Too hot to move

Every day, we get a message from Austin Energy advising us to conserve power in the late afternoon/evening, and I can't help but wonder if this is the day the Texas power grid will fail.  The more the governor tries to assure us everything will be okay, the more I worry that it won't...because, as is common in his party, he is not familiar with the concept of truth.  The system is not built to handle the needs of Texans in any kind of extreme weather.  Power went out last night for about an hour.  We decided to pull out the generator and the portable a/c, just to have them unpacked and ready in case.  And, what else did we have to do?  Fortunately we didn't need them, but they're there and ready, like insurance.  

I didn't do anything crafty this week.  Not a stitch of crochet, knitting or quilting.  It was too busy, and by the end of the day, all I could do was sit and watch TV.  I did however buy a sewing machine and it should be here in a day or two.  Here are my expectations...we'll see if I purchased well or not.  

I love my Bernina Record 930.  I love the all metal construction and its power.  I love that it will sew all day without any complaint and that the thread never knots or breaks unless I do something stupid.  And, I love, love, love that there's no computerization.  The most fancy thing it does is needle down by a heel tap in the foot pedal.  It's the machine that has quilted all my quilts and we estimate that I've put over a million stitches on it.  But, it's starting to sound "tired" after a day of quilting and the foot pedal gets cranky after several hours, and I think it's time for some lighter duties for it...it's great at making shirts where I'm not constantly sewing for long periods of time.  

Sew, I bought another one just like it.  I shopped carefully.  I could have gotten one cheaper.  Because they're such workhorses, there are still plenty on the market.  But I was looking for slightly used.  I used the markers of use on my machine as my guide to knowing what slightly used would look like.  The sewing surface needed to be shiny.  On my machine, a thousand tiny scratches and heat buildup have taken the shine and "slick" off that surface.  It couldn't have chipped paint.  Some of them had lost all the paint around the feed dog area.  Definite sign of heavy use.  The wheel end of the machine has a piece of plastic covering that turns yellow when exposed to sun, so I looked at machines where that was still off-white, hoping it means they've been stored in their cases for long periods of time.  And, I wanted a video of the machine in use.  I held those videos next to my machine and listened to the difference.  Where my machine makes a small sound like metal rubbing against rubber, it should make a distinct clicking sound as the needle rises and falls.  I found all of that in a few machines and while I was shopping, one seller reduced the price twice to something much more reasonable, so it felt like a little karma.  I spent the weekend cleaning up in the studio so it would be easy to do the machine swap.  Who knew that I had pulled out half of what I own and stacked it on every cutting or sewing surface?  Almost all of it is back in its place now...most of it anyway.  It was a LOT.  I'll put the old machine in a cabinet and move it in for regular sewing and the new one will be designated for quilting.  

I spent yesterday afternoon with my arm in the aquarium.  I had a good filter that lasted 10 years and then started to get loud.  I pulled out my alternate filter, which I always keep on hand for emergencies and remembered why it's my alternate and not my primary, so I bought a filter like the one that had given such good service and set it up and it was louder than the original one after 10 years of service.  Yesterday, we bought a different one and I spent a good bit of the day organizing the aquarium and swapping out the filters.  I am very happy with my afternoon's work.  Of course, after all that, the fish would not come out to have their picture taken.  

I'm starting to slowly move back into the greenhouse.  I've bought a few new things for it, like a trashcan and step stool and am collecting cache pots so everything isn't in growers pots.  I'm going for a look.  I bought a new fan that we're about ready to hang on the wall and we bought the new storm door yesterday. That and a couple paint touchups and a couple more shelves and it will be ready to go!

In addition to my regular job, I help coordinate the company's response to weather events and last week was a lot!  Fires, tropical storms, hurricanes, flooding...the weather was all over the place.  It took a lot of my time, and by end of week, I was pooped!  This week isn't shaping up much better.  Climate change is real, y'all.  No matter what lies the fossil fuel industry tells, the truth is visible by just looking at the weather.  

Everybody have a great week!  Stay cool and dry and keep an eye on the people around you to make sure they're doing the same.  

Lane

(lookie there...I made it all the way through without making fun of trump lying about his weight!  I'm so proud of me!)