Chairs, Trees, Michael

Chairs
I started to notice that  Mike was slowly sinking toward the floor while sitting at the kitchen table.  This didn't happen all at once but over a course of several days.  I asked him if he noticed he was sinking and he hadn't. I had him sit in my chair and he could tell there was a difference.  The front chair in this photo is Mike's chair.  When he was actually sitting in it, the chair was a lot lower than the other one. I guess he was bending the metal. One morning as I was heading out to a huge benefit sale, I told him to not be surprised if I came home with new used kitchen table chairs.

Mary and I had a great time at the sale. It is held twice a year and I usually come home with a car load of things we don't really need, although I always find a use for everything.  As we walked in, a volunteer asked if I was looking for something in particular and when I mentioned dining chairs she got excited and told me there were many and directed me to the table and chair area.  I found the perfect chairs but they had a sold sign on them. I then saw five chairs that looked pretty sturdy but the sign said table and chairs $38.  I didn't need the table and it didn't even look like it matched the chairs. I had also decided I would have to re-upholster the fabric part.  I moved on and didn't find anything else I liked. I went back to the sturdy chairs and sat in one when another volunteer came over. I explained I didn't need the table and she called an older guy over to see if I could just buy the chairs. He said yes, I asked how much, he thought for a minute. I told him there were only five chairs but everyone quickly stated there was one more under a pile of things.  He decided all six chairs for $12.  My heart raced but I had to stay calm, and slowly said....." Hmmmm, I guess I will take them".  I rushed to the check out to pay before anyone could change their mind on the price!

When I got home Mike made his usual face when I told him my car was full of furniture. We pulled the chairs into the living room to put felt on the bottoms when I started thinking about all the chairs we have in the house.  I went around each room and counted. We have 42 chairs not counting the two folded up on the basement porch. I remember when we first moved to Georgia, our friends really didn't like to come over to our place because we didn't have enough seating. That is not an issue now and maybe that is why I have a chair problem.

After we put the new used chairs at the table, I realized I really didn't have to re-upholster them because they match our decor.  They just need a little more padding!

I finally am finishing up the chair upholstering I started over a year ago.

Trees
I saw an ad for a scherenschnitte (scissor cuts or paper cutting) class being held at the German Heritage Center in downtown Davenport. I thought this would be something really fun for Mary and I to do.  I called to reserve our spots but the 2-D snowflake class was already filled.  I decided to sign us up for the 3-D Christmas Tree class.  It was weeks away and I couldn't hardly wait! I was so excited to cut paper for some reason.  The day finally came and we headed to the fourth floor of the center. This is where Mom used to spend her Saturday mornings practicing Zither.  We entered to find tables full of ladies with paper and scissors (no rocks).  The instructor Keith, had us sit down, gave us scissors, gave us around 10 pieces of paper, and then gave us a very quick tutorial. Thank goodness Mary was there so we could use both of our brains and help each other out when we didn't know what we were doing.  The nice lady next to me was more than willing to help us out.  As we got started, I asked Keith if everyone knew who he was because we were new and would like to hear the story in how he got started with scherenschnitte.  Of course I can't remember the whole story he told because I was concentrating on folding and cutting, but there was something about his daughter not being able to walk until they found the right chiropractor. They were left with tons of medical bills and during this stressful time he got out his scissors and started designing snowflakes. He ended up on the Martha Stewart show many years ago and people started requesting paper cuts for special occasions. He wrote books and sold calendars. Eventually he was debt free. He now teaches others and sells his patterns and also teaches Spanish at the high school. I bought the Winter Wonderland pattern so Molly, Maggie, and I could  scherenschnitte during the holidays.  After we folded, cut, pulled, and built our tree many people couldn't believe this was our first class. Why would we take a 14 paper layer class our first time? I didn't know any better. Now we will be experts for the Valentines scherenschnitte class in February.

This was our view as we scherenschnitted.

Michael

I came home from working St. Ambrose University's graduation ceremony this past Saturday. When I got home I couldn't find Mike and figured he probably was next door hanging out with our neighbor which he does often . About an hour later, I finally saw his note that stated he went out with Eric, the neighbor.  To me, this meant they went out to have lunch because they are always going out to eat.  Hours later I started to get a little worried but, he finally came home.  He was so excited to tell me that he did this.....

The last time he was on a horse was 48 years ago.

He was still excited on Sunday which made him drop and step on his glasses.  This reminded him of the time he placed his very expensive, really cool, new spectacles on top of the car and then drove off for them to never be seen again.  He had to use my readers this morning.

Luckily, he found a place in town that fixed his glasses.

The Orange Barrel

Mom always worried about the creek in the back yard and how it was meandering differently and would soon take down one of her favorite trees.  The neighbor eventually cut the tree down for Mom and Dad, so she wouldn't have to worry about it falling into the creek.  After we moved in, I noticed the drainage pipe from the street to the creek had broken off at the creek. I had a feeling this was the cause of the changing creek path.  Look closely at the lower left of the next two pictures and you can see where the drain pipe had broken off.

The following pictures are where Mom had her favorite tree. Instead of the tree falling in, Mike fell in head first when I wasn't home.  The neighbor had to come help muddy Mike out of the creek. I told Mike he wasn't allowed near the creek alone ever again, but he didn't listen to me.

I called our alderman who quickly sent out a crew to take a look at our issue.  The city crew took many pictures. The man in charge told me it would be an easy fix as the other guy placed an orange barrel at the edge of the creek.  He said they would have to wait until freezing weather so the equipment they would have to drive to our backyard, wouldn't tear up our yard.  We waited, and so did the barrel.

During the first freeze, we thought for sure they would be out to fix the pipe. Every once in awhile a city truck would come out and we would get excited but it was usually just a crew coming to look and plan. One time they even said we were next on the list!  How exciting. But then a snowstorm came and it seemed the pot holes in the streets were more important.

We waited and waited. Soon our first winter was over and still no city guys to come fix the pipe,  but we still had the orange barrel. We thought it looked nice with our Naked Lady flowers.

The flowers were long gone and the orange barrel was alone.

I emailed the alderman and explained that we had been waiting a year for the fix.  Again, a crew quickly came out to look.  Since I am now working, Mike would have to be in communication with the city. He found out the guy in charge who I had talked with that first time, no longer worked for Davenport. Our work order had been pushed to the bottom.  Again, we would have to wait until a freeze. 
Finally our day came. They were here to dig up the ground, connect the pipe and put in some rock.

They cemented the pieces together and would be back the next day, after the cement dried, to fill in the rock and dirt.  Then this happened.

It took a couple of days for the guys to come back to finish the job.  They did tear up the side of the yard as well as the front yard. We will have to repair.

The job is finished and we no longer have our beautiful, colorful, orange barrel. It sat in our yard for over a year.

We will now look forward to planting grass seed in the spring.