Week 16 - At Max Vacation

It had taken since my December trips to accrue but I was back at maximum vacation, which meant I'd be using 2 days each month until I retire in August. It was time for more exploring with Rene.

But first my quilt. My knitting friends were more than willing to help with the layout. I randomly laid out the 7 strips and they helped me decide which end to cut off of each to reduce the length to something more bed sized. I sewed them all together after work on Tuesday and then made the backing after work on Thursday, using the cut off bits down the center of the back with some old fabric from my days of sewing dumpy dresses to wear to work. I had arranged to drop it with Danielle at spinning on Saturday. She has a long arm quilting machine and does beautiful work. She said it would take ~2 weeks. I can't wait to get it back.

Thursday was my exploration day with Rene and we were headed to David City, which is the county seat of the county west of me. I think I'd been there once years ago but can't recall why. There is an agrarian art museum and Buresh Meats just north of town and that was reason enough to go. We left my house at 9:00 for the 30 minute drive and our first stop was a thrift shop on the edge of town. I scored a sewing chest full of vintage sewing trims, including lots of rick rack (my favorite) and double folded bias tape that I use for strings in my drawstring knitting bags, for $5. First stop and I was already happy. We went into another thrift and an ancient hardware store downtown before the museum, which was tiny so only took 20 minutes. After hitting the 2 grocery stores, the 2nd of which had Clarkson Bakery goodies, we went to Buresh Meats. Their prices were crazy cheap (85/15 1 pound hamburger chubs for $1.95!) but a lot of their stuff was in huge 5 pound bags so too big for either of us to use. I still managed to spend $50 and with that done, it was time to meander our way home.

What Rene and I like to do is plan a route home that includes as many small towns as we can go through. I'm here to tell you that we saw some SAD small towns on our way home. Octavia was the first and had not a single business in town and their specialty was single wides with multiple junk cars in the yard. But you could see they used to have a big school (someone was redoing it and appeared to be living in it) and a small main street with businesses, all closed now. Linwood was about the same but less junky and had a single huge steakhouse/bar as the only business in town. We ate lunch at Abie's Place in Abie, which is in the basement of the old school. Lunch was delish and cheap then it was on to Bruno, which still has a couple of businesses, and then Prague. I used to be the Wahoo Newspaper school board reporter for Prague but their school has since closed and the town has dried up. There's still a gas station/convenience store but even their restaurant/bar is closed. That's sad. We got home in time for a cup of tea at my house. It was a fun day.

Friday flew by, as did all the work days this week mostly with training Dana on anything that came across my desk, and it was time for the weekend. Andrea had another commitment so wasn't going to spinning but I had to drop my quilt off so headed to Fremont. I didn't do my usual shopping so went right home after. I did some cooking and made one of the Buresh Meats steaks I'd bought for supper. Sunday was my typical phone chats, chores and puttering. Lorri did stop by after work and I did drag hoses out and got some water on my veg beds but those hoses won't stay how I hooked them up but redoing those will wait for official hose and set up later.

Between my quilt and my exploring day, it was a great week. Dana is wonderful to work with and picks everything up super quickly. I'm loving the spring weather. Life is good!