2012 May 14 — Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Well . . Mr. Bob Beckel!

May 14, 2012 · by JudyL

The TV is on. The Five is on and they were talking about debt in California and how many folks . . individuals and jobs . . are leaving there and moving to Texas because of our tax friendly climate. Beckel said something like “California is a beautiful state. Can you imagine people leaving California and moving to Odessa or Midland?”

And? What’s your point? Texas is a mighty big state and a mighty nice place to live and while I can’t speak for Odessa or Midland, I can speak for Brownwood, Texas and I’d take this any day over most any place else. And, just a little over a year ago, I would have agreed . . anywhere but Texas!

So, Mr. Beckel, you think there’s some place in CA that’s prettier than this?

Or this?

People come from far and wide to see our wildflowers!

You may not see this in CA, but it’s not hard to find such signs in TX. And, most of these folks are ready to back up their words with actions!

My guess is that anyone who doesn’t think Texas is a beautiful state just hasn’t been in the right place at the right time. And the beauty of the scenery doesn’t compare with the beauty of the folks here. Everyone is so nice. We have fantastic highways. When I used to drive from Missouri to Louisiana, it was torture driving across the Oklahoma and Louisiana highways after driving in Texas. We have no state income tax and as much as I’ve complained about the real estate in this area, anyone from California probably wouldn’t see anything wrong with it.

Mr. Beckel . . you are wrong about Texas!

· Filed Under: Texas · 40 Comments

Kindle 2nd Generation Alert

May 14, 2012 · by JudyL

Since leaving my Kindle Fire at mom’s and while waiting for the new Kindle Touch to arrive, I got out my old Kindle 2nd Generation to use. I tried to download books to the computer and then using the USB and cord, to transfer books from the computer to the Kindle but I couldn’t get that to work. The computer wouldn’t recognize that anything was plugged into the USB port and Vince was going to look at it and never did. This morning as I went to remove the Kindle cord that was still laying on the floor by the computer, I noticed this.

My first thought was that Speck had chewed the cord. It’s been many years since he chewed anything but you never know. Then I noticed the rubbery stuff was cracked everywhere and was just falling off the cord.

I called Amazon and yes, that’s a known problem for 2nd generation Kindles purchased in 2009 and 2010. They said to definitely not use the cord as it can be hazardous. They’re sending me a new cord, which was nice but I think, since they know just about everyone who has a Kindle, they should have been a bit pro-active and contacted us.

If you have a second generation Kindle (or maybe any Kindle), please check your cord and check it often. Mine was not like this at all when I plugged it in last week.

· Filed Under: Home & Garden · 9 Comments

Mechanic’s Quilt Finished

May 14, 2012 · by JudyL

Too bad the socks for his wife aren’t finished! Yesterday a friend asked me to do a blog post about how I do the binding, which meant I had to do some binding so I chose this quilt.

This could be my first finish for 2012. I can’t remember if I finished anything or not but I think I didn’t. Lots of tops have been made, several tops have been quilted but the stack of “almost done” quilts is getting pretty tall.

Binding tutorial will be posted this evening . . if it rains! If it doesn’t rain, I’ll try to get the tutorial done on Tuesday. Why does the rain matter? Because if it rains, I don’t have to water the garden and will have an extra hour or so.

· Filed Under: Quilting · 17 Comments

Design Wall Monday – May 14, 2012

May 14, 2012 · by JudyL

I took a picture of blocks on my design wall this week, now the blocks are off my design wall and I can’t find the picture . . must’ve deleted it. Currently on my design wall are the mysterious quilt along – Road to Llano – blocks and I can’t show you those so . . I have nothing to show!