Give us this day, our daily bread!

It is 12 below zero, do you know where your children are? Remember way back when curfews were in style and the announcer would come on and say, "It's ten o'clock. Do you know where your children are? " At the time my kids were little and I knew exactly where the little boogers were.

Time passes and those little cherubs have since grown into adults and raised their own babies and those babies in turn have spawned more babies. I look back on the trail of human lives that I am directly responsible for and I am amazed. How did this happen?

I birthed 5, who in turn birthed 8. Those 8 have turned out 7 (so far). Very quickly I am running out of fingers and toes to count them on! You probably are wondering where I am going with this and what it has to do with 12 below weather! Simple.

All of these people have homes. They all have somewhere to stay and food to eat and by the grace of God, are not out on the streets in this Artic weather. It is the time of year to look around at the less fortunate in our midst and to reach into our pocket and do something for someone we have never met and probably never will. It is time to think outside of our little circle we tend to be so generous with and encompass a little more of mankind.

I make soap and lotion as one of my hobbies. The family gets lots of that for Christmas, but I tend to forget about the homeless needing something like that. I am going to load a bunch and take it to Posada, I think. This is already made so it will not cost me anything to do that! And it may make some one happy.

"Count your many blessings, name them one by one! Count your many blessings see what God has done!"

My God! It did it again!

Here is Daisy in the snow on the way to the duck pond. If you have not guessed, it snowed again last night. According to Indian Lore we now have 23 snows left. Daisy stopped so I could take her picture. What a good doggie!!!Here is where our footprints converge, although briefly. You can see we only have about an inch or so. Not how much snow we have, but rather how cold it is here. I do not know the exact temperature, but I think it is the area of -2 degrees. The schools in town and here in the county are closed.

Normally I would just hang out here in my 'jammies and wait for warmer weather, but I have ducks and geese that need tending. I shut them up at night and have ever since I found the fox dining on the drake that night. By closing them up, I keep them safe and they stay warm, which you can see by the next photo, what they think of snow. They rush out the door and sit in the snow! They only set in the snow until I get the pond broken and then they are in it swimming in the ice floes!

Do you see them setting in the snow up there! The picture below is a small part of the pond that I broke so they can get water to drink. Then when they all get out there the weight of them will break off more edges and they will have room to swim. Glad I am not a duck!!

See my little footprints there? This is my strategy for breaking ice without falling in the pond. My right foot has the toes up on a brick so my weight is thrown to the back. Then with my right hand I proceed to break the crust of the ice with a sharpshooter shovel. I do not want to fall in that pond on a good warm day and doing so in sub zero weather would be the end of life as I know it!!

And there you have the start of my day. The rest of the day has got to be better, but not according to the weather report. I am going to go work on the peacock so I can post that for you tomorrow or Thursday at the latest.

"Keep a smile on your face so people will wonder what you have been up to!!"

American Made! Oh, yes I am!!

I had an epiphany!! I sell seed catchers over on ebay and one of my customers emailed me to be sure these were made in the U.S.A. I assured her that they were indeed made right here in Pueblo, Colorado. She was thrilled and then it dawned on me that perhaps there is not much out there any more that is made in America. Sooooo. . .

Yes, Isle, this was made in America and I was made in America. My ancestors came to this country through Ellis Island at the turn of the century and that is documented! They came here from Germany to seek a better life in a free country. We trace back to the Erms area and there were a lot of vineyard keepers in our line.

We raised turkeys and geeses and Great Great Grandmother was a midwife. She also took care of people in her area around Abbyville, because doctors were few and far between. The boys hired out on farms in the area. Great Great Grandfather raised sorghum and made molasses. The names Haas, Gagnebein, and Hatfield were well known names in that area.

So when you ask if my products are made in America, the answer is a resounding "YES"! Made in America and made by an American and sold to another American! I had not thought of that angle before.

So thank you, Isle, for opening my eyes to what a rarity my little store actually is in this world. From now on I shall point to myself with pride, because people like you and I are becoming fewer and farther between.

So you and your little rescued chinchillas have a good day and keep searching for American made.

" For I'm glad to be an American, where at least I know I'm free! And I'll gladly stand up next to her and defend her still today......" and I don't remember the words, but you get the idea!!!

What did I do yesterday?

As the chips fall yesterday was spent downstairs trying to wind up a lot of projects.

This is project #1. This one is not wound up yet. This will be my Peacock Wall Hanging that I am making for the neighbor lady who can not keep her peacock home!

This entails embroidering 20 blocks and then sewing them together. Sounds easy, huh? First I have to hoop the fabric with stabilizer. Then thread the machine. This machine holds 6 threads and kind of works on its own until it needs a thread change, runs out of bobbin thread, breaks a thread or just misses me.

I need to do 3 more blocks and then I can assemble the blocks and put on borders and a back and some embellishments. Will post a picture when this is finished, but don't hold your breathe!

This is project # 2. This is my machine quilter and there you see Joanne's quilt which I just finished quilting. I work on this between attention to the 2 embroidery machines. She does her own binding so this project is finished! I can now cross this off my list. Crossing something off the list always gives me a heady feeling of power!
This is project # 3. This is going to be the Nativity for my church. This particular machine is very needy as I need to do a thread change every time it completes a color. It also has silver metallic thread for the stars and I need to hand feed the silver to it, or it shreds it and spits it out. I have 6 blocks done and need 14 more. The next 14 are really time consuming. Watch for the finished product some day!

And there you have yesterday. Today I need to make 2 seed catchers and then make cookies for cookie bags for the Southern Colorado AIDS Project. So I shall commence my day and hope that you enjoy yours! I think the weather is going to be a little nice today.

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!!

The Cycle of Life

This is Polly. You can not see from this angle, but her right eye has a big black patch around it. She was a very good dog and now her ashes are back at the house. As soon as the ground thaws out, we will bury her right there under that lilac bush.

And here is her buddy, Daisy. You can not see from this angle, but Daisy has a black patch over both of her eyes. Right now Daisy is by my left foot, setting on her haunches watching me. I do not know what she thinks I am going to do, but she will be ready for it when it comes!
And thus is the cycle of life. I was born and as I grew I lost my grand parents, then my father, my brother, friends, aunts, uncles, mother, sister, more uncles, husband, and finally it came to the inevitable. My Uncle Ray passed at the age of 96(?) and I am now the matriarch in my family and I am the "older generation" in the Haas family line.

You know the funny part of all of this? I don't even feel old. Logistics tells me I am, but I don't feel like I am. It makes me wish I had paid more attention to the grandmas and aunts and uncles so I would know how to behave as a septegenarian! I remember once, my dear son, Sam telling me, "Grandmas don't behave like you! Get your apron on and get in that kitchen and make some cookies!"

I do now know exactly what the cycle of life entails . And as more time goes by and more deaths occur, whether it be canine, feline, human, friend, family, or stranger, the cycle of life is an integral part of the every day. It just happens in different forms and we accept and even embrace it at times. For part of the cycle of life is new birth!

So, as a very old radio program once used to sign off with, I shall copy it today:

" It is hard to sprinkle showers of happiness on other people without getting a few drops on yourself!"

What function does the doggie actually perform?

Have you ever really paid attention to your doggie? Dogs are man's best friend and I am sure there is some sort of reasoning behind that statement. For years, when I would be planning a trip and would be gone for several days, Polly knew. I would start packing several days ahead in preparation, and Polly would start acting all sad. While I was gone she did not eat.

Then I decided, I would not talk about the trip nor pack early. She still knew and when I started out the front door, she would look at me all sad and turn and go downstairs. She knew. When I came home, she would be standing by the back gate waiting. The neighbors assured me she did not do that until shortly before I came home. She had to know I was getting close.

When I took her for her trip to the vet, she knew. I am not saying only Polly had ESP (Extra Sensory Perception), I am saying all dogs have it. When my son was here with his three dogs it was almost humorous the way they acted. If he left them and went some where they would lay around, but suddenly, they would wake up, leap to their feet with ears alert. And after a few moments, Sam would come driving up the drive. They knew the exact moment to run to the front door so they could be there to greet him.

I don't think most of us even give any thought to how well they take care of us, even when we don't know they are taking care of us. I know if I am sad, Daisy now lays by my feet. When I go out to do chores, Daisy is by my side. When I go down to sew, Daisy is the one who lays at the sewing room door to stop intruders. I pet her, but she knows she is not Polly.

Someday I may not miss Polly so much, but until that time, Daisy will be here trying to fill the void. Why? Because that is what the doggies do. They are here to fill a void in out life and be a warm body to pet, when there is not other warm body around. And what do they ask in return? Nothing, only that we be there for the petting thing!

This is my gourd!!!

Above you see the inside of my gourd! It takes a lot of woman power to scrape all the seeds and gross stuff out of the gourd so it can become a lovely vessel like this!

After I got it all cleaned inside and out, I put tan shoe polish on and buffed it all pretty. I used the kind that is a wax in a can.

Then I wove pine needles around the top, stuck in some feathers, strung on some metal jewelry things, like this butterfly and the silver feather.

This is some sort of pine coney like seed pod. This sets on top of my entertainment center for all the world to see. I am working on a red gourd which shall be a harem belly dancer when I get it finished. Now I am even excited about that one getting finished!!

More gourds at a later date! Just kind of keeping in touch with you today! Have a good one and keep in touch with me!!