Glorious Fecundity

It's melting!! It's melting!! I can once again see the patio furniture that I didn't get under cover in time, and the brown, dead-looking trumpet vine that is soon to be replaced with a clematis as soon as I can dig it out, and the rest of my decaying pumpkins that I used as place holders for the chicken wire that I didn't need after all to keep the squirrels away from my tulip bulbs. We've exchanged the snows of Colorado for the swamps of Florida and I couldn't be happier.

So what that Teddy can't be bothered to wipe his feet when he returns from his adventures! Who cares that a skunk apparently courted his beloved under our bedroom window last night and managed to stink up the entire house! I'm delighted that I'll have to scrub the snot off the siding where poor old Arnold cleared out his sinuses all winter. I didn't need the recently arrived flock of robins to deliver the news. Spring is coming!

The World's Ugliest Cat

The cats are moving off the porch today from whence we took pity on them during the snowstorms. I'm tired of my porch looking like the Joads live here, but mostly, with the exception of Miss Kitty, the cats are smelly and pungently territorial. And more than that -- Dave found a possum living under the straw!!

He had a great gig going -- nice cozy den with room service, but ICK!!! I know possums are earthly creatures and probably have some purpose in the scheme of the world, but . . . ICK!!

Dave happened to notice Mr. Possum last night when he was out investigating something that fell to the earth burning -- yeah, yeah, but that's another story -- and thank god, he did because I nearly picked the straw up the other day to carry it out to the shed. That's all I need -- a painful series of rabies shots because I accidentally picked up a possum. Not to mention all the rehabilitation after my heart attack.

How wonderful to have married a hero. I tell him he should wear a cape. Not only does he open the door to noisy closets at 5 in the morning, but now he has vanquished the possum from the porch.

The Whole Winter's Been a Lion

It's been quite awhile since I've logged on, but the only topics that came to my mind were weather-related, and if you live in the Midwest -- or the East coast -- you're sick of hearing, worrying and talking about the weather right now -- bitching about the snow and longing for spring.

So let's talk quilts! It's time for a Pickle Dish update. As of today, I have thirty pickle dish arcs done for my traditional Pickle Dish quilt, and the entire 24 completed for the Christmas Pickle project. I am in love with the foundation piecing of Pickle Dish arcs. I get in the zone and Pickle Dishes fly out of my sewing machine.

What brings me to earth is the sobering prospect of connecting curved piece to curved piece. But I am resolute! And I will tackle that portion of the challenge this week and let you know who it goes.

Happy March 1st!