Four or five months ago our cat (and model) Hippo got out of the house "somehow" (ok, he's overweight ... we allow him to sneak out in hopes that he'll lose some weight). He came home a few hours later with a friend. 

His friend was an adorable, small, vocal gray cat. This fellow was immediately named Buddy, because he's Hippo's buddy.

I posted pictures of him on our local facebook groups and no one seems to know anything about him. So for the last few months we've been talking to him, trying to get a little bit closer to him, and feeding him each evening (he mostly comes by after dark). Years ago Hippo put a hole in the screen on our porch so Buddy uses that to get onto the lanai where his food is.

For a long time I wasn't seeing much of him but the food was gone in the morning, so I'd just set some out before bed.

That worked really well until one evening I walked past the lanai, checked for Buddy, and saw this instead:

 

Opossum was much less concerned about my presence than Buddy ever is and ate the whole bowl of food!

Now Buddy gets fed only when we see him!

 

Good morning, Sunshine!

These souvenir style key chains are available at Jude Harbor, and a name or location can be added at the bottom if you desire. :)

 

These two and I took a day off to go do some college touring for Kaden, and found the right school for him. :)

On the way home we took a short detour to one of our favorite "Old Florida" spots - a boat ramp and swimming area along the Peace River and one of the few places you can find sharks teeth inland in fresh water. 

We didn't sharks tooth hunt today - we weren't dressed for it and the water was FREEZING cold, but the boys had a great time swinging on a left-over rope swing. 

In the summer that sandy area is mostly underwater. Usually April and May is when the water is at it's lowest and we can search for shark's teeth, so we'll see how it looks in a month, but the water is much higher than it usually is in March due to a rainier winter than usual.

I just love these little off-the-grid spots ... they're getting harder and harder to find as Florida grows and grows, but we'll keep searching for them.

 

I am so so glad I decided to start making quilts again. I mean, not the best decision financially for sure, but I'm having so much fun. I'd forgotten how much of a joy it is to put fabrics together, come up with a design, and sew away. And I'm really cherishing that "must stay in one place, can't get up and do 5000 things" reality of hand-binding a quilt. So, yeah, there are more quilts.

Totally off subject, but the other new thing around here is a panini press. Not sure what took so long but that thing is a treat. I'm loving the endless options and the simplicity of it, and all these ridiculously picky children of mine can be fed happily. I've gotten hooked on sandwiches with apples in them ... what are your favorite panini sandwiches?

But back to quilts ...


This hearty little scrapy quilt was inspired by, of course, Valentine's Day. 

The little postage stamp squares are each just a hair over 1" in size. I had so much fun sorting through my stash to find the reds and pinks ... it was like a sweet little walk down memory lane.


The quilt measures 42" square, perfect for to be hung on a nursery wall or to use on a toddler bed.

The backside is a simple pink and white dot print and the binding is a white and red floral.


The quilt is available in the shop here.

Most of these pictures were taken at our local boy scout camp on Sunday morning, after a crazy weekend (least cooperative weather!) when the camp was filled with about 400 campers. The campers cleared out pretty early and we were left with the place almost to ourselves. It was so tranquil and quiet and the weather was perfect, I could have stayed all day.


My partner in crime (and quilt holder), however, was hungry, so heading home was necessary. Until next time ...

Sometimes no matter how good your intentions everything goes to crap. This, to an extent, is that kind of thing. To a much greater extent, it's a "what not to do" saga.

Last week my son put an ad on Craig's List giving away a derelict 20' sailboat. We did not personally have possession of this boat, but our Sea Scout ship did. This boat was stuck in the water. It had no motor, no sails, no wiring of any sort, not even any lines. It was going to cost about $1000 to pay an expert to take the boat away, so an ad was put up stating the boat was free as scrap, stating clearly that there was nothing on the boat but lead.


A gentleman agreed to pick up the boat the next day. The story is much longer than this but, to sum up this chapter, he arrives at 4:30 pm with two friends and a huge truck with winch. They were the nicest people, and we enjoyed meeting them and hearing their stories. At 5:30 he and a friend take off with the boat, using a trolling motor to get it to the boat ramp. They seemed VERY confident and content with the situation.

Have I mentioned they're from out of town, that it gets dark at 6:30, that this boat may well have water that wasn't pumped out of it, that the boat had no lights or radio, and that the boat ramp is 5 miles away, and they really have no idea how to get there? Can you see where this might be going?


About 13 hours later I receive a wake-up call, the boat has not yet arrived at the dock. It's pre-6:00 am, dark and chilly out (not up-north cold, but Florida chilly). The girl who was waiting at the ramp with the truck is now with the sheriff's office and the coast guard and the boat is missing, and she sounded, legitimately, worried. Needless to say, I didn't get any more sleep and spent the next few hours on pins and needles, praying and waiting for them to be found.

About two hours later the coast guard finds the boat and boaters, alive and well. Thank God.


They got stuck on a sandbar not too far out and were there all night. Thank God. Had they drifted through the night it could have taken a lot longer to find them and someone else could have hit them, as they had no port or starboard lights.

Why didn't they call for help? Why didn't they see the channel markers? Why didn't they steer away from the sandbar? I don't have the answers, but I heard, after the fact, that they had no cell phone, no flashlight, no life jackets, and just a trolling motor which probably wasn't strong enough to steer them down the river if they had to fight tides. Click here for the newspaper story, if you wish (and a picture of the boat on the sandbar).



The moral of the tale? For the sake of those who love you be prepared and safe on the water; anything can happen at any time. For us the additional moral is to pay the expert the $1000 next time, worrying about people's lives wasn't worth saving that money. As much as we wanted to get rid of the boat for free and at the same time help someone else make a buck we should have left the job to the experts.

The fabric in the images? New ties for men, boys, and babies. I had some down time waiting for the gentleman to come get the boat so I took a few pictures. Coming very, very soon to the shop.

More cool than the rope swing (if that's possible) is the fact that this river is loaded with fossils - shark's teeth and more, even though it's a fresh water river inland.

30 years in Florida and I'd never heard of such a thing. But it's real, so very, very real. If you're even in south central Florida it's worth putting on your "must see" list.

And it's old Florida, which may have been the best part of all. We built a fire on the sandy beach of the river and just hung out. No tourist attractions, no crowd, just us, good friends, a sweet puppy, and fossil hunting.


River came home with two shark's teeth and a handful of other fossils I can't recall the origins of. As the water level drops and the weather warms a bit we'll head back for more "in the water" exploring.

This magical location is along the Peace River outside of Arcadia, Florida. Canoeing and kayaking are welcomed and there are plenty of waterfront campgrounds along the river. Well worth checking out.




 What out-of-the-ordinary enchantments grace your corner of the world?

The kids had a Monday and Tuesday off of school so we, once again, visited our most favorite campground in Florida, Fort De Soto County Park.


Fort De Soto has the most beautiful beaches. Nice and shallow a ways out, with wonderful soft white sand.


Yes, the sun is setting and he's still in his pajama pants from the night before. One of the many benefits of camping.


If you look closely in the water of the above image about 3/8" over and down from the picnic area point, you'll see a dolphin's fin. We were wandering along the seawall when we heard a huge splash, right next to us. So close to the seawall that I thought one of the kids had fallen in. After a quick head count we looked closely just as he came out of the water again, so incredibly close to us. It really felt like he was just looking for someone to play with. We watched him until he decided to head back out into the bay.  An absolutely beautiful and awesome bit of time for all of us.


The view from our campsite, it never ceases to amaze me. And that tree never ceases to amaze the kids, I've got pictures of them climbing it last summer too.


The campsites themselves are quite large, with this expansive grassy area just outside the site that really feels like an expansion of the site itself.


Another pretty pier.

So, the exciting bit. My very own homemade awning. I've been meaning to mention this for months but never had the camper set up to take pictures of it.


We've done without an awning since we purchased the camper, so it wasn't an absolute necessity, but I found a way to do it inexpensively and couldn't resist.

Supplies:
1 10x12 tarp, adjust size to fit your camper
2 telescoping poles from Home Depot or Lowe's
line and two tent stakes to anchor the poles
4' paracord
12 washers
12 nylon spacers

To begin make 12 tarp attachers from the paracord, washers, and spaces. I cut the paracord, burned the end, strung the washer and spacer through it, strung the paracord back through the washer, then tied a simple knot. When finished they should look like this pinterest pin.

The pin originally linked to an Ebay listing of a fellow pop up camper owner who sells the attachers. I don't currently see any of his items listed, but if you don't want to do the work yourself it may be worth checking the link on occasion to see if he relists.

Push the spacer, with the attached paracord, through the holes of the tarp, adding an attacher at each hole along one side. You should have two attachers left over. When attached to the tarp the spacer should be one one side of the tarp grommet, the washer and knot on the other. I leave them attached for travel and they've not come out.


Before the camper is raised thread the spacers through the campers pre-existing C channel, left from the original canopy, and run the spacers down the channel until you've got one at each end. Seriously, do this before the camper is raised unless you're very, very tall ... it's much easier to do the threading and running at eye level.


Raise the camper.

Add attachers to the tarp holes at the two exposed corners. These attachers will connect to the extending poles.


If you happen to not be able to find one of your attachers the tarp can easily be attached to the poles with some of the line. No big deal.


Now raise the telescoping poles. We left ours lower than the height of the original canopy C channel so any water would drain off if it rained.


Stake your line and tighten.

Voila. Your camper now has a canopy. Yes, it's a little less classy than a pretty, fancy one but it works just as well. And I think it's well suited for a 20 year old pop up camper.


Grab a chair and sit down in your newly created shade and have a beer. Or a margarita. Or a tall glass of sweet tea. And admire your undeniable mad DIY skills while congratulating yourself on a job well done.


One truth about having many children is that you will never, ever get them all to look photo ready at the same time. This was one of fourteen attempts. It won't end up on a Christmas card* (especially without the oldest in the picture), but the happy smiles and laughing make it pretty fantastic, I think.


*Eating my words ... it did end up being our Christmas card with a snapshot of the oldest added in!

 




Very early morning, very low tide, very cool weather, very much the beach ... it doesn't get any better than that.

 

Rain wasn't all we encountered over the weekend. We also found climbing trees.


And a walkway high above the park's floor, ending with a tower that gave us a bird's eye view of the surrounding area.


And a bird watching path which lead to this serene view of the local river, the Myakka River.


And some boys who liked washing dishes, or at least playing with the buckets and dish water for a good hour.


And scenic tree covered roadways in our campground. (Our campground was not where the rainy tents were, we left those to the scouts and brought my camper; it has AC, electric, and memory foam mattresses)


And gators. No zoom on this lens and no cropping of the image. He was about 10 feet from us. We also saw deer and LOTS of bug repellent-resistant mosquitoes (believe me, we tried every bug spray available and applied crazy often, those mosquitoes were oblivious to our efforts).


And we found some very dirty, soccer playing Boy Scouts, who didn't seem to mind the rain all that much (they minded the mosquitoes though!).

Isn't that Spanish moss fantastic?

Off to plan the next adventure ...