Silver Dollar Birthday

Our friends treated us to a trip to Silver Dollar City for the Christmas lights. They use LED lights that are bright even during the day. We toured all the crafters, shops and food places.

Everything in lights.

Lots of shops

Over decorated trees and all for sale.

As dark came on we got on the train to see the lights, hear the Christmas story and see more lights.

The parks is super clean, very nice staff and vendors. Disneyworld/land fails in all these.

The whole park is lights on everything. Bathrooms are clean, plenty of staff to help.

Shuttles from the parking lot to the park. It was cold but wonderful.

The whole park at night. Then they light the big tree and have a parade before closing.

This huge tree changes colors as Christmas songs play.

Park visitors are so nice even though there were a lot. People are happy and in good moods. So refreshing compared to other parks we have been to.

When you buy something the park will hold it for you at the main office. You get a claim ticket and your receipt. Anything you buy will be waiting for you so you do not have to carry it around. How cool is that and it is free of charge! So after our visit we collected our purchases, waited for the trolley and got taken to our parking lot. It is a wonderful park to visit.

Cats in Snow for Winter 2018

This is Cotton (Puff) strolling about in the cold snow.

With her cow camo coat of gray circles.

Our frozen pond

The dormant winter garden and shed.

Poor fall trees hit with snow as they change.

Puff.

We call her Bloppy and she is part rag doll and part stay cat. She has a medium cool coat and a jelly like body of a much larger cat. She is very floppy and always rolls on her back like a doll. She is like the blob and can pour out of your arms with amazing ease. She has a very short nose and has the worst meow of any cat I have ever had. The whole foster litter of 12 was like this- but they liked to bite. They were all re-homed except for this one. Puff is a sweety and my husband adores her.

This is Frosty who is now 1 year old silver tabby male. He was found in some walls hungry and weak. I fostered him and no one wanted to adopt him so he stayed. He is my constant companion inside and  outside on the farm.

This is what Poppy finds underneath our truck and brings to me. It was a garter snake and lived. It was taken for a walk in the woods for a new winter hiding place.

First Snow for 2018

This is the first time we had snow before thanksgiving here in the  Ozarks.

Very cold and rain made snow. We got about .5 inches where the rest of the area got up to 3-6 with ice. 

We fixed our wood stove ourselves and the cats love it. Our boots and gloves stay dry and our cats stay warm.

The barn cat and the dog want in as well. It  did get below 17 degrees so we let them all in for the frigid evenings. My dogs have thick winter coats and they pant all night near the wood stove. So we do not let them in until the fire goes out. Our oldest shepherd was shivering and got to spend more time inside. But our dogs are working dogs and they smell. So we keep their inside time to a minimum. And they have a hug straw bale filled kennel and heated dog bed outside as well.

Restoring Ann

                    
This is the doll as I received it from the client. She washed it before giving it to me. Washed in a normal cycle then thrown into the dryer. It was pretty much a ruined mess when I got it.

The new eyes in place.

The yarn hair needed to wait until the last part of the restoration. This knotted yarn mess was a challenge.

Re-stuffing the body. Lots and lots of stuffing.

 New eyes in place.

How I got the original doll from the client.

The newly de-tangled yarn hair. It took 3 hours to get this hair put back and sewn into place. Impossible to find the exact match of yarn, so I used what was left on her head.

They still have the vintage sewing pattern for these larger Ann dolls. I used McCalls #4268 from the 1970's for this 36 inch Raggedy Ann. After restoration I was able to sew up a new set of clothes for this doll. With proper care and staying out of the washing machine it will last a very long time.

And the Wood Stove Won't Even

We went to clean out and get our wood stove winter ready and this was discovered. A broken ceramic sleeve for the metal tube that takes the smoke up the chimney.

Yes this is broken and not safe to use.

This was caused by our house settling. So we have no one around us who can fix this. We have called and no one wants to drive 3 hours to get to our place in the Ozarks to repair this. And the cold is coming next week. Around here people just do it themselves. But I am not a chimney sweep. So we called the guy who originally put this in for his advice but that answer will have to wait until tomorrow. Supplies we got and the store 45 minutes away has the fireplace cement. So it is looking like I am going to do this myself. Will have to post what happens in the next few days.

And while this is happening, we also have a leaking new pressure tank. The guys who put it in have not returned to fix this leak. This is the 3rd plumber who has not returned to our place in the last few years. Apparently, this is a common thing with some repair people in the Ozarks so I have been told by several locals.

Scary Halloween

My husband was having bad headaches last week. Then one day he got up, picked up the cat and almost fainted and dropped the cat. Then the headaches got really bad and affected his sleep. Nothing else seemed wrong with him but the episode with the fainting got us in to the our doctor the next day, Halloween. We then were told we needed to get a CT of his head stat. So we drove a hour and a half away to the imaging center that was under our insurance. I got to go in the CT room with him as he got to stick his head into the big magnet. Took only a few minutes to see it all, then go home and wait for the doctor to call. And I got a copy of his scans on a CD for my Christmas cards this year. That Halloween night the doctors wife called us and all looked fine. But the next morning we talked about the next step involving contrast and possible side effects (Chuck Norris wife had some). The headaches were subsiding and nothing was seen by the radiologist nor the doctor. We think after lots of tooth work from the dentist might have caused all these problem. He has not had as much dental work as I have. And I am used to living with many forms of pain over the years. We think his jaw nerve might have triggered these spasms of pain and fainting. As of today no more headaches and no more fainting. He is much too young to have these problems. It was a good scare and I prayed for everything. I am grateful nothing was found and happy he is no longer having pain issues.

Restoring Raggedy Ann

 A friend recently took down her old house to make room for her new one. In the attic she found her long abandoned childhood 36 inch Raggedy Ann doll. The clothes were gone and the doll was in a bad state. So she threw it into the washer and it got worse for the doll. She knew I restored quilts, furniture and bones and asked if I could restore her doll. Sigh. The only good news was the eyes are still made if you hunt around for them. The bad news is that the fabric is very fragile now.

The face stain is from the original cardboard behind the eyes. It was also a metal ferrule under the  wet cardboard.

Eyes are sold in lots and not pairs.

Looks better with the new ones.

Hair is matted up thanks to her dryer and pulled into a knot.

Opening the neck to pull out stains.

Had a tear on the face as I worked.

Moth holes covered with black tulle and fabric bond.

Eyes are now in, tear is stabilized and now I am working on the hair and stuffing. After that the dress needs to be sewn and fitted.