One of those weeks

I'm still here.  We've had one of those weeks.  Nothing bad, just busy with the occasional bump. 

We've been hosting my oldest nephew's Flat Stanley and I went hither and yon taking photos of Flat Stanley and local attractions.  I tried to pick things a seven year-old boy would be interested in, so there are pictures of tools, tractors, and the like.  We went to the George Bush Library and I took a picture of Flat Stanley with a nearby sculpture.  The horses are by a local artist (IIRC), and the stones with the grafitti were once part of the Berlin Wall, which I think is pretty cool.  (You can see part of my hand holding on to ol' Flat Stanley because it was windier than all get out that day.)

After taking all the pictures, I put them in a scrapbook album with a written narrative.  Doing this caused me to remember just how much I hate and loathe scrapbooking.  Luckily I'll have five years to get over it until our younger nephew gets to the first grade. ☺

Emma is coming along.  The dried-up black patch on her chest, which was tissue that was necrotic or dead from the snake venom, finally came off.  Luckily, the bite is where she can't lick it a lot or scratch at it.  Now there is a pink patch of nicely healing skin.  She'll have another scar, I'm sure. 

Several weeks ago, DH and I got new cell phones as our old ones were nearly five years old and one had died.  As we have about a year left on our cell phone contract and didn't want to spring for newer high-tech phones, we found our old phones new-in-the-box on eBay for a very nominal price.  We like these old phones (Motorola V330); they're tough and have good clarity - important for me due to my hearing loss.  Well, they're tough unless you run over one with the tractor...

DH was moving something heavy with the bucket on the tractor and thinks his cell phone fell out of his pocket.  Yep, he ran over it and killed the screen on it.  You can still make calls, but can't see anything on the screen.  Oh well.

I haven't stitched in nearly two weeks and this weekend is not looking good.  Maybe next week...

Hooking up

As we hoped, DH has been able to hook up the water supply to the new bathroom.  He was very pleased with how easily it went, even if he did have to dig more holes and make two trips in to Lowe's.  (DH's least favorite thing to do is dig holes or use any kind of shovel.)

Emma is slowly getting back to her old self.  Here she is sitting on the porch - you can see the dark area where the snake bit her on her chest (and her shaved fore legs).

And here she is supervising DH during his hole digging.

An Emma update

Well, Emma ended up staying overnight at the animal hospital because the vet insisted that she stay.  I picked her up yesterday afternoon and she is a sad little dog; this snakebite was much more serious than the last one.  She has a lot of swelling on her right side from the snake venom.  The vet shaved a patch of hair off on both her front legs to run IV lines, so she looks a bit funny.  She will get over it, but it will take a few days. 

The swelling has gone down a bit this morning, but she is still lethargic and wants to be where I am.  I was going to go to town today to run errands, but I think I'll stay home and keep an eye on her (and hopefully stitch some).  Here she is with her shaved legs and looking sad.

And no, I haven't stitched much this week.  The confetti stitches are driving me nuts, so I think I'll move over to a page with large blocks of color and stitch there for awhile.

This weekend, if all goes well, DH should be able to get the water supply run to the bathroom from the main, and we will hopefully be closer to getting the bathroom done!

And if it gets here as promised, I will be switching over to a Mac computer this weekend.  I have had nothing but problems with my less-than-a-year-old Dell.  I researched Dell quite a lot before I "splurged" on a Dell computer and I know a lot of people swear by them.  I have not had a good experience with them and have decided to go with a Mac.  It seems with PCs, it's always something.

What a week and it's only Tuesday

We seem to have mower demons in the yard.  DH got out the riding lawn mower to mow the inside yard while we await the return of the push mower from the shop.  DH just used the riding lawn mower last Wednesday with no problem.  Unfortunately, it now appears that the clutch is out in the riding lawn mower and now it will have to go to the shop.  GAH!

Yesterday was just an all-around gloomy, glummy, mopey day for me.  DH felt it was best to take me out last night after work to Shakes for a Monday Sundae, and that helped. ☺ 

Today started off just peachy.  Emma decided to tangle with a snake again.  Apparently, she did not learn her lesson from the last time.  This time, she got bit on the shoulder.  She came limping up to us whining and trembling.  DH picked her up and she went still as a mouse.  So we jumped in the car and drove to the vet's office.  The vet is keeping her today to give her IV medications for pain and swelling, along with antibiotics.  She is doing much better as of 11:00 a.m. and will be okay.  Silly dog. 

Here she is last week coming out of her dog door and inspecting the trench for the sewer pipe.

Hoe down

I Corinthians 15:3-4 "...Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

Boy! what a week!  DH took a few days off this week and we worked hard to get three tasks done.  We got the sewer pipe for the new bathroom laid and connected to the septic tank.  We got pipe run from the propane tank to under the house (connecting it to the stove will happen soon!).  We ran pipe to run electricity to DH's shop from the house.  We are tired.

DH rented a trencher and one of those gadgets you use to survey rise and fall of geography.  You know, you see a guy standing by the side of the road in a construction zone squinting through a device on a tripod.  Farther down the road is a guy standing with a really long ruler who looks very bored.  DH used the gadget and I stood around with the ruler.  There's a reason those roadside guys holding the ruler look bored.  Ruler holding is boring.  We had to make sure the sewer pipes tilted down properly to the septic tank.

When DH got the gadget home he used it and had a problem with his original pipe layout, so he had to change it.  Wednesday morning, bright and early, DH used the trencher to cut trenches for all the piping.  Our yard looked like some demented gopher had gotten loose.

We had a trench for the sewer pipe.

We had a trench for the propane pipe.

And we had a trench for the electrical piping.

DH got all those pipes laid, and then we had to put all that dirt back in all the trenches by using our own backs and shovels and a hoe.  That was a pain and a lot of work.  But it's done now.  Whee-e-o!! 

Yesterday, I went to Austin for the I35 Stitchtogether.  I stitched on the never-ending border on my BAP.  We had a lot of fun, although we were missing some folks. 

This afternoon I plan to stitch some more and plan where to take and photograph my oldest nephew's Flat Stanley, who arrived yesterday in the mail.  Flat Stanley will definitely get to learn about the tractor and visit DH's tree stand, and I think a visit to Texas A&M is in order, too.  And of course, Flat Stanley will play with Emma.  It will have to be heavily supervised play; upon being introduced to Flat Stanley, Emma attempted to eat him. 

Sunny days

We've had gorgeous weather here lately.  And no rain!  I've been enjoying sitting out on the front porch steps while doing some reading.  Emma loves the warmer weather, too.  She'll go out and sit in the sun until she gets hot enough to pant, then she'll come in the house to cool off.  Once she's cool, she's back outside again.

DH is coming home this evening with a rented DitchWitch and a new weedeater.  The old weedeater is dead and DH could not resurrect it, and it has been in the shop twice within two months for the cost of half a new weedeater.  The push mower is in the shop right now.  I think there is a lawn tool demon on our property that kills lawn tools. 

Tomorrow, DH will dig all the trenches for the bathroom piping with the DitchWitch.  He will also run the pipe for our propane tank and hopefully, I'll be able to use my gas stovetop soon instead of the two-burner hot plate I've used since we moved here. 

Today, while running my usual errands, I had to stop in Jo-Ann Fabrics for some felt for a sewing project that I'll describe at a later date.  I had a 40%-off coupon and treated myself to the February edition of the UK CrosStitcher magazine.  (It had Margaret Sherry cats on the cover!)  I don't subscribe to any stitching magazines, but I do enjoy buying one occasionally, especially the UK ones.

And...the cows were back yesterday.  I am on a first-name basis with all the livestock deputies.  I also got a lesson in open range law yesterday as our county has it.  It is not a good law if you are a land owner, but NOT a cow owner.  Anyway, as I think most of our part of the county and all the livestock sheriffs are fed up with this neighbor, something will finally be done.  Those poor cows deserve a better owner.  And our yard deserves to be cowpat free. ☺

Plumbing continued

DH got the sewer lines all figured out and then we made a trip to Lowe's for the piping and supplies.  After we got home, he laid the pipes where they will go.  He plans to take a few days off this week and rent a DitchWitch to dig all the trenches.  I'm so glad he'll be able to do this!  It's finally been dry enough to work on it, and there's no rain in the forecast until next weekend, and then it's only a slight chance of rain.  (The weird little grey thing by the house is our septic system aerator.)

I think I got in about 20 stitches yesterday; it's been a dry week for me as far as stitching goes.

Today, DH is out putting up a new mailbox at the end of our driveway.  The road leading to our driveway is about five miles long.  Everybody on the road gets driveway mailbox delivery except those of us along the last 3/4 mile.  We've been getting our mail up by the highway at a "clump" of mailboxes.  A lady down the road took it upon herself to petition the post office for driveway delivery.  It took her nearly two years to get it approved.  But delivery will finally start in the second week of April!  Yay!