Nick's Quilt - 2024

The Day the Music Stopped – The Life of Baby

The Day the Music Stopped 

The Life of Baby

Dec 2017 - 11/2/2024

Lisa had taken Baby to get his beak trimmed this morning. The upper beak had grown really long and was interfering with his ability to eat. Normally, he would use his cuttlebone and keep the beak in check, but for some reason he’s gotten lazy and neglected this. In the wild, they chew on rocks or gravel to keep the beak trimmed. Lisa said he died in the groomer’s hands while getting the trim, but the groomer was able to revive him through chest massage.

When I got home from my dental appointment, Baby was on his bar, behind his mirror, and appeared to be having difficulty keeping his balance. I talked to him, opened his cage door, and petted his breast. He didn’t rise up and extend is legs as he normally would.

Lisa was at our neighbor Angel’s house when I got home.

I went and sat down on the loveseat, and watched him for a little bit while I played on the internet.

I heard a familiar thud, and when I looked up, Baby was on the floor of the cage. Normally, if he fell, or misjudged a jump, he would get right up and return to the bar, but not this time. This time, he was having difficulty getting up on his feet. I went to him, took him out of his cage and held him in my left hand as I stroked his back with my right index finger. I could feel his little heart racing against my hand. I didn’t feel like he was steady enough to put him back in the cage, so I decided to put him in the carrier we take him to the groomer in. As I walked around the house looking for the carrier, he made no attempt to flee my hand or move. I noticed his longest wing feathers had lost their blue color and had turned gray.

I found the carrier, and put him in there. Normally he would chirp in disapproval when placed in his carrier, but not this time – he quietly, submissively, remained quiet. I knew he wasn’t well, set him on the counter, and went to Angel’s to get Lisa. When we got home around 11:45 or noon, we found Baby dead in his carrier.  

I removed him from his carrier and his limp body lay in my hand. We each teared up and cried for a moment, then held and comforted each other. Lisa got a bandana to wrap him in and we’ll bury him next to the lemon tree in our back yard.

Baby came into our lives on December, 6, 2017 after landing in Lisa's hair while she was at ________________. He found the one he knew would keep him safe and well cared for. Lisa brought him into __________, where she was given a (small)__________ box to bring him home. Unknowingly, she would be brining home 7 years of companionship. The name "Baby" came naturally, as this was what Lisa called him before deciding on a name. 

Baby loved his cage and didn’t like being out of it. We took him out on day and set him on the floor, and he immediately jumped on top of the cage, like he was saying, “This is my house, and it’s where I belong”.  

He loved his toys and played with them all. He would throw his bell in his swing, then jump up there and toss it out, followed by another round of throw and toss, and another. He would be in his swing and if I reached into the cage to put his bell on the swing next to him, he scooted over to make room for it, and then would immediately toss it off the swing. We clapped or cheered him on with the bell throw game and he would get excited and start joyfully chirping.

His swing was his safe place, where he slept and spent most of his day, often picking at the yellow and green beads that wrapped the sides.

Baby liked to make noise and was inquisitive, and he used his foot like we use our hands. He liked to grab his mirror with his beak and toss it against the side of his cage, just for the sake of the noise. He liked throwing his bell on the plastic chain too.  He was very curious. As mentioned above he used his foot to hold his bell, looking under it to figure out where the noise was coming from, or to stop it from moving. He would stop the bell with his foot, then steady it with his beak, by resting his face against the bell, and at just the right moment, give the bell a good head butt to get it swinging again. If his swing was moving and he didn’t like it, he would stop I from moving with his foot.  He found entertainment in everything.

Baby liked to be part of the family. In the mornings, if I got up and started making coffee before taking the cover off of his cage, he was sure to remind me he was there. When Lisa and I left the living room, leaving him alone, his chirping got louder and more persistent, as he called out to us. Once we returned to the living room, he calmed down. 

When he was quiet or chirping softly, I would squat down next to his cage and whistle softly to him, and  and he would respond with quiet chirping. Anyone who talked to us on the phone could hear him in the background, and many commented on how loud he was. Baby was a joyful bird and even chattered in his sleep. Baby liked his chest petted and would stand tall and extend his body to receive the attention. 

He liked his TV, Parakeet YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_9LIucbS8U&pp=ygUScGFyYWtlZXRzIGNoaXJwaW5n), and music, chirping more loudly when any was on.

We’ll miss him and his constant, comforting chatter. Rest in peace my little friend.

My Lapghan Quilting Project 2024

 

December 2023 - I had a collection of old torn jeans I had saved for some unknown reason. I decided to take them and make a lap throw blanket that would be about 3 1/2 feet wide by about 5 feet long. I started cutting 5 1/2 inch squares of fabric, and on January 14th, I laid them out on the floor to determine a pattern. 

I soon realize I had I had way more fabric than I thought, and my lap blanket turned into a mash of enough fabric to make a 36 x 56 lapghan sized throw. That's a new word to me. I had mostly light blue pieces, with a bit of dark blue lightweight fabric from one of Lisa's skirts. I arranged and rearranged pieces until I found I had enough dark to make a dark X, going corner to corner.

5/1/24 - On the evening of May first 2024 first I completed stitching the final  border onto sides, leaving the corners unfinished, until I get direction from Irene or or Quitz.  I checked my seams and found a one-inch spot where I missed one layer of the border. I'll remove about three inches of seam and resew it.

6/14/24 - My first quilt is finally complete. I woke up at 3:10 this m orning and got up to finish tying my quilt. The final stitch was placed at 7:10am. I found a few corners stitches I wasn't happy with and decided to remove and replace them. I could have left them, and they would have been OK, but I knew I would notice them every time I looked at that quilt. I could have just chalked it up to first timers learning curve, but that wasn't the finished product I wanted.

The dark X that was planned, either got blended in or fabric pieces got rearranged or 9-square panels got turned.

2020 Kitchen Remodel

 

The beginning of our kitchen renovation started with the removal of an unused dishwasher. We've lived in the house for 17 years and never used the dishwasher, so other than counterspace, this presented no inconvenience. We were now committed.

Surprise number 1 - Next came removal of  the stove hood and cabinets over and next to the stove. The hood didn't connected to anything. There was no hole in the top of the hood, There was a vent duct tube resting on top of it, but not connected to anything. When the hood was lowered, the vent tube came down with it. The tube wasn't connected to the rooftop vent.  

Surprise number 2 - Standing in front of the stove and looking up through the opening, we could see straight through to the attic vents. Looks like insulating the attic is in our future.

Design Options Considered

 

    

Rocky Point, Mexico

We woke up Saturday morning, and Lisa asked if I wanted to go down to Rocky Point for the day. I was flabbergasted, but didn't want to take the chance  of her changing her mind, by asking what prompted her desire to go. I just said yes, and we started getting ready. Grabbed our passports, and we were on the road by 8:30. Stopped for gas and cash, and off to the border. It was a nice morning with lightly clouded skies.

Got to the border around 11:00 and crossed behind a truck with a Mexican license plate. The driver was questioned and a quick visual search conducted. Soon one of the federale's with an assault rifle came over and directed the driver to pull over (we assume for a more detailed search). We stopped at Vasquez's in Sonoita for street tacos, vanilla extract and picked up some drinking glasses.

Before going into Rocky Point, we decided to head out to Cholla Bay. We took the road we were familiar with, but after we got into it a little bit, thought there was probably a new road we didn't know about, as we could see cars driving off to the left. It was windy and the blowing sand obscured the road. I could rely on following the edge of the road for direction. As we entered Cholla, there was a police substation that we had never seen before.  We were welcomed by bay full of aqua blue water, as we stopped at the site of the old trailer. We were surprised to see a house now standing on the site, last time we were there, it had only the concrete slab.  The tide was in with the bay full of warm, aqua blue water. We wandered the shoreline, collected seashells (by the sea shore), and  took a few pictures.

Time to move on. We headed to JJ's and came across a short patch of paved road in Cholla (must be the upscale neighborhood). JJ's was busy with the typical crowd. We each had a bottle of Tecate. Lisa had chicken strips & fries, and I had fish & chips. Two different people came up to us and offered to take our pictures. After lunch it was off to Rocky Point.

Driving to Rocky Point, we go by Sandy Beach, and all the high rises, built in anticipation of an influx of visitors brought in on cruise ships. Last time we were there, there were just a couple shacks on the beach.

In Rocky Point traffic was snarled as we approached the shipyards. One of the cars next to us had a little boy and a little girl, probably 4-6 years old, standing up with their heads out of the sunroof. They were all smiles. A third child, a girl, maybe 6 years old  was sitting on her father's lap steering as he controlled the gas and brakes. Several vehicles had people riding with their heads popping out of the sunroofs. Welcome to Mexico.

We found a place to park on one of the curios shop lined side streets. As soon as we got out of the truck, we were approached by the adjacent shop's owner, "welcoming" us to his shop. "Beautiful shells, don't you think they're beautiful?" We escape and move on to another shop. This time, as soon as we enter the shop, the vulturess swoops in to try to sell Lisa a "beautiful" little purse, emblazoned with a colorful "Puerto Penasco". "this one is beautiful, this is very pretty, don't you like this one", etc.

What we once knew as "Fisherman's Row", is now lined with restaurants and bars. The few independent fish mongers who remain have been relocate off the main drag to smaller roads near the marina. We stopped on the way out of town and bought a couple pounds of medium shrimp for $6.00 per pound, and a couple pounds of flounder. The English speaking vender, held out a piece of flounder for me to smell for freshness. We were parked, ensuring our fish was well covered with ice and getting ready to leave, when an oncoming car veered head-on toward us in our lane, to avoid a large puddle in the road. We thought for sure this idiot was gonna hit us.



The drive home was uneventful. We got to the border, and stopped for Border Patrol to take our pictures; Never going through this process before, I had my head turned away from the camera. We pulled forward to the checkpoint. The Border Patrol agent asked what we were bring back with us. Vanilla, fish and some drinking glasses  - that's it, no alcohol, medication, illegals, or anything else. He said, "You two are no threat", and told us we could proceed. I think I felt offended. There was a second checkpoint outside of Why, then it was off to the races.

As we were exiting I-10, onto SR51, a car cut in front of us. We were sure glad and thankful I had been paying attention. We had just mentioned watching for people doing last minute lane changes. We got home at about 7:00.