Have you been crocheting in your spare time?
I want you to keep in mind that Shelly, at This Eclectic Life, is still looking for 6″ granny squares for afghans for kids attending cancer care camp next summer. This is a wonderful project that will let you use up your scraps of yarn. There is a button on my blog that will take you to Shelly’s post about the program. Scroll down and click on the button that says “Share a Square” for more information.
Shelly, the Senior Exercise group came through with 39 more squares. I mailed them off on Saturday morning.
And……I have seven more ready to send.
Folks, Shelly is only about a third of the way to all the squares she needs. Please help her reach her goal!

Okay….we’ve had enough rain for a bit. I’d like for you Texans….and citizens of Kansas (Kansans??) to keep those storms to yourself!
Last week we had quite a bit of rain. Thursday brought storms with high winds and a few tornadoes were sighted in the Chicago area. Normally storms don’t bother me, but these were quite aggressive. Our personal computer is on a trestle table next to a wall of windows, and I felt that it was prudent to turn off the computer and move to an area where there would be less chance of flying glass, should a tree decide to take flight.
I actually moved Elegante Mother into her bathroom temporarily, for the same reason. I’m not sure that I can get her down the stairs to the basement, and we certainly can’t do it in a speedy manner. If the weather is sufficiently dangerous, we might attempt it, but I’d need enough warning to have the time to make it happen. Her bathroom was the next best choice, and my dressing room would be even better, if we added chairs.
At any rate, we have made it through, without loosing electricity or any other services. We don’t have any standing water, and the plants and weeds are in hog heaven! I’m a bit superstitious about mentioning it, but the basement is dry. (I didn’t say that……don’t mind me, I’m just a little rain cloud passing by.)
We normally have about four inches of rain in August. We had four inches of rain on Thursday alone. The northern third of the Chicago area has been hit much harder than we have. They are not only coping with the results of Thursday’s storms, they also have to deal with the flow of water out of Wisconsin that has brought streams and rivers to past the flood stage. And all this came at a time when schools were ready to open.
On my way to exercise on Friday, I had to cross an old bridge that is under reconstruction. The crews have taken out the two westbound lanes and moved all the traffic onto the two remaining lanes. After the bridge collapse in Minnesota, I’ve been a little wary of the bridge, but Friday I could see that the river was up almost to the road bed, which made the situation worse. As I drove across, I was trying to think what to do, should I find my car quickly sinking into the river, and maybe even being pushed downstream. Luckily, there was no problem.
It looks as though we have two dry days to start the week, and then Wednesday is supposed to be wet, again. Thank you, Mother Nature, for the blessing or rain. Now, could we stop before I grow webbed feet??

It’s time to play Taps for the elm tree that resides off the southwest corner of our house. Last year it looked sickly, and it didn’t make it through the incredibly harsh January weather. Now, when you look past our house toward the west, you see a crown of bare branches. I’ll try to remember to take a picture to add to this post later.
The tree service will be here at 7:30 to do their magic. It’s very difficult to come to the point where we have to admit we’ve lost a tree, but this one is a potential danger. Since it is SO large, I’ve hired the service, rather than waiting for Dear Husband to try his hand at bringing it down. It would take him all winter to cut this up by himself, and I’d be in fear for the new roof, and our skylights while he did it.
We’ve lived here close to eighteen years, and the changes to the trees and shrubs have been quite amazing to watch. The grove is a bit sparse now. I can see the outline of the neighbor’s houses to the west. As trees have died out, shrubs have moved in to fill those spaces, so we still have a wall of green to the west of the house. Someone with an unlimited budget could make quite a showplace of our grounds. We prefer to leave them closer to natural, so that the wildlife has a home.
My job this morning is to weed, and listen to chain saws. I’m also taking bets. How long do you think it will be, before Dear Husband notices that the tree is gone???