Amish Fireworks

Yesterday was a day full of good food, friends and Amish Fireworks.

Last year, my friend Sheila invited me to join her at a family picnic nearby.  It is an annual event and I was thrilled to be included.  They have lots of good food and many of the locals and not so locals come over to enjoy the day and to experience some 'old time transportation' in the form of steam powered tractors that once were used to plow the local farmer's fields and do the work that was done by horses and mules.

This year I had invited Marji and Danny to come along with me and since she had been in the hospital keeping Danny from going to Michigan to his family reunion, they were able to come.

A couple of the family members own these incredible steam driven tractors.  Most people who want to see these machines have to go to the Rough and Tumble Museum or attend the tractor events at the facility at Rough and Tumble.  These wonderful machines are actually brought to the backyard of this house and set up so that anyone who wants to can get up close and personal with the machines and talk to the owner/drivers about how they work.  This is a bit of a fuzzy picture of the two of the machines sitting in the yard.

Here is a short video of some of the people checking out the Russel machine.  The young lady who is closing the front of the engine is the owner.  She also works at the Strasburg Railroad and is the only female engineer that runs the steam engines there and she also fabricates parts to keep these magnificent machines running.

These machines are running the entire time we are there.  In fact, they use the steam from the engines to flash cook corn on the cob!!!  Talk about good flavor!  The have the tractors connected to devices that allow them through a very large belt system so that a full load can be placed on the engines without moving their wheels.

At dusk, they begin preparing for the show.  At dark they feed a specially prepared fuel source into the firebox that causes a tall shower of parks to come out of the smoke stack going dome 20+ feet into the air.  Hence, Amish Fireworks.  Below is a video of the Russel machine entertaining us with a spectacular light show.  It is a small continuous video, but there are dark places where the engineers were stoking the firebox with the special fuel.

And if you just want to see a still picture of sparks.... well, here it is.  Not nearly as interesting as the video.  Just keep in mind, it is dark and hard to take normal pictures in the dark!!!

Life just gets in the way, sometimes....

I have managed to get two items off my second list.  I finished up the office and I got the sheets sewn together for Kerry (a Facebook Friend who wanted 4 old sheets put together to cover an antique car in a garage to keep dust off of it... I will be seeing him tomorrow at a picnic so I want to deliver it.)

I still have to oil and get running my two older sewing machines as well as my little toy Singer and get back to working on my half square triangle blocks.  I have begin working on clearing stuff out of the dining room  and off the dining room table.  May not sound like much, but it is progress for me.

Had to go out to the bank this morning to deposit a check.  I used the opportunity to visit our new Aldi Store that replaced the Bottom Dollar Grocery Store.  I have been in the Aldi in Elkton and really liked it.  They have their own brands and the prices are very competitive with name brands in other stores.  Very little in terms of fresh meats or fruit, but canned, boxed and frozen there is quite a nice variety.  I got some cake mix, icing (I am going to a picnic tomorrow and I am taking cupcakes.) and some Italian Artisan Bread.

I did get some good news today.  Yesterday the new camera came to replace the one that died during the surge.  When I was installing the new one (that looked just like the old one), I, just for giggles, plugged the old one in to the new cord... and it came on and rebooted.  So I put the new one in (and it is plugged in to it's very own, high powered surge protector) and ordered a new power cord.  It came today and sure enough, I was able to reset the camera to factory specs so I have a spare or I can add another one in the sewing room.  For now, it is on the shelf above the work bench in the basement.

Marji is finally home again.  She was released late yesterday morning.  She sounds good for having had fluid in her lungs just a few days ago.  She is even thinking of joining us at the picnic tomorrow.  This is the picnic that I went to last year where they had the steam engines that are used to cook the corn and then send towers of sparks into the air.  Sheila called them Amish Fireworks.  Danny and Marji had planned to be in Michigan this weekend for another family reunion, but Marji's illness made those plans go away, so if it is not too hot and she is up to it, I expect  that they will be here.  Danny would be fascinated to see the engines up close and personal.

Monday, according to the UPS package tracker, my new security system will arrive.  I fired my old company.  They were completely crazy to think I was going to pay $700 to $800 to replace the one that died in the surge.  When it died, they go no alarm to indicate I was off line.  Once they knew that and told me what the cost would be, the never called to see what they could do to help me.  The one lady in service was and always had been, really arrogant and rude, when ever I needed help.  They only finally called and offered to reduce their cost when I told them I would no longer need their services.  And I even had to ask for a refund from the annual fee I paid last October.  But they agreed to give me $90 back.

The new system is the SimpliSafe system that has been advertised on TV.  I buy the components and they are reasonable.  It does not require a landline but is all cellular based but I did not have to buy an additional cell number.  It is included with the system.  I got all new components to replace everything I have in the house and it is being shipped free.  The total was under $300.  I have 2 months to decide if it works for me and if not, I can return it.  I have three choices of monthly fees. from $14.99 to $19.00 to $24.99.  I am starting at $24.99 (which is still saving me $11.00 a month) and gives me the ability to disarm or arm it from anywhere should some one need to get into the house while I am away.  I will also get notices when doors are opened, etc.  I can change the level of service at anytime and add components over time.  I am hoping it will work well.  Stay tuned.

A Confession and Progress....

So, when I last posted, I was happy with my tiny lists and working my way through the second list that included items from the first list.

Confession.... that Sunday, after I published my blog post....I did nothing.  I wasted the rest of the day, on the computer and playing games.  But I really needed to just breathe and unwind after all of the tension of the electrical stuff.

So, Monday I started in again with my list.  The nice thing about lists is that they are always there to start again.  And I have to say that my office is clean, reorganized and uncluttered.  (At least as uncluttered as I can make it.)  There is actually a floor and carpet there!  Amazing.  I even have new hooks up for hoops and hooping aids that have never had a home to go to.  I also went through all of the blanks that I had purchased for projects that never got used.  Some of them are being donated to the 10 & 41 Thrift Shop and others will be designed and used for the Sew Much Love ladies.  I also have some Christmas ideas.  And now that it is a pleasant and functional room again, I will actually enjoy being in there!!!

Those of you with the link to my camera system can peek in and see how neat and clean it looks.  I would love to say that I will be keeping it that way, but I know better.  But I smile now when I walk by and am encouraged, even inspired. to do that with the living room and dining room... kitchen??

It took two full days to do this.  So that one line item on my list took close to two days of sorting and stacking and re-stacking and creating homes for different items.  Tuesday was 'take out the trash' day.  It is the weekly chore that Rudy used to do.  I would gather everything together in the house and he would put it into the trash can and walk it around.  For whatever reason, it is the one chore that I really and truly hate doing.  And it never fails that I think of Rudy, wishing he were still here to do this dreadful job and yelling at him in my head for leaving me behind to handle all of this stuff.  So there were also a couple of trash bags full of trash that I took out of the office from the sort and purge process.

Tuesday evening I picked up Patty Nafziger from church and we drove to Winpy and Dees Diner in Honeybrook.  There we met Sheila Williamson for dinner and a meeting about the Sew Much Love mission we have going on at church.  The three of us are co-leaders of the project, although they seem to think I am in charge... but we have had three sessions since we began and I thought it would be good to look at the different things we have been doing and make sure everyone is happy with the format and what we want to add or improve.

It is always interesting to have a meeting in a public place.  People look at you oddly, listen in to what we are talking about and sometimes join in the conversation.  The man behind me evidently listened to all of our conversation and after paying his bill, stopped by to ask, in a joking tone, if we also did buttons.  We smiled back and said, sure we did!  We also had a lovely lady stop by and ask about the program.  She sounded very interested and we hope that Peggy will come to join in on the creative fun.

I slept in a little later today, so I am a bit behind.  I had to check in on Miss Marji.  She is in the hospital again.  She had a bowel obstruction late last week and they released her on Sunday only to have her go back into the hospital that night with heart issues and fluid filling her lungs.  I am happy to report that she appears to be recovering nicely and may be released to go home tomorrow.  I hate that she has so many health issues.  She is such a sweet, kind and loving person.  I cannot imagine not being able to call her everyday just to say 'hi'.

Have a Wonderful  Wednesday!

I guess I need lists....

Yesterday was a good day.

After working a bit on the computer, I made a list.  It was not a big list... I did not want to be overwhelmed.  So I took the things that had to be done first, gave them a priority and put them (almost) in order.

It was something like:

1.  Replace surge protector in electric panel
2.  Replace surge protectors and outlets in Office-
        Computer side
         Happy Side
3. Sew Sheets for Kerry
4.  Replace surge protectors in bedroom

So I finished my computer work and gathered what I needed and headed to the basement.  The first thing I did was to put the florescent bulbs in the new light fixture that I had to replace in area by the electric panel.  I kept trying to do it in the dark and could never manage to get it accomplished.  The bulbs are the new T8 size and are smaller than the older T12.  But in the day;ight, I was bale to get it done.

Then I sat down and began the task of putting a new whole house surge protector on the panel to replace the one that was no longer working.  I flipped off the breaker it was attached to and took a screwdriver to the 4 screws.  It took some serious turning as the man who installed it really tightened them down, but I managed.  I pulled the wires and the box out of the panel without shocking myself or shorting out any other breakers.  I used the old box to measure the wires and cut them to length.  I stripped off the ends and twisted the ends.  The I carefully replaced the box into the hole on the side, fished the wires to the places inside the box and attached them to the proper terminals.  Then I flipped the breaker and all of the lights on the box came on, indicating it was properly installed and protecting the house.  I put the panel cover back on and headed upstairs.

Into the office for the remainder of the day.  Since I have not done a lot of work in there over the last year or so, it had accumulated stuff in piles and the like, so I am taking advantage of the need to get into corners to clean things up, label all of the cords and lines that go to and from equipment and computers and organize in there so things are neat and as dusted as I can make them.  So I worked slowly but surely into the evening and have replaced all of the surge protectors in the room, labeled most of the cords.  Funny how some of the old surge protectors worked but were no longer protecting the items plugged into them.  I was really fortunate I did not loose anything more than I did.  It is set up now so I can shut down the computer ad pull three plugs and have everything not on the grid!

I finished up by replacing the surge protectors in my bedroom by the door.  Over the next month or so, I will be checking all of the surge protectors in the house and replacing them .  I am sure that there are many more that are just power strips with no protection.

So, today a new list.  It reads:

1.  Finish organizing office.
2.  Sew Kerry's Sheets
3.  Clean and oil two old sewing machines
4. Work on HSTs.  (Half Square Triangles)

I think I just need a small list of things to do.  It  gives me guidance and forces me to give priorities to the things I have to get done.  At least it is the way things are working for now.

Happy Sunday!!

Summer has officially arrived and yet I am frozen in time....

So, one of the things that I always enjoyed with Rudy in the summertime was spare ribs on the grill and fresh corn on the cob.  Add dome fresh green beans and tomatoes.... heaven on a plate.  I have been working very hard to get the grilling of spare ribs on the grill so the meat would be thoroughly cooked and yet tender and juicy.  When it is well cooked, it can become tough and dry... or charred beyond edible.. which I have done with all of my grilling.  Rudy was an excellent grill master so I have had to work hard to get things done correctly.

Yesterday I finally managed to get ti done.  I was at my local Weis market and found petite spare ribs that were meaty and small enough to fit on my small grill.  I rubbed some spices into the meat and put it on the grill.  I used my Amazon Echo to time everything.  Did the 'corn on the cob in the husk' microwave way of cooking the corn.  It was delightful  I thought of Rudy and how many times we had enjoyed this meal and smiled.

But I feel like I have also been frozen in time.  I have gathered together all of the things to restore safety to my electrical system.  But I have not worked on getting it done.  I do not know why, I have just not gotten off my butt to get the whole house surge protector installed and then start with new surge protectors in the office.  So last night, I made a list and will start going down the list.  Hopefully that will get things going.

I have many things I want to do, but I need to go the things I have to do first.  So I am off to start my weekend.

Have a great weekend, too.

A break from the normal day drudge....

Today... my dreaded put out the trash day (the one job Rudy left behind that I truly hate and despise but have to do anyway) was interrupted by a delightful time having lunch with friends and catching up with two people I have not seen in a very, long time.

Mary Alice Carroll had called me a bit ago.  The locals in Cecilton were going to have a lunch for Janet Flower as she and her husband, Ron, were moving to Dover as a result of all of the 'crap' that came down at Indian Acres regarding living there full time.  We were meeting today in Chesapeake City at Shaffer's Canal House.  M A had asked me to give her a phone number that she no longer had and I suggested that Marji be included.

So I showered and dressed for lunch with friends.  Headed down to Elkton and picked up Marji and we arrived at the restaurant at noon and joined 26 other ladies who were there to honor Janet for all that she had done.

Shaffers was once a lovely place to eat with outstanding food.  But over the years that Rudy and I were going to Indian Acres, it steadily declined and then closed.  It sat, closed for several years and someone finally bought it and has been slowly getting her back in shape and they opened either last fall or this spring.

They had a lovely menu and there were many great sounding things to chose from.  I had a cup of cream of crab soup and a seafood salad.  The soup was good, but a tad salty for my taste.  I have gotten to where I do not salt my food much, so this may be perfectly normal for most, but I found it just a bit more salty than I like.  But good, nonetheless.  The seafood salad was delicious.  A large bowl of fresh greens, topped with shrimp, lobster and crab meat and covered in a delightful champagne vinaigrette.  There were two whole large shrimp and one that was cut in half and placed to make it look like there were more.  There were several nice chunks of lobster and lots of crab.  If I get to go back, I would happily have it again.  But they also had a very nice chicken salad sandwich that those who ordered it raved about.  There was also a Reuben Sandwich that was stated to be delicious.  Marji had dessert first of cheesecake that looked good, but she did not share.  She had friend oysters and said they were a little overcooked and would probably not order them again.

After everyone ate, Janet sat down with Marji and I along with Lorraine Rees.  It had been a couple of years since I had been able to chat with either of them and it was wonderful to catch up.  Lorraine had also moved in Florida.  She had purchased a house when she first moved there and last year decided to sell it as it was just too much work for her.  She is in a condo, now, and loves it.  She has just put her place at Indian Acres up for sale.  I am surprised that it took her this long to do that, but we each find our 'new normal' after losing a spouse at different rates and in different ways.  I am sure there are people who wonder why I did not move to Florida after I visited, but I am happy in my house here in Parkesburg, so I will stay here for quite a while.

Janet has moved to Dover, DE and they are still getting settled.  She seems to like where they are and I an sure will find all of her things to do in time.  It is not so far from Cecilton that she cannot get back there if she wants to see her old friends.  We must have spent and additional hour catching up.  The chatter was like old times when we did things together as Red Hat Ladies.  It was comforting and familiar.

SO, I have been sitting here with Winston after getting home.  It was in the 90's today and steamy.  I will go out after the sun gets a little lower and cools down outside to finish the trash chore that I just hate doing!  I have been looking at putting in a different alarm system.  It has been advertised all over and is called SimpliSafe.  100% cellular, self-installed and several different types of monitoring.  Also thinking about not having any, but that will increase my homeowners insurance.  Decisions, decisions.....

Digging in to put the house back together..

It always amazes me how things can be moving forward in getting a handle on the house.  After selling the Maryland house, I was completely overwhelmed with the stuff from there that I brought to this house.  I have been eating that elephant ever since and making great strides.  But one day of bad storms and having to run down where in my system the break had happened to keep my office from having power has scattered stuff from rooms I had not intended to get into until later this year..  So I am now in the place where I might just as well sort though the office as I now need to test the surge protectors and replace some that have probably weakened and could fail the next time we have a bad electrical storm.

I have ordered a new whole house surge protector.  The one that is there has only one light and not two, indicating that it is no longer protecting the house.  A customer at Home Depot, when I went there, hoping to find one in stock, said that it would need to be installed by a professional and I said, not really, just four wires.  It is the exact same one that I have now, so I can use the old one for cutting lengths of wire and stripping the ends and then screw them in where the old ones were.  I have pictures, so I will be doing that myself.

Today, I will be sending a letter to my alarm service, terminating their services.  I will not be paying them $700 to $800 to replace the module that fried.  I will be investigating other possibilities for service, but I may just not replace the system and save the money.  I may need that to put aside for the ever increasing property taxes here at the house.

Tomorrow will be a fun day.  One of the ladies who lived at Indian Acres (Janet Flower) is being treated to lunch at Shaffer's Canal House in Chesapeake City.  Marji was invited, so I will pick her up and we will enjoy lunch with friends I have not seen in a while.

I did, however, actually try one of those 'miracle cleaners' that pop up on Facebook from time to time.  It called for blue Dawn detergent and Cleaning Vinegar.  I have been having trouble finding the vinegar which is a tad stronger than cooking vinegar and finally found it at Home Depot, of all places.  You mix equal parts Dawn with slightly warmed vinegar (makes it easier to mix with the Dawn but I am sure you could use cold vinegar and just let it mix over time).  Put the mixture in spray bottle (mine holds close to three cups, so 1 1/2 cups of each) and then spray it in the bathtub after the solution is well mixed in the bottle..  The bubbles are thick and stick to the surface.  I let it sit for a couple of hours, it is OK for even longer, and then used the spray hose that I have in my tub/shower and without rubbing or scrubbing at all, rinsed the blue stuff away, the soap scum and yucky film that seems to build up in a place that you use to get clean just washed down the drain.  I have a couple of places where my ground-in foot prints can still be seen, but they are much less visible, and after my shower this morning, I will spray again and see what happens.  It took the whole 3 cup spray bottle to get my tub cleaned, but at $1.67 for 64 oz. of the cleaning vinegar and the low cost of Dawn, it is still cheaper than buying the 'scrubbing bubbles' stuff and better for the environment, too.  Give it a try.  *Note to self* and anyone else... the spray sticks better to the tub when it is dry!  Just an FYI.....

Out of the stone age... and loving the house again....

I no sooner posted the last post where I was ready to burn the place to the ground when Danny appeared at the door (I was getting the laundry into the washer) and we began to dig into the remaining electrical issues.

He had brought all sorts of helpful testing devices and it did not take long to verify that the lines seemed to have power but the outlets and light fixtures attached to the walls were dead.

So off to Home Depot.  I got 6 receptacles (I only needed three, but just in case...), two small replacement wall light fixtures, a replacement work light fixture for the basement, a new smoke detector as the one that is with the burglar alarm is unable to connect to anything.

Back home, Danny installed the three receptacles and two light fixtures.  I went down to the panel and flipped on the breaker and I now have power back in all of my rooms.  A total spent of less than $100.00.

Now to decide what to do about the burglar alarm.. replace, get a different and more user friendly company or just live without.  And then I need to replace the whole house surge protector as I am sure it is no longer protecting much of anything after numerous hits the last few years.

But I am a happy camper once again.  I still have to check my embroidery machine, but most of the surge protectors that it was plugged into have been fine.  I will test her tomorrow or Monday.  For now, I want to enjoy the fact that all is well.

Thanks for prayers that were answered.

Good news, Rob, I have identified one of the two remaining, unmarked breakers.  It is the washing machine!

Mother Nature tried, but I am ready to set fire to it!

I have never been so frustrated in my life.  Even when I knew that I was going to be losing my husband to cancer and after he died, I had the determination to move ahead.  Then there was the sale of the Maryland house and trying to get the stuff out after 20 years of living there on weekends and vacations.  Once that was accomplished, the merging and purging of 20 years of stuff into 30+ years of stuff (I like my stuff) was overwhelming, but I ate my elephant and had made much headway, especially after my son, Rob, came out to help wire the basement room that Danny and Darren had spent a day putting a floor in what had been my husband's workshop so I could have a place for my sewing stuff.

Took a step backwards when I also took the opportunity to put the nice flooring in the basement bedroom.  Makes the room nicer and I have not put the stuff back into the room so I could paint the walls while nothing is in there.  So once again, feeling cluttered and overwhelmed, but there is a reason and I was working on getting things ready to paint.

In between I have been away for more than a month and come back to many activities and obligations like dentist appointments, doctor appointments and medical testing to monitor my aging body.  No hurry to get everything done.  I was taking my time.

We have had some rather harrowing summer storms here lately.  Several weeks ago, after a servere thunderstorm and tornado warning, I lost power and ran the generator all night.  Had a couple of user errors that have been resolved and after a local friend was able to loosen the oil drain plug with a 24" breaker bar, I was able to change the oil and was ready for the next storm.

This past Tuesday, another severe thunderstorm and tornado warning (there was one confirmed very close to me in Honeybrook).  Winston and I took shelter in the basement as a precaution.  I could hear thunder and saw some lightening, although it was daylight and not dark so it was not brilliant as the previous storm.  But suddenly things flashed, blinked, winked and lightening/electricity came blowing out of the outlet next to the door in the sewing room.

Scared me, to say the least.  Headed into the basement and the whole house surge protector was sparking at the electric panel.  I flipped the main switch.  Waited a few moments to ascertain that the bad weather was not teeming around the house.  Upstairs and got the generator running.  Back tot he basement.  Flipped on the generator circuit, expecting all things to come back on, but found that lights were still out.  Checked the breakers in the box and found several had flipped off.  Reset the ones that had flipped except for two that would not reset..... the panel outlet where the basement fridge is plugged in and the Verizon box for phone, TV and Internet.

No lights in the basement side where I was, but most of the outlets in the sewing room were working.  No power at the workbench at the bottom of the basement stairs.  No power in my office where my embroidery machine lives and one outlet in my bedroom was not working.  There was also one outlet in the kitchen and the overhead lights over the sink were not working.

After some tears and yelling at Rudy for leaving alone to handle things like this plus feeling angry because I had done everything I could to avoid the issues I was seeing, I called Marji to let her know I was well but had major issues.  The I called one of the Elders at the church to see if there was someone who could come and help me determine what I needed to do.

Nelson came over and helped me take a couple of deep breaths and then go step by step to determine what had to happen.  I first needed to replace two breakers in the electric panel.  He arrived the next day with them and got them installed.  The workbench area came back to life  but it killed a new camera that I had installed.  Still no lights in the basement, so we tried a new bulb at the bottom of the steps and I had light.  The storm had burned up and LED light!  Nelson took two florescent tubes to his house and determined that they worked and that means the light fixture by the basement sink fried as well.

Another casualty of the storm was my burglar alarm system.  When I came upstairs I could smell a badly fried circuit board.  Being a techie and having built numerous computers, I am well aware of that smell.  Today, being Saturday, I am still smelling that smell every time I walk into the kitchen.  The company had trouble taking my word for what had happened.  They wanted to send someone out to check the system and my panel ($165.00 to walk in the door and then an hourly charge after the first hour) which I refused.  They are telling me it is going to cost $700 to $800 to replace the damaged stuff.  I will either be looking at a new service who will replace after storms or not having a system at all!!!  No hurry on that one as I am planning to be home most of the time until mid-August.

Have finally gotten the rest of the house back into normal EXCEPT the Happy room.  Two light fixtures and two outlets in that room and one outlet and light fixture in my bedroom are dead.  My brother says he believes that either a wire in a junction box or outlet box has melted or come loose.  I am hoping that they are all on the same line.

I have spent several hours in the office (it had gotten piled up as I am not doing much embroidery currently) getting to all of the outlets and testing all of the many surge protectors that I had on the computers and equipment  in the room.  SO I am also sorting and straightening up while I am doing it.  Thus far, I am finding that all of the surge protectors are still working so I am assuming that all of the equipment will be OK.  Prayers for this would be appreciated.

Marji and Danny came up last night to go into Parkesburg and watch the fireworks with me at the church.  Our front parking lot faces the area where the fireworks go up.  So the church allows locals to park there, set up chairs or blanks on the grass and we cook hot dogs on the grill, make popcorn and usually, have bottled water.  This year we invited the kids who have been selling lemonade on weekends to raise money for the Point (a youth organization in Parkesburg) to set up and sell Lemonade.  Danny spent an hour or so before we had to leave, looking over the issues.  We were hoping that the wiring was run through the basement and into the outlets and fixtures.  What we found was that it runs upstairs into the attic which is completely floored and covered with much more of my crap!  I just cannot win.

So I guess I will be continuing to work in the office and then go up to the attic to move the crap from one section of the attic to another so I can allow access to the current wiring, if it needs to be done.

So the thoughts of... I think perhaps I should just burn it to the ground... have crossed my mind frequently since Tuesday.

This is the time when I am grateful for friends and yet I feel so very alone.  It is a widow/widower feeling that one cannot fathom if you still have your spouse with you.  And I am sure it is also similar to the feeling that one who has lived alone all of their life must also feel from time to time.  We were not designed to live this life alone.  We were designed to have a partner to work together through life's trials.  But still, this has been a very trying time for me.  And at times, I have to walk away from what I should be doing to just try to enjoy the good things about living.

On a bright note, I did manage to win an EBay auction for an antique Singer Model 23 Toy (but fully functional) Toy Hand Crank Sewing Machine.  It is small enough to take on a plane, clamp to the tray table and do some sewing.  It actually sews using a simple chain stitch.  Should arrive sometime next week and had all of it's original parts and pieces and looks to have minimal wear or rust.  A real find for $73.00!  I have seen them as high as $400.00.  Nice thing, it does not need electricity.  And right now, I may look for more 'old fashioned' stuff that is electric-free.

I will post pictures when it arrives.

In the meantime, prayers for me as I try to get the things back together here at the house without having to hit my investments for an electrician or having to file a claim with the homeowners Insurance or having to find the paperwork for the whole house surge protector that did not quite do it's job, although that one I will probably do anyway!!!!