MO PICTURES

The caissons have been sunk, and will be topped with a wall of concrete, then they will back fill with graded rock. 

East parking lot project; the huge pile of dirt has been fairly well nibbled down, so that the next level of tie backs and retaining wall can be constructed.  Not quite parking lot yet but headed there soon. 

Watched bits and pieces of Academy Awards in between the news and Amazing Race.  I thought the cowboys were last for sure, they recovered nicely. 

I was listening to NPR at work and there was some discussion about the car industry is rebounding but they are having to change market strategy because the favored demographic; young adults are no longer being brainwa...um...sold by traditional media.  Yeah, I have noticed a few more commercials on the net when I want to watch something.  However, I have noticed a strikingly different car commercial by KIA.  The one where the new KIA gets hijacked by Aliens , Alien goes on joy ride, Car gets sucked into a worm hole and finally lands on an Incan temple?  Pretty out there, pretty cool in that the commercial was aired in INSTALLMENTS. Kind of like the old cliff hangers.  But more interesting.

PROGRESS ON DIG-A-THON AND MORE WEATHER

This is a very poor picture taken through the glass out of Renee's office, as you can see there is still plenty of dirt and I posted this shot because it shows the buckets of the two smaller Hitachi diggers in mid scoop.  Yeah, we might miss the Feb 2011 deadline for the East parking lot, but they are not slacking off one bit.

This was taken near pre-dawn Thursday morning. The weather man had guaranteed snow at sea level Thur/Fri and by golly, the report was right.  Husband warms up the car for a few minutes each morning.  I love electric heated seats!

Also, my coding buddy called Wednesday morning to say her trip home Monday morning from here to Roseburg was uneventful except for the 90 minute delay at the ROAD CLOSED sign on highway 42.  There was a land slide and a big one.  She had to backtrack through Coos Bay, Reedsport, I-5 to get home.  She also left a message Thursday that she would come on Sunday.   Woo hoo!  Maybe the Chinese place will be open for lunch!

Machines that have had me in stitches....

This is dedicated to Blah-Blah-Blogolicious who reminisced over trips to the fabric store for patterns and dress material.

I too have memories of various dresses being prepared for me for the school year.  Mostly shirt waist that buttoned up the front to the waist, (no zipper!), gathered and made of Dan River cotton.  (Dan River cotton at the time was noted for fabric that had small tufts of thread sticking out of the fabric as part of the pattern.)  Weird but it washed and ironed well.   One of my tasks on wash day was to iron down to a certain colored towel in the ironing basket.  I learned very well how to properly iron shirts and dresses. 

I remember my first sewing project was at Parkview Junior Highschool where they had combined fifth through eighth grade.  I was enrolled in a HomeEc class and we each sewed a dress and once it was finished we were to model it in class.  I cut pattern, I basted hems, I sewed and sewed.   I took the dress home and showed it to my mother.  She let out a yelp! Grabbed the dress, tore it completely apart, sewed it back together and I wore that to model.  I don't think I was graded on that version and I don't remember ever wearing the dress again after that.

About this time Mom purchased her Nechi-Elna sewing machine.  It was green.  I remember the salesman telling her that they would throw in free sewing lessons if she purchased it.  Um, no lessons were requested.
The Nechi-Elna was magic, it had plastic cams that produced figures and patterns on the fabric.  Fortunately Mom was not too enamored of that feature, otherwise our clothes would have looked like they had tattoos on them.  This machine was off limits to EVERY one.   When Mom became suspicious that someone might have snuck in and sewed a hem or something, she began hiding the pedal. 

My second sewing project was on Grandma Horns' treadle sewing machine.  My HomeEc project was to make quilted blankets for my sisters dolls for Christmas.  I walked to her house in town after school for what seemed like months to work on those quilts.  First I would walk in, lie down on the carpet in front of her heater and bake my front and back.  Then I would eat something and then I would sew on the quilts.  Mom thought I was taking too much time and eventually got me up to speed.  I got a grade and gave the blankies to my sisters for Christmas.  I don't think Mom ripped them apart and sewed them up again.

I did not sew anything for a good 20 years afterward.  I sewed a pair of black leather pants on Grandma LaVann's treadle sewing machine. That was one tough machine.  Her son, Phil, had fixed it so it was electric.  It did not have a reverse but it had such perfect tension that it could happily sew two layers of leather together without any problem. I even sewed in the zipper.  One tough machine.

My next sewing phase was when I purchased a Husqvarna sewing machine because it was seemingly idiot proof.  I sewed  few items of clothing on that machine and I still have it, it needs to be oiled and cleaned up if I ever want to sew a hem or something.

Mom's sewing machine went home with Phil when we gathered to disperse her personal belongings shortly after her death in December 2009.  Every ones truck was loaded to the gills with stuff and everyone seemed to think I needed to take it home with me.  Um, nope.,  I have a machine that I am presently ignoring, why would I want to ignore another one? 

So, in summary, Mom sewed like a fiend for most of her children.  She did not sew for Dad other than to hem his pants.  Most of us have polyester quilt tops that have outlasted the cotton bottom and filling. Mine is in a drawer, a little ragged around the edges but the top is still as bright and indestructible as the day she made it.

Late dinner date for Valentines

We had heard about Mama Mia from various people and decided to try it out.  Husband ordered the Gorgonzola Chicken.

I ordered the veal picatta (delicious).  The first course out was some warm bread with seasoned butter.  Yum.  Then they brought out the best soup, freshly cooked vegetables, pasta tasted wonderful.  We both decided that we did not care for the purple cabbage, it was cooked with a slightly sweet sauce and nutmeg.  The penne pasta and red sauce was okay except the red sauce was sweet and had a little too much red pepper flake. 

Dessert was cannoli, fresh made and chocolate cheese cake on a berry mixture, both rich and delicious. 

The service was excellent as we arrived right as they opened at 4 pm, we had the place to ourselves until almost 5 pm.  If the lady wearing the heavy perfume had come in any earlier we would have left.  Gas mask, please...

We may go back, but I heard about another Italian place called Porto who are open for lunch and dinner, sounds good.

Also, the portions were generous, we both had take home boxes.  Over all, the Gorgonzola sauce at Bennetti's is a shade smoother, I like the view out the window and if you can't get a view, downstairs has a terrific aquarium with some very fierce fish.  Ciao Bella!!

WEATHER REPORT

The weather forecast last evening was snow at 1000 feet on the coastal range (us!) and by 4 am to 4 pm snow to 500 feet on the coastal range (still us!).  Today at work it hailed quite vigorously for about 3 minutes.  About 2 pm it began snowing like it was falling out of a dump truck onto the ground, very wet, did not stick.

This evening it began snowing again and it was very heavy and wet, about 5 pm I lost satellite TV completely, called Direct TV and marched through all the automated menus until I got some poor technician out of bed who when I said that it had snowed ,"Did you check for snow in the dish?"...cricket chirp  chirp "Uh no, we'll do that thank you".  Husband got out the push broom shoved some snow out of the dish, turned the power strip of for fifteen seconds, turned it back on and everything reset.

Swell, I got to watch Top Chef (Angelo had to pack his knives and go because his soup was too salty).  And I got to watch Survivor Redemption. Francesca was voted off and she is the first one to go live on RI until she must battle with the next one voted off.  Some one poked around and found the hidden immunity idol and just could not keep their mouth shut about it.  I am surprised only two people have ever made fake idols and left them in place.  Hmph.

Caissons and Valentines

If you look carefully you will see a row of re-bar caissons buried in a line just above the line of dark gravel.  Those caissons are about 40 feet deep, they have been filled with concrete and gravel, they will act as great BIG footers for the foundation of the new hospital.

The boom drill is making another hole for another caisson.  The drill bit is about two feet across, fascinatin'....

Oh yes, Happy Valentines day.  A dozen roses waiting for me on the mantle piece, smell gorgeous, yummy!  XOXOXO HS

MORE WORKY WORKY....

Work continues down slope, the men are assembling large tubes made of re-bar, I think they will be inserted into the slope for dirt retention or they may be footers that will be filled with something substantial such as rock and/or concrete.  Incidentally those guys who look like they are standing on top of a roof near the top of the picture?  That is not a roof it is a small patio just off the back of the clinic.

Also, there was a little excitement at the clinic this past Monday, some one got into their car to leave and hit the wrong pedal and launched over the parking embankment down into three cars parked at street level.  Oops. 

I also felt like cooking comfort food this week and have decided against pictures.  I made meatloaf,  the secret ingredient was some left over mushroom stuffing made of cream cheese and fried Jimmy Dean Sausage.  While I was browning the beef, I added a quick sprinkle of what I thought was black pepper but turned out to be a very healthy teaspoon of CINNAMON!  Um, um..quick add 1 tsp of ground cumin for a quasi-mole taste.   Not bad.

I was also prompted to make a potato salad.  One of husband's friends gave him a jar of home made mustard, it is very thick and grainy.  I boiled six red potatoes and 3 eggs, chopped half an onion very fine. Mixed 1/2 cup Mayo, one large tablespoon of mustard, sprinkle red pepper flakes, sprinkle salt, sprinkle pepper, sprinkle garlic powder, sprinkle celery seed, capful apple cider vinegar, two packets of Splenda.  Hmmm, not bad at all. 

'NUFF SAID...

UPDATE ON KINDLE VERSION!

Yesterday I received notification from Amazon.com that the edited version of Island In The Sea of Time was available for download!  Back in November 2010 I had "reviewed" the kindle version and got yelled at for complaining about something over which the author had no control.  This lead me to go looking for the proper place to complain that ultimately led me to a little box at the end of each review...keep looking, it's way down at the bottom of the page.  There you may list your various complaints.   And I did and received a notice that the team would be working on the kindle version.  How nice.  So having downloaded the new version I am currently re-reading IITSOT for about the 4th time.  Very enjoyable, I do not find myself tripping over bad punctuation or creating spelling.  AND they have not messed with original words and phrases created by the author such as "thuttered" which described the sound of sails in the wind.  Nice.
It is good to be a force against the dumbing down of America.  Not that we had very far to go in the first place.....