If you are reading from the areas in the southeast that have been hit by Helene please let us know what’s happening – if you can. You may not have power, cell service, transportation – just know if you can read this, we are thinking of you and wishing there was something we could do to help. Tragic.
I cleaned a couple plants today – look at this monster!
Last spring I cut my fig tree off and tried planting the piece of bare stem and it worked! Here’s a new baby fig tree – I just had to know if I could get it to grow.
Remember our friend Moe who recently lost her husband? Yesterday she gained a new best friend – meet Kailey Baly!
I’ve known several yellow labs and mixes – this will be a fabulous companion for Moe and I am so happy for her.
Halloween quilts from Sheryl
And from Jo in Wyoming – a gorgeous late blooming geranium
and a fat bear preparing for a long winter?
And this card came from Jan who lives in Valparaiso, IN – however she’s traveling in Scotland and England and bought this great card. I can’t believe she thought of Hazel and me on her trip – the card is wonderful and very special to me. Thank you, Jan!
It’s cooled down 20 degrees since I started writing this post. Guess I won’t need the fan tonight.
So happy for Moe and Kaily Baly, I’m sure they will be so happy together.
that postcard is so sweet
Hello, I am back home from my travels and am thrilled that the card arrived so quickly ,just one week. How kind of you to shout it out.
Watching the first wildcard game, are you?
Jan – the wnba playoff game tonight? Yes! Lots better than the debate, right? I just loved the card – truly. Hazel’s tail isn’t long but her head and legs look just like the card.
Baseball wildcard games for me, and were they great games! Teams with home field advantage didn’t advance. How I missed baseball when I was traveling. Do you follow, or really just interested in WNBA? I follow that through you!
Jan – I do really follow the WNBA and have gotten pretty acquainted with lots of players but of course my favorite team is the Fever and Caitlyn. I will start watching the baseball playoffs now but I don’t know one thing about any of the teams – I’ll watch anyway because I love competition. One of the WNBA games last night was good, the other was very one sided and not very fu .
I am feeling guilty too, as I read and see the horrendous reports of Helene’s damage. Gawd awful and so not fair! Praying and worrying seems to be all we can do, but hoping the power of prayer will be felt.
So nice to see Kailey Baly has a new home and a happy owner! A perfect match for both. Fall is here with the colder mornings and cooler days. What a gorgeous fall we are having. The pictures out of NC are just awful, I can’t imagine how or where you would start to clean up such a mess. Our niece lives in Asheville with 3 young children, but she packed up and headed to her parents’ home in Greensboro, NC before the storm, just in case. So glad they are safe and sound. Her husband stayed home to help his parents/family if needed. So far, they are all safe and without power but doing okay. Feeling grateful.
Kim – and they still have their house? Fantastic!
Yes, they are without power but her husband is doing okay on his own. His family works in construction so they have job site generators available to them. They have been clearing trees in their community for neighbors.
The pictures of the hurricane aftermath show such unimaginable devastation. Where does one start to pick up the pieces (literally). Praying for those affected.
Cool this morning and windy. Hopefully the colored leaves can hang on. In just a couple day, it went from just a touch of color to colorful leaves wherever you look. Such a special time of the year that lasts for such a short while. I’m enjoying it while it lasts.
I’m working on a wool quilt. Just squares I cut from scraps I saved over the years. The cooler weather is spurring me on to sew on it.
Moe your new furry companion is so happy! And you are looking happy also!
Well, Jay and I were both surprised this morning! The temperature was 36 degrees! Yikes! I was ready to have cooler weather but not freezing! Be carful what you wish for!
The Guys combined til they ran out of 16% moisture. Now there will be a break! (Maybe) 😀🤷🏼♀️ We had Iowa chops and tater tots plus apple crisp and ice cream for supper! We have to have apple crisp and ice cream during harvest! A tradition!
Have a good day!
Hi, Mary,
I am wondering if your friend, Margaret,received a mailbox full of cards celebrating her birthday. Maybe I missed a post note about it.
Praying for the people in the hurricane damage areas.
Debra – she’s still getting them! And someday I’m going in to read them and see who sent a card. She was blown away and loves the comments that were written. Once again it’s clear we’re all more alike than different. You all made her feel so special and that’s new for Margaret.
Kailey Baly and Moe are one happy team. I keep in touch with Moe so I know the heartache she has gone through but found her inner compassion to rescue a dog in need. She’s a saint like you Mary. Jo your geraniums are still huge. Mine is down to a few blossoms left. I love fall quits with the colors.
As with most agencies, there isn’t enough people. FEMA can’t be in every town, every place and there are just so many fire fighters and rescue personnel. I can’t even imagine how overwhelming it is every hour. It is going to take a village and it seems a whole lot of those grateful to be alive are stepping up to collect food and necessities to get out to folks in need. In the past when we knew a snow storm could be headed our way, we prepared as best we could but at least our homes are generally intact when it’s over. Fireplaces are used if your home has one and installing generators as back up in most places. We always keep extra gasoline in containers in garage for backup for our generator. It was nice paying $2.92 for gas yesterday as price is dropping. Our news last night said every month in this year so far has been warmer than in previous records so it’s going to be the warmest year for us in record. That fuels warmth over our waters.
I remember standing in Mohawk River in upstate NY when we were camping in Herkimer, the diamond chipping area. My ankles kept feeling the strength of that water and I could not believe how just a few inches was making me move. All our family pulled out our campers that night even though we paid for the weekend and drove home because the river was expected to begin to fill due to Hurricane Sandy’s bands of rain coming up the east coast. After reading the alerts we knew our campers would not stand a chance. There’s no riding out a storm in my firefighting family. The next day roadways were flooded over and washed out just like what I’m seeing now on tv. It’s such hard work cleaning up and I can’t imagine the loss many are feeling.
Kathy – Rick and I are watching the coverage and wonder how it can all be restored – doesn’t it look impossible? What will they do, where will they live, what about the animals, how do they have 130 funerals?
I am so happy for Moe – Kailey even looks like her previous dog, P.D. And I know Jay approves – how could he not?
I love Sherry’s Halloween quilts! Kailey Baly will be such a joy for Mor. She looks like she is smiling😀🐶. So
Sorry to hear of the devastation from Helene. My sister and BIL made it from Northern NY to Florida all ok, but they had to watch the gas tank b/c many gas stations don’t have generators and the electricity is out. Did you know that Hazel went to Scotland to pose for that picture? Humid here, but just a little rain today. Enjoy your day.
Diane – haha! Hazel proved a real challenge last night as she cornered something, probably a possum, in a hollow tree at 10:30 PM! I finally got her in about midnight but was so keyed up I didn’t get to sleep till 3. Today will be a tired day – the playoff game is tonight and so is the debate. They both rank about the same for me in interest – not much at all.
I bet it was love at first sight for Moe when she saw Kailey. Labs are like goldens 100% love and hair!
I don’t want to overshadow the tragedy many have suffered from the hurricane, I can’t imagine how they will recover.
I want to take a bit of your time to wish my baby sister HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCY FOLAND IN SHELBYVILLE KENTUCKY! If I could grant her a wish it would be a nice long arm to quilt the fabulous quilts she makes. She struggles to quilt on her baby lock and does a great job but she so deserves to expand to create spectacular finishes. Happy Birthday Sis!
Hope everyone has a great Tuesday. I’m planning on taking husband to PT to see if they can get him strong enough to keep him out of an assisted living. I will take him if he can get off the bathroom floor where he has been most of the night!
Happy birthday, Nancy Foland! Have a blessed day.
My mother’s maiden name was Foland so I have Foland relatives.
Happy birthday Nancy! She made that beautiful embroidered quilt a few days ago Mary showed here, right? Birthdays are a way to remind us how blessed we are to be able to take a breath every day.
Linda – Happy Birthday, Nancy! Yes, you do need a longarm – I can’t imagine quilting on my Bernina – what a struggle!
Praying for those affected so horrifically from Helene. We were at out Lake House (which we’re in the process of moving into) this weekend. It’s in Virginia, but not far from the NC line and about 4 hours from Asheville. We had a lot of rain and some wind and lost power most of the day on Saturday. Nothing like what happened in Asheville. We are back in Northern Virginia now and collections are being taken and will be flown out of a small airport near here this evening. There are volunteers who will be backpacking supplies in. I’m going to get some donations together and dropped off today. One of the things they asked for was dog and cat food. That’s one of the things I’m going to provide. I also saw a Facebook post that they are looking for people who have horses who can take the rugged terrain. Or, it said if you can ride, they can get you a horse. I’ve never seen that request before. Praying for all affected. It’s going to be a long road to recovery.
Susan – horseback! Yes, I wonder about the pets – did people leave them behind? It’s such a nightmarish idea I can’t stand to think of it! You’re moving? How’s that going?
San / Murphy, NC
Hi Mary,
NPR radio, Blue Ridge Georgia station, is helping to broadcast daily news from folks coordinating services in the hardest hit areas. Nurses from 3 states came in to help out a hospital and relieve staff so they could go home and check on their families, etc. Water is being flown in via helicopter to some areas, and trucked in in others. Many are without water or internet services still. World Kitchen and some home town restaurants have set up meal services in the town of Asheville. The article I read today stated the in-town restaurants would serve food until supplies ran out.
In regards to my town, Murphy, we’re in a bit of a bubble. Internet is still spotty. The land-line was down where I work at my second job, a local hotel, on Sunday night. Thirteen electric trucks and 21 guys came in and were headed to Franklin to start restoring power somewhere. They were having a hard time communicating with coordinators, as the phones were not working well.
The Ingles Market in Hayesville, Georgia ran out of several items today including milk and meat. The associate I spoke with who worked there, told me that Ingles main distribution center is in Black Mountain, NC, which is under water. Both Ingles and Lowes in town could only take cash; credit cards would not work. Wal-mart could take cards and did a high volume of business today. When I left work, the cheese section and lunch meat section and most of the meat section were totally wiped out.
I bought extra chocolate chips, as cookies are a main priority in this household when stress levels rise!
Please ask everyone to send prayers to those affected. One of my young colleagues was sitting in the break room rather upset after a customer was rude. I told her that it’s because in a time of crisis, people get frustrated when they can’t be in charge. However, we’re not in charge, God is.
San, prayers for you and all those affected. You are right, God is in control ! But frustrated people can be very demanding so extra blessings to those that can do their jobs and put up with it. Big hugs and prayers.
Meri in SoVA
Jo’s geranium is gorgeous. Sheryl’s quilts are lovely and that is such a nice display! I am happy for Moe and Kailey Baly. Mary, I hope the weather continues to be nice for all your plant cleaning. I am thinking of the people impacted by Hurricane Helene. What devastation and extreme loss! Today I start some house cleaning. At least I have a house to clean. So many people have lost everything. I should never complain about house cleaning again.
I’m glad Moe and Kailey Baly are united! Sheryl’s fall quilt is very festive. Jo, your geranium is beautiful! I’m excited to be heading home to Cheyenne on Wednesday. I’m anxious to see my flower gardens. I’m sure that the weeds have taken up resistance in them. I just can’t comprehend all the destruction we are seeing in the TV reports from TN and North Carolina. Linda, your freezer food should be able to survive an outage for about 5 days if the door remains closed. I’m keeping all people suffering from weather tragedies in my prayers.
So happy for Moe that she has adopted Kailey Baly! A win win for both! The hurricane news is just devastating! I’m so concerned about these people who’ve lost everything! And really concerned about those that are on oxygen & those who are diabetic! My daughter lives about 1 hr east of Charlotte NC & she’s fine. Although she did have to some high water. No damage. Here in SW Ohio we’ve had about 5.5″ of rain. No damage to my house. The article on insurance was certainly an eye opener! I can’t help but wonder if they’ll refuse to pay for damages. And FEMA usually doesn’t respond quickly. I remember a quilt shop in Punta Gorda that was destroyed by a hurricane many yrs ago. The owner wasn’t able to enter or remove anything. Due to the heavy rain, everything was damaged beyond repair & everything was eventually sold to a salvage co! She couldn’t recover from the loss & went out of business. This recovery is going to take quite a while! Right now we just need to remember these folks in our prayers & help with donations if possible.
let me start by saying that i am glad moe got herself a new friend. doesn’t replace a spouse but is so much comfort. helen, i’m glad you’ve heard from your daughter. try to think good thoughts. she has the basics and she will probably be fine. i hope so. we are all so stressed about this storm.
i feel so badly for all the people who got hit so badly from helene. my thought is always ‘where do you even start to clean up and rebuild?’ it is all so heartbreaking. the cell towers are down in lots of places which makes contact even harder. one of the first things they always tell us in florida is ‘do not use your cell phone – leave it for emergency use.’ sometimes that is the only way they can be in contact. we have all grown so used to having constant contact that we have fits when we can’t be in contact. when i was a child and a teenager, we had one phone. no one had cell phones. no one demanded to be in constant contact with their spouse or their children. we survived. this whole mess is going to take a long time to clean up – won’t be a week or a month – more like many many months and in some cases years. FEMA cannot do it all and they are running low on money anyway (thanks to our congress and the storms). think about the rural areas where access is limited anyway. even cell towers are down.
one important thing to remember is that the east side of the storm (hurricane) is considered the ‘dirty’ side. that is where most of the damage occurs. i have witnessed this myself. in 2004 hurricane charlie came right over my house. there was lots of damage but our only damage was no electricity and months later we found a leak in our master bedroom closet. lots of wind and rain. but our house was built in 2001 to the revised building code caused by hurricane andrew that took out most of south florida. our house is fairly strong, special roof straps etc. (consider this your lesson in hurricanes) we did have the privilege of an alligator deciding to live in our pool because he broke though the screens. he was about 6′ long. argh!
i have lived in florida since 1981. have seen many many hurricanes. also saw two when i lived in houston, tx before moving to florida. mr. ed always discounts the hurricanes but i know that one day we will pay. it is just the odds. jus heard a man on the news say his house is still standing but the contents are now trashed. he and his family has lived there since the 1840s and he isn’t going anywhere. this is his home.
there is always something that life will throw at you. in florida it is weather storms, etc., up north it could be blizzards. in california it is earthquakes. drought is everywhere now. mother nature is having her way with all of us these days. doesn’t make any difference where you live.
seeing the information on florida insurance and all the fraud that is so rampant was eye opening. they always say it is the customer committing the fraud. and/or the personal injury attorneys. not so. there can be a hail storm in one part of the area and all of a sudden all kinds of new roofs are going up. not a bit of hail in that area. we just had to replace our roof (to the tune of $22k) in order to keep our homeowners insurance. our insurance costs have tripled in less than 3 years (as have car insurance). the insurance industry has bought so many of our congress people (state wise) that i don’t expect changes anytime soon. lots and lots of companies have refused to insure homes here and have left the state. if your home is financed, you have no choice but to pay for homeowners insurance.
my biggest concern about storms now is that the power will go out. since they took my liquid oxygen away, i am now dependent upon a concentrator that requires electricity. have already told dh if i have no power, i am going to find a hotel or will camp out at the hospital so i have oxygen. i will not play around with that. i can deal with most of the other stuff. may have to live in my vehicle to keep my portable concentrator battery powered up. i have a cat i will not leave alone.
oh my, i did not plan to get so carried away. i hope those of you who aren’t interested, just skipped this post. i’m hoping it will help some of you realize that this type of havoc is going to take a long time to repair and communication is going to be spotty for a while. let the emergency people do their jobs to help your families. i believe in the saying ‘no news is good news’. we always hear the bad news right away.
i did manage to get blood drawn with no bruise this time. saw the results of my PET scan and i didn’t see any surprises but will get official notice on october 16th. i managed to make four more small blocks. forced myself to make a back and the binding for the purple/green potato chip quilt. ready to go now. have started on a back for the larger potato chip scrappy one. hope to finish tomorrow.
with all that information flowing from my brain to you, i am going to bed now. if you have any questions, i will try to answer. remember i am just the messenger.now back to quiting. happy quilting, patti in florida
btw, heat index today was 103 degrees. patti
Patti in Florida – THANK YOU! It’s so hard for the rest of the country to grasp what’s happening in the storm ravaged areas. I hadn’t thought about your oxygen issue – sounds like you’ve got a plan but you car battery won’t last forever either. I’m relieved to hear you’ll take your cat – I can’t help but think of all the pets left behind – certain death that will take a long time and they will not understand why they were left behind.
i could never leave my animals behind. it drives me crazy when i see people evacuate but not make arrangements for their pets. they are part of their family and have no other recourse. patti in florida
Daughter and granddaughter are stranded in sister’s home south of Boone NC. Cannot drive out due to washed out roads. Just so stressful. They do have shelter, spring water, gas for cooking and freezer food. Rescue drove in on atv, checked on them and when they saw they were alive and had provisions they left them and haven’t been back. We didn’t hear from them from Thursday night until Sunday at lunch. Can’t reach rescue again due to them being overwhelmed and not answering phones. This is definitely apocolyptic! Neighbors are helping neighbors as that’s all the help they can get. WE are able to communicate once a day when apparently cell companies open their lines to anyone. Otherwise, no communication is available. I thank my Good Lord He spared them. So many tragically lost loved ones and more destruction than imaginable. Praying for all to get the help they need soon. We need rescue!
Helen – I’m sure you’re desperate to hear from them – I feel guilty enjoying beautiful fall weather. Others are suffering and it’s so hard for me to comprehend – I appreciate all of you who have left a comment so the rest of us can try to understand. Think of the rescue people knowing they can’t help like they should and would like to. Prayers for all of you.
Our farm was flooded in 2008. There was 3.5 ft on our first floor. It was horrible clearing out our life from the mud and muck and all kinds of other things from septic tanks, stock yards, etc. It smelled and got moldy real fast. I know it’s hard to see it happen, but the aftermath and clean up are horrific. I have been watching the water rolling by on tv, it makes me clench to just think about it again. When the newscaster says they are still cleaning up, it makes it sound like a little spic and span will be all it takes. TV said that people are feeling they aren’t getting the help they need, it isn’t going to get better. The government isn’t made to be nice.
Hello Mary, Happy for Moe. What do you use to wipe down your plants? Here in the Shenandoah Valley Va we did get some rain and wind. there are roads that are flooded and some trees down with power outages. It is nothing compared to the rest of the south. However all schools were closed today and tomorrow. we have lots of mountain roads that can get blocked with water. We have had rain all day and more tonight. we needed the rain but not at all at once. I pray for all the people that are suffering from this storm.
Carolyn b Shenandoah Valley VA
Carolyn – I have purchased spray insecticide but honestly Dawn soapy water works just as good. I also spray with as much force as the plant can withstand with the hose especially on the underside of the leaves. Many times I see spiders crawling out and I’m relieved. I don’t need an outbreak of spiders, mites or other pests in my house this winter! We still have a lot of warm days but I didn’t want to be forced to hurry with the cleaning and I actually enjoy it.
I’m so happy for Moe that she has a new lab buddy. Labs are such wonderful dogs. The pictures from western NC are just heartbreaking. One doesn’t expect that kind of hurricane damage so far inland. I’ve never seen anything like it and am so saddened for the people there. Where does anyone start to recover from something of this magnitude? I’m hoping FEMA can help with food and temporary housing until things can be rebuilt.
I don’t live in the southeast but Dayton OH caught the tail end of the storm. My street has been without power since early Friday evening. We were originally told we’d have power restored by Saturday night. The electric company status line has said all day that crews were onsite working on the problem but, if they were, they were wearing their cloaks of invisibility. So frustrating. But I have running water and a roof over my head so I guess I shouldn’t complain. I just keep thinking about that freezer full of food that will most likely end up in the garbage.
Hello, Kailey Baly! You are beautiful!
Reading reports from the east coast is heartbreaking.