Best laid plans.........

I "overslept" this morning---lately with the summer heat and trying to get my walking in early, I have been getting up anytime after 5 but usually no later than 6:30. That is not easy for a confirmed night owl to do. An "up and down" night made me awake with an "oh no!" when I spied the clock. But walking was not too bad---it is just enough overcast and a bit of a breeze is blowing with temps about 70. What a blessing that is!

I thought I would share some pictures of the crepe (crape?) myrtle trees that are just starting to come out. There are four total in our yard. This red one is probably my favorite, colorwise. When we first moved here 10 years ago, it appeared to be a fairly recent planting and it was growing as "crooked as a dog's hind leg" as DJ would say. It spent some time getting staked up. The kudzu, of course, is the greenest thing around but the yard has shaped up considerably with a bit of rain in early June. It has been a little spotty at our house lately with other areas getting some measurable amounts. (The bare patches on the yard were once fire ant mounds)

Still, voluntary water reduction made no difference in the town's water tanks and our little burg is now under water restrictions--several towns in the county are since they estimate us to be anywhere from 14 to 20 inches behind on rainfall totals. This ban won't effect DJ and I much since the two of us use well below the gallon uses before they would tack another 40 bucks on the water bill. Having said that, we will do our part in the home/yard just because we ALL should conserve that precious resource, drought or not. Off the soap box---that would require rinsing, no doubt, LOL

Two white crepes greet you at the entrance to the lane---one is tree like. The other, small--DJ and I had to reclaim it from the kudzu vines our first fall here. The pinky/purplish one really looks skimpy this year but truthfully, as dry as it has been, we didn't much expect any blossoms.

Somewhere on the page, the Rose of Sharon in the back yard that has a bunch of angel trumpets and day lilies underneath it. Rather an odd color mix with those pinky purplish flowers but it gives DJ something to look at while seated at the kitchen table. To the right, his pampered princess, lilac bush. Those are not native to Alabama apparently so he has to augment the soil, fertilize etc to even get it to grow. He mowed last night but needs to weed whack!

Rose of Sharon blooms up close. You know that there is an appliqued quilt block named after these. It does look like this bloom. The park where I walk has white ones but they are not out yet.












So anyway, in spite of my "late" start this morning I quickly sorted the laundry and got that started, did my walking and ran a quick grocery errand for a couple items needed for the next couple days. Actually I was half considering what the supermart would have thought if I just grabbed a cart and walked for 40 some minutes really fast as it felt so cool and climate controlled in there---I could grab the produce quick on the way. Several laps from one end to the other and front to back might do it?? Took the pictures on my return and started my post. Nothing exciting but hey, I can live without that.

Speaking of excitement (read: expense) we can do without--- the a/c problem from Sunday? Believe it or not, it was caused by dead ant bodies. They are awful this year with the drought but who knew they could cause this? Apparently the contact points inside the switch attract them. They all follow each other so the gap is filled up with more and more of them. The a/c repair guy said that roaches will do the same thing. Now that DJ knows this, he can keep on eye on things. As for the vacuum cleaner I may have ruined (third time the card has been electrical taped, after all), he did some minor repair but I believe we are in the market for a new one--at least pricing them for now and tracking down a "Consumer Reports" best buy recommendation first.

On the quilting/piecing front: I have a small basket with quilt kits stuck in it that I intend to work on over the next month or so but it was packed to the gills. Some of the "packing" is the other half of the blocks from Nancy's donation this spring---they were twin sized and we can get two quilts for the kids made with those. (One quilt I cannot bear to re-size yet and the group had some other suggestions for it that we will re-visit). I re-assembled one top yesterday, bordered it with some fabric from my stash, found a neat border stripe of undetermined origin (all I know is that I didn't buy it, LOL) that I cut on the bias to set it off and then backed it with yardage from my muslin bolt. Silly me, bought 36 wide so everything takes two widths of fabric. I washed and ironed about 8 yards of that yesterday---my low back is NOT happy with me. Who knew that ironing could be injurious to your health? I knew I didn't like doing it! Now Pippi thought it was great!!! I could not keep her off the fabric as I pressed it--the teflon coating on the pressing board was nice and hot and the muslin smelled nice and clean. Met the kitty criteria anyway.

I had missed Judy's post about the July challenge till I read it on Mary's post ( behind on reading-- again)---guess I just met some of that challenge criteria and didn't even know it! I had started on a 2nd set of blocks last night--the body is back together; the border fabric is pulled and pressed so I'll pick up with that one. Time to check the dryer.............the stuff that life is made up........