Celtic Solstice Top Finished

Today at work I finished my Celtic Solstice quilt to flimsy status.  I love the quilt, but I think I would have liked a second white border after the pieced border and before the green outer border.  I changed two of the designer's colors.  Bonnie K. Hunter of Quiltville.com made hers in blue, orange, green and yellow and I changed her blue to purple and her orange to hot pink.  I enjoyed making this quilt but I don't know that I would make it again.  I am using Cream Rose for the batting and backing the quilt in the same green fabric as the outer border.  By the way, that is Rosie, my sweet Rosebud, posing on the quilt top.  She considers all the quilts hers and if I leave quilt blocks or rows laying on the bed I will come back to a complete mess.  She likes to mix things up.   

Second Cataract Surgery

I finally had cataract surgery on my right eye on Friday morning.  Surgery went well, just like before, with no pain.  They taped a protective cage overy my eye and we left to get lunch.  After lunch we visited Pat and Fred in Kanawha City until my appointment with the doctor for another check on my eye.  I thought my vision was cloudy but the doctor was happy with it.  We went home and I rested the rest of the day.  And then I decided to go out into my sewing room.  I flipped the light on and stepped down into the room and - holy crap! - jumped right back into the computer room!  I carefully looked back out into the sewing room and my yellow and white room was blue! Very cool blue!  Evidently this new lens is tinted!  My left eye sees colors brighter than they were but really the same colors, but my right eye sees everything bluer than it did before.  Richard said my fluorescent bulbs in the sewing room are cool white, and I notice now that all fluorescents seem bluer to me.  I really can see much better with the new lens, but now I wonder how I will do when I choose fabrics and colors for a quilt.  I guess over time I will come to terms with it, but right now I check everything with one eye and then the other.  I wasn't told this could happen.  I have known since August that I needed cataract surgery and have talked with many people about it, almost all of them telling me I will be very happy with it.  No one said it could change colors completely.  I don't want more surgery so I hope I can learn to live with it.

Water Safe to Drink!

West Virginia American Water Company put up a map showing the area that was contaminated by the chemical last week.  The entire area was colored red - contaminated.  They started giving the ok to flush the first zone at 5pm yesterday.  We live in the fourth zone, which was given the ok at 9pm by turning our area blue.  We immediately began the flush, by opening all the hot water faucets for 20 minutes in order to empty the hot water tank.  After that we opened the cold water taps for five minutes.  Then the water was (supposedly) safe.  We still need to replace the filter on our fridge, so we are not using the ice or water in the door until then.  This morning Richard and I both took showers before going to work.  How wonderful - to be able to use the faucets we had to ignore for five days!  I keep thinking I will never take it for granted again, but I know that I will.  I have found out that you can get clean with a sponge bath, but a shower makes you FEEL clean.  I am extremely happy that this ordeal is over!  And it was an ordeal.  I guess I've been lucky all my life.  We've never had a power outage for more than a few hours, and I don't remember ever having trouble with the water.  I've lived in the shadow of Union Carbide and Dupont all my life but it's never been a concern.

Why in the heck would they locate a chemical company right above the intake for a large water company?  It just doesn't make sense to me.  I heard there are many lawsuits filed already and I hope that company goes out of business forever.  Now I read in the Charleston Gazette that the chemical has gone down the Ohio River as far as Maysville, Kentucky, about 143 miles from here and the residents there can smell the licorice smell in their water.  They expect it to reach Louisville, Kentucky by the end of the week.  Water companies along the river are closing their intakes so they don't bring it in to their systems.  This really brings home the thought that terrorists could contaminate a large system, such as Washington, DC or New York City and look how many people that would affect. 

Maybe An End In Sight

No pictures in this post.  I want to talk about the water emergency going on here in Charleston, West Virginia.  A chemical leaked into the Elk River on Thursday, just above the intake for the West Virginia American Water Company's water treatment plant.  They said that about 7,500 gallons of this chemical leaked from the storage tank.  It is a chemical used at coal mines.  The water treatment plant is about a mile or so from my house.  We have not been able to use tap water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, or anything except flushing the toilet since then.  I don't think I have ever wanted a shower as badly as I do right now!  It has been declared a State of Emergency and FEMA and others have brought in lots of water for us.  We have not lacked for drinking water, but it is really hard to use drinking water for cleaning, either our bodies or our houses.  Each day I heat a little bit of water and have a sponge bath, but I let my hair go a little longer.  Richard keeps threatening to take a shower anyway, but we don't know what that chemical may do to us. 

News this evening is that we may be able to use the water very soon.  They said that the chemical must test below a certain number for 24 hours before we can flush our systems.  We have to drain the water heaters and throw away the ice in our ice makers.  Filters must be changed.  They said they will open the system in zones, and we are in zone four.  The first zones include the area hospitals, one of which is where Richard works.  Schools are cancelled for tomorrow and maybe for longer.  Some of the area restaurants have been able to reopen as long as they have a separate source for water, submit their plan in writing and get approved.  It really looks strange to drive around and see parking lots empty of cars.  We went to Sam's Club and Walmart today and there were very few people there.  I hope how soon this crisis is over and we can move on to the next crisis!

Second Cataract Surgery is a No-Go For Today

Yesterday there was a chemical leak into the Elk River just above the intakes for West Virginia American Water.  They take the water and run it thru a treatment plant and then it is sent out thru all the pipes to people in an eight county area.  They still don't know how much chemical got into the water but it has a sweet, licorice-type smell, and we can smell it in the air outside.  It has been declared a Federal Disaster Area and we cannot use the tap water for anything except fire protection and flushing toilets.  We were even told to throw out the ice from our icemakers.  Richard and I didn't have any bottled water here in the house but decided we could drink tea (made the day before) and Diet Pepsi, always my drink of choice.  But we couldn't brush our teeth or take a shower.  Last night my daughter called and her husband (who works a meat cutter in a grocery store) said his store was getting a truck-load of water and did we want some.  Heck yes we want some!  He brought us a box with six gallons in it and I immediately brushed my teeth.  Still no shower though.  From now on I am going to keep some water on hand.  You never know when something like this will happen and it is best to be prepared.  As to my second cataract surgery - I got a call from the hospital at 11pm last night to tell me it was cancelled due to the water problem.  I don't know when it will be rescheduled.  I hear they are bringing in water in trucks called "water buffaloes" and I intend to get enough to clean up!

First Cataract Surgery

I found this picture on the internet showing how everything looks thru cataracts.  This is exactly the way I've been seeing for years and didn't know it.  I knew I couldn't see details any more.  I had my left eye operated on last Friday and the right eye will be done next Friday.  There was no pain, and it really wasn't very traumatic.  They gave me meds thru my IV that made me not care what they did to me.  Afterwards they strapped a cage over my eye (to protect it) and sent me out to get something to eat.  I was back in the office that afternoon and they said I was seeing 20/40 even though my eye was swollen and full of meds.  I woke up Saturday morning and my vision was so sharp!  I couldn't believe it!  During the day my eye clouded up some but it was clear this morning and has stayed that way.  I can now sit back in my chair and read my emails!  Colors are also much brighter.  My living room is painted sky blue and I thought that was a pretty color.  Now I see that it is much brighter than I thought.  Also there was a tinge of brown that my left eye can still see.  I didn't realize there would be such a color change.  I will be putting drops in my eyes for the next couple of weeks, but it is worth it to be able to see so well.  The lens they put in my left eye lets me see near and the lens for my right eye will let me see far.  That is called monovision.  I will probably need reading glasses in the future.  Looking forward to next Friday and my next surgery!