-colored fabrics, picking up the ones that are featured in the dandelion print.  The finished quilt measures 36 inches square.

The batting is Hobbs' Heirloom Premium 80% cotton/20% polyester.
I used Connecting Threads solid strips and a Valori Wells dandelion print for the top of the quilt.

I regret to say that I don't know the maker of the backing fabric, but I am thankful to my friend, JoAnn, in Oklahoma, for continuing to send me her scraps (big scraps!)

 I pieced a few of the gradating solids from the front of the quilt into the back, since I needed to piece it anyway.

I decided to hand-quilt this one since it would show up so nicely against the solid fabrics.  

I love how the light coming in from the window shows all of the contours of the quilting lines.  

Once again, Lottie-dah wants to claim the quilt for her own.   Can't believe I haven't made this girl a quilt yet !

UPDATE:  The quilt has been gifted to a beautiful young woman who is believing God for a baby girl, and has already named her, Abigale Marie Hope !  God IS hope, isn't he..........praise God for all our babies, no matter how old they are, or how long we have to wait !  God is faithful........why can't we be FULL of FAITH?

Wednesday check-in

Yesterday was a fun day.  I did get to drop in on the quilters, but ooh, how I wanted to stay !  There were atleast 6 or 7 ladies there, with their most recent projects draped around the room, and tables set up with works in progress everywhere !  What a fun group has evolved in the last few years.......I hope I have a project ready to work on with them next month.  The only down side I saw was that there didn't seem to be room to baste a twin-sized quilt on a frame like I used to do there sometimes.

I didn't take pictures, as my camera doesn't want to recognize a memory card anymore.  Now I have to take a few on the internal memory, and then hold my breath as I convince the camera to copy them to the card.   That's why my posts are short on photos lately !

But the food program started early yesterday, so I had to be there by 1 p.m.  I so enjoy getting to know lots of faces of the regulars who come weekly.  They recognize me now, and smile and speak niceties......I just love it.  They're my NEIGHBORS, and I love THEM !

This afternoon, I finished hand-quilting the last two blocks of the baby quilt, and will try to get started on the binding tomorrow.  In the meantime, I wanted to share a tip.

 This backing was just barely big enough to stick out an inch on a couple of sides of the quilt, so when it was time to quilt this last edge, I basted a doubled 4-inch-wide strip of fabric to the backing in that area, going through the batting also; then, I had something for the q-snap frame to get ahold of.  Otherwise, I would have had to fasten it too close to the quilt-top to be able to quilt that last side edge.

Anticipation !

Spring can't be too far away........to my wonderful surprise, the first Crocus, in fact, the first blooms of 2014, were proudly lifting their heads yesterday afternoon in my front yard !   Just the day before there was nothing in that spot but a few of what looked like blades of grass, then, VOILA !  Beautiful blooms of brilliant purple against the dry brown  grass just made my day !




Buttercups, jonquils, Narcissus.......whatever they are, are also poking their stems and buds through the ground now too.

 In my flowerbeds, I couldn't resist the warm days, and I raked away a winter's worth of leaves.  I hope I don't regret it when we have the next few days of cold temperature's return !   I just couldn't resist seeing what was hiding below.

I've been hand-quilting, and I have almost completed the little baby quilt with the dandelion print.   Tomorrow is quilt-meeting day, and I think I will just drop by and show the finished brown quilt-top that I started last month, and this baby quilt, unbound.  Our feeding program starts earlier now, so I need to be able to get back home to feed hubby and myself before slipping away for an afternoon/evening's work.

Thursday's storm

Yesterday was a busy day and I didn't get the chance to post.  I want to document the fact that we had quite a severe thunderstorm come through here on Thursday night.

Hubby and I stood in the center of the trailer while the wind whistled like crazy around us, and hail beat against the side and windows.  We were sure a window must break, but, praise God, they all survived the storm intact.

The roof, however, lost a good many shingles and parts of shingles.  We found them all the way out at the edge of our woods.  Also a window in the sewing room had rain in the blind, so it needs to be sealed.  I called in an insurance claim and then contacted a local roofer.  He came and covered the questionable areas of the roof incase we have more rain before it can be fixed.   I'm hoping we can replace this shingle roof with a metal one.

The amazing thing to me is what the storm did to the garden fence.  It's just a nylon mesh type of fencing material, and yet it was able to catch enough wind to be blown over........metal fence stakes bent at almost a right angle !